Galaxy's First Ruler

Zoom!

The spaceship vibrated and Aldrich felt like hundreds of soap bubbles had popped up after hitting him.

Aldrich looked outside, and could vividly tell that the wilderness of lands and atmosphere had exponentially increased somehow. He could feel a presence in his surroundings, but it could have been next to him or thousands of miles away. He looked at the Earl, who had already collected himself, a sure sign that he had expected this disturbance.

"My Lord…"

"Call me Aldrich."

"… Aldrich, this is the reason that we can't set up teleportation near the tower. In a radius of 500 miles around the tower, the Mana is too thick, which makes the portals unstable. That's why one can only use spaceships, and traveling on foot is always an option too."

Aldrich stood up and went towards the cockpit. Outside the windows, he saw a greenish tower, with its tip above the clouds. The surrounding air had lost its unseen nature and Aldrich could see a trace of red and greenish hint to it. Even the altitude at which the spaceship was flying seemed to be lacking compared to the tower's height. But the spaceship didn't go up, rather it kept losing altitude as it neared the tower. Aldrich looked back towards the Earl and found that it was all intentional.

After a few minutes, the spaceship landed on the platform at the foot of the tower. Aldrich stepped out and took the immensity of the scene in his eyes. In front of him, there was an enormous, lush green tree, which seemed to be enlarged beyond recognition. The tree was covered in dozens of meters thick vines, and humongous leaves and roses. Aldrich felt like nothing but a mere ant, who couldn't even look where the tree would lead it if it even dared to climb.

Aldrich extended his hand and felt the gust of wind with the tips of his fingers. When he brought the hand close to his eyes, he could see his fingers covered in red and green grainy balls.

'Pollen grains!'

"So what now?"

Aldrich asked as Earl Drago bowed in the tower's direction.

"My Lo… Aldrich, Cough! Now you only need to go up by yourself, as only one person can go up at a time."

Aldrich stared into Drago's eyes as he would say that he was joking, but the silence between them didn't break.

"…"

"…"

"Daddy… Sha… eat… him."

For a second, Aldrich wanted to nod at this request.

"Didn't you say that it was her who wanted to meet me and not the other way around? Call her down."

"That's…"

Aldrich saw the planet's strongest man, fidgeting and sweating like a little girl, and couldn't help but ask.

"What is it? Some kind of test?"

"My Lo… Aldrich, No! You will know once you reach the top of the tower."

"Humph!"

Aldrich harrumphed and walked towards the green wall. Behind him, Earl Drago eyed, less in fear and more in curiosity, how Aldrich 'the God' would go about this task. There was a reason for the saying that only a Count could meet the Ancient Oracle.

Aldrich craned his neck up and saw the enormous tree vanishing into the clouds. Just under the layer of clouds, there was a larger than average rose, and Aldrich's eyes looked at it as if eyeing their prey. Aldrich closed his eyes, and felt the presence of countless Creatures of Darkness around him, howling and praising Aldrich's existence. An inhumane and devilish voice came out of his throat, which made the Shadow Homunculus toss and turn in its mask form.

"Go… Daddy."

Aldrich snapped his eyes open and crouched down.

"Change. Target Lock."

[…

Agility: 345 (+196 +79)

…]

BOOOM!!!

A black dragon seemed to come alive, shattering the space and flying towards heaven. By the time the Shockwave and the quaking of earth reached the spaceship and the flabbergasted Earl, Aldrich had already covered half the distance. It didn't matter if it was vines, leaves, or roses, whatever lay in his path got annihilated on impact.

"Woo… Hoooo…"

Sha's excited voice echoed in Aldrich's ears as he crossed the target and lost his maximum speed. As soon as the momentum brought him up the layer of clouds, a humongous hammer hit from his right.

BAM!

The hammer became a sliding wall that kept dragging Aldrich leftwards without giving him any chance to stabilize his footing.

"Sha!"

A vein popped out of the mask and reached towards the palm of Aldrich's hand. As the tip of the vein bloomed, a massive buster sword came out of it. Aldrich held the Stone Splitter and impaled it into the green wall.

BANG!

The sudden stop was like getting hit by a massive vehicle. Aldrich tightly gripped the handle and looked for the hammer. But aside from the blurry tower's edge, pinkish clouds, and distant setting sun, there was nothing. But Aldrich soon realized that if he let go of the sword, the hammer would come back again. For the hammer was nothing but wind, colorless and strong enough to sweep away anything and everything in its path.

Aldrich looked up and saw the top of the tower was still at considerable altitude. There was no way he could use the sword the entire way without his SP running out.

"Damn! It is a fucking test. What are they thinking? It isn't a cultivation story."

BANG!!! Crack!

A sudden gust of wind banged against Aldrich's body. The sword wasn't deep enough into the wall for it to resist such a jerk. The massive sword cracked, and it didn't seem it could handle another jerk.

"Sha, transfer the descriptions of all the Items you have eaten."

"Yes… Daddy…"

A flood of information washed over Aldrich's mind, but in the very next moment, he found something that he could use in such a situation.

"Yeah, this one would do. Sha, I would let go of the sword. Get ready."

Aldrich sensed another hammerish gust of wind coming and planted his foot within the space between two vines. As soon as the wind was about to hit him, he let go of the sword.

"Now!"

The Stone Splitter twisted and churned before taking the form of a stringless bow. Aldrich clenched his teeth and let the wind try its best to rip apart his legs. As the wind died, Aldrich looked at the top of the tower and his eyes glowed with emerald color.

"Change. All Proficient."

[…

Correspondence: 221 (+196)

…]