Richard woke up to the clattering noise around him. His vision adjusted to the glaring sunlight. The first thing he saw was five three-centimeter-tall men on his desk, carrying a brown crayon. They shouted something he couldn't fully comprehend from his spot.
An even more intense clamoring echoed from the closet. His mouth twitched as he watched the hectic activity of more than thirty tiny men, all busily building a large wooden house—for their size. He rubbed his eyes to confirm that everything he saw was truly happening. Afterward, he slapped his head, realizing the reason behind it all.
Richard had once read an article about how a Fay Master controlled his or her Fays. He was unsure about the facts in the article, as he was not a Fay Master at that time. However, encountering such a truth in the moment left him astonished. One could definitely control Fays even in dreams.
In fact, he had been dreaming about building a large hall for the Fay Queen. There had also been a time when he imagined his nest filled with tall houses for all the Fays. Richard didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his naiveté.
Above all, the Queen had spawned a lot of Fays in a single day, which he had never heard of before. The most number that a Fay Queen had spawned was only fifty-five. This was reported by a Fay Master in the Permonium Community, which Richard visited every day. However, this was only a public fact; he had no idea about the government's side. Counting the number of his Fays, he realized it was a staggering total of sixty-seven. This population was ten times more than what he had known so far.
Richard sat up in his bed excitedly and opened the Fay Queen's stats interface. This was the procedure he had always imagined in the past. Now, it felt surreal that he could experience such a situation. He looked at the information flashing before his eyes.
Fay Queen: Lvl. 0 (143/10,000)
Grade Level: Red
Name: Aervara Norreathem (Sacred to the Dragons)
Age: 2 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, and 34 minutes
Loyalty: 95/100
General Stats: (Scales with Level)
Fay Spawned per Day: 50-70
Special Fay Spawn Ratio: 1:500
Fay Total Population Spawn Limit: 1,000
Fay Grades Level: Green → Yellow
Chances of Spawning an Orange Grade Fay: 10%
Physical Stats: (Scales with Level)
Intelligence: 53
Strength: 30
Constitution: 46
Agility: 38
Fay Queen Mode:
Berserk Mode: Ready! (Cooldown: 90 days) [The Fay Queen will enter a Berserk Mode, spawning two times her normal capacity. This will also raise the Fay Queen's Physical Stats by ten points each. This Mode lasts for three hours.]
Invulnerable Mode: Ready! (Cooldown: 180 days) [Upon activation, the Fay Queen is immune to all physical and ability attacks. However, if the opponent is three levels higher than her, the Queen will take 10% damage per level. This Mode lasts for four hours.]
Dragon Mode: Ready! (Cooldown: 360 days) [The Fay Queen's bloodline will be activated, transforming her into a powerful dragon. Each of her Physical Stats will be multiplied by three, granting her immense strength to crush her enemies. After she returns to her normal physique, the Queen will suffer a 50% deduction in all her stats for three days. This Mode lasts for thirty minutes.]
Cooldown: -0.05% (Scales with Level)
After digesting everything he saw, Richard's jaw dropped. His body trembled at seeing his Fay Queen's Grade Level. As far as he knew, the Grade Levels were divided into White, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Violet, from lowest to highest. If this were true, it meant his Fay Queen's Grade Level was top-notch! Not only that, but the Fays she spawned also had a Grade Level of Green to Yellow, meaning his Fays were more powerful than normal!
His mother's Fay Queen's Grade Level was only Yellow, spawning Fays from White to Green. Richard remembered how his mother had celebrated for the whole day when her Fay Queen spawned a Blue Grade Level Fay. Meanwhile, his Queen could give him a Blue Grade without any problem. Above all, his strongest Fay was on par with his mother's Fay Queen's Grade, while his lowest was equal to his mother's strongest, a Green Grade! If his mother knew about this—Richard just shook his head while smiling wryly.
On the other hand, his father had an Orange Grade Fay Queen, producing Fays from White to Blue Grades. Even though his father's Queen was only a grade lower than his, there was still a significant difference. For example, his father's lowest Fay was at a White Grade, while the strongest was at Blue. In comparison, Richard's lowest Fay had a Grade Level of Green, and his highest was at Yellow Grade, giving him a considerable advantage. Even though he was unaware of his parents' Fay Queens' General Statistics, he was sure that his Queen would still be the winner.
Speaking of this, given only his Fay Queen's abilities in Berserk and Invulnerable Modes, he could surely crush both his parents' Fay Queens. Even if they fought him two to one, he was not ashamed to say he would be the one to come out unscathed—provided that his parents' Fay Queens were not three levels higher than his. If they were, he wouldn't dare let his shadow be seen by them, especially his father, who was notorious for being the conqueror in his realm. This was what he wished to avoid when he entered the Permonium Sanctuary in the future.
