Guinevere and Mira rode side by side in silence.
“What are you thinking about?” Guinevere asked.
“I’m thinking about the goblin camp,” Mira said. “They had children among them and weren’t a direct threat to us but Felrick and Helen didn’t show any mercy.”
“You’re wondering if you are on the right side?” Guinevere asked.
“Yes,” Mira admitted.
“I’ve often wondered that myself,” Guinevere said with a weary sigh. “I’ve come to the realization that despite our villainization of them the races that revere the gods of chaos aren’t too different from us. But that doesn’t excuse their behavior, though I don’t approve of his methods or attitude Felrick was right that those goblins if left alone would become a threat to us one day.”
“So, what should we have done?” Mira asked.
“I honestly don’t know,” Guinevere admitted. “Goblins were created by Jeresh, the god of Trickery and Pain. They are innately crafty and duplicitous, and their culture enjoys torture and bloodshed. But goblins aren’t too different from the Myrmidons in that way and many of their clans have assimilated into society.”
“So, you think goblins could be assimilated into civilization?” Mira asked.
“I don’t know, it hasn’t really been tried,” Guinevere said. “If you were to raise a goblin among humans from birth and teach them and raise them outside their tribe, would they be just another person or would they be drawn to inflicting pain, robbery and violence? I don’t know and no one else does either.”
“So, what do we do then?” Mira asked.
“We do what we can to protect as many innocent people as we can,” Guinevere said. “If that means we have to bloody our hands then we sacrifice our own feelings for the betterment of others.”
“That sounds like a rough way of living,” Mira said.
“My father is Merlin, that doesn’t mean much to you, but he is the second most powerful man in Camelot. It’s a title as much as it is a name, it his job to protect the king and predict threats to the king and kingdom. Being raised by him… it taught me to always look for the truth and that things are rarely simple or easy and the world isn’t black and white,” Guinevere explained.
“I’m not sure what to think about that,” Mira said.
“Good,” Guinevere said. “These are personal convictions; you need to come up with your own. Don’t let others tell you what’s right and wrong; they have their own interests and agendas. You’re the one who needs to be able to sleep at night so follow your conscious and not another’s dogma.”
“I’ll think on it,” Mira agreed and the two continued in silence.
---
I stepped out into the hall and went back to the castle’s throne room. I found Syvia sitting at a side table her head bowed as she poked at the food on her plate.
Her head jerked up as I approached, and she immediately jumped out of her chair and prostrated herself before me. “I apologize for my actions last night,” she said her face pressed to the floor. “I should not have acted against your wishes and will except whatever punishment you give me.”
“Get up,” I said. “As long as it doesn’t happen again, we’re good. I have some other questions for you.”
You should make her pay, the voidling whispered in my ear even as I steadfastly ignored her.
“Of course, my lord,” Syvia said. “What do you want to know?”
“Where are the Myrmidon clans and what and where are the beast lords?” I asked.
“I don’t know their exact locations, but the Wolf clan lives in the forest near the foot hills of the easter mountains a two day journey from here. The Dragon clan,” she spat when said their name. “Live in the swamps along the river close to the dragon wastes; the Bear clan lives in the western mountains.” she explained.
Boring, the voidling sighed.
“And the Beast Lords?” I asked. “I’ve heard of the Hell Dragon and the Lightning Pheonix but I’m expecting there to be at least two others.”
“There is the Runic Bear,” Syvia said. “It lives in the western forest near the mountains I’ve heard but I don’t know of any fourth beast lord but my father might.”
“Great, we’ll be leaving to go meet him tomorrow,” I said.
“You’ll be leaving so soon?” Jeriah asked; he apparently had been listening in on our conversation.
I can taste worry on him, the voidling commented. He’s concerned, probably that you’ll die before he can get anything from you.
“Yes, but I’ll make some improvements to your base and weaponry before we leave,” I said.
“If you are going so soon there is a matter, I wished to discuss with you,” Jeriah said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Your goblins and spiders,” he said. “We don’t have the food for them, and this area cannot support them all; will you be taking them with you to meet the Wolf clan?”
“No,” I said shaking my head. “But I can see your problem, we’ve been on the move for the past week so we’ve never really had the chance to strip the land bare in any place we’ve been but if they stay in one spot they will. I’ll handle it.”
