Whew…It’s finally done. I had just put the finishing touches on a small stone furnace and workbench I had made through the crafting menu. The construction costs of the furnace was two hundred stone and ten clay, while the bench required five logs and ten plant fibre ropes. I had chosen to make the furnace and workbench for one reason; most of the basic things I would need to create seemed to rely on these two production items. So because of that, I spent the better part of the last two days gathering materials for the furnace and cutting down logs while taking care of my little make-shift base whenever I had the free time. I also leveled up a number of my skills. I initially thought improving my skills would open up the rest of the menu of my terminal, but surprisingly I still couldn’t use Asset Manager or EZ-Build yet.
The furnace had been something I particularly couldn’t wait to make. I still didn’t have a weapon yet besides Ol’ Reliable and a bow called Silent Whisper I put together the other day. With my sword mastery skill I figured that getting my hands on an actual sword should increase my chances of surviving greatly. Most people would think that making a proper set of armour should be prioritized first, but that required that I kill something big enough to give me a good supply of hide or leather. That’s not such a big deal in video games, where you can re-spawn and don’t have to worry about permanently dying, but this is real life. I can’t afford to take unnecessary risks. Realistically, I probably wouldn’t be strong enough to feel comfortable fighting for some time. I also wasn’t sure what type of armour my class would even use. If I was a knight or a mage, I could probably make an educated guess as to what type I would use but sovereign? My school uniform will just have to do for now.
Anyways, it became pretty obvious that I needed a ton of iron to make a sword and a blacksmith’s bench. There was a problem with that though. Iron was something I had yet to find around the river banks or lake. I looked at the map and decided that my best shot at finding minerals would probably be in the wasteland, but The House’s warning worried me. In the end, I had decided that this was a risk I was going to have to take if I was ever going to make any forward progress. Hopefully with my luck stat being what it is, I’ll find what I’m looking for and be back home before anything bad could happen to me. In hindsight, I should probably stop jinxing myself.
Lucky and I had been walking for the better part of twenty minutes and finally made it back to the edge of the wasteland. From what I could see, the wasteland was a giant sand pit separated from the rest of the terrain by cliffs. The bottom of the pit was about thirty feet down from where I was currently. I looked at the massive sprawl of dunes and sand in the distance that seemed to go on endlessly. Look at the size of this place…amazing. I never got the chance to leave Japan in my past life and now I’m walking through a desert. Its sheer size made me feel rather small and insignificant, but the awe of seeing such a grand sight buried any of the negative emotions I was having.
Even if my life was in danger, I couldn’t help but be thankful to my host for this opportunity to travel and explore a new world. I felt like an adventurer, off charting the unknown for all of mankind. With giddy thoughts in my head, I started descending the cliff carefully, watching my footing so I wouldn’t slip and plummet to my death. About halfway through our descent, Lucky started growling for some reason so I gave his ears a small rub to help him settle down. At some point I noticed that he had stopped following me, but I figured the dog just needed to rest for a moment and kept climbing down. I was thinking about what kinds of rare minerals I would find hidden in the wasteland and how I would have to map everything out when my happy thoughts we’re suddenly interrupted by someone yelling at me from the direction I had come from.
“Stop!”
I did as I was told but I didn’t see the person who was shouting at me anywhere. I finally spotted a woman with purple hair waving to get my attention from the cliff face above me.
“I’m sorry, am I not allowed down here or something?”
“Do you want to die?!”
“What?” What the hell is this girl talking about?
“Obviously not, I was just looking for-”
“I don’t care what you’re looking for, get back up the cliff idiot! You’re going to lead them right to us! Quickly!”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying lady. Lead what-” The sand around me suddenly exploded, showering me in dirt and filling the air with a cloud of dust that completely obscured my vision. The sand cloud entered my lungs, and I violently kept coughing while I tried to get my bearings back. The cloud eventually dissipated, and I was surprised to find a fuzzy wall of brown in front of me that had somehow appeared from out of nowhere.
Huh, that’s weird. When did this wall get here? Also, why did it get so dark? Did someone turn out the lights or something? I slowly craned my head upwards and instantly regretted my decision to come looking in the wasteland for minerals. My path back out of the wasteland was now blocked by a massive worm that menacingly rose out of the sand. The worm was so large that the monster somehow blocked out the sun behind it completely. Oh... So that's who turned off the lights... Well, I'm f*cked.
“Don’t just stand there! Run!!!” The woman desperately screamed at me but I literally couldn’t move an inch. Every fiber of my being told me I needed to get away from the worm, but my legs would not respond to the repeated alarm bells blaring inside my head.
“GRAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRR!” The worm let out a noise that sounded like it was gurgling rocky earth as it wiggled in the air, contorting its limp body unnaturally until its head was looking directly at me. I quickly cast appraisal on the worm to see what I was dealing with.
Name: (Blank) LVL: 15 Sex: Male
Race: Sand Worm
STR: 8 AGI: 6 INT: 3
CON: 6 DEX: 2 CHR: 1
LUK: 1 WIS: 1
Health: 2100 HP Mana: 1800 MP
Stamina: 210 SP
{Bite: LVL 3} {Earth Crusher: LVL 2} {Gorge: LVL 3} {Seismic Detection: LVL 3} {Tunnel: LVL 3} {Wrap: LVL 2}
F*ck me…The creature before me looked like what would happen if a Sarlacc from Star-Wars had a demented-looking child with a Sandworm from dune. I tried casting taming magic on it but nothing happened, and eventually a prompt appeared with the usual digital chime I had started growing accustomed to.
Spell conditions not met. Creature could not be tamed. Creature currently under the effects of Charm.
What? That’s not fair! Does that mean… I have to fight this thing? I swallowed nervously as I tried to mentally measure the height difference between us. “Nope! Uh-uh. Fuck that, I’m out.” I broke out of my trance and started to move, but suddenly remembered that Lucky had come down here with me. “Get to safety, Lucky!” I quickly shouted as I tried to find the dog in the commotion. Lucky barked from somewhere off in the distance, and I turned in the direction I heard him. Somehow, the dog had retreated back to the top of the cliff and was completely out of danger already. Wow. Talk about loyalty. I tried my best to walk away from the monster calmly, sure that if I panicked the worm would attempt to overtake me immediately. I had probably only taken a few steps when the sand exploded again behind me and once more to my left. My curiosity got the better of me and I took a quick peak, confirming my fears. Shit. I’m completely surrounded. I’m going to die.
“Damn! He’s drawn a crowd of them! Rylix, Ferrix, take the one on the left flank! Salix, Terrix, get the one on the right! Princess; for the love of Xanadu, stay up here and don’t move!” A husky male voice called out from the cliff.
