The pool grew silent under the fading sun, and the fishes stilled. In the quiet courtyard, a bored Ryan reviewed what had flooded his mind back in the King's Hall.
'Appear.'
A loud bam came from the table; he turned to a book.
It was quite small and had a shiny tetragon on its cover which reminded him of the eyes in that Orb. He shivered at that uncomfortable, haunting memory.
"Let's see what we have," he said, hands trembling as he opened to the first page.
At first, it was a table of contents listing of the various chapters of the book like Starting Information, Quests, Ranks, Commands, and many other items.
He continued flipping the book until the first brown page of actual words came into his view. It read:
"Before the time of the stars' descent, the age of chaos had inscribed itself into the World of Tum. Then came the prophets, seven of them who claimed to be under the voices of Seven unknown gods.
Each god depicted their make with a coloured tetragon. Red for the Flame, Blue for Water, Gray for Rock, Cyan for Air, Green for Nature, Yellow for Light, and finally Black with stripes of blue for Storm."
"Wait, is that all? What happened next? Prophets? Tetragon?" He frowned after realizing that the rest of the page was blank.
"How is this even possible?" He shook his head—still in denial.
Alas, he ended up browsing the book till the moon was out. As he skimmed through the last page, he let out a quick sigh of disappointment.
"What an incomplete guide." He mumbled as he flipped the page and willed the book to disappear.
While there was a ton of basic information he gained such as the three grades for cores, and six grades for nodes as well as information pertaining on how to use the system.
Nevertheless, one statement kept bugging his mind.
"The Age of Chaos,"
From what he had absorbed after reading through the first page, the world didn't seem to be in a good state until the Seven Prophets who were likely representing seven gods appeared. By putting two and two together, he could speculate that those gods were the embodiments of the elements that arose and begat the age of Affinity Users & Mark Bearers.
'Why does it sound surprising?'
After ruminating about it for a while, he decided to check some details about the Capital.
'City'
A floating tab appeared, revealing to him the details of Red Heart City.
[City Info
City Name - Red Heart (changeable)(1)
Defense - 100
Land Mass - 18km2
Average Loyalty - 60
Population Info
Maximum space - 150,000
No of People - 105,342
Army Info
Infantry - 1,850
Archers - 950
Horsemen - 400
Special Units - 300
Available Troops - 3,500
Recruits - 500]
Ryan felt a growing ache in his head after perusing the report.
If he used the knowledge he gained from conversing with Grootwig, the Trapse forest brought new people to the capital on a daily basis, but it also allowed the existence of beasts. The farther you went, the stronger the creatures you would face.
Should a day come when the City would have to fight off a large beast raid to exist.
Shivers ran down his spine at that thought.
"Why even build a City near a forest with that possibility?"
In case his retainers failed, he needed to be strong, strong enough to defend himself.
Luckily, the book showed him that in order to enhance the goal of doing that, he needed to unlock access to something called the Nation's Store. It also detailed how to use it.
"Now i've moved from bill worrying to life worrying, what an upgrade." He lampooned.
The tab flickered as it updated its contents.
[Army Info
No of Forts - 2
Ranks
No of Marshals - 3
No of Colonel - 1
No of Lieutenant Colonels - 2
No of Majors - 12
No of Captains …
No of Captain Lieutenants …
Main Army Composition
…]
As he read the notes on the tab, he frowned. There was no record concerning the number of Affinity Users in the Kingdom.
Apart from that, the information he'd gained let him know of the existence of special forces.
Aside from that, the army composition and ranks made navigating through that info messy, but in the end, he managed to get through with the aid of maths.
For him, each Marshal had at least an army of two thousand men. The bearing seemed quite low, but it was the only reasonable one he could agree with.
Pairing the book's knowledge with what he knew, Marshals stayed within strategically placed forts, which they could rule with as they pleased. The Capital always had at least one Marshal around itself in the case of 'special circumstances'.
Putting two and two together made him figure that only the capital had above three thousand warriors reserved for its defense.
From the side, a female retainer in white walked into the shed, drawing away his attention, "Sire," She inclined her head to greet, "The Counselor requests your presence in the dining hall."
Ryan took note of the faint scent of roses, and it brought a refreshing feeling into his lungs.
"Very well," He said, massaging his knees a little before standing.
The maid then led him out of the shed and out into the inner courtyard.
Suddenly, her movements came to a stop, and right there, Ryan received a quest.
[New Quest - Defend yourself.
Reward - +3 Points
Failure Result - Death]
His eyes widened immediately as he jumped back.
The maid's palm moved with a strong breeze, unleashing a fierce gust that catapulted him into the shed. Before he knew it, his back had crashed heavily upon a table, breaking it in half.
'Owww!'
Pain welled up in his bones, but he summoned the strength to grit his teeth and pushed himself to stand.
