“Hmm…silence for a moment.”

  Lord Bash words were met with silence. The being shrouded in grey mist stopped every form of sound from leaking from itself. Whether it was breathing or the sounds of its organs operating within its body…all of it ceased.

  It didn’t stop there.

  For the entirety of the Garden even the wind dared not make noise.

  A few minutes passed in that manner before Lord Bash opened his mouth again.

  “Speak child.”

  “Yes, My Lord, I come with news of your most recent investment.”

  “Hmm, my most recent…the pre-int subjugation, is it? How long has it been since that plan was put into motion?”

  “The first beginnings of the plan began exactly 57 years ago My Lord.”

  “Ah, so the human world was invaded, yes?”

  “Yes, My Lord.”

  “I see, and how has that gone for the descendants of Volcana?”

  “They have had both success and failure My Lord. Initial attacks were successful all over the human planet, but there have been more than just a few areas of significant resistance. The humans, as you’ve predicted, fought back with a murderous zeal befitting their kind.”

  “I see, and then?”

  “The descendants of Volcana changed their tactics and sent in a few F Grade elites of their race. They too received a measured share of success, but the humans once again fought back, with no less murder in their eyes than before.

  “As it stands things are progressing as you’ve predicted My Lord and the descendants of Volcana will have a price to pay.”

  “Yes, it appears so. Though…I don’t take credit for this prediction. You know why right?”

  “Yes, My Lord. Humans are one of the strongest and most dangerous races in all of the Multiverse. Even with one of the weakest starts, there aren’t many races who can truly claim to have more potential for not just growth, but rapid growth.

  “Their ability to gain immense strength when cornered has helped to give them remarkable renown across the Multiverse, yet even that isn’t their best ability.”

  “Tell me more.”

  “Of course My Lord. Humans are known as many things, but one of their most prominent names is the Template Race. Earned from their ability to walk down any Path, climb any mountain, swim in any ocean, and fly in any sky.

  “It is that ability to grow as they please that helped to make them as fearsome as they are. Where other races have to work around the limitations they’ve been born with, humans instead adapt to almost anything thrown at them.

  “A race that is said to be hated by the universe in the morning due to how weak in personal strength they are born with, but loved in the night, due to how varied and storied their ability to gain strength is.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “It is a gift that earned them their second most prominent title as the Universe’s Scourge. With a greed to match their potential for growth, many have been felled by their blades.

  “The words ‘it is a blessing they aren’t united’ is often said when discussing humans, because if they were wholly united like some races were then the Multiverse would be their playground.

  “Or so it is said.”

  “Hm…yet despite all of that information…all of which easy to gather, the descendants of Volcana still deemed the humans of their subjugation barbarians and saw it fit to invade them, all for the sake of a little more power.

  “Well no matter. Did anyone else take interest?”

  “Yes, My Lord. The Church of Regivas sent one of their Dungeons, the Oaksill Paladins have begun reaching out to one or two hopefuls, the Everdark Blooms have placed observers on the planet, and finally the Grandelion Federation is said to be monitoring the progress of the humans.

  “Though as the natives grow closer to successfully defending against the subjugation, I expect more powers to pay attention My Lord.”

  “I see…I see…well keep monitoring I suppose. Perhaps my foresight will prove incorrect.”

  “I doubt it My Lord.”

  Lord Bash did not speak again after that, and the figure shrouded in grey mist vanished a short while later.

  Some of the questions that figure answered were simply it repeating answers Lord Bash already knew, but it knew the seemingly odd habits of its lord. He was someone he could sit in silence for a century without so much as moving a muscle.

  Then in the blink of an eye bring an entire civilization to ruin simply to test a passing thought.

  Something not too dissimilar to what he has orchestrated between the people of Earth and the Vakalans.

  The latter wanted power above their station, while the former were an interesting test subject.

  A planet of humans but compared to other pre-integration human dominated worlds, they were the sole sentient species, yet according to Lord Bash’s findings, not only were they oddly separated by skin color and places of birth, but they had rapidly advanced technology wise to leave their celestial body without the help of mana.

  Lord Bash found it fascinating.

  Of course, those acts themselves weren’t all that unique when isolated. Earth wasn’t the first planet pre-int or even post-int where only humans possessed sentience. Nor were they the first to have divisions or castes based on skin color, and they especially weren’t the first to find ways to traverse their own solar system.

  But…

  All of those things together? That was the interesting part to Lord Bash.

  He could count on one oddly shaped hand how many such human worlds he had come across.

  Yet this would be the first time in his long life that he decided to experiment with such a collection of human behavior.

  Saying it was fascinating him would be a stretch, for Lord Bash had seen and experience far more wondrous things, but just the other day according to his memory, but what humans would remember as half a century, he had the whim to introduce a different variable to that world of humans.

  What would they do when their technology no longer worked as mana integrated into the laws of the world? Would skin color and places of birth still separate them when an alien race put their population to the blade?

  How would they grow when suddenly things of fable and imagination became reality.

  And most of all…the descendants of Volcana, his ever-willing variable to introduce change to the humans. Would they ignore the many stories surrounding the human species? Would they push on, knowing their actions were only empowering the growth of their enemies?

  Or would they pay the cost of seeking a favor from Lord Bash?

  It was just a passing whim to Lord Bash, but billions would be affected.

  Such were the whims of the strong.

  A simple passing comment and your entire civilization could be wiped out.

  Which is something those who called the Misty Vales of the Bashellus Realm home would ensure should their Lord even hint at it.

  But such things were far from the minds of the people of Earth.

  Contrary to the stories of how powerful humans were out in the Multiverse, the people of Earth were dying in droves.

  There were multiple people or groups of people across the planet resisting everything that was thrown at them, but there were far more who were eliminated in the initial invasions or cleaned up by the members of the Crimson.

  So if one were to look at the planet as a whole, and the overall death toll, one would find it hard to agree with the findings reported to Lord Bash. Though if he deigned to respond to such an opinion, he would simply call them shortsighted.

  He didn’t operate on a scale of a few months or years.

  But instead in centuries and millennia.

  Where would the humans of Earth be in a few hundred years?

  Only time would tell, but Lord Bash felt he had some ideas.