“So this is my Duchy?” I asked looking over the map of the gryphon nation or Grýfon spíti as they called it.

“Indeed it is Your Highness,” Exclaimed Hermogenes with a deep bow.

Hermogenes was a small gryphon with tawny brown fur, copper-colored feathers, and amber eyes, he was an exploratores of the Boreas auxilia and was appointed as my assistant and messenger.

In my last few weeks here in this kingdom, I have made several discoveries first and foremost being that the Gryphon culture was a strange mixture of Greek, Roman, and British culture. Their alphabet was Greek, but their armies were structured like the Roman armies down to what they called their various commanding officers, and on top of all that their noble classes were primarily British. It was frustrating, to say the least as it left me with tons of questions that would likely never be answered. But right now I needed to focus.

“Unfortunately the other noble house has already taken the more coveted flat lands surrounding us Apestalménos tou Voréa,” Hermogenes continued nearly groveling at my feet.

Another thing that I found out? After returning the Idol I was worshiped as either a hero, a god made flesh, or usually both. Very annoying at times but it did have its uses as it gave me quite the reputation and plenty of leverage, as well as something new in the system.

System alert!

The user has returned the Idol of Boreas to its rightful owners!

The following effects shall occur!

The Title: Hero of Gryphon Kind has been unlocked!

The Effect Blessing of Boreas will permanently be applied!

A hidden quest has been revealed

100K Karma gained
(Karma gained has been adjusted due to current buffs)

The Gods of this world are taking an interest in your actions

System Alert!

The user has gained the Title “Hero of Gryphon Kind”

• All stats permanently increased by 10
• All gryphons will permanently regard you in reverence

System Alert!

The User has gained the “blessing of Boreas”

• All stats permanently increased by 10
• Grants access to hidden class

The Hidden Quest “Restoration of an Empire” has been activated

Quest objective(s)

• Restore and reunite the Gryphon empire

Failure Condition(s)

• Death of the user
• Loss of the Idol of Boreas

Failure penalty

• ???

Completion Reward(s)

• 500K Karma
• The item Crown of Boreas
• A Fracture of Greatness

The bonuses were damn nice and that thing about a hidden class piqued my interest but I couldn't find anything on the system about classes, at least not yet though. Focusing back in on the present I ask Cozy a question.

“What do you think Cozy? Good enough?”

Cozy climbed atop my head to get a view of the surrounding area.

“With your ideas Uncle Alex? It's perfect!” She exclaimed in excitement.

The Biggest change so far has been Cozy Glow, she has gone from down and mopey to joyous and motivated. The exact cause is unknown to me but it might have to do something with my Disturbing presence skill as it does state that some would be drawn to me likely the mentally disturbed, and there was no doubt after everything thats happened she is disturbed in some way to put it lightly.

I smiled surveying the land, “I agree, this area is ripe with opportunity.”

“Hermogenes are there any reasons as to why this area has remained undeveloped?” I questioned him with a raised eyebrow.

“Three reasons my lord, the first and most pressing being that an ancient dragon has taken residence in that mountain over yonder,” Hermogenes explained pointing near the top of the largest mountain before continuing, “Second is a lack of available flat lands or fertile fields to sustain a labor force, and third is a lack of available funding.”

“Alright then let's go talk to this dragon, it can talk yes?” I further asked.

“Indeed it can my lord,” Responded Hermogenes.

“Perfect lead me to it, I can climb easily enough just keep Cozy with you.” With nary a protest, Hermogenes led me up the mountain it was quite steep but I was able to easily dig into the stone with my claws as we made ours to the top. Soon enough we made it to the entrance of a large cavern near the top of the windswept peak.

“Alright, then both of you stay away from the entrance, depending on how this goes I'll be coming out spotless or drenched in blood,” and with that, I entered the cave.

Piles of gold and jewels littered the floor of the massive cavern, gilded weapons, armor, and furniture strewn about. The air carried a faint scent of metal and rot, and there in the middle laid a dragon with deep blue scales, seemingly asleep however I knew better than to approach without caution.

