The final step

[Chapter 109: The final step]

...

-Days after the battle.

The entire Kingdom of Nuwa was celebrating the end of the war against the Antlions. No matter where you went, everyone had joyful faces spreading across their faces, and no wonder, the battle that lasted for a hundred years was finally over after all...

The palace, the cities, the villages, there was no place in this kingdom where someone was not enjoying this newfound peace.

Except for a certain man that is...

"Isn't there other uses for this...? You can't be serious that this is all about it..."

Aspen was currently checking up all the uses that the [Sand Nucleus] he obtained during the last battle had, but as far as he could see, the system only provided him with a craftable recipe of the [Sandstorm in a bottle].

It seemed that was the only use of that item, and although it was by no means something bad to obtain, he wondered if there was maybe another more worth and better use for this strange item that did not exist in the original game.

However, as previously mentioned, no matter where he looked, there was no option or recipe in his system that allowed him to craft another object. The system only allowed him to craft the [Sandstorm in a bottle] and that was it.

Maybe it was just for simple greed, as he actually ended up dying just to obtain this object, and he wanted something more worth actually dying than the Sandstorm in a bottle, or it was probably simple pride, as he didn't want to accept the fact that the drop from a hardmode mini-boss he spent so much effort on killing was just an item that added 1+ free-mana-jump to his mid-air jumping technique.

Thus, he began researching about it while everyone around the city celebrated the victory of the war. And fortunately for him, it seemed that there were indeed more uses for the Desert Nucleus. However, they required Aspen to do the job himself and not the system.

"And the only thing I lack is knowledge..."

*Sigh...*

Aspen grabbed the Desert Nucleus, which looked like an always-spinning sphere of sand, and stored it right away in his inventory.

If he lacked the knowledge to make this object into something more useful, then he was going to find it in some way or another. And fortunately, at least he had a clue on where the answer to finding more knowledge might be hiding.

The human civilization from before the Great War. A civilization where dozens of weapons and artifacts that he was now using were created there by the best geniuses of those times. Thus, the answer lied in humanity's history, as cliche as it may sound. And he knew who to ask about the human civilization history.

Jack.

Jack lived during those times, and therefore he might have a clue on where to find more artifacts or important documents that might help Aspen improve his level of knowledge.

However, if he wanted to ask Jack, he first had to leave this dark place and go back to the Human territory, and for that, he needed a way to travel through the seas. And by this time, he had already collected the 1000 gold coins that were necessary to start the construction of a ship.

And now, all that he needed to do was to wait.

However, Aspen couldn't just stay still, and thus, he decided that during the meantime he would research all the rewards he had obtained until now, and continue with his project of creating an electric ray gun using the organs of the White Antlion.

As for the forbidden fragments he obtained from the Sand Elemental, they had the slight problem that he needed Adamantite or Titanium to transform them into the Forbidden Armor. Both ores could only be obtained in a world that was already on the Hardmode, thus, if he wanted to create the forbidden armor, then he would need to defeat the Wall of Flesh... Which was pretty much the same as strengthening every monster around the world... So it was not an option.

But he had already an idea on how to use them, even if he hadn't defeated the Wall of flesh yet.

But that was for another moment... As he was still lacking the knowledge to make sure his idea was going to work.

As for now...

*Knock*

*Knock*

*Knock*

"Sir Aspen, morning has already come!!"

He was still staying at the palace and doing his job as a Royal guard since he had nothing else to do, and because he didn't want to overwhelm himself with investigations and such, he decided to continue doing his job and visiting the library while he was at it.

Besides, assassins were a pretty good stress reliever for him.

*Yawn*

"Tell Yuuki I'll be there in a minute..."

°

°

°

In a very dark mansion, near the outskirts of the Nuwa Kingdom...

A man of long brown heard and a very sophisticated mustache was currently looking at a very detailed map of the Nuwa Kingdom that was hanging on top of the Wall with narrowed eyes.

