Negotiations End

Ciemnosc looked at those around him as they looked back at him n return. Finally, one of them, who appeared to be one of the oldest if not the oldest, stood up from his seat with difficulty. He was a patriarch of his own clan. Ciemnosc remembered that it was a clan of... deers, basically. When he stood up, the slight images of thin and fragile horns atop, behind its head showed like projected images.

“Milord Ciemnosc. We are… assured you will not send us down a path of treachery like others have sent you. As long as we don’t believe ourselves to be immune to your vengeance, and trust me, we do not work that way.” The old man spoke. He had rough, creamy, bronzed skin and some medium-short white hair. “But even then, would you really be willing to teach and give all of this important knowledge to us? Just to… ally us together?”

“... Yes, or does everyone here think I created what is known as array formations?” Ciemnosc responded in a flat manner, directly and tasteless. His words confused the old man, who spoke again with another question, “Excuse me, w- what do you mean?”

“Alchemy? Tools? I never started any of those.” Ciemnosc looked at them as if lazily, but he was not. He sorted them with his eyes with his left shoulder dropped and the other seemingly like a support holding his body standing on the ground. “None of those are mine. Hence they are not a decision for me to make whether they are knowledge that should only belong to me or my subordinates. But even if I was its creator, or yours, I wouldn’t enslave it all just so that only I could have it.”

“W-... why?” The old man asked again, this time with his confused frown relaxing and with his pair of eyes looking profoundly at the boy. Ciemnosc continued, his voice spilling words flatly, “Isn’t it just… dumb? This place, this world, and even this Region. They have been the same… for how long now? These armored cars were only in the Self-Mutilating Honores Sect and were supposed to be used only by them. But not now, they aren’t.”

“Array formations can help you,” Ciemnosc looked directly at Torme, who was within the ring of seats, before continuing, “One way or another. Independently if it is to protect yourselves, to make life easier even as a cultivator… Or to kill, perhaps, in the future.”

Murmur, chatter…

As soon as Ciemnosc dropped a hint of a bomb, it exploded in their ears, and it showed by how quick their lips were moving between each other’s right after. Queen Olga kept looking directly at Ciemnosc, her eye never leaving his side. Though their eyes could never look back at queen Olga as Ciemnosc dared to do, they still looked at her meaningfully.

“Milord Ciemnosc, we do know of your amazing capabilities.” She leaned forth as she began standing up, her hands clasped together, making a crispy noise before continuing. Her words were their minds and worries. “You have a body that… is by far the most powerful seen in all of nature. Your comprehension leads you through every Craftsmaking profession, and your intellect, as well as your determination and passion of such, bring you farther than ever thought possible.”

“You have… a bit of a way with words which, unless one is a fool, deaf and blind, they would see your heart wide open and yet know they could not take you as weak. You survived an ordeal that for numerous is too much, but even now, you remain complete and have become… a stronger cultivator and a much more evolved… person.”

“We. Do. Not - doubt your capabilities, and much less your word. But while you might want to show others the world, would you be willing to do just one little thing else? Just one more job? Before we decide to go according to your advice?” Queen Olga now stood up from her seat, took a step forwards with each sentence, and ended up standing face to face with Ciemnosc.

“One last little job?” Ciemnosc asked with his darkest eyes fully open, they looked into queen Olga’s eyes, and both were fearless.

“Most people in this world know of your evident prowess to jump not only 1 or a few stages within a realm but a whole realm instead!” Queen Olga’s eyes were, by no means of mistaken, revealing glints of utter admiration and desire to see the truth. “Would you, by the laws of cultivation, show us your strength by defeating my Nulla Kingdom’s most promising warrior?”

“... Mn, sure.” Ciemnosc’s eyes departed from queen Olga’s eyes, tilted his head in a sort of nod, and agreed the next moment. His antics; in the end, made her lips form a smile, and her eyes showed appreciation. “Very well, afterwards, we can feast.”

Her voice had power within, and as she spoke, a young bunny male warrior with a slim figure and looked down directly at Ciemnosc appeared from the main hall’s entrance. However, that was when queen Olga spoke some words aloud. “Get down at this moment and stop playing around before Milord Ciemnosc decides to break your back… at the very least.”

