“What exactly do you mean by ‘you’re ready’?” Judge Lissia asked, her cyan hair flowing down her court robes like liquid sky matter, an icy, albeit confused gaze aimed at Freddy’s direction.
The two of them sat on the opposite sides of a massive table, tucked within one of countless offices in the Starhold council building. To the side of the intimidating woman was a handful of assistants, standing quietly and waiting to be told what to do.
It had taken Freddy an embarrassing amount of time to find where he was even supposed to go. For a long moment, he was worried the empire had just bullshitted him about the whole Northern Belt thing, but no, it was quite simple, really.
They just hadn’t expected to see him any time soon.
Ultimately, after a week of aimlessly visiting random government buildings and getting told that he had no business being there, he gave up and asked Madame for help. She managed to contact Judge Lissia, who had been assigned to lead Freddy’s case; both the verification of his combat abilities and the Northern Belt Development Project.
He managed to get himself an appointment, but clearly, there was something of a misunderstanding.
“I apologize if I’ve been unclear,” he said somewhat hesitantly. “I’m talking about the whole uh… thing where my performance will help with the development of the Northern Belt?”
She gave him a befuddled stare. “Right. And what is it exactly that you’re ready to do?”
Freddy couldn’t shake off the sense that he had awfully misunderstood how the whole process was meant to work. He already looked like a dumbass, he ventured, so he decided to explain. “I was under the impression that the empire would give me tasks, and then based on how I did, the Northern Belt would get developed, uh… harder.” He resisted the urge to cringe at his phrasing.
The woman’s confusion quickly vanished, only to be replaced by a deep tinge of annoyance. “Right. This is my fault. I shouldn’t assume you know things just because they’re common knowledge.” She sighed. “Unless you’re already an official, or there is an extreme emergency at hand, you won’t be receiving any kind of direct order. The ‘performance’ you’re meant to showcase refers to acquiring Imperial Accomplishments and their accompanying badges.”
Freddy’s face lit up with realization. “Oh…” That made perfect sense, and frankly, he was deeply embarrassed for not realizing it sooner. “Oh!” His mood swung back up. “I’ve been doing a good deal of that, already, then!”
She shot him a strained smile. “Have you, now?” She snapped her fingers as the smile vanished, and one of the assistants took a step forward. “Fetch me the records for one Freddy Stern showing the last year and a half of activity.”
The assistant nodded and then walked out of the room. A few minutes later, he marched back in and placed a pretty hefty stack of papers on the table.
Judge Lissia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise as she glanced Freddy’s way. “Huh. Good deal, you say? No kidding…” She reached over for the files, and then, for the next ten minutes, flipped through them, her expression growing increasingly bewildered with every page she turned.
When done, she slowly placed the papers down. “Well then. If I were any less confident in the verification process, I’d have you arrested on the spot for fraud. How on New Earth did you get all this done in such a short time!?” She tapped the stack of papers. “I wasn’t going to check in on you for at least another two years given that you were supposed to still be healing your soul.” A deeply irritated scowl itched its way down the crease of her brow. “That prick was supposed to keep us updated on your status. I can’t believe he’d be so arrogant as to ignore his duties.”
“Uhm… I’m sorry, I think there might be a misunderstanding here…”
“There indeed is.” She gritted her teeth. “Tell me, how long has it been since you’ve taken the soul elixir? The exact date, please, if you remember.”
Freddy froze. “Sorry, what? What elixir?”
She gave him a flat look and gestured he hurry up. “The one that healed your soul?”
“I… I didn’t take any elixirs.”
The judge halted. “Then how did you heal your soul?”
“I didn’t?”
The woman’s expression chilled. Her aura, which she had been keeping subdued, raged with the might of a blizzard, the presence of a four-star filling the room with a bone-chilling cold. “Mr. Stern. Lying to me is not in your best interest. Be very careful how you answer the following question.”
Freddy gulped, sweat beading up on his forehead.
“Are you or are you not asserting that you have fully delved over fourteen hundred dungeons all by yourself while suffering extreme soul damage?”
“I am,” he said with a nod, trying to look as confident as possible.
The woman’s aura retreated, but her expression remained icy. “Do not take anything that’s about to happen as a personal insult. I have my duties, and they dictate that I ensure that the law is being upheld to the highest standard possible. I am not saying that you are lying, but you are making a claim that is utterly impossible for me to accept. As such, I will place you under arrest while we complete an audit to verify your claims.”
Freddy clenched his fists. “And when I’m proven to be innocent?”
“You will be compensated for the lost time and emotional damages. If you’re telling the truth, that is.”
Freddy relaxed slightly, taking a breath to calm himself. “All right, then.”
