《A path to nowhere》


 Chapter 1 - The begining

<div>

 Chapter 2: Awakening

    As the sun was slowly raising over the horizon Rex stirred, his internal clock urging to wake and ready himself for another ordinary day at work. ''Damn, its monday'' rex thought, not trully geting up but setting his mind in order for the day. ''That was one vivid dream though'' he mused and feeling the rather moist air around him he murmured "Did i forget to close window and it rained at night?" when his thoughts were interrupted by a rather rough voice "Sheesh u do sleep like a log boy. I wonder if u could notice an attack of any sort in that state?" Rex blanked out for a moment feeling the odd familiarity of the voice, not being quite able put put a face to it, but that was the lesser of problems as the main question that rose in is head right now was how in god gods name could he have sneaked in his home and for what reason would he linger there.Quickly opening his eyes he got stunned once again as what he beheld denied reason. He was in a the same boat that he fell asleep in the lucid dream he was having last night, and was addressed by the boss.


    By all logic and reason, he should have woken up, or if that is not the case he might be in a coma, and his consciousness locked in a construct of his own imagination. But even that makes no sense as who has ever heard of a person raising from coma and telling about their amazing or weird adventure in that state. He was sure as hell its neither drugs or alcohol, as he was not one to indulge in such recreational activities. It could wery well be just the continuation of the dream, but not that he was thinking, the raid and everything about that experience felt way too vivid and real. The murky memories of his earlyer time in this place also started to become clearer. Vague recollections of screams about and abomination, a demon taking over the newborn, low curses of the man carrying him somewhere, he doesnt understand the language of course, but the venom in the voices apparent, and then there is disgust and hatred, then the thud of a basket like object, more curses that became quieter and quieter and the source of the voice dissapeared in the distance. And then hunger, ever growing and ever gnawing hunger that rose and rose untill; something snapped deep inside him. And the feeling of energy, unexplainable and intangible enveloping him, and then sleep. Then nothing, silent peacfull nothing for a long time, yet growth could be felt, however small and intangible yet there untill the next vivid memory resurfaces- eyes opening, then confusion, some slight movements, then some more. Then some understanding dawns that he is enveloped in some sort of a cocoon. its hard yet solf at the same time, and exiting it is rather simple. What follows next can be described as nothing more than just primal instincts in search of food, hunger returns, but now physical, not like first time where it was more than that. As luck would have it some beries soon were found. and looking at them and energy hue around them giving off the feeling of food. He has never seen beries like that before- the sze of a tumb, round  and pale yellow with purplish blemishes. One would think its poisonous given how colorfull it looks, but the feeling he can feel from observing the bery and the odd energy fluctuations around it makes it feel safe. There is no hesitation any longer he eats one, then the next and the next. In a few minutes the hunger subsides a little.


    Next vivid memory resurfaces, where hes stalking a small mouse like creature, then the hunt, the  failure. Another attempt later after sating himself with some berries. There is understanding that beries dont be available all the time, and protein mus tbe secured. And while body feels somewhat akward, hes getting used to it, thats how the memory feels.A simple trap with some sturdy vines used as a rope trap. After several tries its sucsessfull, a few hits ensures the mouselike creature stops moving. Then on instinct his arm extends towards the dead creature and as if with a mental tug the energy thats wery slowly diminishing from the carcass is being sucked through his hand into him. Its filling, ever more so than the berries, it provides sustenance, but more so, it gives something, so very small almost intangible, yet its there, he grows stronger. He understands he is a predator. One that grows sronger with each kill, and so he will hunt and grow not to be weak and feeble.


    Memories of hunts ever more challenging and feasts of energy fills his mind, and then some snippets of eevr so random knowledge. Scents of beasts never seen but recognized, territories marked by other predators of beasts he has hunted before, nothing tangible, but feels true. He has found remains of people in the forset, no doubt hunted by other predators in the forest,where he has aquired some rather ragged clothes to wear. Some monsters do roam through here from time to time, and he hides from those. The energy they exude is far from what he believes he is capable of tackling right now. Over the years in his memories of hunts hes developed quite the instincts of a predator, he still is human deep down inside, still thinks as one, however moves on instincts more than anything. Then the first encounter with people. A couple of hunters as would the bows in their hands and small quivers straped to their backs would attest. He listens and he still does not understand a word they say. A pity he thinks and turns to leave. Then shouts, and as he turns back he realizes hes been seen. He thinks little of it as he has no reason to interact with the hunters, but then they suddenly draw their bows, and aim at the boy. he leaps behind window with a speed of a predator. A simple hatchet he picked from one the remains of humans hes found, tucked behind the worn out belt. he quickly draws it out and readies himself for combat.The man inside is exited, adrenalin pumping, instincts kicking in. A hunt wher he is both the prey and the predator. He had no desire to attack the hunters but he is no vegetarian either. He lunges from one tree cover to the next barely avoiding the arrows shot by the hunters, he senses hatred from the shouted curses, his senses sharpened by the hunted beasts, it feels as though the men, while fully grown and more developed, are slow, much slower than him. The dance to avoid arrows and reach closer to the hunters last for some teb minutes until he sees and opening and lunges for one of the men. The hatched in his hand is swung and it gets loged deep in the hunters chest, a scream of pain from the wounded hunter, and then a sharp pain in the boys side. An arrow loged in there, not too deep but painfull none the less. Rage and fury takes over and he leaps for the second hunter who wounded him whos fumbling now in fear as he tries to prepare the next arrow to be shot.Boy tackles the hunter abnd starts pounding himwith all the savagery of a bear. each hit caving in the chest of the hunter. The last strike caves in the head of the battered man and he stops moving. The man with the axe in the chest has stoped moving a while ago. While still high on the adrenaline boy pulls arow out from his side with a wince and gets to absorbing the energy of the prey as he has always done. One thing the memories have shown him, absoring energy alwasy heals the wounds first, then comes the satiating of hunger and as the last is the strenghtening. After absorbing the energy of both hunters, he doesnt feel much gain in terms of strenght, but a profound feeling is there. A knowledge, and understanding- not one of personal experience but realization. He now feels as though he should be able to understand their language. But boy also knows that he is too weak right now. If just two rather weak hunters managed to wound him he needs to grow stronger, absorb energy of stronger beings. He no longer hunts rodents and any other small animals as he feels that they no longer improve him. And lately predators like wolves also start to show less and less gains. It seems that the larger predators like bears and tigers are the way to go, and maybee finaly some monsters as well.


    Memories of hunts of tigers and bears, and with each he grows stronger. Sometimes he encounters other hunters, but he is much more carefull now, and with his growing strenght it is much easier to remain undetected. Random conversations that he now understands, nothing worthy of note until in once such conversation he hears of a monster. Lesser blood kanine. It has been spotted at the edge of the forset close to the swamp. the meeting of two hunter groups ended as soon as it stared both rushing to their villages to warn of the roaming monster. Rex seeing the oportunity sneaked away and moved in the direction mentioned. While hunters seemed rushed they were not panicked, unnerved maybe but there was no primal fear in their actions. That gave Rex the assurance that this beast was an apropriate hunt, not too dangerous, but it should be quite the meal. Close to dusk Rex reached the edge of the forest, and started top search for trails of the monster. He was used to the local beasts and the trails they leave behind, so it took him little time to find what he was looking for. some thirty minutes later he found the monster. By size alone it was nothing impressive, slightly bigger than a fully grown saint bernard, while big for a canine, when compared to tigers or bears it felt like nothing. Its energy however was a decent bit higher than the aforementioned beasts. Rex was quite carefull aproachin the monster from downwind to make sure he was not noticed, the counles predator strenght he absorbed allowed him to move with deadly precision and silence. When he was close enough he pounced on the unaware canine and smashed it hard in the side breaking some ribs of the beast, making it howl in pain  scrambe away. Rex didnt let go and folowed the prey not leting it get too far away, and the broken ribs ensured that it wouldnt run away as monsters had tendency to fight to death. The wound on the hound made it more sluggisg and as such the leap that it made was rather easily dodged by Rex and he imediatly followed up by another crushing striketo the monsters side. more ribs broke and the creature howled in pain. Then its eyes glowed red and its blood started boiling, Rex sensing danger instantly created distance between him and the monster,heightening all his senses, it felty as the beast had gone berserk, gaining more strenght, but burning up its vitality. This state woudnt last long , but it didnt matter as the danger now was qiute high. Undersanding the danger rex backed away a bit more and as the monster turned to rex hea leaped up in the air and pulled himself upon a rather thick tree branch. The monster in its madness driven rage lunged at the tree as if trying to shred the tree to pieces to get its fangs and claws on the hiding rodent that enraged it. Its rampage lasted for some five minutes untill it started to slow down and grow weary. When it seemed that the beast would soon fall Rex jumped down the tree that was close to the one he initially jumped up to which he had relocated soon after the beast rampage had started to avoid accidental fall in one of the beasts headbuts, swung his worn out hatchet at the monsters base of the neck. Now that its rage had ended and quite a bit of its blood was burned it was much easier to discern the gaps in its bony neck armor to make a deadly and precise cut. That armor was the main reason the initial attack from stealth was a crushing blow to its ribs and not an attack on its neck or head. Bony protrusions liek a spiked collars covered its neck and a rather thick bone plate covered its head. The cut was precise and ended the monster then and there, its exaustion playing a major role.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    One the monster was killed Rex didnt spend much time in observing it and went straight to absorbing the energy. What had to be noted is that while its vitality was drained quite a bit due to its berserking and burning of blood, the energy that his eyes could see and percieve was barely diminished. Rex did make instinctual guess that was he was devouring was some other energy, mana ki aor whatever people would call it here.Since Rex didnt recieve and notable injuries the gain felt rather substantial, since the amount of energy was rather plentifull. Hunt smart not hard was what lingered in the head of the hunter. Heroic and brave actions are those of a fool. Smart, eficient and brutal, thats how you hunt. More hunts of monsters flashed in his memory reel, some just as good as this one, others ill advised scuffles, but never ones taken with overconfidence or underestimating the monsters, and always withnotable gain in the end.


    It all ended with the meeting of this group of bandits, sailing across the river Rex had situated himself near when hunting for his next monster to devour. What made this meeting different was that the scouts, noticing Rex, informed their leader and for the first time in this life he was not only not attacked on sight by the humans , but the leader called out to him. "Hey there brother!" the leader called out to Rex as his eye changed collor reavealing the demonic eye of his. "Dont see one of my kind in this country alive and kicing often. " he continued as their ship closed to the shore and he jumped of the ship, remaining men staying where they are and waiting for response of the man they noticed. Rex scanning the people on the ships and realizing that they are quite an insignificant threat to the current him who had feasted on a lot of monsters by now let his hiding place and jumped down the tree, some ten meters away from the leader. Being able to understand the man did help in making that decision and since they were not attacking why wouldnt he converse, or at least try to. Rex looked at the man waiting for him to continue. "Havent seen that pattern, what deas it do?" leader asked and Rex realized then that his energy absorbtion must be due to his eyes. "And do people just straight out answer such questions?" Rex asked in a rather hoarse voice. "Ha ha ha. Foolish question indeed" laughed the leader as he observed the young man in front of him. Wearing rags for clothes, a young man with shoulderlenght black hair, cut rather haphazzardly, it was quite obvious the boy must be just cutting the ends of hair when it gets inconveniently long. hatched huged behind his belt was worn out. Rex then added "But i can see aproximately, how strong you people are. More or less." his voice sounded qiute unrefined, implying that he wasnt used to speaking a lot."State your intentions" he added. "Aaa yes, my name in Aron and these people are my bad of unafiliated mercenaries. We come from Zharr on an expedition for recourses." He smiled in a way that looked more liek a crooked grin than amiacable smile, but it was as truthfull as it comes. Rex felt no deceprtion in the mans voice. Aron then continiued "This here is the Eclisiarchy of Light, filled with religious fanatics and zealots, and people like you and me are considered abominations for our eyes give us quite the power. Each pattern gives something different, but its always a boon to the person. Here they scorn such peapleif they see their eyes, often even attacking on sight, and if one is born in these lands they are taken deep into forests and left alone to die and be eaten by beasts, or as they sai "Returned to the gods". Barbarians the lot of them. And since you are like me, it is only right that we offer you a chance to leave this forsaken land and have a chance of living like a human." Rex raised an eyebrow and looked at Aron, waiting for the catch, and boss quickly realizing the man is quite sharp despite his hermit like appearances quicky added "Of course, in exchange for our service in helping you leave thios place we could liek for your help in aquiring the wares we came here for. ". Rex looked at the man for a short while, glanced at the men on the ships, and truth be told those longboats did remind him of viking longships a tad bit, and so he asked with no particalar emotion in his tone "Raiding some villages for some slaves i''d wager?"  Aron, still maintaining his grin asked in return "Woud that be a problem, seeing you are, for all intents and purposes, a demon of hells." This is where Rex remembers his "dream" started, and he answers "No problem whatsoever, might as well return a bit of Love i''ve recieved over the years from their'' hunters i suppose." A rather sinister grin appearing on the young mans face. Aron smiling becons the man on their ship while talking of this and that, providing Rex with minor bits of information here and there while gauging his strenght and value in a  fight. in the folowing few daysthey get to see how Rex disposes of a monster or two, making Aron all the more sure of his decision to interact with the boy when his scouts informed  him of a spoted forsaken in a trees canopy. Unlike the Eclisiarhy, people of other lands considered forsakens as boon to any and all fighting forces due to their inherent advantages.


    Then the memories of the raid itself flased pass in his mind, how easily he disposed of the men charging at him and Aron, then how he had his way with the curvaceous milf, her sobbing and begging, her prayers to their god of light for salvation, how it left so real even though it was a dream, the deflated fear striken eyes of the villagers as they were rounded up and loaded in the boats. The sobs of the women on the main boat as they were made to work overtime to relieve Aron and Rex a few more times. The memory of just how damn realistic the dream felt as Rex relaxed at the side of the boat slipping in to sleep while the ship was leaving, to return to Zhar to offload their merchandise.


    It took several minutes for memories to flash by as Rex was quiet and staring into nothingness while processing his situation. Aron looked at Rex, who had blanked out on him for a few minutes, then he remembered just how much of a monster the monster was hiding, laughed and sad to Rex "Did the merchandise drain you too much last night? Its ok, you will get used to it. It will take a few hours for us to reach the port town of Blythe. one of the frontiers for Zharrs slave trade routes. I know you said u would like to strike out on your own once we are in Zharr, but know that you are welcome to stay with us. We can always use another powerhouse to get the jobs done faster. " That brought Rex out of his thoughts, sparking a realization "I''m awake, ain''t I?"

 Chapter 3: Blythe , the demon and man

    Since time was of the essence as they only had only a few hours remaining untill they reach Blythe, Rex used all his willpower to shove the metaphorical realization of an elefant in to the closet and used this time rather efficiently to attain as much knowledge about the basics of existance in the States of Zharr. From what he understood, Zharr was a collection of city states united in their desire for unlimited trade. Their motto was "Everything is a comodity", and as such their cities were always active and full of opportunities to earn money. One only had to be at the wery least decent at their chosen proffesion to make something of themselves. An as common sense would dictate when dealing with shrewd merchants- wealth and power were the main leading factors that denominated ones status there. Rex also learned about guilds, as one would expect from fantastical setting, Multinational corporations what operated by their own rules and were powerfull and influential enough to bend most of the rules of the countries they operated withing to their advantage, after all, no nobility could afford to piss off most of the adventurers, merchant or alchemist guilds.


    Adventurers guild was as cliche as it can get. Ones you sign up you can take the jobs posted on their boards that ranged from monster extermination, to herb gathering to gods above know what else. However since Aron and his band were mercenaries he couldnt explain the intricacies of the guilds inner workings, ranking up and other things, he had as barebones knowledge as one could posibly have. Same stereotypical troupe could be glimpsed from the other guilds. Are you good at mixing things- acchemy is the way to go, have a knack at peddling and bullshiting your way into lucrative deals for you- go for merchants. As for mercenaries, nothing much changes. Someone get to know about you and the work you do or have done, then they decide they like your way of doing things, they contact you and try to get you to do whatever they want to achieve for a certain sum that you both can agree on. Mercenary contracts paid the best as Aron put it, because they would be equivalent to personal quests in the edventurers guild. One has to have reputation and quite the record of completed missions for the big spenders to learn of a certain adventurer.Rex wasnt too concerned about being ripped of regarding monetary things as he has noticed slight fluctuations in peoples energy then they are telling bold lies, of course he coudnt sense shit if the lies were subtle, or half truths, but it was good enough. Rex decided to check out adventurers guild first, and read through the contracts they sign as he was not inclined to bend over and wait for suprises from one of the most influential megacorporations of this world.


    People here used the most predictable currency one could ever expect. Copper coins to silver coins to gold coins. Some super rich people when dealing in the most exotic of wares would use platinum coins, or in case of unicorn trades or something just as absurd there were orichalcum coins. the standart conversion went 10 coppers for 1 silver, then 100 silver for 1 gold 100 gold for 1 platinum, 100 platinum for orichalcum. Apparently spacial artifacts were a thing, but besides lesser bags of holding that were quite common and used to cary money, proper spatial storages were quite rare and as such quite valuable. Stay for a night with supper and breakfast in an average inn cost a couple of silvers and Aron paid Rex 2 gold coins for his asistance in the raid and killing of a few monsters along the way to said raided village.


    Once they arrived in Blythe, Rex saw your stereotipical port town. Built in several levels, with port being the lowest level, then what looked like some sort of indrustial section with warehouses, shady looking pubs and brothels for sailors to get drunk and unwind.The next level was moslty common folk living quarters, with some lesser workshops and small shops here and there. Then came the market. Quite expansive as it was a port city and goods for 3 different states and overseas went through it. Most of the guilds had their local branch buildings on this level and all the best shops for adventuring, which included armor, weapons, alchemy and magical trinkets were quite close to the adventurers giuld. This guild was situated rather close to the common district and its close proximity were a lot of inns too. The last too levels as one would expect were quite rich and extravagantly decorated, packed with parks and small flower gardens. Those were respectivly the noble quaretrs and rulers mansions. In the nobles quarter were sitated the filthy rich merchants, the villas of different aristocrats from other states, as Zharr dended to be quite neutral in their political stance, as such their cities were quite the good place to have retreats for relaxation on hiding in case shit hit the fan in their home nations.


    Population was also quite diverse, ranging from humans to catfolk to dwarves to all kind of other weird species. While the great majority of the people were humans, and as Aron stated this whole continent was mostly populated by them, purely due to the fact that they bred like rabbits and were quite the agressive in their expansions, there didnt seem to be aaa that much tension on the faces of nonhumans. It seemed as if their problems were quite the same as any other everyday person looking to earn a living.


    Before Aron and Rex had left the ship Aron did offer Rex a certain magical ring for fifty silver, as it was the going price of such an item in the magical shops that could help him hide his extraordinary eyes for a day. He did mention that one could eventually learn to do that on their own, so the choice was Rex''s, and he willingly agreed to such and exchange, leaving him with a fifty silver coins lighter. Then Aron took care of the miniscule paperwork to register his presence in the city as a contracted mercenary and then he showed Rex a few of the more reputable inns around and bid himm farewell, reminding Rex that he can always come and join his merc band.


    After securing himself a room at one of the inns Rex decided to visit adventurers guild and see if it was quite the same as he was envisioning it having read countless fantasy stories in his, he supposed, now previous life.That was a whole another can of worms for him to come to proper terms with, and as he reckoned, not something one can do starving or lost and without any immediate preprepeared distraction in case his coming to terms with it takes him down some unforseen rabithole.


    The guildhouse was rather well built brick building with quite large double door that had seen better days and one could asume has met its own share of misadventures involving one too many drunk or pissed of adventurer either coming or leaving. the roof was covered in some sort of browninsh tiles, and, oddly enough, only one chimney, which felt rather odd considering the size of the building. Upon entering the building in view came a hall with a few tables with chairs around, situated to the sides of the room, no doubt for either waiting for remaing party members or discussing job strategies, necesities and what not. At the end of the hall there were a large counter flanked by stairs leading to both upper floors and basement, and there were several people working at the counter. Quest related, loot exchange, status etc. and info, written on sighnboards above the various guild clerks. Rex noticed that all the clerks were good looking women, probably to smooth out interactions with the more rowdy and rugged of the men, as he asumed that discontent about one thing or another was rather regular thing from tired and streesed men coming to finalize their quest details.


    Rex approached the clerk at the info window and was quite dirrect in his reason for approach as he asumed there must have been more that a few secret admirers of the women working here, coming to disrupt the work just to court them. "I want to know the rules and obligations one has to follow, if you are registered with the guild. If there is any sort of written rulebook or anything of the sort i would prefer acsess to that, if posible." Rex asked in a neutral tone. "We do have a rulebook, I can also provide you with the contract you would be singing if you were to desire to become and adventurer. It contains all benefits the guild provides as well as rules and obligations our adventurers are bound to follow. Would you like to read it?" lady at the counter asked in a rather sweet voice with friendly and inviting smile. She, as all guild clerks, was trained to subconsiously use a sort of analysis magic that would warn them if the person in front of them is much stronger or weaker than them. And since she recieved no ping back from the person in front of her, it meant that the person was at least rank B, or higher potential adventurer, since the magic coudn''t ping power levels that were more than a single level above the user, and since she was D class in overall strenght, no ping meant B class or above. Such adventurers were valuable, increadibly so, and anyone who managed to sign such people would get hefty bonuses, not to mention priority in being able to be their liasons in guilds. Some of the more powerfull adventurers even developed such a liking for their liasons that they requested their transters to wherever they were adventuring. And such odd requests were always granted for S class and above purely due to the monetary value such adventurers bring. And by being a liason to such adventurer there was always a chance to bag them, and since had more money thanm they could spend no sane working girl would pass up such an opportunity.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Yes" Rex answered, recieved the contract form, and went to one of the tables to read through the contract form. guild provided acsess to quest in all of their branch halls, guildcard that served as their identification and would allow them to gain acsess to quite a wide locations and seemlesly uncontrolled ability to travel through states as no sane aristocrat would impede the workers of a company that quite literaly solves all their major issues that requires deep specialization or great combat potential since all most powerfull people ussually get lured by the freedom and reach the guild offers. Monster disecting, guild personal armor and weaponsmiths, alchemist and so on with discount to their services based on ones rank, appraisal and many other such advantages. While adventurers had quite a lot of benefits by joining the guild Rex noticed a few points in the obligations that made him think deeply if such a company was his path. Guild benefited from adventurers by imploying quest feels that the questgivers would pay the guild in adition to the rewards that the client would provide for mentioned job. Guild would asess the dificulty or danger of the job, and then according to the calculated grade would recieve fee for posting said quest in addition to advising on the minimal rewards that should be offered, based on clients need for the resolutions speed and other factors. Besides the fee, guild would recieve a small percentage of the quest rewards and small precentage of all goods sold to guild related busineses. There were quite strict regulations regarding the dungeons that guild members could enter as all known dungeons were evaluated and marked with minimal class, and no adventurers below mentioned minimal class could enter these known dungeons. Adventurers also were obligated to accept guild issues special misions that were calculated to be in their class. There were other guidelines that were of no major note regarding loot splitting amon guild adventurers when teaming up and other such things, but Rex didnt care much for those as the mandatory forced missions and dungeon restrictions were a dealbreaker for him. There is no way Rex would reaveal his full capabilites in a world where a single man could take down armies, and being restricted from acsessing dungeons for being cautios was a no go. Not to mention that all that monster hunting would increase his strenght for sure and repeated class advancement when he has no reference for proper normal would bring too much attention of the super strong and petty people in power. Rex returned to the clerk lady he recieved the contract form from, returned it, grunted "Not interested.", and turned around and left.


    He spent some hours and walking around in the markets of the town, questioning about buy and sale prices of various monster parts, herbs, gems and other items. he bought a small holding bag that could hold up to fifty gold for twenty silver, and a decent blade for fifty silver and once he was done shopping he returned to the inn where he booked the room. The inns room was booked for three days that cost him four silver a day. After an early supper he droped on bed and went over his plan for the next few days. He had planned to delve in a local dungoen that was classified by guild as D rank. Dungeons were locations with overly abundant mana for whatever reason that coudnt be explained, and in such mana convergence places sometimes formed mana pearls. These pearls then eventually grew bigger abnd gibber untill they started to warp the world around them, twisting the existing flora and fauna in unexplainable ways. The longer the mana pearl existed the more it grew, the deeper in the earth it sand untill it phased in its own space. creating an entirely new ecosystem, not just twisting the original one where pearl formed. If someone were to reach the dungeons core - the mana pearl and destroyed it, its personal space would slowly be absorbed into the wolrd enriching the region even more. Then ,in time, a new mana pearl would manifest repeating the process. However one has to know that the older the dungeon the deeper it goes and more and more powerfull monsters dwell within. As such even a dungeon that classified as rank C for example would, if it has existed long enough, in deeper floors be classified as B, a or even S class. As such cases where dungeon cores are actually destroyed are increadibly rare and even then those dungeons would be quite young. What also muc be noted is that dungoes are divided into two grades. Normal grade and special grade. Special grade dungeons are incredibly rare and are asumed to appear around once in every ten thousand times. unlike normal ones these special grades do not only grow deeper but they evolve in their entirety. So where normal dungoens guild class will always stay the same since the more powerfull monsters will live deeper in the dungeons, the special grades monsters are all the same level of power and grow sronger with dungeons development.


    With several next days planned out to earn some extra money it was time to let the skeleton out of the closet to accept and deal with the few choices he made while asuming this was all a dream. He did kill a few people, condemned the rst of the small village to life in slavery and raped a woman. He spent most of the night looking for exuses and reasons that would help him accept his own actions, for he knew that if he didnt deal with it, it would slowly eat him from inside. burn him out and break him. Its not like he was a proper sociopathy who reveled in the suffering of others. And while he did think of possibly torturing someone had the government gifted him with such a specimen, if only to see how he could deal with his actions afterwards he wouldn''t have ever done that in reality, but extreme questions require extreme answers or at the very least unorthodox scenarious to explore. The simplest way to solve it was through creating a sets of guidlines that he would follow. He wasnt planning on burning everything in his path, nor was he inherently agressive man in his life, but in this world he would have to be ready to kill. As for the people of echlisiarchy that he helped enslave he had no sympathy to give. Their people had attacked him on sight, and to begin with, it was their nation that discarded him to the forest as an infant all because of his eyes. Only on the last boat ride to Blythe did he realise that he survived only thanks to his unique ability to absorb energy. The extreme situation must have triggered his ability in overdrive and because of it he went into crysalis like transformation to force his growth by absorbing surrounding energy in exessive amounts to grow to a point where he could function as an individual organism. A nation that condemned you to die only because of a genetic deviation (he asumed) that was in no observable way malignant. It would be the same as condemning someone to die if they were born with blue eyes for example, or dimples. And since such people cared solittle for his life why would he care for theirs.

 Chapter 4: Calm before the storm

    After a few hours of sleep Rex woke up. He was feeling a bit conflicted regarding his actions in the village, but notably less distraught than before as conditioning the Echlisiarchy as the bad guys was helping him to come to terns with his actions.Today would be his first dungeon trip. Since it was ranked D by guild and Rex had noticed that the clerk lady with whom he was dealing in the guild the previous day was also D rank, as was stated on her staff card, he could more or less estimate the dungeons starting difficulty reading the clerks energy levels. He could tell that D ranks would be easy for him to deal with. He had killed monsters with twice the energy amounts as the lady.


    The inn lady got startled a bit when he noticed Rex''s demon eyes whne he left his romm to get breakfast, but she calmed soon after "My apologies" she said "Its rare to see true archons, and your eyes looked ordinary yesterday. I apologize if i have offended you." she continued now more cautious and timid as if afraid of  him lashing out. "Its not a problem, is me being here an issue?" Rex responded, lightly inspecting the inkeepers reactions. She shook her head indicating that his stay was not unwelcome one and relaxed visibly now that she was aware there would be no altrecations. "True archon? Havent heard that term before. what does that mean?" Rex asked."Had the misfortune to grow up in the Eclisiarchy, they dont seem to like my kind there" he added, knowing that such knowledge didnt affect him negatively, and it might spring the inkeeper into providing him information that could help a great deal and without charge. "Lords have mercy!" the lady exclaimed "bunch of savages those people are. So deeply rooted in their hatred, they would murder infants for their scriptures. It mush have been a horrible life, whatever you experienced. But you are lucky young man to be alive hailing from there." Seeing the inkeeper straying too far of topic Rex inquired about archons once again. Lady then explained rex that "The forsaken" as Eclisiarchy woul call them are commonly adressed as archons in other states, and more often than not only single eye would take in the irregular looks. ones with both eyes being transformed were called true archons as their abilities were stronger and could have extra special properties as oposed to archon with the same type of eye, but single. She then told him some random trivia about the city while he was eating his breakfast as there were no other patrons in the lobby/dining room. A few rummors were trown in here and there as well. Th most interesting bit of information that he aquired from her was knowlege of slavery magic. As inkeeper put it, the wery best slaves were marked by the slavery contract magic and were bound through it to their owner. They could not betray their masters, would have to follow orders or their mark would induce terrible pain. And while generaly such slavery mages were quite difficult to hire to mark ones slaves it was a triving profession in the cities of Zharr. It was still incredibly difficult to become and aprentice of such a mage, as they took only the best of talents and guarded their secrets with life. Proper mages that could sling firebolts and other elemental magic were quite rare, and poached by aristocracy and other nobles or adventurers guild, all promising quite the boons for the mages employment. Once done with his breakfast rex left the inn, and headed to the dungeon.


    Dungoens entrance was located at the industrial floor level of the city on its outskirts. A few meters high wall made of bricks was constructed around it. higher elevation towers stood set distance one from another, and there were a few guards on a tower with a bell. Seems they were stationed to rimg the alarm bell should anything goes wrong. Reaching Crossing the gate Rex saw granite like stone slab at the base of which were stairs leading into the dungeon. From the looks of it some seven meters down the stairs was swirling mist indicating the beggining of the dungeons realm. In front of the stairs was a located a table, a few guild clerks sitting next to it with some books, probably for registering entering and leaving adventurers. Rex ignored the guilds people and advanced sraight for the dungeon. One of the guilds personell arrogantly called out to Rex "Boy, this is D ranked dungoen, show us your adventurers card, and if you are not at least D rank you will be penalised for diregarding guilds rules!". Slight smile rose on Rex''s lips "not part of the guild, as such, your rules do not affect me." With that said Rex just went further to the dungeon and started to go down the stairs. Clerks were left there dumbfounded. Who in their right mind would think of adventuring and not joing the guild. The quality of life improvements were just too good to be passed up. rex reached the swirling mist, feeling some unexplained giddiness in his being. He did like to grind, and dungeons, combined with his unquie trait screamed of a perfect combination for a loong and proper grind. What he was not sure was how he could perhaps make is energy absorbtion faster and more efficient, if such a thing was possible.


    Crossing the mist didnt take long. just a few steps in the fog and he was on the other side. What came in his wiew was and endless expanse of fields. It felt like he was on a mountaintopand as far as he could see there were fields, jagged rocks at the sides, and then narrow winding paths further down to the next field. rex asumed those fields were levels of sorts, the further platform one reaches deeper they get and monsters become stronger and more numerous. It was said that depending on dungeon, on certain floors there were japaneese tori like structures with the swirling mist, that once crossed would instantly bring adventurers back to the surface. As such adventurer parties would ussually plan their trips so that once they reach a floor with a returm gate tha tis the closest to their skill level, they would hunt there untill their bags are full of loot and then leave through one such gate. As for monster corpses and the like that acventurers didnt collect, if it was left laying on the floor, and there were no non dungeon intelegent life forms all such material would be dissovled and be absorbed by the dungeon. Efficiency at its finest. Rex wnted to hunt, to figure out how fast he could absorg dungeon monsters energy, as they were made of the purest mana, and how much would such creatures strenghten him. He also wanted to maybee glimpse some inspiration and understanding regarding his absorbtion, and its limits.


    Looking at part of the first plateau that Rex could observe he noticed a few parties of adventurers fighting against packs of dog like creatures walking on two legs, covered in dirty and unkempt fur. The monsters were using extremely crude weapons that seemed to barely holding together. There seemed to be three parties in his vision on this plateau and Rex asumed that they had also just arived in the morning to start nice and early. All parties consisted of five members. While differently clothed, it seemed that every party had two members more heavily armored that Rex asumed to be front liners. a single person in robes, probably and alchemist or some sort of a healer. And while proper spell slinging mages were few and far between, from what Aron had told him, mainly because humans were not that gifted in magic, that didnt include healing, as that particular school needed more of a spiritual atunement. Contracts with water, earth, life and light elementals gave quite the potency to even the most basic of healing magics, and such creatures were all too eager to experience the world of the living by forming contracts. the last two members of the respective parties were lightly armored wielding either daggers or bows. Rex asumed those were scouts or rogues. rex had no interest in interacting with the adventurers, so he chose a path that wouldnt intersect with either of the parties and went to have a go at the dungeons monsters.


    With his sharp senses it didnt take long for him to find his first prey. A pack of creatures that he now recognized as kobolds, the same mangy monsters the parties were battling against. He saw 3 kobolds armed with crude maces 2 with axes and one with what seemed like a sling. observing the monsters for a minute or so, positioned himself better, and when he wsa in a prime position to take out the slinger he lunged, suprising the group of kobolds. in a blink of an eye Rex was in front of the slinger kobold, with his sword in a hand, and slashed it throat not giving the monster a chance to react. then he dashed towards next target while kobolds were coming to and roaring in anger, in a moment another two kobolds had their throats slashed, leaving theremaining two go in a frenzy and madly charging at him. It seemed that the monsters had lost any sense with the exeption of bloodlust as they lunged at Rex, even somehow getting in one anothers way. Rex adeptly dodged the chargin duo and made a couple more slashes to decapitate them. Then Rex extended his hand and drained the first kobold of energy and noticed that in doing so, all but the monsters bones were scattered like dust and absorbed. While the power up itself wasnt much what was unexpected was that rex could feel that the little bit of fatigue he had aquired dealing with the monsters washed away, almost as if the drain restored his mana and stamina bars, if this was happening in a game. This discovery meant Rex could possibly spend days, maybee weeks or longer grinding away and growing stronger. After draining the rest of the kobolds and leaving behind their bones and scrap equipment Rex went further looking for more kobolds to slay to grow stronger and advance to lower floors.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    For the next few hours Rex kept advancing further and killing small packs of kobolds. The average pack consisted of five to seven kobolds, however Rex did encounter packs that had up to ten monsters. That however was not a problem as the monsters were barely capable of any coordinated movements and acted primarily in an agressive first come first serve manner charging ahead the moment they noticed anything that wasnt a kobold, with the only exception being the slingers, who didnt charge but used the sling with atrociously bad accuracy to try and take their target out. Things changed one Rex reached the first set of stairs to next level. Monsters on second level were more intelegent and were actually somewhat cooperating, charing at their target in a more orderly fashion, trying to somewhat encircle their target and slingers were slightly better at aiming. Rex continued on and by the time that the sky started to darken, indicating the advent of night, which Rex couldnt explain as to why or how a day night cycle was even a think in a seperate dungeon spaces, nor did he care to. What he knew was that he had no need to rest as he had drained all targets killed so far, he even experimented with drain on his way the this level seven of the dungeon. At fifth level packs reached sizes of fifteen to twenty kobolds, and they werent much sronger physicaly than at the first levels, but they had gotten much smarter and were roaming in greater packs. They even had some sort of shamans with them that could cast some sort of empower on the nearby monsters to speed them up and grant minor strenght increase. of course if you take the shaman out first not much changes in the way to deal with them and thats exactly what Rex was doing. On his way he had run into a few parties that knew these early levels fairly well and were moving much more efficiently to rech deeper floors, since kobolds were just an annoyance to deal with untill proper hunting could start from eight floor. There appeared orcs, the second staple of fantasy creatures after elves, the muscleheaded warrior creatures with their tribal communes and warrior culture. One could say that orcs could be considered a sentient race and not just monsters, and while outside of dungeons that was mostly the case the dungeon bred variety were savage, feral even. While sapient, they werent ones for conversation. If u were not an orc of their tribe you were either food or slave to be used and abused. Also what seperated lesser orcs, as was commonly reffered to dungeon orcs, was their susceptability towards the warlords mark. It was a lesser verion of slavery magic,that was derived from blood magic slave pacts. While blood magic only required the spell and for the caster to be stronger, or the binded to be willing, slave magic employed a lesser version that needed mark, rtiual circle and notably weakened subjects. Warlords mark was a unique magic in that it created a duel conditions allowed the oposing participants to do battle and the loser would be bound by the mark to obey the victor. And while near infallable once established, the warlord had to always be stronger than the servant, and its activation condition being a duel for domination that had to be willingly accepted, meant that it was usefull against only sentient monsters and overly proud fools. Nearly every B class adventurer who dove dungeons and dealt in slaves had warlords mark.It wasnt a matter of knowing where to buy, or being tought it, it was part of human birthright, and as such would awaken in adventurers who challenged monsters to pridefull duels and won attaining theie first servant. The other minus of warlords mark was that ones slaves aquired in such a way could only be sold once. since only master could use the command of "you now serve this man" or won=man once, where the mark enforces the command, and after it no longer recognizes the previous lord as master, and at the sime time locking out any further sale prospects, and while humans did eventually found a mini workaround to this by selling servants to slave traders with ordering them to obey the trader untill he brings them to the new master, the mark only enforced the servants to follow the trader, and nothing else besides maintaining their lives untill merchant imforms of the new master.


    That is what rex learned from one of the parties he encountered as thanks for saving them. they hda run into a rather large party of a hundred or so kobolds, that had formed from three different packs chasing a herd of deer and runing in the said party. The confrontation had ended quite recently too, and from what the party said it wasnt all that rare of an occuranceon the seventh floor, after all the eight floor where orcs start to appear is considered the start of the C class levels for this dungeon.Rex stayed with the party untill they reached the stairs to the eight floor where there was a teleport to the entrance. Rex watched as the lightly wounded party left the dungeon having collected quite a few magic crystals and since they had overestimated themselevs by attempting to reach eight floor and almost dying in the process they had to regroup and rethink they approach to deep delving of dungeons. They didnt seem yet ready.


    Rex had grown ever slightly stronger, yet the greatest gains he had was knowledge. He now had a dirrection in witch to take his drain ability to extend his reach and ability to drain multiple targets and possibly drain their energy while the target in not dead yet. he also saw body strenghtening with mana in real life, and that gave him an extra avenue in witch to improve his strenght. However the warlord mark was the most exciting discovery. Acsess to a relatively easy way to enslave dungeon races was more than just a pleasant suprise, it was a posible game changer. Rex had noticed that drain destroyed any chance for him to gather monster cores or monster parts for that matter, so the ability to aquire slaves did solve his posible money issues. Plus there were no doubt countless weirdo that would love to get their hands on some orc muscle momies to be snu snu to death. To each their own he supposed and made a stop near the stairs to the eight level.


    For fifteen minutes rex considered whether he should just advance to the eith floor as should be try and hunt for the kobold king that roamed around this level. The thought of a field boss popped in Rex''s mind when he heard of it''s existance from the party, but now considering the size of each floor it could take hours of Rex''s time to even try to find that thing and even if he were to find it what good it would do? he cant get any cores or body parts due to drain and it was imposible to resist the thought of draining new monster subtype to gain more strenght. At the same time he cold be shredding orcs, growing notably srtonger and awakening his warlord mark and enslaving musclemommies.And while his grinder side was screaming for the boss monter kill achievement, his rational minds urged him to go work to earn some money. In the end his logic won over the grinder part only due to logic suddenly gainingunexpected allies. While pondering and weighing the pros and cons he stumbled upon two questions that tipped the scales of balance. While thinking of awakening of warlords mark he found himself wondering about the taste of local protein drinks, and then he remembered that he has to catch them all. Once decided Rex rose to his feet and advanced to the stairs of the eight floor.

 Chapter 5 : The stalker

    Under the cover of night Rex advanced to the eight level. His vision was nowhere near as sharp as in day, but taking into account that he had eagle like sharpness to his eyes it was too much to expect the same performance in the range of vision in the darkness of the night. The fact that there was no moon but some sort of an aurora that provided lesser amount of light that clear sky of the night in outside world didnt help either. Having a proper vision for what looked like some five hundred meters was still impresive. In addition his ability to percieve mana and life energy offset and disadvantages of darkness, on the contary, one could say that since almost all creatures suffered in the darkness of the night the same inhibitions as Rex and their baseline was nowhere near as good as Rex''s he had a definitive advantage in hunting during the night.


    He advances rather carefully, stalking the planes and woods of the level. Aproximately ten minutes later he found his first pey. Three orcs were sitting around a campfire, cooking some piece of meat, that Rex had to admit, emmited rather mouthwatering scent. Drain did cover all his needs for food but it added no great taste to the process, and as such it left him hanging in certain areas. But Drain had an impressive advantage over regular eating as well, and tha was in the form of utility. afterr all if there is no non mystycal food intake there is no food waste outpust. and for a solo grinding enthusiast to be imposible to be caught with his pants down was quite the blessing. Observing and evaluating the orcs Rex calculated the danger level of each or, and planned the order of elimination. He had more experiments to conduct regarding drain. and he also wanted to try and awaken the warlords mark.


    He sneaked closer and then he sensed the fourth orc a bit further off, hiding in a tree. It seemed a scout of sorts, and so Rex decided to take that one first. A few minutes or carefull sneaking later he pounced on the scout, tacked him while covering its mouth and piercing its throat with his blade. The orc struggled a moment and died very soon after. Rex took a hatchet from the scout, left the tree, got a git closer to the trio around campfire and lunged to the back of his first target burying thejust now taken hatchet in his targets skull. Blood splattered everywhere ending the orcs life, then he dashed towards the next target as the remaining two were scrambling to get up and take out the threat. Rex slashed with great strenght cutting the second orc in half leaving the last one alive. Rex stood there and waited for it the get up and prepeare for combat.It was time for sold fashioned experiments. Create a hypothesis, and then ask questions and perform field tests to prove your thesis correct. or fail and try again.


    The orc was slover and physically weaker than Rex so overpowering it woudnt be too hard, but that was not Rex intention. He had already tested drain on half dead kobolds and it work just fine, if not ever better that fine as seemed that drain took all the remaining lifeforce. Energy that was a combination of mana, life and what Rex could only asume to be will. Rex hypothesized that it is unlikely that he is draining the soul itself. He was starting to asume that soul was a kind of vessel, and the life we lead store some sort of mystical energy in soul, and that after death our sould use it for something. And drain does take a slight bit of that energy to strenghten himself. Life energy and mana healed and recovered his physical body while this mystical energry, he decided to call Soulforce strenghtened him, breaking past his limits with each drained enemy. When the orc lunged at him Rex parried orcs strike holding his sword with one hand and reached his other hand for the orc, grabing its wrist and activating drain. orc fell to its knees and started spasming, and was howing in pain. rex imediatly stopped, as he realized that as long as he was stonger he could drain his enemies, and that attemping to drain soulforce would inflict immense pain on the target, as the orc was convulsing for some thirty seconds untill it stilled. I wasnt dead yet, but it was unconscious. Next Rex tried to pull only at orcs mana. At first , orcs mana barely fluctuated, but there was a slight reaction, and as such Rex zoned in on the feeling and experimented for some fifteen minutes un till he finaly sucseeded. HE repeated the same process with file drain, and he felt the mental exaustion receding visibly. and he also saw how the orc has growing weaker and apparently older at a rather fast pace. Rex stopped and contemplated for a moment. His drain was an incredible asset. Growth, disabling enemies, recovery. It provided such incredible range of usage. If developed and mastered even further, the potential for other strategical uses like torture was also a posible avenue. He was sure that one day it might be a necessary skill. But not today, he reasoned. And while he was not into torturing animals, or in this case his prey, since orcs couldnt be classified as simple animals, he still needed to leaen another wery important metric of his drain. What was the difference of drain efficiency on a dead target versus a living one. To learn that though Rex needed two specimens with extremely simmilar readings of power but with his vision that wouldnt be too much of a problem.


    Well, Rex was slightly wrong there. He had spent almost four hours tracing down a proper duo for the experiment but he secseeded. He found a party of seven orcs camped in a similar fashion the the previous party. the difference was that all of them exept one sneaky night patroll guy were sleeping. Rex knocked the night watch out, while being extremely carrefull to not trigger any posible alarms that the party might have set uphe sneakily sliced the throats of all but two orcs, the scout not including. Then he sneaked back and tied scout with some ropes he found in the campsite and returned to the remaining two. Then he quickly sliced the throat of one of the remaing two. Test subject number one, Rex drained it the moment it died and noted the amount of soulforce recieved, then went to the second orc, his first encountered dungeon orc female specimen. then he tied her up and left in there. Returning to the scout, test subject number two, and used train on it. The second he started draining scout woke up from his manually induced involuntary sleep and released sould wrenching scream as if the wery sould of it was being torn open. Drain was nowhere near as fast or efficient in absorbing the energy from this one and Rex noted that the duration was rather long, screaming of the subject was quite unpleasent, and migrane inducing, and most importantly the amount aquired was noticably less than from a a fresh kill. He reasoned that living creatures had their souls inhabiting the physical form as such providing incredible resistance, where as fresh kills were only linked to souls as such alowing him to aquire the soulforce through the link without having to tear the soul open for it. and life and mana energy were free for the taking. The last orc of the camp had also been awakened by the screams of her companion, and was cursing Rex and grwoling at him. Rex had an inkilng, a fleeting suspicion that he had a general sense of what names the orc was using to call Rex, but he was not quite there. He reasoned, that since feral orcs are less intelegent and more focused of brutish side he would have to drain quite a few more feral orcs to learn their language. Since the orc female was not much to look at, Rex ended her in one swift movement, and drained all remaining bodies in the camp. Thats when Rex noticed another ineficiency in his current drain skill. It was single target melee ability. He reasoned that if he could see some mages in action and if he could manipulate his mana creating mana constructs to use as an extension of his body to drain multiple targets at once should be feasible.


    Rex spent the remaining night rushing through the level killing all orcs in his path and draining them. Since the orcs were on the level of C rank adventurers, and Rex was at the low to mid ranks of A class taking on parties of ten to twenty orcs were no challenge at all. On his grind session he aslo trained more on mastery over his single drain abilities. Mana and life drain. His experiences proved that drainng mana was quite the easy task from all but single target - a shaman. That was the first orc caster of sorts he had encountered, and in that encounter hea learned that oponents who can manipulate mana can resist drain quite well, almost to the point of resisting it entirely. And the stronger the oponent the harder it is to drain life. Rex made another guess that if he learned to controll mana properly himself the mana drain would become much stronger. One has to have the proper knowledge and hands on experience to master chosen subjects.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    By the time the sky started to brighten, Rex had crossed over eight ninth and tenth level. Right now he as at the wery start of the eleventh floor. Rex wanted to find some sort of larger camp hoping to maybee find some valuable metals, maybee jewels there to have some loot to account for his time in the dungeon. Since this would be his second day in the dungeon, he still had one night in the inn reserved, then he would have to either extend this stay there or look for a new place of residence. And while he loved to just grind away he also understood that that cant be all that he should strive for in this new life of his. It was pointless to speculate how or why he got here, why he had this extraordinary body and so on. No truck-kuns, to initiate his reincarnation, no meeting with gods. No nothing. So he will just live the life he has as he sees fit. he did feel a bit sad for his brother and sister with whoom he had quite good relationship, and rather hoped they would just not know of his existance anymore than wory and grieve for him.


    AS he was restaring his hunt and search of a larger camp, he noticed the activity of adventurer parties. He had passed a few camping ones during his night hunts but he was wise enough not to aproach or disturb them as it would be quite foolish to make contact at night. Now hea was trying to awaken his warlord mark, with rather pathetic results. This was a skill that we theoreticly should have, but since he had not seen it active and being used he only had a vague understanding of it, and how it worked. From what he was told one just had to dominate his target, to the point where its will is crushed and its will is broken. then have it aknowledge you as its master. And since Rex was stuck, what better way than to find a party farming for slaves and work out a favorable deal. Rex''s musings were interrupted as he noticed someone in the distance. The person was staying away from him and keeping in the shadows of larger trees. Rex calculated that they were some five hundred meters away from him, and most likely cautios since he was alone. Innitially he paid no attention to the scout as he had not seen other solo adventurers like him around. he turned and went off on his way looking for other targets to farm. Some fifteen minutes later Rex stoped and kneeled as if to examine the ground. The scout he noticed previously was folowing him, keeping the distance. ''Pk''ers Rex though, as he doubted that it was profitable to hunt for adventurers to make them slaves, as they would have to have proper slavey or blood magic for such huts and both were too expensive to be used on C ranks, seeing that they were in such a level. Such expensive methods would only be eemployed on top end B ranks and above, and the expenses would be too high if one has to take into account that they are most likely hunting guild adventurers. Rex started to plan an effective strategy to lure the scout and whatever party he is a part of in an open confrontation, as it is not in Rex interests to be observed while he is hunting. He did not joing the guild of adventurers because he did not want to be forced to do quests he does not want and to be able to stay off their power strugles, because of course there would be. New true archon not afiliated with any established factions, strong one at that, jea no fucking way would he be left alone. Rex would have none of it.


    The next few hours rex traveled the forest avoiding and orc groups that had more than four members. groups of four or less he stalked for a while, waited for an oportune moment, striked from the shadows killing a member or two, then retreated and used agility and terrain to his advantage to outmanouver the remaining orcs so the scout following him would asume Rex is rogue or assasin type adventurer, and since orcs are not the most nimble of creatures, C ranked agility based adventurers would be able to deal with quite a few of them. His plan was to make it look liek he is a well trained high rank C adventurer. Somewhere closer to dusk Rex found a rather large clearing with a small pond in the middle. Since he had taken out quite a few smaller groups of orcs he decided to restnear the pond. he did feel a bit sad that he coudnt drain those orcs, but it was better not to give the stalkers more information than necesary. he was sure they were up to no good. He had looted the orcs of any gemstones or what little jewelary they had- some tooth necklaces,a rare silver braclet adn the like. His gains were small and that irked him, but he would be patient. near the pond was a single large tree that Rex made into his "camping site", he pulled a few things out of his small backpack and made it look as if hes staying there for the coming night. He still had a few more hours till dusk, but he had to wait. he doubted his new friends would be waiting much longer. After all they had stalked him for more than half a day, watched him fight and had not acted till now. They would most likely act now or wait for the cover of the night. Rex hoped for sooner rather than later as he still wanted to hunt more and the warlord mark was still waiting its turn.


    A few hours later, when the sky started to dim, finaly, the stalker aproached. The scout had brought his entire party. eight of them in total. Rex had noticed that the C rank part of the dungeon was traversed by parties, larger than the initial five man groups he had encountered of the lower floors. He had started his delve to the dungeon in the middle of the week, and the deeper diving adventurers ussually started their delving at the start of the week . Easier to find new members if needed or to aquire new items since other groups would have done their delving and brought new goods up trade. As the party aproached Rex got up from his position, and took defensive stance, he had controlled compressed his won energy levels to look similar to C ranks he had seen so far, and since inspect abilities had close range in general cases he was quite sure that the stalker party was not aware of his full strenght. He seemed as any ather adventurer, on alert and in a defensive position since he was aproached by a party of eight and the break of dusk. With his improved vision and energy reading he could see that the party, while looking somewhat casual for untrained eye, were all primed and ready for attack. muscles tense, hands sneakily placed on weapons, and some sort of disgust apparent on the faces of the members further in the back.


    With a slightly elevated voice Rex spoke to the newcomers "Do not come any closer." he placed a hand on his sword indicating his readiness to defend himself from the unwanted and rather rogueish advance of the party. It was common knowledge that even Rex was aware of that, unless its one of the dungeons safe zones, witch are indicated by runes in the rock like monoliths that form a circle, parties do not aproach other parties after dusk, unless of course there is a critical situation wthat would require assistance and the sort. The party slowly spread out keeping the three archers back , two tankers up front two rogues with dagger equiped at the flanks and a caster, healer of holy element based on the angel- like accessory and book she was holding in in each hand.


    The priest, with pure scorn in his voice then spoke "O Lord, Show the way to salvation for that abomination, we shall set it free from its cursed form so you can embrace this lost soul and guide it on its new journey. " Once he was finished with his prayer, a sinister smirk appeared on his face "After we have taught it humility and pain it has caused with its mere presence in this world". Then Rex noticed the necklacce the priest was wearing. A crown with six angelic wings on a golden shield. The Eclisiarchys symbol. Rex rose from his crouching position, and spoke, no longer in the wary tone he had asumed earlier, but cold and grating "Fucking lunatics no matter where you go."

 Chapter 6: The deal

    As soon as Rex finished his sentence, he bent sideways dodging two arrows coming for his shoulders. Both shots were obviously aimed to inflict notable pain and limit his arm capacity. next the tankers charged at him and one of the rogues started to move to rear charge him while the second remained close to the three archers and priest. Rex didnt wait any further and charged straight ath one of the fighters. Aproximately half a second before contact with the fighter Rex tilted his aproach tragectory, shot past the two fighters and lunged straight at the archers and rogue staying in the backline. The rogue, suprised by the sudden burts of speed from they target, hesitated for a moment and then charged at Rex while keeping his body quite low allowing archers to shoot at Rex. Rex had a slit second decision to make: keep going straight and try to take out the rogue possibly geting at least a couple arrows lodged in his body, or dodge alltogether. He chose the second option as he had the physical prowess and drains to keep on in an extended fight. But he was sure that he would need to on shot his enemies or the priest would just patch them up and keep the fight on going. So he sped up and dodged the three arrows and rogue by tumbling in a one o''clock direction passing the rogue, instantly geting back up in the mointion of the tumble and dashing forward to one of the archers more to the side. Then noticing the smirking priest maintaining his position, looking at him with utmost confidence in his victory. Rex gritted his teeth and made the decision to level the playing field by taking a calculated risk, and once again changed dirrection straight for the priest. In the second he reached the priest and grabing him by the throat he couldnt dodge two of incoming arrows. one hit him in the left right shoulder, but he didnt drop his sword even thought he was gritting his teeth through the pain. The second arrowhit his letf calf, and while the arrows had barely lodged in his mucles it still hurt like a bitch. The priest, without a change in his expression maintaining his arrogant dispay snickered "If only you had the strenght to" and his sentence stopped midway with the sound of his neck breaking. Rex didnt have the luxury to wait for his monologue to end since his companions didnt seem to be interested either so the instant he killed the priest he shot ahead to the closest archer, now dodging the arrows with slightly more difficulty as the arrow in his leg was hindering his mobility. For the next few minutes The lunatical zealots were playing wack a mole with Rex, only grazing him a few times. Both fighters and both rogues were engaging Rex in melee to limit his ability to engage their archers while those were trying to find open shots to make Rex into a pincushion. It was a stallmate untill Rex finaly caught one of the rogues in an overeager attempt to get a hit in. rex grabbed the rogues wrist and crushed it, eliciting a cream from the poor bastard, but Rex also used drain to recover his vitality, effectively taking out one of their members and gaining some much needed stamina to keep the fight up.


    With one less agile enemy to contend with Rex employed his supperior agility and speed to evade the remaining three melee combatants and washed at the archers who had made bigger distance between them and the melee fight to gain safe distance and look for better openings adn suppresion fire if needed. This decision turned out to be double edged sword as Rex with his supperior speed one out of the encirlement wasted no time whatsoever to close distance with one of the archers and sliced his throat. Right after that he dashed tor the next archer while avoiding the frantic shooting and ignoring the taunts and curses of their melee attackers.In a similar manner as the first archer he took care of the remaining two, then dashed and finished the wounded rogue. Holding the just killed rogue by a hand, he turned to the two fighters and rogue, with his free hand pulled out the arrow in his shoulder and calve. "You are next." said Rex and activeted drain. Seeing your comrades corpse bursting into mana dust before your eyes, and your adversity visibly recovering from his wounds and exaustion stopped the three in their tracks. "That aint no C rank!" exclaimed one of the tankers, terrified expression reavealed on his hace. They realized they had bitten of more than they can chew. ''Not even bones remained? Did it evolve?'' a thought flased in Rex''s mind as he dashed forward at the fighters. Now without having to be on a constatnt lookout for three archers from different positions trying to pepper him with arows it didnt take long for him to end the lives of the remaing attackers. After draining the and leaving nothing of their bodies behind Rex felt rather pleased with the development of his drain ability. While going through the belongings of the party and looting only the money and whatever valuables they had colected he was going over the last fight. Rex realize he was in a dire need of a ranged ability with fast speed to take out ranged enemies. he was quite sure that he would be going solo most of the time purely to keep his drain secret and to continiue his development unobstructed. rex was unsure of how fast people in this world grew stronger, but he was sure as hell that his growth speed in abnormaly high due to drain. And such a gift must be kept as a true hidden weapon.


    Rex was also well aware that he won only because he outclassed the oposing party with his stats, and even though he was much stronger individually than any of them, their knowledge, skill and teamwork made him swet alot for his victory. While he recieved no trully serious injuries he was battered pretty solidly, and so he knew he needs more dirrect fights with groups of orcs to hone his senses, combat skill and develop his own style of combat to maximaze his strenghts and minimaze weakneses. He was also quite aware that that wouldnt happen in a day or two. One he was finished with sorting the loot he left the place leaving their equipment were it was. The party had no space rings as expected and so with his backpack ever so slightly more filled Rex went ahead in the night to hunt and wait for morning to aproach some party to gain a mutually benefitial agreement. He still needed that warlords mark.


    An entire night and the early morning of slaughtering, and not assasinating, orcs later on the thirteenth floor he finally encountered what he was looking for. A party of ten with a few orcs following them. The orcs looked qiute roughed up, with heads langing low and quite glaring red marks akin to a symbol on their collarbones. Rex was looking more imposing now too. His backpack now quite packed with gems and silver from his night of slaughter. His sword hanging by this hip and now he had an extra weapon on him. A rather plain looking greatsword. The blade was dark grey, no sheen whatsoever. Its lenght was aproximetly one point nine meters, and despite its plain look it was incredibly sharp. Around its hilt was wrapped a plain looking cloth of blood red color. It had a simple leather sheath with sore rune looking symbols engraved on it .The sword was sheathed and Rex held it by the sheath in his hand. He would draw the sword before battles and since he had it sheated the party could seethat he had no obvious plan to attack them. Party still a bit weary, waited for Rex to aproach and state his intentions. After all it was not common for adventurers to travel solo in what essentially were group dungeons. Weaker monster on big backs were more of a challenge to an adventurer that stronger ones that were alone. "Is that champions greatsword?" one of the fighters asked noticing the greatsword in Rex''s hand. It was quite challenging for C ranks to take one down. Even parties of C rank would be quite troubled to take one down, and they never roamed around alone.


    "Greetings" Rex hailed them once he was some thirty meters away "I see you have warlords mark bearer among you. I was wondering if we could come to a mutually beneficial arangement?" Rex stood there waiting for party to respond, not approaching and closer, and standing there relaxed shoving he had no malicious intent towards them. "Feel free to discuss it among yourselves. Ill wait here for your decision, and if you are willing to discuss it with me do call me." rex added sitting down on a nearby fallen log, pulling a flask from his bags side and drinking a few mouthfulls of water from it. The party quickly gathered to discuss. Rex wasnt trying to pick up their conversation. He felt no energy fluctuations that indicated aggresion and as such he was rather calm. A few minutes later Rex heard a question coming his way from the group "Where did you aquire he greatsword? Did you buy it?" asked a feminine voice. By the looks the archer that had stood at the forefront of the party. "Killed a rather feisty looking orc. few heads bigger than the ones behind you. Was quite the fight." Rex resonded "What of it?" he continued "So are you interested to discuss a potential trade with me?". The girl lifted her hand signaling Rex to wait a bit then discussed with her party a bit longer. A few mintues later she adressed Rex "Come, we are listening."


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Rex took a smalll rope and died it around the guard and scabbard of the sword, making it rather hard to even try to pull out the blade, giving the party even more of an assurance that he seems to want no confrontation. "Im interested in awakening my warlord ability and since you have one i thought you could help me out with the details. Of course ill pay. Have a look through my backpack and tell me if i have what you want for a proper exchange. " He noticed one of the warrior witha who handed axe looking at his greatsword with great longing and added "And while i would preffer not to part with my blade, i could cinsider helping you aquire one of your own, Provided i auire what i seek. The names Rex, by the way. Thought i would introdude myself since we might be having ourselves a transaction." The archer took of her hood revealing a gold blond hair and a pair of pointy ears. "Name''s Aina, and this here is our party- Silver chains." "Ill wait here then while you have a lool at my wares and decide on your demands for the exchange" said Rex as he put his backpack on the ground and stepped away from it leaning against a nearby tree. Then Aina spoke "We elves are proud people and hate to decieve, and so ill be straight. The greatsword you hold is called Champions blade. AS the name suggests they are held only by champions and are quite valuable.Much more so than the information that you seek" she then hesitated, as if trying to look for the right words to express her thoughts then continued "unfortunately we are not powerfull enough to take on a champion, not to mention the group of orcs that also accompany one." then hesitating a bit more, collecting her thoughs and courage she asked "if you were to assist us in such an endevour, what would that entail?" Rex though for a second or two, then responded with a question of his own "Lets see, i have a general idea of what your terms might be, so let me ask, with the information you have ion warlord awakening and guidance in doing so, how likely would i be to awaken it?" "With our presence and giudance, i would say guaranteed asuming you are as powerfull as your equipment implies." Rex noticed the absolute certainty that she spoke with, and as such he asked another question "Could your party take on the entourage of the champion for lets say five minutes if the chamion was not in the equation? Because if that is the case ill kill it for you and then help you clean up the guards. All i want besides the knowledge and asistance to awaken warlord is the belongings of the warlord including its corpse. The sword of course goes to your party, as well as the rest of the loot from the pack. What say you?" Rex saw the jaws of Aina and her party going slack. before Aina stuttered "Whats your adventurer rank?" she asked more in disbelief and sheer shock than from curiosity. Rex, somewhat understanding her suprise, remembering the annoyance that was dodging the champion while he was slaughtering the guards darting back and forth avoiding champions sword strikes and slicing the necks of guards back and forth spoke " Not registered with the guild. If you have a knowledge of a location of one you can have a look at my abilities while we travel there. And there is no need to worry about me offering much greater value on my side. I find that what you are offering is of greater value for my interests, so i would say its quite the lucrative deal for us all. I get what i want and i believe that the contact with you and your party could prove to be very profitable to us both in the future as well. So the question is, can you handle the guards for five minutes and does such terms satisfy your party? " An instant "Yes please!" with more exitement than he expected stoped him from thinking of other propositions. Aina instantly added "I meant we can handle them for five minutes and we would gladly accept the offer then. Whats more we indeed have a knowledge of a location that should have a champion." "Great, show the way please" Rex responded "and allow me to do the slaying on our way there."


    The following few hours for the Silver Chains was a spectacle out of a dream. A single man, like the harbinger of death cut through all the orc parties they enountered along the way. He swung the greatsword using it as a long one handed blade, From time to time grabing an orc by their throat and snapping their neck. The almost two meter long youth looked like a force of nature. A tsunami that leveled the poor mortals in its wake. Only now Aina remembered tales her mother used to tell her of the true archons. Men of great power with eyes not of this wolrd, capable of changing the tides of war single handedly. Heroes, kingmakers, legends. Tales all elven children grew up with in their home cityies in the forests of the misty isles.


    Soon they reached a rather shallow gorge that had a small camp located in it. The two scouts of the party did a reconosance quite quickly, returned and informed the part and Rex of the sitiation. It was ax they hoped- thre indeed was a champion in the camp, however there was also a complication. the entourage was twice as big as it sould be ussually. Aina said that it was too dangerous to try and raid such encampment. She was not willing to risk her party members even if they could hold for five minutes. Rex though for a second, then he remembered theat they had discussed along the way regarding the warlord mark. Then he asked "You told me about the challenge that i would have to make in front of a crowd of orcs no? Cant i do the same here? You said that one doesnt do that because humans cant normaly take champions one on one, but since i plan to do just that, isnt this a perfect oportuninty? I will dominate and destroy orcs untill i get the mark or champion comes to me and i destroy Him. Who knows, maybee there is a better mark?" Rex grinned. Aina slapped her forehead both in realization of the obvious truth in his words and the absolute nonchalance in witch the man in front of her regarded a champion. "Yes, that is indeed a great way to do that. This way we both get what we want from our trade. Please do, Swenn, the banner please." she added. A rather burly man took his bag of his shoulders and rummmaged in it for while, then he pulled out a rolled up flag of sorts, attached it to a spear and handed it to Rex. "hold the spear as a flag boy, approax the gate with the banner clear in the wiew, the orcs, seeing the banner will allow you to aproach. One you are some fifty meters away, plant the banner in the ground and stand next to it. Orcs will come out crowd their gates and then send a single combatant to meet you. To hasten the mark aquisition, brutalize the orc. Beat him up hard. Then and only then end him. You just have to continiue untill you gain it. The orc you are beating up when you aquire the mark will have your mark glow like rune underneath it and imprint itself on its collarbone. Afterwards whenever you are dominating your targets you will feel the mark whne it can be imprinted. Once awakened your conscioness affects the mark quitea bit. For example peaple who hate snakes are wery unlike to mark snake origin monsters and races and so on. Thats all boy. Go and shred them. Give us a show. " The old man grinned and pulled his bag closer to the party talking about having a beer while watching the fight,earning a few bonks on the head from Aina.

 Chapter 7: A glimpse of the beast.

    Holding the banner of challenge clearly visible in one hand, his greatsword in the other, Rex advanced towards towards the gate of the encampment in a relaxed manner. No sane person would believe that the young man was planning to combat and dominate not only regular feral orc warriors but wanted to take on an orc champion. The orcs, seing the aproaching man with the banner started howling, laughing and chanting. While the Silver chains in the distance had no idea as to the content of their cheers, Rex clearly understood what was being said. Amid the laughter and wild howls of exitement words like "challenger, warlord wanabee and new toy" was being trown around. Draining of orcs finaly brought over the understanding of their language.


    Some fifty meters away from the gate Rex stabbed the banner in to the ground, stood next to it and in a display of arrogance stabeed the greatswords scabbard on the other side. Without drawing his one handed blade he raised his hands to the height of his shoulders extended sideways and exclaimed in the orc tongue "Come! Slake my thirst for battle, and grovel in defeat!" While the Silver chains didnt understand the words, they knew it was clearly an insult as the enraged screaming and all around ruckus was being raised in the outpost. It took less than a minute for the gates to swing wide open and a stream of orcs came out beating their weapons. ''Hot blooded and stupid'' Rex thought, ''Guess its time to try out how it feels to be a bully cranked up to eleven.'' Noticing that the champion had not come out yet, he stepped forward leaving the greatsword where it was, grinned menacingly and said in the orc tongue "None of you are worthy of the blade" Rex said pointing to the Champions sword. That elicited another anger filled growl chorus.


    Then, the first orc showed its way through the crowd, big two handed axe in hands, fires or rage and pride glimmering in his eyes. This one was a rather big specimen, somewher around two point four meters height, and while he stood notibly taller than Rex, who was almost two meters of height himself, the disparity was nowhere near as big as it normaly be. "Puny hu- man. Rak-gul kills! feast on your heart" Rex sighed "Learn to speak your own language at the wery least." and inclined his body a bit forward, prepearing to strike. What he did not expect was a second orc coming out. A shaman from the staff it was carrying and the wolf head cowl he was wearing. Rex wondered wthats the deal here and seeing how the warrior stood, waiting for something, so did Rex. "Our champion does not meet any common rabble, coming with a challenge. In front of gods you will prove yourself worth, earn the right to challenge the mighty." "So i just have to destroy your trash untill the boss is willing to come himself?" Rex snikkered "I can do that. Come, entertain me." he continiued riling up the orc crowd. Shaman scowled, stabbed his staff in the ground and spoke "Go!". As soon as the shaman spoke ork charged at Rex and swung his battle axe. Rex dodged onder the swing and the moment the axe struck the ground with all the inertia of the swing, rex who was now at the orcs side smashed orcs ribs, cracing them and sending orc flying a few meters. "Get up weakling!" was all Rex said, stepped back and waited for orc to recover. It stood up gritting his teeth in pain, looking for his weapon wary of another attack while he was unarmed. Instead Rex just waited "Pick it up. I have more trash to pound. Hury up!" he spoke showing a slight tone of imapience. As soon as the orc reclaimed its weapon Rex dashed at it, sidestepping another overhead swing and performing a thigh kick than landed with such a resounding ''thump'' his shin diggind in the unarmored thigh of the orc eliciting a shriek a pitch too high for a might orc warrior. This time rex didnt wait for orc to retrieve its weapon. Rex just advanced to the orc, and with a stomp broke one of its wrists. Another shriek, another stomp, another broken bone, and another shierk. The orc was shivering in shock from the brutal pain it just recieved. "Too weak, too ugly" Rex spoke, lifted the orcs axe and sung it ending the orcs like. Then he kicked the corpse aside, threw his weapon next to the corpse, turned to the shaman and in a chilling voice order "Next." A silence took hold over the clearing as Rex waited for his next training dummy. A minute later another orc was showed out of the group.


    To Rex it seemed as if this one was just pushed out, it did not come to the forefront willingly, but Rex didnt care much for it. He was here for his warlords mark, and he had to be domineering to get it. So it didnt matter who he had to break, unless that someone was a real beaut, he would dismiss her and laugh her off to wait to warm his bed. A world of overwhelming power in the hands of single individuals, multiple humanoid races and slaves. A proper fantasy world. That means one thing, and once thing only. A collection had to be made. It just had to, but that was for later. First things first. Rex refocused on the warrior that was meakly stepping forward, understanding it had no other choice now. Just as badly armoured as the previous one, one handed axe in each hand. Rex still didnt draw his sword, hanging at this waist. He looked to shaman, one the warrior was close enough, and shaman initiated the battle. This time Rex dashed forward and as the orc was swinging trying to intercept, rex abruptly soped, pivoted avoidint the swing and delivered a crushing blow to this orc ribs as well. Unfortunatelty, this one was less lucky than the first one and the ribs not only cracked but broke, puncturing its lung. A wheezing could be heard as the orc struggled with breathing. some blood being coughed up, arms folded over the injured side. Rex tooke the dropped axes and with one swift movement ended the orc. "Untill your champion arives, send two at a time" Rex said "I am getting bored." he continued, kiking the second corpse near the first one. Such disregard for orc might did get a reaction from the shaman. He gritted his teeth at the humiliation, and said "Two at a time. Challenge was heard and accepted. GO!" he almost screamed the last word, and who orc fighters came out, primed and ready to fight. They both charged at Rex. Rex trew one of the axes and dashed at the orc he trew the axe at. The orc stood deflecting the axe, and right the next second rex grabed his weapon, then with his overwealming strenght pulled it aside and burried the second axe in the orcs head ending his life. The second orc tried to use that moment to inflict some sort of damage on Rex, but with a tilt of His body rex dodged the cut and grabed orcs hands. then a loud crunch resounded notifying the surrounding spectators of the stattering of orcs hands. Soon after the end of this orc also came. Just like the first one, this orc had a few more bones broken before it was killed. In a similar fashion a few more pairs of orcs were ended, Rex remaining silent, untill he spoke brutalizing another pair or orcs "Growel and submit, and the suffering will end". The tone of voice didnt sound arrogant or pridefull, it soundedcold and detached. As if what he said was only natural. Then something happened that stilled the surroundings. his eyes glowed releasing black energy from the corners of his eyes. "No, thats not right." Rex spoke in a hushed tone. His next words were of a mormal volume as if stating a fact "Your submission is irrelevant. My will is all that matters." Then a flash of energy behind him, a flash so pale, and corporeal, that only the shaman got a glimpse, then raised a hand, a magical cricle materialized in front of him and then chains, as if made of blood shot out from the circle. it hained up the two downed orcs, and rex spoke again "But you are not worhy" and realeased them. then he ended them. "Get your damned champion. Or is he a coward?" Rex said as he looked at the shaman. It shuddered, nodded signaled to a few orcs who quickly dissapeared behind the gate.


    Rex was in his own thoughts. ''Is this blood magic? It felt like i could easily mark those two, make them submit. It sure as hell is not the warlord. From what Ainas group told me, warlords can sense how close to submission the targets are and if they can be broken. I sensed no such thing. It felt like claiming something weaker than me. No input neccesary of the other party. I just have to be stronger.'' Rex mused while waiting for the champion. He stood next to the greatsword and decided to get a few test subjects from this camp once he takes down the champion. Rex didnt have to wait too long, some fifteen minutes later there was commotion at the gate. What appeared was an orc, two and a half meter high, walking mountain of muscles with displeased expression on his face. It was grumbling, clearly annoyed "You better have a damn good reason, I was about to claim Ira." "And where is she?" Rex asked, turning to the shaman "Bring her here, gotta see whats so special about that one, since she could distract a champion from bloody battle." the mocking in Rex''s voice was apparent and that irritated the orc even more. Rex pulled out this greatswords sheathe from the ground, and drew the blade.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Since i achieved my primary goal, ill just end this as fast as posible." Rex spoke, and prepeared for battle. Noticing the greatsword, champions facial expression changed. All annoyance, arogance and scorn that was there dissapeared instantly, replaced with a grim expression. How could it not. That blade meant another champion had falled somewhere for the blade to be in humans hands. And champions were powerfull, not to mention the attitude with which his adversary was approaching their pending duel. It drew his own blade, tok his stance and held the balde with both hands. His opponent did the same. "Go" exclaimed shaman, and both fighters dashed forward, meeting their blades. Spark flew upon the clash of the swords, both fighters standing ground, not giving and inch, muscles tensed, trying to gain the upper hand in terms of strenght. at the same time both withdrew, and slashed again. Their swords clashed and clashed again for the next few minutes neither loosing their ground. Then the human started to parry the blows. redirecting the swords strikes of the champion. It seemed that his endurace was not as great as the champion, and bit by bit human was being pused back. Both the orcs and Silver chains looked with jaws hangling loose. How could a human, even if a true archon match a champion in strenght. A couple of minutes later both separated once again. The human had been on the defensice not blocking but parrying the blows. Champion was sure human was nearing his limits based on the last few minutes. His lust for battle and flesh had risen to the peak, and with a big grin he looked at the adventurer party in the distance, then looked at the orcs and noticed his previous interupted engagement. "Once im done here, we will continue what was interupted." He spoke, lust and excitement apparent in his voice. rex looked in the same dirrection champion did and noticed a unique specimen of the feral orcs he has been slaughtering for the past few days.


    A young woman or the orc race. Slight green shade skin, she was aproximetly one point nine meters tall with long, toned and slender legs. Thighs, just thick enough to be the best lap pillow one could want, well shaped juicy and firm ass, slight abdominal muscles, showing that the girl was working on her physical form quite a bit, but that was to be expected from a hunter gatherer style tribes. Magnificent, firm D sized breasts that had no sag, Rex attributed that to the magical properties of the nonhuman races. Red, lush, fiery waist lenght hair, braided in a single braid contrasted wonderfully with her skin elevating her beauty even more. Beatifull and youthfull face with almost non existant tusks that were so indicative of orcs. "Ira" Rex spoke and the stunning girl suddenly looked at him at the mention of her name "I''l take her once im done with you" Rex continued noticing the suprise in her face hearing human speak orc tongue. The champion howled in laughter "You can even match me anymore, show me how you will take her!" and refocused on the human. He was ready to finish the fight and get to celebrating. He swiped the worked up sweat from his forehead and charged in with full force. With and overhead swing the champion wanted the drive the human to his knees, but to his suprise the man met the strike, bloking it. The blades clashed, none of the fighters giving up and then the man spoke in a hushed tone that only the champion could hear "worked up a sweat, did you?" he smirked, removed his right hand from the greatswords hilt, then with only his left hand pused both the blade and the champion upwards with quite a fast motion as if he was pushing back a kid and with a swith motion that the champion coudnt react to used his right hand to draw his one handed sword that was on his waist and slashed across the orcs legs cutting bone deep, elicitng howl of pain from the champion.


    "Guess i can no longer work up a sweat with a single champion" Rex said, and only now did the champion noticed that his oponent hadnt shed a single drop, as if this wasnt strenous at all. the next monent human was right next to tim and with a quick motion, his arm fell to the ground, cleanly cut off. Orc champion registered it only a few seconds later and another scream followed. Next minute was a rather savage display of might as the man tore the remaining three limbs of the champion with sheer brute force thoroughly intimidating the rest of the orcs. The champion, now limbless in shock and quickly bleeing out, still alive only because Rex hadnt destroyed his most wvital organd was ended with his own sword, stabbed through the heart. "Come here Ira" Rex spoke seeing the absolute silence in the clearing "I am taking my spoils, one way or another. How many of your tribesmen dies today depens on you." The girl flinched and moved quickly, rused next to rex and got on her knees head lowered not daring to look up, waiting for what follows. Rex then looked at the crowd and noticed another decent looking young orc woman. Nothing like Ira, but decent looking enough. Then he pointed at her and said "You, wioth the raven colored hair in the corner too." The second girl flinched and got rooted in place with fear. the other orcs around her, fearing for their lives pushed her forward, waking her from her stupor. Not willing to anger the monster any more she scurried forth and kneeled besides Ira. "Name" Rex questioned, and the girl flinched once again and answered "Liraht-Gul". "Too mouthflull" rex spoke, raised his hand, his eyes gloved with black energy one again on his call, the spell cricle burst to light beneath his feet, and the bloodlike chains made their appearance one again. their wrapped around Liraht, with one becoming ethereal and stabing her the the chest, but the girl felt no physical pain. All she felt was a metaphysical chain latching onto her being, Giving her understanding of her state, "Liraht-Gul is a mouthfull, Your name is Lira from now on." Seeing as the process was perfect Rex repeated the same process with Ira, not giving her new name as he believed the name was nice enough. He wanted to test something. Since he was using blood magic to enslave the girls he tried to impart the common language to them through the binding. and so he spoke in common, not orkish, "get up and stand behind me" . "Yes master." both responded in clear common. Rex was super pleased, his awakening to this element made him quite happy as it was thousand times better than getting warlord mark. Not only was blood magic rare and guarded secret by those that new it, the affinity for it was just as rare and the slave masters were ready to sell their dauthers and mothers to get acsess to those with the potential of blood magic. Blood enslaving was not the only use of blood magic. Arguably even more valued were the blood contarcts. Contracs so binding that there were no way to cheat such contracts, and the most influential people used such contracts in the most serious of cases.


    Rex turned to the shaman and spoke "You are lucky, Ira and lira here have quelled my bloodlust for now, you get to live." Rex sheated his swords then did the same for the other champions greatsword "grab the banner, he said to Lira. We are leaving." Then he turned to champions corpse, touched it, and it was disintegrated into mana dust. "Arrogant you were, but you get at least this much respect." Spoke Rex in orcish, turned away and went in the dirrection of Silver chains, his newly quired slaves following him closely. Once his group of three reached Silver chains party, he scratched the back of his neck and spoke "Since you didnt get any loot from the champions guardians ill provide my assistance on our way to the next gate out of town, if you are okay with it. Here''s your sword, as agreed." he extended his hand with the newly aquired sword and handed it over to Aina. "Okay" she responded "Was that slavery magic? Or blood? And if you had it why would you care for warlords mark?" she asked confused. The previous two were leagues above warlords mark. Why would he need inferior skill? "Just learned it then and there." Rex responded "It just came to me as naturaly as breathing" he added. "Enlightment" one of Ainas party members muttered. Rex raised an eyebrow looking in the persons dirrection. Aina, understanding Rex gesture quickly rushed to explain "Sometimes, in certain conditions people with extremly high affinity for certain magic school can instinctively tap into said magic. As if gaining enlightment unlocking certain skills or deeper understanding. Nobody knows for certain why or when it gets triggered, but its a great blessing." "Cant disagree with that. I would apreciate if this stays between us though." Aina noded in agreement to Rex''s question "Shall we go then? Or is there something else you need to do before we head to the Recall Tori?". " We would like for your assistance in securing some more slaves for our warlord on our way back, if thats all right with you" Aina spoke, and Rex nodded in agreementwith her, picking up his backpack he had left here when he went to initiate the challenge adding "Just tell me what i have to do and ill try my best". With that the party left the outpost and advanced, looking for the Return Tori while filling out Silver chains warlord marks holder capacity. Rex picked up two more orc women. If Ira Is eleven out of then, Lira would be six, and the two other he picked up would be sixes as well. Rex noticed that enslaving with his mark was quite easy, but that was because he was leagues above the orcs, and as such the energy he spent was rather insignificant, and draining a few orcs neglected the expenditure easily.

 Chapter 8: Back to Blythe

    Their way to the next Return Tori was rather uneventfull. They had advanced deeper to fourteenth floor by the time night came. Unlike Rex, who could go seemingly for ever, as long as he was killing and draining something, the party of Silver Chains needed rest, and they had no night vision to speak of, so camping it was. While Silver chains were setting up their camp Rex turned to Aina and asked her "Can I leave my girls with you for the night? I will be out there hunting while you rest."


    "i dont quite mind" she responded, having no worries of foul play by him. After all, if he wanted, he could kill their entire party with quite the ease. She remembered how he had played with the champion. "Just be back by morning. we would like start moving by then."


    "No problem. Right, just remembered, we have return Tori to quicky leave the dungeons, is there some anchoring postions in the dungeons to save your progress of sorts? sound like that would be an insane amount of pain in the ass to have to slog through the low level areas for higher level adventurers." Rex responded and then questioned.


    "Right, your first dungesn. U did mention that on the way. yes there are such a location. Its the Return Tori, with the caviat that only one every twenty floors do that. They are twice as big as the normal ones with a unnaturaly dark beams. the beams also have golden characters on them, so it is easly to recognize."


    "Perfect, thanks." Rex responded "See you in the morning." he waved, told his slaves to remain with Ainas party for the night, and that he will be back in the morning. The night was quite peacefull for Ainas party, the peaple on the night watch were quite relaxed as well, ocasionally hearing some muffed screams off in the distance. Since the nights ussually were much more quiet, they asumed it was Rex doing, and they were right. Rex was chatching up with the kills he had to not absorb during his travel with Silver Chains, since he promised the loot to them, and lesser orcs had some body parts used in alchemy. Rex had noticed that Aina had spatial artifact. She was trying to hide its existance quite a lit, but his sharp eyes and instincts had caught on. Of course he said nothing. He had grown a liking for the elven girl, She was dirrect, straight with her questions and has treated his as an aquintance would- with a bit of respect and closeness, but not too much either. Just right, to indicate that she was quite at ease with his presence, but not entirely relaxed, still probing the depths of his character.


    Closer to the morning, while Rex was still slaughtering orcs and on his way back to the campsite, Aina woke up her party nad had a litte discussion with her party members, regarding the progress, supplies they have left and other logistics related questions. During their post strategic meeting, someone raised a question


    "So do you guys think he is slavery or blood mage?" One of the party members asked. The question caused the others look at Aina, as if asking for her input.


    "I''d wager slavery. what are the odds for a blood mage 500 to1?" She asked and sighed. "I would love him to be a blood mage. Just imagine the looks of the elders back at home if i could say i have come to know a blood mage. It would solve all these pointless strugles. Still i can''t pull Rex in my familiy politics. He has helped us enough as it is. The sword alone is incredible."


    "But we could ask him, no? He has suprised us again and again. who is to say he is not gonna do that again?" Another in the party asked "We need you or you elder sister Allana to become the next heir. Your other sibblings are way too cruel and arrogant. They will bring your family to ruin." he continued. The rest of the party agreed and a heavy silence hung in the tent. A few mintues later, an orc approached the tent.


    "Someone is aproaching warlord" he said and returned to his post. They could hear the footsteps of the leaving orc and some heavier footsteps, and a decent rustling of the leaves, that became more onad more pronounced. Then a rather loud voice echoed


    "Rise and shine sleepyheads. We have quite the path in front of us today." Rex excaimed as he had returned, as he guessed, a dozen or so minutes late. He was supprised that nobody was up and about. Then one after another Aina and her party members exited their main tent, Rex''s slaves leaving the one a bit to the side. To Rex''s suprise they were all already prepeared for the most part, just collecting the tents remained.


    "Strategy meeteing?" he asked, not expecting an answer "Got it, brought this boar i ran in on the way. Anyone wanna help me butcher it?" he pointed to the bear behind him. A small hill of a boar behind him dragged for who knows how long. Since they were in a dungeon they didnt have to be overly prudent with dealing with its remains, as they would be absorged by the dungeon. So they took the best and meatiest parts leaving the rest here. and cooked some right then adn there. While Rex''s didnt need the traditional food, replaced with draining, he could still eat and quire nutrients that way, besides, there is no way he is gonna starve Ira and the rest of his slaves. That eleven out of ten had to treasured, and the rest could wery well be maids in his mansion, when he aquires one.


    The path through floors fifteen to nineteen was rather quited, not including the screams and roars of orc parties unlucky enough to come in contact with this group of people. In the next couple of days Rex had reached a treshold of sorts. He was too strong now to gain any decent strenght from draining orcs. They now olny served as replenishment. Rex also noticed the burning gazes, filled with questions, drilling in his back. That was a weird feeling. He could ignore it , but why would he do it. If the questions were not invasive, he could very well answer them and be done with it.


    "Ask away. I can feel you bursting with curiosity. I would feel a bit sad if you were to explode before we get back to Blythe." he finaly gave up and initiated. A few exchanged glances later Aina finaly roused her courage and asked


    "Sooo" she streched the first word quickly going over the question, making sure she didnt sound too nosy or annoying "Your magic? Is it slavery or blood magic?" she was almost sure it was slavery. Blood was just too rare. There was nothing wrong with slavery, on the contrary it was very valuable as well, but, one can always dream, can they not?


    "Blood. Of that i am sure. And since we are on the topic, care to answer a question or two of mine as well?" Rex asked. While they have had quite a bit of conversations during the days of their travel, none of them were about serious topics involving things outside the dungeon or any other serious talk. Hearing that Rex is blood mage, a collective monemt of silence with a deep breath in for Silver Chains members. An actual blood mage. Lady luck had probably drunk one too many bottles and spilled some ungodly amount of luck on their corner or land. While they were spinning in their fantasies and hopes about the posible future of their lords and leaders house, Rex proceeded to ask what was on his mind


    "Where do you think i could obtain the basic knowledge regarding blood magic, and what else should i pay attention to." after his question, Silver Chains dived in a dicussion regarding Rex''s question, weighting pros and cons of each option. Some fifteen minutes and an unlucky orc band later, while her party was looting the corpses Aina answered Rex


    "The best choice for you would be to aproach merchants guild, since you didnt join adventurers guild. And we would advise you to do so with your identity as a blood mage revealed. While you may think it could be a hastle if that was known, but we asure you, its more of a benefit, since your slaves do not have the warlords mark on them, most peaple would asume you are an ofspring of some noble or filthy rich merchant who could afford branded slaves. And that would cause way more trouble- kidnapping attempts, spies, robberies and so on. Whereas blood mages would be avoided by all of the big groups, and you would omly have to care of some very unlucky stupid spawns of the aristocracy, or petty thieves, that you no doubt can take care of. After all no sane person with power would ever want to offend a blood mage, and such news would spread like wildfire. The services of blood mages are often reserved for years in advance, and if one happens to come upon a rather exotic and lucrative circumstances everyone wants to have a chance to grab a hold of such chances.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Sounds like you have quite the experience in such affairs. Care to share some of it?" Rex asked, and seeing the sudden uncomfortable silence he chucked a bit and added


    "What? Dont tell me you are some sort of noble on their coming of age ceremony of proving ones worth, or better yet in the middle of a succesion war, and are aquiring merits to strengten your claim?" Rex laughed, and then his jaw went slack, met with the frown and dead silence of the party.


    "You are shitting me!" Rex exclaimed, suprise evident in his voice "No way stuff like that actually happens" he spoke to himself, trying to wrap this thoughts around the issue. Aina the finaly spoke


    "Im sorry, you caught me by suprise. With only a name and so far from our home islands it shoudnt matter. As for examples, you could accidentaly run across the children of your rival being enslaved, and purchase them. Then your rival would retrievd them thanking you with gifts for your generosity." She spoke, her first words being filled with sincerity and guilt over the akward situation, the example then being with inuendos and sarcasm. It was quite clear tha the aristocray played down and dirty in every world.


    "Well it matters not." he then added "I grew up in the forests of the Echlisiarchy, barely having contact with any people. Dont much care for the noble families. That said i have grown to like you. I would even say i consider you a friend. And since that is the case i do believe my first gift is in order. Do tell me if you like the idea." Rex said then thought for a moment and continued "How about you being the liason of mine to the merchants guild? Im sure you can get some pretty fat favors for introducing them to a blood mage?"


    "For real?" Aina exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with joy of a little kid getting to unwrap presents early. Then she tried to calm down, regaining her calm demeanor.


    "I mean, im sure you woudnt fuck me over since it seems I''m a treasure trove, and if I were to go there myslelf I would be gambling, hoping not to run into super greedy and shady cunt. While with you I get someone reliable, or a shady cunt, but iI will be in the know who I am dealing with. You are free to try and get the most of it, just tell me what kind of people im getting. Hell, if you can get some limited acsess books about blood magic, you are free to borrow my existance for your family issues. I dont mind helping you out a bit." Rex spoke laid out his thoughts.


    Aina, her gear spinning with incredible speed, trying to figure out the best possible way to maximize both her and Rex''s gains was silent for a moment. Then she finaly processed Rex''s last sentence, her mind going blank for a second, then she leaped in exitement and hugged Rex.


    "Mary me!" she exclaimed. Rex just looked at her happy smile, her eyes dazed but beaming with exitement and gratitude. Rex waited for a minute for her brain to restart and looked at her party, who were rightfully confused, but there were knowing smirks appearing on their faces. Poor Aina, Rex realized, she is gonna get teased to no end for this. Elves are not that different from humans, he mused, you just have to be counted as one of theirs.


    Finaly coming to, Ainas face suddenly went red, realizing she had just acted like a little girl in her excitement. "My, my" Rex spoke "Rather bold proposition, if I do say so myself. Would the lady be willing to wait and allow us to get better aquinted before we cross such a serious step?" Rex teased, and Aina went even more crimson red from Rex teasing. She never expected the man to joke in such a manner. Her party started the laugh at that and she quickly let go of Rex, hid her face and said in embarrasment


    "Just kill me now, i will never hear the end of it!". She looked at Rex almost pleadingly, as if begging to be either released from suffering or saved from a mob of psychos.Rex thought for a monemt then spoke


    "Then who is gonna introduce me to the right merchants?" then he turned to her party, winked and said "Besides, this is treasure, it looses its power the more it is used. So save it and use responsibly. When the time is right the effect will be so much better." He could already imagine it- Her party doing something impressive, then in celebration Aina going with speech about bravery and winning against all ods or something like that, and then someone makes a comparison with Ainas bravery proposing to the blood mage. Rex almost fell over as he started laughing. Siilver Chains, to Ainas horror, understood Rex''s predicament induced by his imagination, and that led them on the same path. gears turning, commiting this moment to eternal memory, vowing to make the best use of it. Aina, her shoulders slupming resignated herself to her fate.


    They continued onwards after that little bonding moment, each with their own thoughs. Rex still doing the most murdering. Now however the monsters they encountered were some sort of lizardmen. Theiir horns were often used in alchemical concoctions, so the party was quite busy collecting those. Since the lizardment were more agile than orcs, weaker physically too, Rex changed his approach to battles a bit as well. With his raised status he didnt really need to, but he was working on his battle style. It was not guaranteed that he woudn''t encounter equally strong opponents where his skill would decide the outcome. he would surely grind his ass off, but one could never be sure. So he adapted, changed his approach, and tried different things to make his abilitties more refined, more deadly. Luckily it seemed that he did so almost instinctually. He reckoned that was also because of draining constantty. He auired some suconscious knowledge, but it was enough to let him improve.


    Eventually they reached the twentiest floor. Aina cautioned Rex "I have never been this far, and from what i have heard there roams a greater variant of the lizardmen. A humanoid creature not of lizard origin but aligators.Its aproximately four meters tall, bulky and agressive. Its very strong as well. So i would liek to not encounter it, and if we are unlucky can i count on you to take care of it?" Rex thought for a moment and then spoke


    "If that is all its special with, it should not be a problem. But i will be carefull nonetheless." With the warning out of the way, they proceeded to look for the Return Tori. Rex wanted to mark this location. He had no plans to slog through the lower floors one again. And since lizardmen were providing some sort of improvement, unlike orcs, he was willing to grind away. he also had no plans to bring his girls to the dungeon again. he would hire a tutor that would educate them into proper personal maids of his.


    As luck would have it for Rex, not so much for the Silver Chains, they indeed run into the Croc- man. While Aina was shouting orders and prepearing to retreat, Rex was examining the monster. Concluding that it was only slightly stronger than the champion, Rex exclaimed


    "There is not much difference between it and the Champ. THis will not take long." Then he dashed towards the monster. As Rex had stated, the monster provided Rex with no issues whatsoever. a minute later the croc-man was limbless and dead. Party quickly disecting the monster and pulling a colid monster core out of its chest. Aina offered it to Rex and he didnt refuse the gesture. They were now not only friends but also kind of a business partners. Aina would help him aquire the necesarry personell that he meight ever needed, and he could lend her his name as a blood mage and would help her out when needed. he would still get paid for his unique services, but Aina would bet discounts and she woudnt be too influenced by reservation lines. And again, when Aina mentioned thta she was getting a muc hgreater value in this exchange Rex reminded her that once her side wins her family fight he would have a powerfull elven noble families reach at his disposal. Quite the lucrative deal for his as well.


    Finaly they reached the Return Tori of the twentieth floor. As expected, it was a few times larger then the previous ones, dark colour with red engravings. Once Rex touched the Tori hefelt a certain atunment to the dungeon. The feeling of familiarity was odd, but calming, as if telling him, he could find his way back anytime.


    "Pretty impressive, is it not Aina asked" looking at the tori "I am always amazed by new sights in the dungeons, some can take your breath away" she continued. Rex looked at it for a while and responded


    "Its okey i guess. I bet there must be so much more impressive sights out there in this wast world, hell i bet such sights can be found deeper in this same dungeon. I would not mind finding something truly magnificent, and bring my future harem there one day." Rex smiled thinking of something that calmed his soul. Aina looked at him smiled in response and jabbed at him with her words


    "Finaly, i hear something normal out of your mouth. See you on the other side." she said and went through with her team. Rex looked at his four slaves apreciatinf the magnificance that was Ira, extended his hand holding a smple ribbon


    "Hold to it and lets go" he spoke, and they obeyed. The group went through the mist gate and appeared at the entrance of the dungeon. As luck would have it, the same two guards that were stationed here when Rex entered had their shit again. Noticing the archon from before, for whatever reason both shuddered,feeling that he had grown stronger. The absolute bombshell of a woman and the other tree orc women slave, the guards asumed, intensified they previous thoughts. Rex paid them no mind, and left. His women trailing behind him. he had to sell some of his loot to some shops, secure lodgings for today. Gotta get some solid bath for himself and the ladies and prepeare for the next day. Aina said she would bring him to some of the merchants she had chosen. The meeting spot had been designated. But he would worry about all that tommorow. Today he would relax, rest and enjoy himself.

 Chapter 9: R&R

    One back in the city and separated from the Silver Chains, Rex went to the same inn he had rented room previously, droping by some of the jewelcrafters he had visited on the first day in this city, when he was asking around. he had a whole backpack with precious metals and gems to sell off. And while he had no plans to offload it all right now since he was sure he could get much better prices with the merchants tommorow, he needed some extra liquid currency. He went through a couple shops and sold a few gems, netting himself an extra gold coin. He reckoned that was enough for the day. Then he brought his girls to the same inn he stayed at last time. While going there, he had his girls wear a baggy clothing he had gotten his hands on thanks to Aina, so their collarbones and most features were hidden. Rex had no interest of parading Ira to all the lecherous retards around, especially since his girls didnt have warlords brand on their collarbones. Since they were covered sufficiently his group was not harrased, or annoyed on their way.


    Entering the inn Rex saw the same inkeeper lady at the reception/bar counter. He aproached her, waved his hand in greeting and spoke "Hello again, have any rooms spare?"


    "Why of course we do" the lady responded "anything in particular?" she asked and then noticing the, rather well obscured, four individuals close to Rex raised an eyebrow and continiued "Lord archon has some company now?"


    "Jea, they are mine. Need two rooms. bed disposition, doesnt matter much but i need one with at least two beds. Also i heard you have a bigger bath that one could rent for a while." Rex responded, and added a few more questions of his own.


    "Yes we do indeed, we charge it 5 silvers by the hour. The soap and other necesities are included." innkeep spoke, showing her best salesperson smile.


    "Great so ill need the bath for an hour then and those two rooms for a night."


    "Two rooms for five people for a night and a bath reservation for an hour. That will be fifteen silvers." inkep calculated, Rex pulled out the required money and paid. As he did so the inkeeper opened the door behind her and yelled out "Nikki, got customers to serve! Get your ass here." A few moments later, a boy, aproximately the age of fourteen, ran out the back door and the inkeep gave him orders "Prepeare the bath, and lead these peaople there, reservation for an hour." While inkeep was giving a few more instructions to the boy, Rex adressed her


    "You got a girl working hereas well? Need some help with my companions in the bath. They are all girls, so dont worry. Just need someone to show them the ropes of a proper civilised bath." The inkeep imediatly understood that the companions were fresh slaves. Not at all a rarity. She noded and spoke


    "Three more silver for the girl for the hour". Rex nodded and paid. He exchanged a few words with the inkeep while the boy prepeared the bath and one bath was ready, Rex and his entourage followed the boy and a girl to the bath. Rex, his entourage and the girl entered the bath, boy hanged a sign outside and stood watch by the doors, looking out for the girl. While it was not a regular occurance, sometimes some adventurers liked to get agressive with staff of inns. Sound of clothes rustling, water splashing, and pleasant groans were heard from the bath.


    Bath was in a similar style to japanese baths. You had a washing area with small stools, a big basket with clean and warm water, laddles, to draw the warm water, several different texture sponges, soap and some cloth to wash oneself preoperly, before soaking in rather sizeable pool of hot water. Rex paid no attention to women and the girl behindd, disrobed, his back turned to them, sat on a stool, took one sponge, a piece of soap, drew some water, poured it over himsleft and started tto soap up. realizing his girls were still standing there he spoke. "Dont just stand there, disrobe and wash yourselves. Follow the girls instructions, and try to remember. baths are going to be a wery important part of your lives from now on." Still not even glancing in their way he continued "Get to it girl. They have zero experience in proper bathing with soap and all, so be thorough." Once he women started to get to it Rex relaxed and continiued his own process. He was already thinking that he might just buy a properly trained sex lave that would teach all his future girls some techniques. But that was for later. He would enjoy a proper bath first.


    After a round of proper scrubbing and washing the dirt away, rex got into the pool. A happy groan escaped him. That was his own little paradise. He loved grinding, he loved the rush of energy that he gained after each drain, but there just was something magical in a hot bath after a long day(or in his case something like a week) of hard work. He had kept his back to the girls the whole time and the only accident that happened, if one could call it that was when Ira disrobed the staff girls exclaimed "How pretty!" to which Rex snickered, and without turning around spoke "I killed an orc champion for her you know, she is mine, dont get any ideas" His tone was light, no threat or any negative energy in the tone, and then he just laughed a bit. Once all his women were washed properly they stood by the pool. naked and nervous, keeping silent. So very timid. Deep in theit souls they new they coudnt go against their master, and the ferocity and power they saw Rex display during their travel, had them quite terrified. Rex sensing their hesitation spoke "Get in the bath, enjoy the hot water, and listen." he waited for all four to get in, adn while they were still fearfull and timid, he saw a wave of calmness wash over them, if only for a moment, as the hot water was doing its magic. "Girl, your job is done, you may leave" Rex adressed the girl "Tell the boy to warn me ten minutes before the time ends." The girl quicky get fully dressed, and left the room. She noticed that the young man had not looked at her half naked body even once as she was instructing and teahing the women the art of proper bathing, but rememberring the beaty of one of the girls she also undertood why that could be the case. She was pretty decently looking, but when next to such beauty, she might as well not exist. All the bettter for her. The young man was no price charming either. Just an average man. Nothing special ignoring the eyes of course.


    Not aware of the servant girls thoughts, not that Rex would care even if he knew, he waited a bit for his girls to get adjusted to the hot water, and then asked "How do you people treat their slaves? " What followed was a few minutes of a rather bland description of the treatment of slaves in lesser orc society. They had many tribes that warred anong each other and the winner would often enslave the women and children of the defeated. Men were slaughtered, and women used as entertainment and breeders, to replenish the winning sides numbers. Being female slave meant any male could have a go as long as the woman was not pregnant. For ordinary women it was not that much better. Once of age the males of the tribe would fight for given female based on her characteristics. Then only the husband could enjoy said woman. The more desirable, the bigger the competition. Ira for example, with her exeptional looks, was claimed by a champion, and champions were notirious for not caring about women besides sating their lust with dozens of slaves at a time. They were expecting the same here. Tales of humans made them out to be even more savage and monstrous than orcs. Hearing all this Rex sighed and spoke


    "You all belong to me, and me alone. No other male is allowed to touch you, let alone fuck you. And while part of the slaves that I aquire will be sold, and their condition will no longer be a concern of mine, you three" Rex pointed the the girls "Lira, Liara and Lianne are lucky to be among the very first. I will keep you around as my personal maids. Ira, from now of i am going to call you Irina. Sounds more pleasing. I will have you taught to oversee and manage my other slaves. Your beaty qualifies you be be among my favorites. Now regarding the rules you have to follow. As you feel in your soul, you cannot harm or my property, that includes my other slaves unless I have given you permission to do so. Do not allow others to sexually touch you." Rex spent a few more minutes explaining different nuances regarding more tricky situations regarding human societies and pecking order, and some other things of note. He ended his rule list emphasizing a necesity of his. What he needed was not soulless husks that just fulfilled their given tasks. He wanted them to think, and talk, and live.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    After the bath Rex entourage had a hearthy supper, and they retired to the rooms he was given. As per Rex request the rooms were next to one another. Rex and irina were in one room, and the trio was in the second. Now irina was even more beautifull than when Rex first saw her. And since he finally had a proper chance to rest, he had no plans to hold back any longer. Once in the room, Rex got naked laid on the bed and signaled for Irina to follow suit. Orcs had little shame to begin with and so she too disrobed and laid on the bed. She was aware of what was going to happen. All things considered, this seemed more preferable that the orc champion. This man was stronger, and strenght meant all in orc tribes. Her mother had told her the basics of the ritual. She new it would hurt. It always does her mother told her, but it was neccesary. As her master was laying on the bed, which she didnt understood why, she did as her mother had taught her. One naked, she got on the bed, got on all four, and spread her legs.


    x--------x


    "I am ready master." she spoke. Her voice even, as she had been prepeared for this for more than a week. Her master looked at her from the side, a hint of lust and pride in his gaze. He got up, positioned himself behind her, his hands roaming over her back, then her hips, then his hands roamed over her thighs. Then his hands spent a some time enjoying her ampple yet firm ass. It seemed he was in no rush, enjoying his prize to the fullest. She had never heard of such a thing. The solf and light touches left rather pleasant, not at all what she had expected. His every movement elicited a slight tingle, and inkling of something pleasant. She could feel a miniscule spark, lighting up deep within her. A need, ever so small, but there. Then she felt his member touching her entrance, poking her a bit. She knew the pain would start soon, and she gritted her teeth, but nothing happened. The nshe hear him speak


    "Barely any reaction, guess ill hate to work harder." She felt him pull her up, her back against his chest, one of his arms taking hold of her breastand starting to massage it, from time to time rubbing her nipple. The other sneaked down and started to rub lower lips and entrance, his index finger somethimes sliding in, his thumb rubbing her clitoris. His movements were measured, sometimes slow, then increasing pace, then slowing down again. As time went on she felt that small flicker deep within her to start to burn hotter and hotter, and she felt her lower half to moisten more and more. The longer it went on the more heated she became, untill finaly his lower hand left her soaked lower half


    "Now you are ready." he spoke, and allowed her to slup don on the bed. He then pulled her ass up, lined up is member, and entered. Innitally there was slight pain, but nothing like she had expected. His movements slow, measured, allowing her insides to adjust to his size. She could feel the friction of her insides and his member ever so smooth because of her wetness. The longer he was at it the lesser the pain, and the more pleasurable it felt. Untill the pain stopped entirely, and all she could feel was pleasure. Each trust while pleasurable on its own brought closer somethin else, something unexplainable. And eventually it came. A n explosion of pleasure that had her arching her back, her insides clenching, trying to grip his member and not letting it go. She was in her high for some time, and then she slumped on the bed, exausted. That wasnt the end though. he once again stared to move, driving her back in the whirlwind of pleasure. It went on for what felt like forever, untill in one of her climaxes, she felt him explode inside of her, bringing her high to a new peak. When she finaly was falling asleep all she felt was bliss, and the hope to experiece something like this again.


    x-------x


    Rex slept a few hours, increadibly satisfied with himself. Those nonstop grinds had brought him insane endurance, a fact he would be abusing quite often. He still had quite a bit of time left before the meeting with Aina. He looked at Irina, who had snugged up to him and was still out cold after last night. He went over his plan and bulletpoints he needed to go over with the merchants. The main thing he needed was to aquire a residence where he could station himself and his women. He was growing at a pace that made dungeoning witha party quite impossible as others coudnt keep up. he just relaxed and waited for Irina to wake up, and the other girls to come to his room once they wake up. His senses told him others were okey and sleeping as well, so he just waited.


    Some twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door "master" was uttered and Rex beckoned them in. The three girls entered the room, and saw irina, still half asleep on the bed. Rex came out of teh small bathroom that each room had. They spent some minutes to wake Irina up and prepare. Girls were still rather well covered, since he had not met the merchants. rex was sure he could take down the majority of adventurers in normal circumstances, but he still chose to remain vigilant and not expose his actual combat strenght. Even Silver Chaisn hadnt seen him going all out, and now he was having quite a lot of different ideas regarding possible blood magic applications in combat or as a utility abilities.


    Their breakfast was mostly quiet, some small questions here and there from girls. They were slowly adapting to their masters commandments. The trio had talked among themselves the previous night and had come to a conclusion that while they were slaves now, there was a great possibility that this was their greatest lucky encounter. The fact alone they werent free use stress relief for every passerby alone was a blessing for a slave, not to mention their master was treating them incredibly well. Rex will bring his entourage to the meeting, and will have them either stand in attendance or in the next room, depending on Ainas suggestion. he trusted the girl quite a bit, but that didnt mean he wasnt carefull and prepearing for many kinds of contingencies. Always be prepeared, that was Rex''s moto right now. And he just needed to aquire a permanent residence, with Ainas contacts and the merchants ensure his residence is secured and not disturbed so he can leave his entourage there while he grinds the dungeon deeper. pick up some contract work as a blood mage to cover the expenses, hire a couple of tutors to teach his girls some knowledge like arithmetics, and other knwoledge neccesary for a life in a city.


    When the apointed time was closing in Rex arived at the meeting point. He didnt have to wait long for Aina to arive. They greeted each other, exchanged a few words, and moved in a direction of the merchants guild. Rex inquired how many merchants would be be introducted to, and what are their specialities, characters and tendencies. He liked to have at least some sort of knowedge about his possible long term trade partners. This was a port city after all that connected to the rest of the world. If one was looking for anything, if it was sold, you could find it here, or find someoen who can get it for you. Recieving the requested info about the merchants, all three of them, Rex considered for a while, regarding his aproach and plans. Then he asked Aina regarding residence, to whom should he turn and the same regarding tutors for his girls. While Rex was chatting with Aina, solving his questions and concerns, Irina was chatting with the other girls. She knew the two not from her tribe had experience in tribes and she wanted to know, did her mother lie, or were humans just that incredible. A while later they reached the merchants guild and Aina spoke


    "Well here we are." gesturing to the big and well decorated building "Time to earn some favors!" she exclaimed, then turning to the group and noticing Rex raised eyebrow, she pouted and continiued "what? You are also profiting from this." Then she gestured to Rex and his group to follow, turned around and entered the building. Rex just shrugged and followed suit, his entourage closely behing him.

 Chapter 10 : The merchants

    Entering the building Aina aproached the counter, and spoke with the employee for a while and as soon as the employee left Aina returned to rex.


    "Follow me. We will be waiting in a separate room." Rex nodded and his group followed her. It didnt take long for them to arive at relatively small room. It was neatly decorated, not too over the top but enough to show the prosperity of the merchants. There were two rather large sofas stationed around a coffee table of some sorts. The table was covered with some refreshments, but Rex noticed there was no drink there. He asumed it would arrive sometime soon or along with the merchant. Aina sat down on one of the sofas, and gestured Rex to sit down next to her, while speaking


    "Your slaves should stand behind you. Its an etiiquete in such things, unless you are so much above your the oposite party that one just doesnt care. "


    "Since we are planning to have business relationship I dont see the need to spit in the face of the other party." Rex responded, then thoughtfully added "So what kind of people are you getting those favors from?"


    "Two merchants. Both are shrewd, and will try to grain the most profits from their transactions, but my house havent had any issues or underhanded tactics employed against us. Nor have we heard of such methods being used against others, without those parties being the innitial agressor. So as long as you are direct and precise deals you should have no problems." Understanding Rex''s question Aina quickly responded.


    "Good to know." Rex spoke. His girls had taken their position behind Rex behind the sofa. Anda small comfortable silence enveloped them. They waited some ten minutes or so before the door opened, and in came an elven gentleman, by the complexion of his face one would guess middle aged man in human age somewhere around mid fourties, which meant the elf was few hundred years old at least. behind him was a girl dressed as a maid with a tray of tea, Rex guessed.


    The elf noticing Aina, who was sitting on a couch, and another person next to her started to calculate in his head. The assistant did say that miss aina was here and had said she has very important business to discuss, and that he should hurry to her meeting room. It was normal for elven royalities to have their own designated rooms for business in any large city. Who was the cloaked man besides her, he had no idea, but judging by the four ,obviously women slaves, behind him, the man was a part of this important business she had with him. All calculations having taken up only a few seconds of real time, he quickly got his merchant mode on and greeted Aina


    "My, my. How unexpected. What would and elven princess need of a humble merchant such as me." He lightly chuckled, then continiued "Im rather sure none of you younger generation are allowed to use your family name to gain accolades." he looked at her, as he was sitting down. He was going to squeeze all the benefits he could from this encounter, hell maybee he could get a favor or two from her. The gears were turning and planning, all the while keeping a keen eye on her expressions, untill the man besides her spoke, inerrupting his groove


    "Are you sure he will not waste my time?" Rex questioned, adding in a rather teasing tone "Princess?" The merchant then noticed a slight flinch in Ainas expression, and that instantly informed him that this deal did not involve the royal family, but the girl herself, which somewhat deflated merchants hopes. There basicly was no profit to be had in dealings with fresh adventurers party, even if they theoretically contained an elven royality. Their sucsession wars were just that constricting and brutal. And with his knowledge, there was no way for Aina to earn the throne, whats more, from trusted sources he knew this girl would back a sister of hers, not fight for the throne herself.


    "Sorry Rex" Aina quickly spoke somewhat akwardly smiling "but I believe he is one of the few merchants in Blythe, who could even try to acomodate you. The fact that we have an extensive history of dealing with him, and proving his capabilities in delivering the requested services is the only reason I even chose him as a candidate for you." Aina was quick to understand Rex actions. He was strongly implying to the merchant, that their business, if any to be had, was only thanks to Aina here. She then turned to the merchant and in a neutral and dignified voice spoke


    "I would kindly suggest you introduce youreself, and change that attitude of yours. While i am of little concern for someone of your status, I doubt you would want to make a bad impression of yourself to an unafiliated blood mage." As her worlds rolled of her tongue, the merchants eyes went wide. Elven royality never joked around the business table, and this girl was rummored to be even more frigid in her mannerisms. The man lifting his hood and revealing such a young face and a status of a true archon only made Ainas statement even more believable. Then his brain went overdrive when he comprehended the entire sentence. Unafiliated. That means natural tallant to unlock the school by himself. That was a walking godl mine. And Aina had brough this mage to him. The fact alone that she knew such a guy already changed her value not only to him, but even her entire family. He had to get the in the mans good graces.


    "Of course, my humble appologies" The elf quickly got up and bowed to the two in front of him "My name is Eledar Silverblade. An elven merchant, and I specialize in information, speciality goods and personel aquirement. " This time he turned to Rex and used his most elegant and respectfull manners in expressing himeself.


    Aina having dealt with shrewd people all her life knew how to press an advantage when there was one, and seeing as there was an oportunity to milk more for her''s and Rex''s gains, she added


    "Do you have some slaves at hand to demonstrate his skills on? Be is even better than your average practitioner." The maid had set the tea tray on the table and prepeared three cups- one for each person sitting next to the table. Eledar, was rather lucky with his choice of servants today it seemed, and while he would lose an hour or two from todays schedule, he was more than happy to do so


    "i would be honored, and as luck would have it, the servant girl here is my personal slave" he gestured to the maid, and understanding her master the maid unbuttoned her top few buttons and revealed a collar around her neck.


    "Slave collars. Made by slavery magic. ussually can force a person to obey for up to a few years. Much easier to create than permament slave marks, but at the same time much weaker as well. Coudnt controll adventurers of C class and above" Aina quickly explained to Rex, to witch he nodded and spoke


    "Have her strip so her collarbone and top of her chest, above breasts, is exposed" Eledar nodded and the human girl blushed, but obeyed and disrobed her hop half. She was wearing a rather plain bra, obviously noone expected her to show herself of to some VIP today. The girl then bowed her headin embarasment. What happened next had Eledars jaw drop. Even his trained merchant acting couldnt supress his suprise. Rex lifted his hand, a crimson circle flared at his legs and a few chains as if made of blood shot out of the circle. They wrapped around the girl, securing her in place. Then once chain became etheral, and shot in her chest.


    "Remove the choker" Spoke Rex, and Eledar did so right away. Next a mark appeared on the girls chest above her breasts "A drop of your blood in the center of the brand" Rex then ordered the merchant, and he complied. Eledar pressed on one of his rings, which thene extended a rather small and delicate looking needle from if sigil. Then he preoceeded to prick his finger and dripped his blood in the brand. Brand then glowed a little and its center changeda little. As the ethereal chain left the girls chest Eledar sensed a unique connection establishing with the girl. He new she was his slave in every sense of the word. no need for any other supplementary devices. Oddly Rex saw that the girl was quite happy herself, as if knowing that she was trully Eledar''s made her pleased. Eledar sat down, and the room was in absolute silence for a while untill Rex spoke


    "This one is free since Aina wanted to show of my skills, but there will be no other such ocasions. I dont run charity." Next came the crucial part. They needed to come to an agreement regarding their posible dealings in the future. Eledar had his work cut out for him. Aina was quite capable negotiator, and she was wery well aware of how exeptional Rex''s skills were. The speed alone would make him unreasonable asset, but the fact that he didnt seemed tired at all after the branding was even more impressive. To put a cherry on top he didnt need to weaken the target at all before the branding, and while the girl was just a normal human, the fact remained. That skill was exeptional.


    The two favours he ended up guaranteeing Aina for this introduction was a drop in the ocean when compared to the contact Eredar aquired. And Rex only requested a mansion to be found that he could rent and eventually buy to be secured, a few tutors for his personal slaves(only females allowed, apparently he has trust issues regarding humans), a decent space artifact so he can farm the dungeon comfortably. That was another thing that got Eredar drop his jaw, when Aina told that the mage can take out and orc champion in solo combat. A feat he would never disclose to anyone outside their current conversation. That added another level of depth and value to Rex. Rex in return would guarantee a single enslavement cast every year, with a discount. Any additional servives from his side would have to be negotiated seperately. And Eledar knew he was profiting like no tomorrow in this exchange. There were no merchants who could have guaranteed slots of enslavement every year. Blood mages were just that rare and expensive, and yet, he had it. Aina and Rex didnt even bother hidining the fact that there would be another merchant, who would be approached and offered the rare opportunity to get in the good graces of a blood mage, and once Eredar learned who it was, he count approve more. While he dealt with presonel, it was mostly preofesionals. Specialists in their fields, training of certain jobs for servants and such. The other merchant was one of the biggest slave traders in city, and he would pay anything to get acsess to a blood mage. Blythe had a slavery mage. And while he was good at what he did, the inherent weakness of slavery magic still remained. In case of chokers adn other accessories, they had a hard cap regarding the strenght of an individual they can keep enslaved, and the actual magic brands could be broken by the strongest of people. Willpower has a hard counter to slavery magic and warlords mark. Blood magic shackled a soul. One branded there was no way to break free. As part of the deal Eredar had to bring them to the other merchant and show off his ''newly aquired'' branded maid. Since this maid always follows him everywhere he goes, slaev trader could recognise her. One done with the contract and its details, Eredar ordered for a carriage to be prepared. They would visit the other merchant straight away.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    On their way to the slave trader, Eledar gave a brief summary of the merchant. Brogni Ironfist- a dwarwen mechantcoming from an ancient clan of dwarwen traders. As all dwarfs they are direct, proud and love treasures. Anything that boosts his hoard gets the royal treatment, and even Aina, who is a warlord, can barely gain any acknoledgement from Brogni, because she cant bring anything too impressive yet. Her slaves always turn profit, sure, but there a dime a dozen such slaves brought in for sale every month, and just as much are wasted in the colleseum and fighting pit. Eledar is neccesary here for a fast and efficient introductions and securing of business.


    It was quite obvious when they entered the slave markets. This part of the trading district was more filthy, and quite a few of the slaves were displayed almost like cattle. Lesser races like kobolds, squee(pigmen), and more animalistic beastmen. The ones with fur and more bestial features were displayed on cheap looking outdoor stages, or kept in cages with minimal cover from elements. Going deeper the conditions got better, and as for why they entered from the slum part of the slave market,as Eledar explained, sometimes one can find a gem among the heaps of trash. At the end of the tent zone was a huge building complex, with inner garden that was flanked by the complex building. In the garden there was a stable, where they lefts their ride, and with Eledar leading the party they scaled the marble stairs leading to a door with ''VIP'' written on it. There Brogni was recieving his most important customers and providers himself. If you were not on his VIP list there were quite a few other building you could bring your business to. Two big and burly men stood, guarding the door to the VIP zone, but seeing Eledar they bowed slightly and opend door for the group.


    Inside there was a counter with two beautifull ladies waiting and as soon as they noticed doors opening, they rushed from the counter and greeted the group. Noticing the elven merchant the ladies bowed and spoke in soft tones


    "Welcome back, master Eredar. Master Brogni is speaking with another client right now. Please follow us to the guest lounge. Is there anything you would like for refreshments while we wait for master." the girls spoke and guided their group to the lounge. The room was quite large, decorated with expensive wall coverings, wery comfortable sofas along all the walls, a table with all kind of fruits and snacks in the middle.


    "We will bring tea in just a moment, spoke one of the girls." The other was already on her way to the lounge with tea. As soon as the second girl arived, the first one exused herself and returned to the lobby, to greet any other VIP''s if any were to arive. The girl serving tea engaged Eredar wery politely, and Eredar turned to Rex and adressed him


    "I do hope you dont mind us waiting a bit. Brogni is wery serious when it concerns business and he always finishes his deals in the order of guests arival."


    "i dont mind too much. I will figure a way to spend the time." Rex responded, looked at the inviting sofas,thought for a moment, then continiued "Girls, cloaks off, and lets get comfortable, we dont weant to dirty that expensive furniture. Irina sit there" Rex pointed to a corned of a sofa, and the girls proceeded to follow their orders. Irina was the first one to follow her orders. She was quite happy with how her new life was shaping out to be. Once she took of her cload, Eredar was taken by suprise seeing her beauty. Once she was in the spot ordered by Rex, her master lied down with his head on her lap.


    "Feel free to relax and get comfortable" Rex spoke and closed his eyes for a quick nap on the soft lap pillow. He considered himself a rather smart right now. The combination on this heavenly lap wiith the fluffy sofa was just perfection.


    Some thirty minutes later, time that Eredar and Aina spent talking about random things regarding elven realms and other insignificant topics the door opened, and in came a rather bulky man meter and a half in height, big and bushy beard covering his chest. The man was well dressed and witha big smile on his face. Behind him were two other maids and a mena looking werewolf if somekind of a metal armor.


    "Eredar! My friend, apologies for taking so long. You know how I work. Every VIP must be treated with the proper respect. After all they are the lifeblood of my business." Spoke Brogni , then he noticed Aina, gave her a slight nod and then focused on the remaining five people in the room. Four orc women, three barely above average looking and one stunning. The beaty was sitting in the corned with a young man using her lap as a pillow and taking a leasurely nap. He also noticed that not a single of the women had slavery collars, or the glow of warlords mark. So they were either servants or escorts. Keeping his smile on his face the dwarf continued


    "What business would you my friend here with the elven princess in tow, and a beauty I have not seen around here?" If the girl was to be sold here, he would be setting up a mega auction with her as the main item. She would bring gigantic profits even with just his ten precent auction fee.


    "Those three are my maids, and Irina here is not for sale, ever." Rex spoke, sitting up from the heavenly pillow "Eredar is here so we could get a timely audience before i decide to bring my services elsewhere and Aina is here to get a few favors, because she convinced me to even consider bothering myself with all of this." he continiued and opended his eyes, looking at the dwarf. His status as a true archon had always provided a solid reaction. Brogni was a bit suprised seeing a true archon, but he had seen crazier shit so he wasnt off his rocker and Eredar rushed to make sure his friend doesnt fuck himself over with his short temper of a dwarf. The elf quickly gestured to his maid and ordered the werewolf and maids to leave the room. Brogni smelling money in the air purely because he knew how the elf operated, quickly ordered so as well, and as soon as dwarfs entourage was outside, Eredars maid shoved her mark to Brogni.


    The dwarf not understanding straight away asked confused "Why would you waste a blood mages brand on such an ordinary slave girl, and where did you find " and there his words stopped, his head quickly shipped in the orc women dirrection, his eyes bulged fully processing the obvious facts in front of him. Four orc women, around a young true archon male, no slavery chokers, no warlord mark glow, no slavery magic marks on their hands or faces.(slavery magic would be drawn runes on skin that would look like runic tatoos once active, Most often beeing drawn with a lock on the back and extending to the limbs with intricate patterns.) That would mean that all four are most likely branded. Ance since only one of the four was valuable enough to brand, purely because of her looks, the only logical explanation was that the man in the middle was a blood mage. That also would explain why Eredar himself would introduce them, and if the elven princess brought the mage over, that would explain why she would expect a few favours in return. Any slave trader with acsess to a blood mage could secure some insane deals purely as a mediator.


    "Sir mage, I humbly apologize for making you wait" the dwarf started, but got cut off before he could get too deep in the flattery that has been ingrained in him as a merchant


    "If you feel sorry, reward Aina, it was her idea to offer my services to you. Lets get down to business. Im sure we both want that." Rex spoke "I like people with principles, so keep yours intact, and dont fuck me over and we will have a cooperation just fine." As soon as Rex finished the dwarf shut up for a minute, Swore to himself to forever more hold fast to his current modus operandi and started to talk about conditions, prices and other aspects of their future dealings. They spent the next few hours ironing out the contract details, Ainas reward, and the mutual cooperation between Brogni and Eredar regarding their work as intermediaries for Rex''s branding services. How often would Rex be willing to perform such services and other details.


    After concluding their business, and having a rather luxurious meal at the dwarfs residence, Rex, Aina, Eredar and the girls returned to Eredars mansion, where Rex would spend the next few days while the elven merchant would Prepare the residence for Rex and his girls. At the end of the day, everyone ended up quite happy. Rex got his hands services he is gonna need anyways, both merchants got ways to make stacks of cash and earn more prestige, and Aina secured herself some big favours from powerfull merchants and an ally in a blood mage with insane potential. Aina also went word to her sister, whom she is supporting to prepare a magical mirror for comunication. She had imoprtant news to share.

 Chapter 11 : Business secured

    With the assistance of Brogni and Eredar, Rex got acsess to what little knowledge the merchant guild had in their guild library regarding blood magic and its intricacies. And altough what they had was quite a poor collection of knowledge, Rex could piece out quite a bit of nuances in the usage of the school. This somewhat generic knowledge provided him witha a much needed direction, and prompted him to experiment witha a few concepts he had been thinking of. Rex had come to the conclusion that blood magic had two main subcategories in it. The blood subtre as he chose to classify it, and he asumed that through focusing on this side of the school, he could asume dirrect controll over other beings, like a pupeteer, controlling the dolls of flesh. The other subtree would be what all blood enslaving was based upon. Soul magic, that used blood a medium. Flesh and soul, two sides of the same coin, as both are linked ever so tightly, and as such controll over the latter through the first.


    Rex reasoned, that for his needs, focusing on the soul part was quite obvious, however he would also develop a certain technique utilising blood, that he asumed would skyrocket his growth speed of personal strenght, and as such, the following week, during witch Eredar was finalising the documents necesarry to transfer the ownership of Rex''s new mansion in the noble district to him, Sponsored by both Eredar and Brogni, Rex developed his new technique with the knowledge he aquired from the guild. he got his hands on a couple of bunnys, and locked himself in the basement, working on his new technique. In the same time, his servants were taught mathematics, and few other necesary skills for them to become proper maids. Common sense training was also put in place, to educate the girls regarding the darker side of society, that existed in the outside world.


    At the end of the week, Rex did travel to city lords mansion with both Eredar and Brogni. And while Rex was reluctant, he was persuaded by the merchants that at the very least the lord of the city had to be avare of the new resident of the noble district. Rex grumbled for quite the long time, and to not be annoyed to high heaven he even used one of the techniques he had learned from the books of merchants guild. A sort of identity card creation, just like the adventurers cards, Every mage had a unique signature they left, and so as the guild had their official mages who crafted the base of adventurers cards, so could rex create his own card, with his unique signature. And Rex had done exactly that. A simple dog tags with serial number and name of the person on one of the two set pieces and the afiliation and owner on the other side. These identification tools were made for his girls and servants in the future. And his presence here was to provide the lord of the city with an example of the card, so his oficial servants would know who not to mess with without justifiable cause. Rex was dressed in a rather covering clothing. He had no interest to parade himself like an exibit, nor was that required. Blood mages were unreasonably eccentric, and as such noone would raise an eyebrow. His face was well hidden as well, so recognizing him if one would meet him in the city was nigh imposible.


    The lord had almost rolled out the red carpet when he heard of a blood mage ariving for an audience, and only because of timely interferance by the two merchants was it kept quite private. Luckily the lord came from qiute powerfull family himself and didnt have the need to try to go overboard with the ass kissing beyond the initial required courtesies regarding guests of the highest importance. When Rex and the merchants entered the lords study, since they had opted for a private and low profile visit, instead of the grand welcoming with a parade and a banket that would happen in the lord''s castles main court hall, they were greeted with a rather simply decorated office room. Book shelves, covering the walls, stacked with books. A rather large sized table in the middle, covered in books and scrolls of all sorts, a rather comfortable looking chair, in witch the lord was sitting and reading through some sort of a report.


    The butler announced their presence, and lord switched his attention from the scroll to his guests. Once they were in, the lord stood up, nodded at the mage and adressed both merchants and his guest


    "Honored guest, Brogni, Eredar, to what do I owe such visit?" his voice calm, ready and prepared for many different situations. Both merchants quickly went on a few minute long greetings and exchange of pleasantries, as required of their stature, always keeping the major players happy and showing proper amount of respect. Once the chatter died down Rex Spoke as well


    "Greetings, lord of the city. As I have plans to maintain residence in this city for the forseeable future, my aquintances here though it was prudent for me to meet and greet the ruling person of the city. The little people on the streets have only praises for your character and the way you run your city. And for the time being, I have to agree with them. Here''s to hoping for your health, so such rule and prosperity  last for a long time." Rex spoke, then kept a brief pause, adn once the lord nodded in apreciation of the well wishes Rex continiued "I have also brought with me a sample of my servants identification, so your guards could be warned not to make unnecesarry mistakes, since no matter how great the master, there are always black sheep in every family and company." Rex words were monotone, with not a single indication on an insult there, words spoken trutch, that the lord was well aware of. Such a calm and pragmatic outlook from one of the most sought after proffesionals was quite apreciated, and as such lord smiled lightly, and responed


    "Jes, that is the nature of man. Thre will always be someone aiming to bring down a great man and his body of work."


    "Is the room secure, with no unwanted eyes and ears around?" Rex asked, quite aware of the posiblity of spys being a posibility." The lord must have his enemies who would try to do almost anything to see him fall, so one had to always be wary. The lord nodded, opened a drawer on the desk, pulled out a device, with a crystal in the middle, and turned a switch on it. A cirlce with radius of a few meters actualized in the room enveloping the four men in the room. Seeing the merchants nod, Rex took of the hood and mask hiding his facial features, and spoke


    "It is only fitting, to he face to face with a person, who ensures the order adn welbeing of the city. If you have any questions, mayas well ask them now. I will try to satiate your curiosity with my answers. Within reason of course." Rex spoke in a calm voice, unexpected for his young looks. Then again one could never bee too sure with the true archons. City lordThough for a moment, then spoke


    "Victor Vor. Feel free to adress me as Victor. I am not a fan of fancy titles, they tend to eat up unnesesary time and space in ones brain." Lord spoke, having understood the gist of the mages personality.


    "Rex." Rex responded "Just name is fine, though i would prefer to not be adressed by name in case there are outsiders present. The two merchants here and an elven pricess names Aina and her party are the only people in the know, my servants not counting, so i would prefer my name to remain in that circle of people as well. How i am adressed outside of theese situations i leave to you, as i will be adressing you as City lord most of the time." Victor nodded in understanding


    "Its only normal. Blood mages are often swarmed by leeches who drain the mage untill nothing but husk remain. And since you have been so kind as to allow me to sate some curiosity dont mind if i do so. To start with, are there anything i might inquire regarding your services and their accesability?" Rex was expecting this aspect to be one of the most obvious themes, and since he had already went over said subject with the merchants in great depth he answered


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Yes, I have reserved a few spots in my schedule, to be used to enrich both myslef and the city. The gist of it is that as my home city, once every year you will get to action my services. I am willing to make up to three brands. Regarding the time when such auction should be held I will leave it to you three to come to an understanding, since they have their own benefits that they could be interested in auctioning as well. In return, besides the agreed monetary sum, i will also be expecting my residence to not be disclosed. I trully hate being disturbed. As the lord of the city, you have the right to send messangers, if some particulary important issue arises, that may request my presence."


    "Do we have to auction all tree brands?" Victor asked, to witch Rex responded


    "Not necesarily. As the lord, you have full autonomy over the usage of the branding oportunities. The price of my services will wary depending on the targets dificulty, as is the custom in this line of work. Note that city only have such privilage as long as it is under your rule, and maintains its current state. Its a good city, i would hate for it to detiriorate. Still, ensure that the megaauction, if you decide to sell the right of negotiation to someone else, is scheduled with my asociates. Also they should be used within the year. With that i mean we must negotiate when i will brand someone during the year the gift is issued. I cant be bothered to remember too many things. Im sure you understand."


    "So we could come to an agrement that you would brand someone, i have aquired, who would arive in a year or two?" Victor asked to clarify, and Rex noded


    "Yes. This world is vast and my friends here have told me of continents that can be acsessed once every few years due to the constant storms around them, and yet information is exchanged with them through magic constantly. I find it only normal, that such a posiblility can occur, since goods and specimens from those continents are extremely valuable."


    "And how powerfull individuals do you think you can brand comfortably as of right now." Victor asked. It was known to the highest echalons of nobility, that blood mages had soft caps, who they could brand without breaking the slaves too hard, both mentally and physicaly. Rex though for a moment, then spoke


    "I dont believe i have encountered anyone in this city as of yet, that i coud not comfortably brand. Orc champions woudnt be much of a problem either, but they are not the brightests of the bunch, so that doesnt count for much in terms of measurement. I suppose i would need to meet some mages or what ever else there is who train their spirit and soul, to resist adversity." Rex was sinking in his own thoughts regarding his branding cap, as he has yet to encounter the A class and above monsters. he knew there was no upper limit to his potential, but estimating current limits was a hard thing to do. And whil Rex himself didnt think much of his current abilities, Merchants and city lord on the other hand were more than aware of his value right now. Reliably capable of branding an orc champion? That was S class feat. Those monsters had low A class physical stats, with will made of steel, focused on combat and slaughter. And the blood mage was young, he had surely not reached his potential yet. City lord already new, how he would use the three brand he would get this year. He needed to strenghten his authority, and spread the fact that Blythe now had acsess to blood mage services. What better way than to have a couple of orc champions as elite guards. With such display, the last brand he could auction of to raise the importance of the city as the heart of trade. They were in a good location, its just that this city lacked an absolute allure, something that would make it a must for the biggest players in the world. And S class blood mage was just that.


    Victor spent the next half an hour asking other questions, to get a better understanding of the mage, and he came to understand that the man was simple for the most part. eye for an eye was what seemed to be his modus operandi for the most part. A man who wanted to live in relative peace from other people, so he could delve in the dungeons, a fact, for which Victor once again thanked gods who made the dungeon a part of this city. Once the most of his questions were answered, during which he had already given Rex ownership mark to city guards to integrate into their reading crystals database, and Victor felt that the visit was coming to and end, he asked what he had been preparing once he knew what to do with his first three brands


    "Since we are closing to the end of this discussion of ours, may I be so bold as to request some of the brandings to be scheduled? I have a few formed plans to maximize the profitabllity and stablility of our venture."


    Rex looked at the merchants, and once they nodded he shrugged his shoulders "I dont see why not. If you dont mind elaborating."


    Victor quickly spoke of his plan, to which the merchants just nodded, quite happy with the lords decisivness, and planning for long term, trying to maximize security, while ensuring the stability and viability of profits. Eredar then added


    "We should probably aquire an additional champion. Three apearing at the same time would indicate that we have been planning it for quite a while, make sure the rummors spread faster than normal. The spies of other Countries would make it spread like wildfire, and since Blythe has always been neutral ,we dont have to worry about aggression from enemy states."


    "Since I stand to profit from this the most, besides the city itself, I guess i can make a small sacrifice on my part then. Ill brand the third one for the same price as a bonus." Seeing the happy expresion of Victor Rex continiued" Brogni, what would be the going rate for a champions branding?"


    "As a low A class being five platinum coins per brand would be the minimum value, and i doubt any blood mage would move for less than that to brand anything. " Brogni spoke. He would be honest to a fault with these partners of his. He was looking into the future. Keep honest and those were never ending profits for him.


    "So fifteen platinum coins this once, wount be that cheap in the future, nor will i be so generous with anyone outside our arangement, besides personal friends, but that would be my business anyways. You will be selling the right acsess to a branding oportunity after all." Rex summed up, and looked at Victor.


    "I am gratefull for such generosity" Victor spoke whith a smile that seemed to starin his face, but the man was beaming with joy "How soon and with what interval should we organise the hunts for the champions?" he added. He expected each branding to exaust the young mage quite a bit, but Rex words suprised him once again.


    "I am ready to deploy tomorow if you can secure enough scouts for speedy hunting. And why would we need intervals? Its just a few champions." Rex asked confused. A few drains on the ordinary orcs and he was good to go for the next branding. "The main bottleneck will be the scout ability to find champion locations, how do you think Ainas party got their champion sword? Find me the targets, prepare a party to keep regular orcs busy and i will take beat down the champion and brand him. After the first the other two will be easy, with the first one helping out." Rex finished.


    The remaing trio all though at the same time ''Thats not a gold mine we found ourselves. Thats a fucking platinum mine.''  They used thirty more minutes to iron out the expedition into the dungeon, and since merchants were not all too keep on entering, Victor decided to join, it was only apropriate, him being A class and a very interested party. Those champions would be branded to him after all.


    Understanding just how important Rex was to the development of the city, Victor aranged for the mansion closest to his castle to be transferred into Rex''s  ownership. And while invalidating Eredars efforts in securing a property for Rex, both merchants and Victor were in agreement, that it would be easier to provide security to Rex servants and property the closer he was to the castle. Any increase in patrolling strenght and guards would be logical, seeing the growth of wealth in the city. For all intent and purposes, one could guess that the mage is a guest in the castle itself, and Rex had nothing to complain about. He recieved a better and bigger property, that he would return as profit for the lord many times iover, Rex didnt much care. With the fifteen platinum coins in his pocket already, and new money bag to house all his wealth, he had all his money problems in the future covered, as well as a safe place for his servants and harem. Life was looking quite nice right now, and soon he could get back to grinding.

 Chapter 12: Three little piggies

    After a night on light exercises together with Irina, and a few hours of sleep Rex got out of bed, took a quick bath, since it was still rather early, and prepeared for the planned expedition. They had agreed with Victor, that they would collect a few A class adventurers for combat purposes and quite a number of scouts to ensure a timely discovery of the champions. After all, the sooner they secure the featured slaves, the sooner they can start with their plan. Aina was doing her own thing, and had informed Rex she would liek to introduce someone to him at alater date, as her preparations were still in process.


    Rex dressed in a new outfit, secured and delivered to him by Victor. Since Rex wanted to keep his face and status off public knowledge, Victor atained magically enchantedgear that would obscure his existance even more than his mana coating already did. Something Rex want aware he was doing subconsciously, but once he knew of the fact, it didnt feel suprising to him. He had lived in the wilds most of his youth, and had surely developed ways to hide his presence from predators. Those instincs had worked overtime back then.


    So hidden by his disguise, he left for the adventurers guild. The trio, since already awake, had been given orders regarding their tasks during his absence, so everything was set for extended dungeon dive. Ariving at the adventurers guild, rex entered it, glanced around and not seeing Victor around advanced to the counter. A few moments later, as it was still early for the big activity burst, he had reached the counter and asked the clerk


    "Did City lord visit this morning already or has he not shown himself yet?" He asked, and after a few minutes of back and forth with a clerk, who seemed oddly sure Rex had nothing to do with the lord, Rex felt Victors aproach to the building


    "You are wasting my time." Rex spoke with a cold tone, turned around and went in Victors direction. As soon as Vicor noticed Rex he hastened his tempo, and arrived next to him very soon afterwards


    "You are here a bit early." Victor spoke in a rather happy voice. THne they both arrived at guild clerk, and as indicated by Rex they avoided the self important one that interfered with Rex. The pompous clerk, was hoping he would be forgotten soon by the actual aquintance of the Lord, and dissapeared in the back of the guilds building. Vith the authority and prestige of the city lord, Victor and Rex quickly got  brought to a rather decorated and luxurious room, and soon after guild master of this branch arived personaly, to conduct whatever business the lord had in mind.  Victor requested a party of five A class adventurers, who could be capable of holding back the entourage of an orc champion, pointing out that the champion would be dealt with by the clients side. And that the adventurers would not interfere with that part of the event. Securing the few dozen gold coins per adventurer, and paying the guild their fee, the request was displayed rather quickly,  The request was displayed in the urgent part of the board, and since it was the start of the week, guild was very sure the request would be taken wery soon. Adventurers just had to start popping up, and wgike having breakfast, Rex abd Victor recieved news that there was a party ready to take their task on. Quickly finishing their breakfast both noved to the room prepared for their strategy meeting.


    The party taking on the request was called  Summer Wind.  The part consisted of one tanker named Jim, one healer by the name of Helena, their ranger Evans, fighter Dwait and finaly a wind mage by the name of Andrew. The party asked a few questions to specify the specifics of the job, and other miscelaneous questions, necesary for the job, and Victor in returned asked a bit about their strategy in encounters and negotiated loot distribution, which would be those who took part in the killiings would get part of the loot for the most part. Soon after the main topics were covered Rex spoke a few words


    "They are strong enough. They will do." Victor nodded, shook hands with Andrew the mage, who was groups leader, and the group departed from the guild to get their mission over. To ensure a relatively fast hunt, it was decided that they would hunt in twenty fifth floor, but since Rex handt been deeper than twentyeth, they had to go from there. Reaching the dungeon Summer wind was suprised noticing the twenty something scouts waiting there for them, and once inquired about, they learned that they had three groups to hunt down as such to ensure afficient tracking scouts would be necesary in such numbers. Adventurer party had nothing to complain about, such number of scouts would ensure they would never be ambushed, and their search range would be many times bigger saving on time as well. What they were rather interested in was what was the purpose on hnting for the champions, and they were having a private duscussion regarding just that. What they came up with was some sort of a dignitary might be visiting and champion swords were considered to be rather exquisite gift.


    Once gathered, one from the scouts stood in the middle of the group, pulled out a sphere crafted with runes over it, and activeted the item. One activated, the group went through the gate, and appeared inside the dungeon, at the floor number twenty. The deepest floor Rex had reached so far, and as such  the bottleneck for party. A party could travel only as deep with instant travel as deep the weakest of the party had reached. The group spent the next two days advancing to twenty fifth floor, slaughtering quite the number of lizardmen in their wake. there were parties of orcs in their way quite a few times, but they werent lucky enough to encounter any champions.They traveled during day and rested during night, well all of them exept Rex. Nights were his time to let loose, and most of his grind he achieved in that timeframe ''sun down till sun up''.


    On the third day they finaly reached the twenty fifth floor, and scouts dispersed immediatly in search for their objective. From this floor onwards was the territory of B ranks and up only. Not just packs of lesser orcs and lizardmen, entire warring tribes roaming around, trying to take out the oposing side. Champions were much more frequent sight from here on out and even some super scary monsters could be encountered. Wyverns, minotaurs and hellhounds, while rare on these floors, could be encountered if one was particularily unlucky.


    Summer wind was performing wery well. Their teamwork was polished, with little wasted movement. They understood their individual sstrenghts and weaknesess wery well and worked to compensate for them with solid teamwork, and they managed to do so rather magnicently. And while victor and the scouts performed as expected of such high ranking noble and his personal scouts, what suprised them was the cloaked figure.


    The mans was supposedly a mage, as Victor would adress him ar sir mage, and from the adress it was obvious mage was influential, but that was all they could gather. And what suprised them was the ease with witch the supposed mage was swinging his own personal champions blade. He was using the massive blade as a long single handed swords at times, then sometimes he would switch to the two handed style to deliver harder and more devastationg blows. The fact that the mage thanked the lord for his space ring only reinforced their thoughs that the mage was some sort unique existence.


    After another one of such raiding camp encounters and the coming slaughter of the lizardmen, Rex asked Victor


    "Do we only want orc champions or are there other equal apex fighters around these levels?" Thinking for a moment and then wit ha chuckle Victor responded


    "Croc berserkers are similar in strenght to champions, but they go berserk during fights and cannot be controlled. Croc chieftains would be even better, but they are stronger than champions or berserkers. The equivalent would be orc warchief or king, but those are high A class. I would avoid them for now. Technicaly on floor thirty starts spawning some rather scary creatures. Night stalkers- huge three meter high( when  on all four) dark skinned felines who prowl the night. Very fast and agile monsters those ones are, but wthat makes them even more terrifying is that they stalk their prey and hunt at night. Great sabertooths are the terror during the day. Up to three and a half meters high, even bigger than the night stalkers, very agressive and bloodthirsty beasts. Even deeper than that there lives all kind of reptilian monsters, lizards in sizes one is left in awe, and eaqualy terrifying predators. There is a reason why begining with floor thirty raids are formed to slay creatures there. Many parties join together to try and take down those dangers, but the materials and natural treasures spawned there are equally impressive."


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Noted. We keep to orc champions then, unless we get some magical rare oportunity." Rex concluded.   And they continiued as the had for a few more hours, untill finaly, one of the scouts returned with news of the first champion shighting. They moved rather fast in the direction, the champion was spotted, and arrived there quite soon.


    A medium sized camp was located in a clearing, well positioned and defendable. By the estimates of the scouts, there were aproximately hundred orcs and the champion there. After a small startegy meting with the Summer Wind, a plan was hatched, and everyone prepared to execute their part, and once ready, it was started. Scouts shot precisely with their bows taking out the guards outside the wooden walls, erected around the orc camp, alerting the ones inside. Soon orcs rushed out and seeing their challengers on the oder side of the clearing they roared and charged at the human party. Rex, positioning himself quite a bit ahead of the rest pulled his greatsword from his storage ring, bent his knees and prepeared to charge, waiting for the orcs to draw closer. He would bulldoze through the grunts, cutting down dozens before entering the camp to take on the champion. The others here would keep the charging orc bussy and cull their numbers untill Rex was done with his part, and while Summer wind were not entirely sure what the mages job was, they were guranteed that the champion would become a non threat.


    Once the orcs reached the desired range, Rex shot aheadswinging his sword once close enough to the orcs. The greatsword was swung, leaving guts gore and carnage in its wake. The lucky orcs were cut in half, dying shortly after, those less lucky, were either gutted, their innards spilling out of their bellies sending them to ground in crippling pain  or lost arms and legs if they came across the blades trajectory. What made it even more terrifying was that the one swinging the blade moved too fast for orcs to even hope to lock him down and take on with sheer numbers. It was as if a demon was unleashed upon them enjoying the carnage. One rex had slaughtered more than twenty of them and cut path straight through their lines, he entered the camp, to face the champion. Not a single orc combatant followed suit. The fight inside would be among monsters, and as such they tried to refocus on the humans before them. While not nearly as terror inducing as Rex''s display of savagery, the orcs were losing bad regardless. A class adventurers were no joke, and the supporting bow fire from the cover of trees didnt help orcs either. A few minutes later, a desperate scream was heard from the camp, and adventurers knew that was no a scream of a man. The champion had lost, they were sure of it and with renewed vigor they redoubled they efforts to end the remining champions guards. What they didnt expect was an orc champion dashing out of the enchampment, rushing into the orc group and starting to slaughter them, hastening the end of this encounter. As soon as the last of the orc guards fell, champion jumped back, to create a dispance between himself and the party, his greatsword getting sheaded behind his back. Then it tore off a piece of cloth from one of the fallen orcs, and wiped the middle of his chest removing the blood, removing the spilled blood so his brand point would be visible.


    The mark on his chest was not glowing and was positioned in the middle. What made it easy to differentiate between brands and warlords mark was the position of the mark and its shape. Warlords mark was located on the left breast, above human heart, and it was glowing pale red color, while brands were of black color, and positioned in the middle of the chest right, traight down from throat and above breasts. The style of both brand and mark was similar, since warlords marks was created as an atempt to emulate blood magic.


    The displayed brand eased Summer Wind''s members minds, and now they understood they nature of their task. They had to keep the rabble away for the mage to brand the champion. And upon that realization they paled. Sure they knew almost nothing of blood mages, but the fact that the mage single handedly locked down a champion to even attempt branding was scary. They were in a presence of an S rank. That also explained why city lord was here and so friendly with the mage. They stood there for a few minutes, then began silenty talking among themselves, nervously joking about all the other parties they encountered on their way here, with were quite a few. Just imagining their faces if they knew they were in the presence of a blood mage, and a scary one at that. As time went on, they started to question why the mage had not come out. Then Andrew adressed Victor in a normal voice


    "Sir mage is all right, he hasnt come out yet?" and before victor coudl respond because he was also getting a bit nervous the orc spoke in common


    "Master sent me out to help end the orcs, said he will be looting, call you in when done. Rugal forgot." as soon as champion did so he went silent again and resumed guarding near the gate.


    "You motherfucker!" Exclaimed Evans, Summer Winds ranger "Move your ass before he gets all the good stuff!" he continiued as he rushed in the camp. The others soon followed suit, and as soon as everyone went in, orc champion followed behind them. What followed was a n intense fifteen minutes or adventurers rummaging through orc belongings and curses now again at the mages shamelesness. A bit on anger and the last days of the mages nonchalance and zero shown arrogance, quickly removed any fear the party had of the mans possible wrath over ordinary adventurer banter. As soon as the looting was done, Rex transferred the ownership of the champion to Victor, making the lord of Blythe smile like a kid in a candy store.


    What followed was a rather uneventfull week of slaughtering and searching for orc champions on their way to twenty ninth floor. The first of the floors where chieftains adn kings could be encountered. These levels were enourmos, it could take weeks to cross a single floor, and Return tori could be found in multiple places on the floor. They had been somewhat lucky with their search because now they had two champions following and reinforcing their party, which made the path much easier. The aquiring of the second champion was quite easy itself too. A party of A rank adventurers and a champion against grunts was not fair whatsoever, and as one could expect, when they finaly found the third camp of a champion, that was even more one sided slaughter.


    Once Victor had the three champions, and their goal was reached, they spent a few more days untill they found a return tori. Their mission was complete, and as such they would return home. Summer Wind was also quite happy. The hunting they had done during these ten days had fattened up their stashes quite nicely with all sorts of precious metals and alchemical materials to be sold. The addition of three champions to the party power eased they job considerably.


    Rex exchanged a few more words with Victor before everyone but the blood mage returned to the surface. Rex had his own plans now. While he trusted Victor to do his damn best to ensure the safety of his property, it was always better to also make one''s own preparations against the greed and darkness of the human condition. Rex sometimes wondered, how a person of a modern and quite peacefull time could so easily adapt to such cruel and deadly world. While he could not deny that he had a few screws loose, it never made him much different from your average person. Just another person among the crowd. He had some ideas. Looking back in the history, didnt germans perform a genocide? Were those not ordinary people who turned savage on their fellow man? And all it took was for the leading aparatus label their targets something other than human. Something lesser. It is only logical then, that you would kill these lesser beings if they poisoned your society, your nation, your world.


    Humans adapt, he concluded. And we can make ourselves ignore so much, do terrible things and not care, as long as it keeps us and those close to us safe and comfortable. And in a world with literal monsters and alien like beings being all around, it was all the more easy to revert to a somewhat tribalistic ''us against them'' mentality. And while Rex wasnt ideologically driven zealot, who would attribute the sins of a single individual to an ettire group, he was also aware, that it was a thin line between he was threading. Keeping something of his humanity was neccesary, or he would turn into a monster like the ones he is hunting here. Pure insticnt to go on, slaughtering everything in his path. But for now, he could forget it all and relax in the pleasant feeling of grinding joy he gained as he grew stronger with drain.

 Chapther 13: Worthy hunt

    All alone on the twenty ninth floor, Rex readjusted his mindset. he had been holding himself back quite a bit during the hunt with Summer Wind and Victor. Rex was sure that he always had to keep a part of his total might concealed. In a dog eats dog world where personal might was the absolute pinnacle, it was of utmost importance for others to not know entire set of skills. Now he could go wild, and grind to his hearts content, and since he didnt reaaly need to sleep, nightly predators of the thirty floor and further were not a problem for him. As such Rex advanced, engaging in quite extensive grinding session on his path to floor thirty.


    What followed, was a few days of non stop battles, as Rex cut down every monster that he came across, while avoiding the rare few parties that he sensed on the floor. The twenty-ninth was an expansive floor, wast grasslands, huge forests with abundant mountains. A world on its own. And, besides the wildlife that consisted of mana infused animals and different types of monsters, there were two major competing creatures here. The orcs and lizardmen. From what Victor had told Rex, there are two supertribes of sorts one for orcs and one for lizardmen, situated somewhat in the corners of this floor, and then there were all the other smaller tribes that were roaming around, of whom then many different raiding parties, hunter squads etc have been dispatched to do their various things. These smaller parties were what rex and the group had been murdering, since tribe camps would consist of thousands of creatures, and while weaker individualy then the A rankers, the sheer volume of them was enough to be boged down and exausted to death.


    Rex, being alone however, didnt have that problem as his drain would keep him topped up and ready to keep going as long as he kept killing. And now he could finaly develop the skill, that the worked on during the week Eredar was working on aquiring him a mansion, to full functionallity, and perfect it. Ever since he first branded his first slave, and how those blood-like chains that were part of the spell, seemed liek an extension of his body, rex had tried to create similar chains of mana, in an effort to have extra apendages to use drain with. During his week long seclusion in the basement of his then temporary guest house, he was working on a mana construct, with little effort, however seeing Andrew, the wind mage of the a rank party, in action, he learned quite a bit about mana movement and deployment. He was keenly observing the wind mage and the energy movement within the man, trying to percieve the subttle differences in his mana and lifeforce whne he was not casting anything, and when the man was casting.


    In no small part thanks to his unique eyes Rex was able to gain quite a few insights on mana usage outside ones body. He had also asked a few questions to the man regarding his methods of casting and mana circulation, and sice Rex was a blood mage with ties to the city lord, Andrew was helping out quite a bit with his answers. Rex also used the oportunity, to attain some common knowledge regarding the taboos of questions regarding magic. Things that would be frowned upon, if asked to another mage. That was a rather akward conversation untill Andrew learned Rex has spent most of his life as a hermit, and as such he had no idea of the common sense of ordinary people. Rex was sharp and aware, but not the high society ball person, so to say. He would manage to offend everyone there within minutes if he were to try and mingle.


    Common sense aside, he was wery focused and listened with great interest as Andrew explained different concepts regarding magic and how they are used. And while the wind mage coudnt help out with practical training, and advanced knowledge of the wind element, since those were his masters secrets to divulge, Rex learned a lot. And now, all alone, Rex was putting that newly acquired knowledge to test. There was enough theoretical knowledge aquired to attempt a mana construct creations. All Rex needed was a proper understanding of what he wanted to create, how it would work, move and so on. It took Rex half a day to create the first construct, but the first step was always the hardest part. As soon as the construct was made, Rex found a few monsters to test his new creation on. He quickly killed the beast, summoned the chain he had recently created and controlled it to make contact with the corpse. As soon as the chain touched the corpse, Rex attempted to use drain. After a few unsucsessfull atempts he finaly felt a response.


    It was a weird feeling. It felt as if it was a limb he had broken, and it had been locked down for a long while to heal, and the muscles had atrofied to a frightening degree. Rex understood that the only way to get better at this was to constantly working the limb. And while his speed adn efficiency would slow down in hunting in the short term, the potential of the chains was immense. He would no longer have to drain targets one by one, increasing his grind speed significantly. The following few days while he was searching for the path to the thirtiest floor, his speed had plumeted, but he was making a solid progress in his blood chain use. Rex reasoned that he needed a few more weeks of active hunting and training before he could say he is super comfortable with the usage of his chains, but he felt deep down that there was a way to improve the ability. He wasnt sure how just yet, but he left that there was a clear way to advance the techinque. And so another day passed, and he finaly found the path to floor thirty.


    As soon as he descended he could feel a stark difference in the air. Mana was much thicker here, indicating that the creatures here had so muhc more to passivly absorb, making them stronger. That would explain the presence of those superior predators Victor mentioned. Rex at least didnt have to worry much about other adventurers running into him, disrupting his tempo. It would be easy to notice a raid. Bunch of humans in a relatively small proximity was easily noticable. Rex was also exited. In the last few days while perfecting his controll over his blood chains, he finaly hit the soft cap for the lizardmen as well. Draining them now gave as noneexistant strenghtening as orcs, unless he drained a champion or its equivalent. Rex also didnt get lucky enough to run into any the the roaming small tribes, nor was he close enough to any of the big ones. So, He would farm the floor thirty right now, untill he feels confident enough in himself to go deeper.


    Victor also told him that starting with floor thirty, the dungeon comes into its own, and starts producing unique treasures, that can be found only in the specific dungeon, and if you are incredibly lucky. That is the greatest allure for adventurers to cooperate and form raids. Those treasures are artifacts, formed by the imagination and subconsiousness of the populus in a rather large area around the dungeon. To a lesser degree champion greatsword is the first example of dungeons reality warping power. Once an orc reaches the level of a champion, dungeon has the champion somewhat stumble upon their greatsword, and once aquired, that individual can be truly classified as a champion. Similar thing happens with lizardmen and their berserkers, and other ruler class specimen.


    Starting with floor thirty however, such treasures can possibly be found when not in posession of an elite monster. Treasure chests. Rex remembered smiling widely under his mask and hood, when Victor told him of the chests. Treasure rooms and trap rooms. One cant have a proper fantasy world with adventurers guild and dungeons, and not have the aforementioned two. As such, rex started his hunt once again, now expecting to encounter much stronger oponents. His firts encounter was with a pack of wolves. Seven specimen the size of a horse, with very solid cooperation. As one lunged at Rex, and got avoided narrowly, the next one was already in jump, almost as if predicting Rex trajectory when avoiding the first one. To negate the second lunge Rex had to deploy his greatsword, severing its leg and cutting deep in its neck. Blood spluttered on the ground and on Rex, but the wolves didnt back off, then became even more ferocious and intensified the attacks. Losing one of the pack would weaken their hunting power, and their adversity was a lone creature. The dance of lunges, dodges swings of a greatsword ensued for a few more minutes, with Rex expertly avoiding the wolves desparate tries to take him down. Rex had noticed this a while ago but dungeon monsters did indeed had this weird fixation on fights to death. Once encountered, they would not back down untill their target was dead, or they were. A few more minutes of rather hectic lunges and more and more desperate bites from the side of wolves, Rex finaly managed to end them all. He actually managed to work up a sweat here. By no means was he exausted but he had to admit that even just these wolves were at the level of orc champions. And while a singe one would be easy to take down, a group of coordinated attacks was a whole another deal. Rex also came to a conclusion that his one handed sword he kept with him as an offhand, would no longer provide any value as a weapon, since the fur of thse wolves was as hard as steel, and while the greatsword still cut skin, fesh and even bone, Rex had to put considerably more strenght into his swings to achieve such results.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    But with hard work comes great rewards, and the feeling of draining the wolves was so much greather that champions. It was definetly because of the abundant mana circulating in the air. A great harvest indeed, but it also made Rex more cautious in his search for prey, as if even a single pack of wolves managed to get him to get somewhat serious, Just how strong would be the great sabertooths, or night prowlers. The entire day Rex was sneaking around, carefully choosing his targets, not engaging paks of monsters greater than ten. As Rex grew stronger, fight after fight, and his controll over blood chains developed, he sensed that something withing him was starting to come closer to understanding. An instinctual feeling of an aproaching epifany. Rex didnt know when, why or how, but he knew he would gain a deeper understanding of his own abilities, and soon. All he had to do was to continiue his grind and drain his victims.


    And in such a manner the night arrived. An unlike the previous twenty-nine floors, where in the night the life on the floor had and unspoken agreement of ceasfire, here it just changed its gears. From powerfull fast and ferocious beasts, out came silent and deadly predators, increadibly well camouflaged herbivores. Unluckily for them, Rex''s eyes displaying the flow om mana and energy itself, meant that camouflage of any sorf was meaningless in front of him. And because of such and advantage, while seeing shorter distances that in the day, Rex was even better equiped than most predators to hunt in the night, and so Rex did.


    Since loosing his second weapon, purely because it could cut nothing at this level, Rex opted to wield his greatsword as it was intended- two handed style. As such, his cuts were more powerfull and faster, giving birth to a rather savage and ferocious style. Sneaking up to another pack of bufalo liek monsters the height of two and a half meters, Rex crouched and lunged at his targets. As soon as he arived next to his first victim, he sung the sword, decapitating the bufalo, then dashed to next, catching the beasts unavare, and swinging his blade in a similar fashion, ones he had reached his next target. He managed to kill a few more beasts before the small herd of some originaly twenty beasts, now cut down to aproximately thirteen, went into a chaotic rampage. As herbivores, they didnt need such great teamwork, to get their meal, and as such Rex had a much easier time cutting down this pack, and as always Rex basked in the peasure of the drain after the victory. His nonstop efforts had borne fruit, and his stats had risen quite a bit, the greatest benefit being to his perception adn physical strenght.


    The night passed rather smoothly, with Rex earning a few scatches in a couple of encounters. He chose to engage slightly bigger packs at times feeling that the terrain was to his advantage, or when it looked liek the packs had recently had a scuffle with predators and were exausted, but otherwise Rex seemed to be pretty cautious. A few hours after the damn of day, Rex finaly encountered one of his main targets on this floor. A three and a half meters high Sabertooth tiger, with a some slight crystal protrusions from its back. It was not rex who chased and found the beast. Tiger had smelled the blood spilled during Rex''s fights with packs of hebivores, and the tiger did not like competitors in his territory.


    The monter charged straight at Rex ,and with its full speed and inertia it leaped for Rex, tring to pin the man to the ground so he could bite him in half. After all with its huge body the size of a school bus, one can only imagime the strenght of its jaw. And Rex, not having the desire to test out the beasts strenght empvered with extra speed and inertia, jumped to the side, barely avoidign the puncing beast. As soon as it landed, tiger swiped with its paw at the man who managed to dodge it, and rex used his sord to block the paw strike. Since the blade was wide enough, and the tiger sung with the back of its paw, there was no worries of its claws suddenly extendidng, piercing Rex''s flesh, however the power was still immense, pushing Rex back a few meters. Rex was suprised by the monstrous strenght of the tiger. he expected it to be strong, but for it to have strenght equal to Rex or even a bit more, after he had drained the strenght of so many creatures, was baffling. And while even with its huge it had suprising dexterity and speed combined with its high power, its was still a beast, and its instincts coudnt overcome a superior intelect with ligher agility.


    The tigers savage paw swipes, atempted bites were all in vain untill it managed to cut a pretty deep cut with its razor sharp claws in the tiny adversary, The cut was almost bone deep on one of the legs of the man, adn the beast, asured of the humans inability ot dodge, lunged for the man jaw wide open to devour its wounded prey. Moment before the tiger landed, Rex rolled forward, closer to the tiger, and positioned his blade straight up, and tiger failed to react in time, impaling itself on the blade. Both had been fighting for over an hour by this point, and were notably tired. Rex, feeling the tiger slump on his him, its body finaly going limp, breatehed a sigh of relief, finaly overcoming the threat. This monster had been his hardest fight yet, that pushed him to the limits. Deep dungeons were trully riddled with powerfull adversaries, but at the same time they held entodl treasures in their depths.


    Not wasting much time Rex began to drain the tiger. His gains should be enourmos from such a powerfull beast, and Rex wasnt dissapointed one bit when he felt the rush of power he felt once the drain brought in the energy. Purer than anything he had felt before, concentrated and endless. he smiled and though that junkies probably felt similar to this when getting high. However, for all the bliis he felt whenever he absorged something so close to him in power, or slightly stronger, as soon as it was over, he never felt the desire to risk his ass for repeat of such a high. His mind was ruled by as master called ''calculated risk''. While willing to take moderate risks, that would provide huge benefits, he was not a man who liked to gamble, even more so when the price was his life. With his ability slow and steady wins the race.


    Great sabertooths, rex had concluded that he wil have to hunt on this floor wor quite a while before he gets to claim a kitty for house protection. He was sure as hell he would have to kill dozens of the big cats before he woudl have the strenght to beat one down untill it would be in a proper position to be branded. rex also wandered how would a brand present itself on a monster covered in fluffy fur, but he would eventually see that.


    He rested for a few hours. And while the drain had restored him to a top notch condition phisicaly, he needed to set his thoughts straight, plan his further hunt apropriatly and decide on the cat he wanted to brand for house protection. Sabertooths were the phisically more imposing choice, with greater strenght and speed adn power than night prowlers, from what Victor explained, but the prowlers were great ambushers with swift and deadly strikes. In the end Rex decided, that once he was strong enough, he would get a sabertooth for home protection. He needed the gatekeeper. An imposing presence to detract posible troublemakers with a visable threat, not deadly protectors in the shadows, at least not yet, as it would take a few months for word of Blythes blood mage to spread and for the auction to be organised.

 Chapter 14: Mission acomplished

    While looking for his next prey, Rex thought of his time in this world. He had been here for a month, as far as he considered, even though his memories implied closer to ten years or so. As for why his body was aproximately sixteen, it was due to his his abilities forced awakening in order to survive. He had to admit to himself, it was fun. What grinder wouldnt enjoy a world where you could live a fantasy like life, while having the ability to grind and grow stronger. It takes a certain mindset to be able to do the same thing for hours, with a metaporical shiny new toy dangling in the distance. Here however, every kill was growth, and as such it made for a more thrilling experience. Rex loved it, and as such he felt he could never grow tired of it.


    And so he kept going. He searched for prey, and as soon as he found it, he spent little time in engaging and taking it down. His kills often were bison like creatues. There were two variants- camouflaged ones that became active in the night, and the ones active in day. Day light ones were larger and stronger, and since they didnt have the ability to hide themselves they lived in bigger packs, ensuring safety with numbers. Sometimes Rex would encounter packs of wolves or bears. All of these naturaly occuring beasts in his old world were much stronger here. not only in size, but speed and power as well. Even the beasts that lived in the forests ouside were more like the ones in his previous world. But these, Supuerinfused with mana had grown incomparably more powerfull. Bears adn boars would be a pain for most of normal adventurers to deal with, their hides thick and harder than steel, huge hulking bodies and savage, rage like ferocity. Thankfully Rex had his greatsword and as such he didnt have the same problems most adventurers would face if they were to come this deep without years of prior preparations and planning.


    One needed the natural treasures from the dungeon to be able to take on the deeper floors. Super mana infused metals, to forge weapons sharper and more durable than any material naturaly occuring on the surface capable of, pelts of beasts and monsters, to make better armor for safer dungeon delving, and ingridients from both beast and nature, to brew concoctions that would strengten the imbiber in numerous different ways. In a world where a single man could take out hundreds if not thousands, no one wanted to be at the bottom of the pecking order. And even in cities, where there were some semblance of law and order, under the watch of city lords and their guard regiments, human greed and shallowness reared its ugly head. Corruption and crime. A nonescapable part of humanity, one that will acompany them to the end of time. And those, that were not rich, or brave, or strong enough from the get go, could only let go of their ambitions and dreams, and like any other man, lived, just hoping to get by, and to not be stomped by the powerfull. Though there was also a small hope in the little people of this world. Humans were greedy, ambitious and ever more demanding, so the stronger they became, the more they desired to rule. And a ruler needs people to rule, so the cycle came full circle. The weak strive to be powerfull, or give up, the powerfull, while occasionaly stomping on the weak, to remind of their place, also preotected them, to an extent, to feed their egos.


    Rex though of this for a moment, relizing that is want all that different from his original world, if only less sofisticated and more primal in nature. After all they didnt have true monsters to contend with. Sure initially they had to care for wolves and tiger and other such beasts, but its not like there roamed t-rexes, or any other dinosaurs snacking on people. In this wolrd however, a few stories large monster popping up somewhere with a penchant for human flesh was, while uncommon, not unheard of a situation.


    He was murdering and draining his targets ever increasing his mastery over his chains, who now had risen to three in count. And while sometimes getting tangled, because Rex messed up a bit in the control of the chains, it had increased his efficiency of and speed of his hunting.


    ''I wonder, how good the meat of boars on this level tastes, and would that help my girls to grow stronger. In theory, it should provide some benefit to them, with meat naturaly infused with mana of these levels.'' Rex though, while killing a couple of boars. He had spent two weeks or so here, so he was feeling a slight desire to go out and spend some time with Irina, who had come to enjoy their night time activities. Not that Rex himself didnt feel the same. And so, with renewed vigor, and clear subquest in his mind, he redoubled his efforts in achieving his reason for being here, besides growing ever stronger.


    With clear cut goal, Rex speed and eficiency rose, and he became a blurr of death, dashing ever forward to achieve his goal. He wasnt worried about his compatriots asuming he was dead, because Victor and the merchants had a life jade made with Rex''s mana signature. While one couldnt use it to track the owner of said mana it didnt break unless othe person marked with it died. So as long as the jade was okey, as it would be with Rex alive, they could just go on with their business.


    The second encounter with a great sabertooth was much smoother and nowher near as dangerous for Rex. First, Rex had experienced, what the tiger coould do, secondly, he had grown much stronger than before, and thirdly, this tiger seemed exausted for some reason, and wery much so on guard, with ferocity in its eyes Rex hadnt seen before. The beast also wasnt lunging at Rex the moment it saw him. As if its instincts and purpose, if Rex had to give this second feeling a name, were overpowering the ingrained need to kill anything that was not dungeon born. Rex stopped,and started to use his sight to evaluate his surroundings, while still keeping his eyes on the tiger. A minute or so later, he realised, what was going on. The tiger had just had cubs, and after labor was exausted, and its maternal insticnt was somehow overpowering her dungeon monster nature. The need to propagate its kind, was aparently stronger withing apex predators, Rex reasoned.


    ''?ow isnt this a heaven sent blessing.'' Rex chucled to himself, and without drawing his sword from it scabbard, he prepeared fo a fight.


    "If only you could understand me before the branding." Rex spoke in a normal tone, making the sabertooth more wary "I woudnt have to beat you up now. Well, small evil for the greater good i suppose." and dashed at the cat. The next ten minutes were a weird show of ferocious cat desperately trying to stop the threat from getting any closer to her cubs, and Rex trying to beat the sabertooth tiger without damaging it too much. Rex had and idea with how he could use drain in combination with his chains to heal a target of his choosing, but he needed to experiment a bit first before trying that on his pets, or slaves, and so before he had a surefire way to heal the cat, he coudnt just break its limbs and brand it after. He needed the cat down, and immobile, and so rex tried the only thing he could come up with. he used stamina drain on the cat. a super weak version, and while it ddint give him much, because of the controlled drain potency, it did notably slowed down the cat.


    Another five minutes later, sabertooth was exausted, with a few bruises here and there from the beating it recieved. It was still struggling to get up, but had no strenght, desparate to protect its cubs. Exasuted, it felt the end nearing. Its labor had it tired and hungry, and now this unknow predator had sapped the last of its strenght. Death was inevitable. Both for her and the cubs, but there was nothing to draw from to opose this fate. Its struggling head slumped to teh ground, listless, accepting of its fate.


    "Good, finaly stopped strugling didnt you." Rex spoke, standing in front of the bus sized sabertooth mama tiger. His eyes focused on the tiger "I was planning to catch a single cat, changes will have to be made." This that said he activated his spell and his blood chains came form the magic circle forming on the ground beneath his feet. The difference between these chains and the chains Rex used for drain were both visual and from where they were spawing. Rex''s spell chains came from his back, as if leaveing his spine, and since they were magic construct more ethereal than real used to transfer energy, they didnt even tear his clothing, meanwhile brands chains looked liek solid, blood chains that came from a magic circle beneath his feet. Rex guided his branding magic, with the tigress as his target and soon the cat was wraped in the chains and the main banding one ethereally pierced the cats forehead. With the cat exausted and acceping its fate, and it being a beast with barely developed intelegence, branding was quick to complete. Rex felt his brand solidifying, binding the cat to his will, transferring the necesary knwoledge to the sabertooth, ensuring its understanding of Rex worlds(common language) and the rules its bound to.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "I will go and brand your cubs. I doubt you want them to be left here to die." Rex spoke and advanced towards a mound, with a rather big cave entrance in it. "Rest there while I take care of this." he added dissapearing in the cave. A few minutes later, the sabertooth saw her master come out of the cave, both cubs in his arms. It was a weird sight. A man of two meters hight, arms extended sideways in a forty five degree angle up, holding a cub in each hand by the neck the way cats carry their cubs with their mouth. The cubs were already over one and a half meters not long, and Rex had no other ideas how to bring them out. Placing the cubs in the mama cats embrace he ordered her to just wait here with the cubs, and dissapeared.


    Rex didnt went far away from the tigress, as she was exausted ,and had two cubs with her. That was such an insane haul for Rex, he coudnt take chances and loose them. So while keeping his eye in his newly aquired pets he did some hunting. Luckily, rather soon he came across a herd of bisons, and he didnt waste any time in killing half and amputating the legs for the other half. What followed was a quick experimentation with life energy transfer from the recently killed ones to the living ones. Some thrity minutes later, Rex had an acceptable working result. It was better to transfer life force from one living target to another, there was better efficiency. Rex reasoned it was because of his unique constitution that he not only could use drain, but it worked with such frightening efficiency. With a few remaining living specimens, Rex spent another twenty minutes to bring over to the tigress five beheaded bisons and drag three living, limbless bisons.


    Three transfers later, the sabertooth mama was devouring the five corpses with great apetite. her first meal after the labor. And while no longer a free and feral cat in the dungeon, she no longer had that gnawing ferocity of a monster inside her. The brand freed her from one master, and bound to another. Rex looked at the cat, devouring its food, thinking for a bit.


    "Tigra will be your name." then he looked at the cubs. The male cub was the same light brown collor as its mother. The other cub, female, was white as snow, with emerald green eyes.


    "The male witll be Diego, and female Snow" after a while of thinking, Rex named his pets. He was aware his naming sense was shit, but who cares. its not like he is naming his own kids. Damn, when that happens thats gonna be a whole another can of worms. he will just deal with that when, and if that happens.


    "Tomorrows problems for tomorrows me." he murmured and shoved the though deep in his mind, to hopefully never encounter it again.


    Spending another hour, resting and waiting for Tigra to finish her meal and feed the cubs, Rex decided its time to return home. His had achieved his plan for coming here, better than he could have expected, and it was time for him to return. Tigra, with energy transfers from the bisons was more than capable to travel, and while not in perfect shape yet, she was above fifty precent, and Rex would ensure a few more dran-transfers to get her up to hundred. The cubs too, while recently born were more than capable of running already, so they could advance at a relatively fast pace.


    Once Tigra knew their destination, she led Rex and the cubs to Return Tori. Rex didnt have to wory about cubs not growing to be as strong as the mother, because the mana rich enviroment only ensured the evolution of the species living in such a place. The tree pets were great sabertooth tigers. And the only detriment in their growth would be the acseess to food source of the same quality as the berbivores of the thirty floor, since they feeding on the mana rich plants were overstuffed with mana charged meat. And since Rex could just bring meat en masse from his dives in the dungeon, once he gets a proper spatial ring, that he had Victor order specifically from the Turtle sages living on a small island archipellago, the tigers would be no issues. Victor had asured Rex the ring would arive with an envoy from the sages by the time of the auction which would happen in a few months, or so Victor estimated. On their way Rex slaughtered or incapacitated a few more herds of bisons and got Tigra back to one hundred percent. He also grabbed a pair of hogs, two meter high and weighing quite a bit for dinnner at his mansion. His spatial ring could hold up to nince cubicmeters of stuff, so besides his greatsword it was loaded with the soft meat of boars and some of bisons.


    Employing the same method as with his slaves the first time, Rex exited through the dungeon Return Tori, In each hand a huge bison dragging behind him, and a ribbon connecting him and the tigers as one entity, allowing his pets to travel through the gate as one unit. The cats wouldnt be able to leave through the gate otherwise. They had not been on the other side after all. It has to be said, Rex did laugh his ass off as the guild members nearly shat their pants , being the closest to the gate, when they saw Rex, followed by the bus sized tiger.


    As luck would have it only super strong adventurers who had participated in raids had any knowledge or experience with great sabertooths, as such, while people who were passed by Rex and his pets were curious and formed a crowd following the tamer, no one recognized the absolute monsters that Rex had brought into the city. And even with the fact that he had came out in the dead of the night, the crowd still formed as nightlife in the sicty was in full swing. Rex had spent a total of a week in the dungeon once he parted with Victor and his group, and Rex was quite sure he would be visited by the lord and the merchants as soon as the guards inform them of his return, so without wasting time he returned home.


    His three maids and Irina greeted him as soon as they heard his voice in the mansion. The cats had been wery well behaved as Rex had them instructed regarding their behaviour upon exiting the dungeon. It took him a few minutes to reach the food cellar of his mansion. It had a rather huge cold room equiped with a magical device that ran on monster cores. Rex had a few of those aquired with him. Any monster or beats on floor thirty had a core and it was left intact if Rex didnt use drain. So the beasts he fed to Tigra, the ones he dismembered for meat had cores that Rex collected to use or sell. And cold storage was like a large barn, since the mansion could support a few hundred to a thousand people with the main bulding and all servants quarters combined. The servants quarters were unused currently since Irina was basicly spending every night in Rex room, even if she had her own room as well, and the trio were located a floor below, where the handmaidens and presonal maids were meant to life. Eventually Rex would have more servants, but he needed to get nice and properly situated and used to this place before he decided to expand his entourage.


    With the meat stored in the cold storage and his cats instructed, regarding the inhabitants of his mansion, which was relatively easy as they could sense the presence of their masters other slaves, basicly ensuring that no accidents or replacement could happen. Rex allowed Tigra to choose her new lair, so to speak, and Rex wasquite happy when Tigra moved to one of the stable/barn locations that were the closest to the main mansion. Only barns truly had the doors of the right size to acomodate such an enourmous beast. Being closest to their master would allow her to protect him , and provide the greatest security for her cubs as well.


    Entering his mansion, he didnt bother to wake up his maids, but went straight to his room. When he saw Irina sleeping in his bed, as if waiting for his return, a small smile appeared on his face. He quitely moved himself to teh bathroom, and spent the next hour or so soaking in the bath and washing away the dirt and grime of his dungeon dive. Sure he had washed and swam in the water ponds, rivers and lakes in the dungeon, but it didnt came anywhere close to a proper bath with warm water, courtesy of monster core powered heaters, and soap. After thoroughly soaking to his hearrt content, Rex crawled in the bed and enjoyed a well earned rest for all his hard work. His presence in the bed made Irina subconsciously snuggle closer to him, and in the warm embrace of the bed and company, Rex was finaly lulled into sleep.

 Chapter 15: R&R

    Irina had spent the last few weeks in her masters absence attending presonal lessons for her and the trio of maids, to help them adapt to their new life outside the dungeon and lesser orc tribal society. And while a person of Rex''s previous world would think that slavery was abhorent and detestable practice, and no doubt, it was for the most part, there were always worse scenarios that one could be in a world of personal might over groups. As she has more than enough free time she had spent a considerable amount of it comparing her potential life in her tribe in comparison with the life she was leading now. Sure, she was branded- a slave of her masters, and she was entirely aware that she was influenced by the brand to have unbreakable loyality to her him, and even then she was treated better than she would have been in her tribe. While she had not left the mansion, and she had learned from her lessons how ordinary people tend to act as the betters and even abuse ordinary slaves, she was also aware that her situation was far from the normal one.


    For one her master was a blood mage. A type of shaman that was almost revered, and as such, his property, be it equipment, wares, or his slaves were treated with utmost care, so as not to offend the man, in addition, since they were branded, there were no chance for anyone to see they were slaves unless their cloting got torn quite badly, revealing their chest and neck, in addition all guards of the city had been informed and drilled regarding the identification accesories the girls carried, ensuring they always had someone to turn to, in case some unforseen danger occurs. The maid trio had done some shopping together with their tutors, and they had told her many things.


    Another wery important aspect was that her master had taken a particular liking to her, as she was the only one of his girls who was called upon at night. What she had learned from the maid trio, as they had been bondedin the tribes, the copulation was indeed painfull, as they partners would force them on all four and have their way and leave them afterwards, to go hunt, fight or whatever else. And while her first time was somewhat painfull, it didnt last long, and the pleasure she felt afterwards couldnt be described in words. Her experience was wastly different from her compatriots. And as a slave, unlike what would happen in orc tribes, she was not shared around free for anyone to use. She was treaded like a treasure, and her master had told her so as well. She was a rare gem, more beautifull than most, only for his eyes adn joy. And while she was not allowed to leave the masion as of yet, he told her that they would explore the city together at a later date. He needed to develop ways to protect her from greedy fools who do not have the proper self preservation instincts.


    Her reflection on her new life had provided her with the necesary knowledge and information to come to a rather simple conclusion- her life, and the life of any girl who her master keeps as his, was incomparably better than anything she could ever have had back in her tribe and dungeon. And she was gratefull to the gods for her fortune in the posible misfortune that was her slavery. She was not a slave in name only in her life before the brand, and now she was slave almost in name only. There were rules, but they were as much to protect her as they were to control her, and she was content. She did feel a bit lonely, with having spent more two weeks alone, without her masters presence during nights, so when she stirred awake this morning, and sensed the smell and feeling besides her that she had longed for, a smile crept on her face, and she hugged the person next to her with vigor and happiness. She nuzzled herself even closer, placing her head on his broad chest and enjoyed the feeling.


    A while later when she felt her master stirring awake, she ddint delay in embracing him and engaging in a passionate kiss, something she had been working with him before he left for the dungeon dive, and he responded in kind, making her even more happy, and awakening a lustfull feeling within her, a desire that had to be slaked. And she showed her enthusiasm and need, for unlike humans, orcs had litte shame and akwardness, they showed their emotions openly, and were direct with their desires.


    Aproximately an hour later, when they were in full swing of their intense makeout session, a knock on the door and a wery apologetic voice sounded from the other side of the door


    "Im sorry to disturb you master, but Lord Victor, and the esteemed merchants had come to visit. We are a bit worried about them with the tigers outside." Lira on the other side of the door spoke. Rex sighed, not willing to stop now, and his brain came up with the perfect solution.


    "Tell them, I require they summon one of their best chefs, and one they bring the cheff, bring them to the cold storage number one. Have then collect a few killos of meat from there and have the cheff prepare the meat. Make sure he knows its from floor thirty in the dungeon. Have them relax with tea while the meal gets prepeared. Also on the way to the gate for them, go to the tigers, and tell Tigra they should ignore these visitors for now, she should rest." Rex spoke, and returned to his previous activities.


    Lira proceeded to do as instructed, and approached the barn with the sabertooths, while she was a bit nervous, she knew they too were his msaters, and as such knew she was in no danger. Upon entering the bar she spoke


    "Tigra, master is going to have guests, he has ordered for them to be ignored for now. The guest will be following me." The giant cat looked at her, noded and went back to sleep since before exiting the dungeon she had eaten so much she would feel lazy for a few days, adn if not necesarry , whe would just lay around and sleep. Then Lira proceeded, with the rest of her orders. City lord was suprised by Rex request, but they performed it regardless. It took them half an hour to get a cheff of considerable skill to Rex mansion, and while the cheff looked a bit arogant and annoyed, his tune changed the moment he learned he gets to create a dish with floor thirty beast meat. Form the texture alone he could discern the beasts the meat originated from, and after selecting a few pieces he urged everyone to bring him to kitchen, for him to show his skills. Lira was quite confused, but followed the request regardless.


    While the cheff worked his magic, Brogni, Eredar and Victor were waiting in one of the offices enjoying a decent tea- proof the the maids efforts to prove their value to their master. Their lives were simple yet pleasent in this new home of theirs, and they wanted to ensure their master was happy with them. The two merchants and Victor also were more than willing to wait to enjoy a luxorious meal made of such high quality ingridients. It was not the price that limited them from accessing it ion a regular basis, but the scarcity of the recourse, since raids had to be conducted, for a fresh influx of monster meat from thirty floor or deeper, and even then, most of that meat had already been reserved by various nobel clans and merchants. That was the case with all such deep dungeon consumables, since they provided quite the benefit for adventurers- strenghtening their bodies, expanding ones mana capacity, and other wonderfull permanent effects could be seen from constantly consuming such naturally mana rich meat.


    It had been and hour and a half, when Lira one again arived at her masters room, knocking and notifying of the meal being ready. A few minutes later, both Rex and Irina exited the room. Both having just taken a quick bath, and with a somewhat satisfied expression on their faces.


    "Good job Lira." Rex spoke "make sure all my girls are using the meat i will bring from dungeon for our and sabertooths meals.It will be immensly benefitial in making you stronger. I will be much happier to know my people are safe, and if anything happens strong enough to escape the danger." he smiled, and patted Liras shoulder. Then he followed her to the dining room Victor and the mechants had been moved for the meal.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "Make sure the cook doesnt see my face. he is an independant party adn i dont want to hide myself in my mansion mansion." he instructed as they approached the dining room. The other two maids were already attendign the three guests adn prepearing them for the meal, and Lira rushed ahead to make sure the cheff was informed that the mansion master was a rether eccentric person and had difficulties trusting people he was not well familiar with. She then brought the cheff to a room not far from the dining room, as Rex had asked her to keep him around till the meal is over. he would reward the cheff, if it would be extraordinarry.


    Entering the dining room, Rex greeted Victor and the merchants, sat at the table, and signaled for Irina to sit next to him. The trio of guests, glanced at Irina for a moment untill Brogni spoke


    "You are one damn lucky man. To find such a treasure in the dungeon is indeed a blessing. No wonder you take every oportunity to show her off." he spoke laughing.


    "Only to people I know can be trusted. Dumber men would fail to see past their momentary desires and consign themselves to an early grave." Rex responded, while he waited for the maids to serve the food that had been prepeared. That they had was rather simple steaks, but masterfully preapeared, enhancing the already rich flavor of the meat, with salad, to complement the meat even more. While eating, Rex asked one of the maids to go to Lira, who was with the cook and reward him with half a kilo of the same meat he had prepeared as thanks for his work and willingness to entertain his request on such a short notice, then the two maids should escort the cheff off the mansion grounds and return here.


    Rex, Irina, Victor and the two merchants enjoyed their meal in relative silence, the ocasional praises for the quality and tase of the food resounding in the room. One they were done, Rex signaled for the guests to advance to a study to discuss what they wanted, and before joining them, he turned to his maids and Irina


    "Help the girls out with this, and make sure they enjoy the same as we did before they clean up." Rex had told Lira to have cheff prepeare a few killograms for that exact purpose. He wanted his maids to eat the quality food as well. As he noticed the spark of joy and gratitude in the maids eyes, a small smile bloomed on his face, and he went in the study. his afliliates had already taken seats around the table and were waiting for him, quite the satisfied smiles on their faces. This new friend of their was providing more and more pleasant suprises. They did wonder how safe he was in the thirty floor, since he had surely hunted for the beasts there. And while they were happy with the chance to enjoy such an exquisite food, they were more worried about the Rex''s safety in the deep floors. Their future mega enterpraise depended on him being alive after all.


    As soon as Rex sat at the table Victor asked the most important question had they now had "It is clear that you reached floor thirty. Thank the gods you have returned safely. i told you about the dangers that can be encountered there. Fortunately you didnt encounter the great sabertooths or night prowlers. They are wery dangerous."


    "Before we continiue this conversation, and to answer your next question and no doubt inital reason for coming here, come with me." Rex spoke once Victor had finished his thought, then rose from his seat and led the three to Tigras barn. Tigra sensed people aproaching her new home, but since her master was with them she just kept sleepimg lazily, with the cubs having their fill of milk. Rex got to have a hearty laugh, when they entered the dark barn, and once the door was mostly open iluminating the buss sized Tigra, the scream of fear that came from Eredar, and the trio to collectively stumble and fall back on their asses.


    "Thats rude gentlemen. Tigra here is a very sweet and loving mother. how could anyone ever be scared of her is beyond me." He spoke while laughing and seeing them slowly regain their composure "And while i didnt encounter any night prowlers, as you can see i did bag a couple of great sabertooths." he grinned as he saw the shock his friends faces when the two cubs came out from behind Tigra "These three are ok, dont eat them if they wander in mansions territory." Rex added. "These three will be my house guards. I decided that orcs champions and not sharp enough to secure my mansion, and at a later date i will get my hands on a couple of night prowlers to finalize my mansion defenses. Cant have my harem uprotected you know. Now, lets go back to the study to discuss anything else you might be itching to ask me." Rex then gestured them adn returned to the study.


    What followed was a miriad of question of ''how, when'' and ''what the fuck?'' They obviously were at a loss for words, when they had to accept that they were dealing with a blood mage who not only was capable of branding great sabertooths, but could do so going alone to places, where raids were necessary to ensure reliable sucsess. And if that was not enough, the man had even stumbed upon a byakko. A rare genetic mutation, that makes the great sabertooth multiple times more powerfull than the regular ones, and has an affinity with space element. The terror of any raid, and a flee on sight occurence. And he had one branded.


    A few dozen minutes later, once the exitement had died down they finaly could return to normal business related things. It was then that Rex reqested the three of them to loan his as many spatial artifacts as they could, since rex wanted to stock up on the meat from floor thirty. Afrer all he had a few great sabertooths to feed,a nd he was sure as hell that his asociates would like to get their hands on such a limmited resource as well, to with he recieved expected positive responses. They also discussed the progress regarding the auction, how fast the rumors are spreading regarding Rex''s existance and the performace of Victors new champions.


    It was obvious that Eredar and Brogni were salivating at the prospect of having their own great sabertooths, just like rex but he quickly extinguished their dreams


    "i would advise you to stop dreaming of you own mega kitties." Rex spoke when he noticed the two merchants deep in thought, ocasionally glancing in the direction of the window one could see Tigras barn from here. "Are there anywhere where you can buy a beast of equivalent tier, and how much would that cost?" he added, and silence covered the room.


    "We know, dammit" Brogni grubled, not really doing anything more than just letting his imagination run wild.


    "Yes, let a man dream will you." with a slight smile Eredar added. They were profiting a lot already, while there is no limit to the greed of man, they were smart. They knew imediate benefits paled in comparison to what they woudl earn from that guaranteed branding per year they had. Rex was capable of branding S class beings. They just had to hug this thigh forewer and not let go. Nothing could compare with the posibilities, and who knows, maybee one day the would bet their own great sabertooths.


    "Right, Brogni." Rex spoke, remembering something "I will need you to procure for me a slave that is a rather good cook. I cant wery well look for an outsider every time i need my food prepeared, and while my maids are learning, i will need one in the future anyways, so why not solve it now."


    "Right, I will reach out to my contacts in other cities as well, so dont you worry, I will get you a top class cook. You can pay me in the meat you will be farming on the deep floors. Ill tell you the details one i have more info."


    "Eredar, i will need some food suplies like spices and other related thigs as well. I can count on you to procure those yes?" then Rex adressed Eredar, and the elf smiled


    "But of course, i will set up the requests as soon as we are done here. You will always have all the spices and auxilary ingidients secured and in no short supply. We can sort out the finer details at a later date."


    "And i will ensure that you gentlemen have much easier time to get through the citys inspection points and the like." Victor joined in. With the three of them workingRex was sure his needs would soon be sorted, and all he had to do was grind a bit more meat. With all the space artifacts he will be provided with, it shouldnt take all that much time.


    One the trio left, Rex spent the rest of the day resting his mind, adn making sure his maids had dined on the luxurious food. He also informed them, of the eventual addition of a cook to always have such magnificent meals, and to lighten the workload of his girls. He also asked them for the current situation of their work load and other related questions. He learned that he should probably need to aquire additional servants to keep the mansion running. And since he could not trust almost anyone with free acsess to his mansion, he decided he would need to buy aproximately ten more slaves for servant duties in the mansion. He would get quite a lot of money if he were to have Eredar work as the agent who sells his aquired meat. So with plans made, that coincidentaly required more grinding, he retired to his room since it was evening, and returned to wthat they were doing with Irina when the guests arived. She was starved of his presence for two weeks after all, and the girl wanted it all now, with interest.

 Chapter 16: New faces

    Waking up from a few hours of sleep Rex silently left the bed, making sure Irinas sleep was not disturbed, gods knew she needed it after all the exercising they had. They had laid down to sleep just a few hours ago, but with Rex''s ever growing might, he needed less and less sleep. Leaving room he placed a note on the door that he would be in basement and that the maids shouldnt wake Irina up. Then he headed to basement, where he had a small room he used to perform small scale experiments with his abilities.He spent a few hours perfecting and modifying his drain chains, to improve their utility and efficiency.  This time it was Lianna who came to the basement to call him for breakfast, since the maids had seen the note on his bedrooms door, and as instructed, they left Irina alone to her sleep and came to get their master. And while the food was nowhere near as exquisite as when prepeared by a professional cook, it was still tasty on the account that the ingridients were of superior quality.


    Once he and the maids were done eating, Rex informed the maids he would be out for a while and that they were to continiue their schedules as ussual when he wasnt here, and left the mansion after he fed Tigra with the meat from the dungeon. He would make a quick run through the dungeon to fill up his space artifact with meat, then drop by Eredar to check on the other space artifact aquisition and then plan further from there.


    It took him less than an hour to fill up his stash with fresh meat as he was lucky in encountering a herd deer on the thirty floor quite soon after he arrived there. And with no time wasted he slaughtered the pack, collected the best cuts of meat and and drained all the remaining energy, turning the remains in mana dust. And with his haul returned to the surface. Since he had gone for a quick hunt, he didnt use his blood mage disguise- the clothing Victor had provided that had special magic enchants to help conceal his identity. He was entering as a lone independant hunter, and guild had no business with him. Rex would use the disguise if he had to go to Victors mansion or when he would use his blood mage persona. he didnt have to be quite that high of a profile to meet Eredar or Brogni, since the two had provided him with tokens their personal door guards would recognise and not empede Rex''s visits, and so, with his haul, Rex advanced to Eredars shop congregation.


    Eredar and later Brogni had already moved with great haste and had secured a few space artifacts for Rex''s use. providing him with a storage space of fifty cubic meters total, across ten storage items. It was quite hard to get ones hands on a storage space bigger than what they had prepeared on such a short notice, and what they had managed was purely because of them being part of the merchants guild and their standing in it. Rex also came to an arangement with Eredar regarding his new side money making business, which was selling the meat he was grinding. Eredar was more than happy to serve as the face of the operation, since Rex had no desire to spread his capabilities to people more than it was necesary. His three business partners were one thing, but making other greedy and petty aristocrats scared of his combat potential was more trouble than it was worth. Rex also asked Brogni to keep an eye out for a few capable maid material for Rex''s personal retinue, and the dwarf was more than happy to do so.


    Once Rex was done with his all that, he returned to the dungeon to gridn and make his first delivery of meat to his business partners and friends. Rex knew that their dealings were mostly business for now, but he felt the three men were reliable and decent, adn they would become quite good frends the longer they worked together. And so Rex dived in the grind once more, and spent a couple days in the dungeon filling out his storage equipment with meat and enhancing his personal strenght. Rex even encountered another great sabertooth, and while it did take him a few minutes to take down, it was nowhere near the dificulty compared with his first great sabertooth encounter, and the resulting improvement was also the same- nowhere near as much as the first one.


    Once back, he visited the merchants and shared some of the meat he had aquired and promised to the two, leaving an extra portion for Victor that Eredar woul ensure would be delivered, since all this would be moving through his channels. Rex also left quitea bit to be sold by Eredar, since Rex wanted to stash up un money to buy slaves he might run into that he would find to his liking since he was sure more and more exotic specimens would start to appear here once the rumors are spread far enough adn some of the fat bastards confirm their truth.


    Once done with this he would return home, unload the remaining meat, play with the cubs a bit since their were just that- cubs, ensure Tigra always had acsess to more meat if she was hungry and spent the night home. He would keep such a schedule for a couple of weeks, untill he recieved a message from Aina, requesting to speak. Eredar had provided her with the location of Rex new residence, and she had been visiting him once a week, where they would spent an hour or so conversing about all manner of things- from mundane rumors, to the state of her families sucsession war. She had informed him of her desire for him to meet the sister she was supporting for throne, and Rex had agreed, with the condition that he would be there as his reclusive  blood mage persona. While he liked Aina, he didnt trust her sister, even with all her asurances, and in the end Aina gave up, understanding, that Rex had his quirks, as all specialists do. She did spend almost half an hour cuddling with the cubs, once Rex showed them to her. Being an elf she held a deeper apreciation for all creatures, be it beast or monster, and while she had no issues hunting them in the dungeon, she nevertheless shoved a great deal of love for the tamed ones. And since the preffered mounts of elven nobility were panters- another type of feline, it was little suprise that she spent what little time she had cuddling the cubs. They were so much cuter than the grown ones, and she had tried countless times to convince Rex to allow her to aquire one of them, but Rex refused every time.


    When she arived, as ussual the first thing was another attempt to coax Rex into giving her one of the cubs, and Rex finaly decided to explain something he had never mentioned- namely the species of the cubs, since Aina hadnt seen great sabertooths in the dungeon herself, nor did the cubs were the size that the great sabertooths were encountered, nor were their tooth grown long enough yet, to show their species. And Tigra had showed no interest in beeing displayed for the elf, as such Aina hadnt met the mother.


    "So, I am guessing you have no idea what species they belong to, since you are asking for one nonstop?" he tiredly asked.


    "Huh?" she looked at Rex questioningly "Obviously, they are manaforged tigers. I have no idea how you got them so soon, since the islands they grow naturaly on cannot be reached right now. Its one of those locations that can be acessed one every five years because of monster migrations, and that is still a year or so away." she smirked, waiting for Rex to bow down to her impeccable knowledge. "They should be a few years old, and so separating them wouldnt be too dificult, but dont worry i would bring it here for visits as often as I am visiting now." she continiued, gaining more and more confidence in her nearing victory.


    "Hugh." Rex sighed "You know, I should be really offended that you compared my sweet sabertooths to some lesser species like manaforged tigers, but I will let it slide, since you are a friend and their fangs havent started to properly grow yet. They are still on mothers milk after all." he continued, and gestured her to follow him "Come, ill show you their mother, so you can stop pestering me."


    To Rex''s  words Aina tilted her head in confusion. What other tigers were like this, and when she registered Rex words regarding the fact that the cubs were still on milk, she looked at the cubs once more.


    "Aint no way tigers that size are cubs that still drink milk as their main food!" she exclaimed and quickly followed after Rex who was now opening the door of one of the barns. And then she saw it. The biggets tiger she had seen in her life. Her brain shortcircuted for a moment, leaving her in daze and awe at the sight of the apex predator before her. Tigra opened one eye from her light nap and looked at the elf, then going back to her nap. Rex petetd the side of her head a bit, eliciting a slight aproving rumble from the tiger.


    "Say hello to Tigra, mother of the two fellas you have been fawning over. And for your information, that you will not disclose to anyone outside this property, all three of them are great sabertooths from floor thirty of the local dungeon."


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Any movement and thoughts Aina had just planned to perform, never happened, as her jaw droped, and she just stood there for a few more minutes. Then her head moved to the cubs, stat strotted in and went to fill themseves up with a bit more food. Then Aina looked at Rex, and after a moment of silence sighed, coming to terms with the situation,finally understandting his adamance about not selling a cub.


    "There was no way you would ever part with such priceless creatures." she spoke "There is no way one would just sell, let alone gift an S class potential beast." And then a lightning struck her, and her head turned in the dirrection of were cubs were feeding right now. "Wait, wouldnt that mean Snow is?" and she stopped there. Aina.exe stopped working. For the past few weeks she had been cudling a great sabertooth cub and a byakko- the terror of deep floors.


    "Yep, i seem to have quite the luck." Rex chuckled "To find a mother great sabertooth with so small cubs, one of which is a byakko is indeed quite the fortune. Once they are fully grown i wouldnt have to worry about my homes safety whatsoever." he smiled and then decided to get to the point of the matter "You said something about the meeting with your sister in the note you left?" He waited for her to collect her thoughts.


    "A? Yes?" she stuttered, slowly returning to her ussual self. She chalked this to another one of her friends odities, and left if at that. She will never get anything done if she keeps getting flsutered by the things he does. "Sorry. Yes. My sister should be ariving in a few weeks. The knwoledge about you has reached even the Elven Isles, and since she is one of the main contenders for the throne, who I am supporting, and since i am the representative of our family in this continent, and she knows i have some connections with the blood mage, she decided to personally come here to asess the capabilities and character of the new mage." she explained.


    "I do hope she doesnt harbor any false hopes of me moving away from herejust because she might ask or anything? I have made quite a solid footing in this city and i like my asociates here." Rex spoke with a light smile "You included." There was no deeper meaning in the words, just pure apreciation.


    "While i dont know the full extent of her plans, my sister is too smart to try something as foolish as that. She most likely will try to secure some sort of an agreement regarding your services. " Aina spoke after a monent of thought. "She is wery smart, and she values family and friends, but she can be a bit pushy at times."


    "Just tell her I am stuborn and arogant with little patience. That woudl make her thread carefully, adn make the encounter much less annoying for all involved." Rex spoke relaxedly, to witch Aina responded


    "But you nothing like that."


    "Yes, but that is reserved for people i have decided are worth my time." then witha theatrical shomanship he spread his arms to the sides and spoke pompously. Aina smiled at that


    "I will keep that in mind."


    The rest of her visit was spent talking about miscelanious things as usual with a decent tea. Once she left Liara brought Rex a message from Brogni, that he had finaly aquired a few apropriate cook options, and he would like for Rex to visit him at his earliest convinience, and so Rex did just that. Since he was going there on official business he wore the mage disguise.


    Rex didnt have any complications on the way and in no time he had reached Brogni''s VIP entrance. The guards, noticing the atire, imediatly opened the door and bowed to him, welcoming him inside. The reception duo greeted him, adn grogni as always was dealing with some sort of VIP.


    "Inform Brogni, I have arived, but im in no rush." Rex spoke as the duo led him to a waiting room. There, a tea was prepeared by one of the duo and served to Rex, while he waited. Some fifteen minutes later, the dwarf arived. He looked quite happy, adn more healthy than before- the meat Rex had been providing was obviously doing good the the mans health. As soon as he entered, the dwarf sent his receptionist out so he could have private conversation with the guest.


    "I have aquired a few posible additions to your staff." Brogni spoke, quite satisfied with his own work "Do you wish to see them right now?" and hearing Rex aproval, they left the room, going to another part of his house complex. While they were walking the dwarf merchant spoke to him about the information he had recieved regarding the info of Rex spreading, and both were quite satisfied with how it was going. They reckoned that at the end of the week, merchants and Victor could start moving pieces to start anouncing the grand auction to entice many posible sellers to move here since they had the gem of the auction that would attract all the biggest wallets.


    Soon they were in front of a door guarded by a few more guards- Brognis special wares wing. Here he kept his best slaves, and as such the condition for living was much better that most. They entered the building, and with the merchants nod, one of the guards moved closer to a wall mounted bell and rang it a few times. As soon as the bell sound spread there was a shuffling of feet and quiclky the residents one after another rushed to the hall where the bell was. In less than a few minutes in front of them were aproximately twenty people, mostly humans but there were a few other species.


    "The ones with cooking skills step in front." Brogni calmly spoke, and from the group four came out nervously and stood in front. All four were girls, between the ages of fourteen to sixteen by the looks of it. Three were human girls, nothing too special about them as far as Rex was concerned, but the fourth one peaked his interest.


    A beats girl. She looked sixteen, judging by her body development. Dressed in quite simple clothes, to show most of her features while maintaining a decent look. Aproximately one point six meters tall, raven black hair, two wolf ears poking from her hair, but slightly bent, obviously a response of timidness mixed with fear. She was quite slender, and looked delicate. She was very beautiflul, one would probably rate her as an eight or a nine. Her tail that poked out of her clothes, was also low, once again displaying her fear and uncertainty. And while she was growing, she had a decently developed breasts, C sized if one had to guess.


    Noticing Rex focus Brogni spoke "I knew you would like her. Her name is Aisha. She ahs been trained to be a personal atendant, and as a wolfkin, with her great sense of smell and taste, she is particularily well suited to be a main cheff. Not to mention that, while she is not as gorgeous as your Irina, she si quite good looking herself." Then he added "I would suggest you take the other three as well. They have gone through maid training, and your mansion needs more hands. Your trio is capable of doing the more draining jobs in the mansion for sure, but they need guidane from what i have seen. And even if you take all four, i still owe you quitea lot of favours because of your services." Rex was well ware Brogni was talking about all the meat he had been providing to the merchants for their personal use.


    "If you say so." Rex agreed. He had no reason to doubt the dwarfs judgement, And as soon as Rex agreed, the four were taken with him to a seperate room.


    "Reveal the top half of your chest, so you neck and area above breasts would be bare." Rex ordered the four, and they flinched a bit, but did as told. Then Rex branded them all, knowing, and afterwards Brogni removed slavery collars as they no longer served any purpose on the girls, and once branded they clothed themselves and followed their new master. They were both scared and awed at the same time, since they newer would have expected to end up in the hands of a blood mage.


    Once back in Rex''s mansion, the new staff recieved the same rule breakdown as his already existing girls had recieved, and then they were handed of to the maid trio to introduce to their rooms and put to work straight away to prepare dinner since it was already late. The orc maids had not prepared dinner per Rex orders, since he was gonna bring back a cook, and Eredar had done his job as Rex had a kitchen equiped with the best of equipment aviable, adn his stock of all kidns of spices was quite incredible. Aishas eyes sparkled quite a bit whne she saw her main work place, and it her tail started swaying with excitement when she was led to the spice storeroom. The light but distinct smell of different spices permeated the air in the room, and as she was specially trained with cooking as the most important aspect due to her unique racial perks, she coudl discern an amazing quantity of different spices here.


    She almost drooled when she smelled the meat she woudl be working with, and her tai lwent almost ballistic when she heard from the maids and Irina that even they would be eating the same meals as the master of the house. As the master of the house had put it, they are his, his he is exeptional, all of them shall be too. And this meat would ensure that the girls would move in his desired direction. After a few hours of work in the kitchen later, Aisha presented her new master with her first dish made with such high quality meat, and Rex enjoyed food that far surpassed the meal he had when Victor brought over the previous cheff. After his meal was finished he thanked Aisha for her wonderfull cooking and encouraged her and the other three new girls to enjoy their own food as well. He woudl often be busy and they would have to be quite independant. And besides not leaving mansion unless necesary, and no contact with people not of his household with rare few exeptions they didnt have other restrictions. With that Rex left them and returned to his room for rest. Tommorow would be the small planning of the auction, and then he would grind till the arival of Ainas sister.

 Chapter 17: Before the crimson night

    Rex woke up relaxed and restored, and after a magnificent breakfast, courtesy of Aisha, he left towards Victors castle. They would sumarize all the rumors they have heard and plan a few things regarding the auction, that was in the works. Since Rex lived basicly right next to Victor, he had no trouble reaching the property of the city lord adn there were no complications in his entry either. It was only natural- Victor needed Rex to stay in the city for its growth to be guaranteed.


    Since Rex was the first to arive- testament to his free and unfettered lifestyle, he exchanged a few quick words with Victor and proceeded to relax in the office they would be holding their meeting in.It didnt take long for the merchants to arive, led by Victor. Since they were all here the lord would like to deal with this meeting as fast as posible, he had a lot of other matters to attend to, part of those related to the coming auction.


    "So, how the word spreading regarding the auction?" Rex asked since he wasnt too much in the loop regarding the auction or its intricacies. His job was to be there and provide the main atraction of the event- his services as the blood mage.


    "Besides the rumors, that should reach the ears of the rich merchants adn other lesser moneybags, we have spoken with quite a few representatives of other cities and some aristocrats regarding it. We have notified of the events development, now that question are being raised regaring the appearance of the orc champion in my employ" Victor spoke with quite the energy, quite the contrast to his somewhat tired expression.


    "You have been workling hard, but we have done quite a bit as well.Brogni and I have been scouring different places for other things to put up on auction, and since we- the merchants guild have complexes for such events in every city, it was easy to set up the core of the auction." Eredar then spoke "So the staff and the grand venue is already prepeared, adn we have been spreading the word, that the auction would happen in three months time, as agreed with Victor previously." after he looked questioningly towards Rex waiting for the man to speak, if he had any complaints regarding the time frame, and understanding the silence Rex shrugged


    "Im fine whenever, since im not really needed in the event itself. All I need is to be present when they want to cash in on their prize. But how have you advertised the main attraction of the auction for the big spenders?" This time to Rex question answered Brogni


    "The deal would be that we provide cour right to negotiate for a brand once. AS such, besides the fee for us bringing the winner to you, they would have to pay for the branding as well. That price would depend on the targets rank, dificulty and rarity- up to The high A ranks. We excluded S ranks and pinnacle A ranks, since we were not aware of your limits by then, but still, its incredible and a wery alluring offer. Besides we dont really want them aware you can brand S ranks right now. That could bring too much trouble right now. We need stronger network, and a prestige as recognized power. Only then would it be wise to show all we are capable of."


    "Raise the amount of meat we are selling by some ten to twenty precent. I need to fatten my vaullt. There might be some nice things in the auction i could desire." Rex spoke once the main discussion was over, and Eredar nodded, then Rex asked anothr question


    "Should i brand an extra champion, to sell in the auction?"


    After a while of thinking, Victor nodded his head in agreement "Yes, but just a single one for the auction. While we want to flaunt your abilities, we need to keep most of it concealed."


    Then they spent another hour, to discuss other finer details of recent events and Rex informed the trio of Ainas sisters eventual arival, so they are not suddenly suspicious. The trio sighed, and resignated themselves to posibly entertain a rather influential person in the near future. Once done they dispersed and returned to their own duties, with Rex again focusing on his personal plans- grinding and providing Eredar with enough meat to fatten both of their coffers. And as such he dived into the dungeon, this time entering in his blood mage garb. Rex would fill up his spatial storage rings with meat and then go down a floor to get his hands on a champion or two.


    His path to the dungeon was quite fast, but he heard some wispers here and there, his garb beeing sometimes recognized by some more informed scouts and informants. Of course what they spoke was never meant to be heard by Rex, but his constant trips to floor thirty and continious usage of drain had strenghtened not only his body, mana and stamina reserves but also all of his senses, that he could quite well controll by now. He even had managed to half filter the things he heard, as if having his ever increasing mental capacity split into multiple simultaneously running pararel though proceses. A part of his mind was always dedicated to threat assesment, another few were listening in on the conversations around, zoning out the useless daily rantings of surrounding people while latching onto and focusing on rumors, shady talk and other such conversations, and the last part was his ussual active mind. What he wanted to do, his plans and any other thing that anyone would think of. His support partitions, as he had classified them, worked in the background- subconsciously performing their tasks.


    Some of those that recognised his attire from the descriptions they had recieved from their adventurers guild insiders or information brokers, kept their distance and observed from afar, while others tried to discreetly tail him. They came up empty as the man went to the dungeon and soon dissapeared within. Due to Return Tori and the way teleportation to deeper floors worked, none of the stalkers followed in, sicne there was no chance in hell they could run into the man, and as such they all took positions in different locations to wait for his reemergence. They had work to do to track his movements and habits- people would pay a fortune for any weakneses or particular tastes of such men, after all when dealing with such men information was power.


    Rex exited the swirling portal in floor thirty, as ussual, and started his hunt to fill up his meat storage rings. What made him particularily happy was that before parting, Eredar had finaly delivered him the spatial ring they ordered from the turtle hermits a while back, and while his ring was here, no hermit had arived with it, since they had some unfortunate accident back in their city that demanded their full atention. And since they considered this an unplesant situation, they had delivered a bigger artifact for the same price as previously agreed, with an apology letter stating they would right this wrongdoing of theirs as soon as they solve their own issues. Rex didnt take it to heart, why would he? He recieved even better spatial storage than requested. Insead of twenty cubic meters he recieved forty, and thanks to his new busineses and upcoming auction that would enrich him even more so, he had Eredar send a letter of thanks, mentioning that Rex had apreciated their gift and was not holding any displeasure towards them, on the contrary, he was requesting another spatial storage ring, much larger this time, and he had no rush in its delivery, so once they solve their current predicament, only then should they move to fullfiling his request, adding that if they had a need for assistance Rex would gladly offer it, as artisans of their caliber should be free to pursue their craft unimpeded.


