Desire: A LitRPG Adventure (Volume 3), page 1
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
A message from the author
Chapter 103
On the other side of the adamantium wall were buildings made out of cement. Most were designated as living quarters for the military personnel stationed at the portal. Others stored military equipment like ammo and vehicles. One building in particular stood out from the rest, a bright white building. Flags were attached to poles on the roof. Each flag was the national flag of a country that was participating in the defense of their planet. There was only one flag that didn’t represent a country. Thin hands clasped each other in a ring, creating a circle. It looked reminiscent of the ouroboros tattoo, except in place of a snake it was hands. The world knew it meant Northrock, the city of users.
Inside the building, a meeting was currently underway. In a large room, a round table was placed in the center. Seated alongside the table were top officials and leaders from around the world, including Dragon and Sasha. Sasha looked the same, while Dragon felt more reserved. It was like there was something hidden underneath, waiting to explode. Included among the group were Ace and Vincent. They had just spent the last few hours explaining everything they had learned and experienced during their trip. They didn’t explain everything in full detail, like the training they underwent or their current strength.
There was a minute of silence after Ace finished explaining. He could tell the others were currently communicating through telepathy with their subordinates, although he didn’t know about what. Sasha glanced around the room and received nods with whoever she looked at. With a deep frown on her face, she looked at Ace, “About this agreement you have with the orcs on the other side… you have no right to give away Africa to them. In addition, haven’t you forgotten that they’re monsters? You just want to get along with them and invite them to our planet!?”
As she finished, she was almost on the verge of yelling. Ace was startled, not expecting this response from her. The political leader of Europe, Kohl, grunted in agreement, “Yeah.”
Ace looked around the room and found that everyone shared the same sentiment. He glanced at General Tott and gave him a quizzical look. Tott shook his head as he sent a telepathic message, “After the orc named Mogtar murdered millions, the world has taken an anti monster stance. I’m afraid this is out of my hands.”
Ace frowned as he responded, “They aren’t monsters…”
“That may be so,” General Tott sighed, “But you really have no right to give away an entire continent to a foreign species.”
Ace looked down in frustration. He owed Grom his life. Without his training and teaching, he probably wouldn’t have returned home as soon as he did, or perhaps at all. At this time, Vincent sent a telepathic message to Ace, “Remember what Grom said. For a species to survive underneath the system of the tattoo, they can’t be divisive. They need a strong leader to lead them to the top, otherwise we could be wiped out at a moments notice.”
Ace closed his eyes and fell deep into thought. Grom did much more than just train them over the past year, he told them about how he became who he is today. He started the story from when the tattoo first arrived, to when he was imprisoned. When Ace and Vincent learned what they did, they were horrified. Right now, Ace was recalling those stories. As he did so, resolve filled him.
He stood up abruptly, knocking the chair he sat on backwards. The others snapped their heads to Ace, startled at the loud sound of the chair knocking against the ground. Ace’s face became unprecedentedly solemn as he glanced around the room.
Dragon stood up and narrowed his eyes. He felt like something bad was about to happen. His voice was low as he said, “Ace, what do you think you’re doing?”
“What needs to be done,” he said calmly.
The leaders around the table shivered as the temperature of the room abruptly dropped. Sasha stood up and pointed at Ace, her voice shrill, “You would betray your species for orcs you just met? Are you mad?!”
Ace shook his head and chuckled, “You don’t understand.”
The leaders around the room suddenly realized what was happening. Ace looked around as he said, “Everyone, for the future of our planet, I need to become its leader. Whether that be by force or not, it’s up to you.”
Kohl looked in fear at Ace. He was far below Ace in terms of stats and strength, hovering around 150. If Ace wanted to kill him right now, he couldn’t resist at all. The others in the room felt the same, save for a few.
Dragon glared at Ace and said, “What do you mean? Aren’t we doing just fine?”
“No,” Ace shook his head and gave a hollow laugh, “The way we are splitting the points between ourselves like we are doing now is suicide. Eventually, we will meet a foe so strong that we’ll laugh at ourselves and wonder why we did what we did.”
Dragon fell silent and considered Ace’s words. He must have experienced something which changed the way he acted on that orc planet. However, why does it have to be him? Dragon’s eyes became filled with resolve as he said, “Why do you think you should be the leader and not someone else?”
Sasha was startled and turned to look at Dragon. She stuttered, “Dragon, you can’t be thinking of…?”
Dragon adjusted his gauntlets as he nodded, “I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now, actually. For the most part, I agree with Ace. Mogtar completely overpowered us, even though we fought together. Only a monster can fight a monster.”
