I heard them banging at the enchanted gates from inside my room. Nowadays, I had to try not to listen to things as my ears would make the High Queen of Fulgen seem deaf. It was not just the distance I could hear things from but the acuity and precision of the hearing. As if I could see the different frequencies and harmonics in a sound. Hearing an orchestra of a hundred violins playing at once and knowing #56’s arc was frayed. And #76’s third string was a quarter off-key.
At least I had the mental capacity to process all that and still function as a normal person. It had its advantages as I could hear my opponent’s bones creak as they moved during sparring sessions. And hear their neurons zapping. Okay, the last one was a lie. I still didn’t have electroreception. I could shapeshift and use a shark’s ampullae of Lorenzini, but enough was enough.
I was already halfway down the main hall when the gate guards came to deliver the news.
“Sire, a large army is at our gates, demanding we open up by Imperial order.” The exasperated and scared guard said between attempts to catch his breath.
“At ease, Bryce,” I smiled. “You didn’t open the gates, right?”
“No, sir! The [Emperor] wasn’t present.”
I laughed. “Go get yourself a mug of mulled wine, Bryce. Have Heymar take your spot for the rest of the morning. Then you cover one of his shifts later on. Think of it as credit. You need to rest and work on this stamina of yours. How’s your [Physical Mastery] looking?”
“I am honored, your Highness. I will work twice as hard on it.”
More banging at the gates. And scraping followed by someone falling down. At least they knew they couldn’t climb the walls. I had to get there before they found the disintegrating surprise I placed at the top of the walls should anyone use scaffolding to reach up there.
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Taking a page from my father’s playbook, I walked through the gates as if they weren’t there. On the other side, I found a rather large battalion of men led by a dozen knights on horseback, decked for war. They bore the heraldry of the thirty-second [Prince]. My dear brother Bertram. If the illustrations and paintings I saw were accurate, he was on the second row of riders near the center. Lastly, two crews of six men with frayed and dented battering rams flanked me. Up in the sky, I could sense a few scrying sensors from far away. We were being watched.
“Who are you?” The lead knight, with the equivalent of a Major’s insignia, demanded of me.
I replied calmly like I was lecturing a child.“I only suffer disrespect from anyone once if any, sir knight. The second time I’ll have your head decorating my trophy room.”
The guy glanced at both sides and nodded. The ram crews rushed at me, both rams meeting head on over me. I could have reminded them I was still phased and partially through the gate only, but why should I? The loud crashing sent both crews backward as they struggled to retain their footing.
“{Mass Boil Blood}!” I chanted even though I didn’t need to. The kill notifications came quickly for the ram crews as the lead knight started to scream and steam from every which pore, orifice, or opening in his body. His armor became red-hot and his horse startled, breaking formation and running away with the boiling soon-to-be corpse.
Bertram scowled and glared at me. I stared back at him, impassible. The boiling knight expired. I collected his soul.
“What manner of fools come before my gates this early in the morning to bother an [Imperial Prince]?”
“Watch your tongue, Percival!” Bertram barked. “I have orders from Father to occupy this Palace!”
Oh. “Why would Father bother doing something like that? Doesn’t he have a thousand bureaucrats to do such menial tasks? Are you telling me the [Emperor] took his time to actually write an order telling you to come and take what’s mine? Are you saying the [Empire] is so impoverished that Father can’t afford to have a Palace for each of his sons? Are you accusing the [Emperor] of such gross negligence and incompetence?”
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Let’s make a pause to showcase [Prince] Percival's newest guide “How to get anyone in the Empire to stop bothering you in four simple steps.”
Step one, make sure they can’t murder you or get hold of anyone you care about as leverage.
Step two, make what they want from you look bad for the [Emperor] should they achieve it. Make sure lots of witnesses saw you defending the [Emperor].
Step three, if they haven’t ceased and desisted in step two, murder them. If anyone asks about the deceased, point them to what they did on step two.
Step four, go back to step one.
Appendix one: Step three can be accomplished through less-lethal methods of resolution but they might come back to bite you in the butt. I strongly recommend doubling down on step one, if that’s the case.
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“You’re dead!” Bertram the Spoiled screamed. “It’s a ghost we are looking at, an undead. It’s been months since anyone alive left this Palace. You’ve run out of food. Everyone inside is dead and this Palace is now mine.”
In Bertram’s defense, he had never heard the word “no” before today, and he was only three years older than Percival. Still a teenager, still a brat, and a spoiled Royal.
