《To Build an Empire (Old, new one is out)》


 Reincarnated as a Slave

    Dead and born anew, a soul ventures to a new vessel with its memories intact. Peter Johnson, a former professor of architecture and an avid learner of the past has joined the angels above. Why does this matter? Because I am Peter Johnson, with a quick transfer process, I am rekindled and risen from the ashes like the phoenix. I¡¯m born again into the body of a lowly slave.


    My eyes flutter open as the metallic head of the pickaxe bangs against the rock and a sudden urge of fatigue besets me. I immediately lost my footing and slipped on my behind, wary of my surroundings. ¡°What? What¡¯s going on?¡± I muttered, my head bouncing around in several phenomenal ways as the memories surge and connect into one interconnected body.


    A body joins me at the ground, as a concerned face grabs me up quickly without saying the slightest word. He gestures for me to continue working and banging away at the rock, not because I was slacking, but not wanting to draw in unneeded attention. This short fellow with brown hair and burn marks along his cheek was known to me as Hibe. He had no last name, he was just Hibe.


    In between each crack of the earth, ¡°Tylor, you should know better than anyone that the slackers get beaten to death.¡± Bang. ¡°Are you trying to get us killed?¡± Ching. The sweat rolled off his dirt mask, as powdery dust bursted into the air with each explosion into the ground.


    ¡°Of course not, I suddenly just got dizzy. That was all.¡± I said, still trying to gather my bearings. This was much more pain than I was used to. The work was brutal in comparison to my previous scholarly life before. I really missed the old life all of a sudden, but the things here had me burning with passion on the inside. My curiosity had enlightened a hellish flame.


    According to the person I had just ascended into, my name was Tylor Justifix. I¡¯m the lowest level slave, which is considered by far the worst position in society. Slaves are apparently categorized into four positions: slave worker, slave guard, slave overseer, and slave nobleman. These four make up the working society known as the slave society which presides underground.


    Slaves are born into slavery, just like Tylor and Hibe were, as they were not blood brothers, but best friends. Slaves had relatively little knowledge about the outside world, and most couldn¡¯t even read or write. The threshold to become a slave guard was high, and you had to be somewhat literate to even qualify.


    As a former scholar, I¡¯m confident I can learn the language, but I¡¯m not so confident in the other areas. Such as opportunity for growth. A society with a force so large working these labyrinths is undeniably in a very production-esque age. Meaning it needs more workers and less management.


    A loud siren churned throughout F Block, and the workers immediately crumpled to the floor in an exasperated sigh of relief. ¡°Break time! Eat up, you Quags!¡± The overseer said, as the guards came in and began throwing food on the bare ground like we were dogs. It wasn¡¯t far from the truth in their eyes. Like rampant wild beasts, the slaves darted over toward the scrap food from the higher-ups, and stuffed it down their throats, dirt and all. They swallowed it like a life-line.


    It was only now that I realized how malnourished my body was. Were the luckiest to survive, or was it the strong? Apparently Tylor here was strong, he had been a slave from birth, but had heard the stories of the surface lands. A small break was a great gift every day to these people, as they knew no other happiness than this. They were satisfied with this? How disgusting.


    The person who I was in the past would not allow for my second life to be wasted in these confinements of hell. It was simply the biggest disregard of all the knowledge I had previously attained and worked for, for countless hours on end!


    ¡°Hibe, tell me. What is the fastest way to become a slave guard?¡± I asked, looking at him with a new-found determination in my eyes that brightly resonated my yellow colored eyes and brown hair.


    He looked at me perplexed, ¡°Why the sudden interest in such unimportant matters?¡± He asked.


    ¡°I was just wondering...how much better fed they are than us. The standard of living must be leaps and bounds better than this!¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°You¡¯re overreacting, all slaves will be slaves. Even the noblemen aren¡¯t treated as anything more than peasants in the surface world, and getting by on the surface for them is harder than living down here in abundance. You should forget about that life immediately, you have no noble bloodline to your name anyways.¡±


    I became silent, as I realized this fact. If I were to escape these confinements, first I would need to hold some value to people higher up, rather than just a tool for their garments. I put my finger on my lip, and brainstormed.


    ¡°Break¡¯s over! Back to work you Quags!¡± The overseer said, as we picked up our tools. Then it hit me. Quags, a derogatory term to shame the lowest of the low. A staple statement to call those born into slavery at the lowest point of the slave society. This would be a perfect bargaining piece for me with the slaves around me. First and foremost I would need manpower to undertake this first operation.


    The overseer had a fat belly, and the guards weren¡¯t malnourished, so it was an obvious fact that they were eating a fair amount of the share, and giving us the dog food basically. With all of this in mind, there was little left to do. I just started planting seeds.


    ¡°Hibe, why do you think they call us Quags in such a hostile manner? Why is the overseer heavy-bellied like that? Why do we only get his leftovers?¡± I threw a bundle of statements at Hibe at once, overwhelming him. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°You sure are a talkative one lately, what¡¯s gotten into you Tylor? First of all, I¡¯d rather not talk about such things. Second, you know talking badly about the overseer is forbidden! If he hears us, we¡¯re good as dead!¡± He said.


    I had no prior knowledge of this, meaning my suspicions were confirmed as true. I didn¡¯t retain Tylor¡¯s full memory, it was still blanketed by my own consciousness somehow. I never thoroughly knew how the brain worked, nor would I ever.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to suck up to the overseer, and gain his trust. Then, when he makes me a guard, I¡¯ll pilfer my way to the top and claw my way to the surface. Just you wait Hibe, and when all is said and is done, I¡¯ll take you with me.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± He chipped against the rock. It seemed I had finally gotten to the soft part of his feelings, and unveiled his true desires. He had his reasoning, but he was also ambitious much like how I am now.


    A sudden shake of the rock resulted in a collapse. The rock tumbled over some slaves, and definitely killed one. The others were emasculated under the rock and crying for help as they clawed at the dirt. A few of the guards tried to pry them out from under the large canvas of the rock, but to no abandon did they find success. My enriched senses told me this was a golden opportunity to present my good fortune ahead.


    ¡°Move aside!¡± I forcibly began to lift the rock with the help of the others, Tylor being naturally strong. The other slaves were left in awe as the slaves from underneath crawled out. My forehead was visibly strained as I clenched my teeth to withstand the sheer amount of weight I was holding.


    The guards and slaves took note of this, as the ever present Overseer simply bit through a slab of meat in his comfortable leather chair. He had a beautifully decorated room behind these cavern walls. It had everything in it, from a matt to sleep on to a nice area to sit.


    The blaring alarm sounded as I dropped the rock. I had saved a few lives on that day, and people took note of it. The F block was dismissed for the day and we would report back to our room. F block had a single room which housed every individual that worked there in it. Around thirty men worked in F block.


    The room had a green canvas carpet and nowhere to sleep. The slaves never washed, never changed, and never sought their eyes above. The motto we learned was Work, Thank, and Live. That is all our lives meant to our superiors. The overseers were gluttons, and the noblemen didn¡¯t even visit the working blocks. They lived in the underground slave city, managing everything and sending supplies up to the surface kingdom. The nameless kingdom we work for. The evil empire we served.


    Hibe and a few others came up to me, looking happily toward me like I was some kind of hero. ¡°Tylor you¡¯ve done us a great deed today, and Hibe has informed us of your motives. We support you.¡± One of the men said, plopping a squat beside me.


    The three men and I formed a circle as we spoke. ¡°I¡¯m Lincoln, pleasure to meet you, and thank you for saving me.¡± The talkative one who had spoken before introduced himself. He had blonde hair and was rather tall.


    ¡°Oh and this is Reynolds, he¡¯s a bit shy though.¡± The other man I had saved waved, he had black hair than ran down behind his back and a beard that scruffled his face into the posture of a man. ¡°Anyways, you have our full support, and as a token of our gratitude we are willing to do anything for you. We follow your leadership.¡± Lincoln said as Reynold and Hibe nodded.


    Completely flabbergasted, I put my hand into the center of the group, ¡°Okay, thank you for supporting me in this endeavor. I¡¯ll now brief you on the plan. First, we need to amount to something. Scrounge together all of our belongings and gain favor among the higher ups. I know we have very little to give, but even so, we have weapons! Our mining picks will be our greatest ally if things turn south.¡± I said.


    The men nodded, they lingered into their pockets and grabbed out what they had. A few slave society coins dangled to the ground and a purple stone came from Lincoln¡¯s pocket. ¡°It¡¯s my heritage from my father.¡± He said, rather painfully.


    Reynolds grabbed out an entire metal knuckle, in where god¡¯s name he got it, I have no idea.Finally, Hibe unfastened a knob from the handle of his pickaxe and revealed a pouch of slave coins. It was enough to buy his was to be a slave guard, but not enough for the four of us. Everyone eyed him with suspicion.


    I took initiative, ¡°Why the hell do you have that many coins and not move up the ladder? With that, the Overseer would practically have to give you a status of a guard!¡± I whispered hysterically.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to save up enough for the both of us since we were kids Tylor, I¡¯ve been stealing tiny parcels of money from the overseer every now and then. Of course he notices the missing money, why do you think he beats us so regularly!? If I come up to him with that sack of money, he¡¯ll immediately verify me as the thief and have me decapitated at once!¡± He explained passionately.


    I grew quiet, and thought about how we could escape this situation. The Overseer would never allow us as guards because of Hibe. We¡¯d instead have to fully incorporate myself as the leader of F block and then forcibly coup the Overseer into giving me his personal belongings and then assuming his position as Overseer. It¡¯s possibly the best plan I have.


    ¡°Say we do take over F block or try to...will our pickaxes be enough against their swords? How many guards are in F block? Maybe fifteen?¡± I asked.


    They nodded in agreement, the number was probably around fifteen. ¡°This is what we do. We give word to the slaves in the F block, and propagate their support under me. When we have most of the block vying for rebellion, we will strike, and begin our march toward the surface!¡± I said, valiantly.


    Putting my hand toward the center of the group, we made the deal on that day, that we would become men of rebellion, unshackled by society. Our hands met on top of one another, and in eyes of ambition we declared ourselves in pursuit of freedom, so that we could unveil the secrets of this world and live a life more prosperous than the last.


    I smiled internally on the inside, an adventure had just begun, and I was ready to make it last until I was at the top of the world itself.

 A Chance of Escape

    The next day, we immediately went to work. The three men at my side began infiltrating the other twenty-six men who were also apart of F block. The goal here was to get everyone under my command. As soon as that was possible, I could take over F block and fight the guards that were under the command of the Overseer.


    We casually acted innocent as we picked away at the earth, little by little. A few nodded their heads and agreed. They proceeded with their work. Hopefully by the end of the day, I¡¯d have doubled my followers. A stubbed-looking man waddled his way over to one of the guards and began whispering in his ear.


    Immediately my heart began to race as the guard¡¯s face began to contort. His eyes veered over to me, and ice began to form in my veins. We had an insider! Damn my luck. A sudden urge came over me when the guard began to pass the message along to the other guards. It seemed they were going to beat the shit out of me.


    I turned quickly to face Hibe. ¡°The guards know, we¡¯ve got a damn rat among our ranks!¡± I spoke quietly to him, his eyes now widened.


    ¡°Shit! I¡¯ll get the boys together. This was sooner than I thought.¡± He left his station and got Lincoln and Reynolds together along with seven other men who were under my command now. A revolution was underway, and the guards began their descent into the mine.


    I had ten men, against roughly fifteen armed guards. The guards were now approaching, their boots crumpled against the dirt. ¡°Fuck it! Take your frustration out on these guards and don¡¯t die! We¡¯re taking F block down today!¡± I rose my pickaxe in the air, signaling a war cry throughout my small ranks of me, as they strode past me and began filing into the guards.


