The adept families were far more powerful than any n.o.ble family, besides royalty. After all, each adept family had inheritances, knowledge and treasures pa.s.sed down from older and glorious generations, not to mention that adept families…possessed bloodlines which were more likely to give magical talent.From what Drodosis learnt, magical talent was something hidden deep in one"s DNA. If both parents were adepts, then there was no way the child would lack magical talent. If only one out of two parents were an adept, then the probability would drop to less than 5%. This is why adepts would often have dozens of children. After all, once you break through and stepped into the adept realm, your lifespan would rise to 300 years, at the very least.
Each one of these adept families, including the decaying Thornfield family, possessed several n.o.ble estates. However, why would acolytes bother manage lands, since cultivating and meditating could increase their strength?
Hence, adept families grew accustomed to send descendants, and loyal followers with no magical talent manage those lands, harvest rare resources and collect taxes. In exchange, they wield authority, and live life of luxury. Sometimes, if the n.o.bles are competent enough, they are given knight-level followers to help them, most of them personally groomed in the Water Castle, which was a huge adept fortress, home of the Thornfield family.
n.o.ble territories are the foundations of adept families. The population would grow and become either knights who would be able to fight against acolytes, civilians who would then support the economy by paying taxes or even acolytes themselves, should their magical talent be exposed.
The more n.o.ble territories these adept families possessed, the more resources they would have access to, and the stronger it would become. For example, within the gigantic Phuinem Kingdom, more than two thirds of the n.o.bles were affiliated with adept families, which were protecting and reaping the rewards in the shadows.
The Thornfield family had lost many territories in the past 20 years, as its last Supreme Elder of adept rank died from old age. Although there was still one pseudo-adept, Drodosis" grandfather, also known as the fearless Water Dragon, the Thornfield family was decaying. Still, it possessed 8 affiliated baronies and two viscounts" territories, along with one county.
The 8 barons, and the two viscounts were knights from branches with poor bloodline. Only the Count Hubert Thornfield came from the main family branch, and he also happened to be the only Peak Knight. His strength was enough to contend with neighbouring territories, but also negotiate on equal footing with the Thornfield family.
Since he was "exiled", he grew stronger and stronger, and if it weren"t for his father Arcturus Thornfield, the supreme elder called Water Dragon, he would have long since declared independence.
However, he knew his boundaries, and was still hopeful that one day, a new adept would rise and become a true adept, restoring the glory of the Thornfield family.
Be it materials such as the rare Ironcloud metal, which was a core component to forge top-quality armors or build acolyte-level mechanical machine, or Watercloud gems, the Thornfield family possessed plenty of them because of two mines they possessed in the very well-known Aragon County, managed by Arcturus himself. For decades, maybe even centuries, the family enslaved beastmen and sent the strong and st.u.r.dy humanoids species to work for them, harvesting materials in tough environments.
Yet, today was grim. Drodosis almost got killed, and his aunt came back a few days later, asking him to return to the family. It meant that…war had already begun.
"Your older brother died. They were a.s.sa.s.sinated", the aunt Lily said, with obvious anger in her glare. The pa.s.sing-by acolytes were frightened, "I thought you were going to die as well. But the Ivory Tower"s magical formation is complex to break through. Along with your older brother, three beginner acolytes lost their lives when they were out in missions."
"Who was it?", Drodosis asked curiously, swearing to take revenge. He was never close to his brother, but family was still family.
He grew up next to him, talked to him, and fought with him. There was no true love, but there was a brotherhood, which couldn"t exist in the highly perverted n.o.bility where betrayal was the norm, and was quite difficult in the commoners" family, since the lack of food and danger provoked conflicts.
"It was the Huntingwood family", his aunt answered, "Your grandfather has already taken revenge and gravely injured their supreme elder which happens to be the only pseudo-adept in their family, a few days ago. The latter will need at least 10 years to recover to his peak. A large-scale will soon befall the Phuinem Kingdom, opposing our two families, and the armies we trained in the past decades. Knights might not be very strong, but numbers can overwhelm anyone, even the strongest adept in the world."
"Will I partic.i.p.ate in this war?", Drodosis asked.
He knew that his family had groomed over two hundred knights over the years, and there were more than 40 beginner acolytes, several intermediate acolytes and be it his aunt Lily or his uncle Hugo, both were advanced acolytes. With his grandfather in command, it was only a matter of time before they would win this war.
It was never said in the open, but it was common sense. His family, although it lost its only adept 20 years ago, was still very strong. He ignored how his grandfather had managed to win against another pseudo-adept though. The latter was in his prime, while his grandfather was already 68!
