Ruthless: Path of Conquest

James’s knowledge of power seemed to expand in the moments after he took the Fisher King Job. How to get it, how to keep it, how to use it…

It was surprising to learn so much when he hadn’t even chosen one of the Job options that emphasized manipulating sentient life forms. Perhaps the knowledge that King-type Jobs gave was standardized.

But no. He felt more information trickling into his brain about land and his new relationship with it. How he could enhance it, make it flourish, and reshape it in a manner of his choosing. This had to be a fairly specialized package. He felt a rising excitement.

I hope no one else picked Fisher King, he thought. The potential of this Job is insane. The description doesn’t nearly do it justice. His eyes crinkled as his lips curled into a greedy smile. I could rule the whole world eventually!

Even as knowledge filled his mind, System alerts popped up in front of him. James was extremely proficient in dividing his attention now, so he read the alerts while he pored over the new knowledge.

[You obtained the Job “Fisher King”!]

[You acquired the Talent “Fisher Land Management”!]

[You acquired the Talent “Fisher Sentient Resources!”]

[You acquired the Talent “Genius Loci”!]

From the knowledge pouring into his head, James already knew what the Talents did. He read the descriptions anyway.

[Fisher Sentient Resources: The Fisher King enjoys a special relationship with his people. They rise and fall with him, and they identify with him to an increasing degree. The reciprocal relationships between the Fisher King, his people, and his land, are the root of his influence in the world. Make your people into your power. Generates Skills “Blessing of the Fisher King” and “Goodwill of the Fisher King.”]

Don’t anyone tell the gods that I can grant blessings of my own now, James thought. Though he was sure that his version of a blessing would be more limited in a variety of ways. It still felt subtly blasphemous and potentially heretical toward some faiths, which he liked. Most of the gods he’d crossed paths with were far from his favorite people. Barring Anansi, there hadn’t been a single good god or goddess in his path. They ought to be taken down a peg or two.

He read the Skill description that came with the Talent.

[Blessing of the Fisher King: Touch a life form with your power, and join your fates together. Imbue it with power and benevolent wishes. If the life form does not resist, these will guide and shape its fate. As long as the life form remains loyal to the Fisher King, its fortunes rise and fall with those of the King.]

Holy shit. This might actually be better than the way a god blesses something…

He read the Goodwill Skill, too. It passively increased attachment and goodwill between the King, the residents of his land, and the land itself over time.

[Fisher Land Management: The Fisher King enjoys a special relationship with his land, which gives him unique advantages in developing his territory or simply operating out of it. The Fisher King is the land, to a great degree. The two have a mutually reinforcing symbiotic relationship. Generates Skills “Affinity of the Fisher King” and “Aura of the Fisher King.”]

Affinity of the Fisher King was a Skill to passively transform ambient Mana in the King’s territory. Essentially, the Mana in the air of his territory would act as an additional Mana meter for James to draw from. Aura of the Fisher King was a Skill to help flora and fauna grow on his land and increase the effectiveness of efforts to improve the land, though it stated it was dependent on the King’s own condition.

[Genius Loci: The Fisher King enjoys a one of a kind relationship with his territory, which can foster unique developments in that land. When a place falls under the Fisher King’s rule, it begins to adopt his own Intelligence and Will, acting as an independent extension of himself, from the physical to the non-physical. Make your home a part of you. Generates Skill “Intelligence of the Fisher King” and “Will of the Fisher King.”]

Intelligence and Will of the Fisher King were perhaps the most interesting Skills that he was most curious to see in practice. Essentially, the Fisher King’s spirit became the spirit of the land. It would begin to act on its own following the patterns of his Intelligence and Will.

Which sounded scary and cool.

“Are you ready for your rewards now?” Sisco asked.

James snapped back to the present. He had almost forgotten where he was due to the intensity of his interest in his new powers. He focused back on the Homunculus.

“Yep,” James replied, although for once he felt that he’d been rewarded quite enough. He flashed a big smile, and he could see the System Homunculus trying to return the expression with its almost completely immobile face.

“Excellent. You achieved top marks across all categories, and were in the top fraction of a percent among performers for humanity.”

“For humanity?” James couldn’t resist interjecting. “Do you mean for Earth?”

“No, the monsters are graded on a different scale,” Sisco replied. “You’re not directly comparable.”

Oh. James felt a little uneasy at that. Did every Orientation have something as deadly as you? he transmitted to the Soul Eater.

I would hardly know, Roscuro replied. I was sucked from my universe into your Orientation. In my world, we heard from our ancestors about such things as Orientation and the early days of the System. But its workings and existence were something we took for granted. The world had settled into a sort of equilibrium following the post-Orientation crises. Now I wish I had a clearer memory of history classes. I cannot help you with this one. Perhaps the Homunculus knows.