“Thank you,” Jeriah said. “Is there any help you need from me?”
“Yes,” I said. “Have your people gather all the stone they can, it doesn’t matter what kind but harder and more uncommon stones such as quartz, onyx or flint should be brought to your blacksmith or armory.”
“I’ll get everyone on it,” Jeriah agreed.
“Also pack your things,” I said. “I want you to meet the Wolf clan with me. It will be a small group only four other people so make sure to only bring what you can carry.”
“Why do you want me to come?” Jeriah asked.
“Because I’m hoping to make an alliance rather than just beat down their leaders until their clan submits to me,” I said. “And I feel having the leader of one of my army along will help show what we have to offer.”
“I’m the leader of your army?” Jeriah asked.
“Unless you want to give the job to Juruk?” I asked him.
“No, I’ll take it,” Jeriah said quickly. “I’m just surprised.”
“Don’t be, power is what’s important and besides me you’re the second most powerful person here,” I said. “Now someone show me to the armory.”
This is so boring, the voidling groaned. There emotions are all so bland right now, why don’t you go have sex with his sister and give me something good to eat.
I didn’t respond and went right on ignoring her.
Jeriah led me out of the castle to a stone building, one of the only ones in the small town. An older man hammered away at a massive blade over seven feet long and made of almost half an inch of steel. Jeriah pushed open the door and l looked over the racks of weapons, they were mostly spears, axes and warhammers but there were some swords and daggers as well.
“Bring the uncommon stone here,” I said.
I spent the rest of the morning improving all the weapons in the armory. I had Tobias tell everyone in the fort to bring their weapons they were carrying to the armory. While they were there, I also used the opportunity to use Dominion on them. This would ensure their loyalty as well as providing them the stat boost to their attributes for being in a group.
64 rank points gained.
128 rank points gained.
Whip and Chains (Repeatable): Conquer 1,280 monsters or humanoids by bringing them under your Dominion. Current Progress 92 out of 1,280. When you complete this quest, you will gain 256 Rank Points and the next quest will require double the amount to be completed but will award double the rank points.
The reason I was working on the weapons was because of what I had seen last night when I fought Dragonbreaker. His sword had been immense and nearly half an inch thick but it still it hadn’t been able to withstand the force his incredible might had forced though its blade. I couldn’t stat boost a bunch of regular people and expect their weapons to hold up to the strain.
I used the metal/stone orbs I had gotten from the magma elementals in the Trial and added a few ounces of weight to each weapon and increased their hardness but left the looking mostly the same except for a darker metallic color. For the spears I gave the shaft a thin covering of Compressed Earth over the wood to keep it from being just cut through or shattered during combat. I did the same to the shafts of the axes and warhammers.
I brought out the rusty and broken weapons I had gotten from the skeletons in the dungeon and used compress earth to fix them creating a couple hundred short single edged blades that vaguely resembled the orc scimitars from lord of the rings except mine had a more elegant and curved design. These were for the goblins, and I had them over to Juruk to distributed before I sent them off to go hunt and scout the forest.
I left the armory and found the pile of stones that Jeriah had everyone collecting for me. They had spread them along the wooden palisade wall as I had instructed. I began compressing the dirt and stone making it flow up the wooden palisade. It extended up past the wooden logs till it was thirty feet tall. I didn’t have enough material from just the rocks so I compressed the dirt around the base of the wall excavating a massive trench outside the wall.
It took a while for my mana to regenerate after a minute of use but after a few hours I had created a thirty-foot wall all around the town. It was complete with a six-foot-wide walkway, mesticulations, parapet, a covering to keep the rain off. For the gates I just coated the wooden gates with metal and reinforced their hinges and the beam to keep it locked shut.
As an afterthought I compressed the roads till they resembled asphalt roads from my road and returned to the castle. Here I just compressed and fused the stone blocks together. I rebuilt parts of the castle were the walls had been falling over and covered the thatch and wood roof with a layer of compressed dirt the thatch trapped inside like a fossilized plant.
I guessed that it was around five in the afternoon, so I found Juruk, and the other goblins camped outside the town in the forest.
“Juruk, I have a job for you,” I said.
“What do you need my lord?” he asked.
I can taste a little fear no him but its not much, the voidling said. Why don’t you kill some of the goblins so I can have some tasty fear.