    Rex was also quite happy with his progress regarding his drain chains.He now was controllinh them quite effortlessly, all eight of them, extending and reducing their lenght at will. He could also change their tangibility from ethereal now to full on physical with quite nice toughness. he could easily use these chains to hold down most of the beasts on his floor using a single chain. Of course that didnt include great sabertooths and night prowlers as of yet, but using all chains, he could hold down even those for quite some time. And so Rex spent and entire day farming meat on floor thirty all the while looking for path back to floor twenty-nine. He need that champion for the auction, and he would deliver as soon as posible.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Night came and Rex was still looking for the path to twenty-ninth, and he was starting to think that he had some pretty shitty sense of dirrection, or the ability to stay on course. A few hours into the night, while deciding his new search direction, he suddenly sensed something he had been looking for for quite some time. He sensed a predator, eyeing him, and focusing on the energy signature he was sure that it was a night prowler. They were way too elusive, or he just coudnt encounter one till now. He had spent a total of twenty days roaming floor thirty, and while one could say its not that much, taking into account that Rex was moving around with much greater speed than the average party, covering much bigger grounds, and he was doing the same at night, he expected he had to have encountered at least a few. But now he had a target, and hewas quite lucky with his encounter, when they happened, and true enough, he was right.


    After a few dozen minutes of scouting, Rex concluded that the was being tracked by a rather young specimen. His constant observation of many different beasts had given him a solid insight regarding energy flow and coloring when it concerns the age of the individual he is inspecting. And while he coudnt tell the exact age, he could divide them in categories: baby- days to a few years, child- two to ten years, teen- ten to fully developed, then came a young adult- twenty to thirty, afterwards middle aged- thirty to fourty five(still capable of reproduction), and then aged- anything past fourty five in ordinary human terms of his previous life. And its not the age in years per say, but more like the health and body development that affected the energy flow. For example, if he saw and elven woman who was five hundred years old or older, adn her body still was in its perfect shape, his energy readings would classify her as a young adult, even if in the next few years her energy flow would bring her over to the next tier so to speak.


    This specimen was a young adult, so Rex was quite happy. he will get his stealth protector for his home and help to find his way to twenty-nineth. He was quite carefull whn moving towards the panther to not alarm it, and one he was close enough he dashed in its dirrection.As soon as the beast realized it has been discovered, it quickly tried to escape, since they didnt like dirrect confrontation, and if posible opted for ambush strategies. One of the wery rare creatures of the dungeon who didnt go into an instant frenzy upon meeting beings from outside. They stalked and assasinated their prey. For almost five minutes the poor panther tried to outrun her prey, adn realizing that man chasing it could not be shaken off and hidden from, the cat turned aroudn adn leaped at Rex, again trying to take him by suprise.


    Unfortunately for the cat, what followed next was not in its expectations. Eight bloody chains shot from the mans back and wraped aroud it, effectively boundign it and not alowing in almost any movement. Rex observed cat for a second and noding his head in aproval activated his magic, branding the panther. The panther was a beautifull black color witha lustre in the fur that gave it a luxurious and soft feeling just looking at it. It was almost two and a half meters high, fully developed, but woul;d grow almots half a meter bigger in height eventualy, as she reached full maturity.


    Rex smiled when he realised that his luck was indeed good, as he had encountered another girl. Females tended to be much more docile and easier to be the master of. After branding the beast females looked at the master as the alpha, and tended to be just the perfect pets. Rex looked in the panters yellow eyes adn noticed a small crystal between them. It looked quite beautifull, but was small enough to not be noticed imediatly.


    "Thats a pretty gem you have there." he spoke to his new companion, releasing her from the chains than bound her "I will call you Crystal." Rex decided adn named the new member of his family. and after a brief moment of thinking and understandign that Crystal was hungry, explaining the hunt, he fed her with some of his recently aquired meat reserves, and ordered her to help him fidn the path to twenty-nineth floor. It took them less than the duration of the remaining night to find the stairs up under the guidance of Crystal, reinforcing Rex''s suspicions that he wasnt all that good with directions and keeping on a path. But hey, one cant have it all was his excuse, besides he could just brand some super smart poket sized magical beast liek raven or something to fix that issue of his, or even some ethereal creature for the same purpose.


    Ariving at the twenty-nineth, Rex and Crystal spen a few hours murdering lizardmen untill they found a pack of orcs. Once they were dealt with, keeping the last one alive, Rex spoke in orckish


    "I am looking for a champion. Is there one where you came from?"


    He waited for few moments and seeing the orc scowling at him, unwilling to provide any info, Rex just sighed


    "Well, keep it to yourself then, we will just find it on our own, right Crystal?" the last few words were spoken in common, since Crystal, like all others branded by Rex, recieved the understanting of it through the brand.


    "And then we will have a small feast with whoever is there" Rex smiled ominously as he once again spoke in orkish, and snaped the orcs neck.


    "Can you focus on their scent and trace it back to where ever they came from? We need to find compatriots." Rex spoke as he aproached and petted Crystal. Sure she was not a canine, ot their ilk, but she was an apex predator nonetheless, and a magical beast. She had her ways of tracking her prey, and with both the nod, purr and the feeling through his brands link, he new Crystal had both teh ability and the desire to hunt. She was young and full of spirit, and unlike Tigra, she didnt have to care about cubs yet. And so they embarked on a fast paced tracking for their target. Rex jumped on her back, using his chains to hold himself in position and to not impede Crystals movement. Her fur was increadibly plesant to the touch, and rex was sure Aina would fawn over her, posibly even more than oer the cubs, since Crystal was a panther- the most beloved mounts of the elves, if one igores the fact that she was three times bigger than the ones elves use. Still Rex found his new kitten cute and he was sure as hell Aina would too. Crystal had that playfulness only atributable to kittens.


    They spent a couple of days searching for the origin of the orc group they had encountered, stoping for a few hours for Crystal to sleep and recover. They had moved quite the distance, and Rex had a feeling they were close to their target. At the noon of the third day, they came to a rather large ravine in the center of which they saw quite large settlement. Quick estimates and energy reading gave Rex an aproximation of a couple thousand life signatures. Rex had noticed patrols of orcs around who were keeping watch, but he and Crystal had been quite sneaky, and with their superior capabilities they had avoided any and all detection.


    "We will wait for the night, then I will let you go wild." Rex vispered in his companions ear, recieving a happy purr from Crystal, and a soft nudge of hear head against his body. They kept low and hidden while waiting for the coming of night. In his wait, Rex kept watching out for patrols and allowed Crystal to sleep so she can be fully rested before the night. She would surely need all the stamina she had seeing the size of the tribe. A rather big outpost could reach one or two hundred orcs, with a champion, and since here were ten times that, maybee here he could encounter a chieftain? Rex held no illusions for a king, those needed at least ten tousand subjects, from what he had learned from books he read in his spare time at home, which wasnt all that much. He planned a bit, to make this slaughter a bit more efficient. He sighed when he realized, that while orcs were similar to humans in most aspects, he could do nothing but smile at the fact that he had absolutely no issues whatsoever to kill them in droves, and he once again marveled at the adaptability of human consciousness and capacity for cruelty. It seemed to him that it was so much more distinguishable in his case, since he would propably fly off the handle if someone dared to hurt his girls waiting back in his mansion, and that included not only Irina, who he had grown fond of, but all the other maids too. The wilingness to destroy everything that dares to hurt or threathen whats close to you, and do whatever it takes to make sure they have a good life, seemed so human and alien concept at the same time.

 Chapter 18: headless herd

    With the onset of the night, Rex slowhy and carefully woke Crystal up. No snack before the exercise for either of them. Rex once again looked over the way the patrols were moving around, noticing the they kept on the same routes and interwals as they had been during the day, he adjusted his plan a bit. He had noticed that these patrols were on a two hour shifts, and they rarely crossed paths one with another, and so to ensure the most efficient and easiest lockdonw and rounding up, he moved with purpose.


    They waited another hour, for the new shift to come in, and as soon as the guard patrols changed, Rex and crystal moved. They sneaked up to one of the patrolls as soon as they crossed another one and were far enough to not be in dirrect vision or earshot. Then they both pounced, Rex slashing his greatsword, and Crystal employing her superior strenght,speed, claws and maw to instantly kill the patrol. Assoon as they were dead, Rex used drain, removing any traces of their bodies, adn stashed their equipment in his storage ring. Then they repeated the same with the remaiming patrols in rather great speeds. All in all it took them thirty minutes to silence the guards patroling the perimeter of the camp, and then they proceeded with stealth towards the wooden wall and gate that encompased the small settlement.


    "Focus on taking out the males. They are stronger, faster and have absolutely no value for us, but avoid the strongest ones. Those might be of use." Rex instructed Crystal in a low and soft voice and the panther noded her head in compliance.


    Then with a swift movement they both jumped over the three meters high wall, using it as a leverage point at the top to redirect their landing to a rather empty spot on the other side. They had chosen a rather desolate spot to go over to maintain the advantage of stealth for as long as posible. They had less than an hour and a half before the missing patrols will be noticed, and they will have to start their activities in the open. And while Rex was quite sure that with him and Crystal here, their victory was as much as guranteed, he still preffered to maximize the efficiency and speed in wraping things up. And once the tribe figures out they are dead if they stay here and start tu run away in panic, it would take more time thna prefferable in catching up to them. Rex also had a plan to test if he can use his chains as an impromptu binding tools for keeping slaves chained and without using actual brands. He was sure the chains were tough enough, but how many could he bind and drag with him was the question.


    "Quest generated- Wipe out the tribe, subjugating and chaining as many as posible that you believe to be worthy of sale." Rex murmured to himself, almost treating this as a game of some sort. Ow he was fully aware of his reality, but it just seemed correct to do this, and evaluating the locations of the strongest individuals he signaled Crystal to begin.


    They both dashed in away from one another keeping in the same general location but with gerat speed and precision they sliced and diced and orc males that they came across. With savage ferocity, yet deadly precision Crystal employed her claws and maw to end life after life, while trying to be as silent as posible, Rex being just a blir of motion as he dashed from one spot to another ending lives adn using his chains to drain his kills leaving scattering mana dust in his wake. And even with all their attempted subtlty, they were still slashing adn killing almost everything in their path and so within only fifteen minutes the camp was full of horn and drum sounds, rousing the camp from their sleep.


    "Take postition outside the gate adn ensure noone escapes. It will be a pain in the ass to chase the remnants!" rex shouted and crystal growled in acknowledgement, finishiing the orc in her mouth, spitting it out, turning aroound and dashing to the gate.


    Rex then shifted gears and dashed at the group of warriors charging at him as soon as they noticed his presence. Now Rex was using not only the greatsword to end his adversaries but also his chains, that were employed as whips. Bodies were cut in half, or bones or skulls were shattered when his whips colided with body parts. The orcs dying dirrectly under chains were drained intantly, dissipating their corpses in mana dust and refreshing Rex. Eventually he even switched to mostly his chains, for much more efficient controll and finese. He and Crystal had killed more than hundred by this point, but he wasnt even a bit tired, and the panter was having enough fun with the orcs trying to run away through the gate prematurely.


    With a much greater reach, courtesy of his blood chains and his ever growing mastery over the art, once the kill count had reached aproximately half a thousand, Rex started to advance in the dirrection of the strongets energy signatures.There were three in total, and all were quite close to one another, and were staying in the middle of the camp. A seperate building as Rex learned when he reached the place.


    What appeared in his vision was a rather large field, the side of a half football court, on one side there was a solitary house, in front of which stood four individuals. Two orc champions, unmistakable because of their greatswords in their hands, but the remaining two did cause and interest in Rex. A middle aged orc woman, based on the energy, barely starting to show age on her features- thirty five to fourty in human age, dressed in somewhat free flowing robes, something Rex has seen for the first time in his life here. Based on the staff she was holding and the few amulets and other accesosories that seemed to enchance her mana circulation and regeneration it seemed some sort of a caster. And next to her stood another woman. Two pont two meters tall, surpassing Rex in heigh by some twenty centimeters, with light brown skin, unlike the ussual shades of green other orcs were sporting. Equiped with unique looking sword and shield and some sort of light metal armor covering her torso with armguards and shinguards. Rex had been murdering his way to this place in his search of the leaders, and the orcs had helped out and trew bodies at him relentlesly. It was only here,once Rex stepped in the opening, none of the ordinary warriors aproached. They all stood outside, not daring to get any closer untill they were given premission by the four in the middle of the zone.


    With his weapon in hand and chains retracted in his body, she slowly aproached the four individuals. And once he was some twenty meters away from them, the brown orc woman spoke in a somewhat normal tone, adressing the caster by her side


    "A champion aproaches, ask what does it seek, their customs are still strange to us." and she finished speaking the mage spoke in common tongue adressing Rex


    "Why do you come here, why kill the ordinary warriors when you are clearly a champion, and what manner of beast block the gate outside?"


    "Hoo? How can you speak common?" Rex suddenly stoped, suprised by the unexpected situation. "Why does no one aproach anymore? And why does my strenght matter?" Rex was intrigued. He had never seen such organization and discipline among the dungeon orcs. And while he was aware that there were some mega tribes and they had some sort of society besides the basic tribal system, after all the challenge was commonly known custom of theirs, this was new.


    The mage quickly translated Rex words and the warrior next to her then spoke to her once again


    "We stand in the circle of champions, only the strong may enter, and so they stay outside. Champions fight other champions unless tribes are at war, so we ask you what do you seek?" And as soon as the mage started to translate Rex interupted her, speaking in orckish


    "I heard her, but how can you speak common? There is no way some friendly party of humans taught you." A dead silence took over the clearing, the orcs clearly stunned by Rex speaking their language. He waited for a minute, but seeing as the four still looked at him dazed, he spoke again


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "My patience is limited." and that jolted the four out of their stupor.


    "We could ask you the same" the warrior lady then answered "We are still waiting for your answers to our questions too." she spoke with a tone filled with authority, almost as an order.


    "It is the strong who question the weak, not the other way around. Now answer my questions" Rex responded, iritation clear in his voice. His blatant arrogance angered the champions and one of them growled in anger and then almost shouted at Rex


    "Show respect towards the Valkyrie, its only in her benevolence and apreciation of your decent strenght that you can even still stand. Or we would have cut you down long ago."


    The sheer arogance and stupidity of this champion annoyed Rex more than it should have, and having a moment of cruel pettiness and annoyance, he decided to make an example of this one fool. The achievement was still pending in his mind, and Irina was waiting home, so Rex smirked


    "Show me then, what you are capable of, but know, that you will be begging for the sweet embrace of death soon enough." And once done Rex placed his sword in the storage ring


    "I dont even need my weapon for a weakling like you" he added and that pissed the mouthy champion off even more.


    "Valkirie, I have been challenged" the champion roared "you will die for this!" and the champion drew his greatsword and charged at Rex, and once close enough it swung the blade in a chopping motion trying to split Rex in two. The champions movements seemed awfully slow, and Rex just sidesteped a bit to the righ and slapped the orcs side making it fly some four or five meters away, and groaning in pain. Since Rex used palm to strike, no bones were broken just yet, but it was quite painfull regardless


    "The other one is not going to help him?" Rex asked, looking at the valkirie while the champion was getting up, clear mockery in his voice. That angered the champion even more. No one had ever humiliated him, and mocked his might, and there was nothing more than Rex''s death that this champion desired.


    "Call for help. Go on, we both know you are too slow and too weak to manage on your own." Rex''s every word enraged the champion more and more, and in that rage it charged again, and obviously, Rex slightly avoided the strike again, but this time he did not strike in a way that send the orc flying. Instead he made a chopping motion, striking the orcs shoulder, making it crash in the groudn and howl in pain, then Rex kicked the orcs gut, knocking the breath out of the miserable champion. While it was clutching his hut and wheezing in pain, Rex picked up its sword, and stored in his spatial ring. Then he looked at the mage and valkirie and spoke


    "I dont like to repeat myself. How can you speak common?" His voice was cold and it was clear he wasnt asking anymore. He ordered them to answer, and he was expecting an answer soon. And since the champion was slowly coming out of its pain trip, Rex was kind enough to provide another ticket to pain land for free, inducing another spasm filled scream of pain and wriggling around, all the while not looking away from the trio that stood there, chills runing down their backs. They realized now that the being in front of them was wery strong. At the very least on the level of Royal guards, maybee stronger, so it didnt matter if they attacked him all together, he could most likely wipe out the entire tribe, unless he gets exausted, but even then, before that happens the living ones would be running away in terror. And then they remembered that the exit was blocked by the beast that was with him, effectively cutting down their escape.


    They were trapped here with him, they had no idea what his purpose here was, and they knew he most liekly woudnt like the real answer to his questions. While appearing extremely dominant and savage, Rex still was curious. Why did this tribe differ so much from all the outposts and parties of orcs he had encountered so far. Here there was organization, some sort of order, unlike the beastial and savage instincts that lorded over all the other groups he had encountered, with the exeption of the outpost he quired Irina.


    ''Wait, they had a shaman'' Rex mused ''Does higher class overlord for the group make them more intelegent and less primal? What would happen if you remove the leader in such a group? Do they revert to their savage and insticnt based patterns?'' Rex mused while being patient with the leaders, but he could wait only so long, administering another round of pain to the one sprawling on the ground.


    "You have shown your strenght." Valkirie finaly spoke "He has learned his lesson, would you mind letting him go?" she continiued, her voice much more gentle, almost pleading. Rex could see her and the mage vince evry time he administered another dose of pain. He also noticed terror in the champions eyes, when they were not closed in pain.


    "I did say he would beg me for the sweet release of death, didnt I?" Rex''s words were arrogant, but his display of power gave him every right to do so "Or do you have something you can offer to appease my anger?" he continiued "Or should I return to the slaughter, since you dont seem willing to answer my questions." and his words sent another chill down the spines of the trio.


    Not willing to incur the full wrath of the being in front of them, and since his features were hidden beneath his clothing, valkirie quickly refocused and because of his display of might, she quickly made an asumption that the one before them is most likely not of human race, since there had never been even rumors about such level of might from them.


    "The ancestor tribe captures humans they encounter on this floor from timne to time. The brightests ones are used to teach oracles their language." her words relatively low, fearfull and full of hope to avoid death. No sane being wanted to die if they had the option not to, and so the trio hanged to the tiniest sliver of hope.


    "And the rest?" Rex asked in a rather monotone voice "used acording to orc traditions regarding slaves?" His tone of voice gave the trio more courage and their hope for survival grew bigger. Rex once again looekd at the champion at his feet once he ralized it had gone silent. Turns out it had gone unconscious from pain, and Rex sighed.


    "How scared for your life you are right now?" Rex asked as he looked again at the thrio, and he saw them flinch at his question "Would you ignore human party that your scouts had noticed? Would you let them pass? Or would you attack them with the intention of capturing them and doing whatever it is that you do?" His question once again brought an absolute silence in the clearing.


    "Take off your helmet." He ordered the valkirie, since the helmet hid most of her facial features. "Your actions and compliance will mark the difference between your life and death.", and at his words, the valkirie immediatly removed her helmet, and in those few moments Rex crushed the head of the unconscious champion and with insane speed appeared right in front of the valkirie. Neither she nor the oracle reacted to his speed and he inspected both women with an apraising eye.


    "You are indeed young" Rex concluded, "And the oracle is also a decent specimen. It would be a waste to kill you, and I came here for a champion anyways, so you get to live." his words visibly relaxed their super tense bodies. They had come so close to death, but survived and all they lost was a single champion. All things considered it was the best case scenario. And since they had relaxed they failed to react to the chains that bound them and only when Rex spoke again did they came to.


    "I will keep you two" he spoke as he squeezed the D sized breasts of the oracle. "Of course mages will have the best tits. No running involved in their training."


    Realization that such physical power and speed was displayed by a mage broke all the previous calculations of the enemies strenght. This was an existance that should be in deeper floors, the two women realized. The crowd outside the champions arena just stood dumbfounded. It was a being outside of their comprehension. That had frozen them in place, unable to move.


    Rex didnt waste much time, and branded all three at the same time. Exausting almost half of his energy.


    "I will call you Val" Rex addressed valkirie, then looked at the oracle "and you will be Mel" and since the orc champion was to be sold he couldnt be bothered to name it.


    Rex then noticed a slight shift in the atmosfere among the other orcs, ferocity and savagery slowly taking over the crowd.


    "Are there any other mages or high class orcs in this settlement?" he asked Val.


    "No, all other champions are in advanced raid camp out right now. They woudnt return for at least thirty days." Val replied, obeying and answering the man without a second though. What magic did he use, she had no idea, however she knew what it had done, and seeing as Mel and the champion had the same confusion, and the odd new connection that she felt between herself and the other two elites, linked to the mage gave her a few hints. They were soulbound to him, and the absolute loyality she felt for the man explained the nature of the spell. They were his now, an alien feeling but moments ago, but the most natural and pleasant one now. And she too sensed the change in the orcs that just lost all of their leaders. A bloodbath was coming.

 Chapter 19: Quest complete

    The green tide was slowly starting to rouse, with few of orcs from the mob taking lead and charging at the cloaked man and the now enemy orcs. And while there were more than one and a half thousand orcs remaining, they were all low B and C class entities. Nothing a proper grind session cannot deal with. The only annoyance was the need to protect his newly aquired slaves once they start to exaust themselves, but even that was managable. Just a bit of thinking had to be involved, and luckaly, Rex had started working on a solution the second he noticed the changes.


    "What is happening to them?" Val asked seeing the change in the remaining camp, some of the orcs even charging at them with full on rage and frenzy, and those were instantly split in half by the blade of her master.


    "Since they lost a ll of their high class leadership, it seems they are sucumbing to the law of the dungeon." Rex responded "At least i will not have to chase them. Lucky me."


    "I will prepare the field for battle. you three are to stay behind and kill the attacking orcs if they reach us. Do not leave the defensive formation."


    As soon as Val wanted to ask what formation, chains shot out from Rex extending, piercing the ground and making a makeshitf web, that soon was covered again and again ubtill only walls were seen- made out of the mana chains. And there was only a single entrance, in front of which stood Rex, ready to murder any and all adversaries.


    "!" Rex shouted with exitement, and called upon the remaining two chains, the rest tied up in the making of the walls "Crystal go wild but dont get hurt, and retreat when neccesary to recover!" he also shouted his order for the panther, since he had no desires to see the cat hurt too badly or worse. And then the green tide came to life fully, charging at the postion of Rex, primal fury in thir eyes. Only one side would survive the night to tell the tale. As the orcs closed in Rex dashed forward a few steps and used his greatsowrds, weildign one in each hadn to deliver a whirlwhind of blood gore and death. Orc bodies fell one after another, cut extremities flying around and unending wails of pain echoed in the air. What was happening right now could be called as nothing more or less than slaughter, and what made matters whorse- besides the spilled blood no bodies were remaining to prove the carnage that was taking place. Rex was using his two free mana chains to a full effect, draining and scattering the remaining dust with the wind, keeping the place of combat relatively clean of corpses and death. The only proof of the slain was the waried extremities and the huge pool of blood that almost formed rivers.


    And while Rex found it somewhat akward and unwieldy his absolute advantage over the orcs in both power and speed allowed him to ignore his deficiencies in his sword mastery. The symphony that he created was most likely and unreasonably brutal and vomit inducing sight for ordinary people but but Val and Mel watched on with awe. Rex, wielding two champion greatswords, was slashing through drowes of incoming orcs. Each of his swing taking with it multiple lives. Most died instantly, being cut cleanly in half around at the navel. The sheer efficiency and brutality of the man was impressive. Not a single hole in his defended area to be found and penetrated to reach the trio in the back, as such the orc instinct drove them to drown him with numbers- exaustion would eventually take over, and then all the previous sacrifices could bring an ultimate victory.


    Rex, fully recovered by now, with all the draining he had performed, had a bright smile on his face as he was mowing down his enemies left and right. This fight was not about growing much stronger, as he barely felt a thing after each drain, but there was some progress, even if minuscule. Every ocean is made out of droplets after all, so even if they made almost no difference seperatly, at the end of it all he will have grown stronger nonetheless. And so the whirlwind of blades and blood, and mana chains kept on going for a few hours, with the green tide rushing towards him growing smaller and smaller, leaving only piles of crude weapons and clothing behind, that was thrown around to free the immediate surroundings of Rex, so more orcs could reach his position and welcome their deaths.


    The three behind him were frozen in shock. From how he took down the first champion it was clear he was powerfull physically, but what he displayed was a different level alltogether. far stronger than any beast they had ever seen, much faster than the most agile of the lizardmen, and and endless stamina. Not to mention the chains that he controlled, that seemed to have a mind of their own. Shattering the bones of any orc that was slammed into by those, at times becoming ethereal and sliding through piles or weapons and armor to reach another fallen orc, only to then disintegrate those bodies, retracting and with pully physical state crushing the next targets, repeating the previous action.


    That was no man in front of them. A monster of untold proportions, and the question rose in their heads- could the kings of orcs even stand against it? They still had no idea where the beast companion of his was, as during the slaughter in the champions arena, as the orcs called the field that they had met Rex, the beast had not appeared even once in their field of vision. To their credit, it was nighttime and with the frenzy that had overcome the settlement light was not a major concern for the ever incoming green tide, so most of the camp had been overcome by darkness.


    Four hours into the slaughter a river of blood had developed at the champions arena, flowing away to the lower part of the settlement, and upon noticing adn calculating for a bit, since the orc warriors were mostly slaughtered and now the weaker members of the camp were attacking, Rex asked a question to his servants


    "What part of the camp is in the direction of the flow of blood?" and looking at at the river it was Mel who answered


    "Animal pens, for the domesticated beasts we are hauling with us, since we cant entirely support such numbers with only hunting and gathering." Such roaming tribes with few thousand members would find a suitable location, settle for a few years, then scout, raid and slowly deplete the consumable recourses of an area, and once there was no more fighting in quite some distance, they would uproot the camp advance further.


    With almost nothing left around to fight, the three slaves finaly saw his companion, and the sight wsa no less terrifying once the beast aproached, chewing on an arm that once belonged to an orc.


    "Crystal spit it out!" Rex calmly spoke as he recalled the chains that were protecting his new slaves "If you want meat I have plenty with me from the deeper floors." and the giant panter, heavily covered in the blood of countless orc, spit out the arm and in a few jumps was next to Rex, who then witdrew a solid slab, dozen killos in weight, and gave to the buss sized cat, who happily chomped it and was devouring it shortly.


    "Lets go and collect the valuables, that the camp had amassed." Rex walked up to valkirie and oracle and spoke while once again enjoying the softness of Mel''s breasts. Crystal, with the half eaten slab of meat followed them as they started to move in the dirrection of the tribes treasury. While not overly attached to shiny things, they still collected gems and all kinds of metals for both ornaments, gifts to the powerfull orcs of much larger tribes, or metals for forging weapons. They sometimes came upon metals that while they couldnt utilize right now, they would gring along, hoping that one day they would fidn a way to smelt them and create ever better weapons.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    With the size of the tribe, there was quite a bit of treasures for rex to grab from the vault, and he emptied it all out, since there was no tribe any longer and the raiding and hunting parties would leave most of this as it was, since they would not have the capacity to move it. Besides Rex had just murdered a shit ton of orcs, adn he deserved some solid loot, since their weapons was not that. Spending almost an hour cleaing out the vault, they preceeded to go through the camp to chech if Rex run in something else thats noteworty, since night would still last for a few hours. Unfortunately for Rex there was nothing that particularily caught his fancy, and so, with the dawn of day, they left the camp.


    They traveld for a few hours untill they came upon a small river, that Rex used as a spot to rest. Crystal was quite the bloody mess with all the goo she had smeared all over herself, and so Rex ordered Val and Mel to wash the panter properly and have a bit of sleep. Crystal had fought for as long as Rex as well, but unlike him, she had no chat ability to restore ones stamina nonstop while killing ones enemies. And with a quickly roasted meat for Rex, the girls and the new champion, and another big piece of meat for Crystal, they stayed and rested for a few hours. The orcs did noticed the incredible taste and the raw energy that coursed through their bodies, and once informed that the meat came from deeper floor monsters they enjoyed it in silence. The orc society was well aware of teh existance of both deeper and and upper floors. They didnt travel to the upper floors because it had weaker mana in the air, and less food to hunt for, and they couldnt go deeper because there was insane change in the danger levels of the dungeon. Most simple beast were as strong as a champion, and they roamed in packs. Such danger was not worth the possible rewards. It also explained Rex power, since he seemed to be hunting in there, and the panter couldnt have come from anywhere else, the orcs reasoned. It was just that powerfull.


    After the orcs and Crystal had slept for a few hours, Rex woke them up, and instructed Crystal to navigate them to either the closest Return tori, if she can sense one, or bring them back to floor thirty, and then find the return gate there, since she knew her way around that floor, and she could find it backtracking Rex movements. At least their movement was quite fast since with the size of Crystal and Rex''s mana chains that could easily keep four individuals from falling from the back of the panther, they could move with a lot of speed.


    Shortly before nightfall Rex encountered something he rarely did this deep- another adventurer party. A group of ten people. Rex had wery little interest interacting with them, adn he wanted to get home as soon as posible, so he had Crystal aproach them, stopping some fourty meters away, and it was clear that the party was in a lot of fear prepeared to fight, but hoping that their readiness would discourage the enormous beast from attacking.


    "I have no interest in killing your party, so if you coudl dirrect me to the closest Return tori you are aware of, we will be on our way." Rex spoke loudly enough for the party to hear him, and while the knowledge of the monster being tamed eased their expressions a bit, they remained quite wary and prepeared for battle. Then one of them stepped a bit forward, fully ready for battle and spoke signaling a dirrection with his hand


    "We know of one in that dirrection, should take less than a day to arrive. See those mountains in the distance?" the  man asked, and Rex focused a bit in the dirrection of his hand


    "There, at the foot of the mountain is a lake, and the gate is on a small island that connected to the shore with a slamm strip of land."


    Rex nodeed "We apreciate the assistance, and will share some info as well as thanks" Rex then pointed in the dirrection the the orc camp he had exterminated and continiued


    "In that dirrection, some five hours in our speed, so i would recon it would take you days is an orc settlement, and while now its devoid of inhabitants, their raiding patries will return within a month. Adn while its vault is now empty, most of the remaining settlement is untouched, if you want to try your luck there. have a fortuitous hunt." and with that rex signaled to his panther adn they moved in the dirrection they were provided with.


    One Rex was far enough, and the party scout had ensured that he left, they slumped on the ground, sighing in relief


    "Man, I almost pissed my pants. That cat looked scary." A petite looking girl spoke, trembling at the memory of those giant eyes.


    "Did you saw the orcs with him?" The scout asked "There was a mage one and a valkirie. The male was a champion. The guy who spoke had with him the leadership of a small settlement, plus mines a few champions."


    "Think he wiped out and entire tribe?" the dwarf in heavy plate armour asked, doubt in his eyes,  and the another member responded


    "I felt insane amount of mana from him. Must be a mage of some sort. Top of the A class, maybee even S. Then it would make sense. Some sort of AOE spell that destroyed  most of the chaff, and the beast fucked up the chapions nd the rest, then slavery shackles of highest quality to chain them. A few expensive healing potions and voila. All fresh and ready for market. besides we all have heard the rumors of a blood mage appearing in Blythe. Think he couldnt get a branding or two if he offers one of those as a gift?"


    The party fell silent after that, and continiued on their way. Rex, totaly unaware of their conversation and speculations was on his way home. It took them s few hours, as it turns out, giant panther express was quite a lot faster than human, or ork, walking speed. Then they found the gate rather soon afterwards, and left the dungeon in the middle of the night. Once again, the guild people near the dungeon entrance almost shat their pants when Crystal came out, but unlike the last time, since all movement was dependany on the black panther, they arrived home without causing much ruckus. Who woould have though that an ambush animal was so good at sneaking and avoiding being noticed.


    Once home, Crystal was brought over to Tigra, and was ordered to protect the household just like the tigress, and once Rex unloaded the meat in the cold storages he brought his new slaves to servants quarters, where he left the champion, and then with both Val and Mel returned to the main building. There he prepeared a bath and pulled both new girls in there to wash away both the fatigue of the grind and apreciate the goods both were packing.


    Now that he could evaluate both women without the baggy robes and the armor hiding most of their bodies, Rex concluded that they both are quite hot. Val was tall, even taller than Rex, her light brown skin remainded him of superbly tanned ladies from his old world. Her dark hair, tied in a singe braid, accentuated her slim and toned body. A few cuts on her hands or legs proved her time spent training and fighting others, and enhanced her, giving her a wild charm. Solid C cup breasts, long, slender legs, and bountifull ass that just begged to be squeezed.


    Mel, was quite the contarst to Val. Around one point seven meters tall, light green skin tone like most orcs encountered in this dungeon and light brown shoulder lenght hair. Unlike the tall, slender, toned and quite well trained body of Val, Mel had slighty plump body, with all the right curves and Nice and ample D sized bust with large areolas and inverted nipples. Those babies were practicly begging to be squeezed and sucked. With the week spent away from Irina and his ever evolving body, he new he needed to fuck some pussy. And while Irina will no doubt be milking him dry later in the morning, his body was way too much for one girl to handle. Irina was always out and happily sleeping in his arms after a few hours of intense session, but he could keep going on. And he was always sure that he would have a harem here, so the next few hours he spent in the bath with the two girls. Innitially geting nice and proper body cleaning, and then he indulged in his wordly desires.


    The almost nightly sessions with Irina had helped him figure out a few things that seemed unique to orc ladies, so it didnt take him long to have both Val and Mel sopping wet and in quite the heat. And once he had them both nice and ready, he spent the rest of the night in quite the intense love making session with the two women enjoying the fruits of his had work.

 Chapter 20: Unlike any other

    Stirring awake in his room after the few hours of sleep he had gotten- plentifull amount for the current him, he was welcomed by the rather pleasant scent and warmth of Irina, who had snuggled up to him as soon as he entered the bed. He looked at the absolute beauty and gently caressed her lush red hair. this slight gesture stirred her awake, and noticing him in bed with her, her face beamed in a lustfull smile. She immediatly got on top of him and proceeded to his him with pasion and desire of a lover who had not met their special one for months, not a single week. Rex spent the next few hours satisfying her desires, and left his room after she had gone back to sleep- exausted and with content smile on her face.


    After a quick shower, he found Aisha and the three human maids in the kitchen prepearing breakfast, and he saw the orc maids already moving around and doing chores. It has been almost a month since they started to eat meals and he could notice a stark difference in their appearances. Compared to before they had much smoother skin, and they exuded more vitality. Rex reasoned that if they keep this diet up, filled with top grade mana rich meat, their bodies will be purified further and further, raising their overall beauty over time. Given enough time any maid he auires could become an absolute beauty. He still didnt belive they could reach the level of Irina, since she looked almost divine, but they woudl still go quite farm.


    After a nice meal with Aisha, he informed her of the addition of Val, Mel and Crystal, and then with the champion in tow, he went to Victors castle. In no time he was sitting oposite Victor, who was looking at him, and then at the champion he had brought


    "Can I asume this champion is for the auction?" Victor asked, quite sure that was the case. He had seen Rex keep only girls and beasts in his mansion.


    "You already know, judging by your facial expresion, but yes, to answer you question. Yes it is." Rex replied, miniscule annoyance in his voice. Both men then chuckled a bit, clearly understanding the joke exchanged.


    "I am leaving it in your hands till the auction. Will switch owners one it has been sold." Rex added and stood up to leave, then as if remembering something added


    "Eredar will have the meat as ussual." and with that said he gave a few orders to the champion, transfering the ownership temporarily to Victor, and left the city lords property. Then he visited Eredar and offloaded the rest of the meat he had farmed in the dungeon. Then they spoke for a few minutes and Rex left, visiting Grogni afterwards as well, and spent some time there. Then he returned home, and noticed he had guests.


    Aina had come to visit as per ussual, and, as Rex had predicted, she was all over Crystal one the two met. Rex felt on few ocasions that Aina would start to drool any moment with all her gushing over the giant panther, but the elf girl somehow managed to keep herself from going that low.


    "I have to say, I envy you at times. Quite a lot, in fact." Aina spoke suddenly, while mushing her face in the soft fur coat of the panther "To have such cuties all to yourself is a dream for most of the elves."


    "While I cant complain about my blessings, princess, I doubt you had much, if any, problems in your childhood. So i firmly believe we both are blessed." Rex responded "And no, you cant have her either."


    Aina pouted a little at this friendly jab, more as a theatric than anything. She was quite pleased with the man she had befriended. It was a breath of fresh air, not to be treated as something special, or royality when the other paty was fully aware of her status. And at the same time it irked her wery much. If he had any respect of fear of her backbround she would have a cub and a panther by now. Not that she would bring it up again. She it it once in jest and hoping to see his reaction. It left her mouth hang open. ''Sure'' he had said ''Bring them over and we will see if they wanna mess with S class great sabertooth'' he had spoken afterwards with the biggest grin, even adding some remaks that by the time her enforcers would arive he would have more such beats ready, adn sure enough, her sister was still on her way, and he had delivered on his part.


    "I still expect to be able to pet them whenever i come by." she said, as she was sinking in the fluff of the panther once again.


    "Hey if worst come to bear, you can even run to me and hide. I will take good care of you." Rex laughed at her demand as he was petting Snow. The cub loved to be spoiled by her master.


    "Dont forget my sister arives in less than a week, so dont go and dissapear in the dungeon for a few. You hear me?" she suddenly spoke, a hint of seriousness in her tone.


    "No promises. Dungeon, unlike her is a priority of mine" Rex again responded teasingly and laughed more.


    "Keep this up and you will never get a wife." she jabbed back, and, upon hearing that, Rex started to laugh even harder.


    "Auch, stop, you are killing me." he squeezed in between his heavy laughter "Why would I ever look for one? Havent you seen Irina? Val, Mel and even Aisha are beautifull as well, why would I look for some random wife?" he managed to speak a minute later, once his uncontrollable laughter had died down.


    "And even if i were to look for one, the probability of finding a beauty who is not some sort of noble will be hard as hell. And you should know how the petty and arogant most of them are." and to Rex words she winced realizing the truth in his words, but she just responded wit ha simple haughty "phff" and dropped the topic. After a while more of apreciating the panther and some small talk, she left, once again reminding of the imminent arrival of her sister. Rex just waved his hand as he saw her off.


    ''Well, guess I should stay in town for now. Should not give her too much hastle.'' Rex thought to himself. ''Guess ill milk Mel for her knowledge as an oracle. She should be able to help me advance my mana controll and manipulation.'' he continiued to plan as he was going back to the mansion to find Mel. Irina had somewhat instantly recognised that the two new girls had the same additional tasks to perform as her, and she was having a rather long conversation with them once they had met in the dining room. Rex dragged Mel away with him after the girls had eaten, and he was milking her for all her knowledge and experience in the magecraft.


    Unlike what Rex had expected, oracles were just a branch of water mages that focused heavily on healing of both physical and psycological wounds, with some strenghtening, and offensive spells in there to be able to at least somehow adapt to many different situations. The spells themselves didnt do much for Rex as he noticed he had minimal affinity with water, since he was a blood mage, and water was a large part of it. However his specialization was more focused on the ethereal, and as such the simplified version of water was just not quite good enough for his body.


    What he did notice however thanks to his unique ability to see energy, or in this case mana, was the way Mel was circulating her mana when casting said spells, taking great interest in the way her mana was used to strenghten others with buffs. Since he saw dirrectly how mana was manipulated and morphed, all he had to do was to use it for himself. And he was able to replicate the action rather easily. All he had to do was change the volume and intensity to the right volumes to make sure his spell was stable, adn didnt drain him entirely, as one thing he noticed straight away was that buffs Mel used were timed, and once that timer is over, the buff ends. Rex wasnt quite happy with that and he reasoned that it needs mana source to keep going, so he was the mana source. He created the same thing but without the water medium, and with some extra mana consumption, since he was still a novice in this.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Rex also saw another way to employ his mana- namely creating objects and hurling them at his enemies. The way Mel was shaping her mana missles gave Rex another idea how to make his mana chains more effective at killing his targets, since untill now he had used them as extentions to use drain with or whips to smash the enemies. The visual examples gave him a new and perhaps deeper understanding of mana capacity and properties.


    Rex spent most of his time in the following days in the garden with Mel, of course making sure the oracle got her rest when needed and ensuring none of his three ladies were neglected during night. Both Val and Mel had gotten hooked on it almost as much as irina and so his night were busy. Luckaly he needed a few hours a sleep a day at most, so his study adn training time was not interupted. He had also noticed that Aisha had been looking at him a bit differently in the last few days, since Val was particularily loud when she was having the time of her life.


    Another avenue that demanded Rex to develop his mana controll even further if he wanted the other girls to have the best nights sleep. Since Ainas sister would soon arive, his elven friend was bussy and hadnt have the time to properly visit him during his stay home and training arc. She surely had heaps of things to attend to, to ensure her sisters visit end without much of a hitch. And with teh addition on Val to his home retinue, there was now combat exercises for the girls in the mansion. She wanted to train the girls to be able to better defend their home if need be so one hour every day the girls trained with Val. Rex had approved of her initiative once he knew they would not be overburdened and it would not be detrimental to their performance as maids, and seeing their training for the past week, Rex was satisfied with both the regime and intensity. That earned Val a bit of extra attention, that she enjoyed wery much.


    Rex was in one of his study rooms going over a letter victor had sent him, detailing the shit he had to deal with because a real contender for the throne in one of the elven royal families decided to visit his city, with previous information. Heirs like Aina was one thing, they were just lesser characters in their families and would support one of the main members vying for the position. The real contenders however, were a massive annoyance. Official repections, ass kissing and other niceties that Victor wanted to avoid, but could not. And while Rex was somewhat an involved person, being the most likely reason for such a personal visit, he didnt care much. His position as unchained person and a blood mage to boot afforded him the luxury.


    And as he was sitting in the comfy chair Aish aproahed him, a bit nervous but curious in her own way about something that had been bugging her lately. Ever since little she had been trained as a slave and prepared to serve her msater. With all the special training she had gone through and the utmost care that was spedn in her raising she was aware that her master had paid a fortune for her, yet he was using only her cooking abilities. While not reaaly unhappy with the fact, she had grown up with training as that involve other avenues that would relieve her masters stress, and yet those skills were not utilised. Her trainers had told her that she is very pretty and that there was no way her master would not indulge in such a feast. And her master was definetly more than interested in women, the moans of of the three orc ladies at nights- an undeniable proof of the matter.


    So after knocking on the door, and being called in, she aproached to table behind which sat her master, and in a nervous adn rather quiet voice she asked


    "Why isnt master calling upon my nightly services? Am i not pretty enough?" she asked nervously. Irina was truly much more beautifull than herself, but Val and Mel were on her level, so she coudnt understand why?


    Rex smiled a liitle and spoke "You are more than pretty enough, and i would surely enjoy fucking you unconscious, however, I consider your role as the cheff much more important than your ability to satisfy my lust." then he gestured her to come to him, and she obeyed and stood right next to Rex. Rex had made sure early on that his brands didnt compell his slaves to desire to sleep with him. Brands ensured loyality and obedience to his orders and comandments. It didnt affect other emotions. Rex had even planned out a different kind of brand that he named "brand of hate." In that case even loyality wouldnt be a core of the brand. It would only prevent the being from acting bot dirrecty and indirectly against him and his. He could use it as a punishment to some quite nasty enemies of his.


    He stood up and gently stroked her silky soft hair "I will not call upon you to serve me at night, since you are satisfying everyone in this mansion with your cooking. And tha is something only you can achieve. However, if you yourself desire for it, i will be more than happy to enjoy you." Aisha blushed at his words, elated at masters praise for her cooking skills, and feeling quite special with such treatment. It was expected that the rich adn powerfull would use their branded slaves in any way they see fit, and that often resulted in quite rough treatment, since there was no way for slaves to opose their master. To be given as much freedom and as so nice life conditions was basicly unheard of, let alone the freedom to not warm masters bed as a wery pretty girl.


    She thanked Rex and excused herself, saying she had to start prepearing the next meal, and rushed out of the study making Rex chuckle. Not being from this world did give him a unique perspective on how to treat his slaves, that went against any common sense and practice in this world. Rex reasoned that with society would not have developed to such high level with so liberty centric dogma if they had to enusre all the time that some Tyronasaurus didnt jump from some bushes, destroyed their settlements and ate everyone there. only in absence of an orgnic threat greather than themselves could one find the time to ponder on the purpose of life and mysteries of the universe.


    Meanwhile Aisha was back in the kitchen, helped by the human maids, since they were with experience in hitchen, and she was beaming with joy. She remembered the horror stories she heard from servants working in their training camp, of masters more terifying than monsters. Cruel and sadistic ones who would enjoy the pain and suffering of their slaves, the constant abuse for every little mistake, the miserable living conditions and horrible food they would get, when and if they were fed. Sure, she also new she would have at the very least slightly better life, since she was pretty and trained as a high quality slave, but her master here was nothing like what she feared. Her master was the nice. All his slaves were treaded nice, fed the same food the master ate. As he had once said "Aint no way I will treat whats mine like shit.". She had even asked sir Eredar, sir Brogni and even miss Aina, about how slaves are treated elsewhere, and after hearing what they had to say, she once again concluded that her master is just different.


    And now, he wasnt even demanding her night services. As Irina had told her, their master treats them better than an orc champion treats their sword. An odd comparison for sure untill she learned how much they coddled their swords, and sure enough, compared with the noem it seemd that he indeed did. Special treatment to ones bed slaevs was to be expected, but not all of them. She was sure that there is no bettermaster she could ever wish for, and she would work harder on her craft, make it even better, and one day soon, she would show her master just how gratefull she is for her new life.


    Rex, reading Victors complaints was chuckling from time to time, imagining the man complaining in person, and how he himself would from time to time shrug and point out that they all have their own respective duties. Rex job was to get the champions to spread the rumors, and one for the auction, and just sit there and be, since he is the one doing the branding. And Victors, Eredars and Brogni''s job was to ensure everything else works. Rex would even add that he had the hardest job, since who else would be going around subjugating champions? Evening was closing in and he was quite happily working on mana chains modifications when one of the maids brough over a another message from Victor. Its contents were


    "I am so fucking done with this. Tommorow morning I am sending her over to you since she has been asking it over and over. Deal with her and get her the fuck off my back. PLEASE." Rex laughed once more, and then issued a few comands for his girls regarding tommorows guest. Since the incoming princess was not a trustworthy person, he would not show her group his cats and he would be in his full blood mage disguise. It was full on business mode tommorow, so to get himself in the right mindset he needed to reset his brain. So, after supper that felt even better than before, he thanked Aisha, for once again surpassing herself, making a few small requests regarding tommorows meals, since there might be some guests, and spent the night with his three ladies.

 Chapter 21: The broken tree

    Rex woke up early as ussual. With the constant draining he performed in the dungeon his body had been strenghtened over and over, and as such not only he had a monstrous strenght and stamina, his body needed minumum amount of sleep and even that from time to time. He could not sleep at all, if he kept draining this in dungeon, reseting his fatigue, and even when home he slept not because he needed, but because it was something familiar, something he always had done. Not to mention, it was quite the pleasant feeling to go to sleep amd wake up next to a beauty. The little pleasures in life.


    After he had brought food for his cats, he spent a few hours in the garden working on his mana chains and creating a personal strenghening skill with his mana similar to what Mel could cast. The structure was quite simple, but it wasnt what Rex had in mind. He wanted to make it to stay active as long as he supplies mana, not just take mana and last as long as that set amount could last. Once he couid figure out that part, modifying the output should be easier, Rex reckoned. He kept this on untill he was called for breakfast by on of the maids.


    It was nice and friendly atmosphere in the dining room that was used for meals. Once the food was prepeared and served all the girls joined their master , eating and having some simple conversations. One would never think seeing this that anyone in that room was a slave. Smiles and light conversation permeated, while they enjoyed the magnificent work of Aisha.


    "Do you need more help in the kitchen Aisha?" Rex asked once they were more or less done eating. Aisha had the three human maids as her personal assistants in the kitchen, since they had a decent experience with it. There where eleven people, him included, that lived in this mansion, so Rex just wanted to be sure none of the girls were overworked. He had reasoned to himself, that the state of ones own slaves is more of a mirror to master nature. The more miserable and pathetic the slaves the less reliable the owner should be.


    "There is not that many of us, and I have plenty of help, so right now there is no need. Thank you master." Aisha responded, quite happy with her masters concerns. Rex then looked at Val, who had taken a managerial role with the help of Mel. They both were A class entities and as such quite capable "How does it look on the staff part? I am guessing we need more girls to ensure that the mansion is nice and homely?"


    "Yes, for the time being we are neglecting most of the servant buildings aside from the mansion. Mel has calculated that we would need at least fourty more people to be able to comfortably maintain  the compound." Val replied.


    "Aisha, with such changes I will get another few cooks and helpers for them. Your job will be to mentor the few new additions to the kitchen staff, since they will cook for the new servants. You will still cook for me and the people here." he continiued. "And that will include any guests we might be having."


    Aisha was innitialy worried when Rex spoke of more kitchen staff, since she had come to love to cook for her master, but with the entire explanation she smiled happily.


    "Yes master, i will train them well." she spoke, prepared to prove to Rex that his choice was the best.


    "It will still take some time before I find ones i like, and dont exaust yourself once I do. I need you to be in your best condition." Rex remainded, and the girl nodded.


    Once done with breakfast, they all went back to their own duties. Rex returned to the garden to keep working on his mana controll. A few hours later, a maid informed him that Aina has arived, and she has a few more people with her. And they are being guided to the prepared study. Rex thanked her, had a very quick bath, and once in his concealing clothes went to the room his guests were guided to.


    Only the three orc maids interacted with the guest party, and Aina noticed the change in the atmosphere. The elven arrival had changed the ussually cheerfull and relaxed atmosphere to one of silence and emptiness. The fact that only Lira, Liara and Lianne was seen also had her narrow her eyes in suspicion, and when she pulled one maid aside to know what was wrong, all she recieved was that those were masters orders. She would ask Rex later, she reasoned.


    When Rex entered the study, he saw two elven women sitting on the sofa sipping tea his Aisha had prepeared and his maids delivered. Rex added another task to his to do list- tea master kitsune. Doesnt matter if they exist or not. He wanted one, and one he will have. Someday. Probably. Behind the two women were five elf men, in almost shining silvery metal armor. Sword and shield their chosen weapons. All suspiciously watched Rex, searching for any hint of hostility or danger to their master. A rank power, Rex immediatly assesed. Nothing Tigra or Crystal cant solo if the need arises. He noticed the slightly squinted eyes of Aina at his choice of chothing, but made no reaction to it for now. He sat in the opposite sofa, that was more like a club chair, his posture quite relaxed as he slid in, enjoying its comfort and rested his arms on the armrests. He was on his own litte throne right now, only elevation and overly posh decorations missing. Having taken his place he inspected Ainas sister properly now.


    Long blonde hair, cascading over her shoulders reaching almost her hips. heart shaped lovely face, with vibrant green eyes. Her body looked quite delicate and slim, as all elves do. Of course they do, they always do. Damn genetics of the arrogant bastards, though Rex to himself. The princess had a moderate bust, and Rex asumed she had an ass to kill for, if he used Aina as the relative for his base, he coudnt check it now, since she was seated. Rex had to give the sister a damn solid 10/10. She stil wasnt a match for Irina in his mind though, personal bias and all since that orc lady was his, and he had all the right for personal bias. That didnt take away from the fact that just like Aina, her sister was increadibly smashable. Another point for the list- get some hot elven booty to smash. Will ask Brogni later, hell, might even have them deliver me some hottie if they ask something stupid. The princess was dressed in some fancy looking dress, accentuating her beauty even more, but Rex, ever the utalitarian, failed to apreciate the overly posh dress.


    He sat there, waiting for the oder side to speak, and the elves stayed quiet as well for a minute or two, as if waiting for him to do or say something. Rex, having no fucking idea of any kind of ettiquete, nor giving a shit about it, just went with it. signaling for Lira to bring him tea as well. Aina, finding the akward silence unbearable was about to speak when Rex lifted his hand, interrupting her


    "I was informed you have been asking for a meeting with me quite actively, so, here we are." he spread his arms as he finished "I have limited time to spend on pointless silence." Then he looked at Aina "Visit once you have free time, seems this has kept you busy." His tone of voice, the lack of cold indifference, and more frendly manner was aparent, informing Aina of his intentions. Right now Rex was dealing with an elven delegation, what with the guards and all. He had made it abundantly clear that no matter how this meeting ends Aina was her own person, not just a delegate of an elven royal house.


    The sister, frowned for just a small moment, almost unnoticable, but with his sharp eyes and other senses Rex noticed it, but pretended to ignore it, and she shoved an amiable smile and spoke


    "I am Kanaelia Silvermist, first princess of the Silvermist Isles." then she pointed at Aina "And I have been led to believe that you are well aquinted with my sister - Ainyliala Silvermist."


    "My previous words should have been evidence enough, but yes, we are well aquinted. Her being a princess doesnt matter." Rex responded and allowed her to continiue.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "Ow, but it does. There are many customs and procedures that has to be followed, and with how much time she spends here rumors have already spread, and we cannot have our names tarnished."


    She had already made quite a few schemes in her mind. If she had to use Aina here as sacrifice she would do it without a second thought. Ainas mother was just a concubine and the girl herself had never shown potential for scheming or magic. AS and elf, with her lifespan she would reach the upper echelons of A rank adventurers but that was it. Her royal blood ensured at least that much potential. But she was not gifted in magic, and as such she would never be trully respected as an elf. She had dealt with quite a few mages in her life, not blood mages of course, because those were rarer than the unicorns. and while arrogant and powerfull, they stil had to show respect and bow their heads to the great families. She had brough her guard with her for that exact purpose. To make a show of their strenght and remind this that he would be blessed if her family decided to business with him.


    "While a daughter of a concubine, she still has the royal blood and as such our reputation must not be harmed. We are more than willing to hand her over to you, however it must be done properly. To avoid any further harm there are only two options. You either take her as your wife or concubine, or once she has been striped of her status as a princess you claim her as your slave. Regardless of your choice, she ends up yours, and we believe that we should recieve a gift of equal value in return."


    Rex could see how quickly Ainas expression changed from one of slight pout, when she knew her friend would pull her leg for quite a while because of her ''royal name'', to one of suprise and disbelief. She had seen many people and learned to recognise whne she was being fooled, and she was shocked that the kind sister she believed Kanaelia to be was just an act, and that she would be used just like a slave to be traded for greater benefits, or a trophy to be given away. Rex saw her change and decided to help her heal, but he first had to know how deep the infection went


    "And you are making this offer as?" he asked Kanealia, his qeustion clear.


    "My father, the king of Silvermist Isles, has himself agreed to this, and has authorised me to act with his authority in the matter."


    Aina, in barely a whisper, hear head now hung low, with a dead tone of voice asked


    "That means that the family council has made this decision." both a question and an answer.


    "Yes sister." Her voice sweet, yet devoid of any emotions, betraying her lack of care "Rejoice, you can serve the family once more. Father told me to thank you for your hard work."


    "With that out of the way" Kanaelia claped her hands "I believe its time to iron out the details. Since Aina here went and dirtied our name a bit, we will be expecting a rather favourable conditions, but worry not, we will not be too unfair."


    Rex half zoned out, quickly attributing most of his brain power to help Aina and make a plan to heal her heart after this. Sure he stil heard what the first princess was spouting but he was too busy to respond.


    "Why dont you explain your limits so we can come to the correct number and and power class bradns we will be expecting in return."


    Rex raised his arm to stop her from going on with her ramblings. He gently tugged tree connections he had with f his brands, indicating to three individuals that he was calling for them. His plan getting finalized in his head. He had the general idea and dirrection but that will have to do.


    "I am not an elf, nor am I one of your constituents, nor  do I live within your territory. Expecting me to know, care or give a shit about your customs is quite the arrogance on your part. Not to mention that you are insinuating i just went and messed around with my friend here. Furthermore from her expression and the details of you ''offer'', it is quite clear she has been classified as an item to be sold already. Sadly for you, she is of age by both this cities and elven customs, an as such she is her own person." Rex spoke, making his point clear.


    "Whats more, i am a blood mage. I dont think you have ever dealt with one before. What we offer, kings would kneel to secure, sell their daughters and wifes in slavery for our continiued support. What you failed to understand, is that you were supposed to kiss my ass while offering Aina as a gift, hoping i would in refurn look favourably at your future requests."


    He then looked at Aina "Aina" his adress jolting her out of her stupor "I believe it is time to discard that ridicoulus name and such a detestable family. You are a friend, you know that. And while thinking of you in a maids outfit trying to clumsily act as one, is in itself hilarious, that woudnt be you. I need my friend Aina back, the one who is drooling over my cats, trying nonstop to convince me to gift you one."


    At that moment the door opened and three women entered. The guards went on high alert. They had been well trained and they could tell that two of them were extremely dangerous.


    "And that pathetic attempt at flaunting your ''might'' is quite the insult to me." Rex spoke "To bring mere A ranks to intimidate blood mage who definetly has the ability to brand that same rank is just retarded." At his words, his blood chains pulled Aina in Irinas dirrection.


    "She needs a hug, and you are the best at that." Rex addressed Irina and the girl immediatly followed his request. The guards failed to react to Aina being pulled in Irinas embrace, but right after they drew their weapons and surounded  Kanaelia, who seemed startled and quite angry with the arrogance of the mere mage in front of her. She had never in her life been disrespected so much by a mere mage. So what he is a were ware type, royality is still at least a few steps higher.


    While she was thinking of her next step,Mel had already cast a spell to calm and soothe Ainas mind, giving her a clarity that she couldnt reach in her now depressed and heavily wounded mind. In that moment of clarity she did the only thing that felt right. Free herself and side with the people that saw her as more thna just a tool to be used, to hopefully free herself from such a fate


    "I renounce my name. I discard my blood right and ties to the Silvermist tree. In the name of the divine, sever our bond."


    And in response to her words, a bright light shone from her body, and a sound of a tree breaking and falling resounded. Something only the two sisters new the true meaning of. All Rex was aware of from a random talk he and Aina had, regarding the bloodties and belonging to certain noble families. He knew tht every member that was admitted in such families was recognized by a contract of sorts, that symbolized their belonging to that particular dynasty. And that contract could be broken in two ways. Either the Learder of the house adn the elders make the decision and some sort of ritual is involved that removes that connection, or a member could sever it as well. But there had to be some sort of unrepairable act on behalf of said family, that had to have happened. A simple offence from another member was not good enough, but the decision by the whole top brass of the family, Rex reckoned had to count, and from what he saw Aina do, he guessed he was right.


    Aina knew that since the moment her family decided to sell her off, she would be removed from the family, and luckaly, with her boundless desire for old lore and fairytales, she had read of the binding rituals in one such book, and she felt even more lucky because she randomly stumbled on that conversation with Rex once, when he asked how the members are regonized and whatnot. And she was gratefull to him now, how he had given her the opportunity to free herself from it here and now, because she would be under their laws and customs as long as she was part of it.


    "What? How?" A couple confused, and shrot words followed by a cry of disbelief "IMPOSIBLE! Only the council could break the crest of a dynasty." Kanaelia continiued in shock. They no longer had any right over Aina. Their precious chip was nolonger theirs to use for the beneft of the family.


    "I am quite disgusted with such a family, and fell quite offended by your actions. Pray we will not have much interactions in the future." Rex addressed the elven princess, surrounded by her guards.


    "Leave my property, before i decide that your drawn weapons are an act of aggression itself. I guarantee that my oracle and valkirie will be enough to wipe you all out if it comes to blows."


    His words drained the color from the faces of the elven guards. They knew how dangerous a valkirie can be. And the mages words were even more dangerous than the presence of those two. His words implied that he has more powerfull beings on standby, so even if they could take down the two elites, the blood mage himself was a dangerous variable, and any other power he has in the complex. The leader of the guards quickly ordered them rest to sheathe their weapons, and they were escorted out of the complex. Before trully leaving the mansion grounds guard captain helf a deadly chill run down his spine, a predator eyeing his every move. He hastened their leave, and as soon as they were outside the walls of the mansion the gaze dissapeared.


    With the unpleasant bunch off the property, Rex ordered Mel to focus on Ainas recovery. She would surely need quite the care to bring her back to the cheerfull and happy elf he was so well familiar with.


    "You are staying with us untill you are all better." he told Aina who was cared for with Mels spells and Irinas gentle embrace.

 Chapter 22: The gears start turning

    In a relatively small mansion in the noble quarter of Blythe the mood was quite gloom. Kanaelia was furious. The audacity of the mage, the sheer gall of the man. The tone and actions he took showed no regard for their noble blood. What even worse is that Ainyliala has somehow managed to exile herself, and could no longer be used as a trading chip. The rumors of their intimate relationship their agents had asumed seemed to be false. And their act seemed to have enraged the mage. Even worse, it seemed this one was far above the average level of blood mages, from what ther guard captain had told her. Right now she was relaxing with a massage.


    While that was going on, the guard captain was setting up a comunication device, to inform their king of the situation. While quite rare and expensive magical tool, the envoys always were provided with one, in case something urgent had to be reported back. And once the captain had secured a well warded location, he initiated connection. He had to wait for aproximately ten minutes before the crystal dysk he had placed on the floor displayed a holographic image of a table surrounded by five aged elves and one who seemed middle aged.


    "Captain Oronas reporting from Blythe."


    "What is so urgent that you have contacted us?" asked one of the elders, his tone of voice slightly irritated, apparently he had done something rather enjoyable when he call was made, souring his mood.


    "Tell us of your progress." Another of the elders spoke "I am sure that is the reason for your call."


    "Yes elders" Oronas lighty bowed to the elders, then bowed to the middle aged man in the hologram "Your highness. Unfortunately, the information we recieved from our spies was only partially correct. While Anyliala had been visiting the mage and were on friendly terms, there had been no physical connection. And as we feared the younger generation is indeed to pridefull."


    "Speak, what exactly happened?" the king spoke. They needed the full picture to understand the nuances of the situation. Then Oronas recounted the encounter. And while there was a silence at the end, no elder was trully suprised by Ainas self exile from the family. Unlike most of the younger generation, these elders and the king had spent their time in the library, just like Aina, and were well aware of the same condition. The knowledge in of it self meant nothing, and as such it had been left in the library as a novelty. An extra insight in the complex weave the magic can create.


    "No blood was spilled. That is quite good. It should meant that it is not unsalvageable." The king spoke "What do you think of the blood mage himself Oronas. His capabilities and potential?"


    "May speak freely sir?" he asked, hesitating for a moment, and when the king and elders all noded in agreement, since Oronas was quite seasoned and gifted captain.


    "That mage is terrifying. He was wearing magic clothing that disguised his persona. but the aura he exuded was brim with youth and strenght. It is very likely he is young for his race, whatever it may be. In addition, to the three champions the city lord has on display in the city, I heard one will be auctioned as well at the grand auction. And what even more, he had orc valkirie and lesser orc oracle under his control."


    One Oronas finished, a deadly silence overtook the elves present. had the blood mage been ordinary, even if incredibly rare, they could somewhat ignore this soured relationship and look for another one. They trully regretted sending anyone from the younger generation over. They were all aware that youngsters tedn to be arrogant and foolish, but Kanaelia was one of the sharpest in this generation. Had anyone else been sent, they might have even considered using brute force to make the mage work for them. It was not a fault of only elves. Any aristocrat youngster acted like that if they were not dealing with another aristocrat, asuming similar standings, or friendly relationships between houses.


    "Another thing, Your highness." oroans added, and with the kings nod he continiued "I have strong suspicion that the blood mage might have some extremely powerfull feline monster branded and protecting the property."


    "What makes you think so?" king questioned.


    "Whne we were escorted outside, i felt a predator stalking us, expecting us to stir trouble, so it could pounce. And since Anyliala had been visiting the mage often, and there was talk of cats, I believe she should have seen it and most likely had interacted with it as well. Unfortunately, we will never know now. The predator also gave me bigger chills than the valkirie or the oracle, so it must be the pinacle A class."


    "There have not been such a mage for more that hundred years anywhere near here. We must think on this." the king concluded "Return immediatly with Kanaelia and her entourage, lest she does something foolish and destroy any chance we have with the mage. Foolish children."


    With tha the connection was severed and Oronas proceeded with his new orders. He quiclky ordered the guards, and although unwilling , Kanaelia and her entourage left the city to return home by the evening.


    During the day the elves were discussing and planning on saving their chances of dealing with the blood mage, Rex was back in the dungeon, murdering his way to floor thirty one. It was barely half effort try on Rex part since he was only killing creatures around the Return tori. He had sent a message to Victor, informing of the shitshow that was the elven delegation, and kindly asked that no other aristocrats would be sent his way, unless of course they were offering insanely beautifull women for Rex to claim as his slaves for the meetings. Then and only then should Victor consider forwarding the envoys.


    Murdering till late evening, he returned, and as per ussual stacked meat, fed cats adn returned to the mansion. He spent some time with Aina, who was very quiet and distant, but that didnt stop Rex from his ussual way of action. He still spoke of the same stuff they always did, with her somethimes nodding absentmindedly, he made some light jabs at her and himself as ussual. He was the same as before, a constatnt in this world of hers that was crumbling with the betrayal of her family. Mel was nearby all the time, should her mind sink too deep in despair. Days went on with the same routine. The only truly great thing was that Aina was starting to slowly come out of her barely responsive shell. Mel magic and Rex being Rex helped a tremendous deal. And at the end of two weeks she was already half way herself.


    She smiled much less now, but she was talking, and she was spending her time with the cats quite a bit, since she was living in the mansion. She had also shown quite the apreciation for Aisha, since her cooking was just heavenly, and once she learned what the people were eating in this household, her mouth had hung open. It was just a few days ago, that she had finaly actually paid attention to the insane quality of food, making her apreciate Aisha. When she learned that the meat was from floor thirty, she alomst flipped out. That was some insanely expensive stuff. Rare too, since it was very dangerous to hunt for it. She was quite adamant and said they shouldnt use such super luxurious food to care for her. Imagine her shock when she was informed that Rex just hunted there whenever he felt like it, but it quickly dissapeared when she remembered that the cats she was cuddling were the apex predators of that floor. Of course Rex could hunt there, just bring one of the adult cats here to hunt and it would be easy as hell. She did declare, that Rex had to take responsibility for her exile and she would be staying here. And while her words were boisterous and somewhat bratty, Rex knew she still needd time to trully heal, and he had noproblems whatsoever with indulging in her wishes as long as it helped her. Within reason of course. He had grown quite fond of her after all of their interactions.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Brogni and Eredar visited Rex mansion from time to time, and planned for the auction. There wher only a bit over fifty days untill it would be happening, and they were obviously quite exited and even a little nervous. There had been quite a few aristocratic families snooping around, looking for properties in the noble quarters to purchase, and they were quite sure that after the auction, they would flock here even more, and bring their best trained and most beautifull daughters to perhaps catch the eye of a certain blood mage residing in this city. They also informed Rex of the countless inquirees the had recieved from their guild regarding the matter. The city would experience quite the boom in the near future.


    Victor too was bussy beyond reason since he was taking the brunt of the aristocratic questioning, He had taken a harder stance with those oportunistic bastards though. He was from quite a long standing noble family as well, and he had suddenly, for some ''mysterious'' reason recieved quite a few letters of encouragement and promises of backing from his distant relatives. Word of the elevs getting an audience wit hthe blood mage had spread, as such there was a belief among the nobles that Victor could somewhat recomend or encourage the blood mage to hear them out, so naturally Victor had also recieved quite a lot of offers for marriage and other lucrative deals and the like. The man however had been very elusive, using the auction as an exuse to avoid most of such trifles. He even started to visit Rex mansion in the evenings, taking up a room in one of the guest wings of Rex mansion to get some peacefull sleep. He had even suggested Rex could outright make up some insane requirements to be met so they stop pestering him. Rex had laughed at that, pointing out that in such a case the nobles would pester him even more, hoping to bypass the ridiculous meeting fees.


    Wha tthey came up with was rather simple solution. A simple rumor was spread that just happened to coincide with the truth. The blood mage had met a member of their family before, and as a favor for said members help, he had promised to assist once. and that was the favour being used. Mage agreed to meet them as the repayment of the favour. After the rumor had spread and Victor confirming it as such, the pestering he recieved lessened quite considerably.


    There were also a few retarded attempts to sneak in his mansion, that obviously ended in exemplary failiures. The two cats were just that increadibly scary and good with their senses. Anything wandering over the walls was immediatly captured adn wery soon disposed of. There was no trespassing in a blood mages territory.


    The next four weeks Rex was grinding hardcore in the dungeon, finding his way to the thirty first floor. He had quite the prosperous grinding sessions in this last month. He would spedn almost a week inside, grinding away, returning afterwards to off load the meat he had farmed and any other treasures he had found. Still not a single encountered chest, but he reasoned that was because this was an open floor dungeon, and as such, chests would be a rare occurance, there were no trap rooms here either after all.


    Aina was now back to her cheerfull self, with the only change that she no longer delved in the dungeon. As she herself had said one day said to Rex:


    "That broke me. Without you, Mel, Irina and everyone here I dont think I would have ever recovered. I would have most likely one day entered the dungeon and die there. I no longer feel the call of adventure. What I need is people around me who care for me, truly care, and i believe I have found them. Will you let me stay with you and everyone else here?"


    Rex being the jerk knew he had to be here, to make sure she knew he isnt going to change answered the way one would expect


    "Sure, just warm my bed somethimes, and we are all good. Cant have you grow lazy after all." That had her blush quite hard and look down. Rex laughed hard at that, and just patted her shoulder afterwards "As a true friend, it is my duty, to not just help you up when you fall, but to be next to you and laugh, so can grow tougher, and I expect the same from you. No matter what shit happens, you bet I will be right next to you to poke fun, and watch you overcome it all."


    At his words she looked back at him with a bright smile, like she used to, and there was a hint of something little more in the depths of her eyes. What she saw in front of her was not just a friend whose shoulder was there when she needed it the most, she saw a wall, a mountain that will protect her from the terrifying wiind and waves coming her way. She had found a new home, and she was damn sure to cherish it. And whatever he actually meant when he joked, she knew she would one day indeed sneak in and warm his bed.


    "Damn, forgot bout those elven slaves I wanted Brogni to keep track of." Rex spoke to himself suddenly remembering something that had skipped his mind as he was standing in front of the stairs to floor thirty one.


    "Well I will do that once I return from this run. Gotta ask about other nearby dungeons as well. I want some magical monsters to fight. This one liek the history channel of my world with some fantasy character races muddled their way in. Could it be why I was transmigrated close to here of all places?" Rex mused. He had spent almost four months fully awake now but had gotten absolutely nothing regarding why adn how he was here. Not that he cared too much. Grinds was awesome and the three ladies he was spending his nights made it all the more awesome.


    He had gotten much better with the few skills he had developed and and his chains now could be used as much to capture and restrain as to use like meat slicing chain swords. He could now comfortly use a single chain to hold restrain a great sabertooth, and the amount he could now controll had risen to ten. He had also managed to create his own personal buffing spell. It strenghtened his body more the more mana was infused in the spell. All Rex had to do was start the spell and regulate the output as necessary. The hardest part was getting used to the increased strenght speed, and the defensive capabilities, since the spell doubled down as both an ofensive increase and a layer of defense.


    Rex had also tampered a bit with detached mana constructs to use as projectiles against oponents that would keep themselves at a distance but that particular project was still in the early stages of development. But Rex wasnt overly worried about it since the speed at which he was growing was monstrous. And as long as the dungeon had deeper floors with more powerfull monsters to hunt, he saw no roadbloks for his continiued growth.


    Another quite interesting bit of knowledge Rex had aquired regarding the deep floors was related to the meat he had been eating and selling with Eredars assistance. The reason why the meat was in such increadible demand and its cost would almost never drop, was because since it was so rich with mana, constant consuming of it almost entirely stopped the aging of the people eating it. To Rex question why then there were not countless super powerfull adventurers from ages past, grinding there growing stronger and stronger, since they have almost unlimited time on this plane. And the answer was quite simple- natural limits. Each race had a natural ceiling in the power they can attain, and very rarely did there appear individuals that managed to break past them. There are no knowledge, not even rumors of such knowledge that would allow one to berak past those limits. And since the natural limits for most mortal races is mid to high A class, it means the deep floors are still a great danger and the raids that are organized from time to time always entail the danger deaths adn possibly even entire raid wipes.


    So Rex, who seemingly had no limits, and was alrady capable of soloing the initial deep floors was in a unique position to have nigh unlimited time to enjoy his new life. What was there not to like- the ability to grow ever stronger, rare and wery lucrative skill that ensured he never would lack money, and in turn he could have all the women he could ever want. The countless different races that existed ensured he would not lack for variety exitement in that regard. Plus with his knowledge of how technology can be developed, because of his past knowledge, would be another avenue to explore in time if needed. Sure he was no scientist, but having the overall idea any random person would know, with the dirrection he could spend a lot of time researching and the like. Hell there was even some insanely fanatical nation of zealots that seemed to want to kill archons on sight, so even if he ever gets bored with his current life and he sinks in decadence and depravity, there was boundless fun to be had.


    With his small self reflection over, Rex once again looked at the stairs to the thirty first floor and spoke "Well, guess its time to see what you have to offer."

 Chapter 23: Shiny things are ussually guarded

    What came into the view, was breathtaking. He was standing atop a mountain, covered in ice and snow. Two mountain chains created a valley in between them, littered with rivers going across it. At this point he felt so insignificant, so small that all his progress and growth felt like a speck of dust in an endless desert. While the feeling was momentary, it left a strong impression. It reminded him, that no matter how strong he gets, there is always something more astounding, more wonderous than his state of being, nevertheless his human pride had to make itself known. ''I am but a speck of dust, but not forever.'' His ego stirred his spirit, both in a positive and arrogant manner. How dare nature boast it grandness and limitless beauty. In this world, he could reach it too, ney, surpass it.


    Lower, and further in the distance he could see endless fields of green, some movement at the very edge of his vision, which was up to a few kilometers by now during the day. This exit to floor thirty one was situated in quite the place. What was a noticable change that Rex had recognised was that the deeper one went the more stairs there could be that led from one floor to the next. If the first few floors had one posibble path, floors five to ten - two to three stairs, floors ten to twenty five going from three to almost ten. It was asumed that from twenty nine adn onwards it multiplied exponentionally, since the size of the floors was becoming bigger and bigger. And because of the lizardmen and orc supertribes, adn the sheer size of the twenty-nineth floor, it had not been fully explored. To be fair, fully explored were only floors one through twenty. Further down there were quite a bit of unexplored zones mingling with well known territories.


    Rex had become much better at orienting himself in the dungeon, and backtracking his path, to return from whence he came. While he had planned to spend a couple weeks down here in this floor, he was well aware that the auction was going to happen in four weeks, and he had to be back by then.Still he had plenty of time to enjoy himself, and he somehow felt that this floor would not dissapoint. He had also asked regarding the meat of monsters on floor thirty one, since he wanted to keep most of the suprise just as it was - a suprise. Eredar had provided him with a very simple tool. It was a crystal like contraption and it would shine in three different colours. Red, green and gold. Green colour meant the meat was poisonous or just utterly unedibble, and as such Rex should ignore it. Red meant the meat was safe for consumption, and while it wwould be just as saturated if not better that floor thirty, it was nothing to write home about. And the golden color meant the meat was basicly worth its weight in gold, if not more. What was important to know was that the meat from the deer, bison and other beasts Rex had farmed on floor thirty shone with Red colour, and Eredar said that no godl quality meat was ever found on that floor. Thirty first and deeper had that. It has to be noted that thirty third was the deepest, any raid had gone, and it happened only twice. First time, while they had quite the losses, they managed to haul home a treasury, but the sencond time only a few survived. the best scouts adn rogues, that managed to escape the byakko they had encountered. The rest of the raid was utterly wiped out. A few hundred A ranks lost their lives that day, as Eredar had recounted.


    Rex moved with quite the gusto ,wanting to leave the snow covered mountain top to start his grind. He realy wanted to get his hands on some gold tier meat. If the masterpieces that Aisah prepared was so insanely good with just red grade meat, Rex salivated just at the thought of what was to come once he has some of that top shelf stuff. Speaking of super rare goods, Rex had something he was sure noone has ever had the pleasure of tasting, and he was not going to share it with anyone. He had an entire storage ring dedicated for it. Ok, there was one more person, aware of it, and who had the pleasure of tasting it. Great sabertooth tiger milk. Rex used exactly that to calm his salivation over gold grade food. Quickly taking a sip of the milk from one of the countless flasks he had in the time frozen artifact he enjoyed a pure bliss of the taste that overtook him, calming him down. Lira was the one person, who was tasked with the super secret and important mission to milk the tigress when she was lazing around. She would be feeding her cubs for at least a few more years and Rex would be expanding his own personal stocks of the milk as long as he could. That stuff was more valueable than godl in his opinion, and when Lira had the first taste, Rex saw the poor girl come from the pleasure after she drank it. Lira was under strict orders to keep quiet about it and in return she would get a bit for herself every now and then. rex of course could use the power of brand tor the same effect, but that just felt wrong. It had the taste of good wrong to it- to keep lira silent by bribing her, rather than forcing the silence with heavily pain induced curse. pain was meant for enemies, not his girls.


    While half distracted with other thoughts, but never loosing his vigilance, using his multithreading to devote a few of his minds instances for neverending vigilance, he had reached the place where snow was barely covering the ground, and was slowly receding. He was close to the start of the proper living ecosystem of these mountains. Some rare small trees were already in the near vicinity, some moss on those trees, some more on some small shrubs here and there. The scenary kept changing, with more adn more trees coming into the view, getting bigger, and with the ground being less and less frozen, more than just moss started to appear. More and more small shrubs adn bushes, some rather tough looking plants here and there, but showing up more and more.


    With another hour of descent in a now somewhat paced tempo, Rex had entered some sort of conifer forest. Light, mostly moss covered ground was now everywhere, few brushes here and there. Due to the uniqueness of the conifer forest, there was little in the way of obstruction on the lower level of the forest, since it was filled with huge, old trees tha tcovered and took most of the light, leaving the lover levels somewhat gloomy and dark. Rex had noticed all sorts of small birds and bugs moving around, and judging from the mana amount, those were just some lower level ordinary forest critters.


    A few dozen minutes later, his sharp senses caught notice of something bigger moving in the distance. Even with all the gloominess and the grey atmosphere, since there was basicly no underbush, Rex quite soon found the creature raising the noise in the distance. The wind was blowing in Rex dirrection, and it had not noticed Rex in time. What Rex saw did make him slightly confused in the very beggining, but he quiclky got out of his stupor. It was quite a bizzare looking animal. Rex could only describe it as horse torso with six cat like legs neck twice as long as one would expect a horse to have and a wery tought looking beak like a duck. It also had a couple of quite dangerous looking bull horns tha extended more upwards. Rex reasoned it used them to stab things as ussual, and when running the beak would be pointed downwards so the horns were dirrected at whateevr was in front of the weird beast.


    Without loosing any more time, Rex strenghtened his body with his spell he decided to name ''Boost''. It was a nice, short and self explanatory word, that whne trained enough would instantly activae the spell without much though or effort put in. Regulating the intensity afterwards was a simple matter, just imagining a switch with different measurments of mana input and he just had to will to make it greater or smaller. A matter of time untill it would be a second nature.


    In a split of a second Rex had crossed over hundred meters and was in front of the beast, already swinging down his blade on its neck. Its head was severed quite quickly, but Rex did feel that its bones were notably tougher than the creatures before. Quickly testing the meat,and seeing the black color, he used drain, calculating the level of strenght of the creature. The duck faced horse was better by quite the margin than all but the apex predators of floor thirty, and its speed and toughness didnt prove a problem. With drain done Rex moved on, descending down the mountain as he had untill now.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The next few hours was rather monotonous. He would kill another duck faced horse every now and then, draining it and moving forward. During this time he took down a few game birds and since their meat shoved red on the crystal, he stored them. Rex wanted to get to the mixed forests down the mountain sooner, well aware that the fauna and flora there will be much more diverse. What Rex did have to note was that the mountains in this chain must be enourmous, and he couldnt quite understand why with such immense altitude, he didnt feel less oxygen in the air. He reasoned that was one of the reality warping effects of the dungeon, since every floor was as if their own independant echosystem. For all reason the upper floors with the size of these mountains and the insane amount of lands he had seen, should be well in the space by now, however, since each floor was independant, as mentioned earlier, some weird stuff was to be expected.


    Once he finally reached a change of biome he immediatly encountered some new creatures. Rex could only conclude that any logic he could use to reason the existance of the beasts before hand, now he was in a full on anything goes fantasy word. From velociraptor like looking creatures, that Rex just classified as them, to truck sized bears with three snake heads and scorpion tail, to eight meter long furry snakes with deer heads, to three meter high beasts with gorilla upper body attached to a scorpion and with aligator head. One thing that Rex noticed was that the more dangerous the chimera part owners would be in his original world, the more powerfull the combined creature would be. Of course with His mana chains now being able to act as living chainsaws ripping whatever Rex grabbed a hold of, if he so whished, they didnt provide much of a danger. The secodn consistent thing with these chimeras was that none of them had meat good for consumption, so Rex had quite the drain happening.


    It was closer to the second morning that, after Rex had kept descending all night and murdering his path through countless chimeras that he found something peculiar. To be more precise, he felt it. A spike in energy in a certain dirrection, but unlike a sentient being, it was just there, dormant, as if waiting for someone to go to it. Rex, quite curious now moved with caution in that dirrection and soon arived near a cave. And he had another suprise waiting there for him. In front of the cave slept a giant monster. It sensed Rex as soo nas he was close enough, and raised its enongated neck. It raised itself up from its sleeping position, pushing itself up with its front legs, that were fused with its giant wings. It seemed reptilian like, almost lizard, if not for its more crocodile like head, just more elongated and slick, more smooth, with sharpened nose for better cutting of air stream when it was flying. Huge, scaly body, with a large and thing tail. It towered aproximately five meters high standing on all four, wings stretching upward from its front leg elbows, easlily breaching ten to twelve meter wingspan, maybee more, Rex wasnt entirely sure. The monster looked like a proper vyvern he had seen in some of this words books, just on steroids, seeing as its size looked biger thna described in the book.


    To avoid the undesirable scenario of it utilizing its advantage of flight, Rex pushed in quite a bit of mana in the Boost, and charged the vyvern. While he was sucsesfull in in basicly severing the beasts wing, he had to go in an insane dodging spree as the vyvern schreeched and went on a rampage of attacks, using its powerfull jaw, both of its front legs and even using its tail to shred its adversity. Swing of its tail, tha Rex crouched to avoid, followed by an instant jump with a roll to the side, narrowly avoiding its powerfull jaws, that smashed in the rock of the cliff that the cave was developed into and the monster was sleeping on. It then quickly retracted its head, following Rex''s movement with its senses, smashing its frong legs in another attempt to lock down the slippery meal. It was dangerous, sure, the beast could instinctively feel its, but the dungeons influence had pushed to go in a frenzy of slaughter. Whatever was before it, would be mercilesly killed.


    ''''It has to be a guardian.'''' Rex''s eyes sparkled with more vigor. he was now quite sure inside that cave was a natural dungeon treasure, and this vyvern was its guardian. Rex was even more exited with that understanding dawning on him, and he pushed his boost up to the limit of his current ability. It made him even faster than he was by roughly another ten percent, and while it ddint seem like much, one hads to note he already was some twenty percent stronger with the current level of Boost active. With this additional empowerment Rex finaly could do more than just dodge the vyverns endless attacks. He could finaly return and attacks or two every now and then. He had plenty of mana to burn in his current stage, as mana reserves was one of the things he was the least worried about.


    The also recieved some scrathes trom the vyvern''s tail, that managed to damage his clothes, but not quite pierce his skin. Luckaly, Rex had come with no plans to brand anything and as such he was in his ussual clothes and not his mage disguise, so discardable clothes was not on his minds whatsoever. What also suprised rex was the insane stamina the beast showed since they had been going at it for almost an hour, whne finaly he could sense the monster slowing down, finaly showing signs of exaustion. The new wounds rex had managed to inflict upon it during this hour, intensifying the bleeding of the beast did not help either. Rex himself was profusely sweating, feeling quite the strain on his body as well. He could barely even try to drain the monster because of its seer might and tenacity. Rex had not met anything near its level before.


    Another twenty miinutes of more avoiding the frantic and now ever slowing vyverns attacks that indicated its near end, and Rex ever increasing slashes that brought it ever closer to it death, Rex finaly got the oportunity he had been waiting for. After another big swing of the beast, its arm, that was used for the attack slipped to the side, purely because of all the lost blood and exaustion, making it fall down to the side, entirely plastering it to the ground. As it struggled to get itself up for another attack, Rex jumped on its back, feeling quite the exaustion in his body as well, and controlled all his ten mana chains to wrap around its limbs and tail,since they had stopped moving, and he could finaly lock them down, and started the vibrations of them, while thightening his grasp of the limbs. including its neck. It was his won personal version of chainsaw with the chains in attack mode.


    The vyvern was strugling for another ten minutes as Rex was doing his damn harderst to cut its head off. The other limb cutting was simply to inclict more pain, keeping the beast muddled and incapable to properly stop Rex. Its wings and underbelly were the only properly softer body parts so most of his sucsesfull attacks were concentrated in those areas, however now Rex coudnt reach its underbely, so he had to make do with what he had.


    When he finaly broke the scales on its neck, it took him less than three minutes to use those holes in its armour, to invade its body with his mana chains adn destroy the vital organs, finally bringing the crature to its end. Exausted, Rex slid down the beasts side and with his chains still lodged in the fresh corpse of the beast he activated drain,not willing to leave himself in such and exausted and vulnerable position for any period of time. No great sabertooth of night prowler could exaust him to this level, so rex was even more exited aboiut the prospect of the treasure inside the cave.


    With new boundless energy coursing through his veins as drain refreshed and invigorated him, and then empowering his being, he once again confirmed the sheer might of the creature he had just slain. What suprised him even more was that one he had finished the drain, and the mana dust dissipated, the super hard scales from the monsters neck had remained untouched, fallen in a chaotic manner as the rest of its corpe disintegrated. Realizing, that those scales must be quite valuable and deciding to ask Eredar later, Rex stashed them in another one of his storage rings. Then he took a deep breath and went in the cave, where his well earned treasure awaited.

 Chapter 24: All paths lead to

    The cave was quite small taking into consideration the size of the monster guarding it. In just a few minutes of relatively slow walk Rex had reached a sort of a room at the end of the tunnel. There, in the middle of it was some sort of an altar, that Rex saw was the center point of energy pathways, that lined all the walls of the room. His ability to see all such energy related things gave him an unparalelled ability to dig deeper and percieve much more of the true nature of things. Throught the way the pathways were deployed, their size, some remnant energy that still sometimes sparked, he could more or less estimate the process of a treasure forming. Hewas well aware that there must be still the system to all theenergy fluctuations and other patterns that are at play in the formation of such treasures, but it did give him some ideas regarding possible spell structures and new applications that could be made.


    What laid on the altar was a some sort of sword shaped object. It was glowing white, its for msometimes fluctuacting slightly, as if it wasnt sure what form to take. With his special eyes Rex could see another peculiarity- there were some sort of energy pulsing from teh object. And for whatever reason he knew exactly what it was doing and why. This pulse was looking for a sentient and intelegent life form to take ownership of it, and as such the pulse was there to resonate with that beings prefferences. Taking shape in a weapon of its subconscious desire. And one the weapon resonated with Rex, it changed shape again. This time however,it didnt remain in its translucent and shining form. The weapon morphed in a shape of a greatsword.Almost two meters long, the handle could be held with both hands, if Rex so felt like, but he felt there would be no problem in weilding it as a single handed blade, like he did the champion sword, should not be a problem.


    There were no grand decorations, no dragons wrapping around the handle or any such extravagant details. Long, steel like blade with a barely noticable hint or red. Simple hilt, wrapped in some sort of an old cloth, worn out by the looks of it, but still sturdy. A decently sized armguard, and small but sturdy looking pommel. All in all the sword looked worn out but well preserved, its owner would have shoved it quite a bit of love with all the action it has seen.


    As expected, Rex was quite pleased with the simple and relatively plain look, and he didnt spend much time, as soon as he knew it was safe, to take the new sword with his right hand, griping it firmly, and feeling the sword almost humming with power. It was as though the sword itself had accepted a new master, and was contently enjoying his presence.


    "So simple in design, and yet so beautifull." Rex spoke as he gently slid his hand over its scabbard . There was quite the joy in his eyes. "I suppose such a treasure needs its own name." he added "If only I were good with names. I could give you one that reflects my full scope of apreciation." Rex could sense that the sword had no upper limit in the power it coould exude, since rex could use it as a conduit for mana and cut through almost anything, as long as he had mana to feed the blade. Its ability not taking away from the sharpness it had even without any mana infusions. Rex effortlesly cut apart one of the vyverns scales as a test.


    ""Limitless. I guess that will be your name. He spoke looking at the blade "Since the only limits that you have are those of your wielder." he smiled at his own naming sense. It wsant great, but he liked this one. Playing around with the feeling of the blade for a few more minutes, Rex turned around and left the cave. he still needed that golden meat and now he also had to get used to the Limitless, and so once outside of the cave, he dived into the hunting adn developing a proper feel for the blade.


    Now Rex was descending even faster that before, his new weapon multiplying his speed in dispatching the more defense based chimeras he encountered.  For the quick ones and more agressive ones were dealt with using his chains, and so he was once again quite the murdering machine traveling down the mountain. He wanted to reach the valley sooner. It looked like a certified tropical forest down there with countless rivers weaving through the valley between these two mountain chains.


    Rex was particularily happy when he finaly encountered non chimera beasts further down the mountain. Beasts that looked like yaks, just twice their size started to appear in groups, and Rex was quite happy when after checking the meat it was red color. but it was lighter red than the meat he farmed in floor thirty. He didnt hesitate much, and got to stuffing his meat rings with just that. Once again his chains proved their versatility and usefulness as he used them to solve it in a much faster rate.


    Rex even got lucky when he encountered an oddly colored deer the size of an elephant, with some goldlike fur. Rex had to chase it for more than fifteen minutes at full speed untill he managed to finally catch it and kill it. His reward was quite the beauty as well- his firts ever gold rated meat. He was even slightly temped to cook some here and now, but then remembering his skill in cooking, he decided not to waste the rare ingredients.


    Rex kept going on, his mind deep in to the grind, looking for a return tori, using his ability to read energy flows, easing his search. he could somewhat feel a general dirrection they should be found, or some other natural energy siphoning location. His inner compass would basicly bring him to a path home, or to a place where he could try and get killled. Luckaly and not at the same time, he was guided to a return tori as expected. However, it took a few weeks untill he finally found one. Of course he had quite the effective session and a decent power up through drain during that time, moreover he had murdered a few more golden deer. With the elephant sized gold tier beasts meat he could stash quite the sizable stash, he would be enjoying at home.


    While Rex was having his fun in the dungeon, the rest of the world didnt stay still. His three associates in Blythe were busting their asses finalizing the details regarding the auction, earning favours, and moving pieces to ensure the event would become a rather important thing on a yearly basis to attend. They met regularily, discussing and planning, exchanging important information about the big players that have already send messages ahead of their arrival for the event. It wsa important to note, that they not only had to care about all the nobility that would arrive, but also quite a few famous adventurers and crafters too, who would auction off some of their better stuff.


    Such event would not only be a golden opportunity to earn a premium, if you have some rare and precious items but also a way to mingle and interract with some of the most influential and famous people on this size of the world, since the ones from out of reach with the three month forewarning, could only prepeare and arrive for the one next year, since it had been noted that this was to be a yearly event.


    Silvermist elves upper management were having quite frequent meeting between elders and the king as well, since they now had a rather notable problem to solve. They had dispatched an elder to try and salvage the sittuation, since they coud not afford to be on such a talanted blood mages black list. They had even spent quite the pretty penny to gain intell on anything the mage might be interested in. And they had recieved some knowledge that gave them a glimmer of hope. Merchant guild had provided information that Brogni- a slave trader from Blythe had inquired about some rare merchandise a while back. Beautifull women cooks was his request, and with the info on the dwarf, they immediatly asumed that blood mage must have ordered those, since Oronas had informed of only encountering women in the mages mansion, and the place where he was residing. He had taken residence in Blythe and was aquiring staff for it, adn since Oronas concluded the man was quite young, beauty was indeed something that could move such a man. So what better way to at least try and fix the debaucle the young ones had created. So an elder, who was not experienced enough to know when to bow, and who understood the importance of the person they are dealing with.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Many other noble families also had prepeared some gifts in hopes of rousing teh mages interest, but none other anywhere near enough info in the mage to make even wild guesses regarding his tastes, so money was taken in great amounts, some of the younger generation also taken with them- who knows he might just take fancy to one. Even the ellusive mage guild had made a move, sending a few of their ranks to asess the quality and potential of the new mage. They had one of the most desired things for mages after all, and rarely were there an individual with the gift of magic who hold resist thetemptation of the wealth of knowledge that they posesssed. They even had one of their own very few blood mages in the envoy. What better way to asses the quality of a mage than another mage of their own discipline.


    Even in the Eclisiarchy the news were making waves. In a city made mostly of white marbe, with statues of all sort of angels and saints of the nation on almost every corner, stood a grand cathedrall, adorned with gold and silver. It gave off a holy aura, and a light glow of holiness. The seat of power of Eclisiarchy. In one of the enourmous audience halls some twelve men clad in white robes, fingers adorned with expensive looking rings with huge gems on their fingers. Most of the men were moderately fat, showing their overly luxurious lifestyle. They all seemed mostly relaxed, as if yet another mundane meeting was called because some overly zealos fool had gone too far in some other land.


    Some time later, the enourmos doors opened, and in came the thirteenth man. he was quite lean, stern expression on the mans face, some spark of insanity dancing deep withing his eyes.A man with a mission, one who would acomplish said mission no matter the means used. Once near the table, he kneeled and spoke


    "Revered council members, this lowly servant has finished the cleansing of Frieden, and have answered the call with utmost haste. What are my orders?" Roy Rambert asked as he was kneeling. His god had given him dirrection adn reason to live, and nothing gave him more joy thancleansing the impure filth that failed their divine guardian and averted their gazes from him. And although the man was unreasonably fanatic in his beliefs, he always respected the pecking order, and followed orders to a letter. If he were sent to do something as a subordinate, he would follow that leaders orders perfectly, and his strenght was undeniable. He was a man on the cusp of S class.


    "As you must have heard, Blythe has aquired a blood mage and is holding a grand auction. It is said that the mage has decided to offer his services to be bid on." Royce nodded his head in affirmation, to the question of one of the council.


    "You will be deployed under Saintess Elena Vex. You job will be to assit her in aquiring the that particular mages unlimited support to our cause. She will be the leader of this taskforce. Fullfill her orders as those were the counclis." another elder spoke and the third added


    "And if you happen to discreetly dispose of some Forsaken you happen to encounter there, all the better. All shall be cleansed in the purifying fire of our benevolent god."


    Royce knelt now on both knees, took a deep bow, his forehead touching the cold marble floor "As your exelencies command." Deep reverance and insane joy flickered in his eyes. Another mission to further the plans of their god, and another chance to cleanse the filthy heretics. He was also quite elated at the chance to work with the renowned saintess Elena Vex. Those with acsess to mission logs of the agents of the inquisition would undoubtebly praise her. And while she didnt quite employ the same tactics adn methods as he did, she was much more subtle. A wisper here, a message there, the correct pawns moved at the right time and place, and she would achieve what she desired and what was needed of her by the church. Royce knew, that she would be the best candidate to use his tallents to their maximum capacity.


    Once Royce had left the audience room, one of the councli members asked


    "But is it trully the smartest choice to atempt to chain him as we have planned? What if thigs go wrong?"


    "While he is valuable , remember, a nonbelkiever is still a nonbeliever. We shall not debase ourselves to such an extent purely because his skillset is desirable to further our divine cause!"


    They went back and fort for a few more minutes. In the end asserting the need to break the mage as they had planned. Only the true believers deserved a to be treated with care and guided as they were meant to be.


    Adventurers guild too had heard of the new mage, and they were interested in aquiring his services as well. They had some additional info from their dungeon guards regarding the mage entering and leaving with quite powerfull beings branded, and they also knew he was not an adventurer. Adn that irked them quite a bit. The man was in no way, shape or form under their sphere of influence, and they had to try the same methods of currying favor. Their guild was in a unique position where they could aquire quite insane varuiety of entities to be branded, as such they also had an enourmous need for the services blood mages provided. And the few that were under their banner were quite bussy already.  Adventurer guild had even moved some of their higher officials for this event to try and entice the mage to join them.


    And unlike the many different powers moving both visibly and with the help of the less savory types, Rex was quite relaxed. He had just left the dungeon, so he did the ussual rounds. First offloading the meat at his mansion, then visiting Eredar and Brogni, to delievr their share. A quick chat with the elf and dwarf, not forgetting this time to notify Brogni to keep his ears up for supper pretty kitsunes with tea making skills and some hot elven beauties on the market, Rex returned home once again.


    Aina had gotten super lively once again, almost entirely forgetting her previous trauma. Rex could still feel, it had changed her, as such a thing would change anyone, but she was happy here. She had used this place and the people here as her new fammily, the anchor that kept her sane and stable. What had changed was that she now was not only cheerfull as she was before, but she had gotten quite physical with thegirls in the mansion, not shying away form hugging the girls when she was happy, the gentle elbow in the ribs when joking around and other things an adventurer or a guy would do. So it was no suprise to Rex, when he was tackled by the hyper elf as soon as he entered the main building. She hugged his waist for a moment, then sat on him in a cowgirl position, disregarding and not showing any shame of blush whatsoever, and pinched Rex cheeks.


    "Two weeks. You were gone for two entire weeks. Have you any idea how much whining i had to listen to from Irina, Mel and Val? What did you do to them, that they are so into your nightly activities?" She was obviously pouting because she missed him too, but she woudlnt show it like the three girls did.


    "Sorry, coudnt find a return tori on the thirty first any sooner, but i have something that should serve as an apology." Rex spoek adn tugged on his string for Aisha. The girls soon appeared, and was exited when she felf her masters call and now in front of him, she was smiling with a genuine and happy smile.


    "Aisha, I have brought some even better meat than what we are used to. I want your greatest masterpiece today, we are having a celebration." He spoke as he gently carresed her hair, since the girl had kneeled next to Rex, enabling such an action.


    "So, you will have to exuse me Aina, i need to go and exercise before our meal a bit. We will have a chat there later when everyone is gathered." he used his mana chains to rise himself to feet, holding Aina by her waist and placing her on the ground, once he was up. He ruffled her hair a bit, smiled at her and spoke


    "I missed you too. I am home."


    "Mmm" Aina responded, her smile never dissapearing. She liked her new life. And while she had innitially responded to Rex joke, about her thanking for all he did with some nightly services, with a joke of her own, that she would surely do that one of thes days, she had caught herself thinking of it more and more often, and not in a joking manner. Irinas constant complaints about not getting any for prolonged periods of time didnt help either. Those three would somethimes compare their experiences, to see how Rex''s treatment differed. And they went in quite the details. Both Aina and Aisha had listened in on some of those and their imaginations wandered quite a bit after that.


    Rex spent the next few hours slating the thirst of Irina, Val and Mel. And they joined for dinner once Lira called them. They had quite hapy meal with everyone praising the kithen staff with Aisha as their main cheff for the divine food theiy were having. Rex knew he had to gift a few killos of this stuff to Eredar for the crystal and infor on the grades, but the rest would be used quite conservatively. Maybee, just maybee he would use some for super special meetings, but mostly he would use the gold grade meat for celebration with his girls.


    Less than ten days remained till the auction, and then Rex could relax with some more grinding, maybee trying his hand at some other dungeon, to catch himself some exotic monstergirl. After dinner, Rex had to continiue where he left of with the trio, since they were now hungry for more, and he was more than willing to provide.

 Chapter 25: Some cliches are unavoidable

    As ussual Rex woke up quite early. He glanced at Mel, who was in his bed, still sleeping after last night. Quite content he left without disturbing her sleep. Val and Irina were sleeping in their rooms, after Rex moved the two there once their marathon was over. he preffered to have one, maximum two of the girls to sleep in his bed at night. It just felt somewhat right. After feeding his cats, and petting them for a short while, he had some breakfast as well and using a certain hiden backdoor tunnel the mansion had he left unseen and exited a small and very forgettable building. He wanted to check the city, as such he was doing his exploration in his ussual clothes not the mages garb.


    His girls had notified him at the dinner table that for a few days already the atmosphere in the city had changed quite a bit. Rex saw more guard details moving around, much more servants were running around fullfiling all manner of tasks, given by their masters. He noticed quite a lot of well dressed people around the market areas, as well as different new stalls selling their wares. The air felt heavier than ussual, shoving the tension in the air. With the grand auction being less than a week away quite the few aristocratic families had sent their representatives over to hunt for benefits and maybee establish some new connections. Such evens often were the ground zero for the begginings of new alliances and blood feuds, since the more of the younger generation were present, the bigger the possible scenes could be made.


    Rex had zero interest in most of them, if not all. He had seen his fair share of nobles in this city already, and it painted no good picture of them. Like Kanaelia, most of them were arrogant pricks who thought that anyone not currently part of a noble house were lesser than them, and as such, expected for all non nobility to bow down before them and aquiesce to their demands. And, unfortunately, reality often went along with their wimms and desires, enforcing such groundless arrogance, and the few times where they were knocked down a peg were quickly forgotten.


    And while the servants and the smallest of merchants and stall ovners were visibly tense, the more promonent figures of the markets were already out and about, doing everything to grab hold of this unique oportunity to expand their market. It was a possibility to aquire new long term contracts for sale of their goods to some faraway lord or a noble house since they just happened to enjoy the given merchants wares, products or services provided. Rex also enjoyed the new and more versatile collection of wares offered, and there were quitea few new fruits he tried out, interested if there were any he would liek to stock up on.


    What he noticed however was not all nice and bubbly. With the increase in the traffic of people, came the shady elements as well. Every few streets there were some unsavory and shady individuals, spying on the conditions and oportunities to practise their less than savory arts. His sharpened senses picked up some petty crimes here and there, some shady dealings and even some recketeering. The guards however were no slouches with their job, and Rex saw the racketeers to be quite quickly beaten up and aprehended. He took no part in the altrecation and only watched as it happened. The guards were quite well trained and were performing with high efficiency, ensuring the best possible enviroment to for a triving economy.


    Another quite unpleasant thing he noticed were the people of the echlisiarchy. More and more priests and some sort of of preachers were moving around the town, more so in the residential district, and trying to convert more of them into the followers of their god. Rex had double the dislike for them. First- those people were dirrectly responsible about quite a lot of his tough early years. Secondly- they were quite fanatic, and as such Rex coiuld not entirely predict their future plans and course of action of a fanaticly orriented psycho. Whats more he could almost see the change in their aura when they noticed him. he felt almost tangible hatred and bloodlust towards him from these people.


    ''Stay away and keep your heads down if you want to live'' He though to himself. He had no desire to bother himself with the hastle that it would create once they would be disposed of, and Rex wanted to rest and relax while waiting for the auction to come.


    Most of his girls would sometimes come to the market districts do buy fresh vegetables and other daily necesities. Irina was one of the few girls Rex didnt want to roam the city purely because of her beauty, and that was even more true now, with all the retarded young masters roaming around, thinking they are the hot shits, and can do almost anything. Why wouldnt they try and have fun insanely beautifull women, who cares about the consequences.


    Finishing his rounds in the market district, after he bought quite the assortment of new fruits, he went on his way back home, to the small unasuming house he left from. As he was walking he mulled over the visible improvement of the physical quality of his girls with the constant consuming of the meat from the deep floors. Their flaws were slowly dissapearing and as Rex had guessed, they were becoming more beautifull. All his maid could now be classified as seven out of ten from the six before, Aisha and Mel had also gotten more beautifull. Their skin was smoother and complexion better. Some blemishes that could bee seen before had entirely dissapeared, and other smaller changes that Rex noticed. If they kept on getting better, he was sure that his girls would eventually all reach at least eight or nine out of ten rating. He would have to think of some extra measures to protect his girls on their shopping runs. maybee an S rank being that was much more compact in size than his tigers, so they could always be next to the girls to be protected.


    He had no trouble returning home, but he had to shake off some unwanted stalkers discreetly. He saw that the Eclisiarchy people were tailing him for some reason, but he sucsessfully managed to escape without giving them knwoledge that he had noticed their existence. Once home he spent the rest of the day training his mana controll and other skills he had developed, stopping Irina came to him to request something. She had not done anything like that before, if he excluded her need for some physical love, so Rex was quite interested to know, what was that she wanted.


    Her request was quite simple and something Rex had promised he would do anyways, it had slipped his mind with all the grinding he wsa doing in the dungeon to grow stronger and develop his skills so he could ensure the safety of his girls. Irina wanted to enjoy the city, having heard stories from Aina how fun it could be, since the girls had bonded quite well ever since the Silvermist family incident. She wanted Mel and Val to join as well, and she was hoping Aina would be there as well. Rex though for a moment and agreed. he said that they would have the outing the next day since he wanted to sort something out and day was qiute close to the evening. He asked irina to inform the other girls regarding their plan for tommorow and ask Aina to visit him in the study.


    When Aina arived in the study Rex had been waiting for about thirty minutes, mulling over some things he will have to consider in the future and on how to better explain what he had planned to offer her. Rex stood up from his comfy chair he used and sat down on a sofa, signaling the girl to sit next to him. His facial expresion was quite serious, indicating this was going to be rather important topic.


    "There is something I wanted to ask you, since i am quite worried about your safety." he started "And keeping you here in the mansion all the time would be quite unreasonable, even if I would like to keep you all to myself" he spoke with a rather warm expression on his face. He liked the girl and he had though quite extensively on how to solve the current conundrum he was facing. He even spent sometime in the dungeon during the last few weeks working on the solution he had come up with. All it took was the sacrifice of a few dozen unlucky beasts.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "With you being part of our family, I was in quite the conundrum, since I had to come with a way to protect you against some insidius individuals who might try to harm you" Rex was somewhat darting around the idea, still trying to come up with a proper wording, to ensure his reasons and thoughts would come across properly. Once more resolving himself he spoke to the heart of the matter


    "I have created a blank brand. It has two purposes. First is to protect the person from being enslaved by anyone else, as the normal brands work, the second purpose is to give a sort of connection to the caster, that could be stirred, notifying the other person. It does nothing else that any other brand would do. No rules, no punishment, no controll. I am scared someone might enslave you and either try to get to me, or your old family."


    Aina sat there silent, watching anything that would show anything that was out of the ordinary. And she saw nothing but his genuine worry about her, and his akwardness regarding the topic.


    "Let me get this straight. You made a brand, that would not work, but still protect me from other forms of control magic?"


    "Yes, as long as the caster in weaker than me, which should be almost always." There was a slight hint of pride in his achievement.


    "And why wasnt the normal brand good enough for the same purpose?"


    "Because it enforces absolute loyality, and I was afraid it could affect your personality. Even more, you have just gained freedom, there is no way I want to take that away from you."


    Hearing Rex answers, a smile bloomed on her face, a hint of mischievousness in her eyes.


    "Anything else regarding the connection?" she asked


    "It should be usable, to indicate the other person you desire to see them, maybee other emotions could be transferred as well, but im not entirely sure. I would need to test them."


    After a few minutes of thinking, the elf had hatched quite the masterplan in her head, her eyes were almost sparkling with briliance.


    "It seems to be nothing but safety for me, so i see no reason to refuse, however, I want you to agree to one of my conditions. There will come a time when I will ask you to help me with something. You will help me when the time comes. No question asked."


    "Anytime." Rex smiled and happily agreed. He was really happy Aina took his offer and was not suspicios towards the idea. And they proceeded to implement it right then and there. Since Aina was willing, and allowed the brand to set on her sould, there was no need to chain her down with his spell, and wery soon Aina had her own unique brand on her person. She felt nothin out of the ordinary after the brand was placed besides the aforementioned connection. It felt liek an invisible and intangable string that connected her to Rex. She also felt a soft, but comforting warmth coming from Rex through the connection. There was not a shred of malice or any other underlying scheme.


    She smiled at him once more, and they talked a bit about their outing tommorow. Where to bring the girls, what to do and so on. The plan was very simple. A walk through the market, stopping near any food stalls the girls might be interested in, letting them enjoy whatever they desire. They did reach the a genius idea as well. Taking Aish awith them was a must. Aina resoned, that with her supperior senses she should be able to recreate any dishes they end up enjoying, so it could be made home as well. Plus it was always a good idea t oalow you cheff to expand their horizons. She reasoned that Aisha has earned it with her always increadible food. Rex coulnt agree more, and Aina departed to inform the wolf girl. Val, Mel and Irina were super exited about their coming tour through the city and they showed it during the night.


    If Rex had to guess, he usually got up at around five or six in the morning, his girls somewhere around eight or nine. Aisha, kitchen staff and maids around seven, to prepare food for everyone and feed the cats. After breakfast the five girls came together, and spent some time to choose their clothes from their meager collections, a problem Rex decided he would fix as the first thing today. The girls would all get some new and nice clothes. He was loaded with cash now, since his meat business with Eredar was raking a boatload of money in ordinary days and now it was even more proffitable with all the rich and pompous nobles around.


    Once the girls were dressed and ready for their foray in the city, Rex informed them of their first destination- Eredars shops. They were a bit confused innitially, but assoon as they learned of the reason, Aina went ballistic, tackled Rex, hugged him and kissed him on the cheeks a few times, a maniacal glint in her eyes.


    "I will dress them, so everyone sees just how trully beautiful they are." she spoke as she looked at the remaining girls, to witch Rex added


    "Make sure they are well covered. They are only for me to oggle and enjoy. They are mine. All mine." obvious posesivness in his voice. And while it could seem like a bad trait to some, Rex was quite proud in his exessive desire to protect what was his, both physically or spiritualy.


    To reduce the amount of annoyance and stupidity they would have to deal with, Rex was in his full on mage garb. His face was concealed, and everyone with even a few brain cells knew to avoid the mage and his entourage.It was also just early enough to ensure no young master would be in the streets, bumping into them an annoying the party. And while the common folk in the merchant district stood out of the parties way, they still looked quite a lot at the charming and beautifull ladies acompanying the mage.


    Reaching Eredar''s with no annoying encounters, and once inside, Rex tasked Eredar, to summon a few ladies from his stores to help the girls find clothes they wwoudl enjoy, and Aina took charge of the mission. While the girls did what girls do best, Rex spend a bit of his time talking to the merchant to arrange an entry in the auction. When asked what Rex had in mind he just replied


    "Will a few killos of gold grade deep floor meat suffice?" Stirring the merchant in to a frenzy of sorts. Eredar almost drooled over Rex, and once he came back to the land of the living from his astral travels, he smirked and noted a few things in his notebook, then proceeded to ask Rex if he could secure some more of the gold grade meat for super rare ocations to use. Rex wasnt even suprised that it took the girls a few hours to find the correct color and material and the designs each wanted for their clothes. Each girl had been ordered almost ten dresses, guaranteeing a job for the tailors for quite some time. They each were wearing a set of the new clothes, and were beaming with joy. They were all wearing a rather simple and light getups. Sweet. light dresses in warm but subtle colours, not emphasizing too much their killer bodies, but exuding modest and subtle charm.


    The remaing part of the day was spent with the girls moving from one stall to another, tasting many different dishes prepeared by the various stalls and vendors. They were also having a very light and cheerfull conversations throughout the day, about all manner of things, and often being about the food they just ate, how could they be recreated with whatever they had acsess to back home. And while the girls could not see his face or the expression it adorned, they could sense his joy and happiness leaking through their links, energising them even more. Even Aina and Aisha felt his great mood and how he cared for them.


    The sun was finaly starting its decent, indicating the slowly aproaching end of the day, and they decided to return to the noble district, where their home was situated. They had been lucky as the biggest eyesore had been some stupid adventurer, from who knows where, decided to try his luck with any of the girls. He was quite savagely thrown away like a bag of garbage by Val, recieving quite the harsh words for annoying them.


    Rex was quite happy with how the day turned out to be. His girls had a lot of fun, he secured spot in the auction for the golden grade meat, and their party had not met any retarded young masters. And as soon as they entered the noble quarter, only having some twenty minutes to walk to their property, Rex sensed something in the air. A rather stale and unpleasant energy was moving their way, and Rex coudnt help but sigh.


    "I had to go and raise some damn flags!"

 Chapter 26: Friendly warning

    His sixth sense had warned him accordingly, and not even a minute went by as a party of some twenty people dressed quite fancily came into their view. In the middle of this collection of people were four young men dressed even more extravagant than the rest of the group. Their clothes seemed to be made of some top quality materials, and Rex even saw something that looked like gold threads sewn in their clothes. The remaining sixteen around the four seemed to be complimenting them from time to time, agreeing with whatever they were saying and in any other way possible trying to impress the four young masters and curry their favor.


    ''Just dont be retarded shits and pass by.'' Rex thought to himself as his group were on their way back home. But of course some of the ass kissing lackey just had to notice the exquisite beaties in Rex group. Not only they were increadibly beautifull, their were also quite exotic collection of women. After all there were three orc beauties with different body types, a wolf girl and an elf, all capable of enticing the lust of most men. Not to mention Irinas almost divine beauty. The simple and modest attire the girls were wearing made their allure even more mystifying, since they were not trying to exibit their beauty to the world. Some arrogant pricks could possibly take that as a challenge, and the four young masters belonged to aforementioned category.


    As soon as they noticed Rex group, they quickly changed the dirrection, straight on the path to intercept. And wery soon they were blocking Rex path. Rex could see the lust and desire in the eyes of the young men, and he sighed. Just how stupid they have to be to just go annoy another group in the noble district when they should be well aware that there is a blood mage who keeps to himself living in the nobles quarter as well.


    The young master in the middle, who seemed to be the most important one in their group was starting to speak


    "Well hello there la.." when Rex used slightly elevated voice, inerrupting the man


    "Shut it, and get lost before I lose my patience."


    "Just who do you think you are?" another one of the four spoke up, a smirk appearing on his face.


    "We feel quite offended by your lack of manners. I do believe it will require the servives of those ladies around you to make us even consider forgiving you." Quite a lot af agreeing nods and affirmative words sounded from the lackeys around them. Rex sighed once more.


    "i hope your families have very deep coffers and other heirs besides you, because if you yap out another retarded shit idea like you just mouthed, they will need every bit of it." and with that said Rex used his mana to multiply the pressure on their group. With his reserves after the amount draining he had done in the deep floors, it was quite easy, after all, not a single person in the young masters group exeeded C class power. If Rex so wished, be could probably squish them with this same application of mana usage, if he increased the pressure enough.


    With eevryone in the group falling to their knees from the pressure, out from the shadows jumped six men. They were dressed in clothes that allowed them to sink in the shadows and dark corners of the surroundings with greater ease. Rex reasoned they were the guards assigned to watch over the young lords and ladies of the respective noble houses.


    "Well, I expect the family names those for retards belong to." Rex adressed the shadow guards "To have absolutely zero awareness of where they are and who they dare to offend, I worry for the future of the respective families." Seeing as the guards where not takign any action just yet, probably another one or few had rushed to report to their superiors, since this was the noble quarter, so no common rabble would be strolling around.


    "Are we waiting for the representatives of your houses?" Rex asked once again, and one of the guards hesitatingly noded. the guards were at the pinnacle of B class, and they could feel the pressure affecting their young masters. It was more humiliating than damaging, and seeing the ease with which the masked mage was pressing them down, they were not even remotely sure of their ability to take him down, not to mention ensuring the safety of their wards.


    "STOP STALLING ADN TAKE THAT CUNT OUT!" one of the young masters half yelled, since he was having a hard time with the pressure. He felt utterly humiliated, being forced to his knees by some random mage, who hadnt even bothered to learn their background. Forced to kneel like a common rabble. What was even more infuriating was the pure disgust with which the women by the mages side looked at the young masters.


    "Well, I hope they arrive withe haste, my time is precious" Rex spoke once more, and he had an ingenious idea pop in his head. He used another partition of his mind to bend the mana like he did so when creating mana chains, just changed the shape of the mana construct. With all his practise with making his chains serve as literral chainsaw chains, morphing and making them sharp adn other manipulation, he sucseeded quite easily with his new task. The result was the appearing of chairs for every one of Rex party, and he sat down, enjoying the pleasant feeling of his creation. His girls followed his example and also sat down.


    His action together with the relaxed way he appeared to do it humiliated the kneeling masters even more. They were forced on their knees, while the opposing party sat leasurely on chairs in the middle of the noble districts street. What was even worse, some servants had passed by and had spread the word wery quiclky to their masters, and a crowd was slowly forming. The rich and powerfull always enjoyed a spectacle at the expense of others, they were even more elated if that spectacle humiliated another noble house.


    In the fifteen minutes it took for the representatives of their houses to arrive quite the crowd had gathered to witness the show that was about to happen. Rex noticed quite a few lecherous gazes in the dirrection of his girls, especially Irina, since she was arguably the most beautifull of them all. Of course Mel would take the first place if one was more of a milf lover, or Aisha if you fancied animal ears. Even with the relaxed state Rex was in, he was diligent in appraising everyone that arrived, to ensure his girls were always safe and to be able to asess the danger level of the people present. He also didnt forget to make a small increasein pressure of the people in the crowd who shoved too much lust and desire for his girls. He coudl somewhat feel their escalating desire to posess what was his adn something deep within him felt quite annoyed at their audacity. It almost felt like a slumbering dragon who was waking from its sleep because some lesser creatures were plotting to empty its treasure hoard.


    When Rex saw the guards what had the same attire as the ones that jumped out to prevent the escalation, he appraised the people they had brought with them. With the strongest being barely mid A class he planned the next few courses of action. He had absolutely nothing to worry about- it was his home city, the lord of this place was someone he could call friend, and Victor was more than just interested in keeping him here. The stupid young masters had gone out of their way to annoy him and demand his girls for their entertainment. And event went as far as to order one of the guards to take him out. Right, and they called him a CUNT. Whats worse, they didnt even seem repentant regarding their wrongdoings- clearly the failiure of their upbringing. Rex probably charge their families for the lesson in humility as well.


    ''When did I become so shameless?'' Rex asked himself in his mind as he saw the representatives of the offending master houses aproaching. He though for a moment and asked a question to one of his girls


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Hey Val, think you could take out them all in a one on one fights?" The girl in question looked at the aproaching group for a while and answered


    "I believe i would win every one on one, if i were to fight them when im at my best." Rex smiled at her estimation, because she was correct. No one of the aproaching people were anywhere near Val in terms of energy output, be it mana or raw vitality, indicating their physical prowess.


    "We would request that you release our people there" one of the representatives spoke, gesturing to the kneeling group.


    "While that is not entirely imposible, those pups have not only offended me, but they had the audacity to demand my women here to entertain them. They even spat at my kindness to allow them to leave after their outrageous demand. Then add the fact that they dont even seem to repent their wrongdoing as I can almost feel their blood lust. And the one in the middle even had the gall to call me a cunt, when you can clearly tell from my voice that I am a man." Rex expressed his percieved grievances, and the way he did so, reinforced the belief of everyone here that the powerfull mages are indeed very eccentric and strange.


    His words were followed by a minute of silence as the representatives were quickly thinking of the best way to solve the issue at hand. They had to ensure that their wards were recovered as soon as possible to stop their houses from being shamed any further, and they also had to not offend the mage too much since they could see he was incredibly powerfull. They also had to figure out the affiliation of the mage. If the man belonged to mages guild, they would have to send a sizable gift to them as to appease and avoid a conflict. They were a pridefull bunch and tended to react poorly towards anyone who dared to offend their members.


    "May we know the esteemed mages name?" a representative asked, and Rex simply replied


    "If you win the main atraction of the grand auction you will, once you arive with your request." Rex words created a deadly silence in the street. Every decision making noble that had arrived in Blythe for the auction new that the main thing was the possiblility to negotiate with the blood mage, and he would agree to a single branding, provided they payed the right amount. It was not just the single branding that the nobles would bet on, It was the guaranteed ability to negotiate with the man. If they provided enough benefits or intrigued the mage they might even secure a long lasting contract. The possibilities with such an oportunity would be near endless, so it was only nattural that the representatives were cursing these young masters in their heads right now. They had possibly fucked over their families chances to impress the mage.


    Rex saw the representatievs swetting quite a bit, trying to figure out the best way to fix their sittuation, but he had already achieved his main goal. A crowd had been gathered, example made, now he just had to conclude this in a manner that didnt blast the families involved below the belt, but at the same time making his point clear.


    "I had such a nice outing as well, it would be a waste to spoil the evening. So you get lucky, and will recieve your people alive." as he said that he released the pressure on the youngsters, who collapsed as soon as the field was removed.


    "Make no mistake, I am expecting a proper gift for my kindness, and I would advise you to educate your youngsters. There will not be another chance." Rex then raised his voice a little, ensuring everyone in the crowd could hear


    "I will not show any mercy to the next offender."


    With that said he got up, folowed by his ladies, the chairs dissipating in mana particles, and left for his mansion. He could feel the exitement in his girls and their chatter. They seemed quite happy with Rex''s conduct and were exited he called his girls. Aina had to poke fun at Rex, since she too was his girl now. And while jabbing and Rex and having fun, she felt quite warm with how protective he acted with them all. She might not be his lover yet, be she sure as hell was his girl.


    As Rex was returning home and prepearing for the rest of the evening, at another mansion in the noble district a very beautifull lady with blonde, waist long hair was sitting in a study, listening in on the report a subordinate of hers was giving her.


    "Hmm, that seems troublesome. His mana reserves imply at least A class, and at least one of the girls is A class as well. His mana controll is also quite impressive. He must be at least middle age with such fine control. Simple entralling with beauty will not work. His actions in the little show displays his ability to think, since he chose a rather efficient way do ensure no trouble find him on the surface, and any covert moves made would be met with absolute destruction. Hmm, quite complicated." Elena Vex was working on the best way to ensure her missions sucsess. Near her in another chair was sitting Royce Rambert, scribbling something in his journal.


    "Anything to add Royce?" she asked the man who had sent his agents adn had spent the last few days himself digging any and all info he could on the blood mage. They needed every single detail they could aquire to plan accordingly and increase the probability of sucsess.


    "Nothing decisive right now. Our spies did bring me some interesting info however. Apparently the biggets slaev trader in Blythe- Brogni, had been inquiring about quite the exotic slaves. Seeing the sudden interest there is a bit chance that the mage had made the requests."


    "Hoo, and pray tell me, what is our target so keen on aquiring?" Elena asked, some possible schemes already forming in her mind.


    "Word is, he is looking for a kitsune. If she is skilled in tea making- even better." Roy responded with a slight smirk.


    "Why not just ask for a priness of their royal family straight away!" She exclaimed, and a bitter laugh escaped her mouth. This path was a no go either, but that was okay. Time is what she had, and the mage would provide her with countless oportunities to create the perfect strategy and plan for a flawless execution of her plan. She would start her approach with a rather cautios methods. Adn if all that fails she could always kidnap one of his servants and torture them for information.


    "Anything of note regarding your other asignment?" she then asked Royce.


    "A pureblooded forsaken was seen by a couple of our spies. They lost the man when tracking him to find his place of residence." At this words the saintess scowled, her disgust with the mere notion of such creatures still walking the face of earth apparent.


    "Make it a priority to dispose of it discreetly. We have to wait for more information regarding the mage anyways."


    Her words brought smile to the inquisitors face. he could focus on his holy mission of purification. Nothing brought greater joy to the man.


    Meanwhile, in four different places conversations of similar natures to one another took place. The four families, whose young masters had offended the blood mage had contacted their superiors back in their home domains. The representatives presented the situation, and the way mage had resolved it. The lords back at their homes came to a similar conclusion to that of Elena Vex. The man was experienced, and he was sending a message. The fact that their foolish children were the first was both a blessing and a curse. They did lose some reputation with the foolish action of the kids, and it would cost them some valuable materials, but at the same time these gifts the mage demanded was a chance to impress him and show the family goodwill.


    They discussed the best possible comensation gifts they could send, adn the punishment of their foolish family members. It took them hours to come to a conclusion, and their choices varied, but all gifts would surely be valuable.


    Eredar , Brogni and Victor also met Rex that evening after every one had recieved a retelling of the sittuation that had occured in the nobles quarter. Rex didnt miss teh oportunity to pull the leg of the trio


    "Gentlemen, you had only one important task to perform, ignoring the insane amount of tasks needed to be done for the autcion, and that was to make sure every stupid noble knows that the blood mage might stroll around, so their stupid pups dont go and piss him off. And you have failed miserably. Whatever should I do now?" His intonation and overly theatrical emphasis of words quite quickly brought the room to laughter, adn while they had calmed down a little Rex added


    "To be fair, it was only a matter of time for this to happen. We were quite lucky with this. i love to get the annoying shit done ASAP."


    Then they talked a bit about the progress of the last polishes for the auction, Rex handed over ten killos of the gold grade meat for the auction, and they had a meal together. Rex friends saw the atmosphere in the dining room as they joined him.


    "You know i will not be recieving any guests who cannot be brought to my dinner table. I love the atmosphere that we have created here." is what Rex said when they saw how all his girls were joining him for dinner, and they had to admit- it was quite nice setting. During the meal they praised Aishas ability to cook and Brogni even joked that he would love to reaquire her for his own personal cheff position. After the meal they all left and Rex manor went silent, exept for a single room from which moans of happiness and pleasure resounded for hours into the night.

 Chapter 27: Before the auction

    As Rex had discussed with his three business partners, the remaining time before the auction he spent in the city. Victor and Eredar had expressed their worries that Rex would just get too engrossed in his murder spree in the dungeon, had he gone during the week, that he might miss the auction all together. Rex had to aknowledge that they were most likely right since he indeed had the tendency to do that. But in Rex defence, it was only to be expected. He reasoned to himself that if any one of them could grow stronger each time they made such trips, they too would be in the same situation. Still. he knew when to hold back, and it was not like he could not improve while staying in the city. He had quite the sized garden where he could practice and refine his controll and precision of his current skills. And so Rex spent the remaining week engrosed in his training and spending time with his girls. He also made a few trips in the city with his non disguised persona.


    Rex had been going to the dungeon without mage guise whenever he was not planning on aquire a new branded, so it was most of the time. He noticed that once again, whenever the archon went out he would be followed one he was in the market, and every time Rex would shake them loose in the bustle of the market streets. He noticed that almost all of the spies that tried to keep track of him were belonging to the Echlisiarchy. He could tell because of the symbol they all wore somewhere on their person. And while normal people would not be able to notice, with his ever developing finesse in mana controll, he could basicly scan anyone he considered worth checking out to the point where he had very high understanding of the possesions of his target.


    Sometimes Rex wondered, just what kind of ungodly creatures blood coursed through the veins of his body, to have such an array of possible applications to his skill. Perception and manipulation of all manner of energy. Right now he was ever more sure that it not only sounds unreasonably broken, but it is in reality as well. of course he is not gonna complain, on the contrary, he apreciates the living hell out of it.


    Meanwhile, a day before the auction, in the harbor of Blythe a rather impressive ship had just docked. it dwarfed any other ship currently present in the harbor by a few times. The ship was carrying a flag of white background with a red sun in the middle, that was enveloped by nine tails. From the ship disembarked a group of twenty people. in the middle there was a palaquin carried by for slave men, their slavery runes across their body clearly visible. The rest were foxkin men, wearing what looked like samurai armor, and with a katana by their side. They were met by a lower level official from Blythe and with just a few words exchanged, the man rushed to guid them to carriages, to bring them to the castle.


    In less than an hour, the group was in Victors office, and the man was slightly nervous. From the palaquin, two kitsunes had exited and now they were sitting in front of the lord of the city. one was a woman with light brown hair and seven tails of the same color. her fox ears were sharply pointing up at the ceiling. her green eyes were looking at Victor through relatively small glasses, and her expression was quite frosty. She was wearing a dark red kimono with light obi tying it around the waist.


    The man next to her was dressed in what one would classify as a buttler uniform, a katana and a wakizashi adorning his belt. The man had four tails and the color of his hair was dark grey. Both exuded quite the hostile air, making Victor somewhat akward. The man besides the woman was also quite powerfull, Victor could tell, and since they were here as envoys from the kitsune, he would preffer to avoid any large scale conflict.


    "Welcome, dignitaries of the Land of the nine divines. To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence?" He asked in an amicable tone.


    "Dont play coy with us, city lord. We are here for the mage." the kitsune lady responded, her tone ice cold, seething rage present in her voice.She then continiued


    "Bring him to us immediaty."


    Victors smile dissapeared from his face, replaced by a cold indifference as he replied


    "First, I would kindly advise you to change your tone towards me, miss ambasador. We are not in your home, so it would do you well to show some respect towards the owner of the house you are visiting. Secondly, while I would prefer to avoid any conflict with your empire, we of the merchant cities have never been scared to protect our interests and profits, so dont think we can be intimidated. Third, i have no controll over the mage in question. At best, I can ask him to do me a favor and agree to recieve guests, and even that is not guaranteed. And last, but not least, IF you decide to take action against the mage, Blythe will not move a finger...."


    he made a small moment of silence for greater effect to make his point across. The now less hostile and grinning with evil smile kitsune ambasador asumed that the city would not interfere with whatever they did as long as they showed them the proper respect, untill she hear Victor finish his sentence


    "to help you and save your sorry asses." Finished, Victor regained his amicable smile as he spoke once again


    "Now how could I help you? Or is that it?" His previous words did put the kitsune on guard, and she quickly reassesed their plan.


    "If you would be so kind as to inform the mage that the kitsune would like to meet with him, as we believe there is something to discuss, regarding his interest in our kind, that has come to our attention." her tone now was respectfull, not a himn of her previous arrogance in sight.


    "Normaly, I would outright refuse such a request, as he had wished, but since you are here for a topic of his interest, I am willing to make an exeption. If you dont mind waiting for a while i will contact him. We should recieve a response raher quickly."


    "Please do, we dont mind waitign for a while, if it hastens the process." she replied with a light smile. Victor sighed inwardly. Those foxes were way too good with changing their stance in a second, it the situation called for it. The wasted no time, sending a message to Rex, and in less than twenty minutes, a response was already present, and the delegation of the kitsune was allowed an audience. The note also stated they should bring someone skilled in the art of cooking, since he wanted to have a meal and would be happy if someone from their side and customs could provide insight and assistance in ensuring something that the delegation could appreciate would be served.


    The response confused the ambasador a little. How comes someone who had basicly asked around about aquiring a kitsune princess to brand, had the sheer balls to act as if they were here on a friendly visit. Well, she reasoned he might be asuming that the kitsune would be willing to sell of of their princeses for an advantageous deal with him, but that would never happen. While sometimes some lesser foxkin would be sold off in slavery, such cases were few and far between, and there were alwasy some very unique circumstances. Kitsunes however woudl never sell their children, they were too proud about it. It is important to point out that the diference between the foxkin adn kitsune was the number of tails they posessed. The purer the bloodline the more tails they had. And foxin had barely any divine fox blood withing them, that allowed individuals to manifest one to three tails. Any number starting with four were kitsunes.


    Seven tailed foxes like her were the nobility of their nation. Eight tailed ones was already an insanely rare occurance, and would almost guarantee the role of their emperor, once the individual was taugh and old enough too take the throne. Nine tailed individuals were basicly just a legend, as that would require basicly pure divine bloodline, which was basicly impossible right now. Nevertheless, the ambasador fond it qiute the odd behaviour. Now she really had to figure out what was going on with this mage, so she sent for one of their cooks to be fetched from their ship and once he arrived they were lead by Victor to Rex mansion.


    Since the tow places were quite literaly netx to one another they had arrived in just a few minutes of walking. The ambasador and her butler were in their palaquin once again. Glancing through a small slit between the curtains of the palaquin she saw an orc valkirie at the mansion gate recieving them. That placed her on a guard mode. Any blood mage capable of branding a valkirie was dangerous if not taken seriously.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    At the gate, Victor bid them farewell, and before leaving advised them to act carefully, for their own sake that is. The valkirie brought them all to a certain gazebo in the garden where the mage was sitting in his full disguise. The kitsune frowned, as the man was hiding his appearance, and it was in quite bad tastes to not reveal oneself in negotiations. What did suprise her besides the fact that the valkirie didnt care for their twenty guards and just guided them along to her masters location, was the beautifull white tiger that the mage was showering with affection as they aproached.


    Rex, noticing the ambasador and her butler, in the middle of the guards who were following Val, pointed towards the seats on the opposite side of the table


    "Please, sit down, get comfortable." his voice friendly enough, as if talking with an aquintance "The cook should follow Val here, she will bring him to the kitchen. He speaks common yes?"


    The guards moved to the sides, revealing the ambasador to Rex and she spoke and afterwards dirrected the chosen cook to follow the valkirie


    "Greetings, I am Izumi Yuu. Apointed ambasador of the Land of nine divines in Blythe." She sat down, her butler right behind her, on full guard and ready to take action should the need arise. With Val leading the cook away, followed by a couple of the guards, the atmosphere became a bit more chilly. izumi, with somewhat strained light smile, but her tone was indicating slight hostility asked Rex


    "Would you be kind enough to explain to us why are you looking for a kitsune princess to brand as your slave? It is quite the audacious thing to annouce to the world."


    Rex, who was stil petting Snow, stopped for a moment, confused, so he asked


    "When did i start looking for a princess? All i need is a beautifull kitsune that is skilled in making tea. Never once have i mentioned a princess." His words created a silence in the garden as everyone here were processing his words, while he was back to petting the tiger. After a minute Izumi aske the mage


    "Are you perhaps not aware that the tea ceremony is only taught to the noble daughters of our seven tailed clans?"


    "Even if that is the case, which i find to be such a waste, I never said anything about tea ceremony. I just had an asumption, for whatever the reasons that kitsunes should be wery well versed in teas, and seeing as you even have tea ceremony I was correct. So all I want is a kitsune who can make me some exclusive tea." The nonechalance he was speaking with was somewhat frustrating and confusing to Izumi, and the guards were frowning and exuding some low levels of anger towards the mage, as he was speaking of enslaving a girl of their race.


    "i am sorry sir, but you will be dissapointed, as we do not offer our people as wares to be branded or enslaved in any other way." She spoke, now much calmer as it seemed the man was simply ignorant regarding their culture. And while that lowered her innitial hatred towards the man, it still left a bad taste in her mouth, as he still loooekd like wanting his desires to come to fruition.


    "I dont mind, I will have one sooner or later anyways." His words made her angry, soe she asked


    "Would you be kind enough to elaborate?"


    "Sure, we have time to kill while the meal is being prepared. You are in for a treat there, i asked my cheff to prepare some gold grade meat, i hope it will be to your liking. As for the kitsune that i would eventually aquire it is quite simpple really- I have heard that your nation in quite the war right now with their neibors. So there lies my supply route. A lost battle, an unforseen raid on a village, or anything alike. I will get my beautifull kitsune, so everyone will be happy. You get to mantain your morality and I get my own fox girl who can make me some god tier tea. Win-Win for everyone involved."


    "And how would that be a win for the girls in question?" izumi asked, gritting her teeth. The man was indeed right. There would surely be countless foxkin and decent amount of kitsune that would appear on the slave markets during the war. Such happenings were unavoidable, and with a word out a blood mage is gonna pay premium for the most exquisite and unharmed girls, it was only a matter of time before he aquires what he desires.


    "Besides the fact that they would not be raped by countless men and passed around like commom whores? I believe avoiding such a life is a blessing on its own. Besides the life as a slave of mine is much more comfortable than most could ever dream of.  Also i would advise your guard dogs to reel in their blood lust. We are having a civil conversation here, and they are annoying me. We are both grown and reasonable people, so lets act as such." Rex spoke in a calm and relaxed manner, never even once indicating  an ounce of worry of any amount of discomfort speaking about the matter. Then after a moment of another silence he asked


    "By the way, miss Yuu, once you are finished with your business here, are you perhaps returning home?" Once again he spoke on a very relaxed and friendly manner, his threat to the guards nothing more than a sidenotein his day.


    "No, I have been tasked with maintaining an embacy in these lands and serving the interests of my nation."


    "Wonderfull. And what would it take for me to secure a stable supply of some exquisite tea from your lands? And since a slave girl is out of the question mayhaps a servant I could hire to make my tea. I am a sucker for a good tea after all." he smiled under the hood and magic, that hid his face.


    "It is quite difficult to trust someone who is not willing to reveal their face." she responded with a neutral expression on her face.


    "I could of course reaveal my face, but i would then be forced to kill all your guards and brand you as my slave, and I doubt anyone here would like it too much."


    izumi was suprised and slightly taken aback by the cool with which he spoke those words. He impield that it would not even strain him to achieve such a result, and that her side could do absolutely nothing to prevent it. Such confidence, coupled with Victors warning, that obviously was done to avoid the escalation and the fallout he would have to deal with had they acted in a hastefull manner, indicated that the mage was unreasonably powerfull, since all her guards here were mid A class, and her butler was even S- class.


    "So? regarding the tea and the servant i could employ? Or if that is not posible, I could send one of my girls for someone to teach her the proper way of preparign tea, for my personal households needs only of course. I would not share the details anywhere else."


    "You woudnt mind if I contact my superiors to iron out the details of such a possible deal, would you?" she asked, keeping her neutral expression.


    "That is not a problem whatsoever, take the time you need." Rex approved Izumis request, adn then an idea bloomed in his head, and he spoke


    "I would like to discuss a few things that should not be known to any lower rank people here. I will use my mana to create a sound barier so we can converse in peace, if you dnt mind."


    "Yes, you may do so" Izumi replied. And Rex did just that. Once the barrier was deployed and no sould could escape rex continiued


    "What I am going to propose might sound quite offensive from what I have seen of your culture, but i still think it is necessary to offer." Seeing that Izumi griopped a corner of her kimono, to controll herself in preparation to whatever outrageous thing the mage would offer now, Rex continiued.


    "What are the posiblilities any of your princeses would reach the front lines?"


    "Why would you ask?" she responded coldly.


    "Well, if the chances are high enough, I would have an offer to give you a fail safe of sorts in the worst case scenario, but for that negotiation to continiue, i believe you would have to be aware of the lives and condition of my slaves. So i believe that is something better left for after that condition is fulfilled. I just hope once you believe you know all you need, come see me again. And i will be waiting for that response regarding my previous request." With that said Rex removed the barrier.


    During the next hour, some very light snack was served with a quite tasty juice like drink that complemented it, and Rex jokingly apologized, since he wasnt confident in serving them a quality tea, so he had to solve the conundrum in a different way. Once the dinner was prepared he invited Izumi and her bodyguard to join, and since their cheff was present during all the meal preparations they had nothing to worry about food being spiked or poisoned, and so they agreed.


    While she was rather displeased with the mage, she couldnt just ignore the golden opportunity they had aquired, once the innitial grievance was proven to be just a misunderstanding stemming from faulty knowledge they had aquired. The food was heavenly, to say the least. And once their cheff informed her of the ingridient, her jaw almost dropped. She had not innitially understood what Rex meant with gold grade, because the kitsune called it heavenly grade. They used mortal- earth- heaven grading system for their ingridients. Mortal food would be your everyday livestock, basicly no mana infused produce, their equivalent here was bronze. earth grade was monster meat of the deep floors, the equivalent here was silver grade- the meat everyone at Rex mansion ate every day, and the stuff Rex was getting rich of, thanks to his trade utilising Eredars channels. And heaven grade, that was equivalent to gold grade here, was extremely rarely aquired from the deep floors. Even their emperor could aquire it on a very rare ocasions, so the fact that she had the oportunity to taste it was beyond surreal. With the divine meal finished, Rex himself led his quests outside his mansion, the guards had been provided a light meal seperately, and even they were elated. Their food was made of earth grade meat and when one of them asked how come, the answer from a maid stunned them all.


    "We do not keep lower grade meat ingridients in this mansion." Was the girls answer, and when she had answered that it is what they eat every day too, some of the soldiers could invardly only envy the girls serving in this place. Once Izumi learned of this fact when returning to their freshly aquired residence, she slid deep in thought. There was much to be done.

 Chapter 28: Before auction, part 2

    As soon as Izumi and hergroup had returned to their new residence she wasted no time whatsoever to report to her superiors. They had to change their aproach and fast, lest they make some rather undesirable mistakes. Fortunately, her mission as the ambasador to expand their zone of influence was planned regardless of how their encounter with the mage would go, so another party of theirs had already unloaded and set up the necesarry things in the property that they had aquired beforehand through one of their merchants.


    One she was in the secured room she wasted no time in activating the holo device, initiating the connection. Some fifteen minutes later the connection was established, and in front of her appeared nine individuals sitting around a circle formed table. They were representatievs of the nine clans ruling over their nation.


    "Report." One of the council members spoke, his hair and tails of the same color as Izumi- clearly a member of her clan.


    "The situation is much more complicated than we innitially thought. Firstly, the lord of the city seems to be a former adventurer, so agressiev and arrogant posturing is more detrimental than helpfull to our goals. Secondly, while the blood mage is still looking for a kitsune to enslave," she spoke with quite the dissatisfaction in her voice regarding Rex "we had faulty information regarding his specific interests."


    "Elaborate" this time spoke a council member with fiery red hair and tail.


    "Yes. He seems to have absolutely no knowledge of our customs and culture besides the percieved notion that we have the best tea makers in the world. As such, he desires for one of those masters. Once he was aware of our refusal to sell our people into slavery, he expressed the desire to buy tea from us and perhaps have one of his servants be taught the art of the tea making."


    "Hmm, he is sharp, and quick to capitalize in the changing tides." A member of the council with violet hair spoke "Tell us more about the mage himself."


    "He is dangerous, beyond all our estimates, or overly confident. Most likely a bit of both, since he had no fear of my sword, and had a valkirie serving him." Izumis response created a moment of silence.


    "Retell the encounter, we need everything in deetails." once again spoke the member of her clan, and she recounted her meeting with Rex, not forgetting the warning she recieved from Victor. It was an important piece in the story, as it drastically changed the way she approached Rex. The council memberswere listening carefully to her retelling, trying to gleam some additional understanding of the man or the depth of his power or recourses. At the mention of the dinner that was served, most of the council members jaws dropped.


    "HE SERVED WHAT?" A council member with black hair exclaimed in shock. He was a family member of the current only eight taled kitsune, who was their emperor right now. He was wery well aware of the possible implications. The mage had connections with someone who could organise a sucsessfull raid, and since they had acsess to the gold grade, it meant his contact was rather high in the pecking order of that group.


    "Yes, our main cheff confirmed it, as he was present during the preparation of the dishes. Not only that, from our solders told me that every servant in mages mansion would have earth grade meat in their food. We have also recieved information, that there seems to be a steady supply of it in the city. All sold through a single merchants channels."


    "Approve of his request for the tea, and bring him over to sample them to your residence. Imply that we would be willing to teach a servant of his under two conditions. First is that whatever is taught should never leave his household. Secondly we need to secure a right to purchase set amount of earth grade meat. If the supply of the merchant is constant, the nobles in their immediate area who can afford it constantly will become much stronger over time. We must ensure we reap the benefits." spoke the blond member of the council, his eyes gleaming behind his small glasses.


    Everyone immediatly agreed, since the council member in question was known for his sharp wit, and a sense for profit.


    "So, how was it?" suddenly the only woman present in among the council members spoke.


    "Im sorry?" Izumi responded in confusion


    "The meat, how did it taste." councilwoman added. Her clan was known to be quite the gourmets, and they spent exorbitant amount of money to get their hands on the rarest and most prestigious of ingridients throughout the world. They did have the money to spend since their love for such things wa fueled by their uncanny ability to grow almost anything sucsesfully. They had a few very rere cultures they grew, that no other intelegent race had managed to figure out how.


    Izumi blushed a bit remembering the taste, trying for a moment to put it in words, and with the mere memory she started salivating.


    "Divine is the only way i can describe it. If once had to compare it to earth grade it would be almost like comparing the finest of wines with a mouthful of ash." At her words the council woman salivated just imagining the possible taste. It was not that the ydidnt have the money for it, it just was basicly never sold anywhere. You could trow mountainds of gold and still find none in the markets.


    "And it cleanses the body ten times better than earth grade. And while it doesnt seem quite enough seeing its rarity, i think it also strenghtens the bloodline." izumi added. She had a personal experiece and that was how she felt.


    "Are you implying that if one were to consume it in apropriate quantities for long enough they could reach the purity of a nine tailed kitsune?" for the first time asked a member with light orange hair.


    "I am not sure of the caps it could reach, but the effect is there. I could feel it and my sword had told me he felt the same."


    "Secure the trade deal with the mage with our specifications, if possible inquire him about the heaven grade, but dont be too direct. Aproach it with deep gratitude and maybee ask how the kitsune dignitary earned such honor. While i doubt he is as ignorant regarding the quality, we might get another great opportunity. "


    They spent a few more hours going over the details regarding the situation in Blythe, the war they are being pulled into, and Izumis future focus. She was quite confident in her ability to achieve most of her tasks, but still, she was slightly nervous, she had quite the burden on her shoulders, and no training could prepeare one for everything the world might throw at you.


    Unlike Izumi, who had quite the bussy evening, filled with planning and preparation, Rex relaxed with his girls, untill he was visited by Eredar, Brogni and Victor. Victor was quite pleased not seeing any kitsune guard corpses lying around, sending a thumbs up to Rex, for his peacefull solution to whatever situation he had there.


    "Hey Brogni, why didnt you tell me the kitsune tea ceremony and the very pinnacle of the art is considered state secret for them?" Rex aske as the trio had sat on the opposite side of Rex in the gazebo he had recieevd the kitsune group.


    "Hmm? I though you already knew about it, since you made such a specific request."


    "Dude, i literaly grew up in a forest, feasting on beasts and monsters. You are lucky i somehow picked up common and have enough humanity to not look at you all like food, let alone have intricate understanding of customs of specific races. "


    "And how did you learn of that tidbit of information then without knowing the rest?" Brogni asked Rex a valid qustion.


    "Honestly i dunno, just had this ''kitsunes must be good with tea'' thing pop in my head and just went with it. And you confirming it just made me even more sure about it."


    Rex retold a bit about his dealings with Izumi, and he recieved a glare from the three men.


    "And why have we not had the pleasure to dine on the gold grade? We are friends, are we not?" asked Eredar with slightly agrieved tone, still quite obvious he was joking, but the question was solid.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Well my friends, i would say that is because i am not interested in fucking any of you. Izumi however....." Rex left the rest unsaid, but his train of thought was obvious.


    "But, if the auction goes well I dont mind providing each of you with a kilo or so of the gold grade for a job well done." and with that he got up, extended his hands to the sides turned his head almost ninety degrees right, with his chin slightly elevated, and chest pushed a bit forward, he spoke in exagerated tone of voice


    "So work hard for me peasants, and you shall be rewarded!" he kept a small moment of silensce and cracked, falling back on the sofa behind him and laughing hard. The trio, recovering from the display also laughed. The man was indeed quite something. He seemed way too easygoing for someone of his power, and they could not wish for a better man to be blessed with such power. The overly greedy and self righteous would undoubtedly try and force their own morality and ideals on others, often creating an even greater chaos and suffering in their path to that ideal. One is often blind to the suffering of those beneath them while chasing the stars, since you cant see what you are trampling while gazing at the sky. It was almost always better to have a someone more grounded, not pushed by their zeal to achieve some lofty ideal, but to just have a good life fot themselves and the people around them.


    After the solid laugh, they went over the auction. Where Rex needed to be, what to do and what not. And Rex didnt have to do shit, besides show up and move to his private room to enjoy. And since he now had a shitload of money, and would have even more once the gold grade meat would be sold since it would surely make another wave among the attendees. Rex had provided ten kilos, and was expecting quite the war to ensue among the nobles present once they lean of it.


    With official business, that needed to be taken care of, dealt with, they bid Rex goodbye, and left. They would be meeting in the morning anyway. Rex, quite pleased with what was achieved today, spent the rest of the night with his girls. As per his request when on the date with the girls, the tailor where they bought the new clothes had worded quite hard to finish a few dresses for each of the girls, since Rex told them they would be joining him in his private room at the auction.


    Rex woke up quite early as ussual, and went about his morning exercises. What he didnt expect was to find Aina already up and about. The girl was slightly nervous, that much Rex could tell, so he aproached her, and gently rubbed her head


    "Hey, what are you so anxious about?" he asked in a light tone, but his concern was easily heard in his voice.


    "Just a bit nervous is all." she lightly smiled adn replied "There wil probably be someone form the Silvermist family there, and while I dont regret one bit that i exiled myself because of their actions, they still raised me you know. Besides i worry about my mother. She is just a concubine, so im worried they might treat her badly with how i probably messed up their plans."


    "Hmm, want me to demand her as an apology for their transgression, so wouldnt hold a grudge?"


    "You would do that for me?" she asked in suprise.


    "Welllll," Rex pulled the word, a mischievous smile appearing on his face "how could I ignore the chance to ease your mind and bag a hot elven milf in the process."


    "Milf?" she asked in confusion.


    "Yep, a milf. From your words, she is just as, if not more, beautifull as you, just more mature. Its a word used for sexy, mature women, who ussualy have had childern." he smiled as he explained.


    "Hoo, so you are aiming for both the mother and daughter now? Quite bold of you to lay it out there." her anxiousness instantly replaced with a slight frown , that changed in a challenging grin. She knew he was doing it for her sake, so she could not really blame him. And she had been growing more and more qurious every night she heard the moans of pleasure from the girls visiting his bedroom. Not once had she heard anything similar when roaming the halls of the castle back in the Silvermist lands. True they had much better sound isolation, but still.


    "Cant blame a man for trying, can you?" Rex looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smirk "Besides, I have heard an interesting rumor regarding high elves, that can be tested only with the assitance of a high elf mother." His last sentence was barely audible, so Aina failed to understand it.


    "What now?" she asked, but Rex just lightly smiled and rubbed her head a bit more.


    "Nothing. What matters is you are all right now. Besides, if there is anyone who doesnt have the brains and comes to annoy us, I dont mind being a bit rutheless. I believ i have that part down to a T."


    He laughed a bit and then together with Aina fed the cats, with Aina showing plenty of love to Diego, while Rex was spoiling Snow. He wrey much liked his byakko, so he made sure the white tiger recieved enough attention. Aisha and her kitchen staff was next to get up, and they got to prepearing breakfast straight away, and by the time it was ready, everyone else had also gotten up. They had a nice and homely atmosphere during the meal,and once they were done Rex told the girls to get dressed and prepare for the auction. While they still had more than a few hours before it would begin, he wanted them to be ready, and in his private room at least thirty minutes before the planned start. He wanted to avoid as much of the nobles as possible, since he coudnt be assed to interact with them. They had nothing he needed, and he was everything they needed to advance to higher echalons of their high society.


    Once ready and leaving the mansion a messanger from Victor delivered a note, that rex read, wrote something on it, and then gave it back to the messanger along witha few silver coins and sent him on his way. It was a message from Izumi, saying that she had contacted her superiors and they should meet upon Rex''s earliest convinience to discuss the specifics. Rex was quite glad with their quick response and replied. He invited her to have a quick talk before the auction, since they both would attend.


    Once he reached the auction house, he met his friends, who exchanged a few words with him, and had an attendant show him his private room for the auction. Rex also informed tham that they should bring the kitsune ambasador over to his room, since they had something to discuss. Once he was in his room he didnt have to wait long untill a knock was heard, and once invited, both izumi and her butler stepped in. Rex had already created a few extra chairs for his girls with mana since he had no issues with them hearing the conversation.


    "Since we have some time, why dont you start with what yur poeple had decided would be appropriate shall we?" Rex asked once everyone was seated "Right. I would advise against any pointless attempts to haggle, where you start with unreasonable demands and I do the same, and we eventually reach what we had innitially hoped for. Ones inner energy fluctuates unnaturally when you try to lie, and its easy to detect if you know what to look for." Rex informed izumi, he had no desire to waste time today, since they were low on time, but both sides desired some sort of an agreement, even if only barebones and basic.


    "We are willing and eager to establish an agreement in regards to your desire to purchase high quality and specialized tea, not aviable or sold anywhere else. We are also willing to teahc a servant of yours in the art of tea making, to get the best ouf of what you purchase from us. In return we would like your assistance in securing a deal with the merchant Eredar regarding certain amount of earth grade meat we would like to aquire in regular interwals." she hesitated a bit, but seeing the no nonsense approach of the mage she decided to gamble a bit


    "And while not part of the deal we are discussing right now, thanks to your generousity regarding yesterdays meal, we have come to a rather important discovery and as such, i must ask. Is there any way to reliably aquire the heaven grade ingridients used yesterday?"


    Rex though for a short while quickly calculating the benefits and potential dangers, then responded


    "Regarding the earth grade meat, it is not an issue. Eredar owes me a favor or two, so you have a deal there, however I cannot promise anything regarding the amount and quantity per shipment. However, if you would like an advice, prepeare two storage rings, as large as possible, and use those as the basis. Almost all rings have time stasis, and the main issue is with the movement of the goods out from the deep floors as far as i am aware. So solve the issue of your needs by providng with the means to aquire what you desire."


    To Rex''s words Izumi smiled, nodding. The blood mage knew the merchants channels of recource aquisition, and he had given her the perfect oportunity. Sure, it would cost a lot, and the interwals would probably be quite large, but with the right sized storage rings they would recieve loaded with earth grade meat, it woud not be much of a problem.


    "Since we have come to an understanding regarding this part, we should finalize that, then i will adress the second question of yours." and izumi noded to Rex words.


    "Regarding the prices and amounts as wel as all the logistics regarding tea, Eredar will iron out the details with you, since he is my logistics specialist, and is being paid handsomely for it. As for who should be taught, lets decide once the auction is done. You never know, i might aquire something interesting." to witch Izumi noded in agreement once again.


    "Regarding your second question." Rex spoke again "It is much trickier. The man that hunts this for me is like the wind. He comes and goes whenever, and likes to be even more secretive than me. So while i have a somewhat existing supply of the heaven grade, it is neither regular nor predictable. Besides, how would you even begin to calculate its value, with it being such an insanely demanded, yet unerasonably rare recource."


    Izumi was silent. She coud not answer his question, as it indeed had no answer she could give that was satisfactory with her authority.


    "Why dont you invite me over and let me have a chat with those superiors of yours after the auction is over? They might have a deeper insight and better understanding of what could even hope to compare."


    A few minutes later Rex looked at the mana clock on the wall and spoke


    "Would you look at that, the auction starts soon." He rose from his seat, fully aware the kitsunes have their own private room reserved and extended his hand, to help izumi raise from her seat, indicating their business for the moment was done


    "Let us meet once the auction is over so I can go and have a chat with those decision makers of yours." Rex smiled lightly at her as she rose from the seat, and they left to return to their private room.


    "This is getting interesting" Rex mused, as he sat down in the sofa, and Irina snuggled right next to him the moment he stoped moving. He just smiled helplessly, not even one bit displeased with the girls action. "Lets see what the auction has to offer!"

 Chapter 29: Auction. Part 1

    With the start of the auction the lights in the building dimmed a bit, while the ones iluminating the stage got slightly brighter, emphasizing the main area of this event. What followed was a pleasant sounding chime, comanding the attention of the room of the stage, from where the sound came. Victor was on the stage, acompanied by Eredar. What followed was a wery short speech from Victor, as this was the first of hopefully many grand auctions his city would host, and his thanks for all the people who had both arrived to enjoy the occasion as both the the atendees adn the people who had worked hard to provide things of worth to make the experiance all the more worthwhile.


    Once done with Victors quick speech, Eredar explained the rules of the auction as a matter of courtesy. The system was rather simple. Item is brought up, a small explanation of its purpose, or history, then a minimal bidding price and if the item is estimated to be quite valuable, or if the minimum price is high enough, a minimal bid size could also be set. It was however also possible to bid with other items, and if the owner of the item heard an item offered along with the bid that they wanted to aquire no matter what, they could inform an attendant near them, that they would take that certain offer. Sure it would be an advantage for forces with very deep and rich vaults, but the auction was meant to enrich the sellers, while giving the buyers what they want. Once the bidding is finished an attendant will bring the item over to the new respective owners, so they can pay and recieve their winnings. Since all attendants were slaves there was no worry of them trying to take off with the items entrusted them.


    With the formalities out of the way, Eredar got off stage and his place was taken by a rather beautifull lady, who started the auction. The first part of the auction was equipment. All sorts of high quality weapons and armor were displayed, made of all manner of metal farmed in dungeons. They were sold in the range of fifty to few hundred gold coins, depending on the quality, type, metal used and beauty of the item in question, since the nobles did like themselves a fancy and pretty equipment. Rex saw nothing he liked in this part of the auction, as he had expected. It was quite unrealisticaly to find anything better than his Limitless here, and his girls were not much interested in aquiring anything on display. And while they did not go to the dungeon, they were having frequent spars back in his mansion to keep themselves in great shape.


    Next came all sorts of ingridients used in alchemy and other crafts. This part was quite more interesting and active, since alchemy many wonderous recipes that could create as just as magnificent results as one could imagine- slighty strenghtening ones body and mana channels, expanding the mana pool, slightly recovering ones aged body to a younger self and so on. The hard part was the ingridients for such incredible arts, so obviously whenever any such ingridient appeared in the market they would be instantly bought for exorbitant prices. And since there were loads of nobles present, they were more fierce with their bids. And while Rex had little interest in the actual herbs since he had his drain, he still kept his eyes focused on the ingridients, lest he miss something quite special.


    What did created quite the chaos and the first real bidding war was the last item in this category.


    "As the last item of this category we have something wery special prepeared for you, our dear guests." The beatifull auctioneer spoke, her tone misterious and inviting.


    "We present you with our second highlight of this auction." as she spoke a small ring was brought over to her, along with a table with certain magical inscriptions. The ones in the know would recognise that such tables weer used to display and maintain the condition of the meat on the tables.


    "We present to you ten kilograms of gold grade meat." the auctioneer finished as she displayed the rings contents on the table. She intentionally took a moment of silence to emphasize the hall, now absolutely devoid of any sound as the atendees were processing the information before them. It has been a year or two since the last time such amount was on the market, and never in one place and by one seller. The could pull of quite a few meals with such amount for a single person.


    "We will begin the bidding with five hundred platinum coins, and the minimal bid amount will be ten platinum coin." once the auctioneer finished, an intense bidding war began. Surely, had the presence of this item been known, even some emperors would have arrived personaly to try and ensure their aquisition of it before it goes to auction, but since it was there now, all that could talk was money. And so they talked. It was generally asumed that if it were not almost non existant, one killo would be sold for a single orichalchum coin, or in other words one hundred platinum coins, so the innitial price was that of half the expected minimal market value. So when the bid very quickly reached ten oricalchum coins, it was no wonder, nor was it any wonder when the bid reached fifteen orichalchum coins. What suprised everyone, was a rather loud voice of a womans bid, creating a moment of silence.


    "FOURTY ORICLACHUM COINS!" the womans voice resounded. It was Izumi who had just bidded. She had recieved a clear instruction from the green haired council woman, that she may pay as much as ten oricachum coins for every kilogram of heaven grade meat, should she encounter it, and since it would be the council womans clan that was paying, and pay they could, even ten times that, she faitthfully preformed her duty as a voice of the clans in Blythe, besides she still had a lot of room to bid, and she needed that extra wiggle room, since soon the bidding restrarted, but now with only a few participants remaining.


    Sadly, since it has been such a long time since heaven grade was displayed, the nobles were more than willing to fork up exorbitant prices, and Rex had beted on that. It is precisely why he gave ten killos to Eredar to auction off, since they were ussually sold as one killogram units. Izumi had to give up, one the preice crossed hundred oricalchum coins, and the bidding ended when it was sold for a wooping one hundred and sixty oricaclum coins. Rex was quite pleased with his gains as he new the price will eventually stabilize if he will be providing more in the future, however the true value in his remaining and future stocks will be in dirrect exchanges not auctions, as it could bet him acsess to very exotic and exclusive goods if he comes to exchanges with his own exclusive goods. And unlike most others, his stash was potentially limitless, since dungeons never run dry as long as their core is not destroyed, and Rex hda no interest to do so.


    With the ingridient part of the auction over, they took a thirty minute break, to let the guests strech out and deal with their necesities since the auction had gone for more than six hours already, and while some might think it is a long ass time, every item sold was exquisite and valuable, and the nobles attending were having the time of their lifes. Even when they failed to aquire what they did bid on, the action itself was providing them exitement and entertainment, and they could brag a ton in any of the gatherings the ywould be attending for quite the while. The heaven grade meat and the bidding wars for it would be an exiting tale to retell, and if the current exitement and activity if to go by, the war for the chance to maybee form a long lasting business deal with the blood mage will be of massive proportions. Surely, quite the valuabe possesions will be used to pique the interest of the mage since raw money would be of little interest for him.


    During the break, there were a lot of gossiping going on, regarding the just now auctioned meat. Speculations and guesses regarding a raid that had either recently returned, or some member of a raid pulling out their most prized possesion in a desperate time. Izumi meanwhile was asuming that it should be the associate of the blood mage, who is providing Eredar with all that earth grade meat too. Who could the person be and where is his raid members hiding if the man is sent alone and in quite the secrecy to sell of the goods, since there is no way a single man can farm the deep floors. Mean while Eredar, Victor and Brogni were sitting in a private room together and laughed at the commotion.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Eredar, think you could get Rex to cough up a few more killos of that gold grade a few months later. If word gets out thatgodl grade is sold from time to time here, I am sure we will have every major trading company setting their branches here. And that would guarantee more traffic and variety of goods. Im sure even Brogni would profit will more of high quality slaves being sold here."


    "You know" Brogin spoke while Eredar was thinking the question over "It is at times like these that I sometimes regret being a slave trader you know." the other two looked at him, waiting for the dwarf to continiue "Cant do much as a slave trader when Rex''s comodities are not for my market." the dwarf sighed when he finished his thought.


    "Hmm lets quickly go over to Rex and see what he has to say about it, because we surely need a foot in that market, since some of the most expensive deals are often made over top quality slaves."


    And they quickly arrived at Rex private room, and were promptly invited in. Upon learining of their conundrum, Rex though for a second and answered


    "Then why dont you focus on the absolute bets quality, and disregard the low end for the most part? Sure keep your workers dealing with it as before, but since you have and in with a blood mage, you could try and sell the top shelf slaves with brands. Sure it will cost an arm and a leg for the buyers but we just dont care do we? And if you can cultivate such a reputation, all the best stuff with have to pass either through your shop or with your involvement, allowing me to get acsess to the best booty anyone can ever buy."


    His words ignited a fire in the dwarfs eyes, since that is indeed a market that is basicly without a figurative master right now. there are a few merchants from huge families, trying to be the middle man between blood mages and their potential customers, but mages being mages are as fickle as they come, making such merchants unreliable in their efficiency.


    "Will get on it as soon as the auction is over!" Brogni spoke with a huge grin, and Eredar asked his question regarding Victors previous inquiry.


    "Sure, we can do that, but as you said, we should wait a few months before that, so there is no need, besides, maybee I will get some more on my next delve, that i plan to go on soon after the auction. Gotta exercise with Limitless after all" Rex had not uesd his priced treasure sword much after he had aquired it, and he felt that was a shame, since the weapon was amazing.


    A few more minutes of small stuff later , the trio returned to their own rooom, and waited for the final part of the auction , that will be concluded with the auctioning of the right to negotiate with the blood mage. As the last and the most interesting part of the auction for Rex, the slave auction promised to be quite the show, and it started out strong. The first on the stage was the orch champion that Rex had provided for the auction


    "And this specimen" pointing to the orc with his champions greatsword on his back, obediently standing on the stage and either posing or turning around to show hismelf off better, the auctioneer continiued "will be our first. orch champion, caught in the thwenty nineth floor of our own dungeon. Absolute loyality is guaranteed as this specimen has been branded. His combat capacity is rated at class A. We will start the bidding at hundred platinum coins and minimum bid will be a ten platinum coins."


    The bidding was quite intense and the champion was eventually sold for five hundred platinum coins. It may seem like a lot for just an A class, seeing as Rex had been encountering them lately left and right, but only a few percent of the people ever reached that level of strenght. It is just that Rex circumstances are special, and so his rate of encounters with the pinnacle of civilization were much more often. Nobles had the pockets to employ the best of the best after all. So a high class warrior of absolute loyality had an immense value. One might ask how come a killo of heaven grade meat sold for sixteen oricalchum coins while the A class champion only for five? The answer lies in the acsess to said resources. While they are not on every corner, A class adventurers are in every city, and can be hired to perform whatever one might need for a few platinum coins. The meat however in extremely rare, tastes divine and those who have some sort of unique bloodline may have theirs strenghtened with the consumption of such meat. That would mean that ones own limits for power become higher, and with purer bloodline, the talent of ones descendants will be higher was well. It was a simple case of  borrowed strenght versus personal one and comparison versus the rarity of said comodity.


    What followed was a few high B class beings , subjugated with the warlord mark, and while nowwhere near as valuable as the champion they were still sold quite nicely. Then followed a numer of pretty girls with slavery chokers one after the other, scantaly clad to show off most of their features, while leaving just enough covered to entice thedesire to see it all, and not show of the goods to every aviable set of eyes. Sure they were beautifull, Rex would put them in the seven point five out of ten scale, but he was not interested in just this. He was also quite sure, the best was kept to the end of the auction. he was hoping to get his hands on at least one new girls of a race he didnt already have. If the girls had some special skills it would be even better.


    A few more combat slaves and some cute looking critters in cages later, another interesting specimen was brought on the stage. The first non human girl of the auction. Rex had no other way to call her as a cat girl. Scantally clad, as all other girls beforehand, her cat ears bent to her head, indicating the girls was quite scared. The choker of slavery also clearly visible, and Rex noticed a few barely noticable, even with his unreasonable eyes, traces of quite heavy abuse of the girl.


    ''''They probably tried to break the girl with physical abuse first, hoping to save on the slavery collar.'''' Rex lightly spoke and was heard by all his girls. While that caused no real change in their expressions, since it was quite an ordinary occurance among the more unscrupulous slave traders. Brogni told that only idiots would damage the merchandise in hopes to break them and save on the slave collars, since any slave worth the collar will be worth more the less damage was incurred. And while the girl was a solid eight point half, and being a cat girl she was quite valuable, the obvious mistreatment she had been through surely lovered her innitial price when the acution house evaluated her, since with such noticable remnants of her physical abuse, it was safe to reason that they must have tried to break her through constant rape as well. And most of such cases end up with girls in a condition of a living doll. Such slaves obviously were not worthy of a proper auctions and were sold in the slave markets, just as most others were. Auctions brought in only the most beautifull or exotic or special of specimens.


    "A cat girl by the name of Rika. Former adventurer, who was hired by a nations military, and consequently was capture by the enemy. Since no one paid for her release, she was made a slave as per the right of the victorious." As the auctioneer was talking and explaining a few more things about the girl, including the fact that, while still in quite good condition, she had gone through a lot of breaking, Aina had rushed up to the window, and was eying the girl quite a lot.


    "I know her." were her words, filled with pain and sadness "We did quite a few quests together while i was living in the city she hails from a few years back." she then looked at Rex


    "She is the sweetest girl one could ever encounter when off duty, and quite the ball of energy when on quests. She deserves better than that."


    "I am still branding her, and will assign her to be your personal attendant. Are you fine with that?" Rex asked before hejoined in on the bidding. And Aina did not hesitate one bit


    "Yes, it is better than anything she will ever have anywhere else."


    "The things I do for my girls" Rex sighed, as the bidding had reached thirty platinum coins, since, while a beauty, she was only C class.


    "One oricalchum coin." Rex spoke quite loudly, silencing any other possible bids, since the girl was in no way as valuable as that. And since no one was bidding anymore for the girl, who was even more scared now, since there was no telling just what her new master was going to do with her if he was willing to fork out such money, she was sold.

 Chapter 30: Auction. Part 2

    Rika was a survivor, always had been. No matter the hardship, she gritted her teeth and pulled through, when she was starving as a young orphaned child, when she was training her body, so she could become an adventurer, when a job went south, because of incompetent colleagues or plain old shit luck. She never gave up. Neither did she break when the shitty adventurers guild decided that the ransom was too damn high they demanded for her release, nor after the days of rape she went through, nor the beatings she recieved. Her captors were finaly forced to use a slave collar on her, despite all their efforts. And even that was to their luck, because soon after they learned of a grand auction happening in the town of Blythe. A blood mage has settled there and because of that, the city organized a grand auction.


    And even with all the abuse she had withstood, her training and mental fortitude, as well as her bloodlines heightened healing had kept her just well enough for the auction to accept her to be auctioned off. And now here she stood, just been bought for a whole oricalchum coin. She probably should be feeling elated, after all someone has found her to be of so much worth, but instead, it irked her. There was no way her future was looking bright right now and whats worse, her captors were getting the payday of their lives. Forget the ten platinum coins the guild refused to pay for her release, foget the thirty or fourty platinum coins she would likely be sold for, just because the nobles were willing to boast their wealth. A friggin whole oricalchum coin. She probably would never even see one in her whole life even if she was working herself to the bone.


    Thoughts raced in her head at a million miles her hour speed,bringing her to the worst possible reasons a noble would spend such exorbitant money for the little ol her. There was no way it was because he just felt sorry for the damsel, and decided to help her out. Sent to an exotic hotel, used as a breeder for new hybrids? Was he so heavy into the torture, that that was the only way he could get hard, so he needed a pretty face, that could last long? Her mind spiralled ever downward, but she would not break. She will endure, and one day escape. Warlords mark, slavery necklace, hell, even slavery tatoos could be broken with a will strong enough. She just had to grind her will against the shaclkes, one day she would be free, because will was the one thing she had in spades.


    She was brought to the door, where her new owner sat. After a light knock, the attendant brought her in, and she noticed the back rests of six chairs. She could not see the faces, but her senses said that one chair was empty, and the rest were taken by one man and four women. She was brought next to the man, who then gave a single coin to the attendant, who then bowed and wished him pleasant remaining auction, and felt the room, closing the door behind her.


    "This is the end of the road for you girl." spoke the hooded man. His entire being was obsured somewhat. She new he was a man, because of the voice and a gut feeling, but everything else was obscured.


    "There is no escape from me. i can feel your will is strong, strong enough to brake that collar in less than a year." His words startled her, the man should not know of her plans, he would be too vigilant, and his next words had her panic inside


    "You will serve one of my girls as her personal assistant, and as my bed slave when i feel like it. So before you are branded, meet your lady, you will serve for the rest of your life"


    ''Branded? No way, No way, No way.'' Rika panicked inside, her eyes filled with fear and despair. Why ever would anyone waste so much money not only to buy her, but to also brand her. Was she special, what was it, that doomed her so. Thoughts rushed throughout her mind, crashing one into another. It all felt so surreal. She had fought so long, endured so much. And for what? Only to be made a slave? Both body and soul? And as she was about to go even deeper into despair and finaly snap, she was enveloped into a wery warm and affectionate hug, as if to shield and protect her from the cruelity of the world. She calmed a bit, and she hear a rather angry adn somewhat familiar voice.


    "Bad Rex! Are you trying to fully break her mind? She was almost gone there! You said a light tease. This wasnt light at all."


    "Jea, my bad. Went too much evil protagonist there. As punishment, I will not have a taste of her for at least a few months."


    The angried girl only huffed at the mans words, but her hug did not lessen.


    "It is okey Rika, nobody is gonna hurt you anymore. You are safe now. I will have you smiling and being your sweet, sweet self in no time." the girl spoke as she was gently caressing her head. Then a moment later the almost heavenly feeling that was protecting her vanished, leaving her in the still warm adn gentle hug, but nowhere near as purifying as before.


    "Once again, I went overboard and for that I apologize Aina, but she had to be pushed to the brink, or else she would have those demons with her for most of her life. Almost breaking her, pushed that tainted energy out of her. And it was either that, or repeating what she went through with those guys before, just twice as bad. So I stand by my choice of having her feel utter despair for a moment rather than to pull her through weeks if not months of some sort of a gang rape and heavy abuse."


    Aina? The word jolted the catgirl out of her calming daze. That was a word she had not heard for a few years.She remembered the elf, they had some of the best quests together that she had before the war quest that started this last chapter of her life. She looked up and met the elf girls gaze, compassion and sadness for the fate of her friend reflecting deep in those teary eyes, but there was something else as well. Happiness to meet again, hope for a future devoid of pain and suffering, and resolution to stand by a friend once again, and to not let go this time.


    "¨­w and you will be nannying her for as long as Mel heals her to perfection. No girl of mine gets to stay damaged and with complexes about their looks if I have a say in that. And I do." the man arogantly added. "Now bring her here so I can brand her and you can catch up and hug all you want."


    Aina once again huffed at the mans words, but did as told, all the while whispering in Rikas ear, easing her mind. And then once she was right next to the man, in a blink, an ethereal chain shot in her chest, markign her soul. In that brief moment of marking she saw the soul of her now master. Brands could only be broken wit ha lot of preperation and much more powerfull soul than the blood mage that branded the person. And what she saw, defied any reason. She was a speck of dust in front of an ocean that streched far past the horizon. There was no escaping her fate, but she was not panicking inside. She already new the rules and changes to her the brand had done. She was still entirely her, with the small addition, that she would never betray her master first and foremost and then therest of her new family. No other man may touch her and that was basicly it. It was as if she had recieved a job for life she could not quit even if she wished to, and she could never do so.It just felt alien, wrong somehow. It also explained why she was branded. She was bought by the blood mage himself, so why wouldn he brand his slaves, it costed him nothing. And sho she was brought to the only empty chair where Aina pulled her into an embrace once again and started a quited inquiry regarding the time after their seperation and before her capture, all the while the mage had returned his focus on the auction.


    While following the auction hewas alos listening to the conversation Aina was having with Rika, who had started to slowly respond to the questions, and once they touched upon the adventurers guild by accident Rex asked a question, since there was nothing he was interested going on on the stage.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Were the adventurers guild not supposed to pay for such ransoms. I am quite sure I read it in the contract."


    "Yes, they should have, but there are some loopholes in those rules that the guild tend to use if they consider the adventurer not worth the ransom demanded. Their criteria largely depend on the class and background of the adventurer." Aina responded


    "And let me guess, since the nobles are always covered and ransom is paid, they couldnt care less for the ordinary adventurers with no strong family backing them, or an extraordinary talent thats noticed?" Rex second question didnt even need an answer as both Ainas and Rikas unpleasant expressions said it all. Rex fished an amulet out of his storage ring and threw it to Aina, who caught it, and once she looked at it she placed it around Rikas neck.


    "Your identification, as a member of his circle. If you will ever have any errands without me around and anyone tries to trouble you, show it to any of Blythes guards and they will bust their ass to get you to safety and protect you. Not that you will need too much protection when you will be strong enough to be allowed to roam outside alone. Sorry about that in advance." Aina had learned just how overprotective Rex sometimes could be with his girls. It had her slightly worried and happy at the same time.


    "Anyways neither of you will ever bother yourselves with the adventurers guild. It seemed way too scammy when I first read through their contract, so i outright canceled my plans to join. And while it is a simple matter of an order for Rika, and the guild have no claim on her anymore anyhow with their previous actions, I would advise for you Aina too to go and cancel your card. If you ever feel like doing some dungeon diving, we can arrange it on our selves."


    Aina nodded in agreement, she had no desire to be entangled with the guild anymore, and she was quite worried how they could abuse her now that she was no lomger part of the Silvermist family. With the short conversation over, Rex once again switched his main focus back to the auction. He still had seen nothing that caught his attention, Rika being Ainas request. Sure she was nice, but it would probably take him a solid amount of the heaven grade meat, to push her bloodline far enough to trigger body baptism, essentially purifying and restoring her body to a perfect condition.


    It took almost half an hour untill her finaly noticed something that he liked. He was quite amused as well regarding the situation. While his rational mind was screaming that maybee he should not flex his autority and pull to aquire this specimen, or he could endanger the just secured deal with the kitsune, but the distinctive yellow six tails and those cute fluffy ears atop that blonde head, with hair reaching her buttocks. He was still thinking it over, because even if he bought her, he had a talk with the councill for later anyhows, and Izumi should be smart enough to let the council engage in the cold war, if they deem it necesarry. So Rex might have to dig a bit in his pockets for rare stuff to secure her, but he had just the thing, and he didnt mind exposing another property of the heaven grade meat, that was not commonly known, and would rise its baseline value by a lot, if it ever stops being unreasonably rare.


    "This here beautifulll kitsune was aquired barely a week prior, since the Land of the Nine divines had entered war with the Mount Tai sect. As per ussual with wars, people are captured sold of in slavery, to break the spirits of the opposing side and the like. This specimen however is a bit special. As the group who had aquired her was well aware of the auction being planned, and as such, they have gone aboev and beyond, delivering this here flower to the auction pure and unspoiled, if a bit roughened up during her capture."


    Now Rex had to secure her, but the seller knew his merchandise. That alone drove the girls value much higher. And while she was not a seven tailed kitsune, indicating she in not of noble birth, she would reach a similar price, since slaves more often than not, if not specifically bred for that purpose, were tested and trained quite a bit in the bedroom.


    "We will start the bidding at four orichalchum coins, and the minimal bid value is set at twenty five platinum coins." the auctioneer announced, and quite the bidding war innitiated. Even Izumi was taking quite the active role in trying to secure their kind and return her home, but she had a time. There were dozens of nobles who wanted to aquire such a rare specimen, hell they might even be able to start their own half breed strain if they got lucky.


    In another part of the auction house were countless smaller rooms that had some sort of a screen in every room. In each room was an attendant accompanying the person or group who were inside, watching the auction unfold. Some rooms had increadibly great mood in them, others neutral, some even were filled with gloom, and some were empty. Those sellers, who had already claimed their money from the sold items, with the auction house keeping a measly five percent of the total value, instead of the ussual ten, because of their first time organizing such an event and to attract more people with much more valuable stuff, had already mostly left, and the remaining people either were interested in just having a look at the remaining stock out of curiosity, or of boredom.


    The remaining few were still waiting for their last slaves to be sold, and right now in one room, the mood was somewhat tense with anticipation. The kitsunes prize had risen to ten orichalchum coins already, and the bidding was still ongoing. They expected to earn anywhere from thwenty to fourty orichalchum coins, but what they hoped for was some other rare treasure offered, as they were sure would be when the bidding for the blood mages meeting would begin. The party was quite famous with their efficient and clean work, and almost no taboos regarding their approach, so they often recieved quite shady contracts to fulfill.


    Their last raid being one of those. The job was simple- raid a few villages, gather a solid number of kitsunes adn foxkin, and sell of in slavery. Right before they had hit the last village, they learned about the grand auction, and as luck would have it, they caught a six tailed kitsune. Untill now they had only managed to snag four tailed ones, who were barely better than foxkin, so this one was a pure stroke of luck to have been in this village. But one their doctor inspected the girl and relised she is a virgin, they almost lost their lids, and with all haste concluded their business, sold off the cheap slaves they had gathered so far, and arrived in Blythe. And one the bidding started to slow down at the mark of twenty five oricalchumn coins, a voice interrupted the bidding


    "Before I place my bid, I have to explain the properties in their full to the people present, since I hate to undervalue my property. Heaven grade meat has another, rarely known effect. It strenghtens mystical bloodlines, if they happen to have one. beastkin, dragonkin, and other offsprings from magical creature unions can become stronger and with purer bloodline, if they consume heaven grade ingredients. The true value of it now, you be the judge. As such my bid is five killograms of heaven grade meat, the same as the one auctioned earlier today." That was Rex bid, and it utterly silenced the hall. If going by the price it was sold before, that was wooping eighty oricalchum coins, but if the info was true, the value should be ab least double, if not more, as any arrogant emperor would claim their right on such an ingridient with astronomical prices.


    "Hey," one of the mercenaries who owned the kitsune being auctioned right now spoke to his companions "Woud that not heal sister, if it actually has such properties?"


    "Yes, if it is indeed the case, it surely would, as she is in her condition only because of her weak bloodline." Another one spoke. Then their leader addressed the attendant with them


    "Can we talk with the one bidding the meat, to see if the man is trustworthy and not trying to oversell his own goods? There is no way we can hope to go after a noble after all." The mans gruff voice sounded, slightly startling the girl asigned to them, but she quickly composed herself and answered


    "We can confirm it right away." Then she walked to the side of the room, and sent some sort of a message with the tool that was on the table there. Every room here had one, and every private room for the auctions attendees also had one. There was a small lull in the auction as the hall was still mostly silent, with people wispering among themselves, speculating the validity of the claim, and shortly after both Victor adn Eredar were on the stage with an old man dressed in quite refined and exquisite wizards robes.


    "This honorable man here is master Airen, a well renown scholar of the mage guild. He has some knowledge to share, regarding the aforementioned information." The hall went silent, awaiting the mages words.


    "It is indeed as the gentlemen said. It is one of the most efficient and reliable bloodline purifiers and strenghteners known to the guild of mages, but due to its rarity and danger of aquisition, in addition thequantities its often sold at, its barely mentioned for that property. What this old man would be interested in, is how said gentleman has such reserves upon his person?" And while the hall was silent, awaiting if there would be any response, as the man could not be forced, the mercenary band in their room were already quite certain regarding their next action, adn they informed the attendant straight away.

 Chapter 31: Auction. part 3

    The mercenaries, having made their decision, informed the attendant, making her ensure it got through. And once that was done, they relaxed and returned their attention to the screen. And while no one expected the bidder to respond to the mages question, there was a response coming from the same man


    "As master Airen can attest, being a mage brings some unique contacts." And while it indeed was an answer, it probably rose more questions than it answered, since they could not see the man from his curtained private room, and sensing the lingering questions in the air, Rex added


    "And being the blood mage you have come here in hopes of meeting, makes it more so." And now it explained everything to the people present. If anyone could pique the interest of raid clearers and owners, it would be a blood mage.


    "Indeed, forgive my curiosity." master Airen responded. He had gleamed a bit of the mans character with this interaction, and he could not find much to complain about. Then again he only had a small glimpse, and so he needed more, to create a proper evaluation, but from the get go, the mage felt young, exeptionally so, but smart enough to push his advantages when necessary, and exploit the lack of knowledge, or ensure he gains an advantage, if disclosing some knowledge could head to it. He just hoped they could ensure an audience with the man to have the chance to understand the man more.


    With that short distarction out of the way, the sale of the blonde kitsune was soon confirmed, with the girl going over to Rex. And while a little dissapointed with their failure to ge tthe girl, no noble could be heard grumbling about it, since the blood mage was the one who got her. To ensure that his special status did not disrupt the auction, Rex did add that since this is an auction, he expects people to bid for what they desire, and if he were to lose to anyone because he was outbid, there would be no bad blood between them, since here, their wealth is talking, and not the men behind the curtains. In addition, he said that it was also a game, adn he might bid on things he did not care about, just to ensure it did not become stale, hell he even expected the nobles to bid as arrogantly as it was expected from their rank, since who else but them could ever be equal or be above him in standing or prestige.


    That would stroke the egos of the nobles, ensuring the auction would proceed without any face giving as a pure war of wallets. And that ensured that the ones coming out the winners would be the sellers, ensuring better stuff auctioned here in the future. He could almost imagine Victor being quite peased with his way of handling the matter, and the ear to ear grinns on both Brognis and Eredars faces. And his plan had worked quite well. The smartest of the people present understood his intentions clearly, but it did not harm them in any way, on the contrary, his approach ensured noone had to worry about offending him while bidding, and it also raised the city statues as a neutral zone even more, since the blood mage himself was not only willing but also encouraging such behaviour. With all that set up, every one would have to keep some sort of residence in the city, and have their web of connections set up and employed. And the nobles that loved the bustle and intrigue, would find a new playground to sink their teeth in. Rex action also earned a nod of approval for master Airen, enforcing his belief in the mages intelect a step further.


    With that litle distraction out of the way, the aution resumed, bringing out the next slave to be sold and so on. And while that was happening, Rex moved out of his room for a short moment, and was lead to a seperate room, where the exchange of goods would take place after his last aquisition. Once he was in the room, he saw the attendants with a group of people and the kitsune standing next to them. She had her head lowered, small tears falling down her face. Her life was clear from now on. A slave for eternity, since there was no escaping the brand. The mercenaries had treated her well enough. Food, sleep, rest- she had it all, maintaining her condition in the best possible shape only for this moment.


    It didnt take long, weights and evaluation stone already prepared, and Rex wasted no time in withdrawing a large piece of meat from a storage ring and placing it on the table where it was kept preserved, just like in the storage ring. It was a large piece of some animals thigh. Rex knew it was from a deer in the trirty first floor, as those were almost the only beasts he had encountered there with the heaven grade meat. The piece weighed a few dozen killos, so rex pointed to the butcher present.


    "Evaluation, and then cut off the aforementioned five killos. This way there is no worry whatsoever that some of it might not be genuiine and would not take long to check." And he was right, solid pieces of meat could be instantly recognized as tampered, and already processed ones wre not reliable, as there could be other graded meat mixed in, to reduce the amount of the real stuff given out. Butcher nodded, almost salivating at the huge literal treasure mountain, evaluated it, shoving the golden light radiating from the item, and thne proceeded to very carefully cut a few pieces, placing them one by one on the scales. The man was a master at his job, as he was only a few grams over once he placed the last piece. Rex nodded with satisfaction, and retrieved the remaining piece.


    With that done, the mercenaries took their payment, deposited in their rings ,and relinquished their rights over the girl transferring her to Rex.


    "Millie, he is your master now." was all the leader of the company said. Then their group bowed and quickly left. They had to quickly return adn finaly cure their sister. Their expected results from this auction far surpassing their wildest imagination. They expected to be toiling yor years still untill they had enough wealth to secure bloodline enhancing material for their sister, but now, it was alredy in their hands. They could ask for nothing more. With mercenaries gone, the attendants bowed and excused themselves, and once only Rex and Millie were in the room, he spoke


    "You wont be needing that choker anymore" and with that he held her with his blood chains and branded the girl. It took only a few moments, and once done the girl followed him back to the room his other girls were staying at. Once inside, Aisha pulled the new girl to her seat, seeing she was very timid and somewhat scared still. Besides ensuring his slaves could not betray or harm him or his, there were ruels few and far between regarding other things.


    "Anything good, that I missed?" Rex asked Val and Mel, who were tasked with keeping an eye on the auction, in case something extraordinary appears, with Aina used as an assitance, if such a slave was brough out.


    "Nothing that would reach the level of Rika or the kitsune." Val replied.


    "The kitsune ambasador will probably flip out for the stunt you pulled. Not only you bought their kin, but you also made the heaven grade more expensive in the future." Aina spoke with a smirk, expecting Rex to suffer a bit for his actions, even if she was well aware that he would probably get off scott free. Blood mages were unfair that way.


    "Laugh while you still can, I will be having the last laugh." Rex grinned evilly, making Aina furrow her brows. She didnt like what he was plotting. It cound not be anything good, as she knew the man had a good head on his shoulders, and he wasnt afraid to get his hands dirty. And while it would not harm her, it still had her a bit wary. At her reaction he laughed, having achieved the wanted reaction.


    The auction lasted for another hour, when only the final piece remained.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, we are happy to announce that with this, only one thing remains." spoke the lady on the central stage "It is time to Auction off the rare chance to have a proper audience with the famed blood mage, whose branded orc champions you have seen guarding this venue today, and the one that was auctioned off today. However, it would be increadibly difficult, if not impossible to calculate the value of the unique treasure you are surely going to use to entice the esteemed sir, so we have come up with a solution for that. What we expect of you is to write down what you believe to be a proper offer for such an opportunity, and what esteemed guest has made the offer. Once that is done, we will collect your generous offers and the esteemed sir will make his choice, and you will be informed if your offer had enticed esteemed sir"


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Her words created a moment of silence, then one of the present nobles asked


    "Is there any other reason besides what was mentioned for such a roundabout and hidden way of doing things?" and before the lady could think of an answer or excuse, Rex spoke as he had come to the stage and created a chair he could sit on.


    "It was a last second change, since my previous words regarding a proper auction were noted and honoured. And as I am quite pleased, I decided to increase the number of audiences I will be accepting. And since I myself am unsure of how many, if more than just an extra one, it would be quite unfair it things remained as is."


    His words were met with some silent exchanges and quite a few approving looks. The new approach was not only benefitial to more people, since the chance was much greater now than before, but they could also keep their treasures they were willing to spend undisclosed from the other nobles, reducing the schemeing they could be involved into, in attempts to claim those same treasures from other noble houses.It was a win-win situation for every party involved, so very soon, the nobles were starting to hand in their silent offers, and as they were in the process, Rex asked michieviously


    "Should I announce the two who will get to meet me tommorow, once I have rewieved the offers, or should they be contacted discreetly?"


    It was quite obviouly a small game from the mage, as his voice proved just how pleased he was with todays auction, providing quite the peace of mind to the people present. A happy blood mage was much more likely to lead to more fruitfull discussions, since normaly each branding took quite a bit from them, and they kept it to a relatively low number of brands in a given time period. And shortly after the branding they tended to be quite unpleasant to interact with, or so the people who had to deal with them had spoken. The majority didnt mind the lucky winners announced, since that would allow them to plan more carefully in regards of their future intreactions and the like. A noble family with acsess to a blood mage could prove to be incredibly powerfull ally, or a terrible enemy.


    A while later all the suggestions had been delivered, and the mage used some fifteen minutes to read through the many offers he had recieved. His facial expression rarely, if at all, changing while he was going through them one by one. He was placing the offers in two different piles, one being the largest, while only a few of the pages in the second. It was rather telling, the mage had a few possiblities already in mind, seeing the divide in two, and every noble faction present were quite hopefull theirs was among the few.


    What had them ever more interested in the mage was that shortly after he was starting to read through the offers his just acuired kitsune and the catgirl walked up to him, having had changed their outfits. Both now wore quite modest clothes, but the most glaring thing was the rather low cut cleavage, displaying the brand they both had just aqired. And seeing the rather good mood of the mage it was apparent he had quite the energy still left. That alone elevated this specific person way above the average blood mage, raising the desire of the nobles to have some dealings with him.


    As Rex was sorthing through all the offers he was quite gratefull for all the books he had recieved and read preceding the auction, so it was quite easy to understand the value and rarity of the items offered. He was quite amused when at the very begining he was paying quite the attention to Izumi, who was writing their offer as well. She seemed to hold some grudge for his aquisition of Milie. And while the offer kitsune had for him was not bad at all, he could get his hands on better stuff after , when dealing with their council dirrectly. Right now the pile he was considering to choose from consisted of six different offers, all special in their own way, but he had decided on three houses to deal with innitially, and then he would slowly expand or change his contact list.


    After some ten more minutes of carefull thinking Rex had decided. He would go with three. Tommorow afternoon he would listen to Ven Hersts and Al Merhads. And the day after he would also welcome the Nyx Ifritti. These three had offered the most interesting things. Everyone had offered quite a bit or oricalchum coins, and something special. Ven Hersts had offered a vial of introspection. It was a rery rare concoction that they created once every few decades with the ability to help one deepen and strenghted an affinity towards a certain element. The effect varied on a few parameters such as inherent affinity with chosen element, compatibility in temperament with the inherent values of it and so on. The most interesting thing was that some implied that the most important thing was the power of ones soul. And Rex was banking on that, if true.


    Al Merhads had offered a speciality of theirs too, something they were quite famous for among the nobles. Similar to Ven Hersts they too grew a few unique things in the mostly desert lands of their dominion, and one such thing was crystal rose. It was a starnge plant like artifact, and its main purpose was to purify and strenghten the mana around it in a certain radious. It basicly made ones chosen location to be even more mana rich, helping the residents to develop better in mana enriched enviroment. The only downside with the regular ones they sold was that they lasted only a few months, then you had to buy a new one. But what Rex was offered was one of the eternal variants. As the name suggested, once placed, they would last untill destroyed, and Rex quite liked the thought of having his home be a better enviroment for his girls growth.


    And finaly Nyx Ifritti. Their queens offer was the most unique. She offered ten of her personaly picked and groomed sucubuses along with a captured angel beauty, untouched, and a daughter of hers, all to be branded if he so desires. Rex was quite interested, since he had never seen any demonspawns in this city, and he found it quite exotic. So once he had decided, he pocketed three offers, and to ensure no one else could spy on the not chones ones, he used his mana to quite literaly burn them to cinders. Slight nature manipulation wasnt that hard with his reserves of mana and the power of his oul.


    "Once again, I have enjoyed this auction, and I hope you all had a good time. Now, as for the negotiations. I would like to have a quick chat with Ven Hersts, Al Merhads and finaly Nyx Ifritti families." Most nobles could guess what the first two had offered to draw the mages attention, but the third one was a mystery. While they knew the general info of this rather remote territory on a small continent, the detaisl were quite scarce.


    "I thank everyone else for your presence and if fate wills it, may we meet again." With that said, the rest of the nobles started to return to their respective mansions, to relax and plan their endevours in the city for the future. And as they left, Rex was keenly watching, who was left. If the kitsunes were leaving he had an attendant prepared to keep them longer, since he had a prearranged meeting with their council. The three groups remaing were quite different. As he had a few words with the groups whne they planned their visits for tommorow and the day after, Rex was evaluating them.


    Ven Hersts were your tipical caucasian people. They looked like your standart man. Nothing too particular, untill one notices the specific aroma that always acompanies them. A sort of floral scent that relaxes thouse around, making the conflicts less likely. They attributed it to the countless hours any of them spend in their temples, tending to their unique cultures. Even if they are nobles, they were well aware of the lifeline of their region, and ensured its continious prosperity.


    Al Merhads were of arabic descent. Darker, exotic skin tones with well developed and healthy bodies. Both the women and men looked trained and ready for a fight, due to their roaming bandit groups always finding a way to survive and harden their people. And then there were Nyx Ifritti. From demonic red to bright pink skin shades, with their small horns on their heads they lokked exotic beyond reason. Dressed in light, and both inviting and decent clothes. Their leader was indeed their queen, who had quite the big smile on her face, obviously she was quite elated that she had gotten the mages attention.


    And so after a small talk with all three groups, and setting the times then they would come to discuss the terms of their agreements, they parted ways. Rex paid particular attention to the back side of the sucubi queen as she left. She was swaying her ass and hips with each movement very enticingly and seductively. Once they had left, Rex went over to a room quite close to this, on his way he sent all his girls home while he meets up with Izumi and has his small chat with the kitsune council.

 Chapter 32: The kitsune and the plans

    Rex soon reached the place where Izumi was waiting since they had agreed as such before the auction. He could clearly see the glare the woman was giving him, obviously upset at his actions to aquire the young kitsune girl. Her butler was standing beside her, even bigger fron on his face. Rex cared little for their attitude, since it was the elders of their council who held the say over their politics and decisions, And every noble here was made aware of his capabilities as a blood mage, since he had shown of his to new girls, alrady branded. He must have already prepared a ritual site to aleviate the burden on him, but still, he was quite energetic and happy, based on his tone of voice and the rather jovial attitude he had at the end of the auction.


    "Lets go, shall we?" Rex asked once he was next to them. And they were on their way. Quite soon after they had left the building Rex spoke


    "By the way, I will have Millie taught by your tea experts." Noticing the questioning gaze he added "The kitsune girl I just aquired." Izumi was almost fuming right now, while Rex kept a slight smile on his face. And before she could stay something stupid, Rex added


    "I hope you can controll your temper lady, or I might just be willing to take a loss and offer quite the favourable conditions to your people in exchange for you. I can be that petty" and his face was now sporting an evil smirk. That stunned and calmed down the kitsune immediatly. Even if the probabiility was almost zero, there were always exeptions, and she was well aware of that. And so the rest of their walk was spent in utter silence.


    While Rex was on his way to kitsunes, a few other important events unfolded. For one, Elena Vex was slightly frowning. She was quite sure they had offered quite the treasures, and yet, the mage had not showed any interest. She was quite sure regarding the possible treasure offered by Hersts and Merhads, and she was rather also quite sure their offer was much better. And as far as she was aware, and her information was quite substantive, Nyx Ifritti were not known for any special treasure created or aquired in their lands. And while the place was quite isolationist, there were always people willing to talk for the right price or a well placed threat.


    And so, she once again set her mind to plan new ways to gain an opportunity to interact with the mage. She knew she was here for the long haul. Months, years, maybee even decades, but the mission took priority, and from what she had witnessed, she elevated the importance of her task to a higher rank. This was no longer pinnacle A rank mission from her supperiors. The mage was surely S class potential, and as such, the importance of the task had to be equivalent. She had also decided to report the matter to the Archbishops.


    "How is your search going?" She asked Royce, who was walking next to her.


    "We are still looking. He has not shown again as of yet. Boot he will have to mive soon again, and thats when we will catch him." the inquisitor responded. Both had quite the task ahead, adn they were looking to the satisfaction achieved once their tasks would be completed.


    At the same time, a rather elderly elf was walking along with his entourage, emersed deep in his own thoughts. The Silvermist elves had failed to gain the interest of the man. They had made quite the offer, but since the mage had not shown any interest the man could only asume he was still holding a grudge for their previous encounter. And while the families chosen this time had no standing conflicts with them, there was no guarantee, the ones in the future would not be. And as he was wracking his head, they had reached their residence. At the gate stood a woman clad in a battle attire. She gave off a feeling of a powerfull warrior. One of the men quickly approached the elder adn wispered to him


    "His valkirie." The guard was one of the men previously accompanying Kanaelia, so we had met the woman. And it was hard to forget her. She was both beautifull, the elf had to gripingly admit, and powerfull. The elder immediatly showed a friendly smile an addressed the woman


    "may we help you in any way miss?"


    "My master is quite dissatisfied by your previous actions, but he is willing to give you a chance to show your remorse." there was a pause in her words, giving time for the elf to focus his attention on what is about to be said "He wants Anylialas mother to be given over to him. No exiling or anything, as the woman will not be made a slave. Od this and your families previous blunder shall be overlooked. But make sure you do not send young, foolish and arrogant children to do the talking when they dont understand who should be bowing. Respect is earned, not given, and those green behind the ears have earned none."


    The elder listened carefully, his mind already been made. What was a single concubine of the king, when they were already willing to offer up one daughter. Their king would agree in a heartbeat as well. And the second part, while sounding arrogant implied that one had to aproach with tact and manners. It was quite sure the young ones would be heavily punished should something like Kanaelia situation were to repeat. He would be willing to bet, that if Kanaelia were to be sent again, and she would repeat her previous mistake, which she obviously woudnt, but if she did, it was almost guaranteed that the mage would make her a slave. Elders however were old enough to read most of the situations particularily well and knew that sometimes one had to bow their head to aquire what was desired by the family.


    "I will have to inform our ruler, but I am almost sure he will agree to your masters demand, and the woman in question will arive with haste. Once we are ready we will visit your residence. Is that acceptable?" the elder spoke.


    "It is. However I cannot guarantee master will be able to recieve you personally at that time, but the deal will be honored, he has ashured that. He is a bussy person now, as you must be well aware."


    "Yes indeed. We understand." The elf replied to valkirie, and after a polite nod, she left. The elf then entered their residence and proceeded to start aranging for the woman to be safely brought to Blythe. As he had thought, after a short recount of todays events as well as the new evaluation of the mage, their ruler agreed immediatly.


    At the same time master Airen was returning to the mansion where the mage guild had set up temporary residence. He was accompanied by a few younger mages and one middle aged one. The middle aged man was visibly shaking, his eyes darting back and forth. The man had ben terrified for quite a while now, and for the life of him Airen had no idea why. Once they had entered their residence that was heavily warded he asked


    "Jugen, what happened to you? Looks like death itself is on your heels." The man, named Jugen had relaxed a bit one they entered the safety of the wards, but was still quite shaken answered


    "Y- you didnt feel that?" then shaked his head "Of course you didnt, only a blood mage would." he shivered at the memory surfacing up "You wanted an evaluation? Here it is" his next words were enunciated one by one "He is A freaking monster." Seeing Airen remain quite he elaborated


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Blood mages specialize in soul and its power. The stronger the sould the more powerfull creatures you can brand and the less people exist who could even hope to attempt to break a brand of yours. It is becasue of this we can somewhat improve the power of our souls. That also allows us to somewhat sense the power of other souls as well, allowing us to estimate if a brand could be placed."


    "Yes I am aware of that. I am a scolar for a reason." Airen answered, and asked more "is his sould that powerfull? What are we talking about Pinnacle A class, maybee he has even breached S class?"


    "I dont know." Jogen answered, and seeing Airen''s confucion he explained "I can sense nothing from him. Literaly nothing. And before you ask, that can happen only in two cases, since i am pinnacle B class blood mage. Either he is a savant of the soul and can conceal his own, which I hope is the case, or he is so beyond me, I dont have the capacity to comprehend the vast difference, hence my mind just does not register it at all."


    "And why would the second case be that bad?" Airen asked.


    "Well I dunno," Joegn spoke sarcasticly "mabee becasue then he could probably brand the whole town in a single go for example without preparing shit and there would be nothing we could do about it. We are talking DEMIGOD levels here man. So no, lets just go with a savant." his small rant sudenly had him go silent for a moment, then he continiued


    "Of course, he is young." as if an inspiration had struckj him the man calmed down, visibly relaxed "He is too young. I could nop sense his soul, but he radiated youthfulness, you must have thought so too, right?" and seeing Airen nod, he went on "The kids a savant. I would be willing to even bet he has quite pure bloodline of one of the progenitors with that level of skill and intuition."


    "What are we talking about here? This is one of the few areas I have not delved too deeply within." Airen once again asked


    "Sadly, we coudnt even guess. Thats something not recorded in our books, as it is extremely difficult to trace the bloodlines to the originator if the creatures do not roam around in the current day, or at least their distant cousins." Jugen answered. "But we should at the very least create an amiable relationship with the man, if we cannot outright coax him into joining our guild. I would suggest offering him some of the knowledge we have on the blood magic and their spells. Or the snippets we have on the soul magic, since those are two sides of the same coin."


    "Lets wait and see how things proceed from now on first. What we do not lack is time after all." Airen responded. Afterwards they all went to do their own seperate things. They had to make this place into a proper guild hub now it seemed, as they would spend some time here.


    Rex stood in the room together with Izumi. Her buttler was of to the side as the device was turned on and they were in the presence of the council members. As the council was sitting in their chairs, Rex had creaetd one of his own. He woul not be outdone, and izumi scoffed at this display. While it may look childish to her, Rex was asserting his position. He was in no way inferior to the other side, if anything, he was the supperior here. They needed much more from him than the other way around, so he had much more leevay in doing things. And since he had what was essentially the only suply for almost endless demand he had all the cards in any of the negotiations he might take part in.


    Izumi had a few minutes to bried the council of what had happened during auction, as Rex didnt mind them coming to their own conclusions and the like. Now he was waiitng for them to innitiate, since what he was offering was already known, and he was waiting for them to show their offer. The firts few minutes were a small introduction, as well as their quite mild frustration with his recent actions. In truth they were very upset, but could not show it too much, since Izumi, had spoke of how he had apparantly been prepeared and had branded the two girls he bought already, and was seen without the rummored bad mood and the other rumored after efects of a branding.


    Rex was not willing to spend a lot of his time here without achieving anything so he just asked


    "You have had more than a day to ponder over your possible offer regarding the heaven grade meat i might aquire in the future. And since the knowledge regarding its bloodline purifying properties are going to spread like wildfire, its value is only going to increase. So , what is it that you believe you can offer, that would be nearly as valuable as it."


    It was the green haired lady who thne spoke "My clan is willing to offer a wide variety of many rare herbs, only aquired in wild or by purchasing them from us. We would come to an agreement regarding the exchange per killogram, as is the custom in such trades." then she proceeded to name several different herbs and their properties.


    "While they do sound somewhat usefull to most people seeking strenght, since I am no alchemist, and I have infinite acsess to earth grade meat, i have all the time in the world to achieve my goals. As such herbs hold little, if any interest at all." Rex replied, as it indeed was the case. Besides he had the best way to grow more powerfull anyways, and it required no ingridients or any other external support. All he had to do was keep murdering and draining, adn he would improve.


    "Unfortunately, I believe that what is of the most interest to me is information and knowledge, since I dont see any way I am getting acsess to your beauties, and I dont plan on shooting in my own leg to make you an offer so great , where a few of your princeses would seem like a ridiculously low price. Besides I will soon have my very own noble rank kitsune." And his words created quite a few frowns, Izumis being the owrst one


    "What, I will be purifying Millies blood quite a bit. Gotta see the limits." Rex lightheartedly spoke. What followed was almost thirty minutes of listing of different kind of information the kitsunes were willing to share, and what they believed to be an apropriate value for the information. Rex had quite the plan, and even when he kew he was losing out on the few deals he was willing to make, he needed to show some goodwill towards the foxes. He had agreeded to exchange a few kilograms of the heaven grade meat for some knowledge regarding magic that the kitsunes had a tight grasp on, and some of their internal energy techniques. Rex knew he was recievign the absolute low end of their library, but he just needed the concepts. He could use those to build his own versions and possibly even surpass their pinacle skills.


    Before leaving Rex looked at izumi, while the council was still connected, and spoke quite clearly


    "I woudnt mind having a meal or two with you every month or so, serving the heaven grade meat, if you were to serve me in bed every week im here. Think on it." His words had quite a few jaws drop. His deliberate timing made his intent quite obvious. He found the woman attractive and he was willing to provide her with quite the benefits in exchange for her. The way he said it meant she would retain her status. izumi was reddening from both embarasment and anger at the same time. The arrogance and confidence one had to have to make such an offer was unbelievable. But she could also remember the divine taste of the meat she had eaten, and the purifying effect on her bloodline she had felt.


    "And why would you make this offer here?" One of the councill men asked, wanting a proper explanation.


    "If she agrees, she grows stronger, and eventually someone would decide to find her a partner. And once I claim someone, they become mine, branded or not. So you being aware of the possiblity ensures noone gets some weird ideas. Thats all." After that Rex was escorted out and he left. Izumi returned to the room where the council was still waiting.


    "Take the offer." council member of her clan spoke with all of his autority. Right now he was enacting his autority as her father first and a council member second "It is far too good to refuse. And if you bear his children, we might very well secure an alliance of sorts." Izumi knew very well she would eventually have to mary someone to strenghten their situation, she just had asumed it would be within their own nation, since kitsunes rarely married outsiders. Rex had asked for her as a concubine, and while it would be considered an insult by any other noble, Rex had displayed the potential of an S class blood mage. That was in a league of its own.


    "I understand father." Izumi bowed to the man "Please allow me a few days to mentaly prepeare myself." To her this was just another asignment she had recieved, as a loyal member of the noble clans of their empire, she would perform her task, to bring further prosperity to her people. Years later she would look back at these memories and praise herself for her choice. What she had thought would be a sacrifice in duty to her homeland, became a life of happiness and fulfillment. And her old home would feel so small and distant to the divine, nine tailed kitsune she had become.

 Chapter 33: The corruption and the watcher

    It was a bit past midnight when Rex returned from his meeting with the kitsunes, and to his suprise all the main girls were waiting for him. Val informed him of the results of her mission, improving his mood even further, and eliciting a smile from Aina. The elf was trully happy she would not be seperated from her mother, and since her mother becoming a concubine of the king was because of her beauty and out of necesity, she was quite sure of her wellbeing and ability to peacefully adapt to a new life together with her daughter. Rex lightheartedly scolded Aisha, Mel and Irina, because they should ensure they are well rested. lack of sleep was detrimental to their beaty, and that could not be had. The rest of the girls still had some reason, besides longing to wait for him after all.


    After a small chuckle, and a gentle caress of the girls faces, he kissed the trio on their foreheads and sent them to sleep, havign instructed Aisha to prepare the meal for the people present here starting tommorow separatly from the rest of the maids. Girls here would start consuming the heaven grade meat in one of the meals each day. As her had named it- the core girls of his house. Since he would have quite a few more servants in the future, he had planned to divide them in three tiers. Core group- basicly his lovers, then maids, and lastly servants.


    There would be little difference between maids and servants, but core group would have quite a few privilages. The ability to order other two groups and havign the heaven grade meals was the most notable. They would also be responsible for the operation and management of his mansion and properties he would aquire in the future, and any businesess he might create or aquire. He also informed them of the offer he had made to Izumi, and that she would likely accept.


    "Rex, could we talk for a moment?" Aina asked him as the remaining group was prepearing to sleep, a hint of worry in her voice.


    "Of course." Rex agreed and gestured her to follow him, and they both walked to one of the studies. Once inside and both had sat on a sofa, Rex asked


    "What''s on your mind?" and seeing her contemplating, he added "You know you can say anything to me"


    "I am afraid you are changing, and not for the better." She spoke somewhat quietly, but Rex could hear it just fine. Aina was also looking at the ground, as if either ashamed, embarased or maybee even scared to look him in the eyes. Rex frowned a little, and first asked a quiestion


    "How long since you noticed any changes happening?"


    "I saw hints of it today at the auction, and from your short recount of the kitsune meeting, more there." Rex frowned a bit more at that, temporarily utilising all of his processing power to analyse his day, and then it hit him like a truck. Fuck, fame was getting to him. He was quite the unsocial person, trying to avoid dealing with people as much as possible with the exeption of his girls, and even then he loved to spend days in the dungeon. He saw how he had enjoyed the attention and the fame he had recieved at the auction hall. His every move, almost revered, nobles moving according to his wims. It was a feeling like a drug, one always wanted more, and got addicted to it very quickly. And unlike fear and respect one earns with his own personal strenght, he had recieved their act because of the benefits he could bring them. They did not apreciate Rex, what they wanted was the favour of the blood mage.


    "Aina," he spoke, gently lifting her chin, so her eyes would meet his. Even in those odd eeys of his Aina saw only warmth and apreciation right now "thank you. Thank you for keeping an eye one me and for not only noticing but also warning me of it. i could turn in one of those conceited and arrogant nobles, if you had not warned me in time. Fame is indeed a corrupting power. While personal power can be guided and focused for a purpose, thus containing the possible posoning of ones true self, fame is much more dangerous, since you can trully chanel it in the same manner, giving it purpose. Please, always keep your eyes on me, and warn me when you see it happening again." As rex spoke he had hugged aina, gently stroking her back.


