"He Settled For The Worst?" Part 1

Amadi's thoughts were becoming sluggish considering he'd been walking for two hours straight!

A couple of times he'd even started hallucinating!

But the thoughts of the money he lost always brought him back from the brink of death by exhaustion.

First, after leaving the Mbari house where clay figurines were kept, he'd been led, mind you, been led! Across the entire town! Without any of that so called food he talked about!

They'd gone, no it should be jogged! Jogged to a flowing river stream where some people were fishing, then along the river side to a flat area of farm land where people were working, they were tilling the soil to farm in.

The people had been astonished to see a someone jogging under the hot sun, they even laughed secretly at the 'idiot' until the ones who were informed explained and they realized it was actually the one called 'Fifth Prince'. Then they averted their eyes and soon a rumor of the Fifth prince being an idiot spread around the town, but that's a story for another day.

Amadi followed Agu across what felt like a marathon, they even visited his house briefly and picked up a rucksack that appeared to be heavy and full of things

But it didn't appear to slow him down. He always appeared to be walking the same illusory steps that seemed slow but covered a wide area with every step.

It really made one think… what kind of bullshit is strength of movement, does one have to have the endurance of someone from Kenya or Ethiopia? Those freaks that have enough stamina to chase cheetahs and hunt them down!

'Maybe this is what is needed…to become a prince' he came to his own realization

So Amadi had bottled up his actual physical condition and had been wiping his sweat quietly, earning him approving nods every time. So it turned out that apart from being an online scammer he was actually a shallow person who craved approval deep down…

Anyways at some point he'd stopped sweating under the scorching sun of Ugwulangu and he'd started feeling his throat get drier. His legs were tired from all that jogging, at some point all the scenery he'd seen so far blended into one.

He felt that compared to jogging like this, hawking CD's under the sun when he was younger was child's-play!

"Okay Fifth Prince, the end of your journey is near"

'It is, isn't it?' Amadi thought back instinctively

"We're here" Agu said, finally stopping in front of a cluster of trees.

"Here? He might have blacked out because he didn't know how he got here.

All around him was trees! Forward? Trees!

Both sides? Trees!

The way they came? Trees!

His surroundings were dark, with the natural light from the sun being blocked by a cluster of tall rainforest trees, blocking it out with their canopies.

He had to press his hand on his head as he rested against a tree, trying to remember the way he came. It felt like he had just woken up from a daydream, except his legs and his stinky clothes were proof that he jogged here.

It was only now that Amadi realized that the amount of people passing along the routes had steadily decreased! They had been heading into remote territory? If he remembered correctly they even passed a secluded mountain in the middle of nowhere!

"Umm, sir? What are we doing here" Amadi said already feeling the urge to turn around

"I brought you here to prevent accidents like what happened to you today from repeating itself" The short man replied in a casual tone as he sat on the roots of a tree

Meanwhile Amadi was getting increasingly more reminded of the story of Isaac and Abraham from Sunday school

"Can we train somewhere else…Also I haven't eaten today, I'm worried I won't last long in whatever training plan you have for me"

"You don't need energy to exert dominance. A tired lion is still a lion, isn't it?"

'Dominance? Tired lions? Wait!' but at that moment, before he could voice his unwillingness to participate-

The next thing he saw was the same view, but from upside down!

Amadi felt something grip his ankle, before suddenly yanking him and next thing he knew the blood was flowing away from his ankle.

"Put me down!" Amadi flailed up and down, already beginning to feel dizzy

"I'm lowering my guard. I'll be more open to any tries at you giving a Command"

"Let me go!" he shouted hoarsely. His throat causing his voice to sound empty

"Say it like you mean it" Agu said directly.

"DROP ME!" Amadi said with increased ferocity

"Still nothing...?" Agu was getting confused. He should have felt 'some' inclination to do as he said unless…

"Okay! I give up! Just put me down!" 'Unless he was a Subject…

…

Amadi sat on a patch of grass, recovering from his exhaustion and dizziness. He was already regretting everything. 'Is this how they treat their guests? If so then I'm leaving!'

"So I can see that you've never told anyone what to do before."

That sentence caused him to reflect on the past.

In the past he'd been a very successful Yahoo boy, and he'd done it alone. He was proud of the success he achieved by himself. He always knew exactly what needed to be done and did it perfectly. To the extent that he graduated from his own apprenticeship after only a year and used the salary he was paid to venture into scams.

So it came as a shock to him when he realized that he was the only one who made it at the age he did.

The others were still where he left them six years ago.

What was he thinking when he went to pick them off the streets and form a company while teaching them his trade secrets?

'Who knows?'

"You never claimed your rightful position as leader. You left your work half-done"

"Oh yeah." Come to think of it he always just assumed that everyone could turn out like him and left their positions open with possibilities of equal treatment. He thought that if given a better foundation than him, with more independence to live their lives they would eventually become like him.

Look how that turned out

He felt like his eyes had been opened …

"Luckily I held the summoning ceremony at that exact moment, preventing your harm in any way. Those five fools are being punished as we speak" he finished ominously

"Prison?" I asked

"No, they deserve worse. We tied them around the trunk of a mango tree. They are photosynthesizing"

Amadi said a silent prayer for them

"Back to you. You actually disappointed me today. I had very high expectations for you to give, even a single weak Command, but it turned out you were a pushover without any strength. How can a prince candidate submit to the odds so easily?" he asked showing his emotions very clearly and his face was proof of his unhappiness.

"What was I supposed to do, then?"

