《Phantom Lord》 Prologue: Summoning In a large room were a group of old men and one young female. The room was unadorned and only had a large formation scribbled on the ground. The insides of the room were projected outside for all the people to see. ¡°Time to start the summoning process.¡± Said one of the old men standing around a large pentagon formation that was on the ground. All of the viewers outside instantly grew restless and started discussing amongst themselves, ¡°How bad do you think the Princess will fuck up this time?¡± ¡°50 Gold Coins on her failing.¡± ¡°This ought to be hilarious.¡± All kinds of mocking sentences were thrown around like they were nothing. Inside the room, the young lady stepped closer to the formation. She was wearing a white dress and had a slender body. Her hair was black and it stretched to her waist. Her eyes were green and full of determination. As she stepped closer, she took out a knife and cut into her finger tip. She let the blood drip on to the formation as she started chanting, ¡°I summon you warrior. To be by my side and protect me, I ask of my forefather''s to grant this request and help me. I ask of you to send a warrior capable of carnage. To stay by my side and protect me for as long as I live.¡± As the sentence ended, the formation that was slowly starting to brighten lit up and in the middle of the formation knelt a youth. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. He was covered in blood and the look in his eyes was quite lifeless. When the old men in black saw that, they were taken aback. They were there to restrain the summoned one until the pact was done and a person like this being summoned¡­ This was a first for all of them. Just as one of the old men snapped out of it and started casting healing magic on him, the youths eyes regained a hint of life as he disappeared. When he reappeared, he was standing behind the young lady with a knife on her throat as he yelled, ¡°Who the hell are you people?¡± Chapter 1: Arrival Here''s chapter 1. Enjoy.
Chapter 1: Arrival Everyone in the room were frozen stiff. Not only did he move before any one of them could see it, the killing intent he was releasing was no joke. The old men present had all participated in slaughter so they knew from first hand experience: This youth in front of them was a genuine soldier who has been through Hell. They felt cold sweat running down their back when they looked into the youth''s eyes. The youth yelled again, ¡°Who the god damn Hell are you people? Where am I?¡± As he yelled out, he pressed the knife on the girls throat. Suddenly, the doors blew open and an old man entered the room, he looked at the youth. The man had a very built body and was wearing hide clothes at he moment. His hair was gray and his eyes were green. His skin was a bit wrinkled but had a bronze hue. When the old man walked into the room, everyone''s face changed. He was one of the strongest in the country, everyone who was present was glad that he came. The old man sized up the youth and reached towards his own neck, from where, he took a necklace from under his clothes. The necklace had a sculpture of a dragon attached to it, seeing this the youth''s eyes turned round as his hand relaxed. The old man walked closer and cupped his hands, ¡°Si Yan respectfully greets the Company Commander.¡± When everyone heard that, they were dumbstruck, the youth included. His grip relaxed and the lady, he was holding hostage, ran. She ran behind the old man who called himself Si Yan. The youth looked at the old man and asked in disbelief, ¡°Are you really Si Yan?¡± The man called Si Yan used to be one of his best subordinates that mysteriously disappeared one day. The old man nodded and said, ¡°Yes, it truly is me Commander. Our company motto was: Fight to the end, die by the sword.¡± When everyone saw the man, who was at the peak of strength in the country, acting so respectful to a youth, no one knew what expression to put on. The youth, having realized that he truly was one of his former subordinates, put on a smiling face. When Yan saw it, he felt cold sweat running down his back, when he realized that the youth was walking towards him now. He started going backwards in baby steps as he tried to sooth the situation, ¡°You see Commander, this-¡± His sentence was cut short when he realized that the youth did a roundhouse kick and had kicked him straight in the face. The man flew nearly to the wall before he fixed his balance and looked toward the youth again. Just as he was about to open his mouth, the youth said, ¡°That was for leaving me to deal with the aftermath of Guaterm Siege. I had to deal with a shit ton of banquets and nobles sucking up to me.¡± When Yan heard it, he relaxed. He had thought that his Commander was pissed because of the summoning but it didn''t seem to be the case. Also from his kick right now he realized, if they had to go all out against each other, he had no confidence saying that he would win. Yan lowered his head and said, ¡°Okey, I am sorry about that but I had as much choice of staying as you did. Anyways, it is unusual to see you covered in so much blood, what happened?¡± The youth took a look at his clothes and said, ¡°Ahh this. This blood isn''t mine. The war has ended and I was found to be a hindrance, so they decided to eliminate me. These guys were assassins number 96-97 or something, I''ve lost count already.¡± When Yan heard that he understood what his commander had been through. As if realizing something Yan hurriedly said, ¡°Well, you can form a pact with that little princess over there. I guarantee, this world is much more fun and a hell lot easier than ours was.¡± Hearing this the youth''s interest was piqued. ¡°Well, might as well. There is nothing waiting for me back home.¡± With that he inquired from Yan about the pact and how to do it. Everyone else in the room were quiet, no one dared to but into their conversation. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The youth walked up to the girl and did a cut on his palm as he extend it out to her. The little lady immediately cut her own palm as well and grabbed his extended hand. The youth smiled and said, ¡°My name is Fang Alex. It is a pleasure to meet you.¡± The girl looked at Alex and said, ¡°My name is Ji Emily.¡± When they had exchanged their names, Emily muttered something in an incomprehensible language and red chains erupted form their palms. They coiled around their arms and turned into a tattoo on their right shoulder. The tattoo looked like the dragon sculpture both Yan and Alex had. With this the Blood Pact was complete and this summoning thing was a success. The pact was very powerful, it allowed them to communicate telephaticaly if they were in a 25 meter radius of each other and they could feel the location of one another if they were in a 5 km radius of each other. There were other benefits as well but these two were the main ones the Blood Pact was used. Alex looked towards Yan and asked with a wry smile, ¡°Hey, where can I change my clothes. Kind of awkward to be wearing clothes like this at a situation like this.¡± Yan just looked around for a moment and pointed towards a small door, ¡°You can change your clothes in there.