Elas felt his world expand. The moment his fingers touched the wooden crown it bombarded him with countless truths some were known to Elas from his time playing the game but the crown's knowledge went past Elas’s shallow reading of game lore. This was real knowledge not some flavor text written by overworked developers but history of the long past, before the Eternal Emperor imposed his will and tossed it all into the fire. What use was the past to a man who believed that he would rule for eternity. Past Emperors? There were no past emperors. The Eternal Emperor was the beginning and the end.

Elas saw countless emperors, their dynasties were great, their power absolute. Locked in an endless cycle of meteoric rise and gradual fall. Each one believing their empires were the greatest there ever was and ever will be.

It always started with an age of myth, times of endless magic. When living gods and ancient dragon kings walked the land. Then there was the golden age bursting with an abundance of all things. At this point most of the emperors would have already died, their crowns passed down to rightful heirs to continue the dynasty.

Golden age turns to silver as magic wanes but remains omnipresent. Then came the age of bronze when ancient relics of great magic degenerated into more mundane artifacts as the dearth of magic ate at them. Then the long waning begins an age of slow rot until the dynasty collapses and the cycle begins anew.

Elas saw the current problem plain as day. The other dynasties scarcely lasted until its fourth heir around the time of the bronze age. But the Eternal Empire has never needed an heir. The Eternal Emperor obsessed with his dream of reigning forever had feasted upon the very roots of the world. And Elas and his ancestors had helped him do it. Alchemists striving for eternal life had empowered the emperor to brew the world's bounty into life extending nectar. Oceans of miraculous elixirs poured into his gaping maw as he raged against time itself. The results were apparent, two thousand years later the Eternal Emperor still ruled the world. The waning had come and gone. The world was now in a desolate age, times never seen since the beginning of the great cycles. And now a new age calls while the god emperor still lives.

In some ways the Eternal Emperor succeeded. His reign has been the longest grand cycle in all of time. So long that the gods had forced the next lest this cycle becomes the last.

Elas knew the crown’s knowledge was true and he also knew it withheld from him plenty more. The hand of the gods ever present in the divine artifact.

Elas sat at the head of the table holding the crown in his hands. It looked as unremarkable as he remembered, just a wooden ring big enough to fit over his head. There were intricate carvings on every inch but they were far too small and shallow to be seen by anyone not pressing their eyes close.

There was no use putting things off. The moment he accepted the crown he was already bound to it. He placed the crown on his head and waited. Nothing happened… He furrowed his brow. The crown was the in-game explanation for some of the game's 4X elements like the birds eye view over your kingdom and how you have detailed information on what each subject's skills, wants and needs. For all the knowledge the crown gave him it did not come with a manual.

For the next half an hour Elas struggled with the artifact trying to get it to work. In the game everything was just a click away. This was not the game and he was getting increasingly annoyed at the currently worthless divine artifact. He once again for the nth time pushed mana into the crown willing it to awaken just like all other artifacts he had encountered before but to no avail. His mana bounced off the mundane looking wood like it was made of mythic adamantium.

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Elas contemplated tossing the thing into the fireplace. Maybe it needed some convincing in order to serve him. The damnable artifact then informed him through their connection that it was functionally invincible as long as he lived. Elas imagined the crown tossing the information at him with disdain.

Elas tossed the crown into the fireplace. A few moments later it reappeared before him floating while shrouded in its garish ethereal light.

“Fuck you!” He told the artifact before tossing it into the fireplace once again.

The crown reappeared before him but this time it simply plopped itself at the table with magic disco lights nowhere in sight. For a moment Elas felt bad for mistreating what was one of the most divine artifacts in existence. Then the crown decided to inform him that he only needed to clear his mind while wearing it in order to access its powers.

Elas stared at the crown for a few moments then he picked it up and tossed it back into the fires. It sat in the embers completely unharmed and this time it decided to stay. Elas couldn't help but feel like he just scolded a dog and now it's moping at the corner of his living room.

He clicked his tongue as he stood up and walked toward his alchemy lab. He was expected to lead the receiving ritual for the emperor's blessing in two days and he had yet to prepare alchemical reagents to help the ceremony along. Farhaven had far too few mages for its population. If he, one of the most decorated mages in the empire, wasn't present then most of the fields would remain frozen all year round and the people would starve.

That was unless old witch Rikia and the coven of Winterroot she belonged to were willing to provide the town with their utmost support. Knowing how unsanctioned ancient witch covens operate they were definitely hiding things from him. Good thing that he had played the north's campaign before and knew that the two groups were definitely not as weak as they seemed.

The work that was usually so simple to him had proven to be far more challenging this time around. With his memories so poorly mixed he found his motor skills lacking in the precise mastery he was used to. Many times he found himself knocking things off the tables. Elas cringed at the sound of glass hitting wood as he once again hit a vessel with his elbow while reaching for another. He was thankful for his foresight in having every piece of glass enchanted with toughness.

It was well past midnight by the time he had finished preparing all the reagents required for the upcoming rituals. He placed the containers of reagents on the main table ready to be carried off.

He was heading back to bed after what felt like a shift at the assembly line when his stomach growled informing him that he had not eaten anything since breakfast. He looked towards the door then shook his head. The hall would be long closed by now and he rarely even ate there. The only reason Lia had taken him to eat breakfast was due to his dementia. He turned and walked towards a stack of inconspicuous wooden boxes at one of the shelves. Opening one he was greeted by his regular fare. Dark brown bricks the size of an open palm were placed neatly inside the box. Combat rations made of nuts, seeds, honey and alchemical nutripaste type C. He tossed a brick into his mouth it was nutty and sweet all in all fairly pleasant as far as bricks go. He placed the box back onto the shelf. Each bar had enough calories to replace a meal even if it was far from nutritionally complete. The potions would deal with the nutrient deficiency anyway. He told himself. But a part of him was tempted to walk down for breakfast again tomorrow. He grabbed a jug of water and drank it all to quench his thirst after swallowing the compressed brick of calories.

Elas laid down his bed ready to sleep when suddenly the crown appeared on top of his chest as if waiting for the perfect moment for him to test its capabilities. He sighed pushing his drowsiness away for a few more minutes as he placed the crown on his head and cleared his thoughts.