With all the fighting and murdering going on outside our Palace walls, I felt a little guilty about robbing my father blind. A huge stream of ghosts came to me, courtesy of {Soul Shepherd}. I recycled most of them but a few earned the right to stay inside my item box in silk dolls for later use. I had the [Fleshcrafter] grimoires and manuals, but I didn’t have time to read them. It was utter chaos outside, and I needed to make sure my people were safe.
The last straw was Sir Godfrey’s departure. We went to meet the assembled knights on their horses ready to depart.
“We received the call. You’re an adult now, Your Highness. We must go and fight for the Empire.”
“But who will protect the Palace?” Amina asked.
With good reasons to be concerned about, Amina was at the edge of her sanity and so was most of the staff. With every single knight leaving, we would be left with a few low-ranked guards and the civilian staff. Anyone could invade it here and do whatever they wanted. Since most of our remaining staff was female, it would anyone’s pick if we would be either killed or abused. Or both, in whichever order the sickos who would come here desired. Officially, we just lost all our defenses.
“Leave them. They are not this Palace’s knights, they were borrowed from the [Emperor]. My father is wise and knows best. If he is calling back our defenders, it is because he knows we can do it on our own.”
Sir Godfrey almost fell from his horse as my guilt-tripping caused him to lose balance. Amina looked at me as if I’d condemned her to die.
I took a step ahead and turned my back to the departing knights, “We must place our trust on my father. The [Emperor] protects. As of now, I am taking control of every aspect of this Palace. Sir Godfrey, take your men out. We are locking the gates in a few minutes.”
I didn’t turn around to look at him. Godfrey and his men rode out in silence. Some of the maids were crying, lamenting their fate. With their departure, Amina and Rhiannon were the highest-leveled people in the Palace, at least officially. A [Queen] and a [Healer], both support Classes at best.
But I had a plan.
“The following members of our staff are hereby relieved of their duties and are to be removed from the premises immediately...”
I started my own purge. Those who sold information to external parties, who didn’t have absolute loyalty to either me or my mother were summarily escorted out by the remaining guards, including some of their own peers. They tried to protest but I threatened them with death. All else being equal, they were being let go with their lives. A lesser man would’ve considered them traitors and collected the juicy bags of Exp they represented.
It was something loathed but not unheard of in sieges. The combatants would kill the non-combatants to save resources and gain precious levels, doubling down on the besieged’s chances of survival. The ones escorted out knew that as did everyone else.
Their fates outside our walls were not of our concern. They all left without even requesting their personal belongings. The first ones to go were the ones placed here by Imperial bureaucracy. Those I almost considered killing but I needed to project the appearance of being fair to keep the morale of those who I’d lock inside with me high.
I needed to be in charge and that’s how I presented myself as I watched everything unfold with a steel facade. Once the last of them was out, I ordered them to bring the carriages and heavy rocks to block the gates. With that done, I summoned everyone to the throne room.
----------------------------------------
I sat on one of the two thrones at the King’s side with Rhiannon on the Queen’s seat. To my side stood Marion, Madge, and Mona, and by my mother’s side stood Amina. Maids, butlers, squires, gardeners, guards, and other servants assembled in neat rows on the floor.
“I’m Percival, [The Fierce Imperial Prince], the thirty-eight in the line of succession, trueborn son of the Emperor. This is my Palace, and the only reason for disobeying my order is if my father comes here in person to say otherwise. The [Empire] burns. You can see the smoke columns rising on the horizon, hear the screams of the dying and the clash of steel outside our walls. We are at war.
“Therefore, I am declaring martial law. Anyone who disobeys my orders will be summarily executed. Anyone who attempts to send information out of this Palace or communicate with those outside will be summarily executed. Those who remain loyal and stand by my side shall be rewarded.
“And now, I will take your oaths. You will renege on any allegiance you previously held and pledge fealty to me and my father the [Emperor] through me. Anyone who doesn’t swear their lives to me truthfully will die. The only person here who won’t stand beholden to me is my mother, [Concubine-Queen] Rhiannon of Raswaria. I’ll start with the ones by my side. Amina, Marion, and her daughters move to your places before the dais and kneel.”