“Well, dear brother, I’m flattered you care about me so much as to come here to check on my wellbeing in person. As you can see, I’m pretty much alive and hale, despite your foolish knight’s efforts. You’re welcome, by the way. I know how much of a bother it is to sack old people. Now, I’m afraid I can’t invite you for tea, we are renovating the Palace and it is rather unsightly right now. But please do drop by never again, we’ll talk then.”
“Are you defying the Emperor’s orders?” Bertram asked, victorious.
I wondered if he read my new book or if he just pirated it. Oh, right. The Empire had no such thing as copyright laws. But he was not following the guide correctly. He made a big blunder on step one. I definitely could murder him. What should I do, correct his mistakes and point out he should backtrack to step one or kill him and use his death as a cautionary tale to not skip the most important step of them all?
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
“Show me these orders!” I demanded. Using “may” in the Empire denoted subservience, the request for a favor. Royals seldom found the need to be polite to their lessers.
The horsemen parted and a [Scribe] came with a paper scroll. He humbly handed it to me and I noticed he had the Imperial Palace insignia. The detached demeanor of this court officer told me he didn’t care much about Bertram or his task to take away my palace. We exchanged a glance and I moved my mouth to mimic whispering as I talked to him telepathically.
The [Scribe] nodded and instead of walking back past the horsemen, he went to the left and around the troops, giving them a wide berth. Before he went, I unfolded the scroll.
“The Imperial Administration of Annex Palaces hereby grants this order and nominates executor of this order [Imperial Prince] Bertram, the thirtieth-second in the line of succession the right to take over the abandoned Palace of the deceased [Imperial Prince] Percival [The Fierce], and any objects and personnel found therein. By the powers granted upon this Administration by the [Emperor], any who defies this order shall be punished by the executor.”
The seal and veracity enchantments were the real deal. Bertram had a smug grin. I called the [Scribe] back.
“This order is null and void,” I told the officer as I burned the document. I knew they had another copy back at the Imperial Palace. “The object of this order does not exist, therefore it is invalid.”
I shook his hand and let him feel the warmth of my hand as I cheated a little and make it feel slightly feverish. The [Scribe] understood why the order was invalid. He nodded and went back on his way, now heading to an official carriage further away.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?! You dare defy the [Emperor]?” Bertram screeched. His voice broke and rose an octave.
“No. I’m just sparing an Imperial officer from wasting his time with an invalid order. He’s going back to the Imperial Palace to mark it as such. Your claim is void. If you don’t understand why, then we should censure your tutors on Imperial Law,” I said it out loud so the scribe and whoever else was magically eavesdropping would hear.
They couldn’t scry inside the Palace and to these magical sensors, the walls were covered by an opaque dome. It was all woven in the enchantments I placed on the walls. To these scrying voyeurs, this was prime material. I would make as much of a fool out of Bertram as possible for them.
“Kill him!” Bertram finally gave the order.
I drew a spear from a storage ring on my finger. Pushing against the gate, I launched myself at the cavalry. I impaled a knight through the breastplate and took him from the horse as we dove to the ground behind his mount. The body vanished into the item box and I dashed for my brother’s horse.
Bertram drew a sword and I gave him a good look.
> > [Imperial Prince] Level 69 male human [Imperial Knight]
Imperial this, Imperial that. I stabbed at the horse but Bertram pulled the animal away from me with deft horsemanship. His soldiers surrounded me. I triggered my auras, making sure to restrict the range to only affect those around me.
> > Eldritch Presence
>
> > Manastorm
>
> > Royal Aura
The soldiers, knights, and horses dropped down on the ground, their Attributes on the negatives as they burned from the lightning-infused Manastorm. Only Bertram remained on his feet albeit barely, as he was unaffected by the Attribute-sapping {Royal Aura}. But that combination was lethal to commoners. Since their Attribute values dropped drastically, the multipliers to their HP pool also went down with it. They became extremely frail and while it also reduced the damage of the {Manastorm} (which was linked to their also lowered MP regeneration rate), they soon died to the lightning anyway.
As the bodies vanished, I turned off my auras and stared at Bertram. “If you want that order to be valid, dear brother, you need to kill me before the [Scribe] makes it back to the Imperial Palace. You already made a fool out of yourself. A wise man would turn their tails around and run for his dear life. But you, I can see you crave a warrior’s death. Come, speak your mind. Buffoon.”
“You dare insult me? I’m your senior and an [Imperial Prince]!” He shouted. “How can a mere level twenty-six dare speak to me like that?”