    The elf was worried that Rex would indeed grow conceited, as he had started to display the properties of the arrogant, self agrandizing young masters who believed everyone else to be beneath them, a comodity that he they can use as they see fit. And she was worried that he could lash out against her, for pointing it out. Thats why she started with only mentioning the change, whitholding the specifics, seeing how he would react. She had averted her haze in hear of his anger, something a young master was quick to sink into, but to her relief, he had analyzed the problem, and not only understood the issue, and seek for a solution, he also thanked her, and asked her to keep a watchfull eye over him. Then a stray though shot through her head


    ''Wait , did he just unknowingly proposed to me?'' she thought in her head as she was starting to blush in his embrace.''He did ask me to watch over him forever.'' She was feeling both embarased and elated at the same time. She had developed some feelings for the man, and his obvious care for her showed he apreciated her a lot too. Maybee not as a love interest right now, but Aina was sure she just had to make a move, and she would be on his bed faster just like that. The man had some insane libido, and that was also a reason why both she adndAisha, while both already quite willing, were hesitating to take that last step. But thankfully, Rex was more than willing to wait for them- he already had a few girls to slake his thirst.


    "Guess I have no choice then." Aina now spoke in a cheerfull manner, having calmed down a bit in the embrace "And from how things are looking, I will have to enlist my mom to help me out."


    "Thanks, I will be counting on you."


    "By the way, does that mean I am also in the core group?" she asked in a half wisper, quite curious about the heaven grade meal taste.


    "Of course, you have always been in there." Rex replied, looking at her with a smile, ''''Your mother will also be there. We will show the Silvermists what it means to sacrifice family for some silly gains."


    Aina smiled at his words, with great courage gave him a kiss on the cheek, then escaped both his embrace and the room they were in.


    "Arrogance and self assurance through strenght is okey, since I need it to protect what is mine. The same from fame and is poison. Have to keep myself in check regarding the latter." Rex spoke in barely a wisper, more to affirm his pland and countermeasures to the threat he had just discovered. Thankfully, Aina was now there to help and keep him in check. He steeled his resolve, and dedicated a single thought process to keep himself in check. He would add a few more to the same task once he had expanded his mental capacities even more.


    Breakfast was incredible. Every girl present was elated beyond belief at the taste and effects of the meal. They coudl feel the mysterious energy purifying and strenghtening their bodies. Aisha, Miliie and Rika could also feel their bloodline strenghtening a bit. The feeling was impossible to put in words, but all three of them felt the effect on an instinctual level. Afterwards everyone went to do their own things. Aina had Rika follow her as she went to spoil the cats a bit, Val and Mel and irina went to train a bit, and Millie remained on standby, waiting for the kitsune tutor to arive. His maids were informed of the change and the new tier system, but since nothing trully changed in how they lived and were treated, they had nothing to complain about. They were happy beyond belief as it was, seeing that they lived better than most ordinary people adn even better than some nobles if one mainly paid attention to their meals


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Eventually the time came and Ven Hersts arrived for their audience. Since the tutor from kitsunes had already arived with a sample set of fine teas from their homeland, he was prepearing the tea for the discussions and Millie was paying full attention to what she was thaught. The girl had talked with maids in the mansion asking what kinds of master they were serving. There was a stark difference between the treatment of ones favorites and ordinary slaves within a mansion. And she was confused innitially, when she learned of their treatment, that was better than most noble kids, when it came to meals at the very least. What do they eating earth grade meat in every meal time? Whats worse, there was no ordinary graded meat in the mansion whatsoever. Even the cats were fed earth grade. She was bevildered untill she saw the cats. She got scared for a moment, untill she felt the masters mark on them too, indicating them as an absolute non danger to her. As explained by Aina, they were here to be petted. And to protect the mansion, Val had added as she had heard Ainas comment while passing by.


    Ven Hersts were suprised when they saw the kitsune man, accompanied by Millie serve them tea, showing the girl proper manners when serving guests. Rex shorlty mentioned he had done a favor for them, in exchange for Millies training in the art. He was short and concise, much more stoic and calm than at the auction. Here was no place to be drunk on fame, as they would be conducting business as equals. And while still very polite and cooperative, they had to gain as much benefit as they could for the treasures they offered to attain this opportunity.


    "Be frank, how many brands and what ranks do you think your offered gift is worth?" Rex asked as they had drank the tea, enjoying the vibrant taste "I need to understand your percieved value of both the branding and the gifts I have recieved. While we may consider different value, no offense would be taken, regardless of your estimated value. So please, speak freely."


    "Is it safe to asume sir can reliably brand high and peak A class entities?" asked the representative of Hersts- Alistar.


    "You should be already aware of my valkirie" and to rex words the man nodded "So yes, it is not a problem whatsoever."


    "And if we may ask regarding the S class?"


    "Depends on the precise power level. innitial S class could maybee be considered. Anything above is muhc more valuable than anything I have seen so far, as you must be aware." Rex words stunned the man for a while, but it was only natural. If, as he had suggested, he can brand even middle, and god forbid high or peak S class. That would change the whole dynamics of the noble families as a few branded peak S class monsters working in tanded with a proffesion and specialized army could take down other noble families with relatively minor losses. But of course the innitial cost would also be quite insane to subdue such an entity, so the mage can brand it. "I belive you will treat this knowledge as a secret of utmost importance." Rex added, one the man was out of his stupor.


    "And yes,this information will be aviable to the other two families who earned the right to negotiate this time." rex had to provide his potential customers some exclusive info, the clubs secrets so to say. Or VIP privileges. The three clans offered something unique, and recieved as well, in the form of information- priceless information. Alistar nodded again. This was something shared only with the patriarch of the clan and select few grand elders.


    "We were thinking three peak A class would be equivalent, but would be entirely happy with two, if esteemed sir was willing to listen to our requests in the future."


    "Done. Affinity elevation is indeed something valuable." Rex spoke as he looked at the vial in his hand, containing a milky white liquid that sometimes pulsed like a heartbeat.


    "When can we expect the specimens to arrive at the very least near Blythe?" he asked next. A smile appeared on Alistars face, he bowed lightly


    "As soon as I return to our residence and inform our clan, they should arrive within a week."


    "Come and inform my servants once they are here." Rex thought for a second then continiued "I believe that is all then for the time being?"


    "Yes sir. We thank you for your services once again. Untill our next meeting." Alistar bowed once more and was escorted outside by Val.


    "I want to thank you monetary, if that is not an offense." Rex spoke to the tea master "What would be apropriate amount to show my gratitude?" he asked when the master nodded in aproval.


    "I believe anything above fifty gold would show sincerity" the elder kitsune replied, and Rex gave the man a few platinum coins.


    "I thank you for the magnificence you have created and will continiue to create." The master was quite satisfied with Rex''s gesture. Noticing a slight difference in his demeanor and attitude from what he was expecting after the report from his bretheren. There was no trace of the budding overconfidence and arrogance of the young nobles his compatriots had sensed in the mans actions yesterday. Either that was an act, or the man had noticed it and stopped to correct it.


    The next few hours were spent in the company of Aina an Rika, as he listened to some of the stories they had to share of their time together. Mels Mind healing magics together with a familiar face were trully wonderfull for healing and pacifying ones fears and past trauma. Riaks was already exibiting signs of full recovery, as she sometimes was energetically gesturing during their storries. He thanked the girls for their stories and company, leaving a light peck on Ainas cheek, and a few pats on Rikas head. The catgirl was stunned with the speed he had utilised to get them in since the girl would likely be too timid for now to actually stand there and take them in stride.


    AS with Ven Hersts, Al Merhads were lead to the same study where new tea was served, providing the same answer regarding the kitsune masters presence. And just as before Rex went right into the meat of the matter after their brief moment in the bliss of the magnificent tea.


    "We belive a couple peak A class brandings are of similar value to our gift. As we belive Ven Hersts gift is more valuable, if we have guessed correctly. It probably should have been their affinity raising elixir, we estimate should be worth three peak A class brands. And while we would like for nothing more than to ensure the probability of further deals, we are in no position to ask for less, as there is quite an emergency back in our domain." Since Rex had emphasized his like for direct and clear talk, both clans had opted for exactly that. The people sent to negotiate were some of the best empaths each clan could send, ensuring their side was on the same wave as the mage they had to deal with.


    "Would you mind elaborating?"


    "Yes sir. Much of our land is covered in deserts, both a bane and a blessing due to the unique flora and fauna that manages to live there. We share the deserts with another species. Half human, half snake, but do not mistake them with lamias. The main difference between them is that unlike lamias, who are only female species, thse snake tribes have males. We believe a warlord has emerged among them, and is conquering the other tribes. And we fear that once united, they will come to destroy us, as the males are rather savage in their nature. Both canibalism and a taste for humanoid flesh is rather common among them."


    "And visually?" Rex asked, curiosity peaked.


    "The easier comparison for males would be snake like bottom half and reptilian like humanoid upper half. As for the women of the tribe they are like day and night. Imagine beauties like queen of Nyx Ifritti you saw yesterday. Upepr body of ushc proportions, and the lower body of a snake. However, once they reach a certain age they can shed their tails and be like most humanoid women, though they rarely do so. They are also strangely immune to both warlords mark and slavery magic. And yes, blood magic seems to work on them.


    "I have heard some of the nobles have initiated and started to create a Gate network in Blythe. Is your clan also part of the innitiative?" Rex asked, even more interested in the species.


    "Yes of course, we pride ourselves in our oasis cities, and hope to foster better relations with Blythe as it is surely going to become one of the hearts of trade in the future."


    "I dont mind branding the two beings you want, and I am also quite interested in these snake ladies you have over there. Once yoour gate is constructed I will personaly go there for the branding and the local cuisine." Rex was okey with this kind of arrogance, since it stemmed from his personal strenght.


    "We thank you for your generousity" Merhuun, the representative of Al Merhads thanked him, assuring that they will double their efforts in the building of their gate. The remaining of the day was spent with his girls, and a bit of training since quite a lot of calculating and theorising had been done in his paralel thought proceses. he would soon need to test a lot of new things and he was exited for that, but for now, another day and an interesting queen with a retinue of sucubuses awaited him.

 Chapter 34: Rashuun

    The morning had come, and only one preplanned meeting remained. The meeting with the queen of Nyx Ifritti family. Her offer was quite unique after all. Ten handpicked and personaly trained sucubi, as well as a captured angel woman and even one of her daughters. Rex was intrigued for two reasons. First both demonic and angelic beings in themselves. He had met the queen at the auction and her energy flow was unique, to say the least. Deeper and thorough examination of these energy flows could help him develop new ways to utilize raw mana spells, or there might be other benefits. And since she also had offered an angel, the stark contrasting energy flows and workds should bring him quite the material to ponder upon.


    Core group once again gushed with bliss during breakfast, enjoying the heaven grade meal. Aina and Rika were were smothering the wolfgirl cheff with both hugs and praises, as she could take already heavenly meal a step further. It was also a mystery how the girl in question managed to make the earth grade meals so good. They were obviously not even close to the pure bliis they felt now, but it was still wonderfull. Aisha ofcourse attributed it to her sensitive nose and tongue to pick up the most minute of changes, allowing her to bring the best out of the ingridients she was working with.


    While waiting for his last negotiation, Rex went through the information left to him by Al Merhads regarding the best way and suggestions on how to utilise the crystal rose to gain the most of its unique properties. He used some of the materials he had aquired during his dungeon dives to create manafused altar of sorts. It was created with superheating ones own mana and using it as a flame to melt different materials together. he could create a few rune sigils in the material since he was using his own mana to meld them, and since his control was quite advanced it didnt take too much time to finish what he had set out to do. One done with melding and inscibing the runes and magic circles in it, he placed the crystal rose in its place, finalizing the whole process, and initiating the start of the items work. Rex could not only feel the changes in the immediate surrounding of the small altar, he could actually see the rose working its magic.


    Pleased with the results, and checking the time, he left to have a quick shower since the guests would soon arive. By the time queen Rashuun arived Rex could sense most of his mansion already having slightly more mana infused enviroment, and it would continiue improving for a while still. And his guests also quickly noticed the different quality of the mana in the air.


    "My, your master does not waste his time." Rashuun spoke to Val who was there to recieve and guide her and her entourage to the study. Rashuun was acompanied by aproximetly twenty cloaked and well hidden individuals, as well a few slave guards, marked with slavery tatoos. Once Rex saw her and the hidden individuals he lightly smiled and chose a gibber room for their deal. Once inside the room and seated, he was looking at Rashuun, anticipating her gift and checking her out. It however was to never be noticed as he was still sporting his ussal disguise- something he had been doing whenever anyone outside his mansion , with the exeption of Eredar, Brogni adn Victor, was present.


    "I belive you are waiting for the gifts promised in exchange for this meeting," and without and further delay she snapped her fingers. Ten of the cloaked figures droped their cloaks, revealing a sight to behold. Ten exquisite beauties with skin tones from fright red to bright pink came into view. All with fir and slender bodies, ample yet firm buts and varying bust sizes. Rex could also see the similar pattern of certain energy flows within them, performing similarily as the ones in Rashuun. The common thing besides the red to pink skin coloration, was the dark hair of the girls and the small horns they had protruding from their foreheads.


    Then a couple of them removed the cloak of another person, revealing the second of Rex special treats. What came into his view was a blonde beauty with quite a large bust and white beautifull angel wings on her back.If not for the chains holding her he had the feeling she would try and fly away any moment. He could also see the fighting spirit and defience in her eyes.


    "Slavery magic doesnt hold on this one? or angelic beings in general?" Rex asked, seeing the blonde bombshell had no slavery indicating signs on her.


    "It is indeed as you have guessed. Angelic beings are incredibly resistant to mind bending techniques, while we demonic ones are wery resilient whne it comes to physical suffering." Rashuun answered, liking the man more and more. Nothing was more sexy than pwerfull and smart man.


    "It is also quite clear you are not here just for the few brands one would expect to be able to secure, else you would not have offered your own daughter as part of the gift." and with this question of Rex, she grew even more exited. If he were to continiue like this, she might have a hard time to milk the most benefits for her clan.


    "Which reminds me, I still owe you a daughter of mine. However, to know which of my daughters would be best suited for you, there is a small test we have to perform."


    "Sure, what kind of test are we talking about?" Rex asked, not really worried about foul play. he could sense the queen had no evil intentions towards him, at the very least, not right now.


    "We will need you to lay down for a bit, so a room with a bed is prefferable." she answered Rex question, and to that Rex raised an eyebrow, an action that remained unseen under his guise.


    "Follow me, the rest remain here." Rex gestured to the woman and she happily did so. Soon they were alone in a small bedroom not too far from the room they had just conversed in.


    "So, how do we proceed?" Rex asked once they were both in the room.


    "How much do you know about sucubi?" she asked in return.


    "Nothing much, besides that they are often tied together with carnal lust, and are said to drain the men they mate with of their vitality."


    "Half truths, most of it. Proper sucubi dont need, nor do they drain the vitality of the man they mate with, it is ussualy drained from the seed they are filled with during those sessions, and only the lowliest and impurest of sucubi bloodlines even have the ability to possibly endangering their parthner during intercourse. At my level, and that of my daughters we not only not endanger the partner, we act in itself serves as a dual cultivation technique, strenghtening both. For that purpose I need to understand where you stand in terms of personal strenght to better decide on the daughter who should be paired with you."


    "Hoo, so are you going to have a taste of me yourself?" Rex asked, now even through his guise obviously stripping her with his eyes. In just a few actions Rashuuns clothes fell to the ground, displaying her killer milf body in its full beauty. She was already quite exited, as her slightly glistening with wetness lower lips and her erect nipples indicated. It has been a while since she had last allowed herself to be penetrated, since there were no worthy men, she would allow to taste her body. Her dark red skin was enticing and her lightly swaying tail and those small oni horns on her forehead made her all the more exotic and enticing.


    "Put this on." Rex spoke as he pulled out a strip of cloth form one of his rings, and the queen immediatly understood


    "My, my, cautious to the end." she spoke and giggled, still obeying his words and blindfolding herself. Then she felt some sort of an object wrapping around her waist and pulling her towards Rex. She landed on his lap, where he started their first bout of kissing. Tongues intertwined, fighting for dominance, while their arms roamed over the others body, exploring it. She was feeling a newer before experienced pleasure, as if her entire body was caressed. she could feel her own juices dripping wildly, and her pussy twitching in anticipation for whats coming next.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    And she didnt have to wait long. After a few minutes of passionate kissing he flipped her on the bed, and didnt waste time as he entered her, as she was more than wet enough to ensure pleasure for both. And in that single firts thrust she was driven over the edge, her legs locking behind his back, and her spine arching as she was experiencing the wildest orgasm of her life. Rex was going all out, his constant sex with his girls proving his experience and he was employing a skill he had devised for similar purpose, he was using pure energy to stimulate his partner, elevating their experience and pleasure up to tens of times the norm.


    Once her orgasm was coming to and end, and her leg lock relaxed , he began to move back and forth, innitiating new waves of pleasure within her. At the same time he leaned down and captured one of her voluptuous breasts in his mouth and started to greedily suck on it. He saw a drop of white liquid escape one of her erect nipples as she was orgasming when he trust in her, and indeed, as he was pistoning her and sucking hear breast, his mouth was filled with a sweet and delicious milk, that he greedily drank. For the next few hours he was fucking her brains out. He even used his mana chains to make the fucking and drinking her milk more comfortable as it was dificult to hold her as he was pistoning and properly suck her tits. He had drank hiss fill of her sweet and tasty milk, and he had filled her up with loads of his own. He could of course keep going, but Rashuun was exausted and blissfully asleep.


    As she was sleeping Rex examined her once again and appreciated the killer milf body she posessed. He also noticed something new. She now had a womb tatoo, that Rex was sure as hell was not there before. He would ask about it later, once she wakes up. Aproximately an hour later Rashuun stirred awake, and when she felt Rex was still there, she scooted closer to him and innitiated a passionate kiss.


    "That was incredible. Thank you beloved." she spoke sweetly after the kiss ended, as she was caressing the newly emerged mark under her navel. And hearing a questioning ''hmm?'' she explained finding one of his hands adn placing it on the womb tatoo.


    "One can lay an exclusive claim over a sucubus by overvelming them in the very domain they are masters over. I am yours now, and only yours for as long as you live. And when you die, i will soon follow." Sensing no falsehoods in her voice, Rex took off her blindfold. His women had the right to see him after all. He still was a bit carefull and placed the same blank brand Aina had on Rashuun. And when she felt the change she looked at Rex questioningly, since she was not branded, that was obvious, but she could feel his presence


    "Marking whats mine, no one else can ever enslave you." then he smirked and continiued as he was enjoying the feel of her tits once again "I still want that daughter of yours I was promised though"


    "Of course, the problem we have come here for, still remains." she answered as she lightly moaned from his ministrations. As she was seeing her man she understood why all the secrecy. He was true archon after all. There was a hostile nation to his kind very close, so extra caution was understandable. Another long kiss later they returned to the room where everyone else from her entourage was waiting. Once there and seated she spoke


    "Rasha and Xingue, you are to serve the mage." and after her words two other cloaked individuals dropped their cloaks revealing themselves. Both looked similar to Rashuun, obviously her daughters. They gave one a glimpse of what Rashun would have looked like when she was just barely an adult.


    "My only twins, they are eighteen, and will serve you well." she added and both girls bowed to Rex.


    "Do tell me what is the problem you need my assistance with then?" he asked, as he was quite interested to solve the problem his woman was facing in her lands.


    "Right, before that, send out your remaining people, my gifts should remain though." A questioning look on her face, she still did as asked, and now in the room remained the ten sucubi, the angel and two daughters of hers along with Rashuun and Val. What happened next had Rashuuns jaw hanging from shock. Rex used his spell and branded all fourteen of his new girls. With that done, he signaled for Rashuun to continiue.


    "Our land is located in a very peculiar location. It is quite rich with all sorts of natural treasures. It is that blessing that is also the problem at the same time. A rather powerfull monster was drawn to the treasure that was just recently birthed by the altar of gaia- a volcano of sorts that spits out treasures from time to time. We cannot organize a raid with powerfull adventurers since that woudl expose the altars existance and endanger us with countless wars untill we are enslaved or destroyed. I was hoping you might have a contact powerfull enought to solve the problem."


    "Estimated power of the monster?" Rex asked,.


    "Mid S class entity. Raging magma bear." she responded and handed Rex a book with a bookmark at the beasts description and known characteristics.


    "Are you building a gate in Blythe?" Rex asked and she nodded.


    "Good. Once it is done i will kill it. From the description it should be weaker that Tigra or Crystal." he then smiled "Relax, its gonn be easy. Come with me." He then led Rashuun to his big cats. And as he had expected Aina and Rikas were there, enjoying the fluffy fur of the felines.


    "Wow, they indeed fell more powerfull than the bear." Rashuun comented.


    "Of course, they are from floor thirty of the dungeon in this city." Rex spoke, and after a bit of petting, returned with the sucubuss to the study room. With that done, he spent another hour fucking Rashuun and filling her up, since she would be returning to her domain, and they would not meet untill the gate to their lands was finished, which would take a week or two.


    After Rashuun and her remaining retinue left Rex turned to the angel one he had asked Val and Mel to asign tasks to the new sucubi maids they had aquired. Rasha, Xingue and the blonde big titted angel would be serving him in bed, so they didnt need too much other tasks.


    "Now then my blonde, angelic slave. Why dont you tell me your name and how it happened that you were captured by Rashuuns forces?" Rex had grown a lot in his mastery over the brands, so now he was capable of branding his targets without affecting their personality, forcing his rules into their subconsciousness. So a girl could still be haughty or angry or outright refuse his orders, if they didnt harm of endanger him or his.


    "Eira. There is a chain of islands that are between the angelic and demonic continents. And are often visited by both sides since there are two incredibly old dungeons. It is not that rare to encounter a force of the opposing side, and since we are openly hostile to one another, such meetings practically always result in bloody battles. We angels are pure of heart and soul adn as such we take no prisoners. As you can see however, demons do not ascribe to the same ideals. I was denied the glory of victory, whats worse, I survived and was captured, and now gifted like some lowly item to a pervert." Anger was evident in her voice, and she was quite disgusted with her new owner who had branded her.


    Rex spent the most part of the day to question Eira regarding many things about the angelic society, their customs and filosofy of life. The rules they live by and taboos. Since he had a demon lover, he asumed eventully he might earn some enemies with feathery wings as well, so it was better to prepare for such posibility. Also as it turns out, angels were sometimes used by godly beings as mesangers to contact and deliver information to their worshipers. And since Rex had a mortal conflict, as it seemed till now, with one religion he was even more interested in having countermeasures prepared to counter the messangers of gods.


    He also questioned Rahsa and Xingue regarding the same topics in the demon realms. Demons were divided in clans- the equivalent of nobles here, who lorded over a certain amount of land. Rashuun was the leader of one such clan. Since succubi were part of her clan, she held quite large influence in the demonic lands, but at the same time she was annoyed quite often for the same reason. There were countless lordlings who wanted her as their consort, since that would give them acsess to countless other succubi to bed. There were other females within the demonic race, but none as beautifull and lust evoking at the succubi. The twins warned Rex that once it becomes known that he managed to claim Rashuun there would be calls for duels from all kinds of demon lordlings with her as the prize to be claimed by the victor. Rex laughed and asked them to deliver a message to Rashuun before she departs


    "Have her spread the word herself, that I have claimed her. And that I expect any would be challenger to bring a wager of their own of equal worth to what they seek in return. Hell, she may even entice more fools to bring us more treasures."

 Chapter 35: Declaration

    Rex woke up, and carefully fred himself from the embrace of the twins. They were quite exited to experience what their mother had hone through, since they had heard most of her moans of pleasure as she was testing Rex for the best compatibility with her daughters. And now Rex coud indeed confirm Rashuuns words regarding the dual cultivation part, since the first time of the woman provides a uniquely powerfull effect. And while even that was barelly doing anything to Rex, the concept still worked, just the difference in power was too great. The girls were high B class at best, So in comparison to his SS or possibly even higher rating already, the fact he could feel the effect was incredible in of itself. Sucubi often were quite adventerous women, seeking for partners early to hasten their own growth, but girls like Rashuuns daughters were different. Their partners had to be powerfull, and full of potential, since once a succubus finds a partner, there is a probability of posession, and the longer their partnership continiues, the higher the chance of it happening gets. And as stated by Rashuun, once the mark is established, the succubus could not harm their man and would be with him only, untill his death. Such possibility was not acceptable for her daughters, if the partner was not strong enough. Even Rashuun herself hadnt met anyone worthy of her among the demons in the past few hundred years. Her daughters were all a result of her deals with other lords to make her clan more prosperous. For beings who were basicly immortal, such deals were not too rare. In her case, the demon lords in question could brag about her birthing their child, and she would gain a daughter with pure bloodline and countless other benefits. Of course, such deals were now out of the question entirely, with the mark she now possesed. She had also felt the potency of the effects of their session. She had grown stronger, by a solid margin as well. That proved that her man was immensly powerfull, and seeing his age, she was sure of his insane potential.


    The twins had lasted for a few hours, tagteaming Rex in hope of victory. They failed, and now were sleeping soundly, content smiles on their faces. Rex could only imagine the speed at which the to will improve, if they had such session often enough. Regardless, they would have to devour the energy they had just attained, and that would take a few days at the very least, but seeing their enthusiasm last night, it wasnt entirely out of the question the two would seek him again soon enough just for the pleasure. He did have some fun as well with the angel before the twinns assault, as he had decided to slowly train her in obedience. He had used his new technique to have the girl writhe in orgasms for a few minutes, then trained her oral techniques a bit. He would take his time with the angelic blonde beauty. There was just something about having an angel fall for the carnal pleasures.


    Now, with his preplanned meetings out of the way, and the Gates to many other places in the world under construction, that would open him up to countless other dungeons, meaning countless other worlds to explore. And the Al Merhads would recieve his first visit, since they were javing a problem, and Rex needed to finish out his servant retinue, and sexy snake ladies sounded just about right. And since he had a week or two to wait, and a similar time frame was estimated for the two brandings for Van Hersts, he could take care of the problem that had spawned in his own city.


    Rex made a small excursion in the city as the archon, and noticing he was once again followed, he decided to solve the issue. Loosing the pursuers again in the crowded streets he moved to Brognis establishment. Once there, he waited for a short while untill brogni was free, and then had a small chat with the man.


    "I need to borrow a property for a while. Note, some killing and destruction will probably take place there, so one that not in the nobles quarter would be advisable, since I also dont want my pursuers to think I have connections to that part of the society." The dwarf thought for a moment and then grinned


    "I have exactly what you are looking for." and proceeded to rummage through one of the cabinets. They were now in his personal office after all. After a bit of digging, the dwarf fished out a set of keys and a map of certain district in the city. The property in question was marked on this map. After a short explanation and better dirrections to it, Rex thanked the man, and asked if he had aquired any of the top shelf slaves Rex would have to brand. The dwarf noted that he had a few coming soon, but nothing right now, since it had been barely a few days since the auction.


    Stealthily reaching the temporary house, Rex inspected it and seeing the old and somewhat run down property he was quite happy with the stage. Then once again very stealthily he moved and returned to his mansion. He spent a few hours with his girls, since Irina Val and Mel needed some love, and a few hours later, having informed his girls he would be out for a few days he returned just as sneakily to the run down property in the warehouse district.


    With everything prepeared, he now left the ''home'' of his without too much stealth, and moved to the market district. He moved with what looked like quite a bit of caution, acting as if suspecting that someone was tracking him, but his actions seemed quite unpolished to the spies of echlisiarchy, who had noticed him once again. Knowing that he was once again tracked, Rex moved about the market, this time not loosign his trackers. He bought some supplies, then in the same ''vigilant'' manner returned to his ambush spot in the warehouse district. Then lied down on the bed and focused on the energy readings around him.


    It was close to the midnight, when he finally sensed something. The mana movement in the air changed rappidly, and he focused entirely on it. What he noticed, was that he was now in some sort of an enclosed space, that covered the whole house. ''Some sort of a sealing techniques?'' Rex pondered in his head untill he heard quite loud voice from just outside the building.


    "Come out, come out, you filthy spawn!" the voice sounded almost half singing with joy, the man quite eletad at the current situation "I have been looking for you for quite a while. God has grown quite angry with your filth polluting our beautifull world. So, It is high time you stop." By this time Rex had already reached a window, and he noticed the man speaking, along with three others dressed as priests behind him.


    Noticing Rex in the window, Royce exclaimed in jouy


    "Bind him quickly! He still has to repent for the corruption he has already sewn in this world." and at his command the mages started to chant some spells.


    ''chanting again?'' Rex mused as he moved away from the window. He reasoned they used chanting to hone their focus on the desired task. Then he faked a bit of panic, shouting bakc at the four from the building.


    "WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?" some fear and bevilderment in his voice.


    "YOU EXIST!" was a venomous response from the leading man. "By the divine decree of the Echlisiacrhy, we shall now behin your repentance" and then a huge grin appeared on his face "And only through immense pain will that be achieved. COME, RECIEVE WHAT YOU DESERVE."


    What followed suprised Royce a bit, since the next moment the door kicked open and a blur of some sorts was seen for a moment, and then a blur once again. Then the filth came into his view again. Those repulsive eyes of his in full view. And the youthfull body showed the adversary to be barely a man.


    "Who else can see through this barrier?" came a nervous question from the man followed by another straight away "And is the representative in the city aware of your actions? Its just evil."


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    It was only fair he indulged in the last few questions of the creature he was about to engage in a prolonged session of torture.


    "But of course. And even if she were not aware, it is the duty of every faithfull to cull the forsaken that have somehow managed to survive long past their destined time. SUCH IS THE DECREE OF OUR LORD!"


    "By the way" the spawns voice was suprisingly calm now, and that made no sense for Royce, they always were panicking by now, and why had the mages stil not cast their restraining magic skills? He questioned, and turned his head to mages to reprimand them. It was then that he saw the issue. Four bodies in the clergy clothes were cut in halves, the cuts clean and precise.


    "Strike two, for your fucking religion." He heard the spawn talking. Could it be he had escaped once already? Did that not meant he might have the blood of the faithfull on his hands as well?


    "DIE SPAWN!" In his righteous wrath, he drew his two blades and dashed towards his quarry. In but a moment he was already in front of the forsaken, having crossed over six meters in that instant, and he slashed with his blades, trying to cut the fiend apart. Unbelievably, the fiend somehow managed to avoid his strikes, but just barely. It was just his luck, and next time, it would be different. But what was this? Every time he slashed, chopped or swinged, his adversary refused to be hit, let alone wounded. Royce had always prided his speed, he was already in S class entity. True only in the innitial stages, but to reach the stage where he was at the age of thirty five was quite the the achievement for human. And only the select few geniuses could surpass his achievement. Then why, why did the foul creature before him could not only keep up but also avoid his attacks entirely?


    "Lord, Give me strenght to vanquish this evil from our lands." and he was enveloped in a slight mana coating, increasing his speed even further. But, once again, the fiends position did not change. It was still just barely out of the reach of his blades. This dance lasted for almost an hour, Royce feeling his mana quite diminished, as he had recasted his buff quite a few times during the chase. He was feeling quite tired, but refused to stop. He had a divine mission, a holy task to accomplish, and he would do it, even if he were to exaust every last bit ef energy in his body.


    "Well, guess I will have to open a brothel." spoek the filth in front of him "And i will call it ''the holy whores'' what do you think? A proeper name for a place where your precious priestesses and saintesses will work? No?" And as it spoke such blasphemous words, its visage blurred, and increadible pain assaulted Royces mind, as he was falling to his right. And as he looked down, while dealing with the pain, he saw his leg was missing. Cut off as cleanly as the cuts on the four priests, that lay dead behind him.


    "MONSTER!" he shrieked, finaly realizing the power of the creature they had come to hunt. A raid group was needed here, not a lone inquisitor hunter, but when was the last time such a being was sighted? Hundreds of years ago? When had they lead the last crusade against a Forsaken king? His body, now covered in codl sweat, was once again jolted with pain, as his second leg was severed, but this time it was not as clean of a cut as the first one.


    "ARGHHH!" grundted Royce in pain, his limb severed with one of his won blades he had dropped when he fell, after his first legs removal. His swords were created with special materials imbued. They caused even greater pain that what should normaly be inflicted, at the same time somehow cauterizing the wound so the target does not bleed out too fast, ending their missery. And understanding the usage of the weapon, the fiend sliced another ten centimeters of the stump of his first leg, eliciting another scream from the inquisitor, and ensuring he does not go in shock from the blood loss from the open wound.


    "Wait, would this count as the world gifting me someone to torture, no strings attached? You are a total piece of shit, besides the fact that you are a mental zealot." it asked a rethorical question, then continiued "Guess i will have to practise a bit. Thank you for the tools, they will ocme in handy." the monster spoke, and proceeded to stab one of his arms, evoking more screams from the inquisitor.


    Rex was quite sure that simple and shallow stabs as he was perfiorming for the past few minutes could not create nearly as much pain as the man spasming and screaming was indicating, so he did what any mental person would do. He made a super small, barely skincut on his finger, and a small grunt ''hrrr'' escaped his throat.


    "Damn that is some impressive stuff." he murmured as he had seen a unique mana signature escape the blades edge the moment the cut inflicted damage on his finger.


    "With such amplification, no wonder he is screaming as if i am cutting of his balls" he mused as he made another stab in the mans flesh, once again restarting the painfull wails of the man that were starting to die down just a monent before.


    "Say, were you using any other means to torture your victims before they were sent on their way?" An seeing the man not answer even after he had calmed down from his screams, with the question repeated, Rex sighed.


    "A small interlude in our fun, since i need that infor you have, but worry not, once the interogation is over, we well return, to the fun part. It is only right you enjoy the pelasure of being on the recieving end after you had been the one to dish it out for so long. How long by the way?" Rex asked as he branded the man. It was quite easy with how damaged and muddled his mind was right now after the pain he had just gone through. "Now, answer my previous questions." Rex ordered, and the man did as his master wished


    "Yes, the fith must be purified with any possible means be it physical or mental pain. They must experiece utter despair, before they are sent over to our lord to purify once more. We would break their bodies, do the same to those that harboured them , so they could see. Rape the women they hold dear, or if the fiend was a woman, we would do that to her before we start with the disfigurment." Royce spoke in a monotone voice, since Rex had used his all to lock his consciousnes away while he interogated the man.


    Rex who had spent more than four months here, most of his time seeped in bloody grind or indulging carnal pleasures with his women, he had grown quite accepting of the law of the jungle that ruled this place, so he had little, if any, problem with enjoying the fruits of ones labor. Hell, he even had quite a bit of fun with a decent looking milf after his first and only raid on a human village in his world, first of two raids, if he counts the slaugther he performed in the large orc camp where he got Val and Mel. But that was different, since similar things were very common among the tribes in the dungeon, and his two ladies were far better off than they would have been had another tribe been the ones to achieve the same result. But to go so far as to use it as part of a large and elaborate plan to absolutely destroy ones body and mind? No, that was a step too far.


    He spent another twenty minutes or so to attain more question and even some physical evidence regarding their operations in Blythe. The report he had made regarding his mission in tracking and eliminating Rex, some smaller actions in accordance to the plans Elena Vex was making to get the blood mage to join their side, and other knowledge regarding the inquisitors past work and achievements. Almost twenty years. That was the duration this psycho was mastering and utilising his craft. A few missions a year, where he had to track or eliminate a possible forsaken in a foreign territory, all orders of the higher ups of the Echlisiarchy.


    "Forget the strike two, this is disqualification of the entire team and life sentences for most of the staff, management and players. Did a nazi went on crack and wrote you a handbook of bigger and better?" If before he had quite the dislike for the Echlisiarchy, now it was full blown disgust and detest.


    "Crusade or Jihaad, which one to pick?" Rex thought for a moment and worked his brain.


    "Wait a second, were there not some rules in jihaads regarding not harming the non combatants?" he questioned himself.


    "Does not matter, aint no lover of either, but Crussade just feels the right word. Well, FUCK IT!." He looked at the man lying on the ground and removed his brand, then proceeded to lightly stab him, gaining another shriek of pain, and once the man quieted down, Rex looked at him,


    "The HOLY CRUSADE has been declared. The filthy heretics of the Echlisiarchy shall be eradicated or enslaved for the betterment of the world and men." Quite pleased with his theatrical declaration, he proceeded to inflict the most painfull of punishments used drain in a way he had not used it for a long time. He proceeded to tear the soul of this disguisting creature sprawled on the ground in front of him, leaving the corpse intact. He needed that for his next plan. He had to inform Victor and aquire the first of the holy whores to be employed in his future establishment.

 Chapter 36: The first retaliation

    With the end of the agonizing screams of Royce, as his soul was torn from his body, the barrier around them slowly disipated. Rex was very meticulous with tracking any and all odd movement as soon as the barrier was gone, and then he tracked the people who moved away from the area after noone was leaving for a moment. There were four people, who converged at the same place. They quickly spoke to one another, suprised that teh barrier was already gone, since their lord inquisitor did like to take his time one the target was captured and locked away in the barrier.


    Rex, thanks to the ability of his eyes, had been able to analyze the structure of the spell, and so he now employed the same barrier to lock the four in a sealed space with himself, then he used his speed to move close to the four, as if appearing out of nowhere to their perception. And since he was not doing anything to mask his personality, they instantly recognized the target they were tracking for quite some time in the city.


    "Looking for someone?" Rex asked in a rather cold tone.The four steppd back, as if ready to dart in all directions, when Rex added


    "Dont bother, we are in the same kind of barrier your boss uses." and his words scared the four even more, rooting them in place. Rex knew noone would be left to speak of what was gonna happen here, so he did not even bother, once they were bound with his mana chains he branded them. A few questions later, once Rex had all the information regarding any other spies and workers of the Echlisiarchy operating in Blythe that was known to the four, he quickly executed them, and used drain, the remains scattering as mana dust once he was done. Then he moved stealthily once again and arrived at Victors palace.


    Once inside he did not waste any time adn went dirrectly to the mans office. As luck would have it, no one was having an apointment with Victor, providing Rex with instant acsess to the lord of the city. And once inside, Rex employed his recently aquired barrier ability, elliciting a weird frown from Vitor.


    "So what is this about?" he asked, sensing some sort of a change in the air.


    "I just deployed a barrier, locking us inside. No one can gain acsess to us for the time being, unlesss there is some insanely skilled mage with space or formation knowledge."


    "And,why is that relevant?" Victor asked again, not quite seeing the point in Rex''s actions.


    "Well, first i just wanted to show off the skill I just got from a retard that bit off more than he could chew, and attacked me inside the city." and seeing Victor frown, Rex explained more specifically


    "I meant the true archon was attacked, not the blood mage Rex. By the way, I will be calling this persona Noa. SS class battlemage Neo, at your service." Rex jokingly bowed as he introduced this persona he would be employing in his next stunt.


    "And the cunt wo attacked me was called Royce Rambert. Inquisitor extraordinaire...."


    "WHAT?" Rex was interrupted by Victors exclamation "Where is he?" and seeing Rex raised eyebrow, he realized the stupidity of his question, he facepalmed himself "Right, dead. Of course, he attacked you, after all."


    "Yep, and since i had him spill the beans their saintess Elena Vex was entirely aware of his actions, and even encouraged him to be done with the taks as fast as possible, while still employing the man to strongarm multiple people to start set up an elaborate plan to get in the eyes of teh blood mage, with the final objective to get the man to work for them near exclusively. An order from their council, no less."


    "FUCKING LUNATICS!" Victor exclaimed, angry at the way the Echlisiarchy was just doing whatever they pleased whereever they sent their agents, as if the rules of the world did not bound them like the rest.


    "So whats your plan?" Victor asked, knowing Rex would not have come to him, if he didnt need Victor to do something specific.


    "Just keep your guards away from their current residence, since an angered SS class entity is going to go and claim his compensation. By the way, are you interested in the services of a holy whore?"


    "What now?" Victor asked, not quite understanding the question.


    "A holy whore. Since they are being so nice as to attack me and to send an apology gift at the same time, I dont mind taking both. Since Neo happens to be the one obtaining blood mage Rex''s special supplies, no authority in Blythe should interfere with his personal beef, right? And Rex will have no issues branding the mans personal retinue of Echlisiarchy''s sainteses and priesteses forhis business endeavors. A high class brothel called Neo''s Holy Whores."


    "You are joking right?"


    "Nope, deadly serious. I will have a high class brothel called the Holy whores, where branded echlisiarchies high ranking priesteses, oracles and saintesses will be working. This is the second time some of their lunatics are trying to kill me, and i believe its high time to return the love. That will have to wait untill I have dealt with both Rashuuns and Al Merhaads problems though, but does not mean I cant vent a bit on saintess Elena, so cook up and exuse." thinking for a second, Rex shaked his head


    "Wait, I already did. Neo can blast solo in the deep floors and is the supplier of earth grade meat, and possibly the heaven grade, to Rex. That amount of value is enough for you to ignore the things he does to people that are stupid enough to take action against that level of power within city. That would serve as double the warning, since they spat in the face of Blythes management with going behind your back with their black op."


    "Do what you wish, however try not to destroy the mansion too much. It costs quite a bit to repair that level of architecture, okey?" And to Victors request Rex gave a thumbs up


    "Roger boss, minimal collateral. Off I go now." and with that he disspelled the barrier, and left the palace of the city lord, his next destination quite clear- the temporary residence of the Echlisiarchy.


    As Neo, was on his way to return the kind gesture to the fanatical teocracy, Victor did his job and covered his ass. He sent a one of his men to deliver an envelope to the adventurers guild. Previously Blythe was not important enough to warrant other nations to build gates to their domains here, there was little choice in how one could spread important information fast. The only reliable way was to use the adventurers guilds channels. Every guild branch had a communicator, that was connected to their data central, from where then the guild relayed the information to other branches. And while it ussually cos a pretty penny for adventurers to forward information guild did not consider important from their point of view, city lords were different. They had free access to this particular service, when they wanted word to be spread. And so Victor used exactly that. The message was simple- Echlisiarchy attacked a powerfull person, who happens to be an archon and failed in their assasination attempt. Whats worse, they did so in another nations city. As such he has no other choice but to condemn their action, demand compensation for their breach of peace and stay out and not interfere regarding any retaliotary action said person would bring upon echlisiarchies people staying in his city."


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The message was delivered to the guild master personally, as it was quite and important piece of information to be sent out, and once the guildmaster of this branch read the message, a smirk appeared on his face. Rare were sympatyzers to the cause of the zealot nation just west of their city, and any bad news for said coutry was often recieved with warm smiles on most peoples faces. And as is his job, he gleefully used the communication device to forward the message. It was recieved in the data central, and then swiftly forwarded further.


    Elena was sitting in an office of their temporary residence, finetuning some of the plans she would have to initialize soon. The groundwork was set up, the right artisans merchants and thugs strongarmed and bribed, the scene was almost set, and all that remained before the second stage of her plan could start was a small message, delivered to one o fthe servants of the blood mage, who would occasionally buys some vegetables from the local market. A warning of a plan to hurt her master, a plan so devious, even this little morsel of information was trully a dangerous action, that spelled possible doom to the would be benefactor of sir mage. Then afterwards the aranged plans could be set in motion, creating the very danger that was implied in the small note. It would create a narrow window of oportunity to approach the mage as their benefactor adn initiate the third stage of her plan. It was obviously the hardest part, since, even though large and quite filled with all kinds of rare recources, it would be quite the challenge to offer the mage benefits great enough to move to one of their better cities where she could continiue in luring him more and more to their cause.


    She was asuming that there might even be a need to sacrifice her own body, since the mage seemed quite interested in the female form, but she would resort to it only if no other options were aviable, and she had plenty. Already, she had sent for the most beautifull of their flock of believers to be found, adn sent to recieve a short training so they could entice the mage, but it would take a few months and the contact to be established first and foremost. She was wondering how long it would take Royce to be done with the forsaken. They had finaly traced the man during the day, and Royce had left not too long ago to finaly deal with the abomination. From what she knew, the inquisitor liked to torture and break them, before sending those creature off to be purified by their god. And so she expected the man to be back no sooner than early morning. She decided to finaly rest, since planning took quite a bit off effort, energy and clear mind.


    As she left her office, and passing by the windows leading to the main gate, she noticed in the corner of her eye a person approaching their gate, illuminated lightly by the street lamps, that were seen here and there beside the road in the noble district. She suddenly felt a chill runing along her spine- a bad feeling of sorts, and quite soon, she realized why. The man raised his hand, and she felt a sudden burst of mana passing by, and then as if the worl around her was enveloped in a veil. A seperate place was created, one where the man in front of the gate and this residence stood alone. The man was now trapped in with her and the guards employed, or was it the other way around since it was the unknown person who had cast the barrier.


    She quickly shouted out orders, preparing for whatever was to come, since the man had evil intentions. They had to take him down and then demand an explanation from the city lord. An assault, in the nobles quarter no less, was unacceptable. They could fleece the city quite a bit, giving her new avenues to proceed with her plans to complete the objective. She saw a simple movement of the hand that held a rather large sword, then with a simple push, the invader opened the gate, the lock, as if never there, did nothing to prevent gates from opening.


    "Haaaa" the man exhaled quite loudly "I dont like being attacked when I am at home." he spoke "And as such I have come for compensation. Let us see what goods can I find here to slake my anger." And he proceeded to walk in. With the guards already assembled in front of the mansion, the stranger stoped there, just outside of the well lit area, waiting for some response from the defenders. Elena had already reached the door by this point, adn standing well behind the guards she spoke in cold, but acusing tone


    "Do you have any idea where you are and what you have done? It is us who are the offended party." and before she could finish, a roundish object few towards them, and with rolling it stopped quite close to the guards, well in the lighted area, clearly displaying what the object was. As Elena and the guards saw the head of Royce right before them, the assailant came int othe light of the lamps too. And they saw those eyes, cold and uncaring, staring right through them.


    "I have come for my holy whore, as the compensation for the audacious attack this here cunt performed a few hours prior. I knew someone was tracking me, but to outright attack within the city? Now that was unexpected."


    "Such acusations will not stand. We will not be slandered by a foul beast." Elena spoke, but before she could continiue, she was interrupted


    "Dont bother, I have enough documentation if I cared to prove both the attack and the involvement of you and your council. Now then Elena Vex, on of the sainteses of the Echlisiarchy, it is time to begin your road of repentance." Rex had worked quite nicely, using his mana in a way that his voice was entirely different than he normally sounded. He even used his understanding and memories of different accent in his original world to create a rather specific speech pattern that drastically differed from his ussual one. He had to dedicate an entire process of his paralel though to keep it consistant, but that did not hinder him enough to be an impact on his normal performance. Even in highly stressfull and quite draining situations he could still perform at nearly full capacity.


    "Use everything you have to stall him" she spoke as she turned to leave. While she was capable, Royce was more powerfull while in dirrect confrontation, and none of the guards here were even close to that level of power. She did however reasoned, that since it had been a few hours since Royce should have started his mission, the fight must have been quite close. As such the opponent should be quite tired, and had rushed here in his thirst for revenge. The guards might be able to stall the man long enough for her to reach the fortified room in the residence and innitiate the call for help. And then the city guards would have to respond and take out the intruder. She would ultimately be safe, and have even better case for reparations from the city.


    She had just touched the door handle, when she felt a hand landing on her left shoulder, freezing her in the place. Her head slowly turned to that same side and she saw the same cold black void with yellow lightly glowing orbs looking at her. The arm belonging to the attacker, she heard him speak in the deadly silence


    "And where do you think you are going?" the voice was bone chilling, yet it felt like the monster was enjoying it. Then she felt another pulse of mana from the man, and he spoke afterwards.


    "Good, there is only the two us us here now." and that made her look in the dirrection her twenty something guards should be standing, denying the mans words, yet all she saw was corpses, split in two with perfecty clean cuts, as if it was a hot knife going through butter in insane speeds. It had taken him seconds to move some ten meters and make an instant slash with that almost two meter long blade of his sword, cutting through weapons, armor, flesh and bone, and to arrive here. He must have also used mana to contain the screams of pain and the sound of his blade cutting through it all using his mana. Spell blade, she was sure, only with mana enchanting ones body, could such feat be even theoretically possible, but that would also need a specialized enchanter who would pour all if his mana in a short duration buff. Then a silencer- mage specialized in wind magic to controll the sound and ensure efficient and silent assasinations. She was dealing with a party, and the supporting characters were in the shadows. She had no way to escape, and she could only try and negotiate, and even that would be difficult, since her side had been the one to attack first, and the man most likely had the space ring of Royce. So with her best effort she tried to speak calmly, yet with a slightly subservient tone to not incur further wrath of the man at whose mercy she was right now.


    "There is no need for further bloodshed sir" It was trully dificult and she felt repulsed, as she had to address the monster with such politeness and almost reverence, but she endured, as her mission was of such great importance, and she had no desire to die. "We can surely solve all our grievances as civilized people. All you have to do is state your terms and I am sure we can reimburse you for any damage caused."


    "Hmh. unfortunately, there will be a slight amount of blood still shed, but it will not result in anyones death just yet." The monsters words had her relax a bit, since her life was not in danger for the time being, but she still had to be very carefull. She would have her vengence for this humiliation one day. Little did she know, the day not only would never come, but her nightmare was only just about to start.

 Chapter 37: The first of many

    With the guards neutralized, barrier erected and Elena secured, he could set to venting a bit of his frustration with the Echlisiarchy on the woman in front of him. And it was quite easy to do, since the woman was rather high ranking executive in their system, and in no way an innocent bystander. Whats more, Rex heavily doubted that there are many, if any at all, among their people, who have not been indoctrinated in their insane ways and as such performed some sort of atrocities. His every encounter so far with the people of Echlisiarchy had been just that- some sort of an attempt on his life, and in most cases he had done nothing to them to deserve such reaction.


    "Do tell me. did your prophet got cucked by an archon when he was still on his way to develop your nation?" Rex asked the saintess as he was leading her into the residence, his hand on her shoulder still, to ensure she did nothing funny.


    "The prophet is said to be the son of our god, so you better watch what you utter, lest you invoke the true wrath of our lord." Rex just shruged his shoulders, still entertaining his joke as a possibility for the unreasonable persecution of the archons. Years down the line Rex would learn just how close he was with his joke to the truth. It would not matter much by then anymore though, since the only reasonable way to find the believers and followers of the said faith was to visit one of the few establishments owned by a renown adventurer by the name of Neo.


    X--------------------------------------------------------------x


    They had reached a room where a few sofas were placed around a sort of cofee table. Rex reasoned the room had everything he needed for whats to come. he had a few ways to execute his formulated plan- one more humane, the other one in lines with the savagery the Echlisiarchy displayed whne dealing with archons. And since he had a personal bone to pick with the bunch, he had no reason to be kind and gentle. So the branding would happen after he had done punishing the arogant saintess, easing the souls of those who suffered under the hands of Echlisiarchy.


    Once close enough to the sofas, he pulled his hand back, turning Elena around, and swiftly with both hands he tore her dress apart, exposing her D sized bust. Elena shrieked and used her arms to cover her chest, and as she did so he pushed her back and she fell on the sofa.


    "NOOO! JUST WHAT ARE YOU.. EEEP" she started screaming when she was flipped, eliciting another gasp of a sort


    HRRRRRRK. now the lower part of her, still barely holding in place, dresses skirt was ripped apart, exposing her lower back, ass and pussy to the man behind her. Realizing where this was going, she started kicking with her legs in an attempt to delay, if not land a hit to stagger him. Suddenly her legs were restrained, and a hand handed on her hip, eliciting a shriek from her


    "DONT YOU DARE!" and then she felt something touch her entrance and a moment later a sharp pain assaulted her


    "NOOOOO" she screamed, as her maidenhood was torn and her sacred temple was claimed by the monster behind her. It hurt since it was her first time and she was in no way prepared for it, and the monsters size did not make it any better. She was thenty eight years old now. Only two more years untill she had earned the right to bear a child on an angel, one of the future avengers of the echlisiarchy. It was an honor only the most devout, accomplished and pure sainteses could earn and she was well on her way to it.


    But now all her hard work and dreams were shattered, since angels only chose those, who are untainted. She was brought out of her daze by a rather hard slap on her ass, and the man spoke


    "Dont you space out on me, I have to test drive my holy whores to ensure the quality of the services." and with that said he placed both hand on her hips and pulled his cock back untill it was almost out, eliciting whimpers from Elena, and then another shriek and he drove it back in, the tip kissing the entrance of her womb. Her hands, no longer trying to cover her bountifull tits, were gripping the sofa, as she was dealing with the rough treatment, and he used the moment to bend over and pinch her nipples, using his energy manipulation to stimulate her erogenous zones. That resulted in her bakc arching and her pulling a bit forward and a strained "NOOOOO" sounded from her as she experienced an enourmous orgasm.


    Rex could feel how she became wetter and wetter and how her pussy clamped down on his cock with each time he made her orgasm, and a few minutes later, when she was wet enough for his liking, he spoke as he resumed the trusting, now quite pleasing to his senses.


    "Now thats a good pussy, once you are wet enough." Elena didnt hear it though as she was crying quite a bit now, cursing her body for its physical limitations, and praying for forgiveness and salvation. It was now feeling quite good, the natural order taking its course, and she hated it with the very core of her being. An abomination had claimed her purity, and not only that, it made her body crave for more. She felt dirty and corrupted.


    It went on for almost thirty minutes, during which her body betrayed her again and again, as she came from the pleasure her body was experiencing. Her mind was quite muddled with all those orgasms, but suddenly, she heard his words clearly


    "Time to mark my property" She would have missed them if not for the change in the pace and tempo of the strokes the cock inside her was making. No ,now every stroke was reaching her depths, knocking at the entrance of her womb, and she could feel it twitching. A clarity of mind suddenly took over as she begged now for the last possible mercy


    "NOOO, PLEASE NOT, JUST NOT THATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT" The last word stuck in her throat as the cock once again kissed the entrance, but this time did not retreat soon after and erupted inside, innitiating a mind blowing orgasm for her and marking her womb with a copious amount of seed.


    X------------------------------------------------------X


    "Damn, thats some suction" Rex commented as he finished inside her. "I would worry about you being in your dangerous days if not for the unique circumstances of my being." He had come to a conclusion that because of his unique existance and the incredible difference in power and his energy manipulation abilities, he could ensure no woman could get pregnant no matter how much he unloaded in them. If not for that, he was sure as hell he would already have three beautilufff orckish ladies in waiting. He then proceeded to fuck her brains out for another few hours, and then left her in the room alone as he exited, quickly used mana to cleanse himself and entered once he was in the disguise of the blood mage.


    In her muddled state she felt someone aproaching, but she could not do anything right now. She was tainted and exausted, so she just lay there, mind wandering to all sorts of places. She did arrive at the inquiry regarding the action of her and the faith she was following. Where they really in the right? If so, why did she have to suffer such injustice, such humiliation. But if it was the world striking back for all the atrocities they had performed in the name of faith, she could understand. her mind was pulled back from its wandering as she felt some liquid being poured down her throat. Instinctively she swallowed, and sensed a bit of energy returning and a bit of clarity being restored to her mind.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    She opened her eyes and saw the blood mage looking at her naked form. Shame washing over her, as large amount of seed was spilling out of her. She noticed a sheet of cloth on the sofa and quickly covered herself.


    "My apologies for seeing such a horrific sight." she spoke in a hoarse voice, strained from all the moaning and screaming she had performed in the last few hours.


    "There was an intruder and as you might have seen when entering, the guards were killed, and..." she trembled, memory still fresh in her mind, her pussy sore and leaking seed from all the pounding she recieved. "and I was violated."


    "Yes I am well aware" the mages voice sounded calm, betraying no emotion "he called in a favor I am obliged to return." her eyes widening in disbelief and shock, but the next sentence just broke her for a few minutes, as Elena.exe stopped working.


    "My second persona was made for a few reasons, this beeing one of them. I welcome you as the first of the Holy whores." And with that he took of his mask and cape, revealig his face and those eyes she hoped to forget, and branded her.


    "Now that was a face that made all this worth it!" Rex exclaimed as he hid all his mage disguise and waited for Elena to recover her faculty. With the brand in place and his energy perception he could sense her situation, adn she was simply in deep shock. Who would not be? All the planning and scheeming she had done in the name of the Echlisiarchy to get the blood mage to join their side were pointless. Not only would they never sucsseed, the whole mission was moot. The blood mage was the archnemesis of their whole faith, adn they were unknowingly trying to entice the man with benefits.


    Her whole mind shortcircuted. The fleeting thought about the wrongness of their religion was back with force. How else would one explain this sittuation. The world itself had plotted and rebelled against them, creating the messiah of its own, to end the actions of the Echlisiarchy. And she was one of the first to be judged adn punished. And so she was. Disgraced, denied and enslaved to be used as a whore, if the man was to be believed. She came out of the stupor she was in aproximately an hour later. Still muddled and confused, but capable of basic funcions. Rex gave her a few simple clothes and a cloak, and returned to his mansion.


    Once back in the mansion he ordered a few of his new succubus maids to bathe and ensure Elena would not break, and once she comes out of her autopilot one of the more experience girls should start training her in techniques she could employ to better please men. She was to serve for quite some time as one of the holy whores after all. Rex had a proper bath, where he mesesd a bit with Eira, once he had sated the twins desires once again. Rex knew that he would have to play chill for a few weeks now and then solve Rashuuns and Al Merhads issues as well as the brandign for Ven Hersts. So he would use his free time for a quick few day dive in the dungeon and a bit more work on his own original magic creations. He had an amazing idea he had come up with due to his unique ability to pecieve energy, and he wanted to make sure he has it realised before his Holy Whores establishment starts operating.


    And so he spent the next week as planned. A few days in the dungeon, refilling his own and Eredars stocks of earth grade meat, and with his ever growing abilities he even secured himself more heaven grade meat, he had to do that too as his stock was depleting daily. But he didnt mind as the expenditure was well worth it. His girls would become ever more beautifull, and he would in the end benefit the most from it. With the hunt over he then spent his time focusing on his newest project while the world was in a turmoil of its own.


    Echlisiarchy was not having a great time. Besides the warning Blythe had sent out, creating a rather akward situation for them, since now there was solid proof of their actions and many other powers were breathing down their necks. Nobody liked when some other nation performed less than honorable actions in their lands, and what was even worse, Royce Rambert, the inquisitor of the Echlisiarchy had kept quite the meticoulous records regarding his missions and the way he had them completed. Over a dozen other countries were in an uproar, and even with all the denying and refusing to take responsibility for some ficticious actions they had to cough up a lot to pacify the ones they had the largest operations in.


    Even worse, they had had no contact with Elena, having them in the dark regarding her sucsess with the blood mage. They were quite sureshe was dead by now, but if she had some progres with the mage it was imperative to know. But here laid the problem. With what had transpired, they had no way to gain acsess to Blythe. Its management was quite adamant that they would suffer no presence from those who so blatantly disregard their laws and rules. And even if they managed to get their people somehow in, they could do nothing as they could not use their nation as a way to gain audience with the mage.


    And then there was the problem of the spellblade Neo. Rumor was that the man who whiped out their representatives in Blythe was an archon with enough power to reach and somewhat reliably hunt even in the very beggining of floor thirty. They had found the earth grade meat supplier, but it helped them not, since he was an archon. Yet another problem they had to eventually solve. All they could do now was to tone down on their mission of purifying the filth since too much eyes were on their every action and they were not powerfull enough to take on the whole world. They had to lay low and curry favor with Blythe to restart their previous plan, as it was of quite the importance. What they had come to an agreement was that even whne they restart their move to cleanse the world, blythe was off limits as long as the blood mage was there. They had not considered that the mere presence of such a person could lure some of the most powerfull mercs to the city, as they were sure was the case with Neo.


    Close to the end of the first week of waiting Rex had achieved innitial sucsess of his current experiment. He needed to ensure it was functional before Neo ever opens his establishement. He even had the help of Brogni, since the man had quite the number of slaves in his possesion. The conversatio nwas quite weird whne Rex asked the dwarf. He had arrived there some five days later, and went straight to the point.


    "Yo!" he exclaimed, and seeing the dwarf in full attention he continiued "Need acsess to ten couples of slaves."


    "What for, if I may ask?" Brogni asked with quiriosity. Rex never asked for stuff if he had nothing specific he wanted to check.


    "Need to see if my magic here can prevent impregnation." he spoke without any emotion in his voice, adding afterwards


    "Cant have the Holy whores randomly get pregnant and stop working, once its open. And the regular stuff they use in thisline of work is not good enough and costs a prettty penny." Brogni looked at the man for a short while, then just shrugeed, and gave up.


    "Sure. I will have a house and ten pairs prepared tommorow." and he quickly wrote something on a sheet of paper and handled it to Rex.


    "Location of the house for your experiment. Be there tommorow. One of my guards will meet you there." With that their converstion ended and Rex left. Once he was gone, brogni finally cracked and started laughing. He had tried damn hard to keep the face straight. His friend was a nutcase sometimes, but it made their interaction all the more fun. And dwarfves loved them some stories to brag once they were old enough.


    Another change that happened was the shift in the dinamics in Rex mansion. Aina had finaly worked up some courage and gotten a bit physical with Rex. Nothing too serious as they were only having some makeout sessions here and there, and even Aisha had followed in Ainas footsteps. A few days later izumi arrived at his mansion and informed Rex that she was willing to accept his offer for her to become his concubine, and her family had approved. Rex did not waste much time and the deal was sealed soon after. Izumi left his mansion in late afternoon of the next day, to report the sucsess of their union. And while she was movign slightly akwardly, she was smiling. She knew the act could be rather peasant if the man had apropriate skills, but the previous night had exeeded all of her wildest expectations. From now on she would be living in his mansion, while from time to time visiting the kitsune embasy, to finalize giving over her immediate duties as their ambasador in Blythe and to maintain her contact with their council. She was still a part of their nation, as she was fulfilling a mission. She had to admit, it wsa much more pleasant than she though it would be, since she was saw just how well the people lived in his mansion. And imagine her suprise when she met the guardians of the house- Crystal and Tigra.


    The second week of his standby period started with a bang, as one of the events he was waiting for had finaly arrived. His mansion was visited by a procession of elves adorning the Silvermist colours.

 Chapter 38: The Silvermist deal

    A group of almost twenty elves was at the gate, lead by the same elder that recieved Vals message. Along with the man stood aproximately ten guards, Kanaelia, who seemed quite displeased, a few other other attendants and what looked like a few mages. The last person in the group wore a veil, covering their face, but judgeing by their figure and the dress worn , it was obviously a woman. Her figure also shoved quite the proportions. If she was even a solid five in regards to the facial features, she would still turn many heads and have quite a few pursuers.


    When the group was noticed, they were led inside by Val and Mel, since they had taken over most of the management duties regarding the estate, and a procession of this size had earned their personal attention. Once they were in the garden, they were lead to a gazebo, where a tea set was being prepared by Millie and Izumi. Izumi was giving the younger kitsune pointers whenever the girl did something wrong. Still the young white foxgirl was a fast learner, and the high quality of life she was leading right now had evoked in her the desire to prove her value. As such she was working hard when it came to learning the art of tea.


    Once at the gazebo, the elven elder was asked to sit down, since the master Rex would soon be here. And as such, the elder elf did so. When inquired regarding the exessive entourage he had brought with him, the elf mentioned he needed to teach some from the younger generation a lesson in humility, and where better than in the presence of a blood mage- one of the most sought after and demanded magic class practitioner. Mel slightly chuckled, having adapted incredibly fast to the new type of society they were now living in. They used much more cunning and devious methods to achieve what they wanted, but she as it turned out had natural gifts in that exact sphere.


    "And who might the other kitsune be? If I may ask?" asked the elder as he noticed Izumi.


    "She just so happens to be my concubine." came a respone from the mage aproaching the gazebo. He was acompanied by the twins and Aina and Rika. They were having a slight sparring session when one of the maids informed Rex of the guests. Aina was clinging to one of Rex''s arms, still quite sour regarding her family and their actions in the past, but she had to be here. After all they should have brought her mother with them, if they were here at the mansion looking for an audience straight away.


    Noticing the mage hood turned to the group behind, the elf elder repeated the same excuse he had mentioned to Mel, regarding the lesson in humility, to which Rex smirked.


    "Should have brought a smaller or bigger group of guards then. I said it last time, dont try to show off with such weaklings. Not even a single S class entity among you." Rex words made the elder frown a bit.


    "Appraisal. Sir does not stop to surprise." the elf quickly straightened his face and responded with a light smile.


    "Why the annoying one is here though? I believe I was quite dirrect when I sent her away. She has managed to anger me quite well the last time." And to Rex words the elder gestured something that Rex didnt get, but Aina surely did. Kanaelia walked forward and then kneeled in front of Rex, bowing afterwards.


    "Please excuse this ones foolish and ugly behaviour last time. I have come to regret my attitude, and hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." Rex could feel how humiliating it was for the arrogant elven princess, but she also knew that she had to do what was ordered.


    "You are excused." Rex spoke in a neutral tone, turning his attention back to the elder "So, regarding my condition?"


    "As you asked" he then pointed to the veiled woman standing in the middle of the guards. Rex could see she was clenching her fists, tears welling up in the eyes of the woman. With the signal of the elder, the guards moved aside, giving way to the woman. Once she was where Kanaelia just kneeled she took of her veil, revealing face marred in tears that looked quite similar to Ainas, and once she had revealed her face Aina lept in her arms, hugging her and slipping in a light tears of her own. Rex gave them their space as he sat oposite the elder adn took a tea that Millie had just prepared and placed in front of him.


    "How is she?" he asked, his head slightly turned to Izumi


    "Improving with every session. She is quite devoted." his brown colored kitsune responded in a light voice. Rex nodded as he took a sip, a pleased exale leaving him as he was savouring the tea.


    "There must be more you wish to discuss, otherwise you would not have brought such entourage to right past grievances." he then addressed the elder of the elves.


    "So obvious?" elder asked and then sighed in defeat "It is as you have guessed sir. There is a particular creature that has appeared near one of the major cities and due to its unique nature we would be foolish to not try and aquire it. It has the natural ability to facilitate a better growth of vegetation. You must understand just how valuable such creatures would be for us elves, who tend to grow everything we need and use in our industry."


    "Entity class?" Rex asked in response.


    "Hight to peak A class. It is nigh impossible to tell the difference without engaging in a dirrect combat, but the being must be captured on that very exact engagement, otherwise it would just escape and dissapear for prolonged periods fo time." the elder answered and provided Rex with quite the information regarding the creature.


    "Gate progression rate?" Rex asked more, sipping his tea with happiness.


    "It should be done in a day or two at most." Rex thoght for a moment, then looked at Aina and her mother, whowere now quiet, yet still in each others embrace. A couple of his blood chains moved and draged the two next to him, eliciting a yelp from the older woman.


    "Take a seat and have some tea. While still learning, Millie is already quite good at this, thanks to Izumi and her teacher." Rex spoke as he carresed the white kitsunes hair.


    "What do you think the compensation should be?" he asked as he looked at Izumi. The girl had grown and spent time dealing with other nobles so her insight should be quite solid and dependable. "i believe they should have prepeared an offer of some sorts, as is ussually the custom." The kitsune responded, quite pleased with his choice to rely on her expertise. The few days she had spent here had changed her outlook on many things. For one was the innitial belief she would have to suffer quite a bit during her duty as his concubine. But she was astounded. Not only was he particularily carefull and incredible in their time of intimacy, bringing her into unimaginable pleasure, but the condition of living for her was just heaven. Unlike what they had innitially discussed- a meal with heaven grade once a week, she was having such a meal every morning alongside his other lovers. The rest of the meals were indeed based around earth grade ingridients,and as the guards had spoken, she didnt find a single piece of normal meat anywhere in the mansion. She was getting spoiled. And all she had to do was keep herself pretty for her man. The rest of the girls were also friendly and willing to involve her in any of the organization and planning around the mansion.


    "Also, before we get into the details regarding your request, are there anything else regarding the mother that I should know?"


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "No, nothing concering that we are aware about." the elder assured. Then seeing the mage remain silent he pulled out a scroll of sorts. "Here is a written proof of us relinquishing our right to Leifia Silvermist and leaveing her in your care. As for the issue at hand, we have prepared multiple different variants" as he mentioned this he pulled out a few different pages with their asumed worth for the job they wanted done. Izumi looked at them all quite thoroughly, pikcing two from the ten plus pages.


    "These are the best ones." She lightly spoke once she was done with the sorting.


    "Thank you." Rex responded and looked at the offers, then looked at Izumi once again, and she pointed at one of the two


    "I believe this is the best of them all. And it sould be apropriate compensation, even for a bloodmage.


    "Seems she is in a good mood" Rex laughed lighty," So consider yourself lucky." Then he looked at Kanaelia "And while not sincere, an apology is an apology, so you are excused this time. I have no words for Aina though, since she is her own person. I will make a slave out of you if there is another incident like that though." his words made chills go through the princess spine.


    "Inform me when the gate is ready. And prepare this as the compensation for my job." Rex hadned the elder the page with offer that Izumi suggested.


    "You may leave now." he added afterwards.


    The elder bowed alongside his retinue and then was led out of the property by Val once again. And while the elder knew it would be expensive, as such they had planned and prepared the offers accordingly, they still managed to secure it, and that was much more valuable than whatever they paid. Once back at their residence he informed the Silvermists of their sucsess, and a collective sigh of relief was heard at the news.


    Once Vas had escorted out the elven delegation, Rex looked at Aina and her mother, and spoke


    "Now that my Oyakodon is secured, why dont you introduce her Aina?" His words brought the girl out of her thoughts and hug with her mother.


    "Oyako what?" she asked, not quite understanding the word.


    "Dont you worry your pretty head about that. Introduction please." Rex repeated


    "Please, forgive my daughter, we are both just extremely happy to be reunited. My name is Leifia Silvermist, but I suppose now it is just Leifia. I am the former concubine of the Lord of the Silvermist Islands." she had stood up and curtsied to him with practised grace and elegance.


    "May I inquire as to my role in this place?"


    "Sure, but I doubt there is much to be explained. You just have to live here and help Aina out where needed." Since there were no outsiders present anymore, Rex removed his guise of the mage, a mischievous smirk appearign on his face "Or me."


    "Ow my," she lightly smiled and a motherly smile appeared on her face "Thank you for taking care of my daughter." she spoke once again.


    Rex carresed ainas hair a little bit and when the girl looed at him he pulled her in a sweet kiss. She blushed, and shoved a strugle that coud not even decieve a child. Once the kiss was over, she blushed even harder, her head tilted down out of embarasment


    "?ex... Mom." Rex raised an eyebrow, and responded "Okey." baffling everyone here as the next moment Leifia was in his arms and his tongue was invading her mouth. The super light energy manipulation he was performing subconsciously ensured the mature beauty was hooked on the feeling the moment their lips touched, and so there was no resistance to his move. After a solid minute or so they separated, a slight trail of saliva connecting their lips. Seeing his elven lover with her mouth open, staring at him he raised an eyebrow


    "Hmm? I did as you asked, no? Or you you want more?" and he was already in fromnt of her and pulled her in another kiss that lasted for a minute or two. Then he let her go, and placed a kiss on her forehead


    "Show your mother around the mansion. I am sure you are dying to show her the cats." that pulled her out of her state, a spark of exitement in her eyes as she almost dragged her mother away.


    "Make sure she is not late for dinner" Rex said to one of his succubi maids who was nearby, and the girl followed the elven pair. Then he sat back down as he looked at izumi who was deep in thoughts.


    "Worried about the war your nation is in right now?" he asked as he pulled her on his lap. The girl was quite filial and was alwasy thinking of ways to help her clan and nation.


    "Yes. That war is even more ridiculous than any before. True we are quite territorial and principled people and tend to see changes as something to avoid as much as possible, but it is for a reason. Our Ki arts are as powerfull as they are precisely because of this mindset." a pride in her species was notable in her voice.


    "So is it so suprising that we refuse to accept the way of some country next to our borders? And that is precisely why they want to conquer us. To bend us to their system."


    "Wait, another fanatical religion?" Rex interrupted her, frowning at the possibility.


    "Well, yes and no. It is more of the dogma they live by. We live in tune with nature and traditions of old, they are always changing and chaotic in their approach to life. A union of sects where the powerfull adn the talanted recieve the lions share of the recourses to reach greater hights sooner and elevate their sect to even greater heights."


    "And where is the conflict?" Rex inquired.


    "They demanded the right to evaluate our youth so they can join those sects of theirs. Th problem is that once a part of their sect, they believ they have the right to decide whom one should mary and have children with, to produce an even more powerfull heir for the sect. Naturaly we declined them and so, they declared war on us to seize the youth, or the generation after as their right."


    "Sheesh, fanatics everywhere. Think we should offer Neos assistance to them to break the sects spirit? I bet they must have some jade beauties among their ranks."


    "How did you know?"


    "Know what?"


    "That beautifull girls are called jade beauties by them."


    "I am just that mysterious. Let me guess, they also like to say ''''You are courting death!'' and ''You failed to recognize mount tai before you!''." Rex spoek adn laughed lightly remembering the cliche saying of the Xianxia novels he had read. ''There is no way a mount Tai would be here, so the reference should not exist.'' hethough as he laughed.


    "Hei, how did you know? One of the great sects over there, located on the biggest mountain renamed it to Mount Tai. It is said that their founding ancestor used to say exactly those two things, and upon founding his sect, renamed the mountain. No one even remembers how it was called originally." Rex deadpanned at the information, realising that another art enthusiast must have threaded this plane before him.


    "So, regarding Neo? do you wish to extend his offer? But bear in mind, he might ask for a few more beauties from the other clans who are at least close to you in their looks."


    "And what do you mean by that?" she asked, a frown on her face.


    "Well, since you are mine, there is no way they have girls more beautifull than you, is there." and his head dived to her neck, covering it with light kisses. She could feel from the connection the blank brand had that the man was quite honest in his words. While he was interested in countless beauties, he would always prioritize the girls he already had. And when Aina had one day jokingly asked how he plans to manage when he has too many girls, all seeking some attention and love, he just laughed and said teasingly, that then he would have them bussy with their children, while still shovering them with love.


    Rex had been working on his skills in this specific dirrection for that exact purpose. He could ensure that his girls were always satisfied in a rather short amount of time, thus having enough time to pleasure them all. The second important thing of note was that right now, only Izumi, Aina, Rashuun and now Leifia were not his slaves, changing the whole dinamic.Even if Rex didnt care much about it right now, if there was such a need, he could show more preferential treatment to the four of them.


    Rex was right to send one of the maids after Aina, since without her constant vigilance the mother and daughter pair would totaly miss the dinner. Rex now knew where the young girl got her love for cats from, since Leifia was just as infatuated with the cats as her daughter. The milf was enjoying Aishas cooking very much and praised the girl to high heavens, adn Rex rewarded the wolf girl with a rather long kiss as well, making Aishas already bright smile becoming even more radiating. Leifia recieved a room quite close to Aina, as the mother wanted to spend as much time with her daugher as possible, and Rex had no issues with that. There was only a small inquiry he made before they retired to their rooms for the night


    "So Leifia, how did you like your first half day in this house?"


    "It was exiting and warm welcome." she smiled lightly, a bit nostalgic for her previous home, but very soon a smile apepared on her face. She didnt have anyone she trully cared about back in the palace of the Silvermists. She was just another concubine who had birthed one child and mostly forgotten by their lord. Here she was welcomed adn her ony joy- her daugter was also here.


    "Just wait till breakfast." Rex smirked. "That will blow your top off." he sneaked a small peck on her lips, and dissapeared in his own grand bedroom, succubi twins draging him in, almost tearing his clothes off before he was even behind the door.

 Chapter 39: First job

    The morning turned out as Rex had anticipated. Leifia just stoped and remained motionless once she had the first bite of the heaven grade breakfast. Rex was having quite the fun teasing the woman after the meal regarding her lapse.


    "I told you, did I not." he teased the woman, seeing as she was still going absent minded every now and then, lured back to the unforgettable taste of heaven she had just had.


    "What was that? It tasted so divine." she asked "It must be unreasonably rare. You shoould not have wasted it on this old lady." she sighed, believing that such a thing would not be something she could get her hands on again.


    "Dissapointed that there will not be a next time?" Izumi asked knowingly. She had gone through the exact same thoughts when Rex had it served on her first visit. She was unreasonably happy and excited when she learned that she would be able to enjoy the same not only once a week, as Rex had innitially offered when he asked for her as a concubine, but it was served in breakfast every day. So she was more than willing to save her new compatriot from the same agonizing thoughts for the rest of the day.


    "Just last till morning, and your longing shall be cured." she spoke and smiled at the older woman.


    "Seriously?" Leifia asked, a spark of excitement clear in her voice.


    "Yes. That is more or less the standart for our breakfast. And the main ingridient is heaven grade meat, that Rex hunts in the deep floors, so I dont think it to be a lie when I say that we probably are one of the very, very few people who can indulge in such luxury on a daily basis." Izumi added.


    "It is not impossible that i could be drowning in pussy if I only offered the posibility of such treatment the the noble clans." Rex added, a smirk on his face. His words caused Izumi to blush a bit, since that was basicly identical to her case. Noticing her embarrased state, Rex quickly huged her from behind, peppering her neck with kisses.


    "Dont overthink useless things, my beautifull fox. You situation is special, since my offer was made with the knowledge that it was the most enticing thing I could have offered at that moment to lure you in." as he finished his words, he turned the kitsunes head and pulled her in a deep kiss, that lasted for more than a minute. He liked to show his attachment to the girls he was intimate with. Every day he would choose at least a few, and spend some extra time with them, showering them with affection, in addition to his efforts at night. He would now focus a bit more on Aisah and Aina along with her mother. He was a man of culture, and as such he had to indulge in the most cultured of dishes that existed. He will have his oyakodon, and possibly in more than just one interpretation, since he already have Rashuun and her twin daughters. He just had to combine the two in a single meal.


    Once he was done analyzing the data he collected from his experiment with the assistance of Brognis then slave couples, and after a few minor tweaks he had a working solution for his second barrier in his path to open the first of the ''Holy Whores'' establishment. The first issue was that he still needed more holy ladies from the echlisiarchy to work the place, but that too would soon be taken care of. He first had to solve his standing issues. Branding for Ven Hersts, Bear killing for Rashuun, The branding for the elves, and the Al Merhads with their snake people warlord issue.


    The couple days he had before the elven gate was ready he spent as he had already planned beforehand. More work on his magic and extra special attention to his wolfgirl and the elven mother and daughter pair. From their long makeout sessions he could tell that both girls were wery close to the point of no return, but the still held on. They all knew, that sooner, rather than later, the two girls would ask for him to go all the way, if not dirrectly pounce on him themselves. And while he was more than willing to sink his fangs in the two virgins, he was in no rush, since the longer he held back the greater the pleasure when they finaly succumb to their desire for each other.


    He was more interested to have a taste of elven milf sooner, and he had made it quite clear that Aina would be sharing her man with her mother, and to his suprise, they both were fine with it almost instantly. While Rex was innitially baffled, he later learned that even more bizzare things could happen among elves. Like for example a single male having wed more then four or five generations of a family. For elves, who could live for thousands of years, it was your basic tuesday to have a man desire a mother and a daughter or two of hers. So Rex, having recieved their acceptance sooner than he had innitially expected, moved even swifter, going from making out with one to the other, while the first was catching her breath. As such, Rex got his answer regarding something he had read in a book about the physiology of different species. He had confirmed the books accuracy once, when he was taking Rashuuns test.


    Rex had been upping the intensity of his makeout sessions with Leifia in particular, and the elven woman had been getting into it more and more. Now, at the end of the third day he was in her room, the milf in his lap as they were passionately kissing. Her hand around his neck as their tonges were engaged in a steamy fight for dominance, while his hands were kneading her soft and perky butt. She was more than excited, snice it has been quite some time since anyone had shown so much interest and desire towards her, and as such she was responding to all of his advances. As their makeout session kept going, Leifia started to grind herself against him, and he would respond in kind. The hardness she felt against her wet underwear indicated tha he was just as willing and excited as her, and when she could no longer take it, and one of her hands sneaked down to free his member from the confines of clothes, he flipped them both on the bed. She was now lying on her back as he used his mana chains to removed all the clothes in the way of their desired action, and without further waiting invaded her warm and waiting folds.


    Since he was holding back quite a bit on his energy manipulation, their session lasted for a few hours. And Rex was satisfied when he discovered that just like the sucubi mothers, the elves too kept their ability to lactate once they had birthed a child. He had to induce a few orgasms and spend a lot of time playing adn sucking Leifias gorgeous tits, but once her body responded, he could enjoy it to his hearts content, and enjoy he did. Once their prolonged session was over he brought her to an attached bathroom where he washed the mature beauty placed her to have a nice sleep after the tiring, yet wonderfull activity. Once done with that, he arrived at Ainas room, where the elven girl was sleeping together with Aisha, and he got in the bed snuggling in between the two. Once they sensed his presence, they too pulled closer, enjoying his presence as they slept. Rex did nothing naughty as he relaxed his mind and decided to have a few hour nap. He had a big day tommorow as the gate to Silvermist should be finished and he could deal with the job he had accepted with the elves. Then he would fill up his meat reserves for the girls while waiting for the next few gates to be finished, then he would plan his path in further detail, since he had many possible ideas already prepeared.


    The morning was mostly the same as ussual, with the only difference being Leifias more affectionate behaviour toward Rex, but that was to be exopected, and he didnt mind. In th afternoon the elven elder arrived, notifying the maid recieving them that the gate is fully operational, and they are ready for the fulfillment of the job Rex had agreed upon. Since Rex was fully ready and prepeared he didnt need much time to be on his way. He did however ask his two elven beauties if they wished to accompany him to Silvermist, to which both refused. Even Rex offer to let them bully anyone they had grievances with did not change their minds, however they requested for that specific offer to be kept in his mind, sicne Aina had a few of the imperial wives in mind, who deserved some proper reality check for all the mistreatment the two had recieved throughout their lives. And while it was nothing too eccessive, when it all was piled together it did result in quite unpleasant time. Rex agreed immediatly, since he had no reason not to. He also understood their desire to not went their anger right now, since they would much rather spend time together and make new memories in their new home than start their knew life with a bunch of negative and vindictive actions. THey had all the time in the world due to the longgevity of the elves.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Izumi, do you perhaps want to join me sincemy lovely elves had declined?" Rex asked izumi, since she liked such adventures, but the girld shook her head


    "And miss at least one of Aishas masterfull breakfasts? I would rather not." Her sentiment was shared across most of the girls. And while it was mostly in humor, it was also a testament to the magic his wolfgirl woudl achieve in kitchen.


    "Once I am done with teh request of Al Merhads I will make sure you have more help in the kitchen Aisha, since the amount of girls in the core group keeps growing."


    "i would love to help out, if that is okey with you." Suddenly Leifia spoke. "And while I am nowhere near Aishas level, I had to do most of the cooking for myself adn Aina when she was little, so i have some skiil, if I do say so myself. And it sounds nice- beign able to make something for you from time to time." She spoke with a very ligth blush on her face. She was more than willing to speak her mind, even if she was a bit embarrased for the time being.


    In the end Rex did not have to go alone as the twins offered themselves to accompany him. Rex sometimes wondered, whether the two succubi loved the heaven grade meals or being filled by him with his seed more, since the always had almost identical expression after the two actions. And he had guessed that the probability of being the sole recievers of his attention for a night or two would result in more blissfull moments in average, since Rex woudl be all theirs for the duration of their trip. Rex gave a quick kiss to hsi girs and left with the twins toward the elven elder who was waiting at a small gazebo near the gate.


    As always in his mage disguise Rex waled to the elven senior with the twins sticking close to him, and once there he signaled for their departure. The elder had already exited the gazebo, and the few guards he had come with moved with the man.


    "Lets get going then." Spoke Rex adn once the elder and his entourage started to move he followed. Outside there were waiting a few carriages, and the trio boarded the same one as the elder, and were on their way to the Transit hub. It was an area specifically designated for teh construction of the gates. A unique building reserved for each one being built. Carriages were left outside the street of sorts since further movement was allowed on foot only. Soon they had reached a newly grown groove of sorts, the entire buildings slot looked like an extravagant and mystical mini forest. One would expect no less from the elves.


    Once they crossed the arc of intertwining trees they were greeted by a rather peacefull and quiet athosphere. They moved in pleasant silence throught a few rooms untill they reached the gate in a rather fortified room. From what he heard from Izumi, every gate location is quite fortified to ensure it is easy to defend in case of an attack or any other emergency. As they crossed the gate, once the elder had checked things one last time to ensure everything okey, the twins had their arms interlocked with Rex. They were not letting their man go no matter what. They knew their mother would eventually have quite a few children with him, and since their dual cultivation sessions, or in their case trio sessions, were increadibly pleasurable and provided them with notable growth, they were more than willing to be among the first to concieve. And while they were well aware of Rex ability to ensure no accidents, it did not lessen their enthusiasm.


    On the other side of the gate they were greeted by a room with similar fortifications and a few well dressed elves among the guards. Rex cared little for whatever ass kissing was about to happen and so he informed the elder that he wanted to be brought to the residence prepared for him during his stay here, and he also wanted to know when could he proceed with the branding. As the elder answered to Rex questions they passed the group of younger elves. Their arrogant facial expressions and the lack of any other elders or too shiny armours indicated that these stupid shits must have come here secretly with whatever stupid plots of their own, so before they could even begin to execute their plans, the mage was already leaving, having paid them no attention while discussing things with the elder.


    The youngsters felt humiliated with how the mage ignored them, and the fact the elder had not done anything either infuriated them even more. Some of the dumber ones were looking with lust and greed at the twins clinging to the arms of the mage. So new plots were woven to achieve whatever it was that they wanted, and it did not escape Rex senses. He sighed and then said to the elder


    "I feel like some of those young masters did not learm from Kanaelias mistake. So once we are in our residence I advise you to inform your king, that while I might not hold him vand your house accountable for whatever stupid shit they plan, I will execute them, or worse, if they happen to do things they should not, and incure my wrath." The elder nodded, and gestured one of his guards to notify their ruler of the mages warning. The elder was smart enough to understand the gravity of the situation. He was invardly cursing the way their current king was approaching the education and the competition that was going on among his children.


    As they walked to Rex''s temporaty residence many different topics were discussed. Well it was mainly Rex asking and the elder providing rather comprehensive answers, while leaving a room for a stepback if he had somehow made a blunder. Rex could appreciate such leveled and proffesional attitude from the man, and so he did not make it difficult for his guide. Once they were in front of his temporary residence, Rex could not fault their choice regarding the place. A rather simple but cozy looking home, once again made of some sort of trees grown in a very controllled way, similar to the building in Blythe, and a few others Rex had seen on the way here.


    Once inside a few dozen maids were moving around the residence, ensuring that everything was clean and spotless. Once everything was taken care of, and his questions for the most part answered, Rex informed the elder that he would be resting in the home along with his girls, and the older elf should come for them once they would be leaving for the branding. Rex also said that he had no interest in recieving any guests, so he expected the man to ensure he was not interrupted during his rest. The elder once again nodded and sent a few other of his retinue to ensure arrangements were made to ensure Rex requests were fulfilled.


    The remaining part of the day and night Rex spent with the twins, ensuring they got what they had wished for when they asked to accompany him. After hours of intense lovemaking session he took the girls to to bathroom and spent a few more hours soaking in a relaxing bath once the twins were nice and clean after their exercise. It was slightly past midnight and he was laying in the bed, two half naked beauties resting with their heads on his chest from both sides. It was moments like this that he trully enjoyed the most in his new life. That and the great feeling when he drains some new big monster he had just taken down. He was constantly using his mana to also scout the surroundings of the house and the personnel inside to ensure nothing catches him by suprise. Luckaly, the elven elder apparently worked fast and efficiently, since there had been no interruptions during the night, and his visit had gone without any sort of hitches untill the elf arrived in the morning, ready to proceed with the plan at hand.

 Chapter 40: Only the desert remains

    The Elven Elder, who had accompanied him here, finaly introduced himself, when Rex said he must hace missed the mans name, and he indeed had, since the man had introduced himself then they arrived at Rex''s residence to hand over Leifia. Orion invited him to breakfast, and Rex somewhat reluctantly agreed, on the condition he would not be annoyed with the presence of countless family members bugging him and interupting his meal.


    "Dont think too much of it. Its just that there is no way anyone could reliably provide an equal level of quality when it comes to breakfast, when comparing it to what we have back home." And seeing the light frown on the elfs face Rex elaborated "You must have heard there is quite the supply of earth grade meat in Blythe, right?" to which the elven elder noded, as he had indeed recieved such info. And while the supply was there, it did not mean just anyone could buy it.


    "I have unlimited acsess to said supply, so we are having at nothing less than that level of meals, and my cheff happens to be a wolf girl." And those words brought an understanding to the Orion. The mage had the best ingridients and one of the best possible innate species for the cooking as his cheff. To put it bluntly, he was used the absolute best when it came to gastronomic pleasures, and while their food was of high quality and prepeared by true masters, there were things skill alone could not surpass. No matter how skillfull, every ingridient was unique, and had to be prepeared as such, and those absolutely minimalistic differences could not be percieved by just anyone. It was precisely why Rex had asked brogni to contact whomever provided Aisha, to inquire if he had any other wolfgirls trained or being trained, since Rex could have Aisha finish their training regarding the cooking, and there was no need to train their obidience to perfection, since his brands would cover that.


    The elder however was experienced and was a rather good judge of character, so he had somewhat anticipated Rex preferances


    "Please follow me. I had asumed you might have a request of similar nature, so there has already been prepared a seperate dining room where you could enjoy your meal together with your companions."


    "Good." Rex nodded approvingly, quite pleased with the perceptiveness of the man. Once they reached the dining room, Orion ordered the few maids on standby to bring in the prepeared food. Rex did have quite a bit of Aishas cooking stockpiled in one of the rings, and he and the twins already had a filling heaven grade breakfast as per their custom. Still. once Rex was sure no suspicious energy emanated from the meal , he had a very light snack along the twins. He had to remain without tea prepared my Millie or Izumi herself, sicne the older kitsune had taken a liking to spoiling Rex with her own skills. She was a master as well as a direct descendant of one of the noble clans of the kitsune.


    Once th breakfast was done with, Rex was led to a rather large room where quitea few men prepeared for a battle were waiting. Rex evaluated the people present and did not find anyone of interest. Sure, there were mages along the people present, but none was strong enough to evoke any sort of interest in the man. Rex kept a notable distance from the gathered group, and Orion excused himself as he whent to look for the leader of the subjugation force to inform of their readiness to begin.


    Whne he returned he was accompanied by another, notably younger elf in quite fancy and well decorated armor.


    "Prince Typhon here is the leader of the party" spoke Orion once the two elves were close enough to Rex. The young elf made a small nod, believeing that to be enough acknowledgement for the person before him. The elf was aware that Rex had arrived just yesterday so he asked


    "How much time do you need to set up the ritual site for the branding?"


    "I am perfectly ready, and we can begin whenever you so desire. Do note that if the target you are hunting for is above peak A class, no branding will take place, since that is the cap that has been negotiated." and seeing the young commander still staring at him Rex added with his hands gesturing as well "Shooo, off you go. I dont have time to waste. Capture it so I can do my part and return home." The young elf scowled, turned around and left, signaling to the gathered men to ste out.


    "Was it necesarry to act so direct?" Orion asked in a defeated tone, already expecting the arrogance of the youngster to bet the better of him in some way, shape or form.


    "Unfortunately yes. He seemed to believe himself my better. And while he has barely reached the S class, it is still not enough to have worth in my eyes. Unlike you, who had shown enough wisdom and patience, he needs a lesson in humility for him to grow further." And with that said, the four people followed the group of hunters on their way to the location of the beast Rex had to tame. A few hours later, they finaly managed to track it down. It was high A class entity. It looked like a deer with a moss like mane around its neck and a few branch like growths coming out from his back, making it look like the creature had a miniature forrest on its back.


    It took the party of elves another hour or so to corner and exaust the creature. Once it was slumped on the ground, unable to escape anymore Rex approached its location. Then he walked up to the creature, touched its head and activaved the spell of branding. Very soon the creature was under Rex command, and with that Rex told Orion to get some of the mages to restore the energy of the beast, so they could quickly return. He had no interest or desire to remain here, since many of his girls were waiting for his return. And to his question regarding the master of the beast, Orion informed it should be transferred to their ruler. Rex just shrugged and told him to lead the way once he beast was rested enough to travel freely.


    They spen another hour or so to return to the city they had departed, and once Rex was at the same place he spnt the night in, Orion hefl oce again, to arrange for the ruler to be present so the creature could be transferred over to them, and Rex could recieve his promissed rewards. Twins, being the succubi, became slightly mischievous, trying to entice Rex to have some fun while they were waiting. Orion had informed them it would take no less than an hour to prepeare everything, so , having the time to spare, Rex indulged in the twins provocation. He did bring out the big guns, and whith his energy manipulation, the twins were exausted adn happy in less than thirty minutes. Another twenty minutes later, once they were done with the bath to freshen themselves they moved to the living room and relaxed on one of the sofas while they waited for the final part of their deal with the elves.


    It did not take long once the hour had gone by for Orion to arrive once again, this time accompanied by a few more men and women. The elves had seen the Callion deer Rex had branded obediently waiting outside the building. The man with the most fancy clothes was standing in the middle of the group, some sort of wooden crown inlaid with expensive looking gems adorned the blone head of his, hiving a slightly more regal aura to the man.


    "The king yes" Rex asked as he stood up and turned to the man with the crown.


    "Yes, he is the ruler of the Silvermist elves" spoke Orion, but before he could lay down the titles and whatnot of their ruler Rex continiued "We both are bussy, so lets get it done and return to our own matters." He saw the interest in the kings gaze as he saw the twins, and he was not in the mood for regicide right now. So he was willing to let the king live by taking away his ability to do something stupid. He also could infer where did the arrogance and lack of awareness came from in the younger royals of this clan.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    As he left the building twins were right behind him, and soon after the elves joined him outside, where the Callion deer was waiting.


    "The payment." Rex spoke as he bent his hand in ninety degrees, his elbow resting against his hip. Recieving the nod from his ruler, Orion brought over a space ring to Rex. Once he had checked its content was as agreed beforehand, Rex waived his hand and the brand on the deers forehead glowed.


    "A drop of blood in the middle of the brand." Rex spoke and the king approached the beast, pricked his finger and a drop of his blood fell on the glowing brand. Then the center piece of the brand changed, no longer mostly emplty. It now had a complicacted rune ranking. Then the brand dimmed down, eventually dissapearing from the sight.


    "Congratuations on your personal Callion deer. Since we are done it, is high time I return. Orion, will you lead the way, or do we return by ourselves?" As the king was testing his ownership over the beast, giving it a few simple commands, that were executed to the best of the beasts abilities, Orion was interacting with Rex.


    "It would be wrong to not escort you, so please allow me." Orion spoke as he gestured Rex in the dirrection of the larger road just outside the courtyard of the small but cozy property. As they were leaving one of the extras who had arrived with the king spoke


    "I wonder if the sir might be interested in an exchange of goods?" Rex had noticed the same person among the arrogant lordlings he ignored on the day they arrived in the Silvermist capital through the gate. The greed was apparent when the lustfull youngster was looking at the twins, but Rex was not enraged just yet. While insolent, looking alone was not quite enough to move him to end the offenders life , so without turning back, or stopping he replied.


    "Not interested." And kept going. Rex was at least pleased the king had quelled and hid any momentary interest that had risen in his eyes for the twins. A testament to the mans ability, since he had managed to remain asa the ruler for a few centuries, if what Orion said was right. Undoubtedly the way Rex branded the beast was explained to the king, ensuring he was aware of the stupidity in offending the mage. He did not stop the child of his however, since Rex had implied that he would kill the offenders dirrectly, and not blame the clan if it did not aid in the actions of said offender. This also served as a test to his children, who, he had slowly come to understand, were too arrogant and uneducated. He would have to revise the way the succesion wars and develop[ment of the youngsters would be conducted in the future.


    Not willing to lose the opportunity before him and letting his desire rule over caution the lordling spoke further


    "How about a wager then? Surely sir mage would be interested in a small game?"


    "There is nothing you have thats worthy to wager. So reign in that greed and lust for something you cant have. You will live longer that way." Were the last words Rex spoke as teh twins were already in the carriage. He followed inside, and then Orion also entered, where he apologized to Rex for the stupidity and audacity of the young elf. Rex just chuckled, easing teh old elf


    "Your king was not taking any action to reprimand his son. Do you know why?" he then asked the old elf, understanding blooming on the aged face


    "Seeing the worth of said son, while allowing you to deal with it as you deem approprioate, since the yongster had failed as a noble in his duty to elevate the clan, and you had stated that individuals take responsibility for their own actions if the clan was not assisting." And Rex nodded to the mans analasis.


    Rex was home in a few more hours and he spent the rest of the day with his girls. he estimated he had a few more days before the next gate or Ven Hersts slaves for branding would arrive, so once he had his fair late snack, consisting of a protein shake in the elf style, he retired to his basement chamber. He would finaly elevate an affinity of his, with the usage of the potion he recieved from his trade with Ven Hersts. His girls were informed, and so he pilled out the vial, and then spent a few minutes examining the liquid, noting down and and all energy mingling that happened in said liquid. If he could note teh unique structure, which he had just done, he could recognize other similar compounds to it. He was sure there must exist the same sequence in nature, or one very close to it, and that could become another avenue of business he could pursue, if he ever gets bored or something.


    Finaly, he uncorked the vial and downed the liquid. As soon as the liquid entered his troat, it evaporated and drew him into a sort of a trance. He could sense all the different elements of the world, both physical and ethereal within his grasp. All he had to do was extend his hand witha singular though and pull his chosen element toward himself. He had considered many possible elements that could assist him in his endeavour to become stronger. And he had come to a conclusion. He focused his entire being on a singular element, every paralel though process he could emply and the entire strenght of his soul, all converged on a single thought as he pulled.


    Space. His entire being, his soul was enveloped within the law, adding marks related to it, giving Rex an instinctual understanding and familiarity with the concept. Just like with soul magic, he could now start developing his own blend of spells employing the laws of space. His enourmous soulpower had allowed him to reach an unreasonable proficiency in the law, something one would consider impossible. But to be honest, soul was a concept barely anyone ahd any answers about and only blood mages trully had the capacity to delve and strenghten it. Rex spent the most of the night, pondering over and theorizing the application and limits of his space capabilities. His new affinity with space being on the same. if not higher level than soul gave him an endless path of growth.


    And his recent travel through the gate had given him a clear path to the first spell to develop. He would dedicate a few of his paralel though proceses to develop and emergency teleport, to ensure no matter where he was, his girls would always be within his reach. A monster he might be, an insatiable his appetite could be, but he was not willing to lose what he had, and to ensure their safety he would develop countless levels of protection for them.


    It was around five in the morning when he left his basement, and moved to the room where Irina, Mel and Val had taken residence, and he spent a few hours ensuring they were smothered in enough attention. The trio, while not as ravenous as the twins, and bussy with running the mansion together with Izumi, would never turn down his advances and attention. None of his girls would with the exception on Eira. That angel was quite feisty. She had mellowed out a bit after all the session Rex had withe her, and now she almost didnt have to be ordered to serve him as his mere presence was often enough to have the blonde beauty leak juices a her body was getting excited and prepared for a heavenly pleasurable time. The most interesting thing with her was that once started, she became wild, her dirty talk reaching levels even the twins could not. All of her actions were focused on a single task, single purpose, and she was trying very hard to achieve it. And while Rex was tempted more than once, he had been sucsesfull in keeping himself in check. Even with all of her efforts, and regardless the amount he poured in her, he remainded in controll since he want ready yet to have little angels flying around his mansion.


    He then spent a few days in the dungeon, once again increasing his stock of both earth and heaven grade meat, and reffilling the stocks of Eredar. The elf had to recently increase the price of the meat since he had recieved more and more requests, adn the onl yway to maintain his current pace was to lower the demand by higher price. During this small window of time Ven Hersts had brought their two combat slaves for branding, and Rex got it over with quite fast. His job for Rashuun was also completed once the gate to her city was completed. And they celebrated it with a proper Oyakodon. Rex spent an entire day with the twins and their mother, and to make the dish extra special they added a pinch of holy and pulled Eira in their game. That extended their session from the innitial expected half a day to full day, since in the presence of the switched Eira, the trio also stepped up their game, trying to entice Rex for the very same thing Eira was working so hard. He still held on, if barely. Returning to his routine of hunting for a day in the dungeon and spending the rest of the time with his girls, the time aproached to the completion of the gate to Al Merhad. But before that, after one of their lovemaking sessions Izumi initiated a conversation they had a while ago, that was left unfinished, since she needed some time to decide.

 Chapter 41: The savage snakes

    As Rex was enjoying the his time with the kitsune by his side, Izumi looked at him and spoke


    "Were you serious when you offered to help my nation?" she had been mullinh over their conversation, and she could not help but hope he indeed was not against the idea to help the kitsunes out.


    "For the most part." and seeing her silently waiting he explained in further detail "I had teh feeling you would eventually ask regardless, and to ensure it does not happen after a tragedy that would wound you, I believed it better to ensure you know you have the right to ask. There is however a caviat. Rex would not move to solve the issue. Only Neo could possibly take on such task. And that demands an appropriate sacrifice from the kitsunes. There is no way such a person would move for anything ordinary. He is soloing the deep floors after all."


    izumi nodded to his words. Since Rex wandted to keep the true archon a seperate persona in the view of the world, Neos actions needed solid reasoning.


    "So that what you meant with a few more kitsune princeses. Since Neo is an aquintance and a business partner, he would inevitably encounter either me or Milie. And since we are extremely exotic and desired, it would make sense for him to agree to help, provided he gets a few of our princeses as payment for services provided."


    "Precisely. And you know I would demand the best. The qeustion is, are your people ready to sacrifice some of their most beautifull flowers to end the war? Neo would have to raid and anihilate a sect or two in a rather show off style to ensure the opposing side doesnt even think of repeating the war at a later time."


    "I will persuade them. We wish to experience as little pointless bloodshed as possible. And seeing the casuallities on both sides duting the year we have been skirmishing, the war would end with extreme cassualities on both sides. If we have to sacrifice our people regardless, I believe it is the duty of the noble clans to shoulder the cost, if it means a couple of lives sacrificed would save countless others while also maintaining our way of life."


    "Two of the most beautifull girls. Seven tails like yourself."


    "Neo is quite greedy, is he not?" izumi responded to his price, and he in return grinned, explaining his reasoning


    "Of course. He is a true archon, who had just wiped out Echlisiarchy''s embasy after he was attacked, so he is more sure of himself than ever. Next, he will have to take out at least one sect, possibly more, so thats a lot of work. Third, Rex has two kitsunes, so he wants two as well, but he has to be able to show off to Rex. manly pride."


    "And why would he allow me to negotiate? I am deeply involved after all."


    "Precisely why. He trusts Rex, and he knows you would not dare to fuck him over, when it comes to the safety of your people. Also, raise the number to three girls."


    "Huh? Why?"


    "The third one is your choice. The first two must be absolute beauties. The gems among your princeses. The third is for you to vent."


    "Explain." izumi spoke, her eyes slightly squinted.


    "Any girl ever annoyed or bullied you enough to dream of getting even? Pick the guilty party. I will make her your slave so you can vent the grievances."


    "Just for that?" she asked in confusion.


    "Just for that. A gift to my sweet and hardworking Izumi." Rex answered and kissed her forehead. An evil smile adorned her beautifull face, some unpleasant memories resurfacing, then she spoke, mischief in her voice


    "I might have a person in mind, who would be perfect as my personal slave." She then got up on Rex, her hips grinding against Rex. "The ways I would have her serve you." she bit her lip, immagining many different scenarios. "if the council agrees, and i am sure they will eventually, you will have your three peerless beauties, one of which will be mine to command." seeing Rex raised eyebrow she explained "My slave is also and exceptionaly beautifull. She just so happens to be a bitch." They spent another hour after that to quench the trist izumi had awakened after the gift Rex had chose for her. Then, after a quick bath they both set off to their own tasks.


    Nothing of note happened and so the next day arrived, and with it, the envoys from Al Merhads. They had brought over the two branding targets, and that part was quickly sorted out. And before the merchants left, Rex informed them they might have a visitor soon. An anquintance of his, a mercenary by the name of Neo would be coming by. The man is a true archon so it would be easy to recognize him among many other people because of his eyes. Rex added the huys could possibly solve their issue of the warlord, but regarding conditions and rewards they would have to talk and negotiate on their own.


    Another couple of days later an archon approached the gate building of the Al Merhad clan. And without much delay, the archon spoke as soon as the guards were prepearing to question the approaching man.


    "The name''s Neo. I believe your people should have warned of my eventual arrival."


    "One moment sir." The older of the guards spoke, and signaled to a young guy, dressed in a very light armor "hope you dont mind waiting for a short moment. Juts sent the kid after our supperior. He should be in the know regarding such things."


    "Okey" was all Neo said, and he moved a bit to the side where multiple benches were located and sat down on one. He enjoyed the nice weather the world had blessed him with this day. And just a few minutes later he heard steps approaching, and once his eyes opened and saw the aproaching man, he was greeted with a rather deep bow from the one coming to Rex. The man had seen his eyes, so it was clear an archon the masn was, so haing already been informed, the supervisor bowed and greeted Neo.


    "It is our honor to meet someone as exceptional as you. All procedures had been gone through, so please come with me , so you can travel to our beautifull capital Desharan." Neo nodded and followed the man. A few minutes later he crossed the gate, and once he had exited the building on the other side, a new world came into his view. While he could feel the desert heat in the air, there were quite a few palm trees, or a relative of theirs, were planted alongside the paved and expansive streets. Shade could be found on every street, giving a place to hide from the merciless sun of the place. Uniquely built carts with well covered roofs, creating a pleasant shade where to hide from the sun while dealing with the skotkeepers, regardless if buying, hagling or selling some goods off.


    The streets were packed with people moving about with their own plans and actions. Once Neo had a general knowledge regarding the dirrection to go, he just found and aquired a map of sorts and used it to traverse the unknown area. With the map and a letter from the supervisor of the gate in Blythe he followed the route he had decided to take, sometimes stopping at some street vendor to examine some small trinket due to its weird energy signature. There were countless such things sold by the vendors, so Neo bought a few, deciding to check it in full detail and perhaps figure out its purpose and maybee figure a proper way to utilize them.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Not long after he arrived in front of a rather splendid building and after a small moment of appreciating the precision with which it was built, Neo entered it. He was greeted by a rather large hall, a counter at the far end of it. The building served as a hub for mercenaries. Since here adventurers were much rarer, mercenaries had somehow taken over the most of the things adventurers would do. So since Rex already had a plan of action, he moved to a corner of the counter, where a man in guards uniform sat. Al Merhads had a seperate dude working here for requests made with the clan as one part, and he also evaluated and exchanged the the spoils of the hunters expedition.


    Neo placed the sealed letter on the counter in front of the guard


    "Explanation is inside." with his words over the guard slowly opened the parcel when he was sure it was indeed a letter and not some sort of shenenigans. Quickly reading throught its content, the guard excused himself, apologising he had to bring a more qualified person to handle the sittuation. A while later appeared a well dressed and well endowed woman of arabic descent. She then spent almost an hour beofore Neo could leave. They had moved to a private room where the lady explained him what was known about the snake people movement and the largest traffic. Also the known locations marked on a map where some sort of strategic recourses were being grown, and many other important places of interest. That included the few actual camp sites used by the snake people giving Neo a few possible ways to plan ahead. This time he was alone since he would be quite bloodthirtsy it was better to move as such.


    With enough knowledge aquired and armed with map, he proceeded to leave the city to start his exploring. He had grown a lot and now he no longer had the same issues he used to have when needing to navigate. Now he could do it quite efficiently, so he had no need for a guide who would be left in the dust very soon after departure. He spent a few hours going with quite scary speeds. And while innitially his search showed no results, he had finaly found a group of snake people scouts. The naga like creatures had much dryer skin, if compared to aquatic life. They had addopted increadibly well to the dry terrain of their home. Remaining quite the distance away Neo continiued to follow the group, and close to the night he was lead to some cave entrances, cut in the side of a small desert mountain.


    He had noticed the way the scouts moved and evaluated many different aspects, noting many different locations, that Neo asumed were some sort of trading routes. Every time they marked their maps they had stopped at some sort of a notable landmark, that could be used to orient oneself in the desert area. Large, almost rib like stones that protruded out of the sands, hundreds of meters high, old and gigantic stumps of dryed up trees and many other such locations. Rex knew he would have to drain quite a few of these snakepeople to learn their language since they were not using common. He knew they could speak it but among themselves it was not used.


    So Rex waited for a few more hours, and once a night had begun, he saw another party leave the caves. This one was much better armed, and Rex asumed it was not just a scouting party but either a hunting group or a raiding party. And so Neo trailed the group, untill a few hours later they had reached their destination. A small oasis was not far from the group, and Rex could see decent sized caravan of sorts camped there for the night. Guards were patrolling, ensuring noone would sneak up on the fifty something sleeping members.


    And while the caravan had a few B class guards, there were not many of them, and the snakemen group even had a couple of A ranks. Neo did nothing to interfere for the time being, since he was not sure of the modus operandi of the snakemen. He was quite sure they planned to raid the caravan, but the specific tactics, approach and teh way of handling the aftermath was unknown to him. So he decided to watch it unfold, so he could plan accordingly his actions in response to the way the raiders acted. If they would killa few guards, then rob the caravan he might have to evaluate the group more to come with an apropriate response.


    He soon realized that he had wasted some of his brainpower in his previous ministrations. What he had heard from the representative of Al Merhads back in Blythe seemed to be true. He would need a larger sample size to finalize his own opinion, but for now he had to agree that the male snakepeople were nothing more than ravenous beasts. They charged at the caravan guards, not even trying much to hide their approach. The few A class snakemen led the charge and quickly killed the guards tearing them apart in the process. The first spilling of blood seemed to awaken even more of their bestial instincts, driving them into a frenzy. Limbs were torn from the deffenders and parts were swallowed right then and there. It did not matter whether male, female or a child got in their way. All to the last were killed and torn apart. That included the pack animals as well. At least those that did not manage to tear away from their bindings and run away in fear and terror.


    Once only snakemen were among the living in the now empty camp, their blood frenzy calmed down and as they were chopmping down a bodypart here or there, they collected their quary in space rings and bags. Once everything was looted another among them stayed in the now empty place filled with blood stains. It murmured while holding its staff, and a few minutes later, the blood soaked sand patches sunk into the ground, leaving behind no traces of the recent slaughter. It was quite fascinating how not a single of the plans was sunk alongside the blood, but Neo reasoned that it was most likely water magic that pulled the blood deeper into the earth, and not soil itself moving. Therewas no way otherwise the plants would remain as is.


    Neo then followed the raiding party back to the caves where he waited a bit away from the place untill dawn. He was also slowly seeping his mana into the surroundings. He was prepearing the place for a senaky barrier. He needed full knowledge of the size and layout of the caves as well as the structure and lifestyle of the denizens. Just a bit after the dawn he was done with his preparations, and scouting. His fine mana control had allowed him to envelop the entire cave complex in his mana without alarming anyone to his actions. And with that foundation in place he could erect a barrier just as sneakily and from then on fully evaluate the place enveloped and everything going on inside.


    The cave complex was rather expansive, sicne he noticed a little more than five hundred beings inside. What was quite peculiar was that out of those five hundred only aproximately thirty were females, separated in three groups. Two groups, twelve and twelve were in what looked like birthing chambers. In each of the rooms the women, who looked like beautifull humans with the lover body of a snake could be divided in two categories. One, where they were heavily pregnant and laying eggs, with some who moved the egs to some sort of incubation chambers as they were birthed. The other group were chained, each to a bed of their own, and some members of the returning raid had come during the night to rape them untill satisfied. Indicated by the way they pushed them down and held quite brutaly as they had their fun. The third group of eight were nursing a set of eggs as well, but the procedure seemed much different than the other two chambers. Rex would know what all that was about as he would have a nice talk with the women oce he was done with the purge. he only hoped that snakepeople were similar to dungeon orcs- with a much more powerfull leader they could become more civil, as even with his twisted morals the way they treated their own women felt just incredibly wrong, if not retarded.


    As he approached the barrier and entered the sealed space, he withdrew his terasured sword Limitless. It would drink its fill of blood today. As he exaled, prepeared for the slaughter, he dashed forward. His movement drew attention from the huards at the entrence, but it mattered little. as a blurr, he appeared in front of them, swinging his swords and ending their lives in an instant. His practice with the space and soul magic had birthed a new technique. One he would use exclusively as Neo. Cosmic ravens he named it. It was a variation of his mana constructs, mixed with his space attribute. They were seperate automatons, that fly around like ravens, and performed the same function as his mana chains. They would be used as the medium for Rex to use drain without touching every single corpse he wanted to drain. The only similarity an outsider could see between his mana chains and cosmic ravens was the disintegration and mana dust of the corpses as they scattered. But many different magic spells resulted in similar, if not the same result, just with varying degrees of intensity, so he was not too worried about someone connecting the dots.


    And so, he spent the entirety of the day, immersed in his slaughter, since even when the compound was on alert due to his slaughter, the sheer size of the complex of caves ensured Neo had to do quite a bit of legwork to move from one group to the next. And so, around midnight he had finally finished with his cleansing. Only the thirty odd women were remaining in their three chambers. Neo would first visit the two with twelve women within and then, once he had more awareness whats up with the situation would he move to where the six were with the couple of eggs in their care.

 Chapter 42: Headhunter

    One of the things Rex found somewhat interesting while traversing the cave complex was the cloth covers, that were used as a sort of doors to seperate different rooms. The snakemen were nowhere near sofisticated or civil enough to spend any time whatsoever on things such as non warfare crafting, adn even in terms of weapons all they had were things they had looted from some of their raids. Neo was thinking the best way to enter the first breeding chamber, and as a man of culture, he popped his head past the cloth and spoke in an excited way


    "HERE''S JHONNY!!"


    Sadly the response was alert and defensive postures of the women inside. An unknown entity had somehow infiltrated the village, and had even reached them. While treated roughly, and used by almost any of teh sucsesfull hunters, they were still considered important comodity in the tribe, since they were the main lifeforce of the new blood flowing in.


    "Who speaks common." Neo spoke in common, to check if any here understood it. He saw a few shifty glances, yet not a single woman snake lady dared to speak, so he utilized his newly aquired knowledge of their snake tongue. Draining teh few hundred warriors was enough to learn the basics of it. And any appendages he didnt have to make it sound the way it was meant was solved with the help of mana manipulation.


    "I will ask once more, and I expect a proper response, or you all will end up just like all the warriors in the tribe. DEAD." It was difficult to discern, what scared the women more- the fact that he was speaking snake tongue or the implication that all the warriors were dead. If that could be trusted.


    "SPEAK!" Neo raised his voice, and what seemed to be the younger one among the twelve flinched, and in a trembling soft voice responded in snake tongue.


    "Some barely understand common, just a few words, not enough for answering."


    "At least someone speaks, snake tobgue will do as well. So lets start. What are the differences between this and the other two chambers with women?" he continiued in snake tongue. And to his question answered on of the pregnant snake ladies


    "This as well as the other large one is for the birthing and hatching of their new warriors. The last room is where they have their next generation of mothers hatched and raised. Women of our kind need a lot of specific conditions to lay eggs that hatch into females, so only the true daughters of this tribe recieve that honour. Ones like us are used untill we are worn out by birthing new warriors."


    "Hmm? What then of the ones in slavery? I heard only daughters are born to the few that are enslaved and every one seems to be a hybrid."


    "Lack of our genes. No warrior can develop." this time responded the other one of the pregnant snake ladies.


    "So all of you here and in the second chamber are not from this tribe correct?" Neo asked and saw all twelve nod.


    "Warrioirs? All without exception?" he asked as he pointed at the pregnant ladies, and once again recieved nods. Then he gave a mental command and his cosmic ravens swarmed the two mothers, and and a few cries later the two women were left alone once again. They no longer had protruding bellies. Neo had used his drain with surgical precision, removing all traces of the eggs existance.


    "Waste of space." Then his ravens flocked over to the remaining eggs, not sparing a single one. This was purge, Neo knew it very well, but much like with parasites, he could muster no remorse in his actions, nor would he ever even try. Some creatures should not exist. He then moved to the second room, and repeated the purge just like in the previous room, and he then moved towards the last room with living beings inside. The twenty four women had subconsciously followed after him, since they had no idea what was to be their fate. Once Neo arrived in front of the last room, he glanced back and asked


    "What would you do with those inside?" he asked the women behind him, sine they had suffered at the hands of this tribe, and the ones ahead were a part of it, and even recieved quite a good treatment. The queen mother of the tribe is always selected from among these women. neo had slain the previous one who fought alongside a rather large sized snakeman. It was in the middle of the A class, and the queen was low tier A class, so they were no challenge, especially with Limitless being employed. And even the two mages this tribe had were far too weak to even give Neo some hints on ways to develop or modify his magic further.


    "While part of our oppressors, the women of our race are gentle and not to blame, nor are the life in the eggs they are nurturing. We bear no ill will towards them." Spoke one of the older ones after the girls had conversed among themselves for a while.


    "Can you tell how long till they hatch?" Neo asked. How different were his thoughts now. He could see the hypocrisy in his actions, but to be honest he also didnt think it was so black and white. The eggs he exterminated before would grow up to be just another batch of savage monsters- nothing more,nothing less. Here however, the future held gentle and beautifull ladies. It was an obvious strugle to even think of eliminating them.


    Once inside he could sense the different temperature and air humidity in the room and he saw he the defensive postures the six women took, using their bodies to cover the eight eggs they were enveloping.


    "Soon. Very soon." spoke the oldest one from the previous group "Just a few days, and they will hatch. Once hatched, they are just like any other hatchlings."


    "Perfect." spoke neo as he withdrew collars from one of his space rings. These were simple curse collars. Nothing as sophisticated as slavery ones, since they cound not compell the wearer to the owners orders. They served as the stick, with which to beat unrully slaves. A simple command could evoke quite the pain, and this pain was the way one was made to obey. Rex would never stoop to such crude techniques, but Neo could not use blood magic, so compromises had to be taken, sine he had not yet decided if he wanted this group of snake women to become his slaves. While pretty, they were nowhere near breathtakingluy beautifull to rouse his interest.


    "Do you consider yourselves beautifull among your own kin?" he asked as he glanced back to the larger crowd of teh women.


    "Sir jests" the youngest spoke "So far on the outskirts of our territory only the tribes with the weakest blood resides. The purer the blood, the more beautifull the woman, and more powerfull the male."


    "So I will find better women deeper in the desert is what you are saying. Wear those for now. You should know that they are." he spoke and gestured to the collars "Obey adn there wount be pain. Simple."


    His commanding voice and his display up to know, and the fact they had not encountered a single warrior, or their corpse, indicated that the human was incredibly dangerous, and it was smarter to not incur his wrath.


    "What will become of us?" the youngest asked in a meek voice, and then looked at the women still protecting the eggs "And them?"


    "First, they hatch the eggs, then I will think. It would be a waste to just kill any of you. While not breathtaking, you are all still good looking, if a little ran through."


    "Since we will be waiting for a while, I will just have you to tell me stuff I need to know. And to begin with, what purpose do the weird bugs in the lower levels serve?"


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "They are our farms." Spoke one of the six who were incubating the eggs. "Unlike the males, we do not consume meat for the most part. Only when in incredible hunger do we stoop so low, or if the meat belongs to lesser creatures like cattle and such. The creatures below have symbiotic relationship with the moss and other plantlife growing in some caverns here. When not rearing the next generation of our women, we herd and tame the new ones. We also protect them from any greater predators lurking in such cave systems, since all underground cave systems are created by the grand worms and as such are connected, and a home to a myriad of creatures, many of which predate on the lesser beings."


    While still aprehensive, the six seemed a bit less tense, nice the invader was not planning on killing their hatchilngs. At the very least for now.


    "Some of you who have worn the collar may go and collect food from there. We will be staying here untill they hatch." Neo spoke as he pointed his thumb in the dirrection of the six.


    "The smart one stays, since I need more answers." he then pointed to the older one who had answered the most of his questions. The next few days Neo spent there, waiting for the hatching and aquiring as much info from the women as he could regarding the way their society works and anything else regarding his objective. He learned a great deal. First, similar to dungeon orcs, the tribes warred among themselves, and only the women from the loosing tibe ever survived. basicly same rules applied to the snake ladies when turned into slaves, and Neo saw it in action firshand. Bigger tribes could have women of other races chained and used as breeding slaves as well, trying to attain stronger bloodline through such unions, but there would have to be a few shamans in the tribe to reach such sofistication. Since they were enslaved just a month or so ago, Neo attained a rather important information regarding the rumors of the warlord Al Merhads had heard of. It was true, and now he had a general idea of where to hunt for his snack and prize.


    Besides a rather sizeable reward he would get from the merchants, he laerned tha tthe warlord would be collecting the most beautifull of the tribe women for his grand coronation ceremony. Once he unites the tribes he would be wed to dozen of the most beautifull concubines to start his dinasty. But he could not indulge till then. Ren-Sa, elder snakewoman was more than willing to answer all of his questions. While she looked no more in her mid fourties, she was more than hundred years old, and so she new quite a lot. She was also one of the pregnant ladies he had purified from the spawn of evil. Her seniority provided quite extensive adn deep knowledge regarding all things related to snake people. Women served as sages and wise elders, once they reached a certain age, yet the same fate awaited them if their tribe lost a war with another- as long as one could still be used to breed warriors, they would be used for it, if not, they were killed.


    Three days had passed, since Neo started waiting, and the women were betting by. The six in the center of the room were feeding the newly hatched girls. They were joined by another few with the largest breasts. A notable difference between the genders were in the diet of the hatclings. The girls would be just like other humanoids, feeding on milk for the early part of their like, and they needed the assistance of the mothers to survive. The males however, once hatched could immediatly feast on any kind of living being, provided they could kill it. And they also were independant sicne the moment they were born. As for how did the motehrs started to lactace was quite interesting. When the girls hatch and break the egg shell ,a special hormone is released in the air. Any female snake woman in a close vicinity coming in contact with the hormone start to develop milk, so now Neo had eight newly born snake girls and a wooping thirty nursing options. And as a matter of pride, he did sample them all, picking a few of his favorites. Funnily enough, it seemed that the more experienced the woman, the better taste their milk had, so it was no wonder Ren-Sa was among the few of his favourites.


    He had been thinking over what to do now, besides his need to murder the wrlord and claim his to be harem as his own, untill Ren-Sa had approached him and prostrated herself, asking him to take them with him, since there was no way they could survive for long before another tribe scouts them and they are once again in the same situation they were before, of maybee even worse. After a while of thinking, and realizing he will need staff to maintain his Holy whores, he accepted Ren-Sa''s request, while warning her that theiy will become his property in every sense of the word. And after a small explanation of what they could expect from their future under him, he was confused seeing their response. All of them were relaxed, some even elated at the prospect of the future. Ren-Sa explained that their reaction was quite natural, since Veran women- the name they used for their snakepeople race- were quite peace loving and social beings, and they would have both under him. He was plenty strong and they would be living in a bustlting city, slaking their thirst for interactions with others and boundless knowledge.


    Once they all had the collars on- a temporary measure untill they were brought to the capital where they would stay under the protection of Al Merhads, untill he was done with his hunt, and brought to Blythe for branding, they departed for the city. A couple days of travel later, Neo the group had reached the capital. There was quite the commotion when a group of thirty beautifull Veran women were entering alongside a single man, but the guards quickly let them pass since Neo showed them a pass he had recieved from the royal clan, clearing his entry instantly. No sane guard would try any funny business with Neo or the women following him, even if some have had such ideas beforehand.


    Soon after Neo was leaving the women in a rather heavily guarded mansion under Al Merhads, since he had informed them that with the knowledge he had aquired from this group, he had enough to go on a bigwig lizard hunt. He had a funny thought of having had Crystal unleased upon the main settlement of the veran where the warlord''s residence was, but he had a much better way to solve the current situation. He would create a boogy man for the snakes. One that would haunt the nightmares of their would be leaders of the future. So he set off to do what he had planned.


    He spent another few days traveling to his current destination. He was also doing so in clear sight, not trying to hide whatsoever. Any Veran patrols he encountered he effortlessy slayed, cut off their heads, mounted them on a rather large pike, stored it and then moved onwards once again. Once he reached an interesting cage of sorts of large bone like structures ptotruding from the sands he pulled out the pike with the adorned heads, created a small barrier around it, so he does not have to deal with the stench as the heasd will eventually dry up, and entered teh area ahead. The protruding spikes indicated the beggining of the territory of the main settlement of the Veran, and such pikes were spanning all around the territory, something that had numerous legends passed down among the women of the tribes, explaining the significance and origins of them.


    Not paying much attention he kept on advancing,encountering even more and more groups of Veran males. While still savage and bloodthirsty, these ones had reason, but they still attacked. This time it was because he was invading their main city. The pike was adorned with more and more heads, soon recieving tails of sorts that were made of more heads, and were pulled along with the pike. The rest of their bodies were scattered in mana dust as dozens of cosmic ravends were flying around in the sky, following the harrowing head hunter on his way to the city of Veran.


    Half a day and half thousand heads later, no other group dared to attack the monster on his way to their city. He was followed by a bunch of them however, since he did not kill annyone who didnt engage him in combat, if one sided slaughter could be called that. The peculiar thing that was even more baffling to them was both that the man could speakd snake tongue, and was more than willing to converse with the pretty ladies who had taken the courage to approach, lured by the display of the monstrous might. What baffled them even more was his reason for his actions. The man had heard that they had a warlord in making, and said warlord was rounding up the most beautifull of Veran women to claim as his once he would unite their race. Then he would attack the humans and expand teh lands his dynasty would rule. And once teh few women confirmed his words, he continiued.


    "THE AUDACITY OF THE VERMIN!." he exclaimed, then continiued in a more normal tone, yet arrogance and indignance clear in his voice "To lay claim on the beauties that are mine by right, and to imply he would conquer lands where people who enrich me resides. The arrogance and ignorance. So I have to show, who is the true warlord around these parts. Where he gathers the tribes and followers, I gather the heads of my slain enemies. Where he needs to muster an army, I AM AN ARMY. I will challenge and kill him, and all who stand with him, claim the beauties, who are mine, and then allow the rest of you to think over your war with the people at the edges of the desert. Do what you will, but ensure there is nothing worse than skirmishes, or I will have to come back once again." He lightly smiled at teh girl who asked the qesution, and answered a few other question some other of the fangirls he had near him as they kept moving forward to the city proper. Questions that included explanation to how there was no smell of the heads strung adn pulled along with his pole, what type of beauties he liked and so on. Untill by the evening he had reached a wall that encompased the city. A large crowd already gathered, sicne a few scouts had returned with all haste to report the coming storm. There was a promise of a battle of epic proportions between their warlord and the headhunter who had come to claim his head.

 Chapter 43: Home again

    As Neo arrived near the gate, he planted the pike with heads in the ground and moved a bit away from it. Then he looked at the few Veran women who had spoke with him in the last part of his path.


    "Is that warlord coming out with me just standing, or do I have to challenge him or something? I man here for his would be harem and his head."


    "A challenge would help. Your trophees there are proof of your worth, and if he does not respond he might have a rebellion on his hands. Only mighty and fearless warlord can start a dynasty."


    "A challenge it is then." Neo spoke and then his voice thundered across the city walls, penetrating into its depths, making its residents aware of a challenger


    "A CHALLENGER IS HERE FOR YOUR HEAD WARLORD. COME, OR I WILL GO TO YOU!" he then turned to the ladies once again and asked


    "He is home right?"


    "Yess, see the banners on the highest point of the gate tower? It it is up, the lord of the city is here. Adn the warlord is the lord right now."


    "Good." Was all Neo spoke and he waited for a while, and then as the crowd started to murmur, discontent clear in their rough voices a commotion was heard from the gate. It creaked and grinded against the stone on which it was built, and slowhy the gate opened. What came through was a true monster. Three meters tall half human and half snake, its tail longe and adorned with some sort of a blade at its tip slithering behind him. His human upper body was obviosuly ripped, muscles bulging from everywhere. Its strenght apparent.And the ugly half crocodile half snake head with its slitted eyes radiated anger and arrogance.


    "Puny human not worthy challenger, I....." was the words it spoke in its hoarse voice, and then it stopped, noticing the pike with all the heads adorining it standing besides the man. It was obvious the ehads were fresh, only having suffered a bit in the desert sun for almost a day, adn he could recoginse a few heads of capable scouts he had patrolling around close to the barrier of bones. And knowing the distance and time it takes to travel, the man must have been on the move for the entire day to reach here, and he even would have to deal with quite a few attacks, exausting him even more.


    The problem however stemmed from the sheer number of kills. Even if the man was not exausted, teh warlord would have to face him. Such challenge clearly threatens his position, and if not answered would incite insurrections, and it could not afford that.


    "Hmh.., Seems worthy after all, if barely." Huffed the warlord, trying to intimidate the remaining subjects. He was powerfull, for sure, but even he had limitations of stamina and mana, and a fight with the possible usurpers would exaust him too much to enjoy his dynasty foundation, so he showed a stronger front, even if unconsiously, since it did not believe the challenger was strong enough to defeat him.


    "Come at me with all you got." Neo spoke. as he started to slowly walk towards the warlord. A loud roar resounded in the air as the snakeman charged at Neo, large bastard sword in each of its hands. Once withing the reach of the blades, it swunge them both, trying to cleave its challenger in half. Sadly, the tiny human dodged his cleaves, and so it once again charged. this time performing an overhead chop with its right hand, while waiting for the opportunity to strike with its left one. As the blade whistled in its motion to split the man in two, he dodged to the right side of the blade coming in from above, avoiding the strike and denying the posibility for the snake man to utilize his left hand to strike as the motion of dodging was performed. The blade collided with sand, kicking up a cloud of dust, blinding the combatants and spectators in the immediate vicinity.


    Under this cloud of sand, Neo moved unimpeded, his vision fully replaced by his deployed mana field that registered every single change in it, providing Neo with absolute controlll over it. And so, he made a swift move and struck the ribcage of the snake man, right under its right arm, breaking one of its ribs. The strike was precise, and achieved exactly what Neo wanted. The warlord winced and reverse gripping his left hand blade held his wounded side with said hand. A few moments later, as the dust cloud settled, and once the snake noticed the location of its adversary, it charged once again, but this time slower, its freshly gained injury cleary slowing it down.


    What followed was a dange of slashed and dodges, where the larger, almost four meter high snake berserker was trying its hardest to slice apart its oponent. And it was failing spectacularily.Not once had it come even close to hitting its target, even if from the side it seemed very close every time. The warlord itself was painfully aware of the gap here. every now and then its adversary made a lightning quick counterattack to crack another bone on its body. It was now panting heavily, pain and exaustion creeping in with more and more bigger steps. Just a bit longer, and it will fall. It knew that, but its savage nature and pride did not allow it to fall. It was a warlord. An apex of its species, and no puny human could ever hope to beat it in a one on one. That was just preposterous.


    "ROAAAARRRR!!!!" It unleashed a primar roar as it gathered its remaining mana and stamina into a wirlwhind swing to add every bit of momentum it could to the decisive strike. Nothing else had worked before, even the combos of sword strikes and then a sneaky attack with the tail spike it had. So now all that was left was this domineering adn powerfull strike. A technique it had developed as its most powerfull tool. As its quick spin was finishing its full rotation and about to reach the place where teh adversary should be, it''s hand were gripped in a crushing grip, powedering its wrists, making it drop the blades and eliciting an agonizing roar of pain. Then as it was coming back, its back was assaulted by another soul wrenching pain. A part of its tail was cut off with one of the bastard swords it had dropped.


    "Not even strong enough to make me draaw my own blade." A dissapointed voice sounded from its side "Still, I am taking the head and the spoils." And with those words, the world of the snake man started to spin, and the last it saw as it landed on the ground was its own headless body, slumping down on the sand, motionless and dead. And just a moments later its senses and last remnants of life flickered out.


    Storing both the head and body of the now deceased warlord, Neo looked to the strongest nearby snakeman, whose robe like tatters implied its magic related proffesion.


    "Where is his harem to be? I will claim all I came here for, Or this place will bathe in so much blood, generations ahead will have to try and wash it all off." His voice was cold and calm, yet it was clear his threat was meant in its entirety. And seeing not a single drop of sweat or a scratch on the mans body, the shaman decided it was not worth risking enraging the monster they had encountered.


    "MAKE WAY!" Shaman shouted "The victor claims his spoils." and led Neo through the gate into the city. They spent half an hour, climbing the city untill they reached a temple like structure at the highest point, in the very center of the city.


    "They are all inside- your prizes." The unwilingness was apparent in the voice of the shaman, as he ordered the guards to bring the women inside out, so they could be claimed by the conqurer. And Neo scanned the temple with his mana, detecting five life signatures before the guards entered. A few minutes later, the guards returned with four absolute beauties. Their human upper bodies had skin so silky smooth, just by the look alone Neo could imagine the pleasure of their touch. Three with raven black and glossy hair, while the fourth ones hair was ash grey. Heart shaped faces with beautifull and alluring eyes. Lesser men could be hypnotized by looking at them, getting stuck in their gazes for hours. Their ample breasts also elicited a primal desires and even Neo could feel heightened desire to claim them right then and there. He was however quite capable of controlling his inner beast and the slight change in his mood could not be noticed by others.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Neo personally placed a collar on each of their necks, and the four did nothing to resist as they calmly awaited their turn. Once all four were collared, Neo turned to the shaman and the guards standing to the side, waiting for him to leave.


    "Did you trully think I did not know you left the fifth one inside?" His voice was cold, and once the words were spoken, he appeared in front of the guards and had alrady snapped their necks by the time the shaman had noticed his absence from the previous spot.


    "Come out now, my patience wears thin." his voice was quiet, yet the only person in the temple clearly heard it as it was infused with mana and aimed at the person inside. Neo could feel the last person inside rushing outside, even stumbling a few times in the haste she was moving in to not enrage the owner of the voice any further. A few moment later, a glimpse of vibrant red flashed and before Neo was a long beautiful red hair sprawled on the ground as the woman had knelt on the ground, in a dogeza position, her forehead touching the ground.


    "Please forgive us conqueror, please, excuse our foolishness. Allow me to offer you my soul, should you spare them your wrath." Neo was entirely aware the woman was reffering to the city, as she begged. The guards must have surely informed the girls of what had transpired outside. It was the reason, he asumed, why they were so obedient when he collared them.


    "And what good will you offering your soul do? I can claim it regardless any time I want." His words brought silence in the clearing where he stood, the shaman and five beauties stunned by his words.


    "Get up." he spoke in his cold voice, and the redhead slowly did as ordered. As she slowly raised herself up her body was displayed before Neo, and he had to admit, she was even more enticing than the four. Apreciating teh magnificent beauty before him, he quickly collared her as well, and as the four before, she showed no resistance.


    "I expect you all to be nice and obedient, or I will come here again. Their survival heaviliy depends on your actions. Keep that in mind." he spoke and gestured for them to follow. Then he suddenly stopped


    "Right, The warlords horde. Where is it?" he suddenly asked, just now remembering that such a thing must definetly exist.


    "Please follow me." the readhead spoke and took a lead in a different dirrection. Neo just silently followed her, and the other four girls followed him in turn. They had to ensure this man did not recieve a reason to unleash hell on this place. There would be countless deaths if it were to happen, and since the women were gentle and sweet beings in their core, they desired to avoid such an outcome if possible. After a few minutes of walking they were in front of a cave entrance.


    "He keeps his treasures here. I dont know what kind of traps and defence mechanisms there are, my apologies." the readhead spoke once again.


    "All of you, wait here." Neo spoke and entered the cave. He quickly reached the end of the cave, the few extremely primitive traps with wires were nothing to him, as he now looked at the small pile of rare metals and herbs before him. He quickly stored it all in his storage ring, and returned to the entrance. The five were still waiting for him there, as per his orders, and it seemed they had almost not moved at all from the places they were when he entered.


    "Names?" Neo asked, before he moved on with his plan.


    "Seriss" the readhead answered, then pointed to the ashen haired girl "Serana", then pointed to the two black haired girls one after another "Veria and Anarasa".


    "Good, now we need a few capes to cover your bodies a bit more. Your body is mine to enjoy and marvel over." and as he finished they moved once again. He was lead once again by Seriss, and once all the girls had decent cloaks, they awaited the night and moved out towards the Al Merhads capital- Desharan. Since neo didnt need to bother looking for much of anything, their travel speed was quite fast. Of course not as fast as if he moved on his own, since the women here were nowhere near his capabilities, but their unique physiology allowed them to move with relative ease through the desert. And so, they spent almost a week to return, since unlike Neo, the women needed rest and sleep. The girls were extremely obidient, and were gritting their teeth the first time they started to feel exausted. They were prepeared to die of exaustion, if that meant he would not return to their city, and once he saw the leghts they are willing to go to, he had to scolf them a fair bit. The general message was simple- they had to ensure that they survived adn were not damaging their beautifull bodies, and when tired, immediatly inform him of the fact.


    They were rather timid at the start, but a few days int otheir travel Seriss had adapted to their orders the best, and acted as the go between among the girls. As soon as they were starting to slow down, she repectfully adressed neo, informing of their tiredness, and then they would stop, Neo would use his mana to construct a solid footing on the desert sand, then withdraw a sort of a tent from a storage ring, order a stop for a few hours. Then feed the girls and order them to sleep for a bit. Then after the rest they were on the move again. Rince adn repeat.


    And so they arrived in the Desharan. He did not bother with the guards as he just showed the token and got throough the gate without any issues. Then he moved to the residence of Al Merhads where his contact was located. Their interaction was short, but fruitfull. As soon as Neo was in front of him, his five cloaked beauties behind him, he just dropped the head of the warlord on the table, and gestured for the five to take of their hoods, reavealing their beautifull faces.


    "Warlord" he spoke as ponted at the head, then pointed at the girls behind him "His would be harem. Mine now. Send your thank you gifts to the Blood mages mansion. He will hold it for me untill I go there to collect it. Enjoy." and with that he left the place alongside his Veran girls. Then he went and colected the trirty Veran he had waiting here from his previous raid. He spoke with Ren-Sa, and after she reported to him a quick verion of their stay, which was calm and peacefull, they all moved to the gate leading back to Blythe.


    He brought all the girls back to his mansion. And once inside, he immediatly branded them all, an action that only the five girls from warlords harem could understand the magnitude off. It was a wise choice to try and appease the man, since their city could have perished, if he were to go all out. The thirty Veran women alongside the newly hatched girls would live here untill "Holy Whores" became operational, then they would serve as the overseers and maids, maintaining the establishment. They would not serve anyone. The five from the warlord would live here, and do whatever their duties here would be.


    Then Rex spent the next few days catching up with Eredar, once he had done a quick one day grind in the dungeon to renew the meat supllies everywhere, Grogni, for whom he did a couple quick brands, making the first batch of super tier slaves, and recieved a few more cooks for his mansion. They would cook for the Veran adn oter future servants. Then he went over the major event regarding the world with Victor. It had been around two weeks that he spent on this trip, so nothing too much had happened. Echlisiarchy had been unussually quiet, but that was to be expected. With such a high profile fail, they were scrutinized by almost everyone, and that had them on the back foot.


    With that done, and a couple days spent on it, he could finaly focus on the most important part- fully induling his women who had been patient. So he spent a few more days without doing anything else besides slaking the thirst of his ladies. Aina and Aisha were particularily thirsty, and they could no longer take only makeout sessions. So, they finaly took the last step to trully become his, in every sense of the world. He did not have too much time to bask in the achievement, since his dear twins had informed Rashuun of his return, so the result was as expected. She had quickly arrived and once again with the help of her twin daughters tried to owerpower Rex. They once again failed.The last girls who slaked their thirst was Leifia and Izumi. Rex was pleasantly suprised when Izumi came to him and showed quite the affection and desire for him. And her gaze spoke volumes- it was all genuine. Since she was the last one, after Leifia had been serviced and Rex had his fill of milf, they were now relaxing in her bedroom after their passionate session.

 Chapter 44: A bad taste

    As Rex laid in the bed on his back with Izumis head and one arm on his chest he was slowly caressing her brown hair. After a while she spoke, content and happiness in her voice.


    "Thank you." that was all she said for a while as her hand slowly moved on his chest. After a while she spoke once more, this time more serious.


    "The kitsune emperor and council have agreed to Neo''s request. Three of their princeses would be gifted, if he can end the war with the sect Union. And since I was representing Neo, to save as many of our people as I can, and ensure his early participation, I had to drive quite a hard bargain. Two of their most beautifull young princeses and a rather arrogant beauty was asked for, and they agreed, albeit reluctantly."


    "What are the possibility that they will not honor the deal once I have finished?" Rex asked.


    "I would like to say nigh imposible, since the fact alone you had destroyed a sect or two would be enough of a deterrant to ensure their compliance." Izumi answered. And while she wanted to say that kitsunes are honourable and would never do such a thing, she was not entirely sure.


    "Gate? Or do we have to take a different path?" Rex asked as he was calculating the time and a few other variables from his knowledge regrding the world map and locations.


    "Gate was finished a few days ago, almost at the same time you returned." Izumi told him. "It would take a few days at the wery least from the capital to reach the port cities. Then a day or so later through sea and you would be at the destination."


    "I would have loved to enjoy a few more days in this paradise I have created, but sect or two are calling me to burn them and loot some jade beauties it seems." he then pulled her chin towards himself, and stole her lips. A long and passionate kiss then turned into another session. He had to ensure that kis hard working ambasador was rewarded for her achievments in these negotiations.


    Early in the morning after breakfast he left alone ensuring he was not noticed and met Izumi as Neo near the gate district. Izumi would bring him over to the capital and then hand over to his contacts on the other side, who would ensure he reached his destination as soon as possible, then she would return home, awaiting his return with the rest of his girls. It did not take long for Neo to cross the gate, and he soon met the representative of the kitsune. A black haired and furred individual, who introduced himself as Naros. He was a seven tailed kitsune tasked with guidance and assistance in Neo''s task. And while it seemed that the ywere quite reluctant to give up three princeses, the possible benefits and the preservation of their people was immense. And the posibility of the mercenary dying while still inflicting quite a lot of damage was quite high. medium risk for potentialy insane rewards, was what their council had calculated. And while they would not come to regret their deal, they would change the way they ever adress the man by the name of Neo. After teh war they would never call him anything else than lord Neo, even when only among themselves or hiden meetings.


    Without much delay he was brought to a hall where their council was awaiting him, he was not quite high profile enough to demand the presence of the only eight tail kitsune currently alive. They spent an hour or so to sign a contract regarding the job he was to perform, and the rewards he would recieve in return for his sucsesfull mission. And as soon as they were done, he demanded Naros to gring him to docks so he could be on his next step towards the completion of his objectives. Izumi had alrady went back and he had no girls here, so he didnt want to juts laze around in the bed all night. Since the ship was on a standby for him, as soon as he arrived, they departed with him on the board.


    The travel across the ocean was quite monotone. No monsters attacked, no pirates encountered, no nothing. Juts him on the deck along the endless waves that the ocean showed him as the ship was on its way to their destination. Sure, he saw a few different species of fishes, who surfaced and jumped out of the water for some reason but it was calm and peacefull otherwise. It was day and a half later that they stopped at a relatively small port town, a few hundred people together, living their lives and eeking out meak some semblece of life. Hard working fishermen, and their families by the looks of it. All heavily tanned, working hours a day in the hot sun of this semi tropical climate. The air was quite damn and hot, ensuring that any physical activities required even more strenght, effort and energy than the weather he was used to. Not that it mattered to him, he was long past the limits of ordinary men, so while fully aware, he didnt even feel the increased strain on his body. Just another day for him.


    On his way to some sort of a tavern he realised that people here spoke comon as well, saving him from using some dubious methods to ensure a quick learning experience. After a few questions to the locals, who, while somewhat vary still showed enough hospitality and assistance for Neo to reach the small villages only inn/ bar. there he bought a few drinks, adn left a decent tip as he asked a few questions while sipping from his mug.


    "Not from around here as you must have noticed," Neo started "any rules in particular I should be aware of, to not endanger myself in these lands?"


    "Depends, whats your tarde mister?" The aged man behind the counter asked as he pocketed the few silver coins Neo left there as the tip, or payment for the information.


    "Sellsword by trade." Neo responed after another few gulps of the drink, with the free hand pointing at a sword by his side.


    "There is a town a few days travel north of here, if you follow the roads. I would suggest you seek for work there. We have little in terms of needs and ability to aford external help." the bartender sighed at the last part of his response.


    "But be carefull not to run into the guys in the clean and regal looking clothing. Doubly so if the back sleeves of their clothes are adorned with quite extravagant drawings. Sadly, their peaole are getting more and more arrogant lately." Then he leaned in, speaking muc hmore quetly "I hear their war effort is going well and they want to expand their operations. That in turn makes them more arrogant, adn we - small people suffer for it, since they rarely care for our lives. And we can do nothing, even if they were to kill some of us. Thats just the life around here." Old man spoke dejectedly.


    "I hear a grievance in your voice boss." spoke Neo as he felt the barkeeps voice turn more hoarse, as if something was stabbing the mans heart.


    "Lost my daughter to one such young master." the man said and sniffed, holding back the tears of loss "She was a nice girl, if a little naive. Few days ago, a group of them disciples passed through. Wanted her to keep them company. She refused, when I called her back, politely and all of course. But the smirks those men had, sinister I say. They left that very day, but come morning my sweet Lin was gone. As if she had not even laid to sleep. She loved to walk around the village fence before slepp. Said she was nicer dreams that way." The old man serving as the barkeep was now in quite a bit of tears, as he told of his worries.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    "I will look around, see what i find. Would not take much of my time anyways. Consider it as thanks for the warm welcome." Neo spoke, quickly finished his drink and went outside.


    "Witcher senses on." he murmured to himself with a small smile and looked around the village for a few minutes. then moved around along the fence the old man said the girl would walk along before sleep. At one point of the fence he noticed a small drop of blood, dried of course, but it wasnt that much of a problem.He used his mana to envelop the dried blood and examined the energy contained within. Just a smidgen of enerhy, but that was all he needed. Every person carried a unique blend of life energy, just liek the dna of humans back in his world, and now that he had a sample he used his enormous man pool to send out waves of energy, scanning great distance all around him. He was the center of the sonar, and it would create a resonance with the same energy he felt in the blood.


    There was a ping a while later, a few kilometers away from the village, and Neo moved in that dirrection. Once he had reached the place, he found a clearing of sorts, and he stopped in the shade of a rather large tree. He found a few more dried drops of blood here, adn he used his sonar once more. Another ping, but this one was quite large, that he sensed nearby. He moved to the location and soon he came upon a rather unpleasant sight. A young girl, aproximately fifteen years old, lied there on the ground, her clothes torn, exposing her everything. Her face showed a few bruises, as well as her arms and legs. She had fought with all her strenght, yet it was not enough. The dried mix of blood and semen had formed a puddle as it had leaked from her after the assailants have had their fun with the girl. A talisman of sorts was placed at the tree above the girl, still displaying a small amount of energy. That must be what kept the insects and predators at bay, possibly also contained any sounds inside while they were haing their fun, Neo reasoned. Her tear stained and glossy eyes spoke volumes. And the small, bloody knife near the girls one arm, alongside the larger puddle of blood that had spilled from her second hands wrist finalized the scene.


    "Guess I have my work cut out for me." Neo spoke in a solemn voice as he pulled out a cloth sheet from one of his storage rings, then he used his mana to lessen the stiffness of the body, wraped it in cloth and in a princes carry brought the gril back to the village. The few villagers he encountered on his way to the bar quickly cleared way, scared and quite a ware of teh body in the strangers hands. Neo kicked the bar doors open as he entered, with a small pus ha of his mana cleard a tableand laid teh body of the girl on it. He already saw the tears streaming down the old mans eyes as he already knew who the person wrapped in the cloth was.


    "I am sorry, old man." Neo spoke "Do you know where they came from, to which power they belong?" One of the regulars who had hidden in the corner, since his path out was bloocked by Neo quickly spoke as the old man was sobbing with the cloth moved, and the girls head in his embrace


    ""White lotus sect. Rumor has it they use girls as cauldrons for their personal growth. Nobody knows for sure, since nothing has been proven."


    "Where?" Neo asked in a rather calm voice. While unpleasant, he was sure he could be doing worse things when he will finally get to work on his echlisiarchy problem that was waiting their turn. He had come to terms with this world, and as such he could easily understand being cruel and savage towards people of enemy nations. But these were their own people, and you dont treat your own people like shit, or worse. He could also understand somewhat why this sect could continiue operating. Now that the ywere in a war against another nation, their methods, if true, could help them grow faster once the real fighting starts, giving teh sect side a rather big advantage. Guess in a tragedy of a simple man he has gained a great opportunity. He noew had his first target, and it would give him quite good vibes taking down such a sect.


    The regular looked at the sobbing barkeep and his face took on a resolute expression.


    "I will take you there. It is a few days away from here."


    "Good, whenever you are ready old timer." Neo spoke as he planned a solid torture session in the sect. He had quite teh assembly of torture tools in one of his rings- courtesy of the now deceased Royce Rambert. Right, he had to check teh progress his succubi maids had made with the training of Elena. He cant give his future customers half trained whores, can he? ''Later'' Neo though as he focused back on the task at hand.


    "How long do you want screams coming from their sect boss?" Neo asked as his slightly mana imbued voice pulled the old man out of his grief induced crying. Cold hatred flashed in the old mans eyes


    "Make them suffer, Make them wail. You can take anything I have, as long as the culprits burn and suffer."


    "Write down everything you know about all the sects and their locations. Rumored experts, famed beauties and so on. Seems the sects have forgotten that the little people are the lifeblood of any nation. Time to remind them. And worry not old man, I will take my fees from them." With the last sentence a sinister smirk dawned on Neos face.


    "Just who are you?" his to be guide asked, then quickly added "sir", Neo waited for a moment, as if in thought, then answered


    "To him- avenger and bringer of justice" he spoke as he pointed to the barkeep "To the sects- a nightmare one does not wake from. And to you, perhaps a tale to entertain with and scare people in the future. Who knows?"


    A few minutes later, the barkeed had gathered some of his faculties, and gave quite a few drinks to the regular who would guide Neo, as thanks for the help he would provide. Once that was done, a few of the village women had entered the bar, and once they learned of what had happened, the girls body had been moved and now was being cleaned to be prepeared for the burial. Neo would not stay here for that, he had to calm and help a soul pass on to the next life, as the locals believed, and he was more than willing.


    The two men departed on their way to the White Lotus sect. And Neo had to give his guide some props. The man did not indulge in the booze he had in his bag all that much. A wery rare swig once in a few hours was taken, and Neo could understand that. From the few words they exchanged as they traveled, the man had seen barkeeps daughter grow up from when seh was born. He had retired from a disbanding mercenary group, and been living in the village for a few months, when the girl was born, and being a regular there he had seen her grow up. HE considered the girl half a daughter himself and had spent the previous day looking for her in the forest. Neo knew there was no way he would have found the girl before the talisman expired. It broke because his mana pulse was just that much stronger and owerpowered it, otherwise even Rex would not have found the girls body. And since the girl had taken her own life after that event, there was no way the body itself would move out of the barrier.


    Upon the coiming of dusk they stopped at a clearing where a carriage with a few guards had stopped. Such clearings were made near the roads every now and then, making the camping for the night much easier. The guards wery quite alert as they saw the two strangers approaching. One looked like a beggar, and the second was giving them dangerous vibes. The fact that his clothing was foreighn, betraying the mans origins did not ease their minds one bit.


    "State your purpose!" One of the guards barked with his weapon raised, ready for anything and on high alert.


    "My guide here needs to rest, since he is quite tired, and I have been informed that these clearings are meant for exactly that purpose. So be a sane guard and lower that weapon, before anyone gets hurt." Neo responded as he moved to the other corner of the clearing, pulling an unused but quite old sleeping bag. and set it up for the guide. They quickly set up a small bonefire, cooked a bit of meat, that the guide devoured as if he had not eaten for days.Earth grade was not something ordinary people could get to eat after all, and Rex had absolutely nothing but earth and heaven grade in his rings. Once the guide had eaten, he quickly went to sleep as per Rex instructions, while he himself slowly enjoyed a lightly roasted piece of meat while being on watch. They never interacted with the people of the carriage, nor their guards during the night, and with the first morning light, once his guide woke up, they had a quick breakfast, cleaned up the site, and left the clearing. The guards, who were quite vigilant all night sighed in relief as the odd pair finaly dissapeared from their sights. One of the passangers of the carriage looked in the dirrection the two starngers dissapeared, a weird glint in their eyes.

 Chapter 45: Wilted lotus

    Rex and his guide kept on traveling the second day in the same manner as the first, stoping a few times for a quick rest or a meal, to keep their energy up. The rest and emasl were obviously necesary for his guide, not himself, as he was absorbing just enough from the nature around to not spend any energy and maintain the perfect state. Later, one the night arrived they spent the night in the same manner as before in another clearing like the one before. Rex was quite calm, even with their goal slowly aproaching. He had a general plan of action in mind, with many different changes and backups planned as well. It all would be finalized once he could estimate the power level of this sect.


    The third day started the same and nothing much happened untill around four in the afternoon. As they were walking they encountered a road block, guarded by a few rough looking and dirty men with some cutlass type swords by their sides.


    "Well, well, what do we have here." spoke one of the men "You two look likea pair of beggars. Matters not, a toll is a toll. Pay up. five silver pieces per man. And dont you think or running away, you are already on our land, so pay up."


    "Bandits" the guide wispered to Rex. Rex lightly sighed and spoke in a bored voice


    "Get lost before you all die. I dont have time for the rats of this world."


    His words seemed to have angered the men, and one of them shouted as they drew their swords "Just loot that shits corpse. My hand has been itchy anyways." They didnt move much furtehr though, as the next moment they all fell on the ground, their bodies split in half. Dead. And then the crows that were circling high in the sky landed on the bodies of the fallen bandits, adn a moment later the corpses scattered into dust that was blown away by the wind.


    The guide, who was prepearing to defend himself, and had placed his hand on the blade by his side, was staring at the sight tha thad occured before his very eyes just moments ago, eyes wide in disbelief. He had not even registered the mans speed.


    "You knew I had the skills the moment I accepted to act as the avenger for the barkeep. Now you see a glimpse of it. Worry not, I only need to see the place, you can return after that." He reassured the guide, and a while later they resumed their trip, the guide assured that their pain and suffering would be returned to the sect tenfold. And so the third day ended in another clearing, with them being very close to their target. His guide assured that tommorow they would reach a town, and from there Rex could easily find his way to the White Lotus sect.


    And the guide was indeed right. Around noon of the fourth day they had reached a decent sized city, and after Rex was shown the dirrections and signs he should follow, the guide took his leave, asured that Rex would reach the sect without any issues. Looking at the town and its people Rex could feel a slight tension in the air, and after a few inquries as he was either having a meal of buying some supplies, he learned that the White Lotus sect had become more arrogant and domineering. It seemed that the war with the foxes had emboldened their actions, since they were a rather important asset to faciliate the victory over their enemy.


    With his little info gathering out of the way he left teh city, stepping on a rather well maintained road that led to the sects mountains. Rex guessed he would have to do quitea lot of mountain climbind in this job of his, if the tropes regarding the sect mountains would come thrue in this land. It was close to evening as the sun was on its slow descent, when Rex came to a stop at a small clearing with a small inn. After a few questions, he knew he had arrived at the base of the right mountain, as he looked at a rather nice looking adn well maintained stairs that led up the mountain.


    "Where are wings when you need them?" Rex sarcastically asked him self as he began his ascent. Luckaly it took him only a few hours to reach a platfom of sorts, that ended in a decently large stone gate. A wall was stopping his advance further up the mountain. A small building were placed on the platform on this side of the gate, and as he approached the gate, a bored man spoke form a building that stood very close.


    "Long way from home stranger. What business do you have with our White Lotus sect?"


    "Here to collect a debt. Summon someone important enough." he responded, slightly irritating the guard.


    "What our pupils owed you in the past matters not here. If you want to collect, catch the debtor when they are outside. Now leave." The guard spoke in an arrogant manner, chasing Rex away.


    "But your sect is who I have come to collect from, not an individual." As he was speaking, his mana did its job. He had used a few mana pulses, claculating the present power of the sect. And while he was sure he must have not felt a few old dogs who were hiding in some obscure formations. So far he was quite dissapointed. A few high tier A class entities, no peak ones. He asumed at least a few S ranks could be hiding and slowly awaiting their deaths, only to emerge in an amergency of the sect. His mana pings had also calculated the power and nature of the array that was enveloping the place, and he came to the conclusion that it would not be much of an issue.


    Rex sighed a long breath, and then spoke as he activated the barrier, that was extended with his mana pulses and prepeared. This was by far the largerst barrier he had ever erected, and he was feeling quite good for himslef.


    "I wont take long." and with that he dissapeared, and was across the gate on the other side. He then walked the largest path he could see, leaving the gate and entering deeper in the city. A few moments later a rather loud bell was ringing, rousing the sect from its peacefull state. And not long after Rex was surrounded by a bunch of men, all having their blades drawn adn pointed at the outsider.


    "The guard was quite rude, so I invited myself in, since I have business with your leadership. Bring me to them."


    And since they needed the intruder there anyways, since the array was not activating for some odd reason, it was quite a good sign that the man was cooperating. A few dozen minutes later he was standing in a rather large hall, five men sitting in a rather decorated chairs, stern looks adorning their faces as they were suspiciously looking at the man while stroking their goatees.


    "Who are you, how did you bypass the guard and why is our array not activating." One of teh elders asked in a rather stern voice. Rex felt as if the fool was asuming he had the power and authority to boss him around, when in reality, the council here was not even their strongest members.


    "What bullshit is this?" Rex asked "Why are your strongest members not here?" he was confused. The council members consisted of two A class men and the remaining three were high or peak B class. "There is an intruder here, and this is all you can muster? You dissapoint me." He sighed with a dissapointed look on his face. This was not a true cultivator world. He should not have expected a proper powerfull individuasl beyond the norm here. They were not a first rate power after all.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Four day travel distance away in that dirrection" Rex spoke as he lifted his hand in the dirrection he came from "is a coastal village. A few of your people passed there some five or six days ago and raped a young girl, who ended her misery not being able to live with the fact. I need them delivered to me. Once I am done with them, I will adress the second reason I am here." A few scoffs were heard from the elders and Rex could clearly see the arrogance in their eyes. The none of teh A ranks spoke


    "Just a peasant girl, we got those in spades. Besides, I dont tthink you understand the situation you are in. It is we, who will ask the questions, and you WILL answer, and if we dont like your answers or attitude, your death will not be quick and painless." The other four nodded as they agreed with the first one.


    Another sigh from Rex as he looked at the retards playing sect elders, then he glanced to the disciples at the door who brought him here


    "The one who brings them here gets to leave this place alive." then he clapped his hands seing the disciples standing there without reaction "Chop chop. Hurry up your elders are about to start dying, and there is no running since we are in a barrier." then he focused on the councill once again "Who here knows the most about your arts and secrets?" he noticed how a corner of a couple council members quickly flashed to one side.


    "Not you two" he spoke and in a flash, they were split in half, his hand now holding Limitless. He did feel like feeding the limitless was a thing he had to do regularily, else it might take offense. It was a weapon, and weapons needed to be used.


    "So, who where is the most informed of your sect arts and secrets?" he repeated his question, and one of the three remaining members took out a token of sorts and crushed it in his hand.


    "Finaly, I hope it is calling for the big boys. Cant be wasting my time with the bugs. You all still here?" he then asked to the stunned disciples. It was only nattural, two of their elders were killed instantly, the remaining three didnt even react. "I need those offenders, so save your measly lifes and bring them here. I hate to waste my time, hot girls are waiting for my return."


    A few of the disciples quickly turned and left the place. Either to bring the guilty party or to try and run away, Rex didnt know, but he did not care either. There was nowhere to run. The entire sect was locked with him in this barrier, and since his version was supperior to the original wit hall his tweaks, it fed on the energy around. That meant that unless the wolrd runs dry of energy, it could last indefinetly, unless he ends it or he dies. And the girl was defiled enough for him to be able to find the culprits by the lingering energy signature.


    Suddenly, the door was kicked open as a rather old couple individuals entered the hall, an angry frown on their faces.


    "Innitial S class." Rex spoke "Better, but not by much. You two know everything about the sect?" he asked, his attitude had not changed at all, and that started to worry the three elders that were still alive. The two grand elders, as Rex classified them in his head, drew their weapons as they prepeared for a battle, since they noticed the two corpes of the recenty killed elders. Thne they both lunged at Rex, from different sides, but he had little to no problems avoiding their strikes. As the two were working with quite a good cooperation, the remaining elders also joined the fight, trying to assist the tag team.


    For the next ten minutes Rex wasa only avoiding the attacks sent his way, since he wanted to see if there was anyone who would deliver the three cunts who caused the village girls death, or he would grow bored with the fools here, end their lives and then go look for the trio on his own. Another ten minutes later, the doors opened once again, and a couple of youths entered with his targets.


    "Nice, sombody gets to live!" Rex exclaimed as parried one of the grand elders attacks. The result however shocked everyone here but Rex. His sword cut through the grand elders blade splitting the man in half and causing his instant death.


    "You two on the sides" Rex pointed to the duo that had brought the avengers targets here "You get to walk out of here alive, once I am through."


    "Well, play time is over gentlemen, it was fun." Rex sighed "Who am I kidding, sex or deep floors are fun, this was just tedious." He finished speaking, flashed and wit ha few swings the elders were all dead, terror reflected in their eyes. Rex realised that he would probably have to doo some deep diving once he returns after this job. Or maybee he should try his hand in the daddy business? He had a lot of willing ladies for that. ''No, focus. Holy whores first, entertainment after'' he scolded himself in his mind. A few solid gut strikes, and a dozen slashes later, the three savages were mooaning in pain on the ground, the duo with a pass were still standing in their original location and the rest of the disciples were all lying dead on the floor.


    Once his targets were secured with solid ropes, he dragged the duo to an edge of the barrier and flinged the two outside, not forgetting to interogate them a bit. They spilled the beans quite wilingly, since they saw what kind of monster they were dealing with. So with a better understanding of the place and the way they operate, including the arts they employ, he got to his job- purging the sect. He pulled all stops, going supersonic to quickly clean up the closed off region. Even then, he needed more than the entire night to finish with his purge. He also found a few rooms with battered and broken girls. Some freshly used to advance their cultivation, or the cheap knockoff they were practising here. He used the most sane and functional girls to round them all up, provided some of the treasures and money the sects treasury contained, and allowed them to do as they pleased. They were not his problem, nor his responsibility, but he did show them the bare minimum humanity with those treasures and a small pylosophical question, that gave a reason, even if barely, to keep on living even after what they had gone through. Then he spent a few hours entertaining the three culprits of the young girls end. He was quite gentle as he used the burning blood swords that Royce was kind enough to donate to him after his untimely demise, and to top it all off, he tore their souls from their bodies, providing a new experience to the trio as they left the world of the living.


    Once he was the only living being in the sect grounds, he unleashed his crows, removing any and all traces of humans existing within these sect grounds. Well, blood stains remained, but that did not count, so the point still stands. And with the rising sun of the new morning he disspelled the barrier, leaving behind sect devoid of life. While barely any stroger than before, he had picked up a few more new techniques, and a few random snippets of knowledge from the absorbed people. He also planted a nice large flag in the council chambers. It had a sign of a sword that was enveloped by a chinese dragon, floating in the cold space of void. He liked the design of the sky serpents, so it just felt right that such a creature could not only be real but also serve as his symbol.


    As for when to stop his sect extermination spree, he had a half of an artifact set. Once he would have inflicted enough damage for the sect union to ask kitsunes for peace, he would be signaled, indicating his part of the deal fulfilled, allowing him to go and claim his new girls. He was also looking forward to Izumi being mean to the girl that used to bully her.


    So with the White Lotus sect looted and destroyed, he moved back to the town he had visited just a day ago. There he spent teh remaing thay gathering information regarding other great sects and the politics that they go by. He also inquired about the next biggest city that was close by to this place, sicne the information was getting quite scarce, so once he felt it was enough, he paid one of the coachmen who earned their living by ferrying people from one city to the next. So once they had agreed to a price for this journey, they quickly departed. He had already heard a few whispers in the town that the White lotus sect was destroyed, and most of their members are dead. He knew that such rumors would soon be heard in most of this nation states, triggering an investigation, and possibly more, making his hunt to be more fun.

 Chapter 46: The gourmet

    The path to one of the larger cities was quite boring and uneventfull, as there were no bandits or monster attacks to liven up the one dimensional experience. Rex knew that most of this job would end up like this, since people were a different game when compared to the deep dungeon adversaries. Sure humanoids were much smarter and way more cunning, they worked much better in groups, and could become a single force if great enough existentional threat appeared and was threathening to end them all. In return they paid with lesser individual strenght. He will eventually find some old geezer somewhere with triple S class or something, but that would mean nothing whne compared with the deep dungeons. He was sure somewhere down there must be dragons or something similar. All he had to do was find the right dungeon that was old enough to have developed that far.


    He had another goal on his job here as well, and that was to aquire information on the biggest dungeons in this region, and the depth that people had explored here. Back in Blythe he had just reached floor thirty three, and he had this weird feeling that he was very close to the core of the dungeon.There was no way he could break it, even if he could attain some insane energy by absorbing it, since he quite liked the town, and a well developed dungeon was a must for every large city to properly function.


    So with his girls being well aware that he would be away for quite the while, and with nothing better to do, he once again focused most of his mental capacity on exploring the space attribute and ways he could create a teleportation ability. He had a solid referance with the gates, both the ones used by mortal races for long distance travel as well as the gates that were in the dungeon. And while similar, the two had distinctive key differences giving him a solid material to work with and theorize about. Rex figured that he needed to develop a solid skill, so he can travel around and at the same time be home at nights to entertain his women. Men gotta do what they gotta do.


    In the peacefull and mostly quiet atmosphere he attained quite the progress in his calculations and theorizing and in a weeks time they reached the great city of Xian-Wu. From what he had heard, this was one of the two main trade cities in the sect-union lands. Grand ten meter high wall surrounded the city, that was encircled by dozens of fields, each growing a different crop. From sky it would appear as a blancket sewn together from countless different shaded patches of cloth. And the stark contrast between the wall and the fields gave the place a unique appearance.


    Countless people entered and left the the large gates, and if the man driving the cart is to be believed, there were three more gates like this one- one on each of the four sides of the wall. It had to be noted that only three gates were used regularily, as the fourth ones, the ones in the west were used mainly by dignitaries or military, as such that side was basicly empty. Once they had reached the relatively fast moving row of people entering the city, they did not have to idle around for too long to reach the guards at the gate who were dealing with the incoming people in quite fast manner. As any group reached the guards, they asked a couple questions, if said people felt suspicious, they took a look at their cargo. Once that was done, a small toll for passage into the city, if you were not a local, and in you go. The carriage that Rex was sleeping in went through quite quickly, since they had basicly no luggage and the driver had gone through the procedure a few times. All they had to do was pay the small entry fee, and they were in.


    The town showed adn entirely different look from the colorfull patched blanket that was seen outside. It seemed as if someone had gone through and colored it all in the same manner and style. Simple few story buildings could be seen along the streets, all in the same style with some light gray bricks as the base and much darker grey roof. Simple windows and doors. from cheap looking wood, someplaces it looked almost ages old. When Rex inquired about the state of teh buildings, the coachman explained that the buldings here belonged to the less fortunate, but as long as the family was not exterminated, they could maintain their right to the building, and since such families rarely rose out of their situation, the buildings would bet more adn more into disrepair, untill they half collapsed, the family at fault got fined and jailed, and finaly lost their rights, or they would keep them barely maintained. There would be a stark difference if they had entered through any other two gates that operated for general public. This side had the slumms, and the more shady elements of the city in large quantities, but the main street, that they were crossing was still relatively safe. Rex did ask for a proper introduction of the city, and the coachman did just that, as any powerfull man would eventually have dealings with the underworld- willingly or by force.


    The next half an hour, he learned of the major powers and players he had to be aware in the city, and a few other important bits and pieces. Being one of the tow main trade hubs in this country, and quite a large city, it obviously had its own dungeon, and as any dungeon it had its own speciality. Blythe had the orcs and lizardmen who were the dominant species in the most of the floors, and that changed once the natural fauna was capable of overtaking and anihilating the humanoids from expanding deeper. That was a recurring theme in a lot of dungeons, but there were quite a few with no such races in them. This was one of such exeptions.


    The people often reffered to the dungeon as The Den. Rex learned that this dungeon was filled with all manners of mystical monsters. Goblins, harpies, yetties, trolls, minotaurs, and all manner of monsters from mythologies of earth. Even creatures such as manticores. adn kirins could be encountered in the deeper floors. And from what he learned there are some old legends hydras roaming the deep floors. Many headed lizard like cratures with an insane regeneration capabilities, and ability to use multiple elements as well as quite hard scales and nasty temperament. But of course with the danger also comes an incredibly great possible rewards as countless alchemists would pay insane amount for a few drops of the liquid gold that is hydra blood. Even lesser variants would fetch boatload of money as the best healing and recovery potions were made from hydra blood. The regenerative abilities provided by it could instantly regenerate lost limbs and pull one away from near death. Which of the great powers would not like to move around with personal peak A class healer in their pocket. While capable, only those healers in the peak of A class or above could sucsesfully regenerate lost limbs and the like.


    When inquired about any dragonoid creatures, he was told that vyverns could be encountered, close to the deep floors, but if he wanted reptilian experience, he should look elsewhere. Rex made it a point to have Eredar, or Brogni inquire about it once he returns. Dragon girl was in his to DO list, so he had better start working on that goal as well, and better sooner than later. And soon after they finaly left the slumms area. He had learned of the few families that run this city. There were three merchant families, rivals since time immemorial, or so they would like to tell, the city lords family that have been ruling the city for generations, and a couple of mercenary groups that run the slums and underground activities in the city. Luckaly, all of them were proud enough to openly wear their crests and so it was quite easy to avoid conflicts with them, if one wanted to stay lowkey and not create a ruckus. Rex had little interest in them, besides having a general understanding. He would visit a few information brokers, aquire the info he needed on some of the big sects that had quite the aggressive approach, purge them while snagging some asian beauties, since that seemed to be the majority of the population here in these lands, who would have thought - right, finalize his rune of teleportation, so he could come back here at any time, and then return home, once he had done his job. His work on his teleportation techniques was coming along nicely, and there was no way he would not try the dungeon of mystical creatures in the future, so it was a must to mark this place as a possible regular stop in his dungeon diving endevours.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Eventually the coachman stopped at a rather nice three storry building with a sign ''Silver Coffer'', and informed Rex that they had reached their destination. Rex paid the man as they had agreed, with a few silvers as a bonus for the introduction of the city and the conversations they had along the way, and entered the well maintained building. A small room with a counter and a middle aged lady sitting behind it came into his view as he entered, and he could smell a faint smell of the forest inside. He was pleasantly suprised, as it created a rather calming and relaxing atmosphere, and he enjoyed it for a few moments before approaching the counter.


    "Hello there young man." spoke the lady in a rather cheerfull, but measured tone "Looking for a place to stay the night?"


    "Yes mam, got any spare rooms?" Rex asked with a light smile on his face "Have to admit, it is quite a nice feeling this place gives off." he added as the woman nodded to his previous question.


    "We sure do," she reponded with a light smile, apreciating the man for the compliment. Her family owned the inn and they put in a lot of effort to ensure it was as homely and nice as they could. Rex liked the place so he quickly rented a room for a week, noting that he might be staying longer, if his work will not bring him further sooner than expected, and with that he retired for the night, since it was already quite late. He spent the night relaxin and meditating on the teleportation rune, adn he felt that he would soon reach a stage of minor completion- a working rune that could still be improved and finetuned, but with a passing mark at the very least.


    In the morning he left the inn, deciding to visit the marketplace and aquire some info on the information brokers in the city, then he would pay them a visit and buy some info on the big sects. He was quite sure there would be some relatively close, since such a big city would entice some large power to want to have it in their grasp to benefit from their prosperity as well. As he was moving through the market he once again thought of a revelation he had come upon during his journey here - while traveling alone was nice and all, it had a few insanely huge problems associated with it. First, he was a bad cook and there were basicly no places outside of the biggest cities that would have even earth grade food, so once he ran out of Aishas pre cooked food, he had to make do with just roasted meat with salt and pepper. He missed the delicacies that were cooked back home. The second and just as important issue was that he was getting pent up. What he had noticed was that the stronger he became, the more his libido grew, adn tha teasily explained his greed for more girls, since they could not keep up with him, and he had no desire to hurt any of them, well maybee Elena when he will be testing her progress with the succubi training, or any other of the holy whores he will aquire in the future.


    He then spent a few hours roaming the markets, and inquiring some shady looking people about information brokers. Some unlucky thiefs also happened to help him out when they chose poorly and attempted to steal something from him. Then obviously failing, and to avoid some rather unpleasant permanent injuries told Rex everything he wanted to know. Thiefs did know most of the notable people in the town, due to personal connections or rumors. With his info gathering out of the way, he moved in the dirrection of one of the few brokers he had learned about. He needed that info, and the sooner he aquired it the better. He was feeling the urges to slowly start creeping in at the back of his head. ''Must be some damn horny creature, whose bloodline I have inhereted in this body.'' Rex thought as he was on his way.


    He spent around half an hour to reach the place he was looking for. It was a rather small two story building with some sort of redwood outer walls, rather large windows that allowed a lot of light to shine in the building, displaying a rather cozy and inviting dining hall. Above the similar redwood doors of the building stooda plaque with words ''The gourmet'' in a rather stylistic writing. From what he learned, this place was run by one of the most well informed information brokers in the town, and it also was increadibly high quality restoraunt. And Rex, having spent some time away from Aishas cooking, he could not resist the possibility of satisfying two of his needs right now- both information and thirst for knowledge.


    The place was half filled with people, as the place was rather expensive, and the information was doubly so, but Rex cared little for money, since he had spades of it, so he aproached a man in some sort of a butler uniform and spoke


    "Would it be possible to aquire a table at this fine establishment? I have heard some rather flattering things, and would like to confirm them myself." The butler looked at Rex, inspected him for a second, and noticing that he wasnt wearing overly expensive clothes, as most other patrons did, he deemed it necesary to forewarn this possible guest of certain truths.


    "My apologies sir for the possibly rude question, but I must ask it regardless, seeing as your attire do not inspire confidence, but you are aware that our establishement is of the highest quality, and as such, both the dishes and the prices match that description."


    Rex, understanding the meaning of the butlers words, pulled out of his storage a few platinum coins, placed them in front of the butler, and spoke


    "Then use this as the innitial wallet for my orders, and if more will be needed, I can just as much as necesarry." Understanding that he is dealing with one of those rich and obscure masters, buttler bowed gracefully, and spoke.


    "My apologies for the rude question, but it is my job. Please, follow me" then he gestured for Rex to follow him,and soon Rex was seated at a rather nice corner seat, where he was soon aproached by a lady that served as a waitress. She handled Rex a rather well decorated and neat menu, that he spent a few minutes looking over and ordered a few meat dishes to enjoy. As he finalized his order he also added


    "I might also have a need of the other service mister Falcon offers, so if you could be so kind as to inform him, I would be gratefull." The waitress noded and left with his orders.


    Rex had to wait a few dozen minutes, that he was leasurely enjoying while keeping his brains active and busy with all maner of theoretical calculations, enjoying a wery refreshing and light snack he was provided with to rouse his apetite for the main course. Soon his wait was over, as the waitress serving him brought over a very enticing piece of steak that was lightly seared, and between rare and medium in its texture. Rex calmly enjoyed his meal and he had to admit it was indeed magnificent, and if he had to compare it to Aishas earth grade steaks, he had to admit, the chefs here had more experience, but they were not wolfkin. There were some aspects that his cheff could enchance better than the masters here. Still, overall this place had teh superior earth grade dishes for the time being, but in a few years time he was sure his sweet master of kitchen would surpass them.


    Once he was done with the steak, another dish was brought over. These were nicely rasted ribs with some sort of sauce and what reminded him of potatoes with additional greens. This dish too he enjoyed quite well, and had to come to the same conclusion. He would have to take Aisha with him on a special horizon expansion journey, to allow his wolfkin to expand her knowledge and improve her skills. Once he was done with the second dish, he smiled at teh waitress as she aproached, and thanked for the wonderfull meal, asking her to give his thanks to the cheff as well. Then, once he had paid for his meal, what in essence was the waiter bringing him the leftover money from what he had innitially left with the butler at the door, he asked if it was a custom here to thank for the servive recieved by leaving a small bonus for the people that he was served by, and with a sligh blush from the waitress and positive nod, he left a few more gold coins, and after that was asked to follow another staff member, since their master had agreed to recieve him, and listen to his request.

 Chapter 47: Lunar sect

    Rex was lead into a small but cozy study, where behind a masterfully crafted and slightly worn out table sat a man in his fourties. Shoulder lenght briown hair, dark grey eyes, and an average build. And while the man did not give off any particular air, he had a confident glint in his eyes and the posture of the man also implicated quite a lot of confidence.


    "I heard you have some need of my services mister...?" Amir Falcon asked as Rex aproached the chair on the opposite side of teh table


    "Neo."


    "Aaa, mister Neo. So what is it that you seek knowledge on?" he asked once again.


    "Not from around here, so I am in need of quite well written information on the sects of this land, what they aspecialize in, what they are famous about, if possible, the descriptions and characters of the most prominent figures of said powers. I believ that would be all for the time being." Rex responded to the mans question.


    "That is not a dificult task to achieve, though I do have a question of my own as well, if sir Neo does not mind answering. It would solve a lot of pain for us both in the long run."


    "Ask away, but note I might not answer the question as well, if it is too uncomfortable, My apologies."


    "No no, its fine. So the question is rather simple. What is the motive of a man to end an entire sect?" and seeing as Neo was waiting still, he added "The White lotus sect to be precise."


    "Ow, that. Simple realy, I accepted a job to avenge a grieving old man whose granddaughter was ruined by a few disciples of the sect, and they refused to bring me the offenders, and acted as if they were the judge, the jury and teh executioner. Plus their arts were completely rubish as they harmed the girls that were used during their cultivation exercises. And I might have had another issue to solve with them."


    "Thank you for the answer." Amir spoke "If you would be willing to tell us where to find you, so we can deliver a rather well sumarized report on your desired subject. Now regarding the price, a hundred gold coins will suffice, since this info is on the cheaper side. Rex nodded as he placed a platinum coin on the table, and left his current place of stay name. With that done, he was escorted outside and once there, the employee of the gourmet bowed, and thanked rex


    "Thank you for your patronage sir, you are always welcomed again in our humble establishment." Rex chuckled at the words of the employee, noded at the bowing man and left to return to his inn. He spent the remainder of teh day immersed in meditation, working on the many plans and schematics his mind was constructing non stop. He spent most of the next day in the same tempo, untill around afternoon a book was delivered for him, and the lady at the counter delivered it in Rex hands. As he readthe report on the sects, he could feel there were a lot of finer details missing, but nothing that mattered to him, as he could finetune and make new plans on the fly.


    Close to the evening he heard a knock on his door, and once he resonded the receptionist lady informed him that there are a couple of men here, who wished to have a word with him. And since he was avaiting noone, he told her to send them away as he had no aquintances nor interest to meet men. She quickly apologized and said that she could not send them away, since they were part of the city guard. Rex frowned for a second,sighed with annoyance, stood up and with a clearly annoyed face moved downstairs. Once there, as soo nas he noticed the two guards he spoke in a cold manner


    "Come back tommorow morning and with a pretty girl acompanying you." he then turned around and returned to his room to sleep. The two guards wisely retreated to the city lords mansion, sicne when Rex warned them, he flared aura powerfull enough to imply peak A class at the wery least, and no guard had the qualification to safely take the man on. And it was never in their orders to either try to take the man by force or cause a retaliation. They were tasked with inwhiting the man to have a talk with the governor, since their ruler had shown some interest in the man who allegedly exterminated the White Lotus sect. And since they already had quite disturbing reports of the gost town that was once the headquarters of said sect, it could be beneficial to create friendly relationship with such a powerfull entity. As such, after Rex words, the duo bowed and excused themselves, swearing to be here the next morning.


    It came as little suprise to Rex, that the next morning when he left his room and headed down to have some breakfast, the tow from last night were already in the lobby, this time acompanied by a rather beautifull and busty half elf.


    "Nice choice, I aprove." spoke Rex as he came down to their level "Lets get this over with then shall we?" he added as he stood there, waiting for their move. And the half elf lady spoke in a soft and fiendly tone


    "Sir Neo, our lord Ramses has invited you for a friendly chat. If you would be so kind as to acompany us, we could show you a proper welcome befiting a man of your stature."


    "Asuming much, are we not?" Rex asked with a light smirk, Amir must have cashed in some solid profit from Ramses for all the info he had shared. Rex did not care though, a word on the street would keep the trash at bay, or so Rex reasoned "but sure, lead the way." he gestured to the two guards as he grabed the half elf by waist and positioned himslef with the beauty behind the duo, leaving the place. As they were leaving Rex half shouted back to the inkeeper "Keep my room reserved, if I am late I will pay regardless." The woman noded, and Rex relaxed as we was enjoying the softness of the half elf pressed against him.


    Once they were outside the inn, they entered a rather well decorated carriage. He and teh half elf woman on one side, one of the guards on the other side, and the last guard was controlling the carriage. Feeling the stifness of the beauty he was hugging at the waist, he chuckled lightly and spoke


    "While you are beautifull and quite enticing, I dont have a habit of snacking on the property of someone inviting me with courtesy, so relax a bit. The most I might do is let my hands be slightly dishonest." At his first words the half elf slightly relaxed, and tensed back up with the last part, eliciting another chuckle for Rex. It took them around an hour to reach a rather peculiar building, where they entered and came upon a portal.


    "We will reach teh central palace through here, since it would take a few hours by carriage to reach it otherwise." spoke the woman, and Rex nodded in agreement and folowed inside with the beauty behind the guards. On the other side, they exited a building of the same make and then traveled another ten minutes untill they reached their destination- a grand palace that towered over all other buildings.


    "Well, your lord sure knows how to show off." Rex comented as they stepped inside.


    Passing through a few corridors they soon reached a hall of sorts where they were greeted by a row or servants and maids, who flanked a rather refined boy aproximately sixteen years old.He gave off some slight noble aura, implying his noble upbringing.


    "Welcome sir Neo. I am Rupert Xian-Wu, sone of the city lord. He has instructed me to lead you to the study where he awaits you." teh boy spoke as he bowed, and once doen with greetings, escorted him to the aforementioned room. Rex followed in a relaxed manner, still not letting go of teh waist of teh half elf, who was slightly blusing and embareased right now. She had been slowly cooked as they were coming here, and it showed. if only barely.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Well, thats enough fooling around." Rex spoke as his expression suddenly changed from that of a relaxed, naive young man to one of indiference, cold and calculating, as he followed Rupert. Very soon they entered a study where teh lord of this city was sitting. Noticing the entrance of teh people, city lord stood up and greeted them


    "Welcome to our fine city sir. It is our pleasure to...." And Rex interupted his sales pitch and flattery


    "Cut the bullshit, lets get straight to the point. What do you want?" He was not interested in ass kissing as he could recieve enough of that when he was in the blood mage persona. And understanding his intentions the lord quickly changed his approach. People who had reached this point often could change their aproach with a single and small hint, let alone such an obvious aproach


    "People of your caliber rarely move around just because. What brings you here?"


    "Information, and since I have aquired what I need, I will take my leave in a day or two. And unless provoked, I dont plan interacting with the dirt and rot in this city, rest assured" Rex responded, then added ""So, if that is it, I will take my leave. Ramses quickly thought over this new information, and made a quick adjustments, wanting to get something out of his recent investment.


    "Do you have any plans to explore our dungeon?" he asked. Their dungeon was rather famous adventurer inviting spot. Mystical monsters meant treasures and traps, and guaranteed that those who manage to survive and sell the ir aquisitions would be wery well rewarded. OF course the rarity and power of monsters had direct influence on the costs. And if a powerhouse capable of exterminating a sect decided to do his business here they would earn quite the pretty penny.


    "Not for now, but I will most likely visit this place another time for that specific reason." Rex responded and after a few minutes he was led out of the castle, and back to the teleports, where he once again crossed one, and an hour later he was back to the same alley he recently left. Once back in his rented room he focused back on the information regarding the nearby sects. He needed at least one more hit, but on a much greater sect, and this time he had to make sure they know why what is going to happen will happen. As he read and sorted the information, another part of him hoped that whoever he strikes next will have some pretty ladies that he could claim as his own.


    He was done studying teh information by the time the morning came and he had enough information to make an informed decision regarding his next target. From what he learned there was three possible targets to strike- Thunder beast sect, Lunar sect and tyrant dragon sect. Luanr sect was the closest to this city and was an all woman sect. They focused on a rather specific phylosophy and arts that promoted self growth and honor above all. They had quite a lot of alchemists and array masters, due to their teachings. They also were not supporters of the ongoing war, on the contrary, they were in stark opposition, and only helped with curing wounded and other humanitarian actions. or defense of their lands, as that was a step too far even for this pacifistic sect to remain at the side. Their curent sect master and her three disciples were often talked about and were widely recognised for their beauty, calm and cool demeanor and high skill in the arts they chose to pursue.


    Thunder beast sect was something in the middle. They focused a lot on strenghtening their bodies, so they mostly had burly males as their members, though there were a few females who had embraced their lifestyle. The general teachings emphasized bravery and always surpasing onse own limits through dungeon delving or honourable duels. The sect members here were all battle junkies. Each battle would be a chance to grow and delevop, and as such when fighting another man, they often left the defeated alive, giving their opponent another day to train, become stronger and train again.


    And lastly Tyrant dragon sect. They were your typical arrogant cunts who believed that it is their rightfull place and birthright to lord over the lesser beings who poluted the same space as they lived in. And they were one of the main sects who had pushed for their agressive expansion. Still, they needed the slaves to maintain their way of living, so this war was a way to ensure they would have a solid income of them.


    While Rex could exterminate the bases of all three sects, he had a better idea that formulated as he was immersing inthe best way to implement it. With his next few steps quite clear, he left the inn he was staying at, paying for the spent time and any other expenses he had aquired, and informed the lady behind the counter of his departure, canceling any further reservation for the inn he had stayed in. Since he had a healthy interest in the monster dungeon he was sure he would come here again, and since his space seal was in theory ready, after a small time frame he had created his rune and placed it in the city, in a self sustaining mini array that could ensure it would not be tampered with and unreachable by others to study the patterns.


    He would be visiting at least two of the three sects, and so he soon left the city on his way towards his first priority. he needed to have a long and friendly chat with the Lunar sects ruling body. He wanted to ensure they would not take part in the coming battles, and would push for the end of the war. Tyrant dragon sect was on the chopping block. They had every shitty trait Rex could come up with, and were an obvious threat to a free and peacefull country Rex wanted for this place to become. He was still on the fence regarding the Thunder beast sect. While not directly in favour of the war, they would use any opprtunity to hone their skills in combat and as such were often encountered on during the skirmishes between the two nations.


    Without anyone accompanying him or the need for directions, Rex reached one of the small villages outside the sect withing a day or two. What he noticed was the amount of girls and women that he encountered on his way to the sect, and once in the village, which was as normal as possible, he asked around and soon was dirrected to an inn of sorts where the girls from the sect would often come to relax outside of the grounds. Once there he asked to be dirrected to the sect member here with the highest rank or seniority. The girls were all pretty and looked at him with suspicion, even if they showed no open hostility or disgust. Once he finally had reached the girl in question, he greeted her politely, and was quite direct with the girl


    "Greetings, my name is Neo, and I have an important matter to discuss with your sect master. And it is imperative that I speak with her as soon as possible, since it can save enough people to fill up a rather large sized sect. I was wondering if you could pass on my message?" The few disciples from the sect that were around the girl Rex had spoken to felt that teh person was dead serious. So their cooperation could result in preventing a massacre, as such the lead girl nodded and agreed to work as a messanger for Rex. He thanked her, with a light bow as he cupped his hands the way these cultivators did, and said he would be here in this village for the time being. The girl left soon after and Rex got to spend the next few hours roaming the city looking for something interesting that could catch his eye, since the village was just small enough to not have a proper whorehouse- an establishement Rex was considering of visiting if his urges would get any stronger anytime soon.


    He was bartering with a rather stubborn adn greedy street peddler, when his senses informed him of an aproaching person who wa notably stronger than anyone he had seen in this village. Even the disciples were nowhere near her power level. The visitor was clearly peak A class, so he was slightly inteested in who had come to visit him from the Lunar sect after the delivery of his message.


    "Mister Neo." the voice addressed him, once the person was close, but not close enough to asume she had any malicious intent, and as Rex turned around, and was facing the woman she continued "Sect master Linjin Jun has agreed to meet you. Please follow me." and seeing as she had his full attention, she signaled for him to follow her, and Rex did so without much effort. He could see the girl was trying quite hard to move this fast as he could see sweat forming and getting swept away as they moved with great speed. Some thirty minutes later they had entered the sect grounds and were in a rather simple, yet well maintained hall that had a rather large table, where around ten women sat. At the end of teh table in a more decorated seat sat a beautifull woman around the age of fourty, flanked by two grandmas, who were nearing the damn of their lives. They would still last for a decade or two, but Rex felt that they had lived for more than two centuries. What was also quite interesting was that both the sect master and the two grandmas were middle stage S class entities.

 Chapter 48: The collaborator

    Rex looked at the remaining seven women, and they were all peak A class. He did praise the Lunar sect a bit since they had a decent power level, for being a women only sect. Any woman who married, or engaged in a relationship ussually left the sect and joined whatever power was behind their partner, since no man was allowed to join the Lunar sect. He then looked at Linjin wit ha neutral expresion on his face and spoke


    "Should we speak here, or are we going to a more secure place?"


    "There are plenty of protection and defensive arrays around this hall. No leak is possible." the sect master responded. Both she and her two elders were tense. They could not sense it beforehand, but now in the presence of the man they all had the same question in their minds ''Why cant I feel his aura?''


    "As you wish. It has come to my attention, that Lunar sect is opposed to the war currently happening with the Land of the nice divines. And I believe that you must have at least heard about the extermination of the White lotus sect?" His words made Linjin and the two leder ladies frown.


    "Is it not just a rumor?" one of the elders asked. They had heard some rumors, but there were no concrete confirmation, and they had just recently sent a few of their high ranking members to check on the validity of the rumors.


    "It is most certainly true. And very soon the Tyrant dragon sect will cease to exist too." his words caused a few of the women at the table to gasp, and caused a scowl to appear on the tree powerhouse faces.


    "What is the source of your information, and how would they be destroyed, and what do you know about the demise of the White Lotus sect?" asked Linjin. She had a somewhat bad premonition about the possible answer she might recieve, and it turned out she was correct.


    "The demise of both sects, while innitially for somewhat different reasons, in the end will be traced to a single cause." Rex responded calmly "Just like White Lotus, the Tyrant dragon will be anihilated by a mercenary going by the name of Neo." his words caused the two elders to abruptly get up from their seats and half draw their jian swords.


    "Relax, if I wanted you dead, there is nothing you can do to prevent it, so sit down and maintain civility. I am here to reduce the amount of blood I have to shed. Too much bother." Rex spoke in the same calm manner, and there was no change in his facial expression. With a somewhat strained expression, Linjin Yun asked Rex


    "And what is the purpose of your presence here, and why disclose it to us? Did you not asume the posibility of hostilities after such a declaration?"


    "Its rather simple. I have been hired to end the ongoing war. And the destruction of a few of the main warmongering sects should to the trick. However I find it bothersome to have to end most of them, so my reasoning is quite simple. Your sect is quite opposed to the war and hold a decent reputation within your grand council. So, once I exterminate the Tyrant dragon sect, all you have to do is point to the destruction of the two sects and emphasize the reason for their demise, and hopefully with that the war ends. If not, I will simply take out another sect, then another, then another untill the war comes to an end."


    The ten women around the table were flabergasted. The sheer balls and confidence the man had to announce such an action was beyond belief, and neither his voice nor facial expressions betrayed any emotions, making it harder to read the man. The two old crones spoke silently to their sect master as they whispered in her ear, communicating and planning their next actions. Then as if remembering something he spoke once again


    "Sorry, slipped my mind." a small akwardness apeard on his face "As for the reason I am telling you this. You values and phylosophy as well as standarts are high enough for me to not have the desire to purge this place, and I need someone to inform your council."


    "Even if it is true that your group, where ever they are, is responsible for the end of the White Lotus sect, there is a stark difference in the power of both groups, as well as the Tyrand Dragon sect. What makes you think we would allow you to return to your group to get on with your plans?" asked the sect master. They had to gauge the man in front of them to determine their next action.


    "This is why I like women in negotiations." Rex spoke as a slight smile appeared on his face "Most men would probably be be lunging at me to restore their honor or something. You however are vigilant and cunning enough to try and attain as much information as possible to maximize your options. However, you got something seriously wrong. There is NO group, just me." and with that a very powerfull mana wave passed through the building.


    "Do you not wonder, why cant you sense my presence? Or is the thought of that reason so alien that you have denied the posibility?" Rex then sat in silence, waited and enjoyed as the expressions on the women faces changed from shock, to bevilderment to eventually fear as the realization that they were dealing with SSS class started to consolidate in their minds.


    The higher the class the bigger the difference between each of the stages or classes alltogether, adn since the strongest of them were mid Ss class entities, it was realonable they could percieve high and peak SS class, possibly even someone in the innitial SSS class. There however was the probles, once someone is classified as SSS there is no longer a clasification scale further, so two different SSS class people could be anywhere from entirely equal in their combat power to a point where they could not even be considered to be on the same class.


    The two elders sheated their half drawn jiang swords as they realised that this was not a matter to be solved by swords, if they wanted to remain alive, and in a tacit understanding among each other they sat down at the same time. Then Linjin spoke again after a moment to compose her thoughts.


    "So it would be our task to inform the coucil and innitiate the end of the war once Tyrant dragon sect is no more? Is that all?"


    "Well, I suppose the name of the sects that are against such decision could also help, if the result is still not peace. It is better to slaughter the warmongers after all. " Rex replied with a light smile, that caused goosebumps on the skin of the ten women. The man in front of them spoke as if he was talking about small and annoying chore, not the end of a large sect.


    "Any other glaring questions you are dying to ask, and can I count on your efforts to end the war as soon as possible?" he asked as he felt that he probably would not get much out of the distressed ladies right now. ''Maybee after Tyrant dragon sect if finished'' Rex though.


    "We will do our best to minimize the lifes lost in this meaningless conflict, so if you could delay the attack on the Tyrant Dragon sect, we might be able to...."


    "Nonesense. We both know that would be a waste of time. No one would listen unless they clearly knew their ass was on the line, and I am going to give them exactly that- a clear sign."


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Linjin sighed. She had tried to reduce the casualities to a minimum by opposing the war at the very beggining, and when that failed she used her sect people to save as many lives as she could, and she would do so again. Life was never just black and white, and she had always worked hard to avoid having to make decisions in the wrong shades, but the fate would just not allow her to. She cupped her hands as she stood up and lightly bowed to the man


    "Understood. We will do our utmost to reduce the unnecesarry bloodshed."


    "Do you have anyone near the Tyrant dragon sect right now you can contact, in case you want someone to witness the demise of theirs to better paint the futility of te econtinuation of the war?"


    "No, that will not be necessary. The destruction of the sect alone would suffice, and I dont want any of the young ones to have to witness the savagery that would take place there."


    "Any ather questions?" Rex then asked, seeing the lull in the conversation


    "If we may, what did the kitsunes offer that could entice one such as you to act?" It was clear to Linjin that the contractor of his were the kitsunes since they were the ones cultivators were at war with.


    "Their pride." His words caused another gasp to be heard. This time it was a collective gasp from the two elders. They were old and experienced enough to understand what his words meant. kitsunes had bit their pride and offered some of their noble princeses to the man- an act they would do only in the most pressing of maters, since it was quite big blow to their pride, and the tow also knew just how ethereally beautifull their best women could be. Any hope of outbidding the man was impossible, so they quickly whispered in the ear of their sect leader.


    "I see." A slight aphrehension could be seen on her face "Thank you for at least trying to limit the lives lost in this conflict." she then spoke while cupping her hands and slightly bowing. She still had to maintain her dignity as a sect leader after all, and it did not seem as if her actions had offended the man.


    "I will be on my way then" Rex spoke "I have much to do after all. Road to travel, sect to end. Have a nice day." he finished, got up from the seat he had taken, and left the building. Outside there were the few disciple girls waiting for him who had delivered the message innitially.


    "You did a good job. Thank you." Rex thanked the girl. He noticed she was your average sect disciple, nothing special at all about her. And as he was pondering how should he reward her, the sect leader and the two elders came out of the building, the other seven ladies soon folowing.


    Rex pulled out a few killso of meatfrom his ring, and helf it in the air with his mana controll, then pointed at the girl.


    "I like well manered and obedient girls. Use this, make a proper meal, and enjoy it together with her and the few girls who were working the gate today. They are smart and well behaved, and that should be rewarded."


    One of the grandmas raised an eyebrow, then almost started salivating at the sight of the meat. That was earth grade. She hurriedly took the meat, bowed and spoke respectfully


    "It will be done." Rex nodded and then dissapeared. Only the three SS class women barely registered the speed at which he moved, eliciting goosebumps over their skin.''If he decided to attack their sect, they were all as good as dead'' is what the trio though, then sighed in relief that the man was reasonable, seeing the contract he had taken. Then the garnd elder who took the meat quickly started to make preparations for their special meal. There was enough meat to share among the two grand elders, sect leader adn teh few girls working guard duty. The idea did not even cross her head to not do as the man had told, and not share it with the disciples it was intended for, she liked being alive after all.


    Rex was moving with inhuman speeds towards his next destination- the Tyrant Dragon sect, where the second part of his plan would take place. It took him a few more days to stumble upon a rather lucky encounter, that would speed up his future travels by a lot. He was crossing some sort of a forbidden zone- a large territory that was teaming with all sorts of monsters and mutated beasts. It was a very large mountainous zone, adn as he was crossign one of the mountains he encountered a rather interesting sight.


    He saw a fight between a mutated grand eagle and a group of some sort of snakes. The eagle had a few wounds on its body, and it was clear that it was slowly loosing ground. Not far from the combat area there was a ransacked nest with destroyed eggs. Rex could see the place up on the cliff where the nest had stood before. Deciding to speed up his travel, he quickly used his full arsenal of abilities to dispose of the snakes and at the same time branded the eagle, who, upon the death of snakes slumped on the ground. It was exasuted and was fighting purely fuelled by rage and adrenaline, and once hsi archnemesis and target of his revenge was no more, the rush was over and it fell to the ground, not even trying to resist the branding.


    Rex used the recently killed snakes to heal up the eagle and disperse the numbing poison coarsing its veins, then ordered it to eat as he gave it a few dozen killos of earth garde meat. The grannies would probably vomit blood if they saw his actions. He had just casually given the creature multiple times more meat than he gifted them, and he did not even flinch doing so. Few dozen minutes later, once the eagle finished its feast, it departed from the mountains, since it had nothing left there. On its back stood its master, and they were flying with great speed towards the Tyrant dragon sect.


    And even if the eagle was only S class, it was a being not only capable of flight, but one that specialized in it. One had to point out that humans and any other humanoid creature were inherently weaker than monsters and mutated beasts, since their bodies were heavily adapted for their specializations, and mana natturally strenghtened their bodies. It was the reason why earth grade and higher was so insanely beneficial to consume. Sadly the mana density outside the dungeons was not rich enough in the air to allow creatures here to be nourished with maan enough to not only attain their power class but also enhance their meat to the required mana saturation, so only deep floor raids could yield earth and heaven grade meat and other ingridients.


    The eagle was a flying beast, adn so it could fly for long distances at a speed Rex could not achieve reliably, since on earth he would be affected by the terrain of the lands he is traversing and other annoying distractions. Flight on the contrary held no such drawbacks, and the only real drawback of being seen was also not an issue since he was powerfull enought to not have to worry about the possible ambushed and other annoyances.


    So in another few days of travel Rex reached his destination. A grim looking mountain, covered in some sickly looking trees by the standarts of earth. From what he had learned, those were called iron leaf trees, since they gave off metalic sheen from the leaves, and looked as if they were all made of some sort of metals. The trees in question absorbed metal and that is what gave them their unique appearances, and their leaves were often harvested to extract the metal within. Then some time later, once the harvested leaves had been replenished, it is done once again. The trees also dont need much in the way of maintanence, so they are quite good culture to be grown.


    Further up the mountain Rex saw multiple houses. No doubt the tree keepers lived there. Then further up a small villages could be noticed, since in more places than one streams of smoke could be seen rising into the sky- a clear sign of humanoid activity, with a very few exeptions. Closer to the peak, the place where Rex was currently cloning in to, was a sort of a walled large settlement- the Tyrant Dragon sect, and not too far, on the other side and at the foot of the mountain there was a city where the disciples and servants of the sect went to resupply, and have fun.


    The eagle kept circling around the sect high in the air. Rex was thinking of the best way to deal with this sect. It was not too much different from the Lunar sect. It had two more SS class and some six more S class entities in the sect either taking part in the daily life of the place or training some sort of medititive art in their own private quarters. Rex reasoned that those guys must be performing the old practices of secluded cultivation, that was so prelevant in the xianxia novels he had read in the past on earth. Guess that fanatic that introduced them to this way of live was not all too bright or he found something that could be a valid reason to practise in such a way. With the few minutes he had dedicated his mind to the cultivation practises and the rest of their culture, his brain came up with the logical conclusion, that the effect and efficiency of such exercises did little to nothing to trully strenghten and develop ones personal power.

 Chapter 49: Exelency and the closed realm

    Having finished the innitial scouting of the sect grounds and evaluating the possible danger level, which ended up being low if non existant, Rex once again came to the same conclusion he had some time ago. Humans were indeed weak in general, and if he wanted to push himself further and further, only teh deep floors could provide his edge an apropriate grindging stone. Nevertheless, he had some business to conclude before he could properly delve in the exploration and grind of the deep floors. He probably had to consider an offspring or two as well, since Irina, succubi twins and his angel Eira were trying very hard to achieve said result. And while he had little love for kids, he liked his girls very much, and you never know, his own little spawns might be tolerable, or even better.


    He shook his head, clearing it from all unnecessary thoughts and distractions. Then in preparation for the coming murder fest he needed to get himself in a more pleasant mode, so he pulled out a canteen from one of his storage rings, and took a few big gulps, relishing in the magnificent taste of his drink. Few drinks could rival the milk of a great sabertooth tiger in terms of taste, energy surge and even the aftertaste. He made himself a mental reminder that he should collect some more from the hidden stash that Lira was dutifully filling up every now and then.


    With his mood slightly better, and reconosance done, he made a quick brainstorming, regarding his plan of action. He could do as he did with the White lotus sect, but it felt that would not be good enough. A semi ambush type massacre did not felt like the best actione here, since he needed to make the sects fear for the same happening to them, and basicly none of the disciples had any say regarding the policies and actions of teh sect at large. That responsibility and power lay with the sect master and elders, so another approach should be employed. Rex workd the idea over for a while longer, then finally decided on a course of action.


    "Linjin better thank me hard after this one." he spoke to himself as ordered the eagle to descend at the bigest square in the sect. Upon his orders, the eagle dove, and with an incredible speed, catching all guards who saw the dive unprepeared, it reached the ground level and in a mastered manner it spread its wings and manipulating the wind and mana in the air around the wings, in just a few seconds it had decelerated to basicly standstill and landed in the square frightening the few disciples who were doing their routines nearby.


    "SUMMON YOUR SECT MASTER AND ELDERS!" a yell resounded from Rex mouth. He wanted to get this done as quickly as possible, and so his rather impolite entrance and his arrogant attitude should serve as the best way to draw his main prey here to his landing place. He dd not have to wait long as many guards surrounded him, their spears raised at the eagle and ready to attack at a moments notice. Further back were archers with bows drawn, ready to unleash a barrage of arrows at the two intruders. Little did they know their mortal weapons could do nothing against the S class entities they were targetings, excluding annoying them and asking for their own demise.


    "Pathetic peasants, know your place." Rex spoke with a chilling but indifferent voice, and after that all the guardsmen in the field they were standing in collapsed. Rex had used his mana to knock everyone here out. He had decided act arrogantly for several reasons. Firstly, that would condition his targets to be vary, since confidence should come from a place of competency. Secondly , he believed it would be fun to do so. Third was the more practical reason, since an arrogant persone would take greater offence to those who disregard the rare few times where they decide to show mercy or any other kind of boon to someone else. Thus if they decided to not apreciate his generosity, he would have a better reason and excuse to leave this place as mostly burnt ruins.


    After his aura flex, it did not take long for teh elders and sect master to rush over with all haste, since even they got some goosebumps from the wave they felt. Once they arrived at the field, they were greeted by the sight of all their guards and some overeager disciples unconscious on the ground in a circular shape. In the very center of the field a man stood on an eagle monster. Then another powerfull mana wave passed thme by, this one while powerfull, didnt affect them, indicating that the first one was indeed meant as a warning to the more powerfull warriors who lived here to go and confront the man. With a single step Rex was in front of the guild master, or he assumed it was the guild master due to his specific clothing.


    "Lead the way to the biggest field in this place, and have all your important top brass follow. What the place is called?"


    "The tyrant''s arena." the man answered on instinct, and right after that another mana pulse was sent out. This time everyone passed by the sound wave, recieved the same sentence


    "In the tyrants arena there will be a match of the century, Everyone is to go there now."


    It took Rex, sect master and the elders, who were arriving one by one to gather at the arena some twenty minutes, and during this time streams of people were gathering at the arena, just as the voice had ordered the disciples to do. Rex was sitting on a chair in the middle of the arena, and unlike him, the leadership of the sect were more cautious and guarded. As such they remained standing. They were quite aware that the man oposing them right now was very powerfull, and it was quite possible that he might have some solid beef with their sect, but engaging in combat right now would cause unknown amount of losses and damages. The sect management wanted to avoid as much of destruction as possible. Rex made a mana ping every now and then, checking the progress of the gathering of the sect, and an hour or so later, when almost all people in the sect had gathered around the huge arena, he finally spoke.


    "It has come to my attention, that your sect is one of the leading proponents of the war with the Land on the Nine Divines. Is that true?" His question was slightly odd, at least by the sensibilities of the Tyrant dragon sect, and so their leader answered the rather well known and obvious truth.


    "It is only natural for those of noble blood to subjugate and guide the savages that they are."


    "Hmph." Rex sneered at the statement, then spoke, his next words causing a commotion among the people that heard him, and seeing as his voice was amplified, that was everyone in the arena "Those savages, as you called them, were smart enought to pay the correct amount for me be willing to show what happens when I am hired. You have a couple of options right now. First- the entire leadership of the sect fights me, gets killed, then I am ensured that there will be no more warmongering. Second is that you higher ups try to run away, not even providing me with the bare minimum of entertainment, in which case I just kill the lot of you and then turn my sight to the disciples. So what is it gonna be?" His voice changed drasticly in the very last question. Where everything else was cold and uncaring, the very last question was in an amused and expectant voice, like a child playing a game adn asking another friend to choose what mischief they are going to perform this time.


    Unlike Rex, who was having quite a lot of fun with his job, the sect leader now had much more serious expression. It was obvious they are dealing with a madman. Powerfull for sure, but madman nevertheless. The sheer arrogance he must have to believe he could take on their entire upper echalon was astounding, and whats more, he had come and announced that in their sects grounds, where they had their own protection arrays that elevated their combat potential even more. And to drive teh last nail in the mad mans coffin, every one of their powerhouses were here as well. And unlike the sect master, who had to be both powerfull and cunning, the other elders withing the top brass were more dirrect combat oriented- they were muscleheads, so the rather primitive supremacy ideas have had little trouble in establishing its place in the hearts and minds of the people here. Sadly Rex realized that he would have to spend quite a bit in reeducating the girls he will collect from here. He had noticed a few nines during the gathering of the disciples, and he had asigned his crows to track them.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    One of the elders arrogantly stepped forward, cracking his neck. A wide smirk was displayed on his face as he approached Rex.


    "You messed up big time boy. And sadly for you, there will be no second chances to repent that. But hey, look at the bright side, You will be able to serve as an example of our superiority." With that said, the elder charged at Rex, and once he was close enough, he struck with his fist that was hidden in the war gauntlet. Unfortunately, this particular hot headed elder was barely S class, so as expected Rex simply caught the mans punch with his own hand, and then abruptly squeezed, crushing the gauntlet and the mans hand as a result as well. And as expected, the next moment the arena was filled with a wail of pain, as the elder fell to his knees and screamed while cluthing his crushed hand with the healthy one.


    "Too noisy." Rex spoke and then the next moment arena was once again silent, only a "thud" was heard as the severed head of the now dead elder landed not too far from the body. Rex had decapitated the man in one swift movement, since thescreaming was getting on his nerves and he was going to kill all the upper management, incredible bauties excluded, most of teh core disciples, same exclusion applies, and let the remaining disciples do whatever. He was quite sure the little guys should have enought brains to understand the sequence. So in the next moment he turned to the sect leadrer once again and asked


    "So, whats your move?"


    The swift and brutal death of one of their elders had sobered up the entire elite force of the sect, and they quickly took action, to neutralize the threat that was now looming over them. In a rather well practised manner the elders suddenly attacked Rex, some trying to hinder him, others distract his attention, so that the few heavy hitters could deliver catastrophic damage. In less than five mintues of their assault, the attacking force noticed a massive problem in their current situation. No matter how they attacked, feinted or distracted the lone man, he seemed to be aware of absolutely every single move of theirs. Any heavily destructive magic spell that was casted at his was avoided either dodging or using someone from their side as a shield, or using a random rock from the earth debris to fling it at the caster who would be almost ready to attack him. As for melle combatants it was even worse, since the sneak attacks performed were always blocked and an imediate counter blow alwasy was there, rattling the brains of the unlucky specimen to get close enough to his skin.


