RD 4 Ch 51

After pulling Circe away from everyone else, I snapped my fingers. A crimson barrier shot up around us, twisting with inscriptions and blocking out all of the outside noise. The noise outside stopped immediately, and I knew our sound wouldn't spread out. 

"Are you that upset that I told you you would die if you went in there?" I asked.

"That's not what this is about, Bran," she said, crossing her arms. "You said we need a bunch of crazy people to jump in and become kings." She gestured over to where we had just been standing. "Who better than your newly minted generals?" 

I searched her eyes for something, anything trying to get to the heart of what was motivating her latest thinking. "Are obsessed with loot, with whatever might lie beyond there?" 

Circe scoffed. “No Bran. Not obsessed with loot.”

“Well I know there’s something, and I need to understand.” I answered.

“Do I have to spell it out for you?" She rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. "Bran Heros, you forget how many years I have lived.”

“Yes, yes, I know. You have more life experience than any of us could imagine. Paint a picture, if you will, for me. What it must be like for the rest of us near mortals.” I was growing frustrated.

“I just watched you, the proverbial carp, jumping through the dragon gate, and not only is there you, but behind you, you're dragging an entire fucking army of women that are steadily becoming more powerful than the clans have built over the last several thousand years. No, Bran, it's not greed, it's trying to keep up with whatever next absurdity you're about to pull out of your hat and launch into the world." Circe said in a single breath.

I frowned at her. "The hero's clan is benefiting from many of my plans." 

Circe rubbed at her temples. "It doesn't matter how much the hero's clan is benefiting. In the blink of an eye, if we don't scrounge together every scrap we can get will be entirely left behind." She pointed at herself. "I am not used to this feeling of watching someone grow so fast that I can't even comprehensively keep up. That someone who was level 1 when I met them could catapult themselves over not only myself but the other leaders of the Heros Clan to the point that you could fight all of us." 

I tilted my head just slightly, beginning to understand the problem. "And what would you like me to do?" 

"You? Nothing," she answered quickly, a tad too quickly for my liking. "I would like to be able to keep up on my own two feet, but that's impossible, isn't it?" She asked in challenge and a touch of defeat in her eyes.

I gave her the honest answer. "Yes, I have more knowledge and know how to get resources than you do. It's a completely unfair advantage, one that if I am allowed to completely utilize for myself, I could completely outstrip even Shiva. But I don't do that because being an overlord of billions of people who can't even hold a sword will not get me where I need to go. I need people. I need allies, Circe. And in particular, I need ones that are still living and breathing and not dead in the trial of kings." I emphasized staring into her red eyes, that meant her too. “Besides, you're not falling behind," I tried to assert, somewhat sympathizing with her concerns.

She scoffed. "I am absolutely falling behind. Every day," she pointed out. "The Mul Branova continue to get stronger, everyday they get multiple new levels. They're taught how to rank up and upgrade their techniques with speed we’ve never seen before. Somehow, you're managing to give each and every one of them the kind of opportunity and training that only the best of the Heroes Clan could have possibly received. And even then, we'd be squeezing out our resources to get them there."

I shrugged. "The Heroes Clan should be doing far better right now. It is a particularly resource rich environment right after the rapture."

"Oh, they are. Those who already have some strength are rapidly gaining more. Honestly, it's a little scary how quickly they can improve. However, our new recruits, the ones who have just unlocked their bloodline, they're being sent out to low-level instances, and we're having an abysmal number come back. As a result, we've had to send stronger guardians to watch over them," Circe explained. “Mostly because they are encountering random individuals rather than the challenges of the instances themselves.”

"Greed is more dangerous than monsters," I agreed. "What I'm doing here isn't unique. The Hero’s Clan can copy the strategy." I gestured to the side.

Circe shook her head as if I was being dense. "No, they can't. Not in a thousand years, Bran. And not only are each and every one of these people growing more and more powerful, but the amount of system gold that the Mul Branova is sucking up into your organization, trickling up towards the top, is enormous and growing almost exponentially. Because as they level, they are taking less for themselves and filling Simone's stupid tithe chest."

I frowned at that information, not being entirely aware of the amount of system gold that Simone had apparently been collecting, but I put that aside. She probably had a plan for it and I was letting her handle the Mul branova.

"All the Heros Clan would have to do is find a large number of people and ensure their loyalty. Simone and what she's done with the Mul Branova is brilliant. Even if I was not sure about it from the start, and it still does not make me entirely comfortable, I cannot deny the results. But there are results happening all around the world as everybody experiences explosive growth. It’s a sort of gold rush, Circe. It will slow down.”

"Exactly! A gold rush. Yet I find that I can't seem to grab enough, especially by the way that you are so rapidly catching up to me and will launch yourself into the stratosphere far above me. I look at Simone, Nyx, and Gloria's stats," Circe’s voice was filled with frustration and was clearly coming undone in front of me. "Even though they've been following you, they are nowhere near your equal in the system."

"Well, that's because I have an extreme advantage in being able to, A, sample bloodlines, and B, reset my levels. I'm experiencing repeat explosive growth. Eventually, if Simone has been collecting all of this gold, it can be used to bring them up to the same level as me."

Circe jabbed a finger in my direction. "So you admit no one else is at your level."

I shrugged. "Yes, Circe, if that helps you in some regard, I admit that it will be hard to reach me. There aren't a ton of other people who have my very specific and very lucrative set of advantages. But if I could, I would give them to more people. I want the world to grow stronger to collectively head off the demon threat. I’m not going to slow down, is this going to be a problem?" I stepped up closer to her, close enough to be standing over her.

She huffed, her eyes not quite able to make eye contact, but I could tell that she was softening. “I just want to be able to keep up. I am used to being at the top.” Circe’s cheeks darkened with a blush.

“I will help you where I can Circe, but you need to understand that with my abilities, you will likely not be able to keep pace fully.” I pushed, needing her to accept this fact.

“Of course, Lord Bran.” Circe grumbled, using my title and I felt a little distance open up between us.

“Don’t start. Now, is this going to be a problem? Are you going to let this come between us? Because I was under the impression we have a date ahead of us.” I needed to know where Circe stood.

Circe’s eyes grew large, before she seemed to soften further. “No, Bran. This does not change that.”

"Great, then stop letting this get into your head. I pursued you for a reason, Circe. So just focus on building your own strength and stop focusing so much on everybody else.” I understood her to a fair degree. There was a point in my past life where I looked around me at everyone else growing more powerful with each level. At that point I was a B ranked class with a poor bloodline.

However I didn’t stop, I pushed forward, eventually mastering the sword to an absurd degree and between that and temporary buffs was able to stand amongst the best in humanity.

Some of the tension left Circe, and at least she looked a little guilty. "What about..." she started to try and find, I'm sure, some other reason, but I put a hand up, a finger against her lips, stopping her from speaking.

"You know what I think, Circe? I think you're making excuses. You're coming up with any and every available reason that you don't have to chase after me. Because while maybe you might have said that you're looking for someone to match you and someone to challenge you, perhaps now that one has come, the reality is you're scared. You're so scared of losing that you want to scrounge for every available resource. Just to put yourself up higher and higher. Maybe if you get completely out of my reach, then it's safe to challenge me. How long has it been since you last lost, Circe?"

"I haven't lost in a very long time," she stated proudly.

I grabbed her by the chin. "Perhaps it's time you do. Date tonight, bring a weapon," I said, quickly letting go of her chin. I was done waiting.

 Her red eyes sparked with challenge, though perhaps there was something else in there, a slow smoldering heat that glared back at me.