“HEY!” I hailed the dragon, “I KNOW YOU AREN’T SLEEPING AND YOU KNOW I won't FALL FOR IT SO LET US NOT DO THIS SONG AND DANCE!”

The dragon to its credit stayed “asleep” for several more seconds before sighing and picking up its head.

“What do you want little beast?” The dragon asked, his deep voice echoing throughout a cave.

“I simply wish to speak,” I say putting up my hands to placate the large beast.

“Then speak, before you are unable to.” The dragon threatened, apathy dripping from his voice.

“I have come to ensure either your assistance or noninterference in my endeavors, I was recently awarded this mountain range as my domain and I plan on industrializing it and you, are in the way.” I finished explaining.

The dragon began getting up from its position, eyes narrowing and jaw setting in fury. “In the way huh?” He questioned, “And what makes you think that you can come in here and just insult me like that?”

“Now now, I am simply stating a matter of fact,” I explained, “After all our goals are likely at odds with each other. You simply wish for peace while I wish for rapid industrialization and I know from experience that it can get quite noisy doing that.”

“So what?” The dragon further questioned.

“So, that means that there are two options, either serve me or die.” I declared taking out my sickle and spear.

“You think I would serve you?” The dragon asked incredulously.

“No, but I thought I’d ask anyway.” With that, I steeled myself for combat.

And steel did I need, quicker than most would be able to act the dragon attempted to roast me with a split-second decision I activated rage and limit break multiplying my stats by 7 times pushing my dex to 406 and strength to 315 I was swiftly able to dodge his fire breath with ease. Jumping atop his head I used my sickle to excavate his eye and into his skull where I made short work of his brain.

‘Honestly fighting opponents without magic is a breeze just turn the brain into pudding and BAM deader than a door,’ The thought passed through my mind quickly but it did raise a question. Didn't I choose the hardest difficulty? What is so hard about all of this? Or am I just that busted? Questions aside I now had a crap ton of food, materials, and funding to take care of as well as the notifications in my vision.

System Alert!

The user has killed an adult dragon!

100K karma has been awarded!
(Amount adjusted due to current buffs)

The title “Dragon Slayer” has been awarded!

Dragon slayer

• Permanently increases all stats by 10
• Grants access to a secret class

A shard of avarice has been awarded!

News of your martial prowess shall spread throughout the land!

Spearmanship upgraded from level 2-5!

Gained the passive skill “Swordsmanship: sickle lvl 3!”

Everything was pretty hunky dory with all that I had gained so I started slicing off a bits of the dragon, couldn't let all that meat go to waste after all. I was there for hours gorging myself until I heard the sound of plate armor behind me.

“Captain Adamantios!” I called out jovially turning around, “You are just in time for dinner, see I just killed this overgrown snake and couldn't possibly eat it all myself, come join me in this feast!”

I watched as the commander stopped dead in his tracks looking over the corpse of the dragon and then over to me eating said corpse.

“Is everything alright here my lord? Hermogenes told us you were attacked by a dragon.” The Commander choked out his eyes widening in surprise as he finally realized what he was seeing.

“Everything is perfect Commander, me and the dragon just got into a bit of an argument and I won.” I cheerily explained as I continued to devour my food.

“I see that my lord…” Adamantios mumbled, still staring at the corpse.

“Here,” I say offering him a jagged slice of raw flesh, “I tried cooking it but it's immune to fire, but it is very flavorful.”

After several moments he took the cut of flesh from me and slowly put it in in beak, his eyes lighting up from the flavours. Soon the rest of the troops gathered around and we had a merry feast on the flesh of the departed.

“So where are Cozy and Hermogenes Commander.?” I asked in between servings.

“They are back at that camp you had set up my lord,” One of the soldiers explained happily chowing down on his share of the food.

“So how did you slay it?” another soldier asked.

