Lords & Towers: God Of Speed

Kaito got up as usual and went downstairs for breakfast.

His mother and younger sister were already waiting for him. As soon as he appeared, his mother hugged him tightly.

Kaito blinked, a little confused, until his little sister spoke.

"Big brother, it's been so long!"

Kaito understood immediately and responded with a calm smile.

"It has been a while. I'm glad to see you both again."

"Hehe, I told you," his sister murmured, looking at their mother with a smug grin.

Once his mother let go of him, the three of them went to the table. Unlike usual, where Sora would dominate the conversation, this time it was his mother who spoke up.

"The government wants you to register your Gaia info. I think they called it your 'status' or something."

Kaito was surprised. He expected them to act fast… but not this fast.

After all, something as dangerous as Lords, with their stats and abilities, had to be kept under control. And the first step to controlling someone… is knowing about them.

"When and where?" he asked, still processing the information.

"It has to be this week, or you'll get fined. There's a registration center in every area."

"I see. I'll go later."

Of course, it's not that he wasn't worried about revealing his information. He just didn't need to. He could lie with ease, and even if the government had ways to verify the data… there was no way they could beat Kaito's abilities.

"Also, some people have been causing trouble with their powers. Be careful when you go out," his mother added, as if she had no doubt at all that her son wasn't the troublesome type.

"My turn, my turn!" his sister said, raising her hand excitedly.

"Ask your questions, Sora," Kaito replied, unenthusiastically.

"How long were you on a mission? What difficulty? Do you have powers in the real world too? What's your ranking?"

Kaito paused for a few seconds. Not to remember—he was just deciding what to say.

"I was gone for a week. Medium difficulty. I don't know my rank because I'm not in the top million. As for my powers..."

He vanished from his seat, and in the next instant, he was behind Sora holding her notebook.

"Whoa! That was fast!"

Sora fixed her hair from the wind and took the notebook.

"Amazing! It's my math notebook! Did you go upstairs in an instant?"

"You left your math notebook at school," their mother commented.

"You went all the way to my school...?" Sora stared in awe.

It's worth noting that Kaito's stats slightly doubled that of a normal human. But with his ability, his agility was multiplied by 100. That meant he could move at 2,000 km/h... faster than the speed of sound. And inside Gaia, where his base speed was 100 km/h, he could reach up to 10,000 km/h.

Kaito looked at his mother with a neutral expression.

"You don't seem very surprised."

His mother smiled at him with a familiar warmth.

"As long as you don't do anything crazy, I'm fine with whatever you do."

Meanwhile, Sora was murmuring to herself.

"Amazing... If you're that strong, the people in the top ranks must be even more incredible. And the strongest of them all must be..."

As if she remembered something, she turned to him.

"Big brother! Do you know Lucifer?"

"Oh, right, Lucifer is..."

But Kaito cut her off.

"Yeah, I know who Lucifer is. I'm in Gaia too, why wouldn't I know him?"

"Well… apparently he's in the Black Forest. And you said you're there too, right?"

"Yeah, but the Black Forest is the size of China. Do you really think I'd be unlucky enough to be near him?"

"Well… if you do run into him, get me an autograph."

Kaito just shook his head.

After finishing breakfast, Kaito didn't leave right away like he usually did. Now that he could enter and leave Gaia at will, he decided to take his time.

While he was watching TV, a sudden sound startled him. It was his phone.

---

In a park, sitting on a bench, Kaito was enjoying the peaceful scenery. Soon, a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Kaito! Long time no see. How've you been?"

"Saito... nothing out of the ordinary. You?"

"You know. Slaying monsters here and there, the usual after being transported to another world."

They both laughed.

"Where are you now?"

"In the Black Forest. It's not as tough as I thought."

"Lucky you. I'm near the human territory and it's hell trying to expand. I'm constantly being watched."

"You're on the human continent?"

Kaito was intrigued. Most of his info came from the internet.

"Yeah. To make it worse, I'm in a monarchy. The nobles hate Lords, they think we're going to steal their land. And they're right! But at least let me settle in before giving me a hard time."

"Haha, sounds rough."

They changed the subject as they arrived at their destination.

It used to be just a regular government building, but now it was the Ability Registration Center.

Despite the fancy name, it was simply a place where Lords filled out forms with their personal data.

They went in and saw a line that led to a table, where stacks of papers waited to be filled.

While waiting, someone started causing a scene.

A rough-looking blond guy with spiky hair started yelling after filling out his form. Apparently, one of the staff told him the data he entered wasn't real.

"So what if it's not?! If I say that's my status, then it is! What're you gonna do, huh?!"

A tall man in a suit and dark glasses approached him.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to write the truth, or else..."

The blond glared at him.

"You think you can threaten me!?"

His hand burst into flames, forming a fireball. Kaito and Saito watched the scene.

"Should we do something?" Saito asked.

"They're too calm... they must have countermeasures. Don't worry," Kaito replied calmly.

And he was right. The attack landed squarely on the suited man's chest… but he didn't even flinch. Not even a scratch on his clothes.

"How is that possible...?!"

He didn't have time to think. One single punch brought him down. The man in the suit spoke into his earpiece.

"We've got another one."

Shortly after, a special unit took him away without ceremony.

Kaito frowned. The guy was violent, yes, but he just refused to reveal his information. The government didn't hesitate to use force. That wasn't something to be ignored.

Even so, the incident didn't stop the process. The line kept moving.

Saito went first, then Kaito.

Before coming, Kaito had already adjusted his avatar: he removed all his skills and lowered his stats to appear like an average Lord, maybe slightly above standard.

As he filled out the form, he noticed something strange. The paper seemed to try to analyze him every time he wrote in a box. But he didn't stop.

He finished, handed in the form, and left the building without anyone stopping him. They had tried to analyze him, of course… but they couldn't beat his ability.

Outside, Kaito and Saito said their goodbyes and went home.

You'd think they'd spend more time together… but in this world, nothing's more fun than Gaia.

Kaito returned home, and without wasting any time, dove back into Gaia.

Meanwhile, similar situations were unfolding all around the world.

At first, it was only a few, but soon more and more Lords began refusing to register their information, leading to global protests.

______________________________________

+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.

p-atreon.com/IAMME26

(just delete the hyphen)

80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)