On the 3rd I went back to the Core Sorcerer's estate, and was greeted as a guest. There was none of the hassle I had to go through the first time I came here. The maid led me to a private room, and there was Danial and also two other old men. One a bit fat, just the belly bulging out, which tented his loose clothing. The other man is quite muscular, probably a former adventurer.

"William it's great to see you again. I was just telling them about you, they're- Maid you may leave."

"You're refreshments?"

"We'll call for them later."

After the maid left, he gestured me to a seat across his, and introduced everyone.

"These are my close friends. This is Zejimal Draeb," Danial patted the adventurer looking man's shoulder, "and this is Lagose Makotie."

Haven't I heard his name somewhere before.

"Hello, William I heard a lot about you. It's great to finally meet you." The fat man, Lagose, shook my hands while the adventurer old man was staring at me with suspicion.

"So can we see this golem? Hmm... And what was the other item?" Zejimal sounded very suspicious of my abilities and usefulness.

"Well the Golem’s undergoing shipment right now, from what I heard from my subordinates. As for the Inspector, here it is." I took out a pair of plain reading glasses, but it’s cursed for anyone else who would try to wear it, and will cause nausea and draining of HP. "But I'm not sure if any of you can wear it, because only very few people seem to be able to use it." That was also a lie; only I can use it. It's simply easier to explain it as unique magic than to come up with some other lie. "I had to go through a lot of trouble to be able to use it... had to meet a shaman... it's a story for another time." I am hoping that's enough if they asked more I would have a hard time coming up with an answer.

I didn't prepare for today at all, I am fully relying on my improvisation skills for this. Danial still wanted to try it on, so I gave it to him. He appraised it with his magic.

"This just says it's cursed."

Of course that's what it would say, because it’s just a cursed pair of glasses.

"In a sense it's the curse that allows one to see the level. But I really wouldn't recommend you try it."

He asked me if I could put it on and sure enough I showed him I can. Then he ignored my warning and put it on himself. The moment he put it on he started getting nauseas and within a few seconds he puked all over the table.

"What!? What's wrong with this?" He said throwing it back at me.

"Like I said not everyone can use it."

"So with that you can tell someone’s level? Try it on me." Zejimal said looking sternly at me.

I put on the glasses and activated my God's Eye skill, and instantly his entire character details became clear. Level 51 that's pretty good, for this world, I look around and Danial is 45 and the fat man is 18, well better than a regular farmer but even his human levels were dwindling. In this world, human levels decrease as you grow older.

The people born here reach the highest level, level 10 after puberty.

There were two ways you could die in this world; by running out of HP, or having your race levels reach 0.

"Level 51."

Zejimal seemed a bit surprised, at my evaluation of his level.

"That should be right. Hmm… That makes sense."

He seemed quite happy by the results. Since only magician levels could be measured by the adventurer's guild, I bet he was underestimated.

"But shouldn't we clean this up." Everyone was paying attention to the new item and didn't seem to mind the puke that was leaking down the table.

"Oh- yes, we should do that. Maid! ..." Danial made the maids clean up the mess and we went to the garden to talk some more.

"I heard of the rare items you have." The fat man Lagose said, "I truly was surprised when Danial told me about it. To think you had dragon skin."

We talked about a lot of things last time, and I must have let it slip. I know it's pretty rare in this world but being a great collector, which was my current persona, I had to at least have some dragon skin. But one after another, every item I mentioned last time was brought up, asking for even more detail. I tried not to lie, and the materials aren’t a lie; the hard part is coming up with feasible stories about how I got them. I kept the stories as close to the quests I did in the game. It was hard doing that without revealing the game, or my strength.

"Why are you helping us William, what's in it for you? If I may be frank." Lagose asked, and everyone went silent awaiting my answer.

