So far I followed the rules of the challenge. I have not interfered and watched humanity like a true observer. I watched how humans slaughter each other and pillage their own neighbors. They even do some things that I don't dare to mention. It does not mean that all they do is negative though. Some stood up and defended the helpless. Some helped the poor to live another day. There were even some that welcomed strangers into their homes in times of need. All in all human is a grey colored creature. Some are white and some are black. I'm wondering how to proceed from this point actually. In my head, I picture them to be this horrible and meaningless race. Reality though is that they can be of some use. They have wasted high intellect and some of them still have conscience. Their works are so vast that I can't conclude if I should smite them or not. It's unlike me to be this undeceive since I only do things with my judgement. As time goes on though and my knowledge starts to catch up, decision making started to become hard. Learning how to consider things makes decision making take longer time. So far, the human alliance has not broken down. Only small skirmishes happen here and there. No empires have declared war against each other for now. The situation does not seem to be good though. When the empire's soldiers went back to their respective place, situation changed. Every empire discovered that they still have vast army and power to crush smaller lands. The sudden influx of power available in their hands when there is no foe to fight is astonishing. Due to the changes when the armies have no one to fight with, some of them returned home and farm. Most of them though remained in service making the empire gain massive strength. With the discovery of many early Supreme Magus, empires started to recruit them by any means. The need to defend humanity revealed most of the people hiding in seclusion. Not all are at early Supreme Magus but there are a lot of stronger ones within the empire. If not for the sudden threat, these unknown forces would have continued to elude the empires. Now that their existence came into light, empires started to fight for them. Some of those chose to reject the empire and continued to live in seclusion. Those people soon found out that their heads were worth a huge bounty. The empires started to get hungry for more power and their means in acquiring them started to get worse. "Are they so hungry for power?" I asked as I watch another human get skewered by his fellowmen due to refusal. "Or maybe they are afraid of power which is not in their grasp?" I wonder which it is. Anyway, their situation is going downhill. The empires which received the full brunt of the war started their reconstructions. Due to them having the greatest merits during the war, great compensations were given. Soon those empires will grow more powerful. The armies will also become bigger. Their needs will increase and they will need more resources to sustain their empires. Their lands can only do so much and they will soon need bigger space. "War is inevitable." I turned back and left the place. I am wandering here and there looking around to see what is happening around the island. I sometimes visit the elves and the treant but they are doing well so far. The elves were happy that there is no war and they went back into the deeper forest to live in seclusion once again. In a sense, they are fortunate. They have vast lands which no one wants due to the massive number of strong magic beasts. The trees are a challenge themselves since they are not your normal backyard trees. The forest of the east was special since they are the forest of the treants. Once you harm one, then prepare for the wrath of the entire forest. Due to their vast land and resources, the elves and other wood dwellers thrive in these lands. They hardly have anything they disagree since every area has a treant that owns it. Elves do not have particular tribe or a kingdom or a queen to lead. All they belong to the forest. The forest is their empire and leader at the same time. The half-lings on the south are the opposite of the elves. This land is the land of bloodshed. Every day is war and every year is war. There is no such thing as peace in here as they all fight to defend every inch of their land. The community is different in the south. You can call them a pack, a herd, a pride or anything else. They only care for those in their sides and anyone else invading their turf is enemy. In this land, there is no one who can survive alone. All areas are taken by groups and there is no such land which is not claimed. If one is brave enough to hunt along their borders then they should be prepared by a pincer attack from both sides. The southern part of Mirth is the home of the strong. The half-lings hail from various races and so their groups are diverse. This is not a group of same race but various races which compliments each other. To these lands, race does not matter. Your abilities do. For now, I lost interest in combining magic spells. I decided to stay within the south and build my own group. So far, I have no other members of my group but I have a good territory. It's ideal for hunting and the vegetation is just right. The spot is also near a lake so everything seems good. Though I wonder why no one comes to be part of my group. The land is good. There is water and there is a good amount of spice and vegetables. With my help, there is no problem with fruits since I planted several good ones from the island. "Seven days and there is no one who wants to join me." I said as I watch my borders. I am looking for strays which were ether chased out from their territory or the rouges who fled their group. They later sound bad but you can never know the reasons behind for them to leave their group. I can only hope that they are not