The Systemic Lands

Chapter 596: Day 5,075 – Kingdom Of Graystone

“Announcing Emperor Michael of the Empire of Purgatory. Champion of the Realm. Custodian of the Avatar. Slayer of the Divine Empress,” the herald called out before I entered the throne room. The palace was quaint, but the Divine Empress had a better aesthetic except for the screaming furniture.

“All kneel before her most august majesty, Queen Graystone the First of the Kingdom of Graystone,” the herald said. My knees didn’t shift a fraction and now I was annoyed.

“Kneel? You ask me to kneel,” I said slowly and calmly. There were several people standing about the throne room along with soldiers. This time I had come by myself first to assess the situation. “I think all of you should kneel to me. An Emperor outranks a weak queen.” At the last part I turned to face the throne.

“While my herald may have been out of line, this is my kingdom. You have no authority here,” she said and I just began walking towards her. “What are you doing?” There was a hint of fear in her voice.

“I am merely going to rip your head off your body for your disrespect. You seem to be under some misconception that we are equals in any way. That any weapon or skill you have might threaten me.”

“Mind Crush.”

Air Burst. I tried to dodge while I was pushing energy out of my head. It was quickly cleaved through, then the skill hit me. I felt a massive pressure on my head and came to a stop. I brought my hand up to my nose. A single drop of blood.

“My turn,” I said as people began to flee the courtroom. Acid Shot x2,000.Air Burst. I flew up to the ceiling as I unleashed a tidal wave of acid. The short lived screams were quickly snuffed out. The queen had retreated up the wall, as her throne room and palace began to melt. Air Burst. I flew towards her.

“Mind-ACK!”My fist slammed into this woman’s gut. I felt her organs turn to pulp and her bones shatter as my fist went right through her until I was gripping her spine. Air Burst. I used the skill again to avoid the lake of acid beneath us as blood poured from her wound and her mouth.

“I am Emperor Michael. Do I have authority here?” I asked her and she nodded. Air Burst. The entire palace began to tilt. Lots of acid was not good for the foundation. I dragged the Queen out of the collapsing palace to the store pillars outside.

I purchased a restoration myself. It cost around twenty million points. That skill she used was probably a meta-point skill. Mind Crush, she should have gone for stats. They would have served her better. But causing people’s heads to explode was probably more entertaining. I tossed the Queen on one of the pillars, but she didn’t purchase a restoration. Oh, she had bled out. Well, she shouldn’t have attacked me first. What was she thinking?

Probably panicked when she encountered someone stronger than herself. I purchased some water to clean off my hand as I looked around. “Anyone else in charge?” I called out. There was silence. Everyone had run away. I poked the Queen’s corpse with my foot. “How annoying.”

“I am in charge,” a boy showed up in the plaza and called out, surrounded by twenty guards. “I am King Graystone the Second,” he said. I looked at the Queen and then the boy. She actually had a kid. Wow, I was no expecting that.

“You want to fight?” I asked as he walked over with his guards. I could see they were incredibly nervous.

“No. A ruler must learn to assess risks and rewards without emotion. While I am upset you killed my mother, I must be strong for my people,” he replied. How can you teach such a profound lesson and not follow it yourself Queen? Well I guess I was a hypocrite in a lot of things as well, so it wasn’t up to me to judge.

That was when a portion of the palace collapsed in on itself. I glanced over and then back at the new King. “No coronation ceremony?” I asked.

“I was already named the heir. And have authority here to surrender conditionally,” he said. I just shook my head.

“As surprising as it sounds, I am just here to talk. Your Queen insulted and attacked me first. Expecting me to kneel and respect her authority,” I said with a sneer.

“Why are you here then Emperor Michael?” the boy asked.

“Just going on a tour. If you have maps, you can trade them to me for a truce. If you have any other interesting research, then we can trade. I notice the equipment of your guards uses symbols tied to the type chart,” I pointed out.

“Our most valuable discovery. We would require something of equal value,” he said.

“Peace with The One. They were looking at expanding, but I can ensure that a peace treaty occurs,” I explained.

“Would you share this technology with them?” he asked.

“No. I would just allow peace to flourish,” I answered. The boy king scrunched up his face as he thought over my offer while his mother’s cooling corpse was off to the side. I felt a bit bad, but she was asking for it. I noticed that he looked back at the palace. Ah, he would have to dig stuff out of the rubble. That was his problem, not mine.

“I can accept those terms, but would like to go over the specifics,” he said. Whomever had been teaching him, had done a great job.

