On another part of Vervina-C, a large Crab with a golden shell stood in the middle of his chamber. Despite having only been a few days since the Merging began, it already had lavish decor like rugs, paintings made in his own image, a wall covered in Advance Crystals that weren’t enough for more progress yet, and more.
Because if there was anything that could counter a short amount of time, it was plenty of loyal subjects working to provide only the best for their Golden Prince. For in his infinite wisdom, and not the Stat, he knew that not everyone could simply be culled for his own quick gain in Experience Points.
Although as those with non-combat Classes steadily gained Experience and Levels by always working on their crafts, the idea of killing them had already become… tempting. But if there was anything that could outweigh the desire for short-term power, it was the long-term vanity of having an entire Species of loyal followers who worshipped him like a god.
Next to the Golden Prince were the remains of a creature he’d been snacking on. One whose own Species was still a very recent discovery, as very few had been met so far. And even fewer still was the number captured rather than immediately killed. Although the latter was soon to change, after some lesser Crabs had been hungry, and deigned to feast on this new Species’s flesh before turning them into Advancement Crystals to be offered to their beloved ruler. And the opinion they formed was one the Golden Prince had found himself sharing.
Despite their odd appearance, these Humans were absolutely delicious. Especially the one that his subjects had captured alive for him, insisting that the taste would be best while still as fresh as possible.Yet what they had not known was the Human brought before him had apparently been the kind of creature to not lay eggs, as was the natural way of giving new life, but instead were like one of the creatures back home that did live birth as the far more gross method.
However, even though it was unexpected, the Golden Prince had to admit something. For something that was barely a morsel due to its tiny size in comparison to him, that nugget of flavor had by far been the best part of his meal. But now that it was done, he answered the System Prompt to turn the little that was left into an Advancement Crystal.
Only one, as sadly it didn’t seem that the youngling still growing within counted as an Initial Merger. But even if it had, it still would have been quite a few more Advancement Crystals until he could gain yet another Skill. Yet as his most loyal servant took action to add the new gem to the collection embedded into the wall, he knew that it wouldn’t be much longer until he took yet another step forward to get even further ahead of all others on this planet.
But, there was one area where supremacy had just been challenged. On a leaderboard that he only rarely bothered to check due to how the top spots had yet to move, there was finally an update. One that he would not discover until later that night, and would cause the Golden Prince to then feel spurred to take action. And what was the leaderboard in question?
The Mightiest Kingdom.
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Mandate claimed!
The territory of the High Lord’s current Kingdom, Industry, has now expanded!
When Jordan had touched the crown, it’d immediately disappeared. Then even through his heaver winter gloves, he could see the golden outline of a crown on his hand as the symbol temporarily shined bright enough for its light to go through the glove. But just before he could even fully read the screen before him, another couple of pop-ups had already appeared.
New Title Acquired:
Title: Truly Ambitious Expansionist
Description: Be the very first Lord to claim a second Mandate.
Benefits: +10000 Kingdom EXP, +5 to all Stats, +5% to all Stats, +10% to one Stat of the user’s choice.
Kingdom Rank Up!
Rank 1 to Rank 2
“Wait. There’s no…holy…” Jordan started slowly while still catching his breath from before. By his side, a fifth drone appeared. But even though its summoning led to the desummon of his air drone outside, he just needed a spot to actually sit down that wasn’t just snow. Because, hoo boy, did he heed a minute to actually process both the Benefits themselves and what the Description had declared as a fact.
He wasn’t amongst the first of a certain number. He wasn’t one of the very first of an even more elite club to do something. Jordan was the very first, period. And that was something that he simply couldn’t even believe.
That can’t be right! Not when the Golden Prince already has so many Kingdoms in his name. How can that even make any sense? Jordan asked himself as he pulled up the leaderboard to check.
Mightiest Kingdom:
1: Industry (Rank 2)
2: Golden Empire of the Eternal Golden Prince (Rank 1)
3: Golden Empire of the Eternal Golden Prince (Rank 1)
4: Kingdom of Clan Qorath’zyrunch (Rank 1)
5: Vervina’s Heartland (Rank 1)
…
And yet, despite his confusion, the golden screen plainly showed off the updated list. Jordan’s Kingdom had taken the top spot on the leaderboard. He had taken the top spot.
All thanks to the Benefit that had instantly shot up his Kingdom in Rank by filling all the required Experience that would have otherwise needed to have been taken from his personal pool. Something that would have likely reduced him in Level, if the System even allowed for his current EXP to go below zero. Something that would have been way too big of a sacrifice to make, when the benefit still wasn’t exactly known.
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In Jordan’s case, it would allow for him to unlock that mysterious door when he got back to his base. But as for everyone else? He had no idea what kind of advantages they’d be offered for reaching Rank 2 as well. So it was no wonder that nobody had risked pulling the trigger, if it meant falling behind in the race for Levels.
And yet… the Title and current leaderboard could only be due to one thing.
It really isn’t just one person going around to claim these Mandates. Not from the way it automatically expanded my Kingdom, and didn’t even give me the choice to just start a second one or something under a new name. So it’s a bunch of lackeys that somehow can communicate from afar, but each one is becoming the Lord of their Kingdom that has just decided to share the same name and common cause. But as far as the System is concerned, they’re just individuals who might as well be total strangers, right?