¡± Alex just went in through the door and found a small storage room. He changed his clothes and went back out again. Everyone looked at the figure and were astonished, there was no sign of the blood covered youth anywhere. He was now wearing black boots with black pants and black linen shirt. It''s sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He had blue eyes and his originally red hair was now blonde. He had a few scars on his hands and neck but none on his face.On his hand was an unadorned black ring. Yan looked at him as if it was a normal thing and gestured both Alex and Emily to follow him. When they left the huge room that was used for the summoning, they arrived outside where all of the other students were. They followed Yan through the crowd as he led them towards the principals office. Usually after a successful summoning, all of the summoned ones are gathered in a classroom where they would be given a lecture on their situation now. Alex''s case was different as his ¡°protectee¡± was the princess of the kingdom. Plus, he had history with Yan so all the more reason for him to meet the current principal. Alex''s hearing was extremely good, so he heard everything the students around them said. At first he didn''t pay attention but later on, he grew extremely agitated. Finally, when he couldn''t take it anymore, he released his killing intent. Everyone paled and some with weaker hearts fainted. Alex bellowed in a loud voice, ¡°You god damn fuckers. If you have something to say, say it to my face. The next time I hear someone mocking me behind my back, I will nail that persons ass to the school gates.¡± Hearing this, all the students present hurriedly nodded. Seeing this, Alex released his pressure and started walking again. Everyone present were to scared to even comment on Alex''s behavior. Even the usual loudmouths, who felt better about themselves when they made others down, didn''t dare to open their mouths. When Alex and company entered another building, did they finally dare to breathe in relief but no one dared to bring his audicity as a subject. Even though he was a foreigner, he was the princesses Guardian and he was a hell lot stronger than anyone they even knew. Alex and co. had reached the principals office, they stood behind an old dark wooden door. Yan sighed as he looked at Alex and said, ¡°You and nobles are like fire and water. I''m beginning to regret having you stay in this world. On the other hand, maybe you could actually keep her safe.¡± As he muttered the last half, he pushed the door open and they entered the room after Yan. Chapter 2: Circumstances Thanks for the support. Enjoy
Chapter 2: Circumstances As Alex, Emily and Yan entered, they were greeted by an old room. In it was a desk, a few chairs and a lot of bookshelves. There were books literally everywhere, so this looked more like a researchers room than a principals. Behind the table sat an old woman who had long gray hair. She had a slender body and was wearing white robes with gold embroidery. Her skin was wrinkled and she was currently absorbed in writing some document. Seeing this Yan sighed and walked next to her. He lightly tapped her on her shoulder snapping her out of her concentration. As she took a look around, she was startled, there were two more people inside the room now. Before she could say anything, Yan introduced her, ¡°Commander, this is Si Alice, she was the one who summoned me all those years back and she is currently the principal of this school.¡± Hearing the word ¡°Commander¡± Alice''s eyes widened, over the course of years she had heard a lot about his former commander. She sized up Alex but to her surprise, she couldn''t see through him. As she tried to look through his strength and foundation, she only saw him shrouded in black fog. Yan turned to Alice and continued, ¡°This young man is the person, who was my Commander before you summoned me.¡± She stood up and gave a courteous greeting, ¡°Hello, as Yan said, I am the principal of this school. I have heard a lot about you Alex but I never expected you to be so young.¡± When Emily heard this, she was even more puzzled. She found it extremely strange that the Vice-Principal had acted so courteous to him and now the Principal as well. Since she had been regarded as a failure all her life, she learned to see through people. One of the most usual things between nobles were holding a flower with one hand and a knife with the other. However, she could not understand the person in front of her. He had an uninterested expression on and he said something rarely. One thing she had learned was that he had an explosive temper. Yan cleared a few chairs of Alice''s books and placed them in front of her desk, while Alice went to make some tea. Emily and Alex sat down on the chairs and waited for her to come back. When she returned with the tea in hand, she sat down on her seat. She looked at the two and began, ¡°Now then, let''s start over. How much did Yan tell you about the situation from now on.¡± Alex just shrugged his shoulder''s and said, ¡°Nothing much, only that this world is a lot more fun and easier than ours was.¡± Hearing this Alice looked at Yan, who was currently avoiding her glare. She sighed and started, ¡°Now then, you are a Guardian. In Falfeis Kingdom, it is a long lasting tradition for magicians to summon a ¡°bodyguard¡± if you will. The Guardian''s job is to look after the protectee and I honestly have to say, that you landed on the hardest job there is.¡± When Alice said that, she sighed deeply. Emily also cast her gaze down and Yan was avoiding Alex''s gaze as well. Seeing this situation, Alex knew something was up, ¡°This damn old man, seems like I signed up for more than I can chew.¡± He looked at Alice and said, ¡°Now then, mind explaining that just what did I get myself mixed up in?¡± Just as Alice was starting to talk, Emily started, ¡°I am a Princess of Falfeis Kingdom. Magicians are rare since only one in a thousand can use mana. From the Royal Family, I am the only magician but my aptitude with mana is very bad. I have a hard time even controlling the most basic of spells and it took me 4 times to complete the summoning.¡± She took a breather as to let it sink in to Alex. When Yan saw Alex''s face, he was puzzled. Alex was currently smiling and from his memory every time he smiled like that, he would come out with some unbelievable thing. Yan decided that it was best for now not to ask. Emily continued, ¡°When I was tested, the test showed that I had a very large mana pool but for some reason, I can not utilize it. Having a magician for the royal family would be very good and my position would have gone up by a lot but since I became a Failure, my position has dropped even lower than normal. The only one, who even cares about me, is grandfather but even he doesn''t have much power after giving up his throne.¡± She looked towards Alex and saw his smiling face. She asked in a slightly agitated tone, ¡°What are you laughing about? This concerns you too!¡± At that moment, Alex let out a laugh as he looked at Yan, ¡°You idiot, we come from a world where we cultivate Qi. If you had looked at her meridians, you would have seen that someone artificially blocked them. This explains the reason why you can not use magic properly. As for the reason your summoning failed 3 times, that was my fault.¡± When everyone heard him, they did not know what to say. Yan hurriedly scrambled to Emily and held her hand as he inspected her meridians. He let out a hollow laugh as he let go of her hand, ¡°For the love of, no wonder no magic showed what was wrong with her. How did you know about this?