Becoming the Dark Lord

“I got another one!” Franky shouted.

[Frankzaroth’s Class [Mage] reached Level 5!] (+2 Wisdom, +1 Vitality, +1 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Free Point)

[Frankzaroth has unlocked a new Class Skill!]

Even though he could not read, Franky loved watching his level numbers rise.

“What did I get, human?” he demanded, bouncing in place.

“Dial it down, Little Guy,” Luke said without taking his eyes off the remaining rats. “You don’t stop in the middle of a fight to celebrate a level.”

He rushed forward and finished off the last of them. The creatures were the size of Labradors, and they had found them along the side of the road, devouring whatever remained of an overturned wagon. Food lay scattered across the ground, but there was no sign of anyone nearby. Just the rats, the smell of splintered wood, and the road’s unsettling silence.

Luke opened Franky’s interface. The little boy planted himself directly in front of the screen, his eyes shining with curiosity.

“Scoot over, Little Guy,” Luke said, gently pulling him aside.

Franky was so eager he had practically shoved his whole body into the system window.

“There’s a lot here, Human. Something’s different.”

“Yeah. Starting at level five, the system gives you options. Now you get to choose your skill.”

Luke read them aloud.

[Earth Ball (Common)]: Conjures a dense sphere of compressed earth and hurls it at a target. On impact, it shatters violently, sending fragments flying and briefly knocking the target off balance.

[Water Ball (Common)]: Conjures a sphere of pressurized water and hurls it at a target. On impact, it bursts with concussive force, briefly knocking the target off balance.

[Wind Ball (Common)]: Conjures a high-speed sphere of compressed air and hurls it at a target. On impact, it erupts in a sharp blast that knocks the target backward and leaves shallow cuts.

[Fireball (Common)]: Conjures an unstable sphere of flame and hurls it at a target. On impact, it explodes, burning any enemies caught in the blast.

[Light Ball (Common)]: Conjures a sphere of radiant energy and hurls it at a target. On impact, it bursts in a searing flash, damaging and temporarily blinding the target.

Franky didn’t hesitate. “I want that one.”

Luke sighed. Of course he did.

[Frankzaroth has acquired the Class Skill: Fireball (Common)]

“Great. Now we need to move.”

Luke placed Franky on the Spectral Beast, and the two of them continued on their way.

[Dark Lord’s Relic]

Sins Absorbed: 1/7

Soul Energy: 873/1000

Relic Skills: [Soul Reservoir], [Living Relic], [Sinbound Will], [Relic-Borne Authority], [Dark Lord’s Bond], [Dark Lord’s Army]

Sin Manifestation: [Wrath of the Usurper]

Sin Curses: [Protection of Wrath]

I’m already almost at the ring’s Soul Energy limit without even trying that hard. Hopefully, that’ll give me a better idea of what [Wrath of the Usurper] can really do.

Hours later, the forest finally opened up before them.

“Here we are.”

Rosehall sprawled across the horizon. It had taken them almost ten days to reach the capital, a trip that would’ve taken nearly two months on foot. The Spectral Beast made normal mounts look painfully slow. After several nights on the road, Franky had gotten used to sleeping in Luke’s lap while he rode. Which, naturally, led Artemis to spend a good portion of the trip calling Luke Mama Kangaroo.

“A capital surrounded by a circular wall, Luke? Come on. This is isekai as fuck.”

“No, it isn’t an isekai.”

“You’re going to have to admit it eventually.”

They were still some distance from the walls. Instead of following the main road, they had cut through the forest to avoid drawing too much attention. Now they walked among the trees, the capital rising ahead as a sprawling mass of stone, towers, and movement.

A few foxes crossed their path. Nothing remotely threatening. Franky, however, had grown quite fond of his new fire magic.

