After a certain point in your life, when things have changed drastically beyond your expectations, you just have to sit back and ask yourself…
“What the shit is happening right now?”
“Excuse me?” Nel asks, raising a brow and clicking her fingers together.
“I just… don’t quite understand how I’ve gotten here.” I say, rubbing at my head. “The ship, the academy, the fighting… it’s just… I’m now the leader, through violent force, of a small city under the surface of an alien world. I killed so many people to get here, and now…
“Is this what a mid-life crisis feels like? I’m finished fighting a war and now all I have to do is focus on a trade dispute with a neighbour that’s acting a bit dickish.”
“Are you going back to the idea of starting a war again?” Nel asks disapprovingly. “I will not let you be a run away mother. If you start a war, then finish it quickly. I’d still prefer that you didn’t, but if you must…”
Her long tired sigh just feels comedic considering the circumstances.
“No, no. I agree. It’s just that the tension feels so much smaller and less important.” I say. “Like seriously? They don’t want to talk to us? That’s it?”
“Red has suggested that it’s the first step towards a more serious conflict.” Nel warns. “We should be prepared for anything up to and including assassination attempts.”
“I know, I heard her too.” I say, shaking my head. “If anyone tries anything, I’ll end them properly.”
Nel nods appreciatively.
We’re currently at the bottom floor of the tower. Nel has allowed for this afternoon and the whole of tomorrow as a day free from classes, but after that I have to return, not simply to learn, or for appearances, but to poach Skills and talent. We need teachers of our own now, and I’m sure there are a few older students that don’t mind the idea of disappearing rather than getting stuck in the machinations of the Unified States.
The freedom and the limitations of the Unified States really are a unique blend, some people can live their best lives in the massive universe spanning nation, but others, like me, would be ruthlessly crushed by the gears of their society.
“I’ve heard of your plans.” Leon interrupts my thoughts, the lion-like, stuck up young gentleman stands in our path with the rest of his Slayer team at his back like an entourage. “I’ll be travelling alongside you.”
“It’s a free road, I’m not going to stop you.” I say, shrugging and moving to walk around him, heading towards our meeting spot.
“I’m going to ensure that you don’t continue your conquests. You’re aspirations as a warlord end here.” He says, stepping in my way again.
“Then they’d better not start anything.” I reply. “I reserve the right to take over if they attack me or mine without a damn fine reason, or… If they’re like really evil slavers, maybe? I can’t come up with much else at the moment, but I’ll get back to you with a list one of these days.”
I say, pushing past him. “Follow at your own pace, I really don’t care.”
“Will they be trouble?” Nel asks.
“Heroes, or moral busy bodies, or something like it.” I say with a shrug. “So long as we’re not forced to do something ridiculous, I doubt they’ll trouble us.”
“If you say so.” Nel says, her expression instantly relaxes and I can tell that she’s set aside the thought entirely.
“You’ve gotten strong.” I say, watching her even more closely. Her expression is firmer than when I first met her, there’s a hardness to her that is charming in it’s own light, but it’s also nice to see it melt away in private.
“Hardly,” She snorts, “I’m not the one who cast a magic to destroy an entire enemy army.”
“No, but when we got here I thought you’d break down without us. I didn’t imagine you’d become this resilient, or this focused.” I say. “The way you can set aside issues like Leon like he’s nothing, and… well, you’re stronger.”
“Thank you.” Nel says, a small smile cutting through the steel of her expression. “Sometimes… it can feel like you’re not seeing me. That you’re looking past me, so it’s rather heart-warming to hear that. Please, do compliment me more.”
“Yes dear, anytime.” I say, unable and unwilling to restrain the rising smirk.
Due to the neighbours in Greenhaven being rather strict with us, we’re not allowed to bring military personnel with us for this trip. While that worried me at first, according to the lord of this cavern it’s to be expected. Slayers and other non-military guards are the commonly expected entourage, thus it’s not usually an issue at all.
Actually now that I think of it, the lords role of speaking for the dungeon, seems more and more lost to us since we have a direct line of communication to the dungeon herself. He still happily works to support the people here and ensure that no rules are broken, but I get the feeling that he’s enjoying a sort of quiet retirement right now.
At the tunnel we meet with a few teams of Slayers. Nel and I are entering this task ourselves, as Eshya and Vii are at classes, and Adler is watching them, as is meant to be her job.
The slayers, monster hunting mercenaries essentially, are led by a familiar group, partly because of the new recruits on their team.
