The Conquerors Path Chapter 1080 - 1078 — The Morning Current

I could admit that without any issues.

Unlike the other girls in my life whom I can fool or manipulate, that’s not possible with Krave. But that isn’t the reason for my crush. It’s the sheer amazingness of a woman I saw while travelling with her. Anyone who knows her clear history of how she had single-handedly protected the oceans, the price she had paid to keep the beings of the water safe and still does, can only consider her a woman beyond amazing. Just mind-blowingly amazing is the word for her.

I saw the deep sadness of a woman chained, chains she put on herself, and it’s just blowing my mind. She is strong, amazingly so, especially mentally. But she is fun, curious and one hell of a woman.

She seems more like the mature woman who has everything in life but is missing something. That’s the feel. Even beyond that, her character itself makes me attracted to her. I ain’t kidding, the sparks between us have been flying sky high.

If one doesn’t know, the history of this place is filled with the story of how the Kraken herself had restored peace to the sea with a huge sacrifice when both the land and sea were against each other. She had given up, in a sense, her future and taken chains under the sea to protect the life of the ocean. A huge part of the change in why people came to see the sea better was because of her.

But it seems that situation exists even for beings like her who march towards divinity. The others who haven’t felt love ever in their life is not an issue, but to Krave it was something even worse. She still loves the ocean, but the love of companionship was lost to her like the rest. A law kept in place, it would seem.

Anyhow, skipping that over, I really did develop quite the crush for Krave. This seemingly fun, sweet, chaotic woman that brings the word chaos with her....

....

"The sun always feels so real to me here."

I said.

"The dark is eternal, Austin. Without a simulated solar cycle, time simply collapses into a single, unending coordinate. It helps the maids maintain a schedule, even if that schedule consists entirely of dusting empty rooms."

Krave murmured, her voice carrying a soft, heavy warmth.

She was sitting beside me on the edge of a massive, polished obsidian lounger. The physical distance between us was virtually non-existent, her shoulder resting lightly against mine. The manic, hyper-capitalist energy she had weaponised against the Golden Turtle had completely faded. In the quiet gold light of the artificial morning, she looked profoundly at peace, the crushing weight of her millennial loneliness finally lifted by the simple anchor of equal companionship.

"It is beautiful."

I noted, my gaze tracing the flawless, pulsing veins of light in the crystal architecture.

"It is significantly more beautiful today than it was yesterday."

Krave whispered, turning her head to look at me, her dark eyes completely unguarded and shining with a quiet, magnetic intimacy.

The profound, delicate quiet of the morning was abruptly and violently shattered by a sound that resembled a tectonic plate grinding against a mountain of gravel.

"I am hungry, get me something!"

Luna projected directly into my mind, her telepathic voice obliterating the serene tranquillity of the suite with the uncompromising authority of a starving emperor.

"You consumed a volume of meat equal to half your own body weight less than twelve hours ago, Luna."

I pointed out smoothly, turning my head to look at the massive obsidian bed in the centre of the room.

"That was yesterday. The past is irrelevant to my current biological requirements."

Luna demanded, dragging herself out of the mountain of crushed velvet-kelp and stretching her front legs until her joints popped loudly in the silent air-pocket.

"I require breakfast, Austin. Summon that terrifying woman in the sea-silk gowns; this place needs to get better in its service."

The silver wolf added, shaking her thick fur and hopping down onto the polished crystal floor with a heavy thud.

Krave let out a sudden, bright breath of laughter, the sound echoing off the high ceilings.

"You heard the apex predator, El."

Krave spoke, raising her voice just a fraction, projecting her sovereign authority beyond the heavy diamond doors of the suite.

The response was instantaneous. The massive double doors swung inward with a pneumatic hiss, revealing El and a dozen of the Imperial-level maids standing at absolute, rigid attention in the dark crystal corridor. Their stunning, terrifyingly beautiful faces were completely pale.

"We stand ready, Sovereign. What does the esteemed guest require?"

