We had been on the road for about six hours in the carriage doing nothing except admiring the sight outside the windows.
The interior of the carriage was spacious. There was only one door to the right side of the carriage. The other three sides had long comfortable chairs on them. There were three windows on the front, back and left side, allowing proper ventilation and sunlight.
I sat at the back seat with Jade opposite me. Grey and Nick sat next to each other on the long chair by my left. I could see Ace riding the carriage from the front window.
"It's a really long way to Novaland." I said. "I want to us to talk a little. First, no one should call me Emperor Jordan or King Jordan or any other title. Just Jordan. Remember, we are in a secret mission."
"Next." I continued. "I need you to know, that for these three months, I am not your King. I am your friend. So don't treat me any other way. You are all in the Final Innate Realm. But that doesn't mean you are strong. The realms of power are only a rough measure of a persons skills and strengths. True strength is more than the stage or realm you are. You all need experience. And that, is one of the reasons we are headed to the dungeon. Odds are that I can singlehandedly defeat the four of you."
I said that on purpose to see the looks on their faces and understand them a little. None of them looked surprised at what I said. Maybe I should try to inspire them.
"This world is more than what you can see. There are many races and even more people. I chose you four personally, and I will help make you the strongest you can be. You four will help me set an example to the rest of the generals and captains. You all know that the Lords and Dukes are more powerful than other Monsters. And I will need you all to get as close to them as possible. So our nation can be invincible."
I could see their eyes light up. I felt like I had succeeded in motivating them little.
"How far are we from the Grey city's border?!"I asked.
"We still have about four to five hours." Ace answered without looking away from the road.
"Are you sure you don't need someone to take over for you?"
"It's alright. We can switch tomorrow." Ace said.
"That reminds me. Luggage check. Nick. Did you get what I asked?"
"The storage items? Yes... I was able to get ten of them. Five secondary and five primary storage cubes." Nick answered.
*Storage Items: Magical items with the ability to store space. They come in different forms. Belts, Cubes, Pouches, and others. They are divided into three grade. High, Middle and Low grade. The Low grade is divided into the Tertiary, Secondary and Primary class.*
Nick continued. "Primary class items can contain items as much as a twenty cubic feet (20³ feet)room, while secondary class can carry as much as a fifty cubic feet (50³ feet)room. We should be able to store as many things as we need, for these three months."
"That should be enough." I said. "You did well creating those in just three days time. Now for the most important thing." I turned to Grey. "Food. Grey, I left you in charge of getting all we would need."
"Yes. I have five secondary class cubes filled with all we might need for three months." Grey replied.
"Are you sure they will be enough?" I said. "I don't want to end up eating beasts, just because I am getting hungry."
"Beasts? Are they edible?" Nick asked.
"Anything is edible when you are hungry, trust me on that." I said with a smile.
"Jade. Did you go to Tony?" I asked.
"Yes." Jade answered. "I got everything from him. The weapons, armour, protective clothing and shields.
These are the weapons." Jade brought out seven rings. Each ring had a weapon carved on them.
She passed one to Nick and another to Grey. Then she passed three to me. From the two that were left, one was hers and another was Ace's. "Ace." She said. "The last one is yours. You'll get it once we are at the Grey Fort." She kept the rings then looked up at me. "Tony said to add a drop of blood on the ring. That's how it gets linked to us. That's how it becomes our spirit weapon."
*Spirit Weapons: These are weapons that are linked to a person's spirit. This gives the weapon the ability to evolve and grow as its owner evolves and grows. But before they evolve, they must be upgraded. There are four known grades of Spirit Weapons.
Innate Grade Weapons › Demon Grade Weapons › Divine Grade Weapons › Celestial Grade Weapons *
"Alright. We will do that later." I said and kept my rings.
"What's next? Who's with the money?" The three of them looked at each other in confusion because they knew I was the one in charge of getting funds. "I am kidding." I said as he let out a short laugh. "I am with the money. You should have seen the look in your faces."
The first day of our journey came to an end when we got to the Grey Fort. The fort at the border of the new Grey City. This was where Isaac and Dustin had brought the troops to guard the border. We were received by the soldiers there and given rooms to stay for the night.
We departed early the next morning. And two days later, we got to the city of Creed. The northern city of Glavis that borders the Northern Empire.
Another two days and we finally got to Novaland, the capital city of Glavis. Getting there late caused us to retire early. We got three rooms at the closest inn as we did in Creed. Grey and I took one room, Nick and Ace had another. Jade took the last.
We gathered in my room to plan what was next. It was a small room with only one small window allowing only a trickle of moonlight seep through. Two beds sat on the floor with white sheets that smelled of flowers. The inns at Novaland were of a different class.
We sat on the beds and chair in the room. "This is our fifth day on the road." I said. "We spent longer than we planned on the road."
"Yes." Ace said. "We didn't expect the distance between the two countries was so vast."
"It's mainly because we haven't really travelled at all. We are not well versed with the world as we thought we were." Nick said.
Jade turned to me and asked. "I heard people say you only spent a week on the road from the Tower. Is that true?"
"What! No!" I said shaking my head. "I travelled around the surface gathering information before I made my way to the north."
"Ohhh!" She exclaimed. "We thought you came straight from the Tower to the city in just a week."
"No. I only spent a week on the road after I finished gathering the information I needed. I went to the Salvador Federation and crossed the outlands. I went to check on the veil."
"But. Isn't the outlands the harsh desert said to be a wasteland that is between the Salvador Federation and the Demon continent? The outlands that is filled with dangerous bandits, groups and beasts?" Nick asked.
"Whoa! Really?" Jade said.
"Yes." I replied. "That outlands. I needed to be sure of how much time we had left. I calculated it to about five years."
Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned this to them. I thought as he looked at the faces of my soon-to-be party members. "Yes. Anyway, tomorrow we go to the guild, we register, and we use their gate. We should be in the Elven Empire by noon tomorrow."
"And since we aren't beginners," I said. "we can request for an expedition... Three months long."
"Will there be a test?" Nick asked.
"Yes. But it's just your standard Mana crystal ball. It measures your magical power and gives you a rank." I replied.
"Rank?"
"Yes. Adventurers are ranked from rank F to S, with three special ranks. The SS, SSS and X ranks. Rank F is for beginners. Rank E to C is for adventurers in the three stages of the Innate Realm. While rank B, A and S are for adventurers in the three stages of the Demon Realm.
"Whoa! So there are adventurers in the Final Demon Realm too?" Ace asked.
"Of course. Just about ten or so of them though." I said.
"So there are adventurers powerful enough to rival the Demon Lords."
I scoffed. "No. They aren't. Demon Lord isn't just any title. The title is only given to the strongest individual in the Demon Realm for each race. That's why there is only one Demon Lord per race. The only exception is the Demon Lord Zephyr. He is a Celestial who decided to take on the title to protect Glavis Empire."
He is the only Demon Lord that I can't touch. I thought to myself.
"Two to three S rank adventurers might be able to rival a Demon Lord." I added. "Might. But that's not all a Demon Lord is. Every Demon Lord has an army. That's why they are powerful."
"If that's how it works," Nick said. "then the only way you would be able to become a Demon Lord is if you are the strongest Monster in the Demon Realm. But how will you be the strongest when you will still in the Early Demon Realm?"
"You don't need to worry about that." I said "You'll know when it's time. Anyway. You all should rest for today. We'll resume tomorrow."
"Alright. We are almost there!" Ace said to Nick.
"Goodnight Jordan." They greeted and left for their rooms.
As I watched them leave, I thought. Almost there? Not at all. We are just starting!