Darin's head was hung low as he sat on the dark grey stone throne.

  He was tired, in mind and in body. It had been long since he got proper rest, as the nightmares that chased him during the long nights would not let him find peace.

  It was done. All the kingdoms, all the territory, now fell under his rule. Well, not his rule but under the rule of the god who moved him.

  Darin had tried to resist the orders of the god. However, the contract he had signed under the gallows did not permit it.

  Now, he sat on the throne of the newborn empire, waiting for what was next. The god had not talked to him since they had won, and it had been a month already.

  If it was Darin's choice, he would simply step down and leave it all to someone else. Maybe he could build a lodge in a forest somewhere and live off the land. He did not much like what he had of humans during this long war.

  But that would not happen. He would not be freed; he knew it. The god had no empathy and would not allow him freedom.

  "You have done well." The god spoke.

  "What is next?" Darin replied to the god, just wanting to get the conversation done with.

  "You will rule. I have already started putting other pieces in motion. You are to proclaim yourself to the people as the emperor. What name you choose is up to you. You will hallow my name and make everyone worship me."

  "Fine." Darin felt sick. He rose from the old stone throne and went to make the arrangements.

  ---

  Darin knelt upon a balcony, newly built, above the people in the capital city. He could appreciate the fine marble, decorated with gold and silver metal swirling throughout.

  A priest of the new faith stood before him, his name forgotten by Darin as soon as he had heard it. He did not care for the other idiots who fell for this psychopathic god's ploys. He considered them as pitiful as him.

  "I crown you emperor of the empire, to rule all who live under His grace. Now rise as one above all except God!" The priest was ecstatic.

  Darin rose; he had thought about what name to choose. He did not care much, but he had eventually chosen a name from a story he had been told when he was young.

  "I rise now, as Arkhan, emperor of the Dol'khan empire!" Darin proclaimed.

  After all, Arkhan from the story had not been human but just a puppet that looked human-like. He felt the comparison fit. With his strings cut, he had finally gotten the eternal rest he longed for.

  The people were jubilant, and the priests smiled as they knelt before him. All but one. One of them was part of the newest department of the church. The inquisition. The man who was the head of it looked at Darin with knowing eyes.

  He smiled as well, but his smile did not reach his eyes.

  Darin then went back inside his castle. His role was done; he would leave as much of the ruling as he could to other people.

  ---

  The changes in the kingdom since Mafu had reached level 100 were astonishing.

  One thing that was surprising to Mafu was that the "elements" were not the ones he had thought of. Of course there was earth, fire, air, and water. The "normal" four elements, so to speak. Then there was dark and light.

  But that was where Mafu thought it would end. However, many had come to Mafu to ask about their element and how to use it.

  He let them all through, as he felt it was his duty to help them since it was he who had made them get the elements in the first place.

  Among the first ones was an orc who had gotten the element of "nature." Nature was, in Mafu's opinion, very vague. What was nature, truly?

  Nature was growing plants, rotting plant matter, and carnivorous and herbivorous animals. It was both life and death.

  So how do you use the element of nature? Mafu and the orc, Krond, tried various things. Krond was a warrior, so he was mainly worried about attacking with it.

  After two hours, they finally managed to get him able to use his element to grow a vine that he could move around. Mafu told him to train it as much as he trained his body and then let him go.

  There were a few dwarves, mostly the blacksmiths but also some of the builders, who got the element of "Metal," which was strange.

  Metal was something people made, no? Yet there was a metal element. Overall, it was very similar to the earth element. It was less adaptive than the earth element and focused mainly on the "hard" and "unyielding" parts that he had seen Tenia discover about the earth element.

  There were other elements that were similar in relation to Earth and Metal.

  Ice was an offspring of water. Lightning had similarities to fire but was also slightly different. The Void element was a direct counterpart to Air.

  All these things were discovered in the days after the Elemental Mushroom Kingdom was born. The people were very happy with their new powers, and wherever you looked, you could see people focusing their new elemental power into their hands.

