Victoria's plot

Will had woken up from his deep slumber. By his side was Sandra also deeply asleep. It was still dark outside as he could see the night outside his window.

'How long have I been asleep?' Will groaned. This reminded him of when he got insomnia.

The few rare times he went to sleep most of the time he would wake up at 3am or 5am.

His insomnia started when Alex, his friend, died.

Thankfully after reincarnating his insomnia had been cured, along with his horrible facial acne.

For the next two days he worked on nothing but developing better Golems, rarely going outside.

Low tier Golems would be used for mining only, like always, since he can't rely on them to fight or defend themselves. The mid tier Golems would be used for defense and fighting, while they aren't as fast or as efficient as a advanced tier Golem, they were better than low tier Golems.

The one advanced tier Golem will be the leader type, the one who controls the Golems since he is by far the most intelligent and will make the smartest choices, that is until Will can make a high tier Golem, the highest tier Golem he can craft.

Now with 120 low tier Golems they began to mine, all of which were enchanted with {Durability V} {Strength V} {Defense+ V} and {Feather V} to reduce their weight.

He wasn't worried about spending too many minerals to enchant his Golems as he practically had infinite minerals at this point, heck his Golems mined more in an hour than he could spend in a day.

The bad thing was that he had to enchanted each piece of Golem separately, the head, the arms, the legs, and the torso. That was the hard part.

Meaning that for each Golem he crafts, he would have to enchant them 5 times at minimum, unless he decides to add other things such as tails.

One could say that because of these applied enchants on the Golems their value had increased a whopping 800%!

Will crafted only 20 mid tier Golems and used the same model as the fighter Golem from before. This time however he gave some of them some short swords, some had two long shields instead of one, some had war hammers which they could wield with one hand with ease, and some carried guns.

Will wanted a variety of Golems instead of just copies.

Each mid tier Golem takes 100 low tier mana ores to make. Expensive indeed but Will saw nothing wrong with it as long as they continued to mine ores for him.

"How are things going, Golem?" Will asked.

"Things are going well. So far no signs of scorpions or whatever that thing was from before that came out of the tunnel."

"Good. How does this look?" Will showed his Golem a tiny spider made entirely out of steel.

The spider had a thin body with 8 long legs, each of its legs can be shortened or stretched out depending on the situation. It didn't have a head, instead it had a long drill made entirely out of diamond. The other parts of its body were made out of steel.

Will had crafted this spider Golem to scout out the tunnel.

Will had tested something out a day before, diamonds tools are actually efficient unlike before when he thought that they were useless.

Diamonds are tougher than steel, meaning that they cannot be scratched and are perfect to use as drills to mine.

Steel however is tougher, meaning that it can take sudden force and not break.

Drills are something Will had to create since his system doesn't make them. And also drills are easy to make because he made them a part of the Golem's body, which they could control with ease.

Making a drill is difficult since Will doesn't really know how to properly make one. But just like the Golem's limbs, tails, and even spider legs they could use drills as if they were limbs.

For now the mining Golems would only use steel pickaxes like always since Will could craft and enchant them faster than diamond drills.

"It looks good, Master."

Will placed the low tier Golem core on the steel spider's abdomen. There was a large empty socket there where his Golem core would fit.

The steel spider sprung to life on Will's hand. Its steel feet made several clanking noises with its legs as it moved around Will's dragon armor.

"Even though I know it's a Golem spider, it's still kinda gross." Will didn't have a fear of spiders, but just found insects disturbing and disgusting.

And considering what the giant scorpions have done to him, he started to despise them.

"Sorry, Master. I will dispose of it." The Golem said as it drew out a warhammer in an attempt to crush said spider.

"Woah. Do you know how long it took to make this spider?" Will stepped back as he covered the spider Golem with his hands. Despite the Golem's intelligence it took everything that Will said seriously.

To him the spider Golem is proof of his hard work. Everything he has built up to this point was because of his hard work. There is nothing more that he hates when people destroy or take his progress.

