Will searched outside his castle for Rias by flying everywhere. There is something he's been meaning to do to an elf for many years now, pushing them up against a shelf like the song goes.
He could have asked Adaline to point in her direction, but she was sleeping peacefully, and Will didn't want to bother her anymore.
While looking he noticed two things, his castle is bigger than he thought, which he pat himself on the back for a job well done. And also, now that he thought about it, the idea of pushing an elf far back on the shelf seemed cringe when he thought of it.
"She probably went back to her forest or whatever. This was a cringe idea from the start. Oh well." Will gave up. He thought that Rias was already long gone.
Rias had indeed left the castle. With the current weather it was actually possible for her to travel by foot back safely to the forest. Travelling across the hot climate seemed risky to Rias.
Weighing the pros and cons of her current situation, she'd figured that it was better to take the risk and run back home to her village. She didn't know when Grace or Arbor would visit, so she couldn't wait for them, it could be days. And Will doesn't seem like he'll be forgiving her any time soon and offer her a ride back.
And lastly, she needed to feed her zombie father before he started decomposing and rot away for good.
For the rest of the time Will had decided to take it easier. He and Sandra still worked on the interior building designs. Meanwhile Adaline slept, but with her here now and with the new weather, it was possible to finally make a proper farm. Now even if Adaline is gone again, the farm would be alright as long as it's cared for.
"I don't know how you did it, Will, but this is starting to look like a proper kingdom. The weather is just perfect." Sandra was happy that the scorching weather was gone.
"Yeah." Will knew that it would be stupid if Sandra didn't figure out that he had something to do with the weather. Not only that but he changed the weather dozens of times in the course of an hour.
Plus Will already knew that Sandra was a very good observant, like a professional detective, to him at least. Some people are just naturally good at things.
Sandra is the kind of person you wouldn't want to marry if you plan to cheat on her. You'll get caught right away.
And besides, even if Will tested out the magical device while Sandra wasn't around, she'd most likely realize it was Will who did it. The weather in the deserted lands was the same since Hero Christpher Lawrence died, and not once did it change after that, until today.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. During these last few days Will was looking forward to seeing Victoria get injured. He hasn't been this excited since he pre-ordered a PS5. Sadly he died before it was released. It's one of his greatest regrets in life. And also never being able to play the other awesome upcoming games like Hytale.
And today was the day of the tournament. He was eagerly anticipating his school bully to get what she deserves.
And yes, there is a risk of being recognized by his classmates and getting his identity exposed. But at this point he really doesn't care as a lot of people already know. But most importantly, he wouldn't miss this for the world.
"No matter how many times I eat these, they never get old." Will ate another exotic pill like it was nothing, and he watched as his HP increased. Much like the flower itself, the pills were crunchy and yet they melt in your mouth, like eating crunchy cotton candy. One would have to eat it to understand what he meant.
He'd gladly give this to Adaline and Sandra, but this is poisonous to them. Actually Adaline did absorb an exotic flower long ago, still he didn't want to risk killing her and putting Adaline or Sandra through such an unbearable pain, and possibly lead to their deaths.
He still remembers how painful it was when he ate the flower the first time. He didn't even hesitate to want to kill himself in order to put an end to his suffering.
{HP: 4075}
Thanks to Adaline his HP continued to increase by the day. Sadly when Adaline left to find Grace she stopped producing exotic flowers because he couldn't feed her anymore.
Will is grateful that his HP is now 4075 compared to the 50 HP he started out with. Still when he thought about the Great Sage, dragons, and the other powerful beings his HP was insignificant. Their HP went over the hundreds of millions.
"You ready yet, Will?" Sandra called out to him. She wore her plain clothes, and tied her hair up in a ponytail.
"I'm ready. Are you sure you don't want to participate in the tournament?" Asked Will. He wore his armor and plans to take it with him.
Should something happen, he is ready to fly away with Sandra. He didn't know what to expect, but he hopes that nothing bad happens. But really it's just an excuse to show off his amazing dragon armor. So he likes it when people compliment him.
"I am absolutely sure." Sandra didn't feel like fighting anyways. She just doesn't like participating in pointless violence, but she's not against spectating on the sides.