El bowed so deeply her forehead nearly grazed the flawless floor, her Dragonic aura practically vibrating with the desperate need to appease.

"I require a seared terrestrial beast. If that is unavailable, I will accept a deep-tide leviathan, provided the fat is properly rendered."

Luna projected her demands outward, broadcasting her thoughts directly into the minds of the terrifyingly powerful maids.

El stiffened, her glowing blue eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated panic. These women were born directly from the crushing pressure of the abyss. They possessed enough raw, condensed mana to effortlessly slaughter the entire Mermaid royalty, yet they were completely paralysed by the dietary requests of a silver canine.

"Sovereign, I... we do not maintain a stock of terrestrial beasts. The lower vaults possess preserved celestial-whale cuts, but we lack the thermal arrays to sear them to the guest’s specifications."

El stammered, genuinely terrified that her inability to produce a breakfast steak would result in her immediate, divine unmaking.

I looked at Krave. She looked back at me. We shared a quiet, highly amused glance that carried the absolute, unspoken weight of our new dynamic. The shared humour in watching a kingdom of gods scramble to feed a hungry dog cemented the profound bond we had forged on the balcony the night before.

"Do not panic, El. I will handle the culinary preparations."

I stated calmly, standing up from the obsidian lounger and smoothly adjusting the lapels of my heavy coat.

"Lord Austin, we could not possibly ask you to lower yourself to domestic labour within the Sunken Throne."

Elara gasped, her gaze snapping toward me, horrified by the prospect of the terrifying surface me doing the work of a maid.

"It is not labour when it is an exercise in dominance. Lead me to the Sovereign’s private ingredient stores."

I replied mildly, slipping my hands into my pockets.

"At once, My Lord."

El murmured, bowing frantically and gesturing down the sweeping, illuminated corridor.

I followed the head maid out of the suite, leaving Krave laughing softly on the lounger while Luna sat rigidly on the floor, waiting impatiently for her calories. The walk through the private wing of the palace was an exercise in architectural majesty, the silent halls echoing only with my footsteps and the entirely silent glide of the terrified attendants.

We arrived at a set of heavily warded doors forged from pure, unblemished abyssal iron.

"The pantry, Lord Austin."

Elara explained, stepping back and gesturing for me to proceed.

I extended a thread of intent, grasping the ancient, highly complex spatial locks governing the iron doors. I did not bother decoding the runework. I simply aligned the spatial coordinates of the locked mechanism with the concept of being open, folding the reality of the barrier. The heavy iron swung wide without a single sound.

The interior of the pantry was a vacuum-sealed preservation chamber spanning the size of a surface cathedral.

It did not hold the tacky, over-spiced garbage favoured by the master chefs of Trench-Spire. It held history. I saw massive, floating blocks of deep-sea diamond encasing perfectly preserved cuts of First-Era Behemoths. I saw crystalline vials containing the raw, condensed nectar of the Great Star-Lotus.

"This is quite the selection you got here."

I observed quietly, stepping into the freezing, breathless void.

I needed something simple, elegant, and heavy enough to satisfy my cute little wolf without requiring a three-day pressure cure. I scanned the floating artefacts of culinary history until my eyes locked onto a massive, translucent slab of meat suspended in a localised stasis field.

"Abyssal Silver-Fin."

I murmured, recognising the impossibly rare, deeply marbled flesh of a predator that had gone extinct before the current empires even existed.

It was perfect. I reached out with a surgical thread of spatial energy, cleanly excising exactly ten pounds of the flawless, pearlescent meat, shunting it directly into my dimensional storage. I also procured a handful of deep-earth tuber roots and a vial of starlight-infused ocean salt that hummed with latent kinetic energy.

"Take me to the kitchens."

I instructed the trembling head maid as I stepped back out into the corridor.

The kitchens of the Sunken Throne were a masterpiece of unused potential. They were vast, sterile caverns of polished dark crystal, entirely devoid of the roaring magma vents or screaming chaos of the mortal empires.

