The sun shined bright in the snowing city of Nerio, "One-thousand two-hundred and five." Its people were just waking up, children prepared for school as adults made their way to their jobs. Due to the low snow, the city's climate defense was down, and its people observed a bright day, "One-thousand two-hundred and six."
But inside the city's main palace resided Rapl Tsukumo, the heir of the Emperor of Zan. It had been three weeks since Artefus had taken Rapl and his party under his wing, and those three weeks were filled with rigorous workouts that would've left a normal warrior begging for mercy.
"One-thousand two-hundred and sev-" A thump emanated from Rapl's room as the young man's body fell to the ground, "Dammit… alright, I guess that's the most I can do," he remarked as he sat down, resting for a few minutes.
Artefus was a tough but caring trainer to the group, he would come by every so often if he had time, but battle experts were mostly training Rapl and his party. Be it swordsaints, high-ranking members of the military, or even the feared and respected red scars, Rapl had been slowly gaining knowledge from them.
As Rapl sat, he heard a loud bang coming from outside. He smirked as he stood up and went to his drawer, "Sevi's really been developing fast huh?" Inside Artefus' personal training building, sparks of flame covered the air and ground as Sevi propelled himself at such speeds winds started to roar.
Fighting with him was a red scar. He was a grown man, his hair already graying, but his smile still showed the fire a youth would have, "Oh ho ho, you're really going at it huh Sevi?" The man asked, grabbing his blade tightly.
With a slice of his blade, he created a wave made of lightning. It was directed where Sevi was going to go, and when it hit the body, his figure disintegrated, "Yeah, I guess I am," Sevi remarked behind the man, "FLASH!!" Sevi's hand was swallowed by flames as he propelled it into the man's body.
But the sound of steel stopped Sevi's fists where it was, "Your generation of kids are really scaring me," the scar remarked, his blade blocking behind him. But as fast as one could blink, the man turned his body, his blade pointed at the sky as it descended to hit Sevi.
But, Sevi's fist opened as his hands touched the ground, he lifted his legs, and with a push with his hands, his legs entangled the man's body and arm, stopping his blade from going down. And using his core to pull himself up, he came face to face with the man, his hand pointed at his face; they both grinned, "Blast."
A massive explosion came out of Sevi's hands, its sound even resonated beyond the building. Bok, who was in an intense sword clash with a swordsaint turned to Sevi, "SEVI!!" He yelled, "Didn't master say to limit your power a bit?"
"You heard him young man," a voice remarked beyond the smoke as Sevi was tossed down, a blade came over his neck causing him to giggle a bit, "You actually made me use my channeling."
"Sorry Dezz, I'm still getting used to limiting my power," Sevi stated, but his body quickly was replaced with a spark of flames. The red scar known as Dezz rolled his eyes and turned around, seeing Sevi levitating.
Then, sitting on the stairs, Leena opened her mouth, "You know you're not going to get better at control if you keep just blindly dashing around." Next to her was Alex, who was doing push-ups.
She giggled at what Leena had said, "Yeah, remember what master told you, don't overuse spells just for the sake of it." Sevi rolled his eyes as he blasted himself again to battle Dezz.
"I'm just having fun, plus it improves my mana, if you all run out of mana in the middle of combat, don't come running to me." The new apprentices of Artefus had been training extra hard for the past few weeks, their growth was one rarely seen.
"These kids are amazing," a researcher in the building remarked, but next to her was a massive beast, almost ten feet tall and over thirty feet long. On top of its body were scales as hard as rocks, and its jaw was long like a crocodile. The researcher turned to it as she laid a hand on its snout, "Alright Rico, we can't fall behind can we?"
The beast was Rico. What used to be a Skirian salamander, was now turned into a hybrid beast due to his unnatural levels of evolution. Rico nodded excitedly, but the researcher had to remind him that he wasn't a small salamander anymore.