The tension in the room rose, battle could break out at any moment. Suddenly, a loud sigh rang through the room. General Tott stood up and muttered, “Trailblazers, huh?”
Ace looked at General Tott out of the corner of his eye, “Tott?”
General Tott sighed once again before saying, “For a long time now, you’ve completely surpassed the military might that I can defend against should you chose to turn against us. Honestly, I’m thankful that you four have sacrificed so much for humanity. The way of the world has changed, if one of you chose to take over the planet, how could we stop you save for another trailblazer?”
He paused and looked around the room. He took a deep breath before continuing, “I declare that I will back whoever becomes the one to lead the planet. However, should I ever find out that your interest lies with yourself and not humanity, I will turn against you even if it means my death.”
The other leaders gasped in shock, not expecting General Tott to declare such stunning statements. If the leader of the strongest military in the world said such, what could they do?
Ace smiled at Tott, “I’ll make sure you never have to make such a decision.”
Dragon’s opinion of General Tott rose dramatically. He was a man that adapted to the situation, not like those old farts that were apart of his government when he was a kid. Dragon clasped his palm over his fist and bowed slightly, “My will serves the people.”
Sasha looked between Ace and Dragon. She didn’t expect for the situation to develop like this. She only wanted to prevent the orcs from coming to their planet, that’s all. However, she too felt like she was the best one fit to lead.
Ace sensed the fear of the other humans in the room and chuckled, “How about we settle this outside?”
“Sounds good,” Dragon said and promptly walked towards the exit of the building.
Sasha’s face was solemn as she followed after him, with Ace and Vincent following along a second later. As the trailblazers left, the leaders of the world let out a collective sigh of relief, relieved that the battle wouldn’t be happening in this small room.
Chapter 104
The sky was dark, the sun masked by dark clouds. Underneath them, Ace, Demon, and Sasha faced each other. They stood a hundred feet apart and looked warily at each other. Dragon glanced behind Ace and frowned, “What do you plan on doing, Vincent?”
“Ah, me?” Vincent pointed at himself before waving his hand, “I have no interest in ruling the planet.”
Dragon and Sasha narrowed their eyes and closely inspected Vincent. Considering what they knew of his character, he should have no qualms with gaining a massive amount of points. Sasha scoffed in disbelief, “I don’t believe you.”
Vincent rolled his eyes as he gave an exaggerated sigh, “Booooring. I don’t want to take care of other people’s problems all day, every day. Also, gaining points isn’t a concern for me anymore.”
After discovering he could gain stats wi
Dragon glanced over at Sasha and said, “How shall we do this? There are three of us, after all.”
“It’s simple,” Ace beckoned them over with his finger as he said, “both of you come at me at the same time.”
“Arrogant!” Sasha spat in disdain. A year had passed and now he thinks he’s gotten stronger than her?
Dragon agreed and nodded his head, “You weren’t the only one who has gotten stronger over the past year.”
Ace shook his head lightly and said, “Don’t worry about it. If you two beat me, then I’ll hand over Northrock to whoever wins next.”
“Fine! Don’t take back your words.” Sasha flew over to Dragon’s side. If Ace wanted to be disadvantaged, then so be it. It wasn’t her concern.
“Hm?” Dragon looked closely at Ace’s face and was perturbed at how confident he was. Considering everything he knew about Ace, he knew he wasn’t so arrogant for no reason. If he truly believed he could fight them two on one and win… that was scary. He raised his arm and withdrew a thin black katana from his inventory. Fortunately, he had spent the last year learning a new ability. It wasn’t perfected, but he had found a way to make it work. He looked closely at his katana and nodded in satisfaction.
Wind Resistant Katana
Resistant to mana infused wind. Gives +15 Agility to wielder.
A few years ago, a master blacksmith named Gan Mo had come to him with a shocking discovery. He had managed to infuse mana into a sword, giving it the ability to give stats to its wielder. After he had learned of this, he gave Gan Mo unlimited resources to continue his research. This was his most recent product, requested from Dragon himself.
Dragon held the katana in front of him and closed his eyes. Sasha’s hair rustled in the wind, causing her to glance over at Dragon. The speed at which the wind blew suddenly skyrocketed. It howled and screamed as the clouds up above were ripped apart.
“HAH!” Dragon grunted as he focused the mana infused wind around his katana. The wind concentrated on Dragon’s Katana. It was spinning around his weapon at such tremendous speeds that the howling grew even more intense. Sparks rose from the katana from the clash of metal and wind, but that was it. His control over it was imperfect, so he had to use a katana instead of his body as the focal point.