    The second problem was that as the fight kept going on, their melee combatants recieved more and more punishement all the while their target was untouched. Then almost thirty minutes into the fight, they noticed another, more glaring issue that had surfaced- their opponent seemed to have nigh unlimited stamina and mana. And with their side being the olny ones to sustaind any damage, and even a few more extra deaths, since as long as he did not kill anyone, the sects members would just get tired, move to the side, or get healed and then come back, so Rex was deploying the oldest tricks in the book- If the enemy is dead, it cant come back for whatever is it thats driving said enemy, so he started to end the lives of the sect elders when he had the chance, sneakily performing a slight drain on the fallen. Just little enough that sensitive sensors would not notice anything, and maintain his mana tank full for emergency cases.


    Another hour later, out of the twenty elders who were trying very hard to end Rex life, only about half were still standing and breathing, and were in quite a desperate situation. Once the third elder on their side fell, a few quickly had retreated and attempted to activate their array, only to notice nothing happening. Rex laughed at their stupified faces, and explained that they are now in an enclosed area, that is barely tethered to the real world, and as such obviously no terrain advantage they might have could be utilized to help them out, and obviously, they also had no way to run away. That revelation enticed the sects elders to redouble their efforts to end Rex. Sadly however, it just was not ment to be , and so they were here and now, where only half of their elder numbers remained. And even those were quite haggard now with obvious signs of exaustion. The stamina and mana recovery potions that they had were long since burnt, since the moment they used the first pills, Rex upped the pace of combat, forcing the newly aquired energy to be spent just as fast. Eventually, more and more on their side had fallen. Luckaly, the sect leader was still alive and kicking, and seeing their now hopeless fight, the leader here wanted to end the battle.


    "WAIT!" he exclaimed, as he signalled for all elders to back off, and that revealed the perfectly fresh and relaxed enemy of theirs. "We are clearly no match for you sir, so why not end it here? Just name the price and we will gladly pay to end this." Rex did not immediatly rush at the retreated elders, but browned a bit and asked back


    "And what could you possibly have, that I could not attain once all of you are dead? Besides, it is the decimation of your leadership and main combat power that I seek, since that should serve as enough of an intimidation for the rest of your sects, hopefully forcing them to capitulate in this war. In addition, your sect was one of the main forces that pushed for war, so here it is, lets keep on enjoying it." And with that Rex once again took a stance that showed he was ready and willing to fight, and with only half of them remaining, he should have enough leeway to now go on the offensive as well, not just exploit the miniscule mistakes and slight errors in their teamwork. They were incredibly good with their combined attacks, but even then, with Rex suoerior speed, processing power and raw might, even a milisecond off in their chain or combo attacks were enough for him to deliver devastating counterattacks and evasive manouvers.


    "THERE IS SOMETHING!" the sect leader quickly yelled in panic, afraid tha tthe enemy would take action immediatly. Luckaly, Rex was waiting after his panic filled scream. And with the small moment of lull in the battle sect master quickly looked at the other nine elders of theirs and seeing all of them nod, wiling to sacrifice this special tresure of theirs to save their lives, he exhaled to calm himself a bit, since their opponent is a monster, and he had to ensure that his words do not offend or enrage the man. Then he spoke once again


    "We have in our possesion a vault of sorts, that lead to a closed realm that can only be opened from either inside or with a special ritual that only we are aware of. The closed realm is quite unique in the sence that is has a trial, that, if overcome, would bind the realm to your being, granting a personal space where one can hold living beings. In addition, I would offer my granddaughter to your exelency as proof and assurance that we would push for immediate end of the war with the kitsunes."


    "Wait, what is the name of your granddaughter?" Rex suddenly asked. He remembered that in the book of information he recieved from Amir Falcon, there was a mention of some sort of a divine beauty within the Tyrant dragon sect. The girl was described as one of the four godesses of the sect alliance. The girls name was Vivian.


    "Her name is Vivian. Has your exelency heard of her? She is regarded as one of the four godessess of this generation."


    "Count yourselves lucky, since this offer of yours has intrigued me, and I am willing to spare your lives. I will need the five girls in the crowd wo have a raven perched atop their shoulder as well though."


    "But of course your exelency. I am sure they will be overjoyed that one as great as you has developed an interest in them." responded to his words the sect leader, and soon the five beauties Rex had noticed and placed a crow to keep track of were in the middle of the arena. No matter how many admirers they had and who they were, there would be no attempt to rescue them, since everyone had witnesed the power of the man who claimed the girls.


    "We are at your service, your exelency." the five girls spoke in unison, once they all stood before Rex. He could hear the dejection in their voices, but they dared not offend the powerhouse who had claimed them. They new all too well that they were sent to the sect for precisely such purpose- to be noticed and chosen by a great man so their families could have a powerfull backing in the future.


    "Does any one of you have advanced skills in cooking?" he suddenly asked as they were following the sect master to the place where they would open the trial to the closed realm.


    "Yes, your exelency. Our families have trained us quite welll in the arts of cooking, since it is a duty of the wife to cook for her family." Rex smiled at the words he just heard


    "Wonderfull, one I am done with the trial and Vivian joins us, I will have you girls cook a meal with earth grade meat. It has been a while since I have had the chance to enjoy it cooked by skilled hands" then remembering that it is not something the everyone has access to he added "We eat nothing less in terms of quality at my house, so you will have to get used to it." His words caused a few gasps, and more jelous glares in the dirrection of the girls, and Rex could swear he heard some elder murmur


    "Why couldnt I have born a pretty girl?"

 Chapter 50: World shard

    As Rex was guided to the closed space, he worked over his current plans, and came to a conclusion that he had to make a few quick changes, to ensure no foul play could be done. His teleport runes were operational, and he had placed a few in the Xian-Wu city as well as a sneaky one in the Lunar sects hall where he had the discussion with their leadership. Now he had to set up the remaining few contingencies here, since he is not planning to drage the new firls with him in the trial, so there was a need for a quick action.


    "I will rest for the night near the entrance, and enter tommorow. I hope that the council of sects will be aware of your strong desire to end the war by the time I return." he spoke as they neared the destination.


    "Y-yes, of course, we will do our utmost to end teh war as soon as possible." responded the sect master.


    Soem twenty minutes later they had reached a large marble structure, where Rex was brought to a room with a large and luxurious bed.


    "I hope your exelency is satisfied with the room for your rest." the sect master asked a bit nervous, worried to enrage the man at the moment. There were no trully top tier bedrooms in this building, and the one they were in was indeed one of the best ones.


    "It will do. Come find me in the morning." was all Rex said, and the leaders of the sect left as soon as the girls were shown the nearby kitchen and other neccesary rooms. Once they were all back, Rex deployed multiple barriers to ensure nothing happening inside could be seen. then he turned to the girls.


    "Now then, since you will be waiting here for me to claim the sealed space, I expect some fould play to possibly be performed, so, as will all women I aquire through conquest and such, some slight security measures have to be taken. Do not worry, I already consider you mine, so expect your lives to be better than most royalities could hope for once we are back in my base city." With that said he quickly branded them all, eliciting another round of shocked gasps once the girls came out of the trance the branding put them in.


    "Master!" They all politely bowed to Rex once they regained some composure. Now they realized just how lucky they were that Rex had decided on the slaughter of few, not many, since he could probably do what he had warned teh elders with- total anihilation of their sect. Rex then withdrew a few killos of earth grade meat and placed it on a platter.


    "Go and prepeare this for our dinner/ breakfast. You will be joining me. Hopefully kitchen has some spices to make it better." The girls then quickly got to work and in less than an gour, a rather simple but quite good meal was eaten, and as Rex had said innitially, the new maids of his had to join him. There were no complaints from the girls, since they got to eat like the emperor. After their meal Rex instructed the girls on their mission during their wait for his return and the general rules he expected them to follow, and after that they had a few hours of sleep untill the break of dawn, when the sect master and the remaining living elders came to fulfill their end of the bargain and hope that with it done, the monster would leave them alone. Rex previous display of might had left the sects upper leadership scared and traumatised, so they were quite docile right now.


    "Good morning your exelency. I hope you had a good rest." the sect master greeted him with somewhat forced smile. The man was hoping for all of this to end as soon as possible, and the fact that he had to sacrifice hsi beautifull granddaughter to ensure the survival of the sect did sting him, but it was a sacrifice any of the elders would take willingly. They all had multipple children and even more grandchildren and so, the loss of one girl would not harm them in any meaningfull way.


    "Hmm, lest get on with it then. I am sure we all want this ordeal over with as soon as possible." Rex responded, causing a few uncomfortable elders to akwardly chuckle, trying to pass his words as a well timed joke and fail misserably.


    "Yes, of course. Please follow us." the sect master spoke once again and in less than five minutes they had reached an audience hall of sorts with a pedestal in the middle of it. On the pedestal was placed a small locket of sorts. The locked itself seemed to be made of some sort of a magical metal, and it shimmered in a different light every once in a while. It was hung on an intricate black metal delicate chain.


    "The sealed space is anchored to the amulet currently since it has no owner for the time being. From the records of our sect, once someone passes the trial they can claim the sealed realm as their own, and then it would be anchored to them for as long as they live. Unfortunately, there have not been a single person who had sucseeded in passing the trials ever since we aquired the artifact some thousand years ago. And those that fail it, can never remember what was it that was tested, since it seems as if the memories of the trials themselves are taken. We will evoke the portal in just a few moments. Once your exelency has crossed to the other side please follow the paved road. Soon after you should reach a pagoda of sorts. Vivian will be there meditating. Hand her this scroll, and she will be aware of her duty to serve your exelency." sect leader spoke and handed Rex a scroll of sorts. "Afterwards she will explain the way to innitiate the trial."


    With that said, sect leader and five elders took place around the platform in predetermined places, and started an incantation of sorts. A few minutes later, in front of the pedestal a green swirling portal appeared, and the sect leader gestured towards the portal


    "The path forward is open. Please hurry, it closes in a few minutes. If you wish to leave just return to the place where you will emerge, teh portal on th eother side is alwasy open and would open on this side again when you desire to leave the place."


    "Good." Rex nodded, then ordered his five new maids to wait for him here and entered the portal. a few minutes later, the portal closed as mentioned, and the sect leader sighed, and notably relaxed. So did the others, and one of them asked, totaly ignoring the five maids in the room


    "What if he manages to actually clear the trials? It would be a great loss if he takes away the sealed realm."


    "Come now, there is no need to worry. No one has managed to pull it off untill now, and from the ancient journal we found with the necklace, it is quite obvious that one has to be a mage of sorts to even hope for a chance of success. You all saw him hight yesterday. He is a fighter, not a mage. We just have to wait for his failiure, and once he returns, all we have to do is escort him away. Now, hurry and inform the sect councill about the need to end the war. We will have to cancel all plans and seclude ourselves for a few decades to recover from his blunder. Kitsunes have a much stronger connections than we innitially asumed" sect leader calmed the nervous elders, then looked at the five maids and asked


    "What did you learn about your new master?" The maids blushe a little, then the eldest of them spoke in a light voice


    "He has boundless energy, and we will be branded once he returns to his home town. He has such a connection with an unreasonably powerfull blood mage." That was what the maids where told to disclose. It was necesarry to ensure that no stupid plots would be hatched where they try and order the girls do some stupid shit. Sure, Rex could have ordered them to keep quiet, then agree to whatever scheme they hatch, then shred them for said sheme, but he was no Einstein, and he did not like to plot and scheme. The information caused the elders to gasp, and sink in another round of quick discussion, where they discarded any and all prepared plans to get back at the man, since it would not be feasible with such connections. No they would only be shooting themselves in the foot by going with their innitial plans.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Serve him well." spoke the sect master "Hopefully he will treat you all well. And once you reach his home city, send us a letter, so we know where to turn, if we are in need of his services." They had very quickly changed their future plans regarding their unlucky encounter. Now they had changed the script by hundred and eighty degrees, and would use this as a chance to establish a friendship with the man. Who knows, they might get something even better out of this debaucle after all.


    Unavare of the thoughts and plans of the sects leadership, Rex stepped through the portal and looked at his surroundings. He was standing in a building of similar white marbe as the building he just left. He spend a few dozen minutes exploring the building and when he found nothing of interest, he left the place. Stepping outside the building the first thing he noticed was the vastly more mana rich air that was here. While not near the levels of mana saturation in the air like the deep floors, it was notably better than outside here.


    He looked at the forset surrounding him. It was in all shades of vibrant green colours, something sparckling here and there from time to time. He enjoyed the peacefull scenario for a moment then, as instructed, he took the paved path that supposedly leads to his new harem girl and the place where the trial would be held. And indeed, soone he reached a small shrine where a girl was sitting and meditating. Whne he was no more that ten meters away from the girl, she stirred awake from her meditation, stood up and turned towards him, displaying her beautifull face and ample bossom.


    A small frown appeared on her face as she looked at the unfamiliar figure.


    "Who are you? And how did you get here?" she asked, her hand already firmly held the the staff that was near her just a moment ago, mana slowly circulating. She was prepearing a few spells, if the unknown man decided to try something funny. There had been such fools in the past, and she had dealt with them all in a rather cruel fashion. It was the only way a girl could protect herself in this harsh word of theirs.


    "Here, a scroll from your grandfather." Rex spoke and tossed the scroll to the girl who swiftly catched it, and relaxed just a tiny bit. The scroll was indeed sealed by her grandfather- the sect master of the Tyrant Dragon sect, so she broke the seal and read through it. Rex could see how her expression changed from one of mistrust and variness towards the stranger to one of shock and disbelief as she read through it.


    "Impossible. Just what are you?" She asked in shock. She was flabergasted. Her grandfather, who doted on her quite a lot, had just traded her for the survival of the sect. And it seemed that this lone man was responsible for the possible end of it. He had already killed half of the elders last night when he arrived and challenged them all, since he needed to end the war with the Kitsunes as a contracted mercenary.


    "Spin around" Rex spoke to the beauty whirling his finger indicating his desire, and the girl, still a bit confused and shocked did as asked, unknowingly showing off her body to her new master.


    "Good, you are well worth sparing them." Rex added as he approache teh girl, now standing couple meters from her.


    "Your grandfather told me you would explain the bare minimum you know about the trial. I plan to claim this world shard. It is a perfect place for my harem." I would allow him to always have his girls close by. That would allow him to travel teh world and enjoy everything this vast world could offer him. His words pulled her back to reality and elicited a laughter from her. A few moments later she finaly stopped, calming herself and answered his inquiring gaze,


    "We have been trying to lay claim to this ''world shard'' as you put it, for almost thousand years, and not one has yet sucseeded. What makes you think you are any diferent?" then realizing her blunder she quickly added "Master."


    "Hmh, feisty." Rex spoke, a light smile appeared on his face. "Act as yourself, I am not into beating my girls for some weak excuses. Regardless, explain to me what you know regarding the trial and we will see what can be done."


    "Please follow me." she spoke, then turned and started walking along one of the three paths that split in different dirrections from the small building. As they walked she told Rex a few things they had learned about the world shard, and what they asumed was a part of the trials, as well as a few other guesses, that they had eliminated as untrue. She also told Rex a few things about the area around them.


    As it turned out, they were limited to only a few square killometers in their exploration, as the area further out was locked behind a barrier of sorts that prevented the ability to advance further. Still, there was a rather lavish mansion at the end of one of the remaining paths, and the other ended in some sort of a garden, which was ubfortunately outside the barrier, as such was unexplored as well. Soon they had reached a different building, that remainded Rex of some sort of academy tower, or similar place that stored knowledge. Once they were close enough to the building, from a nearby pond a whirlwind of water shot out, and landed a few meters in front of them. THe water stabilized soon after into what looked liek a form of a man, and it magically spoke


    "Aaa, velcome again Vivian, and her friend. Have you finaly prepeared for the test?" it asked.


    "No, it is not my time yet. This man is interested in partaking the test." she responded. The elemental looked at Rex for a brief moment, shrugged and spoke in a relaxed manner


    "Understood. Now, sir, would you prefer the test of might or the test of knowledge?" It asked Rex now.


    "Any specifics regarding the tests? Like if combat focuses on endurance and or destructive power, What knowledge we are talking about? phylosofical or practical? And so on." The spirit though for a moment, and while it was thinking Rex added another question "Also, if you are a sort of a steward of this place, would you care to introduce yorself?"


    "That will not be necessary for now, since if you fail you will forget about me anyways, so it is a waste of our time." the spirit responded cassualy, butRex had the feeling that it just did not want to get its hopes up, then after some time it answered Rex previous questions


    "I suppose the test could be classified as ancient knowledge test, and combat test would be focused on endurance and ability to avoid monsters. That is as far as I can inform you, anything else more specific can be inquired once there is a master to this place." The answer the spirit gave Rex, made him smile quite wide and he very quiclky responded to the question the spirit posed


    "I would prefer the combat trial."


    "Are you sure?" the spirit questioned "It has been quite a long while since the last time anyone had atempted the combat trial and the monsters in the zone had grown quite numerous and powerfull. Once started it cannot be stopped for a few days, so the danger level is quite high."


    It had to be noted that teh Tyrant Dragon sect almost never chose the combat trial, and that was because one of the first and only to attempt said trial was a peak SS class master of theirs who died after entering the trial. And since said man was the peak of their individual power, the sect decided to not risk loosing more of their powerhouses in such an unknown and dangerous test. Rex choice brought a smile to Vivians face, as she was quite sure that he was too arrogant and was signing his own death sentence. While she would faithfully carry out her grandfathers order to serve this man, she would be more than happy to see him die and both release her from this duty and remove a threat that his existence created for the sect.


    Once Rex had affirmed his decision for a few more times, the elemental steward sighed and aquiessed. A moment later a portal was opened near the building adjacent to which the elementals pond stood, and once it was stable, Rex looked at the portal, then at the sighing steward, then he looked at Vivian, smirked and spoke as he was walking towards the portal


    "Vivian" and once the girl looked at him he continiued "Better prepare mentaly, I will be claiming that body of yours once I am back." All she could see on the mans face as he dissapeard into the portal was confidence. She smirked


    "Well. I suppose I will be holding the record in our sect for the shortest time spent in someones servitude." and with that she returned to the building she used to study and meditate in this place. She still had a long way to go to cram all that ancient knowledge that was in those books.

 Chapter 51: The test

    As Rex stepped through the portal he immediatly noticed a wast difference in the atmosphere. The most apt desciption would be deep dungeon level of mana rich air. He took a few deep breaths as his mana pinged and mapped out his surroundings. He could sense loads of living entities less than a few killometers away, and part of them were on course towards him. Their speed was also increasing quite notably.


    Rex stretched his arms and drew Limitless from his storage ring, and prepeared for the imminent combat. He also summoned his cosmic crows that took to the sky, ready for draining, cleaning teh battlefield and providing him with birds eye view of his surroundings, and advancing monsters. Using the crows he saw all manner of monsters rushing towards him in some sort of a frenzied mob. They mostly ignored one another, as if their common enemy was Rex, and only once he is eliminated could they return to the nattural state of their ecosystem.


    Rex saw multitude of minotaurs, centaurs, ogres and even trolls rushing towards him. A huge grin appeared on his face, realizing the magnificent grind he was about to embark on. He once again got to reinforce his established belief- Only the dungeons could provide the ultimate thrill and challenge as well as true danger when it came to pure combat. The civil lands however, would provide dangers of different kind. Backstabbing and treatchery. Those were the bread and butter of humanity and many other highly advanced species, and if not for his notable issues with trusting people and brands, he was sure as hell that his back would be adorned with at least a few daggers by now.


    Clearing his mind from the unneccessary distracting thoughts, he focused on the task at hand- to grind to his hearts content for as long as the test lasts, or untill he manages to wipe most, if not all creatures who are stupid enough to asume he is the prey, not the hunter. With a huge grin on his face he lowered his body, bending his knees and prepearing for a lunge of sorts, and once the clostest monster group was no more than fifty meters away, he dashed in its dirrection. In just a few moments he was in front of the first minotaur, and catching it off guard in its mad rush towards the meat, he sliced it clean in half with Limitless, then he used pure mana as a way of propulsion, kicking himself a few steps back, avoiding the mass of tumbling bodies, who tried to slow down to attempt a swing of a club, or any other primitive weapon the creatures were holding. Then utilising the pile of bodies taht was squirming and kicking to get up on their feet, Rex started his murder spree, splitting apart any unfortunate monster that closed in on him as they rushed around the pile that was akwardly untangling.


    In less than a few minutes the unfortunate pile of monsters had mostly got up, and the few more unfortunate ones that happened to be the first in line had several extremities broken from the abrupt stop and subsequent crashes and pile on. Rex was not standing idle either during the untangling, as there were now a few new piles that consisted of corpses that Rex had created. He had enough strenght, speed and awareness of his surroundings that he could controll the tempo and flow of the slaughter that was happening here, adn the strategic corpse piels slowed and limited the the endless stream of monsters tha twas pouring in. Rex could see in real time from birds eye view everything that was happening, calmly analyze it all and then plan and act out said plans with deadly precision.


    Minotaurs, ogres and centaurs were killed in a very fast manner, ussually splitting them in half. Trolls were more of a problem, since the pure numbers of incoming horde prevented Rex from slicing and dicing the trolls in small and solid meat strips to kill the creatures, so he ussually cut offtheir legs, and moved to another position, near one of the corpse piles he had created. He was immensly thankfull for his luck,since it would me so much more annoying if he did not have Limitless with him. The sword sliced all his enemies as a hot knife through butter. It did not matter whether an arm, a leg or some random thick skull got in the trajectory of the balde, everything was sliced perfectly, leaving a trail of blood and carnage behind in his tracks.


    Rex had been going at it for a few hours, when he noticed a new type of enemy appearing in the distance. Both giants and cyclops started to to exist the giant trees in the distance. They were slowly lumbering towards Rex. Six to eight meters high monstrosities were slowly approaching, and the cyclops stopped a few hundred meters away from Rex, then, a spell circle materialized beneath each one of them, and the ground regurgitaded a rock half the size of a car, then the boulders were lifted with both hands by the cyclops, and in an akward shot put launch motion, the boulders were flung towards Rex position. Thanks to his many eyes and calculating abilities, he could predict each and every boulders trajectory, efficiently moving and avoiding the impact areas of the monstrous artillery shots.


    Then Rex made it his mission to ensure that all those cyclops had the chance to have a swift and intimate session with his sword. As he charged in the dirrection of the artillery, while leaving a trail or corpses adn carnage behind him, some of his ravens came down from the sky and drained a pile or two of the corpes, restoring the spent mana and stamina, giving Rex the freedom to keep blasting in full steam non stop. He could see now why the SS class fighter from the sect was killed relatively quickly. The sheer amount of the A classs monsters that were swarming him would overwelm and exaust almost every single challenger. No matter how pwoerfull you are, once there is not an ounce of energy left in your body, you will fall prey to even weak enemy.


    Rex had another weapon at hand, tha the could deploy to make it much easier on himself, if he decided to use it. He could easily brand a large number of monsters and then use said monsters to combat the wave in such a manner, but he could not take away the fun he was having right now. Sure, most of his adversaries were too weak to challenge him, but they made up for it in sheer numbers and relentlesness. Even if he could not be exausted physically, his mental fatigue could eventually get the better of him and cause him to start making mistakes that could endanger the integrity of his ass.


    As he was closing in on the cyclops he could also see the giants advancing towards him in their slow gait, and he was not pleased with what his eyes had to suffer through. The huge, somewhat deformed human like beings wore no clothes, so their wrinkly, dirty and sometimes mouldy and muddy appearances elicited a rather disgusting feeling with Rex. It ddi not help that their oversized horse cocks sometimes hit some smaller monster as they stepped over it, creating even more disgust in Rex. Luckaly for Rex, and sadly for his sword, the slow movement of the ugly creatures gave Rex ample opportunities to amputate the gians, cutting of their legs at the knee height, shortening their gential lenght at the same time. And since Rex had prepeared beforehand by fortifying mana around his ears, the earshattering screams whenever the giants fell as their three legs got cut off did not affect him in the slightest. That could not be said for the poor monsters in dirrect vicinity of said act, as most of them fell to the ground, eardrums ruptured, causing them to either stumble, or outright go unconscious.


    Another while later Rex had finnaly brought the fight to the artillery, and since the cyclops were on the same speed as the giants, Rex could employ similar strategy to dispose of them as well, and so he did. Dashing and slashing from one cyclops to the next, slicing off their legs, then dashing towards the next target. Once all the cyclops were on the ground, he made another circle around them, this time seperating the heads from the rest of their bodies. Once he was done with both the cyclops and giants, he returned his full focus to the lesser opponents of his.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    His rampage lasted for an entire day and a night, and by the noon of the second day of his trial there were no longer monsters advancing towards his position, exect for a single slow moving one. Rex used his crows to drain all cyclops and giants since they were S class entities, and would provide some sort of a boost to his already insane stats, since he never entertained the idea that there are not more powerfull and dangerous entities out there, in some tens or hundreds of thousands of years old dungeons. He kew those existed, so what kind of eldrich horrors awaited for him there? That question alone gave Rex enough of a reason to never stop his grind and enjoy everything he could ever think off in this life. He was quite sure that he will probably eventually die to some such eldritch horror as he would try to slay it. And while not desirable any time soon, in a few thousand years, once he had enjoyed everything this world had to offer, that would not be such a bad way to go, he reasoned.


    As he stood in the field of his work, surrounded by hundreds of bodies he looked at the forest from where the countless monsters emerge. Right now he was thinking whether to go and explore the place or just wait here for the end of the test. He knew it would last for a few more days, enough time for teh Tyrant Dragon sect to innitiate the peace talks and possibly even end the war. He was quite certain they would not attempt any obvious trechery, but did not exclude the possibility of some sneaky assasination atempt or some sort of a backstab. That was the reason why he branded the five girls waiting for him outside. They would inform him immediatly if they were aproached and asked to do some shady shit that would endanger him or anything of the sort.


    As he was standing there and pondering of his next course of action his mana sense picked up something approaching him in quite notable speed. What was the more important part of this discovery was the sheer size of the creature. If he was calculating the feedback correctly, the monster on its path towards Rex was as large as three story building. And soon enough he could see some of teh trees at the perifery of the forest to fall as the tank of a monster charged through. If he had to describe the monstrosity in front of him he would likely compare it to a stone plated silverback gorilla, with the head of a stone serpent. Thanks to his crows he could also see some spikes protruding from its back and a similar stone tail dragging behind it. Then, with a monstrous roar the creature charged at Rex once it noticed him. While it seemed as if covered with stone plate armor, it was suprisingly fast when it came to charging in a straight line, and its glowing red eyes were homing in on Rex.


    Rex dodged as the monster soon reached his position, and had to use his mana discharge to readjust his position and trajectory midair, as the beast used its tail to try and swat Rex away one it realized its innitial attack had failed.Successfuly avoiding teh strike Rex landed and rushed after the beast to return the favour by slicing some part of it off, and while catching up to it, and even making a quite decent swing with his sword, to his suprise, the beast did not lose its hind leg. All that Rex achieved was a solid crevise in the beasts leg plate. THen, he just as quickly dodged the strike from said leg, and then followed by another dodge avoiding its tail.


    Rex speed was supperior, however the beast sported exeptional defences as well as power, and its tail ensured that Rex would almost always have to do a double dodge whenever he was attacked. And seeing the level of agressivity of the monster it would be quite often, and as if on que, he dodged two strikes once again. The beast had turned and pounced on his location, and when he, as expected, avoided the lunge, a strike from the tail followed, once again making Rex change his trajectory midair.


    What followed for teh next few hours was a game of cat and mouse, where the beast would use its one-two attack pattern to catch Rex, who in turn avoided both strikes and then used his speed advantage and often exposed position of the monster to deliver a precise and brutal strike on its tail. Every strike would be delivered on the same place deepening the crack that was developing on a single tail armor plate. REx also noticed how teh monster was slowly repairing the crack on the leg that Rex had inflicted earlier, and if not for his surgical precision and deliberate striking, he reasoned tha tthey would enter a sort of a stallmate. A point where one could not injure its opponent becasue it could not land a hit, and the other being in the same position since the damage he inflicted would be recovered in real time due to the low damage output. Rex was also limiting the power he used to create the broken armor since he needed the monster to asume Rex was using his full capacity.


    Eventually, the moment came when Rex effort had borne fruit, and the first blood was drawn from the tail, eliciting a grunt of sorts from the monster, angering it even more, and causing it to attack even more restlessly. It must be growing restless, since it had been trying for a few hours already and failing to neutralize its target, and it was finaly recieving some actual damage. And after avoiding the next double strike, he swung with full force, not holding back, and blood spluttered in all directions as the tail was cut off. Wit ha loud thud the separated part fell to the ground and a ear shattering howl followed.


    Rex quickly retreated as the monster started to flail and turn around, flattening the place in its immediate surroundings. Its stump of a tail was flailing along with it, sometimes hitting something, causing another howl. Blood was squirting in large quantities from the cut, but Rex did not expect for any effect to show regarding blood loss for quite some time if the beast were to keep loosing blood in the same rate for a while still, but that was to be expected- it would take quite some time for a fire hydrant to expel enough water so that the residents of teh three story building would start to notice the uncontrolled leak.


    Now that Rex had prepeared a long term plan of the creatures demise, it was time to start and try inflicting some proper damage. Now that the beast had lost a rather important means of attack, Rex could go on the offensive. The pain it was experiencing also was an additional distraction that allowed Rex extra advantage, since it was notably harder for teh beast to focus and adapt to its cripped state. Now Rex could much more safely blade dance around the beasts extremities using its own size against it, since he could move freely now. As he was weaving between its four legs, avoiding the stomps and rare chomps that could have theoretickaly reach him, he was striking at the joint locations of the beast. While heaviliy armored, it still needed to maintain flexibility, and so its joints were much less pretected, adn only a few dozen slices were needed for him to start inflicting some solid damage on its joints.


    Rex sixth sense flared, causing him to use a rather new ability he had finalized and tested a few times to ensure its functionality. The next moment he was few dozen meters away from the beast, and a powerfull blast was generated with the monster as its center. Cold sweat drop rolled down his forehead, as he realised how much damage he could have suffered had he not reacted in time. Thankfully, he had acted with caution the moment he sensed change in its energy flow that concentrated suddenly in a part of its stomack. Quickly evaluating the situation, and finding no immediate danger he charged back at the beast what was frantickaly looking under him to find the blasted annoyance.


    Its search was interrupted when it felt another powerfull slash taking a deep bite out of its left hind legs joint, causing it to slump, since it leg could no longer support the weight it was carrying up untill now. With its movement now properly hindered, Rex redoubled his efforts in taking out its extremities, adn another thirty minutes later he had disabled all four. With the beast laying in the ground, incapable of offering any meaningfull resistance anymore, it nevertheless took Rex another hour and a half to finaly end the creatures life.


    As Rex sat near the now corpse of the monstrosity, he activated the drain to get quite a solid boost and looked over the now empty battlefield. His crows had drained most of teh corpes of his previous carnage to restore his energy and strenghten him even a little since the adversary this time was real tough. Sure Rex did not take any heavy damage but he was pused quite hard to utilize most of his kit, that was not rendered useless due to the ehavy armor the monster was wearing. Less than an hour later, a weird looking bird landed near him, and moments later transformed in a lady of sorts.

 Chapter 52: Elysion and departure

    The bird, now transformed woman stoped some twnty meters away from Rex, got on her knees and performed a deep bow, her forehead touching the ground. Rex could see the slight change in the vegetation around the woman, as if her mere presence gave more vitality to it.


    "My name is Dryana, and I am the caretaker of the flora of this sealed world. It is my honour to infor you of your success in overcoming the trial." spoke the woman and rose to her feet, then she smiled and continiued "It was never intended for teh combat trial to reach this level of power, however due to and accident long time ago, the artifact that was bound to this ralm was lost and the creatures in the trial were left unchecked, thus growing stronger and stronger, untill it was no longer feasible for normal challengers to ever hope to overcome it. And unfortunately none of the servants bound to this place had the raw might to reset the trial to its intended levels. IF you would follow me, I will guide you to the inner sanctum where you can bind thsi realm to yourself, claiming it as yours, as was intended."


    "Sure, just give me a minute Dryana. Have to finish my meal after a hard workout." responded Rex, as he finished draining the final boss. Once done he stood up, feeling the surge of power this quarry had provided him with. Then he turned his full attention to Dryana. The woman in question had light green skin, almost shining yellow eyes, hearth brown hair, and she gave off a relaxing aura of nature. She wore clothes that looked as if made from leaves and delicately woven tree branches.


    "What manner of creature are you Dryana?" he asked the woman, and she smiled and responded


    "I am a dryad. Spirit of the forest and nature. It is our job to take care of the forests we live in, since it both sustain us and helps us grow stronger. In return we maintain balance of the echosystem and protect it from disasters."


    "No wonder you feel like nature itself. By the way, are thsoe clothes comfortable, have you worn clothes made by humanoid races adn how do they compare?" he asked, curious about the matter.


    "While slightly more pleasant to wear, they can not support the needs that our natural outfits can, such as the ability to withstand our shapeshifting and other such peculiar necesities. Thank you for your concern though, it warms my heart the new master is such a nice person."


    "Alright then, lets go and bind this place then, my harem will be overjoyed whne they learn they can always be with me." Rex said, and followed the dryad. It took them less than a few hours to reach a rather peculiar circle of stones and after a few signs made by Dryana, a portal appeared and they crossed it together. Existing on the other side he was greeted by a rather large hall that had a few more portal spaces with some strange symbols atop of them, most likely indicating the places they lead to. Rex just observed them a little as he followed Dryana and in aproximately hour they reached a Vault.


    Dryana opened the vault, and once inside Rex saw piles and piles of many different precious looking metals, gems and gold. Then they passed multiple tabes with all sorts of weapons and armors as well as all sorts of books that were in pristine condition, adn not a speck of dust was anywhere whithin sight. Soon they reached teh very center of the vault where a ball of light was suspended in the air. it floated above a sort of a medalion. Dryana gestured towards the orb of light and spoke


    "Drop a bit of your blood on it. In doing so you will claim ownership of this shard for as long as you live." Rex raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and then did as he was told to. He could see with his eyes that there was no contamination withing the light orb, adn he would indeed gain a lot by claiming it. There was a slight sense of amusement deep withing him, as if his instincts were saying that the dryad was heavily underestimating her new master. And as he droped his blood on the light, he understood why. Unlike the normal ritual, that was supposed to happen, where a blood connection was established and a claim was made over the world shard, his blood magic affinity and powerfull soul changed the ritual to one of eternal bond. The shard was now bound to his soul, and even if this body of his were to perish, this place was always his, even in another life he would have access to both this place and his memories, since it also served as an anchor for his personality and essence.


    "Hmm, that feels odd." Dryana comented, sensing some sort of disparity from the ussual bonding, but despite the odd feeling, she felt no malignance in this new bond, so she left it as is. She was sure eventually she would figure it out since she had been a caretaker of this world shard for much longer than any other caretaker, so she was the most deeply familiar with it. As she was adjustting to the new and sensing out the changes that would eventually happen in the shard, due to the change of masters, so was Rex, and he learned quite a few interesting things from the get go.


    First, and foremost, he could somewhat sense the general status of and proceses of this small world. For all intents and purposes, it was like an island in a vast nothingness, and he could also sense that now with him as the owner and master of the place, it would slowly expand in size and scope. A treasure like no other that will continue to grow along with him. Rex could sense that the rate of growth and elovution of this small world heavily depended on his soul, so he could also reason that the current projected growth would be far above the norm, and it would also have a stable progression rate, if he kept grinding in the dungeons.


    Secondly, he could now move quite freely within this place, since the laws that bind everyone else do not apply to him in quite the same way. He could now basicly teleport to any place in this small sealed world. If he focused enough, he could also inspect and keep track of desired regions at all times as well.


    And lastly, he knew he could use the lawas of this place to attack any undesirable elements or creatures within, but the power and scope was limited to quitea few factors, starting from his own personal energy limits, to the power level of the target, to amount of energy that freely circulates in this sealed word and a few others. The main point was that he could quite effortlessy take care of armies of weaklings, and even someone close to his own power would be severely weakened, and probably heavily weakened. Anything much stronger than him would not be dettered by much, so the need to grow stronger not only went nowhere, it just became more prominent in his to do list.


    Some thirty minutes later, when Rex finaly switched his focus from his new wolrd, he turned to Dryana


    "How much authority do you have iregarding this sealed world? Can you freely shift in this place, or are you limited like anyone else would be?"


    "I have limited ability to disregard the rules of this place, since I am not the owner, but just a caretaker." she responded and bowed to Rex, acknowledging the new ruler of this place.


    "Do you have any orders master?" she then asked. Spending another twenty minutes evaluating the condition of the realm he finaly responded to the dryad.


    "You have been taking good care of the flora and fauna of the place. Thank you, and keep doing what you have been up untill now. If you believe there is need for change to better develop and enrich the said enviroment, go ahead and do what you believe necesarry. You will have much better understanding of the subject. Take care managing the other servants bound to this place as well, since it feels like that is exactly what you have been doing so far."


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Yes master." she responded and shifted away, returning to her duties. Then Rex tried the space shifting, and a moment later he appeared not far from the portal he entered when he started his combat test. In no time from the same pond out came the elemental that had innitiated the trial and upon seeing Rex, the spirit bowed and adressed him as master. Rex gave him a few instructions to report to Dryana for further tasks in need of solving, since the trials were no longer necessary. Rex had informed the dryad to keep herself and the rest of the bound servants well rested and in good condition, so he was not woried about any problems regarding a low morale here.


    Then in a relaxed manner he walked towards the place Vivian was staying. Not long after he reached the place and when with utmost focus he sneaked behind the girl who was focusing heavily on a book of sorts. Then as he stood behind her for a while and observed her state, he decided to proceed with his innitial plan.


    "Good book?" he asked and scared the shit out of the girl who trew it away and scurried away a few meters then quickly turn around and drew her blade, ontly to stop when she realized who was the culprit. Rex could hear very quiet curses directed his way as the woman was slowly composing herself, then putting the blade away and smiling akwardly at him.


    "You have returned safely. Congratulations. It is indeed sad that seems you have failed the trial, but you are alive. Since no one can try the trial twice shall we return and go wherever it is that leads you next?" she asked akwardly, and Rex could feel she was hoping he would not return, but since he did, she had an order from the sect master to follow through. Rex just smiled lightly, then responded


    "Its all right, I learned a lot, lets go. We have much to do and quite the distance to travel untill I reach home." Then the two of them returned to the portal where he entered this closed realm. Soon the portal was open and the two of them stepped out of the secret realm, and as soon as they did, five nervous and worried girls rushed towards him and Vivian. His five maids were faithfully waiting for him, and as soon as he stepped out of the portal, he sensed a certain item slightly heat up on one of his fingers. He raised his hand to the level of his chest, and then pressed on the jewel and muttered a few words. As he removed his hand from the jewel, a holographic screen appeared abowe the ring with a few words on it ''ITS DONE. COME HOME.''


    ''Thats izumis handwriting'' he expertly deduced, as he listened to the report of the past few days tha the girls retold him. From wha the understood, the sect has decided to try and form some sort of connection with him, and were hoping that their recent actions as well as the no plotting part would give them some start in developing said connection. Rex just shrugged, adn made a slight joke, regarding a possible offering in the form of Vivians mom, to deepen said friendship, earning a glare from said girl. Rex had the five prepeare another earth grade meal for teh seven of them, and after a rather pleasant and relaxed meal, he started to move towards the exit of the sect.


    During their walk towards the exit, a few elders and the sect master himself showed up and all politely escorted Rex out. As they were walking, nothing in particular happened, ann once at the gate the sect leader respectfully asked for a chance to exchange words with his dear granddaughter as no one knew when and if she would ever meet them again, so he wished to have a personal farewells. Rex asumed the girl would recieve some quite advanced and complex plan to pave way to some lucrative deals for the sect in the future, but it did not matter all too much, since he would brand her once they were decent distance away, so he just allowed it to happen.


    Soon, Vivian was done recieveing her instructions and the seven people left the sect. Their pacewas that of a normal walking speed for the following hour, and when Rex could feel that they had left the scouting range and their sect escorts had returned back, he stoped, turned to the girls and spoke


    "Right, now that we have been relieved of the tail that had been following us we cant get right to business and sort the main issue of our traveling speed." He then concentrated and a portal came into existance besides him.


    "Everyone except Vivian enter the portal, since unfortunately our mode of travel is not quite large enough for seven people to comfortably sit and not impede on its speed." The five girls then obediently entered without another word, leaving Rex and Vivian alone. That did not last long as soon near them landed the eagle Rex had branded and used to reach the Tyrant Dragon sect. It had been circling teh sect once Rex entered the sealed world to partake in the test for its ownership a few days ago, and now that Rex was back he had called the bird to him. As Rex was feeding the eagle he spoke to Vivian


    "So, care to tell me what exactly are your orders, or will we wait until you are perfectly obedient and willing to speak?"


    "I dont understand master. What orders?" she responded with a straight face.


    "Come now, I might be young but I am not that stupid. Your grandfather must have certainly given you some sort of a mission in regards to me. The question is, what is the aim and the nature of your task? There is no need to act either, I can tell that you are lying, even if your body language is near perfect, so start talking. AS long as it does not harm me I might even entertain the idea of possibly one day fullfilling it. So?"


    She bit her lip in slight frustration, then reasoned that REx might as well just be bluffing, so she decided to keep up the act, and denied such orders, deciding to make a false reason


    "My grandfather did order a few things to me, however they were of different nature. It is my duty to serve you faithfully, since that was part of the deal, and that you are very powerfull and as such I should be very carefull as to how I adress and act in your presence master. That and his sadness for my departure. That was all we talked about. I am sorry, you were mistaken."


    "Oww, how sweet" Rex responded with a light sarcams in his voice that vent over Vivians head, then asked "Did he at least shed some tears due to your parting? I belive a loving grandfather should seeing his dear granddaughter depart to possibly never be seen again."


    "Yes indeed, a few tears did escape his old eyes. That is the reason he did not came out with me after the farewells." she replied with a very light smile on her face, as though she was recalling the memory. Rex knew better though, nice her energy was clearly showing she was lying.


    "Not even a single tear eh? But I suppose thats to be expected from a sect leader who has been taught and brought up with absolute loyality towards the sect and its benefits. I am a bit sorry for you there. Must suck if that is the last memory you will have of your home." He mused for a moment then asked again the now uncomfortable Vivian


    "What about your parents? Where are they and would you like to see them and bid farewell as well if possible?" A bittersweet smile crept on her face, as she thought about them, then she answered


    "There will be no need. They must be on the other side of the union, serving as envoys or something. We were never reaaly that close in the first place, since I rarely met them. Do not concern yourself with it, that being said, where that portal leads to?" she finally asked since shewas wondering where the five were sent to.


    "Ow that? You should be well aware, since you have spent quite a lot of time there. Right, while on the subject, how old are you and how much time did you spend in that sealed world preparing for your trial?"


    "Huh?" was all that came from Vivian as she heard Rex question.


    "What, did I not tell you that I passed the trial and that sealed world is now mine?" Rex looked back at her in confusion.


    "IMPOSIBLE!" she exclaimed as her brain turned back on and started to work in overdrive mode "WHEN? HOW?"


    "Thats a bit rude, and you were there when I exited the trial. By the time you saw me I was already the master of the Elysion." Rex answered, then seeing that the eagle had finished its meal, he interrupted her state of comprehension


    "I can answer a few more of your questions, but that will be later. Since our mount is ready, time for you to employ your knowledge of your own homeland. I need you to guide us to a city that has gate terminal. Our final destination is a city quite far from here by the name of Blythe.You might have heard of it. A big shot blood mage surfaced there recently."


    "Yes, even we heard of it. But due to our war we did not have the time or leasure to send someone there to possibly fight for some benefits."


    "Thats odd, I can swear I saw at least a few cultivators, and I am sure there was at one sect that made their offer to the blood mage." Rex mused as they got up on the eagle.

 Chapter 53: Night before the departure

    The duo quickly got up on the eagle, and the bird rose to the air, then Vivian gave a few instructions to it and as it flew turned to Rex with the mountain of questions she now had.


    "Would you be so kind as to elaborate on your last statement?"


    "Sure, just wait a bit, there is something we have to do, but for that we gotta get a bit higher and further away from here." and after Rex responded they sat as they were untill Rex had finished his preperations. HE had made a solid barrier centered on the eagle, allowing it to continiue along its path with ensureing they were hidden from prying eyes. Then he gestured for Vivian to come a bit closer, indicating that whatever he is about to disclose is some sort of a secret, and even in their current situation he was worried about unwanted listeners.


    She leaned closer to him, awaiting some juicy info that she might have to figure a way deliver to her sect without rising his suspicion while earning more and more of his trust and confidence. She believed that, while very powerfull and quite vigilant, he was still a youngster, that had recieved no education in the cunningness and ruthlesness of the human mind and the world, so he was still quite naive. So imagine her shock when she felt her soul shackled and branded. She was now not only his follower or servant but slave in every way imaginable.She quickly got back from him and half stripped herself looking for the slavery runes on her arms and torso, then she visibly paled, when she realized that she felt the branding with her blood and soul, and that was enough to understand teh nature of this enslavement.


    "YOU ARE A BLOOD MAGE!" she exclaimed, as she instinctually felt all the rules she had to follow and obey. Sure they were quite lax and forgiving in general sense, but still teh absolute loyality she felt towards the man and the inability to betray his was quite the odd feeling.


    "Now then, what were the orders of your sect master for you to achieve as you would be serving me?" he asked her, knowing full well that she now will answer him truthfully and without hinding anything.


    "It is as you had guessed. My mission is to earn your trust, learn the extent of your might and if possible try to earn some benefits for the sect once you consider me quite important part of your harem. Then I was to learn of your relationship with the blood mage that is your aquintance, and if possible establish a relationship for our sect with him as well. Then continue to raise my importance in your life, becoming one of the primary if not the main wife."


    "Ohh, and when were you going to start to seduce me, with such elaborate plans?" he asked.


    "A month or so later, asuming you were treating me nicely. I could reason that it was enough time to get over my seperation from home and enough time for me to develop some sort of interest towards you as a future partner since I had to serve you regardless. Then, once again depending on the situation within six months to a year I would hopefully have managed to concieve your child, strenghtening my position. Everything further was open for change and adaptation as we did not have enough info and time to work that out."


    "Wow!" Rex whistled "That is quite the ellaborate plan, I must admit."


    "And what good it did us? Your entire existance seems a spit in the general understanding of blood mages and their capabilites. In our thousand years of history we have never heard nor withnesed a blood mage capable of branding someone without extensive preperations and a ritual."


    "I am full of suprises. You will get used to it, dont you worry. What I am more interested in however is that magnificent body of yours, and seeing as how you had already prepeared as far as concieving, I will be enjoying your services quite soon it seems."


    A slight blush appear on her face. While it was true that she was somewhat prepeared for the execution of her duty, she was quite sure she had quite a bit of time still to condition herself, but now with the brand and him knowing the truth, she might have to d oit all much, much sooner. With her head hung low to hide her blush and akwardness she asked timidly


    "What are you going to do regarding my orders master? Would you please spare them?" she was worried for her sect after all.


    "Nothing. Its not like they asked you to kill me and loot my valuables, or to hurt my harem back home. We will figure out what info and when you will send back to them, but that is for later. Also dont worry too much about the servicing part. While it is true that you are incredibly beautifull and quite lust inducing, I have plenty of girls to satiate said lust. But be sure of one thing though, eventually I will have my fun with you, and who knows, you might even seek me out of your own accord sooner than the previous eventuallity."


    The next few hours were spent in a relative quiet, with a few commands from Vivian to the eagle to adjust its path or a question regarding some of teh topics she was quite interested in, adn seeing as Rex did not mind to answer, she did not shy away from asking after the first one. The question included teh Elysion, its trial and how that realm now works, since she had questions regarding him opening the p[ortal and send the five girls inside. A few questions regarding his life in Blythe, the home they are going to, and the people she will have to live with and the rules among them she will haev to follow. From the qestioning she learned that she will be part of the core group, reaffirming Rex decision to eventually bed her, the different classifications in Rex mansion and rather detailed explanation regarding his girls- their likes, dislikes, temperament and other small things, that a proper powerhouse would not know regardibng their own slaves. Yes almost all of said girls were his slaves, and the select few who were not, still had a special mark that allowed them to sense each others intent as well as protected them from being enslaved by anyone else who is weaker than Rex when it comes to the matter of soul power and skill.


    Another few hours later as the sun was starting to set they had finally reached teh city tha twas their destination, so, instead of landing, Rex grabbed Vivian, and gave teh eagle a choise of seeking out a new mate to bring along or do so near the new home of his once they return there. The bird chose the second option, since it had a rather simple thinking, but even then it wanted to leave the place with painfull recollections behind, so it quickly entered teh portal Rex opened as he and Vivian started to fall once they were off the eagle.


    Rex had shifted the center of the barrier towards himself before the eagle entered Elysion, so their rather quick descent and Vivians hysterical screaming was not heard by a single soul, and when they were relatively close to the groudn Rex utilized his mana to cusion the fall, and so they landed gracefully and without a problem. Once on the ground Vivian slumped down, and with light tears in her eyes glared at Rex since that was the best she could do in her current situation.


    "Here!" Rex called Vivian, trowing her a towel and gesturing towars the small river that was up flowing towards teh nearby town, and noticing his intent, she quickly gathered herself, and did exactly what was inplied. She quickly washed her face in the cool water and in no time was ocne again elegant and a personification of beauty. AS they were approaching the city, Rex thout for a moment, then forewarned Vivian


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "Do not warn anyone about my power. It is a great opportunity to slap some faces and ward off lustfull and arrogant young masters." Vivian could see what could only be described as excited and despickable grin on his face, and she had a suspicion that the man almost loved the trouble and thrived in such scenarious. She could only sigh, step closer to him and respond


    "Understood master."


    "I love when my girls are smart." Rex laughed, then added "We will be having dinner with the girls once we have secured a decent lodgings, then we will use the gates in the morning to get back home as fast as possible, since my space element is just not developed enough to perform teleports of such distance unanchored."


    "I know a good restoraunt in the city, if master is interested." she spoke. She remembered this one place she had been quite a while ago, and while somewhat pricy, the meals there were exquisite, and she was sure that ther master could afford that.


    "No need, girls will be cooking themselves, since I preffer at least eaarth grade food for my meals, and there is high chance the place will have none."


    "Does master eat earth grade food often?" she asked with dreamy eyes as she remembered the few times she had the opportunity to have a taste of such exquisite food and delicacies.


    "Hmm? Ow right." Rex responded "We only eath earth grade and above im my mansion since I do hunt for it regularily. So you will get used to it."


    "OK." was all she spoke as she dissapeared in the land of dreams for a few minutes, and only returned to reallity as they reached the gates, and the guards asked for either some sort of an identification or a fee for passing into the town. Rex paid for both, since he did not want some retard to annoy them straight the moment they learned that Vivian had entered the city, but his hopes were crushed when he saw a few beggars in quite lousy clothing and conditions to scurry away, probably to inform their masters of either Vivian or an exquisite beauty entering their city with almost nothing in regards of guards or entourage.


    "Lead us to a decent inn." Rex spoke once inside the city and having spent some fifteen minutes apreciating the culture that permiated this place. Many peaople were walking around, and the buildings were built in the traditional manner of estern style back in his original earth. As they were walking through the streets Rex could sense more and more people tailing the duo as they moved deeper and deeper in the city. Soon they came upon some sort of a coaching service, and after a short negotation with one of the guys there, Vivian aquired them a transport, and within a single hour of quite comfortable and relaxing drive they were in front of their destination.


    A rather large looking building that resembled more of a temple than simple inn. It even had its own inner garden that was walled of from the rest of the city. Words were engraved in a plaque above the opened gate ''Heaven Pavilion''. The two, after paying the coachman, entered the gate without any difficulties, and the few guards standing near the gate paid them no heed. As they closed in on the grand building Vivian explained that the guards are there to keep the gang members following in the territory of the Heaven pavilion and disturbing their guests rest and relaxation. The hall and the lobby were lavishly decorated, showing off the wealth and status of the establishement.


    Soon they stopped at a rather well polished and exquisitly made counter, where a couple of young and pretty girls waited. Rex left the negotiation to Vivian, since she was informed of the room they would need. As she aproached the two girls and stated her needs, once of the two asked innocently as she was going through the book to find a suitable room that was in accordance to the specified needs


    "What brings one of the four godesses of our generation to our city? We heard miss Vivian was in seclusion."


    "I achieved what I secluded myself for." was all she decided to share. She was well aware how a lot of quite important information is shared and often girls like the two in front of her passed on many rumors or things they hear during their work. Seeing that her approach will not work, the atendee ask nothing else, an proceeded with her job. The second one then asked her, acting shy and sometimes glancing at Rex.


    "Is miss interested in the man traveling with you?" and to ensure nothing could be misunderstood she quickly added "If not, this lowly one would like to have the chance to strike up a conversation." She slightly squirmed, as if embaraced and proud about her own courage in trying to pursue the man that had caught her fancy.


    "I have a job to fulfill along that person.Nothing else, so feel free to do as you please." With that the first one finalized the registering of her presence, and once she paid for the room with the coins Rex had given her, the two moved to the designated room. Once inside, they closed and locked the door, then Vivian spoke to Rex


    "Master the dark haired girl from teh reception might possibly seek you out. She seemed interested in you." Rex chuckled at her words and responded


    "Quite the contrary my sweet Vivian. I have to admit, she is a good actor for sure, but there are things one cant fake, even if they try their damn hardest."


    "What do you mean?" she asked back as she frowned, the actions and facial expressions all looked genuine.


    "The two are quite a good teamplayers. The first one distracts with a rather plain and crude attempt at gathering knowledge, while the second one goes for the well timed and aimed precision strike. So it was no wonder they managed to fool you, but I rely on energy sensing when reading people, and basicly nobody can do what I am doing, so obviously there is no defence against stuff that has never been experienced before. Anyways, time to visit the girls and have a solid meal before sleep, dont you agree?" and the girl only nodded to his question, anticipation and hope in her eyes for the first time since she had become his. Then Rex employed another barrier around the room to ensure nobody could spy on them, then he opened a portal to Elysion, and since he was the owner of the realm, they exited very close to the girls who were prepearing dinner right now, and Rex could feel it was close to ready. The duo greeted the easygoing and relaxed women, and with some light conversation around thirty minutes passed and the meal was ready.


    The dinner was one of the most blissfull things Vivian had experienced in recent history, as she enjoyed every bite of the food she was given. The five cultivator maids were a bit more composed now since they had the chance to slowly addapt to this level of meals for a few days already, sicne he had given them a small storage ring with earth grade meat to cook they own meals since he could not have his servants to lack in quality food.


    Once the meal was over Rex, Vivian and one of the cultivator maids returned to the rented room, and once back and with the gate closed Rex spoke


    "You will get used to it. Aisha back home is even more spectacular cook. Wait till you get to have a taste of teh breakfast she cooks. That will rock your world like no tommorow." Since the establishment they rented their room was quite high end, each room had its own small bathroom, where once could wash away the dirt of the day, so Rex had a quick minishower, thanks to his mana and aura controll, and the girls had the same. As he was getting in one of the beds he finaly spoke of the reason why he asked a maid to acompany them back


    "Since Vivian is sleeping with me, I need you to just have a nice and relaxing sleep in the other bed. Cant the cleaners to asume and spread rumors that she is already claimed and deflowered." and seeing Vivian blush and be slightly unvilling he added "Relax, its not like I am going to fuck you tonight, but sure as hell that would feel nice. No I am going to enjoy my new hug pillow for tonight, but if you feel like you really want, we can go further." He smired and lied down to enjoy the softness of the bed in this luxurious hotel. A short while later Vivian also timidly got in teh bed with Rex, and she was soon pulled into him and then used as a soft and nicely smelling fillow to hug to sleep, then before drifting off to sleep he asked


    "Would you like to buy some traditional clothing from here, or are you willing to just pick up the customs of your new home staright away." It was the maid who answered


    "Even when we assimilate into the new culture, it would still warm our hearts to either wear or look at some of the clothing from our homeland, so if possible, we would apreciate greatly the ability to buy some clothing from here."


    "So, we will do just that before we leave through the gate network to my home."

 Chapter 54: Small games

    Rex woke up quite refreshed and in a good mood. He had quite a lot of fun for th first few hours during last night as he played with Vivians breasts and ass, and once she was properly heated and ready for some action he let her steam in her own juices. It was no suprise that the girl left the bed a few hours later when she thought Rex was finally asleep. She spent some dozen minutes in the bathroom to relieve her needs since she was left hanging. Sure, she entertained the idea to just give in and let him have his way, since she could not really stop him if he wanted to take her, but since he allowed it to be her choice, she tried her damn hardest to not fall in a single session. She was a proud woman after all.


    He laid there on his side as he was admiring the half naked beauty in bed with him, and after a while he gently stroked silky black hair. A few minutes later under his gentle touch she stirred awake, then when she looke at Rex, and noticed his raised eyebrow and smirk that was followed by a sentence she realized that her actions last night had not gone unnoticed.


    "You are quite a hard woman to please, even for yourself." Then he added as he pulled her close to himself "Your young master needs his morning kiss" and pulled her into a deep kiss. Teh sensation were incredible and in justa few moments she was wrapping her hands around his neck and stradling him as they were making out. Sure, she felt incredible last night as he was kneading and playing with both her chest and rear, and she was sure that being connected to his soul through the brand and feeling no malicious and evil intent coming from her master made her accept it much sooner than she would otherwise, but the kiss now was just too incredible, that she trew any and all previous notions of trying to resist for as long as possible if not forced out the window.


    Their kiss stopped only for short moments to quickly regain brath and she dived straight back into it, and soon she could feel his arousal as well as his member was pressing against her lower half. She was quite happy with herself for this achievment and started to grind herself against his hard rod as well. As they were pasionately kissing Rex stood up with Vivian quickly wrapping her legs around his waist and locking them in place, not interupting their makeout session. She was too immersed in the blissfull feeling to notice how Rex opened gate to Elysion, walked in and brought the two of them into a royal bedroom that seemed as if frozed in time, which coincidenatly was the case for all but moments ago when Rex entered the place.


    He slowly sat on the bed all the while keeping his focus on the ravenous girl in his arms. He could aslo feel taht she was already quite wet as she was dripping on his member that she was grinding against, but he was in no hurry, so in the sitting position he had enough space to move one hand to her breasts and the other to her ass to massage them and induce more pleasure with energy manitupation. And quite soon in their makeout session he could feel her grinding becoming more erratic, even desparate, as she was raising herself higher as one hand of hers had left his neck and was desperately grabbing for his cock and trying to position it so it would finally slide in her pulsing and aching folds.


    Deciding that she was cooked long enough, he helped the girl by lifting her up, and assiting with the alignment, and once she felt his tip his her entrance, she slammed herself down, causing her back to arch, head swing back from the kiss and a loud moan of pleasure escape her mouth as she went over her tipping point and orgasmed hard as the cock spread her iand filled her insides to the brim.


    ''Just how kinky is this girl that her first penetration caused her to climax?'' Rex thought as he was enjoying the milking his member was recieving in the contorting pussy of hers. A few minutes later she came out of her blissfull state, adn dove back in the kiss once again and once their lips were connected once again she started to grind herself on his member. With both her hand once again around his neck, Rex could use his hands for more than just massaging and holding her in position, so he placed them both on her hips and started to slowly rise her up a bit then let her drop back down, adn while doing so he would slowly increase the range of motion and speed. He could also feel how she contracted every time he filled her to the brim and kissed the entrance of her womb.


    Soon his movements were large enough for the kiss to not be sustainable, so the girl just clung to his neck as moans escaped her mouth. As he was pounding her he could not avoid the feeling that her pussy was desperately squeezing his cock to be filled with his seed, and he was close to his release, so as he continued pistoning he whispered in her ear


    "Someone is awfully eager to be filled to the brim." his voice low and husky "Is the possiblility of becoming a mother that exciting?" His words pushed her over the edge as another climax came over her, causing her pussy to intensify its efforts and finally being rewarded with one final powerfull thrust that kissed her womb and unloaded shot after shot of seed deep into her. For the next few minutes they both remained there, not making any movement, basking in the euphoria of the moment, then, they slowly began to stirr, Vivian was now calm, her previous thirst and needs satisfied had caused her face to flush even more red than it was from the activity itself.


    She was embarased for sure, but even more than that she knew that she could enjoy the bliss she just felt again and again, all she had to do was ask. And ask she wil, but not now. In her post coital clarity she knew what Rex had planned for fun today, and she had to liik untainted and pure still for the plan to be employable. She also understood the reason why Rex had brought their activity here, not went on in the hotel room. There should be no evidence left of their activities since information was the only thing such high class institutions would be willing to sell, they had a reputation to keep, so no actual danger could ever come to the people taking residence here.


    Rex picked her up in his arms and walked to an adjacent room where a lavish bathroom displayed itself to their view. In less than twenty minutes they both were nice and clean after having a quick shower. Apparently the idea had been brought over to this word some time before, but since it was quite high tech, baths were still the most promiment and popular mode of washing oneself. And soon after they were nice, clean and dry he opened gate back to the room in the Heaven pavilion, grabbed hsi maid there and moved with both girls back to Elysion near the remaining four new maids. Then they once again had a pleasant breakfast , during which Vivian once again enjoyed the meal prepeared more than she should, causing Rex to chuckle thinking of her first coming breakfast back in Blythe.


    Once done, he and Vivian returned to the room, where he then removed the barrier that ensured that not a single soul would ever know what happened within all night, and then left the room. It had nothing that could indicate that anything happened during the night, and the beds were just messed up enough for someone with experience to conclude tha tthey were both slept in, but no physical activities were performed, and true to his suspicion, as soon as the maid finished cleaning, she instantly informed another person waiting for her to be done, and then said person dissapeard and rushed off to deliver the news.


    Exiting the establishement, Vivian once again was asked a couple of relatively innocent questions, but REx knew their deeper purpose, adn he had to admit, that the girls here were trully masterfull in the art of speech, and he was sure countless secrets came to light with them employing their skills to their fullest. He mused if he should find a proper seduction specialist and have her train both his brotel staff Veran girls as well as his future holy whores for a small scale spy network. He would come back to the thought once the venture would be closer to finalization. Luckaly they had not gone too overboard with Vivians first time so with a little life energy infusion she was walking perfectly normal, and not arousing a single suspicion in the surrounding crowd.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "So, time for a small shopping spree?" Rex asked to which Vivian noded. She had gone over the needs of the girls since it would be inconvinient for five girls to just suddenly appear out of thin air and act as if they were there the whole time. The first few hours of their shopping were rather nice and calm, besides the one girl who was having the time of her life by hagling and buying both fabrics and other necessary materials for clothing. And while there were quite a few premade outfist as well, the amount of materuials she was getting was quite impressive. She reasoned that, while Rex could come back at any time and buy more, she would need to ensure that her sisters from teh sect as well as the ones in their destination deserve the magnificence of her cultures clothing ASAP. And while she was not the best of seamstreses, one of the girls was a daughter of a decently well known one, and had inherited her mothers skills. She had also asked if her mother could possibly be brought with them, and Rex had agreed, so they had dropped a letter adresed to the woman in question. If she would like to join her daughter and possibly have a business in the city she would be living she would should break once of the two tokens in the package, if she would chose to remain, she would break the other one. And if she broke the one indicating her desire to be with her daughter, Rex would recieve a feedback of one of his marks dissapearing, and would space jump to the place with his token, and take the mother to see and live with the daughter. But it would still take a few days for the package to be delivered so he had to wait, besides he was bussy and he had started to notice the few groups of people that had once again started to trail them during their shopping.


    Around noon some of the big fish had finaly arrived on the stage. A few rather large entourages were aproaching the small spice shop there were in right now as Rex was buying some local specialities for Aisha to mess around with. He had bought quite a few diferent gifts to his other girls as well. One might think that spices for his cheff is no proper gift, but all one had to do is see the manic smile and radiant expression of the girl when she got her hands on some new spices and started to experiment with them, trying to disect their ingridients and ratios and what type of food it goes the best with, and the smile she had on her face whenever the girls gushed over her cooking skills made his choice quite obvious. Besides he liked to spoil the wolfgirl. It just felt right for some reason.


    As they exited the spice shop, With Rex''s new aquisitons already safely stored away in one of the rings they were met with a quite large crowd that was divided in three distinct groups, each huddling around their own center piece. All three main side characters were young men in their late teens or early twenties, dressed in some expensive looking garments adorned with dragons, tigers or phoenixes. ''Are they trying to impress someone?'' Rex thought to himself as he calmly observed the situation. He was wondering just how stupid these guys would act. He was sure they could not go aff out and act super arrogant since Vivian was from one of the big shot sects, but nevertheless, she was one of the four most desired women in her generation, and no arrogant and cocky young master would let the opportunity to try and get said godess in their bed slip by.


    As Rex was calmy, and quite covertly evaluating teh people around the duo, some of teh hidden guards around were doing the same with Rex. Their task was to evaluate the unknown person next to the lady and if possible, understand their affiliation and purpose of traveling together. The sect union had ended all ofensive campaigns in effect against the Land of the nine divines after the warning of both the Lunar sect and Tyrant dragon sect, as well as the knowledge of the absolute destruction of the White Lotus sect. Utter anihilation of one of their main future weapons as well as the show of force the misterious mercenary group had made was enough to endanger the bottom line of the sect alliance and they quite readily agreed to end the war. Most of the sects were considering it to be more trouble than worth by this point, due to the ferocious resistance they were encountering, and the threat of a group with SSS potential threathening the destruction of other sects was the perfect excuse to end the war. Now they were working their intelegence networks as well as their spies in kitsune lands to figure out this mysterious mercenary groups base of operations and anything else relating to their activities adn code of conduct. Hiring such a force could ensure nigh any of their action almosta guaranteed sucsess, and would open a whole new world of opportunities.


    The hidden guards being of peak A class, and sensing some slight whisps of aura around their person of interest could deduce that he is a master of aura, since the man was both supressing and concealing it, just like they were doing, perhaps even slightly better than them. It would mean the young true archon in front of them was gifted in the art of aura manipulation, and would have to be at least A class for sure. That in itself was impressive seeing the young complexion of the man, which would land him in the age range similar to the young masters they were tasked to protect, if not younger. Vivian had recently stepped in the peak of B class, and the young masters here were barely in the low to middle B class. And while their shadow guards were peak A class, they would likely could not come out of the shadows and actin brad daylight due to the person they are dealing with. All in all, they had deduced that Vivian was ensnaring the youth next to her in hopes of him joining their sect. With the sheer skill displayed before then and the age of the man, as well due to the fact his archon status ensured a notable growth in the future, they were quite sure he could reach the peak of A class and even break into the S class, onceagain strenghtening the position of Tyrant Dragon sect with his addition to their ranks.


    Unfortunately for them, their young masters right now were thinking with their small and empty heads, so such calm and strategical analysis did not even surface as a possibility. They had to parade themselves and maybe they could impress the beauty just enough to peak her interest, hell, she might even fall for them, after all women flocked around them like flies, why would this one be any different? Soon, one of the trio spoke with notable pride and arrogance in his voice


    "Greetings miss Vivian in our humble town. had we known of your coming we would have prepeard a welcoming worth of one of the godesses. Allow me to rectify this mistake, and ensure that whatever miss had come here for is fulfilled in a fast and efficient manner."


    "If your family had any eyes they would have sent an heir, not some random child who is not even in the conversation for the next head position." an arrogant voice sounded from the second group "Yang Rong, my lady" the arrogant man spoke "Feng family has never had any proper etiquette or manners. Cant expect much from slave traders."


    "Feng Zhu." the first man hurriedly interjected, and responded with slight venom in his voice "While I am not and heir, my preovess as a merchant cannot be disputed, just like your reputation for fooling around with any and all pretty maids who happen to be unfortunate enough to enter your sight." His words clearly amgered the second man, who now had a vein or two popping on his forehead, and was about to lash out when the third man spoke


    "I suggest you two monkeys calm down, or i might just have to help you out." he spoke with calm voice, but the lust and greed was apparent in his eyes when he was eyeing Vivian "Long Ren is my name. I am the greatest young prodigy his city has seen in a century. our long family would be honored to host you during your stay in the city."


    Vivian sighed, then spoke with a monotone voice "You are all in your early twenties, and even the best of you is barely middle B class. Where do you bumpkins get the idea that you are impressive enough to show off in front of the core disciple of one of the great sects. I am quite bussy, so get out of my sight before I am forced to take more drastic mesures."


    "Pffttt. Ha ha ha ha." Rex started to laugh after she spoke and shut up the trio and their cohort of followers. After a while he calmed down his laugher, the other side still stunned in silence from the brutal takedown they had just suffered "Vivian, that was brutal," he said with a smile, eliciting a light smile from the girl as well, then he continiued "but an undeniable truth indeed." She just smiled a little more at his words


    "Indeed, lets go, shall we? I have still much to show you regarding our culture and ways. Who knows, maybee you will develop a liking towards them and decide to stay after all." Her words angered the young masters, and affirmed the hidden guardians previous asumptions. The girl was roping in the youth. He was a rare gem to be caught.


    "Shall we head to the capital now?" Rex asked her, to which she nodded.


    "The gate you want to take is there after all" she said with a small pout "I still hope I can show you enough to convince you to change your mind."

 Chapter 55: The first bouncer

    With the annoying young masters shut up and left behind they slowly and leasurely moved on to their next destination, which just so happened to be the gate district. Any large city that was considered important enough by their countries had one, that connected to a certain number of other cities that either shared the general purpose or was some sort of an ally or a backer. Rex, noticing her unease, understood what was causing her to worry, so he created a barrier around them that was quite small in scope but very potent, then he started the conversation


    "I have deployed a barrier, so no one should be able to eavesdrop. What is it that you want to ask me? I can see you are quite anxious."


    "Even I could see their lust and greed filled eyes as they approached, and I have a suspicion that they might try something shady to retaliate for the humiliation they suffered. And while I doubt they have the means to trully harm us, whatever they use against us should at the very least be a nuisance, if not more."


    "Yes Vivian, I could sense quit large amount of anger and indignation in their eyes and that would surely draw some sort of a retaliation, but that is exactly what we want. The bigger the offense , the better we can fleece their houses. Or am I mistaken in my assesment?" Understanding dawned on her face to the true target of his actions.


    "So thats why you added fuel to the fire by doubling down on my harsh judgement about their trashy skills when compared to sect disciples. It draws an almost guaranteed retaliation towards us, since if I was alone, they would probably not have the balls to do so fearing the revenge from my sect. But with you there, they have an unafiliated outlet of their rage that at the same time also serves as a revenge towards me since my attempts to recruit you would fail after their actions. And if it was important enough, I could even be punished by the sect. Quite devious of you, master."


    Rex smiled at her analysis, and noded affirming her guesses, and chuckling at the flirtatious way she spoke the last word, that was coupled with her playfully biting her lower lip.


    "Come now Vivian, keep yourself together while we are in public, you still have an image to keep, and a role to play in this little game of ours." She quickly calmed her expression and returned to her fully serious and calm demeanor, and a slight smile appeared on her lips as she heard his whisper her ear


    "Later in the evening you will get your reward. I am disspelling the barrier, so spies will hear us again from now on."


    With that said he proceeded and disspelled his barrier, while maintaing silence for the most part, and only sometimes would he ask a question or two regarding the place they would be passing by at the given moment. They also stopped at a few other small street pedler stalls, with Rex sometimes asking a thing or two about something in said vendors stall. But despite his interest he actually very rarely bought the item that had peaked his interest.


    And so in a rather relaxed manner they had spent almost an hour in their leasurely walk towards the gate district, and Rex believed it was enough time granted for the three fools to set up their plans, so now all he needed was for their hired hands to act, then extract as much info as possible, and if the trio were dumb enough to act on their own and without properly masking their own trail he would be even more thankfull to the three fat lambs that stepped up for the chopping block.


    As they approached the gate district he could feel more and more of the curious eyes on his back, almost all of them with less than stellar intent. Rex had to admit, the sheer quantity of the mercs the trio had asambled had surpassed any of his previous expectations, but it was nowhere near enough to even make him warm up, let alone be hurt or killed. Rex was slightly worried that if he were to murder indiscriminately, and someone speaks, he would be annoyed about the fast spereading legend in of another monster surfacing and anihilating the group. Besides he was in no mood right now to sack a city and indulge in the pleasure of rending and tearing flesh, even if his dragon blood called otherwise.


    When Rex and Vivian noticed the gate district as they took another turn around yet another corner, finaly their pursuers took action, and a single rather well dresed man approached the duo walking calmly and exuding an air of nobility.


    "My apologies for the sudden intrusion, but my conscience does not allow me to ignore his sight before me. This humble mans name is Reigen, and I happen to run a rather traditional jewelery shop nearby." He fished out a few jeweleries from his pockets and showed them to the duo. "There is this one piece that this humble merchant believes would suit the young lady perfectly, and I would be more than willing to part with it for a heavily reduced price. I would give it up for free if it was not so valuable, and I was not in such a desperate need for the funds to keep the establishement open."


    Rex lightly chuckled, then spoke "Well, might as well have a look at that jewelery of yours. I might just be able to score with it." then Rex chuckled once more when he felt a sharp killing intent dirrected towards him from a few places where their stalkers were. ''Hmm, Vivian sure has some admirers'' Rex thought to himself as he followed Reigen and Vivian did the same. A couple of minutes later they entered a nicely decorated building that indeed housed a jewelery shop, and for the shortest moment Rex had a thought that the man might be unrelated to the thugs following them, but said though quickly dissapeared as he felt dozens of people with a rather foul energies swirling around them hiding in the corners and behind certain few curtains. Sure they had some talismans that were meant to hide their presence, but Rex could easily see through them all, since said talismans unnaturaly disturbed the energy where they were deployed.


    "So, where is this perfect jewelery fit for Vivian?" Rex asked, seemingly quite imatient to impress the girl who was acompanying him. That caused Reigen to furrow his brows, then turn aroudn and speak in less polite and friendly manner


    "I am sorry to inform you that there is no such thing. I just needed to lure you here. You have offended the wrong people, and for that, you will pay dearly." then he turned to Vivian "Miss Vivian, would you be so kind as to leave this place. We would rather not hurt you, since it would be quite detrimental for every party involved. What is about to happen should not be witnesed by someone as beautifull both in looks and spirit."


    "Yes Vivian," Rex added "I would prefer you dont see what is about to happen, since this exelency finds being lied to quite the offence, and punishable quite severely." He then grinned sinisterily, causing the man to once again frown. Where does the youngster in fron of him draw his confidence from? He should be only A class entity with the aura he was releasing. Then when he sensed a slight stirr in the air as a pulse of mana passed through him, Reigen screamed as he catapulted himself back, widening the range between himself and Rex


    "HE''S A MAGE! TAKE HIM DOWN!" Immediatly afterwards the people in hiding shot towards Rex, trying to take the youngster down as fast as possible to ensure no shenanigans from the mage could come through. And while Reigan was innitially one of teh closest people to Rex, he have had his fair share of experiences with mages where he learned an important truth- nerver ever rush at the mage without knowing what you are dealing with, since that could be even more dangerous than runing away more often than not. So he had developed a strategy were he would just trow some stupid or expendable front line newbies at the mage untill he had learned everything he needed to extrapulate a safe strategy to take the mage down, if he is not neutralized by the rushing meat shields due to some lucky strike.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Unfortunately for him, and his compatriots, nothing else happened related to the magical arts, since Rex used superior movement speed, reflexes and precise strikes to permanently put to sleep all the assailants. Vivian had jumped back away from Rex the moment Reigen screamed out teh order to attack, and she was standing in one of teh now vacant corners as she was spectating the one sided masacre. Rex masterfully and with minimalistic movements either dodged the strikes, that followed with a single yet efficient and brutal counterattack that killed said attacker, ussualy by either caving in their skull due to the power and speed of the strike, or by piercing attackers heart as his strike shattered assailants ribs, which then punctured said mans blood pumping organ.


    Reigen watched in shock and horror at the smailing youth who seemed to enjoy snuffing out the lives of those poor bastards that desperatly tried to end the life of this mage before he would start casting, and during this moment of horror, a terrifying idea surfaced in the masn brain ''what if the youth is a warrior who has enough tallent to produce such a mana pulse to make the enemy panic and attack him with reckless abandon, where he could employ his full capabilities as a front line fighter?'' said thought scared Reigen even more, because then the youth would not only have monstrous tallent but a sharp mind as well, and that would make him a true monster. Monster of the unique kind that reigen simply refused to engage in any entanglement with.


    "FUCK! THOSE DAMN IDIOTS!" he cursed, turned around bolted for the hidden back door of the building. He was not going to stay here and die for the stupidity of those three brats who hired him, totaly diseragarding his own part of the blame for not evaluating his oponent properly during the time he staked him. In Reigens defence, Rex was aware of his stalkers all along so played along and ensured that he did not seem anywhere near as dangerous as he would ussually appear. He even fakeda few airheaded adn clumsy moments to lull Reigen in a false security, so the mercenary would act.


    In less than a minute Reigen had dashed from the room, then leaped through the buildings window, and rused away to the nearest back alley, and as he was closing to the corner, he suddenly struck some invisible object and bounced a bit back, stumbling to the ground. "ARGHHH" he grunted heavily adn clucked his head, then stod up and extended his hand untill it touched a transparent object of some sort. His eyes widened in terror for a moment and he quickly used both hands to push against teh object as he moved to one side, then to the other, feeling out the obsruction. And then the realization struck him like a truck, causing the man to slump to the ground.


    "A fucking barrier." he muttered "HOW??? WHY?? WHEN??" three desperate screams escaped his mouth, and then a silence descended. untill a minute or two later the despondent man heard a creak of the door behind him, and two voices followed soon after.


    "So, he is the last one?" the female voice asked, audibly a bit shaken.


    "Yup. I told you not to watch. Should have listened." the man, no, youngster spoke.


    "And miss what I saw? Never. While disturbing, I had a glimpse of the extent of your power." girl spoke again


    "Bitch please, there was not a slingle S, let alone SS class attacker, I barely broke any sweat. Once I have some proper guards to ensure your safety in the deep floors I might consider bringing my girls- that includes you too by the way, to the fun I am having in the deep floors. That would show you more of my limits. Besides, I did not even use Limitless."


    "The sword that I saw you cleaning yesterday?" she asked


    "Yup, Got that one of floor thirty one I think. There was this big badass vyvern guarding a cave. Now that was a fun battle." the youngster spoke with a fondness in his voice, reminiscing over good times.


    "Better than your time with your girls?" she asked, no longer shaken voice, but pouting now.


    "Nope, I would say the girls are slightly better. But they are different thrills, so it is not quite right to compare them." he responded to the woman. Reigen slowly turned his head towards the youngster and saw a slightly bloody attire of the man first, then as he raised his head he was those monstrous eyes of his. They did not look as dangerous and scarry from teh distance, the kneeling man reasoned, and with a trembling voice he asked


    "What will you do with me?"


    "Well, we have a few options ahead of us. So lest explore a bit, shall we?" the young archon answered and a spine chilling smile bloomed on his face.


    "First things first," Rex spoke "do you have any physical or reliable proof of who hired you and what was paid for said mission, plus a proper and precise explanation of what did you have to achieve?"


    "Y- yes" Reigen stuttered a bit, but responded nevertheless. While the probability of him surviving after providing said archon with what he desired was small, from how the man had acted up until now, the chances were not zero, plus Reigen had this feeling that warned him against angering his capturer. For whatever reaseon Reigen felt teh man woudl not only have no issues with torturing him for the answers but he might even enjoy the act.


    "As any self respecting and a few times doublecrossed high class mercenary, I record the conversations whn I am hired."


    "Nice, now who hired you? Was it the, aaaaaaaaa," Rex stretched teh letter for a while untill he found what he was looing for in his now near perfect memory "Feng, Yang or long family?"


    "Neither, and all sir." Reigen answered, quickly elaborating "Feng Zhu, Yang Rong and long Ren. The trio seemed to have come to an unbelieveable alliance, as they pooled the money to hire me, and since that was the case, I believe the families must not be aware of their actions. From what I understood, they cannot dirrectly take any action, and miss Vivian is off limits due to her backing. You sir have somehow offended them without showing your actual power, otherwise they would not have tried anyhing, nor would I have taken the job, were I to know you are above the S rank."


    "Were they present themselves then you were hired or did they use a middle man?" Rex asked next.


    "All three of them were present, and they even spoke at different points during teh negotiation. My job was to either kill or cripple you sir. They hoped that the loss of you would also damage miss Vivians standing in teh sect adn maybee earn you some punishment or better yet you would be relegated to a convenient marriage tool for the sect, sine they have some connection in that branch of the sect."


    Rex playfully and softly slapped Vivians but and half laughingly spoke


    "Sheesh, your booty is trully lusted after, but I damn well know why." Vivian slightly blused at his words, but raised her chin upwards, pride aparent in her posture


    "Of course, Arent you happy that it is exclusively yours?"


    "And you better remember that . Mine forever." Rex added, then turned back to Reigen, who now had his jaw hanging and eyes wide.


    "So, the second thing we need to figure out is also quite simple. Early or middle stage S class?" Rex asked "Cant figure out since you are just that weak." His words caused Reigen to let out a self mocking light laugh, and a pout from Vivian.


    "Are you saying im also just that weak?" she asked indignanty.


    "Nope, you are mine, so that cattegory does not apply. In your case, you are still growing, and just need some additional help for further growth. Besides, its the beauty not strenght that is your main weapon in our house." REx was doubling down on his statement, but it was phrased in a way that did not make Vivian feel not apreciated. On the contrary, she was valued more.


    "So?" Rex asked as he looked at Reigen


    "Middle S class. I advanced a few years back and have solidified my power."


    "That sounds barely adequate. Now, how good are you at guard duty?" Rex asked.


    "Beg your pardon sir?" Reigen confusedly repolied. He had no idea wthat was now happening.


    "Right, I will need a proper few guards for an establishement tha tI am going to create, and since you are barely strong enough, and would die otherwise due to your recent decisions, fit the job just well enough."


    "And you would trust such a person with guarding duties?" Reigen asked, suspicion filling his voice.


    "Lords no!" Rex lightly laughed "You would be branded. And no, myslaves are being treated quite well. So well in fact many nobles would cry in envy if they knew teh living standarts of my slaves." And to his words Vivian could only nod, since she and her five sect sisters had been recieveing unreasonably great treatment so far, and sicne they were all branded already, Rex did not have to do any of that.


    "And what would I be guarding sir?" Reigen now asked slightly intrigued.


    "The Holy whores of course!"


    "What now??" both Reigen and Vivian asked in confusion, not understanding Rex.


    "Right, you are both new. DUUH!" Rex spoke to himself loud enough for the other two to hear, then he returned to the conversation "Teh echlisiarchy have done a few unprovoked attacks on me outside their territories, so I believe it is only fair for me to retaliate, so, I will raid their temples, enslave quite a few of their sainteses adn orackles and then build a brothel were anyone could have a taste of their divine holes, provided they can afford them- The Holy Whores. And you would be one of the guards of the establishement. The non whoring staff would consist of quite a few Veran ladies."

 Chapter 56: Compensation

    As Re was delving deeper and deeper in his idea for the whorehouse, Reigens face was getting more and more stupefied. And Rex ranting continiued untill Vivian coud not take it any longer adn started to laugh hard,


    "What''s so funny?" Rex asked, not seeing the humor in his words.


    "Haaa, haaa." she heaved and tried to calm herself to answer her masters question and once she had calmed a bit she spoke


    "While you are indeed powerfull, it is not that easy to capture and enslave either oracles or sainteses of the echlisiarchy."


    "Bullshit!" she was interrupted by Rex "Already have one. Did not take much effort, and so I highly dount others will take much either."


    "And who was the mighty saintess you captured?" Vivian asked with a light smile on her face, calling his bluff


    "Elena Vex was her name i think? Busty blonde under thirty of age. She was quite feisty right untill she was pierced by my divine weapon. She is being trained by a goup of succubi right now to provide the best experience for the customers. No breeding though."


    "ELENA OF THOUSAND SHCEMES?" Vivian exclaiemd a litle startled.


    "Who now?" Rex asked back, having not heard of such a nickname before.


    "Whats her rank?" Vivian asked, a spark of briliance and excitement in her eyes.


    "Saintess. That much i know." Rex replied.


    "Was she pure?" Vivian then asked?


    "Yep, she was raging a lot as I claimed her first time, and then there was some incomprehensible ramblings some holy mother bullshit, cant be assed to remember hinestly." Rex replied. Another burst of laughter escaped Vivian and once she calmed down a few minutes later she explained her jubilant mood.


    "Phew, tha twas refreshing. Now, I have to than you on behalf of our national alliance and most likely for any non Echlisiarchy country a months distance from echlisiarchy. That bitch was quite a menace with her strategic mind and schemes that have killed many capable men who stood in the way of her church, and most likely just as much if not more archons died becasue of her plans or orders."


    "Sir, and would the guards of said establishment have any chance of hoping to try the holy merchandise of the place as well?" Reigen timidly asked. His answer was positive regardless since the man did not want to die yet, but, if the answer were to be positive, he would wilingly sell his soul to the archon in front of him for such a possiblility.


    "Eventally sure, but not just yet, since I will not be using any of the whores myself once they start their servicing jobs. And as i said still have to make the damn campaign to their temples. That should be fun. Raiding, raping and pillaging those damn crazy zealots." Rex had relative sympaty for most creatures that were not inclined in eating or harming him, but the Echlisiarchy jus tso happened to fall right outside said most part, and was lumped in together with the bloodthirsty monsters and cannibals and such.


    "I would have offered my services volunery if we were not in such a predicament as we are." Reigen spoke, bringing Rex back to the present.


    "Aaaa, yes. A man of culture I see. Good. So, how should we proceed?" Rex mused for a second, then just shrugged his shoulders "Eh, fuck it, we doing it live." and branded Reigen. Once branded the man kneeled and bowed to Rex three times, each time his forehead hitting the ground. Vivian quickly explained Rex teh significance of teh mans actions, as they were acknowledging of ones master. That meant that Was Reigen no only branded, but he was actaully willingly regarding Rex as him master. Rex smiled a bit at the man and spoke


    "Work hard for me, and will you not only be able to fuck teh working whores from time to time, but I might just grant you a nun or two as personal property."


    "Thank you master" Reigen Immediatly bowed once again.


    "Okey, now, onto the extortion part!" Rex exclaimed and looked to Vivian "How should we do this if we want the best outcome here?" Vivian though for a moment, then a sly smile appeared on her face. "Why dont we involve the city lord?"


    "Elaborate." rex spoke and to his words the girl explained her plan, which was quite genious, Rex had to amit, so they moved towards the the city lord castle. On their way there, Rex tossed Riegen a slave collar "Put this on, we need them to see some sort of a controll device since I dont want to advertise here." And immediatly Reigen wore the collar without even thinking twice. The man was on a mission to prove himself and earn that right to raid thsoe holy temples. Rex was not aware tha tteh man had some serious nun and corruption fetish that he himself had not been able to exlore and enjoy, so when he saw the godlen opportunity he would have done literaly anything to have his chacne, and lo and behold, the world answered his prayers.


    As per Vivians plan, Rex acted a rather arrogant and brutish, with Vivian doing most of the talking and quickly getting them an audience with the city lord. Once inside a very luxurious and expensive room, and in the presence of teh ruler of this city Rex kept his arrogant attitude, and interrupted teh man every time he triued to kiss Vivians ass or tired to ingratiate himself with said woman. And while not taking Rex anger seriously innitially, and only entertaining thr trio becasue of Vivian, the man got super serious and sweaty once he learned that some stupid people had hired an assasing to attack SS class warroir in HIS city. Now he could clearly see the thin ice he was standing on, and was sweating profusely since he had not only failed in his of sucking up to the top tier powerhouses, to which teh adventurer belonged, he had also tried to court the woman in said mans eyes.''shit, shi, shit.'' teh governor cursed in his mind. Why does not everybody start their introdictio nwith rank and affiliation, and often play the pig to eat the tiger. So he took some strong berating and performed his very best ass kissing to appease the angered disaster machine and quickly sent messangers to summon the decision makers of the three offending families as well as the three masterminds behind the accident.


    The governor had decided to just switch all the blame on the families and let them take most of the damage from thsi debaucle. It would also help him consolidate his own power over the city, and remind them who had the real power in this city.


    Following his summons, members of the three families rushed over to city lords palace since they had to show the man some amount of respect, and this time, the message bore the official seal of the city as well as that of the city lord. This meant that it was an official summons, and could not be missed. In case the summons were ignored, dire consequences could befall the unobedient family, ranging from insanely high fines to even execution of said family head or elder council.


    Soon all three family heads sat at the table, and behind each head were a few of the elders and a few youngsters from each clan. The older generation was educating the new one on how to properly conduct themselves in official setting and how to deal with the other influential individuals and families, it could also be construed as the families showing utmost respect towards the city lord, by bringing a few ot the elders and soem of teh future likely heirs along. At least that was the pretext they had given to most of the youngsters present, since only one from each family was mentioned by name, and such a skewed favorability did not sit well with other elders within the families who were backing other candidates for the position of the next head of said family.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    As the three families sat there they saw the city lord enter, accompanied by Vivian, who they all recognized as one of teh four godeses of this generation belonging to the Tyrant Dragon sect, an overlord within their nation. And the other was a young archon they had never seen before, yet the way the governor of this city was acting all polite humble around the youngster spoke volumes of his background. Their suspicion was doubly confirmed when not only Vivian sat next to teh governor, but the youngster also took a seat prepeared for him.


    "I have been notified of a rather troubling event occuring within my city, and have summoned your families to solve it, seeing as members of said families were involved in said event." spoke the governor, then giving way to his guests to continue. His words were enough to tense the clan heads, since the start was not promising.


    "Three little piggies, one from each of your clans hired an assasin against me. Sadly, as you can deduce from my presence here, said assasin came up short, since he did not know who he was dealing with." Spoke Rex wit ha hint of amusement in his voice and snaped his fingers. Followed by which Reigen entered the room, his slave collar visible to all, and since all the clan heads and elders recognized the man, gasps escaped their mouts at the fact that said assasin was not collared.


    "I hate to waste a good henchmen, so the current predicament he faces, and due to his now unique situation I happen to have aquired the hiring contract." Rex words and actions had caused three particular young individuals to sweat heavily , and their nervousness was not missed by teh elders and clan heads of respective families.


    "Could the contract be revealed?" asked one of the clan heads, to which Rex gave the contract recording to governor, who promptly activated it. The recording lasted some fifteen minutes as the trio were getting more and more nervous as they were screwd regardless of the outcome, and the expression of the clan heads were getting darker and darker. Rex could rather easily recognize which clan head gelonged to which family not only from the offending young master among their groups, but from the grim face they showed. While they were all quite grim, the least panicking was the Feng family head, since Feng Zhu, while capable and smart, swas only a son of a concubine within his family, and not even in a position of a contender for next clan head position. Cutting off such a liability was quite a simple matter hence the relatively lesser gloom on the mans face.


    The Long family patriarch was more distrought, wracking his head head on how to solve said problem, since the one at fault was one of the few next generation pillars for their family, a well as one with the best aptitude and chances to reach S class, so losing such a potential member of the family would be a cripling blow to their possible growth, since S class and above was a treasure for any power.


    But the most grave expression was on the face of Yang families patriarch. The one who had royaly fucked up was the next head of the family, and only son of said families patriarch. The man had not managed to produce any other male ofspring despite his numerous tries, so naturally the man was livid. Not only had they hired an assasin, who failed his task, creatung a whole slew of problems, but they did not even use proxies. They did not have time, since the target was leaving the city through a gate, so they had to act fast. As the two of the more implicated patriarchs were considering a way out of their predicament, one of the elders asked a rather obvious question, if the people present were not that shocked


    "If you would allow me to ask, how has this debaucle inconvinienced miss Vivian?"


    "Heh." Rex smirked "Three toads lusting after swan meat and getting angry at the mount Tai, said swan was circling." Rex words caused Vivian to giggle lightly, at the precision of Rex words, so she politely elaborated and explained the situation, that had most likely lead to this peculiar result. What brought a slight snicker from Rex was the collctive facepalm of the elders as Vivian finished her explanation of the events that transpired. Who in their right mind would so openly attack a person that one of the four godesses is trying to get. If a beauty and talent of such caliber is trying to claim someone for herself or her sect, only a moronic and overly arrogant and horny young master could make such a blunder, and sadly, there were three such persons in the room currently.


    With Vivian speach concluded, Rex now got to the heart of the matter


    "Now, here lies the question, what should I do with the offenders, and how are you going to act?" he adressed the three families in question, rather intrigued in their decisions, even if he had some inkling of the most likely results. Rex di not have to wait for long untill the first of the patriarchs spoke, and as expected it was the leader of Feng family. The man stood up, cupped his hands and bowed lightly towards the tro of governor, Rex and Vivian.


    ""It is indeed our fault for rising such a failiure of a descendant, so we will naturaly pay fines for the city laws Feng Zhu broke, as well exiling him from family so he can face whatever his actions had earned him, and as soon as he spoke the wails of said young master resounded, that included begging and the sort, that were propmptly stopped by one of the elders who struck Feng Zhu, rendering him unconscious.


    "Apologies for the scene." said elder slightly bowed and spoke, dropping the now unconscious young ex master on the ground closer to Rex "All yours sirs." he bowed again and retreated to his family.


    ''As expected'' Rex thought to himself. The Feng youngster was disposable and with no real merrit aquired within his family, so such a thing was natural.


    "What would be his punishment under the city laws?" Rex asked governor as they waited fo the other tow patriarchs to speak of their decision.


    "We do not care of how feuds are solved as long as it does not happen within city borders, but once killing, teh attempt happens, we have zero tolerance towards it." governor answered


    "So, death it is?" Rex asked for confirmation.


    "Indeed, as well as a hefty fine to the power affiliated to said individual. The one who was attacked, like you exelency in this case if free of any acusations."


    "Hmm, why dont we allow your torturer to have some fun? Let the man castrate the fool, thne execute him, since their action caused inconvinience to Vivian." Rex words caused some people to vince, but then an exited "Thank you milord. I will not dissapoint!" Came from the side as an aged man spoke with a glee on his face.


    "Apologies, that is my torturer." akwardly spoke governor, eliciting slight chuckle from Rex.


    "There is no need, it is good to have someone who loves their job, regardless of profession." Rex''s words caued said torturer smile once again and bow towards Rex.


    Then the patriarch of Long family asked "May we inquire the name of young master who was targeted by our incompetent children?"


    "You are not strong enough to have that right." Rex coldly replied, then added "Be quick with your decision, I dont have all day. We either solve it here, or I go and purge your clan, so on with it."


    "Come now, they have barely anyone in S class, there would not be any fun for you, so be just a bit more patient, please?" Vivian spoke in light tone, causing Rex to grumble, and sit down.


    "But just because you asked nicely." he replied, slightly annoyed by the tone in his voice, but sending a ''good job'' message to Vivian trough the brand. Her interverntion have the families the proper scare, since they now coudl asume that the youngster their descendats had offended was SS class, explaining why governor was almost crawling up the youngsters ass with compliments and compliance, and why Vivian was trying to get her clawas in the man. Such power and potential was monster tier, and any sane power would try their damn best to aquire the man. And as Feng family was thinking of selling said information to three other powers that had the means to combat Tyrant dragon sect and Vivian, another oportunistic man had already done so, with the explicit permission of Rex in exchange for freedom to do whatever he wanted with teh three families, should they not comply with Rex''s demands.


    Then the patriarch of Long family spoke in a very polite manner


    "It is truly a fault of ours for failing to properly educate the youngsters, and for that we are deeply sorry. We must nevertheless invoke a law of exchange, your exelency. It is stated within the laws of the city that offenders life can be bought in exchange for five others, if the talant value of at least one of replacements is almost equal to one of the sacrifices, or then others if not." And Rex glanced at the governor for elaboration.


    "A yes, we have an old law like that. It is linked with the dungeon of the accursed, thats near here due to the species living within." spoke the governor, and seeing Rex inquisitive glance, he continiued with the explanation "The place is an eternal winter, with many diferent beasts and monsters that thrive in cold, and the only sentient species within are a race of barbaric humans. It is said that they are the descendants of a union between human and giants. They are all two to two and a half meters long and very strong. They have this tradition where the powerfull wariors that were captured can be exchanged with said number of women. So we had to make the rule, as they are more than willing to trade the prisoners they take when some foolish party does not steer clear from their hunting parties."


    Rex looked to the guards standing to the side of the room, and ponted to a woman of two meter height and quite muscular build "She''s of their blood?". And recieved a nod from the governor.

 Chapter 57: Izumis hard work

    Rex mulled over the question at hand, and while musing about the issue, the Yang family patriarch expressed the same desire, but that came as no suprise seeing his predicament. Rex looked at the woman of the half giant race with inspecting gaze, and came to the logical conclusion- muscle mommies were on the menu it seems.


    "How far from here is the dungeon?" he asked, and governor answered as his ears perked up


    "Just a day or two away from here. We have a very well developed and maintained roads to the place and if you follow the signs and posts it is impossible to miss." And as Rex was mulling over some plans of his, the governor maintained a focused sight on him. REx realizing the reasong for said focus, just waved his hand dismissively.


    "Fine, fine, flaim the exchange. You have been respectfull and acomodating enough, so I will show the same in return, but they better provide quality girls for the exchange."


    "Worry not sir, we have a very developed and honed system in place to ensure just that." governor added hastily, after all, if Rex wanted to, he could go on quite the rampage and no one here could stop him, so it was always better to solve such issues with bribes and fines, if possible. Governor was quite pleased that he had the luck of dealing with a rather calm and relaxed SS class entitiy, since most of them are far too arrogant and trigger happy.


    With that out of the way, the three families quickly left. Two with grim faces to gather women for exchange from their servant and slave quarters, and the last one not so much. While they lost a direct descendant, the man was not of great tallent nor was he in a position of note, so they would just burry the incident and never speak of it again. The most happy person leaving the room however was not Rex or governor, it was the torture master in his employ. The man would get to refresh his skills and enjoy a long evening, maybee couple with the sweet sound of agonizing screams of criminals.


    The two families had a few hours to collect the women, since Rex was not interested to stay any longer for now, so while they where in a rush to meet the deadline, Rex had a rather deep and expansive talk about the dungeon of the accursed that was nearby. Governor even summoned a few of the guards that had some experience delving said dungeon, so Rex would have a more detailed and clear understanding of the place. He would bring some rare treasures for sure to sell in the city if he were to do some diving here, and governor was hoping for just that, so he sublty and cautiously inquired if Rex would be interested in delvign into the local dungeon. And fortunately for him, Rex spoke plainly, that he would eventually, but not just yet. He needed to return home, solve a few things he had found a solution for, adn then he would visit this place again.


    At one point during their conversation, a servant rushed to governor and informed of the exchange tributes being delivered, appraised and evaluated. And sicne the offering was aduquate, the exchange was made, so all thats left is for Rex to collect the girls he want to, and leave the rest for the city to deal with. So Rex was soon lead to a place where twenty women stood, slight shiver noticable on the younger ones, meanwhile the older ones were all frozen stiff, no regard for their situation, nor hope for a decent life in their eyes. Visually the girls were of average looks, some slightly malnourished, some had traces of heavy abuse on their bodies, so Rex could only sigh. He picked two girls from amongst the twenty, who could be very pretty, if fixed up and healed properly. He could see from the energy blockades in their bodies that they had been heavily abused when younger, leaving internal injuries that impacted their growth and development, adn while unfixable for his former earth, here with magic it was all within the realm of possibilities, especially for someone of his standng.


    "Sir, why would you choose the most damaged ones? There are plenty other who are better amongst them." governor asked a bit confused.


    ''''Hmph" a smirk escaped Rex lips "I llok at the potential and what I can do to fix the current damage, and these tow are the best in this batch, because I can fix them. Otherwise, you are correct, there are better choiches among them." Then REx looked at the two "names?"


    "Zara/ Luna" the two answered imemadiatly.


    "Zara and Luna. I might remember. You two will serve me now." Rex looked at the governor "The rest are yours to deal with. Thank you for the hospitality and have a nice day." Rex said as he said his goodbyes to the governor and followed by the girls he left the palace. The next few days were uneventfull, as Rex arived at one of teh capitals of sect alliance and bought a few more goods for the girls and then returned to Blythe through a few more portals.


    He had been gone for more than a few weeks, so it was no suprise that he had to devote the next few days to satisfy his women waiting for him home. So a few wild days later where he was constatntly ambused by needy women he had finaly satiated them, and could focus on the important issues. Zara and Luna were assigned to teh mansion he had in Elysion after he had branded them, and he also moved a part of his snake girls over there as well.


    Then he visited the three men he had a busineess with, recieving some info regarding the echlisiarchy for Eredar adn Victor and branding a few more of the exotic supergirls for Brogni. Then he finally visited the succubi who vere training Elena, and checked her progress. He had to admit, the training they had immersed elena in had done woners. While still a spark of defiance in her eyes, she nevertheless she rushed to the club chair Rex was sitting in as soon as she was brought in, then without any demonstrations she pulled out his cock and started to service him with her mouth.


    Rex looked at the ssuccubi with a raised brow "Just what kind of training did you put her through? She seems like a bitch in heat."


    "It is exactly that master. After you broke her in the first time all we had to do was up her sensitivity and then keep her on the edge without release. And voila, here is the result. A few more such cycles adn she will be perfectly ready and trained for her future work." spoke one of the succubi.


    "Well done girls. Are you recieving earth grade meat for your meals?" he asked as Elena was frantickly blowing him, and as soon as she was allowed, her hands dug in her nether region, searching for a release she ahd been denied for so long.


    "Yes master, we are well taken care of. Mistress Mel ahs made sure of that." responded a succubi. They spoke of a few other topics that the demoneses had wanted some elaboration, all while Elena was working her throat adn furiously pleasuring her own harden with her hands. And once she finally came, after she came off teh high she was in, she proceeded to fill her pussy with her master. A few hours later Rex left teh building, Elena lying on a sofa there, exausted and wit ha satisfied smile on her face. Succubi had gotten their answers and the future plans for their training program, which had smiles blooming on the girls faces. They really liked breaking in the devoutees of some god. The thrill pelasure once they managed to break a person like that was undescribable.


    The next few days once again Rex spent in the dungeon, speed running it for a singular reason- he had to ocne again fill up his meat reserves to the maximum, since he was expanding his retinue seemingly every time he went out. Not that he minded, he felt that it was the right way. Sure it did not sit well with the morals of his previous life, but what did it matter here. The worlds were fundamentaly different. Here, a single individual could live for almost foreever, and have personal might that superceedes nukes that could be used repeatedly, let alone the gods who supposedly exist. Their existence gave Rex a rather obvious culprit who caused his arrival, but he was not sure how big of a thanks he had to express, sgould he get to visit the one responsible. Another question that lingered in his mind was whether or not said entity was even aware of his presence here. But that was all for much later when he will have similar powers, allowing to communicate with said entities on a similar level.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Then after a solid hunting spree he focused on a nother very important thing- his rewards for sucsesfully fullfiling kitsune request. He had to go and claim his three new princeses, and allow Izumi to have her fun in getting back at her childhood bully. So Rex pulled on the connection he had with Izumi, informing his foxgirl that he is home, and in less than a few hours Izumi was in his residence accompanied by two cloaked, but obviously curvy individuals with seven fox tails sticking out. The third and last one was a skimpily dressed kitsune with seven tails as well, but she was fidgeting nervously, and was trying hard to hide her exposed flesh.


    AS soon as izumi found Rex she shot in his dirrection, her last few steps covering in a manic jump, and as soon as Rex caught her, the brown haired girls legs locked around his waist, her arms around his neck and she plunged in a deep and passionate kiss. A few minutes later they seperated to take a deep breath


    "What took you so long?" Izumi asked slightly panting, with a smirk on her face "Were you having fun instead of working?" she added as she slowly grinded her self against him, using her tails to gently brush against his arms that were quite passionately grpoing her soft yet firm ass. Rex shot a quick glance to the trio behind, then fully returned his focus to izumi


    "Are those my prizes?" he asked with a smirk, his hands not calming down for a moment, but then adding "Does not matter right now, lets catch up first." With that said he turned around and started to move towards his bedroom, quickly adding


    "Mel, bring them to dining room, serve soem tea, I will be there in a few." with that said he dissapeard up the stairs with izumi diving back into his lips.


    Mel jsut shrugged "You three, follow me." and brought the trio to the dining room as Rex instructed and asked one of the maids to fetch Millie, to make a proper tea. Mel easily could have just ordered one of the maids to make tea as is, and serve taht, but being in a good mood after recent night spent with Rex and Val, she decided to be kinder than ussual today. Within fifteen minutes Millie had already arrived with tea tray and served the trio with some decent kitsune tea.


    The two cloaked girls then removed their cloaks, revieling a golden blonde and fiery red hair and tails. Mel had to admit, the girls were absolute tens, without a single blemish to be found, and even the scantaly dressed fox girl with violet hair and tails was very busty and beautifull. Then the blonde kitsune asked


    "Neither Izumi sama, nor the elders told us, so could you be so kind and tell us the exploits of the man we have been given to?"


    Mel being in the know, and well aware of the circumstances of the girls lightly smiled and noded.


    "Why not, Rex would tell you himself eventually. He traveled to the union of sects, and destroyed a sect and a half, forcing them to end the war with your nation."


    "Huh? He?" the blonde asked with a puzzled lok.


    "Yes, he. He singlehandedly made your opposition surrender. And in exchange he wanted three kitsune princeses of unparaleled beauty. And between loosing three girls and thousands of their kind, your councli chose you." Seeing the slightly dejected faces of the trio, Mel added "but worry not, you will learn to love your new life, especially with the master during nights." she spoke with a dreamy expression and licked her lips.


    The trio knew that they were sacrificed to end the war, but the details and reasoning were kept from them. They were also told that their lifes should not be too bad, considering what Izumi had told them about teh character of Neo.


    "Wait? Rex? Wasnt teh man we are supposed to serve named Neo?" the red haired girl asked, confusion in her voice apparent. Something did not add up here, and remembering how petty Izumi had been with Hana, she felt something off.


    "Fu fu fu. A sharp one I see," lightly giggied mel "you will soon find out. Just another few hours of wait. Should I ask for some snacks? Have you eaten anything for breakfast?" Mel asked, and after recieving their answer, she nodded and asked one of the maids to prepare some of the fruits they had as a light snack.


    True to Mels words, a few hours later Rex arrived in the room with a tired, but happily smiling Izumi clinging to his arm. He then inspected the trio of princeses with a discerning eye. He looked over, adn took notes on everything aout the girls. Both physicaly, and spiritually. He noted the energy flow, development, energy ratios and everything else his eyes could show. He had such perfect knowledge of all his girls- a necessary precaution in case someone tried to kidnap someone and alter them in a dangerous adn malicious ways.


    "Now, my sweeet Izumi, present to me your hard work " Rex spoke with with glee and apreciation for his foxy ambasador. With a gigle of her own Izumi energetically jumped forward, her tiredness dissapearing into nothingness. She stood in front of the three girls, pulled theblonde one by the arm lightly forward and gently spun her around, displaying teh blonde in all her glory in her modest clothing.


    "I present to you Keiko. A princess of the holy light clan, who specialize in holy magic and healing. Their monks are particularily renown for their endurance and toughness, as well as their shrine maidens for their healing capabilities. Keiko is one of the most promising and beautifull of current generation, and she has the gentlest of personalities. And she was alwasy nice to me in academy. And since I heard rummors about soem elders planning to bethrode her to Zyrkon of Chilling night, I had to save her. So here she is."


    Rex just nodded in aproval at ther explanation, then said "I dont mind you using my deal to save a friend of yours, especially when seh is so hot, but who is this Zyrkon of Chilling night?"


    "An heir of another of our noble clans. Their hair is raven black, similar to your own, and their main focus is on assasination and war. Warriors and assasins, and Zyrkon is particularily arrogant and cruel, as well as lecherous. I have enough evidence of him abusing multiple maids and other foxkin girls, but since he is an heir, nobody would lift a finger to reign him in. IF he got his hands on Keiko, she would have to live in suffering for the rest of her life." izumi spoke, clear hatred towards the man in her voice.


    "Well, I dont mind killing him, if he comes and causes trouble to you for your intervention, any other of my girls." Rex reassured her, and with that she cheered up, brought Keiko back next to the two others, then grabbed the girl with fiery red hair, and just like with Keiko, she brought the girl forward and spun her slowly displaying her assets and beauty.


    "Mikoto of Blazing fire clan. A true daughter of the sun, and one of the more respected clans alongside Verdant forest clan. Almost all members of blazing fire clan are mages with exceptional affinity with fire, maintaining backbone of our mage corps in our military with their raw firepower. And while I was not personally familiar with her, she too was a target of Zirchon." and understanding how this started to look, her fox ears and tails slumped a bit in shame "Sorry Rex, I might be pulling some heat towards you, but Zirchon is a monster."


    "My sweet little Izumi, what are you apologizing for? i dont care if your entire nation decides got to war with me, let alone a single clan. Once your bloodline is purified and strenghtened enough to awaken your eight tail you will have enough sway towards the council to heavily hinder, if not stop all of his vile acts, no?" and with her meek nod he asked "By the way, how is the progress on that front?"


    "Let me finish my presentation okey?" she spoke lightly and with a triumphant smirk spoke as she led Mikoto back next to Keiko.


    "Up you go, and you better show off yourself in all your glory to your new master. Is that not what you like to do?" a smirk and triump on her face. The violet haired scantaly dressed kitsune fidgeted a bit, and sensing Izumi frown and angrily click her tongue, she hurried ahead, and spun around rather akwardly.


    "Stick your chest out, brush your hand past to emphasize them, then the same with your butt. Where you not proud of yourself back in the academy? Where did that arrogant and self important princess go to? You were just fine untill a few days ago." Izumi was unrelenting in her approach, causing the violet haired girl to blush and be on the verge of tears.


    "Tch" another click of her tongue and she continiued "Hana of Dark amethyst clan, famous for their alchemy and summoners. Hana here is the spoiled daughter of their patriarch, and while somewhat decent summoner, was spoiled to no end by her clan and as such is quite bratty and arrogant. I would suggest using her to her full capacity to curb her temper and teach her some humility."


    Rex then walked around her for a moment inspecting her further, squeezing her tits and delivery a light slap on her ass, casunbg the kitsune to release a yelp.


    "So this is your bully Izumi? How do you want me to punish her? Want me to fuck her braisn out, get her addicted and then neglect her? Or will you train her yourself? She is your grudge, so I would asume, training her personally would deliver you the most satisfaction."


    Rex words brought Izumi out of her bitch mode instantly, returning the sweet and affectionate izumi to the room.


    "You are right, it would feel better to train her properly myself, then present her as a feast for you one she is well educated."

 Chapter 58: Near defeat

    With the introduction of his three new kitsunes done, Rex waisted no time and branded the trio. Not forgetting to get his fair share of squeezes in on Hana, since she would be punished quite often due to her previous actions towards Izumi. And Mel seeing the lull in the conversation finaly spoke


    "Mikoto here is quite observant. She was wondering why their masters name is Rex, not Neo as they were told by their council."


    "Heh, smart girl. So, why do you think that is?" Rex asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the red haired kitsune. She thought for a moment and then spoke


    "Seeing that master is a blood mage, I would assume sir Neo traded us for your services, that would provide him with greater benefit in the future." she was fidgeting a bit, now nervous not to anger their master. The brands they had could make their life more than misserable if master so wished.


    "He he he he." Rex lightly lauged. "While normaly that indeed would be the most likely scenario, that is not the case this time. Do you not wonder why Izumi was the one who chose the girls Neo demanded in exchange for ending this war, sicne she is my woman, not Neos? And she also got to get her hands on the one girls who tormented her during teh academy days, all so she could have a nice and petty revenge?"


    "IT CANT BE!" Both Mikoto and Keiko exclaimed at the same time, disbelief in their eyes.


    "Indeed she is sleeping with them both." A mioschievous smirk sneaking on Rex''s face as he spoke.


    "NOOOO, I AM NOT!" Izumi yelled at Rex, "REX IS BOTH!" she had to ensure that Mikoto and Keiko ddidnt misunderstand her and take her for a slut. That was only acceptable for foxkin who worked in said industry, not for noble daughters of the clans.


    "No sex for you mister for a while as a punishment." Izumi glared at Rex, and after his words she deflated knowing it to be true


    "You sure thats how you wanna play? Would it not be a punishment to you, more than me?"


    "Grrrr" anoyed low growl escaped izumi as she stood by Rex, raised his hand towards her face and bit it. With a heavy sight Rex used his other free hand to gently caress her brown hair


    "I am sorry Izumi, I took my joke too far. Seems I touched something I should not have. ." Then he summoned a chair and sat down on it, pulling Izumi on his lap into and embrace.


    "You better be sorry for real, that is a rather cruel insult amongst the noble clans, to imply that the woman is sleeping with other men besides her husband. Your only excuse is that you are not a kitsune and didnt know." To her words Rex embraced her further and kept caressing her as a way of apology, and it worked. Izumi could sense how attentive and gentle Rex was being, convening his thoughts and relaxing her in the process. A few minutes of such ministratons later Izumi now once again focused back to the topci at hand.


    "So as I said, Neo is an alternate persona used by Rex. Needless to say that is family secret that you are forbiden to tell others about." Rex noded to that as well, but not worrying about the issue, since his brand ensured that already. Only Aina, Izumi and Leifia did not have slave brands, but blank ones, which only ensured that both parties knew of the others intentions towards them, as well as protected their souls from others who would attempt to enslave them.


    "So, what are you going to do now?" she asked Rex, after the trio had been fully integrated into the household.


    "Hmm, well I guess first I will mark all you girls with permission seals so you can enter my world shard freely, then anchor one portal here, so no matter where I am, we can meet regularily in the world shard for fun and bonding, since I dont want to lock you girls in a sealed word all the time." Rex then opened a portal wfrom which exited two human girls of average looks and a man.


    "Those two are Zara and Luna. put them to work in maid core, and this man is Reigen. He will work for Holy whores as protection, but before it is established, any girl leaving mansion can ask for his presence as protection. That would allow more of them to explore the city and do that more regularily, since Val has quitea lot of other things to do to try and reach S class. I will try to hunt down a few more bodyhuards for you girls to give you much more freedom in exploring both the city and perhaps the dungeon as well eventually."


    Then Rex spent a few more minutes sitting with Izumi in his lap, then messed around with Hana, much to the amusement of Izumi and after that spent a most of the day marking all his girls and anchoring a locked portal to his world shard in the masion. Rex would improve the mark several times in the future since he had a few ideas how to incorporate a few extra protective layers as well, but that needed a bit more practice and precision, something Rex still lacked right now. He also spent some extra time with his elven mother and daughter pair, making sure their lives were pleasant and fulfilled. Turns out Leifia liked this new life of hers very much, as her entusiasm and proactiveness both in bed with Rex and her interactions with other girls showed. She was even mischievous enough to fill Ainas head with naughty whispers adn thoughts. Rex never expected Leifia to help him so much in encouraging Aina to join their sessions at night, something that didnt take long for Aina to agree. What suprised Rex himself however was just how persuasive she could be, when during one of their oyakodon sessions she had almost managed to talk him into something he was very adamant about doing as of yet.


    It did not help that as Leifia was whispering in his ear, under the elven milf ministrations and in her heat bouncing on his cock, Aina joined in and started to beg to be fucked nice and hard and be impregnated alongside her mother. The duo was even more relentles than ussual, lasting longer and working twice as hard. So it was quite the suprise that even as Leifia was bouncing on him, with one of her breasts in his mouth, leaking her milk, and under her and Ainas constant begging, he still somewhat maintained his self control, even if barely. Big thanks to his previous oyakodon sessions with Rashuun and her twins.


    Rex had to admit the though of the pair giving him nice milky and sloppy combo paizuri was indeed very enticing, among other possible avenues of bedroom activities he could perform with them after they become mothers. Still, he was more cautious now than ever with some extra knowledge aquired about the pinnacle beings in this world, so he had to ensure he could protect his girls and any spawn he would create together with them.. Untill then he would just put in double the effort to keep his women satisfied and happy, and thankfully, his unique skillset provided just enough benefits and options to ensure that it could be done.


    In the morning Rex woke up as ussual, sneaked out of the bed where he was entangled by the elven duo, and proceeded to kitchen. He was well aware that Aisha must be there already, prepearing the family breakfast, so he decided to spend some more time with his sweet wolfkin. And while Rex was always thinking of expanding the kitchen staff, Aisha had made sure that she would remain as the main cheff for quite a while for the core group. She loved the blissfull expresions and praises she recieved from Rex and teh rest of the girls for her masterfull cooking.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    On his way, Rex remembered something, and made a short detour to the room Vivian had taken upon her arrival together with him. The girl in question was already awake and meditating. She had noted that the energy here is much more abundant than in most places outside, not including deep floors of the dungeons. Rex had explained about the artifact he had placed in teh manor to help his sabertooths to grow better and to help passively strenghten the girls here, even if only minimaly and at a very slow pace.


    Once Vivian noticed Rex entering her room she stoped meditating, and spent no time to jump in his arms and engage in a passionate round of lovemaking. It took less than an hour to have Vivian grinning satisfied and lying on her bed, not interested in anything else for another few hours for sure, and then she would join girls for breakfast, and whatever else they had decided to do. Then Rex did as he had planned beforehand and spent some time in the kitchen together with Aisha. Rex mostly kept her company, having a pleasant conversation as she was either cooking something herself or watching over some of the helpers doing something relatively simple. With breakfast ready, but not yet the ussual time for it to be served, it was all preserved in storage ring, ensuring that it would be in just the same perfect condition as freshly cooked, Aisha could switch all her attention towards Rex, which she did with as much enthusiasm as she was cooking.


    With a swift leafp she was in his lap, once she had changed to a fresh set of clothes cleaned herself. Then they spent some time just like that, with Aisha in his lap being gently carresed as her head rested on his chest. Some minutes later she left his lap and dragged him away since they still had almost an hour untill breakfast, and she would use it to the fullest. She was similar to Aina in that manner. Both were innitialy very shy and somewhat scared untill they had their first time. Now, they were part of the most dirrect and proactive group of girls, and wasted no time when they felt horny. They would quite literaly drag Rex to one of the bedrooms where they would get their itch scratched.


    An hour later Rex arrived in the dining room where girls from core group where gathered. Rex sat in his chair and looked around the room, enjoying and almost undressing each of his girls here with his eyes. And not one of the girls missed said look in his eyes, eliciting a smile on their faces in response. Irina Val and Mel sat together, accompanied by the original orc maids- Lira, Liara and Lianne. The three orc lovers did a lot in managing the estate in his absence, alongside with Izumi. who was right now sitting together with Millie, Mikoto and Keiko and chatting quite happily. Hana was also very close to the other kitsunes, trying to be inconspicious, lest she earns more of Izumis teasing and small acts of ordering her around.


    Seriss together with the other three Veran women- Serana Veria and Anarasa were together as well. The four of them were all very shy now, since the yhad just recently gone through an evolution of sorts, all thanks to the heaven grade meals they consumed each breakfast. Now all four had shed their skin, revealing their now human forms. Rex had quite the smirk on his face as he practically devoured them with his eyes. Their time was coming, and they knew it as well. There was not a single regretfull of negative thought regarding their pending mating rituals. Their lives had been nothing but blissfull in his mansion. They would often spend their time with Ren-Sa an other Veran maids who were working around the mansion and raising the hatchling girls Rex took with him after he exterminated that one tribe back in Al Merhaad visit.


    The last group consisted of the horniest of his girls. Aisha with her mother Leifia, spent most of theior time in the company of the angel Eira, the succubi twins Rasha and Xingue, their mother Rashuun, when said queen was wisiting, Aisha adn of course Ainas adventurer friedn Rika, who now served as the elven girls personal maid. Vivian, being as infatuated as she was with their bedtime activities had been drawn towards this group as well, and she was not shying away from any spicy details and stories of all sorts.


    Then, as ussual when a new woman was added to the core group and had their first heaven grade breakfast the rest just enjoyed the absulote bliss, and then the dumbfounded looks of said newcomers, in this case three kitsunes. Their disbelief only grew when they learned what was it that they had just feasted on, and it grew even more when they learned that such food would be served during every breakfast. Innitially they could not understand why would they be offered such unreasonably rare and expensive food, but that was answered quite quickly by Izumi.


    "Simple really girls, Rex will be sleeping with you all, even if he takes his sweet time untill he starts. Nevertheless, that simple distinction automatickaly adds you to the core group, which means the privilage of this heavenly breakfast, among other few things" Then a moment later Keiko, being the closest with Izumi asked her something she had been wondering about for a while now


    "Izumin, would you tell us about how you came to be with master?" Izumi just giggled a little, but shared the story of how they met when she was sent to strongarm a blood mage after who had suppsoedly asked for kitsune princeses as slaves to brand. How he bought Millie in the auction soon after and had come to an agreement of sorts with their homeland regarding soem quite specific trade, and how he asked for Izumi during negotiations, offering conditions that no sane, and most insane people would not reject, and just how wonderfull her life had been ever since. She could now flex and develop her skills as a diplomat and negotiator with even greater freedom, and muc hmore powerfull backing than before- the wet dream of any ambasador out there.


    "Besides, the sex is out of this world" she added in the end, to which every girl who have had the chance to experience it wholewheartedly agreed, there was a little pouty comment though, that caused quite a bit of laughter


    "But he still refuses to knock us up." Aina pouted, properly corrupted by her mother with the idea.


    "I still have to roam the Echlisiarchy and enslave quite a few of their sainteses and oracles for my project, due to their offense and I cant risk greater danger to you girls. Once I am assured of the security around you, so that everything is entirely under my control, I will breed you all you want. How does that sound?" he added in the end with a sigh. He might become a father of many much more sooner than he expected, if things keep going in the same manner as they had been up untill now.


    As they were closing the end of their meal, one of the doors was slammed open,what most of the girls present saw was a flash, then there was a loud crash, caused by something slamming into Rex. The next thing the girls saw was a hungry succubi queen erratickly making out with Rex, who was not only not resisting, but even responding and aiding the love starved woman. Ten minutes later, and half naked alrady she finaly withdrew from his lips, now more relaxed, but still grinding her now wet and sloppy crotch against his pants that hid his erection.


    "Two things before I totaly forget and before we continiue this in the bedroom. There are three princes who should soon be ariving in Blythe to challenge you as my partner. They are very strong, so I am worried. I came as soon as I recieved the information from my network.Luckaly you are back and we can plan a countermeasure. I never actually though that those old monsters would crawl from their pits for this." She spoke, worry clear in her eyes as she looked at Rex.


    "Do you know how strong they are, and what they believe is of equal value to you they can wager?" Rex asked, slightly intrigued.


    "Due to the passage of time they could be somewhere between early to high and if we are trully unlucky, some might even be peak SS class now." More worry echoed in her voice, but to the contrary to her growing worries, Rex visibly relaxed, and Vivian giggled at her words.


    "Only that? My sects elders and master were more of a threat when he crushed their combined efforts at our sect, or so I heard from grandfather."


    "WHAT?" Rashuun, half yelled in suprise, her expressions quickly changing from one of worry and fear for her beloved to that of lust and desire, and her grinding against his erection intensified. She spoke almost purring now


    "They will arrive within days, according to my sources." she planted a few small kisses on his neck, then continiued "How much time do you need to fully recover from a state of exaustion to perfect condition?"


    "OW? And why do you ask?" came a counterquestion from Rex as his hands were now kneading her magnificent ass.


    "I need you now, but I want you to have enough time to be in a perfect condition for when they arrive." was her answer as she continued to barely hold herself back.


    "With a couple of day time period, There is enough to fuck your brains out and reach perfect condition a few times over."


    "DAUGHTERS!" Rashuun exclaimed "WE ARE GOING ALL OUT!" were the last words she screamed out before once again plunging in his lips, her twin daughters coming to assist, helping Rex up his feet with Rashuun tightly wrapping herself to Rex, and dissapearing through the door, moving to one of the bedrooms for their intense session.

 Chapter 59: Fiends, demons and a sliver of happiness

    Early in the morning as per ussual Rex got out of his bed, gently moving twins and Rashuun, as well as Eira, who had snuck in during the night, and recieved the same one sided defeat as the trio sleeping alongside the angel. All Rex could do was grinn at the sight of four magnificent naked ladies laying there on his bed after an exausting nightly duty. Then he spent a few more hours visiting Irina, Mel, Val and Aisha, and he made sure the girls woudl speel a few more hours longer after he had poured enough love in each of them.


    With his morning rounds out of the way, adn a satisfied smile on his face he moved to the garden where Tigra, her cubs and Crystal lived. Then he spent a few dozen minutes spoiling Snow and Diego, and petting both Tigra and Crystal. He had learned another efficient ussage for his mana chains, as he could provide much greater petting experience to the two giant cats with the assistance of said chains. Then once teh cats were satisfied and once again lazily relaxing, Rex sat donw and focused on a dozen of his mana ravens he had sent out as soon as he returned from kitsune job.


    He stumbled upon the idea during his time with Vivian when she asked if those ravens could be used for long range reconnosaince and spying, and as sooon as he returned that had been one of the things he did. Sending a dozen or so ravens in different dirrections, to scout the surroundings. Most were however dirrected towards Echlisiarchy, since he ahd enemies there, and due to being controlled by subprocesses of his mind, the movement and activities of said ravens were extremely efficient and carefull.


    Since ravens were quite a common bird around these parts, as well as in Echlisiarchy, adn the birds were considered to be very smart, it was not unexpected that their curiosity or cautiosness were very high. Some of his ravens had already found some interesting targets to observe, or had seen some rather displeasing sights. There was one in particular that caught his attention. A hunt of sorts, where a dozen or so noble ladies were tracking a prey of their liking. The young ladies were riding on their worg battlehorses- a uniquely bred and ancient animal, a hybrid between a horse and a wolf. The animal had mostly horse body with the heald of a wolf. It was no suprise that the animal was a predator, with sense of smell even more capable than wolf, and the power and endurance a well trained and specifically bred horse had.


    The group of girls was also accompanied by two dozens of special guards, each ridign their own worg battlehorses. The large group was also accompanied by a few blood hounds, but those did not seem to be there for tracking. A couple of his ravens had stopped their path to perch on the branches high in the trees to observe , and it created no questions, as some actual ravens were doing the exact same thing nearby.


    "Look." one of the noble ladies spoke as she gestured towards teh treetops "More and more ravens are hanging around with each of our hunt. Think a crowned crow would apper eventually if we keep this up?"


    "We can only hope" another spoke with glee.


    And so their hunt proceeded for a few hours, their worg battlehorses tracking their prey. Rex who was paying closer attention to the events occuring here, since he had to wait for the demon princes, furrowed his brows when the group finaly caught up to what he understood from the groups chatter, one of their preys. Turns out, the group was hunting a rather exotic and unique prey- beastkin children, aproximately twelve to fourteen years old. Adn ocne close enough they released the bloodhounds, and Rex learned their purpose now. The bloodhounds relentlesly chased after the children adn once they caught up, started to savagely tear the children apart.


    Rex was no stranger to cruelty and torture, since he had already dabbled in the torture, but what he saw these noble children do left a rather disgusting taste in his mouth, especially when he learned of the crimes tose children had commited. One of the last children to fall was a boy with lizard features, who had managed to wound one of the hounds in his desperate attempts to fend the bloodthirsty beasts off. Now profusely bleeding out, and slowly succumbing to the embrace of death, a pained but clear question escaped his lips, aimed at the group watching his last moments with glee


    "Why?"


    A single word, filled with confusion, pain, regret and helpless anger. And the giggles from the group as he died made his end all the more harrowing. Boy died not recieving his answer, but Rex hear it.


    "By the way, what was this ones crime?" One of the leading girls asked as she looked at the guards, who quickly fumbled with a few scrolls looking something up and answering in a quick manner.


    "Sibling of a captured and executed forsaken from Howling forests, your exelency."


    "Wow, Alexa, your daddy is incredible. How did they manage to send inquisitors there and retrieve these heretics?" another girl was sucking up to the girl in the lead, who calmly answered


    "When your father is one of the twelve seats, many incredible feats can be achieved. Your family have to only try harder and be more devout, adn one day they will also produce a seat of their own."


    Rex had to admit that while quite repulsive in character and beliefs, this Alexa had a lot of charisma and leadership, as well as looks. But what was more important was her position. A daughter of one of the twelve, teh ruling body of Echlisiarchy, and the cunts that both sanctioned and encouraged hunting and persecution of archons, as well as the ones who ordered and deployed both Elena Vex and now deceased Royce Rambert to Blythe to rope in and make him a brainless puppet for their cause.


    Seeing just how rotten their young ladies were, Rex was now changing his plans greatly regarding Echlisiarchy. If he innitially was planning to only raid a few temples and cities or villages for enough personell to work in his establishement, now he was considering a full on campaign of retribution against them. And as he was already starting to draft multiple plans for his actions based on his current knowledge, he ensured that Alexa here would always be tracked by at least one of his ravens. seeing more and more of the ugliness of this state, he allowed his own inner monsters to come out and plan a rather fitting punishement of despair and pain for Echlisiarchy, and that involve quite a bit of those noble daughters and children of high ranking officials of Echlisiarchy.


    Even during the few days he had to wait for the demon price arrival he learned more and more about the absolute depravity that took place in the upper echalons of said church. He had to admit, with all the dark thoughts of what if, during his life back on earth, he had never wandered in the dirrections he saw enacted by the holy men of Echlisiarchy. One would think torture chambers and rape to be the peak of their acts, but no, things like outdoor cooking during the rape. Starving monsters that are heavily drugged with aphrodisiacs and then unleased upon young girls and boys, to see if said people would be able to satisfy the monsters till exaustion, or would the monsters devour them during the act, and in case of a miracoulous survival of the human in such an act, the repeat of it, just to break and destroy that last sliver of hope for just a bit longer life. The only bitersweet consolation Rex could see was that the souls of the deceased were not chained down, and were wisped away to whereever they go, and if the literature he aquired from the merchant guild is correct, that would be the weel of reincarnation. He could only hope that the next life would be much better for the victims. Rex could also figure out that souls departing that were not drained, were much brighter, implying that Rex was robbing the souls of their gains during said life when he drains them. And if utilizing his ability to the fullest, he was could even mangle, maybe shatter them as well. He was not entirely sure anymore, as his previous experiments led him to believe.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    He had to admit, souls were far too complex and esoterical for his abilities to affect them to such a deep level when he is far too weak, relatively speaking. But his new understandign opened another avenue of research and experimentation. Did he actually shatter Ramberts soul, or did he just mangle it, if even that. He needed to encounter a creature much more versed and sensitive to souls, and learn of his own limits through cooperation and insight of said creature.


    ''Another thing to the bucket list.'' Rex sighed as he thought to himself. he would hate to let the fiends of Echlisiarchy off with just a slap on the wrist.''Still, the whorehouse project still is on, and it looks like I will have to expand the scope of my plans.'' With his resolve firmed once again and greater retribution scheduled for said church, Rex focused his primary thoughts on developing his magic and spending more time with his girls. He also had to finaly claim Seriss and the other three Veran women, sine they were now in full human forms, and just thinking about sex with those beauties, especially Seriss, got Rex way too horny- a condition that was soon aliviated by two just as hungry elven women and a very curious catgirl, who could no longer take Ainas recent teasing and overexagerated happiness.


    Rika was the first to admit her mistake in asuming Aina was overexagirating, once she woke up after the few hours they spent fucking. She laid there, embraced by both mother and daugher, still feeling full after the few times she was filled up during their session in bed and then in bath as they were cleaned for an after sex nap. Never had she though that after all she went through in the hands of those slavers and after the countless nights where she would wake up screaming, reliving her worst memories in the nightmares, and being comforted and soothed by Aina, she could once again enjoy the embrace of a man, and wait in anticipation for the next time. Never in her wildest dreams woudl she believe that being sold at that auction would not only save but also heal her and grant her a new family. She blushed at the thought that eventually she too would be a mother, if what Rex said about children was true once he was sure he had secured a safe enough enviroment for the girls.


    The rest of the evening and night was spent in a similar manner, where Rex spent four hours pleasing multiple of his women, and then sleeping himself for an hour or so, then returning to his spell improvements and planning untill the time for breakfast come. There two great news suprised him. Both were increadibly pelasant, ensuring that his day would be even better than innitially asumed.


    The first suprise was when everyone heard a loud yelp from one of the sauna rooms with a large pool inside. Rex imediatly calmed the girls in dining room, saying that he sensed no physical harm to the girl in question, nor were there any intruders in the mansion, so they just had to wait a bit and the girl in esution- Millie- would soon be here and explain what happened. And thrue to his words, in just a few minutes, a very energetic and super happy Millie sprinted in the room and hugged Rex all of a sudden. Then came a few minutes of mumbled and nonstop thanks to him from the exited girl.


    "I dont think you should thank me so much for the sudden increase in your breasts" Rex spoke in a light manner, noticing that change in the girl the first as she came in teh dining room "Now I will have to start playing with them, since now i will not be able to hold back anymore." he added as he caressed the girls hair.


    She bit her lip as she was hiding her face in his chest, then spoke very quietly, so quiet in fact even Rex did not catch it, so when she was asked to repeat herself she almost screamed out her previosu sentence "I''M READY! MAKE ME YOURS MASTER!"


    Rex gently took her face in his arms and looked in her eyes, her face red from embarasment, but her tails were exitedly swaying behind her, all seven of them. An even greater smile bloomed on his face as he realized the crux of the matter.


    "Congratualtions on becoming a true noble kitsune Millie." he said to the girl, who shed a few tears of happiness as her master congratulated her. Then Rex gently kissed her lips, a very brief and innocent kiss for the sweeet girl, leaned in and whispered in her ear


    "Lets eat breakfast now, so I can eat you later." causing the kitsune to blush even harder and weakly nod to his words.


    "We have a cause to celebrate. Millies bloodline had upgraded, as you can see from her seven tails." Rex spoke now to the entire room wit ha smile on his face, keeping the girl in his lap.


    "Then I will add to the good news" Rashuun spoke once Rex was done.


    "I have handed over my throne to my eldest, so now I too will always be around. Take good care of me sisters" she spoke with a grin on her face, causing quite a few giggles from the rest of the girls. It was quite amusing how Rashuun could act liek a young and innocent girl, despite her long life.


    The rest of the breakfast was spent in a very positive and happy note, as the girls were chatting about all kind of miscelanious subjects. Once teh groupd started to leave the dining room, a gril from the maid core approached Rex, and spoke


    "Master, there are a few men outside our mansion who have come to seek audience. The one leading the group introduced himself as master Airen of the mages guild. He also said that he has had the pleasure to exchange a few words with you. What are your orders?"


    "Right, the auction. Yes, I have met the man." then he thought for a short while, and once he had brainstormed a little, he decided to listen to whatever teh man had to say "Sure, bring them to study room number three." then he turned around called for Izumi to join him, and asked Millie to prepare some decent tea. He was not going to spend any of his rare stocks, since the guests came unanounced adn he had nothing he desired from said guests. Sure they must have the most extensive magic library around, but he ahd enough affinity for his main elements to be bussy for years to come before he exausts his intuition natural developement in said fields.


    Soon he reached his designated study room, where he took a comfortable position on one of the sofas, now in his full blood mage disguise with Izumi sitting right next to him in his embrace as she held her hands around his waist and rested her head on his chest. Looking from a side the two looked like a happily married couple, simply relaxing and enjoying each others presence, and they remained in said positionuntill a few minutes later a maid lead Master Airen and two other mages inside said room.


    Master Airen wasted no time and quickly greeted both Rex and izumi, who had become somewhat famous lately as the spokesperson and ambasador of the blood mage, and seeing the peacefull and relaxed duo in each others embrace he realized that said woman is much more than just and employee. So after greetings were out of the way he quickly introduced his companions who were acompanying him, since the two mages held some sway in their organization. An earth mage by the name of Radicous, and fire mage Agustus. Both were masters of their respective fields and quite reknown across the continent.


    "And what does master Airen and two other S class entities want from me?" Rex asked relaxedly, not leaving the pleasant embrace of Izumi "And what happened to that little colleague of yours who was acompanying you during the auction?" he asked remembering a presence of another blood mage alongside master Airen during the auction.


    "Too much stress and paranoia got to him I am afraid. Our priests recomended a strong dose of relaxing medicine adn a change of scenary for a quite some time, but nothing trully dangerous in any other manner." master Airen responded with a light smile as the three mages were seated and served some tea, courtesy of Millie. Then they spent a few more minutes in a rather cozy silence as the guests enjoyed the fragnant and relaxing tea untill Rex asked once again


    "I am quite busy person, so, for wthat purpose have you come, and why does it warrant the presence of two rather rude individuals." Rex had noticed the subtle but lecherous glances towards Millie the two masters ocasionally directed towards the girl. His words caused said two to slightly frown, then the fire mage spoke


    "We have come to see if you are worthy of being extended the invitation to become a member of our great institution. I have to say, we find your manners and general actions quite lacking for now." The earth mage just noded his head in agreement with his coleague. They were part of two different fractions, but both were among the top members in said fractions, so Rex''s relaxed and unphased attitude did not sit quite right with the two, especially with how young the man sounded.

 Chapter 60: The spectator

    Rex was innitailly slightly intrigued by the reason of said visit the mages guild had paid to him, but now he found himself quite dissapointed. Then again, what was he expecting from a bunch of old foggies who believe themselves to be the pinnacle of wisdom and knowledge in quite a large part of the world.


    "He he he he" Rex ligtly laughed at his own naivete, and at the words the mage had uttered. "Is that all?" he asked as he looked at master Airen, disregarding the two pompous mages entirely, and focusing on the one person who seemed the more levelheaded of the trio. Master Airen smiled bitterly at Rex words and responded


    "While the tow coleagues of mine are here for said matter, and I was requested to assist with ensuring the meeting, I would not mind in having some discussion regarding magic and the magical aspects of our world in large. My scholarly roots simply cannot let me leave without at least attempting something of the sort." Rex smiled at the old mans words


    "It is difficult to deny such an earnest desire. So lets du just that and have a nice conversation. I will quickly deal with the issue at hand first though." Then he looked at the two mages and uspoke in a voice that had no emotions or care in it.


    "I have no interest in joining or being asociated with your institution, so there is no need to for any further interaction. Reigen will escort you two out." and as soon as Rex finished speaking the door opened adn in the study came said man. The two mages became more vary, since the new persone was S class, just like them, and seeing his attire and the blade by the mans side, he was a melee fighter- a very bad matchup for the two should they cause trouble in such a confined space. Of course, they were not stupid enough to start a scene here, since neither wanted to give other factiosn any advantage in securing the blood mages favour, so they just stood up and left guided by Reigen. Master Airen remained seated, and one the door closed, the blood mage and teh scholar engaged in a rather theoretical conversation regarding the origin and mutation pattern of dungeon life. Where Airen had a wreath of knowledge from around the world, Rex had quite extensive and detailed observations from deep floors and how there were differences between the same species of monsters depending where they were encountered and the different patterns of behaviour of the same origin.


    An hour or so later, the conversation switched to the nature and manner of raw mana, and its variious manifestations, as well as the general principles of magecraft in the current times. Rex mostly listened and sometimes asked qestions that looked at the current schizm from a different perspective. It was quite easy to do so since Rex thought process was much more scientific and armed with quite extensive knowledge about advanced science and physics - knowledge his strenghtened soul could easily find in the deep and dark corners of his mind, previously obsessed with hobby of reading enciclopedias and books on many scientific phenomena.


    It had served him quite well already in his own personal endeavors when crafting or changing some magic, so he was more than willing to offer a small snippets of his perspective to the curious scholar he was talking with. Even all their boring talk did not scare away Izumi, who had dozed off a while ago, still within Rex embrace, a fact the two mages laughed over, and continiued their discussion.


    "If you are interested in experiencing my own little blend of magic I dont mind giving you a small glimpse, since there shoudl be a perfect oportunity quite soon." Rex spoke as they had finaly decided to end their cobversation, since it was well past midday already.


    "Do tell?" Airen exitedly asked his scholarly compatriot, more than eager to witness some unique magic that Rex had developed, or rediscovered on his own.


    "Well its nothing much, but soon some demon princes should be ariving, desiring to challenge me to a duel over my succubuss. Those would surely be duels of combat,, and I dont mind allowing you to spectate said duels. It should provide you with two different and possibly unseen magic styles."


    "I would be honored!" exitedly answered Airen, and then proceeded to leave a way to contact him easily, since he would not like to miss such a golden oportunity to expand his horizons. Not every day does one see a demon prince fighting in a duel. Plus his new fiend here had a lot of interesting and unorthodox ideas, but that was to be expected from someone who had lived in seclusion quite a lot. He had learned a thing or two about Rex during the hours of their discussion, his solitude being one of them. But being the scholar and the experienced person he was he did not probe more into Rex''s life than what was provided willingly.


    With their long discussion coming to an end, Rex said goodbye to the enthusiastic scholar and asked one of the maids to escort him out of the mansion, and unlike the other two members of mage guild, Airen recieved a friendly chat with the maid who was guiding him. The senior mage was quite suprised when he learned of the general athosp[here in the mansion, and the borderline worshiping words towards the master of the house. What was even more impressive was that the slave brands did not flare up during the maids praise for her master- a surefire sign that said girl was sharing her own thoughts.


    ''What a curious approach.'' Mused Airen as he continiued their small talk and he kept mulling over things all the way home and hours after. He had just come to know another person quite interested in gathering and researching knowledge of all manner of topics, and the old mand could not wait for another opportunity to for a discussion that provoked ones thoughts to such a level.


    With Airen gone, Rex remained on the sofa with Izumi in his arms for a while longer, not willing to disturb the sleeping beauty. She natturaly woke up some twenty minutes later and was slightly blushing and had a sweet smile on her lips. She was more than happy to see Rex spendng more time with her and being attentive to her.


    "Hmmmmm." she exhaled as she was hugging him, lifted her head and lightly pecked his neck "I like you more when you are so sweet and attentive." she almost purred with happiness and joy in her voice. "If only there were not so many dangerous and scheming entities all around us, I would love nothing more than to grow our family, but sadly I am well aware of the reality." she sighed. The though of her own little runts running around becoming more and more enticing by the day.


    "On the topic, what are your plans for the near future?" she asked Rex. As his dplomat and spokesperson, she liked to have a general understanding of his whereabouts and plans so she could maximize and plan her own actions accordingly to better utilize his existance to attain the most for her new family, while not impedeing on the kitsune interests in the process. She reasoned her nation had been kind enough towards her that she should return the favour for some time.


    "Humiliating the demon princes comes firts, so i will stay here for a few days, then will probably visit the dungeon in Xian-Wu city, and after that I should check out The dungeon of the Accursed. That giant/human hybrid race adn their muscle mommies seem quite interesting. But worry not, with the portal to my world shard anchored and you having been granted access, we can meet every evening there, so adjusting our plans in case something important happens should be easy. I can also come back at any time since I can enter my world shard from anywhere I am at, and use this anchored portal to exit here. Then there is the Echlisiarchy. My ravens are providing me with more and more disgusting info, and I am more adn more inclined to not stop at just enslaving a decent amount of their oracles and sainteses. The more I know, the more I want to eradicate their entire nobility and ensure that their abomination of a faith dies forever."


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Then Rex proceeded to tell Izumi of some of the atrocities that were performed by the upper echalons of their faith as well as the general mindset that prevailed in said country. once Rex finished his part, adding a comentary that he kept the more gruesome and sickening acts to himself, since Izumi did not need to hear or even imagine such atrocities, she thought for a moment and then responded


    "Most of what you mentioned is considered to be reality already by quite a lot of powers around Echlisiarchy. However due to their connection to a god, noone has the courage to dirrectly take action against them, since said god could easily order his angels to descend and cause chaos and mayhem to whoever decides to act against them. It has happened in the past when Echlisiarchy was just developing into what it had become."


    "I am guessing that that prophet of theirs was alive then yes?" Rex asked a qeustion of his own, having formed some sort of a theory, and once Izumi confirmed his guess his gut feeling became even stronger.


    "So, said prophet ensured that their god could send his forces here much more easily, and I cant shake the feeling that for whatever reason, no actual dirrect interference from said gods will come." Rex had learned that his intuition had been gettign sharper and sharper, as if he sometimes was hearing barely audible wispers of the world that contained undeniable truth. A wild thought bloomed in his mind, creating quite a scene, and having feeling that his instincts inclined in the same dirrection, he lightly kissed izumi, excused himself and exited the room.


    Soon he was standing in the gardenlooking into the horizon, a smile on his face


    "Whoever and whereever you are, I hope you are having as much fun as I am, and I hope that I can provide you with more entertainment for years and centuries to come, and maybee, once day I will stand there in front of you, with questions or answers. So, Stay tuned, I suppose." With that said he returned inside, on his way to claim a rather excited and nervous white haired and tailed kitsune. Millie had waited for long enough. It was time for her to trully join as one of his women.


    *********************


    Sitting on a grand throne, in a room that had no walls or ceiling, just the vastness of cosmos all around, was an astonishingly hansome man in his early fourties. In font of him, almost lifelike projection of Rex, exiting the room where he had just been with Izumi and coming to the garden,where he made the declaration. he just made. The screen followed Rex whereever he went, it registered everything he did, only his thoughts remaining his own.


    Hearing Rex adressing no one in particular, said man started laughing like a mad man. A few minutes later in came a frowning lady, her scarlet red angelic wings lightly moving with each of her steps. Even her frown could not spoil that divine beauty she posessed. Her movements were elegant and enticing, as if her entire reason for existence was to arouse and seduce men with her mere existance.


    "Is anything the matter, my lord?" she asked in a rather monotone voice, the frown remaining on her face. Her creator adn master only laughed like that when some of his insane experiments exceeded his expectations and whildest dreams.


    "Ha ha ha ha ha ha. No Alpha, on the contrary. This time I had found the perfect soul for one of my vessels. All I have to do is now sit back and watch. This stagnant world will turn soon once again. What wonders will it produce this time? What gods will rise and who shall falll? HA HA HA HA HA HA. Exilarating indeed." The man was just happy. Being a deity of the level that he was, there were few things he had not experienced already, so drawing souls from other worlds to his own and following their lives was a welcome change. Sure, he would have to sit back and let other gods to mess around as well, but such cycle ensured that once he did the same, others obeyed without complaints. Not that he could not simply subdue the others by pure might, he could do that hundred times over, even if every other god joined hands, but what fun would there be in such a simple act. No, he needed a play, a grand stage where each and every god could play, exchange, borrow, trade and steal from each other, without dirrectly intervening. It was he, adn he alone who was thereasong that from time to time another god ascends, joining their neverending game, forcing the other to share more adn more of the pie they so desparately clung to.


    They were playing the game for long enough to have multiple gods ruling over the same concepts, making said concepts more nuanced and developed,enriching his world even more in the process, allowing new divine spark to form, in turn giving new opportunities for more gods to ascend.


    Rex was his first true piece played. He took the unfortunate soul that was to be the owner of Rex''s new body, and after a short glance at its previous life, he ahd realised just how unjust it would have been for it to live this in said vessel. A life of pain and suffering, was supposed to followed with one of great fortune, but as with everything that stemms from chaos, there are variables that could change the entire plan. And so it was here. The ever so miniscule bloodline that laid dormant in the genes of the parents of this vessel, just so happened to trully awaken, giving birth to a true archon body. A blessing in any other circumstance, but the one where it would be born. Destined to be discarded, and to suffer a life of a mindless beast, untill finally hunted down, was anything but a blessed life, so the creator god did what any designer woudl do in such a case. He took the soul, created a small mirracle, causing a mother to concieve twins insead of a single child, adn placed this soul in the new thin, who would otherwise be born lifeless.


    What to do with teh perfectly healthy and extraordinarry vessel he now had without a soul? It was not even a question in his mind. He had done similar things in the past, whisking a sould away from another world. With his expertise and mind, he could do so without the gods of said word being aware. And so he did. Such and action would ensure that the person his vesel would become would have a memories of his last life, thus preventing said person from becoming a mindless beast, and in turn giving way to a new herald of change in his ever evolving and morphing world, even if said change and evolution had slowed down to barely a crawl.


    He could have never anticipated that the soul would be such a good fit for the vessel that it bogged ones mind. yes even he was surprised how well the merging happened. If he did not know about his own actions with the soul switch he would never guess that said vessel was housing a soul from another world. That thought exited hime even more. Just why and what caused such a perfect fusion? What was his potential and limit of growth? Could he attain and ignite a spark? Was he a new god in the making? So many questions, so little answers. Yet, he had all the time in the world and he needed a new project to focus on. Still, he new better than to interfere. He followed the same rules he had set for every other god. How else would the game be fun if he could cheat as the game master.


    As years passed, he grew more and more exited about the his project, but never had he shown his emotions outward. Even the projection that displayed Rex''s actions at all times was seen only by him, and him alone. Even his most trusted servant Alpha had no idea about his soulswap and pouching. So was it any wonder when his object of interest had somehow come to the conclusion that a god was responsible for his arrival here, and not only that he reasoned that said god was not only watching him for his entertainment, but also kept other gods from taking dirrect action against the world of mortals.


    And the icing of the proverbial cake? The man wasa not angry or anything. On the contrary, he invited Azaros to keep watching and enjoying himself. He was also sure that he had encountered a being with similar drain powers eons ago, but for whatever reason he just could not remember who it whas, and what happened to the being. No matter what, said vessel had already surpassed his expectations. He was entertaining and different from all previous reincarnations brought into this world. A soul with so fluid and everchanging morality was unique. Ussualy people were either good or bad, following a simple but rigid code, deeply engraved into their being, not deviating from said pattern. But Rex, lived as if it was a game to him too, looking at each and every decision from an unchained perspective.


    "It feels good to be alive." Azaros smiled at Alpha. "You are forbidden from leavign my heaven untill further notice." he ordered said angel and shooed her away. He smiled and watched as Rex turned around and went back inside to return to his duties and plans said man was certainly working on.


    "I am only watching. Its all you." Azaros said the words in a wisper. Words that only Rex heard in a mechanic and genderless voice. An affirmation and a guarantee- It was Rex''s choices and actions that would make or break his life. No do overs, no deus ex machina saves for him. Only he and his hard work, and his harem. Rex smiled as he walked towards Millie, super exited to both satisfy the now ready kitsune and eager to see just where his actions will lead him.

 Chapter 61: Cost of audacity. Part 1

    Rex woke up in the morning embraced by two happily sleeping kitsunes. Whith a light smile on his face he thought back on the previous night, and just how sweet and hardworking Millie was. Even though it was her first time, she tried her best and hardest to show just how much she loved her master, and how happy she was that he was the way he was. He was also quite suprised at her stamina and tenacity as well as her openness, when izumi sneaked in the room they were a few hours later, to get some love for herself. Millie, even while blushing profusely, still invited izumi to join them. His white haired kitsune shared a special bond with izumi, since they both were kitsunes and izumi had spent quite a bit of time together with Millie during her lessons in kitsune tea making art. The duo also had a very good understanding of each other as well as they worked good together. Still, they were no match for Rex, so they were exausted first, and after a quick shower they lied to sleep.


    Rex was gently carresing both foxgirls as he was thinking and refining his immediate plans, when another question popped in his head ''Is that god peaking on my private time with the girls as well?'' He sighed realising taht even if that were to be the case there was nothing he could do to change that anytime soon, but if that were to be the case he would hold a grudge, and one day, when he would be powerfull enough, he would gouge said deities eyes out a few times as punishement. Yes, that felt liek a proper response, since therewas no way a god could not regenerate eyes a few times over. Its the thought that counts, Rex reasoned to himself. He could not consider even plotting to kill said god since he had a gut feeling that no god was interfering in the mortal world precisely because of said god, so its death would be counterproductive.


    The rest of the mornig was more ussual, with a few hours of his meditation, a bit of love sharing with his girls, messsing around with Hana, much to Izumis glee. Said purple haired kitsune was doomed to suffer from embarasing and akward outfits and constatnt teasing from both Izumi and her master. But karma was a bitch, and she was recieving her just desserts for all the things she did in the academy times. All she could do was grit her teeth and soldier through.


    Truth be told, She had it much better than anyone in her position could ever hope to have. She was not tortured in the conventional ways, no breaking of her body or mind happened. She was reserved solely for her masters carnal desires, when he would finaly decide to indulge, and she was recieving food worthy of emperors during her meals. If she were to be given such an offer when she kew nothing of her masters she would have most likely agreed to it, and to have it instead of a mere existance as a sex slave or worse, was heaven in comparison to the alternative.


    The three new kitsunes could also see just how happy Mille was conversing with Izumi and the elven duo, the blush and slightly akward gait of the white faired fox a clear indication of her last nights activities, if the loud moans were not enough due to the half open door izumi did not close when she sneaked in, to get some additional love from her man. Rex was ofcourse aware of her action, just as he was aware that Izumi had left the door to the kitsune room open on purpose. She was being a mischievous young lady, and Rex could not blame her for it. Why should he feel any shame, if his sweet Izumi wanted to mess with the other three foxes, proving just how great Rex was in pleasuring his women.


    As their meal was coming to an end, a ring on Rex finger glowed in a dim light, indicating that a connection was requested. This was something Rex had come up with during one of his theory crafting session when delving deep into his space affinity. With both his tallent and existing example of his world shard, he atempted to create a small room of seperate dimension, that was connected by several void stones atuned to a very spefific frequesncy and the mentioned miniature dimension that was anchored in a rather small sized diamond. The result was quite spectacular. Since the dimension was quite small, just as intended, when one poured mana in one of teh connected voidstones, a connection was established, and the other gems were shining in a very dim light, and if mana were to be poured in any other void stone, a two way connection could be established, where no physical object could be transmited, however voice could. Rex had effectively created a sort of a chat group call for everyone in possesion of the corresponding frequency and bonding void stone. Once he was sure of its efficiency and functionality, he created a few sets, and one of such sets was given out, voidstone each to Eredar, Brogni and Victor. The trio were good business partners of Rex as well as friends, and Rex reasoned it was a much more convinient method of comunication than eitehr going to the others mansions or business locations in hopes to catch their desired friend, adn hoping they were not engaged in a very important discussion already. Now, all they had to do was make a ''call'' and agree on a time and place for their talks or planning. Rex also gave one voidstone of this set to Izumi, since she had taken over his role of planning and negotiating for benefits in conjunction with the three men.


    Confirming that it was Victor who innitiated the call, Rex inquired what was the matter and was swiftly informed that there were a few demon princes who had just arrived in the city adn were asking for his whereabouts, since they had extremely important things to discuss regarding something Rex currently was in possesion of. Victor also added that said princes came off as extremely arrogant, but sicne they were very powerfull, he had to be extremely carefull.


    "Send them to the hallowed dome." Rex spoke after a brief moment of consideration. "I loateh teh idea of messing up my own backyard, and I have a glaring suspicion that if that were to happen, Tigra and Crystal would find a way to chew on some of their skulls." . And with Victors acceptance and cutting of connection, Rex returned his focus back to the dining room where all the girls were still waiting on him.


    "Rashuun, our fat sheep have arrived. Shall we go and get rich?" then he looked at Izumi "I will obviously need your help as well, to maximize our profits. We need to ensure that bets are secured from all three sides adn that they cant back down after agreeing even if they know they are royally fucked. They had the gall to asume the ycoudl come and get Rashun from me, so we must make them bleed for their arrogance and stupidity."


    Then Rex crumbled the token he recieved from Airen, sending the old schilar a signal that would ensure said mage would soon arrive at Rex''s mansion for the promised exibition.Izumi had an evil smirk on her face, all manner of plans and ploys running through her head to maximize the profit and humiliate said demons even more. Then REx spoke to the rest of his girls


    "Anyone else wants to withenss the schooling of soem arrogant princes?" and to his question almost al of his core group expressed their desire to see his magnificent performance. Rex slightly slightly sighed, seeing teh entusiasm of his women


    "So be it. Everyone but Val should then come with us." he looked at Val who was confused why she was singled out of his fun "I need you to bring master Airen to the hallowed dome where the duels will take place. Cant very well leave teh scholar alone here adn waiting for gods knows how long for us to come back only for him to not witness the spectacle."


    Understanding dawning on teh orcish valkirie, she smiled, nodding "As you wish master."


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Rex had told the girls in his core group that they did not have to adress to him as master, the new kitsunes not including, but most of the girls who were his slaves still insisted on calling him that. However their way of speaking the word was different for him. It was spoken wit haffection and a hint of playfulness, a slight tone of desire and openness for his advances always present, so he just gave up and went with teh flow of hsi girls. If they were kinky enough to enjoy such games, who was he to deny them the pleasure. They gave him plenty, so teh least he could do was return the favour in as many ways as he could. That reminded him to emphasize his need to Brogni for more wolfkin women with cheff training. Hsi harem would grow and he needed more help to give Aisha more time to spend with him. He liked his cheff very much, but the girl liked to cook a lot and she took her primary mission very seriously, so unless he could give said girl more help of similar level than her, she could not spend more time with Rex.


    As they left for the hallowed dome, Rex did just that. He contacted Brogni and explained his needs, requesting that the dwarf contacts the wolf tribes if necessary. He needed Aisha to have more free time, and he did not mind going a bit savage to ensure his goals. If the wolf tribes agreed- good, if not, he would have to do a small raiding of his own. Luckaly, Brogni was well aware of Aishas tendencies and the circumstances so the dwarf readily agreed and also asked Rex to come by once he is free to brand a few more of his recently aquired luxury slaves. Something Rex agreed easily to and noted that he will contact Brogni as soon as he is done with the small errand he had to do now. While somewhat entertaining, Rex reasoned that the time of his friends was better spent on a productive effort, rather than watching him handing some beating to a few too arrogant and self important demon princes.


    When Rex and his entourage arrived at the Hallowed Dome they were greeted by a rather peculiar sight. Outside, in front of the entrance stood four groups of individuals, among which one was Victor and a few of his ussual attendants. Rex was not suprised to see him here, after all those demon princes were SS class entity each, and that level of might did not roam smaller cities like Blythe fequently. While it was growing at a rapid pace now, all thanks to Rex, and the earth grade meat that Eredar was selling only in this city, also the courtesy of Rex alter persona, Blythe was still relatively small city in comparison to other, much older and better positioned capitals and greater trade cities. So it was no wonder Victor wanted to ensure his city remained in one piece, with this level of powerhouses possibly butting heads. Thankfully, they had a few grand arenas recently constructed in the city, a courtesy of Mol Amar and Avantun clans.


    Mol Amar was a clan of dwarves who were trully neutral. Their speciality and bloodline penchant for earth magic made them terrific giga structure builders. If one needed a grand castle or a new arena where to bash some skulls in, Mol Amar was the clan you contracted for said construction. They always overdelivered no matter what was requested.


    In the same manner as Mol Amar, the dark elves of Avantun clan were the absolute pinnacle of spatial grand arrays. If the sage turtles were the best in ringmaking, then Avantun would be the go to group if one needed a space extension or an arena that could take insane punishment and not damage either the building it is in, or the surrounding enviroment, providing the best possible enviroment for powerfull individuals to duke it out while being spectated by a crowd of bystanders.


    Hallowed Dome was just recently finished arena of great proportions that had not yet been utilised for its intended purpose. Victor wanted to do a stress test of the formation, and being aware of it Rex generously offered his coming confrontation to serve as such. Victor of course understood it as soon as Rex told him to bring these demon princes there, and being the pragmatic leader that Victor was, he took the oportunity with a smile. The sooner a stress test was done, the sooner he could start raking in cash by organizing figts and tournaments to entertain the nobles that had moved here in hopes of encountering and fostering connections to either the blood mage or the misterious group supplying teh earth grade meat to be sold in Blythe.


    As for the three groups of demons, with each led by their respective prince, Rex cared little once he had noted their energy levels and power. Contrary to Rashuuns fear, all three were barely innitial SS class entities, and as such could not provide much in terms of resistance, should Rex go all out. Heck, even just his mage mode would most likely shred their sorry asses once he started to utilize his entire arsenal. He could comfortably do short range teleportation with his ever growing mastery over space, and a proper super heated mana blade was extremely dangerous to any entity with lesser mana capacity than Rex, which basicly meant anything he encountered so far, including the three demons. It did not help that Rex had been utilizing a few of his paralel thinking processes to supress his mana and life energy aura for a while now, increasing his controll and precision over it quite drasticaly. The unfortunate thing for his adversaries was that the more Rex worked on it the less and less powerfull he would look to those who observed him, since either maan capacity or aura fluctuation adn density around an individual was almost always used to measure ones strenght.


    Rex was an exception in that regard, since his sight allowed him to percieve the energy dirrecty, not the aura and mana leakage individuals had, thus protecting him from making the same mistake as the trio waiiting for him were commiting right now. From their point of view, the archon next to the former succubi queen was nothing more than a A class entity, something not worth their time, and only Rashuun was the sole purpose they are even willing to spend any words whatsoever in a coversation with such a weakling who they do not aim to add to their respective groups. That was a rather specific quirk of the demons who relied so hevily on their raw might and cruel ideologies. They would much rather break whomever they desired to the point where they just become hollow shells of their previous selves, and become a pretty doll for said demons to display. Only the most cunning and deceptive of their kind like succubi, incubus or demons of deception and lies would value the services a blood mage could provide.


    The ridiculing sneers and snickering from the demons made Rashuun frown. She was walking right next to Rex right now, since she was the main reason said demon princes were here in the first place.


    "Why do they seem so overconfident?" she asked in a hushed tone to Rex, whose facial expression was calm and emotionless. She was well aware that Rex was unreasonably powerfull, and could not grasp the reasons behind the demons overconfidence. Rex deployed a small maan barrier, ensuring that their conversation could not be percieved by anyone outside of it, and then he spoke in a calm manner, answering to her question


    "Because, as far as they can percieve, I am nothing more than just and A class entity, so I asume they are quite sure of themselves and angry that they were forced to come here for such a weak existance."


    "What? How?" she aked incredulusly "No way!" then she understood the heart of the matter as soon as her initial words had already left her mouth "You are supressing your mana and aura, are you not?" then seeing his slight and devious smile, she could not help but giggle. Her man was indeed devious, and she liked him more for it. Just having power often led such people to be used and abused by the more devious people around them, but if the powerfull individual was also smart, their eventual prosperity and security was only a question of time.


    ''How wonderfull is life'' Though Rashuun as she regathered herself to look slightly somber and displeased by their currrent situation, and noticing her in the proper acting guise, Rex dispelled hsi barrier, making it seem as if they had not spoken one bit and Rashuun changing from lightly smiling to now brooding figure, when she was in the presence of the demon princes.


    With pieces set, and actors behind the scenes already being in their places, Rex calmed himself down with a few mental prompts, and with Izumi taking his other side, becoming the main negotiator for the greatest benefits together with Rashuun, he was prepeared to scam and then mercilessly beat the livign shit out of these three arrogant asholes for the audacity to asume they could even dream of having his women for themselves. ''Should I go and cuck them hard in response for their audacity? Or should I fuck their mothers, to send the message afterwards?'''' Rex mused as his group stood when they had reached the waiting groups.

 Chapter 62: Cost of audacity. Part 2 / Book 1 end

    As Rex stood there, between Rashuun and Izumi, Victor was slightly suprised. Rex was there without his ussual mage disguise, so Victor kept tactically quiet and just looked at the scene in front of him. He was sure some sort of a scheme was afoot, so to ensure he did not mess things up for Rex, he just stood by. Anyway, this was Rex issue, so he was smart enough to let the man cook. With Rex not being worthy enough of their attention the three princes turned their heads to Rashuun, she was their prize after all. They had quite a rivalry between their clans so being able to claim the famous queen of desire and at the same time get one over the other two clans would be quite the jackpot, so they wasted no time and started their tirade about unworthyness and other garbage that Rex zoned out for the most part.


    Their strategy was quite simple. Nobody said blood mage Rex had to accept their challenges and whatnot personally. He was a mage after all, and one whose main discipline was not combat focused due to its unique nature- the ability to enslave. Plus it was often times that mages of demonkind would use proxies and champions to fight for them. So, with all his girls in the know, and Izumi and Rashuun being the ones who would negotiate for benefits, Rex was not even present here. No, Rashuun and Izumi was flanking a man whose name had been uttered in the highest adn most powerfull courts and councils- Neo, a mercenary with a consistent and supposedly capable raid team who had been selling their deep floor expedition spoils exclusively in Blythe. The three demons were not quite so well informed, so coupled with his powerfull concealment of his mana and aura the poor sheep had no idea what kind of deep shit they were stepping in.


    After a few minutes of their useless bragging and ridiculing Rex, one of them finaly spoke of the main issue


    "Never did we thought that a true archon, even if blood mage would be quite so weak. We expected better." Rex did not like the stupid grind on said half frog half goat faced man, so he just sneered back at the fool


    "Unfortunately for you, this sir is not Rex, as you have asumed. The exelency''s name is Neo, and I would advise you to be carefull with your choice of words. He can be quite vindictive." Izumi spoke, maintaining a perfect composure. The same was with Rashuun, who being a queen for centuries had a perfect control over her facial expressions. Then Izumi continiued


    "Unfortunately for you, our beloved deemed it not worthy to meet you, and since the exelency here was more than willing to recieve a favor or two from him, he is here in case any of you need some manners taught." Rashuun spoke with a light smile "So get on with whatever it is you wanted from us. Izumi san here is speaking with teh authority of my beloved, and his exelency Neo wis here to ensure that in case some muscle is needed, we have everything covered."


    With Rashuuns words spoken the trio did waste no time and all nearly shouted at the same time


    "I DEMAND A DUEL OF RIGHT FOR QUEEN RASHUUN!"


    "Former queen." Izumi added and Rashuun chimed in "Izumi san is right. I am no longer the queen of my clan. What I am more interested in is just what do you three believe is of equal value for that ancient tradition to even be invoked. I am quite incredible after all."


    "Why dont you all head in the Hallowed Dome and continiue your dealings there?" Victor intervened for teh first and most likely only time, and following Izumis and Rashuuns nods, and the annoyed faces of the demon princes, everyone entered the grand colleseum.While teh rest of teh girls acompanying Rex were wearing cloaks and hoods, they still exuded a charm of sorts, eliciting quite a few imaginitive gulps from demon princes entourages.


    They stopped in a rather large hall with quite a few large tables and sat there. Each group at their own table, with the ones talking sitting around a table in the wery center. At the center table sat the three demon princes, Victor and Rex with Rashuun and Izumi. Only after a few minutes of more pointless boasting did the demon princes finally got down to the nitty and gritty details anout their challenge.


    Challenge. What a great word they used to describe their act. What they did was nothing more than gambling something of theirs and expecting Rashuun as the prize if they won said gamble. And as they stated whatever they believed that Rashuun was worth, said Succubi facial expression was getting more and more angry. She was not liking what was valued similarily to her very being. But before Rashuun could explode Izumi started to laugh almost histerically, stopping teh almost exploding succubi, as well as the three demon princes. Once she stopped her face instantly became cold as she spoke


    "If that is how you wanted to insult us, you have achieved your goal. Forget that whatever challenge of yours based on whatever." she looked at Victor and continiued "They have vasted both our time and goodwil, as well as challenged us." Then she looked at Rex "Sir Noe, would you be kidn aenough and champion for us to wash away this insult with their blood?"


    "I get to keep their storage artifacts." ''Neo'' spoek with a grin on his face as he stood up, cracking his neck.


    "So, who of you, pieces of shit, is going to die first?" He asked with a devilish grin on his face. He caught the frowns on all three princes, their followers who had heard their entire conversation, and even the scowl Victor had for a second, then the grin on said mans face as he started to rub his hands in excitement.


    The frowns on the faces of teh demon princes dissapeared as almost instantly, replaced by amused laughter. Then one of the three spoke


    "Know your place you ant, and be happy we are willingto show some respect for the laws of the Trade cities, else you would already be squashed. Mere A rank."


    It was at this moment the bolsterous laughter stoped, as a powerfull aura started radiating from Rex.


    "Not only are you shit at controling your own aura, but it seems you are also extremely stupid to boot. Which part of Rashuuns and izumi sans respectfull adress towards me did you not percieve a warning of the greatest proportions. They werent even slightly vary of your SS class aura, nor did they show you overly great respect, and yet, they did so to me." at this point Rex aura had already surpassed the levels emited by the three princes. All three were of the innitial SS class stage, and Rex aura was flaring at the level of high SS class. That was tow lesser stages above the trio, but at this level of might, every next level was wastly different.


    "To add insult to injusry, not only did you all showed blatant disrespect and disdain towards me, but you even went so far as to insult our intelegence with your trash of an ''challenge'' but you just had the gall to threaten me. So, come, lets get in the arena, and see just how you squash me as a bug. governor Victor, you bear witness to their acts. I demand duel of honor with all three of them. Adjudicate."


    Victor still with a sparckle in his eyes schooled his facial expression and spoke "As an official of Blythe, and the Free trade cities, I have seen the offense, and have recognized the demands for just retribution. In accordance to the laws of Honor, stated in the threaty of Heavens, the three Demon princes have been officially challenged to a duel. Your response gentlemen." Victor was the embodiment of neutrality right now as he acted as a judge. The three demons gritted their teeth. What just happened was anything but good. They realized just how deep shit they were in right now. Not only had they encountered a much more powerfull entitty on the other side of the negotiation table, said entity was extremely skilled in concealment and aura suppression, causing them to break enough rules and laws that gave said man the right to challenge them.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    That in itself was the least of their problems, since the challenge itself could be dodged, if there was no official servant of the laws present during the occurence of said incident. In such a case all they would have to do was cough up solid amount of treasures and the problem could be hidden under the proverbial rug. Now however, said challenge could not be avoided, and with the difference in power, it was almost a guaranteed death sentence.


    "Lets get on with it. Deep floors wount clear themselves. I dont have all day." Rex added impatiently, causing the trio to flinch for the first time during their interaction, beads of cold sweat falling of their terrified faces.


    "My uncle is a Duke. I believe we can solve said issue" finaly spoke one of the sweating trio, looking desparately for a way out.


    "Oi. I am quite sure a Duke is still nothing when compared to a top sect from the sect Alliance, so your attendants can just inform him to come once they go back. I welcome the exercise. Now off to the arena. Or I will drag you by your neck." Rex voice was now cold, and a hint of anger and impatience was exuding from him. With a pulse of cold killing intent, that caused the followers behind the princes to fall to their knees and shiver in fear, Rex sent a clear message. He does not like to waste his time.


    With shivering legs, the trio then followed him, resigning themselves to their fate,, or plotting a way to get out of this alive. While killing them would be easy feat, that did not serve the greater plan of his. He needed more people to fear the powerhouse that lived in Blythe to ensure no fools decide this place was a good target for looting or other such ideas. So Rex would just take a few limbs from each prince once he had trashed them nice and proper for their audacity. The sheer idea that Rashuun was an object to be bought and sold was irritating, no repulsive in his mind. Once a girl became his, he would never share or let go of her. Rashhun was no exception. He liked the former succubi queen an he was more than happy to have her around, so their actions irked him, even if he did not mind Rashuun spread the news of her being claimed.


    It was the demon princes fault for believeing they could just do as they want with all the aviable info on their side, while not facing any consequences. But well, Rashuun did say something about them getting easy and overwhelming victories for the last few centuries in their skirmishes with the local barbarian tribes in their home continent. Nevertheless, the message had to be sent, and these were messengers enough.


    A few minutes later the four main characters of this altrecation were in the middle of the arena. In the stands only Rex core group as well as the entourages of said demon princes. On the side of the four, stood Victor, and spoke of a few necessary legal nonsense, that Rex paid little attention to. Once Victor stopped speaking, Rex asked in the same cold and scary tone


    "So, will you fight one on one, or will we save time and you come at me all at once. I would prefer this to be over with sooner."


    The trio all audibly gulped, looked at one another and nodded. The responded in unison


    "We will go togeteher!"


    Rex smirked, but just nodded in agreement "So be it. Governor, Innitiate it." Rex then addressed his friend who quickly created a large distance between himself and the three nobles, as the nobles and Rex withdrew their weapons. And the moment Rex drew his blade, the are became even more chilly. His swords exuding a deadly aura- something the trio who had all spent soem time on the battlefield clearly recognized. That was a blade bathed in countless lives, and blood. So much so that the weapon itself could be called a cursed atrifact. A title given to weapons that wield incredible power, yet deman just as equal and terrible curse. It was yet another warning flag they got as he did not seems the slightest bit bothered by the sinister aura the sword was emmiting.


    "Do you not feel it?" one of the trio asked, his face as white as entirely freshly fallen snow.


    "That is not something you should be concerning about right now, it it?" he asked back, as he slowly took a stance of soirts while observing the trio. AS soon as Victo was a safe distance away he screamed "BEGIN!" and the trio dashed towards Rex, each from a different angle, hoping to either pin him, or attain some sort of an opening to strike. if they impressed him, they just might get out of this unschated.


    The next moment crushed their hopes as Rex did the same, but with a much greater explosive power and speed, and just a moment later the first two wails were heard in the place. Two blade holding hands, each adorned with a rather expensive looking space ring, dissapeared from the ground they fell on, marking this endevor quite profitable. Then, not giving the third any time he rushed him as well, and in no time whatsoever the third unlucky arm joined her friends in his storage ring.


    Rex looked at the three amputee demons holding their stumps with their free hands, all holding back their pain, yet still doing their best to be aware of any attacks.


    "Kneel properly and beg for mercy and forgiveness. Then you can leave to return home. I expect there will be no next time." he spoke to the trio, who in a very short monent were on their knees, dong just as Rex had told them to.


    "I am keeping the rings as i nexchange for your lives. Be happy you get to live another day." With that said Rex made another swing, pure wave of energy shot past the trio, slamming into the enchanted stadion walls. Rex then turned to look in the dirrection Victor was, speaking just loud enoug for Victor to hear


    "Enchantment is solid. Will hold even peak SS class attacks."


    With that out of the way, the demon princes were quickly collected by their groups where they recieved a quick round of healing to stabilize their wounds. They had a decently sized distance to cover while returning home, and it was quite undesirable that any of them die on their way home.


    With the demons no longer around Rex quickly had a short conversation with Victor about the enchantments in the arena, and they did a few more tests, all of whom were passed with flying colours. They were quite satisfied with the job both dvarves adn dark elves had done, so Victor would start using the arena to earn more money for the city to develop it even further. Then Rex and his women quickly returned home where they all sat in one of the dining rooms, and discussed today.


    "You took them out too soon. Can it even be called a fight?" pouted Aina, earning an agreeing nod from both Val and Mel. As orks from the dungeon they had se nplenty of fighting, so they had expected a more exiting fight, to say the least.


    "They insulted me and my woman, as well as they dared to start ogling you. They are lucky I needed them to spread fear and terror among their own kind of me. If I did good enough, there should be no more annoyance coming from that side of the world. For now."


    His words elicited quite the grin from Rashuun, who wasted no time to quickly occupy his lap, planting kiss after kiss on his neck, and enticingly whispering in his ear. The earlier display of anger and brutality for her had doen quite a bit to get said demoness quite horny. Something that could be cured in only one way, And Rex had no reason to deny her. As his hands roamed her body, slightly aleviating the woman in question, he quickly spoke a few words to his other girls, and then in a hasty manner moved to one of the bedrooms. It was time to help the lady in his arms to went her needs.


    The next morning Rex informed Brogni, and visited the dwarf as previously talked about. As Rex was brandign a few womend Brogni had recently aquired, he also inquired about his older requests regaring certain species of slaves he was interested in, but unfortunately, while known to exist, said races were extremely ellusive or just few in numbers, in addition to some superb skill that allows them to remain uncaught. Luckaly, Rex was in no rush to aquire them, so he took it all with a light heart, not minding it much. With that question solved he returned to his mansion, had breakfast with the girls as always when he was home and thought over his plans for the future.


    He would spend a few weeks diving the dungeons in the Sect union territory. Both the monster one and the one with giant/human hybrids. During that time he would gather more information on the Echlisiarchy, then according to what he learns he would decide the final fate of said nation. They had rotten far too deep, had far too much corruption and depravity. Sure, some might call him a hypocrite for his actions and his stance here, but he did not care. One cannot compare apples to oranges and hope to make solid point.

 Chapter 63: A new page

    It had been a week since Rex dealt with the slight annoyance that was the demon princes. He had spent the week together with his girls, enjoying himself to the fullest. He could not remember when was the last time he took a proper vacation like this. He had been runing around and solving problems and emergencies left and right. Adn he had also focused on his growth quite a bit, but with his knowledge of godlike entities, one of which is watching his life as if it was an entertainment, he was ever more convinced that he has to keep pushing forward. And with the convinience of dungeons, he had an unlimited supply of grinding material.


    He had also enlightened his four Veran beauties to the magnificence of his skill in bedroom. Rex was not even phased when after the first few times, they did not hesitate to seek him out for more sessions, just like his other girls did. That was something any master wold love to see- your favourite girl, or in Rex''s case girls, finding him when he has some free time and asking for some sex on their own innitiative.


    Mikoto and Keiko had also been claimed fully, and the two kitsunes would always move around with Izumi and Millie. They did not have any problems with other girls either, and woudl eagerly engage in conversations, or offer their help in whatever tasks they were performing. Of course, whereever izumi went, Hana also followed. And while Rex had not fucked her silly yet, Izumi had ordered said bully to serve Rex with her mouth, and sometimes even dirrecty took over the controll, making Hana both exited and ashamed at the same time. As it turned out, Hana was quite the masochist, but due to her upbringing and pride, she had confused it as liking to inflict pain insead and lashed out at other girls at the academy. Izumi had secretly told Rex her plans, where she would feed hana to Rex once he returns from his dungeon spree in Xianxia magic China. Izumi also said she had quite the spectacle planned, but kept the details hidden. The naughty smirk on her face was enough though to envoke quite the curiosity in Rex. Still, he was patient enough, and would willingly wait for the suprise Izumi was preparing.


    Rex was prepared now to get on his journey. It would serve double purpose. First, Rex would bet to explore and grind two new dungeons, gather other rare ingridients, since he had quite the use for them- some of his girls had picked up alchemy and other finer crafting proffesions, and they would love to eventually have the high grade materials on hand to further develop their crafts. Speaking of crafts, the tailor mother of one of his five sect girls he picked up ahd chosen to join her daughter, and now was happily spending her time in Rex mansions Servants quarters, where she now had quite the workshop for herself. The five cultivator girls were also asigned to help her out, so their tailoring and outfits were always top notch and well made. The woman was overjoyed when she started to experience the live here, and had thanked so much to Rex, he had to drag teh woman to her feet and reprimand her for the kneeling.


    As for the second reason, that incidentaly was just as, if not even more important than the first. It was a way to make a great distinction between Rex and Neo, since he could return here through his world shard unnoticed, have some audiences in the evening, and have Neo keep exploring the dungeons. Such a clear division would ensure no one would think that both could be too related, besides their business transactions, and mutual trust.


    With Victor, Brogni and Eredar in the know, and having spent almost half an hour in some quick last second kissing with his girls, Rex bade them farewell, and left his mansion to cross the gates to reach the first of his targets as soon as possible. He would start his diving in the dungeon of Xian- Wu. From what he remembers, that dungeon had quite the variety of mythical monsters, and his plan was to dive deep enough to encounter hydras and farm for their blood. The blood of said monster was considered one of the best ingridients in creating potions and elixirs that could even regrow limbs- something that was very rare and expensive luxury.


    Such services were for the most part only offered by S class and above healers, and those were incredibly rare, even with the relative abundance of healing magic users. As Rex remembered, healing magic was much more common, than other kinds, so while parties would rerely have mages, they woudl always have healers and priests to maintain the health of said party. Soon Rex stepped through the gate connecting his last location to Xian-Wu, and just moment later Vivian stepped out of the portal too. Indeed, Vivian was traveling with Rex to solve most of the annoying parts of his adventure. He was slightly worried that The sects would have a problem with him arriving in their territories once again, but thanks to Vivian contacting her sect, and feeding some before decided preplanned info, they were more than welcomed to visit- all thanks to the words Tyrant Dragon sect had used to convince others to not get in his way.


    Vivian also wanted to use the opportunity to talk with her grandfather and check up on her sect. Rex had weakened them significantly in their last clash, but since Vivian was with him, that fact alone ensured no other sect would act hastily, risking to draw the ire of such a monster.Neo was gaining notoriety in these lands, as rumors circulated as how effortlesly he forced the Tyrant Dragon sect to bend to his demands and surrender.


    There were also movements in the shadows from other grand sects in thsese lands, searching for more information and ways to either aquire or controll such a powerfull entity. As with any and all old coots who had quite the delusions of grandeure, they believed it was just a matter of time and right price to bend the man. The other three ''godesses'', who were on par with Vivian were also seen more often in public. Another rumor spoke of their interest in this mysterious and powerfull young expert who could enchant one of their rivals.


    Of course most young masters were also quite jelous of said man, sine he had not only got his hands on one of their four idols, but was actively searched for by the other three. He had become the enemy nuber one of the younger adult males in said nation. Might makes right, and the power was one of the main deciding factors of a mans atractiveness in such a world. Sure, Rex was no god of handsomeness, on the contrarym he innitially looked very average, but just like with his girls, the constant consumption of both earth and heaven grade meat had purified their bodies, so now while still no god of beauty, he was more pleasing to ones eyes. His skin was now much healthier, complexion better from taking better care and being pampered by his women, and his hair looked neat and healthy. Vivian had even joked a few times on their way here that if he were to grow out his hair, like it was often worn here, he could become quite the playboy and brake heart after heart. Comment to whick Rex just chuckled and added his own retort that he was satisfied enough to break her mind in their bedrrom whenever they were having fun. That caused a pout and no effort light knuckle pounding on his chest by Vivian. An action, that both knew, was nothing more than playfull flirting, and would end in quite a passionate session one they decide on a place to ''stay''.


    Rex would rent a room, that he would then envelop in a barrier so no one could peek inside or disrupt them, then enter his world shard where he woule either meet his girls to have some fun or would jump out in Blythe to attend a small random meeting that the blood mage Rex had finaly accepted. Still, they did have a small stop before they continiued with their hunt for a proper inn to rest in, and said stop was the residence of Xian-Wu''s governor. Vivian convinced Rex to make this small visit, since he had nothing to lose, and it would show some small goodwill towards the local authorities. Something Rex did not care for, due to the difference in their power, yet he did not complain much and agreed soon enough when Vivian brought it up. The man in question had shown no hostility nor disrespect towards him, so the least he could do was return a bit of courtesy as well. Still, he warned Vivian that he would not bother himself with any of the politics adn struggles for power that was happening here. He had little faith that anything of interest could be offered, besides the other three ''godeses''. He had to admit, he only had Vivian as a lover from human race, and while he adored the exotic beauties he had aquired, he had absolutely no issues with just human women. They would stay just as beautifull for near eternity, if they continiued to consume the food Rex considered a basic necesity by now. So the prospect of adding more stunning beauities of human descent did not soudn all too bad.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Their time spent on the way towards the governors residence was spent quite peacefully. Rex was releasing enough aura to keep all the peety thieves and fools away, and those of more noble birth were informed enough that Vivian was most likely already spoken for by an extremely powerfull and dangerous individual, so whomever she was walking with, was either dirrectly affiliated with said entity, or could be the man himself. And after the fiasco the three young masters got themselves into in the Long- Shu city, noone else was willing to try their luck.


    Once in front of the residence, they were quickly invited inside by the guards who recognized Vivian, then were led to a cozy small room, where they were served soem fancy looking tea and some snacks, and in just a few minutes, Ramses Xian-Wu was entering the city, clear beads of sweat rolling down the mans face. It was quite clear he had rushed here with maximum speed, so as not to annoy his important and unexpected guests.


    He bowed deeply and greeted them both, and both Rex and Vivian replied with light bows of their own. Then Vivian acted as the spokesperson of the two of them, informing the governor of their purpose in their visit, and with her words, Ramses face bloomed in a wide smile. It was quite the goodwill Vivian had shown him with Rex agreeing to her idea. While it did not change much for Rex, Ramses would try his damn hardest to acomodate the mercenary before him. And as Vivian and Ramses exchanged a few sentences, Ramses asked if they had decided where they would be staying, and when Vivian said she was still considering said topic, governor did not hesitate to offer his own services in solving said issue.


    And with Vivians agreement he quickly wanted to arraneg one of the most luxurious villas that he owned in the city, but when Vivian said they would like a small place, since they woudl spend abrely any time in said place, only occasionally sleeping, she would hate to waste a perfectly fien adn spacious villa to no use and proper possible tenants. And with Rex''s agreement to Vivians specifications, governor aranged for a small cottage that looked just magical to be their personal quarters during their stay here. They were also assigned a couple of slave girls who would take care of the cleaning duties in said cottage and would maintain it in perfect condition.


    Rex and Vivian did not mind that, as the girls would only visit their lodging at certain days and certain times, so they would not inconvinience the two, so they had no reason to refuse. Rex also mentioned that depending on his luck and mood upon exit, he might sell some of his gains here, making teh governor even more happy. And with their little visit and greeting concluded, they left the residence, guided by one of the slave girls assigned to the cleaning duties. It did not take too long untill they arrived at their destination, and both Rex and Vivian had to admit, the small cottage indeed looked very cozy and nice.


    With her duty for the time fulfilled, teh slaev girl bowed to the two guests and left once they entered the cottage. With no one esle present, Rex made sure of that, he still evoked the barrier around the place, and when he was sure said barrier was well strenghtened, an action that took a few dozen minutes, the tow of them entered his world shard to spend the night there. And as he expected, a few of his girls were already there with mischievous smiles on their faces. Rex just shrugged, took Vivian in his arms and went along with the girls. Why would he not, its not like there was any harm, on the contrary, only pleasure and bliss awaited.


    Rex awoke next morning quite early as ussual, hsi body long since developed past the need to sleep, so any little sleep he still had was purely out due to the magnificent feeling of drifting of to sleep in the arms of a few beautifull women. Rex cautiosuly untangled himself from his girls and just as carefully took Vivian in his arms, and in a princess carry he brough her to the bathroom, where the woman slowly awoke as Rex was diligently washing himself and her. After a nice and relaxing bath, both left the world shard. They returned to the cottage where they switched places with one of his human maids who ahd slept in the bed in their place, to make sure it looked used, and not arise any other weird suspicions. Then Rex dispelled the barrier and both left their temporary residence in Xian-Wu city. Rex walked with her untill they reached gate district, where Vivian entered, her plan to return to her sect and have a talk with her grandfather and learn more of the current situation in their lands. Rex meanwhile would head to the dungeon and try to rushe to the deeper floors since therewas almost no chance he would find something interesting enough for him to enjoy in the lower floors.


    With the information he had aquired during his talk with the governor and signs that were placed all around the city, he spent almost no time whatsoever to reach the dungeon. Who, just like the one in Blythe had adventurer guild members parked near the entrance. Rex spent no time and said top the two men sitting at the table before they coudl even open their mouths


    "Buzz off, not a part of your guild." Adn with that said he just ignored them and proceeded to enter the dungeon. And luckaly enough, teh two adventurer guild members only frowned at his words and did nothing else. They knew better than to stuff their noses in things that did not concern them, especially since they knew that teh godess Vivian had been sighted in this city, indicating that the scary freak she was courting could also be here. They had heard the rumors of the three young masters and the consequences they faced after they offended said man, so any new face was a possible sleeping dragon they did not wish to enrage.


    Without any additional interferance, Rex closed in on the gate, and entered it, allowing himslef to be pulled by the familair feeling of dungeon gates. Rex had noticed his growing understanding of the principles behind the magic fueling said gates ever since he raised hsi affinity to space magic. He had come to apreciate said phenomenon more with each of his descent into dungeons. The second thing that fascinated him was the database said mechanisms somewhat stored, since one could skip the upper floors and descent dirrectly to the deepest floor they had exited through another gate. That implied some sort of identification that was unique for each adn every person enterign said dungeon, as well as the ability to store insane amounts of data, to be able to track all those people and their current progress. It was more than impressive, and if he could replicate a similar system, the was it could be utilised would be countless. He could even consider creating an organization that did not consist of only people branded by him, to ensure loyality and reliability.


    Said thoughts rushed through his mind in just mere seconds, the time it took for him to arrive on the first floor of this new dungeon. Rex took a deep breath as he feeled out the innitial area of this place. He could feel that it was lower starting level than the dungeon in Blythe. It was both a blessing and a curse. On the bright side, even weaker adventurers could delve the innitial floors to earn some coin, thus reducing the possibility of crime, since more people alwasy had the option of dungeon delving to earn themselves a living.


    The downside for Rex was that unfortunately he woudl have to scale more floors to reach the so called deep levels. This duneon was ranked E, basicly the lowest there was, so he would have to scale fourty to fifthy floors to reach the deep floors- Raid tier. Rex just took in the surroundings as he mused this over. He could already feel the treasure calling out to him. He had somehow missed the most crucial part regarding the dungeon he had entered.

 Chapter 64: Grind is life. Grind is love.

    As Rex finally focused himself on the structure of the dungeon, a shit eating grin spread across his face. How could it not. The dungeon was one of the best for monsters like him.Its interior looked like a man made brick layered tunnels, reminding him of either fictional pyramid tunels or magical labyrinths. As for teh reason that such dungeons would draw the most numbers of adventurers also stemmed from what such design signified. The limited space where one could engage and kite the monsters, if needed, was very limited, as well as the visibility and ability to predict and scout monster patterns was very limited. Such places boasted much higher danger level regardless of monster rank purely due to the randomness of encounters and dificulty to disengage and scout accordingly.


    Another and more important reason was that with seemingly man made interior, it was proven that also secret rooms and treasure chests were bound to exist, as they should in a proper fantasy dungeon. That in return also meant another aspect of rewards- natural treasures that included both weapons, armor and other trinkets that could dirrectly strenghten the lucky adventurer who happens to get their hands on any of them.


    And as with all good things, this special condition added, or rather made more prominent, another danger to dungeons like these. Backstabbing and betrayal. It was relatively safe to delev a dungeon like in Blythe with a party of near strangers, since for the most part, profit came from monster corpses, or in organized parties from selling captured slaves. So with goods that required to be sold to then funds be utilized in a way that strenghtens individuals, betrayals and greed played little part. Here however, a new and rare weapon found in a lucky chest encounter could make or break a person. And if said drop just so happens to fall in someone elses hands due to previously agreed upon system, greed, and other malicious thoughts might cause such despickable actions. Another reason why Rex was more than relaxed because of his brands. Everyone under his banner were a big family, and he would do his damn best to get the most outr of each item he or his group would aquire, while at the same time ensuring that everyone gets something.


    With his safety measures in place, he had allowed his girls to delve in Blythes dungeon, under certain conditions. One of which was that Reigen accompanies the group diving, adn no other group was to do so, another one was already exploring. THere were other ruels as well pregarding said activities, but girls woudl follow the nall to the teeth. They dam nwell knew how overprotective Rex could be, and not a single girl wanted to be grounded, since Rex would always know if they did not follow the rules set up.


    With his current thought moved to a subconscious partition, he refocused on the task at hand, and with that he allowed his aura to explode from his body. He controlled its intensity to near nothingness, ensuring it would be disregarded as simple enviromental fluctuations, while at the same time providing REx with sonar like ability to detect every minute detail in a large range, effectively granting him a map hack of sorts that allowed him to read his path as if he had a three dimensional map withe every object and living being marked there.


    Rex took another deep breath, prepearing himself for the task ahead, exhaled and spoke in an average volume


    "Let the hunt begin."


    And with that he rushed forward, not willing to spend much time in the lower floors, since that would be quite the waste of his time. While acceptable for most lower ranked adventurers to somewhat provide enough value to stay alive, unless of course one runs into a treasure chest, for Rex it was absolutely not. He had quite the number of girls to take care of and he also needed much more powerfull monsters to grow further, all thanks to drain. Still he found it to be quite a waste to not murder any and all monsters that stood in his way as he rushed through the relatively narrow passages and tunnels. His expanded aura allowed him to maintain quite hight avareness of his position and progress in the dungeon.


    Rex would avoid if possible, and if not, quickly dash past any adventurer, or group, he encountered. With his superior ability that was quite easy to do as well, and said people did not even percieved him slipping by them. Thanks to the general ruels of dungeon existance Rex covered quitea few floors in just a few hours, slaying each adn every monster he encountered along the way, starting from goblins and kobolds up to harpies and even trolls. He had already reached floor twenty. Middle floors of F ranked dungeons started at the twentieth, and were considered so up to floor fourthy or so. Just as with the dungeon in Blythe, the start of the deep floors would announce itself with a drastic change in the maan density in the air.


    "Not bad at all." Rex spoke to himself as he apreciated his own speed in delving this dungeon when compared to his descent into the one back home. To be honest, he did not have much to the problems to worry about now, when compared to himself in the past. It was true, he had grown a lot and gotten much, much sronger, but nowhere near enough. He had to keep going, keep pushing further and attain an ever greater level of strenght. One where he could stand face to face with his observer and not be either afraid or worried.


    Rex had to admit though, his manner of aura spreading had proved itself to be much more potent than he innitially thought. He had managed to both detect and obviously collect quite a few treasure chests, as well as find a few hidden monster rooms, and other hiden chambers. His aura worked liek an absolute cheat code and he was not even slightly embarased to use it to the best of his abilities. He had a notable need for dungeon created treasures after all. His girls were now starting their own delving, and he would be damned if he did not armor adn arm them to the teeth with whatever he aquired in this dungeon. So all treasures he recieved went into a seperate ring, one which would be unloaded at night time for his girls to choose their item upgrades. Let noone say he is stingy with his beauties.


    With another short pause out of the way, as he mentaly sorted and catalogued his current aquisitions, he stretched his arms to the sides and resumed his mad dash towards the depths of the dungeon. As he proceeded deeper into the middle floors, trolls became much more frequent, and he could no longer encounter goblins and kobolds. Even harpies became extremely rare, replaced now with hellhounds, lesser gargoyles and satyrs. He had finally also started to encounter minotaurs, though they were rare, had no weapons to speak of and looked either sick or weakened. He also noticed that they were always alone, something he was sure would change the deeper he went.


    With the start of the middle floors Rex also noticed how the corridors were now much wider and higher. Quite obvious since the monsters also became larger and more space was needed for their groups to be able to attack the invading adventurers from multipple anges and overwhelm them. With how heavily adventurers specialized, ussually, it would be unreasonably easy for a proper adn geared tank to hold back very large groups of monsters if teh tunnels stayed as small and confined as they were before.


    Rex spent the entirety of theremaining day to reach floor thirty. He could have gotten here faster, but those hidden chambers and treasure chests were just too damn enticing for Rex to pass them up. So it was only expected that he would make detours whenever he sensed any of such treasures appearing in his radar. Thus with such worty distractions it was only natural for him to have slower pace than possible. Still, Rex found such delays be be more than acceptable, since he had no plans to stop for the time being, but then he hesitated. Right, it would not set a good example if he were to be absent on the first night he was alone and delving in the dungeon. So slightly annoyed, but understanding quite well that it was his own decisions and fault, and as such he had to be a man and own up to it, he set up a barrier in one of the secret chambers he recently found, and then entered his world shard.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    He was welcomed by the girls there the second he appeared, and the first thing he heard was Izumis victorious exclamation


    "Ha. I was right. Pay up girls!"


    Annoyed tonhue clicks from multiple women reseounded, as Rex took in his surroundings. Then with lightning speeds Izumi was in his hands, showing her affection.


    "You are all mine untill I pass out." and seeeing his questioning looks she smiled more brightly, and explained to him the confusing situation.


    "We made a bet that whether you would sink too deep in your ''grind'' mentality and forget to visit us. The rest of teh girls were sure as heel you would, so I proposed a bet, and I won. So lets not waste time. I want to enjoy it as much as possible, since we rarely get you all to oneself."


    "Who am I to argue?" Rex asked rethorickally, and with izumi in a princess carry, dissapeared in the wonderfull mansion-castle that was their residence in his world shard. And while Izumi was his one and only focus for an hour or so, precisely of that singular focus she could not last any longer, so he wasted no time and spent the rest of the night with ther girls who craved for his company.


    With the morning aproaching Rex was once again standing in the floor thirty of the dungeon, quite happy and content with his last night performance. Before his departure to continiue his delving, he left the treasures he had aquired so far in the capable hands of both Izumi and Rashuun, since both women were quite experienced in leadership roles. Rashuun was particlulary skilled, and now that she was no longer a queen of her own region, but just Rex''s lover, she could assist Izumi and help her develop even more, and thankfully, Izumi was more than willing to be guided and tought, so their cooperation was indeed near perfect. With them two working as the leaders, as well as Leifias assistance his home was in perfect order and harmony, allowing him to do what he wanted without worries.


    With a few reverse rolls of his shoulders Rex refocused on the dungeon at hand, and then after dispelling his barrier he moved forward once again. The deeper he got, the fewer parties he encountered, and the more capable said parties were. Nothing unexpected to be sure, but it nevertheless reminded him that while he was undeniably an exisitance at the peak of the normal world, he was still nowhere near the true overlords of this world- Gods. HE already had quite the suspicion that one such god was worhiped by the Echlisiarchy, but nevertheless, his course would not change. Said institution was insidious, and he could not just let them continiue freely with the atrocities and other monstrous acts they were performing.


    Regardless, he had his plan worked out, and while he was planning quite the cruel and extensive war effort, and he was most likely the only person who would even consider such a brazen, if not insane, course of action, he would do it his way. Not like there were anyone he was in employ of, so he could act freely, without worry about any red tape or politicking that could impede his plans and progress. He would first sate his curiosity of this dungeon, then the eternal winter one, and only then would he shift his sight to the Echlisiarchy.


    And so once again he began to advance deeper and deeper into this mythological dungeon, his Limitless getting its thirst for blood slaked again and again as he cleaved and sliced any monster he enccountered on his way towards the real fun.half a day later he encountered something interesting.


    "Ahaaa, a mongoose versus a cobra. What an interesting ocasion.." Rex spoke to himself as he looked from his current position at the spectacle ahead. He moved very quetly as he approached the place of battle.


    "Who is who? That remains to be seen." he spoke to himself in a rather quiet tone, observing the confrontation in the large chamber ahead of him. He finally found a nice vantage point and sat down, maintaining his focus on the fight. A party of five were engaged in what seemed like a desperate confrontation with a couple of minotaurs. He innitially was confused why only two of them were such a problem to the party at at hand, but soon enough he understood the crux of the issue.


    The pair was quite different from others he had encountered so far. Slightly larger, more muscular and their fur had a light sheen to it, that he had failed to notice because of the brick like walls and the crystals that iluminated the place hid said sheen near perfectly.


    "A variant it seems." Rex mused, but still did not interfere. Said party was still holding on, and he would hate to interfere without being asked for help, or without guarantee that said party were about to be wiped out. So ,since his postion right now was not concealed at all, and their scout should pick up his existance any moment now, he did not mind waiting. Depending on their reaction, he would decide of his subsequent actions. He was nice like that.


    And as he had expected, said parties scout soon noticed his presence and quickly informed their priest who was busy with strenghtening his two frontline fighters to keep the minotaurs in check. Then after a few words the scout dashed towards Rex, almost stumbling a few times in his haste to reach the unknown person. Rex could see exaustion in said mans movement, and he was not suprised at all when the scout abruptly stopped a few meters from him, and fell to the ground, squeezing a barely audible word out of his mouth


    "Help. Plea..."


    "Kay." Rex simply replied, got on his feet iadn dashed towards the party and the two minotaurs. In the blink of an eye, he was in standing next to one of the two fighters, his right hand lifted and gripping the hand of the minotaur teh monster had swung with the giant axe in its grip. Then a crunching sound could be heard that was followed by a terrible roar as Rex crushed the bones of said minotaurs hand. The second minotaur quickly switched its target to Rex, ignoring the fighter who slumped to the ground as soon as teh monster charged at Rex. Rex released the crushed hand, lovered his right hand and performing a palm strike on the minotaurs abdomen, causing the monster to be shot away from its current location and causing said monster to spit blood on its flight there.


    Then Rex drew his limitless, and as soo nas the second minotaur was close enough, he moved slightly and swung the blade, decapitating said monster. Then to quickly end the confrontation he moved quickly and arrived at the minotaur with the smashed hand. Poor creature was struggling to get up after that smash it recieved and when he collided with the wall. Rex appeared before it and without any ceremonial flair, he just stabbed the monster with his sword, causing its untimely demise.


    Seeing the remaining members of teh party fall on their asses from exaustion, Rex just waved his hand as the priest was trying to get up


    "Dont bother, I will go get your scout here. Rest and then you can try to kiss my asss all you want." And with that said, he proceeded to do exactly that. He quickly retrieved the scout and plopped it down near the exausted party, pulled out a simple chair from his storage ring and sat down there, waiting for the party to regain a bit of their energy. He had almost half a day still before he had to return to his worl shard for another session.


    After some twenty or thirty minutes of solemn quiet and having somewhat recovered, the priest of the group moved closer to Rex and bowed to said man.


    "Thank you sir for assisting our party. We were gonners had you not interwened." then with a slightly akward expression on his face he asked another question.


    "I dont want to sound ungratefull, but why did''nt you help us earlier?"


    "It seemed you had it under controll." Rex replied "I would not like someone intervene and steal my quary, however since your group asked for help, there was no reason not to assist then."


    Rex heard a few deep sighs from other members and then the priest added


    "Those two minotaurs were special somehow, they were much more powerfull than the regular ones. Unfortunately, we discovered that too late and had no way to avoid fight, since I refuse to sacrifice my comrades." The priest spoke with conviction.


    "Right, you much rather go down together, yes?" Rex added a smirk comment, causing the priest to flinch at his brutal reply.


    "He, he" an akward chuckle escaped the mans lips "It may indeed look like that from a side, but I asure you, we are not some shady suicidal cult. We just value our friends highly, and dont want to abbandon anyone unless there is no other choice."


    "Sheesh, learn to take a joke man." Rex sighed "are all priests that thick headed?"

 Chapter 65: Deep floors of monster. Myth.

    Rex looked at the akward man, said condition mostly to be this fault. He could, of course, understand their reasoning in not abandoning their friends, since he was particularily greedy and unreasonable in that regard. He would much rather see the world burn than loose anyone from his circle. Even Eredar, Brogni adn Victor had earned quite high evaluation from Rex, so he would be willing to make some quite unreasonable mooves if even they were endangered. He was soft like that, fiercly protecting anything he formed solid bonds with.


    "I have to ask though," Rex started "Just what kind of variant are these two? I have not read or seen anything regarding such a mutation. Could it be a new subspecies unique to this dungeon?" He was quite curious. These minitaurs were much more powerfull than the regular ones, while in these specific conditions were nigh identical to the regular ones.


    "You are not from around here, are you?" the scout suddenly asked "Any of the regular delvers here know them as high minotaurs, and ussually they have some ornate weapons they carry with them, or they have some unique jewelery attached to their ears. For whatever reason, these two did not, thats why we engaged them without much worry."


    "So, do these High minotaurs apear often here, or are they a rare monster?" Rex asked curiously. The two indeed were quite indistinguishable, if he did not have his eyes. HE could clearly see the difference, but for others that was not the case.


    "Well, they are quite rare, though it is said they start to appear more often the deeper you go, and if one believes the stories, then in the raid tier, only their kind, just more powerfull roam. Thats when regarding their type of monsters." the priest spoke. Then Rex asked a few more questions regarding the dungeon, but nothing too specific, so it looked more like a simple curiosity, and not prying into said partiesunique personal knowledge. A fdozen minutes later, the party looked rested and as they were about to depart, the parties rogue asked, not being able to hold back her curiosity


    "Say, where is your party? We have been here for quite some time, so even if you were a scout, they should have reached you already, no?"


    "Dont be rude Lux, you know thats not our business." the priest reprimanded her. There were things you dont ask, and the numbers and specifics of ones party was among those. It was quite sketchy to inquire about such things, as that could indicate someone planning an ambush for your party and they need better information to limit their casualities.


    "Ha ha ha ha ha." Rex laughed hearthily at the reprimand, then when he calmed down a little he added "Its okey, its okey. I am my party. Besides there is no way in hell you could ever hope to pull off a sucsessfull ambush on me, nor do I think you would even consider such a thing after you saw how easily I dispatched those high minotaurs, so her curiosity is easily recognizable as interest." The rogue girl slightly blushed at his words, that were on the nose.


    "Sadly, I have quite a bit of important hunting to do, so now that you are fine, I will be on my way. See ya!" and with that Rex dissapeared from their sights. With his dissapearance, a silence took over the camp, with the five members just standing there in confusion.


    ""Say, did Rene just got dumped before she even started going out? one of the front line fighters asked, recieving a flying wooden cup and an annoying grunt from said rogue


    "Ow, shut it!" With that the group started to laugh, slowly returning to their normal pace after their deadly encounter just now. Then they noticed the two dead high minotaurs untouched, causing them to brighten up. These beasts were quite the treasure trove and would net them solid profit, so they quickly got to the disassembly and collection on the valuable stuff, thanking the lobe adventurer for coming to their aid.


    Rex in the meantime was already on his way to the next floor, his aim stil unchanged. He was aiming for the deep floors, and he would reach them withing a day or so. At least that was his asumption. Still, with him stopping for the night, once he could feel it was about time, and entering his shard world to spend it there, he still had to delve for another day before he finaly reached his desired depths.


    As he took his last spe on the stairs and stepped on floor fourty, it felt as if he walked through a thin membrane, entirely changeing the atmosphere. He could feel the thick and rich energy floating in the air, that reminded him of the deep floors in Blythe. OF course there were differences, like for example the smell of the place. Blythe was an open zone dungeon with forests and lots of vegetation. Here it was a labyrinth of tunnels, caves and caverns, making most of the monsters here to be carnivores, devouring anything they could get their paws on. Of course the mana the life energy they passively absorbed from the air lowered their need for actual food manyfold, thus maintaining the amount of monsters quite dense, all things considered.


    Another thing Rex had to admit was the high frequency he had encountered parties of adventurers during his descent. It was actually quite large, but he reasoned it was to be expected. The tunnels did not exactly allow for a wide spread over the area, thus causing more parties to run innto each other, thus adding another layer of dificulty to the delving in this place.


    Another thing Rex was wondering right now was whether or not he will encounter any of the two raids that had descended just a few days , and a couple of weeeks back. Rex knew that they could not move with the speed he was moving, but with the headstart, there was a chance he could run into one, if not both, he had also noticed the rarity of return gates in this dungeon. As far as he could estimate based on his current experience, a gate here appeared every five levels, making this dungeon much more dangerous than in Blythe, since the distance between gates was so large. A difference, that most likely was the cause of quite a few deaths due to the poor planning or overconfidence of the adventurers.


    So, with his current observations in mind, if the raiding groups were headed to the fourty first floor, they would have to return here to get out, if the difficulty scaled just as drasticly as it did in th deep floors in Blythe.Rex was not worried about the danger said raids could cause for him, but more so of the inconvinience they might become. Hearing of someone soloing deep floors was just that - hearing, but when some very powerfull adventurers speak of the fact, the rumors gain much more solid ground, and more adn more oportunistic, greedy and shady individuals start approaching said person in question, as well as more and more ordinary people start to fear and detest him purely of the power said person poseses.


    And while Rex did not really cared about the opinion of the public, since he could easily live without them, it was easier and much more fun to experience live and fun alongside the little people. Still, he had quite fresh memories of life alone in the forests as he was funting during his growth phase, so he could go loner as well. But luckaly, he had enough people around him for that to not happen. And in addition, this was not his home court, so rumors spreading around about extremely powerfull delver who solo hunts deep floors would not affect him too much.


    So, with his immediate concerns thought over and solved he proceeded further down the tunnels. As the party he rescued had spoke, the alpha minitaurs becaume more and more frequent as he descended, and now the first few encounters he had in the deep floors were packs of said minotaurs. These packs contained five to ten monsters, each carrying some sort of an ornamental weapon, that shattered upon their owners death, as well as some sort of indian themed feathered earings that each of them carried in their ear. Rex learned that if you remove the earing from any minotaur, they would ge full on berserk, fighting with the holder of said earing untill either was dead. It was these earings that were used as proof of these alphas deaths, since they could eventually because of the berserk state induced by its removal. It was a surefire item to guarantee the death of the owner of said item, so Rex collected said items in a certain place. The meat of the minotaur alphas was barely earth grade, so while Rex collected the good pieces, he drained most of the carcases untill nothing but mana dust remained.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I wonder, do I look like a demon or some sort of a monster due to my methods?" Rex murmured to himself as he delved deeper, dispatching alpha minotaurs with ease, His crows had quite the work to do, both the ones at his side right now as well as the ones still gathering information in the Echlisiarchy. With each passing day he could feel his anger slowly, but surely rising. If some people called him a monster, then he had no idea of a word that would describe the upper echalons of said theocracy, so he believed that his plan of action was more than warranted, even if he himself was not hundred percent on board with his current itteration. but then again, he only had to think back on what he had witnessed, and his resolve got immediatly fixed, bringing him back to his original plan.


    A few hours and minotaur apha packs later he encountered his first monster variety in the deep floors. A couple of alphas together with a manticore. A giant lions body with the tail of a scorpion and smaller bat like wings. The green saliva dripping from said beasts mouth indicated a strong and powerfull poison, which would cause any other adventurer to approach with much more caution, however with his speed and power, he needed not to care for such weak poison, and besides, there was no way said manticore could ever hope to leave a mark on Rex body, Employing his sword ''Limitless'' he quickly dispatched the minotaurs around said manticore, and then with a speed greater than the maticore could react to, it was limbless and disected as well as with a cleanly cut throat. In its confusion it gurgled its last breath before it became fully motionless.


    Collecting materials of said monster was much more difficult, since Rex had to calculate and then extract ingridients that were part of quite the poisonous cheature. Still, these were monsters what ordinary humans would gladly collect and hunt since their parts are quite the demand among high tier alchemists, since a potion made with their ingridients can increase ones physical strenght few times for a limited duration. Such powerfull potions were very valuable for raid teams, since one could never know when that additional strenght could help,


    With his collection done, he moved on ahead, repeating the same process again and again. Some might say that such actions are boring and that dungeon delving shoud be filled with fun and excitement among the group of you and friends, but Rex, as a near certified grind addict, could not understand such a point of view. He liked things simple, and he tried to keep them as such. An action that not always worked, but could be achieved just often enough for Rex to maintain his system nice and working.


    Rex had a perfectly worked out system that he abided by. During the day he would continiue his delving, exterminating everything that he came across, collecting the valuable materials, and scattering any traces of himself into fine maan dust. The only possible trace of his presence was the empty tunels he passed through. And a few days later, he noticed a change in the dungeons layout once he descended the stairs of fourty second floor.