¡± He looked towards Alex with a questioning gaze. Alex just let out a chuckle, ¡°Well, I felt that her constitution was a bit odd so when we formed the pact, I looked at her meridians.¡± Yan just sighed, it all made sense to him. He had known Alex for a long time and knew very well, that he was one of the most eccentric geniuses there was. Emily hurriedly asked Alex, ¡°If what you said is true, then that means, that there is a way to fix it right? I can use magic like everyone else?¡± In her look was longing, she wanted to show everyone that she was not a failure. She wanted to slap everyone, who mocked her, in the face. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Alex just looked at her and shook his head a bit, ¡°Yea, it is easy. It would probably take about 15 minutes to clear them but the problem comes after that.¡± Alice looked at him with a sharp gaze and asked, ¡°What problem?¡± Alex turned his head to look at Alice as he continued, ¡°Well, someone blocked her meridians on purpose. That means, someone doesn''t want the Royal Family to have a magician. The other option is that someone from the Royal Family orchestrated this to elevate their own standing in the family by eliminating a major threat to his or her position.¡± When Emily and Alice heard this, they realized that what Alex said was probably true. And if it was true then, if she suddenly revealed her talent again, it would prompt the other person to make a move. If they were unprepared for that, it could end very badly. Yan however just sighed as he told Alex, ¡°You have spent too much time with nobles. You are starting to think like one.¡± Alex just let out a hollow laugh, ¡°Know your enemy. Easiest path to victory.¡± Yan also let out a hollow laugh but it was cut short when Emily asked, ¡°You said before that it was your fault that the summoning process failed 3 times. What did you mean by that?¡± Alex just looked at her and said, ¡°Well, I just forcefully canceled it. When you reach a certain level of power, you are able to do things like this, however, the last attempt I was caught off guard and had no way of canceling it.¡± Alex talked like it was the easiest thing in the world but for the people present in this room, it was unheard of. They all looked at Alex with a complicated gaze. Finally Yan let out a sigh as he said, ¡°Well, as expected of the Black Angel.¡± Alex just laughed and yawned, ¡°Well, is there a place I can take a quick nap at? I haven''t had enough sleep lately.¡± ¡°Yea sure, since we have some things we need to talk about with the princess you can go ahead and take a nap.¡± Yan directed him to a couch in the next room. When he saw that Alex had laid down, he closed the door. As he walked back to Alice and Emily, he sighed out loud, ¡°This guy truly is one hell of a wild card.¡± When he arrived back at the desk, both Emily and Alice looked at him. He knew very well, that they wanted to know his history. He sat on Alex''s chair and started talking, ¡°Well, he is an anomaly. Despite being so young, he was an outstanding genius when it came to warfare. When he joined the army at the age of ten, our country was at war. During a war, a country uses everything and everyone they can. He worked up through the ranks and since his personal prowess was on par with company leaders and his thinking on par with a strategist, at the age of twelve, he was made into a Company Commander. I was also assigned to that Company and let me tell you this, no one has truly understood his character. He lost his family to the war and after becoming a Company Commander, every time we went to battle, he said this: ¡°If any fucking one of you dares to die on me, I will follow you to the other side and nail you balls to Hell''s Gates.¡±¡± He let out a little laugh before continuing, ¡°Now that I think about it, he cared for our company like family and he never made any of us go die.¡± As Emily and Alice heard that, they just had one question, ¡°What the heck is Black Angel?¡± When Alice asked about that, he just wryly smiled, ¡°In our country there were seven generals who all held a unique flame. They were called the 7 Angels and the color was dependent on the color of their flame. A person with the red flame was the Red Angel. A person with a blue one was Blue Angel and so on. Since his flame is black, he got the title of Black Angel.¡± They vaguely understood that. It was like a collective title given to the strongest. From Yan''s story, they understood that even though he looked young, he was much more dangerous than the nobles in this world both physically and mentally. Yan just let out a deep sigh, ¡°Well, I hope that we won''t regret making him your Guardian. He and nobles do not go well together.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± Emily immediately asked, she was a noble after all. Yan just cast his gaze down and said, ¡°He was born to a low nobility household but a young master from one of the biggest households, fancied his mother. To get her, they destroyed his household and I heard that his mother committed suicide before being violated by that young master. So you can understand why he and nobles do not go together well.¡± Hearing this, both Emily and Alice froze. They had no idea on how to act around him anymore as both of them were nobles. Seeing this Yan just brushed it off, ¡°Don''t worry. As long as you aren''t a prick to him, he won''t bother you. Just act like you did up until now.¡± Emily and Alice let out a hollow laugh, they discussed a few more things on what to do from now on and before they knew it, it was time for the sun to set. Yan went to wake up Alex in the other room but when he opened the door, he froze. Chapter 3: Evening Last chapter for the day, next one is on Wednesday. Enjoy
Chapter 3: Evening What awaited Yan as he opened the door was not a sleeping Alex but extremely cold killing intent. When he snapped out of it, he looked for Alex and soon found him next to the window. He looked towards Alex and said, ¡°Hey, what''s with the killing intent? If it had been either Emily or Alice, they would have fainted on the spot.¡± Alex looked towards Yan and snapped back to reality, ¡°Sorry, I was just remembering some things.¡± Seeing the look in Alex''s eyes, stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath and asked, ¡°Tell me, what happened after I was summoned here. From the looks of it, it doesn''t seem like you just didn''t join any nobles faction but something bigger happened.¡± ¡°Hahaha, seems like I have become a person who is very easy to see through.¡± Alex just let out a hollow laugh. Yan just shook his head and said, ¡°It''s not that you have become easy to read but I did spend 4 years fighting side by side in an all out war with you. Strangers become brothers real fast in the drenches.¡± Alex just smiled and started, ¡°Well, even though we won the war, the nobles weren''t happy about it. The battlefield was only one of the place for them to compete with other families. And as I refused to join any nobles faction, I was templed a traitor and had a shit ton of assassins sent after me. It turned into a game of who could kill me first. All of the people who were under my command still followed me, That was the start of a bloody battle between an elite company who has seen much bloodshed and the nobles, who didn''t know jack about warfare. I think you can guess who won that battle.