"23 minutes and 49 seconds."

"You were counting? Forget it."

Will placed the spider Golem near the 'deadly tunnel' which is the name he gave it.

Through one of the open cracks the spider Golem started to drill its way inside the tunnel. The drill barely made any noise because it was tiny.

"Tell me everything you see." Will prepared his Golems and aimed his gun at the tunnel should anything appear from it.

"Yes, Master."

The spider Golem made its way further to the tunnel as fast as its tiny legs could travel.

Will waited, and waited, and waited…

Twenty minutes had gone by and the Golem hadn't said anything.

Will is scared that if he were to ask a question, at that exact moment, when he would be distracted, something would pop out of the tunnel. It wouldn't be the first time bad timing has gotten the best of him in a video game and several life situations.

"Isn't there anything there you should tell me about?" Will asked his Golem.

"Nothing worth telling you, Master. It looked like an endless tunnel that was designed to be a maze. Luckily there is this blue blood trail that I have been following and is leading me to someplace."

"It's been twenty minutes, how long is this tunnel?" Will asked.

"The spider Golem is relatively tiny. Despite running at full speed, you, Master, could reach it by simply walking in a few minutes."

"Yeah, good point." Will didn't think about it, but he felt like he needed to make a type of scout Golem that focuses on speed. The question is how?

Will made another Golem, this time it was another tiny Golem but in the shape of an earring with a hollow ball size shape to fit the Golem core inside.

{Emerald Golem earring}

Will wanted to have a Golem on his ear that works like a headphone so that he can communicate with his Golem no matter the distance.

The problem was that all the metals he has used up to this are relatively heavy. So instead he is going to wear Emerald which is lighter than all of his metals and minerals.

Will has never worn an earring and quite frankly he felt weird about it.

Placing the earring in his ear he communicated with his Golem to test it out.

"Golem, can you hear me?"

There was no response from the earring apart from some mumbling coming from it, it needed a mouth for sound to escape. A Golem may not need eyes or a nose, but a mouth is most important. It was as if one was trying to talk with its mouth closed.

"I had forgotten about that. Hmm…" Will made another Golem body to put him to work so the Golem core didn't go to waste.

"Master." The advanced Golem ran up to Will.

"Did something happen in the tunnel?" Will pulled out his gun in a hurry.

"No, Master. I heard you call me but I couldn't respond. I am sorry."

"It's not your fault. I will be back soon. I have to go back up anyway. Once we have enough to make 5 high-tier mana ores, tell me immediately."

"Will do, Master. Take care."

When Will had crafted the High tier mana ore, he unlocked a few incredible things apart from the high tier Golem core.

One, which is the cheapest, was the {Metal converter}

{Metal converter}

{Converts metals into other types of stronger and lighter metals}

{Materials required: 5 high tier mana ores, 5000 iron ingots}

The iron ingots were easy to gather, but the 5 high tier mana ores is stupidly expensive. That is no different from using 5000 low tier mana ores, or 500 mid-tier mana ores, or 50 advanced tier mana ores.

In this world there were only a few metals, copper, iron, gold, and steel. This world lacked many other metals that were tougher and lighter than steel. And these few metals couldn't be combined to form a new metal, except for iron and copper that make steel thanks to his system.

Will felt that if he could make his Golems into stronger metals, they would be practically invincible if he added enchantments on them.

Will teleported to his kingdom thanks to his waystone.

Upon arriving, Adaline greeted him. Shortly afterwards he went to see Sandra.

"Will, what have you been doing lately? I barely even see you anymore." Sandra was covered in dust, dirt, and splinters as she just left the village after helping out the villagers outside their kingdom.

"Sorry, I am just really busy." Will couldn't tell her anything. If he did, the Great Sage might know since he can read minds.

"Still… wait a minute, drop the mask and let me see your face." Sandra got closer to Will as she thinks she noticed something weird about him.

