Arthur watched in anticipation yet no one even moved a finger. 'Strange, weren't there many ascenders in an illegal way?' he wondered and the answer presented itself to him in the form of the warning words of Lim.
'So legal ones are those with systems and illegal ones are those without?' he couldn't help but take this conclusion, 'Does this make me a legal or illegal one?' he couldn't tell, and yet he decided to act like others and listen to Lim's advice.
'So the illegal ones will pretend to obtain a system… then what about my system?' he was feeling slightly pressured, 'my system is acting weird and not responding… what the hell just happened while ascending through realms and arriving here?'
He started to recall the events that led him here, yet the loud bang that occurred as the large wooden side of the ship was lowered heavily all of sudden by some guards. It slammed over the sand and distracted him from what he was trying to remember.
"Don't stand like statues over there… move your lazy legs and get yourselves down to the ground."
The angry voice of the captain caused everyone to start moving. All the lines moved in unison like a small army disembarking over an enemy shore.
Just as Arthur touched the ground, he spotted many fighting groups, heavily armed like the group over the ship. They were marching all over the place like being on patrol, on guard here.
In the far sight, he spotted shades of big buildings that made him realize something. 'This is a fort,' he muttered to himself while noticing a distant vague shade of something looming in the far distance. It looked like a giant mountain, standing alone in the middle of nowhere.
"Welcome to the Lindar sacred Kingdom marine base," an old man with long and silver hair appeared with a large group of soldiers. He looked old, yet Arthur felt he wasn't simple at all. Even all the guards around him looked a little respectful and slightly cautious, keeping a few steps distance from him on purpose.
"Now we'll take you to the test area, but you can spare all of us the trouble and admit your sin as an illegal ascender."
He paused and moved his gaze fast over many of the group standing in front of him. "Y'know, being illegal isn't the end of the world for anyone. You still have a place in our world, as a slave of course," he continued his words as if he was trying to seduce those illegal ones to show themselves up.
And Arthur, who was feeling hesitant minutes ago, decided to stick to Lim's advice to the letter and pretend like anyone else.
"As you wish," he sighed in a fake helpless way, "but if I discovered you were lying to me then you would be locked up in a prison. All caught illegals would be branded as a rogue slave, the lowest of all and the kind of trash no one would love to be."
Arthur glanced in doubt towards that man as the last threatening words made him sure about his earlier decision. 'Am I a legal or illegal traveller?' Yet he didn't know the answer. But he wasn't fool enough to step forward or even express his dilemma out loud.
He deeply buried these thoughts and kept his mouth shut while walking alongside the others behind the large entourage of armed guards.
And that old man led the way with swift steps that were strangely unfitting to his old age.
The path led the entire group from the shore to pass under a high gate that looked sturdy. Arthur marvelled at the gates and walls, feeling a melancholic feeling as they reminded him of his long lost capital and great cities of his own empire.
Just as he passed through the gate, he found wide streets bustling with activity. Many passengers there were wearing war gear but also there were a few who looked like merchants or normal dwellers of the place.
He also spotted many bare men and women who looked miserable as they stared at the newcomer group with cold dead eyes, with malnourished faces begging for food and mercy.
And Arthur saw marks over their bodies which made him realize they were the rogue slaves that old man just spoke about.
All of sudden the old man pointed towards the group as he croakily shouted, "it's not too late for you to evade such a desperate future."
His words didn't receive anything but absolute silence. Even Arthur realized sticking to faint hope was much better than getting a determinant dark fate.
Since no one moved a finger, the old man resumed his walk again. He led them across wider streets and nicely looking buildings with some decorations over their surfaces and scattered statues of vague looking faces here and there until the entire march ended up in front of a big central plaza.
During the walk, Arthur felt many eyes falling over him and others. Some gave him a greedy feeling, others gave him sympathy. He didn't glance back and kept his head low, minding his own business, and he had enough issues to worry about at this moment.
'System… it's not funny to hide right now… I need you.'
As he was busy with his problem, he didn't notice the large carriage that came out from a huge mansion on one side or saw the armed men starting to operate things inside the cart and make it shine.
The carriage seemed like a gigantic apple, with even dried leaves and a short stump that appeared from its top. It was dragged by huge monsters resembling bears but with sharp needle-like extremely thin bronze fur covering their bodies.
"It's the last chance to admit your sins," the old man's shout distracted Arthur from his thoughts.
