Chapter 224: King’s Blessings

'What the hell is going on here.'

A panicked Tyler sat on the exquisite wooden throne that oddly now felt uncomfortable, as though he was seating on a throne of thorns that had also been lit on fire. What had been the aim of meeting everyone here? He almost couldn't remember as Z went on and on about how amazing he was. 

Soon he had gotten everyone else to believe that nonsense as well and he didn't even have the chance to refute them as he felt embarrassed to say something like, they were mistaken. However, that may have been a mistake as the next thing that came out of Z's mouth was exposing themselves to the world in a dominant way. 

He didn't understand what had led him to that conclusion. Tyler's goal this entire time was to remain hidden while gaining more benefits from the Magic Library and improving his strength. He hadn't mind taking care of a few subordinates along the way and had worked towards that goal.

It was why he destroyed the scouts in the forest, taking Liz in altering the memories of the sole survival to by himself more time, and why he disguised himself to head to Winged city yet Z seems to think they were part of his non-existent master plan. He wanted to ask what master plan but had held back his urges, using every fiber of his body control, he maintained a poker face. 

However, Uriel's explanation and Rain's confirmation had managed to convince him of this course of action. His current forces were weak, incredibly weak. However, the Great Five didn't know that. They knew he had limited forces and now with the death of Mammon, they also knew he was strong enough to at least match their Demon Lords but that was it.

They feared he still had cards hidden in the castle and did not attack as foolishly as Mammon had. This battle of disposable undead was the perfect chance to learn what he was capable of. If they were to find out that he was the only one they had to worry about, there was a high chance they had methods to either kill him without fighting or render the castle uninhabitable for him.

There was probably a plethora of methods to handle a single overpowered behemoth that they had developed due to the appearance of the Seven Great Behemoths. With the powers of God Tier Artifacts, the possibility was endless.

He needed to show them he had a force that could match or surpass them in order to stop their current exasperating and enigmatic movements in the darknar region towards him.

Left with no other options as he could not actually challenge Z's intellect, he accepted his proposal.

"So Z, seeing as you've managed to deduce my intentions so flawlessly, what is your recommended plan of action?"

"I'm honored you asked Sire. Our best course of action would be to engage the army in the Darknar forest where the terrain would take away most of their numerical advantage. Splitting them into key smaller groups and then striking with our strongest force at that location would make it easier to attain a dominant victory. We also don't have to care about the weaker mobs until the end."

Hearing his plan, Liz couldn't help but make an unconscious comment. "That sounds a little..."

"Your thinking is right Ma. Liz. With our current strength, it is impossible to achieve such a feat. Still, it should be possible with the help of the Raven settlement but without gaining data on their individual strength and other specialties, it would be hard to make a proper plan. However, the general idea will stay the same."

Z's plan seems to rely heavily on his familiarity with the eastern part of the Darknar forest as well as accurate and detailed information on the structure of the undead army. 

His was a plan that would need to be executed perfectly with his strongest fighters, namely Erin, Rain, Liz, Albert, Emrys, and Bones. Well, if strength was all that was considered, Zelda and Nessi were a match for the others. All the aforementioned fighters would be used as a mobile artillery unity. They would have several smaller teams that are meant to split the forces of the undead army and lead them towards that unit. 

Consisting of two demigods in Erin and Emrys, Z had absolute confidence that they would not lose even if they encountered traps set by the Great Five. However, this plan placed a great burden on their stamina and the flawless execution of the other units which could lead to problems. Of course, this has yet to involve the strength of the Raven settlement which was still an unknown variable.

In order to increase their chances of success, Tyler thought he would just get to the main reason why he had gathered everyone here. It may be possible to gain better odds with the use of his abilities.

Regaining his composure as he thought of his main purpose for initiating this meeting, Tyler was about to cast placate on himself when he suddenly felt his emotions calm down before he even had the opportunity to use the spell.

'Ummm... is this what she meant by automatically?'

With his calm returned to him, Tyler now had the luxury to think properly. Frankly speaking, he didn't just gather everyone here just to grant them their wishes for strength but wanted to use this opportunity in testing the limits of his ability. 