Thud, pom pom…

The young bunny warrior suddenly fell to the floor. The voice of the queen made the Conflagrate realm 10th stage warrior not only lose concentration to keep flying, it even disrupted the Power Energy within his own body!

“Ah! Yes, yes. Sorry aunty Olga, queen Olga.” The young male bunny said, picking himself up and patting his shoulders. His torso was mostly bare naked, though it was more of an exhibitionist’s outfit, which made Ciemnosc awkward to know he was sparring against such. When the queen saw that, she elaborated a little to get those discomforting feelings out of his being.

“He is a little nephew of mine. Just several decades ago, he showed an incredible future, so he is being nurtured. He is… a bit too much of a showoff, Milord Ciemnosc. So I hope that besides seeing your power and using it to sign off our alliance, you can also put him in his place a little? You can break as many bones as he has, just not the… virile parts.”

“...” Ciemnosc said nothing and looked at the queen with his neck going rigid. After looking at her quietly for a few long seconds, he spoke in a calm tone. “It just so happens that I also like this type of t-... of learning for those who follow me. I understand.”

“...” Queen Olga looked back at him after looking at her kingdom’s most promising warrior with strictness in her eyes. She looked at his eyes with their faces so close to each other. After looking at one another for a long, almost uncomfortable-to-watch time, she nodded and patted Ciemnosc’s right shoulder before taking her seat once again.

… The fight started simply. Ciemnosc and the young warrior directly sparred in front of the queen. There was no use of Power Energy at the beginning. The young warrior simply made use of his flight, somewhat, and of his body’s power. As a Beast Race, he of course had more bodily strength than a human. So it wasn’t a surprise when the young warrior ended up showing Ciemnosc a bodily strength of almost 5,000 kg without the use of Power Energy.

Ciemnosc, however, was someone who had almost double that amount of bodily strength since the start of his path in the cultivation world. Knowing how to amass 8,000 kg or less however he wished before, he easily matched the young warrior’s bodily strength from time to time with each bout and each exchange of blows.

The very first 10 minutes of the sparring session were spent like this. One would test the other, but it was mostly the young warrior who was making a move, not testing but challenging Ciemnosc more and more with each further bout. No Power Energy was used, but the Conflagrate realm 10th stage young warrior showed its worth, despite being overwhelmed by Ciemnosc’s strength just a little more than his own in the end.

When those 10 minutes went by and the young warrior couldn’t best Ciemnosc in any way with his bodily strength, not knowing Ciemnosc counted with 16,000 kg of bodily strength if he wanted to go all out, the young warrior began using his Power Energy in the sparring. His body flew faster and slightly nimbler as it became wrapped up by Power Energy, and his fists, kicks and body slams became much more sturdy. They were even becoming heavy hits for Ciemnosc.

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Ciemnosc could just level his own battle prowess without reducing his cultivation base, limiting it, to a certain level in which he would just— plainly explained —make use of his limited Power Energy. Unlike before when he had to lower his own cultivation base, he was fighting this young warrior as if he was in the Phrenic realm 10th stage.

Naturally, he couldn’t do the same back then, and could only fight Spirit Gathering realm cultivators. But ever since his breakthrough into the Spirit Gathering realm, even if Ciemnosc wanted to just use his bodily strength and no cultivation base at all. He could even defeat all Phrenic realm cultivators without a problem. While Spirit Gathering realm cultivators weren’t even able to harm him with a Mortal weapon. That powerful and resistant his body had become.

When the time came, Ciemnosc didn’t shy away. His dark Power Energy was shown to the eyes of the many eyes within the main hall. Little cheers and some laughable yelling of encouragement were given to the sparring partners by the floral-dressed maidens and by some of the leaders of organizations respectively.

After the Power Energy was added to the equation, there was naturally a fast defeat on the young warrior’s side. His every move, fist, kick, technique, and flashing glows of Pure Energy were all deflected by Ciemnosc merely as he threw his body around and swung his arms or legs. Even when he allowed some to directly hit his body, he was just fine with only his modern clothes getting the worse end of it.

