The air shifted.
Not like magic being cast - there was no flash of light
This was something heavier.
Like gravity itself had decided to double, pressing the world into silence just to feel it.
No wind. No roar. Just presence.
Pressure.
An unseen tide rolled out from me, invisible yet undeniable. It slid beneath the skin and coiled around the spine, the kind of thing that made your instincts scream without knowing why.
The primitive part of the brain that remembered predators… remembered kings.
I didn't raise a hand. Didn't blink.
Just stood in the centre of the training yard - shoulders squared, chin up, posture straight for once. I looked like I belonged there.
And I did.
The jeering stopped. Dead.
Every whisper, every scoff, every smirk from the gathered crowd drowned beneath that suffocating weight.
The trained ones, aurists and arcanists, flinched first. A few froze mid-breath. One or two wore expressions like they'd just felt the opening pulse of a forbidden relic.
The untrained? It hit them harder.
Some staggered back. One noble retainer swayed, hand over his mouth. A maid crumpled where she stood, trembling as though she'd seen a demon from her nightmares.
None of them could name what it was.
All they knew was that it was oppressing their very minds and souls.
It felt ancient, commanding, and... royal.
And it was coming from the man they whispered about as a weak, untrained burden.
I didn't smirk. Not yet. But inside, I could feel it was working. It was thrilling.
King's Will.
The will of a ruler imposed on everyone within reach. Not just those too weak to resist - those with strong wills could still feel it pressing against them, testing them, demanding they acknowledge it. Even the ones holding their ground had a flicker in their eyes, that unspoken recognition of power.
I pushed it further. Harder.
How could I not?
It was quite the intoxicating feeling, being able to pressure everyone around you simply with your mind and willpower.
My three challengers stiffened. The short one twitched like he'd heard a whisper. The tall one blinked too much, sweat already on his brow. The average one gritted his teeth, but his heel edged back.
I smiled at the sight.
'Time for some aura farming - well, not the aura from this world,' I joked internally.
"You three," I said - not loud, but clear enough to cut through the yard.
"…seem to have forgotten your place."
I took a step, hands clasped behind my back.
"I tolerate laziness. I tolerate incompetence. I even tolerate disrespect."
Another step.
"But to challenge your superior in public? That's not bold. That's idiocy."
The pressure swelled again, like a tide crashing outward. My conviction sharpened. This wasn't some cheap trick - it was belief. Belief that I was their better. That I had every right to stand here, make them bend, make them kneel.
I just said what sounded the coolest and most domineering, which seemed to add to the mental breakdown of my opponents and the spectators.
"I am Ashen Drakenthorn," I said, voice lower now, weight in every syllable. "Son of the fireborn King. Heir to a bloodline said to come from dragons. And you-" I glanced between them "-think you can stand against that?"
The tall one's knees hit the dirt first - it was sudden, as if something had cut his strings.
Then there was Mr Average, who trembled and tried to resist, but was kneeling a second later.
Only the shorty stood, his white-knuckled fingers tightly clenching the hilt of his blade.
I stepped behind him. Close enough to feel him shaking.
"You've already lost," I whispered, the oppressive force intensifying.
And soon after, he also dropped.
The yard was silent. Not a cough, not a breath. Just the sound of three kneeling men and the weight still pressing on everyone else.
'I did it!'
It really worked.
I'd gambled on whether a skill like this even existed - something that could let me press my will onto others. It was an even bigger gamble whether the Chess King System would bother responding to my pathetic attempts at calling upon its abilities.
'To think it'd actually work.'
But it seemed as though I had spoken too soon.
'God, my head…'
Pain stabbed through the side of my skull like a hot nail. My vision blurred slightly, and I felt the weight slam back against me.
Like I'd opened a floodgate I wasn't ready to hold open.
[Warning: King's Will overuse.]
[Side effects: headaches, dizziness, nausea, and even loss of consciousness.]
[Recommendation: Cease output immediately before more severe backlash.]
'Cease output? Couldn't you have warned me earlier!'
However, despite the pain, I endured and turned my head toward the crowd, slow and deliberate.
'See my face and remember it.'
The failure they mocked had made three grown men kneel without lifting a finger.
Let that rumour spread.
Although I didn't want to draw too much attention so early, I would rather not be looked down upon and beaten by those who were supposed to serve me.
After all, I was aiming to truly become a king. What fun would it be to be transmigrated to a fantasy world and have the Chess King System, if not aiming to become the actual King?
The Chess King and the king of a kingdom.
I would do both, and that started with establishing at least some sort of reputation.
It also felt like I was doing the body I had taken over a service, as if reassuring the previous Ashen that he had left his body in good hands. Though from what I could gather, he really was a pathetic loser.
And this was now my body - I owed nobody anything.
With it, I would achieve everything the previous Ashen could have only dreamed of.
'I just hope this doesn't put a target on my back for any of this body's siblings. Blood means nothing - after all, I was abandoned as a child in my past life. Seems this Ashen didn't fare much better.'
'Eh, not that any of that matters. I'm going to live this life to the fullest, even in this wreck of a body. I've already died once, so what do I have to lose?'
I smiled to myself, already eager to account for the infinite variables as I navigated this new world of swords and magic.
But that was something I could worry about another time. For now, I felt drained and slightly uncomfortable with so many people around me. I just wanted to return to my room, which I had weirdly grown accustomed to already.
I turned to leave, ready to end my little aura farming moment on a high note.
But just as I took that first step forward-
'Shit...'
My knees buckled.
'Dammit, no no no-'
The world spun. My legs folded beneath me like snapped stilts.
Shame surged in my chest. I resigned myself to the fact that I was about to collapse and would likely be trampled upon by the three men I had taken down with my King's Will.
All that effort was for nothing.
'-1000 Aura points incoming.'
Or so I thought...