Chapter 2: 002 Legends And Heroes

This world needs more exploring. Luckily, I was here.

That was what I concluded, scanning the world map. I'm currently on an Island—one of the prominent of the hundreds of islands surrounding Union land. The House owns a dozen or so islands like this. However, this one was special. It's where the secret facilities of the House were located, though the main house was in Ceiron, the capital of the Union.

 

 

Coming back to the topic, the Union was not the biggest piece of land ruled by humans, though you could say the most secure one for now. The biggest piece under human jurisdiction is Aamir, untied by a warlord a few years back. He coronated himself as the Emperor, while the world knew him as Mad Emperor Lain. And as one would expect from a mad emperor, Aamir has never known stability in its two hundred years of establishment, though it's not entirely his fault.

Aamir had an exemplary relationship with the Union in name, but they never seemed to stop showing their interest in the Union, nor did the union stop scheming to swallow the land. Well, they did have a good enough reason. The emperor was mad.

As for the reason for his madness, it's the very reason I should be worried about personally. The very reason the emperor grew in such power to unite a lawless realm on his own was the very reason for him going mad.

Mad Emperor Lian had inherited a considerate piece of the Crippled God's essence. There were many names for the Crippled God, such as The Chained God, The Hanged One, The Fallen one, Evil One, and The Made One, etcetera, etcetera. Luckily, the Union was too long under the false sense of security that they forgot about it, mostly.

Unfortunately for me, I seemed to hold a piece of that fallen god as well. For your information, the Crippled God was not some local god borne out of sentient beings' faith, it was a Primordial God--at least, it once was.

[Inheritance: The Crippled God (1.7%, Incomplete)]

It was only a tiny piece of the divinity of this fallen god that I hadn't fully integrated into, but it was already giving me a headache. No matter how little I held on to the spiritual power, the power seemed to consume me, surging throughout me in mad glee, giving me an intoxicating feeling of possession.

That's the evil influence of a fallen god. Even in death, even when I'm not trying to draw much, it still affects me. And it would only rise more, the more I grow in power. Then it wouldn't be just the intoxicating feeling of power, it would be something more. Though it appears the Demon contract, I'm under makes it easier for me to control myself.

I guess Ian was not all wrong to contract a Great Demon.

Well, there were always men who never listen, in their greed or to fuel their vendetta, draw the forbidden power. Like me, for example.

[Title: Contractor of Kils Shai'haran]

This dude not only got integrated with the power of a Fallen God, but he also made a contract with a Great Demon of the abyss just so that he couldn't endure the madness anymore.

Yet even after getting his sanity back, he died poorly.

'Which brings me here,' I thought and touched the sword, which was the source of it all. 'Should I consider myself dead already?'

The Cripled God was related to the war five thousand years ago. The war where the Almighty perished.

Supposedly, back then, civilisation was at its peak with the blessing of All-Father Ari and All-Mother Asi. However, in the catastrophic war, All-father perished. As for All-Mother, she became like a true god and stopped responding to mortals' prayers like on my old earth.

That gave chances for a few other deities to emerge over the centuries. Some fake ones, some lesser ones and some overly ambitious ones.

Sighing, I drew the sword. It was a fine sword, camouflaged into gold. And I couldn't draw its power. Anne didn't just give back the sword, trusting me, but sealed its power first.

Well, it seemed she did her best. The original Ian might not have a way to deal with this, however, I know more than a couple of ways to break the seal, but would I want to do that? I found myself wondering.

I went back to the map.

In the north, it's forestland. The land was under the freezing point—most of it was almost inhabitable, however, people still live there. Union had its hands on some piece of land. They always showed an interest in venturing deeper into the Frostland, but more preceding matters held their hands tight most of the time.

Then there were the isles of Prajin and Nask'ban, Nobin in South-east—it's a land under other races, mostly Elves, Celesti, dwarves. Like many fantasy stories, they remained oblivious to humans and civilisation, never getting in contact with humans. Well, at least that's what it's supposed to be, but not exactly.

I suppose it's not that long, the union will be under attack.

Lifting my head up from the books and world map, I looked at Kain, who remained silent across from my seat. "Kain, do you know any Celesti?"

