Rhylo Kingdom capital city Rhylo.

Deep within a secret chamber, far down below. An old man sat on a golden encrusted chair. In front of him, a large empty frame floated, suspended in mid-air. With a wave of this man's hand, a ring lit up. Following that, the empty frame full of inscriptions began to glow with pure white light and the image of a goblin appeared in front of him. For but a moment the goblin looked surprised before a crooked smile stretched across its face. With an aged voice, the goblin slowly spoke in a mocking tone.

"Ho, it's been so long since I've last seen you. Tell me, why does the mighty King of Rhylo, grace me with his presence.

The King's brows scrunched in annoyance.

"Let's not do this, let's not play any petty games. You've lost your pawn and many goblins and I've lost many people as well. Let's not turn this into anything bigger then what it already is. As I see it, there's no need to involve any experts. I say the treaty between us still stands, what say you?"

The goblin on the other side of the glowing screen of light was silent for a moment before once more speaking with an aged almost wispy voice.

"Treaty...did you forget that it was you humans that crossed into our lands first and yet you speak to me about the treaty. How many times, how many times will you humans whisper sweet words of peace and prosperity before once again stabbing us goblins in the back? Tell me oh great king, would you humans simply lie there and take it every time your people were lied to and trampled beneath another's feet... I don't think so."

The King of Rhylo clenched his fist and the two stared at one another in silence for a while before the goblin on the other side of the screen released a long sigh.

*Sigh*

With a shrug of its small shoulders, it acted as though it wasn't really bothered.

"Don't worry, the treaty will remain for now but I expect some form of compensation, let's say, hmm, 8 million gold."

The king stood up in anger and shouted.

"COMPENSATION! you dare ask for compensation for a few thousand goblins, don't be ridiculous."

The old goblin didn't get angry, instead, its expression became flat and its tone calm.

"The goblin you humans killed was one of a kind and although he wasn't a subordinate of mine or a pawn as you call it, he was still a goblin. Not only that, Rize's potential was one of a kind as well, a few more years and who knew what he could have achieved. To find another like him, I don't expect to see someone so gifted for at least a few thousand years. So yes, I do expect compensation, It's the very least your kingdom can do."

With these words, the king's anger seemed to rise to another level.

"What he could have achieved... What he could have achieved. If he wasn't stopped then my kingdom would have surely fallen within a decade without the help of an expert. Your loss does not equal my own. You lost normal goblins and two goblin mages, while I lost young nobles, powerful battlemages, and wealthy merchants. Rize has caused my territory to suffer greatly, you are insane if you think I will pay you even a single gold coin."

The two began to argue back and forth for god knows how long until finally they came upon some form of agreement.

"Then it's settled and the treaty still stands."

"For now...old king."

With a wave of his hand, the ring upon the king's finger glowed and the floating glowing screen dulled before vanishing. What remained was an empty frame filled with complicated inscriptions and a room full of silence. The king stood up exhaustedly and coughed a few times, his face pale and full of cold sweat. Taking a small bottle from his chest pocket, the king uncorked it and shugged the green substance within before groaning.

"Ugh."

Wiping the small amount that had spilled down his chin, the king's complexion became somewhat normal.

"Damn this body."

The king then left the secret room where a guard was waiting. Seeing this guard, the king held his chin up high and regained his former composer before going back to the upper palace, with his guard in tow.

On the other side of the screen, the old goblin had a sharp look in his eyes. Looking at a huge metallic door behind him and with no one around, this old goblin spoke a few words to himself.

"A few more years, just a few more years and father will have finished his indoor cultivation, who will dare mess with us then."

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Lowen and the ghoul stepped out of the carriage and began to follow behind the loud commander and his battlemage but paused his steps when he noticed the others paralyzed in shock.

Nia, Ben, Luna and even Benjamin all stared with mouths agape at the size of the commanders home. It was a huge mansion made of decorative white brick, with a few white columns standing tall in front. A large garden outstretched itself left and right for hundreds of feet touching one side of the house to the other. Flowers of yellow and blue filled this garden and gave off a sweet aroma that delicately tingled one's nose, it was almost magical in a sense.

Nia, Ben, and Luna had never seen such a large home in their entire lives nor such a large garden the feeling it gave them was one of both surprise, shock, and even confusion. Benjamin had seen many large homes during his youth but had only seen a mansion a handful of times and it had been almost 2 decades since he last seen such a big home. So he as well was momentarily stunned but was also the first to return to normal. Lowen though, looked at this mansion as though it were only so so. After all, he had live in a palace in his previous life, albeit not his, since he was a royal guard but still he did live in one. He had walked the halls of the king's palace for more than 30 years and seen many rare things while inside. So to him, this mansion really was only so so.

After a few seconds, Lowen piped up.

"You know, it looks even better on the inside right."

Nia, Ben, and Luna all suddenly cranked there necks toward Lowen as though he were a liar. Luna who was usually very composed blurted out.

"How can that be. Is...is this really someones home?"

Lowen smiled at the three teasingly.

"Why don't we go in and find out."

The three became excited and ran over, catching up to Lowen in only a second. Surprisingly, even Luna who was clearly in her 40's had run over in excitement. The commander was already at the door and he waved the group over.

