Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke was eating in a tavern with the people he had run into from Lagras.

“So you all know him...?” Evangeline asked.

Luke had run into Hugo, Roland, Ulric, and Isolde again, soldiers from Lagras he had crossed paths with in Vaelor’s dimension.

“Oh, how could I ever forget the guy who left me standing in front of my entire battalion in nothing but my underwear?” Ulric said.

“You made him stand there in his underwear?” Evangeline asked.

“Not just me. These two idiots too,” Ulric said.

“It’s not like I didn’t have my reasons,” Luke said, and then he explained the story to Evangeline and Eleanor.

“I didn’t know that. It wasn’t in the report you gave me,” Eleanor said.

“There was no way I was going to write, ‘By the way, Ambassador, I left three men in their underwear in front of their whole battalion,’” Luke said.

“They still mock me over that to this day,” Roland said.

“Really? I figured those guys were dead by now, killed by the baron’s army,” Luke said.

Roland emptied the mug the server had just brought him in one pull. “Still, you have my thanks for getting us out of that nightmare. So I guess that makes us even.”

“Officially, I was never there, and none of that ever happened,” Luke said.

“And hardly anyone knows it was you anyway,” Isolde added.

“Now I’m curious,” Evangeline said.

“Let’s get back to the ship,” Luke said. “Can you help us?”

So they talked. Luke and his group could not anchor their ship on that beach, since it was reserved for vessels allied with the Kingdom of Lagras, but Ulric and the others agreed to go to the amazons’ shore and inspect it.

“So how did you all end up in this corner of the world?” Luke asked.

“Oh no,” Roland muttered.

A man had just walked in, surrounded by others. He was dressed in fine clothes that clashed completely with the rest of the place.

“That’s Cedric. Don’t get involved with him, mercenary,” Roland said.

Isolde clicked her tongue. “I hate that man.”

“And who’s the idiot?” Evangeline asked.

“He’s the son of a count back in our kingdom. I was rescued by his ship when I was lost at sea with these three idiots,” Isolde said.

“Then he did something decent,” Eleanor said.

“He has his eccentricities, but he did help us,” Ulric said.

“But he’s a damned fetishist,” Isolde said, real anger in her voice.

“Fetishist?” Evangeline asked.

“Yes. He forced me to wear a maid outfit,” Isolde said.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Luke asked.

“He made every woman on the ship wear maid uniforms.”

“And they agreed to that?” Luke asked.

“Yes. They had no choice. Refuse, and you were thrown off the ship.”

“Lucky bastard,” Luke muttered, slamming a fist onto the table.

A heavy silence followed. Everyone turned to look at him.

“I mean... what a monster. What a terrible man...”

***

Luke was in the ship’s lab. Three days had passed since they arrived there. Ulric and the others were repairing the ship. They had refused payment, but Luke and his group decided to pay them anyway.

“You’re sure there’s no way to turn this into a potion?” Luke asked.

He and Stephen were working side by side, studying the epinephrine-like liquid.

“Not the kind of potion you’re imagining,” Stephen said.

“But in the technological world, we used adrenaline for allergic reactions, cardiac arrest, things like that. I thought it could make an excellent healing compound.”

What interested Luke was the speed of it. If he could make a healing potion that worked as fast as adrenaline, he might be able to create something that could pull him back from death almost instantly. A kind of accelerated regeneration in seconds.

“A potion goes through the stomach,” Stephen said. “But in the technological world, adrenaline was injected, remember? It had to go directly into the bloodstream.”

Luke dropped into the chair. “Damn it. I thought maybe, because it’s magical or whatever, it could work. You’re the alchemist here...”

“Magic makes it even more complicated, not less. This stuff came from a powerful sea beast. It isn’t exactly compatible with a human body. It would have degenerative side effects too. A Sea Guardian is built out of muscle. What you’ve got there is basically super epinephrine packed with steroids.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“So we scrap the potion idea. But it could still be made into some kind of drug, right?” Luke asked.

The original idea might still be salvageable.

“Like I said, even if we’re superhuman now, this little thing is still dangerous. It would need a lot of refinement, and probably a biologically unusual body to handle it. The blood would have to be special too, strong enough to take the strain. And don’t forget, it came from a Rank D creature,” Stephen said.

“The blood part isn’t a problem. I have a few ideas,” Luke replied.

Jack had been sitting in a chair nearby, watching the two of them talk for hours.

“I’m not sure whether I’m happy or not that my dad has a new hobby. He never talked to me this long about anything,” Jack said.

“Just don’t get jealous and turn into Harry Osborn,” Luke said.

“Harry who?”

“And I promise I won’t go flying around on a glider,” Stephen added.

“You got the reference?” Luke asked.

“Of course I did. I’m an actor. I’ve seen those movies, Parker.”

A day passed, and Luke finally decided he would need to use his Witch skill.

[Do you wish to absorb the Profession Path of Alchemist?]

He clicked ’Yes’.

[Absorbing Alchemist Path...]

[Your Witch Path has grown stronger!]

[The skill ‘Profession Collector’ has been destroyed!]

Ironically, the knowledge of how the skill truly worked came to Luke in full only at the moment it was destroyed.

