“Do not be hasty, Senior Brother Sylvan.”
King Landhar III raised his head with an indifferent expression just as magic was about to land on his face. “Come on then; I will accompany Avril,” he said. Watson immediately stopped.
Watson’s words had absolute power because he had obtained the human chess piece. Even though Sylvan’s eyes were bloodshot and his chest was heaving up and down, he remained calm.
“You would not have come to me, let alone beaten me, if it had not been for Watson. If my plan had worked, you and the border would be my subordinates by now. How does it feel to work for your adversary and be powerless to resist?”
King Landhar III did not consider himself fortunate that he had not been beaten. Instead, he mocked him by raising the corner of his mouth. His words caused Sylvan’s eyes to turn red once more, and anger took over his rationality.
Sylvan had been planning to avenge his sister and overthrow the kingdom for more than ten years. Since his adversary was right in front of him, and he still looked so proud, he could not take it any longer and abruptly opened his right hand. Vermillion Nova, his signature fire-elemental spell, was cast.
Since he attacked with rage, the spell he cast was a sun. It wrapped itself around King Landhar III as if it wanted to melt him.
However, in the midst of the flames, King Landhar III only waved his hand, and a massive throne appeared beneath his body. Then he yelled, “Commandment!”
From King Landhar III’s body, an invisible fluctuation spread in all directions. When Sylvan’s massive sun collided with that fluctuation, it instantly vanished into the air with a pop. It was as if it had never been there before.
“Sylvan, your current strength should be at the diamond tier, and you have an angel and a dragon bloodline. However, those are insufficient in front of me! Watson bestowed those abilities on you, correct? Watson has given you so many advantages, but you are still so frail. It appears that the strongest mage in the kingdom is no longer capable of performing the feat. You can’t even get close to me.”
“King Landhar III!”
Sylvan gritted his teeth. He took an unopened bottle of Ascension Potion from his pocket. “Next, I will demonstrate my true strength to you. I am curious if you can still say these words then.”
“Senior Brother Sylvan, King Landhar III has completely upset you. You are now playing right into his hands.” Watson placed his hand on Sylvan’s shoulder. Sylvan paused.
“And Your Majesty, do not keep saying those meaningless words.”
“Watson, if you want me to stop arguing with the border count over there, you can explain how you were able to disrupt my plan.”
“It may take some time to say it. It is best to see for yourself, Your Majesty.”
Watson gestured at King Landhar III. A large portion of his memories flew from the gaps between his fingers and into King Landhar III’s forehead. The method of transferring memories was based on the Memory Transfer technology from the third era. The idea was to encase the memories in light and then transfer the light to another person’s brain.
Since the human chess piece recorded everything related to humans, Watson could learn about lost history, allowing him to use his technology more creatively. He could even build a void warship if he had enough materials.
King Landhar III closed his eyes and began to examine the memories Watson had transmitted to him. In order to turn the tables, he needed to know where he had gone wrong. Fortunately, even though his plan to take over Watson’s body did not work out that time, Watson could not kill him, and he still had a chance to turn things around.
…
The memories started to transmit. It looked like a library, and it was surrounded by books.
“It is a fantastic library.”
King Landhar III immediately recognized where he was by standing in the memory that Watson had instilled in him. When he lowered his head, he noticed that his entire body was translucent. He reached out a hand toward the books on the table in front of him. The bookshelves and books infiltrated his body.
He was like a god. He was present in that dream. He could move around and speak freely, but he could not touch or change anything.
Soon after King Landhar III became accustomed to the sensation, another person appeared. It was Watson and Amon. King Landhar III knew Amon’s name because he had reached an agreement with Watson in the Severed Fingers Gang’s headquarters.
“Watson is here with a Severed Fingers Gang’s higher-up. What does he intend to do?”
While he was perplexed, he noticed Watson wave his hand and perform a fusion on all the books in the library, transforming them into the Book of Wisdom.
The Book of Wisdom opened, revealing the figures of Ash and a few other Winter Nation people he had killed. That scene took him by surprise, and the book behind it depicted him pacing around the palace. The scene in front of him with the three corpses shocked him even more.
“So Watson entered the Great Library to obtain the books in the Great Library so that they could be fused into a magical tool capable of discovering other people’s secrets! I set up a match for Watson in the hopes that he would become my new body. That was after the gods had proven the worth of Watson’s treasures to me. When did Watson carry out his plan? Before or after he obtained the Great Library key? Had he had anticipated that winning the match would grant him access to the Great Library?”
King Landar III was perplexed. As a reward, he had arranged for Watson to become the future king and marry his youngest daughter, Kiana. The principal of the Royal Academy gave the key that would allow Watson to enter the Great Library. Was the principal working with Watson?
King Landhar III was a suspicious individual. He had no idea Watson had entered the Great Library on a whim and wanted to fuse with it. The fusion with the Book of Wisdom was purely coincidental.
