Maximus sat with a deep frown on his face as he looked over some recent reports from his own territory. Although he was only the lord of the province in name only, in that he had his wife and subordinates do all of the day-to-day governance part that Maximus couldn’t be bothered to do, he still was held personally responsible for anything that went wrong in the territory and he also genuinely cared about his people so any issues his population were having weighed heavily on his mind.
The report he was currently looking over described how this year there had been several problems occurring concurrently. Low harvest yields, more frequent monster attacks, and an increase in powerful natural disasters were all things that Maximus’ subordinates were worried about, indicating that a powerful planetary pathogen had somehow infected his main world’s world core.
Of course, nothing so drastic could be confirmed in that regard until Maximus returned in person as he alone had access to the world cores’ heavily defended chambers, but even so the newly promoted Marshall of the Imperium very much doubted the cause of these problems was a planetary pathogen of some kind.
Such diseases were beyond rare, and most were instantly detectable by even the most novice of mages, due to how such pathogens usually interfered with the natural mana cycle. So as his subordinates were not certain that it was a pathogen, then that meant that the court mages hadn’t detected any changes in the natural ambient mana. However, the thought of a planetary pathogen that was undetectable was not totally unplausible, despite the inherently terrifying implications of such a disease’s existence. So, he’d just have to find the time to travel back to his territory to investigate the occurrences before the prince’s birthday in a few months.
“Sir, Mr Goodman is waiting outside.” The voice of his assistant spoke from beside him, breaking him out of his thoughts.
“I see.” Maximus said, before he dismissed the interface displaying his subordinates’ reports, and then turned to his assistant and asked seriously, “I have my own opinion of the earthling, but now that you’ve spent the last few days observing the man for yourself, what is your opinion of him?”
His assistant looked quite surprised by the fact he was being asked such a question but answered nonetheless, “He is powerful, absurdly so considering the limited amount of time he’s possessed the system. However, with his planet’s core destroyed, he’ll no longer receive any of the ‘first’ bonus rewards which will probably slow down his growth quite considerably and thus the proceeding months shall reveal whether he was always talented or just extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time.”
“You’re sceptical of his talents?” Maximus asked, a bit surprised by his assistant’s words but also in equal measure amused by them, though he didn’t let the latter emotion dilute his deep and serious tone.
“Yes sir.” His assistant said abashedly, seemingly realising he may have spoken a bit too much out of line. Quickly needing to change the subject to avoid further interrogation, the Marshall’s assistant stated, “Sir, your wife asked me to tell you that…”
His words were quickly cut off by Maximus quickly turning away from him and shouting at the door, “Mr Goodman and company may enter!” Thereby ending the conversation between them abruptly.
Maximus feared almost no one in the entire multi-verse with only a few exceptions, one of which was his wife. Their last call still haunted him as she had effectively banned him from ever betting on sports ever again, as well as cutting his alcohol budget in half – meaning his wine collection would probably stagnate this year to his great horror.
However, thoughts of his wife quickly left his mind as a one Arthur Goodman and his young male follower walked through the door into his office.
“Ahh Mr Goodman, what conclusions have you reached regarding the two matters we have discussed?” Maximus asked, deciding to get straight to the point.
Arthur seemed to appreciate the directness and replied, “Well, General, the young Steven shall accompany us to the capital. And as for the matter of whether I should like to join the Imperium’s elite forces, I must politely refuse. I am a man whose career was chosen long ago and whose priorities are similarly baked in I’m afraid.”
Maximus nodded his head, thoroughly unsurprised by the answer. He had very quickly come to realise that Arthur Goodman was a man whose priorities, interests, and motivations were not beyond what they seemed. Or at least, Maximus couldn’t see a distinction between the man’s public persona and private person and that would be rather incredible considering the Marshall had acquired quite the eye for such things over the years.
“I see. A shame, but understandable.” He said, before changing the subject, “Now, I should warn you Mr. Goodman that once we reach the capital, if you do not speak the Common Imperial tongue at a reasonable level, you will almost certainly struggle to live independently within the Imperium. Language modules like the one I’m currently using to speak to you are rare outside of our elite corporations and government agencies, so don’t expect the common people to be comprehensible to you or your young companion if you can’t understand the common tongue.”
Arthur nodded before replying, “I understand General.”
“Excellent. Then, Mr Goodman, why don’t we get a move on down to my ship? There is much to discuss as it relates to your future and things you will need to know if you wish to find a high-quality charge.” The general said as he stood up and walked towards Arthur.
Arthur bowed his head in appreciation, then remembered their prior conversation it seemed, and he said, “Is the sharing of this information another of these favours you spoke of earlier, general?”