This was proof that, in this world, older didn"t mean weaker, far from that. Unlike physiques, spirit grew stronger and denser the older you were. His grandfather was known for his cautiousness and dedication to training. It seemed like his victory was flawless, since his opponent almost died in the process, without injuring himself.
"Of course. I won"t lie to you, we have the advantage. We have more knights, more acolytes and more importantly, we have confirmed the death of 3 intermediate acolytes in their ranks, which means that you will only encounter weak beginner acolytes in battlefields. We will send you at Baron Rio Arson"s castle, along with three beginner acolytes groomed by the family. If you happen to make meritorious achievements, then you will be rewarded", aunt Lily said.
"Why would you send me in the most rural place possible?", Drodosis asked incredulously. Although he was innately happy not to be in the frontlines, he knew that there would be too few battles for him to reap rewards!
"Well…the baron confirmed the presence of two enemies, the Chase Family and the Gloom barony. Both are baronies with a few acolytes, but no strong foes. Still, for knights, acolytes are mysterious and unfathomable, which explains why Rio asked for help", she said in an erudite tone.
"Anyway, I will bid my goodbyes, and then go with you, alright?"
"Sure…I have to pay my respects to Great Master Rayleigh"s disciple. He used to be my mentor, after all!"
"Really? He"s the only pseudo-adept in the tower. He scares everyone, including me!"
Drodosis then headed towards Old Foxy. After talking a few words of goodbye, Drodosis scanned a few spell matrixes, so that he would have something to do during the travel. In this world, there were no planes, no cars, and there weren"t even suitable roads. Even with magical beasts, the travel would take weeks! Since he had so much time to waste, he might as well use it to learn a few spells from the shop. Who knew when he would come back?
[Beep! Host is now eligible to learn the Water Grasp Spell.]
[Beep! Host is now eligible to learn the Ice Spike Spell.]
[Beep! Host is now eligible to learn the Water Drain Spell.]
[Beep! Host is now eligible to learn the Invisibility Spell!]
[Beep! Host is now eligible to learn the Water Wall spell!]
[Beep! Host is now eligible to learn the Shadow Concealment Spell!]
[Beep! Host is now eligible to learn the Water Clone Spell!]
Out of these 7 spells, Drodosis was only interested in the water grasp and water clone spells, but still scanned the matrixes of all seven spells, to expand his biochip"s database.
When Drodosis returned to his aunt"s side, he was quite surprised. She was feeding two huge beasts, two Dire Fire Lizards, who used to be as small as his arm, five years ago, when he left home in order to go to the Ivory Tower.
They must have been fed elixirs and injected hormones, since they not only broke through the intermediate magical beast realm, their body also became 3-meters long and two meters-high, with a tail several dozen foots long! These beasts probably weighed more than 2 tons!
Drodosis and his aunt thus began their journey.
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His progress didn"t go unnoticed by his aunt. Having 7 points of spirit, that is to say, near the peak of the acolyte realm, by the age of 13, was no small achievement. Moreover, he had an enchanted scimitar worth over 50 magical crystals, and a defensive artefact, which Drodosis finally appraised, with great efforts. She ignored how he managed to get so much money, but she was secretly happy.
It must be said that even back in his childhood, Drodosis was weird.
He didn"t play with people his age, and didn"t fit with older generations. The only person who could talk to him and play with him was his grandfather, who taught him Adept Chess. Yet…the latter was the Water Dragon, the pillar of the Thornfield family. No matter how much he loved his grandson, he only had so much free time. The decision to send him to the Ivory Tower was not made because he would have more opportunities and resources at his disposal. It was also to make him discover the wondrous benefits of socialization.
Looking at this kid, who didn"t voice one word since entering the carriage, her aunt couldn"t help but feel that it only worsened this issue.
While her aunt was fed up and bored, Drodosis was extremely happy. He had great food from wandering magical beasts, and he could meditate all day long, without anyone bothering him. Moreover, his biochip finished a task which Drodosis initiated a few days ago!
[Beep! Defensive artefact…a.n.a.lysis completed.
Name: Shadow Cloak. Effects: Absorb up to [Spirit] points of damage. Protects the host from minor soul curses, and mental attack below [Spirit] points of damage. Recharge with mana. Be aware that this is an acolyte defensive artefact, so any more than 20 points of spirit will not yield additional benefits to the cloak.]
"This is actually so much better than what I expected! I thought it was just a low-grade artefact, but it can actually prevent mental attacks, something I was exposed and couldn"t defend against. Mental attacks are tough to learn, because it needs particular talents, and after breaking through the adept realm, they become less effective compared to other attacks, but in the acolyte realms, people capable of launching mental attacks are unrivalled! Being able to defend against it, is quite fortunate!"