The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

Zephyr excused himself soon after, and I was left behind, intently looking through the ceiling as he moved away. I still didn't believe in his absolute redemption; something about him still made my trigger finger itch. However, so far, he was trying to help me, so I'd give him a pass. I sighed heavily and looked at Opal, who started sounding like a boiling kettle.

"Are you all right, Opal?" I asked, concerned.

"MY KING! I AM MORE THAN ALRIGHT! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!" She finally gave up and started screaming like an over-excited adolescent girl. Verni, on the other hand, was looking at me with admiration.

"My Lord! You were talking to a God as if you were his equal!" he finally vocalized his awe.

"*sigh* I promised to punch him if he misbehaves toward any lady, Verni."

"What?" His jaw dropped.

"What, what? He is a womanizing bard, Verni! I asked Bjorn to make me this runic-reinforced baseball bat so I could smash that bastard just in case!" I summoned my bat once again to show it to Verni. "It would be hard to chase him if I had to kneel all the time."

"I mean... We have to kneel in his presence, my Lord. Every mortal has to!" he clarified.

"Hmmm... Amber, Irene, Luna, and Lanka also never planned to kneel." I shrugged but decided to ask about that the next time he showed up. With a baseball bat aimed where it hurts, if necessary...

"That's..." The shock on his face was priceless.

I smiled at him and waved my hand to let him know it was fine to act unofficially. I didn't know when I became accustomed to not only acting but being King. At this point, it was a part of who I am, and to be honest, I wouldn't be able to think of anything better. Verni was still uncertain if he should comment on what I said or go to Opal and congratulate her. However, I was paying more attention to Opal, who was now sitting in a chair, breathing heavily after her outburst of excitement. I had a plan...

"Opal, tell me... How do you feel about being multi-class?" I had assessed her with my Talent Gauge, which confirmed my suspicions. She had an extreme aptitude for alchemy- maybe not as high as those two kids from Everlight, but she was almost as good.

"Multi-class, my Lord?" She looked at me, surprised, as Verni shrugged. He already had two classes; it was nothing new for him. "I'd love to, but is it even possible?"

"Yes," Verni responded without waiting for my response.

Opal glanced at him but said nothing. She turned her gaze to me, and I just nodded. Reassured by this spectacle of silence, her face gradually changed. She started thinking rapidly, and I followed her good example. I sat in a chair near a small table and tapped it a few times. Alchemist… yes… that's what Avalon and I needed, however... I looked once more at the lithe dwarf girl with black hair that somehow shone with a blue hue, deciding to try to give her something more... With closed eyes, I focused my mana, thinking about what exactly was better than an alchemist... Chemist, for sure, but that was a way too specialised profession. The apothecary was… well… changed; they would sooner look for power armours and croziuses than work as alchemists... Doctor? That's a healer... I had a picture of what she should be able to do, but the name was also important. Then maybe... Arcane Alchemist? Wait... Arcane... Arcanist. Yes! Arcanist- I felt the class creation. It was as if I stood in a dark room with just a simple table in it. On the table was a book: when I decided on the name, the beautiful blue, glowing letters imprinted themselves, titling the tome 'Arcanist.' The book opened itself slowly, and I noticed it was just a cover without a single page. The Arcanist would be a master of alchemy and enchanting, capable of embedding runes of their own creation or those made by others through...

Transposition? Blatant plagiarism? Transmutation. That one clicked...

… through the transmutation and alchemic runic circles. As I imagined and described the class I wanted to create, I could see loose pages appearing and attaching themselves to the inside of the book cover. More and more details, skills, and descriptions were engraved into its pages. Fortunately, I didn't have to think over every single spell or skill; I simply used what skills Alchemists and Runesmiths were capable of and bound them together. I noticed that I had already spent a quarter of a million of my mana, but the class was ready.

Arcanist, the Righteous Dungeon's unique class.

That, alongside the Apothecary, the Runic Warpriest, the Spellsinger, the Bladedancer... Damn... I had created so many unique classes. But this was the first time I had such a complex 'class creation' system in front of me. However, it was worth it: the Arcanist was a class that would benefit me the most. I opened my eyes and saw Opal still thinking over something with Verni sitting near her, holding her hand. I summoned a sheet of paper and produced a quest; this time, the standard amount of paper was enough.

"Opal, do you accept the quest to become the first Arcanist in the world?" She looked surprised but took the paper and read it.

"Yes, my King! I accept this quest, thank you!" She hugged it to her chest and brightly smiled at Verni and me.

"You are most graceful, my Lord." Verni bowed to me and hesitated for a moment.

"No problem... Please. You may go now." I sent them away, forgetting to ask why they had come here in the first place.

When I thought about it, I recalled seeing Opal and Verni together often recently. Before any other stray thoughts could settle in my mind, the door opened, and my new scions entered the room. Jasper, Lance, Crawline, and Aurora came over to look at me. Jasper was calm and collected; he held his clipboard and noted something on it. Crawline was dangling from the ceiling on her web string, looking around curiously. Lance landed on the table and was looking at me- I could feel the avalanche of thoughts that rolled through his mind at the moment. Aurora, the last one, was excited, with her beautiful blue and green scales shining like gemstones with every move.

"Welcome, everyone. I wanted to assign you tasks and see you after your respective evolutions."

"We are grateful, our King!" Aurora's voice was incredibly charming and clean, without a single hint of hissing I subconsciously expected from her.

