The Empires Rise

"Are there any questions before we continue with one more thing on my list?" I ask the group.

"Yes, what did you get from going into the fog alone?" Draemish questions me.

"I didn't receive anything tangible," I start to recount my time in the nobleman's trial.

"So, there is an entire other scenario happening only for you and other people with noble titles?" She continues to ask.

"From what I know, yes, though from what Lilith has told me so far, there typically aren't many people that make it that far before they are either killed in this world or decimated in the scenario," I explain best.

"What stops someone from destroying your base while you are here?" She prods for further information.

"I don't know. I know I don't have to worry about my interests in that world while I am not actively involved."

Scratching her head, trying to figure something out, I ask her. "What are you trying to figure out?"

"If what you said is true, then on what sort of time scale does that trial take place?"

Pondering the question myself, I get just as confused. My initial thoughts are that it took one day per two battles, but that doesn't seem right because I can spend time out here, but things won't flow there. It isn't the same for when I am in the trial space. Looking around the table, several other people are also pondering what Draemish has just posed.

"Did you meet any other nobles during the trial?" Laxreal asks.

"There weren't any living nobles. I did run into a dead noble's units, but they weren't any better than the low-level troops that attacked my command center for every battle." I answer honestly.

"There are two trains of thought for this then," he starts. "The first option is that that world is paused, and no time will flow as only one noble is allowed in that space at a time, and different nobles have their own spaces." He pauses, thinking for a second.

"What isss the sssecond option?" Vranjaya pushes.

"The second option is that no matter what, the time scale in that place doesn't fit any world, and no matter the amount of time out here, as long as Drake doesn't go back in, there won't be any time difference, and he will return with the same setup as he had to start."

"While that is an interesting thought, that doesn't explain why our world's time flows while he is in space. If we go based on the second assumption, then there shouldn't be any flow of time in our world, and he should be able to come back immediately." Shadow states while looking perplexed at the current conversation.

"Maybe it is like our worlds. They are currently in a state of stasis. Those summoned have their time resumed, not realizing there is a flow of time elsewhere." Uxa says, bringing up a good point.

"So, how do we treat this trial? For Drake to progress and potentially have rewards come from it, he will need to go into the fog again." Draemish says. My mother scowls at the mention of me going out by myself again so soon after I came back.

"I don't think that is something that I will do anytime soon." I quickly inform everyone. "Right now, there are too many things that need to be done for me to be gone for more than a couple of days at most."

"True, we do have other things that are more pressing for the time being," Laxreal helpfully assists, knowing that he isn't in the clear with my mother yet.

"With us going based on the assumption that we don't have to worry about your trial space, Drake, does that mean we can move onto something more pressing for all of us?" My father inquires.

"I would second move on to another topic since what we have been discussing thus far hasn't been of any help to us other than knowing what Drake went through," Rhenriqi adds.

Seeing that almost everyone is ready to change topics, I quickly grasped the chance. "For the next topic, we should more thoroughly discuss who will go with me to the upcoming auction, and if we can, we should bring some of the items people have made to see if we can sell them at the auction or to others."

"Haven't we figured out who will go to the auction with you?" Draemish says.

"We have had a preliminary discussion about who is going, but we haven't discussed it since I did a stupid thing." I quickly responded, "Do we know if we have any merchants in the settlement yet?"

"From what we have gathered from everyone, there hasn't been any movement to determine if anyone has mercantile experience. The closest we have is your father since he has recovered from his wounds." Mother states.

I think about what is being asked and the current settlement. "If we have my father and me go, we will be overriding many different groups of people here. It would set a precedent that we are focused only on our world and not trying to help everyone we can." I think out loud. "Should we have the different groups of people vote for a representative to send? And then pick from those three?"

"You mean four," Shadow says.

"No, three, I am guaranteed to go since I am the lord of the settlement unless you think it wouldn't be good for me to go. I feel that if I go, there will be some form of benefit for the group that does go." I counter.

With everyone's gazes on me, I continue to try and explain but am interrupted by Vranjaya, "If you think that you have to be the one to go, then I don't oppossse. But I would like to clarify if you have to be the one that isss guaranteed a ssspot."

"How would you confirm this?" Shadow asks.

"Easssy, take out the invitation and sssee if it can be usssed by sssomeone elssse."

Not thinking this will be an issue, Xelyphe goes to fetch the invitation. It doesn't take long before they are back and slowly hand it to me.

- Would you like to go to the auction? Yes/No -

I see nothing wrong with the prompt, so I select 'No' and then pass it to Laxreal.

I can tell he is focused on a notification before his eyes shake, and he hands it to Draemish. Curious about his look, I asked, "What was your notification when you tried to use the invitation?"

"It said I cannot use this object as a guardian."

"Interesting," I turned to look at Draemish, who had also gone through her notification before handing the invitation back to me. "What was your notification?"

Everyone perks up a bit when I ask her. "It said that since I am not the settlement owner, I cannot use this item."

"There we have it. I have to use this item. This means that there are only two spots available. I want to have the best people from the other worlds to come with, but I want to have as much representation as we can." I say with a tone of finality. "That means that the other three worlds," and I look at their corresponding groups, "have to pick someone they would feel comfortable sending with me and are willing to help work for the best of the settlement."

Looking at the invitation again, I see the timer is down to less than a day before it can be used. "Can I ask that you all get everyone from your world to quickly pick a representative so we can finalize the two people coming with me?"

