"You doing okay, Kuro? You've been working pretty hard for the past couple of months," Said Persia, concern in her voice as she stroked my head.

It was a few hours after I met with Rion, and I was currently back in my room with Persia, resting my head on her lap.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just...with the growing tensions around the world, I feel like I can't afford to slack off at all...the Laus Domain is suddenly starting to get aggressive, I don't know what happened, but from what I'm seeing through my monsters, Sant's attitude has gone through a complete one eighty, and then there's the Rustlands with the Ghouls and-," I grumbled with a frown.

"Shh, just relax, Kuro...you don't have to think about any of that right now," She interrupted with a smile, leaning down and kissing the tip of my nose while playing with my earlobes.

"Yeah...you're right, me getting stressed out isn't going to help Abyss. Oh, by the way, did Rai or one of the others measure your power level?" I asked, as I let my head sink into her thighs with a contented sigh.

"Oh, yeah, Key scanned me with those glasses...at my full power, it was something like 65,000, I think. What about yours, Kuro? I bet yours is way above anyone else's," She replied.

"Not quite...in Diablo Mode, my power level is above 270,000...and Az's full power surpasses that by a good 80,000 or so," I responded with a wry smile.

"Wait, what? You mean he's above like 350,000!? Huh, wow...all of a sudden, my sixty-odd thousand feels a lot more inadequate," Sighed Persia wistfully.

"I'm guessing the gap between him and I was a lot more minimal before, but after gaining the life force and powers of the Sea King to complement his Water and Ice Magic, he's probably close to undefeatable now," I remarked.

"Heh, remember when he was trying to avoid attracting attention and hide his powers? And now...it wouldn't be a stretch to call him the most powerful being in the entire world," Pointed out Persia.

Yeah, she's got a point...thinking back on how things were a couple of years ago, it's kinda surreal to think about how much things have changed. I arrived in this world a little over three years ago now, and almost right from the beginning, I've been in the thick of things.

Well, to be fair, this is an incredibly small world, so saying that I've been a part of every major global incident since coming here...really isn't saying a lot, like, at all. And at this point, I'm far too involved to back out now...

...

...

The next morning, upon Rion's request, I had everyone in Abyss gather outside the castle, to share the results of the power level scans...

"Thanks for showing up, everyone...now, then, we've got an announcement, which concerns a new invention...a device that can display anyone's power level...so long as you're not a respawnable monster. Some of you probably already know about it, having had your power levels scanned today. All the power levels have been compiled, and using those as a guide, the ranking system has been adjusted. Now, to get into the details...Rion, take it away," I remarked, passing the loudspeaker to him.

"You got it, Dark Lord, m'dude! Alrighty, let me start by saying that barely any changes were made to the ranking system, the order of the rankings didn't change at all when compared to the recorded power levels, except that a few people were shifted downwards to accommodate the Dragons in the rankings," Explained Rion, before getting into the meat of it, "Let me share the updated criteria for the rankings...first off, everyone's power levels at their full power is the indicator that we're using to rank them, not their base power, for those who can transform."

Yeah, I'm all for that, considering that my base power level would rank me way down in the list.

"Since everyone who was already in the ranking system was barely affected by the addition of power levels, I'll just announce where the Dragons slotted in, we'll put up a poster with the specific rankings later!" Continued Rion enthusiastically, "Starting from the bottom, the rank of Trooper...primarily consisting of just under five hundred thousand human soldiers, we also have every respawnable monster, which now includes Wyverns and Lesser Dragons!"

Lesser Dragons are pretty powerful, about twice as deadly as Wyverns are, and way stronger than any respawnable monster, but since we can't measure their power levels, not to mention their lack of intelligence, we're dumping them all into the same rank of our general army.

"Next up is the rank of Sentinel...those that fall under this rank possess power levels of between 4,000 and 10,000. Since the remaining Dragons all possess higher power levels than that range, there are no new entrants to this rank. Above Sentinel is the rank of Warrior, which covers power levels of between 10,000 to 25,000...all High Dragons fall under this category!"

He was speaking in a loud voice and with a lot of energy, making plenty of gestures and extravagant moves...he sure knows how to entertain a crowd, doesn't he?

"The ranking second from the top is next, the rank of Archwarrior! The Elemental Dragons fall under this category, which covers all power levels from 25,000, all the way up to a neat 100,000! And last, but the total opposite of least, is the top rank of Destroyer...joining our Dark Lord Kuro Black and Elemental Sage Azyl Roake, is the Flame Dragon, aka Dragon King, Draco, with a power level of around a 110,000!"

