Chương 46: Chapter 45 - The Higher Administrator.

Blood drained from her face as she was shocked out of her musings. A tall man in a black cloak, white hair streaked with black on a face that appeared gaunt, as if starved.

"You will ask for my identity in 1. 43 seconds." What is this guy? where did he come from? Why is he here?

"Who are you?" she asked. Wait… A smile painted his face "good, you will catch onto the only logical conclusions in another 6. 395 seconds. Faster than most." he prophesied. This guy is giving weirdly precise counts for events, could be a … Oracle? He watched a device ticking on his wrist.

"And…. now!" just as she came up with her answer.

"Yes I am an oracle, we can skip any related questions about that to save time." he promptly replied to her thoughts.

"How interesting, a young Aurendorian girl, and of the royal line no less, in tow with the guardian too… yet hmmm." he cocked an eye-brow.

"Ah yes I see, you have not yet been to the Mythral Palace, that event will occur in…" His face, becoming more and more pensive.

"What did you do to Rowen, where is he?" she demanded, backing up to the cliff wall.

"Fret not little one, and mind your step, walking backwards is never safe, you'll trip on a rock in 0. 37 seconds if you stay focused on me." he remarked. Her left foot snagged on something and she lost balance falling to the ground. I already hate this guy.

"Now onto business." he said, checking his watch once again.

"The threads are diverging here and I'd rather you not go and get yourself killed, so let's clear up a few things." one second he was standing where they first met. The next he was right in front of her, leaning down.

"You and that Rowen lad will go three, miles west of here, there you will find Mistvale's Core Vault. You will not head northward, you will not follow this cliff of climb up to the plateau. Regardless of the view." He said, as if in fact. Turning to leave, he strided off towards the woods.

"One last thing" his head pivoted back like an owl.

"You will not go to Volkion until you reach at least strata four. And just forget about Voltherra for now. I can see in your greedy little future what you want, but the threads agree we should avoid a premature death. Don't. Go." She blinked and he was gone. Who in the blazes was that? Some neurotic lunatic… why are there so many around here, first Kravin now…. This guy. Talvik's voice came in answer "That was the Clock-Keeper of Gale, given he did not kill you, you should follow his words closely.".

"Why Talvik? Who is that man?" she asked.

"Someone very, very old, and very powerful. The Clock-Keeper was around when Aurendorians walked these isles." Talvik answered with a somber note of loss. A few minutes later Rowen walked out of the trees to find Nythera sitting on a boulder. A strange look on her face.

"Rowen, did you run into anything strange?" She asked.

"No, there was a single, weak fluxspawn, some badger thing, this place is suspiciously empty." he replied. She nodded "Well I figured out which direction we should probably go in, nightfall is still an hour or two away, so if we go fast, I think we can reach shelter." She said.

"But the cliff can give us a much better vantage point…" Rowen began.

"Rowen, just trust me this time." she cut him off.

"Fine" he grumbled, "but if we get lost in the middle of the woods on Mistvale, its not my fault.".

"Provided a certain bird didn't lie to me, we shouldn't get lost." She stated proudly.

"A certain bird?" Rowen's eyes narrowed in on Talvik "You trained it? Can it find things?" He asked incredulously. She nodded, holding out a small bit of jerky for Talvik to nibble on.

"Yes its a good birdie, I trained it very well." the shark-grin on her face ran contrary to her words.

"Ouch!" she pulled her finger back, blood dripping off. You stupid bird, I will get you back for this.

"Apparently not well enough." Rowen said, an eyebrow raised. They trudged through the forest, in of a line as they could, the fog swirled around them, drifting through the pines. The undergrowth was sparse enough that tree-root became their biggest obstacle. Nythera kept a steady course through the fog, guided by the flux, which swiftly got denser. Another small hill mounted, and at the bottom of the slope, they could finally see it. A huge smile covered her face, she turned to Rowen.

"Told you so!". He snorted and looked away, "I suppose this once, you did well." They trudged up to the white-marble monument, bigger than any of the buildings in Fogtown. After circling the structure Nythera found the gate.

"Mistvale Core Vault" Just like I thought.

"Rowen go march off into the bushes or something while I open this." she ordered. He gave her an odd look, conflicted emotions in his eyes. And then marched off. This can't be easy for him. Too bad. She pushed her hand onto the slot, feeling the familiar prick as blood was drawn. A familiar pulse of energy appeared before her, the flux swirling in the center to form the dark core.

