Even Magnus who was at the middle of the Lord rank hadn't managed to bend space like this.
"Smart man. Follow me, we'll need to discuss how to spread the system and who should receive it first." She turned and walked toward the church's main building.
"I'll see you later." Lyla said as she ran off to get more seasonings, abandoning Chronos to his fate.
"Traitor." Chronos called after her before following the matriarch.
She took him to the main building of the church and up several flights of stairs before stopping in front of a large doorway at the back of the church. The doorway was lacking a door but had a transparent blue barrier in front of it.
Tapping the barrier in a musical order it retreated from the center of the doorway to the edges. Passing through Chronos found himself inside a study with shelves filled with books to the right and a closed door on the left.
Through his spatial senses he detected a bed and dresser beyond the door, it must be her personal room.
In the middle of the room was a large desk that had stacks of paper on it and behind it was a stained-glass window with the image of a five headed dragon. It was the first time he had seen the image of the dragon god displayed so clearly.
Taking her seat she gestured to the opposite seat, "Please sit down. First, I want you to tell me about the system."
As Chronos sat down as the barrier at the door closed he sensed it extending to the rest of the room, it was still see-through, but no one would be able to hear what they talked about now.
"This would be the third time I've had to explain the system and I'm getting tired of it. Here, read this instead. I wrote it to explain the basics of the system to others and point out that the system is still developing." He handed over a handwritten manual to her.
Taking the manual, she flipped through it and decided it was good enough to make copies for the other churches.
"I'll make sure it's spread to the other churches then. Now how far has the system been spread?"
"The tribes of Dracon Fen, the Dragon Paladins, the Crucible Knights, Lord Kaelvar and his troops, and the Black Fangs of my family all have access to the system. Some of the people of the wasteland also have access to it but most of them have moved into Dracon Fen and started building a city on the eastern side around a fallen fortress.
We left the naga's in charge of the fortress after fixing it up some and Commander Stan should have sent a more detailed report on that subject." Chronos concluded.
"He did, apparently most of the people of the wasteland intend to fully integrate into Dracon Fen but some of them are making their way to Gra Ulv for permanent residency." She brushed off the wasteland people's movements as they weren't her problem.
"Sounds like it's only spread within the swamps and surrounding areas. We'll need to spread it deeper into the kingdom and to other nations. Perhaps through holy pilgrimages but let's avoid spreading it to The Grand Concord Federation in the south for now." She continued.
"The who?" Chronos asked in confusion.
"Their common name these days is The Shield Federation but originally they were called The Grand Concord Federation. I believe they still use that name for official documents."
"Oh, them." Chronos said in disgust.
The Shield Federation was a group of 23 merchant nations that existed just south of the Leighla Kingdom, and the few times he had met them he had never had a good experience with their representatives. They valued money over everything else so his family that valued discipline and personal strength had always clashed with them.
They viewed the Ulv family as a bunch of muscle headed idiots while the Ulv family viewed them as greedy merchants. Neither side was entirely wrong in their opinions, but you couldn't categorize whole organizations with absolutes.
"Is there a reason you don't want them knowing about this?" Chronos asked.
"You should know a bit about why already. Most of those nations have become oligarchies and aren't trustworthy enough to give valuable information too. They'd sooner sell that information then keep it secret. What's worse is that I've heard rumors recently about them selling weapons and providing funds to the warring cities to keep the war going."
Chronos frowned, selling weapons to the warlords of the warring cities was never a good idea. They had been fighting for longer than most nations had existed and even when they had come close to peace something always seemed to happen that started the wars once more.
Most people considered that area of the world cursed because of the constant wars. Unless you were confident in your strength or a complete fool you wouldn't willingly enter or assist the warring cities.
"I don't know if they're trying to stir up trouble or not but what they're doing is very risky." The Matriarch said.
"War is profitable for merchants, I bet they're trying to keep the war going to make more money. They're greedy enough to do something stupid like that. Still, we should find the trustworthy ones amongst them and give the system to them. If they can spread it to the people of the Shield Federation, they will be in a better position for what's coming." Chronos commented.
The Matriarch's eyebrow raised, "Common sense from a gray wolf, the world really might be going through a new dark tide."
"Is that what it's called when tears appear?"
"For those of us that live long enough it is. It comes around once every few thousand years although the size of it usually isn't large enough to cause significant damage to the world, just damage to parts of the world. The last one a thousand years ago was ridiculously strong making it an exception." She said.
"I see and the dragon church must be worried that the system will cause more damage. Which is why you wanted to talk about where to spread it." Chronos smiled like he had found a big secret.
"No." Only to have the Matriarch shut him down. "Most of the heads of the dragon god do not care about the weak dying as long as the balance of the world is not lost. They are a god born of nature after all and nature does not care about anyone. However, the black head cares more than the others which is why I was asked to investigate it." She said with a gentle smile.
The way she said that made Chronos think that the black head had personally asked her to look into this. If true that meant she was a lot more influential amongst the black priests than he had thought, not just anybody could receive a personal request from the black head.
The only ones that Chronos knew of that could receive a personal request were those anointed as Matriarch's and Patriarch's by the…
Oh!
As Chronos's eyes went wide in shock the Matriarch spoke up, "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell other people that I am Death's Matriarch."
He rubbed his face in frustration. He was not expecting to meet with one of the most powerful beings in the world today, each head of the dragon god only anointed one Matriarch and one Patriarch personally.
They wouldn't choose another until the previous one had passed away so those anointed were effectively the voice of the dragon god for as long as they lived.
Even if every warrior and mage in the Leighla Kingdom worked together, he doubted they could be more than a minor annoyance to someone on the Matriarchs level.
"Hah, alright I won't tell anyone, but I get the feeling the black head's real reason for looking into this is to avoid extra work." He said in exasperation.
"I can't deny that, if a lot of people were to die it would result in quite a bit of work for us." She hollowly chuckled, causing the hair on the back of Chronos's neck to stand on end.
Now he knew why people said a chuckle from a death priest was eerie enough to wake the dead.
"Well, we've gotten a bit distracted but where are you planning to spread the system right now?" Chronos asked.
"I'll give it to every temple in the world in an attempt to try and reduce the predicted damage. As for the nobility I'll leave them to you and others right now and have the priests focus on spreading it among the worshippers." She said.
"That makes sense, if the priests are spreading it then the nobles can't complain too much. And it puts more value on the system when I arrive."
"Indeed, I expect most of the world to have access to the system within a year."
"That fast!" he exclaimed.
She nodded in response.