    As this was a dungeon of a lower grade, the raid tier floor dificulty was also slightly lower and increased at a slower pace, so it was no wonder to Rex that the monsters were weaker than the innitial deep floors of Blythes dungeon. During the few days he had spent within the deep floors of this dungeon Rex had encountered more different monsters, like vyverns, not nearly as powerfull as the miniboss guarding his blade Limitless, but more numerous per pack, thne there were cyclopses, as well as a few medusas. He reasoned that medusas were quite tricky for most raid teams due to their unique atributes that did not provide much hindrance to Rex.He had way too much mana and his pjysical body was too developed, as well as his scouting abilities were too advanced. By the time medusas came into the range of their ability, Rex had already made a move and decapitated them. And due to their unique atribbutes he decided to drain every one of them he fell, ensuring no materials of medusas would appear on the markets after his grind session.


    Yet another day was coming to a close as Rex was moving forward towards the deeper parts of the dungeon. He had already reached floor fourty four, and based on his calculations he should be closing in on the stairs towards the next level. The labyrinth had changed to a proper tunnel system with large caverns appearing from time to time with a unique biome withing each one. As he stepped inside yet another cavern, his deployed sensory abilities picked up a couple of interesting news.


    First, he sensed a large and lumbering four legged beast, with a lot of necks and heads, an said knowledge caused him to smile. A hydra. The monster he was hoping to encounter more than once, and one of his main reasons for delving in here. Said monster was a walking treasure trove, and Rex wanted to get his hands on at least one of them. There were quite a few variants of said monsters, and depending which one was this one, Rex would decide on his final actions, which were somewhat limited due to the second piece of information he was intrigued by.


    He sensed a large group of people approaching this cavern from another connecting tunnel, so Rex was presented with another decision to make. What to do with said group. Mulling over the question, he continiued his path, now walking straight towards the hydra.He was more than sure that with his current pace he would reach said beast way before the other group. While quite strong by the standarts of the outside world, they still posessed no threat to him, so he decided to just ignore it and allow them to leave if they dont decide to get in his way.


    Very soon said hydra came into his view, and upon noticing the beast Rex was slightly dissapointed.


    "Cant get lucky every time I suppose." he grunbled as he started his dash towards the beast. Said hydra had dozens of heads, all in the light purple shade with black stripes all over its body. This variant was more poisonous tahn most, making it the least desirable, if not oughtright disposabled of by anyone who happens to claim its life. Rex sighed at the revelation, drew his blade, causing the hydra to turn its heads towards him and to begin its own charge towards its prey.


    Once hydra was close enough it started its endless attempts to bite Rex in half, its few dozen heads making an attempt to get a taste of its prey, each head failing miserably in its attempts. Of course , Rex did not waste time either, and swung his blade as he dodged and avoided the heads trying to get their shaere of said food source. So a few dodges later his sword cut off the first few heads chasing after his flesh, causing momentary stop on the assault, as the hyrda screached in a high pitched growl, its pain obvious, as well as mixed with the rage it felt right now. Its meal was resisting and causing it damage, if only temporary, Still enraged the beast redounbled its attempts to end her foods life, redoubling its efforts in chompinhg down said snack.


    -----------------


    The raid group under the leadership of Yakumo Ren was proceeding as planned. They would soon reach floor fourty five, where their raid would end, and they could use the gate there to return to the surface. His group had achieved moderate success, losing only a few of the adventurers from their rather large group. Out of the hundred odd people, they had lost only seven, and when considering their target, it was rather low loss count by all metrics.


    He was quite happy they had been lucky enough to not encounter some of the rarer and more troublesome monsters within these floors, and he hoped that their luck would remain as it was untill now. Being a sharpshooter he utilised his supperior sight to scout out in the weakly lit tunnel. Soon, his group came upon a nother cavern, and their group breethed out in relief. Based on their maps and knowledge, his was the last cavern before the stairs towards the fourty fifth floor, and consequently the gate back home. Yakumos face displayed a light smile, knowing their raid is almost over, but maintained its seriousness aside from the light smile tuggin at his lips. While almost there, they could not let their guard down, and with that in mind, he ordered a nearby scout to rush through the raid group and relay his orders. He had heard enough tales of tragedies whn a raid group relaxed their guard only slightly and paid the umtimate price.

 Chapter 66: Monster.Myth- mission completed.

    Yakumo Ren and his group slowly entered the cavern, and kept advancing, some uneasiness slowly creeping into their bones. As they moved further and further into the cavern, they all noticed the same issue. Even though they were in a cavern, they had yet to encounter any monsters at all. A major deviancy from the ussual rules of said dungeon. Caverns were meant to not only have monsters, but there were more monsters in such places than roaming the tunels in the deep floors.


    It could not have been the second raid group, since they should have been done a few days back, and that was enough time for monsters to repopulate the area. So, unless the other raid group was delayed for whatever reason, all clues pointed to another predator of immense skill and threat to cause other monsters to vacate the cavern. Soon after with their raid warned, fully prepeared for a combat encounter and on edge, they kept on moving forward, albeit slower than before, since they were all ready for combat at a moments notice.


    Another half an hour later they reached the culprit of their worries. As Ren feared ahead of them was indeed a predator of epic proportions. He could see a rather frantic striped purple hydra in a light cloud of dust, moving arround rather erratickally.


    "Shit! STRIPED PURPLE HYDRA AHEAD! PREPEARE FOR POSSIBLE COMBAT AND RETREAT MANOUVERS!" he yelled out, and after a short reorganization of his group, he along with a few other scouts dashed forward. They needed to examine the monsters more closesly, figure out if it had any notable injuries or defects from old fights with other hydras and then come with a proper plan to avoid fighting it as much as possible. They lacked appropriate firepower. Sure, they had quite a few S ranks and even a couple of SS, since the raid was organized by guild and with the cooperation of multiple large city lords as sponsors. But they lacked the decisive factor- extremely powerfull mage who could basicly blow up sad monster once it was exausted.


    Ren cursed inwardly. They had a great raid up untill now, so of course the dungeon ahd to go adn fuck it up with a hydra. However the closer they got, the more their expressiosn changed. From grave frowns to questioning looks to downright suprise and shock. What they saw was nothing short of a fairytale. The hydra was desparately trying its hardest to bite the human in front of it. Trying and failing, again and again, and said man seemed to be dodging with ease, every now and then exploiting an opening during which he swung his blade and seperated another head or two from its body. As they looked around, they noticed quite the numver of hydra heads cut off and lying motionless around said battlefield, just proving how dangerous said human was.


    They had to stay there in stupor for a few minutesm their brain shortcircuted once they realized the man was fighting the monster alone.


    "Should we help Boss?" one of the scouts asked as they came to, but before Ren could even think it through they heard a cold voice, clearly waring them.


    "Dont get in my way. I dont share my prey." They did not need much time to understand who the voice belonged to, and not willing to earn the anger of such a powerfull individual, they quickly left the place.Soon they were back with the rest of the raid team, and after a few minutes of briefing, they ahd a new plan adn them moved forward. Keeping a solid distance, their raid walked past the ongoing fight, ensuring the hydra did not notice them, and avoiding its breath atack range, something it had tryed multiple times to employ to deal massive damage to its adversary, and failing each time.


    "Who da fuck is that guy?" grumbled one of the dwarfs from the expedition, clearly jelous of said persons individual might and ability to solo such depths.


    "I hope the governor will have some info, that guys seems trouble." Spoke Ren as he covered their groups rear, ensuring no other dangers appear catch them unaware. A few minutes later they had sucsesfully got past the hydra and were descending the stairs to next level. Once there, they soon got through the gate that was nearby, concluding their raid and returning home. All this time, their group, while vigilant within the dungeon, still talked about the monster of a man they had witnessed battling the hydra alone.


    ---------------


    Rex had weaved, dodged and sliced said hydras heads on regular interwals, exausting its energy reserves causing the endless attacks and its desparate struggle to take him down. The sheer amount of heads proved to be quite the hindrance to his ability to attack from either a blind spot or back, since with that many eyes and heads, it had no actual weak point to exploit, leaving Rex with a rare few opportunities to inflict damage as he was avoiding its bites. Nevertheless, he still found openings, causing its current status and slowly gaining greater and greater edge over said monster.


    Then, after he shooed away the possible meddlers in his fight, he redoubled his efforts to take out the monster, inflicting more and more damage. And seeing that said monster did not have infinite energy, his tactics were working out. Another few minutes later, hydra was becoming more and more sluggish, allowing Rex to keep slicing away at the monster, weakening it more and more. With its regeneration slowing donw noticably, he got more and more space to manouver and decapitate said monster, and another thirty minutes later, said poisonous monster finally drew its last breath.


    Then Rex spent some time draining beasts blood in a seperate special rings, made specially for storing liquids like blood, something Rex had aquired as he was prepearing for said dungeon, since hydra was one of his main targets. Another hour laterhis prey was dismantled and stored, and another thity minutes later still he left the dungeon and returned to the small but cozy cottage he had been provided by the city governor. As he entered said cottage he was greeted by a sweeet voice, Vivian standing there in a modest dress with an apron on.


    "Welcome home honey. Would you like a bath, dinner, or maybe ... Me?"


    A smirk appeared on his face, as he looked at the smiling and flirting woman, then he answered


    "I suppose I will take the bath and you together first." Then he moved to said room with Vivian right behind him, pouncing on him the moment he was inside. A few hours later and now in the bedroom, both laying on the bed and Vivian with a satisfied expression, she asked Rex


    "You done with the dungeon? Or will you go dive in it again?"


    "Done here." he responded "Now gotta explore that frozen wasteland with human- giant hybrids and we can proceed with the Echlisiarchy. Some plans will need to be adjusted depending on what I find in said dungeon. How was your trip?"


    "Everything according to plan, Gramps is happy with my progress, even if its slower than he would like. Word has spread about how Neo destroyed those three demon princes, so gramps wants me to concieve as soon as possible." Vivian answered as she nuzzled her face closer to his neck and ear, sensually whispering "I would not mind at all either, so whenever you feel like, I am always ready." Rex chuckled to that


    "Jea, there is a lot of willing women I am afraid. But eventually, you will all get that opportunity. Its just that recently I learned of another possible danger that I need to prepare an answer for. Cant tell anyone about it though. Its conceptual, so the more people are aware of it the greater of an issue it will become. So dont worry and just trust me. I will solve it, and once my shard world will be developed enough so my spawns can grow safely, I will willingly sacrifice myself for all your needs."


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Vivian purred lightly in his ear "Dont take too long, there is a limit to how long a girl can hold back, and I will have backup."


    A few minutes later, Vivian spoke again, this slightly more seriously, with a bit of grievance in her voice


    "I demand compensation."


    Confused Rex tilted his head to look in the girls eyes, one of his eyebrows raised as he asked


    "Ohh? For what offence and what would be the compensation?"


    "Well, this trip has kept me away from your nights in the Elysium, since I had to follow the plan, and I will be left out once again during your delve in the second dungeon as well, since we need to keep up appearances. So I want more personal lone time once this is over. I believe I deserve it."


    Rex sighed in defeat, causing the woman to smile devilishly "Fine, you are right. Your grievance has been heard, the damages has been noted, and as such the ruling body has decided to award you your demanded renumeration. Once we are done in your homeland and back in Blythe, you shall have your exclusive time." His verdict soon changed her devilish smile into light laughter, that soond subsided, as Vivian moved one of her legs over him and huged him even closer to herself.


    An hour or so later, Rex developed the barrier, and entered his Elysium, where as ussual he spent his night with the girls, and come morning he returned to Xian-Wu together with Vivian. Once the time was appropriate, in the company of Vivian, Rex went to visit city governor, who was all over Rex, singing him praises and thanking him for his presence. Then teh man subtly inquired about his delve, and when Rex just glanced over his trip, mentioning that it was fruitfull enough, The governor could not hold back and asked if Rex had encountered a hydra down there, as there were rumors floating around the city about a solo adventurer in the deep floors fighting hydra alone. Even going so far as to threatening the raid group that was aproaching not to interfere in his fight.


    Rex just laughed at the question. "I am more than sure you must have already personally visited their leader and inquired about it. And no, No parts of said hydra will be sold anywhere, though as I said beforehand, I will vendor some of my gains in this city, so look forward to it. I am sure my limits are much higher than any of the raid teams that could be scraped together."


    Another ten minutes later Rex and Vivian left the place, an as he had said, Rex offloaded a part of his loot in the local auction houses or at the more luxurious shops, since ordinary merchants simply could not afford his wares. His slight offload however did mean that quite a big surge of visitors would be seen in this place in the coming few weeks. And with that part of their plan done, the duo left the city for the next dungeon Rex would be delving.


    As Rex and Vivian arrived in Long-Shu, they reminisced of the few memories they had here. In particular the three foolish young masters who were taught a lesson. Since they were not pretending to fool more arrogant fools, Vivian was holding tight to his arm as they walked out of the gate district. The way they walked made it look as if a couple smitten with each other was walking towards their next destination, causing quite a few envious pairs of eyes dirrected towards Rex. He was after all just an average looking man, while Vivian was an absolute beauty. Still, no one was foolish enough to get in their way, Vivian was well known, as well as the incident with the three unlucky young masters still fresh in the minds of local populace.


    "Say husband," Vivian asked as they kept walking "has any other godess of my generation aproached you? I was expecting them to laready be all over you with all the rummors about your power spreading around."


    "Not yet, but I suspect that is just a matter of time. Besides, I have spent almost all of my time in the dungeon. I doubt they would risk their trump cards in such a risky enviroment. That aside, husband huh? So what would you be then? Wife, concubine, or a maid?" Rex asked after he answered the serious part regarind the recent events.


    "Would it actually matter? As long as a woman warms your bed, she is equal in status to the rest performing the same, is she not?" Vivian returned his question with a few of her won, not expecting an answer, since it was already well known to both Rex and her. It was just as she had implied. She was in the core group, a lover of Rex, and so she recieved the same treatment as the rest of the girls in this classification, and the treatement was exceptional, to say the least.


    "What do you want to do while waiting for me?" Rex asked her, and after a few minutes of thinking, she made a solid plan to entertain herself


    "Bring me to the governor here. Lest have him entertain me while you brutalize their dungeon. I can scheme a bit regarding the three competitors of mine. They should come here soon, once news of your arrival here spreads, and they will have to visit the governor if they want to plan a perfect encounter to maximize the effectiveness of first impressions, so me being there will give us quite the advantage in bagging the girls for you while giving me extra leverage and an upper hand towards them." Vivian did not shy away from divulging her plan to Rex, who had to agree and help her out to maximize the efficiency of her plans. Vivian had spoken with teh rest of his lovers, and all had come to an agreement regarding Rex. Their man was greedy for many women, in an unconscious effort to fix some sort of wound or hole in his being, and they could not, nor did they want to see what happens once he breaks because of said hole. It was better to be acomplices and the ones who controll and facilitate who gets in and accepted. They had all agreed to do their best to try and mend Rex wound, ensuring he would treasure them all once he is eventually fixed.


    Rex pulled her closer to himself, causing her to let go of his arm and wrap her solf and gentle hands around his torso, thus providing him with the chance to let his hand be dishonest, once again apreciating the softness of her ample yet firm buttocks. then with her frimly in his arms, he call one of teh nearby coachmen, and ordered the man to bring them to city governors mansion. Something said man was more than willing to do, providing the duo with dozne minutes in a relatively comfortable carriage. Time they used effectively, leaned against each other and in a firm yet relaxed embrace, talking about some random miscelanious things.


    Soon they exited the carriage, paid the coachman and entered governors mansion. They encountered the half breed giant guard woman that was present during the three master issue, and once she recognized both Vivian and rex said woman lightly bowed to the duo, and quickly went to fetch her boss, while quickly yellin a few orders to the nearby servants. And quickly all the nearby servants dashed into action, ofering Rex and Vivian guidance towards the best lounge, and once they were there tea and some snacks were quickly served. And almost as quick as the servants, their masters soon was also upon themgreeting the duo with deeps bows and light flattery.


    As they enjoyed their tea, lord torturemaster had been brought here, and said man quickly and shortly went over the methods and care he had gone through when dealing with the only discarded young master. Said torturer also shamelessly advertised his own services should neo need such services in the future. Something that Rex noted and praised said man for his enthusiasms and controll over his impulses, maximizing and perfecting the art of torture. Rex also added that he might be in need of such skilled hands in the near future, and that he would definetly rememeber the man whne he needs said services. The governor too was more than willing to lend his expoert, should the need arise.


    Then Rex got to the heart of the matter of his visit, asking the man to host and entertain Vivian while he was delving in their dungeon. With Vivians prompt, Rex also notified the governor of the possible visit from the other three godeses, and why he needed Vivian to be with the governor, awaiting said groups. Of course Rex did not expect the man to just do what he asks out of fear of his wrath, he would offload some of his loot from the local duneons deeper floors. An offer no sane ruler who wanted their cities to grow would pass up, and so, as expected, the man here also agreed to assist with everything he could, earning himself an acknowledgement from Rex.


    With Vivian in the care of local governor, Rex turned and left the mansion, his next target - Dungeon of the accursed. During their short coversation that was mostly light natured, he still learned a few do''s and dont''s regarding said place as well as a few important tips from the local masters that had lived around and delved in said dungeon. Even if Rex, with his raw atributes and magic, could disregard most if not unexpected traps and ambuses.

 Chapter 67: Expedition to the north pole

    Rex arrived at his destination quite soon after seperating from Vivian. He had quite a bit of work piled up, and not a lot of time to do it, thanks to his promise to Vivian to try and get this done as soon as possible. He did guess he was spoiling his girls a bit, but why would''nt he, the girls were happy and trying their damn best to show him their apreciation for his actions and treatment. And with the alternative being a bland and possibly hard life, for quite a few of them, Rex did not even consider their social status as something that mattered anymore.


    Vivian had spoken to him about it a while ago during one evening when he had touched the subject, and according to her, being branded as his slave was both a mark of belonging and security at the same time. And she added that they were living more luxuriously than most princeses or even rulers ever could. No slave anywhere else could even comprehend such treatment, let alone dream of it. So, she ashured Rex he had no reason to ever think about it again. Besides, the brand did not change their perception of him, but only prevented their ability to betray him or harm anything of his.


    The best example would be Elena Vex. After he aquired her, she hated his guts, and did not bother to hide her disposition, well aware he was keeping her around for some reason. She would obey his orders, since she could not disobey without experiencing a lot of pain, and up untill she was given to the succubi for reeducation, she was quite the bitch, who would bite her masters hand if the opportunity arose. Now however, after all the training, she would act like a bitch in heat whenever Rex would visit the place she was trained at. Elena had becoem a true pro in draining ones seed, and she happily serviced him on every occasion she got. Rex was sure that had he not developed certain array for making impregnation impossible within its range, Elene would get pregnant within days of the brothels opening. She was that thirsty towards getting her holes filled. Rex had reminded to himself to enjoy her while she is till not deployed for business, since then he would no longer spend his time on her. She would be too bussy earning money and repenting for the atrocities she performed or ordered during her time as a saint of the Echlisiarchy.


    All the Veran women had also expressed their gratitude to him for claiming them as his slaves, since their lives were trully like heaven, or anything that was their equivalent to the place. Even the girls who were in the maid or servant core were always genuenly smiling as they moved around the mansion and performed their duties. Rex had heard countless cheerfull and happy conversations in late evenings about how awesome he is or questions if they are not dreaming or had they maybee died and this was a sort of happy afterlife, a reward for the life they never got to experience. Rex did feel a bit shocked at just how little those girls needed to be happy and content, and he was disturbed with the thought their afterlife would still be as someones slave, even if only in name, Nevertheless, all these things combined gave him enough confidence to continiue with his current pace and actions.


    Chasing off yet another pair of guilds gate guards, an action he had come to expect, he entered the gate, and just a few moments later he saw an endless field of snow in front of him. Based on his estimates, the temperature was around minus ten degrees celsium, ensuring the eternal winter in this dungeon. The unique conditions of it made delving much more difficult for the average adventurer, since they now had to pay additional attention to temperature, food, tracking and so on. Resting during nights was also different affair alltogether in sucha a hostile enviroment, and all of the previously mentioned conditions made just the traveling much more difficult.


    Th greater problem were the monsters and inhabitants of this place themselves. The place was packed with monsters heavily adapted to life in such conditions, making it twice as hard to fight them. Both overcoming the problematic clymate as well as having to deal with a highly addapted monsters that trive in such a specific enviroment. Then there were the Svergi people calling this dungeon home. They were the human/giant hybrid race who had settled here, and due to whom there were certain laws and rules in circulation in the Long-Shu city that was developed near it.


    As Rex was scanning the area around himself, he noticed a party of three limping back to the gate. It was obvious they had just experienced a rather unlucky encounter and had most likely lost a member or two. As the trio approached Rex, they eyed him warily, then hopefully loked to the portal behind him. Understanding their plight, stepped slightly to the side, freeing the direct path towards the gate


    "Go ahead, I have no reason to hold you." Rex spoke once the way was open, and the trio gave small and exausted nods as thanks and slogged to the gate. As the exausted trio moved past Rex, the furr clad priest girl spoke weakly


    "We ran into a patroll of Svergi hunters. They never come to the first few floors. Be carefull."


    "Thanks for the heads up." Rex responded "The rest of the party is dead or captured?" he then asked. He saw no reason not to help out if the chance arose, thought he would not chase them down. Ow who was he kidding, that seemed like a fun time, so he definetly would.


    "No, they bled out when I was mana down. We barely dealt with that hunter scout party." The girl spoke, tears in her eyes. Rex fished out a few healing potions , something he had quite the supply of, yet basicly no need for.


    "Drink these, will help you get fixed up sooner. Consider as my condolences and thanks for the info." With the six potions deposited in the girls hands, he turned his back to the trio and walked deeper into the expanse of the snow. He could see the mountain in the distance, as well as the forest far ahead of him, just as covered in snow as the field in front of him, yet said forest exuded some sort of chilling and unvelcoming aura.


    "Wraights?" Rex asked himself as he moved forward towards the forest. This dungeon was B class from the get go, so it was not too rare that a group of C class adventurers would enter the first floor to hunt and would get wiped out. Solo adventurers would be universally turned away by the guilds guards at the gate, but a full party of five members of aa rank thats one lower than the dungeon base would be allowed to enter.


    "Still, lets track their path to their clash place. Who knows if there are more scouting parties for those Svergi hunters on this floor. But them being here on the first floor is suspicious. Better ask the sect maids, they should know something." Then Rex facepalmed himself "Or I could just ask Vivian and city lord." and with that Rex summoned another of his cosmic ravens, attached a parchment with the questions to its feet, and sent it back through the gate. And in a few minutes of waiting the raven was in the lap of Vivian, with the parchment with questions rolled out on the table. That reminded Rex he needed the communication rings for every single of his girls, not just izumi, Rashuun, Val and Mel.


    Then Rex learned what he needed in another few minutes as the governor wrote answers on a parchment and placed it next to his questions. With his curiosity sated, as much as it could be, he disspelled th raven, and dashed ahead, still following the trail previous trio had left. Rex now had a few possible reasons for said Svergi parties presence, none of which would end up a benefit to the whole operation of dungeon delving, since the fighters of said race baseline were high or peak B class entities. In return for such might, their potential ceiling was much lower, and only in insanely rare cases would they produce a member with the capacity to go beyond S class. Still, such races had quite the utility for anyone who could claim them as ones subject, especially with how widely spread were humans in this world.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    A subordinate race who could provide armies of elite warriors when fielded against humans was a rare treasure in of itself, thus making Rex wonder why noone had bothered to claim them, since he had yet to hear about Svergi armies doing work in the outside world. Another question he will have to figure out once he finds someone knowledgable about the subject. Thus thinking about what could possibly be said reasons he soon arrived at the location of the fight.


    From the state the placewas in, the condition and movement speed of the retreating trio, he estimated that the encounter they had must have happened aproximately hour and a half ago. He also saw the heavily furred wolf like creatures that had started their meal, feasting on the remains of the fallen humans and svergi here. being teh addict that he was,he quickly disposed of said creatures, severing them in half with a few movements of his blade, then looked around the area. Then, few minutes later, once he had found the tracks of svergi party, he dashed ahead, the snow not being much of an impediment for someone of his level.


    The next few hours Rex spent following the trail back to its source, occasionally encountering some wooly creatures who called this place home. The svergi party had walked quite the distance through the forest, combing the outskirt part,and not going deeper into the forest. Such a thing did intrigue Rex.


    "Peculiar." He spoke to himself. From his current understanding it seemed as if said party was specifically combing the outskirts, as if searching for something. And that something intrigued Rex the more he followed the tracks. A few times he had to comb the area, where the tracks were messed up either due to some fights between monsters or snow falling from some of the giant trees, deleting said tracks for a dozen of meters. Still, since there had been no snowstorm or any other detrimental weather, Rex could maintain his pace for the most part untill he finall found a clue to his quest.


    Rex stood in an area that had experienced quite a lot of activity. And he could see two different tracks for him to follow. The largest set was undoubtedly the path svergi group came here from, but that was a cold lead, since they must be days old by now, and barely discernable. It seemed they camped here for a day or so, planned and then split in two, and continued their search, so without wasting much time, Rex picked up his pace and followed the tracks of the second group. This once had moved to comb the deeper parts of the forest, reinforcing his suspicions in their objective. But what could be important and capable of movement that thye were looking for? That was the question Rex was most intrigued by. Nevertheless, he would soon know the answer to said question. All he had to do was trace said second party and convince them to share their knowledge. He was with convincing people. Very good.


    Another few hours and couple bloodbaths later Rex picked up some new humanoid lifeforms with his scouting abilities, and once close enough he spotted a group of svergi scouts.


    "Finally I found you." Rex said to no one in particular, a toothy grin blooming on his face. he picked up his speed, not bothering to hide his existance and shot straight towards the group. Then with long leap and a loud ''puff'' he landed near the svergi group, scaring the shit out of them, and causing them all to grip their weapons and prepeare for the fight with the monster ambushing them. With the snow quickly settling after Rex''s landing and revealing him to the battle ready group, one of the svergi exclaimed in common


    "Shit, got scared for nothing. Just a human." then a huge grin bloomed on his face "I claim this one. Been needing a new slave lately. Missus keeps bugging me."


    "Haaah." Rex sighed at the words of the svergi man "I should probably stop supressing my aura when I want to intimidate weaklings. Its funny how every retard and their mother thinks all humans are weak and stupid." He was entirely dissapointed. The moment they think they are stronger, they let go of all of their wariness and start acting boastfull.


    "Now then," Rex continiued "We can do this two ways. The easy way, and the hard way. Which one is it gonna be?" he asked as he looked at the party. Sure, he was gulty of the same thing, for the most part anyways. He would calculate the oppositions power, the nact accordingly, but the difference was that no matter how weak his opponents were, he would still maintain absolute focus against any kind of possible sneak attack, while showing the face of whoever he was playing at the given moment.


    His question caused a barrage of laughter from the svergi party, clearly entertained by the absurd words of the lone human, seemingly forgetting the speed and power with which le landed near them, catching them offguard. Rex concluded that he was dealing with a bunch of blockheads, so he decided to switch his approach.


    "The hard way it is then." He said as he released his supressed aura. The sheer power and opression it exuded caused all svergi present to fall to their knees, the smiling faces replaced with utter fear and horror. They were not in front of a man, no, what stood before them was a monster far more terrifying than anything they had witnessed in their lives. The sheer bloodlust that had formed and taken root in his aura, influenced by the countless creatures Rex had slain in the dungeons was beyond opressive. It was so thick with killing intent and desire for slaughter that one of the younger hunters even pissed himself. The poor hybrid was trembling like the last leaf on a maple in a windy autumn day.


    Then Rex retracted his aura and all the kneeling hunters slumped on the ground, relieved of th suffocating pressure. Their bodies were now sprawled on the ground, relaxed after surviving such an ordeal. Their minds however were still trembling, well aware that the monster was right there, next to them, eying them with gods know what intentions.


    "Now that you are in your place and ready to do as told, here is the first question. Whay are you doing here on the first floor, and why are you searching for whatever you are searching for?" REx asked, his voice light, bet bearing the weight of the world with the words spoken. The group was well aware that should they lie, their deaths would not be pleasant, and they could not know wheter their capturer could tell if they were lying or not. Luckaly for Rex, and probably for them as well, the youngster who sullied himself started to spill everything he knew, and since they were briefed together, that would entail their entire mission. The boy was not interrupted, since the second someone wanted to shut the boy up, they would experience the full brunt of Rex''s aura presure once again, allowing the young man to finish his report.


    As it turn out, the tribe of svergi living on the floors closest to the entrance, which would be floor seven, had just had a change of leadership, and having predicted the possibility of his demise, the old chief sent his wife and daughter away, not wiling to let the new chief have his way with them, since they would be considered the mans spoils. And so a few scouting parties had been sent out to find them. Theirs was the first to arrive here, having chosen more obscured and less known trails, and they split up a while ago to speed up their search. They had solid reasoning in believing that the two women should be around here. most likely trying to escape the dungeon to avoid their inevitable fates.


    A few more questions later Rex had an extensive knowledge regarding the situation, and he now had a piece of cloting that belonged to the daughter that was being hunted here. He spent a short moment i nexamining the remnants of energy belonging to the girl, then he decided to find the duo, because why not? He wanted to see if svergi had beauties to offer, since he did not mind a few well trained and strong women to have fun with, his did not discriminate based on race, as long as they were pretty in his eyes.


    "Now, what shouold I do with you people?" Rex wondered out loud after sending quite a few of his cosmic ravens in all dirrections. He used them as the conduits for his sensor abilities, reading energy all around said crows for killometers, searching for the specific signature of the svergi girl. Silence descended the place among the giant trees where Rex stood, surrounded by the spraweld on earth svergi group. None of the hybrids wished to die, but at the same time they were scared enough to not risk speaking unless spoken to, afraid the monster might snap.

 Chapter 68: Expedition to the north pole. Part 2

    As Rex focusing on his ravens, tracking the wherebouts of the fleeing duo, he heard a barely audible voice, begging


    "Please." it sounded barely above whisper "Please forgive us." this time it was just a little bit louder, yet still desperate and pleading.


    Rex looked to the side where the voice was coming from, and not suprisingly, the soiled youngster was the source of it. It was not that dificult to understand his position. Lad seemed barely old enough to join the men in both hunting and war, and probaly has had no chance to look for a partner yet. Said youngster could even be called a child still, and, unlike the Echlisiarchy, these people were not an enemy to be humiliated and, or exterminated on sight.


    Rex pulled a chair out of one of his storage rings, sat down and looked at the group. Then, since his ravens were doing the work regardless, he had a chance to consider a few options. Thus, he proceeded to do just that, and a few minutes later, he asked a question, coming to a few possible paths of action in front of him.


    "Lets see" he started, this time his voice sounding more relaxed, almost friendly even, yet it stil contained the absolute authority he commanded in the situation.


    "While I dont expect you to be smart and of much use, lets start with the simplest questions, and work our way towards the complicated stuff." Rex pulled out a bottle of sorts and took a few large gulps from it. ''Haaa'' He exhaled with satisfaction, once again praising the great sabertooth tiger milk for its magnificent taste in his mind.


    "What is the structure of your society? How do you divide yourselves? How does one change the leadership?" Rex asked and then waited for a few minutes in silence, dumbfounded looks of confusion staring at him from multiple angles. Then he facepalmed himself.


    "Right, barbarians, not the virtuosos of refined speech. Do you live in villages, or camps?" With a question that the simple low level grunts could understand he quickly recieved an answer


    "Tribe village, Each have their own."


    "Good, next. Tribe villages fight each other? Often?" Rex asked teh next question, trying to be as smiple as possible, and recieved another answer quickly after.


    "Sometimes, when hard seasons come. Need food, but cant get, so we fight others to survive."


    "Who rules the tribe, and how one can become the ruler?" Rex asked again, praising himself for his caveman speech saracastickally. ''Rex. Home. Good. Friends. Found. Happy.'' Sometimes self depreciating humor was all a genocidal hypoctrice needed to keep on going, and shaping the world in a form that was more safe for his family and future people. Then he recieved the next answer.


    "Chief rules. Can challenge for postion of chief through combat. Winner is new chief."


    "How about merging tribes? Chief challenges chief? Or tribes fight, winner takes all?" Rex asked another question.


    "Can be both. Depends on tribes." answered one of the older scouts.


    "Anyone can challenge chief, even outsiders like me?" Rex asked, his question causing understanding withing the svergi men on the ground. None of the men here would mind following such a stong chief. The man could destroy them with his aura alone, just what could he do if he were to actually fight? The question ran through the heads of all svergi present. Once again the oldest answered


    "Different, but possible. Need ask wise women, They know customs better."


    "Nice, next question then." Rex started and then stopped. His ravens had found his target, plus one. "All righty then, up we go. Chop chop." Rex clapped his hands.


    "Time is money, and I am more than interested in seeing the fleeing pair you were chasing. So get up. Might as well learn more about those customs of yours, sicne th former wife of a chief should be well learned in those, right?" Then Rex walked up to a hunter, lightly poked him with his leg, stirring the man from teh ground, then repeated the same untill they all were back on their feet.


    "Cant ignore the opprtunity in front of me, can i now?" Rex rethorickally asked, then to ensure no one tried to answer, he spoke further" Forward march! To the damsels!" And seeing questioning looks, he sighed, pointed in a direction towards the two fleeing women. "That way, we chase."


    This time his order was understood clearly, and the group started to run in a paced manner. ''Well trained, but quite stupid. Complex orders might be a bust. Annoying, but nothing that can not be fixed.'' Rex thought as he shouted course corrections every few minutes. he had to admit though, they were innitial A class for a reason, as well as well trained and disciplined. ''Could make solid raiding parties from them.'' Rex liked the idea of making svergi his personal warrior caste more and more. He could always get his hands on specialised guards like Reigen and other elites, but such high quality foot solders were rarely seen. Still, hewonered why no rulers had claimed them.


    A few dozen minutes later they came upon a cave in a mound that was heavily covered in snow. Had Rex not seen the energy signature he was looking for seeping out of said place, he would probably run past it, asuming he would not be interested in the two humanoids he could sense in the cave through his mana senses. They had rushed here with only one small, few minute break early in their run. Rex was kind enough to let the youngster to clean himself up and change his pants, with them being soiled and all. Not one of his compatriots would ever mention the fact, since they all were well aware that they too were only moments away from the same, and the kid was still so green many in their tribe would joke that he had just barely stopped sucking his mamas teat. This was the boys first real experience ouside their ussual hunting grounds, so the fact that he only pissed himself in face of the monster they were now folowing orders of, was a mirracle in by itself.


    "Now, should we fool around a bit and give the ladies a scare, or should we just proceed without any games?" Rex asked himself, musing about the entertainment level of such actions, and in the end decided to have a bit of fun, because why not. He was well aware that he would depart on his campaign once he was done here, if everything falls into place as he desires, and said campaign would be quite savage and ruthless, so he needed to stock up on positive emotions. He reasoned that even if he manages to fully embrace his tyrant mode, there would still be things he would not particularily enjoy, most of them in fact, but it was his belief that exacting the same metods upon the echlisiarchy would be only fair. After all they have done the same to others for a few centuries at the very least.


    So, he gave a few simple commands to the svergi party, then concealed himself to blend in the darkness of the cave as the hybrid party took lead. Rex already knew that this cave was a dead end, so he was not pushing his impromptu front line to rush in, and they slowly and with great caution advanced forward, ever deeper into the cave. Soon, they exited the tunnel in a small cavern, and saw two people huddled together near a campfire.


    From what Rex could estimate, the larger figure was slightly over two meters tall, and the smaller one was around one point eight meters tall. The mother could not hide her curves even with the somewhat puffy fur coat and cloak. ''Thats some bust right there'' Rex thought, then continiued his neutral observations. Then, intentionally the leader of the trackers kicked a small stone near his feet, an easy feat, seeing as the inside of the cave had no snow, and upon the noise generated, the mother jumped to her feet, blocking her daughter from her possible adversary, and drew a sword she was keeping close by.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Show yourself!" she sternly spoke, focusing more adn more on the darkness of teh cavern exit. Then she heard footsteps, and more than one pair. Then slowly from the darkness in her campfires light stepped a few men, and unfortunately for the mother, she recognized the man at the forefront, causing her to exhale in a defeated manner.


    "So this is as far as we get?" she asked herself the question "We were so close. Just a bit more and Mary would be free." She then looked at her daughter for just a brief moment, a lone tear rolling down her cheek and spoke.


    "Sorry sweeetie, I guess mom will not be able to keep her word, but promise me you will do your best." She gripped her blade harder in her hand, her resolve reflecting in her eyes. "The women of our line have always been fighters, dont forget it." then she looked at the hunters, taking a deep breath and lowering her center of balance, to create a stronger propelling force once she would charge. She needed every ounce of strenght and skill to make enough of a space to give her daughter a chance. Regret and sadness briefly flashed across her face, as her daughters sobs were heard by everyone present, but before she could launch her desperate charge, a loud and dissapointed sigh came from outside of the lights radious.


    "Tch. Here I was hoping for comedy or something. And all I get is a tragedy. Sure, the premise is dark enough, but really? Not a single sentence to lighten the mood. Dissapointing." The voice was clear enough to indicate the owner was quite displeased, annoyed even, but there was no actual negative emotions targeted against anyone in particular. Then the almost two meter tall stranger came into the bonefires light, his black sclera and yellow retinas a dreadfull yet enchanting sight in the light of flickering flames.


    "I can see why the new chief sent people to track you down." The man said "Thats one milf no sane dude would pass up on." he added, not even slightly vary of her stance or the weapon she had in her hands.


    "Sheathe your blade, it serves no one if I had to hurt you because of your recklesness. With me here there is absolutely zero chance of anyone escaping, not you, not your daughter, and none of the hunters either." His last sentense caused the mother to frown. Indeed, the man was definetly not a svergi. An adventurer? Of course, they were close to the gate, so it was only natural to encounter them, but if his words were true , he was the most dangerous person here, and why would such powerfull person be here, along with a party from their tribe? Adventurers had a very strained relationship with svergi people, with barely any tribes engaging in trade among them and humans. The usual kidnapping and ransoming of adventurers was also not helping their interactions.


    Not sheathing her blade, she suspiciously glared at Rex "Who are you and what do you want? What is your relation to the group by your side?" She asked as he got more and more worried. She sensed nothing from the man, but her sixth sense was screaming danger signals about the man without stop. The next second, Rex was right in front of her, his one hand holding the weapon in a vice like grip. No matter how hard she was trying to pull the blade, it stayed lodged in the mans hand.


    "Why dont you calm your mother down Mary? I dont want to hurt your mom, but she is being naughty. We cant have that, so try your very best." The light smile on his face gave off even more scary and oppressive feeling, buts since the girl was trully scared gor her mother, she quickly got up, and grabbed one of her mothers arms with both of hers.


    "Please mother, dont! I dont wanna lose you. Its all right, Its fine, as long as we are together!" Mary was sobbing, and her mother was slowly giving in, and lowered her blade.


    Clap! Rex clapped his hands and spoke "Good, now we can have a decent chat. Shcall we?" he asked as he sat near the campfire, signaling the duo to do the same.


    "Up for a meal as we converse?" Rex suddenly asked as he pulled a few prepeared pieces of meat as well as a few metalic spikes. Then he masterfully skewered the pieces of meat and placed them over the campfire. He even pulled out a few wooden logs that he threw on the campfire.


    "I have been lead to believe that as the wife of a former chief of your tribe, you should be quite knowledgeable regarding your laws as well as other valuable information. is that correct?" he then looked at the mother "I would prefer you cooperate. Its gonna be better for both of us that way. The way I see it, your fate has already been sealed, though the outcome right now is the best possible one for you and your daughter. That is if I maintain my interest in you. Your daughter would at best become someones servant if she managed to leave the dungeon, in worst case a slave thats shared around, or used as a prostitute, if she is even half as beautifull as you are." Rex sighed "Being that beautifull must be quite the pain, always being hounded by horny men, it it not so? After all, I am just as attracted to a strong beauty, even if I have plenty of girls of my own." Rex kept looing at the mother, and turned the sizzling meat around. The cavern was being filled with a mouth watering scent of high quality meat, that caused Mary to swallow a large gulp of saliva.


    "And what is it that you would like to know? And what would our fate be in your hands?" mother asked, slight resignation and wariness in her voice. "If it is a bed warmer that you want, I am willing to do it for both of us, just allow her to live free. I am sure A willing woman could provide a much greater pleasure, dont you think so?"


    "He he he." Rex chuckled "And you would deny your daughter the pinnacle of happiness?" He turned the meat around once more, and satisfied with the result, extended his hands towards the mother, daughter duo, a skewer in each hand. "Its safe to eat you know, if I wanted to force you, I could do it anytime. You have not done anything that deserves such punishment. Right, the first thing though, I know Mary here, but how do I call you?"


    The girl, being the naive young woman and not sensing any malice from Rex, and swayed by her growling stomach and the enticing smell, grabbed one of the skewers and quickly bit down on one of the pieces of meat, scared she could lose it, if she was not quick.


    "Hmmmmmm" An exhale of happiness was the best description one could use for the satisfied moan that escaped the girl as she tasted the meat. Due to the hunger, combined with the extraordinary taste, the girl wolfed down everything on the skewer in a few moments, and then her sight was glued to the second skewer, that her mother was hesitating to take.


    "Just take it, I will prepeare another fot your mother." Rex moved his hand slighty closer to Mary, and the girl did not hesitate after his words, grabbing it and sinking her teeth into another piece of meat. This time however, she was savoring the rich taste the meat had, since her stomach was no longer growling in protest. Rex as he had said, prepeared another few skewers with meat that started to sizzle soon after.


    "My name is Diana." the mother answered, one of her hands gently holding her daughters shoulder "What is it that you want to know?"


    Rex smiled at her swift surrender "Why did you run? I believe its not something a lady of your people ussually do."


    "My late husband was poisoned, then he was challenged in that weakened state. As such actions are not honorable, while once could claim the seat of the chief, the wives and daughters are set free upon such conditions."


    "And with the new chief being so dishonorable and greedy, he would ignore such traditions to get what he desires. Am I guessing right?" Rex asked, understanding the most probable explanation. Hot babes did make men loose their marbles after all. That did not change, no matter the world.


    "Correct." Diana replied, glancing at the hunters further back "as you can well see. With the old chiefs loss, we were free to go as we please, yet look at the people that were sent after us, all to satisfy one mans lust."


    "Well, you are extraordinary beautifull." Rex replied as he took in her form once more. Two meter tall, toned and fit blonde, with a bust to kill for. Her ocean blue eyes gave her angelic face an extra charm. And it was elevated even more so due to her maternal aura. A certified milf, if he ever met one. Rex could not easily decide, whether her charm was greater, or equal with Rashuun and Leifia.


    "So tell me, how would one court you now that you are unfethered and supposedly free? based on your customs?" Rex asked, casuing Dian to raise an eyebrow.


    "You would try to court me?"


    "I would like to know the customs first, then decide the course of my actions, since I am a greedy man and your daughter is is bound to reach your level of beauty." Rex replied, and gave her one of the freshly prepeared skewers, while giving another one to Mary, who happily took it. Seeing her daughter fully swayed by the apparently great food, she gave in and took the offered skewer. Then she bit in one piece and got lost in the divine taste of it. She had never in her life tasted anything this tasty and exceptional. No wonder Mary was charmed so thoroughly after a single bite.

 Chapter 69: Expedition to the North pole. Part 3

    Rex calmy sat there at the campfire, enjoying the misty expression on Dianas face as she was immersed in the taste of the earth grade meat he had cooked up for them. Even with the growing number of people in his mansion, he was still grinding not only enough but way too much to make a dent in his meat reserves, even with all the amount he was providing Eredar with, so prepearing earth grade was only natural. Besides, Rex did not have meat of lower quality on him, since that would be beneath his station.Then a minute or so later, when Diana came back from her foodgasm, she looked at Rex with bevilderment.


    "What is this godly meat that you have given us?"


    "You like it?" Rex smirked with a playfull expression "My family and servants eat nothing less than this. As for where it comes from, I am sure such quality could be found in this dungeon as well."


    "Where?!" Diana asked with urgent need for an answer.


    "Further in the dungeon. Once the mana density drastickally changes, monsters should have this quality of meat." Rex answered.


    "The deep floors?"


    "Oh, you use the same terminology? Yes, the deep floors. I have made quite the fortune in my home town providing large quantities of this exact item to the local merchant there. So, back to my question, how does one go around courting a woman of your status, and possibly her daughter?"


    Diana looked at Rex thoughtfully "You must have increadibly powerfull group if you can reliably hunt in such dangerous areas."


    "He he he he." Rex laughed lightly at her comment, and to ensure she did not misunderstand, Rex explained "I believe I said, that I provide quite the quantities of it. And I meant exactly that- I, not ''we'', or ''my group''. And as I said, my girls meals are cooked with meat of no lesser quality. So, regarding my question?"


    "Aa, yes." Diana cleared her throat from the pleasant and soothing aftertaste by swalowing hard and drinking a few gulps from her water flask.


    "First would be a gift, one that proves your ability to provide for her, along with words of your interest. depending on the woman and other admireres, maybee a few gifts, to ensure the intent is there, then would come a way to prove your strenght and wilingness to fight and protect the woman in question. Yet again, the number of duels with other men depends on how high standing the woman has in the tribe."


    "So, the gift part we could asume is covered, seeing how you liked the meal, but dont worry, there is more to come." Rex then smiled "Say, would taking out the new chief count as proof of might?"


    "Why?" Diana asked with a slightly choked voice. "You could easily claim me as you wish, hell, I would willingly lay with you to protect my daughter. Why would you even consider my thoughts or our traditions?"


    "Because I am greedy. I want everything. So, I cant just be satisfied with your body alone. I want everything. Besides, it is no fun in breaking a woman not deserving of such ruthlessness and savagery. So, has my interest been conveyed clearly? Besides, you should understand that there is no safer place for your daughter than under my protection."


    Diana sat there silently, contemplating her options. if the man was indeed as powerfull as he said, there was no problem in becoming his woman. Their culture apreciated personal strenght since that dirrectly corelated to ones ability to both provide and protect. In addition, the man was in controll of his impulses. The trully mighty men of svergi would just take what they want, since might makes right. Deciding to understand him further, she asked something that was on her mind.


    "Is that all you wanted to ask me about?"


    "Ow, right. No, I have a few other questions. The hunters there" Rex pointed his thumb to the guys standing back "are quite simple and not very capable of proper speech, thus their ability to explain is quite limited. So, if I were to desire to take controll of your tribe, how would I go about it? Besides obviously taking out the new chief? Also, why have your people not left this dungeon, it seems quite shitty place to live in, considering the permanent winter here."


    "Lets start with the simpler things. Our residence here. It is the traditions that keep us here. Many of our rites are dirrectly tied to certain places withing the dungeon, so without a shift in our understanding and way of life there is no way that we could leave here. As for the other question, it depends on in what capacity do you want to controll the tribe. Do you want to be the new chief, or do you just want for them to fight your wars, and raid on your command?"


    "What other things a chief can decide, since it seems the latter is much easier to achieve than the former?" Rex asked, now slightly interested in the intricacies of their leadership system.


    "Chief is our leader, as such he decides on most of our actions that affect the tribe as a whole. Do we move, how many parties and how often we send them out to danger zones for greater hunts, our sacrifices for the grand tournament, and many other domestic decisions."


    "Sacrifices for the grand tournament?" Rex asked, slight frown on his face.


    "Participants who will fight in it. Since our tribe is relatively small and we dont have a warlord, our participants are almost guaranteed to die in the tournament, thus we have started to call our participants sacrifices. Since we have little hope of seeing them return alive from it."


    "Well, technically, all I need is a large force to round up, controll and process hundreds, if not thousands or tens of thousands of slaves untill we find a buyer or decide on the best way to utilize them."


    "Just what are you planning that would result in sucha huge number of slaves?" Diana asked dumbfoundedly.


    "Nothing much, just wiping out a state. So, which option would allow me to do that, and how would I go about it to achieve that quickly?"


    "I am sorry to tell you this, but there is no way my tribe alone can achieve something of such proportions. You are talking about human slaves, yes?" Diana asked for clarification.


    "Yes, your race is much stronger baseline than most humans, making the controll much easier to achieve. All I need is numbers and iron clad obedience in performing ones tasks, besides, cant I just subjugate other tribes untill I have the necesarry personell for my needs?"


    "How strong are you really?" Diana then asked "The more tribes you want to controll, the more opressive and unreasonable your individual strenght has to be, since all tribes who are under your command can demand a duel for independance, and whoever demands it can do so at the same time, thus causing the leader to fight multiple opponents at the same time. No matter how powerfull, there are limits to everyone."


    "Dont worry about that. So, what are my options?" Rex then asked.


    "Do you care about every little decision making that would have to be decided by the chief, from what you understand about their position?" Diana asked, considering the options based on their las and traditions.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "Nah, just the slave thing. They can self govern for all I care." Rex replied.


    "Hmmm, that simplifies things. In such case we dont need to actually make you a chief. Its incredibly hard for a non svergi to become a chief, but there are a few examples of a male claiming a svergi woman, who then acts as the standing chief, and the male takes over all the combat and military maters in stead of his wife."


    "Hmm, yes, that could indeed be a quick solution, but I cant leave you here to govern the tribe. You are too beautifull to not endulge in, so why would I ever consider leaving you in a place I cant access whenever I want?" His unapologetic and dirrect approach caused her to just stare at him, her jaw open in suprise. She had never heard of humans so unhinged and dirrect. All tribes have a few merchants that trade with humans outside the dungeon, as well as there are a few routes that no tribe raid, meant for human traders to use. While svergi happily enslave adventurers they come across, the trade that had been established was quite benefitial to everyone involved, so not even the most blockheaded of svergi could ignore such a possibility, thus creating a few safe passages.


    "Hmm, then the best solution I can think of is the Warcaller." Diana spoke aftera moment of thought.


    "Elaborate." Rex asked her to continie.


    "Its a champion of sorts. A man with ties to the tribe, in your case it would be as my man." Diana spoke, having accepted him "Any matter of war, and expansion is Warcallers decision, while allowing a chief to perform the non militaristic decision making. We have to call for the right and then challenge the current chief, since he would undoubtedly stand againt you. Then once you have killed the current chief, a new one can be chosen, meanwhile anyone in the tribe can challenge you. You would have to take them out, and if we want to maintain tribes ability to sustain itself, you would have to knock them out without disabling too many of them. We still need the hunters after all. The acting chief then would have to be chosen from the women of the tribe, since no other tribe can challenge a woman to fight, thus relegating all duels as your responsibility when it concerns tribe."


    Rex thought of the logistics involved, and another plan hatched in his head. "I can work with that. Can Warcaller take over other clans in the same manner as a chief?" he asked Diana.


    "Yes. All military actions would be yours to decide. And as a Warcaller, you would instill caution and outright fear in many of the smaller tribes. The title carries a weight in our society."


    "Do you have any women in mind who could act as the chief in your tribe?" Rex asked her, already planning ahead. Diana, gently carresed her daughters head, who was now laying, happily asleep with her head in Dianas lap answered.


    "Our wise woman is experienced and smart. She would be a great candidate. She also has the tribe as a priority, always aiming to bring us forward. She has been heavily restricted by the chiefs though, too blind to see further than their small egos. My late husband was guilty of the same. Even I could do nothing to persuade him."


    "Right, another question. How does one recognice a taken woman among the svergi? I dont see no rings or anything that would equate teh same in human societies." Rex asked, he had to mark her, in more ways than one after all.


    "He he" Dian lightly chuckled "We wear chokers, and as soon as ones mate is lost, we have to remove them. No tribe can afford to have many members not contributing and siring the next generation."


    "Anything special about the chokers?" Rex inquired. He would get her the best of the best. Let no one say he did not dote on his women.


    "Yes. Males make them with the teeth of their greatest prey. The best ones would make said chokers with the tips of the largest and most powerfull predators they kill. It is a way for the wife to show off as well, since a trully powerfull man is the greatest treasure a woman can get her hands on."


    "What is the apex predator of the early deep floors here?" Rex asked "You and Mary will get the best chokers in existance, even if you are will not be spending much of your time along your tribe members." His statement caused her eyes to widen once more and an unexpected smile blomed on her face.


    "You would hunt something so dangerous for us? Are you sure you could handle something like that? It is a beast of legends here. Some even consider it a local deity."


    "He, I gotta start somewhere, so a local one seems a perfect start." A manical grin was on Rex face. A monster of such proportions should help him grow quite a bit.


    "We leave once Mary wakes up. I will bring you outside and have you stay with my Vivi while I am hunting for the choker parts. Then once I have collared teh both of you, we can proceed with what we disceuused here. Is that okey with you?"


    "Are you not worried about the safety of ours once we leave here? You said many would want to get their hands on mary on me once we are outside."


    "Sure they would, but not when you are mine. Vivian is mine, everyone out there knows it, and they are not stupid enough to risk their lives and their organizations for such small desires. Besides I have my ways to protect you. Dont worry about that." Then Rex looked at the hunters "You heard me? the duo are mine now, so return to the tribe. Say what you will. Truth or that you did not find her, it does not matter. Prepare for when I come next time though. Your tribe is going to rise."


    "Yes boss!!" The youngster exclaimed "We wait for you." While the svergi males were simple and quite brutish, they were not stupid and understood just how great a benefit such overwhelming might could be for their tribe, so the quickly departed. Deciding on their way back to pretend they never encountered Diana and mary and only report they came across a monstrously powerfull human adventurer who killed the other party, courtesy of Rex informing them of the fact, and sent them back with a warning to not come the early flooors again, if they value their life. Since the leader of this party was a no nonsesnce guy, with him speaking of it, there would be no one questioning their group.


    With the hunters away, Rex spent a few hours un the cave talking with Diana. He had provided her a few blankets, making sure the mother and daughter duo were not cold anymore. He takes care of his people. That left a question, how should he deal with the svergi and the future numbers of slaves he will have for a while. he also learned quite a few interesting facts about svergi as a whole as well as quitea few bits and pieces about their culture and way of life.


    Then when mary woke up, they cleaned up their camp, and moved out, to return to the city where Vivian was waiting for her aquintances to appear. Rex also did not waste time and placed the blank brand on the duo. He was paranoid enough about being backstabbed and worried enough about the integrity of their minds. Said action covered both, and with the blank brand in place, he could feel their curiosity and openness towards him. With how he has been treating them for now, besides his tasteless prank at the very beggining, he was a good man, and they hoped he would show more of such qualities the longer they stayed with him.


    "Vivian is gonna be suprised. Its not even been a day and so much progress in the plan." Rex spoke as they exited the dungeon and moved towards Vivian. She was in the manor of the governor. They soon reached the place and were left in without any interuptions, the guards well aware who the true archon was. Then they quickly found Vivian, all thanks to his brand, and after a short explanation from Rex, Diana and Mary were left in Vivians care, with Rex delegating the duty to fully explain the events that lead to current situation to Diana. Then with his current mission completed Rex left the mansion and with great haste returned to the dungeon and started his mad descent into its depths, which in this case was a climb up the mountain.


    Meanwhile in the mansion of the governor, Diana had just finished her recount of her encounter with Rex, or as he was pretending right now- Neo. Diana could not understand why would Rex use multiple personas, but aftera proper and thorough explanation from Vivian she could see the benefit and utility of such a thing. Moreover, when Vivian mentioned that it could be another way Rex was having fun, she immediatly accepted it. She and Mary had after all seen how bad his ideas of having fun could be, so this was still quite tame by their understanding of the man.


    With the full picture and the plans in action Vivian hummed as she thought, and then nodded in agreement.


    "I like how the plan is developing. Its proceeding nicely indeed." Then Vivian asked a few other miscelaneous question to the pair, and once Diana was quite comfortable with her situation, the mother asked the cultivator a question.


    "How is he treating you and his other girls? While I have a rather good feeling about him for the moment, I have yet to meet most of the girls, and that is still keeping me a bit cautious."


    "How should I put it?" Vivian rethorically asked herself, considering the most precise way to answer Dianas question. "If you are his, I doubt you could find a more doting and overprotective harem husband. If you are his friend, he is a reliable and firm support, if needed. If you are a random passerby, he looks just like your everyday, run of the mill person. And if you are his enemy, he is the poison that will kill you in the most excrutiating pain while destroying everything you care about. And there is no antidote, and you cant run away. Thats about it."

 Chapter 70: Expedition to the north pole. Part 4

    As Rex was speedruning the early levels of the dungeon, leaving a deathly silent zoneof pure snow and random splatters of blood on the eternaly white land, he suddenly stoped, and sneezed.


    "Which one of the vixens is badmouthing me right now?" He asked to himself, slight smirk on his face. "Focus man! Keep your eyes on the prize." he admonished himself and restarted his mad dash towards the deeper levels. luckaly for him, since this was a higher grade dungeon than the one in Blythe, the deep floors would start earlier as well. If he was correct in his asumptions, they should start somewhere around floor twenty, making his descent much faster, eliciting a light smile on his face. Sure, he loved his grind, but he had come to enjoy the time he spends with his grils more and more, and both to his joy and detriment, the new happiness he was feeling motivated to push harder and grind more to grow stronger and stronger so he could protect what was becoming more and more dear to him.


    As he hacked through all manner of snow monsters like ice elementals, huge bison or yak like creatures covered in thick fur, odd crystaline like snakes that burrowed through the frozen ground and attacked him from below to catch him off guard, or predators with a mamoths body and huge flytrap like mouth, that would swallow its prey whole, he had crossed quite a few levels. Now, he reckoned he was already at the seventh floor, so there was a chance he would start encountering svergi people, if he did not focus on actively avoiding them. Then he quickly weighted the pros and cons of such an action, he came to the conclusion that not avoiding them was the correct choice. he would keep going as he was, primarily focused on delving deeper, and if he encountered the svergi, he would ignore them, and if attacked he would just take out the agressors. He was no pacifist, plus a more terrifying legend should help him when he would be uniting multiple tribes.


    And so, as he traversed the next three floors, reaching the tenth, he could only marvel at the flimsiness of ones luck. He had been quite unlucky, and the svergi on the contrary lucky, since during the few hours he spent he had yet to encounter a single person of their ranks. From what he heard from Diana, svergi had their tribal villages spread throughout floors seven to fifteen., so he had nothing but confusion regarding his current state. He had blasted through half of their inhabited floors and yet not met a single soul. Rex frwoned a little, his playfull spirit never trully resting, and asked himself yet another retorical question.


    "Do I smell a conspiracy?" With his remark out there, he once again delved in the hunt, not caring too much for his possible oposition. As he continiued his unrestrained path of carnage, leaving only splashe of blood behind him, draining every single quarry of his, since he was not deep enough to consider butchering any of them due to the low quality ingridients. And while the growth from these monsters was miniscule at best, it was still there. With enough drops even the ocean will consume more land with time, since in this case, the ocan was not evaporating no water, thus only growth was an option.


    Some while later, once he had descended into the thirtheenth floor he finally encountered his first wild svergi group. Said group consisted of ten individuals, all male. The strongest one was mid A class, and the rest were low A class entities, so needless to say they were of absolutely no threat to him, so in his own fashion Rex would let them go if they did not annoy him too much. As Rex was joking to himself, their fates were in their own hands, thus they can blame no one else but themselves for any disaster they invite due to their stupidity. And all he could do was facepalm himself as he saw the actiosn of said group as soon as they noticed him.


    "A NEW SLAVE! HELL YEA!" yelled one of the men, quickly grabbing a rope that was hanging by his waist and charging at Rex. The rest of his companions had similar smirks on their faces as they tried to catch up to the frontrunner.


    "Morrons." Rex sighed, and slowly drew his blade from its sheath. They were so pittifully weak and stupid Rex almost considered sparing them and just going on his way, but the poor spark of mercy was extinguished as soon as it appeared by the enourmous tide of annoyance that the advancing group caused within him. had they showed any amount of cautiosness, or tactical thinking, the result might be different, but none of it was there. These specimens were as stupid as they came, making the relatively easy decision making process even more so, by eliminating quite a few factors that could ensure their survival.


    As soon as the leading man wit his rope was within the range, the enthusiastic man started to swing his rope lasso over his head, as if prepearing to catch some wild animal with a lasso. Now that was a step too far even for Rex, and so, in the next moment Rex was in front of the rlasso swinging fool with his sword swing motion finished, and said svergi mans upper torso sliding of his lower part, thanks to the perfectly clean cut seperating the body in two. Limitless was sharp enough to cut through the man like a hot knife through butter, and the ensuing frantic stop of the rest of the group as well at the deathly silence that followed was quite hilarious in Rex''s eyes.


    "Where is all that bravado and smirk now? Where you not gonna capture a new slave?" Rex ridiculed the remaining group, then he clicked his tonge, asking another question, this time targeted at himself.


    "Tch. Why do I even ask questions to corpses? That is just a waste of time." And with that, the remaining group experienced the same face as their earlier departed friend as their bodies were split in two in just moments time. With the first fools out of the way, Rex continiued on, betting against himself on the percentages of stupid svergi groups he would encounter and subsequently have to kill. And since he spent this entire night rushing froward, since he had left Viviamd and Diana just a bit after midday, he had already reached the nineteenth floor, and was crossing into the twentieth. Funnily enough, he was not well enough familiar with said people, and as expected, he way overshot with his bet against himself. Rex forgot to take into an account the obvious fact that the more experienced and smart parties would work the deeper floors, and thus the deeper he rushed, the more defensive and carefull svergi became when they noticed a solo adventurer gooing deeper and deeper.


    Those parties led by experienced hunter who had brushed with death many times over could practically hear their instincts screaming at them to not get any closer to said man, or better yet to run with their all and not look back. ''Survive enough deadly situations and you will smell death aproaching'' was a saying that was often spoken among the greatest of hunters and trackers, and for them, Rex was a walking avatar of death. As Rex shot through the twentieth, killing and draining monster in droves, he was thinking of his next night off, and the time he would spend with the girls, either in a large group or individually with any of them.


    By the time he reached the entrance to his current goal- a rather ancient looking stairs leading upwards, into a decorated cave.


    "Val and Mel should be given some special treatment once I am back. Those girls have been working hard to manage the home in my absences. Aisha also should be added to the priority list. The rest of the girls would deffinetly agree." Rex talked to himself as he walked through the cave, passing a magicla barrier of sorts that did not inhibit his movement, but clearly separated two different worlds. Rex had crossed sucha barrier a few times already, so he did no even need to consider the logical explanation, since he was well aware already. Rex streched his hands to the sides and spoke with light excitement in his voice.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    "Raid tier once again. HONEY I''M HOME!" Rex exclaimed as he exited the cave to enjoy the even more unforgiving cold alongside the powerfull and rich ambient mana in the air. He had to admit, he had been thinking more and more of making some sort of a forward base in one dungeon. All he wanted was to catch either a few more ultimate predators like Tigress or wait untill snow reaches maturity, since a proper Byako would be more than enough to watch over and protect both the camp as well as the girls who would eventually reach the level necessary to grind in raid zones. It is precisely because there are no safe places in the deep floors that the raids are so rare and expensive, alongside the fact that the organization, as well as the necessary returns require prolonged stay down there to justify the danger. As such, not many risk their lives on the rare few raids that are organized to hunt at those levels.


    Now that Rex was at the level he was willing, ready and looking forward to hunt at, he activated his mana senses, as well as aura pulse, and as soon as he felt any creature appearing in his search range he would dash towardshis targets and hunt them down. He needed to create quite the mess and vacuum of monsters to create a ripple large enough to rouse his target from its sleep or den or whatever dark hole it was lounging at.


    Rex also had enough time to get himself familiar with the monsters that roamed this frozen wasteland, First were the few mutated beasts who served as the lower level of the food chain here. Due to the abundant mana, as in every other dungeon in these levels, there were a few dozen different subspecies of arctic hares, reindeers, elks and boars. All being sustained with the raw mana and unique ice crystals that were seeped in the rich mana. Even with the fact they were the bottom barrel of the food chain here, they still could force B class or low A class adventurer to run around quite a lot to actually kill one. No wonder raids were needed normaly to hunt for the predators at the top of this echosystems food chain. For the most part, Rex left these ones alive, since they would either carefully look in his dirrection or would just run away, startled by the unknown entity walking through their habitat.


    Then there came the lower lever predators, that Rex happily hunted down whenever he would encounter any. All manner and sizes of wolves, ranging from ones in the size of a large house cat, to ones the size of a small car. Wolves, as expected, always hunted in packs, providing a unique challenge, for anyone but Rex, to experience a skillfully coordinated attacks coming from a multiple opponents. Just like his first experience with a pack of wolves in the deep floors of the Blythe dungeon.


    Then there were a monkey of sorts. Said monkey were loners for the most part, most likely a result of their rather agressive behaviour. The beasts were up to four meters high when standing on their hind legs, heavily musculated and with quite white and fluffy fur covering their insane physique. The monkeys had a stone like knuckle guards attached to their hands, as well as large and very sharp looking nails. The over roided silverbacks could be classified as tank buster in Rex book, since they would employ a rather savage ground and pound technique that would turn to pulp most front line fighters. Rex reasoned that due to their somewhat limited speed, they should be kited, an action much more difficult in the snowy terrain of this particular dungeon.


    Then he finaly encountered some of the better loot of the current lineup. Half drakes and vyverns of the frost variant. Half drakes reminded Rex of comodo dragons the size of a horse, with thicker, near crocodile like skin. They were almost as strong as the monster silverback, while being as fast as the wolves. An opponent that would need quite the teamwork and tactics to deal with for normal raiders.


    Vyverns hunted in packs, and unlike the guardian of Limitless, these were notably smaller, unlike the five meter height that he remembered the creature while standing on all four, these reached three meters or so, with the lenght of their body surpassing four meters as well, not incluing the tails and necks. Rex calculated they could be easily used by a person or two as mount, but since he already had the eagle, and if he was going to havea reptile mount, he will get something much more awesome, like sky serpent, or as many would call them- chinese dragon. That is if such dragons existed in this world. Rex had no rush, so he was willing to take that task slow. The vyvern also had quite rpnounced white color with slight blueish shades appearing here and there on their bodies. Powerfull chill also exuded from their mouths, indicating an impressive level of adaptability to the cold and harsh weather here.


    Still none of these monsters could create problems for Rex. The most annoying were the vyverns, since they could just stay in the air and circle him for a while. However, there was one other monster that Rex prioritized over any other the moment he encountered and killed his first sample. A large, stag like creature with wings attacked to its back like a pegassus and head of a bear. The creature was also the size of a buss. As for why Rex prioritized hunting any and all creatures of this kinds was simple. It was the first creature in this floor who had heaven grade meat, and with its size, Rex had enourmous amount of meat to harvest and store. So, as a diligent and loving man of the house, it was his job to ensure that his girls would always have the best ingridients for their food. So, his aura and maan sensors worked on full capacity, making him into a living bullet the second he picked up another ping with similar features as his previous kill.


    Rex also had another theory he wanted to test, so the carcases of the butchered heaven grade monsters he dragged together, creating a pile of high quality carcases that was slowly growing in its size. Rex had spent more than half a day, managing to kill almost a dozen of the heaven grade beasts, when he sensed a shift in his surroundings. And soon after, his sensors picked up the most likely culprit.


    What was aproaching him was a monster of a specimen. Almost ten meter high sixteen meters long beast. The creature reminded him a furrless cat with powerfull and lean limbs, shiny and somewhat oiled looking skin, with the head of a beawer, and large mammoth like tusks sprouting from its mouth as it would for a mammoth, The monster had just as pronounced upper beawer teeth as well. It also had a couple of weird looking tentacles sprouting from shoulderplates, propably used to tear apart or straigh up trow its prey into the huge mouth. When the beast roared, a few dozen rows of sharp teeth were exposed, clearly indicating the fate of anyone that falls in its clutches.


    "I was right. Just stack the carcases of the most valuabe prey in the dungeon and once you have enough, the target will appear." A smirk sneaked its way on his face, awakening his instincts for combat and desire to murder, and absorb this apex predator. And no, Rex would not even consider adding this raging beast to his personal mansion guards. While undoubtedly powerfull, Rex did not like this creature astethic looks nor would his cats enjoy its presence. And the oily looking skin spelled a lot of annoyance in maintaining the gardens nice and clean as they were right now.


    Rex was standing there, next to the pile of carcases that had atracted the ultimate predator of this floor, waiting for the beast to come closer before engaging it in quick and brutal dismantling. Rex an important mission to achieve. He had collected quite a few of the choker teeth from the many beasts he had hunted, As it turned out, almost all of the predators withing this dungeon had a couple of very unique teeth in their mouths. No matter the size of the beast, they all had two pinkie sized (from the fingertip to the first joint) kanine teeth of a rather unique blue and white color. Rex had also noticed that they had a unique pattern that was different for each of the predator species. Another small change regarding these kanines happened one he started to go full wild in the deep floors. here the special kanine lenght changed to be the lenght from fingertip to the second joint. The patterns remained the same for the base types of the monsters. Wolves and bears remained the same, even maintaining the proportions in the patterns of their lesser bretheren. Of course creature that appeared only here had unique patterns as well.


    It was quite a pain the first few times Rex was looking for them due to their small size and quite akward location, but once he had found his first set, finding said teeth in other quarries was quite easy, since said teeth were located in teh same aproximate position for every predator species within the dungeon.

 Chapter 71: Expedition to the north pole. Part 5

    Once the beast was within acceptable range, Rex charged at it, Limitless already drawn and ready to spill the creatures blood. Confident, but still cautios, Rex chose a safety first approach and utilizing his superior speed and strenght, de deftly avoided the two tentacles trying to slam him into the ground. Then, with a swift and well calculated action, he jumped as the beast was swinging its head to swat Rex away with its tusks, grabeed onto said tusks and used them as his launching pad to reach the beasts shoulders and with a spinning move he cut the tow tentacles off the beasts back, causing a powerfull shriek from the beast. Rex had to quickly retrieve a rather nasty looking spear and with full power smash it into the monster back, sicne it was now trying desperately to shake rex off its back while still reeling in the pain. And before the beast could begin its attempt to squash Rex by rolling on its back, Limitless was swung once again, paralyzing the beast as the blade severed the beasts spine, causing its body to go limp. And since the monster was still alive, Rex relocated himself to its head and drove his blade deep into the monster skull, impaling its brain and causing its demise soon after.


    Then Rex wasted no time whatsoever, butchering the beast. The test indicated that the beast was actually heaven grade meat provider, thus causing Rex to work twice as hard to collect his loot. A few dozen minutes later Rex sighed in contentment. He could now not worry about his meat reserves for a decade or so, all thanks to his sucsessfull hunt and the time stagnant storage rings. Then however, Rex was suprised by another unreasonably lucky event. Something that actually made sense if one thought carefully about it. Rex sensed that in his sensor range had appeared a few other Apex, all aproaching his location.


    "Of course! The death of the tyrant would create a vacuum in the power ladder, inviting new contenders to claim the vacant plot of land." Rex face bloomed in huge smile. I guess my bride will be quite happy with her bethrodal trinket. Then, like a man posessed he charged in the dirrection of the nearest one Apex, dispatching it in teh smae manner but wioth much more zeal than the first one. And as the monster was falling down with its brain pierced, Rex shot towards his next victim.


    A few hours, and a dozen Apexes later, Rex could leave the place, shit eating grin covering his face. He had achieved everything he had come here for, and now all he had to do was return, cook up the chokers, collar the duo, and then, with their assistance, take over their old tribe, subjugate a few others, establish a quick and proper slave processing facility or doctrine, and then proceed with the next step of his plan- liberation of this world from the fucking zealots, while ensuring that part of them is kept alive so they could serve their lives out in atonement for their endless atrocities commited in the name of their god and belief.


    It did not take too long for Rex to find the gate, and with that acomplished he returned to the city of Long-Shu, where Vivian, Diana and Mary awaited. Rex also spent no time wandering around and beelined straight to the manor of the governor, since he sensed Vivian and the two svergi women in the same dirrection. As expected, the guards at the manor gate quickly opened it and escorted Rex inside, finding a servant and ordering him to bring Rex to guesst currently staying at the manor. The servant grought Rex to a certain wing of the mansion, bowed and excused himself, informing Rex the trio of ladies were inside and he was not allowed to go any further. Rex noded, allwoing servant to return to his duties and once the man was gone, Rex opened the door and entered into the wing.


    A minute later he had reached another door, behind which he sensed the trio relaxing. He opened the door, and a moment later he was already in Vivians embrace. The woman stod up immediatly as Rex was opening the door, then made a made dash and jumped on him, her arms wrapping around his neck and her legs locking behind his back. Then, she dived in, innitiating a deep and long kiss.


    Nearly ten minutes of passionate making out,with a few short interruptions to quickly take another deep breath, they finaly seperated. Vivian was satisfied for the moment, but even then, once Rex sat down in the sofa oposite Diana and Mary, the cultivator sat next to Rex, entwined her arms with one of his and placed her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed as she enjoyed his presence. She would be the first to admit that she had fallen hard for her master.


    "I have finished my little hunt, and I believe I managed to aquire the tooth of a few worthy specimens for your chokers. Now dear, be so kind and explain how they should be made and the rest of the steps of the tradition." Rex adressed Diana, sicne he was slightly skeptical regarding the possibility that Mary would also know all the intricacies it.


    "And I still want to claim you both. I am just that greedy." he added.


    "Sigh." Diana sighed "From what Vivian told us, we expected nothing less." she spoke and the Mary giggled and spoke in his presence for the first time


    "But we are okey with that, as long as it keeps us together."


    "Never had any thoughts of seperating the two of you anyways, so its a win win for me." Rex grinned happily. And during their short discussion, Diana pulled out two intricatelly woven strings and a small box, that once opened revealed a rather interesting lookking needle in it.


    "Now, show us the sacred teeth, we shall weave them on the strings and then you shall tie them around our necks, provided you have hunted strong enough monsters." she spoke with a grin of her own. She was quite excited to see just what her husband to be had managed to hunt down, and based on Vivians estimations, she would be in for quite the pleasant suprise.


    "Here comes." Rex said as he freed the table to make more room "I did seperate them by pairs, to ensure each pair belonging to the same monster was together. Dont know if that was important." Then he pulled out the best of his collection.


    Both his brides to be, sat there dumbfounded at the sight before them. Rex had displayed all sets of the Apexes teeth, all sets of the grifon- pegasus monsters and a few pairs of other raid tier predators. The duo of women were expecially drwan to the Apexus sets, since unlike the rest, these also had a green color mixed in with the other two, and Diana, who had spent a lot of her time with the wise woman of their tribe had an inkling of the owners of those.


    "D-Did you hunt an A-Apexus?" she asked with a trembling voice.


    "Of course, only the best for my brides. Turns out if you kill one, others soon come over to party. Thus it saved me quite the time, since I did not have to look for another, what with them coming to me and all."


    "SPIRITS PROTECT!" she suddenly half exclaimed, half yelled. Understanding had dawned on her. Rex had soloed not just one Apexus, but a dozen of them, all alone and in a single continius combat. Such power was unreasonable and never before heard of among her tribe. Not even the legends that had spread among the tribes, regarding the greatest a most powerfull of svergi warriors and champions, spun tales of such might, relentlesness and dominance. There were a few that had some unlikely hero emerge during a raid, and valliantly deliver an unexpected killing blow, preventing the wipe of said raid, but nothing like this.


    Regarding Apexus, there were three tales in total that recounted an actual triumph over the beast. Every single one ended with the raid group nearly wiped out. And since each such tale was preserved in a unique shell shaped gem sometimes mined out of the mountain, that worked as a recording and playback device, the chances of losing such tales were basicly non existant. And it had to be noted that their race had lived here for a more than twenty thousand years. So, three raid victories, with heavy cassualities, during all that time, and yet, her husband to be just murdered them like some poultry, judging from the little time he spent delving to deep floors and then hunting them down.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    A few minutes later Rex got bored of the daze the svergi beauties were in, and so, he clapped his hands, drawing them out of their stupor and spoke


    "Yes, yes, i know. Your husband is amazing, but dont space out on me like that. If you want to express your happiness, I would much rather prefer making out."


    "Mom. is he a God?" suddenly Mary looked at her mother, asking a question she had come to based on the presently aviable information. The question caused Rex to laugh, Still, he quickly stifled his laughter and answered the question instead of Diana.


    "No. I am not. Though i might one day become one."


    With the slight disruption out of the way, and the two wifes to be back to their senses, and in full action of making their marital necklaces, Vivian spoke with a grin in her face.


    "Just imagine how izumi, Rashuun and Aina will react when thye learn you married some new women before them."


    Her teasing caused Rex to frown, then his face calmed once again, and he responded in a calm manner.


    "I dont know what you are talking about. They had already recieved innitial engagement rings. I am simply looking for a proper material and a jeweler who could produce appropriate true wedding rings. Thats all."


    "Of course. Does that mean the same for the rest of the girls as well who recieved rings?" She seemed to be in a rather naughty mood, Rex noticed, but he did not mind, and he had quite the response ready for that.


    "For Leifia, yes. As for the rest? But you are already mine, body and soul, would I really need any other bond?" He smirked at her, mischief in his eyes. Of course, eventually he would place a proper ring on all of his lovers. It was the right thing to do after all. Which woman did not want to have a nice ring adorning her finger, indicating her belonging to a family.


    Luckaly, Vivian was able to see through Rex playfull retort and his easygoing attitude during the response, fortifying her suspicions. With that being as clear as possible, she just smiled at him and spoke in a playfull and false sad tone.


    "Guess I will have to work harder for master to come around and put a ring on this slaves finger one day." And with that said, she moved herself onto Rex lap and started to passionatly kiss Rex. A few minuted later they seperatet upon hearing Diana clear her throat. It seemed the two were done with finalizing the necklaces. As Rex placed Vivian next to him he saw two very similar necklaces, both having two sets of Apexus teeth in the center, and then a few more bear-begasus toth sets on the sides, with Dianas having an extra set. An insistance of mary, to symbolize her subservience to her mother. The girl loved her a lot and would always listen and do as told by her. The necklaces looked extremely beautifull as well as savage do to their design and the slight glow of the teeth.


    Then they both lifted their right hand in almost identical motion and moved their hair away from their necks. Understanding the gestures, Rex moved behind the two women, and put on their necklaces on. With both necklaces in place the duo turned to him. Diana had a light smile on her face as she looked straight into Rex''s eyes.


    "Husband. We will be in your care and will make sure that our home is always warm for both your body and soul."


    "H-husband." mary stammered, her cheeks red from embarasment. This wonderfull young woman had neither experience in marriage nor nightly activities, so she was both excited, nervous and embarased at the same time.


    "Would you like to claim us now, or shall we first take over my old tribe?" Diana asked calmly.


    "As much as I would like to indulge in my carnal desires right now, I believe its much more important to solve the tribe part first, since you two will be blissfully out of commision for the whole day once I am done."


    Diana raised her brow at his confidence, but before she could say anything Vivian saved her from a huge mistake the woman later would realize she alsomt commited.


    "Jea, we have tried to exaust him. Even with three succubuses and five other girls, he was the last one standing when we were all sprawled over the bed in blissfull extasy. Never, and i mean NEVER chalenge his stamina and libido. You would thing he is a damn dragon in human form if he was not that young." Rex smirked at her warning, held Mary''s chin with his thumb and index finger as he raised her head to lock eyes with him.


    "I will claim a kiss from the two of you now though." and with that he pulled the blushing girl into a sweet and gentle kiss. The girl just melted into his embrace as soon as their lips touched, overcome with a blissfull relaxing and inviting sensations. A few minutes later they separated, and she sat on the sofa, panting and with a blissfull expression on her face. Rex wasted no time to pull Diana into their first kiss as well, and the mother understood why Mary looked so pleased on the sofa. There was something magical in him. Their kiss felt better than nearly anything she had experienced before, only trumpled by the first hit of the magnificent taste of the earth grade meat Rex had given them in the dungeon cave.


    Just like with Mary, they seperated a few minutes later, but unlike the younger woman, Diana was experienced and thus she was also taking active part in their kiss, trying to overpower his tongue, and failing miserably. But that was to be expected, her husband had a lot of women he trained his techniques on, according to Vivian. Diana was even more sure of her pleasant future live alongside her daughter and her husband.


    "Wonderfull." Rex spoke, with wide grind on his face. "Now I want to solve that tribe issue even faster than before." He was almost undressing his two new wifes with his eyes- an action that endlesly pleased Diana and caused her Mary to blush even more, though there was anticipation flickering in her eyes. If just a kiss was so great, where will the act of joining will bring her? She had heard from the older women in the market that the nightly activities were quite pleasant if the man was trying even a little, and Rex seemed like the man who would pamper his women. Someting that happened sometimes in tribes as well with the especially beautifful wifes.


    "Shall we hea out then? The sooner it is done, the sooner we can start." Vvian asked, and noticing Rex questioning gaze she quickly explained.


    "Aint no way I am staying back here when I know you will bring them to Elysium for their first time with you, and to introduce thme to the rest of the girls. Their tribe is in the eight floor, so there is no danger for me to accompany you, and I want to get in some actual practise."


    "Fine, not like you are wrong. Besides , you have been working hard with your acting and the rest here. You deserve at least a full course extra special dinner and some personal time. Lets just inform the governor to make anyone coming to see me to wait here, since we will visit upon leaving."


    "Sure thing." Replied Vivian "By the way, how interested are you in the other tree godesses of the grand sects? It is quite likely they will try to entice you will them. Though since you did not destroy half their powerfull elders, they most likely thing you are just an unparralelled genius we ran into."


    "Hmm, well I still have your sect sisters to enjoy if I wanted more girls from here, so I dont rally care to add more, to be honest. Besides, you are just too eager for our nightly sessions, that I doubt I will be able to call them just nightly soon." His words caused her to smile even more than she was. It always felt nice to be apreciated. Even Rex felt happiness and pride when he saw how happy his girls were after their sessions or when he was simply spending some time with them, just relaxing in the garden or anything else mundane like that.


    With everyone ready, the small group left the room, after Rex removed the issolation barrier he had deployed, and thanks to a few helpuff servants and guards soon found the governor of Long-Shu. The man was heaving heavily as he returned to the mansion, having just escorted some sort of a dignitary away after quite exausting conversation.


    "Governor, you seem to have seen better days." Rex noded to the man, and said as he noted the rather gloomy appearence of the man.


    "Thing nothing of it your exelence. The ussual hurdles of the governor. I have had worse, but thank you for the concern." Then he noticed the two obvious necklaces around the svergi women necks, immediatly understanding their new status.


    "Congratulations to your exelency and your new wifes. May your life together is long and prosperous." then he akwardly spoke "I am terribly sorry to not have anything apropriate to present as a wedding gift. If your exelency would give me some time..."


    "Please." Rex interrupted the man. "Relax. There is no need for any gifts. You have been quite understanding and acomodating to my companions for the last few days. I will take that as the gift you prepeared. A safe place to stay for ones family is quite the gift, dont you think? Anyways, we sought you out to inform that we are all leaving for the dungeon to solve a few pending tasks. What I want from you governor is a simple matter. If during our delve someone comes from the other grand sects to meet me, inform them I will come here once I am finished with my business there, so they should just wait if they want an audience. And in return for that small task, i expect you to share what burdens you so, if it is still an issue once I am back. Who knows, I might even be able assist you. What say you governor, a good deal no?" The governor immediatly nodded his head, a light smile appearing on the mans gloomy face, making it notably less grave.


    "Well then, See you soon." Rex finished and once his three girls also expressed their thanks they left the mansion. Their destination- Dianas former tribes village in the dungeon.

 Chapter 72: Hostile takeover? Part 1.

    It took them little to no time to reach the dungeon entrance, and upon seeing Rex, the guild people did not even react to his company, well aware of their identity thanks to Vivian next to him who was basicly hanging from his arm. The two other women were dressed in the svergi traditional outfits, as well as their build betrayed their origin. And since none of the svergi mercenaries who actually operated outside the dungeon ever joined the adventurers guild, the guild members knew beter than to bother them. So the group quickly entered the dungeon together and soon appeared on the first floor. They could do nothing regarding that since Vivian had yet to explore this specific dungeon, and she had expressed her desire to sharpen her skills, given that Rex was there and she was abso;utely safe in doing so. And while Rex had more than one reason to not draw out their current engagement, he also recognized that his other plans could be delayed, and spending quality time with Vivian was more important. Plus Diana and Mary could come to know him just a bit better during their trip. And as an additional bonus, should they not reach the tribes village by the time night falls, they would just jump in his shard world for a pleasant rest. It was a win-win for everyone present, and ladies waiting for him in Elysion.


    Since the dungeons were stable seperate realms, their layout did not change periodicly, something Rex had noticed during his exploration of the previous dungeons. Only the flora and fauna ,as well as the monsters were recovered rather spontaniously inside the dungeons, ensuring the endless cycle of hunting, looting and fighting would never stop. And thanks to said static map, it was easy for Rex to guide his group towards the next floors. They had little action in the first two floors, since they were the more explored and frequented by the regular and weaker adventurer groups, thus ensuring that they had scarce monster population.


    Starting with the third floor however, the frequency of monster encouters rose sharply. A clear indicator that the floors here were much less frequented. The falling temperature was also a notable factor, however, the fact that A class monsters started to appear here was the most prominent reason that the floors from here on out were rarely traveled. Whenever they encoutered a group of monsters below A class, Rex would kill all but two of them, then seperate the monsters and allow Vivian to take on one of them and the other would be battled by Diana and Mary.


    The girls were not quite strong or experienced enough yet to battle A class monsters one on one. or one on two in case of mother and daughter, so Rex helped just a little when it came to training with A class monsters. It was quite easy for him due to two reasons. A class monsters would always roam alone up to floor nine, where they would finaly start forming packs, indicating the start of the middle floors, that lasted up to floor twenty. But since they did not need to go that far now, it was of little importance, and even then Rex was confident he could protect everyone within his group. And as Rex had expected, they only barely reached seventh floor when they were beset by the night. They had to reach eight floor, since the tribe was located there and since their business would take more than just a day he had no reason to try and rush forward. On the contrary, he had needy women waiting for his arival in his shard.


    Diana and Mary had spent the day quite happily, talking about both mundane things as well as about Rex harem, their new home in Blythe and Elysion, as well as other things that piqued their curiosity. They were even more excited then they got confirmation once again regarding their new families dietary tendencies. Rex did not lie when he had sad they only ate earth grade meat, since any of their meals during their travel contained it, alongside some solidly prepeared vegetables and bread. They got quite intrigued when Vivian almost drooled recalling Aishas cooking and praising the breakfast back home as a holy ritual, and Aisha, as the most holy priestess there. Vivian made quite the obvious point when she said that had Rex not got his hand on the wolfkin, and if Vivian had learned of the girl, she would not hesitate even for a second to claim the girl even as her lover, if that was what was required to attain Aisha. And it had to be pointed out that Vivian was straight as an arrow in such regards. It just served to strenghten the cultivators words of said chefs skills.


    Luckaly for the svergi duo, Aisha was there when they arrived in the shard. And since she was the only Wolfkin in Rex employ for the moment, the duo moved with haste to Aisha, to greet the girl, introduce themselves and to form, hopefully friendly, innitial bonds. Luckaly for them, Aisha was extremely open and friendly towards anyone who respected the food and her family. She became quite the tyrant if that was not the case.


    Upon learning that Rex had claimed the duo as his wifes by the svergi tradions, she looked at Rex with pleading eyes. Rex lightly smiled, patted the girls head gently and spoke to her.


    "Dont you have the special comunication ring? Those are all engagement rings. Why do you think I had you all wear them on the ring fingers? I am just thinking of a proper rings, and for those I will need much more impressive metals and jewels to decorate them. Besides, you are mine in every single way concievable" Rex touched the place where her brand was placed. "And I am never letting you go. What can a small ring compare to? No matter what, you will always be mine."


    His words relaxed the wolf girl and she bloomed into a large smile, jumping into his embrace and kissing him with great vigor. Rex did not fall behind in his reciprocation, in fact he even upped the game, leaving the eager girl wanting more and panting from her arousal. A playfull smirk apeared on his face.


    "Diner first dear, bath and you after. I am sure others are already in the dining?"


    "Mhm" Aisha responded, lightly biting her lip, then as he placed her back on the ground she grabbed his hadn and pulled him to follow her, glancing to Vivian and teh two new grils and slightly tilting her head, asking them to follow. Dinner was as cheerfull and lively as ever, with every girl being present. Rex was starting to feel his girls could almost sense now if he would visit his shard during the nights. Though to be honest, he spent nearly every single night here now, unless he was on some rather important quest and had to pull all nighter to get done with it faster so he can focus more on his girls. And grind. The two activities went together just perfectly grind during the days and appease and pleasure his girls during nights, with odd solo dates trown in here and there.


    With dinner over with, a few of his gils moved to assist the five cultivator maids and the few Veran snake ladies who were stationed here to take care of this mansion. As they slowly got ready for their nightly activities, Izumi and Rashuun reported to him the more important events that had transpired in Blythe during his absence, as well if he had any pressing audiences to recieve. he learned that Reigen had become quite the talking point in Blythe. THe man was after all and S class entity, and with him being Rex branded slave another storm was brewing. Al Merhaads and Ven Hersts had asked if Rex was willing to perform another branding. He would of coourse be well compensated for his troubles, should he agree.


    "Sure, we can arange that. Dont fleece them too hard. Their gifts helped me quite a bit." Rex spoke about the matter to his wonderfull lovers and representatives.


    Rumors about Neo were also slowly spreading and had reached Blythe. Some rather distorted news about his action in Sect Union lands, and how the mercenary was supposedly at the peak of SS class, if not already SSS class. The latter was quite videly believed when more rumors about how he easily crushed three SS class demon princes on behalf of Rex when the trio came to humiliate the blood mage and steal his women.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "So, did the princes leaked it or did you help the rumors of this spread Rashuun?" Rex asked calmly his succubi milf, to which she shooh her head.


    "I am innocent here. Either the new queen of succubi had a hand in it, or some of the lesser demons acompanying the preinces blabbered when drunk in some tavern. Then the rumors wouold spred like wildfire in the demon realm, eventually being spread further by information broker network."


    "Is it just the name, or is there a face to the legend already?" he asked further.


    "Well, not quite. It says a true archon with black scleras and yellow retinas. Though those in Blythe are more or less aware, since you dont bother hiding your actions when you stroll the city as Neo." Rashuun explained.


    "As he should. he is the undisputed top dog of the city, if not all continent. He should act at thevery least like such. " Izumi added, nuzzling closer to Rex. The due were in his embrace, each having taken a place on one of his legs with their arms around him and their faces nuzzed in his neck from both sides.


    "A right, master Airen left for home. He sends his regards to you and thanks for the demonstation of the absolute power." Izmuni spoke.


    "Right, send him light apologies. State that Neo is quite a friend so him taking offence at the disrespect towards Rashuuun and himself got the better of the man, thus the result."


    "There is no need. We already did, with the same idea when we met him last time. The man was quite understanding."


    "What would I do without you two?" Rex asked and placed a soft kiss on the head of the duo.


    "Ow, can we ask for a reward for our continious efforts then?" Rashuun asked with a sultry voice, and Izumi hummed in agreement in his other ear.


    "It would set a bad example if I were to not reward the two of you. Tell me, what is it that you to want?" he asked with a light smile. How could he not agree, the duo was working quite hard. Dealing with nobles was a pain in the ass, even for women as experienced as the two of them.


    "Once everything is ready, we want to be the first." Rashuun wispered in his ear, and Izumi hummed in his other in agreement.


    "The first in what?" Rex asked a bit confused, but when the duo moved his palms over their bellies he understood. He should have expected no less from centuries old succubi and a noble kitsune raised for diplomacy and scheming. He walked right into that one, he had to admit. He sighed in defeat.


    "Once I believe we have safe and stable enough position and place to safely raise the little spawns. But you will train a few more girls to work as our representatives among the core group, as well as tell the other of this little trickery of yours. First is becasue I cant very well have you working that stressfull job in that state. And second, well, thats what you get for this little scheme."


    His playfull retaliation elicited a few flayfull nibbles on his neck, both as thanks and as punishment for his acceptance and his petty revenge, if it could be called that. Little did rex know that the duo had already told the girls about their plan to steer Rex into the direction every one of his lovers wanted. And even if others had to wait a bit longer than Rashuun and Izumi, once the flood gate opens, it was only amatter of time untill they all would get the chance to enjoy the geratest of boons they couel ever hope for. A child oif their won from the man they adored and loved.


    The night was even more wild than ussual, with all ladies in the know that Izumi and Rashuun had succeeded in the first step of their long and convoluted plan to get Rex to start sooner than he might personally want. The only ladies being left out of their exercises were Diana and Mary, since Rex wanted to make sure their first night together would be unforgettable, but since they stil had to do some moving around in the dungeon in the morning, their consumation of the marriage had to wait. In the same manner Vivian also got a reduced amount of action, what with her being a part of the dungeon group and having to travel in the morning as well. Still, The result was the same as always, with the girls happily sleeping in their beds and Rex being embraced by two gorgeous elven beauties. Tonight was Ainas and Leifias turn to spend their night in his embrace after their activities.


    A few hours later Rex woke up, content smile on his face and spent another few hours lying just like that, in the embrace of the duo. He had decided on the minimum amount of time he has to spend in the bed at nights, and since he both enjoyed it a lot as well as considered it a sacred duty, there was no way around it. Once he had deemed it the proper time to get up, he carefully slipped out of the elven embraces, ensuring the girls did not wake up, and moved to the kitchen to spend a bit of time with Aisha who was already working on their breakfast. The wolf girl was ussually one of the first he would satisfy at night, since she loved her unique position as the cheff of the household, and she needed proper sleep to wake up early.


    Spending some time there and with breakfast ready, the family once again enjoyed the spectacle when someone gets to have a taste of heaven grade meal for the very first time. As well as their reaction afterwards to the knowledge that every one of their breakfasts are of such quality. And then, with the breakfast done, Rex once again departed to the dungeon in the company of Vivian, Diana and Mary.


    With the four of them back in the cold and unfriendly dungeon, Rex dispelled the barrier he had set up once he knew the situation around them. Then, they continiued on their way towards the eight floor- their destination for now. It took them a few hours, since, as previously, the girls trained on the monsters they encountered, once Rex had thinned their numbers, it it was necessary. And thanks to Diana, who knew this floor quite well, what with it being their tribes main hunting grounds, they did not have to spend much time wandering around to find the correct path that was the closest one to the svergi tribes village they were going to.


    And funnily enough, Rex group encountered another hunting party of svergi origin at the path to the eight floor, who seemed to be returning from their own successfull hunt.


    "Hey, look, chicks!" One of the hunters exclaimed as they noticed Rex''s group, and a few among the natives of the dungeon notably licked their lips. It was not often such beauties roamed around with a couple of outsiders, one of whoom was another stunning beauty. Diana noticing a few specific marking on their armor replied in neutral tone before the hunting party cam any closer.


    "Stand back, hunters of bear fang tribe. We have more important matters to attend to than deal with you. Now run along and inform your chief that a Warcaller might visit you soon." Her mention of a Warcaller immediatly caused the hunters to stop in their tracks, and their faces were now dead serious, not a single trace of their previous grins in sight.


    "How sure are you about the appearance of a Warcaller?" The leader asked, caution and skepticism in his voice. Warcallers were a big deal, since one had to basicly overpower the male population of their own tribe to become one, and that was not possible without high tier S class power, or above. Fatigue was one hell of a limiter after all. Even the most powerfull of fighters eventually tired out.


    "Its guaranteed the Warcaller will rise. Will he visit your tribe personally, or send a runner with a challenge, I cannot say, but be ready. Now go, we have much to do as well."


    The confidence in her voice as well as the way she spoke caused a small commotion in the hunters, whose leader quickly bowed, thanked Diana for the warning and rushed with his group ahead. Rex noticed that the pace of said group was quite straining for them, soe he looked to Diana for an answer.


    "There are quite a few traditions that us, svergi people have to abide by when a Warcaller visits ones tribe. Its how the governor fellow of the city outside bent over backwards to please you. There are a few things that has to be prepeared beforehand, and since bear claw is relatively small, the heads up will allow them to be ready for when you go and make them aknowledge you as their warcaller as well."


    Rex noded with a smile, thanking her for the explanation, and then their group proceeded on their way towards their target. It took them another couple of hours, and by noon, and now acompanied by a few groups of hunters from here, all wary and on edge regarding the stranger their former chiefs wife and daughter was acompanying since the man had disarmed them all quite easily when they tried to aprehend the two women, they stood in front of a rather large wooden wall, erected around a decent sized village- Dianas and Mary''s tribes home.

 Chapter 73: Hostile takeover? Part 2

    With Rex group of four in the middle, surrounded by the hunters as if they were captured and being escorted, the gate opened soon after they were in front of them. Rex smiled lightly, and seeing that unlike Diana, who was calm for the most part, Mary was quite nervous right now, so to relax the girl, he nudged Diana lightly and shen the mother looked at him, he pointed with his head lightly towards the daughter, and soon, the girl was pulled close to her mother, as Diana whispered a few words of encouragement and ensurance. Rex couldnt help but smile lightly at how Diana reassured her daugher that there was nothing in outside of the deep floors that could possibly threaten their safety as long as Rex was by their side, and that it was their enemies who should be trembling, like the hunters surrounding them were, not the other way around. That did calm the younger Svergi lady down and even made her giggle a little. Vivian just quietly stood by Rex side, enjoying the new experience and going along with the flow.


    Now, with the gate open, the large group entered the walled village, revealing its inside to Rex. A simple one story buildings were scattered around a rather simple network of dirt roads. In the center, a rather large square could be seen some five hundred meters away, a distance that was as far as hands reach for Rex extremely sharp vision, that could basicly zoom in more than a few killometers if needed by now. An ability that remained rarely used by him due to the confined spaces of the dungeons and the relatively short range of his ussual preys reach. In the square he could see multiple stalls operated by some svergi- local vendors most likely. He could see also a small elevation in one side of the walled vilage with a two storry large wooden building.


    "Thats the meeting hall, as well as the home of the Chief." Explained Diana once she noticed Rex gaze focused in the dirrection of her former home.


    "Does the wise women live there aswell? Seeing as how she should be a part of the decision making with her wisdom and advices." Rex asked another important question.


    "Kind of. Do you see the building next to it? The one with the small totems near the entrance?" Diana asked


    "Yes. Didnt know your people had eyesight so sharp." Rex answered slightly suprised by her ability to see the small knee high mini totems around the entrance.


    "We dont." she lightly chuckled " From what I know, our sight is no better than that of humans, its just that I have visited her home so many times, I still remember that front as if I was standing there right now, every detail engraved in my memory."


    "Ow, I hear a nostalgic longing in your voice. Should we visit her first then?" Rex asked, clearly more interested in ensuring his women were happy and not left wanting, that to rush with his objectives.


    "Well, I doubt we can reach the spirit world and come back in a quick few moments without actually dying, so lets not try that." She looked towards her daughter then to Rex "Our life is just now entering a new stage filled with hope and warmth, I would prefer to not lose it so soon." then understanding that a small explanation was in order, she did just that as the group was slowly advancing towards the chiefs hall, gathering more and more of the villagers of their tribe along the way. Everyone was curious what would happen to the duo of mother and daughter since they fled the new chiefs hands, even if said man had no right to demand them. He was quite greedy and arrogant and would stoop quite low to achieve his own desires, as evidenced by the poisoning of the old chief before he was challenged, and the sheer disregard the man had for the traditions of the tribe. He could only maintain his postion because his few brothers were some of the most powerfull men in the village and their family had great support.


    "Reiha, the previous wise woman was like a grandmother to me." Diana started "Ever since I was a little lass I would visit her home whenever I could, to listen to the wisdom she would share, the stories and tales of our history were breathtaking and willed with both adventures and wisdom beyond my understanding at the time. I will not deny that I also loved the meat pies she would bake often and share with me whenever I visited." she smiled remembering those moments "I later learned she baked them precisely because she new how much I liked them. So, the place was likea second home to me, and even when I grew up, was married to the chief, and were awating Mary''s birth I would continue to visit her."


    "Grangran." A light sniff was heard from Dianas side. her daughter stifling a few of her tears remembering the woman as well.


    "Most of our greatest moments were experienced in her presence, and Mary took it especially hard when she passed five years ago. As you can see, see still tears up from the loss, but thats just how life is. No one can escape the jaws of time." She then lightly smiled "Thankfully , we still have decades of happiness before us, so there is no point of being all gloom and doom."


    "Milenias and more." Rex corrected her.


    "Come again?" Diana asked in confusion, not understanding Rex words.


    "Did you not know? Earth grade food and above basicly stops ones aging beyond their prime, and even slowly recovers ones body to said prime state as long as it is being consumed regularily." Vivian smiled as she explained.


    "...."


    "Yes, dear sister. Our man here is so greedy and selfish he will never let us go." she giggled at her own joke, clearlyu satisfied with her jab towards her master and lover. Then, to ensure she recieved no retaliation from Rex she quickly glued herself to one of his hands, pressing her sizable breasts into it, so Rex could feel them even through her rather thck coat she was now wearing. It was quite cold outside after all. With the knowledge that she will not lose her mother anytime soon, a worry Mary was harboring ever since her grangran passed away and with the rising tension of the village before their escape, she was now as cheerfull as her mother remembered the girl before Reihas passing. Yet another debt she had incured that she doubted she could ever repay to her husband.


    ''All I can do is stand by his side and support whatever he decides to do.'' She thought to herself as they closed in to the chiefs hall. Most of the village gathered behind them, curious about what is going to happen.


    As they were closing in, one of the two men standing at the door rushed inside the moment he noticed Diana and Mary- clearly to inform thei chief. A suspion of Rex that proved correct as they soon heard loud laughter as three men, all around the height of two and a half meters walked out. The middle man was laughing hard.He had a scar of three claws on his left cheek, big bushy black beard, and cleanly shaved head. Visible bulging muscles and tribal marking on his shoulders.


    "Look at that brothers. The bitch did not escape after all. I changed my mind though. I no longer want you." He grinned "Once I am done with you, everyone will get their chance to have a taste of you. But dont you worry, I will keep your girl. She can still be taught to obey her betters." Then he looked at the hunters surrounding Rex group, as if he had not even noticed Rex and Vivian who was clinging to his arm.


    "You did good. Your chief will remember your contribution, and reward you apropriatly. Now. get no your knees bicth and crawl here, unless you want me to be rought on your girl."


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    As the chief was going on his powertrip, totaly disregarding the presence of two strangers, his caution and shrewdness apparently dulled by the taste of power, his two brother by his sides however were on full guard. They noticed th strange akwardness of the hunters surrounding Rex group as well as the downright relaxed expression of all three women within the group. But before they could say anything to their brother, and after he had ordered Diana to craw to him, the woman in question laughed. Her laughter was loud and and unstifled, and once she stoped, she asked in a clear and loud voice


    "Have you got so drunk on power that your brain was scrambled? It this how low you have fallen? Trully, I was expecting more from the leech who schemed his way to the seat of a chief."


    "YOU BITCH!" the chief screamed, a vein bulging in his forehead "YOU WILL BE BEGGING FORE DEATH ONCE I AM DONE WITH YOU! DRAG HER HERE!"


    "Silence." A single and simple word, spoken in everyday conversations volume, yet hear by all, that was followed by a pressure that forced everyone present but Rex and his women to fall on their knees interupted the rage induced tirade of the chief, and in that silence, the outsider man spoke.


    "Continue, he will behave now."


    Diana looked at Rex, smiling at her man as she noticed an embers of rage within his unique eyes. He was clearly holding himself back from starting his own punishment of the fool who insulted his woman, so she did not hesitate and proceeded with their task at hand.


    The village, like all other had runes inscribed around its perimeter, ensuring that the temperature within the walls was only a few degrees below zero, and some of the greater tribes, who had settled near great mines and rivers even had zones where they could do a limited amount of farming. And due to their mixed blood and life here, walking around the village in nothing more than trousers and leather type bra was common among the younger girls who were trying to attract the best of the men among the village. She took of her coat, revealing a simple shirt with rather large neck area, revealing her necklace and she spoke.


    "As the people can see" she glanced at Rex, who slightly lessened the pressure he was exuding, allowing everyone to raise their heads, looking at Diana "I have taken a husband, and brought him here to "


    "Ahhh!" a loud gasp interrupted Diana, and everyone looked at the origin of the voice. There, their gazes fell upon the new wise woman of their tribe. She was a simple looking Svergi femal aroound the age of fourty, sent here after the passing of their last one. The girl was born here, then once it was learned she had tallents for shamanic magic, she was sent off to the conclave of elements, where all the shamans were trained. Every generation a few talanted girls from each tribe was sent there, to be trained in shaman arts and to come back once their training is complete or the current wise woman dies, Each tribe had to have their spiritual leader, who would guide the chieftain and ensure they dont forget the wisdom of their forefathers.


    With the full attentin on her, she not only kept her slumped position, but with a bit of effort she kowtowed in th direction of Rex and his companions.


    "Im-m s-sorry y-your e-exelency." she shivered in pure fear and terror. How could she not. She recognized that the necklace Diana was wearing was made exclusively from monsters of the deep floors. And she, as someone who had graduated from shamans conclave knew what monsters teeth were decorating her necklace. That outsider was death incarnate if he could get his hands on not only one set of such teeth, but two. Especially since they had not heard of any monstrously large raid groups delving deep into their dungeon.


    Diana sighed. "Calm down Kara and wait untill I am done talking." Of course Kara would freak out, how could she not. That woman was the epitome of legend fanatic. Diana had spent quite a bit of time getting to know the new wise woman of their tribe after Reihas passing. Both to see who would try and walk in her guardians shoes as well as part of her duty as the main wife of the chief. kara could spend hours talking about legends and the smallest of the details surrounding them. Of course she could piece together the origin beasts of her marital necklace, of course she would go ballistic in the presence of a demigod. A title reserved for men who could fell Apexus beast. Adn he apparently had slain two, by what Kara could have seen. Diana just hoped her friend would not pass out when she sees Maries necklace as well.


    "As I was saying. I have brought my husband here, since he has deemed our people worthy enough for his plans. As my husband, he challenges this tribe for the title of a Warcaller."


    Her words caused another wave of shock, one that was lesser than upon Rex suppression, purely because the heavy pressure was still around, stifling the possbile commotion. Then Diana smiled as she looked at the chief whose eyes were bulghing even more as his power drunk state had vanished in the air like it had never been there in the first place, perfectly understanding that was to come, and even then, her next words made surpassed anything he had expected.


    "And his firts order of business?" she looked back at Rex with expectant eyes


    "To skin the dumb cunt alive."


    With that said, Rex moved towards the current chief, his steps like thunderclaps in a deathly silent night. Once he was in front of the chief, he man tried to speak, but was slammed into the ground by increased pressure.


    "How pathetic, you are not even S class." Rex spoke in a cold voice, then glanced at Diana and Mary


    "What about those two?" he pointed to chiefs brothers, then seeing Diana look towards Kara, he did the same and asked.


    "Wise woman, what does your tradition say?"


    His question raised caused Dianas smile, and with that Kara raised her head, quickly scrambling throught her knowledge of their laws and traditions, looking for an answer that would satisfy the demigod, even though she did not know what the man trully wanted. With his power alone he could undoubtedly anihilate their entire village without even breaking a sweat, and she did not doubt Diana and Mary would not say a single word against his action, if that were to happen.


    "As the siblings of the chief, whom I believe you are about to end, yes" and with Rex nod, confirming her gueses, she continiued "they are honor bound to take part of the Warcallers rite. If you so desire, thats where you can end their lives."


    "Fine, later it is then, whatever I decide." With those words, he released everyone but the chief from his pressure.


    "This is what happens to those who insult my wifes." he spoke, and with raw mana constructs he hung the trembling chief in the air, and forming countless knives he started to slowly and methodically skin the offender alive. Each knife cut a solid layer of skin, causing a searing pain to the chief, eliciting a miserable cream from the man, again and again. The smaller children had been taken away trom tehsquare by their mothers, only leaving a small part of the hunters and warriors here, witnesing the brutal end of their tyrant leader. There was a glint of fear and terror regarding the raw and unbridled savagery of their likely Warcaller, a glint of respect for the lenghts to which he would go for his woman, and bevilderment of the mans power and proficiency in wielding his skills. A few hours later, the last few dying gruffs came from their now expired chief, ending both his reign and life in the most gruelsome fashion.


    Rex willed his mana, burning the skin and corpse of the ex chief, leaving nothing behind and moved next to the three women waiting besides Kara, the wise woman of their tribe. Mary had not looked at the scene past the first few moments, not one for such bloody acts, while the other three women had watched it all happen.


    "Its over." Rex said in light and caring voice as he placed his hand on Mary''s head and gently caressed it.


    "You can turn around" he added and Mary looked out from her mothers embrace, light few tears marring her face.


    "What did you cry about?" Rex asked, not seeing a reason for her to cry.


    Sniff. Mary tried to colect herself a bit, then as she looked at Rex, guilt in her voice she answered.


    "It hurts having you do such things for us. I dont want you to sacrifice yourself for us. You are kind and nice already. We cant ask for more."


    "Why not?" Rex asked her back "Are you not mine? I can make the world burn for you girls. I will become the demon for whom, people, on moonlit nights, sacrifce their daughters, wifes, mothers and children to, just to live a few days longer. All without a second thought, if that is what it takes to protect my girls."


    "DONT." Mary quickly exlaimed, then hid her face once again in her mothers bosom in embarasment.


    "Are you not sweet." Rex smiled as he kept getly caressing the girls head. ''Just how much did you spoil your daughter Diana. She is already a full grown woman.'' He thought, looking at the mother in question with a raised eyebrow and light smile on his face, recieveing the same expression in return.

 Chapter 74: Hostile takeover? Part 3

    The group of four stood in front of the Chiefs hall, Rex''s having finished the public execution of previous chief, now gently caressing Marys hair, who was hiding her face in her mothers bosom. Vivian was once again hooked in his free arm, almost as of she was drawn there by some mysterious power. A dozen or so minutes later, when Mary finaly left the sof and warm embrace of her mother, only light traces of her tears remained as the girl was trying her damn hardest to smile brightly towards Rex.


    "You have promised to be our family from now on, so it would hurt me if you were to sacrifice yourself unnecessarily. Remember that there are countless people around you who depend on you and need you in their lives." She spoke with a slight pout once she had set her stage with that strained smile of hers just moments before. And while Rex and Vivian both would normaly point out the mostly akward transition, the girl did convey some valid points with her rebuke.


    "I will take that to heart and only do things I am sure I can withstand." Rex responded with a light smile of his own, recieveing another warm smile from Mary and a comment from Diana.


    "You better. With the time we now apparently have to spend together I have high expectations." Her teasing smile could be intrepreted in many ways, all of which Rex left as is, taking her words at face value. He reasoned that his wife expects plenty of love and great time ahead, something he believed he could provide aplenty.


    "So, Kara, everything regarding the Warcaller challenge and other things to come are all in your hands to see through, what with you being the next chief and all." Rex said as he adressed the wise woman who wisely stood by the side and kept quiet. Rex was so much of a monster, and since she was lacking more info regarding his character, the smartest move would be to just keep silent, and only speak when spoken to.


    "What?" she stammered, processing his words, quickly fixing her response "Whatever does your exelency mean? I am just a wise woman, no man would listen to me or my comands."


    "ow but they will" Spoke Diana this time. ''''It is the Warcallers right to choose the new chief, and anyone who does not like it,can take it up with the Warcaller himself. And I doubt there is anyone stupid enough to do it after that small display of aura. And please Kara, relax a little, my husband would like to not murder our people unnecesarily since he has a few plans where our people could be quite usefull, so, unless they activly try to achieve that result,very few would actually die during the takeover."


    Her friends words did relax the shaman a bit, but she still was quite cautios during their following talks, where she explained the following events. She did lag once again when she saw that not only Diana but also mary had similar marital necklace. That caused a few laughs from Rex and Vivian, a few chuckles from the mother and daugter pair and one large fronw from Kara, once she regained her bearings.


    "Just how powerfull is your husband to take on such monsters, and what kind of party does he do it with. Theremust be countless veteran warriors among their ranks, with many tales to recount, I am sure." Kara started to open up, her curiosity getting the better of her and causing her to loosen up. That stoped as soon as Diana corrected her.


    "Hmm? What group? He went there solo."


    Kara.exe stopped working then and there once again, and only rebooted a few minutes later.


    "A-and what w-would someone of such power need little meak us for?" she asked with clattering jaw.


    "Rounding up and processing thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of slaves. Maybee light skirmishing, by your standarts of course."


    Kara stood there for a few moments, her mind working on a solution, and once she had figured it out she spoke


    "We will need a few more tribes as well as an extended expedition to the outside world. Many would likely sow discord, not willing to leave our home for long periods of time."


    "That should not be a problem Kara. We will deploy a network of teleportation gates to get you to the place of the work as well as to the camp that will used as the processing facility. The slaves will be religious zealots who believe, Archons are to be killed on near sight as well as other races being lesser beings than them. I find it poetic justice that they would be educated and processed by one such lesser race." Rex explained, a smirk appearing on his face due to the joke he weaved in the end there.


    "Sounds quite poetic indeed. And since capturing slaves is quite common practice among our people we are very skilled in said pasttime." Kara aded, not the least bit against the idea, since such practices was part of their customs as well as the mode of their own movement. Gates would mean they were only moments away from their home and thus their peopel would be quite willing to exploit their skill set to the fullest.


    "So, how does our plan look for the time being?" Rex asked Kara, who understanding his reason for inquery quickly answered.


    "Today you are to relax in the Chiefs hall as the temporary leader of the tribe. Then, tommorow the Warcaller challenge will begin. You are to wait in the middle of the arena" She pointed to an area that had simple stands around rather plain arena of sorts, marked with a light, bone liek fence "and subjugate anyone who dares to challeneg you. And while it is not forbidden to kill your challengers, it is advised not to, since you would be culling your own army. Though, previous chiefs brothers are honor bound to challenge you, and unlike the rest of the tribe, they would most likely try to sabotage you on every opportunity. So in their case, quick death is advisable."


    "Well, you know best I suppose." Rex answered, then looked at Diana "Anyone else who, should they raise to the challenge I should take out permanently? To cull all the troublemakers so to say."


    Diana thought for a few minutes, but could not immediatly come up with any such people, so their shitlist remained quite short and concise. Thus they spent the remainder of their day as advised by Kara- lounging in the chiefs hall and going over several topics of interest, since Kara was with them for the most part, and she was incredibly curious regarding Dianas experience since she escaped a week or so ago. Not to mention her curiosity regarding the mother and daughters new shared husband.


    Kara was invited to join their supper, to which the shaman agreed, and once again yet another refined lady was introduced to the magnifisence of the gourmet world, or in this case, the superior quality ingridients. And with their meal done, Kara excused herself, leving to finalize a few of her own duties she had to perform due to the coming challenge. They had come to an agreement on which tribes should be absorbed into their newly forming megatribe, under the leadership and controll of their Warcaller to be- Rex, or in this case Neo. To ensure no slips of tonue happened his girls used a few different words when outside, most comonly those were either master or dear. Now however, due to Diana and Mary, even Vivian elected to adress Rex as husband, and since Rex had no opinion on the matter, he was sure soon most of his girls might start adressing him like that.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    One would think that the brutal execution of the previous chief would ensure that their night would be rather grim and the like, yet Vivian could lighten up any sour mood, and so she did, keeping to her ussual antics playfully teasing Rex and the girls. TIn addition, the woman would take any and all opportunities to innitiate any possible contact with Rex, be it cuddling, kissing or downright sex. Nothing was off limits or out of reach, especially now that there were so few of his girls around to limit her options. So, as expected, Vivian recieved her share of nightly action, leaving her blissfully exausted an hour or so after they went to sleep. And since Diana and Mary were not begging to be included in hsi nightly actiities just yet, they were only dragged into the bedroom after Vivian was out cold.


    The two Svergi women were quite nervous as they were pulled In Rex embrace, yet that was all he did before wishing them a good nights sleep, asuring he was in no rush to taste them, and would do so once they were ready. Its not like he was backed and desperately needed release, so he could give them time. He could only gain with such an action, so it was a no brainer for Rex. Rex also noticed a few people sneaking out of the village in the dark of the night, his mana and aura sonars easily picking up the few men sneaking out. He asumed that was some sort of a plot to retaliate against him for the chiefs death, but he took no action to stop it, his opposition was just that weak, besides, in case they were sent to bring over members from other tribes to exaust him more for a chance for a definite blow, Rex would rather thank them than punish the culprits. Revealing his knowledge of the sent out men, as well as thanking said culprits for playing along would set them up for retaliation from said invaders.


    So Rex relaxed in the arms of two beauties, with the third close enough on the bed to be pulled in a cuddle puddle, and enjoyed his current situation, while keeping an eye out on any possible sneak attack during the night. yet another time the ability to not need any sleep whatsoever came in handy. As Rex had expected though, none present were stupid enough to attempt such a stunt, so their night was calm and peacefull. Their next interaction with anyone from the village came in the morning when Kara arived, ready to lead them to the arena and innitiate the claggenges second part, as tradition dictated. By the time the thewise woman arrived Rex and his group had already gotten up and eaten their breakfast, so they could follow Kara without any delay.


    Soon Rex stood in the middle of the arena, with Kara performing a few small rituals, innitiating the rite. With her done, the tribes warrriors had the right, some would say duty even, to go into the arena and challenge the would be Warcaller to test his strenght, since only one as strong as the whole tribe could ever hope to be a true Warcaller. It was their role to lead the tribe un the path to greatness, be it taking over other tribes or engaging in largescale raids whereever the Warcaller deems profitable.


    A few minutes passed without a single challenger untill a rather young man, who Rex remembered from the hunting party that had tracked Diana and Mary to the first floor, walked into the arena. The youngster stood a few dozen meters away from Rex, his axe in hand, then prompty planted said axe on the ground,sat on his knees and bowed towards Rex, speaking in a rather loud voice.


    "Respects to the Warcaller, but tradition must be upheld." Then the youngster got up and took the axe in both hands and charged towards Rex.


    "Good." Rex said in a calm voice, allowing the man to charge, and once he was in range and swung his weapon, Rex lifted his hand and simply caught the blade of the axe in his right hand and used the left hand to deliver light strike to the youngsters chest, causing him to fly a few meters back from the impact, yet doing only superficial damage to the man. Rex considered this youngster to be quite sharp since the man approached this with with and courage, showing respect towards his adversary and at the same time proving his potential to him.


    "My loss." spoke the youngster as he slowly got up, having achieved his purpose. He had fulfilled his duty towards the tradition, showed both courage in the face of overwhelming might as well as respect towards his next leader, and surely impressed himm however small that impression might be. And seeing that Rex had gone relatively simple, going as far as to hand the axe back to the youngster, other males of the tribe started to come in the arena, the fulfill their duty towards the tradition.


    Rex went easy on them all, not seeing any reason to damage his own work force before the take over, though he did not hand the weapons back to others, they had to pick them up on their own. No, such honor was reserved for the first man who dared to stand up in the face of certain death, should the man in the middle of the arena decided so. The fact that the youngster also showed respect just solidified his right for recognition. What caused Rex to wonder though, was the absence of the previous chiefs brothers, causing Rex to asume that the two who sneaked out last night were precisely them.


    His suspicion was confirmed when closer to the evening, a guard from the rushed to the arena to inform Kara that members of two nearby tribes, clearly their warriors had arrived at the gate, acompanied by the two brothers, and were demanding to be recieved, as per traditions. They had come to converse about joint hunts and warrior training.


    "Bring them here." Rex spoke loudly, so Kara could hear him as he drew a chair from his storage ring. "They must have some plans in mind, so why not see what they have cooked up. Worry not, no harm will come this place. It is mine after all." And Rex was right, there were no other chalengers remaining except for the two brothers, and all that was left was for Rex to wait untill the day ends for his trial to be complete, granting him the title of Warcaller.


    "What tribes they come from?" Rex then asked "Warn that I will anihilate them should they cause trouble anywhere in the village during their visit.


    "Understood." The woman guard bowed her head and dashed away, not knowing that every single little thing happening near the gate was beiing observed by her new boss. Rex was paying full attention to the two groups, not leaving out a single detail that he could track. He was going to make an example out of anyone who decided to act as if they owned this place and show no respect for him being the newowner of this place.


    A couple minutes later, the guard lady was at the gate, explaining the message and allowing the two groups to enter after she had warned them. They had been warned, now, whatever trouble they make was on their shoulders, and haing whitnessed Rex aura, the guardwoman was sure their village was safe and souond from whatever attack it could experience.


    With knowing smirks the leaders of the two groups asked once they saw themselves being led not towards chiefs hall but towards the arena.


    "Whyever would you bring us to the arena, instead of the Hall?"


    Guardswoman sighed, and responded.


    "With the brothers by your side you should be well aware that our chief should be here, dont take me for stupid."


    "My, my, how feisty you are." said one of the leaders "maybee we should aks for her to be disciplined once we are done here?" he continiued, causing the guardswoman to glare at him, but continue to lead the two groups towards the arena.


    Upon arrival, everyone new there furrowed their brows, not seeing anything similar to what they had expected. The arena did not have any fresh blood splatters, something such an event should have undoubtedly created, nor was there any body parts lying around anywhere. What was even more unexpected was that the target of their arrival was leisurely sitting in the middle of the arena in a fucking chair, seemingly enjoying a relaxing evening.


    They were expecting wounded and tired man, standing imposingly in a river of blood and limbs, yet nothing of such a scene was there.


    "What is going on here, did he not take the rite yet?" asked the one leader who had yet to speak, swithcing his gaze between the brother of old chief accompanying him and Kara, since she was clearly the wise woman.


    "That had nothing to do with you regardless if that is. or isnt the case. State your purpose here. We have much to do still, and cant waste it on nobodies." Rex interrupted any possible followups, mostly understanding the situation here.


    "Or better yet, do tell me , what did those two fools offer you to come and meddle?" Rex asked with a smirk on his face, then noticing a quick shift of the leader eyes in the dirrection of Diana and Mary he laughed out loud, then a sharp inhale later his gaze seemed to almost pierce the two groups as he stood up from his throne like chair.


    "You are all either stupid, too arogant or downright suicidal. maybee all three, so why dont I assist you in your departure then." Rex continued as he drew Limitless for the first time during todays ritual. he would not excuse someone lusting after his women and acting out to get their hands on them.

 Chapter 75: Hostile takeover. Part 4

    With his sword drawn, Rex stood there, in front of his seat, in the middle of the arena, looking at the two groups of warriors, acompanying the brothers of the previous chief.


    "Well, what are you waiting for?" Rex asked in a rather cold and detached voice. "Come, and recieve my judgement. It is why you came after all. No one lusts after my women and get away with it."


    The two leaders present were no fools, and seeing the state of the arena, as well as the lack of any indication on Rex that would show he was exausted, or even tired, both quickly brainstormed for a proper excuse to not engage said oponent in a battle. Every single fiber of of their being was screaming that the individual in the arena was dangerous, so much so that they had no chance of winning no matter how they try, and in the face of such opposition it was only reasonable to seek another way out.


    "You misunderstand." one of the leaders spoke "My people have come to discuss mutual benefit, and to witness the possible rise of a Warcaller. He have had no conflict for quite some time, thus we hoped to strenghten our friendship. Our chiefs son was coming of age soon, so a union of tribes was our idea, though it seems now that is not an option, since the daughter of your late chief has already found a man."


    "Is that so?" Rex questioned, his stance not changeing whatsoever "And whatever would be the reason of your group for coming here?" He turned his gaze to the other group, whos members stood there in silence, their expressions grim due to the situation.


    "You have time untill I am done with thsoe two little worms by your sides." Rex added as he raised his blade, pointing forward. "Come and avenge your brother, as your honor demands." He smirked at the two brothers, who looked towards one another, drew their weapons and charged at Rex with all their might, rage and desperation obvious in their eyes. They hoped that together they could at least wound their mortal enemy, making the two guests to capitalize on his weakness and finish their job. Now, even if they could not see the demise of this outsider, they would await his spirit on the other side. Sadly, their wish would not come to pass, as once they were close enough Rex hand holding the blade made a quick and untraceble movement, splitting both attacking Svergi males in two parts, their heads seperated from their bodies and their weapons split in two as well.


    With the last of the opposition dispatched Rex glanced at Kara, inquiring the shaman, who quickly announced the end of the trial, cementing Rex as the first Warcaller in centuries, possibly withing not only their tribe but among the entirety of their people living withing the dungeon. Now, with full controll over the tribe, Rex apointed Kara as the chief, ensuring that all the domestic issues would be hers to decide and solve. Rex would now be responsible for their military campaigns and activities.


    "Now then, let us hear the excuse our second FRIENDS have prepeared for us, shall we?" He spoke with amusement as he adressed the warriors still loking for an excuse for their sudden arrival. Not like they could say that they wanted to assist the brothers in exchange for Diana, as well as a few other benefits their tribe would recieve. Such quality women were quite rare amon their people after all, so no one would ever deny a chance to aquire such prizes.


    The second leader gritted his teeth, glancing around and evaluating his chances, They did not look good. Especially after he saw just how quickly and effortlesly the brothers had fallen. What then should he use as the excuse to try and get out of his sticky situation, or should he just come clean, the only alternative being to challenge the man and die, which was not an option anyone would willingly take, thus limiting his choices quite a lot. Besides the other tribe had already backpedalled, finding a convenient excuse for their presence here. Though how likely it was to actually grant them a safe passage out of here was still to be seen, though irreleveant if he could not find a solution for his own conundrum.


    A few moments later, as he inspected the new Warcaller of this tribe he chose a rather risky option, though one he asumed was the most likely to give them a chance to survive, since no matter what, if it came down to actual fight, he was sure their death was inevitable. He decided to tell the truth, as was their tribes tradition and way, so he pointed to the corpse of the brother that had come to his tribes village and spoke.


    "He came to us in the night with an offer. He said that there would be a Warcaller rite performed in their tribe today, and they had blood feud with the challenger. And if we were to assist in settling said grudge their family would reclaim the chief seat and provide us with a trueblood woman." He then sighed, took another breath and continiued his explanation, seeing that the Warcaller was still standing, allowing him to continiue.


    "We were aware that there were a couple of truebloods in this generation in their village, so we accepted their offer. Had we known they are already claimed, even by said challenger we would never had acepted their offer. No honor in such a deal. So, what is to be our fate?"


    Rex looked at his two wifes, who, together with Vivian, were already standing by his side, since the trial was officially over and he had become the tribes Warcaller.


    "Well, what do you think I should do with them?" Rex asked the two. It was their tribe and their customs he was willing to abide should they wish it so, and thus he reached out for their input.


    "I do believe we should forgive the Wolf Howl tribe. They are an honorable bunch, and would not have agreed had they known the entire situation. Truebloods tend to cause decisions to be hasty." and seeing the questioning gaze of Rex, Diana explained to him the confusing term.


    "Rarely among Svergi tribes are born women, and even rarer still men, with purer bloodline of our ancestor, granting them and their offspring better upper limits of their attainable strenght. Thus any trueblood is highly valued and kept a secret if possible. Every tribe wants to prosper and grow stronger. And as you may have guessed, I am one, and Mary is one as well. She has inherited my blood purity after all."


    "Hooo, so I scored big time it seems." Rex grinned, looking at them both, causing slight blush on Marys face and light smile on Dianas.


    "They will be spared then, since you have deemed it so. What about the others though? I believe they recieved the same offer, and chose to attempt to decieve us with lies." Rex decreed and asked about the other tribes warriors.


    "Winter Fox tribe. They are quite tretherous. Often using both deception and lies to achieve their goals. I would like to have no dealings with them due to their nature, but since its out that our tribe ahs at least one trueblood, if we cull them here and now, it is highly that they will spread the news further to the larger tribes, who would most likely attempt to get us by any means necessary." Diana explained.


    "So, damn if you do, damn if you dont." Rex said, as he was calculating a few things in his mind.


    "Wait, isnt it in our interests for the big boys to come to us? Saves me the time looking for them." Rex asked Diana in a hushed tone, ensuring this question of his was only heard by his girls, causing them to widen their eyes as they understood his question. And with a nod of approval from Diana, Rex looked at the Winter Fox tribes warriors and asked


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "If you were to not return, what are the plans of your tribe? Will they leak the existence of trueblood in our tribe?"


    "Indeed." Their leader quickly answered. "Shoudl we not return within a few days, our scouts will spread the news to the largest few tribes. So you better let us go if you dont want to deal with the overbearing might and arrogance of said greater tribes."


    "Perfect." Rex smiled with and evil smirk, dissapearing from his spot and appearing in front of the White Fox tribe members, and in just a few moments all warriors of said tribe laid dead on the ground, their dead faces in expressions of fear and terror.


    "You will stay the night in our village and return back home in the morning. Then send over your chief and wise woman to have some serious talks of possible cooperation among our tribes." Rex then adressed the Wolfs Howl tribe members. "You saw what I can do, should I want to, ensure your chief understands it is not a request, but and order that he should follow." he instructed the leader, who solemny nodded, understanding the gravity of their situation. They had kicked and iron plate and now they would have to live with the consequences. He just hoped that whatever their tribe was tasked with would not go against their way of life and principles.


    After that was dealt with, what followed was a small feast within the tribe, since it was indeed a joyous occasion to have attained a Warcaller, especially one as powerfull as theirs. And while the tribe was having their own little celebration, Rex was having their own little feast in the company of Vivian, Diana, Mary and Kara. Their shaman and now chief was all smiles when she too had a taste of earth grade meal, something Rex side did not mind sharing with her, since she would have to do quite a lot starting tommorow. And once Kara left to rest for the night, another party started in the chiefs hall, who would now hosue their Warcaller, since this was the grandest home in the village and Kara preffered her own residence that was right next to chiefs hall. Dian and a blushing Mary had decided that with their claim established and secured over their village it was time to finaly consumate their marriage, leaving Vivian hanging for a few hours, since this was their night, even if in the end even Vivian was sprawled on the bed alongside the two with just as blissfull expression on her face.


    Rex calmy laid in the bed as the morning came, tightly embraced by the two Svergi women, remembering the wildness of the two. He should have expected that, what with them being half giants by blood as well as their rather barbarian resembling culture and society, that revered and almost worshiped personal strenght. It was no wonder that the two liked it quite rough, and would last rather long time due to the harsh conditions their enviroment was constantly in. Still, their enthusiasm and desire to please Rex was apparent, and he was sure that their life together would be filled with fun and adventures of all kinds.


    Rex did create a barrier that obscured their bedroom as they slipped in his shard world for a proper breakfast once they were awake, where he apologized to his ladies present and promised to make it up to them at a later date, since he had to finish up with Svergi as soon as possible and he wanted to ensure that Diana and Mary had the best first time with him they could ever possibly have. And with that, Rex got off the hook rather lightly, only being lectured by Aina and Leifia a bit. The lascivious mother and daughter duo were quite invested in breaking Rex''s resistance and hastening the arrival of their chance for motherhood.


    After a quick, but satisfying breakfast, they returned to chiefs hall, and relaxed in bed for a short while longer. Soon Kara arived at their doorstep to invite them for a breakfast and to talk over his vision regarding the events that should be unfolding in the near future. And so, they began to plan their responses and actions to be taken while the tribe was reorganized according to Rex''s needs, Vivian also gave a few suggestions to improve the training of the younger generation, since she had noticed quite a few inneficiencies in their current regime. And as the granddaughter of a powerfull sect leader, who was supposed to take over its leadership alongside her partner, she was well trained and taught in maximizing the efficiency of her sect and other tasks of such nature. And since Rex trusted his cultivator lover he gave her free reign regarding the strenghtening of this tribes training regime.


    "Right, I entirely forgot. So, whats the name of your tribe?" Rex asked Kara, causing the woman to stumble due to the question, causing his three women to laugh as well.


    "I was waiting for you ask that, though I expected the question much sooner. And with that I mean before we reached here, but nevermind that. Our tribe is recognized as Silver Owl tribe. While we are relatively small, we are still somewhat recognized since our tribe had lasted for quite a long time. That is atributed to our mostly neutral stance regarding disputes among tribes and other such events." Diana explained.


    "I will try not to forget." Rex comented with a smile, obviously pulling their leg, then continiued. "How soon do you think we should expect some sort of response from the larger tribes?"


    "Given the unique situation, I would wager that Winter Fox tribe will send their runners out by the midday, since their sent warriors will not have returned by then, causing them to expect some sort of a disaster, and to ensure their own safety they will spread the info. Then a couple more days untill said information reach our intended targets and a couple more untill they have organized, sent out their response force and arrived here." Kara speculated and Diana nodded in agreement.


    "So, we have a at least four days before any real fun begins? Noted." Rex responded, then added "I will create a gate of my own in the village then, since I have the time, and it will be needed for us to ensure quick and efficient movement around once we start our grand raids."


    With that done, and Kara done having the breakfast, they dispersed in different dirrections within the village. Kara went to solve issues and elad the village, Rex, as he previously mentioned moved to the side of chiefs hall, where he started calculating and drawing plans for his own gate. His non stop calculations with the rest of his paralel thought proceses had constant changes and itterations, untill a few hours later he had a solid layout ready, that he innitiated as soon as he was sure of its stability and utility. Rex had observed enough gates in action and together with his exceptional spacial magic tallents it was quite easy to not only replicate his own version, but to also modify it to serve his purposes. Once he is done with this gate, he can then link it with any other gates he creates during the invasion, ensuring fast and effective ability to move troops, loot and captives.


    Since the Wolf Howl tribes members had been allowed to leave early in the morning Rex could expect their chief and wise woman to arrive in the following day as well, so the remaining time of the day he spent creating a few quite usefull formations to fortify the village. Something that was apreciated not only by Kara and Diana but most of the tribe members as well once they learned of the action. No one would refuse fortifying of their home, since raids and conflicts were not a rarity among Svergi tribes, and while Silver Owl tribe was quite neutral, that did not mean random raiding parties did not target them from time to time.


    After a night of hard work in his shard worlds bedrooms and a fulfilling breakfast with his family, Rex returned to chiefs hall acompanied by the same three girls that were spending time with him here, and an hour or so later, Kara came to inform them that Wolf Howls tribes chief and wise woman are to arrive soon, since their runner had delivered the message.


    "Think one of their warriors was a skald?" Rex asked with amusement "How else would they be so fast and decisive in obeying my command."


    "I dont know," Viviand spoke sarcasticly "Maybee because they was you dismantling another tribes warrior group in moments? And the fact that you are a Warcaller of a tribe must be quite intimidating."


    "Indeed. Do not underestimate the power said title carries. We have quite a few tales of the might and ferocity of a Warcaller. Some of the epics even tell tales of a Warcaller destroying armies of tribes singlehandedly." Kara explained, inquiring if Rex''s group would like to hear a few of said tales, excitement fluttering in her eyes. Kara was a story maniac indeed, Rex confirmed, and dissapointed Kara by saying they had to prepare for the visitors, as well as he needed a few groups of hunters to be prepeared for a small expedition of theirs. He planned to aquire a small mountain of meat for the tribe, while at the same time evaluating their hunting techniques and style. If he were to create a power, he expected to groom them into powerfull group, one that could take on all manners of tasks without fear of a possible failure.

 Chapter 76: Hostile takeover? Part 5

    With the orders handed out, and the tribe prepearing the requested squads, Rex finalized a few neccesarry actions, buzzing to life his natural energy formations, turning the village into a small fortress that could summon a monster, shouold the situation grew dire enough. Of course said monster was Rex himself, since he had begun to create a unique runes that served as life saving treasures for his people. Once mortal danger was detected, said rune would activate, creating a pulse of distorted space, protecting the carrier from the gharm and summoning Rex to the location.


    Said rune was reserved for his women, and important locations, so no ordinary foot soldiers would have them. Those would recieve a lesser version, only providing emergency teleport away from the danger zone. Still, Rex laughed to himself when he imagined the cost of such runes in auctions. Every lord would want a couple for their spoiled brats or favorite women, but like Blood mages, space mages were a rarity as well, even if not quite as rare as the former. Soon, Kara informed that the expected guests have arived, and with that Rex slowly moved to a prepared room in the chiefs hall. Outside said room, nervously stood six men, clearly the guards of the chief, though upon noticing rex all of them stiffed, not daring to look at the man, even if he was notably shorter than them.


    Entering the room, Rex saw his relaxed women already sitting there, enjoying their tea. The two guests, a man and a woman in their early fifties looked quite nervous, the woman especially so. Rex felt the pull to tease the ordinary looking pair, so he gazed at them and asked.


    "Now, did the Warcaller title scared you so much, or was it the way I dispatched the other group?" The unexpected question caused the duo to flinch, causing a small smile on his lips. He wanted to continiue, yet was stopped by Diana.


    "Shush now. Dont you see they are scared as is, dont make it harder on them than already. Its a wonder they even managed to reach here in that state." Diana reprimanded Rex, who just grinned at the woman. And after a brief pause addign her own growing curiosity to the mix.


    "Though I would actually like to know the answer to said question as well."


    Her own mischievous nature caused Rex to laugh, and elicited a small giggle from Mary and Vivian as well.


    Seeing the relaxed Warcaller and his women, the guests managed to become slightly less tense, but they still felt like being on the knifes edge, where one wrong answer could plinge them, and worse, their tribe, into chaos and destruction. Still, it was just as dangerous to make the man wait, so the chief swallowed his saliva hard, somehow managed a bitter smile on his face that looked more like a smile someone with a gun at his head could make after being forced to eat dirt and forced to praise its taste.


    "Would you believe if we said its both? Their leader was rather well known hunter in these floors, so the fact even he could not react to the movements of the great Warcaller showed the immense difference between not only them but between us all as well. So, the title reknown was elevated once again, causing our current situation."


    "Might we inquire about the reason we were sommoned?" Asked the wise woman, now slightly calmer, yet still as cautious as possible when interacting with Rex.


    "Our husband has taken a liking to your tribes straightforwardness and honor. Thus, we have decided to grant you the privilege of being a friend and a partner in our upcoming raids to gain large numbers of slaves for both sale and personal use. And unlike the tribes coming to us soon with intention of stealing whats not theirs, you get to maintain your independencce from us." Spoke Diana.


    "Is it regarding the truebloods?" Asked the chief, and seeing Dianas nod his look became more solemn. "How sure are you of being able to fend off multiple large scale raids from a few of the largest tribes?"


    "How sure are you of your death should you encounter Apexus?" Rex asked back, causing a confusion in the visiting duo.


    "Just answer." Giggled Vivian.


    "We are guaranteed to die, without a corpse left to show our passing." Answered chief, and the shaman nodded.


    "See, I am just as sure that they will all fail. I am here after all, besides, Apexus aint all trat strong anyways." Rex spoke, causing the two guesst look at him in disbelief.


    "While we do not doubt your might, Apexus is a monster in a whole different league. The last time anyone had hunted one was more than..." And then the sentense abruptly stopped, as the wise woman of Wolfs Holw tribe stared at the necklace that Diana had lifted in the focus.


    "Then can you guess what beast these come from?" she asked as her fingers slowly slid over the two pairs of ceremonial fangs of the Apexus. The wise woman stood up in her stupor, extended her hand toward Dian and walked a few steps forward. Then she fell back on her ass, missing the sofa she had stepped away from, disbelief and shock ornamenting her face.


    "LORDS ABOVE! THIS SERVANT HAS RECOGNIZED THE LORD." the wise woman quickly changed her posture to a kneeling position with her forehead on the ground, bowing in utmost reverance.


    "Aint no lord or whatever. Pipe it down. So, regarding our offer?" And to his words, the wise woman quickly got up, not needing to be told twice, she turned to her chief and instructed him to accept the generous offer. Refusing would be an insult, and not acceptable and likely end with their tribes extermination, or so she asumed. And so, the chief quickly accepted. Then, they spent a few more hours discussing a few important points in how to best utilize their cooperation and the plans for the future. Then, before the departure of their guests, and now allies, Rex gave them a plate of sorts, and instructed them to place it in an unused room, and once the plate was in place to tear apart another item he had given them alongside the plate.


    When the guests left, Vivian asked what purpose the plate served, and Rex explained that it was an anchor for him to teleport to. It would ease the response time as well as serve as a strategic mobility point, and he would have them in every village that was to fall in line with his goals. Either as an ally, or as a vassal. Once the signal would be sent, Rex would teleport there and create another gate, thus ensuring a web of nodes for the maximum speed of deployment and retreat. Even if Svergi people would not be considered as his own, they would still become an afiliated force, so Rex saw no reason to waste their lives. Thus the current plans came into existance.


    A little while later, with his women remaining in the village, armed and prepeared for near anything, and with the hunting group assembled, Rex ordered them to move out. This small few day expedition would serve as both a training camp, exibition hunt as well as a chance for Rex to do a quick regular monster hunt to bolster the food storage of the tribe, since no one in his mansion would even consider consuming food made of below earth grade meat, and there was no way in hell that tribes hunters could even dream of hunting in the deep floors. A privilage for his girls for sure, but that was something they could afford, thus it was not an issue whatsoever, but the tribespeople could never afford such luxury, nor could they even imagine it.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Rex oriented himself a bit further in the back of the hunter group, masking his own presence as much as possible, while still keeping his mana and aura sonars in full capacity. Rex could sense every living being in quite the rage, but now was not the time for him to show off, it was the hunters, so he just observed how they scouted and tracked different tracks left my a miriad of possible preys. The trackers were quite good, but it would be odd if they were not, since only the most seasoned and best hunters were sent out this time. Rex wanted to see tribes best to get a baseline evaluation of their skills in their element.


    A few hours had passed since the start of their hunt, and the group had managed to fell a few beasts so far. A couple of mana deers and a singe mana boar. While not bad of a quarry, it was nowhere near enough for them to call this a succesfull hunt, so they continiued. Rex had noticed that the lack of a proper sensor forced them to depend too much on a few trackers who could only find monsters whose track they ran into, thus missing quite a few opportunities that would have been found by a proper sensor. In the same line, they had avoided a few rather nasty packs of predators, who while not really a danger to said hunter group, could pose a threat to most of the newer teams that were learning the ropes. Sensor would have prepeared them for any such possible encounter by warning them in time, reducing the possible amount of injuries.


    And with instructions from Rex, the hunters moved towards the deeper floors. Their group was large enough to safely camp for the night and not be wiped out by a random predator, though they still had to be vigilant. Their first night out was rather peacefull, and by the noon of their second day they were already hunting in the tenth floor. Rex knew their limits, so this would be the deepest they would descend. So, their plans was to hunt here for the remainder of the day, and then, in the morning to go back with their haul. They would have just enough time to finish with their expedition and arrive home before the anticipated visit from the larger clans.


    Rex would interwene rarely here, but just enough to ensure no hunters were injured to make them a liability or grant a permanent disability. Such accidents would be counterproductive, and Rex did not want to do double the work. Closer to the evening he asked th leader of the hunters as to why they dont have a proper sensor, recieving a nonsensical answer about tradition or something. Rex did not waste time into ordering hunters to have at least one sensor with them at all times, tradition be damned. Their job was to provide for themselves and the tribe, and stupid traditions that prevent them from working more efficient could be ignored. And to prove his point, Rex started to guide the group, easily leading them to large hosts of beasts roaming the level, ensuring their hunt would be more than successfull.


    As they were setting up their camp for night, Rex could hear many excited talks about how much of a difference this new method could make in the future, raising the spirits of the group, as well as talks about the raids their warcaller would bring them to. As expected, hard men longed for hard games and entertainment, and raiding was both at the same time to them. And since they would be marching home in a decent tempo and with quite the haul, Rex allowed them all to rest as he took charge of the night shift. It was something he had done last night as well, though he never notified the hunters of his actions, not giving them a reason toasume that it was Rex who ensured no accidents or anything else happened during the night. That included a few A class predators that he took out without much ceremony, and in the morningthey made a small detour where said hunter group saw their Warcaller in a bit of an action.


    Rex had lead them towards a group ofdozen wooly mamoths of sorts. It took him a few moments to dispatch the beasst and then, with practiced precision and teamwork the entire group quickly stripped the beasts from their usable materials, stashed whetever they could in their few space pouches- a courtesy of a few adventurers who had fallen in their hands as well as the traders who had free passage through Svergi controlled teritories. But even then, they still had quite a bit to carry, so their return home to the village took slightly longer than anticipated. Rex was now guiding them back and working as the security, allowing them to focus on the haul. Rex wanted to get home without spending an extra night out, so the few hours they traveled during the night was a dirrect result of that, exausting the group more, but in return, they managed to reach the village before midnight. A feat that pleased both Rex and the hunters since the ussual dangers of the night did not caus them any problems this time.


    Their group quickly sent a guard on duty to call Kara, who once present was asigned to deal with the distribution and other decisions regarding the haul, and as a smart woman, she barked a few orders around, and left alongside Rex, who had a rised eyebrow at the situation in front of him.


    "They can manage the rest without me." Kara said as she yawned. Those were the only words they exchanged during their walk towards their respective homes. And once at the chiefs hall, she noded her head and left for her own abode. Rex too entered his, where the trio of ladies pounced on him as soon as they sensed his presence in the building. They had recently retired to their beds, but his proximity had stirred them awake. Thus the current situation, and without any complaints, Rex ensured that all three women are satisfied before he lied down for a few hours of sleep.


    In the morning, after the ussal ritual of their joint breakfast in Elysium, Rex sat on a small balcony on the second floor of his current residence in Silver owl tribes village, his sensors extended to their maximum ranges, scouting the surroundings for their expected guests, who might appear any time soon. The village was bustling with activity. Under the now watchfull eyes of Kara, their last nights haul was properly seperated, sorted and prepeared so it would hold for much longer time than it would if just left as is in their natural freezers around the village.


    Around four or five in the evening, based on his old words time senses, Rex started to sense humanoids entering his detection range, and there were a lot of them. From what he could make out, there were at least five groups, each sporting some few hundred A class entitites and a couple S class ones. That alone proved once and for all just how much value did Svergi people attribute to truebloods.


    "Heh." Rex smirked "Lets see your colors when there is no insurmountable wall and unstoppable beast in front of you, and how you act once they emerge." He felt justified in his desire and willingness to use deciet and games to see the true colors of the people he is going to deal with, since this was a sort of a trial run for a rather well planned out tactic that he was trying to work out before employing it during his campaign in the Echlisiarchys domain. He was willing to spare those who were not yet rotten to the core and willing to help out or deal with those their faith has deemed monsters. If that sliver of compasion and humanity would be seen, said people would walk free, if not, death and slavery awaited them. With the atrocities their people had performed, just death would be far too soft of a punishement, and would not equalize teh damage they had done.


    With his mind back on the present, Rex descended from his meditation spot, seeked out Kara and his girls and gave them the news. In response, Kara quickly sent a few orders, recalling anyone who was close by outside the walls, and ordered people to prepare for a possible siege. Though with Rex here it was more of an order to not get in hsi way and ensure no stray fires set their village ablaze.


    "If I did not know better, I would have guessed you had been training to lead the village while prepearing a cou in the shadows during the last chiefs rule." Rex joked, but seeing the nervous glance away and how she was playing with one of her locks, Rex raised an eyebrow.


    "Seriously?"


    "He was a tyrant, and whats worse, he himself did not have the power to hold the seat. Such a leader can not only bring a tribe to their knees but even cause their end. In good consciense I could not allwo that to happen.It is my home after all." Kara explained, by now aware that Rex was more chill guy than his individual power would suggest.


    And when sun was about to set, the five groups had finally reached the village. They all stood outside the village walls, palpable tension hanging in the air. Since the village had only one entrance, the S class warriors from each tribe, clearly the leaders from their respective forces, stood in front of it, a small seperation between each of their group. Each group was carefully eyeing the rest present, both the leaders and their forces, calculating their odds should the situation devolve into a brawl or open bloodbath. And while no one wanted an all out battle, they were even less willing to let go of the oportunity to attain at least a few more S class warriors for their tribes. That was after all the most likely result should they have some of their S class men seed the trueblood they could aquire here, and with enough S class, they could call the other tribes to the grand hunt, and once again descend into the raid tier.

 Chapter 77: Wolf in sheeps clothing

    "WE DEMAND THE PRESENCE OF YOUR CHIEF!" yelled one of the five leaders, present in front of the gate leading into the village.


    "AND YOU BETTER BE QUICK, WE DONT HAVE THE PATIENCE FOR SUCH MEASLY CLAN!" yelled another one, clearly irritated by both the other groups present as well as the closed gate in front of them.


    And before anyone else got to scream and trow around their weight, the gate slowly opened, revealing a few of the guards, who looked incredibly young for the duty. Both seemed barely of age, with no stubble decorating their chins. Then one of them moved slightly ahead, smiling akwardly.


    "We are small tribe, who would not close their gate when they notice a raid sized party aproaching? Not to mention multiple." he spoke, one hand rubbing the back of his neck


    "But a talk with a chief means other purposes. Come on in." he added as he moved to the side and signaled for the ones here to advance.


    "Hope you dont mind leavign the rest of them out here? We dont quite have the capacity to acomodate so many." the guard once again apologized, well prepeared by Kara for this very ocasion. He had a good head on his shoulders, since this youngster was the very same one who had challenged Rex as the first person during his Warcaller trial, and after that Kara had spent some time in helping the young man to take a bigger responsibility within the tribe. This was yet another such task, and he took in on willingly, it was his way of helping his tribe. Not to mention the few killograms of earth grade meat their Warcaller had promised him as a reward. No, that was definetly not the main reason the youngster leaped at the oportunity. Definetly not.


    "Hmph!" multiple snorts came in response to his excuses, though nobody did anything else, since they still needed to work out the best way to proceed with their plans. So, all five smaller groups followed the guard that was deeper inside the gate. The five groups, four men each glanced around as they were escorted towards the bigest building in the relatively small village. They saw no residents around, surely they had taken the defensive postions or moved their old and young ones to one of the few hidden shelters they had prepeared for raids. Wha tsuprised the visitors were the sight they saw once they were led inside the Chiefs hall.


    Unlike the ussual setup of chiefs seat, that stood alone in the most elevated place in the hall, symbolyzing the power Chief represents, here there were multiple seats placed there, with three clearly a bit more extravagant. and another two just slightly less so. The rest of the seats were as it would be expected in a small tribe like this, no other distinctions were notable among them. Something that would not pass in the halls of the supertribes. They had to divide the greater and lesser tribe heads as well, since they had multiple such vassals under them. They were asked to take their seats and that the Chief would soon arive. The visitors did as asked, sitting down in five pronounced groups, some of them sniffing the mead cups standing on the tables, noting the relatively low quality of the beverages in them, commenting on the fact with slight displeasure, though that was to be expected, they were only on the eight floor after all.


    Soon, the Chief arrived, causing them another suprise. In the three greater seats sat an outsider and two Svergi women, and the lesser seats were taken by yet another two women, one of which was clearly a blood relative to one of the first two, in not her daughter, since th resemblance was quite notable, and the other was another outsider. Another oddity was how the groups seated themselves. The blonde mothersat in the very center of the aranged seats. To her left was the wise woman of their tribe, clearly indicated by her shamans garb, then next in a lesser seat was the outsider woman. On the blondes right side was the outsider man, who was then followed by the daughter of the blonde Svergi. What grabbed their attention was the man though. As he sat in his seat and placed his ands on the armrests both blonde women placed a hand each on his, indicating their close relationship.


    ''Both are his? Thats odd.'' Was the thought running through their heads, though the fact that he exibited peak A class strenght could somewhat explain the situation, since such strenght would earn one a place in any of their armies with ease, since it was the level of true elites, and for a human to have achieved it despite such young age was indeed impressive. With the Silver owl tribes leadership in their seats their shaman spoke.


    "I am Kara, the wise woman of our tribe. To what do we owe the visit of such force from all of your tribes? It is not often a small tribe on the outskirts of Svergi domain are visited by Black Vyvern, Golden Tiger, Crystal Mammoth, Apexus Tusk and Mountains Rage tribe members at the same time. In fact, I believe it has yet to happen in the recorded history."


    "Dont be coy woman. You should be well aware why. Dont think we are stupid just because we are willing to talk first." said a man from the Black Vyvern side.


    "Give us the trueblood and you can continiue your measly existance as you have up untill now." Added a member of the Crystal Mammoth.


    "Anything else?" Asked the outsider man sitting among the women.


    "Shut your mouth outsider. This is a matter between our people." venomously spoke one from the group from Apexus Tusks group.


    "What tribe that trash comes from?" Rex asked in his normal tone of voice as he glanced at Diana.


    "Apexus Tusk. They are a tribe who has two tales about felling an Apexus. Thus their tribe could take such a lofty name." She answered calmly, her hand not leaving his even for a moment. The calmness of their group was baffling to the guests present. Each did have an S class entity present except for Silver Owls themselves, though it could be explained since there were five different, competing supertribe members here, preventing any from acting too overbearing. After all taking th truebloods by force in such a situation would be incredibly hard, if nigh impossible. So, a slight amount of diplomacy was to be neccesary.


    "Ah, so the Winter Fox tribe informed all the overlords of the domain. Unexpected. Their messangers must have worked hard indeed." Diana said, light smile on her face "But unfortunately, we cannot accomodate to your demands. They are already bound, so you will have to seek your fortunes in another place."


    ''They?'' All five clan members instantly caught the supposed mistake of the woman.''They had managed to hide their trueblood for quite the time. So long in fact she already had produced a child who had grown and is already with a man herself.'' That meant exceptionally pure blood.


    "It matters not! Hand them over and we might even consider giving some scraps to your tribe." Spoke another member of the Black Vyverns, instantly recieving a quiet reprimand from their groups leader.


    "Black Vyverns. They are very arrogant due to their mastery over said monsters. It is said that their leader every generation has a black vyvern as their mount." And to her answer Rex furrowed his brow.


    "Isnt that just mid tier A class monster. Whats to be proud about there?" His question caused his ladies to smile and the groups other than Black Vyverns themselves to burts into laughter.


    "SHUT YOUR MOUTH OUTSIDER!" yelled one of the Black Vyverns, seething in anger at being mocked. Their entire group was now quite pissed. That man had just disrespected their entire tribe with his comment and they would not let it slide.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Stop wasting our time." Finaly spoke the leader of the Golden Tigers. "Bring the truebloods over here. They will leave here today, one way or another. And that ousider is coming with us too." he said as he pointed at Vivian.


    "Golden Tigers." Diana instantly said as if aware of Rex coming question. "And no, we dont need them all. A single one will suffice for our needs." she added, clearly aware of Rex next possible question.


    "Mountains Rage is willing to forge you our weapons as long as those truebloods live in our clan." Spoke the leader of the Mountain Rage clan.


    "Mountains Rage. The best weapon forgers among our people. There is no denying it. They stand shoulders above anyone else." Kara explained this time.


    Ignoring the Mountains Rage offer Rex asked as he pondered.


    "Kara, did you not say those cloaks would signify that the women are already taken? Then why are those shits still; greedily looking at them, even going so far as to lay claim on any of them?" Clear irritation in his voice.


    "The mighty take what..." was all the Golden Tigers leader could say before he faceplanted in the table, as a monstrous aura spread from Rex throughout the hall.


    "Remind me never to play such games with barbarians. They are far too stupid for that it seems. I guess I will just leave the cloak and dagger, and honeyed words for proper noble gatherings if I feel the need to play." he spoke as he looked coldly at the faceplanted man.


    "Now, what should I do with you all? You did come to steal what is mine after all." His voice was chiling and a slight killing intent escaped him.


    "Y-You would dare spill blood at the table of peace?" Crystal Mammoth leader spoke, his hand on his blade that was still sheathed.


    "I just shut up a retarded weakling from dooming his entire tribe to oblivion. And although his life is forfeit, its not happening untill you are all escorted outside these walls first. Regardless, you came here to take what is mine, and I happen to be extremely possesive. Any ideas Kara, DIana?" Rex replied, his voice even, and only when he adressed the women by his side did his tone shifted to one of warmth.


    "Right now, besides the raiding parties outside, everyone but the Mountain Rage tribes members had been either overbearing and disrespectfull with their words or downright declaring war, since outright claiming a married woman from another tribe is often used ultimatum that otherwise leads to war. So, depending on how clear a message do you want to send, i believe that culling a part of their groups sould suffice. Obviously leaving someone alive to send the message."


    "Would the other clan members work as the messanger, since I doubt a single peak A class could reach his home clan without the help of another group?"


    "GRHHRHRRH." Grunted the leader of the Golden Tigers, trying to say something but failing, the suppression of mana and aura on him being just that opressive.


    "Ow shut up. The grown ups are talking." Rex said annoyed.


    "Think sicking an Apexus on their home village would work?" Rex asked as he pondered the logistics of his idea.


    "Would not work. Wild Apexus for whatever reason cant descend from his floor, making such an idea not feasible." Kara spoke.


    "Well, was worth a shot." Rex sighed.


    "So, blacksmiths get a slap on the wrist, but nothing else since they were smart enough to keep their trap shut. On the excact opposite end, Golden tigers have a single man left after for their stupidity. The rest recieve light culling, for the lighter ofence, but those dark lizzard shits who opened their mouths get the axe. Sounds about right?" Rex asked as he looked at Kara and Diana. His words sending a chill down the spines of the great tribe members present in the room.


    There was a deathly silence for a few minutes as the two women were once more thinking over the best possible solution, to achieve the greatest benefits, since they had a better understanding of both their customs as well as the nature of the tribes they were dealing with, either through personal experience or stories and rummors. Then the two quietly exchanged their thoughts and ideas with each other, trying to combine the best possibilities according to their knowledge. So, another few minutes later they both looked at Rex, having reached a possible suggestion, though not entirely sure whether or not it was correct. Such a decision was on thescale they had never dealt with before after all. Then, seeing Rex anticipating their answer, Kara timidly spoke.


    "If you are willing, we believe there is a better solution at hand after our small discussion that would yield a greater benefit than simple culling. We now believe it is better to reduce the kiling to minimum this time, while still showing that no insults wil be tolerated. Thus, we advise to only execute those who dirrectly ofended us, and let the others go, though they should offer a ransom equal to their worth. They did come here to flaunt their might and take what is yours after all. And the ransom for their lives could depend on just how arrogant they have acted. So, for example, Mountains Rage should recieve the lightest of tributes paid for their lives."


    "So be it. It is your decision how we deal with political stuff. I will simply cut down anything that becomes an obstacle, so do what you believe is right. With that said" Rex switched his attention to the visitor tribe members "It is high time to decide what your lives are worth, no?"


    The next hour or so the super tribe members tried to negotiate a proper price for their lives. The ones who had not insulted Rex and the tribe, or made an ultimatum like Golden Tiger tribes S class warrior. It was clear by now that one member from Apexus Tusk, two members from Black Vyverns, one from Crystal Mammoths and the leader from Golden Tigers would be executed once this negotiation was over. No one had any illusions that the people mentioned would survive. It was clear that the outsider was at the very least high level SS class entity, so he was at the very least on par with the leader of each great tribe. Such power could only be matched with the same level of power, and even then the losses from collateral damage would be catatstrophic. It is precisely why the great tribes never had dirrect wars among them. Tournaments and all kinds of bets were made when they had a dispute regarding anything.


    In face of such overwhelming might, the great tribes people were suddenly timid, not flaunitng their greatness any longer, thus causing quite a favourite outcome for Rex and his group in the negotiations. All the resources demanded were of the rarer variety in the dungeon since the forces brought were elites and as such would be quite valuable. With the negotiations finalized, and the agreements noted down on special parchments, one copy for both sides, the meeting came to an end, and since one more thing was to be taken care off, Rex followed the five groups behind to the gate leading outside the village, Limitless in his left hand in its sheated form.


    As soon as everyone was outside, Rex used his left hands thumb to move his blade a few centimeters outward from its sheathe,then slowly grabbed the sword in his right hand and drew it. And as he was doing so, he spoke.


    "Now that you have been escorted out, the negotiations are finished, and I am free to punish those who were stupid and arrogant enough to bring it upon themselves. Draw your weapons, come at me and die like warriors, or flee and get cut down like dogs."


    The five doomed men gritted their teeth, quickly glancing at each other, as the remaining people from their groups quickly rejoined their respective forces to explain the sittuation. With an understanding nod among each other, they simultanously drew their weapons, four axes and a sword, held by the S class member of the Golden Tigers and in unison charged at Rex, screaming in rage. As they reached Rex, the three axes came swinging from both sides and up, with Golden Tiger, and Crystal Mammoth ready to defend his compatriots if their adversary managed to deflect their attack and tried to counter. Rex movement was swift, crouching low and sliding under the axe coming in from his right side, at the same time performing a sweeping slash from the left side to right, his blade sliding right under the axe as well, spillint the guts of the man it was held by. Then he used his right leg as a spring to chain his next strike, performing a diagonal slash on the warrior who had swung his weapon from above, splitting the man in two, and spinning in the same dirrection avoiding a possible hit from the axe coming from the left side, blocking the sword strike from the Golden tiger with his sheathe. The remaining Black Vyvern, who had swung from the left side, as well as the White Mammoth who was in the second line, were left speechless. Their adversary was just in a different league. His speed, strenght and even reaction was beyond their comprehension. Whatever little hope they had attained when they joined hands, was now extinguished as well, trully dooming them to the abyss.


    Before they even managed to recover, the outsider was already upon them, his sword a blurr, splitting their bodies with ease, their blood splutring around from the cut body parts as well as slowly dripping down the blades edge.


    "Its only you left." Rex said as he looked at the Golden Tiger warrior. "But your offense is the gravest, so dont expect such clean and quick death." and with that Rex sheathed Limitless, placed it into his storage ring and withdrew to blades he had not used in quite a while. The twin sords left by Royce Rambert.


    "The strong take what they will. That is indeed true, but you seem to have forgotten that there are powerfull men everywhere. So, I will remind you of said thruth. And the price fo r the lesson will be your life."

 Chapter 78: Roulan. Part 1

    With his warning said, and laughing inside for using a line from an anime he had seen, Rex slowly walked towards the man, whose eyes were glowing with rage and hatred. This was a game to the outsider. Nothing more than an elaborate way to send a clear message to the clans watching this execution. ''This is what happens to those who act against me or mine! Think twice before following in their footsteps.'' And there was nothing he could do, but try his best to prove his oponent was not an insurmountable wall, and that the outsider can be taken down. If he failed, not only would their tribe members grow fearfull of the monster, but their cheif would not move either. So, with all his might and concentration he focused on his current objective- a scratch, a stumble, anything, that would make him look mortal, defeatable.


    With grim determination, he swung his blade, ready to change the trajectory of his blade at any moment should he see an opening or a change that could provide him with a chance. Yet once, twice and then thrice, not a single strike got anywhere near his goal, and then, as he swung for the fourth time, he left a blade lick his free hand, causing him to wince, and then a second later, he screamed in unbearable pain, coming from that very same hand that had just been lightly cut. It hurt so bad, as if someone had just showed their dirty little fingers, dipped in firegrass liquid, inside his wound and tried to pry it open, to make it wider. Firegrass was a moss that grew in a few places on the fiftheenth floor. When it was placed in water and boiled for a while teh water took on a rather unique color and atributes. If applied to open wounds it would disinfect them, theough the burning pain was terrible. And the pain he felt now was even more intense than that.


    He got back up on his feet holding his lightly cut hand, as he had stumbed when the pain assaulted him, frantically looking for his opponent, yet failing to see notice him. Then, another lick of blade was left on his shin, which immediatly after caused him to fall as he screamed. The same searing pain that assaulted him before was once again wracking his body. And one he stopped screaming, another lick of blade, drawing him back into the agonizing screams of this unbearable pain.


    "You know, there is something about this that I find interesting, maybee even relaxing." Rex said as he methodically made cut after cut in the barbarians limbs, pushing the man into deeper and deeper despair.


    "While nowhere near as pleasant as the nigths with my ladies, it has this unique appeal to it. Bringing low arrogant and self important pricks, and remainding them that the world is a big place. There is a reason why I never innitiate conflict."


    Another few minutes later, that were filled with screams and even sobs, as the barbarian had even started crying at some point and begging for release when he was not bussy screaming, Rex ended the execution by cutting of the mans head, silencing the area outside the gate. Not a single group from the super tribes had left during the execution, understanding well that it was a message for them as much as a punishement for now headless man.


    "You are free to collect their bodies if you so wish. Then leave. Just remember, I am waiting for my money, and I am not a patient man." Rex spoke calmly, his body devoid of any sweat or dust. It looked liek he had just had a small walk around, not straining his body one bit. That was aonother fact the most sharp eyed of the visitors noticed, creating even more dreadfull impression of the man in their heads. Then, very quickly a few members from each group rushed down to collect their fallen brothers and after that one by one their groups left, whishing to return back home as soon as possible.


    As Rex entered the village, Vivian glued herself to one of his hands.


    "My, my. You are trully ruthless when you want to be. And all that for little old me." Then she leaned a bit closer to his ear and whispered "That got me reaaly hot and bothered. Take responsibility for that." Then she akwardly smiled at the other two women as she was puling Rex away. He had no immediate plans, so she would use the opportunity, especially since Rex was indeed guilty for her situation.


    "Haah, to be young." Diana sighed when an hour or so later the duo joined them in the Chiefs hall, where Kara was discussing with her their next few tasks at hand, to better the village.


    "Come now. With all the earth grade food we are eating, you wil be back in your prime in no time. It has already started to show some effect, so you can enjoy it once more to its fullest when that finalizes." Vivian shot back with a slight smirk.


    "And dont you tell me you would not be in the same predicament had he done the same for you." she added, causing Diana to look away and ignore the young eastern beaty. She was not wrong after all.


    "So, how sure are you that Mountains Rage will offer themselves as a partner for our raids?" Rex asked as he sat between Diana and Mary, his arms sneaking their way around their waists and pulling them closer.


    "After that display outside the gate? I would asume much more likely than before. You showed that you are good towards your friends and a nightmare for your enemies. Both qualities are valued highly here, and can get an individual far. My only question is will there be any schemes to try and lure us over to their side willingly." Diana said.


    "Should I be worried?" Rex asked gently as he enjoyed their presence.


    "Not from our side, but you never know just what kind of sneaky plan an individual can come up with. While most of Svergi are rather simple, there are always some exceptions to the rule, so I just wanted to warn you." Diana explained.


    "Kara" Rex adressed the wise woman after a moment of thought "with the defenses and gate installed, as well as the runes to ensure your safety, do you still need your presence here? Or can you solve the remaining issues on your own? I do believe it is time for us to go back to Long-shu and see who, if anyone, is waiting for us."


    Kara, like Rex, spent a few minutes quickly going over the coming tasks to be solved, then confidently answered.


    "I can manage now on my own. If anything urgent happens I will use my rune to call for you. Otherwise you can return to whatever other things you have that needs doing."


    "Perfect. You heard her girls. We move out in ten." Rex said as he rose, and sent the girls off to ensure they had not forgot anything in the bedrom they had used for a few nights.


    "Remember, better safe than sorry, so prioritize your safety over all else." Rex added, as he too walked out of the room. Ten or so minutes later, the four people left the village, quickly pathing towards the closest return gate, and in less than an hour they were in front of one, and with that they left the dungeon.


    Moments later the group stood outside the dungeon, and Vivian immediatly removed her warm cape, stored it in her space ring,spread her arms wide, deeply inhaled, smiled brighty, and exclaimed.


    "AHHHHHHHH! SWEET WARM SUN, OW HOW I MISSED YOU!" causing Rex, Diana adn Mary sigh due to the theatrics of the other girl.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "What?" Vivian looked at them "That frozen wasteland aint meant for people to live. Hell, its not even ment for extended stays." And then she pouted like the spoiled young lady that she was.


    "Sorry." Rex smiled "Home here." he gestured and she immediatly did as ordered. Then clinging to his arm once again, they moved ahead, found a coachman, boarded his carriage and relaxed untill they were brought to the city lords manor, where they quickly paid the man and moved towards the door. And as expected, the guards quickly sent one of them to fetch the governor while the rest quickly let their group through, showing the utmost respect towards them. By now every guard had been made to memorize his appearance to ensure he and hsi group would not be bothered anywhere in the city.


    As they were being led to one of the meeting rooms, they could hear rushed footsteps and a few noises indicating that the man aproaching was stumbling quite a bit, clearly more nervous than before. When he appeared in their sights Rex frowned, the man had clearly just recently recieved some solid beating judgeing by a few rather fresh bruises on his face and the akward way he was walking, one of his legs was clearly damaged.


    "You have seen better days. Who did this, and was it because you forwarded my message to wait here should they wish to meet me, or was it an unrelated matter? Dont lie, I can tell when you are lying, just so you know." Rex spoke first, his voice calm, as if he was neither a part of the issue nor he had any insights. The governor akwardly hung his ehad low, not entirely sure wha tto do, but knowing the difference in powers, he decided to come clean and tell Rex everything that had led to his current predicament.


    As it turns out, he was indeed being waited for by a few groups, who understanding the situation did not dare leaving before they had their chance to converse with the Infamous Neo, who is rummored to have brought to knee the entirety of Tyrant dragon sect and singlehandedly ended the war with the foxes.


    "Well, it was only a matter of time before such rumors spread. Besides, not like its not true." Vivian said, shrugging her shoulders. "And I dont think you care for the rumors about you anyway."


    So, from the remaining three godesses there was one eagerly waiting for his return, while the other two were too arrogant and said that it was Rex who should be waiting for them, not the other way around. And his wound came from a fifth force. A superpower located on the other side of this mini continent that was the home of cultivators. They had apparently been quite offended that a mere low A class governor had the audacity to advise them on what to do, and so, they showed him his place.


    "And, would that particular party group still be in the city, or had they already left?" Rex asked, a cold smile adorning his face. He was rather displeased with such attitude. Messanger was just that, a messanger, and was not responsible for the contents of the message.


    "They left shortly after they arrived, but I am sure they have someone who should be still in the city, monitoring for when you return." Governor replied.


    "Get those bruises treated. Also, what was that issue you had brewing when I descended in the dungeon? I did say you will have to share when I return." Rex then added in a much friendlier tone.


    "I do suppose I should meet the girl waiting for me first though. Yes, lets do it in such order." Rex gestured for the governor to lead the way, while handing him a healing potion, insisting that the man take it and reassuring that he will have a rather serious chat about manners with the ones responsible. So, under Rex insistence the man took the potion, after which getting better in a rapid tempo before their eyes.


    With the man basicly fully healed, something he did not dare do on his own accord due to the threats from the ones responsible, he lead the group outside his manor, where a carriage was always ready, and with it they traveled for some ten minutes before arriving in front of a rather lavish villa. The property was being patrolled by multiple groups of a sects disciples, clearly recognizable by their uniforms, that consisted from rather simple training pants, simple yet comfortable looking leather half booths and a loose long sleeved shirt. Besides the light brown leather footwear, the rest of the attire of said sect members were dominated by dark blue color with green flower on their backs, as well as the same green flower above their hearts.


    Noticing the aproaching carriage the closer ones to it grew cautios, but soon relaxed when they saw the city governor waving from it. The man was the one who had arranged the place as well as the person who served as their targets messanger within the city, so they had been rather cautious and curteous towards the man. If the rumors were true, they did not want to risk offending the monster they were supposed to meet.


    The governor got out of the carriage first, greeting the young guards of the residence, and informing them he had good news for their young lady, but before he could continiue, the air stilled around them, as Rex had released a bit of his pressure as he was getting out. That froze the entire courtyard, not a single disciple daring to move without permission. The aura was not so much suffocating as imposing. It was as if a true monster was in front of them, a monster that could devour even their sect leader with ease, or so was the feeling they got, and said monster was now observing them all, waiting for them to make one wrong move, so it could pounce on them, leaving nothing behind.


    What happened next caused their eyes to almost pop out of their sockets. Godess Vivian from Tyrant Dragon sect jumped from the carriage, landing on his back, her arm wrapping around his neck as she giggled.


    "Dont be so mean to the kids. They will have a heart attack."


    "But you are clearly enjoying it." he retorted, but still withdrew the aura, allowing the stiff people in the garden to exhale the breath they were all holding.


    "But I should. We are supposed to be rival sects after all." Vivian complained in a playfull voice as another two women exited the carriage. Then one of her hands shot forward, pointing at the entrance of the mansion, still clinging to his back.


    "Lets go, I want to see the funny face Roulan is going to make when she sees this." The girl was clearly high on dopamine, and would not allow her high to end anytime soon. Rex just shrugged and did as asked, he was more than willing to indulge his ladies whims most of the time. Why else was he almost so desparate to aquire them, if not to spoil and enjoy their company. The governor just akwardly smiled to the group of sect members before him.


    "Sir insisted he comes now. there was nothing i could do." and with those words he hurried along, being the first in front of the front door, opening it and gesturing for Rex and his group to enter. Something they did without any delay, and in just a few steps they were inside a rather large room, just as lavishly decorated, if not more than one would expect after witnessing the outside of the villa. Large, silver chandalier hang from the ceiling, adorned with well crafted mana stone lamp crystals. Elegant and masterfully pained large paintings adorned the walls, displaying multiple different breathtaking scenarios. From a large mountnain pass, covered in snow and lulling one into a calm and relaxing mood, to a lake in the middle of a terrible storm, rousing ones spirit at the sight of the natures might.


    "I think I want a few of those back in our mansions as well. Do you know someone who we should turn to?" Rex asked Vivian, who was still hanging on his back, enjoying herself.


    "Mhm, will tell you later." she hummed as she inhaled his scent over and over again, giggleing from time to time.


    Rex noticed as a member of the sect almost roleld down the stairs in his rush, stopped in fron of them, with heavy breaths signalled to a side, and whiel panting spoke.


    "Hufff, please, follow me, Miss Roulan will join us in a moment. She is so excited to see you, and is afraid to make bad first impression, so humbly asks to get a few moments to prepeare hersekf to be more presentable."


    "Should we pull her leg?" Vivian michievously asked. The godesses of the sect union would never let an opportunity pass to mess with one another. Though it was always in good sport, not going too far. That was something their sects males were for.


    "Behave. I am already indulging quite a bit of your wimms, my litte imp." Rex answered, recieving a slight playfull pout from the girl, but she did as asked. Then they were lead into a medium sized, but cozy room with a few large sofas, where Rex and his girls sat on one, with rex in the middle, Vivian nearly stradling him and Dian and Mary to his other, more free side. Governor of Long-Shu stood by side, just waiting for the girl to arrive so he could greet her and excuse himself so they could discuss whatever they wanted to in private.


    "Dont you run anywhere. You still owe me that explanation about the small issue you were having." Rex adressed the man, clearly seeing how unfomfortable he was. "Good work and deeds get rewarded, and bad actions get punishement. And you have done good, so a reward is deserved. You should know better than most just what kind of mountains a person like me can move as thanks."


    The man nodded, understanding Rex meaning. He wanted to reward him, and so, the man will be rewarded. No was not an option.

 Chapter 79: Roulan. Part 2

    With the governor leaving the room only Rex and his three girls remained for the time being, and so they simply relaxed on the sofa as they talked about mundane things or some pelasant memories from the girls pasts. Since some snacks and tea had also been served even before the governor exited the room, they were having quite decent time, though Vivian did note that Izumi or Millie made better tea, eliciting a small laugh from Rex.


    "I would expect no less. Our tea leaves are some of the best aviable, to the point that kitsunes themselves do not export them, and we have access to them purely because I have done them some services." Then he smiled deviously "You became mine because one of them."


    Vivian, still sitting on his lap, arms around his neck and her lips pressed against it,moved her head just slightly, and whispered in his ear.


    "And that is something I will forever be gratefull to Izumi for." Vivian could not even imagine her life in the future where she could not be besides Rex. He had shown her pleasure she had never thought possible, given her a family that looked out for her wellbeing, as well as provided her with such luxury no emperor alive could even dream about. And in addition to that, he himself had indulged in quite a few of her selfish whims. There is no way princeses have recieved even a sliver of what she had, not to mention a ''slave'' like her. Yes, she was technically a slave, what with the brand and anything, but for her, just like the other girls with the proper brand, it was no mark of shame, of being a lesser. On the contrary, that was a mark of belonging to him. They were his, for eternity, and that thought warmed the hearts of his girls whenever they thought of it.


    They had spent a few more minutes in such a calming and relaxing atmosphere when the door slowly opened, after a few light knocks. Then, once it was fully open, in came a beautiffull young lady, no lesser in terms of looks than Vivian. Long, waist lenght black hair flowing freely behind the girls back, a pin on either side of her face, sliding behind her ears, moving a few unrully locks away from her face so its beauty could be fully displayed. Black yet lively eyes with rather long lashes that elevated her beauty. Full, enticing red lips, almost begging to be kissed. Small and delicate nose. Together, her face made her seem like innocent and curious angelic being, with rare few flickers of mischief in her lively eyes.


    She was wearing a rather modest, yet elegant traditional chinese style hanfu clothing, reminding Rex of the many illustrations of cultivator women dressing style he had seen in so many manvas and drawings. though simple in design, it still maintained the same color scheme as the other sect members patrolling outside, with the same Green flower on her heart and back, theough it was clear that the material was of much higher quality, as well as the style itself was more refined, while still being practical and elegant. The outfit emphasized the girls natural beauty, since Rex could not sense any makeup besides the lipstick that had been carefully applied. And even with the modest dress hecould still clarly make out the girls curves, noting her magnificent proportions and ample chest. All in all Rex could only say that she did indeed qualify to bear the same tittle of godess that Vivian did in their lands.


    With her entrance in the room, Vivian only slightly adjusted herself in Rex lap so she could see her fiend, adversary and rival while still enjoying being in Rex embrace. A challenging smirk adorned her face as she looked at Roulan who was standing there, clear annoyance on her face due to Vivian showing off her man. Though the annoyance quickly dissapeared, VIvian, having interacted with Roulan quite often due to their statuses caught it, causing her to smile even more mischievously, She had achieved what she wanted, so now she could just relax in Rex''s embrace.


    With her annoyance quickly hidden back deep within her, Roulan gracefully bowed to Rex and the two Svergi women sitting besides him, their marital necklaces clearly in sight in the warm room. While aware of the custom, none outside the dungeon would ever be educated enough to be able to discern the beasts of origin for the teeth, so there was no need to be cautious about displaying the status of the two beauties since those in the know could clearly figure that their husband is even more of a monster than the rumors indicate. For Roulan, being aware said custom, it was a must to show the women respect since no matter the circumstances they were his wifes, and since Rex was a person of interest for both herself and her sect, it was better to act with caution, lest she anger the man.


    With the few bows done, she spoke in a light and melodious voice.


    "I am honored to be able to meet master Neo. I have heard many tales about your might and skill in battle. Thus, finding myself upon the opprtunity to meet such a person I could not quench my curiosity and had to request the meeting." Thne she once again lightly bowed "May I join you? There are so much I would like to ask, if it is not a bother to sir?"


    "Sure." Rex answered, his voice calm and neutral. As if he was doing something mundane and not worthy of note. Then, once she had sat on the sofa opposite Rex group, and before she could ask some of her questions, Rex asked his own first and foremost.


    "I am interested myself in something. Do you yourself hold any interest in this coming conversation, or is it only due to the orders from your sects supperiors?" and before she could try to deny any such implications he added "Be carefull, I can tell if someone is lying. But note that since you are quite pleasing to ones eye, no matter your answers, there will be no reprimanding or retaliation this time, so speak freely and truthfully. Backstabbing and intrigue should be left to the old and decrepit fools, not the young people like us."


    Roulan sat there for a minute or two, pondering some things. Was she only here due to the orders, because there were those obviously. But would she have waited the time she did had she not had any interest herself? Vivian was clearly having the time of her life besides the man she was hugging. Roulan could tell her fellow beauty had grown both stronger, so much so she was not sure she could even hope to be her match now, but the happiness radiating from her was also undeniable.


    "Both." She finally said, having come to the conclusion. "I too was interested in meeting you. The info I had recieved about Vivis actions showed she had become more proactive, like she was enjoying herself, and now seeing her change personally I have to say it is more so than I could have imagined. And my interest started there. I wondered just what kind of man could give Vivi the wings she had never had. Sir must understand, Vivi here had always been the most stoic of us four, and yet here she is, smiling and up to mischief. I could hardly recognize her."


    "Fair point. So, lets get the unpleasant business out of the way first, shall we?" Rex asked, now with a little more warmer tone. He knew the girl had spoken truth, so he was more than willing to be courteous to her as well. "What is it that your sect hopes to achieve sending you here to interact with me?"


    His question caused yet another moment of silence, since Rouland had to think of all the instructions she had recieved from the elders and then to find a proper way to explain without making her sect appear in bad light while still ensuring she was telling a truth. At least a half truth.


    "I suppose they want to take measure of your character for once sir. Such power is dangerous in the hands of lesser men, though that concern, I believe, is no longer valid, since there had been no uncalled for violence of savagery after your job here was done. On the contrary, from what my sources had gathered, sir even delved quite deep in the mystical dungeon in Xian-Wu city and after that was kind enough to offload at least a part of your aquisitions in the same city, greatly enriching it. Such actions indicate a rather lighthearted and calm character, not one to delve in meaningless chaos."


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "I asure you, I can be a monster when it is neccesary." Rex responded to her words, well aware of his coming campaign versus echlisiarchy.


    "Surely, we did feel it on our own skin. The cultivators I mean, but that only indicates that there is always a reason behind your actions, no?" She responded.


    "I suppose thats true. So, what else?" Rex moved the conversation further, They still had a few topics to cover before they could have some lighthearted talk after all.


    Then she pursed her lip, slight conflict within herself regarding the next topci she had to raise, yet it was important to do so, otherwise she might accidentaly speak of the things she did not want to, nor did she liked.


    "Another probable reason is their desire to figure out how the sect would benefit should I be offered to sir like Vivi was."


    "I think Vivian told me you are not a descendant from a high ranking member of your sect. Am I correct there?" And to his question she just nodded, confirming his information.


    "So, obedience is demanded and enforced. I guess there are a few other reasons that you would not like to disclose since they probably could incurr a wrathfull response, but we will leave them be for now. I can more or less asume their process of thought. So, answer me this Roulan. What is it that you want? Have you thought of yourself becoming mine to benefit your sect, or does the freedom and happiness Vivi is exuding seems enticing? You know no one on thi continent can hope to force anyone of my people to do something they dont want, unless of course they are willing to experience hell that is worse than death."


    Rex knew his question was loaded, and almost a trap in of itself, since the girl could not lie to him.


    The girl once again was silent, thinking over the questions she had recieved, not quite being able to find a proper answer that could satisfy her. Sure, if the order came, she could do nothing but act accordingly, she was too weak to resist after all, and she was not familiar enough with the man to entrust herself to him. Not as she was now. Seeing the girl in her deep thoughts, Vivian could guess the questions she was strugglin with, she had the same ones to overcome. But unlike Roulan, Vivian never had a choice, so it was easier to realize just how lucky she actually was. So, to help the girl out, since Roulan was the sweetest of the four, she spoke.


    "Rou, as someone who had walked this path before you, let me give you a word of advice." her words withdrew the girl from her thoughts, causing her to focus on Vivians words.


    "Should you wish for happiness and a family unlike any other, one that cares for you and protects you, you should join me. And I say that begrudgingly. Trust me, I dont want to help this scoundrell to get his hands on more beauties, but for your sake, as the most innocent and pure of us four, I am willing to make an exception. Unlike us three, you are worth protecting."


    Roulan understood Vivian was reffering to the other two beauties of their quartet, and she very well knew why. The other two were quite spoiled and some would say rotten even, had they have the misfortune to spend more time in their company. Vivian was the cold one, but she rarely, if ever, lied or spoke half truths. If she did not have anything truthfull to say, she said nothing, so her words now carried a lot of weight.


    Thinking for a while longer, still conflicted by the brainwashing of her sect, that it is her duty to work in elevating the sect ever higher, being scared of the possible punishments she could recieve should she fail, and her desire to be happy and enjoy life, she suddenly came to a rather briliant conclusion, thus she looked towards Rex and asked, somewhat unsure, but with hope filling her. Maybee, just maybe she could do both? Give back something to her sect, while attaining the happiness that Vivi was having.


    "Would sir be willing to take Roulan? I am quite simple, as Vivi must have said, and dont understand much of the politics, and I dont think I would be of much help. And surely my sect would ask a lot for me."


    "Tell me Roulan. Are you a slave or a servant of your sect?" Rex asked the gril back, who in return shook her head vigorously.


    "No, I am just a simple girl who has a pretty face and a bit more tallent than most in cultivation." she responded shyly.


    "She is secluded most of the time, so she is rather shy and naive about the world and people around her." Vivian added.


    "Well, isnt that easy then?" Rex asked "Since you are no servant or slave, it is your choice what to do with your life. If you want to repay your sect for whatever they had given you till now, while at the same time you want to join Vivian and learn how fun life can be, I could offer them something on your behalf. Something they would have sold you to anyone for, mind you. And I mean that in a litteral sense of the word."


    "They woud not. They have been nice to me." Roulan quickly denied Rex words.


    "Ahh, you sweet and naive girl." Vivian sighed "Since it seems you want to come with me" she smiled "let us show just how low they trully think of you."


    "So, say Roulan, do you have a way to contact the elder council of yours from here?" Rex asked, clearly understanding Vivian intentions, and agreeing with her plan wholeheartedly. And with Roulan confirming his question, he added


    "Remeber, whatever you will learn in a few moments is not supposed to be heard by you, since they will likely ask you to exist the room once the negotiations will begin. Once that happens, walk towards that rune circle next to the door." Rex pointed his had towards a runic engraving that was appearing on the ground near the door." And know that Vivian wants to show you this to ensure they dont succeed when they will inevitably try to use you for more benefits in the future. It will hurt, but please endure it, Vivian and my other girls will be there for you to mend whatever pain you will feel. It will get better. I asure you, but it is necessary to show their true faces."


    Roulan bit her lip, looking more towards Vivian and her warm and friendly smile, trusting more in her aquintance/friend/rival known by them for her truthfulness and straightforwardness.


    "I will listen to Vivi. She never lies." And with that Rouland withdrew a few items from her storage ring, and set them up on the table. Then, after a few precisely planted monster cores the small cilindric items lit up as they were connected with energy beams. Then above the energized field a display of a table with several people meditating around it appeared, and with that Roulan bowed towards the projection and spoke.


    "Roulan greets the elder council. I have met sir Neo, and he has expressed his interest in a conversation with the elder council."


    With her words the meditating seven people slowly started to open their eyes, as their gazzes fell on Roulan for a moment, and then moved to focus on Rex. Vivian had already moved from his lap to sit next to Diana and Mary, who were enveloped in the same rune formation as the one Rex had ordered Roulan to enter once she was sent outside the room. The council had no idea there were more than just two people present.


    "My, my. It is quite an honor to recieve your attention so soon after Roulan was sent to find you. It seems she had garnered quite the attention." one of the seven spoke, a cunning smile on his face.


    "What would you like to discuss with us at this time of the day, I wonder?" the same elder asked, quite happy with the posibilities and implications of such early comunication. They had mostly asumed Roulan would have to beg him to have a conversation with them after quite unsuccesfull meetings. Vivian was just that good after all. Roulan was too pure and simple minded after all, not able to utilize her entire arsenal of feminine charms.


    "You should be well aware of the reason. My question is, do we start now or would you like to converse in private?" His tone and body language were confident, as if nothing his opposition had could ever faze him, so the council members were incredibly overjoyed in their minds. His arrogance was clouding his judgement. They could clearly milk him for benefits more than just once. Roulan was just that naive.


    "With clear understanding, they all noded to one another, and their spokeperson once again talked.


    "Roulan, leave the room. What is about to be talked about should not leave the upper echalons of the sects leadership. You have done well."


    And with his words, Rouland once again bowed and left the room, or so it seemed to the elder council. They could sense that withing the small barrier around their projection only Rex was present, so now sure that there were no other listeners, their attitude changed ever so slightly.

 Chapter 80: Roulan. Part 3

    With Rouland outside, and not in the earshot of the elders, they changed their tone rather quickly.


    "Whatever would mister Neo be willing to offer us for our dear Roulan? She is our pride and joy after all. It would hurt us to part with her after all we have been through together."


    "Cut the crap. It was you who sent her to me. Clearly, there is something that you want. I have little time for your games, and even less patience. I do believe you would like to avoid the situation that happened in Tyrant Dragons sect. And dont pretend you dont know. I would be fool to believe you sects dont have spies in every other high ranking one."


    His direct and rather domineering style of aproach did furrow a few brows, and clench a couple of jaws. Normaly they could skirt around the topic to slowly push up the price, but unfortunately for them, they were dealing with a monster that could possibly become their end, yet the possible benefits were way too high to not take that risk.


    "Very well then, we shall get straight to the point. You want Roulan, Correct?" and with Rex nod, they continiued "And we have heard that you have a force that does relatively frequent raids into the deep floors back in your city." Not willing to correct the false information, Rex nodded once more. "So, in exchange for Roulan we want a few tonnes of earth grade meat, as well as a few dozen killograms of heaven grade."


    "Ha ha ha ha." Rex started to laugh quite loudly once he heard their price.


    "Few dozen killograms of heaven grade? You clearly think too highly of yourself. For that amount I could easily go and whipe out your sect, and then take her, the only survivor, with me as a trophy. I advise you to think over your next request clearly. She is just a human after all. Besides, she is a member of your sect, not a slave, nor servant. I have to give you nothing, should I choose so."


    "The girl is very loyal to the sect." the council rebuked "Without our blessings she would never become obedient."


    "Blythes blood mage will brand her the second I make a request. So your existance is inconsequential. So, tell me, why would I consider offering you anything for her. She is her own person."


    "She will end herself should we ask so, for the sect. Now, we have spent quite some time in grooming her to be the beauty she is, and we expect to be reimbursed for our time and effort spent. You should apreciate our efforts more. She is docile and submissive, all thanks to us. What better beauty is there. Such tallent, such beauty, and not an ounce of arrogance. That clearly is worth a lot, is it not. And you can have it, without even needing a brand. With just one command she could be yours. Faithfull and willing to serve."


    "Still, there will be no heaven grade offered. And thats final." The elders takled among themselves, appearing in a heavy discussion, but no sound came over the projection.


    "As expected. heaven grade must be trully scare, even for a monster like him." one of the members spoke, their voice transmission cut off from Rex.


    "But we did expect such an outcome. Still, we can ask for quite the amount of earth grade. Blythe is exporting barely any, even with their supply." another added.


    "Yes, we must secure what we can, who knows when we will have another chance like this. Ahhh, how the young make foolish mistakes in their rush for excitement." The third added with an evil smirk.


    "So, what amount should we go for?" one of them asked, salivating over the though of getting his hand on that treasure. They were all getting on in age, and without the earth grade meat. they would soon start dying off, so they had to cling to their chance while it was there.


    "Lets go with six? That should be plenty for us regain our prime forms as well as still have some left for future. And even if he does not agree, a ton or two off would still be more than enough for our needs. And I dont really want to risk and piss him off, should we act too agressive. Besides, we can always use Roulan if the need arises." one suggested, and the rest soon agreed. With their discussion over, they resumed their voice transmission and proceeded to inform Rex of their asking price.


    Rex smirked inside ''Aint they a greedy bunch, but its not like I can ever hope to Run out of earth grade, most of the meat in raid floors is earth grade. Might as well stop hurting Roulan.'' He looked at the girl hiding in the rune circle, her hands covering her mouth as tears streamed down her face.


    "Fine. Six tonnes earth grade. But I better not hear another world from you afterwards. When will someone from your side get here to collect? and make sure they come with proper sized storage ring."


    And with the elder smiling happily, Rex just scoffed and warned them he will call for Roulan to enter once they confirmed the arrival time of their representative for the handoff, and that they should quickly give her the new orders. Roulan, noticing Rex pained gaze in her direction, then his raised hand, that invited her inside, quickly used her long sleeve to wipe her face, and with her head hung low entered the barrrier, her red face hidden from sight.


    "Good news Roulan. Master Neo has expressed his interest in you, asking for you to become his concubine. And since we believe it would greatly benefit you and your growth, and remembering just how excited you were to meet him, we have agreed to his proposal. Bow, to your husband girl and enjoy your life to the fullest. Dont forget to invite us to your wedding." The elder spokesperson smiled amiably, but Roulan could not see it at all, her heart aching from the betrayal she was experiencing. Not willing to see the girl suffer any more Rex waved his hand, disrupting the stones that served as the base of the projection, ending it with that.


    Once he was sure the connection was properly severed, he pulled Roulan towards his three women on the sofa to the side, where all three of them imediatly embraced the young girl and started to soothe her. Rex just sat there to the side, waiting for Roulan to cry her pain out, while being embraced by the other three beauties present. So in such a somber and sad atmosphere half an hour passed by, during which Rex left the room for a moment, coming face to face with the governor, who was waiting there.


    "So. why dont you tell me about that little problem of yours we discussed before I went delving?" Rex asked, and by now the governot just gave up and disclosed the problem he was facing. As it turned out, a rather arrogant and quite powerfull, for this city, mercenary band had taken residence in this city, and they started acting out, demanding protection fees, forcing local women and other ussal thug and lowlife deeds. The problem is that said group has a backing of a rather large sect behind them, preventing others from interfering. Based on the governors investigation, said sect seems to want to expand their holding to include this city, and due to the recent end of the war, and the turmoil Neo caused, barely anyone can be bothereed to keep them in check.


    Luckaly for Rex, he could kill two birds with one stone, since when he inquired more in depth info in the sect behind this all, it turned out to be the same one whose members had roughed up the governor just before Rex had returned.


    "Say, what are the likelyhood that they all are parked in said mercenary groups base in this city right now? Waiting for news of my return and having fun?" Rex asked once he had all the necessary info.


    "It is quite possible indeed." governor answered.


    "Guess we will fix that problem as well then" Rex spoke and then entered the room with his four beauties. A few minutes later, the five exited, with Roulan still in the embrace of Mary and Vivian, since Vivian knew and considered Rouland a friend and Mary was just that kind hearted and sweet.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    As they left the mansion, Roulans sect members were informed that Roulan was now a part of Rex family, and that they could return to their sect come morning. And in case they run into an elder of theirs asking about Roulans of his location they should tell him to go to this cities governors house and wait there. They would make a quick errand run and be there soon. With that, the now six person group entered the carriage, and based on the governors dirrections they were off to solve another problem. During their ride the governor asked Rex the question that was pressing his mind the most.


    "Sir, what is it that you plan to do once we arrive?"


    "Obviously spell in the most simple manner that this city is mine, and anyone who is stupid enough to cause trouble should expect the full brunt of my wrath. Dont you worry though, nothing will change for you. i dont plan to do anything besides acting as the biggest club here to ensure order and my dealings with the Svergi. The rest is upon your discression as it has always been. Got any complaints?"


    "No, of course not sir. On the contrary, I humbly thank you for your benevolance.


    "Good. I will rest for a bit, speak to me when we are there." And with that, Rex rested his back against the backrest of his seat, pulled Diana closer to him and rested. Ten minutes later, the governor spoke, rousing Rex from his rest.


    "We have arrived sir."


    "Hmm. Lead the way, and do not worry, I will be swift and clear in my message."


    With that said, the group left the carriage, the governor leading the way into a small courtyard that had seen better days. It was not in disrepair though, since the chaotic sight was due to the wild partying and drunks strewn about, who in their stuppor paid no attention to the fresh strangers entering the property. Stepping obver a few unconscioous bodies, they reached the fron door that was half open, the scent of strong booze wafting out of the building. Quickly gathering his courage the governor pushed teh door fully poen, and stepped inside, followed by the rest of the group.


    "Roulan" Rex addressed the girl, who was slowly coming out of her teary state, her mood slightly better due to Vivi and Mary "What you are about to whitness is something quite brutal, but neccesary, since this is what I do with people who dare to harm my people or workers." He then pointed his thumb towards the governor.


    "Did you see his miserable state a while back?"


    "Y-yes. He was like that a few days ago when I arrived. Flying sword sects people had beaten him quite severely, since he had the audacity to ask them to wait for your return."


    "Did he say that those were my words, not his own?" he inquired further.


    "Yes. He made it quite apparent that it was ''the exelency Neo'' who had left the message. Wjen I inquired why he had not taken any potions to cure his state, he fearfully answered that they said should he use anything but his own natural healing factor to repair the damage they would repeat the beating, just this time they would up the severity."


    "Thanks Roulan." Then he looked at the other three girls, focusing more on Vivi and Diana "So, solid reason for a proper purge as an example? One does not harm the messangers." Both girls nodded in agreement. And even if it was a bit too severe, the two did not care, he had the individual power to afford such reprimands, besides the Flying Sword sect had acted way over the line in according to both cultures.


    Soon they were in a rather large hall, that was filled with tabes around which sat two distinct groups. One was rough looking men in leather or mail armor, clearly worn out and experienced many battles or skirmishes. The other were youths dressed in the ussual cultivators apparel, with a few of them sporting slightly more adorned and facy versions of the outfits. The adventurers were quite liberal with their consumption of the spirits, and Rex group could see a few struggling ladies, with teary eyes, multiple pairs of hands freely enjoying their assets as the mercenarries pleased. As soon as the sects people noticed teh governor, a few of them shouted and pointed in his dirrection, laughing.


    "Look, the fool came to us for more, and even brough some absolute beauties for us to enjoy!" one of the higher ranks yelled as he laughed.


    "OI!, The fuck is healed! Guess he thinks we were joking back then!" th second of the leaders laughed.


    "You done?" Words sweeped over the hall, bringing with them a chilling aura, quickly sobering the drunks and shutting up the boisterous sect members. They all now focused on the one who had spoken. Two meter tall man with average looks and the eyes of a monster. Black sclera and yellow irises and pupils. A true archon, and those eyes were asociated with a monster by now. One foolish sect member laughed akwardly and spoke


    "See, he came to us, We did not have to wait for him at all. Ha ha ha." That one clearly had a bit too much booze in his system since there was not a single cell in his empty head that warned him to keep his trap shut, and before his companions even reacted and took any action to save their comrade, Rex did it in their stead as the man went to sleep one last time, his head getting crushed like a tomato in Rex grip.


    As the lifeless body hit the ground, Rex moved his attention to the remaining leaders of this small group. "Any smart person would have either done as the Cyan flower sect, and obediently waited for my return, or as the other two gedess sects did, and left to attend to other of their tasks and whatnot. Do tell me, just how stupid one has to be to attack the messenger of someone who could wipe out their puny sect without breaking as sweat? And do tell, in what sane word do they stick around for said someone to come to them?"


    With his words everyone present in the property, even the ones outside in the garden sensed the slight shift in the atmosphere, They were all now in a barrier.


    "Think carefully about what you just did, and what you are planning to do. Our sect is much stronger than Tyrant Dragon, and I am the heir of one of the peaks! Know your place, and be gratefull that our sect even paid attention to you. Now kneel and beg for mercy, or you will find no place that is safe for you in this world. Our sect will hunt you down! KNEEL!"


    "Slight change of plans." Rex said in a calm manner, temporary ignoring the powertripping young master. He looked to the governor "How long would it take for me to reach their sects enclave from here?"


    "There is a gate to a city relatively close to it. Less than a days walk in fact from said city." Governor answered Rex question.


    "Good. That saves time." Then Rex searched one of his rings and withdrew a rather well polished stone that was used to record images with voice, this words version of a short recording that could be played back as long as small bits of mana were fed into it. He then lifted it up, pointing at the tripping youth.


    "Care to repeat? I missed it the first time."


    "You ape of an outsider! KNEEL! And beg for forgiveness, and I might spare your useless life!"


    "I suppose thats enough." Rex said as he stopped the recording and stashed the gem away and as soon as it was safely secured, the arrogant fools head fell on the ground, cleanly seperated from his body.


    "Seriously, defend yourselves. At least make an effort to. This is even more easier than mid floors of the dungeons." Rex said as he became a small reaper, ending every single life in the barrier, excluding his women, the governor, the unfortunate women who were dragged here and one poor Flying Sword sects member who was in a corner of the main hall and witnessed his reaping. Governor was standing frozen, both terrified and relieved at the same time that the beast was to be his backer, any and all possible thoughts of doublecrossing or cheating Rex evaporated for his remaining life. The women who had been taken advantage of had slightly crazed smiles on their faces, their kidnappers and abusers now all dead. Roulan was shocked and slightly scared of Rex, but that fear was quickly eradicated by Vivian whispering in her ear that that same monstrous nature that he was displaying would be transformed into caring and worry for his people, and she was now one of his people. And, obviosuly, Vivian, Mary and Diana just focused on Roulan, expecting such a result already. They have had enough time to understand Rex nature and the generic way he solved problems.


    With the property purged, Rex swung Limitless, cleaning it from the leftover blood, sheathed the blade, turned to the governor and said "Order someone to claen up this mess will you. Then be so kind as to froward my message about this city being under my care, and here" Rex gave him a ring of storage. "One the man from Cyan flower sect arrives, let him take its contents, but keep the ring. I will need it back. Inside is the payment they wanted for Roulan. Let that be her last gift to them for whatever time adn knowledge they instilled in her." He looked to Roulan and asked the girl


    "Are you okey with that? Let it be what frees you from any obligation towards them you have felt you had." She nodded, apreciation in her eyes, though her face still displayed a painfull expression.


    "Come, let us depart. I have a date with the Flying Sword sect it seems, and you have to meet some special people." Rex said with a misterious smile on his face, and so, they departed the place, took a portal to the city that was close to the Flying sword sect, and left in its direction. Once far enough from the city, Rex summoned a gate to Elysium and sent the girls inside, entrusting the introduction and Roulans integration in the family in Vivians capable hands. And with the girls now safe in his shard world, he picked up his speed. After tonight, The sect alliance would not have a single fool arrogant enough throw their weight around in Rex''s face.

 Chapter 81: Flying Sword sect. Part 1

    Rex spent little time on theway towards Flying Sword sect. He could utilize his full capabilities to advance forward since he did not have to adhust to teh pace of anyone else. So, what was supposed to be a days travel, resulted in nice training job of four hours, leaving Rex standing before a valley that was littered with buildings, encompased in a solid rock wall that was patrolled by people at regular intervals. From his position he could see that it seemed to have quite tense atmosphere inside, judging by the serious looks of the patroling guards as well as the people rushing from one building to another, performing some tasks.


    ''What do do? What to do?'' Rex pondered in his head, still thinking of how he wants this to play out. Were he some sort of a chinese xianxia protagonist, he would have to go on a proper extremination spree, after said sect had attacked his own little clan, and while a few motifs were the same, there were also stark differences. It was he who is the big bad in this case, so maybee he did not need to go the bloodthirsty route here? Rex stood there for a few moments, pondering, then decided to try a different aproach first. It not like he could not go back to the extermination path, should the need arise.


    With plans made, he casually advanced towards the main gate of the fortification, not even trying a little bit to hide himself. He was going to starrt as a visitor, and hopefully as such he might stay for the full duration of his visit. Though he had a suspicion due to the attitude of the fools he ended back in Long-Shu, there was a large probability he would still have to perform some sort of a culling. Still, having decided on the more civilized approach he soon reached the gate, that was closed and with quite the amount of guards around.


    "Identify yourself!" Called out one of the guards at the gate, as he noticed the approaching man who cassually strolled in their dirrection.


    "Get your upper management here. We have some rather important things to discuss, and I would like to not start with violence if at all possible. Just tell them that some of your sect members had the misfortune to gravely offend a very powerfull entity, and said entity is quite displeaded with said action, thus the need has risen to figure out, were said members just particularily spoiled and arrogant fools, or is the problem deeper, and require more extensive solution."


    The calm manner and teh words spoken slightly worried the guards, since there were few individuals, or powers, who could act with such calm and relaxed demeanor in front of their sect, so just to be sure, he sent someone to inform the higher ups. He was smart enough to dump the responsibility of the choice on those higher up the chain. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially with the rumors of the mercenary Neo that had reached them. While most of their sect considered them to be untrue, attributing the loss of almost half of the Tyrant Dragon sects elders to some sort of a failed raid into one of the dungeons, It was not unheard of sects overestimating their power and recklessly attempting a raid they should not have, resulting in the weakening, if not outright disbanding of said sect. Such mistakes were costly for a sect, especially when every sect had at least one nighboring sect who would always capitalise on their weakness to take over their territory. A fate that should have befallen the Tyrant Dragon Sect as well, had they not been in a war with the kitsunes, and due to the entire extermination of the White Lotus sect.


    The guest at the gate had withdrawn a rather comfy looking chair from one of his space storages and was not leasurely sitting on it, waiting for whatever response would come from the sects side. He relaxed there, withdrawing some fruits he had gathered during his dive in the monster dungeon he visited before the snow one, enjoying their exotic taste as he waited. And, aproximately an hour later, he looked at the guard, who was listening to something another member was saying to him. From the light sweat on said newcomers face, he had made quite the run just recently. With the report finished, the guard captain turned to Rex, taking a few steps forward, and speaking.


    "My apologies, due to recent disturbing news, our elders are preoccupied at the moment, and thus cannot meet with you. They ask you to wait in the nearby city, and come back in a few days, hopefully by then they can find time in their bussy schedules to recieve you. Once again, my apologies sir." he said and made a small bow towards Rex.


    "Hmm, manners. Thats good. At least not everyone is stupid inside. Here, bring this to said elders. My patience with old senile coots is limited." Rex answered calmly as he withdrew a head from his ring and threw it near the guards feet.


    "The matter is rather important, as you may have guessed." He added, seeing the shock of the guard at the familiar face. What laid before his feet was the head of Xin Xao, the successor of the Wind blade peak, and the man who boldy ordered Rex to kneel and beg for forgiveness. And without any delay, the guards pulled out a talisman and it burt in flames as the captain infused it with his mana. This was no longer a matter of undetermined importance, that could be decided by his dirrect supperiors, so the guard used the talisman he had for cases of emergency, used to notify the elders hall of the presence of some sort of a bigshot, who may have arrived unannounced. An action that those at the top of the power ladder in this continent would employ quite often. It was precisely that possibility why the guard had been as corteous as he was, not willing to risk kicking an iron plate.


    Unlike the previous hour long wait, just ten or so minutes later, exquisitely dressed elder appeared outside, inspecting the person thathad caused the distress of the guard captain. An archon, but not one he recognized, though for some reason those eyes of his felt somewhat familiar. His full attention was soon drawn towards the head on the ground, causing his eyes to almost pop out of their sockets.


    "What is the meaning of his?" He asked in a cold tone of voice, having regained his composure rather quickly, a rather pleased smirk barely escaping his controll. While a dirrect successor, teh youth was despised by most of his peers from other peaks, and he was also not liked by most other elders of the sect. Still, no matter the trash he was, Xin Xao was still a part of their sect, so he had to play the part.


    "As I said previously, your sect has managed to offend a rather powerfull entity, and as such, I am here, to determine, if the act was the fault of his alone" Rex said in teh same calm manner as he pointed to the head on the ground "or an act on orders of your sect. As you may have guessed, depending on the results of my investigation and your response, said entity will have to take apropriate measures. Now, you have already wasted more than an hour of my time and I am starting to loose my patience, waiting out here."


    "Is that a threat sir?" questioned th elder, not noticing any change in the speakers tone of voice, but noticing the implication in his words.


    "Warning, for now." was the response he recieved and considering the optiones he had, the elder decided it would be much easier to deal with it within the defensive array of their sect, if it came down to a fight with this powerfull entity. And capturing its messanger would also be much easier to do in the same said enviroment. Thus, the elder invited him inside, apologizing for the lack of decorum on the side of the gate supervisor, promising a reprimand for said man. The guest calmly stood up, retrieved his chair back to his space storage and calmly joined the elder as they entered the sect grounds.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    As the elder led Rex towards a meeting hall, he innitiated a light conversation, while still fully alert and on guard. Even then, the guest showed no signs of taking the innitiative to attack, and calmly responded to the elders simple and non intrusive questions, asking some of his own, in a similar manner, at one point remarking that this elder, at the very least, has shown enough tact and decorum towards him, painting their sect in a much better light. During their twenty or so minute walk in a casual tempo they had arrived at the building the elder was leading them to. It was a rather large few stories high simple building, with a single large main room with a massive table in the middle. The seats around it were arranged seperating the two sides. Clearly one side was theirs, while the side closer to the exit was reserved for the guests.


    Their talk had left the elder thoughtfull. Rex had not hidden the reason for the successors death when inquired about it, revealing that the youth had been on quite the power trip, not only attacking said powerhouses messanger and injuring it, but also forbiding said messanger to heal using external methods, promising even greater suffering should he not obey their command. And said youth also went on a tangent, one that was recorded and would be shown to their council, once the meeting would be underway. The elder did express his displeasure with the now deceased youth, indicating that the man in question was not liked by many, but they could have done nothing as it was the business of each peak to controll and discipline their own members. The elder wisely acted with caution. Who knows, he might even earn some goodwill and a rather important connection.


    As they entered the meeting hall and took their respective seats, Elder Wu, as the man had introduced himself along the way, sitting down in his own seat and Rex taking a seat on the guests side near the middle, Rex spoke to the elder.


    "I have to say, it is quite nice to converse with wise and capable men, instead of having to deal with the hot headedness and stupidity of youth. Surely you must have similar thoughts."


    Elder Wu chuckled, retorting "But sir feels quite young himself, clearly I cannot make the same deduction as you have acted with calm and purpose far above what your age would imply. Has sir used some treasure or medicine that maintains your youthfull apearance despite the age? It clearly feels that you have the energy of a youthfull man."


    "Well, yes, I do act above my age, but there are always outliers among the masses."


    They kept conversing for a few more minutes when they were served some tea by some servant girls, and a dozen or so minutes later still the hall was entered by a dozen or so other elder men, one of which seemed furious and barely in controll of his rage, clearly the master of Rex latest victim. The head was now in the possesion of the elder Wu, who presented said head to the fuming peak master, asking the other elders to take their seats and await the messangers explanation and reasons. With the leders and their sect leader in their chairs, all attention on Rex, he glanced around the room, then spoke in the same calm manner as before.


    "Two SS class, one middle one innitial tier, the rest ar middle to high S class entities. As for the reason I am here with the head that was returned to you just now, here is the details."


    Then Rex proceeded to shortly recount the actions of said group towards his messanger, the lawlessness their hired mercenary group created in the city as well as the way they acted once Rex was there to administer punishment, at the end enev playing the recording he took. With that all out on the table, he asked the elders present.


