Because of the recent changes to the Forsaken lands, Pascal had the assembly postponed for five days and asked some people to see how the distance around them had changed. They started with the mountain, and what used to take them a few minutes to climb took them two days, and they didn't even reach the tip. Their old town, Cliff Town, wasn't at the tip like Pascal thought, it was the distorted space that made it seem so, the town was located at a small open area on the mountain. The space between the city and the mountain increased so it took them at least two hours to reach the foot.
The other three days was used to travel from the city to the river that divided the Forsaken Lands from the others.
Now, Pascal was standing in the hall, in front of the throne – he still hadn't sat on it while addressing someone yet – and all his people were gathered in front of him.
"Good day, everyone. Thank you for coming, since we've been postponing this assembly for days, I won't waste time with niceties and just go straight to the point."
"Anyone that isn't new knows when Sarah built the Cathedral of Reaching, what you don't know was what happened in there, what we've been keeping from you. The day Sarah first entered the cathedral, the God of Origins spoke directly to her." As Pascal expected when he began talking about the subject, everyone in the hall became boisterous. Pascal waited for them to settle before continuing.
"After speaking with her, Sarah used the cathedral to look to the possible future – yes, George the cathedral allows Sarah to see visons – and she saw… a huge catastrophe. According to the vision, someone or something would reanimate the dead and let them walk the earth again, but the dead came out twisted and vile, and attacked everyone. According to what Sarah saw, we might all die."
This time everyone was too shocked to speak, they all looked at Pascal in disbelief.
Pascal sighed, "I apologize for keeping this from you until now, but we thought we would be able to find the person who would cause that terrible future, but it proved difficult." He walked forwards and looked at them earnestly, "The reason I called this assembly is simple; I want us to get stronger. Sarah saw the entire Dragonstone Kingdom being attacked, but only saw the scenes of our deaths. Why? Because we are weak. You see, even if the dead don't attack, we would definitely be attacked by the other the kingdom once the king realizes we are building our own kingdom here. Our god has given me a mission, which is to unify the entire Forsaken Lands. But we can't do that nor protect ourselves without sufficient strength!"
"We all need to get stronger, to protect ourselves from others who wish to bully us. So, I beseech you, practice whenever you can, and if you know you're up for it, when you reach level ten, venture into outside the Safe Zones and explore it. We all know our kingdom is different from the others, you can leave and explore the world, I won't hold it against you because honestly, I'm going to be doing the same thing. And know this, I am not forcing any of you to fight, all I want is for us to be able to protect ourselves. So, if you feel all this is too much for you and you want to live a simpler life, you are free to leave."
After he finished, Pascal stared at the people in the hall and waited for their decision. They all stared at each other and murmured, some like Veronica didn't even bother to speak and just stood still, showing their stance.
Then, a woman stepped forward to speak, "I can't speak for everyone, but I am not leaving!"
Her words seemed to be a catalyst as everyone began speaking, raising their voices to say the same thing. They had decided, they were not leaving.
Pascal smiled as their response, then he looked at Sarah, "Sarah, please tell us the conversation you had with our lord."
Sarah nodded and stepped forward, "When I first saw the God of Origins, the first thing I did was thank him for everything he had done for us. And do you know how he responded? He said, everything we have accomplished and are going to accomplish is due to our own strength, he can give us the power and the tools but none of it would matter if we don't put in the work. I couldn't understand what he meant then, but I do now. Look at this city, sure it was given to us, but we took it with our own strength. Anyone who had a lamentable life before coming here, when you were blessed, it may not have seemed like it at first, but the struggle you overcame, you did it with your strength and willpower. Think about it, you could have gotten the blessing and still stayed in your shitty situation, but you did the opposite."
"Our god blessed us and gave us a home we could always return to no matter where we go, and I am sure we are all eternally grateful for that. So now, it is time for us to act, together. I thought I could do this alone, that if I find the person who was going to be responsible for all the deaths, I could end him myself. But I realized that I was wrong, we all need to protect our home and our loved ones together!"
Then she stepped backwards to give Pascal the stage.
"Thank you, High Priestess. Like I said before, our kingdom is like no other, and since we don't have enough people, yet we can't form our own army. So, everyone should independently try to get stronger, no matter how you can. That is the priority for now, any plans will come later. Does everyone understand?"
"Yes, Overlord!" they all said.
"Alright, this assembly is officially over. Ronan and Damon, please say behind." Everyone walked out the hall, eager to get started on their training. Ronan and Damon fidgeted at being singled out.
"Don't be too nervous, I just want to ask something of you." Pascal said to ease them.
"Yeah sure, whatever you need." Ronan said, Damon just nodded.
