Records of the Weakest Emperor

Grace shook her head, "That's right."

Calvin's pupils constricted.

"So I didn't actually come here to help humanity, but only to hasten its death?"

"No..." Grace smiled, "No one knows for sure as to what kind of impact you'll bring..."

"But I sure am certain that it is positive. Besides, now that you already know that your presence alone is hastening the death of humanity, wouldn't that mean that you don't have to hold back anymore? I can feel it, Calvin... You're holding back."

"You might look okay on the surface, but you are suffering inside, right?"

"It must be tough having no one to talk about your worries. It's okay, you can tell me what you feel. Tell me what you're planning to do, and tell me everything that had happened to you in the past..."

"You have my Commandment, and I can say that we are comrades with the same goals and minds. Why not we support each other in these hard times?"

Calvin stared absentmindedly at Grace.

That's right...

He had always been alone.

Sure, he had a lot of friends and comrades, but he had always been alone whenever shit goes south.

When his plans succeeded, he earned the praise of everyone.

But whenever it failed, they would seem to forget his previous achievements and only criticize him based on his failures.

A single failure was enough to condemn a genius as a mediocre man? What kind of logic was that?

Calvin had always been alone.

Even more so now that he was the only person that knew of the upcoming invasion of the invaders.

With the burden of action on his lone shoulders, it was slowly proving too difficult for him to endure.

But Calvin had always been enduring.

His persistent heart had become his sole coping mechanism.

It didn't matter if he was alone. He was a man on a mission. He didn't need anyone's recognition.

So long as there was a peaceful world after his demise, everything didn't matter.

But now that Grace had revealed the apprehension that he had tried his best to hide, Calvin felt naked.

He didn't know what to do.

For the first time in decades, he was genuinely confused.

Afraid of betrayals, Calvin was hesitant to say anything, but his overburdened heart begged to differ.

What should I do?

Calvin inwardly mumbled.

Grace saw the confusion on Calvin's face and she moved closer to him.

Without saying anything, she brought Calvin into her embrace.

"You don't have to hide anything from me. Tell me the details. I know that we've already talked about your past once, but I know that you haven't told me everything, yet." Grace's gentle voice resounded.

Her divinity seemed to have awakened as Calvin felt a gentle warmth coursing through his entire body.

This warmth...

It seemed similar to the warmth that anyone could feel while they were in the bosom of their most beloved ones.

"You must be worried that your actions of telling me everything would drastically change the future, right?"

Grace rubbed the crown of Calvin's head, "But does that even matter? The future is always changing. The outcomes would always be different. There is no such thing as pre-destined fate. At least, that's how it always has been."

"Since the future is constantly changing anyway, why should you be afraid of change? Why should this lone, and unknown hero... be afraid of change?"

Calvin's figure trembled for a moment before Grace felt something wet on her chest.

A smile spread on her face.

But she didn't say anything.

She just stood there—holding the trembling figure of the lone, unrecognized hero who had once saved the world but had his glory stolen from him after a series of betrayals.

Calvin's words that had turned to ice seemed to have been thawed.

He spent the entire night telling Grace the details that he had hidden when they once talked about his past.

Of course, he hid some details that were just too sensitive for them to talk about.

But most of them were only related to Herscher.

Calvin still found it hard to talk about her even now.

"I see, so that charming man's goal is to take down the Primordial Cradle..."

"His estimated arrival is ten years from now, and he'll take at least a century before he takes down the Primordial Cradle."

"That's not a lot of time." Grace wore a serious look on her face.

"What exactly is the Primordial Cradle?" Calvin asked.

"The Primordial Cradle houses an infant," Grace replied.

"An infant?" Calvin was confused, "What do you mean?"

"The infant housed within the Primordial Cradle is the genesis of the natural laws. Taking the Primordial Cradle down means that the previously infinite and omnipresent natural laws will become finite..."

"What's more, I guess their goal is to tame that infant within the Primordial Cradle and monopolize the natural laws for their own use."

"But why would they even do that? Wouldn't turning the natural laws into a finite concept be disadvantageous to them?" Calvin asked.

Grace bitterly smiled, "That's right. But since they are trying to take down the Primordial Cradle. The natural laws of the world must be useless to them..."

"In short, since they do not care about the natural laws of the world. They must be outlanders from another world. That's the only explanation that I can think of which actually makes sense in the long run."

"Outlanders from another world? Wait!"

Calvin suddenly interrupted, "Just what are these natural laws? Could it be something that has a lot of mass and energy?"

"That's right." Grace nodded, "We've created the world of Las Felipinas through the Primordial Cradle. However, the Primordial Cradle has intelligence. They probably failed to tame the Primordial Cradle and as a result, they were forced to destroy it."

"As for the reason why they destroyed it, it should probably because they didn't want their enemies to get a hold of the Primordial Cradle."