But whilst everyone trained, the door to the building caused all of them to turn, Bok grinned as he saw who it was, "What took you a while, Lich?" He remarked, as Rapl entered the building, his body still a bit sore.
"Apprentice Lich, might I add," he remarked, fully stretching his body, "I also don't wanna hear anything about being late, you guys sleep early meanwhile I have to be taught how to rule a kingdom."
As Rapl entered the building, Alex walked up to him, a smile coming from her face that her cold eyes did not parallel, "Bok's busy right now, you wanna have a spar," she asked, gripping her wand tightly.
Rapl grinned at Alex's suggestion, "Sure I've been wondering if I could break your ice," he exclaimed as he descended the stairs to the battle area, Alex followed as she snickered.
"Let's find out." But far away from the main palace, Artefus was walking through a large building filled with rushing people. This building was known as the Main headquarters of the Gamma organization, where a bulk of information around Zan is shared and gathered.
Along with Artefus was Edwin, who was playing a casual tune as they walked through the halls. There was a slight sense of uncertainty on Artefus' face that he was trying to hide, but it was something Edwin could see, "Is there a problem your Majesty, typically gamma would come to the palace instead of you coming here?" The musician asked.
Artefus, seeing Edwin's worry, sighed to reclaim himself, "It is something you shouldn't worry about Edwin… but if you want to make me feel better, play that song I taught you when you were ten, Little Merry Men wasn't it?"
Edwin giggled at Artefus' request, "You taught me many songs when I was ten Your Majesty, but yeah, I'll play Little Merry Men." A calm tune came over the hallways, a tune that not only calmed Artefus' nerves, but also the workers in the building.
But as the two made their way to a big door, Edwin stopped playing, knowing that behind that door was Gamma's main control area, a place of concentration, and a place where she was.
Artefus opened the door, and in that room were thousands of workers, seated, observing projections of cities all around the nation; be it the tropical southern parts, the Boerian mountain range up north, or the forested center of Akal, they could see everything.
And with their vision, they were also taking in messages via magic lines, "Yes Mayor Kluze we do understand, we are sending adventurers there immediately."
"Please be patient as we transfer your message to the correct experts."
"Yes, okay, alright, we'll notify the closest city near your location."
It was a rushing space of knowledge, one Artefus names, the brain of Zan. But in the middle of the entire thing, dictating most of the workers and sharing most of the information, was a woman. She had short, dark green hair with glasses on top of it, his skin was a light brown, and her eyes were emerald green, and below them were eyebags.
And on her body was a red uniform, with black shoulder tassels and an eye symbol on her chest. This was Sheera Lenio, The Grand Chancellor, and Zan's Symbol of knowledge. As Artefus made his way in, Sheera turned to him, knowing full well why he was here, "Good morning your Majesty," she bowed with great reverence, but her voice and face were plain and gray.
"Good morning Sheera, I see everyone's working hard as always," Artefus praised, leading Sheera to nod.
"Yes, they in fact are," but as Sheera said this, she turned to Edwin, an action that produced a slight red on the musician's cheek, "And good morning to you too, Edwin," she invited, but this time, a slight smile was on her mouth.
Edwin brought his hat down to cover his face as he opened his mouth, "Y-Yeah, m-mornin'." Artefus stared at the two, a slight grin on his face. But he quickly got his composure back as he cleared his throat, making Sheera turn to him as she was reminded why he was there.
"Let's discuss this topic somewhere else, somewhere a little more quiet," Artefus suggested, leading Sheera to nod as she notified others to take care of her station.
Artefus, Sheera, and Edwin made their way into a small, secure room, one with little noise. Edwin was in the corner of the room, playing a light tune barely heard, his eyes closed and his ears perked. Meanwhile, Artefus was just patiently waiting as Sheera was looking through papers across him.
