Established Pinnacle: The Enigma



Within a region of beauty and elegance; where verdant trees stood tall to the eyes, swift waterfalls gushing out with prosperity, and tall mountains glorifying the earth, two young dragonkin could be seen standing guard.

The two stood before vast city gates, that were thousands of feet tall, hundreds of feet wide, and a couple of feet thick.

And on the end-sides of the vast city gates, were thicker walls that stretched forth for long distances. City walls that were as tall as the city gates, and perhaps, even more majestic.

They stood guard, and conversed under the boiling blood of excitement and nervousness. "I can't believe I've been chosen for this time's tour guide job!! I'll be making plenty of merit points in just a single day!!"

One of the two boisterously cried out, annoying his peer besides him. He had a fairly decent appearance, with blue scales on certain parts of his body, as well as blue eyes exuding divine power and boiling excitement.

The other had crimson red scales, and serene red eyes, as well as a decent appearance. "Calm down, you freaking bastard. Unless we might lose merit points instead, if you make mistakes." He reprimanded.

"My bad, my bad. Why you gotta be so uptight, though?" The blue scaled dragonkin rolled his eyes at his friend, who only grew more annoyed.

They were citizens of The Neon Valley, the empire that Teach was building for Mirai. Well, technically, it was for himself, but since he wound be leaving soon, it could be inherited by his one and only student.

The Neon Valley was a land that stretched over trillions of miles of land, and was divided into twenty provinces, each led by a follower of Mirai. Each province had cities, where each city had its own population of living beings.

And in this place, money and other bartering sources did not apply. Only the newly introduced system of merit points ruled supreme here.

Merits.

A unique form of currency that could be obtained by doing something. Anything. It did not matter what kind of value the activity had, but as long as it brought positivity to one's life and the city, then it would net profit.

Even practicing in one's own talents, net merits. Little merit. And doing something like building for people, net more merits. This was the currency system of the Neon Valley.

As for what could merit do? Simply.

Using the essence that Teach absorbed from numerous Demigods within the dungeons, and from absorbing dungeons, he could use it to alter Reality to a certain level.

He used those collected essence, alongside his remaining eight thousand units of faith essence, to conjur a unique system of sorts. This system collected hard work through activities, and converted it into merits, which could be used to affect Reality.

By giving command to the system, the natural landscape could be warped. Wishing for your one room house to instantly become a double story building was possible.

Turning an old broken hoe into a shiny high grade sword was possible. Healing fatal injuries was possible. Gaining unique talents was also possible. Almost anything was possible with Merits Points.

Hence why they were greatly sought after by the residents of the Neon Valley. "Hm? The Rulers are back with our prey. Immediately reign in your excitement." The red scaled dragonkin hurriedly said to the former.

"...."

His friend immediately stood at attention and did not struggle this time around. Each of Mirai's followers were powerful beings revered as Rulers by the masses.

They had massive amount of merits, as each land they ruled over, was directly formed by them to their liking. Including the city and their internal structures!!

"We humbly greet our great Rulers." The two greeted at the same time, slightly bowing their heads towards the front.

"Rise." And towards the direction they bowed to, a soft voice of unrestrain rang out, which belonged to Ophir. "You've done good so far, I give you my thanks. Work a bit harder, and you will be pardoned." She added.

Above, she waved her hand and released all the captives she had within her expansive storage space. The numbers ranking within the billions, and their races were varied.

After she did that, without so much as a word, she turned around and blasted off into the near distance, leaving behind a large population of confused beings.

"...."

"...."

"...."

The billions of people she just released, looked around in stupor at the sudden change of environment once more. First, it was from their home to a place of emptiness, and then from there to this wilderness?

They were greatly overwhelmed and at panic. Being residents of a border nation, they knew that death could come unexpected, at any time. They knew of no peaceful times.

Especially so, within this Age of Ragnarok, where the sunlight was gone, and everyone was embraced in the cold blankets of darkness. Where it was every men for himself, as all hope was shattered.

They knew. Yet that didn't mean they still accepted it. Struggling was a part of living, of survival, of life.

"Ahem, please calm down, please calm down. We are not here to hurt you." The blue scaled being flew up and said, his voice traveling to every person before him.

Thanks to his height of attitude and enhanced tone within his voice, he was able to become the center of attention. To be the focus of everyone. "You're not... here to hurt us?" A thick beared dwarf inquired with a frown.

Doubt. He was clearly in doubt, and didn't believe the other party's words. Which was quite the normal response. "Yeah. For the most part, we mean you no harm." The dragonkin responded with a smile.

He then continued, "We live in an apocalyptic environment, where death comes and goes like the gentle autumn breeze. Many wish to live, but die. Many expect death, but live. The flow of fate has been twisted."

"Yet that being the case, there are still many forms of survival out there. And one of them, is fealty." He said, his smile growing brighter by the end of his speech.

"Fealty..? As in to bend a knee?"

"Do we have to bow our heads to the enemy? Wouldn't that be betrayal?"

"But isn't it... better?"

"Better than death, yeah."

"Anything is better than death, right?"

The numerous beings began conversing amongst themselves, still slightly overwhelmed. Yet as the time went by, they slowly relaxed their nerves. They had been through much worse to have survived till this stage.

Those living in the border nations and border lands knew of no peace. Their methods of doing things varied from those at cities directly under the silver prince's management, thus they did not have deep loyalty for the Empire.

They all knew this. Even the two dragonkins, and Mirai's Rulers knew this perfectly well. And hence why they did not come forth with threats.

"Why overthink the matter?" He thus said, choosing an option that was better than death threats, for people who have seen despair and adapted to it. "We are all pawns of the much stronger beings, who determine our lives and deaths."

"As for which powerful being it is, does it matter? It's not like there's any value each individual one gives to us, right? They all offer us protection. They all offer us homes. So, what's so hard of switching teams for your benefit?"

"At the end of the day, it's your life that's as easily discarded as a leaf. Hence it's you, whose ultimately responsible for your death." He said, slightly descending in altitude.

The other dragonkin also began to speak, adding more on what his friend had already said.

"In actuality, as 'enemies', our rightful sentence was supposed to be death. Our existence is of no value value to these beings. Them sparing the likes us... is only beneficiary for us. They are doing us a favor, in short."

"So are you going to spit on their kindness, just for an Empire that dared to use you as a shield? Are you going to throw away the chance of life, that many more beings would dig through hell to take? Think it through, and make your choice." He said, his calm glare piecing through many.

"...."

"...."

And silence was their response. Only silent contemplation came their way, as most of their words did indeed make sense.

Throughout the years, they saw people die unnecessarily at the hands of those powerful. Some died when battle ensured, and some even died to the plagues and natural disasters that took place.

Death was a normalcy at this point.

Hence for the beings that took the time out of their agenda to 'save' them, instead of outright killing them, were nothing less of angels to them.

It was an action as good as taking a burden upon your shoulders, with full awareness that it will drag you down. Yet you still carried it. Such people were golden souls with pure selflessness within their veins.

"I... I choose... to pay fealty."

"I want to pay fealty too!!"

"Long live our new Emperor!!"

...!!!