“I’m heading out now, sweetie!” Mummy called to me with a piece of toast muffling her voice.
“Okay mummy, by- Ah, she’s already gone… how awkward… and I’m still talking to my self… but I’m not stopping… why aren’t I stopping… yeah, I really need to stop now” I said to myself while forcing my mouth closed with a sigh.
Yesterday, I went out with the nobles for the first time after being isolated for four years. I did have fun which surprised me since I have definitely done those things before without others and the nobles even had a little more confidence and composure then I gave them credit for. I think that because none of the Nobles actually got hurt or embarrassed themselves I escaped the punishment I thought I’d be getting but I’m not complaining. Even if I missed seeing them utterly terrified and peeing themselves it’s not exactly a loss to me. I mainly wanted to see that out of boredom but if I really did see it, there would have been pretty annoying consequences.
Unfortunately for me, I can’t go out to the common room to meet up with the nobles again in order to relieve my boredom as I did yesterday. All the nobles at the age of six and over are at school while the younger one’s will be getting personal tutoring all day. Due to my knowledge being above the tutors I managed to get out of it but normal children won’t escape as easily as I did without special circumstances like being reincarnated. Since that’s the case I am trying to decide what I’m going to do today. My family is busy and after that teasingly fun activity yesterday, everything else has become dull and boring.
Yesterday wasn’t just fun though I guess. It allowed me to confirm how fast the nation is developing and that my computer system cultivation rooms have been introduced as I had hoped. My original estimate of this nation needing a few thousand years to be the owner of the entire world has shrunk down to a few hundred instead. While I am still wary of any major disasters happening that I couldn’t predict or prevent right now things are going fine and the nation is developing at a massive rate.
I’ve been purposefully manipulating the situation in some places in order to make things both more fun for me and better to the civilisation as a whole. Obviously with the political tension that would appear from cultivators on this world going out to fuck random woman and convert them I’ve made sure to introduce laws against it unless they know before hand what it means and they agree. If they break the law, they are considered to have lost their citizenship and any and all political repercussions fall on them alone instead of this nation. I’ve already had to kill around a hundred other civilisations seeking to invade when someone fucked their daughters and changed their bodies. It’s both annoying and a time bomb so from now on it is banned. Of course, they can apply for citizenship again but only if there where no repercussions against them or if the grudge has already been resolved.
With a few more random laws I introduced occasionally in order to prevent the more out-there repercussions I began to move on to the economy. Actually, that’s why mummy had to rush out so early today with the other adults already gone. I found a massive amount of money which was being channelled into social studies, a department well known for their lack of money. In other words, for the last two hundred years someone has been getting rich by taking the nation’s funding. Right now my family is trying to work out who has been syphoning the money for so long and once that’s done, they will be able to confiscate it all. It was a ridiculous amount around a million gold every year so while it didn’t affect the budget majorly (taking a small dent annually) if we can get it all back, that’s two hundred million gold conveniently added on to the nations funding while we are still in the cultural boom.
So right now my parents and grandparents are looking into leads on who it is without alerting the thief. Due to how serious the crime is once we catch them we have full rights to take any extra money and assets they have while publicly denouncing them. If they have less total worth than what they stole though they will either be executed or put into a slave-contract until they can pay off their dept. Slavery isn’t the prettiest thing even to me who has two hundred of them but in reality, it’s more like a servant contract who has a lot of dept that they have to work off in this case. My slaves are basically puppets. Any trace of the old gods have been erased and their minds and bodies are completely different. It’s still not morally right and in my personal prospective it makes me uncomfortable but I cannot deny their use. The gods I captured died the day they where caught.
But regardless of all that crap, I’m still bored. Usually there is atleast one person other than me here as well so this is the first time I’ve actually been alone since I was born. Sure, sometimes we will be separated by a wall but… well, they are still always in the house (actually a tower the royalty lives in) with me so it’s kind of a surreal feeling. There are of course things I should do like refitting the secret laboratory into a secret hang out spot or abuse my power as a god to create a few dungeons around the nation but I don’t really want to. I know I should but… well it’s just a feeling like I could but I won’t.
