CHAPTER 49: OLD MEMORIES

System, what do you make of all this?

[The political situation is more complex than initially apparent. King Eric’s personal connection to your father creates leverage you can exploit. However, his mention of international pressure suggests time constraints. Other kingdoms won’t wait indefinitely.]

Jack settled onto his impossibly comfortable bed, staring up at the crystal ceiling.

Jack decided to relax abd was going through his stats and looking at everything.

System, how do the classes work? Do I have set them up separately to use during combat?

[Just tell me and we can swap them as necessary. You can only have one class equipped currently.]

So I can have more than one class at a time than by those words.

The system had slipped and gave information to Jack he wasn’t prying for.

[Status Update.]

Jack Kaiser: Level 18 (19,630/27,500)

Class: Lightning Mage Rank 8 (10,790/100,000)]

Strength: 28 (+30)

Stamina: 38 (+25)

Agility: 28 (+25)

Vitality: 38 (+25)

Endurance: 18 (+30)

Magic: 72 (+40)

Mana: 300

HP: 600

Skill Points:200

Stat Points: 11

Reputation Points: 100,027

Magic Talent Rank: S

Martial Talent Rank: S

Affinity: Lightning

Blessings: Draven’s Pendant

Title: Dragon Slayer

Woah, woah, woah!!

System!!

Why did my stats drop?!

[Because you were unconscious. The penalty for failing to complete your daily tasks is -1 to all stats.]

UGH!

I forgot about that. Alright so, I think let’s focus in maxing our skills, i’m going to need every advantagei can get when we go back to the Spire.

[Consuming 2 pest cores, 1 Enraged Pest Core, 299 Wretch cores, 194 Vile cores, 4 dread cores, 1 terror core.]

[Congratulations, skills now have new benefits.]

Skills: Analyze (level 8), Polearm Mastery (MAX), Thundershock (MAX), Spear Toss (MAX), Lightning Steps (MAX), Lightning’s Embrace (MAX), Lightning Shock (MAX), Mana Regeneration (MAX), HP Regeneration (MAX), Thunder Clap (MAX), Thunder Stomp (MAX), Call of fhe Lightning (level 2), Branded, (MAX), Overcharge (level 2)

[Thundershock: creates a small burst of lightning from one’s palm. Range 3 meters. Damage is determined by magic stat × Talent rank.]

[Spear Toss: Toss your spear with increased velocity. Range is determined by Stamina × 0.6 meters. Damage is determined by Strength × 4]

[Lightning Steps: Dash in any direction by 5 meters.]

[Lightning Embrace: adds lightning to the tip of your spear. Damage is determined by magic stat × 1.2.]

[HP Regeneration: Recovers

30 HP Points per Minute. Passive.]

[Lighting Shock: Shoots a lightning strike from your Spear. Damage is determined by Magic Stat × 2.5]

[Mana Regeneration: Recovers 30 Mana Points per Minute. Passive.]

[Thunder Clap: Clap your hands to create a loud bang. Sends an AoE field of lightning at enemies. Damage is determined by Magic Stat × 3. Range is 6 meters.]

[Thunder Stomp: Stomp your foot to send thunder through the ground towards an enemy. Releases a large thunderbolt that shocks the enemy. Damage is determined by Magic Stat × 6]

[Call of the Lightning: Channel Lightning inside of your body before releasing it back at an enemy. Charges available 5.]

[Branded: throw a lightning Bolt at the enemy. If it hits, it leaves the enemy branded. If you are within range, your skill will always hit without fail. If the enemy is branded increase damage by 3. Increases Range for skill.]

Tonight, for the first time since arriving at the palace, he felt relaxed.

---

Meanwhile, on the road to the capital...

The steady rhythm of hoofbeats on cobblestone did nothing to calm Alaric Kaiser’s churning thoughts. Each mile that brought them closer to the capital felt like a step deeper into a nightmare he’d never imagined facing.

His mount, a massive black destrier named Shadowstrike, sensed his rider’s agitation and tossed his head restlessly. Even the horse understood something was deeply wrong with this journey.

How could you do this to me, Eric?

The thought burned through Alaric’s mind like acid dripping through a building. Thirty years of friendship, of brotherhood forged in blood and battle, and this was how it ended? With his firstborn son stolen away like a common criminal?

The irony was bitter enough to choke on. Eric owed everything to him. His crown, his kingdom, his very life. That night twenty-five years ago, when the coup had nearly succeeded, when Eric had frozen in terror as assassins closed in on his chambers...

Alaric’s hands tightened on the reins as the memory crashed over him with devastating clarity.