"What?"

"I want to check something. Take off the mask."

Will complied and took off his dragon scale mask, showing his tired eyes that were baggy and lacked sleep.

"Oh no, your insomnia is back." Sandra got worried for him.

"No, it's just… wait how did you know I had insomnia before?" Will asked, perplexed.

After Alex died, his insomnia started. It was also when he stopped talking to Sandra because of his grief. He never once told her about his insomnia even now.

"Your parents told me since I was worried for you after Alex died. But that's in the past. You need to go to sleep."

"It's okay, Sandra, it's not insomnia. I am just working so hard on a little… a little hobby of mine."

"Must be some hobby. Still, getting insomnia in this world is dangerous. What if there's an attack or something and you're too tired to do anything?"

"Uh… good point." Will didn't think about that.

Sandra dragged Will to their bed while making him take off his armor for extra comfort.

"Now sleep. I'll be here with you." Sandra wished she had something to give him for his insomnia, like serve him tea, or give him some medications, or play him some soothing music, but she had nothing of that sort.

"But-"

Sandra looked at him with an evil look on her eye. It's a look that Will is very familiar with, the few times they had a fight over something, she always gave him this eye and he used to cower in fear.

Even now he is still afraid of that look of hers. It reminded him of when his mother used to give him that look when she saw his report cards which were never good.

Will lied down while Sandra covered his hand with both her hands.

'No, I need to stay awake for my Golems, and the… tunnel monster is… still…' Will got tired and his eyes felt heavier by the second.

He stared at the numbers and words floating above her head.

{Hero}

{HP: 212,000/212,000}

{Status: Normal}

Her insanely high HP, which is the result of her being a hero, made him feel jealous of her. He has always seen the numbers on top of people's heads, it's just that he has gotten used to it that it seemed normal to him.

Soon his sleep overpowered his need to stay awake.

"Rest well." Sandra smiled as he saw his peaceful sleeping look.

Meanwhile…

Inside the kingdom, the King got some news that left him feeling perplexed.

"Is this true?" The king asked his servant.

"Yes, my cousin says he heard about the missing hero who arrived in the Empire with the Fat Empress a few days ago. It took a while to give the news because the Empress is being stricter and more secretive than usual."

The 'missing hero' is a name that has been given to Will when he was considered 'missing' and even after he was found, they still called him that as if that were already his hero given title.

"I do not like this at all. And the spies I sent to monitor the missing hero from his walls haven't reported anything of that sort." The King felt betrayed for some reason.

"You know something, I heard from my 'friends' that he has a girlfriend."

The one who spoke out and interrupted was none other than Victoria, who now has the title of 'sadist' for obvious reasons.

"The red headed hero, I know." The king didn't mind Victoria. In fact she is one of his favorite heroes.

All the other heroes, except for a few, have not even stepped outside the castle. Victoria has gone outside multiple times, and she always manages to kill monsters even if it is in a extreme and gruesome manner.

"What I mean is that you have a way to contact the redhead. Why not ask her a few questions about Will?" Victoria did her best to avoid using any curse words that would tarnish her friendship with the king.

She didn't respect the king. If anything she is only faking being a different person towards the king so she can manipulate him easier. Make him think that she's a tough but kind(?) hero.

Victoria knows about Will. She remembers him very well because this happened to her one time…

Many years ago, on a boring day of school, 2 years before Covid struck, there were a bunch of school kids playing and chatting around because the substitute teacher was arriving late to class.

It was the last day of school before summer vacation, and the teacher got drunk because she couldn't tolerate her students anymore, especially Victoria.

On the back beside a window, is Will, alone, watching youtube videos of dark souls. He can already imagine going back home and playing video games with Alex all day long.

In front of him was Victoria hurling out insults to everybody in the class. Everybody tried to ignore her, but the insults she dished out were too painful to ignore. She wanted to use physical force more than anything, but after what she did to Pete, the school has been keeping a close eye on her.

