by Pegaz
"So…” John frowned. “You mean… when I said I've dealt with one of these before, you all knew I was lying? And you ran anyway? Good teammates, you are." John burst out laughing thinking of this. The crowd chuckled with him, most of them trying to shake free of their embarrassment.
"I knew I could beat it. Let's just say it was a... gut feeling,” John grinned toothily. “I also knew that if anyone tried to help me, they would have got in my way."
A mumble crawled through the crowd, but John paid it no heed. Let them speculate. Because of him, they were alive to see another day.
"I’ll keep the head as my proof, and I'll keep the skin because I need some new clothes,” John addressed the crowd, a cocky smile curling onto his lips. “The rest is between everyone else. Meat, bones, blood—whatever you need just take it."
"There are no more enemies in this whole area!” The Guild Master stepped in with a mood-swinging vivaciousness. “The experiment was a success! We will lure all beasts in the world to their deaths! Let's eat, drink and be merry!"
John stored the head of the dragon inside his bag and started eating the cooked dragon meat, which was delicious. Only two people in the world other than John could kill this dragon, which means this party was fortunate to taste this meat. John went and asked the Guild Master what would happen to the machine. The answer was that it would be tweaked for better performance.
John asked if he could borrow the machine and do his own experiment. The guild master gave a wry smile and said he'd have to ask the creator. He doesn't have a say in it. John's last remark of "I can get rid of all beasts in an area with the machine if given enough time" really hit the Guild Master hard.
A few hours later, all the dragon meat was gone, and everyone was sleeping. John was lying down but didn't sleep. He was checking his stats while thinking.
He already used over 7,500 years’ worth of time to get past the halfway point. It was going to take a lot more time to complete. What would happen if he couldn't borrow the machine? He’d have to find some other way.
Then, there were the Maximum Idlers and Maximum Workers skills. Even after all this time, Maximum Idlers wasn’t even Level 100 out of over 2,100 levels. If he completed all skills and went toward the immortal area, the only thing left to level up would be these two skills.
After that, would it be over?
John could feel a sense of emptiness beginning to spread within him. It was an uncomfortable uneasiness, and he didn’t know how to react to it. Thinking it best to let his mind rest, he wrapped his arms around his body and closed his eyes.
In the morning, everyone packed up and returned to Tech Town together. A few days on the road, they arrived in the town where John was officially dubbed the tenth and youngest Rank SSS in the world.
The scientist actually accepted John's offer of doing more field tests in different areas by himself. Being a Rank SSS really helped. The scientist wrote down an instruction manual for him to keep, as well as some ground rules. John needs to send the machine and report back through a teleportation rune before he travelled to the immortality area.
This news made John smile a lot more than the rank promotion did. He asked the Guild Master for all the information on beasts from here to the capital.
John had to make sure he got as many as possible before he turned twenty-one.
Title: Top of The Mortal World
Chapter 49
2 Years on
The news of the tenth and youngest Rank SSS adventurer shocked the world. Especially those who knew that John was a Sider.
Less than four years, and he was already at the pinnacle of the mortal world. If he indeed became a Demon, it would be impossible to stop him, unless the immortals stepped in. All Kingdoms would be killed off. The royalty and officials of all kingdoms had nightmares for months after this news got out.
John went to every area that he had the information about, enjoying his hunting spree while testing out the lure device. The weakest of those he fought was S rank. He roamed all across the country, destroying whole ecosystems.
Area 241 S ranked Demons, extinct.
Area 242 S ranked Ogres, extinct.
Area 191 S ranked Minotaur's, extinct.
Area 185 S ranked Large Toothed Tigers, extinct.
Area 176 SS ranked Termites, extinct.
Area 143 SS ranked Ghouls, extinct.
Area 103 SS ranked Vampires, extinct.
John even went past the capital to kill the SSS ranked beasts.
Area 53 SSS ranked Poisonous Vultures, extinct.
Area 34 SSS ranked Silent Panthers, extinct.
Area 14 SSS ranked Rhino Bull, extinct.
Area 1 SSS ranked Komodo Dragons, extinct.
The list went on and on...
John had wiped out all beasts in the North Kingdom that the humans hadn't been able to before this. All in just two years. The machine worked flawlessly in luring any beast out, and John had made sure of that with his map. Over the two years, he had collected hundreds of Life Stones, too.
With the system, when he levelled up Muscle Elasticity’s Skeletal to 100, his Stamina fighting time went from 3 Hours to 5 Hours total. Using each muscle would give more strength and speed, but uses less stamina. Then he raised Muscle Elasticity's skill Smooth to Level 100. Finishing the whole skill, he could move faster, his muscles worked a lot faster, or relaxed a lot more quickly—all thanks to the max bonus skill.
For the four Joint Skills in Defence List, when he completed the Friction skills for each one, he could feel his joints become smooth. It felt like they had the slippery surface of ice inside them and no matter how fast or hard he opened one of the joints, there was no cracking, popping or any sound coming from them.