I did not need their dormant stoves. I walked to the absolute centre of the massive room and established my perimeter.

"You may observe, El, but maintain a distance of twenty paces."

I warned mildly.

"Understood, My Lord."

El whispered, retreating to the far wall with her imperial entourage, their glowing eyes wide with fearful anticipation.

I retrieved the Abyssal Silver-Fin from my storage, suspending the massive slab of pearlescent meat in the air using a localised telekinetic grip. The meat was too delicate for a brute-force magma sear. It required a violent, yet mathematically perfect application of heat.

I folded a tight, microscopic pocket of space directly around the meat. I tapped into the latent thermal energy of the deep earth beneath the palace, drawing a single, hyper-concentrated thread of absolute heat into the fold.

I collapsed the pocket.

A deafening, localised crack of kinetic thunder echoed through the crystal kitchen.

The sheer, instantaneous thermal transfer flash-seared the exterior of the Silver-Fin in a fraction of a second, locking the rich, ancient fat inside a flawless, paper-thin crust of caramelised perfection. I immediately severed the heat, preventing the delicate cellular structure of the interior from overcooking.

Next, I withdrew the deep-earth tuber roots.

"I require water, El. From the outside."

I requested smoothly, not breaking my concentration.

The head maid waved her hand. A stream of freezing, hyper-pressurised abyssal water shot through a spatial valve in the wall, hovering in the air before me.

I caught the water in a secondary spatial fold. I dropped the tuber-roots into the floating sphere of liquid and instantly inverted the pressure mechanics. The crushing weight of the deep-tide water was weaponised, systematically breaking down the dense fibres of the roots without applying a single degree of heat. Within moments, the tubers were reduced to a rich, impossibly smooth puree.

I plated the flash-seared Silver-Fin on three wide slabs of conjured dark slate, resting the meat atop a generous bed of the pressure-whipped puree. I finished the dishes with a microscopic dusting of the starlight-infused salt, adding a subtle, crackling kinetic texture to the flavour profile.

"Breakfast is concluded."

I announced, levitating the three heavy slate platters into the air behind me.

I walked back through the silent, echoing halls of the palace, the floating feast trailing seamlessly in my wake. The Imperial maids bowed deeply as I passed, their auras radiating a mixture of profound relief and absolute culinary awe. The scent of the caramelised, ancient fat and the earthy, raw depth of the puree flooded the corridors.

When I stepped back into the Sapphire Suite, Luna was already pacing.

"Smells good~"

The silver wolf projected, her nose twitching violently as she tracked the floating platters.

"First-Era Abyssal Silver-Fin, paired with a pressure-whipped root emulsion."

I replied smoothly, guiding the largest platter directly onto the floor in front of her.

Luna did not hesitate. She lunged, sinking her fangs into the flash-seared crust. The crunch echoed loudly in the suite. The wolf closed her eyes, chewing with a slow, methodical reverence that she reserved only for absolute perfection.

"The texture is impossible. It shatters, and then it melts. The fat tastes like the dawn of time."

Luna reviewed, her telepathic voice completely devoid of its usual sarcastic edge.

"I am pleased it meets your standards."

I murmured, directing the second platter to a small obsidian table where Krave was now sitting.

I took the final platter and sat down across from her. Krave picked up a delicate silver fork, taking a small bite of the Silver-Fin. Her dark eyes widened slightly in genuine surprise.

"You managed to preserve the delicate, cold-water sweetness while entirely rendering the fat. Austin, this is spectacular."

She smiled, leaning back in her chair and watching me with that heavy, warm intimacy that had fundamentally changed the atmosphere of the room.

"It is a simple application of spatial thermal-dynamics."

I deflected mildly, slicing a modest piece of the meat for myself.

We ate in a comfortable, incredibly peaceful silence. The chaotic urgency of our journey had completely dissipated. For the first time since we left the surface, we were simply existing, entirely unbothered by the external world.