Becoming the Dark Lord

“You know... things got back to normal pretty fast afterward.”

“Event?” the man asked, finally looking at him.

”Oops, Luke” Artemis said.

“Never mind. Must be more tired than I thought.” Luke took another drink and went back to watching the room.

Luke went still.

”Artemis, these people were never in the Sunken Realms.”

Luke asked for the bill. “Two coppers,” the tavernkeeper said.

“Right... two coppers,” Luke murmured. Then he looked up. “Here’s the problem. I was robbed on the road, so I don’t have any money.”

The man’s eyes sharpened as he dried a mug with a rag.

“You’d better be joking, traveler. We may be outside the kingdom, but we still deal with our own problems.”

“Good thing I keep something for emergencies.”

Luke pulled a silver coin from his pocket and set it on the counter. The man picked it up, frowned, and studied it. Then he bit the edge.

“Coin from another kingdom?”

“Picked it up during my travels. It’s worth a lot more than two coppers.”

“I don’t usually accept foreign currency from kingdoms I’ve never heard of, but I can make an exception.” The bartender examined the silver closely. “Still, this is worth a lot more than two mugs of ale.”

“That’s because I’m also buying information.”

Luke asked a few casual questions to hide what he was really after. He asked about highwaymen, available work, mines, and how many travelers passed through the area.

Then he asked the only question that mattered. “How far is Camlann from here?”

“Camlann?” The bartender frowned. “Never heard of it. Is it a village? A city?”

Everyone in the New World knew Camlann. So why didn’t this man?

Luke kept his expression neutral. “What was the nearest city again?”

The man raised an eyebrow, clearly suspicious, but answered anyway.

“Nyvma. Follow the main road and you’ll reach it in a few days on foot. Take the side roads and you’ll find other villages scattered through the forests.”

After a few more questions, Luke pocketed five smaller silver coins in change and left the tavern. The local coins bore the image of a rose above two clasped hands.

The Kingdom of Rosemark. Never heard of it.

From what he had learned, the village lay far from Rosemark’s capital, Rosehall. So far that it was not officially part of the kingdom’s territory. Even so, the people in the region preferred Rosemark currency because most of their trade was with the kingdom.

One thing’s certain, Artemis. If nobody here has heard of Camlann, I’m not on the New World continent.

”And you’re sure as hell not back in Maine,” she replied.

Where the fuck am I, then?

”I ranked the possibilities based on how your luck usually goes, Luke. The “we’re screwed” option is that we’re on New Earth, but on the wrong continent. The “we’re completely fucked” option is that we’re on another planet.”

Luke continued down the road, searching for Franky.

Finally.

When he looked through Angie’s eyes again, he could see. She had been asleep.

That explained it.

Angie yawned. Luke studied the room through her eyes.

”Ooh, she’s taking a bath. Better keep watching so we can gather... information, Luke”

Luke cut the connection.

“Okay. She’s safe. That’s what matters.”

Artemis complained, but he ignored her and kept walking, lost in thought.

That wasn’t my house in Maine. It was a wooden room. When the event started, Angie was in Camlann, in the New World. So at least she ended up back where she started. Charlie probably went back to Maine.

”Looks like you were the only unlucky one.”

***

Luke tore through the forest. He had followed his vague sense of Franky’s direction after leaving the road, but the trail was a mess. Luke could not even tell whether it was leading him the right way. So he changed course and followed the [Kingdom Core] Quest marker instead. He covered ground fast, cutting through valleys and leaping over rivers as the distance on the marker continued to drop.

Then he stopped abruptly.

Angie sat in front of a mirror. A sheet of paper covered most of her face.

It read, “My lord, are you there?”

A moment later, she repeated the words aloud.

“My lord, are you there?”

Luke froze. “No way. Clever.”

Angie picked up another page. “Every three hours, I’ll follow the same routine I’ve used for the past few days and repeat these messages. Sorry if you’ve already seen them.”

“Damn.”

She had planned for silence too.

Angie lifted another page and read it aloud. “I’m not in Camlann. I was teleported somewhere else. This isn’t the continent we know.”

“Oh, shit.”

Before she could continue, Charlie entered the room. The two of them started talking. Charlie called Angie outside, and judging by her urgency, something was happening. Luke caught fragments about a duchy and some kind of attack.

As he continued sprinting and leaping through the forest, Luke watched them and tried to piece everything together.

I wasn’t the only one whose teleportation went wrong. Neither of them returned to Maine after leaving Stage Three. At least they had each other.

Some time later, Angie returned to the room.

“Things got complicated after a small... incident. We drew some attention, and neither of us has any identification. We’re staying here for a few more days, at least until we figure out what to do next. We’ll keep waiting for you.”

“Where are you, Angie? That’s all I need.”