Ah actually, I just realised something fun I can do with the dungeons. While I’ll still only be creating one for now, why don’t I turn the whole world into a dungeon? In dungeons the mana is naturally richer so if I get a dungeon to a thousand floors and it becomes a dungeon world, the mana levels as a whole will rise and the formation over our nation will get a lot stronger. The formation itself is effective based on how much mana is naturally there. If I add in the dungeon world’s mana, even if it will help the other nations to a certain extent as well, it will just make the already existing formation over our nation get a heap more effective.
Deciding on that, I popped over to my bunker. Basically, it’s just a really well-enchanted and defended fortress floating in the stars. Only gods will be able to see through it’s enchantments so I don’t have to worry about annoying visitors. This is where I’ve been keeping my gods hidden as well as a heap of my equipment and items. I even have a heap of different storage rooms full of rare materials I have harvested or grown myself and taken from the gods I have defeated. One of those materials just so happens to be a mana soul. It’s basically what happens when a soul is partly destroyed and then left alone for a million years or so. It gets recycled into something new, at first as a mana soul and then as a new dungeon core. To get one you have to catch it and freeze it in stasis at the time between becoming a mana sou and a dungeon soul but once you have one it’s basically like a seed you can plant to become a dungeon. Of course, there are other ways to make dungeon cores and artificial mana souls as well but this is the fastest for now.
Popping back onto the planet, I chose a secluded location to let the spirit out. After a few minutes it condensed into a small gem and then burrowed into the earth. I could feel the mana subtly shift and the gem seed begin to grow at a rapid rate before half an hour later the first floor of the dungeon popped up suddenly above ground. The rest would be below the ground but even this is easily visible. Due to the mana supporting it, even I can’t forcefully enter the floor any way other than the entrance but while that makes the core relatively safe, it also boxes it in.
“I can turn you into a dungeon world as long as you pledge loyalty” I said to the core once I was inside.
‘I pledge loyalty to my master and mother, Scarlet Primrose, by the ancient contract. Once the conditions have been fulfilled, I am yours to command from now and into eternity.’ Awkward but it is true this one was artificially made by me about thirty thousand years ago, though to it only a few hours would have passed.
Still, I felt the oath sink in to my soul and I started channelling my mana into the core as fast as it could handle it. Even if I am a god, it is not so I had to start slow. After a few hours though, it had caught up to my regeneration speed and I was slowly losing mana now. Deciding to exhaust myself and do it in one big push, I emptied four fifths of my mana pool before the dungeon core reached it’s one thousandth floor and burrowed into the earths core.
The change was instantaneous. By becoming a world dungeon the dungeon core has had a mana-spring opened up inside of it. Basically it’s a connections to the ‘heavens’, in other words pure mana. Since it has this connection, I could feel with my senses the shift in the world around me. I didn’t have time for that now though, I needed to make an announcement to the entire world before they fall into panic.
“Don’t spawn any monsters yet” I commanded.
“As you wish”
“Hello, everyone. I am the ruling god of this world. Today I have evolved a dungeon into a world dungeon meaning this world will now expand massively and the mana will rise exponentially. It is under my control so unlike the usual process where the world get’s ten times bigger and drags cities apart all the current nations where worked around. While yes, all the nations are further apart there is no difference within the actual owned territories themselves. Outside however has changed. For those of you celebrating the rise in mana levels let me make it clear that this was for the gain of the nation I am protecting. While yes, it does passively affect the rest of the world, with the formation already over my subject’s territory the base mana will be multiplied by twenty instead of the previous ten. Since the base mana has increased as well, this advancement will only make the other civilisations lag behind further.
I’d advise you to either leave the world or immigrate if you are a female as monsters will be spawned from the dungeon and my nation will be the only safe zone. They will not be spawned inside the territories but they can wander in. There is a one month safe period where the monsters will not attack unless provoked but once that time is up that limitation will only remain for my people. Do be warned though that natural monsters are not under the dungeons control and can still wander into any territories freely. Have fun either fighting off monsters of moving to new lands, mortals.” I finished off my speech.
“Master, do you wish me to spawn the monster’s now?” The dungeon asked me.
“Yes. You already know the conditions so I won’t specify them but now, we should give you a name. What would you like to be called?”
It will obviously be a female name as it knows the intentions I have for this world (couple hours of boring conversations does a lot) but I am curious what ‘she’ will desire to be called.
“Master I am unaware of which names would suit me but if at all possible, I would like a name derived from a colour such as you have.” She answered.
“Okay. How does Azure sound to you then?” I asked her.