    "Now, tell me, how should this act be percieved? Since from where I stand, that seemed almost like a declaration of war, however due to the fact barely any of your members have any idea who I am and the zero agression towards me here so far, I should deduce that it was the act of a loose member, and not the act of the entire sect. Do note that I dont really care which one it is, as long as I recieve your stance about the matter. The one responsible for the lack of discipline of the said loose cannon should be punished as well, and if neccesarry, I can carry out said punishing myself."


    "Ow, and if you are wondering why I am here conversing, do not be decieved into thinking that it is because you can stand up against me, becasue you cant. If I wanted to, I could wipe your sect off the ground here and now, however, since I have already sown enough chaos with the destruction of White Lotus and the weakening of Tyrant Dragon sects, albeit due to a contract and not a choice of my own per se, anihilating yet another sect would cause unnecessarily large increase in the chaos in the region. So, I am being extremely kind to the region with this diplomatic approach."


    Rex words caused a moment of deadly silence, the elders understanding that they are in the presence of the reknown Neo, as well as severity of his words, thruthfull or not. Elder Wu, wanting to lessen the tension in the room, asked.


    "So, we can asume you would prefer not to cause more chaos, but will do so if pushed to such an outcome?"


    "Indeed. It is quite annoying when weaklings like your deceased succesor decide to disregard any and all rules of civility, or just outright act out in the presence of their betters. I do hope yours, and the other sects will teach humility to their never generation, lest another tragedy happens."


    "Right, while on the subject, note that Long-Shu is now under my watch, be mindfull when visiting." Rex explained with a neutral facial expression, something that had not changed during this whole conversation, unnerving some of the elders. He was alone in the territory of a potential enemy, and yet there was not a trace of worry or nervousness in his body language or voice. On the contrary, it seemed as if this whole event was nothing more than a past time for him, as if he could make it dissapear with a snap of his fingers. Elder Wu felt a chill run down his spine at the mere thought of what such prospect signifies.


    "Go ahead, feel free to discuss the solution among yourselves. Better yet, I can leave the room for the time being if that would make the discusion easier. But once again, do come to a decision in a timely manner. I have a few other tasks to attend to while on this continent of yours."


    "There is no need for that." Spoke the sect master, and a barrier was activated that encompased the sect elders, sealing their conversation away from Rex''s ears. And he just relaxed in his seat, withdrawing a few more fruits from one of his storage spaces and starting to snack on it. As he waited, he was testing the different types of fruits collected and rating their tastes based on his prefferances, making his own list to note and stack up on the best ones. As he waited, a servant was called by him, refilling his tea cup a few times over the lenght of the hour Flying Sword sect was bussy with their own deliberations.


    Finally, the barrier broke, the expressions on quite a few elders dark, but Rex noticed that elder Wu was rather calm, implying they have not decided on declaring him as the enemy of their sect.


    "So, what decision have you come to, regarding the little conundrum we have?" Rex asked, still as nonchallant and relaxed as ever. This visit was nothing more than a game to him, something to kill the time as well as to send a friendly warning, should they be villing to listen, since he ahd the power and skills to utterly anihilate them.


    "The first order of business." The sect master spoke and bowed towards Rex after he had stood up from his seat. "We sincerely apologise on behalf of your sect regarding the actions of our former disciple. We hope that sir would be willing to forgive us. We naturally will find an apropriate gift to show our sincerity. Secondly, regarding the punishment of the ones responsible for said offense." He exhaled and sighed


    "Master of Xin Xio has expressed his dissatisfaction and demands a duel to the death, for killing his student, regardless of your reasons. As such, we believe that sir ahs the rights and the chance to punish said offender in any way you deem apropriate during the duel, since the ned result would not change. Is such and outcome satisfactory?"


    Rex looked at the barely contained early stage SS class elder, clearly the master in question, shrugged his shoulders.


    "Sure" he spoke "You ready, or need some time to say goodbye to your people?" Rex added as he looked at the fuming elder.


    The elder gritted his teeth, his anger almost palpable in the room "Lets go then.. Its time to put an end to this charade." the elder inquestion grunted, stood up and moved towards the exist of the hall.

 Chapter 82: Flying Sword sect. Part 2

    Soon, folowing Mu Feng, the master of Xin Xao, the entire group of the people present in the hall previously, along with Rex, had reached a rather large field with multiple training grounds- an area clearly used for practice matches or exhibitions. Mu Feng quickly entered one of the arenas, drawing his spear from his storage ring and taking a stance, ready to attack at any given moment. Rex did not wait for any special invitation and entered the same arena as Mu Feng.


    "You will pay for my succesors life with your own." he said to Rex, anger clearly apparent in his voice "And I will put a stop to those foolish rumors of a SSS class monster on the loose in our country!"


    With those words he lunged forward, trying to catch Rex off guard, but missing him by a slight margin. It seemed as though Rex had managed to dodge by a hairs width. Then, following the first, thrust after thrust followed the first one, each charged with mana and desire to end its targets life, yet, just like the first one, every one of the thrust was dodged by a tiny margin, making the onlookers gasp in shock. As the barrage of thrusts kept going, they could start to notice beads of sweat starting to pur down Mu Fengs face, the man clearly giving his all in the endless barrage of his trusts.


    "WHY DONT YOU JUST DIE!" Screamed Mu Feng as he slightly slowed down in the intensity of his thrusts, the high pace and countless strikes leaving him wisibly drained. Then, suddenly, the barrage of thrusts ended, revealing a sight that sent chills down the spines of the surrounding spectators. Rex had grabbed the spear the moment its forward thrust was finished and Mu Feng had started to pull it back for another thrust, leaving them in a situation where the spear was stuck in a vice like grip, effectively making it unussable.


    "And here I thought that low level SS class would have more to offer in terms of strenght, I am utterly dissapointed." Rex spoke with a sigh. His words clearly flying past Mu Fengs ears, as the man was still in shock due to the caught spear. The action was incomprehensible to him. He, who was at the top of his continents powerhouses, a man who could travel the world with little to no worries, unless of course he decided to delve in raid tier floors, was just stopped by a youngster not even twenty years old? Just what kind of a sick joke was that? Did they encounter some sort of a demigod, sent down to their plane to perform some goldy task? Or was he here just to have fun at the expense of the mortals. Whatever the case, he was flabergasted and could not accept the reality before him. So, the hand that pierced his body and tore out his heart registered only when he felt his body grow cold, and then, in the last few moments of his life saw the heart in the bloodied hand being squished like a ripe tomato. And with that sight as his last, he dropped to the ground, his body still, his lifes clock having ticked its last time.


    "I do expect there will be no further annoyances after this. I hate to repeat my self." Rex spoke as he turned his attention to his spectators, after retrieving the space ring of the fallen elder. And noticing their gazes towards the ring he added "Spoils of war." with a light smile that chilled the small crowd once again.


    "Right. Elder Wu, mind showing me that wine collection you mentioned during our walk here. I am quite interested in aquiring a few bottles for the ladies waiting back home. I believe your expertise in the matter could prove invaluable." Rex just switched gears from warlord to a ladies man in seconds, remembering Rashuun mentioning that the cultivators had quite the vine industry, and with elder Wu previously mentioning his collection randomly, he decided to capitalize on that.


    "Why of course. It would be my pleasure sir. Are there any specific types you are looking for? Is it for a ladie? Owww, might I inquire about her temper, to find the best possible choices? Multiple ones? Ow my, ow my. We have quite the task ahead of us, dont we?" Elder Wu barraged Rex with questions, percieving quick head and hand gestures from him to further his barrage, the man fully immersing himself in his preffered hobby, finding a man ready to be innitiated into the glorious club of the vine connosours.


    Rex innitially did not believe his hostilities with the Sword sect would end with just this duel, seeing as how he just took out one of their two strongest members present, yet to his suprise, that was it. Elder Wu happily brought him away to his personal collection, trying to figure out from which section their search should begin, leaving the remaining elders and the sect master there. Once Rex was out of the near vicinity, a few servants were called forth to clean up the arena, and move the body of now deceased peak master to a burial chamber.


    "I can barely believe it. Elder Wu was indeed right." One of the elders said.


    "Yes. That man is a monster of unreasonable power. Luckaly he is not as bloodthirsty as their kind tends to be, else our sect would have faced bloody end." Spoke another.


    "We have to thank White Lotus and Tyrant Dragon sects for it as well, since their losses saved us too." third one spoke.


    "So, the question now remains. How are we supposed to interract with him? Its not like we have a godess of our own to send his way to establish connection. What else is there he might be interested in that he himself cannot attain?" Asked the sect master.


    ''''Why dont we just create a base in Long-Shu and offer our assistance to the governor of the place to maintain order? Surely he would apreciate it, and while not much, the gesture would indicate our remorse and desire for mutual benefits?" The first one asked. "And besides, we can always keep an eye out for the ultimate beauties during our forays in dungeons the wild islands."


    They continiued back and fort as they moved to the meeting hall, working out the very best solution to their current situation. It was true, the cataclysmic danger was over for now, but the cause could be turned into a blessing, so they had to decide on ways to do exactly that. Rex meanwhile was touring a ginourmous basement filled to the brim with different bottles and barrels of wine, learning about its nuances and specifics. he spent an entire day picking the best vine for his girls, coming to an agreement with elder Wu that he would be contacted by Rex when another batch of vine would be needed.


    The next day Rex left as soon as his business with elder Wu was finished, and once free said elder joined the rest of the upper leadership he was praised for his insight, since there was no chance to do so up untill now, and ones achievements should be honored.


    As elder Wu thanked for the compliments he was recieving, he spoke as he looked in the dirrection Rex had left "I have to admit though. No matter how greatly I evaluated Neo, I never though he would be so much above my estimates. That youngster will create even more waves than he already has. Just wait and see my fellow elders."


    Rex''s return to the closest city with gate was just as fast as his path to Sword sect, and just like before, before the city he opened gate to Elysion and called back his traveling companions who, while having fun with the rest of the girls present in Elysion at the time, were eagerly awaiting his summons. Vivian Diana Mary and Roulan were not only happy, but quite excited to continiue their little adventure together. And it made Rex more than pleased to see his newest companion to have shed most of her worries and pain she had on showing on her face when they were sent into his shard world. And in this group they returned to Long-Shu, where they would spend another few days relaxing, and then depart back home to Blythe, where they would wait untill they had any news regarding the Mountains Rage tribes decision regarding their submission. Techically it would be akin to an aliance, but in thruth they would be serving Rex, like it or not.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Their return to Long-Shu was rather calm, with no exciting or interesting developments, if one ignores all the mischief Vivian was up to, teasing and fooling around with Roulan and Mary. Something both younger ladies were more than happy about. Roulan in particular was happy beyond belief at the change her friend had undergone. Something that Vivian herself attributed to Rex freeing her from the enourmous expectations and duties weighing her down when she was at her sect. Now she could be the mischievous girl she was deep down, and have all the fun she had missed during her previous stage in life.


    They had quite a bit of fun in the city for the few days they were there. Walking through the city, visiting its shops and stalls, though not trying any of the local foods. It was just so hard to enjoy anything made from ordinary ingridients. That one of the few drawabcks of their high quality meals and luxury Rex provided for them. Anything made with lower than earth grade ingridients felt bland, thus local cuisine was for the most part not something to enjoy.


    Rex also offloaded a bit of the higher quality goods he had ammased in the Svergi dungeon in the local auction houses and shops, making said shopkeepers and the governor of the place happy beyond reason with his presence in the city. They also encounter the very first few members of the Flying Sword sect sent over to assist the governor in enforcing the rules of the place. An act to earn Rex favour, or at least to ensure he did not view their sect as a potential enemy. No matter the actual reason, Rex did not mind such an action. He had not asked for their assistence, but nor did he have an issue with their presence here. All he did was to advice them to ensure their members here did not get drunk on their power, something the younger ones often tended to forget. His words were light enough and construed in a manner that ensured that said words were an advice and a reminder of what can always happen, and not a threat of the local overlord.


    Luckaly for Rex though recieved a meesage from Kara before they departed back to Blythe. And so, due to Vivians insistance, they once again descended into the dungeon manually, providing ample opportunities for both her and Roulan to have quite the solid training session on their way towards Karas village. The two eastern ladies were working on their teamwork, something they would do often in the future, since both had expressed their desire to join the dungeon delving teams of Rex women back in Blythe, and Rex, being the man he is, had absolutely no issue with it. On the contrary, he encouraged them to have fun and do whatever they found to be entertaining,as long as it did not include other men, that is. He was too damn jelous and possesive for that, and he had made his only flaw, not flaw, quite obvious to every one of his girls.


    Soon they were in the Chiefs hall alongside Kara, looking at a group of five Svergi men and one woman. All men were muscle mountains, about two point six meters tall, with one being extra big, reaching three meters in height. High tier SS class entity. The man should be the leader of Mountains Rage tribe, but to Rex he might just be yet another weakling in his path, should the man decide to challenge him. And while the man looked quite the savage, what with his tattered style of clothing and those two huge axes on his back, there was quite a bit of intelegence in his eyes. Not to mention the fact he had yet to act either arrogantly or disrespectfull towards kara, who was the chief of this small village. He had been quite the honorable guest as he was waiting for Rex to arrive, something he was told to wait for, when Kara used her ring of comunication to inform Rex of the visiting chiefs presence.


    The man now looked towards Rex as the man sat in his seat, flamked by three Svergi women, two of whom exuded quite charming and enticing aura. He, being one of the pinnacle entities of their race, could easily feel just how pure and powerfull their bloodline was, and should they belong to any other man, he have never hesitated to challenge them to a fight, end their lives and claim the women for himself. But the Warcaller of their tribe, now that was an entityin whose presence even his knees buckled. The sheer might said entity exuded, the absence of any residual aura or mana escaping from his body. Before him sat an existance akin to a god, if he had ever seen one. And if not a god yet, then one in the making for sure. One thing was clear- to never, ever do anything to provoke said entity again.


    "I am Jorg, the chief of the Mountains Rage tribe." The three meter high man introduced himself then pointed towards the only woman among his followers "And she is Mara, our wise woman and my wife. And those are our most skilled young men. Tallents to be nurtured."


    Rex nodded, and signaled for his women and Kara to explain the gist of things. How they would construct a gate in Mountains Rage village that would be used to send their raiding parties, or armies on certain ocasions to specific places outside of the dungeon, allowing them to raid and plunder cities of certain human or other species nations, providing both wealth, recourses and slaves, should they align themselves under Rex''s banner. There would be no other type of controll from Rex''s side. The only reason he is offering them such anm opportunity is the fact that as a single entity it is quite the annoying task to raid, pillage, cull and round up the slaves as a single entity. Thats where manpower is needed, and so, the current situation they are in. All in all, the offer was only benefitial for everyone, since the gate would allow Rex to arrive in their village whenever he so chose, ensuring that even in the case where all other grand tribes united against them, they would still come out on top. Since when it came to pure destruction and culling of lives, he had no equal.


    Jorg, hearing all the details one by one couold not help but grin wider and wider, and by the end of Karas and Dianas explanation the mans face looked like a madman who was high on drugs in his own world, shooting loads non stop. His own wife had to enplty her cup of mead on his head to bring him back to reality, an action she profusely apologized to Rex and the women by his side. She had dirtied their floor after all.


    "And all that you need in return is part of the haul, their high ranking clergy women, unsullied, and help in defending this little village of yours, that too will be connected to ours through another gate, giving us instant access here in case of emergencies. Hahahahhahahahha. Only a brain dead fool would not accept such terms. You sure you dont want a daughter of mine or two as well? I would wrap them in a few furs and deliver them to your bedrrom myself, should you ask for it."


    "No offence to you chief, but you see the caliber of women that are by my side. is any of your daughters on the same level?" Rex asked a question in return.


    "It stings to say it, but no." he replied with a sigh. "Though I wish there were. Nothing better than an aliance secured through bonding blood, though I understand the high standarts of yours. As they should be."


    His slight dejection caused his wife to comfort him and apologize for not being pure blooded enough to ensure she could gift him with such daughters. It was highly dependant on the woman just how pure the blood of descendants were, explaining why Dianas daughter was almost as pure blooded as she was even if the father was only A class entity, with not so strong and pure bloodline.


    "First, the five of you" Diana spoke as she pointed to the five men accompanying their chief and wife "Out you go for now." and the five, understanding the importance of the coming conversation, left as ordered.


    "Regarding your little issue, we might have a solution" Diana spoke with a light smirk, causing the pair to whip their heads towards her in lightning like speed. Rex just shrugged at her antics, and gave his blessing to her to do as she wishes. She would have to work her willfullness off in the bedroom, he would make sure of it. So, with his blessing Diana just asked if Mara remembers tales of the Apexus. The woman, slightly furrowed her brow, quickly recounting said tales in her mind, and finding what Diana was reffering to.


    "The flesh of the beast was a blessing in of itself, for those who feasted on it would grow stronger, their blood purified and strenghtened, bringing the conquerors of the beast ever so closer to our true ancestors." She recounted "But how does that help us? Slaying an Apexus is a feat of legends that has not been achieved for centuries now."


    Diana smiled and with a small motion of her hand she lifted necklace to come into the focus of their guests.


    "I dont know, my husband here has no problems slaying them."

 Chapter 83: The last preperations for war.

    The metaphorical bomb Diana dropped on the two leader of Mountains Rage tribe left them stunned. they just stood there, mouths agape and eye laser focused on the marital necklace Diana had pulled into focus. And it the knowledge A man having killed an Apexus was not mindbreaking enough, the fact that Dianas necklace sported two sets of ceremonial teeth was. Mary, in large part due to Vivians mishievous influence decided to add fuel to the fire, jonining in on the fun as she added.


    "Yes thats right, husband is just that strong, after all, my necklace is also like that." and with those words the two guests heads shot towards her necklace as well, purely on instinct, and at the sight of yet another two sets they remained stunned for quite a while yet. no one bothered to break them out of their stupor just yet, allowing them to slowly process the knowledge they had been granted. Kara on the side just smiled lightly. She has had to go through the same at one time. To understand the absolute depths of the power their Warcaller posseses, now that was quite the challenge, and even then, she strongly believed that he was still growing his might. He was incredibly young still, barely adult by their measure, as well as that of humans, and yet, there he was, hunting down Apexus like they were hares and he, a young greater wolf who was just fooling around with an unfortunate rabbit it had come across.


    Some ten or so minutes later Diana suddenly clapped her hands, startling the duo out of their stupor. She lightly laughed, getting the twos attention to herself and spoke.


    "Now, as the legend speaks, the meat of the beast is indded as miraculous as implied. It does strenghten ones bloodline. The only limitation, as you must have guessed is the amount consumed as well as just how much it can be purified in a day. Based on our own research, a single meal in a day is enough to cap out the rate at which ones bloodline gets improved. More than that is just a waste, unless of course one has unreasonable surpluss and wants to enjoy the bliss that is its exquisite taste." That was indeed a danger their own household had managed to avoid, in most part thanks to Aisha and her unreasonable skills in cooking. She had managed to bring earth grade meals so close to the heaven grades taste that they could happily enjoy the former without any gripes. And that was the reason why they simply could not enjoy the ordinary food most of the world made their meals out of. It all felt tasteless, if not feeling like something harmfull alltogether.


    "So, I believe that to ensure the loyality and to be able to achieve said necesarry blood binding, all we have to do is help your wife here purify and strengten her blood. Something we are well and trully equiped to do. So, a promise, a deal if you will, can be made. One where we will provide the raw ingridient that is neccesarry for her to reach a point where a daughter worthy of joining us could be born. So, what say you Jorg, chief of the Mountains Rage tribe, does our offer sound enticing enough?"


    Rex side did not have to wait for the mans response long, in fact it was instant. The moment Diana was done talking the man got out of his seat, stood back a sep or so to have enough free space, sat on his knees, hands on his thighs, and bent down his head.


    "I thank you for the generosity, and humbly accept. We will raise a daughter worthy of you."


    "Good." Diana spoke "But make sure she doesnt become battle addict or anything. While being strong is not wrong, a smart woman, like any spiritual leader is much better. We have all the strenght we will ever need in our husband after all. Wisdom and spirit is what the women should bring."


    This time Mara noined her husbands side, kneeling in teh same position as he was, and she expressed her own gratitude.


    "I thank you, and I promise that my daughters will be well taught."


    "Good, now come, lets get you those ingridients, shall we. Let men talk of their wars and such." Diana smiled as she stood from her chair and called the woman forth. They had enough to discuss on their own. Both as the spouses of a leader as well as women and holders of their peoples lore. not to mention that Maras eyes were sparkling with curiosity and wonder when she glanced towards Dianas marital necklace. So, following Dianas lead, Mara followed her into another room, leaving Rex to deal with Jorg.


    With that out of the way, Rex told the kneeling man to get back into his chair so they could get to discussing more important matters and once the man had done so, the real planning begun. They made a timetable and plans, discussed how long it would take for Jorgs people to prepare a few raiding parties as well as arm an army. The larger cities would need nothing less than that. Rex knew that by this point. His ravens had traveled all across Echlisiarchys lands, shown him the cities and villages and villas spread around said country. Rex in turn, based on all the knowledge he had, was developing a monstrous plan that was basdd on a spell of cataclysmic proprtions, utilizing a few dungeons as the sourse of energy for the duration it would be employed.


    With his ravens as the anchors, and being extension of his reach to cast and controll his own spells, Rex could ling them to dungens to tap in that endless energy to fuel a spell continiuesly, then linking many ravens together, Rex could cast a barrier spell that would envelop the entire state, while seperating the inside into many seperate regions, ensuring both absolute controll in enemy movements, as well as their fragmentation. That single spell would allow Rex to judge each village, each city seperate based on the level of depravity and corruption said place had reached.


    With enemy mevements locked, and using the gates to pull in his own armies, they could then take down his enemy, one barrier at a time, while ensuring that those who are still not rotten enough would be spared. The rest would recieve the punishement they had brought upon themselves. As for the actual raids and sieges themselves, Rex also had the perfect plan, to maximize their speed and efficiency. he would scan their targeted location and take out all of the S class threats and above, guiding Jorg and his elites to take down High A class entities, and leaving the rets of the culling and roundups to Jorgs army or raiding parties, depending on the size of their target. What they do with the slaves was of little concern to Rex. It would be their decision to make. To victor goes the spoils and all. Of course, the oracles, saints and other higher seated official members of the fairer sex within Echlisiarchies hierchy would be captured and turned in to Rex. He had other plans for them, yes he inndeed had. It was almost time to go into the second stage of development for ''Neos Holy Whores''.


    In addition, Mountains Rage tribe would attain a much better land for their own usage. They could create their own villages and cities in the lands they would cleanse. And since they would be so much better than the lands of eternal snow they were inhabiting now, with the guaranteed access to their holy and sacred places in the dungeon through Rex gates leading back to their own home city it was an absolute win in the eyes of Jorg. He was more and more convinced that Rex was the champion sent to them by the god of their ancestor, even with Rex strong denial of such a possibility. By Rex words, if anything, he was just someone with a grudge against the Echlisiarchy and their prophet, and him being here was nothing more than a lucky coincidence. And unlike the stubborn Svergi man, Rex knew better. His patron was having fun with a hands off approach, letiing him do as he pleases, enjoying the show as it goes. He could understand though, just how much more fun it was when you did not know the story, how it would go, what new characters would appear, what plot would develop. The anticipation, the not knowing, it was what made such entertainment trully great.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    And so, with their immediate plans ready and ironed out, they waited for the women to finish they own chat. Once that was done, they would depart for the home of Jorg and Mara, where Rex would set up the gate that would becoem the central location for all of Svergi movement during their war activities. It another few hours untill the ladies in question had returned with large smiles on their faces. Rex saw Maras hand adorned with a space ring, clearly stuffed with heaven grade meat, but he did not care. The amount he now had, after the slaying and harvesting of the Apexus he had slain, was incredible, so a few hundred killos here or there was more than just insignificant. Hell, even Tigra, Crystal, Snow and Diego were nwo eating heaven grade for breakfast. Something the four cats had tried to drown Rex in saliva as thanks, due to them showing their appreciation and affection. His cats were a part of the family, and would happily let the girls ride them like mounts. All but Snow that is. While the white Byakko would happily get petted and spoiled, only Rex was ever allowed to use her as a mount. The cat ahd her own reasoning and principles, but that too was fine. She had grown considerably since the start of their heaven grade meals.


    With everyone present, Rex thanked Kara for her hard work and set out with his women alongside Jorg and Mara to the home of said couple. They were also joined by the five warriors who had arrived alongside the two leaders of said tribe. The five were rather confused innitially by how respectfull Jorg was towards their new allies, but after a few hours of travel, and with the demonstration of Rex capabilities for destruction, they quickly understood that the man was one mean machine for destruction.


    With Rex and Jorg clearing the path and outright scaring off most of the possible obstacles it took them less tahn two days to reach the main city of Mountains rage tribe. As one would have expected, it was a large city, built into the side of a mountain. Large stone walls encompassing it, making it a fortress of formidable proportions. Rex reasoned that without a few SS class entities to draw most of the defensive force efforts away from the common rable, it would be nigh impossible to breach the place. That would also explain how said tribe could find the time to focus on honing their skill as smiths. Such security clearly gave enough freedom to develop other aspects of their culture.


    Luckally for Mara, who wanted to show offher home to the women of Rex harem, said man of the house stated that he would need some time to set up the gate, giving the woman all the time she needed to achieve her desire. Not knowing the exact time she had on her hands she wasted no time whatsoever and dragged to ladies accompanying them with her. Sure, food was not part of their possible destinations, but they did not lack other things to do.


    While the girls were having their fun, Jorg brough Rex to a place he had reasoned to be in the perfect location for a gate to launch their invasions from. Said place was supposed to be used for a rather large market site once they had aquired another grand tribe as their ally or subordinate. The place had all the neccessary services nearby to ensure that all the slaves brough back here would be quickly and efficiently brought in line and set to work. Countless barns for storing all kinds of goods also were close enough, and the large area itself ensured that quite the number of soldiers could ge ammassed here before opening of the gate.


    Rex in turn, made said gate with the intention that it would become a hub of sorts, the main central hub for countless arrivals and departures in the future. Since this was the heart of the future Svergi nation the gate too should be made in accordance to the future needs. But Rex was already aware that his gate should be able to reach that stage and so he had hept quite a few partitions of his mind working on perfecting and developing said technology furtehr adn further. Now, he could put those countless hours of work and planning to good use.


    His group spent an entire week in this place, during which Rex rarely rested, emptying out more than just one barn of the Svergi warehouses that were housing some rather usefull materials for his work. Still, by the end of the week he was done, and the gate looked quite majestic. Rex had explained in detail just how impressive his creation was, and everyone who heard of the capabilities of said gate could only nod in agreement.


    The eight day in said city was spent in a celebration. To hinor the completion of the gate as well as a proper party before a start of a rather large campaign to punish bad people and earn sizable amount of recourses and slaves. Mountains Rage would now train and prepeare for when Rex calls for their services, and the man himself guaranteed that it would not take too long for him to call the warriors to action. With that said, and once the celebration was done, Rex and his women left the city, returning to Long- Shu and from there soon they were back in Blythe.


    It had to be noted that even though Rex had spent most of the week working on the gate he still found a night or two to spend with his women in Elysium, as well as performing a few branding back in Blythe in his capacity as Rex, the blood mage. He had succesfully seperated the tow for the time being. An action that the more mischievous of his girls made into a game of sorts. The game was quite simple for them. If, for example Rex was having some nice and steamy bedroom fun with Val, Mel, Irina, Aisha or any other girl that belonged to ''Rex'', Vivian, Diana, Seriis or any other of ''Neo''s '' girl would sneak in and join in on the fun, or the reverse would happen, when one or multiple of ''Rex'' girls would sneak in to have fun with ''Neo'' during on of his session. Then they would guiltily admit their own wrongdoings to ''their'' man during another of their steamy sessions. Rex could only sigh to this, having to decide how to punish the two elven beauties who had started the whole game of theirs. And while quite kinky in its own way, Rex was not a man who would ever tolerate a green hat. Something his girls understood well, and were only fooling around precisely because both personas were Rex. Nothing changed between the two besides the way he fought in combat. Neo used teh close combat with light magic here and there, while Rex used large scale spells and mana constructs to lay waste to anything in his path.


    So, yet another week was spent in Blythe, entertaining his girls, having meetings with Eredar, Brogni and Victor to plan further ahead. They had to start to slowly organize the next large auction, since Rex''s actions, mainly the earth grade meat and other deep floor goods he was offloading through Eredar, and the top tier slaves Brogni was offering, had made Blythe into one of the centers of trade for the high quality and expensive goods. City had expanded multiple times over from it was originally, and now it could be considered among the greatest trade ports not only on the continent, but within the region. Such port cities wer efew and far between, each having some extremely unique and demanded recourse making it what it was.


    As with the previous one, Rex left all the planning to the trio of his friends, each and every one of them now holding a great deal of influence in their own spheres and overall in the world. Such was the power of a superior blood mage and an adventurer with a raid team that could explore deep floors consistently. Such a feat was not recorded, since it would take unreasonable loyality and faith in their leader, as well as just as unreasonable skill of said leader to maintain said faith and loyality, since a single failiure could lead to the group shattering.


    But Rex had not been idle as he was entertaining his girls this past week. No, on the contrary, he had summoned more of the cosmic ravens, sending them to take positions in numerous locations across the Echlisiarchy. He was setting all the pieces in their rightfull places, as well as working on a portable gate, one anchored to an item he could place whereever he needed, ensuring he could be mobile and with an army behind his back whereever he went. And he had succeeded, the gate was ready and the net was spread out. All that was left was innitiate the plan. And then, his revenge would finally start. His revenge, and the revenge of all the innocent archons and demihumans who had suffered at the hands of Echlisiarchy. Rex had seen much, heard even more, and he could not muster any sympathy or compasion towards his targets for what he was about to start. No sir, they had earned everything that was coming.

 Chapter 84: Fall of the fanatic. Prelude. Part 1

    As Rex was finalizing his own preperations to innitiate his masterplan, Izumi and Rashuun had not been idle either. As his representatives and main political force the duo had worked hard as well. They had made quite subttle rumors that were spread around, stating that there were movements in the shadows, activities that implied that some agression was to take place in the lands of the Echlisiarchy. The rumors had done their job, since due to them most of the teocratic states military personell as well as their secret agents had been recalled in preperation to deal with the agressor, as well as to figure and flush out the mastermind behind it. Rex had spent quite a bit of time strategizing and planning the most efficient ways to round up and capture in not all, then most of their secret agents and strategists, and, at the end of the day, this plan was the one with the largest capture rate, leaving barely any of their forces untouched.


    XXX


    Meanwhile in the heart of capital city of the Echlisiarchy- Rahen, a word that was taken from an ancient language of the continent that in translation meant holy domain, in the grand temple building that served as the seat of the rulers of their state, yet another gathering took place. The twelve council members, each representing one of the ruling families of their state, were once again gathered for a meeting. An event that had occured far too often for their liking in the last few months or so, but nothing could be done about that. Ever since the enourmous fiasco that happened in the once small trading port town of Blythe they were quite bussy with firefighting the problems arising one after another. Such a grand failiure had not happened in decades, if not a century.


    "How is the progress in cleaning up the diplomatic mess of Blythe?" asked one of the twelve rather chubby men sitting around the large table covered in all kinds of documents and vine glasses.


    "We have mostly managed to curb the voices of dissent and anger among our immediate neighbors, though it had cost us quite a bit of currency in doing so, lord Zeke." responded one of the few advisors and executives of few of their special and secret forces. The mans response was noted with an aprowing grunt from the lord who asked.


    "And what about that filthy forsaken who caused all of this fiasco?" another of the twelve asked, clear disgust in his voice due to merely having to think of such a foul creature.


    "Our apologies lord Marr, but due to the neccesity to deal with the outrage said event caused, as well as Zharrs ironclad stance on the matter we had absolutely no safe path to deal with it. What is worse, the rumors that have reached us regarding the creature paint a dire picture." another of the advisors spoke.


    "How much of a problem a single mongrell can be? Just send a full inquisition force. That should be more than enough for a single pest, even if its somewhat resilient." The third of the twelve half screamed in anger.


    "Watch your tone young Rufus. While you have only recently been apointed, who should be well aware of how one of your station should act. Your family can replace you quite easily, should you keep that attitude up." spoke the most aged man sitting at the table.


    "M-my apologies lord Bairon, i was too excited. We have suffered greatly due to said filths existance." quickly stammered the Rufus council member. Bairon family was the most powerfull and influential of the twelve. It was the one family who always apointed one of their elders to their councils seat, effectively ensuring it was they who controlled the tempo and manners that teh rest of the councill followed.


    "As long as you enderstand." The old Bairon nodded to the younger man, then turned to the non council member who had spoken before "Continue."


    "Yes sir." responded the advisor, then he quickly followed with his report. "There are quite a few tales surrounding the man by now, and none of them paint a good picture for us. Besides the rumors of said man having his own raid team that is stable and does regularly raid the deep floors, there are also a few other worrying rumors that seemed to at least be somewhat true. Firstly, it seems that due to his previously mentioned team he has quite the good relationship with the blood mage that is residing there. Then another one comes from the cultivators lands. It says that it was said man who caused the end of their war with the fox kins. We asume he used his raid team to cause the end of a sect and intimidate yet another, forcing said state to end their war prematurely. It is hard to get more information due to their peoples strong dislike for ours. Then from the lands of Al Merhads we have info that the same man took care of their growing problem in the form of a Veran Warlord. Thsoe accounts speak of a singular man doing everything there. Thus, based on the current information we have to asume that said individual is at least mid tier SS class entity, maybee even high or peak class. A melee fighter, making small groups of assasins quite inneffective, and due to certain rumors and signs, we cant afford to create an inquisition force to dispatch to deal with him."


    "More trouble?" asked another council member.


    "Unfortunately yes, lord Frolen. There are signs of an imminent attack on our holy lands." another of the advisers said, eliciting a rather powerfull response from the council.


    "WHAT!???" members exclaimed, and then quickly calmed down, clearly trying to maintain their composure in the face of the calm elder Bairon. With the council one again composed and quiet, the man continiued his report.


    "While we dont have the specifics, due to our enemy acting extremely cautious, we still know that its coming. Due to the danger, we have recalled most of our advanced forces and spies, combing for said enemies traces and goals. We are more than ready for whatever said enemy is prepearing, and once they make their move we will be swift in ending both their attack as well as the mastermind behind it. And once we have finished with it, we can turn our attention towards the forsaken filth residing in Blythe as well as the blood mage."


    "Regarding the mage, do we have anything to get his attention, what with him having made deals with the filth?" yet another council member asked.


    "There are some info regarding possible paths, lord Nicht. From what we know the man has quite the appetite for beautifull women of all origins. He seems to be collecting beauties from any race he can get his hands on."


    "Hmm, good. A simple vice that can be exploited easily. Do we have anyone watching his movements and dealings?" asked yet aother member.


    "I am sorry to dissapoint sir, but we do not. Blythe has blocked their interaction with us due to the last incident, lord Santera." replied the advisor.


    "Unpleasant, but not entirely unexpected." spoke lord Bairon, eliciting nods from the rest of the councill members.


    They spoke for a few more hours regarding their current plans and dirrections their nation will take and solving other pressing matters. Then, once the more important matters were dealt with, they switched over to lesser issues that still needed adressing as well as some light self praising. Something that was an innevitability for any of their gatherings. Of course, since the important issues were solved they could now indulge in their true natures without holding back, thus this part of their meeting was conducted with vine glasses in hand and a few pretty slaves under the tables serving each of the fat members.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Only the Bairon family elder refused such entertainment, in no small part due to his age. But said old man had a unique glint in his eyes. One of both contemplation and worry. It was his old age and bountifull experience that gave him a special foreboding feeling. Something was coming, and it would change the course of their country. For good? For bad? He could not tell, but nevertheless, he saw something that made him wary. And so, he ordered his own servants to perform more additional tasks for him. Unlike the rest of the council members, he would not be caught with his pants down.


    XXX


    Rex sat in one of his meeting rooms, fuuly relaxed and Seriss sprawled on his sofa, her lead in his lap as he gently caressed the Veran womans hair. On the opposite side of the table in the middle sat his three partners in crime- Eredar, Brogni and Victor. The trio were here to talk about their progress regarding the next auction they had started to slowly work on. Since the first one was such a resounding success it was only reasonable that they would organize more. Rex was once again going to get some rather nice slave as one of the main attractions for the big players while the trio would attract other people to ensure that their event was enticing for quite the audience. As they were going over some of the last details of the days schedule Rex started to hysterically laugh, causing the trio to look at him with confused expressions, since there were no funny lines spoken during their meeting. Seriss was still lying in her position, since Rex''s ministrations over her continiued even as he was madly laughing.


    "Ha ha ha ha. Haaa. Sorry fellas, something trully funny happened." Rex explained as he finaly calmed down from his laugh. "Remember the orc champion we sold in the last auction? Some fooli just tried to tamper with the brand. While I dont know if that one was a young and budding blood mage, or some old fosil, but as you might have guessed, the end result was not pleasant at all for him."


    "Care to enlighten us?" asked Victor, clearly quite interested in the sudden news.


    "Well, to put it bluntly, he is so much weaker than me that his attempt heavily wounded his soul. In worst case, he will be an empty shell, best case, he will be bedridden for a few months at the very least. There is a reason one does not fool around with brands. They serve as both a chain that ensures the slave in question is under perfect controll as well as a sword against would be liberators. And the stronger the one who deployed said brand, the sharper the sword and more skilled the metaphorical hand that is guiding said sword." Rex explained, then once their meetings remaining points were gone over he changed the topic, interested in another rather important piece of news.


    "Say friends, is there something special that the Echlisiarchy provides to the overall international market? Some specialities that only they provide? Or is most of their export just stuff that is cheaper to produce withing their lands?"


    Eredar, being the general merchant that he was, quickly came to the rescue of his compatriots, laying down quite detailed explanation regarding the market situations and specifics within Echlisiarchy.


    "Well. that is rather difficult to answer, since they dont have a speciality that is unique to their country and unaviable anywhere else, but they do have a few goods that are their signature ones due to the location, climate and overall structure of the state itself." he began. Then he proceeded to explain in solid detail the few things that were aviable in quite large quantities withing said state, the advantages Echlisiarchy gains from their sale and their main markets where said goods are sold to. Once done with the products, he came to the last point that was also the more important one.


    "Their main export however is something quite special, even if evey single country has them- Priests and exorcists. Users of the holy power, focusing on restoration, buffing allies and defeating demonic origin entities. A class of adventurers and soldiers that is heavily influenced by faith, and as one would expect, their teocratic ways promote the formation of these exact classes. It is quite common for invading armies of the continent they are located on, and even few of the nearest ones, tohire a large number of said priests to reduce the number of casualities to their side. It is not rare for both sides of the conflict to have hired said priests, and they are also the only actual personell in wars that never get culled or molested by the victor of the conflict. No one would risk the possibility of attaining said services during their next conflict after all. That is also a reason why Echlisiarchy''s army is also more polutated with priests and have less ordinary warriors and other classes. Theya re weaker in skirmished and quick bouts, but have the advantage in extended wars and engagements."


    "Whats the stance of other Zharr''s city lords regarding the blunder Echlisiarchy made here when they tried fucking with me Victor?" Rex then turned to the lord of their own ever growing city.


    "And whats the word from kingdom of Sweith north of here?" he added, waiting for the information that their friend and lord of their home city would provide.


    "Zharr first." Victor sighed "Our other cities have done little besides raising the tax levied upon the goods coming from Echlisiarchy. ''Money is without crime'' as they stated previously still prevails among other city lords, though there are more and more nervousness among them all. With the rumors coming from both the cultivator side and Al Merhad regarding Neo''s power, more and more of them are worried they had bet on the wrong horse in this race. It is quite similar for Sweith. No large action has been taken against the Echlisiarchy, even though it is their people who suffer the most from their inquisitors and investigators hidden actions. Sadly, the rulers of Sweith are very corrupted and dont care much for the population they rule over, making your run of the mill noble seem like angels."


    "Do they have someone extremely powerfull within their family that allows them to maintain their rule over the territory?" Rex asked, asuming that must be the case, and Victor confirmed his suspicions.


    "Indeed. They have high tier SS class entity among the upper echelons ensuring their rules permanence."


    "Any chance someone would try to help the Echlisiarchy should they come under some duress, but were unable to ask for assistance?" Rex then asked, fullt aware that the trio were aware of his plans to retaliate against the echlisiarchy for their aggression towards him.


    "If the risk seems far greater than the possible reward nobody would interfere to risk earning the wrath of extremely powerfull and unknown entity or force. If the gain heavily outweighs the risk, expect help to arrive on Echlisiarchy''s side. How big of a threat are we talking about here?" Victor answered, adding a few questions of his own to better estimate possible responses.


    "Hmm, like a barrier that envelops the entirety of their state kind." Rex calmly responded, causing the trio to have their jaws drop.


    "You sure you are not a demigod already?" Brogni asked after a moment. "That shit is legend level man." he added rubbing his hands with a glint in his eyes.


    "Say, can you get us an S class entity for the next auction as the main atraction?"


    "And you believe that such an entity can just be auctioned?" Rex asked back, well aware just how valuable they were.


    "Right, there is that. Never mind then. High or peak A class entity will have to do I suppose." the dwarf slumped his shoulders, however with Rex next words he perked up like a madman, money mountains reflecting in his eyes.


    "Give me some of the dungeons that have proper S class entities that would be good for guard duties. I can brand a few and have you milk the living shit out of your asociates as long as they can secure a few more wolf girs to help Aisha in the kitchen. Hell, offer an S class to the wolf tribes to see if they bite."


    "Sure thing man. Will compile the best few dungeons for you to look at, as well as hook the wolf tribes. Dont mind them getting to talk with Aisha if they ask for it?"


    "Not a problem if they want to come here, or use comunicators. A problem if they want her to visit them. Without Aisha I will have a riot at home."


    "Master is right. We will riot if Aishas cooking is absent." Seriss added her own two cents to the conversation, still relaxing her head on his lap. More than happy with all the attention she had been getting during the meeting. Sure, their nightly activities were pleasure beyond belief as well as their meals. Aisha was just that much of a maestro in kitchen, but Rex''s gentleness and ministrations during the meeting were his hands were focused on her, and her alone? That was soothing her soul. A feeling of bliss was the only way to describe it, and the Veran woman did not wish for it to ever end. But unfortunately, like any other good think in the world, it eventually came to an end when the meeting finally was finished. With all of their topics exausted, they went to the dining hall, had a fulfilling meal and went to their own respective jobs and tasks that needed to be done. Auction would not organize itself, the wolf tribes would not come to Brogni begging for his attention and Rex had his own plans to push forward. With his friends in the loop and a plan even more well developed, Rex focused on a few other little things he had to finalize before he finally activated his barrier.

 Chapter 85: Fall of the fanatic. Prelude. Part 2

    With the meeting concluded Rex could turn his focus to the next important taks that was on his bucket list. So he gathered his tacticaly inclined girls and used his gate to travel to Dianas home village where he grabed Kara and then moved on to the Mountains Rage tribes home. Once there, it took little to no time for his group to find themselves in one of the grandest halls in the entire town. Jorg and Mara greeted him with bright smiles and offered to organize a feast in his and his groups honor. An offer Rex apreciated the gesture of, but politely declined, pointing out that they were already working on the best gift for him anyway, even if said gift would take quite the while to be ready. But since he had all the time in the world, he used that as a perfect reason to be more than happy about the suprise factor it would bring.


    With the pleasantries out of the way, Rex turned to the real reason for his groups visit once everyone was gathered around a large wooden table. It was made of massive oak like tree that emphasized toughness and longgevity in the Svergi culture. And while it was large and bulky, the surface was neatly polished and gave the place a calming and feel. Apreciating the contrasting elements of the large table for a moment Rex unfurled a rather large map on said tables surface, revealing their target to be. The map showed the continent for the most part, with the greatest detail focusing on the echlisiarchy.


    The state was divided into twenty regions. Twelve duchys that were ruled over by the council members families. Each duchy had one extra large capital city that served as both a trade center as well as the heart of the duchys decision making. On a smaller note each also had three or four other decent sized cities spread across their territories and countless smaller villages. Then there was Rahen. The white marbled city, the holy seat of the council, and many other such pompous names that the Echlisiarchies ass kissing fanatics claimed it to be. The city was even larger than the twelve capitals, though it mostly served as the religious heart of their state. Countless temples honoring and worshiping their god, the prophet and the heroes who by now stood alongside their god, forever watching their peoples struggle to make the world a better place and embrace the true word of their lord and his prophet. Besides temples there were also quite a few nunneries that trained priesteses and monasteries for the priests. So much so that even the map indicated their existance, making it quite obvious to what level of extreme said building populated Rahen.


    Then came the eight counties. Ruled by smaller but still quite influential families they too had their own capitals each, but only one, two if the region was particularily rich, smaller cities and quite a few other villages scattered around their territory. And last, but not least came White Peak. It was an academy of sorts, built to train and house the oracles of their state. All the oracles, including the Lady of Light resided there, guarded by countless inquisitors day and night. While future sight was not realistically possible, not in the manner Rex''s world considered it to be, seeing the probabilities in ones line of sight was possible, even if only a few seconds ahead. The most important role oracles served was their healing and soul soothing abilities, certain unique buffing skills, as well as their ability to summon lesser angels, should they be strong enough.


    Rex knew well enough that White Peak was quite important target, as such it was to be one of the first to be taken down, ensuring no oracle could be used to strenghten Echlisiarchies resistance. The fact that it was most definetly filled with beautiful ladies was just icing on the cake, since he himself would most likely dont get any real addition to his ''collection''. Nevertheless, Neos brothels would not fill up by themselves. That was to be their way of pennance for the countless years of suffering Echlisiarchies targets had gone through.


    They spent quite a few hours going back and forth regarding the division of regions withing his barrier, how best to aproach the raiding of each individual fortified location, and other such details. Not to mention about the freedom the Svergi warriors will have to exercise their right of conquest. Rex for the most part gave them free reign, with the exception of the relugious higher ups. Just like innitially planned, those ladies were off limits. Still, his conditions were extremely favourable for the Svergi chief who could only grin an thank his men who were sent to Rex the first time for their calm and cautious aproach to the man. While the rest of the great clans were brooding and worrying about possible retaliation from Rex, Mountains Rage was gathering their men and subordinates and prepearing for their greatest raids in the history of their race. Sure, they would raid another tribes holdings every now and then, but that only encompassed a small remote village every now and then. Setting up an entire nation to be constantly raided and pillaged though, now that was something even the greatest of their forefathers had never even imagined, let alone plan an put into action. Jorg was sure they were creating yet another legend right as they were planning out the order in which the nation would be sacked, one village, one city at a time.


    One would think that there were girl or two withing Rex harem who would find his incoming war not only unsightly, but downright evil and monstrous,yet there was not a single voice of discontent. They all were more than aware of what the Echlisiarchy had done that Rex''s cosmic ravens had caught sigth of, and with that knowledge they had unanimously agreed with his decision and reasoning. Said nation was a blight upon their continent, and they could not wait for it to be removed so the world could begin healing the scars left by the previous occupants of the lands they are about to vacate. And Rex had not even told them the most atrocious things in great detail, since he was quite sure that knowledge of those would quite literaly change most of his girls everyday rituals indented target result. Where they would work hard to entice him to start putting babies in them to full on effort to start a genocide of the Echlisiarchy near immediatly. Indeed, torture and rape of captured people were nowhere near child colleseum death battles against hordes of goblins where the next round of kids could see what would be happening to them whiel having some relatives in cages nearby who would be trown into the same arena as they were in, should they kill themselves to escape the inevitable end. The fact that said relatives would be thrown in regardless, once the kids fighting were dead, would not be much help to exonorate said perpetrators either. And even still, all his women were of one mind with him- Echlisiarchy had to dissapear. Every single leading house and their supporters along with them.


    It was evening when they were done with the planning and Rex''s group returned Kara home before returning to Blythe themselves. Rashuun had worked quite hard, her experience of ruling over a teritory and her living past quite a few wars gave a unique insight and additional options for them to lower the possible casualities during the sieges of the larger cities, since there was no way to escape casuallities entirely. Even with Rex promising to take out the most powerfull of enemies, there were always unexpected variables and accidents. Not to mention the mistakes the Svergi warriors would make during their looting of the raided territories and cities.


    The next couple of days Rex spent in Blythe, entertaining his girls and having a few outings in the city with one of his girls. Since they asked for some lone time he was more than happy to oblige whenever he had the time, and since he was spoiling his girls a bit more than ussual before the start of the war, quite a few such demands for dates came up. And obviously, Rex entertained them all, even going so far as to surrendering his nap times to give the girls what they wanted. Within reason of course, so Rashuun and Izumi still had to wait, just like the rest of the girls for their chance at motherhood. Still, what started as a few day preparation, turned into a week long event, that admittedly relaxed and recharged Rex more than he thought possible. His girls were just that affectionate. Even Roulan had started to exibit some slight need for physical contact with him, clearly influenced by the girls around her and his personal charm and kindness, resulting in a few makeout sessions, leaving the woman panting and embarased even after it.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Regardless, once the week was over and his girls satisfied for the time being, Rex jumped on his eagle, a souvenir from his trip to the cultivators nation, and urged the giant bird to raise to the air move towards his destination. While he had spent a bit more than a night traveling downstream in the ships that brought him here, with the currents being as they are, his cuurent transportation did not need to worry about the current being disadvantageous and what not. Flight was unfair, that was the truth, but for Rex it was just another tool he could make perfect and employ to protect whatever he deemed important, or to just speed his plans along the intended path.


    Few hours later Rex was looking over the village he had assisted in raiding back on his first conscious day in this world, The small village lay empty, overgrown in grass. The building with the doors left open, months of neglect clearly visable all around.


    "Its been a while. Has it not?" Rex asked himself as he looked at the abbandoned village in front of him.


    "Undoubtedly, what I am about to start will cause suffering to many, some of them probably innocent and not responsible for whatever doomed their nation. But even still, what the people in charge do in these lands is unacceptable." He reaffirmed to himself. Sure, he was no saint. Sure, he had tortured some people, but never had it been done for his amusement. He is cruel and heartless only towards those who come for him or his people. He conviniently did not point out to himself that he could do that, if, for whatever unconcievable reason, he decided to accept a mercenary work of the same task.


    Looking back over his time spent in this world and the actions he had taken, Rex came to a single and rather obvious fact. He had enjoyed his time here. The countless hours he had spent grinding away in the dungeons, the time he has spent with his girls, and even the mercenary work and messing around with the political landscape of this world. It was all fun in its won way, with the only exception being fools lusting after his women. That was something he found annoying, even if it was a compliment in of itself towards him for having a good taste in women. Too many fools were too unhibited to act on that lust. Now that was something Rex could not allow to come to pass.


    "Haaaaaa!" Rex heavily exhaled and looked up towards the sky.


    "Another chapter of my story is about to unfold. One of blood, grime, death and conquest. Hope you have had fun this far my benefactor. And I sure as hell hope you will find this next part just as entertaining, if not more!"


    Rex closed his eyes, raised his hands to both sides in the height of his shoulders, deeply inhaled the air of this empty place and stood there motionless for a minute or two. The natural mana was chaotically swirling around him, as if being pulled towards the center of a maddening whirlpool, his eagle keeping its distance from the very centre of the spectacle. Then the mana wortex dissapeared, leaving deathly calm around him. He slowly opened his eyes, murderous glint shining in his deadfull yellow eyes. A sound not of this world escaped his throat, a sound so disturbing that even his branded eagle shuddered once it heard it. All his cosmic ravens spread around Echlisiarchy glowed for a split of a second, and then a bright explosion occured, originating from said ravens. in many places within Echlisiarchies borders people saw the bright light explosions, being forced to cover their eyes for but a moment. And once the light subsided, not seeing anything else out of the ordinarry they returned to their daily lives, none aware of just how terrifying an event they had witnessed. It was the beggining of their end, and yet not a single soul was trully aware of what was to come. None except for one.


    XXX


    The highest tower of the White Peak- the home and training grounds for Echlisiarchies oracles.


    The Lady of Light, Adriana Arten by her given name, stood in front of the window overlooking the entirety of the White Peak''s territory. She looked like a godess had descended upon this world to see the beauty of the mortal spark. Her golden hair lightly fluttered in the wind, painting a picturesque view should anyone see her at this excact moment. Her golden eyes were dirrected towards the horizon, sadness and longing for something reflected within them. She had come here to admire the beauty of the mountainous view, untill she sensed the barrier that had been deployed. Merely moments later an angelic messanger had appeared behind her. Not one summoned by her or any of her servants. No, one sent from another realm, his divine energy clearly exuded from the pure being.


    "Great creator has a warning for you all. Only due to this barrier were we alowed to deliver it. ''A monster has awoken, and its coming for my faithfull. Rise to your feet, summon your armies and take down this threat, or it shall lay waste to all that we hold dear.'' That is his decree, his will. Go, spread the word and have hiss will be known." With those words the angel dissapeared, leaving not a single trace behind that he had ever been there.


    Adriana, her gaze still dirrected towards the far horizon sighed. Then slowly lifted her hand, a single finger pointing towards one of the courtyards far below her tower. With a small flash of golden light, she send the words of the angel towards one of the quartermasters, who upon recieving them quickly looked towards the tower where she stood, quickly bowed in the same way and scurried away to execute them. She in turn lowered her raised hand and sighed heavily.


    "I am sure we were not supposed to be warned of this threat. The games of the gods would not allow it. Not when we had our heroes just recently. Just what kind of monster is coming. Who is behind it to allow us to be able to respond? And is Echlisiarchy trully worth saving?" She asked herself the questions. She well well aware of the atrocities the councils families were commiting as a form of entertainment. And even will all the sway a Lady of Light has, she has been unable to change anything. The monsters in mans skin continiue to do as they please. Their prophet has been idolized and elevated to near gods level. His every word and sentence regarded as holy law that cannot be argued or disputed, and as such had caused pain agony and missery for countless people.


    "And what if we can do nothing to stop what is coming?" she asked herself. Her intuition screaming at her that it was too late. That they were doomed. Adriana looked like a women barely twenty years old. A consequence of a natural treasure she had eaten decades ago. She no longer aged, and through years she has learned to trust in her intuition. And she felt that there was no way out for them. Would strugling against the inevitable bring forth some salvation, or would just accepting their coming punishment be the right choice? She did not know for the first time in years. She was just as clueless regarding the right path. So she stood there, waiting for a sign that would help her decide, just as her people were being informed, gathered and prepeared for what was to come.


    Similar as what happened in the White Peak, in a few other places of the Echlisiarchy, mainly by the side of some of the most powerfull believers in the upper positions of their order, similar angelic being appeared, all bearing the same message as the one of Adriana recieved, causing quite a bit of panic among the noble houses and lesser church personnel.


    XXX


    "Lord, why have you allowed lord NAMON to warn his followers? According to your rules he does not have enough merit to deploy a single angel, let alone so many." Alpha asked as she watched what was happening throughout the territory of Echlisiarchy.


    "Ha ha ha. True. By all rights he should be watching as his beloved nation falls without being able to do anything, but where is the fun in that?" AZAROS responded. "Besides, do you trully believe that his people can organize in that shattered little nation? That barrier is quite magnificently crafted. I have to give credit to my champion. He is making it quite entertaining. Ha ha ha. I cant wait to see what he shows me next. Even NERZU has shown her interest in him. I would not be suprised if she were to send one of her ladies in waiting to his side. When was the last time? Millenias ago when she was interested in a mortal?" AZAROS once again delved into a barrage of laughter, ever so pleased with his choices.


    Alpha just winced and shuddered at his words "Not lady NERZU." Was all she could utter.

 Chapter 86: Fall of Nor. Part 1

    It had been a few hours since Rex left the long abandoned village, his first true action within this world of any significance. Sure he had fought beasts and monsters within the forests he inhabited, he had even killed hunters who attacked as soon as they saw his eyes, but that little village was the first mostly conscious action he had taken here. But in his defence, he was sure as hell that it was nothing more than a lucid dream. Now, with the map in his hands, he looked ahead from the large tree he was on right now, glancing in the distance where he could see human activity.He had found his first target to test and enact his judgement upon.


    The village was nothing special. Just your ordinary farming village within one of the eight counties of the Echlisiarchy- Nor county. After the deployment of his barrier Rex had summoned more of his cosmic crows and sent them out to map the partition of the barrier he was in right now. He had, for the most part, split the entire state in its sepperate family holdings. So, as he was in the Nor counties territory, said family would be the first to fall, with the few exceptions who were not present in their own territories during the innitiation of the barrier.


    Rex sighed for one last time before dissapearing from his perch on the enourmous tree, appearing a few kilometers away from the village he had just had his eyes on. With quick movements he clothed himself in travelers clothing that was worn down and was in desperate need of maintanence, or replacement. Then he caused few superficial cratches on his exposed arms and a few more on his cheeks. With his preperations finished he looked like an exausted traveler that had gone throught quite a few hardships and now that he was ready to test the small village he started to walk towards it. His movement was measured, but with slight haste and urgency within. A small pouch of coins was lightly jingling with each step he took. As soon as he exited the forest and found himself in the same clearing the village was in he picked up his pace. He seemed like quite the desperate traveler in the desert who had noticed an oasis, yet, due to being fooled by a mirrage a few times already, was trying his damn best to maintain his tempo to not exaust himself even more, in case the same trickery had happened again.


    "Gods be praised! Finaly some civilization!" Rex exclaimed when he was notably closer to the village gate. The village was small and it had no real wall to speak of. A rather simple fence was all that seperated the village from the outside. Sure, it was good enough to keep some goblins and other lesser pests away, but it would serve no good if anything larger decided to roll through. Rex had chosen this place for a reason. It was quite close to the river he had used to reach Blythe way back when he started his conscious life here, so his prepeared story could work.


    "Who goes There!" One of the guards yelled back, finally hearing and noticing the approaching Rex.


    Rex quickly slowed down, heavily panting and rose his hands in the air, showing his peacefull intentions.


    "Huuuh" he heavily exhaled as he slowed down his aproach. "Been fumbling through that damn forest for days now after I barely crawled out of the river. Had to jump in to escape those damn monsters that wiped most of our party." Another hard exhale followed, and he continiued his monologue after that. "if I may ask for a bit of food and dirrections, not for free of course." He quickly added, patting the small coin pouch that was hanging by his waist. "For all the damn luck I had in the last few days, this little sucker decided to stick around." By now Rex was barely moving forward, his hands still mostly up in the air, the small pat to his coin pouch excluded, waiting for the guards permission to proceed, or any other instructions, his eyes darting to the spear of one of them pointing in his dirrection.


    It was then that the guards noticed his eyes and their brows furrowed for a moment. They glanced at each other and quickly exchanged a few words in hushed whispers. Unbeknownst to them Rex heard their entire exchange.


    "Oi, that a forsaken, in it?" the first one whispered "Think we gonna get a reward from the priests when we bring him in?"


    "For sure, for sure. The bastard got them both eyes messed up. Them the true spawns of devil. Dumber than donkeys though. Still, better be carefull. Let me take lead. I talk to him, you walk past and bonk when he is distracted."


    "Ok."


    With their small exchange over, the distraction smiled with a strained smile, lowering his spear.


    "Sure, sure, come on in. We rarely get visitors this far from the big cities. Mind telling me where are you from?"


    "Arrived in Sweith from the elven lands just a few weeks ago." Rex told his preplanned backstory. "Heard there are quite the diversity of alchemical ingridients and medicinal herbs in the Gray forest. Though could make my fortune there. He he he. How foolish was I." Rex laughed, clear mocking of self evident in the tone. "At least I survived. So thats something, I suppose." He had walked forward with the guards indicating that it was safe to do so. "Mind telling me where have I washed up?" he asked as he stood next to the distractor, the bonker now was behind his back, clearly out of his sight.


    "Why of course." The distractor spoke with a bright smile now. "You are now in the lands of Echlisiarchy." and with those words a pommel struck the back of Rex''s head. And as the strike connected, Rex slumped to the ground, the bright smile of the distractor changing into a wicked grin becoming the last thing he saw before losing consciousness. Or that what it looked like to the guards anyway. Rex was perfectly conscious and aware of everything happening around him, the trial still in effect. He was perfectly aware of the guards pocketing his small money pouch, then quickly tying him up with some ropes they had lying around. Then quickly one of them dashed into the village, a few minutes later coming out with a horse by his side drawing a cart of sorts. A few huffs later the tied up Rex was in teh cart and was moved to the heart of the village where a chapel of sorts stood. By the chapels doors they stoped and one quickly entered and once again a few minutes later came out with a middle aged woman in tow.


    The woman was rather plain looking. Years not being too kind to her appearance and shape. A dozen or so killos of extra fat indicating her rather affluent diet. The woman, clearly a member of the clergy quickly cast a small spell that showed a projection of Rex''s eyes, displaying them before the trio. A gasp came from the woman, then a large smile followed as she gave compliments to the two guards for their good deeds, promising a rather sizable rewards for their efforst from the crurch. The guards then helped the woman and brought Rex into the chapel, and moved to its back where stairs led down into a rather dark dungeon. A well made prison cells came into view of the trio, what with Rex being unconscious supposedly. Then he was quickly trown in one of the cells, a few wards humming to life as the door was locked. With that done guards left, leaving the woman alone with unconscious Rex sprawled on the prison cells floor. The woman soon left the dungeon as well as the chapel moved to rouse the entire village as well as sending a pigeon to the nearest proper town for inquisitors. They were neccesary for a proper cleansing and for rewards to be issued.


    "Urgh." A few hours later Rex let out a fake pained groan as he was ''waking up'' from the strike to his head.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Where am I?" he groggily questioned, clearly still disoriented from the strike. "Urghh" another grunt that followed by a few coughs, courtesy of the layer of dust that had settled into the dungeon.


    "Herb quest, monster horde, forest. village. VILLAGE!" he ''forced himself into focus'' trying to remember how he came to be in his position, exclaiming as his memory brought him to the village he was aproaching beforehand. His further musings were interrupted by a spit on the ground in his dirrection, coming from outside of the cell.


    "Damn forsaken. Spreading your filth and corrupting our world. Just you wait, the inquisitors will be here come morning. They will cleanse you all right." Spoke a woman much younger than the hefty woman who guided the guards with Rex here. This young woman, having barely reached adulthood, glared at Rex with disgust and hatred filling her eyes


    "What did I do?" he asked in response. still slowly coming into full lucidity.


    "You were born. That is sin enough." The girls spat at him once more and quickly left the room, clearly to inform her supperior of the prisoners awakening. Soon the hefty woman was back and with the same level of disgust, if not more than the young ashen haired aprentice of hers, asked a few questions to their prisoner, like name and where he came from, scolding Rex and trowing curses his way whenever he did not immediatly answer or asked something in return. She also recorded the answers he reluctantly gave her when he was threatened with no food for the day if he did not cooperate, spooking their prisoner and making him cooperate obidiently.


    The rest of the day Rex spent alone in the cell, a few barely edible and hard pieces of bred thrown his way. His supposed meal. Something the desperate man had ''devoured'' nonetheless, his hunger due to the days spent blundering the forest apparent. With said hunger somewhat slaked, the man sat in one corner of the cell, eyes closed and trying to get at least some sleep, trying to recover at least somewhat after his miraculous survival.


    Rex was focusing on the cosmic ravens spread around the village as he took in the talks that were going around town. About how a stray forsaken had come to their village to corrupt and defiel their land and women. About how come morning the inquisitors would arrive from the nearest town and purge said monster, and how their village will be blessed with the spilling of the monstrocities blood. Even the childreb were happily playing and celebrating the coming cleansing. he saw not a single soul who would shed a tear or speak a word in defence of him.


    ''Guilty.'' Was the verdict he came to, seeing everything his crows could withing the confines of the village. Yet another small piece of the crumbled statue that his previous worlds selfs morale represented fell and shattered into nonexistance. There had been pieces of this world he had readily and easily accepted- harems, the rule of power, life of adventure and grind in dungeons. And while he had done quite a bit of murdering his fellow man, never was it without purpose. He considered himself rather good man, willing to sacrifice to ensure the safety of his family, as any sane man would do in this world. But what he was doing now, it would have left more than just a bad taste in his mouth when he just started here. Now however, months later, he had seen enough of this worlds darkness, had hardened himself on more than one occasion, and was ready to stoop ever further on the path of monster, should that action bring some good to the world at large. And he trully believed that what he was going to do come morning would make this world a better place, if even just a little. They could not even use the excuse of not knowing any better, they were in close proximity of the border of their state, but even if they were in the very heart of Echlisiarchy, Rex would still judge them guilty. What they were engaging in was pure genocide, the damning factor being ones unique eyes. They had no right to cry and complain when the same action was to be taken against them. With his decision made and heart steeled once again he sunk in a state of meditation, awaiting the next morning and the actions his captors would take.


    Hours later Rex opened his eyes, morning suns first rays slowly greeting the world outside his prison. He could clearly see through his cosmic ravens how the people were starting their morning activities, though there were clear differences in their actions from one would expect from the morning activities of such a small villages residents. He saw two extremely well dressed men who had arrived just a few minutes before damn barking orders to the people around, already organizing and dirrecting a construction of sorts in the central square of the little village.


    "They dont waste time." Rex smirked to himself. Through his ravens he saw as a small and compact platform was slowly being constructed. The villagers were more than just willing to help, from their expressions and body language it seemed as if they were possesed in their tasks to speed along said construction. It took less than a few more hours for said platform to be contructed and Rex had to hand it to them. The small and compact pyre they had made was rather nice looking, Neat and precise with minimalistic decorative accents and the few that were there were most likely some religious symbols for their faith.


    Not long after, Rex heard four pairs of steps resounding on the stone walls leading to the prison he was currently in. A few moments later through the door in came the four owners of said steps. The two fancily dressed men who had arrived before dawn and the two clergy women who were stationed in the chapel of the village. Rex finally opened his eyes as a lamp with directional light was shone into his face from the other side of the bars. he did not forget to act, as he did so. Squinting and covering his eyes with one of his arms. Rex could still clearly see the disgust and hatred the four openly showed towards him. He was somewhat interested how they would aproach sealing or chaining him, since the villagers rope was a stop gap measure and he was no longer tied up in it. It had eventually come undone fully during the night, in no way due to Rex machinations. It was purely an accident.


    One of the two inquisitors upon noticing the rope on the floor quickly took out a crystal of sorts, but since it did not act up in any way or form he sighed in relief. Rex easily understood what said man was doing. He was measuring for any extraordinnary mana fluctuations within the room, but since there were none, courtesy of Rex imeccable controll, the man was sure that the prisoner was no mage. That relaxation however drew an entirely different side of their personalities.


    "Tsk." the exorcist who used the stone clicked his tongue. "Incompetent guards. Cant even properly tie up a single forsaken." The other man snickered, then pulled out a chain from his pouch that was attached to his belt. Then, with an infusion of his mana into the item, it almost came to life, shooting towards Rex with quite the speed and wrapping around his torso and arms, heavily restricting his movements. The older clergy woman then unlocked the prison doors as one of the exorcists scoffed and ordered the dazed and now chained man to follow him, not forgetting to pull the chain with considerable force to cause Rex to stutter and fall, then instinctively try getting up to not be dragged behind said man.


    "Get moving scum. Your salvation awaits." the young girl snickered as she looked at Rex being almost dragged upstairs, sadistic glee adorning her youthfull face.


    As if finally getting out of his daze, Rex tried to plead with the people around him


    "Why are you doing this? I did nothing wrong. Why..." His third question was interrupted by a slap to his face from one of the inquisitors.


    "Shut your trap, or we might just have to ensure you dont speak unless spoken to!" followed a reprimand from the elder woman present. A few minutes of silent walk later the group was by the platform in the centre of this small village, with Rex now being chained to said altar. Rex could see similar expressions as the ones he had seen earlier from the four who brought him here. Disgust, hatred and even greed from some of them. Every one from the village thad gathered to see the end of a forsaken, an act that would bring prosperity and happiness to place where it had culminated.


    What followed was a sort of a ceremony lead by the two priestesses as they hummed some prayers and appeased their patron god and other such nonsense to Rex''s ears. Then they blessed the two ceremonial blades carried by the two inquisitors, clearly to cause Rex to bleed before he would be engulfed by the flame that was almost ready to be lit. There was no hesitation, no reluctance in their visages, only pure joy and happiness to perform the task at hand. As they came closer to Rex, he concluded it was enought of playing around, his decision already made. It was time to have them experience retribution.

 Chapter 87: Fall of Nor. Part 2

    As the two inquisitors approached Rex, who was chained to the pyre to be lit, he could see glee and sadistic joy in the duos eyes, clearly about to enjoy a small torture session before ultimately burning his body in their so called gods name. Rex, no longer interested playing the pretend game any longer, started to laugh loudly and almost hysterically. How could he not. It was trully maddening- their absolute zealotry and blindness to the world at large. Sure, he was far too strong and skilled for such country bumpkins to see through his disguise, but still, even Rex in his short time spent in Bythe had learned that every true archon is somewhat gifted in at least one area of expertise. A gift, a bloodline inheritance if you will, from their mystical ancestor ancestor.


    His heavy laughter was recieved by a stunned moment, stopping the two advancing inquisitors and eliciting questioning glances from the two priestesses, as well as the people around. That soon ended though with a comment from the older priestess about him going mad from joy of being reunited with their lord through cleansing. She was about to go on another tirade about their mercifull and gentle god, but was stopped by Rex.


    "Shut it bitch." Were the words he spoke as soon as his laughter ended. Once again bringing the gathering to silence.


    "Our lord this, our lord that. Die for our retardness, bla, bla , bla. You are all too far gone. Fret not though, for I will find ways to mend your broken minds and souls through endless service." Rex''s voice was now devoid of any emotions, sending chills down the spectators spines. And that bad premonition they got just a moment ago came true, with the chains holding the forsaken man neatly locked to the pyre creaking and shattering into pieces, releasing the man in question from his bound status.


    "Why dont I give you the taste of pain and suffering in return? You will have the chance to enjoy your own medicine for years to come, before you can eventually rejoin your lords side." Rex delivered yet another line worthy of a villain and then withdrew the anchor he had made for the teleportats, activating the gate it was attatched to. In mere seconds the gate expanded to height of four meters and similar with, and in no time whatsoever men of height over two meters started to exist through it, joining by Rex side. Each and every one of them was armed with either axe and shield or two handed are or sword. In not time at all, Rex was surrounded by fifty buff and powerfull looking menwith savage thrill coursing through their eyes, sending even more chills down the spines of the villagers. The sight was so shocking that none of them could even think of running, the sight before them so out of this world.


    ''''Go wild boys. This is your first official act after all. But worry not my Svergi friends, this is only the beggining."


    With those calm words of Rex, the fifty men released a resounding roar of excitement, and every single one of them charged with astonishing speeds towards the crowd gathered here, spreading out in a measured manner. Rex could swear these guys were veterans of the Mountains Rage tribe with many raids under their belts. The familiarity and blind trust they showed in each other, as well as the practised synchrony they all displayed impressed Rex quite a lot. He wanted to see how they would deal with numbers three to four times their own, since to their fifty something men, there was a group of aproximately two hundred gathered here.


    In just a few short moments the stunned group of villagers was already surrounded by the Svergi raiders, spread out with aproximately equal intervals between each and every of the muscled and powerfull men. The sight was so shocking that only whne their were in their positions did the locals came to any sort of thought. First of whom were the two arrogant inquisitors, who instantly charged towards Rex, fanatical zeal in their eyes. But Rex saw more. He saw the nervousness and fear that was gripping at the two, only the years of indoctrination and social programming they had went through allowing them to take action.


    An action that was not reacted to in any way or shape by the fifty warriors who now surrounded the villagers. The two inquisitors new now why the group did not react, but if they could take out the forsaken, maybee the gate would close, maybee they could live in the chaos that would ensue once the leader would go down. A thought that was shattered in to a million pieces the second said leader caught their swinging weapons in his arms as though they were neither sharp nor dangerous. Then they felt excrutiating pain in their abdomens as they were flung away from the man, swords remaining tightly in his grip.


    The two inquisitors landed a few meters away from him, gripping their abdomens in pain as they tried to regain the breath that had been knocked, or in this case kicked, out of them. Rex unceremoniously flipped the two weapons he had stopped and advanced towards the writhing two men, his movement slow but confident. Once hewas right in front of the two, he glanced down at them, and spoke calmly.


    "You two are lucky, you get instant release." and plunged the two weapons right through their bodies, eliciting a painfull shriek from both, that lasted just a moment, and then came the silence, Dreadfull silence that promised more of the same for the rest of the villagers. And if the mans words were to be trusted, fates worse than quick death too. It was the swift death of the two inquisitors that finaly drew the crowd out of their stupor. The guards present quickly pulled their spears or sords, whichever was more comfortable for each, and took a battle stance, ready to take down whoever aproached them.


    Unfortunately, the moment the seven or so guards of the village took action, just as many Svergi charged towards the surrounded group, each of the raiders aiming for one of the guards now taking action in defiance against their comrade in arms. A fast and imposing charge, followed by a perfect deflection or block, depending on the weapons of said Svergi man in question was wielding, and a swing causing a splatter of blood was all it took for the guards to be permanently put our of commision. That in turn brought all hell loose as the people started panicking, trying to disperse and flee in every dirrection. Unfortunately, they were surrrounded, their formation failproof. Something that was proved the moment a smaller group decided to try and run away and was promptly taken down by them.


    "On your knees!" yelled one of the Svergi as the villagers were frantically seeking for the safest route out, not finding any as the braver ones who tried that were all mercilessly and instantly killed by the attackers. The failiure to comply was quickly responded with another few screams as a few more villagers all fell down, now lifeless.


    "KNEES!" yelled the raider again, this time causing the remaining peopel to shudder and do as told. The villagers were no warriors, they had never experienced true war or bandit raids. How could they ever hope to resist wat was happening here. Not to mention that the most powerfull people on the villagers side were the two inquisitors, who were barely B class entities. The raiders however were all of high B class, with some even low A class. Rex had asked for experienced group on the lower spectrum of Svergi warriors, and so he had recieved just what he asked for.


    Disciplined and experienced raiders who were still leagues above whatever was within the village. With the villagers in order, the raiders started to shackle them one by one, withdrawing the items from their new bags of holding- coutesy of Rex. If anyone were to pay attention to the shackling process, they would notice that the elderly and quite a few of men were not shackled. And once the Svergi were done with it, the cshackled people were pulled aside, leaving the unshackled in the position they were in beforehands, where as the shackled ones were off to the side. Young women were all shackled, part of the younger men too. Cries were heard as mothers were seperated from children and wifes from husbands.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    As all this was happening a few more people emerged from the gate. Women of height close to two meters, dressed in clothes that would make one think of magicians and faces that showed their long lived lives, were at the very front of said group. While aged, they moved with relative ease and were quickly joining the raiders. They ordered a few of them to grab a person from the remaining unshackled people here and there, Once someone was dragged before them they just grabbed said persons crotch, be it male or female, their eyes glowed for just a second, and they would either send them over to the shackled ones, being shackled like the rest of the villagers in that side, or send them back to the original groups location.


    "Barely anything good." Snorted one of the elder women in the dirrection of Rex, once her group was done with their aprisal of the prisoners.


    "Ha ha ha." Rex laughed at the sentence. "What else do you expect. A small rural village with no magical landmark or anything near them. They are pure human as well, removing any chance of mutated bloodline as well. So of course there is nothing special here. They will sell well anyways, and with your tallents wewill know who are the good ones to keep for other needs. If there is anything you need, just order the raiders around as you always have. I am here to make judgement and take out the most powerfull enemies. The rest is your job."


    "Tch. Men." the older woman scoffed, eliciting another laugh from Rex as she focused on the tasks at hand. The shackled people were now moved towards the portal, and as soon as the last ones dissapeared in it, a bloodbath started. The remaining people, be it old, young, male or female, were all slaughtered without so much as a blink. The raiders worked fast and efficiently, eliciting scream of pain and panic from the remaining villagers as their lives were snuffed out. That left only the two priesteses alive here from the side of the Echlisiarchy. The two had already wetted themselves from the savagery they had just vitnessed. but unfortunately for them, what lay ahead was so much worse.


    "We rest for now and depart in a few hours. Have fun with the two as you like untill then." Rex spoke as he walked to sack the chapell, desperate screams, cries and pleas sounding behind him as the raiders did what they so chose.


    Rex spent the few hours he had inside the chapell. He had gone over all the books he could find here, but sadly, nothing he found had anything of interest hidden within the pages. Even the gold and silver was in low amounts here, once again showing just how small and remote the village was. But Rex had expected it. All he cared for was the purge of such small settlements. The true spoils would come from cities, more specifically the twenty capitals of the regions and the seat of their holy rulers. And of course the greatest of them all would come from the oracle training grounds.


    Once the time he had dedicated to rest was over, he left the chapell, and to no suprise all of the raiders were already there. Rex reasoned that Jorg must have drilled his men beforehand to ensure no delays would occur on their acount. While Rex might not be too upset for due to it, he had acted just dangerously enough for the chief to not gamble on the fact. He had to admit the two priesteses did look rather worn out, as they laid unconscious near the portal.


    "Make sure to keep them alive." Rex said to one of the closest raiders. "This is nowhere near enough to pay for the atrocities they are performing even now, if a bit less due to the barriers existance."


    "Yes sir!" responded the man Rex adressed and quickly rushed to ensure his orders were forwarded to someone who could arange for the execution of them.


    With that out of the way, another fifteen minutes later the raiders returned to their town through the portal, the two priesteses in tow. The once inhabited village was now devoid of life, The building were ransacked, the corpses were now nicely burning in a large pyre, leaving the village empty and desolate. Rex was sure that in a weeks time there will be no traces left of humans ever living here, besides the architecture itself. maybee in time, the Svergi people would repopulate the place, if it happens to be discovered to have some valuable recourses around. They woudl after all take over these lands once the purge will be over. Rex had even had a talk with Jorg about the capital city they would build here and an optimal location for it. That was also the reason he started with this place, since Jorg said that their seat of power and heart of their lands should be relatively close to Blythe, for obvious reasons.


    The Svergi chief was smart enough to know he needed powerfull allies and quite the detterant to ensure no vultures would swarm him and his people once they start to settle in. And what better way to do that than having the heart of their state near two insanely powerfull and influential people. Neo, the SS class warrior, and Rex, the S class blood mage. With the two of them so close and covering his ass to grow their nation, it was only a matter of time untill they would become a powerhouse within the continent, maybee even further out. It was just mind bogling just how large the world outside the dungeon was, and the fact that most of it was inhabited by weak and squishy people, humans being one of the largest populations, had the man grinning from ear to ear. His plunderer blood was boiling just imagining the raids they could perform, the lands to explore. He was positively drooling at the posibilities.


    With the village, looted, cleaned up and empty, Rex retrieved his portal plate and and summoned his hawk from Elysion. He was not interested in wasting time to reach the next target on his list. It was precisely the city from which the inquisitors had come. One of the two major cities besides teh capital of Nor county. Rex would siege the city with quite a solid number of Svergi warriors. He would deploy more than a few thousand men here. A number he found adequate since the city population was around ten to fifteen thousand. While it seems like the disparity in numbers was quite large, he was more than aware of the power balance. Half of the people were women, barly any of those were geared and trained to fight. No matter the world, if you have a decent life no one would want their wifes and daughters to endanger themselves in mortal combat. And only the most rowdy and determined ones, or noble ones who were ostracized by their families would put in the effort and work needed to get anywhere. Not to mention that ones talant solf caps were also an issue. Unless one was of mixed blood could they even dream of surpassing their limits in somewhat possible way. Sure there were ways to do that as pure human too, but one had to have the right connections, unreasonable amounts of money and get lucky beyond belief to even hope for the chance to change it.


    Half bloods or mixed bloods however had much greater chances to go beyond their own limits. Though their problem was the races inherent caps. Those were nigh impossible to surpass. So, unless your predecessor was mythical tier beast stepping in the ranks of S class entities was just a pipe dream, unless you were a one in thousands tallent. That was also the reason why Svergi were just that powerfull. Where humans average person was barely awakened, they had the average of high B class as the baseline. Every woman and child who had reached adulthood was B class entity, easily capable of shredding dozens if not hundreds of peopel without much effort. Sure, Svergi had few S class and above, fewer than humans in fact, if one was to look at the percentages across races, but that did not matter when the bulk of armies were not even comparable one with another. Rex reasoned that if he were to take out all the S class entities in the Echlisiarchy out of the picture he could probably take it down with no more than ten thousand Svergi warriors. Granted he still employs his barrier, taking one territory at a time, but still, that was more than impressive in of itself. Rex was employing an absolute unit of trained and bloodthirsty elites. With tactical and strategical superiority. And their enemies were to be hordes of peasants. As long as he could controll the engagements and the streams of the people, millions, hell billions could come, and they would still all fall. And controll he did, He had split them apart, divide in manageable bites, ready for consumption, and seeing the enthusiasm of the Svergi men, he was damn sure they were also having a blast, thus ensuring the biggest energy output from them. Rex had learned that once Svergi get going, they put their utmost into said task, always striving for perfection.

 Chapter 88: Fall of Nor. Part 3

    Riding on the back of his hawk, it took little to no time for Rex to reach the city that was to be his next target. The main reason why it took almost a day for earth bound transportation to reach the small village was due to the topography. Large swampy forests with quite a few river tributaries were in the way, making the path way more roundabout that one would like for speedy travel. The small villages were just that- too small to incite any of the ruling lords to actually bother with a proper infrastructure and road systems for ease of use. Even between the larger cities the roads were often questionable at best. Rex had seen enough roads in disrepair or worse. The rulers cared little for the people of their realms, depending on their armies and the faith to keep them in line. It had worked so far, so Rex reasoned that was also one of the reasons why so many of the people in power here had sick and sadistic hobbies, often at the expense of the lives of beastpeople or other demihumans they could aquire.


    Once Rex was relatively close to the city he has his hawk descend, and once Rex was on the ground he sent the bird back to Elysion. The world shard was quite wonderfull place that the bird had taken liking to. Rex noted he should hunt down a few dozen of its kind to have them populate his small world. They were the perfect mount for speedy travel after all. The rest of the day he had, he spent sneaking around the city walls from outside, mapping it out properly, using his sensors to scan the city for powerfull warriors who could pose proper threat for his army, as well as strategic locations that should be taken over and controlled as soon as possible, like for example the gate hub. And while they would not be in danger of people from other barrier zones getting over, those from Nor territory could, since Rex did not have enough time or interest in developing and modifying a working barrier that fulfilled all his needs already.


    The city had no notable combatants to speak of. Even the percentages matched with human dominated areas. From what Rex had gathered the chart regarding human population and the responding power levels went something alone the lines of: fifty percent of humans were mortal plebs whose talents did not exceed E class, they barely even tried or did not have the opportunities to try and grow stronger. These people were your average farmers and servants all around. Thirty percent of people ranged in the potentials from D to C. While these people could theoretically earn their living with dungeon exploring, many still chose the life of farmers and the like, since dungeons were a guaranteed death trap, where one moment of distraction could cause ones death. Then fifteen percent could reach B class. Those who learned their aptitude was at least B would almost always search for ways to reach sad limits since B class was more than enough to be mostly safe in the C and D level dungeons floors to earn solid living and even taking care of a family. The last five percent were A rankers, Most lords and rulers would spends quite the summs of money to secure as many of them as they could, often even having their spies in other noble territories to poach and coming tallents. A class were the absolute elites of any human armies and would often be the deciding force in any military campaign between noble houses. S class entity tallent appeared in less than one out of every five thousand, making them nigh heroes. Most of them would become boses of their own mercenary companies since they could sway batlefield in one sides favour even better than A class unit of elite troops. SS and above were unicorns, and would appear less than once per five million people. As for SSS class, they were said to appear once a millena, if not rarer, though it was hard to speculate since SS class were already heaven defying for most normal people, so SSS class was just out of their imagination for the most part.


    When compared with other baseline races humans were generally weaker, since most of fantasy races have little to no people in the lower brackets of power levels and tallent. Only at most a quarter of their peopel were E class or below. Thirty five percent D to C class. Another quarter of their populace were B class, and aproximately fifteen percent A class. S class peopel appeared aproximately once per ten thousand. Where humans exceled were the absolute peak of power. SS and above for general fantasy races were born half as often as humans. Svergi for example were one of the exceptions. Their adults were no weaker than B class entities with most of them actually being of A class. Though S class and above for them came much more rarely than others, and that heavily depended on the purity of their bloodline.


    "Roughly ten thousand residents means five hundred or so A calls fighters." Rex quickly calculated as the night was slowly aproaching. "Three thousand A class Svergi should be more than enough to plow through it, with me providing a minimal amount of cover and assistance."


    He spent most of the evening and part of the night to thoroughly scout the place and once he was more than satisfied, he found a well secluded place from where he slipped into Elysion to relax and send a night with his girls and was back out of his shard world in early morning to run one final check pn the city about to enther a siege.


    With everything ready Rex plopped down his slate and a large gate matherialized in a few moments. And soon after, heavy symphony of footsteps started to resound in the place Rex had chosen as the anchor, as rows upon rows of over two meter long, muscular, dressed in leather armor and wielding greatweapons or axe and shield combo, men walked out of the gate. Each and every one of those giant men was grining from ear to ear, eager to partake in one of their favourite pasttimes- fighting. The fact they could have fun with races not of their own was just an icing on the cake. And while Jorg himself was not leading the army, since these small counties most likely couldnt even entice him, the blood of the chief was still present, since one of the mans sons was here to do that in the chiefs place.


    "Jirgen was it?" Rex asked the man who looked around thirty or so, as the son of Jorg stood by his side, and with affirmative nod in his dirrection Rex continiued.


    "I will only provide support from time to time to lower the casualities a bit. Since they have no S class or above within the walls or anything. Most of the siege is purely your fun to be had, sicne Jorg said the men would have it no other way."


    "Yes sir. Its been a while since the last time we actually had the chance to have such fun. So I trully speak for us all when I say that I am thankfull for the opportunity."


    "Ow right, keep the devastation and pillaging to a minimum in two quarters of the city" Rex spoke as his mana drew a quick city plan on the ground in front of them, where he marked two locations.


    "Why is that sir?"


    "This here is the Red light district." Rex explained and understanding the mans questioning gaze he explained "Whores. most of the people there are whores. So, keep a hand of the ladies, since most of them are non humans anyhow and slaves to boot already." Then he pointed to another place "Foreigners district. Non Echlisiarchy people. Also not to be pillaged. We have no interest in antagonizing a lot of other countries. Besides we will be starting a proper siege and all, so most of the foreigners will be asked to evacuate the city with their biggest valuabes, or we will see if they work out a proper alternative idea."


    "Understood sir. I will relay the orders right away." And with that said Jirgen dissapeard among his soldiers, his shouts resounding in the clearing every now and then and less than an hour later the three thousand troops marched out, their target clear in their sights. The city called Provedence.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    As they marched upon the city, and since they made no attempt to mask their aproach, some of the hunters and messangers accidentally stumbling unto them ran for their lives and delivered the news of the aproaching army to the city. In the castle in the very heart of Provedence, around a rather large adn heavy oak table sat a group of older and slightly fat men. Clear worry and nervousness visible on their faces.


    "Three thousand you say?" one of the men at the table asked.


    "Yes, our scouts returned just moments ago. The city is already on high alert, militia is being summoned and soldiers armed as we speak." answered a knight standing by the table behind the man sitting in a slightly evelated seat above all others.


    "Any chance they are not coming towards us?" another question resounded from side.


    "No, their path is straight to us. Whats worse is that the men are gigantic. Two to three meters tall and built like bears, if the scouts are to be believed. And whats worse is they are not wearing any insignias or carrying any flag."


    "Some sort of dungeon break? I have read that sometimes the dungeon dwelling races rarely come out for whatever reasons. And that ussually leaves fire and death in their wake."


    "How soon will they be here?" Aske the lord of the place.


    "In less than an hour, by our estimations sir." Once again responded the knight.


    "What is the level of the army and what are our chances to defeat them. Numbers wise we should have more than enough to repell them no?" ask a particularily fat merchant, a small girl of around thirteen in tattered clothing standing by his side. Fresh bruises clearly visable on her arms.


    "I would like to get back to educating my nevest purchase after all." the fat merchant added with a sleazy expression on his face.


    "There is some sort of mana story around the army. We cant tell as of now." Replied the knight, earning a few scoffing remarks from the fat merchant and few other decision makers.


    "Our lord is with us and will give us strenght in our time of need." Spoke just as fat priest from another place at the table.


    The next hour was spent planning and ordering the solders around to better prepeare for the siege, untill finally they heard a horn resounding outside their city. The foreighn army was at their gate, and from the clanking of their weaponry that could have been heard quite far in the city, said army was more than ready to start their attack.


    Still, Rex had to show the modicum of decency, if not for the Echlisiarchy then for the foreigners who right now resided in the city. So he and Jirgen aproached the gate with a white flag that had a black mark on one of its corners. Said mark indicated their desire to have a quick exchange before the inevitable fight, unless their every demand is met obviously. An action that Jirgen could easily understand, They had something similar after all. And after a few minutes of waiting, a couple of men on their horses arrived in front of them, countless men on the walls with bows looking suspiciously at the duo from the oposing army.


    Rex had made a very small change to his attire, now sporting a relatively concealing cloak with a hood that hid his eyes quite well from the aproaching group. Rex was conclealing his power as well, so those with sharp senses could estimate him to be semi S class entity. While not quite there, by their estimations, he would be considered the greatest threat to be in the coming battle should it escalate there. Jirgen was also peak A class entity, so they both exuded enough pressure and threat for the representatives of the Providence city.


    "May we inquire the purpose of your army here. WE dont think we have done anything to incur the wrath of your people, whomever you might be." one of the riders spoke to Rex and Jirgen as soon as they were close enough for teh conversation to be held.


    "Ow, but you have. Not only you, but your entire nation. And as it just so happens, the retribution is starting now." replied Rex.


    "So, the conflict is unavoidable then?" sighed the same man. "No matter. We have more warriors as well as the advantage of fortifications. And while I am sure we will suffer some losses dealing with you two in particular, we will come out as victors in the end. So, go ahead. Speak your words and lets be done with it."


    "Non Echlisiarchy peopel and slaves, as well as the whores are to huddle in their own districts. Those of these categories who happen to live outside those zones should still take refuge there for the siege and during the sacking of the city. We plan to leave nothing but ruins in our wake." Rex said, his voice cold and uncaring. then he added another sentence as he was removing his hood, his identity as archon now in full view of the representatives of Provedence.


    "Just like how you tried multiple times to end me purely for existing."


    Hard gasps came from the other group in front of the gate, and Rex even sensed a few bows being drawn as they were still conversing.


    "Better make sure your zealots dont do anything that will ensure your prolonged suffering." Rex added, pointing to the flag he was holding "That one is quite the sacred thing among all races. Then again, it does not really matter. Not like any of you are getting out of this." with that said Rex raised one of his hands in the air, and with that signal his warning to the select few groups for shelter was repeated by a couple of casters on the Svergi side who amplified the sound, ensuring that the entire city heard the warning. The peopel were given an hour before the siege of the city starts as well as a fair warning not to shelter and hide Echlisiarchies people, since they had brought this disaster upon themselves.


    With that said Rex and Jirgen turned around and left the meeting place, and as expected just after a few steps had been made in the dirrection of the Svergi camp, a few arrows flew aimed at Rex back. none of the arrows actually reached Rex, as he used raw aura as a shield, causing arrows to impact it and fall on the ground. In response Rex drew Limitless, infused its blade with quite large amount of ebergy that was a mix of mana and aura and slashed in the dirrection towards the place most arrows came from.


    Swirling green and blue energy mass shot forwards from the swing of the blade, ominous aura being expelled from it for the whole moment it was in flight. Then a lound explosion thundered out, obscuring the nearest few dozens of meters around the impact location in heavy could of dust and smoke.


    "Fortifications eh?" Rex snickered in volume that was clearly heard by the group of representatives, then he half yelled, infusing his voice with mana, once again remainding the city of the timer.


    "You have an hour!"


    With that they both returned to their camp, not a single arrow was launched towards them this time. A lesson had been given clearly. A few minutes later when the dust settled the guards on the walls and ones cloer to the impact area had true terror reflecting in their eyes. That single slash had obliterated more than ten meters wide part of the wall, giving the attackers a perfectly prepeared breach into the city. The news of the absurd firepower the forsaken had was delivered to the decision makers of the city, giving them yet another headache to deal with.


    "Have you verified it?" asked one of the big wigs sitting at the large table in the Provedence castles main hall. Every man present here was sweating rather cold sweat right now, not liking their chances after that insane attack was delivered.


    "Yes, the same eyes as reported by the small remote village we sent two exorcists to yesterday." replied guard captain.


    "Think that was a ruse?" asked another one.


    "A test or something more likely." replied a rather old man with quite the hunched back and pointy ears. "It would not be the first time such trials are used when judgeing someone. The powerfull have always had weird ways to dispense their own brand of justice."


    "Tch." a tongue click interrupted the gathering. "We just have to strike him fast and hard as soon as the battle starts. Doesnt matter how strong technique he has if he cant land it and dies before utilizing it on the bulk of our forces or elites." arrogantly spoke a man in his early thirties, dressed in half holden armour, that was brimming with enchantements.


    While they were once again finalizing their last second changes REx and the Svergi just chilled a bit in their camp. No booze or food though for now. They had to be slightly irritated and hungry, to let their inner savage out better during the siege. Rex had also given the men free reign once the city was properly breached and most of the combatants were eliminated. They were given green light to let loose and unwind. The people of Echlisiarchy were their property and toys to do with as they pleased.

 Chapter 89: Fall of Nor. Part 4

    Once the hour was over an ear shattering roar resounded outside the walls of Provedence. The defenders of the city had moved according to their orders for the last hour. Adjusting and fortifying the now destroyed fragment of the wall as much as they could. Grave faces adorned the defenders who were in thefirst few lines of the barricades, though the rest of the soldiers looked no better. Their expressions turned nigh ashen when a powerfull mix of auras passed by their positions.


    Whatever it was that was used to conceal and supress the aura of the invading army had been released, allwoing the presence of three thousand elite soldiers to mix and wash over their opposition. prayers anong with curses resounded from the defenders as they braced for the coming tide. Whatever they were prepeared for, what came next did shake them quite hard once again, as another of the monstrous exposions resounded quite the wasy away from the first one that had destroyed the wall to such tremendous extent. This time however a rather powerfull gust of wind followed, blowing away all the dust and mini debris that was still in the air. Yet another breach was made and the invaders streamed in through this new and not fortified position, causing quite a few humans to be killed during their shocked state that came after the explosion.


    Rex and Jirgen were at the very front of the charge. Jirgen doing so as was the custom with single battle engagements that allowed the leader to go wild and freely exercise his combat prowess. Rex however did so purely for entertainment purposes and to ensure that as few as possible of the Svergi men actually died during combat. The sight was both impressive and sad at the same time, depending on whose side the observer would be roothing for.


    The hulking two and a half meter tall barbarians crashed into the trembling lines of defenders, tossing a fair few away like a sack of potatoes. Due to their A class power they could have been comparable to a rhino or an elephant as they charged into a group of random ordinarry people at full throttle. The coming swings of their weapons did not held back either, cleaving bloody arcks through out the battle line. Miserable schrieks and scries of pain and suffering came from the human side. What was worse is that practically none of the giant men looked as if they were taking no damage whatsoever during their scuffle.


    Rex, being the nice guys that he was avoided most of the enemy fighters and slid across the battlefield like a ghost, only taking actiong should any of his side were in a rather dangerous mortal situation they could get not out of. For the most part such situations were a dirrect cause of Provedences A class elite team searching for Rex to take out the dangerous monstrosity and possibly either swing the battle outright or stop the invaders momentum. And since that help for the most part came in the form of extreme projectiles from just as extreme range, said boss kiler party quickly regrouped and chased after the trajectory of the incoming trown rocks just a few moments earlier.


    Another half an hour later in a rather small side alley Rex was finally caught up with said hunter group. Clearly a courtesy from Rex, sicne there was no way the group could have caught up with Rex on their own. No, he had clearly grown bored and waited to have some fun, so what better way than to let the enemies alpha strike team catch up with him. Who knows, they might even provide some sort of entertainment for the quickly growing bored Rex.


    The elite team of the Provedence consisted of fourty members, all among the middle to high A class, with three peaks. They had realized early on that the enemy army is nothing but terror, each and every time they had run into any group that was roaming the streets and culling the defenders they had to contend with nothing but A ranks. Their leader had estimated that they had run into more than thousand A ranks already. And even asuming the rest of the army that was still pouring in through the wall opening was not A class it still baffled their minds. What kind of force was capable of providing a fighting force of three thousand where more than a third was A ranks.


    What was even more frustrating was that whenever they got close to taking out some of them extremely terifying projectiles had interrupted their atempts. Now they had finally tracked down the sharpshooter to this side alley. And luckally it was the detestable forsaken, who happened to be the sharpshooter. They could finally unleash their raising pent up frustrations with the current situation.


    "Ow no, poor little me. Caught all alone by the elite force of the enemy. However will I escape now?"


    His sarcastic tone of voice irritated their group even more, though the voice of their strategist and leader quickly calmed them somewhat down, and in no time they were in a well thought out and practiced formation. As the takners charged at their enemy, chields raised to intercept any sudden attacks. Priests casting multitude of blessings on their primary engagement roles. Rangers and archers releasing arrows to either wound or controll his mobility. Even the two mages were layering their spells to catch their adversary in the correct moment of weakness. It was all going as their stategist had calculated.


    Overbuffed and brimming withe energy the tanks were night in contact with Rex, multiple arrows flying and locking his movement options. A couple of stealthy rogues were also in the tankers tail, quite skilfully hiding themselves from Rex sight to attack when least expected. Even the mages were ready to unleash their magic upon the smallest of chances. Yet it all crumbled apart in less than a blink of an eye.


    One moment their target was there, right where he had to be, and the very next he was behind the two mages, their heads falling to the ground, their necks shoothing a fountain of blood into the air like some sort of a fountain. And then the next moment he was standing behind their stategist, the heart and soul of their group, whose head was smashed like a grape in the monsters hands, paralyzing their remaining group for just a moment, to elicit numerous heart wrenching cries of loss and anger. What followed after was a chaotic rush of people towards the murderer, disregardibg their own safety and reason. Only one thought in their minds- to pull said man to the afterlife, by any means neccesarry. The few peopel who ddi not join in said suicidal charhe could understand why that was happening though. Said strategist was like a father to many of them, with most considering the man their only reason for living. So it was no suprise that once the man was killed, their reason to live was as well, with a singular wish pushing them forward- to avenge their mentors and ''fathers'' death.


    Reality however is a cruel mistress, far too often dangling a hope in front of a desperate person, only to snuff it out completely. And this was one of such situations for the elite team of Provedence. Rex moved with absolute precision and agility that defied reason, or so it looked to the few A rankers with their faculties not clouded. It was not just raw power that the man was relying on to ensure he was not swarmed and crushed. No, the man was moving as though being repelled by anyone who came too close, manking him simply uncornerable. Then add to that unreasonably sharp sword that could cut through any of their armor and weapons like butter and you have a perfect blend for carnage incarnate.


    It took less than a few minutes for the lone enemy to end the lives of the desperate and berserking group hell bent on taking him down with them. Needless to say that besides few random blood splatters from said slain group on his visage, there was no other signs that the man had just gone through thirty something A class fighters. The remaining fifteen people were now sweating buckets. There was no way the man was just A class.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "The fuck an S class is doing here in this backwater town?" a desperate cry came from one of the remaining men.


    "He he he" Rex snickered in response "You''ve been poking an iron plate for far too long, and now one of your''s just so happened to finally kick it. This is nothing more than cause and consequence."


    With those words said he once again dissapeared from his position, anouncing his reappearance with another gush of blood from yet another of their dwindling numbers being cut and ended. Then he did the same again and again untill none of said group was left alive. Once he was doen the place looked no more no less than a messy slaughterhouse. Even Rex had to admit it was quite disturbing sight to behold. Body parts cleanly cut with single swing, blood and innards slowly spilling out through the openings. And some very few pained gasps as those more unlucky were still drawing their last breaths.


    Quickly finishing them off and darting to the next largest congregation of enemy power signature he murmured under breath "Gotta calculate better on swings versus multiple targets to ensure they all die as quick death as possible." To be fair, Rex had no issues by now when it came to torturing his enemies. He had done it already a few times. To prolong the suffering of simple warriors oposing him however, was not quite something he wanted to delve into. Thus his desire to ensure they died as quick deaths as possible. Once he gets his hands on the upper echealons however, his aproach would change by hundred and eighty degrees. There he will pull out all the stops in returning the suffering of their victims back manyfold.


    In short few moments Rex was once again perched on a cathedral''s highest tower, observing and tracking the entire battleground that the city had become, with the exception of two places. As mentioned previously the Red light district as well as the Foreigner distric were left alone, not a single raider stepping into their zones. A few even went so far as to stay around to ensure no retarded fool on their side decided to disregard the orders coming from the top.


    As Rex observed the entire city turned into battleground he could find no fault with the way Svergi army was moving. They had been seperated into many smaller groups who right now were combing through the city along seperate paths. breaking down doors, ransacking the homes and already sorting the people they had encountered during said ransacking. Men and women over certain ages were executed nigh immediatly, enforcing the cruelilty and obedience in the surviving members of the city should they hope to live for at least a while longer.


    Rex had killed the most skilled group of the enemy resistance, consisting of over fifty A class fighters in the mid to high tier. Most, if not all remaining A class enemies were mid or innitial tier, thus not really creating much of a problem to the invading force. Even more so since Rex himself still moved to the locations where the advance of his forced slowed down more than expected. A few hours later Rex could with confidence say that only the chaff remained within the city, as well as the storming of the enemy command center, where all the big heads were huddled up.


    "Hmm. I suppose in this case fun come before the actual work?" Rex once again snickered as he moved to Jirgens side who was waiting just outside the castle with quite a few of his men, waiting for Rex to arrive. They had the place surrounded, and since Provedences elite units had been exterminated already, said castle was manned with subpar personell. They had to send them out since Rex attack power would have ensured their fall, unless removed from the equation. Now said leaders were in a position of utter despair. There was no escape, and some of the more decisive ones were considering suicides right now. No one could guarantee that their end would be swift once they were in the hands of the enemies. Luckaly for Rex, none of the actual nobles were considering that. Their arroance and faith that soon assistance would come from teh capital of Nor or maybee even one of the council families. All they had to do was weather the storm for a short while and it would all be over. Little did they know that right now every major or capital city were fortifying themselves as much as possible. The messages from the angels already having been circulated, causing everyone to hunker down and prepeare for the oncoming crisis.


    "Ready to make some fat pigs squeel?" Rex asked Jirgen as soon as he appeared near the man, startling said giant in the process.


    "Shit." he cursed "Could you stop doing that? I swear you will be the end of me one day." The Svergi man had learned in teh short time he had been besides Rex that he is actually quite chill and likes to joke around, so Jirgen had slowly but steadily started to act as he would around his father or someone of that caliber. Needless to say as a warrior culture crude and crass jokes were part of the menu. Something Rex apreciated and gave as well as he could take. Unfortunately for the rest of their men, they were often in the akward situation where either of their current leaders jokingly insulted one another, then laughed as if nothing happened. They however had to hold their laughter in case any of said jokes went too far and elicited the anger of the reciever of said joke, thus causing the grunts to get a beating as well. If only they knew that Rex and Jirgen had a small conspiracy, where they sometimes intentionally went furtehr than they should, laughing not so much at the jokes themselves but more so over the clenched cheeks of their subordinates who tried their best to keep the laughter inside their bodies.


    "How''s the looting and rounding up of people?" asked Jirgen as he signaled his men to begin the last push into the castle, well aware of Rex''s eyes in the sky.


    "Its going great. Only the scrubs remain in pockets of fortified mansions with stubborn minor nobles who think they can last untill help from other cities arive. So, once we are done with this little piece of fun we will go and solve the Red district and Foreigners quarter. We dont want our guests to wait too long I suppose."


    "What kind of schemes have you prepeard for them?"


    "Sheesh. Why do you have to asume its always something nefarious?" Rex asked back, an evil grind plastered over his face.


    "It is deffinetly not your face that makes me think so. Definetly not. After you. I doubt you want to be late for this part." Jirgen gestured Rex to take lead and Rex happily did so. With Rex and Jirgen in the front of the group, as well due to the weak defenders in their way, it took them no time whatsoever to reach the room where the leadership of Provedence was waiting. The militarry personel had somber, yet dignified expression on their faces. Clearly aware of the possibilities of their own fate. Quite a few of the ministers and fat merchants had incredibly arrogant and smug expression on their faces, still for whatever reason deluded that their status would shield them from the possible consequences. A slap on the wrist, maybee some rather large sum of money is all they would lose. Such were the thoughts in their heads, similar power changes had happened in the past, serving as basis for their faulty deductions.


    Soon, the people inside the room heard chashing of weapons, though not nearly as much as they would like, yet again indicating the wast difference in the power levels among both sides, especially now that their elites were already down for the count. Then the numerous footsteps resounded in the halls outside their meeting room, getting closer and closer to the seperation between two opposing sides. Then with a crashing sound the door was fung from its hinges, shining light on the entering adversaries. The nobles gulped as they saw the towering two and a half meter tall and muscular men''s frames, exuding raw power and savagery. Though the greatest fear was induced by the single man at aproximately two meter height. The archon, the forsaken that was the root cause of their current predicament. They all wasnted to curse the man, for this siege, for their loss, for being born and existing. Not a single word was uttered towards that goal however, the last bits of their brain having struggled against their own stupidity and won, ensuring they at least dont try and insult the force that could do whatever the fuck they wanted with their sorry asses right now. That did not stop someone from attempting to extricate themselves from a slippery situation.


    The fat merchant, yanking the abused thirteen year old girl behind him, stumbled his way towards Rex and his force and once close enough he took a slightly hunched position as he spoke in a sweet and sinckening voice.


    "Ahh, thank lords, I have been saved. I am Runes Fernov. A merchant from Zharr. I have had the most unfortunate day, being stuck here due to a meeting I had scheduled with the ruling body here, and due to your arrival I was held here. May I graciously ask your exelency to permit me to return to the foreigners quarters to not get in sir''s way?"


    "Silence." Rex single word froze the man in fear. Then he extened his hand towards the girl, with two of his fingers signaling the girl to come closer.


    "Come here girl." and with the words spoken she did exactly as ordered.

 Chapter 90: fall of Nor. Part 5

    The thirteen year old girl stood in front of Rex, her head down and gaze locked onto the worn out stone floor. No rug covered it since it was right next to the door, unlike the zone with the large table in the middle of said room. She was shivering, both fear and chill of the room doing their damn best to not allow her to still. The rags barely covering her childish form helped little, if at all with the chill, and her experience as a child sold into slavery after a raid on a small village did even less to asuade her fears that were bubbling deep within her persona and coming to up to the surface with renewed vigor.


    Rex gaze was now fully focused on the shivering girl. The bruises on her arms and legs, both fresh and remnants of old ones, spoke volumes of the pain the child had gone through for quite the time. Whatever should he do with her, Clearly a slave, the collar around her neck sporting a smiple pain enforcing enchantment the owner of it could activate any moment. The rags she was wearing and the scars her body adorned clearly indicated the purpose her master had purchased her for as well.


    Pondering for just a moment he extended his arm towards the neck of the girl. An action that remained unseen by the girl due to her gaze locked on the floor. In a blink of an eye his hand appeared in the girls lowered gaze, and the next instant it had a grasp of collar and her neck in extension. The appearance of the arm startled the girl for but a moment, and expecting the worst to soon come she looked at the owner of the hand. She reasoned that at the very least her last moments should have more than gray stone as a sight as well as hoped for a better life next time around, if she ever gets the chance.


    Unbeknownst to her, tears started rolling down her cheeks as a painfull and almost begging smile appeared on her face. As painfull as it had been the last few years, the girl still held a sliver of hope in her heart, that maybee, just maybee, a better life waited for her just around the corner. Understanding the girls desperate desire to live, a better life than now at that, Rex spoke to clear the girls ''slight misunderstanding''.


    "The hand is there not to snap your neck, but to block any possible activation of the collar, so you can answer my few questions freely and honestly. And on that matter, I can tell if you plan to lie to me. And I have an unreasonably strong dislike for liars. So. now, answer me this. For what purpsoe were you purchased by that fat pig here, and what has he done with you so far?"


    His first words calmed the girl slightly, but she could not just trust him yet. Life had thought her that lesson rather painfully. his next few questions put the girl on the edge again, her eyes darting to her current master, who was now turning green. Form anger, fear, or maybee both, she did not know, but the pain he could inflict upon her through the necklace still fresh in her mind. The master would not hesitate to use it whenever she would make even the smallest mistake, sometimes even just because she happened to fall in his sight as she was performing her duties and not noticed his appearance. Her heart pounded faster and faster, her mind racing and searching for an answer that would satisfy her master and allow her to escape the possible pain. Rex understanding her fear and again spoke.


    "Remember girl, this entire city, let alone this single room, is entirely at my mercy. Whatever little pain that collar could have inflicted upon you? It is nothing compared to what I am capable of. Its a cheap junk anyways, so if this gets you to answer me thruthfully, this will be faster." and with that the collar cracked and shattered into peaces, freeing the girl from the fear of the pain and with the arm also being removed from her neck she slumped to her knees and she quickly began to cry even more as she bowed in front of Rex, repeating ''thank you sir'' again and again.


    Rex sighed at the sight, and once again asked the girl the questions he had asked beforehand. This time the girl answered as soon as she had gathered herself. An action that took a few minutes regardless. And her answers were as he had expected. Bought to satisfy the pigs love for early teen girls and his need torture them as he enjoyed them. Luckaly for the girl, if it can be called that, she had gone through only a few relatively light beatings before the council was called due to Rex appearance.


    "Say girl. Would you like to watch as your former master slowly meets his end while experiencing excrutiating pain? Or would you rather skip it and meet your future masters?" He askedonce he was clear what to do with the degenerate merchant. Said pig barely better than the upper echealons of Echlisiarchy, so it was only a matter of fact for the man to join them in their fate.


    "Im a merchant of Zharr! You cant do that. They will avenge me!" the pig almost squeeled in panic. Only eliciting a condesendign smirk from Rex.


    "And you think anyone in Zharr will lift a single finger against a peak SS class entity to avenge you? Ha ha ha ha ha. Ludicrous."


    Rex words shut the merchant up, his skin tone going even more green than before if that was even possible. To put a cherry on top said merchant soiled himself and passed out right then and there. With the distraction currently indisposed Rex returned his focus to the little girl, who was now shivering for entirely different reasons.


    "What would my new masters need me to do sir, once I am there? I would rather not dissapoint them upon arrival." the girl stuttered out. Both hopefull and fearfull for what was to come. The man in front of her was a warrior. A general as kids would often play one before her village was raided and surely he would not make the decisions regaring the spoils of their conquest. She had heard that the nobles decided that kind of things, so it was better to risk light punishement here than to earn the ire of said masters the moment she was lead before them.


    "So, I take it you are not interested in seeing his torture?" Rex asked as he pointed to the passed out and soiled fat merchant.


    "N-no, sir." the girl responed.


    "Your choice." Rex accepted her decision and pulled the girl to stand by his side. "Just stand here for the moment, while I deal with the rest of the room." he said as his focus returned to the remaining leadership present in the meeting room. Said people now on the ground and shaking with fear. Rex had used his aura to supress and hold them all in place to not disrupt his talk with the girl.


    "Duhhh, Right. Girl, what is your name?" He asked. He reckoned he should know since the girl was about to join his ordinary maid list back in his mansion. He reasoned it was a solid reward for her suffering so far.


    "Al." the girl responed.


    "Nice to meet you Al. Wrap in this for now." Rex added as he pulled out a rather nice blanket from one of his space storages and gave it to the girl, now trully focusing on the remaining enemies in the room and releasing his aura suppression on them. Multiple gasps resounded as they could now breathe without much effort once again. Every one of them looking at Rex with pure terror in their eyes. No suprise there. They were aware of him as a peak SS class now. While still not actually anywhere near his real power at this point, it was more than enough to destroy any and all of their delusions regarding rescue or survival.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "What is to be our fate?" Asked one of the officers present. Clearly from the military branch of the group.


    "Nobles share the fat merchants fate, and the military personel will either be executed or enslaved, unless I am brought info of said soldiers having similar tastes as the rotten nobles. Those will aso join the fun train."


    "So, be a dear and sheppard your fellow men into said two categories and be fast with it. Work well for me and we might just let your family off with less physical merchandise testing than most will have to go through." Rex could sense little to no hostility towards him as a forsaken from said man, so he was more than willing to see what makes him tick. Who knows, there might even be some part of the population he could spare after all? the ring on the mans finger was adorned with the symbol of union that most religions used so it was easy for his to tell said oficer was married, thus giving the man a way forward in this hopeless situation.


    And to Rex joy said man went into action with renewed determination and gusto, performing his task with his all. Clearly hoping to aleviate the fate of his loved ones, if not his own. In just a few minutes three groups had been formed. Military, nobles, and a third one that consisted of nobles in military service that the man had no dirt regarding their possible sick hobbies.


    "Jirgen, acompany our helper here to his family post haste. He worked fast and efficient. Might as well reward the man with some peace of mind." Rex asked his second in command, who just nodded and along with the helper dissapeared from the room in a mere moments. For the next ten or so minutes Rex ordered his men to chain and move the three groups, while at the same time allowing the rest to go wild, looting, destroying and doing anything else that came to the warriors minds in their victorious mood.


    Soon Jirgen appeared in the room again, this time acompanied by not only the man but a plain looking woman in early thirties alongside two girls of about six years and a boy who looked around ten. None looked roughed up so Rex could only asume that Jirgen had reached the place before his own soldiers did. And once again, the entire family were not looking towards Rex with loathing and hatred that should be indoctrinated in their minds by now.


    "You made it in time. Good. Now tell me, how come I sense none of the prejudiced hatred the Echlisiarchy''s people hold for my kind from your family? Clearly it sould have taken root by now already?"


    "We moved here just recently from Slate. We learned there to judge people by their actions, not race or creed." the man answered rather quickly.


    "Ahh, a foreigner, figures. Well, thanks for extinguising that annoying little probability. Say, I see you value your family above all else. Am I correct in asuming such?" And seeing the man nod Rex continiued "I cant very well let such an asset go, since it seems you were working as the strategist here. I offer your family a choice. My blood mage friend will brand you as my slaves, effectively claiming your lives as my own. In return you will work as a manager to my brothels and such. Your family will live as you see fit. Helping you out with your tasks chould you want it. And no, they will not work as the merchandise in said brothels. That lineup is already filled with the saints and priesteses of the Echlisiarchy."


    "And you would trust someone who had been on your enemies side?" the man asked with doubt.


    "As I said, you would be branded. No betrayal could be possible on your side. Nothing else would be altered in your being."


    "And my family would be secured a good life should I offer us to your service?"


    "You would eat better than most kings at the very least. That and quite relaxed work and living conditions. And me givign you a choice is just me being nice, by the way."


    "I dont see much of a choice to be honest. i was on the oposong side of this war, if one can even call it that, and from what you have said, our willingness was never a truly necessary, yet you give us the choice nonetheless, That speask for something." He looked to his wife who quickly noded in agreement, and with that the man agreed to the offer he had recieved. Then understanding his nes boss and masters questioning gaze he quickly cleared his throat and introduced himself and his family.


    "The name''s Alfred. This is my wife Sophie. our daughters Zoe and Sandra. And that is our son Ralph."


    "Hmm." Rex nodded in approval, then spoke. "Now that thats sorted out, let me get back to the plann. Also, Jirgen, make sure I dont make this a habit. Bad for the reputation, you know."


    "He, he, he. You got it man." The Svergi boss replied with a smirk.


    So with his current distraction solved, he returned his full focus on the task at hand- dealing with the Red light and foreigners districts. Much less bloody, but at the same time more tricky situation, since those people were not meant for the culling and slavery. And while the Red light district women were mostly slaves who had no choice in the way of their lives, the foreigners were a different case. They had chosen to live here among the fanatics for one reason or another and could be blamed for at the very least partial assistance in Echlisiarchies genocidal tendencies. But then again, Rex could easily also blame each and every nation near here with the same reasoning. And as much as he had decided that Echlisiarchy had to go, he was not at all interested in spending years on what would essentially be culling of the continent. He hoped that with Echlisiarchy gone other nations would get the message- It aint nice to be genocidal maniacs since that could cause some serious shit. Not the most intimidating of statements per say, but with an example in front of them it should be enough of a detriment.


    Rex then started moving towards his first of the two stops- the Red lights district. His freshly aquired servants following him quietly. As they moved through the now chaotic streets the same sight greeted them along the way- fallen defenders of the city laying dead in the pools of their own blood, Rex army going throught buildings a few men at a time and looting whatever they considered valuable and sorting deciding on the fate of whomever they found within. Cries of anger and rage sounded along the way as some men desperately tried to protect their loved ones and being slain in the process. Sobs and tiers streaming down the faces of women who saw it all with their own eyes, and pleas of mercy for themselves of their children as the raiders looted and sampled their merchandise.


    Rex could feels how closely Sophie and her children were huddling, clearly shivering in fear of what could have happened to them if they were not besides their master to be. Alfred was also hugging them as much as he could while still doing their very best to keep up with Rex. They saw some of the raiders nodding theirs heads as Rex passed by, respect and some modicum of fear reflecting in their eyes, once again reminding the family just how important the man is in this group.


    "Yours kids would have been mostly fine by the way." Rex spoke as they kept passing by barbaric sights one after another "My men are under strict orders to not sample those under sixteen. Only adults are on their menu. Sophie on the other hand would have been in quite the demand. While she is rather ordinary when it comes to looks, she has all the right curves to encite Svergis lust as well as the aura of a sweet and caring mother. Trust me when I say my men has quite the thing for that. Actually now that I think about it all Svergi men do from what I have seen."


    "Thank you sir for your generous offer once again." Alfred spoke well aware what they had escaped "I will serve with the best of my abilities to prove that you made a well worth investment in us."


    "And yes, they had to see this." Rex then spoke as if understanding what was on the minds of both parents. "While your kids are still somewhat young, it is better they understand what weakness could do to you should someone much more powerfull or influential chose to try and take what is yours. To protect themselves and their loved ones strenght is required and this should serve as good enough motivation in the long run."


    As they kept walking through the pillage that took place Rex asked a question here and there, steering their view towards Echlisiarchy further and further away from charitable. He mentioned how he was attacked in the Blythes dungeon by one of their parties, how an inquisitor with permission from a saintess tracked him and erected a barrier in the middle of the same city to engage in his preffered action for archons- torturing them slowly to death while spewing nonesense about repentance and cleansing through pain and death. He also inquired about their journey thus far and how it led them to this nation of all places, and by the end of it all they were standing before a rather large district gate entrance. They had arrived at the Red light district.

 Chapter 91: The two districts of Provedence

    As Rex stood before the large doorless gate that served as a seperation for two starkly diffenert worlds right now he considered the walk a major success. The kids were now less so trembling from fear of him and his men, but from the sights they had to take in as they saw what weakness in this world could do to you. As Rex had hoped their eyes were filled with determination to work hard to ensure that their mother and other siblings would be protected. If they could ensure no such thing happened to their family they were more than willing to sacrifice their own childhood and happiness.


    "Determination is a wonderfull thing, but it is also important to not get so lost in your chase for power that you neglect the reason for said chase to begin with. While you will have a chance to work hard and grow much stronger, right now all you have to do is be obedient to your parents and cherish your family. I am more than enough of detriment for nigh any power since you are in essence mine. Just servants for all intent and purpose, but mine regardless, and my full wrath falls on anything that aims to harm what is mine."


    Recieveing a few quiet ''thank you sir'' from both Sophie and Alfred, Rex looked around once more as he took in the devasteted streets around him. It was his actions that brought this down, and many more like this would follow. Rex almost cracked a laugh for how his previous self would have considered his current action cruel and savage, inhumane even, but then again, he was not living here, was he? A world where the greatest law was ones own fist, and how much it could both take down and enfore its own rules on others. Human in nature were greedy and envious and given the chance we would always rely on our base desires and instincts. Of that Rex was sure. He was a perfect example after all.


    The weak cover in fear and try to somehow scrape by, while those at the top use whatever is at their disposal to solidify their position and then enjoy their lives to the fullest, within the rules others of ''their kind'' allow one another. If he though back to his own world, the same happened back there as well, though there the form power had taken was connections and money. Have enough of either and most of your depraved fantasies could be realised with no one being able to do anything about it. Not enough evidence to convict someone, or proper manipulation of news to sway the public opinion. Or convicting innocent people for crimes they did not commit, all because the real culprit was too well connected or rich. At the very least in this world he had the means to ensure no such things would happen to him.


    As they spepped through the gate into the district their scenary changed entirely. This district was encompassed in a rather high wall that was covered in crawling plans all over, giving the district a rather lush greenery vibes. Numerous gardens made the place quite the sight and it even reminded Rex of the praks inside the large cities of his old world. he did notice a rather weird atmosphere in the air. While everywhere else in the city doom, gloom and desperation hung in the air, this place seemed oddly calm. As if there were no invasion taking place in the city.


    Rex glanced at the two men standing by the gate, raised one eyebrow and asked them.


    "Were there not for of you guys here some while ago?" the two guards akwardly scratched their heads and one spoke uncomfortably.


    "Yes sir, but we allowed the other two to go and purchase some services from the ladies here, since sir said that we are not to plunder here and ensure it remained undamaged."


    "Oh. Well, that is fine, as long as they are paying is see no reason to stop them. I asume you plan to switch one they are back?" the akward silence was all the answer he need, so he did not inquire further, just said "have fun then" and proceeded with his own plan of action. As Rex walked deeper into the district he could sense most of the women here were hiding in their respective lodgings, or brothels. There were no men having their fun right now, except for a few Svergi men who were going quite wild on a couple of girls. If the moans were an indication both parties in those exchanges were rather enjoying themselves, the sound of their sessions traveling outside through the opened windows. Under normal circumstances no single action could be discerned in the bustling mess of the district but now, the moans of those girls were like a guitar solo in a concert- all ears were only on them and their passionate moans.


    Rex had left the family near the gate in one of the small gardens, not too far from the Svergi guardibg the entrace, while mentioning to said guards that the human family there were his servants to be and should not be pestered. With that out of the way he had walked towards the largest building in the district, while sending mana pulses charhed with his voice through the building he passed by. He asked the girls most knowledgeable about their ditrict and its workings to gather at the center of the district. Their fate, so to speak, would depend on what the girls in question could achieve and persuade their noew overlord in, so he had advised them not to cover and hide.


    Once he had reached the center building that looked a bit like a rather expensive hotel made of mostly white stone with rather finely crafted decorations on its walls and light grey roof that seemed to be made of some sort of wood, it took no time whatsoever for women to start arriving in the clearing. In less than ten minutes the place was sporting around twenty women. And as soon as the twentieth arrived a lady of aproximately fourty stepped forward and bowed deeply to Rex, the low cut dress displaying quite a bit of her cleavage in the act.


    "The night ladies have gathered at your call sir. What is it that we can do for you, since we have been spared thus far from the ravages of war."


    "Most of your girls are slaves, am I correct in that asumption?"


    "Indeed sir." a brunette from the side responded "Just as we are." she added as she indicated a choker that fit quite neatly around their necks. "The owners of such places wanted a more apealing version of the collars for their ''hardworking'' girls and thus this was made. It stil serves the same purpose as the ussual collars, inflicting pain upon masters command."


    "And who are these masters you speak of?" Rex asked as he charged the district with his mana, making sure no orders could come through to activate said chokers. "I am blocking the signals for now, so no matter what is discussed here, and whatever decisions I make, no pain will be inflicted upon any of you through those slave collars, and at the end of the day they will all be removed, so speak freely."


    And to hammer home his point a few of their pain chokers cracked and fell of their necks, ensuring his words were percieved as facts. What followed was an hour of explanations of how the place was run, who the masters are and any other question Rex could come up with on the spot. He had recieved quite extensive amounts of information and his brain was already working full throttle to find the best ways to utilize said information. It had to be pointed out that Rex''s high level of interest in what teh women had to say was not entirely altrusitic in nature. Sure, he would ultimately spare and free the women here, sure he would allow them to get out of Echlisiarchy with some amount of money looted from the corrupt nobles and such, but it was only a fair trade after all. The amount of knowledge he attained regarding a proper runing of brothels and what not was worth a lot as well. All sorts of small details that, while not increadibly impactfull on its own, would in totality ensure the success of his future business.


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Seesh, I think i could frame myself as the dark lord with what I have in store for those saintesses and oracles." Rex chuckled to himself when some particularily evil ideas slid past his mind, when he slightly delved into the possible future of his to be brothell, but luckaly he had a relatively timid solution for the biggest two obstacles that his to be establishement could face in the future. Namely aging of merchandise and unwanted brats to be. Problems he already had solutions for not only in mind but also in practise. The array to ensure no success on the latter problem, and a huge amount of earth grade food as a solution for the aging. All he needed was to train his managers and ensure the working enviroment of his establishements to be.


    Once he was done dealing with the women and advising them to start their new lives probably in Blythe, since the city had been growing a lot and as his base town the level of crime and shady characters was particularily low. A result of Victors countless efforts as well as Rex mere presence as both himself and Neo the monster mercenary. He was more than aware of the dangers the women faced in the world he lived in now, and as such he had put in quite a bit of effort to ensure no proper criminal gangs and underground bosses formed in Blythe, making it if not the safest for your ordinary citizens, then one of for sure.


    It took a bit more time still for him to order a few of his goons to remove the torture devices from the ordinary girls in the establishements- an action that was safe due to Rex''s mana still oversaturating the zone. With the women released and free to do whatever they wished Rex changed his focus to the other district he still had to solve and since there the questions would not be mostly sex industry based he was more comfortable to gring his new servant family along. The two parent were more than thankfull to Rex for his willingness to not bring their children with him to that particular meeting. Rex also saw tha tthe guys had switched at the gate during his little chat with the local management, so he just waved a little to the guys, releasing them from guard duty and allowing them to go and have other fun in the city, or whats still left of it.


    On his way towards the foreigner district he had little of interest to talk with Alfred''s family, most pressing matters already having been covered, so besides a few exchanges here and there their twenty something minute walk was mostly quiet. Rex was more than okey with such a happening, having filled his comunication and interraction bars he had for entire weeks ahead, maybee even more. Sure he did not have much of a trouble speaking and interacting with other people, but he strongly preffered to avoid such things outside of home, where he was having enough human interactions already.


    And unlike the Red light district, this one was already waiting for him for quite some time. The merchants and artisans, as well as the local guild branches were located here, so there was a clear power structure in place. Not to mention that there were notably more people here than in the previous district. A few hundred whores were already quite the number for a city of ten thousand. Still, in comparison to the thousand people here it was quite the difference.


    Rex was met by a couple of A class adventurers who looked very cautiously towards the guards his army had placed here, and one they saw the giant men adressing Rex with respectfull nods, they too were smart enough to show the better part of their personality. Rex did not have to do much to get things rolling. he just mentioned to the guards of the district side that it was he, whose decision would ultimately decide their fate, and who would have guessed that said guards were quite hasty to bring Rex to their bosses as soon as possible. Thus it was slowly getting dark when he was sitting in a rather cozy sofa in the local branch of adventurers guild as on other seats around the rooms were nervously sitting the other big shots of the place. Advebturers guild master of the branch, merchant guilds local branch representative and a few other minor characters.


    And once Rex noticed that the adventurers guilds branch master asked regarding his attack on the city, and if he is planning on taking on the adventurers guild, Rex cut him off, asking in return.


    "Where are the cookies and tea? You do lack the decorum of a proper host, you know that right? What I am doing is the same thing Echlisiarchy had done to my kind for centuries now I believe. I find it perfectly justifiable for me to do the same. If i had to look for the ones at fault it would be your people for even entertaining the idea of setting up shop here. You cant possibly hope I would believe that you knew no better than that, and did not expect the blowback to come just so soon. Besides I have ow, so graciously given you the possibility to buy out your useless selves. Not only that, I will also allow you to pass on the word through your information network to the other branches of the guild in Echlisiarchy territory. Your job will be that, and only that, since I have little plans for spending more of my time while dealing with pointless diplomacy, where I could spent my time in a much more efficient way that also brought smile to my face."


    Yet another hour and so later they had finished their meating, Rex now happily munching on some expensive looking pastries and sipping quite the expensive tea as well. He had controlled most of the pace of their rather brief conversation, since he was not interested whatsoever in dealing with the fools. His imposing presence adn menacing oura that was flared a few times to shut some fool up ensured hasty, yet efficient solutions for his problem. He then followed the adventurers guild branch manager to their information sharing magilac device, and once he was enough in the loop of how it worked he allowed the exact signal to pass through the barrier he had set up, effectively allowing the other guild branches within the territory of Echlisiarchy to know of Rex coming well in advance, and move their people as well as their valuables outside, avoiding a possible scuffle with unreasonably powerfull and well trained military force. Rex also avoided giving them basically anything besides his reason for attacking, which was rather self explanatory, once he pointed at his eyes and mentioned the Blythe fiasko. There were no members of information distributing forces who did not know about the royal fuck up Echlisiarchy had pulled off in Blythe, even if not really a fault of theirs regarding the setup and execution. Who could have expected SS class entity to just so happen to be their target?


    With the message to other adventurers guilds branches ine Echlisiarchy sent Rex and his group left the place and returned to the pillaging of the rest of the city. Their festivities, if one could call the Svergi men going wild, lasted throughout the night. Something Rex himself was not present for, what with him having retired to Elysion with his new servants, where he stood on no ceremony, and quickly branded them all, including Al, who had sticked together with Alfreds family throughout the day. Needless to say their jaws dropped when they realised that the friend blood mage of Neo was himself, or more precisely Neo was a persona Rex used to have some extra fun outside.


    Rex sent them to get familiar with the work the maid core did back in Blythe, tasking Val and Mel with integrating family and Al into their new lives. Rex spent the rest of his night with his girls as ussual. Unexpectedly the next morning after breakfast he run into Al, who looked at him with shiny eyes that practically worshiped his existance. The maid who was acompanying the girl explained just how moved the young maid in training was when she took the first bite from her meal along the rest of the girls there. How tears of pure happiness streamed down her face, and how they had not stopped for quite a while when she was told that it was no celebration today, and that that was their everyday meal was like, so once she got over her emotional explosion, she begged quite a bit to express her gratitude towards her new master, and the maids relented, knowing Rex was kind master towards his own people.


    With the explanation of the experienced maid, Al, who was brought out of her revelrie, quickly knelt on her knees, bowed towards Rex and promised to work hard to show her grattitude towards her saviour and new master. Where suffering and death would have surely found her soon, she was now brought to a place no slave could ever even dream of being. She would work diligently and do anything her master needed, and not because of the brand, since it did not force her to obey, but because she wished to do so. Rex patted her head a little, smiled and spoke.


    "How about you learn from the maids for now, and lets talk aout other more mischievous ideas once you reach adulthood?"


    With the girls zealous agreement he bidded the tow maids goodbye and returned to the now mostly scorched Provedence. He had to give it to his army. They were damn fast when it came to tearing cities apart.

 Chapter 92: Fall of Nor. Part 6

    With his cosmic ravens flying around Rex had quite the ability to track everything and anyone he wanted, so it took him little time to find Jirgen, who had set up in one of the noble houses of the city that was not burned to the ground or destroyed during the night. It took him little time to reach the place, and he wasted no time to enter the building. What greeted his sight once he entered the guest welcoming area once he was through brought a smile to his face.


    His comander this time had apparently disliked the fancy beds the nobles used, so he had set out a magically treated dungeon monster hides on the floor, where he had quite the fun with two women of different generations, though their resemblance was rather striking, if Rex had to point something out that caught his eye.


    "Ahh, a man of culture as well I see." Rex spoke as he was gradually noticed by the groggy man slowly coming to. The two women still slept soundly, their bodies covered with a rather thin silku material that did little to hide their curves. Rex would give the two solid eights, if he had to score their appearances.


    "He, he, he." Jirgen lightly laughed at the words Rex spoke, not ashamed not bit by his own actions "If the Warcaller goes for a mother and daugher pair, it is only right we do our best to follow suit."


    Then he sighed a little "Those two are weird though." and seeing Rex raised eyebrow he explained.


    "Then I came inside, ready to flunder some more, those two appeared from the upstairs. And then both licked their lips and looked at me like I was the prey, and they the hunters."


    Jirgen then explained how the tow then dragged him to the ''master bedroom'' as the women had called it and proceeded to strip and hungrily make out with him, their hands greedily sliding all over his body. The bed left way too soft and puffy for his tastes, so he grabed the two women, came to the lobby here, drew his sleeing furs and placed them here, and then proceeded to ravage the duo. He also noted that the tow seemed almost worshiping his body, untill it cliced for Rex. Both mother and daughter were of noble origins for sure, their skin too flawless and soft to have gone through any hardship. And apparantly both had a thing for muscles and savagery, Jirgen ticking both boxes quite well. Rex looked at the sleeping duo, his eyes seemingly percieving something else happening right now with the two sleeping women.


    "Muahahahahahahaha." Rex started to laugh quite loudly at whatever he had just percieved, being loud enough to stirring awake the two women as well, who upon noticing they had company slightly panicked and tried their best to keep themselves covered with the silky blankets and trying their best to cover up more with something better concieling. The two floundered for a few minutes untill they actually managed something acceptable, and the mother asked as she looked to the ground.


    "What is going to happen with us? Are we to be p-paraded around and used as common whores for the e-entertainment for your soldiers?" she asked, fear starting to seep into the two. Rex understood that both had done what they did asuming it would be their last chance to do anything of their own accord, and since the man who entered their home was good loooking enough, and checked their fetish box, they dived into it fully, not willing to regret passing up their last chance of a happy memory toghether.


    "Normally, I would say that it is the choice of my commander here, what with him having done good enough job in the sacking of the city and what not. Your circumstances are a bit more special." Rex spoke with a smirk on his face. "For starters, all I feel is fear towards me. No disgust or repulsion. Why is that I wonder? Could it be that noble ladies are recieveing less of that brainwashing dribble the commoners and peasants go through?" not seeing any change in their expressions Rex noted it as such, thus he continued.


    "Do tell me, what it is you would hope to happen, given a choice. Once you tell me what I ask, I will continue with my part."


    "A-asuming Echilisiarchy is going to fall?" the mother asked.


    "Does not really matter. You are in our hands regardless. So even if an army of angels were to descend, you two would still be brought back with us."


    Mother thought for a moment, the daughter looking at her with faith in her decision making.


    "T-then I would hope to stay with my daugter at the very least. I-if we could also avoid being p-paraded around and shared like common whores would be p-prefereble. If Jirgen were to be our partner it would be even better."


    "Hmm, and why him in particular? All Svergi men are quite buff." Rex asked once again.


    "We pride ourselves quite a bit on our faithfullness to our first partners, if at all possible. My husband is surely death by now, and if not he soon will be, what with all that he has done, so while it matters not that much to me, since I want to stay with my Jess, it should be him. He was her first after all." The last sentence the mother said in quite a low tone of voice, but Rex heard it loud and clear regardless.


    "Impressive." Rex exclaimed. "Impressive indeed. You do realise you would become his concubines in that scenario, and your livbes would quite literaly depend on his."


    "Y-yes. It would be much better than any possible alternative. Why would sir ask of us that?"


    "Yes Warcaller, whats with the odd questions?"


    "Is it not obvious? The two are either super lucky or somewhat special." Rex comented, and seeing the confused looks he graced them with an explanation.


    " It si quite the feat for a normal human women, two at that and at the same time i should add, to get so lucky. Now, if we asume there is something special about them, it explains both mother and daughter have it." Seeing as he had cooked the trio long enough he finally delivered his sentence as it were.


    "Well Jirgen, you will have to take them both as your concubines. It is quite the achievement to concieve a Svergi child after all. Especially how much harder tha is for human women. And both at the same time? Color me impressed."


    Rex then just stood there, enjoying the spectacle of three fishes opening and closing their mouths as if searching for air or something. A silence pervaded the room, Rex stifling his laughter quite well. It was this particular reason why his raiders went balls deep in trying out the mercgandise and exercised their rights of conquest without worrying much. They had a few laws where they had to take care of the non svergi women they managed to knock up. It was quite the rare occurance after all, and the children born of suhc unions were often quite powerfull and tallanted.


    "No way?" Jirgen asked half confusedly, slight grin on his face. Clearly in disbelief, but at the same time excited about the prospect of strong and healthy children. Svergi were simple peopel in that way. Strenght and family was all they trully cared about after all.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Ow, I am quite sure." Rex responded as he tapped his temple near his eye "Perks of the bloodline."


    The two looked at the apparantly father of their children, waiting for whatever would happen next. Slumping donw exausted yet with peace once Jirgen finally reacted.


    "Muahahaaaaahhaaha" An infectious laughter escaped his lips, clear joy radiating from the man.


    "Follow the Warcallers example. Mother said. You can only gain from it. She said. Hahahaaahaha. Owww mother, you have no idea." Then he looked at Rex, flame of excitement in his eyes.


    "Permission to bring them home right now and leave in the hands of mother. They will be safe there."


    "Cant deny you that, now can I. Go and flaunt your luck then. Order the men to return with you though as well. Still impressed as hell on how they managed to sack it in just a single night. I want to move on to the next targets. A few villages along the way untill we reach the next larger city. Then there is once again the same untill we reach the capital of Nor. That should be fun, since i am expecting some angelic resistance there. As well as the much higher population of the city itself. I think we will have to sack it sector by sector. To unleash our men on the city as I did here will not work unless I want some major losses in our ranks. Needless to say that is not something I plan on, so more strategy will have to implemented, unless of course I want to go on a carnage of demon god levels that is. Anyway. As I said, grab the men and go home. I will purge the small villages on my own and probably call for the army on the next proper city, if not that then the capital of Nor. "


    "Yes sir." replied Jirgen with a shit eating grin plastered all over his face, his eyes darting to the mothers to be of his children. With the orders delivered Rex left the building and moved to the place that used to be the prison here. His men had dealt with the people locked up here and once it was cleaned out, placed a new batch in. Said new batch also had quite a bit of fun with a special someone Rex had borrowed from his cultivbator friends. One old man who worked in the employ of a certain governor in a certain city there. Needless to say the man was practically drooling when he recieved the invitation from Rex to employ his arts to the fullest. And employ he did. Whoever had the misfortune to come anywhere near here left ever so swiftly, svearing to never again come here too. The wails and cries for mercy and release, as well as the endless screams of pain made anyone think twice about getting on the invading peoples bad side. It was to the point that some of the whores from Red light district even spoke of ghosts taht were wailing through the night. Ghastly apparitions that the Archon had bound to his will and used to torture those he deemed fallen beyond belief.


    "Yo, seems you are having fun?" Rex greeted the torture expert as he entered the dungeon now turned into a room of terror. Multiple men chained to different contraptions were constantly twitching, jolts of pain coursing through their bodies, mouths open but no sound coming out. They had been screaming in pain for most of the night. It was only logical that their volac cords had given up on them. Some were riddled with needles, each and every one precisely stabed through some nerve connections, to elicit the most excruciating pain. Some had their fingers crushed, other had no nails or teeth. All clearly removed one by one to keep them in constant pain, yet not severe enough that they would lose consciousness or die.


    "Ahhh, sir. Once again I cant thank you enough for the opportunity. It is in a place like this, doing what I have been through the night that I can feel fulfilled. Even more so when I know just what they had done to deserve your wrath." The old man responded with energy unbefitting his age. His all nighter seemingly energized him more than tired the man out.


    "Have you started using the food my people provided for you?" Rex asked as he could do nothing but praise man for his devotion to the craft.


    "Yes sir, of course. How could I not? Earth grade would slowly, but surely rejuvenate this oled body of mine, ensuring I can keep doing this for so much longer than I could have normally. And for that too, I am forever gratefull. I believe it is precisely why I could have done this all night long and still feel quite fresh and ready for more."


    "I am glad of your enthusiasm, but we wil have to wrap it up here. You can take your toys will you and continiue in the place we set up you know where, or you can finish up with them here and wait untill we find some more of those who deserve to enjoy their own metheods that are perfected on their very own bodies."


    "Let me pack up then and bring them with me. I dont think a single night is enough for them to recieve the forgiveness of all those who died during their wicked and amateurish actions."


    "Do as you see fit. Call the team I asigned to you for the transport of the meatbags once you are ready. We will be done with the evacuation today so I hope you can manage in the alloted time as well."


    "Do not worry sir, I only need an hour or so to prepare everything to move."


    "Great to hear that. And just to make sure. Before you get into it again in the hosue of pain, do take a few hour nap. While the earth grade is doing its job we cant act foolishly. You have years ahead of you, perhaps even decades to utilize your craft once again. Dont let a hasty desire today to cut that bright future short, okay?"


    "Worry not sir, I will rest before returning to my duties. It would be indeed mortifying to rob myself of decades worth of practising my art." The man bowed and returned to his own devices, slowly starting to pack up while still ensuring that his subjects would not escape the presence of pain before they had to depart.


    "Come, my lovelies. We still have so much more fun things to enjoy together." The creepy smile on his face elicited quite a few whimpers from his subjects, and more than one even managed to once again piss themselves.


    "Yes, yes. I am just as excited." the man spoke as he saw said reaction, his smile becoming even more creepy than before.


    Rex looked at the marvelously grotesque and ingenious ways the people were strung up, skevered and cut, while still maintaining consciousness and twitching in constant pain, and then left the place. He was more happy with the mans performance and enthusiasm in ensuring the pain would be exquisite and last for as long as the subjects psyche would last. Once that was fully gone and broken he would finally release their souls to seek the next part of their journey.


    With his tasks taken care of within the city ruins, he could a solid place that overlooked most of the now destroyed city and sat down to meditate for a while. He had more than a few hours to spend since it would take no less than that for his forces to gather up and fully retreat with all the plunder. And while it was true that most of the people that were rounded up for slavery had already been sent through the portal to the prepeared slave processing facilities, there was still quite a bit of goods that were moved in full steam through the portal Rex placed within the city before he retired for the night, since there was only few skirmishes still popping up every now and then between his raiders and the militia pokets still existing within the city.


    The next few hours were utilized rather well with his mind working overtime on all the projects he had been cracking as a side job while mainly focusing on the invasion. Some of which could become quite the nasty spells given enough time, but that was only to be expected. Space and Sould magic was just that capable of destrcution or debilitation. he had an overwelming destructive power and mobility in the form of space and unreasonable utility with blood and soul magic. So with extra bit of focus on said projects he could pull of quite the suprises for his possible enemies to come.


    He was also keeping his aura pings active and monitoring that was relegated to one of his subconscious processes, and when he started to feel a stark reduction in the number of people around him he came out of his meditation. And another hour later all that was left in the city were the people from Red light and Foreigners districts. They had also been informed that the Svergi army had left and would continiue on their path forward, advising them to be carefull to not move in the dirrection of the other larger cities within Echlisiarchy, since there would be no more exceptions made, what with the guild issuing warning to all those not related to Echlisiarchy and whatnot.


    Rex had realized quite early that the more time he takes dealing with the people of this nation the more chances he gives for his consciousness to start to guilt trip him. So as a fix for that he decided to up the brutality and decisiveness with which he takes care of the problem. With luck and perseverence he could develop his nerves and will to the point such actions, or even more cruel ones would not cause him to blink at all. He was making quite the distinction between his people and the enemies. But it was that extreme difference in attitudes towards both groups that also helped him form his current manerisms and thought process. The ability to ensure the absolute loyality in hsi people just made it all the more easy.

 Chapter 93: The Meeting.

    With the Provedence sacked and his army nowhere to be seen, and having double checked that his torturer had gone as well, Rex used his brand connection with his eagle that had been having some fun around the city, and some of the Svergi men were to be believed, the bird had some fun within the city as well, every now and then swooping down to brag an unsuspecting solder of the humans for a snack. Once the bird landed Rex petted it for a short while and spoke to the bird, who after the branding was bestowed the knowledge of common and could understand his words without much effort. The monster was powerfull enough to have the intelegence on the level of humans, so while answering with words was out of the question for the bird, conveying its general thoughts in long strokes was not impossible.


    "I hear you had some fun and a snack or two within the city." Rex spoke during his petting. "I dont mind it at all. On the contrary, you have my permission to have fun with our enemies and feast to your hearts content whenever we are storming any of their congregations like villages or cities. I do ask that you try and not eat the prettiest of the women. Those are usefull and could sell well after all."


    The bird leaned in more into his hands that stroked the side of his head, it was enjoying the attention quite a bit it seemed. Some few minutes later Rex stopped, and jumped on the birds back, and once he indicated the dirrection he wanted them to go in, his eagle took flight. Rex did not have to even talk. Their connection strong enough that he could easily nidge the bird with his mind when they needed to change dirrection, and since they were in contact with one another, he could also speak with the eagle somewhat telepathically. It took only a little while untill they reached the first of the few villages that stood in his way towards the next city of Nor.


    As they were above the village Rex notified his eagle that he would not take long in dealing with this place, only a hundred or so people living here, and with the birds descent and understanding Rex leaped of its back. A few second later a loud crash was heard in the central area of the small village, drawing everyones attention to the very center of this village where a rather large dust could was slowly setting down. Slowly and bit by bit the people saw an appearance of a siluethe of a person, holding something in his hand, and the more moments passed the more and more they could make out the weapon he was holding. With the dust mostly settled Rex gaze suddenly locked on someone in the crowd, a maniacal grin appearing on his face as he spoke.


    "The time to purge your kind for the atrocities you have been performing for centuries had come." and with those words he dissapeared from his spot, appearing next to the gathered crowd with insane speed beyond their comphrehension. Then his hand swung downcausing a splash of crimsonto splatter around as the man was split in half by the incredibly sharp blade. Then he dissapeared again, and moved slightly to the side, this time swinging his weapon in a large cleaving arc, cutting multiple people in half at the waist as he did so. It took him only a few seconds to to slaughter a few dozen of people whne finally the rest fell into a panic mode as whatever was happening finally registered in their minds.


    Sadly for the rest of them, their fate was just the same, as Rex unreasonable speed allowed him to finish what he started in less than a minute. It did take a bit longer for him to eliminate the rest since they were scattering in all the possible dirrections, making him swing once for nearly every remaining and escaping villager. Still, with the unreasonable difference in their power he had absolutely no trouble in eliminating them all. Now that the village no longer had any living residents, he sent out a ping with his mana, sensing for any resonance of a highly concentrated mana object or a void in his ping. The heavy mana concentration would be an artifact of sorts, or just magically atuned item, be it sword or a piece of ormor, or even some magical materials aquired in the dungeons. The void zones in his mana pings indicated barriers or seals, warning him of a possible treasure or trap of a magical nature in said place. Either way it was good to check for such things. One could never know whether some old adventurer did not decide to hide their hoard in a remote and small village like this. He had found quite a few such hiding places in Provedence when he did the same there, and got his hands on a rather sizable stash of both gold and jewels of all sorts.


    As expected there was nothing of importance here though and Rex proceeded to set up a very small and localized barrier on the village and with that done he set the place on fire. he saw no reason to leave all those corpses lying around for vultures and other predators to come around to clean it all up. The barrier would prevent the fire from spreading to the surroundings, ensuring no wildfires would bestarted and the place would be left nice and clean once it was burned through. Lighting the place on fire Rex got back up on his eagle and dirrected the bird further to his next target- yet another small village on his path towards the second of three major points of Nor. So went by the next few hours of Rex journey. Evey now and then dropping on a village from above, delivering the same line to the villagers "The time to purge your kind for the atrocities you have been performing for centuries had come." and then proceeding to perform his own version of cleansing. And once done, just like the first one today, another barrier was set after the looting part and then put to torch.


    It was late night once again when he finally reached the confines of the second major target of the region of Nor and just like before he retired for the night to his shard wolrd where he spent a rather pleasant supper and night with his girls. Mel and Val did inform him that the new servants were integrating quite well, and the four kids were acting just timid and cute enough to ignite Rashuun, her daughters and the elven mother and daughter duo to redouble their efforts in persuading Rex towards their desires. Thankfully, the notable amount of carnage he was delving into helped just enough to not break under the constant effort of his girls. He did ensure they were all satisfied in different ways to offset his stuborness.


    Next morning during the breakfast he listened to the report Reigen had for his regarding any notable changes in Blythe, or rumors the S class ex adventurer had heard that could be of interest to him. But besides the reports of the insane barrier around echlisiarchy that had cut said nation off the rest of the continent there was little that had piqued his servants interest. The man however thanked Rex for the chance to be in his employ. The man had grown quite a bit dur to the new diet he was under, and the fact that Rex had told his sucubuss trainers to use Reigen when rewarding Elena for good performance, had made said man almost fanatically loyal, even without taking into the account his brand. The man was aware that Elena was the first of many, and with apropriate service to his lord he might even get a girl of such quality as his personal woman. Rex had not denied the possibility, and even told Reigen to look for a partner of his own, if he so chooses, during his free time. The girl, or girls, he decides to make his family would be branded as well though, both to ensure no spies could infiltrate his forces as well as making said girls eligible to the boons his people are privy to. namely the mansion with its unreasonably higher density of mana in the air, as well as access to Elysium.


    Reigen had been there often enough to know that the realm is a treasure trove in and of itself, as well as a perfect place to have ones family safely hidden should a danger of untold proportions threaten Blythe. And with Rex blessing Reigen had actually spent some of his free time looking for possible partners. Now that he had a permanent base of sorts the idea of family sounded more and more appealing. The fact that he also served a blood mage who was more than SS class entity in combat as well just strenghtened his faith of the stability of his home for years to come. It had to be pointed out that the new servants were added to the servant core, thus no acces to heaven grade breakfast, but regardless the earth grade meals every time was far more than they could have ever hoped for.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    With his morning routine dealt with, and a small report from Izumi, about the progress she and Rashuun was having in training Mikoto and Keiko in the matters of diplomacy to be able to stand in for the two, done with, Rex left his shard world and made a quick check on the progress the evacuation of the cities in echlisiarchy had achieved. Sadly, and just as expected, they were much slower than he would like, but also unwilling to do more charity for said escaping people Rex returned his focus to the small villages that were a bit off his way, but still needed a culling.


    There was even a single such village that somewhat gave off some weird energy to him. He would leave that for later, just before he finally decided to hit the city, so he spent the next few days in a rather similar routine he had establised. He would reach a village, drop in it from high above as he dived from the back of his eagle, then with the dust settling, he once again delivered the line he had chosen beforehand to the crowd that had gathered, then purged the place of any human life, followed by a quick scan of his surroundings to collect anything valuabe and then setting up a barrier that would dissipate in a couple of days and putting the now dead village to torch.


    Thanks to his mounts speed and his efficiency in clearing the villages he was about done once the general population of the foreigners districts had departed the cities. Two long, but productive days had been spent in such a repetitive manner, yet Rex could not complain. His drain had boosted his immense energuy reserves, if even a little, and the region of Nor now only had two remaining cities, and a village he had left for last due to the previous odd feeling he felt coming from it. The people who escaped the cities were heading mostly in the dirrection of Sweith, though there were a few groups that decided to try their luck in the merchant cities of Zharr, Blythe being one of them. Rex had made sure that none of Echlisiarchies citizens could escape the barrier. A mix of blood and soul magic with a certain faith as a bottleneck factor. Similar slow movement could aslo be detected in the other regions of the nation. The warning having quite the levity among the foreigners due to it coming from the adventurers guild.


    With his preperatiosn of Nor done, Rex chose to finally confront the odd feeling and the small village that was exuding it. After a while of travel he sent his eagle back to Elysion as he decided to aproach the place all on his own. The odd feeling growing stronger and stronger as he neared the village. It was foreign, yet familiar at the same time. For exactly that reason he was advancing towards the village in a different manner than other villages in his path of destruction. he was now clothed in a rather typical mercenary attire- leather boots, pants, light mail armor and a rather worn rain coat, that covered most of his being. The most important part that was greatly obstructed were his eyes, ensuring no person could recognize him as a Forsaken with just a glance. Just to be sure Rex also deployed his mana to blend with the surroundings, effectively making him more invisible for most of the ordinary people.


    The small wooden wall looked shaby, many of the wooden pillars barely holding in place and if Rex had to guess, in just a few years tops, said wall would collapse on itself. The gate was missing as well, and only a rather old and half drunk guardsman was slumping near the entrance, clearly not caring one bit for whoever entered their little village. Rex passed by the drunk man, not caring much, as if called by the odd feeling that was emanated from within.


    The houses inside were in a slightly better condition, clearly some life still left in the village, and he would expect a much better state of the place judgeing by the amount of people who were moving back and forth withing the barely holding walls. His senses estimated more than five hundred people, though he cared little for them at the moment. He moved forward, his destination the place that was somehow calling to him. The call was odd, not chilling, but not warm either. It was just there. A gnawing at the back of his mind regarding something that might have mattered once, but was of little importance to teh current you, buut the subconsciousness was still dangling it above your head to finaly solve it, one way or another.


    Rex stopped in front of the only house in the village that was entirely abbandoned and in disrepair. The small garden right outside it overgrown with weeds. It was here that he could feel the calling from. Unbothered, and practically unseen he slowly walked inside the half broken building. The door was almost torn out by the hinges, so there was no obstruction to his entrance. What came its his view was what he expected. A place filled with dust, old dried out leaves and other dirt that was brough inside by the unrully wind that had free reign through the building. Its windows were shattered, giving all the more freedom for the nature to do its thing, slowly reclaiming the place back into its fold.


    There was nothing of interest he could find in the living room, that was also filled with quite a few weeds that had stared to squeeze through the worn out floor boards, that had been slowly eroding with the wet conditions and no attendence from humans. What drew his attention was the two rooms at the end of the kitchen. One had the remains of a smaller bed, probably that of a child of age up to ten or so, judging by the length of some of the parts. The other room was what should have been the master bedrrom of the house, if one could call it that. Just as the bed in the child room, this one was also broken down, though what grabbed his attention was the crib by the side, almost untouched by the time. It was incredibly odd sight- a single item stood untouched by time, seemingly immune to its erosion.


    Rex left the room for a moment, and exited in the backyard of the crumbling house. A small, and unexpectedly quite well maintained small path lead forward, clearly being maintaine by someone. Rex could also see how it moved in a different dirrection where it connected to another house that, while in a much better condition than this wreck, was still close to its own innevitable demise. Deciding to check the other end of the path, since he sensed that a person was doing something at the end of it, he moved with slow steps and both curiosity and determination away from both houses. A minute or tow later he came upon a small clearing that was encompassed by trees. In the middle there were three grave crosses placed firmly in the ground. Two had a clear grave marks, and the third one, much smaller than the other two, seemed more like a symbol, for someone whos remains were not there.


    In front the the graves sat a woman with white hair, around twenty in age, though the live she was leading was taking quite a toll on her. Worry and pain etched in her face, as she slowly spoke to the gravestones.


    "Im still hanging on. Just like you told me mom." she spoke with grief, almost crying as she stroked one of the crosses. "The people here are looking towards me with more and more hostility as time passes, even though I have healed so many of them. Witch, they say. Spawnblood, they say. I...... I just dont know how much longer I will be able to last. The air has gotten much more stifling lately. I can sense something big is approaching, and I dont think I will live past it."


    The woman was now slowly sobbing, slow and painfull tears sliding down her cheeks, and falling on her lap. "It is not fair, you know. I wanted to be be with you both and my brother too, yet you told me to stay here, to wait for someting, but I......, but I dont think I can hold on much longer. I have waited so long............ Let me join you on the other side."


    Her words were getting quieter and quieter, her resolve to keep going becoming weaker and weaker with each word.


    By now Rex stood just a meter behind her, but he was also clear as to the reason he was drawn here.


    "Its okey. Right mom? I can join you now, yes?" she asked as she slowly drew a small blade from her pocket and slowly moved it closer to her wrist. "We will be toghether soon. I have done my duty."


    Thought before she could finish what she had decided to do, a voice from just behind her spoke and stopped her actions.


    "Why dont you tell me all about it, sister?"

 Chapter 94: The meeting. Part 2

    "Why dont you tell me all about it, sister?"


    The words started the white haired girl, causing her to drop the small knife she was about to use to reunite with her family. As she quickly turned her head towards the speaker she only had a single though swirling in her distraught head ''Will there be no place they are willing to leave me be anymore?''


    What came into her vision was not quite what she expected though. She was subconsciously already expecting to see a couple of smug and triumphous faces, elevated at having caused even more pain and suffering to her. Ralf, Fred and Fjodor. The three men of the village who went to quite the effort to ensure her life was as miserable as possible, without actually having to touch her, as if she was some sort of diseased fllthy pest, that had to be kept around.


    No, what came into her view was a two meter tall form of a man, dressed in light leather armor and covered with a rain cloak, one that the mercenary types liked to wear. She had seen quite a few of their kinds passing through the village every now and then. While most were decent, and did not interract with the ordinary folk like her, some had a rather developed tastes that brought more than a single farmer girl or child in the harms way. So, instinctively, as she was turning in the mans dirrection more and more, one of her lightly searched for the fallen knife, and once she left it, it slowly found its place back in the hand that had held it just moment ago, though now with the sole purpose to deter the guest from deciding that she was an easy target.


    Sure, she was prepeared and more than willing to depart this world and join in whatever realm her family was now, but that did not mean she was willing to become someones toy before her inevitable end. She was strong and somewhat pridefull enough in at least that regard, to still have some sort of self preservation instincts in certain situations. So, with the small knife in her had, giving just a sliver of courage, she used her other hand to quickly wipe the tears on her face, managed to half force a rather pathethic smile as she asked a question to the man as she was turning to face him.


    "How may I help sir? I asume you have come to me for my meager skills as a healer and herbalist?"


    "I came because you called me here." spoke the cloaked man, causing her to furrow her brows, his one sentense not really sticking to her mind, what with her asuming it had been another insult dirrected towards he rby the towns biggest bulies.


    "Though that can wait. You seem far too malnourished to continiue our coming conversation in the state you are in. Lets..." The mercenary spoke, and suddenly stopped when he noticed something. That something being her pain colar that sprung in his eyes that was covering quite a large part of her neck.


    "I can perform my duties even as I am, do not worry sir." She responded with a rather low voice, seeing the man was not trying to get his hands on her for the time being at the very least, signaling her that he most likely is in need of her services.


    "Who did this?" theman asked with and unexpectedly cold voice as one of his arms blurred as the next moment said arm was holding her by the collar around her neck. Feeling the sudden chill in the surroundings enveloping her, she could not help but stutter out a response.


    "Village chief and his people. One of my punishements for being related to Vlad."


    "Vlad?"


    "My little brother, born a forsaken, and done with as the law of the Echlisiarchy demands." She answered thruthfully, but as she spoke of her brother, Rex could feel pain in her voice, and new tears rolling down her cheeks.


    ''Fssssssss'' a powerfull sizzling resounded around her as the collar dissapeared from its place around her neck, causing her to just stare at the man in shock for a moment.


    "Lets get inside. We have things to talk about." the man said as his hooded head gestured towards her own humble home at the other end of the path she had been maintaining. Understanding that she was in the presence of someone trully powerfull, she slowly struggled to her feet and lead the way back to her own run down house. There she lead the man inside and sat akwardly at the poor excuse of a table she had. The man looked at the shabby chair that she had seated herself on, then at the one he was supposed to take, murmured ''we will fix this'', withdrew a couple of rather good quality chairs, sat in one and moved the other in her dirrection.


    "Sit here" he pointed at his second chair, that was much closer to his own side than the white haired girl was right now, but with the tone that indicated his commands was exactly that, a command and not a request. Once she was in the rather comfortable chair close to the mercenary, he withdrew a few containers from his presumably storage rings and in a few minutes there was a veritable feast of unreasonable quality in front of the girl.


    "Eat first, and make sure you do so to your hearts content. Then, and only then will we continiue." Once again his tone brooked no opposition, so she did as told, still vary of the man. What followed was almost twenty minutes of pure bliss and tears streaming down her cheeks once more, as she experienced a food of such undescribable taste and warmth that it reminded of a past long gone when she was still together with her parents as they laughed at the dinner table as they were all waiting for the birth of her sibbling. Once she had eaten till she could no more, and a slight, if barely noticable change had already appeared on her exaustaed visage, she looked towards the man next to her.


    "What have I done to earn such kindness and help from the sir?" she asked as her hand once again reached towards her neck that was now free from the dreaded collar of suffering. She was far too well aware that there as no such thing as free lunch in this world, especially in her case, both figuratively and literaly.


    "You wanted to end your life, why? And tell the truth, I can sense lies."


    Her shoulders slumped in resignation, though she supposed there was no harm in answering the mans questions, in fact it might even scare him away, allowing her to proceed as planned.


    "I take it sir is not from around here?" she asked and seeing Rex shake his head, indicating that he indeed wasnt, she continiued.


    "Almost twelve years ago, my brother Vlad was born in this village, but unfortunately for us he was what the churh call a forsaken."


    "Archon is the term used by most of the world if only one of the eyes is not human like, and a true archon, if both eyes are non human like." Rex explained so that the girl could speak further.


    "Thank you. Vlad was a true archon, and because of the comandments, he was taken from my parents and brought away to..." Her lip quivered, and Rex sighed at her emotional turmoil once again.


    "I know what they do, proceed with what happened after." He gave the girl the freedom to move past that particular pain right now, and she gratefully took it.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Thank you." she nodded with more tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "My parents tried multiple times to venture into the forest to maybee find him and then escape to Sweith or maybee Zharr, but were ultimately caught and executed for their attempts. I was spare only because I had started my training as a herbalist from mother, and they could not quite allow the village to be without one."


    "And what did you think of Vlad when you saw him first time?" Rex asked with a slight amusement in his voice now. Turns out his actual parents were not to be blamed for what happened to him, and he had a sister to take care of now. And as much as he was actually happy with the revelation, he also had quite the anger boiling inside him towards the bastards that had made the life of his sister so much worse and painfull.


    "Rex." he spoke, and seeing the questioning look on the girsl face, he elaborated. "Thats the name I am known to my people. So, what''s yours?"


    "Arana? but why?" she shyly asked, getting more and more confused by the mans actions as they talked.


    Before Rex could there was a loud thud, someone striking the door of her home and yelled.


    "CLEAN YOURSELF UP BITCH. The tithe collector has arived and is rather iritated. Use what little dignity you might think you have left and go please him."


    With that said the man walked away, confident the girl would not dare to defy the orders she was just given, and out of reflex, or maybee due to the constant abuse she had recieved during her last decade, she flinched at the words, few tears once again slid over her cheeks as she grabbed for the small knife she had placed on the table during her meal and was about to finaly free herself from this torment, only to not find said small weapon where it had been. She quickly took to the man in fear, slight panic settling in her.


    "Why act in such a drastic manner? No one will touch a single hair on your head, unless to comb or wash it, of course." spoke the man, and seeing her looking at him with undivided attention, he chuckled, and spoke once more as his hands moved towards the hood that was obscuring most of his face.


    "Tell me if you recognize me, okey?"


    As the hood was removed and his facial features came into her sight little changed in her expression. The rather young man did not remind her of anyone, aside maybee from the chin that she supposed did look a bit like her dad, but otherwise the man looked rather ordinary and she was sure she had not seen him before in her life. She was about to say exactly that, when he opened his eyes and she froze. The two eyes with pitch black sclera, and bright yellow retinas and irises. She had seen those eyes before and they belonged to someone she was longing to be together with, alongside her parents. Her little brother Vlad. The eyes were just so strikingly similar, though she could not believe what she saw.


    The man before her seemed to be an adult, clearly fully developed, but her brother should be no more than twelve about now, she was sure of it, but then was this weird feeling she felt coming from the depths of her being, this familial pull, telling that it was indeed her baby brother before her eyes.


    "I-it cant be. I-it c-cant. Vlad should still be a kid of twelve or so about now. H-How?"


    "You know that the eyes indicate special power of sorts right?" Rex now asked in a calm and patient manner.


    "Y-yes, the church call it the power of the devil."


    "Well, mine is related to energy manipulation in a rather unique way. When I was abbandoned in the woods back then it activated on its own, absorbing the surrounding life force of the world, forcing my body to mature to a point where it could function on it own. My body, thus have gone through around six years or so in those few days, resulting in the sight before you. And yes, I know that you are of the same bloodline as me, even if not awakened and mutated in your case, but that is something we will fix."


    Rex smiled at her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You, my sister, will be a blood mage. Of that I am sure." The only question in his mind regarding that particular thing was the time and amount of heaven grade food they will have to have her consume for her bloodline to start to manifest its abilities.


    "So, a hug for your brother maybee?" Rex asked as he extended his arms towards the girl who was still trying to process everything he had just told her.


    "Hello? Earth to Arana? Hug pending?" Rex sighed at the small short circuit of the girl, and used his own overwelming mana reserves to becon her towards himself, and once she was on his lap, he closed his arms around the girl, embracing her into a gentle, but affectionate hug. He had no memories of the family that apparently did not discared him of their own volition, but seeing how how much his sisterapparantly had loved her little brother to be, Rex could not even begin to show any sort of dislike towards her, even more so when he had suffered arguably more pain and agony than he had in his beast like childhood.


    Only when Rex had her in his embrace did she finally came out of it, her arms locking like vices around Rex back, and true flood gates opened as she bawled her eyes and heart out. She was no longer alone. The brother, she believed was gone just like her parents, was now not only alive, but within arms reach, better yet, he was embracing her with care and warmth. he felt like a wall that was protecting from the biting winds that had been tearing into her for the last decade, and it felt good, it felt safe, And so she allowed her bottled up emotions to escape from the strainng confines as she cried and cried in his arms.


    A few hours had passed by now and Arana was no longer crying, yet she was still tightly hugging her brother, as if scared that the moment she lets go he will dissapear, like a fleeting dream, and she once again will be plunged back into the nightmare that was her life for quite a while. Her dreamy state however was disturbed when a kick to the door forced them open and in walked a seething man acompanied by two other men. As he walked inside he cursed.


    "BITCH, I WILL FLAY YOU ALIVE. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SERVE THE TITHE COLLECTOR HOURS AGO!"


    Arana flinched at the yell, but she immediatly calmed down, when her brother huged her even tighter, and whispered in her ear.


    "Its okay. I got this. This is not a dream and nobody will ever hurt you again. I am here. I am here." He repeated the last few owrds as he embraced her with one hand while gently caressing her white hair.


    "Huh?" the screaming man in the middle exclaimed stupified as he saw the sight before him once he entered the small kitchen alongside his goons.


    He saw the white haired girl in the lap of an unknown person, as she was embraced and gently soothed by the stranger.


    "THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING BITCH?" he screamed. "YOU WHOR..." was as far as he got in his sentence as he fell to his knees, his voice stuck in his throat. His cronies were no better, in fact they fared worse sinceboth laid headless next to his kneeling form.


    "They hurt you a lot. I know." Rex soothingly and gently spoke to Arana. "They will suffer in return. They will suffer hundredfold. Do you want to see them suffer too? Do you want to inflict untold pain to them in return?" he asked his sister, while maintaining his gentle caress.


    "It will be okey. They deserve whats coming to them, and if it would make you feel even a little better we can slaughter them all slowly, one by one. Anything that will help you went that pain."


    Rex words were gently spoken, as though a poem from heart towards ones lover, yet the content of his words twisted the expression of the only surviving man from the goon squad into abject fear and terror. He could not see the face of said man, but it was rather obvious by his own state that the starnger was not something that they should ever mess with. Whats more, the pressure on his person was so great that even a single sylabble was not an option, let alone words and sentences to negotiate with the monster beneath the bitch.


    Rex gentle treatment, and the stark opposite words he were speaking slowly raised Arana out of her fear striken state and were awakening something deep within her, something she was never aware about herself. Deep within her, she heard a distinctive snap, as if a chain of sorts were broken. Then another such snap happened, and another, and another. A couple minutes later the snapping sound of chains ended within her soulspace and a spark of something glinted deep within her eyes, bringing her out of her stupor.


    Arana hugged Rex even tighter, and lifted her face from his chest and snugged in his neck, as though she was a vampire inhaling his intoxicating scent before sinking her teeth in that delectable neck of his.


    "Thank you brother." she whispered "I needed that." her voice light, almost a whisper, yet since her mouth was so close to his neck and ear, he heard her words clearly, not stopping his caress on her head. "I would like that. Seeing them suffer as I did. Returning the pain that I had to endure hundredfold. I am not sure this one village could satisfy me though. What shall we do, if that is the case?"


    "Heh." Rex smirked at ther words. "The whole Ehlisiarchy is yours to burn, save for a few slaves I will claim for another purpose."


    A throaty purr escaped her throat as Rex gave her the green light to exact her own revenge.


    "I will be right there with you all the way, so rely on me, always." he added.

 Chapter 95: The fall of Nor. Part 7

    As Rex spoke what he believed Arana needed to hear, to ensure she gets over her fear and trauma that still slung to her, he noticed the change that was happening to his sister. He was rather sure that the bloodline originator of his powers must be some sort of a dragon, and not the generic type either. Blood and soul were the main atributes of his bloodline, but seeing how the current situation and his presence alone worked in awakening Arana, Rex understood yet another rather important thing about his own bloodline as well. He reasoned he was what some scholars in a few books he had read called a variant bloodline.


    It was a result that somehow modified an existing bloodline, like for example a unicorn, and changed it unpredictably, due to mixing of multiple different elements. A variant of said unicorn bloodline, could in theory embody aspects and nature completly opposite to the pure and benevolent nature of a unicorn, giving the wearer power over decay and unholiness. Or change the entirety of the bloodline to be nature focused, radiating and empowering only plant life in a passive way, or other such effects. Though it was noted that there were no known reasons for why such mutaion would occur, and it was incredibly rare in of itself, since in most cases for mixed bloodline carriers the strongest one would take over and supress, and eventually eliminate the weaker bloodline. Rarely would two different bloodlines of different tiers coexist in a single body, and even rarer still would complement each other.


    What Rex saw of Aranas bloodline awakening signs, it resembled that of dragons much more than his own, indicating the unique nature of his even more than ussual. That also explained to Rex why it seemed just so overpowered. Realistically speaking with such potential he could not imagine a bloodline to go extinct. On the contrary, he would asume such bloodline holder clans should have this world under their tumb by now already. So a variant for him was the only logiac explanation, ever more guaranteed by his souls presence there.


    Still, as Arana slowly struggled to get of his lap to start exacting her revenge, Rex held her in his lap and embrace without letting go.


    "Just stay here for a while longer. Is it not nice and safe here? Your quary will not escape." Rex calmed her down, her blodline awakening causing her moodswings that might drive her deeper into depression over what she had done after she learns to reign it in. his hold on the white haired woman, as well as his caressing and presence does keep her calm, and she eventually stop her strugles against Rex''s embrace. A few minutes more later. a relatively calm, yet nervous and somewhat quiet voice calls to him from his embrace.


    "I am glad you are here brother. I missed you. Even though I had seen you only just barely."


    "I know. I can feel it." Replied Rex as he kept caressing her, in no rusg to continiue his conquest.


    "Thank you for holding me, I dont know what came over me back then." She added.


    "Your bloodline awakened, and it seems it gave you quite the temper and immediate desire for revenge against your abusers. Say, now that you are calm, do you still want see them squirm and suffer for what they did to you?"


    "Um. is it bad if I say yes?" she looked sheepishly at her brother.


    "No, not at all. I was going to exact my own savagery on them anyways. Now I have all the more reason to continiue what I have started. All I care is that you are sure that is what you want to do with your own two hands, since I am more than happy to smear my hands in their blood, pain and suffering. So if you want revenge, but dont think you can trully stomach the actions needed to take, just ask me to d o it. Rely on me. Lean on me and let me take that burden off you."


    Rex felt a tightening of her hug on him for just a moment as she thought over her options with a much calmer mind, but he could stil feel the rage that was bubbling inside of her, though much more subdued now.


    "I want to try it, at the very least." she then spoke "Idont think it right to push it on you."


    "Ok, but dont force yourself if you cant trully stomack it." Then he withdrew a sword from one of his rings and presented it to her.


    "Use this to inflict small cuts on any of his body parts." Rex spoke as he held the sword. "It inflicts incredibly painfull sense of burning and tearing of the flesh on the wounds it creates. I got it and its sister sword when a fanatical Echlisiarchy inquisitor came after me. Then watch as he deals with the pain the sword inflicts. If you feel fine after a few cuts on him, we can start making larger and deeper cuts, going so far as slowly amputating his limbs, or parts of them, untill you are satisfied with his suffering. Then pierce his throat or heart to end his life once you believe he has experienced enough. If you want to continiue, we can go and grab the next villager, then the next and so on ontill you are satisfied. if this village is not enough, we can go for the next one. Untill nothing but my claimed slaves remain of this rotten nation."


    "What will you do with those you claim as slaves?" she asked curiously as she took the sword from him.


    Rex smiled to her as she examined the blade, though his smaile remained unseen by Arana. "Neos Holy Whores. Thats the name of a brothel chain I will make with the high ranking oracles and sainteses of this nation used to slowly over time repay for all the suffering they had caused. And then quite a few of their citizens will be enslaved and given to my little army of half giants to use as they see fit."


    "You will tell me all about your life later yes?" Arana asked as she finally was allowed to leave his lap, and slowly aproached the still frozen man kneeling before them.


    "Of course. Anything you wish."


    "By the way, who is this Neo you speak of?" Arana asked as she made an instinctual swing with the blade, creating a small nick on the kneeling mans index finger. The mans eyes bulged, as if trying to escape his eye sockets, and his mouth sprung open, and moved, as if the man was screaming for his dear life, though no sound left it.


    "A persona I use when traveling around. SS class mercenary who focuses on close quarters combat and sword play."


    "Hmm, and that Rex name?" She asked a moment later, once again swinging the blade, as if she had doen so countless of times, causing the man to bulge his eyes once again and scream without sound.


    "That is the name I go by as my default one and is recognized as a rather powerfull blood mage who lives in port city of Blythe. Though in this conquest, the person before you theoretically would be Neo."


    "So no Vlad then?" she asked as the third wound, this time slightly deeper then the last two was inflicted on the mans left bicep, causing the same reaction as the previous two.


    "No. How could I have known it. No name tag, and I was just a newborn when they threw me away. had to pick something myself along the way."


    "Hmm. Rex it is then." she noded as she slowly started to push the blade in the mans ribcage. The blades sharpness ensured she had absolutely no resistance as she did so, but the mans face contorted even more as he was passing out, yet the blade ensured he remained conscious through all that pain, untill a few seconds later she made a sharper movement of her hand, and the man stopped showing any reaction at all. He was dead, his heart pierced by Aranas blade in hsi chest.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "I asume you kept his screams away so we can continiue to converse?" she asked as she looked at him, a slight smile on her face as she looked at him.


    "I thought you would like that. Was I wrong?"


    "No, not at all." Her smile spread wider, and Rex sensed no falsity in her, as she aproached and once again sat in his lap and hugged him for a moment.


    "It was scary." she spoke a moment later, and Rex just caressed her hair slowly as she hugged him.


    "Scary good, as I saw his fear, pain and suffering, as I inflicted the wounds. But this here, feels so much better."


    "Want to continue?" Rex asked.


    ''''The revenge or the hug?'''' Arana asked back with a smichievous smile on her face. The awakening changing something fundamental in her, but Rex reasoned it was goodsince she no longer trembled like a leaf in hear.


    "Either? Both? It is your choise. I will be by your side regardless. And once we are done here, I will bring you to my girls. They will be your family?"


    "Hooo? Are you not too young to chase skirts?" she teasingly asked.


    "I have memories of a previous life I have lived, so I am much older than i should be, and physically I am an adult as well."


    "Well. well. your big sister will have to judge whether your girl is good enough. You have to have only the best after all." she cheerfully spoke.


    "Girls. Plural. I am a blood mage after all and they are all wonderfull. You will like them, I am sure."


    "Brother, will you dissapear on me suddenly?" she asked, a slight crack in her voice could be heard.


    "Not before you have a bunch of nieces and nephews to take care of in my stead, and that too will not happen all that soon, even with my girls trying quite hard to talk me into it. "


    "You saved me when I was about to break and surrender it all." she spoke somberly "You dont get to dissapear on me before I have my own kids in spades you hear? Take responsibility and care for your sister."


    "Anything you ask, Arana. Anything you ask."


    They spent almost another hour siting in the chair and huging one another. Arana finding his presence both soothing and energizing at the same time. She was tired mentaly. She had gone through a lot, and even if her awakening strenghtened both her body and spirit, she had been all too close to breaking down just moments ago. With the hour in Rex''s embrace she had relaxed and recharged quite a bit. She got off his lap, a huge grin on her face as she picked up the sword she had dropped sometime during the hour long hug.


    "Lest go return some of the love I have been shown by these lesser beings for the last decade, shall we?" she asked.


    "Sure thing. I will restrain them with my aura once again. Do you want to hear their screams as you return the facor this time?"


    "Yes please." she smiled more brightly "Thank you."


    Rex could see how her awakening had drawn forth her dragonic pride, looking down on humans as she was now. But Rex was also sure that was part due to them not being part of her friend and family group. They spent the rest of the day moving from house to hosue in the village, slowly ending the people they encountered. Arana could recount countless times were any of the people she was torturing had done something bad to her. Throwing some rocks her way, spitting at her, insulting her for being a blood of a spawn and many others. Just as with Rex, her memory had been enchanted and boosted during awakening. Rex also noticed she did not have drain, though he was sure she would awaken her blood magic soon, if they went on with their bloody carnage. And so on and on they went.


    It was close to the morning of the next day, and after a few energy infusions into Arana from Rex that they finally reached their last target within the village. The house of the chief, who right now was having a rather important guest attending. The tithe collector coming from the capital of Nor. Since the man had been on the road for quite some time he had absolutely no idea of the current situation in the nation, and was indulging and abusing his position as much as he could, like any proper corrupt government oficial would.


    "All yours?" asked Rex as they aproached their last targeted building, looking with a gentle smile towards Arana. She too was smiling back at him, trully smiling and even humming as they aproached the building. She had even asked Rex for a normal sword as well during the night, that she could use before the ''flaming ripper'' to increase her own ability to inflict greater pain and improve her precision with bladed weapons. Rex had noticed that her skill was pure instinct, clearly an aspect of the bloodline.


    "Yep" Arana answered energetically as they stood before the door, that fell with a small thud after she very precisely cut the hinges with a single motion of her hand.


    Rex shrugged helplessly as he smiled towards her as they entered the building. "I cant seem to deny you. Go ahead. Have your fun."


    As they walked deeper into the building, Arana dispatched the guards she saw with ruthless efficiency. Something she could do in no small part thanks to the buffs she was recieving from Rex, since her own body would still have to go through quite a bit of recovery and then growth. Even then, Rex was at all times close enough to her to ensure he was ready for any unexpected variables, should they appear. And once they reached the second floor and entered its main room, the old governor, who noticed Arana before Rex since he was just slightly behind her, quickly scolwed and seethed at the girl.


    "You bitch, were have you been all evening and night!" and then the governor lifted his hand towards her and with his thumb pressend on a ring that was on his index finger, saying "discipline". The tithe collector was having some light fun with another girl at the same time as this was happening, rather oblivious to whats happening behind the curtain. There was a moment of silence between the governor, Rex and Arana, as his torture collar did not activate on Arana, and then the old fool noticed Rex appearing in the door frame, and at the sight of his eyes he froze and his brain malfunctioned.


    "Look sister, the old cunt seems to remember me!" Rex exclaimed with a slight smirk. "Still, I will let you deal with him. He did hurt you more than me after all."


    "I love you." Arana chimed as she gave a quick peck on Rex cheek and was infront of the old man the next moment, inflicting a rather unpleasant cut on his arm, eliciting a painfull shriek from the old man. This finally also interrupted the tithe collector on the other side of the curtain from his activities. Then the curtain opened and revealed the sight of a sobbing young girl and a rather fat man, half way through their sexual act.


    "My, Raha. How lovely you look." Arana spoke with a sarcastic smirk on her face as she saw the girls condition.


    "Another of your torturers?" Rex asked seeing her expression.


    "Owww? Yes, she is the adopted daughter of the old bastard." Arana answered as she pointed her blade at the chief, consequently inflicting another cut, and eliciting another cry of pain from the old coot.


    "But to think the old fool would go so far as to offer her as a tribute to this fat pig, now that was unexpected." she added.


    "He he. Im quite sure that was his last resort since you did not appear, no?" Rex asked, harboring a rather large suspicion.


    "Ow? Owwww. Indeed, that must be it!" Arana exclaimed, and started to laugh as well.


    The aft tithe collector just sat there in horror, the splatter of blood on the white haired womans clothes telling quite the story of how the two intruders had gotten here. What he could not understand was how there was no warning or sound that would have forewarned them of the fight happening outside. Rex as if reading his thoughts spoke just a second later.


    "I placed this building in a small barrier, seperating you from the rest of the village while we dealt with them and your guards." then he looked towards his sister. "Do what you want with them."


    "Say, can I have her? I reaaaly dont want to end my revenge towards her with just this. Pretty please?"


    "I cant say no to you apparently. Go ahead. We will deal with her once you take care of the two pigs here."


    "T-the inquisition will not let you off f-for this. You will be hunted to the end of the e-earth." stammered the fat tithe collector, now fearfull for his life.


    "Dont worry about that." Rex deviously smiled. "They will all face the same fate as Provedence. Sieged, sacked and enslaved, or exterminated. There is litte SS+ class entities cannot do, after all." Then Rex looked towards his sister "All your Arana."


    Arana spent more than an hour torturing the two men with precise yet very painfull cuts and close to the end of it she even started to use the flaming ripper to elevate their suffering a step above, and the horror on Rahas face only grew more and more as time passed. Finally, with the two bodies of the men falling to the ground, scorched and lifeless, Arana turned her attention to the girl.


    "Lets have some fun together, shall we Ra-ha?" The playful manner in which Arana dragged out the girls name made it so much more horrifying. The bloodied clothes of Rex sister not helping one bit to lessen the shock of the now terrified girl beyond belief.

 Chapter 96: Fall of Nor. Part 8

    With her focus now entirely on the last Echlisiarchian, Arana slowly approached the horrified and frozne in fear girl. However, just a few feet from her prey, she stopped, and akwardly looked towards Rex.


    "I dont think I want to just play with her for an hour or so. How can we make this into a long duration thing?"


    "Well. you can always make her your slave and then enjoy a petty revenge every day, I suppose." Rex suggested, well aware of his own biasis regarding posibilities.


    "Can you do it for me?" Arana asked with puppy eyes as she looked towards Rex.


    Rex thought for a few moments, then respomded.


    "I sure could, but I think I have a better idea."


    "Well, what is it?"


    "How about I place a blank on you, and see if it awakens your blood magic? In theory, I think it should work."


    "Whats a blank?" Arana questioned, having a small inkling on what it could entail, but sensing nothing wrong at the one suggesting being her brother, she easily agreed. She did not even wait for Rex to explain what it supposedly does. Rex nodded in aknowledgement of her agreement, walked near her, placed a hand on an exposed part of her neck and activated the skill. A few moments later, Arana had the same blank mark as Rex''s elven duo. And as Rex had asumed, the moments the mark was placed, a similar scene to the one he himself went through when he awakened his blood magic, happened. A barely visible outline of a serpentine creature flashed behind Aranas back, as she stood there for a few minutes, unmoving. Then, the focus returned into her eyes as the outline of the etheral creature dissipated.


    "WOW!." Heavily exhaled Arana, as she understood quite a bit regarding the use of blood magic, the general application and even a few base spells regarding the art.


    "Think you can brand her?"


    "Yea, I think so." She responded and then grinned towards Rex. "And I both feel and understand what purpose the blank serves." With that said, she quickly hugged Rex, both thankfull for his help in awakening her magic, as well as the warm feeling she felt towards herself coming from him through the blank brand. He and his warmth was everything Arana needed right now. Someone to anchor her existence to, someone who cared, and Rex checked every box for the role. She could barely remember the warmth she felt way back when her parents still lived, and knowing that she once more had someone there for her who trully cared, was a bliss in of its own.


    Rex quickly secured Raha with a few mana construct chains, ensuring the girl could not even try to slip away during the rather long hug, though it turned out to not be neccesarry. The girl was frozen for more reasons than one, not risking to incur the anger the two psychos in front of her. She just sat there, and only reacted to the pair of siblings once Arana ended the hug a while later. The smug smile on Aranas face did nothing to help the poor girl out of her frozen state and by the time she even started to return to a state of semi consciousness she was a already in Aranas grasp and enveloped in the red chains that looked so very similar to his own when he branded someone. Though there was quite the difference in the end result, as Rex noted, once the chains dissapeared and the brand had appeared on Rahas chest. Arana was notably winded, she was breathing quite heavily, as though she had just finished running a marathon and Rex could see just how empty her mana tank was currently.


    Still, all that was of little importance, since she had achieved her desired goal regardless, as Raha quickly droped of the bed she had remained all this time in her naked form, quickly got on her knees, bowed towards Arana, and spoke.


    "What are your orders master?"


    Rex saw that the brand was rather crude and quite strict, affecting the personality quite a bit in the process, and understanding the reasong for the brand he, being the doting brother he apparently was, offered to modify said brand, to ensure Arana could get the satisfaction she wanted by claiming the girl as her own personal toy.


    "Congrats Sis on your first succesfull branding. A solid brand for sure, but I think it probably in not up to par for what you might want from it for this particular woman." Rex spoke as he inspected the brand while reasuring the woman with a gentle touch to one of her shoulders.


    "I believe you want to not affect her personality too much, while ensuring she follows your commands without question?"


    "Indeed brother. That is what I desire. If you can, please show me how I could do better, to achieve said desired result."


    "Sure thing. Watch closely." Rex responded and touched Raha with one hand, modifying the brand to better reflect the desire of his sister. A few minutes later, the brand had been modified and Arana examined closely the new brand and how it functioned. During his modifications, Arana had recovered a bit of her mana and energy and wasted no time to examine the new brand, all the while Rex was using his cosmic crows to drain his victims in the village around them.


    Seeing the small frown on her face and understanding the reasons behind Aranas frown, her spoke to relax his sister.


    "I know how out of reach such a complex brand might seem to you right now, but you have just barely come in contact and tried for the first time to use magic. The fact you succeeded in and of itself is already impressive, so be proud of that. Besides, with enough practise I believe you can get much further that just that, even if you cant actually reach my levels." and seeing her pout at his last words a bit, he added. "Dont worry sis, there is barely anyone who could even hope to reach my levels, so dont go comparing me with other people. And there are a few extra reasons for that."


    Rex ponted at his eyes, and added. "There is a reason I have these eyes after all, even though our skill set is somewhat similar and we are siblings."


    Arana felt the warmth and care from both his words and the blank brand Rex had marked her with, and that quickly erased her pout, replaced with a big and bright smile.


    "En." Then she looked towards the naked Raha still kneeling, though not nearly as restricted and with no muddling of the slaves mind.


    "Wanna have your way with her?" Innocently asked Arana, her though turning mischievous all the while she thought how to properly punish Raha for her transgressions towards her in the past.


    "Would you really want me to dirty myself with her?"


    "No, no, no. Sorry brother, I did not think that through." she quickly backpedalled, as she looked at Raha, soiled as she was by the fat and very dead tithe collector.


    "Come, lets finish cleaning this place up and then we will head towards the city close to here. Rinne I think was the name."


    "Wount they attack you on sight there brother?" Asked Arana as she clung to his arm, a worry displayed on her face.


    "Dont worry about that sis, we will not interact with the city today, and when we do, it is not going to be a problem for us. For them however...." Rex lelt the rest unsaid, though judging by his grin, Arana concluded that it would not end well for the inhabitants of said city. She did not feel even the slightest bit of sadness or remorse for them though, having suffered enough at the hands of the citizens of this rotten world. No, she did not care for anyone besides her brother now, well maybee the girls he would eventually have by his side. Those she would have to inspect heavily and veto. No unworthy sow would ever get her paws on the only family she had just found in this empty and unforgiving world. Even better was her brothers willingness to allow her to exact her revenge. To slate her need to extract a pound of flex fromeveryone in the village.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Now though, a while later, as Rex was slowly looting the place of what little it had and setting it on fire afterwards, Arana was deep in thought, her slave girl in a rather simple clothes now standing by her side. She had liked the feeling of returning the pain she had gone through. Liked to inflict pain on those who had hurt her. Whats more, her brother had spent quite a bit of energy to not only allow, but also assist on her efforts to actually sate her thirst for revenge, giving her the ability to continiue with vengence.


    She wondered if she was trully so broken that pain of others was what would give her life a meaning, but said thought quickly dissapeared from her mind when she felt Rex standing by her side, and instinctively, she hugged him once again. An action she seemed to enjoy more and more with each succesive try. His warmth, his presence calmed her being, gave her this inexplicable happiness. No, there was more to life than just returning the pain she had gone throught tenfold. She would be happy as long as she could stay by his side. Forever.


    With his looting and Draining complete, Rex stood besides his sister, as she once again hugged him and basked in the happiness she was experiencing with him so close. Rex was at a loss of what to do. His sister had almost ended her life, clearly having had reached a treshold point of no return. Luckaly, he had reached her just in time, and stopped it from happening. Then, she had went past another breaking point, that apparently awakened her latent bloodline, changing her demeanor quite a bit. The broken and suicidal sister of his had latched on the only ray of light she had just rediscovered, while damning her nation to destruction, just like he had. And just like Arana could feel the care and desire to protect her from Rex, he could also feel the desperate attachment she was feeling for him right now. So much so that he was just a tiny bit worried it could turn into an unhealthy carnal need as well. Though he was sure he could, if worst comes to bear, guide her towards the soothing touch of his girls in that case.


    Rex was a man of culture, so while oyakodon was more than welcome, nay, an admirable pursuit, he was also of the belief that "Incest is wincest, as long as it is not Your family", so naturallty he would have to navigate the waters super carefully to help his sister heal from the mental scars she had aquired. Still, that was a problem for another day, and he would deal with it as it came.


    As per Aranas request, the entire town was burning by the time the trio left it on the back of the giant eagle, their destination- the city of Rinne. Arana did not want any proof left behind of the monsters that had destroyed her family, hence the scorched earth back in the village. Raha was huddled behind Rex back, as small as she could make herself appear, hoping not to earn her masters attention as Arana was happily embracing Rex in yet another hug and told him things she could remember about their parents. Raha could see the methaphorical hearts beaming out of the other woman as she recounted things to her brother. If anyone heard her saying that the happy woman had been disecting the people of her village just hours proir, they would probably look at Raha as if she was a lunatic, and yet, she had no desire to actually learn the consequences of her own possible willfull actions. She was not even sure what she could actually do at this point that would not result in some incredibly agonizing pain, excluding fullfilling the orders given and keeping herself as small and non threathening as possible.


    She had learned the hard way what happens as punishement for her disobedience, when she was thinking and trying to sneak away at one point from her new master. She was shuddering just remembering the excruciating pain she had experienced then, as well as the cold smile she recieved from Arana after the pain stopped wrecking her. It seemed the mark above her breasts, whatever it was, had made her into Aranas slave in every sense of the word and that was stinging her in a whole different way. Raha had grown up as the daughter of the village elder, having quite a lot of privileges and she had used them to its fullest.


    She had been acting rather terrible towards Arana, what with her being the blood kin of a forsaken. She had learned a lot about the monstrosities that the forsaken were, how they would corrupt the world and all that, and now, she had seen just how much can a single one of them actually achieve. She had heard of Aranas baby brother being one. How upon birth the chief had taken the boy and brought him into the woods, as the curch law dictates. How her parents had soon after been burned for trying to reclaim the spawn. And she saw how Arana was then left alone, scraping by with her inherited knowledge over herbs from her mother. How she struggled, but still survived, despite Rahas and other villagers scorn and hatred.


    Raha now was both gratefull, and at the same time not, for her own actions towards Arana. It was precisely because of said actions that she was even alive now, having earned enough anger from Arana that death was not apropriate enough of a punishement for her, or so had Arana decreed. There also lay the problem. While she was still alive, one had to argue if that was a life worth living, and if dying alongside everyone else was not prefferable. Then again, she was rather sure she could not even entertain the idea of ending her own life, lest the pain visits her once more.


    So far, it had been rather humiliating, but not too terrible, if one disregarded the pain she had experienced when disobeying her orders, only having to lick Aranas feet at one point as the whorst chore. Of course her previous self would never had done it, but the prospect of experiencing the pain she had felt quickly changed her tune, ensuring that she would perform whatever order she would recieve from her master, and with a single warning, that now included masters brothers orders as well. Thankfully for her, the flight towards Rinne was rather uneventfull, with the two siblings huddled toghether on the birds back as Arana retold quite a few stories from her childhood. Raha was quite suprised with the birds speed though, since they reached the city in just a few hours- a feat not achievable with any sort of trasnsportation she was aware of.


    Once at their destination and with their feet on the ground Raha noticed that the giant eagle was still staying there with them. It was barely past midday, so she was wondering where the army of her masters brother were, should they hope to pass the walls, as they were rather well manned and the gates were all closed as well.


    "We will rest today sis, since I want to show you my girls, as well as have you relax and recover a bit more, as well due to the fact that my home is much better for your advancement, in both your mana pools size as well as your ability to concentrate." Rex spoke to Arana as they both were petting the eagle.


    "Is your home so close? i thought Echlisiarchy would have hunted you down in such a case." asked in return Arana.


    "Watch sis." Rex replied and opened a portal to his shard world and after his gesture, the bird was the first to croos the portal, then followed the three humans.


    "Welcome to Elysium, our home." Spoke Rex once they were through and the two ladies were looking around in awe at the scenario. They were in the middle of an open air balcony of sorts, that loomed over a rather incredible and well maintained garden that had a few women tending to it at the current time. Both Raha and Arana could only gasp at the beauty of the girls, and it took no time for Arana to ask the obvious question.


    "And which of the ladies below are my sisters in law?" Rex could sense a pout there, her complex and rather confused emotions regarding Rex showing some bite. Rex understood far too well her current situation, so instead of acting confrontational, he just smiled and beckoned Arana into his hug.


    "Dont be hostile sister. I am not abbandoning you, besides, dont you want to eventually have a big and happy family? I can protect them all within this realm."


    That though did wonders for the pouting woman, changing her face into a bright smile.


    "Am I an aunt already perhaps, or soon be be one?" she asked excitedly.


    "Not quite yet dear sister. I have been hard at work to grow stronger and attain a place where my family could grow and develop safely."


    "Hmm." a small frown appeared on her face again, then after a few moments of thinking it dissapeard.


    "I suppose that is the smart choice. Now, come, introduce me to my sisters in law."


    "Yes, my lady. Please, follow me." Rex gestured for Arana to follow and his sister did as asked, with Raha always remaining close by. Both girls were flabergasted with the nimber of women Rex apparently had, though Rashuun and Izumi managed to placate Arana with promises of a lot of nieces and nephews, due to the numbers of girls, once Rex deems it safe to grant their passionate wish of carrying his children.


    The rest of the evening was spent among quite a few of his girls, who were more than happy to welcome Arana among themselves. Rex even managed to slip away for quite some time alongside some of his women, who came back some time later radiating happiness and with flushed cheeks.

 Chapter 97: Fall of Nor. Part 9

    Arana woke up in the morning, tightly hugging Rex. She had been awoken in the middle of the night screaming, yet another nightmare haunting her. Rex had been the first one to rush to her side, and calmed her down with his presence rather quickly. Fearing yet another nightmare, Rex had allowed her to drift back to sleep while she was clinging to him as if her life depended on it, and he was quite sure she actually believed that to be so. Whatever the case, she had slept rather well after that, no doubt the reason being Rex''s presence by her side.


    The breakfast was once again an absolute suprise for the sister, the meal surpassing the food Rex had given her before. She also felt a notably greater strenghtening deep within her, due to the food, and the girls around the table wasted no time in explaining the properties of their meal, then praised Aisha, their cheff, for once again delivering such an exquisite meal for them to enjoy. Arana had only good things to say about the girls and so she begrudingly admitted the they passed her evaluation, proving themselves to be worth of her brothers companionship. She also had to admit that her brother was quite the ladies man, one way or another, since the girls were rather happy even with having to share him. Then again, they had to, since no single woman could ever hope to keep up with his drive and tempo in the bedroom. Yet another thing that suprised Arana. The girls did not shy away when talking about their nightly escapades. On the contrary, they seemed more than happy to share.


    After breakfast Rex left Arana in teh company of the girls and excused himself. He had a city to siege and sack. Echlisiarchy will not burn to the ground on its own after all. And while slightly reluctant to beleft behind, she was among family now, not alone, so it was not too hard to get her to remain here, since it would be much harder to do what Rex wanted while at the same time ensuring a pleasant watching of the events for Arana. Rex did promise his sister to allow her to witness the fall of Nor''s capital.


    With that out of the way, Rex once again crossed the portal he had conjured, and stood quite the distance away from his target, yet the rather large walls were in his line of sight regardless. A rather gray wall, three meters in height stood there, encircling the entire city with its rather thick walls. Countless soldiers patrolling the wall, searching for the slightest signals of an enemy attack. Countless archers stood on the towers, some being changed for fresh and rested soldiers to replace the ones most tired.


    It was clear the adventurers guild''s warning had done more than warn just the foreigners and guilds, The leaders of the city had enacted marshal law, prepearing every man capable of wielding a weapon. The reports from some of their scouts that had returned and warned of burnt to the ground villages apparently had not gone over well either. And yet, no matter how prepeared the city and its defenders were, what was coming after them was just too damn powerfull.


    X-----X


    Jared was an innitial S class entity, with specialization in scouting and long range combat. Right now he was sitting in one of the towers along the wall of Rinne. Fully focused on the surroundings few killometers that he had in sight. He had rather strong doubts about the validity of the adventurers guilds warning regarding the coming calamity. While yes, the villages around were burnt down to the ground, with no corpses in sight, their mighty city stood tall and proud, No enemy had dared to come and try their luck against its walls.


    While fully focused, he was not tense. Yet another boring day guarding the surrounding flields from possible overeager bandits or raiders, or whoever else could be the culprits of said warning. He believed the day would be just the the rest in the coming future, but then something suddenly changed. The air around grew still and stifling. The banter of the nearby soldiers immediatly stopped, tensing the atmosphere even more than it already was by this point.


    And then Jared saw something. His eagle eyes were zoomed to the maximum possible as he focused his entire being on examining the cloacked man. The clothing the man wore seemed rather simple, and the cloak was a simple rain cloak that near every mercenary used. While it hid the upper half of the strangers body, his chin and lips were entirely exposed. What scared Jared though was that in just a few seconds of his focus on the man, the mercenary turned his body, as if facing him, then slowly lifted his hands to his hood, and removed it. What stared right back at him at that moment were to eyes with pitch black sclera and yellow irises. And those eyes were staring right back at him. And not in his dirrection either, he left that haze examining himself just as much as the scout had done to him.


    "Boo!" the forsakens lips moved, startling the scout even more, and then a savage grinn spread across his face as he started to move towards their walls with a rather fast pace.


    "FORSAKEN INCOMING!" in full voice screamed Jared, now feeling a rather grimm suspicion the whole town might have taken the possible threat not nearly seriously as they should have. And while the common sense dictated that there is no way a single man attacks and actually takes down such a large city. No what the abomination was performing was a plain old suicide if Jared had ever seen one. And while confusing and unbelievable the actions of the stranger might be, it does not seem as if the man is coming to end his own life. No, his instincts scream and beg him to run, run as fast and far as possible from the city, run and never look back.


    But while he is struggling to come to a decision, the window of opportunity closes, and he hears a colosal sound coming from the city gate the crazed forsaken had been runing towards. As it turned out none of the arrows that were shot at the intruder had actually stuck, let alone a slight injuriy had not been caused to the man. Then in a few breaths another resounding crashing sound reverbertes through out the city. His keen eyes are now focused on the gate from which the crashing sound came, and soon enough the dust cloud settles, and out comes the forsaken, not even a little bid winded or tired.


    X--------------------X


    "Let the carnage begin" Rex speaks as the cloud of dust settles and his form is revealed to the trmbling deffenders blocking his path further inside. Countless arows are shot in his dirrection once again, and Rex sighs.


    ''Had they not learned?'' he asks himself as he withdraws Limitless and basically dissapears from the defenders field of vision, only to reappear in front of the shield wall, and in a single swing disecting or outright splitting the ones in his weapons swing in half. Felling half a dozen men in a single slash, he once again dissapears, to reappear a moment later, once again disecting a bunch of the defenders.


    Rex slaughter is relentless and unending, not differentiating men from women. All people in his path get cut down, be it man woman or even a child. Rex had made his decision, and he would live with it, for better or worse. The common man, while generally not engaging in the same sick and depraved hobbies as their nobility, was also guilty for the crimes their country was performing on basically day to day basis. They were following the wicked commandments their prophet had laid down, and were entirely ignoring most of the transgressions their chlergy took when any of them happened to witness them.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Guilty . All of them. And so Rex judged them all the same. Only the trully gorgeous women could hope to escape the reapers maw today, and then, once again the question would arise. Was it not better to die alongside their companions. And so, Rex moved from one place to the next, creating near mountains of corpes with his enourmous speed and ruthless swings to end all human life within his reach.


    Rex even had a cosmic crow keep track of the observant scout that was now stumbling and escaping his possitions rather quickly, most likely on his way to the management to demand the big guns to deal with their quickly growing problem. Rex could kill the man her and now, and he probably should, but at the same time Rex is more than a little curious to see what the church has prepeared as the big guns, so he just continiued to slaughter the people present. He was well aware that this city was near double the size of Provedence, with double the poppulation, so he was also aware just how futile such an action would be in the long run. No, he too would have to pull some of his more magic based skills to bring the city to ruin in a relatively short amount of time. And while technically he had all the time in the world, why spend weeks on something you know you could pull off in days time, should you actually put in a bit of effort and the right skills.


    Once again, the localized barrier around the city had been deployed so he could ensure there were no succesfull escapees, since he had decided to clean go full devastatione here, with the rare exception of an oracle or saintess of sorts. Maybee, just maybee some of the prettiest girls would earn a maid spot for his brothels to be, but he was still in a rather foul mood when it came to sparing Echlisiarchies people after he learned more about his sisters life during the past ten or so years. As such, after some twenty minutes of almost teleporting around and spilling guts and brains after each swing he finally decided to speed up his culling. Each swing ended the lifes of multipple men, and with his extreme speed a swing was made every few seconds. Still, his speedy killing with just his sword came up to about about few dozen men every minute, so if he kept up the pace that would tally to a bit over hunder in an hour, and following the same calculations that would round at almost three thousand people per day, asuming the density of his prey remains the same, which it will not, but even then, with around twenty thousand people, in perfect conditions, he would need no less than five days.


    Now, take into consideration that a lot of the people are non combatants, who will undoubtedly try to hide in their homes or any other place that they believe they could survive this calamity, and his purge will easily extend into weeks. Thus, having slain a decent amount of people already, and having slightly calmed the rage he felt over his sisters suffering, all the while having his ravens draining the killed people behind him, leaving only clothing and other belongings behind, he exhaled a deep breath as he willed his mana into action.


    The blood that was spilled on the earth, as well as from the fallen bodies still not drained and turned into fleeting mana dust, started to be pulled into the air, more and more blood creatures that looked quite a lot like sky serpents with their slender forms and draconic looking snouts. Similarily to his cosmic ravens, these blood serpent spirits were somewhat autonomus entities that still shared their vision with Rex, but could act independantly upon orders recieved. And so orders Rex gave.


    "Kill all the people on sight and drain the corpses."


    Short and decisive order, just as Rex dashed forward towards the next group of unlucky defenders who came into his view. He would summon quite a few more blood serpents from his fresh kills on his way towards the center castle, since they were rather well equiped and specialized in the killing of the weak. Even as he was slicing his way through the ever dwindling numbers of defenders, or just plain desperate civilians, he could not help but snort at his own situation.


    What was good and evil? He could not help but question himself as he cut through yet another defender and a random peasant by the looks of it. Undoubtedly, he was the ultimate evil for the people of this city right now, but at the same time he must be the avenger, the true good in the minds of countless archons who had been chased or persecuted due to Echlisiarchies policies and doctrine. And yes, killing other people surely was a sin back in his old world, but that too, was conditional.


    Those with the biggest clubs could always go much further with the way they enforced their ideals, beating down or outright killing the people in opposition. Governments sent their troops to other places on the planet to enforce their interests, and even killed whoever stood in their way. All in the name of peace and freedom. And the people back home would cheer for their warriors. Why wouldnt they? It was their victory as well after all. With their rights and ideals preserved and protected.


    Was it much of a wonder that Rex too quickly adapted to the mindset of culling those that threaten him and his family to be? Even if it would eman teh deaths of thousands or even hundreds of thousands? No. It mattered little to him what his victims might think of his way. Even less so when they had been the ones to dish out the same, if not worse towards his kind- the archons. No, he was doing what was right by him, and his family. Even as more and more blood serpents were summoned forth, as they spilled into the city further and slaughtered without thought or hesitation.


    And while Rex was not paying much attention to his blood serpents consciously, he still had to move to one of them every now and then to evaluate a pretty lady or two the serpents had come a cross. Women who would live should Rex find them timid and pretty enough to be employed as servants in either of his mansions. Blythes one or the mansion in Elysion. He supposed he would need some peasants for Elysion soon as well, but he could get those through Brognis slave market at a later date. He had no desire to aquire the fanatical zealots of Echlisiarchy as his people in the future.


    Due to the constant pings he recieved from the blood serpents, either due to a somewhat pretty lady, or a group of defenders that could either stall, or outright kill the summons, it took Rex quite a few hours after midday to reach his current target. He was now standing before the castle of the town, and he could sense quite a few capable fighters and a decent amount of mages and priests collected within the walls. As he looked ahead, both through his own eyes and through the eyes of quite a few crows high in the sky, he assessed the situation, and calculated the most effective course of action with how to proceed.


    He could just continiue the way he had, cutting his way through the toughest of opponents, while animating more blood serpents to replace those that were lost, even if it happened rather rarely by now. The serpents were doing a phenomenal job in culling the city, ending the lives of all that stood in their way, while at the same time, draging the potential pretty ones with them to a place where other pretty girls were herded.


    With his unreasonable mana pool and mastery over blood, soul and space, each and every blood serpent was al least peak A class entity, with some rare cases having even reached low S class. So it was no wonder that rarely did he have to actually move over after one of the serpents was defeated. This ability alone would rate him as extremely dangerous battle mage on its own, and coupled with a defender or two, he would be nigh untouchable on the battlefield and could have hiss ass kissed by almost any of the ruling lords who would hear of said ability.


    A smirk adorned his face as he once again focused his attention on the inner castle in front of him, filled with defenders of rather high skill and power. For ordinary people that it. A few S class entities, including the scout he had seen earlier, and quite a few high A class people.


    "How to say a proper hello." Rex mused as he drew Limitless once again, infusing the sword with both mana and aura as he was prepearing a rather nasty hello for his opposition. A while later Rex swung the blade, a black energy arch shooting in the dirrection of the fortified wall of the inner castle. Anyone with any decent perception or mana sense skill almost jumped away from the wall in question, every one fleeing for their lives from the incoming skill. Then again, they were right to do so, as the attack devoured anything it its path and a meter to each side of the energy wave.


    Rex soon walked in through the now two meter huge gash in the walls, not being able to resist the temptation the csream "HERE''S JHONNY!" as he passed the wall. and entered the inner courtyard of the casle, quite a few of the S class blood serpents flooding in after him as well and quickly slaughtering the defenders.

 Chapter 98: Fall of Rinne. Blood lord?

    Yet another cry of anguish resounded in the inner courtyard of the castle as another of the mages fell, being torn apart by Rex blood serpents. He had to admit, they were incredibly vicious killing machines, since any blood drawn from their victims would regenerate and strenghten the magic construct. Their relatively slender bodies also allowed them to be used to comb any buildings and places a human might try to hide in, as well as their ability to zero in on blood, making them not only perfect killing machines in an atrition based fights but also as perfect hunting dogs, even if they were not actual living creatures. Yet another reason blood mages should be desired by any agressively expanding ruler, though Rex also doubted there were any other blood mage out there who had such an ability cooked up, making him even more unique than he already was.


    Rex was strategically moving even within the castle, always reaching the places with S class fighters, while leaving the trash to his blood serpents to deal with. outside the inner castle, his constructs were still in full swing, exterminating everyone in sight, their ''spare for sampling'' quality requirements notably raised, increasing the speed and eficiency of their culling rate. While mostly aware of the state of the city, Rex was just starting a fight with yet another warrior, like many before him, he too would soon fall. The man was rather skilled, being barely S class, judgeing by the young mans aura readings.


    Rex was only feeling the young man out, deflecting and parrying the youths blows, Limitless still in its scabbard. With his ever growing power and sharper mind he had noticed just how easy it was for him to copy, or outright improve any fighting styles he was encountering, strenghtening his combat prowess each and every moment. As he was somewhat toying with the young man, having mostly learned the mans techiniques and even improving them in the process Rex also noticed the youngster was not from Echlisiarchy. The man looked somewhat of asian descent, as well as the gear he was wearing seemed heavily out of place for the color scheemes of the rapidly falling castle. Just as he was about to draw his sword from its scabbard, a panicked yell resounded from the door nearby, or whatever was left of it after one of his blood serpents had crashed through it.


    "PLEASE LORD. HAVE MERCY!"


    Amused by the panicked and desperate cry, Rex entertained the request for a moment, sliding the youngsters strike to the side effortlesly, using his opponents own style, and then ruthlesly smacked his oponent with the scabbard, sending him flying a few meters away. Then he looked at the owner of said desperate cry.


    Dark caramel skin, white, long and lush, waist lenght hair and vibrant red eyes. The young woman was quite the beauty, dressed in a rather simple, but well crafted battle robe and holding a wand and a shield of similar quality as the robes. The girl was panting heavily, cleary just having fought one of his serpents, though none of the two had recieved any proper or lasting damage. It seemed the girl encountered teh serpent, was deemed worthy for proper evaluation, and then the serpent proceeded to capture her. Unlucklaly, both were peak A class, so the capture had not gone according to plan, as the girl was fighting the snake half heartedly, while moving in Rex''s dirrection. And serpent stopped its attacks upon understanding the girls dirrections. Then it kept following the girl, now without attacking and only guiding her a bit.