While he was thinking, King Landhar III cast a glance in Watson’s direction. Watson was asking Ash, who had been duplicated, about the reason for her death and the king’s plan at the time.
“Watson, you do not realize what a terrifying person your king is!” Ash said after telling him everything. I overheard some of his plans. He told me about them because he saw that I was about to die. His plan was to summon the gods and then learn how to descend into other people’s bodies. He intended to use that method against you. He desired to occupy you, the most powerful genius in the kingdom.”
When he heard Ash’s words, Watson’s body trembled, and Amon’s face turned pale.
A gust of cold wind blew past, as well as King Landhar III’s body. King Landhar III clearly did not belong in that world, but he still felt the cold.
The scene he was in changed as the cold wind blew. It was an ice and snow world. Snowflakes whistled in the sky, and the dense snowflakes were difficult to see in the distance. Glaciers that stood on the ground could be seen on the horizon.
He could not stop shivering. Then, he heard horse hooves behind him.
To the front of the ice field, two massive horses drew a carriage bearing the emblem of the Winter Nation’s royal family. They moved slowly toward the ice field, protected by a few guards. A queen emerged from the carriage, wearing a luxurious white robe, a crystal crown on her head, and sky-blue eyes. A huge black dragon rose into the air in the ice field, accompanied by a dragon’s roar, and transformed into a person covered in a black cloak in midair. It was a man who resembled the God of Death.
“I have brought you the treasure you sought, Dark Dragon King. You promised to assist the Winter Nation in the construction of a Dragon Knight Legion. Are you telling the truth?” the Empress asked.
The Dark Dragon King, who was shrouded in black like the Grim Reaper, appeared beside the Empress in a flash as soon as her voice fell. The guards’ expressions changed dramatically as a platinum-tier aura burst out of their bodies.
“That is not good. Defend the Empress.”
“Do not worry, I came in good faith. I won’t harm the Empress.”
The Empress waved her hand at her subordinates, calming them.
“Where is it?”
As the Dark Dragon King spoke, a black storm surrounded him as he floated alongside the empress. It hurled the carriage in front of him and the two horses into the air. The horses collapsed and turned into meat paste. The carriage shattered as well, and a layer of black ice formed, but there was no treasure to be found.
The Dark Dragon King turned his head, and his cloaked gaze became cold as if it was filled with murderous intent.
The Empress remained calm in the face of the gaze, but she did not back down. Instead, she motioned with her hand. “I had my subordinates conduct a nationwide search to strike a deal with you, Dark Dragon King. It took some time and a lot of effort on my part to move all of those things over. Next, Dark Dragon King, you must widen your eyes and look closely.”
While she was speaking, an army appeared on the horizon in the distance, where the hurricane was howling. The army, riding on a white ice bear, then swooped down. The army had tens of thousands of soldiers, each with a few treasures in their hands. Some of them were carrying enormous loads on their backs. These items ranged from priceless ancient holy relics to priceless jewelry. There were also some holy relics of gold and platinum tiers. The lighting was poor. However, the light emitted by those treasures illuminated the entire planet.
“I am curious if you are pleased with the gifts I have prepared, Dark Dragon King.”
“There are a plethora of them. Their quality is mediocre, but having them is not a bad thing.”
“These are only a fraction of the treasures available. What I said before about the formation of the Dragon Knights—”
Empress Gustav did not seem to mind the Dark Dragon King’s contemptuous words. She could not possibly bring all of the kingdom’s wealth with her. What if the Dark Dragon King’s words to her were all lies? It would not be a loss if she gave up the treasures for free.
“Yes, indeed. I will give you ten dragons to form Dragon Knights if you can bring more treasures.”
“Only ten? The Holy Dragon Kingdom has 100 dragons!” The Empress sounded dissatisfied. “Every dragon I give you is a Dragon King. Even though there are only ten, each one is equivalent to 100 ordinary dragons,” the Dark Dragon King said.
The Dark Dragon King extended his hand, and the ten dragons behind him, the size of asteroids, soared into the air, emitting an aura that shook the ice plains. After the ten dragons appeared, even the snowflakes ceased to fall.
“They are Dragon Kings, indeed. I was not expecting you to be so genuine, Dark Dragon King. Then I shall be more generous. I am willing to increase the treasures by 30 percent.”
The Empress was taken aback by the scene in front of her. Then, in ecstasy, she reached out her hand, shook hands with the Dark Dragon King, and signed a contract. She left with the ten Dragon Kings after distributing the treasures.
The Dark Dragon King stood in front of the icefield after the tens of thousands of troops had left. He grumbled, “Humans are insatiable creatures who will never cry until they see their coffin. I would have really wanted to destroy the kingdom and seize all of their wealth if I hadn’t needed to use legal means to loot the treasures! However, the treasures I have gathered thus far should suffice. Later, I will use the space teleportation spell to travel to the Divine Dragon Star. Perhaps the Dragon Emperor will remember my contribution in great detail.”