***
The “jail” Freddy was taken to was more of a hotel than anything else. He had a full staff of servants to take care of his every need and to cater to his every whim.
While he was furious at first, his anger quickly left him. It was, as miffed as it made him to admit it, a reasonable situation to find himself in. Even Madame had been in disbelief at what he’d done.
The empire clearly took this badge business seriously.
Oh, if they had thrown him into a dingy dungeon, he’d have been furious. Which was probably exactly why they made sure he was well taken care of. They were operating under the assumption that there was no funny business—which was smart.
Going around offending people who are predicted to become future powerhouses was a terrible idea, even for the empire.
Still, it took them a long while to complete the audit. Which again made a lot of sense. He’d delved a crap ton of dungeons which belonged to a number of different factions, so the audit had to be a pain in the ass to complete. He could imagine Judge Lissia was buried up to her neck in paperwork.
Compared to him, who was lounging by a pool under a false sun, tanning his dreadfully pale skin while sipping on fancy cocktails?
Well, it wasn’t so bad.
It helped knowing that he was completely innocent.
Eight days went by as he anxiously waited for the verdict. And then—
“Mr. Stern?” someone shouted from the entrance. “The audit is complete. Please, follow me.”
He was taken to some office where he had to fill out a massive pile of forms. They were mostly about the processes some factions used to allow him entry, and there were countless questions about specific people. While it seemed like they had confirmed his innocence, a good deal of people had been caught doing some suspicious crap, and the forms were there to verify that he had nothing to do with that.
Once finished, he was offered to complete ten delves under the supervision of a couple of watchdogs. The delves were picked from among the dungeons that hadn’t been run the cleanest, and while they weren’t going to force him to delve them, they made it abundantly clear that doing so would massively help his case and make everything a lot easier.
Not only did he agree to delve the dungeons in question, he completed them in one go, and he didn’t even have to reveal his soul construct to do so. By the end, the watchdogs, who had literally just followed him around while watching from a distance, looked more tired than he did.
At the start, they looked utterly disinterested. By the end, they looked vaguely afraid of him.
To Freddy’s massive disappointment, rather than freedom, he was sent to another five days of confinement.
And to his surprise, it was Judge Lissia herself who came to visit.
She maintained a severe look upon her face, making it abundantly clear that she wasn’t there just to tell him that he was free to go.
“Is there a problem?” Freddy asked cautiously.
“I will give you an offer,” she said, eyes narrowing. “I have been informed that you were handed a certain artifact by your soul therapist.”
Freddy cocked an eyebrow, raising his finger to show off the Soul-stabilizing Ring. “You mean this?”
She nodded. “In your opinion, how much of your power can you showcase if you use it?”
He took a moment to think about it. “I honestly do not know. A lot of my abilities are highly situational, so it really depends on what I use it on. But even if I just conjure my blood gear, I’m confident I can at the very least hold my own against a mid-level three-star.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “And you’re certain?”
He slowly nodded. “If we’re talking about a mid-three-star at a standard level for the rank that doesn’t directly counter me somehow, then yes. I’m positive.”
Judge Lissia stared him down, a subtle squint in her eye as she considered him. “I will give you a chance.”
“Of what kind?”
“A chance to prove that you have, in fact, made a significant contribution to the death of Nahar.”
Freddy’s eyes widened. “What do you need me to do?”
“Follow me.”
***
Freddy hadn’t seen many training compounds in his life, but he thought he had gotten the general gist of what they were like. He was wrong.
Deep beneath Starhold, hidden within a passage leading to a large C-class realm, was one of the largest training compounds in the entirety of the empire. It contained an entire city’s worth of buildings with everything from gathering chambers, to concept libraries, to sparring arenas, to machinery designed to train every muscle in a human’s body, be they default or not.
It was such a comprehensive training facility that Freddy couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed.
The people training there weren’t necessarily peak elites, but they were certainly some of the best among those who were directly tied to the empire. The empire was a faction in its own right, with an army directly under their supervision. This included all the adjudicators, and their three-star watchdog subordinates.
Again, on an individual level, nobody there was comparable to an elite from other factions. But the sheer number of fighters present was most definitely enough to overwhelm even the greatest of factions.
It took them half an hour to reach one of the central buildings there. The number of four-stars present there left Freddy shocked. He hadn’t even known there were so many adjudicators in the empire, let alone so many still being trained. No wonder they could even spare a couple to send to a place like the Northern Belt.
Eventually, Lissia took him to a training chamber, one that he recognized as a place to fight dummies.
The dummies in question were intimidating. They were made of impact alloy, he assumed, but it was hard to tell through the dense layers of enchantments covering every inch of their surface.
“What do I need to do?” Freddy asked.
