Unlike Chris, Christo, Alexander and Nick, John was one of Nivava's heroes whom didn't agree to rule over a floor, it was pointless after all, his target was clearing the bosses, when the invitation came from their teacher, John of course begun heading back towards Nivava's capital, he had already heard about the 10years ban on grinding which was made by heroes whom wanted to stay in this world for a little longer or that's what his advisors told him.
John was a warrior and his cheat ability was his indestructible sword, but he obtained three new powers when his physique hit 100, another when he his physique hit 100 and the last when he hit level 1000, the skills might not sound anything special, but the sword of Fire, swords of Ice and sword of wind abilities were extremely useful when he came across monsters whose defense to physical attacks were incredibly high.
Sword of fire summoned a sword made of fire, he could manipulate it with his mind as if it was telekinesis or something similar to fly towards his target.
Sword of Ice cause anything his indestructible sword touched to freeze solid, it was easy to destroy armor when it was frozen solid.
Sword of Wind shot an attack from a distance, the crux of the situation however was that the attack was as strong as his melee attack, although its strength defused based on the distance it travels.
His greatest problem however was that he couldn't control his own strength, any weapon he grabbed onto would break thus he could only use his indestructible sword, another problem was opening the door, sitting on a chair, eating and a multitude of other problems.
Of course the advantage in strength made him a killing machine when it came to battle, he could easily rival a beastman or an ork when it came to strength, especialy if fighting against gelloid opponents, since he had gained tons of titles that worked against slimes and other gelloid creatures.
John however was somewhat conflicted as well, his stress however came when he discovered that if he had evolved he would gain bonus stats, thus he wanted to either joing the beastmen or the Orks, whom were reputed to be the strongest races, thus in the meeting he would ask if there was a chance for him to evolve into one and ask which is better.
=========================================================
The dark figure of a man appeared once more this time in the arena, his target this time was a woman whom had gathered a great debt just by eating.
Tanna was the quasi-beastwoman slave Tris had bought, whom ended up with a seriously overpowered passive skill called Lesser immortality.
Christopher saw her now skeletal body and by taking out a meat jerky she became loyal to him once more, but this time there was work for her to do.
Once he and she disappeared the guards of the arena went crazy as they tried to find the hungry ghost of the arena.
Now only one person was left for him to fetch, the tall green woman called Rosetti, whom wasn't located too far away since she was digging stones in the mines of the same dwarven city.
Tris didn't threat them too well after Christopher disappeared, one was left to fend for herself and the other was given away for some stupid debt, but in truth it was because Rosetti was too irritating and Tris wanted to teach her a lesson, but forgot all about her.
Rosetti was crying when he found her, her skin was dry after not seeing the sun for the last ten years and her symbiotic vine was dying.
Christopher didn't even need to persuade her as she would have done anything in her power to escape the mines.
=========================================================
Alexander was the Ruler of the first floor, he was the slowest to reach level 1000, but with some twists and turns he made it just fine.
Alexander's class was that of a Rogue and in the beginning he hadn't invested in mentality thus turning his cheat power into a waste, but once they begun having the gatherings and he learned more abouth the cheat powers he did the right thing and invested them all into mentality, well it wasn't the best thing to do, but it did make him strong.
Alexander's cheat power was to summon strange cards, which when touching something would have different effects, his first ability would summon a random card, but his second and third made it possible for him to make any Club or Spade card appear on will.
Club cards did physical damage, while Spades did magical, the heart healed and the diamond could make coins appear out of thin air, which in the end made him crazy with raising mentality, after all the greater the mentality the more gold it would generate.
The disappointing thing however was what he did with his skill slots, he gambled on what would be randomly generated instead of carefully selecting them, the most surprising however that he was given magic for the last three skills, with a magicality of 12, meaning he couldn't even cast it at first right until it reached a high enough level.
The main however matter at hand was his rule on the first floor of the dungeon pillar, he was said that the floor was now him, but for some reason most of the people and nobles begun to flee downwards to the lower floors, he didn't know why and no one would tell him.
The next thing he knew everything begun to fall apart.
