Alaster spent the four days meditating. He only lasted an hour on the first day in complete silence, doing nothing, and had finally asked Azemar what day it was. The Dungeon had scrambled his internal calendar.

His sister’s fifteenth birthday was the day he exited the Iron Ruins Dungeon. He had known he most likely would, but it still hurt. Five years later, and she was still a prisoner.

‘I wonder what her Class is. With her Special Constitution, would it have influenced her Class?’

‘Highly probable. Special Constitutions are not something System related.’ Sedall explained.

Alaster had been suspicious of the new disembodied voice at first, but the spirit had proven its worth very quickly. Now, Alaster knew the general situation of all but two Kingdoms. Sedall didn’t like Hason. ‘Too hot’, apparently.

However, he had actively avoided Zalar. In fact, according to Sedall, almost all the Demigods avoided Zalar. Unlike the rest of the Kingdoms, Demigods were common knowledge among the Nobility of Zalar. In addition, Zalar as a whole had alarms that the Demigods would set off if they crossed into Zalarian borders.

That alone wouldn’t have been able to deter the Demigods. According to Sedall, the vast majority of Zalar’s military, were Golems, very powerful and intricate Golems. And yet, they were still not strong enough to even be a threat. But they were enough to cause injury, if enough of the Golems attacked.

To Alaster, that wasn’t enough of a reason to avoid a place. But it seemed to him that the Demigods had grown so used to being unparalleled that they feared losing that illusion. Though he didn’t say that to Sedall, he was quite proud of being a Demigod, one of the strongest according to himself.

Unfortunately, other than that, Sedall didn’t know anything about Zalar. Hason was only a little better. Sedall simply didn’t like the environment. He was not partial to the culture either, but he was not against it.

Alaster himself was not sure how he felt about it. On one hand, eight out of ten people in Hason were slaves, and Alaster did not like the thought of taking away someone’s freewill. But on the other hand, they had an extremely powerful military and the strongest economy and trade on the entire continent.

Alaster knew he would not enslave someone, but he was not so sure about purchasing a slave. Especially a criminal slave, who had been enslaved for committing certain crimes, such as murder.

Most Nations had slavery of some kind, but Hason was the most well known for their slave trade. In Lissura, murderers and repeat thieves were the most common slaves, though the crime itself would be dependent on the community.

Alaster still remembered an event back when he was still living happily with his family in their village of Pinefall. One of the farmers had gotten drunk and attacked another, the resulting attack had crippled the victim until a wondering healer repaired the damage. To pay for the healing, the drunkard was sold into slavery.

Despite his moral obligations, he could not argue the practical uses. It was much cheaper to have a workforce of slaves. With free workers, proper shelter, food, and funds had to be procured. But with slaves, you could order them to sleep in the dirt and give them scraps. Other people might look at you poorly, but there wasn’t technically anything wrong with it.

In addition, many slaves lived just as well as Free Citizens. With comfortable lodgings and good food.

And, unlike Free Citizens, slaves were unable to betray their masters. Any command their masters gave the slave, if they didn’t obey, their slave collar would inflict great pain until they obeyed. The same would occur if the slave attempted to give any information on their master without the master’s express permission.

However, the collar was unable to truly force the slave. It could only provide a reason to obey. And the collar didn’t care about the health of the slave. The actual damage it inflicted was negligible by most, but it was not unheard of for a slave to be killed by their collar.

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Alaster could certainly see the use of owning a slave, especially a combat slave, at least for someone in his situation. But he didn’t need even that. With his Undead, while they weren’t the best, they could still do everything he ordered them to do. At least for now.

Alaster shook his head of these thoughts. He needed to focus on meditating. According to Belgroth, [Meditation] had many more uses than simply Mana Regeneration. Of course, Alaster already knew that. He had meditated to calm himself down many times.

Meditation cleared the mind, allowing the user much greater ease in perceiving certain things. However, Belgroth refused to specify what sort of things. Alaster was meditating to work on that, but the real reason was to calm himself after finding out he had missed his sister’s fifteenth birthday.

