(Ashen POV)

With our weapons ready, and our minds set, we had only the dungeon to hinder our findings. I felt the mana of the dungeon, it grew immensely after I walked inside and released my mana pool aura. I had tucked it in close to me to prevent people from noticing my large amount of mana, and the sudden release of mana caused a mixed reaction from everyone around me. Aydren wet his pants with the sudden introduction of my fiery mana, with the Star-Mates and Xylith sporting rather ‘similar’ results. To put simply, they got a tad overstimulated. Nothing more, nothing less. Although I knew the result came from my mana directly, I had a slight feeling that Xylith was especially eager to bear a child with me…

We spent a minute to ourselves and then started dungeon diving in earnest. The first enemy we encountered was a group of six skeletons, with small dim red dots in their eye sockets. They had rather crude leather and iron gear like they were reused thousands of times before us. They were animated by mana, evident by their eyes, so I only needed to overwhelm them with my mana, and either kill them off or turn them into my own. I wasn’t exactly sure if dungeons in this world had perfect control over their minions, like in Sugarea, so trying to take over a minion of a dungeon could end poorly.

Before much time, Aydren thrust his spear forward, piercing one skeleton in the skull, and it’s body crumbled into a pile of bones. Xylith twirled her staff and shattered the skulls of the two that were approaching, their bodies doing much the same as the first. Ember shot out a [Firebolt] spell, and the rest of the skeletons were destroyed in much the same way as the others. I tried plucking the mana from the skeletons, just to see what happens, but it seems that without trying hard, it wasn’t working. I didn’t want to risk anything bad happening, so I left it at that. We continued through the dungeon, fighting similar encounters down winding halls and rooms and finally came across a room with a chest that was overflowing with coins of all types.

There was an obvious trap in the room, so I warned the others. “Don’t go in, it has a tripwire that activates a dart trap and a pitfall.” The others stayed just outside while I burned the string with a small spark of fire from my hand that I shot forward, which set off the two traps.

The dart hit the wall, and the floor in front of the chest dropped, a few coins going down with it. “How did you know?” Aydren asked, his surprise was clearly written across his face.

Ember responded in my stead. “His skills far outmatch any others apart from his brother. Detecting crude and ineffective traps like those are as easy to him as breathing is to us.” Aydren looked even more confused and surprised.

I made a small panel of rock, strong enough to support my weight so I could grab the chest’s contents and returned with a sack somewhat filled with coins, and then tossed it to Aydren. “If you’re going to be with us, you’re going to need to designate yourself to a non-combat focused role at least when there are tougher enemies, as it would be imperative to leave the combat to those who are more capable. Don’t take it the wrong way, just know that you can help by increasing your survivability first. Use the money we collect from the dungeon to get better equipment once we leave.” He nodded and quickly checked the contents of the bag, which had about thirty gold coins in total.

I looked around the room the chest was in before we left, and my suspicions were correct, the room was just a test for newcomers. “Th-thank you, sir!” Aydren exclaimed, and we started exploring the rest of the floor.

The rooms all looked the same, up until the boss room that was. The room was massive, easily half the floor’s space. In the center was a singular large behemoth of bones, leather, and scrap metal. It looked like a monstrosity, and I knew that the amount of mana in the thing was unlike anything the first floor should have, easily belonging to floor 40 or so, but that only meant the dungeon thought of us as a legitimate threat. Good. Let’s keep this going shall we? The large body of bones creaked and cluttered with every minor movement, some bones randomly falling off and littering the ground around it. It was more of a mountain of bones with two large skeletal arms and a massive head made of many skulls, with all the eyes lit, and large tethered armor randomly patching its body.

Aydren seemed the most alarmed, his screams were enough to tell me why. “What the hell is that thing doing up here!? It was on the thirtieth floor!” I guess I underestimated the dungeon’s strength, oh well.

Lavender stepped forward, drawing the attention of the boss, and its movements seemed drawn towards her, as it suddenly thrust its large skeletal hands at her. “Do not touch, father’s hands only.” She said while swatting the massive skeletal hands away with her umbrella like they were nasty flies.

The massive hands were shattered, bones being sent around the room towards the monster, and it shrieked in a horrific pain of thousands of voices. “Skeletons might be relentless, but their weakness is absolute destruction or the removal of their mana.” Cobalt informed Aydren, who seemed to take mental notes for later.