  Or using it to fight in the training grounds. The craftsmen were busy trying to infuse these powers into items but had yet to succeed.

  Akro had gotten the water element. Mafu had thought he would get earth, the same as Tenia. But the elements weren't always connected to what one's class or profession was.

  It seemed that some of the people got weird elements, and the connecting factor was that they all had an event or a thought in the past.

  For example, Akro thought of water as the source of life. The ones who had gotten the lightning element had all seen a lightning strike close by; one of them had even been hit by lightning.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  So, important events in one's life could inspire one to gain a different element than what one's class or profession normally would get. Earth and metal were overrepresented in the blacksmiths, for example, yet Akro got water.

  When Mafu chose Elemental Mushroom Kingdom, it had said that the people would get an element that suited their personality, so it made sense.

  Then, what about Jod, who had gained two elements without Mafu's choice? Mafu decided to ask.

  "Well, the most vivid memory I had from when I was young was me, my mother, and my father sitting outside during the night watching the moon. I think it must've been a harvest festival of some sort. "I drank some sort of fruit juice, and my parents drank beer," Jod recalled.

  Oh, so he was influenced by the moonlight back then. And since moonlight existed during the night, it was both the dark and the light element.

  Mafu moved on to the dungeons. He had made a total of seven dungeons, and now all of them had been influenced by an element except one.

  He had three that had the "Earth" element. The monsters inside were of that element, or they were changed by it. One dungeon, for example, had goblins with some sort of earthen scales on them that gave them a much higher defense.

  Of course, the three dungeons were also prone to spawning earth golems.

  The previous "Lava dungeon" had, of course, gotten the fire element. It was now much hotter in there, and the slimes, gnolls, and lava golems had gotten much stronger.

  The seventh dungeon had gotten the rare "Dark" attribute, as it had been under construction when Mafu got level 100. Thus, it had no monsters, no light, and no mana.

  It spawned bats on the first floor. The bats had no eyes but used echolocation as a normal bat. Yet they were not normal. They could make their body intangible and fly through enemies and solid objects.

  If they flew through you, they would poison you. The intangible part intrigued Mafu, so he killed some of them and placed them in the fungal pool.

  But it was a skill the bats had, not a feature of their body that made them "phase." Thus, Mafu found no way to replicate it.

  On the second level there were wolves. They had pitch-black fur and eyes, with pure white fangs.

  The wolves used darkness to turn invisible, and while they could not phase like the bats, they could increase their speed to more than double in short bursts.

  The last dungeon floor, the third one, was blocked off. Mafu was still trying to get treasures spawning in the dungeon after all. He kept pumping mana to the third floor, hoping that it would help the treasures manifest.

  Parek was more happy with the dungeons changing than with himself getting the fire element. He happily led his warriors into the dungeons after he and Jod had had a test run.

  Both Benoit and Kira had gotten the dark element. It made sense, with their classes and also with how they were as people.

  Mafu had sent them on a mission to Doloran's world. The mission was to sabotage the nearest kingdom to the portal. He wanted them to sow discord and spread propaganda prepared by Dyani and Hald about their new religion.

  There was no way to attack. Dolorans world for them currently. They did not have the manpower. Thus, they had to start with the propaganda war.

  Mikaela had also gone back. She had been tasked with talking to her contacts and increasing the throughput of immigrants.

  ---

  Mikaela looked at the guard standing before the large door. He looked to be 30 years of age at the most. He was nervous, and his helmet made a clinking sound every now and then when it touched his shoulder pads.

  Mikaela had foreseen that she would be caught sooner or later. After all, she had thrown caution to the wind and had been aggressive about recruiting more people to immigrate to the Amanita Kingdom.

  It was not because she was ordered to increase the number of people coming through the portal. She herself had seen the Amanita Kingdom, and as such, wanted more people to experience peace.

  Even though she had always had the first impression of "sneaky" and "untrustworthy," the people of the Amanita Kingdom welcomed her with open arms.

  Her obviously thuggish-looking men were the same. There was no discrimination of them there.

