Exploration (Earth Reformation Book 3)

Brad Botz

Foreword

Welcome to Book 3 in the Earth Reformation series. In this book, the next section will contain Ivor's Stats, Skills, Titles and Inheritance effects as of the end of the previous book. Feel free to skip it.

With each book, I try to limit the stat dumping and I generally only detail a skill or spell if there is a change to it. If I feel it's been a while since he used that skill, I may also choose to detail it rather than have the reader flip back to the front of the book.

Ivor's Stats, Skills, Titles and Inheritance

This is a list of Ivor's Stats, Skills, Titles and Inheritance information at the end of Return - Earth Reformation Book 2. Feel free to skip this section or use it as a reference.

Stats

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Level: 24

Class: [Null]

Profession: Hunter

Strength: 134 (201)

Agility: 130 (195)

Endurance: 130 (195)

Constitution: 134 (201)

Intelligence: 195

Wisdom: 179

Willpower: 122 (244)

Perception: 187

Health: 2004

Mana: 1894

Stamina: 2097

Free Stat Points: 0

Skills

Base Skills

Analyze (Advanced) - Active

Concentrate on an inanimate object to learn its secrets. More information can be revealed at higher levels.

Blend (Unique) - Passive/Active

Passive

You blend in to your environment whether urban or rural. This skill makes you incredibly hard to detect at a distance. In a crowd, you are impossible to find. People won't notice you easily when you are standing still, even in plain sight. In any rural environment, you easily blend into the surroundings making you nearly invisible. Slow movement is very hard to detect by anyone equal to or below Epic level. Extreme movement and clashing colors can reduce this ability. This is an innate ability.

Active

You can trigger blend to create an aura of forgetfulness. Anyone within 15 meters that has seen you will forget your passage. This affect uses mana. The aura is undetectable to anyone below Epic level.

Blunt Weapons (Master) - Passive

Provides a 100% increase to weapon damage when using Blunt weapons

Explosives (Master) - Passive

Explosives deal 100% more damage

Loot (Advanced) - Active

Loot anything that can be looted. Mostly monsters, other beings and dungeon denizens. Loot settings will appear in your overlay.

Mana Manipulation (Expert) - Active

Manipulate the flow of mana. Useful for enchanting, rituals, runic circles, alchemy, some spell casting, etc…

Short Bladed Weapons (Master) - Passive

Provides a 100% increase to weapon damage when using Short Bladed Weapons

Solo Contributor (Master) - Passive

You do 100% more damage and receive 100% more rewards when operating alone.

Spear (Expert) - Passive

Provides a 50% increase to weapon damage when using Spears

Tactician (Master) - Active

The System will augment your already highly tactical mind by identifying areas to ambush, set traps, and see weak spots in enemies themselves and their tactics. You can [Identify] Level only when you use [Tactician]

Trap Creation (Expert) - Active

Your Traps are 50% harder to detect (offsets Trap Detection skill)

Your Traps use 25% less material and Mana to create

Trap Detection (Expert) - Passive

You are 50% more likely to detect traps

Unarmed Combat (Master) - Passive

Provides a 100% increase to damage when using no weapons

Null Class Skills

Null Shield (Expert) - Active

Create a shield of Null space. Anything that interacts with the shield becomes nothing. Caution: This shield does not discriminate

Null Manipulation (Expert) - Active

Improve your ability to manipulate Null space.

Null Storage - Passive

You are able to access a storage created in Null space. The capacity of this space will increase with your personal level and Null Manipulation level.

Null Step (Advanced) - Active

While active, each of your steps carry you further, the distance nullified.

Current Null Step distance = +3 meters

Hunter Profession Skills

Breakdown (Advanced) - Active

Break down an animal or creature into usable components without manual butchering. More and better parts are obtained at higher levels.

Identify (Advanced) - Active

Concentrate on a biological entity, creature or monster to learn its secrets. More information can be revealed at higher levels.

Tracking (Advanced) - Passive

Observe physical tracks and other signs, read the terrain, and use your senses to track your prey

Navigation (Advanced) - Passive/Active

Passive

You have an improved map in your overlay. More detail appears in your overlay map. Conscious or subconscious landmarks will be populated on the improved map as you encounter them. Elevation will be recorded on your map.

Active

You can update your overlay with any maps you see. You can place your own markers and landmark identifiers. You can receive maps from those that have the ability to share such information. You can share parts or all of your map with those that have the ability to receive such information

Titles

Perfect Start

You have reached 100 in all stats before choosing a Class or Profession

All Pre-Class/Profession skills move up one level

All new skills start at Advanced level

Epic level and below Classes/Professions are available at every Class/Profession Evolution

Receive an additional four free stat points per level

Dungeon Expert

You have completed 200 dungeons

You have completed a dungeon 50 levels above your own

Dungeon cooldowns are reduced to zero for your and a team

Even more information is available to you in the dungeon description

Experience earned by you or your party increased by 75%

The rarity of rewards available for dungeon completion increases

You can raise the level of a dungeon up to the highest recommended level of a dungeons you have completed

You can lower the level of a dungeon down to the lowest level of member in your party

Note: Dungeon reverts to previous level after use or failure to attempt dungeon

Note: Failure attempt the changed dungeon will result in all party members being locked out of dungeons for 7 days.

Note: Repeated failures to attempt changed dungeons will result in loss of title

Vamhael Inheritance

Strength +50%

Constitution + 50%

Endurance + 50%

Agility + 50%

Willpower + 100%

Health Regeneration Rate + 100%

Stamina Regeneration Rate + 100%

Chapter One

Aza Krix scowled at the Guard Captain. “What do you mean you don't know where he is?”

The man visibly gulped. “Well, Mr. Krix, he never arrived at the jail.”

“Go on. I'm waiting to understand how a Freeholder in your custody, a personal friend and business associate of mine, somehow didn't make it to the jail. Especially, since I saw him climb into one of your carriages and leave my estate.”

“The carriage didn't arrive either,” the man said. Thinking somehow that made everything ok.

“Ah, I see. So, you lost your own carriage as well?” Aza asked.

“Yes. There is an investigation into the incident,” the man said.

“You'll excuse me if I don't have much faith in your ability. You couldn't keep track of either the prisoner or the carriage when it was under your control. I can only imagine the incompetence of trying to find it now that it's out of your hands,” Aza was nearly shouting.

Aza stormed out of the building. It had been twelve hours since the Principality Guard had taken Ivor into custody for the murder of Ixail Denkaet, the Scribe that had produced the copies of the Vamhael Rune Codex for Ivor. Of course, Aza didn't believe for a second that Ivor did any such thing; he needed information.

Specifically, Aza needed to get in touch with Ivor's new information source, the brothel owner Scindair Zedha. Aza sent one of his men to the brothel to ask Scindair to meet him at a warehouse that Aza owned. It would allow them to meet face to face without prying eyes.

Meanwhile twenty kilometers from the city, Ivor sat in a dark stone basement in a farmhouse. It wasn't very large and most likely used as a storage cellar at one point. It was empty except for Ivor. He'd been escorted into the basement by his captors. There were no windows and only one door up to the farmhouse that was guarded.

Ivor had been in the basement for about twelve hours. He and Zed had discussed many things. They had both agreed there was only one organization that would want to potentially frame him, get information from him, or both. Their speculation was answered when the door opened and three individuals came down the steps. One was a Galtu.

Ivor quickly identified the three. The Galtu was Level 50 and the two with him, guards or basic muscle, were F'on, Level 40.

“Mr. Kemble. My associates say you've behaved well. That's good. I would like to ask you some questions about your planet. Two projects that we spent quite a few credits on simply ceased to exist. I have been sent by my organization to find out information about them.” The man smiled, though the smile did not reach his eyes.

Ivor nodded. “It's likely I do have valuable information. What do I get out of telling you?”

“A lack of pain and suffering,” the man responded.

“Ah, it's like that. Ok, sure I'll tell you. The gentleman you gave the armor and magic items to is dead. His organization is in ruins. Most of his main force and the assassins are dead.

The drugs have been destroyed. The little experiment you had going on with the melded monster producing that swarm of monsters, that whole operation is destroyed. The guy you sent to check on it, a Level 40 if I remember, he's dead. I actually may still have his body.” Ivor looked at the man.

Two twitches of the corner of his eye was the only giveaway Ivor saw that indicated he had hit the nail on the head.

“I see. Well, then, what can you tell me about the people that interfered with our plans?”

“It was me. Well, some people from a village cleaned up the swarm monsters I didn't bother to waste my time with.”

“Mr. Kemble, we were doing so well. I don't like being lied to.”

Ivor laughed.

“What's so funny? Do you enjoy pain or have so little value for your own life?” the man asked.

“I'm sorry. Really, it's just that all you guys are so sure of yourself. Didn't you listen to the rumors that I'm not what I seem?” Ivor asked.

“We heard all about your armor and weapons. Without your armor, I can't imagine a Level 24 Hunter is much for me and my men to worry about.” The man smirked.

Ivor chuckled. “That's the funny part.”

Then he moved three [Null Steps], and three unconscious bodies hit the stone floor. Ivor walked up the stairs. He opened the door slowly; there were no guards. Ivor crept through the farmhouse.

The Principality Guards and the carriage were outside along with another carriage and two more guards. Ivor had wasted enough time. He strode out the front door of the farmhouse.

The Galtu guards at the other carriage were the first to notice him. Ivor flashed over before they could shout and grabbed them by their throats. With one in each hand, Ivor threw them at the Principality Guards. Two of the guards went down; one fired off a crossbow. The bolt hit Ivor but failed to penetrate his skin more than a few millimeters.

Ivor slapped the crossbow out of the man's hand and knocked him out. The other guard had pulled a sword and was rushing him.

Ivor easily evaded the swing and landed a flurry of rapid punches to the man's body and back of his head. The man dropped to the ground. As the other two guards untangled themselves from the two Galtu with crushed throats dying on the ground, Ivor sped over and cracked them both in the temple.

Ivor went back down to the basement to discover the Galtu coming around; he had some nice regeneration. Ivor sat on the steps to the basement while the man recovered. He finally got his senses under control and looked at Ivor.

“How?” The man asked.

“You should have listened closer to the rumors. Or you could have watched me to figure out more about me. It's always the same with you low level criminal enterprise types. Always in a rush to prove yourself.

If you had any idea how many of you I've killed in my long career. Well, you wouldn't have rushed in,” Ivor said.

“You don't know who I represent.”

“I'm pretty sure I do. The thing is, they'll eventually send someone that's a real pain in my ass. So, I tend to like to destroy organizations like yours before all that happens. I was doing this kind of thing only on a planetary scale before. Now, I'm dealing with a much larger, multi-planet organization. It's a bit more of a challenge, but I'll eventually find everything I need to cause enough pain that you either go away or leave me alone,” Ivor mused.

“Why tell me this? Are you going to kill me?” The man asked.

“Nah, you don't know anything. Oh, you can probably get me out of this stupid murder charge. I'm sure you paid some clown to be a witness. I'll find that guy too, assuming my partners haven't done so already. No, I'm telling you in case you get out of jail. Maybe, just maybe, there is someone smart in your organization. Chock this up to the cost of doing business, or I'm going to make you pay much, much more.” Ivor smiled.

Ivor could see the wheels turning. The man wasn't used to this. He was trying to rationalize it which would take him some time. Ivor hoped he'd be in jail long enough for the man to run it through his head a few times.

He'd figure out the things that are bothering him right now. He'd go over the words that Ivor said, his posture, and the sense that he was telling him the absolute truth. Maybe, but Ivor wasn't holding out hope.

Ivor knocked the man out again, then killed his two guards. He piled the unconscious guards and the Galtu into the Principality carriage. Ivor placed a spider web trap he had been holding onto under the bodies. If they released the pressure of the trap, it would go off, webbing them to the interior of the carriage.

Climbing up into the driver's seat, Ivor was about to teach himself how to drive a carriage. The large bird-like animals that many of the F'on used seemed to operate much like horse drawn carriages on old Earth. Ivor had never driven a horse drawn carriage, but he had twenty kilometers to practice. Snapping the reins and pulling on the left one, he managed with a bit of oversteer to get onto the road. One interesting feature of his Navigation skill that Zed and he had been discussing was that the Passive feature didn't require him to see the landscape to map his progress. He used the Active ability to put a marker where the farmhouse was.

Then, he just followed the route that had already been mapped out by his skill. It was time to head back to the city.

As Ivor was taking his time reaching the city, a meeting was taking place.

Scindair Zedha, brothel owner and new information broker in the employ of Ivor Kemble, walked into the warehouse with one of his most trusted bodyguards. He knew this belonged to Aza Krix, but one could never be too careful.

A man in armor was waiting for them just inside the warehouse. He nodded at the two and started walking back to an interior building of the massive space. As the escort opened the door to what was clearly an office, he motioned the two to walk in. Since the man hadn't asked for their weapons, Scindair was pretty confident they could get out of a trap.

The inside of the office was not some opulent office of a consortium mogul. No, this was a working person's office. The flooring was well worn.

The desks were functional. There were papers scattered about on desk surfaces. Standing behind one of the desks was Aza Krix. Scindair knew of the man. Really, anyone in this city who didn't was brain dead.

“Mr. Zedha, my apologies for the clandestine nature of this meeting. I also appreciate you dropping anything you were doing on such short notice. It seems our mutual partner has found himself in a bit of trouble,” Aza said with a little bit of anger in his voice. It was clearly directed at the circumstances rather than Scindair.

“Mr. Krix, call me Scindair, please. I'm assuming you're talking about the false charge of murder?” Scindair asked.

Aza nodded, “Yes, and call me Aza. I have a feeling we will be working together as long as Ivor is in our lives.”

Scindair laughed. “That man has a way about him. I'm sure you understand how dangerous Ivor is.”

“Probably more than you,” Aza retorted.

Scindair was curious. “If you don't mind me asking, how did you get involved with Ivor?”

Aza stared at the man for a moment. “Well, it's a long story, but Ivor befriended my daughter during his Evaluation. She mentioned a few things that were interesting to me. I reached out to Ivor. Needless to say, his unique circumstances allowed me to gain some information that was important to me. In addition, he helped my daughter out tremendously. I offered to broker communications between him and his daughter during the Evaluation. Somewhere along the way, we became friends.”

“How long have you known him?” Scindair knew he was pushing his luck a bit with all the questions.

“A little over six months,” Aza said.

The timeline didn't seem right to Scindair. He frowned as he looked up to find Aza smiling at him. Suddenly, it clicked in Scindair's mind and he audibly gasped.

“How….how is he this strong? He just went through an Evaluation. It's not possible,” Scindair exclaimed. His guard, who had watched Ivor snap one of his swords in half like a toothpick, visibly paled as the information sunk in. Scindair didn't keep dumb guards close to him.

Aza continued to smile. “It's not my story to tell. In fact, I can't tell it. Get and stay in Ivor's good graces and you might hear it one day. Regardless, I can tell you, he's more powerful than even you can imagine. I'm fairly certain he could destroy this city without much effort.”

Scindair took a moment to collect himself. “I had heard about the absurd charges. I verified that Ixail was indeed dead. Through some small bribes, I'm aware of the person who is claiming to be a witness. I have my men searching for him now.”

Aza nodded. “Excellent. You may not have heard that Ivor is missing. The carriage that took him away is missing too. The guard captain seemed less than interested in giving me information.”

Scindair laughed out loud. “Apparently, they don't know they've captured a monster. I imagine if Ivor went with them willingly, he did it for a reason. I expect he'll be back before long. In the meantime, give me the Guard Captain's name. I'll look into him. If he's dirty, I'll find out.”

Aza smiled. “I can see why Ivor chose you. He values competent people more than status or wealth. I'll head back to the estate. Send someone to me when you find something.”

Aza handed over a token to the man. It was a common practice to provide a token to trusted individuals that allowed them easier access to places like Aza's estate.

Scindair smiled and handed a token to Aza. “If you need me, send someone to my establishment and show that to the door guards.”

With their business complete. Scindair left the warehouse. He returned to his brothel to find several men he knew in the bar area. Scindair motioned his guard to follow him as he headed over.

One of the men paused while lifting his drink. “Hey boss, found him.”

Scindair smiled. “Excellent. Any witnesses?”

The man held his hand to his heart as though wounded. “Boss, you doubt me?”

Scindair smiled again. “Of course not. Trust, but verify. You know how I work.”

The man nodded, turning serious. “He was in one of the Galtu drug dens. It was one of the underground ones. Lots of bad stuff in there. It's a pity no one survived.”

Scindair nodded. He wasn't blood thirsty, but he didn't need any witnesses.

“He's in the usual spot,” the man said and turned back to his drink.

Scindair and the guard walked to a back room and opened a door. There were stairs going down to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs, the guard pulled aside a storage shelf to reveal a hidden door. Opening the door, the pair took a long winding stone staircase down several dozen meters.

They found themselves in a hallway with six doors. Three doors on each side. Five of the doors were open. Scindair didn't use this space much anymore.

Scindair walked up to the one closed door and placed his hand on the smooth black stone next to the door; the door unlocked. His guard stepped over and opened the door. Inside the room was a disheveled F'on. Scindair could see the tell-tale signs of drug addiction. The man's feathers had lost their shine and there was the slight scent of a weeping oil coming from his skin.

Scindair stepped into the room. The man was clearly still on whatever drug he had most recently taken.

“Get a watch down here,” Scindair said to the guard. “Once he's in a condition to talk, come get me.”

Scindair went back upstairs to his office. He asked for one of his best runners. He only employed runners with good memories. For something this sensitive, he wouldn't put anything on paper. The runner memorized the message and took a System Contract to only divulge the contents to Aza Krix or anyone Aza included. Scindair gave the runner Aza's token. It would take the runner a while. Hopefully, the witness was in a state to chat by the time he got back.

Chapter Two

It took Ivor a few kilometers to get the hang of driving the carriage. Once he got into a groove, it was rather relaxing. He didn't rush, but he didn't dawdle either.

Before long, he arrived at the city gates. Stopping just outside the gates, Ivor pulled the carriage off the side of the roadway. He hopped down and approached one of the guards.

“Excuse me,” Ivor said to the group of guards outside the city gates. “I was hoping you could give me directions to the jail.”

One of the guards spoke up, “What business do you have at the jails?”

“Oh, I'm supposed to be in it,” Ivor said. The guards' hands drifted to their weapons.

Ivor held his hands up. “You won't get any trouble from me.” Pointing over his shoulder, “The guards and the other gentleman in there might cause some trouble though. They are the ones that took me outside the city to a farmhouse rather than to jail where I should be.”

The guards scowled at him. One of the guards walked over to the carriage and pulled the door open. His eyes went wide.

“Lieutenant, you should see this.” The guard held the carriage door open.

One of the other guards stepped over and looked inside the carriage. He rubbed a hand over his face in a very human-like motion.

“Go get a few men to take our place at the gate. We need to take this lot to the jail to sort this mess out.” “You there,” the Lieutenant said to Ivor. “If you keep where we can see you, I don't see a reason to chain you up.”

Ivor nodded. He crawled back up to the driver's seat and waited patiently while the guards changed. Before long, five guards and the Lieutenant were escorting the carriage through the city. It took a bit of time to navigate the traffic and arrive at the jail.

When they got there, the Lieutenant went inside. He came back out a few minutes later with the Guard Captain from the previous night and another man. The other man was F'on, but much better dressed. He had some sort of badge on his lapel.

The well dressed man looked at Ivor. “Mr. Ivor Kemble?”

“Yes, sir,” Ivor responded.

“What's the meaning of this?” The man vaguely pointed to the carriage.

“Well,” Ivor stated, “I was supposed to be taken to the jail, but at some point, the carriage turned and it felt like we were leaving the town. I couldn't see out, but eventually, we arrived at a farmhouse. I was put in a cellar for a while. Eventually, the Galtu in the carriage there came to have some words with me. Now, I'm back.”

The Guard Captain spoke up, “Seneschal, the man is a murderer. I wouldn't put it past him to be a liar as well.”

The Seneschal frowned. “Why would he come back?”

“Perhaps he's trying to sow doubt in your mind. Create a story to make himself look like a victim despite our witness clearly describing him leaving the real victim's shop right before the body was discovered,” The Guard Captain explained.

“Right, the witness I have yet to talk to. I only have a statement you took from the witness.” The Seneschal seemed like he wasn't buying the story. Ivor wasn't sure if the Guard Captain was in on it or not. Time would tell.

The Seneschal turned to Ivor. “Mr. Kemble, I'm going to have you put in a holding cell. You have the right to counsel, which Mr. Krix has provided for you. I'm unsure what happened here, but rest assured, I will get to the bottom of it.”

Turning to the Guard Captain, the Seneschal said, “Make sure you don't lose Mr. Kemble again Captain. Place the Galtu and the guards in individual cells. I'll be back later with two Inquisitors from my office.”

The Seneschal stepped into another carriage and was off. The Guard Captain turned to the Lieutenant. “You can return to your post.”

Several guards from the jail came out to escort Ivor into the building. More guards carried the Galtu and the unconscious guards into the building as well. As Ivor was escorted into the building, it just felt like a jail. There was an air of hopelessness to the place. Despite that, the place was orderly. The Captain caught up to the guards escorting Ivor.

“Take him to Level 4,” the Guard Captain said.

The guards paused for a second, then nodded. They motioned Ivor towards a heavily reinforced door with two guards stationed around it. At their approach, the two guards used separate keys to turn two different locking mechanisms in the door. The door opened to a long hallway.

Ivor was escorted down the hallway to a set of stairs. These stairs were switch-back like you would find in any modern building on Earth. The stairs were fairly wide allowing for a number of people to walk side by side. At the first landing was another door with guards. The trio kept going down.

At the fourth, and final, landing, the guards motioned for the two other guards to open the door. Once opened, Ivor saw another hallway with open doors on either side. Something about this floor felt different.

The guards took him to the middle of the hallway. Motioning him to hold his hands up while they patted him down. Not finding anything, they told him to get inside the cell.

Ivor walked in and immediately knew what this was. It felt just like the anti-magic device Perez had used on Earth. Ivor tried, but was unable to access any magic including his [Null Storage]. The guards simply smiled at him as they closed the cell door.

Ivor looked around the cell. There was a stone platform that had a thin mattress. There was an empty bucket in the corner.

Ivor sat on the mattress and waited. He was pretty sure it wouldn't be long before he had a visitor. He was just curious if it would be the Guard Captain or the Seneschal. Ivor knew someone was dirty.

It was a couple hours later when Ivor's cell door opened.

Ivor looked up into the eyes of the Guard Captain. “I was wondering if you were in on it or just really zealous for the rule of law. Of course, stupid wasn't out of the question.”

The Guard Captain sneered at him. “You've caused me a lot of trouble. It's much easier to claim you tried to escape if you're dead and can't refute my claim.”

The Guard Captain stepped into the room with a long dagger in his hand. The hand also had a ring on.

“Let me guess, the ring combats the anti-magic field?” Ivor asked.

“Oh, you know about this. Well, then you know that none of your magic will work.”

Ivor laughed. “Yeah, that didn't work out for the last guy that tried this either.”

Ivor had waited until the Guard Captain took another step into the cell. The man couldn't know and definitely wouldn't guess that Ivor's stats were close to 200, and it had nothing to do with his magic ability. As Ivor stood, the Guard Captain lunged with his dagger. He was pretty fast, but Ivor was much, much faster.

Ivor avoided the thrust and pulled the door closed. He had noticed that he didn't hear any noise prior to the Guard Captain opening the door. With the door closed, Ivor hoped the guards wouldn't hear anything either.

The Guard Captain whirled around with a confused look.

Ivor smiled as the Guard Captain lunged with the dagger again. This time, Ivor stepped slightly to the side, slapping the dagger strike wide with his left hand. With his right hand, Ivor drilled a punch right into the Guard Captain's ribs. Bones cracked and broke.

The Guard Captain shot across the cell and hit the block wall hard. Ivor pulled his punch. So, he knew the Guard Captain wasn't dead, but he was definitely unconscious. The dagger had fallen from his hand and flew into the corner.

Ivor sniffed, then sat down on the mattress and watched the Guard Captain. If he thought the man would die, he'd go call the guard. In the meantime, he would wait and see who else showed up.

Talkeil Akad was not having a good day. The Prince had summoned him in the early afternoon. As Seneschal of the Principality, he answered directly to the Prince. To say the Prince was unhappy was an understatement. Talkeil could sense the simmering anger beneath his polite exterior.

Talkeil was aware of the murder of Ixail Denkaet. He had the report. An eyewitness gave a detailed description of the suspected perpetrator to the Guard Captain who planned on apprehending the suspect and jailing him. That was the report yesterday, and Talkeil thought nothing more of it.

Today however, things were different. The Prince was not a screamer. He simply didn't operate that way. Instead, his normal jovial tone turned stilted and abrupt.

Those that were around him long enough could read the signs. The Prince was pissed.

The accused was a guest of Aza Krix. That in itself was not noteworthy. However, Aza had visited the Prince this morning to say that the Guard Captain had misplaced his guest; a very important guest. So important, that Aza was considering renegotiating long standing contracts he had with the Principality. Contracts that gave very, very good terms to the Principality.

Talkeil could understand why the Prince was upset. Oh, it wasn't the not so subtle threat by Aza. No, that was just him using the leverage he had. The Prince was upset that one of the most important people in the Principality felt as though he had to threaten the Prince. Talkeil knew the Prince and Aza had a long friendly history. It quickly became obvious that Aza's guest was extremely important.

Talkeil's bad day only got worse when the Guard Captain informed him that the guest, a Mr. Ivor Kemble, still hadn't been found and a search was being conducted. He was not happy the Guard Captain failed to immediately inform him of the situation.

It was pure luck that the very suspect arrived being escorted by gate guards driving the very carriage that was missing. With several guards and a known shady businessman, the Galtu, unconscious in the carriage, Talkeil knew something was wrong.

He cursed himself for not bringing Inquisitors with him. It took some time to get back to his office, round up two Inquisitors, and get back to the jail. Several hours had passed.

The Seneschal was an Administrator. He was high level, but no fighter. His Inquisitors were an evolved form of Fighter that had immensely high Perception and skills related to both battle and investigation.

The two particular Inquisitors he brought with him were both of the Hembil species. In fact, they were brothers. To a human, Hembils would remind them of a bear-human hybrid. They were broad and tall like a Grizzly bear, but more proportioned like a human. They walked upright and had fur that covered their body.

The fur color and pattern varied from person to person. They had fingers and toes rather than paws, but both fingers and toes had thick claw-like nails. Their noses, or snouts, were much less prominent than an Earth bear. They were intimidating to say the least.

The Seneschal with his two Inquisitors marched into the jail. Several nervous looks were exchanged between guards.

“Where is the Guard Captain?” The Seneschal asked the on-duty guards behind the check-in desk.

“I saw him go into the cells several minutes ago, Seneschal. I'm sure if you take a seat, he will be back in no time,” the man responded.

“I don't have time for that.” The Seneschal marched over to the guards in front of the main cell doors.

One of the guards put his hand up. “Sir, the Guard Captain told us not to let anyone in until he returned.”

The Seneschal smiled. “You do realize the guard, all of the guards, report to me, don't you?”

The man nodded. “I have my orders, sir.”

“I'm ordering you to open that door,” the Seneschal snapped.

“I can't do that.” The man stood in place.

The Hembil on the Seneschal's left snapped a hand out and grabbed the guard by the neck. Lifting him completely off the ground, he pulled the man closer to his face. Smiling at the guard, he showed his large and very sharp teeth.

“You are relieved of duty,” the Hembil said. Plucking the key from the man's pocket, the Hembil threw the man across the room. “Chain him and put him in a cell. I will be questioning him later. Anyone not following the Seneschal's orders is to be detained.”

The other Hembil spoke up, “Seneschal, I'll stay here to make sure there are no misunderstandings.”

The other guard already had his key out. He wasn't taking any chances. The Seneschal and the Hembil walked down to the first landing.

The guards indicated the Captain continued down. This happened until they got to the final floor.

The guards were even more obstinate than the first guards. The Inquisitor had enough. Knocking both men out, he produced their keys and opened the door.

Quickly slapping bindings on the guards feet and hands, the two men entered the cell floor. Only one door was closed.

“Why would the Guard Captain be down here?” The Seneschal wondered out loud.

They made their way to the closed cell door. The Hembil put the key in the lock and stopped.

“It's already unlocked,” he said. He pulled a short sword out and yanked the door open. Rushing inside, he stopped short.

As the Seneschal peered around him, he saw Ivor Kemble sitting calmly on a mattress looking rather amused at the Inquisitor.

“Kind of disconcerting when you lose all your magic, isn't it?” Ivor grinned at the man.

Ivor started to stand. “Stay seated,” the Hembil said.

“I don't think I will,” Ivor responded. The amusement faded from his face. “I've already had one, supposed, upholder of the law try to kill me today. I prefer to stand if you fancy a try.”

The Hembil stepped forward to push the man back down on the mattress. In the blink of an eye, he found himself lying in the corner near a dagger. His head was ringing. Shaking his head, he stood back up. The man in the cell hadn't moved.

The Seneschal cleared his throat. “Mr. Kemble, we are not here to harm you. We are simply getting to the bottom of what is going on.”

Ivor turned his gaze from the Hembil to the Seneschal, who nearly took a step back. There was a look in Ivor Kemble's eye that unnerved him. This man was getting annoyed. Having watched Mr. Kemble manhandle his Level 70 Inquisitor, Talkeil was not wanting to find out what happened when this man reached the end of his patience.

“Please, Mr. Kemble,” the Seneschal said. “My name is Talkeil Akad. I'm the Seneschal of this Principality. It's clear that there is something fishy going on. I'm happy to work with you to get to the bottom of it, but I would ask that you keep your calm.”

The Seneschal looked over at the body of the Guard Captain. “Is he dead?”

Ivor shook his head. “No, but he will need a healer. That's his dagger over there. He's wearing a ring that eliminates the anti-magic effect.”

The Hembil spoke, “How are you avoiding the anti-magic effect?”

“I'm not,” Ivor stated.

The Hembil stared at Ivor for several long seconds. “Seneschal, I don't believe he is lying.”

The Seneschal gaped. “You tossed a Level 70 Inquisitor across the room just with your base stats?”

Ivor grinned. “Yep.” Glancing over at the big Inquisitor, Ivor continued, “Sorry about that big guy. I don't like being touched without my permission.”

The Hembil nodded. His Strength and Agility were both near 100. His Perception was nearing 120. He hadn't even seen Ivor move. Something was off. He lost his magic when he stepped in the room. He needed to check something.

“Seneschal, please make some room. Mr. Kemble, I would like to step out of the room and identify you.”

Ivor shrugged. “You won't get the answers you seek.”

“Perhaps,” the Inquisitor stated. He stepped out of the room. Feeling his mana available, the Inquisitor used [Identify]

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Hunter (Level 24)

Highest stat: Willpower

Immunities: none

Weaknesses: none

Titles: Perfect Start, Dungeon Expert

Organizations: Kemble Freehold - Founder

The Inquisitor frowned. He'd never heard of the title Perfect Start or Dungeon Expert. The System wouldn't give him false information though. Something was definitely off about this person. No Level 24 should be that strong.

“You are definitely an enigma Mr. Kemble,” the Inquisitor said.

“Mr. Kemble, I would like to ask you to accompany us to an interview room rather than a cell. I'm going to alert Mr. Krix who will likely want your legal counsel present. Will this be ok with you?” The Seneschal asked.

“Fine by me.” Ivor shrugged.

The Hembil picked up the Guard Captain, none too gently, and they made their way up the stairs. Ivor raised an eyebrow at the bound guards outside his cell block. When they got to the top of the stairs and moved out into the main check-in area, it was pandemonium. There were several unconscious guards at the foot of another of these bear-like Hembil. Several guards were arguing with the Inquisitor.

When the three of them arrived, the Inquisitor's attention was diverted for a moment. That's when some decided to make their move. Unfortunately for them, Ivor wasn't bound. He saw the two guards from different doors pull up and shoot crossbow bolts at the Inquisitor and the Seneschal. Ivor grabbed the bolts out of the air and threw them back at the assailants. The two guards arguing with the other Inquisitor had both pulled daggers and were moving to stab him when Ivor used [Null Step] and appeared in front of the Inquisitor.

The two guards stabbed out hitting Ivor in the chest. The daggers barely penetrated his skin. The Vamheal Inheritance had remade his body during the Evaluation. These low level guards couldn't harm him.

Ivor reached up and snapped each man's arm. They fell screaming to the floor.

Everything happened in less than two seconds. Other than the screaming men on the ground, the entire jail was silent.

The Inquisitor he had just saved turned to see Ivor standing in front of him with the two guards screaming on the ground. The guard's daggers lay right beside their destroyed arms.

Ivor walked back over to the Seneschal and Inquisitor that brought him up here. “Ready for that interview room?”

The Inquisitor nodded. “Follow me.” The Seneschal waited with the other Inquisitor until Ivor had moved further into the building.

The Seneschal raised his voice, “Nobody leaves this building. I will be stationing an Inquisitor at the door. I'm leaving to bring more Inquisitors and the Prince's guard. We will get to the root of this corruption today.”

The Inquisitor marked all the faces that showed fear. There were fewer than he expected. When the Seneschal left, the Inquisitor made everyone come out into the main room. Ivor was alone in the interview room. He spent his time having a conversation with Zed and eating some food he pulled out of his [Null Storage].

It was fairly late at night by the time Aza arrived with his legal counsel.

“Ivor, I trust you didn't do too much damage,” Aza quipped.

Ivor chuckled, “No. In fact, I didn't even kill anybody. I'm pretty sure I know who set me up, though.”

The legal counsel held up a hand. “Mr. Kemble, I would suggest keeping that information to yourself unless you have verifiable proof.”

Ivor nodded. “Sure thing. I'm not sure how legal proceedings work here.”

The legal counsel replied, “We have several Inquisitors who have specific skills to get to the truth of a matter. They provide a written report to the Seneschal who has several judges on his team. If it's a matter of high importance, the Seneschal himself may step in. On very rare occasions, the Prince will be the final arbiter of justice.”

Aza continued, “We should be getting you released soon. It's clear you're not a flight risk. The Seneschal should be back shortly.

He's busy clearing up the corruption in the guard first. There is little doubt that the cells will have some guards in them before long. “

Shortly after saying that, one of the Inquisitors walked into the interview room.

“Mr. Kemble, do you plan to flee to escape judgment?” The Inquisitor asked.

“I do not,” Ivor answered.

The man stared at Ivor for a moment. “Very well. I remand you into the custody of Mr. Krix. The Seneschal will summon you in a day or two. Please don't leave the city.”

Chapter Three

The next two days were pretty relaxed for Ivor. He, Aza and Quanzul went over the likely locations for exploration from their old book. There were a few things noted as coordinates that the System could use.

One of the big issues was how Ivor would get back if these worlds didn't have working travel circles. Aza and Quanzul had indicated in the past that small, temporary circles could be created. In fact, that's exactly what the Galtu had used when they unleashed the Swarm monster on Earth. Ivor still had those travel circle stones in his [Null Storage]

It was during this conversation that Zed told Ivor that his Tier 1 Travel Circle building could create temporary travel circles if provided the materials. Zed also mentioned that it was probably best to arrive back at the Freehold rather than on Menevris in case he was being watched. Ivor was certain that if he wasn't being watched now, he would be before long.

Aza and Quanzul didn't know that Zed traveled with Ivor as part of his Class. They were aware of Zed in general, but this was something Ivor wanted to keep secret. He explained that Zed had mentioned this when Ivor was at the Freehold. It made sense to both men. They were free to come and go from the Freehold anyway. It was probably safer for everyone if Ivor returned with anything at the Freehold.

On the third day, the Senschal arrived at Aza's estate. They were being summoned to the Prince's palace. The Seneschal wouldn't divulge any more information. Ivor was interested to see what the palace looked like.

He wasn't disappointed. It was large, but it wasn't super ostentatious. Everything was well made and oozed wealth, but not in a way that indicated the Prince was using all the wealth for himself.

Ivor knew the roads were maintained and the streets were clean. Crime was low. Notwithstanding recent events.

After arriving at the palace and walking a significantly long way, they arrived at the throne room. Ivor noticed the two Inquisitors, the Hembil, he had seen before. There were several other Inquisitors present, and a lot of the Prince's guards, as indicated by the Prince's colors they all wore like a uniform.

One guard in particular stood out. There were some slight differences in his uniform from the rest. Ivor figured he was a guard captain or some such.

He was watching Ivor. No, he was evaluating him. Ivor knew this type. This was a man who was sure of his capability.

He evaluated everyone and everything. This man was dangerous. Ivor used [Identify].

Thrik Trids (F'on)

Imperial Guard (Level 80)

Highest Stat: Agility

Immunities: None

Ivor barely managed to contain his surprise. He hadn't seen anything or anyone at Level 80 since fighting the Ice Dragon. The man likely had at least Master level skills, if not Epic level.

When the party arrived close to the foot of the raised dais the Prince sat upon, he held up his hand.

“Let's skip the formalities, Talkeil. Aza, thank you for coming. Mr. Kemble be patient with us for a few minutes. I think you'll be happy with what you hear.” The Prince had a commanding voice.

Ivor was impressed. The Prince motioned to the Seneschal.

“Of course, my Prince. As you know, Mr. Kemble was identified by a witness as the individual that killed Ixail Denkaet. We know now that this was a false accusation. Although the witness has disappeared. We have a confession from the Guard Captain of the jail. We have corroborating evidence from several guards that attempted to injure two of the Inquisitors. In no small part to the actions of Mr. Kemble, we identified a total of fifteen corrupt guards working with the Guard Captain. This includes the four Mr. Kemble captured at the farmhouse where he was held.

When we finally got to the farmhouse, any evidence was gone. We were unable to hold the Galtu that Mr. Kemble captured as we had no verifiable evidence. He must have used some type of magical disguise as the guards weren't able to identify him.

Although we don't know who killed Ixail Denkaet, we are sure that it was not Mr. Kemble.

I will point out that at all times Mr. Kemble complied with all orders without complaint. In fact, he likely saved both myself and the two Inquisitors from harm when corrupt guards attacked.”

The Prince held up his hand. “Well, based on your reports, there was an incident where Mr. Kemble did not comply. I believe it was in his cell.”

The Seneschal bowed his head. “You are correct, my Prince. It was a minor matter.”

The Prince smiled. “Oh ho, a prisoner in an anti-magic cell besting one of your Inquisitors is a minor matter?”

The Seneschal raised his head. “I didn't feel it reflected poorly on Mr. Kemble as the Inquisitor in question was the aggressor.”

“Is that so?” The Prince raised an eyebrow. “I'd like to hear that from the Inquisitor.”

The Hembil stepped forward. “You have my word, my Prince, I shall only speak the truth.”

“Indeed. Inquisitor, if you will, tell us what happened in your own words after you entered the cell Mr. Kemble was in,” the Prince urged. Ivor was starting to like this Prince. He actually asked rather than commanded the Inquisitor to speak.

“As I entered the cell, I felt the anti-magic runes take effect. I knew, based on reports, that Mr. Kemble was low level. I had not identified him prior to entering the cell.

He started to stand from a seated position on the mattress when I commanded him to stay seated. He said no. I reached out to push him back down. My hand had not quite reached him when I was thrown across the cell into the corner.

I did not lose consciousness, but I was dazed and lying on the ground.” The Inquisitor stated facts like he was in a courtroom.

“You are a Level 70 Inquisitor, are you not?” The Prince asked.

“I am, my Prince,” the man said.

“How did you get thrown across the cell?”

The Inquisitor shook his head. “I do not know. I did not see Mr. Kemble move.”

Shocked looks were on every face except for the Inquisitor speaking, the Seneschal, the Prince, Ivor and Aza.

“Thank you Inquisitor. My goal was not to embarrass you with this questioning. Everyone here can see Mr. Kemble is a Level 24 Hunter. Everyone here also knows Inquisitors would never lie, least of all to me. When the Inquisitor says he doesn't know how Mr. Kemble bested him, I thought it best to have the truth before doubters crawl out of the woodwork,” the Prince stated.

He turned to Ivor. “Mr. Kemble, if you would continue to indulge me.”

Ivor nodded.

“Many of you may be wondering why I'm going to these lengths to be polite to Mr. Kemble. Well, that's why we are all here. Mr. Kemble at any time during this whole ordeal, did you feel in danger?” The Prince inquired. Ivor just now understood where the Prince was going with all of this.

“No, sir,” Ivor said.

“At any point during this whole ordeal, could you have gotten away at any time?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Even at the bottom of our jail in a cell with anti-magic runes restricting your magic?”

“Yes, sir, even then.”

“Do you feel threatened by all or any of the people in this room?” The Prince smiled.

Ivor looked directly at Thrik Trids. “No, sir. I do not.”

The Prince smiled even wider. “Very good Mr. Kemble. I think you understand my motivation today.”

“I do, sir.” Ivor nodded.

“Captain Trids, care for a friendly exhibition?” The Prince looked at his Guard Captain.

“I serve at your pleasure, my Prince,” the man said.

“Excellent. A spar then, right here, no weapons, no spells. Unless you aren't versed in unarmed martial combat Mr. Kemble.”

“Unarmed is fine. I have some small experience in it. If the good Captain beats me unarmed, I would reserve the right to a rematch with weapons however,” Ivor said. He hadn't fought anyone close to his stat level. It was likely the Guard Captain had stats at Ivor's level or close. The Prince definitely wouldn't have suggested unarmed if the man wasn't capable. It was likely he was very good. Ivor smiled. This would be fun.

Thrik took off his sword belt and pulled a dagger from his boot. Setting them down on the floor, Ivor noticed that nobody went to collect the man's things. That was fear or respect. Probably both.

Thrik walked over to Ivor and stuck out his hand to grasp in the F'on manner. Ivor grasped the man's forearm.

“Why do I suddenly feel like the Fre being led to slaughter?” The man asked.

“I'm not sure what a Fre is, but I get the context. I doubt it will be that. You are the highest level biped I've fought. So, this should be interesting,” Ivor replied.

“Interesting,” the man scratched his chin. “What was the highest level monster?”

“Your level,” Ivor replied as he rolled his shoulders to loosen up.

“Bet that was some good loot,” Thrik said.

“Sure was. Got some good armor made out of it. I'd be happy to show you after all this is over.”

“I'll take you up on that Mr. Kemble.”

“Call me, Ivor.”

The two men smiled and started circling each other. Ivor knew Thrik was giving Ivor the same chance to analyze him as Thrik had when Ivor walked in. He wanted them on equal footing for this spar. It didn't take long. Both men were highly experienced.

To the onlookers, the two men chatted, then turned deadly serious for a handful of seconds. When they came together, it happened faster than most could follow. There were several short bursts of activity like this. Some slower than the first.

Suddenly, without warning, both men came together in a blur. Loud thumps of hands and feet hitting skin and armor echoed throughout the throne room. The Prince was riveted to the scene.

Ivor shot back from Thrik. He was shaking his hand.

“That's some good armor you got there.” Ivor's right hand was a bit numb.

“I'm not sure it's helping,” Thrik said. Looking down at the dent in his armor near his ribs.

The two men came together again. Every ten or fifteen seconds they would split apart. Mostly they were complimenting each other's style or asking a question about a certain move.

After the eighth round of fighting, it was clear Thrik was starting to slow down. Ivor was not even breathing hard. The two men came together two more times before Thrik held up his hand.

His breathing was labored. Both sides of his armor were completely dented in, restricting his movement and ability to breath properly.

The Prince clapped his hands. “Excellent. Well done. Show of hands in the room. Who was actually able to follow some of that?” The Prince raised his hand. Several others around the room did as well.

“Captain Trids, report,” the Prince spoke.

Thrik Trids stood tall, despite the pain he was currently in. “My Prince. Mr. Kemble displays at least Master level Unarmed skill. His Strength and Agility are superior to mine. I have zero doubt his Constitution likely matches those stats as well. Mr. Kemble chose to avoid headshots, even when he had clear opportunities. He blocked at least 75% of all my strikes. His skin and bones are nearly as hard as my armor. If you look at my shin guard, you'll notice a dent in the right one. That is the result of Mr. Kemble blocking my armored shin with his unarmored shin. Had I not been wearing armor, his body shots would have crushed my ribs. I don't think he was using his full abilities.”

The Prince let the silence sit for nearly half a minute.

“Everyone in this room is at the pinnacle of our society in Levels. There are others in our world that surpass us, but not many. I think we all know intellectually that there are others, on different worlds, that are beyond even us. I didn't put on this demonstration to frighten or belittle anyone. Rather, I wanted to make sure all of us with influence understand who this man is. What he is capable of. To truly understand his manner.

I don't want there to be any confusion going forward. Mr. Kemble could have treated us like annoying children or worse, but he didn't. He was nothing but respectful of our culture and our laws. I've known Mr. Krix for many, many years.

He wouldn't befriend a murderer of innocents. Thank you Captain Trids for the demonstration. Mr. Kemble, you are free to go, all charges are dropped. Enjoy our fine city.”

With that, everyone knew they were dismissed. Ivor waited with the Seneschal and Aza for the Guard Captain, who was a little slow moving out.

“Captain,” Ivor said, “I feel bad about the armor. Let me pay for a new set or repairs. Send it to Quanzul the armorer.”

“Call me Thrik, Ivor. I'll happily take you up on your offer. It's much appreciated. Your fighting style is like nothing I've seen before,” Thrik said.

“It's a style I learned on my planet prior to the System. I was something of an expert in it before the System,” Ivor replied.

“That explains it. If you are open to training, I'd like to learn. There might be a few other Prince's guards that are well versed in unarmed combat as well.”

“Sure. I'd be happy to do that. I'll be gone for an undetermined amount of time. I'll try to get in touch when I get back.”

The Seneschal cleared his throat. “Mr. Kemble, I will send a token to Mr. Krix. When you get back, simply show the token to the palace guards and you will be directed to where you want to go. I would also like to apologize for your treatment. I realize now that you were in no actual danger, but it's a black spot on my record that this corruption happened under my watch. I very much appreciate your efforts in exposing it. I will also add that the Prince is rather taken with you. He has a great appreciation for straightforward, polite people. I expect you'll hear more from him when you return.”

With that, the Seneschal left Aza and Ivor to make their way to Aza's carriage.

Aza was the first to speak, “I hope you were ok with the Prince's little show. I told him you were quick witted. You would get what he was trying to do. He's actually a good man.”

Ivor nodded. “Yeah, he seems like a good guy. I didn't mind the theatrics. Trids is a real monster.

His skill is top notch. There are things I can learn from him. Hits hard too; I might have a bruise later.”

Aza laughed, “You will definitely be the talk of the movers and shakers with influence. It's not a bad thing, actually. For those in the know, it will grease the axel, so to speak. You'll find things go easier when you want them to. You won't be tied down with bureaucracy. Being insanely strong is almost as good as being insanely rich.”

Ivor laughed at that and said, “I'll try to remember that. I'll head back to your estate in a bit. I need to take care of some business before I leave.”

Aza got in his carriage and headed off. Ivor made his way to Scindair's brothel. The guards at the front merely nodded as Ivor made his way upstairs. Knocking on the door to Scindair's office, he waited a moment and entered.

“Ah, Mr. Kemble. I see your recent legal troubles have been resolved,” Scindair said with a grin.

“I'm sure I have you to thank for some of it at least,” Ivor responded.

“Yes, the witness. He is resting comfortably in my basement. What would you like me to do with him?” Scindair asked.

“Tell me about him. Where did you find him?”

“We found him in a drug den. It's one that I'm aware of that the Galtu run. The man is a Laborer by Class. His addiction has caused him to lose his family and several jobs. He is a pathetic sort.” The disgust was obvious in Scindair's tone.

“I don't like junkies as C.I's, Ivor said.

“The System isn't translating C.I for me. I'm unfamiliar with the term.”

Ivor nodded. The System translated junkie just fine, apparently. “A C.I is an abbreviation for Confidential Informant. On my world, law enforcement would often use C.I's to gather information in places they couldn't. I, personally, don't like using junkies. They are too unpredictable. Do you think he can get clean?”

“I don't believe this one can be saved.” The brothel owner shook his head.

“Ok, get rid of him. Preferably, you should use a dungeon. That way no one will discover the body,” Ivor commented.

“I'll make sure it's done. Anything else?”

“Yeah. I'm going to be off-world for an undetermined amount of time. I want you to look into the Galtu. Nothing too deep. I just want to know all their business in the city. Specifically, I want locations of their illegal activities.

If they are smuggling, or any other activities you are involved in, undercut their prices with their clients. If you're not comfortable doing that while I'm gone, just wait until I get back,” Ivor explained.

“What is the end goal with this?”

It was a fair question. Ivor wasn't going to leave Scindair in the dark. “It was the Galtu that likely paid the junkie to be a witness. They must have my description or at least my name, Profession and Level. The guy who tried to capture me was too low level. I need to create some pain in their organization so that they send someone I can actually get answers out of. They will either stop and cut their losses or I'll dismantle all of their high earning activities.”

Scindair didn't speak for a bit as he thought.

“I should be fine. I won't start moving in on their activities until I increase security on mine,” he said.

“Do you need more funds?” Ivor asked.

“No, you've provided quite enough. I've barely touched what you gave me.”

Ivor was happy that Scindair was being responsible with the platinum coin he had given him. It was a lot of money, five million credits or five thousand gold coins. Considering most people got paid in silver or copper coins and there are one hundred silver coins to one gold coin, it was a lot of money.

“You'll need equipment. I'll see about getting what you need for your people that will be in harm's way. I'll work something out with Aza. Get a list of what would be useful. Especially for your higher level folks.

Don't go crazy with requests, but we should be able to get your higher level folks outfitted with some top end gear. I may even be able to get your low level folks some decent stuff. Most of my teams don't use any of that anymore,” Ivor was somewhat talking out loud rather than directly at Scindair.

“Very gracious of you,” the man said.

“I'm in it for the long haul. You'll either follow along or fall by the wayside. It's up to you. Anytime you are done just let me know,” Ivor responded.

“No, no. I know the boon you offer. It's just that you are so forthcoming with money and equipment. It's not how these things normally work.

Usually you have to bow and scrape for everything. It's a bit disconcerting.” Scindair was just being honest.

“Yeah, I get that. People that build an organization like that are happy to grow slowly. I don't have the time for that. I'm willing to invest upfront for the payoff down the road.”

“Speaking of being honest. Mr. Krix told me that you are only recently out of your Evaluation. To say I was shocked was an understatement. He also said he couldn't tell that story. I would like to hear it one day.” Scindair knew he was going out on a limb here.

Ivor looked at the man for a few moments. “We aren't there quite yet. When we get to that level of trust, I'd be happy to tell you. Have your people keep an ear open for a story going around about my spar with Thrik Trids in the Prince's throne room. It should be a good story,” Ivor said.

“You sparred with Thrik Trids? The Level 80 Guard Captain?” Scindair was actually shocked once again.

“Yeah, great guy. Great fighter. We went unarmed. I owe him some new armor though. I kind of dented his up a bit. Let me tell you, that stuff was strong. Actually made my hand go a bit numb.”

Scindair and his guards' mouths hit the floor. “You dented his armor bare handed?” Scindair knew Ivor was powerful, but this was on a completely different level.

“Yeah, not smart, but I didn't want to change into my armor. Plus with that Epic armor on, I wouldn't have felt it when he hit me. I really wanted to gauge his strength. The man is really fast too. Anyway, I'm sure the story will get embellished, but it should be fun listening.” Ivor proceeded to head to the door.

“Good luck, on your travels Mr. Kemble. May fortune favor you,” Scindair said as his patron walked out the door.

“Boss, do you think it's true?” One of the guards asked.

“I don't see any reason the man would lie. Get word out to the staff. I want to hear that story,” Scindair said. He was both frightened and awed by the man that was now financing his organization.

He turned to his two most trusted guards. “Let's get more aggressive on tracking the Galtu activities. Find out who the Galtu was that Ivor captured. Let's get every bit of information we can about him before we start anything. I want solid information for Mr. Kemble by the time he gets back. Make it happen.”

The two guards nodded and left the office. Scindair started on a list of equipment his top men would need along with basic equipment that would make his foot soldiers just a little more useful without standing out.

Chapter Four

Ivor spent two days preparing to leave. He picked up supplies for a long trip while he was on Menevris. Earth hadn't created an economy yet, and most people were still using the System Market. Menevris had a vibrant economy. Many of the things Ivor needed for adventuring were much cheaper than the System Store. Specifically, the food was both cheaper and better. His [Null Storage] was so large, he didn't have any problem storing food.

He had replaced his original water flask with one that held more and regenerated water faster. He had given his old flask to Resnov.

Ivor worked with Aza to get the raw materials he needed for his Tier 1 Travel Circle to create a portable return circle. It would only bring him back to the Freehold, which was fine. It did need to be charged with a significant amount of mana. Nothing like when Ivor had to charge the Freehold's Travel Circle. That took days of constant charging.

Aza insisted he carry a second circle as a backup. Since Ivor had his [Null Storage], it was a good idea that didn't impact him much. It wasn't terribly hard to destroy one of these portable circles, as Ivor found out. That was one of the reasons they weren't used very often. Plus, they took up a lot of space and cost quite a bit in materials. He spent a little over one million in credits on the two circles.

“Zed, are you ready to go see a world no one has seen in perhaps millions of years?” Ivor asked.

“I am very curious. I know what the world Vamhae turned into after the Vamhael went extinct. However, I was still the World Guardian and was able to keep some things operating.

I wonder if this world still has a guardian. I would not imagine it does. It is essentially free resources, as well as possible ancient knowledge. You would imagine someone would have tried to utilize it. Of course, it could have been abandoned for a reason. It is possible that the world is quite dangerous,” Zed responded.

Ivor had thought about the danger aspect. He also thought about how things just get lost to time. Most species are not very long lived. Just thinking about it, in four or five generations, no one on Earth will remember a time before the System. Ivor imagined worlds like this could easily be forgotten. When he asked Zed about it, Zed wasn't sure either.

“I can only imagine that the System purges old information from the Travel Circle logs at some point. Maybe after 100 years or something. I do not know. I just remember Aza and Quanzul saying they paid a lot of money to have someone search for the entries and keep it quiet. They did not find anything,” Zed said.

The other thing Zed mentioned was that he might be able to translate the book Aza and Quanzul had. It was something Ivor wanted to bring up to the two of them, but he didn't want anyone to know Zed was with him at all times. He might be able to get Aza to bring the book to the Freehold for Zed to work on. At least then, he wouldn't be going into the next world blind. The few words they were able to translate around this particular set of coordinates revolved around mines or mining. At least that's what they thought.

Ivor wasn't sure where he would end up, but he was confident in his ability to survive. Furthermore, he was excited to explore. He had been excited ever since his spar with Thrik Trids. Something about moving, even if it wasn't fighting appealed to him. It's why he never had a problem traveling for long periods of time on Earth. It just felt right. He was always that person that looked off into the distance and thought “I wonder what's out there?”

Ivor was also getting low on monster cores. He had created quite a number of enchanted objects for Marie and Resnov's teams. He also left a few of the more valuable ones in the Vault at the Freehold. If he was gone for an extended period, the Eephels could sell them for further Freehold credits. Ivor was looking forward to stocking up. In addition, he was curious what type of dungeons this world had. He was hoping they all didn't revert to low level dungeons. He wasn't sure what the System would do with an abandoned planet.

Aza and Quanzul rode with Ivor to the Travel Circle. Quanzul agreed to reach out to Thrik Trids about either an armor repair or new armor. Ivor could pay him back on his return. Aza promised to let Zed know at the Freehold if Marie's team sent any urgent messages.

Up until now, they had just been traveling towards the Inheritance on Earth. They had been spreading the news about children being able to increase stats. In addition, they had been making sure to let people know about titles. They gave specific information about Great and Good Start, but they only gave vague references to the Dungeon titles. Mostly along the lines of getting to 100 dungeons. Very few people would try for the Dungeon Enthusiast title at 100 dungeons completed, but some would.

Almost no one would be able to complete dungeons 25 or 50 levels higher than themselves. There wasn't much point in talking about it.

Ivor said his goodbyes, and in a brief flash of light, he was standing in the Freehold's Travel Circle building.

A projection of Zed was behind the controls, “Welcome back Ivor and myself.”

Ivor groaned. “How long have you been holding on to that one?”

Zed smiled and disappeared. Ivor made his way out of the building. As he walked towards the manor, he spied a rather large garden growing along one side of the manor grounds.

Ivor adjusted his course to go look at it. As he got close he realized Radus was in the garden. Ivor called out and waved.

“Welcome back Mr. Kemble,” the man said.

“Good to be back. Although I'm afraid it won't be for very long. I'll be leaving in a day or so,” Ivor responded.

“Iken will be happy to cook for you. Although the new vegetables won't be ready. We'll see how they do in a month or so. I must say, this land is very good for gardening.” Radus seemed much more relaxed since he'd become caretaker of the Freehold.

“Sounds good. Anything I need to know about?”

“No sir. Had a few monsters come up out of the lake, but Kitty took care of them real fast. She's proven to be quite handy with pest control.” The man laughed.

Ivor explained to Radus about cats on Earth, which Kitty used to be. He shared stories of cats being on ships to hunt the mice and of course, barn cats that did the same thing. It was in their nature and Kitty seemed to have retained that behavior.

Ivor went to drop some things off in his room. He stopped to chat with Iken for a bit. Finally he spent some time dashing around the Freehold on a bit of an inspection tour. He went into the old tunnels the mutated ants had been in to check on the Mana Steel vein. Still there and no other monsters had entered.

Ivor went back to the Travel Circle building and worked with Zed to get the two portable travel circles processed. It was fairly easy once he knew where to look in the interface. He simply had to place the raw materials on the travel circle and activate the process.

A golden light covered the raw materials for several minutes. During this time, the travel circle was unusable. When it finished, a set of completed travel circle stones sat on the existing travel circle pad. Ivor gathered them up into his [Null Storage] then repeated the process.

One of the downsides of this method was that he couldn't pre-fill the stones with mana. They had to be laid down in a correct order then “connected” with an injection of mana in a specific sequence. At that point, the circle could be charged with mana for use.

With all of his chores finished, Ivor went into the Vault in the manor to make sure he didn't forget anything. He finally went out and found Kitty. She was a little standoffish at first, but quickly realized who he was. The two old souls sat in companionable silence looking out at the peaceful lake and waterfall. Eventually, Ivor headed back up to the manor and had a good dinner and conversation with Radus and Iken. They were shocked to hear about him being accused of murder. They weren't terribly surprised by the corrupt guards. They both knew of Talkeil and thought he was often too lax in his duties.

They were quite surprised by his spar with Thrik Trids. He was known as one of the best fighters in the Principality. The pair were out of touch with the most recent people in high society, but they gave Ivor some ideas about certain people he could make friends with and people he should probably stay away from. Ivor was going to send a message to Scindair about this before he left.

It was a fine relaxing evening. Ivor finally went to his room and slept peacefully for the first time in a few days.

The next morning, Iken made Ivor a hearty breakfast. He said his goodbyes and made his way to the Travel Circle building. Zed had a projection of himself manning the station. Ivor had noticed that it was becoming a habit with the former A.I, now Freehold Guardian. He didn't need to show a projection of himself to run the travel circle. He seemed to enjoy it however.

Ivor had his armor on with his hood and mask in place. He pulled his trusty bastons out and squatted down on the circle.

“Whenever you are ready Zed,” Ivor said.

“Coordinates accepted. Travel commencing,” Zed responded.

The flash of light that accompanied travel like this seemed to take longer than normal. It wasn't a lot longer, but it seemed longer to Ivor. When he arrived, Ivor quickly scanned all around. Zed would be able to process his vision much quicker and would notify him if something was wrong.

Not sensing any immediate danger, Ivor stayed in a squatted position. He was in a collapsed building. The roof was gone along with most of the wall on his right side.

He appeared to be squatting on the rubble left by the collapsed roof. The remains partially filled the room that looked to be about one hundred square meters. There was a doorway, minus a door, slightly off center of the wall in front of him.

It was currently daytime, but there was no sun directly overhead. Ivor would have Zed try to figure out local time. He stayed still for a few moments taking in the sounds.

He could hear some bugs, maybe birds or other animals calling in the distance. There was a slight bit of wind that seemed to be blowing. Ivor stood and slowly moved to the doorway.

Storing his bastons, he quickly peeked out the door to either side. To his right was a hallway blocked with rubble. To his left, the hallway was clear.

There were several other doorways down the hallway. Ivor cautiously made his way down peeking through each doorway. Each room had collapsed ceilings and nothing else.

Continuing down the hallway, Ivor finally found the doorway out of the building.

He was standing near the top of a city built onto the side of a small mountain. Looking above him, the buildings were in complete ruin. Below him, there were still areas where the streets were intact. Most of the buildings were ruined and some of the streets were choked with rubble, but Ivor could see several avenues to make his way down.

It wasn't a huge city, which Ivor was happy about. He would have to spend considerable time going through the city as it is to see if he could find anything about this world. As he started moving down the street, he would duck into various buildings.

Everything was gone. Anything organic had long rotted away to dust. He was debating just looking for some larger buildings when a shadow passed over him.

Instinctively, Ivor dropped and rolled to the side. The shadow reminded him of the flyers that attacked in the Ice Dragon dungeon. Coming back up, he saw the tail end of a massive bird flying past. Before it got out of range, Ivor triggered [Identify].

Rarent

Level 40

Highest Stat: Agility

Immunities: Air

The Rarent was a strange flyer. It was very large, nearly seven meters long. Its body was very thin with wispy looking feathers over a leathery hide.

Its wings were fairly stubby, but it was able to turn rapidly without losing speed. As it came around, Ivor saw a needle-like beak and spindly legs with wicked, scythe-like claws on the end.

Ivor reached down and picked up a piece of rubble from the ground. It felt like a smooth cobblestone. Waiting until the Rarent was committed, Ivor threw the stone at the bird.

It shifted its course quicker than expected but not quite quick enough. The stone smashed through the right side of the bird's breast, shearing the right wing off.

The dead Rarent plowed into the ground. Ivor used [Loot] and received a Superb air monster core along with a good amount of monster parts. It looked like Ivor's [Solo Contributor] skill was working just fine as he should have only gotten a Superior grade monster core.

Solo Contributor (Master) - Passive

You do 100% more damage and receive 100% more rewards when operating alone.

Glancing around, he didn't see any more Rarent. Maybe they were territorial. Ivor took a break to really look at the city stretching out below. He had Zed analyze the landscape and highlight buildings that might hold something of interest. The smaller dwellings didn't seem to have anything in them.

Zed had highlighted several larger buildings on the different levels of the city. It was slow going for Ivor. He moved carefully so as not to attract any attention. He was hoping the passive benefits of the [Blend] skill were working.

Blend (Unique) - Passive/Active

Passive

You blend into your environment whether urban or rural. This skill makes you incredibly hard to detect at a distance. In a crowd, you are impossible to find. People won't notice you easily when you are standing still, even in plain sight. In any rural environment, you easily blend into the surroundings making you nearly invisible. Slow movement is very hard to detect by anyone equal to or below Epic level. Extreme movement and clashing colors can reduce this ability. This is an innate ability.

The sun was slowly going down off his right hand side. Since Ivor had arrived very high up in the city, close to five hundred meters up he estimated, it took quite some time to make his way down. So far, all of the buildings had been completely empty. Ivor was pretty sure everything here had been picked over or rotted away for a very, very long time.