The monster moved bones from its base up to its arms and started reforming the two hands. “I just don’t understand why something like that is all the way up here. It killed many adventurers, barely any survived or escaped it. So if something that powerful is up here, the dungeon’s difficulty just increased to nearly unbeatable!” Aydren was worried, but Lavender helped to calm him slightly.

She looked over at him while swatting away the monster's hands again. “This pitiful sight is nothing to us, and certainly not noteworthy for father.” The beast seemed rather furious at the ease Lavender showed with deflecting its attacks, and the smack-talk that went on during it.

It lashed out, sending hundreds of bones at us all, lavender stepping in front of the group with her umbrella expanding to cover us all. “If something like this is what’s keeping the dungeon so unbeatable, then no wonder everyone here is so weak. This wouldn’t be a tough challenge for any of father's underlings, even the maids.” Ember seemed rather intent on angering the skeletal behemoth even more than it already was.

I sensed the dungeon getting uneasy, it’s mana felt more twitchy, and random. “Why can’t bones be bones, and stay underground,” Lavender said and ended the fight with a rather impressive feat of magic.

The room grew a degree colder, and a black bubble appeared over the monster, and soon a hundred dozen purple and black lances came raining onto the monster, it’s bones snapping and shattering upon impact, and a large dust cloud to rise. The light faded quickly and the dust settled a few moments later, revealing the massive pile of bones to be half-covered in dust and dirt, and unmoving. It seemed like Aydren would never stop acting surprised at anything we did, as his face was frozen with his jaw wide open. Lavender slowly shrunk her umbrella back down to its normal size and rejoined the group without saying anything more. My eyes spotted the monster’s drop, a bone sword, which had an unusually high concentration of death mana, likely cursed.

I pretended to scour the battlefield for any useful items, and once I saw the sword I pointed to it and started walking over to pick it up. “There seems to be a sword mixed in with the bones, I’ll grab it.” I picked it up, and as I expected, it started to rapidly force death mana into my mana pool, but instead of infecting it, the death mana got crushed and overpowered in an instant, the sword’s curse was broken immediately. “But a bone sword is of no use to any of us, so I guess we'll just have to sell it at the surface.” I felt the dungeon’s mana moving sporadically again, much faster and sporadic than last time.

I handed the sword to Aydren, who put it into a leather wrap and put it on his back. “Yes sir.” He said, the Star-Mates and Xylith nodding.

I looked around, the staircase downwards must be nearby. “The staircase down seems to be missing, father,” Olive said, already knowing where it was and looking towards it.

I followed her gaze and found a patch of stone that was still fresh with earth mana, clearly an attempt from the dungeon to stop us before we descended too far. “It’s too bad though, I was nearly having fun.” Without a chance to hesitate, I silently cast a spell and the tile of stone disappeared without warning. “What the? I guess it was there the entire time, lucky us.” We walked down the stairs, the dungeon’s mana seemed scrambled completely, not uniform as it should be.

Small, nearly undetectable fluctuations of mana were appearing and disappearing all around us, the dungeon’s mana seemed like it was attempting to do something discreetly, but whatever it was I had no clue. After the stairs ended, we found another set of random corridors and rooms like the first floor, with the occasional patrol of skeletons. For most of the fights, we had Aydren fight, to gain him a level or two to increase his survival chances should we be incapable to protect him. I saw a tiny flash of light in one small hole in the corner of one of the rooms, something nearly unnoticeable, but my perception made me aware of almost every detail that I can see.

The tiny blink of light was over before anyone would even notice, and a tiny needle shot out towards my head. “Stop for a moment.” My words followed my arm, catching the needle and melting it in an instant.

Ember and Lavender caught a small fragment of the instance, their eyes showing their displeasure with the dungeon’s failed traps that did little but stall time for us. “Lord, is something ‘out of order’?” Lavender said, putting heavy emphasis on ‘out of order’.

The small drop of molten metal dropped to the floor and I talked slowly in return to Lavender. “It would seem the dungeon has given up hope on its minions and has resorted to personally trying to pester me with nuances.” I forced my mana outwards into the walls of the dungeon, making its mana reel and pull away.

