(Gavin)

"That's Varkle," the former noble of Turas growls. "Duke Varkle. You will learn to respect your elders, Gavin."

"So you know who I am, then?"

"The little brat," he says. "How did you survive? The tokens-"

"Had their magic Dispelled by the First Wizard," I tell him. "Promptly after he killed your son for attempting to kill Prince Tyler. Well, King Tyler. Your old, false king is now dead, and Tyler sits upon his throne. The throne that is his by birthright. So you're no longer a duke, Fartkey."

"Can I smite him?"

"Down, doggy,"

"That was a wolf!"

"I call a Rift Wolf a doggy," I say. "You think some half-assed Demigod will bother me?"

"I forgot about that," he mutters. "Wait! I'm not half-assed!"

"Your form's flickering."

"What?" He asks, then is silent for a moment, probably checking himself. "No, it's not!"

"So, Fartkey," I say. "You seem to have come here with intent towards me."

"I am a Duke of Turas," he says. "Jozan has not existed in six years. You-"

"Am getting tired of this," I say. "I am here on official business for the King of Jozan. I have already informed you that the False King has been slain."

"Listen here, kid," he reaches forward, then jumps back, staring in fear at the blazing violet dragon that formed around me.

"I am Gavin Jakran," I state in a clear, powerful voice, amplifying it just a tad with Magic Voice. "Duke of Zelar, and the First Archmage. I have reached the Fourth Tier of Three Classes. I am sworn to Jozan, and have come to Isil on behalf of His Royal Majesty, Tyler Jozan, the Blooded and True King of Jozan, and the Hero of Len. I do not answer nor respect one who took part in the coup against his father, who supported the regime that exists no more. His Majesty has ordered the execution of those nobles who supported the false regime and participated in the coup. As you ordered your son to kill him, you are you just as guilty. So you have a choice, now, Adrian – surrender yourself, or become a fugitive, until such a time as I or someone else decides to hunt you down and end your life."

"I-you-you can't-you're just an Adventurer!" He snaps. "You live to serve-"

"I am the First Archmage," I raise a finger, accessing my menus. "I can grant and revoke Access on a whim. Access I have no granted to every other person in this room, and revoked from your guards. I did not want to exert my authority or show my power, but though I have tempered my anger, I will not take your actions gently. No Adventurer should ever be collared, and your support of that angers me. You believing that those of us who are superior should be enslaved angers me. Every King has Access, and thus, must be controlled, in your mindest.

"I am giving you your final chance," I say. "If you do not surrender, then I will acknowledge you as a fugitive, and erase your existence."

"You have no proof!" He declares. "You are just-"

"I swear on the blood that flows within my veins that what I have stated in this conversation regarding Jozan has been the truth. The true heir to Wesley Jozan has reclaimed his throne, and I slayed the False King who took it when his father was murdered."

The crimson glow of a Blood Oath being sworn envelopes me, and the guards and the former noble stare at me.

"My… my god," Varkle says. "He… he talked to me… that was a true Blood Oath… my god actually confirmed it."

"Of course he would," I state. "After all, in quite a short time, comparatively, I have sworn many Blood Oaths and pulled them out of others, enough so that I attracted the attention of the God of Blood Oaths, Nies, and became his Hero quite early into my time with Access.

"Now," I continue. "You will either step aside and allow my traveling companion and I to leave, so that we may have breakfast, or I will have my Violet Dragon consume you."

New Skill!

(VII) Violet Dragon 1: A serpentine dragon forged of violet flames, it respects no Resource, drawing from several for its power, using Mana, Arcane, and Aether, as well as whatever else is added to it. The additional Resources used in its manifestation determine its effects. See expanded information for details on what each Resource will do.

"Oh," Stem says. "That was… interesting. I guess having such things automated was a good idea, rather than having to go in and do it manually."

"Pardon?" Varkle looks at him.

"The System," Stem explains. "The automated Skill Creation just accepted Gavin's Violet Dragon as a Skill. It registered it as Tier VII, and considering that it uses multiple Resources as a requirement, and can take on multiple more for added effects, I'd say that's pretty neat. If the System didn't automate this, there'd actually be quite a few less Skills, and Skills such as this would exist only if the System actually noticed the spells and converted them into a Skill, so that they can go beyond the reaches of the magician, were they to not have Access."

"Who are you?"

"This is Stem, Fartkey," I say. "He's supposedly a Demigod."

"I'm the Super Young, Smart, Talented, Energetic Me!" Stem puffs out his chest, and I snort. "You can call me Stem!"

"You should just go into your doggy form and stay in it," I tell him. "I'll smack you through the wall, if you don't."