“Yes sir!” A group of people instantly responded to the man who had barked out orders and jumped off the cliff into action, but I didn’t have time to be grateful for their help just yet. The first worm had sensed an opportunity and lunged at me while I was distracted by the shouting. Its large upper body hurtling through the air, leaving me with little time to react. If I didn’t do something immediately the worm was going to swallow me. Just as its pincers we’re about to rip me to pieces, I cast earth wall and ducked behind it. The worm collided with the earth wall, its mandibles taking a good chunk of the wall with it but I had managed to survive.
The worm readjusted itself back to its original position and paused momentarily as it observed my movements. I could tell that my magic spell had surprised the creature, but I doubted the same trick was going to work on it twice. The worm began to coil itself and I knew another strike was coming. I was just about to cast another earth wall to try and protect myself when one of the voice’s I heard earlier screamed. “Out of the way, kid!” A gigantic man yelled from the cliff above me. The man was wearing a spiky helmet and what looked like old samurai armor that was a mix of red or black depending on which part of the set you were looking at. The way he hurtled through the air made him look like a bat out of hell. In one fluid motion, the man leapt of the cliff and impaled the worm through the top of its head with a giant great-sword. The sword sunk into the creature until it was handle deep in the monster’s flesh. The worm howled in pain before falling to the ground with the man still attached to it, and a resounding thud shook the earth. I quickly looked at the other monsters to see if I was still in danger, but the other worms we’re now under attack by different groups of two. I had a moment to catch my breath.
I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, so I went to thank the man who saved me, but hesitated when I got a good look at his face for the first time. Holy crap, that isn't a human! How did I not notice that?! The man on the worm was twice as big as any human I had ever seen, which in hindsight, probably should have been my first clue. A pair of antennae that I initially thought was part of his helmet stuck out of his skull from his forehead. The man had his own pair of frightening mandibles as well and dark beady black eyes that didn’t have pupils. Believe it or not, I was staring at a giant bipedal ant. The two of us observed each other for a while in silence. Eventually the giant-ant person pulled the blade free from its kill with one clean motion and a grunt. I had ever seen. At first I thought he was covered in a scaly red and black suit of armour, but upon getting closer to him I realized that what I was looking at was actually part
I looked over at the first worm that had burst through the ground and could see two more ant people fighting it. One of them had a spear and was keeping the large worm at bay by waving the spear-head around in a large sweeping motion. A female ant person was his battle partner, raining magic attacks down upon the creature from a safe distance while the spear-user kept the worm away from her. “Wind Magic: Razor Wind!” A gust of wind flew towards the worm so fast it was visible, and the worm was instantly covered in cuts. The beast moaned and also collapsed into the dirt. Realizing that the perfect opportunity had arrived, the spear wielder didn’t hesitate and leapt up on top of the worm to finish it off. That’s two down.
The third worm was fighting his own pair of ant-people. A small dual-wielder and a large flail-user we’re fighting wildly and things weren’t going well for this worm monster either. They exchanged blows for a while until the flail user managed to get the chain of its weapon wrapped around the worm’s body, pinning the monster in place while the dual-wielder went to town on it. The dual-wielder raced up and down the creature’s body, raining cuts across its skin as it made its way up the worm’s spine. The worm tried to fight back but the cuts in its spine crippled it, severely reducing its movement speed. Suddenly the dual-wielder leapt off of the worm, doing a bunch of perfect front-flips (rather unnecessarily, I should add) on his way down. Show-off. “Now, Terrix!”
“Got it!” The man using the flail started spinning the heavy mace around horizontally, continuously getting faster until I could barely make out the weight anymore. “The bigger they are…” The person named Terrix finally swung the flail vertically, bringing down the weight with a thunderous crunch right on top of the worm as he shouted, “The harder they fall!” The impact was so forceful a giant crater had formed where the flail had struck. Ouch. The worm never stood a chance. Now that I had a moment to catch my breath, I took a better look at the group of soldiers who had worked so hard to save me and finally noticed something important. They we’re all ant people. I was about to relax and was thinking about what I should say to my insect rescuers when another scream caught my attention. A fourth worm had gotten around the squad by using the hill I came in on and was now attacking the girl from earlier. She was still way up on the cliff where there was no one left to help her anymore, so even if the rest of her group managed to climb back up, they wouldn’t get there in time. They would be way too late to save her.
“Stay away from me rock-breath!” The girl shouted at the worm as she slowly backed up towards the edge of the cliff.
“Princess! Noooo!” The large ant with the great-sword shouted as he desperately tried to throw himself up the cliff as fast as he could climb. I gulped as I watched the perilous situation play out from the bottom of the cliff. These people helped me…even if it’s dangerous, I need to do something. Shit. I’m about to do something extremely stupid.
“Space Magic: Blink!” I teleported a short distance to the back of the large ant person. “Sorry, I’m borrowing this!” I said as I grabbed the great-sword from the scabbard slung over his shoulder.
“Wha- Hey! I need that, give it back to me you cretin!” The ant-man shouted at me but I didn’t have time to respond.
“Space Magic: Blink!” I teleported about half the way up the cliff to a ledge I saw jutting out of the rock-face before using blink again to continue to jump up the cliff to the top. Above me, the worm had finally lunged at the girl and the ant-people watching screamed. Fuck! I need to go faster! “Space Magic: Blink!” I blinked up into the air way further than I meant to and was about thirty feet above the worm’s head. In mid-air I tried to quickly get my bearings back and lined myself up with my target just as gravity started pulling me back to the surface.
I held the great-sword with its tip facing down as I dove through the air towards the worm, locking my arms and legs around it like I was climbing up a pole to keep it secure from the updraft. The girl glanced up at me with a look that could only be described as pure shock as I slammed into the monster’s head. A strange sensation welled up from within me and a computerized female voice spoke to me with the emotional awareness of an AI, but it took a second to actually process what I had heard the voice say.
“Weak spot targeted. Marksman successfully activated. Achieved conditions required for critical hit.”
The great-sword pierced into the worm’s skull just like the giant ant-man had done with the first monster but I couldn’t pull the blade out, leaving me time to process what happened. What the hell was that? The worm let out a shriek and spun out of control as it tried to come to a stop but its momentum was too much. The corpse slammed into the girl standing on the edge while I was still on top of it, tossing the two of us off the cliff towards the wasteland.
As we tumbled through the air, I leapt from the head of the worm and reached out for the girl who was now a few feet below me. I somehow managed to get a hold of the hood of the girl’s cloak and I pulled her in close while looking for a flat part of the cliff to blink to. After spotting a place that I thought could work, I screamed at the top of my lungs “Space Magic: Blink!” but nothing happened. A prompt appeared in my face with a pair of words I never wanted to see, and the feeling of dread was even worse once those words we’re read out loud by the female voice from earlier again. “Space Magic: Blink failed to activate. Conditions for spell could not be met. Insufficient Mana to execute action.”