He had made his way down to one of the final terraces. Ivor was near one edge of the city when he heard some kind of commotion. Quickly leaping up to a rooftop that was partially intact, he peered over the edge to see an amazing and troubling site.

About fifty meters below him, several bipedal creatures were pulling a cart toward a gap in the mountain. The gap bordered a thick forest. Four of the creatures were pulling the cart as fast as they could. One of them was following behind the cart yelling and motioning to another that was coming quickly out of the forest a hundred or so meters further away.

The creature that came out of the forest was clearly moving as fast as they could. Its short legs were helped along by thick long arms. It was running in a manner that was reminiscent of a gorilla. It definitely wasn't a gorilla. As the cart got closer to the gap in the mountain, more of the creatures came out wearing some kind of armor and carrying spears and a strange looking bow.

Ivor looked back at the running creature to see it had a small head start over the strange spider-like creatures that came out of the forest after it. Ivor thought of a spider, but it really wasn't. It had a bulbous main body, but only six disjointed legs sticking out the side of its body, unlike eight for a spider. It also had a long upright neck and a triangular head similar to a praying mantis that looked like it was mostly mouth and teeth. It didn't have the grasping appendages like a praying mantis. Instead, its long neck extended forward rapidly as it screamed a screeching sound and snapped its horrid mouth.

Ivor was too far away to identify any of the creatures, but he was sure the short legged creature wasn't going to outrun the spider-things.

Ivor was about fifty meters above and a little closer to the gap than the running creature. They would pass him in a few seconds. Knowing that these creatures were sentient if they were using carts, armor and weapons, Ivor timed his drop.

Ivor hadn't really tested his body from this height.

“Zed, do you think my body can handle the drop?” Ivor asked.

“I have no doubt,” the former A.I responded.

Ivor didn't hesitate. As he dropped, he equipped a baston in each hand. Ivor landed with a crash on top of the front two spider-things facing towards the next pair chasing the creature.

His armored feet punched right through each of the bulbous bodies of the monsters running side by side. The remaining two spider-things didn't have time to correct course before Ivor brought both bastons down on their heads. The heads of the creatures collapsed onto the ground along with their bodies.

Ivor quickly used [Identify]

Narkeik (Level 30)

Highest Stat: Perception

Immunities: None

Ivor pulled his feet out of the crushed bodies of the two Narkeik he had landed on and triggered the armor's self-cleaning.

He turned to see a very shocked group of creatures, including the one who had been running laying on the ground fifteen meters in front of him. Ivor used [Identify] again.

Okvats Bruuk (Os'id)

Gatherer (Level 10)

Highest Stat: Willpower

Immunities: Poison

Ivor put his bastons into the sheaths built into the armor on his back. He didn't want to use his [Null Storage]. He held his hands up in front of him as he walked slowly towards the downed Okvats. Ivor noticed the being must have tripped right after Ivor got involved. He could see fresh grass and dirt on the knees. Knees that were covered by clothes.

As Ivor made his way slowly toward Okvats he noticed more about the species. They were all wearing large goggles on their faces. The faces were thin and somewhat pointed.

They were a dark grey color, all of them. As Ivor got closer, Okvats skin looked thick and leathery. Although their torso was about the size of an average human, due to the short legs and rather small head, Ivor thought they would be generally shorter than the average human. As he saw from the roof, their arms were thick and muscled like a gorilla, but the hands ended in thick claws.

He wasn't sure if Okvats and the group were too shocked or surprised to move, but they didn't. Ivor reached Okvats who was staring with his mouth slightly open. Ivor pulled his mask and hood back revealing his face. He slowly held out a hand to Okvats. Okvats stared at Ivor, then his hand, then at Ivor.

“Would you like some help, up?” Ivor asked.

“You…you…speak?” Okvats stuttered.

“Sometimes, not very well. I'll admit.” Ivor took a chance and smiled.

The Os'id smiled back; his too small mouth making it look rather adorable to Ivor.

“Yes, I would like some help, up. I think I hurt my foot trying to get away from the Narkeik. Thank you by the way.”

Ivor pulled Okvats to a standing position. “Test your weight on that foot. I can help if you can't put weight on it.”

Testing his weight, Okvats found he could put his weight on it, but he was walking with a limp. Ivor walked with him towards the group that was now coming to meet them.

As the group got closer, Ivor said, “I didn't loot the monsters.”

One of the fighters spoke, “I appreciate that stranger. It's best we all get inside before more of the Narkeik come.”

Okvats commented, “I think there were more, but they stopped to eat our crops.”

Ivor perked up. “I saw where you came out of the forest. I can take care of them rather quickly if you give me directions.”

The fighter looked at Ivor. “Just follow the path, you will find a clearing with a lot of fallen logs. Our crop grows there. Be careful, stranger. Narkeik are vicious in packs.”

Ivor pulled his hood and mask up and sped away. He didn't hear the gasps of astonishment at the speed in which he moved.

The fighter turned to Okvats. “Your savior may be hideous looking, but he seems powerful.”

Okvats scoffed. “Seems? Did you see how effortlessly he took out those four Narkeik.”

The group broke out into a chatter amongst themselves.

It wasn't even thirty seconds later, and Ivor appeared in front of them.

The fighter nodded. “It's no shame to retreat from an overwhelming force.”

Ivor pulled his hood and mask back again. “What? Oh, no, they're all dead. I looted those.” Ivor pulled a bunch of items out of a backpack. He was hoping nobody noticed he hadn't been wearing one before. It fit rather tight to his armor.

So, it was possible to explain away. Maybe.

The crowd gasped at the sight of eight monster cores and various other materials Ivor got from looting the monsters.

Another group of Os'id came out of the gap in the mountain. There were more fighters. Guards maybe, and one Os'id that was dressed in something a bit finer than the rest of the people.

Most of the people that had been outside were wearing very utilitarian clothing. Well made clothing from what Ivor could tell. Ivor knew someone important when he saw them.

Okvats called out to the better dressed Os'id, “Mother, come meet the stranger. He saved my life.”

As the group approached, Ivor identified Okvats' mother.

Ineds Bruuk (Os'id)

Earth Shaman (Level 42)

Highest Stat: Intelligence

Immunities: Poison

Ineds stopped before Ivor. “Well stranger, it seems I owe you.”

Ivor shook his head. “You don't owe me anything. I'd like to think your people would help if monsters were attacking me.”

“Depends on the monster,” she said.

Ivor chuckled. “Fair. Please, call me Ivor.”

“Ivor it is. I would ask that you refer to me as Shaman Bruuk in public.”

Ivor was finding it hard to read these people with their goggles on.

“Of course, Shaman Bruuk. I am a stranger here. I would appreciate any help in navigating your culture.”

The Shaman looked around and raised her voice, “The sun is going down, there is a cart still sitting here and there are monsters over there that haven't been looted. You have five minutes to get it done.”

There was a brief pause then everyone rushed to get the jobs done.

The Shaman turned to Ivor. “Nobody has ever seen a stranger. I have many, many questions. However, although I'm the leader of our people, we do have a council of elders for important decisions. I would ask that you stay outside tonight while I petition the council of elders to allow you into our home.”

“I'm here to explore. I have no intention of causing trouble for you or your people. I'm comfortable staying outside. I would ask for any information about nighttime predators or anything I should be concerned about,” Ivor stated.

“During the day, outside of the forest, the Rarent can swoop down without warning.”

“I've already had the pleasure,” Ivor responded.

The Shaman paused at that. “A Hunter you may be, but something is not adding up. You kill four Narkeik and a Rarent, and you're Level 24.” Her tone was obviously skeptical.

“I get that a lot. My base stats are significantly higher than normal.”

The Shaman merely nodded at that. “Very well. I have no way to dispute your claim. There are shadow beasts that prowl. No one knows what they look like or their actual names.

No one has survived being close enough to identify them. We just know they are as black as night and strike fast. If you don't move around in the forest or city at night, I don't think you'll have a problem. If you come down to the entrance tomorrow around this time, myself or someone else will meet you.”

Ivor nodded and the Shaman retreated with her people to the gap in the mountain. Ivor watched them all disappear into the black darkness of the gap. After the last person was through, he felt a slight rumbling in his feet.

From the inside of the gap, a large stone was rolling into place. Within moments, the gap was sealed shut.

Chapter Five

Ivor pitched his tent near the mountain entrance. This was his good camouflage tent. Zed had been conspicuously quiet during everything.

“Zed, do you have any information on the Os'id? Any idea what planet this is?” Ivor asked.

“My apologies Ivor. I am at a loss. I have been around for a very long time, and I have no record of this species or this planet. It must be very, very old.” Zed didn't quite sound like himself in Ivor's head.

“Anything the matter, buddy?”

“I… I am just not used to being so uninformed. It is a little disconcerting. It is also quite exciting. I am discovering new things in real time. I may be a little overwhelmed, emotionally.”

“Take your time, buddy. I think I'm going to see what the nightlife is like around here.” Ivor wanted to give Zed time to process things.

It wasn't quite dark, yet. So, Ivor made some food and got his camp set up. He activated the camouflage feature on the tent and his armor. He listened to the sounds around him.

As the darkness crept over the land, the sounds slowly changed. There was less noise and less movement.

Ivor waited until it was full dark. He activated night vision and slowly made his way to the trail he had been on before. The area the Os'id farmed was a section of downed trees that had mushrooms growing on them. The forest canopy was high overhead, but covered the clearing well enough to only let a bit of light in during the day.

Ivor was curious where the Narkeik came from, and he was curious if he would run into these “shadow beasts” the shaman had talked about. He made his way slowly to the clearing. The [Loot] skill didn't leave corpses.

It was usually a good thing, but Ivor should have left one of the monsters out. It could have brought other monsters out of the woods for him to evaluate. He decided to wait near the clearing to see if anything came.

After a little over an hour, he detected nothing more than a few small animals and bugs in the area. It made sense. If the area was too heavily trafficked, the Os'id wouldn't likely put their mushroom farm here.

Ivor decided to finish exploring the city. There were still several levels and larger buildings that he had skipped when he jumped down to help the Os'id. He followed the sharp cliff face that marked one boundary of the city. There was a wall, or parts of one, as time and maybe battle had ruined much of the wall at the bottom of the terraced city.

They made their way to one of the larger buildings that Zed had noted before. There was something strange about the room. Ivor couldn't figure it out right away. Zed finally spoke up.

“I think this was the Administration building, or at least the part of it that had the System Market. See all of the doors on the far wall?”

It clicked for Ivor why it was strange. Those doors shouldn't be there if this was a normal building. That was the back wall of the building, and there should be no rooms behind those doors. It made sense the System Market doors would be there as they took a person to a small dimensional space not an actual room.

Ivor approached a door and thought “open.” Nothing happened. Zed commented again.

“It is very likely this world has no Guardian. If it is as old as I imagine, it may not have a Sector Administrator either. That would explain the empty feeling of this world. I do not think there is a crystal in the city anymore.”

Ivor explored the rest of the building. It was completely devoid of anything, just like all the other buildings. He asked Zed about the lack of anything, even piles of dust.

“I believe this city was abandoned on purpose. It explains much of what we have seen. Weather and monsters can explain all the damage to buildings and the walls. It is a mystery as to why it would be abandoned, though. Perhaps the Os'id know,” Zed explained.

“If it's been so long that even you have no record of it, what are the odds they have any relevant information?” Ivor asked.

“You have a point. It is possible some form of record, like the Vamhael history, was passed down. Or perhaps there are stories, legends or fables. We may be able to infer some things from that kind of information.”

Ivor was happy to explore for now. Aza and Quanzul were definitely hoping he would find things of value. Whether that was resources or new relics or artifacts, they would likely be happy with either. Ivor would roam if he needed to, but it would be nice to have a goal to work towards.

Despite his desire to be free from constraints, which he was now, he had spent most of his life working towards one goal or another. It was a bit disconcerting not to have that. Right now, his goal was a bit too ambiguous for comfort.

It was during this internal musing that he heard a faint sound outside the building. Ivor made sure his camouflage was active and slowly moved towards the doorway. Getting low to the ground, Ivor slowly peeked out. The dark vision enhancement of his mask didn't allow him to see unlimited distance, but it should be far enough that he would see anything that would have caused the noise.

“Zed, any idea what the noise was?” Ivor was hoping Zed's analysis could provide some more information.

“It was most likely some of the rubble being moved. I believe there is something out there.”

Ivor shifted his vision to night vision. Still nothing. He shifted to heat vision. Again, nothing. Finally, Ivor switched to mana vision.

He hadn't actually used this feature of his mask. He had mainly been thinking about its usefulness to detect magic traps and illusions. As soon as he switched on mana vision, three bodies appeared twenty or so meters away. Ivor triggered [Identify].

Shadow Hound (Level 53)

Highest Stat: Agility

Immunities: Shadow

“Why are they only showing up in mana vision?” Ivor asked Zed

“I believe these monsters are pure shadow. You have encountered monsters that used shadow before, but these creatures are pure mana like a dungeon monster. It is very rare to see a creature of pure mana outside a dungeon.”

In mana vision, the monsters were roughly canine shaped. However, there were no defined edges. The shadow seemed to keep a rough shape but flowed out in wisps. Ivor wanted to take away some of their agility and have more control of the battle space.

He didn't need to fight these monsters out in the open. He had some ideas.

“Do you think they are susceptible to light?” Ivor asked.

“Most likely. Most things are vulnerable to their opposite element. As creatures of pure mana, they may be even more susceptible than normal,” Zed replied.

Ivor made his preparations and turned off his camouflage armor.

Hey! He shouted towards the monsters.

He saw three canine shaped heads quickly turn in his direction. Seeing him, their mouths opened and let out a silent howl. They shot towards Ivor at full speed.

Ivor quickly backed into the room to the far wall. As the Shadow Hounds bolted into the room, he tossed one of his light disks onto the ceiling. The adhering rune made it stick and it triggered a bright light into the room.

Quickly switching from mana vision, to bright vision, Ivor wasn't blinded by the bright light illuminating the room. The monsters weren't so lucky.

The Shadow Hounds immediately became visible to Ivor. It was clear the light was causing them pain as the wispy shadow they seemed to be made of visibly started boiling away. Ivor was never one to sit around and watch. Summoning his two bastons, he quickly rushed over and smashed all three Shadow Hounds. Ivor noticed something a bit different from each impact of his baston. Normally, he would get some feedback through the metal stick as it impacted. As he hit the three Shadow Hounds, it wasn't physical feedback he was feeling, but mental.

It was over quickly. Ivor's stats were just too high compared to these monsters.

“That felt different. The impact of the bastons was more mental than physical,” Ivor explained.

“Ah, these pure mana creatures can only be killed with magic. The force mana inherent in your bastons was likely doing all the damage. I would bet that your dark steel swords would not injure these monsters at all. This is likely why the Os'id have had so much trouble with them. If the Os'id have been isolated for as long as I imagine, they probably do not have many, if any, magical weapons.

Ivor looted the monsters and received three Superb shadow monster cores. It was the first time he had received shadow cores. Despite having fought monsters with shadow magic, none of them had dropped shadow cores. In addition, he received three vials of shadow essence.

“Oh, my. Shadow essence is very valuable and very rare. It rarely drops in dungeons to my knowledge. You can sometimes get it for fighting an elemental boss.” Zed seemed pretty excited about this particular loot.

“What is it used for?” Ivor asked.

“It is used in Alchemy, Cooking, and Brewing. It is versatile. Shadow cores can be processed to be used in Alchemy, but the cost of that processing is high. Essences can be used directly. It can be used to create dark vision potions, food and drink that give dark vision or dark vision boosts for a time.”

It wasn't useful for Ivor, but someone would pay good coin for it, apparently. Ivor would have to keep an eye out for more of the shadow monsters. If shadow monsters naturally occurred here, it would be a good place for him to farm both cores and essence.

Ivor went back outside and continued to scan the area using mana vision. It didn't look like there were more of the Shadow Hounds present. All three hounds were in the Level 50s. So, it was possible that they had scared away any other nocturnal predators from this area.

Ivor was not interested in ranging too far away from this area. He would wait on the Os'id and roam if they couldn't provide him with any maps. Given the lower level of the people, he doubted they went far outside the mountain.

It seemed most of the daytime and nighttime monsters were higher level than them. Ivor returned to his tent.

“Zed, is there such a thing as an Explorer Guild?” Ivor asked once they were in the tent.

“Indeed there are multiple Explorer Guilds. As you can imagine, the universe is a large place. Worlds like Menevris, where Aza and Quanzul are from, likely connect to hundreds of other worlds. However, there are millions of worlds out there under System Control. Some, like your world, are not able to be accessed until they reach a certain state of development. Some of those worlds never make it. That is not to say they or the species on them die out.

No, they usually just manage to stay at a low level. Imagine your world never progressing beyond the medieval times. With that said, there are guilds that send explorers to newly identified worlds or worlds like this that have been long forgotten.

I am unsure why Aza and Quanzul did not choose an Explorers Guild for this work. I am sure they have their reasons.”

Ivor decided to investigate the city some more. There was nothing. Literally nothing but collapsed and ruined buildings.

He had found several hiding spots and, what he would consider, small vaults. There was simply nothing here. It was strange.

Even Zed didn't have an idea why that was. Usually in old ruins, you could find at least a trinket that had magic in it. Magical items tended to last as long as there was mana, if they weren't outright destroyed. Yet, they found none of that.

With that mystery firmly in his head, Ivor went back to his tent. He didn't want to stray too far away from the Os'id entrance. He pulled out the Vamheal Rune Codex and Culs' personal notes. He was at a point with his rune studies that he was reaching difficult concepts.

His [Enchant Object] skill was stuck at Expert. He hadn't really pushed himself with the skill. He had only created a lot of the same things; spike traps, grenades, light disks, etc…. Zed was confident that volume itself was not enough to push a skill into the next level.

Frankly, Ivor was wondering to himself if there wasn't also a level issue. The Class and Profession level increases happened at 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and beyond. The same thing happened, for the most part with monster cores.

Monsters of a certain level tended to drop the appropriate core. Major at Level 20, Superior at Level 40, Superb at Level 60, etc…. Minor cores being the exception at Level 10.

Ivor had just reached Level 25 after fighting the Shadow Hounds. It's possible that the System was preventing him from moving forward with a lot of his Expert skills simply because he was too low level. Certain titles had pushed his skills above Expert into Master, but that was different from the normal path of leveling a skill.

It made some degree of sense to Ivor. After all, skills, as a concept, were about learning to do something better over time. If the System just wanted people to jump in levels, why call them skills. They could just be Feats or Abilities, or something similar.

To Ivor, skills implied learning and growing. It was an interesting thought experiment, but it's unlikely anyone would know. Much like regeneration and level progression, the System kept the exact details to itself.

Ivor distributed his free stat points and pulled up his latest stats.

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Level: 25

Class: [Null]

Profession: Hunter

Strength: 134 (201)

Agility: 131 (196)

Endurance: 131 (196)

Constitution: 134 (201)

Intelligence: 200

Wisdom: 185

Willpower: 122 (244)

Perception: 188

Health: 2005

Mana: 1943

Stamina: 2107

Free Stat Points: 0

His Intelligence was the first base stat to actually break 200. He knew the System rounded down fractions. So, some of his stats were slightly higher than what they appeared to be. His Strength, Agility, Endurance, Constitution and Willpower were all boosted by the Vamhael Inheritance. He got a 50% increase for all the body stats and 100% for Willpower. Ivor was hoping that the System would provide him some sort of title or other reward for getting all of his stats above 200 before taking his first Class/Profession Evolution. It's possible that he would get nothing. The System may not take the Inheritance into consideration when considering his base stats.

It was a gamble for sure, but it wasn't that big of an issue for him. His stats and skills were ridiculously high for his level. He thought it was worth it to try.

Ivor had quite a bit of System credits, but he also carried a lot of coins. If there were no village crystals and no World Guardian, it was possible the Os'id didn't have access to the System Market. Ivor imagined they had a barter system in place. Monsters tend to drop coins in dungeons, but not in the wild.

Shaman Bruuk was only Level 42, and she appeared to be the leader. If she was one of the strongest, it's possible they had trouble leveling their people. The monsters around this area were just too high level for them to survive outside. Of course, he didn't know what the situation was inside the mountain.

Ivor settled down to study the Vamhael runes some more and waited to see what he could learn from the Os'id in the morning.

Chapter Six

Ivor was awake the next day when the stone at the entrance began to move. He had already packed away his tent and made sure the immediate area looked undisturbed. It was a habit from his former life as a C.I.A contractor. You definitely didn't want to leave any traces that you were there.

As the stone finished moving out of place, several Fighters came out to ensure the immediate area was clear. Ivor couldn't tell if any of these Fighters were around yesterday, but they nodded to him nonetheless. He was expected.

Several of the small carts came out as well as Okvats and the Shaman. The Shaman made her way over to Ivor along with a group of Fighters.

“Ivor, good day,” she said.

“Good day Shaman Bruuk,” Ivor said and nodded.

“Our council of Elders has agreed to talk with you. I would ask a favor however. Would you mind accompanying our Gatherers today? I fear there may be more Narkeik around the harvest area. If you would protect our people during the harvest, I would appreciate it.”

“Of course. Happy to help.” Ivor nodded again.

“When the harvest is done, just follow the Gatherers inside. Someone will take you to me,” She completed her statement and immediately headed back inside the mountain.

Ivor made his way towards the group of Gatherers as the carts started moving towards the trail Ivor had gone down yesterday. Okvats waved to Ivor as he approached.

“Ivor, your arrival sure has stirred up a Chislo nest,” the Os'id stated.

“What's a Chislo?” Ivor understood the context, but he was curious.

“Small worms that burrow into your skin and slowly liquify your bones. You don't have those where you come from?” Okvats asked.

Ivor looked at the Os'id. “Not that I'm aware of.”

“Lucky you. Nasty critters. Anyway, the council of Elders had a fit trying to keep things quiet. Totally impossible given the amount of people that saw you. It's possible I may have told a number of the best gossips just to fog the council's goggles, if you know what I mean.” The young Os'id had a smile on his face.

Ivor chuckled. “Yeah, I understand. Anything I should worry about?”

Okvats shook his head. “No. It's pretty clear to any that saw you attack those Narkeik that you are way more powerful than anyone we know. They are just old and set in their ways. Too cautious if you ask me.”

“I'm unable to comment on that. I don't know anything about your people,” Ivor responded.

“I know. Mother will likely fill you in. Quote: It's not your job, Okvats, to give the stranger information.” The sarcasm was clear in his voice. “Bah, stupid, I say. You could have destroyed us if you wanted to. I don't get the sense that you have some evil plan you're trying to enact by getting on our good side. Seems like it would be a waste of your time.”

Ivor nodded. The young Os'id was surprisingly astute. He was impatient, like most young people were. However, Ivor liked the young man.

Although Okvats wasn't allowed to get into details about the state of the Os'id people, he was able to talk about what they were doing today. It turns out that this harvesting expedition was intended to harvest the mushrooms to be planted in their underground farming areas. This wasn't their main source of food. It was merely replacements or additions to growing plots underground.

Given the level of monsters in the area, they didn't harvest these resources often. It was just dumb luck that Ivor had come when he did. Based on what Okvats had told him, this also wasn't the only location they harvested. Okvats didn't outright tell Ivor that, but he inferred it often enough during their conversation. Ivor knew the young man was doing it on purpose. He was too smart to make a mistake. It was youthful rebellion for being told not to tell Ivor something. It made Ivor like the young man even more.

They got to the clearing and began the harvest. Ivor watched for a while, then told the guards he was going to scout the area. After an hour of circling around the area, Ivor came to the conclusion that the pack of Narkeik must have driven most of the other monsters off.

There were strange birds and small rodents, insects, but no other monsters. It took the group about half the day to fill the two carts.

On the way back, Ivor asked Okvats a question, “Why did you choose Gatherer for your Profession?”

“It's the only way to get outside,” Okvats responded. “Well, unless I wanted to be a Fighter, which I do not.”

“Is it that you like being outside or you're just a young man rebelling against the establishment?” Ivor asked.

Okvats laughed, “I'm sure it's both. However, as long as I can remember, I wanted to be outside. It's not in our nature, and it's very hard given the level of monsters around here. It's all I've ever wanted. If I can't be outside all the time, well, this allows me to be outside more often.”

“If you could be outside all the time, what would you do?” Ivor was truly curious.

“I would Gather or something like that. I like finding new things. New useful things.

I'm not some kind of hoarder that gathers things just to have them. It just seems like there is so much out there I don't know. I want to see it all.”

Ivor could hear the passion in Okvats' voice. It was the explorer in Ivor that resonated with Okvats' statement. He understood the young man. They may want different things in the end, but they were of the same mind.

“Nothing comes easy under the System. What would you do to achieve your goals? Are you willing to sacrifice? What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals?” Ivor asked.

Okvats thought for a minute. “I would sacrifice my own comfort, but not anyone else's, if that makes sense. I wouldn't hurt others or use them to get what I want. That doesn't seem right to me. I'm not afraid to sacrifice what I have though. It's hard for me to explain.”

Ivor nodded. “I understand. You are still young, but this doesn't just seem like a whim of the young. It's good to have goals.”

They walked in companionable silence for the rest of the trip. Nobody else approached Ivor to talk, but he could see their furtive glances from time to time. His Perception was so high, it was hard not to notice. It wasn't long before they made it to the entrance. Ivor was entering new territory. He was excited to see how these people lived.

The entrance area was very large. There were a number of people waiting for the carts. Several people began inspecting the mushrooms.

When Ivor asked what they were doing, Okvats indicated that they were making sure that no parasites or insects that could harm the crops were present. Ivor assumed it was an offshoot of a Profession from Farmer that allowed them skills to deal with it. It made sense to Ivor. After all, Earth had quarantine and inspection for these kinds of things before the System showed up.

While Ivor looked around, he noticed the complex mechanism that opened and closed the large stone slab at the entrance. It was a mass of ropes, pulleys and counterweights that allowed a few people to move the slab back and forth. It was purely mechanical.

With the inspection taken care of, the carts went down one path out of the entrance. Okvats took Ivor down another path. It was large enough to accommodate several people walking side by side in both directions.

Ivor noticed several areas that looked like supports. However, after seeing several of them, his trap detection kicked in. They weren't really traps. They were sections of the tunnel that could be collapsed if they were invaded from the outside.

Ivor had to pull his hood and mask on as the tunnel was very dark. There was some faint luminescence, but not enough to see by, for a human. All of the Os'id had taken their goggles off. Ivor finally got a look at their eyes.

His initial guess was right. Their eyes were huge. It made perfect sense for a largely subterranean species to either have very large eyes to take in the limited light, or they would have some other way to sense things. Given the googles, Ivor had been fairly certain the eyes would be large.

After nearly twenty minutes of walking, the tunnel opened up into a massive cavern. There were hundreds of Os'id moving about. There was a massive stalagmite in the center of the cavern.

It seemed to be several hundred meters across at the bottom. Ivor could see doors and windows carved all over the massive structure. Balconies dotted the face of the stalagmite at various locations toward the top.

There were free standing buildings creating roadways throughout the cavern. Stairs and walkways were carved into the walls of the cavern itself. It was an underground small city.

“This is amazing,” Ivor exclaimed.

“Eh, I guess I'm used to it. I'm sure I would be amazed at some of the simple things you've seen on the surface.” Okvats shrugged.

Okvats led them down a staircase carved into the cavern. They made their way directly to the large stalagmite in the center.

“This is the central administrative tower. All of our society is managed through this location. My mother asked that I bring you to her office before you meet the council.” Okvats seemed bored by the whole thing.

Ivor could understand. The young man was a little depressed now that he was back underground after far too little time on the surface.

Ivor was using [Identify] from time to time. He had not found anyone higher than the Shaman yet. Most people were between Levels 20 and 40. There were children here. Ivor hadn't seen children in quite some time. It reminded him that children would be coming back to Earth in the next few months or so. Ivor had asked his daughter to spread the word about children being able to gain stats before getting the System overlay. Since the Earth humans had opted not to get another World Guardian, Ivor hoped the knowledge would help.

During their travels, Ivor was getting many strange looks. Nothing hostile, just surprise. It seemed that word must have spread enough that the council wasn't trying to smuggle him in unseen. There were people following them as they made their way to the center of the cavern.

Ivor would be concerned if he couldn't detect them. It was only prudent to keep an eye on the stranger.

Ivor and Okvats entered the giant stalagmite. Instantly, Ivor got the feeling he was in a government building. There was just something about all government buildings that gave him the same feeling. There were information desks, signs, roped off areas with people standing in line, chairs with people waiting, doors to offices or other rooms behind the desks, and a hallway that Okvats was headed for.

When they got to the hallway, Okvats took them to a line of alcoves along the wall. Okvats was waiting for him in the alcove. Ivor stepped in and saw a selection of various levers on one wall.

Okvats pulled one of the levers and, with a slightly jerking start, the stone floor started rising. It was an elevator. Ivor chuckled.

“First time on a vertical stone mover?” Okvats had heard the chuckle.

“Yes. Well, on my world before the System, we had something like this. It was a metal box like contraption. We called them elevators,” Ivor said.

“Hmmm, but they brought you down too? So, they didn't just elevate.” Okvats caught the obvious flaw in the name.

“Yes, they brought you down too. Sometimes, silly names like that stick. It was easier to go with it than try to fight it,” Ivor responded.

Okvats nodded. They seemed to be traveling for quite a while. Occasionally, alcoves would flash by. Unlike elevators on Earth, these had no doors. Ivor didn't bother to count how many alcoves had flashed by, but he figured this stalagmite was easily a hundred meters tall. Eventually, the elevator stopped and Okvats stepped out.

They stepped into a large reception area. Unlike the area at the bottom, this area was quiet and well decorated. Intricate reliefs were carved into the walls.

The reliefs were inlaid with metal and gems in a very tasteful manner. It was quite striking. There was a large half-circle reception desk with four people working behind it. There were six guards spaced out around the room, two each in front of three different doors.

Okvats stepped up to the reception desk. “The Shaman requested the stranger, Ivor Kemble, to her office.”

“One moment,” the receptionist said and left through a door behind the desk.

The two of them waited for a few moments. One of the doors opened and a well dressed Os'id came out with the receptionist.

“Mr. Kemble, if you would follow me. The Shaman will see you now.”

“I'll see you later, Ivor,” Okvats said as he headed back to the elevator.

The man, Ivor was confident the Os'id was male, took him down a hallway. At the end of the hallway were double doors with more intricate reliefs carved into them. He opened one of the doors and stood aside. Ivor nodded and walked into the room.

It was a large room, as seemed to be the case for leaders of all types. There was a large table with several chairs around it. There was a more comfortable seating area on the opposite side of the room. Carved bookshelves lined the walls with actual books on them, along with various small decorations.

At the end of the room was a large desk. The Shaman sat behind the desk.

As the door closed behind him, the Shaman got up from the desk and approached him.

“Ivor, welcome. In private feel free to call me Ineds,” she said, as her tone had changed from one of a leader to more of a casual conversant.

“Ineds, thank you for inviting me into your city.” Ivor gave a slight bow.

She laughed. It reminded him of Okvats. “Oh, you are so polite. It will go a long way with the Elders.”

“I'm glad they are willing to speak with me. I'm very curious about your people and this world,” he said.

“Yes, and we are very curious about you. If you don't mind me asking, how did you come to this place? I apologize that you will have to repeat this later.” She seemed genuine.

“Well, I have some colleagues, friends really, that found an old book while adventuring many decades ago. Even though they couldn't translate the whole thing, they were aware that some of the information was the coordinates to other worlds. Furthermore, these worlds were not in any of the travel circles that they had access to. I enjoy exploration, and they asked if I would be willing to come explore this world. It just so happens that your world was the first on my list.” He had no reason to lie or hold back.

“Well, then I'll count myself lucky that you came as you almost assuredly saved my son's life. You will forever have my thanks for that. I'm also going to say that I think the Os'id are lucky you are here as well. You see, we are dying.”

Ivor was a bit taken aback, but he didn't let it show. He acknowledged her comment with a nod.

“I see you are no stranger to shocking events. Your reaction tells me much. Further, it solidifies for me that you may be able to help. Of course, that will be up to the council and the people, but I'm hopeful.” She sighed, then continued, “We are dying as a people. It's a slow death. Over the millennia, our population has been decreasing at a rate slightly faster than our birthrate.

You probably noticed that the monsters in the area you were in are higher than most of our people. Yet, we have to go out onto the surface to survive. Over time, we lost many of our high level people. The general population is not aware of this. The decline has been too slow to be obvious. However, those of us that have access to the records understand.”

“Are there no other people on this planet that you know of?” Ivor asked.

“Ah, now we come to the heart of the matter. Many, many, many millennia ago, there was a great plague. We don't know exactly what it was, but we do have records that indicate at least part of the plague involved destruction of all magic items. We also know, from written records, that another part of the plague affected the people.”

She held up her hand to stall his next question. “So, how did we survive? Well, as far as we can tell, the people in the city on the mountain got some kind of advanced notice. My people were already underground. We were miners.

We were considered lower class. We were kept down by the other dominant species on this world. Many of them retreated to our underground diggings.

The plague that affected the people didn't seem to affect them underground. The magical plague did however. Over time, those surface dwellers died out.

They were not equipped to live underground like us. The magical plague lived on. Over time, we lost the knowledge to create magical things.”

“My equipment doesn't seem to be affected. I wonder if it is specific to the runes that were used here, or possibly some variant type of magic?” Ivor was mumbling to himself.

“Seeing you in your armor, I thought the same thing. We may have lost the knowledge on how to create things, but we have writings about it,” she responded.

“I'm sensing that I'm going to be asked to do something,” Ivor said.

Ineds laughed, “I'm not sure about your age, but it's clear you have wisdom. Your arrival has triggered a furious debate in the council. Some want to leave this world behind.

Hoping to start over somewhere better. Somewhere we can survive. Others want to find more information.

They want to see if there is a time limit to this plague and to find out if there are others.”

“I can probably help out with both things actually,” Ivor said.

“Really? I understand you are probably powerful enough to brave the wilds of our world, but how can you help people leave?” She asked.

“My world was only recently brought into the System. The monsters are relatively low level. I don't think anyone on my world has reached level 30 yet. Your people could easily survive. More importantly, I'm in need, specifically of good miners.

I have a Freehold, if you are familiar with the term.” She indicated that she was not. “I am the owner of territory on my world that is separate from the rest of the world. It's mine, by System decree. It is small, but it is powerful. I have resources underground that I need help with. I would be willing to come to an agreement with your council on the search for answers if you can ask for volunteers to come to my Freehold as workers for a period of time.”

“And what if more want to settle on your world?” She asked.

“I have no problem with it. There is a mountain range around my Freehold. You would likely be starting from scratch, but you would have a chance to grow,” he explained.

She thought for a moment. “I think the council will be amenable to your suggestions. It is several hours before our meeting. Would you like to accompany my son and I for a meal?”

Ivor smiled. “That would be fantastic.”

Chapter Seven

Ineds and Ivor made their way down to the main lobby of the building. Okvats was talking to some other young Os'id. Ivor thought they were female. Okvats was animatedly discussing something and the females were laughing occasionally.

Ivor was pretty certain, Okvats was flirting. He was proved right a moment later when Ineds spoke up.

“Flirt with the girls later, son,” she said, causing a small amount of embarrassment to Okvats. The two girls quickly scurried off.

“Always trying to ruin my good time,” Okvats said jokingly.

The three of them made their way through the streets. Okvats had asked Ivor about Earth. As Ivor hadn't really explored that much of it, he instead started telling Okvats about Earth prior to the System. Ivor had travelled extensively. Okvats was fascinated and it showed on his face. Ineds was fascinated as well, but she was able to school her features better.

They finally came to the front of a building that had some delicious smells coming out. Ineds took the lead and entered the establishment. If Ivor was reading the room correctly, this was a high end establishment. He turned to Ineds.

“I'm not really dressed for this type of place,” Ivor said, pointing at his armor.

“I lead these people. No one will complain,” she stated.

The maitre d' nearly fell all over himself getting them set up in a private room. Once they were seated, Ineds asked about Ivor's dietary requirements. He mentioned that humans, in general, were omnivores. She indicated that Os'id were as well. She ordered for all three of them. While they were waiting for the meal, Ivor asked about currency.

“Oh, we mostly barter, but we do have coins as well. When the dominant species came down here during the plague, one of the major mistakes they made was to ship all their coins down here first. They should have focused on food and clothing. Regardless, the town above was very wealthy. We have tons and tons of coins for circulation of currency,” she explained.

When the meal came, Ivor was somewhat surprised. The meat on his plate looked like a steak, roughly. It didn't have quite the same look and texture of beef, but it sure reminded him of a steak. It was accompanied by something resembling a salad and mushrooms that looked similar to the ones that had been harvested. Ivor had to pull his mask up over his mouth to eat while keeping the top part on to see. It was a little awkward, but it worked. Ivor cut a bite of steak and put it in his mouth.

The flavor was amazing. The steak nearly melted in his mouth. He speared a mushroom and ate it. Again, the flavor was amazing.

Ivor hadn't had a meal this good in a long time. He wanted to dig in and devour everything immediately. He stopped himself. He didn't want to seem like a barbarian. As he finished, Zed spoke up.

“Ivor, you should really look at your notifications.”

Ivor pulled up his notifications.

Inat with mushrooms meal consumed…

+20 to Constitution for 8 hours…

+20 to Endurance for 8 hours….

Ivor was surprised. The stat increases weren't huge for him, but for any normal person, it was amazing.

Ineds saw his look, “I wondered if you would get the increase too.”

“Is it the skill of the chef or is there something about the Inat meat and mushrooms?” Ivor asked.

“Both actually. Inat is inherently mana rich. Many of the naturally growing foods in this area are mana rich. The food in this region is what made the city so wealthy. We have some written record of the Inat being a main export to other areas.”

Ivor was furiously thinking. If there were no magic items or relics to be found, it's possible the world would be exploited for the food. Ivor knew how some organizations would treat the Os'id. He didn't want that to happen.

“How do you get the Inat meat?” Ivor asked.

“We have another exit closer to one of the herds. It's incredibly dangerous. There is never a lot of it, and it's expensive.

In fact, many of the dominant species lost their lives in the early days hunting them. The Inat meat had become a part of their culture. They were unable to let it go. Our histories talk of thousands of people dying just trying to get Inat meat.” She shook her head at the absurdity of it.

They talked more about the various foodstuffs that the area contained. Some of it was easier for the Os'id to obtain than others. There was a large grub-like creature that served as meat protein for most of the population.

The creature thrived in the dark cavernous environments. The skin of the grub was processed into the paper for the books that Ivor had seen in the Shaman's office. Before long, it was time for Ivor's meeting with the council of Elders.

Okvats stayed with them. He was serving as Ivor's guide, of sorts, while he was in this underground city. Ineds took them back up to where her office was, but this time, they went through a different door.

Inside was a chamber that looked like any of a number of city council chambers Ivor had seen before. The ten councilors, plus Ineds, sat behind a long desk that was elevated above the floor. There was seating for those that had business before the council.

In this instance, the seats were empty, it was just Ivor and a person that looked like they were taking notes, freehand on a piece of paper. Okvats was waiting in the reception area.

Ineds sat behind the desk in the center chair. She banged her hand flat against the top of the table. “Let this council session be called to order. Before the council is a stranger from another world, Mr. Ivor Kemble. Mr. Kemble and I have had some time to talk today, but I would like him to tell the council his story in his own words. Afterwards, we will have time for questions. Mr. Kemble, if you would begin.”

Ivor started by telling them a little about Earth prior to the System. It was just enough to get a feel for the level of technology and major things like countries, governments and religions. He talked about the Evaluation from his point of view. He didn't give specifics. He just explained that he was separated into a more difficult Evaluation that gave him tremendous benefits if he survived. He talked a bit about village crystals and their importance.

He was still unsure if this world had any intact. He talked about gaining his Freehold and visiting Menevris. He explained that he had traveled here by travel circle and the things that had happened since he got here. He finished up by talking about the Shadow Hounds. He even passed a core and a vial of essence around for all the councilors to see.

His story took well over an hour. Ivor was surprised at the calm collected nature of the councilors. He expected at least one outburst. However, everyone simply listened to his story.

Finally, Ineds opened up the floor to questions. All of the questions were insightful and seemed to trend towards the two ideals this council had. They wanted more information about his world and they inquired about his abilities. Finally, Ineds spoke.

“I have made Mr. Kemble aware of both positions on the council and he has agreed to try to help us with both, if he can.”

“I'm happy to take a delegation of people back to Earth when my tasks here are done. In addition, I'm willing to look for more of the answers you seek. I just need a direction in which to look. I do not have unlimited time here. I will need to get back and report to my partners in this endeavor,” Ivor said.

Ivor had made it clear to the Os'id that Aza ran a merchant consortium, and he would look to profit from things in this world. However, Ivor knew he was a good man. Ivor wanted any Os'id that stayed to be part of the decision making and get a cut of the overall profits.

If they wanted him to go away and never come back. Ivor would be willing to say that to his partners. He believed they would abide by it.

It was a good solution for all parties. Those that wanted to stay could, and those that wanted to leave could. Either way, if Aza's consortium was making money and passing on profits, the Os'id would be able to afford to get things they currently could not.

The one thing Ivor was clear about was that he didn't know if the world had any village crystals. If not, he was unsure how to get them more connected to the System. It was something he could work with Aza and Zed on. Ivor wasn't sure if his bringing village crystals from the Evaluation to Earth to form his Freehold was a one time thing.

The meeting had turned into more of a casual conversation until Ineds called for order once again. “I'm asking for a formal vote of approval to allow Mr. Ivor Kemble access to our archives in order to gather more information about the plague and the state of the world. Show of hands for approval. Let the record show that the decision is unanimous.”

Ivor saw a notification and pulled it up.

Quest - What happened to Arlossis?

You have met survivors of the plague of Arlossis. Travel the land and find out more. Bring your findings back to the Os'id. System rewards variable.

Do you accept this Quest: Yes/No?

Ivor agreed to the quest.

“Did you give me the quest?” Ivor asked the councilors.

They all paused and looked at him. Ineds was the one to speak. “What is a quest?”

“Zed, what is going on?” Ivor asked.

“Remember how the Evaluation you went through had a different template than your daughter's Evaluation. You were allowed a Class and Profession, but she was only allowed one or the other?”

“Yes,” Ivor responded.

“I think the template for this Sector allows for System generated quests. It's likely that the Os'id have forgotten or have not been given quests in a long time.”

Ivor's speaking to Zed in his mind took fractions of a second. He responded to the Os'id Shaman. “This is my second quest. The first one was given to me by a village council very similar to yours. Hence, why I asked if you gave it to me. This one seems to be given by the System itself. A quest is, I guess, an adventure to do something. In this case, the quest is asking me to find out more about the plague on Arlossis and bring back the information to you.”

“We've never told you the name of this world,” Ineds said to Ivor as several of the councilors nodded in agreement.

“The System gave me the name of the world in the quest description,” Ivor responded.

“It's hard to deny what you say with evidence like that,” one of the councilors said.

“Regardless, I have agreed to the quest. Ideally, if you have a map that can show me a location where I can search, I can use that to be on my way.”

Ineds nodded, “Of course. You must understand our maps are very, very old. They are some of our most cherished archival documents. I can't let you take them.”

Ivor waved off the concern. “No need. I have a skill that allows me to incorporate maps I see visually into the map in my System overlay.”

Several councilors were visibly relieved at that knowledge.

“If we can take a look at them this evening, I can get a start immediately. Also, I have a theory about your magical plague I would like to try out. I have the [Enchant Object] skill and access to a rune set that I'm positive is different from yours.

I would like to enchant something simple and have you observe it while I'm gone. If my theory is correct, it should work fine. If that is the case, then we can talk more about it,” Ivor explained.

Another councilor spoke up, “What would be your price for this rune knowledge if it works?”

“Just the cost of copying my codex. It is expensive, but I'm sure you'll be able to afford it before long. In the meantime, you can have someone come to my Freehold and learn the runes. If you don't have any with the requisite skill, it can perhaps be purchased,” Ivor said.

The councilors quickly went their separate ways as Ineds escorted Ivor down to their archives. They first went down to the main lobby, then took a guarded elevator down to the archives. They arrived shortly at another small chamber that had a guard and reception area. The person behind the desk was reading something, fully engrossed in it when they arrived.

“Excuse me,” Ineds spoke.

“Be right with you,” the Os'id said without looking up.

Ivor was curious how Ineds would react. She stood patiently with a slight smirk on her face.

After a few moments, the person looked up at them and blinked. Then they shot up out of their seat. “Ah, oh, apologies Shaman…. I didn't…… I mean…..”

“Calm yourself. We are here to see the Archivist,” she said.

“Yes, of course, right away. Let me go find him.” the Os'id scurried off through a door.

It was some time before the Os'id returned with another, much older Os'id.

“What is this all about?” The Archivist did not seem to be in a good mood.

“Archivist, the council had declared that our visitor be allowed access to the maps. He is going to make his way into the world to hopefully find more information about the plague,” Ineds said.

The Archivist looked at Ivor, “No touching the maps.” Then he turned around, clearly expecting them to follow.

Ivor and the Shaman followed behind the Archivist as he took them through several rooms filled with shelves carved into the walls. Ivor noticed that the air in this particular set of caverns was a bit more dry than the others. The shelves were filled with books.

They went through many of these rooms, Ivor noticed hallways and doors that branched off. Finally, they came to a door with a lock on it. The Archivist pulled out a key and opened the door.

They entered the room. The room itself was about twenty meters square. There were shelves carved into the walls here as well. Instead of books, there were many rolled up tubes of paper. Ivor assumed they were maps.

Back against one wall there were two tables. The Archivist took them over to these tables. The tables themselves were stone.

The top of the table was covered with glass, and under that glass was a map. One on each table.

The first table had a map that was crude but still serviceable. It showed the entirety of Arlossis. It showed the globe flattened out like many maps of Earth Ivor had seen. It was clear this was drawn by hand and not by a cartographer. It gave the general layout of the planet including its main continents and oceans.

The second table had a much more detailed map. It had faded with time, but most of the detail was clear. There was no scale or legend, but much of the detail of the mountains and forests were drawn with artistic flourish. There were several cities marked and labeled on the map.

The Archivist pointed to a city labeled Laburh. “This is the city on the mountain outside.”

Then the Archivist pointed at another city on the far side of the map labeled Wiham. “According to our records, this was the capital and the source of the plague.”

Ivor triggered the active portion of his [Navigation] skill from his Hunter Profession.

Navigation (Advanced) - Passive/Active

Active

You can update your overlay with any maps you see. You can place your own markers and landmark identifiers. You can receive maps from those that have the ability to share such information. You can share parts or all of your map with those that have the ability to receive such information

“Thank you Archivist. I have what I need,” Ivor said.

“Zed, how far do you think Wiham is from here?”

“I can not be sure. Your Navigation skill is not high enough to provide that information. Once we are traveling, I should be able to get a better idea. However, it is likely very far. I would guess that even at your speed, it may take more than a week to get there.”

As they made their way back to the main chamber, Ivor turned to Ineds.

“I would like to leave something here as an experiment,” he said to her.

“That shouldn't be a problem depending on what it is, of course,” she replied.

“I want to leave behind an enchanted item. It's a simple disk that illuminates an area. I would like to place that same set of runes on something from your world. Anything will do. Since none of my magical equipment has stopped working, I'm curious if the plague only affected your world's runes or has something to do with things originating on your world,” Ivor explained.

“I'm sure I have something in my office that you can use. When are you planning on leaving?”

“As soon as possible. I got plenty of sleep last night, and I can operate in the dark, as you may have noticed,” Ivor replied.

“Yes, many have noticed,” she replied with a small laugh.

“I may be gone for several weeks. Perhaps a month or more, depending on what I find,” Ivor continued.

“That quickly? Well, I will make sure we have people checking the entrance every other day for the first few weeks, then every day after two weeks. We usually have people check that entrance frequently anyway. It shouldn't be an issue.”

“I can move very fast over long distances when needed.” Ivor wasn't willing to give more than that.

When they got back to Ineds' office, she handed Ivor a flat piece of metal that resembled a drink coaster. He rummaged around in his backpack to “find” his mana scribe. In reality, he just pulled it into his hand from his [Null Storage]. He proceeded to place the same runes for illumination on the metal coaster as he had on an existing round disk. He explained how to activate them and left them with Ineds.

With nothing else holding Ivor back, they made their way back to the entrance. Along the way, Okvats joined them. It was clear to Ivor that Okvats had more than a little bit of the wanderlust bug in him. He asked a lot of questions about where Ivor had been, how he planned on traveling, preparations he made to come here, etc…. It was a veritable never ending series of questions. Ivor was happy to answer the young Os'id.

There was little fanfare as the large stone door to the mountain was opened slightly. Ivor slipped out and surveyed his immediate area right before the large stone moved back into place.

Chapter Eight

Ivor set a fast pace. He wasn't going all out. There was no need. He tried to balance the need to get to his location and complete the quest with his desire to see new things in this world.

Oh, and dungeons. Plenty of dungeons. Ivor was hoping to find some low level dungeons. One of the down sides to his [Solo Contributor] skill was that he tended to get an upgrade with a lot of the monster cores he received. This meant that most of the monster cores he got were Superior or higher. He was nearly out of the lower level Minor and Major cores. He was probably going to need to purchase Minor cores going forward.

His Dungeon Expert title was also an issue. The problem for Ivor was that when he was alone, he couldn't reduce the dungeon level below his own level. If he was with a group he could lower the dungeon level to the lowest person in his group. So, he couldn't lower a dungeon below Level 25. He would need to find dungeons in the wild that were Level 10 or lower to get Major cores. Between his skills and titles, it was getting harder for him to find Minor cores. Ivor was also hoping to find a Level 100 dungeon. He was hoping his title would change if he completed a dungeon 75 levels above his own. Of course, dungeons were a great source of money for him as well.

Ivor didn't bother with any dungeons on his first day of travel. He just enjoyed this amazing world he was on. Even though many of the basics were the same; mountains, forests, rivers, plains, etc…, the colors and shapes were different enough to be new and exciting. Relatively early in the first day of travel, Ivor had just skirted around a forest across a large sloping hill. When he reached the top of the hill, he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Zed, are you seeing this?” Ivor asked with unrestrained awe in his mental voice.

“Yes, Ivor. Yes, I am. It is amazing.”

Ivor and the former A.I turned Sector Administrator/World Guardian/Freehold Guardian gazed down on a vast grassy plain. It stretched out well past Ivor's vision. On that plain were hundreds of thousands of Inat. Ivor couldn't help but compare the scene to old Earth photos of the buffalo herds on the Great Plains of America prior to them being hunted nearly to extinction. The massive herd was just grazing peacefully. It was a stupendous view.

Inat weren't monsters. Ineds had explained that the Os'id believed they were native animals to the planet. All the records they had dating back many millennia seemed to indicate it. There were references to off world trade of Inat meat. Given that the meat had inherent magical properties, it made sense that they would be exported. The animals themselves were four legged grazers.

They reproduced rather quickly according to the records. They reminded Ivor of a cross between a water buffalo and a bison. They were much wider in body than either of those Earth equivalents. In addition, their legs were shorter and thicker but powerful looking.

Ivor was able to pick out some predators lurking around the edges of the herd, but the distance was too far for him to make out any detail. Luckily, he was near enough to an edge of the herd that he didn't have to go too far out of his way to skirt around it and still stay on course to reach Wiham in a decent amount of time.

Ivor detoured around the massive herd and picked up his pace. He wasn't going to go out of his way to find dungeons, but if they turned up in his map, he would check them out. Ivor had three more levels to gain in his Profession before all his stats would be over 200. That included the modifiers he got to Strength, Constitution, Endurance, Agility and Willpower from the Vamhael Inheritance. Whether or not the System gave him a title for all his stats reaching 200, he would take his first Profession Evolution. His Null Class, being Unique, didn't evolve like a normal Class.

He was curious what level of Professions he would be offered. He looked at his Perfect Start title.

Perfect Start

You have reached 100 in all stats before choosing a Class or Profession

All Pre-Class/Profession skills move up one level

All new skills start at Advanced level

Epic level and below Classes/Professions are available at every Class/Profession Evolution

Receive an additional four free stat points per level

It was great that any new Profession skills would start at Advanced level. The title didn't guarantee his Epic level Professions, but they might be available. Zed had explained to him that Class and Profession Evolutions could result in losing skills if what you choose was dramatically different from your previous Class or Profession.

Thinking about his Hunter Profession skills, Ivor thought he might be able to work on his [Identify] skill while he was traveling, but he was moving too fast for the skill to trigger often. Instead, he focused on the views and the new experiences. This was all new to Zed as well. This is why Zed was riding shotgun with Ivor in the first place. He was happy to let Zed simply experience the new sites and sounds.

Ivor moved across the landscape for four days before he found one of the things he was looking for. Zed had been directing him to dungeons when they popped up on his map. On that fourth day, the first dungeon that popped up turned out to be a Level 5 dungeon. Ivor was overcome with a powerful feeling of nostalgia. Level 5 was the same level of the very first dungeon he had completed in the Extreme Evaluation where he met Zed. At the time, most of his stats were 30, roughly six times the average human.

It took Ivor several hours to clear that dungeon. Ivor didn't expect this dungeon to cause him any problems.

The dungeon was a standard stone, underground dungeon with undead. Nothing in the dungeon could actually hurt Ivor, even without his armor on. He strolled through it and took his time, which only took around fifteen minutes. He was happy to get more necrotic monster cores from the undead.

The rest of the loot was very basic, but the boss paid out ten gold coins. Ivor figured his dungeon title and [Solo Contributor] skill were increasing what someone would normally get by quite a lot.

After the first run, Ivor increased the level to six, then ran the new dungeon. After that one, he increased it to seven, then eight, then nine and finally level 10 before starting back on the original dungeon. Even though there were diminishing returns on farming the original dungeon, he just enjoyed smashing through undead.

Ivor got into a groove and was blasting through a dungeon about every five minutes. Finally, Zed spoke.

“Ivor, you have received a new title,” Zed said.

“Oh, wow. I was really in the zone there, Zed.”

“Clearly. You have been running these dungeons for about eight hours.”

Ivor paused at that. It didn't seem like eight hours. Ivor was just really enjoying blowing off some steam. He looked at the new title.

Dungeon Virtuoso

You have completed 300 dungeons

You have completed a dungeon 50 levels above your own

Dungeon cooldowns are reduced to zero for your and a team

Even more information is available to you in the dungeon description

Experience earned by you or your party increased by 100%

The rarity of rewards available for dungeon completion increases

You can raise the level of a dungeon up to the highest recommended level of a dungeons you have completed

You can lower the level of a dungeon down to the lowest level of member in your party

Note: Dungeon reverts to previous level after use or failure to attempt dungeon

Note: Failure to attempt the changed dungeon will result in all party members being locked out of dungeons for 7 days

Note: Repeated failures to attempt changed dungeons will result in loss of title

A dungeon every five minutes for eight hours, plus the few dungeons he had done after getting to 200 dungeons, was a lot of dungeons. The new title just changed the experience for him and any party from a 75% increase to 100%. Not a huge change, but he would take it. It wasn't like he was getting any real experience for running dungeons this low of a level. He was mostly exploiting his title to farm the dungeon for cores, loot and gold. Speaking of gold, he was now 835 gold richer than before. Not bad for a little bit of fun.

Ivor left the dungeon and kept moving towards Wiham. That night, he decided to set up his tent and get some sleep. He didn't really need it, but they had a long way to go. He might as well be rested.

Ivor found one more low level dungeon in his path, but no dungeon Level 100 or over. On day sixteen of his journey, he arrived at Wiham. It was a large city. Most of it was in ruins, but it clearly housed hundreds of thousands of people. His task suddenly seemed daunting. How the hell was he going to find anything here?

“Zed, any idea how we are going to find anything in a city this size?” Ivor asked.

“I think we should use the same tactic we did in Laburh. We can try to target important looking buildings. I am curious to find the Administration building. I assume in a city this size, it would be one of the larger buildings,” Zed explained.

Ivor and Zed discovered two things about the city during their first day. One, it had a lot of large buildings, and two, it was infested with monsters. There were hundreds of Rarent in the area.

They were hunting a one meter long rat-like monster called a Ronall. Ivor only thought of them as rat-like because they behaved like Earth rats. They tended to be in packs and seemed to swarm together. They looked nothing like rats except for having four legs and being longer than they were tall. They had hairless skin colored like a great white shark.

Grey on top, white on the bottom. They blended in really well with the surrounding rubble when viewed from above. Ivor probably should have called them land-piranha.

They had a wide mouth with incredibly sharp teeth. Also, they could jump.

Yep, jumping land-piranha that were one meter in size. At least Ivor found out about the jumping by observation first rather than during an attack. Ivor and Zed were hidden in the shadow of a building watching a Rarent attack a pack of Ronall. As the Rarent was on the ground feasting on the three dead Ronall, another pack of Ronall showed up. The Rarent attempted to take flight and even made it a meter or so off the ground before two of the Ronall leaped into the air. They sunk their sharp teeth into the wings of the Rarent, and it went down. There was no frenzied feeding like a school of piranha, but those Ronall stripped that Rarent clean in no time.

At least the Ronall gave Ivor a strategy for taking down Rarent. He could just put a pile of Ronall out as bait, then attack. It was a much better strategy than getting dive bombed by the monster birds.

As the first day in the city turned to night, Ivor was baffled as the Ronall all scattered into hidden-holes like roaches. It was a mystery until full night fell and a complete silence came over the city. Ivor heard a faint noise but didn't see anything in his dark vision or night vision. He shifted over to his mana vision, remembering what happened at night in Laburh. Immediately, he started picking up several dozen Shadow Hounds.

It was good hunting for Ivor. The monsters were higher level than in Laburh. Likely, they had all gotten stronger from hunting each other. The Ronall were mostly Level 30 - 45. The Rarent were all over Level 40 up to 60. The Shadow Hounds were all Level 60 up to 70.

Zed came up with a detailed plan for taking the monsters out. It was going to take time. It was possible to get overwhelmed by any of the groups, if Ivor wasn't careful.

It took over a week to clear enough monsters out that Ivor felt comfortable investigating the city without having to look over his shoulder every ten seconds. All the hunting had pushed Ivor well past Level 27. Not having any way to see how much experience he needed sucked, but he felt like he wasn't too far off getting to Level 28. At Level 28, all of his stats would be over 200, with his Inheritance bonuses, of course. He would probably hit a few of the higher level dungeons on his way back to the Os'id.

For now, he needed to investigate the city. It seemed as devoid of any kind of tangible artifact as Laburh was. This was going to be a long and boring process.

It was, actually, a long and boring process. Since all societies under the System tend to use the magic inherent in the System, there was nothing to find. Magical tomes that would have lasted ages just simply didn't exist anymore on this planet. Zed finally identified the Administration building. There was no crystal. Zed wasn't sure if there ever could be. He said he would try to query some of the other Sector Administrators, but they wouldn't always share information. Zed mentioned that if Aza or the Os'id wanted to try populating the world, they could try to ask the System for an adjudication. It didn't always work.

They had been in the city for two weeks when Zed identified another building. He thought it looked like an older design of a System generated magic school.

“I didn't look closely at all the potential buildings I can choose for the Freehold. We only chose 3 out of 10 Tier 1 buildings. Would we be able to choose a Tier 1 magic academy?” Ivor asked Zed.

“Oh, yes. You do not have enough people of a suitable level to instruct in it. Also, there are not enough people on your world that would be able to take advantage of it yet. However, it would be a good long term project that would add prestige to your Freehold. You may consider, during your travels, keeping an eye out for potential instructors. It could be a good source of income for your Freehold as word of it and of you spread,” Zed explained.

“I don't really like the idea of some rich kids' school. I'd like to give young people with drive, regardless of their money or status, a chance to grow and thrive.” Ivor wasn't sure about it.

“Why not do both?” Zed retorted. “The exorbitant fees you can charge the rich and noble classes can help subsidize those that do not have the means.”

“I'll think about it.” Ivor sighed. “I definitely won't be teaching there. Marie might like the idea though. I know she is enjoying herself now, but I'm positive, at some point, she will want to take some time off to have kids.”

After clearing out some packs of Ronall in the towering building, Ivor and Zed were both pretty certain that this was a magic academy. Some of the rooms were definitely classrooms. Other rooms looked like labs for hands-on experimentation for enchanting or alchemy. It seemed clear to both Ivor and Zed that whoever had unleashed the magical plague was a powerful mage.

They also figured the person needed to have experimented before fully unleashing it. In addition, it seemed like the best place to unleash a magical plague was right where all the powerful magic users congregated. Taking out enough of the first responders and letting the plague spread was a strategy Ivor had to explain to Zed.

It took most of a day before they found something. Oddly enough, it was Ivor's [Trap Detection] skill that gave them a clue. They had already searched the largest office, probably the Mage in charge of the school. They had been checking several of the other larger offices, likely denoting higher level Mages. That's when [Trap Detection] gave a very faint indicator that Ivor would have missed if it wasn't for Zed.

“Look over at that bookshelf to your right,” Zed said.

All of these rooms had built in bookshelves that were part of the stone walls. Likely purpose built into the stone or part of the stone. Ivor made his way to the bookshelf as Zed had him look at the right side of a shelf just below eye height.

There was a faint highlighting that his skill was indicating a trap. However, there were no magic items on this world. However, Ivor knew that not every trap required magic.

Ivor looked closely at the area and could see a very faint line forming a square area about forty centimeters to a side. There was a tiny gap between the original stone and another square stone that looked like it was inserted. It was probably normally covered by books. It was very hard to see. Ivor didn't have anything thin enough to use to pry the stone block out.

“Why would your skill trigger this?” Zed wondered.

“I have an idea,” Ivor replied. “I hope I'm right.”

Ivor triggered his [Null Shield] and used it to create cuts around the square block. Taking his Dark Steel knife out, he snapped off enough stone around the square block to get his fingers on it. He pulled out the block. When he looked at the back of the block, there was a fitting of some kind of metal he wasn't familiar with.

“What is that?” Zed asked.

“If my guess is correct, it's a fitting designed to allow vacuum sealing. We had a lot of this kind of thing on Earth,” Ivor replied, still staring at the fitting. “I think my [Trap Detection] picked it up because if we smashed the block, it would have caused air to rush into the block. A trap could be created like that.”

Ivor used his [Null Shield] again but created a very small cylinder. He moved it towards the block and millimeter by millimeter, gradually burrowed into the block. After several centimeters, air started hissing into the block.

Eventually, it equalized and Ivor used [Null Shield] again to shave the top of the block off. Inside were two leather bound journals, perfectly preserved.

Ivor opened the journals. It was in a language he couldn't understand.

“Zed, can you read this?” Ivor asked.

“Yes Ivor. Can you flip the pages as fast as you can without destroying the paper. I will then translate it for you,” Zed said.

Ivor did as Zed asked for both journals. When he was done, Zed was silent for several minutes. Ivor gave him time.

“Oh, this is tragic,” Zed said. “Yet, you of all people will understand how this happened.”

“Ok, I'll bite. What happened?” Ivor asked.

“Much like your World Guardian. The World Guardian here went insane. However, it went insane over tens of thousands of years. These journals were written by a Mage the World Guardian exploited to kill not just itself, but it hoped, all of the world as well.”

“How?” Ivor was a bit confused.

“This World Guardian waited to find the right person to exploit. Over many decades, the World Guardian manipulated events so that this Mage became paranoid and delusional. It also managed to hide the obvious signs of this Mage's mental instability. It coached him into creating the plague.

