Mila
Mila only had 2% left until full mastery of her Devil’s Contract skill. Previously it had been her most mastered, but there was no good way of training it without actually making contracts and she couldn’t just make and break contracts like crazy. She had an image to maintain.
It did help, however, that the Territory of New Raphaiya was growing, as she made a new contract with every cultivator who came, but the growing nature of the Territory was also a problem.
Hira had two other native factions, the Rebels and the Imperial Generals, and both wanted Roland Raphaiya dead.
The week before, Roland and his party had been attacked by five members of the rebel forces while out hunting and, while they had managed to defend themselves, one of their assailants had gotten away.
Mila had thus been babysitting the prince ever since, as Aalam needed him to maintain the Territory. Though, if Mila were being honest with herself, it was also because she rather liked the prince’s party. They’d all lived pretty hard lives, but they were quite innocent and truly believed they could change things for the better.
“So, the monkey lizard things are called karthacs?” Mila asked as she walked through the jungle with the group, teaching the two rangers, the mage, and the warrior how to move quietly, even if she wasn’t doing so with her voice.
Their goal was to hunt monsters so the party could level up, and monsters tended to attack humans, so being quiet wasn’t beneficial at the moment, but it would be later, so the party members were all seriously trying to learn.
“Monkey lizards?” Benido the Barrier Mage asked.
“Two different types of animals where I come from,” Mila explained as she showed Conido, Benido’s younger brother, where he had left obvious footprints. “Lizards are cold blooded and have scales, while monkeys are genetically similar to humans.”
“Genetically?” Uliana asked, as Mila had used the English word. She was following Mila’s directions on how to move quietly and not leave a trail the best, though it was mostly because she was the lightest.
“Do you guys have the concept of evolution on this planet?” Mila asked. “I don’t know the right word in your language. It’s where creatures become different over time due to survival of the fittest, new species forming when alternative characteristics become more dominant due to environmental change.”
She got a lot of blank looks.
“Where do you think the different species on your planet come from?”
“From the gods, of course,” Roland said, as if speaking to a simpleton. “All the species were fully formed by the gods and then placed on the land and in the sea. This was confirmed in the tutorial.”
“Damn this planet is backwards.” Mila looked up at the jungle canopy, really quite happy the temple had been disabled in Earth’s tutorials as she could just imagine how the religious hardliners would have reacted. “I miss the internet—and television. You all haven’t even invented the printing press, so there aren’t even novels to read.”
Roland was about to respond to her, likely to ask what a printing press was, but he was instead distracted by something and raised his hand, calling for a halt to their movement.
Mila strained her senses, but, as he was already level 6, his effective Perception stat was about the same as hers, even with her second uniqueness, and, unlike her, he had a sensing skill.
“I think I hear the sound of a group talking, but I can’t quite make out what they are saying and the voices are unnaturally deep.” Roland sounded nervous, which Mila respected, as it showed he wasn’t a hotheaded idiot. “Shadow, could you go take a quick look. I think it might be more rebels.”
Mila nodded, projecting more calm than she actually felt. “Move east and move quietly. Stealth over speed. I’ll find you again using our bonds.”
Then she wrapped herself in her Law Egg of Obfuscation and moved southwest, to where Roland had heard the talking, moving fast. About twenty seconds later her own senses caught the speaking voices and she slowed down. Then, about half a minute later, she could see them.
It was a large group, twenty or more, and they weren’t completely human. They looked like werewolves, though more Teen Wolf werewolf than full on beast, with extra hair, extended lower jaws, and mouths full of teeth.
They were also definitely hunting Roland.
A few, who obviously had scouting classes, were leading the others directly in the direction she’d come from and, as she hid behind a tree, she could hear a little of their conversation.
“I hate the jungle. So many smells,” one female said.
“It’s less overwhelming if you practice,” one of the males, who was carrying a large broadsword, responded.
“Do you think the prince’s soul will have a stronger effect when sacrificed?” another of the males asked, this one obviously an archer.
“It should,” a female wearing a mage robe answered, the one in the group with the darkest skin. “The texts retrieved from the inheritance spoke of bloodlines increasing a sacrifice’s potency. But you won’t get to enjoy it, Brenet, his soul and that of the princess are both mine.”
“Yes, my lady,” the archer named Brenet responded.
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“Halt,” one of the scouts, a male wearing a set of 9 different daggers, raised his hand. “One of them split from the group and is right behind that tree.”
* * *
Roland
The Mistress of Oaths and Deception had been gone for too long and Roland didn’t like it. He was faster than her now that he’d leveled up a few times—not to mention how he had a movement skill while she didn’t—but Benido as a mage and Conido as a strength focused axe warrior were not, so she should have been able to catch up easily, especially given they weren’t moving at the two brothers’ max speed.
He also didn’t understand why she’d had them move east. They’d been hunting in the jungle on the south side of their Territory, so moving east would bring them closer to where the no longer functioning Conquest Pillar of the undead was located, but there were no towns around there anymore, no place to get help.
Then, following a game trail, they entered into a small clearing, an area of low underbrush between seven very large trees, and Roland realized why she’d sent them there.