Stem stares at me, then I glow red, and he huffs.

"Fine, Nies!"

Seriously?

I'm bored, and it's entertaining.

"That wasn't even a Blood Oath, Nies."

Yeah, I know.

Stem snorts, but transforms into his wolf form, though he forgot to get rid of his clothes first, so they rip apart as his body lowers and thickens, becoming the wolf. He looks at them, then shoves his snout into the shirt, sniffing it. The shoulders ripple, probably as a shrug, then the clothes vanish.

Stem looks at me, and I pat his head, scratching behind his ears. He leans into it for a moment, then stops, pulling away and giving me a glare. I laugh, then look back at Varkle.

"So," I say. "What is your decision? Because my Violet Dragon is more than willing to devour you."

Reij shifts, releasing his tail and looking behind me, opening his maw. I look down at him, wondering what he's doing, then sense the magic he's absorbing. It's… hidden. So too is the source. Not that I was caring, as anything that Reij wouldn't eat, I'd detect long before it had a chance of touching me.

Touching, I say, because for the idiots who don't remember… there really aren't mortals that can hurt me. Those that can are either something everyone is running from, or that Stem or one of the other Divine would kill.

Just Smite right out of existence, like the Dekami.

"My treat," Varkle visibly deflates, giving in. "Let us dine at the Golden Rolls."

"Reij," I say. "Would you mind pointing out whoever it was who cast that hex at me?"

Reij looks at me, then looks around the room, before looking at a man sitting at a table in a far corner. He looks terrified the moment I meet his gaze.

Then the Violet Dragon lunges forward, flying at him. He throws up a barrier, but it's useless against a beast of magic forged with the power of an Archmage.

The hex-caster loses his life, his body, its existence, and then the Violet Dragon resumes its position around me before fading away. I look back to Varkle.

Maybe I'll be kinder with my options.

"You have two options," I tell him. "Swear total allegiance to Tyler Jozan, King of Jozan and son of the late King of Jozan, Wesley Jozan. Or, you can leave, and never return to Jozan for any reason other than the former. I can give a third option, but it involves me summoning the Violet Dragon again. I believe, considering you ordered your son to kill Tyler, this is a fair set of choices."

Varkle stares at me, then drops down to one knee.

"I swear," he says. "On the blood that flows through my veins, that I will serve Tyler Jozan, King of Jozan, and his family and heirs, and support their reign, to never betray them or act against them or the interests of Jozan again."

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He glows, and a new sensation fills me. I can accept or reject his Oath. Is that an effect of the boosted power of my Blessing?

"As the Hero of Nies," I say. "Origin of Oaths and Quests, I accept your vow. Should you ever break it, no matter the reason, you will pay not in death, but by never being able to touch another being again without feeling pain beyond what you can handle, that lasts for as long as you were in contact with them after."

The crimson glow fades, and Varkle doesn't move from where he is.

"By the way," I say. "I'm not your King, just the Duke of Zelar. You don't need to bow to me, unless you acknowledge a position less than that of mine."

New Title!

(I) Duke of Zelar: The Duke of Zelar, a Duchy within the Kingdom of Jozan

That seems… random.

"Huh," Stem says, drawing eyes to him. Probably because no one realized he could talk in that form. "Something must have gotten screwed up in the automated application of Titles. You should've had that when you gained Access. Probably because of you having the Wizard Class available."

"The System should probably fix whatever caused that."

"Yeah, probably," he says, then shrugs again. "It'll probably be fixed by the time we go to bed. If the System can figure out what caused the issue."

Uh-huh.

"So," I look at Varkle. "The Golden Rolls? On you?"

He nods numbly, then turns and leaves. I follow him, Stem following at my heels.

Varkle leads me through several streets, and I memorize them, in case he is thinking of pulling one over on me. His Oath might have some flaws.

Len, Patron of Tyler Jozan, King of Jozan?

How are you able to just directly contact me like that?

Trade secret. Would you mind giving King Tyler a message for me?

I'm an ancient and powerful Divine Being that has existed since before most other Divine. Only your Patron and couple of others could even contest me in power. And you wish to use me as a messenger?

Inform His Majesty that Adrian Varkle has sworn a Blood Oath to serve him, and that I accepted it.

Stem starts laughing, drawing looks from others, but I ignore it.

I might hit him with a Blood Smite out of curiosity, just to see what he does in response to it.

That's an evil thought, Gavin, Nies says. I like it. I want to see you do it. Just not around other people. It might be messy.

Alright.

We arrive at the Golden Rolls, a place looking as pompous as the inn.

