Karastak

{Race: Naga (Demon Lord)}

{Age: 25}

{Level 10; until Level 11: 64,000/85,000} {STR: 60; DEX: 45; CON: 110; INT: 61; WIS: 60; CHA: 150}

{Health: 320/320} {Mana Points: 100/100} {Mana Point Regen: 20 per minute}

{Class: Mimicry} {Subclass: The Lord of Hosts}

{Mimicry Skills: ; }

{The Lord of Hosts Skills: ; ; }

Contracted Creatures: 0/500

Summoned Creatures: 0/1000

{Demon Lord Skills: }

{Other Skills: ; ; ; }

{Elemental Skills: ; ; ; }

{(Innate) Beastial Skills: ; ; }

{Passive Skills: ; ; ; ; ; ; }

{Titles: Soul Bound; Tamer of the Unknown; Indomitable Will}

{Titles Equipped: Indomitable Will}

As Karastak ate from a plate of bacon, eggs, and a steak, he went through his Status Menu and changed a few things. Such as adding several extra skills and changing out how the Mana Pool worked. This was because he could not understand what the System had presented it as, and therefore thought up a different way in order for people to use their abilities to the fullest.

Such as dropping the Pool and opting for a Point System, instead. Here, every ability used 1pt, or one point, per. Anything extra would cost extra, like the newly added Barrage ability. For x5 it would cost an extra 1pt, x10 would cost an extra 2pts, and x20 would cost 3pts more. The same went for his Creation skills, in that each weapon, armour, or clothing set would come out as a C rating. With B's as an extra 1pt, A's for 2pts, S's for 3pts, and magickal items would cost 5pts each.

Mana Points themselves would stay at a flat 100, never to grow or reduce. However, the MP Regeneration per minute took the highest stat plus the lowest, divided the resulting number by 10, and rounded the number up. Thereby allowing him to regenerate 20 points per minute, as opposed to having 65 mana every 90 seconds.

This would be implemented into the rest of his System, but first he needed a test run of his abilities. Which meant he would need to visit the Adventurer's Guild later that day to take on a quest or three. Of course, his Warriors were going to follow his person, as they desired to test their own abilities after becoming a part of The Black Parade. Which meant the children would be staying at home with the rest of the staff.

Sighing, Karastak stood up, already finished with his meal as he called everyone's attention. When they each gave it, he began, “Today, Zabartik, Kirin, and I will be off to the Adventurer's Guild in order to find a quest to test our skills with whatever Quests they might have. Which means, unfortunately, both Puella and Lupa are to stay home.”

“Nyo!” pouted the Cat-kin, who rushed around the table in order to hug his leg, “You can't go!” The Wolfgirl, on the other hand, sighed herself as she stood up and dragged her friend away. Of whom still mewed pitifully as she was placed back atop her chair.

“Yes, Puella,” his voice was calm, soothing as he continued, “I do have to go, but we'll be back later in the evening. So you two will have the rest of the mansion and grounds to explore.” His eyes then focused onto Brutus, then Annata, and finally onto the Living Armour which stood at attention along the walls, “You are all to watch over them and make sure they're well taken care of. Is this understood?”

A mix reply of salutes and, “Yes Lord,” “Yes Master,” echoed throughout the hall.

To which he replied with a smile before nodding to his Warriors. Each nodding back and excusing themselves from their places as they followed himself out.

*****

“Sia,” Rosenfall sat behind his desk, the Wolfwoman standing at attention before himself. Both wore their work clothes that morning, though the Human did have a few crumbs and droplets of wine stains upon his front from his breakfast. The remains of which was set off to one side by the time she arrived, and would have tidied up if not for the urgency of his request.

“Sia,” he repeated, “This Karas was not old, and his children were both Human.” The Magistrate sighed slowly as he leaned back, hands resting atop his abdomen as he stared into the other's eyes, “You are not one to lie about such things as these, but I have to ask. Are you certain what you saw was what you saw?”