By the time the young warrior had his torso mostly broken and ruined, yet with a bloody smile on his face while lying on the ground, Ciemnosc’s torso was thoroughly bare, and his modern uniform was gone. The young and innocent within the main hall knew a true man’sappearance for the first time, and blushed; blushed a lot.

Clap, clap, clap…

“Milord Ciemnosc, that was an incredible feat! We have seen, I assure you, and there is no reason for us to deny such a welcoming ally to our Race.” After the spar was over, queen Olga stood up from her seat, and the rest could only follow. After she said such words to Ciemnosc, she turned her head to look at the young warrior writhing in pain on the floor before coldly ordering, “Bring him out to the sun, let him heal on his own for a few months.”

“... Uhm, my queen…” A bunch of servants came in, along with some attendants carrying long tables. They had to either be a lot or very long with how many people were in this main hall. But one of the servants who used their Spirit Sense to evaluate the young warrior hesitated but still tried saying something.

“What is it?” Queen Olga asked the servant without appearing disturbed or impatient, simply demanding for the hesitating one to speak up or shut up without the need for a single extra word. The servant gulped down before answering while adverting their gaze to the young warrior in pain, “He might take more than 2 years to heal.”

“Good…” Queen Olga was speechless. She looked at the young warrior even as her Spirit Sense was all over the latter. Once she was done giving a little inspection, she looked at Ciemnosc without blinking.

Ciemnosc: ┐(´•_•`)┌ ’へ’）)

“Aheum,” queen Olga looked at the clear and innocent expressions of the monster of a being that Ciemnosc is before twisting her neck to look around. Once she saw the rest of the attendants already setting the tables, she turned her head to face Ciemnosc again, who was looking around and was clearly silently praising the incredible work of placing a couple tens of tables with such cooperation. He even saw potential…

“Milord Ciemnosc, are you hungry?” Queen Olga asked, but that only made Ciemnosc tilt his head to the left, his slightly pale meaty lips almost pouting. “As a queen or king, I thought you would be much… more… dignified?”

“Hm,” queen Olga smirked, her lips forming a precious sight of her lips pressed together and marks of powerful smiles at the immediate corners of her mouth. “Milord, there is a whole world out there. What we have in this little broken place is but the beginning. Compared to whatever the real history of this world is, much before what the current records can imagine, what are we?”

“...” Ciemnosc looked at her, dazed. It was not that he was amazed by her words. He just found beauty in them. As she felt herself drowning more and more in his eyes, queen Olga used her entire sheer willpower to draw herself away from them, then yelled as she took steps forward and to everyone in the main hall.

“Let the feast begin!” Reverberating, her voice sounded everywhere, and some actual cheers echoed through the main hall just as a follow-up and in anticipation for the feat to be held. Without any delay, like everyone was in a market instead of a place of utmost importance. They stood up from their seats, walked together or alone towards the dining tables in front of the queen’s seat, and accommodated themselves however they wanted.

Soon, Torme came to Ciemnosc’s side and dragged him to sit at the same table as the queen, who would be facing him across the dining table. Torme sat at his left, however, and to his right was the king of a clan of deers… Some moments passed as the chatter between friends and, who knew, maybe even family members that have joined in the past; continued.

And just when everything was getting warmer, and the diner seemed to become a place of family, not one of business or royalty like that of ordinary people, the doors to the main hall were opened. From outside, dozens of attendants came in with both large and small plates on their palms. And right away, Ciemnosc’s eyes widened when he specifically scanned through some of the plates which were being delivered to each dining table.

Tlack tlacka tlack.

A whole lot of plates were placed at the table where both Ciemnosc and queen were seated at. Just before their lids were opened, Torme grabbed Ciemnosc’s left hand and placed it on her right thigh. Looking at her, Torme showed eyes that reminded him of the talk they had before going through the barrier. It was then that the lids of all the plates were opened.