    "NERZU! STAND DOWN!" she quickly ordered the youngster who was struggling to get up, his body quite battered. Rex just looked at the pretty girl, but he also sensed something special about the girl. He could feel the girls own affinity to blood. And while not nearly at his level, it was there, though at the same time it was also much different than his own. He had dominion over blood as an aspect of soul, granting him much wider range of choice in how to invoke it, The girl however was purely focused on blood affinity, thus taking away her ability to apply brands, or interact with them.


    ''A vampire?'' Rex thought to himself, having red about the ratehr reclusive creatures of the night. Well, not so much in this world, he supposed, seeing as the girl was out and about in the middle of the day.


    Regardless, upon hearing the order, the youngster slumped back on the ground, his body exausted and aching, pain passing through his entire body, though he was in no actual lethal danger as of yet. The girl, with her order spat out towards the young man immediatly dropped to her knees, and bowed in a dogeza towards Rex, and from such position she spoke, her words clear and carrier both reverence and fear within them.


    "Revered Blood lord, I express our sincerest appologies for having unknowingly obstructed your path. I beg of you to show mercy to this junior and her servant this once. My father, lord Ferion of Bloodmist isles would be forever gratefull for such kindness, even if we were in the wrong. Please, please forgive us."


    "First, introduce yourself, little blood sucker." Rex spoke in a commanding tone, and his words actually caused the girl to slightly blush, for some reason.


    "Vanessa Bloodrose. Second daughter of lord Ferion Bloodrose from the Bloodrose duchy of Bloodmist isles."


    "Now, for teh more important question, what is a ''Blood lord''? And no, I am not one of your kind."


    Rex words caused the girls mouth to drop open, as her head swirled towards him from her dogeza position, eyes wide open in shock.


    "How?" the girl shortcircuted for a moment, then quickly reoriented herself and answered his question.


    "It is an honorary rank that is bestowed upon exceptionaly pwoerfull vampire lords who have mastered their blood arts to an extremely high level, allowing them to controll multiple blood constructs at the same time, much like your exelency does right now."


    "And why would your servant engage me in combat then?" the girl face once again flused red in embrarasment as she answered.


    "I have just aquired him, and havent yet had the time to drill him on the knowledge neccesarry, thus he took action when I was dealing with a few other issues I had to solve in the castle. Echlisiarchy is not happy to, but nevertheless have to trade with us due to a few unique recourses that are much needed in their rituals and such, and can only be aquired from us in reliable quantities. As such, depending on the region, a city or who have some contact with our people."


    "Hmm. You are excused. Collect your servant and be on your way. Do note that there will be no echlisiarchy soon, so I suppose you will have to look for new trade partners."


    "Than you sir for your mercy. Thank you." The girl thanked repeatedly as she quickly got over to her servant and with a small movement of her thumb over her index finger made a small cut and dropped a few drops of her blood in her companions mouth, causing a rather potent healing effect to quickly recover the young man. Seeing the torturous curiosity in the girls eyes, Rex sighed.


    "Ask away. I have afforded you one mercy, what a second one, I suppsoe."


    "My apologies, your exelency. But just what allows for such exquisite and large scale blood construct controll? I havent even heard tales of such numerous and powerfull construct deployment."


    "Exceptionally talanted and powerfull blood mage girl. My friend lent me his host, so to speak. The mans name is Rex, you might have heard of him. He has taken a residence in the port city of Blythe that has been growing like never before due to his presence there. Quite the auction they held every now and then due to his presence. Your scouts and spies must have heard of it." With his words spoken he just cassually waved his hand, indicating for the girl it was time to leave.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Thank you for your boundless kindness your exelency." the girl bowed, followed by the now decently recovered companion of hers, and in no time whatsoever the duo was gone, quickly fleeing the city. They had no issues leaving the barrier since Rex had allowed them to as well. And with the vampire out of the way, Rex refocused his attention on the culling of the city. And due to the ever growing number of blood serpents, the progress was far faster than he could have hoped for. His own constructs did not have any other reason than slaughter, unlike his Svergi raiders, who were just as interested in plunder and sampling of the new merchandise, as actually clearing the city.


    No, his constructs worked with a singlular purpose. Extermination. only the noble district was going a bit slower, what with the better quality women and clergy members being there. And unlike Provedence, Rex too did not waste his time on the leadership of the town, ending the lives of most of them in an instant, only keeping alive the worst offenders of who he had solid knowledge regarding their sick hobbies. Those few ''lucky'' people would end up in the hands of his resident borrowed torturer from the cultivators- Mr. Han.


    Still It took Rex another two days to finish his work, though that also included looting the noble house vaults and other most valuable possesions he could find in the city, including any and all magical artifacts, of which there were little. Still, Rex did not forget to return to Elysion during nights to do his duty as a man and properly fuck his women, as well as spoiling his sister with his attention. The remaining days, were he looted and finished the extermination, Arana as well as Irina, Mel and Val acompanied him, each for slightly different reasons.


    Irina just wanted to be spoiled a little more, something she considered her right by this point, what with her being the first of his girls and what not. Mel wanted to sack the libraries of the city and Val just had an itch to loot something. Arana, as Rex expected wanted to went more of her frustrations on echlisiarchians. Obviously , each of the ladies got exactly what they wanted, with Rex watching after them like an overly zealous guard dog. Even if he was well aware there were no threats around that could even hope to harm them, he just could not help it, though the girls did not blame him. On the contrary, they were more than happy with his actions, once again proving he cared for them quite a lot.


    With the city purged and looted, and his blood construct army notably expanded, now having reached a whooping thousand peak A class constructs, and thirty early S class ones. his ladies, alongside his personal army were sent to Elysium, as he called for his eagle and departed towards the only remaining target of note within the county of Nor- its capital city Clarity. Arana was the only one who had managed to get her way, remaining by his side as they both were huddled together on the eagles back on their way to their destination.


    "It is quite the beautifull land, all things considered." eventually said Arana. "I do hope that your Svergi friends will make more of themselves than the previous ocupants."


    "Honestly, I dont much care. What matters to me is the happiness of my people. Nothing else." Rex replied as he pulled his sister closer in his hug. The woman , while being older than Rex, was still treated by him as a little sister, being spoiled with attention and hugs as much as she wanted. Not only by Rex either. Every one of his girls had taken quite the liking for her, as the girl was extremely friendly once she learned they would be a family going forward. The fact that there was no unhealthy rivalry among the women around Rex also helped tremendously in easing Arana in her new enviroment, and Rex was immensly happy about it. Still, he had never had a younger sister, so it was only expected he would spoild Arana way too much, but thanks to Rashuun, both siblings would be kept in check. The woman have had a fair share of children of her own, so the family was in good hands.


    "And I am trully happy about it brother." responded Arana slowly drifting to sleep in his arms.


    X-----X


    "Thats Clarity?" questioned Arana as they looked forward towards a large city with quite white walls of over five meters high. they looked both strong and somewhat a bit magestic, if one could say so about mere walls. Clarity was the largest city in the Nor county, containing almost sixty thousand people within its walls. There were quite a few large defensive towers as well, spread in equal distances between each other along the wall, some sort small mangonells at the top of each. The city was rather well prepeared and equiped to deal with sieges it seemed, but that was only as long as no SS class or above fighters, as unlikely as it was to happen, joined the fray.


    Rex also had the advantage of beingf able to deploy his troops whereever he so desired, as well as a desiposable force that could absorb most of the damange during their aproach, if he decided to go with such an aproach. Jirgen and Jorg both stood by his side as well as they looked towards their largest quarry yet, both men excited more than ever before, their blood pumping with excitement for the coming siege.


    "How do their forces look?" Asked Jorg, not forgetting his job as the chieftain of his tribe. While none of his men would begrudge falling during such a glorious raid, it was his job nevertheless to minimize the casualties among his men, and he would be damned if he did not do his duty.


    "Want an S class or two left for your own entertainment?" Rex asked back, well aware of the chieftains reasons, but deciding to tease teh man none the less.


    "Tempting, and hopefully yes, but thats not the reason."


    "Well, as expected five percent of A class fighters, bringing them to two and a half grand of those, seven and a half thousand B ranks. Ten S class entities, and.......... would you look at that, a personal toy for me." Rex spoke and then grinned when he reached the end of his sentence.


    "Come again?" Confusedly asked Jorg, though everyone else aside from Rex himself had the same question.


    "Dont worry, just an angel half blood among them. I can see that filthy light from even here." A few gasps were heard after his explanation, and so Rex felt the need to both elaborate and calm them down.


    "Its fine. Not like he can do shit about me anyways, besides, as I said, that is fun for me to have. Who knows, I might send a ''Hi'' to his master as I tear it apart."


    "Emm. you sure thats how you wanna go about when the gods are involved?" Jorg asked with a slight grimmace.


    "Quite sure he would have either descended himself, or sent an amry of angels already, had he the freedom to do so."


    "Well, if you say so. Not going to poke the hornets nest myself though, no thank you. My men will be with me on that one too." Jorg added.


    "Suit yourself. As for the plan, it is quite simple. I send out my sonstructs to tear a hole in their defences, since any losses can easily be recovered due to the nature of the constructs. Once a path inside is clear, your army follows in constructs path. Both the entry ppoint and the defenders should be softened well enough for your men to be able to overwhelm and crush whatever stands in your way there. I will clear most of the high rank collecions, leaving much weakened force for both constructs and your men to cut through. The rest goes as ussual. You have free reign on who lives or dies, with the exception of all the pretty clergy ladies and noblewomen. And judt in case someone forgot, the inner castle is mine to raid."


    "Hrmmm" grunted Jorg "I and my men know. Doesnt make it any easier to accept. The inner castle would be the most fun place to take down. For you it will be far too easy. So much possible fun wasted."


    "meh. A matter of perspective." Rex quipped back. "Are your troops ready?"


    "Yes. They are. On your command."


    "Good. Give the signal five minutes later." Rex responded as he opened a rather large fate to Elysium and his own blood constructs started pouring out of it. In just a few minutes, a veritable army was surrounding Rex, and with a single gesture of his hand, as well a single word, the blood constructs started their charge towards the city walls.


    To keep up with the construct charge Rex had mounted one of the larger serpents, and was currently creating quite a few maan javelin constructs , that were flung towards each and every one of the towers in range, precisely destroying the mangonells that were stationed on said towers, making the wall much less daunting of a task to overcome, if the attacking army were a regular one. Unfortunatelly, Rex and his constructs were anything but that. Like With Rinne, a single slash of his empowered sword was enough to create a large hole in the surrounding wall, forcing the defenders to retreat a bit and allowing Rex''s forces to pour inside, slaughtering anything that got in the way. Even the S class warrior did not fare any better, as the man was cut in two by Limitless as Rex appeared near the aged warrior.Loosing one of the pillars of their defense did cause immediate panic in close vicinity, giving the constructs much easier time to clear the area around the breach point.

 Chapter 99: Fall of Rinne. Part 2

    It took little to no time to secure their entry point into the city, thus giving Rex the freedom to send his blood serpents deeper in and begin the last proper purge of Nor. And while there would be quite a few slaves taken his time, just like with Provedence, Rex could not care much about their coming fates. Rex was well aware he could be easily called hypocrite, for how two faced or natured he was, when dealing with different groups around him. But quite honestly, Rex did not care. He was who he was, and that also meant rather obvious difference between his treatment of HIS people, strangers or enemies.


    Nonetheless, the taks was clear, so his constructs kept pouring in, gaining more and more ground with each passing second. The A class serpents did rather good, but it was the group of S class constructs that created the greatest disparities in the trenght of the two groups. Rex himself not withstanding. Rex moved with unreasonable speeds and purpose, finding every S class fighter that was scattered around the town, to protect strategic locations, and then either outright killed them or herded them towards the breach point. There, a bit more to the side, his constructs were slowly, but surely, creating a sort of arena in the debris of the place.


    Rex did not need much time to gather up three S class defenders, and at this point they were all in the middle of the freshly aranged arena. They were incredibly tense, each and every one rather well aware by now how the most dangerous individual of this blood army had been toying with them during their futile chase of the man. Backs together, they waited for whatever danger would charge their way any moment.


    It took around five minutes, untill someone dropped into the improvised arena. A giant of a man, with rather few pieces of clothing on his person, and a giant, primitive axe in each hand. If they had to describe their opponent that was aproaching, they would all sue the same word- Barbarian. Rex just looked from the side as jorg aproached the trio, shit eating grin on his face. It was obvious the leader of the Mountains Rage was as happy as he could be, having recieved his cherry on the piece of cake he had been given. Rex was also sure Jorg would properly thank him later for the gift.


    And just as Rex had expected, Jorg wasted no time in chargin at the trio, bith his axes in hands, and swung with full force, making his opponents to scurry to different sides, desperately avoiding the strike.


    BOOOM.


    A huge dust could explodes from the impact place of Jorgs axes, obscuring the area for just a moment, but Jorg was both experienced and physically more capable than his opponents, and so he quickly identified the nearest of the three and once again charged in the mans dirrection. This time, his target did not have enough time to entirely dodge the strike coming for him, so he was forced to parry the strike partially, drawing out a cry of pain from said man as he did so. he was flung away even still, as one of his hands had slight fractures from the immense power it had to endure, during the parry.


    "HA ha ha ha." Laughed Jorg as he once again charged after the poor man who happened to earn his innitial attention, but the mans allies had not been idle, as they flanked Jorg and tried to inflict proper wound on him from the flanking positions and their moves. unfortunatelly, jorg was not just stronger, but faster as well, reacting in time and deflecting both strikes, causing the due to slide back from the force, and at the same time delivering a bone crushing kick to the chest area of his first target, who barely blocked the hit, but as a result, his amr bones were shattered from the impact.


    Yet another shriek of pain escaped the lips of the unlucky man, and more laughter followed from Jorg, who soon flung one of his axes after the flying man, and charged in the same dirrection once again. With a loud ''thud'' teh unfortunate man slammed into the wall, followed by a metal slicing into flesh and crushing bones, as the flung axe lodged itself in the nearly knocked out mans chest, nearly splitting him in half and ending his life right then and there. Just a moment later, Jorg was in front of the fresh corpe and he dislodged his axe from the wall, allowing the pinned body to hit the ground, increasing the blood puddles size that had started to form beneath it.


    With evergrowing grin on his face, he quickly parried the two incoming attacks from the now desperate two remaining S ranks, once again causing them to slide back due to the incredible strenght exerted in his parries. Then, once again he dashed after his next prey, repeating his current strategy of overwhelming his current opponents with brute strenght and speed, as well as savage debilitating strikes. And while some would think that Jorg was just brute forcing his way through the fight, had Rex still been here he could point out the precise movement and calculated strikes, as well as the measured follow ups after each strike. In just a few more minutes, the remaining two defenders were mangled puddles of flesh on the ground, haing met similar end to their third companion that had engaged Jorg in this makeshit arena. And while it was tru that Jorg had never trully been pushed to his limits, he still had quite a bit of fun. And with a huge grin on his face, and his blood pumping he joined his subordinates to speed up the pillaging of the city. They had just started after all, and there were a lot of ground to cover, and even more potential slaves to capture and sort.


    Rex had seen the entire fight Jorg had just ended, even if he himself was not present for it all. He had some pidgeons to catch, and so he did. He was now standing in front of a rather richly decorated church, a group of inquisitors and the aforementioned half angel standing in front of him, all armed and poised for combat, though Rex only really had eyes for the half celestial. The young man was clad in silvery armor, a large silver shield and flaming sword as his armaments. Two pairs of wings stretching out from his back, as well as light glowing eyes that radiated holy energy. Still, the angel was a bit under two meters tall, wings not including, clearly indicating the half breeds status.


    "Naughty, naughty." Rex spoke with slight amusement as his head slightly turned towards a woman at the churchs door, who seemed around fourthy years old. He could see the connection between the half breed and her. It was quite clear that the woman had been a saint of sort, or well acomplished oracle at one time, having earned the right to carry one of Echlisiarchies holy guardians into this world. At this point Rex could not figure out only one thing- would the mother of a holy guardian be worthy of a slot in Neo''s business. She was pretty enough for sure.


    "Ehh, I will figure it out later. Can dispose of you if you happen to be useless." Rex spoke in a calm manner, but was clearly heard by both the angel and the woman in question.


    That did get a reaction out of his opposition, causing the inquisitors charge at him, soon followed by the celestial. Unfortuantely, this ones progeny, both the sire angel and the mother were not of too high quality, resulting in just an S class entity, and barely that as well. So it was no wonder that the inquisitors fell in just a blink of an eye, Limitless tasting the blood of every single foolish mortal charging at him, whiel the celestial was slightly more lucky, having only lost his sword arm and a wing. Still, the angle was on the ground, clasping the stub with his remainng arm, while twitching in pain and howling.


    A quick swing of his blade cleaned it of any residual blood that might have stuck to it, and once limitless was clean, Rex sheated it and withdrew Royce''s torture swords.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Lets see how much pain can a celestial half breed withstand before breaking down."


    The mother of the angel was apparently aware of what the swords meant, since the moment she saw them appear in Rex hands, she was rushing forward, and nearly lunged to cover the angel with her body.


    "MERCY! PLEASE TAKE ME IN STEAD!" she cried as she cradled the passing out angel. There was absolutely no defieance in her words, no fight at all. Just desperation to spare her child from what was to come.


    "Surrender your soul to me then. Submit willingly, and your child will be spared the torture to come." Were Rex''s words in return, and the woman did not hesitate at all, as she quickly got on her knees in front of Rex and bowed.


    "Whatever master demands." and she stretched her hands forward, palms facing upwards and relaxed, as relaxed as the woman could be at this point, fear for her child permeating her being.


    "Strip."


    A single comand from Rex, and the woman immediatly followed his command, though the moment her upper garment was half open, revealing a rather well sized bust, Rex stretched out his hand, connecting to the womans flesh, and branding her at that moment.


    "Thats enough." And the woman stopped her despertae try to follows Rex command, now trully his property in every sense of the word.


    "You did as ordered, I sensed no resistance whatsoever during the branding." Rex spoke as he put away the torture swords of his.


    "And so I will abide by my side of the deal. He goes peacefully in his sleep."


    With those words spoken Rex releases an extremely precise and aimed burst of mana and aura combination, knocking the angel unconscious, then he deployed even more aura to maintain the celestial in said condition, so no matter what happened, the incapacitated angel remain in said state. The woman scrambled and once again enveloped her son in her arms, crying and pleading for his life, recieving a rather blank stare from Rex as he leaned in towards her, and spoke in a rather calm but cold voice.


    "Look in these eyes of mine, understand that I somehow survived your traditions regarding archons upon their birth, and ask yourself, would such a man find mercy towards those that sentenced him to death."


    As he spoke, the woman did lok in to his eyes, her own facial expression turning ever more pale in fear, desperation and understanding.


    "And your, ow so kind god has done nothing to right your actions." he then smirked "You live because I see value in your continiued existance, and that is the only reason you are not right there" Rex pointed to the place in front of the church she stood before "lying on the ground dead, in a pool of your own blood. Only you and your god knows just what kind of atrocities did you perform to earn the priviledge of bringing that angel this life."


    And with that said, Rex lifted his hand in front of himself, and motioned squeezed an imaginary object in his empty palm. The body of the angel jerked and then went still, all signs of life leaving its body. Rex had ruptured the heart, instantly killing the being and not much later the body started to scatter into motes of light, since without a soul to maintain the celestials body it returned to its began to disperse, much like bodies after Rex drains them, though at a much slower rate than that.


    Even as he was dealing with the little distraction, he still kept his eye on the things happening in the city, sending his S class blood serpents to the most contested areas, quickly relieving the pressure on his Svergi warriors in said places. Once the body of the celestial had dispersed and the mother no longer had anything to hold, Rex turned to her, and gave an order, one of his serpents having slithered its way next to the grieving woman.


    "Get on top of it, and stay mounted." He did not bother much with the woman, who mechanically did as told in her trance like state., and with her secured, Rex sent the serpent construct carrying her off towards his forces in the already secured zones. With that out of the way, he once again refocussed his attention on the castle he was in entirelly, the subconscous and auto prosesses that tracked the entire battlefield not including.


    "Now then, back to business." Rex said to himself as he moved forward, Limitless in hand. And just like before, nothing that stood in his way lived for long, getting slpit into pieces as his blade drank more and more blood of his enemies. Rex himself was even starting to make jokes about his weapong having been bathed in enough blood that it could at any moment turn into a proper demonic sword. Something, he would later learn was actually joke that could come to reality, though not quite yet.


    Rex could only sigh with content, as he looked outside the window of the now empty castle. he had spent a bit of time finishing his purge of the leaders of the city and was now focussing more of his attention on the city itself. He could easily notice the difference in the precision and effectiveness of his constructs soar when he actually focussed on controlling them wholeheartedly, not just running them subconsciously on auto pilot, even if the latter was still immensly usefull in and of itself.


    Jorg had brought a much larger force this time as well, having been informed of the estimated size and power of the overall opposition, and thus, their job was also coming along rather smoothly. His eagle did whatever it wanted as well, every now and then swooping in to grab a fresh snack from the enemy''s side, creating no small amount of distress into who ever had the unfortunate opportunity to see the action with their own eyes. Having to worry about the enemy possibly appearing from any size, including up, was quite stressfull after all.


    Arana was allowed to exact some more of her anger towards the echlisiarcy now as well, what with Rex fully focusing on his serpent constructs. She was now in the noble district, acompanied by Jirgen and a near dozen S class constructs as Rex was moving away from the castle to join her. Arana had snapped and awakened her bloodline in the village, and while Rex was quite the soothing presence for the young woman, he could also see how that awakening brought out a few dragonic traits. Luckaly for veryone who mattered, those traits were detrimental for the enemies, not Rex and his family, though he supposed it was more prudent to call his harem and servants ''their family''. Arana was, after all, also part of the family, even if only a sister. Ney, Rex would argue that as his sister she was all the more entitled to such a position.


    A few minutes later Rex was by Aranas side, watching as the young woman was improving in her torture techniques by the second, each next person being slowly sliced by her, one precise cut after another. Rex supposed Mr. Han would shed a tear from joy, seeing the younger generation taking such interest and showing so much entusiasm in inflicting pain upon others. Rex however knew better. Arana was only somewhat finding this pleasant, on account that her bloodline awakening had left her in a rather agitated state, with only his presence serving as a buffer and suppressant. He also was quite sure that all she needed to do was blow off quite a bit off steam, just as she was doing right now, and who better to blow it off on, than the nation that was responsible for it all in the first place. With the S class defenders out of the picture, and ratehr overkill protective detail, there was no actual danger for her, but nevertheless, Rex had decided to be by her side as much as possible. It was always safer to do things himself.


    With Rex there, watching over her, Arana got even more excited and enthusiastic, some small smile adorning her face as she looked like a younger sibbling trying to show their elder ones how much they have improved and expecting a praise for said improvement. Rex could only chuckle at that, what with him, technically being younger than his sister, though due to his souls age, he still took the lead in that category. Still, being the person he was and wanting to actually spoil his sister, he did exactly as his sister was hoping he would act.


    Once Arana was done with her latest mark, she strolled over to Rex side, large and sparkling eyes looking into his own, monstrous ones, expectantly.


    "You have notably improved." he started as he slowly carressed her hair, "Your movements are a little sharper and more precise, your sword handling has increased quite a lot as well, since I can see much less hesitation and uncertainty in them."


    Aranas smile widened as she recieved more and more praises from her brother, and she listened quite attentively when he spoke of some areas she could attain quite the growth without spending too much time and mental power. Still, in her mind that was for later, as she still had a bunch of noble estates to cleanse, and so, with Rex behind her, she proceeded to do exactly that.

 Chapter 100: A few month grind.

    The next few months passed in a similar pace as the time Rex had spent purging Nor, though with much less distractions. As his blood serpent construct army grew with each of the cities he and his army took down. The bigger the numbers, the sooner his targets would fall and then there was enough blood and energy lying around to not only restore the numbers, but increase them as well. And in such a manner, in the steps of Nor, soon followed the rest of the counties of Echlisiarchy- Vest county, Zeht, Aimon, Rumont, Irten, Ruben and Urhost counties.


    The personal retinue of Rex had not expanded at all during these few months. He just could not find any possible newcomers to his side in said time frame, even if he and the Svergi accompanying him had combed through near million people, if not more, judgeing by the calculations of some strategistsin Jorgs employ. And yes, it was an incredibly rare sight to find an actual strategist among the Svergi people, but nevertheless, Jorg had secured one somehow.


    Arana had gotten much better in the time past as well. It was a mixture of vengefull actions against the echlisiarchians, in addition to all the love and attention she recieved from Rex abd his lovers, making her feel like trully at home, even after everything she went through. Rex''s innitial observation was indeed true, as his girls had spent no time whatsoever to integrate Arana in their midst, with the sole exception of their naughty times. Rex had made his stance regarding the possibility of incestious affection, once again spoeaking his mantra regarding the subject quite clearly and decisively.


    "I am only going to say this once girls. Incest is wincest, as long as it is not your family. So there is nothing sexual I am willing to do that includes my little sister. What you do, regarding the matter, is none of my business, once again, as long as my own rule is not broken." was the words Rex had used during that particular conversation. He did look upon it fondly as it then turned light hearted when Aina pointed out that it was in fact Rex who was the younger of the sibblings. Rex just waved her comments off and proceeded to spoil Arana s the younger sister he never had in his orevious life, seeing as she had not lived as much as barely scraped by, thus making Rex the more mentally developed one, or so would he reason. Plus he had memories of additional life lasting over thirty years, making him the older sibbling. Obviousy. It also helped that Arana had no objections to being spoiled as a little sister.


    In addition, Rex had not neglected his other duties during this time, Both as a man of the house, spending plenty of time with his girls, as well as the blood mage Rex, making a brand here or there for a noble family that somehow managed to secure his service. Blythes second grand auction was also nearing, demanding his full attention as well. His partners in crime back in Blythe, namely Eredar, Grogni and Victor also kept him in the loop regarding the political major developements during his campaign. Quite a bit of stirring was happening behind the scenes, and more often than not even above ground, in the light of day, actions were taken, once people realized the sudden barrier that had enveloped Echlisiarchy was there to stay.


    And then there came the recounts of the people who had managed to exist the barrier. The people Rex had classified as non natives of Echlisiarchy, thus having been granted the right to leave it. And so, once the first of the escapees reached any sort of safe haven, they did their best to contact the adventurers guild, and with multipple similar reports the guild had taken action, utilizing its huge reach and deep pockets to secure the refugees and attain as much information regarding the situation inside and other important knowledge regarding the sittuation.


    So, everything Rex wanted had been recounted, and there were quite a few emmisarries from other noble families who had come subsequently to Blythe to inquire both Victor and, if possible, Rex, regarding the sittuation, what with his supposed cooperation with the archon who was now going wild, some would say batshit crazy, though there was not a single person who would say that out loud anywhere near Blythe in fear of possible retaliation. Rex, or rather his servants had sent each and every one such emmisarry packing, not wasting theirs, or Rex''s time, only pointing out that it was Echlisiarchy who had been begging for exactly what was happening for years now, there were simply no men willing to do what it takes.


    Yet another change that had happened in the last two months that should be of a rather big importance was the eventual victory of Rashuun and Izumi. both women were confirmed pregnant, even if only in the very stages. The radiant smiles on their faces had not dissapeared even once after they had confirmed the fact. Rex had earned a rather passionate and elated dressing down for his sneaky way of giving them what they wanted, without notifying the two about the fact. Rex had waited untill Izumi sprouted her eight tail before finally giving her what she wanted.


    That was aonther thing. Most of his girls had achieved a minor bloodline upgrade, with some, like Izumi attaining a greater bloodline elevation. Heaven grade breakfast was doing its job well enough. And while the rest of his kitsunes had not yet upgraded their bloodlines, it was only a question of time untill they do. Another thing they had noticed that was a rather big suprise was the strenghtening that said bloodline evolution provided. Not only it allowed to access some of the bloodlines unique powers they could not beforehand, but it also elevated the max capacity regarding their power ceiling. And that was the kicker. With enough time, something they did not lack, the girls could all eventually step in to the S class category, making their family a true and unreasonable juggernaut of a family in their world. That was something that they did not care to publicize. Rex had no desire to be brought into a similar war as he was in right now, wher his enemies would be most of the noble world, if not all. That, while interesting in and of its self as a thought, was nothing if not chore whne it came to actually solving such a problem. Realistically, he would become the ''demon lord'' in all but name, and maybe in name, should such a thing happen. So no, Rex was content with keeping their collective growth among themselves. Not like the catalyst for their growth was widely avialbe, and only they had figured out a way to apply it for their cause. No, they were using extremely hard to get, for others that is, recourse.


    His Svergi subordinates and alies had also fattened up quite a lot. Their scouts roaming around the cleared territories of the nation, searching for the perfect spots tp establish their own cities and forts. As Rex had disceussed with Jorg, this land would fall in their hands after the purge. Or at least as much as they can hold on to, Rex''s assistance guaranteed to ensure they could establish their foothold here. And while they had found a few decent spots, none were quite ideal, and when they still had the twelve duchies ahead of them, with their supperior locations and better soil, there was no need to establish any proper camps just yet. They were all coming and going using the gates Rex set up before any proper military action.


    Rex had pondered, could he actually end the entire war with his constructs alone, and while that was most likely not too difficult to pull off, he had made a deal before, and he had too much pride to go back on said deal. It was his belief, that a man can be all kinds of scum and what not, but his word was the thing that should always be reliable. And while he was willing to make a rather ambiguously worded contracts to fuck someone over due to technicallity, he still had enough pride to go through with whatever he gave his word to do. So, they were going to finish this off together, Rex would see it through.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Right now Rex and his family were having a nice meal back in Blythe''s mansion, accompanied by his three partners in crime. They had been discussing a few changes in the plans regarding the coming auction, though nothing too major. Brogni had finally also gotten his hands on a few more wolf girls, who would be trained by Aisha as the helpers in the kitchen. She was becoming ever bussier with the growing family, and while she had been quite stubborn implying she could still manage, she eventually gave up when Rex pointed out she will be too bussy with her own kids eventually, thus getting her to agree to train proper servants to take her place for most of the time. She still would be the big boss in the kitchen, but only joining in the cooking when she so decided, would she actually have to cook anything. Of course Rex knew the girl had come to love the cooking itself more and more, thus he gave her the freedom to continiue to cook whenever she wanted, as long as the servants would be trained to satiate their rather spoiled palletes.


    "Anyine else had noticed the rather high number of S class adventurers roaming around the city? I could swear it has been steadily increasing over the last two months." Rex suddenly asked once the meal was coming to an end.


    "Yes master. Their numbers had been steadily growing. Whats more it does not seem as if they are trying be subtle either." Answered Mel, as she was one of his girls who happened to spend the most time in the city, having to move through it to gain access to the local merchants guilds magic books held in Blythe.


    "Hope they are behaving themselves?" he asked once again, slight frown on his face, well aware that part of the reason was the upcoming auction, but there was this nagging feeling that there was more at play here.


    "Yes, they are. At least for the time being. Though more and more are asking around for Neo, and some look like they are loosing patience." this time answered Victor.


    "But isn''t it common knowledge by this point that Neo is bussy with his revenge against Echlisiarchy?" Rex asked, brow furrowed.


    "Yes and no." this time responded Eredar. "While the nobles and upper echealons of the guilds are aware and believe in the news, most of the common people, as well as the individual adventurers believe it to be nothing more than false rumors, meant to impede on their opportunities."


    "What opportunities?"


    "Well, that would be your raid group." grogni chuckled.


    "Huh?"


    "Right. I suppose i should elaborate." Victor spoke. "During your absence and due to the continius supply of earth grade meat you had secured before your campaign, there started to circulate a rummor that said supply proved that Neo had not gone off to have his revenge, but is still raiding the deep floors with his team. And anyone who is independant would no doubt want to get in on such a surefire infinite money job. No matter what we did to disprove the rummor, it had spread rather far, pulling more and more independants and even rather well acomplished parties of adventurers from all around. And as stated previously, they had been getting more and more restless due to Neos absence. I suppose one of the major factors that keep them so well in line for the time being is the relatively short time remaining untill our next auction occurs. On that matter, once again, thanks for the forest trolls you aquired to be auctioned off. It will no doubt be one of the main items those nobles will fight restlessly for."


    "They better. All three are half step S class, and I believe in just a few more years they will fully cross that step." Spoke Arana with a huff, having occupied the seat right next to Rex. and happily clinging to Izumi, who was beaming with happiness, much like Rashuun, who was sitting right next to the eight tailed kitsune.


    "How many potential threats to my girls Reigen?" Rex suddenly asked in a rather cold voice, though his menacing intent not aimed at anyone in the room.


    From his seat at a nearby table Reigen stood up, having earned the right to be around due to his exemplary service and work ethics.


    "There are a few, that have not bothered to hide their lust, though most are either too cautious at all times, or simply know better, well aware that the girls with your mark are both under your, and neos protection."


    "I will put Crystal as an extra security whenever you girls go out. i will not allow no fools to threaten you." Spoke Rex, with a much warmer tone as he looked towards his girls, both care and slight amount of posesivness reflecting in his face. His girls were regularily raiding the dungeon, both earning some slight amount of income and sharpening their skills. And Rex was fine with that. He knew perfectly well that in order to maintain his women in tip top shape, both physically and mentaly he could not lock them up in any of his properties, so he never stopped them from doing what they wanted, other men obviously excluded.


    Rex also recieved a report from his succubi trainers regarding the progress of the few echlisiarchian noble women he had picked up during the last few months. It was only to be expected that a couple women slipped through the crack of his mercilessness, mostly due to the combination of an incredibly rotten personality paired with extremely disturbing hobbies said noble ladies were engaged in. For such ''cunts'', for lack of a better word, Rex had decided on a lasting punishement that would slowly over time break and destroy both their bodies and minds. Yet another venture where Rex was going to dip his fingers in, even if he himself was not too much interested in the shows they would eventually provide.


    Reigen then also informed Rex regarding the progress of his girls, pleasantly supprising him in the process. Seeing his girls acting all shy, but still expecting praises, he could do nothing but aquiesce. And so he did exactly what the girls were expecting, showering them in praises and plenty of pats and caressing of their hair, or light kisses here and there, but nothing too over the top, to not make it akward for his friends.


    "So, are we Returning to Echlisiarchy after the dinner, or ussual we spend the night here?" asked Arana, having acompanied Rex for most of the time, clearly sure she would leave together with him. Then again, she was entirely right in her asumptions. She had gotten much better in the last couple of months, but Rex knew better than to stop now, having at least somewhat doused her confused attachement to him that borderlined on a love he was not entirely comfort with, less the girls thinks she is being left behind once more, thus causing another, non reversable spiral into madness.


    "We spend the night, as ussual and then leave in the morning after breakfast." he calmly answered, having decided on the plans for near future. Arana just nodded and returned to her conversation with the woman right next to her.


    Then a couple more dozen minutes later his friends left his residence, having chosen a date for their next debriefing and dinner among friends and family. Shortly after that Rex visited his cats, spending some time petting and playing around with them all. Then he instructed Crystal regarding the growing numbers of possible enemies, and how she would now have to accompany whichever group leaves their property. The dark panther happily purred and proudly took the task to heart.


    With that done he spent the rest of his evening as per ussual. Something that had become a rather relaxing daily ritual of sorts. His family would gather in one of the larger rooms and spend a couple of hours together, speaking of anything interesting that had happened during the day, or whatever else came to mind. Then, once everyone was done with their families daily debriefing, Rex took his next and last daily task to be fullfilled, as he moved to one of the bedrooms designated for said specific task, where he was met by two pairs of mother and daughter. His elven and Svergi oyakodons were waiting to recieve their cuddles and love, and Rex would do exactly that.


    And as per ussual, a couple hours later he left said room, four exausted and blissfully smiling women lying on the bed left behind, as he made his way towards the second of the three bedrooms he would have to visit. Once again, spending a couple of hours satiating the lust and desires of the girls awaiting for him there and repeating the same process with the girls waiting for him in the third room, he finally reached a small bedroom that had two lightly pregnant ladies snuggling together already half asleep. Rex then silently slipped in the bed, his hand reaching over and embracing lightly both Rashuun and Izumi. He would spend an hour or so lightly napping with this tow mothers to be of his children and then collect Arana and return to his externimation of echlisiarchy. He had a big couple of weeks ahead of him. He would finally tackle first of the twelve councill families of the echlisiarchy, and he would do it in a slightly different manner than he had done till now.

 Chapter 101: The start of the blood tide.

    Rex had his breakfast earlier than ussual, only acompanied by Arana and Aisha. One of the two would be coming along with him and Aisha ensured they had a great start of their, no doubt to be, rather eventfull day. Rex was ever gratefull towards his dutifull wolfkin, always giving her all to ensure their meals were beyond incredible. And so, he thanked her once they were done, and with a light and quick peck on her lips left the place, acompanied by his sister, smiling rather sweetly towards him and Aisha.


    With thanks covered, Rex opened gate to Elysion, and from there they returned to the place inside the Echlisiarchies barrier they had last left from. In front of them was the barriers wall, seperating Urhost county, the last of the lesser houses to fall, from his first duchy to test his mettle against. Zeke dutchy was ruled over by the Zeke family, one of the twelve council members, the ruling body of this rotten nation. During his time observing Echlisiarchy, as well as during his invasion, he had noticed a rather odd peculiarity regarding the rulling families. Namely, each family had a rather sick hobby shared to some degree by every single bloodline member of the family. Zeke family, for example, enjoyed a bit of cannibalism for their meals, if they had the pleasure of hunting and killing said prey- all the better. Who preffered the meat of a woman, a man, a boy or a girl, that varied from member to member. Or even more specific prefferences, like the thigh of a certain gender in certain age range once every month, during speacial day or mealtime. Or the neccesity to torture their meal before they die, to have an extra cheweness to their meat due to the stress of the quarry right before its death. Rex was certain that a certain chaos god of exess would trive on the rulling families of the Echlisiarchy.


    He was entirely aware of what was on the other side in the immediate surroundings, so he did not hesitate as he extended his hand, and once Arana reached out and grabbed his into her own, he went forward, crossing the barrier and emerging on the other side, Arana following closely by. They emerged in a rather picturesque place, standing right in front of a decent sized river, their backs just mere centimeters away from the misty wall and a great field of colorfull flowers on the other side of the river extended as far as the eye could see.


    "To think such beautifull places are overshadowed by the corruption and filth that are the people of this nation." suddenly spoke Arana, clearly displeased with such a great view being spoiled by her knowledge of their location. "I have never felt more reassured of the correctness of this purge than during such moments as this."


    "Indeed. They have such magnificent land to call their own, and yet they find it more important to engage in pointless genocide over a mixed bloodline above certain level of purity." Rex agreed with a sigh. ''''Lets get this party started, shall we?" He then questioned, as he held his sister, and used him mana and aura to jump and glide the two of them over the river. Then, once they were safely back on the ground, he placed on the ground once of the anchor plates, establising a gate, allowing for the transportation of much greater numbers than he could secure with his own gate. Then, moments later, therough the gate started to stream an endless torrent of blood serpent constructs, flooding the field and advancing in a measured manner and with almost perfectly synchronized movements, though there were some discrepencies all and all.


    The two months cleansing and both draining countless people had allowed him to increase his mental capacity as well quite a bit, even if his individual combat power had not raised a lot. That in turn allowed Rex to increase the number of blood serpents he could reliably controll by an insane amount, thus allowing him to become a walking army by himself. And now, he would let his ammassed power towards the duchy, performing a thorough and in depth purge of the rot that had been infesting this place for far too long. All Rex had to do was think of the numerous bone piles in the burried and closed off pits were lying in, their previous owners no doubt still begging for justice, and he could compete even the worst acts against such peaople. Hell, calling them ''people'' was already hard as it is.


    The pair of sibblings stood there for a few minutes, taking in the sight of the ever growing red army taking up more and more of the meadow in front of them. Still, even with the rather large entrance, spewing out countless constructs evey second, they still had to wait for quite a while before Rex was ready to start his purge of the place. And indeed, once his army had crossed over and was entirely on this side, right next to him, all he had to do was mentally command his rather fresh army, something he did in a heartbeat, drawing a rather hard exhale coming form Arana. The girl was not even aware she had been holding her breath, not entirely aware of the total size of his army, only having heard Rex mention it would be enough for his current needs.


    With the army now entirely crossed over, he floated towards one of the largest blood constructs nearby, clearly held close by for this exact purpose, as the army was starting its move forward. There was a small platform on the constructs back, having a small palaquin fastened to it. Rex and Arana took their seats and relaxed, chatting about a few more intereseting things on their minds as the blood tide began its movement. Countless constructs surged forward, seeming as an endless tide of intelegent blood, seeking for more beings to add to its already immense size.


    The blood constructs surged forward, leaving a rather flattened ground behind them, no accidental crashes happening among themselves, the advance being controlled extremely orderly, even if it looked nothing of sorts from far away. And while it would seem the tide was like a blind monster just charging ahead, due to his extensive cosmic crow coverage over the region, his entire army was already advancing towards his first victims as a general.


    Within hours of his force crossing into the Zeke territory, villages laid in ruins in his wake, and the nearest cities were already aware of a foreign and unknown monster tide charging forward, erasing any and all human life in its path. There were still no one who had noticed the palaquin bearing construct among the huge horde of the monsters. To be fair to the people of Echlisiarchy, Rex was deep withing the tide, heavily masking his existance. And that was not because he was wary of a potential assasination attempt to halt the advance of his blood tide, it simply made it easier for Rex to controll and dirrect his entire army.


    Unlike what he did with the counties, here he was planning to allow the entire territory to rally their armies, should they decide to do so, making one decisive battle before he has to deal with the noncombatants and the rest, or, if his opponents so decided, he would just take down city from city, slowly reaching the same conclusion. He would find out soon enough what the local lords along the chain of command would decide to do. It was not possible to hide such a large movement of troops from his eyes in the sky after all. And while the tide had been noticed and reported, the scouts could not have any idea just how serious the situation was with jus a few glances over towards it. The construct placement was decided in amanner that hide the S class serpents rather well among the numerous A class ones, seriously concealing the actual pwoer of the tide.


    Within a day Rex had laid waste to one of the minor cities, forcing the remaining lords in the immediate vicinity to reevaluate the threat his invasion force, still considered a mere beast tide, posed, forcing them to scramble to quickly form a united force to deal with the ever nearing threat, else they fall to its forever hungry maw one by one. The horde did not seem inclined to stop after a single city taken down and consumed after all, and while spoiled and arrogant, the lords were not quite retarded, to not see the fist coming for their faces after they have ''witnessed'' their fellow lord already being knocked the fuck out just moments before.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Rex wondered would they manage to organize and unite at the next city in his wake in time, or would they meet up once he had already laid waste to the next city and intercept the late reinforcements on his way towards the third. He himself was more inclined to believe the second scenario, that another day later proved to be correct. Just like the first city, there was little the defenders could do to stop the emotionless and rutheless army of constructs as it washed over its walls and began the culling. The reinforcements were still on their way, or organizing, as Rex saw countless peasants being drafted and called to defend their homes.


    "Sheesh, they dont hold back, do they." Rex sighed as he saw the scurrying people in the eyes of his crows., being sent to their deaths sooner than it would come for them all the same. The armies that he encountered soon after he left the ruins behind was nit much more lucky, having barely any time to react to the ever advancing tide of monsters, Rex reinforced and even slightly increased the numbers a bit more, choosing to drain most of the bodies left behind in pieces by his army. Arana was also having her own fun, being given a few blood constructs of her own and utilizing them to the fullest. Even without the insane processing power, and controlling only a couple constructs she was hard at work, bringing her own little plans to fruition, even if they were all somewhat small in scale.


    The unified army of the local cities was ill prepeared for what was coming at them, and so, the fight proper did not last even hours before most of the people were already dead, dying or frantically fleeing and hunted down by the constructs. There was no escape, no mercy to be had at the jaws of the red tide, leaving only empty and shredded armor and weapons behind, further empowering Rex and expanding his army. And sadly for them, not a single peasant that was being drafted and prepeared for Rex''s inevitable arrival would make it out alive. Rex had decided so, and thus his constructs would carry out his will to the letter.


    A couple more days later he could already see a sizable army being ammased at the capital of the Zekes holdings. The people in charge had realised with the fall of the third city that they needed an inquisition force to even try to stop the ravenous horde, and so that was exactly what they had done for the past couple of days, all the while Rex''s blood tide devoured more and more villages and even cities, leaving nothing behind. Svergi would get their loot in the capital. It was his call after all. The counties had enriched the Mountains Rage tribe many times over already, thus Rex had every leverage to do as he pleased, reducing the possible casuallities during the campaing in these lands for the hybrid race.


    And so, without any strategizing neccesary with allied forces that were not under Rex''s dirrect controll, his blood tide crashed upon the walls of the capital city of the Zeke duchy, the defenders having been stationed days prior in their positions and with constant scout reports comming in regarding the status and progress of the tide. Lord Zeke and his closest confidants and family had rather grave expressions on their faces, having learned that the tide seems to have not lessened at all during the previous battles, city sieges including, clearly indicating that the monsters had some way to recover their lost numbers or multiply after a successfull battle, or hunt, or whatever else said monsters would classify the carnage they would wreak whereever they went.


    A few mages were stationed right by their side, having cast some scrying spells, displaying several locations where they had front row view as if they were on the outer wall, staring down the endless tide of blood red monsters adbancing towards in real time and with rather notable speeds. Even worse was the fact that their arrows lacked the punching power to visibly damage the crystal like blood exoskeleton the monsters were sporting.


    every now and then they could see some serpents among the crowds of monsters with a drill like horn at the top of their heads, who would recklessly charge into their fortified walls, clearly failing, but repeating the same process over and over again, as if possesed. Some of the serpents found the more worn out wall parts, instinctively and skillfully using the small holes and edges to slither up said wall, barrelling over the wall and start indiscriminating slaughtering any and all defenders nearby. Some ten minutes later, having seen few of the serpents reach the top of their walls, killing quite the number of their valliant protectors, while being brough donw in the end, a rather loud crash resounded throught the viewing mirrors the Zeke side were utilizing, and then, to their horror as the scrying mirror turned towards the crashing sounds,they saw the drill serpents0 succeed in their purpose. Multiple wall sections were crumbling, giving way to the blood tide, inviting it inside the city walls, promising a feast of the ages for their ever ravenous maws, or so the people here would think.


    Quick and panicked orders followed, relayed through other mirrors of scrying, deploying the few contingencies they had in place should there appear breaches in their walls during any possible siege. It was quite apparent to anyone watching from side that the capital had not seen any sort of proper fighting on such a level for ages now, their ability to respond rather lacking, among other neglected aspects of the city defence.


    Groups of S class fighters were sent out to stall the stream of monsters barreling in through the newly created opening in the walls while another few groups worked tirelesly to patch up said holes, trying to once again stymy the flood of monsters. Who knows, the monsters might grow tired of the rather ineficient and difficult task they were at right now, causing them to move ahead, searching for other, easier possible food sources. It was then that a rather panicked scout almost flew through the door, his breathing heavy and clothes rather tattered, exposing the man a bit too much to the audience now entirely focused on said man.


    "Emergency Sir. The blood tide has human elements within it." The scout cried out as soon as he could, dropping the news unto their laps, once again creating a deathly silince in the hall, countless beads of sweat rolling down the foreheads of the people present. Who of them did not understand the implications of the news. Someone had organized this, clearly out to have them destroyed. And what was worse, their opponent must be way above their league, if the entity could rouse such unreasonable horde of monsters. Even worse still would be the case where the human elements within the monster tide actuall had controll over the entire horde. That would bring them ever closer to absolute despair and chaos in their camp. None of the people present had any desires to die right there, yet the situation seemed more and more dire by the hour.


    Even worse was the fact that the breach in their wall was not in a single position, but multiple, forcing the defenders special force to be split in multiple teams, each holding down a different point. And even worse still was the possibility that the horde of monsters had even more terrifying creatures closer to its center, once again elevating the worries and slowly growing panic.


    "Send out the angels. We cant risk the monster overwhelming the defenders." The lord Zeke finaly solemly spoke, more then a little unhappy at the neccesity to use their trup card so early. One of his aides quickly left the room and a few minutes later a sound of somewhat magically enchanted horns resounded throughout the city. Near the largest church of the capital was a rather large and well decorated garden, off limits to the public. There, a dozen impressive statues of angel warriors stood, each more impressive than the last, culminating with an extremely imposing angel with four pair of wings adorning his back.


    As soon as the magicla melody played, cracks started to form over each and every one of the dozen statues, the largest of the bunch including. Then, with a loud crack, a pair of actual wings, made of light and snow white feathers spread out behind one of the statues, the rest following suite. In just a few minutes, the entirety of the garden ''statues'' had shed their rock layer, revealing twelve well armed, ripped and brimming with energy warrior angels, their leader magnitudes more impressive than the rest.


    "We have been called to action brothers! Let us go and destroy the heathens and fiends threathening the sanctity of our home." The leader of the angels spoke, his wings stretching out, and with a swish of his wings, he shot into the sky, his underlings repeating the same action as they took their places by his side as they advanced towards the town walls.

 Chapter 102: The blood tide swallowing the heaven.

    It took but a few minutes for the angels to reach the city walls, a desperate sight appearing before them. The walls had incurred several breaches that were now spilling blood serpents of various sizes and shapes through like an unending stream pushing through a hole in a dam. There were almost no defenders that could slow down, let alone stop and push back the incoming endless wave of monsters. A few corpses in a rather expensive looking gear rags were lying broken and bleeding at the walls of several buildings, and there was even a battered priestess in a half naked state, getting draged away towards one of the breaches. The serpent in question no doubt had some other nefarious plans for the still breathing, though unconscious woman, and the angels could not abide by that, even if there were more than just a few S class entities among the snakes.


    It was as the angel group charged towards the unconscious woman that the leader felt deadly chill run down his spine and in response he immediatly pivoted to the side and flapped his wings, both forcestopping himself and regaining a notable amount of elevation. at the same time screaming an order towards his brothers.


    "RETREAT!"


    Unfortunattely, his order either too late, or was not heard by his brothers, did not save the rest of the angles from what was meant to happen. A flash of red was all that this squad saw before their heads rolled off their bodies, signaling the end of their line, being return to the side of their creator god.


    "I cant have you do that." a chilling voice came from the cause of his brothers deaths, and he looked towards his assailant to be. The angels body screamed danger, his every insticnt called for him to retreat, no path towards victory in his sight, But he could not, his mission was to defend the city, or die shile doing so, and angels were rather simple minded creatures. Whatever was on their list, it would be done to perfection, or the angel would die trying. And so he too, was taking his last stand, giving his all towards his task.


    A burst of light flared from the angel, his sword drawn and ready, his shield in his other hand protecting his front from any sudden strikes, then with a flap of his wings he dove down to clash with his opponent. A flash of light, and the angels blade met his oponents mid air, the ally of the serpents having crossed the larger path of the distance between them,sparks flying everywhere as the two blades fought for the dominance in this duel of theirs. Swing after swing, but the angel felt no fatigue, only righteous wrath burning deep within him, calling for the death of the enemy in front of him. Each of the angels swings was getting heavier and heavier, sharper and sharper. Each with the determination of a man with one foot in the grave, fighting for the last of his kln to survive.


    And yet, no matter how hard he struck, how fast he rotated and switched his plans, the opponents blade was always there, intercepting, redirecting and finding new flaws and holes in his art time and time again. Both his sword strikes as well as his attempts to bash his enemy with his shield, attaining even the slightest of openings failed, his opponent showing proficiency like the angel had never seen before. He had encoutered a trully worty opponent, even if felt no joy in the encounter.


    The enemy before him blocked his path, denying the angel the ability to attain his purpose, before his very eyes the city below was slowly torn asunder, as more and more bloody serpents breached the walls and destroyed the city, one house at a time. Screams resounded all around, as the defenders fell in droves, their bodies scattering to dust leaving nothing but mangled equipment in the wake of the enemy''s savagery. There was no mercy, no hesitation in the strikes and bites of invading horde, again and again ending life after life of the city defenders, all the while the man in front of the angel managed to keep him at bay.


    The angel was frustrated, none of his plans coming to fruition, each and every step on the way towards his goals the enemy was always there, just a little stronger, just a little faster and just a little bit smarter. And so, the angel grabbed onto his last remaining hope, as he began to burn up his incredibly vigorous lifespan. To fuel the technique he was about to unleash, he was willing to burn away not only the time he was supposed to spend here on this plane, but also his immortality, something a pure being of light like him was born with.


    His enemy stopped in his tracks, as if waiting for the technique to be unleashed, his black eyes radiating curiosity, if the angel was asked to describe it. What was worse though was the feeling of being seen through entirely, as if his technique was being disected right then and there, displaying the essence and profoundness of it right then and there. The angel shaked his head as the ability was fully charged, elevating his power temporarily from initial level SS class to high, and yet, the opponent just stood there, and once teh angle was entirely ready and about to charge, the enemy sighed and shook his head in dissapointment.


    "And here I thought it would be something interesting. What kind of retard came up with a technique that not only damages ones own being, but culls potential and tallent as well? And all of that for barely a few minor stage increase? Pathetic."


    The angel could not understand, whether the statement enraged it so due to the indirect insult flung towards his master, or the fact that a two minor realm increase of a SS class entity was considered ''pathetic''. Regardless, with newfound power bursting through its veins the angel renewed it assault, striking at the human enemy with ferocity and zeal never before seen. It would make its own sacrifice worth it. It would end the threat that it was facing, both right in front of it, and in the city below.


    And once again it lunged at the enemy before it, a flurry of slashes, stabs and cuts, each and every one aimed at a vital point, or a feint for yet another lethal strike. The enemy however, avoided every single one of the unreasonably powerfull and precise strikes and the longer their confrontation went, the more desperate it became. Just what was teh human in front of it? What drove it to such lenghts to come here with the aim of destroying the city? With such power at his fingertips the man could no doubt achieve no small amount recognition or whatever else he might desire.


    "Why?" The question escaped its lips eventually, not being able to come to a reasonable explanation on its own. In its frustration it did the only reasonable action that made sense at the moment. Seeing the opponent doing neothing else but tilting his head sideways, clearly indicating confusion, the angel elaborated, the desire to know bloodming in its core, as well as iritating it.


    "With all that power, why attack a simple city? You could have done so much more."


    The man snorted a single laugh, then pointed towards his black eyes.


    "Because they brought it upon themselves. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Genocide for a genocide. Simple right?"


    Then the man lifted his hand and indicated for the angel to continiue. "Come, your skill will soon end, Give me your best shot, I doubt you will reverse to your base strenght once it is over."


    Of course, It knew it as well, but teh fact the enemy was aware of the fact too grated it. Gritting its teeth, it charged once again, unwilling to go down like this, having failed its task, knowing that once it falls nothing here would be able to stop the blood tide and the man in front of him. Grief and shame, for failing his father and brothers came over him as he swung his blade desperatly, hoping to at the very least injure his enemy, but no such luck was on its side.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Then the power boost finaly left its body, it fell to the ground, as if a doll with its strings cut. It crashed into the ground, creating a small crater with its body, out of the corner of its blurring vision it saw the enemy landing near it as well. As if having picked up the grief and shame of the angel the man spoke in a rather calm, but chilling manner.


    "Dont beat yourself too much over this. Its not like you alone will share the burden of failiure. If my guess is correct, and guardians like you are in every capital of the duchies, as well as the seat of power for the Echlisiarchy, you will sooon meet your brothers. Worry not, I as sure your sould will last that long at the very least. And who knows, you might even brag about being the very first among your group to encounter me and lose. For that is what each and every one of your kind will do. LOSE."


    With those words spoken the mans hand blurred, and the angels eyes went dark, releasing its sould from the confines of its temporary flesh and bringing its sould back to the domain of its father creator.


    X--------------------X


    "Not too bad, I suppose." Rex spoke to himself as he drained what he could from the dissipating form of the angel, increasing his own power in the process. He must admit, the angel was much more challenging opponent that he would have expected. Sure, Rex was stronger, faster and smarter, but the sheer experience and instincts of the angel equalized them greatly. And while the angel could deliver any damaging blow to Rex, the same could be said in reverse, with Rex failing to find any flaws in the heavenly warriors movements. Only when the angel went for the desperation play of activating its ''trump card'' and eventually exausting itself to collapse, could Rex finally end it, proving the need for him to keep going further, get stronger and hone himself in battle more and more.


    The ''trump card'' of the angel however was trully a waste of time. The moment it started to activate it, Rex looked with interest, dissecting the technique, hoping to learn something amazing, only to immediatly discard the skill the moment he saw the cost of its activation. It was so bad that not only Rex discard any notion of working with it, he did as much as lock it away in his memory, only keeping around the understanding that it it a horribly bad technique that destroys your own foundation and future prosepects for a small and insignificant temporary boost.


    Shaking his head onc again in dissapontment, he returned to the task at hand, his blood serpents still in full swing of their invasion and slaughter. An event that would last for a couple of days at the very least, acording to his current estimates. So, having quite a bit of time on his hands, Rex moved to accompany Arana as his sister was having her own fun, unloading more of her anger and frustration on the poor residents of the city. She had gone quite the way towrds full recovery, much of her trauma having been pacified and cleansed by both Rex''s constant presence, the love and companionship Rex girls shared with Arana, or the countless sessions where she unloaded her anger on the people of the nation that had scarred her so. Not physically mind you, but mentaly.


    Most of the evening, night and the next day Rex spent by Aranas side, watching as she unloaded her anger and resentment, sometimes joining in and giving her a hand with a particularily unrully or unorthodox situation, ensuring that his sister was always safe, while not taking away the struggle and some controlled danger from the encounters his sister had. he even had to force Arana to stop and take a quick rest, her body getting exausted as she was relentlessly taking down her targets.


    While Rex was spending his time alongside Arana, the Zeke family head along his advisors and family were in a daze for quite a while. They had just witnessed the death of an SS class angel, and the oponent did had gone through said ordeal without suffering debilitating, or even heavy injusries himself. Worse still, they did not see any actual damage on the mans form, pushing them into a rather desperate state.


    Some of the advisors who came out of the stupor sooner, no doubt due to their cunning and backstabbing nature, silently slipped away from the room, clearly trying their best to escape the rather obvious death trap the city had become. Unfortunately for them, Rex was eyeing near very corner of the city, especially so when it came to the castle. There were quite a few nobles there that were on his special shit list, having earned a one way trip to Mr. Hans torture land. Quick death was way too good for them.


    Once Arana had unloaded her rage, Rex brought her a bit away from the city, opening the gate to Elysion and allowing his sister to retire and spend more time with his girls. Something Arana was more than willing to do, especially now that she had two magnificent women to spoil. How could she not? She would become and aunt within a year or so, and thus most of her attention was indeed focused on Izumi and Rashuun, though she spent penty of time with the rest of the girls as well. Rex was just glad that the misguided feelings Arana had innitially shown towards him had all but evaporated, replaced with a proper familal love and whatnot. A bullet dodged he supposed, reminding himself the iron clad rule on the matter. "Incest is wincest, as long as it is not your family."


    Since the city was quite large, larger than any other city in Echlisiarchy he had laid to waste before, the mental processing power he attained by draining countless people was increasing accordingly, allowing for more and more blood constructs to be created and controlled, once again speeding up the overall progress of the purge. Rex also finally summoned forth his Svergi friends, having secured a foothold in the city and with most high profile enemies dead after a couple days of fighting. Svergi did not need to be ordered or baybysat, and they went to work the moment they started to cross over to this side.


    Jirgen stood by Rex, a shit eating grin on his face. "I take it the tow are coming along fine with their pregnancies, seeing as you cant seem to contain that grin of yours?" Rex asked the son of the Svergi chielf.


    "Yes Warcaller. Mother says they are in perfect health. Both mothers and the children. Can you blame me for being the way I am?"


    "No, I suppose I cant." Rex just shrugged. "You know what to do. I will go and deal with the leadership. Got quite a few gifts for Mr. Han."


    "Sheesh. You are quite cruel, if I may say. I saw the workshop of the man once. I still have shivers running down my spine whneever the memory comes up." Jirgen shivered, the memory being brought up by Rex.


    "Well that is the whole point of it. If you are shivering just from the thought, how do you think the guests are feeling in there?" Rex replied with a grin of his own. "Besides, after all I have witnesed through my spies, that is the least every one of them deserves."


    With that said, Rex turned arouond and left the place, leaving Jirgen to his own devices and work. In no time whatsoever, Rex was at the inner castle walls, his constructs already hard at work, flooding over said walls and slaughtering any defenders that appeared in their way. Screams resounded through the air, not only from the surrounding locations, but now the inner castle as well. Bright flashes sparked and dissapeared, as multiple mages did their best to stymy the incoming tide. Yet no matter how many of the serpenst were somewhat taken down, more just came, tearing apart teh mana exausted mages once teh constructs reached them, even with the desperate attempts to protect them.


    Rex and his horde was both relentless and ruthless, leaving no life unreaped behind, save the occasional cute priestess, but those were few and far in between, thus creating yet another ghost town in process. Rashuun had brought a decent number of extra succubi in from her homeland, her daughter recieving a few S class monsters branded by Rex in return. A deal that the new succubi matriarch came out heavily ahead, but Rex had no gripes with it. The succubi lands were ruled by family after all. Rashuuns, but seeing as she was his in her entirety, Rex had no qualms in showing quite a bit of preferential treatment.


    Rex could not help as a smirk spread across his face, quite the sight appearing before his eyes as he looked down on the city from a birds eye view. The city was slowly burning in a few places as a giant tide of blood was swallowing the rest of it slowly but surely. Right now, even the inner castle was drowning in said tide, bringing ever closer the inevitable demise of the Echlisiarchy. And while Rex was almost hundred percent sure that this nation was guaranteed to end, he still could not wait to see what other capital cities had in store for him in regards to the angels and superior fighters. Still, his next big target was right over in the next barrier. He would finally deal with the oracles. That was why he had the succubi brought in in a timely manner.

 Chapter 103: Hidden in plain sight.

    The Zeke duchy had given Rex a few pleasant moments to bask in, like the rather fun fight he had just a few days ago against the SS class angel, or the rather nice treasures hehad looted from the main vauls of the Zeke family after he had finished taking down the inner castle and then the city afterwards. He had sent a part of his newly formed blood serpents to finish up the remaining settlements of humans within the duchy, having set his sights on the White Peak- home and training grounds of the oracles, located just on the other side of the seperating barrier, within the duchy of Marr.


    The Svergi army was remaining in the city, needing a day or two to finalize their own pillage and looting spree, and so Rex had deployed one of his portable gates. He needed a point where his own blood serpents would gather up once the purging of the Zeke lands would finish. And so, with the logistics and mundane tasks planned out and apropriate chain of command established, Rex took most of his blood constructs and with the tide moving at his beck and call, they advanced towards his next objective. The Svergi army would deliver the surviving members of the Zeke family to the capable hands of Mr. Han, once they were done with the looting, and returned back to their home base after.


    With all the loose ends tied up and secured, Rex was free to advance, and so he did, spending half a day untill he reached the barrier wall to the Marr duchy, and alongside his ever expanding army easily crossed it. Thanks to the maps he had aquired both before the invasion, as well as some new maps he attained from the vaults of the Zeke family, Rex was much more informed regarding the current state of most duchies, as well as quite deep understanding of both terrain and other natural points of interest within the echlisiarchy.


    And on his path to reach the White Peak, he had a couple of villages as well as something called ''Dark Forest'' right in the path of his advancement. Since Rex had not gone through the library of the Zeke capital, he had a rather barebones understanding about the forests he was about to enter. Still, most knowledge, or to be precise the markings on his maps he had attained indicated the zone as a dangerous one, with advices to not approach the place.


    Still, that was the shortest way towards his next target, and it was quite obvious to Rex himself that no matter what kind of folk tales or dangers lurked within said forest, they simply could not warrant his detour. And so, as he had decided, Rex set his course to pass right through said forest. It did not take much time at all to reach the outskirts of it, even with the army of blood serpents in tow, and slightly spreading the army out, Rex combed through the forest, looking to find whatever it was that warranted the forest to be not only left alone, but also marked as a no travel zone due to its dangerous enviroment.


    As his army combed the forest, they sometimes encountered some predators and lesser monsters, though nothing of the sort that could warrant the forests danger rating. And so, the next few days were spent by Rex and his army by combing through the forest on his way towards the White Peak. It was only on the third day, when he was closing in on the other side of the forest, did he found something worth his attention, hidden deep within the forest.


    There, in the heart of the forest, well hidden near a rather small cliff outgrowth, was a small village that seemed constructed a few years ago at best, some of the buildings even seemed to still be in the process of making, causing Rex to wonder what was the story behind said village, apparently constructed in a cursed land, for some reason. His curiosity peaked, as expected, Rex slowed down his blood horde as he was quite interested in observing the little village to understand it better.


    And so Rex advanced rather stealthily towards it, leaving blood constructs some distance behind him, ensuring his rather unnoticed aproach towards the small village. The fact that a village, no matter how small. was built in what was supposed to be very dangerous and cursed forest within the lands of Echlisiarchy, far away from prying eyes screamed of a story Rex would be interested in learning, and so, he advanced, his hunt on a temporary pause, as his curiosity led him further forward towards the small village.


    As he aproached closer and closer to said village, he began to pick up a few humanoid lifeforms, though he could not yet clearly determine if there was something special about them from the distance he was at right now. He reasoned there must be, no other explanation making sense to him as of yet. To ensure he had more chances to explore the rather interesting situation Rex adorned his mercenary cloak, hiding his eyes from the view of anyone who would came face to face with him.


    Eventually, once he was some odd two hundred meters away from the somewhat hidden village, he sensed some elevated activity, as well as noticed that a few pairs of eyes were now cautiously eying Rex from several hiding places near the village wall, disguised as part of the stone outgrowth. Mulling over the right way to aproach the current situation, Rex decided to go with a somewhat straight aproach, thus looking towards one of his observers, clearly startling the person in his sights,but not getting them to come out on their own.


    "I have a rather short fuse, mind you" Rex spoke in a slightly elevated tone of voice "And I am quite adverse on people spying on me. So, unless you want to start hostilities, either retreat, taking along with you your friends, or come out and interact with me like civilized people would!"


    Rex spoke with quite the authority, ensuring that there were no possible excuses his stalkers could take to imply he was just paranoid and spoke to the forest, hoping to flush out whatever was locked onto him. Normally they scouts would stay hidden, clearly still observing the target, but Rex had closed any such probability off, or so he liked to think. Even so, he had to wait for a while, even going so far as to making him snort, picking up a rock, on the smaller size, and then proceed to lightly trow it over to the spy he had locked his sight on before, with said rock landing at the observers feet.


    "Next one will not be aimed at your feet, nor thrown in nearly such a friendly manner, so do us both a favour and come right on out, your friends including. Do so, and we might still have some amicable interactiosn between us."


    This time around, clearly understanding the person wandering up to their home was perfectly aware, the offenders slowly, but surely, started to slowly get out of their hiding places. It was three people in total. Two boys, and one girl. Yes, Rex did not wrongly classify his stalkers. None of the trio looked anywhere near their late teens, with the oldest looking somewhere between ten to thirteen years of age, though to be honest, the other two did not look much younger either.


    They all had a rather worn out spears in their hands, clearly too big for their lacking frames, and Rex could not help developing a smirk on his face at the funny scene. Three children holding upon spears that could be said to be using the kids as the accesories, not the other way around. Though what was the most interestin in this whole situation was something else. And was Rex suprised when he noticed the rather glaring deviation on each of the kids faces from normal human apearance. Indeed, behind unrully locks of hair, everyone of the trio currenty looking at him had, a somewhat hidden, and at the same time not, uniquely colored and morphed eye.


    "Archons." Rex spoke the word, causing the trio to flinich and get on an elevated level of alertness, gripping their spears ever tighter, going so far as to raise the tips pointing in REx dirrection.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "L-leave this place and never come back. The Radaduk will soon come by, and if it does, you wil not escape its ever hungering jaws. Run while you still can." spoke one of the trio.


    "And miss out on the obvious juicy tidbit I have come across here? I would rather not. On the contrary, if it comes to that I will simply kill that Radaduk, or whatever the hell it is. Now, the obvious question I have right now is quite important. Are there more archons inside that small village of yours, or are you special in some way, seeing as you are out here, and not in the warmth of the village, as much as it can provide that is."


    Seeing the still on guard children, Rex decided to give them some slack, removing his own hood, revealing his own inhuman eyes to the sight as he was close enough for the kids to actually notice them, should they focus in on the eyes.


    "As you can see, we are kind of similar." Rex spoke in a calmer, much more friendly tone, that seemed to relax the kids ever so slightly, but his eyes, now those did wonders, causing the kids not only to lower their weapons but to get excited as well, more than Rex would expect as well, all things considered.


    "Buck, Zor, look, he is like us!" The girl excitedly called out, breaking the somewhat tense atmosphere. "Did sister Adriana sent you here too? She helps us hide from the bad men out there. Did she hide you too?"


    "Mimi, shush! We dont know him yet. Dont go telling everyone aabout sister Ariana!" The girl was quickly reprimanded by one of the tow boys, Zor, if Rex guessed right from the earlier glances of Mimi towards he r companions.


    "Yes Mimi, you should be carefull who you give such important information to, it can be easily turned into weapons that can harm both you and those you hold dear, should it fall in the wrong hands."


    Mimi frowned a bit, then almost glared at Rex, and action he could not help but consider cute, then asked him a question in return .


    "Do you plan to use it to harm us?"


    "He he he . No, not as far as I am aware as of right now." Rex replied with a little chuckle "Though nothing is ever trully set in stone. That little girl, always take to heart. People and motivations can change, they often do, so dont go and cling to some very convoluted and old rules and lawas that just dont work, or worse still endanger you and those close to you."


    As Mimi was mulling over the tidbit ok knowledge, the third kid from the group spoke up.


    "And what are you doing here in the first place?" He asked as he looked towards Rex with suspicion, not entirely sure how he should adress their starnge visitor.


    "I just stumbled upon this place on my way to the White Peak, since I was unwilling to take a detour to reach it, and was somewhat interested in the reason this forest was considered a cursed place. I am still looking for it, though no success so far. Maybee this Radaduk creature is the cause, so I hope it comes soon." Rex replied in a calm manner.


    "Silly, there is no Radaduk. Buck made it up." Mimi giggled and spoke as Rex entirely serious words caused her to be amused, and giggle a tiny bit.


    "What?" Rex visibly and with obvious theatrics placed a hand over his heart as he reeled back. "Treachery I say! Treachery!" Then he smiled slightly, as he dropped his theatrics, seeing the children all smile over his small joke.


    "Though I would like to hear more about this sister Adriana. Would hate to harm someone in this god forsaken nation who actually has some heart to them, I suppose."


    The last words do draw a bit of attention to them, though not from the trio Rex was interacting with them. The fourth person had approached Rex and the children, as well coming from the little concealed village. Rex was obviously well aware of the one closing in, though did nothing to either reveal his knowledge or prevent said person from aproaching. Soon, they left the foliage that the newcomer was concealed by, standing in front of the children since they had moved together as they interacted with Rex.


    The new arrival was a girl around the age of seventeen, most likely one of the few adults in the hidden village, since she had come, instead of anyone else. She was also rather protectively holding the kids behind her back, suspiciously glaring at Rex.


    "Sheesh girl, thats some hostile glance you have there. A friendly advice from one archon to another. Dont show open hostility towards people whos strenght you cannot measure. Could cause you a disaster worse than death." Rex hummed for a second "Though I suppose you must have been taught that life lesson already, have you not?"


    At his words the girl visibly shuddered, clearly terrifying memories flashing past her mind, still, neither her stance nor expression changed, though she finally spoke.


    "How did you get here, and what do you want?" Her tone rather cold, suspicious and Rex can almost feel agressiveness, as though a smaller predator mother is doing her level best to scare the larger one away from her cubs.


    "Could it be you think I could be some sort of an infiltrator for the nutcase inquisitors, and not a real archon?" Rex asked a question that had somewhat surfaced in his mind as a possible explanation towards her agressive stance. And seeing another small flinch, confirms his guesses. Thus, with the knowledge at hand Rex just lightly laughs, shakind his head in dismissal.


    "As I said the trio here before your arival, I was on my way towards theWhite Peak and was not interested in the least to take the detour that would I be forced to have if I avoided this forest. In addition, I was a bit curious why they call this forest cursed. I asumed there must be some nasty beasts, but more than likely is the probability of a unique archon ability coming from bloodline that started the rumor and over time solidifying the no go zone status of the place."


    "And what need does and archon have, that brings him to the White Peak, or rather, the Echlisiarchy itself. The place is no good for our kind after all."


    "I could ask the same question to you, seeing as you have made a permanent residence here. Though my reasons are simple. Destruction and enslavement of the residents there, since I have a bone to pick with the nation itself. though depending on what this Adriana has done on behalf of archons, I might just give her a pass on that."


    The four of them just stood there for a moment, blinking confusedly, then the young woman started to laugh and quite heartily at that.


    "You are quite insane, are you not? Just what did they do, to break you so soundly. Even after getting away, you are just straight up marching back to your death?" She spoke once her laughter calmed down a few moments later.


    "You and what army is going to take the Whitye Peak. And even if you could siege it, the Dukes would not stand by and ignore the siege. They would be here in a week, some even in just a few days. The oracles are too important for their rule."


    "You dont know, do you?" Rex smiled, as calm as he was before, not in the least unnerved or disturbed about the girls frantic response. "The counties have all been laid to waste. All eight of them. Zeke duchy as well. Their cities and villages burnt down to nothing, pillaged and looted. The natives either slaughtered or taken as slaves. All at the behest of yours trully." Rex smiled as he made a small bow with arms to the side. "So I am quite sure that the White Peak will be not that different. So, come and tell me about this Adriana. She deserves a chance to defend herself before I decide on her fate."


    "She is a good person! Please dont harm her." From behind the young lady exclaimed Mimi, whose words were enforced by the cries of the two boys as well.


    "Well, I will see that, isn''t that right. now, come and tell me more about her. Full name, her looks, demeanor? Maybee her official position in the White Peak, or Echlisiarchy?" REx was willing to give the woman a fair hearing, as fair as he could get himself to suffer through. He was no bleeding heart. No, he was the judge and executioner for the most part, but that did not mean he was a monster through and through, just mostly, and only towards those that had earned his ire.


    As Mimi and the two boys spent the next few minutes talking about Adriana, The young woman that had arrived later was eyeing Rex like a hawk, still on full alert. So it was no wonder that she noticed the couple blood serpenst that arrived near Rex, though just a bit out of sight of the children. And her alertnes rose even more, as she debated if she would be capable of grabbing the three kids and runing with them away to their village .


    "Those are my constructs, Thet act only on my will, and there are thousands more further back. THAT is my army." Rex spoke as the kids finished their recount of Adriana Arten. The nice lady who saved them all and brought here.


    "By the way, do you want to stay here, or gather your belongings and move to a city where you would not be isolated and scorned by merely existing? I could even offer you jobs there to ensure you can earn an honest living. And if this Adriana passes my assesment, you can even bring her alongside you, since there will be no safe place thats near a civilization in this nation soon enough."

 Chapter 104: The White Peak.

    Vella, as the kids had introduced her, was quite stubborn and even more suspicious, though eventually she asked that the four of them be allowed to speak with the others in their village before deciding. Rex just shrugged at that and let it go. He acompanied the four inside their little village, and waited around untill the kids were gathered and they discussed the issue at hand. Rex was not idle though, his army of constructs moving ever forward towards the White Peak. He had enough info and maps to be able to do such a task with relative ease, thus, the blood tide washing over the Echlisiarchy continiued its path.


    A while later, the four who Rex had met came out of their impromptu meeting hall, having come to an understanding. Vella once again stood in front of her younger compatirots, even more serious expression on her face. "We would like to take up that offer, no matter how shady I thing it sounds." She spoke with her ever furrowed brow, going even lower, making Rex wonder if the girl could even smile. Regardless, he had secured the kids and youngsters here, and would do just as he offered. Safe passage and jobs once they were in Blythe. He felt just a little bit of camaraderie with the young archons after all.


    "Though we wish to witness your advance of the White Peak. However due to the likely nature of your actions there we have also decided that I can stand in for the rest of my brothers and sisters." Vella spoke now.


    "Fair enough. Though I do hope you know what you are asking for. It will not be pretty. War never is."


    Upon recieving a nod of confirmation, Rex told the remaining kids to go and gather the thiings they want to take with them, while gesturing to Vella to folow him. A few moments later Rex and the young woman were both on top of his palaquin serpent, as they moved towards the White Peak. During the hour that was necesaary for them to reach the destination they remained mostly silent, exchanging no words besides some extra tidbits Vella knew about Adriana.


    X---------X


    Dong! Dong! Dong!......


    The sound of the bell resounded through out the White Peak, pulling everyone away from whatever they were doing up untill now. The scouts had seen the aproaching monster tide and rushed back here to warn the oracles a short while ago. As everyone scurried towards their posts, doing whatever they had been asigned to do in case of an attack. Adriana Arten stood in her tower as she too looked in the dirrection of the aproaching blood tide. She saw more than most people did when they looked in the dirrection. She saw a perfectly formed and controlled army, wasting no resources or energy as they aproached.


    No, it was no mindless tide of monsters. There was a mastermind behind it all, and she felt it clearly that said mastermind had nothing good in mind regarding the fate of the residents of the Peak. Sure, they were heavily fortified in their position, sure the distress signal had already been sent to the leaders of the Echlisiarachy, and they only had to hold out for a while before they would be recieving assistance from them. Even still, she felt uneasy, having sensed a coming crisis a while ago, and now finally knowing what it reffered to.


    She saw as the monsters came closer and closer, eventually stopping a few hundred meters away from their walls. Even as she gazed towards the endless army or blood red monsters, with a rather solemn look on her face, clearly worried about the coming siege, her thoughts were drifting in the dirrection of the archons she had spirited away and saved during her reign as the Grand Oracle. A position she had asumed a almost half a decade ago, after the death of the previous Grand Oracle.


    Growing up as the daughter of one of the dukes had allowed her to avoid the heavy brainwashing the peasants went through, allowing her to see most archons as unfortunate souls who had earned the ire of their prophet way back, when the man lived. Thus, she had done her very best to secretly save as many of them as she could, earning a reputation as extremely ruthless n her ways, leaving not even corpes behind after she was done with the ''forsaken''. Of course, how could there be a corpse left if she had spirited them away and hiden them in a very secret and well hidden village in the cursed forest. Unfortunately, that was where the monster army had come from, causing her no small amount of worries. The kids in the village would be no hurdle for such an army. She just hoped it would have passed the village without noticing it.


    "What are they waiting for?'''' A question came from her side, the paladin commander in charge of the defences asked her, having come up just mere moments ago.


    "Their commander perhaps?" She responded, thinking over the question, but before she could express any other possibility, a much larger serpent than the rest exited the rows of minsters and slithered towards the gate of the fortified monastery city. A rather large and regal looking palaquin was situated atop the giant serpents back, a couple of people sitting on its balcony. Less than fifty meters away from the walls the serpents stopped, then throughout the city a voice was heard, clearly coming from the people on top of the serpent construct.


    "Adriana Arten and the leader of the White Peak, I await you in front of your gate. Lets have a talk before we commence. Might save some lives after all."


    "They do not know your position as the ruler of the White peak, calling you by name and the position you hold by its title. What might be their purpose?" The paladin captain asked, a frown on his face getting more and more pronounced.


    "It matters little at this point. I might as well meet them, hear what they have to say to me. We need to stall them as long as possible, for I doubt we can weather the assault of the force before us as we are right now."


    "Nonsense Oracle. With my paladins and the assistance of the oracles there is nothing we cannot overcome. Sure, the numbers seem somewhat high, I agree with you there, but we have more than enough power within our grasp to overcome this challenge." The head paladin reassured, overly enthusiastic about the chance to prove their military superiority in front of both the enemy and the oracles living here. Which paladin did not desire an oracle as a mate. Both as a prestige as well as the potential the possible ofspring might have. The fact that oracles, for whatever reason, also tended to be notably above average in the looks department only sweetened the possibility further.


    "Be it as it may, I am not willing to discard an advantage when I am given one. We might just gleam a weakness or two of the man leading the monster horde during the talk." The oracle made her stance clear, as she turned and quickly descended her tower, though not before sending a message towards the gate. And so, during the twenty or so minutes she needed to reach their would be assailant, Rex had been informed by a brave guard regarding Adrianas late arrival. Something Rex did not begrudge the woman, though he was suprised to hear the woman was quite important in the fotress city. Still, his goals remained as is and so he waited.


    ---------------------------


    "My apologies for the wait." Adriana spoke with a slight bow in the dirrection of their would be attackers, now more than just wary of the duo opposite her. Upon her arrival, they had dismounted their palaquin, and sat in rather comfortable chairs in front of a rather well crafted table, all pulled out from one of the storage rings they had. She too was now sitting in a similar chair, a courtesy of the enemy as well. Though the paladin captain was left standing behind her back, his jaw clenched in anger for the obvious disrespect he had been showed. Though Adriana reasoned the palading was more enraged by the young womans existance at the table, seeing as she was an archon. Even more startling was the actual identity of the archon girl. After all, Adriana was very familiar with Vella, She herself had spirited away the girl from one particularily nasty inquisitor, under the guise of her desiring to purge the filth herself. The pile of ashes due to her going overboard a little had not only fooled the inquisitor, but also caused the man to praise her for her zeal and determination to cleanse the world. A praise that Adriana felt sick of recieving.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Still, the facts were right in front of her. To her horror, the army in front of their fortress had found the hiden village, but it seems only Vella was spared for whatever reason. Still, it did not mean Adriana could show her concern openly, not in front of the palading who''s ears were pricking up, hoping for any signal to make his move and attempt to kill the master of the horde, or so he asumed the cloaked man to be for this army. Thus she kept a neutral expression, though her eyes were glued to Vella, inquiring of her wellbeing and condition, as well as the fate of her new frieds.


    "Whats with the insect? I am sure I required your presence alone. No roaches were called for." The masked man spoke in an indifferent tone, displeased, but ultimately not caring much abut the paladins presence. He was destined to die this day, there were no questions in Rex mind, especially more so, after he revealed the enourmous hatred he held for the archons, no matter the cirmumstances. The pure hatred in teh eyes and the clenched jaw was more than enough for Rex to understand the issue, thus came the question.


    "My apologies, but he insisted I am escorted, lest I be taken advantage of." Adriana responded. "Apologies for that too, though I am not too pleased with the presence of your army at my doorstep, if I may be blunt. What is the reason for seeking me specifically out, and the reason of your military presence here?"


    "Well, i did not expect the Adriana I was told about by Vella and the kids would also happen to be not oly the ruler of White Peak but also the high oracle of the Echlisiarchy. Though seeing how shocked Vella was, neither did she." Seeing Adrian tense up when Rex was linking her to the archon kids, and the small glance she shot towards the seething paladin, who was still boiling in his own juices, having failed to connect the dots. "Still, that does change little where it matters." Then he looked towards Vella "That her?".


    "Yes undoubtedly, though she seems way more tense and tired than ussual." Vella responded and confirmed his question.


    "Noted." Then he returned his focus to Adriana. "As for why I am here, with an army no less, is rather simple if you think about it. The White Peak will fall, and the oracles within will be enslaved, their bodies used to atone for the sins of their nation. You however, get a light pass, what with your benevolecce towards the hunted kids and all. You will still be a slave, like the rst of your sisters. But noatonement through flesh for you. A small mercy I know, but the best you can hope for."


    The palading did not even get to rage as he tried to draw his weapon for the insult, but was blasted away by a powerfull strike from Rex aura.


    "Stay down dog. Adults are talking." Rex sneered as he returned his attention to Adriana once more.


    A heavy sigh escaped Adrianas mouth, then she spoke "Your army seems mighty indeed, and while I do believe you capable of taking our home, enough time will have passed for the rest of the Echlisiarchy to come and deal with you, so why not abbandon the idea all together. I can go as far as not to chase after you and yours."


    "Ha, ha ha ha ha." Rex laughed at her counter proposal, glancing towards Vella as he did so.


    "You did not say she loved to joke around as well." he spoke as his laughter subsided. "There is no help coming, I havbe made sure of that, and your home will fall. Day or two later, it matters not. Hell, you can even go and join the defence of said home. It will all fall and then, they will all become slaves, and there will be nothing you can do to stop it. And Vella here, along her friends from teh small village will get you to look after them in their new home."


    His words caused Adriana to stiffen up and bite her lip in frustration. Sure, she was happy that the kids she had saved might find a home among other people, but the danger looming over the oracles was more pressing and much greater in scope. Though she still doubted the strangers ability to actually make his words a reality.


    "Its okay Vella, she will be going with you after the siege is over. She has quite a lot of reasons to do so. After all, should she decide to end her life or something, I will make it a point to create a rather extensive and unbearable torture plan for her oracle sisters." Rex spoke as he saw the young woman next to him start to fidget in worry about their friend and benefactor.


    "Why? Why would you even consider to go to such lengths against people who have not slighted you in the least?" Adriana then asked, both curious and buying every second she could. The sheer confidence and calmness in the way the man spoke caused her to become more and more uneasy. The longer she stayed in his presence the more she came to believe the man was not speaking out of his ass, but actually had the ability to pull off whatever he was promising.


    "After my birth, I survived your customs " Was the only answer he gave as he removed his hood, revealing another archon, then he added another comment.


    "Besides, since the kids were housed in a secluded village just for archons I am assured tha tthe people here, you not including, are the same as that paladin. Thus they deserve no leeway from me. We are done here, so go back to your fortress and prepeare for what is to come. Unless of course you are willing to surrender yourself right here and now. Save yourself from a bit of pain."


    Seeing the woman justshake her head in denail, Rex sighed, shaked his head but did nothing to stop the woman from rising up and leaving their conversation table, returning to the safety of the walls.


    "Heh, safety." Rex smirked at the thought. "If only they knew."


    He then waited another twenty minutes before his constructs moved as they began their charge towards the thick and fortified walls keeping him from his prize. Numerous oracles were waiting for him on the other side, and he refused to not realize his dream of a high class establishment by the name of Neo''s Holy Whores. It simply brought a smile to his face every time he imagined it. Ahh, good times to be had.


    Rex was also more than aware that this here endeavour would expend quite a few of his blood serpent constructs, The place was heavily fortified, loaded with casters and paladins, and quite absent of regular civilians, thus there were no real suppy of the material needed to make much more new constructs, though the few he would create would no doubt be top of the line in quality. Due to the method of crafting them, he was sure he could get not only innitial level S class constructs, but even some mid to high tier S class. Those he did not have in near large enough quantities for his liking.


    With Vella back on the palaquin, far away from the actual fighting, Rex could also get his blade slaked in blood. Something he could feel his sword craving for. He was sure the countless lives ended on the blade had started to crystalize the weapon into a demonic balde, not only strenghtening the weapon itself, but also elevating its sharpness and making it lighter as well. There was no inherent evil in the sword, nor would it start to corrupt the wielder into more and more of a slaugtering psycho. It just was a way the blades could grow with the user. And so, Limitless, being a high quality magical wapon had slowly started to go through said evolution.


    Still, his blade worked like it always did, cutting through anything in its path like butter, and Rex had no reservations about utilizing the blade for its intended purpose- to kill things. Rex had reached the walls in record time, causing a slight panic at the point he arrived on the wall, immediatly getting to further his blades evolution. With his unreasonably elevated strenght and speed it had been no problem to reach the top of the wall, gaining access to paladins defending the place. How silly was the palading commander to think his side had even a sliver of hope not only stopping, but eventually wither and overcome the assault of his army and himself. Annoyingly, they did create the sitiuation where Rex was slightly bothered, namely the zealous state of the paladins who had entirely fell under the paladin commanders command and battle cries. Though Rex was sure it would not last for long.

 Chapter 105: Terror of the X class.

    With Rex on the wall, slicing any and all oppositon to pieces, his construct army recieved slightly less of a magial pelting, what with the rather large paladin garrison stationed here as well as the numerous buffs aforementioned paladins were recieving from the oracles. Rex could see the value of a group of oracles in any large scale fight, being granted numerous spells that enhanced strenght, speed and other atributes of their allies, thus ensuring them a much greater range of choices when it came to engagement and battle. He could even see how the concentrated range firepower of the paladins managed to take down quite a few of Rex''s weaker constructs, showing the rather solid might the now heavily buffed attacks could deliver onto their targets.


    And even as his constructs were slowly wittled down, Rex did not change his approach. He was still hacking through any paladin who came in his range of attack. He had no need for the paladins after all, but the oracles, well, they had a much darker life ahead of them, and so, Rex used non lethal strikes on any good loking woman who came into his range to knock them unconscious. Then, he quickly changed his location, away from the knowcked out person, and while he was earning the enemys attention, a few of the better developed constructs spirited away the unconscious ladies.


    Still, even with all the bombardment his construct army recieved, the infiltrator constructs that were spiriting away the unconscious oracles not including, said army reached the walls suprisingly quickly regardless. And once they were at the walls, the special body of a sky serpents gave a part of the army just enough traction to get up and over the walls, marking the true beggining of the way their fort would fall. Rex strategy was rather simple, though the overwhelming difference in power between both sides made it irrelevant. No matter how many of his constructs would be taken down, he could simply recover them during the the anihilation of other cities that were on his path to absolute victory.


    ------------------------------


    Adriana was standing in the middle of one of the largest groups of oracles, focusing on empowering the strongest of their paladin squad to ensure that no construct could trully get past the walls, and yet, even with their best efforts, there were more than one that had slipped past their blocade. There was simply too many of them coming over the wall. For whatever reason those snake like monsters could scale said wall and barrel over it and due to the sheer amount, no matter how fast their paladin squads moved, some still slipped past the kill zone on the fort walls, starting to create chaos deeper into their fortified city.


    And that was the least of their problems. The true archon she had spoken to before battle was not the summoner, there was simply no way for it to be so, the sheer power and skill the man displayed with his sword, cleaving their defenders in halves with nearly each and every swing of his extremely sharp blade. And no matter how heavily their defenders got buffed and strenghtened, the man cleaved through them with the same ease. The half mad smile of the man made facing him even more daunting for any paladin who had the misfortune to cross paths with him. And the speed he displayed was equally frightening, reminding her of the absolute conviction when he spoke of their victory.


    A rather nasty chill went down her spine when she noticed yet another peculiarity around the man and the carnage around him. All she could see were the corpses of the paladins, even though there were quite a few oracles within those groups at the begining of said groups entanglement with the man. And then, a few minutes later she saw the scene that sent the chill down her spine. As the man was cutting down the paladins he knocked the more beautifull oracles out cold, then moved himself a bit further away from the unconscious girl, then then it happened. As if a chameleon reversing its disguise, a rather unqiue looking serpent construct apeared next to the girl, picked her up and dissapeared one again. That reminded her of the mans goals for the oracles, and she felt bitter as her jaw clenched hard.


    "WHY?" she cried out in pain. Of course she knew, but that did not make it any easier. And true, the man had survived something horrible, true that her oracles were not the best of people, what with their rather narow minded outlooks on life and hatred towards archons, but they had not benn the ones who decided his fate. So why not go after the real culprits, why release your anger on random bystanders. And as much as it enraged her, she would have to wait until the end of this savage act for more answers, asuming both would be alive once the fight ends.


    And then, as she focused on spreading her reach and strenghtening towards as many of their remaining paladins as she could, two critical situations unfolded. First, one part of the wall holding back the most of the enemies monsters, collapsed after a particularily loud crash, revealing a path of almost no resistance for the horde on the other side, eancreasing the numbers of monsters that were now pouring into the city, even if their mages and wall defenders had cut down quite a few on their aproach.


    The second critical turn was teh man himself appearing near instantly near their paladin commanders group. Adriana tried her best to conjure a barrier to save them, and yet, just like how she had seen before, the sword went through said barrier and the paladins fancy armor, impaling the poor soldier in the chest.


    "You are doing great so far, no small thanks to the oracles." the man smirked as he spoke in a rather clear cut common tongue that Adriana picke up from where she stood. "Hope your men keep this up. I would like for them to last long enough untill any sort of assisting army arrives. It is a rather nice warm up for the real fight after all." That froze bothe her and the paladin commander in shcok for just a moment, and yet, that moment was entirely enough to provide the archon with enough of a hole in the paladins defences to end their exchange their and now. And so the life of their paladin comander came to and end.


    ------------------------------------


    Rex had just dispatched the palading comander who had annoyed him back during their pre- battle talk. Now that he had done away with the fool he quickly took in both his surroundings as well as the progress of his army overall. Needless to say most of the things were going according to plan, besides the slightly larger cassuality rate among his constructs. Clearly Rex had undersold the capabilities of the oracles, thus making the slight mistake in his further planning. And regardless of the slight mistake on his part, the battle was still going in his way, most definetly so as well. Palading warriors died left and right, as his constructs roughened up the oracles assisting said paladins and dragged their unconscious bodies towards his current holding grounds for said women.


    Rex could feel nothing but pride in the quality of his army. Sure, he was controlling them all. Sure they felt no paint and the like, that allowed for much more flexibility on the battlefield, both in large and in individual combat. Still, there were always ways to improve everything, his army included. As he cut through the remaining of the elite paladin squad their commander was a part of, he considered a few different forms for future construct soldiers to shore up any deficiencies to the current setup. His mind was positively buzzing with countless new ideas that were though over quite hard, all the while he kept feeding his beloved blade more and more blood as he plowed through paladins.


    ----------------------------


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Two hours. TWO FUCKING HOURS! That was all it had taken the man and his army to utterly devastate their defending paladin garrison and capture most of the oracles. Their unqiue perk of being rather beautifull, one and all, had ensured the constructs did their damn best to capture alive as many of them as possible, and now Adriana could do nothing but curse at the overwhelming might they had experienced. Sure, she knew they were strong. Sure, she had a rather powerfull sense of foreboading she had felt back when the barrier over their natiom had first formed, just like the foreboading feeling before the battle, telling they would lose. Still, she chose to side with the other oracles, believing the man woudl have failed and so she had to maintain her position, giving her more oprions to save any archon who fell in the pawas of her country.


    But alas, that was not to be. The army, as well as the man himself turned out to be an unstoppable force that just swept through their fortress city. The worst part of it all? She saw the man brand countless of her sisters, herself including in a short amount of time. Now that had been harrowing experience. Not only was she and most other oracles made into soul slaves, but the man turned out to be even more terrifying than he had ever asumed.


    With Vella sleeping, the man hadnt bothered keeping up any facades as he opened a portal, through which came a rather young woman, who adressed him as Rex, thus providing Adriana with a name, finally. And a name she had heard of as well. The young and insanely talanted blood mage of Blythe. But just how much off those rumors were. The man was not just talanted. No, he was damn exception . An unreasonable existance, that performed a feat that was, for all intent and purposes, impossible. The raw power of ones soul, as well as the amount of mana neccesary for such a mass enslavement ritual would take weeks to set up, months even. Not to mention the unreasonable toll it would take on the mind and soul of the one who would perform such a rite. And even more scarry was the fact the man did the whole ritual in mere moments, as if it was as easy as making a sandwitch. Whats worse, she and her oracle sisters were no F, or E ranks. No they were high B to peak A class entities, with herself being firmly in the middle of the S class, serving as a multiplyer for the power necesary. And even still, he pulled it all off regardless.


    So was it any wonder then that the result of the siege was just as the man had anticipated? She reasoned that Rex was at the mid to high end SS class power levels. Some part even feared that his unique ability to enslave could put him in the mythical SSS class. Or maybee he would be given the unique X class entity designation. Super dangerous individuals with unique and unreasonable aspect to their powers. His blood magic for sure qualified. She had realized that the army was blood constructs after all. And that, that terrified her. Just how many people had been killed in the process of making the unholy creatures. And sure, the constructs only needed blood to be made, and sure, it could have been any monster blood as well, but she just felt it in her being that was not the case. No, these constructs, they were made in the wake of countless humanoid deaths, that was for sure.


    And then, as she saw the other oracles escorted through a portal, she could do nothing but worry about the fates of the captured women as well the things promised by the man that loomed on the horizon for them. That was a terrifying prospect, if Rex spoke even an ounce thruth way back then. She herself, yet another soul slave of his now, was not overly worried about her own fate. The man had kept her seperate from the other oracles. Clear indication of the different clasification she had been given in Rex''s mind. No, she was forced to watch as their home was destroyed, no living beings remaining behind and the corpses of the paladins and the oracles who did not pass the selection, were touched by the serpents and then their bodies scattered into the winds as mana dust moment later, leaving only their clothing and equipment behind.


    That too was a scary though. That in case of her death there would be nothing but her belongings left behind, with no body for any who cared for you to bury and say goodbyes to. Yes, she was beginning to dread her would be master for the rest of her life. Yet, before she could spiral even deeper into abyss of fear and despair, she was pulled out of that state by a laugh from her new master. Master. Just how weird and at the same time natural it felt to adress him as such. Adriana immediatly recognized the power of the brand at work, though there was nothing she could do regarding that. Nothing at all.


    "Would you look at that. Marr family has graced us with quite the force after all. And here I thought they would just huddle up in their capital. It seems they do care about their sweet little force multiplyer after all." Rex laughed, more than happy with the turn of the events.


    "I suppose I have to thank you for that one as well. It is so much easier to destroy your armise when I dont have to siege the cities. It just takes much less time after all. Rejoice, you will have the privilage of seeing a proper carnage ow so soon after your initiation."


    Rex smiled a rather bloodthirsty and happy smile towards the woman, swooped her into a princess carry and jumped, quickly landing on the palaquin where Vella was now sleeping, and with a single movement of his arm, the blood constructs moved out, presumably on the intercept rout for the human army. Adriana was even more worried now. The absolute hapiness regarding the incoming army, as well as the confidence radiating from him did not bode good news for Echlisiarchy.


    -----------------------------------


    Carnage. There was no other way to describe what she was seeing right in front of her eyes. Or better yet, a massacre. Pure and unfiltered massacre. And extremely one sided too, especially after he had brought back a small group of oracles who were the very best and most skilled among their order. Then, they were told to cast a few relatively low power buffs over most of the army, and due to the sould brands there was no disobeying the orders. And so, with the slight empowerment they had deployed, the construct army tore through the incoming reinforcements like a hot knife through butter. What was worse, Rex used the numerous slain soldiers to create even more of his blood constructs, that immediatly joined the fray, slaughtering even more of the already desperate men on the opposite side.


    She mourned and prayed, for every man who fell, who would fall. Not only during this current slaughter, but for the men that were to come after too. She was well aware by now, courtesy of Rex, what was to come. What had happened so far, ever since th barrier had been erected. And she was scared. Terrified even. Not only had the counties been quite literary ran through, each and every major city and even most of the villages being purged and razed, but even the duchies could not hold back against Rex power. And the barrier prevented them from banding together for one final and desperate confrontation against the anthitesis of theirs. For Rex was exacty that.


    And the girl whi had joined? Her masters sister. Arana. She could tell, courtesy of her class, that the girl had gone through quite the traumatic experience, and even with the slow healing she could see happening with the young womans psyche, there was still a long road to go for full recovery. That was all and good, but what did not calm her down was the apparent method that the sibblings used to actually threat her. Rex would routinely dicert a few of the soldier towards them, split them apart and then one by one, they would engage Arana, slowly get overwhelmed, courtesy of Rex''s training and the special gear she was wearing, if the girl was to be believed, and then Arana would proceed to slowly torture them to death as they lost more and more of the ground. In case Arana would have recieved any serious injury during any of the fights, an invisible barrier would take the hit for the girl, she would then be pulled away from the attacker, and would the nonce again engage anew. Once said attacker would be felled, Rex would point out the mistakes made and orders to improve said deficiencies. Then, after a small window of reflection, Arana would engage the next ''training dummy'' Rex had pulled towards them.


    And even worse still was the opressive mana waves Rex expelled from his body into the battlefield, making the natural mana in the surroundings supercharged and chaotic, effectively crippling all spell casting in the area. Due to that, only internal magic, or any spells sacted using only internal mana would work properly. An action that did not interfere with his army whatsoever, them being blood constructs and all, with the oracles ordered to not even recast their buffs once thes would expire. No, he had made the field of carnage a pure game field for him and his, and thus, the bloodbath did not last much longer than the siege that had felled her home fortress city.

 Chapter 106: Crave of the flesh.

    Adriana got to witness far more bloodshed than she should ever have had to, yet she could not force to avert her eyes from what was happening before her. No, she had to witness it all with her own eyes. How else would she pray for their souls to their god? She had long been on her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks at the sight. How was such cruelity and barbarism even concievable, how could her new master go on with doing what he was doing right now? She could understand the need for some bloodshed to end the battle, even if she herself would do her very best to try and avoid it firsthand, if at all possible. But this, this was something else.


    Rex''s constructs tore apart every enemy soldier that came in front of them. Be it tooth, nail or claw. And then, from the bloody remains of the fallen soldiers, new blood constructs rose, clearly her masters doing. And yet, even those who atempted to flee the sensless bloodshed, once it was clear they had no hope of victory, where chased down and murdered to the last, their blood drained just like everyone that fell before them, adding ever more blood constructs to the ranks of Rex''s army.


    "You think this is uncalled for? I will show you, what you should be more than aware of. The atrocities your nobility keeps on performing. Then, I want to see you justify the need to let any one of them, or their servants live." Rex spoke to her a moment later, clearly having sensed her disturbed emotions, having finally decided to grace her with an answer of any sort. Of course, she knew. She was well aware of the corruption and cruelity of the noble houses. How could she not? She was the head oracle after all.


    ---------------------------------


    She was wrong. Uterly and absolutely wrong. The nobles were corrupt? Of course they were. The greater something grows, the more power amasses in the hands of the few, and inevitably, said power will atract those who are less pure of heart. Eventually the seats of power will either corrupt, or draw into them the already the corrupt. It was a law of the world. And yet, she could never expect the level to which their own ruling elites had sunk.


    Hours after Echlisiarchies reinforcing army was was exterminated, and there was no other word she could use for what she had seen, Rex''s army had arrived at the walls of the capital of Marr duchy. With most of the army having been sent to reinforce the temple of oracles, it was far too easy for Rex''s army to crash the city walls, breach them and begin the extermination of the people of echlisiarchy. Though this time there were also other humans, Svergi as Rex had called them. His half giant half human subordianates. The men of this tribe came through a portal, yet another suprise Rex had forced upon her, and then in short order proceeded to round up the surviving members, whereever they could find any, and caralling them in one spot near said freshly deployed gate.


    The Svergi were much more lax with their own standarts for selecting the people. much unlike Rex and his personal army, when they blasted through any of the confrontations. Even still, she felt sorry for all the people who were both herded off to their lifes in slavery as well as those that were killed along the way.


    And then they reached the inner castle. That too fell fast enough, no matter how hard those inside tried to resist. And then, after capuring the family member of the Marr family in the inner castle, tying them up like some cattle and dropping them on to a few of the larger blood serpents like some sacks of merchandise, Rex brought her further inside the castle. There, a while latter they reached the dungeon. And there, she saw the very beggining of her conversion.


    What she saw was even more repugnant than whatever savagery she saw during the battles. Torture room after torture room, with countless tools she could only imagine belonging to a butcher shop. There were just too many such rooms. And then, a floor lower, on the second level of the dungeon they saw the inmates, or so they would definetly be called by whomever put them there. Regardless, she saw true horror right them and there. People with barely a loincloth covering their forms. eyes sunken and listless, no hope or desire to live reflecting in those hopeless mirrors of the soul. Many of the closer ones were missing limbs. some were even sporting extremely freshly seared wounds. Some were even still twitching from ghost pain, clutching a freshly missing limb.


    And then, further in she saw the children. And she threw up at the sight of the first cell. It was a cell with a rather odd set up. Three of the walls were made with full walls, not bars as one would expect, and the only wall with bars was facing the cells of the remaing children. And inside, lords have mercy, she saw the stuff of nightmares, no worse. Even in the most horrible nightmares she could not ever come up with anything like what was there.


    Relion worms. An extremely nasty flesh eating worm that burrowed in the cadavers of some magical beasts, slowly consuming their flesh and speeding up the decomposition of said beasts, however, they were also extremely agressive and due to their powerfull jaws and the amount of mana enriched flesh they consume, they had no issue with leaving their home cadaver and attack whatever come too close to it, possibly killing whatever comes too close, enlarging their collony grounds.


    And there, right in front of the rest of the children, with a gag in his mouth, the boy was strapped to a table that hung in the air, perfectly displaying the child to the rest pf them. Next to the boy, was a rune diagram of the human body, with lines drawn from the arms up to the shoulders, then traveling on the same sides of the body all around it, not going too deep. covering quite a large part of the kids body, untill finally the lines burrowed into the figures chest.


    A couple of Relion worms had been planted on the boys arms, just as the starting lines on the diagram indicated. Both worms had rather sophisticated runes over their bodies, glowing in a dark black color. And the worms, they had been chewing through the boys flesh in accordance to the lines on the diagramm, having reached just a bit past the shoulders, starting their winding path around his torso. The straps around the arms and his head prevented the kid from moving too much and the gag kept the boy silent, though from the overly spread and bulging eyes, as well as the constant quivering and twitching of his body indicated that the boy was if nor entirely, then mostly lucid for sure and suffering unimaginable amounts of pain. And then there were a few magial circles both under the boy amd in a few other locations around.


    As if knowing exactly what she was thinking, her master spoke, as he waved his hand and the boys eyes closed, drifting him to sleep and removing the two worms from their ''tracks'', lifting the worms in the air and squishing the life out of both.


    "The circle on the ground prevents the bleeding out of the boy, as well as keeps him perfectly awake and aware of whats happening. And the magical circle on the other children cell is a soundproofing, denying any and all sound from leaving said cell."


    "And the few rune circles around those two armchairs provide quite the pleasant enviroment around said chairs. Like temperature and air humidity. And the one on the box there is for maintaining certain temoerature in said box." Rex explained the use of all the magical circles in the near vicinity, then he looked at the now unconscious boy that Adriana was closing in on and frowned.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "STOP." he comanded Adriana, forcing her to interupt her advancement towards the hanging boy. "He is a lost cause. There is more than just the Relion worms that were eating him alive."


    Then Rex created a mana spear construct and flung it, piercing the boys heart and ending his life. The mana spear then disipated, leaving a hole where it had been, causing blood to spill out through the now open hole with relative tempo. Adrianas eyes bulged in horror as from the wound that was now open, alongside the blood another, rather slim,the diameter of an adullt index finger, pale looking worm wriggled its way out of the bloodstream of the boy, falling on theground and ''helpessly'' wiggling there. With another gesture of his hand, the space around the worm started to gold in on itself, tearing it apart. Only upon feeling the deadly tugging from its sides did the worm stoped the ''helpless wiglling'' and as if a bullet shot, flung itself towards Adriana, who was at the moment the closest living being to it. Of course, untortunately for the worm, the space around it had been folded in a larger area, and only then was it beign constricted, causing it to trow itself in the tearing space forces, prompty ending its life.


    "I knew Marrs were using demon mantis for their sick entertainment, but to have even this kind of bugs and their usage elicits even more disgust within me. And each and every family of the twelve has a sick hobby they practice as a family. Zekes were cannibals, with extremely developed and specific tastes regarding the species and body part they wanted to consume. Marr, as you can see, have their insect love." Rex slightly shivered in disgust as he spoke the last sentence. "Rufus family is slightly more normal in that regard, even if it is messed up either way. They love burning their victims, whoever would they be. The Frolens do love themselves the company of childern. Those around age ten to twelve are particularily beloved for their sexual acts." Rex scrounged his nose in apparent disgust for that one as well. While no legal loli lover himself, such a category of people he could still try to understand, but the Frolens, well, they were on the shit list already and waiting their turn.


    "And the same I could tell about the rest of the twelve as well."


    Then Rex carefully examined the remaining kids in the other cage and luckaly, they had not had the chance to recieve any similar gifts to the now dead kid.


    "The rest are clea,. You can go and exercise your need on them, but be quick, I have no desire to stick around here for much longer."


    Upon Rex words, Adriana reacted quickly and did as told, refocusing the entirety of her attention tothe remaining kids. Though there was still obvious disgust and horror platered on her face due to what she had just witnesed. It took little time to free the kids, who, once released from the cage, and in the arms of Adriana, who whispered sweet nothings about how they will be safe now, that its over, and so on, they began to wail, their pain seeping out of their little exausted forms.


    Rex, in the meanwhile, focused his attention a lot more on his constructs that were even now purging the city, and with his elevated focus, their precision and efficiency rose notably, speeding up the rate of the extermination. He continiued this focused destruction for nearly thirty minutes, when he was finally able to return his focus back to the basement room he was currently in. The children had fallen asleep after their heavy crying, the exaustion finally taking over. Adriana had slowly alowed thm, to slide to the floor, where they were laid out and sleeping.


    "Want to add them to your little orphan collection from your hidden village?" Rex asked with a small smile on his face. His newest named slave was quite soft hearted indeed. Though he already knew that, since it was precisely why she was not alongside the rest of the oracles.


    "If master would allow me to." She responded rather wisely. Rex could not argue with said response. The woman was quick to adapt, while still doing her best to save her personality from changing. Not that it would change just because she was now branded, Rex knew, but she could slowly over time grow colder, if Rex deployed certain, less than nice, methods. Then again, Rex saw no reason to do so. Adriana, after all, would be tasked with watching over the people she herself had saved.


    "Sure, go ahead. I will lend you a construct or two to collect them."


    "Thank you master."


    With that said, Rex used his ever expanding arsenal of spells and tore a rather large hole in one of the walls, creating a tunnel ten or so meter long that connected the basemet to the surface. Then, through said tunnel, in slid two construct serpents, as Rex himself left, leaving behind an order to Adriana.


    "I am off to oversee the purge personally. One you are done here, the constructs will bring you and your new wards to the gate. Be quick about it."


    Without waiting for further response Rex left Adriana to her own devices and spent the next day or so once again expanding his own blood construct army. If he wanted to finish his purge before the start of Blythes next auction, that was getting closer and closer by the day, he could no longer personally be present to all of the citiy and village purges. And while he had already started on his force expansion, and indeed he had begun sending his construct forces to clean up villages along the way, he still had ten council families to take out.


    And then, an idea came to his mind. But just how feasible it was, was another question. So, once the purge of the current city was done, and as his serpents split into more units to head out and exterminate the remaining villages, Rex retired to Elysion, having sent Adriana, Vella and their new orphans to the location he had moved the rest of archons from the hidden vilage, more than eager to bounce his idea among his women. Rashuun and Izumi being the most prominent of the women.


    So, once he was back in his shard world mansion, and comfortably sat on a particularily nice sofa, with the two pregnant women on the other side, he moved right to the question at hand.


    "So, I had this idea pop up in my head, but I dont know how effective it would be, so I need your input. This purge, while neccesary, is taking far more of my grinding time than I would like, so here is a potential solution to it. What do you girls think?"


    Then Rex proceeded to explain his idea, which came down to a rather simple premise. He would erase a part of teh barriers, allowing the remainng ten duchies to connect to one another, at the same time he would anounce to all of the territories that within a month, their seat of power would be asaulted, brining their nation to an end. And it would be their task to repell the incoming army. That would allow Rex to anihilate the majority of the armies and leave the last of the purging to his construct armies he would unleash to finish the job, while he himself could focus on his girls and dungeon delving. Gods know, he had not had the time for that piece of entertainment for so long. And his hands were itching for aproper grind fest in a dungeon.


    The duo spent a short while discussing the viability and efficiency of Rex''s idea, coming to a rather pleasing conclusion.


    "Yes" Izumi spoke "We believe it would be the quickest way to solve the issue. The question remains how are you going to deliver the news to the eney though? The adventurers guild has already left the teritories of the Echlisiarchy after all."


    "Ow, that is not a problem, dont worry. What I need is your you girls to help me write the proper message to get them reeling and ensure the largest part of their soldiers, if not all, come to the battle we will be announcing."


    The next hour or so was spent on doing precisely that- crafting a proper message to set up the stage for one of the biggest bloodbaths in the history of the continent, as well as the bloodiest one sided battle. After all, the blood spilled during it would be that of Echlisiarchies people. poetic justice that, as Rashuun put it as they finalized his message, and then, after a quick makeout session with the two mothers in wating, Rex once again returned to the Echlisiarchy territory, where he began his inacting his plan.


    --------------------------------------


    The next morning, the barriers slowly started to part in certain places, enabling the travel between duchies , even if heavily limited. That in and of itself would most likely remain unnoticed had Rex not proceeded with the second part of the plan. His ravens had been moved once again, creating a rather good coverage of the duchies, ensuring his message reaches each and every ingabited place within said duchies.


    "IN A MONTHS TIME THE ARCHON WILL ENACT THE ATTACK ON THE DESPICABLE ECHLISIARCHIES SEAT OF COUNCIL. MARR AND ZEKE DUCHIES, AS WELL AS THE COUNTIES HAVE ALREADY FALLEN, NOT ABLE TO STAND ON THEIR OWN. WILL THE SAME BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN TO YOUR HOLY CITY? AND THEN THE REST OF YOUR LANDS ONE BY ONE? IN ONE MONTH. WILL YOU DEFEND, OR WILL YOU WAIT AND WITHER AWAY?"

 Chapter 107: The first night of the end.

    In Rahen, the holy capital of the Echlisiarchy, enourmous activity could be sensed. Countless people were scurrying around, documents or boxes of goods in their hands. Countless agents had been amassing in the capital following the threatening message they had heard in every large city and even most villages across their nation. It had then been confirmed the barrier locking each of their territories away from the rest had indeed been somewhat dissolwed, allowing them to interact with each other on a normal basis, though that did little to stem the ever growing worry the people had. When was the last time their nation had faced such crisis? In the face of such threat, who could calmly go on with their day. What was worse was that it had was apparently lead by an archon, filled with rage over their holy mission of bettering the world. Most people of the world would argue that the echlisiarchians were nothing more than crazed zealots, no better than savages in that regard, but what can one expect from a barbarian with barely any culture.


    Regardless, the possibility of the threat had to be adressed, even more so due to the fact they could not contact any of the supposedly defeated members of their nobility. Not a single respons from the lands of the counts, nor any from Zeke or Marr families. In addition to the fact their territories were still inaccesible, the worry did not lessen. That was untill a couple of days later they had one of the county territories open up for their scouts to explore.


    What came back to their council meeting painted a clear picture on the gravity of their situation. The scout reports were clear. Not a single populated area had been found in their exploration efforts, and the places that just a few months ago had been bustling cities, or even the capital of said region, were nothing more than ruins, left behind after absolute devastation. Even worse still was the absence of any proper tracks of any kind of army moving in and out of city, as well as the lack of both bodies or burial sites. It was obviously impossible to avoid bloodshed, their fellow countrymen would not have fallen without a proper struggle against the invader. Even more so in said attacker was a forsaken. And yet, the discovery did not lie and they could not figure out the reasons for said oddity.


    Still, with the threat real, the proof of it clearly decisive, it was in the hands of their councill to make the right decisions. A member of each duchy sat upon a seat there after all, though still there was not a unifying decision bringing them all together. Sure, they all agreed that the threat was real, but beyond that, there was a disparity in oppinions. Some clearly supported the idea to put all of their seldiers into repelling the attack on the capital,destroying the coming threat with overwhelming might, suggesting to even summon all of the aviable angels from their cities, to ensure swift and brutal victory. Othere were more suspicious, believing that the announcement was deceptive in nature, hoping to draw their armies away from their domains, leaving the mopen for an easy pillaging and looting, striking at theur supply bases and homes to lower their morality.


    And then, of course, there were the few who looked at it all like a farce, even with all the evidence clearly showing otherwise, reasoning the lack of asistace from their god, implying it was nothing more than the plan of their god, thus making their people perfectly adequate to deal with the trial offered. though such overzealous and shortsighted reasoning was obviously their play for whatever reason. Still, the rather split points of view did ensure no proper arangement was reached in the immediate time.


    And so on the council members went on for more than an hour, sugesting a joint operation all right, though consisting of a much smaller part of their own respective forces, or just outright letting the capitals rather sizable garrison of the paladins, hoint by their guardian angels to sweep the ground with the foolish attacker and his force. That was, untill finally, the only man whose words could sway the rest of the council spoke. Councilman Bairon, the last patriarch of the bairon family and a decorated general in his own right. The old man had taken down more than one city of their enemies in his younger days and now, now the man had plethora of knowledge and experience to perform all the better in the tasks laid in front of him.


    "They will strike full force at the capital." his words solemn, yet certain. "It would seem the enemy desires one final large confrontation, winner takes all, would be my guess." he continiued.


    "What makes you think so, sir?" asked one of the other council members, clear respect and a small amount of reverence in the younger mans tone.


    "The little traces we have recovered from the ruins of the cities and villages in the only open county paints a clear picture. They have been at it since the barrier was placed around us, isolating and seperating our grand nation, thus allowing the enemy to conquer us one by one. And it seems said enemy is growing annoyed, or tired, or perhaps bored. Regardless, it is one huge battle he desires, and it its my strong belief we should oblige, since there will be no better chance for us to cut off the snakes head."


    "How so?" questioned another.


    "Just think." sneered the old lord. "When else are we going to get the chanceto unite our forces, if not when our enemy is generous enough to allow us do so. our only other option is to sit back and wit for the enemy to close the barriers once again and proceed to take us out, one by one. It seems rather clear that both Zekes and Marrs have been done in in a similar manner, and I would prefer we do not follow in their footsteps. And even if it were some sort of a trap, with our combined efforts we should have more than enough power to not only spring but also neutralize said trap. So, that is as much a win- win scenario for us as it is for them, though with home court advantage, we should be more than capable of taking care of it."


    With the slow nodding of their heads in agreement, the rest slowly fell back in line, eventually agreeing to the proposal of the older man, thus, soon after, the order to molibilize anyone they could began. With only the orders in their hands, countless scouts lelf the capital minutes later, each riding their fastest mounts to complete their missions. The greatest battle for the survival of their nation, faith and ways had been confirmed, sparking a never before seen rally for their cause a surge of patriotism. Little did they know that the cause of all of this was remotely witnessing their surging faith and rise in their spirit, only to chuckle at their emotional unity. To him, it did not matter, for his goal was clear, even as he lounged on a rather comfortable sofa with a beauty on either side, enjoying the momentary lull in schedule.


    For the coming month Rex did little more than relax with his women and spending quality time with Arana. As his sister, the woman was quite happy to spend time with her brother and his women, seeing as she had lost years worth of time due to Echlisiarchy and was more than willing to make up for the lost time now. Rex also had no reason not to cater to said whimm of the woman, she had been healing quite well under their care. So much so that there was barely any indication just how broken she had been when they met one another.


    He had also been to a couple of the meeting with Eredar, Brogni and Victor regarding the fast aproaching auction, and he had told them he hopes to finish up his work inside the Echlisiarchy''s barrier before auctions start. He had also dropped off a few of the trinkets he had quired during his looting of the now non existing cities, but nothing he provided was too eye catching. He had even managed to sneak a couple of days of dungeon delving, positively recharging his mental battery in the nostalgic grind of Blythes dungeons deep floors. As Rex himself said after he came back out of it a day later."Ahhhh, that hits the spot."


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Though there was one small errand he had to do, seeing as Mr. Han was quite literaly overloaded and thus, with the older mans instruction in hand, Rex di spend a couple days of his month long vacation to find a few like minded people, who he did not even have to try to convice, A quick read through the letter that was given to Rex by Mr. Han was all that was neccesary for the people in question to eagerly agree, smile spreading on their faces like an infectious and fatal disease.


    -------------------------


    And so, the month trickled by unnoticed, with Rex having relaxed quite a bit, quite the opposite situation as the one in the echlisiarchy. The absolute silence on the front of the enemy had not been good for their nerves, even with their military asembly and conscriptions on full swing. Countless thousands of people had been moved to the vicinity of their holy city, each and every one ready and willing to not only repell, but vanquish the foul threat to their realm. Rex had to admit, the speed of their recruitment and deployment was increadibly wast, but then again, it was just as half assed, disregarding the value of said soldiers, treating most of them as nothing more than meat shields for their true elite.


    The Echlisiarchy had pulled out all stops, having even activated and moved all of their angels here as well, causing Rex to even smile a bit and lick his lips. The feast he could have if he were to drain them all. It was positively exhilarating as he though of the coming few days. So much so that he had to return to one of the bedrooms to calm down a bit. And so, a few hours later he left the room, so much more calmer and relaxed then he entered. The ladies sprawled on the bed though were exactly the opposite. They were exausted, but with silly smiles on their faces, more than satisfied as well.


    And thus, Rex left Elysion and within a couple hours he was floating in the air, a fair few killometers away from the armies of his enemy. And there was a lot of them. If Rex had to guess, over hundred thousand, and that was with a notable number of them well hidden and jept further away from the location. And then there were a few other locations as well with tens of thousands of soldiers, clearly positioned all around the capital to stem the attack of the enemy just long enough for the main force to arrive.


    With blood serpent constructs retrieved after the end of Marr duchy''s purge, and with much greater numbers now as well, he retreated a fair bit further away, deployed a couple of his portable gates, under a smaller local barrier to prevent being discovered too soon, and called forth his own army. He could barely contain the excitement budding in his system, the bloodline clearly calling for rivers of blood to flow, and boy did he have the capital to make it so. This, he had no doubt, would be a battle to remember for the continent they were on, even if there would be almost no one to actually speak of it. He had no desire to take prisoners. The councill of the corrupt was hiding in the city just behind the enourmous army and Rex felt that they deserved a special treat, once he got his hands on them. It had been a long time since he had drained a still living being to nothingness, and while ussually Rex was content to let his quarry had a decent enough death, leaving their souls intact and free to return to the reincarnation cycles, even if with a pinch of torture, those twelve had crossed his bottomline ''slightly'' too much.


    As his army poured through the gates he worked on the best stategical aproach and handle of the situation, untill he realized the sheer folly of the thought. It''s not like he needed to conserve the lives of the constructs, seeing as they were quite literaly controlled puppets, easily replacable with new ones. All he had to do was to try and save as much S class serpents as he could. Those were harder to produce and depended on luck more often than not to create. So in the end, Rex decided on a rather simple frontal assault with the A class constructs, and then attacking from one flank by himself, creating absolute chaos as a reseult, and then, during said chaos send in his S class constructs from another flank. He himself would move around to firefight in any position the S class and above fighters appear. And while Rex new SS class angels will appear, he did not hold much faith in their insurmountable might as evident by the two he had already taken out, one in capital of Zeke duchy, and the other in the capital of Marr.


    It took a solid few hours for his host to move through as well as move in an orderly manner as aranged by Rex himself. The chaff and the meat in in focused more in one position, while the S class constructs were seperated in multiple smaller squads, some of which were mixed in the general chaff, for more chaotic and unpredictable attack pattern, while others were meant as flank and shock force. The fact that the S class constructs did not differ all that much from the A class worked greatly in his favour in the current situation, and Rex would be a fool not to use the advantage it provided.


    And so, with his army of constructs fully deployed, reaching around fifty thousand strong, Rex was ready to begin his final true assault on the Echlisiarchy. Sure, he would have to send his constructs to the rest of the cities and villages after this was done, but the civilian population left behind could hardly provide any proper resistance and thus he could leave it all to his background mental processing, thus having the time to fully focus on the auction to come. And while the fifty thousand might seem like nothing much in the face of the enemy''s seven hundred thousand, give or take, the fact that his constructs needed no sleep or rest, nor were they in danger of routing, fear or other mental blocks, as well as being A class and ablove, heavily equalized the power levels. In addition, there was Rex himself. A true SSS class killing machine, both as a melee fighter as well a mage. Add to the equasion his ability to create more constructs, as long as there are freshly spilled blood, then on top of it his infinite stamina and mana due to his drain, and suddenly, one might start to consider that Echlisiarchy is heavily outpowered. And they would be right. No one on Rex side, who had even an inkling of his capabilities, though there was any chance whatsoever for the fanatical zealots to win.


    As soon as the last rays of sun dissapered behind the horizon, replaced by the pale light of the moon, Rex dispelled the lesser barrier he had deployed, revealing his army to any of the scouts that just so happened to be nearby. The barrier had been constructed rather well, giving off the illusion to anyone who aproached that nothing had changed, And those that ''entered it'' were lead around by the nose in an illusion, creating a false sense of perfect order with the place, leading any scouts away none the wiser about the actual state of the place hidden within.


    Now however, the hiding was no longer neccesarry, and with a small mental command, his army advanced, quickly raising the speed, untill they were moving at the speed of a galoping horse, creating quite the rucus, as well as a rather large dust cloud. Their target obviously the largest congregation of enemy soldiers. Their main camp consisting of more than five hundred thousand troops by now. The other two hundred thousand were spread around to intercept and stall the enemy should they attack from other sides.


    With the speed his army had taken, it took little time to cross the few killometers that seperated his forces from the ''front line'' of the Echlisiarchy, allowing Rex''s chaff to ram into barely prepeared and quite shaking troops, clearly not ready for such a suprise attack. For how could they be ready? The enemy army quite literaly popped out of nowhere, under their noses, and then charged straight into their camp, leaving little time for the few lucky scouts who noticed their appearance to report it back to the camp and high command, warning them of the incoming army. And with barely any time to prepeare to intercept the charge, it was perfecty normal fopr the front line to be shredded rather heavily. The fact that the soldiers at the very front were barely B class, and thus the chaff and meat shields of the Echlisiarchy, did not help them hold their positions any better. The peak A class constructs just bulldozed over the poor men, starting their rampage, with a rather simple yet brutal command at the forefront of their systems.


    "CHAOS AND PANIC!"

 Chapter 108: The unexpected meeting.

    Carnage. It was the only way to describe the impact point of the two armies. The obvious difference not only in individual unit power levels, but also the unreadiness of the human troops, caused a tragic sight to unfold. The three to five meter large serpent constructs easily disrupted the hastily prepeared shield wall, creating countless holes in the defender line, allowing the rest of the incoming constructs to utilize said breaches to pass the wall and start to tear the humans apart.


    The limbs were torn off by tooth, claw and spikes, crippling countless peaople in but moments and killing even more. The carnage unfolding created a cacaphony of screams, wails and sobs, lowering the already shaken morale in theface of the inhuman attackers. Based on the quality of the troops at the very front, Rex reasoned that the innitial few hours of the first night, if not its entirety will be heavily in favour of his constructs, since he had no issue seeing in the dark, meaning his constructs had no issue either, elevating his advantage even more than it was already slanted in his dirrection.


    So, according to his own plan, he kept the S class constructs at bay for now, only using the A class ones, while at the same time dashing towards a different side of the camp. His body was positively trumming with excitement, barely holding back his bloodlust, clearly expecting the enemy to send some solid force to his location, or just some powerhouses, to stop this rampaging saboteur. There was no way they should leave the lone enemy humanoid attacker to his own devices, especially once Rex will start to utilize the blood of his kills to bring forth more constructs, creating even greater chaos and then he will pull in the S class constructs, upping the chaos even more. In such enviroment, it would make it so much more easy for rex and his united force to tear the enemy apart so much more quicker and efficiently, untill of course the SS class angels would be deployed. Then Rex would leave the location he was on his way towards, to engage and anihilate the white annoying pidgeons. And who knows, maybee there would be another breathtakingly pretty angel lady, much like his Eira, actually worth claiming for himself. His Eira was just such a thirsty angel, it was hard not to wish for another one, to perfect the angel demon duo plays he had in mind. Right now the game was played by him, Eira and Rashuun''s twin daughters she offered Rex way back when. Now, just maybee he would get the chance to equalize the numbers for the angelic side.


    Rex had flown up into the sky, and once he was close enough to his planned striking place, he plumeted down, creating a deafening explosion upon his cescent, flinging everything away in a radius of aproximately five meters from his impact place, leaving a solid crater in his wake as he dashed away from the landing place, his sword already drawn and spilling the blood of his enemies. As always, his incredible speed caused the humans in his near vicinity to have absolutely no chance to even react to the speed with which Rex moved from one cluster of soldiers to another, cleanly slpitting the soldiers into pieces, spilling both blood and guts on the ground.


    Just a few minutes later, a dark red spell matrix glowed behind Rex, within a clear and bloody field of corpses that Rex left behind, the blood of the fallen clearly having been drained in the direction of the blood cirle, though nothing of the blood actually was seen anywhere close. Had anyone of the defenders noticed, a similar chill would have gone down their spines, unfortunatelly, they were far too bussy with the mad demon cleanly and mercilessly culling their comrades. It was then that they probably realized the folly of their current actions, as from the dark blood red circle in the death zone, shot out another figure, just moments later appearing in the sight of the very few who had somewhat maintained their attention on the bloody zone instead of the man who created all that death before their eyes.


    A horse sized mantis with proper scythe like arms, paused just briefly, and then charged in the dirrection of the soldiers, splitting off from the nice and empty field Rex had already cleared out and used for some rather specific exercises. Said blood construct mantis moved with the speed and precision of a hungry predator, the large scythe like arms being swung in a deceptively fast manner, soon spilling its first blood. Then, as if going in a frenzy, the construct charged forward in a mad manner, as if every second it does not spend killing the squishy humans would result in some monstrous punishement that it had no desire to experience. And if the appearance of the mantis construct was a terrifying event, the brightening of the innitial cirlce for the second time and then the emergence of the second mantis blood construct was simply mortifying.


    --------------------


    Heavy clangs and clashes of metal against metal resounded throughout the plain where Echlisiarchies army was stationed and countless screams of pain or rage served as the music that signified the fresh battlefield. Limbs, broken armor, weapons and rare few remains of some fallen constructs were strewn about. Scattered remains of a relatively simple shielded fence that was savagely destroyed upon the construct charge. It had been a few hours since that horrifying event began and with the constructs easily pushing deeper into their camp, the very outer edge of ground zero was now empty of any living combatants.


    Except for one, apparently, as suddenly, one of the corpse piles of the human soldiers started to slightly twitch. Then a bit more, and a bit more. It continiued for a few minutes untill finally, the upper couple corpses fell over, rolling down the small corpse hillthey had occupied. Then a heavy gasp resounded in the immediate vicinity, revealing heavily battered chestpiece that was worn by a rather young man. And while his gear looked atrocious, his body seemed slightly bruised at most.


    Couple more minutes of heavy wheezing later, the lucky soldier slowly rised to his feet, and once on his knees, still catching his breath, he begun removing the armor he was wearing, It was just too busted to serve as a protection. On the contrary, it would only hinder his ability to move and thus survive whatever comes next. Though the man was more than a little happy regarding his current situation. After all, no matter how unlucky one might consider themselves to be, and no matter how bad his current situation might look like, Fred had a few things going for him.


    First, he was alive. No thanks to the god damn Echlisiarhy, thats for sure, what with them chaining and collaring him to use as free chaff to slow down the incoming army that had finally appeared just a few hours ago. No one had told them what to expect, most likely hoping the front lines were deadly enough for all of them to die off in start of the coming great battle. And indeed, most of the people stationed on the ourskirts of the camp were indeed nothing more than cold and stiff corpses by now, or whatever else remained of their mangled bodies strewn around.


    What Fred also had noticed during his unfortunate fight was just how much the constructs had done to pay him as little atention as possible,causing all of his injuries to stem from collateral damage. Now that was more confusing than anything. With yet another heavy grunt he rose from his kneeling position once all the armor was somehow removed from his body, leaving him in a simple and rather sweaty fair of cheap pants and shirt. The sound of battle could still be heard in the distance, deeper in the camp, and with a single glance he could still see a blurry outline of the construct armies back.


    It was when he glanced around he noticed a rather peculiar, and quite disturbing sight. Countless piych black ravens started to land on the ground, and all human bodies that seemed in dirrect contact with said ravens suddenly shattered into mana dust, leaving no other evidence of their existance behind besides the messed up gear said warriors were wearing. Then, one of the ravens landed near him, startling him rather badly and causing him to fall back on his ass. The next thing that happened caused even more confusion in Freds mind. Mana stirred around the raven, and soon, it materialized in the form of common letters, forming a few sentences, clearly ment for his eyes.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Finally awake. Good. Follow the raven, it will lead you to a safer place. There is some food and drink there. Do wait there for a while. I will be there for a small chat in a short while. The angles finally took action, and cant come and have a chat before they are neutralized. The fact you are still alibe should be explanation enough of my friendly intentions. It is not often I meet others like me, who are not from this plane."


    That did cause yet another shock, though this time positively thrilling for Fred. He had been suffering at the hands of Echlisiarchy for quite some time, and quite frankly he was rather fed up with this world he had been dragged to. One simple mistake where he trusted the locals had brought him here after all, so, while still cautious, he was quite enthusiastic about the possibility of another person like him in this atrocious world. And thus, happily, even if slightly vigilant, he followed the raven that had somehow displayed the message.


    And indded, treu to the words before, some thirty minutes later they came upon a small camp that housed a few ravens around as well as a rather large tent that was filled with all kinds of food, and even a small bathtub on the outside, filled with lightly steaming water, inviting him to cleanse the blood and grime covering his body before he stuffs his body full of food. The slave collar that had been adorning his neck for the past few years was damaged during the fight, so he was more than happy to enjoy the brief moment of piece he had been given by his fellow off worlder. he was more than willing to wait, if this was the hospitality of his unknown friend.


    ------------------------------------


    Rex bent his body to the side, awoiding yet another barrage of light blades and spears flying his way, the courtesy of a few dozen of angels, trying to maintain their distance and either exaust his energy or skever his with the countless projectiles they had been throwing at him. Their current caution was to be expected though, after he quickly and easily tore apart the few more impatient and agressive angels that rushed him once the message was sent to ask for their involvement. No, the man in front of them was indeed everything they had asumed about him from what little info they had. Probably even more as he was stil showing no signs of exaustion, nor had he recieved any proper wound. And the man was flghting with eight SS class angels and their acompanying squads of S class angels. The last two squads were the foolish ones who had rushed in and thus torn apart in the mans clutches.


    The angels had been locked in this dane of their for nearly an hour, neither side gaining any sort of advantage, but that in and of itself was an insane boon for the damn archons side. His constructs were still rampaging through the human camp, finally having reached the next few sections of their enourmous camp where the proper army was standing fully ready to intercept and stand their ground, and eventually break and tear apart the constructs. Or so had been the hope of the leadership of the Echlisiarchy. And while the progress of the construct army had slowed down quite considerably, the were still grinding down and exausting the human side. The unreasonable quality and power of the constructs was way beyond any and all expectations.


    And the archon himself was the greatest problem of them all, holding down the entirety of the angel force sent down by their god to assist in this apocaliptic war threathening to end their graces worshipers. That could not be allowed to stand, and yet, here they were, struggling to take down a single enemy. Even worse yet, they were forced to utilize every bit of tactical and strategical advantage they had to even keep the archon at bay, lest yet another one of their flock gets slain. There was a sliver of hope thoough in their current situation. The man should eventually exaust himself and then they could finally strike, ending the nuisance once and for all, and then, they could join the rest of the soldiers in cleaning up the army of constructs, starting with that damn spell circle that was periodically spawning more new constructs, of the mantis variety.


    ----------------------------


    A couple hours later the angels finally noticed a chip in their enemies armor, the smallest of missteps, that was immediatly taken advantage of, with three of their SS class bretheren lunging in, their spears of light shining with blinding light, thrusting forward from three different angles. The skevering was innevitable. It was a foregone conclusion. The man would bea mortally wounded, and even if heaven smiled upon him, and he managed to avoid one of the spears, he would still be increadibly heavily wounded. So then why, why in front of their eyes the man flickered with speed so much past what he was capable, becoming a blurr, avoiding the three spear tips, followed bye wide arching swing of his deplorable blade and ending the lives of three more of his brothers in that single blink of an eye, for that was all it took. Just a single moment in time where the supposed slip up of the archon was turned around into an overwhelming advantage instead.


    And then, the rest fo the angels, in their moment of shock and righteous anger saw it, the smirk adorming the face of the archon. The momentary slip of his, it was nothing more than a trap to lure them into striking, well prepeared and laid out during their hours long tussle. They had been lead around their noses, as the archon was hiding his actual full capabilities, lulling them further and further into the asumption that they had it under wraps, that the victory was in their grasp and inevitable, as long as theiy maintained their their current strategy.


    Yet another blink, and the archon was next to another of their brothers, and just like the ones before, the next brother too was sliced apart by that acursed blade. And then, in the same manner, yet another, and another of their brothers fell. By the time only two of the SS class archangels remained, something happened. The accursed blade trembled in its owners hands. Then, just a moment later it did so again, this time with more power. And then, yet another moment later, a terrifying energy wave exploded from the blade, coloring it dark crimson red, while the hilt slightly changed the form as well. It felt decidedly much darker and sharper as well. The crossguard changed too, displaying a green jewel in the cross section. The barely glowing gem reminded the angel of the demonic fell energies, sending a few unpleasant goosebumps down the remaining angels spines.


    "Ahh, so you have finaly fully grown Limitless." the archon spoke with a fond voice, as he held the blade in one of his hands, sliding the other over the blood red blade with gentle affection, apreciating the change in his blade. Then, he flickered out of their sight, followed by an unholy shriek of pain as the second to last of the archangels was cut in pieces. Yet unlike the previous deaths of his brothers, this time there was a change. This time the blade had done more than just shear the physical form of the angel. No, the blade had harmed the spirit of the angel as well, thus eliciting the horrendous shriek of pain that was heard.


    And so, the last of the archangels, along with the few remaining angels all turned to flee, having understood that the battle was lost, and well aware of the neccesary time of a few minutes to innitiate their return to the heaven. Unfortunatelly, the archon had no plans of the angels returning bacl where they came from peacefully.


    "Dont start what you cant finish!!" He yelled laughing as he flickered between the remaining angels, performing a light swipe with the blade, cutting them all down, each of the angels dying with a soul shaking shriek of pain. His blade had evolved, and seeing its effect on holy beings, such as angels, was more than enough to understand both the general alignement of the law fragment the blade now embodied, and also just how much the man himself had relied on the blade during his campaign against their people.


    "I am what your people created. Dont blame me tor it." He smirked and spoke as he finally appeared before the last archangel, shashing his sword, and easily slicing through the angels shield it had barely managed lift to block the strike. Resignation and a spark of unwillingness reflecting in its eyes. Though in the end, it was still futile, causing it to rekease another soul shaking shriek of pain, just like his brothers before him, as the blade sliced its body in two, causing both parts to quickly scatter in motes of light, though just like with the rest of the recently slain angels, after the blades evolution, the wings of the angel fell to the ground.

 Chapter 109: The meatgrinder of souls and the collosus.

    With the death of the angels the greatest obstacle in his path to victory had been removed, leaving only the mass of soldiers to deal with on his way to the capital proper. A rather long and tiring slog to be sure, purely due to the sheer numbers standing between him and the city, but when compared with the lenght of the campaign, had the Echlisiarchy not listened to his ''invitation'' to one last decisive battle, it was just a quick few hour, on in this case a quick few days worth of effort. So, Rex was more than willing to put in the work now for more free time later. The auction was just behind the corner after all.


    The temporary lack of agression from the constructs in the near vicinity of Rex''s battle with the angels had given quite a few of the defenders the chance to witness the event, causing most of them to slink even deeper in both fear and panic. Quite a number of the smarter men at the front line of the combat dropped their weapons and ran away in utter panic, some even screaming incomprehensible things. Rex, of course ulitilized the temporary advantage his display of might had caused, renewing the ferocity of his attack on the chaff of the defending army. He had to admit, he was slightly suprised, seeming just how many of said defenders continiued to stand their ground and be fed into the meatgrinder that was his incoming freshly summoned blood constructs, still being made and churned out from the spell circle that he had deployed a while ago.


    Rex''s excitement had also calmed down after the angels were dispatched, allowing him to once again asume a proper controll over his monster horde, even if his subconscious processing had done more than just a good job of keeping the main horde efficient, reaping a large numer of the relatively poorly equiped soldiers. His goals did not change, but a note of their strong convictions and unwavering will, for the most part, had to be marked somewhere in his memory. Even with the deserters, there were still a lot of them holding ground and trying their best to kill, or, if that fails, to at least form a containing field that somehow weakens the enemy at hand. There were even a few trully crazed warrioirs who tried to reach him personally, even after the previous display, a glint of insanity reflecting in their eyes. They were swiftly dispatched by Rex of course, once they were close enough to do so. And with basically full tank, and a rather strong desire to speed up the progress rate of this slaughterhouse, Rex once again dived into the fray, wis recently evolved blade reaping through anyone in his path, once again restarting the melody of the soul shaking cries as his blade reaped the lives of the enemies in the droves.


    With each passing minute, more and more of the defenders fell, both to his blade and the constructs, with the defenders every now and then breaking one or several of his constructs in return. Unfortunately for the defending force around here, more constructs were created than the defenders could take them out, creating an endless cycle that the people defending had no way out of. They could only hang on for their dear lifes and hope that in some way or form either their god, or anyone else really, would appear and save them from the coming end. Rex had a suspicion that the leaders of the Echlisiarchy will try to exaust him by just trowing bodies his way, hoping he would eventually slip up. That was their only choice right now as well, what with their top level power houses, in the form of the angles, had already been dispatched. Maybee they should have waited longer before the angels ingaged, but who could have expected that so many of the celestial beings would be taken out with nominal damage to the enemy forces. No, the normal expectation was for said celestials to wipe the floor with the invaders faces, with maybee some light casualities on the teocracies side.


    And so, with no other viable choice, the leadership of the defending force did exactly as expected, trowing their last hope on the chance of exausting the invading archons energy and then send out what remains of their elite forces in one final desperate attempt to cut off the serpents head. Its not like they knew Rex had unlimited supply of energy using drain, ensuring such a scenario could never happen as long as there are targets to drain. And with the nature of his activities, there was always something to drain.


    ---------------------------------


    "Its been two days of nonstop fightning already. Can''t that damn hellspawn tire out already and start making mistakes?!" In frustration exclaimed councilmember Zeke. As a member of a dead noble clan and on his way out of council, for exact same reason, he was one of the more aggrieved lords present at the table. Even if his fall coud not be avoided he wanted to drag the damn reason for his conundrum down with him as well. No matter how corrupt and despicable he was, there were still embers of the noble arrogance and haughtiness in his character.


    "It is indeed vexing. No man should have such stamina without some sort of an adverse effect. Maybee a spell that delays or dissipates exaustion, or something similar?" Questioned council member Marr. yet another lord on their way out of the council, if the words of the damn archon were credible. After this war, their council would no longer be council of twelve, but council of ten, though both Marr and Zeke representatives, while seething with rage and hatred, could still see the possibility of their nation falling entirely.


    And in such a case, they were more than a little interested in how the former territories of Echlisiarchy would split up, creating countless small city states that would be absorbed by the larger neighbors, providing with countless oportunities to start anew. Annoying prospect, but much better thatn the alternative of being left in the dust with nothing to their names but the clothes they are wearing. The result of a succesfull defence that sees their adversiary destroyed. Still, they harbored too much hatred, as well as understanding of the enemy at hand. Should they help him out in any way, form or shape, their end would no doubt be the same as the rest of the council- dead and six feet under, and that was if the enemy was feeling generous. No, all the two fallen nobles could do was wait and pray for mutual destruction of both Echlisiarchy and the attacking forsaken. There was a common sentiment among the councils members. And said sentiment circled around even stricter methods of forsaken extermination going forward. They would redouble their efforts, both within their own nation, as well as outside of it.


    "Their army has already cut through more than a hundred thousand troops as well. Sure, they were mere peasants and the weakest of the warriors, but still we will feel the impact of this war for years to come. Both domestically and abroad. And while I understand that it is neccesary due to our circumstances, note that most of our able bodied men had been drafted in this enourmous army of ours. Too high losses might open us to the agression of our neighbors." speoke another councilmember.


    "How close are the mages to the completion of their ritual?" suddenly asked counciman Bairon, comandeering the discussions and attention of the remaining eleven members the moment he opened his mouth.


    "i believe they still need another day to finalize it." quickly replied one of the advisors present.


    "Then we have no other choice but to continiue as we have. patience is all we have now. We cannot risk failiure at this moment. The enemy is too strong to make another grand mistake like the one with the angels." one again spoke councilman Bairon, bringing their discussion to an end.


    -----------------------------------------


    Rex had been working hard for two days straight now, cutting through hordes of men. Sure, each and every one of them was a weakling of absolute proportions, but he still had a job to be done, so bottling his annoyance at the pathethic opponents sent his way, he continiued on, river of blood forming in his wake. It would have been boring on its own, but there was a small silver lining in all of the repetitive, boring and alltogether uninspired slaughter he was now wading through.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Rex had sensed a rather large amount of mana being moved and molded within the city behind the still enourmous army, clearly some sort of a trump card ment to turn the tables. Rex, unable to resist the temptation, allowed for it to continiue as it had been, at the same time amassing ludicrous amounts of blood and energy one of the spell cirles he had created that was regurgitating blood constructs every now and then. Rex could not, in good consciousness, leave the Echlisiarchy hanging, prepearing his own little somehing special in response to the mana convergence and manipulation happening behind the battlefield.


    On the third day after teh fall of the angels, Rex saw the change in the ritual the enemy had been prepearing for the last few three days, signaling the next stage of their confrontation. Rex asumed the enemy was throwing their last and most desperate attempts at him now, most likely panicking after their surefire trump card of the angels failed so spectacularily. Rex, in response also wrapped up his own spell, his preperations long since done, though he had continiued to siphon the blood of the freshly slain soldiers all the same. The more blood the better and stronger his new construct would be after all. And he had collected quite the amount too, having slain almost two hundred thousand enemies with the help of his construct army, that had finally joined him, having pushed through a veribale mountain of bodies by now.


    A couple of hours later, it finally started. A huge blood red mana circle expanded out from the far end of the enemy army, enveloping most of them in its bloody colour. Then, something that caused Rex jaw to drop happened. Countless scream and wails joined in a chorus, creating the atmosphere of some cirlce of hell. The defenders, one after the other, keeled over on the ground, insane pain coursing through their bodies, bringing forth even more of the painfull moans and screams. Then, with another flash of the enourmous mana circle covering the soldiers, the second change happened. The wailing soldiers suddenly stopped at the same time, a miniscule red smoke rising frome each and every one of them. Then the soldiers rose to their feet, their eyes blank, but the same red steam slowly escaped from the corners of their eyes and rose into the air.


    Rex could see the muddled, trans like state the soldiers were drawn ito, as well how the spell had affected the enemy army. He could clearly see how the array was putting the army in a state of berserk, while at the same time burning up their blood and life force to elevate their power by a considerable margin. It was nothing more or less than a suicide attack that had been innitiated here, and thanks to his ravens flying high in the sky he could also see the extent of the spells range. A few hundred thousand soldiers had been affected. And after a slight pause,each and every one charged towards Rex and the nearest constructs around him.


    Rex could not figure out whether to laugh or be enraged by the sheer audacity and stupidity of the enemy. They had used a rage scale blood and soul magic to turn their defebders into suicide fighters, all in hopes to break most of his army. The sheer difference in numbers finaly could be utilized by his enemy. And as effective as a strategy this was, it should be called incredibly wastefull, what with the number of ther own citizens they were sacrifising. And sure, they would all die under Rex or his construct ''blades'' but that still did not excuse the absolute waste of recourses the teocracy was now making. As a blood and sould mage of quite high atainment, Rex was perfectly ware just how crude and inefficient the spell right now performed was, iritating him a great deal.


    Rex could feel his eye twitching as he examined the makeup of the magical circle, noting a mistake after mistake with its creation and the concept behind its drawing, causing greater and greater disdain for whoever was the creator and executioner of teh circle he was witnessing right now.


    "Grrrrrrrrrr." Angry and growling exhale escaped his throat as he could no longer stand in place as long as that abomination of a blood ritual took place, thus he raised his own hand and activated his own prepeared spell, casuing a similar red shine erupt behind him. Unlike the magical cirlce of the enemy, the one coming to life behind Rex did no expansion, though it did erupt with a powerfull light upwards on its own. then a powerfull, core shaking roar erupted from the large spell cirle behind Rex.


    Using Rex magical cirlce as a gate of sorts, from the other side of that door shot out a trully massive speciment of a blood sky serpent. An enourmous, hundred meter long train sized eastern dragon errupted into the sky, releasing yet another cry one it was high in the clouds.


    "Tear them apart. Leave nothing alive in your wake." Rex spoke in a cold and detached tone, though it was laced with a taste of anger. The dragon construct, even though high in the sky, who should not have heard the command, suddenly dived down towards the human berserk force, releasing a blood red breath attack, melting hundreds with the wide area attack, though it seemed to have done nothing to affect the morale of the remaining living and charging berserkers. The dragon then quickly looped around in the sky, releasing yet another devastating dragon breath crossing the incoming horde or the charging men, leaving a line of scorched earth and burnt to a crisp flesh behind, that was quickly covered up with the remaining charging men, trying to close the distance and reach Rex.


    "Yet another reason to sould drain those cunts at their decision making table." Rex sneered, drew Limitless and stepped towards the charging horde, his hand bent for a wide slashing attck. The next moment he was in the midst of the raging wariors, slicing dozens apart with a single strike, at the same time moving to not get bogged down. The dragon also crash landed a decent distance away from Rex, using its monstrous body as a weapon to crush and tear his enemies apart. The rest of his blood constructs also resumed their slaughter, though now achieving a notably slower progress, credit of the insane ritual the Echlisiarchy had performed.


    -----------------------------------------


    "WHAT IN THE GODS NAME IS THAT??" Exclaimed Sorianna Pratis, daughter of duke Pratis and a high palading of the Echlisiarchy, as she looked towards the enourmous dragon tearing apart their berserkers. Viliam Pratis, her twin brother, another high paladin of the church, stood by her side, with a solemn and grave expression on his face as well.


    "It looks like a dragon, though not a species I have ever seen or heard about." he replied calmly, but weariness clear on his voice.


    "Duhh." With an eye roll Sorianna reacted to the explanation. "I am well aware of what it is. How the fuck can a single man call forth something like that? And worse, keep on going like it was not even worth mentioning? That is what I want to understand, dear brother of mine."


    "Want to go over and ask?"


    "Do I look stupid to you?"


    "Was that a retorical question, or do you want an answer?"


    "Urghhh. You are imposible." she groaned, then turned her head to a lightly armored man to the side of her, away from the duo.


    "Inform the council that the target is even more powerfull than innitially asumed. We seem to be facing a peak SS or even possibly SSS class threat. Have them informed of the likely fall of both the order and the Echlisiarchy. In the name of God, go."


    The lightly armored man nodded and quickly dissapered from the wall, leaving the sibling duo alone once again.


    "Think we stand a chance sister?"


    "Not a chance. He will slaughter us like the babes the cursed nobles are so keen on ending."


    "You think the prophet was wrong, starting his crusade against the archons?" the brother asked.


    "Just as wrong as the nobles in their sinfull practices. But, we are but paladins, the hand that purifies the enemies of our god. We are no priests, we do not lead the flock. We have no right to question those above us, even if we know just how wrong their actions are."


    "Right you are sister. We are but the blade, cutting down whatever the hand holding us swings towards."


    "Come, let us perform our last duty towards this rotten state. Our God will await us with open arms and a smile for our service." She spoke as the due turned and left the wall, walking towards one of the nearby platforms, where a squad of twelve men stood, all adorned in golden armor with sun rising over a sea, each stationed by the side of a pegasus.


    "COMANDER!" the twelve men thundered with the arival of the siblings.


    "Come men, our God awaits us in his kingdom, but we have one last act of service to fullfill. As the trueborn paladins before us, we too must fall in battle, and what better battle than one that threatens the end of our nation. LETS GO AND SHOW WHAT TRUE VALOR IS TO THAT BOY THERE!!"


    "WRAAAAAAA!!!" a shout of unity with weapons clanginf against their shield resounded and the squad mounted their pegasus and rose in to the air, their destination clear- the kingdom of their Lord.

 Chapter 110: Fate of the blades.

    With their resolve steeled once more and together with the rest of their squad, the fourteen paladins rode through the sky on their trusty pegasus, straight into the jaws of the raging beast before them. Their final destination was obviously the afterlife, their souls plucked away from the cycle to spend the rest of eternity in the small heaven of their patron god. Each and every paladin in their squad was just as devout as the twins, following them to certain death without even blinking, all in the name of one last service, before being rewarded for their loyality.


    The group of pegasus knights ignored the enourmous dragon that was rampaging through the berserking wariors of their nation, their eyes dead set on the obvious master of the horde. They had little hope of winning, if any. No, their greatest hope was to die a glorious death in the face of unstopable force and what better target than the most likely SSS class entity that was clearly on a path of Echlisiarchies destruction. There was simply no better story to tell of their final act of service.


    The group took on a wedge formation as they closed in of their human enemy, their lances lowered in an atempt to skewer their target in the charge. An action made much harder due to the constant incredibly fast movements said target was performing, moving from one position to another, slaying multiple men with each reposition. They did however find the perfect opportunity to ''connect'' with their charge, only to be met with a resistance beyond reason, as their pegasus got stuck in place, mere meters away from Rex.


    "Just look what the cat draged here. An extra offering?" Rex chucked as he glanced towards the oddlly unmoving group of knights, their mounts stuck in place for some reason. Rex of course knew why. He was the reason after all. It was a simple deal for him to freeze the blood in their weins just enough to technically stop them in place, reinforced with the thick mana layering he had deployed for quite some time. Sorianna and her squad sensed nothing due to the natural thinning of his aura the further out it went, as well as the numerous constructs that were around, explaining the thickening of the natural mana density in the surroundings.


    A small frown adorned Soriannas face, not geing recognized as a warrior, but the frown quickly dissapeared, her being aware that it did not matter, her death would follow sooon regardless. With their mounts unwilling, or unable to move, she quickly moved towards the next best option, forsaking the heavy lance in her hand, for the much more wieldy sword and shield combo as she jumped of her horse and charged at Rex, her remaining group following soon after. their charge was swift and precise, with Sorianna reaching Rex first and delivering a well executed swing in a dionagal fashion, aimed from his left shoulder to reach his right hip, cutting through most of his torso.


    Her eyes did widen quite a lot when her blade was not blocked with his own, nor was the strike dodged, as she would have expected, though maybee she should have been ready for such a result. The enemy simply caught her blade with a single empty hand, clearly indicating the absolute difference in the two sides power level, as well as his sheer confidence in his ability to overwhelm her. Still, that did not deter her one bit, as the next second she flared her own mana, raising her strenght a notable margin higher and tried to pull the blade back as she atempted to start a spining slash to gain even more momentum for the folowing strike.


    What followed was a slightly comical slip of her body as the blade did not move one bit from the steely grip of her oponents hand and thus, the momentum her body had achieved with the initiated spin had nowhere to go due to her refusal to let the weapon go, in result causing her upper body to halt while her legs followed the started motion, causing her to go airborne for just a moment and then, with the suddenly released blade no longer being attached to anything, she ungracefully landed on her but, causing not only hers, but the now charging members of her groups eyes to grow wide in the embarasment of the situation. The comander had just been manhandled like some child and worse still was the fact their oponent had not capitalised on the insane opportunity the blunder had provided for him. Luckaly for her, the suprise and second hand embarasment her squad felt had not stopped their charge to join her innitiative.


    The next development though was recieved with an entirely different reaction, as her charging squad suddenly collapsed to their knees, as if pressed into the ground by an invisible, but irresistable force. Heavy groans left her subordinates mouths as their muscles bulged to their limits, flared with mana to their full capacity and even beyond, but no matter the effort, they could not even lift their their heads, let alone their armor clad bodies, as a shiver, colder than aything she had ever felt, ran down her spine. It was not the fear of death that she felt just that moment. No, she had a much more dreadfull though that flashed in her mind with the display of the overwhelming supression of her squad.


    "Ahh, the infamous Holy Blade of NAMON and her squad of pegasus riders. How sweet of you to offer yourself and your squad on a silver platter like this." The man spoke, a slight chuckle escaping his lips.


    "Have you come to recieve your glorious death, to join your god''s side? has qour squad come to do the same?" he asked with a slight mocking tone, then his light chuckle turned into a full blown laughter.


    "That would be such a waste." he spoke amidst his laughter, his tone still light with the same slight sarcastic undertone, though the next sentence was filled with malice and mocking that made her entire group feel true dread deep in their hearts.


    "Dont you think so too, sweetie?"


    "A group of innitial SS class entities should not be wasted like that." With the cheerfull and sarcastic tone their enemy spoke once again.


    "No, I think not. And besides, death right now would be a reward, not punishement that you deserve. No, no no no, I have a much better plan, yes I do." He held a momentary pause for a dramatic moment, before going on with his evil boss mini speech. Any nerd has thought of such a thing at least once and Rex reasoned that this was the moment he could afford to check that one off his bucket list.


    "I think, that a proper branding would be, oh, so much better. And then, as the blades that you have deemed yourselves, you will fullfill the last mission in that state of being, though now in my hand."


    "NEVER! WE WILL NOT BEND TO YOUR SICK WILL!" she shouted from her sitting position, a strained groan of agreement echoing from her collapsed men.


    "A blade does not choose the hand that wields it. You dont have a voice in this." Rex smirked as one of his hands gripped the back side of her armors by her neck, the other doing the same on the front side, followed by a creaking of metal, as her breastplate was torn open, revealing her form fitting undersuit. With free access to her torso and neck, one of Rex hands then rather tightly captured her neck, his magic flaring with overwhelming intensity, as a pained scream escaped Sorianna.


    "No, no, no, no, no." slight whimpers escaped her mouth as she had collapsed after the brand was placed. Then, a desperate wail followed.


    "NOOOO!!!"


    Tears streamed down her face as the reality settled down on her. She was denied the one thing she had worked her whole life for, the one reason that made all those repugnant actions she and her squad had done bearable. She understood well and trully, she could never be by the side of her god. She was branded, claimed by the archon before her, denied for all eternity from her Gods side. Yes, that realization struck her hard, much harder than the understanding that the monstrous fighter Neo, who was believed to be the reason for this attack, was also the unreasonably powerfull blood mage Rex, that Echlisiarchy had been building more plans to get their hands on. No, that realization and the ridiculuousness of the situation struck her already shocked form a while later.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Rex did not waste his time however, effortlessly branding the rest of the pegasus riders, including her brother, though he did not even tear their armor to achieve this. No, they additional shock was delivered with breaking the unbending form of their comander, leaving them much easier to brand in their shocked states. The despair on their comanders face and her wails were more than enough for Rex needs. He so disliked wasting energy on little games he did not have to.


    With the squad branded and Soriana still in her daze, struck by one heavy realisation after another, Rex switched his attention the the rest of the berserkering horde of the enemy, now mostly slain by his colossus eastern dragon as well as the rest of his force. Though he noted that quite a lot of his constructs had been torn down as well, so, as the nice enemy he was, Rex quickly activated his magic once again, trying to right that particular wrong as soon as possible. They could not have too few constructs for the enemy to kill, after all. No, Rex''s consciousness did not allow for such a thing, no sir, it did not. And so, the good samaritan that he was, under the influence of his mana, many blood red circles appeared, sucking up the rivers of blood that were once again forming in the body filled battlefield and just moments later more and more blood constructs emerged from aforementioned circles, quickly replenishing his numbers. Echlisiarchy however, did not have such convinient methods, what with them not being proper blood or soul mages as well as the fact that Rex was employing constructs as his own army, seriously limiting the ability to repurpose the quickly disipating remains of the fallen ones.


    With the quickly replenishing numbers on his side, as well as the enourmous collossus on his side, the speed at which his forces advanced suddenly rose notably, giving him more and more energy and status growth, no matter how small per instance, as, at the far end of the corpse field, his ravens were working overtime to drain the bodies left behind, refilling his energy reserves and cleaning out the corpses. There was no way Rex would leave such an enourmous biohazard behind for the Svergi to deal with. These would become their lands after all.


    With the last ditch effort of Echlisiarchy taken care of and the presence of his collossus, Rex no longer had to be on the very front lines, allowing him to sit back in the palaquin on his carrier construct and focus on controlling his construct army a bit more. the pegasus riders, Soriana excluded, had been ordered to keep to the skies and take out any points of resistance that managed to notably slow down the advance of his constructs. And with a bit more leasure at his hands, Rex decided to unite a few of the tasks he had to deal with due to his absence from home for a few days.


    With Soriana sitting at the side, still shocked and listless to her surroundings, Rex opened a gate to Elysion, and moments later through came his readheaded Veran Seriss, his ''fallen angel'' Eira and Vivian, all three women beaming with joy and unhidden desire in their eyes.


    "The more focus intense part of this cleansing is done, allowing me to focus on other important tasks." Rex smiled at the trio as he spoke, leaning bakc into the rather comfortable sofa, spearding his legs apart and patting with both hands on the sofa by his sides. Eira, being the thirstiest of them all, nearly dived forward, sliding between his legs as her wings fluttered with happiness, causing the other two to pout for a moment and then take a position on either of his sides, leaning into Rex, his arms enveloped in their magificent busts, as Eira pulled at his pants and dived in. Rex could enjoy the last leg of his conquest after all.


    ----------------------------------------


    "Fuck, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" raged one of the councilmen sitting at the table in Rahen''s main castle.


    "How is this even possible?" cursed another one, having witnessed yet another failiure of their side to stem the advance of the enemy forces.


    "Huffff." Heavy exhale escaped the lips of lord Bairon, as he adressed the advisors and mages by the tables side. "Do we have any other last measures that could possibly solve the conundrum before us?"


    A heavy silence hung in the air, the sorcerors going over any and all fringe knowledge of less than questionable methods in thier arsenal, but in the end they all came up short. What could even hope to stall, let alone take down a goddamn SSS class entity? They were the pinacle existances, demigods in all but name. It was clear that eventually their enemy would conquer one of the deep floored dungeons and claim the spark that was contained within its core, begining his ascent into godhood, eventually joining the rest of the gods on a throne of his own, leaving behind a legends for millenia to come. And they, they would be just a footnote in his legend. One of the first of many of his unreasonable achievements on his path to his rightfull place.


    "Hufff" another heavy sigh escaped from the most respected and feared mans lips in the room, "I suppose you can all scurry away now, indulge in whatever fetishes you have. I doubt any of us here will have the luxury of escaping whatever is coming for us."


    ''Indeed, I would go so far as to advice you to end your lives before HE reaches the city.''  He thought in his head, but not spoke out loudly, clearly aware of more than the rest here, but still keeping it to himself. He reasoned it was a just punishement for their failiure as the council to asess the thearts and deal with them apropriatly.


    "The councill is hereby dismissed." He spoke one last time as he rose from his seat and slowly left the room, having come to terms with both his and his nations absolute fall.


    The rest of the councilmembers did not seeit that way. Be it their arrogance or the corruption from their detestable hobbies, they still had a glint in their eyes, a few sinister plots trying to actualize in their rotten minds.


    "What if we surendered? Place a few pupets in our place, sacrifice them and then when a new leadership is installed under the coman of the dman forsaken, we come out of the hiding and controll the country from the shadows. There is no way a purge like in the counties could be actualized here. There can''t be anyone as shortsighted as that, can there?" one of the remaining councilors questioned.


    "Of course not. The amount of wealth our capitals and Rahen combined provides over a year is too large for any man to ignore. yes, lest do just that. We need to quickly find a few fools to use as the replacement. What of lord councilman Bairon?" questioned another.


    "Heh, if he so wishes to fall, who are we to object?" smirked another one. Why would they not remove the one absolute pillar of authority from the councill if they themselves were not said pillar.


    They quickly came to an agreement and set out to find their puppet replacement and prepeare what they could for the coming ''change of leadership''.


    ---------------------------------


    The next couple of days Rex spent leisurly anihilating the remaining forces defending Rahen, though he had noticed that some of the parts of the army had silently retreated during the chaos. He noted tha tit was no more than a few hundred soldiers at a time, those fleeing in panic not including. No, those retreats were organized and planned, slightly peaking his curiosity, so a raven or two were asigned to spy on said units. None of the three ladies who had arived a few day ago was willing to return, with a few others coming and going every now and then. They all had their needs, and Rex, being the hard working and loyal man he was tended to them all, not neglecting his current task either.


    Seriana was also lucid now, having been jolted out of her listless state by a small soul pain just a few hours ago. A heavy blush, as well as a frown adorning her face. She was now dressed in a rather revealing low cut dress, displaying a large cleavage cut in the dress from neck to navel, providing an exotic view at her voluptious bust while still being acceptabe wear in public. Her toned legs also were on display, the large cut in the dress side making sure of that.


    Rex saw her brooding expression, cleary due to his relaxed nature even as his constructs culled people by the hundreds every passing minute. And the blush obviously due to the sexual nature of the acts Rex had been performing with his women.


    "Ow, stop your brooding Seriana. Soon enough you will be on your knees and pleasing me just like the girls you saw before. Why do you think I have you watch and learn?" he smirked and spoke, causing even larger furrowing of her brows.


    "You did not think I would stop with only denying you the chance to be by the the side of your lord, did you? Ha ha ha ha. By the way, it seems your council has the foolish asumption I am not going to purge your sicophantic nation. Funny isnt it? They are still desperately clinging to whatever delusions they can come up with just to not admit their failiure and inevitable end."

 Chapter 111: Fall of the council. Part 1.

    With the undending rampage of his colossus, as well as the precise strikes of his pegasus knights, the resistance Echlisiarchy''s army could put up was dwindling with every hour the fight kept going on, bringing the siege of the city closer and closer. Though Rex was more than sure there would be no true siege to be had. Not with the colossus that he had at his beck and call. No, breaching the walls would be easier than ever before and with the addition of a unit of SS class humans with angelic bloodlines, he could not see the capital city Rahen lasting long at all. Sure, there would be resistance, there always is, but since Rex was not here to take over the rule of the people present, but to remove them from existance, the unwillingness to cooperate from the local residents was only natural, regardless of how pointless and insignificant it was.


    And so, in a few more days of constant bloodshed Rex''s army of constructs was knocking on the city walls. As he had planned beforehand, his colossus made short work of a section of the city wall, making more than sizable breach for his remaining constructs to push through. Rex had not been idle in the last few days, constantly working on expanding his construct army, having reached a solid hundred thousand by now, effectively doubling the numbers under his controll in comparison to the start of the final battle. he had to not only erase the capital off of the face of the earth, inhabitants and structures alike, but then send off his army, split in multiple units to the remaining teritories he had yet to purge. Of course, with the most of the capable men slaughtered in this final confrontation, his constructs will have a much easier time finishing the job, allowing for relatively smaller squads to be sent out.


    That did not mean he would slack off on his own self imposed rules, not quite ready, or willing, to let any pockets of the cancer that the Echlisiarchy''s doctorince and pure hatred for archons to remain and propogate their sick ideology any further. No, it would end with the current generation and if he earned a reputation of a tyrant, that goes to the extremes when he is angered enough, all the better. That would become an aditional layer of security for both Blythe and his people.


    So, with the walls breached and his constructs pouring in, begining their slaughter as per ussual, Rex focused his attention on the main task at hand, namely gathering the twelve council members together and introducing them to the soul drain technique. He was not very fond of the technique, having clasified it as one of the worst possible things to do to a soul, but sometimes there were specimens that demanded the most cruel of punishments and in Rex''s humble opinion, the council lords were one such group. Becoming a serial murderer after a particularily traumatic childhood Rex could still understand, and even sympatize with the plight of the villain. There would be an obvious cause and effect, but the shit the council lords had ordered, the shit they indulged in their free time as a relaxing activities, well theiy were heavily in line with the practices of their respective families, at times going so far beyond the most wicked and twisted ways, even Rex felt a metaphysical nausea. And that, well that was a feat in and off itself.


    Since Rex was in the last strech of his campaign, he decided to do the honors himself, quickly moving towards the first location of interest. It was a rather luxurious mansion on the outskirts of the noble district, paired with a well maintained walled garden of quite spectacular size as well. From a birds eye view, teh garden revealed a rather large expanse of densly covered, but well maintained forested area, clearly a part of the owners frequent games. being the outdoor area with quite the asortment of birds and smaller creatures, his ravens have had a rather easy time infiltrating it, providing Rex with quite a bit of info of the things happening in the well maintained personal park of said noble.


    The personal park had been used as a hunting ground of the noble and his friends, the prey delivered from all acorss the continent and beyond. That, on its own did not warrant much of a response. The councill no doube was bussy, limiting the ability of their members to travel around and slake their thirst for a proper hunt. Well, that would be the case if the preffered game of the noble would not be children of the sentient races and that included humans and other ''allied'' childern of the light. And the better off the children and the more they struggled during the hunts, the more said noble was willing to pay for the game he had enjoyed, employing quite a few mercenary companies to provide him with quite the selection of quarry.


    One such hunting game was actually just started, clearly a celebration of the succesfull execution of their replacement plan, leaving the thrue masterminds out of the harms way, or so the nebles thought. Rex spent little to no time, taking in the current situation in the park, flaring his aura and mana, caralling the frantically escaping kids in one dirrection, having them getting closer and closer to each other with his actions. Soon, the children stoped in a small clearing, clearly spooked opon seeing the others entering the same clearing. They had ran in different dirrections, hoping to somehow escape the pursuit, not aware of the confined nature of the location, guaranteeing their eventual demise. Rex too soon apeared before them, his inhuman eyes working as a calming agent instead of the absolute terror it would instill in his enemies. The kids were well aware of the hatred between Echlisiarchy and archons, so there was no way the young adult archon was working with their captors.


    "Heh, not every day I see the sight of my eyes calm people down. Ussually its the other way around. Though admitedly, I have spent too much time lately in the teritory of Echlisiarchy so that kinda makes sense. Seems like we have quite the smart group collected this time." and seeing the sudden alerted glances to the sides at his words, Rex elaborated.


    "Sorry, might have made a misunderstanding. While yes, I have been observing the place for a while now, and I have witnessed more than a single of their hunts here, before I was not quite in the position to interfere. Now, however, I was close enough to act. So, the good news is that you will all get to live and go on your own way, as long as you listen to orders for a day or two. I have some business here and cant leave instantly, thus creating the need for a moment of obedience from you. The bad news is that you dont get to have any sort of revenge on the noble cunts responsible for your current situation. Though that particular information comes with a caveat, a pleasant one for you. Whatever I am going to do with them is so much worse than anything you could imagine, you dont want to actually see it take place. So, what say you? Are you capable of following me around for a little while, and maybee, just maybee see a small bit of your grievances quelled?"


    It did not take a genius to figure out the safest path for the kids and in no time at all, each and every one of them nodded their heads in agreement.


    "Wonderfull." Rex clapped his hands and spoke. "Shall we go and collect my spoils before we move you to a safer place for the time being." Then Rex yelled out a name ''''SORIANA!" and shortly after a pegasus with a beautifull lady in rather speldid armor landed next to the group.


    "Protect the kids while I deal with the shits in th forest, also, be a dear and point out the council member for me, will you."


    "Understood master." she replied, switching her focus to the surroundings, though the children were guarded against her, the clear paladin gear not helping her.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Dont mind her. I took her from Echlisiarchy and made her my branded slave, so she is of absolutely no danger to you kids. As long as you dont try to hurt me or her that is."


    With a small flare of his mana, Rex mapped out the small wooded area, noting the locations of the hunters, turning in the dirrection of the closest one and moving towards said group, with Soriana and the kids folowing along. In just a few minutes they came face to face with a noble born, acompanied by a group of mercenaries, evident by their aged, but well maintained gear and the general sharpness of their gazes and movements.


    "The fuck are you?" spat one of the mercenaries, then, upon noticing the group of kids and the exquisite woman on the pegasus, he exclaimed in confusion "The fuck?"


    "Commander Soriana? But? How are you alive?" The noble stammered, clearly quite belivdered by the sight of the high paladin before his eyes. In the corner of his eye he noticed the forsaken looking towards her and Sorianas shaking head, followed by her response to the inquiring gaze of the archon.


    "Just a minor noble lord. Not a council member."


    "Good to know." Rex noted, his arm moving towards the hilt of his sword. One firmly in his hand, he moved forward, dissapearing from the sight of everyone present, with Soriana barely able to follow his movement. Then Rex appeared in front of the group, slashing at them as he drew the sword from its scabbard, ending the lives of the entire group, earning a few exclamations and a few cries of joy. With a swift motion of his hand, spalltering the remaing blood off of the blade and the returning it to its scabbard, Rex turned his head to the few kids who had exclaimed with happiness at the demise of the mercenaries.


    "I take it they are the one that brought you here, most likely raiding your home vilages and such?"


    Recieving a few nods and repeated ''Thank you'' from said kids, Rex just shrugged, offering them a light smile and a few words.


    "You are welcome I suppose. Same thing gonna happen to the rest of the mercs present. Dont have much love for ones who would be willing to provide for the likes of these scum."


    It was obviously slightly hypocritical of him to judge the mercenaries with all the shit he has done during his own campaing in the lands of Echlisiarchy, but he had a simple rationalization of his judgement. He was taking care of scum, despicable people who could barely be considered civilized due to the doctorine and faith they practiced and preached. These mercs hunted ordinary, hardworking fold and then brought the kids here to be hunted and slaughtered for sport. So yea, Rex felt more than justified in making a rather obvious distinction between himself and the people here, the kids not including.


    The same scenario was repeated a couple of times as Rex and the kids encountered a few other groups of lesser nobles joining in the small hunt that had been organized here. Untill finaly, funnily enough, upon encounering the last group within the hunting grounds, Soriana confirmed Rex guess.


    "The blond man with the overly ornate sword is one of the councilmen. The chubby blonde by his side is one of his daughers and the pretty blonde on the horse a bit further back, besides the mercenary captain is his eldest one."


    "Good to know. Neos Holy Whores are lacking a few noble woman, so it works out perfectly." Rex nodded in agreement, and in just a few moments dispatched all of the mercenaries and the guards present, eliciting a scream of panic from the chubby daughter and a gasp from the eldest one, leaving only the councilman and his two daughters alive, who, soon enough, were disarmed and tied up with ropes and a few magical seals, making them incapable of resisting. Though the trio was shocked and scared enough to not have any ideas of resistance in mind. Their enemies were just too much beyond their skill level, how else were Soriana claimed by the enemy if not even more overwhelming power. And that idea, it was trully terrifying.


    In a similar manner, not before sending of the kids he had with him, Rex moved around the city, collecting the remaining members of the actual council, his constructs having already surrounded the remaining ones, each in turn revealing yet another party where they indulged in their sick hobbies. And unlike with the kids, with most other places Rex and Soriana arived well past the rescue time, revealing a multitude of differently brutalized and torn apart corpes of the poor sods who had fallen in the clutches of the damn nobles.


    "Quite impressive is it not? The levels to which the true leadership of your nation has fallen ever since the new commandment left your prophets lips and were recorded in the annals of history. Tell me, do you feel just as proud of what your nation has become as you were whne you started to serve? Just as proud as you were before the barrier around this nation was erected?" Rex asked cassualy as he and Soriana walked towards the main assembly hall of the council, eleven, by now decently beat, nobles in chains were dragged along by a blood construct. Even to the overly arrogant and haughty nobles it was clearer than day, they were dragged towards their ultimate destination. An end of the road none of them wanted to see and come to. Though at this point in time, there was basically nothing they could do to save their own hides from the inevitable end.


    "It has been a long time since I looked at my home with fondness, all too aware of the corruption and rot eating it away, a small piece by piece over time. And yet, as the blades that we were, there was nothing we could do, besides bowing our heads and following orders." Soriana was clearly unhappy with how she had acted beforehand. Unhappy, but not repentant, indicating that her aproach most likely would be the same, were she to go through it once more right now.


    "We have to be the change we want to see, not bow our heads and trod along, hoping for someone else to do something about the messed up shit that happens all around us." Rex spoke, giving his opinion on the matter, though more as a ,atter of fact, than personal ideology.


    "Is that why you started this senseless crusade?"


    "Heh. Thats a bit harsh, dont you think? Besides, how many times should I just ignore blatant attempts on my life? I have been far too generous in acting only after the third time."


    "Beg your pardon?" confusedly questioned Soriana, visibly distrought about the revelation.


    "Hmmm? Did I not share that yet? The reasons for my absolute decisivness in this purge of mine? Ow well, allow me to elaborate then. I will start from the latest ones then. The final nail, so to speak, was the attack of a rather sick inquisitor and his patsies when I was in the heart of Blythe. Deployed a barrier, the dumb cunts, and happily yapped about how they will purge my sins through pain and once I would be broken, they would send my sould to be cleansed by your god or some sort of insanity like that. not too long before that, a party from Echlisiarchy attacked me in the dungeon as soon as they noticed my eyes. Though there was a bit of tracking and staking involved on their side. And the first one was when teh elders of one of your villages discarded me in the woods, as the customs dictate to be done with ''forsaken spawns''. So you see, THE ROT had set in the entirety of your people, thus bringing us to the current situation."


    The remaining walk towards the main catedral, where the council held their meetings and steered the path and policies of the nation, was rather quiet, neither Rex nor Soriana speaking, both deep in their own thoughts. Rex was clearly more relaxed, lightly smiling even, unlike Soriana, who had more than a simple frown adorning her face. No, she was full on scowling, more than a little repulsed by the knowledge she had learned from Rex just a while ago. She believed, naively so, that the discarding of the infants had been abolished long ago and while Rex''s case would indeed be an old one, the fact that he survived, no matter how, was more than enough to justify some sort of a retaliation. Add the two latest attacks, both in another country and suddenly, the extreme reaction of teh archon somehow starts making sense. If ones mind is brought towards the belief of ''either me or them'', it desnt need a genious to figure out which path would a being as powerfull as her new master would take. Did not make it easier to swallow, or accept his course of actions though, no matter how understandable they want to present themselves as. In the end that did not matter much. It was a decision, as well as the consequences of making said decision that Rex had to live with, not her. She was an unwilling slave in this all. Forever bound and branded, but a slave nonetheless. Just do as the master orders. Be the sword once more and it will all be as simple and ''black and white'' as it used to.

 Chapter 112: Fall of the council. Part 2.

    The grand hall was an enourmous building. Built from white marbe, with quite the magnificent garden, filled with numerous aromatic roses and countless statues of angels , all around it. Large, well decorated and grafted columns decorated the road that led to the main entrance, though now, it was also littered withe the corpses numerous defenders in warious states of dismemberment, their blood pooling at a rather inconvinient point in the middle of the aproaching path, displaying a small mistake in the design of the place, the small drain blocked by a body of a rather fat nobleman, giving the place a rather dark and sarcastically humorous view. At the very least, with Rex words


    "It trully reveals its splendor with the aid of noble blood of this nation."


    Rex chuckled, then not seeing the purchase of his humor in the visage of his current companion and the nobles being dragged along, he sighed, shrugging his shoulders.


    "Tough crowd today it seems." Rex could not help himself. This rather arduous, if somewhat productive........


    Who was hetrying to fool? He himself knew better than anyone just how ineficient thi campaign had been, On a pure growth aspect he could have spent a month devling deeper in one of his already started dungeons, far surpassing whatever he had gained during his crusade. Though the fact he had run into and subsequently saved his sister from a likely death, either by suicide, there at the graveyard where he met her, or suicide after the damn toll collector would have finished having his way with her. That alone was more than reason enough to justify this part of his new life. Still, he felt glad that he was almost done and very soon, could return to a more relaxed and pleasant activities. He had a couple of brats on the way, a lot more willing ladies waiting for their turn, a GOD expecting more and more entertainment, even if unspoken and with no dirrection. Still, there was far too much to enjoy in this world. Countless continents, islands and dungeons to explore. Numerous races and cultures to witness and much, much more. But first, first he would finish what he started, thenbe present for the second auction hosted by Blythe and then, well, who knows.


    The large metalic doors, lined with numerous golden engravings smoothly opened with a simple push of Rex''s arm, revealing a pristine path forward, not a single guard in sight. After a quick surge of both mana and aura, Rex sensed only a single person within the grandious building, sitting in the largest and central meeting room.


    "Well, well. It seems we are expected. Come along." Rex smiled lightly as he took the front position of their group, consisting of him, Soriana, the chained council members and now the remaining paladins of pegasus knights, finishing the procession. In just a few minutes they reached the room in question, once again the door in front of their group easily opening with a light push. The building was indeed in a pristine condition, Rex had to admit. It was also a rather magnificently crafted piece of art, no matter how much Rex would like to deny it. It was also old, very much so, but the constant and continious care had kept it in a pristine condition.


    "I have to say, one upon a time your peopel must have been worthy of respect. Sadly, there is nothing left of them now." Rex begrudingly admited, entering the room.


    What faced him was an incredibly well crafted marble table, with some extremely high quality twelve chairs surrounding it. All the chairs, mini thrones even, were adorned with plush cussioning and plenty of gems and jewels, indicating the eccessive luxury and wealth they represented. Only one of the chairs was occupied, and old and tired man sitting in his seat.


    "Damn, you look a decade older than a few days ago. Ate something bad?" Rex smirked, revealing he had a way of keeping tabs on the enemy leadership, even if in a limited capacity, though there was no sudden gasp or any other action that imply a suprise on the old mans face or in any of his actions. Only a small sigh, a sign of an expected piece of knowledge being confirmed.


    "Though as much." the councilman Bairon spoke, his words even and calm, not loud, not quiet either, spoken with enough volume to be heard by the group standing in front of him at the door.


    "Here to finish the job I asume?" he asked, momentary glancing towards the remaining bound councilmen.


    "Ahh, I see you have gathered everyone. He, he. I suppose thast for the best. Woud''nt want to take over with rodents still insfesting the gardens. Smart. Cough, cough." Rex could see that his campaign had also hastened the already decaying health of the most feared and respected councilman in the last century.


    "I have yet to figure out your vice old man." He spoke, seeing as the Bairon elder was waiting on him to say something. "Everyone esle, including your family had beenrather easy to catch with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar, but you, you have eluded me. Care to enlighten me before your end?"


    "Cough, cough." the old man coughed, but apparently humored the enemy lord in front of him, withdrawing a stack of papers from his storage ring. "Have a look. This is my hoard. My sick and twisted hobby, so well hidden not one of my fellow nobles were aware of it."


    Rex walked over, not worried one bit about the old man, who exuded not an ounce of aura, mana or even desire to fight. He was tired, and finally ready to enter the cycle, having doen his best to live a good life acording to his own principles. He examined the stack of papers, his face displaying a rather prominent frown.


    "Oi, is this what I think it is?" Rex ganced at the old man, his arms moving in his field of vision, his left hand formed an OK sign, while his right hand folded into a fist, then extended his index finger and moved it back and forth through the circle made of the connecting index finger and thumb of his left hand.


    "Really?" Then he looked towards Soriana and theremaining council. "How much part has he taken during the council meetings before the rise of the barrier?"


    "I have rarely been here during any of those, though from my experience he tends to say nothing, leaving the decisions to the rest of the council, as if he was there to just fill in the position, not caring of the decisions made." Soriana spoke, seiing noone else daring to pone their mouths. They had been moved to sit in their respective seats during this time, their mouths no longer gagged at this point, though still mostly chained and incapable of much else.


    "You have seen the state of my house, have you not? It was better to sit here and do nothing, than let anyone of my blood make decisions here." the old man slowly spoke. "Could I have done something to reign in my people? Probably. Did I care enough by this point? Not really, thus the result. So tell me archon, what was the plan of bringing us together here? Surely there is more than just gloating in store for us. I dont think even for a second you are that kind of a man."


    "Normally, I would proceed with the torture righ about now, but seeing your vice, I find it kinda hard to do so." Rex replied, once again looking over to the parchments, dsiplaying several letters and a few portraits of quite beautifull women, some even with a child or two and some more with young adults in them.


    "I asume none of the kids are like the mothers?" Rex asked now, not seeing the distict archon eyes in the children, unlike the mothers in the portraits.


    "Good thing too. Cough, cough. Could be hard to deal with my condition. Plus that was a double blessing. They were safe from any of the inquisitors who could have wandered into the towns they lived in."


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Yes. Rex was suprised as all hell by the vice of the most powerfull and feared of the Bairen blood. The man had an insatiable sexual apetite for archon women. So much so that he had embraced them whenever he met one during his travels outside of Echlisiarchy.


    "Could have curbed a lot of the shit that lead to this you know. Why didnt you?" Rex asked, rather interested in the mans answer.


    "Heh, cough, cough. I am but a single man in a den of vipers. No matter how well protected and skilled I am, there will always be an opening that would be exploited. I would just end up dead much sooner and then there would be no unseen protecors for them." he tgestured towards the stack of papers he had placed on the table.


    "And besides, my inactivity did finally drew you to deal with us, did it not? Cough, cough. I say I did my job well enough while looking out for my own." A slight smile appeared on the mans tired face.


    A few minutes of silence followed as Rex processed the words he had just heard, not one of them being a lie, or so his senses told him. Then Rex slowly lifted his hands and clapped them together once, then slowly did so again, and again, increasing the pace bit by bit, untill it resulted into a rather slow, but rithmic clapping.


    "Bravo sir, Trully." Rex had to admit, the man had played his cards well, allowing the rotten carcass to roll untill it hit soemthing that would burn it to the ground, while ensuring that his own people had long escaped said carcass, avoiding the coming calamity. And unlike Rex, who could do as please, the old man had too many limitation and too many possible enemies to solve the rot any other way. He had, rightfully so, realised that only a proper purge of the nobility and upper echeaolons of their society could their nation start its healing process, and maybee, one day it could reach the prosperity it had once in the ages past.


    "You know, there is only one small hickup in your plan, as good as it is." Rex spoke once he was done applauding the old man for his selfishness and ingeniuty at the same time. "I am a slight bit genocidal towards your people. Been ensalving or eradicating everything along my path. Where I walk, no Echlisiarchian remains. Cant quite recover and heal if not even corpses remain behind, can you? Though perhaps, just maybee I dont have to trully exterminate every single one of you. Your god must be watching, surely. Think he has enough juice to send down and angel that rebuffs the retarded teachings of his last prophet, working on fixing the coming generations? You will all die, regardless. Just so you know. Will let you through to the cycle though. Not the rest. No, I have something special for them. Same goes with the nobles, no ones gonna survive as a free person. Death or slavery is all they can hope for."


    "I wouldn''t expect otherwise, though I do hope that mercy for the common folk could be found in your heart, orwhatever black void you have there. And yes, I do believ our Lord is prepearing such an agent as we speak, most likely poised to descend once you are done with us, should there be our people to descend to, that is."


    "Good thing I dont need to oversee that. Purging nobles and leaving the rest alone could be doable." Rex thought for a moment. "Meh, will consult my women later." he shrugged his shoulders.


    "Well, that was fun." he grinned as he stepped back from the old man, arriving near one of the the remainng councilmen sat in their seat, tremling even more now than before. Little did they know the trembling they experienced now was nothing with what was to come. And so, Rex hand landed on the head of the councilman he had stood next to, his hand slowly squeezing said head, stopping once it was firmly in his grasp, a cry of pain escaping the poor bastard in his grip. And then then it started. A white, semi transparent energy surged over the man, bringing out the first of many soul shaking shrieks as the man started to toss around, desperatelly trying to dislodge himself from the vice like grip, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs as if his life depended on it, and it sure did, though not in a way that made sense to the poor bastard.


    Rex did go somewhat slow with the drain on his first victim, elongating the suffering his first subject of the day. To ensure that the remaining recipients patiently awaited for their turn he pressed on them with his mana, locking each in their own seats, denying any chance of an attempted escape. Some of the members, lord Bairon not including, had already tried to get on their feet and make a desperate attempt at escape, no matter how impossible it would be. Almost no one was crazy enough to just sit and await their torturous demise.


    A couple minutes later, the shrieks finally ended, with the body of the first councilman shattering in incredubky small and dispersing mana dust, leaving no trace of the mans existance behind, his clothing and jewelery not witstanding. Those all fell to the ground, no longer supported by the body that had worn them. And to add yet another level of terror to their current situation, Rex delivered the kicker.


    "Ow, and this death here, will be the final one you will ever experience. What I am doing here is true and proper soul death. No reincarnation wheel for you fucks."


    That knowledge was what made the already terrified councilmen to start trembing even more, some even pissing themselves in fright. Then came the wailing and begging, promising secrets and whatever else they could think of, in hopes of avoiding their coming fates. Rex slightly grimaced, clearly annoyed by the wails and pointless begging, his mind set on this part of his plan. So, he moved his mana once more, shutting the remaining ten councilmen up, since lord Bairon was just sitting in his place, awaiting his turn. Then Rex picked one of his ears with his pinky, scoffing and remarking about the annoyance of the pointless noice he had just been put through.


    What followed in the next half hour was more of the soul shaking cries of the councilmen, whose souls were slowly shattered one after the other, untill only the lord Bairon remained. The paladins were going through the space rings of the now deceased councilmen, taking notes of the contents and sorting them. An order Rex had given them after the third councilman was disposed of. Rex stood in front of lord Bairon and looked at him.


    "Well, seems like you are the last one remaining. Got anything to say?"


    "A shame that, I suppose. The true end of the road. I believe there is meaning in the cycle, even if I am not aware of it. Being plucked from it is undeniably not prefferable, but if that is the price I have to pay for the end of this monster my home nation had turned into, well, so be it."


    "Ha ha ha ha." Rex lightly laughed at the mans words. "Quite the resolve you got there old man, but a bit wasted in this case. Funny, isn''t it?" Rex asked as he glanced towards on of the windows, a thoughtfull look on his face. "I left a mountain of bodies and countless rivers of blood behind me in this quest of mine, killing and enslaving everyone from your country and yet, all it took was one old amd decrepit man with a fetish for archon women who shoved a possible alternative. A possibility, that maybee, I dont have to exterminate the entirety of your people. That maybee they can be redeemed."


    Then Rex looked back towards the old man in front of him "I am still purging the nobles, repurposing part of the territory for the use of my Svergi friends and a few other things, but I suppose a soul on its way to the wheel has no use for the info."


    The old lord Bairons eyes widened at those words, but before he could speak, his head fell of his shoulders, cleanly seperated from his body by a swift and decisive slash from Rex. He had drawn another simple sword from one of his storage spaces, cleanly ending the old mans life.


    "Have a nice and honest next life old man. Ow, and snag a wench or two, you no doubt deserve it."


    Rex withdrew a chair from his space ring and sat on it, his mind in deep though. He remained like so for a few hours, no doubt contemplating his actions during the campaign in light of his latest discovery. He had gone and went overboard, he realised. Sure, his original hometown deserved a proper purge, so did the first village he tested with that little trick of his, but the rest? Rex would never know now, any chance for a proper test out of the question now.


    He sighed, a realization slipping into his mind. "Guess i will feel somewhat guilty for a while for my overzealous crusade."


    With those words Rex constructs stopped their indiscriminate slaughtering, though more than half the city was already in ruins.


    "Soriana." He adressed his high paladin slave.


    "Yes master?"


    "New orders for you and your team. Can you find uncorrupted and honorable people among the survivors in the city? Does your skillset allow for it?"


    "Yes sir, I believe so."


    "Good. Then gather a group of a hundred or so. And get us some records of the noble family trees. Still have to purge that taint if I am to spare most of the sheep that is still alive. That too will be your and your teams responsibility, so make sure it is thorough, because it is that, or I WILL finish my damn purge. Are my orders clear?"


    "YES SIR!" she exclaimed. "Thank you sir!" she added as she turned to leave the hall. "With me paladins. Its time to save our people." For the first time since she was branded there was a fire of conviction in her voice once again. A purpose of the light she had sworn to serve.

 Chapter 113: Aftermath. Part 1.

    A few hours after the death of lord Bairon, the last living councilman of the Echlisiarchy, Rex was lying on a sofa in one of his mansions recreation rooms, his head on the lap of Leifia, who along with Aina slowly, calmly and affectionately combed his his hair. The rest of his girls were sat on the sofas around, creating a rather serene and calming atmosphere. Rex had spent the last hour like this, thinking things over and listening to what his women have to say about the current situation.


    "So, seems like there is quite the consensous regarding the remaining people of Echlisiarchy." Rex finally spoke, having heard all the girls had to say, not really suprised by their near unanimous decision. Val, Mel and Irina were the only ones who did not spoke in favour of sparing as many people as possible, thought that was due to them growing up in the cruel culture of the dungeon orcs, thus making them indeifferent towards people who were not part opf their family or tribe, not because they were in favour of continious indiscriminate slaughter. Even Arana fine with letting the rest of them live, her anger and bloodline rampage having been sated, returning her to the mostly calm girl she was before, though she was no longer as timid or scared as she used to be. Time spent amont a strong willed and friendly women had left its mark on her, something Rex was immensly happy about.


    "The main question is different however." Rashuun spoke . "Do you want to let them live, only purging the rot that is their ruling class and their dirrect lackeys? Because if not, this is all pointless anyways. If not now, eventually your hatred would surface and that could be a lot worse than just finishing what you have started now."


    She made a good point. something the other girls quickly agreed with, allowing Rex a while for yet another moment of introspection. In the end, it came to the same conclusion as it had the last few times he pondered on the question, but the same answer came through yet again.


    "Well, it indeed seems that I no longer have that gnawing desire to end each and every single echlisiarchinas life, unless I have made them slaves. Honestly, old Bairon was probably a character I needed to meet early on in the campaign, maybee even less people would have been culled. Well, it is what it is. I still feel the need to cleanse the damn nobles though."


    "As you should." chimed in Vivian. "Just how did their ruling class managed to reach the levels of their depravity is beyond me, and cultivators are quite the extremes with their likes, and that already says something."


    "Yes indeed. Such ruling class should never be allowed to develop. We are doing not only their nation a favour by actually alowing them to live, but we are even kind enough to remove the elements of their society that has brought them to the brink of their nation." finalized Izumi.


    "Emm, now that the serious talk is over, can we maybee switch to something more pleasant for the rest of the day?" Asked Aisha with a rather cute shade of crimson to her cheeks. "We girls need some attention after all." she added as she bit her lip and looked to Rex with pleading eyes.


    Rex eyes focused on her and then a large smile adorned his face. "How can I deny such heartfelt and earnest request."


    The rest of the day and folowing night was spent in a rather passionate way as Rex gave the girls exactly what they wanted, leaving them all exausted but with blissfull expressions on their faces. Only Rashuun and Izumi were still properly conscious, since Rex was much more carefull and gentle with the two pregnant women. The trio were relaxing on a sofa, both women nudged in his sides with their heas nudged in both sides of his neck.


    "Are you planning to go back to Echlisiarchy, now that only cleaning up the dregs and remaining nobles remain?" Asked Izumi eventually.


    "Not anytime soon. A rather large gate has been placed in Rahen ''castle'', giving the Svergi free acess to it and the lands around. The corpses have been drained leaving only a scrapyard behind that they themselves will deal with. Soriana is in charge of purging the nobles and establishing a new governing system and revising and cleaning up their holy texts. So, while I still have a rather strict surveilence over their territories, I dont plan on going there any time soon. I wanted to do a quick dive into the deep floors of any of the dungeons and maybee capture a few more S class monsters to brand for the auction. Victor, Eredar and Brogni would surely be quite happy with that."


    "Whats in the plans for after the auction?" Asked Rashuun "Dont tell me you dont have any ideas regarding the next few steps to take." she suspiciously eyed Rex from her position, nudged in his side.


    "A few posibilities, yes, though nothing concrete. I could do a deeper dive in one of the dungeons of the now cleansed teritories, I could go and explore one of the less known islands at the Misty Drift region. Could also visit and explore one of the countless continents we have barely any knowledge off. That too, I want to spend some time in deciding. I want your thoughts and ideas regarding that as well. No point in exploring new areas and places that are not guaranteed to be dealy and not have some of you along for the adventure I suppose. Though the auction comes first, obviously. Can I ask you two to start asking the girls to think on it for a while. Who knows where the more intriguing ideas will come from."


    "Of Course Rex." They both replied lightly, more and more pleased with his willingness to both listen to their opinions and ideas, as well as ask for their help in realizing his plans. Neither Rashuun nor Izumi were his slaves to begin with, so his slow growth was more than just welcome, both in power and maturity. His willingness to depend on his family, instead of just singlemindedly charging forward, destroying every obstacle in the way, was quite the sign of his growth.


    --------------------------------------


    Days went by, with Rex spending quite a bit of his time alongside his women, making a few quick trips to the dungeon in Blythe, shaking of the rust by cleaving through quite a few monsters on the deep floors. Ferocious and somewhat mindless beasts were not much of an issue for him to deal with, but slap together a horde of S or SS class monsters of such disposition, and suddenly even Rex could find quite a bit of enjoyment from such an event. The gains he aquired in such a situation was also many times greater than whatever he gained during his campaign in the Echlisiarchy.


    Soriana and her paladins were doing gods work on the purging of the old nobility back there, leaving a veritable river of noble blood in their wake. Thanks to the reknown and fame of her squad in their own lands she had little to no trouble when it came to ordinary people, each and every one gladly sharing any and all knowledge they might have about any of the noble family members they had seen or heard about. Rex even dispelled the barrier walls between the territories that were cleansed by Soriana and her paladins. Fourteen squads consisting of a paladin from her squad, a sizable unit of blood constructs and a few cosmic ravens flying high in the skies, keeping an eye on things worked tremendously well and fast, cleansing the remaining territories with astonishing speed.


    Unfortunately, most of the high clergy had to be taken out as well, what with a lack of messengers from their god and their refusal to accept the change. Soriana herself was still in quite the disbelief regarding two individuals Rex shared information about, using both as the main reason that the people who were not culled are alive thanks to. The last high Oracle, who had used her station to save as many archons as she could, masking it as an unquenchable thirst and desire to burn them down till nothing but ash remains. And then lord Bairon. The greatest hero in the last few centuries of their nation, whose worst vice was an infatuation with archon women, whom he had quite the large number as his hidden lovers, going so far as siring at least one child with most, if not all of them.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    And that was the knowledge she and her squad was sharing as well. Tow individuals in extremely high positions in the rotten system that ruled over them, doing their level best to better their nation, all the while balancing on a knifes edge not to arouse suspicion and then swift execution from their corrupt and fallen bretheren. Lord Bairon had even willingly paid with his life for all the failings he had acrued during his reign as one of the council members. Adrianas punishement, if it could be called that, was to keep doing what she had been doing- taking care of the archons she had saved, as well as the destruction of the order of the oracle.


    With the stories of the two heroes of their own nation slowly spreading, along with the silent removal of the remainng nobles, clergymen and any agressive dissidents, as few as they were, a new order was quick to establish within the now freed territories. The Svergi from Mountains Rage tribe also moved around, claiming the land and making the humans in the territories aware of their presence. Rahen became their home base and the central point of their expansion into the lands of the former Echlisiarchy. With no military to speak of and the baseline difference in the power both races displayed, no conflicts arouse during the arrival of the half giant people.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------


    In the folowing two months Soriana and her paladins finished their asigned task, having mostly purged the majority of their targets and cleansed the church as well. Their people were now free of the cebturies long choking opression of the ever more corrupt nobles, breathing a sigh of relief and happiness. For the first time in foreevr, they did not have to worry about their lords taking their people to never be seen and heard from. And while there was resentment towards Rex, since most of their men had been recruited and consequently slain in the last war for their capital, there was also a begrudging spark of respect, mostly shadowed by fera though, at least for now, his monstrous power and ability for ruthessness dominating most minds.


    The barrier had been entirely dissolved, once again returning the now ruined nation to the sights of the international comunity, though noone was brash and stupid enough to expoit the current weakness of said remnants of Echlisiarchy. There was a deadly threat standing behiind the remains of them, threatening anyone who decided to try and grab a piece of this juicy pie before their eyes. No, there was a guarddog that could chomp off not only their grubby little digits as they reached for said piece of the pie, but the rest of their arm alongside it. It was simply too dangerous to provoke a beast that had not only anihilated the armies of an entire nation, but before that somehow created a barrier large and powerfull enough to both encompass and lock away and entire nation. Such power, no matter how achieved was to be wary of.


    What knowledge traveled beyond the borders to the courts of other higly influential and powerfull rulers was not much, but enough to make waves and force them to reconsider their stances in multiple different questions, the greatest of them being how archons were percieved and treated. While rare, there were places that considered them lessers, not to the extent of echlisiarchy, but enough to make their lives much harder and quite unpleasant. There, numerous new laws were introduced in a record time, trying to wipe away any and all signs of such previous practices. Each and every ruler fearing fro their own safety and rule after learning of Echlisiarchys fate. After all the entirety of their ruling class was exterminated. All at the hands of a single archon mercenary by the name of Neo. Of course with more knowledge arriving, it became clear that there was help from an extremely powerfull blood mage as well, the army of extremely powerfull blood constructs being the most glaring and obvious giveaway. Obviously, Rex from Blythe was assisting the archon, no doubt more interested in ensuring his supplier of heaven grade meat gets his personal crusade over as fas as possible and return to providing him with more of the same. The rumors of the reduced amount in the earth grade meat being sold in Blythe further strenghtened said asumption, fortifying the already rather obvious strong cooperation between the blood mage and the warrior.


    On the topic of Rex, his value and signifigance once again rose heavily in the eyes of the nobility on the continents within reach of Blythe. He was classified as a proper X class being. Someone capable of creating an army of A class constructs, with the only requirements being enough material, the most of which was blood demanded the special designation he was given. Even the mage tower could not argue one bit. Everyone now understood the reason their own blood mage that had been sent there was so shaken and scared upon their meeting. The man must have felt it back then- the terrifying power and depths of his potential. In light of this, they once again sent a delegation of their own to Blythe, hoping to earn a better position of favour in the eyes the blood mage Rex, one of the movers in this world for centuries to come, if his close cooperation with Neo was any indication.


    The people who had dealt with either Rex or Neo in the past on friendly terms were even more happy than before, their position much more secure than before, as it was expected, with such a powerfull connection serving as yet another safety net for their own future. The kitsunes were particularily happy with their own situation. While izumi was no longer reporting to them as she had been at the very early stages of her service to Rex, she was still on good terms with her home nation. She had not even bothered to hide the fact that she was in fact the first, alongside Rashuun, the previous matriarch of the succubi, the first to bear his child. That, and the fact she was now an eight tailed kitsune placed her on the same, if not higher pedestal than their current emperor.


    She regularily had pleasnt talks with her mother, who now no longer acted subserient and meek back in the clan, her father having to scale back his own ironclad rule over her due to Izumis existance. The other kitsune princeses traded to Neo, with Izumis help, of course, had also grown much and where on the were of bloodline evolution as well. That had been a shock and a half to the council, when an emergency meeting was called, one of the clans too exited to boast the fortune of their daughter, even if she was no longer technically theirs. The blood connection would ensure their safety anyhow, if the letters sent by them was anything to go by. Their new master was treating them like lovers, not slaves and they were afforded much greater freedom than most spouses of other nobles ever would be. imagine the stuppor when the other two clans reported the same situation, bringing their meeting hall to a stunned silence. Just how much heaven grade was in his possesion to be able to empower so much girls and in such short time period. Still, kitsunes did not plan to use their position and connection to Rex and Neo to throw their weight around. They continiued their conduct as ussual, leaving said connections to be caled upon in case of a crisis befalling them in the future.


    Tyrant Dragon sect too was recieveing more and more new disciples in light of the recent events. After all their sect master granddaughter was alongside the man at the heart of the countless rumors and stories reaching their ears. Quite a few powerfull lone cultivators also seeked out their sect to join as external elders or just friends of the sect, everyone seeking a safer place to continiue pursuing their own path.


    Ven Hersts and Al Merhads were much more neutral in the entire ordeal, only having secured several trade deals with the powerfull blood mage, but since they were already on friendly terms due to their previous dealings, they too earned quite the boon from this recent event, having their trades and overall profit increasing quite nicely, many notable figures trying to get in their good graces, hoping to eventually gain some benefits from indirectly aproaching at least one of the Blythes two powerhouses through their trade partners and aquintances.


    Nix Ifriiti was in a much better position, beeing Rashuuns blood relatives, ruled by one of her daughters. Rex was sending over a new branded combat slave of high S class every now and then, strenghtening the succubi position as a neutral party within the large demon lands, one that was not to be strongarmed or threathened. And with Rashuuns permission, said power boost as well as their closeness with Rex was utilized to great effect, fortifying their independance a great deal.


    Even so far as in the always gloomy and dark Bloodmist isles, word got around, reaching the ears the old and noble vampires. Tales of a powerfull blood lord rising in the far away continent.

 Chapter 114: Aftermath. Part 2. The Blood mist islands.

    In an extremely old looking room, with countless antique pieces of furniture moved to its corners, a group of more than a dozen transparent figures stood, with only one of said group present in flesh and blood. The rest of the gathered were nothing more than magical projections, their owners too busy or arrogant to consider the meeting important enough for their actual presence. Each and every one of them shared quite a few traits that would allow them to be recognized among humans- their blood red eyes, the slightly pointed ears, the rather pale skin color and their elongated canines, clearly indicating the race of their origin. Each and every one present here was a pure blooded vampire, the lords and ladies who were in charge of the Bloodmist Isles and the vampire race in general, though there were quite a few smaller settlements not under their control, like with any other race. Still, the majority of the vampires on this side of the world fell under their dirrect rule.


    The oldest and most wizened of the ones present moved towards the middle of the group where an empty spot was left, clearly intended for the current speaker, or the one in charge of the meething, and as the only one currently present in the flesh there, the old man knew the responsibility was his.


    "As it seems that everyone is finally present, and most of us have more important and pressing matters to atend to, I will not delay it any longer and will do my best to ensure we can solve our current issue with gusto." he started, as the people around him slowly quieted down, their personal conversations coming to an end.


    "Just like it was mentioned to you all in the notification, we have recieved a rather reliable information regarding the appearance of a truely powerfull blood lord, one that is not of our origin. Powerfull enough to not only raise but also command an entire army of blood constructs. The daughter of duke Bloodrose has seen it personally and reported on the issue the moment she returned to our lands. It is the purpose of this gathering right here to figure out what form will our general attitude take towards the person in question."


    There was a sudden influx of murmurs in the room, the remaining members quickly discussing the information with their closest aquintance or friend, untill one of them asked a rather important question.


    "Where was this Blood Lord met, and what do we know of his plans and personality?" A small moment of silence later, Lord Ferion Bloodrose moved to the center of the room, standing next to the old vampire. Then he spoke once the entire rooms attention was on him.


    "During the time between the return of my daughter with these rather significant news and this meeting, I have invested quite a bit of effort to understand as much as possible about the person in question. As far as we have learned, the one who should be responsible about the army of the blood constructs should be a blood mage residing in a trade city by the name of Blythe, on the continent of Ramana. The man my daughter ran into was not him however. A warrior by the name of Neo. Both are extremely powerfull, and the latter was on a crusade against a nation called Echlisiarchy when Vanessa encountered him. Still, the insane power and size of the army, all consisting of blood constructs of various shapes and sizes clearly points to the existance of a Blood Lord. And as I stated before, we have confirmed that it is the blood mage mentioned before. Still, it is estimated that the two have quite the mutual cooperation established since a blood mage was willing to go so far as to provide said warrior with such an enormous army."


    Lord Bloodrose had obviously done the research, and since none of the other members present had recieved their own reports just yet proved the delay that the information had reached the rest of the Blood court members. It was to be expected though, since the information was discovered by the daughter of the man, and it would be a rather hard strike at his ability as a parent and a capable vampire noble had the man not taught his daughter the main skills any noble of their kind should be more than just capable with. No, the aristicracy of vampires should be intimately familiar with seduction and subterfuge, and it seems the girl was smart enough, or taught well enough.


    Still, the information provided by the man in the next few minutes regarding the normal mode of operation for the blood mage was still listened to with utmost focus, looking for the mans dreams and hopes, as well as the possible threat the man might posess to their power and way of life. With the murmurs once again being exchanged and Ferion having said his piece, there was no one to speak up next for quite some time, thought if one listened to the conversations of the people present, there were two prevailing opinions regarding the situation.


    The first was of non commitment. Since the man was so far away from them, and his ussual attitude towards the world at large seemed chill, there was no need for them to move across the damn ocean and spend their resourses for a fight that might as well not ever come to pass, should they not stirr the hornets nest.Should the man threaten their interests and way of life, they could always return to solve the issue then.


    The other prevailing opinion was a one hundred eighty degree turn in the dirrection it would take things. The more arrogant and ignorant members of the Blood Court were loathed to even think of a proper blood lord that was not a vampire existing, so naturally their course of action would see the man, so blatantly flounting a power that did not belong to him, be removed from the face of the earth, eliminating the stain on the honor and public image of the vampires as a whole.


    And since the two major opinions were in dirrect conflict with the other, their group encountered a rather akward moment of silence, not really able to choose one over the other. By now Ferion had returned to the place his projection was standing previously, and he seemed to converse with someone else on his side of the of the projection. A few minutes later, he delivered another piece of information, causing quite the change in the agressor side of their court.


    "It has just come to our attention that his the warrior Neo could be an SSS class entity."


    Those words caused the entire room to go as silent as an empty graveyard, not a single menber of the group present eliciting a single sound. The supremacists immedialty shut up with their idea, too old and smart to continiue with such a suicidal plan. No, it was clear that the blood mage was powerfull, but still could be dealt with. But with the presence of an SSS class warrior, the probability of any of their plans in eliminating the mage in question became not only unreasonably hard, but damn near impossible. And even if they could pull the assasination off, could they afford to risk a possible attack of an enraged SSS class entity? The answer was obviously no, thus they had to change their tone entirely.


    "Well, we can always offer the kiss, though that would likely require the crown princess to take action herself." one of the supremacist side spoke, and yet, the man was quite soon opposed by the duke Bloodrose near instantly.


    "Unfortunately lord Aurelius, I dont think that would be a wise choice, as much as I would like to have such a talanted human be brought over to our side. From what we know, the man, just like this warrior Neo are quite the colelctors ofo beauty. The princess, with her ethereal and otherworldly beauty would no doubt ignite their desire. And that, I am sure we are agree, is not something any of usu would ever agree to."


    The other vampire lords nodded their heads in agreement, clearly having their own designs regarding the princess in question. The old vampire in charge of their meeting, while nodding in agreement was of a different opinion. The man was one of the few vampires trully loyal to the princess and well aware of the subttle yet numerous ways theh remaining members were trying to pressure the princess to into marrying one of their own descendants. The true king of the vampires had died a few decades ago in a fight against the angels for a rather powerfull artifact. And while they had won, and the artifact was now in the hands of said princess, the king had been mortally wounded and passed a few years after the end of said war. Now, with no true powerhouse to stand for her interests, yet protected by the constantly cheming and competing lords of the court, she had a nominal freedom to refuse the advances of their houses. Still, the longer it went on in such a manner, the more impatient the lords were becoming, desireing both the beauty and the artifact in her hands. An artifact that would lead to on of the most powerfull sources of blood magic in existance. The princess had mentioned it to him personally that the artifact had changed the dirrection it was pointing towards in the recent years, indicating that said source had been moved rather abruptly.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Still, we have to establish some sort of contact with the blood mage and eventually bring him over to our side. And I ihighly doubt there is anyone else with potent enough blood line to not only entice the man in question but also ensure his proper change." another of the supremacists spoke, clearly unwilling to allow a non vampire Blood lord to exist. If they could not eliminate the offending party, their only choice was to make them into a vampire, thus removing the only reason why they could not accept their existance.