[Frankzaroth has reached Level 3! Jormungandr (Rank F)] (+1 bonus point to all attributes, +1 free point)

[Frankzaroth unlocked a new Race Skill]

[Frankzaroth’s Class [Mage] reached Level 7!] (+2 Wisdom, +1 Vitality, +1 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Free Point)

“I did it, Human! Two at the same time!” Franky said, practically jumping in place.

“You know I can literally read your screen, right?”

It didn’t matter. Every time Franky gained a level, he insisted on announcing it. He pointed his wand at one of the foxes, and a [Fireball] shot forward, striking the target in a brief explosion of flame.

“I am getting really good at this, Human.”

Luke paid more attention to the screen than to Franky’s celebration.

[Meditation (Common)]: Enter a state of complete focus, shutting out all distractions. While meditating, your stamina and mana regeneration are greatly increased. However, you cannot take any other actions, and your awareness of your surroundings is severely reduced.

Useful.

Even deeper in the forest, there was nothing above level fifteen.

Then a new message appeared.

[Frankzaroth’s Mage Class is undergoing a Mutation!]

Luke narrowed his eyes. “A mutation?”

“What does it say, Human? What does it mean? Is it good?”

Luke read the explanation aloud.

[A class molds itself to its bearer. Depending on how it is wielded, including its role, tools, skills, race, and even intent, it may evolve into a form more aligned with its master’s path. Many factors influence this metamorphosis.]

Franky stared at the screen as though sheer willpower might let him understand it.

“Does this always happen?”

“No. It’s pretty rare.” Luke kept studying the message. “From what I’ve learned since the system appeared, a first class has a small chance of mutating. But only if the person has a really strong affinity for it.”

That made sense. Of all Franky’s starting attributes, Wisdom, the attribute that determined his mana pool, had been the highest.

“Your second class already awakens based on a different affinity, so there’d be no point in mutating it.”

Franky broke into a huge grin. “That means I’m amazing, right?”

“For a guy who wet his bedroll the other night, maybe.”

“Hey! You promised you would stop talking about that!”

[Evolving Mage Class!]

Luke squinted. “That’s strange. We should’ve gotten a list of options.”

[Mage Class successfully evolved!]

“What does that mean, Human?”

“It means your class evolved on its own. But when it happened to Charlie and me, the system gave us choices.”

The answer appeared a moment later.

[The Mage Class has evolved into Crypt Mage Apprentice!]

***

Luke entered Rosehall without much trouble. He showed the guards a few products from his storage item and said he was there to sell them. That was enough to pass inspection.

Guards watched every entrance in the wall. Rosehall was cautious about visitors. Luke was almost certain he saw some of them sketching the faces of people they considered suspicious. Fortunately, having Franky beside him helped. Posing as father and son made Luke look far less threatening than he actually was.

“It is very loud, Human,” Franky said, tightening his grip on Luke’s hand.

The capital seemed to be in the middle of a celebration, despite the conflicts raging elsewhere in the kingdom. Stalls crowded the streets. Music played. Merchants shouted prices, children darted between pedestrians, and the smell of food drifted in from every direction. Inside the city walls, the war felt far away.

“Hold on tight,” Luke said.

All the while, he watched through Angie’s eyes. For the past week, Angie and Charlie had followed the same routine: hunting near the city, selling whatever they could, and visiting every tavern and gathering place they found while asking around for Luke.

They had considered moving on, but Rosehall was the kingdom’s capital. It was still the most likely place for Luke to find them.

Angie and Charlie are at an inn. I just have no idea how to get there.

Luke was lost. Rosehall was too damn big. Then Angie left the inn and started walking through the city.

A fountain. She passed a fountain.

Luke looked around. No fountain. Very helpful.

Nearly an hour and several useless landmarks later, Angie crossed a street Luke recognized. He retraced his steps and summoned the [Spell Grimoire].

“Activate Message.”

The grimoire stirred to life.

“Angie.”

Luke felt the connection take hold.

Angie, it’s Luke. Yes, I’m in your head. Don’t move.

He closed the grimoire and went after her.

