Chapter 270 - A Hundred Year Plan

“Is there a problem?” asked Nate. “Is there a problem, he says…” mocked Wulfgar as he paced back and forth. “For one, how’s that even possib

“Is there a problem?” asked Nate.

“Is there a problem, he says…” mocked Wulfgar as he paced back and forth. “For one, how’s that even possible? Second evolution?! You would’ve had to start at Legendary. I’ve never heard of anyone starting at Legendary. Ever. What did you do? Kill a dragon while you were in your crib? And an artist? An artist?! The Guild’s meant to raise up warriors. Fighters! The best of which are meant to be people who can punch above their level and tier. Instead, you’re a crafter, and not even like an alchemist or enchanter or something with at least some kind of combat capability. An artist?! And what about you, lass? You an artist, too? Or maybe a dancer? That slick armour one of your props?”

Kiri was already pushing back her chair and preparing to leap across the table when Nate’s hand landed on her arm. With an annoyed glance at him, she stopped and Nate let his robe start shifting. The paint within his Regalia started forming Sigils across his body as he changed the colour from his preferred shining white with purple highlights to that of bloodred with black striations. The Divine Sigil for Destruction was combined with the Sigils for Blood and Control as Nate used his new rune to seize control of Wulfgar’s body.

Wulfgar froze for a moment before Nate felt the man’s Skills begin to fight back. The tug of war between them went back and forth as Wulfgar managed to move one foot forward minutely, then the other. But even as he did Nate’s robe was expanding, a secondary painting forming behind him. The artwork came to life in seconds, detailing one of the nearby mountain peaks, with a small, bald man shooting through the sky towards it like a comet.

“Life Imitates Art,” Nate hummed, throwing a few points of Divine Energy into the working.

Then Wulfgar was gone and Kiri was rushing to the window. The impact from the Lord-Prefect colliding with the mountain peak echoed across the city, shaking the windows. Through his sphere of awareness, Nate could hear the people of the city muttering about a possible avalanche.

“Was that necessary?” asked Kiri as she sat back down, reaching for more food.

“Let’s be honest, you were going to punch him through a wall. Then we’d have a bunch of his Gems up here asking what’s going on. Lots of drama, all for us to make a point that we are not to be trifled with or insulted. Am I right?”

Kiri grunted as she shoveled something that might have been mashed potatoes into her mouth.

“Exactly. This way we can skip the Gems part. And, by the time he gets back, he should’ve cooled off a little.”

Kiri grunted again, this time clearly in agreement and Nate joined her in filling his plate with more food. Even if the Lord-Prefect was incredibly fast it should take him a few minutes to run back and Nate doubted he would be as frivolous in his spending of Divine Energy as Nate and Kiri could afford to be.

“Where’s Frick, anyway?” asked Kiri.

“Said he wanted to do something in town,” shrugged Nate.

“And you’re not checking on him?”

“Nope. He probably went looking for a brothel.”

Kiri sighed dramatically in response and they lapsed into a comfortable silence.

*************

Frick slapped down a full mana gem on the wooden bench.

“A gem on Freyda the Hammer!”

“A gem it is, my small, blue friend. And a gem you’ll get if that mountain of a woman wins,” replied the bookie.

“I’d climb that mountain, given half a chance!” crowed one of the drunken men nearby only to get shoved off his stool.

“You can barely climb up off the ground ya drunk bastard! Only thing you’re climbing into is your cups!”

Laughter filled the room as the fighters took their positions in the ring. Frick was already jumping up and down, blue ears flopping about as he screamed for Freyda to hammer the guy’s face in!

*************

Nate and Kiri didn’t have to wait too long before Wulfgar made his return. Nate wasn’t sure how the man would react after being launched into a mountain but his first guess wouldn’t have been contriteness.

“I… may have leaped to conclusions. I guess I never really considered how someone might use art to change Reality,” said the Lord-Prefect softly as he took a seat across from them, looking unharmed despite his recent crash landing.

Nate nodded, “Art can change people's perceptions. Change their minds and how they think about things. Ideas, the world, how things relate to each other, or how one action can lead to another. I’m just taking it a step further.”

“That’s… you must have to think a lot then? To come up with ideas or prepare for eventualities?” mused Wulfgar.

“Does he ever?!” griped Kiri. “I love my brother, but sometimes it’s like he gets trapped in that head of his and you need to pry him out of there. Suppose he’s got a great view inside his own mind, though, so I don’t hold it against him.”

