Is this really a Game?!

Laura was standing in the forest with a strange crystal in her hand. It was exactly this crystal that made the kingdom attack the forest inhabitants in hopes of obtaining it.

"Incredible." Laura marveled as she looked at the crystal in front of her. After spending more than 2 days in the forest helping the monsters fight against the soldiers, Laura could see they were near the end of their abilities. In hopes of achieving a better score, she went to the mini-boss tier tiger to talk with him. She learned from him that the reason they were all defending the crystal wasn't that it was beneficial towards the monsters, or the forest, it was actually because the previous sage spent a huge amount of time and effort into making it, and he instructed them to defend it.

After learning about that Laura was confused, the crystal was man-made?

What kind of abilities did the previous sage have to create something a whole kingdom would go crazy about, and how did the kingdom learn about it anyway?

She soon got her answer as they managed to capture an officer from the army after fighting against him and his troops. The officer was scared to death after seeing Laura and the tiger and he quickly told them everything. It turned out that the kingdom has known about the crystal for quite a long time now, the only reason they never acted and tried to obtain it was the previous sage.

The man had been staying in the forest for over 100 years and his power was immeasurable. Even the kingdom wasn't certain they could win against him with their full army. Even if they did win however the result would be disastrous as any of the nearby kingdoms could attack and conquer them. They would have to rely on their allies to survive, and the allies would definitely want to take possession of the crystal, which would mean that everything the kingdom did was for naught.

So they decided to hide the information about the crystal and only act upon it if a chance presented itself. The chance was now as they had learned that the previous sage was dead, he had traveled to a faraway empire to help a friend out. The result of him helping was both he and his friend dying against one of the ten overlords of the continent. The news was definitely not fake and therefore the kingdom knew that they had a chance of getting the crystal and rising in power.

As Laura was the new sage the crystal was now hers, as the possessions of the previous sage would go to the next by tradition. Laura decided to do something that was completely different compared to before. She took the crystal, and that was when she had found out about its power. It was a sort of mana crystal, only that it would increase the potential of the people nearby together with increasing their understanding of certain elements, to mages it was priceless.

She was now standing in the path of the advancing soldiers. Her plan was simple, give them the crystal and in return, they would cease their attacks. After all the kingdom had no reason to lose more soldiers when they already obtained the crystal.

Footsteps could be heard in the distance as Laura was able to see the soldiers following a man wearing blood-red armor. They all stopped some 8 meters away from her as the armored man took a good look at her.

"Who are you?" The man asks with a coarse voice as he rests his hand on the handle of his sword. Laura looks at him with a smile before replying.

"The sage."

The armored man and the soldiers all look at her with shocked faces as they remain silent.

​ "Impossible, the sage-"

"Is dead, yes, I am his successor," Laura replies with a calm and confident tone as she continues looking the armored man straight into the eyes with a smile still plastered on her face.

"I see, I never knew he had a student." The armored man replies while sweat starts forming on his forehead. He knew about the sage's strength, a student of such a person was definitely not a weakling.

"Relax sir Doyle, I come with a proposition."

"How do- " The man stops as he shakes his head. "It doesn't matter, what proposition?"

"Stop attacking the forest, and I will give you this." Laura extends her arm as the crystal was visible on her hand. Sir Doyle and the officers all looked with surprise as they knew what it was.

"Just like that?"

"Yes, unlike my master I have no interest in this thing, but the forest, I won't allow you to destroy it any further," Laura says with a serious tone as she looks at them.

"And what is stopping us from simply taking it from you!?" A hot-headed officer steps out as he shouts at Laura. In response, Laura simply chuckles before her eyes turn cold.

Purple mana forms around her as wind starts blowing everywhere. The officers were all shocked by her display of power while Doyle was looking nervously at her, before he could say anything however over a hundred monsters stepped out of the trees and shadows behind Laura, with the giant tiger being one of them. Seeing the tiger Doyle's pupils constrict as he was able to feel its power as well.

Both the tiger and Laura were strong as him, it was important to know that only a handful of people in the kingdom were stronger than him, and only 1 was as powerful as he was. He wasn't certain of victory against either one, not to mention both of them.

"I want to add one more thing to our agreement." Doyle suddenly speaks.

"Yes?"

"An alliance with the kingdom, the forest of A'ugtoh and the kingdom will be allies, helping each other from now on," Doyle says confidently as he looks at Laura, the condition was good for both parties, especially for the forest as they were still weaker.

"No, the forest will help the kingdom if it ever falls in a dangerous situation, but an alliance is impossible after all many of your soldiers and our inhabitants had died fighting against each other, even if you can go over that, others won't be able to," Laura says as she throws the crystal towards Doyle who catches it before nodding his head and leaving with his soldiers. His proposal was actually a small test if Laura said yes then that meant she didn't believe the forest could go against the kingdom and that they were significantly weaker. But after hearing her words Doyle was made to reconsider, perhaps the forest was tougher than the kingdom had previously considered it to be.

Shortly after that Laura was teleported out of the forest.

Thud

Shadow killed another soldier as he took him in the shadow to take his armor. He had been chased for over an hour by soldiers and officers after his failed attempt of assassination.

More than an hour ago.

Cling.

The sounds of glasses touching each other and the laughter of many nobles could be heard as Shadow was dressed in a nice suit and was acting as a waiter for the celebration in the castle. He had previously managed to overhear two young men about how they were chosen to work as waiters in the castle and he decided to knock them out before they went there. He took the suit from one of them as he used ropes to bind them together. With Shadow's looks, he actually looked more like a noble attending the celebration than a waiter, to be honest, and many young ladies looked at him while blushing.

Shadow was waiting for the king to arrive so that he could assassinate him, of course, he knew that the trial was not going to be so easy and he was prepared to flee the castle at any moment. As time slowly tickled Shadow made sure to stay close to the main stage where he presumed the king would be arriving.

Suddenly horns were blown as the whole hall was silent. The huge doors of the other side of the hall slowly opened as a party of 6 came out. It was the royal family, the king, and the queen together with their four children.

They were wearing robes inlaid with gold as they slowly walked towards the main stage. They talked with some notable characters as they slowly made their way. Many people came to greet the king and the other members of the family while they did the same. Even though the king was above all in the kingdom he of course had to show some basic respect to other noble houses and generals.

Finally, they made their way to the center stage as the king stepped forward to deliver a speech. He thanked all of those that came to this joyful celebration while speaking of the notable deeds the kingdom and its heroes did this year. Shadow was slowly inching closer to him while still trying to put a proper act as to not draw any attention towards him. Finally, he was only some 5 meters away from the king.

Immediately darkness shrouds his whole body as he seemingly teleports next to the king while his two daggers were stabbing towards the old man's throat. A mere centimeter before plunging in his flesh the daggers stop as a thin, golden layer was present on the king, the defensively capability of the layer was able to completely negate Shadow's attack.

"Damn." Shadow curses as he swiftly delivers a couple more attacks towards the king before being blown back by a general that was nearby. A necklace on the king's throat suddenly shatters as the golden layer disappears, Shadow curses his bad luck as he swiftly flees from the premises.

Hundreds of soldiers chased after him as screams from the crowd could be heard. Luckily his skill managed to mask his appearance and nobody knew what he looked like yet. He quickly put a hood on before the skill was deactivated and for the next hour or so he was simply fleeing while defending against the soldiers and officers.

He finally managed to flee and even kill one of them without being seen. It was time for him to use plan B.

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