“My lord!”

Angie spun around the instant she saw him.

“I’ve been looking for you every single—”

“Day? I know. I saw and heard everything.”

“Everything?” Artemis asked, her tone far too suggestive.

“Not everything,” Luke replied.

“I was worried,” Angie said.

Then she looked down. “Who’s the runt?”

“I am not a runt!” Franky protested immediately.

After Luke gave her the basic explanation, Angie led him to an inn. The moment they opened the door to the room, they heard Charlie’s voice.

“Angie, I’m going with you this time.”

“No need,” Luke said. “I’m here.”

“M-Master Luke!?”

Charlie whirled around. A second later, the vampire threw her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. It happened so suddenly that Franky jumped back in alarm.

“I missed you so much, Master Luke.”

“I know, Charlie. I missed you too.”

For a moment, he simply let her hold him.

Then Charlie looked down. “Who’s the runt?”

“I already said I’m not a runt!”

At last, Luke had found them again. It took a while for everyone to catch up. Angie and Charlie told Luke how they had dealt with Jonathan and Tobias.

“And Jonathan actually died?” Luke muttered. “I figured that bastard would get magically rescued somehow. His luck is annoyingly good.”

“He’s dead, my lord. I delivered the final blow,” Angie said.

They also described where the system had dropped them after Stage Three.

“Charlie and I found each other pretty quickly,” Angie said. “We ended up nearby. I flew up to get a better view of the forest, and she had already spotted me.”

They had appeared close to the capital.

“We may have been a little... hostile toward a group of soldiers patrolling the area,” Charlie admitted.

“The assholes got mad because we ignored them,” Angie added.

Luke also learned they weren’t the only people from Stage Three who had been sent to this continent.

“If others from Stage Three ended up here too, then my theory that it happened because of my Title is dead,” he said.

As he went through Charlie and Angie’s notification logs, one message stood out. A message he had never received.

Welcome to New Earth!

Your planet is no longer the same. It has been fully integrated into the system and has undergone severe structural changes. Mana has transformed animals into beasts, while existing beasts have grown even stronger. Creatures extinct since ancient times have returned as monstrous beasts. Dormant creatures in the oceans have awakened. The sky has been pushed farther away. The layers of reality have collapsed into one another.

Do not assume that previous maps, borders, ecosystems, or laws of reality still apply.

Beings once separated across different realities now share a single world. All forced to coexist... or go to war for control of the planet.

Merged Worlds: World of Water, World of Earth, World of Fire, World of Shadows, World of Chaos, World of the Dead, World of Dolls, World of Beasts, World of Orcs, World of Plants, World of Giants, World of the Sky, Underworld, World of Caves, World of Insects, Fragment of the World of the Void, and Fragment of the Midnight Tutorial.

The message continued, but Luke stopped reading.

“I didn’t get this,” he said, frowning. “And here I thought winning the event had actually put me ahead.”

He had the special [Kingdom Core] quest and a little information from the hotel briefing. Most of this was still new.

“Looks like only people from Earth got it,” Charlie said.

“No one in this kingdom seems to know any of this,” Angie added. “Not even about the Sunken Realms.”

“They told me some worlds had already been integrated,” Luke said. “Every world on this list was merged together, including mine. For now, they’re calling the result New Earth.”

He studied the names again. The list matches the tutorial far too well.

The World of Orcs was obvious, but the others fit too. Orc Lord. Beast Lord. Midnight Lord. Each one seems to match a world on the list.

The Ant Queen. World of Insects? Is that it? Was she from that world all along? Or am I forcing a connection because there are too many coincidences?

Maybe that special tutorial had been dropping hints about which worlds would be merged.

Then the final name caught his eye. Fragment of the Midnight Tutorial.

Luke narrowed his eyes. Did the Midnight Tutorial’s capital end up here too?

“Only the last part is still a mystery,” Angie said.

She showed him the final warning.

