“Let’s discuss the territory now, shall we?” The king stated while gesturing for his advisor to come forward. “Conroy, get the map and a table.” But before Conroy could move off his step, Cain spoke up. “There’s no need. Materialize, map of this country.”

A large magic circle abruptly appeared between the king and Cain. The magic circle emitted a few dozen lasers for a few seconds. Cain watched as they danced along the walls, a random pigeon flew next to the window to watch the show. Cain analyzed how the lasers traveled through the air then immediately changed the contents of the magic circle to show a 3D hologram map of the country.

Dresil sent relevant information that was not on her map, which Cain based the hologram off of. Although parts of it were still somewhat blocky, it was much better than his first attempt. Many nobles gasped in astonishment at this new sight. Some tried to decipher the magic circle, but were unable to due to the short amount of time.

“I don’t need much land, just something equivalent to what an earl possesses would be fine.” Cain’s statement caused the king to sigh in relief. If Cain wanted to, he could request the throne from him and there would be nothing the king could do to stop it from happening. Some of the nobles began arguing, knowing full well that Cain’s acquisition of territory would mean the loss of noble privileges from someone here.

Cain stood up from his chair and walked over to the area with the words “Murloc Bay” hovering above it. “Preferably, I want this piece of land. Just hand me the rights of the land from whoever owns it so the borders don’t need to be redrawn.” Cain stated and then walked over to the position Robert Posh was in. Conroy’s assistant exhaled sharply in relief from this revelation. The chances were fairly high that he would have to redraw any borders after today’s meeting.

Cain picked up the magic canceling cuffs that were on Robert and examined them as he walked back to his seat. Some nobles eyed him suspiciously while others had mocking smirks. The king started a discussion about how much land should be given and the reshuffling of owners with the nobles gathered. Their conversation went through one of Cain’s ears and out the other as he continued to examine the oversized cuffs with interest. Cain could easily slide his hand in and out through them since Robert Posh’s wrists were double the size of Cain’s.

{Author’s note: So the vocal format is just changing it from the usual group chat format to vocal. So now everyone’s replies are voiced in Cain’s head instead of sent as a group chat to his subconscious, as it was before. This method is primarily used to waste time.}

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (31 seconds)

Rex: Damn. Did I miss a rave?

Cain: Nah, just a light show. It didn’t last long though.

Rex: :phew:

Rex: Shouldn’t you be paying attention to their conversation though?

Cain: Nah, they’re just children bickering over the rights to some land. It doesn’t matter to me who loses and who gains as long as I get what I came here for.

Bob: :noted:

Rex: Need to see them demi-human waifus, right?

Cain: You bet.

Bob: What are you planning to do with those cuffs?

Cain: Idk yet… I wanted to see what effect they would have on me, but I can’t conclude for certain unless I try them on.

Rex: Then just try them on.

Cain: …good point.

Dresil: Wait, Master, don't do it. You don't know what the nobles will do once you put them on.

Cain: Meh, they won’t be able to do much if my theory is right.

Dresil: :sigh:

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

Cain slid the cuffs on his wrists, catching the eyes of some nobles who immediately went into action the moment the cuffs adjusted its size to fit Cain. Several nobles had their knights, who were there as bodyguards, surround Cain in a moment. The pigeon who was watching the show earlier, flew away then rammed its head into the window. Cain smirked slightly at the pigeon’s foolish actions, which was then misunderstood by the nobles as Cain laughing at them, further provoking the ones who took action.

“You dare laugh at us? How about you try casting magic in that state!” One noble stepped forward from the crowd as he hollered at the top of his lungs. He was average height with a brown-greyish mustache. He had mid-length, black hair that was greased back. His black eyes, with a red strand coursing through them, glared at Cain.

Cain raised an eyebrow and looked back at him. “Is that a bet or a threat?” He replied while taking this opportunity to stealthily size up each knight during the motion of turning his head back, then returning it to its natural position.

The noble pondered for a moment, eyeing Dresil secretly. “It’s a bet! If I win, your familiar becomes my servant.” The noble proudly declared. Cain simply sighed as he recalled the misfortune of the first one who lusted openly at Dresil. “You recall what happened to the other guy right? This is a warning.” Cain calmly replied to the noble’s declaration.

He interrupted the noble’s and his friend’s chatter on the side with his words. The noble’s friends were offering him gifts to “try out” the servant once he won. Dresil’s expressioned worsened to a hard glare, one that even sent chills down Cain’s spine. A multitude of vines were bustling throughout her long hair; none of the movements could be seen by anyone other than Cain due to the sheer volume of her hair. Even Cain was only able to sense it due to his mana zone.

“And? What can you do while you’re in those cuffs?!” The noble who offered the bet yelled back at Cain. Cain’s sigh was interrupted by another short giggle as that same pigeon from earlier tried flying through the window for the third time; the second of which was done immediately after the first. The noble’s temper soared due to misunderstanding Cain’s actions as him taking the noble lightly.

“Fine then. If I win, I also get your territory. If it isn’t connected to the territory near Murloc Bay, then I’ll take whoevers territory is of roughly equal size and that person will become the new lord of your territory.” Cain’s response caused the nobles who owned territory in that area to be delighted. The noble who was currently betting against Cain had a much more prosperous fief than theirs. Cain sternly stared at the king, silently asking him to approve this bet.

“If there are no further objections, then this bet will be official and all transfer of properties will be handled by the royal family.” The king understood Cain’s silent signal and made the bet official. The sudden turn of events caused Conroy to have a headache due to the overtime he would have to put in working on the necessary documents.

