As they said, an elder at home was akin to a treasure. Meanwhile, Sol had the eldest being in the entire universe housed right in his soul. It would have been stupidity to not make use of this tremendous chance and learn from Adam.
Sol had learned many things over this short period of super growth, new skills new power, and a way to cover the entirety of the capital with his power.
The skill he was trying to learn was what Adam referred to as The World. Adam developed this skill based on his own World Seed when he was human. Since Sol had a slightly similar seed. Adam judged it would be possible for Sol to learn it.
He was right. Sol had been able to learn the basics very fast. But Sol underestimated just how powerful The World was.
When Sol unleashed his version of The World, a perfect domain enveloped him where absolutely no secret could be hidden from him. Though it sounded cool, the sudden influx of all knowledge and information of the minutest details that were enclosed within this domain flooded right into his brain. The larger the domain, the higher the information flux.
This was just the first stage of the skill. According to Adam, in the later stages, Sol should be able to analyze all laws in the domain and have absolute control over them.
This skill only served to tell Sol how much of a monster Adam was. Even with all of his capabilities that transcended an ordinary King, Sol had been positively overwhelmed by that power. But Adam had been supposedly a mortal when he obtained that skill.
From what Adam told him, he had managed to awaken and support [The World] thanks to receiving enlightenment from Buddha himself.
In all honesty, his words only seemed like pure bullshit to Sol. But after everything he had seen, he could only acknowledge the truth.
Since Sol did not have the luck of receiving enlightenment from a heavenly being, the skill was very taxing on his mind and he generally only kept it up for a limited amount of time. However, he always made sure to repeatedly cast and maintain the skill every one or two hours.
Even when he was discussing with other people, the skill was still kept on in the background. From what he was seeing now, that seemed to be a good decision.
“Anything the matter?” Camelia asked as she saw an amused smile stretch on his face.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Nothing important. Only a bunch of rats.” Sol stopped paying any heed to their presence after sensing only three Dukes among them.
There was no need for him to waste his precious time on pests. He had exterminators specialized in dealing with such problems.
***
In front of the Capital gate, a small group of merchants were negotiating with the guards.
“From what I remember, the entry fee was only 3 gold. Please, we already lost some merchandise to the beasts on the road. Our income will diminish greatly.”
One of the merchants, a pot-bellied dwarf with a large red beard, was wiping his sweat as he begged the guards. Said guards only directed looks of ridicule at him, however.
“The entry fee has increased to 10 gold. Pay up or beat it. You are slowing down everyone else,” The guard answered with a look of arrogance and derision.
Ever since their victory against Wratharis, there have been more and more caravans regularly entering Lustburg.
In the past, the atmosphere had been drastically different. Lustburg was partially dependent on dwarven steel so the guard acted very respectfully to the dwarven merchants who came to Lustburg. But since the first embargo by Greed Dike; the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated rapidly.
If Lustburg was not a melting pot of different species, dwarves would most likely have not even been allowed entry to the capital.
Even so, the taxes for dwarves merchants of Greed Dike had increased tremendously. Meanwhile, the native dwarves of Lustburg were spared from such discrimination.
The merchant gritted his teeth. He could see that no one would help him so he ultimately decided to give up.
He threw a small pouch at the guard, who caught it with a victorious smile.
“If you had the money, you should have just given it sooner,” Snickering, the guard finally stepped aside, allowing the convoy entry.
“Remember. Don’t cause any trouble. We have our eyes on you. You should register with the merchant guild. The pass you received will only work for one week.” He gave them one last look before ignoring them altogether. He returned to his work, collecting the entrance fee from the others who required entry into the capital.
The merchant gave a warm smile and nodded repeatedly, assuring them that he knew the proper procedures, before entering through the gate with his group.
It was a group composed of ten dwarves. Seven were armed guards, while the last three were the merchant, his wife, and his daughter.
The small caravan advanced slowly through the street reserved for them, and the merchant showed a merry mood as he sat inside the coach with his daughter and wife.
“Dear, do you plan to go to the merchant guild now?” The wife had relatively tanned skin and a slim body. Her mouth spewed words of love but her eyes were as calm as a stagnant lake.
The merchant dwarf shook his head, “We don’t need to. After all— one week will be more than enough for us.”
A cold laugh escaped his merry lips, his eyes focused on the tower in the distance. The phase one of the plan went quite well. He was more than a bit disappointed in Lustburg’s defense. The prince had overestimated these buffoons.
What the dwarves didn’t know was that the guard who had extorted money from them was showing an equally cold smile as he observed the slowly advancing caravan from behind. With a silent whisper, he transmitted a message regarding the intruding dwarves.