My domain is the northernmost portion of Tassia. I have unlimited authority stretching from the banks of the great river and reaching all the way to the city of Grammark. While under my control, I am also obligated to gatekeep what kind of monsters are permitted into my territory. Killing small beasts isn’t only a waste of my time but also a policy of the weak southerners in the capital. No, instead I let monsters fester in my lands; only beasts strong enough to be worth killing are hunted.
Achieving a balance requires great care, and I can proudly claim that in the last seventy years of my rule, rural towns have been pressed by circumstance to accept adulthood at the age of 15. It was a bloody affair, cutting the population of my territory nearly in half. However, it also sets the stage for my rise. Ancient notes from the age of humanity show that stats acquired before adulthood have an impact later in growth. Most importantly, the effects of vitality.
A point of vitality acquired in childhood slows the process of aging, potentially adding hundreds or even thousands of years to someone's lifespan. Countless more years of peak potential and time to hunt and grow stronger. Few truly understand as I do. Humanity's greatest mistake was civilization, and I’ll see to it that all civilizations collapse. My heir recently reached 13 years old and has successfully unlocked her stats.
All she needs now is to be taught command and authority with her carefully cultivated bloodlust and my house’s centuries of wisdom. She will be a truly legendary warlord. With such a promising result, it will finally be time to begin expansion of my project. Every child from the ages of 10 to 15 will be conscripted, and a bloody campaign to slaughter all the beasts I have left festering will begin. Those who remain will be worthy of what comes next. A year under strict tutorship will be enough.
An attendant slides into the room and passes along a letter onto my desk.
“My Lord, Knight Darius has submitted his report on notable happenings within the eastern coast of your domain.”
I page through the report. Most information is about small lords making trouble trying to skirt my policies regarding local wildlife. An extra hunt or two wasn’t going to matter, but the particularly ignorant lords like the baron of Grimmark, who had the audacity to gather men for a cleansing of beasts between his city and Port Town, weren’t acceptable. Another head for the spikes lining his castle.
Then came the reason. That irritating Dwarven wastrel. He had the audacity to make a public appearance scouting talent from one of my towns! I don’t care if Port Town is technically under royal authority. The town rests within my boundaries, and it answers to my command. However, the next piece of news is something unexpected, something that pleases me greatly. That backwater little town that had long been a thorn in my side had a peasant skilled enough to beat the son of Darius.
I knew the boy, and while he was nothing against my heir, he was the best among those who had yet to unlock their stats. Sword Aura and live practice hunting monsters, and he was beaten by this peasant. Once my heir finishes her socialization training, perhaps recruiting this prodigy would be a worthwhile endeavor to prove herself capable of leadership. Yes, in a year's time I’ll have my heir bring in this prodigy and have her undergo the same trials that proved my heir an adult. She might even someday be her hand in dealing with troublesome traitors, just like how Darius cleans dissent while I hunt.
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With that in mind, I set off to retrieve my mostly feral heir. I suspect her minders will be little more than prey by the time they arrive, just as they should be for daring to watch a duke's heir. If she decides they are worthy of being her prey, it is their blessing to be fodder in her growth. Actually I would be rather disappointed should any be left. In the end everything is worth sacrificing if I can cultivate a true monster, unlike the lacking strength of modern nobility. I will be the one who facilitates humanity's ascendance, and all I need to do is destroy everything we have built, starting with Tallia and eventually bringing ruin to all human enclaves.
-Lexia Harlanou-
Blood gushes across my face as I rip the throat from the prey who tried to steal my meat. Its packmates cry out and point their long claws at me. Useless. Now that I’ve awakened true power, none of them can keep up with me. I run around them with ease, ripping them apart one by one. My favorite part is the fear; most prey abandon defending themselves trying to escape, but the bipeds don’t understand that there is no hope of escape.
I can feel every kill push me further, and that rush is the only thing I have ever loved. Every weakness shown is death, and I have lived by the edge of my claws as the reaper. I know these prey have long tracked me, but after I awakened, I finally had the power to flip the circumstances. Now I hunted them, and unlike them, I didn’t let prey escape. I rip the last shiny biped in half when another appears. This one is different; its body is clad in black, and an uneasy sense of inferiority takes hold.
I bear my teeth and claws, threatening it. This being is a predator just like me; however, they are far stronger. It’s gibbering in the biped way and walks toward me. A pressure unlike any I have ever known hits me. This biped isn’t just a predator; it's the territorial alpha! I don’t resist at all as it grabs me and drags me away to its den. I can only mournfully wail while waiting to be gutted.
Jetpacks aren’t bumper cars!
-Callen-
Each of my sisters is standing before me: Callia, Reesia, and Nixie. On each of their backs is a different design for my newest model of jetpack. Each has key design differences, and they had been bugging me for their own flying devices. Thus, I set up three prototypes with different features and gave them in the name of prototype testing.
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Callia - Fire based jet thrusters - a designed layout of Ironman but with a backpack included to provide stabilizers. If it’s promising, I’ll work on integrating more into the bodysuit.
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Reesia - This one was a quadcopter with Reesia in the middle. Very similar in fundamentals to my previous excursion craft that had been ruined in its crash. It would function as a baseline to evaluate whether the others were better.
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Nixie - I’ve replaced the fire-based jets on Callia’s rig with air-based turbines. Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe it would’ve been better to trust Nixie with Callia’s suit.
My thoughts are interrupted as the girls decide it’s time to go. Not one at a time but all at once. Callia shoots into the air yelping as she flails about trying to get control. Nixie is next, and while not ascending as fast, she has just as much trouble trying to maintain control. Then Reesia slowly floats up after them. I can almost see envy on her face as she peacefully inches upward under complete control.
I’m about to call them down when Callia gets a bold idea of being a crash dummy and testing the durability. She zips across the air into poor Nixie, who spins out of control, having lost half her turbines. Callia spirals toward our house but softens her impact using the wall as an emergency brake. Nixie flails in the air screaming and crashes into Reesia, who had finally gotten a decent distance up. The two hold onto each other with more screaming until they crash into the ground.
I checked both crash sites, and luckily the worst we got was Callia breaking both her legs. Reesia had somehow shielded Nixie from the impact, and they hadn’t hit the ground nearly as hard. The biggest loss of the whole issue is the hole Callia ripped open in the second floor. I climbed up to it and froze at the sight I least wanted to see. Mom with a baby Rylin strapped to her chest and the child correction stick being patted in her hand like some mugger with a baseball bat. Murder was in her eyes.