Kael stood atop the ridge overlooking the desert basin where his village lay nestled between windswept cliffs and shifting dunes.
It wasn't much to look at.
Crude stone homes, half-submerged in sand. Ragged banners flapping from poles. Smoke from wood fires rising lazily into the sky.
But Kael didn't see a village.
He saw a capital.
The Kingdom Menu flickered in the corner of his vision, translucent and elegant.
[KINGDOM MENU – PROTOTYPE VERSION]
Name: [Unnamed]
Territory Controlled: 1 (Desert Basin)
Population: 187
Loyal Subjects: 6 (Combat-trained)
Influence Radius: Local
Resources:
Food: Low
Water: Moderate
Materials: Low
Structures:
Village Huts (Basic)
Watch Post (Improvised)
Storage Pit (Underground)
Government Type: None
Leadership Structure: None
[You may now assign roles, initiate construction projects, and expand territory.]
The System had finally acknowledged what Kael had been building piece by piece.
He tapped the "Leadership Structure" option.
A new window opened, allowing him to assign up to three Core Roles and three Auxiliary Roles. All subjects needed to have proven loyalty or be Force-bound through obedience.
Kael selected Dareth for the first role: Commander of the Guard.
[Dareth Assigned: Commander of the Guard]
+5% Defense Efficiency in Combat
+10% Morale Boost to Militia
Dareth's Loyalty: High
Dareth was tough, obedient, and most importantly—fearful of Kael in the right way.
The second role he left open. For now.
He needed someone who could manage logistics, oversee construction, and coordinate labor. No one in the village was smart enough yet.
That would change.
Over the next ten days, Kael launched the First Phase of Construction.
He personally led patrols to nearby rock formations, marking suitable stones for quarrying. He organized shifts: diggers, cutters, water haulers. Each was assigned based on skill, strength, and fear threshold.
Slaves weren't needed.
Not yet.
Fear was enough.
[Construction Initiated: Stone Perimeter Wall (Primitive)]
Estimated Completion Time: 17 Days
Current Progress: 12%
Kael didn't just build walls—he built narrative.
He called them "shield walls" against future invaders. He described phantom enemies to the villagers: "Desert ghosts," "sky demons," "fire ships from the stars."
They believed him.
Because he always knew things.
And because he always won.
By the fifteenth day, the air changed.
Two events converged.
One was the completion of a communications spire—an antenna salvaged from the old slaver wreckage, now retrofitted with solar panels and integrated into a makeshift relay tower.
Kael activated it at night. Quietly. Testing its range.
He didn't send a message.
He listened.
He intercepted trade signals, pirate channels, bounty pings—faint, fragmented noise from a galaxy that had no idea someone was watching from the dirt.
The second event?
A Jedi.
Or rather… a padawan. Young, arrogant, and tragically alone.
The ship crash-landed during a dust storm, drawn in by the pulse of the relay tower. The pilot—barely older than Kael physically—limped from the wreckage with a cauterized gash across his thigh, clutching his lightsaber like a sacred relic.
The villagers found him. Took him in. Healed him.
Kael? He watched.
Waited.
And that night, entered the padawan's hut in silence.
"Your wound is real," Kael said, stepping into the glow of the firelight. "But your arrogance is worse."
The padawan jolted, lightsaber igniting with a snap-hiss.
"Who—what are you?"
Kael's voice was calm. "Your mistake."
The battle was short. Brutal.
The padawan was trained—but not prepared. Not for Kael's enhanced instincts. Not for Force-enhanced speed. Not for the poison-tipped blade Kael had dipped in desert scorpion venom.
When the saber fell from the dying Jedi's grip, Kael caught it.
And held it.
And felt it.
Not as a Jedi would. But as something older. Hungrier.
[You have slain Jedi Padawan]
+300 XP
Level 11 Reached
+5 Stat Points, +1 Skill Point Earned
[Skill Acquired: Lightsaber Combat Lv.1]
[Alignment Warning: Light Side Influence Severed – Path Divergence: Dark Origin Triggered]
[You have acquired a Jedi Kyber Crystal – Option: Corrupt (Yes/No)]
Kael stared at the crystal, glowing faintly in the desert night.
It pulsed with something alien—hope, memory, discipline. But he could feel the edges fray under his touch. The Light Side resisted him, but it was weak.
It knew it didn't belong here.
He selected:
→ [Corrupt]
The crystal dimmed, then re-ignited. Red. Like a wound.
The lightsaber hummed with new weight.
In the morning, Kael stood before the village, wearing the fallen padawan's cloak. His own saber clipped at his side. His eyes cold.
"The stars sent a warrior," he told the crowd. "And I sent him back in pieces."
No one questioned him.
Not anymore.
The System pinged once more.
[Kingdom Renown: +100]
[Faction Alert: Jedi Order – Disturbance Detected]
[Faction Alert: Hutt Cartels – Remote Relay Pulse Detected]
[Kingdom Rank: Rising Power – Outer Rim (Unrecognized)]
The galaxy was waking up.
Good.
Let them.
Let the Jedi send more.
Let the Sith whisper from shadows.
Let the Hutts scheme.
He would build his kingdom under their noses.
And when he was ready—
He would burn the stars.