Hell Forest, Aries Continent.
The blood of each and every student was boiling as they were transported pass the miasma into the beautiful forest. They were all scattered across the forest which was the border of the small abyss.
Jason didn't know if he was lucky or unlucky to encounter a rank five creature upon entering the forest. It was a three headed fanged unicorn. It looked menacing, especially the pointy horns and sharp fangs. It definitely did not look something little girls would want.
He used the imperial technique Hammer of the War god to summon a large hammer. He kited the creature as he tried to pound on its spine. He finally succeeded in doing so while narrowly avoiding a claw aimed at his hands. The hammer completely decimated the spine and the unicorn crashed to the ground unconcious.
"Zeze"
"Yes my Lord?"
"Prepare the mutation chamber for a three headed fanged unicorn"
"Yes my lord" He waved and the unicorn disappeared inside his ring. He felt his token vibrating and he saw 30 appear on the token. He smiled and continued his journey.
On his journey, he found out from rank three below were avoiding him. The rank four to rank five were worth 20 to 50 points. On the first day, he killed two rank four, three rank five and collected the tokens on them including the one of the unicorn. He also found three black tokens. His points on the first day was reaching 250. He was the first I'm the scoreboard.
The tokens with the animals were silver tokens worth 10 points for rank four and 15 points for rank 5. The black tokens were randomly placed around the forest and were worth 20 to 25 points. He found a cave, killed the pack of ghost wolves occupying it and set up camp there. His points went up by a lot but he paid it no heed.
He prepared dinner, ate and browsed his ring. He set up a high level barrier so he could sleep soundly. Most people and animals who saw the cave wanted to crash there but were electrocuted by the barrier.
Jason on the other hand was uncomfortable. He wasn't used to sleeping in a dangerous place even if he had a barrier protecting him.
"Zeze?"
"Yes Lord Jason?"
"Can you call Queen Xunia for me?"
"Calling, the queen..."
"Hello Jason. Can't sleep?" Xunia's soft voice came from the other side.
"No. I'm scared"
"You little cheat. No one else thinks of calling their fiance with an AI"
"I can't sleep..."
"Fine, what do you want?"
"I want to sleep..."
"Okay fine. Before I help you, why me? I thought you were scared of me?"
"I miss your comforting presence. I can't sleep if you're not in the vicinity"
"Fine. I'll tell you a story. It was the first time I visited the first realm. It took a week for the former gatekeeper of the realms to take us to Orikson. He didn't have enough power to take us to the Central realm so he could only take us to the gateway.
The appearance of Orikson looks different than what you see from here. Everywhere was fluffy, like a cloud. Every fifty years, testing pillars arise, fully charged to test people's Metheron affinity and talents.
My sister got tested for life affinity and she had the title of a chosen one. Life appeared in all her glory and took my sister away. My sister promised to take me away if my talent was not good so she could protect me as a personal disciple of a Judge.
I was nervous and scared but as a princess, I kept my head up high and went to touch the pillar. For the first time in a thousand years, the whole planet went dark. I heard a chuckle
in the dark and I was terrified.
A woman in her early twenties appeared to me in the dark and observed me.
"Xunialesse Vortaire the fourth. The chosen one, child of darkness. My child, how long I have waited for you"
"Who are you?"
"I am Darkness, the queen of the endless Dark world and the lady of the Abyss. You are my inheritor. If you accept, I'll train you enough for you to have the power to do anything you want. Do you accept?"
"Yes" I replied without hesitation. We left there immediately to the Abyss. I told her about my sister and she said she would handle it. Life had already told her"
"So wait, you're the core disciple of a Judge. That's so awesome"
"Might seem nice but compared to her, the devil is a good guy. My training was literally walking through hell everyday. I didn't even count days because there's no concept of time in the Abyss"
"That sounds less awesome. You must've been jealous of Maery right?"
"Correct. It was the typical Cinderella mindset only there's no prince charming. My step sister was living the life, no pun intended" Jason chuckled at that. She smiled when she heard him.
"That was until we met at the disciples gathering. My sweet and innocent step sister had turned into a shrewd and calculative little minx. It was like her dark side was unleashed. She is part demon anyways.
That was also where I met Seriel and Lorema. They were both slaves and this may shock you, best friends" And Jason was indeed shocked. Those two were always at each other's throats. It would've been more believable if she said Savannah and Lorema.
"Slaves?"
"Yes. They were both captured and sold after their villages were pillaged by some slave traders. Seriel and Lorema were young girls then, no less than 15 years. They captured my heart because despite their brutal tortures, their wills were unshakeable. I decided to buy them.
They begged me to buy their little sister too and I saw it was a little demon of no more than 3 years of age.That demon is none other than my little demon queen. I bought all three of them and took them back to a mansion in the outskirts of the Abyss.
When I tested their aptitudes, I found out that they had the same energies as mine. Seriel had Power, Lorema had Knowledge and Paerish had Death. Seriel's is due to her being a giant and her innate strength is stronger than any giant that has ever existed. She is also bigger and smarter.
