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At long last, finally, a civil, diplomatic talk.
All it took was to kill the king.
Hah, well, the Tower is full of warmongering worlds; should I have expected anything less?
The only way to make your enemy sit down and talk is to beat them down first.
Very rarely will you find people willing to sit down and talk without showing them your actual strength.
It seems that this law remains the same even now, after being gone from Murim for so long.
It didn't used to be this way on Earth, but now that it is connected to the Tower and one hundred different worlds, most of them in constant war against each other...
I suppose these laws were brought here as well.
North America, and I mean the whole continent and not just the country of the United States, was unified by Caesar when he arrived here once Earth was connected to the Tower.
He saved as many civilians as his army and forces could, created safe environments in the largest cities, and quickly took over the government, which had already been almost destroyed by the Gates.
In the end, as a conqueror, he had it pretty easy: a giant piece of fertile land, millions of people for the workforce, and no proper government after the White House was destroyed.
I can't really blame him; to be honest, he took an opportunity and helped innocents.
If anything, although I don't really like to admit it, he fits the criteria of what a "righteous" man is.
Although attacking me out of nowhere... It might not have been too righteous of him, but more of an act of desperation and ruthlessness, ingrained into his own head by his tyrannical family and his father.
But well, we are here together to talk about these things, not just about Yanisse's whole deal but about everyone else present.
And I am especially interested in the King's past, his original world, and where his wife comes from.
"Thank you again for bringing us here," said Elphiette, drinking some of the tea I offered her. "This tea is really good and relaxing. It feels like most of the tension I felt is gone. What blend is it?"
"Three-Thousand-Year-Old Golden Dragon Grass, finely dried in the Sunlight of the Immortal Sunshine Valley."
"Huh?"
"It's something from Murim, the world I was teleported from, and the world I came from. This entire pagoda, and perhaps everything I possess, my strength, and my riches come from that world."
"Murim," said the king. "I have never heard of a world with that name in the Tower before. Is it a world that is not connected yet?"
"I would assume so." I nodded. "It's probably much farther than you imagine. The very chance I was sent back to Earth through a black hole was pure luck."
"A black… hole? Like those that appear within the Outer Cosmos?!" asked Caesar. "T-The scientists of some of the worlds my family has conquered have said that the Outer Cosmos is filled with dangerous astral forms. Black holes are born when a star dies. If you could survive such an immense pressure that bends space itself, I never had a chance against you."
"Well, I wanted things to be as fair as possible, so I didn't use any technique or skill, only my swordsmanship." I smiled. "It wouldn't have been fun otherwise, wouldn't it?"
"That's... I suppose," Caesar sighed. "The more I learn about you, the more humiliating that fight feels."
"Let's leave bygones be bygones," I said. "More importantly, let's begin our talk. Yanisse is here after all."
"Right," the king nodded. "Yanisse, you had agreed to a contract with me; my kingdom would offer your country resources, and you would offer me your loyalty and strength. And not to join any other organization."
"Yes, I know..." nodded Yanisse. "I ended up joining Bing Xue's sect because of how great of an opportunity it would have been. I had been growing much stronger in just a week, all thanks to her teachings."
"Sect?" Elphiette wondered. "Oh right, that organization she created... But how? Have you been helping them level up?"
"No, it's called cultivation; there might be other methods of cultivation out there, but the ones from Murim are much different and also much stronger," I explained. "So within a week, all my disciples have at least become ten times as strong as before."
"Ten times?!" asked the King. "But their levels have barely increased."
"Levels are tied to the System Status, my Cultivation is the ability to grow and develop internal power, their own strength," I explained. "It is much different, and it also works on its own rules."
"Incredible…" Caesar seemed rather interested. "Anyways, I suppose this breach breaks our contract, Yanisse."
"I understand… I will take any blame you have against me, and it's also no longer necessary to help my people from the motherland," Yanisse nodded. "I will find my own ways."
"Very well," the king nodded.
It seemed he wasn't nice enough to give resources to the Russians out of goodwill; it was all a contract he had made with Yanisse, and now that it was broken, both parties simply decided to go back to how they were before.
At least he's not being possessive over her.
"Don't worry, if food and money are what your people need, I will gladly help them, Yanisse," I smiled. "As my disciple, it's the very least I could do for you."
"B-Bing Xue! But you've done so much for me already." Yanisse sighed, feeling flustered. "Please, that's enough. I can handle this. It has been years since the contract was made. I have a lot of money saved myself, and I'm strong; I can make more money."
"Hah… Very well, do as you please then," I nodded. "But if something bad happens and you can't handle the burden, I will always be there to lend a helping hand."
"Thank you… I really appreciate it. She blushed, holding my hand tightly. "You don't know how much of a help you've been to me."
"It is fine, really."
I felt slightly flustered; she was so beautiful, even more up close.