“Shit- not now! I’m out of mana!” I yelled as the ground started getting closer. Well, at least I get to die with somebody else this time. And she’s cute. Also I didn’t shit myself, I guess I can sum that up as a win- Wait, that doesn’t make me feel any better! “Holy fuck! We’re going to die!”
“Relax. There’s no need to panic, handsome. I’ve got this.” The girl replied with a smile that could melt an icicle as she looked deep into my eyes, and I realized for the first time that she also had a small pair of black antennae protruding from her head. She was also extremely beautiful. And stacked. Her chest was pushing against my arm and I could feel a rush of heat coming to my cheeks. I almost let her go out of sheer awkwardness before I remembered our situation. Despite my behaviour, the girl never once showed any panic and just laughed cutely. She stretched her hand out over my shoulder and gave me a small wink before shouting, “Wind Magic: Feather’s Descent!” The speed at which we’re falling was drastically reduced as soon as the spell left her lips, causing the two of us to float down in a way that looked like we were having a magical fairy tale waltz through the sky. I felt the girl staring at me the entire way down and it was starting to get uncomfortable. I was already quite nervous, so I avoided making eye contact with her which again only seemed to make her laugh. When we finally reached the ground, the ant-people we’re all waiting for us. “Princess, are you alright?!” The large ant-man nervously asked as he strode over.
“I’m fine Gerrix, thank you for asking.”
“My princess! Still, that was incredibly dangerous! If you hadn’t forced all of us into combat, you would had someone around to protect you. I implore you to be more careful next time.” The female ant magic caster added and the rest of the ant-people nodded along with her.
“Perhaps, but in the end I’m glad you listened to me. Considering this man will be my new husband, I’m especially grateful.”
“Of course princess! As your loyal subjects we will always follow whatever order you give us- wait what?!”
“Spurt!” I was in the middle of taking a drink from my water skin when my mind finally processed what it just heard. Liquid shot out of my mouth like a fountain all over the ant-person with the spear next to me, but he was also in shock from what the girl had said and barely even registered that he had been spat on or was too stunned to care otherwise.
“Princess, you must be joking!”
“She must have hit her head! Someone check to see if she’s got a concussion.”
“Perhaps the heat exhaustion from crossing the wasteland has finally got to her…”
“I assure all of you that I’m perfectly fine and know exactly what I’m doing. Anyone who foolishly dares imply otherwise will face the consequences, understood?” She said with a smile that was easily the scariest thing I had seen since I got to Azealia. Honestly, I think I’d be better off taking my chances with the worms. The ant-people shuffled around clearly having more to add to the conversation, but wisely chose not to upset her by saying anything else.
“Now, where was I? Right, introductions.” The girl spun on her heels and walked right on up to me without a trace of her intense aura from earlier. “My name is Rylea, princess of Anict’a Nor’a. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise. My name’s Adam.”
“Adam huh? I’m not familiar with human names, but it will do nicely as the name of my husband.”
“Can you quit calling me that?!”
“Why? I’ve decided to take you as my mate. Is that a problem? Do I not satisfy your requirements for a partner?” Rylea said bashfully, cutely pretending to be hurt by what I said while she played with her hair and stared coyly at her feet.
“Well... I didn’t say that.” Rylea smiled and wrapped her arm around mine seductively. Concentrate Sake. “Still, we don’t know each other at all. Why would you want me as your husband?”
The girl’s smile vanished and I thought I caught a glimpse of pain and despair behind her purple eyes. “First, I should explain why we left our home.”
¤ ¤ ¤
“Wow…seriously?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“So let me get this straight, your mom was the queen of Anict’a Nor’a until an uprising forced her out?”
“Yes, that’s right. My mother, like myself, is a female chimera ant and queen of the hive. As the queen, every citizen and soldier within Anict’a Nor’a was connected to her telepathically through a special mind magic called ‘Voice of the Hive’. The fact that anyone could turn on her should have been impossible, and yet…” Rylea trailed off, clearly upset by the memory.
“And yet they did turn on us.” Gerrix cut in where Rylea left off. “Of the ten thousand chimera ants in the hive, very few of us somehow weren’t affected. Only the oldest of her children remained immune to whatever spell had managed to take the rest from her control.” While I listened to their story a few question came to mind. Could a magic spell actually do that? Do charm spells exist in this world? I had read stories about other worlds were spells like that had existed. “Just wondering, but could some sort of charm spell by the reason the queen lost control of her hive?” I asked as I explained what had occurred when I had used taming magic on the worm.
“That is strange… As minister of magic of all of Anict’a Nor’a, I can say that a normal charm spell would be strong enough to interrupt ‘Voice of the Hive’ but we would have been able to detect it. The other minister’s and I spent countless months looking into the problem and found nothing unusual with any of the individuals we appraised.”
“When I appraised the worm I didn’t see any indication that it was under a charm spell either, it only became apparent when I targeted the creature with a taming spell. Could the same be true for the chimera ants?”
“But that would mean...how could I have not noticed?!” Rylix shouted as she
“I’m not following.” Salix said while scratching his head.
“Let me put this in a way everyone will understand.” Rylix muttered as she gave Salix a rather sour look. “The first thing you need to know is that magic spells are categorized based upon the nature of the spell and the magic’s effects. The categories consist of; revealing spells, targeting spells, support spells and exception spells. Normally; the best way to examine a person is through a reveal spell, so that’s what we used to check our citizens. We never would have assumed that whatever was happening could hide itself from our revealing magic.”
“Still lost over here.”
“Just shut up and let me finish then, you dimwit! To put it rather bluntly, the appraisal spell is categorized as a revealing spell and isn’t considered a targeted spell. We used appraisal to investigate the chimera ants we suspected of being compromised, but we never considered that we had to actually attack our target to reveal the status effect.”
“Ha-Ha, so you didn't think of that? Jeez, who’s the dimwit now? Wait- AAAAGHH!” Salix didn’t even have the time to laugh before some sort of wind vortex Rylix summoned launched him sky-high. She had cast the spell without uttering a word either. Note to self: I have to ask her to teach me that. A couple seconds went by and Salix eventually smashed into the ground behind us. When I saw him I tried not to laugh, but I couldn’t help it. Salix was just lying on the ground twitching, looking like a bug that was smashed against a car wind-shield. I helped him up while making a mental note not to screw with Rylix.