  Mikaela sighed, bored of waiting. She had been brought to Baron Villens's castle. She knew of him, as there were many stories told about him.

  An honorable warrior, whose family had bowed before the emperor rather than take up arms, thus saving his people. Of course, it was not the current Baron Villen who had bowed. It was some ancient ancestor.

  Yet the current one was rumored to be cut from the same cloth.

  His men had caught up to Mikaela and her men and surrounded their hideout. Mikaela had given up without fighting. Her men were good at fighting, but that was against other thugs and civilians.

  Against a baron's knights, they would lose.

  The door opened with a loud pop, and the guard standing before it jumped out of surprise.

  Really? Mikaela thought. If you were guarding a door, shouldn't you be ready for the door to be opened?

  She scoffed at the guard and was led into the hall.

  On the wooden high chair, at the end of a long table, sat the baron. He was dressed casually, in a modest shirt and leather pants. Mikaela felt no noble vanity from him. As she looked into his eyes, she only saw resolve and willpower.

  Mikaela was sitting down in the chair at the other end of the long table. She had manacles on her hands, and they were locked around both the table legs.

  "I hear you have been deceiving my people, getting them to walk through the portal to the savage lands?" The baron spoke. His black hair and beard, speckled with grey and white hairs, bobbed a little bit as he spoke.

  He spoke with a voice used to giving commands and with clarity.

  "Deceiving is not quite right, my lord," Mikaela answered.

  The baron shot a glance at the knight standing to his left and then continued.

  "What would you call it, then?"

  "I offered them a chance at a better life. On the other side of the portal," Mikaela spoke. She had decided a while ago that this man would not be coerced with anything but the truth.

  "A better life? The other side of the portal is nothing but wild lands, ruled by monsters. I was one of the people who was part of the first expedition to cross it."

  "These monsters, did they have grey skin and seem to not fall no matter how many times you cut them with your sword?" Mikaela asked.

  The baron fell back in his chair and started tapping his index finger on the chair's armrest. He looked to be in thought for a few moments and then continued.

  "So you have either crossed it yourself, or you have obtained the information from someone who was there during the expedition." His gaze was locked on Mikaela, as if to determine any falsehood. "Then tell me, what does the terrain look like around the portal on the other side?"

  "The portal is on a grassland hill, overlooking a forested valley. Behind the portal is a vast grassland as far as the eye can see. The monsters, as you call them, must have attacked you from the forest."

  "And why do you think the monsters came from the forest?" The baron had lifted his eyebrows slightly as Mikaela spoke.

  "Because that is where their nest was located. And the grasslands are far more dangerous than the forest."

  "Hm. Why are the grasslands more dangerous?" The baron's interest had been awakened.

  "Because that is where the young dragons hunt," Mikaela responded.

  For the second time, the baron's eyebrows went up. This time, they almost disappeared under his messy hairline.

  "You are quite adept at telling stories, at the very least." The baron seemed lost in thought again.

  "I have no way to find out if you are telling the truth, so we are at quite the impasse."

  "It is easy to find out the truth. Just send a man to go look," Mikaela responded, as she felt that the baron would soon dismiss her. If she did not grasp this opportunity, she'd rot in prison.

  "Send a man? I value my men more highly than that, trickster," the baron responded with a stern look.

  "You are about to sentence me to prison, death, or the like. Since I am an innocent woman, this would tarnish your honor and your name. Do your knights not have the courage to save their lord from such a fate?!" Mikaela half talked, half screamed as she was beginning to be led away.

  As she was almost at the door, she heard the sound of armored boots stepping forwards behind her. It was the knight on the right-hand side of the baron. He had stepped forward and knelt.

  "Allow me the honor of journeying through the portal to decide whether this woman speaks of truth." The knight spoke with resolve.

  The baron's face was covered by one of his hands as he sighed.

  "Fine. You shall journey through the portal and decide the truth for me." Then he looked at Mikaela. "You. You used to be a noble, I assume?

  Mikaela smiled radiantly as she did her best impression of a noble woman's curtsy, although the manacles made it look shabby.