There were wild cheers around the audience as the Ninecloud Soul continued, and the first rainbow cloud drifted to the center of the arena. It was the first to have earned her position among the Uncrowned: Yerin.
Lindon had done his research, and the Broken Crown conferred no additional power. The constructs were colored based on the madra of the representative’s Monarch, and they couldn’t be faked. Or removed, except from a Remnant.
They were essentially a signature unique to the Uncrowned.
As Yerin closed her eyes and nine-colored light swirled around her, black madra Forged itself over her. The actual Divine Treasure was inside her spirit, but it projected a dark crown—larger than her head—with a crack running down the center.
Black represented Akura Malice’s shadow madra, so Eithan’s and Mercy’s would look the same. As Northstrider’s representative, Ziel would receive a Broken Crown the red of blood madra, Sophara’s would be gold, and the three Dreadgod cultists would each have the white of Reigan Shen.
[You know, it’s a shame no Silent Servant made the top eight. Juvari would have had two white haloes. I wonder what that would have looked like.]
The ceremony continued in order, with the Ninecloud Soul reintroducing and celebrating Eithan’s accomplishments—though Lindon noticed she skated over the name of his fourth-round opponent.
While the ceremony went on, Lindon stewed in worry.
If you averaged both sides, four against four, then the two teams were roughly equal.
But the enemy had Sophara, who seemed unbeatable in a duel, while Yan Shoumei’s monstrous Blood Shadow was too much of a mystery.
It pained him not to be able to help. He wanted to do something, but the only thing he could think of was his old standby: pushing for advancement.
At least he had a good idea of what it took to reach Overlord.
He and Dross had worked steadily to analyze many accounts of Overlords regarding advancement, as well as testimony from Mercy and Eithan, among others. There was another revelation required, just as there had been for Underlord, but Lindon would cross that bridge later.
For now, he only had to accumulate power.
Underlords could only advance when they had condensed their soulfire, filled themselves with it, and pushed their madra to the peak of power that their souls could contain. That meant steadily refining and training themselves, usually for years.
One had to be at the peak of Underlord to trigger the advancement to Overlord, at least if you ever wanted to advance again, and peak Underlords were almost always older. That was one reason the age limit for the Uncrowned King tournament had been set to thirty-five.
Which had made Lindon wonder more than once how incredible Ziel had to have been, to reach Archlord at such a young age.
Among these Uncrowned, there was only one even close to the limit of the Underlord stage: Sophara.
And maybe Eithan.
[It’s still hard to read that guy. Do you think he revealed some secrets to us as a way of hiding more secrets?]
Lindon didn’t think so, but he couldn’t prove it.
In order to reach the height of Underlord himself, Lindon needed resources. Over the next month, while Yerin was gone, he wanted to focus entirely on advancement.
And he had one idea that wouldn’t leave him alone.
[Northstrider’s hunger techniques! Sure, that might get you to advance in a month. But I don’t know how to use them. Did you figure them out while I wasn’t looking?]
Of course he hadn’t, but he was becoming convinced that together they could. If he could drain all the power from others, then all he would need to advance was an endless supply of enemies.
Like, for instance, the enemies that might be found on a Dreadgod battlefield.
[I fully support that, except that Fury and the rest won’t even arrive for several weeks.] Dross projected a rough map that only Lindon could see, although the important parts were vague and a lot of territory was covered in fog that represented Dross’ uncertainty.
[They can take a more direct route this time, because the west coast of the Blackflame Continent is closer to us than Moongrave was, but we’re still waaaaaaaaaay over here.] The map spun across an astonishing distance. [It will take them at least three more weeks to get there, assuming about the same speed they used the first time. So you won’t have time to arrive and come back if you don’t want to miss the Uncrowned fights. Do you want to miss the Uncrowned fights?]
Of course Lindon didn’t. Not only should he be there to support his friends, he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to learn.
But there had to be a solution. He had been pulled through space by Northstrider before. Why couldn’t he join the Akura troops, come back here to watch the fights, and then return to the battlefield? Then again, Fury himself wasn’t doing that. If a Herald couldn’t do it—
Blue light consumed him, and there came a nauseating sense of disorientation.
A second later, he stood in an all-gray waiting room. A projection of light in the center of the room showed the same ceremony he had just been watching.
[Wow, that was amazing! Did you cast us through space just by thinking about it?]
Lindon already had a dragon’s breath in his palm and ready, but he hurriedly canceled it when he noticed the man standing in the room.
Northstrider, his black-scaled hands folded across his chest.
“It’s time, Dross,” he said, and Dross materialized.
[Yes, of course sir! Would you like me to search through some more information today, or would you prefer just to chat? We could discuss the…conditions of the…air. In here. Or out there, it’s up to you.]
Northstrider waited for Dross to finish, then held out an empty hand, which was abruptly filled with the gleaming black orb he had shown before. “I would like you to enter my oracle codex completely. It will examine you. When that process is complete, it will attempt to restrain you, while you try to escape. In ten minutes, I will release you myself, but I hope you will have escaped before then.”
Dross’ one eye widened. [I will not fail you, sir! But just to help me not fail, how about an upgrade?]
“Begin.”
Dross shoved his way into the orb, and its surface rippled with light.
The surface resisted for a moment, and Lindon couldn’t help but worry about Dross’ condition. Northstrider had said that he would release Dross, but what if he didn’t?
There would be no need to trick them, Lindon knew. The Monarch could take anything he wanted without trickery. Even so, he was nervous.
Dross passed through the surface like a man pushing through a screen, and he vanished.
Northstrider’s dragon eyes flicked to Lindon’s face, and Lindon wondered if his thoughts were being read.
“You may sit and wait.”
Lindon took one of the chairs and tried to watch the ceremony, but it couldn’t hold his attention. He knew who the Uncrowned were, and there was little chance of him learning anything else.
There was a much more valuable opportunity in this room.
He needed to get the Monarch talking. Even a stray comment about hunger madra might be the key to Lindon’s entire future advancement.
After a minute or two, Lindon said, “I’m pleased to see that Ziel made it to the current round.”
Northstrider was standing with his arms folded, looking into the wall. Lindon couldn’t tell if the Monarch was casting his perception around the world, deliberating great thoughts, or sleeping with his eyes open.
He tried again. “Is there anything I can do to assist you? Or Dross?”
Silence.
It was probably too bold to try again, but he’d already made two attempts. The Monarch wouldn’t obliterate him for a third.
“If you don’t mind telling me, what are you testing Dross for?”