"I need you two to put in more effort to level up than the rest, because I want you to warn the Dragonstone Kingdom about the upcoming crisis. Although there are strong people the kingdom, stronger than us, and with them there the kingdom would definitely survive, I still want to reduce the casualties. For the dead to be able to surround the whole kingdom means that the person doing this must have prepared for a long time, or is going to, since we have no idea when this will start. Even if I am no longer a prince, the Dragonstone Kingdom is my birthplace, I want to try and protect it."
"I understand what you're saying but, how are we supposed to convince the high officials of the kingdom to believe us?" Damon asked.
"I'm not asking you to convince anyone," Pascal smiled, "I'm asking you to start a rumor."
Damon's eyes widen in understanding, but Ronan was still confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You see, the people in power in the Dragonstone Kingdom aren't idiots, they're bound to find out about the crisis when something starts feeling wrong, especially the sorcerers. The kingdom is more powerful than you imagine, I heard my father once say that every kingdom has its own main powerhouse, ours is the Swords People. And the sorcerers aren't shabby, they found out how to make long distance travelling, the especially powerful ones can destroy an entire town or a small city by themselves. And also, this person can't move an entire army of the dead without people noticing. But they will still be slower than us in preparing because we have information of the future, a rumor would make them act quicker."
"I see." Ronan nodded in understanding.
"So," Pascal, "when you get stronger, preferably when you are level twenty, take whatever team you need and spread the rumor about the dead coming to take the living. It will be easier than you think, people will believe in anything."
"Understood." They bowed and left the hall.
Only Pascal and Morgana still remained. Pascal spoke first.
"I'm level ten, you?"
"Same." She said.
"Would you like to follow me out of the Safe Zones tomorrow?"
"I would love too." With a smile tugging on her lips, she bowed and left the hall. Pascal also walked out of the hall; he summoned Zahir to his side.
Thanks to the fact that they both share exp points, Zahir was already in level five, which meant he could finally use his Dragon skills. But since Zahir skills needed more skill points than normal, Pascal checked the magic he could use now, they were [Flame Breath] and [Gold Breath], since he was busy, he hadn't checked their usage until now.
"Zahir, use [Flame Breath] on that." Pascal pointed at the decorative plants that were arranged at the edge of the palace. Zahir opened his maw and spat out a stream of flames on the shrub. They immediately melted and ignited, before turning to ash. The process didn't take more than five seconds.
'Just as I thought, the flames of a dragon are hotter than normal fire.'
"Good boy, Zahir," Pascal rubbed his head, "Now use [Gold Breath] on the next one."
This time, Zahir spat out what looked like a stream of gold dust, immediately it touched the leaves it covered them with a gold substance.
'Wait,' Pascal thought, 'it can't be.'
Pascal went closer and knocked the leaves with his finger, they were solid.
"This… this is real gold!"
His smile went grew wider and wider, 'We are fucking rich!'
The Overlord's City didn't run on money, thanks to magic there was an abundance of everything they would need. But it was different everywhere else, Pascal had been worried about the people who would one day want to explore outside of the city, thinking they would have to find ways to get money. But now he had a gold-breathing dragon, and sure the [Gold Breath] takes a lot of exp to use, that fact that I could be used still remained! Plus, Zahir was still little, he would definitely be able to use [Gold Breath] longer in the future.
"Follow me, Zahir, let's go see if the Rune Mages have a rune that can carve gold."
…
Rune Mage Saul squatted while reading his Rune Book, it was the book every Rune Mage gets after becoming one. Like the weapons of Warriors or the bows of Archers, the book had its own space. When they first get the Rune Book only one page would have words and runes on it, the rest would be blank. The first page had the header Tier One runes, and the runes listed there showed that Rune Mages were the most resourceful mages. They had runes for the control of every element, they had runes for strengthening and weakening, they had runes for reconnaissance, they had runes for identification, they had runes for everything, and this was just on the first page as no one as unlocked the second page yet. And this was mostly because of the way they had to draw the runes, since they were beginners, they had to use their fingers to draw the rune while simultaneously charging their magical power and mind energy. The runes can be drawn on any surface, even on thin air, but it never sticks for long.
But since there were runes in every building in the city, Saul was sure that they would be able to draw permanent runes in the future.
Saul was sitting on the ground, studying the runes on his Rune Book that was floating in front of him. He was also helping his friend, Sol Anji, who was an Air Mage and was trying to balance herself in the air while using the skill [Hover]. Saul would cast the [Float] rune on her from time to time, to help her get the hang of staying in midair.
"Saul, look!" Sol Anji called, she had been hovering in the air for thirty seconds and was now trying to walk on air. It didn't work, instead she 'tripped' and fell. Luckily, she was just a few inches off the ground.
"Ouch!" she landed on her knees.
"Idiot," Saul rolled his eyes, "the skill is literally called hover, not flight, you can only move slowly downwards with that skill."
