The capital city of Grandor kingdom.
Unlike all other cities in the Grandor kingdom, the capital is unique. It is divided into three areas: commoners and merchants, nobility, and the royal family. The outer wall forms the first line of defense. It is tens of meters high with four enormous gates and countless watchtowers, it guards the first area where merchants and commoners live and it is also the largest one in the city, taking almost 70% of its total surface. Then comes the inner wall, which encompasses the residence area of the nobles; the buildings there are made of the finest materials, fake hills, valleys, gardens all of them are top-notch materials.
In fact, Grandor kingdom is considered weak only in terms of mages and warriors' power but is it still considered a rich kingdom of Thesa continent.
The core region, surrounded by the tallest wall of the three, is the royal palace, where all the royal family lives. The security in this region is, of course, the tightest and almost difficult to get past.
In one of the darkest room of the royal palace, a middle-aged man is floating in the emptiness of the room. His face looked to be in a peaceful sleep. If one paid attention, they'll see yellow particles entering his body from all around him and each time they did, his body would become stronger.
All of a sudden, the man opened his eyes fiercely. His calm and serene face turned into one of ecstasy as he dropped to the ground, creating a small crater in the marble floor.
"It…it really exists" excitement apparent from his voice.
"Uncle Melo!" footsteps were heard outside the door as a good looking middle-aged man entered the room and called for him. He had a valiant posture and an aura of battle. His smooth crimson hair was decorated with a simple, thin golden crown shaped like a ring. This is the king of Grandor. Right now he had an expression of reverence and joy as stared at the person who had just woke up from meditation after a long time.
"Little Vellm!" said the bare-chested man. He quickly strode to the king's side and grasped his shoulders tightly, voice shaking. "I felt it, the energy from that year, I've just felt it"
"Uncle, are you sure?"
"Of course I am. How can I possibly mistake it?"
"Where? We'll go right now and get it." the man's joyous mood infected the king.
"Calm down, you are the king now. How can you leave the capitol for a goose hunt?"
"You mean?"
The man called Mello sighed, "Yes, I can't tell where it is. I just felt it but it can be anywhere. Luckily, I am sure it's within the kingdom borders"
When the man said this, the king seemed to contemplate for a second. Mello senses this and asks him about it.
"I just…well, the second son brought news from Lavin city"
"Lavin, is that where that Elaila girl settled down all those years ago?"
"Yes, Jenna died there a few weeks ago, and he was the closest one. He volunteered to investigate."
"Jenna died?" Mello was surprised again. He closed his eyes and said a prayer. The topic of the dead princess was then thrown to the back of their heads.
"His personal court mage Ebara encountered a creature with unique descriptions that don't match anything we have in the books. Anyway, he had a guard who witnessed it all, saying that Ebara mentioned something about a new power that she never saw before. Oh, also the power may have the shape of lightning.
"Yes!" Mello jumped, "that is it, Mana and internal energy are two different kinds of power, not only that, but the two are the complete opposite. When they're combined, the result becomes chaotic and takes the form of lightning. But once it's mastered and studied to high levels, it becomes light smooth."
"You're thinking that this creature who killed Jenna is the user of the holy energy?"
"Most probably. I need to find him. Those geezers would have sensed it the same time I did. But if he's really in Lavin, I can just trace the energy residues and find him. those people will take a longer time to trace him back to Lavin. I must hurry"
"Uncle…" the king hesitated, "you've never told me what use you have for the holy energy, just to get any news and rumors about it"
"Ah, well, you're the king now and would most probably like to know."
The king nodded.
"You know why K'rasia is the strongest kingdom in all of Thesa continent"
"Yes, they have strong mages and warriors. Almost five times the number of ours and much more powerful"
"Yeah, but why?"
The king thought for a moment, "It's the labyrinth. Ever since they've discovered the labyrinth fifteen-some years ago, they've been growing stronger and stronger."