Korgan, our drinks mixing dwarf, Arn, the larger man who we freed from a collar, and Shy, my favourite scout—the only one I’ve bothered to familiarize myself with—have joined with the group of Slayers that assisted Eshya and I when we fell into the trap set by the gremlin mages. It’s still led by Darrel, a dark-skinned man with a massive hammer, though I could’ve sworn that he was using an axe last I saw him.
“Thanks for being our guards on this excursion.” I say.
“Here is your advance payment.” Nel says, handing them a pouch filled with mana shards. “The completion reward is awaiting on our return.”
“Already forging your own mana coins.” Darrel says, shaking his head. “This is going to be a proper, bustling city in months at the rate you’re all pushing things.”
“We’re not pushing much at all.” I counter. “I’m just giving people the chance to push themselves. Or well, I’m trying. We still need to put together an academy to help people figure out careers, Skills, and magic.”
Darrel, shakes his head.
“Proper city in weeks, maybe…” He grumbles. “Might have to find a new corner of the caverns that’s still wild at this rate.”
“We can relax and enjoy the forming civilisation for a while longer.” His mage says, stepping up and smiling bright. “We have a house of our own here! If it does become a city that’s even better.”
“Shelter is shelter.” Darrel shrugs. “Ready to be off?”
“Ready as we’ll ever be.” I say, looking back through my sight Skill and seeing a rather undisguised group rushing closer. “I should mention that Leon and his group will be following us.”
“That bunch, huh?” Darrel chuckles, “Well, with the black-tree empress and the prince of slayers coming along I doubt we’ll come across anything that’ll give us trouble.”
“Black-tree?” I ask.
“That spell you used to end the war.” Darrel says, “It looked like a black tree. We’re not a creative lot.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Nel for some reason finds it amusing but she doesn’t find reason to say exactly why. Without further fanfare we head down past a section of thick forest and into a cave that looks like nothing much from this side.
Faintly glowing mosses grow within, but it’s not quite as bright as even a full moon night. We tread along a well worn path, passing blocked off or collapsed side paths. Stone walls block off some entirely, while others have been knocked down from some nature of explosion, and others still are smoothly covered with earth magic.
“What’s with all the closed paths?” I ask, waving a hand at them.
“Don’t want any beasts making a home in here.” Darrel says. “Proper roads between caverns are always trimmed like this, otherwise us slayers have to check every branching road every time we secure the place. That, and this way travellers don’t get lost down a dead end maze of tunnels.”
“Makes sense.” I simply say. It seems like it’d be a lot of effort, but considering the dangers of an ambush along these dark tunnels, or the expense of constantly guarding them, it does make sense.
I may still want to guard the entrance eventually, in fact it makes for quite the effective place to tax people coming in and out. Not that we need it, or want it at the moment, but it’s certainly something to be mindful of considering that we’re not the only city down here.
The tunnel is longer than expected, even knowing that it’s supposedly quite long. Time starts to slip away as we tread longer and longer down the dimly lit path but eventually we do reach the light at the end.
A dull light. Midnight moonlight shining at the edges of the forest. It’s beautiful, and it’s haunting, and it’s not exactly the most inviting.
Rather foreboding, but what does that matter?
Stepping through, I look up to see what stands in place of the moon of this cavern only to be surprised. There’s four sources of light, each a circle of similar size, hanging from the ceiling, and consumed by the thick moss that grows there.
Insects crawl up above, and are quickly snatched by hunters hiding within the thick moss, or perhaps it’s even the moss itself that eats them. The light is a pure and pale white, but most everything else here is green.
Unlike the tall mangroves of the forest of our own cavern, the forestry here is more based around ferns and grasses. Some do grow thick and tall, well over ten metres in height, but the land right here has been cleared, and a path leads out from here towards a light in the centre of the cavern.
The town is situated atop a tall hill, and surrounded with thick walls of vegetation that seem to act as a deterrent and guard. The leaves sway and reach out towards whatever beasts stray too close.
Greenhaven. Our neighbour, but apparently they have no intentions of being on good terms.
The slayers guarding us lead us along the road, while Leon and his team follow behind. They’ve been quiet and respectful this whole time, so I’ve barely had to spare them a thought.
Unfortunately, unlike most of my citizens, they’ve found some means of rejecting my Skill. I can’t see through their eyes any longer. A Skill of their own, most likely, but I couldn’t fine anything the sort when sorting through what I’ve stolen from them.
As we approach the town, I notice that there’s no guardsmen or anyone at all watching the gates. The slayers don’t seem concerned, so I trust their judgement as we walk right up to the walls.
The thick grasses and ferns lean aside to clear a path for us as we get near. A conscious decision, which means…
I touch the grass.