The scene came to a close. The scene in front of King Landhar III’s eyes shifted once more.
He was walking along the shore of a lake at the time. The lake water was clear, and there was a massive floating city in the middle of it.
A carriage was parked by the lake. Two human guards were urging a girl with sky-blue hair to go with them. “Let’s go, Your Highness! Even though the Ptolemy family’s head has left the floating city and we have disguised ourselves as humans, it is still not a good idea to be seen by too many people.”
“Wait a second, do you feel a powerful life force surging from your body and a green light pillar appearing in the distance? It has a strong resemblance to Brother Watson’s aura.” Alice pressed her hand to her chest and stared into the distance, where the water light rippled.
“We do notice that something is different about our bodies.”
“Could Young Master Watson have done something?”
The guards became dazed as a result of Alice’s words. The surface of the water began to fluctuate at that point, and a whirlpool formed in the middle of the lake. The sea folks appeared one by one on the massive waves, and beneath them was a special pearl cannon. There were over ten thousand sea folks, which astounded the fishermen. They had no idea so many sea folks would appear there at the same time. They did not even have that many people when they attacked the city the last time.
“Why are you here, Mother?” Alice asked the beautiful leading sea folk, who wore a trident on her head.
“Alice, I am afraid your trip to the royal city will have to be postponed for a while.”
“Have you changed your mind, Mother?” Alice’s expression changed. Her mother shook her head and said, “You can still visit the royal city, though. It is just that instead of you, we will go together. Young Master Watson sent us an order to go to the royal city together to finish his plan.”
The scene had changed yet again.
King Landhar III was on his way to a mountain peak at the time. The boundless mountain range stretched for thousands of kilometers as far as the eye could see. There was an endless sea beneath the mountain peak. A large ship carrying dead people was faintly visible on it, but it vanished in an instant. On top of the mountain range, there was a massive tree with thousands of lights that could support the entire sky.
The mountain peak stood between the massive tree and the ocean, creating a stark contrast. King Landhar III was visiting for the first time, but he knew it had to be Mount Creation.
A few people were floating in Mount Creation’s sky, including Sylvan and his three children.
“Your Royal Highnesses, don’t you intend to stay on Mount Creation for a few days longer?”
“Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Sylvan. We can’t stay here any longer! After all, we have already been here for a few days and gotten what we wanted. If we do not go back now, Father will be worried,” the three princes, led by the first prince, politely replied.
“Very well. Take care on the road. Oh, and one last thing about Mount Creation that I hope no one forgets. The passage of time here differs from that of the outside world.” Sylvan snapped his fingers as he sent the three princes away. He cast a spell of mental enchantment. The three princes’ bodies shook, and they turned around and left as if they had forgotten something.
On the other hand, Sylvan stood in the sky and waved his hand at the angel army streaking across the sky. “The kingdom’s people have departed. According to the Golden Flash, Watson has joined forces with the Dragons and has created ten powerful potions. The Ascension Potion is one of them. Watson wants us to use the Wish for the World ring to mass-produce the potion. It will soon be time to launch an attack on the kingdom and overthrow King Landhar III’s rule.”
“Indeed, Lord Sylvan.”
The Blackmoon Knights shouted in unison.
Watson’s memory transmission came to an end at that point. Sweat trickled down King Landhar III’s brow as he slowly opened his eyes. Watching so many memories in such a short period made him tired, but instead of tiredness, he felt fear—a fear toward Watson.
“Starting with the plan to get me from the Great Library, we went to the Dragon Clan to take part in the Dragon Knight test. In reality, we were attempting to strengthen the Dragon Clan and create the potion we needed. Then we sent a signal to the sea folks. Finally, they were able to produce the potion at the border. I admire you for following one memory after another!”
“Watson, you have been carrying out those plans since the moment you arrived in the capital. No, you have been carrying out those plans since your arrival in the kingdom.”
Not only that, but the memories Watson displayed to him were incomplete.
“What is Your Majesty’s opinion?” Watson flashed a half-smile.
“Watson, you are a monster in every way!”
“I only have one regret right now. Instead of allowing you to develop, I should have mobilized all of the troops to kill you when you first arrived in the capital. I messed up in that step, and it will not happen again.”
“Do you think there will be another time, Your Majesty?”
King Landhar III remained silent.
“King Landhar III, I am not killing you now because you can’t die yet, but do not be so arrogant!” Sylvan said as he walked to his side, grabbed his shoulder, and flew down. “Your life is in my hands now. I am familiar with the story. Hurry up and do what needs to be done. Do not squander your time here. You no longer have another chance.”
