A Guide to Kingdom Building ( Me Reincarnated 365 x)

"Oooh…" The voice mockingly said. "Sharp blade you have there! Hahaha! Not that it would matter. Still, I urge you to come forward…and follow my voice." The voice grew more arrogant as he went on.

Adaloun treaded cautiously as he passed through the questionably beautiful starry path. As he took a step forward, he noticed the bright twinkling stars danced in his feet. He looked up on the ceiling and saw beautiful star systems and glowing cosmic bodies swirl in unison like a distorted rainbow bringing allure to the endlessly dark canvass.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The voice asked.

He didn't answer the voice's question. Instead, he continued to move forward into the galactic path set before him. Suddenly, the path trembled violently. Adaloun lost his footing and stumbled on the floor.

"HAHAHA!" Its thunderous laughter echoed. "That's what you get for being inexplicably audacious!" The voice mocked.

"Easy for you to say…" Adaloun spat while staggering to get up.  "Especially, when all you know is hiding…" He smirked.

"H-hid…hiding?!" The voice exclaimed. "Me? Hiding from who?!" Its booming voice blasted the tunnel.

"Then, show me your face." Adaloun demanded. "Tell me who you truly are."

The voice's laughter rumbled the entire tunnel, "You are a funny one after all."  The light in the path danced violently as it receded into the distance, leaving Adaloun alone in the darkness of the void. The weapon Gravil lent shined dully in the dark.

"Come forward, Arellin." A bright portal emerged at the far end of the tunnel. "Come here and I will show my face along with the truth. The truth that your soul truly sought." The voice said.

Adaloun knew it was a trap from the very beginning. But he didn't have any choice. He knew from the very start, the moment he entered the tunnel, something was bound to happen. However, there was no other way out of that tunnel. He wasn't given so much of a choice. It seemed from the very start, that he was coerced to walk that path.

That was when he realized to whom the voice belonged to. The calming yet enticing voice that hinted a bit volatility was from someone he may had known from before. It reminded him of the old gods he served before. There was a certain deceit lurking from its tone.  But this one wasn't part of that parthenon. This one came from this world.

Adaloun cautiously walked towards the dark pathway. No matter how many times he's walked similar paths before, he always felt the same thing, fear. His heart raced as the uneasiness inside him grew. He focused his mind and tried his best not to think of the past traumas he had with being alone in the dark.

Obscuras, Dhampiirs, those damned lurkers that could come out of nowhere and attack him, they all made flashes in his mind. Huge beads of sweat ran along his temples. His hands were cold and trembling as he came near half the distance from the glowing portal.

He tried looking around at the nothingness. There was nothing there and yet it felt like a thousand eyes were looking at him. Adaloun wished he learned how to activate the scimitar's ability, that would've been very helpful as he went deeper into the dark path. But even with that light, he knew that the god inside that tunnel would just easily turn it off, just like he did earlier.

"Come on, now! You're getting closer!" The voice echoed once more. "The door is right about there! Or…would you prefer to call it a portal?" The glowing portal shifted and became a door and then went back to becoming a portal. "Hmmm…call it what you will…whatever you think of it, so it shall be. Hahaha!"

Adaloun wasn't impressed by it. He continued to inch forward, while still cautiously looking around for any sudden attacks.

"Ohh my…oh my…Arellin! Still don't trust me?"

Adaloun didn't answer.

"Fine! How am I gonna prove myself to you that I am indeed a benevolent god?" The voice asked again. "Ohh…I know!" The voice said with a malicious tone to it.

Suddenly, a wave of blinding light filled the tunnel. Adaloun covered his eyes and tried his best to stand his ground.

"There!" The voice exclaimed. "Maybe this should do the trick!" He snickered.

Adaloun's eyesight was blurred from the bright light. He squinted and tried to focus his vision. The nauseating double vision accompanied by its blurriness gave him quite a headache. He closed his eyes once more and took deep breaths to stabilized himself.

It took him a while for his vision to return to normal. He rubbed his eyes and was finally able to see clearly again. But when his eyesight returned, he was surprised to see what surrounded him. The tunnel walls became transparent revealing the monsters he dreaded to encounter during his journey.

The Dhampiirs, the giant centipedes, the humanoid bats and other unknown monsters lined up in the tunnel looking at him as if he was nothing but a walking delicacy. He immediately raised his weapon as the monsters seemed to claw out their way from an invisible wall.

"Don't you worry about them!" The voice spoke non-chalantly. "As a god of goodwill and benevolence, I shall protect you!" It laughed.

Adaloun, although surprised, didn't showed any hint of fear in his eyes. He knew at any point, if the crazed god would want to release the beasts, he could freely do so. But he figured out this deity. He knew he was just showing off his powers and capabilities to him. The god wanted to be feared and revered by him. Unfortunately, he's not generous to give any of that to this deity or any deities for that matter.

"What? Aren't you afraid and thankful for my benevolence?" The voice asked.

"No." He answered. "I do not fear you."

Adaloun simply walked passed by all of the monsters so calmly that he could feel the deity's anger radiating from the tunnel. His continual downplaying of the deity's ability was rubbing friction to the god's huge ego.

He finally reached the portal. Without hesitation he was about to step into the portal, but the god had one last-ditch effort to break him. Suddenly, an angry giant's head came out of the portal and was about to bite him off clean.

But he was too smart to fall for that trick. Using his blade, he slashed the giant across the face, resulting to the monster evaporated into a smoke.

"Nope." Adaloun said. "That won't scare me."

The voice's angry laughter echoed in the tunnel once more, "Impressive! Fine! Come on in!"