Rider
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Gazing at the future.
🕑 Added 2022-10-15 11:00:06 +0000 UTC“Which kingdom are you referring to?” asked the old man, his anger subsiding slightly.
“All the kingdoms surrounding the Oath Kingdom. I want you to take your race and finally walk the lands again. Spread them through all the kingdoms and create as much trouble as you can.”, said Seth nonchalantly, eliciting a new wave of whispers from the blood pool around.
The old man fell into deep thought before eventually asking: “And if we do as you ask, will you stop bothering us?”
“Of course.”, replied Seth with a deadpan expression.
The old man fell in deep thought again before nodding reluctantly: “Fine, we agree to your request.”
Seth knew that as long as the blood race got to keep their blood sun and feed to their heart’s desire, they didn’t care too much about anything else.
“Good. I want you out of the Blood Kingdom as soon as possible. Since this is to become my land, I don’t want any of your cursed race remaining here to feed on my people.”
The old man looked displeased by Seth’s tone and words but didn’t dare to act up again, deciding to bide his time before taking care of the insolent brat in front of him. Seth also didn’t care much about the man’s plans, knowing there was nothing the blood race could do to him.
They were a race that seemed unstoppable to anyone who didn’t know their secrets, but once those secrets were exposed, they were just like a paper tiger.
Sending a few spikes of destruction energy to kill the unfortunate souls that were being drained of their blood, Seth turned around and started walking out of the cave. As he reached the door, his footsteps stopped, and he said: “Oath Kingdom is under my protection, as is the Life one, so if I find out you targeted any of those, I will personally hunt down each and every one of your people.”
He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing to walk out of the cave. Once he was out and sure that no one was spying on him, he teleported back to the ship’s deck, where Maya and Hollie were waiting for him.
Seeing the frowns on both their faces, Seth smiled and asked: “Did someone die?”
“What was that?” asked Hollie, her frown not easing up. Seth sighed and cursed the system in his mind for not letting him know Hollie was spying on him.
“The blood race. An old race, much older than even the humans that now travel the land. They are a failed creation of the universe, a race that evolved by feeding on the blood of every living creature.”
“At first, it was just a natural predator of the animals and beasts roaming the world, but with the apparition of the human races and intelligent civilization, they were slowly forgotten by the world, and they hid underground, continuing their predation on humans from the shadows.”
“They lived hidden for eons, praying on the weak and growing their numbers, until they formed an entire blood lake underneath the Blood Kingdom.” Turning towards Maya, he said: “What you felt using your water source in the depth of that cave is just a small drop in the ocean and represents the oldest beings of the blood race. Their people are spread throughout the continent.”
“Why aren’t you killing them all yourself?” asked Maya, the thought of an entire continent being controlled by a blood race that lived underground quite creepy.
“That would be a pain, and many would escape. This way, I can also put their high numbers to use, creating trouble for the other kingdoms. The blood race’s ancestor is quite shrewd and knew that he couldn’t antagonize me since I knew their weakness, but as he gets used to feeding on the other kingdoms, he will slowly recover his confidence.”
“As the other kingdoms tremble in terror, unaware of a way to stop the plague that had befallen them, they wouldn’t have time to deal with Oath anymore or us. Then, when they are at their worst, I can appear as a hero, offering them a solution and watching them use all their resources to get rid of the blood race for me.”
Maya still looked worried, but Hollie’s eyes shined brightly as she understood Seth’s plan. To have his enemies claw at each other’s ankles while he takes over the home of the blood race undisturbed.
‘What is that fossil doing?’
< He’s summoning the entire blood race. From my calculations, it will take at least a whole month for the blood race to vacate their kingdom.>
‘That’s fine as well.’
“But are they really that powerful if they folded so quickly? I understand their large numbers, but if they are all weak…” added Maya, a curious look on her face.
“They are indeed weak if you happen to find their real bodies. The way they fight is by using blood to appear powerful. They control blood to form fake bodies they call wraiths and use them to fight. Killing a wraith would only eliminate the blood they used to create that wraith. With enough blood nearby, they could easily appear immortal. Imagine the sudden appearance of hundreds of people that won’t go away no matter how many times you kill them.”
Maya finally seemed to understand the blood race’s terror, and Seth turned towards Hollie. With the blood race out of the way, Seth had Hollie resume their journey. They only needed two more days to reach the capital of the blood kingdom.
Seth stopped cultivating for the rest of the journey and started putting things in order for the takeover. By the time the capital of the Blood Kingdom appeared in sight, Seth had everything ready.
Once the ship stopped in mid-air, almost everyone gathered on its deck, curious about what their new home looked like. The ones who had fought in the war south before were much more dispirited, but they still came.
It was already the second month of spring, and the weather was warm, especially with the sun high up in the center of the sky.
The first thing that caught everyone’s attention was the closely built-together huts and the tattered rooftops above them. They were all of a different color and were made out of dried branches tossed atop one another.
As far as their eyes could see, not a single house had any decent-looking roof. Between the huts that served as houses for the city residents, there was barely any space left, and they all seemed built out of wood or mud.
A slightly larger opening, or path everyone took as the main road, was barely discernible because of the stones and holes it was riddled with. People could be seen everywhere, but from high up in the air, making up their condition was rather tricky.
Feeling the heavy atmosphere falling on everyone there, Seth’s face turned serious, and he cleared his throat before saying: “You are all right. It is indeed a dump. The people living here clumsily made their own houses, and the kings that ruled the place never cared about everything.
“The land is pretty much infertile, and most of the animals in a tens of miles radius around the capital have been long hunted down by the citizens looking to satiate their hunger. The few remaining animals are not enough to feed an entire city.”