I want to kill the player that might oppose me one day, it’s a win-win situation for us. If you guys fail, I can disappear without a trace; is the real answer…

"It’s best not to discuss that before I know the king’s strength. But I can tell you now that I am a very rich man and money doesn't interest me. Sometimes having someone owe you a favor is more valuable, than anything else. So let’s just say I'll come asking a favor one day."

The two had wry smiles on their faces.

"Sounds interesting." Danial was very amused by the idea, and we agreed on it with a hand shake.

"There’s another thing; I would like to keep the golem a secret, I would have thieves coming after me, if they know of me. You understand."

"I’ve been wondering why I never heard of you, so it’s been a deliberate act. I understand, we'll keep your secret." Danial said looking at both his friends, and both of them agreed with him, nodding their heads.

I would have been just fine with killing the player incognito, but having him owe me a few favors is good too. I'll take some land as well, they can't refuse if I'm pretty much making them the kings.

“So do you think there is any way to get me close enough to use this thing?”

“We’re all invited to the castle for the party, this 6th, I’m sure I can bring you along.”

“The 6th?” Did I miss something here?

“You don’t know?” Lagose asked, looking at me like if I’ve committed some crime.

“He’s just came in a week ago, it’s understandable he doesn’t know.” The sorcerer came to my defense.

“But he’s been here for a week, and everyone’s talking about it. What, did he lock himself in his room all week?” This Lagose seems to be a very uptight man.

“Hmm…” Was all that came out of the adventurer looking old man, Zejimal.

The sorcerer is giving me a look now too.

“Anyway, the 6th is the anniversary for the new king’s rule. Last year on the 6th, he took control of the city.”

“Ah~ I see.” I think I’m giving everyone a bad impression of myself. It doesn’t really matter if they think I’m an idiot, as long as the goal is achieved. “So you can get me in on the 6th to meet the king?” Just say ‘yes’ so I can go back to the Cave.

“Yeah that should be fine. If your golem can really beat the king, it’ll really push our plans up.” So they were already planning.

“Alright, so when should we meet?” Tell me the time and place so I can leave.

"We'll meet here around six in the evening, since the party starts around 8."

"Alright, sounds good. Then I’ll be off."

“What!? You’re leaving already?”

“Well there isn’t much left to talk is there?”

What more do you want?

“You should at least stay for lunch, and I still haven’t returned your book.”

Yeah, I was going to ask for that.

“Alright.”

I ended up staying for lunch and talking about even more items. Eventually noon passed, I got my book and was able to leave.

♦♦♦

The new clothes her mother laid out for her made Elizabeth Teppup feel happy, concerned and then depressed. She was only 8 but she couldn’t forget, she still had nightmares about the past. And this new life just felt more and more like a dream as the days went by.

As a Catman who was born in this country before the Red King Tinkula, she had not experienced anything like she had in the past year.

She was bred, so she never knew her real mother or father. Her mother was just the person who raised her and cared for her the most, and the person she called 'mom'. With this mother she had lived the life of a slave since she was born.

The scars were still there on her naked body. She looked at her back in the mirror, twisting her neck, running through them with her fingers. She didn't know why she got them, just how. She doesn't recall most of it, just the pain and her cries. Just the feeling of chocking on air, and the tears and the scary man.

Just the ugly man. Just him shouting. Just her crying. The voice said not to cry, then it beat her when she did, then it beat her if she made a sound. It hurt to be quiet, and she remembered that more than the pain on her back.

The cloths made her wonder if it was fine to wear it, if she deserved it, if it was allowed.

She asked her mom once what it meant, what it meant to be bred. Her mother said she was too young to know. That it meant nothing. She found out though, though she never told her mother. There are a lot of people willing to tell you if you ask, a lot of people happy to tell you. Aren't people just nice?

Tears started swelling up for some reason but Elizabeth wiped them away before they could fall down her cheeks. She had a family now, her mother, Ms. Camelia and her kids, even the kids that used to fight her for food a year ago. She thought she would hate them forever, but even they became her friends. She felt happy now, but it didn't feel good, it just made her want to cry more. Crying was never good, she never wants to cry ever again. She vowed never to cry ever again, not sure when, but she knows she promised never to cry, it was an iron clad rule.

