*Rumble*
Dirk woke up as he felt a small vibration in the ship. Taking a deep breath, he rose from the bed and shook the girl who was wrapped around him like a body suit.
“Hey, we’re here.”
“...Fine.”
Pandora forced herself up, spending a few minutes to gradually wake.
After getting ready, both of them headed out of their master bedroom and went out on the deck. The Sky King had landed.
Both of them felt the wind on their faces as they stood at the edge of the deck, looking down to see the surroundings.
Below them, there was a huge caravan. With wagons and several dozen people all covered in the same exact uniform, they all looked up at the Sky King with undisguised awe on their faces, awe that could barely be seen through their black masks.
“Let’s go greet my Shadow Troop.”
Pandora smiled and waved Dirk along, both of them descending a long platform that lowered from the side of the ship.
As they walked down, the huge gate to the hangar deck also opened, lowering a platform that allowed them immediate access to the interior. Once it finished, Pandora arrived.
The Shadow Troop assembled before her, lined up perfectly and without the slightest sound. Dirk frowned while looking at them.
When he looked at this group, he felt threatened. They gave of an impossibly sharp aura, one that he had only felt from a few people in this world, and those were people who stood at the pinnacle of power.
But as he got even closer, he noticed that it wasn’t the group giving off this aura. In fact, the aura was incredibly faint. He couldn’t quite pinpoint it, only his instincts giving him an idea that someone in this group was atrociously skilled in the art of combat, someone that probably surpassed him.
Perhaps Pandora had gotten her hands on someone of such skill level that would follow her every command, or perhaps that person had infiltrated the group to keep an eye on her.
Dirk narrowed his eyes. His realizations had only taken a few seconds. And in that time, it seemed like the culprit had realized that he was about to be found out.
Even Pandora frowned, taking a look at Dirk in concern. She knew that he couldn’t possibly feel threatened by this group, so something else had to be going on.
Before either of them could do anything though, Dirk suddenly heard a voice in his mind.
“Relax, kid. It’s me. Just play it cool. I’m only here to keep an eye on my lovely granddaughter.”
“...”
Dirk was quickly stunned, his cheek twitching. Then, he sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
Pandora asked, causing him to shake his head.
“Nothing. How did you raise this troop?”
“The Dark Kingdom naturally has its own secret forces. I just recruited some of these people for my own cause. They all come from one of our families that secretly raises generations of assassins, all of them capable of being soul-bound and operating in the dark at all times. Of course, they aren’t purely an assassination force. They’re a very comprehensive troop capable of carrying out any task I may need, from establishing businesses to carrying out suicide missions. And I naturally have all of them soul-bound to my Book of Life. I hold them in the palm of my hands.”
She answered him in English, preventing all of her troops in front of her from understanding her.
Dirk nodded at her words, but his mind was on the cheeky old man who had spoken to him earlier.
Smiling, Pandora called.
“Captain.”
“Your Majesty.”
A man appeared by her side, looking no different from all the others but holding a position above them.
“Load all supplies and personnel. Nova will give you all a tour after we have boarded. Take as much time as you need and report to me in the command center when you’re finished.”
“Understood.”
With a bow, the Captain returned to the group and gave out orders. Nova also stepped out and guided them.
All the wagons were hauled into the hangar deck, the troop moving with frightening efficiency. It only took an hour to load everything, after which the platforms raised, the gates closed, and the Sky King took off into the atmosphere.
After rising to about 10 thousand feet, the ship maintained its altitude and hovered.
Dirk and Pandora stayed in the command center, discussing various topics about the trip. A few hours passed like this before the Captain finally arrived.
“Your Majesty.”
“Captain. Tell me, how many people did you bring?”
“63 people specializing in various fields. Cooks, businessmen, enchanters, forgemasters, strategic advisors, doctors, general workers, and assassins. There are more than enough mages to cover all the elements and no shortage of Knights with a minimum of Rank 5 strength.”
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“Good. Enough to establish a foothold in another empire. For now I want you get familiar with the Sky King. It will be our home and base of operations for the foreseeable future. Organize all our supplies as well, and tell your men to make themselves comfortable. There is more than enough room for everyone and then some.”
“Understood.”
“Then go ahead. We set off tonight, but the trip isn’t short. Come find me in two days. I’ll have a briefing for you then. You can direct any other questions to Nova.”
“Understood.”
The Captain excused himself, leaving the command center. With that, Pandora looked at the map in front of her.
Dirk did as well. On it was a plotted path to the edge of the Otherworld.
Unlike the Dark Kingdom and Horizon Empire, the Elven territories weren’t close. There was a massive mountain range dividing the two, including an area dominated by monsters that they would have to avoid.
While the Dark Kingdom and World Tree did in fact engage in trade and diplomacy, they did so through powerful teleporters. Naturally, the Sky King couldn’t take any teleporters, so they had to spend more time flying there.
Not only that, but the Otherworld was special. Its name implied that it was separate from the rest of the world, and that wasn’t exactly false.
The Otherworld was a phenomenon generated by the World Tree. Like how Dungeons had portals that led to an isolated space, the Otherworld was one massive isolated space. Of course, a Dungeon couldn’t possibly match its scale, but they could be thought of in the same way.
