Looking at Ailya in her eyes, I ‘commanded’ her:
“Ailya, come here and give me a hug.”
Without even showing any hesitation, Ailya happily smiled as she came to me and gave me a firm hug. However, after having hugged me, she looked up at me from my embrace and asked:
“How did you know my name, Master?”
Instead of answering her question however, I posed my own as I inquired from her:
“Why did you call me ‘Master’.”
At this question, Ailya pondered for a moment to think about it, before answering in an unsure manner:
“Because it feels right to call Master ‘Master’… I think?”
“Is that so… Well… there’s nothing wrong with you calling me whatever you like. However, I’d prefer if you called me Alex, since that’s my name. Is that ok?”
“Yes!”
Honestly, I just didn’t want to hear her call me Master. Hearing her call me that, especially knowing that she just instinctually feels like is the right way to call me, does nothing but remind me that I had subordinated her and worsens the guilt in my heart.
“Also, to answer your question, the reason I knew your name is thanks to the connection shared between you and me. Thanks to this connection, I am able to know your name and location as well as feel you emotions to an extent. Tell me, can you feel this connection between us?”
“Yes I can! It feels wonderful! Like no matter what happens, I’ll never be alone again! Just like you told me. I don’t think I can tell as much from our connection as you can Mas-… Alex, but I don’t really mind as long as I can feel you inside me…”
Hearing the happiness in her tone did nothing to add to my guilty conscience. However, I was still curious about one last thing. So deciding to satiate my curiosity, I asked Ailya:
“Ailya, what do you think of me?… Do you love me?”
“Mhmmmm, Yes! I do love you!”
Haaaaa, wel,l the question might seem simple and stupid, however I didn’t take a pause in my question for no reason. Honestly, I was afraid to hear what she genuinely thought of me, so I also asked a second question in order to answer my hypothesis without needing her to tell me the answer to the first. Since I was observing her carefully, I knew that she didn’t have a definite answer to my first question. However, as soon as I asked the second question, I could tell that her feelings towards me changed slightly. This ability is truly fearsome, not only being able to order someone, but also influence the way they think and feel about something is just too much. At this point, she might as well just be a customizable NPC that I have control over.
Well then again… I did say that I wanted to be a fearsome Demon Lord, so I guess it’s only right that I have such an ability. After all, in order to be a Demon Lord I need subjects that would be willing to give their lives for me, and not just any subject, but powerful ones at that. While Ailya is most definitely not a powerful person at the moment, she does have a tier 10 skill that also makes her own soul tier 10.
I don’t know how many people have tier 10 souls, but I doubt it’d be too common of a thing. After all, before she became my subordinate, Ailya merely had a tier 1 soul. However, for some reason I can’t tell, she now has the highest soul tier possible. Really, I don’t know if it’s because of my [Lord Subordination] or something, but her transformation is really impressive, mine too for that matter after getting [Veritas]. A tier 10 soul gives you the highest potential possible in this world, which to explain in a rather simple matter, dictates the highest level you can achieve.
While I haven’t observed enough people to properly get an understanding of it, what I can tell by using [Veritas] is that a person’s soul works like a container, and by having a larger ‘size’ container, you can fill it up with more soul energy which is what allows you to get stronger. At the same time, having a higher soul tier also helps you level up faster, as the closer you get to your limit, the less ‘exp’ you are able to absorb. Thus, it should technically be faster for both me and Ailya to level up than almost everyone else…
Is that why it took me a full 5 days of grinding to reach level 2, and only a fraction of that for level 3? Thank god for having a tier 10 soul. I know it takes longer to get to each subsequent level, so at the pace I was leveling up previously, I would have never been able to reach a decent level to defend myself, much less become a formidable Demon Lord…
Banzai for tier 10 souls!
Well, I can’t continue to let myself get depressed over having subordinated Ailya. No matter what happens, she’ll most likely be with me for the rest of my life, so I’d be ridiculous to let myself be haunted by my guilt for the rest of my life, even if what I did was despicable. After all, I did choose to walk down a path that would have me commit even more evil and heinous acts, so I can’t let myself be bothered by such a ‘simple’ thing.
Thus, trying to find my resolution, I decided to turn to look at Ailya in the eyes. Even if I was going to have her follow my whims, I still chose in my heart to keep the promises I made to her. Thus, with these thoughts in my mind I called out to her:
“Ailya”
“Yes?”
“Do you want to be with me forever?”
“Hmm? Of course Alex, why do you ask?”
“Even if I want to become the Demon Lord?”
“I don’t care what you want to do. So long as I can continue to serve you and be by your side.”
“Even if it means doing unpleasant things?”
“I’d do anything you wish of me! No matter what you tell me to do, I’ll carry out all of your wishes happily!”