Elizabeth hurriedly dressed herself before running down.

Her mother wasn't there, she was still getting dressed. Elizabeth put on her shoes and after taking a deep breath she screamed: "Mom how long are you going to take!?" She felt weird doing it, being a normal mother and daughter. The first day they got their own house, this house, they slept together, her mother cried in her arms. It was so stupid and funny. There are those tears trying to escape her eyes again.

Cried so much she made the bed sheets wet. If someone else had seen the bed sheets they would have surly misunderstood. Then she heard her mother’s small voice saying: "Coming, coming. Don't leave without meee." Finally, at top of the stairs she made her appearance.

"Mom… You look beautiful." The new get up took Elizabeth's breath away. Her mom was a whole new person.

"Ah! I-Isn't it too showy?" Her entire body twitched as she spoke; that’s Elizabeth's mother. "Ms. Camelia bought it for me, I wouldn't have worn it, but we might see her and then..."

Ms. Camelia is an elf, and was a slave. Now she’s the proud owner of her own bakery, where her mother worked.

"What're you saying mom, you look beautiful. Very sexy." Elizabeth said crossing her arms and nodding exuberantly. "Hmmm! don’t tease you're mom! Let’s just go."

They could hear the drum beats and the sound of music from here but they had to walk into the main streets to see the special lights they had up. They were made of mana crystals, they were using them simply to light up the streets. It was a grand festival to commemorate the day Tinkula became the King of this country.

There were crazy but friendly drunks, parents with kids eating too much candy, it wasn't the time for fireworks yet but there were people already shooting them off, and many little shops giving almost everything for free. This wasn't a festival for the country to make some money, almost everything on the street was free. It was just how the freed slaves celebrated their new freedom; their new king.

Of course there were some things that had a price tag, but it was a small portion compared to the majority.

Many gathered near the castle, for the king was said to give a speech before the 'real' celebration could begin, though there were plenty celebrating already going on.

Elizabeth had never seen the king, only heard of him, and so she was very excited. Trying to rush her mom to the foot of the castle balcony. But to Elizabeth it seemed her mom stopped for every person she came across, to chat. She resorted to pulling her with all her strength, just to get her moving.

Finally they made it below the balcony where the king would give his speech. Elizabeth pushed and pushed through the people as she repeated to her mother. "We should go to the front. Let’s go to the front. I want to see the king."

Her mother finally stopped her with a smile, having had enough, and said: "This is fine." Seeing her daughter disappointed, she picked her up and placed her on her shoulders. 'You’re heavy' the mother thought.

"Is this okay?" Elizabeth was concerned, she realized she was acting a bit unlike herself. That she was a bit too happy.

"It's fine. Can you see now?"

"Yeah, I can see it!"

The mother smiled happily not wanting to dishearten her child who barely complains or acts like a child. Elizabeth was acting a bit more her age and her mother wanted to see more of it, even if it hurt her shoulders a bit.

♦♦♦

The king's speech began and I was watching it all from my Cave. The security room is a large room designed like a lecture hall, with a slight inclination to the whole room. With many viewing windows floating around in the air.

Today the NPCs have set up a few floating windows in front of me, and a soft cushy chair for me to watch everything in comfort. On it displayed the streets of Tengai, and on the biggest screen in front of me was the balcony to the Red King’s castle, where he will be delivering his speech.

I sent a clone with the reading glasses - Inspector - to take care of spying on the king's level. It's great, I get to watch everything from here. The spies - NPCs with levels in espionage - set up cameras for me to watch the whole thing from here.

"When can we see inside the castle?" I asked my new assistant Stella.