“That’ll teach him to watch his stupid mouth. If he actually had any brains at all, he’d realize that this means we would have had to attack our comrades to discover the effect.”
“Oh, right. Sorry, Rylix.”
“To think it was so obvious…clearly none of us would have jumped to harm our comrades with an attack spell or suggest that we try to obtain answers in such a manner. No, whoever planned this has a fundamental understanding of how we investigate issues and deploy solutions or was just extremely lucky with the tactics of their approach.”
“Interesting. So what the two of you are saying is that this is some sort of charm spell that can’t be revealed through appraisal, and that’s why we failed to discover it?” Rylea asked as she contemplated what Rylix and I had come up with.
“Basically, but this is mostly just an assumption without any actual proof. I’d be lying if I said I knew more about magic than you, but based off what you’ve told me, I really think that this is the case though. I also think whoever took over Anict’a Nor’a knew the danger of letting the princess escape. They clearly sent these worms after you knowing that you would try to get away to start your own hive.”
“If that’s true, we’re in more danger than we initially thought. You’ve given us much to ponder over.” Rylea stated.
“So what happened next?”
“As we said earlier, the queen had the foresight to anticipate that she was losing control of the hive for some time and had put an evacuation plan into place.” The dual-wielder named Salix added.
“As a high ranking minister and the princess’ tutor, the queen trusted me to prepare the evacuation procedure for the princess in case of an emergency.” The magic user named Rylix continued. “The plan we came up with was to take Rylea and Gerrix, our strongest warrior, and use them to create a new hive in case ours was destroyed or worse. We would then rebuild our nation and crush the threat once and for all. I also recruited his two siblings, Terrix the Smasher and Ferrix the Silent, as our honour guard in case things went awry. I was worried that any more people being involved would lead to the plan being compromised, so I decided to put a limit on our recruitment efforts. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough to prevent the information from leaking.” Rylix muttered with a mix of sadness and rage.
“The brain-washed chimera ants suddenly besieged the palace and the queen ordered us to take Rylea to safety using the castle’s emergency tunnels like we planned. Knowing the queen, she would have held the enemy off as long as possible with her remaining forces to give us the best chance of escaping but…” Gerrix trailed off when he saw how miserable Rylea had become. I couldn’t help but feel pretty bad for her. I mean, if my mother sacrificed herself for me I’m not sure that I would be able to live with the guilt either. Wait a minute - My parents in this world did sacrifice themselves for me. I felt stupid for not noticing that sooner, but I couldn’t exactly blame myself for being so uncaring about it. Obviously without any prior memories from this world to go on, I wouldn’t feel the same way about my parents if I had never met before, even if they did throw their lives away for my sake. That didn’t change the fact that they did sacrifice themselves in an effort to save me, though. Great, now I feel depressed too. If I ever find the means, I should do something to honour their memory.
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“Even with all that planning, we still found ourselves trapped as we tried to leave the tunnel, but a squad of soldiers who were guarding the wall managed to come to our aid before we we’re completely overrun. If it wasn’t for Salix’s unit jumping in at the perfect moment, we would never have gotten out of the castle and into the wasteland.” Rylix finished.
“And the rest of Salix’s squad?”
“Wiped out, unfortunately. I’m the only one who lived.” Salix added with a grimace. I had figured as much, but didn’t want to assume or say anything that might make Salix angry. If I had just lost my friends, I would probably snap at someone too if they weren’t careful with what they said to me.
“So what you guys are after is revenge? Also, if Gerrix is your betrothed why do you keep insisting on making me your husband?”
“Correction. Gerrix was my betrothed, but then I met you. The most important thing in choosing a mate for a chimera ant queen is a person’s skill bank. You see, my children inherit a number of skills from their parents. Having a warrior as excellent as Gerrix as my mate is perfectly fine, but something tells me you have quite a few useful skills hidden under your belt. When we first saw you, Rylix cast appraisal magic but it didn’t work, which is a sure sign of concealment magic. Why would you be using concealment magic if you didn’t clearly have powers or skills you’re trying to hide from everyone else?”
“Oops. That’s on me, sorry. I’ve got a ring that blocks appraisal spells that I completely forgot about.” I said while I showed off the ring on my right hand. I didn’t want to talk about my magic and was hoping that this would have helped the conversation progress. I was dead wrong.
“Oh, so we’re dodging the question about you skills, are we? I hate to say it, but that only confirms my suspicions about you. An item like that is really only used by a person who’s got something to hide, wouldn’t you say? Which in all honesty, would make sense when you can use space magic. I wonder what other skills you’re hiding under that ring…” Rylea said while giving me a stare that was reminiscent of a hungry lion eying its dinner. Her blood lust was palpable and I gulped nervously while determining how to answer. In the end, I decided that the jig was already up and there was no point in pretending that I was useless any longer.
“Fair enough.”
“Unfortunately for Gerrix, he never really had a chance once I saw you teleport. A knight’s abilities can be quite useful, but they aren’t comparable to the abilities of space-magic user in the slightest, even if that’s all you can do. Imagine, an army that can teleport wherever we need it to be. The thought of it is just so…invigorating.”
“Interesting. So we’d be able to pass on our combined abilities to our kids huh? And you want those kids to be mages instead of warriors because why exactly? Are mages hard to come by or something?”
“That’s exactly right. The percentage of people capable of becoming magic user’s changes depending on what race you’re looking at. For us chimera ants, only about ten percent of us have ever been capable of using magic. Because of that, our ability to wage wars successfully is significantly lower than the other races who make up the continent, but with you, that could be a thing of the past. Besides, a mage has far more useful applications than a warrior would. For example, several warriors can put in the physical labour required to build a road but a mage can will that road into existence with magic in a fraction of the time. A mage and warrior really aren’t comparable in the slightest, no offence Gerrix.”
“None taken, princess!” Gerrix shouted from the back.
“I get it. Thanks for the explanation, that all makes sense."
“The explanation isn’t over yet. As a chimera queen, I can lay 10-40 eggs every six months. The children then mature to the point of an adult human in the same amount of time.”
“Wow, that’s an amazing skill.” It’s also perfect for me. Recruiting her would be extremely beneficial for the nation I’m trying to build. Rylea was basically like a full-on unit producer you could find in a strategy game. I could use her skills to build a labour force for large scale projects, or infantry for my army. I need her to come back with me, but there was a few problems I would have to deal with if I took them in.