[Mana-Infusion has failed on Apoctaclass Dungeon]

Huh? Does that mean I can take over the dungeon with enough mana? I guess I know my last resort then. The dungeon’s mana didn’t fight back against my own, not even going near it, keeping distance between our pools. The Star-Mates, Xylith, and Aydren all felt my massive mana pool expanding throughout the dungeon. I could sense the absolutely minuscule mana signatures of the dungeon’s minions, and their random jumbling around told me what I needed to know. The dungeon was in full panic, so I pulled my mana back to me, releasing my hold on the dungeon.

I looked towards the group, who were shivering slightly, as my mana pulled the heat from the air while I was focusing on the dungeon. “Sorry, I got distracted… Let’s keep going.” We silently continued through the dungeon, and my mind was cluttered with information and choices.

We spent the rest of the day in the dungeon and left when the sun was nearly set. Aydren accompanied us to our inn and stayed in a room nearby. The amount of loot we got was nothing compared to the castle’s treasury, but to this world, it was enough to live off of for quite a few years. In total, about 200 gold coins worth of gems and unmarked coins, and a few unique pieces of armor, weapons, and two artifacts. The two artifacts had low-tier magical runes inscribed, both of which were for magical shielding and protection. As the day turned to night, we all gathered around and had a long random conversation before we slept.

All together, in one room, Aydren included, we sat around in a circle on the floor and had mugs of appropriate liquids. “Let’s toast to surviving the dungeon,” I said, raising my mug to meat everyone else’s.

Aydren seemed to be thinking about something, but he participated when everyone said toast together. “Toast.” His mind was likely as cluttered as my own, but the topics were most likely different

Ember was the first to say anything after me, her voice was much calmer than usual. “The dungeon was much easier than our last. I still felt scared to re-enter a dungeon after our last one, but with you lord, I don’t think the dungeon had a moment to react to any move you made. It was a checkmate before it started.” The group nodded in agreement, and I did so as well.

Lavender spoke next, building off of Ember. “Indeed, the dungeon stood no chance against our father, his skill and power are unmatched in the fields of magic.” She sipped some herbal tea from her mug, slightly annoyed that she didn’t have a proper cup.

Cobalt started chugging her drink, which was fruit-flavored water. “Yes! Our father is the best around! I couldn’t dream of having a better father than him.” She looked and sounded drunk, but the sheer chance of that happening was next to nothing considering everything at play.

She swayed slightly and Sunny spoke next. “Yes yes! Our father is so kind and warm! He is like a rainbow after a heavy storm.” Her words made me think of all the elves I slaughtered, hundreds of thousands of elves…

Amber chipped in too, her high-pitched voice was cute and attention-grabbing. “I wouldn’t want any other father than him!” She squealed to herself and blushed slightly.

Aydren spoke next, his words revealing the subject that was on his mind. “I wish he was my father…” His voice was low, but I heard the sorrow in his voice, and how hard he tried to mask it.

I put a hand on his back, patting it while also using a tier 6 [Calm Mind] spell to ease his painful memories. “I’d be glad to have you as a son, if only in name.” My words and magic seemed to do the job well, as he smiled lightly and cleared his mind of his past.

Aqua spoke with a slight jealous voice, the reason I could only ponder. “If only father were to be around us this much all the time.” I felt bad, I did just come in and out of their lives like it was some sort of game, which it technically was but still.

Olive seemed the most level-headed, besides Lavender and Ember. “Father has many important things now. He has an entire kingdom to run, battles to fight, negotiations, trade offers, treaties, all of us and the others, and occasionally war. That not to mention the direct involvement he has had with the two cities, uprising the fallen gnome race, and fighting the gods. His life is just too clustered with responsibilities to make time for everyone.” Her words made me feel better and worse, as I did all of those things, an impressive feat, but I couldn’t even make enough time for being with everyone.

I rarely spent time with any of the maids, and when I did, it wasn’t for too long or it was with a lot of them, seldom giving them a one on one conversation for longer than a few minutes. I somehow talked to the butlers more often, and there weren't that many butlers. It seems like I spent time with the NPCs that were much more valuable, like Premium, Titan, Planthra, Misfortune, Arath, and Kraken, just to list a few. The ones that were of higher levels seemed to always be needed more than anyone else. The maids and butlers kept the castle in pristine condition, while every other NPC kept the castle working like clockwork while I or any other guild member wasn’t there. Not enough credit is given to them, especially now that they have become alive and I can interact with them directly and freely.