¡± As he smiled to Yan, Yan had a thoughtful expression on. He now understood what Alex had to deal with and it didn''t surprise him. He just let out a sigh, ¡°Well, I knew that those nobles were idiots but idiots enough to pick a fight such as that, now that is a first...¡± In their world, nobles were quite unreasonable. If they spat at someone''s face it was as if it was a normal thing. If someone spat in their face, they became enraged and so on. They did not understand the concept of you reap what you sow. Every time he remembered that, he was glad to get out of that damn world. ¡°So, you ended up on the hit list of every noble family there is. That explains everything, however, did you manage to get revenge for your family?¡± Yan asked in a helpless voice. He knew that if Alex had one regret, it would be that he couldn''t get back at them for his family. Alex just nodded and said, ¡°Yea, they were the first family hit.¡± ¡°Okey, so there are no more regrets for you I presume. In this world there are a hell lot more options on how to deal with these kinds of situations. If you don''t want to deal with any of them, you can always persuade the Princess to become an adventurer with you and get the hell out of this kingdom.¡± Yan just stated as a matter of factly and it was a viable option if needed. ¡°Come on, it''s sun down and the princess will lead you back to your room. You can have a nice long chat on what to do from now on and how.¡± With that, Yan gestured Alex to follow him as he returned to where Emily and Alice were. Emily and Alice clearly didn''t know how to conduct themselves near Alex anymore. Seeing this Alex just sighed, ¡°No need to be so afraid, just talk to me like a human being and we are good to go.¡± Hearing that, the two relax. They sensed that he didn''t outright hate nobles but it was more as if he disliked the nobles that treated others with disrespect. Alice remembered how Yan used to be when he was first summoned here and let out a chuckle. He was just like Alex is currently. When they said their final pleasantries, Emily led Alex to the room they would be staying in. One the way to the dormitory, they got a lot of hateful and mocking gazes but no one dared to say anything. Seeing this, Alex just sighed inwardly, ¡°Heh, seems like these nobles are even bigger pushovers than the ones back home. A little intimidation and all of them are too scared to say anything.¡± When they reached the dorm room, they would be staying at, Alex just let out a whistle. The complex had 4 room plus the bathroom. Two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen. They also had a balcony. Emily showed Alex the room he would be sleeping in and then sat down in the living room. There was a little table there with a few chairs, the walls were adorned by bookshelves. As they sat down, Emily asked him, ¡°When could you do the meridian thing you talked about?¡± Alex, who was currently looking at the books on the shelves, turned his head towards Emily and asked, ¡°Well I could do it right here and now if you wanted to but are you sure you are ready? You haven''t even heard of the method I am going to use.¡± Hearing this Emily blushed, she realized that she had been too excited about getting her meridians clear to even ask about the method he was going to use. She lowered her head and asked in an embarrassed voice, ¡°Sorry, how do you plan on doing that?¡± Alex just looked at her and laughed, he was starting to find it very interesting to tease her like that. He sat down on a chair on the opposite side of the table and started explaining, ¡°Well, first of all, I am going to insert my own Qi into your body and forcefully unclog the meridians that had been sealed. For it to work the best and with the lowest amount of danger to you, I need to be in contact with your back and I have to touch you skin. If the clothes are in between, they can disrupt the flow of Qi and you could end up with crippled meridians in the worst case scenario. Now then, take your time to decide.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. When Emily heard Alex''s explanation, she blushed even deeper. Only a few female people had ever seen her body naked, let alone a man. However, she misunderstood Alex, when he said that he needed to touch her naked back for the lowest risk result. In her head, she thought she had to get completely naked and that felt very embarrassing to her. Seeing the red face, Alex suddenly realized, ¡°Oi oi, don''t tell me...¡± As he thought to himself, he hurriedly asked Emily, ¡°Do you think I need you to be completely naked?¡± Hearing the surprised tone in Alex''s voice, Emily raised her head and looked at him with a puzzled gaze. Alex just face palmed himself and said, ¡°I don''t need you to get naked, I just need you to expose your back. You can keep the rest of your clothes on.¡± Emily realized her misunderstanding and wanted to throw something at Alex as she hissed through her grit teeth, ¡°Next time, start from that.¡± Now her face was red from anger not embarrassment. Seeing this Alex however just let out a laugh as he said, ¡°Okey, okey, calm down. Now then, turn your back and expose it. Once we are done with opening the meridians, we need to go over the plans for the future.¡± Hearing this Emily reluctantly went to change her clothes. She changed into something that allowed her to expose her back without revealing anything else. When she sat down in front of Alex, Alex just laughed inside, ¡°Seeing the reactions of this little lady truly is amusing.¡± With that, he put his hand on her back and Emily immediately jolted. Soon she felt a warm stream of energy enter through the palm and coarse through her body. She felt a bit of pain when the energy started assaulting the clogged meridians. She understood very well, that it was not going to be a painless process so she grit her teeth. 10 minutes passed by in silence and then Alex, removed his Qi. He stood up and said to Emily, ¡°It is done now. You can cover yourself up.¡± When all of that was said, he tactfully turned around and went towards the kitchen to brew some tea. When Emily heard that, she snapped out of her trance and looked down. She realized that when she entered that trance, he unconsciously let go of of the gown, revealing her front end. She quickly covered herself up and went to put on the robes again. When she came back, she found Alex reading a book and sipping tea, there was one even prepared for her. Just as she was going to say something, Alex said without lifting his gaze from the book, ¡°I have seen a woman''s body before so please don''t start with that one. This was also your fault for letting go, not mine. If you understand that this was your fault sit down and we can talk about your training plan from now on.¡± Even though Alex wasn''t threatening her, she could feel the meaning behind his words. If she started nagging here, he would, without a doubt, leave or do something worse. She just grit her teeth and thought about what he had just said, She could only sigh as she had no way of rebutting him. What he said was true after all and he had been courteous enough not to take advantage of her. She sat down and asked in a slightly irritated tone, ¡°So, what is your thoughts on the training plan.