"Hurry up, whats taking ya."

Coming to the door Nia was passing the flowers when she couldn't resist but to bend down and pick one, however, just as she was about to grab one a voice came from behind her.

"Ah, please don't pick them!"

A young handsome man around 15-16 came running up from behind. Nia and little Ben instinctively took up a defensive stance ready to fight, scaring the young man for an instant. Still, the young man came over anyway and spoke in a calm tone.

"Please, um, can you not pick the flowers, they took me a while to grow."

Hearing what the young man had said it was only now that Nia and Ben noticed the man's attire and lowered their fighting stances. The young man wore simple brown pants and a dirt tan shirt. In his hand, he held a small tool used for gardening and in his other, he carried a watering pot. He was obviously the gardener. Staring at this handsome youth, Nia's heart suddenly sped up a bit, for what reason though she didn't know. With a bit of control, Nia circulated her ki and quelled her quickened pulse. How could this escape Lowen's senses though? Lowen looked over at Nia with a teasing smile and wondered how he could mess with her.

Little Ben was the only one with normal thoughts. He walked over and tugged on this gardeners shirt.

"Hey hey hey, you did all this? How long did it take? Was it hard? How do you know how to do all this?"

Ben had suddenly rattled off question after question stunning the man briefly. The young man, however, also seemed happy that someone was actually interested in what he loved and began answering all of Ben's questions. In the end, Little Ben's mind couldn't quite keep up and was left with only confusion. The young man sighed before saying.

"Anyway, please don't pick the flowers."

Looking directly at Nia, the young man spoke again.

"Beauty is meant to be admired not destroyed, don't you agree?"

Once more Nia felt her heart speed up. All she could reply with was an.

"EH....ehhhhhhhhh."

Nia's cheeks flushed red and again she had to circulate her ki to calm herself. This is when Benjamin stepped in, literally. Standing between his daughter and this young man, Benjamin gave him a hateful glare.

(Using pick up lines on my daughter you stinking brat. You're just as bad as that other brat.)

"Hey! shouldn't you be digging a hole somewhere?"

The young gardener didn't know who this man was but he was clearly quite scary. Taking a step back, the young man was about to say something but Benjamin spoke up, this time a little harsher.

"Hmm can't take a hint, get lost kid, my daughter has no business with a playboy such as yourself, now beat it!"

The young man wanted to defend himself but being glared at by Benjamin was giving him an undue amount of pressure. Turning around, the man said nothing and ran off like a rabbit.

Nia was shocked and shouted at her father.

"DAD! WHY DID YOU DO THAT WHEN WE WERE JUST TALKING!"

Benjamin didn't take his daughters yelling to heart and gave a simple reply.

"Hmph, playboys like that with handsome faces are nothing but bad news. Daddy did the right thing, you'll understand when you're older."

Nia was left speechless, not only did her father not feel shame, he acted like he was doing her a favor. Nia was about to explode on her father when Lowen grabbed her shoulder.

"Nia, calm yourself. Is this how a ki manipulator acts. You must learn to better control your emotions if you wish to accel."

Little Ben was nodding along, agreeing with Lowen's every word like a good student would.

"Yea big sis, big bro is right. How can you lose yourself so easily? What would happen if you lost yourself like this during a fight, the enemy would find all your openings and you'd lose."

Nia wanted to yell, she wanted to jump up in down in anger.

(What does any of this got to do with father scaring people away from me.)

The more Nia thought about it though, the calmer she became. In the end, why was it such a big deal? When she figured it out, that's when she would actually have an argument of whether what her father did was right or wrong. Until then, she was simply left with her own confusion, that is until Lowen spoke again.

"Besides Nia, if you really want a boyfriend so bad, we can go back to the market later and look for one. Will that make you happy?"

Nia froze on the spot and her face was dyed an even darker shade of red. She now understood why her heart fluttered and the fact that Lowen was making fun of her, Nia began gnashing her teeth and was about to explode in anger.

"Ah, big sis is that why you're upset, you just wanted a boyfriend hehe."

*Bam*

Nia slammed a fist down on top of Ben's head and without looking back, she slowly walked into the mansion. Ben, however, was rolling around on the ground in pain. Benjamin and Lowen shared a knowing look and began to walk ahead as well. Little Ben cried out to them.

"Big bro, dad."

Benjamin though simply ran ahead, while Lowen said a few sullen words.

"Ben, when it comes to girls you can't make fun of them too much otherwise this is the result."

But Ben spoke out accusingly.

"But big bro you were teasing her too, how come you didn't get hit."

Lowen didn't know what to say and just came up with something on the spot.

*Ahem*

"Look Ben, the reason she hit you is because she knows she can land a punch on you but she can't land one on me, so she won't even try. Do you understand? You have to get stronger so that in time she won't even try because she'll know she can't land a blow, do you get it, do you understand?"

Before Ben could answer, Lowen had already answered for him.

"Good I knew you would get it, well anyway let's go before they eat all of the food."

Ben was about to question Lowen but after he mentioned food, everything else left his mind. Ben's eyes went wide with fear and he jumped to his feet and raced ahead while yelling back.

"Big bro, c'mon and hurry up before all the tasty food is gone."

Lowen gave a small smile and raced after his little bro.