It assured him that it would then give him another type of rune system to rule this planet with. In reality, when the Mage was done with the ritual it helped him create, the Mage was the World Guardian's first victim.”

“Well, shit,” Ivor replied.

“The Mage lived long enough to pen his final words and seal these journals. I think we can guess the rest. As the plague spread and more things failed and more magic users died, those with little magic died to the collapse of society and monsters,” Zed concluded.

“Anything we should keep from the Os'id?” Ivor saw diagrams as he was flipping pages in one of the journals.

“Yes. The journal with the diagrams should never be seen by anyone ever again. It is an insidious ritual that not only killed the magical rune system here, but it was targeted to kill the populace and the World Guardian itself. If I can, I will find a way to purge this knowledge from my memory,” Zed responded.

Ivor could sense the disgust in Zed's mental voice. He pulled up another [Null Shield], verified he had the journal with the diagrams and tossed it in. It was gone. He put the other journal in his [Null Storage].

“Thank you Ivor. Not all humans would have destroyed that.”

“Buddy, you tell me that needs to be gone, it's gone. I don't need anything more than that,” Ivor replied.

Ivor sat the rest of the day reading the translated version Zed provided him in his overlay. Yeah, the World Guardian did a number on this Mage. The guy was a world class paranoid narcissist to begin with. No one in their right mind would allow someone like that to gain as much power as he did. His own narcissism prevented him from noticing the World Guardian manipulating him until it was too late.

Ivor had what he needed for the Os'id. It was time to head back. On the way back, he was going to finally get all his stats to 200 and see if the System had something for him.

Chapter Nine

Ivor headed back to the Os'id in their mountain, but he didn't move as fast as before. He wanted to accomplish two things on his journey back. First, he wanted to utilize his [Identify] skill more which he couldn't do easily at high speed. Second, he wanted to complete more dungeons in the Level 50 to 60 range to finally get to Level 28. At that level, all his stats should be over 200, including his bonuses from the Vamhael Inheritance.

The magical plague that was unleashed was designed to only affect the inhabitants and anything created by the runes used by those on the planet. Similar to the Vamhael, the people of this planet used a single consistent rune set. The plague did not affect monsters, animals or flora that were inherently magical.

It was still a bit of a mystery how the Os'id were not affected. Perhaps there was something specific to the mountain they were in. Also, there was no way to know if there were survivors on other continents. Ivor had no way to cross the vast oceans. That could be left to future explorers.

It was on the sixth day of his journey back that Ivor finally got the notification he had been waiting for.

Experience threshold reached….

You have reached Level 28….

Ivor immediately distributed his stats and looked at his progress.

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Level: 28

Class: [Null]

Profession: Hunter

Strength: 136 (204)

Agility: 136 (204)

Endurance: 136 (204)

Constitution: 136 (204)

Intelligence: 200

Wisdom: 200

Willpower: 123 (246)

Perception: 200

Health: 2040

Mana: 2000

Stamina: 2166

Free Stat Points: 0

All of his stats were, technically, over 200. Ivor waited a moment, but nothing happened. He immediately felt a bit bummed out, but then a flurry of notifications appeared.

System Adjudication requested….

Evaluating request…..

Request approved….

You have earned a Title - Path of the Precursors….

Path of the Precursors

You have reached 200 in all stats before choosing your first Class/Profession Evolution

+30 to all base stats

You can select a choice of a System Boon…

- Choose a new skill

- Combine several skills

- Modify existing skill

Note: New skill will be one level higher than normal…

Note: Combining skills may result in changed skill behavior…

Note: Skill modification must be approved by the System…

Holy shit +30 to all stats. That was huge. Ivor had questions.

“Zed, I have questions,” Ivor exclaimed.

“I will do my best to answer them,” Zed responded.

“What happened with the System? Who requested the Adjudication?”

“Ah, well, I anticipated that the System may not consider your Inheritance modifiers as part of your base stats. I set up an automatic Adjudication request in the event you hit the level and it did not immediately trigger a System response. I felt confident that it would go your way as the Inheritance is part of you and can not be removed. In essence, the System should consider your base stats with the modifier,” Zed explained.

“Oh, ok. Thank you. What is the Path of the Precursors?” Ivor asked.

“Not much is known about the Precursors, except that they created the System. They were incredibly powerful beings. Clearly, the System is recognizing your progression as something worth linking to the Precursors. I have never, ever heard of this happening before. It is an incredible title. Do you know what you will do with it?”

“I have something in mind. It seems as though I get to do it as part of my Evolution. I'm hoping that means after I get new skills.”

“It seems as though that is the case.”

Ivor pulled up another message he had put off for quite a while now.

You have reached Level 20….

Your first Class/Profession Evolution is available….

Would you like to Evolve your Class/Profession now: Yes/No

Ivor selected Yes. A barrage of Professions populated his overlay. He reduced the list to only those that were Epic level. He was surprised by the number of them to choose from.

Choose a Profession(Epic) from the list:

Antiquarian

Avatar of Death

Colonizer

Inveterate Explorer

Knight-Errant

Justicar

Relic Hunter

Rune Master

Swarm Destroyer

Right off the bat, Avatar of Death, Colonizer and Swarm Destroyer were crossed off Ivor's list. Antiquarian leaned into the preservation side of things. So that one was out too. Knight-Errant was a bit too militaristic, too mercenary. Ivor had played that role quite enough in his life with the C.I.A. Justicar had too many rules that tied Ivor to a personal code of justice. Rune Master was much more scholarly than Ivor would have thought. That left Inveterate Explorer and Relic Hunter.

Relic Hunter would result in Ivor losing [Breakdown] and [Tracking] from his Hunter skills. However, it also had some really good additional skills. [Dungeon Map] was a skill that complemented [Navigation] by creating a map of any dungeon he was in up to a certain distance around Ivor when activated. As the skill increased in level, the amount of the dungeon revealed increased. [Loot Finder] was another skill that would indicate the general direction of the highest value of loot within a certain distance of Ivor. This skill would increase in range with increased level as well. [Unearth] was a skill that allowed a person to dig things up and mine minerals and gems with mana instead of tools. It wasn't quite as beneficial as being a Miner according to Zed or as versatile as the [Shape Earth] spell, but it was a valuable skill. Finally, taking Relic Hunter would allow Ivor to push the [Analyze] skill up one level. It was a good Profession.

Inveterate Explorer, however, was exactly what Ivor was looking for. Zed informed him that he would keep all existing Hunter skills except [Tracking]. The new Class came with two new skills that sealed the deal for Ivor. [Safe Haven] and [Local Cluster]. Ivor pulled up the Profession's new skill descriptions.

Inveterate Explorer Profession Skills

Safe Haven - Passive/Active

Passive

When using a travel circle to go to a location without a travel circle, you will be placed in a safe location (safe is a relative term).

Active

When you actively trigger the skill, your map will be highlighted with the nearest safe location. If there are multiple locations in your navigation range, all will be shown and color coded by level of safety.

Local Cluster - Active

Once per month, trigger the skill to learn travel circle coordinates to a world closest to the one you are on. Description and number of worlds increases with skill level increase.

In addition, taking the Profession would raise the level of [Identify] one level.

You have selected the Profession - Inveterate Explorer…

Do you want to choose this Profession? - Yes/No

Ivor selected Yes. Without any fanfare, all the Inveterate Explorer skills immediately went to Advanced level due to his Perfect Start title. [Local Cluster] now allowed him to get coordinates for three worlds. He did lose his [Tracking] skill, but Ivor was ok with that. His [Identify] was now Expert level. Ivor had one more decision to make. It was the choice for his Path of the Precursors title and he already knew what he was going to ask for.

You have selected to modify a skill….

You have selected to modify the [Blend] skill….

How would you like to modify the [Blend] skill?…..

Ivor spoke out loud, “I would like to modify the [Blend] skill to allow me to change, at will, all items that show up when [Identify] is used on me.”

Evaluating your modification….

Modification denied….

“Ivor, I think your request is too open ended,” Zed explained.

“Try to narrow it down a bit.”

“What do you suggest?” Ivor asked.

“Well, name, level, class and profession seem obvious. Probably not species as that would be kind of ridiculous without some form of shape-changing or illusion magic. Highest stat? Do you really care?

No one will know the number. Titles, Organizations and Inheritances you should be able to hide. Maybe hide Immunities and Weaknesses rather than change them. There are magic items that can do those things.

So, it wouldn't be odd. Finally, for these things, you usually need to set a level. Say anyone below Mythic can't see the true information. Based on your stats, that should be doable. You could also tie it to your Willpower. I think either is a good way to go. The Willpower solution will scale with you better.”

Ivor thought about it for a moment. He went with Zed's suggestions and tied it to his Willpower. He spoke everything out loud.

Your modifications of the [Blend] skill have been accepted….

Ivor pulled his stats up one more time. He wanted to see the impact +30 to all his stats made.

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Level: 28

Class: [Null]

Profession: Inveterate Explorer

Strength: 166 (249)

Agility: 166 (249)

Endurance: 166 (249)

Constitution: 166 (249)

Intelligence: 230

Wisdom: 230

Willpower: 153 (306)

Perception: 230

Health: 2490

Mana: 2300

Stamina: 2661

Free Stat Points: 0

“Ivor, your growth is absolutely insane,” Zed said with a mental chuckle.

“Happy you picked the right horse?” Ivor chuckled as well.

“Very much so,” Zed replied.

Before heading out, Ivor triggered [Local Cluster]. The information about the three new planets was in a tab on his overlay, but he didn't bother to look at it now. He would be leaving Arlossis for his Freehold. This was just a way to gather some new potential locations to explore in the future.

Ivor had gained so many new stat points that all his movements were off. He took the next nearly two weeks readjusting to his new stats. One thing Ivor knew he was going to have to do soon was get some new weapons.

The bastons were created when he was at Expert level in weapon enchantment. He wanted to fight things Master level and higher now. He would have to ask someone if the Dark Steel swords would hold up as well. Ideally, Ivor would like to find a weapon smith that was Epic or Legendary level. Something to work on when he got back.

Ivor came across another Inat herd. This time, he took down several dozen of them. Using [Breakdown] to strip the carcasses worked wonders. Ivor ended up with nearly a thousand kilos of Inat meat in his [Null Storage].

It took just over two weeks to get back to the dead city of Laburh and the entrance to the Os'id caverns. Ivor got to the entrance late at night. He set up his tent and slept for a few hours. It was another full day before he felt the stone moving from the entrance. Ivor packed what he wanted into a backpack and put the rest into his [Null Storage]. He used the new feature in [Blend] to change his Profession back to Hunter with a level of 27. Two levels seemed about right for all the stuff he did on his trip.

Okvats and several Fighters cautiously stepped away from the entrance.

Okvats saw Ivor first. “Ivor. So glad to see you back. How was the trip? What did you see?”

Ivor could tell the young Os'id was excited, “We can get some food later, and I'll tell you all about it.”

The group didn't linger outside, and Okvats immediately took Ivor to his mother's office.

She immediately asked, “Were you successful?”

“I believe so,” Ivor said.

“Well, the council is here. No reason to wait around.”

They made their way into the council chambers. Ineds took up her role as chairperson.

“I call this session to order,” she said. “For the record, Mr. Ivor Kemble has returned from his travels. Mr. Kemble, would you share with us what you discovered?”

Ivor proceeded to tell them about his travels. He didn't go into detail. He just relayed what the terrain was like, the animals and monsters he encountered, the levels of dungeons on his path and finally, the monsters infesting Wiham. He explained how he conducted his search.

Of course, he didn't mention anything about Zed. Finally, he explained that he found a journal in what was very likely a magic academy. Pulling the journal out, he handed it to Ineds.

“How did this survive?” She asked, clearly awed by the journal.

Ivor proceeded to explain his theory about the vacuum seal.

“Did you read it?” She asked.

“I looked, but I can't read the text on those pages,” he replied.

“If you don't mind staying with us for a day or so. I'd like the Archivist to take a look.”

“Of course. Have you gotten any volunteers to form a delegation, or better yet, some miners that will work for me for a time?” Ivor asked.

One of the councilors barked a short laugh. “Had more volunteers than you are likely to want.”

Another councilor spoke, “Indeed, quite a few of the adventurous sort volunteered. We had to hold a lottery.”

Ivor was impressed. All told twenty of the Os'id would be coming. A full fifteen of them were Miners by Profession. The remaining five were to be considered dignitaries. One of them was Okvats. Ivor guessed having a mother as the Shaman paid off.

Two of the councilors took the journal down to the Archivist. Ineds, Okvats and Ivor went out for a meal. Ivor regaled the pair with talk of his adventure. Ivor found himself enjoying the look on their faces as he told of his travels. He was even more certain taking Inveterate Explorer was the right call.

The next day, Ivor was brought back to the council chambers.

Ineds spoke, “This session of the council is called to order. Mr. Ivor Kemble has succeeded in providing the Os'id with further information about the plague that ravaged our planet.” Ivor received a notification as Ineds continued, “We thank Mr. Kemble for his help and are prepared to send a delegation of Os'id to his Freehold as both ambassadors and workers. This meeting is adjourned.”

Ivor couldn't fail to notice, the Os'id didn't tell him what was in the journal. That was ok. It's their business, and it doesn't affect him at all. Ineds approached Ivor.

“What do you need for your travel circle?” She asked.

“Well, that depends on you folks. It will only be linked to my Freehold, but I can understand if you don't want it inside your cavern system. However, putting it outside puts people in danger that may not be prepared for it. It's up to you though,” he explained.

“Well, we hope to be able to have a long relationship with your Freehold regardless of how many people stay here or there. Let me ask the others.” She quickly gathered the other councilors and they came to a decision.

“We would like to put it in this building. The large lobby area is suitable. We can section it off and post guards. It will be better to have everything out in the open where anyone can see. I think it will make people more comfortable,” she explained.

Ivor nodded and they headed down to the lobby. Zed communicated to Ivor exactly how to set up the stones during the trip down. Once an area was decided upon, Ivor pulled the stones out.

This caused a bit of an uproar as they were obviously too large to fit in his backpack. He explained about spatial storage objects, but he didn't say anything about [Null Storage]. Let them assume his backpack was one such storage object.

With the stones set up, Ivor started feeding mana into the stones. The runes on the stones started glowing a bright blue. The mana began to saturate the stone.

Once the stones were fully saturated and glowing brightly, they sank into the floor. The glow faded away leaving the stones embedded in the floor as though they belonged there.

“Zed, what time is it in the Freehold?”

“It will be morning in about four hours.”

Ivor approached Ineds. “If you can have everyone here in five hours, we can start the transfers. I can take four people with me on this circle. So, I'll have to make five trips. It will go fast though.”

Ivor finally looked over the notification he had almost forgotten about in all the excitement of the new Title and his Evolution.

Quest: What happened to Arlossis?

Status: Complete

Reward: 2 platinum coins

The Os'id were well organized, and the time went by fast. Several of the council talked with Ivor about both the people going to Earth and the ones staying. He gave assurances that the Os'id would be dealt with fairly. Before long, it was time to start ferrying the Os'id to the Freehold.

The groups were broken up into one ambassador and three Miners. The first group had Okvats in it. He was really excited. Ivor fed mana into the circle. With a brief flash of light, they were standing on the large travel circle in the Freehold.

Zed was projecting himself into the building to greet the newcomers. “Welcome Os'id to the Kemble Freehold. If you would please step over to my left, you can await your colleagues.”

The group immediately complied. Four more times he made the trip and finally they were all present. The group exited the travel circle building and were greeted by the site of the manor, the lake and the surrounding mountains. The entire group stopped in their tracks to take in the view.

“Wow, Ivor. This is amazing. I can't wait to see more,” Okvats exclaimed while many of the Os'id nodded their heads in agreement.

As the group walked towards the Manor, Radus and Iken waved at Ivor and the group. “Mr. Kemble, I hope you don't mind, but we took the liberty of putting up a guest house out back beyond the garden. I also had a dormitory style building built near the mine entrance.”

“That's why I hired you Radus,” Ivor commented.

Just then a monster ran full speed around the corner of the house and leaped at Ivor. The group of Os'id gasped as Ivor grabbed the monster in a hug. Clearly trying to protect himself.

Except, they noticed, Ivor was laughing.

“Kitty, I missed you too. You shouldn't scare our guests like that.” Ivor turned to the group as he put the lovable monster down. “Folks, this is Kitty. Yes, she is a monster. No, she won't harm you.”

“Mr. Kemble, if you want to get your guests and their belongings situated, you can tell them all the story while we have a meal. It's a lovely day. We can eat outside,” Radus said.

“Excellent idea. Let's get you folks situated,” Ivor said.

It took a while to get the miners down to the dormitory and back up. By the time they were back, there were tables and benches set out behind the manor with a view of the lake. The Os'id seemed a bit overwhelmed by everything, but they quickly started talking with their guests. Ivor related Kitty's story. The Os'id were learning a lot of things about a new reformed and integrated world.

Several of the Os'id, including Okvats, were interested in traveling to Hunter's Rest. Ivor thought it was a great idea. He had Zed send Austin a message to send an escort for the Os'id. It was a good distraction for his guests as Ivor wanted to get to Menevris and report his findings to Aza.

After the meal, Ivor followed the Miners down to the dormitory and they continued into the former Giant Ant hive. Ivor pointed out the Mana Steel vein and had them create a System contract to ensure no one got greedy hands. The Miners were pretty used to this type of contract as they used it within their own society.

Once the Miners were set up and he got word back from Hunter's Rest, it was time for Ivor to head back to Menevris.

Chapter Ten

Inyalquas was both the name of the city Aza lived in and the name of the principality as a whole. Prince Eqred Crit'o was one of four children of King Crit'o who ruled this land. Ivor hadn't had much time to get into either politics or the geography of the area. He was sure that would change at some point.

Ivor was pondering this as he appeared on the travel circle in Inyalquas. Ivor was used to the procedure at this point and passed through the building quickly. He rented a carriage to the Krix estate. Aza's wife, Alipha, met him when he entered the manor house.

“Ivor. So good to see you. I'm glad you made it back.” She seemed genuine. “Esqin has passed on word that her and Marie's team have been steadily making their way towards the Inheritance. It seems like it's a long way off. They think it may take half a year. Everyone is in good spirits. The team is passing information to all that will hear it. They have run into problems a few times, but nothing they couldn't handle.”

Ivor was relieved. He was planning on sending a message to Marie anyway. He could at least let her know he was doing well after his travels.

“Aza is at his office taking care of business. I'm happy to have a carriage drop you off there if you would like.”

“Thank you Alipha. That would be wonderful. If you don't mind, I would like to change out of my armor before I go.” Ivor spent way too much time in his armor. He had some plain clothes. Nothing to draw attention. Not too shabby, not too fancy.

Ivor changed and took the carriage to Aza's office building. Ivor wasn't sure what to expect. He supposed a part of him expected a formless office building like so many on Earth pre-System. What he found was a large manor. Really a Merchant House is what it was. None of the guards knew him here. So, he waited out front until someone came to get him.

Ivor was escorted into the building. It was busy with people moving back and forth. It felt like an office once he was inside.

Up several flights of steps to the fourth floor where two guards were posted in front of a pair of double doors. One guard opened the door to let Ivor and his guide into a well appointed reception area. There was a large desk commanding the room several meters in front of another set of double doors. A female F'on was sitting behind the desk.

His guide said, “Mr. Ivor Kemble to see Mr. Krix.”

The woman looked up and nodded at the guide who immediately turned around and left.

“Mr. Kemble, if you would follow me. Mr. Krix is in a meeting, but he instructed me to escort you into his office. If you would take a seat to your left when you enter, there are some refreshments.” She made way to the doors and quietly opened one of them allowing Ivor to step inside.

She quietly shut the door, staying outside the office. Ivor moved towards a seating area to his left while Aza and another F'on were talking. Ivor ignored the refreshments and sat down. He pulled out the Vamhael Rune Codex and began reading while Aza and the other person continued to talk.

After some time, the other person asked, “Would you like to discuss the other matter at a later time?”

“No, Cherze, Ivor is a trusted confidant. You can continue,” Aza said.

Ivor only paid a little bit of attention to what they were talking about. It mostly involved some issues they were having with various enterprises. Ivor heard mention of Resnov's team. They had been doing work for Aza. It sounded like they were seeing some action in various locations. Ivor would have to check in on them soon.

“All in all, this is a major uptick in events in the region. It's not much more than normal, but it is putting pressure on our people to react. I'm not sure there is anything we should do,” Cherze said.

Ivor had noticed a pattern in the description of the incidents Cherze had reported. Maybe it was his ridiculously high Intelligence stat. It could also be that this pattern was familiar to him.

Without looking up from his codex, Ivor spoke, “You're going to be robbed.”

“Excuse me?” Cherze said.

“All the activity, incidents, whatever. Somebody is going to rob you,” Ivor explained.

Cherze frowned at the statement, “How exactly would you know that? Mr. Krix, who exactly is this person and why are we letting him hear confidential business information?”

Aza laughed. “Cherze, I trust Ivor with my daughter's life. My business dealings are nothing compared to that. Ivor, please explain to us why you are so confident of this.”

Ivor stood and walked over to the pair. Holding his arm out to Cherze for the traditional forearm clasp of the F'on. “Ivor Kemble, pleasure to meet you. I'm confident because the pattern is clear to me. I've used the same tactic before to impact large organizations.

You slowly pull resources away from the area or location you want to rob by creating incidents and strife in nearby areas. You do it slowly to avoid arousing suspicion. I'm not familiar with your geography, but is this happening on multiple worlds or just this one?”

“Multiple worlds,” Cherze replied.

“Ok, yeah, that tells me several things about the organization that is attacking you,” Ivor said, absently stroking his chin.

“What would those things be?” Cherze asked.

“First, it's a large organization or somebody extremely wealthy. My bet is an organization. This kind of operation takes lots of planning and money. In addition, to keep information from leaking out, you need loyal people doing the work.

A really rich individual can only pay people to be loyal. Eventually, someone will talk. It's different with an organization, people are believers in the organization's mission or too scared to go against it,” Ivor explained.

The look on Cherie's face went from skeptical to intrigued as Ivor explained the situation. “What would you suggest?”

“First, map out the incidents. You will likely notice a gap or blank spot. That's where they are planning to rob you.

You would be the ones to know more about the what and who. I'm sure you have plenty of enemies. Every business does. Who would go to this trouble?

Of course, if the Galtu know I've been working with you, it could be them. Although, it seems like this has been happening long before they would have known that. So, I think it's someone else,” Ivor concluded.

“Ivor has a complicated past, but I have full confidence in his abilities,” Aza explained to Cherze. “Cherze is my head of consortium operations. He runs the day-to-day. Cherze, you may want to stick around. Ivor you have news of your travels?”

Ivor proceeded to tell the two men about the planet Arlossis. He made sure to explain that he wanted the Os'id to be compensated fairly. He also explained the experiment he was running with his runes on Arlossis. It had been over a month, but Ivor wanted to make sure magical objects wouldn't be affected over time. In addition, Ivor asked them why they didn't use an existing Explorer's Guild. Cherze was the one to note that the fees the guilds charged for completely unknown worlds was prohibitively expensive.

They would negotiate a large percentage. Risk versus reward. With Ivor's help, they saved quite a bit of money in the long run, even with the percentage Aza was going to give Ivor.

After Aza's consortium established a foothold on Arlossis, the Explorer's Guild would be brought in under strict System contracts. The guild would still make money, just not as much.

“Cherze, make sure Ivor gets a 5% cut of all profits from the work on Arlossis,” Aza commanded.

“You can make sure it goes to the Freehold rather than myself personally. If something happens to me, I want Marie and everyone else to have access to funds,” Ivor replied.

Aza gave Cherze some tasks to find out more about the incidents. Ivor got the feeling that Aza knew what was at risk, but the man wasn't quite ready to say it out loud.

“Let me know if you need my help when you find out anything about these incidents,” Ivor told Aza.

“I appreciate that Ivor. I really do. So, you didn't seem to advance much on your trip. I figured after what you told us about the monsters there, you'd have gained more levels.”

Ivor turned off the [Blend] skill hiding his information. “Try to identify me now.”

Ivor watched as Aza focused on him. His eyes widened slightly. “What level is Inveterate Explorer?”

“It's Epic level. It also has a skill, [Local Cluster], that allows me to store information about three closest planets to the one I'm on every month. Yes, I triggered it on Arlossis,” Ivor explained.

Aza sat staring at him for a few moments. “Ivor,….. I…. You are ridiculous.” Aza laughed at the man that was quickly becoming a good friend.

Ivor laughed as well. “That's not all. I got a title called Path of the Precursors. Are you familiar?”

Hearing the name, Aza looked at Ivor. “I'm familiar with the name Precursors. It was a word translated from the same book we got the coordinates for Arlossis. What does it mean?”

“Well, Zed told me that the Precursors were the creators of the System. He thinks my rapid growth is being recognized by the System.” Ivor was somewhat surprised that Aza didn't know about the Precursors. Of course, that was probably just a bias on Ivor's part. Aza knew a lot but not everything.

“How did you get that title? If you don't mind telling me, of course.”

“I pushed all my stats to 200, with my Inheritance bonuses, before taking my first Evolution.” Ivor didn't see a need to hold that back from Aza.

Aza's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. “I can see why the System is taking notice. You've gone from 100 in all stats to 200 in all stats in the blink of an eye. It's unheard of, and I won't lie, a little bit frightening.”

“Well, then this next part is really going to freak you out. The title gave me +30 to all my stats.”

Aza actually did a spit-take. He was drinking tea when Ivor told him. Ivor had never actually seen a spit-take in person. It was hilarious. The tea blasted out of Aza's mouth, and Ivor couldn't hold back a laugh.

Aza gave an annoyed look then smirked at Ivor. “Well, I'm pretty sure you're not joking. It's definitely going to make what I have to tell you a little bit funny.”

Ivor waited as Aza cleaned himself and the table up.

“The Prince's guards have been asking for you for the last couple of weeks. In addition, the Prince is quite taken with you. He would like a meeting.” Holding up a hand he continued, “Before you ask, I don't know what he wants to meet about.”

Ivor shrugged, “Sure, it should be fun sparring with Trids again. The Prince seemed like a standup guy. Do you mind if I stay at the estate?”

“I insist. I'll send a message to the Prince. I have some more work to do, but plan on going to see the Prince tomorrow,” Aza said.

“No problem. I'll meet you back at your estate when I'm done with my business in the city,” Ivor replied.

“Stay out of trouble,” Aza said as they clasped arms.

Ivor nodded and left the Krix Merchant House. The city was slightly too large to easily walk to Scindair's brothel, but Ivor wanted to take in the scenery of the city. He decided to walk for a while. The street he was on had several Merchant houses and auction houses. It seemed like the two went hand in hand. He started down another street in the general direction of the brothel.

It was clear this was an upscale part of town. The shops and the people looked fancy. With his plain clothing, Ivor would normally stick out quite a bit. However, the passive effect of his [Blend] skill kicked in, and people seemed to barely notice him.

The anonymity as he walked felt comforting. It harkened back to other times in cities much like this on Earth. There was just something comforting to Ivor about disappearing within the mass of people in a city this size. He smelled something that reminded him of coffee. It was a small cafe with outdoor seating.

He entered the establishment and went to the counter. It wasn't terribly busy. In fact, there was no one currently ordering at the counter.

Ivor stood at the counter for a couple of minutes before one of the workers was startled by seeing him standing there.

“Oh my, you startled me,” the young male F'on said. “What can I get you?”

“I smelled something that reminded me of a drink I used to have on my planet. I'm not sure what it's called here, but I think I'd like to try some,” Ivor said.

The cafe worker smiled. “Sure, can you describe the smell? Hopefully, your species and ours smell things the same, or at least close enough.”

Ivor scratched his head. He described the smell of coffee the best he could. While he was talking, he realized one didn't describe coffee. You just knew what it smelled like.

After a few moments, the worker nodded and went over to another counter to pour something out of a carafe into a paper-like cup. He brought it back to Ivor.

“Is this what you were smelling?”

Ivor held the cup up to his nose. It wasn't exactly like coffee, but it was damn close. Ivor paid the worker and took a sip. The flavor was more complex than coffee, but it definitely hit the spot.

Ivor smiled and thanked the worker. The drink was called Sepp. It was brewed like coffee, but from a very thick leaf rather than a bean. The brewing process also took much longer. The worker was happy to talk Ivor's ear off about Sepp. He thought that baristas were probably the same everywhere.

Ivor told Zed to remind him to ask Aza about Sepp for the Freehold, along with the proper equipment to brew it.

Ivor enjoyed the Sepp as he walked the streets looking into shop windows and generally people watching. He eventually hired a carriage to take him to the brothel. He had the driver drop him off several blocks away. He made the rest of the trip on foot.

As he got closer to the brothel, he could see a commotion outside the building. Several people were standing in the street while someone was arguing with Scindair. Scindair's guards were with him looking ready to attack. Ivor got close enough to finally hear what was being said.

“Look,” the big humanoid in armor was saying to Scindair, “I'm just saying, it would be in your best interest to just pay up. Then you don't have to worry about any problems.”

Ivor used [Identify] on the big one.

Stril Oldri (Corcer)

Enforcer (Level 60)

Highest Stat: Strength

Immunities: None

Weaknesses: None

Ivor identified all the other Corcers. They seemed to be in the low to mid 50 range for levels. All of them seemed to be some evolved form of Fighter Class. No pure mage in the bunch. That didn't mean that they lacked magic.

Ivor raised his voice, “Scindair, will you be much longer? I have some things to discuss.”

The group turned to regard Ivor.

Stril looked down at Ivor. “You shouldn't interrupt when your betters are talking.” He nodded to one of his men. “Take care of that, will you?”

The man got an evil smirk on his face as he stomped over to Ivor. Had Stril been paying attention, he would have noticed Scindair and his guards smiling.

Stril turned back to Scindair. “Now as I was saying...You really should reconsider my offer.”

Scindair looked at the man. “I don't think that will be necessary.”

A scream tore through the otherwise quiet street. Stril turned around to see his man lying on the ground, a pool of blood forming around him next to his dismembered arm. Stril blinked. The man, that human, was still standing there. Stril never did put a lot of stats in Intelligence, but even he knew something wasn't right here.

“Scindair?” Ivor said, not taking his eyes off of Stril.

“Yes, Mr. Kemble?”

“Do any of these folks need to stay alive?” Ivor asked.

“It's entirely up to them. I believe they have been hired by an organization you are already familiar with. It seems they are branching out into protection schemes,” Scindair said calmly.

“I'm not sure who you think you are, but tricks won't work on me,” Stril said and activated some kind of movement skill. Stril was fast for his size. That skill often took people off guard.

A person his size shouldn't be able to move that fast. He cocked his fist back. A smile formed on his face as the human hadn't even moved.

He threw his first forward at the human's head. Suddenly, he stopped. Completely stopped. The human was holding his fist in one hand and holding Stril off the ground by his neck with the other.

“Protection rackets only work if you are actually stronger than the other party,” Ivor whispered to him.

Ivor squeezed the man's fist, shattering his whole hand. Ivor slammed the man into the ground, knocking him out. He stood up to look at the remaining three people in Stril's group.

“Well, what will it be?” Ivor asked the remaining members of Stril's group.

All of them began to pull weapons out. Ivor pulled a Dark Steel short sword from his [Null Storage] and used [Null Step] quickly three times. Three heads hit the street, their bodies following slightly after.

“Take care of the bodies. Put the big one in your basement. Can you contain him until I have time to have a chat with him?” Ivor asked.

“Easy enough,“ Scindair replied. “I have suppression cuffs and collars that should work on him without an issue.”

Scindair motioned to his guards who immediately started cleaning up the scene. Ivor and Scindair headed up to his office.

Once seated, Scindair spoke, “I am once again in your debt. Mr. Kemble.”

Ivor shook his head, “You're an investment for me. I'd be remiss if I didn't look after my investments. So, you think those folks were hired by the Galtu?”

Scindair sat in his chair behind his desk. “Without a doubt. It seems like your escape and dismantling of the Galtu men gave them an excuse to hire some folks and try a protection scheme at the same time. Corcer aren't local enforcers. There is a group of mercenaries that are strictly Corcer from a guild I'm familiar with. I think when we examine their belongings, we will discover that they came from that Mercenary group.”

“Is it the same Galtu that was released from jail?” Ivor asked.

Scindair nodded. “Yes, I believe so. I think your escape frightened him. He likely used the protection scheme as an excuse to hire the mercenaries for his own protection. It's not going to go over well when these mercenaries don't show back up. It's unlikely the mercenaries will allow him more people. It will also put pressure on his finances.”

“What do you think is bringing in the most money right now?” Ivor imagined it was drugs.

“Drugs, I believe,” Scindair confirmed.

“Any idea where their main source of distribution is?” Ivor asked.

“I'm close to finding it. It's taken us a while to figure out who the runners distributing it are, and we are working backwards from there.”

Ivor nodded. “Great. Good plan. Let me know once you know their main distribution location. I'm going to be destroying it. I need to put enough pressure on them to send someone important. In the meantime, I need you to come up with a plan to start getting your people leveled up. Anyone Level 40 or above that you have trouble with, let me know. I can take them through some higher level dungeons.

That includes yourself. If you have people with Professions that need resources, let me know as well. I'll figure out a way to get them to you if you can't do it yourself.”

“Understood,” Scindair said.

“Oh, before I forget. It appears that someone is planning to rob one of Aza Krix's operations off-world. I may need some of your people to investigate some stuff off-world in the future, if you can spare them,” Ivor said.

“I should be able to handle that. Just let me know where and when. Also, I'm going to be relocating my office. This kind of thing disrupts business too much.

Although this isn't a high end establishment, I still get a lot of information out of it. As we expand, I want a better location. To that effect, I'm creating an auction house,” Scindair said.

“Excellent. It's another great way to gather information and a perfect excuse to have deliveries coming and going if you decide to move into smuggling.” Ivor pulled a number of cores out of his [Null Storage] along with a few vials of Shadow Essence. “Here is some merchandise to start with.”

“Shadow Essence is rare. It will give us a leg up in getting started.” Scindair was clearly a bit in awe of the vials.

“Use any funds to hire legitimate guards for the auction house and get a vault built once you find your location. Actually, I might have someone I trust for the vault. I'll look into it and get back to you,” Ivor said.

“Are you sure you want to let these go? A more established auction house might get you a better deal.”

“No. This is about getting you established. Plus, I have a bunch more.” Ivor smiled at the look on Scindair's face. “Oh, here, try this meat.” Ivor pulled out several packages of Inat meat. “If you want to break into the restaurant business, I have access to the source of this meat as well.”

Scindair was getting overwhelmed, “Mr. Kemble, this is a lot of…well…everything.”

“You'll find I'm a decisive person. If you can't keep up, let me know. If you feel you're happy just doing what you're doing and don't want to push anymore. I can respect that. I'd rather you tell me you hit your limit of capability before I find that you've failed without telling me.”

“No, no. It's just unexpected. I'm just a little surprised at the speed you move and the things you've accomplished in such a short time. I want to be a part of this,” Scindair said.

“Good. I want you to want to do this work, not just because I'm strong. I need people who are here for this adventure. I'm also willing to listen. If you need time to build up the organization with quality people, I can understand that. Don't let money be a limiting factor.

I can get more money. I'm going to push you to achieve things you didn't think you could, but I don't want you to sacrifice our foundation. Speak the truth to me. Defend your arguments with facts and logic. I'll listen. I may not do what you want, but I will listen,” Ivor explained.

“Understood. Thank you.” Scindair meant it. After years of scraping and clawing his way, he now had free rein to implement things he never thought he could. He would not squander this opportunity.

“Oh, also, no more direct meetings with Mr. Krix. I'll let him know, only cutouts from now on. I don't want the Galtu linking you to Mr. Krix. There's nothing I can do about them linking me to him, but let's avoid a direct tie between the two organizations.”

Scindair nodded his agreement.

“Let the big man in the basement sit for a few days. I'll be back to deal with him,” Ivor said, then left for the Krix estate.

Chapter Eleven

Ivor spent a lovely night with Aza and Alipha Krix. Quanzul came by and stayed for a bit. He had been getting quite a bit of work from Earth and the Prince's guards. After the other guards saw the quality of armor he had made for Thrik Trids, many of the core guards wanted comparable armor. It was so much work that Quanzul had taken on several helpers. Quanzul could gain experience by teaching his Profession as well. It looked like the armorer was happy despite his complaints of working with the helpers. Ivor could see the twinkle in his eyes when he talked about the armor they had been creating for the Earth humans.

Ivor sent a message to Marie letting her know he was alright and that he had been traveling. He told her he had reached his stat goal, but he didn't give specifics. He also told her what his new Profession was. Again, he left the specifics to the next time they were together.

He checked in with the Freehold to make sure everything was going well with the Os'id. There were no problems. The escort group from Hunter's Rest would arrive in another few days. The Miners had begun prepping the dig site. They had requested some supplies and equipment that wasn't readily on hand. Ivor told Radus to get them anything they needed, within reason. Ivor transferred another 500,000 credits to the house fund.

Ivor realized he didn't have any nicer clothes to wear around the Prince. He mentioned this to Aza who gave him the name and directions to his personal tailor. Ivor wouldn't have time to get anything made before their meeting, but he planned on making sure he had appropriate clothes for future occasions. In the meantime, he would go in his armor. In its original black with dragon scale accents, it was impressive.

The next morning they had a quick meal and took a carriage to the palace. Aza had given Ivor the token the Seneschal had promised him. He didn't need it this time, but he was glad it was in his possession.

They were expected. So, it didn't take long to make their way through the palace. They took a different route, and when Ivor asked Aza, he mentioned this was a more casual meeting.

They wouldn't be going to the main hall. Instead, they were taken to a large study. They were met at the door by Thrik Trids.

The man bowed slightly to Aza. “Mr. Krix. A pleasure.” He then turned with a smile and clasped Ivor's arm. “Ivor. Good to see you again. I hope your travels were fruitful.”

Ivor chuckled. “Good to see you as well Thrik. My travels were interesting to say the least. Nice armor, by the way.” Ivor rapped a knuckle against the man's chest. Thrik rocked back a bit on his feet.

“Dear gods man, did you get stronger?” He looked at Ivor wide eyed.

“A bit, a bit,” Ivor said with a laugh.

Thrik opened the door to the study and ushered the two in. He followed behind and closed the door. The study was more like the office Aza had than what Ivor thought a study would be like. It was huge however. There was a large seating area with couches and chairs.

There was a large conference table with chairs on the other side of the room. Book shelves and cabinets lined the walls, filled with decorations and books of all kinds. It didn't feel cozy like a study. This was a place where real work got done.

The Prince was sitting behind a large desk writing something. There was another smaller desk off to one side with a small, female F'on working as well. When the trio entered, the Prince turned to the assistant and spoke quietly. She packed up several documents into a bag that looked remarkably like a leather briefcase. Nodding to the three of them, she made her way out of the room.

“Come in, come in. I think we are all friends here. Let's not stand on formality in private,” the Prince said as he approached the three men. He clasped Aza's arm warmly and welcomed him. Motioning him to a seat on one of the couches, he nodded to Thrik.

Finally, the Prince approached Ivor. “Mr. Kemble. Truly a pleasure to see you again. I hope you weren't too upset with the theatrics the last time we met.” The Prince put his hand out to clasp Ivor's forearm in the traditional F'on greeting.

Ivor clasped the man's forearm, taking care not to use too much strength. He was still getting used to the increase of strength for delicate movements.

“I wasn't upset at all. I understand the necessity and my role in it. I assume it had the desired effect?” Ivor really wasn't upset by it. Although Ivor didn't personally enjoy the politics, he understood what the Prince hoped to achieve.

“Indeed it did. More so than you probably care to know. Trids over there is certainly happy with his new armor. Won't stop talking about it. I've never seen a man so happy to lose a fight.” The Prince said the last with great humor.

“Just so my Prince,” Thrik replied good naturedly to the Prince's teasing, “I'm not sure I'd want that spar again today.”

The Prince's eyebrows rose. “Oh, is that so?”

“Indeed, I believe Ivor has gotten even stronger since he was last here,” Thrik commented.

“Is this true Mr. Kemble? I realize you had a unique start to your journey in the System, but to continue to grow at a rapid pace… well, it's a bit astonishing.” The Prince was curious and a little surprised.

“I had some goals in mind during my travels. I pushed hard to reach them, and the System rewarded me for it,” Ivor said.

“That is actually a good thing. As you may have guessed, I didn't invite you two here for a simple social call, although that's not to say I wouldn't. One of the side effects of our little theatre show last time was that some information got back to my father, the King. Unbeknownst to the people in attendance that day, I had set it up to see if I could ferret out who might be sending information back to my father. It worked. It's not a bad thing. I just like knowing who the spies are.

The result of that is that my father would like to meet you. As you can imagine, there will likely be some more theatrics involved. In this case, it's likely some form of test. As you can imagine, the display you put on seems laughable when compared to your level,” the Prince explained.

Ivor hadn't imagined the King taking an interest, but it was fine. The Prince didn't seem overly concerned about the whole thing. He seemed to just be relaying information to prepare Ivor.

The Prince continued, “Don't misunderstand. My father doesn't think his source, myself or Mr. Trids here are lying. Rather it's something that has to be seen to be believed fully.”

Ivor nodded. “Yes, sir. I understand. Not to be dismissive of your status, but it's one thing to have this happen in your Principality and a whole different thing to have something like this happen in front of the King.”

The Prince held up his hands in a placating manner. “I absolutely understand, and I take no offense. I would not believe you were as intelligent as Aza claims had you not brought up your concerns. It speaks well of you. No, I'm just making sure you have as much information as possible going into the situation.”

“Thank you for your understanding. Are you comfortable telling me the situation as it pertains to the royal family? Unfortunately, I haven't spent much time learning about your family, the way your governing works, or in fact the geography of the kingdom. I would feel much better about things if I had a briefing, as it were,” Ivor said.

“Of course, of course. As I understand it, you've had very little down time. I will have my assistant brief you in more detail. For now, I can tell you that there are three Princes and a Princess. My brothers and sister all rule a Principality. As a family, we all get along quite well.

My oldest brother has been slated to rule since birth. Our parents raised us to understand this and paid particular attention to make sure there was no internal strife in the kingdom. If I do say so myself, they were fantastic parents.

You will be meeting my siblings as well. The request of your visit coincides with a family meeting.”

Ivor was happy there wasn't that typical family infighting he read about in fiction and from Earth's history.

The Prince continued, “As I will be busy with family matters most of the time, I'm asking Aza to be your guide during your time in the capital city. If he's amenable, he can help you navigate both the city and the politics.”

“It would be my honor. When do you expect to leave?” Aza asked.

“It will be a few days. We will use the travel circle in the palace. In the meantime, Mr. Kemble, I can have my assistant brief you at the Krix estate if that works for you.”

“Yes, sir. That works for me,” Ivor responded.

“Excellent. I'm giving Trids here and several of the guards I'm taking with me a few days off before the trip. I'll send word to Aza with the exact day and time of our departure. Plan for a week or two away.” The Prince stood.

Aza nodded. “We will be ready.”

Aza, Ivor and Thrik left the study and made their way back to Aza's carriage.

“Thrik. Since you have some time off, and assuming Aza is ok with it, why don't you bring some of the guards that might be interested in my unarmed style and any two weapon fighters to the estate. I've grown quite fond of Aza's guards. I've been training several of them in my armed style,” Ivor said.

“Yes, please. My guards would be ecstatic to train with the Prince's guards. They already nearly worship Ivor as it is. I know they will be delighted.” Aza was all for the idea.

“That would be fantastic. I'm looking forward to it.” Thrik seemed genuinely excited to Ivor.

Thrik agreed to come by the estate tomorrow. Ivor and Aza took the carriage to Aza's tailor. They would need to get some decent clothes for Ivor fairly quickly. Luckily the tailor was a good friend of Aza's. Traditional F'on clothing didn't really fit Ivor or his style.

He spent several hours working with the tailor to explain and draw up some nice Earth style clothing. The tailor was as happy as could be to learn the new style. He would likely get some experience out of the effort.

Aza had left Ivor at the tailor. The tailor was friends with a cobbler several buildings down. He even escorted Ivor to the woman's shop.

Since F'on feet were more bird-like, Ivor spent another few hours talking about and sketching footwear. The cobbler was more than happy to accommodate. With several sets of clothes and shoes planned, Ivor took a carriage back to the estate.

The next morning, Ivor got an early start working with the guards that had just gotten off the nightshift. Say one thing for Aza's guards, they weren't afraid to put in the work. Close to afternoon, the Prince's guards showed up. Several of them hadn't been in the palace the day Ivor sparred with Thrik Trids. Those poor guards got to spar with Ivor, all of them, all at the same time.

It was eye opening for them to experience. The guards were good. With several high level guards attacking at once, Ivor was going to get hit. It wasn't a concern as they couldn't breach his armor anyway.

That didn't mean the strikes didn't hurt. They did, but nothing got through his Epic armor set.

Ivor then worked with the group. There was no way he could teach them his style in a couple of days, but he was capable of showing them a few things to incorporate into their existing fighting style. The two handed fighters were fascinated by his baston, just like Aza's guards were.

One of Aza's guards had really taken to the weapons. He and one of the Prince's guards spared with weapons. Even though Aza's guard was quite a bit lower level, he still scored some hits as the Arnis style Ivor had taught him emphasized speed and attack at odd angles.

Over the three days of the daily sparring, the two groups of guards quickly became comrades. It made Ivor smile to see that the Prince's guards didn't look down on others just because of their station. It spoke well of the Prince himself that he would surround himself with good people.

Ivor spent part of each day in Aza's study with the Prince's primary assistant. The same assistant that was present for the last visit. She was extremely patient with Ivor's questions, and she was incredibly smart.

Yet again, Ivor was impressed with someone the Prince surrounded himself with. She taught Ivor basic geography of the area as well as the basics of the continent as a whole. There was not enough time to go into the history of the planet, but she touched on some immediate history. She focused most of Ivor's time on the family itself.

She went into great detail on the King's immediate family. She touched on the Queen's family, and she briefly mentioned some important extended family on the King's side. She skipped over the non-royal movers and shakers as Aza would clue him in about those. She finished his education with some general etiquette for Ivor.

As a Freeholder, Ivor held something akin to an Ambassador status in the Kingdom. There were certain laws that didn't pertain to him as well as certain responsibilities he held. In essence, he was treated just below another head of state. She cautioned him that in his capacity as a Freeholder, he was allowed to make binding agreements concerning his Freehold. Ivor knew some of this from his dealings with Aza and his registration with the government. Still, Ivor was glad she spelled everything out for him.

After two days, Aza got the news that they would be leaving two days after that. Ivor took some time to head back to Scindair's brothel. He wanted to talk with the mercenary.

When he arrived, Scindair took him down to the basement. Ivor opened the door to the cell. The mercenary was sitting on the floor nursing his shattered hand.

“Yeah, that probably hurts quite a bit,” Ivor said when the man didn't look up.

“What do you want with me?” The man asked, finally looking up at Ivor.

“Well, I'd like you to answer some questions, but I'll understand if you are under a System contract not to divulge secrets. Of course, I'll want you to swear to a System contract that you're telling me the truth about all that,” Ivor said.

“No need for all that. I don't know nothing,” the big man said.

“Did you work for a Galtu in town?” Ivor prodded.

“He was who we were told to meet. The bosses make all the deals. I'm just an Enforcer. I just do the work.”

“I can appreciate that. I also appreciate you being honest with me. What's your outfit's name?” Ivor asked.

“Corser Calamity. Mercenary company out of the capital,” the man responded.

“Here's what I'd like to do. I want to remove those restraints, and I'll give you a healing potion. The restraints are going back on, and in two days, you're coming with me to the capital. I'd like to talk to your bosses.

If you don't give me any trouble during all this, you'll live. You step out of line once, and it will be your last step ever, understand.” Ivor looked into the man's eyes.

Stril Oldri had met a lot of different types of people in his career as a mercenary. The man he was looking at now was dangerous. Maybe the most dangerous he had ever met. It wasn't because of the way the man had effortlessly beat him.

It was the look on his face and in his eyes. That look promised death. No threats, just a pure promise.

“You don't need the restraints, mister. I'm not stupid. If you're being truthful with me about bringing me back. I won't cause any trouble. I'll swear a System contract on my Class if you want,” Stril told Ivor.

Ivor looked at the man for a few moments. “I don't need the contract. I think we understand one another.” Ivor told Scindair and the guards, “Get him out of those restraints. Give him a healing potion for his hand, and make sure he's kept comfortable. I'll send some people to come and get him in a couple of days.”

“Mr. Kemble, about my people?” Stril asked.

“I gave them a choice. They made the wrong one,” Ivor responded.

Stril nodded. The restraints were removed and a guard handed him a health potion. He downed it and his hand was healed in moments. He let out a sigh of relief. Ivor had already left when Scindair approached the mercenary.

“I'll have some food and drink brought down along with an actual bed,” Scindair told Stril.

“It's appreciated. About what happened, you understand it was just my job,” Stril said.

Scindair took a moment to choose his words, “Mr. Oldri, you and I aren't so different. I understand. Unfortunately, you crossed paths with Mr. Kemble because the Galtu who hired you can't see reality. I think you can see reality Mr. Oldri. You understand what crossing someone like Mr. Kemble means, yes?”

Stril Oldri nodded. “How strong is he? Is he hiding his Level?”

Scindair thought very carefully about what he said next, “I truly don't know how strong he is. I do not believe he was hiding his level at all. Mr. Kemble is a unique existence. A very, very dangerous person. In the short time I've known him, I've learned a very valuable lesson.

Don't get on his shit list. Secondary to that, if you prove valuable to him, your value is paid back many times. Keep that in mind, Mr. Oldri.”

Stril nodded again. He had a lot to think about before they got to the capital. He really hoped his boss didn't do something stupid.

Chapter Twelve

Before he knew it, the travel day had arrived. Ivor was heading back to the palace with Aza and several of his personal guards. When they reached the palace, they were taken to a building on the palace grounds and asked to wait outside.

Shortly, several of the Prince's guards showed up with Stril Oldri in tow. Ivor had asked Thrik to send a couple of guards to pick him up. He was making a statement that Stril would catch, if he was smart enough. Based on the wide-eyed look, Stril was starting to understand the gravity of his situation.

After about thirty minutes of waiting, another group of guards along with Thrik and the Prince approached the group. The Prince looked over the group and spied Stril standing there trying to look anywhere but at the Prince.

“You there, Mr. Oldri. Are you part of the Corser Calamity Mercenary guild?” The Prince spoke.

Stril bowed deeply, “Yes, your highness. Mr. Kemble has graciously offered transport back to the capital.”

“How is it, exactly, that you know Mr. Kemble?” The Prince asked. Well, it came out as more like a command.

“Ah, well, me and my team were hired to do a job, and well, Mr. Kemble objected. I may have tried to force the issue.” Stril tried his best to get out of saying exactly what was going on.

Not a stupid man, the Prince didn't bother to pry. He blurted a laugh. “And how did that work out for you Mr. Oldri?” The Prince asked.

“It did not go well, your highness.” Stril grimaced.

The Prince blurted another laugh. “I imagine it didn't.”

With that, the Prince moved towards the building, which Ivor figured must be a travel circle building. Stril was staring at Ivor with wide eyes.

Ivor spoke softly to the man, “Keep your head down. Don't cause a scene. I'll have you back to your guild before long.”

It was going to take a few uses of the travel circle. It wasn't as large as the one in the Freehold. It could only handle about ten people at a time. The Prince would be in the middle group. Guards went first, then the Prince with some guards, finally Ivor, Aza, Stril and Aza's guards went last.

When the quick flash of light ended, Ivor was standing in another building. This building was large and there were a large number of guards in uniformed armor slightly different from the Prince's guards. They had arrived at the main palace.

The Prince walked over to Ivor. “You are my personal guest while in the palace. The token you've been given can be used to come and go as you will. It will probably be tomorrow when you will be presented to the King.” He looked at Stril as he told Ivor, “Please handle your business today if you can.”

Ivor gave a nod of his head. “Of course your highness.”

The Prince looked at Thrik and Aza. “Try to keep him from destroying the capital, please.”

Stril chuckled and everyone looked at him. Stril looked at Aza. “The Prince is joking, yes?” Aza shrugged. Stril turned to Thrik. “Tell me he was joking.”

Thrik replied, “Let's hope so.”

Thrik, Aza, Ivor and Aza's guards made their way to the section of the palace grounds where the royal carriages were. The Prince had several carriages for his personal use while in the capital. Thrik commandeered one of them. The capital city, Zelqad, was massive.

There were several million people in and around the city proper. Thrik, Aza and Stril were familiar with the city. The carriage driver knew where the mercenary guild was as it was very well known.

Ivor was surprised, although he probably shouldn't be, but they had some form of traffic cop directing traffic. It made sense that any well run city of this size would have a solution to the traffic problem. It still took them the better part of an hour to get to the guild.

The guards stayed with the carriage as Thrik, Aza, Ivor and Stril walked up to the large building. It was probably a city block in size. Ivor couldn't help but be impressed.

There were multiple sets of double doors at the front of the building. Mercenary groups were coming in and out. It looked like the guild did a brisk business.

“I need to turn in the failed assignment,” Stril said as he pointed to a row of people behind a large counter that reminded Ivor of a line of bank tellers.

Stril went to handle his business then came back to the group.

“I turned in the failed quest but requested an adjudication by the board,” Stril said.

Aza and Thrik nodded, but Ivor was confused. “I'm not familiar with how mercenary guilds work. Is this something specific to your guild?”

“It's pretty common. The Guild Master runs the guild, but there are all sorts of issues that need to be resolved. The Guild Master can't do everything in a guild this size. There are several boards of three high level mercenaries that make judgements on cases like mine. Also, the Guild Master would have to abstain in my case, as he's my uncle,” Stril explained.

It wasn't long before the group was ushered into the Guild proper. There were numerous office staff. They were directed into a room that reminded Ivor of a courtroom. There was a raised counter with unoccupied chairs behind it. There were two tables facing the counter just like depicted in every tv show or movie. There was also some additional seating behind the two tables. Ivor wasn't sure what those were for, unless people liked to watch the proceedings.

Stril motioned for Ivor, Aza and Thrik to take seats as he stood in front of one of the tables waiting. It wasn't too long before three armored figures came out of a door in the back of the room and took their chairs at the raised counter.

The person in the middle touched something on the counter. “This adjudication is being recorded. Stril Oldri has requested adjudication for a failed mission. State your concerns.”

Before he could speak the door behind them opened and a figure came in.

One of the other judges, that's what Ivor was calling them, sneered at the man. “I thought you agreed to abstain from any proceedings concerning your nephew Guild Master.”

The way the man said Guild Master made it sound like an insult. There was obviously bad blood between the two.

The Guild Master calmly replied, “I'm here as an observer to the proceedings. My nephew makes his own way.” The man sat in one of the chairs on the other side of the aisle from Ivor, Aza and Thrik.

Stril cleared his throat. “I don't dispute the failed mission. I just ask the board to waive the normal punishment due to extenuating circumstances.”

The only other member of the board that hadn't spoken, questioned Stril, “What extenuating circumstances?”

“The client commissioned a common protection scheme. The client specifically tasked my team with focusing on a specific brothel. Unbeknownst to us, that brothel was under the protection of someone the client had animosity with.

It was clearly an attempt at vengeance not an actual protection scheme. My claim is that the client misled me and my team as to the nature of the contract resulting in the failed mission,” Stril explained.

“Figures a weakling like you would try to blame the client for your own failure,” the antagonistic judge spat.

The center judge looked over sharply at the comment. “Let's keep the adjudication focused on the facts. What proof do you have of your claim?”

“I have the protector of the brothel here. The person who defeated me and my team. He also was the one that identified the client to me and explained the situation. Mr. Ivor Kemble.”

“Mr. Kemble, please approach the table,” the center judge said.

Ivor stood and made his way over to the table.

“Mr. Kemble, are you willing to swear a System contract to tell the truth in this matter?”

“In this matter only,” Ivor said. The contract was presented to him in his overlay. He quickly scanned it. There was nothing nefarious. He signed it.

“Thank you Mr. Kemble. Can you explain how you know the client?”

“Your client was part of a plot to kidnap and set me up for murder. I allowed the kidnapping in order to meet the Galtu in question. I defeated him and several corrupt guards. I brought them to the jail.

In the end, the corrupt guards were outed, but the Galtu was set free. The person murdered was someone I did business with. It's no coincidence that another business associate was targeted by your client due to his relationship with me,” Ivor explained.

The sneering judge turned to him, “How did a Level 28 Explorer defeat a mercenary team in the 50's and 60's?”

Ivor definitely didn't like this guy. “Easily, is how I defeated them.”

The man was about to say something, when the judge on the right spoke up, “Who are these other people?”

Thrik and Aza both stood and approached the table. “I'm Aza Krix head of the Krix Merchant Consortium and this is Thrik Trids, head guard to Prince Eqred Crit'o”

The looks on the judges faces were priceless. The center judge asked, “What do you have to do with this incident?”

Aza spoke first. “Nothing at all. We do have specific information about Mr. Kemble however to validate his claims. In my case, I can assure you that his story of the Galtu is true. I was at the very brief trial the Prince held to clear Mr. Kemble along with the testimony of Senschal of Inyalquas.”

Thrik spoke next. “I was also at the trial. In addition, I can personally vouch for Mr. Kemble's martial prowess. We sparred at the behest of the Prince, and Mr. Kemble handily beat me. It was unarmed combat, no weapons or skills. I will point out that I am a Level 80 Imperial Guard.”

The pain in the ass judge pounded on the counter, “This is preposterous. It's clear to me that this is some kind of staged attempt to get the weakling out of trouble. I don't believe for one second any of this drivel.”

Ivor turned to the Guild Master. “I'm ignorant of the by-laws and procedures of your guild. However, I've just been called a liar to my face despite agreeing to a System contract to tell the truth. I would like to know what my options are.”

A grin spread across the face of the Guild Master. “The by-laws are clear. Regardless of status, a challenge can be declared within the confines of the Guild Hall. As this is a mercenary guild, the challenge is always combat. We don't prefer it be to the death, but there is nothing in the by-laws preventing that agreement.”

“You can't be serious. This piss-ant challenging me? Fine, but when I win, your brat nephew gets double punishment. And it's to the death.” The judge literally spat the words.

“So, you accept my challenge?” Ivor asked.

“Sure, I suppose you'll want to prepare or at the very least put your affairs in order.” The man laughed at his own joke.

“Nope. Let's get this taken care of. I need to get back to the palace.” Ivor shrugged. “I assume you have some kind of training or dueling yard.”

The only ones not surprised by the statement were Thrik, Aza and Stril.

The Guild Master rose. “We have a procedure for things like this. A Guild-wide announcement will be made. You'll have an hour to prepare in a holding room, alone. You will enter the room with only what you have on yourself. Nobody can slip in and provide you anything once in the room.

The door on the opposite side will open. You will proceed out to the colosseum and the challenge will begin. Although this is to the death, one or the other can choose to spare the challenger. Do you understand the rules?”

“I do,” Ivor said.

The Guild Master nodded as the judges left through the door in back. After they left, the Guild Master spoke, “Mr. Krix, Mr. Trids, at any time either of you could have stopped this. Your positions carry enough weight that the board would have allowed Mr. Kemble to get out of it.”

Aza and Thrik looked at the Guild Master and both started laughing. The Guild Master was annoyed and confused. Even his nephew was holding back a chuckle.

“Guild Master, I apologize on behalf of Mr. Trids and myself. I realize you don't know Mr. Kemble, and our reaction might seem ridiculous. We do know Mr. Kemble, however. The thought of stepping in never even crossed our minds.

Please, bear with us. You'll understand once this farce is over,” Aza said. Then he turned serious. “I hope the loss of that man doesn't impact you in any way. He's already dead. He just doesn't know it yet.”

The Guild Master frowned as he walked with the men to a box seating area above the colosseum. Mr. Krix was so confident of Mr. Kemble winning. Logically, the Guild Master understood Mr. Kemble didn't lie when he said he took out Stril's team. It was just hard to believe there wasn't a trick or that he had some help.

The announcement went out. The Guild Master could already hear the whispers.

“Who was stupid enough to challenge Vaatack Qud?”

“I've never heard of this Kemble fellow before. Is he one of us?”

“It'll be a short match. The Butcher is a beast.”

Refreshments were served in the box as they waited. The Guild Master was quiet as the others talked. Aza steered the conversation with Stril towards worlds he had been on. Mr. Krix did business on many, many worlds.

Stril asked a number of questions. How did he come to know Mr. Kemble? Why were they so calm? Qud was 73 levels above Mr. Kemble… and Kemble only had a Profession. An Explorer Profession. The Guild Master's frown deepened. Something was strange here. Also, what was that comment about having to get back to the palace.

The Guild Master shook his head. Questions just begot more questions.

Before long, the colosseum was mostly filled. The announcer's voice boomed across the colosseum.

“This is a Guild sanctioned challenge between Vaatack “The Butcher” Qud and Ivor Kemble. The challenge is to the death unless mercy is given. Give our challengers a round of applause.”

As the competitors walked out, the Guild Master stood up. “Who the hell is that?” The Guild Master was pointing at a now armored Ivor Kemble.

“Oh, that's Ivor,” Thrik said.

“That armor is Epic level,” the Guild Master exclaimed.

“Yes. It was made by Quanzul,” Aza replied.

The Guild Master sputtered, “but..but.. he's just an Explorer.”

Aza shook his head. “Guild Master. You will soon come to learn that Ivor is not “just” anything.”

The Guild Master sat back down, completely flabbergasted.

Stril sat quietly and smiled. Now they were going to all find out why he lost, and to who.

Ivor stepped onto the dirt floor of the colosseum and made his way towards the center. His opponent was walking towards him. When he was in range, Ivor used [Identify]

Vaatack Qud (Corser)

Berzerker Juggernaut (Level 101)

Highest Stat: Constitution

Immunities: Stun, Paralyze, Frighten

Weaknesses: none

Ivor smiled. He was finally going to fight something at the Epic level, albeit just barely into Epic level. The man was massive. He carried a huge cleaver and a shield. Ivor imagined the man had some kind of movement skill and likely a bashing skill for that shield. Ivor triggered mana sight on his mask and both the shield and cleaver were highly magical in nature.

“Well, piss-ant. Want to grovel and call this off? I'm not sure who gave you that fancy armor, but it won't save you.” Qud was trying to get a rise out of the man. Ivor said nothing.

Qud shrugged. “Well, don't say I didn't warn you.”

He must have triggered a skill, because he moved fast. Unfortunately, Ivor was much, much faster. Ivor pulled his bastons out of his [Null Storage] and pushed mana into them.

Qud's was leading with a shield bash. Ivor slipped to the side and smashed a force element powered baston right into the middle of the shield. The shield crumpled in half like it was paper. The force of the hit stopped Qud dead in his tracks.

The colosseum was completely silent. A groan escaped Qud's mouth as he dropped the ruined shield on the ground. He turned to face Ivor who was just standing there.

The man bellowed in rage and swung his giant cleaver. Ivor smashed the cleaver to the side with a baston and front kicked Qud square in the center of his chest armor.

Metal screeched and a giant “oooffff” echoed through the colosseum as Qud shot back through the air clearing forty meters before he hit the ground, bounced and came to a stop lying on his face. It was several seconds before Qud slowly picked himself up. The colosseum was dead silent except for Qud's gasping breaths. He looked at Ivor with wild eyes.

