Chapter 19: Introduction to the Kingdom

The person heading towards us turned out to be my close friend who awakened with the power of the pirate king, Topher. We haven’t seen each other in over two decades. He has aged, the young adult I knew has now grown into a fully bearded man with sideburns carrying the aura of a monarch. We looked each other in the eye, and he asked, “Is it really you?" I replied with, “Yes it's me. I got resurrected through my soul binding contract with Max over here.” I raised my left hand and Max plopped down right on it. I then petted him on his little head. Topher then said, “I knew it! When Anne left, she was sure you would come back, and I believe her. This mansion is actually for you, we just disguised it as Stephanie's future home when she comes of age.” After hearing those words, Stephanie scowled at me, but I just ignored her. I then said, “You must be pretty high ranking if you can afford to create a separate mansion for your daughter in these times”. Topher chuckled loudly and said, “High ranking? Right now, our circle of friends became the core of the kingdom. Joyce, my wife, became the Saintess, the chief physician. Her best friend, Jolly, awakened with the power of “creation” so she can basically use the mana to create things. Diane awakened as a mage and is now using her prowess as the first line of defense in the city. Julian also defends the city by leading our army. Roel who uses his voice to enchant beasts is our other line of defense inside the city and is also a sizable defense force. Son is our Engineer who creates things to make our lives easier, in charge of the wellbeing of our kingdom. Finally, David and I are equals as rulers of the kingdom. I am the King and he is the prime minister”. I was surprised as to how things turned out like this. It seems that their abilities are pretty potent as well.

Topher continued on and said, “It was actually the world awakener that helped us achieve all these. He was your best friend from elementary school, Franco. After you protected us from the mana projection of the dragon on that fateful day, Franco was the one that passed out right after we all heard the words from the voice of the world. When he awakened, he gained the status of a Player. According to him, his blueprint of awakening came from the world’s weakest hunter that became the Player, a being capable of growth in a world that people who had power didn’t get stronger. The representative told us that the way Franco awakened meant that he was blessed by the soul of the world. It means that he is chosen by the world to protect it from outsiders. when the time comes that outsiders are permitted inside. Knowing he was your friend, we tried our best to help him since we knew that is what you would have wanted." Franco was actually my best friend up until the start of high school when he moved to London. I did hear he was back in town when the apocalypse happened, so I guess this was his nearest safe space. Topher went on with his narrative, "The representative told us of a treasure called the Living Stone, located near the top of the mountain where this subdivision where the school is was built. He left us with Franco and assured that he would strike all of us from his records so that Franco won’t be corrupted by any organizations in the present world. He said that the living stone was a summoned golem that has existed since the creation of the world just collecting mana. After our adventure to the Living stone we had come to an agreement that It can protect this place in exchange of offerings. We traveled all around the country with Franco to grow and live in this new world. We were able to help him grow. Since he is blessed by the world, his growth is far faster than all of us here. After a while we decided to go our separate ways and give Franco the time and space he needs to fulfill his task in protecting the world. Since at that point we were just hindering him. We all came back here in Angono where we started helping people who had nowhere else to go and that is how this new kingdom grew. I know this is a lot to process so I’ll just leave everything at that for now. Tomorrow, we’ll gather everyone and tell you about what’s currently happening with the world." He handed me a map and said, "This is a map of your mansion. I asked Son’s nanobots to create this when I heard that you're finally back.” Every information I heard really is a lot to process. I grew up believing that all these are just fictitious and that it is impossible for all of these things to happen but here we all are, bearing witness to this new world. This is the reality now. I just closed my eyes and hoped that I can finally get to grips with this new reality.