Path of Dragons

Book 3: Chapter 86: Diplomacy

The sun shone bright on Valoria, a sign from the Divine System that it was a truly favored city. More importantly, as Roman looked out over the city he’d only recently renamed, a notification superimposed itself across his inner eye.

Congratulations! You have met the requirements to embark on a quest to become an official ruler under the system. Complete the following quests to solidify your rule: 1. Conquer an enemy and hear their oath of fealty. (COMPLETE) 2. Become an Arbiter of Justice. 3. Expand your territory until you rule over 1,000,000 people. (COMPLETE) 4. Reach the top ten on the Planetary Power Rankings (Earth) (COMPLETE)

The last domino to fall was his ascension to the top ten of the power rankings, but through arduous effort, he’d finally managed to reach his goal. The slaughter of prisoners had long since ceased giving him experience, so he’d been forced to turn to other measures. The first step he’d taken was to accompany his men in the culling of the undead hordes beneath the city. That was the backbone of his leveling strategy, and in that endeavor, it had proved extremely effective. It wasn’t fast, but it was steady.

And Roman was nothing if not committed to improvement.

It wasn’t enough, though. The elites at the top of the power rankings actively sought improvement as well, and so, their levels continued to climb. So, if all Roman did was slaughter mindless zombies, he would never have reached his current pinnacle. Fortunately, he had three towers to augment his leveling speed.

The first was the one in his original territory, and he and his hand-picked team had gotten the process of conquering that zombie-infested cityscape down to a science. It was still difficult, and if any of them made a mistake, they would have fallen. Yet, that was why he had chosen his team so carefully. They were men who didn’t make mistakes. All former military, all with complimentary classes. In their company, all Roman had to do was stay out of the way.

Of course, he didn’t do that. He contributed as much – or more – than anyone. And he knew that, despite their well-practiced teamwork, without his efforts, the team would have fallen many times over. But that was true in almost every situation. After all, Roman was destined to save Earth. How could he not do the same for his team?

The other two towers – one near Arbor, and another next to a town called Bristane – were more difficult, but they went into each with as much information as the locals could provide. The Arbor tower was a massive jungle where the goal was to interrupt a series of sacrifices. There were other details, of course. Two other distinct steps that constituted the two lower levels of the tower. Yet, it was straightforward enough.

The third tower was the reason Roman had managed to level so quickly, though. The scenario was a war between four factions, and the tower’s challengers were meant to pick a side and usher their allies to victory. Roman didn’t do that, though. Instead, he directed his team to slaughter everyone they found. It resulted in a terrible rating for the run – and horrible rewards – but a few minor trinkets didn’t matter to Roman. Only levels were important.

Even then, he hadn’t quite reached the top fifty. Competition for those spots was fierce, so he’d been forced to cycle through the towers three more times over the past months until, at last, he’d satisfied the terms of his quest. He hadn’t even opened the notification that he hoped would grant him official Lordship sanctioned by the Divine System.

Savoring the anticipation, he checked the power rankings:

Planetary Power Rankings (Earth) 1. Elijah Hart – Level 76 2. Oscar Ramirez – Level 76 3. Sadie Song – Level 74 4. Hu Shui – Level 72 5. Niko Song – Level 67 6. Davu Adebowale– Level 65 7. Anupriya Pandey – Level 62 8. Ram Khandu – Level 59 9. Gunnar Lindstrom – Level 59 10. Roman Cain – Level 57 11. … 12. …

Only a few weeks before, he’d expected that he would be forced to take another round in the towers. That meant spending weeks on the road, then another few days in each tower. However, he’d satisfied the terms of his quest when, suddenly, the top man on the list had disappeared. Clearly, he had died, and given that Elijah Hart, whose name sounded vaguely familiar for some reason, had jumped to the top spot, it was probably reasonable to expect that the two had fought. And the lower-leveled man had won.

That had vaulted Roman from the thirteenth spot and into the top twelve. After that, he’d spent nearly a week slaughtering zombies beneath the city, finally climbing to level fifty-seven and completing his final quest objective when he reached the top ten on the power rankings.

It was satisfying, seeing the results of all his work. He’d put in years of tedious labor to get where he was, and he felt certain that he’d been forced to work harder than everyone else. After all, he had a city to look after. A people to protect. The others assuredly were off galivanting through the world, selfishly pursuing their own power. They had no purpose. Not like him.

So, it was even more satisfying when Roman finally opened the other notification:

Congratulations! You have satisfied the requirements for sanctioned Lordship. Please choose a path:
Defender	Conqueror	Benefactor
Designate a capitol city to receive defensive benefits.	Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Receive powerful tools to assist in gaining new territory.	Give your people the tools to prosper.

Roman frowned. He hadn’t anticipated that he would have to make a choice. However, he supposed it made sense. Perhaps there were further steps he could take that would allow him to gain all three benefits. Or maybe the choice would establish his specialization going forward. Either way, the next notification told him that he only had twelve hours to make a choice.

