13 Presence of other Monarchs

The title of this article went as follows: "The light of humanity, our true hero..Lord Gerith Lunehall reaches yet another milestone and thanks the Monarchs for their support."

Kyle was stunned when he read the word Monarch in the title of the article. After carefully reading the entire article and re-reading it once again to make sure that he hadn't missed anything, Kyle had a look of contemplation on his face.

The article mentioned the word Monarchs only once, and that was in the thankyou speech of Gerith Lunehall, but Kyle knew that it wasn't that simple though.

Since he acquired the title of a monarch, the one thing that he understood was that it wasn't some random title that just everyone could receive. He had cheated his way through the impossible mission to acquire this title, how could the title of monarch be that simple .....Speaking of which, didn't he still have some rewards left to claim in his mission panel.....

Even if he completed that impossible mission, Kyle never thought that he was the only person in the entire world to accomplish such a feat. If he could cheat his way through it, everyone else could as well.

But, when he recalled about his cheating, Kyle suddenly felt a stinging pain in his heart.

He had nearly emptied his entire stock of potions which were meant for him to use on the second to sixth floors of the Ascension Temple. That was several million credits. Although it was hardly anything to Kyle, most probably twice or thrice the monthly interest that he received from the bank on the money deposited in his bank account, he couldn't be a wastrel. No amount of money would be able to sustain him if that were to happen. Not to mention that he still had to pay the hospital bills for his parents...

Back to the topic, 'Since those people who had achieved the title of Monarchs had been keeping it a secret all this time, why would they suddenly make their presence known to the world? Kyle was sure that it wasn't a mistake or slip of tongue by Gerith Lunehall who was already a level 29 ascender who had reached Level 30 just yesterday.

There was also the thread that was the third hottest topic on the forum which was about a conspiracy theory. This theory states that humanity is not as divided as they appeared as it appeared on the surface. And there were some people with the title of Monarchs who controlled everything from behind the scenes including the four cross-continental level guilds and the forty continental level guilds.

The more Kyle thought about it, the more he felt that this conspiracy theory might be the truth. But then the question arose... If this was true, then why would those Monarchs who had been keeping their existence a secret all this while choose to reveal themselves to the public at this time.

'Did they somehow know that a new monarch had appeared, so they decided to reveal themselves to lure him out? Or was something major going to happen which would need them to reveal their existence to the entire world, so they were just trying to slowly prepare the world for their eventual appearance.

According to Kyle, his second theory made more sense. If they were to search for him, doing it covertly should be much more effective. Making him aware of their presence would only make him more cautious.

When thinking this Kyle suddenly felt an urge to get stronger soon. Something that required the Monarchs to come out of their hiding couldn't be simple to say the least. Something major was going to happen, and he had to be prepared for it so that he could protect himself and his defenceless parents when it occurred.

Kyle decided to put this matter off for the time being. He could come up with a thousand theories but they might still be incorrect. Some things should be left to time and unless he had a deeper understanding of those Monarchs.

After thinking as much Kyle decided to focus on getting stronger rather than guessing something which would be revealed eventually.

Just as Kyle opened the door of his room, he saw an old man in butler uniform whose hand was halfway through knocking on the door.

Kyle immediately flashed past the old butler who was surprised by the speed of Kyle's reaction.

Although he knew that his young master was not going to celebrate his birthday as he said, his progress in just under one week was surprising to say the least.

"Master, which floor have you reached?" The butler asked with some doubt in his voice.

"Halfway through the first floor." Kyle replied.

The butler got even more confused. It should make sense that Kyle was still on the first floor, but then what was with that speed. It should only be possible for someone who has reached the second floor or above. Kyle didn't bother much about the butler's reaction.

"Oh yeah uncle Lynn, could you buy me all those mana recovery potions that I had previously ordered once again?" Kyle asked.

"Yes Master." Butler Lynn said without hesitation.

The next morning, Kyle dressed up in his new uniform after which butler Lynn drove him to his school. Butler Lynn felt strange as Kyle who was always collected and focused on the things at his hand seemed to be distracted by something.

