I swore the cave had grown in size too, as if the Core had expanded it with the increase in level.
I shook my head from the distractions and lined up the first order of business: evolutions.
I had six evolutions to go through.
I started with Varka and Bjorrek first.
Varka had four options, all of which were Rare or higher tier.
The one that stuck out to me the most though was the Hobgoblin Fangbow Sniper. It sounded perfect for her, and I could always use more long-ranged archer types.
Bjorrek only had one option though: Forest Troll. It was listed as Uncommon, but I wasn’t sure what benefits it would give him—or what it had to do with the weapons and armor he had.
Kareth became a Low-Class Demon Assassin, and Johann became exactly what I thought he would: a Skeletal Cleric.
Which meant I had my first healer evolution.
I smiled at that.
Now for the two interesting ones.
Torval, my Bogmaw, had only one option—Bogmaw Patriarch.
Sounded like I’d need to find more Bogmaws for him to bond with.
Tisandros, on the other hand, had three options:
[Tisandros can evolve into the following:]
- Verdant Basilisk (Rare)
- Petrifying Basilisk (Epic)
- Basilisk Matriarch (Epic)
The Matriarch sounded cool, but the Petrifying Basilisk… it sounded interesting, and the description made it out to have a stronger petrifying gaze and a deadlier venom.
That, to me, sounded far more useful than an ability to dominate weaker monsters with a look—especially since I suspected I’d be fighting more adventurers than anything.
With the evolutions out of the way, the next item to deal with was the free domain slot I could choose.
Part of me wanted to continue pushing west, toward the village of Aelshore, but another part of me wanted to go north. I knew the beach wasn’t far beyond my domain—I could hear the waves crashing against the shore when I’d reached its edge—so I was certain there was more ocean up there.
Looking at my options, I chose North, making my territory look like an L now.
My thoughts drifted briefly after expanding my domain to the other thing that had happened during the battle.
Cataclysm magic.
A new skill I had unlocked in the fight with Josef.
It had allowed me to stand up to the knight, but I suspected it wasn’t something I’d be wanting to use in every fight.
[Spell - Echo of the Cataclysm: Unique to the Herald of the Cataclysm, this spell infuses the user with a massive increase in strength, speed, and combat prowess, while drowning them in an uncontrollable bloodlust. It does not drain mana like most spells, instead forcibly draining the user's life force.]
So while it had been powerful, it came with a heavy cost.
Not something I’d be wanting to use very often.
I sighed, and moved on to the next order of business.
I had a total of 3,621 Soul Essence at the moment. That was more than enough to summon some new, powerful monsters… but I wanted to do something else first.
The Town Hall.
Now that I had a Level 3 Core, I could build both it and the Summoning Hall.
I didn’t have the resources, but resources were sold on the Marketplace by other people—
and I had plenty of Soul Essence to burn through.
I opened up the Marketplace, heading straight for the Resources tab.
Line after line of listings appeared, ordered by price.
It seemed that lumber was sold in stacks of 500, while stone was sold in 300.
I sighed heavily at the prices though.
1,000 Soul Essence for 500 lumber.
At least the stone was only 300 Soul Essence for 300 stone.
I needed 1,000 lumber for the Town Hall and Summoning Room, and another 500 stone for them both.
Well… it would be worth it in the end.
I purchased the required items, leaving me with a little under a thousand Soul Essence left, but with enough resources to build what I needed.
The Town Hall, when I selected it, was massive, and there was only one place I could put it—directly in front of the cave that held the Core.
I shrugged, and with a press of a button, the Town Hall began to build itself.
It would take an hour and a half, so I had time to kill.
I stood in awe at what I now saw.
The Town Hall was… massive felt like an understatement.
It was like looking at a mansion.
Even Analth, behind me, let out a low whistle.
“This gonna be your fortress someday, Herald?” she teased.
I couldn’t answer.
It really might become the center of my kingdom at some point.
The wood was finely crafted, and a set of double doors granted entry to a grand main hall. There were doors to rooms everywhere inside, though some looked like they were in poor condition. I assumed that’s where additional rooms would appear as I built and unlocked them.
A set of double stairs led up to the next floor, and beyond that I was sure there were more rooms—more stairs.
All in all, it looked less like a Town Hall and more like a Grand Estate.
