Becoming the Dark Lord

By the next morning, they were back on the road, and Franky was still talking about his class mutation.

“And that’s why I’m super powerful,” Franky continued from atop the Spectral Beast, lecturing Charlie and Angie.

Neither woman looked remotely interested, mostly because this was at least the tenth time he’d told the same story.

Franky was now a [Crypt Mage Apprentice].

Maybe the little bastard wasn’t exaggerating after all.

[Crypt Mage Apprentice]: A mage drawn to the silence of tombs and the unsettling beauty buried within ancient crypts. Where others see only death, decay, and fear, they see knowledge, resources, and untapped potential. Forgotten corpses, disease, decaying remains, scattered bones, cobwebs, and unmarked graves are not merely the remnants of an abandoned place. They are signs that a crypt can hold far more than the dead. To this mage, the crypt is not an ending, but a path, a place where death, ruin, and the creatures that crawl among the remains can all be turned into sources of power. They are not yet a true Crypt Mage, only an apprentice beginning to understand that some secrets can take root only beneath stone, earth, and silence.

Attribute Bonuses per Class Level: +5 Wisdom, +4 Intelligence, +3 Willpower, +2 Vitality, +2 Perception, +2 Free Points.

“Give it a rest, shorty,” Angie said. “I think we should start running. What do you think?”

Franky pointed at her indignantly. “Shorty? Give it a rest? Winged rat, you only call me short because you know the truth. I got a class mutation because I’m incredible. From what I heard... you didn’t even get one.”

Angie stared at him with far too much seriousness for someone arguing with a child.

“You’re right, shorty. My class didn’t mutate. That’s because [Valkyrie] is already a legendary class. It counted as a special class for me from the beginning. There was no need.”

“That sounds like an excuse from someone who didn’t get one.”

“It’s not an excuse. You can find other archers. You’ll have a much harder time finding another Valkyrie.”

“And you still didn’t get an amazing mutation like mine. I just got here, and I’m already a better servant than you are. Soon, I’ll be at the top of the hierarchy.”

A vein bulged in Angie’s forehead.

She can’t seriously be taking a child’s taunts personally, can she?

“Shorty,” Angie said coldly, “if I remember correctly, you wet the bed two nights ago.”

“I did not!”

“You did. You woke up panicking and begged my lord to help you hide it. You even wanted to wash everything yourself.”

“You gossiping winged rat! Are you that jealous because I’m so incredibly awesome?”

Angie pointed her spear at him. “How about this? If you can so much as scratch me, I’ll admit you’re amazing. Perfectly fair. Even if I kill you, you’ll come back.”

“Okay, enough,” Luke said as things started getting serious.

“I accept,” Franky declared. “I’ll defeat you with my incredible powers.”

“No, you won’t.” Luke took Franky’s wand before the boy could do something stupid. “Didn’t I tell you not to pick fights you can’t win? And stop talking about your mutation. We understood it the last eleven times.”

The journey continued without any further attempted murders.

She really was taking him seriously...

Angie was way too competitive.

“Which class do you think is cooler, Luke?” Artemis asked. “Knight or Valkyrie?”

Charlie and Angie both turned toward him.

Even the necklace seemed to go quiet.

“I think you should keep your mouth shut too. By the way, Charlie, did you know Artemis spent most of our time at the hotel harassing me?”

“What?” Charlie’s head snapped toward him, her eyes turning red.

“Luke? Come on, man!” Artemis protested.

“It’s true, Charlie. She wanted me to perform carnal acts with her.”

Luke removed the necklace and tossed it to Charlie.

“Is that true?” Charlie asked, glaring at it.

“Don’t believe him, Charlie! And it wasn’t me, okay? It was my other self! I’m a pure and innocent lady!”

***

It was night, and Luke had moved away from camp to speak with Charlie in private. They were alone, and his magical necklace was nowhere nearby. Luke told her everything that had happened with Artemis at the hotel, from their first meeting to the moment he became her apostle. He left out absolutely nothing.

Charlie listened with her arms crossed and a deep scowl.

“So you saw her naked?!”

Maybe it was the faint red glow in her eyes. Maybe it was the active [Vampiric Aura] making her presence more threatening. Maybe it was simply the dangerous edge in her voice. Whatever the reason, she was terrifying.

Still, Charlie was listening. That counted for something.

“And that’s what happened,” Luke finished. “I didn’t do anything. Does that count as cheating?”

“Yes.”

I’m screwed...

“Are you sure, Charlie?”

“Looking at any woman who isn’t your girlfriend is automatically cheating.”

Luke remained silent for several seconds. “Any woman? Isn’t that a little extreme?”

“Not to me.”

“Well...” He chose his words carefully. “On your scale, how bad was what happened at the hotel?”

Charlie sighed. “I’ll be pragmatic about this. As I always am.”

Luke was almost certain his girlfriend had never been pragmatic about this subject in her life, but he wasn’t stupid enough to say that aloud.

“I don’t think drying her feet was cheating,” Charlie said. “That sounds harmless enough.”

“I thought so too. But Artemis is insane.”

“But there’s one part that sets off every alarm in my head, Master Luke.”

“I swear I didn’t accept the kiss. I turned her down.”

“I believe you. I’m talking about what you did the next day.”

Luke frowned.

“What did I do the next day? Nothing happened.”

I mean, Artemis tried to harass me almost every day. Charlie’s going to have to be more specific.

“You went on a date with her.”

Luke stared at her.

“And you let her feed you,” Charlie added.

“What?”

I survived being in the same room as a naked goddess, and I’m going to be condemned over lunch?

“It wasn’t a date, Charlie.”

“The way you described it, it sounded like one.”