    Turning to the guards, all out war had ensued, and the overseer was simply watching with his big war axe resting over his shoulder. ¡°Hyeh Hyeh Hyeh.¡± He chuckled. The room was hot, with blood spewing as the guards began to push my men back. Two unnamed individuals had already crumpled to the ground in death from my numbers.


    Fuck! I was a damn scholar, not a war general. Although I did read about instances of the general joining the fray to increase morale among his ranks. It might be worth a shot, along with Tylor¡¯s unnatural strength. ¡°Do not give up men!¡± I hammered into the front line, sending my pickaxe into the neck of a guard and capsizing him to the ground in evident pain.


    The guards were losing their back bone against my brute strength, but their numbers swelled to beyond what we had calculated. There were at least twenty, and we were surrounded. I picked up the dead guard¡¯s sword and began waving it through the air, hoping to make a dent in their arrogance.


    ¡°Fucking die!¡± The guard said, parrying with me and kicking me in the gut. I bounced up against the rock and coughed up some blood. My vision was hazy and my men were fighting to their death. I couldn¡¯t let things end this way!


    Reinvigorated, I pounced up into the air and slashed two guards like a fiery dragon, waving my sword like a serpent. Four men, then five. It didn¡¯t matter. Before I knew it, Reynolds was dead. It was just Lincoln, Hibe, and I. We had been backed into a corner, and there were still ten guards, along with the overseer. I had a gnash in my arm from a large cut.


    ¡°You damn Quags thought you could take over! Hyeh Hyeh Hyeh Hyeh!¡± The Overseer laughed hysterically. His big gut toppled in each laugh. I closed my eyes, the blackness was comforting. Then a clang, and a bash as an outcry of men poured in from the other direction of the mines. ¡°For freedom!¡± The other slaves had been inspired by our display and attacked the Overseer.


    ¡°Overseer!¡± The guards turned to address the newly presented opposition. I nodded toward Lincoln and Hibe, before dashing at the guards and spearing my sword through their backs. They turned back and immediately were overwhelmed with another obstacle. There was still seven guards after our surprise attack.


    Lincoln and Hibe picked up their swords and began their full-scale attack against the guards. The guards had grown weak, they obviously weren¡¯t the ones mining for hours on end. It made sense. With a smile on my face, I began to slay these weaklings. All that was left was the overseer, as the blood dripped from our blades.


    The Overseer had slaughtered all of the slaves, his bloody figure was intimidating under all of that fat. ¡°Y-You damn Quags. I oughta kill all of you. I worked my ass off to become the Overseer! You damn youths are so ambitious to see the surface world, but you¡¯re wrong! The Slave Noblemen will never let you out. They control the underground gates. Even though they are slaves too, they¡¯d never give up their life-line! You slaves run the economy, and the noblemen profit off of it! They are the transactors, and the Overseers get paid to manage things down here. You¡¯ll never make it past this point.¡± His war axe hit the ground, and a blue mana began to swirl around the axe.


    Tylor¡¯s memory had no knowledge of this strange aura, but if I had to guess, it was magic. The magic was weak, but I could tell magic wasn¡¯t something held by everyone either.


    ¡°I¡¯ll finish you Quags here. God knows what the noblemen are going to do with me after having slaughtered F block. You¡¯ve ruined my career you absolute pieces of shits! You fucking Quags! Quags! Quags!¡± He screamed, grabbing his battle axe and sending a blue wave of magic at us with one undercutted slash. I duck, and roll toward the Overseer.


    ¡°Fuck your concerns and your hard work!¡± My sword met his undercarriage, the metal sliced right through his tender groin. He turned an eerie white as the room came to a halt. I knew I had just done the unthinkable.


    ¡°F-F-Fu-Fuck¡­¡± The Overseer stumbled, and passed out as he hit the floor on his back. My motley crew almost had the nerve to laugh if it weren¡¯t for the grim situation. Reynolds was dead and so was everyone else. Excluding Lincoln, Hibe, and myself, it wasn¡¯t a very lovely victory.


    In the meantime, while all of our warring had been warranted in F block, the rat who had ratted our plan out had escaped to the Slave Society city, Slavopolis. A mega-city, full of noblemen and passing travellers. It was an actual tourist destination!Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Looking toward Lincoln and Hibe, we both gave mutual nods, as we suited up as disguised guards, and grabbed all of the swords. We put as much shit in a sack as possible. Slaves took value of everything. Walking out of the corridor, there was a metal door that was unlocked recently by the rat.


    Outside of that door was something I was put in awe by. Sandstone towers, great brilliant lights, travelling men riding on horses, an underground forest. A beautiful sight, as the cavern walls encroached downward in a spiky formation. There were similar holes all around the city, with their designated block name above the tunnel. Block F was above us, and each tunnel pointed straight to the main city, Slavopolis.


    There was a gravel path leading to the city, along with a few travelling guards. In essence, the city was very dark, but was lit up with all kinds of lights and strange forms of magical bearring light. It seemed magic was a good replacement for technology. It was also apparent that permanent magic was a thing, or that objects could inhibit spells to maintain a certain characteristic for long periods of time.


    A few guards came up to us and wanted to speak to us as we walked down the gravel pathway. ¡°Hey, did the overseer send you to get some snacks too? He told us to bring him all of these.¡± The guard pointed back at the other guards who had handfuls of food.


    ¡°Uhh...yeah. He told us to go get some stuff as well.¡± I said without much confidence in my tone. I placed my hand on my hip. The armor was quite revealing about body type. The armor didn¡¯t quite fit my muscular body.


    ¡°Say, Larry, you¡¯ve gotten quite big like the Overseer. Might wanna slow down on all that eating, we don¡¯t get paid but once a month.¡± He started laughing as he patted my shoulder, breaking off the conversation. They began to ascend up to F block.


    ¡°Let¡¯s get the hell going before hell ensues.¡± I whisper to the two, and we begin to steadily increase our pace as we get closer to Slavopolis. It was a scary fact that shit was about to go down. So they might as well disguise themselves into the city before things became a clusterfuck of bad.


    With Tylor¡¯s strength and my wits, I¡¯m confident I can stomp this planet with every essence of my being, but the lack of knowledge that Tylor left me with is completely trash in every capacity.


    Looking back, the two followed close behind me as I kept my guard up. A few noblemen scoured the streets on horse carriages. In a strange turn of events, the city was rather bland and barren in comparison to back on Earth. The city really felt like a slavopolis.


    A few guardsmen came up to us with questioning glares. ¡°What¡¯s your business for gazing about like you have no duty?¡± He had his hand on his sword, I could tell Hibe and Lincoln were sweating under their armor.


    ¡°We have been assigned an investigation for a murder by a few noblemen. If you¡¯ll excuse us.¡± I bumped the guard back with my shoulder as I shuffled past him and started walking toward the gates.


    This underground city had been far too grim for my tastes. It was time to lighten up the world and expand my horizons once more. The two followed close behind. The gate would only open for noblemen, so we would just have to wait nearby.


    I decided the horse stables would be a good place to hide until a few noblemen ordered for the massive steel door to open. Within a short span of time, a nobleman came as expected, ordering the guards to open the door and let him through with his wagon of supplies.


    The jarring door opened with creaks and strange crackles. It was obviously infused with some kind of magical barrier, as the horses climbed up the hill and exited the gate. The door was starting to close as they left.


    I looked toward Hibe and Lincoln once more. ¡°Ready?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah! We¡¯re ready! Let¡¯s go!¡± He said, breaking his whisper.


    ¡°Alright, go, go, GO!¡± We shuffled from out of the horse stables and jumped the gate, running to the closing door as the light shimmered away and our hope began to dissipate. I wouldn¡¯t give up though, surging energy coarsed my veins as I pounded my feet against the ground and met the metal doors crack.


    ¡°Hey! Stop right there!¡± The slave guards were now chasing after us, but they weren¡¯t quick enough. I managed to slip out of the caverns by a hair, and now turned to face Lincoln and Hibe who were huffing and puffing behind the door, they were not going to make it unless I did something, shit!


    Within milliseconds, I grabbed the magical metal door, and planted my foot against its path. It made strange noises as I forcibly held it open just a bit longer. Lincoln with his blonde hair was praying to the gods above that he would make it, and Hibe¡¯s short and stout ass ran behind him in slow motion.


    ¡°Hu...rryy!¡± I managed under my breath, the door began sliding closer to a close as my feet began to slide. With a final surging burst of strength, I bend the metal back some more and the two churn out from the other side and fall to the ground. In an immediate response, I let go of the door and it shuts with a large metallic thud.


    ¡°Fuck! That was close!¡± Sighing in relief, I opened my eyes to the beautiful blue sky once more. ¡°Boys, we¡¯ve made it to the big time, here it is...our new life.¡± I smiled to them, they were still trying to catch their breath.


    ¡°By order of Baron Roghan, you¡¯ve been indicted for trespassing and shall face the penalty of death. Runaway slaves will not be granted mercy.¡± A knight from his horse said at the top of the hill. The baron was there as well with several knights behind him. He was fatter than the damn Overseer! Jesus!


    ¡°Like hell I am. You¡¯ve found your special place in my book called the hit list.¡± I spat at the dirt, and gave them a wicked smile. Lincoln and Hibe were about to piss their pants as the knights dismounted and restrained us. We were literally tied and bound by rope, saddled behind the knights as they carried us to our final parlor.


    What a coincidence that these damn knights would be here at a time like this, along with some Baron who served the king. Damnit! Baron¡¯s were a definite leap in power. ¡°Baron Roghan, I will kill you.¡± I said, smiling evilly at him from the side.


    The knight stopped. ¡°Why you impudent Quag!¡± He almost unsheathed his noble sword, but the baron stopped him. ¡°Noble Knight, please restrain yourself and pardon this fool. He clearly doesn¡¯t understand the fine line between bastard and nobility. This man is the bottom of the barrel, pay no attention to his final calls of mercy through threatening remarks. Now let us continue.¡± He said, waving his hand down upon the knight.


    The baron had a distinguishable black mustache that curled up, along with his black pony-tail that coarsed up into the air. He was bigger than the Overseer somehow. That poor horse. ¡°Y-Yes Baron. He sheathed the remainder of his sword and continued the journey to the dungeons.

 The Leader of the Quags

    Light rays bursted out and blinded me as I woke up from my overnight nap. Yes, I was comfortable enough to nap. I had already considered this as one of the best possibilities, while others might see it as the worst.


    ¡°Wake up you Quags. We¡¯re here.¡± The head knight said, as the horses stomped into a massive looking mountainside. ¡°Welcome to a hell for runaway slaves. The last departure before their execution. A literal battle arena served as execution.


    The rocky mountain side had caged slaves in it, their skin charred from the rays of the sun and some were dead. Acts of cannibalism were prevalent because it was obvious these people weren¡¯t being fed.


    ¡°Damn, my status as a slave just got worse.¡± I mumbled to myself in depression. I hadn¡¯t predicted this into my calculations, nor did I predict this.


    Status:


    Character: Tylor Justifix


    Title: Nameless ( 0 Fame )


    Rank: Slave


    Level: 0


    Strength: 0


    Vitality: 0


    Agility: 0


    Dexterity: 0


    Intelligence: 0


    Wisdom: 0


    Luck: -1


    Skills: ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯


    More than anything I was annoyed at the last line of the menu that had just up and appeared in front of my retinas. A shadow crept over me as the horses entered the mountain asylum.