Others just bowed politely. It looked like Aurora was the highest-ranking scion from my newest group. Aurora was a big deal. To be honest, she ranked just below Stella, and while both of them were not considered combat denizens, woe to anyone stupid enough to pick a fight with them.

"Aurora, I want you to take residence in this place." I showed the Alchemist complex around us. "I gave Opal, one of my residents, a quest for unlocking a subclass. I want the two of you to work together and bring this place to life."

"As you wish, my Lord. But the help of a skilled artificer or engineer would be incredibly desired," she told me hopefully.

"I think I know just the guy..." I smiled.

Verni would gladly help them; he was always ready for a challenge. Besides, I had a feeling that he would not resist Opal if she asked him. Aurora brightly smiled in return, and after politely bowing, she moved to the side.

"Lance, your hive will have two tasks. The first and most important task is to work with Twirll and his flock in securing Avalon from threats too small for my other forces to even notice."

"BUZZT."

"Yes, I'm sure you will not fail me." I nodded. "Your second task will be to provide your magic-infused honey for potion making. You will be providing help to the Alchemy Complex."

"BUZZT."

"Also, you and Twirll, with the help of Arani, will raid Mead Hallow Dungeon. I don't want the Kingdom of Cridia to learn about it, so my Eagles can't exactly attack directly; this will be on you. Damage it as much as you can, but don't kill it, even if you have the chance. It is also important not to get captured. I don't want it to get any information from you."

"BZZZtzzTT!" Somehow, that sounded like laughter. I looked at my beautiful and deadly spider scion.

"Crawline. You will replace Thor as the supervisor of the dungeon parts of Avalon. You will also have some of your spiders assist Twirll and Lance. While less mobile than Hornets and Sparrows, I believe spiders would be a valuable part of Avalon's defences."

She danced happily on her thread, sounding like I didn't even know what. Like a screeching bat or something you don't want to ever encounter in your life.

"I will also count on you to help Wendy in her shop." I moved my gaze to Jasper, who waited patiently. "Jasper, you will be responsible for our logistics. It's very important and demanding work, but you will have to prepare scouting teams that will be accompanying Thor's wolves during their scouting and data-gathering missions.”

"We are at your command, our King!" Jasper bowed to me gracefully. He sounded a bit like that construction guy everyone knows. He was professional to the core.

"Thank you all. You can attend to your tasks." They all bowed to me, and the three of them quickly left the room.

Aurora looked at me nervously and smoothed her lab coat. With curiosity, I opened the door to the lab itself and noticed it was... poorly equipped. With confusion, I looked at Aurora.

"My King, this was the reason why I asked for the help of a skilful Artificer or Engineer. Without one, it will be tough to produce anything." She explained as if she wanted to apologise for something that was not her fault.

"I see... Then, first thing in the morning, you will go to Verni and explain what you need for the lab. Also, Ragnar and Bjorn will help you if you need anything more for your work."

"I will do this!" She smiled and wagged her tail. "I will go right away, make an inventory check, and inspect all workstations to see what can be improved with the help of Master Crafters, my King!"

"Before you go, Aurora, tell me how hard it will be to create a normal healing potion?" I asked, happy to see she had assumed a role similar to the one Stella took. She was the keeper of the Alchemy Complex like Stella was the keeper of Magic Tower.

"A normal healing potion? That's a cinch, my King!" She waved as if she wanted to chase away a mosquito. "We almost have all the ingredients, and what we don't have can be replaced with substitutes from Your Majesty's garden."

A cinch... A potion already forgotten by the people of this world remembered only because of the bard's songs. However, I was more than relieved to hear that because this potion would give my adventurers not only peace of mind but would also act as bait to bring more people to my hunting grounds. I smiled very, very widely...

"And better potions?"

"There are about fifteen types of potions I can create. But Miss Opal is an Herbalist, so her skills will allow us to obtain every herb we need."

"Very well... Proceed then, Aurora. Produce some normal healing potions as soon as possible."

"As you wish, my King!"

•••

I walked on the wall separating the Middle castle from the lower one, inhaling the cold air of the clear night. The stars shone so brightly in the moonless sky as I inspected guard posts in person for the first time. While the guards in the Lower castle were obvious baits, these were the full-fledged legionaries. They were more than capable of striking and defending my Kingdom- the Lower castle walls could wait. This was all part of my plan; I must do everything to convince Josla that I was an easy target. So far, it was working; I recently sent Sebastian's most powerful maid to the capital, and she confirmed all reports gathered so far. Josla was in darkness.

I looked into zone six just in time to see why Jester had gathered snowballs for the past five hours. He and his chosen skeleton archers were now throwing snowballs at the spy party, interrupting their sleep. Even from here, I could sense their frustration and boiling anger. Some of them were falling unconscious, too tired to care when the next snowball hit them in their sleep. At this rate, I was almost sure they would leave my domain as fast as tomorrow morning.

Sebastian sent me word that these snow monsters were heading to the Gorn Village. They used buildings as shelters and prepared something. Now they were eating some meat that one of my slimes identified as Orc and Elf meat. This only confirmed they were chaos spawn, truly abhorrent creatures that empowered themselves through bloody and sinful rituals. I ordered Thor and Arani to join Sebastian in wiping out the entire horde. It would be better to kill them off than leave them to roam and grow stronger...