"Well, you're still alive. Strata one, classed, too many skills, more titles than most nobility, a flux pool that would make strata three's jealous, and a pathetic, but existing retinue. This island is more trouble than it's worth, but if you insist, let's get on with it" The pulses were far less impressive this time.

"Question: What would you do if you could go back to Vathrial? Right now" Oh this is easy, I've thought about this extensively.

"I would not go back, I would bide my time here, build an empire, and crush Tianshiang under my boot when I return" Her voice sung with confidence.

"Not a hint of a lie in that answer, it'll do I suppose. As I said though, this is not a particularly valuable island, go ahead and take the core" the dark orb began to unwind.

"The next island will not be so easy" as the last wisp filtered back into the walls. The huge doors swiveled open, the flux inside blindingly radiant. Images of Will, inquisitors, different countries, raced by in the room, covering the ceiling that had become sky. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Illusion flux… this island is prone to it, look there's Ramalia, and that's Tarcadia, and that's father…

Observing the collage of her past on the ceiling she wandered in. The core laid there, in the center, swirling energies casting images of waterfalls, ships, the flux sea. Now, it's time to claim what's rightfully mine. Marching straight up to it, she grabbed it with her right hand, willing the energy to be absorbed into her. Domain Core Absorbed! Mistvale (Epic) +20 Flow Quality, +25 Flux Control, +30 Constitution. Not bad, an Epic tier core is… I believe thats on par with most nations capital domains?

A smug grin covered her face. Suppose I am at core capacity now, no more until I hit baron. She sighed. The illusions collapse into fog, much of it drifting out the opened gate.

"Alright, I'm done Rowen!" she shouted from the entrance. Rowen turned the corner moments later "Finally done with it? Good, can we stay in this thing for the night?" he asked, fear in his eyes. He's scared? Of these woods?

"Yeah probably, I did last time." she replied.

"Good, the constant fog around here makes looking out for anything impossible. I swear I saw something out there just minutes ago, and couldn't catch sight of it again." Rowen led the way right back into the monument. They pulled the doors shut, cutting off the whispering forest of pines and collapsed onto the marble floor.

"So this is where the cores all are, no wonder no one could find them before." He punched the stone beneath him.

"This stone is practically indestructible, the bastards who built it used actual fluxstone." He grumbled. Nythera settled as comfortably onto her pack as she could. I think now is the time to spend some tokens. I've got three evolution tokens! Three! She knew exactly what she wanted. I need to test upgrades to Cartography before I consider an evolution token. Shelly will be so jealous. She dragged an upgrade token out of Boxy and mentally connected it to Cartography.

Before looking at the result, she took another upgrade token and plopped it down on Shellwright. The shells I made are way too strong to ignore this skill. As tempted as I am to evolve Flux-condenser right now, it'd be best to see what the upgrade token does to that as well. She dragged her last token from Boxy right onto the skill. She rubbed her hands together, giddy with anticipation. Everyone is going to be so surprised by how strong I've become.

Cartography (lvl 10) (1/2 tokens) Skill with drawing maps increases significantly with level. Not bad, not bad, I'll have to see what happens when I try mapping our route back. Shellwright (lvl 10) (1/2 tokens) Your understanding and ability to design and make artillery shells increases by +1. 5% per level. Your manufacturing speed increases by +2% per level. That is a pretty big difference, I don't know when I'll next have time to forge but a 20% increase in manufacturing is pretty big.

Flux-Condenser (lvl 5) (1/2 tokens) A pool of Hyper-Flux equal to 1. 5% of your flux pool with 1. 5% of your regen is created. Flux regen increases by +1. 3% and stamina regen decreases by 1. 3% per level. Level cap: [Resonance] - [Endurance]. Talvik is going to kill me, I mean, I am going to kill me if my stamina regen gets anywhere near minus 100%. But that Hyper-flux pool just grew by 50%... What to do, what to do, I really want to use some evolution tokens, I still have three more.

Alright, get over here Grand Administrator, this should placate all the mayors. The weight of the evolution token weighed on her mind as she dragged the connection into place, thrumming with energy. Evolution Token Used! Please select one option: Time remaining: 24h Terraformer Ability to manipulate and reshape the land goes up by 2% per level in the skill for all residents. Increase all yields by 2%. Health regen decreases by 0. 5% per level.