Xylith took a long sip of her preferred beverage, which was surprisingly water with a squeeze of lemon. “Although I never needed parents, it would have been nice to have you as one of mine.” She blushed slightly and quickly used the mug to block her face.

My mind was still thick with thoughts and memories, swimming around in an infinite vortex of emotions. “I would be ever glad to have you as a daughter, but if that were the case, marriage is off the table you know.” Her mug blocked most of her face, but I could tell she pouted slightly.

A slight tinge of mental pain ran through my head, my mind raced ever faster and much more violently. “Father, you look ill,” Ember said in a cautious tone, exposing my current state of mind.

I felt an overwhelming sensation, like my mana was depleted or my body was falling to pieces, not giving me a chance to do much else, I did what I could with my limited time available. “I think, I need to rest for a bit…” Before I could get far, I collapsed upon the floor, my massive body sprawling across the floor and spilling my drink.

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

(Ayers POV)

My body didn’t recover as I had hoped, and it seems like I was stuck in this dragon form for a while longer yet. It wasn’t uncomfortable anymore, rather cozy in fact. I felt like a large pillow, resting easily upon the stone flooring of the tower. I could sleep effortlessly if not for what came before me. A small ripple of purple came from nothing, and a portal started to appear, and I was pulled through. I noticed something before going through completely, a follower that accompanied me, my brother, err, Vron. His younger face told me who he was, but my memories of the past kept my brother’s name in priority.

Together we got pulled to the same place I wished to leave before, the Eatherian Plane. “Hello again.” The Puppet Master spoke to me, her voice chilling my bones and scales, as memories came slowly back to me.

It seemed as though Vron was completely still, unmoving in any sense. “What do you want?” I snarled back at her, my many fangs clearly showing.

Her face grew sadder and shocked, her gesture mimicking her face and her voice soon following. “But to see my dearest-” Her words stopped when Vron fell violently backward, lifeless.

We both looked in horror and shock, my anger welled up deep inside me, my brain tricked into thinking it was my brother off of his armor alone. “WHAT DID YOU DO!?” My voice rumbled the ground, setting the air into a violent frenzy and shaking loose rocks and dirt that exploded away from me.

She looked scared for a moment, her eyes unknowing of what to say. “N-noth-” Once more, her speech was impeded.

I let out a massive uncontrollable roar, one that seemed to release half of my anger immediately. “What. Did. You. Do!?” My voice calmed down, but not entirely, still echoing with rage.

She brought her arms close to her body, either in fright or instinct, and she quietly whimpered out her word. “Nothing…” She sniffled, her voice filled with unmatchable sorrow, unmatched by all but one person.

An almost infinite trickle of tears constantly flowed from her eyes, and she curled into a ball. “If that was actually him, you wouldn’t live a moment longer. You hurt me enough before, can’t you leave him out of this?” Her crying slowed, but still persisted throughout her speech.

She tried wiping her tears, but to no avail, as it didn’t hinder her from crying. “I’m sorry.” Her whimpering and shuddering slowly eased over time, and we spent nearly ten minutes in silence.

I spoke after calming down, and making sure Vron was still alive, and luckily it only seemed as though he was asleep. “At least he is alive. He didn’t mean to come with me, he was forcefully brought here by you after all.” Her face seemed riddled with guilt, her heart barely withstanding the thought of nearly killing Ashen.

She lifted her head, glancing at Vron, and then to me. “I’m sorry, I only wanted to talk to you. It’s for Ashen’s sake.” Her voice seemed forced when saying his name, her eyes shaking slightly.

I rarely used magic, as It wasn’t my specialty nor my calling, but I had a tier 22 healing spell I could use, just in case Vron was actually hurt, and as such I cast it. “[Restore Body]” Vron’s body glowed dimly, and it stopped after a few seconds. “I will take Vron back to the Material Plane, then I will deal with you in private.