I'm not speaking about buildings, I'm talking about public order, bandits, scum and other lowlives begun to flood the first floor, monsters would spawn everywhere, he had no idea what to do, his harem was of course safe since he was protecting his women, but there was the matter of not being able to manage the situation.
He even regretted giving Leia away in exchange for some random harlot.
He was sick and tired of being the ruler of a territory, he only wanted to enjoy himself, thus he made a deal with the bandits, he would supply them with gold and they would allow him to do whatever he liked, not touching his harem and children as well and if someone did touch them the bandit king Jack would gut him.
Thus Alexander was King in name but Jack was the real king, when the invitation arrived Alexander simply ignored it as he didn't care about his classmates anymore, if they wanted to leave they could do as they liked, he didn't care one bit.
=========================================================
The next place Christopher appeared was Nivava's royal palace, he had two things to take care of there.
It wasn't hard for him to evade the guards, but there was one person whom was waiting for him, she was Bloom or as she was now called High Queen Bloom.
In ten years the once little and stupid girl had become a woman, Christopher had some business with her and from his eyes one could tell that it wasn't going to be peaceful talk.
"Guards! there's an intruder!"
She shouted timidly, not really caring about him, she had long passed level 4000, meaning that to her he was no different than an ant, but he didn't stay for long, he left a message behind and then disappeared.
When Bloom saw the message she became enraged and waltzed out of her room in her nightie searching the whole palace for her missing mother, the message was a threat, telling her to come to a designated spot alone or else her mother would die.
Even with all the growth and maturity, one thing still remained the same, her love for her mother was still there, she cared too much for her mother's safety to do anything.
Three days later she took her carriage and was never seen again, sinking the country of Nivava into Chaos.
With the Disappearance of the High Queen the nobles begun to fight on whom would become the new King/Queen, there were still many royal simblings alive whom could fill the spot.
The search for the High queen however didn't stop, the high elves were probably the most interested in the search, behind them being Runia and Ecclesia, each one looking for her with their own agenda.
Bloom disguised was heading for the designated spot, she had already reached four such spots, each directing her to another location, sometimes asking he to change clothes before leaving the spot.
Bloom was disgusted with the clothes she was now forced to wear, it was good that she was on the ninth floor of the abandoned dungeon Pillar where only stray adventurers would go.
At last she saw the pervert, the despicable lowlife, he wore the same robe as he sat next to the entrance to the 10th floor where the demon king should be.
"I see you came alone and actualy wore the leather bondage suit, well since you were such an obedient girl then please put one the rings in this bag"
He said as he threw her a small bag that contained lots of strange rings, with a single identification she could see that they were cursed rings, although relucantly she put on the rings, she didn't know if he was working alone or with others, thus she refrained herself from killing him.
After wearing the rings she saw the man approaching her and before she could grab him by his neck, both of them teleported away.
When she appeared however she was in anti-magic chains in a strange prison cell, the strange thing about it was that it had all the basic necessities there and even a luxurious double bed with beddings, there were also some other stuff she couldn't tell what they were for.
The man was outside the cell and when she wanted to stand up and curse at him, she saw her mother, she was in the opposite cell, sleeping, there were no chains holding her, but for some reason she was only sleeping.
If she didn't know that she had 1000points in magicality she would have thought it was an illusion, although it could still be an illusion because of the rings.
She begun taking off the rings and throwing them around, but one ring didn't want to come out, it was right on the ring finger, she didn't understand what the ring was supposed to do from the identification, but she didn't really care, it was just some cursed accesory anyways.
"What have you done to my mother!"
She shouted, successfully awakening her sleeping mother, whom by hearing her voice woke up and approached the bars of her cell.
"Why did you come?"
Her mother asked with a dejected voice, she could sleep easily because she thought that her daughter was no longer the little girl whom could be manipulated by others, but it turned out that she was wrong.
"Now now, lets drop the family reunion for later, you probably want to know why I have abducted the two of you"
He said making them to successfuly remain silent.
