Overwhelming Firepower

The ring where the soul of the Lich Aleister resided was nigh indestructible. So the only option to make sure that the Lich would not be able to resurrect for now was to seal the ring in a way that it wouldn't be able to receive any mana.

Lucen gave the task of sealing the ring to the dwarves, who were not only skilled craftsmen but were also the ones who understood rune engravings the best.

Robert also wanted to do some experiments with the ring, but Lucen did not allow him to touch it.

"This is unfair! Lucen, how can you not understand?! We need to study Aleister's necromancy and ways of using one's soul! This could be used to advance humanity forward!"

Robert would shout like this every now and then, but Lucen calmly denied his requests. Still, Lucen understood that pushing someone like Robert too much would result in a much worse outcome. So, Lucen needed to distract Robert with another project.

"Didn't you have something else you wanted to create? The one about using illusions on the cards to create an authentic Summoning Card experience."

Robert immediately stopped complaining. His expression changed so quickly that Lucen almost laughed. "You're right..."

"You can ask the dwarves about using rune engravings to recreate illusion spells. You could also ask Mireya's opinion on how to make the spell more authentic."

"I already thought of that before, but the costs and manpower needed for that are beyond my current abilities."

Hearing what Robert said, Lucen was stunned. To see Robert being sensible was quite a shock. 'Is this guy drunk? Or did he drink a weird potion?'

"I can help you with the costs. Of course, there will be a limit on manpower... Well, how about asking Durik if he can call for more dwarves, or if the rune engraving is simplified enough, maybe other mages can do it."

Robert fell silent as he considered Lucen's suggestion. "That could actually work."

With that, Robert stopped bothering Lucen regarding the Lich's ring. Once things became quiet, Lucen started to think about the events that had transpired and wrote them in his notebook, written in his old world's language.

'It's a good thing I found the Lich rather quickly. This version of Aleister was already stronger than any early-game incarnation I remember. Despite being discovered so soon, he had possessed the power of his mid-game counterpart. Not only that, it seems that he was also able to create his own mana core, and had skills that weren't part of his original skills in the game.'

Remembering those details made Lucen frown a little.

'With this, I can be certain that the other bosses would be far stronger with brand new gimmicks. I already had the others get the relics I know exist in this time, but they only found a few. I guess, because of my intervention, a few things that should have happened never happened, making those items change locations. I already knew that, but I had hoped more of the relics would still be found in their original locations.'

Lucen tapped the end of his pen against the notebook. He was never fully reliant on his knowledge about the game story, since the second he survived, the story had long since changed.

He had only used his knowledge as a reference point to predict a few things. Still, the difference in strength of each character was great. Fortunately, despite the changes, the personalities of each character remained mostly the same.

'If it's moving this fast, the kingdom secretly ruled by Vampires might have already changed leadership and started infiltrating nearby kingdoms. The Lycans are probably trying their best to blend in for now.'

Lucen had already considered the Lycans and Vampires among the four great threats. What concerned him now was not their strength, but whether they truly needed to become enemies.

Lucen stopped writing for a second, closed his eyes, and started remembering the two races he saw in the game. Like humans, neither Vampires nor Lycans were entirely good or evil.

'Unfortunately, even the kinder Vampires usually regarded humans as pets or lesser beings. Only a rare few had ever treated humans as equals. Most Vampires see humans simply as cattle, something to feed upon.'

Lucen couldn't help but sigh as he remembered several Vampire characters that he actually liked, but even those ones wouldn't treat humans as equals.

'The Lycans, on the other hand, were different. They just wanted others to see them as not monsters, similar to beastmen.'

Of course, that did not mean every Lycan was friendly. There were still several tribes that hated humans because of the persecution they had suffered.

Some of them believed that peaceful coexistence was impossible, while others simply wanted to be left alone.

The culture of the Lycans was similar to the Barbarians; their ways were much more attuned to the concept of survival of the fittest. Still, they, too, had honor and dignity.

The Lycans also respected strength, but unlike the Vampires, they did not believe that strength gave them the right to treat every weaker race as livestock.

To them, strength came with responsibility. The strongest hunted the most dangerous prey, defended the tribe, and ensured that the young and elderly survived.

Unfortunately, the full moon strengthened both their bodies and their instincts. Stronger Lycans could retain their sanity, but the young and weak-willed often lost themselves completely.

Once that happened, they could no longer recognize friends, family, or even their own children. They saw only prey.

This was the greatest reason humans feared them and treated them as monsters rather than intelligent creatures.

'Before contracting lycanthropy, Lycans had originally been humans, elves, dwarves, or members of other races. Lycanthropy could also be inherited, allowing Lycans to give birth to Lycan children. Unfortunately, the second people learn they were Lycans, they are treated as monsters to be killed. Lycanthropy was considered a curse.'

Lucen then remembered the reason why the Lycans in the game became hostile to everyone.

'A Lycan child was being bullied, and one day, no longer able to hold back his bloodlust, he killed the children who bullied him.'

Lucen could not forget that backstory, as it made him wonder who truly were the evil ones.

The child had endured their insults and beatings for a long time. He never fought back because his parents had repeatedly warned him that revealing his true nature would place the entire family in danger.

However, during the night of a full moon, the children followed him outside the village. They surrounded him, threw stones at him, and called him a monster. One of them even stabbed him.

The pain, fear, and influence of the full moon finally overwhelmed him. He transformed. By the time the adults arrived, three children were dead, brutally shredded, and their insides were all over the place.

The Lycan child was found crying beside their bodies, already returned to their human form. He did not understand everything he had done, but he knew that he had killed them.

'That was one of the darker events in the game. I remember first seeing that as a teen, and it was quite the surprise for me. Heh, back then, I only played simple games with clear good and bad guys.'

Lucen shook his head as he thought about his past life. 'Anyway, it should be possible to ally with the Lycans, making it easier to deal with the Vampires. With their superior senses, no Vampire would be able to hide. The problem is how to convince the others?'

The second he thought of that question, the answer quickly came to him. 'Of course, the video orb. Just like how I manipulated their opinions about the Barbarians, I can do the same with the Lycans.'

That play had not erased every prejudice against the Barbarians, but it had forced people to question what they believed.

In the play, they had watched Barbarians protect children, they honored worthy enemies, and welcomed a discarded knight as one of their own. For many, it was the first time they saw them as people rather than savages.

In Ironhold, there were now many barbarians living alongside them. They had blended into their community and had become brothers-in-arms. They helped defend Norvaegard from monster waves.

Even though a few people had certain opinions about barbarians, they were now able to enter cities and villages in Norvaegard without being looked down upon.

He could do the same for the Lycans; he just needed to create the right video orb show.

'So I now have a plan for the Lycans. As for the Vampires... I'll think about it later, for now, I'll just focus on what I can do right now. Better try to enhance our weapons as well to better deal with Vampires just in case.'

Lucen closed the notebook, feeling a mixture of unease and excitement at what might come next.

This route contained more unknowns than any he remembered, and the sudden increase in difficulty was severe. Yet rather than frighten him, the challenge only made him more excited.

He stood from his chair and stretched. He looked outside his window. The Ironhold before him was nothing like the fortress of several years ago. What had once resembled a medieval stronghold was gradually becoming something closer to a steampunk city.

Now, Barbarians trained beside the Northerners they had once fought, while dwarven craftsmen worked alongside mages from several Towers to advance Ironhold's technology.

Seeing this sight, a grin slowly appeared on his face. Even though things weren't moving as smoothly as he hoped, they were still moving forward to a new, unknown future that he had never seen in any route.

'I just hope this route leads to a better ending than any of the others I have seen.'

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