Chapter 27: Altheron - Chapter 27
"I received a complaint of a human here, when I got here, the human had changed into a rough outline of a man and that outline had thinned to show you." The minotaur paused for a bit. "Yes, there's a problem. I'll have to take you with me on suspicion of being a trespasser."
"Trespasser?"
"Yes, unauthorized to be here."
"But if I wasn't a human that would be fine?"
"Well." The creature sighed. "Yes it would be."
"I see." I understood and changed my appearance to be that of my real body, in the same clothes.
"Ah!" The minotaur called out.
"Relax." I held up a hand. "I'm not human."
"Sure you're not." Minotaur's face turned far more hostile and he grabbed a hold of my arm. "I'm taking you to the appraiser."
I let myself be dragged there, his grip, which would've shattered a normal man's arm, felt weak on mine.
"Got a trespasser for you Nox." The Minotaur threw me to the floor in the black building, the inside was brightly lit with floating lights in the air. Sat at a round table with one seat on the other side, was a zombie in black robes. I grinned.
The zombie, Nox, shot up out of its seat, trailing mana to my eyes, and rushed to my side.
"My Liege, let me help you up." It said in a dry, rasping voice. The minotaur looked on, shocked. I turned, grinning towards it.
"Thank you." I said, standing tall next to the hunched undead. "You may be seated." It returned to its seat.
"Thank you, your grace."
"What?" The minotaur finally spat out. "What is this?"
"I told you, not human." I said, then, turning to Nox. "The minotaur wants you to appraise me, prove I'm not human."
"Ah, very well, your grace." He held out a hand and began to trace a symbol in the air. I instantly knew that he was casting a more advanced version of the appraisal that Krystin could do.
A floating version of my stats appeared above the table and both the zombie and the minotaur breathed in in shock.
NAME - YOLEN ARCANUM
RACE - FALLEN
LVL - 517
HP - 23,161,600
HP/s - +230,000
MP - ∞
MP/s - +∞
JOB - THE ARCANE LORD
INDIVIDUAL SKILL - GENESIS/DESOLATION
STR - 1790
AGI - 2255
CON - 1600
INT - 4136
FTH - 712
ABILITY POINTS (0)
SKILL POINTS (0)
"You're a fallen?" The minotaur said, clearly shocked by what he saw.
"Yes." I said simply, standing up from the table. The minotaur backed away, I appraised him, his name was Molkoh. "Molkoh, I've been told to visit here by your king, could you take me to him?"
"Hold on, how are you controlling Nox?" He asked, apparently having convinced himself that what he saw was fake.
"I'm not, it's a title and skill I hold." I explained. Then, turning more serious. "I'll just go to see him with or without you." I started walking towards the doorway. Molkoh moved to block it. I, having the effects of millions of points of mana in me, pushed him aside easily, he crashed to the floor, dumbfounded.
I walked out into the street and made my way back towards the palace. I spread my mana form out and funneled it into the palace, apparating as my true form in the centre of this throne room.
Upon the chair rested a pile of red slime with what looked like veins of varying colour within, due to my high intelligence, I could pick out each individual shade, there were over thirty different sets of lines. The ooze seemed to heave and then it spoke, almost imperceptible vibrations running along its surface.
"Hello, Yolen." It's form rose up a bit on the throne, "I see you arrive just as abruptly as you go."
I nodded, "That I do."
"Have you considered my offer of joining this nation?" It asked.
"I've considered it, and I'm here to reject it. To a certain level."
I had thought about its proposal, but it sounded too much like shackles. If I was confined to one country, only helping that one, then I wouldn't be able to take full advantage of all the dungeons. And really, they didn't have anything to offer me that I couldn't make for myself.
"To a certain level?" The slime mused.
I nodded, "I won't be part of your nation, that wouldn't be fair to anyone from any other kingdom."
"How so?"
"I own the source of all magic, and if I'm part of your nation, that means that so is all magic." I paused, trying to gather my points. "I'll help you out with what you need, but in return I'd like any intelligence your nation can provide, and free reign over the dungeons present in it."
It was short, but straight to the point, I didn't want to be shackled to this nation or be biased to any one kingdom. Right now my only goal was to level up and find the level for the final ascension and what that gave.
The slime hummed gently, clearly mulling over the offer.
"I think this deal will be satisfactory for the time being, perhaps eventually you will see that our kingdom is truly the only one you may feel at home in." It vibrated, the speech coming out as if through a speaker.
I nodded, "Maybe."
"As a show of our deal here, Yolen, you will provide me a full appraisal of your stats and in return, I will answer any one question you have right now. As long as it is in my knowledge to answer."
"Would you like Nox to do the appraisal?" I asked.
A small amount of slime rose up from the lump and moved up and down, some semblance of a nod.
I activated my arcane form, channeling a small thread and moving my awareness along it, that small thread reached where Nox was waiting alone in the room he had bowed to me in. I pulled on the mana in the air and used it to fold the space between us, boring a hole through it.
SKILL EARNED - GATEWAY
Dismissing the notification, I commanded the undead to step through, then closed the gateway and pulled the thread back into myself, ending my skill.
The undead, Nox stood for a moment, confusion and conflict playing across his face, then he kneeled, facing the air between myself and the slime.
"My Lieges." He said in a raspy tone.
"I want you to provide me a full appraisal of Yolen, Nox." The king seemed to ignore the undead's slip in allegiance.
"Right away." He moved over to me, holding out a piece of paper, then stoped, his rotted face questioning towards me.
I nodded my approval and he sighed with relief, continuing with the process.
Once the appraisal was complete and the slime had looked over the pieces of paper that had my stats on, it's attention shifted back to me.
"You have a question in mind?" It asked.
I nodded, "Why can't I appraise you?"
Layman, being a slime, didn't show any outward emotion, but the momentary silence that followed showed it's surprise.
"One of my blood carvings gives me immunity to an appraisal that I haven't given permission for." It said after the pause.
Blood carvings? Must be a skill it had.
"Is that a skill?" I asked, hoping for more information.
The slime hummed in agreement. "One of my job's. But you will stop asking for details of my stats now."
It's touchy about its stats, I smiled, I would learn eventually, I was sure.
"Now, if you've got nothing more to request of me, then I'll be leaving." I said, turning around and starting towards the door.
"I do have a job for you. Someone of your, stature, would be perfect for what I have in mind." It buzzed.
Spinning on my heel, I walked back to where I was stood, hopefully this would give me a chance to level up a bit, but it may not.
"You are to tell the other four great nations, that our kingdom, Altheron is here, and we are not to be plundered like a dungeon." King Layman said the phrase 'great nations' with sarcasm, if sarcasm from a buzzing slime was possible.
"Just tell them?" I asked.
"Yes, you are to tell them in no uncertain terms what our lands are and that they cannot ignore our existence or diminish our status as a nation to anything less."
"Before I do this for you, you will give me access to your scholars, right?" I needed to know that first, if I was going to get one question per task then it wasn't worth it, but if it was a looser thing, then I would play along.
"Yes, you will have access to our scholars." It replied.
I nodded in approval and then got to asking the details of the nation's whereabouts and borders before I could inform the other rulers of them.
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