"That's better, you might remember ten years ago, there used to be a hero whom disappeared from the world, not literaly, but metaphoricaly I did, that hero used to like a heroine, whom however liked another man, now imagine how I felt when I heard what you did to the girl I love, loved, used to love"
He said, but to his words he saw them making stone faces, as if not understanding him at all.
"It's rather simple, I'm gonna do to you everything that my...ehm her was subjected to, you will stay in prison for a few days, maybe months until you understand the suffering of imprisonment"
His words made both of them look at him again as if seeing an idiot or some exotic animal.
"What? my plan was foolproof, after experiencing prison life you will have a change of heart, then return to your kingdom and apologize to her, thus everyone will be happy"
His speech was wellcomed with mocking laughter, it was even funny to hear, making them tear from laughter.
"I'm glad that you find it funny, because in a few days you will not find it so"
He said as he left, but then returned left her a tray with food and left.
Bloom was shocked at how ridiculous all this was, she didn't understand anything the strange man said, but if she had to guess he was probably the most wanted man on Axis, the Jailor of despair, there were rumors that he might be the summoned hero Christopher, but getting revenge for a woman whom isn't even his, it was too ridiculous.
She spent a few days in her cell, the food wasn't anything special, but it was still leagues above the food they served in Nivava's prison, the problem was that she begun to feel somewhat strange, it wasn't anything lusty, it was more like becoming depressed.
Every day there would be closed in a cell there was nothing to do and all they could do was chat with the other prisoners.
The cell nearby held a man, whom she personaly despised, because she could feel his perverted glare each time he looked at her.
As she learned from her mother he was called Seff and he was a member of the Inquisition of Ecclesis, he was locked for months thus he might be a little peculiar, her mother explained.
"Don't bother explaining stuff, once you experience the first year of boredom you will be just like me"
The man said, seemingly annoyed by their description of him.
The man across from him was Jull, he was also from the Inquisition, another zealot whom didn't believe anything said by a heretic, in truth they were the last few left whom didn't turn coat, even if Ecclesis came in front of them saying that he was a fraud they would still not belive it.
On the right side were another two prisoners, one of them surprisingly being a high elf and the other a red blood ogre. Both of them males, but they were not very friendly with anyone, especialy with one another.
The Ogre was called Reddack and the High elf Julianus, they were unlucky folks whom had been caught by the evil cult, or that's what they said happened, truth was they were thieves whom tried to infiltrate the cult in order to steal some stuff, one being after a legendary Eola crystal and the other after dragon blood.
Their jailor would pass through the corridor at least thrice leaving food, casting the cleaning spell and even healing them, at times he would bring some of them for a walk or set some of them free as they said, but dark rumors said that he simply killed them.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
One time she saw him entering Reddock's cell, they then just stood there and talked for hours, she didn't know why, but three days later Reddock was set free, thus leaving fewer people for her to talk with.
Her mother seemed to take captivity more easily, she just told her to relax, she told her that people would find them and rescue them, only to be rebuked by Seff, the inquisitor, in his opinion they were there to rot, unless they trully undertook the heretical ways they would rot there.
He then threw some booklets out of his cell and onto the floor of the corridor, Bloom stretched her hand and reached one of the booklets.
Her mother shouted for her to throw it away, but Bloom was no longer a child, she opened the booklet and then froze.
The heretical texts she red had a lot of valid points that she whom was a follower of Ecclesis could not contradict, but the cult's creed was shity and couldn't reach her at all, whom the fuck would want to see the world burn.
When Christopher passed by he begun to collect the booklets and before he could return them to Seff's cell, Bloom asked him to look at the other ones.
She was genuinly bored and didn't know when he would let her out or if he would ever let her out.
To her mother's dismay Bloom begun reading through all the booklets keeping those that looked the most plausible in her opinion, there were also stuff about reincarnation, heavens and hell and other strange things she had never heard of before.
The next day she asked if he could give her some more comfortable clothes since she was still wearing the leather bondage suit.
She changed into a prison outfit, which included a pair of white shorts and a white robe with black stripes, she changed while under her own blanket, but there were evident sounds of masturbation from the nearby cells.