She gathered the pages and started over, reading until she reached the part Charlie had interrupted.

“Charlie and I are in a place called Rosehall, the capital of the Kingdom of Rosemark,” she said, holding up the written sentence. “I’ll keep looking for you around the capital. I’ll repeat this message again in a few hours.”

Finally, Angie left the room and headed into the streets with Charlie.

Luke severed the connection.

According to the tavernkeeper, I’m pretty far from Rosehall. It’ll be a long trip, but not impossible. Maybe a few days at my pace.

A few beasts attacked him along the way. Barely level 20. They did not last long. After some time, the Quest marker indicated that he was close to the [Kingdom Core]. But before he found it, he spotted a small village.

Luke concealed himself in the brush and watched. Several women were washing clothes in the river.

“Hannah, don’t wander away from the bank,” a young woman called.

“Okay, Aunt Cicilia. I’m just collecting pebbles,” a little girl answered.

It was a simple village of wooden houses and a handful of stone buildings. Elderly villagers worked without hurry, children ran between the houses, and Luke saw no weapons anywhere.

Not a weapon in sight. Just ordinary villagers.

Luke withdrew and continued deeper into the forest. This section of the woods was denser. The canopy blocked nearly all the sunlight, leaving the forest dim and damp.

As he moved, Luke raised one hand and studied the silver ring on his finger. Neither the tavernkeeper nor anyone else seemed to pay attention to it. I don’t think other people feel what I do when they look at it.

Whenever he looked at the ring, he felt it. Not the price of the metal or a number on a System screen, but something deeper. A bond. Luke stopped and removed the ring. The instant the Relic left his finger, a low whisper echoed through his mind, brief and mournful, as if it already missed him.

[Removing status bonuses granted by the Dark Lord title.]

He threw the ring away, closed his eyes, and started walking. The whisper faded with every step. Ten. Twenty. Almost gone. Then Luke changed direction, and the whisper returned. At five steps, it grew sharper. At three, he could have pointed to the ring without opening his eyes.

“Relax. I’m just running a few tests.”

He extended his hand and activated [Enhanced Telekinesis]. The ring rose from the ground, flew between the trees, and landed in his palm.

“Good. Telekinesis works on you.” Luke rolled the Relic between his fingers. “Would that still work if someone else was wearing you?”

What would happen if someone else picked up the ring? Would they see the Relic’s System screen? Could they use [Identify] on it?

Yeah. That was going on the test list.

Too many possibilities and far too many tests to run. Even if the System showed everyone else nothing beyond the item’s basic information, one benefit remained obvious: a five percent bonus to every stat. That was power. Someone else probably would not see the full description, or they might discover that the Relic became cursed whenever it was separated from Luke and began manipulating the mind of whoever held it.

[Protection of Wrath]: Wrath awakens against anyone who attempts to take, destroy, remove, or convince the False Bearer to abandon the Relic. The closer the threat draws to the artifact, the more the anger grows, until protecting the Relic feels natural, personal, and inevitable.

Luke frowned.

The wrath curse makes sense. It’s got a whole Gollum thing going on. But what the fuck would Protection of Lust even do? Nobody’s going to get weird with the Relic, right?

Absurd or not, everything had started with the Fruits of Sin. He had already unlocked one, but he still had no idea how to obtain the others.

Still walking, Luke pulled up his status screen.

Name: Luke

Level: 113

Race: Half-Demon

Rank: D

Core: [Spectral Beast (Rank E)]

Class: [Shadow Phantom Reaper (Lvl 116)]

2nd Class: [Arcane Spellcaster (Lvl 110)]

Profession: [Sentinel Botanist of Mother Freya (Lvl 100)]

Titles: [Dark Lord], [Myth Slayer], [Champion of Earth], [Apostle of the Goddess Artemis]

Bloodline: [Bloodline of the Dark Demon]

Health Points (HP): 16720/16720

Mana Points (MP): 28471/30110

Stamina: 10897/12000

Stats:

Strength: 1269

Lethality: 2726

Agility: 2426

Dexterity: 1108

Endurance: 1200

Vitality: 1672

Toughness: 1008

Perception: 2706

Wisdom: 3011

Intelligence: 3064

Willpower: 2003

Free Points: 45

Class Skills: [Advanced Blade Handling (Rare)], [Advanced Shadow Knife Throwing (Ultra-Rare)], [Twin Blade (Common)], [Basic Dark Dash (Rare)], [Crimson Fang (Ultra-Rare)], [Predator’s Mark (Rare)], [Force Infusion (Rare)], [Advanced Shadow Stealth (Ultra-Rare)], [Assassin’s Tracking (Rare)], [Basic Archery (Common)], [Demonic Predator Hands (Epic)], [Demonic Predator Throwing Knife (Epic)], [Burst Throw (Epic)], [Stealth Critical Strike (Rare)], [Shadow Dive (Rare)], [Knife Storm (Epic)], [Feline Agility (Epic)], [Horns of the Demon of Darkness (Legendary)], [Shadow Phantom Reaper Dance (Legendary)], [Perception Sphere (Rare)], [Meteor Shot (Epic)]