¡± Alex didn''t mind the slight irritation in her tone and close the book in front of him. ¡°Well, first of all, in class, you are going to fake still having blocked meridians.¡± When Emily heard that, she immediately stood up and asked him, ¡°Why? Now that I can use magic properly, why do I still have to pretend to be a failure?¡± Alex gave her a cold look as he said, ¡°Sit down and listen to me until the end.¡± When Emily saw the cold look, she felt a chill running down her spine. She immediately sat down again and Alex continued in a gentler expression, ¡°You are going to have to fake it because we need you to have full control over you magic before revealing it. Also, me and Yan need to take some ¡°precautions¡± before revealing your talent.¡± Emily understood the first point now. She had the blocked meridians all her life so even though they are unblocked now, it doesn''t mean that she immediately has full control over her magic. She needs to train a bit before she can utilize magic to it''s fullest. ¡°What are these ¡°precautions¡± you speak of?¡± Emily asked in a slightly interested tone, Alex was the first person besides his Grandfather that actually gave a damn about her. Alex just smiled and said, ¡°Well, I need to get used to this world and find out a bit on it''s nobles. If it truly was someone from the Royal palace, who blocked your meridians, then I need to secure a way to get you out of this kingdom in one piece.¡± Alex had a smile on his face but somehow, Emily got chills from seeing it. Emily asked a question that had been bugging her from the moment she formed a contract with him, ¡°Why did you agree to the Pact?¡± Alex''s smile turned a little sinister when he said, ¡°Well, I had nothing better to do in my previous world so I might as well wreak havoc here. It has been a while since I''ve gotten a chance to do a Shadow War.¡± Emily blinked in puzzlement and asked, ¡°Shadow War? What is that?¡± Alex just waved his hand and said, ¡°Shadow War is being in an all out war against someone at night but still smiling and drinking tea with the person during the day. Since I don''t know exactly who I am fighting against, this is even more fun.¡± Schedule Thank you all for reading. I just wanted to say that the schedule is pretty much non existent. There will most likely be a chapter on Saturday and Sunday as for the rest of the week, no guarantees, promises or naything of the sort. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.Thank you for your understanding Chapter 4: First training Well, Happy Independece Day Estonians. And the President took only 6 years to learn the anthem of the country, a new record. Enjoy
Chapter 4: First training When Emily heard about the Shadow War, she didn''t know what expression to put on. Alex just smiled, ¡°Don''t worry about that. These are extremely usual amongst any worlds nobles. It''s a part of their superiority complex and I happen to be very proficient in these Wars.¡± When Alex reached towards the end, his smile turned into a sinister one. Emily felt a chill run down her spine but still asked, ¡°Why do you mock nobles so much? Is it because of what they did to your family?¡± Hearing that, Alex face immediately turned ice cold as he looked at Emily. Although Alex wasn''t releasing any killing intent or any sort of pressure, just by looking into his eyes, Emily felt as if she was suffocating. After a dozen of seconds, Alex''s face turned gentler as he sighed, ¡°It''s not that I hate nobles but I hate their mindset.¡± Emily was already a bit afraid to ask, ¡°Their mindset?¡± Alex just nodded and took a sip of his tea before continuing, ¡°You see, all the nobles believe that other people are beneath them. They view themselves as better from commoners in every aspect without actually considering they are worse off. A commoner gets to where he or she is by her own abilities but nobles get to where they are solely due to their daddy''s and mommy''s. For example, in our world was a family that had a clan leader that slew a dragon 50 generations ago. The whole clan conducted themselves as if they had slain the dragon themselves for the next generations as well. Do you get my point?¡± Emily just nodded and said solemnly, ¡°Nobles tend to see everyone else beneath them, thanks to being born lucky and they keep on making their ancestors deeds their own.¡± Alex just shook his head, ¡°No not all their deeds. If someone manages to do something negative they can''t cover up, they will expel the person from the clan. Even if that negative thing was to save the back side of their entire clan or the person was acting on the orders of the clan.¡± He took a pause and another sip of tea before continuing, ¡°Nobles value their own lives over their clansmen. They would have no problem of massacring their loved ones if that meant survival for them. Commoners are the opposite, they would gladly lay down their lives if it meant saving their families.¡± Emily now understood what Alex had against nobles. She remembered that he was part of an army during a war and understood just how bad of an influence of nobles were to an army. If during a battle that could go either way a noble plummets their morale for the fear of his own life, they would lose. Emily was by no means a dumb woman, she was quite sharp so she understood where Alex came from. She also remembered what her grandfather used to say, ¡°A military officer''s greatest enemy is their own nobles.¡± She couldn''t understand what he meant by that all those years ago but understood now. She stopped dwelling on the subject and decided to ask about Alex''s past, ¡°So how did you end up in the military?¡± Alex was as calm as a cucumber when he started, ¡°Well, during a war, everything and everyone is used. Since we were in quite a bad position, even children aged 10 were forcibly drafted, nobles were an exception again. I was a fallen noble so I was drafted, days went by and before I knew it I had become a Company Commander.¡± Emily just nodded. It was common at a time of war to use what ever you can. Women, children, crippled people, every extra person gave a slight higher chance of successfully winning the war. Emily had run out of questions to ask in her comfort zone. Just as she was pondering on how to keep the conversation going, a knock sounded on the door. Alex went to open the door and a smile crept on his face. Behind the door was Yan and as he entered, Emily asked, ¡°What can I do for you Vice Principal?¡± Yan just let out a hollow laugh before saying, ¡°I am here to tell this guy that the preparations are complete. You can use the training room any time you want.¡± Alex just nodded and looked towards Emily, ¡°What are you waiting for, go change your clothes to training ones.¡± Emily froze where she sat, she had no idea what the hell was going on any more. Alex just sighed, ¡°You were the one who was so impatient to learn how to use magic well. Now lets go, training begins.¡± Emily was stupefied, it was already sun down and she had to begin her training now? When she heard Alex say that she had been the eager one, she could only curse getting ahead of herself again. ¡°It is currently dark out already, can''t we start tomorrow?¡± Emily asked with a pouting face, she did not like this idea any bit. Alex just bluntly answered, ¡°No, it starts now. When we get to the training ground, I will tell you why.