High Administrator Controlled domain crop, lumber and ore yields increase by 1. 5% per level of this skill. Increase all yields by 2%. Flux regen decreases by 0. 5% per level. Military State Controlled domain ore yields and forging speed increase by 2% for every level of this skill. Weapons manufactured within the domain gain 0. 3% damage per level of this skill. Increase all yields by 2%. Stamina regen decreases by 0. 5% per level.

"Nythera, consider this very very carefully. All three represent different routes for one of your most important skills." Talvik said, looking up at her from the ground.

"I know that!" she hissed back, careful to keep Rowen from hearing. All of them are great, but when I think about what each area in my domain wants… Grandport and Halsbuy and Amplewoods all need crop yields. Rustreach wants ore yields. And Fogtown and the island of Mistvale… Lumber? Maybe more fish? Andddd theres also the new cost, of course evolving skills would come with a price, it always does. She selected High Administrator, feeling the skill locked into place on her soul.

High Administrator (lvl 7) (2/4 tokens) Controlled domain crop, lumber and ore yields increase by 1. 5% per level of this skill. Increase all yields by 2%. Flux regen decreases by 0. 5% per level. I could dump another evolution token on this, but I am worried its going to gouge my flux regen into the ground. Nythera tucked in for the night, the bed roll doing little to insulate her from the cold, hard ground. …

She woke up an indeterminate amount of hours later, no sunlight penetrated through the monument so they had no means of telling time. Rowen jostled her bed roll.

"Get up, I need you to check if the sun has risen. It should have and we need to be on our way." he said.

"Fine fine" she stumbled to her feet and went to active the blood lock on the door Wait… a smirk crossed her face.

"Rowen, get over here for a moment, I want to test something." she commanded.

"What? You know I can't open these doors." he said, examining the lock before him.

"Just give me your hand, I think you can activate it" she said, voice full of confidence.

"What?" he watched as his hand was guided toward the lock. As Rowen's hand met the locking mechanism there was a click.

"Ow" he yanked his hand back. The door didn't budge.

"Now you know how it feels every time I open one of these damn things." Nythera said smugly, and opened the lock.

"Clearly we need to increase your time spent on etiquette training" he said, face flat. An aghast look covered her face "No we don't" she said and rushed out the door. I'm Queen aren't I? Can't I just ban etiquette?

"Oh look, suns up, time to go." she remarked, deflecting from the prior subject. Mist rolled past in usual fashion, light enough that she could make out trees several layers back into the woods. Rowen strode out of the monument "Can you give us a heading? Simon will not be there to pick us up at the river so we need to walk back ourselves." he asked. Nythera pulled out her trusty plank and several mapping supplies from even-trustier Boxy and set about charting a course with her prior map.

Her hands glided across the paper, sketching neat and clean lines and features she barely remembered all across the map with the ease of a practiced expert. Within minutes she had a clear drawing of a chunk of the northern coast and a now-fixed riverway that led to the prior waterfall. Some of the mountains in the distance she had barely seen the tips of were charted deep within the interior. This is incredible! The power of a single token overwhelmed her expectations.

They must be used carefully, one more token and I'll be drawing Ley-insights straight from every map! Imagine what this skill could do at level 20? Or level 50!

"A wise investment, once you start getting insights, it will pay off in spades, it might be worth increasing this skill further, resources will be crucial to building your kingdom." Talvik advised, a note of praise in his voice. She nodded in excitement. Rowen leaned over her shoulders "You seem… almost passable now." he commented. Cartography (lvl 10 > 11) They trekked through the woods, Rowen sometimes taking point to check for Fluxspawn.

Nifty skill he has, all I'm stuck with seeing is this stupid fog, it's too flux-dense to see through. Rowen had already managed to spot three fluxspawn triabits and took them out with swordsmanship before Nythera caught so much as a glance of their fur. Rowen pointed straight into the mist.

"There's some kind of fluxspawn rodent in the bushes over there, you know if you feel like contributing at all." he said, a hint of smugness in his voice. You little shit, I'll show you! She pivoted facing towards it and pulled on Cannon Arm. Heat rapidly swelled in her arm and a ball of dense flux formed at the end, right above her palm. Straightening her arm, she aimed straight for the bunny. I'm sorry young one but your experience and I need to test this skill.

"FIRE"