Whatever had caused the uprising in Anict’a Nor’a could decimate my nation just as easily if I only relied upon the Chimera Ants as subjects. It was obvious that any army made up of the ants could fall under the same spell that had ruined their country in the first place. There’s also the possibility that the chimera ants are only using me for revenge and would abandon me (or worse) after they had the forces necessary to retake Anict’a Nor’a…
The last issue I had was with the chimera ants’ loyalty to their queen. The chimera ants would obviously be loyal to their princess and not me. Starting my nation off with a vassal who would have her own faction only loyal to herself could spell my doom if we ever had a major disagreement or became enemies. The possible danger involved would normally deter me from ever making such a risky decision, but her ability was powerful enough that I actually was considering throwing caution to the wind.
No, I need to take them with me. Just the thought of someone else getting their hands on her skill was enough to deter me from leaving empty handed. If I’m going to eliminate my concerns, I’ll just have to do so by recruiting other species to deal with this mind control problem. I’ll also need vassals that would rival Rylea’s strength to offset how easily she could plunge my country into chaos if she wanted to, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself. It’s best to take this slowly…one thing at a time or I’ll be overwhelmed before I know it. I thought about all of these things while carefully calculating what my next move would be. I have a few conditions that she’ll have to agree to as a counter for the loyalty issues, but if she did agree to those conditions, I have no problem bringing the chimera ants in and helping them increase their strength. I resolved to have that conversation with her later in private.
“And Gerrix, this whole ordeal doesn’t upset you?” I finally asked, wondering how he was taking the news that he wouldn’t have a fiancé (and a royal one at that) anymore.
“Ha-ha, no worries there. We chimera ants are not like you humans. We always do what’s best for the entire hive. Personal desires matter very little to us.”
“Well you’re a better person than I am, that’s for sure.”
“Sir Adam. Before you become our king, I have a few questions-”
“Before that, let me see what you can do! Think fast!” Gerrix said as he threw a rock at me.
“Wha-Wait, I don’t want to fight! Hold on!” I tried to get him to stop, but Gerrix drew his sword and kept coming at me. “Can’t we just talk about this?”
“No chance, Sir Adam. In case you haven’t realized it yet, your opponents won’t always give you the chance to talk things out. Now get ready.”
“Fair enough, but could you maybe take it easy on me? I’m no warrior.”
“How pathetic. Are you a child or a man? Or is this the way all humans are?”
“Oh, you’ll regret that.” I knew he was just trying to push my buttons so I'd take this seriously, but knowing that didn't do anything to stop the comment from still pissed me off.
We started our fight and it went pretty well exactly how you'd think a fight between a veteran and an absolute noob would go. I started doing anything I could to slow him down; I whipped tools at him from my inventory, cast magic spells and even tried a cheap distraction, none of which worked. Every time I tried something, he managed to work his way closer to me. Gerrix blocked my last tool easily and then rushed in to hit me with what I assumed would be a finishing blow.
“There, you’ve got nothing left to defend yourself with! I’ve got you now!” Gerrix shouted as he violently swung his sword down on top of me.
“No you don’t! Earth Magic: Earth Wall!” The wall quickly rose out of the ground right at Gerrix’ feet causing him to pause momentarily, and I used those brief seconds to make a few more casts of earth wall, completely boxed him in. I blinked up to the top of the wall with an evil smile on face and cast earth wall once more on the structure, completely sealing him in. I was celebrating my victory when I heard a bang from within the structure. Then Another. And another. Finally, Gerrix burst through the wall closest to me with a smile on his face. “That was close. Any longer and I might have suffocated in there.”
He put his sword away and walked over to me, so I dropped my sparring stance and also went out to meet him. “You fight pretty well for someone who hasn’t been trained before.” He said as he offered me his hand to shake.
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” I took his hand and shook it back, just glad the practice fight was over.
“Don’t get too excited. I said well, not great. You come up with things on the fly decently well, but you have a tendency to rely on one of your skills or abilities at a time. That’s not going to fly in the real world.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You need to learn to use everything you have at the same time, meaning, you need to be able to use your spells, fighting skills and battle strategies together. You were pretty accurate when you we’re throwing those tools, but have you ever tried using that in tandem with a spell that distracts your target for example? Even if that’s just using spells and fighting skills together, it would make a huge difference for you.” Huh. I hadn’t thought of that.
“Now as I was saying before Gerrix so rudely interrupted-”
“Hey!”
“Quiet you. The adults are talking.” Gerrix looked like that comment seriously wounded him, but Rylix didn’t seem to care. “I have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind.”
“Yeah, shoot. What’s up?”
“Can I ask you what you were doing by yourself out here?” Rylix asked suspiciously after Gerrix finished his explanation.
“Right now I’m living nearby, trying to survive of the land as best I can while building a small base of operations for myself. I decided to come out the wasteland because I needed supplies, mainly iron so I could start blacksmithing -”
““You can make weapons too?!”” Terrix and Gerrix shouted in unison. Ferrix didn’t say anything but his eyes basically popped out of his skull like an old cartoon so I guess he also was excited. Rylix and Rylea just shook their heads at them with a wry look on their faces.
“Um, yes I can but…”
“You must marry this man princess!”
“I second that!”
“…!” The spear wielder nodded his head vigorously to show he agreed as well.
“Ignore the muscle heads, they’ve inherited a love for combat and nothing else from their father.” Salix the dual-wielder said with a chuckle.
“Shut it Salix! Our weapons haven’t been properly maintained in a long time, having a good blacksmith on hand is a god send. As a fighter, you must agree with us. Can I ask that you take a look at my sword now?” Gerrix said as he pulled out his great-sword and handed it over to me. I didn’t want to offend the guy, so I took a few minutes to examine the sword and boy was he right. Even with my untrained eye, I could make out a large number of nicks, dents and chips in the blade’s surface. The weapon wasn’t completely unusable by any means, but it definitely was in need of repairs desperately.
“Master Blacksmith! If we help you find iron do you think you can take a look at our weapons for us?!” Terrix shouted, clearly unable to keep his voice level down due to his excitement.
“I never said I’m a great black-smith or any kind of master. It’s actually the opposite. I’ve never even made anything before, I just have the required skill.”
“That’s better than nothing, right fellas?” Gerrix said as he threw his arm around my shoulders with a chuckle. Again the two brothers nodded.
“As long as you know I can’t make any guarantees, then okay. I promise I’ll at least give it my best try.” I quickly crafted two more stone pick-axes and grabbed the third from my inventory, then handed them over to the three chimera ants. “If you can make axes appear out of nowhere, something tells me that you’re best efforts will be more than just fine for us.” Gerrix said with a friendly smile. I know we just met, but I like him. He’s rather blunt and straight to the point, but he seems like he’s a good person with strong convictions. Gerrix should be easy to get along with as long as you avoid doing anything that pisses him off. The same could be said for his siblings and Salix.
