Chapter 11: Valadriath

After I had told Targhas the truth about my nature, our merry band continued on our travels. Targhas did treat me with a certain amount of respect, after he found out how strong I was, and about my true nature, but I had expected nothing less. After all, when being shown a being so powerful that he could easily kill you, without anyone noticing, wouldn’t you treat him with respect? My power was far above what he could fathom, and as not so talented man, he could only hope to reach my level.

However, I had also told him that I would turn him into my kind, when we got to the city, and he knew what that meant. Therefore, he treated me with even more respect, as I was a saviour that would grant him the way to eternal life, and limitless power. Such an offer was beyond rare, and even more so when it came from me. There was a big difference between being turned by me, or a normal vampire. Or even a Pureblood Vampire. A Pureblooded Vampire, could never make another Pureblood, except through breeding. That ability was mine alone.

After being turned by me, his potential would naturally skyrocket. With his current ability, he could only hope to become a Saint, but never a Mythical Saint, or even Legendary Saint. Such ideas were only fantasy to him, even though he lived here, close to the center. But even if this was close to the center, there was still a limit to how strong people could become. It was still only the talented that could become Saints and above. A lot of people never even became A rankers. However, there was also a lot of people that did manage it. An A ranker was a normal sight.

However, there was still something special about this place. Targhas had told me that every person born here, would naturally reach the D rank, after becoming an adult. Thus, there were still many people capable of reaching A rank, or becoming a Saint. In fact, number of A rankers, and even Saints, far outnumbered the population of the entire Marestir Peninsula. However, this could be attributed to the fact that every continent here, was countless times bigger than the Marestir Peninsula.

Thus, the population far outnumbered the Marestir Peninsula and the surrounding continents, and they were also far more numerous. This world was indeed huge. People said that no one person could ever know just how big it was. It was so huge that no one ever dared even name it. It was only referred to, as the World. Not just the continents, there was also, the Wilderness. The great wilderness of the center of the World. It was so unfathomably huge that no one had ever made it to the center, or if they had, they hadn’t made it back out yet! The Wilderness made up a large portion of the World, and it was filled with countless beasts and monsters, many of unfathomable strength.

And this very Wilderness, was to our side at this very moment. I could see it, and its huge, sky reaching trees. The trees were so high that we couldn’t even see the top. They were shrouded in clouds. And in between this trees, was a large amount of people, all armed. They were all of varying strength. Some, who weren’t wearing armour or weapons, were D ranked, while others were Saints and Mythical Saints. In the front of all these brave warriors, was a single man. A single, peak ranked, Mythical Saint.

He wore long, red hair that reached his waist. On his cheek, was a crimson tattoo, showing a crimson eye, with a single streak going through it. This crimson line, went all the way up to his eye lid, making it look like a tear of blood. He also wore a crimson coat, crimson boots. Everything was adorned in crimson, making him look almost like a flame, as his hair swept with the wind.

Targhas looked almost as if he had seen a ghost, or as if some great calamity was upon us.

“The Afflicted Prince!” He yelled, for all of us to hear. So this was the Afflicted Prince? He sure did have quite an image. He looked rather intimidating. He looked through all of us, focusing on me for just a while, before he continued to the others.

“Who amongst you is the great warrior who killed my men?” He asked, with a thundering voice that still seemed calm like water. I calmly stepped forwards.

“That would be me,” I said, however, just as soon as I finished, he charged straight at me, with all of his power. In a flash of power, his fist hit my head, and my body torpedoed away, and made a large crater at impact.

“Humph, is that supposed to be the great warrior that killed five trillion people? What a disappointment,” the Afflicted Prince said, as he turned to leave.

“Indeed, your punch is a little bit strong,” I said, as I calmly rose from the crater, without as much as a speck of dust on me.

“However, if you wish to injure me, you will need just a bit more. Perhaps I should give you an example, so that you learn for next time,” I said. Then in another flash of power, I charged at him. In an instant, my fist connected to his face, before he even managed to react, and he was sent flying. He flew through the trees, causing several of them to shatter and fall, until finally he connected to the ground, creating a huge crater. Suddenly, in the dense forest, a clearing had appeared.