When the flying carriage landed four days later, Alaster opened the door and peered out. Wide rocky plains stretched out. On the horizon, in front of him, Alaster could see the distant mountains still capped with snow and ice. Behind him, Alaster could see the tips of a dense forest.

“Don’t stand in the door.” Azameer kicked Alaster in the back, throwing the young man out of the way. Alaster held out a hand and flipped, landing on his feet.

“Where are we?” he asked, brushing himself off.

“In the non-contested zone. Roughly one hundred miles due south of Onigas. I believe you spent some time there.”

“How do you know?” Alaster asked, more confused than hostile.

“Because I have agents everywhere.”

“So, what are we doing here? I thought we were headed to Galmore.”

“No. I have yet to find out if you are a worthwhile apprentice. But I already know you are powerful. Until I am sure of you, I won’t risk bringing a potential threat to my city.”

“Your city? So, you are the City Lord?”

“No, I am more of the protector of the city. The governing and management of Galmore is operated by the rightful City Lord. I am there to keep them honest and competent. As well as deal with any threats that the City Military can’t handle or would be too costly to handle.”

“So, what are we doing here?”

“Your second test. This is actually a two-part lesson. Part one, don’t leave things unfinished.”

“What do you mean?”

“A little less than two years ago, a Lord’s people were slaughtered while he was away hunting. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t capture the ones who had done it. So, he trained, he planned, and he fought. When he was ready, and the opportunity presented itself, he ambushed the ones who had slaughtered his people. But once again, they got away.

He learned from both battles. Since then, he has been building an army, training both them and himself. The army has risen to reach unprecedented numbers and strength.”

“And I am supposed to defeat them?”

“That is correct.”

Alaster sighed, “You said to never leave things unfinished. So, whose mess am I cleaning up?”

Azameer stared deep into Alaster’s eyes, “Yours.”

Alaster opened his mouth to speak, but Azameer was faster.

“You made a sworn enemy of a Goblin Lord, and then just decided to ignore it. Making it a threat to everyone. The army it has built, while not capable of capturing a city of trained soldiers, is plenty significant enough to be a threat regardless.

If the Lord decided to, it could raze every village and small town in his path. And all because you decided to piss it off and then walk away.”

“Its an army of Goblins, how can they be that dangerous to Experts?”

“Because they aren’t Goblins anymore. Don’t you know anything about Monster Evolution?”

“What? No. That’s a thing?”

‘Crap. I would have taught you that if I knew you didn’t already know it.’ Sedall commented quickly.

Azameer sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, “Monsters, when they grow strong enough, are capable of evolving into a different Race. Goblins, can evolve into Hobgoblins. Devious and cruel creatures. Only slightly smaller and weaker than a standard Human, but they are smart enough to use complex weapons, place traps, set up ambushes, and even use poisons.

They are even capable of making their own settlements and forge their own weapons and armor. One such settlement is within the Independent Region.”

“Why haven’t you destroyed it?”

“Because they leave the Human settlements alone. There is a bit of an uneasy truce there. Which is also why I am unable to wipe out this Lord’s army. Despite them being separate from each other and would even fight, the Hob City would use its destruction as cause for war.

But that’s a different issue. This army is not just Goblins and Hobgoblins, but Ogres, Bugbears, even Kobolds and Trolls. Each one is surprisingly well trained, disciplined, and even better equipped.”

“So, what am I supposed to do against all that?”

Azameer looked into the distance, “The first test proved your survivability. This second test will prove your might.” He looked back at the young man, “Leave none standing.”

“Where are they?”

“Encamped six miles east.”

“What’s their reason for being there?”

“I believe they are attempting to align themselves with the Hob City. If you can’t wipe out the army, this must be prevented at all costs.”

“Understood. Am I correct in assuming that you are going to leave me now?”

“Yes. I will be watching, but I will not interfere. If you die, its just proof that you were not worth my time.”

With that, Azameer climbed back into the carriage and flew off, disappearing into the sparse clouds.

‘Such a lovely day.’ Alaster thought, summoning his Stallion, ‘Shame it has to be stained by blood.’