Stella was the replacement for Rosey, who was now helping the Lukluk people set up a village. I forgot a lot of the settings I wrote for my NPCs but I think Stella is much more suited for the assistant job. I’ll admit I’m mostly basing this on the secretary outfit she’s wearing, and the glasses, but... Hmm…

"My sincerest apologies master Verra, but it seems the spies are still conducting overview for any traps or anomalies that might alert them of our involvement."

"I see~, then it's fine as long as they do it thoroughly."

"Greatest thanks, master Verra."

I nodded my head to show her I understand.

After all I’m the one always lecturing them about being careful, so I can't be impatient now. But man~ if I knew that there was going to be a speech like this 3 days ago, I wouldn't have even sent my clone right into the castle, just watching from the crowd was good enough.

Maybe I should have allowed kidnapping a few citizens. I was the one who shut down that proposal so I can't complain now. Maybe I’m trying to make up for kidnapping all those people when I first came here, I can’t get soft before it’s even began. But I did kidnap too many people before; adventurers, store owners, magic casters, magic craftsman; just about every kind of person you could think of that might hold any information about this world we might need. We stole a lot and kidnapped a lot the first few months but after that I put a stop to it when most common knowledge about this world that I needed was gathered. I even made sure not to torture them, there was no need, there were NPCs that could read minds, and suck out brains. Using them it was guaranteed that there were no lies.

The ones still alive after the interrogation was used as test subjects for drugs, and all kinds of things within the labs. They helped develop new drugs and even tested some drugs only found in this world. Also some diseases we created, of course also their cures, just in case I decide to spread them in the future.

So I can happily say we used them to the fullest, but I didn't want to just kidnap people if I didn't need to. But how do I distinguish a need? Well it’s too late now anyway; the plan is already in motion.

♦♦♦

Inside the castle everyone waited for the king to finish the speech, while they chatted amongst themselves. I stood among them under the chandelier lights, sipping white wine, and watched the king’s back as he spoke to the people from the balcony. Most listened earnestly to the kings words, but the group I was near was the exact opposite.

He sent me a clone to do his job, but I don't mind, I would have refused if it was a hard job but it wasn't too bad. Really the only problem is if I'm found out, and if the Red King is of a higher level, he might kill me, but since I'm a clone I might disappear anytime the original wished it. In truth I would have done the same thing if I could make clones.

There were a lot of food here I've never seen before, I wanted to be professional and avoid all of it, but I ended up eating a few treats they had around. Especially since I can’t tell how my stomach might handle it, it’s not a good idea, though my Infected class should nullify any poison or disease.

There are people in front of me blocking my view, otherwise I could have read his level and character sheet already.

"Equality! What is that idiot saying? How can we be equal to beasts?"

It seems the king had said something about equality which made the sorcerer pretty mad.

"Because of him even the other countries won't deal with us anymore."

He was introduced as a merchant to me, the man with the long mustache said twirling it. They were all complain about one thing or another about this king.

My spies haven't been able to get much information on him, since he seemed to hole up in this castle.

Since he barely leaves the castle it could mean he doesn't have a base of his own. That gives me hope, that he isn't that strong. The game, Mosaic involved a lot of cash boosts; building a base, rare items, pets and all kinds of stuff.

For a lot of rare classes, which were very important in Mosaic, could be said to be unattainable without cash items. With the impossible to beat bosses and creatures. Of course after a certain level you needed less and less cash items for beating opponents but there was a large obstacle in the middle stages of the game. For me who used as much money as I could to get as many rare classes and carefully built my class, this guy might be too normal of a player. That was the way to put it: normal.

Soon the party started, and outside it seemed the festival started as well. Everyone was talking about one thing or another and I felt out of place, soon I was by the corner drinking by myself.

Ah~ this brings back memories, bitterly smiling I drank the wine. While watching others converse I noticed an Alpaca looking maid ogling the sorcerer. She came around us so many times just to look at the sorcerer. He’s 532 year old man who hates demi-humans, does she not know this? What the hell does she see in him anyway?

None of your business Verra, who gives a fuck what happens to… I am on a mission whatever this girl has in her mind doesn’t matter.

