Ash had planned to use dimension door to catch up to the carriage but it seemed that he was not on board it wasn’t going to move. Looking around Ash noticed that everyone was watching him. A sudden idea hit Ash and a mischievous smile spread across his face.
Ash looked around and found a place that looked to be about seventy feet away and activated dimension door. As soon as the ability was activated a large obsidian doorway appeared in front of Ash. Shrugging his shoulders he quickly stepped through the door and found himself exactly where he had wanted to go. Quickly checking his ability page Ash looked at the experience earned from one trip and found that it was only 2%. “I have to do this fifty more times just to reach level two,” Ash said with a deep sigh before looking back at the people he had left behind. “Hay guys why are you all waiting back there?” Ash yelled in a teasing tone.
“My lord,” Ash heard a few of the call out as they rushed to where he was waiting the looks on their face showing more than a little confusion.
Just before they could reach him Ash activated dimension door again and moved another eighty to a hundred feet away. This time as Ash came through the large black door he quickly looked back at the people coming up the road. From the way they were acting they couldn’t see the doorway that he had opened. This brought up a lot of questions in Ash’s mind but he was not knowledgeable enough to even begin to answer them so he pushed them aside until he had more time to think.
Oddly enough dimension door was far cheaper than Ash would have guessed at only 25MP per use. With his current MP levels that meant that Ash could use it around fifty-five times before he would run out of MP, though that wasn’t really true since his MP would slowly recover even while he was using abilities. Still It left Ash knowing that he had enough MP to level it up at least once without having to take a long rest.
It didn’t take long to activate the ability so Ash was easily able to stay ahead of the group but after his fifth jump Ash noticed that while those on horseback were leaving the carriage behind. Grumbling to himself Ash was left with no choice then to wait on all of them to catch up to him so that he could explain what he was doing.
“MY lord,” Tolarea said in a harsh tone being the first to catch up to Ash her large warhorse panting heavily.
“Calm down Tolarea,” Ash said taking a step back when he saw the scowl on her face. “I was just training one of my new abilities.”
“And it never crossed your mind that you should let us know beforehand what you were doing?” Tolarea asked as she narrowed her eyes at him. “If you haven’t forgotten there is currently a war going on and I am sure there are any number of people who would like to see you dead. That is the whole reason that we have brought so many guards. What are their use if you run away from the safety that they bring you?”
Hearing Tolarea’s words Ash looked around to see that the others who had caught up with her were silently nodding their heads in agreement. “I apologize,” Ash said weakly as a feeling of remorse ran through him. “I was wrong.”
Once the carriage had arrived the small group took a break beside the road to let the horses catch their breath and so that they could talk.
“What is the new ability that you are training?” Seia asked as she came to sit beside Ash. “It looked like you just vanished and reappeared.”
“It is called Dimension door and allows me to move from one place to the next as long as it is within a certain range,” Ash explained.
“Can you take others with you?” Li asked weakly her voice barely audible over the sound of the blowing wind.
“I don’t know,” Ash replied honestly.
“Then we should try. If you can take two along with you I don’t think anyone would complain as long as you don’t move so far that the others can’t see you,” Li explained her idea.
“That could work,” Celina agreed making Li smile bashfully.
It was decided that Tolarea and Li would be the ones to go with Ash. Tolarea to fight any threat and Li to use her protection and healing spells. Once they were ready Ash activated Dimension door. “Can you see it?” Ash asked as the large obsidian doorway opened up in front of him. Having already heard Ash explain how the ability worked they both shook their heads. With Ash guiding them the three walked into the doorway. After being transported Ash looked around only to find himself standing alone only a few dozen feet away from the others.
“It didn’t work,” Seia said slightly disheartened as Ash walked back to where they waited.
“We should try again,” Tolarea said as if it was a challenge she had to beat.
Once again the three stood arm to arm but this time their arms were linked with Ash in the middle of the two women. “I see it,” Li shouted happily as soon as Ash activated the ability.
“It seems we have to be touching for it to work on more than one person,” Ash said nodding his head as he looked as his stats page and noticed that his MP consumption had also been raised to seventy-five. It was three times but it was good to know that he could move more people than just himself.
For the next three hours Ash transported himself and two of his guards forward while the rest of the party followed behind before his MP ran dry. Checking his stats page again Ash noticed that he still had 22% left before he could level up dimension door to the next level. Not only did traveling with others increase the cost it also increased the experience gained from one trip but it only increased by 1% per person.
After he had ran out of MP Ash was forced to retire to the carriage to recharge. As they rolled along Ash kept readjusting himself but no matter how hard he tried he still felt every bump that the wooden wheels went over. Seeing his discomfort Seia let out a laugh. Unlike the others Seia had the bottom half of a snake so it didn’t seem as if the rattling of the carriage bothered her as much.
To help pass the time Ash tried to read one of the books he had borrowed from Emelia’s library but at first it was hard for him to concentrate with all the rattling around though once he was able to get absorbed in the book it was as if the entire world around him disappeared.
