At night, under the cover of darkness and the rise muffling of the rain, over 101 men and women left the city of Asmodeus. They headed to the southern border of the Gigantus empire by running far from the city and getting into over 20 small carriages that had no logos and were plain black.
The horses pulling them were strong steeds raised carefully by the Manupus family to serve for emergency travels.
It would be a travel time of over 16 days before they could get to Igrit city. Going from the heart of the magnificently large empire to its borders is quite a long distance after all.
The 16 days was considering that the already harsh rains did not tear up the roads even further.
In normal conditions, the road would only be worth 9 days. The rain would make it impossible to travel at full speed without having a massive accident on the slippery roads.
Daren knew this would be the case. When he first saw the pig men, he knew that foreign trading firms like theirs do not have forces stationed at the borders.
They would usually be in that region's capital city to protect those that ran the headquarters.
This made sure that Daren had been fully prepared before the people hunting for his life had arrived.
.....
In Igrit City, the next morning.
"I did a thorough background on mister and misses Frince. What I had originally found was that Daren entered the city through the southern entrance and that there were no signs of either Celina or her supposed younger sister entering through any of our gates."
In addition, a person that matched the description of Daren did not show up anywhere near the empire or its bordering nations. This only leaves the other closest nation to ours. That would be the Zolaris Empire on the other side of the Googoon Lagoon forest. It is quite an insignificant nation in terms of military and we never traded with them as they do not have much to offer.
That being said, Daren Frince's true name is Alex Vorte. He was supposed to be Zolaris's Grand Duke Cornelius Van Vorte's first and only son.
The issue with that is the Zolaris Empire's new empress, Melina Van Vorte, declared she had killed him with her own hands and buried him deep within the forest. Now she has purged a third of the nobles and all of her relatives except the last emperor he seems to be missing.
Her official crowning is set to be after the rainy season ends. What do you make of all this, master."
This heap of backstory was presented to Marquess Hendrix by his trusted butler and personal guard, Grandpa Kuro. Also known as Kuro Saburo.
"Hmm. If he has somehow not survived a thorough death or was spared by his aunt due to some reason, it made sense that he would change his identity and try to settle down in a town as safe and prosperous as mine.
What irks me though is the identity of Celina. Who is she and who is this mysterious sister of hers? Could it be completely fabricated or is partially true?
I might have to find the right time to ask them myself. At least so far though, they have not shown any hostility to our family. Celina's rude actions towards the Manups family yesterday caused them to make a move. This will only benefit me.
By the way, did you get rid of all their real background traces?"
This was the Marquess's through analysis that he had easily deduced from the information but there was not enough information to make things clear.
"Yes, master. As you ordered, I planted fake information and made it seem like Daren and Celina are truly from a backward village in a nearby kingdom. This will cause the Manupus family to do the prodding for us." replied Grandpa Kuro.
"Hehe. Those pigs will become the guinea pigs of a very interesting experiment. Also, expect a message to arrive soon. It will be sent with a royal seal." says the Marquess with a slight tinge of anxiousness in his voice.
"What the heck? Master, you said that you would stay away from the royal family's ploys," yells Kuro.
"I know that. I tried to refuse but it was an order from 'him'. I can never run from that man's words. If I do, Margret will probably shove a knife into all of my books." replied Andrew. He was afraid of that man but his wife was the real nightmare.
"I understand what you meant master but you must play it very carefully or all our efforts could go down the drain with ease." Grandpa Kuro was beyond worried for the schemes of the capitol had too many factors that could cause the downfall of any.
"Hmm." nodded Andrew.
....
"Another morning of gray skies and unrelenting rain." sighed Celina.
"It's been a full week already. Only 7 more weeks to go. Try to hold it in till then." reassured Daren. He didn't want to keep Celina tied to this depressing atmosphere but he had no choice.
"How long till you restock on those umbrellas? The customers might start a riot when they find the thing that made them come to us in the first place was gone," asked Celina.
