Kyren and three magnificent beauties laid in the bedroom of his high-class apartment in a disheveled and entangled manner. He was in a regular position with his head on his pillow as he looked up blankly at the ceiling, observing the changes on his interface that occurred over the night and the following morning.
The three girls on him, however, were in a perplexing tangle as they constricted him with their superhuman strength. Maya was on his chest while the other two were on his sides, holding onto him like a child and their favorite stuffed animal. If someone were to see this scene, they would think that something dirty happened last night judging by their messy clothing. In actuality though, the reality was much different and nothing happened... to his dismay.
Last night, everyone got a little too drunk after Darien whipped out his hidden stash of alcohol, which resulted in things getting a little crazy. Since Kyren was the one in the group with the highest internal resistance, he was able to outlast everyone and not even get tipsy or lightheaded once, in fact, he questioned if he was drinking alcohol at all and not the stuff Maya was drinking.
Internal resistance affected poison resistance, therefore increasing his alcohol tolerance. That along with his ability to instantly absorb whatever he consumed made it relatively impossible to get him drunk within one night of overly strong alcohol.
It didn't matter if he was a transcendent (maybe a little), if his internal resistance was as low as the others, he would've ended up just like them. The girls might've had the power to single handily flatten cities or subdue entire armies... but once a lightweight, always a lightweight.
Out of them all, Rayna was the soberest while Krista was the least. In fact, she was so intoxicated, that she refused to go to her own home and followed him to his bed along with the other girls who already lived with him, passing out instantly along with the others. It was an interesting sight, to say the least...
Since he was trapped and he didn't see the need to disturb them, he just silently accepted his fate as he consulted Leo about the effects of his actions. Three major things changed in his interface throughout the night and morning. The first thing was that an event was triggered and it popped up in the mission log.
•>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>•
Tribute to Genesis
Unique Epic Area Event
{Status}
Active
{Current Magnitude}
Regional (potentially interregional)
{Current Severity}
Exceptional (potentially extreme)
{Domination Difficulty}
T++
{Description}
A deadly and violent storm has suddenly gathered in the Kassio and countless influential beings of the Alvestine Empire and even the continent of Lumeria are rushing to this fortress city with little regard for the consequences of their actions. A hidden organization that's coming out of the shadows brought them here and their true strength and influence are unknown to all. Some come to pay tribute and work with them while others wish to cause trouble. Not all the organizations and factions participating are exactly "friendly" with each other and civil war, with this innocent and hardworking city as the center, might very well break out due to their deadly and ancient animosity. The storm is finally here, and we all must keep the peace before things get out of hand...
{Objective}
- Don't let a maximum of three participating faction opinions of you drop one level ::: Factions left (3/3)> Increases participation + Talent: [Hard to Hate]
- Don't leave the affected area for more than half an hour ::: Time left (30/30)> Increases participation
- Don't let the situation devolve into chaos ::: Defused bad situations (0)> Increases participation greatly + Title: [Keeper of Peace (1/2)] + Additional payment from ruling faction
- Complete related missions within affected area ::: Missions completed (0)> Increases participation greatly + Title: [Keeper of Peace (1/2)] + Additional payment from ruling faction
- No deaths within time limit ::: Death's Left (1/1)> Title: [Storm's Survivor]
- Raise participating faction opinions> Increases score greatly
- Obtain contacts with participating factions> Increases score immensely
{Hidden Objectives}
- Discover this event's instigator> Increases score greatly
- Befriend influential or powerful individuals ::: Related beings friendly or above (0)> Increases score immensely
- ???
- ???
{Time limit}
Undetermined
{Minimum Rewards}
- Experience/levels
- Kassio favorability
- Marquis Dunwald favorability
- Alvestine Empire favorability
{Participation Score}
Trash
<Remark>
"HAHA, wouldn't want to be the guy in charge of this place!!"
•<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<•
This was all so laughable! He triggered this event and started the chaos, yet he would be the biggest winner when it was all over! He could easily complete every one of these objectives without lifting a finger, and when he was satisfied, he could always end the event on his own accord. He had a giddy feeling run through him as he compared himself to a puppet master.
He had an easy plan to complete the objectives related to keeping the peace, which was the hardest in his opinion, and he foresaw his future participation score to end up at either overwhelming or unfathomable if his plans went well.
He also paid close attention to the part where it said that some would purposely try to cause trouble.
The best candidate he could think of to dare do such a thing was the Archaic Church. Their insatiable need to always stay on top, not to let any others overtake them would be his best guess for the reason behind their appearance. If the church was truly coming as he speculated, his plans would go even better, especially if some of their important figures were to emerge so he could cause some trouble.
The second major change to his interface was the manifestation of a new tab on his status window that was titled {Personas} and it identified any substantial aliases he was presently managing or has made a name for. When a player gains multiple images that had some sort of effect on something or someone, they would gain this tab.
His first alias was [Kyren the Dragon Slayer] and it detailed him as an adventurer that's pissed off, and currently hunted by multiple monumental superpowers such as the Archaic Church and the Alvestine Empire. The church was a given but the Empire was a surprise he didn't expect. He read a little more carefully before realizing why they felt such deep hostility towards him and he nearly burst out laughing, holding it back as to not wake anyone up.
Back when Maya attended the auction, he casually said to her that she should mention that the reason for her appearance on the continent was to hunt one of her beloved and precious Void Dragons that ran away from her. He didn't think too much about it at the time because he didn't believe it could actually work like he thought it would. He was hopelessly wrong in his judgment though, but it was definitely for the better.
