“For my reward, I want territory.” The nobles and the king nodded their heads to Cain’s statement. This was a reasonable request, most of them thought. “And I want this territory to be recognized as its own nation.” The attendees' jaws dropped when Cain finished his statement, completely hoodwinked. “How dare you be so brazen in front of His Majesty!” Alfonso chirped up, once again unsheathing his sword.

“Shut.” Cain spoke one mana amplified word, and Alfonso was no longer able to speak. He kept flapping his jaws but no sounds came out, all thanks to the sound-proof magic circles Cain placed around his vocal chords and one more in his throat, above the vocal chords for good measure. Cain had to keep changing the position of his mana to avoid Alfonso’s mana within his body.

Due to the experiment with Victor, Cain knew that even if his mana was disguised, the moment it came into contact with Alfonso’s mana, it’d be discovered and disastrous spasms would occur. While Cain was waiting for the attendees to recover from the shock of Cain’s spell, and then for their chatter to die down, he was attempting to make one of the magic circles avoid Alfonso’s mana on its own.

Ah… screw it. I’ve got too much to do right now anyways. Cain created a sound-proof magic circle over Alfonso’s mouth and dispelled the ones within his body to prevent an accident. At this moment, the nobles had finally died down enough for Cain to speak without his voice being drowned.

“Of course, since I’m asking you to cede land to me and recognize it as a territory, we’ll negotiate as two separate countries would. As such, shouldn’t I demonstrate the power of a country?” The quick-witted nobles shivered from Cain’s words. They all knew that negotiations could only proceed if both parties have equal power/footing. Cain was implying that he had the power to rival, or even surpass, theirs.

“How do you plan to do this?” The king was more intrigued than concerned at the moment, which Cain picked up on. He did a brief scan of the king's memories and sighed at the revelations it brought. “You have death row inmates right? Tell me the name of one. All I need is the name.” A small portion of the nobles on the side laughed at Cain’s words, including princess Priscilla.

The king waved his hand forward while looking at Conroy. Conroy immediately brought out a list from a small folder he carried with him. “Robert Posh. His crimes are murder, rap*, assault, and various other minor charges.” Conroy read off the name and crimes from his list then filed it away. As soon as Cain had heard the name, he sent a massive, disguised pulse of mana that tagged every being within the royal castle.

Huh… I thought I would have to cover the entire area within the inner wall, but to think they kept the prison so close to the castle. Depending on the management and staff, it could be smart or dumb. Cain was monitoring the influx of tags, looking for the criminal’s name. Once he found it, he charged his vocal chords up with mana.

“Appear before me, Robert Posh.”

—SRI— (679ms)

Cain: Create a portal under “Robert Posh.” Create the exit portal 10 meters in front of me, 1.5 meters above the ground.

SRI: Locating “Robert Posh”...

SRI: “Robert Posh” found (34ms)

SRI: Processing request…

SRI: Mapping terrain…

SRI: Request processed (600ms)

SRI: Performing request…

SRI: Request performed (40ms)

--------------------------

A portal appeared 10 meters in front of Cain, depositing the criminal. The king waved his hand forward, signaling Conroy to check if that really is the criminal. Conroy walked in front of the criminal and compared his face to the portrait within his files. “It’s him.” Conroy walked to his place by the king’s side while the nobles were gossiping once more.

“It’s not a coincidence anymore… Just how is that lad casting his spells?” Fans rustle in astonishment. Eyes are cleaned in disbelief. “There’s no magic circles, no chants, just that weird speech and magic happens.” Some snickers are heard in the background as the nobles continue their fruitless endeavor to understand Cain’s methods.

Looks like the mana amplified words are becoming smoother. Just remembering that crisp, rasp “Die” from yesterday makes my throat hurt… Cain analyzes his improvements on the technique and any possible areas for more corrections while the nobles chatter their jaws off. He sighs once again, almost bending down to take a seat, only to realize there’s no chair there.

—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (25ms)

Cain: Can you create a chair for me?

Dresil: Sure, but you need to order me aloud.

Cain: :cry_pain:

Cain: How important is this on a scale of snacks to buffet?

Dresil: Very very important.

Cain: …you know how to use the scale right?

Dresil: Yep. Any answer food related is meh of varying levels. Max meh is somewhat life threatening.

Dresil: Any answer not food related is very threatening. With “least importance” being life threatening, and the max importance possibly affecting a whole nation.

Cain: Dang… We just can’t catch a break, can we?

Cain: :sigh:

Dresil: :nod:

--------------------------

“Dresil, chair.” Cain’s words silenced the nobles’ chatter. They thought something insane was going to happen again, but all that occurred was Cain’s familiar creating a chair out of vines for him to sit on. Some watched in awe as the bow that was seemingly floating near his back vanished and reappeared on his lap smoothly.

Alfredo once again tried to say something, but was still unable to make a sound. At this moment, the prisoner woke from what was presumed to be his nap, as he was just lying there the entire time. Whether he was faking it to get info or not, remained unknown to everyone but Cain.

Crafty boi… Cain thought while coming up with ways to deal with him. “Haha! I’m fre… Nevermind. Greetings Your Highnesses. You’re looking as lovely as ever.” The prisoner stood to his feet while speaking, celebrating his release until he turned around and saw the royal family. Alfonso pointed his sword at the prisoner, eyeing his every move. The two princesses scowled in disgust from his remarks, but more so because the criminal licked his lips while speaking.