The King and Queen smiled slightly as they saw Yanisse holding my hand.
"It seems Yanisse is much happier with her now," the king sighed.
"I'm glad that girl has gone through so much." Elphiette nodded.
"Yeah… Let's leave her be," the King nodded. "What happens with my father... It is something I will take care of on my own."
So that problem is solved, but a new problem arises, and I am quite curious about a few other things too.
"You called Yanisse the Vessel of the Void, and your father is also a god, right?" I asked. "You said she was someone incredibly powerful and the key to attaining power beyond the tower's limitations."
"Indeed," he nodded. "Or well, that is what my father believes. The power of the Void is elusive, and beyond any world of the Tower, it is something that exists outside of it within the Outer Cosmos. All worlds in the Tower are connected and protected by the Tower Walls, so it isolates us from the Outer Cosmos, unlike Earth and other worlds it had just recently anchored into."
"Anchored…" I muttered. "This starts to sound weirder the more I hear about it. But let us go back to the topic first. Yanisse is indeed incredible; even for someone who spent eleven thousand years in Murim, her abilities are incredible and capable of ignoring her foe's defenses entirely. Her void can simply pierce through almost everything. The only way I've discovered to counter it is by wielding Void myself."
"S-So you're also a wielder of the Void?" wondered the King.
"Yes, I've been learning and comprehending the Dao of the Void for a while now, but I am nowhere near the level of mastery that Yanisse has achieved since her awakening," I laughed. "She's incredible, without a doubt."
"I-I am not that amazing... My power can only harm others; it is too dangerous. I always have to be careful. she sighed. "I still remember harming others by accident because I didn't know how to properly use this. But you can protect and heal others, even give them strength; you're much more incredible, Bing Xue."
"Oh my, you're flattering me so much! Are you in love with me or something?" I giggled.
"E-Eh? W-Well… I-I wouldn't deny I- Ah, right, we shouldn't be talking about this. She muttered, quickly regaining her composure.
"Ahem!" the King said. "Yes, she is truly powerful. Vessels of the Void are incredibly rare occurrences; there's only... a handful of gods that have a Divinity of the Void, and they're all on the top floors. They're unreachable for my father. As he wants to attain the power of the Void, he plans to use Yanisse, once she grows strong enough, as his weapon."
"I knew it... So he really wanted her?" I nodded. "And a weapon? Yanisse is a person. Your father is quite fucked in the head."
"He indeed is," the king admitted. "Father is a madman, a warmongering tyrant that only cares about waging war against worlds and absorbing their resources and people to strengthen our own. He always says this is "the tower's way," but I've always thought his methods are too excessive."
"Compared to his father, my husband's conquest was much gentler; he has been protecting the people, giving them new opportunities, and has not enslaved anybody either," said Elphiette. "He became the King of North America, but by helping the people that had already lost everything."
"I suppose, yes... I don't like conquerors, though; I would rather leave the people of their worlds to govern themselves and decide their own fate rather than become some kind of empress that commands everyone," I sighed. "But it could be said he's too good to only be called a lesser of two evils... I suppose he's okay in my book."
"Now what is going to happen with your father, though?" wondered my mother, finally entering the conversation. "Caesar, if you defied him now by giving away Yanisse, he wouldn't take it kindly, I imagine."
"He won't… But I don't know what he would do," said Caesar. "Father is very far away and busy. He sent all of his children to different worlds to... Well, conquer them in his stead. I am one of the strongest children he has, but I've also advanced my conquest fairly slowly because I do not wish to kill innocents. I've promised my wife I won't."
"I suppose he's not an immediate danger then," said Yanisse.
"Hm…" Seth remained silent through the whole thing, but he clearly looked concerned about something.
"Seth?" I asked him through telepathic messages. "What's wrong?"
"In the timeline I come from, none of these things happened. After all, you weren't there," he told me through telepathy. "King Caesar and his entire family were killed by Raid, and so was almost the entirety of North America. Only New York and two other cities were left; this place will become a wasteland in one year."
"One year from now... a raid that powerful that could kill this man?" I asked him.
"Yes… There's still time to prepare, I hope," he sighed. "The raid was from the Pantheon of the Gods on Floor 80."
"What happened after that?" I asked.
"They began the extraction of Earth's resources; all the ores we had, which turned magical after the apocalypse due to the levels of mana transforming our planet, were precious. Large towers were also planted, injected into the depths of the planet's core, absorbing its essence," sighed Seth.
"Floor 80, is it...?" I wondered. "Do you know anything about the Pantheon of Gods there?"
"Very little… I never reached so far," he sighed. "I was only able to climb to Floor 75. I visited the King's original world; his father didn't even care that his son died. In the trial, there was a tournament against his knights; winning the tournament allowed you to move on."
"Interesting… I suppose I'll have to ask Caesar here after all."
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