Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 418: A Proper Introduction to the Kingdom

Multiple ideas hit Thalion as he came closer and closer. It had to be the guards stationed on the many levels of the city walls and rooftops. When he was only a few hundred meters away, one of the guards waved at him with what looked like a burning stick. The guard was positioned roughly in the middle of the many layers, and Thalion followed along, adjusting his curse slightly downward to arrive directly beside the guard, shifting back into his human form to get all the style points.The guard wore metal armor and looked mostly human. The only controversial detail Thalion noticed were the purple eyes staring back at him.

“Welcome, Trialtaker. I will give you a quick introduction to our rules and courtesies. After that, you will receive a small token that allows you to enter and leave as you please. Is that okay with you?”

The guard’s voice was very pleasant, and he even bowed toward Thalion.

“Sure, go ahead. I really need my mission as fast as possible.” Thalion nodded back, trying to stay respectful—just without the bowing. He had never liked that much to begin with.

“Eh, well, the mission will only be announced in a few hours, when the king is ready. I’m afraid you won’t be able to get a head start. May I begin now, or do you have any other questions?” the guard answered in his gentle tone.

“Sure, go ahead,” Thalion said through clenched teeth.

This was horrible. Everyone wanted to kill him for his leaderboard points and the reward they would get for his death—but that wasn’t all. There was also a good number of Chosen who wanted him dead for personal reasons. The Chosen of Aeta and all the elves, just to name a few. The prince had also sworn his revenge, which wasn’t optimal at all. That guy still freaked Thalion out. Being that fast, strong, and resistant to almost any kind of damage was a dangerous combination Thalion really didn’t want to deal with. On top of that, the fellow also seemed to have a good nose, which would be extremely bad for Thalion.

What if the prince simply followed his trail to his mission and ended his life?

Thalion was really not looking forward to this stage, but he had no other option. He needed two million points to advance to the next stage, and the only way to earn them was through those missions. The guard had better have some good news for him, because Thalion didn’t know how much more his nerves could take.

“Okay, so first: you are only allowed to enter and leave the city through the city gates. This was your first time and you didn’t know, so it’s fine—but next time, please use the gates.”

Great, so they have no trouble waiting for me… Thalion commented internally while the guard continued.

“Everyone is allowed to trade with you. If you need any materials, weapons, or armor, you are free to buy them. Since you are not a citizen of the empire, it will be more expensive, but it isn’t forbidden. In six hours, the king will speak to you in the Great Theater. Here is a map of the city—the red dot marks where the king will speak to you.”

The guard handed him an old map that looked like someone had spilled dark coffee all over it.

“Okay, thanks… Anything else I should know?” Thalion asked through clenched teeth.

The stage wasn’t looking good. No—not good at all. He also began to wonder how difficult those missions would become. The guard was at early E-grade, so maybe it wouldn’t be that hard? On the other hand, the strong ones rarely did regular patrols on the walls. With the king at D-grade, it was very likely that the top fighters were at high E-grade. He also started to wonder how strong the Chosen had become. If they were close to the end of E-grade, could it be that they were strong enough to kill the king? If that was the case, the rules here meant shit.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot the most important part.” The guard chuckled, bonking himself on the back of his helmet. “No killing or stealing. For members of the kingdom, we have guards and police watching every move—but for you, Ratgul provided us with an extra device. It is a tablet with all your faces, and should one of you kill another Trialtaker while that Trialtaker is on a mission, the button will glow red. When we press it, you will die instantly, without any chance of escape. And just in case you’re thinking of finding the tablet and pressing a few buttons yourself—if you try, you will die instantly. Everything clear now?”

“Sure, thanks for your help. Anything else I need to know?” Thalion asked, just to be on the safe side, in case the guard had forgotten any other crucial details.

His mood was much better now, and internally he was doing jumping jacks. No one would dare attack him now with such a godly device in the mix.

“No, this was all. Good luck—maybe we’ll see each other on one of the new greater planets.” The guard smiled while already waving his burning stick to signal someone else who was approaching.

Thalion didn’t want to talk to any other Trialtakers right now and simply nodded to the guard before jumping down into the city with two more items: the map and the token. Thalion placed the token into his spatial amulet while keeping the map in his hand.

He wanted to check out the city and to think through the rules of this kingdom. There were already a few weaknesses he had noticed. For one, even if no Trialtaker could press the buttons themselves, what if Thalion simply threw a dead body onto the panel—or politely asked a guard to press a few? It also meant that stealing the king’s treasure would be even more impossible than before. The king could simply walk to the panel and press the button if he remembered Thalion’s face or name.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The panel would likely stop working once the stage ended, which meant the king should be unable to kill him after Thalion advanced to a different stage. Another problem Thalion noticed was that the buttons would only glow if someone was killed while on a mission—but what if he hadn’t accepted a mission yet? Maybe it always applied inside the city, but Thalion wasn’t so sure. Better to always keep his guard up while inside. As long as the Chosen couldn’t one-shot him, he should be able to run long enough for his escape token to trigger—or for the guards to arrive and stop the Chosen.

In such a giant metropolis, even the Chosen should be powerless against the sheer number of guards stationed everywhere. On almost every rooftop, one or two guards stood in their metal armor. Inside the city, it looked a bit like Coruscant or one of those massive cities in China with countless layers stacked on top of each other. There was simply so much. Normally, Thalion wasn’t the type to enjoy sightseeing, but this place actually looked like fun.