Danial eventually came to apologize for leaving me alone for so long.

"Sorry about that I got caught up with some old friends. I can introduce you to the king now."

"It's alright."

With that Danial guided me to the king and introduced me to him as a collector from a faraway country.

"Oh- a collector you must have some interesting items."

He had long spiky hair going down to his knees, it was blood red like his eyes, and he wore a red fur coat even in the middle of summer. It was also a very formal party, so he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Yes I do, it is a great honor to meet the king who freed the slaves."

He became a bit more serious at the mention of slaves.

"Yes, there was great injustice before I took over; I like to think I am making a country for all races to live peacefully."

"That is a noble and difficult pursuit."

[God Slayer: God’s Eye]

Activating the skill God’s Eye, I was surprised by how weak he was, he was a level 302 character but his fighting power would only amount to about 170 or so.

The game Mosaic had limitless leveling, at least that's what it proposed, but that wasn't the case.

His was the worst kind of character build in my opinion, it was too spread out. The levels were all over the place about 100 in craftsmanship, 100 in martial arts and about half of those levels were split up between different weapons, and then the rest were magic classes but they were split up into healing and fighting. It was the worst kind of character build, but was also the most abundant in the game. I understand their logic to spread it out like this, it would make sense when they are really high level; at that point they would be able to do everything. But this consumes too much time, my way of leveling is nothing like this, which was to level up with some normal classes till around level 60 then only level in rare classes. But that was impossible without spending money, to clear rare quest; almost always you needed some rare item from the shop that could only be bought with real world money. So for most people too stingy to spend money I can understand why they would go the other route which was to level up to about 300 at which point you might be able to get some rare classes with your own power, but that 300 levels meant almost nothing. A 100 level craftsman might lose to a level 50 player with more fighting skills and rare classes. This is the main reason most high-level players didn't panic at a level 427 player, because no one knew his classes.

I don't think he has accomplices or a team in this world from what we gathered a while back about this king. And it might just be that he was transported to this world around the same time as me.

One other major thing I learned after coming to this world was that it was incredible difficult to level up in this world unless you wanted some shit classes. Also I have to be really careful about gaining levels now that I don't know how to gain some of the other levels. This game erases your levels if you gain a class that is incompatible to another class. For example necromancy erases healer levels and divine magic levels, I used to have 3 levels in healer but after getting necromancy with each level the level of healer was reduced until it reached 0. The shitiest part was divine magic because I accidently gained a level in that after I reached level 10 in necromancy and lost some of my necromancy skills. I ended up having to complete the quest for that level again.

That is the worst part about Mosaic, for example if someone were to make you drink vampire blood without your knowing you would still turn into a vampire, and depending on your classes it could make you lose a lot of levels in other classes. So you had to be very careful not to do anything that might give you a new class.

Then you had to take into account the time needed for quests. Some quests might take days to months to complete, and wasting time on useless classes are… well stupid. That's also why I can't say I am entirely level 368, because some of the levels are at 1 because I decided not to gain any levels in them since they’re useless.

"Danial is there a problem?"

The king asked giving a sharp look behind me at the grumbling sorcerer.

"No. No problem."

He smiled at the king. It would seem the king doesn't like the sorcerer, well that's only natural. Well if it was me ruling this city, I would have already killed someone like Danial who plans to oppose my rule.

This guy was a good guy, letting even his enemy run around like this, or just an idiot. He clearly didn't spend any money like me when playing the game with that character build. Well even level 170 is pretty fearsome in this world.

"Shouldn't you put on the glasses?" Danial whispered into my ears.

"Ah- yes."

Shit I forgot to put on the glasses. I put on my glasses quickly. Thankfully the king wasn't paying too much attention to us, as he chatted with someone else beside us. Everyone was trying to talk to the king, since this is one of the few events that allows them to mingle with the king.

