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Stone Will 120
Even Nero's punches felt much weaker now. They were still deadly, but Hadjar could feel his progress.“Do you think it’ll be a waste of time?” Nero asked.“Absolutely,” Hadjar nodded. “Why do you think the King doesn't know the whole story and is sending us to war? And why we’re at war with The Black Gates in the first place?”“With Balium,” Nero corrected.“Don't be so naive, buddy. Balium is the cash cow of The Black Gates. If you start a war with that kingdom, you will have to fight the sect as well.”Nero thought about it for a moment and then shrugged.“I won’t argue with that,” he said, producing another ring of smoke. “If it turns out that the generals have forged the message...They'll be staked alive, at best.”“If they did it and it’s found out, sure,” Hadjar added. “I have a feeling the king’s going to have a lot of trouble on his hands soon, regardless.”The friends looked at each other. People were afraid to say it out loud, but rumors had spread throughout the Kingdom tha
Stone Will 1
Blue eyes peered at two yellow stars.Instead of pupils, he had sharp spindles.A man and a dragon looked at each other.The creature, which had been alive for millions of years, had spent its most recent ones in a tomb. Unable to move its tail or claws, it gazed into the infinite emptiness of its soul.The man had lived but one life in the prison of his own body, and then continued to exist in the same prison during his second one.The amazing dragon, whose beauty had been praised in a thousand and one songs... The legendary conqueror of heaven and the Lord of Starlight had been cast down like a simple mortal.The young man was disgusting to behold. His hands twisted at unnatural angles. He also had skin covered in scabs, a scarred face, an almost white, bald scalp and purulent blisters. Instead of legs— mere wooden stumps.He’d been one of the most brilliant masters of his time, who’d reached the pinnacle of the martial arts practiced in his country.The once-talented Prince was now
Stone Will 2
He was never a lucky man. Many stories begin like this, and this one is no exception. He was born on Friday the 13th. That day, sheets of rain poured down, accompanied by hale. Only this fact hinted that his destiny wouldn’t be an ordinary one.His mother apparently thought the same.Typical gutter trash, she became pregnant with a street tough’s baby. They abandoned him on the threshold of a local hospital. They didn’t put him down on it, but instead threw him away out of the car window as they drove by. They’d been afraid of being noticed, or something like that. No wonder he was bedridden literally from birth, able to move only his right hand.He probably shouldn’t have lived long with a broken backbone and craniocerebral injuries. But he decided to disregard that. He chose to live. He was housed in a special orphanage. He lived there until he was twelve. Always alone, cooped up in a small room. Sometimes, the other wards of the orphanage toyed with him.They thought they were good
Stone Will 3
She’d asked him what he wanted to get out of the neural network in the immediate future. He answered her almost honestly. He wished to have the opportunity to invite her to dinner and then get her laid.She had, probably, wanted to say something unpleasant in reply, but she stopped herself from doing so and just walked away in silence.He laughed for a long time. It was funny that the psychologist hadn't understood that he, someone who’d never felt anything but his hand, had never experienced sexual attraction, even a mental one. He didn’t know what it was.Then the journalists came to interview him. They interrogated him for a long time, under the greedy supervision of the magnate. He was surely the sponsor of this operation, and had already calculated his future profits. He must’ve been thanking his lucky stars that he’d decided to take the disabled orphan under his wing.Finally, he was dressed in a special robe, some muck was injected into his veins and he was sent down a long cor
Stone Will 4
The armored girls, who had returned to the chamber, did the same.“Darling,” Elizabeth’s smile became even brighter than it had been before.“I have a son, brother!” The King grabbed the man standing next to him by the shoulders.He looked like the King, but was even taller and a little older. His black beard had some gray in it. A golden medallion was fastened to his heavy fur cloak.“Congratulations, brother,” the man answered in a deep baritone voice.The King shook him a little and almost jumped onto the bed. He embraced his wife and touched his firstborn gently, a little wary of harming him. The baby was warm.“Why isn't he crying?” The King asked worriedly. “Call the doctor! Quickly!”“Calm down, Haver,” the Queen laughed, and her gaze stopped the knights. “He’s cried. He’s just... stopped now.”“Stopped crying?” Haver was surprised. “Is that at all normal?”This time, the question was addressed to the nurse that had straightened up.“No, Your Majesty. You cried for almost four
Stone Will 5
The King shook his head—his Kingdom, Lidus, was very small, almost imperceptible on a country map. Maybe that’s why they had to fight so often.Maybe Elizabeth was right, and Hadjar’s fate was to be a scholar.At that exact moment, he didn’t know how wrong his wife was or how right his brother was.Much had changed in Hadjar’s life over the past year. He wasn’t bedridden now, at least. However—that bed had been so multifunctional that it had even massaged him.And now he was forced to accept the fact that, in the future, he wouldn’t only have to sleep on a cold mattress, with preheated coals in an iron box stuffed underneath for warmth, but also... that he’d have to pee in a wooden outhouse. Upholstered in velvet, decorated with mosaics, but still wooden!Life hadn’t prepared him for this…It hadn’t prepared him for the fact that, after his death, he would find himself in another world, either. Fortunately, he wasn’t a farmer, but a Prince. Still, he wasn’t sure about what awaited him
Stone Will 6
A lot of the disciples raised their hands, wanting to answer the question. Almost half of the two hundred children knew the answer.“Please, Viscount Vale,” the scholar nodded.A red-haired boy, about ten years old, stood up. Hadjar himself was only a year and two weeks old.“At the eighth stage of the Bodily Nodes.”“That’s right, sit down,” and the boy lowered himself back onto the stool, looking at his companions rather arrogantly. “And this is considered to be a good level. To become a mid-level officer, you need to cross the threshold and reach the level of the Bodily Rivers. The ones who become senior officers in the army are the few who’ve managed to reach its third stage. Our generals are at the fifth stage of the Bodily Rivers.”The children scribbled with their feathers on the scrolls and listened to the mentor carefully. Now, in their crazy fantasies, they were probably dreaming about becoming the strongest cultivators of the Kingdom. Fortunately, there were no inequalities
Stone Will 7
Hadjar protested, but couldn’t deal with her. And as soon as he was back in its warmth and comfort, he couldn’t resist his natural desires and immediately fell asleep.The soldiers had already appeared from the hall by then. They surrounded the nanny in a ring of bodies and left the room with her, leaving the shocked disciples and the professor alone with their thoughts.The nurse sighed, imagining how the King and Queen would surely make a big deal out of this. No wonder the soldiers were checking their armor and shields. If Elizabeth started throwing plates again, it would be necessary to call the architects and builders to take them out of the walls.Hadjar was sitting at the table and playing with wooden knights, or so everyone thought. In fact, he was carefully studying the open scroll left there by the King. Frankly speaking, he’d allowed the neuronet to copy everything into its database. He couldn’t read the strange squiggles yet, but he’d realized that the drawings were associ