    What was this strange menu? It definitely resembled a game menu from the past world that I resided in. I was a pretty big fan of games, but these stats where abhorrent to anything I¡¯d ever seen. I even had negative luck. How¡­?


    As strong as I was, my stats were a concrete zero, so it was safe to assume that this menu was an additive to what I already was in a physical form. I had a superior advantage, although I probably wouldn¡¯t need it for a long time.


    Confident in my abilities, I just took note of every minute detail as we made our way to the big cage that contained most of the runaway slaves. ¡°Here is your new home until death you Quags.¡± The knights threw us off and departed swiftly to meet back up with Baron Roghan. The baron was on his way to the noble section of the arena.


    In fact, with the light beaming in and the metal bars cascading down on the cell we were in, enough light was shining through to give us a picture of scale. The arena was huge, carved out of the mountain, there had to have been thousands of people watching this battle royale that constantly echoed on.


    A massive line of slaves were lined up toward the door. Most of them were just sitting and talking, waiting for their selection to be confirmed and their death to be verified. Assessing the situation, it wouldn¡¯t be good for Hibe and Lincoln to go out there and get killed. It would be losing progress.


    ¡°Hey guys, we need to talk.¡± I whispered to my buddies as we ventured off to the corner to depict the most methodical approach. ¡°We need to get the hell out of here!¡± Hibe responded.


    I nodded, Lincoln inputted his own reasoning, ¡°Yeah, I say we try to take a guard hostage and take his shit.¡± The blonde man said with a bolt of energy through himself.


    ¡°No you shit heads! Do you see that guard over there? Armor of a veteran warrior, chainmail and plate armor, with a long two-handed beast at his fingertips. You¡¯re out of your fucking minds! We really would be some Quags to attack someone like that barehanded. Plus they stripped us of our guard armor before throwing us in here.¡± I pointed down to my mere garments.


    They nodded, their resolve still strong but rehabilitated from that bad suggestion Lincoln made. ¡°I say our best luck is actually fighting in the arena and gaining the crowd¡¯s favor.¡± Hibe said.


    With a bit of thought, I reasoned that this might actually be my best option. Sometimes risks were just necessary to the cause. ¡°I think you¡¯re right Hibe. Let¡¯s just man up and do this shit.¡± I put my hand in the middle as a sign of agreement.


    Lincoln hesitated, ¡°I¡¯m not so quick to put my hand out after what happened to Reynolds, but I¡¯m in.¡± After agreement had been settled, we all turned back to get in the loose line and were just biding our time.


    Suddenly, a bunch of guards came through and started yelling, ¡°Alright get yer¡¯ asses up. We¡¯re having a special event for the Baron. Baron Roghan has requested we serve a mosh pit arena battle between knights and you criminals. You¡¯ll be given what you have on you to battle with. Likewise, the knights will use their personal equipment to wage war.¡± He had a subtle grin on his face as he spoke.


    The people in the cell immediately erupted in protest. ¡°Ehhhh!? Like hell we are! You¡¯re asking for us to get slaughtered out there!¡± A large brown man bolted up and pressed his finger against the guard¡¯s breastplate.


    The guard grabbed the man by the neck, even as the brown man towered over him. ¡°You fucking Quags have no right to protest in your situation. You¡¯re criminals of this land! It¡¯s only natural that you are smited for your shittyness!¡± The grip around the man¡¯s neck started to crush his windpipe, as he struggled for air. The guard managed to pick him up by one arm, and killed him instantly with his grip alone, throwing him aside.


    The men began cowering helplessly. The guard who had come in was a staple example of what we were up against, and yet we had no weapon to defend ourselves with. This was the opposite of fair play. I would wager that this is the equivalent of mandatory slaughter. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    The only chance we had was literally forming leadership under one man¡¯s command and strategizing a plan. The guard was generous enough to give us an ETA of fifteen minutes before the slaughter team deathmatch began.


    This gave me enough time to plan, and enough time to tell Lincoln and Hibe to begin explaining how we were going to retaliate in a last ditch effort. I had effectively come up with a plan that was full proof for survival.


    The fifteen minutes the guard gave were more than enough time to rally the men under my command. Tylor had an intimidating body for me to use as bravado, and my leadership was predominantly based off of what I knew from my past life and my confidence in strategy.


    Once I had the men toward me, I would give a battle speech that would even scare the guard¡¯s on duty in here. It was great to be reincarnated. It was fucking awesome. I have more power as a criminal slave runaway, than a scholar on earth. The power of the scholar so to speak.


    The men all looked toward me as Lincoln and Hibe joined my side. ¡°Men, oh my men of better stature than this! Look towards me now if you haven¡¯t already!¡± I caught the rest of the gazes and even the guard¡¯s attention. There were maybe a hundred men in this cage, all of varying size. ¡°The knights are sure to have calvary and lances. They are sure to have spiked maces and noble swords! But I propose to you this! A strategy not only to survive...but to win!¡±


    The room became as still as air. ¡°As you know, it¡¯s mostly impossible to stop a knight while unarmed, but this is not the case.¡± I said, giving them the rest of the briefing on the strategy. Of course, they were eager to agree to such a formidable plan.


    The guard came back in with his eyes closed and began to speak, ¡°Alright you Quags, your death date has arr-¡± He opened his eyes to be met with eyes of determination, organized by three young men. He saw Hibe short and stout at my left, and the tall and blonde Lincoln at my right. In the middle, with my arms crossed, I became an intimidating presence in the room. It was obvious something had changed since he had left.


    He immediately looked toward the guards who were supposed to inform him of schemery, but they were dead against the walls, and the three in front had saddled their armor and swords onto their persons.  I could only smile at this beautiful situation. He had pissed his pants!


    ¡°That¡¯s right, we killed your guards. We owe you no hospitality because you gave us none to begin with. Calling us Quags from birth and treating us like dog shit is about to bite you in the ass. Now go get your buddies before we kill you too.¡± I spat in his face.


    ¡°Why you impudent Quag!¡± He exploded, his sword came from its holster, but Lincoln grabbed his wrist and I grabbed him by the neck and raised him in the air as I choked him almost to death. ¡°Now, run along to your men before I avenge the man you killed with a smile on your face.¡± I threw him out of the cage, as he ran across the sand to the other side of the arena in absolute fear.


    The crowd of people were absolutely enraged at his cowardness, and went silent at the sight of the Quags who were calm and collected walking out of their cell. It was an absolute uproar. The persecuted Quags stood at the center of the arena, and at the forefront was none other than I, Tylor Justifix.


    Baron Roghan rose from his seat and stood almost petrified. He couldn¡¯t believe this display of foolery. He looked toward the head knight that I had just strangled and gave a thumbs down to him, signalling that he should end us. The knight nodded, putting on his knight helm and mounting his horse. He had regained some confidence behind his armor and men.


    I stood there with a surging confidence with my arms crossed. The wind was flowing through my hair, and the men behind me stood tall and bold with an arrogance that was absolutely crushing.


    The knights were saddled up and they readied themselves to begin the death parade. A hawk veered in the air, as I strode out closer to the group of knights with Lincoln and Hibe. Likewise, as a courtesy, three knights came out to greet us. Of the three knights was the head knight who I had just strangled earlier.


    ¡°Do you have any last words before I slaughter you and your militia of Quags?¡± He sneered.


    ¡°I could have a few, but they definitely wouldn¡¯t be my last. I was just coming to tell you how you¡¯re going to die, but I just changed my mind. I¡¯ll tell you while I¡¯m killing you. Yeah, some of my men are going to die, and they¡¯ve resolved themselves with that fact, but if we don¡¯t all want to be slaughtered by this clearly unfair match, sacrifices must be made. At the end of this though, you shall know my name and the Baron will be irrefutably embarrassed at this outrage. So much so, that I might even take your spot as head knight you ugly fuck.¡± I unsheathed my sword part way.


    ¡°Now, turn around back to your pussy army before I cut you down here. I don¡¯t trust that you ¡®noble¡¯ knights won¡¯t stab me in the back because I am a Quag. If you think I¡¯m bluffing, I¡¯ll strangle you again.¡± I smiled.


    The two knights looked at the head knight after a moment of silence. It was clear the head knight was intimidated and sweating under his full helm. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We should have never listened to this Quag. They are all talk and no act! Let us cut them down in the field of battle.¡± He turned his horse around before looking back at me.


    ¡°Tell me your name, and I shall tell you mine.¡± He said, as the knights returned to the party.


    ¡°I am Tylor Justifix, clear conscious and strong-willed. If you are not dead by the end of this, you shall hear my name from every corner of these lands.¡± I squinted.


    ¡°Then...Tylor. I am Sir Roland, the wise. I am a favored knight among courtiers and am of noble stature. I¡¯ll see to it you meet the grave on this day.¡± He turned and steadied himself, walking back to the group of knights.


    We returned to my hundred men. ¡°There are about twenty knights. Let us claim victory. I promise you freedom, or even refuge under my command if you live through this. I assure that today we will make history!¡± I raised my sword stolen from the guard into the air and initiated a war cry amongst the men. They screamed in a raucous tone, shaking the knights in their boots.


    Baron Roghan was clearly pissed, and wanted to finish off this display of hope torn to shreds. He gave the initial go to the knights and Quags. Raising his hands, and dropping them to commence the battle. The sound of warhorns around the colosseum powered through the air. The mountain colosseum and the people in it were in an uproar.


    The sound of calvary and men charging enthralled the men and women in the seats. A strong tide of wind carried a strange destiny on this day. Something told Baron Roghan that he was about to see something unprecedented. He was afraid of this wind of fortune, but also excitingly invigorated by the splendor of the knights and the arrogance of the Quags.

 A Battle for Freedom!

    A roaring charge of horses and the crowds enthralled state of excitement result in a blind spot that no one was expecting, except me of course. The air had victory shouting at me as I commenced the plan.


    ¡°Now!¡± I screamed, as the men dashed in front of us and kneeled over. I used their backs as a ramp and everyone followed, we jumped into the air and smashed into the knights who were charging us like bigots.


    The twenty knights were startled at this turn of events, as they tried to fight my men off and they did their best and managed to escape the grasps of a few, but I had a hundred men. With the sacrifice of a few, the men were now pulling the knights off of their horses from the ground as we saddled up in their place.


    I cut down a knight, and traded his sword for the heavier one I had been using. I began my rampage, throwing myself into the fray. The knights dispatched and made their quick getaway escape.


    In contrast to their earlier confidence, we had broken their morale. The Baron was absolutely shocked. Five horses were mounted by the enemy! Five knights had been slain! The fifteen knights were now afraid to engage us, knowing that our strategy was suicidal but effective.


    Sadly, more than twenty had perished in that time. The men who were used as ramps had died almost immediately and were lucky if they survived. Some men were immediately cut down and failed to jump over the horse¡¯s tall figure. It took a real breed of man to scale that impossible wall. The idea was incomprehensible.


    The head knight was clearly hot about this incident. Mounted men were far more dangerous than footmen. This strategy was not something just any old Quag could do. The crowds were screaming in excitement. It was rare to get an event this flavorful.


    I smiled, ¡°Hear me, people of these lands! I am Tylor Justifix, a man of higher stature than that of even royal blood! Why? Because I am favored by God!¡± My voice resonated throughout the mountain and the crowd erupted in a frenzy as my sword met the sky.


    Fame +5 - Status


    The system blared in front of me. I had just done something incredulous. I had turned the people to the side of the Quags! They were no longer cheering for the patriot blood of the land! Had these people never held a sense of nationalism? How peculiar.


    Lincoln was mounted beside me, and Hibe was on the ground, handing his sword to a man mounted on calvary. He hadn¡¯t attempted to jump the horse, as his figure was short and stout.