He triggered [Berzerk]. His size increased by half, his speed doubled. He shot towards Ivor like a cannonball. Ivor hadn't moved. Qud smiled. There was no way the man could escape.

Suddenly, Qud was flying through the air, face first. He hit the dirt with his face, skipped twice and slammed into the colosseum wall with a shuddering boom. He raged as he picked himself up and spun around to face Ivor standing perfectly still.

Qud wouldn't make the same mistake. He lumbered over to the man, who didn't move. He had thirty seconds left on the [Berzerk] skill. He was going to pound this bug into paste.

The Guild Master couldn't believe what he was seeing. He stared open mouthed at the beating Ivor was putting on one of the highest level mercenaries in the whole guild. As Qud picked himself up and stalked over to Ivor. Ivor's bastons disappeared.

The Guild Master looked over at Aza Krix who was just shaking his head. Thrik Trids was looking right into the Guild Master's eyes.

“Pay close attention to what happens next. Blink and you'll miss it,” Trids said to the Guild Master.

Qud reached Ivor and threw a massive punch at Ivor's head. Instead of dodging Ivor punched Qud's fist. The Guild Master could hear the bones shatter all the way up in the box. Qud threw another punch with the other hand. Again, shattered bones were all that was left of the other hand.

If the Guild Master hadn't been Level 120 with a high Perception build, he would have missed what happened next. He knew most, if not all, of the attendees missed it.

Ivor moved so fast he was a blur that covered Quds entire body. To the Guild Master's eyes, Ivor was punching Quds in every bone in his body. Those punches pulverized bones with each hit.

In less than five seconds, it was over. Ivor was standing in front of Qud again, as though he had never moved. With no skeletal support, Qud's body started to fall. Ivor's hand shot out and grabbed Quds by the neck.

Effortlessly holding Quds off the ground. Ivor flicked his wrist and a loud Crack was heard throughout the colosseum. Ivor opened his hand and let the body fall to the ground.

A full fifteen seconds of silence reigned until finally the announcer found his voice. The announcement was much more subdued than the start of the challenge.

“Uh,.. the winner of the challenge is Mr. Ivor Kemble.”

The silence remained as Ivor walked back to the preparation room.

The Guild Master sat stunned. He was still processing everything he had seen. He turned to the other men in the box. Apparently, they had been addressing him.

Aza looked at the Guild Master with a sad smile. “When we left the palace grounds today, the Prince said, “Try to keep him from destroying the capital.” Now do you understand why we weren't worried?”

“Uncle, I'm only alive because that man allowed it. Our client had to have some idea of his power,” Stril said.

The door to the box opened and the two other members of the board stepped in. Shock was clear on their faces.

“Guild Master. How is this possible?” Turning to Thrik and Aza, “How is this possible?”

“I can not give details. I've sworn a System contract, and I won't ever betray Ivor. I can tell you that his situation is unique. Ivor holds no animosity towards you or your guild. He treats people as he is treated. I know some of Ivor's past and what he is capable of. You do not want him as your enemy. Ever. I would also recommend you stop doing business with the Galtu,” Aza told everyone.

“We will never do business with that client again,” one of the board members said.

“You misunderstand me. My recommendation is that you stop doing business with all Galtu,” Aza retorted.

The guild members let that sink in as Stril escorted Aza and Thrik down to the preparation room.

Chapter Thirteen

Ivor exited the preparation room still wearing his armor. The two guards took a step back.

“Some one should be along shortly to escort you, sir,” one of the guards said. Ivor detected a slight tremble in his voice.

“Thank you,” Ivor responded and leaned against the wall. “Were you stuck here or did you get to watch the fight?”

The two guards looked at each other before the other one spoke, “Uh… we were able to leave our post to watch the fight.”

Ivor nodded, “Any thoughts?”

Again the two guards looked at each other. The same guard spoke, “Well, we couldn't really see what you did at the end there. I think you were moving too fast. The rest of it… well… it was a bit terrifying.”

Ivor was pondering the response when Stril, Aza and Thrik arrived.

“I don't even know what to say about that, Mr. Kemble,” Stril said. “We need to head back to the adjudication room. They still need to hand down their ruling.”

The four of them proceeded back to the adjudication room they were previously in to see a guard standing in front of the door.

“I've been told to escort you to another room,” the guard said. The group followed behind as they wound their way through the various hallways of the building. Arriving at a set of large double doors. The guard opened one of the doors to let them in.

The setup inside was similar to the previous room, except there were nine chairs instead of three. The two judges from the previous board were there with the Guild Master. All nine people were huddled together at the back of the room having a whispered discussion. Ivor, Aza and Thrik took seats once again, as Stril stood behind the table facing the judges.

After a few minutes the gaggle broke up, and everyone took their seats. The Guild Master touched something on the desktop.

“The adjudication requested by guild member Stril Oldri is continued. The challenge was completed and recorded. The adjudication will continue with a full board. I, as Guild Master and a relative of the requestor, will abstain from the adjudication.”

One of the former judges spoke, “Has the board had adequate time to review the request and the evidence presented?” All heads nodded yes, or gave their answer verbally, except the Guild Master. “Let the record show that all board members have indicated they have had appropriate time. Given the request and evidence provided, the board has agreed to the requestors' petition. A failed mission will stay on his record with a note indicating extenuating circumstances beyond the team's control that led to the failure. Furthermore, the board has concluded that no punishment for the failed mission is warranted. Would the requestor like to make a statement?”

“I'd like to thank the board for its consideration,” Stril said.

“Very well. This adjudication is concluded,” the judge said. The Guild Master pressed something again on the desk.

The Guild Master spoke, “Stril, feel free to stick around. Mr. Kemble, the guild would like to offer its apologies for this whole incident. We do business with a lot of different organizations, and I can't guarantee that we won't or don't have business with other Galtu. I can only offer my word that we will do our best to try to ensure that the client doesn't try to pull a stunt like this in the future.”

Ivor could tell the man was a bit rattled. The other board members were looking a bit nervous as well.

“I understand your position, and I appreciate the candor. As long as you understand that I will protect my interests as well. I think you've seen I will treat those as they treat me,” Ivor replied. He had pulled his mask and hood back, and he looked at each member of the board in the eyes as he talked.

“You have made that point abundantly clear to all of us. We will do our best to steer clear of your affairs. With that being said, the board would like to offer you a V.I.P guild token. If you need our services, you get preferential selection of teams, better pricing and access to our guild halls in any location we have one.

In addition, as a V.I.P client, we offer training services for your people at a drastically reduced rate. The rate will increase if we have to bring trainers to you. However, if you send a group here, the rate is much less. Understand, we can't train an army, but one or two teams at a time is doable.” The Guild Master wasn't intending to bribe Ivor. He just knew he would rather have this man on his side rather than against him.

“I appreciate that, and I will likely take you up on the training in the near future. I have two teams that are approaching Level 30. They could likely use some training from an experienced force like yours.” Ivor was thinking Marie and Resnov could bring their teams to train together. It would give the Freehold two high quality teams for Earth.

The board members seemed to relax as he spoke. The meeting concluded and the Guild Master came down to hand Ivor the guild token. He escorted the group out to the lobby and bid them a good day.

“Mr. Kemble, I know we didn't meet under the best circumstances, but I would like you to consider me if you need a team in the future. I'd like to find a way to make amends,” Stril said to Ivor.

“I appreciate that Stril. I'll consider it in the future,” Ivor said.

The group made their way back to the palace. Ivor was hoping this test that the Prince suspected wasn't going to be combat again. It was getting annoying. He was thinking about changing his information to display a much higher level to avoid all the nonsense.

The trip back to the palace was uneventful. They were directed to a wing of the building that was housing the Prince and his retainers. This particular wing of the palace was somewhat self-contained with its own dining and kitchen staff.

The Prince was a great host. Ivor found the man very outgoing. Ivor hadn't interacted with the Prince in a social environment like this.

After dinner, Thrik took his leave to make sure the Prince's guards were squared away. The Prince invited Aza and Ivor to a cozy study for some private discussion and drinks.

Ivor was listening to the two men talk. It was clear they had a long history together. Although the Prince was quite a bit younger than Aza, they obviously had formed a strong friendship.

As usual, Ivor was content to listen to others talk. After some time, the door to the study opened and another F'on came in. The Prince stood.

“Ah, brother. Managed to shirk your Princely duties to hang out with the lowlifes I see,” Prince Eqred joked.

The man smiled and declared, “My skills in delegation and dereliction of duty knows no bounds. Mr. Krix, good to see you again. I trust you are charging my brother much more for things than you do for me.”

Aza bowed. “Of course my future king. Keeping your brother in his place is a daily joy of mine.”

The men laughed and Prince Eqred pointed his drink towards Ivor. “Brother, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Ivor Kemble. Mr. Kemble is a Freeholder on a newly integrated world and a good friend of Mr. Krix, and so far, a good friend to the Kingdom. Mr. Kemble, my oldest brother, Crown Prince Unzell Crit'o.”

Ivor bowed. “A pleasure to meet you.”

The Crown Prince frowned for a moment and asked, “Why is that name so familiar? Wait, are you the man that got into a fight with Thrik Trids?”

“It was a friendly spar, your highness,” Ivor said.

“Friendly spar, he says.” Prince Eqred scoffed. “Trids had to get new armor when Ivor was done with him.”

The Crown Prince's eyebrows rose. “Really? I might have a guard or two that need a good drubbing when you have some time.”

“I'm always happy to trade techniques if necessary,” Ivor said with a smile.

The Crown Prince chirped out a laugh. “Good man. I can see why my brother likes you.”

They had barely sat down with fresh drinks when the door opened again with a loud voice asking, “Eqqy are you in here?”

The two other Princes facepalmed as another F'on entered the room already with drink in hand and seemingly to have had a few already. “Oh, brother,…er brothers, there you are. I finally escaped all the boring hangers-on. Let's get drunk.” He seemed to notice the two other people in the room. “Ah, Mr. Krix and stranger. Lovely to see you both, I assume.”

Prince Eqred motioned for his inebriated brother to sit. “Brother, the stranger in our midst is Mr. Ivor Kemble, a good friend of Mr. Krix. Ivor, my other, less Princely brother, Nusqaks.”

Ivor, still seated, nodded. “Your highness, a pleasure.”

“Wait, I know that name. You're the one that beat Thrik Trids bloody in my brother's palace,” the man excitedly exclaimed.

Prince Eqred groaned, “These damn rumors. Brother, it was a friendly spar.”

“Tell that to Trids' armor,” the Crown Prince quipped.

They were all chuckling when another voice chimed in, “Easy enough to find you degenerates. I just need to follow the bellowing, laughter and stink of liquor.”

As different from humans as the F'on were, Ivor knew a truly beautiful woman when he saw one. Objectively, anyone would agree. As there wasn't a nearby seat, Ivor stood.

“Please, take my seat. I'll go grab another one,” Ivor said motioned for her to sit.

“Oh, my. Thank you kind stranger. With chivalry like that, I expect you to defend my honor from these louts.” She smiled at Ivor.

“Of course,” Ivor said.

As Ivor was grabbing another chair from across the room, Prince Eqred spoke, “Dear sister, let me introduce your knight in blackened armor, Mr. Ivor Kemble, a good friend of Mr. Krix. Ivor, my sister and the youngest of us, Princess Nur'al Crit'o.”

Ivor bowed to the Princess. She turned to Aza. “Aza dear, please have your wife send me the name of the person that made the dress that she wore last time you were in the palace. It was lovely.”

Something dawned on the Princess, and she turned to Ivor. “Wait. I heard you crippled Thrik Trids in my brother's palace.”

Everyone broke out in laughter as Ivor explained, “It was friendly spar.”

“I see the rumor mill is in high gear in this Kingdom,” she said.

Prince Eqred in his extraverted fashion explained the story of how Ivor came to his attention in the first place. Many shocked looks went around as the Prince relayed the story of Ivor tossing the Inquisitor around his jail cell. Ivor then explained why the Galtu were upset with him. The royalty were clearly upset when Ivor told them about the monster swarm and what he found in that cavern.

The Princess spoke, “It's clear you've had quite the System initiation. I understand now why the rumors about you are flying around the city. Just before I came to find you all, I heard a rumor about Ivor killing a high level Corser Guild member. I guess when someone makes waves, people will embellish stories about them.”

“Oh, no, that happened this afternoon,” Aza said.

There was a shocked silence. Prince Eqred mumbled, “At least he didn't destroy the capital.”

Then everyone was talking all at once, Ivor put his hands up. “Yes, it's true. Yes, I am a Level 28 Inveterate Explorer. My situation is somewhat unique. It all worked out in the end.”

That led to more questions about how the whole situation came into being. Ivor only mentioned he had a business partner. It was obvious he was keeping things from them, but they were royalty.

They were used to people keeping secrets. Aza started talking about Ivor's help with Esqin's alloy project. He mentioned that Esqin was currently adventuring with Ivor's daughter.

Eventually, the conversation turned away from Ivor, which he was happy for. The interaction between the siblings was heartwarming. Their affection was genuine and their teasing was good natured.

Ivor found himself smiling and laughing more than he had in a long time. It eased the tension he had from the early challenge.

It was several hours, and many drinks, later when the door opened and two royal guards entered and looked around. They stepped back out and another female F'on came into the room. Everyone stood. Ivor immediately noticed the resemblance between the Princess and this woman.

“So, all my children come to the palace, and do they come to see their poor mother? Oh no, they'd rather booze it up with a sleazy merchant and a stranger from another world. I have clearly failed as a parent.” Ivor could see where the humor in the family came from.

Aza stepped forward. “My Queen, I'll have you know that I only peddle in the finest sleaze available.”

“Indeed Aza. However, I see you now surround yourself with brazen murders.” She pointed to Ivor, “Isn't this the man that decapitated poor Thrik Trids in my son's palace.”

There was a brief pause, then everyone started laughing.

The Queen stepped up to Ivor. “Mr. Kemble I presume.” Ivor nodded. “Neat trick you pulled off there. Poor Trids managed to attach his head and walk away.”

“Yes, your highness. It was a friendly spar that got completely out of hand. I throw myself at your mercy,” Ivor shot back.

The Queen laughed, a light tinkling sort of laugh. “Oh, I see you'll fit right in with my unruly children. Well, we will have more time to talk tomorrow. I just wanted to let you all know not to stay up too late.

It's going to be a busy day tomorrow, and your father wants you at your best. Good night everyone. It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Kemble.”

Ivor bowed low. “The pleasure is all mine.”

The group broke up not long after. Aza and Ivor were shown to their rooms. The room was palatial.

Go figure, a palatial room in an actual palace. Ivor wasn't tired though. He left his room and asked a guard in the hallway if there was a place to train. Ivor preferred somewhere the guard trained, not where the royalty trained.

The guard was a bit taken aback, but he gave Ivor directions to the front of the wing where one of the guards there could show him the way.

The guard training area was in a building near one of the guard barracks. It reminded Ivor of a large gymnasium complex. The training rooms, both large and small, were warded with runes to prevent damage and from sound escaping.

The guard on duty asked him if he wanted a private room, but Ivor declined. Unless the guard didn't want him watching them train, he would train in the open. There was a changing room, and Ivor changed out of his fancy, palace clothes into his armor. He changed the armor to be less Epic looking than normal.

He shifted it to dark browns. With his hood and mask pulled back, he entered one of the larger training rooms.

Even this late at night, there were guards training. The room was massive. There was enough room for dozens of groups to train. Ivor picked a section by himself and started slowly going through his unarmed motions.

He gradually picked up the pace sparring an imaginary opponent. After fifteen minutes or so, he pulled out his bastons and started all over again. After another fifteen minutes, Ivor pulled out his Dark Steel short swords.

Again, he started slow. An outside observer would notice some commonalities between unarmed, armed with bastons, and armed with swords movements, but an expert would notice the differences.

After about forty minutes of training, Ivor noticed a small group of guards standing a discreet distance away watching him. He finished up his sword practice. The guards approached.

“We hope we didn't disturb your practice,” one of the guards said.

“No, not at all,” Ivor responded.

“We were curious about your style. We are dual wielders like you. We noticed your unarmed style seems to match your dual weapon style. If you are open to discussing it, we'd like to hear about it.” Several of the guards nodded in agreement.

“Sure. This style, Arnis, from my world. Instruction starts with weapons first. You must be proficient in both blade and baston, the stick, before you are allowed to move on to unarmed. As you can imagine, that much dual wielding influences unarmed combat quite a bit,” Ivor explained.

One of the guards nodded. “It's often the other way around here. In fact, we usually start with unarmed training in addition to separate work with blades or blunt weapons. Later, most of us found we preferred dual wielding. That leaves the unarmed combat divorced from the armed combat.”

“It was that way on my world as well, for most martial techniques. I'd be happy to show you some basic forms and attacks you could practice later,” Ivor offered.

The surprise on their faces was clear. “That would be fantastic.”

Ivor spent the next several hours showing the royal guard both basic and slightly advanced moves they could practice and try to implement with their style. These were professionals. They picked up the concept quickly, unlike novices.

At one point, Ivor noticed an older F'on male come into the training area and walk around. He stopped for a few minutes to watch Ivor and the guards. Then he left.

Ivor had taken to not using [Identify] on everyone all the time. Socially, in the System, it was considered rude. In addition, it just took some of the surprise out of life. He would use it in a heartbeat on an opponent.

Just like with Aza's guards, Ivor enjoyed his time working with the royal guard. They were quality combatants. They listened attentively and asked good questions.

The evening was enjoyable. Zed reminded Ivor that he needed some time to get cleaned up and changed before the morning meal. He bid the guards good-bye and let them know he was part of Prince Eqred's group if they had further questions.

Chapter Fourteen

Ivor cleaned up in his huge room and put on more fancy clothes. He met Aza and Prince Eqred in the small dining room for breakfast. He wasn't terribly hungry, but he did enjoy a few cups of Sepp. It was close enough to coffee to make him happy.

Ivor was prepared for a long boring day of petitioners to the King and endless proclamations. It turned out to not be boring at all. The King made the whole thing into an event. There were even printed programs. The Princes and Princess would give updates on their lands, major projects and people to celebrate. The events were timed, and the royal family was very good at creating a performance-like atmosphere.

People were granted an audience with the King. Usually it was to be celebrated for some large contribution to the kingdom or to make a well reasoned request for a project of some sort. Of course, all the petitioners were vetted well ahead of time and coached on how to proceed. If the royal family agreed to the project, the petitioner was whisked off to a separate room where further details could be shared with the public. It was almost like a convention.

Ivor wasn't hiding any of his information, except his Titles. Enough rumors had gone around that he was sought out by a number of people. Aza stuck close by early on to give Ivor information about those that approached. Most of the initial people approaching Ivor did so because of the rumors about his spar with Thrik Trids. Those rumors were put to rest when Thrik and Ivor shared a long conversation and several laughs. The runaway rumors died out immediately. It was in fact, just a spar.

Ivor did get a chance to pitch Scindair's forthcoming auction house. Being an Inveterate Explorer, he would likely have some unique items to present at the auction. He took down names of interested parties, and there were quite a few. Ivor had flashed around a vial of Shadow Essence. He made sure everyone knew there were several up for auction. Aza was so proud of him, he almost shed a tear.

The Princes and Princess stopped to talk to Ivor. It was clear they were solidifying his place in the social pecking order. Aza had finally moved on to talk to business partners and competitors both.

There were the usual blowhards trying to get a rise out of Ivor. He generally ignored them. They were just trying to gauge his temperament. If they could affect him, they could control him. Nobody controlled Ivor Kemble.

Eventually, the last of the events wrapped up, and it was down to the real important people. This is the time when valuable topics were discussed. These were the topics you didn't want the general public or your enemies to hear.

A guard approached Aza and Ivor who were quietly talking in one of the side rooms.

“Gentlemen, the King would like you in the Throne room.”

Aza and Ivor followed the guard to the throne room. The King and Queen were seated on rather plain looking thrones. The Princes and Princess were off to the Queen's right side.

To her immediate right was an older man in armor. Ivor recognized him as the older man that had watched him when he was training with the royal guards. To the left of the King was a man Ivor hadn't seen before. Ivor was positive the man wasn't a fighter. Advisor or Mage, possibly both.

Remembering his instructions by Prince Eqred's assistant, Ivor stopped with Aza at the appropriate distance from the King. While Aza knelt, Ivor completed a deep bow as befitting his somewhat ambassadorial status.

The man to the King's left snapped. “You should kneel before the King.”

Ivor felt the man's will wash over him like a calm breeze. Ivor turned to the man, inserting some of his will into the statement, “No.”

The man's face scrunched up in concentration. “I said…”

Ivor put his finger to his lips, enforcing his next words with all his 300+ Willpower, Silence.

The word was a mere whisper, but it carried the weight of absolute obedience. The man's lips moved, but no sound came out. Ivor could hear gasps around the room. Ivor looked to the King who had the biggest smile on his face.

“Incredible, simply incredible. Mr. Kemble, forgive my Seneschal and please release him,” the King asked.

Ivor pulled back his will. The man reached up to his throat as a reflex as he spoke, “My apologies as well Mr. Kemble. The King wanted to gauge your reaction to provocation. I would never be so petty. You'll understand shortly why we chose this test.”

Ivor nodded. “I understand. I'm just surprised it wasn't another physical test. That seems to be my luck recently.”

The King laughed. “Considering you absolutely destroyed a Level 101 Berzerker Juggernaut mercenary in their own house, and bested one of the finest guards in all the land, I figured a different sort of test was in order. Wouldn't you agree, Commander Trids?”

Ivor was confused for a moment, until the older armored man stepped forward.

“I have no doubt of Mr. Kemble's martial prowess, since I trained the guard he bested. Additionally, you may not realize that Mr. Kemble spent several hours last night training a group of the royal guard in his martial style, both armed and unarmed. There is no doubt he could benefit from training by someone in the Epic or Legendary levels that focuses specifically on unarmed and dual wielding. With his skill and obviously high stats, he is a force to be reckoned with,” the man said.

The King was momentarily shocked. “He trained our men last night?”

Prince Eqred spoke up, “My King, in addition, prior to coming here, he spent several days training my guard, and I know he has been training Mr. Krix's guard as well.”

The King mumbled, but everyone could hear, “I haven't even asked the man for anything, and I already owe him.”

The Queen couldn't suppress a small laugh.

“Well then, Mr. Kemble, I have need of a man with your particular skills and abilities. I know you may think that there are plenty of talented people in my Kingdom, and you would be correct. However, the situation I find myself in is delicate. I can't send any more of my people to investigate this particular problem as it is on our southern border. Specifically, on the border with the Wastelands. Our neighbors to the south start getting nervous when I send too many strong people south. You, however, are a Freeholder. Furthermore, you are now an Inveterate Explorer. A very, very strong Inveterate Explorer. You can go where you want,” the King explained.

“You will get more detailed information later, but I implore your help in investigating several disappearances of two villages near the wasteland as well as the missing people sent to investigate. I'm sure we can come to some form of equitable arrangement,” the King implored.

“I will tentatively accept until such time as more detail indicates whether or not I feel I can complete the assignment.” Ivor bowed his head.

“Smart man.” The King clapped his hands and smiled. “Now, let's all take a couple of hours to refresh ourselves and meet in the large recreation room for a less formal affair.”

Ivor went to his room and changed into more casual clothes. Aza showed up an hour later, and the two talked until a servant came to fetch them. They were taken into an area of the palace that was much more heavily guarded. Aza informed Ivor that they were in the section of the palace that housed the royal family's personal quarters.

They were escorted to a large room. It was well appointed with several seating areas and a few tables that Aza informed him were for certain games people could play. There was a bar, no bartender, that was seemingly well stocked.

It looked like a space for entertaining a large family. The Princes and Princess were in the room already, lounging comfortably. They waved Ivor and Aza over. The conversation was mostly about rumors that were picked up during the events of the day.

As Aza explained to Ivor, the royal family liked to keep an eye on rumors as they often involved a kernel of truth. Enough truth to decide if it was worth tracking down the real story.

Some of the rumors were simply hilarious. There were of course various scandals of the movers and shakers of society as well. Ivor found the royal family to be amazingly tight knit and open with one another. Several times, one or the other would offer assistance with a matter. Each of them had skills or knew people that had the skills to help out. It was refreshing to see a family support one another on the scale of a kingdom.

Finally, the King and Queen showed up. The King immediately approached Ivor.

“Let me apologize once again for our little test, Mr. Kemble,” the King began.

Ivor held up a hand. “Please, your majesty, no apologies needed. I've been through much more brutal tests in my former career. If I can be so bold, call me Ivor.”

The King smiled. “In private, please call me Unzi, Ivor, and my wife Nur'il.”

The Queen spoke, “What exactly was your former career Ivor? We have had a very short brief on your situation, but we frankly don't know much about your or your world other than it was recently integrated into the System.”

Ivor glanced at Aza, who gave him a subtle nod. “I tend to avoid talking about my past as it often taints what people think of me.”

“Oh, that's silly,” the Queen scoffed. “Your current actions speak highly of your character. We know that many things change when the System reforms a world. The histories of many planets prove this over and over.”

At this point, the other conversations had stopped. Ivor wasn't always comfortable being the center of attention. He was usually the person nobody notices. Still, these people had treated him well, and he didn't really have anything to hide. The King and Queen took seats, and Ivor did as well.

“Well, on my world, the government of the area I lived in had many enemies, for a number of reasons. The government had armies and spies, of course. They also had people like me. I was not a member of the government. I would take contract jobs. These were the most dangerous or dirty jobs the government didn't want documented anywhere.

I killed a lot of people that were doing some very bad things. That's not all I did. I would take down terrorist organizations, drug gangs, etc… But those jobs often involved violence as well,” Ivor explained.

The Queen was the first to speak, “We've collected some of the available information in the System Market about your kind. You look rather young. You can't have done it for long.”

Ivor chuckled. “I performed that job for over forty years. I only look young now. During my Evaluation, I experienced something that gave me extra years and reduced my physical age to about thirty years old. I was sixty when the System came.”

The King obviously did the math in his head. “How old were you when you started on that path.”

Ivor looked at everyone and said, “I was 17 years old.”

There was stunned silence. Ivor proceeded to tell them of his history. His dismissal from the military due to politics, his subsequent recruitment as a C.I.A contractor. He explained the various types of conflicts the United States was in, either openly or secretly. He told them briefly about Kosovo and how that changed him.

He didn't go into detail. He talked about meeting Marie's mother and Marie's birth. How he stayed in her life despite the constant travel and secrecy. He explained how his Evaluation was different.

Without revealing too much, he explained how his previous life prepared him for the solitude. He even mentioned that the Evaluation was what made his base stats so high. Obviously, nobody pressed him for details. They had class.

Ivor spoke for more than an hour.

The Crown Prince was the first to comment, “Ivor, I don't know how you are so well adjusted after living the life you have. We see it often enough. People that are thrown into that lifestyle and gain power.

It warps them. Some become sadistic or simply insane. Even the ones that don't are broken in the end.

It is truly a testament to your will that you have survived all of this and still seem…well, normal.”

His siblings were all nodding. “Perhaps you are right. My name is not common in my world. It comes from a people called the Welsh. My two names derived from my ancestral Welsh mean, roughly, bow warrior and warrior chieftain. So perhaps I was always destined to live this lifestyle.”

The mood had turned somber, but the Queen turned everything around in an instant. “Tell me of your daughter. She must be an amazing woman. I know Aza wouldn't trust little Esqin with just anyone.”

Aza immediately jumped into the conversation. He had actually communicated more with Marie than he had with Ivor during Ivor's Evaluation. He explained how they came to be introduced through Esqin. At this point, Esqin's alloy was a product Aza was selling. He talked a lot about the strong bond Ivor and Marie had. Aza retold the story of how they even managed to converse with him acting as an intermediary.

The King looked at Ivor. “Don't ever underestimate the power of a Merchant of Aza's skill level. He could likely cripple our whole economy if we got on his bad side. Not that he would of course.”

Ivor told some fun stories about Marie, which prompted the King and Queen to share some stories about their children growing up. The Princes and Princess all had children. Ivor had yet to meet any of their partners or children. They explained that during the royal events, they tended to do a lot of work. So they didn't bring their families. Instead, the King had a country estate where the families would get together as often as they could. With travel circle ability between palaces, the King and Queen got to see their grandchildren quite often.

At one point, while Ivor was at the bar fixing himself a drink, the King approached him alone.

“Ivor, I just want to thank you for at least considering helping us out. I have no doubt you are skilled enough to help. I think you will agree that the mission is just and necessary. I want you to know that I can offer something only a ruler can offer another ruler. These are things you wouldn't know as a Freeholder, and a new one at that. The System hides much from the newly integrated worlds. I just want you to know there are boons to be had, but I can't offer anything without something in return. You understand.” The King seemed somewhat ashamed that he couldn't just help Ivor now.

Ivor nodded. “I understand there are rules imposed by the System. I think I've learned enough by interacting with you and your family to know you wouldn't ask if you didn't need the help. If I can help, I will.”

The King seemed to relax a bit with that declaration. Then he got a mischievous look in his eye. “You don't have to tell me anything, but my Seneschal wouldn't stop wondering how you silenced him so thoroughly. I know for a fact his Willpower is over 150.”

Ivor saw what the King was getting at. “Mine is higher.”

The King smiled again. It was like a kid learning a naughty secret. “How much higher?”

“A lot higher,” Ivor commented.

“How much is a lot?” The King was like a dog with a bone.

“Will you sign a System contract with me? Very simple, Aza has one as well. I won't tell you specific numbers, but you'll understand,” Ivor offered.

The King immediately nodded. Ivor sent the simple contract Mary from Hunter's Rest had helped him create. To the King's credit, he spent some time reading it thoroughly. Ivor got the acceptance notification.

“It's over 300,” Ivor said.

The King's mouth dropped open, his eyes wide open. “That's….that's…. I don't even know what that is.”

While the King was sputtering, Ivor dropped another truth bomb on him, “All the rest are well over 200.”

“Ivor, do you realize how insane that is? You've only been part of the System for, what, a year?” The King asked.

“Yes, right about a year,” Ivor responded.

The King shook his head and downed his drink. “A year and you are well into Legendary stat territory working your way to Mythic. My boy, I'm suddenly immensely happy you are friendly to us.”

Ivor chuckled. “Unzi, you'll find that I treat people like they treat me.”

“Speaking of, I heard that Corcer Guild Master was practically begging you not to destroy them.”

Ivor shrugged. “He definitely gave me preferential treatment after my little challenge. I think he's just a smart businessman. Why make an enemy you don't have to. He's also not a pushover. Some Galtu have a problem with me, and he didn't immediately cancel all his Galtu contracts. I'm sure he's telling all of his people working for Galtu that if they encounter me to just fail the contract.

He knows he'll lose people. Better to lose coin than people.”

“That's good. I don't know the man well, but I'm told he keeps his word, and he looks after his people.”

The two walked back to the group when the Princess said, “Ivor what's this Aza is telling us about an Ice Dragon?”

“Oh, right, the one from the Evaluation dungeon.” Ivor rubbed his chin. The Ice Dragon fight seemed so long ago. It was still the highest level dungeon he had completed.

Prince Nusqaks nearly spit out his drink. “You had an Ice Dragon in an Evaluation dungeon. I thought those Evaluations were supposed to be something like dungeons at Level 5 or 10 at the most.”

“Oh, my first dungeon was Level 5. It was pretty tough. My stats were ok, but I made some mistakes and got injured. I learned my lesson before I fought the boss though,” Ivor explained.

The Crown Prince rolled his eyes at the absurdity of it all. “What level was the boss?”

“It was a Level 15 Clay Golem Guardian,” Ivor responded.

The Princess let out an exasperated sigh. “Tell me about the damn dragon.”

Ivor laughed and relayed the story of the Ice Dragon Dungeon. It was kind of fun retelling it like a story. I was pretty intense at the time. Everyone was fascinated with the Ice Syphon Spheres. No one had ever heard of them before.

The Princess was riveted by the story. “I always had a fascination with dragons. Too bad that wasn't a nice dragon. I bet you have a bunch of dungeon stories.”

Ivor shrugged. “Honestly, most of them are pretty boring, and they tend to run on the same themes. That Level 60 dungeon is the highest I've been in. I'd like to find something higher.”

“If you find them boring, why do them? And how many do you have to do before they get boring?” Prince Eqred asked.

“I mainly ran people through dungeons to get them leveled and for coins and materials. By the time I hit 200 dungeons, it had lost its novelty.”

“Most people that push themselves get the 100 dungeon title. If you don't mind me asking, what happens at 200 with the title?” The Crown Prince asked.

“More experience, more information at the interface, better frequency of rare rewards and the cooldown is reduced to zero.” Ivor listed each of the benefits.

The King chimed in, “Repeating the same dungeon has diminishing returns though, yes?”

Ivor nodded. “Correct. I now have the over 300 dungeon title and I still can't farm the same dungeon. My title is a bit different though as it also includes bonuses because I completed a dungeon 50 levels or more above my own. I got that for the Ice Dragon dungeon. It was Level 60.”

“We have a Level 110 dungeon in the kingdom. I don't know if anyone has completed it. Maybe one of the guilds has sent their high level teams, but even they would be hard pressed if the monster range was significantly higher,” the King said.

“I would love to know where that is. I'm curious if my title gets an upgrade if I can do a dungeon 75 levels above my own. I ran my daughter and then Esqin through dungeons to get the over 25 level bonus.” Ivor saw the royals all exchange looks. He didn't think that what he said was so shocking.

The King chose his words very carefully, “Ivor, are you aware of other titles? Titles one can start out with that give them an advantage?”

“Oh, you mean Good Start and Great start?” Ivor continued when he saw them all nodding. “Yes, through Aza I was able to let Marie's team know about it. When they returned from their Evaluation, I helped them get the Great Start title through various means. We are spreading that knowledge on my planet.”

The King nodded. “So, you have that title too.”

“Oh, no I don't have the Great Start title.” Ivor shook his head.

“Then how did you find out about it? Did you come across some information in your Evaluation?” The King was perplexed.

“Well, sort of. I have the Perfect Start title.”

The King frowned. “I've never heard of this title.”

“It's highly unlikely anyone else will get it. The unique circumstances of my Evaluation allowed me to get it.” Ivor shrugged.

“Do you mind telling us what it is?” The King's question was hopeful.

“Sure. I don't see the harm. It might also help explain some things about me. You get the Perfect Start title by having 100 in all stats before you take your Class or Profession,” Ivor said.

Loud exclamations burst forth as the Princes and Princess were talking over each other at the revelation.

The Queen's laugh quieted everyone down. “Unique Evaluation indeed. I would say that you are simply Unique. I'll tell you why my children were looking at you so oddly and why my dear husband asked you about the titles. All people in power want their children to have every advantage they can give them in life. There are probably people that have survived a dungeon 25 levels over their own, if only by dumb luck. Nobody would share that information though. If we can find the dungeons, each of my children can run their children through much like you did for Marie and Esqin.”

“Oh, you don't need to find the dungeons. My title allows me to change the dungeon level which generates a new dungeon of that level down to the lowest level of my party or up to the highest level of dungeon I have completed. When it's done, it reverts back to the original level and dungeon theme,” Ivor stated.

There was a short pause and the room exploded in noise as everyone, including the King and Queen tried to talk over each other.

Aza laughed. “Ivor put them out of their misery.”

“Folks, I'll gladly help your kids get the title. Just set up some time with me, preferably not all at once. You can come yourselves or provide other chaperones,” Ivor said.

The King looked at Ivor. “Ivor, we will compensate you, of course. It speaks much of your character that you would offer this out of friendship. However, you will be compensated accordingly. I'll leave it up to my children to decide what the compensation is.”

The Princes and Princess were all nodding vigorously. The rest of the evening was spent excitedly planning visits for Ivor to the various parts of the kingdom. There was no bickering between the royal children, just honest negotiations.

Ivor really wanted Marie to meet these folks. They were good people.

Aza was getting tired, as he had a long day. Ivor bid the royal family goodnight and went back to his room and Aza did the same. Sometime tomorrow, Ivor would find out what the King wanted him to do.

Chapter Fifteen

Ivor didn't need the sleep. So, after reading some of the Vamhael Rune Codex, he left his room and headed for the royal guard training area again. When he exited his wing of the palace one of the guards spoke.

“Mr. Kemble, heading to do some training?” The guard asked.

Ivor stopped. “I'm hoping to. Is it a problem?”

The man shook his head. “No sir, I'm just a little jealous.” The guard motioned to the two short swords in scabbards at his waist. “I'm a dual wielder myself, and…well… some of the guards have been bragging about the training you gave them.”

Ivor nodded. “Do you train in the morning after your shift?”

“I do.”

“Meet me at the training area as soon as you are off duty. I will be available first thing in the morning. Bring anyone you feel could benefit,” Ivor encouraged.

The guard gawked for a moment. “I..sir, you don't have to do that. I was just making conversation.”

“Nonsense. It's clear you have the desire to learn and grow or you never would have mentioned it. I may not be able to teach you much in a short time, but I won't let a student struggle if I have the power to help,” Ivor said.

“Yes, sir. I'll be there,” the guard responded.

Ivor made his way back to the training area and immediately changed into his armor. He went, once again, to the largest training hall. Taking up the unused section.

He could see several groups of royal guards watching him. Not all of them were duel wielders, but he did see several from the previous day. They were giving him space to warm up. Ivor thought that was rather polite.

After about a half hour, Ivor motioned them over. There were several groups, mostly filled with people he had trained before. However, there were at least 40% more people that Ivor didn't recognize.

“Show of hands. How many got instruction from me yesterday?” A large group of hands shot up. “Great. Step to my left. Now, how many of you that are left are dual wielders?” A much smaller group of hands rose. “Ok, those of you that I instructed, start working with these others on the basic forms.”

“So, the rest of you are not dual wielders?” Ivor continued, “We will work on how you counter dual wielders.” The dual wielders groaned, and the others just smiled. Ivor got to work.

He had been working with both groups for about three hours when another group of guards came in. Ivor was immediately on edge. Of the five guards approaching, the one in front was clearly looking right at him. The five stomped over. Ivor just shook his head; nothing good would come of this.

Ivor could see the worried looks in several of the guards' faces. He sighed as the group came over, and turned to face the leader.

The man was dressed in royal guard armor and had a massive double bladed axe strapped to his back. He was large for a F'on. Muscular in a way most of the species wasn't.

“So, the rumors are true.” He shook his head in feigned disgust. “How low we have fallen that some weakling without a Class is training the royal guard. I'm sure the rumors of you besting Thrik Trids are made up as well. I can only assume our illustrious Commander is getting a little addled in the head to allow something like this to go on.”

Ivor knew a bully when he saw one. “Is it common practice for blowhards to interrupt training while contributing nothing productive?”

The man immediately got an angry look on his face. “I don't know who you think you're talking to, but you better watch your tongue before I pull it out of your face.”

Ivor turned to speak to the groups behind him, turning his back on the newcomers, “Here is another lesson. If you're going to fight, get to it. Don't just run your mouth. Don't give your opponent time to act.”

“Don't turn your back on me, you sniveling shit.” The man reached out to grab Ivor's shoulder. He grabbed nothing but air because Ivor wasn't there anymore. The man stumbled a bit. The stumble embarrassed him. He reached for his axe.

As he started pulling his axe. Ivor appeared in front of him again.

“You pull that axe and bad things are going to happen,” Ivor told the man so only both of them could hear it.

The man growled and pulled his axe and swung at the same time, activating a skill he had. Two things happened in the blink of an eye. The axe shattered and the man hit the ground on the side of his head and bounced. Nobody had seen Ivor move.

Ivor looked at the other men that had shown up. “You'll want to get a healer. I tried not to slap him very hard, but he's probably got a cracked skull.”

Three of the men took off. One stood over the unconscious body of his leader.

Ivor turned to the groups. “Well, fun time is over. Let's get back to training.”

The guards just looked at him until Ivor clapped his hands. They all broke back up into their training groups, and Ivor got back to work.

It took about ten minutes for the healer to arrive with two of the men. The healer immediately assessed the man. He asked some questions of the two men who pointed at Ivor. The healer immediately walked over.

“In order to heal him correctly, I need to know if you used any mana, mana infused weapon or mana skill on him.”

Ivor shook his head. “I just slapped him.”

The healer frowned. “You slapped him?”

“Hard,” Ivor finished.

The man looked at Ivor for a moment and nodded. He went back to his patient to begin healing him.

Twenty minutes later, the third man that had run off returned with Commander Trids with Thrik Trids following closely behind.

As the three approached, the man said, “That's him Commander. That's the man that assaulted the Lieutenant.”

The Commander looked at Ivor then at the man. Pointing at Ivor, he said, “This man. This man right here assaulted a Lieutenant in the Royal Guard.”

The man nodded, “Yes, sir.”

Commander Trids looked at Ivor. “Mr. Kemble, what the hell happened here?”

Ivor scratched his face. “Well, I was working with some of the guards here and this group came up. The big one laying on the ground started running his mouth. I ignored him. He pulled an axe. I warned him that bad things would happen if he pulled it. He did it anyway. So, I slapped him.”

“You slapped him?” The Commander asked, looking at the prone form on the ground.

“Hard,” Ivor responded.

The Commander scrubbed a hand down his weary face. Thrik was stifling a laugh.

The Commander turned to the man who had accused Ivor of assault. “I don't like people lying to me. You're done, pack your shit and get out. If I find out you've taken anything belonging to the guard, I'll hunt you down personally.”

The man stood there with his mouth open.

“A few of you men,” the Commander said, pointing to some of the other trainees in the building, “help him find his way to the barracks and see that he makes it out of the palace grounds safely.”

Three guards, not ones Ivor had been training, surrounded the man and motioned for him to move along. The group left the building with the former guard still in shock.

“How long until he's conscious?” The Commander asked the healer.

“There is significant skull damage and his jaw is broken. I've fixed the damage to his brain. It will be a few more minutes until the bones are healed. Maybe twenty minutes until he wakes. I could use a healing potion on him if you want to speed it up,” the healer responded.

“Don't waste it on this trash.” The Commander looked at Ivor and the group behind him. “Are you training or just standing around looking like idiots?”

Ivor smirked. “Alright, back into groups. Let's continue.”

It took a little longer than the healer estimated, but eventually the Lieutenant woke up. He immediately started bellowing.

“I demand satisfaction. This simpleton assaulted me with some sort of trick or object.”

The Commander looked at the idiotic Lieutenant. Pointing at Ivor he asked, “This man here. He assaulted you for no reason?”

“Exactly so Commander,” the man said.

“How did your axe get destroyed?” The Commander asked.

The man frowned. “My axe is destroyed?” He looked down to see the axe handle with no head laying on the ground.

“So, he destroyed my property as well.” The man seemed sure of his situation.

“Why was your axe out Lieutenant? Did you pull an axe on a Level 28 Explorer? Is a Lieutenant in the royal guard so scared of someone so far below their level? A personal guest of the King and Queen. A confidant of the Princes and Princess. A business partner of the Krix Consortium. A Freeholder who decided to spend his time sharing his expertise in unarmed and dual wielding combat with royal guards while asking nothing in return. This is the type of man you would pull your axe out for?” The Commander's voice gradually got louder and louder as he went on.

The Lieutenant's eyes had gotten wider and wider as the Commander spoke.

The Commander shook his head. “Lieutenant, I'm detaining you for attacking a guest of the King with ambassador status. You'll be held in the jail until such time as the Seneschal can complete a full investigation. Thrik, grab some men and escort the Lieutenant to the jail.”

The Commander leaned down to speak to the Lieutenant, “You're going to wish he would have just killed you. Make no mistake. He could have. A part of me thinks he knows this and is choosing this path to punish you. He is not a man to cross.”

Thrik and the others pulled the man to his feet and escorted him out of the building.

Ivor walked up to the Commander. “Apologies for the confrontation.”

“Knock that shit off Mr. Kemble. You and I are men of action. I've had issues with that asshole for a long time. He always manages to keep it within the lines. He crossed the line and paid for it. I hate losing a good guard, but he wasn't a good guard.

I doubt the King will execute him. He comes from a wealthy family. Not Aza Krix wealthy, but influential enough. I feel I probably don't have to tell you, but keep your eyes open.”

Ivor nodded.

“Thank you for taking the time with the men.” The Commander continued, “Additional training never hurts, and your style is different enough that those who really want to will incorporate it into their own styles. My son spoke highly of you, even after that spar you two had. I can see why. It's been hard on him being the son of the Royal Guard Commander. He's worked hard and earned everything he's gotten.”

“I have no doubt. He's skilled. He's a good man,” Ivor said.

The Commander nodded, “It means a lot to me as a father to hear you say that. He has spent most of his life trying to stay out of my shadow. It hasn't allowed him a lot of time to make friends. It seems like he may have found one in you. Thank you.”

Ivor nodded at the man. Like any parent, the Commander just wanted his child to be happy, healthy and surround himself with good people. Having been a loner for so long, Ivor was starting to appreciate the friendships he seemed to be developing.

The Commander left, and Ivor continued with the training. As the night turned to day, word had spread. The night guards would filter into the training area as their shifts ended. The guard from the wing of the palace Ivor was staying in showed up. Several of the night guards that had taken particularly well to his style and liked teaching stayed to help Ivor out. The previous commotion was forgotten and the training continued.

The training was not one sided. These men were professionals. Ivor was learning too.

Although most of the instruction was about Ivor's style and how to counter dual wielders, he was picking up bits and pieces from the guards. It had been a long time since Ivor had incorporated new things into his style. He recalled something the Commander had said in the throne room.

Ivor might just have to seek out an Epic or Legendary trainer for his unarmed and dual wielding style. He was never one of those geniuses like Bruce Lee that could create his own thing. He was good at taking instruction though.

After another several hours of training, one of the royal staff approached Ivor and let him know that he was requested to attend a meeting in a few hours. Ivor bid the guards good day. There were many thanks and good wishes. Ivor hated having to deal with the confrontation, but seeing the gratitude for his efforts and the excitement in learning something new in these men made everything worth it.

Ivor hurried back to his room to change and get something to eat. He was eventually gathered by another palace staff member and escorted to another section of the palace. He hadn't been in this section before, but there was a definite increased presence of guards. The staff member nodded at a set of double doors. Ivor opened the door and stepped inside.

The King, Seneschal, the Crown Prince and the Commander Trids were all present. They were studying a map on a large table when he entered. The King motioned Ivor over.

“Thank you for coming, Ivor. Here's the situation we are hoping you will be willing to help us out with.” The King pointed to the map. It was a map that showed the kingdom in its entirety. To the south was a scarred section of land wider than it was tall on the map.

Further south from the scarred area was another kingdom. Ivor had been told this, but it was the first time he had seen this map. Immediately, it was incorporated by his [Navigation] skill.

“On our southern border is the Wastelands. It's a desolate landscape nearly one hundred kilometers north to south and nearly one thousand kilometers east to west. History doesn't tell us exactly what happened there except that there was some magical cataclysm long, long ago. Nothing really grows there. There are giant fissures in the ground.

Monsters that wander into the area seem to become distorted and mutated. Nobody lives there, and few willingly choose to explore it. Despite that, we have several villages that exist near the Wastelands. These villages are usually filled with people that want to be as far away from civilization as possible. The kingdom negotiates lower tax rates with these villages as long as they keep good records of what they see in the area. Monster sightings. Strange events. Several times a year, we send someone to collect taxes and reports.

The last group sent down didn't return when they should have. We sent another group down. That group sent a runner back to us. The villages were empty. No sign of struggle. That group also didn't return,” the King explained.

The Seneschal took over, “Given the report of the abandoned villages, we don't think it was a monster attack. There was no blood or bodies. No signs of conflict. Our southern neighbor is Qizut. It's a magocracy that is somewhat insular. Although they tend to keep to themselves, we have had issues with mages traversing the Wastelands into our kingdom. We fear that there is either a monster or Mages that might have some form of Will based magic or skill working in the area.”

“Like illusion or compulsion type magic?” Ivor asked.

The Seneschal nodded. “Just so. This is why I proposed a Willpower test for you. We know that the second group sent down had at least one member with a fairly high Willpower. If they were affected, we wanted to send someone that had a much higher Willpower to, potentially, counteract any effect.”

The King continued, “The magocracy is often very touchy. So, we don't want to send a large contingent or high level people down if we can help it. There is no reason to provoke them if we can avoid it.”

Ivor nodded. It was a good plan. It was funny to Ivor how he had often performed in this very role before the System came.

“Zed, how long would it take me to get down there from here?”

“Assuming you do not push to your top speed, three days,” Zed responded. “You should ask for healing potions, mana potions, a lot of food and water. You can always return it, but if their people are alive, they will likely need the assistance.”

“Good thinking.”

“Assuming your people are still alive, I'll need a lot of food, water, healing and mana potions. I would also ask for weapons and armor that would suit the groups. If they encountered something that bested them and are still alive, new armor and weapons may be needed,” Ivor explained.

The Seneschal nodded, “We can have the food, water, healing and mana potions within the hour. The armor and weapons might take an hour or two. The Commander can probably motivate the Quartermaster to get the armor and weapons needed. I can pull one of our storage items out of the vault for you. With the King's permission, I'll get that started right away.”

“I have spatial storage, myself. Just bring the items, please,” Ivor said.

The King nodded and the Seneschal and Commander left the room.

The Crown Prince spoke, “How long do you think it will take you to get there?”

“Three days,” Ivor responded.

“That fast?” The King asked.

“I could go faster, but that wouldn't leave me much Stamina in reserve. If something is waiting for me, I'd like to be prepared,” Ivor said.

The King and Crown Prince pulled out more detailed maps of the various areas Ivor would be passing through. Ivor used [Navigation] to incorporate them all.

“Ivor, since there are roads all the way down there, I think it might only take you a little over two days,” Zed interjected.

Ivor didn't bother to relay that to the King and Prince. It was better to under promise and over deliver in this case.

The King and Prince spent the next two hours educating Ivor on the areas he would be traveling through. They planned a rendezvous area in case he found the groups. It was a small town a few dozen kilometers north of where the abandoned villages were. It was far enough away that it wouldn't provoke the magocracy.

The Senschal came back and let him know that all the goods were staged and ready for Ivor to take.

Before he headed out the door, the King handed him something. “Ivor, take this token. The guards will know that is my personal seal. I don't know how they will react to someone of such a low level helping them out. They may not believe you without that seal.”

Ivor thought for a moment. “Would it help if I appeared to be a higher level?”

The King and the Prince looked at each other. “Perhaps. Is that something you can do?”

Ivor changed his Level to 80, listed his class as Duelist, one of the options he had seen before, and hid his Profession. “Identify me now.”

Both of them looked at Ivor, and their eyes shot open. “Yes, that will probably help quite a bit. I don't think anyone is over level 60 in either of the groups. They will likely listen to you much better with that and my seal,” the King said.

Chapter Sixteen

The items for the mission were in a locked storeroom only accessible by the Seneschal and the Commander. They let Ivor in and he quickly looked everything over before he stored it in his [Null Storage]. To the Seneschal and Commander, it looked like Ivor stored it all in a spatial storage item he had on him. It wasn't too uncommon for them to see. Ivor showed them his ability to change his information. He had talked it over with the King and the Crown Prince. They thought it might be best if he changed all of his information, including his name. He could alter the look of his armor and keep his mask and hood on. Nobody would be able to connect Ivor Kemble with the Level 80 Duelist named Bill Smith.

Super original name from the guy that named his cat, Kitty. Nobody on Menevris would know it was a common name, and nobody would care. Ivor had changed his armor to be a steel grey color and he made sure to change the mask and hood shape enough to make a difference. The degree to which he could change the structure of his armor was limited. It would be sufficient though.

The Commander escorted Ivor with a group of royal guards to the city gates. The whole time talking to him as Bill Smith. Once past the southern gates and through the traffic that seemed to be omnipresent in a city this size, Ivor picked up the pace.

“Any thoughts on what this might be?” Ivor asked Zed as he sped down the road.

Ivor's speed was such that anyone he passed would only see a blur as he sped by. The further he got away from the city, the more the traffic thinned out.

“It seems to me there is an intelligence at work here. A high level monster is possible. Something that is evolved enough to converse. However, I think that possibility is unlikely given the Wastelands are known for warping monsters. This sounds like what you originally thought, illusion or compulsion magic,” Zed replied.

“Which likely means the magocracy or a rogue element,” Ivor agreed.

“Which means you have a choice to make. Tread lightly or eliminate everything.”

Zed, honestly, wasn't sure which option Ivor would take. He was capable of both.

Ivor kept up a blistering pace. He pushed just to the edge of where his stamina regeneration would start not being able to keep up with his expenditure. It was good to get his fine control back.

He'd felt a bit off ever since gaining all the new stats. He had traveled for nearly two days when he reached the town that was to be the rendezvous site.

It was early morning and the town gates had yet to open. Ivor waited patiently outside. He knew the town had about 20,000 people and was largely an agricultural hub for the surrounding farms. There was a small Adventurers Guild in town that hunted down any pesky monsters that caused trouble. Ivor had a letter from the King for the town mayor.

Even this early in the morning, several carts had come down the road to wait for the gates to open. Farmers and loggers who were getting an early start to sell their goods.

When the gates opened a small troop of town guards came out. Ivor flashed the King's token and asked directions to the mayor. The guards nearly fell all over themselves trying to appease him. Either that or appearing to be Level 80 might have done the trick.

Regardless, Ivor was quickly escorted by a town guard to the mayor's manor house. The guard tried to ferret out some information, but Ivor stayed silent. The guard quickly got the hint and stopped talking.

The town had an administration building, but the guard knew the mayor was likely having breakfast this early. If the woman started her day this early, Ivor was impressed. He did take note that the streets were clean.

All of the buildings seemed to be in good repair. Vendors and store owners were starting to open their doors and set out their wares for the morning business. He could smell some wonderful baked goods; Ivor noted the street.

He'd have to stop by and pick some up. It reminded him of Seaton and his trips to the bakeries with Jamal. He will need to check in on the man the next time he is on Earth.

It didn't take long to reach the mayor's manor. Ivor was asked to wait briefly as a servant of some sort went to talk to the mayor. The servant returned and ushered him into a small dining room.

Sitting at a table eating breakfast was the mayor. She looked quite tall for a F'on. Taller than average. As she watched Ivor walk in, he noticed her piercing eyes looking over him, evaluating him. This is one shrewd woman, he thought to himself.

“Apologies for not getting up, you've caught me at breakfast. You have something for me from the capital? Perhaps word of more taxes or some new stupid law that will never impact us out here we must follow?” Her disdain was obvious. It wasn't uncommon for these provincial towns to feel alienated from their rulers.They were essentially on their own, for the most part.

Ivor said nothing. He simply pulled the letter out of his [Null Storage] and handed it to her. The act of making the letter appear from nothing was on purpose. Spatial storages would be incredibly rare way out here. It lent some weight to Ivor's presence.

The woman took the letter. Her eyes widened at seeing the King's own seal on it. She opened it and took a few moments to read it. She put the letter down and sighed.

“What is this all about? I'm being asked to prepare for an unknown group from the capital and some unknown number of refugees. From where? And why? I supposed the town is going to be on the hook to foot the bill for everything. I guess compared to the royals, us poor border towns aren't all that important,” she complained.

Ivor took the opportunity to speak. “Have you ever met them?”

She looked up at Ivor's masked visage. “Who? The Royal family? Of course, not.”

“Then I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself,” Ivor cautioned.

The woman was taken aback. Then she realized she didn't know who she was talking to. The note only said that this man was on an important mission and to prepare for refugees and a group from the capital. This man could be a killer. One of those assassins everyone knew the King had but no one ever saw and lived. She gulped.

“Ah, yes. Apologies, sir. I let my frustration get the better of me.” She quickly caught herself. “Can you give me any idea of the numbers I might have to take in? What supplies I might need?”

She might not think much of the royal family, but she had her head on straight as far as logistical concerns.

“At a maximum, you may be looking at 200 refugees. The group from the capital will be bringing all the supplies. You should clear an area, preferably inside the walls, if you can, to handle quite a few tents. If you have a building that can be used as a clinic or hospital, that would be good to have prepared as well. Many of these people could be injured,” Ivor explained.

“When should we expect the refugees and the group from the capital?” She asked.

“It should be at least a week before the group from the capital arrives. They are moving as fast as they can. I don't know how long it will take me to find the rest,” Ivor stated.

The mayor could read between the lines. The King sent one man to find over 200 people. Obviously something had gone wrong if the King was directly involved. That meant whatever this was, was bad.

Yet the King only sent a single person. She gulped again.

“We will get preparations started today. We have an area that will be suitable inside the walls. I just need to demolish an abandoned warehouse. It should be done in two days,” she replied.

“Very well. Good day, mayor.” Ivor turned and walked away.

The mayor sat and chastised herself for a good few minutes. It was stupid to complain about the royal family in front of an unknown person obviously working for the King. The man had a point as well. She didn't know the royal family. She, like most people out in the real world, only interacted with their laws and taxes.

If she was being honest with herself, those weren't even bad. She sighed. Oh well, enough self reflection, time to get to work.

Ivor left the mayor's house and followed his nose to the bakery. It was just off the main road on a side street. There were several small shops in the area, but only the bakery looked like it was open.

He stepped through the door. A woman was behind a counter and windowed display case putting baked goods behind the glass. A small F'on child was sitting on a chair playing with something on the counter when Ivor walked in.

The child looked up and yelled, “Dad, we have bandits in the bakery. We're being robbed.”

The woman banged her head on the counter trying to extract herself and a large F'on came out from the back of the bakery with a huge wooden rolling pin in his hand.

Ivor held his hands up in surrender. “No bandits, just me. Looking for the wonderful baked goods I smelled from the road.”

The father lightly tapped the child on the back of the head. “You about scared me senseless. It's a customer not a bandit.”

“Then why is he wearing a mask?” The girl said.

“That's his business daughter of mine, and what do I always say about other people's business?” The man chided.

The little girl rolled her eyes and recited, “Their business is none of our business.”

“That's right. Now apologize to the man and see if he still wants to buy our goods.” The man nodded and turned back around and left the room.

“Sorry, mister. What can I get you?” The little girl said with a smile, jumping right into it like nothing had happened.

“What do you suggest?” Ivor asked.

The little girl rattled off a list of pastries that were clearly her favorites while her mother looked on.

Ivor looked at the girl. “I'm pretty hungry, but I should probably leave some for the others in town.”

The woman laughed and the girl shrugged. He asked for two of everything they currently had. While the girl and the woman busied themselves with collecting his goods.

The man came back out to the storefront and walked around the counter. Wiping his hands off on his apron, he stuck his hand out. Ivor clasped his forearm as the man spoke.

“Sorry about the little one. She can get a little excitable. Name's Dusan.” The man had a strong grip.

Close up, Ivor noticed some scars peaking out from under his shirt up his neckline. Fighter of some sort.

“You can call me Bill,” Ivor said.

The man nodded. “Sure thing Bill. Fancy gear you got there. Just passing through?”

“It won't be a secret for long. I'm on King's business. The mayor will be preparing for a group from the capital and maybe some refugees. I'm going to be searching for some other groups that went missing. Might be injured if they're still alive,” Ivor said.

Dusan nodded. “Anything we need to be worried about here?”

“No, Dusan. Where I'm headed is still pretty far away. The group from the capital is still a good week behind me. I don't know how long my search or anything else will take,” Ivor said.

“It's the anything else that always gets ya,” the man said, absently scratching the scar Ivor could see. “So, you've been traveling for a week then?”

“Nope. Two days. I'll be where I need to be in a half day or so.” Ivor knew the man was fishing for information. He figured he'd throw him a bone. “Anything I need to know between here and the Wastelands?”

The man's eyes widened a bit. “Not particularly. Might have to keep your eyes open for warped monsters if you're going close though. Other than that, there are a few villages out that way. They generally keep to themselves.”

Ivor nodded. That's pretty much what he expected to hear. Ivor took his baked goods and paid the little girl. He bid them good day, and headed out.

Dusan stood in the doorway watching the man, Bill, walking down the street. The bag of baked goods disappeared from his hands. His wife came up beside him.

“Anything we need to worry about dear?” She asked. “The man seemed nice,” she added.

“No, dear. Not for us. I don't think I'd want to be the one he finds causing people to go missing. Monster or otherwise. They are in for a really bad day,” he replied, just as Ivor turned the corner.

“Why do you say that?”

“He ain't no Level 80 Duelist that's for sure. No Level 80 could get from the capital to here in two days,” Dusan explained.

“Maybe he lied,” his wife said.

“No, he didn't lie. He knew I was fishing for information. He gave me exactly the amount of information he wanted to. He's a smart one.

He let me know he's using a fake name. King's business could mean anything, but I'd bet this store that he is working directly for the King himself. I don't know where the King found that one, but he better hope he stays a friend,” Dusan mused. He turned back to the store. He had baked goods to make.

Once out of the town, Ivor sped towards the Wastelands. After a few hours, he got an unexpected notification.

[Null Step] (Advanced) - [Null Step] (Expert)…

Ivor called up the [Null Step] skill description.

Null Step (Expert) - Active

While active, each of your steps carry you further, the distance nullified.

Current Null Step distance = +5 meters

[Null Step] had increased from +3 meters to +5 meters. He definitely needed to test this. That extra distance would throw his rhythm off when traveling at speed. He didn't want to take too much time testing, but it would be foolish to go into a dangerous situation without testing. Ivor started by testing from a standing position.

He used [Null Step] several times in several different directions. It wasn't a big change given his other stats were able to compensate. He started running and then triggered it. Like he thought, his timing was off. He'd been so used to timing when to trigger the skill while running it was almost a reflex action at this point.

He spent an hour readjusting his timing. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. He was getting closer to the villages, and he wanted to slow down to investigate.

Ivor spent time in both villages. He had seen plenty of quick exits from buildings by groups of people. It was usually people he was hunting down. These villages were not abandoned in a hurry. There were all the hallmarks of daily living being interrupted however. Partially eaten food on tables, tools dropped haphazardly, things left halfway done like the bar of metal still sitting in the, now cold, forge.

“I'm thinking it's someone with some form of compulsion magic or charming magic. What do you think, Zed?”

“I agree. I doubt anyone could affect you with your Willpower being as high as it is, but we should be careful anyway. You do not round up two hundred or so people all by yourself. I do not imagine anyone can keep that level of magic up indefinitely either. There is likely a group involved.

A compulsion or charm followed by more mundane restrictions like suppression collars. I think we will find our answers in the Wastelands,” Zed replied.

Ivor agreed with the assessment. It was at this point he wished he still had his [Tracking] skill, but it turned out he didn't need it. Moving that many people at the same time left an obvious trail. Given that the perpetrators didn't bother hiding the trail, it seemed clear whoever this was didn't think it would be discovered before they were done.

Ivor continued to follow the trail towards the Wastelands. He was moving much slower than before. He had changed the coloring of his armor to blend into the surroundings, and he had triggered the camouflage effect. Maximizing his camouflage used quite a bit of mana. It wasn't enough to surpass his current mana regeneration, but it was close. Between [Blend] and the camouflage, he was effectively invisible when moving slowly.

He kept following the trail into the Wastelands. It was an obvious transition. The Wastelands was a scar on the ground. Grass, trees, bushes all just ended at the start of the Wasteland. There were large fissures in the ground along with huge areas of raised up earth and boulders.

Nothing grew here. Ivor felt a slight nagging discomfort. He mentioned it to Zed.

“Whatever happened here was likely magical. I can feel the discomfort through you. Use your mana vision, that may tell us something,” Zed said.