He focused on Ace as he spoke to Sasha, “Can you slow him down with your domain?”
She looked closely at the katana in Dragon’s hand and winced in pain. A stray blade of wind slashed across her cheek, causing her to bleed slightly. She gulped in fear, making a note in her heart to not take a direct hit when she fought Dragon later. She nodded slightly, “Of course.”
Dragon pointed his katana at Ace and shouted, “My goal isn’t to kill you, only to defeat you.”
“Of course, you are my friend, after all.” Ace smiled at Dragon’s new ability, happy that Dragon had found his own way to increase his strength. However....
A wave of cold air washed over him, causing him to shiver slightly. He promptly coated himself with qi. Each particle of qi was so close to each other that they prevented the cold mana from breaking through. His control over his energy was vastly superior compared to Sasha, due to his training and awakened soul. Her domain would be ineffective during this fight.
At this time, Dragon’s figure flashed and disappeared. Ace snapped his eyes left and right, but quickly realized he couldn’t keep track of Dragon’s figure with his bare eyes alone. Dragon boasted a speed even faster than Mokka, due to his high agility and wind manipulation.
Thankfully, he could use his soul or qi sensory field to see instead. Opting to use the sensory field, Dragon’s figure became clear in his mind. Ace nodded as he realized Dragon was moving in seemingly random directions. Dragon was aware that it was harder for Ace to lock onto a target with his gravity if the target’s movement was sporadic. This was true, but Ace had a solution. He waved his hand in front of him as multiple gravity bombs exited his arm, creating a defensive perimeter around him.
Dragon circled around Ace and looked warily at the dark grey balls. Having already decided that he would make the first move, he moved in while at the same time raising his katana high above him. He appeared in front of a gravity bomb and slashed down with all of his strength.
Ace’s eyes widened in surprise. Shockingly, the gravity bomb was sliced apart. Just as a smile of satisfaction appeared on Dragon’s face, a torrential wave of energy blasted outwards from the destroyed gravity bomb. It washed over him, knocking him back and causing him to cough out a mouthful of blood. Just as Ace began to chase after Dragon, a spear made out of ice shot towards him. Sasha shouted, “Don’t forget about me!”
Ace ignored her and twisted his torso slightly, causing the spear to miss by a few inches. He had seen it coming from a mile away due to his sensory field. He appeared next to Dragon just as Dragon recovered. Ace coated his fist with qi and focused all of his gravity on his hand. As Dragon slashed down with his katana once again, Ace directly grabbed onto the blade and held it in place.
“YOU!” Dragon’s eyes widened in shock as he glanced at Ace’s hand and found a fierce battle between qi and wind. As Ace raised his free hand, Dragon gave a long sigh and said, “I admit defeat…”
He was unable to break through Ace’s defense even with his destructive new ability, what more could he do? Ace let go of the katana and gave an embarrassed chuckle, “Sorry, I’ll pay for a new one.”
Dragon glanced at the bent katana and shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.”
Ace turned and glanced at Sasha, “Do you want to continue?”
“Of course!” Sasha said with confidence. She knew she was stronger based on proximity, but she was unaware that her domain had little to no effect on Ace.
Ace pointed his hand at Sasha as a terrifying attraction of gravity was applied to her body. Without her consent, she flew through the air towards Ace’s hand. A few seconds later, she struggled to breath as Ace’s hand clasped around her neck. Due to her stubborn nature, she refused to give up until the last second. Just as she was about to pass out, she patted Ace’s wrist with her hand. Ace let go, causing Sasha to alternate between coughing and gasping for air.
A moment passed in awkward silence as they stood next to each other. Sasha clenched her hands in disappointment, “Damn. Damn!”
Dragon shared her sentiment, but outwardly he was silent. Nodding towards Vincent in the distance, he asked Ace, “Is Vincent as strong as you?”
“Hmm,” Ace rubbed his chin as he recalled the battle he witnessed earlier today. He said uncertainly, “Only for about twenty seconds…”
“How could you two have improved so much?” Dragon said in disbelief. They had been equals for two years, and that trend should have continued into the future. However, whatever Ace and Vincent encountered on planet Baugh made them stronger.
Ace clasped Dragon’s shoulder as a smile streaked across his face, “Don’t worry, I’m going to share how we got stronger.”
Dragon’s eyes lit up as a realization went off in his head, “Oh? Other people can do what you did?”
“Oh, yes,” Ace turned around and began to walk towards the building General Tott was in. He continued, “Everybody can.”