“Sir,” she started, some confusion in her eyes, “What I saw were an old man, a Cat-kin, a Snow Wolfgirl, and something that didn't agree with the sunlight. These ones?” she shrugged her shoulders, “They're not the ones I met on the road a few days back.”

“Which means we've yet another mystery on our hands,” his head bobbed a few times as he stood tall before moving off towards a cabinet against the far wall. Here, his hands opened a drawer and pulled out several loose sheets of parchment. Of which were then pass off to the Sergeant who raised an eyebrow as she took them.

“These are?”

“Reports,” was his answer as he shrugged his own shoulders.

There were two batches of reports in her hand, with the first being the decimation of Stormhaven. In that Priest Reginald was found to be creating a cult in the Lady of Light's name, and was executed by a group of Paladins sent by the Lady herself. This resulted in an uprising in the populace, and the entirety of the village was put down for it. Which meant the populace of 120 or so individuals, young, old, and newborn, were extinguish because of this.

Sia's eyes widened as she read, and glanced towards Rosenfall. His eyes were dark and clouded as he knew of what they pertained, but she noted his gesture to keep reading.

In the second was a report of what had occurred after Hero Karas and his group entered into the city of Stonewall. Their first night after gaining a mansion was, for lack of a better word, entertaining. Within a space of an hour, a multitude of personnel appeared out of thin air, each trailing a thin line of smoke behind themselves. What is more, a random person appeared out of nowhere with the same armour as the guards, but this individual vanished from their sight, only to reappear upon the south entrance into the Second Ring the next morning with the note of, “I am not amused,” pinned to the chest upon the individual. However, the individual, who was not named, was skewered through the abdomen with a look of sheer terror upon their features.

“What?” the Wolfwoman was stunned by what she read, “What happened? Did Karas do this?” Her fists began to ball up, but stopped as soon as half the parchment was crumpled under her paws.

“We don't know,” the Human shrugged his shoulders with a helpless gesture.

“How can you not know?” her face scrunched with disbelief.

“Our Diviners couldn't tell us anything. Even when showing us what had happened, there was nothing to see,” a hand was held up almost immediately, as another ruffled through a drawer on his desk. One that soon pulled out an orb of clear crystal, and she knew it was used in scrying methods by Diviners, as being able to hold the memories of the last attempt made with it. “Just watch.” Once she approached the crystal, Rosenfall activated it. Upon doing so, the inner portion grew clouded with a dark mist before showing a frightened man within an endarkened room.

All around him was nothing, but he was lifted high into the air and dropped many times as he screamed and pleaded with the unknown. He struggled in vain as snot and tears ran freely down his face, the helmet he wore being lifted and bashed across his face twice before it was dropped. A few teeth were knocked free as blood flowed from his nose and corners of his lips.

“Please,” Sia could see the bloody lips form the word and a couple more, “Spare me.”

However, just as the man's eyes were slowly losing hope, a door opened to reveal the soft glow of an evening torch. A tinge of hope appeared in his eyes, but was quickly dashed away as something caused him to howl out a, “NO!” in the silence of crystal. What is more, he was immediately hoisted into the air, and taken outside where the man continued to struggle without any words escaping his throat.

After which he was taken to the gate, which was surprisingly devoid of life at that time, and he was propped up and pinned to the large door leading into the Third Ring. Whereupon his eyes widened in horror as a spear was immediately hefted and run through the man's abdomen with a force that showed the wielder to have unimaginable strength. For it went half way into the the wood behind him. The last of what the crystal showed was of him trying to struggle, but feebly as the note was written out.

Once it faded away into nothingness, Sia turned with large eyes towards Rosenfall. Questions formed upon her lips, but he could only shut his eyes and shake his head in response. “Read on,” was all he could say.

The next portion of the report was of Karas and his group, along with the children, entering into the local Adventurer's Guild. Here, she paused in order to raise an eyebrow at her boss. “How were you able to access the Guild's halls for this?”

“Ah, yes,” he grinned sheepishly, as though he were a child who was caught red handed, “Let's just say I'm an old drinking buddy with a certain Dwarf there.”