Kyle was indeed distracted. When he studied his rewards in detail previously, he was shown something that he had never expected. Right now, Kyle was looking at those exact system notifications.

[Activated True Monarch's path: Monarch of the nameless throne.]

[A true Monarch is a perfect existence who is invincible at the same level and beyond.]

[Fixed effect: EXP obtained from all missions ×2]

[Fixed effect: Immune to all forms of coercion or external influences on decisions.]

[Fixed effect: 3× accelerated self healing.]

[Conditional effects:]

[All your base stats should be equal at all times. (Reward: all stats×2)]

[Attain the maximum stats achievable at each floor before ascending to the next floor.(Reward: Key to floor dictator's palace.)]

[Defeat the floor dictator before ascending to the next floor.(Reward: Unlock a new ability.)]

[Remain invincible under two levels above your ascendence level.(Reward: Ascension fragments not required to ascend.)]

[Never decline any challenge made by ascenders within two higher levels. (Reward: Race command seal)]

The second reward was the set of three True monarch series skill scrolls.

[Gaze of the Monarch: Able to discern all skills and abilities that are not hidden by special means while preventing the prying of others. Can also hide any form of aura.]

[Passive]

[MEP cost: 0]

[Persistent aggression: +5n % additional damage for combo hits where n is the number of successive hits.]

[Passive]

[MEP cost: 0]

[Monarch's guard: summon any dictator that has been defeated previously as your royal guard with 75% of the caster's base stats to aid you in battle.]

[Current limit: 1 dictator]

[MEP cost: Half of total MEP]

Kyle was of course happy with such good rewards, but at the same time, he was distracted because of the description of one of his rewards.

[Race command seal: Token of absolute authority that can be used to issue orders to the entire race. These orders are irrefutable for the duration of Ascendence wars.]

The keywords in this description were 'wars' and 'orders to the entire race'. Didn't this mean that there may be wars whose scope would reach such a level that the entire race would be involved and the Monarchs would be the ones leading the entire race.

Since all the rewards which came with the Monarch's path could be used as long as the conditions were met, Kyle had the race command seal on him. It was a small tattoo shaped similar to the Monarch's Right that was imprinted on his forehead. It would remain hidden as long as Kyle wished for no one to see it and would manifest as long as he wanted it to.

But leading the entire race in a war was too big a responsibility for Kyle who was the least bit interested in doing so. Wouldn't one simple mistake of his result in death and destruction spreading for miles. Kyle, whose only purpose in life was to find a cure to his parent's condition, didn't want to take on such a huge responsibility.

But, whether he liked it or not, he now had the seal on him and also, the Monarchs were making their presence known to the world slowly. This only meant one thing...The war was drawing nearer.

Kyle felt the pressure on him increase. The war involving the entire race was drawing closer, but he had just stepped into the Ascension Temple for the first time a few days ago.

"Sigh!" Kyle let out a sigh. He decided to think about this matter when he came across it in the future. Until then, he would focus all his attention on growing stronger so that he won't end up dead in the war.

"Oh yeah, Uncle Lynn, have you ordered all those mana recovery potions that I asked you to?" Kyle asked while trying to take his mind off the war which had yet to begin.

"Yes Master! I have contacted the dealers and they will deliver it by tonight at the latest." Butler Lynn replied.

"Alright. And yeah uncle Lynn, I will be spending most of my time in the Ascension Temple from now on, so you don't have to worry about the household chores. Leave them to others. Something major is going to happen in the near future and we must be prepared for it. So I want you to focus your attention on the Ascension Temple and grow stronger so that we are ready for the changes." Kyle said while getting out of the car.

He knew that Butler Lynn was well trained for his job and would not ask him any questions about what was going to happen or how he knew about it.

If the war happens in a few years time, he would try his best to reach the minimum threshold for survival, but if it took place in the near future, then having an ascender beyond level 20 protect him wasn't a bad idea.

"Hey Ky...le? What happened to you?"