Blood on marble floors. The sound of steel on steel. Eric cowering behind his bed while three armed men advanced with drawn blades.

"Long live King Marcus!" the lead assassin had shouted, invoking Eric’s ambitious uncle who’d orchestrated the entire rebellion.

Eric had been paralyzed, his sword forgotten on the floor, his voice stolen by terror. He would have died there, his throat cut like a slaughtered sheep, if Alaric hadn’t burst through the door.

The battle lasted less than three minutes. Alaric’s dark magic had filled the room like a living nightmare, his blade moving with the precision of a master swordsman backed by rigorous training. When it was over, three bodies lay cooling on the king’s floor, and Eric was alive. Crowned king by right of survival rather than birth.

But the cost...

The Queen.

Even now, the memory of that revelation made Alaric’s stomach turn. Queen Isabella, Eric’s own wife, had been the one feeding information to the conspirators. Her lover, Duke Marcus, had promised her a crown and freedom from a marriage she’d grown to despise.

She had led them directly to Eric’s private chambers. Had told them exactly when the guards would be at their lightest rotation. Had even provided them with the key to the royal wing.

Finding her in Marcus’s bed that very night, still warm with treachery and adultery, had been almost anticlimactic after the violence in the king’s chambers.

"Please," she had begged, her naked form trembling as Alaric’s dark mana filled the duke’s bedroom. "I never meant for anyone to die. I just wanted to be free."

Freedom. She had been willing to murder her own husband for freedom.

But Eric, even in his terror and betrayal, had been unable to order his wife’s execution. The political scandal alone would have destroyed his legitimacy as a king. A cuckolded ruler, betrayed by his own queen? The kingdom would have collapsed into civil war within months.

So Alaric had handled it quietly.

Isabella died of a sudden fever three days after the coup attempt. The court physicians were baffled by her swift decline. Duke Marcus suffered a hunting accident. Trampled by his own horse in a tragic mishap that left his body unrecognizable.

The conspiracy died with them, taking its secrets to unmarked graves.

Eric kept his crown, his kingdom, and his reputation intact. The official story said foreign assassins had struck and had a heroic intervention by Alaric Kaiser, not anything about his treacherous wife or back stabbing uncle.

For twenty-five years, that secret had bound them together. Eric owed Alaric not just his life, but his entire legacy. Every decision he made as king, every law he signed, every victory he celebrated. All of it existed because Alaric had been willing to do what Eric could not.

And this is how he repays that loyalty? By stealing my son?

The rational part of Alaric’s mind understood the political pressures Eric faced. Jack’s display of power had indeed created international complications that couldn’t be ignored.

But the father in him, the part that remembered holding his newborn son and promising to protect him always, burned with a fury that made his dark magic writhe beneath his skin like a second shadow ready to claim someone’s soul.

Behind him, the rest of his family rode in their own private hells. Genevieve’s face was carved from ice, her usual warmth replaced by the cold calculation that had earned her the nickname "Lady Mania" among their enemies. His daughters alternated between worry and rage, their conversations muted but intense.

And Finn... the former chosen one rode with the grim satisfaction of a man watching his predictions come true. He’d warned them about the crown’s true nature, about how chosen ones were ultimately treated as resources rather than people.

Twenty-five years of friendship, and Eric couldn’t even call me directly. Couldn’t even explain why he felt this was necessary. He sent that golden-haired snake Aurelius to do his dirty work.

The memory of seeing Jack’s unconscious body being hauled away to serve the crown, still made Alaric’s vision blur with rage. No discussion or negotiation, just a man who abused his powers.

You taught me about power, Eric. About how those who hold it will use it without hesitation when pressed. I just never thought you’d use it against me

The capital’s towers came into view on the horizon, their crystal spires catching the last light of the setting sun. Somewhere behind those walls, Jack was learning the same lessons about power and politics that Alaric had hoped to spare him for a few more years.

His son was brilliant, stubborn, and powerful beyond measure. He was being molded into the crown’s perfect weapon. The thought made something dark and violent stir in Alaric’s chest, something that reminded him of why people feared the Kaiser name.

You want to play games with my bloodline, old friend? You want to test bonds forged in blood and sealed in secrecy?

Alaric’s lips curved in a smile that would have terrified his enemies. Dark mana began to leak from his body, turning the evening air cold and bitter.

Then let’s see how well you remember why you needed me in the first place.

The convoy continued toward the capital as night fell, carrying with it the promise of reckoning between old friends and the potential for a political crisis that could shake the very foundations of the kingdom.

In his chambers high above, Jack Kaiser slept peacefully, unaware that his father rode toward him with murder in his heart and revolution in his mind.