Rolling her eyes, the Wolf woman continued to read. In that it revealed two Warriors, both Level 10, to have defeated two Rank 2 Ogres by themselves. To which she whistled with admiration, but said nothing. The names of these individuals were Zabartik and Kirin, with the first being known by her, but not the latter. What truly surprised her was the fact that Karas was able to, quite litterally, obliterate a Rank 5 King Snake.

“Are you shitting me?” she commented slowly, her eyes widening as she glanced at Rosenfall, “How old was that King Snake?”

“250 years old, give or take,” he smiled at her knowingly.

“Bloody Gods,” she mumbled agape, “What level is he?”

“He was Level 7 when he killed it,” her head whipped in his direction, eyes threatening to pop out, “I know. That was my response, too, but he did it with a single spell.”

“You said 'was'. What level did he become after that?”

“He wouldn't say, but after his little spell, Karas collapsed and had the two Warriors block his body off from the public. No one knew what happened, except that there was a lot of crunching and there were witnesses of a swarm of bats eating something beneath the cover. They even ate the bodies of the Ogres, cores and all, after they were slain.”

Again, her eyes threatened to leap out of Sia's skull when he spoke of such a thing, but was answered only with a shrug. “No idea, but after the things finished eating, Karas reemerged from the mess unharmed.”

“Fuck,” was all she could mutter as she sat down unbidden.

“My thoughts exactly,” he nodded before continuing, knowing full well she didn't have the energy to continue reading, “Do you remember the strange carriage he came in last night to the party?” At her own nod, he continued with, “No one knows what it's made of, but it's 100% magickal, but what's truly interesting are those guards he was escorted by. No one knows what they are, but I know someone at the Magic Academy just up the road.

“He's a librarian who deals with creatures of lore. Anyways, he said those things resembled something called Living Armour. Which are spirits or energies bound to a suit of armour to live out their eternities in serving someone.” Another shrug of his shoulders ensued, “They all emerged after those Shadow Warriors were brought into the mansion. Even this morning, there were witnesses of various creatures and Humans walking about the grounds.”

“Like?” she was curious, but it was evident that she was also tired from all the shock.

“Draconians, Kin, and Beastfolk. There was even an Elf or two running about without a collar on,” he smiled at this, as he was against slavery of the Elven races, “Quite bold, to be honest, but there haven't been anyone trying to steal them just yet.”

“What do you mean?” her eyes squinted at her boss with great suspicion.

To which he snorted, “We're in Stonewall, my dear Sia, where the city was once held as the Elven Slave capitol of the world. There are more than enough people who would love to have an uncollared Elf as a slave.”

The Wolf woman's eyes drooped with displeasure at the thought, her lips becoming a frown, but they soon righted as a thought flittered through her mind, “The man who was pinned to the Third Ring's door... Do the Diviners know who sent the man?”

“Yep, and before you ask, it was Lord Fenwin who sent him. Also,” he held up his hand again to stop her from speaking out yet again, “he denied any involvement, and we could only pin it to a middleman who gave up the Lord's name.”

“And, of course,” she drawled with a roll of her eyes, “he denied any involvement to the man.”

“You got it,” he flicked his index fingers in her direction for a moment, before setting them down, “but seriously, this new Hero is far too strong for his own good. Not to mention he immediately signed up to be an Adventurer, which the Guild is notorious for not allowing their members to not become involved with any sort of politics. Even going so far as to go to war with Solomon when he tried to implement a mandatory military service for all within his border some ten years ago.”

“Speaking of which,” she perked up to glance at her boss, “What rank did Karas gain?”

“Hmm? Oh, Gold Rank A, I believe,” he spoke as he waved away her shock once more, “but that doesn't matter right now. What we need are eyes on the inside, but I doubt he's hiring.”

“But, why do you want to know what's going on in his home? Wasn't that man who was pinned to the door enough of an incentive to not try such a thing?”

“My dear Sia,” he grinned with an evil glint in his eye, “You should know by now that I love a good mystery, and our new resident Hero, Karas, is the biggest one of all. So if I can figure out what exactly he is, I'll be able to rest easy.”