    The knights charged in anger at the back side of the Quag army, but met a restless defeat as Lincoln and I led the charge by decapitating two of the knights. We only assured the morale was high on our side, and low on the other side of the team.


    Strength + 1 - Status


    I was curious about my status, so I muttered the word as the men at the back now surrounded the knights, attempting to dismount them once again. ¡°Status.¡±


    Status:


    Character: Tylor Justifix


    Title: Nameless ( 5 Fame )


    Rank: Slave Leader


    Level: 0


    Strength: 1


    Vitality: 0


    Agility: 0


    Dexterity: 0


    Intelligence: 0


    Wisdom: 0


    Luck: -1


    Skills: ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯


    This system was quite nice, I had bumped my rank to Slave Leader in an instant, and I immediately felt a surge of strength bounce into my muscles from that stat boost. How powerful was this system?


    The knights had cut down twenty more men, and the slaves were starting to flee in broken morale. ¡°Shit!¡± I got preoccupied and lost my advantage. What kind of scholar would blunder like this?!


    ¡°Do not fret men! We shall swiftly take these knights to the ground!¡± I charged the backside of the knights and cut into one¡¯s backside, he heaved in pain and fell off his saddle. Another knight saw me, and turned, but was too late. Lincoln¡¯s sword had stabbed into his neck and was retrieved shortly after.


    ¡°Let us make quick work of these fodder!¡± He smiled, as the calvary united the Quags and brought morale back to normal. The knights on the other team were breathing heavily. They had ten knights left after a nameless man on a horse had cut another knight down.


    The head knight was looking at Baron Roghan for a pleading help. He didn¡¯t want to die here. What a damn coward. The Baron ignored his concern and simply looked down at the scene in disgust.


    The knights gave one more frugal charge, but we met them head on into the fray. The knights were trained soldiers! The degree of their strikes was enough to kill two men in a single strike. The footmen poured in as we fought on horseback and began disturbing the balance of the knights. They were being overwhelmed by the forty men on the ground. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Take this! I¡¯ll show you your errors you noble shits!¡± I said, cutting down two men in a flurry of strikes. ¡°Gahh!¡± They said, falling to the ground. Their weapons becoming a resource against the remainder.


    A surging wave would finish off the rest of the knights, as the head knight ran away to the other side of the arena on his horse. The crowd was booing him intensely for his cowardness. ¡°Who made him the head knight?! These Quags are more noble than this shit head!¡± The crowd started throwing shit into the arena as the Baron could only remain quiet.


    I stopped the people from engaging the head knight, as he cowered on his horse. I went to the center of the arena. ¡°People of the land, please forgive the head knight for his misdemeanor. Let us not hate him in life, but in death. I will slay him with my own two hands! Give me your strength to win!¡± I shouted, throwing my sword straight into the head of the horse the knight was mounted on. He stumbled to the ground and ran away from me.


    Dismounting my horse, I cracked my knuckles and cornered the man. He was crying under his helmet as he shifted his weight away from me. ¡°Please! Oh god please! Spare me, spare me! I beg you! I¡¯ll give you anything! What do you want? Money! I-I can get you money!¡± He shielded his face as I stepped on his chest.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want your money you fucking shit head. I want you dead.¡± I stomped on him again. The Baron suddenly raised himself from his chair with an irredeemable irritation surrounding his figure.


    ¡°Leader of the Quags, Tylor Justifix. Halt your torture and hear me if you wish to live. Spare that man¡¯s life, I wish to deal with him myself for his cowardness. If you abide by this command, I will grant you citizenship in the great kingdom of Luthric. This does not fair the same for your comrades there though. I think this deal is fair, no?¡± He smiled.


    I sent my sword through the head knight¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Baron, do you think I make half-assed deals?¡± Sir Roland squealed in pain. ¡°I will kill this man if you do not give my comrades and I citizenship. Every last one of them. I also request that I am given a portion of land in the Kingdom of Luthric. These are my terms. The land can be small, but these are the terms.¡± I boldly state.


    Baron Roghan is more than infuriated, but he couldn¡¯t afford to lose his head knight here, it would be an embarrassment to him and get him questioned by the king and his courtiers. ¡°I accept your terms. Now unhand that man!¡± He said.


    ¡°As you wish Baron.¡± I threw the man into the center of the arena and met my fellow men. The arena stunk of death as the flies began to ferment around the dead.


    ¡°I will have a man escort you to your new land. The land is the smallest and shittiest land in Luthric. Tame the swamps if you can you vermin!¡± He laughed. ¡°Now get out of my sight, your guide will be waiting outside. Leave at once!¡± He became serious.


    ¡°Alright. If any of you wish to follow me to my land you are welcome to. I promised this to you after all.¡± I smiled. The men were crying in robust tears. ¡°No, now don¡¯t cry!¡±


    They wiped themselves clean. ¡°Sir Tylor, we will follow you to the gates of hell! You are our hero! Thank you for everything! Your wish is our command!¡± The forty men knelt and Lincoln and Hibe were at the forefront of the bunch. They knelt with the other former-Quags and were humbled by this turn of events.


    ¡°Alright let us go then!¡± I laughed, as we began to walk out of the mountain arena. A status notification appeared before me.


    Fame + 5 - Status ¡°Status.¡± I whispered.


    Status:


    Character: Tylor Justifix


    Title: Nameless ( 10 Fame )


    Rank: Citizen of Luthric


    Level: 0


    Strength: 1


    Vitality: 0


    Agility: 0


    Dexterity: 0


    Intelligence: 0


    Wisdom: 0


    Luck: -1


    Skills: ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯


    ¡°Nice.¡± I mumbled. This was a perfect victory. Flawless? No not at all, my men were ravaged with cuts and bruises. Ten would probably die before we even got to my new lands. The guide was waiting outside like the Baron had assured.


    ¡°Sir Tylor, I shall guide you to your new lands now. Come with me.¡± The noble said, his blue robe signified he was just a servant advisor to the Baron in some capacity. Basically he did the dirty work for the Baron.


    I rode out with my horse, Lincoln and the other horsemen took the lead. They acted as temporary officers. Surprisingly, the other four had managed to figure out how to ride a horse instinctively. I used what knowledge I had from the past world to ride it.


    On Earth, my father had been a farmer. He had a bunch of horses, and would often take me to the horse races in town. Those were good times, and I sometimes even missed my father. He would say, ¡°Peter, when I am gone, you will always have a part of me left inside of you, and that is your knowledge!¡± He preached to me till he eventually died.


    Even to this day I think about that. I¡¯m glad I got a second chance in a world that fit my tastes though.The men would follow me to the gates of hell, and I would surely take them there. I hoped I could get these men working as builders.


    The sooner I had a base of operations, the sooner I could take shape my own kingdom and rule these lands. Right now the Kingdom of Luthric was powerful and I was powerless in comparison. Things like that often entered my mind.


    Not for long! It was a start. The guide had led us to our new land. The Baron had really abused my words, giving us a single acre of land embedded deep within thick marshy swamps. It was so wooded and humid that it was nearly impossible to live here. This was the shit lands!  ¡°Time to give it a makeover!¡±


    The land wasn¡¯t much, but it provided plenty of wood and resources. Even a source of water to eventually filter into drinkable sources of water. I would have to swiftly enact a system here and get these forty men working on this swamped area. The guide left without much notice, and I began envisioning it.


    It was finally a moment of peace. I was out of the hellish mines of slavery, and was now embedded with the hopes of everyone behind me-- a grand future!

 Potatoes, Corn, and Quests.

    ¡°Alright men, it¡¯s time to make this place grand! Here is how things will be run under my order. Lincoln and Hibe will act as officers of the land and are considered supervisors. I will be the head of this operation and you will be it¡¯s people!¡± I said.


    The men listened with intent ears, they were extremely devoted to my cause. What better way to build an empire than with the slaves who have worked since the day they were born am I right? ¡°The first order of business is to chop down this thick wooded forest within this acre of land and establish a central building for all matters. This will be a temporary shelter for everyone and serve as the command center. Now get to work men! Lincoln will stay here with you and supervise while Hibe and I go scout the surrounding area.¡± I said.


    The men immediately used what tools they had, and weapons to start working on making hatchets or went straight to cutting into the bark of the trees. The men were inspired by me and worked double speed. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised at how much production they got done by the time we were back from our journey.


    Hibe saddled one of the five horses we had taken, and got a feel for it after I showed him how to use the damn thing. He wasn¡¯t always a fast learner, but he was still pretty sensible.


    ¡°Our first order of business is to gather a large sum of food and survey the area around our land. We need to expand as soon as possible, but we have more manpower than actual resources. This is quite the crisis Hibe.¡± I looked toward my life-long friend.


    His short and stout figure glared back at me, ¡°You¡¯re correct Sir Tylor. I think we ought to go into town and buy some food until we can become self-sufficient. I borrowed a subtle amount of gear from the knights in the arena.¡± He smiled, Hibe had a large sack straddled across his back.


    ¡°Do not feel as if you have to call me Sir now. I¡¯m your friend, and your equal. Although I¡¯d prefer not to be equals in rank. I hope you understand. What is in that sack of yours? I want to know about how much money we are sitting at.¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh dear friend! You¡¯re so generous to me. In the sack of course! Of course!¡± He wiped a tear. ¡°There is knight armor and weaponry in the sack, a lot of it is premium equipment. I think we should be able to get plenty of meat with this!¡± He laughed as the horses stomped out into the open grasslands from the tree line.


    ¡°We won¡¯t be spending it on meats. We must buy plenty of crops to grow before spring passes. If we don¡¯t, this will be a hard summer! The winter even worse!¡± I sighed, and then began expressionless.


    A magnificent fortress, a castle beyond words. A castle town with a moat and acid towers. The damn thing was a literal safe! It was the Kingdom of Luthric¡¯s main city where the king resided. Why did I know this? Maybe it had something to do with this strange status thing. The game menu!


    There was no way we would ever be able to storm that castle at this stage. It was relatively nearby, so our base of operations would have to stay relatively small for now.


    After scouting all around, there were a few points of interest. On the other side of the swamp was a wooden fortress being constructed by the Baron¡¯s men, and some distance away from that was the actual Baron¡¯s castle. Apparently he needed two in the event of an emergency?


    It was also known that Baron Roghan was the staple figure in the kingdom right now. Favored by the King of Luthric, he was in the limelight for promotion to Viscount. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me.


    ¡°Let¡¯s head into town and sell all of these armor sets my friend.¡± I wagered to Hibe. I had been mindlessly thinking along the gravel path. The horses had just been going at a leisurely pace. They were valuable. The horses were very valuable to me.


    We would really need to build a horse stable soon, but for now the wooden post and some hand crafted fiber rope would have to do. We marched into the busy town, bustling with activity and laughter. Children were playing in the streets. The suburban region of the city was massive, and the castle walls had an inner wall as well with a separate moat.


    ¡°Tylor, let us scrounge the market for crops and sell these items.¡± Hibe said.


    ¡°Right.¡± I managed, looking up at the massive castle. I was in awe, after all I was a history nerd, and being able to see medieval infrastructure in its prime in any form was absolutely astounding. Peter get ahold of yourself! Peter!


    We parked our horses at a nearby station and then walked through the markets with our sum of armor and weapons. After finding the vendor who was buying armor and weapons we smiled toward the bearded man. He was in his mid-thirties and had muscles arms.


    ¡°What ya¡¯ need?¡± He said in a bumpkin accent.


    ¡°We¡¯re here to sell you these fine suits of armor and weapons. We were wondering how much you¡¯d sell them for.¡± Hibe said, speaking up and laying the sack of weapons on the counter.