We enter the restaurant, whose other patrons stare at us and the beast following me, but don't say a word. A woman seats us, and Varkle shifts nervously as I stare at him.

"Didn't your eyes used to be more of an ocean blue?" He asks me.

"Pardon?" I ask.

"They look like a purple-touched blue," he says. "I remember looking into your eyes, back when you swore fealty to the Kingdom, and they were an ocean blue."

"There's purple in my eyes?"

"Yeah," Stem says. "Your eyes have been slowly transitioning to purple of the last few days. A couple more, and they'll probably be a pale lavender. I give it a full month before they turn the rich violet of your magic. It seems that the expanding of your Resource Pools has an effect on it, as does your experiments with them. The more powerful you grow, the closer to this violet color they will become."

I can see so many flaws with that, considering how powerful I already am. Unless it required me reaching a certain threshold, first.

Why does my magic have a violet effect to it? What causes this? Nies doesn't know, and the Voice seems to, but won't tell me.

I'm surprised the Voice hasn't spoken to me at all, but considering that Stem is here, maybe that shouldn't be surprising. He doesn't want to risk too many people finding out, even if Yggs knows. but he seems confident that Yggs won't share who he is.

Speaking of, have you returned, Yggs?

Yes, I have.

Nies didn't burn the world down.

Not this time. I'm still not sure why he summoned a meteor to get rid of an annoying dino.

I still want to know what you guys are talking about.

Maybe one day, we'll explain it to you.

Okay.

A waitress comes and serves us a hearty breakfast of biscuits, gravy, sausage, and eggs, along with glasses of milk. They refill them until I'm stuffed, which takes awhile. Stem manages to snag some sausages from them, after they get over the shock of not just a definitely-mystical creature, but said creature talking.

Varkle doesn't talk much, after asking about my eyes, so the two hours following that where I eat as much as I can stuff in me is filled with silence at our table, apart from the occasional comment from the waitress about the meal.

The rest of the restaurant is pretty silent as well, though judging by their whispers, it's because of my presence. Part of it because of Stem following me, part of it because of word about Jozan making its way out here, and part of it because of my hair and eyes.

No human they know of has straight hair, blond hair, or blue eyes.

Well, I guess slightly-purple-blue eyes, now.

Once the meal ends, Varkle pays the obscenely high bill, then we leave.

"Why don't you come to the castle with me?" He asks. "I have a meeting with the King tonight, I can give you a tour before then, and have servants arrange a room in the wing I'm staying in for you and… the Demigod."

"Call him 'Stem'," I tell him. "And I was planning on exploring the city until I receive an invitation from the King himself. Having you introduce me to the King would probably be a fair bit detrimental to amending relations. Also, please inform your guards that I will not tolerate them being loyal to Turas. Thank you for the meal, Fartkey, and have a good day. Stem, follow."

"I'm not a dog," Stem grumbles as I turn and begin walking away.

We walk through town for a bit, and I look around, examining the buildings and the people. I draw a lot of stares, but I ignore those, up until a little boy runs up to me. He looks to be around six years old, and his mother chases after him.

"I'm so sorry, Lord Magus," she bows to me, then looks at the boy. "No, Tomas! You can't just run up to people! See the marks on his cloak, he's a magician. You can't-"

"It's quite alright, ma'am," I crouch down and look into the boy's eyes. "My name's Gavin. Yours is Tomas?"

"Yeah!" He nods.

"Nice to meet you," I say. "I'm an Adventurer from Jozan."

"You don't have collar?"

"No," I smile. "King Tyler, the son of King Wesley, the late King of Jozan, outlawed collaring Adventurers."

"Why was King Wesley late?"

"When I said that," I explain. "It means he's dead."

"Where's Jozan?"

"You know Turas?" I ask, and he nods. "Turas used to be Jozan, but then some bad people killed King Wesley and took over, forcing Prince Tyler to go on the run, about six or seven years ago. Tyler returned to his throne a few days ago, though, and his first law as King was to remove the collars."

"So Tyler rules Turas?" He asks.

"No," I shake my head. "Tyler rules Jozan. Turas no longer exists, having its leaders killed."

"Like King Wesley?"

"Yes," I nod. "And then Tyler took his throne and restored Jozan. So it's Jozan, now."

"Okay," he says. "So you're Adventurer?"

"Yep," I smile.

"I no want be Adventurer," he says. "They put collar on them. Make them fight. I want System, but not be made fight."

"The System is amazing," I tell him. "If you weren't so young, I'd grant you Access."

"They said it be random," he says. "No one do that."