    The old vampire immediatly hatched a plan, something he was uniquely suited for, since his allegiance to the princess was a trully well hidden one. Only connection the man having with the girl being a descendant of his working as a maid for the princess. He had been acting just well enough to make it so that tit looked like the man was moving in a way that would see the princess married to a descendant of his as well. One that was easily manipulated without his knowledge, allowing for the old bat to move without the suspicion of the other court members.


    "Why not allow me to go and see for myself the man in question. I am the oldest and most experienced among us. And I did work under our king as one of his best enthrallers. Let me see what we can do to get the man bend to our will. He is, after all, only mortal."


    The words left his lips, and the attention was fully brought back to the old man, quite a few thinking faces were turned his way. Then one after another, the heads started bobbing as if agreeing to the idea of the man. Of course, none would be stupiid enough to allow a possible rival of theirs to get their hooks in a potentialy increadibly powerfull pawn, thus they had to ensure their own interests would be somehow represented as well.


    "It is indeed a good suggestion, though I do believe there is an even better choice. Why not have a few of our younger generation you on this quest. My daughter has already met with this Neo fellow, providing us with quite the starting point to reach this blood mage. A few other master beauties of ours, and I have no doubt the man will be begging for the kiss in no time at all." Duke Bloodrose spoke, not willing to loose on the potential benefits such a powerfull blood mage and Blood Lord to booth could offer.


    "Yes, duke Ferion is indeed correct. While we trust in your skills, there is no reason to not utilize the knowledge we have gained just now and not deploy multiple prongs of aproach. And what better way to aproach a man, known for his love for true beauties, as a number of gorgeous exotic laides, all willing to have a chance at him?" another of the lords present spoke, clearly having such a beauty quite close to him, most likely a dirrect descendant, otherwhise no lord would be so sure of their ability to benefit, should their suggestion manages to actually score big time. Then, a few more nods of agreement followed, clearly from other lords in a similar position.


    "Was there not a rather important auction coming up in that Blythe anyways? I say it is the perfect excuse for the rather sizable group that we will be sending it seems." yet another spoke, clearly having been on the lookout for the auction himself, most likely having the knowledge of the rather powerfull blood mage being one of the bigger sponsors behind the event. The old vampire, lord Tharion Hromm, was just as well informed, having investigated the same for quite some time. If his queen, though only a princess for now, was to obtain freedom and independance, not threathened by the lords of the court, she would need powerfull men at her command, and a blood mage of superior make was the bare starting minumum. Though now it seems like the man in question was much more suitable candidate than he hhad previously though. It indeed seemed the man was outright worthy, at the very least ffor the position. The slightly tricky part would be to subtly convince the man with the young and quite capable seductresses acompanying him on this trip, though he was well aware before he even suggested his plan that there would be some additional vampires acompanying him. Still, in order to curb the machinations of other lords from the dark, this suggestion of his had to be made. It was so much easier to deal with a weapon in front of you, than a dagger in the dark.


    The remaining discussion was focused on determinating the people who would travel alongside Tharion on this quest of his. In the end, the group consisted of himself, the old bat that he was, and a group of ten young, beautifull and well endowed ladies, each more praised than the last. Still, not one of them was over thirty years old. Too young, in the opinion of Tharion, but that was the best explanation for the size of their group. Young people were often overlooked, their desire to explore and experience new things as natural as breathing for every being.


    The group embarking on this rather crucial mission of their would meet up in a couple of days time in one of the largest trade cities of the Bloodmist isles, from where they would take one of the gates that would bring them quite close to their destination. Since they were supposedly going thre for an auction, they had to collect quite the number of funds. Who knows, they might just find something that was quite desired by their houses, a list of possible treasures that were to be bid on, should they appear in the auction they would be attending.


    Tharion himself did the same as well, his list undoubtedly differing from the lists of the rest of his traveling companions. But before departing for the city in question, he did the one thing he always would do before the trully importand missions. He moved to a basement within his castle, where a rather well secured artifact lay. A communication device, the other pair of it, in the form of a bracer always adorned the hand of his princess. It was because of exactly this artifact that he could comunicate with her, avoiding the discovery and suspicions of his fellow lords.


    He sat in front of the precious item, the sun setting as he did so, though there was no light to indicate the fact in this dark and damn basement. Still, Tharion knew well enough the plan by which the princess lived, allowing him to catch her in a moment where she would be alone and capable of focussing on his report.


    "My princess, I come with news regarding the gathering that have concluded a while ago."


    "Mhm. I thank you for your loyality and support. My father always spoke of you in high regard and once again I am reminded just how correct he was in his assesment. What news do you bring?" Her voice, though only a mentaal transmission, was just as crystal clear and pleasant to ones hearing as ever, even with it not sounding out in the world. He then proceeded to quickly explain the topic discussed, as well as the measures that were decided in response to the existance of the Blood Lord.


    "Hmm, a new Blood Lord, one not of vampire origin as well? That is quite the piece of information. How sure you are of the possibility of the man willing to woork for us?"


    "While I am sure I could somehow persuade him too assist us, the qesution would be regarding the price he would want to extract from us. There is little we have to give that would not immediatly expose me as one of your agents, endangering the already fragile position your highness is forced into."


    "You said he is collecting beauties, did you not?"


    "Y-yes my queen. So we have heard."


    "Hmm, thne go and assess the man, his current power and the limits his tallents show. Learn just what kind of a man we are dealing with and should he be worthy, you may offer my hand as well. Better to choose my partner on my own terms, than being forced to wed one of the inferior relatives of the current lords. An actual Blood Lord seems at least fitting for one of my standing, would you not agree, lord Tharion? I do belive that if the Blood Lord is powerfull enough, you could once again stand by Tepes side as the faithfull and loyal friend you have always been. I could then also finally return at least some of the loyality you have shown our family. I leave the evaluation adn judgement in your capable hands uncle."


    "Hmm, you can count on me Mikaila. As one of the closest friends and confidants of your father, as well as your uncle, I will go above and beyond to evaluate the man and if his power and character is suitable, I will do as my lady suggests."


    "I could ask no more of you. Thank you and be carefull. Your safe return is paramount."


    With their exchange finished, Tharion refocussed on the task at hand. He had quite the task at hand and he refused to fail it. No, only exelence and perfect success could be allowed and for that, he had to prepeare above and beyond.

 Chapter 115: Aftermath. Part 3.

    Soriana was sitting in one of the chairs that were once occupied by the Echlisiarchies council member posteriors. Now, a month after Rex had eliminated them and sent her and her squad on a mission to finalize the purge of the nobility, she once again found herself in the room where her new life had trully begun. Sure, if being technical, it started once she and her subordinates were defeated and branded, but it was here that the path of the war actually changed. From being one of pure extermination, to a purge of the malignant growths and cancer that had infested her home nation. All thanks to the Lord Bairon. She had to give credit where credit was due. The man, for all his flaws and inefficiencies, had, even if inadvertently, saved the remaining people of their home land. And for that, she could do nothing less than respect the man.


    "Report." she spoke after that small internal monologue, quite eager to get their mission done, both interested and worried about their next mission. Her new master was trully a mystery, his thoughts and guiding principles quite the unfathomable thing. Still, its not like she trully had a choice in the matter, what with the brand and everything.


    The next thirty or so minutes she listened to her squad members as they quickly summarized their own mission details, skipping over most of the small parts, only mentioning the larger battles or the more odd scenarios. Still, it was mostly as expected, a few noble daughters who offered themselves to be used how ever, in exchange for their continiued lives notwithstanding.


    "What are our orders now sister?" her brother asked, a slight smile adorning his lips. He was the most happy about their circumstances, it was quite clear. He had been the more vocal one about the need to do something with the deep rooted corruption and alltogether decayed state of the nations nobility. So, it was no wonder that he had been more than just a bit enthusiastic when they recieved the order from their master to purge said nobility. He had been the more zealous in this task of theirs, doing more than double the work when compared with anyone else in their squad, her included. Not like she could blame him for it, nor would she. Their orders wer clear, after all.


    "I would suggest that you all take a few days off while I contact our master and recieve our new orders."


    "Why not allow me to take on that task sister? You go and rest along with our battle brothers, while I go and do that for you? This latest task had been more than just enjoyable for me after all. I feel both rested and invigorated like never before, our childhood before the order not including." Viliam spoke with vigor and a smile all over his face, a mood so good Soriana had not seen since their childhood days. And that in and of itself spoke volumes just how miserable her brother had really been, following her lead for most of their lives. Yet, never once had he complained, nor did he hold a grudge towards her. He loved her too much for that and she had proven time and time again she cared for him just as much. Thus, their lives had marched on as the blades of the Echlisiarchy.


    Now though, it was bound to be different. The new hand that held them was in no need of mindless weapons, calling them to awaken their emotions and use that righteous heart that had set them on their path to good use. Well, for sure a better one than what they had followed till now. And neither Soriana, Nor Viliam, nor the rest of their squad could argue with that thruth, at least for now. Who knows just what their new master will demand of them once this campaign is over.


    "Sis? So, how bout my proposal? Let me go, and take a rest, will ya?" Viliam nearly bounced out of his chair, one he had taken reluctantly, still to energetic from serving justice to monstrous nobles. And while Soriana was pulled out of her thoughts, she did not have time to respond to the question, as something else grabbed the attention of everyone, including the sibling duo. A cosmic raven had landed on the table and just stood there, as if waiting for their discussion to end.And once the attention was fully on the raven, a projection shot out from it, revealing Rex sitting on a sofa with a kitsune girl happily sleeping in his embrace.


    "Good work on the job you had been asigned." Rex spoke in a calm and neutral manner. "Especially you Villiam. That was quite the zeal and vigor you displayed. I suppose you have an extremely high displeasure towards the corrupt?"


    The man in question nodded, both hoping swearing to himself that he would never stoop so low as to become like the men he had executed during the mission.


    "I will try to remember that and keep you away from any of the more grey areas, should the need ever arise. Tjough the rest of you did admirably as well. Now, rest for a few days, all of you. Then, and only then should you begin on the next mission that I have in store for you. i want you to look after and ensure no new tyrants take over the Echlisiarchy. I also need you to get people to fix and clean up the city you are in right now. It will serve as a trade hub one of secondary home cities for me. I need a rather large mansion to be built in the heart of the city. I will leave it in your hands to find proper architects and workers for the project. There is plenty of treasure within the vaults of the grand temple."


    "Yes, master. We will not dissapoint." Viliam kneeled, showing his newly developed devotion towards the man.


    "Right, another thing. If you hear word of any messangers of Namon, leave them be, as long as the message actually denounces the previous nobility, the prophet and his dogma. Cant have more of the same rise in the place of the old we just culled, now can we?"


    "Understood." A single word that came from the entire group was all the response Rex recieved, though that was enough.


    "Rest now. you have earned it." were the last words Rex spoke as he cut off the transmission.


    "He he. Our master is indded as impressive. So much so, I cant figure out, should I be in awe, or terrified." with a light chuckle spoke Viliam. His own action was followed by a similar light laugh from a few more of the paladins, sharing his opinion.


    "Well, I suppose I will see you all in a few days. Dissmissed." Soriana spoke, her words final, and with that, the group stood up and left the room, leaving only her and Viliam behind.


    "Say sister, what do you think of him? Clearly you have seen more of his charater than we."


    "A monster and an overprotective patriarch. There is no other way of putting it. A greedy and possesive monster that treats his own like precious treasures and with care, though do something to earn his ire and he will become the nightmare you can never escape."


    "And, pray tell me sis, is that good or bad?"


    "I dont know brother. I trully dont know, but it can be good, as long as there are those around him who can balance and calm him."


    With a nod of his head in agreement, Viliam stopped asking anything about the topic, as the sibblings too finaly left the council room. Seems like they had been made the new council, or at least a provisional one and she would do her damn best to ensure that the Echlisiarchy, or what remained of it, did not return to the same path it had been taken off of.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    --------------------------------------


    "Think they have what it takes to keep their nation on the right tracks this time?" Rex asked the kitsune snuggled in his side.


    "Haaah," Izumi exhaled a long breath, nuzzling deeper into his side, but answered regardless. "They are a group of steeled individuals, with the the wills to do what is neccesary, now that they no longer pretend to not see the corruption. They should be fine, but its not like you are not keeping an eye on them."


    "Guilty as charged." Rex chuckled in reply, quite happy with the sharpness his sweet fox continiued to show.


    "Come, lets have a nice nap, shall we?"


    -----------------------------------


    On a continent, far, far away from Rex and his actions, in lush oasis in the middle of an incredibly large desert, a grand temple stood. Built out of pristinely white marble, with countless statues of a stunning beauty placed all all around. A large and magnificent garden surrounded it. In the very center of it, a woman kneeled before an altar. Dark skin, long, sillky white hair that cascaded over her back up to her shapely and firm ass. Her eyelids fluttered and a moment later she opened her eyes, revealing her golden colored irisis. Youthfull, and beautifull, with curves that could elicit the desire in any man, alongside a beautifull face, made the woman a stunning sight to anyone who could lay their gaze upon her.


    Her kneeling prayer was interrupted suddenly, the cause of her eyes opening. In front of her, a projection of the woman whose statues were displayed all over the temple, though in a much less grandioze fashion. The godess was entirely naked, save for the large pillow she had in her arms, tightly trapped within her embrace, covering her front from the kneeling woman. Even in all of her beauty, the praying woman still paled in front of the visage that had appeared so suddenly.


    "My godess." the dark skinned woman bowed her head in reverence."How may I serve you?" she asked, devotion and absolute faith clear in her voice.


    The godess bit her lower lip, as she hugged her pillow even tighther, a longing, half grow escaping her lips as she though of something, or someone, for but a moment.


    "Amora. I have a task for you. Take your battle maidens and travel to the continent of Ramana. There, in a city called Blythe, a blood mage by the name of Rex resides. I WANT HIM." another wanton growl of lust, desire and possesivness escaped her throat. The godess was clearly high on her divinity, though Amora waited for her to finish, as a devouted follower should.


    "Be carefull with your aproach though. He is both incredibly powerfull, as well as the champion of AZAROS." That did get a reaction out of Amora, even if only a slight one. The god of gods had not once chosen a champion since the first gods ascended, and now her godess wanted to have a taste of the first one? Made sence, she supposed. Her godess was a willfull one, though that did not lessen her faith.


    "How would I claim him for you, my godess?" she asked the most crucial part. No matter who or what this champion was, she would die to fulfill her godess request, should it come to it. There was absolutely nothing she would not do to make her happy, even if only for a moment.


    A playful smirk appeared on the godess face. "Dont wory Amora. Your task is as much a reward for you, as it is going to be for me. Go and have him fall for you. Have him bed you, and I shall everything through your body. As free as we are, I dont thing AZAROS would take kindly to me doing more than having a taste of his champion."


    "As you wish, Godess."


    With a flash of light, Nerzu''s projection dissapered, as she plunged in yet another round of self satisfaction, AZAROS''s champions visage in her mind, and his name on her lips, as her hand snaked its way towards her nether region once more.


    Amora at the same time rose from her kneeling postion, and with a clear gola and purpose turned and left the room, summoning her battle maidnes and prepearing for a journey. They had quite the distance to cover, and she would not have her godess wait one moment longer than she had to. No, she would achieve her mission, no matter what. The task itself was tailor made for her. There was no way any man could hope to resist her body and charm for long, so all she had to do was reach the place as soon as possible. She was no fool though, everything was done with carefull and meticuluous planning, not leaving even a single think to chance as her group prepeared to leave the temple.


    ------------------------------------


    "HA HA HA HA HA." AZAROS laughed with a glee, more than happy with the waves his champion was making. He was having the time of his life, for once not having any agency in the way a gods champion acted and moved around the world. That was a first, and he was enjoying it a bit too much, if one listened to Alphas comments. Bah, what could an attendant of a god understand of his reasoning and thought process. Even more hilarious were the actions of Nerzu. That minx had always skirted the line, though she was smart enough to always leave a way out for herself. As ahd she done now as well. Sure, she was thirsting for his champion, sure, she had corrupted more than one other of a similar background, but did it actually matter to him? of course not. His champion was made of sterner steel. Who knows, maybee this champion of his could corrupt and steal that pretty girl of hers, along with the entirety of her battle maidens. A perfect reverse to her own tactics and schemes. Now that would be fun to watch. ow, how he wanted to whisper to him, how he wanted to set this particular story in motion, but no. He would not. For while it would indeed be incredibly entertaining, it would go against his nature. And if, by any chance, that would still come to pass, oh ho ho ho, AZAROS could bask in it so much better.


    He could feel his own expression shifting from exited, to thoughtfull, to conflicted, time and time again, his flaring desire as well as self controll and love for drawn out plays, battling over the best possible course of action. Any yet, he stayed his hand. The potential of the situation was limitless. he knew just how many pf the other gods were scheming and making new plans with his champion in mind. Plans to corrupt and draw him over to their side, plans to make him into instrument of their own will. Lust and desire to claim what was his. Pure jelousy of the attention AZAROS was paying to him, resulting in plans to end his live, or worse.


    Ow, the endless entertainment a single soul brought over in his name has delivered. If he was this conflicted and stirred by a single move from NERZU, just how much fun will be attained from the rest of the plots? The rest of the interactions? Right now, what he hoped for was quite simple. He hoped, trully hoped, Rex would not absorb a greater core of a dungeon, thus starting his actual path toward godhood. That, that would stop most, if not all gods, from actually going through with their plans, cutting short on his fun. And yet, that too he would not act upon. Yet again he would let Rex make his own choices, for better or worse. He had a growing suspicion that the man would continiue to suprise him in a positive manner and as the first of the gods of this realm, he had learned eons ago to trust his intuition.


    And as he was both agonizing and grinning like a mad man over the current situation of the lower realm, he could not miss the sulking visage of Alpha off to the side. His right hand, his most trusted servant. What happened to her, he wondered. The stunningly beautifull readhead of an angel had been the personification of playfullness and curiosity, millenias ago when he chose her as his attendant. He had been just as adventuruos and playfull as he was now, his personality long since established, but nevertheless, Alpha had slowly changed. Untill finally, she was the forever scolwing and no nensense woman that was brooding off to the side now.


    He had considered multiple times a way to reignite her old spark for adventure, though nothing he had sent her on had achieved said goal. And now, now that he was having the time of his life he could not be bothered to try and reignite said spark. He was having a lot of fun now, more than he has had for ages. And that would not change, even in spite of a permanently sulking angels presence. Since a simple question would be met with even more brooding and sulking he decided to leave her alone with the thoughts swarming her mind, and focus on the excitement that he was right before his sight. A shit eating grin returned to his face as he once again refocused on the vision in front of him, detailing Rex and his current activity. He was swinging his blade as he dashed from monster to monster, cleaving through a couple of them at a time. Clearly his champion was either training or just unloading some of his own frustration on the poor monsters.


    "Ahh, now that is life." AZAROS smiled, sliding back into his divine throne, zoning out everything else and focusing on the story unfolding in front of him.

 Chapter 116. A glimpse of the future?

    Rex inhaled a large breath, enjoying the smell of the forest, tinged in monster blood as he tilted to side, avoiding yet another slash of extremely sharp claw, then swung Limitless, seperating said calw from its owner, eliciting a shriek of pain from the monster with one less extremity. To not have said monster suffer much, yet another swing of his blade ended its life as the head of the monster fell to the ground, shortly followed by its body as well. Rex did not have tiem to apreciate the smoothness of his move, or the precise cut he had performed, as he avoided a couple more claws and a chomping down set of jaws.


    Right now Rex was in the middle of a veritable horde of monsters, enjoying a rather pleasant morning training, avoiding each and every attempt to wound him, while killing a monster or two every now and then when doing so would not expose him to one of the countless attacks dirrected his way. He was strong and fast enough to do so, as long as he was patient enough with his attack timings. Sure, he could reinforce his body with both aura and mana and then just ignore the attacks, slaughtering the monsters by the dozen each moment of this fight, but that would deefat the entire reason of his training.


    During one of the morning meditation sessions Rex came upon a rather obvious question. How would he deal with an enemy who was on a similar power level as him. And the painfull truth was that he would most likely be outclassed. The fact that he had yet to encounter anything remotely close to his power was moot. He knew how much he had grwon, but at the same time he had spent too much time dealing with humans, thus skewing the samplesize too much in the dirrection of mediocraty. Sure, humans had the highest capacity when it came to power ceiling, but such individuals were far too rare. Dungeon monsters, on the other hand, grew stronger and stronger, thus providing him with both more powerfull oponents as well as better targets to drain, in turn speeding up his own growth process.


    Rex had restarted his own dungeon diving once he dealt with the main army at Rahen and sent Soriana and her squad off to finish the purge of the remaining nobles. Innitially, he would spend a few hours a day at most, spending most of the time with his women, who were quite clingy and needy after his extended absence during the final battle, but once their cravings were satiated and their bodies were splayed on the beds, satisfied and exausted, he could once again spend more time doing the other of his favourite actions- grinding through the dungeons.


    This was the first fight Rex was having on the thirty- seventh floor. His oponents were some sort of tiger men. To be precise, he counted a group of over hundred SS class entities. He had gone through the entirety of the Jurasic World, he asumed, what with the monster variety in the last few floors, including dinosaur like monsters that looked like stegosaurus, T-rex''es and any other dinosaur he had seen in both books and movies back in his previous life. Now though, it seemed he was finally done with the prehistoric world.


    One of the more important differences he had sensed as he stepped on the thirty-seventh floor was the pressure his body experienced. Mana was so thick and rich in the air it served as an additional atmospheric pressure, making it harder to both move and act in the enviroment. That alone was quite the effective tool to speed up his training, but the monsters that had lived in such conditions for the entirety of their existance, as well as the bloodthirsty and savage nature of the tiger men, served as an addition dificulty step up. Still, due to his own personal power he could still perform way above the tiger men, even without infusing himself with mana and aura. And so, Rex used the special donditions that the dungeon had provided him with to train and grind. He could only thank whoever had come up with the design, if there was such a person.


    What better way to train ones own precision and controll, if not with additional weight on their body and countless enemies that relentlessly attack you, trying their damn hardest to end your life. It was only through the difference in their speed and stamina, as well as the patience that Rex exhibited, he could so reliably cut through the numerous tigermen, while maintaing his own health. And due to the savage nature of the attackers, even with their numbers being reduced time and time again, there was no call or any other action to force the tigermen to retreat, preserving whatever numbers remained of their group.


    And that was the one flaw of this training of his. His enemies were feral, acting on instincts more than anything, thus taking away the cunning and any possible weapon mastery that a rational and properly sentient enemy could utilize to gain an advantage. Still, it was much better than anything else he could get his hands on at the given time, so he would take that over anything else he could procure from both home as well as Rahen. plus the pure quanity of the SS class enemies alone was more than enough to work as a subsitute for a properly trained and disciplined opponent. The current setup worked wonders on his controll, patience and stamina, as the relentless asault of the tigermen just continiued on and on.


    It took Rex another couple of hours to finally take care of the group of tigermen, cutting down each and every one of them. Not one had tried to stop their mindless assault, fighting to the last breath of theirs. As a result, Rex now stood in the middle of a rather large field of corpses, the blood flowing from them all in the same dirrection, creating a proper pool of blood at the lowest point of the field he was in. With a quick few flares of both his mana and aura, Rex checked the surroundings and when he was sure there was no other danger around, he finally checked out the corpses of the monsters, looking for anything that could be usefull for both him and his people.


    The meat of the tigermen looked rather bad. It was suspiciously pale gray, as well as incredibly tough. And it did smell rather unpleasant as well, completly making Rex not even willing to try cooking said meat. The skin of the beasts looked a much better prospect, but that too had its own issues. Rex had not bothered to use finesse and extreme precision when slaughtering the monsters, resulting in most, if not all, skins to be ruined due to the indiscriminate sword swings that had ended the monster lives. Quite a few experiments and an hour later, Rex finally found something that had quite a few uses in the field of alchemy.


    The tigermen heart was equivalent to the heart of any other feline monster of the SS class, even better in most cases. Such an ingridient was quite valuable, since there were few groups villing to hunt for monsters of such power, as well as the dificulty fo actually tracking them down, let alone hunting them. Needless to say, it would fetch quite the price, expanding his ever growing business avenues even more. As it was now, the auction brought in more than enough money for him and his people to live without wory for years, then add the rather large amount of cash he earned from selling the earth grade meat on top of that, and the result is rather obvious. His vaults were getting fuller and fuller as time passed, so he did not actually have any need to earn more. Still, he had a few ideas on how to utilize this new rare recourse he has his hands on now.


    With his ever growing proficiency over both mana and aura controll, it was quite easy to manipulate multiple sharp blades to accurately and precisely cut the hearts out and place them in a seperate storage tool. He would use them to exchange for other rare materials used in alchemy. He had a couple of his girls learning said art, so he was more than happy to provide them with more ingridients to practice their craft with. Aina and Leyfia in particular had found the subject to be quite fascinating, spending most of their free time pursuing the art. They had also formed quite the friendship with Dryana, the caretaker of Elysion''s vegetation. The dryad was a natural born herbalist, both extremely knowledgeable about plans and their properties, as well as a skilled gardener, ensuring that countless rare and precious species of herbs could grow with quite the unparalelled speed in his world shards vast gardens. Rex had given her free reign when it came to changing and adapting the enviroment of the world shard outside of the main city complex to ensure that as many rare herbs as possible could grow in this pocked dimension of his. And his enthusiastic dryad had gone above and beyond with the task. As a result, the remaining shard world was now a world of plants, with as much fauna to ensure that the biome would be balanced, but in a way that favoured whatever herbs were grown any area. Such specialized treatment did come with quite the positive consequences- the herbs showed incredible growth speed and rate of expansion. In a couple more years he would be the owner of quite the enviable medicinal herb mega gardens.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Of course herbs alone did not cover all the bases of the alchemy ingridients. Just as important were various parts of monsters and certain minerals, all depending on what the alchemist wanted to achieve and what kind of potion would be brewed. And unlike the herb part, this side of the alchemy was much more expensive. There were countless alchemists and specialized gardeners all over the world, each focusing on either one single specific herb of a biome. All you needed was a stable climate and the right condition, and you could have quite the stable income from selling such herbs. Add to that a rather large organization or a noble house as a backer and protector, for a small percentage of their profit, and you have a healthy and rather competetive industry.


    The monster parts however, was alltogether a differnt beast. Not only was there inherent danger associated with the monsters themselves, but the nature of the creatures did not allow for a proper domestication and rearing in heavily controlled enviroments. No, the best case scenario was to find a dengeon that had the monsters part of its inhabitants, and then to form groups that would regularily hunt them down, properly harvesting whatever part of their bodies was neccesary for the alchemists, or any other craft masters. And there was quite the industry around it as well, with countless adventurers doing just that.


    But, unlike the plants, the rarer and more dangerous monster species were not regularily hunted, purely due to the danger they presented to any potential hunters. That and the relatively low number of SS class and above individuals across the continets. With such a limited pool of possible hunters, it was only natural that such resources were quite rare adn expensive, whenever they appeared. The fact that often such ingridients would have to be hunted in the raid tier of the dungeons made it even harder to find people willing to do so. It was much more difficult to actually gather up a reliable and capable raid to tackle the deep floors. nobody would like to place their life in the hands of unreliable and unknown induviduals, and only the most reckless and desperate would rarely do it.


    As Rex was harvesting the hearts, he also used a couple of his cosmic ravens to drain the tigermen tha thad been relieved of their hearts, leaving behind only a sight of bloody ground, littered with puddles of said metalic dark crimson liquid. Luckaly, this part of his hunt took relatively little time, all thanks to his enourmous mana and aura reserves as well as his exquisite controll over them. With almost a hundred SS class tigermen hearts in his inventory and a bloodied, empty field behind him, Rex moved on towarsd his next encounter, still hoping to grind off a few more hours before returning home. he was wondering what else was there to find on this level. Where there were predators, there must be prey, and he was quite sure that these tigermen were not the pinacle of this floors meat eaters. There must be something more impressive, Rex reasoned.


    And as he had asumed, not long after he had left the bloodied batlefield, he encountered some elephant sized wild pigs with mana crystals adorning their backs, as well as a large rhino like horn on their foreheads. The way the monster beast carried itself indicated that there were few predators capable of hunting it. Though the fact that the monster beast herd was ratehr small, no more than a few dozen, spoke volumes of the falsety of the beasts behaviour. Were it trully the overlord of the floor, beeing a herbivore, or even omnivore, their numbers would have risen to incredible heights, forcing the dungeon to respond with a predator that was capable of keeping the beast numbers in check.


    And rather soon after, just like he had asumed, he found one such a scenario. One of the crystal backed boars was alone, seperated from the pack, when a rather sizable group of hunters, a few dozen in numbers, appeared. And this group piqued Rex''s interest quite a bit. Each and every one of them was peak S class, with two leaders being early SS class entities. Clothed in a rather simple leather clothes and armed with just as simple yet dangerous looking bows and spears, the hunters aproached the boar ratehr stealthily, no not stealthily enough to escape Rex keen eyes and powerfull mana and aura senses.


    The group consisted of mostly males, though there were a couple females mixed in as well, the fairer sex mostly being the bow hunters. Rex could easily tell that they were not human, the green scales covering their arms, as well as part of their cheekbones. The reptilian tails did just as much in forming that decision of his as well. Though unlike the lizardmen that populated the latter part of the x-teen fllors, these people were quite human like in the rest of their appearences. It would be much more correct to say that they looked human, with the addition of the reptilian scales and tails and draconic horns on their heads. And if his eyesight was not decieving him, sometimes a small pair of wings on their backs, though he doubted they had any practical use, what with the size and lack of mana channels through them.


    ''A callback to their ancestor bloodline?'' Rex wondered in his head as he kept his distance, keenly observing the groups actions. A rather well worked out synergy and group tactics were displayed before his eyes, as the group surrounded the boar and after a few signals exchanged between the two leaders, quite the number of arrows flew through the air, creating a whistling sound, alerting the boar, but much too late to change the following events. A dozen arrows piercied the boars hide, earning a painfull shriek from the beast, quickly followed by the second volley. After that a couple of the more muscular men with spears moved into position, employing the moment of distraction, the sharp pain had caused, and witha practiced motion they flung their spears, piercing much deeper into the beasts sides. Rex saw that these spears had quite the peculiar sharp edges, as well as ropes attached to the tail end.


    With the spears lodged into the beasts side, and the ropes anchored down, no matter how much the beast trashed and tried to run away, it was locked in the area. With the bleeding from its wounds, as well as the remaining hunters with spears emerging all around it, and using every opportunity to stab it with their rather long spears as well, it did not take long for the boar to fall to the ground, eventually succumbing to its wounds. Rex stayed in his place, observing further. He saw as the group quickly gutted the beast and then, from nowhere withdrew quite the large saw of sorts. Then in the next few minutes they split the boar in two, each of the two SS class leaders aproaching one half of the boar. Just a moment later, there was no boar in sight, its entrails and blood the only evidence of the monsters death.


    ''So they do have space storage equipment, though not too large in capacity.'' Rex mused as he continiued his observation. Due to the distance between him and the group, he could not hear what they were talking about, but from what he could see, he did catch a few phrases. ''Thank you.'' and ''Move out.'' were the couple he percieved, but that was enough for him to know what language they were speaking in.


    "Thank you, most of the people speak common here. Best idea ever, whoever is responsible for it." Rex spoke in a low, but clear and audible voice. His thanks obviously dirrected towards his constant observer. A dead silent moment, as if replying with a ''you are welcome'' followed, bringing a slight smile to Rex''s lips. his regular mana flares did detect something aproaching the group of hunters. Something large, and decidedly snake like. And this specimen was undoubtedly much more dangerous than the boar. The boar, with its lenght of around six meters and height of around three meters, was nothing before the ten meters long, and almost two meters high snakes body. Whats more, said reptilian monster was moving with quite the speed, dirrectly towards the group of hunters.


    In just a few minutes, as the group of hunters began to move away, Rex noticed a panick in the group, a rather heavily panthing bow hunter hurriedly shouting at the rest of the group. Aware of the probable cause of the panic, yet interested in the decision and action of the group, Rex moved closer, using his mana and aura to conceal himself even more than he already was. When he was close enough, he suddenly heard a yell from one of the two leaders.


    "SHIT! SPLIT UP AND RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"


    What followed was a panicked group splitting to every direction as they dispersed, hoping that the incoming snake would decide to aim for someone else besides them.


    "Decisions, decions." Rex, spoke to himself. having a couple of choices before him.

 Chapter 117: A glimpse of the future. Part 2.

    Rex spent a few moments considering his options and what to do in the current situation. In the end, he was far too interested un the reptilian race he had encountered. They were both intelegent, as well as incredibly powerfull. Doubly so when compared with the people of the non dungeon world. He logically concluded that if the hunting party had individuals with the power level of SS cleas, even if only early stages, there must be even more powerfull individuals back at their encampment, or city, or whatever else they had for a base.


    Sure, he could just stand by and watch as the events unfold, but then he would lose quite the oportunity that had been presented to him. he had no guarantee that the hunters could survive on their own and get back to their home once they were dispersed, and more than once of them chomped down on by the larger reptile. And after the whole Echlisiarchy campaign, he was more than happy to have some friendly, hopefully, interactions with this group of people, and maybee even their race.


    So, logicaly speaking, what he did next was only natural. He adorned his blood mage getup, succesfully concealing his features, constructed quite a few large scale mana spears and the moment the enourmous snake appeared in his vision, on a dirrect path towards the nearest fleeing person, charging with its huge maw opening in a preperation to swallow the poor girl whole, he shot them forward. Moments later, the snake had the unfortunate pleasure to taste the hardened mana spears pelting its body. Even worse was that one of said spears landed dirrectly in its mouth, penetrating the soft tissue, pinning the beast to the ground, its forward motion flipping the rest of its body over the pinned head, creating a rather messy and chaotically squirming mass. The pain was more than anyone would like to feel, the mana spears powerfull enough to not only pierce the softer tissue within the monsters mouth, but also its skin, creating a rather large version of a pincusion. Then, more of the mana spears followed, ensuring the monster could stay there.


    The rather large commotion had caused more than a single hunter look back, stopping in their tracks, jaws wide open in sheer bewilderment of the scene before their eyes. The terrifying monster was nothing more than a wriggling mass, being impaled by more and more of the dangerous looking, and feeling, spear like objects, thought they had never actually seen any spear of a similar design. The spears, had a rather odd, blood colored handle, quite a few rune markings spread along its lenght and from what little glimpses they got of the spear blade, it seemed to swallow the light around it.


    What they could not have known was, that that was exactly what the spear tip was doing, infused and strnghtened by Rex extensive understanding of the laws of space. It was exactly this infusion that allowed his mana constructed spears to rather easily pierce the snakes skin. The spear shafts were infused with the laws of blood, ensuring a rather paralyzing effect once the innitial penetration was achieved, thanks to the spear tips incredible penetrative power. The result, as witnessed by everyone turning back to look at the snake, was quite impressive, ending the life of the snake in mere minutes.


    With the entirety of the hunter squad, a combination of two smaller groups, as indicated by their two SS class leaders, all staring at the unreasonable sight before their eyes, Rex moved with a decent speed, though nothing much greater than the fastest of the hunters in their panicked retreat. It would not do to terrify them with more than overwhelming power. Were he to show speed and agility far beyond their own, he was more than asured there would even more fear and distrust dirrected his way than it already was. Besides, Rex wanted to maintain as much of his power hidden as the situation allowed him to.


    With such measures taken, he was noticed rather soon, as he moved towards the corpse of the snake. He did not pay too much attention to the hunter group, as if prioritizing his quarry. The first thing he did as he stood before the snake was inspect its meat. Luckally, the meat of the snake was good. Heaven grade even, so he wasted no time whatsoever, stashing the monster away in one of his storage rings. That action had the slack jaws of the hunters drop even lower, Rex joked to himself that they were about to touch ground, as he noticed their reaction out of the corner of his eye.


    "You gonna continue to stare and gawk at me, or what?" he asked as his head slowly turned towards the group, his hoods opening stopping on the woman that had been the snakes first planned snack.


    Now that he was quite close he could see a few more details that his previous vantage point had not shown, a matter of the angle and the rather puffy leather cloak each and ever hunter wore. Sure, they were quite pretty, each and every woman he had checked out, just as the men were more handsome than your average man, but the woman in front of him sported quite the proportions, and with a quick glacnce around, so did the rest of them.


    "Damn, humans would die of jelousy over those genes." Rex chuckled to himself, once again interrupting the current dead drop silence. "Most of them, anyways."


    His last words seemed to jolt one of the two leaders out of their stuppor. While the SS class lizard male was still gawking at him, the woman managed to get a sad excuse of a smile on her face, as she meekly waved her hand at Rex.


    "Hello?" an akward and meek first word followed, and noticing the small reaction to her word from the hooded man, that in no way showed any negative reaction, much less agressive stance, she continiued. "Thank you for the assistance. Without it quiet a few of us no doubt have perished trying to flee."


    "Hmm, dont sweat it. Though it is odd that with the amount of hunters you have, the beast was noticed so late, making this situation as dire as it would have been without my presence. And no, before anyone of you gets the idea I had anything to do with its appearance, I assure you, I have no need of the beast to take out such a small hunting group as yours. As you have already witnessed. And since this is in no way related to me, I would watch your backs, were I you, that is."


    Rex noticed the few odd glares that were dirrected towards him as he had spoken, so he decided to clarify the situation. he had no interest, or desire to act benevolent and take shit from some blockheaded or plain old grumpy reptilian-kin.


    "By the way, what are you? Species I mean. Havent seen your kind before."


    This question of his had much more of a reaction from the group than his previous words, with most of the heads shooting in his dirrection and locking onto him, no doubt trying to gleam anything about his features, and failing all the same, his clothing doing perfect work to obscure his features from them.


    "Are you not dragonkin, S-sir?" the same woman asked, even more unsure how to adress or deal with him, at the ned akwardly tacking on the ''sir'' for good measure. Never hurts to be extra respectfull towards someone who can apparently take you out easily and from a range that was scary in and of itself.


    To that question Rex semi turned his side, his hand gesturing towards his lower back and the butt. "No tail, as you can obviously see." he paused for a moment, then continiued, as if musing loudly. "Dragonkin eh? Well, I suppose it actuallt fits. Dragonkin it is then. Say, lady, would I encounter your kind often around these parts? And what is your attitude towards the tigermen that exist around these parts? Dont want to accidentally run into another of your groups and do something untoward, should they respond with aggresion. Your people seem civilised enough. So?"


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    With his question out and about, Rex waited for the woman to respond. It was clear she was mulling over how to proceed, not entirely sure of it herself. That little hesitation on her part was what finally brought out of his stupor the other leader present on the dragonkins side. With a few quick steps, almost half leaping, the male leader stood next to the woman, leaning in and whispering into her ear something he was sure Rex could not hear. Unfortunattely for him, Rex''s hearing was just sharp enough to hear each and every word of the man.


    "Carefull with what you speak, Mora. he seems suspicious to me. Who knows where he came from, even less of what his objectives here are."


    "Tone down with your vitriol Argul. He just saved our asses big time. The least we can do is give him the benefit of the doubt. That said, its not like I am about to call him in for a rite of Hool-Koupla." Her words earned another scoff from the male leader, but at the very least the man was smart enough to keep that crass behaviour of his quite toned down and between their own kind, so to speak, or at the very least he believed he did.


    "Just look at that firepower of his. The very least we can do is ensure that what the man wants to avoid does not come to pass. Better for both us, especially if he can become a friend of potential benefit in the future."


    "Huff" unhappy snort escaped Arguls nose "Do what you want. Its on your head if we suffer from your actions." and with that the man stepped a bit back, leaving the woman at the front, clearly giving her the reins of the situation.


    "My apologies, S-sir." Mora spoke again, this time her words dirrected towards Rex, once again the ''sir'' akwardly added at the end. The young woman clearly was not used to adressing anyone with such respect and caution. "We are quite far away from the ussual hunting grounds of my kind, so unless you plan to travel in that dirrection for a couple of days on foot" she spoke as she pointed towards the direction where Rex could see incredibly large mountains in the far distance "there should be no danger of you encountering any of our other hunter squads, causing any possible misunderstandings."


    Rex nodded his head in acknoledgement, noting the information. "I will try to avoid that dirrection for the time beig then."


    "Emm, what was that about the tigermen you asked sir?" Mora the asked in return, the ''sir'' finally did not feel so akward, though the question itself felt rather nervous, at least as far as it seemed to Rex.


    "Not too far away from here, maybee an hour or so in the opposite dirrection ran into a group of over hundred of them." His words caused a large gasp, coming from quite a few of the hunters, fear apparent in their now trembling forms. Rex also saw Moras arm clench, as well as her biting her lip in nervousness.


    "If I may ask, which dirrection did the group moved towards?" she asked a moment later, having come to a decision regarding something. Rex, feeling a lit playfull, for whatever reason pointed his finger down, not adding any other gesture or words. Though his one action was quite exagerated, ensuring that the hunters did not miss it. Still, his gesture did fly above their heads, most likely not a way to they reffer to the demise of any creature. ''Do they not bury their fallen?'' Rex wondered in his head for a moment, though his small introspection was interrupted by Mora.


    "Emm, sir, I am not familiar with the gesture. Could you please elaborate." She was biting her lip even more now and Rex was worried she might soon start to bleed, it it continiued in the same pace.


    "First, relax a bit lady. You are about to chew that pretty lip of yours off." These words caused her to act like a deer in headlights, her small and delicate jaw slightly parting, then a rather large blush spread across her face. The sky blue scales on her cheeks making the blush all the more apparent.


    "As for the tigermen, if you are worried about them reaching here any time soon, dont. In fact, forget about that group entirely. Not like they will ever surface anywhere again."


    "IMPOSSIBLE!" a shout of disbelief came from Argul "No way a hundred Savga-Tirog were taken out by a single person. No matter how strong they are. We are talking about the Savga-Tirog here, not some boars or anything."


    Rex scoffed at that, quite annoyed by the male hunter butting in their conversation. He also did not hide his dispelasure regarding the fact. "Dont butt in our conversation when you have clearly given up your right, covering for your own ass. Grown ups are talking here." For good measure he even shaked his palms in a shooing manner, indicating for the man to get lost. It was quite the treat, seeing the scowl of the man deepen, yet once again, his brain overcame his stupidity, the sight of the poor snake still clear in his mind, so the man wisely moved away, though Rex could see the grtted teeth. The man was clearly annoyed and probably insulted by his actions, though Rex reasoned it was coming to him. Dont give up your place in the conversation and then butt in whenever. It was common sense. With the annoyance out of the way, Rex refocused on Mora, a smiple hand gestire for her to continiue.


    "So, that group exist no longer?" she asked timidly, though there was quite a lot going on in her mind at the moment.


    "Yes, me and my companions took care of them. That was all we could do. There is little to no civilised mind behind those creatures. Pure savagery and instinct. Not much of a conversation can be held with the likes."


    "Did you notice any other groups in the vicinity?"


    "Of the tigermen? No, that was the only one within a days walk, I suppose. Cant say much more than that though. Why, they a problem around these parts?"


    "Yes, a problem and a half." A sad and pained smile appeared on her face."And that group is likely the first of many. Damn, the horde should not move for another decade." she cursed under breath, but loud enough for Rex to hear.


    "Hooo, do I hear a possible work avenue? Say lady, what would your people be willing to pay for stopping this horde of yours?" clear interest resounded in his voice, and that not only got Moras attention but the atention of every single hunter around.


    "ARE YOU SERIOUS? THAT WOULD BE TENS OF THOUSAND OF TIGERMEN?" she half yelled in obvious shock, still not able to comprehend the person in front of them.


    "IF the reward is right, EVEN THAT. So, tell me girl, who I have to talk about that? I asume you dont have the rank or influence among your people to negotiate something like that. Nor experience, I would asume."


    Mora quickly shook her head, indicating Rex correct asumption. A rather large furrow of the brows marred her face as she thought over their predicament, then coming to a decision, she once again bit her lip, but for just a moment, then she spoke.


    "Would you acompany us to our home? This has to be decided by the Elder council."


    "Sure, as long as you keep the grumpy away, we should be able to have a rather pleasant journey towards your home." Rex replied, then moved his hand behind his back, clasping them and walking towards Mora, his posture indicating that he was not at all worried about her suddenly attacking. Either that, or she did not even register on his danger sense. She decided that it was the former, her draconic pride would not take quite the beating if it was otherwise. She wisely did not ask for the answer, deciding it was better to not know.


    A few shouted orders and couple minutes later, the two groups, with Rex besides Mora, moved out, their destination clear. As they walked, Rex engaged Mora in a conversation, finally ''learning'' the womans name. In response, Rex gave his own name. He had utilized magic, not close combat arts, thus making it the obvous choice, besides there was little, if any worry that anyone else from Blythe could ever reach this deep. There were no info on any floor past thirty fourth for a reason. Rex was just too much of an anomaly to be measured by the normal standarts of the world. Indeed, quite a few of the Gods would classify him as a demigod already, even without the spark of the divine elevating and transforming his soul.


    The following two days were rather monotone and boring for Rex, save for the occasional conversation he had with Mora. Her fellow leader was kept at a safe distance, for everyones sake, so he used that fact to involve himself with other tasks, such as ordering a part of their group to do some side hunting of the lesser game that was encountered on their way back to their home. Rex noticed that no other dragonkin interacted with him either, most likely an order from Argul, or just like him they just did not want to be held responsible, should anything go wrong. Eventually, Rex saw some building spires in the distance, his keen and extremely sharp eyesight once again coming in handy.

 Chapter 118: A glimpse of the future. Part 3.

    The spires in the far distance were made of stone in a rather odd manner. No masonry he was aware of, did anything that resulted in quite such a precise and seemless stone slotting, unless, of course, the building were made with magic. A true master of earth magic could controll and move it around with a relative ease, allowing for such a result, though said endeavours would demand quite the mana reserves to be pulled off. Mana reserves that SS class entities would have, even with the apparent size of the building. Especially so if there were more than one builder with such a skillset.


    Another hour later Mora spoke to him once again. "Look there in the distance." she gestured with her hand towards the spires. "The mage tower spire should soon come into your sight. It is the greatest monument of my people, watching over us, as well as housing the best and brightests minds of ours." a clear respect and even a smidgeon of longing resonating in her voice. Rex did not let that fact go unnoticed, and so he teased the woman he had learned a bit anout.


    "My, ow my, is that longing I hear in your voice, hunter leader Mora? A crush, or desire to learn magic perhaps?" His teasing tone, as well as his sharp perception, did not escape the woman notice, earning an exasparated groan from her and a light glare.


    "How comes you are this perceptive now, but seem as dense as rock when it comes to much more simple things?"


    To be fair to Mora, Rex had indeed acted so, doing his damn best to ignore anything Argul related, or any of the male hunters, for that matter, making Mora quite annoyed at times. More than one of her questions had been disregarded, ignored in such a manner.


    "For that is my nature. I cant be bothered to pay attention to things that do not interest me. And the condition, or perhaps ways that could help your male hunters grow, falls under said category. Had you inquired the same regarding the women, or indeed they had aproached me on their own, I might have had a thing or two to say, for the right price that is."


    "Why does everything comes down to a price with you?" Mora asked the obvious question, having grown more and more interested in th reasoning of her temporary companion.


    "That is quite simple Mora. Why would anyone do something that does not benefit themselves in the end? Not like we are friends, or family for that matter. At best, we are aquintances, sharing a road on our way towards the destination, which in your case is home, and in mine- a possible place of a mercenary contract. See, the very nature of my presence is based on a possible reward. Even more so I am not inclined to show any more goodwill than I already have, purely due to how the rest of your group is keeping their distance, as if I am the plague itself, or a feral beast that could lash out at any moment. Does that satisfy your desire for an answer?"


    What followed was an akward silence, followed by just as akward nod of Moras head. A silence once again permeating the middle of the group, only some whispers being heard by Rex from the outer parts of the procession. Whispers that just proved his point even more, as the hunters whispered among themselves regarding the unsettling aura and mannerisms of their guest. Yet another thirty minutes passed by, as they finally reached a rather large and imposing stone walls, around eight meters in height, Rex calculated. The walls were made just as impressivly as the stone tower spire he had seen first, with quite well built parapet, enabling the archers to shoot while staying quite well protected.


    The did encounter more the the hunter squads, as well as passed by more than one farming plots, but remained mostly undisturbed, their scouts clearly having informed the aproaching groups about their guest, as well as the dire news they were bringing back with them, for that was exactly what they were returning with- a knowledge of the tigermen horde awakening a decade too soon, or so the dragonkin had spoken.


    "Welcome to Dragon Spires." Mora spoke with warmth and relief as they reached the gates, that opened as soon as they were in front of them. It was around midday, so they had a few choices ahead of them, and so Mora asked Rex how would he like to proceed, he was a guest of sorts after all.


    "Would you like to rest for the day visit the council tommorow, or should we ask for them to assemble at their earliest concinience to converse with you? There will be an emergency meeting regardless, what with the news we have brought back with us."


    "Hmm, a good question." Rex hummed for a moment, seemingly working over his options, then continiued "While I would like the time to explore the city for a while and evaluate what is there that your people can offer for my services, I asume the situation is dire enough that your ruling body should be more thna willing to fork up a much more generous offer to solve this issue, so I guess i should capitalize on that. So please, arange for the meeting as soon as possible."


    "Understood." she replied and gave some instructions to one of her companions. Rex was sure that the general gist of his presence was already known to their council, as well as the presence of the tigermen, but like any proud society, they had their egoes that needed validation and a small modicum of flair to appease, so, the act had to be kept up.


    "That reminds me, will your companions find their way to us, and would they not mistake your presence with us, causing some misunderstandings and an escalation?" She asked, remembering Rex mentioning a group that took care with the hundred tigermen they had spotted.


    "Dont worry, they have their work cut out, dealing with the corpses of the tigermen, collecting their hearst and what not. They are well aware I will be gone for quite the while, scouting out the floor. Besides, if there is anything I cannot tke care of, they will get the fuck away. They know better than to waste their lives unnecesarly."


    Mora nodded her head absentmindedly, the sight of the snake getting turned into a pincusion flashing in her mind. "Pardon?" she then stammered "Collecting their hearts? For whatever reason?"


    "Emm, alchemy. Their hearts are quite the ingridient, capable of replacing any other SS class feline type monster heart. It is quite the valuable resoure, I will have you know."


    "Ow, alchemy. Right, that does make some sense, though I doubt our alchemists have dabbled much with them."


    "Now that is odd, seeing as you are the locals here, I would have expected you to have most, if not all the ingridients catalogued and figured out. Maybee a difference in philosophy or something."


    "Easy for you to say, their numbers and monstrous strenght makes it hard to deal with them, often ending with very large casualities on our side, while the bodies of the fallen tigermen are quite mangled. They are incredibly tenacious. That said, how did your group deal with that advanced party, especially when it seems you treat it as if it was a simple walk in the woods?"


    "Huh, now, that is for me to know and for you to imagine. No casualities on my side though. Of that I can assure you."


    The following next twenty or so minutes the two walked in silence, Moras questioning glances moving Rex way every now and then, but he did not budge, not spilling the info she wa so curious about, untill they reached a ratehr nice looking two story house with a small garden in front of it. Rex had noticed that quite a few of the buildings had such gardens in front of them, either filled with some fragnant flowers or sometimes some domesticates fruit trees, not too large in the size though. At the door of the house, Mora stopped, and spoke.


    Stolen story; please report.


    "This here will be your resting place for the moment and for the night, in case our council cannot accomodate you and hear our your proposal. I should probably tell you that it is advised you do not leave the territory of this small, but cozy, property without my guidance, lest your actions are percieved as an agression, all the previous goodwill nothing more than an act. Though I do have this glaring suspicion, from our talks during the travel here, that you are even more powerfull than we have assumed so far. I sense no hostility, or underhanded plans from you, call it my draconic sixth sense. Say, am I correct in trusting it?"


    Rex chuckled at the words, a light smile adoring his face, though that would never reach Moras eyes, what with the disguise still concealing his features. "Well, I do not seek to harm your people as a whole, that is true, but I do have some selfish desires. Why else would I have offered my services, were that not the case. But that too is based on mutual benefits, no matter the payment I would ask for."


    Rex thought for a moment, before asking the main question that was in his mind. "Since i cannot move around your city on my own, less I spark some unneeded conflict, can it be done while in your presence? I would like to see what kind of merchandise your people sell. Who knows, I might find something that could be used for payment. I do believe that me being aware of the stuff you have on offer could ease our possible negotiations."


    This time Mora spent a few minutes musing over his suggestion, no doubt considering whether she had the rank to make such a decision, or not. Though from the bitter smile on her face, Rex was aware of her answer before she even spoke, though he silently waited for her to say it all the same.


    "While I do believe your suggestion has merit, I am nowhere near the ranks where I could make a decision on the issue. Please wait in the building while I rush towards the nearest oficial with the apropriate rank. I should be back in less than an hour, so can I ask that you wait for me that long?"


    "I suppose that is better than I expected. Sure, the stool there looks nice enough to laze around for an hour or so. Dont overexaust yourself for this. Would hate to see that pretty face haggard." Rex replied playfully, moving to said stood and sitting fown on it, his back ramrod straight as he closed his eyes and seemingly zoned off. He seemed so helpless, open to any and all ambushes, though that could not be further from the truth. His aura and mana formed a rather dense protective shell around him, ensuring nothing could actually reach his body, with a much thinner layers of both spreading out in a much larger area, though both were thin enough to not be noticed by anyone said expanded fields enveloped. Rex now had a perfect awareness of anything happening within a few hundred meters of him, painting quite clear picture of this current situation.


    Each and every home around his temporary residence was packed with dragonkin warriors, all in scale mail armor and armed to the teeth. Shield on their backs, a sword strapped to the side and a large and quite sturdy spear at hand, the soldiers looked quite well trained and disciplined, their full attention on the house Rex was told to rest in. Each and every one was early SS class entity as well, though slightly stronger than Mora and Argul. Made sense to Rex though. They needed some capable people leading the hunter teams, while at the same time not weakening their army too much.


    So with the hour that he had on his hands, he immersed himself in the exploration of both space and soul, ever so slightly deepening his understanding of both subjects. And while he was running a couple of paralel thoughts processes on both subjects twentyhour- seven, it was a much smoother process whne he focused on them with most of his being, leaving only a few seperate paralel proceses to ensuring his own safety, something he did subconsciously by now.


    Aproximately an hour later, he sensed Moras aproach, though now she was in a carriage of sorts, acompanied by yet another dragonkin, another woman, if he sensed right. There was a slight difference between the male and female dragonkin when Rex''s mana senses interacted with them, though he could not quite explain why it was so. Rex opened his eyes a few minutes before the carriage was before his residence, giving him enough time to inspect both the cariage itself, as well as the pack animal that was pulling it.


    Rex could not call the beast in any other name but a horse sized raptor. Though there was one glaring difference. The raptor was feathered. Clad in pale gray feathers, with a small plume or red on its head. Rex had seen a couple of such raptors as they came upon the city- furvums, as Mora had named the species. She also had mentioned that the more of a single colour their feathers, the more noble and prized the furvum was. Seeing a specimen that was basicly single color, meant that the person Mora had brought along was quite influential, the mount speaking volumes by itself.


    The carriage was similarily a single colour, a nice earth brown, with a silvery sigil adorning the side of its doors. Rex tactfully chose to ignore the coachmen that was controlling said carriage, more interested in the two passangers as well as the sigil. And since the carriage in question was still moving towards him, he focused his attention on the aforementioned sigil. A pair of draconic wings over a mountain, with a flame surrounding the round sigil. While Rex did not move his cosmic ravens into the city, the chosen form of his reconosaince unit being extremely foreign, he had a few of them high in the sky, outside the city walls, providing him with quite a lot of information as it was. He had spied quite a few similar carriages. Similary to furvums, he had noticed that not all of carriages were coloured in a single colour, most likely a form of status display, a hunch he had when he had noticed the disparity. A hunch that did prove itself to be correct soon after, as he noticed the rather puffed up chests and egos of quite a few youngsters that would disembark from said single coloured carriages on whatever trips they had taken. Rex also noticed that most of the peopel he had seen, within the city walls wore multicoloured clothing, with only a few he had noticed in a pure single coloured ones. Of course the same did not apply outside the city walls, where the colour was used to best support the hunters need to blend in, their outfits being still multicoloured, though with quite natural patterns and such.


    And soon, the carriage was was in front of the house he was staying at, the coachman quickly jumped off his seat and opened its door. From the carriage out stepped Mora, no longer dressed in her hunters outfit. She now wore a rather elegant one piece dress, that covered her slender yet curvaceous form, accentuating her hourglass figure. With the lighter fabric dress, as earth brown as the carriage, the sky blue scales on her arms, up to the revealed shoulders and going behind her back, seemed even more dazzling, shining a new light on the feminine beauty that was quite well hidden in her hunting outfit previously.


    Then the other lady stepped down from the carriage, a more filled out version of Mora, just as sky blue scales adorning the older woman. She too was dressed in an earth brown dress, though her shoulders were covered, but Rex clearly saw that she too had similar scales adrning her body, just like Mora. The two pair of yellow reptilian eyes looked at him as he admired both beautifull woman entering the small garden. Rex waited for them to come closer, enjoying the elegant beauty both radiated. They were incredibly modestly dressed, only their arms and Moras shoulders not hidden by their dresses. Even the cleavage was incredibly conservative, barely showing the collarbone of the two gorgeous women.


    "My, my, Mora, If I didnt know better I would guess you are trying to seduce your guest." Rex chuckled as the duo aproached him, his rather relaxed and carefree atitude catching her a bit by suprise.


    "I am doing no such thing!" she quickly spoke out, earning yet another chuckle from Rex.


    "Please, dont tease my dear Mora too much, her maiden heart can take only so much." The older woman spoke, a light smile on her face, though through her focused gaze Rex could tell she was evaluating him quite strictly. "I am Xersia Heavenflame, matriarch of heavenflame clan and the governor of the western city block. Mora has brough your request to me, and I have deemed it necessary to take your measure before making my decision."


    "Why dont we talk inside then, I would hate for all those poor warriors to try and listen in on our conversation then." Rex replied and enjoyed the slight widening of the two women eyes, understanding he was not supposed to be aware of their existance.


    "Come now, did you trully believed that someone, who is supposed to be a scout for a group that considers the tigermen, an apparent threat to your people, as no more than a sport hunt, enough to offer to hunt a veritable horde of them, would not have the skills to scout mere hundred meters around him?" there was a slight amount of sarcasm in his voice, as he gestured towards the doors. "Shall we?"

 Chapter 119: A new adventure?

    Rex looked towards the two beautifull women before him, waiting for their answer to his invitation to talk inside, out of the eyes and ears of their soldiers around them. He was both amused and slightly worried about the simple and rather naive way the dragonkin had been assesing his existance, clearly looking at him at face value, asuming Rex had shown the full scale of his might in order to appear as impressive as he could to their hunting party.


    "And should we refuse?" rather suspiciously asked Xersia, her voice quiet, stepping just slightly forward, barely shielding Mora, though both action were subtle enough not to alert the soldiers around.


    "Am I supposed to use coersion now? Its entirely up to you, I just asumed you might want to hear some additional info about the accident that lead me to appear before your daugher??"


    "No, Mora is my younger sister, and what do you mean?" Rex looked at her with a raised brow now, once again gesturing towards the door.


    "Should you really have all that information fall in the hands of some random low rank soldiers?" His words, while just as quiet as hers, indicated that there was more behind than it seemed at face value and finally understanding that Rex was considerate for their wellbeing, she nodded.


    "Very well. After you."


    With the door unlocked, Rex opened it, being all gentlemely, gesturing for the duo to enter. Thankfully, they did so, though Rex could feel slight nervousness coming from them, the sisters were clearly not entirely comfortable with teh given situation. He just sighed and slightly shook his head. following after them and closing the door. For good measure, he also deployed a small barrier, preventing any sound from leaving the building. As soon as the door closed, he spoke.


    "More, mind leading us to a place conductive for a discussion? I did not check out the place after you left." He recieved a furrowed brow from the ounger woman, though she nodded in the end, bringing the trio to a living room of sorts, with a table in the middle and six chairs around. Rex waited for the two ladies to sit down, then took a seat on the opposite side of the table, speaking.


    "It seems you are a bit uncomfortable. So to ease that tesnsion a bit, all I san say is that I am actually interested in getting that mercenary contract, so it is in my interests to not create any hostility among myslef and the powers that be of this place.And I am quite sure that Xersia, as a matriarch of her clan, is one of those powers. So there is no reason to be so much on guard." He paused for a moment, then withdrew a few cups of tea, as well as a teapot with steaming, previously prepeared tea by Millie, perfectly preserved in the time stasis. He pured some himself, then oured for the two ladies as well.


    "Tea made by one of my women. Its is quite delicious, so if you would like to try, feel free." he gestured towards the two cups, but did not expect them to partake, still, with the gesture complete he continiued.


    "As for the snake incident. Let me state beforehand that, had the snake not appeared I would not have interacted with Mora and her hunter group. I would have, most likely stalked them untill I had enough information to consider further actions. And, since I have just dealt with a rather annoyingly long war, another such conflict with an intelegent species is the last thing on my mind. Still, as stated prevously, with the knowledge that the tigermen act as a horde and are quite the threat to you, O could be convinced, for the right price of course, to take part. Still, the reason for this conversation is different. Suffice to say that the snake iinitially came from this side. I mean from your settlements side. I am also aware that it had been chasing something rather persistently for quite a long time, a few days at least, was my calculation. And seeing the rather mindless way it charged after your hunters, well you can put two and two together."


    "Are you implying somehow, someone dirrected the snake towards the hunter group of Mora?" Xersia''s tone, chillingly cold, as she glared at Rex.


    "Yes, that is exactly what I am implying. Though who could have the means to do that, your guess is better than mine. i am not familiar with this floor after all."


    "Are you from the floors below?" Xersia then asked.


    "No, I am not from here, entirely, thus my ability to use the gates. Speaking of, any around here somewhere?" That caused another reaction from Xersia, the older woman clearly aware of what he was talking about.


    "That is odd though. While there are ancient, mostly lost tales of folk that can use the gates, there is no actual records of anyone doing so, and the oldest of our dragonkin knowledge keepers are millenias old."


    "I am quite the annomaly among the people, where I come from. So much so, that any of your SS class kin, would be considered among the most powerfull entities around. Though, that is what happens when a species lives in such a dense and mana rich enviroment for millenias. The mana density is many times lesser in the air up there."


    "What about the rest of your group then?" Mora asked, eyes narrowed, jsut like her sisters now.


    "Ahh, that. Well, that was a small white lie, sorry for that. Thruth is, I alone took care of those hundred something tigermen, but had I said so back then, you would not have believed, and had you, I assume there would be just as much, if not more panic in my presence. Now though, there is a modicum of understanding regarding my characther, what with teh conversations we have had Mora, I believe we can look past the base fear and mistrust towards someone you cannot trully comprehend." As Rex spoke, the two women went through a whole spectrum of emotions, all perfectly displayed on their faces.


    First came anger at being lied to, followed by shock and fear, seeing Rex in a new light, as a monster of unreasonable might, then acceptance, more so on Moras part, with Xersia following her younger sisters example. Mora was the more experienced one when it came to interracting with Rex after all. Seeing them calming down slowly, Rex smiled under the hood, and sipped from his teacup.


    "Try the tea, it has a mild calming effect, should help you recoup sooner. I am glad you are both seeing past the unfounded fear that lesser people would have succumbed to."


    To Rex mild suprise, Xersia streched her hand, taking one of the tow cups of tea prepeared for the duo, and carefully inhaled the steam coming from the liquid, though just barely. Waiting for a moment, and sensing nothing but a pelasant aroma, she inhaled once more, this time a rather large breath, enjoying the mild and fragnant scent of the beverage. Then, she did the same thing with the drink itself, taking an extremely small sip, then a few moments later she took a decent gulp, enjoing the calming and incredible taste of the tea.


    "Hmmm." a pleased humm escapaed her lips, as she savoured the taste, swallowing a moment later.


    "It is indeed exquisite, as well as calming, as stated. You should try it Mora."


    With her encouraging words, much calmer than one would expect, what with their current situation, Mora did as her sister suggested. The next few ten or so minutes were mostly spent in a calming quiet, with the trio enjoying their tea, Rex only asking if they would like their cups to be refilled when they came close to being empty. As expected, both ladies happily nodded at the questions, prolonging the relaxing moment. Though both of them were also working over the knowledge that was now in their possesion. Untill eventually, Xersia spoke, her brow furrowed.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "It is much more complicated than I thought."


    "Ow, have you found a possible culprit, as well as a reason for the attack?" Rex asked, quite interested in the details.


    "That is a distinct possibility, though I sincerely hope i am mistaken."


    "And would you be willing to share?" Rex asked, the fingers of his hands conncting in front of his face as he leaned a bit forward, clearly interested in the theory "though I will need a rather in depth explanation, if you dont mind."


    "Well, the situation seems quite dire, both for me and Mora, so if this information could entice you in some way, it is much better to acquiese." Xersia responded, and seeing as Rex lightly nodded once, but other wise remained quiet, she proceeded to expain.


    "There are three large cities like this one, under the rule and controll of the dragonkin, all situated on this floor. Ech city has a branch of the founding families, like us. A decade before the awakening of the tigermen horde, each family holds a competition, that decides the main branch of the family untill the next competition. The strong shall lead their weaker bretheren. The Heavenflame clan is rather famous for agility and scouting provess, so much so that there are tales of our movement being compared to flying. Though such a specialization comes at a price. Our combat prowess takes a hit. I am quite the annomaly like yourself then, my talent with the spear far surpassing anything our family has seen before. And due to the death of my parents, I have been pursuing the arts of the spear more than we normally would. That, and their absence has shaped Mora too more in my own reflection. We are less so scouts than spearmasters, but still quite agile, thus near guaranteeing my victory over my peers in the coming competition."


    Rex nodded along, reading between the lines, though he did wait for Xersia to finish, just to cover any possible blindspot.


    "It is also no secret that due to my parents early demise, I am overly protective of Mora, not to the point of it debilitating either of our lives, but still, you get the point. It is then reasonable to assume, should anything happen to her, my own mental condition would deteriorate. I will be the first to admit that should she perish, I doubt I would care enough about the competition to take part in it. There would be no point for me anymore." she admitted with a rather empty eyes, just imagining such a possibility sapped her of will to live.


    "And where would the tamers come in then?" Rex asked, the missing link still not explained.


    "Yes, I was going to explain that in just a moment. House Serpentglare. The best tamers that dragonkin have. There were a few rumors two decade ago, when I was in my teens, that they have come into possesion of the black serpent eggs- the snake that attacked Mora''s group. And I have to admit, there is quite a few of the noble house men that have made claims they will be the ones to tame me. With my parents deceased, me being the matriacrh of this cities branch, and the next competition so close, the current main family cant arrange a marriage for me, since I have refused each and every would be spouse. Should Mora persih" a clear shiver of pain crossed her form, "I would all but be broken, making it easy for the next main family to marry me off, as it would be the best I could serve the family in that state." Now she gritted her teeth, anger apparent in her voice "Still, whoever I would be married off to, could still rake in quite the fortune, as there are quite a few of the nobles who have joined in on said bet."


    "Should I try and join in on the bet, I wonder? Thing they would let me?" Rex spoke suddenly, a jovial tone in his voice. That cased both sisters to whip their head in his dirrection, eyes narrowing.


    "He he he he." Rex chuckled as he removed his hood, revealing his ordinary looks, but more than that, his human features, his eyes excluding. "Come now, you are incredibly beautifull. There is no way I could not aim your affection and body. Only a fool would not. And with how greedy I am, it is only natural that I aim for Mora as well, since it seems that your happiness is dependant on Moras presence and hapiness."


    "Dont you think you are being too greedy here?" Xersia asked, a small smirk developing on her face. Rex''s simple and most definately, dragonic aproach to the situation, caused the older of the two sisters even more relaxed around him than before. "That greed of yours, it most definetly smells of a dragonoid. Are you perhaps of a similar species as us?"


    "Well, yes and no. I am quite sure I am of dragon bloodline, though not quite in the same manner as your species. My guess is that your ancestors blood were of drakes of some sort. No offence intended. Higher species of their variants for sure, no lesser drakes could take human form. That would explain the draconic features your pople have retained. True dragon offspring look decidedly human, when not in the dragon form, if one of the mates is human. Your form implies true drakes."


    "No offense taken. Were we not aware of the nature of our ancestors, we have enough knowledge that we would have reached the same conclusion regardless. And yes, we all know that we come from True drake bloodline. Still makes us no less draconic in the end. I would asume you are not a first generation trueborn either. The eyes would be decidedly more dragonic, if that was the case, no?"


    "A mutation, that one, but yes, I asume you are correct."


    "You asume?"


    "Never met my birth parents, though I have a sister, and she is not like me, even had to purify and strenghten her bloodline for the bloodline abilities to manifest. So I can only guess in that regard. I suppose thats where my greed for bautifull maidens as well as desire to make a hoard comes from." A wide grin spread across his face, clearly visible to the sisters.


    "And you think that with those ordinary looks you stand a chance?" a smililar grin slowly spread across Xersias face "Especially when Mora is also in your sight?"


    "If that was all that I had going for me, surely not. I have what every dragon with, or forming a hoard needs first and foremost- my own cave and power to ensure said hoard does not get stolen. Then, I did save her life, no doubt earning me quite a bit of goodwill from her, as well as interest, if your draconic instincts are as strong as I suspect. Same should go with you, especially with what you have told me about your love for her. Truth be told, I believe I am the perfect answer you need for each and every problem you have currently."


    "Oww, and what would that be?" her grin widening even more, the personality of a warrior and a go getter shining through more and more, as well as a bit of primal lust oozing out of her.


    "An extremely powerfull dragon, clearly interested in you both, with the means to solve even the aproaching problem of the tigermen. So, what problem could a couple of your noble clans pose to me? Plus, I am soft handed enough, where it counts, to not just forcefully take what I desire. Not something often experienced with dragons. One of the less desirable traits of ours, I must admit."


    "Yes, a fault that true drakes do not really have, not in the same capacity at the very least, though there the human part comes to compensate." Xersia spoke back, a slight displeasure in her voice. How else the situation that had threatened Mora else come to pass?


    "Human nature indeed. But blame the individual for their shortcomings, not the race. Got any ideas who the main colaborator and beneficiary from the Serpentglare clans side would be?"


    "I have a few candidates, though I cant say for sure. There are four men from said clan who have made their statements about ''breaking me in'', " Xersia snorted, "and a couple more that had been brutaly rejected by Mora. "


    "So, a collaboration could be in the cards, even withing their own clan, yes?"


    " I would not put it past them." Xersia confirmed.


    "So, are you ready to become a part of this dragons hoard, alongside your sister?" Rex smirked, moving ahead with the agenda.


    "Dont you think you are rushing things a bit too fast there?" Mora finally joined the conversation, her face red, as she shot her embaresed gaze between Rex and her sister.


    "I was not implying to bed you both right here and now, if that is what you are thinking about. No, I wanted to stake my claim on you. you know. Like, rings are worn by human women when they have promised themselves, or already have a spouse, or the necklaces, in the case of Svergi women, made from very special beast teeth in the dungeon they reside in."


    "Svergi women?" Xersia asked with interest.


    "Half giant, half humans."


    "Oh, are they pretty?"


    "Some of them, yes. My two? Most definately. So much so, that they could compete with your beauty. I am a dragon of refined tastes after all, with endless greed as well. So, about the jewelery that indicates ones marital status?"


    "Yes, we do have it here. Rings too, like the humans you mentioned."


    "Any finger in particular? Humans have that." Rex lifted his left hand, with his right index finger pointing at his left ring finger. "Left hands ring finger, for humans, for example. though with males it just means that they have at least one spouse. Women tend to have only one male spouse in general, though it has to be noted that even most of the males only have a single woman as a spouse as well. Only the trully rich or powerfull have more."


    "Well, yes, the same ring finger for us as well." calmly replied Xersia.


    "So, two questions remain for both of you. Are you willing to become part of my hoard, with all the benefits that it affords, and if so, what kind of ring should I procure for you?"


    Rex leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, allowing the two sisters to converse, clearly weighting the pros and cons of such an offer. The sheer might of Rex was incredibly alluring for both sisters, as well the unspoken, but implied promise that they would be together forever.

 Chapter 120: The offer.

    Rex sat on his chair, laid back and eyes closed. And as the two sisters were talking over his offer, there was a single though at the very forefront of his mind. A rather simple one at that.


    ''How did it come to this?'' Rex asked himself in his mind, entirely sure he had no innitial desire for Mora. Sure, she was an exeptional beauty, with a hint of exoticness than none of his current women possesed. The unqiue appearance did give her, and her sister for that matter, an extra allure, but was that enough to entice him? Was he so trully shallow that all he cared about was the appearance of the fairer sex? He would have liked to think he was at least a bit better than that.


    Thankfully, both sisters had enough to talk about, weighting his offer, so Rex could delve deeper, pinpointing the exact moment of his dragonic greed trully awakened, setting gis sight on the sisters. Yes, the first point was the moment both of them stepped out of their carriage and appeared before him in these beautifull, yet modest dresses. That, and the knowledge he possesed regarding the snake was the deciding factor in his invitation to converse out of the sight prying eyes. That, and the desire to tease both women as they with those trully enticing outfits.


    And then, it hit him. The realization of the moment that trully awakened his greed for the duo. When Xersia spoke of the probable cause of the snakes attack, the one that would have killed Mora, and broken her sister. His pride, for a lack of a better word, could not afford another similar event, resulting in the suffering of decent and beautifull women. Sure, they were headstrong and independant, but that only added to their beauty, or so Rex believed. Yes, his desire for them awakened for two reasons. Now it made perfect sense. They are exceptional beauties, and capable in their own right, as well as in need of a reliable wall to weather the storm. They were trully beautifull flowers, in danger of being plucked and defiled. Rex, in this metaphor, was a passing by collector of flowers, his desire to add them to his garden, where they would be safe and could bloom to perfection, awakened by said sight.


    ''At least I still have some semblence of a sapient creature.'' he sighed with relief in his mind, happy that he could still controll his mental faculties, just that his dragonic traits were showing more and more as he became stronger. He would have to reevaluate most of his decisions going forward, to ensure he did not become an entirely different person from what he was, allowing his bloodline to dictate who he would become in the end. Luckaly, or sadly, he was roused from his little introspection, as Xersia adressed him with a question, their own talk having reached some sort of a road block, or a crossroad.


    "Say, what is it that would be expected of us, should we agree to your offer?"


    "Hm? Nothing much, to be honest. I would like you to live alongside my other girls and get along with them, hopefully helping them grow in whatever way they want, while you yourselves strive for the same. then, obviously, nights spent together, engaging in rather pleasurable sexual activities. Of course, should you wish to spend some time during the days I am around, that too is acceptable, should you want for some other joint actions. I dont think there is much else that comes to mind right this instant."


    "Thats it? You dont need us to rule over some territories, lead armies or anything the like?" Mora then asked.


    "Would you like to? Because, if so, I can probably create an army of blood constructs for you, or just reasign a part of the one I already have."


    "No, no no, thank you but I would rather pass!" Mora quickly spoke, less Rex decide on it.


    "Honestly, I did not plan to make such an offer innitially, though due to your beaty, as well as the nefarious schemes that seem to surround you, my dragonic instincts kicked in before I realized, and well, here we are. Though I do not regret that they did in this instance. So, anything else you would like to ask?"


    "And if we agree, will you still offer that mercenary deal to our people?"


    "Yes, that has not changed. I could, should you agree to my proposal, and ask me to, give the dragonkin a rather decent discount, once we come to an agreement."


    "Just like that?" Xersia asked then, her eyebrow slightly raised.


    "What can I say." Rex smiled at the two sisters. "The things I do for my women."


    "And you would not try to seperate us?


    "If you two so wish, you could even always tag team me during our nightly encounters in the bedroom. I already have a mother-daughter elven duo in my hoard who do exactly that. I dont mind being feared, when it comes to strangers, but I want my women to smile and be as happy as they can be around me and the other girls. As I said, I am quite greedy indeed. Once again, my dragon bloodline shining through and through."


    Another few minutes went by, when the two women finally came to a decision.


    "We are willing to agree to your proposal, but there will be a few conditions." Xersia spoke.


    "Lets hear them." Rex replied, opened his eyes, focused on her as he leaned forward, his full attention on the next words coming.


    "We will become engaged. A promise to become yours, though before that actually happens we want your assistance in taking care of the tigermen horde, as well as the ones responsible for the orchistrated attack. We want to also be able to chose any of the duties we can perform as members of your hoard. Lastly, we want to be able to move around freely. Your world is no doubt quite different than we are used to. We would like to explore what it has to offer. So, are our terms acceptable?"


    "So, regarding the first part. As long as dragonkin council do not act hostile and are trying to find an acceptable price that satisfies us both, it is only natural that I would assist. Of that you do not have to worry. Even should they act that way, i might end up helping regardless, though the cost will be much greater, most likely not given willingly at the end either. Regarding the second point, as long as you dont expect to take over the jobs my girls have taken as their own, I dont see why not. The last one is the trickiest. As for the freedom to travel and roam the world, that is something that, unfortunately, I cannot agree with. Not in the capacity and shape that you have expressed. I care too much for both safety and presence of my girls, so while they are not locked in a tower or a cave per say, there are quite a few rules that they have to abide by, should they wish for some travel and world experience, though so far they only have requested the freedom to exlore this dungeon we are currently in. Something I have approved, though there are always quite a few of my own personal observers with them, ensuring that their lives are never trully in danger. If that is something that you cant abide by, it is better that we end this discussion of ours now."


    Rex''s words were calm, but firm, stating his iron clad stance on this particular issue, proving his rather possesive and overprotective nature of his hoard and people in general, but to be entirely certain that it was indeed his nature when it came to everyone within his shade, Xersia asked another question.


    "Do you have similar rules for your servants, or slaves as well?"


    "Of course. I like my people, no matter their supposed station, with a single exception, find their lives within my mansions quite pleasant, at the very least. A servant that adores their master is much more reliable and hardworking in return. A philosophy I go by quite a lot."


    "And this exclusion would be?"


    "Ahh, yes. To put bluntly, they are the remains of a nation that hunted down and exterminated, often after prolongued torture, people with a certain set of mutations. So, in return I had a small incursion in their lands, wiped a few cities and quite a few villages off of the face of the planet, including their capital, well mostly anyways, and enslaved quite the number of their people. Needless to say, their treatment is notably different than others, what with most of them not even being my own slaves."


    "While it does sound rather harsh, I can see how you would reach such a conclusion." Xersia spoke then, her outlook as a leader of a noble house much more nuanced and flexible.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Though I have to say, your answers are quite pleasing, regarding the conditions we set, when it comes to our possible joining your hoard. Had you accepted them unilateraly, or even implied that you would be okey with them as they are for the time being, we would have doubted your sincerity, expecting there to be some sinister plot behind your desire. The fact that you are openly stating your own stance, as well as the inaability to comply with some of our demands, shows your genuine desire for us. It also proves that you had do not wish to force us into it either. With all that taken into consideration...." Xersia paused as she looked Rex over, as if thinking on something, untill Mora rolled her eyes and finished her sisters sentence.


    "YES, we would like to accept your proposal. Sheesh sister, why make it so dramatic. I did not take you for one of them!"


    "Come now sister, its not often you get to playfully mess around with a being that powerfull, and not incur their anger for it."


    Rex smiled at the response and then they spent another thirty minutes or so talking over the specifics of the rings the two sisters would recieve. Then, since it was still not too late, they left the house, all three of them entering the carriage, with Xersia giving their coachman the location they would go to. They talked about more mundane things during the ride, with both sisters every now and then pointing to a building they passed, explaining its significance and history. In less than another hour, they had reached their destination.


    The trio exited their carriage and were in front of a nicely maintained and well shaped three story building, made in the same seamless manner as all the other buildings, though this one had a sign above the door. Something Rex easily understood, though it was hard not to. The rather large diamond shaped mosaic stated the buildings purpose far too well, and Rex could do nothing else but to apreciate the masterfully assembled pieces of the crystals within the sign. Trully, it was made with care and precision. Nothing like the simple spears and bows that the hunters used, Moras one not including. That particular one, while looking similar to the others, was wastly different. Made of significantly better materials and made to resemble the poorly made ones of the rest of the squad.


    "The Crown jewel. The best jewel and accessory makers shop for generations. There is simply no other in comparison. If one wants to make a statement, they come here. Of course, that also comes with the relevant price tag." Mora explained, a certain glint reflecting in her eyes. A glint that Rex also saw in the older sisters eyes, so he just shrugged and replied.


    "Thanks to our little conversation along the way, I know that I am more than just loaded. So, lets go inside and see what catches your eyes shall we?" His hood was once again hiding his facial features, neither of the trio desiring to atrract a crowd of gawkers, who would blatantly stare at Rex.


    As Rex opened the door, signaling for the girls to enter, a rather pleasant and soft chime resounded throughout the first floor. Rex also sensed a rather light and relaxing snect flowing outside through the opened door. What came into his view as he entered was rather impressive as well. The room was rather large and spacious, leaving the middle quite empty, with only a single glass case on a pedestal in the very center. In said glass case stood a rather large jewel, shining in all the colours of the rainbow, the patterns on said jewel changing every now and then. Lined along the walls, except the one where a counter and stairs behind it were located, quite large shelfs, all with their own glass cases were arranged, displaying countless already made jewelery pieces.


    Both women, walked over to one and started inspecting the contents, quite a few different rings displayed in that one. A short while later, when sister had moved onto another shelf, discussing things among themselves, a rather aged, yet well dressed man aproached them. Earning their attention, he slightly bowed to Xersia, and nodded slightly in Moras dirrection, neither seemed to be offended by the light form of greeting.


    "Greetings lady Heavenflame. What fortuitous event has brought you and your sister to our lovely little setablishement? Is there any way I can be of assistance?" The elder man asked in a polite tone, a friendly smile gracing his lips.


    "Indeed you could." Xersia spoke. "Do you perhaps have some trisinium rings, with adamantium, or manaforged adamantium ones?"


    "Unfortunately, there are no manaforged adamantium ones in stock currently, as they are incredibly expensive to make, as lady no doubt knows. Thus, we only make custom ones when an order is being placed."


    "And how long would it take to be created, were a couple to be ordered?"


    "At the very least a few weeks, lady Heavenflame. The mana infusion is too intensive on our master crafters, unfortunately."


    "Are they supercharging adamantium with mana, providing it with several exceptional magical properties like light size manipulation as well as a minor space storage?" Rex asked, having messed with the material a bit a few times before. The material was rather universal, appearing every now and then even in the world outside the dungeons. Though it was still notoriously hard to work with, thus only leaving the most stubborn and masterfull of the smiths and jewelers to work with said material, should the need arise. Still, the product always turned out to be exceptional, only divine materials standing on equal, or slightly higher position and reverance.


    "Why yes sir, that is precisely so." The man answered, his hehad slightly turned towards Rex. The mans eyes bulged out of his skull as Rex withdrew a piece of adamantium ore, shimmering and thrumming with incredible mana charge.


    "This should be moroe than enough for a couple of rinsg, yes? Do not worry, it has been charged to its capacity, slightly below the overcharge state. It should be perfectly primed for the smelting and molding. Would this make it possible to make them faster?"


    "I would have to confer with the master smiths regarding that. Would you be willing to waitt foor a while while I do so?"


    "Sure thing. Go ahead. The ladies here will no doubt find the rest of this collection enough of a distraction for the time being." Rex replied, a slight hint of amusement and dread in his voice.


    "Hmm, seems that long shopping trips might be his weak point sister." Xersia whispered in the ear of her sister, a sly grin forming on their faces. Rex heard it of course, another sigh escaping his mouth. It seemed the two were dead set on messing with him as much as possible, whille maintaining the playfull nature of said games.


    What Rex expected to be rather long wait, ended abruptly, as a middle aged man with messy beard and a scar over his cheek rushed out from the back, quickly moving to Rex. Standing in front of him, holding the adamantium ore Rex had provided in front of him, he asked with intensity.


    "How did you get iit to this state? We have never managed to achieve such a perfect mana infusion."


    "A single mana source, infused with mana to reach this state witthin an hour. Any lower mana infusion rate, and the colour comes out paler, the magical properties weaker as well. Have multipe mana sources and the stability of the mana infusion is lower, once again lowering the magical capabilities. Thats about it?"


    The middle aged man fished out another adamantium ore piece from his pocket, this one the size of a thumb, shining in a much paler colour.


    "How much more mana, when compared with this one?" he asked as he streatched his hand forward, offering the ore for Rex to examine. Rex wordlessly took the smaller piece of ore and inspected it for a while, turning it around in his hand a few times over the inspection time, even closing his eyes at times.


    "A bit difficult to say, the melded mana messing with the calculations, thought if I had to estimate, I would say five or so times more. From a single sourse and within an hour."


    His words caused the crafters eyes to bulge, the amount and condiitions clearly shockinh him.


    "How is that even possible? Where di you get this sample from then, if the conditions are that harsh? Who could possibly achieve such a feat? never have I seen something this incredible, and you want to use it to craft rings, not some superior blade? Thats preposterous."


    "Well, sadly that is the one thing your bloodline is at fault here. Bodies faster and stronger, and at the same time with quite low mana capacity, causing your desperation. I assure you, there are people at Peak S class that could pull it off in the world, if with quite a bit of effort. As for a weapon, I already have one that satisfies me, and the ore is not nearly big enough for a proper weapon. So tell me sir master crafter, could you craft those two rings with utmost haste, should I offer a piece of a similar size as the payment, with just barely worse mana infusion?"


    "How much worse?" the crafter asked, eyes narrowed at that, though one of his eyelids twitched and there was the slightest tug on the corners of his lips, the man desperately trying to hold of his forming shit eating grin.


    "Four percent worse. So, we got ourselves a deal?"


    "Two yes?" the crafter asked, and seeing Rex nod as he pointed towards the sisters, he nodded in reply "Come back when we open tommorow for the rings." With the deal made, he no longer held back the shit eating grin, recieved his own small adamantium piece and dashed back through the door, a loud excited yell resounding all the way back to the shop area.


    "POPS! THE DUDE OFFERED ANOTHER TOP NOTCH PIECE FOR THE WORK! THE SUCCER HAS NO IDEA OF ITS WORTH! MUAHAHAHAHAAHA."


    The shopkeeper facepalmed himself, clearly embarrased by the whole situation. "My appologies sir for the rather unbecoming words you just heard. I do hope it does not impact our dealings in a negative way. Once again, I deeply apologize on behalf of our fine establishement."


    "Meh, I have better stuff than that, so who is the actual sucker here? And no, I cant really take offence from a crafter so in love with his work, always desiring to workk on something more challenging, hoping to advance ever slightly further along in the art. We will return in the morning then."


    With that, the trio left the shop, enjoying a rather relaxed conversation where the sisters interrogated him quite a bit about the adamantium as well as all kinds of miscelaneous things, even cracking a joke at the expense of the soldiers that had done a piss poor job to look inconspicious as they tried to follow them during this little trip. Though there was a slight change in the plans. They never brought him back to the small house that he was offered. Rex recieved a room in the mansion of Xersia, his room located in the same hall as the two sisters. With the imminent threat that Mora was now under, Rex did not want to leave anything to chance, what with the sisters having become part of his hoard.

 Chapter 121: Shock and Awe.

    Rex opened his eyes, having sensed the two sisters stirring in their beds, a light and melodious cry resounding outside the mansion. A rather beautifull, german sheppard sized bird was singing, rousing the two women from their sleep. Rex had visited Elysion during the night, having to calm and satisfy his women- he had been away for a few days longer than expected, thus the ensuing work he had to do in the bedrooms. Still, even with all that exercise, he was well rested, his body no longer needing sleep to function. Still, he did soo regularily, even if only for short period of time. Who wouldnt enjoy a few hour nap in the embrace of breathtaking beauties after all. Rex was no exception either.


    Still, the fact that Mora and Xersia were waking meant he should too, their plan for the day rather well prepeared. They would visit the jeweler as soon as the shop starts their day and finalize the deal that had been made, with him putting the rings on both of their fingers right then and there. It would not take long for that morsel of knowledge to spread throughout the city, with Rex earning a ton of hatred and envy. Getting either of the sisters was already a heavenly blessing, or so the majority of the locals would say, but bagging both? Now that was a heavenly injustice. When he heard Xersia speak of it, he heartily laughed, the irony not being lost on him. He was, after all, a champion of a true god, even if said god did nothing but hold other gods in check, and only watched his life unfold, getting a kick out of it.


    Rex exited his own room just slightly after sisters did, earning a raised eyebrow from both. "I am a rather powerfull sensor. It only makes sense that I would be aware of your momevent, what with us being so close by. Come, my beauties, duty calls, no?"


    "I supposse I should stop being suprised so often, you do make the impossible things seem somewhat mundane after all."


    "Heh. I aim to please, my lady." Rex replied with a playfull smirk on his face, the hood of his getup lowered with no servants and staff in sight. He never hid from his women and with both sisters having already agreed to become his, he saw no reason to do any differently now.


    "We still have some time before we have to depart, so I do believe a breakfast is in order." Xersia spoke, a small smile gracing her alluring and full lips. Due to his dragonic bloodline, both Xersia and Mora looked even more beautifull than they should have, a subjective subconscious elevation of their beauty taking place within his mind. As a dragon, it was only natural for him to see his draconic mates in a much better light than they actually were. Rex was entirely aware of it, the change in his perception having happened soon after the sisters agreed to become his. He was just a little bit worried about such a shift, should he ever get a true dragon woman in his harem. Still, that was a problem for another day and the future him.


    "There is no way I would willingly miss an opportunity to dine with my beautifull brides."


    "Is that so? But pray tell, are you not longing for therest of your women? Surely they are as exceptionally beautifull as we are?"


    "Well now, that is a secret that you will just have to wait a bit to learn the answer to. Whats life without some misteries, after all?"


    Rex stood between the two sisters, extending his hands slightly to the sides, slowly mooving his hood in place, obscuring his face from the sight. Clearly understanding his intentions, both sisters embraced one of his arms, leading him towards the dining room.


    "Do you have to conceal your face?" mora asked as they walked forward.


    "Hmm, not neccesarily, though I think it would be much more powerfull to remove it once we are dealing with the council, that too only after either of you two would ask for it, emphasizing your role and the weight of your words and requests when it concerns me. No doubt some will think to use you for their benefit, but those attempts will be quickly shot down, with rather dire consequences, lest other fools decide to try their luck."


    The following thirty minutes they spent eating breakfast were filled with the clinking of the cutlery and occasional light conversation, with it all eventually coming to and end as they finished eating, their bellies full of exquisite and well prepeared food, courtesy of Heavenflame mansions experienced cooks. With the meal over, the trio boarded the carriage and immersed them in yet another conversation as the coachman stirred the furvum, that was pulling their carriage, once again starting they hour long yourney to the jewelers shop.


    With the sisters asking more and more personal questions, with them also quickly going over their action plan in the shop, the hour passed unnoticably, a light knock from the front of the carriage, where their coachman was on the other side, signaled their arrival, and Rex, acting like the gentlemen, contrary to what everyone within the carriage knew to be the truth, exited first,rising his hand and helping both women to descend from the carriage after him. They had arrived barely a few minutes after the opening time, leaving the place quite empty, with barely any living souls present. The trio wasted no time, approaching the door of the establishement, and promptly opeing its door and entering inside.


    The shopkeeper, seeing the V.I.P.''s, hurried over, bowing quite deeply towards them in greeting.


    "Lady Heavenflame, young miss, sir, it is a pleasure to see you all once again. If I may ask, please follow me to the waiting lounge, master should soon emerge with your order ready. He had made some last minute adjustments after examining the material he had to work with. I believe you will recieve the greatest of his works to date, masters words."


    A few moments later they were brought to a rather cozy room, decorated with quite a few different, beautifull and exotic figurines, each depicting some majestic creature. The trio sat in one of teh sofas, rather close to each other. Rex conjured mana chain constructs to operate the tea set that was on a nearby table, filled with steaming hot water, the staff already having prepeared the room to serve guests.


    "Dont mind us. We have everything we need right here. Feel free to return to your duties. I can sense a few people nearing this establishement." Rex informed the shopkeeper, all the while expertly controlling his conjured mana constructs, pouring three cups and prepearing a drink for himself and the two mesmerizingly beautifull ladies besides him, inquiring both regarding the way they would like their drink prepeared, and doing exactly as guided by the sisters. The shopkeeper quickly bowed once again and excused himself, returning to the main hall of the shop, greeting the customers that were indeed arriving just moments later.


    As expected, the guests who arrived were other noble ladies, having recieved news of the Heavenflame carriage, with their guest as well, leaving their mansion, and with the eyes on said carriage, all the ladies were either intrigued themselves, or sent to gather information about this supposed mercenary that could solve the issue of the early tigermen horde. Such power, no matter the size of his group, was an invaluable recourse that could reshape the upper levels of the ruling class. Hell, depending on the actual power and the adaptability of the group, the ones they eventually back, should an offer enticing enough appear, could possibly become a true monarchy, solidifying a single family at the top of at the very least one city, if not them all, finally unifying them all under one ruler.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Soon, the arriving ladies, wives of the heads of other noble families, sometimes with a daughter or son alongside, entered the waiting lounge, the place made to allow for quite a few people to relax, should such a need arise, and arise it did. As the matured, sometimes elderly, ladies entered, they greeted Xersia, the ettiquette so demanding, what with her being a head of a noble house, as well as the fact that Rex had accepted their invitation to stay at their place, instead of the small, but cozy house he was placed at. Such a decisive action, made by Xersia, on its own proved that Rex was no hooded man. The head of the local branch of Heavenflame was notorious for her combat prowess, as well as her aversion to the company of non combatants. Sure, she could play the politics at barely an acceptable level, but her eye for combat tallent and power was second to none. The fact she had made a move so quickly and decisively, was both a blessing and a curse at the same time.


    On one hand, her move proved inherent value and some truth to the mans claims, the presence of all the other ladies of the remaining houses reflecting that. At the same time, Xersia was in an unussually advantageous position in aquiring the support of this misterious group, or at the very least- the individual present. She was, after all, still unwed and single, thus providing her with some extremely powerfull cards at her disposal, if the beauty standarts of this new arrival was anywhere their own. Though that too was a rather big gamble. If the man present was a scout of the group, no doubt much more powerfull heavy hitters remained behind, marking the man here with much lower inherent value than said heavy hitters. If, he was one of those, it would be a much better gamble, though that would put a question on the wisdom of the groups leadership. You do not send one of your trump cards into possibly hostile territory without the neccesarry backup. Still, even with the recounts from the hunter group, there were no actual hard evidence that the one who performed that powerfull magic, if the hunters can be believed, was the man present here.


    Nevertheless, it was better to be cautious, and so the noble ladies moved with caution, using their years in the high society to subtly guide the small conversation about the mundane things into a dirrection that they all were interested in. Even with them working with their own benefit in mind, there was a bare minimum of information that they needed in order to make the next move. Thus, they would allow someone else to guide the conversation as long as it moved in a dirrection they needed. Should it not, they would try to subtly shift dirrection of said conversation. Sadly for them, the member of the mercenary group barely participated. The concealed face of the man made it even more difficult, only the minimal body language giving the experienced women any indication, and even that happened rarely, to indicate his stance on any of the ungoing topics.


    Still, their attempts came to and end aproximately an hour later, with them attaining barely any information whatsoever. This ''Rex'' was just too stiff during this time. The conversation was interrupted by the shopkeeper entering the room alongside the master crafter of the shop, a small and ornate box in masters hands. And this was not the middle aged man that had come up during Rex''s previous visit. No, the man was a generation or two older, small and silvery beard, but well maintained and groomed, adorned his face, old and wise eyes half lidded, but still beaming with the energy of life. This elderly man was far from the grave.


    The dragonkin ladies present all had their jaws dropped. When was the last time the grandmaster had left his workshop, they all wandered. What was it that the Heavenflame matriarch and her guest had come to aquire, and what was it that was used as the payment for said purchase. They did not have to remain wondering, as the mercenary spoke.


    "Would that be my order?" he asked as he pointed towards the small ornate box.


    "Indeed it is." the grandmaster answered, a smile on his face "I have to admit, it was the first time I had the pleasure to work with such exquisite material. Should you ever need anything else crafted, please consider us. We will give you the best of offers."


    "Sure, sure." Rex waved his hand, a chunk of metal ore appearing in his hand as he stretched them both forward, the ore floating towards the grandmaster and at the same time, the ornate box doing the same movement towards him. The eyes of the grandmaster were glued to the ore though, a smile and a greedy twicth pulling on the corner of one of his eyes. It was as if the old man saw nothing but the ore in front of him and as soon as it was within his arms, the old man hugged it as if it was his firstborn just after their birth. A quick nod in the mercenaries dirrection later, the grandmaster was already out of the room, no doubt returning to the workshop with speed that was not indicative of the elderly mans age.


    "Our grand elder thanks for your business, and hopes that the items are to your liking and standarts." the shopkeeper, who was still present, bowed deeply and spoke politely, a bit flustered by the actions of the grandmaster.''Act with dignity my ass. Like father, like son.'' Though the shopkeeper, hoping to smooth over the clear lack of decorum their maniacal master crafters could and did leave behind.


    "Dont sweat it. All men of focus are like that when it comes to their chosen discipline." The mercenary spoke, momentarily inspecting the ornate box itself. Everyone present had to admit, eben the box itself was made with utmost care and precision, as if a box of a lower quality could taint the object within itself. After a brief examination, and and apreciative nod, he opened the box, a pair of incredibly intricate and priceless rings came into view. They had this light absorbing sheen to them, magically contradictory in its own manner. It was clearly master crafted magical item, though the lack of any sense of power radiating from it made it even more precious. Just what was it made of? Not even adamantium was like this. There was also the chunk of ore that the mercenary had given over, clearly the payment for the job. What was the ore that it could cover the bill for such exquisite crafting?


    If these questions plagued the noble ladies minds, the thing they saw next straight out took them offline, blanking them for a while. The mercenary lifted a ring in each of his hand, each held by an index finger and a thumb, then he examined it for a short while. Humming and nodding with satisfaction, he proceeded with the plans, though neither he, nor the sisters had expected them to have such a large audience. Still, it served their purpose even better than what they anticipated. After he finished his inspection and deemed the rings worthy, he stood up, both sisters quickly followed him, then Rex turned around, his eyes were greeted by two left hands slowly beeing presented. With slow, but steady movement, his hands moved forward, each ring sliding on the ringfingers of the tow sisters left hands, the rings adjusting to the size of the fingers they were placed on.


    "Hmm" Rex hummed with aproval."They look even better than I exected. I do hope you girls like them."


    "Beautifull!" Both sisters spoke in unison, the same though in their, and every other womans present, mind, as they gazed upon the beautifull pieces of jewelery.


    "Lets head back to our mansion, no doubt the unexpected company has drained you as much as us?" Xersia spoke, their objective achieved. She had no desire to stick around and wait for the dazed women, and a few seething men, to come out of their stuppor. Luckaly for her, Rex was of the same mind, taking the hands of both ladies and leaving the room, and the shop in its entirety, behind. They soon boarded their carriage and their coachman urged the beast strapped to it to return back to the mansion.


    A short moment of silence fell upon the inside of the carriage, the trio looking at one another, untill finally, Xersia bursted out in laughter, soon followed by Mora. Rex then joined them as well, his laugh much lighter, but nevertheless displayed his enjoyment, though whether it was becasue of the reaction of the noble ladies, or the infectious and happy laughter of the sisters, nobody would know.


    "Ha ha ha ha. D-di you see their faces?" Xersia stammered through her powerfull, but nonetheless vibrant and infectious laughter. "Ha ha ha ha. Lords, I have never seen them so gobsmacked before. Ha ha ha ha ha."


    "Y-yes sister, ha ha ha ha, I bet we could have stuck and egg or two in those hanging, wide open mouths of theirs, and they would not have even noticed, ha ha ha ha. "


    "He he he. They did drone on and on before that. Sheesh, I thought that nothing could shut them up. Who could have guessed that something could after all."


    They continiued in a similar matter, laughing over the situation they left behind, and once their laughter died down, they quickly went over their plans regarding the quickly aproaching meeting with the cities draginkin council. They continiued the same conversation even after they returned to Heavenflame mansion, and around midday, a messanger arrived, acompanied by a group of men, all clad in shiny and new armor, clearly a group of honour guards of sorts. The message delivered was clear "The council is ready and eager to meet with the guest."

 Chapter 122: Whos looking down on who?

    Shortly after they had been informed of the readiness of the council to meet Rex, the trio once again landed their precious posteriors on the now well familiar seats, as the carriage of the Heavenflame family once again departed their mansion. Their new destination- Voice of the people. A rather large building within the very heart of the city, thus they had to endure yet another almsot two hour trip. Heavenflame mansion was located rather far to the citues outskirts, the generation long tradition and skill of their scouts making such a position more advantageus for them. Xersia and in extension Mora, were outliers, an irregularity that occured ine every family with a specialized path, ingrained in their noble blood. Which meant every family had such outliers every now and then, each and every one specializing in some sort of subset of skills over any other.


    "Say, but what do your families do with such irregular descendants?" Rex asked the sisters, their conversation having touched upon the subject.


    "Normally, they would be married off to a family that embraces the same path the descendant does, strenghtening the path of the new family. I, and Mora in extension, are an exception to the rule, since I am the matriarch of my own branch, and Mora is my sister. With the position I occupy, as well as the ever aproaching tournament, I can blatantly refuse any such decisions of the rulling family. And with my position, Mora has had the same priviledge. There is no way I would just marry her off to some sleezy and pompous young noble dragonkin. Her generation is escecially spoiled, the parents probably compensating for because of the coming war with the tigermen in a decade."


    "No doubt there will be some fools who would air their grievances towards us for your decision to be mine. How do you girls want me to deal with them?" Rex asked, he did not care one way or another, as long as the fools risking their lives did not threaten Xersia and Mora, or did not get handsy with them. No other man shall touch his girls, and that was an iron clad rule, doubly so when they have lustfull and malicious thoughts.


    With the question aired, both girls went over a multitude of possible responses Rex could take, in the end settling on a rather simple one.


    "Do try to not kill or cripple them too badly, if possible, though there is no problem with a solid beating, should such fools apear and challenge your honour, or ours for that matter. There is little worse than a dragonkin noble scorned. Since we dragonkin are proud people, you should show a similar attitude as well, lest more and more fools believe you are either too timid or afraid of their boisterous nature. Better to curb such possible happenings in the bud. And there is no better preventative action than a proper display of power. With what you are packing, that should not be an issue I recon."


    "Roger that, Xersie, a stern beating for any fool who asks for it, and possibly some glance at us the wrong way, just for good measure. Nothing too permanent though, that about right, yes?"


    "Thats about right indeed." Replied the older of the sisters, a smile blooming on her face. She was realizing more and more just how magnificent and liberating it was to have a powerfull and capable man by ones side. The fact her sister was afforded the same benefits and protection was the cherry on top.


    Eventually, their ride came to and end, their carriage stopping in front of a rather well maintained fence of decorative mini trees, creating a wall around an old looking, but just as well maintained four story building. A mark with a round table with seats around it carved into it.


    "The assembly chamber." Spoke Xersia as they walked through one of the openings in the live fence, revealing the building in all of its ancient splendor. Multiple collumns were placed on both sides of the walkway, each and every one carved with intricate dravings.


    "Some sort of myth or a legend is depicted on each of the collumns. While we dont have the time now, I would be more than happy to tell you of any, should they arouse your interest. It is something that every dragonkin is taught and knows by heart."


    Then, a few moments later they were before a large and just as decorated door, that was already open, the guards of the messanger already spread around it, standing like some sort of honour guards. One of them then spoke.


    "We request you leave your storage device with us, lest you bring weapons inside, intending to harm our council."


    "He, he." Rex laughed at the words. "I dont need my weapons to harm said council, should I decide to do so, and none of you here, including a combined effort, stand a chance of making me, so be a good litle bitch, shut up and stand there as you are supposed to." Then he turned his attention to the sisters, who were still by his side, smiled at them, though none could see it, his cape obscuring the sight, and spoke in a much milder tone "Girls, miind leading the way? I am sure you both know the place well enough."


    Mora chuckled at the one eighty degree change in his attitude, and spoke. "Sure thing. Follow me." She then took Xersia by the hand and moved forward, Rex doing as asked and following behind them both. As they moved deeper into the building, they passed by more than just a few groups of people, nobles, judging by their single colour clothes, as well as the arrogant and haughty facial expressions they wore. Rex noticed more than one scowl and glare of jelousy that was dirrected towards him, the news of his act, and the response of the sisters, in the jewelers shop in the mornig, clearly having been spread among the nobility at the very least.


    Luckaly, though much to Rex suprise, there were no incidents on their way towards the destination of their visit, with them entering into a hall on the third floor of the building. The hall resembled an amphitethre of sorts, the stage with a podium and a few standing positions deployed in the field. The elevated sides were filled with seats, all packed with people, clearly waiting for the main stars of this event to arrive. Catching the attention of most peopel seated, as well as overhearing a few whispers among the nearest people, it seems it was only their presence that was missing from getting this thing underway.


    Rex also noticed that at the podium there was already a dragonkin man standing. He furrowed his brow, though once again his expressions were only for him to know about, and asked the two girls/


    "Why does the place look like some sort of a courtroom, meant for judging and interogating a criminal?"


    "Because thats what it is ussually used for, though with the council aware of the topic of the coming talk, the podium and the stand should have been replaced with a round table, indicating the equality of the sides looking for an agreement." Spoke Mora, her lectures still relatively frehs in her mind from the teachings she had had not too long ago.


    "hmm, soo, some fools have manipulated with the set up, clearly intending to humiliate the possible saviour of countless lives. Glad the corruption and stupidity is still prevelant even among your kind."


    "He, he, he." an akward laugh escaped Xersias lips "I did say there is quite the pride issue with our species. You must have felt it as so already."


    "Well, thats true, but I am not above petty fights, especially when I have the absolute advantage over the enemy. Just follow me closely by." he told his two beautifull companions, a smirk forming on his face and a mischievous glint in his eyes, once again unseen by the rest of the world.


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The short conversation he had with the girls was held as they descended the stairs towards the small stadium opening at the bottom, quite a few smirks adorning more than just a couple dragonkin younger males, however, much to their confusion, Rex''s group did not take the place at the podium, as the audience had expected. No, a burst of mana left his person, and a rather intricate mana construct spun around the stand in the middle, creating an ever growing platform, at the top of which three seats were forrmed.


    As the construct was swirling into existance, creating a solid, stable and even surface, the trio was brough up to reach the top by the moving and shifting plates of the mana construct. Then, Rex pulled out three cusions from his inventory, placed one on the new thrones each, and sat in the middle one, slightly larger than the other two, with girls taking a seat on both his sides. Now, the trio were even higher than the podium, causing the dragonkin in said podium to fush with anger and embarasment, his clear attempt to enforce his narrative having failed miserably, their roles now reversed.


    Rex and the girls sat there for a couple of minutes, quiet murmurs permeating the seats, as people whisoered among one another. He could sense even more hostile and agrieved glares sent his way, but the man at the podium still stood shocked in his place, whatever they had planned, clearly being interrupted.


    "I dont have all day to waste. Get on with it already." Rex spoke, his voice, amplified with mana, reverberated throughout the room, silencing the murmurs and finally getting things in motion. "My offer had clearly been brought to you. The question now is quite simple. What can you offer me in exchange for such a service?"


    What Rex, and most other spectators did not know, was the reason for the shocked state of the chosen speaker. As it just so happens, said dragonkin man was a rare mage of their kind, and seeing the vast amount of mana used for the construction, as well as the fact that it seemed to not bother the possible mercenary at all, indicating of even more reserves still in the mans tank. And that, that bevildered the speaker of the council. As dragonkin, whose ancestry lie in a higher drake, their mana capacity was rather low, making large and grand mana applications a sore spot for them. So, how could a mage with quite the limited mana pool not gawk at someone, who seemed to have no limits at all?


    Still, the speaker was an experienced member of the council, and, once out of his momentary stuppor, he quickly regathered himself, the slight grimmace on his face still there. Then, with quite the displeasure, he looked up towards the trio, comfortably sitting in their throne like chairs, looking down at him. The mercenary had reclined in the cusshy chair, his arms relaxed and placed on the handrails, a relaxed expression, and probably a mocking grin on his face. Both women had a hand placed on his, indicating the supposed unity of the trio.


    ''Tch, the bitch has got her hands on the scout it would seem. Still, I can use that connection for my benefit.'' the speaker thought, as he cleared his throat, prepearing to speak.


    "I, Redicous Ironscale, on behalf of the council, shall be leading this inquiry today." He spoke, his tone elevated, just the slightest tinge of mana in fusion in the voice. He had to be carefull, should this hearing last for hours, it would not befit a noble man to not last untill the end. He then proceeded to go on, naming the rest of the council members, something Rex did not bother commiting to his memory, though he did listen to what his women had to say about, whenever they did. A couple of minutes later, with the councilmembers named, Redicous returned to his supposed interogation.


    "Xersia Heavenflame. It has come to the attention of the council that you have been engaged with the mercenary? Your sister as well?" His tone was both questioning and accusatory.


    "That is true, but I dont see how that is any business of yours, or councils, for that matter. We are all individuals, and can do as we please with our lives." Xersia responded nonchallantly, her tone almost bored, yet a slight hint of mocking was evident, eliciting a squinting of the speakers eyes.


    "WHORE! COUDNT KEEP IN IN YOUR PANTS WHEN A STRONG STRANGERS APPEARS?" An angry shout resounded from the stands on the side, clearly someone had blown a fuse.


    "Ha ha ha ha." Xersia laughed in a full voice at the scream dirrected her way. "Cant blame me when there are no real men around, can you?" Her calm and mocking rebuttal shut up the now crimson man, clearly enraged and filled with embarasment and resentment. The mana construct that struck him, plastering the poor bastard against the wall did not help either, returning the entire attention to Rex, who was the originator of said mana construct.


    "Carefull now. I would advise to not mouth off and offend my women. My temper tends to be rather short in that regard." his voice was like a whisper, though clearly heard by everyone in the hall, a chill runing down their backs. It was both a warning and a threat at the same time.


    Before the spokesman could continiue on with his planned tirade, Rex spoke again, not willing to listen to pompous and self important fools for much longer. "What does the council offer in exchange for us taking care of the tigerman horde, who has begun its movements a decade early?" Although he had spent the last couple days in this city, his cosmic ravens had been hard at work, scouting out the level he was now on, giving him more and more knowledge and insight about it. He had also found more ''scouting parties'' of the tigermen, with a clear indication of the dirrection in which the true body of the horde was located. He had managed to find it just a bit before they exited the carriage, the sight before said ravens eyes quite impressive to see. Tens of thusands of tigermen, ranging grom S to SS class, moving chaotically,m yet with purpose, more groups arriving from time to time to join with the horde.


    "While you say that the horde is awake and on the move, our own scouts have yet to find any traces of it. And so, it is rather hard to take your words seriously, clearly you must understand our position. We are representing our people here, thus it is in our best interests to always make informed decisions that would benefit us as a whole. Also, it is quite rude to conceal oneself during negotiations. Remove the hood." the last sentence was spoken in somewhat autorative manner, though it had less of the intended effect, what with the councilor having to look up towards Rex and his two women.


    "Watch your tone little insect, lest you learn the same lesson your compatriot did, when he insulted my woman."


    "Come now dear, would you please do it?" Xersia spoke in a soft manner, only heard by the spokesperson and the closest few rows of spectators.


    "Only because Xersia kindly asked." Rex spoke, his voice clearly heard by the audience. Then he removed the hood, his ordinary features and unordinary eyes now laid bare in front of all. Boredom and slight irritation apparent on his face, made a few of the most experienced council members to stiffen up. Unlike what they had expected, the mercenary was not pining to get the supposed job of wiping out the tigermen horde. It seemed more like an offer made in the spur of the moment, or maybee someone else in his group.


    This fact alone broke down most of their strategies prepeared for the eventual negotiation. What they though would be costly, but not overly so of a deal, revealed itself as what it was-. The man, or their groups decision making had taken a fancy to Mora when they ran ito her on her hunt, then learning of the problem the tigermen were, they offered to take care of the problem, most likely jokingly, only for her to express the likely willingness of her people to actually accept such an offer. And here the mercenary was, having achieved what he wanted and more, both Mora and Xersia in his grasp. Still, the two had likely asked him to be forth coming when the council makes their offer.


    "Assuming the horde is indeed on the move, what is it that your group would ask for said services rendered?" the spokesperson then asked.


    "Should you not discuss it with the other cities? Or are you planning on footing the bill for the rest of them?" Clear grumbling could be heard among the people in the stands, obviosuly none willing to to take the brunt of the cost when every city would benefit of such a deal. Rex then added.


    "Obviously, its gonna cost you and arm and a leg, but trully, when compared with the countless lives you would lose, in case you to deal with the horde on your own, the price should feel like nothing but pocket change. Seeing that we have come to an impass, I will leave you people to contact your bretheren in other cities and iron it out with them. Dont bother me untill you have come to an agreement."


    With those words said, Rex rose from his seat, the two ladies following shortly after. He then stored the seats, and willed the mana construct to dissipate in a manner that had them elegantly returned to the ground level. Then, the trio left the speechless crowd the same way they arrived- with heads held high and no shit taken from the onlookers.

 Chapter 123: A breather.

    Rex and his the dragonkin sisters returned to the Heavenflame mansion in a rather quiet manner, each immersed deep into their own thoughts. There were no laughter, no commentary about the way Rex had acted. It was not yet time for it. At the very start of their return trip Mora had asked presicesly the question, to which Rex encouraged her to think back to all the smaller details she might have noticed during their walk towards the assembly hall, as well as as the signs that could have been the reason for his actions. He did say he would come back to the conversation once they reached their mansion and were in a more pleasant enviroment. And so, their return trip ended in a quiet contemplation, Xersia joining her sister in retrospection, though she had a much clearer understanding of Rex''s actions and reasoning.


    Their conversation was delayed untill after the supper, the meal spent with an occasional light conversation, but still mostly silent. Untill finally, Rex suggested they move to Xersias room for their conversation, stating some additional topics would be covered. With the three of them in Xersias room, both sisters taking a seat on the bed, slightly eyeing Rex, not sure where hewas going with this, rthough not worried about him taking liberties with them. He was powerfull enough to have done it the moment they all entered the mansion.


    Rex deployed a couple layers of bariers, ensuring they were entirely seperated from the rest of the city, not a single doulf voulf dpy on their conversation. With the security taken care of, he withdrew another chair from a ring of his, sat down, looked at the sisters and gestured.


    "We are ready now. Go ahead Mora, tell me what you think of the councils actions and then ask what you wanted to know."


    In response, Mora took a minute to finalize her conclusions and then spoke. "There were quite a lot of hostile gazes dirrected towards us, you more than us, even as we walked towards the room. That only incerased once inside. Then the fact that the auditorium was set up in a way where you would have to look up, as if they were above you not only physically, but spiritually and moraly. Clearly a way to humiliate you. Then the fact that the guy who insulted Xersia, who was at that moment under your wing, was not reprimanded or punished in any way, besides you taking action personally." She though once more and then shaked her head. "I suppose that is all."


    "A pretty good observation, though there was another rather obvious thing that showed their rather hostile disposition." He waited for a moment before finishing his though. "The fact that ''The Council'' spoke through a single representative speaks for itself quite a lot. Whether it was unanimous, or just majority decision does not really matter. The fact remains. As a body they deployed aforementioned, by you, tactics to lessen both my confidence to negotiate. Then their single representative acted with hostility and arrogance. had there been two speakers, one hostile, the other more amiable, it would send a message that they are suspicious and wary, but still hopefull for a deal that would be benefitial to all involved. As it stands, their message is clear- This happens on our terms, or not at all. Which, as you could guess, would end in no deal at all."


    Rex waited a short while for Mora to absorb his point, Xersia nodding along, having understood Rex position well enough. Then Rex spoke to elaborate on his actions as well.


    "So, my response was what followed. The hostile gazes of worms beneath ones feet are of no importance, so there was no need to act on that part, plus that was somewhat to be expected, what with me claiming two quite desired beauties right from under their noses. The platform I conjured served a twofold purpose. It displayed my own lack of limitations when it comes to spellcasting, something your kind is rather handicapped in, as well as the fact that if anyone, it was the council who were the lesser beings in our negotiations. Since I did not openly insult their supposed powerplay, it also indicated my willingness to forgive that stupid action of theirs, for a price of course. That was implied when I pointed out that they should unite with the other cities to come up with their payment."


    "Then there was the punishement of the fool who insulted Xersia. Not much to talk there. The message was clear- I protect those I consider to be under my wing, or protection. No doubt the ones who orchestrated the snake incident will act out, once they learn that you are not only fine, leaving Xersia well and fully rational, but also together with her engaged to the foreign power. And once they do lash out, I can eliminate them, not giving an ounce of thought to any possible consequences. I have warned them already, after all. And should there be any fool brave ebough to challenge me, well, we all know how that would end."


    They then talked about the probable actions of the council and a few other less important things, untill eventually, their conversation came to an end. A good thing it was too, as night was slowly descending over the mansion, and the city in extension.


    "Now then thats dealt with, it is time to get to the main topic." Rex spoke as he stretched his arms.


    "What else is there to talk about? I thought we covered all that needed to be covered?" Mora whined, clearly bored and tired from the hour long conversation.


    "I do have to side with Mora here" Xersia added "I dont think there is anything left to speak about regarding the council and the culprits that conspire against me and Mora."


    "He, he, he." Rex chuckled. "Well, you are correct there, of course, but I did not mean any of the topics we have already discussed. Now, we are going on a little, and very much secret, trip to a special place."


    "Riiight, and how would we do that?" Mora snickered "Gonna wave your hands and ''magic up'' a portal or something?" the sarcasm in her voice apparent, her overly expressive hand sign only enhancing her point.


    "That was rather astute of you Mora. How did you know?" Rex was no slouch either, striking back in the same overexagerated voice, repeating the hand gesture of Mora, though with his one, an actual portal came into existance, causing both sisters to stare at it with wide eyes and mouths hanging open.


    "Oh, and do not worry, I have deployed extremely niffty little barrier around the room. Noone will ever know we were gone for even a second."


    "And where does it lead?" Xersia asked one she regained her cool.


    "To a small little pocket dimension of mine, where some of my girls no doubt already await me. Since you two are mine, I thought meeting some of the girls in my hoard would be only beneficial. What do you say? Want to spend the night over and meet my girls?"


    "And you would not make any moves on us during this little stay over, and come morning we would be back here, I assume?" Xersia asked, just for clarificatuion, nor really expecting him to actually consider forcing himself on them, unless they themselves asked for it. A roleplay of sorts, as it were.


    "Nope. have enough hungry girls for me there as is, unless of course you want me to. And yes, come morning we will be back here, as if we never left to begin with. I have to warn you though, I have a couple of rather mischievous girls, dont be too harsh on them if they suggest a tag team or any other kinky play somewhere along the way."


    "And you let them indulge in such ''kinky plays''?"


    "As long as no other male is present, sure. As I said, I am very possesive and greedy dragon."


    "Dont mind if we do." Mora grabbed Xersias hand and dragged the olders ister towards the gate. As soon as they went through, Rex smiled and followed suit.


    What awaited them on the other side caught their breath. A rather large sized mansion stood before them, countless fields of flowers and herbs surrounding them. The refreshing and invigorating scent filling the air, bringing smiles to their faces.


    "It feels so light and relaxing." Cooed Mora, as she took deep breaths, enjoying the scent permeating their surroundings.


    "A few of my girls are practising alchemy. All kinds of herbs are needed, so what better way than to create endless field of the neccesarry herbs. Besides it does wonders to the atmosphere around here. Right, the lightness that you feel is due to the mana concentration in the air. It is still ways below what you are used to, so bea bit more carefull with your actions. The world around you is a lot more fragile. The attack that took out that snake Mora, for example, could create meters deep and wide trenches here, not just pin the beast to the ground. So the same would apply to you exertin your strenght, though since it is perfectly safe here, there will be no need for you to do so any time soon."


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Soon?" Xersia asked, her brow raised with inquiry.


    "You know, once you get used to the place, and trust me, you will be coming here often, some of the girls might ask for sparring lessons and stuff, You two are the most powerfull of my girls at the moment. I did say that the world is much weaker on average in the world outside the deep floors of the dungeon."


    "Right, you did mention something like that." she nodded, remembering Rex mentioning it.


    "REX!" a loud yell resounded from the mansion and moments later, a black figure shot towards him, his arms moved to the sides, awaiting the inevitable collision. His mana acted as a cusion, as the girl flying towards him collided with him, her arms wrapping around his neck and her lips devouring his. The two sisters just stared, as the dark haired and wolf eared girl engaged Rex in a round of passionate kissing, a slight blush creeping on Moras face, while a glint of interest sparked in Xersias slitted eyes.


    A few minutes later, their kissing came to and end, the wolf girl nuzzling her head in his neck as she took deep breaths, both regaining her breath and taking in his scent.


    "The new wolfkin maids Brogni got for us are undisciplined and quite untrained." she growled with frustration, clearly not satisfied with said maids, the two sisters noted.


    "He, he, he." Rex chuckled. "Not everyone can be a prodigy in the kitchen like you are, my dear Aisha. Just be patient and keep working with them. Sure, they will most certainly never reach your level of skill, but they can be taught to do most of the preparatory and mundane work. Eventually they will be good enough to make the more simplistic dishes you have created for us. Just give them time and dont be too strict with them. you know we dont treat our people badly." Rex spoke gently as he held the wolf girl in his arms.


    "I know. It is just a tiiinsy bit frustrating is all." she pouted, and then inhaled another large breath, her face mushed in his neck, taking in his scent. "Haaaaaaa. All charged up." she smiled and then glanced over to the two dragonklin women. "New sisters?" she asked, a glint of curiosity sparkling in her eyes, her gaze drawn to the scales on their cheekbones an arms.


    "Xersia and Mora, and yes, they will be joining you as part of our family."


    "Hello there." Aisha waved one of her hands at the sisters, still clinging to Rex. "My name is Aisha. Rex is my master, and I am the main cook of his family."


    "Master you say?" Mora asked, her brow raised. They had slavery back in their homes too, though that was a rather rare sight. Dragonkin were quite pridefull and therewas no other sentient race to war with on their floor. Add the periodical threat of the tigermen, and the result is a rather unified race against a common enemy. Still, therewere times when crimes were commited, and death or exile was too light of a punishement, so slavery came into play. Neither Xersia, nor Mora were naive enought to asume, should there be another civilised and sentient race on their floor, they themselves would not become the masters of the other race. Their ancestor was a high drake. Domination was in their draconic blood.


    "Mhm." Aisha nearly purred, which was rather commical, coming from a wolf girl. "Though most of his women come with such an origin. Not that it matters to him or us. We are all eaqually precious in his eyes."


    "Lets go in, shall we? The girls can no doubt answer any questions you two have about my ''hoard'' better than I could. Plus you are more likely believe them should you talk with them without my presence. Private conversations among girls ad what not."


    "Indeed." Xersia nodded, and the sisters followed Rex as he walked towards the mansion, Aisha still clinging to him. If he was not asking her to vacate his embrace, whi was she to suggest such herecy? No, she was in one of the best spots around to soothe her into a rather pleasant dream. It was some twenty minutes later that her eyes shot open, a clear mission and purpose in her gaze. she tapped Rex shoulder, and he released the energetic wolf girl. He was sitting on a chair in a study, Izumi, Rashuun and their two kitsune aprentices in the matters of diplomacy at their sides. They were discussing something boring no doubt, Aisha yawned and left Rex lap.


    "Gotta run, a heavenly meal will not make itself. I will suprise our new sisters with something special." She grinned, countless ideas swirling in her mind. It was to be noted that for quite some time heavenly tier meat was the only grade that his girls were having in their meals, though the servants were still on earth grade, with heavently grade meat provided to them once every month. Still, should the nobles hear of the extravagant way Rex servants were fed, most of said nobles would spit out blood. Even they did not have access to such luxury. Then again, such were the benefist when you were the property of a mostly benevolant tyrant.


    The draginkin sisters were in another room, not far from Rex''s study, currently conversing with Irina, Val an Mel. Irina was spending most of her time here, having developed a liking for the herbal garden and the botany, while Mel and Val rushed over once they heard Rex was here. They did manage most of the affairs in Rex''s estate back in Blythe, so they spent most time there, or in the dungeon. With the amount of heaven grade meat they consumed, their bloodline purity was much higher than before, allowing them grow far beyond their previous limitations. Both girls had already stepped in the ranks of S class, though only early stages. Still that was quite impressive for women of ork bloodlines. They had become even more beautifull as well, said benefits coming with the evolved and purified bloodline. Though calling them just orcs would be wrong. They had evolved into high orcs, though besides their bodies becoming firmer and even more beautifull, not much had changed. Val was still incredibly fit, with curves in all the right places, and Mel had even deadlier milf body. Something only one male could ever get to enjoy, and enjoy Rex did, though it went both ways. Case in point, their presence here, due to Rex''s return.


    Both dragonkin sisters learned a lot from their conversation with the orc trio. The girls were the very first slaves Rex had aquired, and through their tongues did they learn more about their man to be. And honestly, both had the same conclusion- Rex was as greedy and overprotective as he said.


    And then there was the last lady, that was sitting with them. A seemingly human woman, in her late twenties. She was innitially looking at the two sceptically, though as their conversation with the orc girls continiued, her judging gaze became more and more relaxed and warm, eventually even a light smile bloomed on her face. The woman was no other than Arana, the sister of Rex. Amd it seemed that the woman had decided to be the one to eduate and guide her brotehrs hoard, his harem. There was this nearly maniacal grin on her face when she had spoken with the foxlady Izumi and the demoness Rashuun. The human woman was just too overprotective of them both, for reasons of course, both the fox and the demoness were clearly with a child, even if in the early stages of pregnancy.


    Their conversation eventually came to and end, Arana all smiles with the two new additions, slipping in not too concealed hints about wanting more nieces and nephews. Rex did send them a few apologetic looks at the start of their conversation when they were still together in a single room and Arana had started to drop her hints, not too subtly, one had to remember, though that was probably as much aimed at Rex as at them. Still, he had warned them of a possible coaxing, so it was not like they were not prepeared for this.


    Their evening ended with a heavenly supper. Rex did warn them that his sweet Aisha was a maestro in the kitchen, and lords, had he understated it. The two sisters also understood why he was so sure they would like to spend more and more time here. The meals of the wolfkin girl were to kill for, and they could enjoy such meals each time? If his offer before was too good to refuse, it might have just stepped into the unlikely dreamlike scenarios. The small worry that with such numbers of girls they were neglected in the bedroom was also quicly put to rest, each and every one becoming dreamy at the mere mention of it. Turns out Rex was a beast there too, always leaving his girls pleasantly exausted and in total bliss. And as he had promissed, after their heavenly supper, he lead them to a room for them to rest the night, while he himself left with a purpose. There were women waiting for him, and he would perform his duties as theirt man.


    Xersia sat on the bed, her sister doing the same on a bed right next to hers. She looked towards Mora, who, just like her, held a hand just above her breasts, an invisible brand hiding out of everyones sight. A blank brand, was what it was called. A mark to connect them with Rex, allowing one to feel malicious toughts towards the other, ensuring there would be no unexpected betrayals. Even now, they both felt Rex possesiveness and desire to protect them, his dragonic greed clearly shining through. Though the most important usage of the blank barnd was the sould protection it provided. They would walk in the ourside world eventually, and slavery was running rampant there. This blank brand was yet another layer of protection that Rex had given them.


    They slept incredibly well, the beds felt unreasonably soft and relaxing, as if they slept in clouds, all their worries stripped away. Their morning was just as good. They once again enjoyed the heaven that was Aishas cooking, said girl becoming their clear favourite amongst Rex''s women, for obvious reasons. And just liek he had promissed, after their breakfast, they returned to the Heavenflame mansion, where he dispelled the barrier and they emerged from Xersias bedroom, all three sporting large smiles. No doubt the few spies among the maids and staff would soon hear of this and forward the information to their lords, hastening any plot that was being hatched to deal with the audacious mercenary for taking what was rightfully theirs - The Heavenflame sisters.

 Chapter 124: The chaos among the dragonkin.

    While Rex and the dragonkin sisters enjoyed a pleasant and relaxing evening in Elysium, no such pleasures were afforded to any of the four city councils of the dragonkin. While there were no open wars among the cities due to the always looming threat of the tigermen horde, it did not mean there was a unity and perfect cooperation. They had human blood within them, so greed and desire to always be on top was a naturally emerging trait among them.


    Sure, wars were just not a viable option, lest they endanger their entire race to extermination at the hands of the savage tigermen. Thus, they could only rely on subterfuge, some occasional assasination and politics to achieve their goals. The cities were fiercly competitive, the only true connection were the noble family branches in each of them. And even these branches always competed among themselves. They had their championship, always held about a decade before the emergence of the tigermen horde, where a new main family is determined, all by the skill of the representative branch head. Said victor, the new main family branch then dictates the path of the family overall, having quite the say in most important decisions, going so far as arranging marriages for the still unwed heirs and other children, raising their own standing with other noble houses in turn through these moves.


    It was only natural that the councils had their own spies in other cities, information was the greatest weapon in such political and under the table shady dealings with whoever could bring them the most benefits. After all, the better your position and the more pull you have, it was much easier to ensure your own heirs were posted in much safer garrisons during the war with tigermen. Survival was much easier if you had the strings to pull and favours to cash in.


    And sure, the dragon were not the most tallented of mages, but that did not mean they were not resourecefull and cleaver. They had developed their own wats to comunicate among the cities, more than a weeks travel between them, should a messanger be sent. Thus, by the time the council of Dragons Roost, the city Rex was in right now, managed to contact the other three cities, their councils were already going over all the information their spies had sent over. And while said information did not contain much, what it revealed was more than a little bit frightening and exciting at the same time.


    "Ha ha ha ha ha." hysterically laughed an elder of Dragoncliff city, after finishing reading outr loud the report that had arrived before them. "Lords! Those imbeciles are not only stabbing themselves in the foot, they are also attaching weights to themselves, all when a ravenous horde of beasts is charging towards them." The old dragonkin was having the day of his life, the aforementioned council having been quite the thorn in his side, messing up his plans for years now.


    "And for what? A couple of pretty faces their younglings are squabling over? Ha ha ha ha." He was well aware of just how reknown and pretty the sisters were, but with no male heirs in that generation, he had no horse in said race. He had to think how to find proper mates for all the young women under within his clan. Sure, there were those who had spoken of men they would like to be paired with, but even more were still single and with no flame in their hearts.


    The second reason was that his city, and council in turn, were more like the merchants of the outer world, always seeking the most profit in every situation possible, thus most of his fellow councilmembers, even those with sons and grandsons, a fair few of whom had held some dreams about courting any of the two Dragn Roosts Heavenflame sisters, agreeing with him on the matter.


    "What does the race of the mercenary matter? If his group can be hired to take care of the damn tigermen, while preventing the numerous casualities that we would have suffered, what kind of an idiot would not go for near broke? It is always easier to replenish our wealth and stocks than our numbers." agreed another.


    Voice after voice sounded out in agreement with the statement of the elder, every one well aware of how low their birth rates were. Not low enough to endanger their existance, but low enough that each war with the tigermen pushed them back to the starting point, preventing any and all attempts to expand into more cities, or trying to reach the next floor. Only by taming the current one could they hope to explore deeper.


    "Though, thanks to their stupidity, we have a prime oportunity to shift it all in our favour." While events like Rex audition with Dragonclifs council was public, allowing for all spies to witness it, no such wories had to be considered when the council members were discussing important matters. "I suggest we act somewhat similar in the upcoming moot with the rest of the councils, but be entirely supportive of the mercenary once he is called upon for the second time. Who knows, if we are lucky, he might just move here, guaranteeing the least casualities for our city, purely by beeing here. If my hunch is right, their group must have at least on epeak SS class fighter. I can already smell oportunities and profit." The old man spoke of his plan, a shit eating grin spreading over his face.


    His fellow councilmembers were in agreement, spending the remaining time strategizing on the proper steps taken. The remaining two cities, less mercantilistically inclined, though not nearly as blockheaded as Dragonclifs, were more split on the decision, though all agreed that there was merit in at least trying to find a common ground with the mercenary group, and if possible, secure that contract, with them providing payment after the services would be rendered.


    The meeting of the councils was quite chaotic as well, the other three lambasting the Dragonclif council for their foolish =way of conducting business, though expressing their unity in spirit. Still, one has to eat unpleasant things when a sickness is rampaging in ones body. Similarily, they too would have to aquiese the strangers, especially with the offer they had extended. There was no true loss possible on their side. If the mercenaries can pull of their part of the proposed deal, dragonkin do not suffer great loss of life, attaining a rare opportunity to develop and maybee even found another city, elevating their future might.


    It was early morning when the council meeting ended, all the members tired but having come to at least a provisionary compromise between the four cities regarding a couple possible offers of payment to the mercenary group. They would reconvene in the evening, when the mercenary member would be summoned the second time.


    ----------------------------------


    After returning to Dragoncliff with both dragonkin sisters, Rex spent the first part of the day learning of the precious materials that were gathered and stored by dragonkin, Mora and Xersia being invaluable helpers, providing him with books and the neccesary explanation, or answers to questions, should any arise. Rex had heard a couple of the servant girls already gossiping with others regarding the heat filled night that Heavenflame sisters must have experienced with the mercenary, judging by the large smiles and satisfied expressions they had as they left Xersias bedroom in the morning.


    Rex saw quite the cute blush sneaking its way on Moras face when the younger woman heard a bit of the servants gossiping, though she was smart enough to not stomp over and correct their mistaken asumptions. She was smart enough to understand that it was only amatter of time before they actually did it, as well the benefit such rumors would bring over the truth. There was no way they would tell the councils, or anyone outside their new family for that matter, that their man IS the mercenary group, and he has even more power that anyone must be imagining.


    Eventually, the pompous messanger from before arrived once again, still as annoying, though slightly less arrogant this time, informing Rex about the councils readiness to negotiate for a possible contract. He also noted that all the other councils would also be present, even if not physically in person there. Rex only inquired about the location and time of this second attempt at negotiation, what with it no longer beeing an open format like before, only Rex, his two women and the councilmembers taking part in it.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    With his evening being reserved for the event, he sent the messenger away and returned to the two women, once again focusing on deepening his knowledge of the precious materials this dungeon floor could provide and the things that the council might offer for his services. He had a rather pleasant dinner with the two sisters, where he pulled out a few dishes prepeard by Aisha, pleasantly suprising the two ladies, causing the due to sink into a blissfull experience once again, with both making a demand to be provided with acces to said food, or Aisha herself, on a regular basis. A demand Rex had a simple solution. Once a deal would be made, he would establish a heavily warded portal to Elysion in the depths of Heavenflame family mansion, providing the sisters with an enchantment that would allow them to travel to Elysium at will. He also took the time to provide the two sisters with additional protection, ensuring that even when he was not besides them, only SSS class entities could endanger them in a timeframe that he could not guarantee his arrival to their rescue, though there was nothing he could do to ensure such entities could not harm them within the time frame he needed to teleport once the defensive wards were damaged, sending him the warning signal, unless said entity decided to fool around and play with its prey. It would have to be an intelegent indivudual, neither of the girls would go anywhere where such monsters could reside any time soon, thus such actions could be entirely possible, should some of the trully ancient SSS class monsters crawled out of their resting places.


    With all of that done, it was only a little later that the annoying messanger was once again before their door, informing that it was time for the meeting. Rex grumbled that they could have at least sent a pretty girl, so his mood would be soured less, earning an amused laugh from both sisters as the trio boarded their carriage. Their ride to the assembly hall was once again uneventfull, though Rex seriously doubted there were idiots we believed they had what it took to take him down, his reputation as a representavive of a mercenary group, that could take the tigermen horde down on their own, already having spread across the city, an by this time, likely the other three as well. He doubted that the councils would want to hide the knowledge, most likely painting it in a way where they seemed to be doing their very best to secure the services of this misterious group.


    During their hour long ride, Rex''s ravens that were exploring this floor and spying on the enourmous horde found the one thing that he had been looking for, besides whatever else he was bussy with right now. through the eyes of one of these ravens, Rex could see a rather ominous looking entrance through rather impressive gates, countless tigermenm as well as some sort of shadow mantis, with the height of five meters, guarding said gate.


    ''There you are.'' Rex mused at the sight of the gate, as well as the super heavy security around it. ''That most likely is the last checkpoint before the labyrinth to the core of the dungeon. I wonder what form do they take? Is there something trully interesting there?'' Question after question popped in his mind, making him even more eager to deal with this meeting and get to exploring said place. He would have to move in the same dirrection to deal with the horde after all.


    This time, unlike previously, they were not left on their own devices, the messanger, and his shiny, plate clad possy alongside him, guided them to another part of the rather sizable building. This room was nowhere near the size of the huge hall the first ''negotiation'' took place, though it was just as well maintained. There was little in the form of furniture inside said room, only a couple of tables, one with three chairs next to it, the other occupied by ten aged men, the mage speaker from before among them. A similar sight, that of a table with ten members around it, was visible in three other places of the room, though these other three tables, as well as their occupants, were mere images, none present here at the moment. obviously those were the other three city councils, present, but not at the same time.


    Judging the chairs unfit for his groups posteriors, Rex moved them aside, withdrawing another set of three chairs, just like he had done in the large auditorium, though unlike the last time, chairs were much more humble, though still incredibly comfortable. Then, he sat down, once again in the middle, with Xersia and Mora taking his sides, just like before. With a light pinch and a small request from Xersia, Rex removed his hood once he had taken his seat, then he spoke, lest they decide to start with the introduction of each and every member present.


    "I do hope you have come to an agreement, or at least a united front, regarding the rewards you are offering for us taking care of the tigermen horde. I would hate if you decided to waste my time yet again. There are countless cities where my group comes from that would keel over at the simple chance to deal with us, so make it quick." He spoke in a no nonsence tone, his face betraying no emotions, except a slight annoyance. That, while barely, did cause a part of the councilmen from three city groups to flinch just a bit, though not overly.


    "We have come to an innitial agreement on the subject, yes." Spoke the same mage that had acted so high and mighty previously, then another councilman spoke from one of the projected tables "And while we are all in agreement that the offer you have spoken sounds indeed like a godsend, there are more than a few of us that question the ability of your group to deliver." the nhe hastily added "No ofence intended."


    "Reasonable." Replied Rex. "Though we never expected to be paid upfront. What we want is to come to an agreement regarding the price you will pay for the service we have offered. Once we have such an agreement, we will take care of the task as quickly as possible, then return for the payment promissed."


    It was then that the oldest member of the merchant city asked "Are you not worried that you could be not paid afterwards? Not that we would stand for such dishonourable actions. There must have been such unscrupulous groups you have dealt with in the past, have there not?"


    "Heh." Rex smiled at the question. "Once your people see the way we deal with the tigermen, not honoring the deal with be the last thing coming to their mind."


    "U-understandable." slight stutter escaped the old mans voice as he acknowledge the response. While not explicitly stated, the implication was clear. taking out the tigermen would be such a non issue, that should there be a doublecross from the dragonkin side, this mercenary group would find it no trouble to do the same to them that they would to the tigermen. And such a prospect did send chills down the spines of most of the councilmen.


    "On another note." Spoke a councilmember from the third table "While we have warned our people to be on their best behaviour, there could still be foolish hotblooded individuals demanding duels for the two ladies by your side. We do hope you do not judge our people at fault for their foolishness."


    "Sure, though those fools will be killed, should they so much as imply that my lovely women are some trophies that can be wagered, won and lost."


    A moment of silence enveloped the room, no doubt someone had planned to ask for a lighter hand on those challengers, though with Rex''s early warning, no such requests could now come. The silence lasted for a minute longer, untill the merchant city leaders took the innitiative and started going over the goods they could offer, as well as any other services that might interest either Rex, or his ''lovely ladies''. The dragonkin had quite the number of marterfull craftsmen, who could provide trully beautifful pieces, no doubt Rex''s other woman would love to have. Such a distinguishable person simply could not have no other heavenly beauty waiting back at his home.


    That was also a point on which the merchants wasted no time, offering Rex and his mercenary group quite the luxurious mansion within their city. Unlike the other three city councils, this group had absolutely nothing they were not willing to offer Rex, should he decide to claim a residence in their city. Something that Rex not only considered, but, after a quick few words with the sisters by his side, also accepted. There were quite a few scowls and angry glares sent their way from the other three of the councils, clearly a solo move to ensure their own city''s safety in the future. Sure, they were using Rex for their benefit, blatantly so, but with it so obviously presented, there was no dagger hidden in the dark. Rex saw these councilmen for what tehy were - a group of merchants that saw everything as a loss or gain. And Rex, with his group, could only become a gain. His girls would also be much safer in a city that trully wanted to ensure Rex''s people felt good and desired within their walls, creating a lasting cooperation with this mercenary group.

 Chapter 125: Arriving with style. Part 1.

    Eventually, a compromise was reached regarding the payment Rex''s group would recieve for a succesfull elimination of the horde. Obviously, it was not realistically feasable to murder every last one of the tigermen, not only due to their numbers and possibility of them fleeing, once their main powerhouse gets killed, but also becasue the dungeon itself was continiusly making them spawn and come through the gate in the middle of their hordes origin point.


    Rex''s job was to eliminate the leader, a peak SS class tigermen variant, that was twice as big and four times as smart, though that still got it barely within range for simple strategies and the capacity for some sort of planning. Then, his ''group'' was also supposed to claer out the majority of the horde itself, at least so far that the remaining individuals scatter in fear and horror, if they had the capacity to do so. based on the dragonkin records, such a thing had never happened, though said tigermen warlord was basically the last one to be put down, once again enabling a few decades of peace untill the next warlord emerges and starts a new horde.


    Such had been their life for a few thousand years, though most, if not all dragonkin would swear that the richness of mana in the air is well worth it, and that eventually, they would triumph over the tigermen, bringing in about a new golden age for their people. Rex reasoned, that this was most likely second to last dungeon floor, causing the dungeon itself to act rather hostile towards the dragonkin, ensuring they do not reach it core. Said action also implied that Blythes dungeon, namely the dungeon he was in, was still relatively young, though that also explained why Blythe could be constructed here and no previous city had stood in its place. After all, unless someone stumbles upon a developing dungeon by pure luck, they could go unnoticed for thousands of years before its seperate dimension is developed enough that some monsters start slipping out and the surroundings change to become similar to the enviroment of the nearest floors to the surface.


    It is this change that is ussually noticed , causing scouts to be sent to the surrounding areas, untill eventually the gate inside the dungeon is located. Then a camp gets constructed, where mercenaries and adventurers come and go, exploring the recently discovered dungeon, rather quickly developing the area into a proper adventurer town. If the dungeon has some sort of a unique flora, fauna or monster roster,though there were still no knowledge as to how these things are determined for the dungeons, if it is not all random, of course, then said mercenary city grows further, bringing in more and more merchants, each and every one of them seeking further profits. That in turn brings in more jobs for the mercenaries, who eventually settle down, start families and so on and so forth. Eventually, the place is large enough that the most prominent families become the local overlords, creating new nobility, unless some already established ones existe nearby. In those cases, the old noble families will establish a branch family in the place, extending their reach and developing the infrastructure and laws of the place. Untill eventually, a proper city surrounds the dungeon.


    The trio spent yet another night in the Heavenflame family mansion, once again slipping back over to Elysium after Xersias room was secured in a barrier, the two dragonkin girls fitting in rather quickly among the other girls. And while Rex still hadnt had a taste of the two new girls, it was only amatter of time before the two sisters fell in his clutches. There were enough conversations that one way or another ended with Rex''s girls recounting one or another steamy and fun episode of their nightly escapades with Rex, leaving both dragonkin women blushing and with ever growing curiosity and desire in their eyes. If he did not know better, Rex could swear his girls were just as interested, if not more than Rex, in pulling the new duo into their bedrron fun. Still, the dragonkin sisters survived yet another night, not yet sucumbing to the devils wispers in their ears, Rashuuns twin succubi daughters to be precise, though the one angel within the home was not the voice of reason you would expect. Eira was as fixated on swelling with Rex''s seed as before, if not more, what with Rashuun and Izumi already expecting and she did not waste any opportunity to impress her master, hoping she would be among the next girls to succesfully concieve.


    In the morning, after yet another magnificent meal as always, courtesy of Aisha, they returned to Heavenflame mansion. With Xersia and Mora now a part of Rex''s family, Heavenflame noble families main branch would assign another person to take over the branch family in this city, thus taking any possible attachment the two sisters had to the family away. Foolish to be sure, but with how prepeared and willing to sacrifice Mora, breaking Xersia in the process, they were, it was only to be expected that they did the best they could to ensure they still had full controll of the branch family. Thus, the excuse they presented, namely Xersias and Moras engagement to the mercenary, was their way of achieving their desired result. Consequently, the sisters were free to do as they wished, allowing the trio to depart for the merchant city and their new mansion that awaited their presence.


    Luckaly for Rex, Xersia had been to the Dragoncliff city, the place of their third home residence. Rex considered the mansion in Elysion, and the small pocket dimension as the main home for himself and his girls, followed by the residence in Blythe. And then, he supposed would come his new mansion in Dragoncliff city on the thirty seventh floor of Blythes dungeon. And while it was a given that he would reach the core of the dungeon rather soon, he still had not decided what to do regarding it. Based on legends he had read during his stay in Blythe, supposedly one of the first steps on ones path to godhood was connected to a core of an ancient dungeon, though what exactly was the connection, or how it worked was anyones guess. These old tales Rex had read were widely known, though most considered them fairytales to tell their children as they were layed to bed. Rarely would anyone look at them with the consideration of a scholar. Though that too was for a rather obvious reason- just how likely was it that anyone could actually pull that off, reaching the core of such a dungeon? Blythes dungeon was supposedly relatively new, just a few thousand years old. There were elves still around and kicking that were in their prime when it just began to form. And already, the dungeon had SS class entities at the deeper floors and in numbers that only SSS class entities could ever hope to contend with. Still, Rex had yet to figure out his own decision, once he reaches the core, which he was quite sure was only a matter of time. On one hand, draining it would surely strenghten him, on the other, it would be quite foolish of him to end its ability to develop, effectively making it into a fully formed small realm within Blythe.


    While it could be used to great effect, the main advantage of the dungeon- the endless respawning monsters would no longer be there, leaving only a trully massive lands with only the natural cycle of life affecting it. And seeing how Rex had his base set up here, with rather well developed and familiar high grade meat farm, it was trully foolish end this venture. Blythe would suffer more as a consequence of such an action as well, so he was more inclined to just reach the core and understand the principles behind it. Who knows, maybee there was some secret worth finding here.


    So, under the guidance of Xersia, the trio rode towards the Dragoncliff city, their path leading along some of the borders with tigermen lands. Thruth be said, there were no actual borders or anything, just that past said places tigermen could be encountered even after their hordes defeat, acting more like savage animals than actual people. Rex had yet to encounter a female tigerman, a fact he could not deny when Xersia asked about it. As it turns out, none of her peopel had ever documented a single female specimen among the hordes, making them speculate that said creatures are created solely for the purpose of dungeons defence, leading them to the same assumption that Rex had come upon- the dungeons core is close by and it is the defensive mechanism of it to release the hordes against them.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Unfortunately, thirty sixth floors mana ambience was leagues below what it was here on the thirty seveth, causing the droaginkin to settle here, right on the doorstep of the dungeon cores ''home''. The centuries spent in such an enviroment had brought them to the point they were at- most of their offspring being born with the innate might of peak A class entities, once they are past the early childhood, with adults often stepping into SS class. Should they leave this place for lower floors, it would no doubt reflect in their next few generations as well, the weakening of their race as a whole. That was also the reason why no advanced race would ever move out of their deep dungeon habitats- they had grown acustomed to the incredibly rich mana in the air, growing powerfull, but at the same time being dependant on the same richness for their offsprings developement in a simmilar manner.


    Beings like Rex however, had started at the point zero, so to speak, not having any of the same dependencies, allowing them to roam free, unbotered by the same worries. Xersias and Moras offspring would have nothing to worry about either, part of such children lineage would be made up of Rex''s genes, ensuring the expected might deterioration does not happen, allowing the two to roam and explore the world outside the dungeon alongside Rex. As they rode, Rex asked multiple question regarding a possible trade between Blythe and Dragoncliff. Would it be feasible, how often do dragonkin hunt creatures with the heavengrade meat, since not everythin he had encountered had was edible on the thirty fifth and below floors. Most of the creatures that were in possesion of edible meat had earth grade, with only the most powerfull and dangerous creatures on every floor having heavensgrade, like the large snake Rex dispatched when saving Moras hunter squad.


    As Mora explained, it was was indeed just as Rex had noticed. Only the most prominent and dangerous creatures had the best meat, and aside from taste, anything from thirty sixt or above floors would have no beneficial effect on them- hence why not a single of their parties ever venture to the upper floors. If they want to strenghten their own bloodline, they still have to risk their lives and atempt to hunt down the apex predators of their own floor. Eventually his girls would hit a ceiling in their bloodline upgrading, unless they consumed heaven grade meat from deeper and deeper floors, but with Rex being their provider, Mora joked that soon enough even she and Xersia could evolve into a true dragonkin, their bloodline stepping into a true dragons, no longer would they be just a true drake descendants.


    "Sigh. the things I do for my women." Rex just sighed in response to the younger sisters teasing, not even considering to argue or deny the claim of the girl, causing her mouth to open in suprise. Though the flabergasted state on her face did not remain for long, relatively soon Mora closed her mouth and sunk into thoughts, properly looking at her joke and realising that it was actually extremely likely to happen. Rex would look for yet another dungeon do grind in as soon as he reaches the core here, eventually brining him ever deeper, resulting in more and more potent heavens grade ingridients.


    "Ha ha ha ha. Sister. I think we caught a good one!" exclaimed Xersia in her laugher from her own mount "Hell, Rex migh actually be the best one to catch!" she added, yet another bout of almost hiterical laughter and joy resounding from her. Now that Mora looked at this aspect of Rex as well, Xersia was right- there was simply no better partner they could have ever found, not amongst the dragonkin for sure.


    "Why does it sound like I am not the one who did the catching?" Rex smiled as he asked.


    "Dont mind the girls talk dear, dont mind it one bit, ha ha ha." laughed Xersia, her mood growing better by the moment.


    They spent the entirety of their first day on the mounts, leaving sister former home behind, stopping near a rather large mountain, a few thousand meter high by Rex''s estimation, to rest for the night. Just like in the outside world, there were roads, or at the very least some semblance of them, between the four cities, though with how irregularily merchants traveled from one city to another, the state of said roads was ratehr poor. The noble families made the travel even rarer, leading to the situation at hand. Still, since there was almost a weeks travel from city to city, there were multiple such rest locations maintained by the same travelers who would use them.


    As they dismounted their mounts and removed their saddles, Rex glanced at the mountain, a thoughtfool look on his face.


    "Say girls, have your people tried to domesticate the birds inhabiting the mountains? I am pretty sure we could cver the distance between cities in a single day that way."


    "Some fools tried, more than once during our centuries of stay here. Not once have we managed to do so yet. The best we have managed are the furvums we ride. Something in the blood of those ferocious thunderbirds that just does not sit well with taming." Xersia spoke as he petted her single coloured furvum.


    "Now that just sounds like a challenge for a bloodmage." Rex smirked as he gave the reins of his furvum to Xersia. "Be back in a bit." he added as wings of pure mana sprouted from his back and propelled him into the air. In no time at all, Rex had dissapeared from sisters sight.


    "Sigh. Wanna bet he returns with a thunderbird or two under his command?"


    "Hi, hi, and why would I take a loosing bet big sister?" Mora giggled as they lead the three furvums inside the stable. They both had a rather large space ring each, a gift from Rex, quite a bit of feed for their mounts stashed inside. With their mounts taken care of, they moved to one of the few smaller buildings used as inn rooms. Once set up, they walked around the relatively small fence, surrounding the rest stop, checking out its integrity as well as tracks around it. noticing nothing worth of note, they returned to the lodging they had selected, though they doubted they would actually spend a night here, Rex''s mansion and the soft beds there, a much more appealing option for their night. Still they would have to wait for Rex to return, so they spent the time by chatting about mundane things as well as their future.


    It was only thirtyminutes or so later that the sisters heard loud thunderous schreeching coming from the mountaintop, reverberating all the way to the foot of said mountain.


    "Am I the only one who feels a bit bad about the thunderbirds?" Mora asked Xersia, a wry smile on her face. The birds clearly were not having a fun time with Rex up there, surely using his smile and refined manners to convince the huge predators of the sky to become his mounts. He most definetly was not beating them up rather viciously, showing that it would be in the birds own best interest to bow their heads willingly.


    "Do you think the thunderbirds are as smart as the tales say?" Xersia asked in return. "Supposedly its precisely because they are almost as intelegent as people that we could never tame them. No man would ever wilingly act as a pet to another, letting them use you as a mount and parade you around. Sure, it happens even in our society on a rare occasion, but the lenght one has to go to brake a man to such a state is extraordinary and incredibly cruel."


    "All we can do is wait and see." she added, when a few minutes later the schreeching stopped as suddenly as it started, leaving a rather serene silence behind, with either of the sisters taking a sip of the tea, they had set up for themselves, every now and then.


    It was another thirty minutes later that they heard the slow flapping of mighty wings and glancing at the mountain peak they could just barely make out a few dots that became larger and larger with every passing moment, untill they could see two enourmous thunderbirds closing in on their location, with one of them having a man on its back. The man was clearly Rex, for who else could it be, possesing both the might and insanity, as well as lack of sense to do what he had just done. Soon, the two birds landed in the clearing next to the camping site and Rex jumped off of the bird he was riding on, both sisters already standing at the entrance into the camp.


    "The head of the local family was kind enough to gift me these two fine studs after our friendly sparring match. As well as a few hints on the places where I could aquire a few mates for them to start a new colony for us." Rex spoke, a large smile bloming across his face. "I think we will be arriving in Dragoncliff with style girls."

 Chapter 126: Arriving with style. Part 2.

    As the two dragonkin ladies had expected, they spent their night back in Elysium, enjoying the comforts of ones own home while on the move and out in the wild. they both could agreed that such a way of traveling was trully enjoyable, no longer having to deal with less than perfect, or sometimes even pleasant conditions in the wilderness. After a pleasant breakfast with the rest of the girls who had returned to Elysium for the night, the trio returned to the dungeon floor, leaving the furvums they had ridden so far in the personal dimension of Rex. They continiued their way on the back of the thunderbirds. Rex was on one of them, while the two ladies sat on the back of the second bird, guiding it towards their destination.


    A few dozen minutes later Rex mentally tuged the connection of the brand he had with the second thunderbird, causing it to slow down and wait for new dirrections. It would be rather hard to speak with the girls with all the wind howling as they flew.


    "Noticed a slight problem that needs solving before we continiue on." He told the girls, pointing towards the ground in a dirrection slightly into the tigermen lands. "Remain on the back of the thunderbird and enjoy the show once they descend low enough for it to be possible."


    He added and dropped off the bird he was on, dissapearing from the sights of the two girls and thunderbirds, the rather thick clouds obscuring their vision down.


    "Would you please?" Xersia asked the thunderbird they were riding, not quite sure of the proper way she should be interacting with the bird. Though it seemed to be working, for just moments later the bird started to descend in a spiral manner. A short while later still, they emerged from the cloudy sky, revealing a rather beautifull scenario from a birds eyes view. It was pure vilderness, with forest stretching as far as the eye could see, every now and then either a field of grass or a speck of shimmering blue interrupted the endless forest, indicating either a meadow or some sort of pond, surrounded by the trees.


    In one such meadow they saw something more. A bloodly battle was taking place there, though to call it a slaughter was propably a more accurate term. In the middle of said meadow was Rex, swinging his weapon and controlling multiple mana constructed chains with sharp, razor like edges to slice through numerous tigermen that were doing their damn hardest to swarm the sudden attacker. The sister eyes widened in realization of the aproximate numbers the group used to have, before the incident called Rex came into their path, then, a rather grim shadow crossed their faces. It was as Rex had told them. Such numbers of tigermen together were only ever seen during the advance of the horde. That was something that the councils had somewhat accepted, based on Rex warnings, so much so that even a contract was made with him to solve it. Though Xersia had a slight suspicion that the councils went ahead with the negotiation, creating a rateher specific wording for the contract. They probably assumed that Rex''s group had run into an extremely rare, larger than normal feral tigermen group. It was likely that the councils simply secured a mercenary force for a rather gruesome battle a decade later. Now though, it was obvious that it is the real deal, and they are up and about a decade early. though with Rex on their side, she was not overly worried about their odds.


    With Rex employing both spell and sword, the rather large group of few hundred tigermen were felled in quite short time and when the last one fell on the now bloodly meadow, the two mounts landed on the ground. And while thunderbirds were carnivorous by nature, tigermen were simply too foul to even consider taking a bite from any of the numerous bodies on the ground.


    "Allow us to collect their left ears." Mora spoke, stopping Rex from continiuing whatever he was about to do. "We can use them to prove that the horde is trully upon us, not just a random large feral group wandering near our lands."


    "I am quite sure that is what I said as well, but if you feel the need" he then stretched both hands towards the field of corpses "Be my guest. I will just chill out here while you do that."


    The look Mora gave Rex was rather self explanatory, seven parts annoyance, three parts pleading. And while Rex did not use his own body to assist her, he did deploy several mana constructs that, once he was Moras technique, mirrored it and sped up the process multiple times over. With the assistance of his mana constructs, aproximately thirty minutes later, the two thunderbirds rose into the sky once again, leaving the meadow behind, pools of blood the only proof of the vicious cutdown Rex had performed there just a short while ago. The tigermen were SS class entities, so draining them was quite efficient and usefull for Rex. Sure, he was the big bad for the time being, but one could neevr be too carefull when prepearing for a possible enemy appearing on the horizon with might beyond anything one has seen so far.


    The next several hours, the remaining time of their flight towards their destination, were rather uneventfull, the peak of the mountain at the foot of which Dragoncliff city was built, would have been seen even from above the clouds, but Rex had chosen to stay closer to the ground, providing the girls with much more diverse view before their eyes. They could even sometimes see a pack of creatures in some meadow, no doubt filling their stomacks with the soft grass there.


    Finally, a rather peculiar looking mountain came into their view, from the distance that they were at, it looked like a crooked wizards hat, the upper part of it bent more than it should be. The hand gestures of Xersia indicated that the mountain was their destination, so after her polite commands/requests to the thunderbird they were on, the group slightly changed dirrection towards a certain point at the mountains base. With their destination in sight, the two birds slightly rose their speed, no doubt wanting to get this part of the journey over with. Rex had mentioned that he still had to make a small detour to a few other mountains on the floor for the rest of the thunderbird first generation members of his own colony.


    In the mountain, at the foot of which Dragoncliff was built, was no thunderbird colony site, making the two large birds flying in the field of vision of the ground based creatures quite the alarming sight. Thunderbirds were known to occasionally grab a dragonkin or two if their ussual prey was nowhere to be found. Even more so in the case of a wandering thunderbird male, in search for either a mate or new home. The birds had their own hierarchy system, though dragonkin knew extremely little about it.


    Quite a few of the hunting parties had noticed the two thunderbirds in the sky, hastening their return to warn the city. While the birds would not be foolish enough to try anything in the city itself, the day was barely past noon, many of the people working in the fields outside the walls or gathering something in the forest not too far from it. Should the birds pick some of the isolated people going about their business, even with the hunter squads further out protecting the perrimeter, there would be no saving the unlucky individual.


    Though luckally, and to the bewilderment of the hunters that kept track of the thunderbirds, the pair flew straight towards the city, landing not too far away from its gate and just staying there. Though now that the birds were on the ground, an even more unreasonable sight was revealed to their eyes. The birds were not alone. They had three people on their backs. Whats more bewildering, one of the birds had a pair of trully gorgeous dragonkin women.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "Tell your council that mercenary Rex has arrived and is waiting for them." Rex spoke in a calm manner, though his voice reverberated over the field, conveying his words to the nearby hunters. Thankfully, it seemed that the mindset of "this shit is way above my paygrade" seemed to be thoroughly ingrained in the thick skulls of the people here, resulting in a member of Dragoncliff council appearing rather soon before Rex.


    "Now thats a face I seem to remember." Rex spoke, his mind bringing up the memories of the meeting, with the councilmember before him having been there as well.


    "M-my appologies. We did not expect you to arrive so soon." He stuttered just a bit at the start, clearly a bit out of his comfort zone with the two thunderbirds before him. It was a rather common known fact that thunderbirds could not be tamed after all. Though Rex had not tamed them. Brands were an entirely different ballgame alltogether after all. Enslaving was not taming, not even close. He had asserted his dominance and laid a claim on the souls of the creatures serving as his mounts.


    "Dont sweat it too much, though I do hope my mansion is ready for me?"


    "Yes, of course. If you would follow me."


    "No need. Hop on and dirrect the way. I will also need you to inform the guards of my thunderbirds. They will be coming and going quite a bit in the forseeable future after all. Would hate to have some unfortunate accidents due to negligence."


    "How tamed are they? Could there be some bouts of violent episodes for them?" asked the councilman, clearly rather suspicious of the whole situation.


    "They are not tamed man." Rex chuckled. "They are, for lack of a better word, bound. That means, when I say, no dragonkin for snacks, they would never ''snack'' on them, unless attacked first of course, ordered by me, or they see someone attacking my girls, or pestering them for that matter. There is no disobeying my orders for the thunderbirds. The consequences are rather horrific and they are well aware of the fact."


    "Understood. I will have the guards informed. Anything else?" the councilman asked as he finnally gathered enough courage to get on the bird Rex was on.


    "Nothing super urgent, though there will be a thing or two once we reach our new mansion."


    Due to a lucky coincidence, or maybee because his mansion had quite the garden attached, it was located rather close to one of the city walls, making it much easier for his thunderbirds to leave the city and then return, without scaring the shit out of too many of the city residents. Mora and Xersia also handed over the bag with tigermen ears, conveying the obvious truth that the horde is here now, and not coming in ten years time. With how active they are starting to become, dragonkin had weeks, maybee a couple of months at best to prepeare. Though Rex did note that there was no need to panic overly much. As per their contract his group would take care of the vast majority of the enemies coming with the horde.


    Still, they should prepeare at least a few parties that are well trained and equipped for dealing with tigermen stragglers, or the crippled, but not finished off, ones. Rex''s group would simply not have the time to doublecheck every one of the tigermen they cut down if they are trully dead. The sheer expected numbers would not give them the time for such actions. Rex also pointed out that they should also prepeare a couple of groups for the explicit purpose of harvesting tigermen hearts, pointing out the rather usefull properties and possible wide usage of said organ in quite a few alchemical recipies. Though he did not spell out said recipies. There was no need to create rather foolish ideas in some of the less reputable members of the harvesting crews to be. He simply withdrew one of the hearts he had harvested and explained the proper process of doing the same to preserve the integrity of the organ as much as possible, as well the storing conditions. Rex promised to provide the storage devices for the task as well, ensuring as large harvest as possible. He did mention that each and every storage device would be tagged awith a tracking spell as well a few other measures to ensure there are no accidents or misplacements of the items he would provide.


    With that all dealt with, he informed the councilman that he would start some innitial purges the next morning, though that would include more scouting and advance parties like the one Xersia and Mora saw being culled, so there would be no need of their ''reinforcements'' as of yet. Still, they requested personell should be ready as soon as possible, without compromising on the quality and skill of the would be assistants. Rex also guaranteed the rather thorough nature of his teams extermination skills.


    The rest of the evening was spent exploring and getting familiar with their new mansion, as well as Rex placing a shitton of defensive measures around it. Since it would become a rather often frequented place, with more than a few of his girls no doubt spending quite a bit of their time here, the ambient and rich mana in the air being quite the draw. He would also move his cats here, facilitating their growth to a much larger degree than currently. Once Rex was sure the property had been properly warded and secured, they retired to Elysium for the night once again, though there was a very minor, yet rather significant development there as well. The sisters, as ussual, slept in the same room in Elysium, and they did request that Rex join them once he is done with his rounds, though that would be it- they would just sleep together, for now. Rex had no issues with that either. He was getting his nightly exercises with the other girls, thus he had no reason to rush with the dragonkin sisters. They were already in his grasp, it was only a matter of time till they fall entirely.


    ---------------------------------------


    "So, you are going now?" Asked Mora, a slight longing in her eyes. It turned out she was quite the clingy girl in bed, having nuzzled her way in his embrace and then clinging to him like a lifeline the entire night, though she was speeling entirely peacefull. Xersia on the other hand was the more dignified one, even in sleep, eventually finding her face pressed against his peck, though there was no desperat clinging, much unlike Mora.


    "Yes, though there is nothing to worry about. You know where the gate to Elysion in anchored and I will meet you there in the evening. in the meantime you could scout out the city with the assistance of the council. Have them assign a knowledgeable lady to show you around. At the same time feel out their interest in trading with the outside world for some spices and the other things I have left with you, as well as try to have your guide share some gossip and rumors, if said lady comes from the commoner ranks."


    "Understood husband. We will do as we have discussed, do not worry. With all the safety measures you have set us up with I strongly doubt an entire dragonkin town would manage to tear through them before you arrive, not to mention some random thugs and lowlifes that we could possibly encounter." Xersia teased back, a slight smile adorning her beautifull and otherwise calm face.


    "Hoo, but we have yet to consumate our mariage. Do I already count as one?"


    "We have the rings on our fingers, as well we have shared a bed, even if without the implicated activities. As far as our traditions are concerned, we are indeed joined as one family."


    "Well, good enough for me for the time being. See you later, my lovely wives." Rex repplied with a devious smile, jumped on the same thunderbired he had been riding so far, and left the mansion behind. Before he would start clearing out the advanced and scouting parties of the horde, he stil had a couple of places to visit. He had claimed that he would have his own thunderbird collony, and there was no way he would not keep his word, thus it was his intention to first deal with that particular task, aquiring quite a few female thunderbirds for his two males to work with.


    His thunderbird, recieving instructions, wasted no time, and once outside of the city picked up quite the speed, not only willing, but quite excited to finnaly attain a mate of its own. Who knows, maybee it could be one of those trully outrageous thunderbirds who had more than just one female as a mate. Such males were the pinnacle of thunderbird collonies, both extremely powerfull and well groomed.


    It took them the larger part of the days first half to plow through two other collonies of thunderbirds, though they had quite the plunder to be content with after all of the ruckus and chaos they had created. From the two collonies they had acquired more than a dozen young thunderbird females, each and every one less than a hundred years old, which translated into the human age would be just barely eighteen. With the first task of the two taken care of, it was time to start some ingridient hunting, though the tigermen groups would surely and vehemantly object to such a classification of what Rex was about to do. Though, then again, it was not like they were intelegent enough to actually engage Rex in a phylosophical debate on the matter.

 Chapter 127: Beggining of the end. Part 1.

    With the thunderbird collection task taken care off, it was high time to turn Rex''s attention towards the few other scouting and advanced squads of tigermen that were roaming suspiciously close to the supposed border of the dragonkin territory. Rex had quite a few cosim ravens out and about on the floor at this point, with more than a few keeping an eye on even the horde itself. Though that did not seem quite ready to move out just yet, with more and more tigermen leaving the large gates leading underground, no doubt access to the next dungeon level. Still, it was a bit early to get Rex''s hands bussy with them.


    With his sights on the nearest group and the proper dirrections, it took no time whatsoever for his thunderbird mount to bring him over, allowing Rex to drop in the middle of the unfortunate group of the tigermen and unleash his potent and deadly mana constructs, as well as a few other new techs Rex had been theorycrafting and practising here and there. First, the tried and trusty maan construct razor chains swirled around him, dismembering any poor creature that was either too close or too slow to instinctively jump away the moment Rex handed and his mana stirred. Then, with the immediate surroundings cleared and secured, a few of the chains shot forward, beginning the thinning out of the rather sizable group.


    With the first step taken care of, Rex had both the space and subjects to test out the other few techniques waiting in line. He first started with one of the more esoterical skills that he had been working on. His mana stirred, coalescing into a transparent extension from his right hand index and middle fingers as he placed his right hand by his left shoulder. Then, swiped the bent hand in front of him in a wide arc, the coalescing aura blade on the fingertips extending instantly, creating more than ten meter long ethereal blade that was swept in front of Rex, passing through all the tigermen it touched, as if it was not real blade.


    "Soul slash." Rex murmured under his nose. He had no need to call out skill names or whatsoever, like an anime character, though it did help in the early stages of a skills development. It was much easier to create an association in ones mind related to a certain word combo- a name if you will. Once said reference was established, it was much easier to draw said mental image into the focus of ones mind with said technique name, speeding up its execution. In the same manner would some of the mages chant spell incantations to pull off spells much more powerfull than what they could normally cast, the chant working a temprary amplificator of the spell. Though such casting was much slower, as one would expect, as well as quite taxing on a mages mind, making it more of a desperate last dith effort skill or ones ultimate trump card, better not needed. Yet, from what Rex had read, most high level mages would have at least one such technique developed., though he could just as easily undertand why.


    Rex reasoned that with enough practice, he could display not only the same level of power his sould slash had done just now, but multiply it quite a few times, glancing over the result of his move. Before him laid dozens of tigermen corpses, with not a single would apparent on their bodies, though all were slumpled on the ground, still and lifeless. The rest of their group was still desperatelly trying to reach Rex, each one of them hungrier for his blood than the last.


    "Hmm?" Rex furrowed his brow at the result "It should not be nearly as powerfull as it was. Not by a long shot." he pondered out loud, trying to understand why it had been so incredibly effective. Judging by the amount of mana he invested in the skill, only the few closest tigermen should have collapsed dead, with the rest of the affected stumbling briefly, being weakened by the strike, making their movement much more sluggish and unresponsive. Intrigued, Rex performed the same technique once more in a slightly different dirrection, with quite similar result as well. Like the previous attack, most, if not all of the tigermen that touched the ethereal blade would fall to the ground, never to raise back up again.


    "Could it be?" Rex wondered, having a slight suspicion emerge in the forefront of his mind. He would have to test his theory to ensure its validity, though at the moment it seemed to be the most likely case. Still there was no better proof than a practical test, thus he raised his hand, a few more mana chains shooting out of his location and dismembering a couple of unlucky tigermen in the process, while at the same time cauterizing said wounds, making the poor bastards that fell to his tools nothing more than meat bags ready for his tests. With the same chains said unlucky bodies were dragged back into the zone that was still protected by a group of rotating chains, spinning loudly around Rex, ensuring his position was still perfectly clean and safe, as well as undisturbed by the remaining libing tigermen, something that could not be said about the rest of the small battlefield.


    With the few bodies stopping in front of Rex, he wasted no time, reaching out his hand towards the nearest, breathing blood bag, gripping its body with his vice like grip and activating drain on the still barelly alive captive. The creature was drained in mere moments, solidifying the theory Rex had just come up with. Firstly, the drain caused barely any cries of pain or despair from said test subject. Secondly, the speed with which said test subject was drained till nothing remained, was increadibly fastas well. Many times faster than what it should have been, based on Rex''s previous drained targets and experience with the skill.


    "So, it is true." Rex concluded, repeating the same test with the remaining limbless tigermen, reaching the same result each and every time he drained a tigerman. "They dont actually have proper souls. Fascinating." he mused, considering the implications and possible uses. "Though there is something akin to a pseudo soul. A remnant will perhaps?" He was quite intrigued by the prospect and the possibilities of such knowedge.


    "The things I could achieve with high tier blood constructs that have some sort of autonomy. Hmm, the possibilities." He was struck in a moment of contemplation, though that did not mean that the battlefield around him came to the same halt as he did. luckaly for him, the tigermen were too simple when encountering a possible target, what little rational they possesed getting replaced by bloodlust and savage rage. Even the limbless ones had tried to bite Rex when he grabbed them to be drained, disregarding their own survival. The same thing happened with the remaining tigermen in the field. Regardles of the futility, they charged at Rex and his spinning razor chain ''fence'', being shredded into pieces one and all. No matter how many of them jumped it, there was not even a moment where his spinning wortex of dismembering even slowed down, let alone stopped, resulting in a rather gruesome, yet expected scene once the last of the tigermen was shredded into pieces.


    It was a few minutes later that Rex refocussed his attention on the field around him, the countless body parts, guts and gore lay before his eyes.


    "Sigh" he sighed, a clear dissapointment in hsi voice "Thats a lot of wasted hearts. Good thing my alchemists are not here to see this. I would have been chewed out by them." He chuckled at the last sentence, the irony quite apparent. He was the supposed big bad in this plain, gods not included, for he was too sure they were still above him in raw might and most definetly technique as well. Though he was just as sure that even the gods did not have his unique ''drain'' ability. It seemed too specific and exceptional. it must be a part of the reason his sponsor chose this body to house his soul, no doubt expecting some sort of a unique entertainment from this ascpect of his as well.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Still, he did not have too much time to dally around, quite a few more advanced parties expecting his presence. He also had a rather unique soul construct to examine during this little hunt session of his. And that was something he was more than just a little excited about.


    "Boy, o boy, o boy o boy." Rex excitedly rubbed his hands as he mounted his thunderbird mount and gave it dirrections towards the next squad on his hit list. What followed was a rather similar sights wherever he landed, a group of tigermen surrounding him from all sides, then immediatly loosign all rationality and charging at him, each and every one of said tigermen more and more desperate to end his existance. The only difference was that he was not sunk in his own thoughts, allowing him to precisely and efficiently dispatch the rampaging groups of soulless monsters.


    With each passing hour, and each dispatched group of tigermen, Rex gained an additional glimpse into the soul constructs that were hosued into tigermen. And with each morseld of knowledge that he gained, more and more understanding, as well as fascination and even glee was reflected on his facial features. By the time the night cycle was barely starting, he was just about done as well, untill he saw something rather important through the eyes of one of his scout ravens, left to watch over the large horde that was still being ammassed.


    "Started moving, did they?" Rex hummed as he once again jumped on his thunderbird, instructing it to return back to Dragoncliff mansion. "Could it be because of my actions that they had been sent forward? Did the dungeon deemed the little old me such an important guest that it sent out the honour guards to welcome me? Ho, ho, ho, hoo. It would be rude of me not to recieve the gift with open arms, now would it." A shit eating grin spread across his face, his mind bussy with calculations and speculation on the amount of power he would gain after draining most the the horde.


    Still, firts things first. Due to the mobilization of the horde, he would have to warn the dragonkin, the necessety to intercept them being too high. he could not wait till they reached here, his single body no doubt not enough to hold the entirety of the monsters at bay, should any of the dragonkin settlements be within the sighting range of the enraged and berserking tigermen horde. No, it was better to being the clash as close to the gate leading to the next floor as possible, forcing the entity behind the horde to focus on stopping Rex''s advance.


    With the plan laid out and quite clear, as well with his mount blazing across the sky with thunderous booms in its maximum speed, it took little to no time for the duo to reach Dragoncliff, his girls already having left for Elysion for the night. he did return to the city around midnight after all. Still, he did the responsible thing and found the nearest guard that was hastily chased towards the closest councilmans location, the information in Rex''s hadn too important to wait the morning.


    The speed with which the councilman, said guard led Rex to, woke from his half asleep state as Rex spoke of the hordes awakening was instantaneous, acompanied with a loud exclamanion and quite a bit of fear. Something Rex quickly suppressed, with a small flicker of his own aura over the panicking man.


    "hey, I am here to solve that exact problem, am I not? My group will just have to start a bit sooner than innitially anticipated. Or in your case, much more sooner than anticipated. Still, I will need you to speed up that recruitment of the previously discussed parties." seeing the questioning look on the mans face Rex added "Dont worry, your college that was with me during the day will no doubt explain it all come morning. In any case, I am off to gather my groupd and intercept the horde, thus dont expect to se mee for the coming days, possibly even a week. Should My girls ask you about my location, no doubt annoyed I did not say bye, just inform I have gone to solve the little issue your people were dealing with."


    With those words spoken, and a single nod from the flabergasted man, Rex left as quickly as he had arrived, leaving an even more dumbfounded guard not too far from the place he had spoken with the councilman. He had not even bothered to move away from said guard. Not like there was information he needed to remain hidden from the general public of the city. Sure, a panic might have arisen should they learn of the decade early horde, but there he was, ready and poised to solve said issue. The thunderbirds he had brought into the city had already been talked about in every place of gathering, no doubt the knowledge having already reached the councils of the other three cities as well. He was somewhat interested in teh faces the tamer noble family was making at the fact he had done something they had failed for who knows how long. And yet, he had just popped up and got his hands on a couple of young and strong specimen, entirely under his command.


    He already had quite the beef with one of their branches, even if said branch did not know it themselves just yet. What was a little more fire added to that particular flaming forest. Still, it was not like said branch, where he had a slightly annoying bug he would need exercising, was at fault in its entirely, though such a case could as well have happened. Rex was more inclined there were a few people tops, he would have to deal with eventually. Though there was quite the likelyhood, that once he solves the horde, said individuals will be smart enough to just forget any and all ideas they have ever had regarding Xersia. Then again, there was always the possibility of stupidity running deep into their genes.


    Whatever came next, he had a much larger fish to fry. And was that quite the understatement in the current situation. The horde reached a hundred thousand entities easily, and with the power ammased there, Rex could do nothing but lick his lips in anticipation, as If he was a dragon on his way to a sumptuous feast, all prepeared and laid out excusively for him. And to put a dessert with a cherry on top at the end of it all, there was the gate most likely leading to the heart of the dungeon.


    He utilised the male thunderbird as his mount for a few dozen minutes, untill they were far enough away from any of the dragonkin patrolls and hunting squads, still out in the fields, opening a gate to Elysion and allowing his ussual mount to rest there, then calling through the other male that had been relaxing and resting for quite a while. Then, with the mounts exchanged and on the back of an entirely rested and fresh thunderbird, je was carried towards his destination- the now moving horde.


    The flight took a few more hours, the thunderbird not being pushed to its absolute limits to reach the horde faster. He had enough things to both think over and go through once more before his arrival, as well a rather breathtaking sights that he was flown by every now and then. He could not complain one bit about the beautifull vistas this new home world of his had both shown, and was still filled with,just waiting for him to travel all over the world and its countless dungeons to bask in their beauty, either a tranquil or fiery one. he had heard Aina speak of quitea few magnificently beautifull places that she would love for them to visit and enjoy, and he quite vividly remembered just how easily he had promissed they would eventually get to it as well. Time was the one thing they all had in spades now after all. With the promise secured, Aina had been even more cheery tahn ussual, becoming quite the menace to his pet tigers with her constant petting and fawning over them.


    Rex also paid quite a bit more attention to the sight his ravens in charge of observing the horde provided him with, taking note of any more important or rather peculiar sights or individuals within the horde. Like, for example, a group here and there, among the marching numbers, that were dressed in some robe like garments and wielded staffs. Quite clearly mages, though it was yet to be seen how these mages could perform whne encountering an enemy. Would they sink in the same feral rage, or were they more advanced, allowing for a much better decision making, bringing them ever more closer to the poinf of having an actual soul. For all the lives that Rex had reaped, it was still an unexplainable mystery as to how ones soul found its way towards a new body it would inhabit in its next cycle, as well as how new souls are actually born. Though he had earned quite the esoterical knowledge from the tigermen and the soul/will construct that served in in an actual souls place. It had to be noted that Rex had absolutely no desire to create new souls, his interest reaching the point where he could create proper automatons without the worry that he has bound an actual soul to a fate worse than death, at the very least in his humble opinion. And soon, he would reach the horde, once again immersing himself in the glorious and holy act of grinding.

 Chapter 128. Beggining of the end. Part 2.

    Rex was hidden in the clouds, killometers above the forward moving horde of countless bodies. His gaze focused downward, on a specific tigermen individual of an extreme size, especially when compared with the rest of the horde. Thrice the size of a normal specimen, with snow white fur and black stripes all over, bulging mucles covered by the soft looking fur. Unlike the rest of its compatriots, the fur it adorned did look somewhat pleasant to the touch, if one could imply so, especially when seeing the specimen said fur was attached to. It simply exuded might from its being. Even from his position Rex could tell that the leader was at the very end of high SS class and given some time, might even step into peak SS class level.


    Though that was not to be, the obvious obstacle gazing down on the leader of the horde from his place high above in the clouds. He opened a gate to Elysion, ordering the thunderhawk to go in.


    "You did well. Now return and rest. The rest of this is for me to enjoy." With those words spoken, he jumped a bit, allowing the bird to abide by his order and fly through, closing the gate moments later as his fall began. He controlled his descent with a pair of mana wings, controling his glide towards the target. He would arrive with a bang, and quite close to the leader as well, ensuring that the horde should focus on the disturbance, stopping its advance and creating a crater that would become the focal point of the coming carnage.


    With the understanding that he was eliminating autonomous constructs at worst, there were no moral reasons to not proceed with the plan at hand. And so, after a few minute glide and with quite the acceleration, he entered what would be considered the sensing zone of the mages that were walking alongside the horde. Though with the speed he had aquired, it took less than a couple of seconds, far too little time for the mages that noticed his existance to actually prepeare, untill his imminent impact with the earth. It created a rather loud explosion, courtesy of a mana charge detonated at the moment of said impact, causing chunks of earth and rocks to be tossed dozens of meters away, pelting the unlucky tigermen that were located close to the point of Rex''s impact.


    Thanks to the unreasonable mana enhancments he was running through his system during the impact, he was up and moving mere moments after the impact, once again creating a few dozen mana constructed razor chains and starting the carnage, all the while also using his sword to decapitate any unlucky and foolilsh monster that had managed to somehow remain standing near the zone of impact and was already charging at Rex, their berserker state triggered at the mere sight of a possible enemy.


    Loud screams or rage, quite bestial in their nature reverberated throughout the field, like an unending wave cascading further and further to the hordes outer reaches.. More and more of said horde was made aware of a disturbance in the heart of the enourmous group. And the disturbance in was quite apparently hostile in nature. This, obviously, warranted a single possible response from each and every tigerman that was made aware of the situation, and with the loud bestial roars, it was quite hard, if not impossible, to be among the number of tigermen that failed to heed teh call.


    Waves and waves of the enraged monsters changed their dirrection of advance, no longer moving towards their supposed mortal enemy, or quarry, but all to the last monster converged on the recently made crater, in the middle of which was an entity of great power, slicing and dismembering tigermen in speeds and quantities unlike anything ever witnessed in the history of the hordes. Not that any of the tigermen present had the knowledge to compare the sight before them to. Their true overlord, however, did, and it was already straining its mind and intelect to its very limits, trying to figure out an entity that could be used to not only stop the advance of said individual, for it seemed quite clear from the current situation, that it was only a matter of time before the horde was dealt with.


    Then again, its arch- nemesis was still a being of flesh and blood, and from its observations, there was such a thing as stamina that each such being was affected by. There was only so much energy within those flsehy bodies to continiue such streneous exercises. No doubt the entity decimating its horde would eventually slow down, getting exausted from all the slaughterting and swinging that rather large blade of his.And so, while the entity still worked hard on figuring out a possible biologial mana construct solution to the problematic man culing the tigermen, it was waiting and hoping the dangerous individual would soon slow down and start to exibit signs of exaustion, finally giving the remaining horde the opportunities to end his life.


    Five, then, then twenty and thirty minutes went by, the speed and precision of the dangerous entity not slowing down one bit, with piles upon piles of tigermen corpses and piles of dismembered limbs remaining behind, a veritable river of blood forming from it all. That was as expected, even the dragonkin creatures could last for hours when defending their homes from the previous hordes, so it was only natural that the entity before its horde, this new individual, making it feel particularily veary, would last no lesss than the greatests of dragonpeople. Surely, he would last even longer, if its instincts were to be believed.


    Minutes turned into hours, the carnage left behind by the man would induce fear and terror even in the most stalwart of hearts, the stench of blood, guts and burnt flesh permeating the air. The mage squads had eventually joined the fight, no longer caring about the friendly fire their magic would no doubt result it. Unlike the feral linemen, the mages were quite intelegent, capable of rationalizing and acting according to the situation. Thus, each and every mage had come to the same cnclusion, they would strike the location of their enemy with numerous powerfull spells, friendly causalities be damned, the linemen were nothing more than meatshields and grunts to allow the mages to do their tasks.


    Rain of fire, gusts of razor sharp winds, spikes of earth and other elemental techniques were released in the dirrection of their enemy, creating exposions of opposing elements colliding in the place of the attacker. While somewhat hastily and with no coordination put together, it nonetheless created quite the exposion, opposing elements conflicting and competing with one another. With the vision blocked, the mages had to await the dissipation of the dust cloud before releasing yet another torrent of spells, though before their vision was restored, their enemy emmerged from the could of dust with speed that was barely percievable and visibly no damage not only to himself, but also also his outfit. Heavy mana discharge, like a tidal wave exploded from the enemy, knocking back the tigermen in his near vicinity like ragdolls, causing them to impact against rocks and other outgrowts of the earth with a sickening thud.


    The extreme mana richness in the atmosphere meant that the earth, and nature itself was oversaturated with it as well, making it all much more resilient and tough. The hundred or so meter large and few dozed meter deep crater where the entity impacted, revealed the unreasonable power and energy the impact had. Similar power move outside of the dungeon might have leveled a rather large city in its entirety, the explosion taking care of the largest part, and teh debri resulting from said impact explosion would take care of the rest. Was it then any wonder that the entity in controll of tigermen had been so incredibly wary of the new threat presented? It also had to be noted that the explosion of the mage salvo had made a dent in the earth no larger than a few meter range, and that was an effort of dozens of mages offloading staggering amounts of mana.


    And so, hour after hour of gruesome and gruelling battling, the size of the horde grew smaller and smaller, though finally, it seemed that the enemy was slowing down, if only barely. Still, there was still countless thousands of tigermen remaining to be tossed at the enemy, each and every one more eager than the last. And sure, the mages were mostly decimated, the enemy having decided to focus on them after one too many slalvos had apparently annoyed him enough, but their main job was done. They had clearly exausted a ratehr sizable amount on mana from the lone man fighting against the horde.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    It was then, that the man did something new. With move of his hand, dozens of magical circles bloomed into existance, from each cirlce emerged a bird like creature, a raven of pure magic, darker than a lightless night. They all flew away from the immediate battle location, clearly a different purpose in their minds, if said creatures had any. What was a cautios curiosity, regarding the technique on the part of the tigermens true ruler, quickly morphed into fear and terror, once it witnessed the true purpose of said spell. The corpses of the tigermen, touched by the ravens, dissipated into a small amount of mana dust, leaving behind nothing but the pool of blood that had bled out of the lifeless bodies after their death. But what was the trully terrifying part, was the result that came shortly after.


    The man, the greatest threat to the entities thousand years of existance and true purpose, regained a lot of its vigor, churning out ever more mana constructed razor sharp chains that seemed to almost have a mind of their own, as well as picking up speed, no longer larely percievable by the tigermen, but now being nothing more than a blurr, a series of afterimages left behind by the unreasonable speed the enemy now operated with.


    Whats more, the blade in hsi hand hummed with a menacing and extremely dangerous frequency, slicing through meat, bone, claw and metal alike, as though nothing it this world was its equal, nothing worthy of trully clashing against it. Only the leader of the horde, the general, the tigerman Prime, could just barely follow the enemies movements. What had seemed like the only hope for the entity to deal with this extreme danger, had just vanished into thin air, the enemy only deeming it neccesarry to reveal such an unreasonable ability so late. Only whan it seemed like the tides were turning, did the enemy once again moved to crush the blooming hope.


    The entity had deemed the hordes a neccesity, lest the dragonkind reach the core of the dungeon and interfere with the entities holy purpose. Now though, while the dragonmen were a nuisance, it had almost finished with the next floor, more inhospitable and dangerous than ever before, making the neccesity for the hordes no longer true. However, this creature, this man, tearing through what was most likely the last tigermen horde in existance, was an entirely different sort.


    What could the entity do to halt the mans progress, to dissuade him from pushing forward? The people, no matter their origin, always strived for more power, and the core, if absorbed, would do just that, even if it had yet to develop a true spark of a concept within it. Sure, the spark could be withdrawn without absorbing the core, allowing the dungeon to keep growing, that much the entity new, knowledge born from its existance, but there was no way the greed of the humanoids would allow them to pass up on the power, free for the taking, especially when they had the means to aquire it.


    The entity had little choice, as it could no longer just watch, asuming dirrect controll over the berserking infantry and ordering the lord of the horde to engage the man, currently recovering energy through his spell, countless bodies of the deceased tigermen dissipating into mana dust one after another. The entity controlled said fighters to attack the ravens, draining the fallen bodies, all the while a resounding roar, alongside a booming thuds, was heard, nearing the man with every passing moment.


    With a deafening roar, the lord of the tigermen leaped at the man, like a tiger from its prowl, leaping to pierce its prey with its monstrous claws and to sink its teeth in the poor preys flesh. And yet, the man did not panic, nor did he scramble out of the monsters way. He smirked. SMIRKED! The entity was enraged. never had it been so thoroughly humiliated. To smirk at the greatest hunter it had ever created? To SMIRK, at a being, the likes of which had decimated hundreds of the dragonkins strongest heroes. With a speed that defied the entities reason, the man sheathed his blade, using it to block the two paws of entities champion, using strenght that bellied its small body. Small when compared to the champion at the very least. Once blocked, he swung the sheated blade, almost swatting the champion like some nuisance, using his free left hand to deliver a booming strike to the now exposed flank of the enourmous creature. A strike that landed with a deafening thud, followed by a ratehr loud sound of crunching. Clearly more than a single bone had just broken as a result of the strike, and judging by the expression and the howl of pain that escaped the champions muzzle, it was quite clear who had suffered the injury.


    The strike itself also carried enough force to propell the champion multiple meters further away, creating a small distance between the two combatants.


    "Sadly, while a bit smarter and stronger than the rest of the tigermen, you are still just a beast, Your might nothing more than a difference in the power one can exert. As a result, when in the same situation, but from the other side, there is nothing you can hope to do to reverse the situation." The man spoke, as if musing to himself, all the while conjusring even more construct razor chains to shred any and all tigermen chargin at him as well as attempting to destroy his ravens.


    "Though I did not expect the core would be sentient. That is either something unique, or not mentioned in any of the books I have read. How trully peculiar." he added, an inquisitive look appearing on his face.


    "Nevertheless, I belive it is time to finish this. It has gone on long enough."


    With those words spoken, a horrifiying amount of mana exploded from his body, in mre moments creating a magical circle that extended killometers around him.


    "Coming of Vlad." a cold and ethereal line escaped the mans throat, sending shivers donw the spine of the entity, were it to have one. Then, spikes emerged from the ground, impaling each and every remaining tigermen, rising them into the air, causing them excruciating pain, one that would have destroyed the minds of normal creatures. Though since tigermen were no normal creatures, they simply died in a matter of minutes, not a single wail escaping teh creatures, only roars of bloodlust and some last helpless struggle as their bodies grew stiff.


    The champion was the only entity that was still alive, impaled just like the rest, when the spells second part came into effect.


    "Tribute to Vlad." with thsoe words escaping the man''s mouth, the spikes, along with the bodies of the tigermen dissipated, clearly drained for all they were worth. Yet another shudder passed th entities metaphorical body. No amount of hordes could ever hope to stop the man, only slightly slow him down. And judging by the ease with which he dispatched its champion, there was no creature of quality the entity could create to contend with the man either.


    What else then to do, but to await its inevitable end. The entity released its sight from the champions eyes, no other servant of it being alive in the vicinity of the battlefield. Sure, ther ewere still a few thousands of the tigermen out and about, but they were nothin but distraction at this point. Even the dragonkin could deal with those numbers with relative ease, let alone the monster that had stepped its foot in the entities lands. With no other choice, it returned to purpose it had, deciding to spend what little time it had to carve just a smidgen more, to grow just a tiny bit more towards a worthy vessel of a concept. Sure, it would never existe long enough to house one, but that did not matter. Everything was done with that purpose in mind.


    -----------------------------------------------


    Silence. Deadly silence enveloped the deeper and most fortified room in each of the four dragonkin city council halls. Every group was gathered around a rather large orb, fueled by a dozen mages each. What they had just witnessed happening had chilled frozen them all in place, with only one of the four councils sweating with releaf. They would, no doubt be grinning like absolute madmen, were they still not shocked by absolute insanity they had just whitnessed. A single man had taken on the lord of the tigermen with such ease that they could not trully comprehend the raw might Rex possesed. Though that was not nearly the true reason for their minds short circuting. A single spell, cast by a single individual, wiping out the entirety of the tigermen horde. What was even more unreasonable, the man had not sacrificed himself in the process. He was still perfectly fine, though they did not know what was happening there now, even the mages responsible for the scrying were in the same absolute blank mind state as the rest of the people around them, resulting in the scrying spells stopping to function.


    The only question that would linger in their minds once they came out of their stupor would be the biggest mystery of their lives "If he could do that, what was the purpose of the half day he spent fighting the horde with the other means?"

 Chapter 129: The Revelation.

    Rex looked over the desolate field before his eyes, all a result of his making. "Coming of Vlad" and "Tribute to Vlad" did more than just impale, killed in a horrifying manner and then drained the dead bodies of the targeted enemies, it also drained most of the plant and other organic life within the field. Rex would have to put in extra focus to not affect any ally with the collateral drain, should one be present within the field and even then he was not hundred percent sure he could safeguard said allies entirely. That was one of the reasons he did not have any of his women or the dragonkin allies anywhere near the slaughter zone, with Rex well aware of the possible friendly casualities was that not the case.


    With only few thousand tigermen remaining, Rex decided it was rather important to secure at least thsoe hearts, thus he opened a gate to Elysium, summoning one of the thunderbirds, and once it was present, he mounted it and directed it towards the few remaining groups on the outskirts of the dragonkin territories. As his mount flew towards his next destination, Rex inspected his growth from Vlads tribute, and he was quite pleased to note that he had grown stronger. And not just a drop in an ocean type stronger, like most of his recent drains had been, but this was a rather large lake, or perhaps even a very small sea added to his words ocean. Small, when compared to the total entity, sure, but much greater than anything recently.


    It took Rex the remainder of the day to reach other groups he was aiming at, slaughter and harvest their hearts. It was just a bit after midnight that he entered Elysion for the night, both Xersia and Mora already awaiting him there, with expressions that conveyed both pride of their man, decent amount of smugness, and a decent amount of playfulness.


    "The big, Bad wolf finally returns home I see." smirked Xersia, as she closed in on Rex, and for the first time leaned forward, wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him quite deeply. Rex, while a bit suprised by the action, leaned in and enjoyed the unexpected reward, seperating from the woman only after a few minutes, both drawing back for a breath.


    "It is only right for me to start to fulfill our end of the deal, since you have filfilled yours, Husband" Xersia spoke, slightly whispering the last word, quite a bit of seduction and desire laced on it, Rex''s raised brow and inquisite gaze towards her asking what had brought that pleasant action.


    "Dont forget the faces the council made when talking to us afterwards." added Mora, who giggled as she recalled the memory.


    "Whats that you said dear?"


    "Ow, jes, you might not be aware, but dragonkin mages have this niffty scrying spell that allows us to peer quite the distance away, so long we know who we want to find. And they used said spell to track your ''groups'' fight with the main horde, assuming that you would be a part of said assault."


    "Ahh, so that was them watching. I was wondering who could be peaking on my little entertainment. Did not guess it was them, dragonkin mages had left me less than impressed so far." Rex spoke, and seeing the raised brow of Xersia, added "You can blame me, I measure them with standarts of my own and that of my mage girls. Their mana pools are just that pitifull, and as casters they neglect their physical might, the one thing that is going for the combat classes of your race."


    Xersia just sighed, shrugging her shoulders. Rex had spoken truth after all, so she could not trully fault him for that. Besides, after witnessing that unreasonable display of power, the sisters were in arather aroused state, their dragon bloodline reacting to a great display of dominance and power.


    "Come, come. lest get you washed up. Youclearly woule like a proper bath after all that hard work." Mora couldn''t hold back anyomore, as she rubbed her thighs together, then grabbed Rex by the hand and started to drag him to the bath. Xersia did not fall behind much, only momentary suprised by the forwardness of her sister. Though she could clearly understand Moras position, as she herself was in a similar boat.


    Rex was dragged to one of the larger baths, the place already set up and prepeared, both sisters had clearly thought it all over. Rex, rather intrigued by the forwardness and innitiative of the two sisters, went along with their plans, smiling and enjoying the attention and the occasion lewd touch coming from Xersia, clearly indicating how the night would end. And while Rex was lavished with quite the service once they were in the shower before the bath, with both sisters using their well endowed and naked bodies to both entice and wash him before entring the bath itself, both sisters engaging in sessions of rather passionate kissing with him. It was in the bath that both dragonkin ladies finally trully consumated their marriage, their wanton moans resounding for a few hours. Though in the end, they were both exausted, just like any other lover of Rex, and just like any other lover, they too had a blissfull smile adorning their faces. Rex very carefully brough both of them to one of the bedrooms and laid them on the bed there, allowing them to enjoy the pleasant dreams they no doubt were having. Then, with a smile on his face, he quietly slipped out of the room, spending the next few hours visiting a few more groups of his lovers who were in the mansion, expecting a visit from him, though in the end of his rounds he returned to the dragonkin sisters, slipping into the bed, pulling the two in his embrace as he closed his eyes to rest for a while. It would take a few more hours before the dawn after all, and the duo would surely be quite pleased with waking up in his embrace.


    Rex was indeed not wrong when he asumed that the sisters would be happy waking in his arms, though he did not expect Mora would take the innitiative, sliding under the blanket and thanking him eagerly. And while she did lack the neccessary skills, she more than made it up with enthusiasm, and was in the end rewarded for her efforts. And like the warrior she was, she took it all, not wasting even a drop.


    The breakfast was quite lively, the rest of Rex''s girls congratulating Xersia and Mora with their first time with Rex. While they had been quite friendly before, now they all felt that the sisters had properly joined the family, even if Rex had stated that they already were a part of it. With the breakfast coming to the end, Rex noted that he will head towards the gate he noticed behind the tigermen horde, requestin Xersia to warn the councils to not allow their scouts and hunter groups to delve into tigermen lands, some potential danger still being quite the possibility.


    "Do you think there is something else on the other side of the gate?" Mora asked, a slight concern in her voice.


    "Besides dungeon core? Oh sure. There must be some sort of a guardian, though I doubt it has much stronger netities than the chieftain of the tigermen, so it should be a breeze for me. Still, as i said, possibly quite dangerous for dragonkin."


    "Understood. We will inform them as soon as we head back to Dragoncliff."


    "Thanks love."


    With that resolved and off of Rex''s mind, he once again left Elysion, returning to the battlefield of yesterday, a rather desolate field once again coming into his view. Rex kneeled down, taking a palm of sand in his hand, sifting it through his fingers.


    "A couple of years at most, should not take much longer. Way better than I expected." he said to himself, after calculating the time it would take for the negative energy in the soil to dissipate, allowing for plants to once again grow and flourish in the place. After using tribute to Vlad and seeing the state of the place he feared it would take decades, if not centuries for the negative energy to dissipate, making the skill much less apealing and more ''evil'', restricting its use even more than Rex''s had already decided to. Now though, it was a much more acceptable choice in quite a few possible scenarios he could think off.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Without his thunderbird mount at his side, it would take longer for him to reach the gate, but since he was not in a true rush, he could use the time traveling to contemplate and ponder over things, clearly quite a bit of knowledge regarding dungeon cores missing from his repository of knowledge. It took him a couple of hours to reach the gate, with Rex stopping more than once to enjoy the view he saw after he had left the desolate field his skill had created. He could do nothing but apreciate the magnificent nature that surrounded him, especially when he came upon the valley that housed the gate he was walking towards, though it was much more beautifull than what he saw from the eyes of his cosmic crows. It gave a slight sense of insignificance to Rex as he stood there on the ground, the view before him taking his breath away. He stood there for a couple minutes, taking it all in, and only then did he moved forward, the large opened gate standing solemnly in the very center of the valley.


    As Rex aproached the black, light devouring gate, he saw, more and more clearly, numerous engraved runes , glowing in faint red color, littering the enourmous gate, a small supression field pressing on his being, though with the mana and aura at his diposal, the pressure exuded on him might as well not exist.


    "What have you prepeared for me on the other side, I wonder?" he spoke, a small smile adorning his face as he stepped through the gate, a small curtain like cover seperating the two sides. once through, what greeted him was quite peculiar sight. He stood on a small realized stone platform, a small, yet stable path unvinding before him, stretching off into the disrance, though with his sharpened sight he could just barely make out another, slightly larger platform. The other platform housed an entity that was made of a flickering material, though as of now, he could not sense much else about it.


    Everywhere else he moved his gaze towards, the barest outlines, like a sketch of an artist, covered everything, creating what seemed to be the baseline of the topography of the next floor to be. Every now and then a pulse of mana left the central platform, either making the sketches more completed, or erasing some parts of it, said part being replaced with something else in its stead. Now that he was sure he was on the last floor and that it seemed there would be no last boss, or maybee the horde was supposed to be it, Rex leisurly walked towards the central platform, its target clearly in no desire to play hide and seek with him, something Rex apreciated, all the while appraising the scenario being developed. From what Rex could see, this floor was being developed into some sort of desert enviroment, endless fields of sand all around him, with a couple of mountain peaks stretching into the heaven, far off into distance.


    "A smart choice, as far as a propper buffer zones go." Rex mused, noting the strategical pivot in the design of the dungeon. The core clearly had grown much and would was reaching the limit of its capability, clearly not many floors remaining to be ever built here. "It would not only be filled with ferocious and bloodthirsty monsters, but the envoroment itself is quite the hurdle for any would be explorer to tackle."


    A few dozen of minutes later, and Rex stood at the end of the stone path, the other platform right before his eyes, with a lone shadovy, orb like figure floating just above the ground, still releasing said pulses every now and then. And while the entity before his eyes had neither face, nor limbs, Rex somewhat could feel, or perhaps read from it, a profound feeling of sadness, loss and dejection. What Rex saw was a broken creature, finally stopped struggling against the impending doom, deciding to spend the last few moments it had in furthering the goal it had been working on for the most, if not all of its long existance.


    Rex eyes unraveled the entity before him, digging deep into the processes that kept it going, the way energy flowed within, and many other minute aspects of the entity. He stood there for what seemed like hours, analyzing and noting down each and every peculiarity. It was then, that the entity spoke, using common it had picked up from observing dragonkin.


    "What are you waiting for? Just come, absorb my essence and end this miserable state of mine. No need to gloat and make it any worse."


    "Hmm? I did not expect a conscious entity, to be fair. Besides, I dont see the point in consuming you.After all, there seems to be a seed of something within you, though it would take thousands of years still for it to be fully grown and ready for consumption, whatever it may be." Rex replied, clearly sensing the faintest presence of a divine law, though since the seed had barely taken its root, he could not even begin to guess what kind of law it was.


    And the information regarding the laws and their origin sparks, just surfaced in his mind, clearly knowledge imbedded deep within his dragonic bloodline. Knowledge so far beyond the realms of mortals even Rex was impressed with its depth, and he was a human who had read quite the ludicrous amount of fantasy and fiction, making few things beyond ones imagination, even if most of what he had in his mind was supposedly only that- someones imagination. Though here, it all could be real, allowing the shock factor to be rather shallow on him, whenever something new and unexpected appeared.


    "You would not consume me? Why? It would allow you to grow in power." the entity asked confusedly, not quite understanding the reasoning of the man before it.


    "Am I not strong enough already? Besides the fact that you are sentient, as well as growing a spark of divine within you, even if in the early stages of its development. Say, once it is formed, could you give it up without the consumption of your core essence?"


    "Yes, that would be prefferable, my desire and need to debvelop this place must continiue."


    "Growth and evolution." Rex exclaimed, an understanding suddenly coming to his mind. "The spark of growth and evolution. Thats whats forming within you." He added, his mere existence in the presence of the seed of said law, providing him with quite the unique persective on his own journey and life in this new world of his.


    Rex looked over his short, but rather pleasant time in this world. How he had assumed it to be nothing more than just a lucid dream, how he indulged in the bad guys role due to it. How he came to a realization that it was more than just that. How he found a new home, a new life in this strange and quite barbaric world. How he carved a place for himself, through grind and even more grind. How he carved fear and respect into those around him, be it friend or foe. How he indulged in his carnal desires, be it sexual or otherwise, clearly remembering all the slaughter he had brought upon the Echlisiarchy. He stood by his decision even now, that place was long overdue a serving of justice, even if he might have gone quite a bit overboard in serving said justice. A stray though crossed his mind, noting down the need to visit ''Neos Holy Whores'', who had been running for a short while now, earning quite the popularity among all who visited, and could afford a round with the now enslaved oracles and holy ''maidens'' of the now deceased nation.


    Rex also realised he should pay a bit more attention to Soriana and her efforts of rebuilding Echlisiarchy into a decent nation, with all the noble cancer being cut down. He also should pay a visit to his Svergi friends, who had been expanding and repurposing the old capital of Echlisiarchy into their own Capital outside the dungeon. There were quite a few things to revisit, things he had undoubtedly changed and affected with his presence and actions. Not to mention the auction of Blythe that was just around the corner. he could even bring in an innitial stage SS class creature from a dungeon to parade around, indicating that such a creature could be auctioned off during the third ever Blythe''s grand auction, ensuring never before seen presence and bidding once it arrives.


    And yet, for all that he still had to do, each and every task related to his past, there was a couple of things that he had to take care off, a rather profound understanding illunimated in his mind. With that, he turned to the entity besides him.


    "I do belive that, because of the law growing within you, you have developed sentience and as such, I would like to see said spark to mature, possibly allowing you to grow into a full fledged god. No doubt the ones now perched in their own heavenly domains had all been heaven defying prodigies, monsters in their own right. And each adn every one of them must have conquered a dungeon and consumed a fully formed spark of divine law, allowing them to ascend. That would probably make you the first god trully born on its own, unless the primordial god of this world was the same, which should be the case." Rex shook his head "Nevertheless, such an event would be quite the sight to experience. So, allow me to place my mark at your place, and call upon me should your existance come into danger. In return, I want to see your ascention. Do we have a deal?"


    "Is that trully all you wish of me? I can continie with my task? Trully?"


    "Yes, so, what say you?"


    "Yes. I see no reason to not agree."


    "Magnificent. Dont mind me then. I will be off of your neck in no time."


    Rex spent the next few hours warding the platform, ensuring his wards would not interfere with the creation process of the entity. Once he was done with that, he explained the process with which he would be alerted and afterwards left the final floor of the dungeon. As he walked away, he laughed and spoke in a normal tone, the words meant for no one but him.


    "Ha, ha ha ha ha. I have Enjoyed my new life, like playing in a sandbox, with no goal for myself. What path have I walked. What purpose of my own have I pursued. Ha ha ha ha. FOOL. A path to nowhere I have walked. NO LONGER!"


    -----------------------END-----------------------------------------

 Epilogue & announcment.

    It had been a couple of weeks since Rex returned from the dungeon dive, the inspiration from encountering the cradle of growth and evolution still fresh and doing wonders for him. He was spending the nights with his ladies, ensuring tha teach and every one of them was sattisfied in more ways than one, but the rest of his time was single handedly spent focusing on comprehending even deeper misteries of the soul and blood in extention. He had gone so far, as to abbandon any other paralel project he had been runing in his mind, focusing only on soul.


    As the two weeks passed by, he understood more and more, feeling the aproach of an eppifany. He could feel himself being at a bottleneck, just a small push was all he needed to realize the next step he had to take, to transcend the limits of a mortal. While he no longer had to worry about aging, an issue that had been solved a long time ago for both himself and his ladies, he was well aware that there was something missing before he could call himself transcendant. He was now well aware that most would break said shackles by absorbing a spark, a revelation he came upon when being in the presence of the dungeon core with a vessel of a spark still developing within it.


    Yet, at the same time, his mind had came to a question that he was now wrking on answering. Sparks are a fragment of the laws of the world, so naturally, there must be some, who have comprehended said lawas without absornign any sparks. Such beings should be in a league of their own, should they not? And so, his current plan had hathched. He would focus solely on the path of the soul, something that resonated greatly with his bloodline, and then use said resonance to push his understanding further, to the point where he could step into the realm of transcendent beings.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    It was at the end of the second week, mere month before the start of the second grand auction of Blythe that Rex finally broke past the bottleneck, entering a state that could not be explained with words. He was and was not at the same time, seeing the world through his soul for the briefest of moments, and yet, that moment, for it was nothing more to the rest of his ladies and servants, was so much more to Rex.


    "Fascinating." he spoke once he came out of the mistical state he was in. "So thats how it is. No wonder."


    ''Omnipresence.'' he thought, not willing to speak of his findings, for what he had comprehended was so far beyond the realms of gods, or so he reasoned. He was not aware of a single piece of lore in this world speaking of a soul lord, a god governing over the concept of souls, and now he could guess why. But at the same time, his path forward was also clear.


    ''I have to walk the path. And there is no better way than to live multiple lives, embracing the branching ability of ones soul, creating embers and stretching out, being in multiple places at the same time, yet always me, and no one else. omnipresence, yet limited in scale and scope. Just you wait, O benefactor of mine, I shall entertain you allright. Await the greatest suprise of all time.'' He grinned as he looked up, his thoughts running through his mind at unprecedented speeds to create the proper spell for what he had in mind.


    A day later, he sat alone on a remote hilltop, his spell formulated and ready. He once again looked up, a savage grinn adorning his face.


    "A suprise and a gift for you. I dont know how soon you will be able to recieve and unwrap it, but I hope it brings you a jolt of excitement once you do!" With those words he activated the spell, a blindingly bright light flashed, followed by all consuming darkness that lasted for just a moment, and then it dissapeared, leaving the place just as how it was before, only Rex''s smirk was even more wide now.


    "Success."