I shrugged, “Big targets are the easiest to bring down so long as you know what to go for, their size makes their weak points bigger and their movement slower if they don't have magic that can negate those two things. But in my experience go for the eyes or center mass to hit vital organs.” I easily explained between bites.

They all listened with rapt attention holding on to me every word as I further explained how to take down large opponents. We were there for at least 2 more hours before the Commander interrupted me.

“So what do you plan to do with all of this gold?” The commander questioned looking around at the piles and piles of gold and jewels.

“Use them for funding my industrialization of the area, which reminds me.” Opening back up the interface I started scrolling through the shop, much to the confusion of everyone else.

“My lord?” A soldier asked as he observed me scrolling through nothing, ‘Are you okay?”

“Indeed I am, see I have a special ability that allows me to trade a special type of currency for various types of knowledge, observe,” I explained selecting a book of golemmancy for fifty thousand karma and watching it appear in my claws. Looking around I watched their jaws drop at the sight of a book materialize out of nowhere.

“See?” I said holding up said book.

They all nodded dumbly in shock at what they had just observed. Putting it back down I clicked the learn prompt that appeared in my vision, new information flooded through my mind as the book disappeared. Opening back up the interface I read through the new message.

System Alert!

The user has learned the skill “Golemmancy”

Golemmancy lvl 1
The oldest of golems stem from Jewish mythos
Allows the user to create simple golems

System Alert!

The User has killed and devoured an Adult Dragon the following shall be awarded

1. The passive skill Dragon scales will be awarded
2. gain 100 points in strength

Using 140k karma I maxed out my craftsmanship skill and golemmancy skill bringing both to level 10 and bringing my death magic to level 5 floods of new information came to me in droves about various processes and spells. Getting up I turn to the Commander.

“Commander tell me, is there a messenger guild of some sort?” I questioned.

“Yes sir there is.” the commander replied

“Perfect,” Finishing my food I left the new pop-up from the system as I made my way from down the mountain and into my temporary camp. The camp was very basic by anyone's standards with only some tents and a campfire. The tents were all handcrafted by myself from locally sourced pelts as were the sleeping bags.

Walking into camp I was immediately glomped by a tiny pastel pegasus.

“Hey Cozy,” I said cheerily as I gently hugged her.

“Are you ok!? What happened? Is anything thing broken? Is there a dragon out to get you?” She exclaimed in panic rambling on and on in increasing volume.

“Hey, hey, it's okay Cozy,” I gently chided her putting a claw to her muzzle, “I’m okay, the dragon is gone, and there's no one after me.”

It took her several seconds before her breathing calmed down tears streaming down her eyes.”I just can't, *hiccup* I just can't lose you too.” she finished wailing into my chest

Gently sitting down I held her to my chest as I slowly stroked her mane. Hermogenes slowly crept up to the side of me, looking down at Cozy as she slowly calmed down in my arms.

“Is everything okay here my lord?” Hermogenes questions quietly.

“Just a bit of a scare nothing to worry about Hermogenes,” I replied whispering back to him.

“Very well then my lord, I shall be in my tent should you need me.” He said as he turned around.

“Actually,” I replied as he turned around, “Could you send a message to the messengers guild? I need some flyers printed and delivered to the surrounding nations and duchies if possible.”

“Of course my lord,” He responded bowing down, “It would be my honour, however, what would you like for them to say if I might ask?”

I shrugged slightly “Workers wanted both skilled and unskilled labour regardless of background are welcome withn the duchy of Latveria, Housing and food provided along with pay, payment to be determined by position and type of labour. ” I finished monotonously listing some conditions off.

“Latveria my lord?” Hermogenes Questioned.

“That is the name of my Duchy,” I explained.

“Very well then my lord, it will be done.” Turning back around Hermogenes made his way to his tent to gather some things before leaving while I continued to sit there gently petting the foal fitfully sleeping in my arms.

Author's Note

See? told yall id be doing updates more often! Anyways please do tell me how yall like the story! Ill keep posting it regardless of engagement but it would be nice to get a feel on how yall think about everything so far!

See yall next time!

-Tene