Lorema's aptitude gives her gluttony for everything. She is most peculiar about Knowledge and food. If she doesn't sate her gluttony everyday, she'll go berserk and probably die.
Paerish had a little dominion over death energy. She can control and manipulate death energy. She can also produce it and extract it from people. You know some of our cells are decaying every second. She makes use of that and multiplies it. She's a work of art, that one" Xunia said with a warm smile.
Though Jason couldn't see her face, he thought she was being creepy.
"Sleepy yet?"
"A bit" He yawned and she chuckled.
"You'll continue this story right?"
"Sure. Anything for you"
"Okay. Good night my Queen"
"Goodnight my love" she said and the call disconnected. Jason closed his eyes and fell asleep soon enough.
"I remember when we used to call you big sister. We had no idea you were about a hundred years older than us" Lorema said from beside Xunia. All the queens were sprawled on the forest floor and they were listening to Xunia and Jason's conversation earlier.
"Yeah. We would've called you grandma" Seriel chimmed in.
"You guys are one to talk. You're both above two hundred and fifty and you're still single" Xunia snorted.
"Meanie" Lorema complained, resting her head on Seriel's chest. The latter pushed her head away, causing her to bump her head on a rock. She cried out in pain and glared at Seriel. She then abandoned her and went to rest on Xunia instead.
Astara started humming and Acecilia joined in. Soon all the girls were humming the same tune with their eyes closed. Not long after, they fell asleep. Xunia stood up and covered them with a dome.
"You're not sleeping?"
"I decided to talk to you, seeing you were here"
"Okay. What do you mean by I made the devil look like a good guy? I'm the epitome of righteousness" Xunia snorted when she heard this.
"Riiight godmother. Who was it who made me sit in dragon flames for a long time, being incinerated, reformed and broken just to learn the properties of the Abyss flames?"
"It was the easiest training you ever had"
"It was agony indescribable"
"Yeah yeah stop yapping. You're spoiling him"
"I'm not. If anything dangerous happens to him, light will flip her shit. Besides, I can't train a son of light"
"Yeah, you're right. How about the other kids? People used to die in this examination. Now everyone lives? I don't get it"
"Says the most righteous person in the universe. As much as you would like to offer sacrifices of these poor souls to the angel of death, I need them for the upcoming battle. I need 90 percent of the population of this world alive. But if it makes you feel better, I only save them when they've been beaten to an inch of their lives"
"It does make me feel better. That is pretty smart. When did Light say she's coming to collect him?"
"She hasn't said anything about it yet. I suppose she needs him to have enough battle experience"
"Okay. Good night Queen of the realm"
"Good night Lady of the Abyss" Xunia lay down and slept beside her escorts. Darkness watched over her for a while before leaving.
The next day, Jason was woken up by an alarm clock. His ring was continuously vibrating. He ordered Zeze to shut it off and proceeded to take a shower. His ring had a portable shower that was easy to use. When he was done, he stepped out of his face and put a marker there.
He decided to transform and hunt instead of walking around in his neutral form. His fur had more gold than before and his ring was still on his paws. It had expanded to fit him just right.
He decided to catch some rank five beasts and a Golden birby. It was a huge bird that was fifteen feet long. He wanted to catch it to gift it to Xunia. The manual said the feathers were used as decoration. He also planned to catch some other beasts for the other queens.
However, unlike yesterday, he wasn't that successful. He hasn't found any beast after roaming the forest for a whole morning. The weather was scorching hot and he searched for a pond to soak.
He found one and jumped in right away. He let out a groan in relief as steam escaped his body. He stayed there for a while and circulated his mana. The more the intensity of the light star, the more the mana.
Not far from him, the water rippled. He narrowed his eyes and jumped out of the water. When he was one meter away from the pond, he sent a ball of light energy from his mouth towards where he saw the ripple. He heard a hiss and a huge creature came out of the water.
It was like a huge serpent. Its scales were white in colour and it had the face of a dragon. It was currently baring it's fangs at Jason, ready to attack at any moment. Jason panicked for a minute before steadying his emotions.
The beast was a River Drakken. It was supposed to be a rank 7 beast but because it only attacked when one was close to or inside the water territory, it was regarded as a rank 5 territorial beast. The manual said to avoid it at all cost. But the Drakken had obvious benefits. From its neck grew two white fruits named the fruits of Asjar.
They were used to reproduce Asjar pills which could restore energy to the peak. He decided to capture or kill the beast. He could gift it to Paerish who was fond of experiments and specimens. The fruits were going to Xunia and Lorema. He transformed back, and in his boxer shorts, prepared to fight the River Drakken.
In the woods not far from him, a group of youths were watching him. The head of the group of Luica.