“The situation is also a lot more difficult than you expect. Because of these conditions, most commoners have no choice but to survive by eating rats, grass, and feces, chewing on tree bark, or, in some desperate cases, even turning to cannibalism.”
“It’s not a pretty city like the capital of Oath. It’s a cruel and harsh place where the law of the jungle rules, and the weak become food for the strong. Sometimes even literally.”
Noticing that the atmosphere felt even more stifling, Seth smiled and continued: “And that’s what we came here to change. We’re going to cleanse these lands of the criminals, bring life back to the earth, and create a city that is even more majestic than Oath.”
“It will not be easy or quick, but it’s by no means an impossible dream.”
“Aleena, Amen, step forward.”
Aleena was surprised to hear her name, and she moved her gaze away from the city below, walking next to Seth.
Amen also came. He had broken through over the time they flew to the Blood Kingdom and was also quite obedient after noticing all the problems in his theory before reading Seth’s books.
“What are the abilities of a fourth shell ascended?” asked Seth.
Aleena and Amen looked at each other before Aleena spoke: “Geokinesis - the ability to manipulate both earth (rock) and nature (plantlife). The range of influence is not large before reaching the fifth shell, but this means we can turn the barren lands fertile again and make plants thrive, producing at least twice the usual crops.”
The others in the gathering seemed amazed, not expecting fourth shell earth ascended to have such an ability, and understood a little about where Seth’s confidence was coming from.
“You two remain here. Pearl, step forth.”
Pearl understood what Seth wanted to do and eagerly stepped before him, falling on one knee to make her allegiance clear to everyone. “My Lord.”
Seth sighed and shook his head before asking: “Tell me what abilities the first three shells of the creation source unlock.”
“The first two shells allow the creation of simple and mixed materials or objects, mostly of plant or rock nature, while the third shell allows the production of hard metals.”
Once her explanation was over, Seth created some simple gold coins and allowed them to fall on the ship’s deck under the stunned eyes of everyone there. While they were still flabbergasted by everything, Seth took the time to drop another bomb on them: “Even this ship, complete with the rooms and the furniture everyone used, was also made with creation energy by Pearl here.”
Seeing the mixed feelings, heading towards excitement, in everyone’s auras, Seth decided to strike while the iron was still hot and said: “With my and Pearl’s help, we’ll be able to create homes for everyone to live in. We’ll break down those huts and create actual homes for the people.”
“We also have ascended Maya.” Seth smiled toward Maya, and she stepped forward as well, passing by the still kneeling Pearl and coming to grab Seth’s arm before turning towards the crowd.
“She is already a sixth shell water ascended, as you are all aware. Hollie?”
Hollie also came forth and took the cue to sit by Seth’s side.
“Hollie is a fifth shell air ascended, and, as you are all aware, she was the one who kept the entire ship afloat for the entire two months we spent traveling here.”
“Not even mentioning the strength they bring to the table, with their air and water abilities, they can protect the entire capital from almost anything nature would throw at us.”
“Together with Tiana.” Seth took a small break, and Tiana also came shyly forward, taking her place next to Maya as she lowered her head:
“A third shell fire ascended would be able to warm up the atmosphere inside the city.”
“With all three of them, we don’t have to worry about cold, rains, storms, and snow, giving us the needed time to fix the housing problem of everyone. They would also remove the need to worry about anyone being able to fight against us.”
“Caitlin.” Hearing her name called as well, Caitlin blushed and came forward, but she didn’t know where she should stand and went to kneel beside Pearl. She was the only one she knew that shared a similar status to hers, a student of Seth, so that was the best she could come up with.
Seth smiled but didn’t say anything to her as he addressed the already numb crowd: “She’s a second shell life and death ascended. She could literally steal people away from death’s grip. As I know some of you are aware, she can heal most injuries and diseases, removing another worry from us.”
Seth looked towards the rest of his students and continued: “We have a lot of ascended, each and every one of them capable of things you couldn’t imagine. My former students have double, triple, and even quadruple affinities.”
Looking towards Henrietta, Seth smiled kindly and said: “Like the former second princess of the Oath Kingdom, whom I know most of you are already familiar with. She is Henrietta Annabelle Oath and has four sources. She is still young and just at the first shell, but her potential is at least twice that of the Protector of the Oath Kingdom, who gave it its fame and glory, Iris Golden.”
As everyone was eying Henrietta as she shyly made her way to sit next to Hollie, Seth’s smile grew deeper as he looked into every individual’s eyes and said profoundly.
“And then you have me. You have already noticed many of my affinities, but what you have seen is the tip of the iceberg.”
Seth allowed six types of energy to float around him and become visible to everyone as he said: “I can say with confidence that I am the only sextuple affinity ascended in the world. While I’m only at the third shell, it’s only a manner of time until I reach Maya and Iris’s level and gain the ability to rule over the entire world.”
The crowd fixed their eyes on the revolving energies, shining as they finally understood how far Seth’s ambition had reached.
“But I don’t plan on traveling there or ruling alone.” Added Seth, releasing most of the theory on ascending from his storage space and letting it fall onto the floor beneath. “You must wonder how I managed to gather so many people by my side, and this is one of the reasons. My knowledge in most energy types.”
“I’ll use that knowledge to build a new academy, a perfect academy, in which we’ll grow the strongest force this world has ever seen.
Seeing that everyone was finally entirely convinced, Seth gathered all the books from the floor and turned to look back at the run-down city.
“This is where our journey of taking over the world begins, so let’s all work together and bring that dream to reality.”
Comments
Rider
Weirdly enough, so am I xD
Scipio
Excited for the new arc
