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Chapter Text

I finally reached the Throne Room after walking through the rest of the Tomb and inspecting the residence of each Guardian. I walked past the Gate of Judgment and slumped into the destroyed Throne of Kings, finding myself without hope or will to continue. Even after searching every Floor of the Tomb, I found no more NPCs to help me rebuild.

My hair had become disheveled by repeatedly punching the nearest object and jostling my head. I didn’t care about my image anymore; after all, who would see me? An Old Guard? He couldn’t criticize me even if he wanted to.

The man we found on the Fourth Floor? He didn’t speak much after seeing me obliterate an extensive collection of trees on the Sixth Floor. And I doubted the Gravekeeper on the First Floor cared about my hair.

“Ma-” My voice came out pathetically quiet, causing me to pause before continuing, “Master Source… open.”

The screen appeared before me, showcasing the sections I had passed through. The Floors were still grayed out, causing me to mentally berate myself for thinking anything would be different. I tapped on The Workshop and was surprised to see a small three-by-three grid on top of a blank stone floor with a small spool in the corner.

Clicking on the spool, nothing happened. I wasn’t sure why I expected it to. However, I hesitated to enter The Workshop as I didn’t see a door out.

Finally figuring that I couldn’t be worse off for it, I clicked the teleport button and vanished from the Throne as the Old Guard dragged the still body of our prisoner into the Throne Room.

Appearing again, it surprised me that the Master Source didn’t close. It meant that this place was close to the Throne Room or the Systems Room adjacent to it in a closed area.

The Workshop’s teleport button has changed to ‘Return,’ which relieved me.

I found The Workshop to be about nine or ten cubed feet of smooth stone with light coming from seemingly everywhere at once. The spool in the corner was made of a material I didn’t know, which was silky-white in color and soft to the touch.

Picking up the spool, the Master Source populated a new screen that showed Arachne Silk at the top and a description of the item. The item was supposedly an endless source of extremely tough material to normal Humans that was easy to clean and slightly resistant to Magic.

Giving a short hum, I pulled a strand of the silk from its spool and watched as the strand grew, but the spool didn’t turn. I had to admit I was impressed by whatever Enchantment was placed on the spool and became slightly disappointed after the silk snapped with some effort.

How the Guardians acquired such an object was beyond me, and the fact that it could withstand any of my strength was spectacular. I reminded myself to reward them before my mood dropped again at the remembrance that they were gone.

I clicked my tongue and set the spool back onto the stone, figuring it was in this room for a reason. Returning to the Throne Room, I found the Old Guard looking around, presumably for me.

I sat back into the Throne of Kings with a slight smile, looking on as the Old Guard finally found me and dragged the man up the steps to kneel at my feet. I stifled a chuckle as the man’s head collided with the corner of each step.

“This,” I gestured at the tarnished Throne Room, standing up to practice public speaking, “Is where we will start our journey. This is where we will build our kingdom. Our empire. If the people of this world want to invade our home and take our shit and our lives, we’ll take theirs.”

The Old Guard groaned in response, which I took as a sign of agreement. My eyes narrowed at the man whose name I still didn’t care to know, “Get up, scum.”

Despite the blood trickling from his skull, the Human got to his feet slowly and looked at me, “What are you going to do with me?”

He had lost the fear in his tone along with the hope of escape. It was replaced with an emotionless voice that sounded like he finally knew where he belonged; at my feet.

“I’m going to make you into something better than you are,” Now that I stood on the same ground as him and gave him the courtesy of remembering what he looked like, I found him about a head shorter than me with short blonde hair and tired brown eyes. His chin held the stubble of a man who hadn’t shaved in a while and couldn’t correctly grow facial hair.

He wore leather gloves with iron greaves and iron-toes boots. The chest plate I had taken from him earlier covered his cotton shirt, stained with his blood and the blood of whomever he had injured before I found him.

“First,” My wings spread out in a showy manner as I plucked a fragment of my halo and stuck it close to his face. He closed his eyes and tried to back away, only to be stopped by the Old Guard, “Tell me where we are. What country is this? What’s the nearest city? What’s the power scale like here?”

“Can-can you take that away!?” He pleaded as I pressed the fragment into his forehead and found his skin sizzling slightly. It didn’t surprise me that the man invading my home had negative Karma, which I could use to my advantage.

“Tell me what I want to know, worm.” My voice turned to a tone I didn’t recognize, something sinister and dark rearing its head.

“We’re in the Re-Estize Kingdom!” I pulled the fragment away, his skin burned into the shape of an irregular octagon with slightly rounded edges on one side. He took a few breaths before continuing, “E-Rantel’s the closest city, but… there’s a tiny village nearby that I don’t know the name of. We stopped there to get some information on this place. I… I don’t know what a ‘power scale’ is; please just kill me.”

“No,” The fragment floated back to my halo as I released it and grabbed the bottom half of the man’s face, “Death is too good for Humans like you.”

It had occurred to me that I kept referring to him as Human, which showed how far I was separated from my old life by this new body. Somehow, I just didn’t care. I was stronger, faster, and more resilient as a Nephalem. I was better.

“This kingdom of ‘Re-Estize,’” Pulling his broken knife from my inventory, I dragged the sharp corner across his cheek and continued talking in a clear tone, “What has the strongest person accomplished? Have they killed a Dragon? Two? If your strength is common, does that mean everyone is as weak as you?”

He seethed in pain but answered nonetheless, “I-I’m a Silver-Ranked Adventurer… Gazef never… fought a Dragon…”

Silver was a petty material in Yggdrasil; if the same carried over to this world, I wouldn’t need to worry about most people, even without my Classes and Skills. He also gave me a significant name, Gazef, the supposed strongest of this country by their standards. Flipping his poorly-weighted knife in my hand and stopping to point it at him, “Who’s the strongest in the world?”

