by L Travern
And depending on what happened until his return to the family, he might use the then-improved nation as his base of operations or discard them to look for a better ally.
"If there's nothing else, it's time I leave," Matthew said.
The journey would take at least six months, and there would certainly be many unexpected events that would delay him even further. He had to present himself at the Three Towers exactly in nine months to not miss his nomination, and even a few hours of delay might as well be the difference between arriving on time or being late.
Or so he had insisted as an excuse to leave the Royal Capital without the Asshats thinking the family was deliberately helping him.
Firestar smiled. "I said before I'd only be your temporary master, and I was right in more ways than I knew at the time, for you've long grown beyond my means of teaching. In the name of the Valdian Family, I'd like to give you a parting gift." He took his own spatial ring and presented it to the boy.
Matthew smiled back, put the ring on, and nodded. "With this, our master-disciple relationship is complete. We part ways with neither ties of friendship or sparks of enmity."
He briefly pushed his consciousness into the ring and checked its content. He wasn't surprised to find that space inside was huge and there were already a few chests full of crystal-like coins in there. The family was paying him for everything he had done for them in the competition.
He expected there to be bugs and tracking devices in the ring, whether Firestar was aware or not, and that worked just right for his plans. It was better to give the Asshats, who would undoubtedly be informed of him after his performance at the competition, a false sense that they had him in their hands.
Firestar laughed awkwardly. "I feel like I should be the one saying those lines." He paused for a second. "And there's one last thing I'd like to trouble you with."
"Ask away," Matthew said.
"Please, take a mage and a warrior with you, anyone you want. Train them for the family, without any hidden intentions behind it."
This time, he said it in a clear voice, showing that there really weren't any hidden intentions behind the request. Or at least, that's what he wanted Matthew to think.
In the years he had learned under Firestar, he had learned to read the man quite well. Firestar didn't always speak somberly when he was lying to Matthew, but even when he was trying to hide his lies, Matthew could instantly tell most of the time.
It didn't seem like Firestar was lying this time and Matthew considered the request for a moment. Training people could be a good investment. In the future, he would need subordinates he could trust, and grooming them now would be the optimal choice.
On the other hand, they could become a burden. He had a greater objective on sight, saving the entire universe, and he might have to abandon his followers if it became either him or them.
He wouldn't bring people with him just to abandon them, that just wasn't who he was. However, any situation that would force him to abandon them would likely be fatal to him too, anyway. But he had to be realistic; it might happen.
He almost said no to Firestar's request, but decided to at least check the people available to him before replying.
Check Level, he thought, and tooltips appeared over the heads of everyone. Many of them, however, had more than one level displaying on their tooltips.
Level: 5 — Five Stars Mage (6 — Notable Mage)
Level: 2 — Two Stars Mage (4 — Four Stars Mage)
Level: 6 — Notable Mage (7 — Champion Mage)
...
Thanks to his energetic sensitivity, which allowed him to feel the amount and density of mana inside their mana pool, he easily concluded that those people were hiding their levels. Their true levels were the ones inside parenthesis and he could see through most of their veiling spells and treasures.
As for how he could pierce through their veiling spells, it was simply due to his soul grade, the average of his three soul attributes. If a veiling spell was grade 2 and his soul was grade 3, he could pierce through it. Likewise, many illusions and miscellaneous spells could be pierced with the system's help if one's soul grade was high enough.
Naturally, he could see through most veiling spells even without the system's help, but he didn't completely disregard it, since having a means of double-checking things couldn't hurt.
All that was interesting but wasn't enough for him to want to bring one of those people with him. That's until he noticed a peculiar warrior.
Level: 4 — Four Stars Warrior
The man looked to be thirty years old and had a strong build like most warriors. He was wearing a plate armor and carrying his helmet under his arm as a sign of respect. He was behaving like all the warriors around him and there was no parenthesis in his level tooltip.
However, Matthew could feel that the mana in his body definitely made him a level 5 warrior instead of the level 4 he was seeing!
That attracted Matthew's curiosity. Who was that man? Why he was hiding his level? How was he able to hide his level even from Matthew's high soul grade?
In his long life, he had learned to respect other people's secrets, which had a double meaning.
First, he shouldn't try to forcibly take people's secrets away from them, just like he had never questioned Firestar about his circumstances. If people wanted you to know about something, they would tell.
The exception was when such secret was being used to hurt you. In Firestar's case, Matthew simply wasn't strong enough to force the old man to talk and he was concerned about the consequences of pissing Firestar off if he tried.
Second, people with interesting secrets were usually the right people to keep around. Their circumstances were usually beneficial for those around them in the long run.
Matthew pointed straight at him. "You. Come here."