When the Attacking Skill's Speed completed, he could throw a punch, use Crush Grip, or any other type of attack roughly three times faster than a year ago.
When he completed all the skills besides Maximum Idlers and Maximum Workers, his HP raised from 990 to 1,000.
It was like the system didn't like any number that didn't get rounded up or down. John opened the system to check his stats.
Welcome to the Idle System 1.9
Name: John
Age: 20
Idlers: 0/135
Time Pool: 0
Skill Points: 0
HP: 1,000
Attack: SSS (10,000 Points)
Defence: SSS (10,000 points)
Stamina: SSS (5 Hours)
Misc List:
Maximum Idlers - Idlers 135/135, +1 Max Idlers - 134/2159, Time - 38y 5mo 14d 17h 43m 13s
Maximum Workers - Idlers 0/135, +1 Idler Workers - 36/2061
Completed List:
Palm Toughness - Power Level, Speed and Ignore Defence.
Knuckle Damage - Power Level, Speed and Ignore Defence.
Elbow Damage - Power Level, Speed and Ignore Defence.
Knee Damage - Power Level, Speed and Ignore Defence.
Feet Damage - Power Level, Speed and Ignore Defence.
Muscle Elasticity - Cardiac, Skeletal and Smooth.
Elbow Joints - Friction and Toughness.
Knee Joints - Friction and Toughness.
Shoulder Joints - Friction and Toughness.
Ankle Joints - Friction and Toughness.
Whenever he would get a Max Idler level, he'd put the free idler it into Max Worker until that levelled up, so he could put all idlers into Max Idler again.
A month prior, his custom-made new clothes were made using all the SSS Rank materials he had hunted. They were Mythical grade with the same runes' as he had before, but with Mythical grade runes instead of Rare or Epic. The material they were made from was fire and acid proof. They were in the style of John’s preferred plain clothing, but upon close inspection you could see a faint outline of silver scales in the material.
When he changed them to white, the scale outline turned light grey.
John was in the capital's library, as he had been for the past few mo
nths. He paid to have access to everything, and immediately started reading everything.
He had given the machine back to the scientists with all his field test data. He’d received a message from the scientists since then, saying that the machine was now ready to use worldwide thanks to these studies.
At some point, John realised he didn't know the date of his birthday, so he needed to be in the immortal area before he turned twenty-one or else he might cut it too close. John knew he had at least a six months left, so he finished reading all he could in the library first.
On the first night he’d arrived at the Capital, John sneaked into the Royal Palace and assassinated the third prince. He then made sure he was seen entering the city two days later to avoid suspicion.
It was finally time to head toward the immortals' area. He wanted to see if he had what it took to take the first step on the road to immortality. As he was mentally preparing for his journey, the local Guild Hall summoned him for an emergency meeting.
"Welcome, SSS Rank John. My name is Randolph, and I am the 304th King of the North. Now then, before we get down to business let me introduce you to everyone."
John noticed the king was pale and had red eyes. He must have taken the death of his son really hard... I’m sorry to cause you pain but your son was a piece of shit.
"The person here on my left is SSS Rank, Rachel. She is currently the top adventurer in the Kingdom of the North. Next to her is SSS Rank, David.
"On my right is the Guild Master Monica of the Capital's Guild Hall, and next to her is the Kingdom’s highest ranked Army personnel, Field-Marshal Jones."
John smiled and nodded at each person as the King introduced them. He was shocked at the line-up, the people in this room were the rulers and the fighting force of the entire Northern Kingdom.
"Hello, sorry, but I'm a little confused as to why your majesty has asked me to come here?"
"The West Kingdom has declared war, and roughly 800,000 people are marching to our kingdom. I'm issuing a quest for SSS Ranks to help. Anyone else below you is being drafted, rather than asked, so that shows I respect you."
Respect, or fear?
"How long will it take to get where they are and come back? And why did they start the war in the first place? I only have a few months before I need to go into the immortal area and I will not miss it, no matter what."
"It will take roughly five weeks’ time by foot, or if you take the fastest carriage, about a week. Their army is charging through the immortals' area from the west to the north, which is the shortest distance. As for their motives… what else, but greed? They want more land."
John smiled. "Perfect, then I'll go. But, I'll go by myself. Your troops can stay and carry on defending the kingdom. Your majesty will only gain and not lose anything this way."
This idea intrigued the king.
"Very well,” he said after a pause, “And if you manage to stop the West Kingdom's army by yourself, what reward do you want?"
John took out a Life Stone and showed it to the king.
"If you have any of these, I'll take them all. Nothing more."
The King nodded, "Very well, I'll go prepare them for when you succeed."
John smiled, said goodbye to everyone, and then left.
He hired a carriage to take him to where the King directed. This carriage was a small one being dragged by eight-horse type monsters that could run almost 20 hours a day. It was the fastest type of mobility the kingdom had to offer.
A week later, John could see the military marching in formation. He was in an open field, with the army about five-hundred feet away from him. He told the carriage driver to wait for him a few miles away.
John took a deep breath and started shouting.