His innate ability had been with him since the very beginning and yet, he was struck with the reality that he had no idea what his ability was truly capable of. At first, it had been simple. He could temporarily break the potential of anyone in his line of sight and within a certain range by 1 full tier for a maximum of 60 seconds. 

However, that was no longer the case as evidenced by Nadine who had permanently jumped up by a level. It may not have been a full Tier but that was still fine even if he could only increase someone from Basic to Intermediate instead of from Tier 2 to 3.

He had also learned that the ability also affected him and not just the ones around him. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to test that as he could not control its effect on his body and can only assume it was constantly increasing his mana reserves the more mana he uses. As for his potential, he was yet to find his limits. 

What he wanted to know was simple. How many times could he use it on someone in a day? By how much could he break someone's potential if he tried harder. How many people could he use it on in a day? How many people could he use it on at the same time? Does using it on multiple people at once reduce its effect? And finally, how many times could he break someone's potential.

These were all the questions he needed answers to which was why he had originally gathered this group together. From his experience with Nadine, he knew there were side effects to breaking someone's potential but he couldn't help but wonder what would happen to him if he broke one person's potential over and over again if possible. 

"Indeed you're right. Our current forces are indeed weak. A little too weak. It would be hard to win this battle in any sort of dominant fashion."

At his bluntness, the faces of his vassals all got paler, especially the faces of Rain and Albert who were feeling the most pressure from losing a few times already. 

However, Tyler had spoken this way on purpose, and thanks to their predictable reaction, he was able to present his testing as a solution. 

Of course, he wasn't some kind of mad scientist that only cared about results and not the lives of his subjects. He did care about them but for the sake of the future, he needed to master this ability in one go so he had to be a bit pragmatic. 

Turning his head to face Liz, Tyler spoke again, easing the tension in the air.

"There's no need to feel so sad about it. Your weakness is a result of the hand fate had dealt you, none of your wished thus upon yourself so I am not blaming you for this. If fate had chosen you to be weak, then today we will deny that reality so put your trust in me and you shall gain strength."

His decree was with the utmost confidence and he could see its effects immediately as the faces of everyone brightened up as they did not even consider doubting his words.

Liz, Rain, and Albert all looked at Tyler in awe but with a certain level of curiosity. They were also eager to know what their master-planned on doing. 

The reason Tyler was being so dramatic was simple as well. He had seen people gain power from sheer will and most of the movies he remembered from earth were the same. With the power of a positive vibe or friendship and determination, men could draw out incredible powers. Or so those books said.

He wasn't sure if it would work but it could be considered as part of the test. If motivated enough, would they gain more from his ability? That was something he was interested in knowing but it didn't really matter and the only reason he was doing it was to increase the chances of Z's plan succeeding. 

Leaning back into his seat, Tyler smiled as he spoke to his vassals once again.

"I have heard your strong desires to become stronger for my sake. Therefore, I've decided to grant you this wish. However, I have yet to gauge the limits of this ability of mine and require your help to do that. This will come with great risk."

As someone that was being looked up to, Tyler didn't have any reason to lie to his vassals as this was something he wanted them to decide for themselves. He had no idea what will happen if things went wrong but he hoped their resolves would aid them in withstanding an unforeseen backlash.

"With that said, there's is no need to be scared or feel obligated to do this. Feel free to—"

"Please grant us your blessings!"

'My what!'

Before Tyler could even complete his sentence, everyone had dropped to the ground on one knee with expressions that showed their unwavering determination and fate in him. He was about to say something when Albert suddenly spoke up.

"We appreciate your kindness Lord Ty, but everyone here is your loyal servant and our only purpose is to be of use to you. We are all willing to die for your sake so it doesn't matter how dangerous your blessing is, we would accept it with open arms as long as we can be of use to you."

'This old man.' Musing at Albert's words Tyler sighed inwardly and his emotions were returned to normal. There was no longer any need to hesitate to it was time he learned what 'Potential Break' was truly capable of.

"Oh, I'm glad. Very well, let us begin."