Sitting crosslegged in the center of the clearing was an extremely tall commoner-looking man with blueish black hair and almost orange eyes. He was wearing black pants and a black short sleeve shirt, which Roland recognized as having belonged to the undead leader. And on his left hand was a scaled blue fingerless glove which Roland couldn’t sense anything special from, its obvious quality and his experience with the Mistress of Oaths and Deception’s earrings making him think it was a very high grade artifact.
The man’s aura was strong, rivaling the Mistress of Oaths and Deception for the strongest he’d ever seen, and being in his presence made Roland want to bow while, from her aura, he was pretty sure his sister was fighting the urge to rip off her clothes.
They hadn’t spotted him as he was just sitting there meditating, not making any other sounds than slowly breathing, but he wasn’t trying to hide his presence. His aura spread throughout the clearing and beyond. It was just hard to notice as, other than the lust inducing and suppressing effects, it felt no different than the natural world, at least to Roland.
A sudden inspiration hit him and Roland took a look at the status page for his Territory.
New Raphaiya (157 km^2)
The Territory of Lord Roland Raphaiya, taking up a large chunk of the Forest of the Ashen Mistress.
Lord: Roland Raphaiya
Overlord: Heavenly Spark Soul King
Benefits to humanoid population:
Qi, Mana, and Psyforce regeneration +6.25%
Qi, Mana, and Psyforce regeneration +6.25% further when in the rain
Affinity for all Laws +12.5%
The affinity for all Laws benefit in his Territory had doubled.
Then Roland quickly looked at his own status page.
Name: Roland Raphaiya
Level: 6
Race: Human Skirmisher (F-Uncommon)
Bloodline: Martial Lord (Heroic)
Abilities
Spring Step Agility (Rare)
Prodigy of the Blade (Epic)
Class: Raindrop Ranger (F-Rare)
Skills
Power Attack (F-Rare) 13% mastered
Water Walk (F-Rare) 16% mastered
Lord (F-Rare) 7% mastered
Sound of a Raindrop (F-Rare) 8% mastered
Laws
Law Egg of Rain - Early
Stats
Strength: 154
Agility: 234
Endurance: 148
Toughness: 130
Vitality: 130
Perception: 184
Magic: 146
Spirit: 108
Soul: 110
Aura: 28
Attunement: 28
Luck: 28
Free Stats: 0
Soulstructures:
Lower Dantian: 1 Large Core Container
Middle Dantian: 1 Large Mana Well
Upper Dantian: 1 Medium Mental Forge
Uniqueness:
Perception Agent
Territory:
New Raphaiya
Boons:
Personal Slave of the Heavenly Spark Soul King: Increase the effectiveness of the Soul and Attunement stats by 6.25% and raise affinity with all Laws by 12.5%.
Something about the Heavenly Spark Soul King had changed, likely the man advancing to F rank, and that change had resulted in a huge gain for Roland, his status as a slave earning him more than even his class effects when not in the rain.
The Heavenly Spark Soul King made a gesture and four small spirals of air formed in front of him, empowered by some sort of powerful Law Egg of the wind element. Then, five seconds later, the underbrush in those four spots was completely clear, the ground just dirt like where the Heavenly Spark Soul King was sitting himself.
The wind spirals then stopped and the Heavenly Spark Soul King made a gesture Roland interpreted as inviting them to sit down.
Roland wondered for a second why the man didn’t just speak, but then he remembered that the two monsters were supposedly reborn humans from another world.
The Mistress of Oaths and Deception obviously wasn’t completely familiar with their language, likely having some sort of skill or ability which had helped her quickly adapt to the point she could fake being a native, but the Heavenly Spark Soul King, a true combatant, wouldn’t have wasted one of his limited slots on something like that.
They didn’t know his language and he most likely didn’t know theirs.
Quickly, Roland sat down, motioning for his party to do the same, and they joined him.
It was awkward for a bit, and they didn’t feel comfortable speaking amongst themselves, but then, about twenty seconds later, Roland heard something, and, three seconds after that, he could tell what it was.
Transformed rebels, empowered from sacrificing the lives of hundreds of his citizens, growling and running through the jungle.
The Heavenly Spark Soul King raised his left hand and five golden needles appeared from seemingly nowhere, each attuned to a different mana type—one each for fire, water, earth, air, and metal. The needles then moved at rapid speed, drawing out a set of intricate runes around all of them which Roland couldn’t understand at all, each element seemingly empowered by a different Law. Then, after eight seconds, Roland’s magical senses were all cut off roughly 4 meters away from the Heavenly Spark Soul King and the five needles flew back to the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s left hand, disappearing.
About a second passed with just noise, but then the Mistress of Oaths and Deception ran into the clearing and right through whatever barrier the Heavenly Spark Soul King had erected, moving to stand right behind her master.
Then 26 beastmen rebels entered into the clearing and all quickly stopped to look at the barrier in front of them.
“We will give you one chance to surrender without pain,” the Mistress of Oaths and Deception called out, the barrier not doing anything to block sound or, apparently, her contract magic judging by the way most of the beastmen seemed to be listening to something, likely receiving their System messages as if they were spoken verbally. One common woman dressed like a mage, however, was instead reading, showing a higher level of education. “Should you force Guardian’s hands, you will not like the result.”