Then came some girls making quite a bit of noise. One of the girls was trying to hold back another girl from approaching us.

"Melly you can't bother him right now! He's busy!"

And another girl was walking beside them stuffing her face with food. They were all beautiful women.

"Tinkula! You promised to dance with me."

"No he said he would with me!" The girl pulling her back yelled.

The king sighed as he saw the three approaching.

"Right. Okay I'll dance with you. I'll dance with you too."

The girl stuffing her face was now beside the king, a sneak attack, she was holding on to his arm and rubbing her boobs.

She shyly asked a question. "Can I dance with you too?"

"Fine you too." He sighed.

"No! Only me, you're only allowed to dance with me!" Melly pulled his arm putting all her weight into it.

And the king slowly followed her powerful tugs, and was taken to the center of the hall by three girls. Everyone went on after smiling like if it was normal.

He was enjoying a harem, while I was slowly gaining knowledge on this world. Not caring about the viral disease that might be in this world he was enjoying it all. Is knowledge not the true fruit of this world! He is nothing but an animal living on desires while I’m climbing to a higher floor beyond what any human can claim… for.

The king was smiling and dancing with all three girls happily. Should a king be doing that? I want to go home.

"Did you find out his level?"

Right this guy is still here, the asshole sorcerer.

"Hmm. Yes there was no problem."

“What- I-is he too strong?"

I must have sounded a bit depressed right now. No, no need to worry asshole sorcerer that’s not the reason I’m… nevermind.

"… No. There are no problems, I believe the golem can do it." I said getting my emotions in check.

"Really! That's wonderful." His eyes are sparkling, it looked gross on a 532 year old man.

"I think it would be best not to talk about this here."

I smiled bitterly at the old man.

"Ah- yes, we'll talk tomorrow, you'll be staying in town no?"

"Ah- yes I'll be staying for a while." That’s true, but I'll be teleporting back to my Cave.

"Alright, great then we-"

"Oh- Danial I haven't seen you in ages."

An old women interrupted us, she looked old enough to be a dead grandmother. All I can say is gravity was not kind to her, even her face seemed to have been affected by it.

"The city is completely changed. I'm gone for a few years and its completely different." She laughs mockingly. "So interesting."

"Oh- Lameriy so you have returned. But... don't you think it’s... do you like the changes?"

"Well it sure is interesting but I can't say I approve of everything. It’s so inconvenient, couldn’t even bring my slaves into the country. They even tried to set them free at the entrance, had to let some of my servants go back with the slaves. Quite interesting city this is. But today isn't about such things, it is to celebrate the new king."

"Yes, of course. Oh- William this is Lameriy Hctiblive."

"Hi, William Shipudan, I would like to stay and chat but I'm not feeling so well. If you'll excuse me." I grab Danial to the side. "Sorry, but I'm feeling a bit tired, it might be the glasses. If you don't mind I'd like to go home... We'll talk tomorrow."

I took off the glasses as I said those words, and placed it back in the case. He looked at me and nodded slightly.

“Sure, the glasses… yes they are quite bad... I wanted you to talk to Lameriy a bit more, but I suppose that can wait."

With that I give an alright and leave the party early. Why am I feeling so tired and depressed. Parties always do this to me.

On the way to my hotel I talk to a nice girl, and I thought I was hitting it off too. But I realized soon she was only being nice because I looked like a nice old man. I wanted to scream I'm only 24, and I'm immortal. I would have probably looked like an idiot if I did it though.

After that I didn't meet anyone on the way back to my hotel, the hotel was so empty.

"Already back?" The receptionist asked.

"Yeah."

With just that much of a reply I climbed the stairs to my room. When I teleported back to the Cave wanting to merge back to the original, he stopped me saying: "You look depressed." With a conversation that started like that the original refused to merge back with me.

"I'll get depressed too, if you merge back with me now. Get yourself to feel better, read a book or something and then come back to merge."

Thus I went to the library and tried to read books while wishing we had television and the internet.