Nate smiled at the backhanded compliment. He could recognise that Kiri wasn’t wrong. He had a tendency to get stuck in his own mind.

“Okay, so he’s a Conceptual Runic Artist, which means he can make a painting of something and then rewrite Reality to match the painting. Insane and utter bullshit, but hard to argue with after experiencing it. What about you?”

“Enduring Amalgamated Soul,” answered Kiri. “Level ninety-three.”

“Amalgamated Soul… interesting name for a Class… what’s it mean?”

“Means I am very hard to kill,” replied Kiri with a smirk. “And my armour’s a little better than yours.”

Wulfgar leaned back in his chair, the amber-coloured wood creaking from his weight.

“Alright. I can work with that. My thinking was that we would split them up. I handle one of them while you handle the other. I don’t have a preference for which. They both make use of poisons so I am at an advantage against either of them. What do you think? Divide and conquer?”

Nate looked at Kiri but he already knew what was coming.

“I want one of them to myself,” demanded his sister.

“Come on now,” said Wulfgar placatingly. “I ain’t gonna take a dump on your achievements. I was already impressed when I thought you were a third evolution Divine, as opposed to a fourth evolution like myself, Severen and Jemima. Second evolution is… I still don’t even understand how that’s possible. But even if you’re some unkillable genius, you’re in the hole on either of them by over a hundred levels. That’s a lot of Stats. And they’ll have their own Divine Energy which, when threatened, they’ll use without reservation. That’s why I was gonna handle one and let you two work together to deal with the other. Numbers to bridge the Stat gap.”

Kiri shook her head, “I’ll run if I think I might actually die, but I want one of them. Alone. It’s another step on my Path.”

Nate could hear the certainty in Kiri’s voice and simply nodded his agreement.

“You want to help me deal with the other one then, Nate?” asked Wulfgar. “Least if we work together it shouldn’t be much of a fight and we can move to help Kiri if she can’t handle her opponent.”

Kiri frowned but Nate’s thoughts were drifting elsewhere. An idea had started forming after the attempted kidnapping by Gashana. This world was now his home. While he might visit Earth, once he found it again, it would be only that. A visit. It was to Galle he would return. But Galle wasn’t capable of helping him sustain his growth. He would always need to leave and venture elsewhere to continue his growth. The low, ambient mana just meant there were too few Artifacts containing Divine Truths forming on this one planet. In the Heartlands, they used hundreds of planets to farm the naturally growing items.

The idea taking shape was one of moving Galle itself. Could he ever reach a point where he could literally move an entire planet across the multiverse? His guess was that he could. One day, anyway. But if that was his goal, then shouldn’t he work to start uniting the planet now? Such an undertaking could take a hundred years or more anyway.

“What’s your plan for their empires?” asked Nate.

“The Guild doesn’t normally interfere in such things, lad. And we don’t have a foothold in either Empire. I’d have just left them to sort themselves out. Probably would have resulted in a battle for power. Nasty things those, but still better than leaving those two fuckers alive.”

Nate nodded his agreement.

“I would like to face the other on my own as well, then.”

Wulfgar snorted, “And what? I’m left here scratching my balls?”

“I thought you didn’t have any balls? Weren’t they crushed?” countered Nate.

“Figure of speech, kid. I been waiting for two hundred and a bit years for this fight and now you’re telling me you don’t need me?”

“Need? No. Want? Definitely. I’ll help you get off world. Take you to places where you can fight Lesser Divines that have been geared for combat their whole lives. Let you tackle real Lesser Divine beasts and not the freshly ascended ones that probably rise on Galle. And in return, you let Kiri and I take this fight. Send in your Gems to deal with their Elites. Nine Hells, you can hide yourself amongst your Gems if you want to slap around a few low-levels once they attack you. But leave the fights to us.”

“Why?” asked Wulfgar. “Why do you want to take that risk?”

Nate could see the curiosity and hunger in Wulfgar’s eyes. The man was a warrior through and through and he wanted a fight, wanted a battle. Nate was just going to have to paint this fight as one not worth the man's time.

“Because it’s important that the people of their empires see who cast them down.”

“You’re going to assume control of their empires?” asked Wulfgar, hand moving up to stroke his red beard. “Not a bad idea, I suppose. Take a long time to change their cultures but I guess the wealth might be worth it to some. Why’s it worth it to you? If you can get off-world surely you can find richer hunting grounds than those here? Especially since you’re promising me exactly that!”