"I can," I smile. "I can grant and revoke Access as I please. It's something I can do because of my best Class. Stem, under the current requirements, do you know if he'll gain Access?"

"Probably in the next five years," Stem answers. "So it doesn't matter too much, honestly. They'd collar him and force him to serve them anyway."

"Then I guess," I look at Stem as the kid stares at the beast. "I'll have to convince Isil's King's master's to stop with the collars nonsense, won't I?"

Stem chuckles, and I look back to the boy, who's staring at the beast with eyes widened in awe and fear.

"Want to pet him?" I ask, and his eyes grow even wider, if possible. "Go on, he's very friendly."

The kid hesitantly approaches Stem, placing a hand on his back and rubbing it. Then, he puts his hand behind Stem's ears and scratches, giggling with the beast leans into it.

"Want to ride him a little?" I ask, and Stem freezes up, giving me a horrified look.

"Yeah!" The kid asks.

I pick him up and set him on Stem's back, making sure he's holding on tightly, then tell Stem to walk around the plaza. The kid goes quiet as Stem crouches, preparing to pounce, then he giggles as the beast takes off, running around the plaza.

"Thank you, Lord Magus," she says. "For not… for not being angry at him."

"For being a child?" I look to her. "I didn't grow up in the cities and such, so was raised differently. For us, Adventurers and magicians were just like other people, albeit powerful ones. We could walk right up to them. The boy had questions, and I wasn't going to stem his natural curiosity."

"Is what you said true?" She asks. "About… about Jozan?"

"Every word of it," I nod. "Tyler's first Royal Decree was the outlawing of the collars. He doesn't care about pleasing the council, nor about keeping peace the way his predecessors have. He wants freedom, and he doesn't care what it will take. He has ordered the executions of those nobles who supported to the Turasian reign and the coup that led to his father's death and his own escape. As an Adventurer, he will not stand for being a puppet, nor being forced into service to others. Jozan will be a different nation than it was in the past.

"Tyler, a couple of others, and myself traveled to a far distant land, beyond the reaches of our world, to escape Turas's might and train. He's studied and trained among other nobles and royalty, and learned other ways. With their nations, there were no collars, and the thought of doing that horrified them."

"A land without collars?" She asks. "That exists?"

"It does," I nod. "We were all a bit amazed by it, ourselves, when we came to it. Some of the places we traveled, if the people of our world tried to collar them, they'd find themselves dead in an instant. One such place allowed for quickly grinding through Levels. Tyler is a Tier IV Adventurer."

"I find that hard to believe," she snorts. "No one's ever managed to breach that barrier before."

"We were on another world when we did it."

"We?"

"Yes, milady," I smile at her. "We. I did it as well, though several years before His Majesty. My primary Class, Wizard, is currently Tier IV, which is Archmage. I also have Dragon Knight and Forest Guardian, both also Tier IV, and several Tier III Classes, except for Magus of Kar, which is only Tier II."

Kar is very impatient, and has half a mind to descend and tell you that you need to ask if you may advance already.

Nies…

I told him to stop being a ninny and just cuddle. He huffed and walked away. So I cuddled my son instead. He liked it. So did the tigers we pulled into it.

I snort, and the woman looks uneasy.

"Sorry," I tell her. "I forgot how unnerved people are by magicians around here, and how the slightest thing can cause fear and uneasiness. The god who made me his Hero was talking to me, and he's… interesting."

Stem returns to us with the boy, who's absolutely beaming from his excitement.

"Mommy!" He exclaims as I pick him up and set him down. "I got to ride the doggy! You see? You see?"

"Yes," she says. "I saw," she looks at me. "Thank you, Lord Magus, for allowing him to ride your familiar."

"Oh, he's not a familiar," I say.

"I'm a Demigod," Stem huffs. "He's just making me be in this form as we travel through the city. I'd take on my human form, but he really can slap me through a wall."

"A… mage who can slap a Demigod through a wall?" She stares at me.

"What's your STR, by the way?"

"Five hundred, sixteen."

I snort.

"That's not funny."

"I'm more than three hundred higher than you, Stem."

That is so funny, considering what Stem really is.

"Wait," I realize. "I really can slap you through a wall?"

"Yeah."

I can't hold back the laughter. I can slap him through a wall! That's so funny!

"I can still smite you, though!" He says. "My INT is more than ten times your puny little nine hundred!"

"I'm sorry," I hold my stomach. It hurts from my laughing so hard. "I just-I can't-you… that's so funny, Stem! I can-I can slap you through a wall! I didn't realize you were that weak, physically!"

"My true form would just stare at you. Then slap you through the wall."

"But not your human form!"