Chapter 198: The Divine Tree
"Its good to see you finally recognize this prince, young Padawan."
Khloe stared at me pensively for a moment before her eyes widened in shock. "...Y...you are the unruly prince!" Khloe suddenly exclaimed after a moment of silence.
I smirked.
"Took you a while. Now that you know I’m a prince from an all powerful empire, it’s better you all stop disrespecting me."
"B...but... how’s that possible? You’re supposed to be dead. We saw it everywhere on the newslogs." Vera said in disbelief as her eyes glowed brilliantly.
"Well, young Vera, I did told you I died and came back to life, now didn’t I?" I said suppressing the grin that was about to creep up on my face. It was funny to watch Vera’s expressions. Her ability told her I couldn’t be lying, but her brain just couldn’t process it.
"Wow, I can’t believe we’re working for a prince." Alan muttered in an excited tone. "What do we call him now, do we continue to call him Boss or your highness?"
"Wait, since we’re technically working for. prince, doesn’t that legally makes us authorities under the crown?" Hugo muttered with a bewildered gaze.
On the contrary, they’re more like illegal terrorist working for a supposed dead prince, but let them have their fun.
"But Boss, if you’re alive, why is everybody saying you’re dead?" Pixie asked in a tone that suggested she did not understand what was going on.
I smiled wryly.
"That’s because I really am dead to everyone else. No one knows I’m alive at the moment safe for you all. And it’s better it stays like that for the foreseeable future." My voice dropped to an octave towards the end.
"Understood?" I asked in a low voice, to which they all nodded solemnly. I inwardly nodded to myself.
"Okay, my young Padawans, get back to doing whatever you were doing." I turned away. It all ended well... or so I thought.
"Boss..." Khloe suddenly turned to me with a wide grin. I shrunk back in reflex almost instantly. Why the hell is she looking at me like that?
"...it seems you’re younger than everyone in this room."
"Hmmm, now that I think about it, that seems to be the case." I nodded like a yes man.
"And you always act like you’re way older than we are. To be honest I thought you were in your hundreds or something from the way you always talk."
"Well, it all depends on the way you carry yourself." I shrugged. "It not really that hard to be honest. I just have to act mighty and understanding, and keep calling you all young anytime I intend to speak to you."
"You mean like young Vera and young Khloe?" Pixie asked.
"Exactly, it seems you get it, young Pixie." I gave her a thumbs up.
"It’s not funny, I will not have someone younger than me calling me young Khloe." Khloe said.
"But Boss is very cute though." Pixie chimed in.
"Pixie, that is not the topic of the conversation." Vera chided. "Stop admiring him."
Just like that, the center of attention turned away from me and the three women began bantering. The rest of us watched as they continued while subtly shaking our heads.
’Women.’ I guessed was the thought going inside every one of our heads.
Eventually though, I had to step in to calm them down.
"Children please, can you all..." I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before Vera and Khloe both snapped their heads towards me.
"Okay, adults please, can you restore decorum. I think the whole of this ship can hear you." The three grumbled and each went to their seats.
Heaving a sigh, I raised my featureless mask, intending on transforming again, but just before I covered my face with it, my eyes caught something on one of the reflective ornaments in the room.
"What the..." I slowly stood up and walked closer to the ornament. And there in the reflection, I saw it properly. "...What in the world..." There at the center of my forehead, a small pitch black crescent mark was engraved.
I raised my hand to my head and tried to scrub it off, but it was all for naught. The mark seemed engraved to my skin.
"Where the hell did I get a mark from?" I pondered, muttering to myself. I thought about it, for for the love of all things couldn’t figure it out.
A reflection appeared next to me so I could see the mark well. But sewing the reflection jolted something in me. I was reminded of the replica.
I briefly remembered the jarring current that ran through my head before everything faded when that bastard struck my forehead with the force of a sledgehammer.
I gritted my teeth. What was the mark for?Why would he label me with it? Was it so he could control me better?
"That bastard. I’ll kill him, I swear I’ll kill him even if it’s the last thing I do." I silently cursed as killing intent began radiating off me.
"Uhm... Boss are you okay?" Bob asked in a small voice. It was then that I noticed my killing intent was pressuring them.
"Sorry." I muttered, dismissing my reflection. "Just got a little carried away."
"Are you sure you are alright? Bran spoke for the first time since we got on this airship.
"Yeah, you were muttering something about killing someone even if it was the last thing you’d do." Hugo added.
"Forget it." I smiled, trying to reassure them. it warmed my heart slightly that they cared. Then I walked past them while placing the featureless mask on my face.
My features reverted to the form I was sporting earlier, before I sat crosslegged and another reflection appeared behind me.
I then turned back to them. "I don’t want to be disturbed for the time being." I said before closing my eyes.
I then began channeling. The urge to get stronger was stronger than ever. The past proceedings and my death had proved to me that even if I had grown way stronger than when I first appeared in this world, I was still very much insignificant.
It was extremely frustrating to be honest. To realize that you were no more than an insignificant bug. But still, I wouldn’t let that frustration get to me. Lime a Wiseman once said; Weakness isn’t a sin, staying weak is.
If all things went well, I should be able to break through to the Zeta- rank in the next two months or so. The thought was so exciting that it chased away my former inhibitions. I would finally be ahead of those two monsters, not to say I wasn’t a monster myself.
In the novel, Alistair wouldn’t reach the Zeta- rank for another three months or so. As for Sia, I never really could tell with that girl. Though even if anyone of them reaches that rank, I was damn sure it’ll be after I did.
My body couldn’t help but shiver in excitement as I thought about what ability I could possibly get. I just hoped it wasn’t useless, and that it complemented my initial ability.
I’ve seen many who got abilities that didn’t complement their initial abilities, or outright got useless ones.
What would it be? Perhaps it’ll be an ability that’ll enable my reflections to not degrade, or maybe it’ll be one that’ll enable me to...A/N: (Not me subtly asking for suggestions on his new ability.)
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The days spent in the airship was pretty monotonous, but perhaps because of the constant bickering, the days were somewhat fun.
Though, I spent the most of the time channeling. Today was the night of the seventh day since our airship took flight.
And finally, gazing out the window, I saw the first sign that we were close to the Demon continent.
What I saw wasn’t mountains, hills, or even land to begin with. What I saw was a massive pillar enamored with golden designs. It’s one end was far out of view, even beyond the horizon, and it’s other end stretched far into the observable sky.
Apart from the ocean, the pillar was the only thing observable from where we currently were.
Albeit, it wasn’t actually a pillar as one would think. What looked like a massive pillar was in reality a tree. And it wasn’t just any tree, this was THE DIVINE TREE.
The divine tree wasn’t merely a tree, it was a semi- living entity, and the most sacred entity on Nahaar. Ironically though, the most sacred entity was located at the heart of the Demon continent.
The reason it was the most sacred entity was because, the divine tree could be said to be the consciousness of Nahaar.
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