The Command Stone

"F-Flaming Peacock?"

"Hahaha, he called him dead weight"

"Hahaha, although neither of the two statements are wrong"

"I find it fascinating how this guy can have such a sharp tongue , despite he always having a gentle smile on his face"

Having been caught off guard by the slave's response, the previously tense mercenaries immediately burst into laughter and applause. The Flame Peacocks, mentioned by Samir, are rather weak fire monsters, known for displaying their flaming feathers to attract the attention of females. Due to their low attack power but flashy behavior, they are popularly known as "The wild boasters"

Faced with such a comparison and seeing similarities between the monster and the young master, they were already irritated by Jake's arrogant behavior. The mercenaries made no bones about trying to hide their ridiculousness

Even Marco, who was usually the most serious about not provoking Jake, couldn't resist and joined in the fun with his members

'When we return to Askelyn, I will spread this nickname throughout the city', 

Marco thought mischievously, looking at the young peacock or rather, looking at the young noble trembling in rage. Clearly, the mercenary was still mad at Jake for interrupting him earlier

Hearing the mockery around him, and seeing his future brides trembling, trying their best not to laugh. The arrogant and proud smile on Jake's face quickly disappeared, being replaced by an angry grimace

"You fucker… peacock, you say? Do you really think I won't do anything to you, huh? Alright, let's see who the real Flaming Peacock here"

Feeling the anger rising within him, Jake finally lost his temper, then reached toward his neck, removing his necklace. This necklace was very simple, consisting of a silver chain tied to a small triangular crystal covered in strange symbols

A barely noticeable dangerous gleam flashed across the slave's eyes for a moment, before quickly returning to their usual dead-fish state, such a change went completely unnoticed. As Marco and the other mercenaries were busy talking among themselves

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! There he goes again. Whenever things don't go his way, he uses this"

"Well I guess that was a new record, how long has it been since he last needed to use the command stone?"

"I think it's been five hours"

"Oh, besides being strong, our boss here, also has an excellent memory"

"Tsk, get lost you bootlicker"

"Hahaha, anyway, I need to admit that this slave has some balls. Despite his position, he refuses to obey, sometimes it even scares him due to his lack of reaction"

"I agree, but tell me.... If it were you in his place, would you resist with your head held high, without giving in like he does?"

"What, me? Hahaha, not a chance. Knowing me, I would probably give in and submit within the first week"

"Yes, I'm glad you know that. Speaking of which, I probably wouldn't even last a week… Hahaha"

Despite the loud comments from the mercenaries who made no attempt to hide their contempt. Jake turned a deaf ear to them and tightly grabbed the crystal called the command stone by the mercenaries

The so-called command stones, as their names suggested, were the tools used by slavers to impose absolute orders on their slaves. Moreover, the small crystal also had another, even more important function: ensuring the slaver's safety. Preventing a slave from harming the person linked to the command stone, becoming a definitive measure against possible revolts

Unfortunately for the slavers of this world, command stones were not perfect tools, having three major flaws:

The first major flaw was its cost. Not only were each command stone made using special crystals previously processed by alchemists, as they also had to go through a series of magical processes, making the production cost of each stone extremely high, consequently increasing its price

The second flaw was that before each command stone could be used, it first needed to be linked to the slaver and his slave. Thus preventing the stone from being used by other people, or even used to issue commands to a slave not previously linked to the crystal. Once linked, the link between the stone and the slave was only broken with its destruction or the death of the slave.

Finally, the last and most problematic flaw was that the command stones had a limited number of uses. It was necessary for the slaver to link a new crystal to himself and his slave, whenever the old one was about to break

No longer caring about his image, an angry Jake quickly injected his fiery energy into the crystal in his hand, shouting

"Slave, I command you… Burn!"

A crack formed in the command stone on his hand, before it began to glow. As if responding to this, the green crystal on the necklace around Samir's neck began to glow. Following this, the originally gray surface on the chains around the slave's neck and limbs began to turn red, emitting a hissing sound

As if to demonstrate its temperature, smoke began to emerge from the surface of Samir's body, whether it was his arms, legs, chest or even face, every part seemed to be on fire, as a strange smell of burning flesh flooded everyone's nostrils

The veins in Samir's body began to contract and dilate, moving like worms that had been exposed to the sun. Still, the command issued by Jake didn't just make the surface of the chains heat up, no, that was just a side effect of the command use

The real effect was to make the slave feel his body burn from the inside out!