the misbehaving type as that will warrant trouble. "Come on people, this land is good. Come to boss Drake..." I am humming randomly as I watch the borders. At first, I thought that I will be having my own territory and members easily since I have the power to take and defend. Sadly, the only thing I got is the territory. This one is supposed to be one of the most ideal one and a large group occupies it before. They are a group of random half-lings with both male and female. The community itself is stable but their leader is a bit of an idiot. I can only chuckle on how ridiculous is he. He even wants my garments saying that a mere human should not be wearing it. What an idiot for saying I am a human. So there you have it, I have so much territory but no one to take advantage of it. I don't have any experience in managing a territory but I can act like a boss. Maybe I should find someone capable of managing the territory first. Everything will follow soon enough. "Now then... where should I go?" This land is at war every second. I can wait on sidelines and pick up the losing side. Or what will remain of them. First I need some that will manage then others that I can agree with. It would not be fun if I can't agree with the other resident. I flew in the sky while surveying the land. There are fights here and there. Some were just along the borders but some are way too deep in a territory. The scale of them can't compare into a true war but the brutality included is astonishing. "This is the land of the half-lings." I mumbled. I flew for an entire noon without finding someone. It is depressing but this is how things went. When I am preparing to go back, I noticed someone that I remember. She was on a huge tree with a comfortable position while taking a nap. She was away from most of the battles here and there and she has a lot of prey beside her. "Isn't this the one that ran away from me the last time?" This is the mixed raced that I helped once. She was facing many Lost Lambs. She left right after the situation cleared and left before I can say anything else. This kind of person needs to be taught a lesson. I flew down and landed beside her. She was still rolling here and there like she was looking for the best spot. She was mumbling about this warden and stair but I can't connect the dots. I have this urge to kick her to wake her up but I restrained myself. "Ahem." "Mwu?" Her cat ears twitched for a little then her eyes started to open. It would have looked cool if there is no drool alongside her mouth. Her vision locked on me and somehow her eyes started dropping down once again. What's wrong with this cat? "I will blow up your head if you dare to sleep again." I cast a simple fireball but she was not waking up. This time I mixed it with explosion spell. The fireball grew a little but not too much. Though the center of the fireball started to boil like a volcano ready to erupt. Somehow my threat worked as the cat person jumped on her feet while looking at my hand warily. "What do you want?" her eyes are somewhat different. I can somehow feel a tinge of fear. "You owe me back then." Her eyes started to change once again and she started to relax. The tense atmosphere suddenly disappeared like a lie. "That was the Buddy rule my friend." She said as she pick up a fruit and munch into it. "Buddy rule your head. There is no such thing!" That was the most irritating fact of the event. I was fooled fair and square and I did not even realize it until a few months later. It was so vexing when I remember it. Now it was plain embarrassing while facing her again. "Come and manage my territory then we are even." "No." "Are you sure about that?" The fireball in my hand expanded and turned black. "Still no?" Her voice is cracking a little bit. "I think I can make you do it nonetheless." I smiled at her but somehow she is stepping backwards. "Uhmm... I have somewhere else to go!" her voice sounds weird. "Right! I have somewhere to go!" "You can argue all you want but you are coming with me." I said as I made a gesture to grab her. When my hand is near her, tails suddenly appeared behind her and acted like hands. They were trashing everything and the tree we are on exploded into tiny pieces due to her power. I looked at her and somehow her level started to rise abnormally. When I met her, she was only at the early 14th tier and now she is already at 15 and almost sixteen. I am a bit surprised but she is still far from my level. I flew back into her direction and started to bombard her with variety of spells. It was so random that she can't decide which is which and she ended up suppressed by me. After thirty minutes give or take, she finally went down and laid on the ground weakly. I did not aim at her directly but enough to weaken her. She was gasping for breath as she look at me indignantly. "You... You beast!" her voice was tinged with so much indignation rather than anger. "Now, we are going to my territory and you will help me in return in managing the land." "No no. I need to roam this new world! I will find the stairs to heaven again and wander the best places. I will not go to a boring place like a territory!" "Roam?" I wonder why is this cat person so adamant in roaming? I know that it is fun but it will be boring soon. "That is right! I am born to roam the worlds! You will never keep me in captivity!" Why is this girl so emotional? Am I really oppressive? hmmm.... Do I? I thought I am acting moderately though. If it is me back then, there will be no more conversation and I would have dragged her back to the territory. Wait... That sounds bad in more than one way right? Maybe roaming the entire Mirth will be more fun than playing house? The territory compared to the whole Mirth... I wonder how other races live... I have yet to meet the mer-folks at the oceans and even the floating lands hidden from other races. I wonder how much more interesting it is... It's bad right? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The human alliance has twelve empires aside from countless and small kingdoms. The empires' locations are like a round table. They encircle the whole northern side of Mirth. There are many and small kingdoms between them and inside further inland but they are not much of a concern. Their powers as of now after the war are almost equal. The situation now is a deadlock because of it. Even if one empire wants to wage war and conquer the land, they are not sure to succeed. They may fall in power instead if some empire form an alliance and crush them. This is why the competition in grabbing the elites during the war was so intense and worsening. Soon, empires were having internal conflict. Some patriotic and righteous people in power started to fight the power hungry ones. Some empires even fell into a civil war and the hunted individuals happily joined. The empires saw it from a mile but their calculations were off when those that they hunted have banded. Their force is not that yet dangerous but the influence they are amassing is significant. One empire in particular has it bad. The Khilan Empire is located nearly at the end of the north. Their back is already the ocean and trades are rich in this land. Their military started to grow but their needs started to rise too. The empire's leaders noticed it quickly and made arrangements but it was in vain. The soldiers do not know how to plow the land. They don't know how to fish. They don't know how to properly hunt and forage. All those soldiers know is to kill and fight. The empire became chaotic for some time until the royalty passed down a decree. They gathered all the soldiers and made a special unit to clear magic beast in their territory. It was going smooth at first until dissatisfaction started to rise from their ranks. The soldiers were sick of battles and they hated the job of putting their lives on the line again. It was little at the start but soon many more started to show dissatisfaction. They hunting lost their efficiency and soon they are starting to lose people. The magic beasts are not pigs that will only squeal when attacked. The magic beasts have vast number of abilities on them. Soon their morale slowly went down until their unit became so depressing. Those soldiers started to dessert the unit and formed bandit groups instead. The once peaceful empire because the location is far from the flames of war is now in turmoil. The leaders of Khilan Empire tried to remedy the solution. They tried to negotiate but the former soldiers learned their lesson. They are not looking forward being used as tools again. They refused the negotiations and now a civil war started. It was expected to end briefly due to the small number of those rouges. That was the desired result but mysterious individuals started to appear. They joined the rouges' camp and made the war more complicated. The forces of the rouges' captured some village and turned them into their base of operation. The rouges' soon grew into a rebel force even though the empire tried to extinguish them. The identity of those individuals was the wanted person inside the empire. They are one of the elites of humanity. Now the empire they tried to protect showed gratitude by hunting them down like dogs. They were blinded by their hatred and unconsciously plunged the empire into madness. The empire they love in the past is now torn into two. This time it was not a battle to defend their race but to defend their own lives. Khalin Empire is not alone in this. Other empires had it worse. The population of humanity started to decline again once more. The death toll was like a rocket that flies in the sky. It was like they are at war with the demon lord once again. Unlike last time that they have clear goal in their minds, now they are only fighting with themselves. Hunger spread like fire. Disease due to massive numbers of dead bodies on the battlefield. The once peaceful civilians are now also inside the pot of madness. Rebels or the empire's forces forced their way into their dwellings and pillaged. They took not only food and clothes during the winter but some also took it further. Some preyed on the women in the village due to the stress that built up due to constant fighting. The situation inside the empires and most of the kingdoms is like this. The soldiers, the rebels and civilians are facing war on their own. But not all land is under fire. One small kingdom on the eastern side named Krevinada Kingdom has better condition. The nation was small from the beginning. The return of the soldiers from the front line is more of a good thing since they can now hunt more beasts. This kingdom is like the gathering of all hunters. Their soldiers back then are the hunters of the front line. Their soldiers are the food provider back then. With their return, things became brighter. The soldiers were glad that they managed to survive the brutal war. They are not looking forward to another war and so they are relatively docile. They heard the news around them and they are afraid in falling into the same situation. The royalty of Krevinada Kingdom held a huge gathering for these soldiers. They put down benefits and possible jobs for them. Most of them are hunters and some continued to do so. Some went to the palace to be a knight or instructors. Some that do not wish to see blood anymore started to put up business with the money they received as reward. The kingdom lost a huge sum of money but they retained their peace and soon they got back their money. The goods and production went so smooth and little by little they recovered their funds. All this ideas came from a stranger that arrived in their kingdom two months ago. A lady in her twenties along with a bird. r �:Jn/