Eternal Kingdom

The forest looked tranquil. The sounds of wind brushing the tree leaf, while it was lit with the glow of sunlight. Yuri picked up his pace, he ran towards the direction of Xeipes. His body felt light as he maneuvered through the thick forest.

He ran at full speed for two hours already. However, the forest trails didn't seem to end. If only he got a map, he would know where he's at now. Thankfully, his journey was smooth, no monsters or bandits ambushed him. There is a monsters roar or animals sound in the background as he sprinted through the forest trails, but, it was much further away from him.

The wind brushed past his white hair, while the sun was highlighting his handsome appearance. He controlled his breathing to a certain rhythm, he applied for his work out knowledge to conserve his stamina and focus his minds.

He saw that the trees grew thinner and the dirt road goes wider. He was delighted, he thought that maybe he was close to Xeipes. He also saw that a black fog was rising towards the sky, not just one, but multiple. He was puzzled, however, he didn't slow down to stare at it, instead, he picked up his pace even more.

A black iron walls. Sounds of metal clinking and clanging. The roars of warriors, and the smog of smelters. Flowing rivers and the high mountains merged with its black walls. All of it was revealed in front of his eyes. He was in awe, it was a different view from Lindow or even Stonehelm. It looks like the town itself were more focused on its high mineral resources while at the same time strengthening its military might.

He sighed a relief, his whole journey took roughly three hours in real time. From his perspective, it was quite a long time, however, from the low leveled players perspective, it was incredible, amazing even. They would never achieve the same results even if they've sprinted with all of their might.

Yuri walked out from the forest, resuming his path through the dirt roads that passed along a series of plateaus. He finally saw a sign of civilizations after his journey through the thick forest. There were farmers and even workers on the distance, however, he saw that their clothes were different from what he saw at Lindow. It was ragged, and the colors of it were washed out. He was puzzled at first, however, he concluded maybe that this was the normal attire in this town.

Ring.

Ring.

Connected.

"Where are you?" Yuri called Felix while walking towards Xeipes black iron gate.

"Where are you?" Felix asked the same question, while at the same time So-Hee voice traveled through Felix communications, "Who is that? is that Yuri?"

Yuri facepalmed after he heard Felix questions, and when he heard So-Hee voice, he thought he called the wrong person. 'Next time, I should call So-Hee instead of Felix' He engraved inside his minds.

"Xeipes front gate." Yuri answered.

"He said, he was at the front gate." Felix told So-Hee that was beside him, "Let's go then!" So-Hee ordered. Yuri heard their conversations through the communications, he shut his mouth and shook his head.

"Wait there, we're coming." Felix said.

"Yeah..." Yuri answered, and ended up his calls after.

Yuri stood on the side, just outside Xeipes black iron gates with his arms crossed. As he examined the periphery of Xeipes, he saw that there was a long line of peoples trying to go inside the inside of Xeipes walls. They were inspected by the guards one by one, however, what he found weird was there are no players lining up, only normal citizens, farmers, and workers, even childrens were there. Fitted with their ragged and worn out clothes.

He stared at the line for a while, his face became serious, "Is this normal..." He murmured under his breath. He didn't like this type of view and he felt uncomfortable watching the whole situation.

"Yuri!!"

From the other side of the gate, Felix and So-Hee can be seen walking through and headed towards Yuri. Felix yelled his name, but, he didn't heed Felix calls. He was so focused by the sight in front of him, while wearing his serious face.

The two arrived beside him, while on the other hand, Yuri didn't notice the two. Felix and So-Hee were puzzled by Yuri acts. They looked at his face, and line their sight towards what Yuri saw. They saw the line, and their face turned serious too.

"Slave workers..." So-Hee mumbled.

Yuri finally noticed the two after hearing So-Hee voice, however, he didn't get startled, because he already expected their arrival. Instead, he still focused his gaze.

Felix sighed, he knew what's inside Yuri's mind. After spending nearly a decade with him, he knew Yuri's personality the best, besting Lillie, despite the fact that Lillie was his blood sister. Yuri was a man of integrity. However, he wasn't a saint. He didn't hate or like the fact that Xeipes used slave workers because he saw the same situation in Earth too.

But, the one that made his face serious was the fact that there were children in there. Felix deduced that the scene reminded Yuri about his and his sister's past. The cold and harsh reality both of them faced. Felix grabbed Yuri's shoulders, he gripped it and shook his head, after Yuri turned his head towards him.

"We can't do anything about it..." Felix sighed.

"..." Yuri closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his minds. Although he did have the power to save them, however, he didn't have the solutions to their situation, even if he did save them, then what? They would only be enslaved once more if he wasn't around. He can take them to his dominion, however, the problem now, is, where? Even he himself didn't know where his territory located, while his teleportation scrolls can only take the one that was inside his party.

So-Hee watched the two, she was puzzled by what Felix said. She thought about it and speculated, maybe Yuri didn't like slave workers with her head hung low. She was the same as them, bound by her contracts, sharing the same fate as the one that lined up there. The reason she played this game was to escape reality, however, looking at the scene in front of her made her forgot about her reasons.