According to the information he had, the Empire did an extremely thorough investigation in secret to track the runaway dragon, but when they found out that not only was it killed in their territory by their own people, but it's parts were reported to have been sold or stashed in places where they couldn't get to, mostly because they couldn't find the culprit, they had heart attacks. This hate for the Dragon Slayer perfectly represented the Alvestine Empire's collective fear for his organization, in which they could have potentially offended big time!
'Just because of a puny adventurer, the entire country could be at risk!!!' This was probably what they were thinking. He didn't expect such an intricate sub-plan to work so well and indirectly put the Empire into the palm of his hands!
Their fear of Draconic Genesis and their inability to hunt down the Dragon Slayer responsible or the remains of the dragon, has resulted in them hating him even more but also exponentially increasing their now deeply rooting fear of his organization. If there was even the slightest possibility that Draconic Genesis used this as a Casus Belli(1) on them, and they couldn't successfully defend against a terrifying superpower they knew nothing about, they were done for with no questions asked.
Kyren made an educated guess that the Empire wouldn't confront Maya about this conundrum until they were sure they couldn't find the Dragon Slayer. They would probably stall for as much time as possible to put up a desperate defense while still searching for him before they were forced to come clean. It would look a whole lot worse if they tried to hide it for too long when Maya knew they were helping her search. He estimated that it would take months until they had no choice but to negotiate with Maya and he couldn't wait until then.
With their current level of terror of Draconic Genesis and the continent-destroying Elder Dragon paired with his plans of showcasing his strength during this event to instill even more horror than there already was, he could even squeeze out a couple of national-level treasures, a female offspring from the Emperor himself as forced marriage, and countless other things as a form of compensation for his losses and troubles. And if he was strong enough by the time they came to Maya..... maybe he could actually take a few cities by storm using a minor Casus Belli?
'Hehe, I sure am an ambitious fellow...'
<I second that.>
Pushing those ridiculous thoughts to the back of his mind, he observed the second alias. It was the recently created [Violet Dragon, Lord Angevin] but it didn't have as much history nor description besides the fact that he was a faction leader and many of his underlings adored him with some even willing to follow him for the rest of their lives.
Speaking of faction leadership, the third new feature he discovered was the faction management window. It was similar in style to his status window but far more compact with a large myriad of complicated components. Draconic Genesis was considered a [Chaotic Neutral] faction with general public opinion at [Wary]. Their publicly perceived strength was also not too far behind the church's, but it was still by a large margin. He would have to fix that later when operation "Conquered Storm" took effect.
There was a section for coordinating major leaders, delegating tasks and jobs to them, and viewing their skills and specialty. If he had a special item or an affinity for mental mana, which he did, he could connect the faction interface to his major leaders so that he could convey his wishes to them from long distances. Like, if he changed a leader's job through the interface, they would actually feel his wishes for them to work on it. It was very convenient and most likely exclusive to players, with only a few NPC factions able to do the same.
As he was skimming over the different aspects of his main leaders, Maya and Krista, something stuck out to him. Maya's non-combat related abilities, talents, and proficiencies were more tailored for politics and government. She had outstanding potential in business and economics, but she was stronger with negotiating and socializing.
After thinking about it, it made total sense. She said that she did a lot of work for her father along with her mother when they first met. Her father most likely didn't just manage the businesses and trade he owned, but also the government and public affairs of the Merfolk too. After all, Gruta Lake was ruled through an oligarchy style government and her father was one of the bigger leaders.
He was surprised that she hasn't mentioned something like this, but then again, he hasn't gotten involved in politics yet so economics was more needed. If she tried to coax him into taking her in by offering him services that he didn't need, then her chances of succeeding in joining him dropped. He required someone to manage the business and she used that opportunity to get close to him. Even if he was to change her job now, he needed someone as talented or more so to replace her and manage everything. Plus, that didn't change the fact that he still hasn't gotten involved in politics.
He could only set that aside for now, as he had no worthy candidates for business management.
By making someone an official leader, they would also gain certain buffs and privileges that were related to their preselected job. For instance, Krista managed the armed forces so one of her buffs could be a slight increase to morale for any forces or officials under her or within his faction. These buffs would get larger as the faction grew and it's influence accumulated, also when the leader was stronger.
Regrettably, there was no time to fiddle with the settings to see what he could do. There would be plenty of time later on, but right now, he had an event to monopolize.
He glanced at the girls still sleeping heavily and soundly on top of him. There still was no need to wake them just yet. They needed every ounce of energy they could get if they were going to help him execute his schemes.
Moreover, he didn't even need to move out of this position to observe the entire situation outside. If he wanted to, it was a clear enough day, and there was no powerful anti-sensory magic in the way, he could gaze in the direction of the Alvestine capital and watch a small leaf fall from a tree in the Royal Palace's courtyard without even straining his eyes or squinting. Of course, it was a given that he could do much more phenomenal things that could put the leaf thing to shame, but it was a good example.
He closed his eyes and extended his senses using [Spatial Perception] by a sufficient amount to cover the entire affected area, and more in case he missed anything. Just to be cautious, he masked his presence and aura so he wasn't discovered by any powerful individuals, not that anyone under the U~grade could notice his snooping around.
When everything came into focus, he internally yelped at what he saw from pure shock and bewilderment!
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1: Casus Belli) An act or event that provokes or is used to justify war.
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Today is a triple release because it ended in a cliffhanger and I'm not evil! Moreover, didn't I have a day a while ago when I released only one chapter? Think of this as compensation or maybe even an early Christmas present if you celebrate that...