And yes, the magical item is tempting, but she knows that she'll never be able to get it because their classmates are stronger than her, well if they compare their abilities to hers.
"But are you sure you want to wear your dragon armor? You'll stand out less if you wear normal clothing, obviously." Sandra pointed out the obvious.
"Yeah, but then I won't be able to fly and we'll be late to see Victoria get hurt. Adaline! We'll be back soon! Stay off the internet." Will shouted to Adaline, who was still sleeping.
Adaline nodded once and went into lazy mode.
"I don't get the joke. There's no internet in this world." Sandra pointed out.
"It's just something my parents always said to me before they left the house, but I always played online video games as soon as they were gone. Nevermind, just forget what I said." Will realized that his terrible joke did not make sense at all. Adaline doesn't even know what 'internet' means.
"Wait, aren't we riding on Adaline to the kingdom?" Sandra could make it by herself, but Will isn't as fast as her. She thought that they would be taking Adaline with them since she is not only fast but big enough for 3 people to ride.
"No. She deserves to rest. We'll be leaving like this."
Will carried Sandra in his arms, and they both flew off straight to the kingdom. Sandra tightened her grip around Will's neck.
It's not the first time Will carried her while flying, and she doesn't fear heights, but it did scare her that he could drop her at any moment.
"Hold on a second! You're telling me you could fly to the kingdom this whole time?"
"Why are you confused? This is not the first time I'm flying." Will was confused.
"But you can fly that far without falling or something? All the times I travelled back and forth to the kingdom, you could have done it faster than me?"
"To be fair, you never asked. And second, I know you liked going back and forth because (A) you liked shopping in the kingdom, and (B) you wanted a reason to leave the scorching heat."
"Wow!" Sandra was amazed.
"What?"
"This is the first time I've seen you observe something with so many details. Coming from you is impressive!"
Sandra wanted to clap for him, but that would mean letting go of her grip.
She's been with him for years, and most of the time they've been together he has always missed the obvious. Will is not known for being that observant.'
"Don't let me go." Sandra said, softly.
"I won't."
"..." As the time passed, Will realized that he was changing, or more like this world had changed him already.
Now that he doesn't focus most of his time on video games like in the past, he's changing for the better. He's stronger now, in shape, is learning a new language (elven) and has become reliable, something that he wasn't before. With all the pointless distractions gone, he's been focusing on more productive things.
'I remember in one of my mom's COUNTLESS lectures, that back then people didn't have as many distractions as in our generation, like video games, movies, music, internet, etc. Which is why they were better people than we are now. She's not wrong. But did I change that much?' Will thought.
This kind of boring lecture is something that gamer children with caring parents have been lectured on at least once or one hundred times in their lives.
Like how parents like to tell their children how they crossed the 7 seas, fought through the scorching deserts, climbed the tallest and coldest mountains all in one night, all to make it to school and back and still have enough time to care, cook, and clean their houses for their 9 siblings and bedridden parents, and have 5 full time jobs, do their homeworks, get perfect grades and attendance, and repeat.
Anyways… Will didn't feel any different, but he was different, it is just easier for other people to see how much you've changed than you yourself can.
If someone told Will 5 months ago that he'd be a reliable, better, and productive human being, he'd slap them so hard that CyberPunk 2077 would have won game of the year.
This world doesn't have as many distractions as they don't have the luxury, like back in ancient times. In this world they focused on survival, and power.
If video games were still a thing in this world, Will wondered if he could fight off the temptation to play them. Video games are addictive and fun without a doubt, which is why Will could never really remove video games from his life.
Parents like Will's could never understand how difficult it is for their child/children to part with something they hold dear.
Later, Will landed safely a bit far from the castle's gates with Sandra.
"Are we late?" Will asked.
"Not sure. They don't exactly have portable watches, although they should."
"But, can you please put the dragon armor away?"
"You don't like it, do you?" Will was reluctant to remove his dragon armor.
"I do, but you'll stand out easily."
"This coming from THE ONLY hero to have red hair. If anything YOUR red hair and face will stand out more than my dragon armor."