The enemy, on the other hand, had no intent of leaving him be. The assassin leapt at him from above and shoved both of her palms downwards.
He activated his skill, barely eluding the attack with a jump as wind gusts sent the nearest furniture flying off with a bang.
By the time he connected his feet to the ground, he heard the noise of something tumbling into the pool.
Even after that, his opponent was quick-witted enough to slash her palm at him. Luckily, he leaned back, narrowly dodging the invisible strike that ruffled his clothing.
Upon activating the spell, 'fire burst,' he slapped an elbow as fire blasted out of his form, burning the nearby structures of wood while blazing towards the assassin.
She reacted quickly, gathering the wind into her palms as they swirled, creating a gusty barrier that split the flames apart.
Knowing the area was too constricted, Ryan leapt towards the courtyard, intending to reach the clearing of stones.
Sensing his intentions, the maid created a hole with her fingers and shouted, blasting out a sonic attack.
Feeling outwitted, Ryan hastily activated flaming fingers and pointed two of them. Heat spread throughout his body as fire rolled before his fingers and bolted.
Both attacks collided with a loud bang, and the eruptive force sent him crashing his buttocks heavily against the cobblestone floor as a floating tab appeared to give the battle details; his MP was at 35.
Right now, he could only utilize the available 2 spells not on cooldown.
By the time he was done with reasoning and had risen, the silent assassin revealed a number of copper needles placed in between the webbing of her fingers.
He narrowed his gaze, and her battle profile appeared.
[Battle Info
Name - ???
Description - It seems your existence has gained notable attention. How impressive.
Elemental Affinity - True (Air)
Core Grade - First Realm
Skill - Permeator
State - Full Health]
'Notable attention?'
"Oh shit!" He exclaimed upon realizing that the needles were reeling towards him.
Using mana imagery, he created a rolling fire shield which he quickly circled around his front, burning the needles as they approached.
Then, with a loud huff, he visualized the flame forming into a ball of fire and propelled it with a punch.
The assassin appeared and evaded the attack with a side step, then she lunged forward.
Before he could even react, she was right in front of him, her needles aiming for his chest.
He rapidly responded, activating mighty leap as he jumped, seeing the needles flash with colour as they sliced the air.
Beads of sweat began to drop from his head. He wondered why an opponent of such a level had come for his life so soon. Then he remembered something.
'The Card'
'You fool!' He snickered internally, stretching out a palm as he muttered, "Summon…"
The assassin swiped her palm, projecting her remaining needles towards the ruler, who, while swirling in despair, finished his statement.
"Ian Owan."
A bright light tore into his vision and burst in front of him, dislodging the needle's trajectory.
As it dimmed, a figure with black hair, draping across his head and holding a white paint brush appeared.
"Foolish assassin. Trying to kill a King?" Ian said, clicking his tongue as he whirled the brush between his fingers.
His grey robes gently rippled under the wind with the moon highlighted a pair of dark yellow eyes positioned above a curly, twisted smile.
For the first time, Ryan saw the assassin's face flash a look of horror as Ian swung his brush upwards, "Now then," Ian said with a start, "Pay the imperial crime with Spikes!"
The brush showered a radiant white light, and a circular disc burst underneath the maid's feet.
Her eyes widened in horror as multiple white spikes projected out of the disc, sharp edged glinting as the neared her feet.
She reacted at that moment, pushing her hands downwards to successfully bound away from the attack.
"Tck." Ian clicked his tongue before sprinting forward.
The Maid's face quickly distorted. Now losing her composure, she slashed both her palms at the new opponent. Two invisible wind blades were released, whirling around each other as they closed in on him.
The Light User laughed in amusement, swiping his brush while uttering another word.
"Create,"
The hair of his brush ejected a warm yellow light which extended as he swirled it across the air, creating a solid, yellow whip.
With one swipe, the new weapon clashed against the blades, rupturing their form with ease.
Ian stared at the foe; her eyes beamed towards him with contempt.
"Y-you." Her distorted words were followed by a scream, "You just die!"
Her hands then moved, rapidly casting more wind blades, which were all being slapped away by the Light user's whip.
From the side, Ryan quietly positioned his hands in front of his face, imagining a flaming ball of fire.
"Master Alric is getting impatient." Ian said after deflecting another of the assassin's attacks, "Pardon me, ma'am, but I can not dilly-dally any longer."
With that, the affinity user moved with a spell.
"Streak!" He said, transforming into a streak of white light that darted forward in quick geometric dashes, evading the wind attacks as he appeared with a flutter of particles behind the assassin.
Seizing the chance, Ryan willed the image with his mana, and the fireball formed, speeding towards the attacker right as Ian swept his whip from behind.
Both attacks collided against a panicked enemy, ending the battle with an earth-shattering boom.