"Lord Jason, I hope you enjoy my little present. You ended my future and now, you'll pay for it. The Drakken would beat him to an inch of his life and we'll go and cripple him. Inside this forest, the queens and their guards wouldn't dare interrupt" Luica said, sneering. His handsome face sported a large scar from his fight with Jason.
Meanwhile, Jason was struggling with the Drakken. Turns out, Luica's gang had been luring the animals away from him and luring his towards the Drakken. Since he took the path with more heat, he was desperate for cool water. He had forgotten that the pond belonged to the River Drakken.
"Imperial dagger formation, alpha deck" the daggers appeared and formed the shape of an alpha symbol. The daggers launched at the Drakken the same way it did to the dummy but this time, the daggers were more in quantity. The Drakken howled and created a forcefield to deflect the incoming daggers.
The rebound threw Jason a feet away. He got to his feet immediately and dodged the scales launched at him.
"Imperial Light arts, sunlight convergence" the sunlight around the Drakken turned into huge light rays and scorched the beast. The beast let out a sharp cry that made Jason's eardrums burst and blood flowed from his ears.
The beast retreated and was about to hide inside the water.
"Don't even think of escaping. Light extraction!" he yelled and froze the water. What he did was simple, he just extracted the heat energy from the water which made the temperature drop. The Drakken crashed on the ice and began to freeze. Jason quickly swept it into his ring before it could counter attack.
He restored the heat back to the pond and swerved to the left to avoid an attack directed at him. He already noticed Luica when he was thrown away by the Drakken.
"You despicable worm! You set me up!" Jason yelled in fury. His body was filled with wounds and they were dripping with golden blood.
"It was an impeccable plan. Since you ruined my life, I wanted to ruin yours in return. But you just had to defeat the Drakken" Luica yelled back.
"It seems I would have to do the job myself" Luica grumbled.
Jason put a pill in his mouth and digested it as fast as he could. His energy levels were rising by the second. It was an Asjar pill that Xunia left for him. When it was 70 percent full, the gang attacked.
"Hammer of the War god!" He yelled and a giant hammer appeared in his hand. He huffed and hit the ground with it. The ground cracked and the approaching attackers fell due to the vibrations in the air.
"Lightning strike, fifth tribulation" five streaks of lightning descended and struck the five people with Luica. The whole place was filled with white light making them shield their eyes. When the light disappeared, only tokens were left beside a scorched ground.
Luica seethed and conjured a sword.
"Asjar pills? She even gave you that? I hate you!"
"Well I'm not a big fan too" Jason replied as he deflected the sword strike with his spear.
"You stole my life and my future!"
"You have a mate out there you fool. Stop trying to marry mine. I love her"
"Love? Ha! I don't care about love. I want to be an Alpha King"
"You know you won't survive"
"It's just a myth and I'll prove it to everyone. Men are supposed to be in charge not a decorative beauty. Humph" Luica replied. Jason became more furious. Before he could slash at him, time froze.
"What did you say?" A calm voice asked. It was the Alpha Queen and by the looks of it, she was furious. Luica grit his teeth and replied.
"Just a decorative beauty. You are not worth the throne of our ancestors"
"And you are? You're not even royal blood. Both your parents are commoners and have low aptitudes" she mocked.
"But I'm a citizen so I have a right to rule"
"Only royal blood" She said, grabbed his throat and smashed him on the ground. She restricted her level to Celestial level to beat him up well.
She grabbed his arm and kept smashing him on the floor. When she dropped him, she stepped on his arms, legs, torso, spine and broke them. He was teleported back when she crushed his wind pipe. Everyone was watching in horror. It wasn't as if he didn't want to fight back but rather, he couldn't. She was too powerful.
"Jason, are you alright?" She asked with a smile. He didn't say anything, he just crashed in her arms. She hugged him as he breathed heavily.
"I'm fine, now that you're here"
"Hmmm, that's good"
"You didn't have to beat him up you know, I could handle him"
"I know. He questioned my authority and I taught him a lesson. Around here, I am the law"
"Yes, your majesty" he said and her mouth twitched.
"Stop patronizing me"
"I'm not" she rolled her eyes at him.
"I'll be going soon"
"Just stay a while longer"
"Okay" she replied and hugged him tight.
Everyone were still shocked by her actions. One minute she was bashing her ex-fiance like a rag doll, the next she was hugging her mate like nothing happened. Meanwhile in the infirmary, Luica was squirming in pain as no one attended to him. His mana paths were blocked so he couldn't heal properly.
His parents were on lockdown so they couldn't help him. After he was healed, he would be tried for treason along with his accomplices.
Xunia let Jason go and teleported back to her place. When she left, Jason smiled. She had told him where to find a nest of Golden Birbies through telepathy. He blushed when he realised that he was still in his boxer shorts. He remembered the tokens in the floor and collected them.
He transformed into his wolf form, which mesmerized he crowd for the second time and ran towards the mountain areas. The Queens who were watching him, has smiles on their faces. In the central realm, a Judge was watching him with much interest.