With the upgrade of the world came a rush of power, and all the gods used that to do different things in the world. Before the energy stabilized Inyaki used it to reshape the system, he didn't grant any powers directly to his followers as that would come when the system had been activated within them.
He gave the system something that resembles Artificial Intelligence, but he didn't make it independent, the system still needed him to exist. He gave the system the go-ahead to distribute the upgrades to every follower.
[Alert! The system has been updated!]
[The updates include the following: (1) Inspection has been updated into Sense
(2) At level 20, all warrior chosen weapons would turn into Soul-Bound Weapons
(3) Psionic Mage now available
(4) Dream Magic now available
(5) Arcane Mage now available
(6) Time Mage now available
(7) Spirit Mage now available]
[From today onwards, new followers will not be able to choose the classes they get, they will be given at random!]
Pascal got a system message that was directly sent to him.
[The God of Origins urges you to explore the Forsaken Lands, for he has given you the entire lands as your domain.]
[You have been given the Shaping Scepter]
[Work hard to spread your reign throughout the entire Lands!]
From the first day he was named the Overlord, Pascal had a feeling that his rule would spread out of the city walls, and he would have the whole Forsaken Lands as his kingdom. He suddenly felt a great pressure and a sense of responsibility he had never felt even when he was a prince, managing the entire Forsaken Lands was going to be tremendous work. He did not know how to tell Morgana that she would not just be managing 75 people but the entire intelligent races of the Forsaken lands. Plus, he would have to subjugate the homes of others while spreading his influence, he would need a lot of people for that.
"How am I going to get all those people?" He muttered. All he could do was wait for more Followers to arrive.
…
"Did you all feel the same weird feeling this morning? Everywhere even feels different." Annie asked her parents who were eating beside her. Since everyone in the caravans were Followers, they all felt something weird deep in their soul and they all received the system message. But she wasn't talking about the obvious changes.
"I know," Matilda said, "The forest feels… stuffier." She narrowed her eyes at the fog that appeared out of nowhere and inhibited them from seeing the entire clearing. Mathew stood up and distributed some torches which brightened the whole caravans, they were using the bright moon as light before the fog came. He walked back to his family and sat with a grunt.
"This fog, if one didn't have a map, they would easily get lost in here even if they just walked about a little." He said as he chewed some squirrel meat.
"I told you to let us use the Transport Station to speed up our journey, but you wanted to pass through the Gangu forest. If anything happens to my Annie –!"
Mathew interrupted Matilda, "Why would you assume something would happen to her?"
"If she wasn't saved by those friends of hers, I might not have seen my child with you when you came back," Miranda glared at him.
Mathew sighed and looked to the ground, "Your right, I was careless. Let's just follow the map in the system and go straight to the Forsaken Lands."
Matilda's expression softened and she nudged him with her shoulder, "Don't brood, I didn't mean what I said, I know nothing will happen to her if you're there. This place just feels weird all of a sudden, and the fog is unnerving."
"I understand," Mathew held her hand, "Nothing will happen, we're here, and we won't leave her alone."
Annie rolled her eyes, "I'm literally stronger than both of you, who's going to protect who?"
"Brat!" Matthew grabbed her and tickled her; her laughter could be heard throughout the clearing.
"Alright, stop!" Annie shifted away from him. She stood up and dusted her pants, "I'm going to look for Unique."
"Don't go past the areas with the torches!" Her mother reminded her.
"Okay."
Since everyone in their merchant group arranged themselves in a mostly circular way, Annie could already see Unique before she reached her. She waved at her before picking up her pace.
"Hi, Unique," Annie said when she reached her, "Hey guys." She greeted John, Peter and Robert who were with her. They all gave her a hearty greeting back. She liked sitting with Unique because she always had a story to tell, with her animated words and gestures she seemed to be able to bring her stories to life.
Annie laid down of the ground and prepared to enter the wonderland that Unique story told, when a loud scream broke the peace.
Annie's reaction was quick, – it was something she had picked up from traveling so much – she immediately summoned her weapon and she jumped to her feet. The lady who screamed was throwing stones at a red eyed creature in front of her, but the torch's light wasn't bright enough and she could only see the basic outline.
