Daz couldn't help his mind from wandering back to his time in the System's Grand Auction. Particularly, flashes of his fight against his first opponent during the Overall Power Competition were appearing in his thoughts.

'Krishan Ladakh... He said if I ever wanted to meet him and talk he'd be in Leh, India, right? I wonder if he's still alive... Depending on how this goes I could certainly use an ally in India. He was fairly strong if I recall correctly, but then again, I fought him before I gained my class upgrade and so much time has passed...' Regardless of the grim possibilities, the thought rolled around in his head a bit longer.

"Woah," Crusher exclaimed before whistling. "I was expecting a slightly converted Asian city. Y'know, kinda like Yilan City. This place is nuts though. It fuckin' looks like something straight out of Aladdin."

Crusher wasn't wrong. They were only a few miles off from the western coast of Taiwan but peacefully nestled among the hills could be seen a grand and colourful Indian temple or palace of some sort.

Shikharas pierced the sky but even they were dwarfed in size by the simply enormous central structure, what Daz recognised to be a mandir - a temple dedicated to a Hindu god or goddess. Which god or goddess, he was clueless on.

Daz only had very surface-level information on these things which he'd gained during his research of potential mythical cities. Had he known to expect this perhaps he'd had dedicated a bit more time on studying the subject.

"Everyone, be careful. This place reeks of magic or ritualism. I would not be surprised if the shikharas contained extremely powerful defensive measures," Daz said.

"The what?" Crusher asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Master Merit turned his nose up at her and said, "The spires, you uncultured barbarian."

Dorian gave the short and pudgy man a sideglance as he thought, 'I had no clue that's what Daz meant either, but best keep that to myself...'

Daz narrowed his eyes. "I'm surprised there's no wall of any kind. You'd expect them to be at least somewhat worried about monster attacks. Unless those shikharas are extremely capable of warding off threa-"

The reaper stopped talking as he moved his head to the side extremely quickly.

With a powerful gust of wind, a spear flew right through the spot his right eyeball had been in just a moment ago.

"... Or maybe they have some guys with a hell of a throwing arm," Daz corrected himself.

Crusher increased the size of her hammer to have a 3-meter-long shaft and a head the size of a wardrobe before asking, "Do I start crushin' or would you rather I stayed on the defensive, Uriel?"

Daz summoned his diamond-needle-filled suitcase from his Industrial Item Box and opened it before controlling his 50 needles to hover around him.

He then plucked Hamson out of the air and held it cautiously. "For now, defensive. I'd like to talk to them first if possible. If you feel in danger though, don't bother asking for my permission and just go wild. We are not pacifists."

"Hahaha, just what I like to hear!" Crusher yelled.

Dorian sighed as he took his umbrella off of his hip where he kept it strapped and he then cracked his one fleshy shoulder before unfurling the metal contraption's canopy.

Master Merit simply smiled as he held his unassuming briefcase. He was the very picture of relaxed.

Daz nodded, rather pleased at the preparedness of his chosen companions as he slowly walked forwards and started approaching the Indian temple.

Daz's joy was cut short as he saw several figures stood at the base of the mandir all holding and preparing to throw spears as long as their bodies.

He noticed that all of the people were male, without exception. They were all wearing what seemed like traditional Indian clothing but Daz was ignorant on such things so he had no idea if what they were dressed in was significant in any way.

It was odd, however, that while they were sporting sandals and baggy pants of some sort, they were also wearing turbans and a very long coat that was open at the chest, showing off their muscled forms.

'There must be a reason they're wearing that, even if only a cultural one. It's pretty cold right now and I doubt they all have a high Elemental Resistance,' Daz thought as he raised his hands in a show of non-hostility.

He raised his voice and yelled across the space between his group and theirs, "We aren't here to fight! Ideally, I would like to hold a dialogue with your leader first! I am King Daz of New Earth and my intention is to bring this island under my rule! Should violence be our only means of discourse then know that I will not hold back and you will lose!"

'There's a very slight sense of danger from my Survivor's Instincts still but so long as I tread carefully and don't fight recklessly if it comes down to a brawl, then I'll be fine. I can summon Rimmy and my clones if I really have to, even if doing so might destabilise my kingdom somewhat,' Daz thought.

Crusher chuckled. "You really don't like lying, huh? You also like boastin'."

Master Merit shook his head. "His Majesty is correct. Who, realistically, can win against him in a fight where he does not limit himself in any regard?"

Crusher shrugged. "Dunno, I sure as fuck can't."

Dorian held his palm flat above his eyes to better look at the distant warriors. "They don't seem to, uh, have cared for what you said, Daz. Looks like they're using skills to buff their strength or something. Should I defend us?"

Daz nodded. "If you're confident that you can stop those spears, sure."

If he didn't have to expend his own energy to ensure that Master Merit, in particular, didn't become a well-dressed kebab, then all the better.

Dorian stepped ahead of him, taking the lead as the four of them were walking towards the shikhara-encircled mandir.

He held his metal umbrella in front of him and watched the distant Indians carefully while he, Daz, Crusher and Master Merit smoothly came closer and closer.

With their arms fully drawn back, the Indians launched their spears at full force, each one breaking the sound barrier as they flew toward's Daz's group unfathomably fast. Red trails of light followed the weapons in their flight.