The food was plain as always, she thought that if she accepted some heretical belief that she would be set free, but Christopher stated it plainly that she wasn't there for that reason, that was also the reason why her cell had no booklets in the first place.
It was probably around a month later that Bloom couldn't take it anymore, she asked Christopher to let her take a walk or something, but to her disappointment he told her that he could not, the people going on walks did so because for them it was vital to see the sun, the forest ogres were a race whom would die if they didn't see the daily sun.
The next day when Bloom was fooling around by identifying stuff in her room, she came to a shocking realization, her own stats have been shrinking at a slow pace, it was probably the cursed ring's effect, but why couldn't she take it off was a mystery to her, if only she could use magic, she would have purified it instatly.
She asked the two inquisitors to help her with it, but they were even more horrible than she had thought, hitting on her and even telling her to take off her top if she wanted their help.
The high elf however once he saw the ring told her to give up, the ring wasn't cursed at all, it was called a bonding ring, they were created to allow people with wide difference in strength to have intercourse, in other words it would balance out their stats so that her physique was equal to her partner's, in other words, until they had intercourse she would be stuck with those stats, unless of course the both of them took off the ring at the same time.
Truth was that for the ring to work, they would also have to put them on at the same time, but she hadn't seen the subtle movement when Christopher put on his.
Of course there was nother way to take it off which she hadn't thought of, simply breaking the ring, but that would require considerable strength and secondly she was still wearing the ring, she didn't want to break her own finger.
Days passed and this time it was Jull whom was having the discusion with Christopher, four days later he was take to never be seen again. Bloom and her mother had already lost track of time, for them living was now a torture, but there was still hope that rescue would come.
Bloom would sheldomly ask Christopher for stuff, but most of the time would be turned down.
That day or night, Christopher entered Seff's cell and after a heated discussion they saw him kill Seff in cold blood, they didn't know to feel dread or jealousy at that moment, since he was free from the torture of imprisonment.
Julianus was taken to be set free two days later, they didn't even have a discussion like with the others, leaving her alone with her mother.
Days later Christopher came again, this time trying to take her mother away, there was a shocking scene of a mother pleading and the daughter crying for her to stand up. It was a rather breathtaking scene, but it didn't last for long as Christopher took her out for a walk and then returned her back to her cell, even though the walk lasted for about an hour and when she returned she looked all roughed up as if she had been running a marathon.
Bloom was rather shocked and of course asked her mother where she was taken to, but she didn't want to answer, it was strange because she didn't seem to imply having intercourse, more like a sense of dread and horror.
Two days later Christopher dragged her away once more, making Bloom nervous, but in her boredom and since her mother still refused to tell her what they had done this time, a crack begun to form in their relationship.
All her mother told her was that she had to trust her and to not ask any further, lastly she told her that anything they wanted her crown, all this was to get her country away from the holy light of Ecclesis.
Bloom of course believed her, but in a dark corner of her mind she desired it being her going walks out of her cell and not her mother.
The next day Christopher came to her cell, today it was rather special, she asked him why he was taking her mother outside for walks and he answered sincerely.
"You see the Cult became rather interested in the two of you, I told them that you were my prisoner, thus they won't touch you, but your mother is undergoing a brainwashing session by the cult, I don't really care about it, but she will probably be left free in a month or so, when they will have drilled their creed in her head, hopefully she won't change much other than not saying Ecclesis this, Ecclesis that, in the cult we are more pragmatic, yup god does exist, but your actions are your own, they aren't some divine guidance from beyond, if you want to call something a divine providence then it's luck that could be called so"
Christopher's words made her wonder, but she was still a believer of Ecclesis, even if not the most fanatical, she still thought of him as the one and only real god.
-I however didn't come to talk about that, I have an offer for you, it's a rather simple one as well
-Go to hell!
-Wow, I thought that you were a believer of Ecclesis.
-Isn't hell the place where all the scum go in your belief?
-Well, not entirely, hell is a place where all those whom don't believe in the real god go, meaning that you as well will go there, as for me if this world was real, then maybe I will also go to hell.
-Of course this world is real, idiot.
-And What makes it real?
-Well...