It was really the other chimera ants that gave me bad vibes, particularly the princess and Rylix. The two of them struck me as the brains of the group and we’re entirely focused on getting their revenge. I just don’t think I can really count on either of them until their previous issues are resolved. If they could keep their priorities straight I doubt we would have any issues going forward, but if either of them we’re too ambitious or stubborn, I’d most likely be better off getting rid of them now.
I pushed that thought to the back of my mind and tried to focus on my energy recovery. Once I finally had enough mana, I cast Mineral Radar for the first time. A small map of the area opened in front of me that showed mineral nodes around the part of the wasteland we we’re in. Several different mineral types around the wasteland caught my eye, but I decided to just mark their locations for later and sent the ants off in the direction of the closest iron vein. The others decided to stay with the princess and me as our guards in case something else attacked us.
“Will they really be alright by themselves?”
“Don’t worry about them. In the wasteland, most of the dangerous monsters reside near the center and you only get sand worms or monsters similar in strength along the perimeter. The three of them are above level twenty so it shouldn’t be a problem. Sand Worms are only level fifteen and are generally considered to be the strongest creatures you can find around the perimeter. They typically aren’t very active, so I doubt we see any more of them for at least a little while. If we hadn’t been chased across the desert by a massive herd of them to the point of exhaustion we could have probably taken down that last group alone. They shouldn’t be much of a threat anymore.” Rylea said rather proudly.
“The princess’ right. I’d much rather face a herd of sand worms than a Dungeonous Beetle or a Gilly Monster, both of which are native to this area as well.” Salix added.
“I could deal with a Dungeonous Beetle myself, but a Gilly Monster would be a tough challenge even for Gerrix. Their scales are hard to penetrate and their acid spitting attack could melt a castle wall in seconds flat. They also happen to be quite…sadistic.” Rylix added. Second note to self. Run away from Gilly Monsters.
“So the worms we’re in a huge group when they first caught up to you? Is that considered normal behaviour for them?”
“Actually no, it isn’t. They usually stick to small packs and are quite docile in nature. Due to their sheer numbers, we killed as many as possible while retreating through the wasteland. We finally found this cliff and climbed up to avoid being overwhelmed. They should have eventually backed off and went to find easier prey, but that never happened.” That would also suggest that my hypothesis about the worms is correct. Why else would they act so out of character?
“We had actually been stuck on that cliff for quite a few hours before you finally arrived. Believe it or not, there was over thirty worms when they initially found us. We killed dozens before we ran out of energy and had to retreat back up the cliff. We we’re trying to recover our energy and mana for another attack when you accidentally wandered into the kill-zone.”
“Dozens?” I never wanted to fight those worms again and they killed dozens of them, and ran across the wasteland while they were fighting? Jeez…The chimera ants must be super strong.
“Wait a minute, if you killed dozens of them, where were the corpses? I should have seen them before I made my descent right?”
“You wouldn’t have. Sand worms are quite desperate, they’ll eat anything they deem as food.”
“So why does that matter- Oh.” I slowly realized what Rylix was trying to say after thinking about it more carefully. The sand worms were clearly cannibals, and now I guess I know where the other dead worms had gone. Yikes. “Just wondering, but are any parts of the sand worms useful? Like can we harvest materials from them or make anything from their parts?” I asked.
“I’m afraid not, but their meat isn’t so bad taste-wise if you know how to detoxify it. The digestive acid in their stomachs can also be used as a poison, but I wouldn’t suggest it. It’s strong enough to melt rock, so it usually damages the weapon it’s applied to as well. It’s really only useful on equipment that has acid resistance or things you don’t mind being used once, like arrowheads.”
“Princess, I know what you said earlier, but I must insist that we see his full abilities before you do anything drastic like promise yourself to a stranger.” Rylix said while bowing deeply but her attempted show of humility had no effect on Rylea. A look filled with murderous intent came across her face.
“What did I say about questioning me-”
“It’s okay!” I cut in before Rylea could finish. As the only other magic user in our group, Rylix was quite valuable to me. I couldn’t have Rylea killing her out of anger. “She just wants what’s best for her princess. It’s not a problem. If this is what he needs to feel like he can trust me, I’ll let you guys use appraisal on me.” I calmly said as I pulled my ring of concealment off.
“Thank you for being so understanding. Do you mind if I use an appraisal scroll instead of the spell?”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the difference? I have the appraisal skill too so I’m curious.”
“An appraisal scroll displays your stats and skills on a scroll instead of sending the information directly into my mind. That way, everyone can see the results and not just myself.”
“Okay, that’s fine.”
“Appraisal Scroll: Activate!” Rylix chanted and the scroll in her hands glowed momentarily. “There. Now let’s take a look shall we?” Rylix said as she unfurled the scroll and gazed at its contents. As she read the scroll, the colour from Rylix’s face faded rapidly and she turned ghostly white. As Rylix finished reading, she started hyper-ventilated and then fainted, falling backwards with a resounding thud. Uh-oh. Something about her reaction is scaring me...
“Rylix?! Are you okay?! Answer me!” Salix knelt down next to the collapsed ant and shook her until she was conscious again. “Ugh…” When she finally was alert again, Rylix threw herself at my feet. “I’m so sorry for ever doubting you, my liege! I’ll follow you to the end of the world. As your humble servant, please allow me to do whatever you need no matter how insignificant.”
“Whoa- what the heck? What could you have seen that elicited that kind of response?” Salix asked as he took the scroll from out of Rylix’ hands. Salix also slowly turned white as he read the scroll, and a feeling of Deja-vu came over me. I tried to run over to him, but I was too late. Salix fainted just seconds before I could catch him. When he finally woke up, I suddenly had two chimera ants bowing in front of me. “To think we’d find a sage out here, what a stroke of luck! The gods must be watching over us! Our suffering so far must have been a divine test to see if we we’re worthy! Oh, what a glorious day!” Salix shouted as he handed the scroll to Rylea and joined Rylix in bowing profusely.
Uh-oh. Something tells me these chimera ants are quite pious. I might have just opened up a can of worms here. Or is this more like a can of ants? Rylea’s reaction was much more measured than her compatriots, but I could tell the gears we’re spinning just as fast in her head as she read the information. She closed the scroll with a knowing smile and turned to look at Rylix. “I trust this satisfies you?”
“More than ever, my princess! I should have known that any man capable of capturing your interest was this special! I apologize for doubting your impeccable judgement. To think we’d find a sage, I’m so excited I’m beyond words.”
“Excuse me. I hate to interrupt, but I’m not a sage.” The chimera ants froze and looked at me. “But you have more than five types of magic…” Rylix said.