The insults included about their sex, religion, skin color, basically insults that the author cannot write or else he would be hated by his dear readers.

And when people told someone about her insults, she would use the excuse 'Oh I am just kidding around' or 'I was just playing with my friends' or just outright lie and say 'I said no such thing. I respect all races, religions, and genders' or use the old excuse 'my dog stepped on a bee' which didn't make sense for ANY situation.

"And so people who play video games are really just a bunch of morons. Video games appeal to the goddamn male fantasy and it is disgusting." Victoria said but nobody tried to pay her any attention.

Victoria would be the equivalent of someone on the youtube comments saying something insulting so she would get attention whether it would be good or bad.

Will couldn't take it anymore.

Maybe it's because he is tired of hearing her ridiculous insults, or perhaps it's because Alex gave him confidence after he made Will go out with Sandra, or maybe it's because it's the last day of school but Will finally decided to say something back.

"I-I play video games." Will said to Victoria.

Victoria looked at him like looking at a hot pile of garbage.

The thing about Will is that he has always been a wuss. He has never insulted people, or got in a fight or argument. Before he even spoke he didn't even have anything insulting to say to her.

He wanted to add something else, but nothing came to mind.

"Tell me something I don't know."

Will looked at her. She was not only ugly on the inside, but also hideous on the outside. Her double chin could be seen vividly, her clothes had stains of food that couldn't be removed, there was this horrible smell coming from her that he could barely tell, and her her arms were strong as if she has been lifting weights for years.

"...Salad tastes good."

It was the best insult Will has ever told even to this day.

Cutting to today, Victoria remembers it vividly. Before she never messed with Will because he was practically invisible to her, it wouldn't bring her any satisfaction to bully him because it would be too easy.

She couldn't do anything to him that day since he practically ran away after the school bell rang. And she couldn't do anything after that because the school decided to put her on an online course instead, thanks to the various students and teachers that kept complaining about her.

Why wouldn't they just suspend or expel Victoria? Nobody knows.

And now that she knows that Will is here after hearing about it, and that Sandra is his girlfriend, she plans to ruin him. Not to kill them since the Great Sage is watching her.

If the Great Sage weren't here, she would have already arrived at Will's kingdom.

Of course she has heard of the missing hero. She just never would have thought it would be Will of all people.

"That is a great idea." The king agreed with Victoria. If they can't contact Will, they can talk to Sandra and have her tell them about Will, especially about the part where he was in the Empire.

With her living with him and being his girlfriend, she is bound to know something.

"And also, I have another idea." Victoria got closer to the king.

"What is it?"

"There is a hero, among us, who is named Shane, that just so happens to have an ability to copy the appearance of others. Why not have him pose as the redhead, and have him infiltrate his castle?"

"I… I don't see how that's… why?" The king was confused. What good would that bring? If anything it would just soil the friendship between him and the heroes, not that they had any to begin with.

"I mean, isn't it obvious? Why would anyone ever want to live in the deserted lands? It seems rather fishy. The only reason I can think of is that he must be hiding something important, something of great value."

Actually Victoria knew nothing. She just wanted to make a convincing lie to hurt Will. If she feeds the king with these kinds of lies, there is a chance that the king would even try to take away Will's kingdom.

At this point everyone should know that making up such lies could ruin a person's life.

"I doubt that. For the past 300 years nobody has found anything of great value in the deserted lands. Although lately it has changed and it has become a habitable area. A lot of people are-"

"Living there, I know." Victoria interrupted him. "But doesn't it seem strange that the deserted lands went from being a scorching desert, to what it is right now?"

"It's not strange. A hero from the past generation, Christopher Lawrence, also claimed that area as his place and it transformed into a wonderful place to live, until it wasn't anymore."

The king had read several stories of heroes even when he was a child.