¡± Emily could only curse at him in her mind and go change her clothes. Seeing this, Yan only sighed, ¡°You haven''t been here for a day but have already managed to tame yourself a Princess¡­ What kind of a demon are you?¡± Alex let out a hollow laugh and said with a wry smile, ¡°Just a persuasive one.¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Yan only let out a small laugh and pulled out a little black mouse, ¡°Hey, mind if I keep this little thing. The method of transporting letters with this is unconventional and quite handy.¡± Alex just let him keep it so they could study it, Alex could create one anytime he wanted so he wasn''t stingy. When Emily came back she was dressed in leather clothes. You could see that they were a bit tight in some place and brought out some very nice curves. Seeing Emily dressed like that, Alex let out a whistle and looked at Yan, ¡°Who the heck is in charge of these uniforms?¡± Yan also had a manly reaction to seeing Emily dressed like that and just told Alex, ¡°The dress code is the same from the beginning of the academy but I do have to say, nice choice.¡± Alex and Yan laughed a bit and as Emily didn''t hear their conversation could only look at the two in puzzlement. Emily and Alex followed Yan to a training room and after Yan talked a few words with Alex, he left. Only Alex and Emily were now left in the training room. The room was 50 square meters big and 5 meters high. The room had a stone floor and stone walls. Balls of light, the size of ones head, were floating around illuminating the place. In the room, there were some racks for weapons but that was all it had. Alex walked up to Emily and said, ¡°Well, the reason we are going to train you during the night is because we don''t want your true power to get out before we have made the necessary countermeasures, should something bad happen. The second reason is that I am going to personally oversee this training so it would be a bit of a problem if someone saw it.¡± Emily just nodded, she understood the risks of making her true strength known before she could fully control it. She asked Alex, ¡°What do we begin with?¡± Alex just smiled saying, ¡°I want you to tag the opposite walls 5 times.¡± Emily looked at him with a puzzled look and Alex sighed, ¡°You touch one wall, then run to the opposite side of the room and touch the other one, this process is repeated 5 times.¡± Emily looked at him in shock, the distance between opposite walls was 50 meter so combined she had to run 250m. Just as she was about to object to it, Alex said in a strict voice, ¡°I don''t care that you are a magician or a Princess, stamina is the basis of everything. Even with spells, if your body can take casting one more fireball than the rest, you will have one more chance at life thanks to it. All objections are over ruled so get running already.¡± Emily was frightened into running when she heard that, what Alex said made sense but the amount of exercise was a bit to a Princess who had never had to do something like this before. The distance wasn''t much to her but she understood that it was only warm up. It took her about 5 minutes to run distance and she was a bit short on breath when she stopped. If she had known that Alex already lowered the bar to the lowest possible, she would fear at what is in store for her in the future. As she was catching her breath, Alex squatted down in front of her and asked, ¡°Oi oi, out of breath already? Did you have to do anything yourself in your life before?¡± Alex was surprised in another way, even running 250m made her out of breath so Alex felt that his was going to be a very long and tough journey for her. When they had talked before, Alex had learned that Emily excelled in Fire and Earth magic, so he started the training course in mind of those two. Fire''s emphasis was attack in every world, and Earth''s was defense. In this world if you had a good medium, you didn''t need to chant any spells, unless they were special magic like the summoning one. Alex had accumulated a lot of things in his ring of tricks so he also had two perfect mediums for her to use. In grade those mediums would be the highest top grade ones in his world. In a world where no one knew how to make things like these, they would be heaven defying. He planned on using some special materials to use the two gems to make a medium that supported both Fire and Earth magic. When Emily had recovered her breath, Alex let her do a bit more stamina training before letting her use her magic. When Emily cast a fireball for the first time, it ran out of control as she couldn''t control the increased magic as well as before. Seeing this, Alex extinguished the fireball and just as he was about to scold Emily for being careless, he realized that she had over drafted on magic and was unconscious from exhaustion. He let out a sigh and just shook his head a little, ¡°For the love of, we have a very long way to go, huh.¡± He decided to wrap the training up for the day but just as he was about to pick her up, his body blurred. A ¡°BAM¡± sounded out in the training room and a person clothed completely in black, was suddenly laying on the floor. Alex reappeared squatting down in front of him and just as the person laying down raised his head, he was greeted by ice cold eyes. He felt a chill go down his spine, when he looked into Alex''s eyes. Alex just grabbed his head and raised him to his eyes level as he asked, ¡°Who are you?¡± Chapter 5: Starting the plans Sorry for the late chapter, i had a lot to take care of and didn''t have time to access my computer. Enjoy
Chapter 5: Starting the plans When the man in black looked into Alex''s eyes, he felt dread. The only thing he could mumble was, ¡°How did you know I was even here?¡± Alex answered with a cold face, ¡°If you called that hiding your presence, you have a very long way to go. Now answer me, who are you and why are you here?¡± The man just stuttered, ¡°I-I-I¡± and tried to move his hand towards his knife discreetly. Seeing this Alex only sighed, ¡°If you think that reaching the knife will get you anywhere, go ahead and try. However, should you fail I will most certainly break that arm of yours.¡± Since Alex gave away his only plan with a cold face, he didn''t dare to reach for the knife anymore. He realized that if he just answered his questions, he would have a shot at life. He reluctantly started,¡°I am called Panther and I am a freelance assassin. My job was to asses your strength and report it back to the Crown Prince. If possible eliminate you.¡± Hearing this Alex''s eyes betrayed surprise. He thought to himself, ¡°Well, well, well. Seems like the Crown Prince doesn''t like the Emily that much. His faction is most likely behind the blockage incident as well.¡± It all started to make sense to Alex. When Emily was tested to be a great magician, his faction felt his position as the next ruler was in danger. They took action and her meridians were blocked. Alex looked at the man and asked, ¡°Who do you owe your allegiance to?¡± The look in the mans eyes changed. It went from dread to angry as he barked at Alex, ¡°I am my own man and owe allegiance to no one.¡± Hearing this Alex smiled and let his head go. He let the man stand up before making an offer, ¡°If you are willing to join my organization I will both spare your life and also reward you heavily.