Rhiannon was ecstatic. She needed to see me in a domineering traditional male position to reassure her fears. With Raswaria gone, it was all she had to cling to. Her frail sanity hinged on the success of Percival, of her wishes of seeing him “a man among men”. Talking to her helped but she had years of abuse and the suppressed resentment of a burnt nation on her shoulders.
I took the girl’s pledge and then the servants, one row at a time. I openly placed a {Royal Geas} on everyone, including the girls, to enforce obedience. A dozen palatial staff died on the spot, their loyalties too far away from me to even trick the geas into not killing them. They screamed and convulsed on the throne room floor until the geas killed them. I collected bodies and souls to interrogate later.
The geas on the girls, Marion and Amina was the non-lethal kind. Should they disobey the orders, they would just freeze in the spot but not take damage or feel any pain. I had to limit my use of this version because a group of people could break the geas by just disobeying it and waiting for me to run out of Energy to sustain the power. With the damaging version, at least the person died before that could happen and it dissuaded people from rebelling en masse.
That was one way of breaking such a geas. Gather enough people and revolt all at once, empty the caster’s SP pool and get free.
We were left with seventy people, less than a fifth of the original palace staff, including the knights. At least that quintupled the time our stores of food and supplies would last, more if we stopped making lavish feasts and wasting a lot of food every day. One good thing about the Imperial bureaucracy was that we had everything inventoried.
After we left the throne room I went around the palace inspecting everything and making sure to account for every grain of wheat in our storerooms. I confiscated the personal belongings of those who were expelled and openly placed wards in our larder, cellar, wine cellar, pantry, stock house, supply storage, and linen closet. I was not joking, the Palace had each of these rooms for their specific purpose.
“The head chef shall meet with me once per day, after breakfast. Together, we will decide what everyone will eat the next day, for lunch, supper, and the breakfast of the next day. Everyone will have their meals together, from the [Queen] to the [Janitor], and everyone will eat the same thing,” I declared.
Everyone, from [Queen] to [Janitor] stared at me as if I’d said I would cut everyone’s pinky toe.
“I mean it,” I reiterated. “We’ll ration food but everyone will eat the same portions. I’m not cutting my servant’s rations to make them starve so I can eat lavishly. We will all be together in this.”
> Contested Charisma test won. Critical success.
Eating meals together was one of the easiest and best ways to foster group identity and cohesion. By the time this mini-siege ended, I would have the smoothest-running Palace in the whole Empire.
And so it began.
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After the inspection, I released everyone to go about their day. Surrounded only by my trustworthy companions, I tracked back to the Throne room.
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“Close the doors. I’ll spend half an hour drawing new wards in this room, so make yourselves comfortable, ladies. After I’m done here, we’ll talk.”
I took my engraving rod, hammer, and chisels out of storage and attached them to a tool belt around my waist. I could keep putting and taking them back from the item box but the weight and the outlook helped me focus on the job ahead. I also summoned dozens of {Force Tongs} to help me do my craft.
I started engraving rune sentences on every section of the wall, every pillar. Together they would reinforce each other and make this throne room a nigh-impenetrable bunker. It would guarantee our safety and work as our bastion for a possible last stand. I took a little less than half an hour to enchant the whole room, a work that would take a lesser person weeks. But I was nothing but able to multitask in my crafting endeavors.
> Rune Scriber (**) [ 402 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Resonating Rune Words: Each identical (up to (p/40)) Rune Word you engrave on a structure add (P/50)% to the overall enchantment power, increasing the resilience by the same amount. Total bonus: (P^2/20,000)%
>
> The math was a bit complicated but right now it granted an 80% bonus to the strength of the enchantment in exchange for more work. It didn’t give more points to play with, so the complexity of the work remained the same. But the growth of this Ability was quadratic and that was a huge deal.
The throne room hummed with power as my runic enchantment slowly settled and infused the walls, roof, and floor with arcane power, making them orders of magnitude stronger than before. To those sensitive to magical emanations, it was something they couldn’t ignore. While Madge and Mona already knew I was a capable mage because of the lessons I taught them in the secret garden, to the [Healer] it was news.
“When did you grow so powerful, Your Highness,” Amina asked.