Out of the newly appeared clearing, rose the bloodied Afflicted Prince. His back was hunched, and he rested his arm on his knee. He was shivering. Several cuts and bruises had appeared all over his body. Even though he was a powerful Mythical Saint, he had been cut. It wasn’t from a sword or blade, but a punch! He had been blasted away with such ferocity that he had been continuously cut, by the weak trees and branches, and stones and rocks. He couldn’t understand it. He had never fought with a Legendary Saint before; he couldn’t understand it! Even though the branches were far weaker than his skin, they still cut him! This was the force with which, he had been blown away.

It was absolute power.

However, the truth was much more simple. It was not the trees and rocks, which cut him. I had just sneakily used my energy to cut him, as he was blasted away, giving an illusion of being cut by the trees and rocks. No matter what, a tree branch, would never be able to cut a Mythical Saint, or even just an A ranker, without some sort of strengthening, like covering it with energy.

He slowly rose, straightening his back. He jumped out of the pit, and looked around him. He was trying to find me; whether or not I had followed him. However, as he turned around once more, he was clearly surprised, as I appeared right in front of his face.

“There you go. Or do you want another demonstration?” I asked him. He was visibly appalled, as his face contorted, and he stepped a few steps back. He had clearly lost all will to fight me. He was no moron. He already knew that he stood no chance.

“No, no, I’m quite alright,” he quickly said. Even though he was a Mythical Saint, who had lived for thousands of years; met all kinds of troubles, he was nervous. An invincible Mythical Saint, in front of a Legendary Saint, would still feel fear. After all, only the stupid would needlessly fight someone above them.

However, being the experienced fighter he was, he would naturally want to turn this situation around. If he could win my favour, he would try to. He quickly composed himself, and bowed to me.

“I would like to apologize for my previous rudeness, as well as the previous rudeness of my subordinates. In this world, you can never know when someone is bluffing, and the story which I was told, sounded rather exaggerated, so I had doubt of your strength. Now, however, I hold no such doubt. I hope you can find it in your heart, and forgive my foolishness,” he said magnanimously. He truly spared no effort in both sounding apologetic, while still keeping face.

“Hahaha, no worries, no worries. I didn’t ever intend to kill you, just teach you a lesson. The truth is, I’m not quite from these parts. I came here through some weird magic, and know very little about this place. As of now, I am heading to the home city of my friend over there, but I could always use more allies in these lands. You are quite strong, and will be able to reach the Legendary Saint level soon, so I find some worth in you,” I said. The Prince, was a bit taken aback, but quickly gave a genuine smile. He had been saved!

“Aha, so it was only that? Then, let’s exchange signatures,” he said.

“Signatures? What do you mean?” I asked him, being quite confused by his little idea.

“Oh, you don’t know? You must truly have come from far away then,” he said, as an object appeared in his hand.

“You see this? This is a Communication Orb. It allows us to contact each other, even when we’re far away from each other. Although, there is a limit. If you leave the continent, it will probably not be able to reach. At least, not this model. There are models with further reach, but they’re extremely expensive. For now, I shall gift one to you,” he said, and gave me the little orb.

“Huh, this is quite interesting. And useful. I’ll have to thank you for this, but I don’t have many items with me. They were all left back home. I wasn’t quite prepared for this journey, you see,” I told him.

“Oh, no worries. This isn’t too much for me. You can just pay me back at your leisure,” he said.

“If you say so. Well then, we will take our leave now, and we’ll meet again in the future. Also, don’t tell anyone about me. Someone getting teleported here from a great distance would bring some attention, which I don’t want,” I said. At the last words, my tone was especially threatening. The Afflicted Prince silently nodded his head, in response.

Thus, without another word, I turned around and got back to the caravan. Targhas looked at me with a worried expression, as I walked towards him. The men of the Afflicted Prince looked even more worried, but as they saw their leader coming out of the forest, they calmed down, somewhat. The Afflicted Prince looked towards me, and said,

“We’ll meet again!”

3rd person perspective.

As he watched him leave, he could only think a single though.

‘Holy fucking shit! I really dodged an arrow there!” He said, with a composed, calm expression that showed utmost confidence and valour. However, inside he was still panicking, and celebrating for not getting his head blown off.

1st person perspective, Isaac.