“I want you to take the goblins under your command and scout the forest,” I said. “Use the time to hunt mortal rank creatures and gather material from them, use what you need to make gear for yourself and bring the rest back here for me. I’ve hit Veteran rank so make a note of any veteran creatures for me to fight later.”
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“It will be done Warlord,” Juruk said his eagerness for battle and bloodshed evident.
Hmmm, the voidling groaned in delight. His desire and ambition tastes delicious.
I laid a hand on the goblins shoulder. “Grant Juruk the ability Foresight,” I told the system.
You have granted Juruk Razor-rider with your ability Foresight.
A little power had changed Juruk a lot from the timid creature I had first met; afraid to leave the safety of his tribe’s territory to an eager and confident hunter. His eyes widened with delight and awe as he read the notifications from the system.
“I promise to bring you to the lairs of a hundred beasts my lord,” Juruk swore.
“I’ll hold you too that,” I said and left him to gather his tribe.
Next, I went to Tigris and Euphrates. I subtly probed along the leash of my Dominion and reached out to Tigris’ mind.
I want you to set up another colony now, I told her.
Here? Tigris asked.
No, I said. Go to the cave by the river about a half day east of here. Set up your colony there. You can live in the Dungeon there so long as you don’t attack any of the creatures there. I don’t want you to breed as many spiders as your mother did. For every three gifted children you hatch set one aside for me, split the other two between you and Euphrates.
This will slow down our growth, Tigris said. A larger colony would let us control a wider area.
You would strip the land bare, I said. Also, you aren’t to attack any of my other vassals who enter your territory or the dungeon.
I left Tigris and Euphrates as the two giant arachnids lead the pack of wolf sized spiders deeper into the forest. I returned to the castle again as the sun was beginning to set. The warriors were gathered in the hall for dinner again the same as I had first met them. I sat in what had been Kaleb’s throne. I had grown massively due to my abilities and was only a few inches shorter than Tobias now although they were built like bears, and I was built like a tiger.
“So, you’re leaving us tomorrow?” Tobias asked accusatory.
His anger is delicious, see if you can rile him up more by reminding him you killed his father, the voidling suggested.
“Yes,” I said simply taking a bite out of the roasted boar. “Jeriah will be coming with me. I’m leaving you in charge?”
“Why me?” he asked.
“Because you have a spine,” I said with a shrug. “Also, you seem to like it here. Jeriah wants to return to his ancestral lands, but I’ll need someone to be the ruler of these lands for me.”
“And you want me to rule here?” he asked seeming less hostile with each sentence and more puzzled.
Uhg, the voidling groaned in disgust. Your ruining his flavor.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m not one for administration, big inspiring speeches, or tax policy; I’m going to delegate all that to others. I’m going to have many people like you under me who if they want it will be rulers who answer only to me. The real question is, do you want the job?”
Tobias was silent then nodded. “I do.”
“Then bring me your armor tomorrow,” I said. “Have the rest of your brothers swing by as well. After that there is a dungeon about half a day from here. Its Veteran ranked so you and your brothers should be able to run it in a day went it finishes resetting.”
“A dungeon?” he asked eagerly.
“Yep, it is filled with undead, so be ready for that,” I told him. “I also have blessing given by the dungeon so long as you don’t attack the creatures in the dungeon they won’t attack you. The cease fire will restart if you leave the dungeon and return later.”
“Thank you,” Tobias said. “Running Dungeons is the most reliable way to gain a steady supply of rank points, as well as gaining magical items. My father would have done anything to gain access to a dungeon, if he had known its location he might have become more than just a Bandit King.”
“You’re the Bandit Lords, now,” I said. “I plan for each of you to be generals in my army one day and rulers of my Dominion.”
Hmm, at least their ambition is tasty, the voidling said. It’s a wonder they haven’t all stabbed eachother they each want to rule so much.
I finished eating and returned to my room. I had four-hundred-and-twelve rank points to spend so I decided to upgrade Dominion again. I didn’t need to but it was my divine ability and I was curious to see what its max rank was.
“Karnen see if you can’t distract the voidling for a bit. Upgrade Dominion by ten ranks,” I told the system.