Before he could rival his parents' power, he first needed to level up his Fay Queen, which made him gulp in disbelief. So far, the highest required experience points to level up a Fay Queen had been only 6,000. The crux was, he needed 10,000—4,000 points higher than the highest! In fact, this was the experience points needed by an Orange Grade Fay Queen to level up from two to three! His Queen was only going from level zero to one, and she already needed that vast amount of experience points. If he were to compare this to the difficulty of the games he played, this one was suited for hellish mode!
Furthermore, he now understood the reason behind the astonishing number of Fays spawned in the first day. With fifty to seventy additional populations a day, averaging around sixty Fays, he was assured of having a significant force. This was definitely an excellent spawning number. He had truly hit the jackpot this time! Most importantly, there was a chance that he would have a special Fay in every five hundred spawned Fays. He was excited to find out what his very first special Fay would be. Nonetheless, he was willing to wait eight days to see it.
Richard channeled his consciousness into his Fay Queen's mind. It was said that a Fay Master had the capability to read his Fay Queen's memory. He wanted to discover where this Fay Queen had come from to possess the legendary Dragon Bloodline. Richard frowned, only to find that her memory was hazy and sometimes incomplete. He couldn't see anything before she had knocked on his window during a powerful storm the previous day.
Giving up the urge to learn about his Fay Queen's history, Richard started the first conversation with her. "Hi... Hello, Aervara," he awkwardly said, pronouncing her name stiffly.
"You can call me Vara, Master," the Fay Queen replied. Hearing the cold voice of the other party made Richard freeze in place. He felt a chilling effect travel all over him; it was a mystifying feeling.
Richard got out of bed and carried his desk chair toward the closet. He carefully treaded his path, as there were some tiny humans on the floor. "Vara, where are you?" he asked, wanting to know the location of the Fay Queen.
"I'm inside the structure you wanted us to build," she responded, devoid of emotion.
Richard didn't inquire further and stood on the chair to get a closer look at the wooden house the Fays were busily constructing. In fact, it was already in the final phase, and he was sure they would complete it within an hour. He was amazed by the diligence of each Fay working together like a battalion without qualms.
"Richard, are you awake?!" He nearly lost his balance upon hearing his father's voice. He was back in this dilemma. What should he do?! Richard felt terrified once more and abruptly ordered Vara to hide, along with her subjects.
Richard grabbed the wooden house slowly and placed it beneath his bed. Immediately after he raised the cushion of his bed, thick black smoke belched into his face. He waved his hands in front of his nose; the smell was unbearable. Disregarding everything, he placed the wooden house back down and lowered the cushion.
He saw some of the Fays struggling to get down from his desk. Without hesitation, Richard jumped on his bed, capturing the five Fays and placing them on the floor. They immediately ran to hide under his bed.
"Richard, what are you doing?" Marcus asked his son, seeing his awkward position. Half of Richard's body lay on the bed while the other half nearly fell to the floor, supported by his two arms. It looked like he was in the middle of a workout.
"Nothing. It's a morning exercise I saw on the internet," he naively answered.
His father raised an eyebrow, not believing his son's alibi. Nonetheless, he didn't ask more about what his son could be doing inside his room.
Marcus instinctively pinched his nose, smelling something pungent. "What is that smell?"
Richard smelled his armpit and answered bashfully, "My sweat?" He knew where that smell came from, and he didn't have the courage to tell the truth. Why would he, in the first place?
"You definitely need to use deodorant, Richard!" Marcus exclaimed at his son.
Shaking his head, Marcus went toward the door he had destroyed the previous night due to his exaggerated worries about his son's state. However, when he saw the condition of the door resting on the floor, his eyelids rapidly opened and closed.
"Where is the other half of your door?" Marcus asked his son, who was stupefied by his father's query.
Recovering from shock, Richard shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I don't know. I had already fallen asleep when you and Mom went down. I thought you chopped it or something?"
Seeing the clueless face of his son, Marcus heaved a deep breath. As a matter of fact, he felt even more clueless than his son. He scratched his head at the magical disappearance of the half portion of the door.
"Your breakfast is ready. I'll go to the furniture shop to buy you a door. I'll be back immediately. Don't do anything silly, Richard," Marcus said, heading downstairs.
Richard now understood everything! The black smoke came from the production of nails, hammers, and other metal tools to build the wooden house.
Outside, he heard a car engine start. After that, it drove out of the garage and hit the road. Richard punched the air, seeing an opportunity to seek entry into the Permonium Sanctuary.