"Oh. Well, the system said it will be done by midday today. "
"What? I thought it took you 5 days to gather enough energy for 50,000 soap bars. How is it able to make 30,000 umbrellas with even less energy?' Celina was confused. There was no way that Daren could provide enough energy to the system within the last two days.
"You see, apparently the higher your level gets, the more attracted { FORCE } feels towards your core. Cultivation requirements for the next breakthrough multiply in the amount of force by around 10 and that is the main reason people get stuck for years."
Daren always liked to break down things when it came to explaining things to Celina. It had become a habit of his.
That might be the downside but the plus side to making up for this difficulty is that force becomes more attracted to you and speeds up the process by about twice. So what took me around 5 days is now done in 2 and a half days."
"But weren't you at level 4 then dropped to level 3. So how does that boost apply to you," asked Celina?
"The boost is permanent. Once you get it, you can't lose it. "
"Ahh. Like a permanent exp boost in a game huh. That being said, where's the game console I asked for. " said Celina aggressive. She had asked Daren for one of the advanced game consoles that held hundreds of thousands of offline games on it.
"About that. The system can't make a handheld offline game console because I never really saw one personally. I mostly played online VR games and the offline games were also on my VR set."
"Noooooooooooo. I want to play games. No, nononononono.!!!!!" Celina started to throw a tantrum like a child is. Her demands are not outrageous but her reaction to denial is.
"I didn't say that the system couldn't get it for you though. It suggested I provide it with about 300 hundred souls and unlock the ability [ Blueprint Materializer ]. It can make the blueprints to anything I have even the slightest knowledge of."
"You should have said that first. I can wait only a month longer. Get me the console and I will forgive you. If not, I will disappear for a whole week."
In the end, Daren could not help but agree to her demands. She always keeps her promises.
Daren was not fully sure if he could actually get the 300 souls he needed. This was because all the thieves had gone into hiding. This started about 4 days ago when the thieves had mutually decided they needed to vanish.
They started to hang around in the open and live like normal people and get normal jobs. According to the memories, that Daren absorbed, one of the guys who moved Daren's furniture to the shop was also a former thief.
His progress in capturing souls and blood is below.
--------------------------
Progress for the special prize is at 43/100 blood.
The user has delivered 68/100 souls needed to unlock [ Soul Masking ].
--------------------------
36 souls and blood was what he had gained after purchasing [ Internal Factory ].
Daren could only hope that the Manupus Business Family would send enough people for him to harvest the souls of. He was even secretly hoping to gain the soul of a cultivator.
He knew that he could request to directly absorb the talents within the soul of the cultivator rather than just let the system eat it. The system had sure to remind him that the system was only made to assist the user.
Daren gets down from the room and finds an empty wooden signboard with blank paper attached to its surface. He then proceeds to write the following with pink paint: For today Only, Our Store Will Be Opened After Noon.
The paint drys in seconds. Daren was not planning on opening the store without his umbrella or the customers might really be upset.
He rather them turn away without entering the shop rather than coming into the shop only to leave without what they came for.
Daren slowly opens the doors to his shop and puts the sign in the front and then runs back indoors and closes it behind him. He sat down on his chair and goes in full focus to reach Level 4, Mid Grade. This would let him make 30,000 umbrellas.
Before he could focus, Daren heard a knock on the door. He got back up and opened the door to find Mrs.Mason.
'Shit! I was in such a rush that I forgot that she works here.' Daren was still not used to having anyone except his friends and Celina around him.
"Ah, Miss Mason. Come on in. We are not opening the store until later today as you saw at the sign. My wife has not finished getting the umbrellas for today but you can just sit next to me at the counter or walk around."
"I think I'll just walk around. I cannot sit down for too long."
Daren lets Mrs.Mason enter and locks the door again. He sits on his chair and goes fully into concentration.