Confusion appeared on the man's face but he obeyed. "Yes, First Elder?" He said respectfully, with a kind of deep gratefulness for Matthew visible in his eyes.
"If I take you with me, are you willing to have your Martial Foundation erased and start from scratch?" Matthew asked.
"Yes, First Elder!" He immediately replied, which surprised Matthew a little.
"It will be a painful process. You might die," Matthew warned.
"I'm willing, First Elder!" Mark insisted with the same excitement as before.
Matthew nodded. "Good. What's your name?"
"Four Stars Mark, First Elder!"
"Well, Mark, take your armor off. Being too protected will hinder your growth. From now on, you're forbidden from protecting yourself using external tools unless I give you explicit permission. Better yet, leave your weapons back too. I'll provide you with one when I deem you ready."
"Yes, First Elder!" The man almost yelled and with looks of adoration on his face, he immediately removed his armor, becoming half-naked in front of everyone.
Matthew laughed, he already liked the man's readiness and decisiveness, but he didn't want to walk around with a naked dude to his side.
He ordered Mark to put some clothes on while taking his things into his spatial ring. Mark quickly left, returning a few minutes later wearing clothes that were much like black Army uniforms from Earth. In the Fire Continent, they meant the man was a warrior, albeit a poor one without money to buy a proper armor.
As for the mage that he would bring with him, none of them seemed too interesting until he saw a familiar face on the corner of his eyes. It was a twenty-two years old girl, Sara, his former teacher and an undercover agent of the family.
Level: 7 — Champion Mage
Her growth was incredible. She had been a level 4 when he met her, level 5 five years ago, and now she was already level 7. Considering she had already left pubescence when he first met her, that growth speed was impossible without the family dumping resources at her.
However, what made him take better notice of her wasn't her growth, but the way she was looking at him. There was absolute hatred in her eyes
, which disappeared into an innocent look as soon as he focused on her.
"Did I wrong Sara somehow?" He asked Firestar.
"Sara?" He sounded confused. There were many Sara's in his kingdom, after all. He followed Matthew's sight. "Oh, Elder Champion Sara." There was sadness in his voice. "I can't get into details, but we wronged her greatly and now we're trying to fix it. You shouldn't take her with you, she'll try to harm you even if we order otherwise."
Matthew thought about it for a few moments, pondering at which problems could be solved by spending resources to increase one's level, at why it was relevant enough to say that she would attack him even if ordered otherwise, at what was so terrible as to make even Firestar feel bad about something.
There were a few possibilities, but the worse one made Matthew pity the girl greatly. He decided to check on it.
Myriad Arts — Spellcasting — Single Element: Soul — Seventh Soul Eye!
Soul mana infused his eyes and changed the way he saw the world, allowing him to see everything that contained the soul element, people's souls included. Or at least, the humanoid white parts of their souls that were anchored to their bodies.
There were many twisted souls among the mages, most of them due to them using soul spells wrongly and thus hurting their souls, or due to experiments gone awry. Sara's soul, however, was a monstrosity.
It was deformed to the point that even Matthew couldn't recognize it as a humanoid's soul. At first look, it felt like it had been compressed into a ball then stretched in random points. Parts of it had been removed, other parts had been twisted, and it looked oily. It was gruesome.
There were many reasons for a soul to turn into that, but the solution was always the same, strengthening her soul enough so the changes could be reverted without killing her. That would only be possible on level 9, Ascender, but due to how twisted her soul was, it would already be a great achievement if she ever achieved level 8, Eminence.
It was noble of the family to dump resources into her to save her, but as things were, she would die of soul stress in less than five years.
"I'll take her," Matthew said. It wasn't a logical decision, it was just something that had to be done. How could he claim to want to save the universe if he ignored someone who needed his help like that?
As for her becoming a burden, she was at least a Champion Mage just like him. After he taught her, she would become somewhat useful and if she was even a little grateful for him saving her, she would also become a good subordinate he could trust with the right missions in the future.
Not to mention that as long as his plans went well and he arrived at his first destination, a city to the west, he wouldn't have to worry as much about Mark and Sara being a burden.
"Are you sure?" Firestar asked with clear hope in his voice. Although he wasn't certain about the full extent of Matthew's capabilities, he knew that the boy was a genius and had a good chance of finding another solution to her issue.
"Yes," Matthew said.
"Thank you," the old man said with relief. "Take care in your journey, I wish I could help you more."
Matthew smiled. That was the closest Firestar had come to outright warning Matthew about the dangers ahead.
It was time for Matthew to trigger the next phase of his plan.
"You may think I'm a possessed kid for all the incredible things I showed and did, but I'm not," he said, remembering what the man had said about Sara suspicious when he introduced Matthew to the other two Ascenders. "I'm a human and I love the family as much as the next guy. Rest easy, for I won't bring doom upon you. Who knows, I might even help somehow."