Not missing a beat, Dorian raised his umbrella and said, "Bronze Bulwark."

The metal canopy of his umbrella expanded in every direction until it had a diameter of 10-meters and a thickness of 1-meter.

Of course, he had done this incredibly fast otherwise the speedy spears would have turned him into a pincushion with little to no effort.

Some of the spears lodged themselves into the enlargened metal canopy but most of them simply clattered to the ground.

Daz noticed Dorian's face strain as his body shook, presumably from the impact of the attack. 'He's certainly powerful but it would be too much to expect him to shake off that many spears with skills powering them. Still, besides getting a bit shaken he seems mostly fine.'

As they resumed their march, Daz spoke in a loud tone once more. "Again, we are not here to fight! Let me speak with your leader! If I must, I will destroy what you have built here and forcefully return you all to whatever part of India you have come from! Worst case scenario, we will kill you all!"

Hesitation appeared on the expressions on the Indian men, though Daz and his companions couldn't see that due to Dorian's massive bulwark.

That hesitation didn't last too long before the men gathered up another round of spears. They were confident that they would not be bested. The western king's threats were just that, threats. No one held the power to destroy their shikhara formation, after all.

Just as they were about to launch another flurry of spears, a voice beckoned them to reconsider. "Stop. I will hear what he has to say. Clearly, his intentions differ from that other man's."

The men all turned towards the mandir temple and held one palm out flat vertically in front of their chest before bowing their heads.

They then positioned themselves into two separate lines, one on either side of the mandir temple.

The mysterious voice's owner seemed to nod and they then spoke to Dorian. "You may undo your defensive skill. We will not attack you any further without provocation."

Dorian glanced back at Daz for guidance.

"It's fine, return your umbrella to normal. Whoever they are, they aren't lying," Daz said confidently.

"If you're sure..." Dorian did as instructed, resulting in the spears embedded into the canopy falling off and clattering onto the earthy ground below. "Man... I have to repair this... Again..."

Crusher laughed. "At least it wasn't me who messed it up this time, eh?"

"Some consolation that is..." Dorian muttered. "I really need to upgrade this piece of shit soon."

"You can think about that later," Daz interrupted. "For now, everyone behind me. Crusher and Dorian, you two be ready for an ambush though I don't sense any immediate danger. Master Merit, when we meet whoever that voice belonged to, I'll be counting on your help with any negotiations."

Dorian and Crusher simply nodded while Master Merit smiled widely. "I'd be honoured."

The group of four cautiously stepped past the first set of shikharas and immediately Crusher felt something strange. "Hey, Uriel."

"What?" Daz answered curtly, never letting his eyes wander far from the men stood on either side of them.

"We just passed something. A, like, invisible barrier or something? Hard to tell really. I just know it was there thanks to my new toy," Crusher said ambiguously so as to not reveal more about herself than was needed for any observant ears.

'The Ember of Clarity, huh?' Daz thought. "Noted. Thanks, Crusher."

"No worries," the massive woman smiled back as she resumed her casual walking.

Before long their group were at the large door which led into the menhir temple. None of the Indian men had stepped up to open it for them so Daz moved to do so himself.

Just as his hand was about to make contact with the wooden door, it swung open on its own. "Come in."

Crusher whistled. "Man, that's a weird-ass voice. Can't tell if it's a man's or a woman's."

"It doesn't matter," Daz commented coldly as he entered the building.

"Sure, but I'm fuckin' curious as can be, haha," Crusher chuckled as she, along with Dorian and Master Merit, followed.

Daz took note of the abundant Hindu cultural artwork lining the walls of the hallway he and his group were walking down.

There were depictions of many Hindu gods and goddesses as well as notable historical figures of the past, though he wasn't overly fluent on this subject, much to his dismay. 'Shouldn't they just be representations of a single god or goddess? Why so many? I need to look this stuff up later. India seems like the perfect place for several mythical cities to be tucked away in hidden corners of the country...'

The slight itch in the back of Daz's mind grew stronger upon his lapse of concentration regarding his safety. He shook his head and thought, 'Right. I'm in a bit of danger here. Focus. I can think about this other stuff later, for now, I need to keep all of my attention on who we're meeting and how to best twist this encounter to my favour...'

Within a minute the four of them had reached the heart of the temple. There was no door from the hallway to the central antechamber but instead stood an open archway.

"Ah, welcome," a smooth and feminine voice greeted them as they entered.

The central chamber was filled with mosaic-covered tiles littering the floor and walls. Magnificently carved wooden pillars held the ceiling up, all of which seemed to be hand-carved. It was all very stunning and breathtaking.

Sat in the centre of the room amongst a veritable fortress of pillows was a woman dressed in baggy pants and a metal-edged silky top of some sort that barely did more than cover her breasts.

Her skin was smooth and youthful and her face was sharp and elegant. Her bright green eyes shone in amusement as she watched Daz and his companions enter the room a bit cautiously.

"I am Adya. It's nice to meet you," she said with a smile as she tipped the edge of the long dark-red bamboo pipe she was lazily holding in her right hand. "Now, you said your intent was to rule this place, was it not? Come. Sit. Let's chat."