The first move, which was to eliminate the Benefactor option, was easy enough. He expected his people to earn their keep, after all. From his perspective, it wasn’t his responsibility to ensure prosperity. Rather, he was responsible for security.

So, he moved to the next two choices, which were equally attractive. Making Valoria more secure was a goal toward which he’d been working for years. It had started with defending the old police station, but it was the driving force behind most of his decisions. Yet, he’d already succeeded, hadn’t he? Valoria was safe.

With that in mind, he turned his attention to the last choice – the Conqueror option. What better way to advance his cause than to bring more people under the umbrella of his protection? He didn’t even see it as conquest. Rather, he viewed it as outreach. As spreading his influence to envelope the rest of the world.

Roman was, after all, Earth’s savior. And though it would have been nice to believe that everyone would stand aside while he gave the planet’s population the benefit of his rule, he knew that would not happen. He would have to free the rest of the world from the clutches of despots, tyrants, and, worst of all, the incompetent.

No – when he looked at it that way, the choice was obvious.

He selected Conqueror, resulting in yet another notification:

You have chosen the Conqueror path. To claim your title, absorb your Seal of Authority.

Roman had expected as much, as he’d actually done some research on system-granted titles. At first, he had been quite frustrated by the search for information, but he’d lucked out when Fiona found someone with a Librarian class in Arbor. Still, Roman was incredibly disappointed when the woman in question could only help him find information on one subject each week.

In any case, he got the information he needed, which told him what to expect and how to proceed. So, he pulled the Seal of Authority from his jacket pocket, then concentrated on its activation. That resulted in another notification:

Would you like to absorb the Seal of Authority? Doing so will destroy the item. Warning: absorbing the Seal of Authority before completing the requirements will result in crippling pain and possible death.

Roman checked his previous notifications once again, just to ensure that he hadn’t been mistaken. As before, the requirements had been met. So, after taking a deep breath, he affirmed the command to absorb the Seal of Authority, placing it on his chest.

At first, nothing happened, making him feel incredibly silly. However, after only a handful of seconds, the Seal of Authority completely dissipated, dissolving through his shirt and into his skin. That’s when a deep, blinding pain erupted in his chest. He let out a scream, but the agony only lasted a split second before fading away.

Roman slumped, gasping for air, but he quickly got ahold of himself when he heard someone entering the foyer on the other side of his office door. So, he steadied himself, then turned, leaning against the balcony to wait. A second later, via Assassin’s Awareness, he felt Fiona enter the office. She looked around, then saw him standing on the balcony overlooking the city.

She approached.

“Your majesty,” she said with a deep bow. “I regret the necessity of interrupting you.”

“Not enough to abstain, it seems. What do you want?”

“You have a visitor,” she stated. “A woman who represents a settlement that once was Hong Kong.”

“I am no diplomat. Let the council speak to her,” Roman stated. Indeed, he didn’t have time to meet with the ambassador of every tiny community.

“She is powerful. On the power rankings, in fact,” Fiona stated.

“Oh? What rank?”

“Number three.”

“Sadie Song?” he asked.

“Yes,” was Fiona’s eager response. “And she mentioned an alliance.”

“Did she, now?” Roman responded. “Well, we mustn’t keep her waiting. Full honor guard. And contact my team. I want them with me.”

“As you say, your majesty.”

* * *

“This place stinks, bro,” said Dat Bao, his accent strange, even to Sadie’s accustomed ears. It was a combination of Vietnamese and American that sounded completely unique and distinctly out of place. “Feels evil.”

“Don’t call me bro,” she admonished. It was one of the affectations he’d picked up while attending university in the United States, and one he still hadn’t discarded even years later. For her part, Sadie’s accent was equally discordant. Despite being a Chinese citizen, she spoke with a British accent, on account of spending most of her formative years in London. After that, she’d attended Harvard, where she’d met Dat Bao. The pair had been friends ever since, so when she returned home to Hong Kong during the winter break before the world’s transformation, he’d come with her. It was a lucky break, too, because he’d proven a stalwart companion through all the troubles.

Just as fortunately, her brother had risen to great heights and had taken on the responsibilities of leading their forces while she sought help against the undead blight that threatened to overwhelm their settlement and sweep across the world.

It was that experience with the unliving that gave her – and Dat Bao – insight into what they both felt.

“Sorry, bro. You feel it, right?” Dat asked. “Do you think they are near a Primal Realm too?”

“No,” Sadie stated, looking around the rooms where they’d been left. They were luxurious – far more so than anywhere else they’d been – but Sadie wasn’t impressed by wealth. “The ethera density is far too low.”

“And no vampires walking around, either. No zombies. I haven’t seen any ghouls.”

“There is that to consider as well,” she admitted. “I believe there may be a necromancer around.”