“Azure is good. I am Azure.” She replied happily.
“Okay. It is a pleasure to meet you, Azure. Now, choose yourself a last name and adopt a physical form of the same age as me. Make you’re core as the heart in you’re body. As a world dungeon you are currently a first stage god so no one on this planet other than me can damage you. I intend you to attend school with me as my attendant once I am enrolled but until then you will be staying with me. I want to know about any of those situations we discussed earlier as soon as they happen. Please keep my dual identities a secret though, Azure. Currently no one knows I am the god who has been watching over this world for ten thousand years and I want to live my life with my current identity now.” I explained to Azure.
“Yes, master. Is Azure Firefox okay?” She asked as she materialised in front of me.
“That name is fine. I am curious what made you choose it though?” I inquired.
“The first memory I have is of a flaming blue fox. I am not sure as to it’s species or identity but it seemed like a good aspect to take my name from.” She explained to me.
“Okay. Azure Firefox, you will be enrolled into the school I attend at the same time as me. Until then, let’s be friends, okay?” I coaxed with a smile.
“Of course, master.”
Well even if she won’t stop calling me master due to the oath I’m sure I can still be friends with her. I imagine it will be quite hard though as she considers me her master and creator. World dungeons have quite a few limits though which is why I didn’t just create an army of them and instead have my current god army. For one, while the evolution to a world dungeon does make them a god, from there it is very slow progress. With the fact that they already have a connection with mana it means that no longer cuts it to improve them. Instead, they need life energy. Basically it’s either have a crap ton of strong people living on them and absorbing the life energy they lose in every day activities or kill beings on the world not made from the dungeons will.
They take way too long to grow in power and the biggest world dungeon I have seen in my massive amounts of exploration was a stage four god who had been alive for tens of billions of years. With the fact that they can only leave a certain distance from their planet and that their vast reserves of mana are spread throughout the world until they only have the realm stage’s worth of mana they basically have no advantages to me as an army. As a world improvement though they are massively useful.
Spawning rare items and resources, creating rare monsters and any mining done will be regenerated with time. The world is literally alive and considering the possibilities this gives to both a civilisation and a god focused on crafting they are one of the best possible races in the right situation. World dungeons aren’t fighters themselves but they certainly are the best support class available. And besides, even with all that Azure is still a stage one god in strength which means that unless a stronger opponent appears she can take care of anyone below her realm.
I made sure she made the world interesting as well for any adventurers. A floating continent in the clouds, underwater palaces, upside down cities, lava ocean, a meteorite with a city on it flying randomly up in the sky and even a massive underground labyrinth. Adventuring is fun so I made sure the world had lots of unique features to it.
Eventually though we went back to the castle. It was getting late, already at around five in the afternoon and I wanted to introduce Azure to my family. She will be living with us for the foreseeable future after all so it’s only fitting to introduce her to everyone. I had to hide her from everyone for another hour though once I got home as Mummy was still out and I wanted to introduce her to everyone at once. Once they got home, I gathered them in the lounge room in front of the fireplace. It’s big so there is actually a few sections to it like game, music, movies, socialising and relaxing areas.
“Are you going to tell us whatever has you excited or what?” Amber asked suddenly, startling me.
“Ah, sorry. I sort of zoned out” I replied sheepishly.
“Anyway, today I went with Aileen to make the world dungeon. She had me make it by using my mana to expand it to a thousand floors so it took most of the day for me but as a result the dungeon is under my command. I wanted you to meet her.” I said as I signalled Azure to come out.
“Hello, it is a pleasure to meet master’s family. My name is Azure Firefox and I am the world dungeon master was talking about.” She introduced herself politely while bowing.
“Can you make me a bunny?” Emerald asked, completely shocking them out of the daze they where in.
Fortunately she looked towards me for permission first and I was able to tell her to make it a bunny teddy instead. She still made it really big though, taller than Emerald was atleast.
“Kyaaa~ Look at this, it’s so big and fluffy!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Emerald was officially out of the conversation as she was tackling her new teddy into a hug and rolling around squealing. We just ignored it and continued the conversation.
“I’m guessing you will be going to school with Scarlet then?” Mummy asked Azure.
“Yes. Master had me adopt this form so as to be able to attend school with her, that is correct.” She’s way too polite.
“Is it possible for normal dungeons to exist on you when you are a world dungeon?” Grandma asked curiously.