Second Class Skills: [Advanced Magic Conjuration (Uncommon)], [Teleportation Pentagram II (Legendary)], [Curse (Common)], [Cursed Weapon (Uncommon)], [Shadow Ball (Common)], [Enhanced Telekinesis (Rare)], [Witch’s Gaze (Uncommon)], [Cursed Weapon Throw (Rare)], [Telekinetic Impulse (Rare)], [Telekinetic Pull (Rare)], [Witch’s Thread (Rare)], [Despair Aura I (Rare)], [Clear Mind (Ancient)], [Shadow Mana Explosion (Ultra-Rare)], [Spell Grimoire (Epic)], [Tactile Telekinesis (Rare)], [Telekinetic Stasis (Rare)], [Transmutation (Common)], [Basic Appearance Shift (Ultra-Rare)], [Cloak of the Arcane Witch (Legendary)], [Arcane Infusion (Epic)], [Arcane Wall (Epic)], [Arcane Witch Golem (Legendary)]

Profession Skills: [Herbology of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Precise Extraction (Common)], [Advanced Potion Crafting (Uncommon)], [Corrupted Plant Growth (Rare)], [Plant Sensor (Uncommon)], [Botanical Bond of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Seed Conversion (Rare)], [Plant Manipulation of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Corrupted Blood of Mother Freya (Ultra-Rare)], [Thorn Mutation (Uncommon)], [Soil Analysis (Uncommon)], [Botanical Purification (Uncommon)], [Acid Blood Arrow (Epic)], [Vegetal Respiration (Common)], [Stomach of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Bones of Mother Freya (Ancient)], [Soil Guardian II (Ancient)], [Botanical Transmutation of Mother Freya (Epic)], [Tree of Mother Freya (Legendary)]

Race Skills: [Identify (Common)], [Demonic Perception (Uncommon)], [Dark Blood (Uncommon)], [Deep Meditation (Rare)], [Demonic Endurance (Uncommon)]

Rank Skills: [Soul Infiltration (Rank F)], [Soul Infection (Rank E)]

Blessing: [Blessing of Artemis (Divine)]

Bloodline Skill: [Servant of the Dark Lord (Unique)]

Servants: [Unavailable], [Unavailable], [Servant Slot Available], [Servant Slot Available]

Familiar: [Unavailable]

Forty-five free points remained. After considering his stats for a few seconds, Luke placed twenty-four into Lethality, fourteen into Agility, and seven into Perception.

When he finished, his gaze settled on one of the titles he had received after becoming part of the Church of Artemis.

[Apostle of the Goddess Artemis]: A title of the Divine Order. It does not occupy a title slot and cannot be removed, replaced, or altered through ordinary means. It is directly tied to Artemis’s recognition and can only be revoked if the bearer betrays the divine order to which they belong. Becoming an Apostle is one of the greatest honors a Divinity can grant a mortal. It recognizes the bearer as more than a follower, chosen one, or champion, as someone close enough to be called a friend. To Artemis, you are special. The bond between you is genuine and intimate, perhaps intimate enough to be something more. Feel honored, mortal, for your Goddess does not merely watch over you. She truly cares about you.

“Stop staring at my title,” Artemis said.

The goddess’s voice came so suddenly that Luke blinked.

“I was just rereading the System information. Maybe there’s a clue I missed.”

“Fine. Just stop rereading it.”

Luke kept the screen open. “Why?”

A brief silence followed.

“Because...” Some of the firmness left Artemis’s voice. “It’s embarrassing.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. “Hm?”

Artemis did not answer.

Luke kept staring for a few more seconds, mostly to annoy her. Then he finally closed the System screen and continued walking. An hour later, the forest began to thin. Fragments of old stone littered the ground.

Then came the roots. Enormous roots rose from the earth, each as thick as a twisted column.

“That’s a big root.”

If that’s just a root, how big is the tree?

Farther ahead, the forest was filled with webs far too large to be natural. Luke cut through them with his kukris while keeping an eye on the Quest marker as the distance dropped rapidly from fifty feet to zero.

[Kingdom Core area located. Good luck claiming it!]

“Looks like I’m here.”

He stepped out from between the trees into an enormous clearing filled with ancient stone ruins, the remains of long-collapsed structures scattered across the landscape, but Luke barely noticed them.

Something was moving among the ruins.