Cain lifted his left arm inspecting the cuff he put on. Although this was only for show since he could just use his eyes which could see mana and his mana zone. Huh… It only stopped the flow of mana in my entire left arm. I can still control the mana within my mana zone and even other parts of my body. The magic circles and mana layers within my skin are also unaffected, I just can’t edit anything. Is the cuff’s effectiveness limited because I just slid it on? Or maybe it only works perfectly on the first fitting… Once Cain was done analyzing the effects the cuff had on his body, he set his back down on his lap.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (29ms)

Rex: When did you have mana continuously cycle throughout your body?

Dresil: Wooooaaahh, Rex is using big words now.

Cain: Four or five days ago? Idk, it was when I first made the mana heart. I’ve just slowly increased how much mana flows.

Cain: I think there’s about 1 million in continuous circulation.

Bob: Shouldn’t this be counted as the mana used in your body? So instead of 26.58 mill, it would be 27.58?

Cain: Nah, I’ll only use up to the max margin. So right now the max cycle mana would be 3.42 mill.

Rex: Wait, when did it get to 26.58 mill? Thought it was 21.08 two days ago.

Cain: Ye, then yesterday I made the mind firewall which had 5 mill mana and 500k for maintaining it.

Rex: isn’t that a bit too much..?

Cain: Meh. I think the safety factor was 2 or 3. Not taking any chances.

Rex: :noted:

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

“Balding Fire.” The noble who betted against Cain felt chills down his spine as he realized Cain could still cast spells. His thought process on how to salvage the situation was interrupted by a warm feeling he felt on his head, along with the laughs and gasps of nearby nobles. The once arrogant noble shakily moved his hand on top of his head expecting to find hair, yet not a strand was left. Cain had burnt every follicle, down to the very roots, making him bald forever. Dresil’s glare was replaced by a smirk.

“This is the threat.” Cain coolly stated after the noble realized what had happened. The noble quickly recalled what Cain said about his symbol. He hurriedly drew Cain’s symbol with mana in the air. When it was finished, the arrow moved back on its own until it was halfway pulled back. The noble’s face paled, completely overwhelmed with what just happened.

While the noble was coming to terms with reality and the king was discussing with Conroy about Cain’s new addition of land, the boi in question was analyzing his experiments he performed over the past few minutes. Looks like I can control the fire’s temperature more than the first time I made fire. Is this because of the soul fusion thingy Bob mentioned three days ago? Or was this process accelerated when Rex used his power to heat up my body during coordinate transfer earlier…

The Symbolic Spell, ooh, that’s a good name, anyways that boi works perfectly for checking the status even though I added that function kinda late… Just need to change said status in their tags and it’s good to go. The other option is to just analyze their past actions directly from the caster’s memories, but this still needs some work. “Conroy, go unlock the mana-sealing bracers on Cain.” The king’s words briefly brought Cain out of his thoughts. Cain put his right hand up and said “No need.”

[30% - s]

Cain then used his right hand to tear off the cuff. The attending nobles were once again shocked by Cain’s actions. They saw no evidence of a spell being used, thus it was assumed Cain broke the cuffs with pure strength. This was something that not even 7th-circle mages who focused purely on enhancing their physique could do.

[10% - s]

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (8ms)

Rex: Thought you said you would keep it at 10%

Rex: :sus:

Cain: I could’ve pried it off using only 10% of the physical enhancement, but that would’ve taken longer and actual effort.

Bob: Tired already?

Cain: Nah, these nobles are just using too much of my social battery.

Rex: :oof:

Dresil:

Cain: :nod:

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

The noble who suddenly became a commoner roared out in frustration towards Cain. “I’ll at least take you down! Knights, charge!” The noble’s knights looked at each other confused. This man just tore off a prisoner cuff used to lock up people stronger than them, and this crazy nut wanted them to attack him? The knights once belonging to the crazed noble dropped their weapons and kneeled. The others went back to the side of the other nobles involved, hoping Cain would pay them no mind.

“Seriously… You’re dumber than my niece and she’s not even 5 yet. Nah, comparing you to my niece is an insult to her. You see that pigeon at that window? Yeah, that one.” Cain looked up to the top left of the throne room and pointed to the pigeon still trying to get in. “That dumb bird has been ramming its head into the window three or four times now, and it is still smarter than you. Let’s not even bring up your recent stunt, when you proposed your bet, did you even consider why the magic circle manifesting the map did not flicker for a moment? Even though I had the cuffs on?”

Cain’s lecture shocked the noble into harsh reality. He fled the throne room in embarrassment, his mind unable to handle any more truths. The knights kneeling around Cain glanced at each other, wondering what to do now that they no longer had a lord to serve. Cain picked up on their confused glances and spoke to Conroy, “I assume you have a use for these knights? I currently have no need for them and I won’t be needing any knights at all for my territory.”

Conroy flipped through some papers related to royal guard count, monthly trainee progress, and other related matters. He looked up from his files and nodded his head to Cain’s question. “Alright, go stand off to the side, report to Conroy after the meeting.” Cain waved the knights away and they walked over the walls near the entrance of the throne room.

“Ahem… Anyways, is this size of land suitable?” The king cleared his throat and used a trace of mana to hover over a section of land that completely surrounded Murloc Bay and bordered the neighboring nation and Hellion forest. Cain peered over the section the king pointed to then created a red wall underneath the thread. “This one? Yeah it’s good.” Cain replied after estimating the size of the territory ...might be too much, to be honest.