    The man inspected each piece of weaponry. It had been cleaned off in the water by Hibe previously. ¡°Hmmm.¡± The vendor muttered while rubbing his chin. It was a lengthy process to the sheer amount of stuff we had to sell.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ¡°I can buy it all from you for a good price I think. Let me grab my gold and I¡¯ll see what I can give you for them.¡± He ducked under the stand and grabbed about a small sack of gold. ¡°This is twelve gold pieces. Deal or no deal?¡± He smiled.


    ¡°Question. What is the price for a single cob of corn and a single potato?¡± I asked, hoping he didn¡¯t think I was an idiot. ¡°We are travellers, I do not know the prices of this town very well.¡±


    He nodded, ¡°The price of a cob of corn and a potato are both about ten pieces of copper, or ten a silver piece.¡± He said.


    My heart stopped. Eureka! That¡¯s twelve-thousand corn cobs! Enough to feed a damn army. ¡°We¡¯ll ta-¡± Hibe cut me off. ¡°We won¡¯t take any less than twenty gold pieces for this. This is exquisite armor and weaponry! You could triple your profit with twenty gold pieces easily. Twenty or nothing.¡± Hibe bargained.


    Hibe had always been like this. To make up for his lack of physical prowess, he definitely was a great steward. The vendor bit his tongue. ¡°Tcch. Deal, you got me there. Twenty gold pieces it is.¡± He grabbed out eight more gold pieces from his stash and put them in the bag and handed them to me.


    ¡°Thank you for the business.¡± I smiled.


    ¡°So, about the purchase of all this food Hibe. Do you wager we should buy a wagon?¡± I walked down the streets toward where I saw they were selling wagons.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s advisable. We need a lot of food for the forty men working hard back home. If the Baron finds out we¡¯re building our own fortress in the woods, he¡¯ll definitely attack us.¡± Hibe said.


    ¡°Yeah, I agree.¡± We bought a rugged wagon for one gold piece and a bunch of sacks of potatoes for six gold pieces. We then bought enough corn worth the value of seven gold pieces, bringing us down to six gold pieces. Then we bought the front piece to connect with horses to make a sort of carriage. We were left with five gold pieces at the end of the day.


    The sun had rose one more time by we had saddled up and headed back to the swamp where the single acre of land I owned was being worked on. I was eager to see how much had been done back home.


    Forty men cutting at full speed for an entire night and morning, I¡¯m sure they were tired. We arrived, and sped past the tree line deeper into the forest where our home was.


    I was a realist though, I didn¡¯t expect them to have built anything in that amount of time. It normally takes six months back on Earth, so I would be grateful if they¡¯d finished cutting at best.


    I was surprised that the men were still working when I got back. They had cleared out an area to work with and lounge around. Some men were still pulling out stumps while others rested.


    The others were working on building a slanted shelter to rest under and away from the weather. It was simply humid, I could tell the men were tired and needed rest.


    ¡°Men, for your hard work I have brought you corn to eat and replenish your strength. I will see to it that you are well rested! Second, every man can have three cobs a day, but ten sacks have been designated for farm work, so be careful about your rations. I also have potatoes that need to be planted soon before they rot. I want twenty of you working on that and twenty of you working here on the main site. Understood?¡± I commanded.


    ¡°Yes sir!¡± They said in unison, and lined up for their daily three cobs of corn. The sun was now setting again and the men finished up the building in time to get some rest under it. Not all of them could fit, so others had built personal huts for the time being and some just rested on some leaves. The slaves felt free for the first time in their lives. This was paradise for them, and the conditions they were completely use to.


    I was shocked when I saw a wooden hut constructed out of poles, twigs, vines, and leaves constructed for me. It was for the three officers?! I had been impressed with the work ethic of the men, but the fact they put aside time to build somewhere to sleep for me, Hibe, and Lincoln was beyond belief. I was astounded.


    Biting into the corn, I realized it wasn¡¯t the tastiest thing in the world, and Earth was full of rich flavor. I would definitely have to turn some of these men into chefs because this was just too disgusting for me! I was a scholar, not a peasant. Well..I kind of was.


    After tying the horses around their polls and feeding them some food, I walked into my nicely constructed house. Although it was temporary, I felt safe in here. It even had a detachable twig and fiber door that was great for privacy sake. My men were strong and fast workers it seemed!


    Still wide awake and needing to calm down from my nerdy-scholar personality, I whispered status.


    Status:


    Character: Tylor Justifix


    Title: Nameless ( 10 Fame )


    Rank: Citizen of Luthric


    Level: 0


    Strength: 1


    Vitality: 0


    Agility: 0


    Dexterity: 0


    Intelligence: 0


    Wisdom: 0


    Luck: -1


    Skills: ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯


    I calmly asserted the situation, I wasn¡¯t presently worried about anything on here besides my level. I was curious as to know what qualifies as experience and as an additive to my level. As of now, I hadn¡¯t leveled up after all I had done.


    It just didn¡¯t add up to me. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better if I had a game manual or a quest line?¡± I muttered in defeat.


    Suddenly a menu popped up and scared the living shits out of me. I almost squealed and woke up the crowd with that one.


    Quests: ¡°Tylor Justifix¡±


    -Become a Lord of the Land. EXP 300,000


    -Defeat Baron Roghan. EXP 500,000


    -Become King of Luthric. EXP 1,000,000


    What the fuck were these quest lines?! The experience was incredibly high to give out, but the difficulty of the quests were nearly damn impossible for years! Whoever designed this system was a total asshole.

 The Intel Campaign

    I woke up with an itchy tingling sensation permeating my skin. The manifolds of my skin were absolutely on fire! Fluttering my eyes open to the brightly shining sun in my face and an ungodly amount of ants running along my skin, I pounced to my feet.


    ¡°Shit--fuck!¡± Flinging the ants from my arm in a desperate attempt to free myself from the shackles of that irritable sensation. This isn¡¯t good enough. My humbleness had long since passed, and the ants had sent me over the edge of complacency.


    I had barely slept in the night from bugs crawling over me, to winds jarring my skin into spikey goosebumps. Removing the fiber hatch on my hut, I readjusted my facial expression to satisfy the men working hard this morning.


    A blonde-headed man approached me with a bulleted list of things to be done. It was none other than Lincoln. ¡°Sir Tylor, I presume you¡¯ve rested well enough?¡±


    I masked the evident bumps on my right arm as I spoke in a joyful tone to one of my right hands. ¡°Yes, of course. Is there something you wished to discuss with me?¡± I asked him as we walked up a hill to get a bird¡¯s eye view of the place.


    ¡°Yes sir, in fact...well.¡± He muttered over his words a little, looking away with a docile posture to his physique. ¡°Out with it.¡± I commanded him.


    ¡°Well...the men have made it clear to me that they are entirely grateful to you for what you¡¯ve done, but not all of them share the same passion to stay here and work in these unfathomable conditions.¡± He said.


    ¡°I see. I can understand their perspective after living a life of labor without pay. How many have requested to leave?¡±


    ¡°They said they felt forced to return the favor somehow, but after some time they¡¯ve seem to have grown complacent with this idea. We had thirty-nine men working here on the land, but thirteen are requesting leave. We expect it to be sixteen by the afternoon.¡± Lincoln said.


    ¡°Grant them their wish. I will not force anyone to work for me.¡±


    ¡°Y-Yes sir. I will tell them right away.¡± Lincoln stretched, and made his descent down the hill to give the news to the laboring men. From my point of view, the men were overjoyed with stapled smiles from Lincoln¡¯s words.


    The fifteen or sixteen men left in packs. I was glad they left. The acre had been too crowded and felt like an indomitable cesspool with all of that shit and piss lying around in the area. A few of the men had actually been working on a trail that led to a bathroom they had been working on.


    There were so many projects underway that there just wasn¡¯t enough time to build all of the necessities to live. Rubbing my chin, I pondered on what my next move should be. Nothing would come to fruition just by watching the place idly grow. I was confident that Lincoln and Hibe could take over the reigns during my departure.


    Then it hit me like lightning crashing down to the earth, or a seismic wave crashing against the shore. The idea was so brilliant that I even gained a stat while brainstorming.


    Intelligence +1 - Status


    ¡°The status screen held the answer the entire time I suppose.¡± I muttered to myself, and the status screen would naturally impose itself upon me.


    Status:


    Character: Tylor Justifix


    Title: Nameless ( 10 Fame )


    Rank: Citizen of Luthric


    Level: 0


    Strength: 1


    Vitality: 0


    Agility: 0


    Dexterity: 0


    Intelligence: 1


    Wisdom: 0


    Luck: -1


    Skills: ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯


    The ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯ skill was still predominantly the most irritating thing about this whole reincarnation thing, but I was a citizen of Luthric--this was the answer I had been searching for!


    Citizens can join the army and serve time as soldiers. This will not only grant me experience, but if I have enough success...I could even begin to infiltrate Luthric from the inside!


    Historically, when royal bloodlines fell short, military leaders would take authority of the nation. If traced back far enough, all royalty is somehow connected to some valiant warrior of the past in some kind of form.


    Which doesn¡¯t necessarily point to anything on the surface, but a commander of men has more political vying power than a peasant on his humble acre of land. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    I had decided, I was going to sign up for the draft in Luthric. This was an intelligence mission to understand this world, and also a stepping stone in my journey to become the almighty ruler of the land.


    I made my steady descent down the hill and searched for Hibe or Lincoln. ¡°Hey, have you seen Sir Hibe or Sir Lincoln my good sir?¡± I asked the muscular man in his thirties who was cutting at a tree with a sharpened stone.


    He turned to face me, ¡°Oh--good Sir Tylor! He bowed and then raised his head, ¡°Yes, I saw Hibe gathering water to cook down in the swamps just a bit earlier, he should be back any moment.¡±


    True to his word, Hibe came hiking up the hill with water sludging around in a makeshift pot. He saw me and put the pot down beside the hut. ¡°What is it Tylor? Your eyes seem to be wanting something.¡± Hibe said.


    ¡°I was coming to tell you my farewells. It has come to my attention that I do not yet know much about this world, and to do so I must join the enemies ranks and verify power and experience to myself before endeavoring further. I trust that you will manage things here comfortably upon my return?¡±


    ¡°Th-think about this carefully before you go doing something you¡¯ll regret Tylor!¡± He put his hands on my shoulders, ¡°We barely managed to slip past the doors, and skimmed with our lives in the arena by sacrificing others! Why can¡¯t we just live the simple life here?!¡± His voice was unsteady.


    ¡°Calm yourself man! You¡¯re making a spectacle! Look-- I know it seems like a dangerous endeavor and it is! But I¡¯m going to need you to trust me! This is for the sake of all of us here. I¡¯m entrusting this estate to you and Lincoln. When I return I will tell you of what¡¯s happened in my journey. So long friend, and may the gods be with you.¡± I brought him closer and hugged him tightly.


    The men had surrounded us and were listening in on the spectacle that was made of the moment. ¡°I will return. That I promise!¡± I confidently strode out from the pastures of my beginnings and sought out for intel of the world I was now in.


    It was time to take things to the next level in my pursuit of glory and gold. The horses were tied down right where I had left them. I untied the one that I had been riding this entire time. He was my obvious favorite, the one I trusted most. ¡°I¡¯ll name you Frank.¡± Frank was my father¡¯s name. I guess I still had heart strings connected to the past world. It was a strange thing, living in the body of another man in a different world.