“He’s right, he’s no sage.” Rylea added. “Adam also has three types of combat mastery and an abundance of lifestyle skills. I’ve never heard of any saints or sages who had a weapon mastery or knew how to do something pedestrian like farming... Look at the scroll again Rylix.” She handed it back to her and she held the scroll right-side up for everyone to see.
Name: Adam Vegas Rep: Decent Class: Sovereign
LVL: 1 Age: 15 yrs. old Sex: Male
Deity: Aliyah
STR: 5 AGI: 8 INT: 8
CON: 5 DEX: 6 CHR: 5
LUK: 6 = 5 (+1) WIS: 4
Health: 500 HP Mana: 500 MP
Stamina: 50 SP
{Acrobat: LVL 1} {Alchemy: LVL 1} {Appraisal: LVL 1} {Asset Manager: LVL 10} {Blacksmithing: LVL 1} {Botany: LVL 1} {Calculations: LVL 10} {Commerce: LVL 1} {Cooking: LVL 2} {Crafting: LVL 2} {Dagger Mastery: LVL 1} {Dual Casting: LVL 1} {Dual Wielding: LVL 1} {Earth Magic: LVL 2} {Enchanting: LVL 1} {Engineering: LVL 1} {Etiquette: LVL 10} {EZ-Build: LVL 10} {Farming: LVL 1} {Fishing: LVL 1} {Fire Arm Mastery: LVL 1} {Hunting: LVL 1} {Hyper Regeneration: LVL 1} {Investigation: LVL 1} {Kingcraft: LVL 10} {Leadership: LVL 10} {Lightning Magic: LVL 1} {Linguistics: LVL 10} {Lock-picking: LVL 1} {Mana Manipulation: LVL 10} {Marksman: LVL 1} {Medicine Maker: LVL 1} {Naming: LVL 2} {Navigation: LVL 1} {Outdoor Survival: LVL 2} {Pick-pocket: LVL 1} {Quick Casting: LVL 1} {Reading & Writing: LVL 10} {Riding: LVL 10} {Stealth: LVL 1} {Strategist: LVL 1} {Support Magic: LVL 1} {Sword Mastery: LVL 2} {Space Magic: LVL 2} {Mind Magic: LVL 1} {Taming Magic: LVL 1} {Dark Magic: LVL 1}
“Sovereign? What type of class is that?”
“Never heard of it. Is he a freak or something?” Gerrix asked as he scratched his head. The three brothers had returned just a few moments ago with a mound of iron sand each for me. I deposited the sand into my magical inventory while the other’s filled them in on what they missed.
“Why is he only level one? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Yes, that is rather odd for an individual this skilled. Either way, the children you two will produce will be stronger than any generation of chimera ant your mother birthed. Congratulations are in order, princess.”
“Can you guys quit talking about me like I’m not here?” Am I just a walking inseminator to these people? “I guess that means you’re still interested in me?”
“Yes, your highness. If the princess has determined that you will be our King, we will follow you to the ends of the earth. You have our complete loyalty.” Gerrix said and all of the chimera-ants knelt before me in a show of reverence including Rylea.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you calling me ‘your highness’ but…whoa!” For some reason, I was now glowing. Considering how often this seems to occur, I should probably get use to this random light show that constantly pops up every time something weird happens. The light subsided and once it finished, a prompt from my terminal opened.
LEVEL UP!
Due to the number of followers recruited, your level has risen by one!
4 followers needed to meet requirements for level three.
HP Increased to 1000.
MP Increased to 1600.
Stamina Increased to 100.
EZ-Build and Asset Manager unlocked!
HP, MP, and Stamina fully restored.
Awesome! I can’t wait to see what EZ-Build does. This day couldn’t have gone better if I tried! Thank you, luck stat! “My king, what should we do next?”
“Good question, Gerrix. For starters, how about I show you guys you’re new home?”
¤ ¤ ¤
“Is this shack…it?” Gerrix couldn’t hide his displeasure when we finally arrived back at my base.
“Don’t be rude, Gerrix!” Rylea snapped at him.
“It’s okay, Rylea. I know it isn’t the most impressive structure, but now that you guys are here, that should change rather quickly. There’s a small fishing pond I’ve built down by the water for food, but this is it for now.”
“What do you mean by ‘now’?”
“It be easier if I just showed you.” After all, even I don’t know what was going to happen next.
I opened my terminal and proceeded to open one of the just unlocked apps. The chimera ant’s seemed interested in what I was doing, but they didn’t interrupt and watched on with anticipation. I parsed through the options available until I found one that would work perfectly and consisted of materials I had already gathered. In total, the building would cost me forty logs and twenty rocks. It also required a work-force of four, whatever that meant. I clicked the option and a hologram of what I wanted appeared in front of me instantly. The hologram looked like your average medieval two-story house that you would sometimes see images of in old history books. The hologram caught everyone by surprise. Terrix and Gerrix immediately reacted and grabbed their weapons while the rest surrounded their princess in an effort to protect her. “Relax guys, nothing bad is going to happen. This is just one my abilities, see?” I demonstrated that I was in control of the hologram by moving it around wherever I pointed.
“I don’t understand… I can see a building but when I touch it, there’s nothing here! What foul witchcraft is this?”
“Again it’s not witchcraft. This a skill called EZ-Build.”
“I’ve never heard of it. What does it do? What kind of magic is it?” Rylix asked, clearly interested by the spell.
“It’s hard to explain,” I wasn’t even completely sure how it worked either but I feigned confidence so the chimera ants would stop asking questions. “Just watch.” Once I was sure everyone was out of the way, I hit place. The building changed from just a hologram to physical present in a second flat with a resounding thud. “There, all finished.” I said, satisfied with how everything had turned out. I turned around and the Chimera-ants all looked stupefied by the appearance of the house. A few of them touched the building several times to see if it was real, while the others seemed too scared of it to get any closer.
“…Incredible.” Rylix muttered under her breath.
“Adam, how did you do that?”
“That was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen, and that’s including the guy in my unit who used to wash his privates with worm acid...” Salix chuckled.
“With a power like that, you could build an impenetrable fortress very quickly.” Gerrix added, clearly focused on the militaristic potential of the spell.
“It’s not something I can always do, in fact, I couldn’t even use the skill at all before you guys showed up.” I said as I tried to explain the power to the chimera-ants. I had decided that I would give the chimera ants small details about my abilities, but I was careful to not reveal too much. “It has something to do with my class. I’m reliant upon how many people are loyal to me. I also need to have the required materials for the structure in my inventory.”
“So if we gather more materials and gain more people, we’ll be able to build bigger and better things?” Salix asked.