That was his way of saying he was aware of the dangers, that he knew the Asshats would come for him, and that he was prepared.
He was also saying that he saw the family as a potential ally, but more than that, he expected the family to prove itself before he saw them as more than that.
And finally, he was saying that if something good happened to the family in the near future — which would happen if his plan worked —, then Firestar better credit it to Matthew!
Without waiting for a reply, he entered the luxurious carriage that had been prepared for him. It was pulled by four majestic white horses. "Elder Champion Sara, you'll be attending me as my maid." He almost yelled to the distant girl in the crowd, who looked surprised at being called out. She looked at Firestar, and when the old man nodded, she obeyed. "Mark," Matthew continued, "you'll be my butler and driver. Let's go."
There would be no bodyguards. He had made sure of that, else his plan wouldn't work.
Sara entered the carriage, Mark took the driver's seat, and they started their long journey towards the Three Towers.
Chapter 10 - The Immortal Crusade
Chapter 10 - The Immortal Crusade
The Royal Palace was located in the center of the capital. Leaving it, the carriage traveled the wide and well-maintained Imperial Road — an interesting name since Matthew had never heard about any empire —, which lead straight to the city gates and beyond.
It was Matthew's first time leaving the royal area of the capital, and even so, he had only visited two places in there, his father's mansion and the Royal Palace. And yet, he couldn't care less about the city or his newfound freedom.
What sights hadn't he seen before in his very long life? How could he not have gotten used to isolation after staying confined many times, either by choice or otherwise?
Instead, he had more important things to care about. He had learned that true names were even more powerful than he thought. It was past time he changed his.
Change Name, he thought and the World's Writ appeared before him.
Name Change
Are you sure you want to change your name?
You can only do so once in your lifetime.
Yes.
Name Change
Please, state your new name.
Matthew Earthborn.
That was a name that properly told who he was, where he came from, and where he wanted to return once he was done with this universe. It was also something no one would be able to guess.
Name Change
Are you sure you want to change your name to 'Matthew Earthborn'?
Yes.
Name Change
Your name has been successfully changed.
Show Full Status, he thought, to check if it had really worked.
Full Status
Name: Matthew Earthborn
Level: 7 — Champion
Elements: All
Body: 1
» Strength: 1 | Speed: 1 | Resistance: 1
* Soul: 9
» * Mana: 7 | Control: 10 | Resistance: 12
He nodded satisfied when he saw his new name.
It was also always good to see his progress in the soul control attribute in the last eleven years, from level 7 to 10. Due to the knowledge he had accumulated on mana and the experience working with it, he now had much better control over it.
After changing his name, he also changed his rate of mana usage. The day the first Mana-Sucking Ring was put around his finger, he had decided to wait until his mana pool was ninety percent full, then use his mana until his pool got to ten percent full. Rinse and repeat.
Now, while he still needed to keep using his mana before pubescence hit, so his mana pool could grow faster, he also had to be careful about situations where he might need to use more mana than ten percent. What if he got into a fight and died because of lack of mana?
Thus, he changed his limits, ninety-five percent for the upper limit, ninety percent for the lower limit. The change would make things a bit annoying, as he would have to pay more attention to it, but it was certainly better than risking death.
It was a shame that there was a time limit to the prepubescent bonus. He was still wondering if he should try to bypass it. Multiple mages had failed before but maybe he might find a way to keep the bonus for the rest of his life. Now, that would be great.
He le
ft his musings to see Sara sitting in awkward silence in front of him. Matthew nodded at her, then started to think about mana and magic.
* * *
Sara looked at the boy in front of her. She could hardly believe he had selected her to come with him! What were his intentions?
She didn't trust him one bit, even though she had been present when Ancestor Quasi-Overlord Firestar told all agents about his conclusions on the boy just last night.
"Most likely, he isn't possessed," Ancestor Quasi-Overlord Firestar had said. "A demon strong enough to hide from a Quasi-Overlord wouldn't choose to possess such a young boy. Even if it did, it wouldn't expose its intelligence the way the way Matthew did. Moreover, it would take too good an actor to pretend to learn magic the way he did beside me. I'm most confident about him being just a rare genius."
She, herself, had checked only to fail to detect anything wrong. Of course, it didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't possessed, it might just mean that the demon in his body was strong or cunning enough that not even the Ancestors could detect it.
She would pay utmost attention to it during this trip. Demon-possessed individuals had brought great calamities to the world in the past and it was everyone's duty to kill anyone who was even suspected of being possessed. She was tempted to put a knife in the boy's neck right now.
However, her orders, secretly given when Ancestor Quasi-Overlord Firestar nodded to her in a specific way before she left, were to protect his life at all costs no matter what.