    Saddled up and stomping across the trailed path to the capital was a mindless task that presented itself to me. I would blankly stare into the horizon as I tarried there. The sun set as I made my way into town. Looking down on a man in uniform from my horse, ¡°Where can I find the military draft? I wish to enlist.¡±


    The man was caught off guard by my enthusiasm. Not many men who owned a horse would ever enlist in an army, but I was the apart of the select few that broke down percentages into smaller ratios.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a few meters down that way. You¡¯ll find what you''re looking for easily. There is a line of people ready to enlist and a booth of army soldiers signing people up. From what I¡¯ve been told, a campaign is coming up to invade the Western Creed.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for your help good sir. I find your help most admirable.¡± I said, praising the man. He nodded in agreement. What a smug fellow after all. I smiled, making my way down to the booth.


    The booth was like the man had said, but on a bigger and more unprecedented scale than I had imagined. Lines from all four directions coveted the hub of the suburbs, and men were signing people up in ink for the campaign. Everyone had to get their pay and glory somehow. It seemed the Kingdom of Luthric was rather patriotic after all.


    I veered my horse off to the side, and wrapped the rope around a pole. I didn¡¯t want my horse just wandering off to wherever it felt like. After all, I had just named him after my father. ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere now Frank.¡± I patted his head, rubbing his hair before leaving to get in line.


    The line would slowly diminish and build behind me as time passed. Before I had realized it, I was close to the front. The man in a blue and white tunic had a stern looking face, with a red scar lining across his face.


    ¡°Well, what¡¯s your name? You¡¯re here to sign up for the draft I presume.¡± The man said.


    ¡°O-oh yes. I¡¯m Tylor Justifix. I¡¯m here to sign up for whatever is available. Thank you.¡± I said in a polished tone of politeness to the man who was obviously ready to go home.


    ¡°Alright, I have you down. You¡¯ll be assigned to the eighth infantry division under the command of General Lancaster. Got that?¡± He looked up at me.


    ¡°Yes, I will remember. When do we ship out, and is there a barracks I¡¯m suppose to stay at?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We leave tomorrow morning. I recommend you find the eighth division camp before the end of nightfall. They should be a bit west of here outside of town. The main army is in formation there.¡± He gave a good explanation.


    ¡°Alright thank you again.¡± I responded. The man was very helpful. I found my division right outside of the capital like he said. I was surprised I hadn¡¯t saw it coming in, but I guess that was because I was zoned out.


    The army camp was full of laughter and talk. It was obvious some were used to this, while others stood around uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. It wasn¡¯t until General Lancaster and his guard came on horseback to give the briefing that people grasped the situation.


    ¡°Men of the eighth division, you know very well how I run this line of the army. Live and win, die and lose. That is our motto. For you newcomers, find yourself an officer who will accommodate you into their squad. We leave at dawn--that is all. Dismissed.¡± General Lancaster said in his full armor as he waddled off on his horse with his guard.


    With all loose ends taken care of. It was all just about calming my nerves now. I gave Frank to a horse-tender, along with my last gold pieces. He told me he¡¯d take care of Frank until I got back, so that soothes my soul a bit.


    I¡¯m just worried. I¡¯ve faced all sorts of endeavors up until this point, but the human part of me from earth was really speaking to me tonight under the starry sky. ¡°Watch over me dad.¡± I whispered, clenching my fists.

 Chapter 7: The Three Kingdoms

    I sat in the cold of the night, the army was full of chatter and the sky had a glee to it that sparkled under the moonlight. The sound of crickets manifested from the nearby forest and an occasional wolf howl could be heard. There were tents set up in a perpendicular fashion that signified the main campfire in the middle was the center of the camp itself.


    Grotesque and masculine men ate at their rations while laughing at jokes and harmless horseplay. A few of the men were reserved like myself, with a million thoughts running through their minds. I was the same as them. Although I had pulled off marvelous feats in such a short span of time, it all had felt like a game until now. I had incredibly usurped the Overseer and made a lucky escape from the Slavopolis society. There was so much left behind there that I didn¡¯t want to ever experience again. Tylor¡¯s memories alone were enough to run me off.


    The brutal beatings of the children for collapsing and the forced intercourse between slave noblemen, sent electric shock up my spine. It gave me goosebumps to think about where Hibe and I had came from. That sandstone underground pit, full of dust and sweaty manual labor. The working conditions were so bad that life expectancy wasn¡¯t any higher than thirty for a slave.


    The Slavopolis city itself had never been a great sight in itself. It was like a desert town with magical bearing to light the dark caverns. The caverns that had been mined out by sweat and blood, not by the men above ground in Luthric, nor the noblemen. It was the slaves who engaged that task head on because they were forced to. A hundred years of history, those dark years of Tylors life--my life, were an indisputable and inhospitable hell.


    I had begun to cherish my life for what it was. Real. A somber thought ran through my mind, what if the men back home were dead when I got back. What if I were to die? Would Lincoln and Hibe miss me? I began to think about that timid but bold blondie, and that short and stout Hibe. They made me smile. If it weren¡¯t for the slaves sacrifice back at the mountain colosseum, that ugly Baron would have won again!


    Baron Roghan, a nasty fellow. At least three-hundred pounds, and five¡¯ five, he was the epitome of slob. The man had a mustache that curled upwards like he was some cartoon character back on Earth. I could just imagine that man twisting his whiskers like the wretched cat he is. His yellow tinted eyes and blonde hair were a staple to his distinguishable look. He looked to be in his mid-forties.


    These anxious thoughts pestered my mind relentlessly, I decided it was time to stop thinking about such unambiguous thoughts and find an officer who would take me up in his squad. Surely Tylor¡¯s muscled figure would be a selling point to any officer right? I walked along the dirt path that had been formed by many feet. A few pebbles crunched under my feet as the air bristled on my skin. The breeze was calming and reassuring, but carried the fortune of death amidst its direction.


    A few men sitting at a campfire some ways off from the main camp were talking and laughing. The officer was notable by his blue tunic with white buttons. The officer had red hair and was relatively young. He had the face of an adventurer, but it spoke charisma. For some reason, out of all the officers, this red-haired fellow was the most approachable of the bunch.


    ¡°--And then I said...fuck me silly you ugly bastard!¡± His voice came into perspective and the group immediately bursted out into laughter. A large framed man with brown hair and a buzzcut was laughing more than the rest. He was super muscular! Like even more than me. He wore a white t-shirt and green pants. Which was a strange fashion for the times, but I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there were magical tailors in the area who specialized in the skill.


    That brought me to another question. Where could I learn magic? It seemed to be one of the more important things in this world that should be addressed early on. Yet, I guess I fared at a disadvantage, being reincarnated into a slave¡¯s body and all. I shrugged off the bad thoughts and walked closer to the group before noticing a boy younger than the red-haired officer. He had lush blue hair and blue eyes to fit the color of the sea itself. He was rather tall, being the tallest in the group while also being the slimmest. He had a large silver sword strapped to his back. The other men had swords strapped to their sides, but this man was a monster looking individual in comparison. How could such a warrior be so young!?


    ¡°And then he said--¡± The officer immediately cut off his joke when he saw me. The man in the white t-shirt and green pants hissed, ¡°Hey! What happened to the story? This is my favorite one and you cut off at the best part! Gahhh! Damnit.¡± He glanced over to where the officer had landed his attention. ¡°Oh¡­¡± He said, now fully understanding the situation. I suddenly felt very out of place when the group of five looked at me.


    The other two were less interesting figures to me. One had grey hair and seemed rather bland, the other had white hair and hardly had a presence. The two of them were a pair, like a ghost that had seeped into the area without any notice and was ready to haunt me into pissing myself. I¡¯m a scholar, not a hardened warrior!


    ¡°Well--hello there! Take a seat with us why don¡¯t you? Tell us your name, and I¡¯ll tell you mine.¡± He motioned that I should sit over at the empty seat where a space was open on the cut log. The fire was warm and permeated my skin into a brisk shower from the cold and fervent wind. I sat down and tried to make myself as comfortable as possible with the five of them staring me down with hawk-eyes.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°I¡¯m Tylor Justifix, and you guys are?¡± I asked. The officer nodded. ¡°Well, I¡¯m Roger, you can call me Officer Roger if you like. The guy sitting beside you there with the big ass sword is Ferdinand, and this buzzcut muscle-boy beside me is Griffin.¡± He said with a pretty big smile. Griffin waved at me, and Ferdinand crushed me with his gigantic hand as he gave me the awkwardest side hug I¡¯ve ever experienced. Was this a courtesy hug in this world--or was he just weird?


    ¡°You forgot to mention who these two were that were kind of just sitting in the corner over there. Silent as possible. What are your names?¡± I asked them directly. The white-haired boy simply disappeared from sight and the gray-headed boy hid behind the log, staring at me with contempt eyes. It was obvious I had set them off in some capacity. ¡°--Oh¡­you need not speak to them or even mention them. The one staring at you now is Evan, and the other one who ran off we call Ghost. They like to keep their anonymity, especially Ghost.¡± Officer Roger said.


    ¡°Well...with all of the introductions out of the way, I suppose you¡¯re wanting to join my squad?¡± Roger asked. He was confident in his tone, while the other two were just biding their time. Ghost slowly encroached back onto the campsite. I assumed he suffered from some debilitating anxiety. Why he chose this field of work I would never know though. Now, how should I respond to Officer Roger without giving him control? Ehh, guess it doesn¡¯t matter that much right now.


    ¡°Yeah, if you¡¯ll have me I¡¯d like to join your squad. I¡¯m new to the army, and especially new to General Lancaster¡¯s techniques. To be totally honest with you, up until a few days ago I¡¯ve been a slave my entire life. I don¡¯t know anything about these lands or the people I¡¯m now fighting for. I was hoping this campaign would return me with life and knowledge.¡± Shit, I said more than I had planned on saying! I gave them all of the playing cards anyway! Great thinking Tylor, now you¡¯ve really done yourself a favor.


    ¡°Oh!¡± Roger almost gasped in shock, it was such a rare occurence to see a slave on the surface. ¡°Are you a citizen now?¡± He asked me hastily.


    ¡°Yeah I am.¡± I responded with a short reply, blushing internally at my blunder. He was sure to send me away knowing now of my status in the past. What a fool I am!


    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll give you some info on how things are above ground then. This nearby land is divided into three kingdoms. The Kingdom of Luthric, The Western Creed, and The Far Coast. These kingdoms are equal in power and constantly wage war against each other. It¡¯s been like this for hundreds of years. As for what¡¯s beyond the three kingdoms, I couldn¡¯t tell you. They say big things.¡± Roger spoke of the land, and it sent chills up my spine even against the warm fire.


    How could such a land exist? How large were these lands that even Roger didn¡¯t know what was outside of the three kingdoms? I simply had to know more! This was an intense throttle of information that activated my nerd-mode. ¡°Wait, how come you don¡¯t know? Is the land really that big?¡± I asked.


    He laughed, his red hair was shining from the light descending down from the moon. ¡°No, but the lands are quite normal. I don¡¯t know what you consider large, but the magic-astrologist predict that Quigtar is about four hundred million square miles in size. Oh Quigtar is the name of the planet! I forgot you were a slave. Oh do you even know of space, well space is--¡± He began to explain space.


    I was dumbfounded. Four hundred million square miles is huge! Absolutely colossal, and nearly double that of the Earth! What a damn planet, and the fact that there were magic-casters who could calculate this stuff with magic alone was phenomenal. How could something such as this exist? I wanted to learn magic too--shit!


    ¡°I see, so once again, how come you don¡¯t know what¡¯s outside the three kingdoms? I would really like to know what reason could cause you--an officer to lack information on other powers in the land.¡± I stated. I had a sneaky suspicion that made me hot on my buttcheeks! I knew there had to be a specific reason, and it had to do with my ears, I just knew it. My ears had been popping since I was reincarnated.