“I can’t say for sure, but I assume that’s right.” I didn’t have a ton of wood left, but I did have enough for one more building and the bench I wanted. I selected the first workshop and placed it down next to the house a few feet over on the left. It also was a two story building and the roof was practically level with the house. It had a stone chimney which I guessed was for exhaust and a place out back for a furnace and tools. I created a tower extension on top of the workshop with what stones I had left, figuring I would need a place for myself now that the chimera ant’s had a shelter. Then I removed a wall from the hallway of the house’s second floor and the workshop, reusing the wood to make a small bridge between the two buildings that looked like an exterior balcony. The last thing I added was a small outhouse behind our home for…Well, you know.
“My King, what’s the second building going to be for?”
“I need a place to put the furnace and the blacksmithing equipment. From now on this will be our little manufacturing den.”
“Man-u-factoring? Never heard of it.”
“Was that expression in the common tongue?”
“Very strange…It must be a human term.”
“Factoring your man must be important. I wonder if it’s something all human females do…”
“It’s just an expression.” They all looked confused so I thought I’d bail them out, otherwise we’d be here for a while. “Basically, it implies that we’ll be making things that we need in there. Like swords and armour or whatever.”
“Ohhhhh.” Everyone said at the same time. I’m not sure they actually understood, but they at least they we’re trying. That’s good enough for me. I grabbed some more Garpin from the pond and quickly whipped up a fish dinner for everyone while they investigated the new buildings I made. After they finished, we went down to the river to eat what I made as a group.
“This is delicious. You’re a great cook.”
“Thanks, Rylea. I’ve been steadily improving over the last few days. At first these meals were barely even edible but now it’s not too bad.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. I can’t wait to see what you can do with a good piece of meat.” Salix added.
“My King, can I ask what the tower on top of the workshop is for?” Terrix inquired.
“That’ll be my room until we build something more permanent.”
“Up there? By yourself? Aren’t you going to stay in a room with your wife?” Rylea asked with a playful pout as she snuck her arm around mine.
“F-for now, this will work best until we get to know each other a little better.” I nervously sputtered while carefully freeing my arm. What is with this girl? Talk about clingy. Not that I didn’t like that kind of behaviour or her in general, I’m just not sure I can control myself around a girl this cute who’s actively throwing herself at me. After all, I am still a man. Please don’t judge me if I act on my libido, gods in the audience. I could tell Rylea didn’t love my answer, but she didn’t say anything else about it so I decided to move on. Gerrix however, didn’t get the memo. “Don’t worry princess! I, Gerrix, will help you win the heart of the man you desire or will die trying! I will not stop until all that you desire rests at your feet!”
“Thank you, Gerrix. I can always count on you.” Rylea said with an evil smile as she rubbed her hands together wickedly like a villain in a cheesy action movie. I’m just going to ignore that for my own sanity.
“Anyway, here’s what I’m thinking. We’re going to need a ton of materials and food now that our numbers have increased. I’d like to split up the work so things go faster, but I don’t know you all that well yet. Is there anything you guys particularly excel at?”
“Hmm, good question. Personally, I think Terrix, Ferrix and I are built for physical labour. We can carry twice as much as everyone else and swinging around the pick-axes you gave us felt pretty natural, right fellas? That kind of work will also keep us in fighting shape.” Gerrix said while Terrix and Ferrix nodded their agreement.
“Okay, that’s fine. How about each of you gathers stone, lumber and iron for us then? They’ll be the three most important building materials for now so building a stockpile of each will help us greatly.”
“We can do that, my king.”
“Perfect. What about you, Rylix and Salix? Any special skills?”
“Rylix happens to be quite knowledgeable, so she knows the geography and vegetation of the surrounding regions like the back of his hand. I’d suggest turning her loose anywhere she can find herbs and materials for potions.” Rylea proudly responded.
“Your words honour me, princess.”
“As for me; I’m quite the hunter, if I do say so myself. Didn’t get to use those skills a ton back in Anict’a Nor’a, but I’d love to see what meat and hides I can scrounge up for us in the forest while I re-sharpen my skills.” Salix added.
“So that’s exactly what you two will do. We’ll start tomorrow. While you’re doing that, Rylea can help me with tasks around the base-”
“My King! You must be joking!”
“You can’t make the princess work!”
“Why? I’m your king and I’ll be working. What’s the difference?”
“Blasphemy!” Rylix shouted.
“Its fine, everyone. I want to be helpful. If this is what I need to do to win the heart of my beloved, I do not mind. Even if I haven’t before, I will work just as hard as anyone else!” Rylea also added, seemingly rather determined for some reason.
“Princess…I will follow you anywhere!” Gerrix shouted while crying hysterically. The other chimera ants knelt and Gerrix tried to join them, but he was shaking from trying to hold in his emotions so it just looked odd. Well, he's pretty unique... but then again, who am I to judge? I guess we’re all pretty strange in our own ways.
After dinner, the chimera-ants helped me clean up and we all called it a night. I quickly went to see my two pets and walked into the workshop, locking the door behind me. I thought I could trust the chimera-ants, but it still didn’t hurt to be careful. Also, the way Rylea was looking at me during dinner was chock-full of not so hidden intentions. I climbed up the stairs of the tower and opened the big wooden door at the top, revealing a circular room that was about six hundred square feet. The room was bare, so I took my clothes off and folded them in a pile before pulling out my blanket to get some sleep. I should really make a bed and some furniture so this place isn’t so empty. A wardrobe would be super nice too. A few hooks for clothes, maybe an armour and weapon stand… I was so tired, I drifted off to sleep while thinking about everything I still wanted to make.
¤ ¤ ¤
The Chimera Ants we’re looking around their new house that night when a pissed-off Rylea came in and slammed the door as hard as she could. The princess stomped over to the couch in the living room in a huff and threw herself down face first into the cushions. She didn’t move for a good while and eventually, Gerrix decided he should probably check on her quickly. Just when he was about to lightly touch her shoulder to see if she was okay, the princess started screaming and kicking with all her might like a child having a tantrum, causing him to recoil in fright.
“P-princess, is everything okay?” He carefully asked from his hiding spot behind Rylix, who he was currently using as a temporary shield.
“That stupid jerk! I’ve been trying so hard to get him to like me, and this is how he repays me?”
“I’m sorry, princess. I don’t understand what you’re saying, but please try to contain yourself… a woman as beautiful as you shouldn’t be using vulgar language.” Rylix added with a rather disapproving tone, but Rylea just ignored him and kept going.
“I even had the resolve to go visit his bed chambers and offer my virginity to him, and what thanks do I get? A door locked in my fucking face. And I would have totally let him do anything he wanted to me, too. Like seriously, A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G. It was all on the table-”
“Princess, Nooooo!”