"Get back!" Her father said. He raised his palms and connected to the fires on the torches, their flames flared up and illuminated the clearing orange-red.
The creature snarled as its surroundings grew brighter, it was a bat but it was as big as dog, it had fangs as long as it's jaw and long ears sticking out of his head, Annie had never seen such creature before. She immediately grew wary, not just for the weird creature but for the friends it brought with it.
The entire clearing was surrounded by these creatures.
They attacked first before the creatures did - someone pierced one with an arrow -, that sent them all in a frenzy. They began flying around, attacking people with their claws and fangs. Mathew was still standing in the same position as he was the reason why they all could see clearly, Matilda was beside him, warding off the creatures that wanted to attack him with punches and kicks. Her hits weren't normal and were different from before, when she was given the system, she chose the Fist and was named a Martial Artist. The class gave her superior reflexes, and since she was level two, she was able to unlock the skill [Interior Damage]. With her fighting expertise a quick punch shattered neck bones.
Unique and Peter were working together, when Peter wasn't able to hit one of the creatures with his arrows, Unique would use [Curse Word: Pain], which caused them to fall to the ground, then Peter finishes them off. John was a Mage while Robert was a Warrior, so they went different ways.
Annie had dead creature littered around her as she killed anyone of them that came too close, being one of the highest leveled in the group her reaction time was too quick for the bats. She decided to have some fun and called out her Super Sneakers from the storage space, instead of appearing on the ground in front of her it equipped itself to her feet.
'Wow, that's new.' She thought. After equipped the sneakers could only be used for three minutes, with a cool off time of six minutes. Annie bent her knees and jumped five meters into the air, she shot [Multiple Rapier Thrusts] into different directions, killing a bunch of the creatures in the process.
[You have leveled up!]
"That's new too!" she said. She used her saved up skill points to unlock [Shatter Thrust], she used it on one of the creatures and its entire body shattered like glass.
"That's awesome!" she said, before jumping back into the fight.
All around the clearing there were different types of attacks and skills, the Warriors were more than the rest, and they displayed various melee and long ranged attacks. The Clerics made sure to shield the people who needed it, although some people had bleeding cuts they decided to heal them later since they weren't life threatening injuries. The Archers skewed the creatures with their unlimited arrows and the Mages attacked with a variety of elements.
Mathew grunted a bit as he tried to attempt what he was envisioning, with his mp reducing, the flames on the torches elongated before curving in the air. Mathew waved his hands in a circle and the flames followed his instructions, soon the entire caravans were surrounded in a flame tornado. When his mp finished, the torches went back to normal, and all that remained was the charred dead bodies of the creature and burnt grass. Not all the creatures died though, Annie could see some of them flying away with great haste.
When it all ended, Annie ran up to her father, "Whoa, dad, that was super." She gave him a thumps up.
Mathew squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest, "Of course, your father is a superman. Those creatures couldn't stand my magnificence and ran with their tails between their legs!"
Annie smiled at her mother who just rolled her eyes at her father.
After the initial excitement wearied down, everyone began putting things back in place. The Clerics healed those who needed it, one guy with the Earth Element fixed the ground, and everyone had leveled up at least once. They all went back to their tents to sleep, with the exception of the night watchers.
…
Victor Crooke, son of Cecil Crooke followed his father to a banquet hosted by Duke Roy, he and his father were in a different carriage from his mother and sister. Even before they left the house his father reminded him of the etiquettes he should display when he gets there.
"Don't embarrass me." His father had said. Being a noble of the lowest rank he was lucky to get an invitation from a duke, the popularity he would get from this would boost his business.
The area around the villa was packed with carriages of different colors, and carried nobles with even more colorful clothes. The Crooke's came in their signature black, they walked up to the entrance of the villa while their coachmen took their carriages and horses to their respected areas. There was a bit of a holdup before they entered the villa because of the sheer amount of guests Duke Roy invited, some of them even came from the other countries, Victor was filled with anxiety even before they got in.
Soon, they reached the door, they showed their invitation to the guards before they were ushered in.
The entire villa was illuminated with an assortment of beautiful magic lights that are gotten from used up magic crystals; sorcerers would imbued the empty crystals with magic through the use of carved runes which let it gather a specific magical energy that makes it glow.
