God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains

"Baroma Kingdom is being supported by a newly ascended god and this is actually being used as a main trigger this time. Balmond, the god of war of course, usually has this war and peace cycle that he's been controlling for the past few millennia.

Once every two to three decades, there has always been a major war. And unfortunately for us, we have been born at the worst possible time. Anyways, we're straying off the path here... so let's get back to the main topic.

The three queens are actually the three factions here and the various numbers...." Keith said and tossed out eight more cards onto the ground.

"Take a guess gentlemen."

"There are eight dukes in our empire so..." Asher began but Keith quickly cut him off, "Nah not dukes. Lemme give you a clue since this is not really connected to the empire compared to the first three categories."

Asher nodded and glanced at Ken who also looked pretty interested in this one, but Asher did not trust the guy anymore due to the fact that there had been a lot of things that had been going on behind his back.

With most of them related to Ken and his so-called master whom he suspected, as Julie.

'Maybe even their names are a lie...' he thought as he shifted his attention back on Keith.

Keith pointed at the ring on his finger, the one he had received when he had become the member of the protection church.

"Five of them represent the five churches that are active all over the continent, including the empire. They're not obligated to help, or go against the empire so they're all wild cards.

As for the other three, they're also wild cards but in a sense, you could say that there's a higher chance for these three groups to go against the empire unlike the churches who mostly stay passive." he said and then stabbed the card that had the number three on it.

"One of them is a mercenary group that has been growing rapidly for the past few months. There has been news that they robbed the church of medicine recently and let's just say that they're getting very famous nowadays.

Next is an ancient cult that had been in hiding for a few centuries. I have a feeling that they'll show themselves this time." Keith said and smirked as he glanced at Ken, who immediately grit his teeth but swiftly put on a poker face.

This did not escape Asher's eyes and he immediately began to make up multiple scenarios in his mind. While he wanted some peace to think about this in silence, Keith simply continued with his explanations.

"As for the last card... another group. Or maybe you could call it a cult too." he said and frowned slightly as he gathered his thoughts, "A very new one unlike the ancient cult actually.

It barely has any members as per my knowledge, but they could potentially turn against the empire. I have a feeling that they'll either move based on where they can profit the most, or stay passive since they're not big enough.

There's not much information on them so... it's hard for almost everyone to learn about them."

Keith then turned to look at Ken and gave him a curious look, "Don't you think so? Your master should already have some information on this last group and it'll be great if you can share some information."

"We do not know about this cult that you've been talking about... but if they're new, they shouldn't pose much of a problem to most of the groups. Be it the empire or the kingdoms."

Keith shrugged, "Well, I guess only time will tell." he said and send out a system seed towards Ken as he finally managed to recover enough of his mental energy to not feel a head ache since he was running extremely low a few minutes ago.

Originally, he couldn't use his system seeds on creatures other than humans but now, that limitation no longer existed.

'Show status screen of Ken.'

Name: Ken

Physique: Grade SSS

Genetic Physique Type: Apex

Awakening Status: Awakened

Awakened Abilities:

Hairy Zombie: Grow, manipulate and strengthen self's hair.

Keith silently looked at Ken's status screen and was pretty surprised to see something new. It was not the SSS grade physique but the physique type that surprised him.

This was because until now, he had only seen three physique types. Burst, Endurance and lastly, Strongman.

To put it in simple terms, people with burst physique were similar to cheetahs. Extremely fast for a short amount of time and would need to rest more often.

Ones with endurance physique were like marathon runners, being able to be under constant physical stress for longer amounts of time. Their bodies just can't support instantaneous burst of movements.

It worked similar to how humans leaned towards different things when it came to their genetic physique.

The third type strongman, was basically just the group of people who could easily build muscle. They'd need less proteins and even physical strain to be able to bulk up and they'd also need less maintenance to keep their hulking physiques in shape.

These kind of people generally just had raw power and in a way, could go as fast as the burst physiques. Unfortunately though, unlike people with burst physique who could recover just as fast as they got tired, the strongmen would need a lot more time comparatively.

The thing that separates them from burst physiques was their raw strength that burst types did not have. Such as being able to lift heavier things or just straight up raw gripping strength.

Apex on the other hand, was something that Keith had never seen in his entire life. Not until now.

While he did want to ask his system about it, he had no choice but to focus on the two guests in front of him instead.

"Anyways, I hope my answer was satisfactory. I was just trying to see if the duke could understand my message or not but it looks like some mysterious people found out about it and are using this as a way to frame me.

Though I must say, the whole thing is pretty coincidental. Don't you think so?" Keith asked as he looked up at Asher.

Asher didn't reply and simply stared at Keith for a few whole seconds.

"I have a personal question... unrelated to the duke."

"Feel free to ask detective. Or should I say, Asher?" Keith asked as he took another sip of his tea.

Asher shrugged, "Anything is fine. As for the stuff I'm curious about, why did you tell me about the wars and the gods? I mean, that stuff isn't supposed to be leaked right?

Like, aren't you afraid that I'll spread this? Maybe even tell the duke and earn some money using this?"
Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire

Hearing this, Keith smiled, "Nothing I can do about it can I? Don't worry, I'm not really gonna restrict you. In fact... here." he said and took out a yellowish golden note from thin air.

"I'm paying you to relay this message to the Duke, but while you do that... tell him to come meet me too. I'm free for discussions as long as he doesn't have ulterior motives.

As for your previous questions detective, I'll answer as Keith and not as an inquisitor from the church. Yes, I do know the ones behind the attack and yes, I'm the one who's behind it all.

It's just a matter of time before you find out about all of it but no matter what you do, you won't be able to prove it. You pose no threat to me and as for the explanations I gave you about the cards and all the coincidences..." he said and smirked.

"I just made it all up using existing information. To make it sound believable and I'm sure that you did buy the explanation I just gave you. Do you know why?"

Asher shook his head, "I did buy it but I had this weird feeling that there was something amiss."

"Indeed. Its good that you don't ignore those hunches. Anyways, the reason why you bought it is because all of it is true. All the information, I mean. As for the relation to the cards, it's just something I made up on the spot like I just said."

"And there's nothing we can do about it...." Ken muttered as he looked at Keith while Asher let out a sigh.

He then rubbed his temples and sighed once again before asking, "I still don't understand why you're telling me this... a lot of stuff you just said is extremely important information.

Heck, I don't even know if I'll be able to get back to the duke in one piece with this Ken with me. Who knows what he's planning since he's been exposed...

Like, even though I don't know much.... I could be considered as a huge target since I have so many clues."

"Heh, you're funny." Keith said and chuckled a little before pointing at Ken, "This guy won't even touch you. As for the reason why I told you this and the reason why I'm paying you to deliver this message, it's because you're a neutral party between me and the Duke."

He then took out an antique looking pipe and took a puff before exhaling, "Phoooo... where was I? Oh yes, you're a detective right? Come up with an answer on your own. Just keep this in mind while you think about it.

No one other than me, the first and the eighth prince know about the alliance between the two princes.

This means... come on, tell me? Or do you want me to spoon feed you everything?"