    ¡°If I¡¯m being totally honest, it¡¯s because we¡¯re on the largest plane of Quigtar, The God Mountain. It¡¯s a plateau so high that the air here is harder to breathe, that¡¯s why they¡¯ve been tunneling the mountain out, for resources and to accommodate as much air as possible. A foreseeable stairway down from the plains of God himself. The God Mountain is twenty miles tall.¡± Roger said in a low tone.


    ¡°Then how are we even able to breathe, and how did people even get up here in the first place?!¡± I was infuriated, as I stood up without realizing it. The group was uneasy about my enthusiasm about The God Mountain. To them, it was unimportant and useless information. They had no aspiration beyond the mountain in question. It was just too big of a plane to leave.


    ¡°Calm yourself Tylor, I will answer what I can.¡± He waved his hand down, as a gesture for me to calm myself and put Ghost and Evan at ease. ¡°Look, I can¡¯t answer your second question, I¡¯m not a historian on the matter, your answers likely are outside of The God Mountain, but the first question I can answer. Anything is possible with the realms of magic. Strange, large pillars that ascend twenty miles in the sky, are at each end of the plateau. No one here really knows where they originated from, but are believed to be the source of air. A forcefield of air maintained by the pillars. I¡¯m sure you saw objects contain magic in Slavopolis.¡± Roger explained in a rather lengthy monologue.


    ¡°Well...damn, you¡¯ve really laid it down on me tonight. Thanks for the info, but I don¡¯t think I can take anymore info dumps, or I might just throw it up.¡± I held my stomach, trying not to get sick by the thought of being twenty miles in the damn air. That¡¯s unproportionally high for a planet this large. The gravity should have flattened out such a high mountain, but some strange prediction led me to believe that it was the work of a third party to make such a feat possible.


    ¡°Give me a minute, I need to go take a piss. Don¡¯t ditch me while I¡¯m gone kay¡¯?¡± I told the group. ¡°You got it mah man!¡± Griffin gave me a cheering thumbs up as I went to go gather my thoughts in the woods. They continued their talking when I left. ¡°Damn...that was a lot of information to take in. I need to try and retain it all!¡± I threw my hand against my face when I heard a distinct crunch of a twig to my right.

 Alice Andreo & The Campaign Begins!

    A snap of a twig had startled me, I looked to the right to be glorified with the image of feminine black hair running down behind the person now staring at me. She had solid blue eyes and pale skin, covered head to toe in some armored garment. The color was red and blue, which shined iridescently in the night. It seemed she had been caught, and had a sliver of a blush swept across her face as she distinctly avoided my eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I can clearly see you there. There isn¡¯t any point in acting as if I can¡¯t.¡± I told her outright. She kind of just rubbed her arm trying to think of something to say, but she was pretty silent. Her lips opened as if she were going to say something, but they abruptly closed to signify she was hesitant and didn¡¯t really want to conversate that much. I was at a loss for words. ¡°Speak up, damn.¡± I said.


    She hesitated, but managed a voice. ¡°I am new here. I don¡¯t have a squad...are you an officer?¡± She looked up toward me with a sliver of hope vibrating from her eyes. It was clear she was anxious about talking to people in any form. She took a step back because she immediately lost her confidence in talking to me.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not an officer, but I can take you to mine. We¡¯re pretty nice, and I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯d fit right in with Ghost and Evan¡­¡± I said, visualizing that perfect trio like a bunch of docile cats waiting for their food. I missed my cats. Before getting too far off track I continued, ¡°Oh--by the way, I¡¯m Tylor. What¡¯s your name miss?¡± I tried to be prim and proper, but I still failed to understand what was considered common etiquette in Quigtar.


    ¡°O-oh...I¡¯m Alice. Alice Andreo.¡± She said in this feminine voice. She was kind of cute, not gonna lie. But I don¡¯t do relationships, this story was about my rise to fucking power baby! My greedy grin surmounted in the night sky, making Alice more frigid and afraid by the second. She tucked herself behind a tree, looking out at me. ¡°A-Are you okay?!¡± She practically yelled.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. Follow me, and I¡¯ll take you back to camp where my squad is. They are pretty nice men. Unfortunately there aren¡¯t any women in the group, but I¡¯m sure Officer Roger will welcome you just the same.¡± I explained with a brief smile on my face. Alice became calm, her uptight posture loosened a bit as she left the tree. She stood in place eight feet behind me with her hands clasped together in front of herself. ¡°Uhh? You gonna follow me or¡­?¡± I turned back to her.


    ¡°Y-Yes!¡± She said, moving only a foot closer and blushing heavily with redness. It was clear this was her borderline limit. The urge to scramble away was strong on her face, as her tension returned to her shoulders.


    ¡°Alright, you¡¯re fine there. Take as much space as you need Alice.¡± I tried to remain understanding as I shifted my weight from the forest floor back to the clearing where the main campsite was. I decided to just head straight for the camp, instead of taking the long route. This resulted in various awkward interactions as we crossed other people¡¯s camps. I could tell Alice was shivering like a mouse behind me.


    How could a girl be so docile? That was strange to me. I often wondered what kind of woman I would marry, but I became so invested in knowledge back on Earth that I completely forgot about marital things and love lifes. Looking back on it now, being fixated on knowledge was a mistake and a good decision. It was a good decision for today. I heaved in relaxation as we reached the campsite.


    Officer Roger and the men were just chatting as usual. It was pretty obvious they were getting ready for bed. The night would be short otherwise, and the journey long and harsh. We moved out at sunrise, so it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if we even skipped sleep due to battle. Ghost and Evan were the first to make note of our appearance, they became tense and hid behind the log. Ghost was especially hidden. What a damn ninja!


    Roger glanced up from the fire and looked at me, then Alice. ¡°Who is this young girl you¡¯ve brought to us Tylor?¡± Roger smiled. He was trying to make Alice a bit more at home. ¡°Well this is Alice Andreo, she¡¯s a bit timid and shy but--¡± My explanation was immediately cut off by loud screaming. Alice began hell-hurdling from the pits of gaia itself as she short-circuited. She began throwing the logs up and tossing the men around with ease. Her barbaric actions were so unexpected that I lost color in my face, my jaw hanging ajar just a bit as I watched her turn into a damn bull.


    Griffin and Ferdinand tried to subdue her, but she tossed them into the air like handkerchiefs. ¡°I¡¯m not SHYYYY!!!¡± All of her built up stress turned into a call upon the gods themselves. She breathed heavily as Griffin rubbed his head, while Ferdinand was helping Roger up. Ghost and Evan were ten miles out of sight. It seems Alice had probably destroyed her chances at joining the group. Roger had a face of contempt, but soon replaced it with one of understanding. ¡°I understand Alice. You aren¡¯t shy!¡± He smiled, gesturing her to sit down.


    Alice immediately switched modes back into her timid ways, her face became blush and her eyes dilated as she glared at Roger. ¡°R-Really? Ahh--that¡¯s good.¡± Moments later, the group was back together and Alice was resting her head on Roger¡¯s shoulder like a cat oddly satisfied with its owner. She would occasionally glance at me and give me this shit-eating look. Her face had evil all about its nature, as she showed hostility towards me and hospitality to Roger.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Damn you! I brought you here, how was I supposed to know you had a rage word?! This is betrayal! I said to myself, cringe besetting my heart as I drowned in my virginal sorrows. I guess this really is a story about me not getting the girl¡­ My mind wandered back toward the four pillars. I like to refer to them as the God Pillars. It was a befitting name of pillars that held the foundations of The God Mountain.


    ¡°Say, Roger. If the three kingdoms are all equal in strength, how come they don¡¯t just merge into one nation?¡± I asked him. If geography held true, then the nature of the cultures shouldn¡¯t be so immediately different to procreate hostility between the three kingdoms. It made sense in one fashion, but I was open to his explanation of why it was as it was.


    Roger patted the sleeping Alice¡¯s hair as she laid softly on his shoulder. Damnit, they were shipping too fast--or maybe Alice was just a human-cat? ¡°Ahh. That¡¯s actually a good question Tylor. The three kingdoms are vastly different in culture. Explaining each one is kind of hard, but I¡¯ll do my best to provide a decent answer to satisfy your curiosity.¡± He said.


    ¡°First, the Kingdom of Luthric. In actuality, it¡¯s the weakest power of the three. For years they¡¯ve been on equal footing, but Luthric has had certain circumstances lead it into a corner. Our power is a third of what it used to be, only time can tell when the other two nations will discover this secret.¡± He said.


    ¡°Ahh, I see. Now why is The Far Coast, called such a name if it¡¯s on a mountain?¡± I returned the question to Officer Roger, the young but seasoned warrior. He was more than happy to answer any question I had, so taking this opportunity was more than profitable for me.


    ¡°The Far Coast started out as a cultist group to see the ground world, but the ground world was just too far. By the time they made this realization, they were already a major power in The God Mountain. They are the strangest of the three kingdoms and have beliefs far different from the conserving Luthric.¡± He explained.


    ¡°So what about the Western Creed? What makes it substantially different from Luthric in any sense?¡± I asked. I knew I had to have been getting on his nerves, but this was the last question I had to ask him before sleep ensued.


    ¡°Ahh--The Western Creed. They are the heads of the Mountain Council, and decide when the three kingdoms should meet and discuss the events and politics of the mountain top. They created the centerlands, a land owned by all three. It¡¯s a completely neutral zone, a treaty of sorts. That is where they agreed upon creating the massive project Slavopolis. Although it was called Project Ground at the time.¡± He said.


    ¡°Wait! That¡¯s super cool. Tell me more about these centerlands, and Project Ground!¡± I blurted out in excitement. There was nothing more thrilling than these info dumps, even though I knew I was barely scratching the surface. It was obvious that the man was giving me the sparknotes version.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to tell you another time Tylor. I think it is best we get some sleep and rest for the coming days. This campaign against The Western Creed will not be an easy one. I suggest you rest plenty.¡± Officer Roger said. He was completely right. I was just a new recruit. A bare-bones recruit at that.


    General Lancaster was sure to come in at dawn and tell us to get our asses into gear. The only problem was sleep. I was so used to a soft bed, sleeping on the ground was catastrophic and impossible. Griffin came up to me before heading into the tent to rest, ¡°If you hadn¡¯t brought that girl with you, you could have slept in the tent with the rest of us. Roger didn¡¯t want to leave her out in the cold, so she¡¯s sleeping with him for the night.¡± Griffin told me as he walked off into the other tent.


    ¡°Damnit all to hell!¡± I whispered to myself in frustration as a tear ran down my cheek. How could I have blundered so hard?! I would never sleep at this rate. I even considered sneaking inside and throwing that damn wretched girl outside. She had been the root of all my problems. The bane of my existence! My achilles heel. I felt like Julius Caesar, devoid of all life and dead on the cold floor, murdered by my own men.


    My mind was still racing. The thought of Lincoln and Hibe entered my mind time after time again, I just prayed they were okay. If anything, Baron Roghan was my biggest obstacle at the moment. He was always somehow getting in my way of world domination. His head had to go first, and that was just the truth.


    Dawn would quickly rise as the horns shouted from every corner of the camp, and General Lancaster stood at its center, mounted on his horse with his shining armor. He looked like your generic hero, blonde hair and a beautiful face with blue eyes. He was in silver full-metal armor. Which looked heavy as hell to wear, but a general had to be strong I guess.


    ¡°Men, we move out now! I¡¯ve assigned the commanders to your squads! There should be ten officers under one commander! Is that understood?! We begin our march now! Keep up with the cavalry the best you can, or die in a pit.¡± The general shouted. He was not one to mess around with, you¡¯d lose your head!