Maximus laughed heartily whilst nodding, and then saying, “Of course. Everyone in the multiverse has an ulterior motive when they say just about anything, I’d get used to that if I were you.”
Arthur nodded wearily and said, “Oh I am more than familiar with the ways of politics, general, it’s just that after years of relative inactivity my instincts are a little rusty.”
“No problem, Mr Goodman. I’m sure you’ll be a cunning old fox again in no time. Old instincts never truly disappear, they are only ever muted a little bit.”
Arthur appreciated the man's words but just as the general himself said, everyone in the multiverse spoke with ulterior motives in mind and Arthur needed to be careful to not let himself get manipulated too easily. He was no longer speaking to the relatively simple people who staffed the nursing home or the traumatised people who filled the bunkbeds of this mothership, he was talking to a man who was currently one of the most powerful people in the nation that Arthur had somehow become a part of, in a multi-verse where people infinitely more powerful than either him and the general lived and dominated. So being an easy mark would not bode well for his future.
Maximus patted him on the shoulder and gestured at the open door of the office, and everyone in the room began making their way towards the general's ship. As they walked down the mothership's corridors, many looked warily at the general and his associates. Those who remained of the Earthlings now all almost revered the general as some kind of deity, as his display of raw power defied the average person's ability to comprehend. Even with new powers of their own, few among the earthlings dared imagine that one day they might be able to cause planets to collide with their enemies, or blow up the sun in their face as the general had. Such a realm of power was restricted only to the gods, therefore Maximus had to be one.
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The general found the earthlings' worship rather adorable in many ways, as in his mind what he'd demonstrated was nothing in comparison to the monsters that he'd seen when he was younger. There were probably at least a million people in the multiverse who could have snapped their fingers and killed Jormungandr instantly. Yet most of the Earthlings would likely never know of or witness such power as those who wield such monumental power don't have time to deal with the weak and the feeble, and only ever act so as to further their own interests and Maximus doubted that 90% of the Earthlings would amount to anything more than cheap labour by the time their "creche" period ended.
There were exceptions to this rule of course and none were more exceptional in this regard than the former butler walking beside him. Whereas his assistant was sceptical of the man's potential, Maximus was a true believer. This was partly because he'd seen most of the man's status screen thanks to his Analyse User perk being tier 4, and he was thus able to see almost everything about a person's status screen - including perks, bloodlines, and magical affinities. So he'd seen the ridiculousness of the man's titles and traits first-hand, whereas his assistant most definitely had not if he still had doubts as to Arthur Goodman's power.
However, even beyond the insane titles and traits the man possessed, the main reason Maximus was convinced the earthling would soon join the elite of the multiverse was that there were some parts of the man's status screen that he could not see, and that could only mean that the unassuming old man had awoken a truly legendary perk/bloodline/etc as only such things could hide from his near-perfect Analyse User perk. Beyond just wanting to have it so that the old man owed him a favour, Maximus had agreed to Arthur accompanying him on his private ship back to the capital precisely because he was hoping to extract some information from the butler about whatever perk/bloodline/etc that he had and figuring out how he could get it for himself - for nothing system related was ever truly unique to any individual.
At the end of the day, gaining power for himself and his allies was all that had ever really mattered to Maximus ever since he was a boy and there were very few things he wouldn't endure for power's sake and judging by the earthling's growth whatever he had was powerful indeed. Very powerful. So why should he be the only one to possess it?
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"Your Highness, the young master Cassius has arrived." A rotund servant informed the young prince, the prince's face instantly lighting up as he heard the words.
"Finally!" The boy exclaimed, before rushing towards the door to his room but not being quite tall enough to open the door with the golden handles - the door being a massive oak structure, almost 50x the height of the miniature human jumping up against it trying to force it open somehow.
Crown Prince Caesar of the Grand Imperium had always been small for his age. Whenever he was in a group of other noble kids his age, he was always, without a doubt, the smallest present. His small height combined with the fact that he'd struggled with speaking the high tongue of the nobility meant that most of the kids who were in his "class" at "school" often insulted him behind his back and or made up stuff about him or his father.
The only other kid who was nice to him was another boy named Cassius, but the issue was that the boy was a couple of years older than him and liked to spend lots of time in the training area where he fought with weak monsters so as to level up and gain more power. Caesar had begged and begged his father to allow him to train with Cassius and his friends, but again and again, his father had refused him. His father always said that he was "too young" and that there were "safer methods" for him to gain power without having to kill any monsters, but Caesar had been persistent - especially as the medicines that his father always gave him always tasted terrible and made him feel terrible for weeks after consuming them.