Ivor switched his mask over to mana vision. At least one problem became immediately clear. Normally, when he viewed things through mana vision, there was always a sort of thin haze of blue permeating everything.

Denser mana stood out as brighter blue. It was very similar to the way old school night vision goggles worked. Here however, there was no thin haze of mana. The mana was in clumps and whirls.

Streaks of mana flowed and changed. It was complete chaos.

“I think you are sensitive enough to mana that you are feeling it. I imagine people that are more sensitive feel it even worse. That may explain why monsters get warped and mutated here. Monsters are naturally more sensitive to mana,” Zed explained.

Ivor kept following the trail until he noticed it veering off and going down into a sort of valley created by a massive upheaval of the earth. The path led to his left, but there was a ridge to his right that kept him higher up. It might be a good location to get a look down. He followed along the ridge until he found several boulders that would hide his silhouette. The sun was starting to set, but he had enough time to get a look while it was still light enough out.

Slowly crawling to the edge of the ridge, Ivor peaked down into the small valley. He had found what he was looking for. It was not quite what he expected, but he could see the villagers.

They were confined to cages. Walking free were twenty people that Ivor could count out in the open. There were several tents on the opposite side of the cages. In between the cages and the tents was a large open area. From his vantage point, it was hard to make out details.

“Zed, is it just me or is my vision being obscured?”

“Something is definitely affecting your vision. Maybe switch to your mana vision again,” Zed replied.

Ivor switched to mana vision and a very thin coating of mana circled the entire encampment.

“I think there is a large rune circle creating an illusion. Your Willpower is so high, it is barely affecting you,” Zed explained.

Ivor could now see the remnants of mana in more rune circles in the cleared area between the cages and the tents. It looked like several pentacles, a pentagram inside a circle. There was one large pentacle and additional smaller pentacles at the five points of the larger one.

“Ivor, this is a very large ritual. I am not sure what it is for. Since it looks like most of the villagers are alive, I think they may be using them as mana batteries. If that is the case, that means they are repeatedly using this ritual for something.”

Ivor was really happy to have Zed around for stuff like this. He just didn't have the background to deduce any of that.

“What are your plans, Ivor?” Zed asked.

Ivor mentally chuckled. “I know you're used to me wading in and just killing everything, but that's not how I usually operate. I could easily kill the villagers with just the blowback from one of my bastons. We don't have enough information. Since they are not outright killing the villagers, we need to gather more information. See this ritual in action. Then maybe we can find out what's going on here,” Ivor said.

“You constantly surprise me, Ivor. That is a fantastic plan,” Zed responded.

Ivor settled in to wait.

Chapter Seventeen

It took quite a while for the camp to stir. It had already been dark for several hours. Perhaps there were some timing considerations for the ritual. Regardless, a bit before midnight, several more people came out of tents. It now looked like there were around thirty people, not including the villagers.

Ivor had switched to his dark vision to see better. He had also found a slightly closer location to observe from. One person approached the cages and raised his hands.

It looked like he was casting something complex. When he was done, Ivor noticed all the villagers had stopped moving.

“Tag that person for me, Zed. That is the one with the compulsion or charm magic.”

The cages were opened and twenty five people were pulled out. It looked to Ivor like they picked specific people. They didn't just pick the first people they had access to. Maybe these were the ones that had their mana topped off. It would make sense if they were rotating out people to allow their mana to top off before the ritual.

The twenty five people were led to the smaller pentacles and placed in at the points. Five robed figures stepped into the center of each small pentacle. The five robed figures started pulling mana from the villagers.

When the five smaller pentacles were glowing bright, someone near the larger circle held up his hands and chanted something. Ivor could feel the Willpower infused into the chant.

“Tag the one chanting Zed.”

Another robed individual was standing right beside the chanter. As the smaller pentacles fed the larger one and the chant grew louder and more frantic, a tear in space appeared in the middle of the large pentacle about six meters off the ground. As the chant continued, the tear widened.

Even in the dark of night, Ivor could tell the tear in space was even darker. It was absolute darkness. Suddenly, something came out of the tear.

Ivor had read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft. This was exactly like the horrors from beyond. A thing that should not be. It had too many eyes, too many tentacles and when Ivor looked at it, he just knew it didn't belong here.

“This is a foul ritual,” Zed said. “They are bringing monsters from the Void.”

“I get from your intonation that this is bad. We need to see what they are doing with them,” Ivor replied.

Ivor watched as the Void monster completed its transition into the world. The chanting cut off and the tear sealed shut. The five robed figures and all twenty five villagers collapsed to the ground.

The second person outside the large circle finally acted. They raised their hands and again Ivor felt a strong use of Willpower. The Void monster had seemed to be momentarily disoriented from the transition. It had started moving as soon as the man was chanting, but it immediately stopped and stilled.

“Monster tamer. High level,” Zed said.

“Tag him too,” Ivor said.

Ivor watched as the man seemingly controlled the Void monster. Ivor wasn't close enough to use [Identify] on the monster. The man motioned his hands and the monster started moving. The mage next to him followed along.

Ten other robed figures followed behind them as the Monster Tamer herded the Void monster off. Ivor moved back from his position and made to follow along the ridge. Once the group was outside the illusion circle, it was easy for Ivor to follow them without having to look over the ledge.

The mana that the Void monster gave off literally lit up the valley in mana vision.

Ivor noticed the group was slowing after walking for about a kilometer. He crept to the ridge making sure to keep his camouflage active and peaked over. The valley had gradually sloped up. So the ridge wasn't as high above them as it was at the other end of the valley. The Monster Tamer kept leading the Void monster towards the end of the valley.

The Monster Tamer had stopped but it kept urging the Void monster forward. To Ivor's surprise, the monster disappeared. He noticed the group visibly relaxed when that happened. They immediately turned around and went back to where their camp was.

Ivor made his way back a bit faster. He wanted to see what was happening in the camp. When he got back, nothing much had changed. The villagers were put back in their cages, and it looked like some were trying to care for the ones that were drained of mana. Ivor looked a little closer and he could see one of the men seemed to be giving orders to others. Either he was a leader or just an asshole yelling at people.

“Tag that villager giving orders as friendly, please,” Ivor asked Zed.

“Can I assume you have a plan?” Zed asked.

“Yep, but we need to wait until they do another ritual,” Ivor asked.

“Why wait?”

“There are thirty or so unknown enemy combatants of unknown level. So far we've only seen Compulsion/Charm, Void summoning of some kind and Monster Taming spells. I have no doubt there are other spell casters down there. I haven't really faced many spell casters.

Certainly, I haven't faced a group this large. I'd like to even the odds a bit. Plus I'm hoping to let the Void monster take out quite a few for me,” Ivor explained.

There were two days in between rituals. Two days for Ivor to observe the camp. It looked like the ritualist took two days to recover fully.

The Monster Tamer and the Compulsion/Charm mages seemed to know each other or they were of a higher status. They seemed to only talk to each other. They ordered the others around.

Other than charging the illusion circle and feeding the villagers, the rest of the mages didn't seem to do much.

Zed and Ivor speculated as to where the Void monster disappeared to, but really it was just assumption after assumption. Ivor had gone back to the location to investigate, but he stayed on the ridge. He didn't want any tracks of his to be discovered, but he didn't learn much from the trip.

The only thing he did learn was that in the daylight, he could see a definite line gouged out of the ground where he believed the mages had stopped walking. The Void monster had disappeared a bit beyond that line. So, that was something.

Ivor had spent some time making sure he had everything he wanted in his [Null Storage] organized for easy access. The night of the ritual, everything went exactly like it did before. It was clear these folks had been doing this for a while. It was like a well oiled machine.

The only difference was the Void monster that came through looked different. This one had three digitigrade legs, one in front and two behind. The head was oversized for the body and the mouth was overly large.

It had a ring of eyes that circled its head and two very human looking arms. Those arms are what disturbed Ivor. It just wasn't right.

Ivor waited to make sure the Void monster was completely out of the tear when he made his way to the end of the valley. He positioned himself about one hundred meters before the line in the valley floor and waited. When the Void monster passed a particular rock formation Ivor was using as a marker, he threw two large ball bearings at the two mages Zed had tagged for him.

Immediately, he pulled two webbing grenades and threw them behind the group. Ivor moved so fast, everything seemed to happen at once. First, the upper bodies of two mages disintegrated as the massive kinetic force imparted into the ball bearings hit them. Barely a millisecond later, two grenades blasted out webbing across the path, sealing the group in.

With the death of the Monster Tamer, the Void monster stopped. It heard the sounds behind it and turned. It looked at the group of mages and screeched.

To Ivor it sounded like a metric ton of styrofoam being rubbed together all at once. The Void monster moved fast and grabbed two mages. It lifted its head up and tossed the mages inside its overlarge mouth. Crunching down, legs, arms and a head fell out of the monster's mouth.

The rest of the group frantically tried to get past the webbing. Two of the mages got stuck, and finally, one of them blasted off a fireball. The fireball roasted his two colleagues, but it also cleared out a good chunk of webbing.

Ivor hustled back along the ridge out of sight. He easily beat the few remaining mages running back to the camp. The camp had heard the noise and was looking away from Ivor's location and toward the incoming mages and Void monster. The Compulsion/Charm mage stepped out of his tent and less than a second later, his body exploded. None of the robed figures noticed it as they were already running forward to try to intercept the Void monster before it reached the camp.

Ivor watched the mages battle the Void monster. It looked like their spells were having a hard time with it. The monster was shrugging off a lot of the damage.

“Do Void monsters have inherent magic resistance?” Ivor asked Zed.

“Yes, Ivor. They are dangerous creatures,” Zed replied.

Ivor waited until the mages started getting the upper hand. At that point, there were only ten mages left. Ivor took a running leap into the air from the ridge. He pulled out six spike traps and threw them into the ground surrounding the mages and Void monster. Ivor triggered his Dragon Skin in mid-air and pulled out his bastons, flooding them with mana.

Ivor came down on the head of the Void monster like a comet from the heavens. The traps triggered and spewed out magma hitting and burning through several of the mages. Ivor stomped on the Void monster's head, crushing it. Then he was like a whirlwind of death amongst the mages.

Ivor was moving so fast, most of them didn't even see what killed them. The magma flowed off of his Dragon Skin armor like it was water. Ivor didn't even feel the heat.

Within seconds, it was all over. Ivor walked through the already cooling magma and made his way over to the cages. Ivor had Zed highlight the man he had tagged in his overlay. The villagers that were conscious were watching him approach wearily.

Ivor approached the man. “Are you a leader of these villagers?”

“I am now,” the man said. Despite what they had been through, Ivor could hear the defiance in his voice.

“Does anyone need immediate medical aid?” Ivor asked.

“We're a bit malnourished and the ones they used for the ritual are drained of mana which isn't pleasant.”

“Where are the two groups that came to your villages?” Ivor pressed.

“These ones took them into the dungeon. Same place they took the Void monsters,” the man explained.

“I need to go find what happened to them. I can let you out, but I need you to understand that I need everyone to make their way to the town of Rinda, up the road. This isn't a request. The King has sent people to debrief you and check you out. We don't know what these people did to you. The King will have qualified mages and healers check you over.

Those things are not where my skills lie. I won't ask for a System contract that you'll make your way there. I'll take your word.

In the meantime, I can get these cages open, get those suppression collars off, give you heath and mana potions and food. Or we can do it the other way.” Ivor laid it out for the man.

“Yeah, I think we all saw where your skills lie. The other way won't be necessary. You have my word. We'll make our way to Rinda,” the man said.

Ivor nodded and reached out a hand to grab the thick lock set into the frame of the cage. He crushed the lock with strength alone. He then analyzed the suppression collars looking for any booby traps.

Zed assured him that, with this many suppression collars, traps and other things would be too costly in this quantity. Ivor used two fingers and pinched them apart like they were clay. There were stunned looks all around at Ivor's casual use of power. Not that they weren't grateful. It's just that Ivor could be damn scary without even trying.

Once everyone was getting some food, water and healing, the man approached Ivor and held out his hand. “Emith, and who might you be?”

Ivor clasped the man's forearm, “You can call me Bill.”

The man snorted. “Alright then, “Bill,” we all appreciate your help. I just wanted to give you what information we heard when these bastards didn't think we were listening. First, they are some offshoot or other of some cult.

It didn't sound like this was sanctioned by the magocracy. Second, something is wrong with that dungeon. It sounds like anyone can stumble into it. They have been leading these Void monsters to it, and the two groups were unconscious when they took them to the dungeon.

I know a dungeon doesn't normally work like that. Also, I don't think anyone can leave the dungeon until it's been completed. I just thought you should know.”

Ivor hadn't noticed before, but there were kids here. It looked like the mages just took everyone and only used the people that had the most mana. It still pissed him off, as the kids were underfed and scared.

A group of mothers looked like they were taking charge of the kids. Ivor walked over and pulled out the bags of baked goods he had purchased in Rinda.

“I know it's not much, but please take these baked goods and give them to the children.”

The woman blinked at Ivor. It must be disconcerting to see this armored man acting so normal after just killing thirty people and a Void monster. The woman just nodded and took the bags. Several of the other women came over to her once Ivor backed off a few steps. They all looked in the bags and smiled.

Immediately, the baked goods took the children's minds off of their predicament. Ivor wished he could kill those men again.

Ivor made sure the villagers didn't need anything else, then he took off to find the dungeon. He looted all the bodies and the Void monster. He didn't even bother looking at the notifications. He just moved on. Ivor dropped the Dragon Skin and went back to the steel grey look of his armor. He approached the line that was gouged in the valley floor and slowly stepped forward until a notification popped up.

Quest - The Broken Dungeon

You have come across a broken dungeon. Find a way to fix the dungeon and save the people inside.

Success: Unknown

Failure: The dungeon will rupture allowing a never-ending tide of monsters to blanket the land.

Do you accept this Quest: Yes/No?

Ivor paused.

“Zed, have you heard of a broken dungeon before?”

“Yes, Ivor. They are very dangerous. However, I have never heard of anyone fixing a dungeon. Usually completing the dungeon allows it to reset. Perhaps the feeding of the Void monsters caused some issues. Maybe that was the plan. Make the dungeon so broken it could not be fixed. It is possible this is some form of doomsday cult,” Zed explained.

Ivor nodded and accepted the quest. Immediately, he experienced the quick flash of light he always did when entering a dungeon. However, he wasn't alone. There were nine people in the rather large room, and all of them had weapons or staffs pointed at him.

Ivor held up his hands. “The King sent me. Let me pull out his token.”

He pulled out the token from his [Null Storage] and showed it to them. A woman stepped forward. She was still holding her spear pointed at Ivor as she took the token. She quickly glanced at it and lowered her spear.

“Apologies, Mr. Smith. We're all a little jumpy since the Lieutenant died out there.” She pointed into the dungeon.

“What happened to the Void monsters they were pushing in here?” Ivor asked.

“They appear just past the safe area. After we came to, one of the monsters appeared, and since the dungeon won't let us leave, the Lieutenant decided he would see if he could test the strength of the monster. It shrugged off his magic attacks and ended him pretty quickly. None of us are as strong as him. So we decided to wait awhile to see if the capital sent someone.”

Ivor nodded, “How are you on water, food? Do you need healing or mana potions?”

“If we are going to be stuck here, we'll need more food and water. What happened to the villagers? We don't remember anything after entering the village.” The unspoken part was that she didn't think they were getting out of this.

“There was a mage with some high level Compulsion or Charm spell. He probably got you. I assume they must have had someone watching the village. The villagers are ok. I sent them to Rinda. There is a group from the capital on its way. The villagers should get there just after the group from the capital,” Ivor said.

“What about the group that took us?” She asked.

“Seems as though they may be some sort of doomsday cult. One of the villages overheard them talking. Doesn't seem like it was sanctioned by the Magocracy. No need to worry about them. They're dead,” Ivor said.

She looked at Ivor, “Ok, I don't suppose you have a way out of here?”

“Maybe. I got a quest from the System. I'll head in there and try to clear out all the Void monsters first. Seems like the goal was to use the Void monsters to destabilize the dungeon so that it ruptured. I'm hoping clearing them out relieves some of the pressure, so to speak,” Ivor explained.

“You should be careful. The Lieutenant was Level 70. You're not much higher,” she cautioned.

“Well, looks can be deceiving. I already killed one out there. I'll be careful though. Your caution is well received,” Ivor said.

The rest of the people just nodded at him. He left them some supplies and made his way past the safe area. The dungeon seemed like it couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be. Some of the rooms were dressed in stone, others were just natural caves. There didn't seem to be any continuity to it. Maybe that was a symptom of it being broken.

Ivor went from room to room killing monsters. The dungeon seemed pretty expansive. He estimated that there must be at least ten, maybe fifteen, Void monsters in here based on the group running the ritual every three days.

Since they were resistant to magic, he pulled out his Dark Steel short swords whenever he came across one. The Void monsters were all around level 60; a few above and a few below. The rest of the monsters in the dungeon were in the 50s. None of them stood a chance against Ivor.

Chapter Eighteen

The dungeon was massive. Ivor was confident he had eliminated all the Void monsters. He still had to wade through the other monsters the dungeon was throwing his way. Still he felt like he was making progress. Since he didn't get a dungeon prompt before entering, he didn't have any idea what to expect.

Ivor had been at it for over eight hours at this point. He wasn't tired, but damn, there had to be an end to this thing. He was moving through it pretty fast.

A few hours later, he came into a room that looked more like a natural cavern. There was nothing beyond the cavern. No openings leading away.

At the bottom was another Void monster. It was huge. It seemed to be doing something in the middle of the cavern.

Ivor slowly made his way down a sloping path to the cavern floor. Circling around the massive monster, he noticed it had its appendages wrapped around a pedestal in the center of the cavern. One of its many, many mouths was latched onto a crystal atop the pedestal. Ivor had been in a lot of dungeons, but he had never seen anything like this before.

He switched over to his mana vision and looked again. The monster was extracting mana from the crystal. It was a slow flow, but it was constant.

“Zed, do dungeons have crystals like villages, towns and cities. Like where you store your consciousness or whatever?” Ivor asked.

“I do not know, Ivor. This is new to me. I have only heard tales of broken dungeons, and obviously, before I met you, I had never been inside one. It would make some kind of sense though. The System needs a mechanism to manage dungeons, much like it manages villages, towns and cities, through crystals,” Zed replied.

If what Zed said was true, then all the dungeons he had been in had a crystal. It just wasn't something you could access like a village crystal.

Ivor got close enough to finally use [Identify].

Void Leecher (Level 80)

Highest Stat: Constitution

Immunities: None

Weaknesses: Light

Well, at least it wasn't completely immune to magic. Ivor's [Identify] skill wasn't high enough to show Resistances yet. It looked like he was going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Ivor pulled the two Dark Steel short swords out and attacked one of its appendages. The blades struck, but barely scratched the monster. He immediately stored the swords in his [Null Storage].

Ivor had an idea. He pulled one of his adhesive light disks out. Pushing the illumination to max, he flung the disk at the monster. It tried to slap it out of the air with an appendage, but the disk just stuck.

It was waving the bright disk around and screeching up a storm. Ivor threw four more disks. He didn't have many in his [Null Storage]. With the enchantments on his mask, he didn't really need them. All five disks were now sticking to the monster and causing some kind of pain.

Ivor jumped up and landed on the monster's head. With just pure strength, he started pummeling the monster. An appendage reached out for him, he grabbed it and ripped it off the monster.

The monster let go of the crystal and started focusing on Ivor. The monster's Constitution must have been truly high. It took ten minutes of non-stop fighting for Ivor to finally kill it. He had been thrown across the room enough times that he left his Dragon Skin on for the remainder of the fight.

The monster never breached his armor, but Ivor felt like he had taken a beating. Ivor looted the monster, and as it disappeared, he approached the crystal.

Ivor could already tell this crystal was different from the village crystals he had collected during the Evaluation. It was a different color and texture. This one looked damaged. There were cracks all throughout the crystal structure. Ivor started feeding mana into it. It sucked up the mana, but it didn't seem to be making any changes, so he stopped adding mana.

Ivor paused to think. Yeah, dungeons had creatures of mana. So adding mana made sense. He also got monster cores out of monsters, so he pulled out a monster core. It was a Superior Earth core. He placed it on the crystal, and again, the crystal greedily absorbed it.

“Any ideas, Zed?” Ivor asked.

“I think you are on the right track. Dungeons are things of mana and it is clear monster cores are part of the equation. What is left? What else makes up a dungeon?” Zed continued the question thread.

“Ok, let's take a step back. If I wanted to create a dungeon from scratch, what would I need? Mana, cores and what else?” Ivor mused mentally.

“Well, those things by themselves are just things. You would still have to design the dungeon. What is the environment?

What is the theme? How long is it? What if any time dilation?” Zed listed off all the things about a dungeon.

Ivor paused for a moment, and then he started laughing out loud.

“I admit I do not fully understand human humor, but I do not think anything I said was funny,” Zed commented.

“I'm sorry Zed. Something occurred to me, and I just couldn't help myself.” Ivor apologized, then continued, “On my world, specifically my country, when people weren't allowed to teach religion as fact, they came up with this concept of Intelligent Design. It was a way to appear to be using science rather than theology, but it didn't fit the criteria for being scientific. However, it is the piece we are missing.”

“Ah, I see now. The dungeon needs a creator. An intelligence to direct its creation. Therefore, someone or something needs to be that creator. Of course, the way we impact the world in the System is through our Willpower,” Zed finished Ivor's thought for him.

“Exactly, my friend.”

Ivor pulled out numerous mana cores. He had a lot of earth type cores, and given the nature of the area this dungeon was in, it seemed fitting. Ivor fed hundreds of cores into the crystal, while slowly pumping mana into it as well. All the while, he focused his Willpower into the crystal imagining the dungeon he wanted to create. It wasn't exactly like the Wastelands, but it was a series of quarries with traps and monsters to fight. The monsters were mostly taken from the various earth type monsters he had encountered.

He made it an outdoor environment with a moderate temperature. The level he set at 50. This was a dangerous area after all. He gave it a Level 60 Earth Golem as a boss monster.

After what seemed like hours, the cracks in the crystal started rapidly healing. The crystal took on a brownish color and started getting brighter as it pulsated. The brightness and the pulses started increasing in frequency. Eventually, Ivor had to back up as the brightness overwhelmed his armor's bright vision. Suddenly, there was a loud gong type sound and the pedestal with crystal sank into the ground. A bright flash of light overwhelmed Ivor for a moment. Then he found himself back in the valley where he entered the broken dungeon.

He looked around and saw the nine people that were trapped were near him. In front of him was a cave like opening with a stone door. Ivor reached out to touch it.

Dungeon environment: Linked Quarries: outdoor environment

Temperature range: 10 to 26 C

Monster range: 30 - 50

Boss range: 60

Recommended party size: 5

Recommended party level: 50

Time dilation: 1 to 1

Cooldown: 3 days

“What happened?” The spear holding woman asked.

“I completed my quest,” Ivor replied.

“What exactly was the quest?” Another man asked. He seemed official. Probably the tax collector that was sent in the first group.

Ivor just looked at the man.

“Whatever you did, thank you,” the woman said, giving a side eye to the man.

“You are welcome. You'll want to make your way to Rinda for debriefing. As I have no more business here, I can escort you if you wish,” Ivor said.

They readily agreed. They had been through an ordeal and were probably a little shaken. On the walk back to the camp, they commented on the webbing, which Ivor explained. They literally gasped when they saw the dead bodies of mages coated in magma. Ivor's footsteps still clear from when he had walked out of it. The rest of the campsite was also a shock. The dead half of the Compulsion mage was still lying on the ground. There was nothing for Ivor to loot off of him.

The folks with Ivor had been on edge for over a month. They wanted to rest, but not in the camp. Ivor recommended they push on to one of the villages. They eagerly agreed, and a few hours later, most of the group was sleeping.

Ivor didn't need to sleep quite yet. So, he stood watch and waded into all his notifications.

Experience threshold reached…..

Level 29 achieved….

Experience threshold reached…..

Level 30 achieved….

It was the first time Ivor had leveled since his Profession Evolution. He looked at his stats sheet, specifically the free stat points. He looked on in shock. He had 42 free stat points. That meant he was getting 21 free stat points per level.

Since he knew there were 3 points automatically assigned to stats based on his Profession, that meant every level he was getting 24 stat points. That wasn't the only shocking notification for the night.

Quest: The Broken Dungeon

Status: Complete

Reward: Title changes

Ivor frowned. What the hell are title changes? He didn't have to wait long as the System sent him more notifications.

Path of the Precursors - Path of the Precursors Two...

Dungeon Virtuoso - Dungeon Engineer…

He brought up both titles to see what changed.

Path of the Precursors 2

You have reached 200 in all stats before choosing your first Class/Profession Evolution

You have created a dungeon

+40 (30+10) to all base stats

System boon chosen:

Modification of Dungeon Title (System chosen)

Modify existing skill (Blend)

Dungeon Engineer

Your knowledge of dungeons is unsurpassed

Dungeon cooldowns are reduced to zero for your and a team

All information is available to you in the dungeon description

Experience earned by you or your party increased by 200%

The rarity of rewards available for dungeon completion increases

You can raise the level of a dungeon to any level

You can lower the level of a dungeon down to the lowest level (Level 1)

Note: Dungeon reverts to previous level after use or failure to attempt dungeon

You can edit existing dungeons making all changes permanent

Note: To prevent abuse, any dungeon you create or edit permanently will give you no experience and limited loot. Dungeon engineering is intended for the benefit of others

There was quite a bit to unpack with his title changes. First, it looked like the Path of the Precursors title had multiple steps. It made sense if you took the word 'Path' literally. Second, the System had added +10 to all his stats, which was quite a bit less than the +30 he got previously.

Ivor wasn't going to complain, though. Finally, the System picked his boon for him. There was nothing he could do about it. So, he didn't bother to get upset.

He didn't really feel upset about his changes to the dungeon title. It took away some restrictions and added another pretty big one. Two of the benefits he got from the title had changed.

First, all the information was available to him at the dungeon interface. He would have to check that out next time he interacted with a dungeon. Second, his experience gain shot up from 100% to 200% which was amazing. He also no longer had any restrictions on lowering and raising the level of the dungeon.

He now had the ability to edit dungeon parameters and make them permanent. Although he wouldn't really get any benefit from running the dungeon, Ivor was fine with that. Still, the question was, how did he make the changes.

“Zed, do you think I'll need monster cores and other things if I want to change a dungeon?” Ivor asked.

“Given what you experienced with the dungeon in the Wastelands, I would say yes. I imagine you might even need at least samples of the types of mineable minerals or gems, crystal growths, etc… if they are not already native to the dungeon or area. It does sometimes seem like the System makes something out of nothing, but it is really just moving energy and goods around,” Zed explained.

Ivor shrugged. It was still a silly powerful feature of his title. He would have to think very hard about whether to tell the royal family. It could be a tremendous boon to have custom made dungeons in your territory.

He would practice on Earth first. That undead dungeon outside Hunter's Rest was good for experience, but not much else. It could be useful to them. He may want to follow up with Seaton as well. They had two nearby dungeons.

“That's a lot of additional stats per level,” Ivor exclaimed.

“Yes, but that is to be expected with an Epic Profession or Class. Like all levels, you have three stats points that are automatically assigned. In your case, it is the same as your Hunter Profession; Agility, Endurance, Perception. Every Epic Class/Profession has 9 free stat points as well. It looks like your Null Class has increased by two free points as well. That leaves you with 21 free points per level,” Zed declared.

With 42 free stat points total from the two level increases, Ivor decided to just distribute the points evenly across all stats. He liked his current stat spread. He wasn't trying to min/max anything.

Once his free stat points were distributed, he pulled up his stat sheet. Along with the +10 stats from his Path of the Precursors 2 title, things were looking rather absurd.

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Level: 30

Class: [Null]

Profession: Inveterate Explorer

Strength: 192 (288)

Agility: 192 (288)

Endurance: 192 (288)

Constitution: 192 (288)

Intelligence: 236

Wisdom: 236

Willpower: 179 (358)

Perception: 236

Health: 2880

Mana: 2360

Stamina: 3090

Free Stat Points: 0

Ivor took a moment to look at his stats. He hadn't had much time to reflect on his changes since the System came. He had been dealing with one thing after another. His previous life had also been filled with jumping from one critical task to another. It was something he was hoping to remedy. Even on Arlosiss, he didn't have time to just admire the majesty of being on a new world no one had seen in many millennia. he sighed. He'd get there some day. In the meantime, he had some people to escort.

Ivor waited until everyone was up and ready to go.

“Go ahead without me. I need to go back and destroy those ritual circles. I don't want it to be easy for anyone to recreate that ritual. I'll catch up,” Ivor said.

The group just nodded. Ivor sped away back to the campsite in the Wastelands. He proceeded to tear the cages apart with his hands. He tossed all but a few of the suppression collars into his [Null Shield] eliminating them entirely.

He left the bodies and tents. He was sending a message to anyone that checked up on this place.

He pulled out his bastons and infused them with mana. His bastons generated pure force when he struck, dealing bludgeoning or crushing damage. He would normally form a [Null Shield] to slice through the stone runes the circles were made out of. However, the creation of the runes was sloppy, and the circles were holding on to quite a bit of mana. He had Zed map out a pattern on his overlay. It was about to get really, really dusty.

Ivor continuously pummeled the stone with his baston crushing the rock. He was constantly feeding mana into his bastons, as he rapidly worked his way around the circles. He was sure the thundering booms he was creating would attract a monster or two, but he was pretty sure they would steer clear once they got here.

As he worked, a massive cloud of pulverized stone rose up into the air. To the group leaving the village, it sounded like far off thunder.

It didn't take Ivor long to complete his task. He had Zed mark his map with the exact location of the now destroyed camp and the dungeon entrance. He wanted to pass on the information to the King. He took off at a leisurely pace, for Ivor, and caught up to the group in a little over an hour.

By the time the group had reached the town of Rinda, they had caught up to the back of the refugees. The refugees were tired but unharmed. Ivor made his way to the front of the group to talk to Emith. The refugees didn't run into any monsters on the way.

They pushed through the night, and many of the stronger people carried the children as they slept. Emith had heard about Ivor giving the children the bags of baked goods. He said it went a long way to helping calm them down.

Ivor tossed Emith a few gold and told him where the bakery was in town. The man paused, looking down at the gold in his hand, then he simply nodded to Ivor.

The town guard had seen them coming. The mayor was standing at the gates when they all arrived.

“Please, follow the guardsmen to the area we have set up for you to stay. Anyone with immediate healing needs, please let the healers here know and we will take you to the makeshift clinic. Mr. Smith, the Crown Prince would like to see you at your earliest convenience,” the mayor said out loud. There was no longer any disgust in her voice when talking about the royals.

The mayor directed Ivor to an inn the group from the capital had rented out for their needs. Ivor made his way there immediately. There were several guards outside the inn that had started to stop him, but Ivor pulled out the King's token and was let in.

Ivor entered the main room of the inn and immediately saw the Crown Prince holding court. There were several individuals conferring with him that Ivor had not met. He made his way into the room. The Crown Prince noticed Ivor and waved him over.

“Ah, Mr. Smith, if you will allow me a moment to finish my orders here, I'll debrief you personally.” The Crown Prince of course knew it was Ivor.

Ivor simply nodded and made his way to sit at the bar. The bartender was busy for a moment and was a little startled when he noticed Ivor sitting there. [Blend] could really take people off guard.

“Oh, didn't notice you there. Anything I can get you?” The bartender recovered from the surprise quickly.

“No, thank you,” Ivor responded.

“It's a fine thing the Crown Prince is doing for those poor villagers,” the bartender gossiped.

“Oh, and what do you know about it?” Ivor turned his masked face toward the bartender.

The man visibly swallowed. “Ah, not so much specifically, you see. Just rumor that some kind of problem had affected the two villages out there by the Wastelands and the Crown Prince is footing the bill to take care of them. Get them back on their feet. I heard someone say he may lower the taxes for the village and our fine town as well, for a time at least,” the bartender clarified.

Ivor nodded. “He's a good man. He'll make a fine King one day.”

The bartender nodded, “I assume you've had some hand in helping out here?”

“Some,” Ivor responded.

Realizing Ivor wasn't the talkative type, the bartender excused himself and found something to keep himself busy. Eventually, the Crown Prince finished his business and motioned Ivor to follow him to a private dining room. Once inside, the Crown Prince pulled out a device and placed it on the table. He pushed some mana into it. Immediately, an opaque bubble surrounded them and all sound from outside cut out.

The Crown Prince held up a hand. “I know it seems a little over the top, but the King and the Seneschal don't want anyone to potentially hear what we discuss. In addition, we want to keep your Mr. Smith persona as mysterious as possible. We are going to play it in public as though we hired you. Once you are done with your debrief, I want you to head back towards the capital. There is a group of people waiting several kilometers away for your arrival.

Don't let them see you as Mr. Smith. Switch back to Ivor the Inveterate Explorer. They are expecting you to catch up to them as though you were coming from the capital. I want you to come back into town as yourself and sit in on the debrief with the remainder of our people you rescued. The refugees will be handled by capital people.

Ostensibly, you'll be sitting in to get information about some exploration of the area we want you to do. In reality, I want you to pay attention to any discrepancies in the stories.”

Ivor understood completely. He also respected the Crown Prince quite a bit more. Trust but verify is how Ivor lived his life.

Ivor debriefed the Crown Prince in detail. He left nothing out except exactly how he fixed the dungeon. He acknowledged that he was keeping secrets, but he offered to swear a System contract that none of those secrets were detrimental to the kingdom. The Crown Prince waved off the offer of a System Contract. Ivor had done enough for the kingdom to earn their trust.

Ivor handed over a couple of the suppression collars. The kingdom was familiar with the magocracy's rune set. These were definitely them.

That didn't mean the ritual and kidnappings were sanctioned, just that the people came from the Magocracy. Ivor also handed over a couple of the Void cores and some of the monster parts he had collected. The Crown Prince begged off receiving them, but Ivor insisted. The kingdom may want to study them or put them to use and Ivor had plenty for now. The Crown Prince showed Ivor on a map where the group was waiting for him, and Ivor headed out.

It took him a few minutes to navigate off the road and go wide around the group. He changed his armor to the dark brown he usually wore and left his hood and mask down. He approached the group from the north.

He arrived from the north at a much slower pace than he would use on his own to make it look like he was finally catching up with the group. He announced himself to the Sergeant in charge. When they verified his token, they quickly packed up and made their way to Rinda.

Chapter Nineteen

By the time the group made it into Rinda, it was nearing afternoon. Ivor was told to meet the Crown Prince at the inn, and for the second time that day. As Ivor entered the inn, he noticed the Crown Prince was again in a meeting with several people.

This time, however, Ivor saw the two groups he had saved from the dungeon were also waiting. A few of them glanced over at him, but they immediately dismissed him once they identified him. Ivor was back to being a Level 30 Inveterate Explorer.

After about 15 minutes, the Crown Prince approached the two groups. The first group with the tax collector were ushered into the private dining room. The Crown Prince motioned Ivor to join.

When they all got into the room, the tax collector blurted out, “What is this human doing here?”

The Crown Prince stared at the man for a few moments. Everyone was getting a little uncomfortable with the silence, and then he began to speak, “First, nobody but the King and Queen demand anything from me. Second, Mr. Kemble's presence was a direct request from the King and he enjoys ambassadorial status as a Freeholder while he is in our kingdom. Finally, he has done much behind the scenes for our kingdom that we are still repaying. Do you understand?”

The tax collector had turned slightly pale at the dressing down. He nodded.

“Good, now please report in detail what you can remember about your ordeal,” the Crown Prince demanded.

Despite his attitude, the tax collector had a sharp mind. He explained their journey through Rinda and to the villages. Everything was going fine until they went to sleep at the second village. The group woke up in the warped dungeon.

“Then this other human with a King's token showed up. I'm not ashamed to admit, I thought he was there to finish us off. Instead, he ventures out into the dungeon. I was positive he was going to die just like that poor Lieutenant. We kept hearing these awful screeching sounds, then silence. Over and over again, for hours.

Then there was a flash of light, and we were all standing outside the dungeon with this, Mr. Smith. He claimed he had completed some kind of quest. I didn't care to dispute his claim. We were free. Then we walked to the encampment he said the villagers were kept in. The sheer devastation we saw along the way was shocking.

Mages half melted by magma. Half of a body lying there with the other half nowhere to be found. The locks on the cages were torn apart. I hope to never see that person again.” Ivor thought the tax collector was being a bit overdramatic, but he wasn't lying.

The guards with the tax collector agreed with his account. They filled in some of the areas that the man left out, but overall, the stories matched. The Crown Prince dismissed them to head back to the capital.

They could go now or wait for the other group. Then he called the other group in.

The Sergeant was the one to speak for the group. She told a similar story, except that they found the first village empty and at the second village, their memory stops. They also recalled coming to consciousness in the dungeon.

The Lieutenant didn't believe the others that Void monsters were being released. He thought they were mistaken. When one of the monsters appeared just off the safe area, he strode out to prove his point.

Unfortunately, he didn't survive the blunder. Despite his rash action, the group was choked up with the retelling. It appears the Lieutenant was well liked.

“Then that, Mr. Smith showed up. He showed me the King's token. Of course I used [Identify] on him. I don't think he was truly a Level 80,” the Sergeant said.

“Why do you think that?” The Crown Prince asked.

“There was constant noise of fighting for eight hours. Plus the dungeon was warped. I've heard the stories.

It had all the hallmarks. Somehow he fixed the dungeon. What Level 80 does that?

Then the battleground with the magma. I didn't say anything, but it's clear he fought a large monster and at least a half dozen mages. It just doesn't add up.” The rest of the group were nodding in agreement.

The Crown Prince sighed, “He is indeed more than he appears. I would ask that you swear to me you won't relay any of this information about your suspicions to anyone except your superiors if they ask. I won't ask you to sign a System contract. Just be discreet. Much like Mr. Kemble, Mr. Smith is a valuable person to the kingdom.”

The group all agreed and they were dismissed.

The Crown Prince turned to Ivor and smiled, “I'm not going to lie Ivor. I'd love to see you in action. If it weren't so damn dangerous, I'd probably ask to follow along with you on your journeys.”

Ivor chuckled. “If you can talk the King into it, I'll take you and anyone else you want into a high level dungeon. You can get some experience, and I get to let loose a bit.”

“I'm going to hold you to that,” the Crown Prince replied. “I haven't been on a good dungeon run in a long time.”

As they walked out of the private room, the mayor was waiting for the Crown Prince.

“Business awaits Mr. Kemble. Please stick around for a day or two, if you would. I might have a need of your unique skills,” the Crown Prince said.

Ivor left the Crown Prince to his endless meetings and went to see if he could lend a hand anywhere. As he walked around, he saw a couple guards that were part of his training. They were surprised to see Ivor and asked if he had some time to train with them later in the evening.

He told them he had no plans and was happy to train. Ivor made his way to a warehouse that was being used for dispensing anything the refugees needed. Apparently, the mayor had finished her business with the Crown Prince by the time Ivor was done talking with the guards. She was talking to someone in the warehouse when he approached.

The woman approached Ivor. “Mr. Kemble, I'm mayor Ihmirs. You are the second human I've met in so many days.”

“The kingdom has been a good friend to my people,” Ivor responded. “I like to repay that kindness in any way I can.”

“I'd be happy to put you to work. Any special skills?” She asked.

“Not unless it has to do with exploration. Other than that, my stats are higher than my level would indicate. So, I can move pretty fast and lift heavy things. I take direction well,” Ivor responded.

“Well, at least you're not a braggart or layabout. Many with the ear of the Crown Prince would balk at physical labor. I'll turn you over to our Quartermaster, and he'll put you to work.”

After talking with the Quartermaster, the biggest issue they had at the moment was getting raw trees to the lumber mill quick enough. The villagers were going to be sent off with a lot of goods. Those goods would be transported in wagons that had to be built. They had plenty of craftsmen, but felled timber was heavy. They didn't have enough free livestock to help move the timber to the mill.

Ivor had the man show him on a map where the timber was being felled and the best route to the lumber mill. Ivor added it to his map and headed out.

Ivor knew he was in the right place, when a twenty meter tall tree started toppling to the ground in the distance. Ivor waited for things to settle and he approached the foreman. Ivor explained he was here to help.

“Don't know how you're going to help unless you can pull logs behind you.” The foreman laughed along with several of the loggers.

There was a row of timber with the branches already stripped waiting to be taken. Ivor walked over and picked one of the full logs and held it over his head with one hand.

“I don't think I need to drag them. A little unwieldy to balance, but I think I can carry it,” Ivor said without any strain in his voice from the effort.

The look on the worker's faces was priceless. Ivor winked and took off to the lumber mill. It took him a couple of minutes to get there. It would have been faster, but those damn logs were hard to keep a hold of at speed. Ivor showed up at the lumber mill still holding the log in the air and asked the foreman of the mill where he wanted it. The man stood slack jawed for a few seconds before he motioned to an area. Ivor dropped the timber and was back to grab another log in under a minute.

Ivor cleared the entire timber backlog in an hour. The loggers showed Ivor how to strip the branches off. With Ivor's duel wielding ability and his Dark Steel short swords, Ivor could strip a tree by himself in the same time it took six loggers. The loggers joked with Ivor that it was a good thing he was an explorer, or he'd put them all out of business. The lumber mill had plenty of raw timber until tomorrow.

So, the loggers offered to buy Ivor a drink at the tavern. They were good guys, and he didn't have anything better to do. Ivor joined them. The liquor did nothing to his high Constitution, but the group was a lot of fun. They clearly knew each other well.

They gave each other crap, and they told him some embarrassing but mostly hilarious stories about one another. Ivor learned a lot about the town. The mayor, despite his initial opinion of her, was well liked by the town's people.

She had taken over the mayorship from her husband who died in a bandit attack coming back from the capital. Ivor could understand her having a little dislike for the capital and the royals, even if it was misplaced.

Ivor excused himself later in the evening. He spent some of the later hours working with a couple of the guards he already had trained with along with some new guards that came along. Several of the town guards watched on the sidelines until Ivor coaxed them into training with the royal guard.

The town guards were nervous at first, being so much lower level than the royal guard. They quickly got over the nervousness when they saw that the royal guard didn't look down on them. Rather, they treated the town guard with the respect of a fellow professional. The guards Ivor trained seemed to take on his teaching style. His style was a mixture of patience and positive reinforcement.

The group had collected a number of onlookers from the town. The guards weren't bothered by it. It was common to have people watch you train, even if it was just other trainees. Ivor noticed a particular family watching.

A large F'on with a small girl on his shoulders chattering in his ear as well as a female F'on holding his hand. It was the baker and his family. Ivor swore the man was staring directly at him. Ivor went back to working with the two guards that had his attention and the night wore on.

Ivor took one of the rooms the Crown Prince had reserved and slept for about four hours. He hadn't slept in a number of days. He wasn't sure at this point how long he could go without sleep. He might have to measure his tolerances with the new stats he had. Zed could create a similar training program like he did during the Evaluation, if he felt he needed it.

The sun had barely risen when Ivor made his way to the bakery. He never did get to sample all the goods he bought before. Just like the previous time, he walked in and the little girl was behind the counter while the mother was putting baked goods behind the display case.

“Welcome non-bandit customer,”the little girl cried out.

“Have a lot of bandit customers do you?” Ivor asked.

“No. I mean, I probably wouldn't serve a bandit. We had a close call the other day.”

“Really? A close call with a bandit,” Ivor asked.

“Ok, he wasn't a bandit, but he was all in this scary armor with a hood and mask. He could have been a bandit,” she explained.

The woman finished up and addressed her daughter, “Dear, please don't scare away customers with the bandit nonsense.” Turning to Ivor, “Oh, you're the man that was training with the guards last night.”

The little girl chimed in, “Oh wow, hey it is you. You're really good. My dad was going on and on about it.” Then she yelled, “Dad, that guy you kept talking about is here.”

Ivor shook his head, as the big F'on came out from the back of the bakery, “What are you going on about you little scamp?”

Dusan saw Ivor and he paused for a second. “Ah, I see. Well, yes. It's not every day you see a Level 30 Inveterate Explorer training a bunch of royal guards.” He stuck his arm out to Ivor, “Dusan.”

“Ivor,” Ivor took the man's forearm.

“Or do I call you Bill?” The man said quietly.

Ivor spoke softly as well, “Ivor is good for today. What gave it away?”

“You move just like him. It's in your gait when you walk. Someone with experience can tell,” the man said.

The man nodded and raised his voice to normal, “So what can we get for you?”

“I'll take two of everything. I'm helping out the loggers and the lumber mill. I'd like to share some of your goods with them. They've treated me well.”

The woman spoke up, “Is that something common in your species? The sharing? We had another human in the other day. He bought a bunch of baked goods and left. I heard from the refugees that he gave them to the children when he found them.”

“I think like any species, you have good and bad. I try to help when I can,” Ivor said.

The little girl spoke up again, “I wish he was here. I could apologize for thinking he was a bandit. He's a hero. Saving all those people. It must have been scary. None of the kids want to talk about it.”

Dusan looked Ivor in the eyes as he spoke to his daughter, “Oh, honey, I'm sure that man doesn't need to be told he's a hero. Someone that strong that looks out for the little ones first, well he's ok in my book. Unless there is a big problem, I don't think we'll see that man again.”

Ivor nodded, “No I don't expect you will.”

Understanding dawned on the mother's face. “Ah, Ivor, was it? Is there anything we need to worry about? Is the town in danger?”

“No. From what I hear, Mr. Smith took care of the problem completely. I expect you will see some guards or hired teams coming through for the next little while to investigate the area, just to be safe,” Ivor said.

The girl looked up at hearing the name, “Do you know him? That nice, scary man.”

“I do,” Ivor said.

“Well, if you see him again, tell him I'm sorry for thinking he was a bandit.”

Ivor chuckled. “I'll make sure he finds out.”

Ivor paid for his goods and headed off to the lumber mill. He finally got to eat some of the baked goods. They were really good.

He waited until the foreman showed up and dropped a few bags. The workers thanked him and he headed out to meet the loggers. The loggers were just showing up when he got there.

They got a bunch of baked goods too. The men thanked Ivor and everyone got to work.

As much as the loggers enjoyed Ivor's work, they didn't need him by mid-day. They could keep up with the lumber mill now. Ivor said his goodbyes and walked back into town. A few of the town guards that were at his training greeted him warmly.

One of them gained a level just from the training. Ivor made his way to the inn.

On his way up the steps, the mayor was coming out the door.

“Mr. Kemble, thank you for your time training my men. The guard captain went on and on about it this morning. I would like to repay you for your efforts,” the mayor said.

Ivor held up a hand. “No need for payment. There is a saying from my world called “pay it forward,” meaning pay me by doing the same thing at some point in the future.”

“That is a wonderful saying. I appreciate it, and you are welcome in Rinda anytime,” the mayor replied and walked away.

Ivor stepped into the inn. For once, the Crown Prince didn't have any meeting going on. He waved Ivor over. Ivor dropped a bag of baked goods in front of him.

“What's this?” The Crown Prince asked.

“It's baked goods. They are terrific. You seem like the type to work hard and not take a break. Have something to eat, I'll join you,” Ivor said as he pulled out another bag.

The two sat for a few moments munching on the baked goods.

“You were right. These are terrific,” the Crown Prince said

Ivor gave him directions to the bakery. The Crown Prince pulled out a sealed letter.

“I'm going to be here for another couple of days. Nobody can move as fast as you, and I want to get my report to the King as soon as possible. Would you mind?” The Crown Prince asked.

Ivor gave a mock bow, “I'm at your disposal my liege.”

The Crown Prince laughed. “Knock that crap off. You'll inflate my ego even more than it is.”

Ivor chuckled and took the letter. “I made some gains. I should be able to make the trip in just under two days.”

The Crown Prince just shook his head, “You're absurd. Anything I should know before you go?”

Ivor thought for a moment. “Not really. These villagers went through something pretty horrendous. I don't think I have to tell you, but I will anyway. Treat them well.

There is an inherent distrust of the government when you are so far removed from it. You have an opportunity to mend that relationship. These people can become your most staunch supporters. Don't rush this.

You have a lot of people in your ear giving you advice. I just wanted to give mine.”

“Ivor, in the short time I've known you, you've done nothing but help this kingdom. Don't think I didn't hear about you giving away baked goods to those scared children in the cages. I'd take your advice over a hundred hangers-on. Thank you.” The Crown Prince grasped Ivor's forearm.

Ivor nodded and left the Prince to his business. He made his way to the town gates. A couple of the town guard and royal guard were standing watch and talking. One of the royal guards that Ivor had trained called out.

“Mr. Kemble, are you leaving us?” The guard asked.

“Yeah, duty calls.” Ivor pulled his mask and hood up. “You gentlemen have a good day.”

Ivor shot off into the distance. In a few seconds he was over the horizon.

One of the town guards spoke, “There is no way that guy is Level 30.”

One of the royal guards spoke next, “He was Level 28 a few days ago when he trained me in the capital. I watched him totally destroy a Level 60 Lieutenant that attacked him.”

“How did he take out a Level 60?” The town guard asked.

“No clue. Nobody saw him move. Mr. Kemble said he slapped the man.” The royal guard shrugged.

“Damn monster,” the town guard said with awe. Everyone there just nodded.

Chapter Twenty

Ivor made it to the capital in a little over a day and a half. He finally got fully in sync with his upgraded [Null Step] skill. When combined with his higher Agility now, he could really eat up the kilometers. Ivor immediately went to the palace. It was a bit late, but Ivor was taken directly to the King's private dining room. It was just the King and Queen.

“Ivor, glad to see you are back. We've only received some brief communication from our son. It sounds like it was a terrible ordeal for those villagers.” The Queen immediately got to the heart of the matter.

“Yes, your highness.” Ivor handed the letter to the King.

“Ivor, sit. Are you hungry?” The King put the letter aside.

“Perhaps after I brief you,” Ivor said.

The King motioned to a staff member. “Please prepare some food for Mr. Kemble. Say thirty minutes.” The servant nodded and left through a door.

Ivor spent the next thirty minutes detailing everything he had told the Crown Prince. He also let the King know that he was keeping some things secret for now. The King took no offense. Both the King and Queen ask pointed questions. The Queen was most concerned with the children.

When he was done, the servant brought him a meal. While Ivor ate, the King read the multi-page report from the Crown Prince. When the King was done, he handed the letter to the Queen. That's one thing Ivor liked about this couple. They respected each other's thoughts and opinions. They ruled together.

When the Queen was done with the letter she said, “Ivor, you never cease to amaze me. The tremendous amounts of destruction you are capable of, and the smallest acts of kindness.”

Ah, Ivor thought, the Crown Prince told them about the baked goods.

“The baked goods,” the King said. “You are a good man, Ivor Kemble. That's why it's been so easy for me to make a decision concerning you. In one week, I'm going to be making a kingdom wide proclamation about you. I know you don't like the attention, but the people of my kingdom will know about the good you've done. It's my prerogative as a King.”

“Whatever you think is best for your kingdom, your highness,” Ivor said.

The King looked over at the Queen with a smile. “See, he makes it so damn easy.”

The King and Queen laughed. Well if they wanted to put on a dog-and-pony show to give Ivor some accolades, who was he to stand in their way. He already assumed there would be a reception or ball of some kind. He had a week. Ivor needed to head back to the Freehold to check on the Os'id. Then he wanted to see how the Os'id were getting along in Hunter's Rest. He needed to check in with Aza about the robbery situation, and he wanted to check in with Scindair. Ivor had more goodies for the auction.

Ivor spent some more time with the King and Queen. It was quite late. So, they offered to put him up for the night. They sent word down to the travel circle that he was to be transported to Inyalquas in the morning.

As usual, Ivor didn't actually sleep, he went down to the royal guard training building. There were quite a lot more guards training than he had seen in the past. As he walked in, the training stopped as they all turned to face Ivor, he stopped just inside the doors. One of the guards, it had to be a sergeant, only sergeants were that loud, bellowed.

“Royal Guard, Attention!!” Everybody straightened as their feet snapped together.

“Royal Guard, Salute!!!” Over a hundred right fists balled up, arm across their body, fist touching the left shoulder.

Ivor was deeply touched. This was the camaraderie he had hoped to have before he was railroaded out of the military. He simply nodded to the men.

“Royal Guard, as you were!!!” Immediately, like the professionals they were, they went back to training.

Ivor went to his usual location and warmed up for about thirty minutes. The groups had already gathered, with several training each other already. All the new trainees were standing, observing Ivor's form. No other words were said.

Ivor trained with the men. It made for a good evening.

He had stayed and trained the night shift when their shift ended. It was late morning by the time he was cleaned up and taking the travel circle to Inyalquas. Ivor immediately went to see Scindair at his new location. It was an actual office space.

Zedha Holdings, it said on the building. Ivor was impressed.

He stepped inside the lobby. The place was well appointed but not garish. There was a reception desk in the middle of the floor. Ivor approached the desk.

“May I help you, sir,” said the receptionist.

“Yes, Ivor Kemble to see Mr. Zedha,” Ivor responded.

The receptionist's eyes widened. “Oh, my, Mr. Kemble, yes, my apologies, I'm new, but there is a protocol for this. One moment while I review my notes.”

Ivor quietly laughed. “Take your time. I'm not in a hurry.”

The receptionist pulled a small journal out of a drawer and quickly rifled through it. She read something then fed some mana into a spot on her desk. Seconds later, one of Scindair's huge guards came out.

“Sorry Mr. Kemble, we had an incident. There are a lot of new people, and we didn't think the Galtu would go after Scindair directly. We were wrong. Somebody claiming to be you. We didn't have any security protocols in place. That's my fault.”

“Scindair ok?” Ivor asked.

“Yeah, he's fine. He's a lot harder to kill than one would imagine,” he said.

“Was the person human?”

“Sorta like you, but not exactly. There were differences that someone who met you would have noticed. They had some kind of device that changed their name and Profession.”

“Yeah, I'm familiar. I might be able to get someone to put some runes in the building to disrupt that kind of thing. Give me a couple days,” Ivor said.

“You bet, Mr. Kemble.” The guard walked with him up the stairs and further into the building. They got to a pair of double doors and the guard knocked.

“Come in,” Ivor heard Scindair say.

“Boss, Mr. Kemble is here.”

“Hopefully, the real one.” Ivor heard Scindair mutter.

Ivor stepped into the office. It was larger than Scindair's previous office. It had a conference table and a seating area as well as his large desk from the brothel.

“I see the danger has reached you as well.” Ivor said as he stuck out his hand.

“Indeed. Good thing this Galtu can't afford high end assassins,” Scindair smirked.

“Well, glad to see you're ok. Speaking of security, catch.” Ivor threw a token to him.

Scindair snatched it out of the air and looked at it. “What's this?”

“V.I.P token for Corcer Calamity. You should hire them for the auctions,” Ivor explained.

Scindair looked at the token with his mouth open. “Well, that tracks. You kill nearly all of one of their teams and come back with a V.I.P token. Sure, just a normal day around Ivor, fucking, Kemble.”

Ivor laughed, “Oh, I had to work for that. I had to kill a Level 101 Berserker Juggernaut for that thing.”

Scindair's eyes slowly rose to meet Ivor's. “Fuck me, you aren't joking.”

“Nope. Oh, and I have a few things for the auction.” Ivor pulled several Void cores as well as something he hadn't shown anyone. Vials of Void Essence. He also dumped a bunch of monster cores from the warped dungeon.

Scindair's eyes kept getting wider as he pulled out items. Finally, Ivor slid another platinum coin towards him. “I'm serious about my investments.”

“Do you think we can do a high end auction in a week?” Ivor asked.

“Possibly. Why do you ask?”

“The King is planning some kind of proclamation. I figure there will be a lot of fancy folks willing to attend,” Ivor said.

“I hadn't heard,” Scindair frowned.

“I just heard about it last night. I think he might be announcing it today.”

Scindair thought he could get some invitations out to the higher society folks once the announcement was made. It could be a pre-opening event, with a small selection. He could also hit up some of the other auction houses once he had R.S.V.P's and earn a commission for selling their stuff.

Scindair became a target because he had been taking a bunch of the Galtu's smuggling business. He'd also had some guys robbing the drug dens and destroying the drugs. Ivor told him to hold it there. It was likely something would happen soon.

Ivor went to Aza's office. He again met with Cherze and Aza. Cherze mentioned that one of their payrolls had been robbed. When Ivor heard the amount, he laughed.

“It's one of two things, either that was completely unrelated or they're trying to draw you away from something else. If it's random, nothing to worry about. If it's not, they are setting up a bigger score somewhere in the opposite direction from the payroll robbery.

Thieves aren't that clever. It's all about risk and reward. They will inherently trade to reduce the risk as much as possible. It makes them somewhat predictable,” Ivor explained.

Cherze paid much closer attention to what Ivor was saying. He quickly left to start looking for possible targets. Ivor relayed the information about the proclamation to Aza along with the heads up about the auction.

Ivor wasn't expecting Aza to buy anything, but if word got out that he was attending, others would attend. Ivor also asked Aza if he was tired of Ivor always staying at his manor.

“What, and miss out on all the free guard training,” Aza scoffed and laughed. “Seriously, you are welcome anytime. You are becoming like family to Alipha and myself. We enjoy your company.”

Ivor was moved by the man's statement. Spending most of his time alone made him a bit unprepared for the weight of the emotions he was feeling lately. The System had certainly created the opportunity for change, and this was just another part of it.

Ivor left Aza's office and made his way to the travel circle. He arrived back in the Freehold in the middle of the night. Not wanting to disturb anyone, Ivor found Kitty down by the lake and spent some time just sitting with her, decompressing a bit. He decided to make his way to Hunter's Rest.

Zed would let Radus and Iken at the Freehold know that he was back when they were up and about. When Ivor had first got back from the Evaluation, it took him about ten days to get to the village that would become Hunter's Rest. Of course, he had found Austin along the way and couldn't move as fast as he was capable of. Now, his physical stats were over one hundred points higher.

Ivor blasted off into the distance. His massively increased Agility, Perception and Stamina, combined with [Null Step], allowed him to reach incredible speeds and avoid hazards along the way. There were no roads between the Freehold and Hunter's Rest. That was something that might change in the future.

Ivor reached Hunter's Rest in slightly under twenty-four hours. As it was the middle of the night, Ivor waited in a nearby tree to just watch the town. It had grown considerably since he was gone.

The original walls were gone. New walls had been put up with extensive growth in mind. It looked like the council had been hard at work improving the town.

The town gates were closed. It looked like there was the beginnings of a road on the east side of the town, but there was definitely a road on the west side. Ivor wondered if that was the road that was being built from Seaton. If it was, Ivor was surprised at how quickly it got done. That was a fair distance away.

There were a few people moving around and there were a few guards patrolling and stationed at both gates, it looked like. Ivor stayed up in the tree observing the town as the sun peeked over the horizon. People started appearing in the streets and leaving through the gates.

It looked like a party of adventurers was heading in the direction of the nearby dungeon. The town, on the surface, at least seemed to be doing well.

As Ivor watched the town come alive in the early morning, he saw something that shouldn't have surprised him, but did. Children. There were children with parents, and older children walking in groups or by themselves. The System had returned the children. It didn't affect Ivor, and he had honestly forgotten when the exact day it was supposed to happen.

Ivor dropped down from the tree he was in and walked towards the gate that was now open. He had his mask and hood back and his armor had the look of weathered, dark brown, leather armor. Ivor didn't recognize the town guards, and they didn't stop him. He was pretty sure one or both used [Identify] on him.

As Ivor made his way into the town. There were more businesses up and running and a lot more people. It looked like they were already creating a good little economy here.

Ivor made his way to Mike's inn. It was no longer the only inn in town. The new sign said “The Rendezvous.” Ivor made his way inside. There were already some people up and about. Ivor made his way over to the bar where Mike was busying himself with his back turned. He turned around and was a bit startled.

“Geez, shouldn't sneak up on people like that Hun…” the man said as Ivor cut him off.

“I'm just an Explorer, Mike,” Ivor cautioned the man.

Mike just nodded. “Well, welcome to The Rendezvous just an Explorer. What can I do for you?”

“Coffee if you have it, and some information either way,” Ivor responded.

“Let me go get you a cup,” Mike headed into the back.

He came back with a cup of coffee and continued, “What information do you need?”

“Anything you have. I've been gone for a while, but it looks like the town is prospering,” Ivor said.

The biggest news was, of course, the return of the children. The council had been preparing for it. They had even used the System Market to pay for information from recently integrated worlds. The information was mainly about what information the System may or may not have given the children during their “suspended animation.” It turned out, not much information.

The council did find out the System returned the children near a relative or at the Administration building if a relative was not in a safe location. The council had organized a “Return Day” where everyone would be available around the Administration building. He said that helped things go much more smoothly than it otherwise would have. The council had also been in touch with Seaton and other towns to coordinate ideas.

The return of the children really kickstarted a growth spurt for the town. People out in the villages that had been content with their life suddenly had a change of heart when children were around. Children didn't get the overlay until they were 18 years old.

Many of the families decided they wanted the safety of a town. Not all of them felt that way, though. Several villages had cropped up near Hunter's Rest as people had moved around. These were largely agricultural, logging and mining villages.

The other big thing was the road. It had only recently been finished. Instead of relocating it to go around the monsters that had been infesting the mountains on the other side of Seaton, Hunter's Rest and Seaton had banded together and formed a raid party.

Around one hundred people participated in clearing out the infestation of Black Spotted Tokay that had filled the caverns in the mountains. It turned out to be a fruitful endeavor in both loot and experience. In addition, they had found numerous massive ore deposits and a couple of dungeons within the mountains.

The two towns had formed a mutual agreement to share the resources and a new village was formed near the road and mountain caverns.

That endeavor led to more villages sprouting up along the road. Eventually, many of them will combine into towns, but having the safety of a well travelled road was too good to pass up. Ivor found out that Austin and Kate had formed an adventuring party and were instrumental in clearing out the Tokay infestation.

“What about the Os'id?” Ivor asked.

“Oh, they are awesome. They've been chatting with everyone. A couple of them are being escorted to the caverns the Tokay were in. I'm actually surprised we haven't had any type of racist nonsense.

Or is it speciesist nonsense? Anyway, that Okvats fellow is hilarious. The kids are fascinated by them,” the bartender told him.

Ivor finished his coffee and moved on after Mike started in on the town gossip. That's where Ivor checked out. He had made his way to the Administration building. Mary was still council head.

Ivor stepped into the newly reconfigured building. They had an information/reception desk at the front with a few people helping out folks. Ivor waited his turn.

“What can I help you with today, sir?” One of the people said.

“I'd like to speak with the Council Head if that is possible,” Ivor said.

“She is very busy, but if you give me your name, I can see if she has time.”

“Ivor Kemble,” he said.

The woman blinked, “The Hunter?”

A few people stopped at her exclamation. “I'm not a Hunter anymore.”

“Wait right here.” She rushed off through a door in the back.

A few minutes later, the receptionist came out with Mary. She had a big smile on her face, and waved him over as she said something to the receptionist. When Ivor got there, Mary gave him a warm hug.

“Well, well, Mr. Off World Traveler comes back to our sleepy little town,” she joked as they walked back to her office.

“Not so sleepy from what I can tell. It's grown quite a bit in a short time,” Ivor said.

“I told the receptionist not to spread any rumors. I know you are a private man. At this point, the Hunter is more of a symbol. It's so funny how short some people's memory can be,” Mary said.