[Warning: The beings known as Calamities now roam the world. Remain vigilant. Advancing to Rank B requires killing a Calamity.]

Luke read the warning again.

Calamities.

The name alone was enough. Whatever they were, they weren’t ordinary creatures.

And what level would a Calamity be?

They kept comparing notes. Charlie and Angie showed him what they had bought with the points they earned during the event. Luke told them what he had learned at the hotel and explained where he had ended up after Stage Three. He left out the details about Artemis. That conversation could wait until he had Charlie alone.

Artemis had been listening quietly.

“So,” she said, “what did you two do while you waited for him?”

“We joined the Adventurers Guild,” Angie replied. “It was a way to make money here. And gather information.”

“An Adventurers Guild, huh...?” Artemis paused dramatically. “Ready to admit it now, Luke? We’re in an isekai.”

Luke ignored the goddess.

“Now we have to deal with the fact that we’re on another continent,” Angie said. “But at least we’re together.”

“There’s still Anne...” Charlie’s voice grew quieter. “Do you think she was sent here too?”

Luke wished he had an answer.

“There’s no way for me to know,” he replied. “But I do know about something that might get us off this continent and solve our problem.”

“What?”

“We need to find a Teleportation Array.”

Luke then told them about his special quest: [Kings of the New Era].

***

Rokhan stood in the arena, facing another human challenger. Across from him, the armored man struggled to stay on his feet. Orc soldiers watched from all sides in tense silence, waiting for the next impact.

“Come!” Rokhan roared, throwing his arms wide. “Give me everything you’ve got!”

The human charged, energy flaring around his fist. Rokhan grinned. When the strike came, he caught the man’s fist in one hand.

“That’s it?”

Then he raised his own fist.

“My turn.”

The punch sent the human flying backward.

“You were supposed to block that!”

Laughter erupted around the arena as Rokhan surged forward before the man could get back to his feet. His fists hammered into him, one blow after another, until the armor buckled under the force.

The fight ended quickly and brutally, just like all the others. More humans lay scattered across the arena, each of them beaten down by Rokhan’s fists. They didn’t call him the Fist of the Kingdom for nothing.

The orcs roared and pounded bone drums in honor of their lord as another captive was dragged forward in chains.

“Next,” Rokhan said.

Later, Rokhan left the arena and headed deeper into the fortress. Orcs bowed as he passed.

“My lord,” one of his men said as he approached. “The wolves have returned.”

Rokhan continued toward the main building and entered the throne room. There, he sat on a throne built from the bones and skulls of beasts and humans alike.

“My lord,” said the largest wolf.

It was Kargan, Rokhan’s pet. He was a massive black wolf with a spiked metal collar around his neck. Unlike the others, Kargan was no ordinary beast. He was a War Wolf, rare enough to possess both reason and speech.

“I hope you’ve brought good news, Kargan!” Rokhan said as he settled onto the throne.

“No good news, my lord. Only word of the other army’s movements,” Kargan replied, bowing his head.

As the wolf spoke, Rokhan sank into thought. Ever since he and his army had arrived on this continent, the opposing orc army had never deployed so many soldiers at once.

I’ll have to speed things up. That king is running out of patience, and the search still hasn’t turned up anything.

“Thorg!”

“Yes, Lord Rokhan.”

“Tell the Captains to begin the raids. I can’t afford to wait any longer.”

The time for caution was over. If his plan succeeded, he would gain an overwhelming advantage in the war.

After dismissing everyone from the throne room, Rokhan remained seated alone, a crooked smile spreading across his face. He had already established a foothold on the human continent and even claimed a Kingdom Core on that beach. In doing so, he had activated an ancient structure through the system.

Rokhan gazed beyond the fortress, his eyes gleaming with ambition. In this New Era, he knew exactly how valuable that structure was.

“As long as I control this, I have the upper hand, little orc king,” he murmured.

Beyond the fortress stood the Teleportation Array.