The prisoner turned around once more to evaluate his surroundings, laying his eyes on Dresil. “Oh? And just who is this—” “Yeah that’s enough out of you. "Quiet.” Cain’s words silenced the prisoner, literally. “Kneel” Cain amplified this word with more mana than usual, curious to what effect it would have. Surprisingly, most of the attendees felt their knees go weak due to the pressure, even though Cain only changed the conditions of the prisoner’s body.

He had cut every nerve within the prisoner so that he would be unable to move anything neck down, then used the mana within his mana zone to force the prisoner to kneel. Needless to say, the prisoner was shocked and horrified, along with just about everyone else in the room. They had all felt the pressure Cain could emit with just a word. Those who saw through the theatrics couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen if Cain wasn’t playing around.

Hmmm… what experiments should I do… ah yes, let’s go with these two. Cain surrounded each arm of the prisoner with his mana and set up a slew of disguised magic circles around them. “Convert.” and with that word signaling the execution of the circles, Robert Posh’s right arm gradually turned into ash at various rates. His left arm was supposed to be turned into natural mana, yet Cain’s and Robert’s mana reacted violently. This caused chunks of his arm to turn to mana and some chunks even phased in and out between its normal state and a state similar to mana.

Robert Posh’s expression soured with confusion then horror. The pure fear of not being able to feel what was happening to himself despite seeing what appeared to him as the vaporization of parts of his limbs and blood leaking out of some holes, broke his mentality. Streams of his tears fell down his face as he moved his mouth, seemingly begging for mercy without being able to speak a word.

Some nobles, including the princesses, turned their eyes to the horrific scene that was playing before them. Hmm… turning him into ash was easy. Could the reaction from his mana be a battle between our souls or wills? That would probably be the most basic way to describe it.. I’ll need more data later to make a conclusion. Cain recorded the results of the experiments with his eyes and thoughts then proceeded with the last two.

—Dms: Cain and Bob— (11ms)

Cain: Have you ever tried using a portal as a pump before?

Bob: I have not. Never needed to do so.

Cain: Want to try it?

Bob: Sure. Where shall I create the portal?

Cain: Inside Robert Posh’s brain and pump some air.

Cain: Can you also add this function to SRI?

Bob: Understood.

Cain: Thanks.

--------------------------

“Boom.” Cain spoke the mana amplified word seconds after the portal was created within Robert’s head. At first everyone was confused until they saw his head inflate. He let out a silent howl as his head slowly enlarged until it combusted, spreading brain matter and blood everywhere. The blood and other body matter stopped centimeters away from anyone within the blast zone, including the Dean and Alfonso and a small set of nobles on both sides.

“Disappear” Cain created a magic circle for all to see with the center under Robert’s body. It targeted every DNA strand belonging to Robert Posh, using the DNA extracted from a drop of blood as its base. After marking the clumps of DNA, a process that took a few seconds, the magic circle converted it into mana along with every particle of Robert’s mana.

Huh… There was no resistance that time. I guess it really does have something to do with the soul. The time between the explosion and vaporization was less than ten seconds. The shock from the explosion prevented their reactions until now. Some weak-willed nobles collapsed from the sight, others threw up. The quick-witted ones had horrifying expressions on their faces. They realized that as long as Cain knew their name, no matter where they hid, he could kill them.

Cain sat there with his legs crossed, analyzing his mindset and emotions after his first kill. Weird… There’s no pain… No nausea… No guilt… Nothing… It’s just… empty. Ah wait… Yep, I’m hungry. Heck this. I’d rather feel something than not feel anything. Looks like I’ll really have to get a plan in motion to reset my view on “the value of life.”

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (44ms)

Rex: Yep, ain’t no way he is human.

Rex: Is he from a battle-oriented race like the orcs or a certain demi-human race?

Cain: Oooh, there’s demi-humans here?

Bob: Yep. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if they were suppressed in this country.

Cain: That’s a shame. I really hate humans sometimes.

Cain: The qualities of demi-humans can speed up so many tasks and improve the efficiency of others…

Bob: Indeed. Unfortunately most of these nobles are either too narrow minded or blinded by their desires.

Cain: Yep… :sigh:

Dresil: Master, the territory by Murloc Bay is the region with the most concentrated number of demi-humans.

Dresil: Although it would also be the hardest to renovate.

Cain: How hard are talking?

Dresil: Their conditions are on par or worse than those of a true medieval setting.

Dresil: Not like this country with the mixed cultures and technology of medieval and modern, but more like what’s in the tv show The Witcher.

Cain: Heck… Well, will it be worth it?

Dresil: Definitely.

Cain: Then I’ll try to get that piece of land.

--------------------------

Cain’s sigh echoed across the chaotic throne room. Some nobles misunderstood this action as a disappointment in the prisoner’s last struggle, worsening their mindset even more. Cain waited a few minutes then spoke once most of the nobles regained their composure. “With this, I’ve demonstrated my power to be on par with a country’s, yes?”

The king only nodded, still recovering his mindset to how it was before the meeting. Princess Priscilla fled the throne room, unable to retain her stoic composure any longer. Some of the nobles looked at the king, silently pleading to leave as well. The king shooed those who did want to stay any longer. There was no need to tell them that they forfeited their right to negotiate if they left the throne room. Despite that, around 20 out of the 100 or so nobles left the throne room.