Now I get it. By absorbing the Profession Path, I really did add more branches to the Witch skill tree. But there’s a difference.

[Awakening basic Alchemist skill...]

That skill did more than simply grant him a basic profession ability. It strengthened every skill path he had already unlocked and deepened them. The alchemy path would enhance Telekinesis, Curse, and others along with it.

“What kind of new skills is that going to create later on?”

[Skill successfully awakened: Transmutation (Common)]

[Transmutation (Common)]: Once restricted to the craft of alchemists, the art of transmutation is now within the Witch’s reach. Through mana, she can interfere with the structure of matter, altering its form, its properties, or even its composition within certain limits. Simpler materials yield more easily, while complex or refined substances demand greater control, knowledge, and preparation. The Witch’s hunger for knowledge and power has now absorbed this path.

“It worked.”

Not only had he gained the skill, he had also indirectly learned how to manipulate certain liquids. Luke plunged his hand into a barrel of water and began pouring mana into it. When he lifted his hand back out, a sphere of water floated above his palm.

“So now my telekinesis can interact with liquids. It strengthened the skill indirectly.”

He started shaping the liquid into the form of a bottle, using both [Enhanced Telekinesis] and [Transmutation] together. For an hour Luke worked at it. He sweated like he was sitting in a sauna, and his mana drained at an absurd rate. But when he finally finished, a glass vial rested in his hand.

“I did it. I turned water into glass.”

He had created a potion bottle. It was slow work, nothing like Stephen, who could make several in seconds as if it were nothing.

“I’ll need more practice.”

Even so, he was pleased with the result.

“Now I can make my own bottles.”

Before, he had rationed every vial because his supply was limited. That would not be a problem anymore. Luke nicked himself with one of his kukris and held up a finger. He began drawing the blood out with telekinesis. He wanted to practice both things at once, his new control over liquids and [Transmutation].

On the workbench sat several vials filled with epinephrine fluid. He could feel that now he would be able to work through the experiment much more effectively, now that he could understand the composition of the liquid by manipulating it with mana, learn its weaknesses, its limits, and the ways it might be altered. When he finished his experiments, Luke walked through the ship feeling satisfied with the results.

“You’ve... been very busy... Master Luke,” Charlie said.

“I was looking for you, Charlie.”

“Really?” she asked, her face lighting up with a smile.

“Yes. I need to know where my cauldron is. I have to go help Mr. Harper again.”

Her smile fell at once. “I... can help.”

Luke laughed softly. “That was a joke, Charlie. I came to see you. Want to go for a walk?”

Her face brightened all over again, and the two of them left the ship hand in hand.

***

Sabal was walking through the streets of the Grimhart district. The eight great kingdoms of the New World had formed an alliance, a truce that none of them would attack one another during the event. When the 51 happened, most of the people from those kingdoms had been teleported together. Sabal suspected some kind of agreement had been made between the kings and the System itself, something that guaranteed their people would stay grouped together. But just like Sabal, others had been separated and sent to different regions of Sunken Realms. He had been lucky in one respect. Even so, he had spent all of Stage 1 beside people from his own kingdom.

When that ended, they settled in a massive archipelago alongside groups from other kingdoms. They allied themselves with the Church of the Dawn and shut themselves inside a large settlement. There were other settlements like the Citadel, but Sabal preferred this one. It was quiet. Simple. The only real problems were the war that had broken out between two vampire factions and, of course, the fact that this archipelago had become the site of the current phase of the event.

“Sabal.”

“What is it? I’m in the middle of my night patrol.”

He was not officially a guard, but Sabal made his own rounds through the district after dark.

“Sorry, Sir Sabal. But I was told to fetch you.”

“Fetch me? I only take orders from people in the castle.”

“It’s from the district chief.”

Before the event, Sabal had worked at the Grimhart family castle as one of their trusted guards.

“What does he want?”

“He wants you to go make sure Mrs. Mildred is all right.”

“Mildred? Don’t tell me she’s complaining about rats again. I don’t even know if rats exist in this damned place.”

“That’s all I was told.”

Sabal sighed. “Fine. It’s on my way anyway.”

As he walked through the streets, he almost laughed to himself. “From castle guard to handyman. This event’s been wonderful.”

He knocked on the door. “Mrs. Mildred, I came to check on you.”

“Mrs. Mildred, I’m here to deal with the rat problem, or whatever else is bothering you.”

No answer.

Sabal stepped back from the house. “She’s probably asleep.”

Then the door opened on its own.

“Mrs. Mildred?”

She was not there.

“I’m coming in.”

The house was dim, with only a single candle at the far end of the corridor casting any light.

“Did your candles and torches go out? Mrs. Mildred, you know the rules. You have to keep everything lit.”

The door shut behind him. “What the...”

Sabal reached for the handle, but it would not turn. Then he heard something. He followed the sound toward a room whose open door was spilling light into the hallway.

“Mrs. Mildred, I came here to help.”

Then he saw what was inside.

“Gods.”

“Hello, Sabal. You’re late for dinner,” Julian Grimhart said.

Fun fact: There’s some Eleanor art for this chapter over at that other place.