“Deal. Have everything ready by tomorrow morning at dawn. We can settle things up then, and I will depart.” The light source was getting close to the horizon. I gave him a nod which he returned. Air Burst. I flew back up to my airship.

“It appears things didn’t go well,” Captain Francis said.

“I had to kill the Queen, she attacked me. But her son is much more reasonable. We are making a trade and a treaty tomorrow morning. Keep a full watch during the night. I don’t expect them to try anything, but you never know,” I ordered.

“And we will depart after that?” Captain Francis asked, and I nodded.

“Yes. Onto the Holy Kingdom of God and to see if they are as useless as the Queen.” After explaining things to Captain Francis, I went to the delegation from The One. I told them that they better create a peace treaty or I would be unhappy. With my message conveyed I had lasagna for dinner and then slept after that.

In the morning, I went back down to the ground with the small air boat and some soldiers and The One’s delegation. The treaty terms were what they originally had in mind, which was quickly accepted by Graystone. The maps and research information was quickly handed over as well. After that we quickly left the city to continue our way to the Northwest and the next nation.

“Anything useful?” I asked Michelle who was sorting through everything along with a soldier who was on dedicated map duty. He had the best drawing hand, so he was responsible for making copies and recording the information in our style.

“Nothing that leaps out. Almost nothing on level 4 monsters and higher. We will have to check them out ourselves,” Michelle explained. I nodded at that. With how weak these people were, it wasn’t surprising.

“Annoying but doable. Once we are done with the Holy Kingdom, we will keep pushing East and then check the zones to the North. You notice the gap as well, right?” I asked her.

“It could just be void. There is a gap to the Southeast of the Systemic Lands as well. The Northwest could be like it,” she replied.

“With how squarish everything is in this place. I expect the Systemic Lands to be a box or a rectangle. High odds that there is an island or something out there. But that will have to wait,” I said.

“Until level 8?” Michelle asked.

“More like level 9 or 10 and the beam cannons are upgraded fully on the Crystal Vortex. I suspect that if there is anything out there, it won’t be an easy fight. But we can scope out the edge of the Systemic Lands for now and map out the monsters and towers. Locating all of them is a priority,” I said.

“It seems odd that there are 40 towers and 36 cities. You think we are missing cities?” Michelle asked me and I considered that question carefully.

“It does seem off. But the demographic distribution seems about right. Based on the languages spoken. You have gotten good at picking up on them with your monsters,” I replied.

“Useful skill, but you are right. We might need to do a more extensive analysis of the West side of the Systemic Lands just to be sure. But it does seem like four cities are missing,” Michelle said.

“Something to think about. But not something we can act on. There is only one outstanding vote. That is the best indicator that there is nothing else out there beyond the Sword. Unless it was something else that claimed a tower. Regardless, there is only one possible threat, everything else is just noise for now,” I replied, confident in my ability to handle anything that might come up.

“I am guessing you want my help with the towers?” Michelle asked.

“That would be nice. But you know my rush and crash into the top plan with an airboat. The expense will be painful, but it will be quite useful to skip the headache. But we aren’t doing that any time soon. Exploration first and probably grinding. Why are you asking?”

“Just figuring out what I need to prepare,” Michelle said.

“Towers won’t be for a while. Maybe. Might do all the ones in level 3 zones and just get them done. There are four in the East, and looking at the maps here, four by the Indian Sultanate and the Leader’s Domain, and at least two by the Holy Kingdom. So, ten more. With 20 votes from cities I control, I could get 32 out of 60 votes. Just enough to have a quorum and a majority,” I trailed off. I could get the votes needed right away. Nothing was stopping me except concern over what might trigger once I did.

“Change of plans?” Michelle asked me.

“I am thinking about it. It isn’t a simple decision. Who knows what might trigger,” I replied slowly.

“Also upgrading the cities is a lot of work. Maybe better to let it happen naturally and possibly claim more towers?” she suggested.

“That is a possibility. That is ten airboats and would take about fifty days with all the travel. But it is possible to claim the towers,” I said out loud. “We will do it as part of the exploration. Start clearing out the towers as we come across them. Start at the West end of the Systemic Lands, and make our way along the Southern edge, clear out the ones in our Empire, then sweep back North and out West once more,” I said while tracing my finger around the map.

It would spread out the costs and the time I spent, while dealing with the towers furthest away first. “Even if we spend a day per level 6 zone, we can move fairly quickly. The level 7 zones will be interesting, but I can scope out the edges much more. What do you think?” I asked Michelle.

“It would let us figure out most of the remaining zones, especially if you can explore the level 6 zones fully and check level 7 zones,” Michelle said.