“Apparently, the receptionist doesn't have that problem,” Ivor pointed out.

“No, she's sharp. She might have my job someday. Anyway, tell me what's been going on with you.” Mary offered Ivor a seat and sat down herself.

Ivor gave Mary a condensed version of what he had been up to. He left out most of the more horrible details, but also made sure to mention that he had made some enemies. The town distancing themselves from his name wasn't a bad idea. He enquired after the Os'id. Mary had the same glowing response Mike the bartender had.

Everyone seemed to adapt to other species fairly well. Mary thought it was because most of the people left were just more accepting of strange things like the System, magic, aliens, etc…

“I want to thank you for all the information you've given us after that disastrous vote to not have a World Guardian. The tales of Marie's team are spreading like wildfire. We already have people writing fanfiction about them. The rumors of their exploits may even eclipse yours,” Mary shared with him.

“Good for them. She has left a lot of detail out of her letters to me. I know she doesn't want me to worry. That kind of notoriety is a double edged sword. However, that team can handle themselves,” Ivor responded.

“Yeah, before you introduced us to the Os'id, Esqin was everyone's favorite off worlder. Those three women on your daughter's team have become role models for the girls about to get their System overlay. It's really exciting to see,” she said.

“Seems like you folks got everything figured out. Anything I need to be worried about?” Ivor asked.

“Everything figured out?” She scoffed, “Not a chance. We are getting by though. Probably better than most. The partnership with Seaton has been a real benefit. Of course, we owe that to you as well. There are some rumors of a group well to the east of us that might be trying to reform some kind of United States of America. From what I hear, it seems to be the worst of America, not the best. I don't think it will be an issue for us.”

Ivor nodded. He could tell she was holding something back. “What is it?”

She bit her lip, then sighed. “I'm seeing someone.”

“Good for you. Seriously, it's good to have someone in these chaotic times,” Ivor said sincerely.

“Thank you, Ivor. I know we had some fun, but it just felt weird for a moment telling you. I know you are a no-bullshit guy. What about you?” She asked.

Ivor laughed out loud. “Who would put up with all the shit I get myself into?”

Mary laughed as well. They talked a while longer, then Ivor said his goodbyes. He roamed around town until he finally found Okvats telling a story to a group of children. Ivor watched as the young Os'id mesmerized the kids with his tale. He was really good at telling stories. When he was done, he noticed Ivor.

“Ivor, what are you doing here?” Okvats said.

“Just checking in on things. I'm about to head back off world. Anything you want me to send to your mother?” Ivor asked.

“If you get a chance, just let her know we are doing well. Oh, did you hear? The council said that if someone comes with a village crystal, they might give it to us to try to get better access to the System on Arlossis.” Okvats was definitely excited about that. Mary hadn't mentioned it.

“That's great. I hope it works out. I'll do the same if I come across any,” Ivor said.

Ivor talked with Okvats for a bit, then decided to head back to the Freehold. Austin and Kate were escorting the other Os'id to the caverns out west. It would be a few weeks until they got back. Ivor arrived to the Freehold the next day around ten in the morning.

He made his way to the manor. Iken was cleaning the entryway when he arrived.

She welcomed him and let him know Radus was out back. As usual, Radus was working on his much expanded garden. Ivor was positive he saw some of the mushrooms from Arlossis growing under a felled log off to one side.

“Welcome back Mr. Kemble,” Radus said as he stood up and brushed off his hands.

“Thanks Radus. Garden looks amazing. Are those mushrooms from Arlossis?” Ivor asked.

Radus nodded. “They are indeed. I have a few of the plants from Arlossis here. I asked one of the miners to pop on over and bring back anything they wanted us to try and grow. A little taste of home sure helps when you are away.”

“It sure does. Would you be interested in doing some rune work on two buildings in Inyalquas for me. You don't have to accept just because you work for me here. I'm just asking because I trust you. I'll pay the going rate for the work, but if you don't want to do it, feel free to recommend someone else,” Ivor said.

“Oh, sure. I'll do it if I can. I think the wife wouldn't mind hitting up some shops and restaurants while we are there.” Radus seemed excited.

“It's for a business partner. He has an office and a new auction house that need some security measures in place. I think the auction house may have a vault as well that could use some work, or just verification,” Ivor said.

“Oh, sure. No problem. You want me to work with your partner directly?”

Ivor said yes, and he gave Scindair's address to Radus. He would let Scindair know when he headed back to Inyalquas tomorrow. Ivor finally went to check on the miners. When he got to the barracks, everyone was gone. He made his way into the former Giant Ant hive and down to the Mana Steel vein. The miners had done a great job of shoring up the tunnels.

He could hear digging as he got closer to the vein. When he stepped inside the cavern, he was amazed. There was a huge set of scaffolding running nine meters high along the wall with the vein.

The Mana Steel was exposed, and Ivor could see the Os'id pulling out chunks of ore with their claws.

“Pretty cool sight, right?” An Os'id stepped up beside Ivor.

“Amazing. The Mana Steel and your people. Is that a skill they are using or are your claws inherently that sharp?” Ivor asked.

“Oh our claws are pretty damn sharp, but not sharp enough to mine Mana Steel. That's a mining skill they're using. Well, two actually. They work in tandem to mine and extract the ore,” he replied.

Ivor watched, mesmerized for a while. The small vein Ivor had seen was only a tiny part of what was running through the wall.

“How much have you mined so far?” Ivor asked.

“We spent most of the time getting everything shored up so the damn place didn't collapse on us. We needed to make it safe before we could really start digging,” the man said.

“That makes sense. I just need enough for some new weapons. I don't have a smith with the level I need yet. So, it's no big rush,” Ivor said.

“Oh, sorry, I keep forgetting you don't know us very well. We spent a lot of time making it safe, but we dig really fast. There's already a half ton of the stuff in your vault.” He shrugged.

Ivor stood stock still. “How much is here?”

“Probably, ten tons. That's only what you can see. This vein is massive. It's not the only thing down here either.

I dug down into a small hole over by the big cavern back there. There's dark steel in there. I think these mountains are riddled with ore,” the man commented.

The Os'id had been disconnected from other societies for so long, they didn't understand the value of this. He really needed to keep track of what these guys were doing. They deserved a piece of the action. Once they were connected with the larger System universe again, they'd need credits.

Ivor told Zed to come up with a fair pay scheme. Also, Ivor was going to need another, larger vault. Aza owned mines. He'd ask him when he was back in Inyalquas.

Chapter Twenty-One

Ivor went back to the manor and took a hot bath. He then went down to the vault and stored a few of the Shadow cores and Void cores, along with the corresponding essences, in the vault. He pulled in about a hundred kilos of Mana Steel ore into his [Null Storage]. He didn't know how much ore it was going to take to smelt into ingots, but he wanted to see if he could get that done and add it to the auction.

Ivor ate dinner with Radus and Iken, then took the travel circle back to Inyalquas. It was early morning in Inyalquas. Ivor went to Scindair's office. It was open, but he wasn't in yet, so Ivor left a message letting him know Radus would be coming by today to look at the auction house.

Ivor then went to Aza's office building. He was immediately taken up to Aza's office. This time Cherze wasn't around.

“I have a problem. A rather large problem,” Ivor said.

“How big is this problem exactly?” Aza was curious what could possibly have Ivor so worried.

“Several tons big,” Ivor responded.

Aza looked at Ivor for a moment, then his eyes got really wide. “The Mana Steel?”

Ivor nodded. “The Mana Steel.”

Aza slicked back the feathers on his head with a hand. “Whew, I did not think there was that much there.”

“The Os'id are amazing miners. One of them found a vein of Dark Steel on the other side of the large cavern. He thinks the mountains around the Freehold are riddled with ore,” Ivor explained.

“You are literally sitting on a credit mine, Ivor,” Aza said with a smirk.

“What the hell do I do with all of that?” Ivor looked lost to Aza.

“Nothing,” Aza replied.

“Nothing?”

“Yeah. You don't have to mine it all right now. Probably not a good idea anyway. Have the Os'id start using their talents to find the veins.

Do an inventory, if you will, in the immediate area. Then have them move to another area and do the same,” Aza explained. “In the meantime, you'll want to invest in a large vault. The System has ore vaults. Better to just buy it than have someone try to build it.”

Ivor nodded. Aza had lots of mines. He knew best how to manage that side of the business.

“Get the Os'id to close off and secure the Mana Steel mine. Other stuff can be handled by anybody. I'll even subcontract people to you if you need it,” Aza offered.

“I appreciate that Aza.” Ivor relaxed a bit.

“Look Ivor, you need to get used to being rich. It's not just Mana Steel and other ore. I had that Inat meat tested and prepared by some chefs.

That stuff is going to be some of the most expensive meat on the markets. It has inherent stat boosting benefits when consumed. Of course, the better the chef, the better the stats.

I have a feeling a lot of the plants and animals from Arlossis are going to be that way. You get a cut of that,” Aza said.

Ivor sighed. “Yeah, ok. Hey, do you know anyone that can smelt some Mana Steel into ingots? I'd like to keep some in case I run into a smith that can upgrade my weapons. I'd also like to sell one or two ingots at the auction.”

Aza nodded. “I don't have anyone I trust right now. Well, not anyone close enough, but the King does. He has a smith that can handle it.”

Ivor nodded. Aza mentioned that Ivor should probably get some slightly fancier clothes made for the King's proclamation and also something for the reception later that night. Ivor was still a bit in a daze about the Mana Steel. He thanked Aza and went to see the tailor. The tailor nearly fainted when Ivor told him what the clothes were for.

After fitting Ivor before, the man had bought some information about human fashion from the System Market. Ivor was impressed at the man's initiative. He gave the tailor Chauncey Richards information in Seaton. A group there had set up a merchant guild of some sort. Perhaps the man could sell his wares to Earth. Of course, the tailor took him immediately to the cobbler for new shoes.

Ivor stayed a couple days in Inyalquas to get his new clothes and make sure everything looked good. He still had a few more days until the proclamation. He went to the capital, and the King connected him with the smith.

The smith was more than happy to smelt the Mana Steel. It gave him plenty of experience. However, he wouldn't let Ivor leave until the ingots were done. He didn't want to risk someone getting greedy and trying to steal it. The smith produced a dozen Mana Steel ingots from the ore Ivor had on him.

Ivor gave two Mana Steel Ingots for Scindair to sell in the auction. By the time he had gotten back to Inyalquas, Radus had already verified the runes on the auction house's vault and put more runes all over the building. Radus was currently finishing up the runes at Scindair's office. Ivor asked how much it was costing, but Scindair just waved him off.

Ivor had given enough, apparently. The final thing Ivor needed to do was sit with an Inquisitor to verify the veracity of the items he was selling. It consisted of a third party inspection of the items along with a sworn statement in front of the Inquisitor. The items received System verification of authenticity so that nobody could argue otherwise.

The items Scindair was going to sell from third parties had already been verified.

Finally, the day of the proclamation came. Ivor was in the palace, dressed and waiting for the palace staff to escort him to the throne room. He had worked off a bunch of nervous energy that night and early morning by training with the royal guard.

The guards all knew the proclamation was about him, just not exactly what it was going to be. That led to a bunch of good natured shit talking by the guards. Ivor was a good sport and took it.

It was the King's Seneschal himself that came to get Ivor, along with an honor guard. Ivor recognized several of them from his training sessions. Actually, now that he looked closely, they were all from his training sessions.

“Ivor, my apologies for missing you in the palace recently. I've been working quite a bit to make sure all the proper arrangements were made for the dignitaries arriving, security, etc… Then there were these fools.” The Seneschal nodded towards the honor guards. “We almost had a fight break out over who was going to get to be your honor guard. I thought the Commander was going to have to crack their skulls.”

Ivor was touched, but a little baffled by the statement.

The group marched through the palace and finally came to a massive set of doors. Ivor thought he had already been to the throne room. He was mistaken. This was the throne room.

As they marched towards the doors, two guards reached over and opened the doors wide. He could see into the truly massive room. There was a clear aisle leading up to the thrones.

A mass of people lined the aisle craning their necks to watch him arrive. The aisle he was walking down had to be over a hundred meters long. The King and Queen were dressed in their best regalia and seated on their thrones.

Ivor knew this was being broadcast to every place with a village crystal by the World Guardian within the kingdom. He was told other kingdoms and countries could tune in if they so chose.

Eventually, Ivor, the Sensechal and the honor guard marched into an area free of people. The honor guard split off to each side. Ivor and the Sensecal continued on a few paces and stopped. Ivor had been coached on the next step, but it wasn't much.

The Sensechal spoke first, “King Unzi Crit'o may I present Mr. Ivor Kemble, Freeholder.”

Ivor spoke second as he bowed his head, “Greetings, your highness”

The Sensechal stepped up to take his place to the left and slightly behind the King.

“Citizens of Unae, please indulge me before I get to the proclamation. I'm sure many of you are wondering who and what this man is. First, Mr. Kemble is a species called human from a fairly recently integrated planet. In fact, knowing a bit of how Mr. Kemble came to meet the F'on, I believe, will tell you much about him.

It was during Mr. Kemble's Evaluation that he found he needed weapons and the weapons he is familiar with are not standard in the System Market. So, he sent out a request. That request was answered by hundreds of aspiring smiths. Mr. Kemble decided to take his chances on a young F'on smith. This smith was trying to perfect an alloy and struggled to find anyone that would place their life on the line with an untested alloy. Mr. Kemble felt up to that challenge.

During his Evaluation, the smith and Mr. Kemble developed a friendship as he tested and re-tested weapons on monsters in the land and in the dungeons. I have some of the results of those experiments here.”

The King pulled two of Ivor's bastons out of a spatial storage. They were trashed. Bent to shit. There were several gasps in the crowd. The King set the bastons on a small table next to him that the Seneschal had produced.

“Throughout his whole Evaluation, Mr. Kemble had one goal in mind, to survive. Survive to get back to his planet and find his daughter. Due to his performance in the Evaluation, the System granted Mr. Kemble a Freehold on his planet. He immediately left his Freehold to seek out his daughter.

Along the way, he saved many people and several towns. His planet's World Guardian objected to the creation of his Freehold and started plotting against him.”

Again, there were gasps in the audience.

“Finally, after an assassination attempt, he found out his daughter was in danger. Mr. Kemble rushed to her and her team's aid. Needless to say, the perpetrators didn't live long. The System quarantined the World Guardian due to insanity. Unbeknownst to Mr. Kemble, there was another plot the World Guardian had set in motion. That plot came to fruition as Mr. Kemble was nearing his Freehold on the return trip accompanied by his daughter and her team.

A town nearby was preparing for a swarm of monsters. These monsters seemed much too high of a level for a newly integrated world. The town asked Mr. Kemble and his daughter's team if they would help, and of course they did.”

“Mr. Kemble was able to decimate enough of the swarm so that others could stop it from reaching the town. His investigations led him to the source of the plot. The World Guardian had contacted a Galtu criminal element that was breeding monsters to set loose in an effort to destroy Mr. Kemble and those he cared about. In destroying the monster laboratory, Mr. Kemble killed one of the Galtu. This evidence has been verified by the Inquisitors and the System.”

“Now, if all that I did was stop there with the story of Mr. Kemble, I'm sure you would all agree he is an interesting person. A measure of his character can clearly be seen. However, that's not where the story ends. In fact, the rest of the story is why he stands here today.”

“After destroying the swarm, Mr. Kemble and his daughter's team finally made it to the Freehold. He invited that young F'on smith and her family to visit. It was a happy reunion. Bonds of friendship were instantly solidified. Mr. Kemble was invited to Inyalquas to experience our fine people and fine culture. How was Mr. Kemble welcomed to our fine kingdom?”

The King took a dramatic pause and shook his head.

“By being framed for murder.”

Shocked voices were heard in the audience. Mumbles and exclamations. The King let it die down naturally. He was a really good orator.

“You should feel shocked. You should feel outraged. How did Mr. Kemble react? Did he rage against the injustice?

Did he fight the guards that took him? No. He calmly went with them. Not to the jail mind you, as he was told, but far outside the city to an abandoned farmhouse.

He felt something was wrong. When the perpetrator showed up, a Galtu I might add, Ivor turned the tables on them and defeated them. What he did next might shock you.

He returned back to the city with the Galtu and the corrupt guards and turned himself in.”

More gasps.

“He could have made his way back to the city, taken the travel circle back to his Freehold and never returned. But that's not in his character. To speed this up, I'll tell you, Mr. Kemble exposed a guard corruption problem and saved the life of Prince Eqred's Sensechal. It's a lot for anyone to take and definitely not the most friendly welcome.

However, Mr. Kemble saw the good in the F'on of the kingdom. His friendship with the smith's father led to an adventure. Mr. Kemble traveled to a world that had not been visited in many, many millennia. The world was barely tied to the System. It had no World Guardian or village crystals.

A magical plague had decimated everything. He did however find a remnant population. A very small population.

After several weeks of exploration, Mr. Kemble returned. He demanded the people, the Os'id, be given their fair share of any profit to be had from the planet. Not once did Mr. Kemble ask for anything for himself. In fact, he offered to relocate the population to his world as the Os'id are rather low level. I believe there are Os'id on his planet right now.”

“Again, Mr. Kemble's character is laudable. Helping those that need it. Standing up for those with no voice. However, even that would not rise to the occasion of a King's proclamation. No, it's what happened next that rises to the level of proclamation and more. I will forever be in debt for the service he rendered our kingdom. Along with a colleague, Ivor saved over two hundred of our citizens from a horrible fate. In addition, he was instrumental in helping close a warped dungeon.”

Voices rose. Gasps. Exclamations.

“I heard about Mr. Kemble through my son, Prince Eqred. I had been wrestling with a problem that my advisors and I were trying to solve. A problem that had a potentially disastrous outcomes. A tax collector and his escort failed to report back from visiting two villages close to the Wastelands. A followup team also failed to report back. Not wanting to provoke the Magocracy of Qizut, I didn't want to send a large force down there.

We were looking for alternatives when Mr. Kemble came to my attention. I met with the man, and I can tell you, I took an immediate liking to him. I explained the disappearances and asked if he would help. He accepted and we put together the necessary supplies for him to take. Within a few hours he was on his way. It was a few days later that I found out what happened.

Mr. Kemble had discovered the villages empty. He tracked the perpetrators into the Wastelands where they were holding the villages hostage. Mr. Kemble later found out that a doomsday cult was to blame. They were using the villagers as mana batteries in a vile ritual. They were summoning Void monsters.”

There was a general uproar.

“The cult was feeding the Void monsters into a nearby dungeon in the hopes of having it rupture. Many of you may not know what that means, but let me assure you a ruptured dungeon is a cataclysm of epic proportions. Ivor and his colleague managed to kill all the cult members. The colleague made his way into the dungeon, finding the two missing teams, and stopped the rupture. After the refugees were safe and being cared for in Rinda, Mr. Kemble hauled timber to a saw mill for two days.”

The King shook his head again and laughed.

“Can you imagine that? As though helping save more than two hundred citizens isn't enough. I know I've given you plenty of examples of Mr. Kemble's character, and I'll leave you with one more.

While he was in Rinda at the end of a day hauling timber, he took time out to train with the guards. Not just the royal guards, but the town guards. He has a unique fighting style that we've never seen before.

I've found out this seems to be a hobby of his; training guards. In fact, the Commander almost had a riot on his hands when the guard tried to decide who was going to be his honor guard today. I want my guests today to look around the throne room.

There are one hundred and twenty royal guards in this room including Mr. Kemble's honor guard. Every single one of them has trained with him. Every single one of them requested this duty.

These men will be standing in place at high alert for hours. And, still, they requested this duty. They do it because they respect Mr. Kemble. Believe me, I get a little jealous when they talk about him.”

There was general laughter throughout the crowd.

“Guests. You've heard a lot about Ivor Kemble today. You've heard me focus on character. That's because to get people to follow you, for people to want to follow you as a leader, you need character. However, my words are not enough. I need to take action, like Mr. Kemble does. So, people of Unae and beyond, hear my proclamation.”

The King raised his voice, “I request a System Adjudication of my proclamation!!!”

The crowd was stunned. Ivor was stunned. A familiar slightly translucent shimmer appeared in the air. It formed into a large F'on.

“I am the Sector Administrator. As the eyes, ears and voice of the System. I will adjudicate your proclamation.”

“Ass kisser,” Zed spat.

Ivor almost snickered.

The King looked at Ivor. “I proclaim Ivor Kemble a friend to the Kingdom of Unae and all its people. I proclaim Ivor Kemble, through character and actions, to be a true leader. I proclaim Ivor Kemble to be a brother and an equal. I proclaim Ivor Kemble to be a System recognized Monarch.”

The proclamations landed like hammers on all those listening.

“I have seen his actions. I have heard your proclamations. Here my voice; Ivor Kemble is granted recognition by the System as a Monarch, with all the benefits and responsibilities that title carries.”

The image of the Sector Administrator winked out. There was silence for less than a second. Then thunderous applause.

The King walked down the steps to the stunned Ivor and grasped his forearm. “Welcome to the club brother.”

The Queen quickly followed. “Ivor, you've done so much for us and our people. Thank you.”

The honor guard formed up around the three of them, and they marched down the aisle back towards the doors. Well-wishers were saying things Ivor couldn't hear. He was a bit in shock. Several notifications had appeared that he could look at later. Once through the doors, the King and Queen split off with another set of guards to get changed for the reception. Ivor did the same thing.

Chapter Twenty-Two

On another continent of Menevris a Galtu was watching the proclamation.

“That's the guy that disrupted the monster swarm deal we had with the World Guardian and probably killed Gulshun Lal?” the man asked.

The other person in the room spoke, “Yes, sir.”

“The guy my nephew not only failed to frame but knocked him out and took him to jail?”

Again, “Yes, sir.”

“The guy my nephew hired mercenaries to fuck with his business partner and all but one of those mercenaries ended up dead?”

“Yes, sir.”

“The guy who is rumored to have killed a Level 101 Juggernaut something or other, in that very mercenary guild's arena?”

“That has been confirmed, sir.”

The Galtu put his face in his hands. “Could this shit show get any worse?”

As though the universe was listening, there was a soft knock on the door. The other person got up and opened it. The person read a note and sighed.

“I'm afraid, sir, yes it can. The Corcer Calamity has just canceled all of our contracts on Menevris effective immediately. They have refunded all fees. They are also requesting review of all off world contracts, and I quote 'due to potential political ramifications' end quote.”

Fuck!!! The Galtu screamed into the air.

“Get me a meeting with this Kemble. We need to clear the air before this gets worse.”

“I know just who to contact. There is an auction in Inyalquas in a few days. I'll get an invite for you. I'm sure you can meet Mr. Kemble there.”

In the Qizut Embassy in the capital of Unae, the Qizut ambassador watches the proclamation.

Moments after it ends, she receives a message notification at her communication hub. She quickly reads the message and swears. She rushes into her quarters, hustling servants to help get her ready.

She looks at the reception invitation and sighs. She pulls her robes off and quickly jumps into a bath. Hopefully, she can get presentable in time to make it to the reception.

All across the reformed Earth a world wide announcement goes out.

Attention citizens of Earth. Ivor Kemble of the Kemble Freehold has been recognized as a Monarch by the System. This designation was validated by his deeds and the proclamation of another Monarch, King Unzi Crit'o of the Unae Kingdom on the planet Menevris.

System recognized Monarchs gain both benefits and responsibilities. Restrictions on growth of the Freehold have been removed. Villages, towns and cities can petition the Monarch to become part of the lands he will rule.

Sitting in a tavern in a town on their way to the Inheritance, Marie Kemble and her team read the notification.

Emily Riva turns to Marie. “So, I guess it's official. You're an actual princess, and it's not just a nickname Chris calls you.”

The team along with Esqin Krix laughed out loud as the other patrons looked wearily at them.

Sitting in his room inside the palace on Menevris preparing to change for the reception, Ivor started looking over all the notifications he received since the proclamations.

System adjudication requested on your behalf…

System adjudication granted…

Proclamation accepted…

Assessing qualifications….

System granted recognition approved…

New title granted - First Monarch….

Ivor was not expecting a title. The designation of Monarch already came with benefits according to the Sector Administrator.

First Monarch

You are the first on your world to be designated as a System recognized leader of people

+20 to all Mind stats

Ivor blinked as the rush of stat points hit him all at once. He pulled up his stat sheet.

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Level: 30

Class: [Null]

Profession: Inveterate Explorer

Strength: 192 (288)

Agility: 192 (288)

Endurance: 192 (288)

Constitution: 192 (288)

Intelligence: 256

Wisdom: 256

Willpower: 199 (398)

Perception: 256

Health: 2880

Mana: 2560

Stamina: 3210

Free Stat Points: 0

Ivor grinned. He definitely didn't mind the bonus stat points. He continued reading his notifications.

System designation of Monarch conflicts with Freehold restrictions….

Conditions assessed…

Conditions modified…

Condition 1: The Freehold will consist only of the current valley and all mountains directly adjacent to the valley.

Condition 1 removed….

Condition 2: The Freehold will not expand beyond the original boundaries.

Condition 2 removed….

Condition 3: There shall be no more than 100 permanent residents in the Freehold

Condition 3 removed…

Condition 4: The Freehold is allowed the choice of 10 Tier 1, or lower, buildings. These buildings cannot be upgraded, replaced or substituted. There is no time limit to choose.

Condition 5: The Freehold has 30 days to find a suitable Freehold Guardian.

Condition 5 complete….

Condition 5 removed…..

Condition 6: The Freehold will be nullified if a world ending event is triggered in the Freehold.

Condition 7: Newly integrated world rules do not apply to the Freehold

Condition 8: Kemble Freehold will exist in perpetuity.

Condition 8 removed….

Additional options available in your overlay for management of your Freehold….

Freehold Guardian shackles relaxed to provide recognized Monarch information…

Ivor was happy with the relaxed restrictions on the Freehold. He did have an immediate question for Zed though.

“Why did the System remove Condition 8?” Ivor asked.

“As a recognized Monarch, it is up to you to maintain your Freehold, or possibly kingdom. That condition was really just a slap in the face of the former World Guardian for objecting to the System granting you the Freehold,” Zed explained.

“I guess this is part of the responsibilities of being a Monarch.”

“Yes, and there are others. Nothing you have to worry about right now. If you decide you want to change the structure of your lands, you will have to worry about some things.

The biggest among these is who is going to lead in your absence. You do not like staying put, and I do not blame you. The constitutional monarchy of your world is a possible option.

Although, there are issues with letting the masses decide on who the leaders are. That should be obvious from your history and the recent vote to leave the planet without a World Guardian. Of course, the opposite can also be an issue. There have been and are plenty of tyrants with absolute control. Just something to think about,” Zed explained.

It sounded like a headache to Ivor. Finally, he read the world wide Earth announcement and groaned.

“Why does the System do this to me? It gives me bonuses and then dumps a problem in my lap.” Ivor knew he was just complaining.

“No good deed goes unpunished, right?” Zed mentally chuckled. “Ivor, I think this is a good thing to some degree. Your species are a little idiotic. There will be people that see what you achieved and want to be part of it. It may actually save your species.

It is also likely to spur others to get their shit together and band together. Try to look at it through that lens.”

Zed was right. Ivor needed to think about the bigger picture here. Thinking about it the way Zed suggested, Ivor looked at all the good King Unzi had done for his people. It didn't seem so bad.

Ivor finished getting dressed into some more casual clothes. Still fancy clothes, but much more comfortable for what he imagined was going to be a long reception. A palace staff member came to collect him along with the honor guard.

Ivor looked at and recognized all of them. “I guess you are the true gluttons for punishment. Sticking with me all night long?” Ivor said with a grin. They all returned the grin and nodded. “Good, I'll remember that for the next training since you like the punishment so much.”

The looks on their faces was priceless. Ivor blurted out a laugh as they headed for the reception. The reception was in another section of the palace he hadn't been in. As he came down a side hallway with his honor guard, he saw a line of people waiting in a large hallway that intersected the one he was on. The honor guard took him down the hallway to a set of double doors that rivaled the throne room doors. People were in line to be announced. Ivor got to skip the line apparently.

A major domo was standing at the top of the stairs, holding an invitation in his hand. “Apologies, I must introduce the new monarch ahead of you.”

The couple stepped to the side, and Ivor thanked them. Ivor and the honor guard stepped through the doors. He was at the top of a set of steps and a level that ran around the room.

The steps led down to a floor partly occupied by people conversing. Tables were set up around the room, and Ivor could see staff walking by with drinks and food on platters.

“Announcing newly designated monarch Ivor Kemble,” the major domo declared in what Ivor had to think was a skill assisted voice.

Everyone in the room paused and looked at Ivor and graciously clapped. Ivor stepped with the honor guard into the room. He made his way to the first person he saw, Aza Krix. Alipha was standing by his side looking very nice.

Aza was always well dressed, but like Ivor, he preferred quality understated clothes. It was clear Alipha was having none of that from her husband tonight. Aza looked about as uncomfortable as Ivor felt during the proclamation.

Ivor approached Aza. “Wanna sneak off and get drunk?”

Aza smiled, but it was Alipha that responded, “I find it hard to believe his Highness, Ivor Kemble, would leave a damsel in distress. Besides, how often do you think I get invited to events like this?”

Ivor laughed. “Well, I don't know about this “Highness” nonsense, but I won't spoil your good time Alipha. By the way, you look lovely.”

Ivor had noticed that the honor guard positioned themselves so that no one could approach Ivor from the back or his peripheral. They did it so smoothly that the only way someone would be able to approach was from the front. Ivor looked at the ranking sergeant in the honor guard and nodded to the man. Ivor really appreciated professional work.

As more and more people were announced, Aza and Alipha stuck with Ivor helping him navigate some of the high society. Most of them just wanted to introduce themselves to a new player that had the ear of the King. Some actually paid attention that he was from a newly integrated world and had proposals. Ivor thanked those and said it was premature to commit to anything. Some people were just assholes.

Ivor didn't rise to their bait. He just stared at them with a stoic face until they got uncomfortable and left.

It wasn't long before the King and Queen were announced. They immediately made their way to Ivor.

“There he is. The man of the day,” the King said as he held out his hand. Ivor clasped the King's forearm.

“Thank you, your highness. Your proclamation was unexpected but very much appreciated,” Ivor said.

“It is literally the least I could do, your highness, for the deeds you've performed for my people,” the King said.

Queen Nur'il started conversing with Alipha, while Ivor, Aza and the King talked a bit. Eventually the royal couple moved off to talk to other important people. A man Ivor recognized approached. It was the Guild Master of the Corcer Calamity.

The man reached Ivor and bowed. “Your highness. Good to see you again.”

“Good to see you as well, Guild Master. I trust Stril is keeping himself out of trouble?”

The man smiled. “Yes, he's leading a team on a security job in Inyalquas in a couple of days.”

Ivor cocked an eyebrow at that. “An auction?”

The Guild Master frowned, “Yes. How did you know?”

“It's my business partner's auction. He's put up several items of mine,” Ivor replied.

“Of course it is.” The Guild Master sighed. “Anyway, in addition to coming over to congratulate you, I wanted to let you know that I have canceled all contracts with the particular group of Galtu that you were having trouble with. In addition, we are reevaluating all Galtu contracts.”

“You didn't have to do that Guild Master,” Ivor said.

“We did, actually. Over the years, we've become a bit lax in our auditing of customers. Without said audits, clients can take advantage. It causes problems within the organization.

One of which you took care of. We found many other issues. We've actually had to let go of a good number of our lower level members.” The Guild Master winced a bit at admitting that.

“I understand,” Ivor said.

Before anything else could be said a large F'on stalked his way over towards Ivor, virtually shouldering aside other guests. Ivor's honor guard immediately tensed up. The man noticed and slowed down a bit as he approached. Ivor still didn't like the look on his face. He also didn't know why the man looked so familiar.

“So, it's true. I can't believe the F'on have fallen so far. A weakling foreigner being elevated to such a high status,” the man sneered.

“I think you may be confusing this man for someone else Guild Master, “ the mercenary guild master responded.

“Oh, no. My son described him in detail. I don't know what trick you used to best my son and fool the King. However, I won't let it stand. I challenge you to a duel, upstart,” the man exclaimed.

Ivor looked to the Corcer Guild Master and the guards around him. “Is he drunk, stupid or just a bit brain damaged. Who is your son?”

The man sputtered at the insult. “The royal guard Lieutenant that you somehow tricked to defeat and managed to get him thrown out of the royal guard.”

The Corcer Guild Master was holding back a grin. “Your highness, this is Bohet Scrans of the Scrans Adventurers Guild.”

“Oh, ok. I never bothered to identify the man. However, it seems I know where he got his lack of manners from. He was a blowhard just like you,” Ivor stated in a matter of fact tone.

The Corcer Guild Master jumped in. “Scrans, Mr. Kemble defeated a Level 101 Berserker Juggernaut in my own guild. I watched it happen. My guild watched it happen. There was no trick.”

The man vehemently shook his head. “So, he's managed to trick you too into believing this nonsense. Well, I can't be tricked by the likes of you.”

Ivor couldn't believe the delusion of the man in front of him. The King had made his way over.

“What's this I hear about a duel?” The King mused. Ivor caught the glint in the man's eye; cheeky bastard.

Scrans bowed. “Your highness, I believe this man has used some sort of magical trick on you and others. He somehow managed to best my son and frame him in some fashion to get thrown out of the royal guard. I simply challenged this charlatan in order to expose him for the fraud he is.”

The King nodded. “Indeed, indeed. Well, nothing for it.” The King looked at Ivor. “As the one being challenged, you can choose where and when the duel will take place.”

Ivor smiled while looking in Scrans' eyes. “Here, now.”

The King clapped his hands. “Excellent. Some fine entertainment. Of course, this will not be to the death. That would be inappropriate for this venue. Let's clear the floor.”

While the people were being told about the duel and ushered off the main floor, Ivor had a quick conversation with the Corcer.

“Tell me about his guild,” Ivor said.

“It was started by his grandfather where it really grew. That old man was a powerhouse. It was transferred to Scrans' father and started going downhill. The man was quite a bit more risk adverse, and you can't be that way with an Adventurers Guild. That kind of guild needs a certain type of person. You of all people should understand that Mr. Monarch Explorer,” the Corcer joked.

“Yeah, yeah. So, how is it doing now? I'm not familiar with the guilds. Dues, taxes, etc…” Ivor said.

“Oh, it's doing even worse now. He's lost a lot of people over the years. He takes a fifty percent cut.

He has them only running easy dungeons. It's somewhat guaranteed income for him, but his people hate it. Why all the questions?”

Ivor just smirked. “You'll see.”

Ivor stepped onto the main floor. It was probably meant as a dance floor. There was a raised section where some musicians had been softly playing.

Now the King and Queen were standing on the platform. Most of the people had moved to the upper level to watch. A ring of guards closed off the square area containing Ivor and Scrans for the duel.

The King held up his hand for quiet.

“This is a sanctioned duel brought by Bohet Scrans against Ivor Kemble. The winner is declared by an opponent being rendered unconscious or by yielding,” the King declared.

Ivor held up his hand. “Your highness, if I may.”

“Going to beg for forgiveness now that you've seen what you're up against?” The man said with a smile.

“What? No. I haven't even bothered to identify you,” Ivor said. “Menevris World Guardian, as a recognized Monarch, I request an adjudication.”

A moment went by before an image appeared floating a bit off the ground in the middle of the floor. “What would you have me adjudicate, Mr. Kemble?”

“It has been claimed by my opponent that I am somehow using trickery to convince people I am not what I appear to be. I would like your observation of the duel and an official adjudication on the matter of the claim at the completion of the duel. Furthermore, I would ask, if you can, to project the duel into the Scrans Adventurers Guild in real time. If that is not possible, I would like a detailed accounting of the duel sent to all guild members,” Ivor said.

Ivor had asked Zed what benefits a Monarch held in other people's lands. This is one of the benefits. A Monarch can request the adjudication of another world's World Guardian in situations like this.

Ivor just added the part about broadcasting it, because he had an idea. He also realized, in most of his battles, it was best to go all out. The problem with that is most people couldn't actually see him move, especially when he used [Null Step]. He was going to have to slow it down for this duel.

The World Guardian paused for a moment. “Your adjudication request is accepted. Sharing live images with the Scrans Adventurers Guild now. Proceed when ready.”

Scrans was somewhat taken aback by the developments. He pulled a spear and a shield out of his spatial storage. “Ready yourself, you fraud.”

Ivor laughed. “I don't need weapons or armor for the likes of you. Give it your best shot.”

Bohet triggered a movement skill. He shot forward, spear first as he tensed his shield arm for a bash. So, what if he died? The King would forgive him when he exposed the liar. It was clear the man was a fake, he hadn't even moved.

Just before the spear was about to connect, Bohet triggered the shield bash. He was already imagining the accolades he would receive.

However, instead of piercing and pummeling the lying human, he stopped dead in his tracks. His spear was being held in the man's hand. It felt like his shield had hit a Mana Steel wall. Bohet heard an awful cracking sound.

He looked down at his spear and watched as Ivor Kemble crushed and snapped his spear shaft with his bare hand. Bohet finally looked at Ivor Kemble. Ivor was smiling and staring right into his eyes.

This guy is so slow, Ivor was thinking as the man triggered a skill and shot out towards him. How did this guy survive by telegraphing his moves like this? Ivor caught the spear shaft in his hand and put his other hand out, stopping Scrans' shield bash.

Ivor started squeezing the spear shaft. With a flick of his wrist, the wooden shaft gave up under his relentless Strength. The man finally looked at Ivor. Ivor smiled. Ivor grabbed the top of the man's shield and kicked him in the stomach, straight up in the air.

Scrans flew nearly to the top of the fifteen meter ceiling before falling back on the ground on his face. Ivor dropped the now useless spear to the ground. He waited for the man to pick himself up. Scrans slowly crawled to his feet.

His nose and mouth were bleeding. Ivor looked at him and took his shield in both hands. Ivor tore the shield in half like it was paper.

“What else you got?” Ivor said.

Bohet had been lying on the ground on his face. What just happened? He briefly remembered feeling weightless, then he found himself on the ground.

It must be some kind of trick. He picked himself up. The man, Kemble, was holding his shield in his hands. Then the man tore it like paper. What? How? It must be some sort of illusion. Bohet pulled a large great sword out of his spatial storage and attacked.

His swing was good. He had practiced it thousands of times. However, instead of connecting with the man's body, the weight of the sword disappeared causing him to lose his footing and stumble forward. He quickly recovered and went to raise his sword back up for another attack only to find the sword destroyed about ten centimeters above the hilt. Bohet blinked at the destroyed weapon.

Ivor watched the man pick himself up. Scrans produced a truly huge great sword and attacked. Ivor shifted his upper body slightly and punched the flat of the blade, shattering it. Scrans was thrown off his stride but recovered admirably. The man looked at his destroyed sword and blinked.

He stood there and blinked again. He seemed to be having a moment.

“You ok there buddy. Sorry about breaking your gear, but you asked for this,” Ivor announced.

Scrans seemed to come out of his trance like state, “This… this isn't possible.”

“Of course it's possible, you idiot. The System will reward those who strive for more, who challenge themselves to be better, who take the opportunities presented to them,” Ivor said. “Are you ready to concede?”

Scrans looked up. Fury filled his face. “No, this can't be.” He rushed at Ivor. Ivor slapped him. Hard.

Scrans hit the ground on the side of his head. Ivor didn't even slap him as hard as his son. Everybody in the room saw it. The World Guardian saw it.

“Bohet Scrans was rendered unconscious. Ivor Kemble is declared winner. Furthermore, as adjudicator of the claim, I attest under the System that Ivor Kemble used no tricks, no magic or magical objects, no skills, no weapons and no armor. He defeated his opponent with Strength and Agility only.”

Before the World Guardian finished, Ivor spoke, “If I may?” The World Guardian nodded. “Members of the Scrans Adverturers Guild, your Guild Master was clearly unable to face reality when presented with it. He isn't fit to lead or give advice to adventurers. I, however, am recognized by the System itself as a leader, and I'm in need of adventurers. I need adventurers of all levels to explore a newly integrated world as well as a world that has not been visited by anyone but myself in many, many millennia. If you want true adventure and a much better deal, reach out to the Kemble Freehold. I'd like to talk with you.”

Ivor nodded at the World Guardian. “This challenge is concluded.”

With that, the World Guardian disappeared and the cheers began. Ivor looked over at the King who had a knowing smirk on his face. Two guards carried off the still unconscious Bohet Scrans. The King approached Ivor as the royal guards closed in to allow them some privacy.

“Well done, your highness,” the King said.

Ivor sighed. “Really, with the “your highness” business again?”

“Get used to it, Ivor. I know you don't like the attention, but it will wear off. I wouldn't have given my proclamation if I didn't know you were a natural leader. I will say, I didn't expect you to start poaching adventurers so soon. That was very well done. I found the tearing of the shield with your bare hands rather poignant,” the King said.

“That was a bit of a gamble. I'd never done it before,” Ivor admitted.

The King laughed and patted Ivor on the back as they both got back to the reception.

Chapter Twenty-Three

There were more well wishers and ass kissers after the duel. Eventually, it ended up being a group of Guild Masters around Ivor giving him ideas for starting his own guild. It seemed the common consensus was that Scrans was a real piece of shit. Almost to a person, they thought Scrans guild would be gone in a week. The small dissenting voices said it would take two.

They were all wrong, but nobody knew that yet. It surprised Ivor a bit that the Guild Masters were so open with him and one another. When he broached the subject, they all laughed.

One Guild Master explained, “There is plenty of work to go around. Sure there are ups and downs, but it's a big universe. Besides, wars between guilds only do one thing, hasten the demise of both guilds and make you go broke.” Every other Guild Master nodded along.

That's not to say there weren't issues between guilds or competition. It was tempered, largely by the Guild Masters and their direct subordinates. Most of the Guild Masters were high level, Master pushing into early Epic. They didn't go out as much. They had largely become administrators and businessmen at this point. That's one of the reasons they weren't trying to poach any of Scrans' people out from under Ivor. Some would come to them for sure, but they didn't need to piss off a rising power in the meantime.

Besides, there was probably work to be had once Earth opened up. It was a whole new world. He did get a number of offers to explore the new world the King had talked about. Ivor referred them to Aza as he was handling that end of it.

The King had found his way over to Ivor which caused the Guild Masters to disperse. It was him and the King chatting about some news the Crown Prince sent relating to the refugees. They were starting their trek back to their villages. Their attitude towards the royal family had vastly improved.

The mayor of Rinda offered to build a road down to the villages to make it easier for them to bring their goods for sale. They would get better prices than relying on the System Market.

A woman Ivor had noticed skirting the edges of his conversations for a while finally made her move and approached. She was wearing some very nice fancy robes. The cut of these robes reminded Ivor of the mages from the Wastelands. The King had noticed as well.

“Ah, Ambassador, I apologize that I don't remember your name. You never show up for any events. I was surprised to see you here,” the King said.

“No apologies necessary, your Highness. It was several years ago, and you are correct. I tend to spend my time in the embassy or in Qizut. Isnall Vengrix at your service,” she said and bowed to both men.

The King continued, “I assume it's not my charming personality that brought you over, rather the newly minted Monarch Mr. Kemble. He is a popular guy.”

The woman bowed her head. “Just so, your Highness.”

“Well, I'll leave you to your discussion. It was good to see you Ambassador.” The King nodded and walked off.

Ivor motioned to the sergeant of the honor guard and they closed ranks around the pair facing away to allow them to talk in relative private.

“Some power you have there Mr. Kemble. Commanding the royal guard like that.” Ivor knew she was joking, but it had been a long night with quite a few assholes.

Ivor's voice turned cold, “I see you, like many, can't tell the difference between command and respect.”

Isnall was startled by the tone. “Oh, dear. I'm sorry for my poor attempt at humor. See this is why I don't go to these things. I always put my foot in my mouth.”

Ivor cringed a bit. “No Ambassador. You have nothing to apologize for. I do. There have been a lot of people trying my patience this evening, and you got the brunt of it. Please, let's start over. What can I do for you Ambassador?”

Isnall was momentarily caught off guard. Most of the people she dealt with both in the Kingdom and the Magocracy would never admit to fault. “Oh… I… well, yes I'd like to start over. I have a message from the High Mage. He would like to meet with you as soon as you are available. There is a matter he would like to discuss. He asked me to convey his apologies, but the sooner the better.”

Ivor wondered if it had something to do with the doomsday cult. It made sense. Of course it could just be they want to get to know a monarch that is friends with their immediate neighbor.

“I have an auction I must attend in two days. I can take a travel circle wherever I'm needed right after that,” Ivor said.

“Oh, yes, that would be wonderful.” She handed him a token. “That token will take you directly to the Council Building. I'll tell them to expect you in three days.”

“You won't be accompanying me?” Ivor asked.

“Oh, no. I, ah, require protection when I go home. There are planned times and a lot of guards. You don't need to be bothered with any of that.”

“Ok, that's fine. If you don't mind me asking, what's the deal with all the protection. Are you someone special too?” Ivor asked with a grin.

She looked up a bit shocked for a moment then realized Ivor was joking. “Well, yes. I might not be a new Monarch, but I am something of a celebrity, or a liability, depending on who you ask.”

“Intriguing. I don't want to pry, but I'm interested to hear about this celebrity/liability status you carry.” Ivor was actually interested.

“It's not a secret or anything. My father is the High Mage of Qizut.”

Ivor's eyes widened. “Yes, I could see where you could be both a celebrity and a liability. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing as an ambassador? Not that it isn't an importing job. I just thought that the High Mage's daughter would be doing, you know, Mage things.”

“Ah, yes. My father loves magic. My brother took after him and poured himself into it. I just never cared for it as much. My brother died before I got to select my Class. I was young and hurt by his passing. I chose the Administrator Profession instead. I expected my father to be furious, but he wasn't. He sat me down and said he understood. Unfortunately, being the only child of the High Mage and not a Mage, I can be a liability.”

Ivor nodded. “So, he sent you somewhere where you could improve your Profession but would be safer as well.”

“Exactly. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret it. It's just that there is not much Administration to do here, and I'm stagnating a bit.” She shook her head. “I'm sorry. I feel like I'm just complaining about my situation.”

“Not at all,” Ivor said. “You actually remind me quite a bit of my own daughter.”

“I'm not sure if I should be offended. You can't be that old.”

Ivor laughed. “Well, I have a daughter about your age. Without going into details, my age has been extended and set back to roughly 30 years of age. When the System came to my planet, I was 60 years old.”

Her mouth dropped open. “That is wild. What does your daughter do?”

Ivor chuckled. “She's a Mage actually.”

Isnall laughed as well. “How funny? If you don't mind me asking, what did she do before the System came?”

“I don't mind at all. She owned a rare book store. She loves books,” Ivor said proudly.

“Oh, that sounds wonderful. What did you do before the System?” She seemed to have gotten more comfortable.

“Ah, well that's a little harder to explain. I know this world is familiar with the concept of spies, yes. Are you familiar with a type of spy that also does assassinations and other combat related work, often alone?” Ivor inquired.

Isnall's eyes were wide. “Yes, there are a number of Rogue Evolutions that do that exact thing. They are very dangerous, very feared.”

“That's what I did for 40 years before the System,” Ivor stated.

Isnall's highest stat was Intelligence, and it just put a bunch of pieces together in her head.

“You have Pre-Class/Profession combat skills. High level ones,” she whispered.

Ivor smiled at her. “Yes, I do.”

She looked up into Ivor's eyes. She suddenly realized what she just said. The blood drained out of her face. She had just figured out a secret and voiced it out loud. A secret of a man who had been killing people for longer than she had been alive.

“I won't ask you to swear a System contract. But do try to keep that information to yourself. Everyone is aware of my capabilities, to a general extent. However, I don't like to advertise. I'm an Explorer now,” Ivor said. Hoping to calm the woman. He saw the moment she figured it out. He could see it scared her.

“Oh, of course Mr. Kemble.” She nodded.

“Wonderful. Well, it's been a long day for me. I'm going to say some goodbyes. I hope to see you again, Ambassador,” Ivor said.

“Your Highness.” She bowed.

Ivor made his way through the crowd and found the King and Queen talking with Aza and Alipha. He bid everyone a good night. He immediately made his way to the royal guard training building. There were a lot less people around as many of them were still in the reception.

Ivor worked on his forms and loosened up for about thirty minutes before a group of guards wandered over. Despite his new found status, these men treated him just like they had any other time he was training with them. There was a time for all the political nonsense, but training wasn't when that happened. It allowed him to decompress for a bit.

It was sometime in the morning when he was training the night guards that had gotten off duty that a royal staff member approached Ivor.

“Your Highness, there is a person at the palace gates asking for you personally. They say it's quite important.”

“Can you bring them here?” Ivor asked.

The staff member left as Ivor continued with his training. It was only about fifteen minutes before the staff member returned with a F'on wearing armor.

“Mr. Kemble, I'm Odods Tandas, Vice Guild Master of Scrans Adventurers Guild.” Odods put out his hand.

As Ivor grasped his forearm in greeting. “What can I do for you, Vice Guild Master?”

The man looked into Ivor's eyes and took a moment to respond, “Were you honest in your offer?”

“Yes”

The man paused again. “After your display, I've been bombarded with requests to leave the guild. There is a financial penalty for individual members to leave before their contract expires. Some can pay, some can not. Would you be willing to pay for those that can't afford it at the moment?”

“I would,” Ivor responded.

The man frowned. “You didn't even ask me how much it is?”

“It doesn't matter to me. I'll come up with the funds if it means nobody has to remain under that buffoon for one day longer,” Ivor stated.

The man smiled slightly. “Well, then you just made my decision so much easier. I'm holding a vote today of no confidence in the leadership of Scrans. It's a clause in our guild charter. I expect the Scrans Adventurers Guild will be dissolved by the end of the day.”

“I'll start talking with my business advisors on the steps I need to take to create a new guild. Can I rely on you to be my main point of contact for the guild members?” Ivor said.

“Yes, sir.” The man nodded.

“Good man, I have a couple days before I need to deal with some business in Inyalquas and Qizut. I'll try to get you a point of contact in the meantime. If it's going to take a lot of time, I'll ask you to split the teams into under Level 40 and over. I have two locations that teams can probably work until the guild is set up. Does that work for you?” Ivor said.

The man paused again. “Apologies, sir. I'm just not used to working with someone who is so decisive. I'll get right on it.”

Ivor finished up with his current training group and cleaned up before heading off to find Aza. A palace staff member informed him that Aza had left for Inyalquas last night. Ivor asked the staff member to convey a message to the King. He wanted to make sure the King knew Ivor would return after his trip to Qizut.

Ivor took the travel circle to Inyalquas and immediately went to Aza's office.

Aza was in his office reviewing some things when Ivor got there. Ivor explained the meeting with the Vice Guild Master of Scrans' guild. Aza burst out laughing.

“You definitely don't do things by half measure,” Aza commented. “Seriously though, you should create the guild in your own lands. You get preferential tax benefits as a monarch bringing business into the kingdom. In fact, hold on one second.”

Aza fed mana into a spot on his desk. A few moments later Cherze entered the office.

“Cherze, Ivor is going to be in need of someone to help run some of his businesses in the very near future. Perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Is your assistant ready to be on his own?” Aza asked the operations head.

“Yes, he is. I've actually been holding him back until something worthy of his skill came along.” Turning to Ivor. “He's fairly young, but he has a fantastic mind for operations and logistics. He will need someone to help direct his efforts.”

Ivor thought for a moment. “I think I have someone in mind. I'll need a couple of days to put it together, though. Can he help me get a new adventurer's guild up and running?”

“Oh, yes, of course. What made you want to create an adventurers guild?” Cherze asked.

Ivor explained what happened during the reception, which was only broadcast to Scrans' guild. Aza added some unnecessary color commentary which Cherze found amusing. Ivor then told him about the Vice Guild Masters meeting this morning. For the first time, he saw Cherze break out in laughter. He was always so serious when Ivor was here.

“Oh, my. Yes, my assistant is going to have fun with this. Mr. Kemble, you are probably not aware, but when an entire guild passes a vote of no confidence in the Guild Master and votes to dissolve the charter, all outstanding debt comes due immediately. The System notifies all debt holders.

My assistant and I will immediately contact all debt holders and offer to pick up the debt on the guild property for renegotiated terms. If Aza approves the expenditure, it may be cheaper to buy the guild property outright. It will be a loan. We will need to help you set up a consortium, then we can work for you as a service contractor. Is the Kemble consortium ok for a name?”

Ivor was amazed at the man's immediate grasp of the situation and solutions. If his assistant was even half as talented, he would be happy.

“Yes, that's fine. I trust you and Aza. Once the auction is over, I should have the funds to repay at least part of the loan,” Ivor said.

Ivor could see the glee in Cherze's eyes at the potential business shenanigans he was going to get into. Aza agreed, and Cherze shot off like someone had lit him on fire.

Aza laughed. “I haven't seen that man so excited in a decade. I'll bet he has System contracts available for you in a few hours. I'll contact the Vice Guild Master directly and make sure he is working with either Cherze or his assistant. I also recommend you talk with Scindair and form a contract concerning the auction house.

It is going to be a steady source of income for your Freehold. Again, being part owner will give you preferred tax rates. I can't imagine he will have a problem with it. You are funding his organization. Although, I understand you want to keep parts of his business holdings at arms length.”

Ivor took Aza's advice and immediately headed over to see Scindair. He was quickly verified and led into Scindair's office.

“I must thank you for sending over Radus. That man is a genius with runes. What can I do for you Mr. Kemble?” The man asked.

“I am shortly, probably today, going to be acquiring a guild from a soon to be former Guild Master and some business arrangements are being put in order,” Ivor said.

“Oh? Now I really want to hear this story.” Scindair smiled.

Ivor told him about what happened at the reception followed by the visit of the Vice Guild Master.

Scindair laughed out loud. “Mr. Kemble that is simply fantastic. How does this affect me?”

“Mr. Krix, along with his head of operations, want me to make my business partnership with you for the auction house to be more official. As a new monarch, I have preferred tax rates as I'm the owner of a business,” Ivor explained.

“I have no problem with that. Less taxes means more profits. Besides, you funded the whole damn thing anyway. I'd turn the whole thing over to you and just contract to run it if that's what you want,” Scindair said honestly.

Ivor shook his head. “Nope. None of this would have come to fruition without you. If you feel strongly about it, we can come up with an amicable split where I receive more of the profit for a short time to pay back the 'loan' for getting the business up and running. After that, it's fifty/fifty. I'm a firm believer that fairness breeds loyalty.”

“I'll let whoever you need know about the splits. Who will I be working with? Certainly, you're not going to try to run and track all these businesses you seem to be acquiring?” Scindair asked.

“Oh no, that would be disastrous. Aza's head of operations has an assistant that is ready to branch out on his own. However, I have another leader in mind, but approaching them will have to wait until I've finished a visit to Qizut,” Ivor said.

“I guess you're a popular guy now that you're a System recognized Monarch. Oh, speaking of visits. I had a request from an old acquaintance about a last minute invite to the auction. My acquaintance has been linked to the Galtu operating on another continent on Menevris. I think they are finally sending the high level person you were expecting.” Scindair had just sent out the invite.

“Do you think it was the whole monarch thing or stuff I have you doing to their operations?” Ivor asked.

“Oh definitely the monarch announcement. Having all your mercenary contracts pulled on a world and audits of all your other contracts is going to prompt a reaction. You are now a force they can't just ignore,” Scindair said.

“Thoughts on what their play is?” Ivor asked.

Scindair honestly didn't expect the question. “I believe they are going to try to stop hostilities. I don't think they'll offer any recompense, but they'll want you not focusing on their dealings. It just brings too much attention to them if you start talking to other monarchs.”

“Just because they don't offer recompense doesn't mean I can't ask for it,” Ivor stated.

Scindair smiled. “Just so. I'll set up the meeting in one of the private auction booths. The guards will know to escort you there.”

Ivor nodded and left. He had some people to talk to.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ivor visited Quanzul first. He had taken on tons of commissions from Earth. Although his new apprentices work on most of that gear, he still needed to manage things. In addition, word had gotten out about armor he had made for two individuals; Mr. Kemble and Mr. Smith. Higher level adventurers were begging him to create armor for them. Ivor was glad he had gotten armor for himself and everyone else before the huge rush.

He was, unfortunately, going to outgrow this armor at some point, and wanted Quanzul's advice on how to proceed. His current armor was made from the parts of an Epic level dragon. Ivor was pretty sure he was going to need higher level parts for higher level armor. When he brought it up to Quanzul, the armorer confirmed it.

“It's one of the main reasons you don't see very many people at Legendary or Mythic levels. Most people will end up getting themselves killed just trying to get the parts to make advanced level gear,” Quanzul said, shaking his head.

The man continued, “Add to that the rarity of finding a smith or armorer that can actually make the gear, well, that is also rare. It's a big universe, but I don't know of any. You should know by now that most people stall out in their advancement at much lower levels.”

Ivor understood. He would just have to keep looking. It had been a few hours when Ivor started receiving a number of System contract requests. He made his way back to Aza's office. Cherze and Aza were waiting there along with another F'on.

“Mr. Kemble, I'd like to introduce you to Caizak Naalgens, my current assistant and hopefully your future head of operations,” Cherze said.

“As we are starting out with a business relationship, do you prefer I refer to you as Mr. Naalgens or Caizak?” Ivor asked.

“Oh, Caizak is fine Mr. Kemble, your Highness.” The man seemed a bit nervous.

“Just Mr. Kemble is fine, Caizak. Cherze and Mr. Krix have both said good things about you, and I trust their opinion. However, I don't want someone working for me just because their boss thinks it's a good idea. If you don't want the job, there will be no animosity or repercussions. Do you understand?” Ivor asked.

The F'on nodded, “I understand Mr. Kemble.”

“Great. So, tell me why you want to work for me.” Ivor was looking for something specific in the answer.

Caizak looked at Aza and Cherze. “I've been told that you move very fast and are a decisive person. I've also been cautioned that you have made enemies. I'm thankful for that knowledge. However, I simply can't pass up this opportunity.”

“Why is that?” Ivor asked.

Caizak's eyes started to shine. “I have the opportunity to start at the ground floor of a newly burgeoning kingdom. I'm aware you've gone to at least one place no one else has in many millennia. In a very short time, you've done so much. No offense to Mr. Krix, but his consortium has existed for a long time.

There are established processes in place and operational workflows that have been in place for decades. I need more to grow. I want more to grow.”

Ivor could see the fire in Caizak's eyes during his last few statements. That's what he was waiting for. The drive to push oneself. The drive to be more than you currently are.

Ivor smiled and held out his hand. “Well, then, here's to a hopefully long, exciting, partnership.”

The two men clasped forearms as Caizak smiled. Ivor's high Perception caught Cherze surreptitiously wiping away a tear from his eye.

“Alright then. For now, you're in charge of my business affairs. As I know you want to focus on more of the operational side, I have plans to bring in an overall manager. It may take a few days. So, in the meantime, why don't you walk me through all these System contracts,” Ivor said.

Ivor listened as Caizak immediately shifted into professional mode and clearly explained the contracts. Ivor asked some questions and requested minor changes. Most of his changes revolved around the fact that he may be gone for long periods of time. In that event, certain contingencies were put in place. There were contingencies if Ivor was gone too long as well as a required System adjudication if he was feared dead.

He was also insistent that a portion of their credit holdings be maintained in the form of coins. Not that he didn't trust System credit, but it was just a fact that not all people wanted System credit. In addition, Caizak suggested Ivor choose a name for his lands. A Freehold was really a form of government or land ownership. Since it could change, referring to the Kemble Freehold in System contracts was not ideal.

“Use Cymru,” Ivor said.

“Is there significance to that name? Not that it's required.”

“My name, and my ancestry, is Welsh. Cymru is the Welsh language name for the country Wales where my ancestors came from,” Ivor stated.

The changes were made. Ivor agreed to the System contracts. A notification popped up. It was another Earth wide announcement.

Attention citizens of Earth. The name of the Kemble Freehold has been changed by its founder and System recognized Monarch, Ivor Kemble, to Cymru. All System contracts that reference Kemble Freehold have been modified.

Caizak had already thought ahead and asked Aza to lease some office space from the Krix Consortium. There was a small building that was currently not in use. Ivor applauded the effort, and noted that it was likely that the location for their main office would change.

Ivor spent the rest of the day at the palace, mostly working with Thrik Trids and the guard. Enough of the guards had gotten used to Ivor's martial style that he felt comfortable moving on to more advanced techniques. He was hoping to create trainers out of these more advanced guards who could then train anyone wanting to learn. Ivor knew he wouldn't always be around.

While they were finishing up the contract business, Cherze had received word that the no confidence vote in Scrans was unanimous and the guild was dissolved. Cherze and Caizak immediately headed out. They rushed to the travel circle to make their way to the capital. Aza explained that the two had been working tirelessly to make sure they were the ones to talk to the debtors first.

Ivor spent the evening with Prince Eqred and his family. Eqred's excuse was that he was just entertaining a new Monarch, but in reality, he just really liked Ivor. Ivor got to meet his wife and children. Eqred's children were very close to reaching the age of maturity and gaining access to the System overlay. They had both recently gained 20 in all their stats.

After dinner, Ivor returned to Aza's estate and spent some time training with his guards. He did get a few hours of rest. He had a feeling the next day was going to be a long one. It was the day of the auction.

The next morning, Ivor spent more time training the guards until a staff member let him know Aza was looking for him. The staff member escorted him to the dining room where Aza and Alipha usually took their breakfast. He walked into an unusual scene, Cherze was animatedly waving his hands and telling Aza something while Alipha just smiled.

Aza was laughing so hard he almost fell out of his chair. As Ivor got closer, he caught the tail end of what Cherze was saying.”

“….I tell you, it was a sight to behold. All three of the bankers were fighting each other to see how low they could go,” Cherze was saying with an almost manic glee.

As Aza continued to laugh, Ivor asked, “I take it the negotiations went well?”

Cherze turned to Ivor, still smiling. “Went well? Went well? I couldn't have done any better. No, that's not true. I couldn't have done what Caizak did yesterday. You two are so much alike it's damn scary.”

“How so?” Ivor asked.

Aza finally got a hold of himself. “Well, apparently Caizak has been holding back on us a bit. Cherze here gave him free rein in the negotiations and said he would only step in if necessary. It turns out that you and Caizak have a similar style. Reserved, calm, yet aggressive when going in for the kill as it were.”

“Since you gave us prior warning, we already had an appointment with all three of the main debtors of Scrans Adventurers Guild. There were three banks in the capital. All well known. We had used your new found status as a Monarch to set up the meeting in the guise of laying the groundwork for your potential business dealings in the capital,” Cherze said.

“Nice. Smart move,” Ivor replied.

“As we started the meeting, unbeknownst to me, Caizak had paid someone to come into the building and say they had an urgent note for him. He left the meeting, and returned with a note. The note, of course, was about the dissolution of the guild. Caizak calmly mentioned that you happened to be looking for opportunities in the capital and this was one you might consider.

Of course the bankers were already aware of the guild's demise. They perked right up at the thought of being able to find a buyer so soon. They each started talking about the debt, the wonderful opportunity, the quality of the holdings, on and on…. Caizak let them talk and when asked about the amount, the bankers didn't want to offer any deal. Just a straight take over of the debt,” Cherze began the tale.

Ivor was not the biggest fan of bankers. He'd dealt with a lot of shady ones.