After three hours of rest Ash had recovered enough of his MP to use dimension door again but he decided that it would be best to wait. He was still trying to build up his soul MP in case it was needed when he reached the capital and considering that it would take more than a six weeks to reach the capital Ash didn’t feel as if he was in a rush to level up the ability. Even the fast letter delivery using the adventure’s guild still took a week.
This also caused a bit of problem since Emelia would have to notify the king that she was sending a delegate to discuss the current situation, so the king would know long before Ash arrived that he was coming. That meant that there was a large chance of people moving to intercept them since more than a few say him as the catalyst for the war and believed that if Ash were gone the war would end without further trouble.
Emelia had promised not to send the letter until they had already been gone for a week. That would give them at least two weeks or a third of the journey without having to worry as much about assassins but there was no telling how many spies were watching Emelia’s every move so there was always a chance that the king would know long before the letter arrived and that meant that they couldn’t really keep their guard down. That was the reason everyone had been so agitated when Ash had simply disappeared from in front of their eyes.
Emelia had planned out the rout they would take so that at least a quarter of the time they could rest in a real bed at an inn. It sounded nice but the truth was that the first half of the trip would be spent sleeping under the stars since the cities gradually got closer together the nearer one got to the capital.
Ash didn’t mind as he enjoyed the outdoors. In fact sleeping outside was a lot better than sleeping in some of the low end dives that one would find in some of the villages.
Thanks to the carriage they couldn’t travel as far or as late as they could with horses but it wasn’t a choice that was given t
o him. For one Seia couldn’t ride a horse easily. Even when she rode one of the demon birds she had to use an especially made saddle and sadly they didn’t have any for her within the human kingdom. There was also the fact that delegates were expected to ride in a carriage and not just a simple one. The carriage that Emelia had prepared was made of an expensive wood that looked dark purple in the sunlight and almost obsidian in the darkness. It had a large crest painted on it in gold leaf on each side. One side had the crest of the Hawkwing family while the other had the crest of the demon lord on it. Ash didn’t see the reason for the demon lord crest since he doubted that anyone in the human lands would be able recognize the crest of the demon lord.
Since they were forced to set up camp as soon as the sun began to drop below the horizon it left them plenty of time for them to train before settling down to sleep. Ash had planned to use this time to look over his large number of abilities and try to learn them better and think of ways that they could be used but Tolarea and his other wives each had their own plans.
First Ash was forced to spar with Tolarea and Gena. Once he was finished sparing Ash helped Li cook the meal for the entire group. As Li moved from pot to pot stirring and checking the fire she had an almost angelic smile on her face which Ash couldn’t help but find captivating.
After the meal Ash helped Celina and Seia wash the dishes then spent a few moments with each of his other wives. Though all he did was simple things they all seemed to enjoy the time he spent with them.
When it came to sleep they set up a watch rotation. Ash had wanted to take his turn but he the idea was completely denied by everyone. Ash didn’t know why but he hated being told what he could or couldn’t do and hated even more being protected. Before it hadn’t really been that apparent but now it seemed to shine through like a beacon on a clear night.
Ash knew that it was something that he was going to have to get used to but he wasn’t sure if he could. Sighing Ash pulled the thick comforter over his shoulders and closed his eyes.
Ever since coming to this world Ash had wanted to explore it but things kept getting in the way. As long as he had been here the only time he had left the duchy was when he went to the demon kingdom. Though it was not under the best of circumstances he was still getting to see a little bit more of the world so Ash couldn’t help but get a little excited.
Thanks to the building dreams in his mind Ash had a hard time falling asleep so he was still wide awake when he felt something warm slip under the covers and press against his back. Turning slightly Ash found himself staring in the eyes of Li who was quietly looking back at him with a worried tremble in her eyes.
“My lord,” Li said her voice so weak that Ash had to strain to hear it even though she was only a few inches away from him.
“I told you to call me Ash when we are alone,” Ash said in a slightly rebuking yet teasing tone. When Li nodded her head but didn’t say anything Ash couldn’t help but feel as if something was bothering her. “Is something on your mind?” Ash asked once the silence had become too overbearing.
“I don’t think you should meet with the human king,” Li said her voice firmer than he had ever heard it before. “Any of the clan heads or nobles from your human wives lands could perform the same task.”
“That is true,” Ash admitted. “But I don’t think the king would be able to handle meeting a full demon,” Ash said with a slight chuckle when he tried to imagine the look on the unknown king’s face if he had sent Tolarea’s father to meet with him. Also only a few of the nobles can really be trusted once they get out of eyesight and there is no telling what the clan leaders might door say that could unnecessarily offend. I want to stop the war with the least amount of life lost while retaining the Hawkwing lands independence.”
“I understand,” Li said though her voice still had a hint of defiance to it. Li seldom talked and when she did it was kept very short but Ash was starting to understand her from the small movements she made whenever something was on her mind.
