“This will do quite nicely, don’t you think?”
“Do you desire to break the hearts of young maidens so quickly?”
My lips twitched. “It has been a while.”
I slipped on my Mask of Janus for the main time. It would be suspicious, after all, if I suddenly chose to forgo the mask altogether. Also, I did not want to lose the benefits of the flanking immunity buff it provided.
Extra Notes:
Minions forcibly enslaved will gain an additional 80% increase in EXP Gain, will be capable of utilizing one of their Master’s skills, and their Master will gain a full 100% share of their EXP gained. Hence, enslaving or forcefully conscripting minions is the most effective way to attain the full benefits from the Minion system. However, you may only enslave Minions after defeating them and forcibly enslaved minions may disobey your commands or attempt to flee if their Loyalty or Fear is considerably low, whereas willingly enslaved minions are far less likely to be recalcitrant.
So, I earn more experience from my minions if they don’t become my minions on their own free will… but the chances of them wanting to escape or being troublesome is higher? That might end up being problematic.
Additional Notes:
Master Commands are enabled for Masters which grant an array of hidden bonuses in and out of combat situations. The Default commands are the [Meat Shield] command, in which a Minion can be summoned as a shield to protect the master, or the [Damage Transfer] command, which enables the Master to transfer damage received from attacks unto his Minion to bear. Increasing or decreasing the level of a Minion’s Loyalty and/or Fear will unlock different Master Commands with varying effects.
Kindly make full use of the Minion System!
“I can directly transfer damage from myself to you.”
“Do you understand, now, Janus?” Erzili asked. “I have submitted myself, to you, in all earnestness as my Lord. My King. My Master.”
Her hand trailed down my armor. “My god.”
I grabbed her hand. “I’m not a god.”
Erzili laughed. “Not yet.” Her blue eyes sparkled. “Not yet.”
Questline Unlocked: The Dreams of Nightmares
You have become the Master of Erzili the Slithercreep. Erzili has seen your worth as a Demiurge and recognized you as a chosen candidate to become the King of Nightmares. To accomplish this, you must raise your Influence, gather allies, strengthen your forces, develop your base of operations and expand your territory.
Tasks:
Improve Fort Zyvar:
Strengthen the Lieutenants – [Incomplete]
Increase the Fort’s Defenses – [Incomplete]
Increase the Fort’s Offensive Capability – [Incomplete]
Solve the Fort’s Food Crisis – [Incomplete]
Increase the Fort’s Morale – [Incomplete]
Attain Full Control of the Fort – [Incomplete]
Conquer the Domains of the Hlahan:
Conquer Fort Zyvar – [Complete!]
Conquer Fort Sobaka – [Incomplete]
Conquer Masakh Mountain – [Incomplete]
Conquer Krvavi Lagoon – [Incomplete]
Conquer Du Sang Castle – [Incomplete]
Conquer The Two Pillars – [Incomplete]
Quest Giver: [Erzili the Slithercreep]
Quest Difficulty: [Tier 7+]
Quest Rewards: [750,000,000 EXP] [Greatly Increased Influence Rating] [5000 Influence Points] [Title: Lord of the Hlahan] [Domains: Krvavi Lagoon, Masakh Mountain, Fort Sobaka, The Two Pillars, Du Sang Castle]
Bonus Rewards: [Unknown]
Quest Failure: [Inevitable Death]
Would you like to accept this Quest?
[Yes]
[No]
Hitting the [Yes] button brought forward a strange prompt.
Questline Accepted.
Achievement Gained!
Congratulations, Demiurge Janus! The Nightscripts welcomes you on your quest for the throne of darkness.
Achievement Unlocked: He Who Desires Peace.
A gut feeling, instinct, told me that I’d signed up for something much, much larger than I intended. The Nightscripts were congratulating me, which was something that left me feeling perturbed.
Scrolling through the list of things I needed to do made me realize that my work was incredibly cut out in front of me. Improving the Fort… upgrading its defenses… strengthening the lieutenants and…
“Fort Zyvar has a food shortage?”
Erzili tilted her head. “How did – of course. The Nightscripts must have told you.”
“How does the Fort have a food shortage?”
“Janus, darling, what do you think is the choice of meal for nightmares?”
My lips thinned. “Humans.”
“Alamirians.” She corrected. “Alamirians include humans, dwarves, druids, elvani, leporinian – the full course. Some of my darlings are pickier eaters than others, but ultimately, we nightmares thrive predominantly on feasting on Alamirians. And as you may have noticed, the Hlahan is often short on Alamirians because of –”
“The Rift,” I remembered. “The wall that separates the north from the south.”
“That’s only a small part of it. Come.”
She gestured me over to the map spread out on the table. “This,” she pointed to a patch of land with a pin placed on it. “Is where we are. South-East Alamir. The Hlahan Lands which start from the end of the Pretender’s Forest, and ends here –” She dragged her hand over the map. “At Fort Sobaka.”
The distance was simultaneously smaller and larger than I expected. The Hlahan alone, if I were to judge based on my knowledge of earth geography, was about the size of the state of Texas. It was large, certainly, but at the same time it wasn’t. Dominating all Domains in the Hlahan and making all of it mine would mean controlling a territory of that size. Nowhere near controlling a whole country – but it was still no small feat.
“Down to the extreme south or the South-South as it’s called, lies the Kingdom of the Midwarves – Jordstal.”
“It’s… small?” I asked. From what I saw on the map, it couldn’t have been any larger than the city of London.
“The Midwarves create Underground Metropolises. So, while the surface atop looks tiny, their Kingdom is connected through a myriad of underground routes that go deeper, and deeper within. If you were to attempt to map out the full breadth of their territory via underground routes…”
Erzili grabbed another map, superimposing it over the first one. “Then this would be it.”
The lines on the map stretched outward like lightning strikes woven by a drunk spider.