“With my permission dungeons are allowed to form but as they are seen as one of my ‘creations’ they are under my control. Although they still have free will I am able to order them. Unlike normal dungeons though, I can destroy them with a thought or spawn them at a certain size but any dungeons I create will not be able to have more that 999 floors.”
I’ve never bothered looking in to that before so I guess I do learn new things occasionally.
“Why did the mana here improve so much?” Airhead asked. Seriously, I explained it already, ugh.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“The base mana is improved substantially once a world evolves into a dungeon world. The formation placed over this nation is one that uses the base mana value to gather and manipulate the natural mana in it’s zone. Basically, it tricks the world into thinking the mana is being used up and is therefor regenerated because of that. Even then though there is the obvious limit of the worlds regeneration speed but with the worlds evolution, the base mana has improved dramatically and the regeneration speed has been amped up by a lot, meaning the formation that draws on that base will obviously create a much richer zone for mana as compared to before.”
Wether the airhead understands that or not is her problem but I don’t mind explaining since I didn’t cover it in depth during my alter ego’s speech anyway. Twenty times the base mana with the base being atleast five times higher now with a dungeon world involved. So, the mana here is a hundred times richer than it was before the formation was laid and the world evolved. The difference is massive and if not for some of the mana being channelled towards health, beauty and nature it would be twenty five times higher instead, meaning 125 times higher than the old base. It really is quite ridiculous. For every realm the dungeon improves, their base mana doubles. If one could reach the tenth god realm… how ridiculous would that be? I want to know.
“From the speech, our nation is safe from the monsters but what about trading? If we where to try and travel between two cities would we be attacked? And what is considered provoking the monsters. I know to some species just entering the fringes of their territory is a provocation.” Grandma asked while choking the airhead.
“While the monsters created by a dungeon do mimic the races they are trying to copy they are in the end still nothing more than monsters I spawned out of mana. While it is true that some monsters are like that the rules will not apply in such a drastic way. Some monsters consider humanity existing a provocation and as such they obviously will not be able to attack on such grounds. If they have a genuine reason though like getting revenge on the one’s who killed their family and friends or reacting to a threat, they will attack. As long as you are not perceived as a threat attacks will not happen. I cannot guarantee whether traders would be attacked or not as it depends on many factors but they would atleast not be targeted.” Azure explained.
“While not taking weapons and dressing in regular clothes might help, numbers can also be perceived as a threat to monsters and if they have newborn cubs, any large amount of being stepping into their territories will be attacked. It’s probably better to send a few strong cultivators with storage rings rather than a merchant caravan. Honestly though the other civilisations will collapse because of this within the next few years and only remnants who stubbornly hold on will be left, not something worth trading with. We should be looking at other planets for trading and slowly start claiming more and more land. The monsters will fight back but once it is seen as ours they won’t enter unless provoked.” I added in afterwards.
“Is that really necessary though? Why do we need monsters if you can control it?” Amber asked Azure.
“Within a few hundred years, this world would have been ours anyway due to the progress our civilisation is making. Because of that though we would be seen as a threat and gain a bad reputation from forcing out so many people. If it is considered the gods will to exile them there won’t be such repercussions. With monsters spawning, our civilisation won’t lose the will to gain strength and we have a constant supply of rare materials for both crafting and trading. Overall the monsters will help our growth massively in the long run.” Mother brought herself into the lime-light while Azure just nodded in reply.
“Anyway, this conversation has gone off topic. I’m glad to have you to look after my daughter, Azure. I hope we all get along in the future”
Mummy said pleasantly. I was getting a little annoyed as well that she was getting the third degree for doing what she was told and I think mummy noticed which is why she steered the conversation away.
“Thank you, I will do my best.” She replied politely.
“Can you make me a kitten?” Emerald interjected again, making me face palm.
“Go ahead, as long as it’s a teddy this time as well” I sighed as I replied to Azure’s look for permission.
This time, it spawned on top of her so the ‘kyaa~’ scream was muffled by the kitten teddy but we all still heard it. I couldn’t help but smile. Both at my sister’s cute reaction and Azure’s small act. Seeing her be comfortable enough to do that means I am atleast making progress so far.
“Kitten!!” The airhead yelled as she made a comical dive for it before grandma plucked her out of the air and kneed her in the stomach.