Cherze continued, “Of course, Caizak, also unbeknownst to me, had hired an investigator to look into the holdings of each of the banks. Caizak was in possession of a list of issues with each property. As he asked the bankers about coming to a better arrangement, they said they couldn't possibly do that considering the quality of the properties.

Caizak slammed the list of deficiencies on the table. Shocking everyone in the room.”

Ivor started to grin.

“How dare you insult my employer!!!” Caizak yelled. “You think to take advantage of a Monarch? He continued. Cherze, we are leaving. I was just as shocked as the bankers from the vehemence in Caizak's voice. I stood up to leave. As we got to the door, he just whispered to follow his lead. Turning to the bankers he said, he wondered if there might not be another monarch they were taking advantage of. Well, then he stormed out with me following.”

Ivor was holding back a laugh as Aza started laughing out loud again.

“We were halfway to the door to the street when all three bankers rushed out, begging us to come back. There was a misunderstanding. Couldn't we just listen to their new offers. Caizak didn't answer for a few moments.

You could actually see the bankers sweating. Caizak simply nodded and allowed them to lead us back to the negotiating table. They were so shocked by the whole ordeal that they didn't realize they had been played until they had already drastically reduced their prices.

At that point, it was too late. Individually, none of them wanted to own up in front of the others that they were fooled. It resulted in a war of who could go lower. Caizak ended up buying it all.” Cherze was still smiling.

“This won't come back to bite us later will it?” Ivor asked.

Cherze scoffed. “Not a chance. You own the property outright. You only owe the Krix Consortium. Plus the bankers can still go after Scrans for the remaining debt. He's ruined, and there is nothing he can do to you.”

“The guy has been working for me for a day, and I already feel like he deserves a bonus,” Ivor stated.

“Oh, he does, but that's not why he did it. I hate to admit it, but our processes here have been holding him back. He is much more suited to the fast moving, high stakes nature of a newly integrated world. Add to that your own ability to take risks and come out on top. It's like you two were made to work together. I can't truly express how grateful I am that you have taken him on. He made me tremendously proud,” Cherze said.

He nodded to each of them, “Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the capital. There are still some things I can teach my former assistant about handling construction contractors.”

“Please pass on a message to the Vice Guild Master. I'd like to make a guild-wide announcement tomorrow morning,” Ivor said. Cherze nodded again and left.

“Are you both going to the auction tonight?” Ivor asked.

“Yes, since it's a pre-opening auction, it will be fairly short. Only a few hours. No intermission or long drawn out affair.

However, there will be a number of high society and wealthy people there. It's good for me to be seen in these circles, even if I don't like most of them,” Aza said.

“Apparently, the Galtu are ready to talk. I'm hoping to put that business behind me,” Ivor said.

Alipha chuckled, “I imagine they are looking to put that business behind them as well. No use getting in the crosshairs of someone like you.”

Ivor took some time to himself at the Krix estate, and left early for the auction. When he arrived, he was quickly ushered into the back rooms where Scindair was waiting. Ivor hadn't actually seen the vault so, Scindair took him down to it. Stril Oldri was there with several teams from Corcer Calamity. Stril nodded to Ivor which Ivor returned. Scindair explained how the operation worked during the auction.

Stril explained the security team responsibilities. Scindair took Ivor around to the auction floor followed by the various private booths. It was a large building and the private booths were on the top two floors. The top floor booths were larger than the booths below.

Ivor himself didn't have a booth. He didn't want a booth permanently empty, as he didn't plan on being at the auction much. He was supplying it with rare goods, not purchasing here. Ivor stayed in the back with Scindair until the auction was about to start. A staff member let Scindair know that the Galtu had arrived.

“Would you like me to accompany you to the booth?” Scindair offered.

“I think you have your hands full enough as it is. I think I can handle it,” Ivor said.

The auction was about to get underway as the staff led Ivor to one of the second floor booths. He opened the door and entered. The booths were well appointed with runes in the glass creating a one way view similar to his mask.

Inside were two individuals. One was a Galtu who was seated. The other was a Ghomid like Scindair.

The Galtu stood and put out his hand. “Ah, Mr. Kemble I presume.”

Ivor shook his hand, unlike the F'on forearm clasp. “You have me at a disadvantage.”

“I'm Farno Ull. I oversee all of the various Galtu interests on Menevris,” he said.

Ivor stayed silent. He wasn't the one that needed this meeting.

“You have cost us quite a lot of money, and now some of our contracts have been pulled and others in jeopardy,” he stated.

“You are in a high risk business. If you can't handle the risk, you might want to consider a new career,” Ivor retorted.

The Galtu chuckled. “You are not wrong. I came here today to see if we could come to an agreement to end hostilities.”

Ivor nodded. “I'm amenable to that. What did you have in mind?”

“Just that. A cessation of hostilities.” Farno shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.

“That's not going to be quite enough for me,” Ivor said.

“Really. I'm not sure there is anything I can or will offer you,” Farno replied.

Ivor nodded. “Ok, then. I guess you'll continue to lose money, people and credibility. I know more about your business than most. I spent 40 years pre-System taking out organizations like yours all across my world. I didn't have a fraction of the power I have now.

If it's war you want, that's what you'll get. I don't honestly care about what you do, but you were involved in coming after me and the people I care about. Your organization should have just chalked up the loss to the cost of doing business.

Instead, you kept coming after me and mine. I will whittle your organization down until your enemies start taking notice. I'll finance your enemies.

I'll use my connections and notoriety to ostracize your entire race, if I have to.”

Ivor turned to the Ghomid, “I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve, but it's not going to work on me.”

Turning back to the Galtu. “See, this is the problem with people like you. You think you are untouchable because of your organization. So, you come into my place of business and try to test me. I treat people the way they treat me. Well, now I get to test you.”

Focusing his will on both men, Ivor infused his immense Willpower into his words. Stand Like puppets on a string both men stood. The Ghomid's eyes were wide.

Ivor stood. Kneel They both dropped to their knees.

As Ivor looked both terrified men in their eyes he said, “You say you want to end hostilities, but you act hostile because you think you can. I was only going to ask that you get the Galtu who tried to frame me out of the city. Now, however, you've upset me on a celebratory night.

I want all your operations out of Unae. If I don't see you pulling back your operations in two days. I'll consider that your answer. I guarantee you that anything you've heard about me pales in comparison to the truth.”

Ivor released his will from both men. It took them a few moments to stand.

Ivor looked at the Ghomid. “If I ever see you again, you die.”

Farno heard the words Ivor said, then his bodyguard was screaming. Both of his legs and arms were broken. Farno didn't even see Kemble move.

Ivor tossed a healing potion to Farno, “Get the fuck out my auction house. You've got shit to do.”

Ivor stepped to the door and walked out.

Farno gave the healing potion to his bodyguard. As the man's bones knit back together Farno asked, “What do you think?”

The Ghomid looked at him with wide eyes. “I think we do what he says. This was a mistake. A big fucking mistake. I'd bet everything I own he's Legendary level in at least his Willpower and Agility. It took him minutes to even notice my charm spell. That's how little effect it had on him. From what I hear, his colleague, Mr. Smith might even be more powerful.”

The Galtu swallowed. “Yeah, that might be the best course of action.”

The two men collected themselves and exited the booth. A team of Corcer were standing outside the booth. All Level 80.

“Gentlemen, we'll escort you to the exit,” one of the Corcer said.

Farno sighed, “Yeah, this was a huge mistake.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ivor was frowning when he arrived in the back rooms.

“Trouble?” Scindair asked.

“We'll see. They tried to push me. That Ghomid tried some kind of mental attack on me. I gave them two days to start clearing their people out of Unae,” Ivor explained.

“Idiot,” Scindair spat. Then he looked up at Ivor. “Not you Mr. Kemble. That particular Ghomid is an old acquaintance. He's been making poorer and poorer decisions in my opinion. I assume you made your displeasure known?”

“If I see him again, he dies,” Ivor said.

Scindair gulped. “Well, let's hope all the money you are going to make from this auction will help soothe your mood.”

As he said that, they made their way over to the edge of the stage, still in the wings, out of sight. From the other side of the stage a person walked out dressed in a well tailored suit. At first glance, Ivor thought the person was human except his skin was azure blue.

Scindair saw the surprise and commented, “Andonsian. As a species, Andons are very close to your human species. I'd bet they are the closest you've seen yet.”

Ivor nodded. He hadn't thought about it much, but there had to be other human-like species in the universe. “I assume there are other human type species.”

“Oh my yes, you primate analogues are one of the most prevalent types. Just not in this particular part of the universe. And before you ask, I don't know why that is,” Scindair said.

Ivor listened to the Master of Ceremonies.

“Welcome, welcome to this pre-opening auction of the new Zedha Auction House. Although a new auction house, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the offerings tonight. As was detailed in your invitation, this is an absolute auction without a catalog. All amounts are to be paid in coins. All duplicate items are being sold in single lots. Future events may have a catalog. All items have been verified by an Inquisitor and through System Contract to be genuine. Let's get started with something to whet the appetite.”

A staff member carried out a small ornate box and set it on the auction block. With a flourish, the M.C opened the box.

“First up, two Superb level Shadow monster cores.”

Gasps rang out through the audience.

“Let's start the bidding at five hundred gold.”

The bids rose rapidly in the floor level, until they hit their limit and people in the booths started bidding. The final bid was won by a booth on the second floor for ten platinum, three hundred gold. Ivor was in shock.

Scindair laughed at his open mouth. “Ivor, that's just the start. Oh, that's a lot for the first item, the rest of the items for the next bit will be worth much less. Remember, these are wealthy people.

The things you've brought are worth massive amounts. You would only get a fraction of this selling on the System Market.”

Ivor shook his head. Even splitting evenly with Scindair, which he wasn't, this one sale was more money than he had on his person.

True to his word, the next item the M.C brought out was from one of the other auction houses Scindair made a deal with. Ivor watched for a while, but most of the items weren't his. Eventually, they came to the Void cores. Again there were two of them. This time, the folks on the floor barely contributed to the bidding. The cores ended up going for fifteen platinum.

The M.C had been doing a good job of working the crowd. He brought them along on a journey. There were ups and downs, but he didn't let them get too emotionally drained. Finally, he made an announcement. It was just shy of two hours since the auction had started.

“It's been a fantastic opening event for the Zedha Auction House. There have been many fine items purchased by happy buyers. Now, we have three items left in our Auction. I certainly hope some of you brought the real money.” Several in the crowd laughed.

“Many of you watched the announcement of the King proclaiming Mr. Ivor Kemble as Monarch. Many of you also watched as that proclamation was recognized by the System. What many of you don't know is that Mr. Kemble is a patron of this auction house. The last three items, as well as a few of the previous ones, were put up for auction by Mr. Kemble himself.”

Murmurs broke out amongst the audience on the floor.

“It is with great pleasure that I present the third from the last item on our list.”

This time, the attendant was accompanied by two high level Corcer. The M.C opened up the rectangular box to show off the two gleaming ingots inside.

“Two five kilogram bars of pure Mana Steel. We'll start the bidding at twenty platinum.”

The bidding started out a mad scramble as all the booths seemed to want them. Eventually, the bidding settled down between three bidders. After some large jumps in price, the winner outbid the others by one hundred gold. The final price was one hundred platinum two hundred gold.

“Fantastic. Now, second to last on the list.”

Again, an attendant was escorted out with guards. This box was much smaller.

“Two vials of Shadow Essence.”

There was silence in the auction house.

The M.C smiled, “Let's start the bidding at one hundred platinum.”

If Ivor thought the bidding was crazy for the Mana Steel, it was twice as bad for Shadow Essence. Again, the folks on the floor weren't bidding, they were here for the show at this point. Like before, there were quick jumps. The bidding settled down to two bidders going back and forth. Finally, the M.C struck the gavel.

“Sold to booth sixteen for four hundred platinum, six hundred gold. Amazing, simply amazing. In all my days as an auctioneer, I have never seen this level of excitement and bidding during a pre-opening event.”

Ivor wasn't sure if that was true, but the man was good at his job.

“Lastly, good people, the final, and dare I say rarest of the items on auction here today.”

Another case was brought out under guard. He opened the case and took a pause.

“Two full vials of Void Essence. Let's start the bidding at…”

He didn't get to finish as a voice rang out from one of the top booths. Ivor could feel some Willpower put into it. Not a lot, just enough to be heard by everyone.

“One thousand platinum, and I want a meeting with Mr. Kemble.”

The crowd and the M.C were stunned. The M.C looked into the wings of the stage looking at Scindair. Scindair looked at Ivor. Ivor nodded. Scindair nodded.

“Although Mr. Kemble's time is not on auction today, your bid is accepted. Would anyone like to counter the opening bid?”

The crowd laughed.

“I thought not. Sold to the bidder in booth two. Please stay in your booth and someone will bring your goods and information,” The M.C stated.

“That concludes the pre-opening auction of the Zedha Auction House. It has been my pleasure to serve you, and we hope you will return for future auctions.”

The guards and a staff member brought the box with the Void Essence over to Scindair. He pointed to Ivor who took the box and stored it in his [Null Storage]. Scindair accompanied Ivor to box two letting him know who it was inside. Ivor opened the door and stepped in.

There were two people inside. Both of them were Hembil. One was large, very large. He reminded Ivor of a grizzly bear. The other was smaller but no less intense.

“Ah, Mr. Kemble. I'm Thran Larzul. I didn't actually expect you to deliver my goods. Assuming you have the goods on you.” The man's voice was deep and gravelly.

“Well met, Mr. Larzul. I have the essence if you have the coin.” Ivor smiled.

The Hembil smiled back, “If I don't?”

“Well, then we have a problem,” Ivor stated.

“Think you can handle this problem, do you?” Thran scoffed.

“I hope I don't have to find out,” Ivor said.

The Hembil laughed. “For a man whose highest stat is Willpower, you have some big ones on you.”

Ivor shrugged and produced the box. He opened it to let them inspect it, then handed the box to Thran.

The large Hembil produced a small chest. He handed it to Ivor with a smile. Ivor let the man put the chest in the palm of Ivor's open hand. It was heavy, but not heavy enough to impact Ivor. He let it sit for a moment, then willed it into his [Null Storage].

“I assume you wanted to talk to me about something,” Ivor stated.

“I do. Where did you get this?” The man was blunt, that was for sure.

“From a Void monster,” Ivor replied.

The man rolled his eyes, “I know it came from a Void monster. Who killed it? Where was it?”

“I'm not at liberty to discuss where, but my colleague killed it,” Ivor stated.

“Who is this colleague? And do they have more?” The man was starting to get on Ivor's nerves.

“Before I tell you anything more, perhaps you might explain why the aggressive tone. I'm happy to treat people like they treat me. I doubt that you would like me getting aggressive,” Ivor said calmly.

For the first time, the other Hembil spoke, “Father, please. If this person can help us, it won't do any good to antagonize them.”

The large Hembil seemed to deflate a bit. “It's my wife. She was attacked by a Void monster of some kind. It caused an infection. We have contracted an alchemist that can make an antidote, but we need Void Essence which is rare. I've nearly bankrupted myself paying the alchemist and on these vials. I need to know if your colleague can get more.”

Ivor's attitude completely changed. What would he have done if there had been an antidote to Marie's mom's cancer. Yeah, he could understand the impotent anger.

“How much do you need?” Ivor stated.

Thran looked up at him. “I would need six more vials just like these. Even if you know where some Void monsters are, I can fight them.”

Ivor could hear the undertone of pleading in the man's voice.

Ivor pulled a bag from his [Null Storage]. He handed the bag to Thran. “Here.”

The Hembil frowned then looked in the bag. There were ten vials of Void Essence. Ivor's entire stock from the dungeon.

The man wobbled on his feet. The other Hembil, Ivor was pretty positive they were female, rushed over to him.

“Father, are you ok?”

He looked at Ivor. Unashamed tears ran down the man's face. He handed the bag to his daughter.

She gasped when she looked inside. “I…how…we have no way to afford this.”

“Take it. I won't be known as a man that has the ability to help someone in need and chooses not to out of greed,” Ivor stated.

The man wiped his face and stood tall. “Mr. Kemble, I will do my best to repay you any way I can. Come to the city of Khola, it's on the other continent. I'm Guild Master of the Bloody Bunch Adventurers Guild. Our guild is open to you. Thank you. You have no idea what this means to my family.”

“I have some idea Mr. Larzul,” Ivor said. A wordless understanding passed between the two men. Larzul understood that Ivor did indeed have some idea.

Ivor took the chest of platinum down to the vault. Scindair said he'd have the final count by morning. Ivor was getting sixty-five percent of the profit. By Ivor's estimation, they had taken in well over fifteen hundred platinum.

All of that wasn't profit of course, but the auction had very low operating costs at the moment. Some of the auction profit would go into paying off the building and construction efforts. Radus had already been paid, but Ivor figured Scindair would recoup that loss.

All of Ivor's items only took him his time to acquire. There was going to be a hell of a lot of profit for the auction house. Ivor thought it was a success. Scindair already said the M.C was available for future auctions.

Ivor was happy with the way things turned out. He found Aza and Alipha talking with some of the other guests of the auction. Ivor ended up catching a ride back to the estate with them. They all stayed up a little longer to talk, then Ivor went off to train with the guards for a while. He caught a few hours of sleep, then took a carriage to the travel circle in the morning back to the capital.

Caizak had sent him directions to the guild properties. Ivor still didn't know what all he had purchased, but he trusted the young operations head to do the right thing. Ivor showed up at the guild to find a lot of people milling about.

He imagined everyone was a little nervous. It was a big step they took.

Ivor was shown to the guild offices where he found the Vice Guild Master and Caizak huddled over a desk filled with ledgers. Ivor cleared his throat.

Caizak and Odods both looked up when Ivor entered. It was Caizak that spoke, “Mr. Kemble, hello. I was just going over the financial ledgers with the Vice Guild Master here. To say the guild is in a sorry state is an understatement. We learned that Scrans was keeping two separate sets of books. He kept them in a locked vault only he had access to. When his authority as Guild Master was revoked, the locks were reset. The Vice Guild Master here found the ledgers and not much else.”

“Yes, I tried to ferret out information from him, but the way the original charter was written didn't give a lot of opportunities for those under the Guild Master to question his authority,” Odods explained.

“I assume our guild charter won't have the same problem?” Ivor asked.

“Correct. I've drawn up a new charter. One that is more, modern,” Caizak explained.

“Excellent, what do we need to do to ratify it?” Ivor asked.

“Well, as Guild Master, you will need to…” Odods trailed off as Ivor held up a hand.

“Oh, I have no plans on being Guild Master,” Ivor said.

Odods blinked in confusion, “Then who is to be Guild Master?”

“You.”

The man blinked again, “I…why me?”

“First, you took initiative and came to me for the sake of your people. It's clear that they respect you enough to speak for them. You're already Vice Guild Master, and my guess is that you were basically running the whole guild anyway.

I would bet that you spent most of your time putting out fires that idiot caused. Finally, and most importantly, I don't want the job. I have shit to do. I need to head to Qizut to meet with the High Mage today,” Ivor explained while ticking off items on his fingers.

“I'm honored you would think of me for the position.” Odods stood just a bit straighter.

“Of course, I still want input. I have hard limits on some things. I don't want us taking advantage of others. There is enough to go around out there.

I'm more impressed by quality than quantity. I'd rather have a small guild of highly qualified and motivated people than a large guild with a bunch of lazy people. We only take what we need in a cut to keep the guild going and growing.

If people want to leave, let them. I don't want people locked into a contract,” Ivor explained.

“What about training? If we train them and they just leave, we get nothing out of it,” the new Guild Master said.

“Fine, take a slightly larger cut from newbies, and everyone else pays for training. That will also help weed out the lazy people. If they want it, they'll go out there and earn the money so they can get the training,” Ivor said.

Caizak was writing all of this down as Ivor continued to speak, “Also, people are free to self organize, unless you have a better plan, but you need to have subordinates. You're not immune from the need to grow. I believe in leading from the front. Oh, I hate bullies.

I hear about someone bullying others, they are out. If I hear you or somebody under you lets that kind of shit go, you're out. You don't have to like each other and pal around together, but our members will respect one another.”

Odods smiled at that. “You won't have any problems with that. It's been one of our problems for years. Scrans had those he liked, and they got away with everything. We will be removing some of them today.”

Ivor nodded. “Clean house. It's your guild to run. Caizak, I know we don't have any debt on the properties, but I'm sure there is some shit Scrans got into that we probably owe.”

“You are correct. Off the top of my head, we'd need about 10 platinum to get all the hidden debt paid and get us back up to speed,” Caizak mused.

I've pulled a pouch out, “There is twenty platinum. I'd like to see us profitable in less than six months.”

Caizak's eyes widened at the bag in his hand. “Yes, that will do just fine. With this cushion, I don't think that will be an issue.”

Ivor looked at Odods. “Do you have a training facility that will fit all the members? The Corcer had this huge arena thing where I put the beat down on that Juggernaut fellow.”

Odods nodded. “We have a large training hall that will easily fit everyone.”

“Get everybody moving that direction, then come get me. I'll announce how things will be,” Ivor said.

While Odods went to gather everyone up, Caizak went over some of the more stupid things Scrans had done. The man was truly a buffoon. After about twenty minutes Odods came back. The pair walked to the training facility.

It was built just like the royal one he had been training in, just smaller. There was raised auditorium style seating. Most everyone was seated, except for a group Ivor spied standing off to the side. Just as he expected. There were some instigators in the house.

Ivor walked out onto the training floor with Odods.

“For those of you that don't know me, my name is Ivor Kemble. I purchased all of Scrans Adventurers Guild properties and plan on forming a new guild today. I have asked former Vice Guild Master Odods Tandas to serve as new Guild Master of this new guild. We are working out the details of the charter now, and I'm sure when you read it, you will see the benefit of joining the new guild. Any questions?” Ivor knew what was coming.

Sure enough, the idiot and his buddies stepped forward. “Yeah, I have a question. Why should we join with you? All that we saw was some projection. You're probably in a conspiracy with Tandas to take the guild from Scrans. I think the whole thing was a fake and you're a fraud.”

Ivor had to chuckle. He triggered [Null Step] a number of times to reach the man, then go back to where he was standing. Ivor was holding the man by the neck with one hand, his feet dangling off the ground.

“Rule #1. Respect your colleagues. If you accuse someone of something, you better have proof. Otherwise you could get yourself into some trouble, like this gentleman.

Now, you've seen what I have to offer. Time to show me what you have to offer the guild.” Ivor dropped the man on the ground. He landed on his ass, sputtering and trying to draw in a breath.

“This man just insulted your guild owner and future Guild Master. What kind of guild member do you want to be?” Ivor said with a smile.

Either these men weren't liked to begin with or Ivor was really good at getting a crowd moving. The seats emptied as groups streamed down around the instigators group. Five tough looking veteran adventurers literally stalked over to the man on the ground. Two of them picked him up by the arms, being none too gentle.

One of the veterans looked at Odods. “We'll take out the trash Guild Master.” The man turned and nodded to Ivor. Ivor found out a bit later that the groups had physically thrown the men out of the guild. System enhanced people can throw someone pretty far it seems.

When people came back and took their seats, Ivor continued.

“You'll find that I treat people the way they treat me. There will be changes compared to what you were used to. I believe they are positive changes. However, these changes won't be for everyone. You're adventurers, I expect you to adventure. I've been to a planet no one has stepped on in many, many millennia.

If your level is high enough, you can go there. I come from a newly integrated planet. We are very low level, and I believe my unique circumstances will allow me to let you go there as well. This is for those with lower levels. If this doesn't sound like something you're interested in, no problem, don't join up. It's really that simple.

There will be other things that are just common sense to me, but will be spelled out in the charter. Now, I have to go talk to a bunch of Mages and find out what they want with me. I'll leave you in the good hands of your Guild Master.” Ivor turned to Odods and nodded. He walked out of the training area and off to the travel circles. It was time to meet the Mages.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ivor arrived at the travel circle and presented his token to the operator. The operator touched the token to his console and handed it back to Ivor. Ivor stepped on the circle. A brief flash of light later and he was inside a room that reminded him of the travel circle at the King's palace. It was much smaller than the public ones and there were guards. Quite a lot of guards.

Ivor held his hand up with the token in it.

One of the guards said, “Bring the token over to the console.”

Ivor did. The guard took the token and touched it to the console. He read something on the console, then spoke, “Mr. Kemble, if you would follow me, I'll take you to the High Council. They are expecting you.”

Ivor nodded and followed the man out of the building. He did a pretty good job of holding in his astonishment. The buildings here were so different from those in Unae. Ivor's eyes were drawn to the main building complex with nine huge towers that dominated the landscape.

A shorter, but wider tower was situated smack dab in the center of the entire building complex. It seemed this tower was where he was being taken.

It didn't take long to get to the building. There were people moving around all over the place going about their daily tasks. Ivor noticed a lot of robes in a similar cut to those from the Wastelands and what Isnall had worn.

It was a Magocracy. He should expect a lot of Mages. He just didn't know what was up with the robes. Marie was a Mage and didn't wear robes.

Once in the building, the pair approached a section of wall that reminded him of the Os'id elevators only bigger. It turned out that's exactly what they were. These seemed to operate smoothly with runes.

They must have gone all the way to the top before they stopped and the guard stepped out. They approached a reception desk.

“Mr. Kemble to speak with the High Council,” the guard said.

“Please wait,” the woman said. She wrote something down and handed it to a person standing nearby who disappeared into a doorway. The runner quickly returned. The receptionist read the note she was handed.

“They'll see you now Mr. Kemble. The guard will be waiting for your return.” She motioned to a set of doors.

Ivor approached the doors and they opened automatically. It had been awhile since he'd seen automatic doors. He entered a large chamber down a long aisle.

To either side was some kind of general seating, currently empty. At the end of the aisle was a large open space then nine large throne like chairs arranged in facing him. Each of the chairs was offset a bit so the person in the chair could see the others without having to lean forward or crane their neck.

Ivor reached the end of the aisle and stepped forward into the open area far enough that everyone could hear him, but far enough back that they could easily see him.

He bowed slightly. “Ivor Kemble, appearing at your request.”

The man in the middle, Ivor assumed was Isnall's father, started speaking, “Mr. Kemble, if you would explain to the council the recent events that transpired in the Wastelands near the Unae border, we would appreciate it.”

Ivor was about to speak when a councilor to his left sneered, “I don't know why you bother. I'll pull the memories out of his head.”

Ivor had to give the man credit, he got the spell off really quickly. I guess there is a reason for his position on the council. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly fast enough to counter Ivor's Perception or Agility. Ivor infused his will into his next words.

Stop.

A faint black mist had just started flowing out of the man's fingertips and moving towards Ivor when they and the man froze in place.

Ivor looked at each of the Mages in turn. Some showed shock, others interest, one was outright hostile, and the High Mage was smiling.

“I'm not familiar with your culture in Qizut. Where I'm from an unprovoked attack on a visiting dignitary, or really anyone, can be met with a range of responses up to and including death. Now, I want to be sensitive to your culture here, but I would appreciate some explanation,” Ivor said calmly. There was no strain on his Willpower. This Mage was out of his league.

The High Mage responded, “Some of us don't pay much attention to the goings on of our neighbors up north. Nor do they pay attention to broadcasts from our neighbors. Some of us do. To provide some explanation, our Magocracy puts quite a lot of stock in individual effort and achievement.”

“Does that paradigm extend to individual responsibility and consequences?” Ivor asked.

One of the councilors bellowed out a laugh. Ivor noticed it was one that seemed more interested in him. The High Mage smiled.

“Yes, it certainly does.”

Ivor focused back on the Mage still frozen. Leave.

The Mage immediately stood up and walked out of the room.

Ivor watched the Mage go, then turned to the rest of the council. “They will stay out of this building for four hours. I wasn't sure how long you wanted to keep me here.”

The High Mage looked at his fellow councilors. “Can we dispense with all the posturing now? It's clear that Mr. Kemble is more than he seems. Based on reports of what was found at the ritual scene, it's clear his colleague is a powerful combatant.”

The other councilors agreed, even the hostile one conceded the point.

“So, you know about the ritual,” Ivor scratched his chin.

One of the other councilors, a little more bookish looking, commented, “We know what was reported to us. However, if King Crit'o was telling the truth, you saw some of it first hand.”

Ivor nodded and started telling them about the entire encounter. He gave them as much detail as he told the King. He made sure to keep himself and Mr. Smith as two separate entities. He didn't know how long he could keep that up, but he'd try.

He even produced one of the suppression collars he had kept. He didn't go into detail as to how the dungeon was saved. He explained that he and his colleague both had secrets, even from each other.

When he was done, the councilors looked at one another before the High Mage spoke, “You've corroborated much of what we suspected. Your theories are indeed correct. There is a doomsday cult in operation within the Wastelands. We have only succeeded in finding one of their rituals. It was shortly after you dealt with the other.

Since then, the cult members have disappeared. We are afraid they have moved up whatever timeline they had established. However, we can't find them.

Whatever illusionary magic they are using is too good. However, as you just demonstrated, your Willpower is incredibly high. We believe you will be able to pierce the illusion and find them. We would ask for your help to avoid a calamity.”

“I'm happy to help. I will want to find their location then bring my colleague back to stop the ritual and stop the dungeon from rupturing,” Ivor stated.

One of the councilors scoffed. “Just like that. You want nothing in return.”

“You have asked for help. I've agreed. It's in my best interest to let you decide what it is worth,” Ivor said.

“If we decide it isn't worth much,” the hostile one said.

“I tend to treat people the way they treat me. If you don't think my efforts are worth much, imagine how I will treat you and your people,” Ivor let his tone turn cold.

“Please clear the chambers, I will speak to Mr. Kemble alone. Perhaps we can come to an agreement. I won't promise anything. The council can decide.” It was clear the High Mage was exasperated.

Some of the councilors grumbled, but most were probably just happy to leave. Once they were all gone, the High Mage spoke.

“I apologize for the less than polite reception,” the High Mage began.

Ivor waved him off. “Oh that was nothing. I had a guy challenge me to a fight to the death just a couple of weeks ago after first meeting me.”

The High Mages eyes widened. “Wait, that rumor is true?”

“You'll have to be a little more precise about which rumor,” Ivor deadpanned.

The High Mage chuckled. “Some high level mercenary challenged you in their guild and you killed him.”

“Yeah, that's the one. He was Level 101. So, if you consider that high level, it's true,” Ivor said.

The High Maged blinked. “Yes, most on this continent would consider someone over Level 100 at a high level.”

Ivor shrugged. “Ok. Anyway, there is something I want from you. Not your people, you specifically.”

The High Mage was a bit taken aback, “What could you possibly want from me personally. We've never even met before.”

“Your daughter,” Ivor said.

The man's eyes widened, before Ivor clarified, “I want your daughter to come work for me. I need an administrator. She seems more than competent, and she's wasting away as your ambassador. She can either continue to run things from the Unae capital or she can run things from my home planet. Either way, she will still be safe.”

The man considered it, “You are from a newly integrated planet though. I know they have restrictions on access, but I have concerns.”

Ivor nodded. “I have a daughter myself. So, I understand. I have a Tier 1 travel circle and a Tier 1 shield on my lands. Does that help assuage your fears?”

The man stood in shock. “These things… your power, your own lands, the System recognizing you as a monarch. These things just don't happen to newly integrated people.”

“My Evaluation was very unique. I gained quite a lot of power before returning to my world. The System rewarded me handsomely for my survival. I've continued to grow in power, and the System continues to reward me,” Ivor stated.

“That does make sense, if it's true. If you don't mind, could you give me a range of your Willpower stat?” He asked.

“Will you sign a simple System contract? I won't give you specific numbers, but the Contract is written to ensure I tell you the truth,” Ivor said.

The man agreed. Ivor sent the contract. He read it over and agreed.

Ivor pulled out a slightly new version of the privacy disk he had worked on and placed it on the ground. An opaque bubble appeared around them.

The High Mage looked intently at the disk and bubble. “Crude but effective.”

“Do you know what comes after Mythic level?” Ivor asked.

“I do not know,” the man answered, slightly confused.

“That's a shame. My Willpower is getting close,” Ivor stated.

“You're saying that your Willpower is over 300. Not just over, but well over?” The High Mage asked.

“Yes, that's what I'm saying,” Ivor responded.

The High Mage knew he wasn't lying. The contract prevented him from outright telling a lie. The High Mage knew there were ways to word things that the System wouldn't interpret as lying.

“Please indulge me and be more specific,” he said.

Ivor knew what he was getting at. “My Willpower stat is well over 300, and is approaching whatever is beyond Mythic level,” Ivor clearly stated.

The High Mage was shocked. It was absurd. This man could kill them all with a word. He might be able to kill everyone in the city with a word. What about his colleague?

“Does your colleague have similar stats?”

Ivor thought about how he wanted to answer that. “It's not part of our contract, but I can tell you we share a similar Willpower. His combat prowess is not that high, but it is firmly in the Legendary level.”

The High Mage got dizzy for a split second. Only long years of meditation and self control prevented him from showing anything outward.

“I appreciate you telling me. I have no issues with you hiring my daughter. Ultimately, it is up to her.”

Ivor nodded. “Of course, I only want people that want to work with me. Other than that, for recompense, I don't need money. I could use a Legendary armorer or weapons smith if you know any. Other than that, I'll let you figure out what you think is worth it.”

“Very well. When do you think you can start the search for this group?”

Ivor thought and replied, “I need to quickly finish up some business with a new guild I just acquired and contact my colleague so he can prepare. I can be back tomorrow.”

The High Mages eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That soon. That is excellent. I'll get the council brainstorming on possible payments. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

Ivor left the council chambers and was quickly escorted back to the travel circle. He needed to talk to Isnall. If he was going to be searching for who knows how long, he wanted to get her on board as quickly as possible.

Ivor arrived in the Unae capital and immediately searched out the King's Seneschal. He asked where the Qizut embassy was. The Seneschal was curious as to both his reason to talk to the ambassador and how his recent visit went. Ivor explained that he could brief the King and the Seneschal both at the same time.

The man agreed. He gave Ivor directions to the embassy and went to set up an appointment with the King.

The embassy wasn't too terribly far from the palace. It was situated in a block of large walled mansions. There was some land, but Ivor wouldn't really call it an estate. Ivor quickly found the Qizut manor. There were guards out front as Ivor approached.

“Ivor Kemble to see the Ambassador,” Ivor stated.

One of the men went through the gate, and a short time later returned with what Ivor assumed was an embassy staff member.

“Mr. Kemble, the Ambassador will see you. Please follow me.”

Ivor followed along. The grounds were well manicured if a bit plain. The mansion itself seemed to be built in a style he noticed in Qizut. Unlike the Unae whose buildings were more plain and functional looking, the Qizut buildings seemed to want to express their uniqueness.

Perhaps in keeping with their focus on individual effort and achievement, it made sense for construction to follow suit. Ivor rather liked the variety, even if he didn't always care for some of the particular flourishes.

Ivor was led to a study, where Isnall was reading a book.

“Enjoying a relaxing day off,” Ivor joked once the staff member left.

“Oh, ha ha, your Highness,” she shot back. Ivor was glad she seemed to have gotten over her awkwardness. “As you well know, there is very little for me to do here. I fill my time as best I can so that I don't go crazy.”

Ivor smiled. “About that, I'm about to embark on some work for your council, and I find myself in need of an Administrator.”

She sat up straighter. “Wait. You're serious?”

“I am, and as much as I'd like to give you time to decide. I really need an answer sooner than later,” Ivor said.

“Oh, you are serious. Well, then the answer is dependent on a bit more detail and whether or not my father will allow it.”

“Your father has left the decision up to you. I need you to administer, well…, everything. I have recently acquired a guild, an auction house, and you may remember, I have my own lands,” Ivor said.

“Wait, when did you acquire the guild, what type of guild is it, and when did you acquire the auction house?” When did he have time for all this, she thought.

“The guild, it's an adventurers guild, and the auction house were formally acquired yesterday. Although the auction house has been in the works for a few weeks, I just made my part in it formal,” Ivor said.

“Do you currently have any other staff, or will I be required to handle all this myself?” She asked.

“The Guild has a Guild Master, and I've acquired a head of operations who is a wizard with finance and logistics. I have caretakers at my Freehold, well lands now called Cymru. They are handling the little attention the lands on my world need. I would prefer to allow them to focus on their jobs. I need you to oversee it all,” Ivor explained.

Ivor could see the wheels turning in her head. She had a habit of touching her forefinger to her thumb in a repeating pattern as she thought.

She looked up, “What is your management style?”

It was a good question. Ivor was more and more sure this was the right move.

“I'm very hands off. I expect competent people to perform their jobs. I prefer to give general guidelines or directions and let the experts figure out how to get there.

There will be, of course, some specific things I want done. However, most of the time, your direction will be something along the lines of ensuring the people are taken care of, then the land or kingdom, I haven't decided on that yet,” Ivor said.

She nodded. “Once my status as an Ambassador is gone, there are some risks.”

“Until we have guards of our own, I can ask for a permanent guard for you from Corcer Calamity. Also, my manor and surrounding area have a Tier 1 shield and travel circle. Or you can stay in the capital or in Inyalquas. I have businesses in both locations,” Ivor said.

“That's actually more protection than I have now,” she mumbled.

“I expect my people to grow and push themselves. Things around me change rapidly. I know you are bored here. I just want you to make sure you want to take this on. I'm going to need you to hit the ground running, as it were,” Ivor cautioned.

Ivor could see the fire in her eyes. It was almost as if he had questioned her abilities.

“I can handle it. More to the point I want to do it. So, yes, I accept your offer.”

“Great. Until you decide how you want to handle things long term, I'll head over to Corcer Calamity and get a guard detail for you. The guild is the old Scans Adventurers Guild. I bought all their buildings. The new Guild Master and Caizak Naalgens, my operations head, should be there putting the final touches on the guild charter. Caizak has leased office space in Inyalquas from Aza Krix. Feel free to use that or if you want, find some office space here,” Ivor said as he tossed her a bag.

“There's twenty platinum. That's your budget. In the next few days, I want a detailed report on your initial plans for setting up our organization.

I'll get you added to the approved list for the travel circle to my lands. Work closely with Caizak on the comprehensive plan. The Guild Master knows his business, but you're overall in charge. Understand?” Ivor said.

“Yes, I'll let my father know as well as the Seneschal. I'll await the Corcer guard and get started.” She paused, debating on asking the question. She seemed to make up her mind, “Why me?”

“You'll notice that I'm a pretty decisive guy. The manner in which you approached me at the reception showed me you had patience. You waited for the right moment.

You were doing something that made you uncomfortable, which showed me you can push past your fear. You quickly got comfortable talking with me, despite all the monarchy nonsense. You seem skilled and willing.

It doesn't hurt that it allows me inroads into another country on Menevris. You were essentially the right person at the right time,” he said.

She nodded. He was sometimes blunt, but always truthful. She could work with this. Ivor asked her to draw up an employment contract for him to review and approve later. He needed to get going.

Ivor spent the next few hours letting everyone know what was going on with Isnall taking over the administration of Ivor's affairs. He paid for a group of high level guards from Corcer Calamity for the next month with options to extend indefinitely. He met with the King and the Seneschal to debrief them on the meeting. He also explained Isnall taking over administration duties.

The King and Seneschal were actually happy to hear about that development. Unae and Qizut had a long history of distrust that largely stemmed from ancient history. The King was hoping that having Ivor as a sort of middleman would allow a better relationship to develop.

Eventually, Ivor realized he needed to head back to Cymru. If he was going to stabilize another dungeon, he was going to need monster cores. He didn't really want to use any more cores that he had on him. The vault held a ton of air elemental cores that Ivor hadn't found much use for. He stocked up on a few hundred of them.

He let Isnall know he would likely be back in a couple of days. Ivor headed back to Qizut.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ivor arrived back in Qizut with his armor looking dark brown and worn. He had his mask and hood pulled back with his head fully exposed. The one big problem with playing two people is that he wore the same armor.

Anyone with the [Analyze] skill at a high enough level could see the armor was the same name for Ivor as it was for Bill Smith. He could probably come up with an excuse if he needed one. He wasn't overly concerned. Fake identities didn't work indefinitely.

He was escorted back to the council chambers. The Mage that had tried to attack him was back, but he held his tongue. It didn't stop the man from giving Ivor the stink eye.

Ivor put the man out of his mind. This time, there were additional people in the chambers. It was a standard team, Fighter, Support, Mage, Rogue. Of course they were higher level and didn't have the base Class, but that's what they were.

“This team will accompany you on your search. If you find the cult, they will stay and observe while you call in your colleague,” the High Mage said.

It was odd to Ivor that they didn't question why his colleague didn't just join him. He did notice that people in the wider universe were more accepting of odd behavior. Also, since these people focused on individual contribution, maybe there was some confirmation bias going on and they didn't feel a need to question it. Either way, Ivor was painfully clear how fragile his fake identity was.

“The search will go a lot slower,” Ivor said.

One of the team snorted, it was the Rogue. Ivor let it pass. The woman would find out soon enough.

Ivor sighed when he realized nobody had a search plan. Ivor asked for a map of the Wastelands. He didn't need detail, just something to form a grid search with. He explained the concept to everyone and proceeded to mark the grid with the x and y axis. Alpha for x, number for y. The map was detailed enough for Ivor to get an idea of some of the major geography.

Thinking back to how the cult hid their ritual last time, Ivor picked a grid that had several indications of lower terrain. The group didn't introduce themselves, and Ivor didn't ask. They left the council chambers.

Having never been outside the council grounds, Ivor got his first view of Qizut society when they left the gates of the large area. It was shockingly normal. Of course being a Magocracy, Mages were the pinnacle of society and were treated as such. Ivor was happy to note he didn't see any slavery or repression by the Mages. It was just another type of government with people living their lives.

He saw shop keepers hawking their wares. Food stands were dotted around. Restaurants, tailors, general goods, bakeries,… oh, yes, he'd have to try those bakeries.

There were families and parks. He saw some homeless in the alleyways as well as some acts of petty crime. It was just another city. He did still find the building architecture more pleasing than in Unae.

They arrived at the city travel circles and made their way to the closest town with a travel circle to the Wastelands grid they were going to search. After they left the city gates, Ivor spoke up.

“You'll want to add me to your party so that we can communicate,” Ivor said.

“I don't think that will be necessary,” the Rogue said. Apparently, the Rogue was the leader.

“Ok, suit yourself.” Ivor started moving towards the Wastelands. Ten seconds later, and the party was so far behind him, he couldn't even see them. He had moved in a straight line. He waited for them to catch up. It took ten minutes. When they arrived, they were all breathing hard.

Ivor stood there, saying nothing, until they caught their breath.

“How is this possible?” The Rogue said.

“Long story, I really don't have the time or inclination to explain. How do you want to do this? I can keep ignoring you and search at my own pace or we can figure out a way to work together. I don't need you. Your council wants you to be part of this. I'm more than happy to let them know you are completely useless to me.” Ivor was trying to give them an out here.

They looked amongst themselves. They were probably communicating over a party channel. They seemed to come to a conclusion.

“What would you suggest?” The Rogue asked.

“I'll move quickly to the top of the grid and move left to right. Once I get to the right side, I'll move right to left across the other way. You four do the same from the bottom up. Note the location of anything strange. I'll likely have to go over your area anyway as you probably can't pierce their illusions, but at least you might discover something or someone. That way, you're not just sitting around with your thumbs up your ass,” Ivor said.

They shrugged and agreed. Ivor was added to their party chat. He immediately shot off into the distance.

The party chat was quiet as Ivor searched the grid. He figured they'd isolated him to a channel, but they would converse amongst themselves. He didn't mind.

The first grid turned up nothing. They shifted to the next closest grid and continued. They managed four grids that day. Ivor estimated it was going to take more than a month at this pace. He was willing to be patient.

They went back to the council and reported their progress. The next day they met in the council again and picked another grid to start on. Over the course of a week, they discovered nothing of note. Ivor had settled all his business stuff. Isnall was firmly in charge and working well with Caizak and Odods. They had consolidated office space in the capital. For now it made the most sense.

A second week went by with no results. Ivor had been watching each of the councilors every time they came back. That Mind Mage was always a little too gleeful when Ivor and the team failed. Ivor started to pay closer attention to him when they picked the grid that they were going to start searching.

With a Perception of 266, over half way into Legendary level, Ivor didn't miss much. When he had picked the grids to search for the next day, he saw the Mind Mage's fist clench ever so slightly. Ivor kept it in mind as they searched the following day.

There was nothing of note in the first grid or the second. However, when searching the third grid, the Rogue reached out to him over the team chat.

“Mr. Kemble, we have something you need to see.”

Ivor looked at the team's location on his overlay map and made it to them in under a minute. The team was standing at the bottom of a large crevasse. It was deep and wide, but not very long. When Ivor approached, the team was scuffing the dirt with their boots.

The Rogue called him over. “What does this look like to you?”

Ivor looked down at the ground. He could make out a faint tracing of a rune. Ivor had already explained to the team the structure of the illusion runes and the ritual runes. They knew what to look for.

After a couple of minutes, the Support and the Mage called out. Ivor went over to each of them. They each had uncovered more faint rune markings. Ivor looked at the distance.

“I think this was the illusion rune. Let's look in the center. See if we can find the ritual runes.” Everyone spread out. They didn't find the ritual circles.

The group was about to leave when the Fighter called everyone over. He pointed to a mark on the ground. “In my first Evolution, I picked a Ranger variant. I don't have the skills anymore, but I remember some of the basics. That mark was made recently. I think this location was abandoned recently.”

Ivor picked up the thread. “They were in a rush and got sloppy.”

The Rogue finished all their thoughts, “Somebody warned them.”

The team looked at Ivor, then one another. They looked tense. Ivor wasn't concerned.

“Let's all swear on a System contract.” They did. Ivor looked at each of them. It wasn't any of them.

“It has to be someone on the council,” the Mage said. All heads nodded.

“Keep this to yourselves. Right now, we have the advantage. Let's take our time getting back, I want to think about this a bit,” Ivor said. The team nodded. Over the last couple of weeks they'd developed a working relationship. They were all working towards the same goal.

By the time they got back to the council chambers, Ivor had a plan. He just needed permission to pull it off. Ivor and the team reported to the council as usual and picked their next target. Afterwards, Ivor mentioned to the High Mage that he would like to update him on his daughter's progress. The High Mage was no dummy. He knew Ivor wanted something from him.

Ivor knew Isnall communicated with her father frequently. She was really enjoying her work.

As the rest of the councilors left the council chambers, the High Mage fed some mana into a spot on his chair. He asked Ivor to be patient for a few moments as they talked a bit about his daughter's new work. He must have gotten some kind of notification at the same time Ivor's Perception picked up a slight change in the shadows behind the chairs.

“I'll ask that you swear on a System contract not to divulge what you are about to learn,” the High Mage said.

Ivor nodded. “I'm assuming it has something to do with whoever is hiding in the shadows behind your chair.”

The High Mage sighed and sent the contract. Ivor quickly scanned it and accepted.

“You can come out. He knows you are there.”

A F'on stepped out of the shadows. Stepped out wasn't the right word. Normal people step out of the shadows. The shadows seemed to unwrap from around this person.

“Mr. Kemble, this is the Council's Shadow. When our Magocracy was created, the founders knew it wouldn't take long for the high level Mages to take advantage. So, they created a check on our power. The Council's Shadow is a System contracted position that is designed to deal with the council in the event they don't have the best interest of the Magocracy as a whole in mind. I assumed what you wanted to talk about concerned the council. So, I asked the Shadow to join us.”

The Shadow looked at Ivor. “How were you able to see me?”

“I couldn't, actually. I noticed a distortion in the natural shadows,” Ivor said.

The High Mage jumped in, “You'll learn that Mr. Kemble is more than what he seems, but I do believe he is not an enemy of the Magocracy.”

The Shadow took the information at face value. Ivor proceeded to explain what they found on their last search. He also explained his suspicions.

“I just want permission to monitor the Mind Mage at night. It's likely he has too much going on during the day. If my suspicions are true, he's working with potential cult members,” Ivor said.

The Shadow spoke, “Do you have any skills that would aid in not being discovered?”

Ivor nodded. “I have two, one passive and one active. In addition, my armor's camouflage is very good. I can show you the active skill if you like.”

The High Mage nodded. “Please do.”

Ivor turned to the Shadow. “Give me something I shouldn't have if you've never met me before.”

The man frowned. Then he pulled a token out of a spatial storage. Ivor took it and walked towards the doors. He triggered the active portion of his [Blend] skill.

Blend (Unique) - Passive/Active

Active

You can trigger blend to create an aura of forgetfulness. Anyone within fifteen meters that has seen you will forget your passage. This effect uses mana. The aura is undetectable to anyone below Epic level.

He stepped through the door and closed it. He waited for about a minute and stepped back in through the door.

Both men looked up at Ivor as the Shadow said, “High Mage, who is this man?”

The High Mage frowned. “This is Mr. Kemble, but I thought he left already.”

Ivor reached the men. “I have an active skill that can erase the memory of my passage.”

Ivor pulled out the token. “We met several minutes ago. You are the Council's Shadow.”

Both men stopped and looked at the token. The Shadow spoke, “I can't deny you are holding a token that couldn't possibly be in the hands of someone unless I gave it to them. That particular type of token can not be stolen from me.”

Ivor had to go back over all the previous information again. This time, the Shadow approved but he wanted a team to back up Ivor just in case. A foreigner skulking around at night could cause some problems. In addition, having a Shadow team provide corroborating evidence would solidify the claim.

The Shadow told Ivor to meet the team at a particular location. They would be waiting for him in an hour and would clue Ivor into where the best places to monitor the comings and goings of the Mage were. Ivor waited with the High Mage until they were notified.

“I wanted to personally thank you for hiring my daughter. I haven't seen her this happy in years. The loss of her brother affected her greatly. Then growing up in the shadow of my position. Well, I just want her to be happy,” the High Mage said.

“As any good parent would. Don't get me wrong, I know many will think I did it because you are High Mage, but that's not it at all. Like I told Isnall, she was the right person at the right time. If she starts slacking off, she'll be gone. Regardless of who her father is,” Ivor responded.

“I would have it no other way. Just know that I appreciate it.”

It wasn't long before the Shadow returned to say the team was on their way to a warehouse. Ivor could meet them. Ivor left immediately. He wasn't in the warehouse long before an extremely stealthy team entered from various points to observe him.

Ivor waited for twenty seconds. Then he stood and started pointing to each member of the team in their hiding spots.

A deep laugh rang out as a short but muscular F'on stepped out of the shadows. “The boss said not to underestimate you.”

The rest of the team stepped over to greet Ivor as well. “What else did he say about me?”

The man looked at his team. “That you're dangerous as hell. That you've probably done some of the same work as us at some point.”

Ivor chuckled. “Yeah, a bit. You know who I'm planning on tracking?”

The team nodded. “Yep. We also know why. The boss says you have some powerful skills to stay hidden. We shouldn't worry about you. Just follow your orders and report back to the boss when you're done with us.”

Ivor nodded. It was good to work with professionals again. They laid out a map showing Ivor the two possible exits the Mind Mage could take out of the area of his tower. They would have one person at each exit.

The rest would wait at this warehouse. They would rotate out every two hours until dawn. They taught him some basic hand signals the team used.

During stealth you couldn't use them, but in case magic interfered with their communications in battle, they had a way to communicate, even if they had no voices.

This was just like working with Spec Ops back in the day. Ivor fell into it like he'd never stopped. It did not go unnoticed by the team.

The first night was a bust. Ivor went out with the search team in the morning. Then back at it with the Shadow team at night. It was towards the end of the third week when the Mind Mage made his move.

“He's on the move, south side.” The message came over the party channel.

Ivor and the two with him moved like the shadows they were. Ivor had his armor colored a deep, dull black. His hood and mask were up. They quickly caught up to the Mind Mage walking down the street.

He took some odd turns and doubled back on occasion. Somebody had trained him how to shake a tail. Ivor wasn't just someone. He'd tailed people in some of the most dense cities on Earth for decades.

With the camouflage on his armor at maximum and his [Blend] skill in play, the shadow team couldn't even find him unless Ivor told them where he was. They were behind him quite a ways. Still, the whole team was impressed.

The Mind Mage made his way to the travel circles. As soon as he disappeared, the leader of the shadow team flashed something to the operator. The man paled.

Ivor and the team were transported to the same location. The team leader mentioned it was a town close to the Wastelands. Once there, the team quickly spread out to locate the Mind Mage. It didn't take long. The man was simply strolling along without a care in the world.

The Mind Mage finally reached some sort of business. The building in front was small, like an office. There was a walled compound and a warehouse behind. The Mage knocked on the door. It opened and he stepped inside.

Ivor relayed the development as the team quickly collapsed around the building and compound. Ivor moved quickly along the alley and heard the back door to the office open. Quickly scaling the wall, he peeked over the top and watched the Mind Mage walk alone towards the small warehouse.

“I'm going to follow him. Let me know if the office occupant comes out.” Acknowledgements came in.

Ivor quickly and silently made his way to the warehouse door. It was slightly ajar. There was very little light, but that didn't matter to Ivor with his dark vision active.

He saw the form of the Mind Mage weaving between crates. Then, he dropped out of sight.

“I think there's a tunnel. I'm going to follow,” Ivor said.

“We are pretty close to the walls,” The shadow team leader said. He immediately gave orders for one of his team to stay and watch the office worker. One would follow behind Ivor. The remaining were going to take a direct route over the city walls.

Ivor found the spot he was looking for on the floor. There wasn't even a hatch. Just stairs angling down. Ivor quickly descended.

He could see a light receding down the tunnel up ahead. Ivor followed for quite a while. The tunnel was wide. Wide enough for goods to be brought in or out. The light stopped, and Ivor heard voices. He was too far away, even with his stats, to hear what they were saying.

Eventually, the group moved on. Ivor crept forward. He found a staging area. There were various crates and boxes and sacks of dried goods. Spare tents were in one of the opened crates.

Ivor moved forward to find another set of steps. It exited behind an outcropping of rock. There was a large hill immediately behind Ivor. The exit was hidden from view. Finally out of the tunnel, Ivor relayed his location to the party. He started moving forward, keeping an eye on his overlay map.

The group had picked up the pace, but they couldn't outpace Ivor or the shadow team. They had moved into the Wastelands for another few hours before Ivor saw them round a hill. Ivor told the shadow team to slow behind him as Ivor got low and crept up the large hill. Ivor looked over the hill to find a very familiar scene.

The illusion must be even stronger here. The blurry nature of the illusion was more prominent to Ivor.

The rest of the shadow team crept up. They couldn't see anything. Ivor figured this would happen. Ivor explained in detail what he was seeing.

That way the team could corroborate after things kicked off. They stayed for as long as they felt they could. It didn't look like the group was going to summon a Void monster tonight, but Ivor could see the Mind Mage yelling at subordinates and rushing around.

He was checking the people they were going to use as mana batteries. Ivor noted that there was another layer of supporting circles. This was a much larger ritual.

Ivor and the group retreated before the sun could come up. They entered the town from a completely different direction. Ivor told them to head back out here after reporting in. He was going to go get his colleague. In the meantime, they could start searching for the dungeon.

It had to be close. Bill Smith would meet the team leader at a spot outside of this town. Ivor took the travel circle back to the Unae capital. He quickly debriefed the King, the Crown Prince and the Seneschal.

Back in the Qizut capital, the shadow team leader was meeting with the Shadow and the High Mage.

“There's no doubt in my mind; something is there. Although the team didn't see anything, there is too much corroborating evidence. I'll have a team in place to snatch the business owner when this all kicks off. I have five teams ready to go to handle the cult once Mr. Kemble's colleague kicks it off. We still need to find the dungeon, but I'm confident it's close by based on Mr. Kemble's explanation of the last one,” the team leader explained.

“Take the council member alive if you can. Kill all the cult members. Save who you can, but ending the threat is the highest priority,” the High Mage said.

The High Mage continued, “Your thoughts on Mr. Kemble?”

The team leader looked at the Shadow before responding, “He takes to the craft like he was born to it. I don't know how someone that seems so young can be that skilled. He's not even a Rogue variant. His ability to blend into the environment is down right scary. It's almost like your mind wants you to forget he's there.”

The Shadow pressed further, “Could your team take him if needed?”

The man laughed, then realized who he was standing with. “Sorry, not a chance. I don't know his combat prowess, obviously, but he can move so damn fast, I don't think we could touch him. It would be incredibly hard to ambush him. His Perception has to be Epic level at least. He picked my team out in that warehouse the first night immediately.”

The Shadow continued, “Could I take him?”

The man hesitated, but he'd worked with the Shadow for a long time. “I don't think so, sir.”

The Shadow nodded. “That's my assessment as well.”

“Well, then it's a good thing he's on our side. Let's try to keep it that way. I'm sure you both heard the rumor of the Galtu pulling out of Unae. I've received word that the Galtu planetary head did a face to face meeting and tried playing games. Mr. Kemble gave him an ultimatum. This is not a man to be trifled with,” the High Mage said.

“What do we know about this, Mr. Smith?” The High Mage asked.

“Very little. I've verified some stories at least. He's incredibly strong. He uses magic attacks as well. We don't know in what way. He was seen walking through magma without it affecting him.

I assume he has armor similar to Mr. Kemble. I can't get a full read on that set. It has to be over Master level. Smith doesn't talk much. Oh, the first thing he did after freeing the captives was to give all the children baked goods.” The Shadow Mage listed what he knew.

“Some kind of hero complex or simply a decent man?” The High Mage asked.

“Based on my sources just a decent man. Very intense though.”

“Ok. Well, Kemble has been nothing but fair with us. Let's not fuck things up with his colleague. The man should be here sometime this evening,” the High Mage finished. Hopefully, this cult mess will be behind them tomorrow night.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ivor came back to Qizut in the guise of Bill Smith who was now a Level 85 Duelist. He would have been expected to gain levels after the things he had done. His armor was changed. It was a dark grey. His hood and mask were in place. He changed the structure of the armor to make it different enough to be obvious.

He presented the token and was immediately escorted to the council chambers. Conspicuously, the Mind Mage was not in attendance.

“I'm sure Mr. Kemble fully briefed you,” the High Mage said.

“He did.”

“Very well, good luck. You'll meet the Shadow team leader at the designated location.”

Ivor nodded and departed. He was quickly taken to the travel circle and reached the town. He made his way out of town and into the distance to meet the shadow team leader. The rest of the team was with him.

“Did you locate the dungeon?” Ivor asked.

“We did.” The man pulled out a small map and noted the location in respect to where Ivor identified the ritual circles.

“The council wants proof of the summoning. Can you do that?” The team leader asked.

Ivor nodded. “I'm going to have to quickly disable the illusion. That's going to kick everything off. It's likely they'll be in the middle of summoning one. Hopefully, it won't go after the captives.”

“Our priority is the council member, the ritual, the dungeon, then the captives. In that order.”

Ivor nodded. “Understood.”

Ivor knew he couldn't save everyone all the time. They quickly made their way to the hill. There were shadow teams stationed all around the illusion circle out of site. Ivor had given them detailed instructions as Zed had helped him with the distances.

It was possible the ritual wouldn't even happen tonight. However, Ivor had a bad feeling. He tended to trust those.

Ivor was added to the party chat, but these folks had good radio silence. As it got closer to midnight, activity started picking up in the camp. Ivor started quietly describing it over the party chat.

They were definitely getting set up for the ritual. With Zed's help it was easy to pick out the charm mage and monster tamer in this group. It looked like the Mind Mage was driving the big ritual. That explained his absence.

Ivor watched them charm the captives and put them in ritual circles. There were a lot more of them. The mages started draining the captives in the smaller circles. There was much more mana this time.

When the circles were full, the Mind Mage stepped up to the main ritual circle and started filling it with mana from the smaller circles and, it looked like, his own mana. A crack appeared in the middle of the large circle just like last time. Ivor moved.

He shot down the hill with [Null Step] in fractions of a second. He formed a [Null Shield] and swept it across a group of illusion runes on the ground. The illusion dropped. Suddenly, a loud screeching sound could be heard coming from the crack in reality. The Mind Mage was still pumping mana into the ritual circle.

Huge tentacles came out of the widening wound between dimensions. The tentacles gripped each side of the crack. A massive tearing and cracking sound blasted out, as something massive was pushing itself through the crack. The feedback knocked the Mind Mage out.

Ivor used [Null Step] to snatch the unconscious Mind Mage before anyone noticed. He brought him up to the hill with the shadow team leader.

“Put a suppression collar on him.”

Ivor flashed back down to the ritual. Something was coming through, Ivor noticed the monster tamer standing still, vacant stare, drooling. Quickly looking around, all the Mages and captives in the circles were experiencing the same thing. Ivor looked at the Void monster pulling itself through the widening tear.

Minor Shoggoth (Level 230)

Highest Stat: Constitution

Immunities: Void

Weaknesses: Light

Ivor immediately used the party chat. “Everyone near the circles is gone. Do what you can to save the remaining captives. This is a Level 230 Void monster. I'll do what I can to distract it to give you time.”

Ivor then removed himself from the party. He needed the [Solo Contributor] 100% damage bonus for fighting alone to have any hope of taking this thing on.

Ivor shot forward, summoning a [Null Shield] he slashed at the runes on the ritual stones destroying them. It was too late. The thing was pulling itself through. A description from Lovecraft rose to the top of his mind:

….a shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light….

That's exactly what it looked like. It was fifteen meters tall and twenty meters long. Tentacles formed and whipped out scooping up the Monster Tamer and other Mages into its, too many, mouths that formed and disappeared randomly. Ivor pulled out his baston and started pumping mana into them.

“Zed, will my baston do anything?” Ivor asked.

“It will be highly resistant, but it's worth a try,” Zed responded.

Ivor pulled a number of earth spike traps out of his [Null Storage]. He quickly ran pushing them into the ground between the Shoggoth and the captives still in cages. He pulled out more spike traps and hurled them at the monster. They penetrated its flesh. All the traps went off at the same time, as Ivor moved into striking range with his baston.

The earth spike traps created walls of densely packed earth thirty meters high closing off easy access to the captive. Five ice spike traps went off inside the thing's body. The traps distracted the monster long enough for Ivor to slam into it with both fully charged bastons.

Boom!!

The ground shook from the impact. The monster was definitely focused on Ivor now. Ivor triggered his Dragon Skin as a massive tentacle shot towards him. He dodged the tentacle, but he wanted to stay in melee range.

That was a mistake. Another tentacle smashed into him. Ivor rocketed into the side of the hill causing a deep crater. He pulled himself out.

For the first time in a long time, Ivor was hurt, and didn't have time to monitor the captive rescue. The Shoggoth was fully focused on Ivor. Ivor flashed back in, this time using [Null Step] liberally. He kept feeding mana into his baston. Massive shockwaves rumbled the ground with every strike.

“Are we doing any damage?” Ivor asked.

“It is very minimal. Also, I think the tear is still open,” Zed said.

Well, the damn thing was probably able to reinforce itself with the Void. The monster was so large, Ivor couldn't see the dimensional tear. He flashed over to the other side of the monster. Sure enough the tear was still open.

There was a tentacle draped inside the tear. Ivor flashed forward, forming a [Null Shield]. He slashed the shield down onto the tentacle. Pure nothingness cut right through Void like it didn't exist.

The tentacle fell to the ground. Ivor formed another [Null Shield] and swiped it sideways at the tear in dimensions.

Wham!!

The resulting explosion of energy shot Ivor into another hill. Groaning, Ivor realized he did more damage to himself than the Shoggoth did.

“Why did the [Null Shield] work so well on the Shoggoth. I thought Void monsters were highly resistant to magic.” Ivor was confused.

