Legacy of the Betelgeuse

Emperor Lerst is staring at Aspen for quite a while and then he smirks.

"I wonder if he wants to see you, Hero Aspen."

Aspen smiles and then grabs a spear that's covered with brown cloth. He offers it to Emperor Lerst and he grabs it and then removes the cloth, he's surprised to see a black spear with the long triangle gold thin blade that has a hole in the middle. Emperor Lerst swings it around and how light the spear is and at the same time it feels so sturdy and strong.

Emperor Lerst chuckles mischievously and looks at Aspen.

"It seems that you are truly Lord Baltizar's follower."

Emperor Lerst then gives the spear back to Aspen and a royal seal.

"Meet me at dawn in my chamber, show that seal to the guards and you will be able to enter the palace freely."

Aspen bows his head.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

(The next day at dawn)

Aspen enters the Palace and as Emperor Lerst said, he's able to enter the Palace without getting questioned by the guards. He goes to Emperor's chamber with the guards guiding him, and when he's arrived, Emperor Lerst is already waiting for him inside the chamber. One of the royal guards is knocking on the door, then Emperor Lerst's squire is opening the door.

Emperor Lerst is ordering the royal guards to leave, and he looks at Aspen.

"Follow me."

Aspen bows and follows him from behind. His squire is standing next to Aspen, but for some reason, Aspen doesn't dare to look at the squire as if he feels threatened by the squire's presence. The three of them are walking deeper and they're standing in front of a massive door, the squire is unlocking the door since he's the one who holds the key, and as soon as he opens the door, Aspen is surprised to see hundreds of equipment in there.

Emperor Lerst smiles.

"This is the Secret Chamber, and if you dare to steal something in here, you will lose your life instantly. I will not make another mistake by letting someone stole something from me."

Aspen is raising his eyebrows and then he looks at the huge glass display that's shattered with nothing in it. He then realizes that this is where Trevor stole something from the Emperor, he scoffs and shakes his head.

"I'm not interested in all of these items."

Emperor Lerst is staring at him from the corner of his eyes but then he looks at his squire and tilts his head. The squire bows and then walks to the other side of the room, he stands in front of the wall, but then the wall starts shaking and it opens a narrow path down into the basement. Emperor Lerst then looks at Aspen and tells him to follow him.

The three of them enter the secret passage with nothing but darkness, but the deeper they're walking, the brighter it gets until they're inside a small room with nothing but 2 people standing in front of a door. They both stand straight when they see Emperor Lerst, then one of them is opening the door for them. It's a massive chamber with a mannequin equipped with full plate armor, two swords on its back, and a spear in its right hand. Aspen looks at someone sitting behind the shadow but he knows that person is staring at him.

Emperor Lerst and his squire are immediately on their knees, and Aspen is following them as well. The person stands up and Aspen can hear the leather gloves being clenched. The person is walking toward them and Aspen doesn't dare to lift his head, but he can see the boots of the person standing in front of him.

"Look at me."

Aspen is slowly lifting his head, and he looks at a brown long-haired man with a scar from his left forehead crossing down to his right jaw, his eyes are burning red and at that moment, Aspen realizes that he's really Baltizar's descendant. The guy scoffs and smirks while he looks at Aspen's face, then he looks at the wall and lifts his hand. A person appears out of nowhere and it really surprises Aspen, and then the guy who just appeared out of nowhere is giving him something then he disappears again.

The guy is looking at Aspen with something in his hand.

"Eat it."

Aspen is looking at a round black pill in that guy's hand, he's hesitant and looks at the guy's face once more, then he grabs the pill from his hand while gulping nervously. Aspen opens his mouth and put the pill in and swallows it whole. The three of them are looking at Aspen in curiosity, but then a notification appears in front of him.

[You are poisoned!]

[You will lose 10% of your Max HP every 1 second]

Aspen's eyes are widened and looks at the guy with confusion. The guy smirks and looks away.

"If he dies, then he is not worthy."

Aspen starts to feel the pain all over his body, especially in his chest as if something is consuming his guts from the inside. Aspen is gritting his teeth while crawling on the ground, he looks at his HP and there's no way he can survive if this keep happening. He turns over and looks at the ceiling while holding his chest.

(What is this?! If this is a poison, I should be able to resist it since my [Poison Resistance] is almost maxed. What did he gave me?! Am I going really to die and did all this for nothing?!)

Aspen is suffocating and trying to scream, but his chest is preventing him from letting his voice out. He looks at his HP that is draining so fast, but when his HP is down to 1, a notification appears.

[Your passive skill [Poison Resistance] is preventing you from dying]

[Congratulation! Passive skill [Poison Resistance (Lv.4)] has increased by 1!]

[Congratulation! Passive skill [Poison Resistance (Lv.Max)] has reached max level!]

[Congratulation! Passive skill [Infection (Lv.1)] has been learned]

[Infection (Lv.1): Increase your base status by 5% but reduce your status resistance by 10%]

[Warning! You are infected and when it reached 100%, you will experiencing the same feeling like before! Find the cure to remove the infection in your body!]

Aspen is looking at the warning message, and he thinks if he cure the infection, he will lose his new passive skill, and he doesn't want that to happen, so he ignores it. Aspen is slowly sitting up but his chest is still hurt and numb as if his chest is pressed by something heavy. The three of them are surprised to see Aspen be able to endure and survive the poison that the guy gave him.

Aspen is slowly standing up and the guy is approaching him and offer his hand. Aspen looks at him and he's trying not to show any anger or hatred towards him since he's the descendant of Baltizar. Aspen looks at his hand and grabs it. They both are shaking their hands and then the guy removes his hands and looks at Aspen's chest.

"Removes your clothe."

Aspen removes his clothe but the pain in his chest is still there, and as soon as he removes his clothe, he can see a black vein in his chest. The guy smirks and looks at Aspen.

"It seems that you have the ability."

The guy walks away and sits down on his seat.

"Let us introduce ourselves, my name is Kalitzar Wezeis, the 105th generation of the Baltizar Wezeis."

Kalitzar is pointing his hand and Aspen.

"And you are?"

Aspen bows.

"My name is Aspen, or what the people know me as Hero of the unknown."

Kalitzar smirks and nods up.

"So, you have met my ancestor?"

Aspen nods and then he grabs the spear from his inventory. He shows it to Kalitzar and walks toward him, then he offers it to him. Kalitzar is chuckling quietly and he grabs it while looking at the details of the spear.

Emperor Lerst is looking at Kalitzar.

"Are we going to do it now, my lord?"

Kalitzar nods while smirking and scoffing.

"How many of my men that are succeeding on the experiment?"

Emperor Lerst bows.

"There are at least 100.000 new subjects that succeeded on the experiment, and there will be at least twice that amount soon, my lord."

Kalitzar walks toward the mannequin and looks at the armor.

"How many of them right now?"

Emperor Lerst turns his head toward Kalitzar.

"There are 217.000 of them right now, my lord. They are all ready in their position and they are ready to move when you ordered them, my lord."

Kalitzar is nodding with understanding.

"You said there will be more of them soon, and when is that exactly?"

Emperor Lerst is looking at his squire and then his squire stands up.

"In 3 weeks, my lord. They will be ready in 3 weeks or even sooner than we expected."

Kalitzar is chuckling mischievously.

"3 weeks, huh? The time has finally come..."