"IN MY EYES, YOU ARE INNOCENT. YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN PAWNS, FOLLOWING ORDERS. TO HONOUR THAT, I'M GIVING YOU ALL ONE CHANCE TO STOP THIS WAR. TURN AROUND AND GO BACK HOME. IF YOU'RE STILL WALKING FORWARD, I, RANK SSS ADVENTURER JOHN, WILL BE FORCED TO SLAUGHTER YOU ALL!"
His shouting was heard throughout the whole area, and all 800,000 people stopped moving. All troops glanced around to find their leaders for orders.
John stood there and faced the army, alone.
Chapter 50
Legend
John could see quite a few of the soldiers drop their weapons and turn around. Some leaders tried to catch them, but there were too many.
System, all the people who are not currently running away, mark as an enemy.
‘Ding!’
John reckoned that roughly 100,000 people ran, leaving 700,000 soldiers on the field. He didn't need the time for the Time Pool as badly as before, but who knows what could happen? John was full of confidence, right now.
What’s that old quote again? The world is against me… It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.
John smiled and charged straight into the middle of the mass of soldiers. He clothes-lined all the people in a straight line and came out behind the army. Spinning, he turned around and went a different direction, doing the same trick. His arms were just that powerful. He was taking the heads off of each person he crossed.
He did this in different directions, and after about ten minutes, most of the army had scattered. John was picking them off as fast as he could.
Another ten minutes, and John had killed all 700,000 people. He left one of the leaders of the army alive, specifically to question him.
The leader of the army was sitting down on the floor. He was shaking, pale, eyes wide and mumbling.
John stood in front of him.
“Why did you declare war on the North Kingdom?”
The man hastily looked up and answered.
“We didn’t! It was the North that declared war on us because they have a Sider!”
John blanked out for a second before he came back to reality. The king used him! Forming a fist with both hands, his nails dug in hard enough to draw blood.
He stormed back to the carriage driver and asked for a ride back to the capital.
A week later, John informed the King that he had killed the West Kingdom's entire army. He gave the generals uniform that he took off the leader as proof. In return, he received a few hundred Life Stones, as agreed upon. John smiled and said goodbye.
Later that night, the king died on his throne with a sword impaled through his head. The body was scattered across the room in bits, while the head sat on the throne.
The news shocked the kingdom, but nobody was arrested for his murder. A week later his son, King Henry IV, was crowned in a splendid coronation. When it was over, the new king sat down on the throne.
Next to the throne sat a certain chubby man, one that John had encountered before. He was now the crown prince of North Kingdom.
When they were alone, they began talking to each other.
“Father, it was a brilliant move advising grandfather to use the Sider! You knew full well that the Sider would interrogate the general of the West Kingdom. The last bit where you told the general that, when it was all over, the Sider would let him live as long as he confessed—that was nothing short of genius! You knew he’d find out and take revenge.”
His father started laughing, “I knew his temperament from the reports of the Guild hall and from the assassin work he’s done. It was a brilliant plan, wasn’t it? But silence, you foolish child. It must be kept between the two of us. If anyone finds out, especially the Sider, it would very well be the end of us.”
“Yes, father.”
His father nodded at his son’s answer and said, “Life is such a mystery. Who knew the decision to send you to train as an adventurer so you could gain survival skills and see the common people to learn of their problems, would instead give us the opportunity to take our rightful place as king and crowned prince...”
The king thought to himself, Though the main reason for sending you was to lose weight and toughen you up, which you failed to do.
“There can be no loose ends, so I will have my loyal gu
ard kill your ex-bodyguard.”
“Yes, father.”
The king closed his eyes and thought about all he’d done after finding out John was a Sider.
Giving Tom Yale the order to get close to the Sider had backfired when he found out Tom had died. Tom died due to the blood oath, a rather painful way to go. He lost the Sider’s location for a while after that.
When his son met the Sider, his plan almost completely failed. The Sider could have put things together with a few clues had his son announced who he was. He didn’t want to think of the consequences.
This was the only thing he regretted, allowing the Sider an opportunity to kill his son. That should never have happened. While he used the Sider, he felt grateful his son came back unharmed.
It was he who’d given two sets of orders to an agent of the assassins. The first order had been to invite John to become an assassin. The second order was to get the Sider to see the third prince in a bad light. The Agent managed to do this because of sheer luck.
The officers at the prison were ordered to create trouble with John to send him to prison. That plan went sideways at that point; it was originally planned out for him to help John get out of prison. Then, the Sider would have owed him a favour. Still, the end result worked out for the better.
At the Guild Hall, the man who’d suggested the Ant quest to John was also his subordinate. He was told to give John that quest by any means to make him stronger and faster. It surprised him when the report came in saying John actually wanted to go on the quest.
He made a deal with the Assassins Guild to stop all contracts for two years, saying it was because of the rumour of the West Kingdom declaring war. This deal cost him most of his wealth, but it was also one of the most important parts of the plan.
With the shady dealings of the royal members, word soon got out. The late king soon drafted the nobles and public to prepare for war because of this rumour.