An inhuman pain spread through the slave's body, as he felt the inside of his body being torn apart and burned by raging flames, as if his veins were pumping boiling lava in place of blood. Large drops of sweat began to accumulate on Samir's body and face, as he clenched his fists, resisting the pain without making a single grunt

Faced with the brutal scene, the laughter of the mercenaries and the two sisters slowly ceased, being replaced by a series of pitiful sighs. On the other hand, Jake was now laughing maniacally, while looking with a sadistic gaze at the slave in pain in front of him

"Hahaha, you pathetic cripple! It was worth spending one of the commands for this. Now, tell me... Who is the Flaming Peacock here?"

Despite suffering agonizing pain in his body, Samir did not feel sorry, much less beg for forgiveness. Instead, he continued to look directly at Jake with his characteristic gentle smile, before moving his dry lips

No voice came out, yet, facing the slave, Jake had no problem reading his lips... It's you

"You little piece of shit… Slave, I–"

"Mr. Thornten!" Marco intervened, having already lost his amusing demeanor

Hearing the mercenary's serious and slightly irritated tone, Jake decided to put his anger aside for now. He then ceased the stone's power supply, thus ending the torture section. Knowing that the slave would not obey his words, especially after the punishment. Jake took a deep breath, before issuing another command

"Slave, I command you… Enter the temple"

Along with the command, another series of cracks appeared on the crista causing the stone to become quite dull and brittle. Faced with the command, Samir tried to resist, unfortunately the commands of the one holding the command stone are absolute for the slave linked to it

"Tsk! What a lucky peacock"

Having no other choice, Samir finally looked away. Then, ignoring the burns on her body, he finally removed the huge bag from her back, throwing it on the floor. The entrance to the temple shook a little due to its weight

Ignoring the looks of astonishment he received, Samir walked to the door, and placing his hands on the door, he pushed them with all his strength

CREEEEEAK!

A loud creak echoed through the city, as the temple's heavy stone doors were opened after being kept closed for centuries. The group tensed, waiting for the traps to activate. Still, even after the doors were completely opened, nothing happened

Following Jake's command, Samir slowly walked through the doors, coming across a hall. The walls of the room were white with some paintings, nothing out of the ordinary. Exactly at the other end of the room, there was a pair of closed doors, identical to the ones he had just passed through

Looking at these details, one would think the hall was just a normal room. The problem began, when one looked at the floor of the hall, only to discover that the hall was actually a large suspended platform. The floor was circular and was connected to some gigantic chains, so thick that it would take five men side by side to hug their surface. These chains were attached to the temple' roof, preventing the circular platform from collapsing into a bottomless abyss

Unlike the exterior of the temple, the great hall did not have a speck of dust. Scattered across the platform are fifteen humanoid statues, with long, thin limbs. The statues were quite rustic and had some cracks, with their most striking feature being the large closed eye in the center of their heads.

Still, none of the mercenaries paid attention to these things, as scattered across the floor of the hall were mountains and mountains of gold coins, uncut gems, along with armors, swords and a myriad of other artifacts

"Hahaha, we are rich!"

"Holy shit, I've never seen so much gold in one place"

"Look at that sword,it is definitely an epic artifact, maybe even a unique grade!"

The mercenaries immediately succumbed to their greed, they put away their weapons, before quickly running into the temple, throwing themselves at the piles of treasures. Jake, on the other hand, completely ignored the gold and other treasures and quickly ran towards the center of the platform

Right in the center of the temple hall, a strange black orb the size of a man's head floated, while emitting a strange energy. With just one look, one would know that this was the most valuable item in the place

"Yes, with this, father and the rest of the family will finally respect me. Maybe they even allow me to compete with Brandon for the position of patriarch!", exclaimed Jake overcome with happiness, already fantasizing about his bright future, trying to grab the black orb

It was then that it happened...

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Without any warning... the temple doors slowly began to close