Uncle Mello shook his head, "no, that is only a part of it. The reason is that they have a holy energy user. It was that person who found and opened the labyrinth, wrote cultivation manuals for both Mana and internal energy. The lowest ones that person wrote are what we consider to be a treasure."
"Then, you want to recruit that creature?" obviously the king desired to be the same as K'rasia, but that creature did kill a daughter of his and defied royal power.
Uncle Mello's smile turned into a smirk. "Recruit? Don't be silly. I'll be taking his core"
"You mean?" the king was stunned before joy covered his face.
"Yes, I broke through. Now I'm able to fully absorb a core without any ramifications"
the king knew that his uncle had now become on the verge of breaking through to the world rank. but that wasn't what they were both talking about...
The king wanted to say something but Mello cut him off. "I'll head over to Lavin right away. Since that thing killed Jenna, a hunt mark should've been printed on his body right?"
"Ah," the king sighed. "Yes, but for some reason, we cannot get a signal from the mark. Like it's being blocked by something."
"Hmm, ok, send word to Elaila Zacharias and tell her I expect her full cooperation."
"Done, have a good trip uncle" the king smiled and Mello turned to leave.
As if he remembered something, Mello turned back to the king, "by the way, did your second son bring me what he said he would?"
"Ah that…" the king hesitated, "no; apparently, when he was at Lavin and that thing killed his mage Ebara, the magic restraint was nullified and the demon escaped." He stared at his uncle, waiting for a disappointed look, but Mello just shook his head, appearing to be in a good mood that wasn't spoiled by the news.
"Well, no matter. I've had my fill anyway" he licked his lips as the two exited the room.
If one closely examined this room, they find a small seam in the ceiling right above where Mello was floating. From it, dark red blood dripped periodically, one drop at a time.
This seam led to a room above this one.
An enormous basin filled to the brim with blood covered the entire floor surface of the room. Hanging upside down above the basin were countless bodies. The major arteries of each one have been cut to allow the free flow of blood into, the basin.
Of these bodies, one could see a few elves, a few orcs, and humans, but the majority were demons.
.
.
Mello arrived in Lavin for a while now, but no sign of the creature was found. Time is running out and he wasn't sure whether someone has already found his prey or not.
"My lord," a short boy entered his room in the Zacharias mansion. This was the servant assigned to cater to his needs in this mansion.
"What?" Mello was quite tolerant of this boy. Many people would cower and fear him but this boy was able to retain his calm and serve him honestly. His name was Tully
Besides, Tully was really knowledgeable about ancient artifacts. He had shown Mello his father's collection and it was really spectacular. Mello was fascinated by the collection and offered to buy them which Tully happily agreed.
Mello saw that Tully had good aptitude so he contemplated taking him ina s a student.
Every day after his search for the creature bore no fruit, the boy would bring him an artifact and they would discuss it.
Mello looked at his student to be and smiled at his expectant gaze. "I found the Siren Pearl"
"What?!" Mello jumped. This time he really was taken by surprise. The siren pearl was an incredibly rare pill. It only appeared once in the K'rasia kingdom but that was more than a hundred years ago. The one who consumed it immediately reached the last level of the world level only a half a step towards the mysterious next level. Citizens of K'rasia now call him 'king'.
"Yes my lord, remember the puzzle box from the artifact collection my father left me? Well, it opened somehow just an hour ago and a map fell from it. I tried touching the map, but instead, it showed me a path and an object before turning to ash."
"Are you sure it's the siren pearl?" Mello now started being suspicious. A siren pearl? How can it be easy to find. He then began recalling what happened when it appeared in K'rasia.
Mello who was so focused on his thought didn't notice his servant boy Tully squash a small stone behind his back.
Suspicion disappeared from Mello's head and it turned to delight. "Ha, the siren pearl, how lucky am I? Come, boy, if it really is the siren pearl, then not only will I reward you heavily, but you shall even be my student henceforth"
'Thank you my lord" Tully bowed in reverence so Mello missed the smirk on his lips.
"Where is it? Lead the way"
"It's the shattered forest, my lord. The path leads to a valley in the shattered forest"