“This is my home,” answered Nate. “If I am going to improve it, the easiest way to do so would be to control it.”

Kiri groaned, “You’re making more work for me already and we haven’t even finished the work that’s already waiting for us!”

“Is that a no?”

Kiri paused and Nate waited as she gave his idea some thought.

“Alright, I can see the value in it and where you’re going,” said Kiri, stressing the ‘where’ so that he would know that she understood his ultimate intention. “I’m going to delegate it, though, just like you’re delegating it to me.”

Nate grinned. Partially because she had agreed and partially because she hadn’t even questioned if they could pull it off.

“Okay, say I agree to this. Will you at least let me act as backup in case one of you falls?” demanded Wulfgar.

“Sure,” replied Kiri easily. “Won’t be needed but if it makes you feel better, sure. Besides, your Guild will be needed afterward. You mentioned a portal network last time we met?”

“Yeah, we’ve got a basic one. Each portal only connects to two others so it can get expensive to use in terms of mana. Why?”

“We’ll want to look at connecting it to our own portal network in the future, then,” commented Nate. “Kiri’s thinking of how to get our people easier access to these Empires, assuming we can take control of them. After all, someone will have to manage them while we’re gone and we’d like to return to something more than rubble and unrest. Or worse.”

“So, what’s your plan?” grumbled Wulfgar.

“Hire the Adventurer’s Guild, of course,” answered Kiri with a winning smile.

Wulfgar just sighed, “Fine. Do you at least have a plan?”

“I’d like to hear more about them first. Severen and Jemima. Everything you know about them and their Empires.”

“If I am going to be doing that much talking, I need more mead. Same for you?” offered Wulfgar, already heading for the door.

“Water for me,” answered Nate, ignoring the disgusted look Wulfgar gave him while Kiri agreed to more mead.

Nate settled back and began planning out the necessary preparations for this battle, and what came after.

*************

Frick threw his tiny arms in the air to the jeers of the crowd as Freyda the Hammer sat behind him icing her knuckles.

“You sure about this, little blue Frick?” she asked, her voice heavily accented as Frick leaned on Nate’s Divine Translation Spell. “Beast fights are worse than people fights. People are harder to fight. They are smart. They think and plan and trick. But they stop when you go down. Beasts are all claws and teeth and instinct. When you go down, you just look like food. And I don’t think they will stop the fight. Clyde owes you too much already. Better for him if you die in the ring.”

Frick laughed and slapped Freyda’s meaty leg, the giant of a woman not budging an inch, her muscles as hard as stone.

“Don’t worry about me, Freyda! I was born for this!”

The jeers turned from taunting to shouts of excitement as Frick stepped into the ring and the door on the other side of the sandy pit opened. The beast that slowly trundled out looked like a cross between a bear and a wolf, its grey fur matted and bloody with hairless strips of scar tissue that clearly came from many battles. Freyda had been right, Frick decided. Clyde would rather see him dead than pay him.

Well, Frick had something to say about that. The wolfbear roared, sending spittle flying across the sand and onto the walls as it displayed teeth as long as Frick’s arm. The beast began lumbering forward, hunger in its eyes as its paws made a dull thudding noise, moving in for the kill.

The crowd's excitement and laughter died as Frick began to grow. My Will, My Way turned the once small goblin into a towering ogre with clenched fists the size of the wolfbear’s head. Frick slapped his chest as runic tattoos began to crawl across him, shining a pale blue light across the arena that was reflected in the eyes of his prey. Both the wolfbear and Clyde.

Then Frick roared! The spectators began scattering and Frick saw Clyde bolting for the door. He’d find the shifty bookie later. With two large steps, he was in front of the wolfbear and then with a swing of his gigantic arm he obliterated the old beast's head, sending the carcass through one of the wooden walls and then the building wall as well. The dead beast finally came to rest in the middle of the street outside.

Frick grinned, looking around at the emptied venue. Only one person remained. Freyda eyed him up and down curiously.

“Does everything get bigger?”

Frick flashed a toothy smile, “Everything.”

“You should’ve opened with that. My place isn’t too far. Come.”

Frick didn’t need to be told twice. Manifesting fully might come with the risk of permanent death, but as far as he was concerned, the perks were worth it!