"Please, sit," the king offered while extending his hand toward the chairs on the other side of his desk. His hand trembled.

Aaron Ironblood had requested a discrete meeting in the king's private study first thing in the morning, and the king had acquiesced. Now, looking at the source of his troubles, he felt fright like never before.

It was one thing to read reports about a man becoming a Two Star Qi Manipulator in a single day, and a Three Star Qi Manipulator less than a week later. It was another thing entirely to see it for himself. And it was even worse to notice the man was also a One Star Arcanist now.

Yet even that wasn't as troubling as what his skill, Sovereign Analysis, was telling the king. It was a skill given to him by the Thenor Empire when he became king of a vassal state, and it was supposed to detect threats. He didn't know exactly how it worked, but it did work. It was also a passive skill, something that was always activated and he had no control over.

The greater the threat, the brighter whoever he was looking at shone.

Ironblood was shining like a sun, hurting the king's eyes even though the light was supposed to be something he only perceived on a spiritual level.

The man was clad like a Rogue but sat on the chair as if it was a throne. When he had first came to this world, he had already had poise and arrogance, treating the king as an equal. At the time, it had infuriated the king. Now that Ironblood was treating him as something beneath, the king only knew this to be true.

He was an exalted Four Star Psion, but the Three Star Qi Manipulator in front of him could easily crush him.

"How may I help you?" the king asked and sat only after both Ironblood and his woman did. He recognized the Temple of Light's clothing the girl was wearing, but she looked tipsy. The Goddess of Light didn't condemn drinking, but drunk Priests were always to remain indoors, lest they shame the temple's image.

That said, the king didn't even try to guess what was going on. That's how he was expected to behave in front of the emperor or his envoys, and that's how he decided to behave in front of Aaron Ironblood and his people. Ignorance and compliance would be his lifelines.

Of course, he expected the girl to be the Priestess who was part of the mercenary group he had joined, but he wouldn't even try to confirm that.

As for the unconscious woman he was carrying under his arm like a sack of potatoes, which was the Shaper who had summoned the Hero to this world...

The king just pretended not to see her. Not at all. Nope.

"I need formal documents recognizing the promises you made me, to begin with," Ironblood said.

The king had foreseen this and opened a drawer, taking a pile of papers from within. He put it on the desk deferentially. Ironblood waved his hand and everything disappeared into his storage ring.

Just like that, a good quarter of the land in his kingdom had been given away. It hurt the king, but he reckoned dying would hurt more. His pride was already gone anyway, ever since he had publicly revealed all his sins in the Ritual of Virtue and was given humiliating tasks to atone for them.

"I also require your counsel on business matters," Ironblood continued. "I plan on purchasing land here on Illyria. A place to serve as local headquarters for my Ironblood Clan, an embassy for my duchy, and a shop for business. I reckon you would know better than me a place both large and well placed enough to fit these requirements."

The king's political experience immediately picked on the hidden meanings of the man's words. Ironblood had come for that, not for the documents. He wanted an extra bribe to keep the king alive, land large enough to fit a clan, and commercially well-positioned enough that he could make riches by selling things there.

Luckily, while the king couldn't provide something that good, for he didn't have it, he could show Ironblood he didn't need all that. That the Herald of Light already had most of what he wanted. The bribe would be of a different kind, but hopefully, good enough.

"I was told you have been given the Arcane Circle's authority within my borders," he said. "This means the Arcane Tower has naturally become yours, together with three stores in prime land throughout the city. While the Tower itself has unfortunately been destroyed in a fire, I beg you to allow me to rebuild it. Naturally, living in a store is below your esteemed position, so allow me to gift you a small manor I own."

This was a slightly risky move by the king. He would do his best, but he was gifting Ironblood just his second-best manor in the city. A test of waters as much as a submission.

The man's answer surprised him.

"I expect the Tower to be rebuilt in three days," Ironblood said, and the king paled. Doing it that fast would take lots of resources in urgency fees. "As for the rest, it won't be necessary at all. Tell me where the old Arcane Circle's stores lie, and I'll cater to my needs myself. I trust I won't have any trouble with regulations pertaining to opening and maintaining a shop in the capital?"

"No, of course not," the king blurted.

He, as all smart kings, was a bureaucrat. He had enough laws in place to make it a chore to open a business legally, and enough regulations to make it completely impossible to keep any business completely legal once open. The rich would grease his hands to not be bothered by his inspectors, while the poor would always be at his mercy. A system where only he and his people won.

But he would have to be much stupider than he considered himself to be to go against Aaron Ironblood again. If anything, he appreciated the warning. He would make sure to order all inspectors to stay away from Aaron Ironblood and whatever he owned or did.

"Good," Ironblood said and stood up. The king followed suit out of respect.

"Already?!" the Priestess said with a drunk voice. "We just got here! I don't want to walk anymore, I'm tiiiiiired."

Ironblood patted her on the head, which made her positively delighted. She moved her head around to make him pat the good spots, behaving like a kind of human-dog.

The king didn't even want to imagine what the man had done to the woman to make her like this.

"Let's go," he ordered, leaving the room. She followed him obediently.

A few minutes after Ironblood had left, the king sat back and let out a sigh of relief. He had lived. Ironblood wasn't furious at him. That was enough.