Daren usually opens his shop around 6 in the morning. Since then, it has been 5 hours and it's 11 am. He had absorbed enough energy to push both his cores back into Level 4, Mid Grade of Body Strengthening.
[ System will now begin the processing of 30,000 umbrellas. Please wait 45 minutes for completion ]
Daren never has to instruct the system to do anything. It can read his thoughts and act on them accordingly.
Daren still had over an hour to kill. He was just about to go and get Celina so they could have an early lunch when there was another knock on the door.
He reluctantly opened the door and found a tall, Asian man with a middle-aged face. His jaw was sharp and his hair was slightly gray. He was fully clad in a black and white butler outfit.
"Grandpa Kuro!! What brings you here?" asked Daren.
"My master wishes to talk to you. He is in the carriage over there. Follow me." Grandpa Kuro then walked off and Daren could not help but follow.
The people running through the rain all took glances at the marquess white carriage. They did not care much to gawk at its magnificence since they had their hands full trying to run back home without getting drenched.
Daren and Kuro entered the carriage where on the posh, red leather seats, Marquess Andrew Hendrix was seated. He was calmly waiting for Daren's arrival.
Grandpa Kuro sat next to the marquess while Daren sat across them.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" asked Daren as he felt the atmosphere in the carriage is quite serious.
"I heard you offended the Manupus Family. I wanted to ask if you need help dealing with them. They definitely know that you are a cultivator and will send one that's stronger than you." said the marquess.
"I know that but I don't control what my wife says. They can come at me all want. One thing I can promise you is that they won't return alive." Daren declared this with pride and absolute confidence.
Andrew and Grandpa Kuro were surprised at his unwavering confidence. They were not sure where this confidence came from.
That's when Grandpa Kuro noticed it.
"You broke through to Level Three?!!" he yelled. Grandpa Kuro knew from his first meeting that Daren was Level 2, Peak Grade, and on the verge of a breakthrough.
It took most people at least 2 weeks to safely break through to level 3. Daren had done so in a week. Good thing they didn't come a little earlier or they would be crying when they saw he was level 4, Mid Grade.
"Is that where your confidence comes from?" asked Andrew.
"Yes. I'm at level 3, Middle Grade. I'm sure they only will account for my cultivation to be at Level 2, Peak Grade. They won't be ready for my strength by the time they arrive." said Daren.
"How is this possible? You went from Level 2- Peak Grade to Level 3- Middle Grade in about a week. It takes people with average talent, over at least a month to do so. Wait for a second! Has your mental state recovered and your talent restored?" questioned Grandpa Kuro.
"Yes. I felt a change happen to me soon after the moment Celina had said we would settle down in this city. When I tried to cultivate that night, I felt more in tune with {FORCE }. It felt as if it entered me with speeds that were many times greater. "
"That is great!! Master, I believe that what sir Daren has said is quite possible. The royal academy had taught me that when a person's life is calmer, their progression would speed up by many times. Given that what sir Daren has said, it seems in line with what they have taught."
"I know that too!. Grandpa Kuro, do not get excited so quickly. Daren, you said that you have been using an inferior cultivation technique right?" asked Andrew.
'Yeah." said Daren. Truth be told, he was using a technique that was what was considered intermediate grade.
The force cultivation techniques on this continent were all graded based on their efficiency and complication level.
The grading, from worst to be is as follows:
Inferior Grade
Common Grade
Intermediate Grade
High Grade
Moon Grade
Earth Grade
Sun Grade
Celestial Grade
There is also this rumored Heavenly Grade but the last time one supposedly showed up was 5,000 years ago.
The technique though the technique that Alex's family used was Intermediate Grade. Since they could cultivate like crazy at night time due to the Ice Elements exploding in numbers at night, their technique had the same effectiveness as a High-Grade one.
"Hmm. I'll see if I can find a high-grade or better cultivation technique for your element. Can you tell me what your element is?" asked Andrew.