“Even if it means killing others?”
“Why should I care about that? After all, all people are selfish. So why shouldn’t I be selfish in order to secure my- no, our happiness?”
Hearing her answers I decided to put away my inhibitions and slight guilt at her twisted reasoning, and fully accept her as my companion, promising myself that I would make sure to always keep her by my side and happy, even if her happiness was somewhat twisted now. Thus, deciding to take my true first step into becoming the Demon Lord, I addressed Ailya while trying to hype myself up for the coming future saying:
“Then, from this moment on, you’re my subordinate, the subordinate of the person who will become the Demon Lord! That means from now on, you and me will be working tirelessly to increase our strength in order to stand atop the world! Is that ok with you?”
“Of course Master! I’ll follow you anywhere!”
“Then from this moment on, our journey begins! Come, let’s get out of this forest and step into the world!”
Thus, turning to look at the endless plains covered in a red hue, I held Ailya’s hand as we both took our first steps outside of this forest and into the rest of the world, not knowing what awaited us out there, or the hardships that we would face. Nor did it matter. For Ailya, all that mattered was that she was with me. As for me, I found myself more confident of myself and the future with Ailya next to me. Thus together, hand in hand, we took our first steps in what would become a long and arduous journey in my path towards becoming the Demon Lord…
Alright lads, with this the forest/prologue part of the story is finally completed. Considering I had hoped to be out of here by chapter 7 but it’s now chapter 15, I’m starting to think that I’ll be done with the story in the way I’m imagining it right now by the heat death of the universe. Anyway, from now on, both the story and Alex’s journey towards becoming the Demon Lord will properly begin. Tomorrow I’ll post 4 interlude chapters that should introduce a few characters as well as give you an idea of the world, and after those chapters will start the true progress towards becoming the Demon Lord.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
To be fair, your chapters are rather short (and REALLY frequent). This wordcount would probably be considered 7 chapters or less in most other stories. On that note, thanks for not rushing the events to try to cram them all into 7 chapters. The pacing felt fine like this (even though they stood still and talked for like 6 chapter).
@Thorium Yeah I had an idea of the direction that I wanted to take the story to in my mind, but understimated how long a conversation and thoughts could go on. Also good looks on the mistake on the other chapter. I fixed it so say tier 5.
I did think the pacing was a bit slow, but it is also mostly Alex's internal monologuing that eats the wordcount. That monologuing, however, is pretty entertaining, so there's no fault there.
It was at this point the Bug-pocalypse officially began!
I'd like to read more about Ailya's parents at this point. It would be too convenient if things were as MC's prophecied.
I feel like there would be a way to severe the connection or the MC can command Ailya to revert back to her original personality. So that while yes, she is still bound to the MC. She is also more of a living being.
Also hoping for BugLord! THE RULER OF BUGS!!! I just imagine years from now. The MC is the ruler of the planet and has reached interstellar travel to a few other planets. Then they shall rage war against a fascist Earth with their Giant Bug! Weird spider things will be the foot soldier! They will have giant Beatles that shoots Plasma out of their ass! Then they'll eventually launch an asteroid against Earth killing millions!!!!!! BugLord too OP Plz nerf
I've still got a few questions on how Lord Subordination works. You don't have to answer if they are spoilers though.
First, how do the shared skills from Lord Subordination level up (Assuming the skill hasn't hit the level cap, of course)? Is the level tied to the original owner's skill level, do they level up seperately or is the exp gain shared? Also, does Alex lose the skills she is borrowing from her subordinates if they die?
Not spoilers and I don't mind explaining here. So they basically reset at whatever tier they are. So lets say you pick a tier 4 ability that's at the cusp of reaching tier 5, whoever you share the skill with will have the ability at the beginning of tier 4. They also level up independently from the other once you have it. As for if they lose it if her subordinates die. Yes she'll lose it, though if the skill has increased in tier she'll be able to keep the skill but reduced to the a tier level equal to what she has leveled up. So if she gains a tier 3 skill and levels it to tier 5 but her subordinate dies. The skill will go down to tier 2.
@cyanwaw Cool, so there can actually be advantages to not getting maxed out skills. Not like she can expect all 1000 followers to never die, especially if they have to fight some pesky hero.
@Thorium First she has to tier up [Lord Subordination] and to be honest, it ain't gonna be easy. And oh boy heroes, Ill be making a mention about that in the interlude chapters this afternoon.
I so hope she ends becoming a bug girl type demon lord now XD
Ailya feels more colder than before...
Her coldness give me a chill...
It's like... something changed
woot!
IM READY FOR DA ROLLER COASTER BRING IT ONNNNNNNNNNNN
So, 1st heavenly king, the 'Oneesama suki desu~' type loli get