"Did I fail?"
Laz couldn’t get himself to believe that he, after being able to overcome the various other opponents, got beaten with just a single move and by a single person.
He didn’t know his name, but he was probably right. He had been powered by zeal, without the proper power-up to keep it in play, and now, his battery had run down drastically.
Coughing out blood, he opened his right hand palm to let his Nagarion blade vanish, and surrendered to the hands of General Avaki, who grasped his own and pulled them backwards in silence.
Luckily for him, from the look of things, he wouldn’t be killed instantly. But this was beyond his imagination for the kind of living creatures in this world.
He had arrived with the intent of killing everyone who crossed his path, believing they were never friendly. They were not friendly at all from the onset.
’Are you sure you could have performed more than you did just now?’
That was a crazy mockery his thoughts had posed on him. Clearly reminding him that he was yet to be strong enough.
Looking down through the crimson ice that had formed as a result of congealed red blood, he muttered.
"I hope to see you soon for the tutorial."
He could have summoned Good right away to save him, but, he didn’t know its condition either. Collecting those arrows in his place was enough already, and it had clearly made him understand his survival was also precious.
’Well, I guess I survived.’
***
Behind his back, the cold bite of iron bit deeper into Laz’s wrists, causing him pain with every jolt of the cart they travelled in.
The cart was made up of a medium container, polished brown to hide its metallic lustre. By its side, two wide and long wheels were attached and used as a means of its rotational movement, while a horse with an invisible rider was the driver.
Laz swallowed his saliva once he noticed it.
All the while he was captured, everything turned eerily strange.
The first was their horse driver without a rider; the other was the sudden change in attitude of the second survivor from the battle.
Two survivors from the incident remained: Laz and General Avaki.
The Awakened Elites had all been cleared, thanks to Good. And the Scholars, he did a nice job, not by his expectations.
The long silence that had swallowed Avaki made Laz feel uneasy, but he was only going to keep his mind bare, should any danger try to befall him...
’Not like I can do anything in this state.’
But this was the perfect time he needed General Avaki to begin lecturing him on similar things, like he did during the battle. At least, it was going to keep his mind from suffering from this high rate of boredom.
Turning his head to the side, he discerned the streets as they passed.
The civilians, who must have learnt that the one who caused havoc for them has been captured, began to release their emotional character traits in different actions.
Many cursed on top of their voices.
Some flung scraps of rotten vegetables, others hurled pebbles that chattered harmlessly against the cart’s metal slats.
There were even fewer who dared their saliva to spit as far as to reach Laz in the cart, but it failed.
Well enough, none of these actions seemed to move Laz.
He was not affected by any of them since the cart covered him, plus the fact that some time after he had turned to see how the dwarf civilians reacted, the system screen had materialized before him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Elite ↑»
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Elite x3 ↑»
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Elite x5 ↑»
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Elite x7 ↑»
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Elite General | +3 cores ↑»
«↓ Dominant Trait Stage: Summoner ↑»
«↓ Rank Core: +35 ↑»
«↓ Ability Used: Summoning | Has upgraded to Lv. 1 ↑»
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laz was at first happy, but immediately he saw the rapid increase in rank core. At this rate, it meant he was going to become strong faster than he expected.
Also, he noticed that other victims of the slaughter had earned him 2 Rank cores, but the General had earned him 3.
’I get. The system is only trying to rationalize the number of cores a particular creature rank can give.’
What he tried to understand was the fact that even though killing an Awakened Rank creature can only grant a bearer 2 cores, killing a higher-ranked creature of the category can grant you more than the required amount, but less than the next category rank’s amount.
However, his confusion landed the moment he cleared his eyes to see that the notification had informed him only of slaying Elites, which he can swear wasn’t done by him.
’Oh. Summoning Ability used. It means that Good must have also had an increase in Soul cores.’
Laz let the thought linger in his mind for a while. He wondered if the dragon snake was also going to face a level-up in core count, just like he had done. If it did, was the process similar to that of humans?