She also was fl.u.s.tered by the same scene when she arrived earlier with Felix, however, she kept her gaze towards the ground. While telling herself that it was only a game, however, she knew, deep inside her heart, she knew, that this wasn't a game, and was another reality. Stated by the fact that Yuri had told her that this game was real.

"So-Hee?" Yuri called.

Yuri and Felix were already done with their conversations. Yuri got back his calm, and nodded towards Felix, he turned his gaze towards So-Hee after. He saw that So-Hee was dazed with her head hung low. He called her name a couple of time, but still no response from her. Yuri turned his gaze towards Felix, and Felix shrugged his shoulders as if saying solve it yourself to him.

Yuri turned his gaze once more, and called her once more. No response, he was perplexed by her act. He took a breath, to calm his mind, he made up his minds and moved his hands towards So-Hee arms. Just about to touch her pale white arm, So-Hee lifted his head. Yuri was fl.u.s.tered, however, he was puzzled after.

There were tears inside those brown gleaming eyes. There was sadness in there, however, as soon as she saw Yuri's face, she smiled, as if trying to hide the emotions inside her heart. Yuri was frozen still, with his hands nearly reached her arms.

So-Hee finally realized that the one in front of her was Yuri, she felt blood rushed towards her head, clearing her jumbled up minds, replacing it with more chaotic thoughts. The emotions she felt before was replaced with a fl.u.s.tered one, however, it didn't last long, her romance filled minds took controls of the situation.

"Y-Yuri...I-It's not...Appropriate..." She blushed.

Yuri was startled, he pulled back his hands in an awkward manner, although he was a billionaire with countless experience, the only thing he didn't have experience was handling a woman that was romantically interested in him. Basically, he was a complete stranger in dating, flirting, or something related. His face blushed red, and he kept apologizing towards her, he didn't know what to say anything except that he was sorry.

So-Hee found his reactions quite adorable and giggled. Her tears were now gone, replaced with a smile. Felix also watched the situation, he was expecting something more, however, as expected, Yuri was a complete letdown, and declared inside his minds, that Yuri needs some training.

"So...What are we going to do next?" Felix broke the silence.

"Yeah...What are we going to do??" So-Hee moved his face closer towards Yuri and fixed her brown eyes towards his jade colored eyes.

Yuri was fl.u.s.tered, his automatic response was backing up his face, trying not to get too close towards her beautiful face. He tried to avert his gaze somewhere, anywhere, away from her brown eyes.

Felix felt pity towards his brother. He sighed and coughed after, trying to calm the situation. So-Hee giggled, and finally retracted her face. Yuri cleared his throat, intending to chase away his awkwardness.

"Yuri. What are we going to do next?" Felix asked once more.

Yuri coughed once more, "*Ahem*...Let's party up first. Form party, Invite ElSensual, Invite Kiya."

Tring

- Party Formed, Inviting ElSensual and Kiya. -

After the party was formed, he didn't stop and moved his finger once more. He scrolled through the menu, clicked his inventory, and took out the teleportation scroll. Felix and So-Hee saw his actions, however, they were puzzled by it. But, knowing that Yuri always surprised them inside this game, they didn't think it further.

He was gripping the teleportation scroll, and show it to the two, "Let's move towards our territory." He declared.

So-Hee was puzzled by the item at first, however, when Yuri said territory, she was stunned, "Y-You...Have a territory? H-How?" So-Hee already knew that it was one of their plans of survival, however, she wasn't expecting it to be this fast, especially, the territory. It was one of the most laborious and one of the hardest to acquire.

"It was Lillie. Anyway, let's use this first." Yuri explained.

'Lillie?' So-Hee was amazed, she knew that Yuri's little sister played this game and even more knowledgeable than her, however, she didn't expect that she was this amazing.

Yuri gripped the item tight and the notifications for it came out, "Use." His voice was firm.

The teleport scroll in his hand disappeared, turned into light motes, and at the same time, a magic circle covered them, slowly rising up and making a dome of blue lines and words. It was phenomenal, grabbing the attention of their surroundings.

- 3 seconds before teleportation. -

The notifications showed up on the corner of their eyes, "Relax, and close your eyes." So-Hee instructed, she knew what this type of spell can do if they were not prepared. She knew it because she read the whole manual religiously. It was stated that the teleportation effect can be nausea-inducing and misorientation if the user wasn't prepared when the jumped happened.

- 1 second before teleportation. -

- Initiating spell trigger, transporting. -

The space in front of them folded and expanded, swallowing them up within the spell. They didn't see it happening but they felt it in their bodies, contracting with the space surrounding them.

Tring

- Teleportation, successful. -

The three of them heard the notifications sound reverberated inside their ears. They slowly opened their eyes.

"Uwu..."

They were startled, a voice of a girl echoed through their ears. They turned their gazes towards the source and found a little girl that looked like eight years old, was lying in the ground with her ragged brown clothes.