The butler nodded. "Even though they don't usually stay in contact with us, there's still few Celesti in the Union—mostly, half-bloods, however, they possess all the looks and characteristics of Celesti. If it isn't because of their low birth rate, they could perhaps rule the world already."

"That frightening?" I asked, acting curious.

I'm sure the game lacked a good deal of information on the other races, but here I was curious about another thing.

"They possess various supernatural abilities," Kain continued, preparing tea. "It literally said they were blessed by All-Mother."

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"Hmm, interesting," I muttered. "Perhaps I might get to see them soon."

"Well, Master Ian, Lady Anneliese is a part Celesti. I'm sure you won't find anything more on any pureblood Celesti."

"What?" I asked, voice a bit louder. I wondered how good my acting skill is. Passable, I assume. "Anne is a Celesti?"

Kain gave me a peculiar look, as if it was an obvious thing. "Quite easy to distinguish, the silver hair, and alabaster skin. Well, even among Celesti, silver hair is uncommon," he said, unsure.

"Well, some lines of humans do have silver hair," I added.

"Not in her case," Kain said. "Even with her magic, her essence comes from Celesti. It's probably from her mother's side. Lord Locksmith didn't mention much about her mother, however."

I frowned, not getting what I wanted, and I feared there was no more answer I could get out of him now. Let's not draw more suspicions now. Kain was already looking at me oddly when I told him to open the study.

Colour me surprised! There was a great deal of mystery here, but it would be better if I didn't dwell here now. Lord Locksmith, Ian's father, was a man of mystery, even in his death. I could guess the Fallen God's power, the great demon all things related to him, somehow, or how else would a teenage kid would get wrong opportunities like these?

Well, whatever, I should stay away from there now. As the term says, curiosity kills the cat. I don't want to be that cat. I need to devise some proper planning to deal with trouble like this.

I guess the real thing was a lot more complicated than the game. However, I've got a shit ton of advantages here. Only a total shithead would lose from here, which I'm not, of course. As you know, after the first try, any game became a lot easier.

Shaking my head, I looked at the obscured part of the map, the wasteland. Legend says it was once the most prosperous land, but now only darkness loomed there. Only monsters and mutated savage beasts roam there.

The union had tried to scavenge there multiple times, however, it was mostly fruitless. Well, even covering the Arath Ocean was a difficult task. Though, they were quite successful in getting something out of the Wasteland south to the Old Empire.

"Master Ian?" Kain called, handing me a cup of tea.

"Thank you." I took it as the aromatic scent drifted off to my nostrils. I took a sip and was alarmed at its intense taste. A jolt of current rushed through my head, refreshing me.

"Your brewing seems to have improved, Kain," I praised. "Are the training facilities in proper shape?"

"The Dream chamber is intact," the servant answered. "However, most of the advanced training facilities haven't been rebuilt."

"Will it be enough for some basic workout?"

"It would be just adequate, Master Ian," he stood up, "the facilities could do better than just some simple workout."

"Good," I said, sipping in the tea. "I'll be there in half an hour. Prepare an instructor. Wait, you can work as an instructor, right?

"I can offer some help," the butler admitted.

"Excellent. Ready the Dream Chamber, I'll be there in half an hour."

After the servants left, I brought out the crystal stone Anne gave to me.

[Class Advancement Crystal: Intermediate

Shattering this crystal with your spiritual energy would let you advance to an adequate class of the user's potential.]

An Intermediate one. I suppose this is good and great for many people, but for me not enough. Just imagine how much strength I need to acclaim to run away from the enforcer when they come to execute me?

More importantly, I would need something specific that would let me do my bidding hidden from public eyes. I had something exactly on my mind, though I better recover from the injuries first.

Fortunately, Class advancement crystals were not the only way to gain strength. I already had one of those, the unnamed sword that Anne gave me earlier, was pretty much bound to my soul. The sword was something that could pretty much destroy anything, though I have to pay a price for it.

The rotten skin on my chest was likely the mark of one such price.

As for the class, I have a better plan for that.

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This is the kind of story where the MC works under the veil through some secret channels or organisation. More will be revealed, the more you go.

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