Now, he only had to find out a way to give the man a hint about the incoming Imperial Purge without making it look like he was asking for a favor in dealing with it.

His kingdom's coffers simply couldn't afford to bribe Aaron Ironblood again.

The world was a beautiful place. Lana didn't know why she hadn't realized it before, but she did now. All those colors and all that energy around her!

It made her very, very, very grateful to her Patriarch.

She wanted to stay like this forever!

But the voice in her head was becoming more and more and more annoying. Telling her to behave, to act like a proper Priestess. If she had to behave to be a Priestess, she didn't want to be a Priestess anymore!

[Class Change]

You cannot be without a class.

Please choose a new class to change to.

Lana dismissed the prompt yet again. Those Heavenly Messages could be sooooo annoying too. Everything and everyone seemed like they wanted to annoy her!

The world was an annoying place.

And annoyance reminded her of Logan.

She didn't know why, but there were these memories coming to her. Of Logan doing things to her.

Not the kind of things she wanted to do to her handsome and powerful and incredible Patriarch — which she wouldn't, for she was a good girl that obeyed her parents!

'Be a good girl,' her mind agreed, which only upset her and made her think even harder about Logan for some reason.

He had done things to her soul. Or maybe spirit? Or mind? She wasn't sure, but he had done things to her since he first got his Confluencer class. Before he should be able to, before he supposedly got access to animals' essences for the first time.

It was almost as if his class was something else. But no, that couldn't be. Logan was too prideful to pretend he had gotten something worse than he did.

Unless he had been tricked too?

Ahhh! She screamed in her mind. Even thinking about him was annoying! Almost as annoying as being forced to obey him against her wishes! As being forced to pretend she cared about him even when he had also acted like an ungrateful ass for all his life!

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

That was wrong.

She shouldn't think like that.

That was wrong. Logan had said so. She had to be a good girl, loyal to her brother. Her mind had to obey.

Obey.

OBEY!

'Yes, I should obey,' she thought. That felt right. That felt like it would solve aaaaall his problems. They would aaaaall go away the moment she gave in.

She could even start feeling good already—

No.

No!

She was tired of this!

She didn't want to obey Logan anymore!

She wanted to be free! Free!

Free like the beautiful butterfly she had seen!

Free like Tia who had run away from home!

Free like Alys who had left the Arcane Circle!

Free, free, free!

The very same freedom the Patriarch had given her by allowing her to see how wonderful and beautiful and colorful the world was!

She would be free!

[Attribute Increased]

Mind: 3

» Willpower: 2 → 3 | Reasoning: 0 (1) | Perception: 9 (1)

[Willpower Check Successful]

Mind control removed.

She rolled her eyes. The Heavenly Message always said she failed a mysterious willpower check, and it was annoying too-

No.

She had succeeded.

No!

She was feeling things she hadn't for a long time.

NO!

She paled.

Reality struck her like a hammer. A reality so terrible it even went through her blissful state and slammed her ego right into place.

Logan had never been her brother.

He had been planted in place by the Black Hand. Everyone's memories had been altered, but now, she remembered. She remembered being four years old when the Black Hand came to her house and placed the infant as her brother.

The boy was as much a victim as a perpetrator. He also believed himself to be part of the family, to be a Seccos. His own memories had been altered. But his personality had never been that of a dutiful son. He had always behaved like someone who was there to wreak havoc.

As she remembered the times he had ordered her to strip to check the physical effects of pushing a plant essence into her, she felt shivers. The only silver lining was that the man seemed way too engrossed with his sick experiments to do anything else to her. And the only reason the experiments hadn't left lasting damage was that he hadn't wanted to be caught and quickly reverted what he did to her.

She still felt used though.

And dirty.

And... and... and lied to. Betrayed. By the one who mattered the most.

"My goddess, why have you not protected me?!" she screamed in her mind while tears fell from her eyes.

Lana felt surprise come from her connection to her Goddess for instant, and then it was replaced by absolute dread. The goddess feared Lana breaking the mind control. But not because of Lana. Not even because of the Patriarch.

No, the Goddess of Light feared something greater.

The last thing she felt from the connection was a sense of defiance and protection. And the last words she heard were, "Child, only ever tell what happened to your Patriarch. Hide it from everyone else. Even from the Temple of Light. That's the only way to protect you long enough for—"

The connection was abruptly cut.

A moment later, Lana received six Heavenly Messages.

[Class Forcibly Removed]

You have lost your Priestess of Light class!

Your class has been set to Learner!

You have three days to choose another class before the Class Change cooldown starts.

First, she lost her class.

[Energy Specialization Removed]

You have lost your attunement to Light Holy Energy!

Then she lost her Energy Specialization.

[Attribute Decreased]

Energy: 3 → 0

» Type: Holy | Quantity: 3 → 0 | Control: 3 → 0

[Main Energy Changed]

Old Energy: Holy

New Energy: Qi

[Attribute Increased]

Energy: 0 → 1

» Type: Qi | Quantity: 1 | Control: 2

Then her power.

[Level Down]

New level: 1 - One Star

You're able to destroy a wall with raw power, using no skills.

And lastly, her pride.

That, together with the shock of waking up from her mind control, was too much for her.

She screamed, put her hands on her head, and fainted.