She made no protest, and a purple portal opened again, and I carried Vron through, his body roughly laid in my large dragon hand. We were teleported into the same room we were pulled from, and I laid him on the floor gently. His body seemed to gain life again, his eyes slowly twitching before opening completely. He glanced around the room, seeing only me. His heartbeat was loud and fast, and his face seemed to calm slightly. He very slowly went to normal, his heartbeat still audible for a few moments, but his words quickly masked it…

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

(Xylith POV)

One moment my love was fine, the next, he fell backward to the floor. We all rushed to check on him, even the new guy. His heart was still beating, if only incredibly slowly, but it was regular. A pulse was detected by Lavender, and Ember confirmed his mana was stable. His body wasn’t changing between forms, and his health wasn’t directly at risk either. A wave of relief hit us all from our findings, but not once did we stop checking for any bad sign. His body was checked over a dozen times, not once did any damage become apparent to any of us, magically, physically, or spiritually.

The nine of us collectively were enough to bring him onto two beds that we pushed together to fit his bulky size. Aydren was trusted to inspect his, uh, ‘man’ parts for damage, and although he insisted for a long while for me to, my will to do so was counteracted by fear of what he would do if I did. Eventually Aydren was left alone with him and we heard him scream in a panic so we rushed in to make sure everything was alright. I could see the look in the girls’ eyes, the same as mine, curious about Ashen’s unexposed portions. We all rushed in but to our delight, and lack of, Ashen was awake, and fully covered in his robes, with Aydren sitting on his knees and bowing very deeply towards Ashen, who had a rather confused and annoyed look on his gorgeous face.

His voice seemed strained and tired, and he slowly sat up from the bed. “I don’t even want to know.” He said to Aydren then looked at us.

The eight of us rushed in unison and all put our arms around his body as best we could, small tears forming from our fear of losing him. He took us all in his arms, they were barely long enough to embrace us all, and his eyes seemed to slowly understand the situation. He didn’t ask for clarification, nor did he ask if anyone else was hurt, he already knew what he wanted to know. We slowly ended our embrace and he flashed a spell circle under us and Aydren, while he stayed in the room for whatever business he was going to do. We appeared before his monstrous castle in a flash of white, and Aydren seemed to handle the situation better than I had when first seeing his castle in person.

He glanced around the large black walls, and up and down the towers dotting it, and to the great doors that were sealed shut tighter than a dragon’s maw. “W-where are we?” He heard of the place before no doubt, but seeing is believing, and he couldn’t believe the legendary Black Castle was this place.

Olive stood tall and proud and spoke in a great strong voice. “Our home.” Her simple words were followed by the opening of the massive black doors.

Aydren looked in awe and surprise at the opening doors and the interior halls of the castle. We slowly walked inside, Aydren cautiously following behind us all. After we all got inside, Aydren slightly startled by the massive black doors shut on their own. The doors were still imposing onto me, their sheer size and weight still made me shudder from time to time from the thought of what creature would need an entrance that massive. I haven’t seen any subordinate of Ashen’s that needed doors that big to make them fit, the closest was Arath and Titan, though to say these were the tallest beings of the castle would be foolish.

An unfamiliar face came by, accompanied by MIna, the maid who was almost killed by my idiotic former knight. “Oh, Xylith, and the stars!” She exclaimed while rushing over to us, giving me time to examine the unfamiliar face.

They were male and had long spiky green hair and a strong pronounced face. To say they were good or bad looking would be a stretch, as he was incredibly average for a human. He had a set of half-cloth half-metal armor, that covered his entire body except for his head. He twitched slightly when Mina ran forward to us and away from him, but he didn’t move apart from his eyes which seemed to drill onto Aydren. The reason was obvious, a new face, especially one as strange as Aydren’s, was to be untrusted until a reason not to was brought forth. The last experience with unknown individuals ended with Mina almost dying, so a bodyguard weary of new people was to be expected.

The seven girls gave a round of hugs and greetings, with Aydren standing quietly behind us. “Hello Mina, it’s been some time, hasn’t it? I’d love to sit down and chat again some time. Oh, and don’t mind the blue guy, he’s Ashen’s for the time being.” Even just my word was enough to make the guy in the back quench his mistrust for Aydren, even if only a little.

Mina was a kind soul, one that wasn’t crushed by a close encounter with the afterlife, so it was only natural for her to greet the new person properly. “Oh, hi there! What’s your name?” She chuckled to herself while extending her hand out to him.

He very cautiously and gently shook her hand and spoke as softly as he could. “Aydren.” It was obvious that he felt out of place and intimidated, even without Ashen’s overwhelming mana being near.