“Go find a room. I’m sure there are bedrooms in here somewhere,” I told Analth, who seemed briefly surprised before smiling and nodding.
“And at some point today… you have answers for questions I have.”
She didn’t argue, simply moving up the stairs in silence.
In the meantime, I pulled up the system menu again, selecting the Summoning Room.
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The system automatically chose a placement for me, so I didn’t have to fiddle around with grids or map alignment.
As soon as I confirmed the location, the whole building shook, and one of the doors changed from shabby and worn to a faint golden hue. I guessed that was where the Summoning Room had appeared.
It made sense—right on the first floor, left side of the building, in roughly the same direction as my Core.
That would take another forty-five minutes of build time, so I followed Analth up the stairs, looking for a room of my own to claim.
The second floor of the building contained a lot of shabby-looking doors, telling me there were going to be many add-ons for the structure. That was good in some ways and bad in others, I thought.
The third floor, though, had fewer doors—but bigger rooms.
Behind one door was a full-scale pool, which seemed weird. We were on the third floor, after all.
Eh. Magic.
Another door contained a dining room, which made me wonder why there was one on the ground floor as well.
Behind another door was a library—empty of books for now, but the structure was there.
Another opened into what looked like a study, and the final door led to a lounge.
Then I reached the fourth floor.
There were only five doors up here.
I could hear movement behind one of them, which told me that was the room Analth had chosen.
I went all the way to the end of the hall and opened the door that stood out from the rest.
It was made of dark mahogany, and etched into the wood in gold were the letters “E.H.”
Eric Hill. That was the only thing that made sense.
I opened it and was nearly blown away by what I saw.
The room was huge.
It was like stepping into an apartment—but the apartment was just one massive room.
There was a bed far too big for one person, and windows that looked out onto the village itself.
Another door opened into a personal bathroom, complete with a walk-in shower, bathtub, and sink.
I was honestly surprised they had such technology here, but perhaps it had something to do with the System—or my memories of home.
Along the wall were a couple of dressers. Empty of clothing for now, but I was sure I could acquire some to fill them.
Finally, there was a full-length mirror, letting me take in my appearance.
I barely recognized the person staring back at me.
There were still some of the same features, but I was more… monstrous—made even more so by the sharp teeth in my mouth and the almost demonic-looking irises I now had.
It was strange, really. I knew I should be freaking out about this, but by now I’d been in this body long enough that it felt like my own.
I sighed and went to the bed, laying down on it.
“Oh!” I exclaimed, sinking into the mattress.
This was the comfiest bed I’d ever slept in—even back on Earth.
I felt my eyes growing heavy, and with how relaxed I was, I ended up dozing off.
“Herald, are you awake?”
Analth’s voice woke me, and I stirred groggily.
I sat up, blinking at the dragon woman for a moment before glancing outside—and groaned.
It was pitch-black out, which meant I’d slept for six or seven hours.
“What is it, Analth?” I asked, looking up at her.
“I thought you should know—your monsters have fully evolved, and your new Summoning Room has been built,” she said with a small smile and a slight bow.
I nodded and rose, stretching briefly while trying to ignore the amused look on Analth’s face. I grabbed my sword and followed her out, voicing the one question I had time for before we reached the ground floor.
“When were you going to tell me you were a dragon?”
She froze, and I nearly bumped into her.
For a long moment, she didn’t answer. Then finally, she sighed.
“I would have told you when the time was right,” she began, not looking at me as she continued to walk. “I know people say that all the time, but in this case I actually mean it. It was never my intention to hide things from you… I just needed to know I could trust you, and that you were capable of gaining strength on your own.”
I nodded at that, glancing away from her for a moment. It was a reasonable explanation. I could have come to rely on her too much, knowing she was a dragon—and she hardly knew me. Why would she tell me her deepest secret just like that?
“I understand,” I said aloud, holding off on any other comments until the two of us could have some time alone to speak.
We reached the ground floor in silence, and I led the way to the Summoning Room. The door was different now—no longer that shabby wood, but made of a reflective metal that looked like black glass. I was curious about the reasoning for that, but decided not to question it for now.
Stepping inside, I choked on my breath at what I saw.
If I’d thought the Town Hall was big, this room was massive. I wasn’t even sure how it all fit.
A long hall led toward a dais in the center of the room, lined by massive, floor-to-ceiling marble pillars.
The pillars had runes carved into them, as did the tiled floor that led up to the dais itself.