"That shouldn't be a problem," Draemish answers before she stands up to go out. Give us until tomorrow morning, and we will have someone before you."

"Sssame," Vranjaya agrees.

Shadow nods his head quickly before hurrying out of the room.

With that finally done and everyone taking their leave since they know there isn't much time to pick someone up, I turn to my family. "I think that could have gone much worse." I smile, still bruised.

"That was quite smart of you," my mother says; as this compliment reaches my ears, my grin gets wider. "For once," she finishes, and with that, my smile fades as I look and see her eyeing me.

Father comes and pats my shoulder before heading out of the room. "You must be hungry and tired from your trial."

Thinking about it, I agree with him. I hadn't eaten during the entire trial, which I found weird. I hadn't slept either, even though there was a bed, and it had been five days. "I am a bit hungry and could sleep. What's the time?" I asked.

"It is just after noon," Xelyphe responds.

Thinking about what I could do with the time I have in the day, I could go and work on my enchanting some more and use the rest of the experience bags I have. There is also learning how to wield a sword, so I should schedule some time with Rognar or Draemish. I tell myself one step at a time, don't get too bogged down in the details.

My first step is to open my experience bags. Opening all of them gives me 220 experience, which pushes my level halfway to level 6. After finding something to eat quickly, I head to the enchanting hut. With four new paths for me to work on, I quickly get to it.

Several hours pass before I am done in the hut. I have gotten three new paths up to selecting a specific focus.

- Offensive Buildings:

Path of Sieging

Path of Mobility

Path of Construction

Support Buildings:

Path of Enhancement

Path of Afflictions

Path of Construction

Bags:

Path of Professions

Path of Storage

Path of Currency -

Looking through the paths presented, I find it interesting that all of the building paths have a form of construction. It makes me curious if selecting that option will allow the bonuses from one path to be used for another set of sigils. After briefly looking, I check on my enchanting level; it has risen twice, and now I am at level 8. Each level is taking longer and longer to work on. It probably isn't helping that all I am doing right now is just getting the sigils made and haven't enchanted any items. I haven't had the materials to experiment on either.

Leaving that for another day, I head out of the hut to see everyone working on their projects or waiting for a spot to open in one of the different buildings. I'm curious why no one is trying to get into the enchanting hut; it doesn't take me long to figure out why. There are only a couple of enchanters in the entire settlement. Including myself, Muiress, and Eleanor, only a couple of other people have enchanting as their profession.

I head to the infantry training yard to see if anyone there would be willing to teach me a little swordsmanship. Poking my head around the corner, I see several people practicing with wooden blades in their hands. They are slowly going through the motions of their footwork, thrusting the blade, slashing, and parrying. There are several pairs off to the side that are sparring. Draemish's soldiers and others from other worlds who used cold weapons before coming here are seeing it. They can quickly get up to speed and work on getting the most out of the strength they get from their stats.

Signaling Draemish, she quickly finishes with who she is sparring, and I ask, "Would you be able to teach me some basic defensive postures with the blade?"

She looks at me and nods, "It is good to see that you want to learn more self-defense that isn't magic-oriented. I have always tried to get Laxreal to work on his self-defense, but he has never listened. But I don't think you want to learn from me."

Confused, I ask her why.

"You have an instructor who can give you the same lessons if not better suited for you than I could." She continues while pointing at Rognar, who is slowly instructing one of the warriors from my world. I can't remember his name, but he still struggles with his forms.

After thanking her, I moved over to the duo to overhear what he was saying: "Haroth, spread your legs wider, find your balance, and stop overextending your arm as you swing." From the tone of his shouting, it's not that he is angry at the young man; it's just that he is frustrated to have to keep correcting his mistakes.

"Hey, Rognar," I call out.

Turning his head to see me, he gives me a nod before focusing on Haroth some more. "Keep your focus and remember the feeling as you slowly go through the motions." He steps back and watches his perform another swing, this time a bit more stable than the last I saw.

"Good. Now, just remember that feeling and practice some more." Turning his attention to me once again, he asks, "What can I do to help you, Drake?"

Scratching the back of my head, I said, "I want to learn how to fight with a sword."

Giving me a curious look, he asks one more question, "Why?"

Letting out a sigh, I answer, "Because I want to make sure I can protect myself even if I don't have mana, and if I do have mana but the enemy is weak, I want to be able to conserve my mana and have a secondary option just in case."

Smiling at me, he gives me another nod of approval. "Good, I will teach you, but under two conditions."

"What is the condition?"

"You have to be the sparring partner with Haroth here. And you have to come by every day to practice and learn from me for at least one hour."

"That sounds reasonable. I can be his sparring partner, but you must remember that it will be hard for me to be here every day for one hour. I have lots of things I need to do throughout the settlement."

Shaking his head, he gives me a look. "Drake, I know, but you are forgetting something. Many of the people here are just under your age or many years your senior." He gestures towards Draemish and the undead warriors. "They have hundreds of years of experience under their belts and come here every day for at least two hours."

I raise my hand to speak up, but he stops me before I can get a word out. "I also know you are working on your magic, and you might even go over to learn things from the hunters, so you still have limited time in a day. That is why I only asked for at least one hour. It will give you a good workout, and it will let you flex those stat points that haven't been fully utilized. Plus, you should be able to trust some of the people close to you to do what you think is best for the settlement. No need for you to have your hand in every pot."

Nodding along with all the points he has made, I take a breath and then look up into his eyes. "Alright, I will agree to both of your conditions."