“Hello, and thank you for allowing us into your city.” I send to the new address that my Chip connects to.
“Greetings and welcome. I am Grier, gatekeeper and guardian of this town.” The grass responds. I’m still not quite sure exactly what form this Grier takes, but my deepening paranoia of what’s intelligent and what’s not has born fruits today.
“I am Black-tree Empress Kyra.” I reply, using the title with a deepening smirk. “It’s a pleasure to be here in your town. I feel much safer knowing that it has such a formidable guardian.”
Grier replies only with a vague acknowledgment of my compliment, but he doesn’t seem unhappy.
The town inside is far more dense than I was expecting, but also far poorer. While the lights make this feel closer to night, the people here aren’t yet resting, though many have the dark shadowed eyes that suggest that perhaps they should be.
A few people scurry about, hiding in small homes and shelters made from wood with such weak mana density that I could tear them down if I compressed a little mana into my breath and huffed in their direction. Big, bad wolf Kyra is going to have to restrain herself.
Sadly, far too many of the poorer people here are children.
It’s not my business, but my academy will need students. It wouldn’t hurt to make it a little larger and invite a few more students in, would it? Do we have enough food to bring in more immigrants? We have the houses, for now at least, and more land to occupy, but there’s farms and food to consider as well.
I need to figure out that space magic, and fast, before we run out of places to hunt and farm. I shouldn’t waste more of my time here dealing with shitty politics and trade, I have an extra-curricular class to sit in on.
“Nel, I won’t ever allow slums like this.” I say firmly. “We need to get space magic and expand.”
Nel nods firmly, smiling a little as she grabs my hand and walks beside me.
For all my complaints, I know that this isn’t even nearly as bad as it can get. The people here seem hungry and tired, but they’re not starved down to skin and bones. There is still life in them, enough for the children to play some silly game or another a few streets down from us.
When we pass by the poor part of town, and reach the richer houses, that are still not as nice as the stone buildings we’ve inherited, we eventually come to a manor that stands at the highest location in this town, the throne atop the hill. This is where the most important person lives, no doubt about it.
“We have a room prepared for you.” The butler says, as we approach the door, his insectoid body unable to bend into a proper bow, he just shakes his head and uses the translator to convey his proper refined intentions.
“When will we be meeting with the leader of this town?” Nel asks, taking a step closer to him and pulling me along in a firm grip. “We have a very tight schedule you should understand.”
“Tomorrow morning.” He replies, with a wave of his hand. “You may explore the town in that time, but do not leave the walls unless it is to return to your home.”
“I hope that the leaders here understand how important it is that they actually take this meeting seriously.” I say. “I want peace, and it would be bad for us all if they’re actions might be mistaken as hostility towards me and mine.”
“I will ensure that your message is delivered.” The servant replies in a dry, unmoved tone. “Your rooms are here.”
The manor is as nice as you’d expect, but no nicer. Halls with soft carpet and well made light fixtures along the walls.
The rooms are nice. Nothing special, and even quite spartan. If it’s an attempt at being rude towards us, or simply the nature of this town’s poverty, I can’t be sure.
“So should we check on the town?” I ask. I want to expand my network of eyes as soon as possible, and I have a few plans to make that happen. I’d also like to just move around and get a feel for the town, there’s a unique culture here, still a bit wild and unformed, and I want to get a taste of it.
“There seems to be little else we can do.” Nel replies, letting out a long hissing sigh. “We’ll have to-”
She's cut off, flung down onto the bed at my side. A bladed limb thrusts out from the wall, right where Nel was standing, and Shy stands there deflecting it to the side.
In a flash of movement, the insectoid creature leaps for us, joined by others that I can barely make out now that they’re moving.
“Assassins!” Shy shouts.
I set my feet for a fight, while swirling annihilation magic in my heart. Nel draws her knives and watches the corners behind us.
These idiots thought us weak? Vulnerable? They thought us prey?
They target Nel in particular?
I’ll not give them the chance to regret it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Skills & Stats
~Mana Form:
Current mana density: 19049 units
~Mana distribution:
Category Current Max. Defence 20% 100% Offense 20% 100% Mana Sense 20% 100% Recovery 20% 100% Gluttony 10% 100% Misc. 10% 100% Efficiency 100% 100%
~Favourited Skills:
-Tag and Film
-Trapping
-Stealth
-Mana surge movement
-Annihilation defence
-Annihilation flame burst
-Annihilation net
-Eyes of an Empire
Adaptions:
-Quick perception mind
-Annihilation Heart
-Clean bowels