Mina was slightly confused by his lack of a friendly response, instead choosing to do a formal and proper introduction. “There’s no need to be shy, go on, spread your wings, and relax!” I’m pretty sure she was talking metaphorically, as she was surprised when his large wings expanded into the hall, taking up half the hall by himself.

I lightly informed Mina of the situation at hand, hoping it helped her understand better. “Mina, Aydren here has had quite the unfortunate day. We didn’t ask about his past, but when we found him he was hurt badly and Ashen healed him under the condition that he pays off his debt. I believe the recent events have left him in a fragile state, and he most likely needs time to himself to work through it all.” She seemed like she wanted to help but managed to hold herself back and didn’t try to invade his personal life.

She calmed down, and the new guy came slowly walking over to all of us, scaring Aydren and even Mina to a lesser degree. “Thirty minutes.” His voice was just like his looks, perfectly average and ordinary.

Mina nodded once and he started walking away, down one of the halls around the corner, and his footsteps disappeared within seconds. “Jeez, sometimes he can be so scary for no reason! I can’t believe Lord Ashen would order Sir Jair to protect me even inside the castle, it’s embarrassing and a waste of his talent and time!” Mina complained but we all shrugged it off, all except for Aydren, who was still slightly shocked.

His posture and demeanor were that of a scared rodent, or slave even, with his wings shaking slightly in the air. “You know how he is, he always acts serious on the job, you should see him when he plays cards though, he is a completely different person!” Olive snickered to herself, much to the surprise of Mina and myself.

Ember was going to say something but stopped for a moment, a slowly but carefully spoke her mind to the group. “Well, why don’t we get a move on then, shall we? We can give Aydren a tour of the castle in the meantime.” The group gave a collective acknowledgment of her idea, as such Ember led the tour.

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

(Ashen POV)

My mind still pounded with thoughts and was insufferable. I guess my morality finally caught up with me, and my many violations of basic human morals were driving me mad. I slaughtered hundreds of thousands now. That’s too much blood for my hands. Magic was powerful but insanely dangerous to wield freely. It was both a blessing and a curse to have this much power, as I could save countless lives or take them just as easily. I killed about half a million people, all who had lives, memories, families, friends, reasons to be alive and happy. I took their lives from them without any repercussion, almost the opposite, as I have profited from all the killing.

If I were to lose all my humanity and become a true monster, what was the point? I had my brother and only my brother for so long, but if I were to lose my humanity, my brother would surely suffer… No, I can’t hurt him, not after all he has done for me, not after all we have done together. Sugarea was supposed to be an escape from the harsh reality we were in, but that reality is only being exposed the longer I am in this world. At first, I thought of it as an escape from my life, from all those sunken hours into a game to steal my attention from the outside world. I should have known that my life will catch up to me, that my actions have consequences.

Am I a monster? I don’t know anymore. I’ve taken and given so freely, so sporadically. Like I wanted to make amends for my wrong-doings. For every death I caused, I have to better another person’s life. I killed enough people to realize that I am killing. If it wasn’t hundreds of thousands, then how many more would I have killed before I truly realized what I have done? I shouldn’t kill from now on, or at least try to resolve situations peacefully first. I tried to do that before, but violence is just so much more effective in this world. Why say something when you can do something. If someone wants proof, don’t say something, do it. If they wanted war, don’t make negotiations, just fight and concur.

[Titles Gained: Grand Harvester, Embodiment of Death, M0N57ER][Awarding 35 Attribute and SKILL Points]

Even the World System acknowledges me as a monster, so maybe I was. I can’t mend the wounds I’ve made. I can resurrect the men I slaughtered sure, but the act, the deed, is still done. My actions were still there. I have killed. I am a murderer. I am a monster, through and through. I needn’t act as though I’m some big good guy anymore. I’m not. I’m not a saint. I’m not a god. I’m a demon. A true demon. A catastrophe. A nightmare. Corruption. Death. I am the darkness. I have become the singular thing I wanted not to. A complete, uncontrollable, monster. There is no hope for me now. No reconciliation. No saving me now. I am a monster…

[Dark Seal has been BR0K3N][Light Seal has been Upgraded to Level 2/20] [Awarding 10 Attribute and Skill Points]

My mind stopped. The thoughts stopped. My mind became mine again. I was left with no intruding ideas. I was left with my past in this world now. And I realized something. I wasn’t a monster. No. I wasn’t death, darkness, corruption, a nightmare, catastrophe, or a demon, at least not fully a demon. I was just a guy. Just a guy who spent too much time on a game. I killed people, yeah, and I still feel bad, like an overwhelming urge to vomit uncontrollably, but I came to terms with it. I killed because they were willing to kill. Everyone I have killed so far has had a clear goal to harm me or others, and as such, it can’t be said that them getting killed in return wasn’t warranted.