"I've heard that the duke love showing his wealth, but have never witnessed it." Victor heard his mother whisper in awe.
"It's just magic crystals, everyone has it." His father grumbled.
Victor rolled his eyes internally, he could wait for an opportunity to leave when his parents weren't looking, he would very much rather spend time with the coachmen than watch the nobles talk about how much they have, strutting around in their expensive jewelry like groups of parading peacocks.
Though, he would admit, he also did the same thing, but that most mostly pretense. He was sure he wasn't the only one who was waiting for the banquet to end so they could go back to rest in the comfort of their home. Every time Victor leaves his house, he immediately misses his bed.
After familiarizing themselves with the other nobles, they were invited to the dining hall, where they all had a lavish feast which was accompanied with a performance from the Dancing Tulips. Their dessert was ice cream, Victor had heard of ice cream, it was created in the Pink Phoenix Duchy, although he hadn't tasted it before.
After their food had been properly digested the were ushered into the dance hall, there was music and servers who carried wine glasses around. Victor's father was moving from place to place, introducing himself to everyone in his line of sight, and Victor had to follow him since it was expected. His mouth was getting dry from talking too much and the curtsies made his knees ache.
One time he was signaled by his father to ask an earl's daughter to a dance.
"I'm not that good of a dancer, though." the girl said while blushing.
Victor gave his best gentlemanly smile, "Don't worry, I'll lead." Then they danced for a while. When they were done, he bowed to her before returning her back to her father, he could see his father trying not to glare at him, he had expected him to take the girl on a walk and woo her, but Victor couldn't think of anything he would enjoy less.
But he would have to wait till they got home before he could scold him, Duke Roy was coming their way.
"Earl Lanky, so glad you could make it!" Duke Roy said when he reached them.
"I'm glad to be here, Duke Roy," The earl said, then he gave a concerned look, "I heard about your mine, how soon do you think you will be able to continue transacting?"
"Soon, soon. In fact, the people who are going to open the entrance are coming tomorrow."
"Oh, that's a relief. Do you know how it happened? I heard a rumor that it was a bandit group. Who would be so bold?"
"It wasn't the bandits," Duke Roy chuckled, "It was a group called the Freedom Fighter's, their goal is to free all the oppressed." He snickered when he finished talking.
"The oppressed?" Earl Lanky asked before realizing, "Oh, they mean the people you force to work the mine for you."
"Forced? No, they broke the law, working in the mine was their punishment. And only a few people were sentenced to work in the mine, for others it was their job." Duke Roy said dismissively. As he turned his head away, he glanced at Victor's father expectant face.
"And, who is this?" Duke Roy asked.
"I am Baron Cecil Crooke, sir, I am honored to have been invited to your party." Baron Cecil bowed a bit.
"Crooke, Crooke – Oh! I see, Well, the honor is all mine. I have heard about you; your entire family is filled with geniuses. My wife absolutely loves the fabrics your wife's produces, and your daughter, she won the Noble Archery Competition last year, didn't she?" Duke Roy turned his head to Victor, "and your son, a First Stage Aura wielder at such a young age."
"He actually condensed it this morning, sir." Cecil couldn't help but brag.
"Conde –! Truly? Bravo, bravo." He nodded at Victor. That nod was enough to make his father show a jubilant expression, that nod showed that he would be paying attention to Victor.
"Thank you for your praise, my lord." since he it was expected of him, Victor bowed to the duke. But he felt the duke's praise wasn't needed, the only reason he reached the condensed stage of the First Rank was because of the phenomenon that happened everywhere in the morning, that and Annie's training. He felt it was a bit weird that no one was talking about it.
After a few more words, Duke Roy left to see other people. Victor stared at his father who was now in a jovial mood, even though the duke didn't praise him at all but actually spoke about his family members. Victor slowly slipped away, now that his father had gotten what he wanted, he no longer needed him to stay, so he left. He took two glasses of wine at sat beside a window; he downed the first glass then slowly sipped the other as he stared out the window.
"The moon sure is bright tonight," he said to himself, a bit wistfully, "I wonder where you are now, Annie."