章 72: More Secrets: Now, Golden Eggs
Little Joe began to read and confirmed that no type of soldier was less than a thousand strong. In total, the number of soldiers serving His Majesty, King Alarcki, was clearly set: ten thousand personal soldiers, all at his command with a single order, not counting over fifty thousand soldiers scattered throughout the kingdom. Suddenly, little Joe felt as small as an ant. What chance would he stand against such a massive army?
Still feeling overwhelmed by all that information, Joe decided to leave everything as he'd found it, closed the trapdoor behind him, and headed up to his parents' room. There, he pondered over the meaning of everything he had encountered in that underground chamber: a bed, a chair, and a table with locked drawers. What dark secrets could lie there?
He thought of his father, a combat specialist, and remembered how in their conversations, words would sometimes slip, revealing how important and respected he had once been in the kingdom. But that mission given by King Alarcki had practically ruined his life, and this was something little Joe would never accept.
After a cold bath, lying on his parents' bed, he picked up Ylsean's diary nearby and started reading.
Ylsean's Diary
"Do you trust me, Miss Ylsean?"
At that moment, I understood the message my father wanted to convey to me because fear made me analyze everything quickly and precisely. I realized that this was the time to act in the face of my fear and surprise both my father and everyone present.
My goal was not just to position myself as a rebel or last-minute brave soul, but to create a bond so strong with that fateful moment that no one would ever again doubt my judgment. From then on, I would be, until my death, second-in-command in my father's barony… without anyone questioning it.
Without trembling or blinking, I looked at Miau Lee, my slave and protector, and answered:
"Yes, Miau Lee, I trust you. Just as I am certain you would never harm me".
Miau Lee, looking at me seriously, challenged:
" Then prove that you have this trust in me."
My legs shook as I walked toward my father, still seated on that rustic throne. I took his hand and politely asked:
"Please, Father, stand up. I understand now how wrong I was".
My father rose, gently brushing my hair. I savored that affection for a few seconds before sitting in his place and waiting until he moved to a safe distance. Then it was my turn to challenge Miau Lee:
" Throw it!"
Upon hearing me, my father quickly rose from his chair and said I didn't need to do any of this, that I had already passed the test. But he stopped when he saw me place my hand over my heart and declare:
" Life, mind, honor, and trust!"
"With our life, mind, honor, and trust!" — the soldiers repeated in perfect alignment, stopping after the word "trust," unsure of what to say next.
My brother Dimmy understood my intention, and noticing the doubt in the soldiers' hearts, he shouted:
"That's how we act!"
Then, the soldiers chorused:
"With our life, mind, honor, and trust! That's how we act!"
Before my father's astonished eyes, I declared:
"By the power granted to me by my father, Baron Roderick Von Shift, founder and lord of the Order of the Silver Claws, I, Miss Ylsean Von Shift, order my slave and protector, Miau Lee, to throw all her knives and daggers at this throne… without hitting me. But, should she fail, I will take full responsibility for her mistake and absolve her of any punishment. Miss Miau Lee, I choose to trust you, so please, do your best."
For reasons he didn't understand, but amazingly, that diary seemed to speed up his intelligence's growth. Since there were still a few pages left, it meant he would soon reach his limit. He was happy about it, as his increased intelligence had unlocked many things that had previously been a mystery to him.
With this intelligence, he would study all the documents he could find in the drawers, hoping to uncover clues about his father's whereabouts. Even though he felt small and lacking the strength to face an army like the king's, he would create one with an unstoppable power, a force no one would believe capable of great feats.
He would make the dwarves his warriors, but only to hide the true source of his power: Queen Ant Florida and her subordinates, the ants. He would never give up on his purpose and would rescue his father one way or another.
Then, he opened his status screen and saw how pathetic his attributes were:
💪 0.32 / +0.0 | 🏃♂️ 0.20 / +0.0 | ❤️ 0.36 / +0.0 | 🛡️ 0.18 / +0.0 | 🍀 0.72 / +0.36 | 🧠 lvl 2.15%.
While his intelligence was high, in every other area he was so weak that he only stayed alive thanks to his friends' abilities in keeping him safe, as these values were added to his normal physical constitution. Otherwise, how could he even stay alive?
For a moment, he forgot why he had come home, but when he saw his case, he remembered that every morning when he awoke in the hut of the dwarf Finerg, he expelled a small, pearl-like golden egg.
After cleaning the egg, he examined every detail and confirmed that each one was about 3 cm long and 2.4 cm in diameter. He could hardly believe that, despite the pain he felt expelling them, he was a walking fortune generator. Then he took out the book on energy stones that he had received from Dimmy and started looking up this "pearl gold" and its properties.
He was almost giving up, thinking that, because it wasn't an energy stone, the pearly gold wouldn't be described alongside them. But in a corner of the page, he found a note:
"Although it isn't an energy stone, pearly gold has a value far superior to common gold due to its scarcity and, especially, its high degree of purity, which exceeds that of regular gold. There are three levels of purity for pearly gold, until perfection is reached. Each level is, at minimum, three times more valuable than regular gold. At the second level, it is worth six times more, while level 3, the purest of all, can be worth up to ten times the price of common gold per gram."
Joe sighed in relief and came to his senses, remembering the system.
"System, I need you to answer something."
Immediately, a blue status screen appeared suddenly, with a question:
"What do you wish to know?"
"Could you analyze these gold eggs and determine their level of purity?"
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