I looked down from between Darkeria's arms and opened my eyes wide. Below us was a fairly modern looking city stretching across a good solid 100 to 120 square kilometers. There were small residential buildings and large skyscrapers spread out across the landscape as well as a few factories and public amenities like hospitals and schools. Most notably was the large castle town that was situated in the very center of the city.
It was almost like it was a small village in itself. I could see a few small houses and farms dotting the landscape inside the castle walls and a river that flowed through from one side of the city to the other, flowing through under one of the walls. The castle itself was 4 stories tall and fairly large, covering a good amount of the 5 square kilometers the castle town covered. It was made of some sort of crystal that glowed faintly, giving off a rather mystical aura. White and black were the main focal colours of the castle and the contrasting was rather well done.
There were guard towers situated at the 8 cardinal points and had 10 guardsmen in each. There were pairs of guards patrolling every area of the wall and i counted around 230 guards total on the walls including the guard towers. It was highly doubtful anyone would be able to infiltrate that town unless they went under the walls, even then it's highly likely they'd be spotted afterwards.
I also saw what appeared to be a really accurate representation of Darkeria in the form of a crystal sculpture down near a courtyard in front of the castle entrance. There were several cat people praying in front of it and i noticed small amounts of chaos mana drifting around the sculpture. Every now and then a tiny amount would approach a person and slowly merge into their bodies.
"..." I frowned slightly before i heard Darkeria's voice next my ear.
"So the first item on the agenda is to pay a visit to the naughty children that put you in that cramped place~" She sounded excited but also, just under the surface, i could hear a slight anger and fury in it.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, is there really any reason to go down there in the first place?" I didn't really want to say hi to any potential royals as soon as i broke out of prison but...
... I just hope nothing bad happens. I looked up from the caste grounds and sighed before imagining my id card again.
A small pain shot through my arm before the id card slowly started to manifest near my brand. What..? Why the sudden pain. And why is it taking so long? I was slightly confused but waited patiently until it finally took physical form and landed in my hand.
It was a little bigger than last time and a few new patterns had appeared on the surface. It was also glowing slightly and had a small black water shaped droplet hanging under the moon symbol.
I titled my head before focusing on it and gasped. There was more information than last time and a few new stats and categories had appeared.
BasicName:Nick EverdreamAge16RaceERROR!!!Title[Aevolia's Hero], [Knight], [Master of magic] [Darkeria's Lover]
[One With Darkness]ClassFreelancer [Lvl 3]Bonus Class 1[Not Equipped]Bonus Class 2[Not Equipped]StatsLevel:15Experience (Needed)16,885Experience (Total)84,555Mana Level:Lower rank deityMana:300,000 / 300,000HP10,000 / 10,000??? ??? ?????? ??? ???Stamina15,000 / 15,000Agility352Magic Resistance322Strength151Endurance131Magical power1003AffinityCreation1530 / 100,000 [LVL MAX]DarknessMax [LVL 1]Light10 / 1000 [LVL 1]Fire83 / 1000 [LVL 1]Air103 / 1000 [LVL 1]Water1 / 1000 [LVL 1]Earth23 / 1000 [LVL 1]Ice0 / 1000 [LVL 1]Lightning0 / 1000 [LVL 1]Chaos1 / 100,000 [LVL MAX]Battle AffinityMelee2310 / 3000 [LVL 3]Magic213 / 35,000 [LVL 35]Ranged0 / 0 [Not learned]Team attack0 / 0 [Not learned]Skills (Passive)Fast chantMemorizeDual wieldThought chantChant omissionMagic molderX2 EXP2nd class3rd class??? ??? ???Shared Soul (Targert
I was a little shocked at what i saw, especially the fact that i had affinity with chaos now, albeit as little as it was. There were a few passive skills i didn't understand and at this point in time i had no way of expanding the information.
Darkeria's lover...huh. Well i guess in a sense that's true. The 2 new titles that appeared weren't really unexpected but the stats had also grown despite not leveling up at all. I also had stamina, magic resistance and agility now which was also a little expected but still surprising.
Shared soul was something i was a little concerned with but for now i just placed that at the top of my to investigate list. Just as i was about to send the card back into storage another thought filled my mind.
Growth boosting; status card (old type)... "..." I was a little perturbed by that thought and tried to focus on the words i had just heard. Surprisingly enough, a more detailed explanation came to mind and i gaped my mouth open in shock.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
"The old type status plates were known as the Status card and had the ability to boost the growth rate of the one who bound them. They had a few unique aspects to them including the ability to communicate via telepathy with other status card holders and the ability to access detailed information inside the card. The most notable aspect was the Evolution system that was crafted into them. They could evolve and take on new forms and grant new abilities and various bonuses to those who bound them. With this system they could also be "Inherited" by new binders. If the previous binder dies then the card would take on either a pure physical or pure spiritual form and be bound by a new owner. When the new owner successfully binds the card, they can inherit both the stats and skills of the previous owner if they meet certain requirements."
"... ... ..." I was extremely surprised at this development and couldn't form any coherent thoughts. I shook my head a few times and sent the card back to storage and looked up again.
We had arrived above the castle and i could feel mana condensing around Darkeria. "..." Before i could stop her, she sent a huge blast of mana towards the roof of the castle and it exploded in a shower of crystal fragments.