Dominion (Rank 21): Ten-thousand times per day plus your Spirit attribute, you can as a spoken command, force a creature not bound by another creature into your service. You can dominate a number of creatures at a time equal to your spirit attribute plus 100. A creature may choose to serve you willingly or may attempt to resist by opposing their Mind attribute against your Spirit Attribute. You can at will see the Abilities and Attributes of any creature under your Dominion. You may have a maximum number of creatures under your Dominion equal to your Spirit Attribute times 22.
The larger your Dominion is the more it grows in power, all Attributes of your vassals are raised by 3 when they in a group of fifty or more, every fifty vassals increase this bonus by 3 to a maximum possible Attribute score of 30.
You can share your Foresight with two creatures to serve as your lieutenants. The creatures you share this with is not required to be your vassal and will have the exact same version of the ability as you. (Warning this cannot be taken away from a creature once given and will remain with them until they or you die).
Once per day you can pick an ability from one of your vassals and gain access to it. You will continue to have access to this ability until you pick another ability or the vassal holding the ability dies. (You must be close to your vassal to select an ability they have).
Cost: 1 mana per five creatures
Upgrade this ability to increase how many creatures you can dominate per day as well as the multiplier for how many creatures you can have dominated at a time. Each upgrade increases your Spirit Attribute by 1.
I looked over the long description of my ability briefly before dismissing it and the next three notifications.
Congratulations you have raised an ability to rank twenty-five, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
You can designate a creature as your authority over your other vassals, all vassals must obey them as if they were you and your chosen authority gains a buff to their attributes the farther you are away from them. You cannot select another vassal for this role for a week after using it.
You can select up to three creatures in your Dominion to act as your commanders linking them telepathically with you as long as you are within seven leagues of eachother.
You reduce the damage your vassals within two-hundred feet of you take by two stages.
I looked over the three choices. I liked them all, the first would let me delegate my job to someone else and let me go off on my own and make that person more effective at protecting my other vassals. The second option would let me communicate with three other vassals easily during a battle, very useful but then again with my style of fighting alone not that useful. The third ability would tank up all my vassals when they fought with me in a battle, I could see this being an easy pick for a different champion but it wasn’t my style.
I picked the first option. I’d choose Tobias as my chosen authority tomorrow and let him delegate my other vassals while I was gone.
Dominion (Rank 25): Ten-thousand times per day plus your Spirit attribute, you can as a spoken command, force a creature not bound by another creature into your service. You can dominate a number of creatures at a time equal to your spirit attribute plus 120. A creature may choose to serve you willingly or may attempt to resist by opposing their Mind attribute against your Spirit Attribute. You can at will see the Abilities and Attributes of any creature under your Dominion. You may have a maximum number of creatures under your Dominion equal to your Spirit Attribute times 26.
The larger your Dominion is the more it grows in power, all Attributes of your vassals are raised by 4 when they in a group of fifty or more, every fifty vassals increase this bonus by 3 to a maximum possible Attribute score of 35.
You can share your Foresight with three creatures to serve as your lieutenants. The creatures you share this with is not required to be your vassal and will have the exact same version of the ability as you. (Warning this cannot be taken away from a creature once given and will remain with them until they or you die).
Twice per day you can pick an ability from one of your vassals and gain access to it. You will continue to have access to this ability until you pick another ability or the vassal holding the ability dies. (You must be close to your vassal to select an ability they have).
You can designate a creature as your authority over your other vassals, all vassals must obey them as if they were you and your chosen authority’s attributes go up by 5% for every ten miles between the two of you, for a maximum of 30%. You cannot select another vassal for this role for a week after using it. The creature title description also changes to mimic yours when you are farther than a mile from them.
Cost: 5 mana per five creatures.
Upgrade this ability to increase how many creatures you can dominate per day as well as the multiplier for how many creatures you can have dominated at a time. Each upgrade increases your Spirit Attribute by 1.
The add-on I had chosen had gained some extra description after I had chosen it. It now described the buff in detail and gave me a limitation for how often I could use this effect. It also added a weird effect where the description of a creature that appeared over a gifted would change when I moved farther than a mile from them.
I skipped the next four notifications to get to the next pop-up.
Congratulations you have raised an ability to rank thirty, please pick from one of the three additional effects for your ability from the list below.
You can possess one of your vassals within seven leagues of you, speaking through them and directly controlling their actions as if their body were your own.
