Upon entering the portal, I was standing in a white room. In the center of the room is a console. 'This wasn't in any of the documents' I thought to myself. All the documents said was it would seem as though I was floating above the world, and that I would see a screen in front of me displaying all the kingdoms and what kinds of boosts they had. 'I might bring this up when the portal opens at the end of the year' I thought.
In this world, one year was the equivalent of a day in the normal world. At the end of every year here, a portal would open up in the castle's portal room. You could then go back to the real world, or stay and continue working. Either way, this world would still be running, and once you went back, you could not return for a full day. In other terms you would be missing a full year.
Although this sounded like a good opportunity to attack the other kingdoms, going home also had its benefits. While you may be attacking them in this world, they could be doing outside research, and break time was very important to the human brain.
Luckily we only aged according to our world, otherwise we would all age exceedingly fast compared to the other people in our world.
Thinking about all the information I had gathered, I approached the console.
"Welcome Kings candidate" the console rang out when I approached it.
I was a bit surprised once again. None of this was in any of the notebooks or documents that were given to us.
"Uh, hello" I replied, but nothing came back out.
I stepped up to the console and read what was displayed. The console showed the 8 kingdoms and all their information. Just like the normal screen would have displayed. Except with the console it showed that all kingdoms were available to me, even though the others had already chosen theirs.
'Why would it give me the option of choosing a place that has already been taken?' I thought. Just then a side panel appeared in the room displaying what it meant to be a king's candidate. Although I was interested in that, it wasn't my immediate concern.
Although once I started reading the panel, all my questions seem to have been answered. Ultimately a king's candidate was an individual that whatever beings created this place felt would be perfect to rule the world.
I was granted whatever I wanted, ultimately to assist in me having better chances in winning the competition. Although some of the other kingdoms were enticing, especially the mining kingdom, I still ultimately chose the war mongering kingdom.
"Who doesn't love an underdog?" I wondered out loud.
I thought that I would be immediately transported to my kingdom, and that the extent of my bonuses was picking whatever kingdom I wanted, but I was mistaken. Although it was a good thing to get more stuff, I didn't think it would be fair if I was given all of this.
"What was a king's candidate that was given all they needed to succeed?" I said.
The white room then turned a dark void like color. All light seemed to be absorbed into this room. I couldn't see a thing! I thought that this world might be punishing me for taking its gifts for granted. But then a golden board seemed to appear before me.
The board had 16 different papers on it. 8 were pictures of the other competitors, and 8 seemed to be information pages. Upon reading them they were magical abilities! Ultimately I was to pin a magical ability to a picture. I could allocate them however I wished. I could give all of them to myself, or give me half and then distribute.
I didn't want to be unfair, even if it meant giving that dick Geo a power. I needed to keep things interesting and fun for me here after all. One by one I read through all of the magic abilities.
The first was the magical ability labeled "Burn". It was basically a fireball. It also had the ability to be taught to your kingdom's people. This would greatly improve attack capabilities. In addition, the greater your "magical potential", meaning magical ability or understanding, the more heat you can put into it. You could also control the power of the flames from a distance if you had the understanding for it.
The second was labeled "War Cry". It was as the name suggested. A large battle cry that would boost the strength of all friendly units that heard it. It could only be taught to higher ranked officials or members of the kingdom's military. Although some might only see it as an ability for war, it could also be used to strengthen other individuals. The more you could comprehend this ability, the longer its duration would last.
Next was "Understanding". This magical ability would allow the user to be able to comprehend and analyse anything, at a much faster rate than usual. The bad thing about this was that it could not be taught to anyone and could only be used by the kingdom's ruler. The more you were able to comprehend this magic, the faster it works.
4th was "Multiply". This allowed for the number of basic resources, not including currency, one had to be multiplied. Although this one could only be used by the ruler as well, its potential was vast. It also had a limited number of uses, only once per week, regardless of level of comprehension. That was a good thing considering how bad it would be if you could infinitely multiply your resources. The comprehension came into play when it came to how many times the resources would multiply, the higher the comprehension, the higher the multiplier.
The 5th ability was "Rift". This allowed for the user to create an almost alternate dimension that could store things. It could be taught to anybody with no limitations. There were also two different paths one could take in comprehension. The first being how much space the rift had. The second being able to insert rifts into objects. Much like the "spatial rings" in popular web novels.
The 6th magic was "Fertility" which allowed for the area in which the user specified to gain enormous fertility. It was a great benefit for growing crops {Authors note: The fertility is not just limited to soil ;)}. It could be taught to farmers and city officials. There was also a limit of 3 areas to cast upon before you have to disable one of the areas. The higher comprehension of this ability, the larger the area in which it can be cast.
7 was "Construct" which allowed for the user to instantly construct a building. Although this was limited to once a month, it was extremely useful. It could be taught to a maximum of 5 other individuals, as if it could be taught to everyone it would be like a cheat. The higher the level of comprehension, the more complex a building would be. Comprehension also affected how large the building could be.
The final, and most intriguing ability to me, was "Modify". This ability would allow the user to modify any animate, or inanimate objects composition. It could be compared to alchemy. Once the user touched an object, it would be saved into the ability's memory. With the exception of currency, the user could transform anything into anything really. Wood into metal, and you could even change the shape. I could build a warship if I had the materials. The comprehension came in with how much you wanted to modify the object. Something simple like water into wine did not require much, but if I wanted to say make a pegasus out of a horse, that would require a much deeper comprehension.
With all of the abilities in mind, I started to look over which abilities would go to who. I definitely wanted the modified ability, so that was mine. After about 20 minutes of thinking, I finally distributed the abilities. The pictures told me what kingdom each of the competitors had chosen.
Burn went to Cagna, as she was the ruler over Banhiem. The artisans would not pose much of a threat, but would actually allow for better artisan work to be carried out. This would help me later when I took control over it.
I decided to give war cry to Ashika, in the island kingdom of Oceana. It would allow for Ashika to stay in the game longer, and it would also improve his sailors. Since the ability increased strength, fishermen would have greater hauls.
Understanding went to Fuyu in Athoria. Since the kingdom was largely literature and mechanics based, it would very much be useful to her studies. I also knew she was very gentle so having the bonus of faster analysis would help her to better understand her own battle tactics, and break down that of the enemy.
I gave Multiply to Hemlighet {Authors note: I'll just call him Hem from now on} in Mord. Although it would multiply his resources, he didn't have any bonuses that allowed him to better use them. If anything it would lower the prices of them since there would be an abundance.
Rift was ultimately sent to Geo in Silver River. Not because I wanted him to have a spatial ability, but because it was the odd one out and Geo was the last one. Luckily the ability was not allowed to capture the rulers of other countries, otherwise I could have just captured everyone and they could only forfeit.
Gupt from Tilburn got Fertility. Although his soil was already very rich, the bonus would make his crops grow even faster. It would also be able to boost his population which would also decrease the relative amount of food that he would have. I kept thinking of this as my bonus as well considering what his parents had said about him helping me.
Construct went to Stella in Scotchwood. She was already buffed in architecture so a little extra buff did not matter to me. It would also be nice to obtain and Stella did not seem as though she wouldn't be too hard to negotiate with.
And of course I would get modify. There was a lot of potential in that ability and I did not want it to fall into anyones hands. So after I had finished assigning what magic everyone would get, the room flashed golden, and I was gone.