“Don’t crush my granddaughter you fat slob. She is a million times more valuable than you.” She said cruelly.
“You know, even if Azure has a lot of emotional and logical awareness, she is still less than a day old. Stop setting a bad example for her” I scolded both of them. Grandma looked uncomfortable to be on the receiving end for once but she quickly got over it but I didn’t miss the airheads concerned glance. Is there a backstory to this? I won’t press for now.
“Do not worry over me master. As a dungeon I was granted a lot of knowledge about many race’s interactions with each other so I will not be influenced by such actions.”
That’s not reassuring at all. It just proves how much she doesn’t know.
“No, you don’t understand enough about it yet. If you did, while you would still call me master and follow my commands due to the contract you would not be so stiff and formal after I told you I intend to make you my friend. The contract may make you obey me, Azure, but it doesn’t mean you have to act like my servant. If you really did understand interactions you would have realised this already.” I said for her flatly.
“I-I’m sorry, master. I will be sure to study more on emotional relations between one or more individuals.” She said while bowing, not coming back up from it.
“Sigh, Azure you are going to be hard. You won’t get the results you seek from observing and researching, you need to experience it first hand. Let’s talk more in the morning. I’m still tired from using so much of my mana and since I wasn’t fighting there’s no adrenaline to keep me going. Goodnight, Mummy and mother, Amber, Emerald, Airhead and grandma” I bowed before going around to hug them all (had to pick the airhead up off the floor from under grandma’s foot to do so) one by one.
Azure bowed to every one before following me to my room.
“Master, where do you wish me to sleep? If necessary, I can leave this form and avoid sleeping until you wake up again.” She asked me.
“You’re sleeping with me.” I replied absently.
“Wha- Master, I am not worthy to sleep with you. I will break down my form to let you sleep pea-cyaa!” She yelled as I pulled her into the bed.
“M-master, I’m not-“ I interrupted.
“There’s no reason you cannot sleep with me. So shush and be my teddy bear for the night” I commanded as I cuddled up to hr. She fidgeted for a while before accepting it and calming down. Eventually, she fell asleep and I smiled before doing so myself. It’s lonely sleeping in such a big bed alone. Seriously, it’s the size of a small house and I’m four. Wayyy too big.
----
When I woke up the next morning, I was rather disappointed to find that my new cuddle toy was missing. Sighed when I found her at the foot of my bed on her knees with a tray of food in front of her. Seriously, she really tries too hard. Besides I like eating with my family in the morning so it’s rather pointless. I don’t want to hurt her feelings though… in the end, I decided to eat it for her. Today I missed out eating with my family but I guess this is fun in a way as well.
“Thank you for the meal, Azure. Next time though, let’s eat together with everyone else, okay? They are busy during the day so we can only see them at breakfast and dinner during the week days. You need to eat as well, Azure” I reminded.
“But due to this body and my race, I do not need to consume food.” She defended.
“Neither do I. As a god I can live off of my own energy but eating is still better than not eating. You get to try a lot of new tastes and socialise with your family and friends while doing it. So you have to eat with us as well, okay?” I smiled as I petted her head.
“Okay, master.”
Once she agreed, I made off towards the lab with her in tow. Yesterday, although I didn’t make dungeons specifically for schools and towns like I wanted to in order to help with training, I did still make Azure so I was rather satisfied with my impulsive decision. She can create dungeons now so I don’t have to put in the effort. Instead I want to focus on the secret hang out spot I’ve been meaning to customise. I have an idea of what I want to do but ultimately I want to change, well, everything about the place, even the lock. The only thing that will be the same is the size, location and there being two exits and one entrance. Well, atleast known ones. I will make a secret escape route just in case there is a traitor who leads enemies to both doors.
But I really wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to repurpose the place. My goal is to literally make it a fortress-cross-socialising location that only we can get in to. Who doesn’t want a secret base? For the door, I was using my mana computers. Put some mana onto the wall and if the person who puts it there has permission, the wall will open for them. Pretty simple. What’s not simply is that it’s more like the door fades away to reveal a marble arch that leads into the room. I can’t even be bothered explaining the heap of enchantments that took to sort out. Even just not breaking the computer while moving it was a small impossibility I had to overcome.