Your vassals will gain the Enraged status in battle numbing them to physical pain and boosting their damage by one stage.
Your vassals can go for three times as long without food, water or sleep.
Of the three options I liked the second one the most. The first was useless to me, why would I take over an body inferior to my own? The second would give my vassals a buff making them more effective out on their own. The third option would let them survive with less resources but that wasn’t really a problem we had and it seemed like something meant for long forced marches. I picked option two and the system finalized the upgrade.
Dominion (Rank 30): Ten-thousand times per day plus your Spirit attribute, you can as a spoken command, force a creature not bound by another creature into your service. You can dominate a number of creatures at a time equal to your spirit attribute plus 145. A creature may choose to serve you willingly or may attempt to resist by opposing their Mind attribute against your Spirit Attribute. You can at will see the Abilities and Attributes of any creature under your Dominion. You may have a maximum number of creatures under your Dominion equal to your Spirit Attribute times 31.
The larger your Dominion is the more it grows in power, all Attributes of your vassals are raised by 4 when they in a group of fifty or more, every fifty vassals increase this bonus by 3 to a maximum possible Attribute score of 35.
You can share your Foresight with four creatures to serve as your lieutenants. The creatures you share this with is not required to be your vassal and will have the exact same version of the ability as you. (Warning this cannot be taken away from a creature once given and will remain with them until they or you die).
Three times per day you can pick an ability from one of your vassals and gain access to it. You will continue to have access to this ability until you pick another ability or the vassal holding the ability dies. (You must be close to your vassal to select an ability they have).
You can designate two creatures as your generals, with authority over your other vassals, all vassals must obey them as if they were you and your chosen authority’s attributes go up by 6% for every ten miles between the two of you to a maximum of 31%. You cannot select another vassal for this role for a week after using it. The creature’ title description also changes to mimic yours when you are farther than a mile from them.
Your vassals will gain the Enraged status in battle numbing them to physical pain and boosting their damage by one stage.
Cost: 5 mana per five creatures.
Upgrade this ability to increase how many creatures you can dominate per day as well as the multiplier for how many creatures you can have dominated at a time. Each upgrade increases your Spirit Attribute by 1.
I looked over the very long description for my ability. It had cost me two=hundred-and-fifty-five rank pints to upgrade it to rank thirty and I wasn’t at max rank still. I would have to wait to see what max rank for this skill was since I wanted to keep some rank points in case, I earned any new abilities later.
I lay down and closed my eyes and let sleep overtake me.
---
Arthur brushed down his horse, it was a majestic steed whose ancestors had killed powerful monsters earning abilities they had passed down and bred for generations. A shadow darkened the doorway and Lady Lionor entered the stable. She wore a cream colored silk gown her golden hair flowing down her back as she rubbed the nose of the stallion and fed it a carrot.
“What are you doing here my lady?” Arthur asked.
“I wanted to see you,” Lionor said. “Before you left.”
“We won’t be leaving for two more days,” Arthur said.
“I know but you won’t have any time to go on a walk with me,” Lionor said a sad smile on her lips. “You’ll be too busy going off on your adventures.”
Arthur took hold of Lionor’s hands stepping close to her. “War is no adventure my lady, we are risking our lives and the lives of our men in this war.”
“Will you be safe?” Lionor asked looking up into his eyes, she stood a head shorter than him.
“As safe as I can be, but even the mightiest of us can be brought low,” Arthur said feeling Lionor step closer her body pressed against him.
“I don’t think anyone can defeat you my prince,” she said her voice low their faces inches apart now.
“Your faith in me makes me stronger,” Arthur said with a smile.
Lionor leaned up kissing Arthur. She pulled back suddenly stepping away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
Arthur stepped forward pushing Lionor back against the stable wall. Leaning down his lips met hers and she let out a moan melting into his arms as he took hold of her waist in one hand and the back of her head in the other. Their lips and tongues met in a fiery dance.
“I want to come with you,” Lionor gasped as Arthur ran a line of kisses down her neck. “When you go to Dracon, I want to be with you and take care of you.”
“What would your father say?” Arthur asked.
“My father lets me do anything I want,” Lionor whispered into Arthur’s ear as he kissed his way down to her neckline.
“Then I want you with me too,” He said his lips meeting hers again.