Dismissing the thought, he returned his focus to the second set of notifications.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Scholar ↑»
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Scholar x3 ↑»
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Scholar x5 ↑»
«↓ Congrats. You have slain an Awakened Scholar x7 ↑»
«↓ Dominant Trait Stage: Summoner ↑»
«↓ Rank Core: +32 ↑»
«↓ Ability Used: Qi Manipulation | Has upgraded to Lv. 1 ↑»
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking closely, the notification was similar to the previous one, except that it hadn’t notified him of killing a General.
Laz turned to General Avaki, whose concentration was focused on the path ahead, finally realizing his rank among the Scholars and exhaled softly.
’No wonder.’
Returning his head, Laz’s expression beamed with a sudden, unknown happiness.
’Now, I have a total of 104 Rank cores if I’m not mistaken. Which means I have naturally become an Evolved bearer.’
’If only I were able to get an additional 100 cores somehow, so I could finally kick this stagnant Ascended rank off.’
His thoughts were cut short immediately he read through the notification summary that had popped up a while after the second screen disappeared.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
«↓ Name: Laz Mann ↑»
«↓ Age: 18 ↑»
«↓ Status: Bearer ↑»
«↓ Bloodline: Animagus ↑»
«↓ Rank: Ascended ↑»
«↓ Rank Core: 50.4/100 [+13.4] |
«↓ Core Trait Stage: Summoner | Stage Rank: Awakened ↑»
«↓ Abilities:
> Summoning [Lv. 1] |
> Qi Manipulation [Lv. 1] |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laz’s confusion even deepened the moment he saw that his Rank Core was showing a lesser figure instead of what he had calculated.
Of course, he understood why it affected his Stage Rank, but he didn’t get why he only had an increment core of 13.4.
He was certain the system had rewarded him with a total of 67 Rank cores, so how come?
Unknowingly, he rattled the chain cuffs that were trapping his wrists in an attempt to tap the description button beside the Rank core, attracting the attention of General Avaki, who shot him several bullets of death glances.
"Sorry" was the only word that came from his mouth at that point.
Returning focus to the screen, he also noticed the sudden level input beside his abilities, and his curiosity only piqued.
Trying to figure out if he could reveal the contents in the descriptions of each of these confusing features without having to tap on the buttons, General Avaki’s voice distracted.
"We are a few meters away from the King’s palace."
Laz looked at him, not sure what reply to give. So, he averted his gaze almost immediately and took in the sight of the Royal environment.
Susaki, the King’s palace, rose like a carved mountain ahead of them. Massive pillars lined the entrance, supporting the concrete below the aluminum zinc that held the King’s crest: a golden serpent coiled around a black crown.
When the cart stopped, the doors groaned open, allowing General Avaki to jump down, and afterward, usher Laz down from the cart.
As soon as he was out, Avaki forced him to bend his knees to kiss the ground, then bowed before the short dwarf standing on the raised platform before them.
It was Susaki himself. Surprisingly, not accompanied by any guards, just on his own.
His robe shone with threads of crimson and gold, and his face was as impassive as Avaki’s. He did not speak to Laz, nor did he do so to Avaki.
He only nodded to Avaki, then turned and vanished into the shadows of the palace interior.
’What does that nod mean?’ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel·fire·net
’Why is no one even uttering a word?’
’Is this a ritual? I don’t think so. This General had spoken to me a while ago.’
The silence that had followed was heavier than the chains Laz wore behind his back.
What more?
Strong hands from behind him, he never noticed while they entered the palace compound, hauled him to stand and dragged him into the underbelly of the city quarter led by the General.
They passed through narrow corridors lit by torches until they reached a damp, low-ceilinged hallway and were pushed inside.
As he turned, the iron bars slammed into his face. The air was thick with the stench of mildew and rust.
Laz didn’t know what to do but to stand and watch as the dwarf owners of the two pairs of hands that had grabbed him locked the iron bars. One of them was standing on the shoulders of the other so that his hands could reach the upper part of the door, which needed to be locked.
"So, I’ve been locked up," Laz said the moment the dwarves left.