Soon, a few seconds after he continued appreciating the map, he sneered in a condescending tone and turned to look at his desk with an exasperated expression on his face.

"Why the heck are you here? I think I told you that we can't be seen together, or else my whole plan might go to waste"

The man spoke with a sharp gaze while looking at a certain shadow that was sitting across the desk. However, he was only answered with a hearty and raspy laugh that echoed all around the room.

"Hahaha!! Do I look like I give a damn?! I came here to make sure you pay us in advance for this little work here, I don't want to find out later that you don't want to pay us the whole price because of some pathetic excuse little Duke..."

"Filthy scum, if I wasn't in such a tight spot right now, I couldn't have resorted to hiring you damn cockroaches, but no matter how much I tried, that new Royal guard that the King hired always manages to protect the princess, no matter how they try to kill her! The only thing left I could do was to hire you damn beasts"

"Ain't ya being a bit hurtful? We are only trying to live freely in this country, it's not our fault that pillaging, raping, and killing are so fun..." The shadow laughed disgustingly while it started scratching its long beard with a vicious smile on its face.

"You disgust me"

"And so you to me, HAHAHAHA!!!" The shadow laughed crazily while holding its belly.

The man massaged his eyebrows before he then turned to look at the shadow once again with an inquisitive expression on his face.

"I have the payment in the bag next to my desk... Then? When are you going to strike? The more you wait, the more you will give the King chances to prepare against any circumstances!"

"Calm down pal, the time when we attack will come We are just preparing our cannons and guns for this... You should know pretty well how perfectly do they work when it comes to destruction right? It will only take one of our cannonballs, and boom! No more princess and no more Royal Guard..."

"Very well... Now leave this place. Just your smell alone makes me sick" The man made a disgusted expression before he then turned around and stopped looking at the shadow.

"Whatever, just prepare the next payment for when we complete the job. Otherwise, our next target will be you, I swear it on my name, Jake Red Beard, The worst criminal in the Nuwa Kingdom, and the ruler of the seas..."

"Sure, sure, just get out of here..."

*Slam!*

The door was soon slammed shut, and the man turned to look once again at the desk with a grin spreading across his face.

He soon sat on the chair of his desk and started looking at the many paintings hanging on his wall with a relaxed expression on his face.

"Nobles, commoners, a king, a princess, a warrior of immense power... What's the use of being a Duke, if I'm still going to be under the control of someone else...?"

The man took out a bottle of wine from under the desk and poured its contents into a nearby cup of glass with a spiteful expression on his face this time.

"Duke of Hamilton... Excellency... Lord... What's the fucking use of these names if I'm never going to be considered above all of them? What the use of all this if I can't be on top of all these filthy rats?!"

With a knife, the so-called Duke of Hamilton stabbed the map with a furious expression and then started laughing creepily.

With a very deep hatred for human beings, not because he had a traumatic event in the past, but because he considered them annoying and disgusting creatures similar to cockroaches, the Duke of Hamilton just couldn't stand the fact that he was below one of them... Below their so-called king...

For him, to have such a superior being like himself sitting in the position of a Duke was a crime by itself, they should all worship him as they did once in the past when he was still a kid and attended the social gathering of nobles, but this time he had to make them understand that even the King was under him...

But he had no power to do so... at least not for now...

First, he had to eliminate the two pests that were ruining everything.

*Tack!*

*Tack!*

He took the nearby knives he used to eat and used them to stab two nearby portraits of very famous people around the Kingdom. And also the people that were currently on his way to inheriting the throne.

-The hero that saved the Kingdom- Aspen.

-The princess and the greatest sorceress of the Kingdom- Yuuki Nuwa.

Soon, however, everything would change...

...

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A/N:

Sorry for the wait guys, I was just feeling very uninspired these past days, and no ideas came to my mind... Let's just hope this chapter makes me feel a bit more motivated to write the next chapter.

Anyway, it's kinda late already. So I'm going to sleep.

Bye bye