¡± The man thought for a second before asking in an irritated voice, ¡°What''s the catch? Until a minute ago you were ready to kill me, now you suddenly want me to join you, dream on. Even if I joined you, I would be a bottom feeder anyways, so no thank you.¡± He closed his eyes and prepared to embrace death when suddenly he heard chuckling. When he opened his eyes, he saw Alex holding back his laughter, just as he was about to ask what was so funny to him, Alex looked at him and said, ¡°I admire your conviction but I wanted to make you my direct subordinate.¡± When the man heard that, his face changed a bit. Alex smiled again and added, ¡°Well, currently it would be you and me in the organization anyways but since I''m mostly confined to this place, you would be in charge for the most of the time.¡± The man looked at Alex in puzzlement. He didn''t understand what he was saying anymore. Alex just sat down on the ground and gestured for the man to do the same. In the beginning, the man was suspicious but he understood very well that he could neither out run or harm a hair on Alex''s head. He was quite interested in Alex''s proposal as well. When he sat down, Alex started talking, ¡°Well, you see, I wish to create a network of assassins, an organization if you will. With this network we will carry out target hits or gather information. One of the best sources of income in any world is information. I need you to gather the people you know who would be willing to join us as well. All the funding will be done by me. What do you think about this?¡± The man thought for a second before saying, ¡°If you mean organizations like that, then there are tons of them around, why should people join yours when there are more well known ones out there?¡± The man was doubtful of him, he had been in this business long enough to know that there are a lot of demerits to joining an organization. Alex just smiled at him and said, ¡°Well, for starters if a person wants out, we will allow the person to leave and we will look after them for a period of time. They will also retrieve a retiree token with which they can ask for our help should they need it.¡± The man looked at him in amazement, this point alone would gather a lot of people. Every organization out there was for life. If you wanted out, you left in a box. Seeing the mans amazement, Alex just smiled a bit sinisterly and continued, ¡°We will take care of our own, no matter who we have to go against and the tax fees will be a lot lower. If a person takes a job through our organization, we will take a 5% fee from the reward of the hit. We will also compensate the travel fees by 50%.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The man thought over it for a second and realized one thing, the person in front of him is no average Joe. He sized up Alex and just thought to himself, ¡°This guy will definitely rock the world, the organization he is building isn''t for short term profit but for long term profit that will spam over generations.¡± He asked Alex, ¡°How much starting capital will you have? An operation like this can not be done with just a few gold coins.¡± Alex thought for a second before saying, ¡°Well, if I cashed in some of my useless stuff, I will earn about 10 million gold or so. If I cash in most of it, I will easily earn 100 million or more.¡± When the man heard the astronomical numbers, his jaw fell open. Most of this useless junk was what he had gotten from the assassins that came after him. He had accumulated a lot of things that he didn''t practically need and could just cash in. From what he had talked with Yan, he priced the things randomly. This world had a very costly way of making things like inter spacial rings and those alone cost a fortune. He currently had 70 large inter spacial rings, 22 medium and 6 small ones. Even a small one that was 25 cubic meters in space, cost around 1 to 10 million here. He had decided that he would sell 10 medium ones that were 50 cubic meters of space. He could earn more than enough money with those to start his organization. Alex took one large inter spacial ring from his and held it in his palm. He looked at the man and said, ¡°This is a large inter spacial ring. It holds a 100 cubic meter space and it will be yours if you agree to join me.¡± The mans jaw fell practically to the ground, an inter spacial ring was something he never thought he would own. He looked at Alex seriously and asked, ¡°If I agree to join, what do I need to do?¡± This was a very important decision for him, this would decide if he could feed his family or not. Alex looked at the man in his eyes and said seriously, ¡°First I will give you a month to gather about 50 people. If that is done, we will make the organization formal and decide the ranks as well. You will definitely be one of the two aids of mine. You will be in charge of information. Can you do that?¡± The man thought for a second and asked, ¡°I understand that you will be the boss and I will be in charge of the Intelligence department, how many departments will you plan on doing?¡± Alex just threw the ring to Panther and said, ¡°In ideal I would like four: Intelligence, Assassination, Guarding and Special Ops.¡± Panther caught the ring Alex threw and when he heard about the departments, he understood well the principle behind it. Better to have a master of of one trade than a jack of none. Specialized people had a higher chance of success than a person that did everything. Panther just smiled to Alex and said, ¡°Instead of 50 mind if I bring 150, I would have no problem finding at least that many.¡± Alex just smiled to him and said, ¡°The more the merrier but in the beginning we have to make a name so I will have to bother you with finding targets for them. For the Intelligence department however, I will pay for all of their reports. You can assign them to priority targets like ministers and other wealthy nobles. The more valuable the information, the bigger the reward will be.¡± The man nodded and asked a few more questions regarding the recruiting. Alex also gave him one of the mouse messenger to keep in contact with. The man soon went to gather the people and Alex was just left sitting there. From a darker corner Yan stepped out and gave him a wry smile, ¡°Well, you seem to be trying to rebuild Phantom Lord here, huh? Anyways, I want in.¡± Alex just smiled to Yan and said, ¡°Well of course you are in, who the Hell am I supposed to entrust the Special Ops Department to?¡± Chapter 6: A chat Heyoo, a long time no see. First of all, let me apologise for my disappearence. Secondly, Check out the new schedule as well. Enjoy
