What do people who have everything want?
They want more.
Volume 2
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In a place far away, hidden from the world. A man knelt in front of a man on the throne. His sweat dripped on the cold hard floor with each passing moment. But he didn't lift his head and look directly at the person before him.
Even though he was injured and exhausted, he didn't show it outside. Any unwanted action would be troublesome for him. So, he patiently waited until the man initiated a conversation.
"Thorne." A majestic voice called out. The kneeling man finally lifted his head. Still, he didn't dare make eye contact with the person on the throne. "Failure was not an option. And yet, you come here after making a mockery of yourself. Is this how you show your loyalty?" The man asked with disappointment.
The lightning mage arched his back more to bow. Even though he was one the strongest person in the entire western continent, currently, he didn't have the authority to go against that man. After all, he was a prince of one of the strongest empires in the world.
"It seems like I have underestimated your skill." The man continued while twisting his curly blonde hair. His voice contained a hint of anger, alerting the kneeling man.
"Should I just kill you? A useless person like you has no reason to exist." He said without any change in his tone. But his cold glaring eye showed how angry he was.
"Forgive me for my failure, your majesty. An unforeseen situation arose during my visit to the central continent. Cough, Cough." The lightning mage said with mild apprehension. He coughed due to the pain he felt because of the injury.
"The tier 5 warrior of the Thousand-headed Serpent tribe was stronger than I expected. His interference made it troublesome for us."
"Your description does not explain why you ran away with your tail tucked between your legs." The man on the throne inquired. He gave a cursory glance at the people behind the lightning mage, inducing fear in everyone.
Hiding away his thoughts, the lightning mage explained- "An unrecognised tier 5 beast appeared and chased me away. It was something beyond what I could face in my injured state. So, I had to run away from it to guarantee our anonymity."
"Hm…" The man on the throne nodded. He didn't bother to ask anymore. After all, he didn't actually have the authority to question an archmage. He was abusing his power by questioning the lightning mage. And the man knew that the lightning mage would not provide him with any more information.
"You can leave…" The man on the throne motioned for the lightning mage and his group to leave. He knew that his action was being observed. He couldn't keep them and question them forever.
His only goal was to sniff out the incongruity in their words. And he seems to have found what he was looking for. The crazed and angry look he had disappeared. And was replaced by a completely different expression from before.
This was his true self, A calm, quiet, unseen monster hiding in the shadows.
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Six months went by.
Alex spent the last six months learning about this world. Every book he could find, he read them voraciously. The geography, history and political structure of the world finally unravelled before him. By comparing it with his past experiences, Alex came to a conclusion.
Power, personal strength and status meant everything in this world. Without any of that, you are a nobody.
And Alex was currently a nobody in this world. He wanted to change that immediately. But he felt a sense of loss remembering that the farm stopped providing methods to level up.
For a moment, Alex linked his life with the interdimensional farm. And without the farm, he felt like he couldn't do anything. This was a depressing thought that gnawed at his brain.
'I am a slave of the interdimensional farm?' The thought scared him beyond anything that he had ever experienced.
The farm was supposed to make his life better. He was supposed to use it, not the other way around.
And this feeling combined with what he had learned forced him to change his ways. He was going to go on the offensive from now. He was going to shed his life of observer and take an active part in making the world into something that he can peacefully live in.
Alex wanted to survive and he needs strength, power and status to achieve it.
By strength, he meant the personal strength to not die in any condition.
By power, he meant his ability to influence the world around him.
By status, he meant a social position in which he feels comfortable.
These three things were going to change his life forever.
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Due to Alex exporting a large number of crops through Taka, he was able to quickly gain capital. Money was the first thing he needed if he want to have power. Because, with money, he will have the leverage to change the world.
He could buy things. He could make others work for him. Or he could even build cities. That was the good thing about having money.
And by selling the crops he harvested from the farm, Alex gained a lot of money. Much more than a single person could use in his lifetime.
Now, after six months, Alex has small shops all across the major cities in the central continent. Spice Garden, which he pompously wanted to display turned into an unassuming small shop that sold vegetables wholesale. And with Taka's help, it was all done methodically in exchange for a twenty per cent stake in his business.
Some might argue that Alex was stupid to sell his business to gain the cooperation of Taka. Even without that, he could have moved Taka into becoming a major part of his business venture. He could have requested something in return for the favour he had given.
But that was just a horrible way to do business. A relationship built on favours wouldn't last long. What Alex needed was a person who would work with him in the long run. Someone that he could trust, some that wouldn't backstab him one day.
Taka fulfilled that criteria pretty well. By giving him twenty per cent of the profit. He could maintain good relationships and at the same time make him develop a sense of belonging.
Now, if someone messed with Alex's business. They were messing with Taka, a tier 4 warrior of the void fish tribe. So, this in turn slightly elevated Alex's status from a nobody to a business partner of the Taka and the void fish tribe.
With a channel to secure power and status, the last thing Alex needed was personal strength.
He has the energy level of a peak tier 3 warrior. But he couldn't use any skills.
Alex learned this truth the hard way. After all, without the spatial skills that were provided by the interdimensional farm. He was just a person who could use body enhancement.
The smoke screen he thought was a skill was pure manipulation of mana. According to Ethan, he had never seen someone do something that crazy before. But still, it cannot be classified as a skill that he learned from the spirit guardian.
Usually, the skills of the spirit guardian would be transmitted by a vision or a dream to a warrior. But Alex had yet to see the vision of his spirit guardian after his awakening ceremony. He was doubtful if he even had a bond with the spirit guardian.
So, the conclusion was, He was a tier 2 warrior with energy levels nearing tier 3. He could manipulate a large amount of mana. But he couldn't call it a skill.
That was where his personal strength ended.
To break away from this limitation, Alex turned to the next best thing he could find. That was being a mage.
He decided to study the ways of the mages from the Western continent to escape from his current situation. And this gave him hope for his future.
After all, runes were similar to programming. And he was pretty good at programming in his past life. So, he believed that he could learn to use energy like mages. He felt like it would drastically improve his limits. He wouldn't have to be a tier 3 warrior fighting to survive for the rest of his life.
With that done, all he had to do next was the complete exploitation of the interdimensional farm. For a moment, it made him feel like a slave. So, he was going to exploit it until he was satisfied.
Alex didn't know when the interdimensional farm would disappear from his life. So, he was going to make the best use of it. And even if the interdimensional farm disappears after that, he wouldn't have anything to be disappointed about.
'Let's start an agricultural revolution in this world.' Alex decided.
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