The discusion went on for hours, every point Bloom put up was blown away by a single phrase "There is a spell...".
There was a spell for practicaly everything, making the world seem more and more fake to her as well.
To a legendary existence like herself the world looked no different than a paper box and the people were no different from paper dolls, but now someone comes and says that the dolls don't exist and that all her life is happening inside her imagination through means of magic.
You can imagine her shock as she was unable to prove him wrong.
-But what about people who can't use magic?
-This is the interesting part, you see this fake world works on strange principles, like dreaming, do you know that there are people whom can control their own dreams?
-Aren't dreams images sent from Ecclesis?
-Have you heard about dreams inside a dream then?
-Do such things even exist?
-Truth is that no one has discovered why people see dreams, some say that they hide messages from god, others that they are images from different parallel worlds, others say that they are figments of our imagination that take form in our subconciousness, but generaly this world is nothing more than a dream that we see in a comatosed state in the real world, for example you can cut my arm here, but I can through magic regrow it, in the real world something like that needs to go through medicine and if possible they might re-attach the arm back, the difference is that in the real world people don't come back from the dead, people don't heal because of light and people cannot shoot fire from their hands, but in their imagination they can do anything they like.
Bloom was shocked, not knowing what to say towards his words, the only thing that came naturaly to her was 'Are You mad?' or even better 'You are crazy!'.
To people whom were born to this world, to them their world is perfect, since they have nothing to compare it with, but even if they had they would still put it in a better way to favour their own world.
"Time's up, I have to go feed the prisoners now, see you in a few minutes, today we have chicken wings"
He said as he left, she wanted to keep him there for a little longer, but her chain didn't allow her to reach him.
From a distance her mother looked at her with eyes that stuck on her as if she had done something bad, it was the same glare she gave her whe she called her a bad girl and spanked her behind.
Of course there were reasons behind it, the main being that she now knew what they were trying to do to her, meaning that even if she tricked the cultists and was set free, the Inquisition might not believe her, especialy if Bloom said someting stupid.
In simple words she didn't trust her anymore, since the day she was brought to the prison, her mother had lost faith in her, she had decided that she would once more take over the reins and rule in her stead, until she became mature enough to understand what is important and what is not.
To her mother the crown was more important than family, more important than blood ties, more important than dignity and pride.
It's a pity that she had no idea that while the two of them were locked in jail, they had already lost all rights to the throne, as outside a new struggle for the throne of Nivava had begun.
=========================================================
Nick was the ruler of the 4th floor of Nivava's dungeon Pillar and for these past 10 years had become the heroes link of diplomacy with the queen, until Bloom became Queen, five years ago, and everything begun to change.
He, Alexxa and Anna were the three whom then begun to move against the queen, but Alexxa was the one to face the full blow of Bloom's fury.
Of course the main reason it was so was because Nick had betrayed them, secretely giving all their plans away, thus dooming their small rebelion before it had even begun.
Of course after the failed rebelion he and Anna were also punished, but their punishment was rather light, just some additional taxes for the next three years.
Alexxa however had trully suffered, she became the example for others to not copy from, unless they wanted to experience something similar.
Nick, the Tall guy, was a healer, his cheat power was a healing finger which in turn unlocked the healing hand and the finger of regeneration. Of course healing wasn't bad, but in combat it was rather useless, thus he begun to practice in the field of Reviving the dead, problem was that even when his 7th skill reached it's max capacity he still hadn't found a skill to revive his allies. Since he didn't want to leave it to luck he simply went and learned the lightning spell.
Nick laughingly called himself the Emperor and begun building on the 4th floor an intricately designed City on the base of his theory that monsters won't spawn on the second floor, like how they don't spawn in the middle of the sky, thus he created the first elevated city, the ground level being a spawning ground for slimes, from the elevated city one could easily shoot the slimes bellow and kill them, only problem was projectiles called acid slime spit, but that could easily be healed, thus there wasn't any great problem.
Nick however wasn't satisfied with simply elevating the town by one or two floors off the ground, he begun negotiating, what he wanted to create was a flying machine transportation system, which was based on hot air baloons, blimps airships and lastly line trailers for short distance travel.