The moment he glanced at the apple-like carriage and monsters dragging it he was shocked. He was amazed by the green glow of that gigantic apple and the ferocious looking bear monsters.
"Activating the fruit of systems requires a lot of energy. Helping the kingdom to save part of it will be repaid in the form of being a normal slave. If not, then don't blame me for being savage with you."
The old man kept giving sweet promises before following them with merciless threats. Yet Arthur didn't move a muscle as he stared deadly at the old man.
"Start," the old man casually waved his hand and the next thing happened was the group of armed guards taking out strangely shaped ores and throwing them all towards the fruit.
"Gulp!"
"Buzz!"
"Gulp!"
"Buzz!"
All the strange shaped ores were eaten at once by the fruit before starting to shine brighter and buzz.
Arthur saw the dried leaves and the short stump on the top being twisted and got lively all of sudden.
Like a sleeping monster getting awakened, the fruit suddenly flew in the air a couple of meters before it grew very long and intimidating looking branches twirled around like giant snakes.
"What the hell is that?!!!"
Arthur wasn't the only one shocked by this scene. The entire group of ascenders, legal and illegal ones, showed similar shocking reactions over their faces.
And their reactions made many around them laugh. This brought Arthur's attention to the fact that they were now surrounded by a grand audience that came silently to watch them being tested like watching a grand show.
"Don't panic, this is all normal," the old man couldn't control his laugh, "but it might sting a little… Just like a tiny prick, and you all will be fine after. But I can't say the same about those without systems, to be honest."
These words and the annoying laugh that followed made Arthur more restless. 'Damn! I need my system to work. Speak now, do anything to give me hope,' he started to sweat nervously while the old man issued instructions to the guards to go and select the first group to be tested.
And as if his luck wasn't bad enough, he was selected in the first batch.
"Step forward," the guard said while giving him a mocking glance, "you should have accepted the offer of the old man from the start."
'Shit!' Arthur couldn't help but curse as it seemed his moment of distress didn't escape the keen eyes of that guard.
"Step forward now or else consider yourself failed the test," the guard shouted once more and this time Arthur had to accept his fate and move towards that flying apple.
He came here with a system, and his system was one of his old friends along his past journey. Yet for some reason he couldn't connect with the system anymore.
'Sigh, I hope you are playing dead, not really… y'know,' Arthur inwardly sighed before standing in front of those dancing branches alongside a group of fifty others.
"The test is simple," one of the guards said condescendingly, "the sacred fruit will squeeze the truth out of you… don't resist and embrace it like a welcoming ceremony for your arrival in this world."
"Swoosh!"
The next moment Arthur heard this fast moving sound coming from his front before the entire vision was blocked like someone turned off all the lights.
He found himself surrounded by vague dark fog with sparkling stars within it. "This is like my star map fog," he instantly recognized this before feeling a little regret for losing any connection with anything he once had.
"Your thoughts are clear to me…"
Suddenly a majestic voice came out of nowhere, startling him. "Your past and all of your deeds are all visible to my sacred eyes… you were really someone with a bright past, had a system, and will shine here in the future… Wait a minute… You could turn into a dragon… yo… u… h… a…"
Abruptly, the voice stuttered like something stronger intervened with it. Arthur was speechless for a long minute before asking, "Sacred apple… are you ok?"
Yet nothing came to him in response except for the fog around getting slightly restless before it gradually calmed down.
"You don't have a system," suddenly the voice returned again declaring these shocking words, "you didn't do anything noteworthy to come here… you are an illegal ascender."
The next moment and while he was amazed by this sudden shocking turn of events, he felt his body being ejected violently like getting hit by a massive rock.
And the next moment he opened his eyes to find himself being thrown in the air, flying tens of meters before his body landed heavily on the ground where he first felt its coldness and hardness.
"An illegal ascender," and just before he could absorb what just happened, he heard this loud shout coming from a few meters nearby. "Take him away, take him to prison. He will be branded as a rogue slave for the rest of his pathetic life."
"I'm not an illegal ascender," he couldn't help but resist the strong arms that stretched to carry his body violently. "I've a system, I have a system and this damned fruit knows that!" He kept shouting with all his might, declaring to the entire world his innocence from such fabricated crime.
"Shut the hell up!" suddenly a strong blow hit the back of his head, making him dizzy. Lights started to fade off gradually while the entire world started spinning without stopping. "I'm innocent… I've a system… I've… a… sys…"
And in no time he lost his consciousness while his shouts died with his futile resistance.
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