Jordan wasn’t sure why they remained separate Kingdoms, and hadn’t combined into one mega Kingdom yet. Under a System that loved this much competition, the ability to conquer other Kingdoms or to willingly surrender your territory to another surely had to be valid mechanics. On the other hand, when he had first received the crown on his hand, it had been with the feeling that the only way to part with it was death. So perhaps voluntary surrender of a Kingdom wasn’t an option, at least not in a way that would allow the losing Lord to keep his head and live to see another day.
But if the leader of this Golden Empire faction was just kicking back and letting others do all the work to gather a whole network of Kingdoms in his name, and each lackey just claimed one each… then it really meant that they had left the door wide open for Jordan to waltz in and claim this Title himself. Something which also meant that no Lord of any other Kingdom had done the same yet, obviously.
He’d been under the assumption that if he got a portal next to his Kingdom, then perhaps everyone did. And if it led to another close by Kingdom, then that would also be the case. But it’d been around two days since Jordan had first claimed his own Kingdom, which was just even more time for the seven others who’d done so before him. Rather than thinking that none of them discovered and explored their respective gateways first, perhaps it was his initial assumptions that needed to be challenged.
This Title though, like holy shit! With that bit about picking a State for the last percentile bonus, the one I choose will have a total bonus of 33%! He paused to take a few calming breaths to clear his thoughts. Okay, first things first, I need to allocate that. While I could think about it and maybe make a difference decision, the end choice almost has to be Wisdom. Just because that’s what I’m going all-in with, but also…
Wisdom: 74
Before picking that final bonus, it was just super freaking close to 75. Something that would get him to the next increment of Scaling for Summon Land Drone. Which would both increase the cap he could summon at a time to six, and adjust their reserved TP cost to 1/6th his pool. So, at this point, it’d practically be a crime not to pick Wisdom and push the final point to reach that increment!
Selected Stat: Wisdom
Finalize the user’s selection?
Jordan naturally affirmed the decision, and then immediately to see how it had updated the relevant numbers.
Wisdom: 80
On top of the points gained from the Title before the selection, he’d just gained another Level’s worth, just like that. At this point, if someone with just the starting Title of Initial Merger thought that he was practically cheating … yeah, he couldn’t fully disagree.
Not when someone could use Appraise on him and just see that he was Level 6, but have no idea what his effective Level might as well be from a total Stats perspective. But speaking of the effectiveness of his Stats, he checked to see how some other numbers had now changed.
Resources:
Tech Points: 0/0 (31)
Tech Points Regen: 11.62/Min
Oh right, the current reserved costs. They’re all still in effect for the previous Scaling until the drones are replaced. Which means… at least ten minutes to update them if I desummon the drones now. Welp, better sooner than later. Especially when I can have an extra land drone now while still keeping enough TP to have an air drone, if my math maths correctly, Jordan thought to himself.
At a new value of 1/6th his TP reserve per land drone, and how the System rounded it before, keeping five of them active should leave him with about five TP. Which as far as coincidentally matching numbers went, that would be a fairly amusing case.
But after sitting up from the one that had been acting as his seat, he decided to just go ahead and pull that trigger now. Aside from the now fairly big hole in the ceiling, Jordan was currently in a fairly hidden area. One that was better than being outside where someone on another mountain could also spot him from a couple of miles away, at least. Basically anything that wasn’t snow did kind of stick out like a sore thumb out there.
Within just a few seconds, all of his land drones had their TP supplies cut off. At least when cutting them off the regular away like that, they would remain functional for the ten minutes before they disappeared. Even if the last half of that was a fairly rapid decline in performance, it at least meant that he wouldn’t have to risk being totally helpless for that entire period.
As Jordan waited, he decided to go toward the far wall of the cave. In what was most definitely not just a coincidence, he estimated that it was about the same size as the clearing around his base. Out of a bit of nervousness for the current time and how long he’d need to wait for the drones to disappear, he rolled back his outer sleeve just enough to peek at his watch and-
Oh… damn it. Of course it’s broken from that fall. The face of the watch was just covered by a bunch of cracks. Some small shards of glass were also missing, but could be quickly found as still caught in his sleeve. With a sigh, Jordan just took it off and tried to throw both it and every bit of glass that he could see into his pocket space. At least fixing it would be as easy as just pushing it through the Transmuter later, when he got home.
At the very least, that wasn’t nearly enough to actually make him upset for long. Not when he still had his Status open, and could see the massive inflation in Stats he’d just received. Seeing that even his physical Stats were all either in the high 30s or low 40s now, Jordan couldn’t help but feel a little giddy.
It was almost definitely unfair that he could invest his Unspent Points into what was more like a glass cannon summoner type of build, but then not actually be made of glass. Not when compared to anyone else who did the same without the padded Stats to more than make up for it.
But it was at that moment that, from somewhere outside, a voice loudly yelled out.
“Forefathers one and all! Bear witness! Bear witness upon me, and know my name as Haje! Bear witness to my victory today! Bear witness to my present resolve to someday reach you! Bear witness to my future resolve to best you all in combat! And quake in fear, for the day that you must personally bear witness my surpassing of you!”
Jordan froze, because upon hearing that speech, he very quickly realized something. He wasn’t hearing some echo from far away.
That voice was coming from somewhere close by.