“Null is not magic, Ivor. Null is nothingness. You are just using System magic to wield it. It is my fault for not explaining it better,” Zed said.

“Not your fault buddy. You probably explained it just fine. I just didn't pick up what you were putting down.”

Ivor pulled himself out of the new crater, and blasted back at the Shoggoth. Ivor used a combination of baston Force attacks and [Null Shield] to distract and then chip away at the huge monster. The Shoggoth changed up its attacks as well. Instead of bludgeoning tentacles, it started making them razor sharp. They were even bypassing some of the Dragon Skin as scales started chipping off.

This was a Legendary level monster against the lower Epic level armor. It wasn't going to last.

After several minutes, Ivor knew something had to change. One of his bastons had just shattered, and the other was starting to bend severely. He dismissed them and pulled out his Dark Steel swords. They helped him block tentacles, but they wouldn't hold up for long against this monster.

“Zed, I need options here.”

“Remember how I pushed you to fully utilize your capabilities in the Evaluation? You need to do that again. You have not really had to push yourself, and you have gained so much. Recall how you used your Willpower to push the boundaries of the [Null Shield]. I think you need to get creative like that again. You do not need a shield, Ivor. You need a weapon,” Zed explained.

Luckily, their conversations moved at the speed of thought. Zed was right. Ivor had done nothing to advance [Null Manipulation] and [Null Shield] since the Evaluation. Ivor's Willpower had massively improved since then. It was over 170 points higher.

Ivor stored his Dark Steel swords. He focused his Willpower on the shape of the [Null Shield]. It immediately shifted to become a sword. During combat was not the ideal way to learn something new. Ivor had no choice. While avoiding the Shoggoth with superior speed, Ivor started wielding his [Null Shield] as a sword. It was awkward at first as he wasn't actually wielding the sword with his hand. His concentration on the new use of [Null Shield] caused him to take a bunch of hits. His health was dropping faster than his regeneration could keep up.

Despite taking the hits, Ivor was getting better and better. His other stats helped him improve at a rapid rate. He was wielding this new weapon with finesse now.

He still needed more. What else could he do?

Ivor was a dual wielder. Could it be that easy? He hadn't really pushed his mind much at all either.

He focused on forming two sword shaped [Null Shield]s. His fraction of a second distraction resulted in him taking a powerful hit. A large chunk of health dropped; he was at half health. His focus was rewarded.

He now had two swords of nothingness to wield. It was way easier. Ivor was so in tune with dual wielding, it just seemed natural.

Now, it was the Shoggoth's turn to feel the pain as Ivor carved chunks out of the monster. It landed several more hits on Ivor in its desperation. Ivor still needed something more.

Something completely absurd rose to the front of his mind. Ivor actually chuckled. He shot back from the Shoggoth. It took a brief pause, he had been doing plenty of damage, then it pursued him. Ivor spent that brief pause forming what he wanted in his mind.

“Ivor what am I seeing,” Zed asked, slightly concerned.

“Something amazing. Don't ever tell me video games were a waste of time,” Ivor declared.

A massive sword of nothingness appeared above Ivor. It was an exact replica of the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy 7, scaled up about ten times. The Shoggoth was quickly approaching. Tentacles were writhing, prepared to strike out at Ivor. He poured all of his Willpower and mana into the creation and swung down.

The Shoggoth's multitude of eyes looked up, but it was too late to stop. The massive sword bisected the Void monster. The two halves held together for a few seconds as it continued to move forward, then fell away to the sides.

Silence reigned for several seconds. Then, the mental and physical weariness hit Ivor like a physical force. He swayed in place for a moment, completely spent. He slowly walked over to the Shoggoth and triggered [Loot]. A Peak Void core, dozens of vials of Void essence and something he had never gotten off Void monsters before; monster parts.

Ivor noticed a small group of people approaching him. He recognized the shadow team leader and the rest of his team wearily approaching.

Ivor quickly pulled a mana potion out. Pulling his mask just far enough up, he downed it.

“Mr. Smith, I don't even know where to begin except with thank you,” the muscular F'on team leader bowed to him. The rest of the team followed suit.

The Mage on the team spoke, “What in the world was that magic you were wielding?”

Ivor turned to the man. He said nothing.

The man gulped. “Sorry, intellectual curiosity. No offense meant.”

Ivor nodded.

“If I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. I'd never believe this story. You defeated a Level 230 monster. Not just any monster but a named Void monster. That was truly Legendary.” The team leader continued on.

“Did you save many of the captives?” The first words out of Ivor's throat were raw. He must have been screaming at some point.

“Many? We saved all of them. Other than the ones that were already brain dead in the circles. Not all of them died right away. Once the caged captives were cleared out, and you and the Shoggoth thing moved away, we were able to approach. We pulled back the ones that weren't crushed by the battle.

One of the Healers said there was no brain activity. Whatever that Shoggoth thing did, it didn't leave anything left of their mind,” the team leader said.

Ivor nodded. “Good. I'm glad you saved them. Alright, I have a dungeon to stop from rupturing.”

Their eyes all got wide, the team leader exclaimed, “Wait! Now? Don't you want to rest? Don't you need to rest?”

Ivor looked at his stat bars. His health and stamina were rising fast. His mana was slowly rising, but the mana potion had given him a good enough chunk to handle the dungeon.

Besides, he was pretty sure that battle had just made him stronger. He hadn't looked at the notifications yet.

“I should be good soon.” Ivor started walking off. Then he stopped and turned. “Well, are you coming with or am I the only one walking out of here looking Legendary.”

The looks on their faces were priceless. They all quickly recovered and followed him. Ivor heard the team lead telling people to have the investigation teams from the council head out here. He let them know his team was heading into the dungeon with Mr. Smith. The dungeon wasn't far off.

Ivor saw the same type of line gouged in the ground as the other ritual had. It seemed clear they had fed some Void monsters into the dungeon, he just didn't know how many.

“I'm not sure you want everyone in the current expanded party getting this notification,” Ivor said. “The last dungeon had Void monsters around Level 60. A little above, a little below. The regular monsters were around Level 50. I'm assuming this dungeon should be similar if they were trying to make it rupture. I get the feeling that a higher level dungeon would be harder to rupture. With that said, the dungeon was huge. It took me nearly a dozen hours to clear,” Ivor said.

The team lead let everyone know he was forming a separate party for the dungeon. He explained it may take up to twelve hours or more. Then he walked up far enough to get the prompt. He motioned the rest of the team. They all approached as well. Finally, Ivor got the prompt.

Quest - The Broken Dungeon

You have come across a broken dungeon. Find a way to fix the dungeon.

Success: Unknown

Failure: The dungeon will rupture allowing a never-ending tide of monsters to blanket the land.

Do you accept this Quest: Yes/No?

Ivor selected Yes, and they were in the dungeon's safe area. All of the shadow team members were right around Level 100.

“The Void monsters are highly resistant to magical damage. You should probably leave them to me unless you want to give it a shot. Just let me know. The rest of the monsters are all yours if you want them. It will give me some time to regenerate,” Ivor said.

The team leader could already see Mr. Smith's armor repairing itself. The man was a damn monster.

This dungeon proved to be as large as the last one. The difference was that this dungeon was in a forest type setting. It was hemmed in by tall mountains making it relatively linear.

It was good and bad. Ivor had to save the team from a couple of Void monsters that managed to flank them. The shadow team lead actually took one of the Void monsters down.

The regular monsters were no match for the team. Ivor could tell they worked together often. They dismantled regular monsters with zero difficulty.

Despite the lack of difficulty it still took them about seven hours to complete the dungeon. When they finally reached the last forest clearing, Ivor turned to the group.

“I'm going to ask you all to return to the safe area. I'd like to keep some secrets. You've already seen enough of them today,” Ivor said.

It was hard to argue with that. The team headed back. Ivor waited about thirty minutes then he approached the crystal.

This time, there wasn't a monster leaching off of the mana in the crystal. Ivor could still see faint cracks in the crystal. He still didn't understand if the Void monsters caused that in some way.

Regardless, he was too tired to care. He focused his Willpower once again and started pouring mana and cores into the dungeon crystal. Since he had all air element cores, he made this one bird focused. It was going to be a gauntlet through a forest.

Once again the crystal started brightening and pulsing. Again, there was a loud gong type sound and the pedestal with crystal sank into the ground. There was a bright flash of light, and he found himself back in the valley where he entered the broken dungeon.

The shadow team was standing nearby. A lone tree stood next to Ivor. Ivor reached his hand out.

Dungeon environment: Forest Gauntlet: outdoor environment

Temperature range: 10 to 26 C

Monster range: 30 - 50

Boss range: 60

Recommended party size: 5

Recommended party level: 50

Time dilation: 1 to 1

Cooldown: 3 days

Ivor motioned for the others to do the same. They needed to see the results after all. Another flurry of notifications came that Ivor ignored. He was drained, mentally drained. He could look at his notifications later.

The shadow team had the look of someone reading their overlay. They all started smiling.

“Good stuff I hope,” Ivor said.

“I guess this is a little insight into what it's like being you, right Mr. Smith?” The shadow team leader joked.

Ivor laughed. “Yeah, maybe a little more strenuous than usual.”

The team erupted with laughter and the group walked back to where the ritual had been. The captives were long gone along with all the other teams. Instead, the High Council and the Council's Shadow stood where the ritual circle had been.

Someone had destroyed it thoroughly. Ivor was glad to see that. The Mind Mage was kneeling on the ground with a suppression collar around his neck. The Council's Shadow had a hand on his shoulder preventing him from standing.

The High Mage spoke, “Team Leader, report.”

“Mr. Smith has successfully prevented the dungeon from rupturing. It's now a standard dungeon,” the team leader said.

“We've heard it from others, but we want to hear the whole thing from this team,” the High Mage explained.

The team lead started from the time the illusion dropped. His telling was very detailed. Ivor learned about the things he had missed while fighting the Shoggoth. It sounded like the earthen walls his spiked traps put up lasted just long enough.

He also found out that his initial baston strikes had pulped the people close by. However, they were all brain dead anyway. Ivor was still reminded that as he got stronger, his power could easily splash over to non-combatants.

The High Mage turned to Ivor. “We've heard from every team that this named Void monster was Level 230. I don't doubt these teams, but there was a Mind Mage in play for a while. Mr. Smith, can you provide proof?”

Ivor nodded and pulled out the Peak Void core.

“That's not a Prime monster core,” the High Mage said.

“I have a skill that ups my rewards a level when I'm fighting alone. The shadow team lead should be able to verify that I left the party as soon as I started fighting the Shoggoth. That same skill gives me increased damage,” Ivor explained.

One of the other councilors chimed in, it was the other councilor that didn't care for foreigners much, “What of this strange magic that the teams have said you fought with? No one could identify it.”

Ivor turned to the man. “I'm not required to tell you my secrets.”

The man sneered, “What if we insist?”

Ivor was tired and frustrated. He was about to respond when someone did it for him.

“Then we'll all die. Right here. Right now,” the Council's Shadow told the man. “If you continue to antagonize Mr. Smith, I might start to believe you don't have the best interest of Qizut in mind, councilor.”

The councilor visibly paled.

“You owe us nothing Mr. Smith. In fact, Qizut owes you and Mr. Kemble quite a lot. Mr. Kemble seems to be negotiating on your behalf. So, unless you want something specific, we'll handle that later. There is just one last thing to handle.” The High Mage turned to the Council's Shadow.

“For placing your own desires above the needs of Qizut and nearly causing a continent ending event. I sentence you to death.” The Council's Shadow said while looking down at the Mind Mage. He produced a dagger that looked to Ivor like pure shadow. He drove it straight into the man's temple.

There was no blood or wound when the dagger was pulled out. The Mind Mage was very, very dead all the same.

Ivor turned to the group. “I'm exhausted and still not completely healed. I'll be taking my leave unless you still need my services.” They shook their heads, and Ivor was gone. Nobody even saw him move.

The Council's Shadow spoke, “Team leader, remember when I asked you if I could take him? What was your answer?”

The team leader responded, “I said I didn't think so.”

“And now?”

“Not a chance, sir.” The team leader shook his head, then continued, “Sirs, there is something I failed to mention. When Mr. Smith fixed the dungeon. I got a title change. I think you should hear it.”

The Shadow nodded.

“My Dungeon Enthusiast title changed to Dungeon Engineer - Helper. There are no longer any cooldowns for me and my party and I now can see all the dungeon information when looking at the dungeon details.” The shadow leader looked at each of his team members. They got the same title change.

The High Mage immediately understood the significance. “If you're the helpers, that means Mr. Smith…”

“Is the Dungeon Engineer, yes sir,” the team leader finished.

Everyone let that sink in for a moment before the Shadow spoke again, “Before we leave here, I'll need everyone to swear a System contract to never expose any information about Mr. Smith to anyone else, ever.”

One of the councilors objected, “Is this really necessary?”

The Shadow sighed. “A lone combatant defeated a Level 230 named Void monster, single handedly, using magic no one has ever seen before, in a land devoted to magic users. Then he immediately prevented a dungeon from rupturing. Just in case you were wondering, I got a message a bit ago that Mr. Smith has already taken the travel circle in town. It took him minutes to get back to town instead of the hours it took us to get out here. You wonder if it's necessary to keep this man's secrets?”

The councilor blanched. “I retract my objection.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ivor arrived in the Unae capital and immediately dropped his Bill Smith persona. He made his way to the palace. Despite how tired he was, he wanted to get the briefing with the King and Seneschal over so he could rest and recover. He had already dropped Dragon Skin as it was a slight drain on his mana.

It made the damage to his armor look even worse. Gashes riddle the armor, the skin beneath still healing somewhat.

At the palace, runners were quickly dispatched to find the King and Seneschal as a staff member escorted Ivor to the Crown Prince's office. Stepping through the doorway, Ivor must have been a frightful sight. The Crown Prince glanced up, then shot out of his chair and moved around the desk.

“Ivor, are you alright? What the hell happened to you? Do you need anything? Should I get a Healer?” Ivor was touched by the Crown Prince's genuine concern.

Flopping into a chair, Ivor waved him off. “I'll be fine. I just need a day or so to rest and recover. It's not as bad as it looks. No Pain, No Gain.”

“I'm not sure you realize how bad it looks,” the Crown Prince shot back.

Within minutes, the King and the Seneshal burst through the door, “We were told it's an emergency.”

Looking down at Ivor in the chair, the Seneschal had gone slightly pale. Maybe it was worse than Ivor thought.

“Did Qizut do this? I'll damn well go to war over it if they have?” The King's rage was a sight to see.

“No, no. Yes, it looks bad. I'll explain everything. I just want to do it all at once, then get some rest,” Ivor said.

When the men sat down, Ivor began his tale. Of course, he made no mention of the Council's Shadow or any other secret he was under contract not to divulge. The King frowned at the attack on Ivor by the Mind Mage, but then immediately chirped out a laugh at Ivor's response. He went through the searches, the abandoned illusion circle location, his suspicions and the verification of the location of the next ritual.

All of the men were angry at the thought of the cultist harming innocent citizens, even if they weren't Unae citizens. As Ivor continued the tale, the three men's eyes widened, their mouths dropped open in shock. Ivor glossed over a lot of the details of his fight. He still had his secrets. He then talked about the dungeon. It wasn't in quite as bad of shape as the other one, and this time, he had a team backing him up. He pulled out the Void core.

“That core is nearly priceless on this continent,” the King responded.

With his story done, the men each asked some questions. Ivor could see where this was going. They were trying to get a feel about reaching out to improve relations with Qiznut. Ivor thought it was a good idea.

“Your Highness,” Ivor started, “I don't like the thought of keeping the High Council in the dark about my Bill Smith persona. If you truly want a good relationship with them, I think agreeing to let me disclose that is important.”

The King looked at his son and then back at Ivor. “Of course, I agree. Also, I don't know if you truly realize this yet. You're a Monarch. You don't need permission from me for anything.”

“The King is right, Ivor. It is fine to seek agreement with your course of action, but it is your course of action to take. In this instance, you would be informing the King of your actions rather than asking for agreement. It is a subtle change in attitude. You are becoming more and more free to do as you please. There are some changes to be made if you truly want to be free,” Zed said.

Ivor thought over the King's and Zed's words. They were right. Ivor sighed.

“Thank you for your honesty, Unzi,” Ivor said.

The King smiled. “Now you're getting the hang of it. Come find me when you are ready to go back to Qizut. I'll have a letter. Also, go get some rest, and stop stomping around my palace all beat up like that, you're scaring the staff.”

Ivor snickered and followed the Seneschal to a room in the castle. Ivor was bone weary. He dropped onto the bed after managing to peel himself out of his armor. He was asleep almost immediately.

It was the next morning when Ivor awoke. He'd slept through an entire day. He woke up feeling good. He pulled his armor out of [Null Storage] and proceeded to feed it mana to repair itself. With his mana pool completely full, it didn't take long for the armor to be good as new.

Ivor used a small magical device to summon a palace staff member. A few minutes later, the staff member was in Ivor's room taking down an order for something to eat. Ivor would take the food in his room. He had a lot of notifications to get through.

Ivor started working through some of the initial ones with Zed. The Shoggoth had unleashed some kind of mind attack initially that affected everyone in the circles. Ivor's ridiculously high Willpower meant he never even felt it.

“Zed, is there a way for you to notify me when something like this happens? This isn't the only time I've been oblivious to a mental attack,” Ivor asked.

“I believe so. I should be able to monitor the logs for specific indicators. I guess I have fallen into the same trap as you. I have not found better ways to use my new found power. I have been more of a passenger than an active participant with you. My apologies,” Zed responded.

“No worries, buddy. We're learning together.”

Ivor finally pulled up the first of the major notifications.

Null Manipulation (Expert) - Null Manipulation (Master)…

Null Shield (Expert) - Null Shield (Master)….

The description of [Null Manipulation] stayed the same.

Null Manipulation (Master) - Active

Improve your ability to manipulate Null space.

It must have been Ivor's creation of two swords from [Null Shield] that resulted in the change in the skill description noting he could create more than one.

Null Shield (Master) - Active

Create a shield or shields of Null space. Anything that interacts with the shield becomes nothing. Caution: This shield does not discriminate

Ivor moved on to the next set of notifications.

You have earned a Title - Colossus Killer…

Experience threshold reached…..

Level 31 achieved….

Experience threshold reached…..

Level 32 achieved….

Experience threshold reached…..

Level 33 achieved….

Experience threshold reached…..

Level 34 achieved….

Experience threshold reached…..

Level 35 achieved….

Ivor took a look at the new title.

Colossus Killer

You have defeated an enemy at least 200 Levels above your own

+100% damage to enemies 100 levels higher than your own

+200% damage to enemies 200 levels higher than your own

+10 to all base stats

Note: Damage increase stacks with all other Titles or Skills

Ivor whistled. With the Colossus Killer title, if Ivor was fighting alone, he would be doing 300% and 400% more damage to enemies 100 and 200 levels, respectively, above him. Even with a team, he'd be doing 200% and 300% damage to those same enemies. Ivor moved on to the remainder of his important notifications.

Quest: The Broken Dungeon

Status: Complete

Reward: 5 Dungeon Seeds

Ivor looked at the notification. Then he looked in his [Null Storage]. Sure enough, there were five crystals that looked just like the dungeon crystals he had fixed in his storage.

“Zed, are those what I think they are?”

“If you think they are seeds that can grow a dungeon, then yes. Otherwise, I do not know.”

Ivor smirked and shook his head. Going to have to work on Zed not taking things so literally, he thought to himself. Ivor had a lot of stat points to distribute.

Ivor Kemble (Human)

Level: 35

Class: [Null]

Profession: Inveterate Explorer

Strength: 207 (310)

Agility: 207 (310)

Endurance: 207 (310)

Constitution: 207 (310)

Intelligence: 291

Wisdom: 291

Willpower: 214 (428)

Perception: 291

Health: 3105

Mana: 2910

Stamina: 3457

Free Stat Points: 0

Ivor stuck with a consistent spread of +3 to each stat for every level up. He could have structured it so that everything was over 300, but he had plenty of time until his next Evolution at Level 40. He was curious to see if his Path of the Precursors title would advance at that point. With his 100% bonus to Willpower granted by the Vamhael Inheritance, Ivor's Willpower was now over 400. He noted that even though he didn't push himself to gain levels, seeing the stats rise satisfied the gamer in him.

Ivor's armor had repaired itself. So, Ivor put it on. He configured it to his dark brown, weathered look. He was thinking about getting some training in with the royal guards.

There was a knock on the door. Ivor opened the door to see the Seneschal.

“Good morning, Mr. Kemble. I trust you are well rested?”

“I am. Good as new,” Ivor said.

“Well, that's certainly good to hear. Many of us were worried. I don't think any of us that know you here have ever seen you sleep more than a few hours every several days.” The Seneschal sounded a bit concerned.

“Well, fighting a Legendary, named Void monster really takes it out of a person, apparently,” Ivor said with a smile.

“Apparently so. Anyway, if you are able, the King would like a word before you go off and “Get into some other world ending shenanigans” his words, not mine.”

Ivor laughed and followed the man out the door. They went to a large office area that Ivor hadn't been to before. Ivor was looking around at all the people hustling about. The Seneschal noticed.

“Ah, yes. You haven't been to the King's actual office. It's much like a large business office. As you can imagine, running a country requires much bureaucracy. However, you might find that out yourself before long.”

Ivor nodded. He would have to talk with some people about the actual structure of his government at some point. They eventually came to a large door guarded by two royal guards. They were two that had trained with Ivor. He nodded to both as they walked into the King's office. There were two guards inside the office as well. Again, they were two he had trained with.

The King looked up from some paperwork he was reading. “Ah, Ivor. Glad to see you up and about. Gave us quite the scare with the condition of your armor then sleeping as much as you did. Everything healed back in the right places?” The King asked with a laugh.

“Yes, Unzi. Seems like it takes a little more than a Legendary monster to do more than make me a bit tired,” Ivor retorted.

The King laughed, then continued, “Thanks for stopping by. I have some things for you. First, here are the letters for the High Council of Qizut. They are all the same. I just wanted to start out on the right foot and not tweak anyone's beak.

This other is for you. It's a formal copy of the proclamation I made. For those cases when you need to show someone. You will probably outlive me. Having a System generated and verifiable document may be important. Keep it in a vault or where it is you keep things.”

Ivor took the items. The King continued, “The new Qizut Ambassador started pestering my staff to get a word with you. You should probably go handle that and earn the undying love of my office staff like you have my guards.” The King motioned to the two standing at the back of the room.

Ivor chuckled. “They just like the free training, or they're masochists. I haven't figured out which.”

The King laughed, and Ivor continued, “I noticed that the two inside and outside are some of the more advanced guards I train with. Coincidence?”

The King shook his head. “Not at all. That's all the Commanders doing. He rewards initiative and has a good eye for talent. Guards like those four will be rotated into different positions over time. Eventually, they'll become officers, and possibly, the new Commander one day.”

Ivor nodded. The King was a busy man, and Ivor didn't want to keep him from his work. Ivor made his way to the Qizut Embassy to meet the new ambassador. The man was nothing like Isnall. The man tried to get Ivor to stay, but Ivor had things to do. The man gave a message to Ivor that the High Council would like to talk to him at his earliest convenience.

Ivor told the man that he could go today. He just needed to check in with a few people. The ambassador said he would notify the High Council.

Ivor then made his way to the guild. He found the members in much better spirits than before. The guild was filled with the noise of people joking and chatting in groups. He got lots of nods and several forearms clasps of thanks. He reached the Guild Master's office and went inside.

“Mr. Kemble, I've been hearing rumors that you took down some massive Void monster.” The Guild Master had a smile on his face.

“Well, it will get out eventually, I'm sure. It was a Legendary, named, Void monster, Level 230,” Ivor stated.

Guild Master, Odods Tandas, had a moment where his mind just completely blanked out. Shaking his head, he nervously continued, “I'm sorry, Mr. Kemble. I swear I just heard you say the monster was Level 230.”

Ivor felt for the man. He really did. Ivor pulled out the monster core, ”Can you analyze that?”

The man looked at the core. His mouth dropped open, “That…That's…It's a Peak core. That's Mythic level.”

“I have a skill that upgrades cores one grade when I fight alone,” Ivor replied.

The man took a minute to wrap his mind around how strong the guild's new owner actually was. The man smiled. “Must have been a hell of a fight.”

Ivor nodded. “It was. First monster to actually do serious damage to me and my armor in a while.”

“What brings you by today?” The Guild Master was a professional; he recovered quickly.

“I just wanted to check in and see how things are going with the Guild, with Caizak and Isnall, with everything really,” Ivor said.

“Are you aware that there are guild levels; bronze, silver, gold, etcetera..?” Ivor nodded that he did. “Well, we used to be a gold level guild, but that was mostly due to history. We would have eventually been downgraded. As a new owner, with the discoveries of all the debt Scrans was hiding, and losing a number of people, we are now back down to being a bronze guild again. It's not bad news though.

The people we lost are no real loss for us. We've actually had an uptick in recruitment since your name has been associated with the guild. In addition, I'm currently interviewing several veteran adventurers that want something new. We are lacking in the veteran levels.”

He continued, “Overall, the guild is lean, but well financed. The teams are taking initiative and reaching out to contacts. I have reached out to some Explorers Guilds I'm on friendly terms with. The two guild types often work together once projects get going.

Caizak is a wizard with logistics. We will have to eventually hire someone specific for the guild, but I imagine, he'll handle that when needed. He has completely reorganized how we operate. Things are so much smoother.

Isnall is a force of nature. I couldn't be happier to work with such quality people. They allow me to focus on growing the guild and getting profitable again.”

“I'll get you in touch with Aza Krix's team. There is a new planet being explored. I want our people working on it as well. It will have to be higher level adventurers, preferably Level 60 or higher,” Ivor said.

Ivor thought for a moment. “Is there a way to preserve a monster part for display purposes that still retains the object's description with [Analyze] or [Identify]?

The man nodded. “Oh yes, there is a whole Profession of Taxidermy. We have a few good ones right here in the capital. They have skills that they use so that you don't even need [Identify] or [Analyze] to get the description. It's part of a System generated and validated display. Why do you ask?”

“In fraternal organizations on my homeward, they would sometimes display important objects to show pride in the organization and promote camaraderie. It's a tradition I was thinking about starting here. What do you think?” Ivor said.

“It's a fantastic idea. So many people are focused on the coin, I think it would be good to display important objects like that. Do you have anything in mind?” The man said.

Ivor pulled out an object. It was one of the large number of Void monster parts he got off the Shoggoth.

Eye of a Minor Shoggoth

Level 230

The Guild Master blinked. “Mr. Kemble, that is a damn near priceless object. Are you sure you want to display rather than sell it? It will lose its potency for craftspeople once the Taxidermy process is complete.”

“I'm sure,” Ivor said.

The man took the eye and put it in his spatial storage. “I'll get it to the Taxidermist today.”

“Good man. By the way, where the hell are the new offices?” Ivor asked.

The Guild Master gave Ivor directions, and he headed right over. It was a nondescript area that looked a little run down. Ivor had seen worse though.

He made his way inside which was surprisingly clean and well kept. A single reception desk sat right in the middle of the floor. There were two high level Corcer in the lobby standing where they could see every door.

Ivor knew there were two more somewhere around. This was the team protecting Isnall.

“Welcome to the Kemble Consortium. Can I help you, sir?” The chipper receptionist said.

“Yes, Ivor Kemble to see Ms. Vengrix,” he replied.

She wrote his name down, then paused, then looked up. Her eyes got huge.

“Oh, sir, I mean, your Highness, I mean..”

Ivor held up a hand. “Mr. Kemble is fine.”

“Yes, sir. I'll go get Ms. Vengrix right away.” She scurried off into the interior of the building. A few moments later she came back with Isnall in tow.

“Mr. Kemble, sorry to keep you waiting in your own building,” she laughed.

“Isnall, good to see you. Why don't you get me up to speed. I'll be heading to Qizut later today, ” Ivor said.

They walked back to Isnall's office. Ivor noticed the office next door had Caizak in it working on something.

Isnall poked her head in, “Caizak. Mr. Kemble is here. Would you join us please?”

The man looked up from his work and smiled. “One moment, and I'll be right in.”

The two went into Isnall's office. It was much smaller than he thought it might be.

“I see you looking around. I'll wait until Caizak gets in here to explain. How did things go in Qizut?”

Ivor told her a bit about what happened. He didn't need to go into detail. Being the daughter of the High Mage, she knew Ivor couldn't talk about certain things. A few minutes later, Caizak entered.

“Caizak, if you would explain to Mr. Kemble our current situation. He was looking around my office. No doubt noticing the size and our location,” Isnall started.

The bookish man nodded. “Well, Mr. Kemble, as you know, we picked up several properties from the Scrans guild. After evaluating the properties, and talking with Isnall and Odods, I decided to sell them. With the guild dropped to bronze, they weren't being used and they would be a drain on resources. We made a handy profit.”

Isnall snorted. “This one with the understatement of the century. We raked in the coins on those deals.”

“Well, yes, perhaps I undersold the profit a bit. Regardless, we don't have a lot of costs for our organization at the moment. The funds you provided us and Odods was more than enough. Actually, it was too much.

I don't like having too much money sitting idle. It doesn't look like it now, but this area is up and coming. So, after talking with Isnall and running some things by Cherze to check my numbers, I started purchasing property here,” Caizak explained.

“This is why I hired you folks. What did you buy?” Ivor asked.

“What didn't he buy? We own most of this block. We'll likely be renting out to businesses and crafts people,” Isnall said.

Ivor looked at Caizak, “If you needed more funds, what's a number that you think gets us the most bang for our coin?”

Caizak thought about it. “Realistically, if we wanted all the prime property and we wanted to accelerate the timeline by doing renovations to offer close to turn-key solutions, I'd probably need two hundred platinum. But that's my ideal, wishful thinking scenario.”

Ivor tossed him a bag of coins, “There's one hundred and ten platinum. That's all I have to give at the moment. I'll stop by the auction house and have Scindair send over another ninety. Get moving on it.”

The looks on their faces made Ivor laugh. “Folks, this is the speed I move at when decisions need to be made. Understand that I don't always get it right, but I don't let indecision stop me from moving forward. I expect we will make mistakes. Never let that stop you from growing what we have here. If you need, tell someone, and we'll make it happen. Together.”

Ivor saw the sparkle in their eyes. Yeah, they got it. They were just chomping at the bit to be told to run.

Chapter Thirty

Ivor told them to move all valuables including the large amount of coins to Cymru and the vault in the manor. That would serve as their bank for physical money. The System had created an account for the Kemble Consortium they could put credit into for any transactions that relied on System credits. Many things did. Eventually, they would be earning most of their funds through System credit. Even the Auction house would be using System credit.

Ivor popped over to the Auction house and updated Scindair. He left the man with a couple more void cores and void essence vials. It was stuff he could sell later. You didn't want to flood the market with that stuff. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem because they were so rare. He had a bunch of them he wanted to offload at the vault in the manor.

Ivor finally made his way to the travel circles and went back to Qizut. He still only had the one token to the small travel circle at the High Council compound. The guards however, knew his face by now. It wasn't too hard. He was the only human face they had seen.

Ivor was quickly taken to the council chambers, but had to wait as they were conducting some sort of business; he didn't mind. It had already been a busy day. Eventually, he was let into the council chambers. There was a new councilor sitting where the Mind Mage had sat.

“Mr. Kemble, we'd like to thank you for coming so quickly. We realize you are a busy person. Is your colleague doing well?” The High Mage spoke.

“Has the new councilor taken the same System contracts you all have about me and my colleagues abilities and secrets?” Ivor asked.

“Yes, in fact, she was just briefed on everything that has happened, including you and your colleagues' role in it,” the High Mage replied.

“Well, in that case, you'll want to summon the Council's Shadow for my next secret,” Ivor said.

There was a slight pause, then the High Mage fed some mana into a spot on his chair. Quickly, Ivor focused on the same spot of shadow behind the High Mage. With his newly enhanced Perception, he was able to see the outline of a F'on appear. It was still a shadow, just a more distinct type of shadow.

Ivor shocked the room when he said, “Good. Now that everyone is here, I have another secret to tell you.”

The councilors were confused for a moment until the Shadow stepped out and revealed himself. The fact that Ivor could see him wasn't lost on any of them.

“There is no Bill Smith. He is me. It was a persona I used and decided to continue to use as I didn't know you folks. I wanted you to know, in case you need to utilize that persona for your purposes the way the King in Unae does,” Ivor said.

One of the councilor's sputtered, “But Smith was a Level 85 Duelist.”

Ivor changed his information and let his armor change color and shape. He pulled his mask and hood up and triggered Dragon Skin. Bill Smith was now standing in front of the council.

After a stunned silence, the Shadow spoke, “Is it the same skill that allows you to blend into your environment so well and cause people to forget your presence?”

Ivor nodded. “It is.”

The High Mage sighed. “Mr. Kemble, thank you for this display of trust. It makes what I'm about to say that more poignant. We have struggled with how to properly repay you for what you've done for us and our people. I think we have found two things we are uniquely suited to provide you. Before that, I will ask if you have a request. We will still provide the two gifts regardless.”

Ivor thought for a moment. “Do you know of a weapon smith in the Epic or Legendary levels?”

“No, unfortunately. We do have a smith that is at the Master level. Now that I think about it, one of the reports about your battle said you used your sticks for a while, but put them away. Then you used some Dark Steel swords, but put them away as well. We just assumed they weren't working,” the High Mage said.

“The sticks, bastons, were working to a degree, but they were only Expert level weapons. They broke under the strain. The Dark Steel just wouldn't do anything to that monster.

They are fine. I would like to talk to this smith if I may,” Ivor responded.

“Of course, we'll provide anything you need that is within our means. Now, onto the other things. First, we are planning on following in our neighbors to the north foot steps. We are going to proclaim you a monarch before the System. We would also like to have a reception so that you can meet some of the other people in high places, as it were. We would be honored for you to allow this,” the High Mage seemed uncertain if Ivor would accept.

“I'd be honored, councilors,” Ivor said.

“Fantastic. We will hold the proclamation and reception in one week's time. Now, for the next item. Are you familiar with Inheritances?” The High Mage's attention focused on Ivor's reaction. He had been around F'on long enough that his high Perception was starting to pick out body language.

“I am,” Ivor replied.

The High Mage seemed to have something confirmed for him and relaxed a bit, “We thought as much. It seemed like one of the only reasons you could possibly be as strong as you are in such a short time after integration. Anyway, the next gift is the coordinates to a planet with an Inheritance.”

“Obviously, there is a catch. Otherwise, you would have claimed it,” Ivor said.

“Indeed there is at least one. The first catch is that the planet is a mana desert,” he said.

“I'm not familiar with the term. I get the context, but what specifically does that mean?”

The High Mage nodded. “It's rare, but a mana desert is an area devoid of mana. It doesn't have any and it doesn't generate any. You find them on various worlds for various reasons. It's actually surprising the Wastelands didn't become one.

It is exceedingly rare for a whole planet to be a mana desert. As we don't know the inner workings of the System, we don't understand how the System still functions on the planet with no mana. Regardless, it poses an issue for anyone who goes there. If you use your mana, it won't replenish.

Mana potions seem to be less effective as well. It's almost like they evaporate quickly. The second catch is that anyone who has entered the Inheritance has never returned.”

“So, you don't know much about it,” Ivor stated.

“We actually know a good bit. We have placed a travel circle as close to the Inheritance as the System will allow. We have had people travel there and receive the System prompt for the Inheritance. It is fairly descriptive.

We also know the criteria needed to trigger it. You won't have an issue there. The description labels it the Inheritance of the Arch Magus. As you could imagine, our society salivated over the opportunity. However, the Magocracy grew tired of throwing thousands of lives away and closed off access.

It just wasn't worth losing our best and brightest. You, however, might be in a unique position to achieve what others could not. We would only ask that you find out what happened to our people if you can.

The Inheritance is set up as a college of sorts. You will go into it with only your Pre-Class/Profession skills available. You will be a youth who has just gotten the System overlay with a Mage class. We do not know what your stats will be going in. You will study at the College for four years in the Inheritance which equals one year outside. You won't be able to take anything with you like a spatial ring.

It recommends you arrive with just some comfortable clothes and a backpack. That is what we know,” the High Mage finished.

The Vamhael Inheritance let him leave at any time, but he would fail. This didn't sound like it was an option. Otherwise, people would have returned. Ivor was interested.

He didn't have to do the thing, but he was interested in shoring up his magic. He had hardly any time to study the Vamhael Rune Codex or Culs notes. He wanted to get better at ritual circles to try to replicate the body improvements he went through. He was hoping he could get a bonus to his mana regeneration.

It took about a day and half for him to fully regenerate his mana pool once depleted. That was only going to get worse the more stats he got.

“Thank you. It is a unique gift, and it's appreciated. Oh, I have some correspondence from King Crit'o for each of you,” Ivor said as he pulled out the letters.

Ivor didn't need to be there for them to read the letters. What they did with that information was between them and King Crit'o. The Shadow followed Ivor out of the council chambers.

“Mr. Kemble, I can take you to the smith if you like. He can be a bit difficult at times. Perhaps I can smooth the way,” the man said.

“That's fine. I thought you were just some mysterious figure that stalks the shadows so no one knows who you are,” Ivor said.

The Shadow chuckled. “You're not far off from the truth. Nobody knows about that job, but quite a few people know about my other job. I'm well known by some.”

The man didn't offer anything more, and Ivor didn't pry.

“Now that I know you and Smith are one and the same, several of my teams commented on your fighting style. There are a number of dual wielders that expressed interest in talking with you if you have the time,” the Shadow said.

“Sure. The royal guard in Unae had the same reaction. It's a not very well known style from my home world. I studied it for a very long time. I'm no master in the style, but I'm close,” Ivor said.

Ivor and the Shadow chatted as they made their way through the city. They took a carriage not unlike the ones in Unae to an industrial district. They went to a small warehouse that was dwarfed by those around it. Ivor could already hear the hammering of metal on an anvil. He wished Esqin was here with him.

They stepped inside to find a messy shop front. There was no one to greet them. There was a sign that had an arrow pointing down onto a desk that said 'Feed Mana Here'. Ivor fed some mana into the dot.

A few moments later the hammering stopped. One of the most muscular F'on Ivor had ever seen walked into the room from the back. The man was so wide, he almost had to turn sideways to get through the door.

“What is….” he started to say until he laid eyes on the Shadow. “Guild Master, uh, what can I do for you?”

“This is Mr. Kemble. He is a good friend of the High Council. You will be hearing more about him in the coming week. Until then, he is in need of new weapons, and I would consider it a personal favor if you expedited his requests.”

“Ah, yes, absolutely. Anything for you and the High Council,” the man said.

“Very well. Mr. Kemble, I'm sure you can find your way back. Good day.” The Shadow was out of the building in moments.

The smith turned to Ivor and stuck out his arm. “Graan Vuqels, Mr. Kemble. What can I do for you?”

Ivor clasped the man's forearm. “Well met Graan. I have some special weapons that were made by someone I know. Unfortunately, in my last encounter, they took a beating. They are only Expert level and I need something more robust.”

“Do you have a drawing or the weapons themselves?'

Ivor pulled the bastons out of his [Null Storage] and put them on the counter. They were in bad shape. Ivor also pulled out the Dark Steel short swords.

“You're a dual wielder. Ok. Hey, is this that new alloy I keep hearing about. Some smith out of Unae created it. Really hard to get. How did you get this?” Ivor could hear the excitement in the man's voice.

“I helped the smith test the alloys until she got the mixture right,” Ivor said.

“You used untested alloys in battle. You're either brave or stupid. Maybe both.” The man scratched the feathers on his head. “These runes are unfamiliar to me. Pretty decent work. Do you know, specifically what they do?”

Ivor proceeded to describe in detail what each rune did. He told the smith he did them, but no longer had the skill. Knowing Ivor knew a thing or two about runes, the smith told him where things could be improved. Being a Master smith, he also knew some generally better runes. Once Ivor described what he wanted, Graan was confident he could replicate and even improve upon the rune design.

“What kind of metal are you looking for? If you can get me this alloy, I can replicate these.”

Ivor took a chance, “Can you work with Mana Steel?”

Graan shrugged. “Sure. Don't get too much as it's so damn expensive. Usually it's for some little project, like a dagger or spearhead.”

“How much would you need for the two bastons? I'll also need the Greater force cores, as I don't have any of them on me,” Ivor said.

“If you're using Mana Steel, you can go one up on the core level. You might be pushing the council's pocket book with that though,” Graan commented.

“I'll pay for them. How much do you need?” Ivor said.

“If you can get me a few kilos of that alloy, I'll throw them in. If not, five hundred gold should cover it,” Graan said.

“I'll see if I can get it. What about the swords?” Ivor asked.

The smith picked up both swords. “Yeah, they are trashed. I can feel the interior fractures in the metal lattice. You want these as Mana Steel too?”

“No, just Dark Steel is fine. I'm not sure what I want to do with the swords yet,” Ivor said.

“Well, I've got the Dark Steel, and the council shouldn't have a problem covering that. Now, as soon as you get the Mana Steel, I can get to work,” the smith asked.

Ivor pulled out three ingots and put them on the counter. “Will that work?”

Graan just stared at the Mana Steel.

“Graan, is that enough?” Ivor said a little louder.

“Oh, yeah, for sure. Might have some extra even,” he said.

“Keep the extra. If you come up with something interesting involving the Mana Steel and the short swords, keep me in mind,” Ivor said.

“Are you sure? I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to steal from you.” The man looked around a bit nervously.

“As long as you don't try to shortchange me on the bastons, we won't have any problem with you keeping the rest,” Ivor said.

The man thanked him prodigiously. Ivor figured the man might have enough left over for a dagger or spear head. Maybe he'd sell it. He was hoping a little extra motivation would spur the smith on to producing some good weapons for him. Ivor told him he'd be back later in the week.

Ivor was about to head back to Unae. When he entered the travel circle building, a messenger was waiting for him.

“Mr. Kemble, the High Mage would like to see you before you leave.”

Ivor followed the messenger, but they didn't head to the Council chambers this time. Instead they made their way to the highest tower of the nine that made up part of the compound. He assumed it was the High Mage's tower, and he was correct.

It seemed to be part office, part college. There was quite a bit of activity going on. The messenger took him to a bank of elevating platforms. As they got onto the platform, the messenger touched a token to a display and a previously hidden option appeared.

The messenger fed mana into the new selection. They moved pretty fast. The tower was probably twenty stories tall. They arrived at a small lobby.

“Mr. Kemble to see the High Mage,” the messenger said to the person behind the desk. The man nodded and left through a door. A minute later, he returned and escorted Ivor back to the High Mage's office.

“Mr. Kemble, thank you for stopping by. I have a response letter for King Crit'o. Did he tell you what was in the other letter?”

Ivor shook his head. “Nope. Not my business. I didn't even bother to ask.”

The High Mage smiled. “Well, then I'm guessing you don't care much about what's in this one.”

“Nope,” Ivor said.

“I apologize for asking you to be a glorified messenger, but these discussions require the utmost secrecy. I believe that is why the King asked you to bring the letters in the first place. Nobody was going to be able to take them off you.

It's clear, to most of us at least, that you must have had combat experience prior to the integration of your world. The Shadow thinks you had some kind of role as a Rogue like figure, perhaps an assassin. Of course, he could just be projecting as he is also the head of the Assassin's Guild. I'll admit I'm curious about your background. Of course, you don't have to tell me anything.” It seemed the High Mage was genuinely curious.

Ivor wasn't at all surprised by the Shadow being the Guild Master of the Assassins Guild. What else would he be doing?

“Huh, I figured Isnall might have told you already.” Ivor rubbed his chin.

“Oh, she takes her loyalties very seriously. As your employee, she won't divulge information she doesn't have to.” The High Mage seemed very proud of this trait of his daughter.

“I didn't restrict her from talking about it, but I understand. Well, you are both correct. I held a role that was something like a combatant, spy, assassin sort of deal. I did all those jobs that the government didn't want to do themselves because they might lose their moral superiority. Also, some of it was just too dangerous for them to risk their personnel on.” Ivor didn't really need to go into details.

“How long did you do these tasks? The Shadow says that you told him you are close to mastering your martial style. Not to be crass, but I've looked up information about your species. You seem too young to have done all these things.” It wasn't an accusatory tone, just confusion.

“That Inheritance you figured I'd found. It extended my life dramatically and reduced my perceived age to someone about thirty years old. I was sixty years old when the System came calling. I had been performing my work for over forty years,” Ivor said.

“It sounds absurd on its face, but knowing and seeing some of the things you've done, it seems so obvious. Your mannerisms, the way you handle situations, your skills, it all makes sense after the fact, as so many things do. It also means I don't have to tell you much about the reception. You're probably already prepared for the jabs and snipes from some.”

Ivor nodded. “It was much the same in Unae. Although, one rather uninformed individual challenged me right there in front of the King.”

The High Mage let out a full throated laugh. “Oh, I can only imagine how that went for the poor fool.”

“I had the World Guardian transmit the duel to his guild. Then, two days later, I owned his guild,” Ivor said.

The High Mage looked shocked. “What? Really?” He broke out into laughter again. “That is wonderful. I can only imagine King Crit'o wanted to take the man down a peg, otherwise he would have put a stop to it.”

“Just so,” said Ivor. “I treat others the way they treat me. If someone challenges me, I'm going to take full advantage of the situation. Just giving you fair warning. However, I don't need to do it in such a spectacle. I don't suffer fools lightly, but I do get tired of putting down these minor irritants.”

“Given your particular skills, wouldn't it be better to change your level to show something much higher?”

Ivor shook his head. “I thought about doing that, but then the irritants just have higher levels as well. I'm just getting my feet stable in this new reality. With that being said, I haven't really fought any high level Mages. The Kingdom seems much more martial than magical.”

The High Mage nodded. “It's been that way for as long as we can remember. In fact, many scholars think this is the very thing that led to the animosity so far back. The southern part of the continent focused on magic, the northern part focused on martial prowess.

It created a situation where there is a natural standstill. You may have noticed neither country has standing armies.”

“I had. I just figured with everyone having magic, it might not be necessary.” Ivor said.

“That's true here. Our continent is about a quarter the size of the other. Our two countries counter each other quite well.

The need for armies dwindled over time. After a long time, there was just no point. We didn't have anywhere to expand and neither did they. It's a stalemate,” the High Mage explained.

“In my world, we had a lot of strife. A lot of small wars going on almost continuously. Several wars that spanned the whole planet. When governments or countries were in a situation like yours, the politicians would slowly move sentiment by taking small steps.

First, a non-aggression pact between the countries, officially. Once that was set up, there would be some small scale cultural exchange. Maybe some students are sent to study in each country.

The successes would be broadcast to the citizens. A bit later, there would be some trade. Nothing strategic, just stuff to get the attention of the citizens.

If you can make it something the other country doesn't want to live without, even better. You keep that up until it is common. Then you sign a mutual defense pact. That may not be such a big deal for you folks, as it would be damn hard to invade either of your countries.

Perhaps for you, you might allow more open emigration between countries. These are just things that were common on my world. Some ideas to ponder,” Ivor explained.

The High Mage was looking at Ivor. “We've spent so much time as a people trying to stay independent, we didn't put any effort into figuring out how to stay independent and still be friendly. This is a fantastic roadmap. Thank you Ivor. Would you mind telling King Crit'o about this? I think both sides are ready for a change.”

“Sure thing. No problem,” Ivor said.

“I'll send you a notification with the exact day of the proclamation. I know you're a busy man. So, I won't keep you any longer.”

Ivor nodded and headed out. He had a week to get some things done.

Chapter Thirty-One

The week came and went fast for Ivor. He had been thinking more and more about the Inheritance of the Arch Magus. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it. He started working towards making sure everything was set up for his year away. Ivor was traveling a lot between Unae, Qizut and Cymru.

Some more Os'id had come to mine on Earth. A village had been set up near the mountains to the east of Seaton. The Os'id that had gotten there immediately sent a message asking for more miners. Ivor made sure Isnall was setting up the right mechanisms to make sure the Os'id were getting their fair share.

Marie's team was doing well. They were coming close to the Inheritance Chris was after. They were going to hold off on taking their second Class Evolution until after the Inheritance. All of them had Expert Classes or Profession in Esqin's case, and they all had the Great Start title. So, they were earning 11 stat points every level up. They would make sure they had at least 40 points in all stats before the Evolution at Level 40. Hopefully, the Inheritance would provide percentage increases like his or just straight up stat points. Every extra point helped.

Ivor had asked the Earth Sector Administrator for an adjudication. He wanted System permission to allow people from Menevris to travel on Earth. At the time, most of Earth was locked down from access. None of the towns were anywhere close to getting travel circles for universal travel. Cymru was a loophole. The Sector Administrator agreed with some stipulations.

Cymru could have people of any level visit of course. However, any people beyond Level 40 had a strict defense only limitation for combat. Cymru could not use off world forces to conquer territory. Any discoveries could not be claimed by off world entities. They could run dungeons and explore.

Ivor immediately gave the guild orders to send as many under Level 40 adventurers as it could to map out the local area around Cymru and beyond. They could bring in higher level explorers if they wanted, but that would eat into the guild profits. The Guild Master decided to simply call the guild the Cymru Adventurers Guild. Ivor was fine with that. It totally fit with his non-creative naming schemes.

Eventually, Ivor made it back to Qizut. He picked up his new weapons. Aza had been kind enough to provide the alloy Graan wanted in exchange for the Force Cores Ivor needed for the bastons. They turned out perfect.

The rune work was far better than Ivor had done. He had much more control over feeding mana into the baston, and holy shit, could he pump a lot of mana into these Mana Steel baston. Graan had felt a bit bad about the amount of Mana Steel left over that he was keeping. So, he also remade Ivor's broken baston with the same runes as the Mana Steel ones, just at Expert level.

Ivor was finally done running around. The proclamation was today, followed by the reception. Unlike in Unae, the reception would immediately follow the proclamation. Apparently, the Magocracy didn't stand on all the pomp and circumstance like the Kingdom did.

There was a large ballroom where Ivor stood before the nine High Mages who were standing on the stage where the band would play later during the reception. A gong sounded. Everyone quieted as the High Mage took a step forward.

“People of Qizut. We are here today to honor a man not of our Magocracy, not even of our world. Some of you may know that a fellow ruler, King Crit'o, made a proclamation before the System claiming Mr. Ivor Kemble as a brother and fellow Monarch. As the System has already recognized Mr. Kemble as such, we will not need adjudication in this matter. Rather, we will add our own proclamation thanking Mr. Kemble for his service to all of Qizut.”

“What was this service that deserves a proclamation? Nothing less than saving the whole of Qizut from the destruction of a ruptured dungeon. Indeed, the doomsday cult responsible for the events in the Wastelands near Unae, tried something even more heinous in the Wastelands near Qizut. Through Mr. Kemble's investigations, we were able to find the source of the foul ritual the cult was performing as well as identify one of our own High Councilor's involvement. That alone would be worthy of a proclamation, but after identifying the location of the ritual Mr. Kemble called in a colleague to stop the massive monster the cultist summoned. While Mr. Kemble's colleague single handedly defeated the monster.

Teams of highly skilled people were saving the hundreds of captives the cult had taken. Along with a top team from Qizut, Mr. Kemble's colleague cleared out the dungeon and prevented the rupture. The scale of the potential disaster averted can not be understated. It has been verified through a System contract with all of the teams present, and the aftermath was witnessed by the High Council itself.”

“Much like our brothers and sisters from the north, the Qizut people owe Mr. Kemble a debt of gratitude. It is our hope that this proclamation will go some of the way to repaying him for his service. The High Council of the Magocracy of Qizut hereby proclaims Ivor Kemble Monarch and equal. Through his deeds and service, he is a friend to the Qizut people.”

The High Mage was holding the actual written proclamation. It started glowing with golden light that got brighter until a gong sounded. It was done.

The High Council all came down to thank Ivor. With that, everyone started breaking up into groups as staff brought out buffet tables, tables and seating. Other staff carried around trays of drinks. The band started playing soft music that Ivor quite liked.

Ivor's high Perception kicked in and he noticed a good number of the servers present were also on the shadow teams during the cult raid. The Shadow wasn't going to stop at an opportunity to collect information it seemed.

On another continent of Menevris, Farno Ull was watching the proclamation.

Farno looked at his Ghomid body guard and shook his head. “It's not luck is it? It's Fate or something. The man keeps collecting countries. What will it be next, whole planets?”

The Ghomid spoke, “We just need to stay out of his way, and keep your boss from doing something stupid.”

Farno looked over at the Ghomid when a voice from the shadows in the room said, “Yes, please don't do anything that will come back to haunt you.”

Farno was still looking at the Ghomid, noticing the man was trembling. He was looking at a particular patch of shadow. Farno squinted at the same patch and watched, shocked, as the shadow seemed to peel away from a dark looking F'on. A Level 150 F'on.

“How did you get in here? Who the hell are you?” Farno was a bit out of his depth.

The man looked at Farno then at his bodyguard. “The Ghomid knows who I am?”

Farno turned to his bodyguard who said, without taking his eyes from the F'on man. “Farno, this is the Guild Master of the Qizut Assassins Guild. We should be very careful how we speak.”

The man nodded. “He is correct. I have come to tell you two things. First, due to recent events, the High Council wants all of your dealings in our country done within one month. Second, I was there to see the aftermath of what Kemble's colleague fought.

I saw the proof. I verified, personally, the veracity of the claims. You do not want to make that man an enemy. Ever. If your boss decides to do something stupid, it's on him. There will be no assassin's guild willing to take the work.

I've made sure of that. I've done this not to curry favor with Mr. Kemble, but to save those foolish guilds from destruction. Heed my words. It will be the last time you see me.”

The shadows wrapped around the man, and it seemed like he'd gone.

Farno looked at his bodyguard. “I think we need to find a different line of work a long, long way away from Menevris.”

All across the reformed Earth a world wide announcement went out.

Attention citizens of Earth. Ivor Kemble of Cymru has been recognized as a Monarch once again. This designation was validated by his deeds and the proclamation of another Monarch level entity, The High Council of Mages in Qizut on the planet Menevris.

Traveling on a road between villages, Marie Kemble and team read the announcement.

Marie sighs. “Here it comes.”

Team Double Princess,” Emily Riva yelled into the air.

The rest of the team laughed.

Back at the reception, Ivor was meeting a lot of the upper society of Qizut. There were obviously a large number of Mages, but to his surprise, there were nearly as many Professions. Several merchants were aware of his ties to the Krix Consortium. Most were just well wishers, but several mentioned they would like to talk about Earth when the timing was right. Ivor appreciated the forthright attitude.

About two hours into the reception Zed spoke up.

“Ivor, there are five separate low level mental attacks happening to you right now. Well, low level for you. You have not noticed. So they keep slowly ramping up whatever they are doing.”

“Thanks buddy.”

Ivor motioned one of the serving people over. It was one of the ones he knew was on a shadow team.

“Let the High Mage know I need him to come over here discreetly.”

The man gave the barest of nods as Ivor turned to another well wisher. It was moments before the High Mage broke in with apologies. There was something he needed Ivor to hear. They stepped slightly away as one of the other councilors joined them.

“I'm currently under attack by five different mental attacks. In two minutes, I'm going to do something that should identify each of the persons. Can you have people standing by?” Ivor asked.

The High Mage and councilor each took off in different directions. Ivor noticed they were subtle letting the shadow guard servants know to be aware. When the two minutes were up, Ivor did something he had never tried before. He was nearly one hundred percent positive it would work.

Ivor postulated that a mental attack had to have some kind of attachment to his mind. With his high level of Willpower, he thought that he could push back down that connection. He imagined static, like static from an old offline tv station or radio station.

Then, he let his subconscious identify those mental attack connections and he nudged his Willpower to push the static back down the line. Ivor thought he was being gentle, but with over 400 Willpower and having never done this before, his static blasted into the five minds. Five people screamed out at once, in various locations in the room, and they all collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Quickly, serving staff was there to “take them to the healers.” Yeah, Ivor didn't envy those people when the Shadow got ahold of them. He didn't envy the people that put them up to it either.

The High Mage took the stage and clapped his hands, loudly.

“My apologies but I must make a quick announcement. What just happened was five very foolish people decided to try to attack Mr. Kemble with some form of mental attack. You can see how well that worked out for them.

In his grace, he opted not to kill them outright, which would be his right. The reason I wanted to make that announcement is that several people have just attacked a visiting Monarch at a state event,” the High Mage said.

The crowd became deathly silent.

“I will simply state that those responsible should present themselves to the High Council tomorrow morning. It's possible that may provide you some leniency. However, if you don't, I will instruct the Assassin's Guild to hunt you down. They tend not to want to bring people back alive.”

There were definitely some pale faces in the room. There were also some smiling faces and laughter. It's likely a few people knew who the idiots would be. They knew each other well enough, Ivor suspected.

That was the beginning of the end for the reception. Nobody seemed to mind however. To Ivor, the Qizut didn't care as much about “being seen” as the Unae. They seemed much more pragmatic. Ivor said his goodbyes to the High Council and headed back to Cymru to spend some time preparing for the Inheritance run.

Ivor ended up purchasing a vault for the manor. This was in addition to the existing vault. This specific vault would house all of the most important goods from his [Null Storage], like the Shoggoth parts and high level cores and essences.

Ivor would still leave most of his stuff in the normal vault for Isnall to do whatever she needed while he was gone. The old vault was where all the coins were stored as well.

In preparation for the Inheritance, Ivor commissioned a lower level set of armor from Quanzul. The recommendation from the High Mage was to only take what he could carry on him. However, the System seemed to ignore [Null Storage]. So, Ivor was going to try two approaches. First, he was going to wear normal clothes and a backpack with some items inside. Then, he was going to have his lower level armor in his [Null Storage] along with his new Expert level bastons and Dark Steel swords. All of that could be replaced. He also stored some monster cores and a few spike traps and grenades of lower power, along with some basic rations, coin, potions, etcetera..

While he was preparing, a notification came in. It was a short message from the Hunter's Rest council. They wished to speak with him. Ivor was hoping nothing happened with the Os'id. He quickly traveled to Hunter's Rest. Ivor was brought to the administration building. Mary was still council head, and he noticed a few new members.

“Ivor, thank you for coming so quickly,” Mary said. She seemed a little nervous. “We have been receiving some additional reports about the New America faction further east. In addition, without a World Guardian, many people feel that we don't have enough information to adequately advance ourselves or our town like we want to. We've polled the citizens. The council has come to the conclusion that we want to join Cymru.”

Ivor looked at each council member in turn. There was some clear hesitance in some, but there was no outright hostility.

“Ok, I understand. I assume you are all a little nervous about what it means that I'm a Monarch?” Ivor asked.

One of the councilors that Ivor didn't know spoke first, “Yes, we were hoping you could explain it a bit.”

“Sure. The System uses the term Monarch to denote a type of ruler. I haven't had a lot of time recently to delve into this. It doesn't mean that I want to set up a dynastic Monarchy. I hadn't expected anyone to want to join so soon,” Ivor explained.

Another of the councilors spoke, “I think you might be dealing with more shortly. The Seaton council has been conversing with us. I think they are waiting to find out what happens with us first. If Seaton pulls the trigger, you can expect every village and town along the road to follow suit. It might even mean Seatown joins as well. They won't want Seaton to gain an advantage. You might be overestimating how independent people want to be. Creating and maintaining your own village or town is damn hard.”

Mary jumped in, “Also, as we are finding out, mutual support against potential takeover is likely to become a thing.”

Ivor chuckled. “So, I'm the devil you know.”

Several of the councilors chuckled as well, as Mary responded, “We've been discussing it since the first announcement. There are a lot of people that remember what you did for them, both here and at Seaton. We may be giving up an amount of independence, but the trade off is all the benefits we get. It doesn't hurt that you're likely even more powerful than before.”

Ivor nodded. “That's a safe bet. Ok, I'm going to link you up with my head administrator.”

“Wait. You have an administrator?” Mary asked.

“Oh, right. You don't know all the other stuff. Ok, short version. I've acquired an adventurers guild, part ownership in an auction house, and significant up and coming real estate in the Unae capital city, along with my business partnerships with the Krix Consortium for the exploration and goods coming out of Arlossis. That's the planet the Os'id come from. I'm running around too much to manage any of that. I got help forming my own consortium which is currently run by Isnall Vengrix, the daughter of the High Mage of Qizut and Caizak Naalgens who is an operations & logistics professional trained at the Krix Consortium,” Ivor explained.

Stunned faces greeted Ivor's response. It made sense. These people were still struggling with forming and maintaining a town while Ivor had gone out and set up a multi-business empire.

Once Hunter's Rest joined Cymru, Ivor gave them a Tier 1 travel circle and a Tier 1 shield. Hearing the benefits the town got, Seaton and Seatown quickly asked for inclusion. Being large trade hubs, Ivor gave them each a Tier 1 travel circle and shield. He was down to a single free Tier 1 building left.

Ivor traveled to both Seaton and Seatown to bring them into the fold and get everything official. They would have to charge up the shields and travel circles themselves.

As soon as those travel circles were up and running, there was going to be a boom in the economies of each town. Isnall recommended a graduated tax plan that started lower and capped out at fifteen percent over the next few years. This was to allow the towns to grow as fast as possible.

The teams from the Cymru Adventurers Guild started encountering traveling bands of people from the east. It took a couple of weeks for word to get back to Ivor, but it seemed New America was either coercing towns and villages or taking them by force. Ivor agreed to take people in, but it was up to the discretion of the Administrator where they ended up. They wouldn't split up families, but there was a lot of open land between Hunter's Rest and Seaton. People need to be where they were needed the most.

Right now, Cymru was a fairly narrow band of land that stretched from east to west. Isnall had a plan for expanding the territory that Ivor approved, as long as it could be protected. From Hunter's Rest to Seaton was close to one thousand kilometers. To Ivor's knowledge, nobody had found an ocean. At least, none of the towns knew of anyone that communicated it to anybody. Ivor imagined the adventuring teams would eventually find one or more.

Marie and team had finally reached the site of the Inheritance. They were pretty sure it was Olympus Mons from Mars. The terrain had turned to dry, red dirt, and the thing was massive on a scale none of them had seen in all of their travels. They didn't know how long the Inheritance was going to take. Ivor wished them well, and let Marie know that he would be gone a year in his own Inheritance. He also gave Marie the rundown on everything going on with Cymru. In his absence, she was in charge. In the case of either him or Marie being gone beyond a year, Cymru would operate under the last directives given by either Ivor or Marie for five years. If they still hadn't shown up, then the Administrator and the councils of the towns and cities would decide how they wanted to proceed.

“You ready to go get us another Inheritance, Zed?” Ivor asked.

“Ready when you are Ivor,” The former A.I turned magical construct seemed excited.

All in all, Ivor was on Earth for most of a month. He was itching to get back out there. He had prepared, and prepared some more. It was time to tackle another Inheritance.

Afterword

After writing the second book, I wanted Ivor's actions to be more public rather than super secret like his previous life. The world wide announcements of his deeds conflicts nicely with his desire to be a loner and explore. It serves as good friction to help me creatively. Although he's going into another Inheritance for a year, things don't stand still back on Earth. Yeah, I know it's a tease, but you'll learn all about what happens on Earth in the fifth book. The next one is all Inheritance, and Ivor is put in a position to grow personally once more.

Reviews on Amazon really help independent authors like me get our work promoted on the platform. Please consider leaving a review.

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