[Title Lost: M0N57ER] [Titles Gained: Bearer of Despair, Survivor of the Dark Seal] [Awarding 115 Attribute and Skill Points]

Wait a minute. I think I understand this now. I thought of myself as a monster and the system reacted the same, and then I stopped so it followed suit again? Does that mean that I can control how the system thinks and works? Or is this one thing purely based on the individual’s thoughts alone? Maybe other titles worked the same. It wouldn’t be a wild conclusion to draw, but I would need to investigate more. My head still hurt from the swirling thoughts, and even the removal of them. Luckily my mind is mine again, and [Dark Seal] has been removed from my Skill tab.

Then again, [Light Seal] leveled up, so that was another thing to worry about. Considering the nature of dark to light, I assume that it won’t be as bad in terms of thoughts of my bad actions. Instead, it might highlight the good I’ve done, and make me feel as though I truly am a good person. I don’t care about that right now, rather, I have more important things to focus on. I nearly forgot, the soul of the demon that nearly killed Mina, the one I was keeping in a perpetual loop of incineration and reconstruction, I stopped doing that when my mind stopped. I quickly glanced around, trying to detect it, and found it swirling around me in a slow but regulated fashion, but not alone.

At first, it was just him, but another popped up, they both looked like small floating lights akin to wisps. Then another, and another, and another. They started to appear faster and faster, and the only thing I thought of was the town and the soul bead. My new titles [Grand Harvester] and [Embodiment of Death] could be what is making souls attracted to me. Like a magnet, they all came rushing in and joined the now growing swarm. I withdrew my soul bead from my pocket dimension and it so seemed eager to join the others, but oddly calm too. I tried sucking in the souls into the soul bead, and it worked. The wisps came speeding into the bead, barely increasing its size and weight by a fraction so small, I could tell if it was true.

It was night, and almost midnight at that, and I knew the Star-Mates, Xylith, and Aydren were at the castle, so they will be safe for the night. I didn’t need to check out of the inn, they already knew that we would be gone by the last night, so I didn’t have to wait until morning. I gathered the few items we brought with us, putting them into my pocket dimension and walking out of the room. I walked down the stairs, and to the desk where a tired-looking Hylthin woman stood with her arm supporting her chin. When she saw me she quickly stood up and corrected her posture. Hylthins had small wings and short tails with long horns and hair, with her hair nearly down to her knees.

She quickly faced me, as there was only one other person in the place, eating at a table at the edge of the room. “Hellos sir, is there something I can help you with?” She tried to act nice, but I could tell her fatigue was interfering with it.

I placed the two keys for the two rooms on the counter, and she took them behind the counter. “We are done with our rooms, thank you for your hospitality.” She looked confused, especially since she knew I had the girls with me.

She looked to the stairs for a few seconds and after realizing they weren’t coming down she looked back at me. “Where are your companions? If they are still in the room, you can stay the night and hand your keys in the morning.” She said while putting the keys back onto the counter.

I shook my head, taking in a small breath. “No, there is no need. They already returned home. I have no need for the rooms any longer.” I withdrew a small pouch of silver, copper and some gold coins, roughly amounting to 8 gold coins, and placed it onto the counter.

She looked in shock as she lifted the pouch and spoke to me in a confused tone. “B-but you already paid sir,” I said nothing and instead nodded and started walking towards the door, her shock only amplified as she bowed slightly and thanked me. “Thank you for the tip sir, we will remember you!” Her gratitude was genuine, if only for the money.

I opened the door, the cold night’s air washing over my face as I stepped outside, closing the door after me. The yellow moon’s glow lighting up the town fairly well, allowing me to see the occasional person walking the street. I walked to a building I have been to before, the town hall, or at least it was called that by the townsfolk. It was the place the elders were, and where the generator crystal was installed. It was a few minutes away, but I didn’t mind. I walked to take in the sights of the city and to appreciate it’s beauty. It was a work of art, something so elaborate and detailed for something so rushed. The closer to the center of town I got, the better the buildings were until I reached the spawned building s me and my brother made, which were unmatched by all accounts.