"Ugh." Sol Anji rubbed her knees roughly, before activating the skill again.
"You're still doing that?"
"Yeah, it's fun!" she wobbled as she spoke, "help me float better."
Saul sighed but he made the rune, "Whatever, I'll soon leave anyway. You'll have to practice yourself then."
''Where are you going?''
''I'm going to Old Angus's house, all the Rune Mages agreed to gather there this afternoon.''
''Why his house – woah!" Sol Anji wobbled a bit as she tried to rise higher.
Saul rolled his eyes at her, ''Old Angus was the first person to choose the Rune Mage class, and he has the highest level of the Rune Mages, even if it's only a few levels…'' he absent-mindedly casted the [Float] rune on Sol Anji again when he past one wore out, ''It's not like he's our leader or anything, everyone just unanimously agreed to gather at his house.''
He casted another rune of Sol Anji, ''I have to go now, practice by yourself. See you later.''
''See you later!" Sol Anji said back.
Saul waved at her without looking back as he walked away. He had a long walk ahead of him, since the space in the Forsaken Lands had been repaired every distance expanded, Saul was grateful that they were given the Overlord's City because if they were still living on the mountain, it would be a hassle to move about it.
Saul quickened his pace, even though the meeting duration never went past a few minutes, he still wanted to be one of the first people there. Unfortunately, he hadn't learned how to draw the [Haste] rune so he couldn't move faster.
After a few minutes of maneuvering through streets, he finally reached Old Angus's house. The door was opened so he didn't need to announce himself, he walked in and stood in the corner since all the chairs had been taken. He saw Angus chatting with a few people, a girl was beside him and she was looking at everyone with squinted eyes. Saul recognized her, she was Emilia, Angus's granddaughter, she was in charge of counting the participants when they arrive. Saul counted with her, there were seventeen people in the room, and since they were only twenty Rune Mages in the whole city there was still three mages needed for the meeting to commence.
Saul sat cross-legged on the floor and brought out his Rune Book, he was going to practice till the last people arrived. The rune he decided to practice with was the [Identify] rune. He channeled his magic and his mental energy; he used his finger as a pen and a pale golden light appeared on the tip. Drawing a non-complex beginner rune for the first time was easy, he was practicing by drawing the rune in the shortest time as possible.
It didn't take long for the remaining mages to arrive, Saul stood up as Angus clapped his hands; it was time for the meeting to commence.
Before he began talking, Angus swiped his finger across the air and made three [Zephyr] runes in fast succession, then he kept them at the corners of the room. Everyone mumbled in awe when the runes formed, Old Angus created the runes with an unprecedented speed. The runes shot out soft gusts of breeze, cooling the room of its hot temperature.
''Thank you all for coming, even though we aren't sharing our achievements with each other today. I'm sure the announcement today riled us all up, and there isn't anything I can add to what the Overlord and the High Priestess said. If it was before, I am sure we would all run without hesitation, even though that would get us killed faster, but it's different now. Now, with hard work, we can protect ourselves and our loved ones.''
Angus clasped his hands together, ''So, I called this meeting to propose that we Rune Mages have a joint training routine,'' everyone began speaking when he said that, Saul had a faint frown on his face, ''Now, now,'' Angus raised his hands, ''I'm not saying we can't work independently, I'm pretty sure there are a lot of you who would rather travel by yourselves after you've reached level ten,'' Saul, along with a few others nodded, ''but don't forget, as we are now, none of us can survive outside the Safe Zones alone. And it's not just us, everyone in the city is joining groups here and there, the other mages formed groups with their corresponding elements and the Clerics are scattered between different groups.''
''Let's not overestimate ourselves,'' Anton gave everyone a look, ''we are all very new at this, and the only way for us to survive is to not be overconfident on the get go. You can practice by yourselves, but if you're leaving the Safe Zones, you go with a team, it doesn't have to be with other Rune Mages if you already have a group, but I would really appreciate it we Rune Mages stick together.''
Saul pondered on what Angus said, truth be told he had wanted to move alone, but now that he really thought about it, he realized how stupid his thinking was. He was born in Cliff Town, he had never even left the Forsaken Lands and he definitely hadn't left the Safe Zones before. Now that he had a bit of power, he thought he could move alone, he shook his head at his stupidity.
A low roar startled him out of his thoughts, everyone jumped a little, but they weren't scared. Since they've all lived in the city for a while now, they all recognized Zahir's playful roars.
There was a thud on the roof of the house that indicated that Zahir had landed there, soon the Overlord walked into the house while holding a golden bush.
''Hey, Angus,'' Pascal nodded at everyone after they bowed, ''sorry for interrupting your meeting, but I need your help with something.'' He shoved the bush at Angus, who gave him a peculiar look.