“I’m… not sure?” As the blood from his cut cheek began to dry, he questioned himself, “I didn’t learn about worldly matters; I’m just a commoner.”

“Ah, so you have a medieval social structure,” Tapping the tip of the fractured blade against his chin, I traced it along his jawline. He swallowed despite me not putting enough pressure to open his skin, knowing I could grind him to dust with my bare hands at any point, “Is it like Japan or Europe?”

“It’s… what?” He asked with a sigh of relief when I turned away from him, “Look, I’m willing to do anything to live. You want me to su-”

“No, thank you.” I glared at him, tossing the knife into my inventory, “I don’t think I need anything else from you.”

Seeing my hand approaching his face, the man yelled, “I can be your agent in the city!”

“What?” My hand was about an inch from grabbing his head, “Why would I need you?”

“I, uh… You’re an Angel! …yeah…” He coughed to recollect himself, “You can’t travel freely; I’ll do it instead. I’ll work for you and report to you about whatever you want. If someone turns their eye on this shi- humble home, I’ll tell you so you can… uh, whatever you want to do with them.”

“That might not be a bad idea…” Pulling my hand back, I cupped my mouth in thought. Mulling over the idea, I followed the lines of his face with my eyes to find traces of deceit. Fear was the most prominent emotion, followed by hope and pain.

Signaling to the Old Guard, he released the man and let him fall to his knees. He looked up at me as I sat back into the Throne, “Thank-”

“Don’t thank me, trash.” Reaching into my black hole – which his eyes traced the edges of – I tossed the broken halves of his knife in front of him, “If you betray your words here, you won’t die a quiet death.”

“I-I won’t.” He bowed his head, closing his eyes as tears fought to be free, “I’ll meet your expectations, I promise.”

“I expect you to be tried and executed for treason in four to six months,” He looked up at me in surprise, “So maybe don’t do that.”

“Right.” He gave a dry chuckle and collected his dagger, pulling a small slate of silver from the right pocket of his pants, “This is an Adventurer Plate; if you ever find a subordinate wearing one, find me, and I’ll help them advance as best as I can.”

Staring at the material requirements for the Outer Ring of the Ground Floor, I was elated to see that the materials had increased by a hundred and five pounds. That meant the broken pieces of the Tomb didn’t count unless I grabbed them, but it also took a massive weight off my shoulders.

Not responding, I moved from my seat and clasped a hand into his shoulder. I bet the fear I had just instilled that the Master Source’s Teleportation worked the same as most Teleport Spells in Yggdrasil.

The Old Guard grabbed my arm to tag along as we vanished again, the Throne Room turning silent again. The Adventurer kissed the dirt as soon as we found ourselves in the plains above Nazarick, laughing and thanking me for taking him out of the Tomb.

“Get going before I change my mind,” Sweeping my hand in a ‘go away’ gesture, he nodded and started walking.

Grabbing another chunk of broken stone, the Old Guard followed suit and began collecting rocks on the smaller side, which were more manageable for his brittle bones. The Adventurer stopped when he was almost out of the encirclement and walked back, “I’m Lon, by the way.”

“I don’t need to know your name,” Putting a piece much larger than the initial into my inventory, I grabbed the small rock from the Old Guard and put it in as well, “I would have asked if you were important.”

“Oh, right.” He scratched his cheek, reopening the wound he had forgotten existed, “Can… I ask your name?”

“If you were important, I would have told you.” Opting to ignore the man with apparent brain damage, I returned to picking up rocks. I figured he must have lost much of his intelligence when he hit his head on the stairs in the Throne Room.

“O-okay.” His shoulders drooped, but he walked away at a pace that was fast enough for me to no longer have to deal with him after about thirty seconds.

“Humans, am I right?” The Old Guard gave me a strange look as if to wonder if I was expecting a response.

Sighing to myself, I looked around and began wondering if taking all of the buildings into my inventory would work or if it would cause issues in the future. Deciding not to risk it, I continued to grab large pieces of rubble until a noise came from the Tomb.

Looking over at the entrance, I found a certain Gravekeeper pushing a rock that put us all to shame. It seemed to be struggling to get it up to the last step, and I couldn’t have that. Tossing the rock I held in my hands into my inventory, I found myself almost blinking over to help lift the boulder.

It felt like I was carrying a large bag of dog food, so I could only imagine how heavy it was for my adorable bone puppy. The being groaned in surprise as the object it was pushing suddenly got moved, looking at me for answers as to why I intervened, “You looked like you could use the help.”

Giving a kind smile, I forced the boulder into my black hole, the edges straining to open wide enough for the rock. It snapped close, taking the boulder and storing it for safekeeping.

I stared down at the Gravekeeper, who stood still on the steps of Nazarick. After a few seconds, it shied away from my gaze and seemed to fidget before I set a hand on its head.

It was strange, really. I found myself so cold toward Lon, and yet I can’t help but think that this Gravekeeper and the Old Guard are like my cute children. Maybe it had something to do with them being a part of the Tomb and all that was left of my friends, but I couldn’t say for sure.

A faint rumbling interrupted our moment, my eyes flicking over to the northeast, where dust was being kicked up. Stepping toward the interruption, I commanded the two Undead, “Go inside. Stay near the entrance to the Second Floor and wait for me to come to get you.”

They exchanged glances and followed my orders, their figures vanishing into the darkness of the Tomb as two men on horses neared the outer circle.

Sitting on the platform's edge in the center of the encirclement, I watched as they slowly crept closer with weapons on their person. If they were here to invade my home again, they had another thing coming now that I was here to protect it.

Sitting forward slightly, I rested my elbows on my knees and laced my fingers together, “Why have you come here?”

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