But after a little while, she found what she was looking for, so as she cleared her throat, she began to speak, "Several reports from mayors located in the Central lands speak of a pirate group invading port cities and taking villagers, mayors have taken up arms such as Veluza's mayor, Jate, but unfortunately, she died when she and her army confronted them."
Artefus' eyes sharpened as he rested his cheek on his fist, "These scum, who are they even? I haven't heard any big news of champions entering Zan," Artefus questioned, causing Sheera to look for another paper.
"They are from Hulda, led by Hulda's highest-rank adventurer, Dyrin. Although there is still no information about whether this was an attack commanded by the Huldrians or if Dyrin had gone off on his own," Sheera informed, but judging from the presence emanating from Artefus, she already knew what was about to come.
Artefus took a deep breath, his eyes spiraled as he came to his conclusion, "Contact the King of Hulda, depending on what he tells me, it will dictate if Dyrin dies alone, or his Kingdom dies with him."
Sheera did what she was told, calling in magicians who specialize in magic communication lines into the room. It only took a few minutes for Hulda to respond to Zan's request to talk, and the magicians opened a communications portal. There, facing Artefus, was a bearded man, wearing a gold crown and regal clothing. But his face was sweaty, with the expression of pure fear plastered on it. This was Bjorn, King of Hulda.
"G-Greetings L-Lord Lich," he stuttered, his hands shaking as the Lich of Zan's presence was overwhelming even though they were an entire ocean apart.
Artefus' gaze was paralyzing, and his words sounded like death itself, "Do not give me a greeting like that Bjorn," Artefus remarked, his voice venomous, his lack of respect and scorn showing in every word he said, "I have heard information about an adventurer of yours, Dyrin, destroying MY cities, and killing MY people!! I am a patient man Bjorn, but I assure you, if you do not give me a reason for this in your next few breaths, I will sink your nation unto the earth, and personally gut you alive to be an example to anyone who even THINKS of invading Zan."
A chill went down Bjorn's spine as he tried to find the words to explain to Artefus, "Y-Your Majesty p-please I a-assure you I or Hulda itself d-did not send Dyrin to attack Zan," he begged, even getting on his arms and knees, "D-Dyrin went off on his own, I k-knew he was going to do some t-thing but I didn't know h-he would do this, P-PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!"
Artefus scoffed at the response, "I see, Hulda cannot control its champions, your leadership is absolutely pitiful. But I understand you're a pathetic ruler, so I'll let you off the hook," he replied, but Artefus leaned forward to be more direct with Bjorn, his eyes spiraling as he stared deeply into his eyes, "But if you support or even take Dyrin back, I assure you, I will promise your nation's destruction."
And with that, Artefus signaled the mages to end their communications. Sheera dismissed the mages as Artefus leaned back on his seat, sighing deeply as he put a hand on his face.
Edwin who was just playing his lute in the corner, decided to ask Artefus, "Are you going to send Quix there? I'm sure he'll be able to take them out."
"No," Artefus remarked, getting up from his seat, "I know Quix can take them all out even if he brings only a few scars. But, I have a few apprentices who have not experienced a real combat situation," the Lich stated, causing Edwin's eyes to widen while Sheera nodded.
"W-What? Are you sure your Majesty that they can take on a champion this early into their training?" Edwin asked, worried. But as Sheera approached him, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"You know full well his Majesty doesn't just throw people into the deep end. If he suggests it, it means he believes in their strength," Sheera affirmed, causing Edwin to recall times when Artefus did push him to be greater; not to pressure him, but because Artefus did believe in him, "And plus, it kills two birds with one stone, we take out an invader, and his Majesty's apprentice's get stronger."
"Correct," Artefus remarked, a grin starting to appear on his face, "I have seen the growth of Rapl, Bok, Sevi, Alex, Leena, and Rico, it's about time they test it out. But also, I don't want to spoon-feed them, Dyrin's party should be on Rapl's level or even above if they can take on mayors, so I wanna see what my apprentices are truly made of."