I found the building I wanted and opened it’s doors gently, closing them after my body had gotten through completely, my visit was matched by an old voice calling down from the floor above, hearing my entry. “I’ll be with you in a minute, just wait by the fire in the meantime.” His old and cranky voice was slightly demanding so I did as he wanted, and waited by the fire, changing my attire to my usual armor to make my identity clear.

I waited for little more than a minute before I heard the old man walk down the stairs, and into the room, his eyes lighting for a moment then dropping after realizing it was me. “Oh, what do you want? Don’t you know it’s rather late for this stuff?” He sounded annoyed, rightfully so but still, it was rather rude.

I looked at him, giving a genuinely warm smile, one I have yet to give to any in this world. “I know the time is late, and you’d rather be doing anything but talking with me, but still. I came by to see if the town needed anything. If you want food, I can import some from the castle, if you need clothing or materials, I can provide as well.” He seemed to question my words like he thought I was being deceptive or lying.

His mistrust with me was clearly shown in his words. “Why? Don’t you have something more important to focus on instead of the town? You never helped before except for the housing, crops, and forest. So why help again now? What do you want from us?” His mistrust was understandable, but I wasn’t looking for anything in return, for once I just wanted to help instead of hurting.

I reached into my pocket dimension, pulling out a dark grey sack tied with a golden ribbon, much like the food sack I had when I first came to the world. “I want to help for once. I want to help make Apoctaclass a thriving sprawling town that can sustain itself. I want people to have access to food and housing. I want to be useful to you all, especially after forcing you all into subordination. I realize now that it was a bad move, but I wasn’t thinking about that at the time. Now I am. Now, I want to help create instead of destroying. So, let me know what I can do to help, please.” He appeared to accept my words as genuine, mostly because they were, and I have never acted this way towards any of them before.

He thought it over many times before reaching a point where he could respond. “Fine. I suppose you can help with a lot of things. Housing isn’t that much of an issue, not anymore, thanks to the collective efforts of the undead that have worked endlessly to expand the town. The food would be helpful, especially if you had meat to spare, or any different food really. A town needs variety in its food, and believe me, there is only so much you can do with a handful of vegetables. Some have even tried to eat the metal trees, only to hurt themselves in the process. Also, additional building supplies and general materials would be greatly appreciated, as there is not enough clothing to go around.” This all made sense, and I made notes mentally as I started to pull several other bags from my pocket dimension.

A green, blue, red, and brown bag was pulled from my pocket dimension in that order, then the bag of Feast, and I set all six bags on the floor in the order of them being pulled out. “These six bags contain most of the materials you will need, all stored with magic, so their size is very deceptive. The grey bag contains a multitude of metals, almost every kind available, some you might not have seen before. The green bag contains a plethora of vegetables and fruits, along with the seeds for many plants and trees to grow them. The blue bag contains gemstones of all different types and cuts. The red bag contains many types of meat that won’t expire until taken from the bag, also the meat from the bag can be cooked or eaten raw as it is perfectly safe to consume without cooking. The brown bag contains cloth, leather, wood, and just about anything else you would need for crafting tools or making clothing. The light brown bag contains all different kinds of food, from pre-cooked to ingredients. I trust you know how to distribute them accordingly, and not to let them fall into the wrong hands. These bags have a near-endless supply, so they are very valuable. I know you will not do anything foolish with them.” I had more bags like these, so I always had a backup in case they were stolen, and I could easily track them, but I wanted the elders to handle the city properly.

His shock had already run out when I spoke about the first bag, so by the time I finished explaining them all, he only seemed thankful. “I-I’m sure this must have cost you a great fortune, and I’m now completely certain you are truthful in wanting to service the town. I thank you, from the bottom of my hearts, I thank you, Lord Ashen.” I almost forgot he had two hearts, some demons did, not me though.

Our hand met, shaking firmly before I went for the door, saying one thing before leaving. “Don’t think of me as a lord or a king, think of me as a good friend trying to help out for once.” He seemed grateful for my words, and a small realization struck his mind as I left for the night.