But James didn’t want to ask Sisco directly. The System Homunculus was already talking again. Perhaps James could think of a way to make the subject arise naturally.

“As a result of your incredible performance, you earned forty thousand System Credits,” Sisco said. “Naturally, they are redeemable through the System Store, which you will be able to access since you completed Orientation.”

[Required conditions met. Skill unlocked: “System Store Access!”]

Neat.

“I’ll make sure to check it out,” James said.

“You should give it a look now,” the Homunculus suggested. “Just to see if it works for you,” he added hastily.

He wants to see my reaction, James thought, amused.

“Sure thing,” he said. “Do the top-performing monsters get access to the System Store, too?”

“All sentient life forms do,” Sisco replied. “The non-sentient creatures would just waste their credits.”

James nodded.

System Store Access.

A seemingly endless array of options appeared before his eyes.

There were Skills, Talents, Stat points, and equipment for sale.

The first option tree he found himself interested in was Skills. Stat points, he could have for the very low effort of killing something. With all the slaughter he’d participated in, it was very natural to him now. And equipment that was for sale would undoubtedly be disappointing compared to what powerful monsters dropped.

Basic Elemental Magic: Fire for 200 System Credits. Elemental Magic: Fire for 2,000 System Credits. Basic Elemental Magic: Gravity for 1,000 System Credits. Elemental Magic: Gravity for 10,000 System Credits. Time Magic for 20,000 System Credits?!

Overpriced! was his immediate impression of the first few options he browsed. Then he reconsidered. Maybe my standards are unreasonably high, because I’ve been acquiring all the Skills I want so easily. And I’m also not used to there being a currency in relation to the Skills and loot I’ve been acquiring.

James voiced his thoughts on the pricing out loud. “Is Elemental Magic: Gravity really supposed to be 10,000 System Credits?” he asked.

The System Homunculus let out a low sound. It took James a few seconds to realize that Sisco was chuckling. The laughing voice didn’t sound like the Homunculus’s, though.

“Somehow, I knew you would be a bit cheap,” said a thickly accented voice that reminded James of a young Joe Pesci.

“Vinny,” James said quietly. One of the few entities he’d encountered toward whom he still felt cautious.

“You missed me, young man?” Vinny said, still speaking through Sisco’s mouth like a demonic ventriloquist.

Something like that, James thought.

Aloud, he said, “Oh, of course. I would’ve loved having you nearby when that Soul Eater was shooting energy blasts at me, or maybe when the Elemental was trying to melt me.”

“Congratulations on surviving those ordeals. I hear adversity is character-forming!”

“Thanks. My character is definitely changing as a result of all that’s happened, I’ll grant you. But I’m surprised you decided to take over from Sisco.”

“I get it. You were having such a nice chat with him! Palling around with your new chum.”

Well, yeah, actually, James thought.

“Forget that for now,” Vinny said. “I have important announcements that Sisco wasn’t privy to. Above his pay grade. I couldn’t have you two finish your conversation, and him return you to Earth, without going over those. First, a gift!”

A small black stone popped into the air in front of James’s face. As it dropped, he instinctively caught it. Then he held it up in front of his eyes. He detected a slight reddish tint to the blackened stone. And was the rock emitting the faintest amount of light? It certainly didn’t look like any earthly stone.

“Thank you for the gift,” James said, a bit uncertainly. “What is it?”

Wait, I could have just used Identify on it. Before he could bother, Vinny answered.

“Glad you asked. We were cleaning up the Orientation site, and we realized some knucklehead killed a Flame Elemental and didn’t bother to retrieve the core.”

“Guilty as charged,” James said, giving Vinny a wry grin. There were extenuating circumstances, a small matter of a lot of people who needed me to save them from a monster attack, but I doubt Vinny cares.

“So I brought you the prize that you fairly earned. You’ll be able to sell it in the System Store and fetch a good price there if you want to, or you may want to find an Alchemist who can work the Flame Elemental Core into something for you. It’s a potent product, after all. Elemental Cores are valuable merchandise.”

James filed that idea away for later and slipped the Core into his satchel.

“There was the Flame Elemental Core, and what were the announcements?” he asked.

“The System Administrators are pleased with how Earth’s mightiest performed through Orientation. They’ve decided to organize a couple of events for the surviving sentient life forms on Earth. A World Leaders’ Summit for every person, whether human or monster, who has a Ruler Title. And a fighting tournament for the world’s strongest two hundred fighters, with excellent prizes for the top fighters.”

James was wearing the Ring of Truth, and he recognized the hot, uncomfortable feeling it gave him as Vinny finished the first sentence. He was lying. The System Administrators had not been “pleased with how Earth’s mightiest performed,” then. Maybe these two events they had decided to organize were regular features in every newly System-integrated universe.