"Ah! But… no, you're right. How did I miss that?!" Sandra somehow forgot that she also stands out. After spending over a week with Will she had forgotten how much attention she brought.
"Okay. Let's go inside." Will said.
Before they could enter the kingdom, they saw the endless line of people before them. It was like a line you'd see in a famous rock concert.
"I thought you said that a lot of people left already to move to the Empire?" Will asked.
"That's what I heard." Sandra thought that all those people who left would have left the kingdom a bit empty. If anything it looked more crowded than before.
"Holy balls! It's a hero!" A soldier, who he thought he saw something fly, went to check it out and saw that it was Sandra.
Most of the guards are huge fans of the heroes. Some of them had even worked with them and had recognized their faces.
"Hello." Sandra said awkwardly. She is good with faces, but she doesn't recognize the man in front of him.
"Is something wrong, hero? I thought I saw a monster fly near here." What he saw was without a doubt Will, but mistook it for a flying monster.
"Nothing here. Um, could we by any chance skip the huge line?" Sandra didn't feel like waiting in line. She doesn't do this much, but she's going to 'abuse' her hero status this once.
She knows she could enter freely, but nothing could be said about bringing in Will using her hero status.
"Of course! You don't have to wait! But, about your friend here, I need to see some paper proving his identity or something. Not that I am disrespecting you, hero, but it's the Sage's and kind's orders." The soldier said, nervously.
"How about this?" Will showed the man an obsidian badge that was dangling from his neck.
"Woah! An obsidian badge! I heard that someone recently got one, to think it was you. Please, go in you two. Don't let me keep you waiting." The soldier said, respectfully.
Will got the obsidian badge from the Great Sage after trading in the dragon corpses with Josh for money.
Will had completely forgotten about the badge, and he only remembered it because he was rummaging through his stuff that he found it in his chest by accident.
Since today was an important day, he thought he could use the badge since he might need it.
"When and how did you get that?" Sandra didn't know the significance of the badge, but she was curious about it.
"The Great Sage gave it to me, after I solved the 'Taker' problem."
"Ah." Sandra understood.
They entered the castle without any problems. It usually isn't this busy. It's just that today people are going crazy to witness a tournament of heroes.
The inside of the kingdom was even crazier than before. People were going crazy everywhere trying to get a seat.
It was so loud that Sandra and Will couldn't even hear each other, like it was a crazy sporting event.
"Follow me!" Sandra grabbed Will by his wrist and brought him inside the castle.
The 10 or so guards guarding the castle's entrance recognized Sandra, but didn't recognize Will at all, especially with that weird but amazing dragon armor.
There usually aren't this many guards guarding the castle, but with all the people crowding the kingdom the king decided to have more guards stationed everywhere, in case anyone wants to start trouble.
"He's with me." Sandra said to the guards.
The guards looked at each other. One shrugged his shoulders and said, "Hm." As if he doesn't care. So they let Will and Sandra inside.
The reason they could act like it wasn't important is because the Great Sage is the one who deals with the heroes, while they deal with smaller matters. It wasn't worth messing with a hero and getting fired from their job.
"Woah!" Will said in amazement from the castle's interior design.
The castle building was as tall as a dragon, with multiple exquisite marble pillars supporting the building. The floor was smooth and shiny like a mirror, one could even see their own reflection perfectly. The three thrones were atop of a stone platform, made out of gilded wood, some gold and some silver as well, with the king's throne looking more mightier than the other two thrones.
Behind the throne were large, colorful, fancy stained glasses that appeared old, and ancient, and clean.
One of the stained glass had a very young Great Sage, like if he was around his 20's, sitting on the king's throne holding a different staff than the one he usually carries. He had a serious, cold expression on his face. The staff wasn't made of wood but silver instead, and was shorter. This is to symbolize that no matter who sits in the throne, the one in power and in charge is the Great Sage.
Two other stained glass were nearly identical. Both had the Great Sage as his current old self with one being just a bit younger in his mid 30's, while another one looked to be in his late 50's.
The current Great Sage looks to be in his 80's and nearing his 90's.
Instead of sitting on the throne like the first one, both could be seen that he's levitating from the ground. Behind him were countless strange people, well over 100 in each stained glass. In both he had that same, cold, serious expression on his face.