“I’ve spent a decade practicing several disciplines. Most of them out of your sight. And father granted me a whole rank after my last visit to the Palace.”
The best strategy to end a conversation in the Empire was to mention the [Emperor] and make him the reason for what you were doing. No argument could stand against that.
“We are going to stay holed up in here. We’ll need to survive. I’m going to smuggle some peapura birds in here so we can gather eggs.”
And so I can practice Flesh magic on the peapuras.
“What will the peapura eat?” Rhiannon asked.
“We are going to till the gardens and transform them into fields. We are planting our own food, and feed for the peapuras too.”
“Summer is about to end. We won’t have time for more than one harvest,” Amina pointed out.
“Let me worry about that. I’m going to enchant the walls, maybe I can do something about the weather.”
I could definitely do something about the weather. I’d already done something similar on Sky Island.
“You two, if you want to learn the [Echanter] proficiency, you can help me,” I added pointing at the two budding casters who were still stuck in the low levels. “The Labyrinth expedition will probably be delayed. We might find a way to sneak into the Labyrinth on our own if things get too complicated. But now, we’re going to make our home impenetrable.”
----------------------------------------
I spent the night enchanting the walls of the Palace. The [Emperor]’s vaults had tons of Cores of all sizes and creature types. Including a dragon one. It was due time I started refilling my summon list. I added a few monsters.
* al-Mi’raj (base level)
* Blue Dragon (3rd rank, 2nd evolution)
* Mantursine (4th rank)
* Ghost Wargs (1st rank)
* Bore Worm (3rd rank)
* Stone Trolls (3rd rank)
* Razorfeather Eagles (2nd rank)
The al-Mi’raj was a staple for zerg rushing. The blue dragon was basically the same as before, the Mantursine didn’t need introductions. The Ghost Wargs were fast semi-incorporeal strike troops that had the same effect as cavalry on the battlefield. Fast, mobile, and heavy-hitting on the first charge. They could phase to avoid attacks, adding to their survivability. The Bore Worm was a huge vermin that dug underground and could chew through almost any kind of stone. It secreted a mucus that could either harden stone or melt it, depending on if it wanted to leave a tunnel behind or not. Stone trolls were as it said on the tin. Slow, strong, regenerating, and nigh-impossible to kill. Finally, the razorfeather eagle were humongous birds with five meters of wingspan that could shoot razor feathers.
Ten summoning slots open. I still didn’t have a Kythaurpódi to add back to my collection and I would probably have to scour underneath Windemere’s Labyrinth for one.
I got a Core from a level 200 Roc and ate it. I didn’t need to summon a giant bird when I could summon a slightly less giant dragon.
> You devoured a level 100 magic core.
>
> Source: Roc
>
> You gained 60 Strength, 30 Dexterity, 60 Endurance, 30 Willpower, 10 Charisma
>
> Half the Attribute bonus were given to your familiar.
>
> You gained 46.8 Trillion Exp (base 14,648,438 x100,000 Fast-Learner x4 Rank x8 size)
>
> You gained the Perk, Air Cargo (very rare): Multiply the load you can carry while flying by 10.
> You reached Anima Lancer (3rd rank) level 20.
>
> You gained 20 Attribute Points.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser Granted you 51 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 13 Strength, 20 Dexterity, 13 Endurance, 13 Mind, 19 Willpower, 6 Charisma, 20 Magic, 13 Ego, 7 Luck, and 7 Soul.
>
> Attributes above the cap redistributed.
>
> You gained the perk, Pinnacle of Faith (capstone): The effects of non-offensive divine magic are doubled. The costs of all divine magic are halved.
> Blades [ 505 / 527 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Dual Weapon Mastery: When wielding a blade and another weapon, your blades gain (P/10)% more damage, accuracy, and parry chance.
>
> Mental Mastery [ 763 / 802 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Mana Control: Increase Magic by (P/50).
>
> Alchemist (*) [ 517 / 524 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Transmutation: You can change one raw material into another. The average value drops to (20+P/10)% of the original.