So persistent had he been that his father had punished Caesar by banning Cassius from entering the training arena and or the Imperial palace, straining their friendship considerably. However, in the end, Caesar did not give in and today it seemed his father had finally relented and all but given express permission for Caesar to join his friend in the arena. The young prince could not be happier with this situation and he desperately wanted to speak to his friend after such a long time.
His servant walked over to the door and finally pushed it open for the young prince, and he set off down the corridors of the Imperial palace. He ran past paintings of all the mythological kings of former times, as well as depictions of the ancient gods. Even though no one in the Imperium really believes the beings depicted were anything more than very powerful humans nowadays. The system's ways were now far better understood than they were in the past.
He pushed past everyone he needed to just to get to the door to the training arena. Being a prince meant things such as manners were largely optional, especially when he was in his own home and wasn't speaking to his father and or other nobles. And, after almost a dozen minutes of running, he eventually found himself by the door of the training arena - looking around wondering where Cassius was. Then he saw him.
While Caesar had long golden hair that he'd partly inherited from his mother, Cassius' hair was pitch-black and short. The boy was almost twice the height that Caesar was, at over 7ft tall, despite only being 14, and the lad was also far bulkier as well with it being clear that his parents had given him a lot of physical-stat elixirs to aid the training of his body. On his back was an equally imposing sword made out of a purple-ish metal with a custom crimson edge.
Cassius noticed the young prince waiting for him and his face showed just how surprised he was to see the boy out and about. He'd been told that the boy was "ill" again and that the boy's recovery period this time would be a couple of months at the least. So to see him waiting for him by the training arena was quite unbelievable to the young noble sire.
"Cae? What are you doing here?" The older boy asked his junior.
"Isn't it obvious Cass, I'm here to join you in the training arena! Papa finally said yes." The prince exclaimed happily.
Cassius was instantly sceptical of this statement, knowing that the Grand Emperor wasn't stupid enough to throw his only son into a den of dangerous predators, both sapient and monstrous, so the older lad found it very unlikely that the emperor had actually given the boy permission to enter the arena but it was positive news regardless of its truth.
"That's awesome Cae," Cassius said, feigning as though he believed the young prince, before raising an eyebrow and asking, "If you're going to come with me into the arena, where is your weapon and or your armour? You don't plan on becoming a famed boxer do you?"
Caesar blushed a little as he realised he'd forgotten the basics of actually fighting, so caught up had he been in just getting to the arena door before Cassius arrived. To try and cover up just how excited he was to finally be speaking to Cassius again, he lied, "Boxers are cool in their own right, one of the Imperial guards is a boxer and they're some of the most powerful warriors in the entire imperium."
Cassius laughed before nodding his head, "Alright future champion boxer, I accept your request to party in the training arena. Just give me a second while I readjust my armour and then we can both enter it together and get some grinding done. Alright?"
Caesar nodded and sat on the grass and fidgeted with the tussle on his shirt as he waited for his friend to finish readjusting his armour, not really focusing on the boy - too lost in his own daydreams about what he'd soon encounter on the other side of the door. He wondered what kind of monsters he'd encounter, whether they would be humanoid or non-humanoid, slimy or bony, animalistic or material. He could imagine almost every animal hiding behind the door, even that massive snake thing that Uncle Maximus had fought with.
Caesar mindlessly began air boxing, imagining himself fighting against such a titan and, of course, winning easily due to his overwhelming awesomeness. His air duel was interrupted by the sound of laughter and a pat on the shoulder from Cass.
"You ready to go in now?" The elder boy asked.
Caesar nodded frantically as he scrambled to his feet.
"Yes!" The boy screamed a bit too loudly, embarrassing himself once again but Cassius' face held no sign of judgement so Caesar coughed and then turned to face the door and the elder boy moved to stand next to him on his right.
Caesar felt his heartbeat start to increase and his breathing began to quicken. The excitement for what came next had built up to this moment and Cassius was now leaning forward to open the door to the training arena. And when he pulled back, the doors came swinging open, revealing the training area beyond.
The crown prince mindlessly walked forward, semi-enchanted by the incredible beauty of the arena. Lavish green grass met
His memorized sight-seeing was cut off as a crossbow bolt flew towards him, but thankfully it only hit his leg but that was still immensely painful. The pain caused him to fall backwards and tears to start to stream down his face. The world became blurry due to his eyes being washed with tears but he heard a sound that made him try and scramble to his feet - Cassius groaning in pain as a crossbow bolt hit him square in the shoulder.
Caesar activated his special class' active skill, Foresight, and right before another crossbow bolt could lodge itself into his friend's chest as his foresight predicted - he jumped up and got in front of his friend despite the pain begging him to not do so.
He felt something impale him in the gut and blacked out.