    Our commander came up to the officers in line. An army of men stood behind the officers. ¡°I¡¯m Commander Kyle, you¡¯ll be directed by me. Follow my orders to the tee. Is that understood?¡± He said, his large figure towered above us all. Frankly he looked like a war god, or maybe the God of War himself. Kratos is that you?! Well, he was bald and had war paint, so that¡¯s enough for me now--Commander Kratos. I smiled internally.


    The officers saluted him and acknowledged he was their superior, and the campaign had officially begun. Camp had been packed up and the men were now moving out in an endless line of walking. We walked in a steady direction, the boiling sun bearing down on us. ¡°Shit--I hate hot weather¡­¡± I mumbled.

 Lancasters Might! The Dragon from Hell!

    The blaringly hot sun scorched us into ashes, some men had even stopped short of the journey. They were left behind, a mere casualty of war attrition. If you were too weak to keep moving, Commander Kyle wouldn¡¯t even turn his head to accommodate you. That was just simply a fact. Sweat drenched my garments, I had a basic sword issued to me by the army. I was a mere footsoldier, serving little purpose rather than being fodder for the elite warriors to use as cushion.


    Did it anger me? Sort of, but this was the way of the times, and for Quigtar, things were even more abstract. The God Mountain, and the God Pillars as I liked to call them, were absolutely fascinating in theory. My intuition told me that everyone from my squad wouldn¡¯t live through this endeavor, actually the odds were higher that we would all perish.


    I held my hands tightly into balled fists as I rode on the ecstatic wave of eagerness and the anxious surge of doubt besetting my demeanor. I was a hot mess, just like the rest of the squad. The only person who was even keeping his cool was Officer Roger, and it was because he was already an experienced warrior, fighting these campaigns. I didn¡¯t even know why we were fighting The Western Creed. I just knew we were.


    Apparently our mission was to siege the fortress of Galbahk, a fortress that was near the border of Luthric, but also was a strategic position for the Creed. It was a vital choke point in conclusion. A powerful wind gave me the chills. The sound of warhorns aired nearly a day after our march. We had camped earlier and rested, but the sound of warhorns brought my heart to a race, my palms worked themselves into a sweat.


    General Lancaster stood at the forefront of the army, with each commander ordering the men into rectangular units. ¡°Get in line!¡± They would scream at the top of their lungs. We had been put off guard by the warhorns. The horns were not ours, so it only could mean it was the enemy. We had been ambushed in some capacity and all we could do is prepare for it. A cloud of dust rose in the air as a calvary line could clearly be distinguished at its tip.


    The men did not look determined, instead they seemed to be running for their lives. Western Creed Knights were routing and dispersing from the sandwiched hills. They wouldn¡¯t even attempt to fight, dropping their weapons as they surged for protection behind the Luthric army. The men were quick to detain them, but in exchange, our guards were lowered at the approaching anomaly.


    A fiery hot red flushed out the dust as parallel wings flapped into the air with a massive roar. A purple-scaled dragon. The beast was larger than anything I could have ever imagined in fiction novels. I concentrated hard on my options. A meager army would be trashed by the might of a dragon. This was no Wyvern! Being on the God Mountain was probably the reason for the dragon appearance. They might even be common in the large plateau.


    ¡°Status.¡± I said, trying to gather myself and understand the situation to my best ability. I really wanted to be able to slay this dragon, it would garner me profits undoubtedly. The men were starting to route casually away from the dragon. Even General Lancaster was considering a retreat.


    Status:


    Character: Tylor Justifix


    Title: Nameless ( 10 Fame )


    Rank: Citizen of Luthric


    Level: 0


    Strength: 1


    Vitality: 0


    Agility: 0


    Dexterity: 0


    Intelligence: 1


    Wisdom: 0


    Luck: -1


    Skills: ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯


    ¡®Accept your level ups?¡¯


    A small notice read at the bottom. Who designed this trash system? I swear, what kind of system had to ACCEPT the level ups? This entire time I had been leveling up in some capacity. I felt like an idiot, sheepishly I accepted. I was hoping that I would get a lot of gainage from this action, because I had done many endeavors! Let¡¯s see now¡­


    Status:


    Character: Tylor Justifix


    Title: Nameless ( 10 Fame )


    Rank: Citizen of Luthric


    Level: 1


    Strength: 2


    Vitality: 1


    Agility: 1


    Dexterity: 1


    Intelligence: 2


    Wisdom: 1


    Luck: 0


    Skills: ¡®Being an Asshole¡¯


    Select A New Skill:


    Mana Shield - (Locked due to lack of magical prowess)


    Divine Sword Strike - (Locked due to lack of proficiency)


    Agility Boost (Increases speed temporarily)


    Vitality Strike (Converts health into strength)


    Two of the skill options were locked, and I was already pissed enough that I was only level one now. Although the sudden stat boost gave me a surprisingly vigor of energy that I wasn¡¯t expecting. I felt twice as strong as I did before. Agility Boost seems to be the best skill to take for now. I don¡¯t have enough health to even consider using Vitality Strike. Although that seems to be a glasscannon skill.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Without much hesitation, I chose the Agility Boost skill, and added a handy trick to my selection of abilities. This would increase my chances of survival. Roger and Alice were side by side, while Griffin and Ferdinand did the same. Ghost and Evan were nowhere to be seen. I was the odd man out, partnerless for life it seemed. It was quite painful to be the only seventh-wheeler.


    The dragon lurched its fire out to the army and scoured an entire troop to dust in an instant. General Lancaster crazily pointed his sword to the dragon, ¡°Charge!¡± He screamed, and the calvary men charged with him. The entire army started moving forward, reinvigorated by the general¡¯s enthusiasm. The dragon was nearly forty feet tall. It was massive, and was by far the most entertaining thing I had seen since reincarnation.


    I charged with my squadron, releasing the sheathed blade and activating my new skill. ¡°Agility Boost!¡± I said, my legs feeling suddenly explosive. Another commander-unit is burnt to a crisp as I jolt between the men and appear in the frontlines with the calvary. People were shocked if they saw me, I was keeping up with the calvary line. The calvary suddenly crashed into the dragon, some were dismounted and chunked meters away, while others were simply crushed under the dragon.


    General Lancaster blocked the dragon¡¯s fiery breath with a blue mana shield. It protected everyone around him. He almost effortlessly defended against it while simultaneously attacking this ugly purple beast. Another burst of energy entered my legs, I literally flew up the side of the dragon before stalling in the air and coming back down to the earth. The skill had ran out! What bad timing.


    I wouldn¡¯t let it end in such a fashion. Stabbing my sword into the dragon¡¯s tender region between its scales ventured me a saving grace moment. My upper body strength would soon give out, the dragon was frantically moving around from the stab. ¡°Shit!¡± I immediately responded when I noticed something even worse. Who had ordered the archery line to fire flaming arrows at the dragon?! Or any arrow at that! This was simply bad strategy.


    Pouncing off the dragon¡¯s hide, I made way for the dirt and possibly my death. The nearly thirty foot drop would kill me if I wasn¡¯t trampled in the process. I closed my eyes, hoping to be reincarnated into the next world again. This was the end of the line, my biggest blunder yet and most likely my last one. Three, two, one¡­ cablop.


    A soft blanket of energy furrowed around my stomach as I bounced on it like it was a bouncy-house. I fluttered my eyes open to be greeted with the sight of Alice straining green magic from her hands. She had saved me! ¡°T-Thank you Alice, but how?!¡± I screamed at the top of lungs. It was obvious I had broken her focus as we came crashing the rest of the way to the ground. The calvary and men were clustered around the area.


    I had this wave of worry and anguish overcome me as I searched for Alice who had fallen into the trampling shit-fest that this had become. I pushed my way through and ventured around for the girl, but to no avail, she had disappeared from sight. If she was already among the fallen on the ground I would possibly die from regret. A sudden fiery blast came from the dragon¡¯s inferno. Scorching men from right to left, when suddenly a green mana shield lunged out to protect the men around me. The fire simply shuddered off the shield, but it began to crack against the extreme heat.


    The source? None other than Alice once again, saving my ass for a second time today. I felt completely embarrassed. Not only had Alice won favor in the group, but she had also won renown that I could never surmount to at this rate. Would Alice become Queen before I could become a King? Hell--that¡¯s pretty likely at this rate. It sure would be nice to learn magic at some point, then maybe I could do fancy things like Alice amidst the battle and save my comrades.


    Griffon and Ferdinand leaped from the waging war against the dragon, and went to attack it, but they failed as the dragon became surrounded and fled to the skies. It flapped its wings and ended up sending gusts of winds throughout the army. They were strong enough to send men flying back or even tip them over. The momentum had been completely lost in that moment.


    A familiar face came from the corpse pile with his sword in hand. It was Commander Kyle, bloodied and charred. His skin had been partially burnt by the dragon. He had a spear in his other hand. Incredibly pissed, he ran into a burst of hatred and powered his spear into the air with every ounce of his being. The spear only scaved the dragon, bouncing against the dragon¡¯s dick and clattering to the ground shortly after.


    General Lancaster took the stage and shot out yellow energy from his fingertips. The magical rounds zipped right through the purple dragon armor and crippled it in the air. He continued this barrage, before the dragon finally had to land from morbid amounts of pain. Even it had its limits. General Lancaster was phenomenal, his strength alone was enough to challenge the dominance of this forty foot dragon. What a man!


    General Lancaster was one to watch out for. He was eventually to become one of my rivals if I was not careful. He was a careful opponent. I furrowed my brow as the dragon changed posture. Suddenly, a blue energy surged from its belly and the energy lingered into its throat and grew in size. The dragon opened its mouth and revealed a blue flame that was hotter than hell itself.


    General Lancaster had seen this type of dragon once before. This was simply something they had not prepared for. If he wanted to survive this, he would have to surge all of his life into a magical barrier and the campaign would end. Even if he defended the army against this blast from hell, there was no way they could defeat the dragon without his strength. Lancaster knew this, but he was willing to sacrifice his own life to save his men.


    A large magic circle appeared in the air, facing opposite from the dragon, as Lancaster attracted magic into the palm of his hands. The yellow and blue particles converged into a single point. ¡°Magic Circle: Barrier of Kings!¡± He chanted, the yellow shield emanated and emitted into existence all around the army. The dragon roared and let its beam of blue hell-energy from its body into the air. The fire smashed against the barrier.


    The heat was so intense, I began to sweat immensely from the fire that was on the other side. The dragon let an endless stream of blue-energy out and the barrier began to form cracks. General Lancaster¡¯s face contorted as he stood his ground, his palms against the magical circle, his palms being absolutely scorched. Only Lancaster¡¯s master could have won a battle like this, and Lancaster wasn¡¯t quite there yet.


    My heart froze when the barrier shattered into a million pieces.

 Poll

    I''ve been at a crossroad lately. The chapters don''t feel natural to me and I''m not liking the way the story has developed. I could pump out chapters all day, but if it''s not an enjoyable read, there is no point in me writing it.


    So we''re going to have a poll on it.


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


    ( - Keep writing this story with the same quality and frequency, with no chance of being rewritten.


    (- Rewrite the story, this time at a slower pace with better prose and quality. Maybe even take it a different direction.


    (- Abandon this work and move on to a new one that I can focus quality over quantity. I''m against dropping a book, but I want my readers to be happy.


    Also, I want you to give me feedback on what can be improved if you feel like there is something that needs work.


    I''m honestly not happy with the way my story is now, and that''s due to the nature of how I write. I want to write, but if it''s not good, what''s the point?