She slowly descended inside and we arrived inside a large open throne room at the very top floor of the castle. The walls were made of the same crystal material as outside and the black crystal was glowing faintly as it was outside. There was a long back carpet stretching from the twin thrones at the very far end of the room to the entrance at the other side. There were many small paintings and sculptures lined up on either walls to the side and i could see a lot of surprised faces in the room.
Suddenly one of the many people in the room took a stance and created a black sword in his hands before shouting out towards us.
"Name yourselves! You are intruding upon the presence of the royal Bladeheart's. Depending on your answer we WILL not hesitate to kill you!" Immediately every other guard in the room created a small sword and took a stance. I counted 35 of them.
I looked up at the thrones and saw a middle aged man and a fairly young woman seated on the thrones. The man seemed to be in his late forties and had slightly greying hair that was kept neatly trimmed above his ears. The colour of his wings, tail and ears was a deep hazel colour and his eyes shone a pale green light. He was wearing a deep black robe over a pair of black slacks and tank top. It was a little funny to look at but it strangely suited him.
As for the young lady seated next to him. She looked to be in her early thirties and had a fantasy styled pink hair flowing to her shoulders that was slightly braided. Her ears were a light pink and so was her tail. Her wings however, were a deep dark red colour and the feathers almost seemed like sharp knives. She was wearing a simple one piece dress of a pale blue colour and had a small shawl of a deep blue colour draped over her shoulders.
Standing just behind and to the side of the man was Faeanna, wearing a shining black suit of armor and holding a large black scepter in her left hand. The armor had a symbol of a heart with a sword etched inside of it covering the chest area of her armor. She looked into my eyes and then away again.
I could feel a cold aura starting to seep from Darkeria and i looked up to see a smile on her face. But no matter how you look at it, that smile was not a friendly one and seemed to promise death at any moment.
"Umm. Darkeria can you please put me down for now?" I asked calmly, snapping her out of her weird state and she smiled calmly at me before placing me on the ground. I created a little bit of water and a towel which i used to wipe the blood off of my face before i turned to face the one who had shouted at us.
I willed away the towel and plastered a big smile on my face before i opened my mouth and laughed.
"I'm the guy who gets to decided whether you all live or die of course. Mwahahaha." I inwardly face-palmed at the unintended outburst and cringed a little.
"What i mean is, ahem. I'm Nick Everdream and this here is Darkeria Bladeheart." As soon as i mentioned her name everyone stiffened a little and i could hear several gulping sounds. I turned to face the thrones and bowed slightly before opening my mouth again.
"Anyway, for now, how about we discuss a simple matter of why i was locked up, before my girlfriend here decides to just kill everyone." ... Well i suppose it's not entirely a lie. I mean she kissed me so passionately and i didn't mind so... Maybe we are lovers...?
Darkeria moved a few feet up to where i was and grabbed my hand before spreading her wings out wide and calmly turning my face towards her. She bit her lip a little and some blood started forming at the wound. She then brought a nail up and scratched my own lip until blood formed.
"It's time to finish the soul-bind~" And with that her lips locked with mine and i felt a huge surge of mana in our surroundings and i could see my own mana beginning to merge with her own. After a few moments, the mana in the air settled down and she pulled away from me and said.
"I am the progenitor of the royal Bladeheart bloodline and i decree that from this day forth Nick Everdream shall be known as Nick Bladeheart and will be given the respect he deserves. All those of the Bladeheart lineage who defy my will shall be struck down."
I gave a small sigh and closed my eyes at the cliche line she delivered before turning my attention back to the thrones. I opened my eyes and walked up to the thrones before taking a respectful stance and bowing again.
"I apologize for her ... behavior but she was only just released from her cursed imprisonment. She's a little upset i guess." I smiled a little before taking a step back and asking the most obvious question at this point.
"But yeah i would also like to know. Why was i locked away in prison? Not to mention that it was quite a very secure room at that."
Faeanna looked at me silently before leaning down and whispering something to the man, i'll call him the king for now.
He nodded once and Faeanna lifted her head up and placed the scepter against the back wall and came around in front of the king and took a stance.
"You had the powers of a goddess as well as the ability to injure me, not to mention you came here from another world... Iyagi specifically. I can't share any details at this point but due to these reasons you were branded as a possible threat to the kingdom. Since you're here with Darkeria herself... We can only apologize for our rude behavior and ask for forgiveness." She breathed out and then turned towards the king and then the queen before they each nodded and she turned back to face me again.
"My full name is Faeanna Guhrd Bladeheart, first princess of Wehsdia and head of the Knight order. I apologize for my treatment of you even after you claimed to be the hero of prophesy. I'm deeply sorry." She bowed her head and stayed like that.
I scratched the back of my neck and sighed before placing a hand over her head.
"It's fine don't worry about it. Despite all that, i really enjoyed our fight. It's been a while since i could go all out on someone so I'm thankful." I took my hand away and she lifted her head up and smiled a little.
Darkeria came up to me and took my hand before growling a little.
"Stay away from my husband unless you want to lose a limb or two little girl. I don't plan on letting him get stolen away."
I smacked the back of her head and sighed before patting her head gently.
"I promise i won't leave you Darkeria. I probably love you too... i think. Anyways for now how about we leave for today and come back tomorrow to discuss a few things." I bowed to the king and queen and jumped up out of the hole we made inside of the roof before they could say anything else.
I know i said i would try to release a few chapters today but i have to go out to dinner tonight so i'll pump one more out tomorrow instead~. anyway i made this chapter a little longer to make up for it and i'll release a small character page as well that i'll update as time goes~. Thanks again for picking up my series~ Enjoy <3