Oops. I should perhaps adjust my level to reflect all the people and horses I killed.
“Oh, that? My Exp allocation is on manual so I wouldn’t waste Fast-growth on my Proficiencies. I won’t level up now. Sorry.”
“Then you’ll die a fool with unrealized power! I {Challenge} you to a duel.”
The dude was out of himself. I’d just killed his whole battalion without lifting a finger. But that was a product of over-reliance on {Appraise} results and over-estimating their own power.
I was an outlier in disguise. If I was a normal person at level twenty-six, Bertram would paint the floor and walls with my blood before I could put a single scratch on him. It was the lack of insight on the hidden clues from what happened that separated the truly powerful who lived long from the fools who couldn’t get their heads unstuck from their Status Sheet.
Add to that the fact that nobody ever told him he wasn’t the best. The secluded and lavish life these [Princes] led and the incessant pandering and pampering created these kinds of monsters.
It also took a [Prince] to defy another [Prince]. A lesser person, even a noble, would have their Houses wiped from existence by the other [Princes] even if he’d won against someone like Bertram, for example. The remaining [Princes] would do it on principle, to prove a point that they shouldn’t be defied. Keep the rabble afraid, keep them from raising their heads too much above the stagnant septic tank.
But I should take care of the notification I received.
> > [Prince] Bertram challenges you to a duel to the death. Do you wish to resist?
No.
> > The duel starts in 10 seconds...
His {Challenge} Perk was different from mine. Lakerta was an [Avenger] and a [Champion], and her challenges were more like a trap to keep the enemy from running away than an actual chivalrous event. But the effects were rather the same. I activated mine.
> > Contested Ego test won.
Now he couldn’t run away even if he wanted to. I stowed the spear and drew a {Dead Adamantite Thinblade} out of storage. A failure who still dealt 28d10 +132 of base damage in my hands. Bertram was a weapons connoisseur. He stared at the extra-long rapier-like sword in my hand.
“This will make a fine addition to my collection,” he grinned.
“This? It’s a failure from a master dwarven smith. If you kill me, you deserve to have it. Maybe you two failures can be cozy together.”
The duel started. Bertram charged me while I stood still, studying his style. The guy was overbearing and confident in his skill and Strength score. He also followed the Imperial Fencing guide to the letter, making him extremely predictable. I phased as I put a {Death Contract} on him and let his attack pass through me, then rematerialized behind him with my thinblade stuck in his brain stem. A successful assassination since he took no actions between the contract and my attack, combined with a {Cruel Backstab} and a critical hit. His HP pool plummeted to the deeper negatives but he lingered, most probably because the System allocated some of his Perks to {Indomitability} as it usually does.
“{Exsanguinate!}” I cast as I removed the adamantite blade from his brain. His blood funneled and spurted from the wound, growing into a sphere floating next to me. That killed him. I sent the weapon back to the item box and picked up the body, going through the still closed gate with my dead brother. I think I rose one step in the succession race, becoming the thirty-seventh Prince.
> For killing level 69 Imperial Knight, you gained 462.7 billion Exp (Base 2,676,472 x10,000 fast-learner, x7.59 contract, x3.05 favored enemy, x0.75 rank)
>
> You reached Anima Lancer (4th rank) level 7.
>
> You gained 10 Attribute Points.
>
> Ultimate Surpasser Granted you 29 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 7 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 7 Endurance, 7 Mind, 11 Willpower, 4 Charisma, 10 Magic, 7 Ego, 3 Luck, and 3 Soul.
>
> You gained 3 rank 4 Perks.
I raised Magic to the new cap of 188 and spread the rest among the other Attributes. I also broke the half-billion mark on Energy. I’d better not run into another Dallas visitor. This time, I might cause another Scorched Continent.
> Level 87
>
> Strength*: 157+71 (228) / 188 - Dexterity*: 160+102 (262) / 188 - Endurance*: 157+88 (245) / 188
>
> Mind*: 127+94 (221) / 188 - Willpower*: 161+89 (250) / 188 - Charisma*: 160+98 (258) / 188
>
> Magic*: 188+77 (265) - Faith*: 96+12 (108) / 188
>
> Ego*: 160+81 (241) / 188 - Luck*: 135+88 (223) / 188 - Soul*: 109+88 (197) / 188
>
> HP 489.618.293 (5.566.234 HP/s)
>
> Energy 562.459.392 (984.660 E/min)
Now I had some dummies to play with, to let my people fight against and earn some Exp. Way better than butchering giant quails.