“Simple.” Lissia walked over to the control panel, pointing at it. “These are some of the most advanced training dummies we own. If you can beat a low-level three-star dummy in your current state, I will acknowledge that you are at a level where you could contribute to the downfall of a low-level four-star.”
Low-level, huh?
“What happens if I win?”
“You get another impressive medal for your accomplishment, and a reward I’m sure you’ll be pleased with.”
Freddy took a deep breath, considering the offer. Given the task he was being presented with, he knew he was still being somewhat underestimated. A low-level three-star dummy was going to be at a pretty standard level, nowhere near the power of an elite three-star of the same rank.
Even if he proved himself capable of beating such an opponent, it would, at most, serve as evidence that he wasn’t a waste of space in the fight. But it would be nowhere enough to prove that he had contributed the most to Nahar’s downfall. Not even close. “Can I increase the challenge?”
Judge Lissia smirked. “You can set the challenge to whatever you want. But be warned, you only get one chance. Don’t waste it on overestimating yourself.”
He hummed. Slowly nodding in the woman’s direction, he made his way over to the panel.
There, he could set the number of dummies, their power, fighting style, and even the safety level, ranging from high, where the dummies wouldn’t even damage his equipment, to none, where they wouldn’t stop until he was down for the count, even if he died in the process.
How far can I push this?
He released a sigh of frustration. Frankly, there wasn’t anything too impressive he could show the woman in his current state. Bloodshed was out of the question. He would rather keep his Cycle Scythe hidden if at all possible.
If he wanted to take a high-level three-star dummy, he would either have to rely on Tsunami Strike or Sanguine Avenger’s retaliation.
Tsunami Strike was far too risky, and he wasn’t even sure if he was fast enough to land such an attack on a high-level three-star, even with Twisted Pendulum active.
Sanguine Avenger was a bit less risky, but if he wanted to rely on it, he would have to set the safety to “none.” Lower risk of failure, but much, much higher risk of straight up dying.
“Make sure you use your awakened soul construct,” Judge Lissia said.
Freddy froze. “Sorry… Can you repeat that?”
“I suppose you believe you’re keeping it a secret, then,” she scoffed. “That ‘tattoo’ on your arm couldn’t be any more obvious. Coupled with the witness testimonies, there is only one thing it could possibly be.”
Freddy looked down at his arm. “You know what this is?”
“Yes. It is evidence that you’re completely insane.” She shook her head. “For once, I’m not surprised you don’t know something. Few people in the empire are even aware that a soul construct can be awakened. For the record, I’m almost entirely sure not even the empress has awakened hers.”
He reeled in shock at that. “Seriously?”
“You’re surprised?” She snorted. “You know very well what it took to get that prime remnant. It takes an incredible amount of greed, or desperation, or both to push someone through so many trials. Nobody sane would do that, no matter how great the reward might be.”
“Excuse me, did you just say prime remnant?”
The judge nodded.
Freddy released a drawn-out “Oooooooh…” as it finally clicked. “You know, I always wondered whether those existed ever since I learned of prime spirits.”
“They only exist in primordial domains to the best of my knowledge, but yes, they are indeed real.”
“Are prime eidola a thing, too?”
Judge Lissia clicked her tongue. “I don’t know, and we’re going way off topic. If you want to know more, go to a library and buy the information. Now, focus on the fight. And I’ll give you a small word of advice.” She steeled her gaze. “Hiding your powers can be a wise choice, but sometimes, keeping a secret is worthless if it keeps you from actually using it to your advantage.
“You’ve already aligned yourself with a major faction. Don’t be afraid to show what you can do. Some might become eager to get rid of you, but your patrons will be just as eager to keep you safe. In any case, the empire will welcome you with open arms.” Judge Lissia turned around, walking to the end of the room and sitting down on a bench. “Now show me.” She squinted at him. “Were you just a distraction in that fight?” Pause. “Or is there something more?”
Freddy remained quiet for a few long seconds. “Very well.” He turned around, facing the panel.
PRACTICE AUTOMATONS: X3
YOU HAVE SELECTED THE “HIGH-LEVEL THREE-STAR” DIFFICULTY.
AUTOMATON 1 STYLE: RANGED.
AUTOMATON 2 STYLE: DEFENSIVE MELEE.
AUTOMATON 3 STYLE: OFFENSIVE MELEE.
WARNING!
REMOVING THE SAFETY FEATURE DRASTICALLY INCREASES RISK OF BODILY INJURY AND DEATH. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED? Y/N?
YOU HAVE SET THE SAFETY LEVEL TO “NONE”.
THE PRACTICE FIGHT WILL BEGIN IN 60 SECONDS! PLEASE ENTER THE CHAMBER.
GOOD LUCK!