> Level 80
>
> Strength*: 150+71 (221) - Dexterity*: 150+102 (252) - Endurance*: 150+88 (238)
>
> Mind*: 120+92 (212) / 150 - Willpower*: 150+87 (237) - Charisma*: 150+96 (246)
>
> Magic*: 150+76 (226) - Faith*: 96+12 (108) / 150
>
> Ego*: 150+79 (229) - Luck*: 130+86 (216) / 150 - Soul*: 106+86 (192) / 150
>
> HP 403.814.533 (4.214.990 HP/s)
>
> Energy 461.518.915 (771.964 E/min)
> You ranked up. All unallocated Exp was divided by 100,000,000. (i.e. thrown away)
> Your Class ranked up to Anima Lancer (Human, 5-fused, ultra-rare++++, 3rd rank). Your upgraded Progression is,
>
> 1 Attribute point at every level.
>
> 1 Attribute point every even level.
>
> 1 Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Mind, Willpower, Magic, and Ego at every level.
>
> 1 Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Magic, Soul, and Luck at every even level.
>
> 1 Mind, Willpower, Charisma, and Ego every odd level.
>
> 30 base HP at every level.
>
> 26 base Energy every level.
>
> 1 Perk every even level, plus a bonus perk at levels 10 and 20.
I still had nine perks to choose from, but I wanted to finish the security upgrade. One drawback of runic enchantments was that people could just erase the writing and cancel the enchantment. With {Resonating Rune Words}, I could write more copies of the sequence than required, allowing them to work as backups should some be erased.
After I made the walls as impenetrable as I could without making it obvious the security had increased, I flew to nearby villages and bought as many peapura as I could. I sent them to my refuge to transport back to the palace.
The peapura looked like a big flightless quail. Not big enough to ride on, unless you were a gnome or a fairy, but they were over a meter tall and weighed around thirty to forty kilograms. A peapura egg hatched in around twenty-five days and the newly-hatched bird reached reproductive maturity in four months. Adults were around level fifteen and butchering peapura was one way of getting people to level up through base Class.
The next day, we had our first meal with everyone. The cooks were afraid of retaliation and made slightly better food than we agreed on, but I didn’t censure them. I made a speech, talked to the staff and guards, then we ate. Everyone that didn’t have important duties helped till the gardens, sending the topiaries and flowers to the compost heap.
I could feed everyone in this palace on my own indefinitely as I could grow food with magic. I didn’t because I wanted to instill good work ethics in the people. It would be even easier for me to maintain this palace with just me and my inner circle but we needed to keep the appearance. I had Mona cast the plant growth spells instead of doing it myself.
----------------------------------------
After everything was settled down, I decreed that training was the word of the month. With that spirit, I put everyone on the Proficiency grinder. I even spent some Divinity from the hundreds of souls that came to me every day to activate one field blessing.
* Locus of Learning: You stand on sacred ground blessed by the Matriarch. All Proficiencies advance at 422% the normal rate.
Pinnacle of Faith helped a lot. The normal bonus should be 150% but the Perk doubled that, to 225% [1]. Then {Divine Magic Affinity} increased it by another 150%, and {Tail Focus} by another 25%, to reach the grand total of 422%. Even though I had a lot of cost reductions piling up, the cost to maintain it wasn’t negligible. Usually, this kind of consecration should be used in a place crowded with the faithful so they could pay for it with their worship. But the souls I was gathering from the fighting outside were enough to keep it going.
We spent the rest of Summer and most of Fall in this routine. Wake up early, have breakfast together, tend the fields and the peapura, work on proficiencies, lunch, more proficiency work in the afternoon, supper, than a ceremony in honor of the Matriarch presided by one of the two in-house priestesses before bed.
I converted all the fast-growth points I had from the levels I gained, earning three more Abilities.
> Mental Mastery [ 802 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Technical Focus: Select one Technical Proficiency to gain (P/10) bonus to its score, up to (P). You can change it only once every month.
>
> Spellcaster (**) [ 508 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Grandmaster: You gain (P/2)% damage and (P/10)% cost reduction.
>
> Enchanter [ 725 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Sentient Items: You can imbue intellect into your enchanted items, up to (P/10) points of mental Attributes.
I would have the girls butcher the first batch of peapuras but we had visitors of the armed and unwelcome kind.
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[1] (1.5 x 1.5 = 2.25), and so on. (1.5 x1.5 x1;5 x1.25 ~=~ 4.22)