"Marquess. You should know my real identity by now and all the mystery that surrounds me and Celina. There really is no need to ask that question." replied Daren.
Daren knew that the moment he had stepped into the Marquess' house, they would not take long to find out who it was. He would not mind that though as he knew that Andrew Hendrix does not mean him any harm.
"Quite straightforward. Just the way I like my aides. I know about who you were and that your element is Ice. I just wanted to see if you would continue to hide it from me. I won't force you to explain anything to me as that's your personal matter. I trust that you have faith in me. So from today on, we are friends. Just call me Andrew."
"As you wish, Andrew. Do you have anything else to ask me? I am sure that Celina is hungry and wants to go have lunch. I also got to open my store up. I can't let the money slip from my hands."
"Oh. Call her over. Let's have lunch at my place. I want to talk about business. Since Celina made the products, I assume that the business decisions are made by her too." said Andrew.
"Yep. The business belongs to her. I'll go get her. Just wait a minute." Daren flew out dashed out of the carriage at an incredible speed. He was going to make sure the business deal went through safely.
Back in the carriage, Grandpa Kuro said something astonishing to Andrew.
"He is too strong for me to handle. Even if I had better skills than him, his strength is already beyond that of which I can handle. You must truly become close with him master."
"You are right. His talent should be at least o par with the top talents that are being trained at the capital. You said that he's just 17. His talent has allowed him to bloom a little late but it won't be long till he rises to a formidable rank."
Daren soon came back to the carriage with Celina in tow. They were both sharing the large umbrella that they had used yesterday when going to eat.
Daren had informed Mrs.Mason that he might be gone for longer than an hour. He trusted her enough to leave the store in her care. The only valuables in there were the 1000 bars of soap that he had on display, tightly packed on the shelves.
The carriage started to move slowly on the stone pavement that covered the main roads of the city. While it would only take 15 minutes on a clear day to get to the mansion from the market, the rain made it to where they had to be safer with the horse's speed.
"My offer is very simple. I want 1,000, custom-made umbrellas I will buy whatever price you offer." requested Andrew once the carriage had started running.
"What exactly do you want to be customized on the umbrellas?" asked Celina.
"I saw that, unlike the clear umbrellas that you sell, your personal umbrella is colored in a light shade of red. Is it possible to add more variations or colors?" answered Andrew.
"I can provide you with any color you need but that's definitely not everything you want." Celina was sounded very smart and critical but she was only saying what Daren had told her to say telepathically.
"I want to know if you can put designs like family crests on it? I want to send these umbrellas to my family and friends in the capital. You might even have to put the royal family crest on it cause I am planning on sending a few to them as well." replied Andrew.
"Hmm. I can do any design as long as I see the designs personally. Of course, it will cost you a hefty price for such intricate and time-consuming work." Celina's tone was neutral but her sweetness slipped out of it and made her words seem like that of a child.
"I was already expecting to pay a heft price. The material this thing is made out of seems impossible for me to find anywhere else. Truly a revolutionary product." exclaimed the marquess.
"It is truly magnificent. It is made by myself after all." boasted Celina with her head held high. Daren obviously did not tell her to say this.
"Can you give me a price for the umbrellas right now? That way I can prepare it as soon as I get home."
"Depends on the design but I will probably charge anywhere from 2 to 5 silvers." Celina's said this in a nonchalant tone like the price was not staggering for her at all.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Notes of A Lonely Author
Thank you for reading this story of mine. I have only started taking writing seriously quite recently. If you were wondering where this story was inspired from, that would be OVERLORD.
I'm getting ready for college which starts soon so there haven't been double chapters for a while. I know that I have been posting fewer chapters but I am going to make them longer by about twice. I will also get back on my 2 chapters daily by the end of the week.
Show me some support by adding this to your collection. Leave a comment if you can. Expect a large number of chapters where Daren is fighting people on his own level quite soon.
See ya.