"Hmm, you don't seem to understand. You are capable of mpre than you realize"

"Like magic?" Amadi asked hopefully.

"Everybody is capable of that! I'm talking about the inner influence you should possess as royalty, your strength!"

Amadi meanwhile seemed to latch onto a familiar word "Strength of movement?"

'The guy back where the commotion happened said something about Agu not liking people who don't have this type of strength, is that why I was bullied?'

"Yes, but this is just a part of the steps to awaken your strength of movement. It is what truly separates a king from a leader, or a manager. It can make lesser men bow to you, and cause people of a higher status to show you respect and fear. And it is clear you do not have what it takes."

Amadi was incensed!

'He' was being looked down upon and being called a pushover? He didn't even think about why he was angry, he just felt like there was a fire in the depths of his lungs that needed to be released onto the earth!

Let the earth heed my call!

He could feel something coming. It felt like the next words he was going to release were going to be imbued with this power.

"SHUT… Mmph"

He found that he suddenly couldn't open his mouth. He looked towards the man and saw that his right hand that was now pointing in his direction with the thumb and four fingers pressed together at the tip and a bored expression on his face.

??? Amadi was shocked: 'What sorcery is this?'

"Do you really think this is one of the heroic epics where the hero becomes stronger the angrier he gets?

It works best when you plan every intonation properly like this; sit down" he said, his bearing suddenly becoming dignified.

Amadi sat down on the forest floor dumbfounded.

"Stand up"

He stood up with a sour expression.

Then the man finally showed a mocking smile on his face "Come, let your uncle feed you"

'NOOOOOO' if this was really a hot blooded manga, this would be the time to power up! But too bad… his mouth was still shut and he could only swear profanities at the tiny man

'I swear I'll get my revenge' he thought as he came and bent over to the stump where Agu was sitting at.

Even as he opened his mouth against his will, he found that was all he could do; only say 'ahh' as his new sworn enemy number two inserted what looked like glowing red grapes into his mouth.

'Wait oh, these are seedless, right?' he thought.

He was soon forced to chew and swallow.

As soon as he bit into one of the five that were put in his mouth, the grape immediately burst in his mouth leaving a cooling, refreshing sensation that traveled from his mouth, like a cool stream, to the rest of his body as he swallowed.

Amadi felt the taste was like honey and caramel, but without the excess taste of sugar, just sweetness! Unknowingly his body was already filled with Energy and his exhaustion melted away like ice under a summer sun.

"I need to have more…"

He already opened his mouth wide hoping to receive another one, but was surprised when he opened his eyes and saw Agu emptying his rucksack, and putting the last of them in his mouth

Amadi was speechless.

"Where do they grow? Can I pluck some more"

"Hmm, they're extinct, so no."

"What?"

Seemingly about to say something, he stopped, seemingly sensing something instead and stood up from the twisted tree root

"It's getting late, we should be going back"

"Late?" he checked his unusually silent phone that he had in his pocket only for it to show that it was already three in the afternoon!

That was mildly surprising, considering he got here around nine in the morning. The sun should have been high in the sky, even beginning to fall but the sunlight had already been blocked by the trees' combined canopy.

Amadi, following after him, asked, "What of the fruit?"

"I'll explain on the way"

…

"So an Origin fruit is almost extinct now?" Amadi asked as they walked

"Yes. According to records they used to grow across the entire land, from King Mountain to this very forest. But now it only grows in the former, the town's centre and the only site that has enough energy to just barely support it's growth" Agu who led the way answered again.

He'd already heard the answer but confirming the loss of this rare resource caused him to feel loss.

'All things pass away. I guess it's true'

"At this point they were nearing the edge of the forest and he could already see the sunlight at the beginning of the path they took.

"So can they be used instead of food?" he asked

"Sure, you ate five, that can take you through the whole day since you're a normal person, but it's considered too much of a waste to use them as mere food, because og the whole-"

"I got it." Amadi cut him off causing the entire atmosphere to become awkward.

It was at that moment that the screen that was previously minimized in his field of vision was maximized suddenly.

[Welcome host! The R-Civilisation System is now ready to use!] a whole screen of text with exaggerated characters filled his vision. The background was blue and it had a depiction of various ancient architectural pieces like the pyramids, the leaning tower, the mountain with faces on them and e.t.c

Suddenly feeling animated he used his eyes to control an invisible cursor and tapped the screen that was showing 'click to continue', he couldn't wait to see what dat system do!

[Congratualatons! As a reward for having a referral you have been granted access to the latest version of the system, for six free months. When elapsed you will be forced to either rent R-C.S version 9.0.0 or be reverted to your current level, ver.3.5.8]

'The whole money I spent wasn't enough to push the system to the latest version? Also since when did systems start charging real-life cash?

[Would you like to listen to the introduction and mission of the system now, or hold off until later?]

'Later, he replied without too much thought. This entire time he had been walking behind Agu so he couldn't see the change in his facial reactions, otherwise his secret would be out!

He didn't know if these people with their knowledge on mystical Energy had information on something as Sci-fi as a system, but he wouldn't foolishly draw their attention to it…so stupid.

[The Intro will be done later…]

[Welcome to the R-Civilization system Host Amadi! Ultimate goal; To civilize the world]

"What a load of shit!" Amadi swore as he waved his hand and closed the interface out of anger. He was excited for a system and he ended up getting one that said stuff like that!

Agu turned to him in confusion.

"…" speechless at being called a load of shit.

"I remembered something unpleasant?" Amadi could only make up an excuse due to his outburst