Leaning down Ash kissed Li lightly on the forehead in a reassuring manner. “Everything will be fine,” Ash said pulling LI tight into his chest. “I have you and the others here to protect me don’t I. Not to mention the human king would be foolish to start a war with the demon kingdom. We have six time the forces and each one our men are worth three of his.”
“Then why don’t you just take over his lands?” Li asked softly.
“I want the demons to renter the world,” Ash said since the thought had crossed his own mind. He hated the way the humans nobles treated the other races. It pulled at his every fiber but he knew that destroying them wouldn’t solve anything. “If we start that with such a war then the other kingdoms might rise up and join together and the end would be fatal for everyone involved.”
Li nodded her head but she didn’t look convinced of Ash’s words. Giving her a light kiss again Ash pulled her close and closed his eyes.
Demonic Valor #10-12
Over the next three weeks Ash and the others were able to travel without trouble. Ash had been able to raise his dimension door two levels. With each level the distance he could travel increased but the cost increased with the distance. The largest problem that Ash found with the new ability was that he had to be able to see where he was going to travel there. It would also work if he could envision it clearly so he had been working on it by closing his eyes each time he activated the ability.
The first day Ash had tried to activated the ability without looking where he was going the obsidian door appeared then large cracks appeared on its surface before it shattered like an overheated piece of glass. It took three days before Ash could use the ability with a 50% success rate without looking directly as he designated target. After a little over a week he could now do it with a 90% chance of success.
Ash also worked on leveling his new port ability at night before sleeping. At first he tried to use it to move his sword but just like with the dimension door ability it activated draining his MP but the sword never appeared. When he couldn’t move the sword Ash tried something smaller and soon learned that the biggest thing that he could move was something the size of a small dagger.
Though he didn’t use it as much Ash was able to raise port to its second level. Once it reached level 2 not only did the distance raise slightly it also allowed him to teleport something slightly larger though it only upgraded from a small dagger to one with a slightly larger blade. Still it gave him hope that once it was a high enough level he could port his sword which was his ultimate goal.
Other than training his abilities Ash spent time with his wives. When he had been in the demon kingdom he had been with them almost all day every day but he hadn’t really spent any quality time with them just sitting and talking since most of it was spent within the depths of one labyrinth after another.
Ash still couldn’t say that he truly loved any of them like he did Emelia but he knew that if any of them were to disappear he would feel the loss. He didn’t know why but this made him happy as it was a sign that they were becoming people he considered true friends.
Though since they were on the road he couldn’t do anything that normally happened between married couple but each night one of them would sleep next to him enjoying his embrace while talking late into the night before sleeping.
In the three weeks they had left the lands of the previous Hawkwing duchy and already at the edge of another. So far there had been no attacks. Not even the normal thieves that prayed on travelers appeared but that was most likely do to the fact they were so heavily armed.
Tonight was only the fourth night that they had the chance to sleep in a decent in. There had been more chances to sleep within the confines of an inn but they looked so run down that Ash was afraid that he would spent most the night fighting off bugs that lived in the bed he had opted for them to sleep under the stars.
Tonight they were in a fairly large border town and since money was not a problem Ash picked the largest inn
that he could find. The room he was currently in was only slightly smaller than the room that Emelia stayed in within her own manor and the bed was so large that Ash and four of his wives could sleep comfortable. It was even long enough that Tolarea could fully stretch out on it.
Though they were in a city Ash didn’t feel very comfortable since everyone openly started at him and his escorts. There was a decent number of people with demon blood in the world but it had been a long time since full blood demons had been seen in the outside world. With ten full blood demons walking opening they were bound to draw more than a few stares.
Since it was one of the few chances that Ash had to rest in an inn Ash took the chance to pull out some blanks pieces of parchment and started to write down all his abilities. The more he looked at the more he noticed that he had neglected many of them that could be used.
Ash sighed and looked out the window as he started to think of what would happen in the future.
Notes
Notes
Name: Ash
Level: 41
Experience needed for next level: 1,541,452
Race: Human/Demon 70/30
Occupation: intermediate gambler
Title: First Knight
Blessings: Blessing of the reaper
HP: 1400/1400
MP 1320/1320
SP 267/267
Strength: 79 (+10) (+2) (+1) (+10) (+10) (+194)
Vitality: 82 (+3) (+202)
Agility: 56 (+10) (+5) (+132)
Stamina 77 (+5) (+191)
Spirit 38 (+10) (+97)
Intelligence: 67 (+175)
Endurance: 40 (+10) (+1) (+2) (+10) (+102)
Luck: 232 (+999) (+1)
(Special stats)
Hardness: 1
Soul MP: 920
Sun Mana: 131
Abilities
Passive:
Devil’s Luck: 500% bonus to luck.
Fleet foot: +10 to agility. Max
Reborn: 6-10 Page 46