"Enemies?" Calvin stared at Grace in shock, "There are more outlanders than the Sucklings?!"

"Yup..." Grace nodded, "Setting that aside, the world of Las Felipinas is under the protection of the Primordial Cradle. It stands at the highest plane of existence that we can currently comprehend..."

"That is why I told you earlier that I can't just directly turn you into an overpowered killing machine. The Primordial Cradle follows logic, as well as equal rewards, and equal punishment."

"No matter how much I want to turn you into an overpowered monster, the Primordial Cradle wouldn't allow it at all!"

Grace let out a sigh.

Calvin was still in shock from what he had heard from her. Honestly, he could care less about Grace's revelations.

For now, what was more important to him was the reason why the Sucklings wanted to monopolize the Primordial Cradle.

His eyebrows were knitted as he fell into deep contemplation.

What kind of world requires the energy and mass of the natural laws to sustain itself?

He thought hard and long about the answer, but Grace interrupted him, "You don't have to think so much about it for now. It is not that easy to take down the Primordial Cradle..."

"Granted, I was shocked by what you've said that they managed to succeed in just a century."

"But it is probably because we were caught unprepared."

"But since you told me everything, I am confident that I will be able to fight against them at least, the fall would take much longer than a century."

Grace stared right at Calvin.

"What's more, I also have you..."

"You will forever be always on my side, right?"

"Yeah..." Calvin answered without thinking too much about it.

"I'm glad." Grace simply replied.

Then, she stood up and clapped her hands together, "All right, it's about time. Let's go, let's go!"

"About time for what?" Calvin stared suspiciously at the over-excited Grace.

"Isn't it about time for the final phase?"

"The final phase?! Isn't it going to take place, ten days from now? What's the hurry? I'm still in the process of recovery."

Calvin started to sweat.

"Oh, come on. Don't be such a coward. Don't you want to get out of here faster?"

"We've got to do it for the last time before I send you out of here!" Grace then dragged Calvin into a well-hidden room near the living room.

Calvin didn't spend the entire year of his stay here for leisure.

Sure, he might not be able to gain any substantial Experience Points without being in combat. But he didn't stay here for that.

He came here to seek Grace's!

And it was precisely what they were doing in that well-hidden room right now!

Fortunately, the well-hidden room had soundproof walls.

If not, then Calvin's scream would've probably reverberated throughout the entire residence.

"Even though we have been doing this every month for the past eleven months, I'm still quite astonished that you're actually this knowledgeable in this art. To think that you would propose for me to do it."

"Is it really that unexpected? How am I supposed to do this alone? I'm not that flexible!" Calvin retorted.

"Hahaha, but I sure am surprised that your body is able to take this much. It makes me think that you're a natural-born masochist."

"Shut up!"

With a sharpened needle-like quill in her hand, Grace made her move and Calvin's horrendous screams resounded once more.

Calvin's Writer Class was a class that didn't have a lot of offensive abilities, nor it was suited for combat.

Sure, the Rozenstruik Empire's Hand-to-Hand Combat Arts might be helpful to Calvin.

However, that Combat Arts was only developed after the collapse of the natural laws.

In short, this Combat Art suited mortal humans whose enemies were the physically stronger Sucklings.

Granted, Calvin could still use this Combat Art in tandem with the latent Mana in his body.

However, that wouldn't be an efficient use of his Mana since the Combat Art was optimized for the use of mortals, not for the use of Predators.

In other words, Calvin still had to find a way for him to be able to hold his own in a battle against enemies that were stronger or equal in strength to him.

And the method that Calvin chose was to combine three skills into one with the Art of Runecrafting holding them in one place.

But since Runecrafting requires the use of runic characters, and he needed to contain the three skills into one.

He had to carve the countless runic characters necessary onto his own skin.

In layman's terms, Calvin had to tattoo the instructions necessary for the runes to work—directly on his skin.

This was a painful process with high stakes.

Calvin didn't even dare to perform this feat by himself.

This was why he was overjoyed that he had completed that previous quest with the highest possible rewards.

If not, then the Primordial Cradle wouldn't have allowed Grace to assist him in this endeavor.

Calvin might've used up the favor that he had from Grace, but it sure didn't go to waste.

The skills that he chose to combine into one were...

[Enduring Heart of the Azure Dragon]

[The Golden Crow's Burning Heaven]

[The Bakunawa's Fleeting Mirage] 

With the Enduring Heart of the Azure Dragon on his chest, the Golden Crow's Burning Heaven on his torso, and the Bakunawa's Fleeting Mirage on his lower body. One could say that Calvin was trying to turn his body into a museum of legendary creatures.

Of course, he would not be able to fully unleash the capabilities of these monsters.

Precisely—he was only able to infuse a skill from each of these legendary creatures onto his body.

But it was still worth it.

After all, they weren't legendary creatures for nothing.