Will could faintly recognize one person from that glass pane, Hero Christopher Lawrence. His face looked nearly identical to the one in the photo.
'If he's there, does that mean those other people behind him are heroes?' Will thought, and he was right. Every hero who ever lived has been drawn in every stained glass, even those who have fallen.
In the last stained glass is the Great Sage in his 20's, along with an old man wearing what appeared to be a long robe. Both were seen to fight a disgusting female figure whose skin was all black, like burned charcoal, it didn't even look human. Her eyes were white. Behind her were monsters also covered in dark, with their eyes white for some reason.
"I never told you about this, have I?"
"No. But I'm guessing those hundreds of people behind the Great Sage are heroes?"
"Right."
"And I guess that the Great Sage is fighting the Witch along with the third hero?"
People usually talk about the Great Sage, and the Witch. But rarely is the third hero ever mentioned. Nobody knows about him, not his abilities, not his story, the only thing they do know is his face.
"Right, again."
"And the other one is the Great Sage, becoming a king or something."
"Wrong. I was never king." Someone suddenly spoke.
"AH!" Sandra and Will freaked out. Behind them was the Great Sage. He held the round device in his palm that lets him speak through it.
"Well, well, well, I knew you'd return, but I didn't expect it to be this late." The Great Sage, said.
In truth, he expected Will to come to the kingdom after falling victim to the harsh reality of this world. But surprisingly he lasted way longer than he imagined.
He sensed two people, one was sorta familiar, and another one he could tell was Sandra. He could sense them lingering around the castle. He just didn't expect Will at all.
"Did you come to join in the tournament?" Asked the Great Sage.
"No." Will said with no emotion.
"Hm… I understand. So long." He read Sandra's memories, and found out that Will just wanted to see Victoria get injured. He couldn't read Will's memories because he carried an item that blocks off telepathy.
He left them both by teleporting once he realized that it wasn't important, and frankly he didn't care. If Will had indeed come to join the kingdom with his other hero friends, it would be a hassle for him since it would mean work for him and less time to rest.
He just wanted to sleep, eat some corn soup, and do nothing. And now he has to take care of this tournament.
Sadly, as much as wishes, he cannot retire, because if he does 'quit' everything will go into chaos. He once said that as a joke to the king 100 years ago, and the kingdom fell into chaos, and he managed to keep it down as best as he could at the time, and the chaos never made it outside of the castle.
If it was true, then chaos would indeed spread across the kingdom like a plague, and every toilet paper in existence would cease to exist from all stores.
He is the only being who keeps the peace in this world. The most powerful being alive. If he were to die or quit, there's no telling what would happen.
"What's his problem?" Will asked. All he did was appear out of nowhere, ask some questions, and leave.
"Dunno. Let's go find our seats."
They made it to the back of the kingdom. It was underground, and it was almost as big as a football stadium. This place is used for the heroes to train killing monsters that the kingdom captures, it's mostly goblins and ogres.
But long ago, when the king at the time was bored, he turned it into a stadium for the heroes to fight and for people to enjoy, like a boxing match but battle royale style.
This place also has a name, The Pit.
It was the size of a football field. The middle of the PIt had a small, round, stone platform meant for the heroes to fight. It stood 1 meters tall.
On the two ends of the stadium were two giant walls made out of pure wood and metal, each door were identical to each other. Each was 10 inches thick, and were half as tall as the castle's gates.
The Pit was full of people everywhere cheering, yelling, shouting, and praising and everything. And it hasn't started yet
Some took this as an opportunity to start selling snacks and drinks.
As Sandra and Will were searching for their seats, which they all have their own number, they stopped dead in their tracks as the crowd suddenly became eerily quiet.
Once the king revealed himself everything became silent.
He leisurely sat down in a nearly identical throne from the throne room. Beside him were his Queen and the Princess also seated in their thrones.
The royal family were at a high place, looking down on everybody present. Below them were over 30 people seated in comfortable chairs, with food and drinks. These are the heroes who didn't participate. Weirdly enough they all decided to come watch the tournament.
"Ahem! May the participating heroes please present yourselves on the platform!"