Chapter 6: A chat As Alex said that, Yan''s face flickered. The last time they worked together was before he was summoned. When he was summoned, he was only 22 years old. However Alex was 15 at the time. Currently, Yan was already 50 years old, meaning that already nearly 30 years had passed for him, but it seemed like only a few had passed for Alex. He let out a sigh and pointed at the little princess, ¡°Maybe it is a good idea to get her to bed and also, maybe it would be a good idea to catch up a bit. You should know that me and Alice are in the ¡°little princess faction¡± alongside with his gramps.¡± Alex just nodded and nonchalantly threw her over his shoulder like a sac of potatoes. Seeing this Yan just face palmed but he couldn''t help but peek through the gaps to see the perky behind of the little lady. Although old, he was still a man. Glancing at Yan, Alex let out a chuckle. As they walked through the hallways, they didn''t see a living soul. Only things moving were human sized and shaped wooden stick figures. Yan had explained to him before that, they were called ¡°Puppets.¡± They had no soul and when they were made a task had to be inputted as well. These wooden puppets were mostly used for cleaning or just as sentries since the activator of the puppets could feel if they suddenly started causing a ruckus or their signal disappeared. When they reached the dorms, all the lights were out already except for one, Emily''s room. Seeing that, Yan and Alex looked at each other briefly and both of their figures blurred. When they reappeared they were inside the living room, where an old man was sitting and nonchalantly sipping tea. When Alex saw the old man, his eyes went cold and he went on guard, when Yan saw the old man, he was dumbstruck. The man had a robust body and was wearing simple hemp clothes, his hair was tied into a bun and was gray. He looked to be around 60 years old. The man just smiled at Alex and said, ¡°Well, hello there. It''s a pleasure to finally meet you, My name is Ji Astor, I am the previous King of Falfeis and grandfather of the ¡°potato sack¡± on your shoulder.¡± When Alex heard him, he looked at Yan, who nodded to him to indicated that the man was telling the truth. Alex relaxed his guard but still stayed on alert as he put on a smiling face and said, ¡°Well now, my apologies for being so rude to you. I''ll put the little princess on her bed and then we can chat in detail.¡± When he reached the end of his sentence, his voice and face was cold again. Seeing this, the old man''s eyes took a cold glint for a second but he also put on a smiling face as he nodded. Alex went and laid her down to sleep as she was and went back to the living room and just sat down. Seeing this, Yan''s forehead was covered in cold sweat. These two were probably the worst combination of confrontation in this world. Alex''s personality and wits was exactly like Ji Astor''s when he was young. Yan hurriedly excused himself to get out of the room so he wouldn''t be a part of the ¡°gentle discussion¡±. When he left, Astor opened his mouth, ¡°Seems like you figured out what her ¡°illness¡± was and fixed it.¡± Astor''s voice was cold as he looked at Alex. Alex just smiled and said, ¡°Yes I did. Is that a problem?¡± His face was smiling but Astor was inwardly quite shaken, he couldn''t see through the smile. Astor just asked, ¡°Do you know who you have to go up against now?¡± He tried to look for any gaps in his facade but could even spot one. Alex put on a thinking face as he said, ¡°Well, I''d say half the kingdom at least, maybe more.¡± Hearing this and still seeing the joking expression on Alex''s face, Astor got pissed, He grit his teeth and said, ¡°Not only half the kingdom but also the surrounding four kingdoms as well. In total that is approximately 50 noble families that practically own a province.¡± He was waiting for Alex to start to get worried but when Alex opened his mouth, Astor was flabbgastered, ¡°Only 50 noble families, that''s nothing at all.¡± Astor stood up with his mouth wide open, he truly wanted to screw the little guys skull cap off and see if there was anything inside his head. But before he could say anything, Alex revealed a little of his killing intent and said in a cold voice, ¡°Sit the fuck back down, I am not done talking yet.¡± When Astor heard that, he felt a chill run down his spine, the last time he felt this kind of a feeling was when an arrow passed by his head a hairs breath away on a battlefield. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He closed his mouth and sat back down again. Alex just nodded his head for a second and then said, ¡°I honestly do not give a shit about who I go against. Anyone who wants to find trouble with me have a single ending, in a 2x1m wooden box 5 meters underground. I may have been here for only half a day but I have already started my preparations for the worst case scenario.¡± As Astor heard that, he was astonished, he couldn''t believe the youth sitting across from him. He just asked him, ¡°What is the worst case scenario then?¡± Alex just looked at the man and smiled, ¡°Me tying up the princess and dragging her to a location where even an ant can''t get in, let alone anyone who could harm her. Then I will go and kill everyone involved, go back to the princess and take her to another continent to live happily ever after.¡± As Astor was listening, the more a question echoed in his head, ¡°Who the hell is this brat and he didn''t fall on his head repeatedly when he was a baby, right?¡± Just as he was about to say something, he discovered that Alex had disappeared from his chair, just as he was about to stand up, he felt a cold glint on his throat. A black unadorned knife was on his throat, it was held by Alex who wasn''t leaking even a tiny bit of existence. When he turned to look at him, he still couldn''t feel his presence and understood what he meant by ¡°Kill everyone and live happily ever after¡±. They weren''t superficial words but rather his plan of action should those nobles truly dare to go too far. This young man in front of him had the necessary strength, skills and brains to pull it all off. More that anything, he was ruthless and fearless enough. Astor let out a sigh and fished out a pipe from his pocket. He lit it and asked, ¡°Do you plan on killing everyone now or when they hit you?¡± Alex, who had already sat back down just smiled at him and said, ¡°Acting myself is plan C. Unless I have no other means, I will not act myself. Let me make on thing clear, the nobles who I fought against back in my own world were ten times more ruthless, cunning and secretive than the people in this world. The little schemes they use are like a little child''s comparing them with the ones back in my old world.¡± From the youths and also Yan''s words, he could understand that this worlds nobles are far behind in terms of scheming. In front of Yan and Alex, they are like a toddler waving around a knife in front of an Elite who has been on a hundred battlefields and then expecting to kill him. He also made a promise to himself, never to make an enemy out of this little brat. He let out a sigh and said, ¡°Well, if you need any help let me know, in terms of showing care, I only do that to my grand daughter. The rest of the ¡°Royal¡± Family can be raped on the capital''s city square for all I care.¡± Having said it, Astor took out a scroll that started shining and when the light had faded, he was gone. Alex let out a sinister smile and said in a small voice, ¡°A teleportation scroll, huh?¡± This world truly was more interesting than his old one. And from the conversation just now he understood very clearly. That old man only cared about Emily, as for the rest of the family, he didn''t spare them a glance. He let out a chuckle and streched, ¡°Well, I have a feeling I should look up a lot on this worlds because it seems that there is no love in the Royal Family here.¡± After thinking over a few things, he decided to go to the library first thing in the morning tomorrow. He looked at the pitch black sky outside for a moment and then decided to head to bed.