Once inside, it will close behind you and the barrier means no one can follow through. Due to how reinforced the wall is, even if someone tries to break through with force it would atleast take several hours as a 30+ cultivator. I didn’t want to give away that I’m a god so it was a little weak. Moving on, the room itself! Once you come through the arch, there are two staircases made our of, again, marble that curve up and around to reach two massive tree houses. I mean literally, I got two massive trees and attached them to the walls before hollowing it out and polishing the wood. It’s like a massive room (single story) on a beautiful polished wood that is near the top of the room. So yeah, you can look down on everything.
There is a rope bridge going across to each other but the actual insides are special. At the back there is a massive kitchen with a bar stand to it. In the place itself there are seats that go around small fire pits and tables to eat at while overlooking the view. Basically, it’s just a really big, overdramatised and prettied up eating area. The one on the opposite side of the room was almost the same except it didn’t have the kitchen and instead had a few pool table’s, chess boards and other bit’s and pieces, basically a relaxation socialising area again like the last one, made pretty, big and dramatic.
Continueing the theme, in the middle the rope bridge splits off into a t section with the new bride going towards the centre of the room. Once there, we reach a massive crystal outcrop coming down from the roof that has a hollowed area as well. This area is meant to be a group study/library. Obviously since we are supposed to be going to school it is to be expected that we would study in our own time as well. While it multi-purposes as a centre point to look at the whole rooms view, it is also a place for us to study and socialise.
Using the same layout as the first two rooms so that it is four ‘trees’ on the outside and one ‘crystal’ in the middle, we next have an all-purpose arcade in one of them and in the other, a massive theatre set up. Honestly it’s all pretty cool for just that alone but we still haven’t even mentioned the ground. Below all of this where gardens, lakes, waterfalls and trees.
To describe all of that would take too long but there where also picnic areas down there and it all looked really pretty. Of course, I installed fun little Easter eggs to find and mess with here and there but overall, that was it for the main layout. Naturally though the walls and roof where different since stone bricks are boring so now it’s something close to a Polychrome Jasper Aura stone that has been polished. It’s not exactly like it but close enough. Since that’s covering the walls, all the different colours swirling together and apart look amazing, especially on such a massive scale.
Overall I was quite happy with the retreat I made. It naturally looks quite nice since I tried to make everything go for a sort of natural look and it really came together better than I was expecting. The island below the library in the middle of the lake, the artificial sunlight, the small artificial constructs among the natural looking constructs and little details I added in to the place blends together really well, creating a really nice retreat. Since I am the computers ‘owner’ I can let anyone in and Azure is a ‘moderator’ to the place so she can as well. I will in the future add my sisters to the list as well but for now, I’ve finished my goal of making a nice hideout for all of us. Why, I’m not sure.
It’s not like we really need this place or that I had some grand reason for building it, I just felt like I should do something interesting with it on a whim. It looks rather good but I’m still questioning just why I bothered making such a place. Ah, I almost forgot. I added a few sparring rings in here as well. It seemed like a fun idea that we might spar occasionally so I had no reason not to. Well, other than the fact that it is completely useless for me to spar against such weak opponents… ugh, suddenly the enthusiasm I had for this place is disappearing.
“Master are you okay?” Azure interrupted my musing.
“I’m fine, Azure. I just lost some of the enthusiasm I had for making this place, that’s all.”
She seemed reassured by that but still a little hesitant to accept the answer so I pat her on the head.
“Come on, let’s take you shopping. I need to see what clothes suit you and you have never experienced it before.” I said softly.
“Okay, master.”
----
When we got home there was a collection of bags and a little Azure in new clothes. Before she was just wearing a simple white dress that she made after comparing the clothes between different nobles and finding one that would blend in the best. While it’s beautiful in it’s own rights I felt like she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the clothes properly if they where made and worn for such a reason. I also didn’t want to give perverts a chance to see my friends underwear but that’s beside the point.
The point is that after hours of shopping we found a style that suites her best in both looks and her opinion of the clothes. I like my outfit mainly because it’s fluffy and looks good on me while covering my entire body. For combat, this is the best choice and seeing as I like fighting and that my clothes reflected that and the desire to look good, they suited my tastes perfectly. Azure however is not me. She has her own personality and desired. While she has been suppressing them as much as possible because of the contract, I managed to successfully coax her into choosing clothing she likes by using careful wording but she still has a long way to go.