Note to self, I should conduct more events where everyone mingles like this...in a nation of such variety, it's a bad idea to let groups form, I'd much rather have everyone on the same page, as much as possible, at least.

We've recently gotten a bunch of businesses up and running, including distilleries...which means we've got booze. Alright, then...

"Your attention please, everyone," I cleared my throat, after gesturing to Rion to pass the loudspeaker back to me, "In what's been a pretty short time, this nation is well and truly up and running, and it's all thanks to every one of you putting in the effort...I'd like to show you all my appreciation, so for the rest of the day...party hard, bitches! That's right, cook up and eat all the food you want till you burst, drink till you puke, smoke till your lungs are destroyed and enjoy yourselves to your hearts' content...the only rule is that you're not allowed to hurt anyone, unless two parties agree to a friendly duel, in which case, knock yourselves out! I'll make sure to keep an eye out in case anything happens, so rest easy and have fun!"

As I finished my announcement, I was met with raucous cheers and enthusiastic responses, from both human and monster alike...I could get used to this. Probably shouldn't do this too often though...

...

"Hey, guys, enjoying yourselves?" I inquired with a grin, as I strolled through the castle and encountered some of the Vampires and Dragons.

Zero, a couple of the Vampire Knights, and two of the Elemental Dragons were chatting lightheartedly, armed with drinks and food...huh, the Dragons are holding a ton of meat skewers, go figure.

"Ah, Lord Kuro. Yes, I am having a splendid time, a day without work is truly a day to savor," Replied Zero, as he took a swig of his drink with a contented sigh.

"It really is unfortunate that the strongest of us remaining Vampires is...like this," Sighed Cleon Radomir, one of the Vampire Knights.

"Well, he complains a lot, but he gets the job done, I can work with that," I responded with a grin.

"Except that he always pawns off a significant amount of his workload onto us-," Began Lucia Ianthe indignantly, another of the Vampire Knights.

"Ahem, today is a day of celebration, do not sour it with your petty complaints," Scoffed Zero haughtily, only annoying them even more.

I then turned to the two Dragons as the Vampires began arguing amongst themselves.

"So, what about you two? Having a good time?" I asked with a smile.

"Yes, indeed, we are," Replied one of them politely, the Wind Dragon, Cyclone.

"Very much so, it is just...rather surprising. To see humans and so many different monsters coexisting like this, it is so unnatural from the world we knew before we were sealed...and yet, it is not unpleasant, this may be the most that I have ever felt at ease," Added Rain, the Water Dragon.

"I see, that's great to hear...well, I'll let you get back to it, I'll see you around, enjoy yourselves," I waved as left, they bowed their heads respectfully in response.

Good, looks like things are going well...I'm keeping an eye on what's going on using my monsters, just to make sure things don't get out of hand. I think I'll go relax in my throne room for a bit...I don't know what it is exactly, but pacing around that large space is somehow really relaxing.

As I reached the throne room and pushed the doors opened, my eyes widened a bit in surprise as I saw that it was already occupied.

"Yo, dude, we've been waiting for ya!" Grinned Rai, his eyes red...that smell, no doubt about it.

"You guys seriously smoking up in the throne room?" I inquired with a chuckle.

"I hope that's not a problem, my lord," Joked Key with a stoned grin, prompting the rest to laugh goofily at her exaggeratedly formal tone.

In addition to Rai, it was the rest of us that used to be known as Group D, back in the Rustlands Adventurer Academy...Persia, Az and Key...though on the inside, she's-...no, I promised myself that I wouldn't think about the fact that it isn't really her.

"Something wrong, Kuro?" Asked Persia, as my face clouded over for a moment.

"Nah, no worries, just a bit tired, I guess...nothing a little puff, puff, pass can't fix," I responded with a grin, forcing myself to take my mind off it.

I sat down alongside them and took a puff as Az passed me the joint, exhaling slowly.

"Remember the first time we did this? That was just before you three went on the Goldway Quest," Recalled Rai with a wistful sigh.

"Yeah...things were way more peaceful back then, huh?" Added Az, a nostalgic look on his face.

"The Zombies were the worst...but we did get to see a fraction of what Az was capable of, so it wasn't all bad," Joked Persia with a laugh.

"I mean, millions of people died," Pointed out Az.

"Yeah, too soon, Persia!" Exclaimed Rai, before coughing as he choked on a laugh.

This is nice...just chilling and reminiscing like this, I like it. In the grand scheme of things, it seems like something pretty minor and insignificant, but right here and now...it feels anything but insignificant...

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