The Otherworld had special properties that allowed it to interact with the world in a rather omniscient way. For example, a teleporter in the Otherworld could easily connect to a teleporter in the Dwarven Haven, even though they were basically on opposite sides of the world.
It was like the Otherworld could make contact with any other point in the world, as if it were another dimension entirely. However, that only applied when exiting the Otherworld. In order to get into the Otherworld, you had to travel the distance to arrive at its border territory and cross into its Domain, no different from any other empire.
The principles behind the function of the Otherworld were mysterious to all but the most informed. Pandora happened to know more than the average because the Dark Kingdom naturally had inside information on it.
She knew that the Otherworld dimension was generated by the World Tree itself. She knew that it utilized principles that were mastered by the Fairies, but its application was dialed down several magnitudes because the Elves were unable to steal the full magical knowledge related to it.
She also knew that the Otherworld was directly affected by the Dragon Lair of Air, which was within its Domain. How it was affected was unknown.
She knew that Elves actually became weaker when they left the Otherworld, and the World Tree was directly responsible for allowing the Elves to break past certain limits in their power. This power was a core function of the World Tree and directly related to the nature of the Otherworld. She theorized that Elves were intrinsically tied to the World Tree somehow.
And that was where her knowledge ended. Anything deeper and she would be touching upon the topmost secrets of the World Tree, things that only its rulers knew.
For example, there was a legend that the Elves and Fairies had been unified at one point in history, directly connected together in a symbiotic relationship. This was where Familiars had come from. It was a contract between a Fairy and an Elf that raised both of their power levels and could even combine their affinities.
But there was a civil war, and the World Tree was established after the two races split. The Fairies also disappeared from the world. To actually make contact with the Fairies was extremely difficult now.
And the legend stopped there, leaving many unanswered questions. Why didn’t the power levels of the two empires fall? How did they survive without each other? Where did the Fairies go? What is the World Tree and how did it come into being? Why did they have a civil war in the first place?
These were all questions Pandora wanted to know the answer to. To know them would give her power and leverage over both races. It could also grant her even more personal magical power.
It was known that Elves were fantastic mages, having a much higher average affinity for the elements than humans. Only Dwarves could match them, but they were more specialized toward the Earth and Fire elements.
And the very concept of a Domain came from the Elves. They were the masters in that field.
So to learn the secrets behind the conception of that kind of power, as well as its pinnacle manifestation, would bring her incalculable benefits. If her Domain could mimic the Domain of the World Tree, she would be impossibly powerful. It was that kind of knowledge that could create a Tier 8.
But such knowledge wasn’t easily acquired. She knew that, and right now, her gateway to that realm was the Key Artifact.
Her determination to acquire those Artifacts couldn’t be described with mere words. After her failure that became a life changing boon to Exos, she had subtly changed, becoming slightly more extreme. She felt that it was her success that would save this world and bring it into the balance that had been broken due to the War Cataclysma. And to fail meant that others would acquire the power to destroy this world, which she couldn’t allow.
She wouldn’t allow others to get in her way. Even now she was researching the Soul. If another case like Exos’ arose, she wanted to be able to extract the Key Artifacts’ souls from another person. She didn’t care if she had to destroy their soul in the process. The Key Artifact would be hers.
Of course, those waters were too deep for her right now. She was barely scratching the surface, and she knew that she needed Dirk’s help as well. They both had Pure Souls, and only they could poke into the deepest secrets of the soul and analyze it. Plus, she had a feeling that the Light and Dark Elements played an equal part in the construction of the soul, alongside Anima. She couldn’t do without him.
But it was insurance for the future. She now knew that failure was a very real possibility. There was no such thing as overpreparing. Nothing short of wiping out entire Empires would stop her.
But until then, she simply needed to get into the Otherworld and acquire information. The first step was finding the Key Artifact.
And perhaps just as important would be inserting herself into the faction conflicts surrounding the War.
The Sovereign Church, and their desire to sabotage the Dragons.
The Dragons and their response to the Primordials.
The very nature of the War itself.
It was a conflict that she would need to enter. Neither the Horizon Empire nor the Dark Kingdom allowed the presence of the Sovereign Church, so she felt that the Otherworld would be the place to begin interfering.
To do so would bring upon far more danger. Unlike on Earth, she couldn’t simply take over organizations or accumulate until she had an entire army to do battle for her. Calling this Shadow troop was already activating most of the cards she had. If she had even a few more years, she would be far more prepared. There would be very little stopping her from toppling entire governments then.
But she had to grow as she fought now, carefully managing her assets and her enemies, riding a fine line between offending the most powerful people in the world and getting what she wanted.
Of course, not even the Shadow Troop could compare to her greatest ally, the most important person to her and her plans.
Pandora suddenly looked over at Dirk, smiling as she gazed up at his blindfolded face.
“I love you.”
“Huh?”
Dirk was confused for a moment before Pandora lunged over and kissed him.
To the side, Exos didn’t even notice, while Nova felt her eye twitch inexplicably.
All the while, the Sky King shuttled through the atmosphere, flying them toward those deep waters full of terrible conflict and constant danger.
She was excited just thinking about it.