Upon reflection I realise that this is my fault. Instead of bringing her directly up to a world dungeon I should have spent a few weeks to let her develop her own personality more instead. Due to our contract being one of the first things she experienced it is ingrained into her personality to serve me like a master as that was all she knew. Right now that is as base to her as my desire to gain power was and still is to me. I may be able to lessen it and make her more comfortable around me but since I overlooked that detail yesterday I have permanently engrained that into her being. It was a rather obvious mistake that I would have usually taken counter measures against but instead I overlooked it in my excitement.
Now the only question is how much I can lessen that trait of hers and how close and comfortable I can make her with me. Anyway, for her main clothing she had a dark blue velvet dress. It wasn’t all poofy like medieval types but it was definitely beautiful and smooth. It is a strapless and sleeveless dress though so her shoulders and arms are uncovered but everything else is fine. Because of that she is wearing a dark blue pair of silk gloves that reach up the majority of her arms. While it doesn’t completely cover her since her shoulder, neck and head are still in the open it is enough. The design of the dress itself attaches one of the inner layers to her legs so even if it is blown up in combat she is safe from perverts. Otherwise though it looks really good, especially on her since she has black hair with dark blue streaks in it. I do feel a little outclassed when she’s in front of me wearing that while I’m wearing jeans and a fluffy jumper as the princess but I don’t mind that.
As much as she tries to hide it though I can see she is happy with her new clothing. It will take her a while to warm up to the other aspects of living but I’m confident she will do fine. At dinner, I told everyone about our shopping spree and grandma told some stories from when she was a child as well. At one stage she attempted to smuggle in a kitten to the castle and she thought she was hiding it well but then she found out they noticed from the first day. It sounds like something I would do, honestly.
I decided to make her sleep with me again tonight as well. If I don’t she will unconsciously distance herself from me so I need to do things she considers inappropriate for the master-servant relationship she is trying to pursue. While I do feel a little guilty for trying to manipulate her personality away from her, it was also my mistake that gave her this personality and if I don’t try to lessen it’s influence as much as possible happiness will be a rarity to her. Even now with the dress, she was trying to suppress the emotion since she didn’t consider it appropriate. If she lives like that for eternity because of a stupid mistake on my part… it hurts knowing I’m the reason she can’t have happiness. While I have had a lot of bad things happen to me and done a lot of bad things to others in order to achieve my goals, the difference between doing it for a reason I believe in and doing it because of an accident is massive, especially when it is one of this magnitude. I found out from the day I was reborn that even if my base personality was to strive for power I still can supress that with happiness. While I still do aim for it, I am no longer consumed by that desire and I can slow down to be with my family but Azure won’t be able to experience that unless I force her to. Suppressing happiness… can someone really stop suppressing their positive emotions if the negative emotions are the only ones left? She is shutting herself into a hole without a key and I am the reason. So, I am trying to break into that hole, crack by crack and day by day until she learns that it is not something she should suppress. The problem is since it is an unconscious act I can’t just tell her to stop as it won’t work. That’s like telling a human who can’t feel pain to stop putting their hand in fire with the reasoning of it being painful.
So instead, I need to fix that she can’t feel it before I can get her to stop. Her personality itself isn’t that much of a problem. She can still have fun, fall in love and live an amazing life with that mindset but the problem is that she is unknowingly rejecting that aspect of herself. While I want to stop that I am not going to try and den her entire personality. As long as she learns that her own happiness is important as well I don’t mind but without my influence, she won’t even be able to recognise that emotion. I have a lot of work to do and in my opinion this is the fastest way to do it. Forcefully break the barriers between us and make her acknowledge that I care.
This is the problem with emotions. Sometimes all they do is hinder us. I understand my desire for power as one day it just clicked in but I can physically feel that it is not something I can change, only manipulate. Before I was reborn that click has never been a problem but afterwards I realised that if I reach the strength limit I might simply disappear or worse, my old universe might. For all I know when I leave it is a one way trip and it could even destroy everything I care about in the process. Assuming no one made it past some sort of trial to leave the realm so far then it is a possibility that if someone did, everything left behind would be erased.
The possibility is slim but it still exists and to me that is a very real threat that has made me only cultivate passively instead of actively reaching for the strength limit. And even then, my time is running out. Soon I will reach that limit whether I like it or not. Sure, it will be atleast a thousand years away at the minimum assuming I don’t cultivate but what is that to me? A thousand years is more than a hundred times less than I’ve lived already. I know that all that time can pass by me easily and that the strength I desire so much could be the downfall to everything I care about.