Nick made lots of innovation and as emperor he had better relationships with Runia than Nivava, his protegees were the former queen Vivian and her son, whom had been reduced into idiots by Queen Rosa, Bloom's mother.
Nick however hid his hatred for Nivava quite well, he knew that he was under watch, but with the disappearance of Queen Bloom, a new chance presented itself, a war for succession between five individuals.
Princess Amaliana under Chris' protection whom ruled the 2nd floor.
The princesses Keia and Leia under Christo's protection whom ruled the 3rd floor.
The princess Erica whom followed John into the debths of the dungeon pillar, whom were forced to return and stayed in the royal capital.
Prince Verillio whom had been turned into an idiot and whose class was changed into that of a farmer, but that could be easily remedied.
Lastly Prince Joseph whom was under Anna's protection whom ruled the 5th floor.
Each had their own advantages and disadvantages, for example Princess Erica was already at the capital and she and John were already in sort of a relationship, meaning that she had the support of at least one illustious hero, since John had got quite a lot of titles and a bit of fame, he was probably the hero from Nivava whom had dwelled the deepest into the dungeon out of all ten heroes there.
Princess Amaliana was Chris' wife and was loved by the people, they had great potential in the political scene and Chris was a General Class meaning that he was more adept in commanding people.
Keia and Leia, due to their mother's influence had already quite a few nobles under their flag and their supporter the Dark King was not to be underestimated.
Joseph was probably the one with the less chances to the throne, but he had one of the strongest backers since Anna had the monopoly on protective talismans a trend that was hard to kill, but the most important advantage of his was that he was handsome half elf.
Lastly was Verillio, whom in his vegetive state was perfect as a puppet king, there were lots of nobles whom would rally under his flag for the chance to control him behind the scenes, while his protector Emperor Nick was the best out of all the heroes in negotiations and could easily make arrangements with other heroes, even better he was his stepfather, thus there was room for a few wives.
The best however thing was that Vivian his mother had been turned into a sexy sex slave by queen Rosa, meaning that he was out of the picture, making Verillio the strongest candidate for the throne.
Nick was at the moment talking with the Archmage Menances, he had for days disappeared from the political stage, but now reappeared, there were also rumors that the Archbishop and Ecclesia wanted to push Tudar to the throne, whom for 10years was initiated into priesthood and was now a High Priest controlling his own Town.
-Do you think that you can undo the brain damage on their minds?
-Won't you lose a lot of supporters?
-Do they have to know?
-Well it's not impossible, but what is it in for me?
-Nivava, I don't need the surface since I already have my own ways to procure food, what I want however is my son's happiness.
-Don't you take your role as step father a little too far?
-Not at all, let me ask you what's better a prince in a vegitive state or a prince whom doesn't know how to rule?
-The second of course.
-But what if you are his advisor?
-Will he even hear my advice?
-That's even more simple, change the regime a little, create a council of Nobles, reduce the power of the King, make him a helmsperson, a figurehead that's there only for the formalities, he needs not direct armies, he needs not worry about the economics and the country, his only work will be to give speaches and tell to the people what you want him to say.
-Will he agree?
-Do you think that he will refuse becoming king just because of some minor changes.
-No...
The dialogue wasn't long, but the two came to an agreement, three days later a strange ritual was held in N.A. as Nick called his Capital.
Nick was sitting on his throne on that day, a beastwoman was chained next to his throne, her head shaped like a bat's. She was Queen Rosa's confidant, whom was tasked with spying for her, but since the disappearance of the Queen her position had switched to that of a sex slave.
Nick liked to punish her each time something didn't go his way, she was sort of like a stray dog that he took in, he was training her into becoming submissive and in time he hoped to make her one of his people.
That day the Archmage came inside with a smile, behind him were Vivian and Verillio, they seemed no different than before, but their eyes weren't as blank as before, they had returned to their senses, but were trying to act as if they hadn't.
"Follow me inside, we have lots to talk about"
Nick said as they disappeared into a corner hall, leaving only the chained beastwoman behind, lying on the red carpet, the only place where it wasn't cold.