Flesh appeared, some in its raw state, and others cooked or bathed in their own juices as broth, soup, or even drinks. There were all kinds of meat, and they could be differentiated easily by Ciemnosc. Especially the human meat that was both raw and cooked on the table. Ciemnosc immediately breathed sharply in with his nose. He knew and felt all eyes on him.

“These are some of the… ‘souvenirs’ we gained from the eastern forces just a couple of months ago. Milord Ciemnosc… what would you do?” Queen Olga wasn’t being pushy as she spoke of this remains’ origins, nor pressuring him to take a bite. She simply spoke of the truth, she had nothing to hide, and Ciemnosc could tell.

‘What will I do?’ Ciemnosc thought, looked at queen Olga amidst the many pairs of eyes on him, including Torme’s. It was then that Ciemnosc exclaimed. His left hand moved over to pick up a piece of human flesh. He grasped it up with his fingers with slight delicateness. Before putting it in his mouth and chewing, then passing it to his stomach down his throat, and then picking another, and another, and then many more!

The dinner proceeded without any more surprises. The beasts around him were all equally surprised and exalted to one another at seeing his behavior even if it meant barbaric in case he was actually human. But after the initial pleasant surprise, everyone else got to feast on their own plates. To them, eating was the same as any ordinary person would place chicken, rabbits, deer and birds on their dining plate. But it would only be non-savage if it came from a powerful cultivator.

In this case, Ciemnosc could feel the importance placed upon him, not because of what they believe and seen from him, but also from what they’ve been… ‘listening to’. Nature was their true ally through the time they have become Beast Races and not just humanoid Creatures.

The feast that was the most important here, ignoring the Conflagrate realm Creatures that were being served, it was the human Obsidiafying realm experts that were the main dish in this main hall’s feast. Ciemnosc could feel its Power Energy enter his body. It was much less than any Obsidiafying realm cultivator he had eaten before. While he only got to take a bite from Yolin, who was at the peak of this cultivation world.

Amidst the feast, the chatting and murmuring didn’t stop, it was all in Ciemnosc’s ears, but he was focused on cultivating while eating and… simply focused on enjoying this feat well-reserved for him. Queen Olga cleaned her chin from some human blood before addressing Ciemnosc, her voice pretty casual yet as powerful as always, “So, Milord Ciemnosc. I heard from Little Torme that you have somehow… not bedded anyone yet?”

“...” The betrayal… Ciemnosc could feel it. He didn’t even need to look at Torme to know she was grinning, and looking lustfully at him on purpose. Seeing queen Olga smile teasingly and barely able to restrain herself, however, as she looked at Torme had Ciemnosc feel like it would be fine to let it pass. But queen Olga would, of course, not let it pass.

“You know Milord Ciemnosc, if you are interested in any bedding matters. Any of these fine little girls here will be your teacher as you will be theirs.” Queen Olga looked at the floral-dressed maidens a few seats to Ciemnosc’s right, gesturing towards them and looking at him with her large, tantalizing eyes. “She is 10, this one 13, about your age, no?”

“Milord, we would be willing to teach you… if you teach us gently, too.” One little brave girl responded, her face crimsoner than the floors of a burning hell itself. Her eyes were deadly set on Ciemnosc’s eyes to see his reaction, but all she saw was some human flesh in his mouth and his mouth agape.

“I think… I would end up killing them if I do… …?” Ciemnosc commented slightly. The small ones and queen Olga didn’t understand, but Torme’s cheeks turned slightly red. Not red blood, but rather a glow, a light of red color. Only that could be her blushing with how her darkish blue skin was.

“Torme, what does he mean?” Somehow, for some goddamn reason, queen Olga seemed not to understand from where Milord Ciemnosc’s words were coming. Even though the little ones took a few tens of seconds to figure out, they now also had their mouths agape. Would it be that terrible? What a curse… and a blessing!

‘Hmm, but thinking more clearly… isn’t it possible for cultivators to resist such… inconveniences? Queen Olga is right. We have sooo much to learn.’ Thought a few ambitious young girls with their pink dresses with floral designs as they lowered their spoons and thought seriously upon the matter in the middle of the feast.

…