At the center of the dais, looking larger than it had before—about the size of a medicine ball now—floated my Core.
The light it gave off was almost blinding as I stepped closer, as if it were… happy?
Analth whistled behind me as she followed me in, looking around.
“Never been inside one of these,” She muttered under her breath. There was so much I didn’t know about her, but it wasn’t the first time she had mentioned things about other Heralds. It made me wonder just how many Heralds had been summoned to this world… and if there were more Heralds out there currently.
The room itself was great. Looking around it had plenty of space to summon larger monsters, a massive back door for them to leave through, and an open ceiling so flying monsters could go out that way.
I had no Soul Essence, not really, to summon anything at the moment, but I knew soon I’d be in here summoning larger monsters.
With the Summoning Room checked out, I led the way outside, wanting to touch base with my monsters and see what their new evolutions looked like.
The village was actually quite nice at night.
A small fire burned near the Kobold’s hut, probably roasting some animal they found in the woods, while the others monsters seemed to be huddling around doing their own thing.
As I made my way toward the center, multiple monsters went to a knee, bowing their heads, the chant of “Herald” echoing through the area.
I smiled and motioned for them all to rise, still not used to all this fuss around me.
My eyes scanned the various figures, finding some easier than others.
Bjorrek had changed a lot. Each shoulder now had what looked like the top of a tree, complete with leaves that trailed down his back and seemed to almost intertwine with the metal armor he wore. His skin was less peach and more deep green, and his eyes now were the color of bark.
I had to keep myself from laughing. He was very much the embodiment of a Forest Troll.
Varka hadn’t changed much. Her form was more lithe, if anything, but otherwise, unlike Halvard, she hadn’t gained runes or anything on her body.
Tisandros had also changed a lot. His scales were less green and more of a yellow-ichor color, and his body had grown longer. His eyes seemed sharper as well, catching the most subtle of movements—but I no longer felt afraid to meet his gaze.
Kareth seemed… darker, almost, and more subtle. He stood in the shadows, and it took him speaking for me to find him. Almost as soon as he stopped, I lost sight of him again.
Creepy.
Johann had changed a lot as well. His bones seemed to glow with holy radiance, which just felt at odds with an undead creature. When he spoke, his voice was booming—like a priest giving a sermon.
Torval was much larger than before, and what looked like vines swished back and forth from his back. I suspected those could be used to pin down prey, and there was a strength about him that made me nervous—even if he was on my side.
I smiled brightly at my monsters, giving a nod.
“Well done, all of you, on the battle today,” I began, standing in the center of them all. “You’ve grown stronger… no, we’ve grown stronger as a whole because of our victory. But do not think this is the end.”
I paused for a moment, letting my words sink in.
“The adventurers who escaped will tell the village of Aelshore what they saw,” I continued, my voice darkening. “Which means in a day, three days, a week—we could find ourselves at war with the mortal races.”
Some of the monsters looked almost eager at that, but I chose to ignore it.
“We stand with you to the end, Herald,” Elyndra saluted, bowing deeply. Several of the monsters echoed her words, and I smiled once more.
“While I thank you for that, I’m not going to put your lives in danger for my own,” I raised a hand, stopping any retorts. “What I mean is… I want us training, becoming stronger, every waking moment. So that no matter who they send—we won’t lose any more friends.”
My words seemed to have an effect, as several howls, growls, and cries of “Herald” went up into the night sky.
Cheers erupted, and some of my hunting-oriented monsters went into the woods to find animals to hunt and cook. A party—a celebration—would be had.
Analth approached me, a smirk on her face.
“You’re good at this… leading thing,” she commented, looking me up and down. “Were you some sort of leader back home?”
I laughed at that, shaking my head.
“No… I was a college student, seeking to learn about the world to better expand my knowledge,” I admitted. “I wasn’t a leader, just some guy doing his best to get by.”
She studied me for several more moments before chuckling softly.
“Well, college student,” she said with quiet amusement, “you’re learning fast. Keep that up, and you might just survive this world yet.”
She walked away before I could respond, leaving me to ponder her words—and wondering if maybe, just maybe, she was coming to trust me a bit more.
[Current Day: 6]
[Soul Essence: 125]
[Kingdom Core: Level 3]
[Domain Size: 3 Sectors]
[Active Quest: — None —]