Sadie hated that she knew so much about the various flavors of undead. However, it was inevitable, considering how she’d spent most of the past three years. Soon after Earth had been touched by the World Tree, she had accepted the responsibilities thrust upon her by her grandfather. He’d known, even then, that Hong Kong would need to be guided by a strong hand, and he’d pushed her and her siblings, Niko and Lisa, to meet that need. They’d fought and leveled, and when they’d found the nearby Primal Realm, they’d combated the forces spilling out of it.

From the very beginning, they’d been among the strongest people in the world. That was because of the teamwork and complimentary classes she and her siblings had taken. For her part, she had chosen the Warrior archetype, which had become the Crusader class. Lisa had been their Sorcerer, taking the Inquisitor class. And Niko was their Healer, taking the Bishop class.

And for a while, they held their own.

Until Lisa had been killed during an undead offensive. Then, everything had started to fall apart. They’d been steadily pushed back ever since, taking refuge in the ruins of Hong Kong while the various undead forces surged around them.

Dat, with his Witch Hunter class, had been invaluable. So were the rest of their thousands of soldiers. Yet, it wasn’t enough. Not until Sadie, Dat, and Niko had been given a quest. She still remembered the notification:

A powerful entity has offered you a Task: Obejctive: Destroy the Summoning Ritual Reward: Blessing of the Angel, Gabriel Do you accept?

At first, she’d been hesitant to accept. However, once Dat had found the ritual, all hesitation vanished. Through one of his class skills, he had discovered that the purpose of the ritual was to summon a demonic monster to Earth. And given the number of sacrifices that had gone into powering it, Sadie had known it would be a powerful creature indeed.

And besides, she wasn’t so jaded that she wouldn’t accept a task from an actual angel. So, she and the other two had accepted the quest, and through great hardship, had managed to complete it, sundering the undead force’s efforts.

The potential rewards had exceeded anything Sadie had ever expected. However, one stood above all else: core advancement. They each chose that option, and they had developed Angelic Cores, which had given them power none of them could have imagined. As a result, their spells were more potent than ever before. More, later, when they finally figured out how to advance their bodies, minds, and souls, they had reached the first stage of cultivation.

But it wasn’t enough.

Even with all that extra power, they still hadn’t been able to defeat the undead forces. Their numbers were inexhaustible, and they continuously grew in power. So, while Niko and the rest of their army held the undead to a stalemate, she and Dat had set out on a pilgrimage to seek help against the invasion of the unliving.

So far, they’d met no one who could help. Everyone in the new world had problems, and few were willing to weaken their own defenses to help a bunch of strangers. Still, she held out hope for the newly renamed Valoria.

Now, though, with the scent of undeath hanging in the air, Sadie had her doubts.

Finally, after hours of waiting – which Sadie spent pacing back and forth across the plush carpet – someone came through the door. The small, waifish woman wore far too much makeup, and her dress was unflatteringly tight. The four men who followed had the bearing of experienced soldiers. Finally, a man with dark hair and a condescending expression came in.

“Welcome to Valoria,” the woman said. “May I have the pleasure of introducing his majesty, King Roman Cain.”

Sadie nearly rolled her eyes at that title. There was so much wrong with the introduction that it felt like a child’s play. However, the name did ring a bell, and after only a moment, she recalled that she’d last seen it on the tenth spot of the power rankings. In fact, she’d watched the name’s steady rise over the past few months. So, either the man stood on a mountain of recently killed bodies, or he’d found some loophole in progression. Whatever the case, he had at least some power, though Sadie knew from experience that levels were less a mark of power and more an indicator of a person’s progress. Certainly, some degree of might came with each level, but it was only one of many factors that contributed to a person’s strength.

“Thank you for seeing me, your majesty,” Sadie said, bowing in respect. Whatever the man’s story, he had a powerful force behind him. Millions of people owed him their allegiance, which meant that he stood to help her cause. That deserved acknowledgement.

“Not at all,” the man said, affecting a strangely formal tone that bore a hint of an accent that she knew wasn’t real. “It is the least I could do for a fellow ranker.”

“Indeed,” she said. “May I speak bluntly and without preamble?”

“You may.”

“We need help,” Sadie stated. Then, she launched into an explanation of the situation, ending with a plea for assistance. “If we do not gather a powerful force, we will fall, and the undead menace will spread across the world.”

The self-styled king frowned. Then, he said, “I apologize, but as of now, we cannot afford to send help. However, if you can hold the line for a few more months, there is a chance that I could send a few battalions.”

“A few months, bro? We’ll be dead by then.”

Sadie saw the king’s knuckles whiten as he clutched his fists. His voice was calm when he said, “It is the best I can offer. We have our own problems. Our own battles to fight. My first priority is to keep my people safe. Fighting your battles for you would jeopardize that endeavor. I am sorry.”

Sadie just shook her head in disappointment, but she didn’t push. It would do no good. So, after a few more minutes, during which she discussed local events – getting a lay of the land was incredibly important – Sadie and Dat left the depressingly gothic palace behind.

“Seattle?” she asked, looking at the map she had brought along.

Dat said, “Sure, bro. I’ve always wanted to see the Space Needle.”