They did know that Will had a second ability, first one being the ability to fly. The second ability they knew is the ability to build, and it seems like such an important ability to have because in this world monsters destroy buildings and villages and such.

To have the ability to build even a castle in such a short amount of time seems like a god given gift for this chaotic world.

But for now he thinks it is better to wait and form a better relationship with the heroes. It is what he is doing with the other heroes, it is why he isn't forcing the other heroes to leave his kingdom and travel and help.

"I have read about him. Honestly, doesn't it seem strange? After 300 years why would the deserted lands suddenly change in climate? Not once had it rained before Christopher or the missing hero claimed that place as their own." Victoria said.

"You are not the first to think that. I heard from my dad that my great-great grandfather, the king from 100 years ago, asked the hero Christopher Lawrence the same thing. He believed that he either had a second ability or owned a magical item that can change the weather. The Great Sage was there at the time, and he vouched that Christopher had no such thing."

"Still, isn't it worth the risk? Think about it, if he has such an ability or magical item wouldn't it threaten this kingdom? It could make it snow, or rain forever, or make it as scorching hot as the desert. And just like that the entire kingdom would be deserted, and no one would live here." Victoria was trying her best to convince the king.

"I… never thought of it that way." The king said as he went into a deep thought.

The weather is something that should never be underestimated. If someone could control it they could ruin everything.

The Great Sage did know about the item that Christopher Lawrence used, he also did not think about what would happen if such power were to be used in the wrong hands. It's just that at that point he started to give zero f's and didn't want to deal with it.

Even Christopher suspected that the Great Sage knew but didn't want to bring it up just to be sure.

After living for a few centuries, who could blame the guy.

"And… how do you propose we go with this?" The king asked Victoria.

"It's simple, really. In fact it's not just Shane who is in on this plan."

Victoria pointed to the side of the room, and there were 3 heroes.

One is Shane, a 20 year old hero who could change his appearance to that of anybody. He looked like a relatively average male with a slim body, average height, looks, blonde hair, and blue eyes.

His ability only lets him change his appearance but not that much. Meaning that if he were to change his appearance into someone who has a completely different physique, he wouldn't be able to change. The only thing he could change is his skin color, eye color, hair structure, facial structure, and that's about everything. He couldn't copy the appearance of someone who is tall or short or obese, just their face, skin color, and hair.

The second hero is just a hero named Corbin. He had short, pointy brown hair, with a serious look on his face, he is shorter than your average male at 5 feet and 5 inches, and also quite slender. He is 19 years old.

His ability is that he can vomit a color rainbow vomit. That's it. It's just vomit with more colors.

The third hero is a tall girl named Jessica, her ability is her sharp long nails that are as hard as steel. She had long black hair, and her skin was smooth. She is one of the popular girls in her school mostly for her beauty.

How did Victoria manage to get these 3 heroes on her side despite being universally hated? Simple: Blackmail.

Shane uses his ability to change his face into girls who had a similar physique as him and went around doing all sorts of stuff while posing around as them, some of which were the female heroes.

Corbin would steal from others and then sell them for drugs. In this world drugs are legal since the kingdom does earn some money from it.

In fact Will once met a female blacksmith judge who was high out of her mind.

Corbin was also an outcast by the heroes despite being popular before in school. And right now he is known as the hero with the most useless ability ever recorded.

And as for Jessica, Victoria didn't have to blackmail her because she is also secretly a sadist. She was promised by Victoria to kill some monsters since nobody cares about them.

Jessica's ability is her fingernails that are as tough as steel and hard as diamonds and as long as knives. Heroes started to call her 'wolverine' named after the comic superhero.

Victoria knew that these heroes, despite being below her in her eyes, knew that some of them could be of use to her. While she is not confident to manipulate the Great Sage or Shaun Quincy, she is confident to control the king, who she knows is greedy and therefore easy to manipulate.

"So, this is the plan…" Victoria told them of her plan.

'The plan to ruin Will's life.' Victoria secretly thought.