There was an incredible variety of shops, restaurants, and all kinds of things Thalion had never seen before. One shop sold some kind of balloons shaped like bloated lizards. The stupid-looking creatures intrigued Thalion, which was why he approached the handler, who had the same purple eyes as the guard. That was the only similarity, though. The man had rabbit ears and long, sharp teeth. The rest of his body looked human, and his voice hammered loudly against Thalion’s ears.

“Welcome, customer! What can I do for you?” Before he could continue with his sales pitch, he noticed Thalion’s leaderboard position.

“Oh, first place on the leaderboard. Wait—F-grade? What kind of monster are you? Hehe. Of course, what I really meant is: welcome to the Screaming Stable! What can I help you with?”

The shop owner was a bit weird, but that wouldn’t stop Thalion from buying one of those lizard balloons. He had plenty of items that were useless to him and was more than willing to trade them for something that at least looked cool.

“I’m interested in those flying…” Thalion gestured at the bloated lizards, which were wider than they were long.

“…Puffscale Lizards.”

“Ah, yes. The spirit animal of our great kingdom. That’s also why it’s on our flag. The early evolutions are weak, but once one reaches D-grade, they will always evolve into a wyvern. It means no creature should ever be underestimated, and no matter how dire your situation, you can always turn it around,” the shopkeeper explained excitedly.

Only now did Thalion notice the flag tattooed on both sides of the lizard. He had to admit, the creature on the flag looked more like a roaring dragon than these puffballs—but he thought they looked funny, which was reason enough to buy one. In exchange, he gave the man some of the items he had stolen from the warehouse back when he took the antidotes. A useless mage staff in exchange for a funny-looking fluffball seemed like a good trade in his opinion.

A plan began to form in Thalion’s mind. He couldn’t show how serious he really was about this treasure hunt. If he sat in the theater too early, waiting for the king, it would give the others plenty of time to annoy him. No—it was better to get some cool-looking gear and arrive at the theater only moments before the king did.

“Here you go—your very own Puffscale Lizard. This one goes by the name Armageddon. You need to feed it regularly; otherwise, it will stop flying, which would be heretical and a sure way to make everyone in the city hate you,” the shopkeeper added in a serious tone.

Not bad. Now he even had an extra layer of protection. Thalion thought with a grin.

The floating lizard was not the only thing that interested Thalion. There were all kinds of things made from animal parts. One was a trumpet that ended in a duck’s head, while the rest of it looked a bit like the body of a snake. The snake’s scales were tiny flags of the kingdom. Thalion really liked that one too. For him, sightseeing also meant buying and wearing a lot of a country’s merchandise to show respect—even if he didn’t think it was all that great. Tradition was tradition, and he wasn’t about to break it.

Since he could buy most things simply by trading items that were useless to him, it was more than worth it. This time, he quickly identified the trumpet with the duck head before asking if he could have it. There was no description or price tag on the items, which likely meant they had to be identified first.

“Thank you very much, but besides Armageddon, I’m interested in one more item—the Hymncoil of the Crown,” Thalion said with a serious face.

“Oh, excellent choice. The Hymncoil of the Crown can only play the rhythm of our glorious kingdom and nothing else,” the shopkeeper said with an excited expression.

Thalion eagerly took the Hymncoil of the Crown and handed the shopkeeper two daggers he must have picked up after some fight.

“This is already a great day, but I still need a good-looking suit that I can also use in fights—and maybe a headpiece and shoes too. Could you point me to someone who sells high-quality products?” Thalion asked.

He knew he probably wouldn’t make the best business deals, but in a city this big it would take forever to find the right shops on his own.

“Of course, of course. Give me your map so I can mark the shops for you. When they see your items, they’ll give you access to the special wares the other Trialtakers can’t buy,” the shopkeeper said with a wide smile and booming voice.

After that, Thalion was on his way to the other shops. The shopkeepers were all a little crazy, but he liked that about them. He bought pitch-black shoes made from special wood, with snakeskin on the outside—of course decorated all over with the kingdom’s flag. The shoes weren’t just for show; they had multiple enchantments engraved into the material that made them extremely durable and even repaired them as long as they weren’t completely destroyed.

The same was true for the good-looking black suit. It took some time to find the perfect fit for Thalion. The flat cap the shopkeeper recommended also fit the style perfectly, and naturally, it was covered in the kingdom’s flag as well. Thalion found it amusing that the suit was almost as durable as his armor in the tutorial. His armor’s enchantments had empowered him too, but with all the plates, it had been destroyed quite easily. Tearing the suit apart would be much harder.

Of course, the suit didn’t really block heavy damage, and in hindsight Thalion would rather have armor that broke instead of himself. The suit was only good against cutting strikes that didn’t rely on too much force—but a bit of defense was better than none. Thalion had to admit, he looked quite good. Maybe a bit over the top with all the flags, but it gave him the appearance of a true patriot.

There was just one thing missing to make it perfect—and both he and the shopkeeper were currently looking at it. A walking stick with the head of Ratgul. Intricate runes snaked their way up the shaft, detailing Ratgul’s former adventures.

A few minutes later, Thalion walked out of the shop as a full-time patriot, his relaxed steps carrying him forward. echoed each time his walking stick struck the stone paving. At first, he had been quite worried—but now he was genuinely looking forward to meeting all the nice folk on the leaderboard. Maybe some of his friends were still part of the treasure hunt, and he could have a little talk with them too.