Thus, we got back on our journey. However, after we had travelled a bit, I realized, I never actually got his real name, and neither did he get mine. However, I decided that it didn’t matter too much, we could have our introductions the next time we meet, as long as he doesn’t betray my trust.

The last days of our journey were uneventful, as nothing really happened. A few months passed, and we finally arrived at a large city. And I mean large. The walls were absolutely towering, going at least a few hundred meters into the sky, and there was no end to their reach. They just continued into the horizon. I was quite flabbergasted, as I took in the sight. I had seen large cities before, but nothing compared to this. This could be identified as a whole country! It was just too huge. Targhas noticed my look.

“What, have you never seen a city before?” He asked, with a confused expression. He didn’t expect me, a legendary Legendary Saint, to be this surprised from the mere sight of a city.

“I have seen cities before, but this can’t be called a city! It’s huge! Where I’m from cities are less than a thousandth the size of this!” I exclaimed.

And indeed it was so. From what I learned, this city could compare to an entire country in the Marestir Peninsula. Just the population numbered in at least several hundred million, for the average city. A big city could even have several billion citizens. This city, for example, had over two billion people in it! This size was breathtaking.

Naturally, this kind of population wasn’t easy to uphold. But what kind of place was this? This was a place, where an A ranker, could barely become a merchant, with some luck. You would find family that uses A rankers as servants, or low rank bodyguards. They could even become normal workers. The weakest people were no lower than D rank, and the vast majority were stronger. And this wasn’t like the Marestir Peninsula, or the Sword Continent. The average D ranker could live for over two hundred years, no problem. An A ranker, could even live for up to a thousand years. The reason for this, was of course the Natural Energy. This amount of Natural Energy even allowed for Immortals, and increased the base strength of everyone. Even a young child would be an E ranker.

Your average child from this continent could kill a hundred of your average adults, front the Marestir Peninsula. It was absolutely insane. Naturally the number of A rankers was immeasurable. If I could ever bring this kind of power to my home continent, I would consider it quite a success. However, I had no idea how such a thing could even be possible. However, I didn’t rule it out as a possibility.

After Targhas explained me the cities of this ‘world’, we continued towards the city. Which took a week. The city was so large that you could see it an extreme distance away. However, we were travelling with a caravan, so our speed was limited. If I went alone, I could make it there very quickly. I was in no hurry, though.

We leisurely made our way there, and eventually arrived at a huge gate, where we lined up. There was one line for people, and another for merchants and caravans, as there were different procedures for it. There was also another line, which was empty, except for a single person, who got in without trouble. We lined up at the merchant line, and got to the checkpoint after about an hour or two. Targhas was in the lead, as I stood next to him.

“What goods are you carrying?” The guard asked in a monotone tone. Targhas quickly took a list out,

“I’m carrying thirty kilos silver, three kilos gems, fifty kilos linen…” he listed of several items, and quantities, which the guard listed down. Then he asked,

“Do you have all the sales documents, and proof of purchase?” with the same monotone voice. Targhas quickly got even more documents, and gave them. In the end, the process took a good hour, as they had to check for illegal items, and check licences, and several other things. It was a very strict procedure, and you needed documents for all the items which you purchased; proof of ownership. They all carried a special mark, too, so they were very hard to fake.

If you tried to live as a bandit, you would find it very hard to sell your loot, at least in a city. Smuggling was a near impossible feat, as well. The security was really amazing. There was no shortage of guards either, and the weakest of them were A rankers, and there were several Saints, and even a few Mythical Saints. However, this also caused them to pay us more respect, as they could clearly see me, and realize that I was no weak figure. So the procedures went pretty quickly and smoothly.

It didn’t take long, before we found ourselves walking on the roads of the city. There were countless people walking around the roads, going about their business. However, it was still a spectacular sight. There were countless humanoids. Not humans, but humanoids. There were beings of all kinds of nature, and colour. Green people, blue skinned, any colour you could think off. Some had horns, some had four arms. There were elves and orcs, goblins and gnomes, any race you could think of; it was here. There were even beings that reached several meters in height.

“Well, here we are; the City of Xarxes! It is one of the great cities of our country; the capital of the Dominion of Valadriath!”

End of chapter 11.