Book 9, Chapter 127

A Woman Who Holds Grudges

The birth of the planes took a long time, but it eventually came to an end. Submerged within, Richard who felt like a fish swimming in the sea of laws suddenly snapped out of his daze and looked all around him. The Lighthouse of Time was on a solitary piece of earth that was only a few hundred kilometres around, and while the building itself was undamaged the timeflames had been extinguished.

All around was the void, but even the stars were nowhere to be seen. This enormous sector was too far from the rest of the domain of order, such that even the closest plane’s radiance couldn’t make it here. However, he felt the laws that were familiar to him all around, making it clear that he was back home. Walking out of the Lighthouse of Time, he outlined a portal towards the calling in his soul and walked in.

Moments later, he was in his demiplane once more. He felt some weight in his robes as a red and faint gold light appeared within, revealing the Book of Destruction that he’d assumed was lost in his teleportation. Was it with him all this while, simply unable to appear because it wasn’t in a world of order?

He felt like he was grasping at something, but the changes to the world around him distracted him from that epiphany. His demiplane had grown half fold, and the original energy pools were now overflowing into lakes at the base of the hill. Magic crystals were littered everywhere, filling the place with a rainbow glow.

Richard teleported to his island in Faust, finding no changes to the place as everything seemed to be in perfect order. His sense of time had already been synchronised, allowing him to know that three years had passed since he’d first left for the abyss. Many things should have changed in such a long time, but the land before him seemed almost the exact same as normal with many more powerhouses bustling about.

Were the reward point battlefields still running? Before he could process this thought, he saw a glistening bald head jump across in front of him. It passed him at first, but it suddenly flew back and turned to reveal a shocked yet delighted face, “BOSS!”

Richard looked at Gangdor, actually taking a moment to recognise one of his oldest followers. Only three years had passed in Faust, but he felt like he had spent several decades in the Darkness as he’d grown accustomed to the distorted time. It took a long while for him to adjust again and respond, “Yes, I’m back.”

“EVERYONE OUT. NOW! BOSS IS BACK!” the brute’s voice resounded through the entire island, immediately bringing on a flood of cheers.

……

Not long after, RIchard was in the castle’s meeting hall, listening to his followers describe the big events that had occurred in the past three years. His first question was whether anyone came looking for trouble, but Gangdor responded with an “Of course!” that dropped the temperature in the room significantly.

Having learnt to control the distorted laws of the Darkness and seen the birth of new worlds, Richard’s power had grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years. Even he himself wasn’t certain of just how strong he was, but in terms of laws alone no one in Norland could compare to him. At this point, he felt like he would have the upper hand even if he fought someone like Philip. Outside of that man on the throne in Arbidis, no one was a match.

The only Norlandic power Richard could think of being stupid enough to attack the Archerons was the Frozen Court, but as he listened to Gangdor’s explanation he was left between laughter and tears. Richard had greatly expanded the Archeron territory before leaving for the abyss, and with the questionable allegiances of the new lords that had been created in this process it wasn’t difficult to stir up some trouble. Without even a supply line being established, most people assumed the expedition to the abyss had been annihilated and started testing the Archerons.

However, the family wasn’t easy to deal with even in his absence. Empress Apeiron still backed the Archerons, and Rosie’s rune workshop had expanded operational scale and was now producing full grade 2 savage knights that were even stronger than the average saint. The night elven army continued to walk through the Bridge of Hope, and their average level of 16 made for a frightening troop that could crush all opponents in Norland. Under Alice’s talented command, they crushed all the fake bandits and minor rebellions before heading around to the offenders and quieting people down.

It wasn’t long before Waterflower, Tiramisu, and the other followers returned from the abyss, making up for the lack of true elites. No one dared plot against the Archerons after that, but once Nasia came back as well she decided not to take the previous offences softly. She formally placed Fiora in the position of the family head, taking control of the family and transferring Asiris back to Norland to serve as the military advisor for the family. The Dark Priest was given full authority to conduct any conspiracies he wanted, and the Archerons attacked in all directions as they crushed everyone that had wronged them.

With a number of legends knocking at the door, even families like the Turings had to back down. The hot-blooded youths of these families who fought back were often simply killed. While Richard wasn’t around anymore, Nasia had killed a level 26 knight of the Turing Family to ensure that no one dared challenge the Archerons’ authority again. That knight had only been a step away from becoming an epic being, but he hadn’t lasted even three minutes before all of her divine equipment had crushed him.

When Richard was around and in charge of the Archerons, he often had more important things to attend to than minor annoyances. He couldn’t be bothered to exact vengeance for petty things, and was too busy bringing the family to a peak where the Turings, Mensas, Josephs, and even Orleans Family were just pushovers. However, the same didn’t hold true for Nasia, who took hold of a family that was already the strongest in Norland. She didn’t let anyone go, even if they were friendly or humble now. All the plots of the Turings and Mensas were paid back with interest.

The Archerons were delighted to be suppressing their former enemies, but inwardly they also vowed never to offend Nasia. This was a woman who held grudges forever, digging up even the slightest offences from decades ago to crush her targets.

One other important matter was the reward point system. Richard had made a handful of saint runes before leaving for the abyss, including three more parts of Midren, but there had only been enough to support the system for a year. He had assumed that he would most likely have died if he didn’t return by then, at which point the system would be unsustainable anyway. Unfortunately, he had met that terrifying man and sword in Arbidis, forcing the Eternal Dragon to activate the portal that saved his life. He had spent two more years in the Darkness, and Nasia had taken it upon herself to back the system in his absence. While she wasn’t a runemaster, she hosted sacrifices with an efficiency even he would have to be envious of, coming back with large swathes of divine equipment that propped the system up for the past two years. With Rosie’s occasional grade 4 runes added on top, they still managed to attract a number of powerhouses.

While things had died down in the Dragon Plane, the abyss had become more and more popular with time. It was incredibly vast, and with the expedition finding pathways to other layers the humans were now looking at a limitless treasure trove. A large number of legends and sky saints flooded the ancient battlefield and killed the demons, harvesting them for everything they were worth.

Surprisingly, the Celestial Sage had gone beyond his obligations and remained to keep things in order. Although he wasn’t famed for his combat ability, his defensive skills with the nebular chains were top notch and he was still a threat against anyone aiming at the Archerons.