Fortunately, the Ring of Truth had no reaction to the rest of what Vinny said. It was all strictly true beyond that first sentence.

Also, interesting that this divine ring could discern the truth or falsity of what Vinny said. Meaning that he wasn’t a god himself; he was somewhere below them in the cosmic hierarchy. That wasn’t surprising, but it was good to confirm.

“Those are very intriguing announcements,” James said. “Are you going to give me more details? How many world leaders are attending the summit? And will the fighting tournament feature non-humans too?”

“There will be more details,” Vinny replied, “but not now. There will be a general announcement later, when we can set a date for the event. We’re letting you and a few others know early, only because you’re Rulers. There are only forty-five of you Rulers of human origin in the whole world. It’s a very impressive achievement. I knew I was right to expect great things from you! And I can tell you that the fighting tournament will feature monsters, too. Any creature of earthly origin is eligible.”

James felt immediately worried about the phrasing Vinny had used in one of those sentences.

“Only forty-five Rulers of human origin?” he said. “How many non-human Rulers?”

How many creatures would there be, like the Soul Eater, preying on his fellow humans?

“Oh, hundreds,” Vinny said, chuckling to himself. “I haven’t taken an exact tally, but most humans didn’t beat their Orientations’ final bosses. There’s still time, though. Maybe some of those crowns will be taken by humans in the period between now and the Summit, right?”

“We are a resilient species,” James said, smiling with teeth gritted.

He pictured a vast array of monsters occupying the Earth, looking for humans to eat. Some of them as powerful as Roscuro had been. Some of them surely stronger.

He would see to it personally that some of those monsters didn’t make it to the Summit. Besides protecting his family, that would be his mission.

“Nice bling, by the way,” Vinny said, looking pointedly at the Ring of the Sovereign on James’s left hand.

“Thanks,” James said.

“Make sure you put it to good use,” Vinny added, seeming to emphasize every syllable.

James nodded slowly, slightly confused.

He looked down at the magical item that had once been his wedding band—and not for the first time, prayed to no god or goddess he could name, that his wife would understand why he’d turned it into a magical object.

Then he finally read the description for the Skill he’d transferred into the band.

[Dominion: Seize control of territory with your Mana. By pouring out your magical essence, imbue yourself into the soil, water, air, ambient Mana, and non-physical aspects of a region. This Skill may be ineffective where another entity’s Mana predominates. If two Dominions intersect, it must be resolved by one withdrawing or defeating the other.]

If I understand that correctly, it intersects extraordinarily well with the Fisher King Skills, James thought. If you didn’t have this, how would you get territory? But if you didn’t have those Skills, how would you get any benefit out of it?

“You ready to go home now, kid?” Vinny asked, sounding satisfied. From the tone of his voice, James thought that Vinny had really wanted him to read that description.

But why? He wants to make sure I’ll go out and take over some land? I was going to do that anyway. The proctor’s intentions were still something of a mystery to him, but it bore thinking about. James didn’t want to be a pawn in anyone’s games, least of all those of the proctor whose face he’d never even seen.

He took a moment before he answered to read the other Skill he’d gotten from the Ruler of the Dark Waters Title.

[Territorial Control: Observe anything occurring within your territory at your whim. Manipulate the physical and magical structure of your territory using imbued Mana and your conscious mind. This Skill consumes imbued Mana and is less efficient than other forms of magic.]

Another Skill that has great synergy with Dominion. At least now he could see why someone who didn’t have the Fisher King Job would want Dominion.

“Yes, I am,” James said. “Um, will you say goodbye to Sisco for me, or can I say farewell myself?”

“Fine, fine. Say your goodbyes. See you next time, James.”

“Next time, Vinny,” James echoed.

Then the Homunculus was back to itself, blinking as if it was just waking up from a long nap. And was that a flicker of pain James detected in its eyes? It was so hard to read a face made of stone, but perhaps James finally knew why the Homunculus had seemed annoyed at him in their previous encounter, after James had asked to speak to Vinny. Maybe it was actually painful for Sisco to be possessed in that way Vinny did, however briefly.

“Good luck, James,” the Homunculus said after a long moment of silence.

“Be well, Sisco,” James said. He felt a little sorry for Sisco, but it couldn’t dampen his mood. He was about to see his family again, and return home.

Suddenly, he found he was no longer in the white room. He disappeared from that place and reappeared somewhere outdoors. He saw the clear blue sky, Mina, Yulia, and a tiny person who he’d never met before, but who he knew immediately.

Mina. Yulia. My son.

His face curled into an irresistible smile, and he looked into Mina’s eyes.

And then they all began falling.