Of course there is a ton of other possibilities as well but my point is that I can’t change the fact that I desire to pass the limit but it’s also true that I am scared of it now that the possibility of losing everything once again exists. So while strength is my base, happiness and family can manipulate that base into something being used to protect them. For Azure her base is to serve me. It’s a pretty weird base and usually unless someone has extreme devotion it would be impossible to have. Since her circumstances are special however she has managed to be born with that base. Right now it is controlling her just like my desire for strength controlled her so I need to give her the power to manipulate that base. And although my explanation is long, this is the solution I came up with.
About the future, I am unsure. There are an infinite number of variables that could effect myself and others at any given moment and the results of these variables also varies. Whether I succeed or fail with Azure Firefox is an unknown and while it is more likely that I would succeed, it is possible that something can make her withdraw from my influence and put up shields to stop my progress. If she does I won’t be able to help her anymore and I can only hope that she finds someone who can get through those shields and finish what I started. If she tries to reject what I’m doing… I will lose any chance I had of helping her as she is defending specifically against me.
That is why I am making her sleep with me. This can just be understood as an innocent act to get closer to her so as long as I don’t massively screw up, she won’t even realise what my intentions are. The fastest way would be to make her fall in love but that’s pretty much impossible when she made her body as a four year old and it is something I’d prefer not to manipulate regardless of it’s effectiveness.
----
“It’s happening already?” I asked Azure tiredly as I woke up.
“Yes, Master. The cultivators… have already begun the culling.” She said with an obvious distaste to the news.
“Well we knew it would happen. The weak who cannot escape the world or defend themselves from the monsters will just get the powerful killed when they are forced to protect them. The fact that some ‘rouge’ cultivators are killing the weak is no surprise. It is still disgusting though. I know for a fact that the kings and nobles have the means to mass immigrate to other worlds but instead they choose to kill their own people… It looks as if I was too lenient on those pigs.”
Sending out the elites and claiming them to be rouges in order to kill their own people… humanity, what a disgusting race.
“What would you like me to do, Master?” Azure asked.
“It’s fine Azure. I will handle this. It strikes a nerve when I remember that my original family was killed in similar circumstances to this.” I told her with a voice that clearly betrayed my anger.
I stopped everyone apart from those in my nation. It’s not hard, I just have to spread my mana throughout the world to overpower them. Any who where hurt, I healed and any who where trying to kill the weak I crushed. I left the kings and queens that ordered such a situation alive though. I needed them there to sort out the details even if I wanted them dead.
“You have all disappointed me.” I said in a dangerous voice to everyone outside of my nation.
“To think, the nobles and royalties would so easily try to kill the citizens of their nations. You have failed my test and as a result the terms for your survival have changed.” My voice continued to get colder as I talked.
“From today, you have a month before I slaughter you all. Children will be spared and Women may immigrate but if I find that you abandon them because of that, you will die. If you do ANYTHING I don’t like, you will die. Abandon your people again… I dare you. It has been a while since I heard the sound of souls shattering.”
I finished off my threat and face planted back into the bed with a groan.
“Master, are you alright?” Azure asked in worry.
“No. Why am I always right about the disgusting nature of intelligent beings? It sucks. Just for once, I’d like to misjudge them and find that they are good people but instead I am faced with this ugly truth. They didn’t even last a few days before deciding to kill their citizens! I had to wake up from my first true sleep in two years because of dickheads like this. Azure, why are intelligent beings so disgusting? I just want to see the light in people but no matter what I try, they only show me darkness.” I asked her in a rare moment that I lost my composure.
“You see the light in your family though don’t you, Master? Isn’t that enough? Even if the darkness is everywhere… you’re family is to you a light that can illuminate it all.” She said as she began to stroke my hair in an attempt to comfort me.
“You’re my family now too, Azure. So make sure to shine very brightly for me as the darkness is suffocating…”
As I said that, I began to drift off to sleep as I hugged her and she stroked my hair. I went back to sleep- true sleep- as soon as my bed in the soul-scape came into view. I didn’t miss the small smile I saw on Azures face before I lost the last trace of reasoning I had left though. And I knew… that I was smiling as well.
Maybe those assholes did have some use to me after all. I was still going to kill them in the future but maybe I’ll spare their souls now.