“It was more like a celebration because I’d become her apostle. I told you how lonely she is and how she can’t leave the place where she’s trapped. For Artemis, it was just a chance to have some fun.” Luke ran a hand through his hair, searching for a better way to explain it. “I felt bad for her. I even agreed to go on boring little outings because she needed the company.”

Charlie watched him in silence for a few moments. “And you’re sure she isn’t in love with you?”

“Artemis? In love with me?”

Luke laughed.

“Charlie, she’s a goddess. She doesn’t think or feel the way we do. Sure, Artemis flirts with practically everyone, but she doesn’t mean anything by it. I doubt she feels anything romantic toward me.” He thought for a moment. “Honestly, I think she lives up to the title Goddess of the Hunt. She sees me as prey.”

Charlie considered that. “You have a point.”

Obviously Artemis isn’t in love with me.

She’s basically an all-powerful friend who treats sexual harassment like a hobby.

Charlie narrowed her eyes. “But are you sure?”

“What are the odds of a trillion-year-old goddess falling in love with a twenty-one-year-old mortal, Charlie?” Luke spread his arms. “That only happens in fiction.”

***

The castle looked exactly as Luke remembered it: dead spiders, rotting roots, and a lot of work waiting for him.

The group stopped in front of the entrance.

“This lair of yours is pretty cool, human,” Franky said, examining the dead spiders scattered around the area. “You’ve got plenty of corpses for decoration.”

Charlie and Angie observed everything in silence while Luke explained how he’d ended up claiming the Kingdom Core.

“That’s when I realized all the spiders outside were pretty weak,” he said as they moved forward. “I stayed hidden anyway. I didn’t want to risk drawing the attention of whatever was inside.”

They passed enormous roots rising from the earth like the bones of some buried creature. Some were dry, cracked, and nearly dead. Others still showed signs of life, but even those looked sickly.

“If you keep going straight that way, you’ll reach the village I mentioned,” Luke said.

The village was far away but still within the Core’s territory.

“Even so,” Angie said, studying the forest, “isn’t it dangerous for people to live there with these spiders nearby?”

“The mana released by the Core attracted more beasts to the area,” Luke explained. “They fed on the mana in the atmosphere.”

“And the stronger ones stayed closer,” Angie concluded.

“Probably. The dead beasts I found must have approached the Core, which is why the spiders killed them. That doesn’t necessarily mean the spiders went out hunting. If they were active hunters, the people in that village would’ve died a long time ago.”

As they approached the castle, Angie examined the roots, the terrain, and the natural obstacles.

“These roots are blocking the path,” she said. “And some of them are rotting.”

“I think the spiders were feeding on them too. There are marks here.” Luke pointed to several deep gashes in the living wood. “Some of them are leaking sap. If this tree has magical properties, the sap should be rich in mana.”

He had collected some before setting out. It was a useful potion ingredient. Rotting roots, magical sap, a nearby village, and a ruined castle. His new kingdom already had resources, potential citizens, and more problems than he could count.

Inside the castle, their footsteps echoed through the ruined halls. Old webs clung to the walls, and the foul smell still hung in the air.

“It’s filthy,” Charlie said, looking around.

“And the structure needs repairs,” Angie added, staring at the hole in the ceiling.

“I only cared about the Core,” Luke replied. “It can give us the location of the Array.”

Every Monarch with a Core had automatically received the notification about the Teleportation Array. During the lecture at the hotel, they’d been told that nations were expected to form alliances to protect the Arrays and share access to them. Luke was almost certain some kingdoms would attempt to monopolize the Arrays and deny everyone else access. The castle could wait. The Core couldn’t.

In the throne room, Luke approached it and placed a hand against its surface.

A system window appeared before his eyes.

Kingdom Core

Monarch: Luke Moon

Kingdom Name: -

Level: 0

Citizens: 0/10

Soul Energy: 0/10,000

Skills: [Dark Lord’s Army], [Citizenship Card], [Sovereign’s Gaze], [Domain Mana], [Kingdom’s Calling], [Safe Domain], [Kingdom Bond], [Core Soul Reservoir]

[Quests]: [Kings of the New Era (Optional)], [Teleportation Array (Optional)], [Obtain Your First Citizen (Active)], [Raise the Core’s Level (Active)], [Eliminate the Root Spiders (Active)], [Hunt the Remaining Beasts (Active)], [Aid the Great Tree (Active)]

Citizens would strengthen the Core simply by living within its territory. In return, the Core would sustain the land and increase the Monarch’s power. The more his territory developed, the stronger Luke would become along with it. That was why the system used the quest tab to identify problems within the Core’s domain. Among the listed quests, two had appeared when the New Era began.

[Kings of the New Era]: The full integration of your universe has begun a New Era across the multiverse. Such eras bring countless changes, and often produce seeds that may one day grow into Gods. Congratulations on becoming part of this New Era. This quest has only been made available to Monarchs who participated in the Sunken Realms Event. A World Council of Monarchs from your former planet will be held within one year of the conclusion of Stage 3. Only Monarchs whose communities demonstrate the greatest growth will be invited.

Invitation Requirement (Locked): Complete all current quests within your territory!

Time Remaining: 11 Months : 1 Week : 4 Days

That’s how long I have to earn an invitation. Elizabeth Moon will be there. Maybe Allison too.

And so would the World Kings.

[Teleportation Array]: A structure created by the system. One currently exists on each continent. Your worlds were once separated across layers of reality. Now that they have been joined on a single planet, bridges can be formed between them. An Array allows a person to teleport to another Array, provided they possess the correct coordinates and the receiving Array approves the transfer. Complete this quest’s requirements for additional information.

Requirements: [Kingdom Core] Level 2.

Level 2.

Then it’s time to build a kingdom.