002 – Prince 786

Lucian watched his mother walk away, not even paying him a second look… and immediately another image appeared in his mind, of another woman, and that image made him reject the thought of calling this woman… mother.

As she left he turned to look at his father, still standing without a trace of change on his brows, it might as well have been like his mother hadn't said a single word.

The emperor stepped forward slowly approaching Lucian, as he came closer their eyes met, and Lucian tilted his head with a sense of curiosity as his eyes opened wide.

And for a second, for but one second he saw a flicker of surprise appear in those unperturbed eyes, but just as quickly it faded away to despondency then back to that unperturbed state.

The emperor reached into his golden furred robe and pulled out a white clump of clay, his gaze slowly became focused, and the clay started to ripple like a pool of water that had a stone suddenly hit its surface.

As the clay rippled it quickly started to take on a shape, but Lucian couldn't see it clearly, because as it was shaped the emperor brought it to face.

A soft cool sensation spread across Lucian's face, but he could still see clearly and the clay that was being shaped had vanished from his sight, as his eyes darted about trying to find the clay object he noticed the emperor running a finger along the side of his face, yet he couldn't feel anything.

It took quite a bit of effort for Lucian to take control of his hand moving it to his face, but it wasn't his face that he ended up touching, but rather a mask, fitted perfectly to his face.

Lucian looked up with curiosity taking its hold and met the emperor's gaze once more, this time the emperor gave his head a slight shake and walked away.

The back of his golden cloak trailing behind him, as the emperor grew further away the back of his cloak gave the impression of a prowling lion, with the most glorious of golden manes.

---

Days passed by quickly as Lucian became accustomed to his new life, a group of caretakers came in to take care of him.

He quickly learnt that his caretakers belonged to his mother's family the Umbar Ancient Royal lineage, one of nine Ancient royal lineages that were beholden to the Mercurion empire.

As for his parents well they either had no time for him or they didn't care, and from his first meeting with them, he leaned on the latter.

As the weeks started to accumulate and months passed by the final night of Thine approached the end-of-year festivity.

In that time Lucian embraced the type of laziness that only babies are allowed to experience and not get judged, but there was one thing of note that occurred.

All through his life Lucian recalled using his ability to meditate to avoid sleep, so much so that it was a force of habit that even reincarnation couldn't wipe away, and with his last memories of his own life being guilt, for sleeping and causing Elsie's death he wouldn't make that mistake ever again.

So even on his first night in this world he began to perform his meditation technique and fell into a deep trance, the likes of which were familiar, yet so distant like a lost memory.

It was the effect of having world energy all around him again, the technique actually worked in the way that it was meant to work, but that wasn't the end of Lucian's surprises.

[A technique has been detected]

[System Activated]

[Name: Prince 786]

[Cultivated Organs: 0 (Expand/Collapse)]

- Adrenal Glands

- Anus

- Appendix

- Bladder

- Bones

- Bone Marrow

- Brain

- Bronchi

- ….

[Overall Level: 0]

[Energy Expulsion: 0 p/h]

[Core Status: White (Special)]

[Essence Realms: (???), (???)]

[Abilities: 0 (Expand/Collapse)]

[Skills: 0 (Expand/Collapse)]

[Techniques: 1 (Expand/Collapse)]

- (Unnamed) – a meditation technique that allows a cultivator to negate energy loss when used and removes the need for sleep (Tier 7). Condition for usage: Must not be engaged in energy-consuming activities.

---

At first, Lucian had been confused, there wasn't anything familiar about the system that appeared, but he could have sworn that he had heard a story about such a thing somewhere, though every time he thought about it he drew a blank.

As for his name, Lucian taught that the system made some type of error, but as the servants started to take care of him, it quickly became apparent, that they all called him that, he was given no name in this life, it only reinforced his belief that his parents didn't care at all.

It took him a while to learn the significance of his name, he wasn't actually the 786th prince as it would appear, he was the 86th child of the 7th empress, once he learnt that he started to connect a few things together.

It was around this time the end of the year came, Lucian was inside his baby cot next to a window in his room, all his caretakers and several others he had never seen were gathered in his room.

The gathering was for a simple reason and gatherings like it could be seen not just across the realm of Mercurion but of all the realms that occupy the celestial canvas.

People gathered in all the highest points from the smallest of villages to the greatest of cities to observe the final moments of the golden sun that glowed, for when morning came the sun would not return, not for a period of 3 days, these days were called the final night.

Lucian heard many whispers coming from the servants saying that the final night was the work of Nyx the Primordial goddess of the night, it was her reminder to all that the night ought be feared, for it would engulf all the realms eventually.

Others whispered about the problems some of the smaller towns and villagers would face without the sun for the next three days, of course, a Royal Capital like Mercurion had no such fears, the empire would have never lasted long if something that occurs every year could shake it.

As the hours passed by Lucian grew bored of the whispers and returned to his meditations and quickly the Final Night passed by, to be replaced by the first day of the month of Aeos the year was 106 983.

Lucian was sure to listen to his caretakers every once in a while, it was a bother but there were some things he had to learn.

Before long he heard a conversation between two servants speaking about two empresses who were arguing about whose children are more resourceful.

He didn't follow the rest of the conversation, but it confirmed his theory, he was the son of the 7th empress which meant that there were at least 6 others unless some of them died, but he'd heard no news to support such a thought.

Lucian's first year quickly passed by, his birthday was the 8th of Paltear, the 9th month of the year, but as he expected there was no celebration or even a mention of it.

On his birthday Lucian couldn't help but rub his temples in frustration, as he wondered where such an idea came from.

In his first year, Lucian was able to confirm that there were 9 empresses, one from each of the nine beholden Ancient royal lineages, all married to his father the emperor of Mercurion.

The craziest thing about it all was that every single child that bore his father's blood had a claim to the throne, and from the numerous hints his caretakers dropped him, through their ceaseless chatter and gossip, he already knew that the future was not going to be pretty.

The competition between the princes and princesses was awful at best, and the sheer number of them that died to the schemes of their kin was astounding.

On several occasions Lucian heard his caretakers claim that it was just a waste of their time to raise him, 'what's the point of raising him just to die?' they would ask.

"Ye' raise a bull and kill it' te' eat its' meat, but ye' can't do et' with e' prince," Ezra, one of his caretakers with a strange accent, would always say.

---

Entry 2: The Journal of a Slothful Prince

The 7th day of Atheon the eighth month of the year 106 986 P.C.

As time passed by I would come to learn that the system I was seeing was a natural phenomenon of the world, and everyone with a core could see it…

It was thought of as more of a tool to observe one's progress in the realms of cultivation and skills…

I miss those days, life was so carefree, the most tedious task I had to do was listen to my caretakers tell me stories designed to scare children into obedience…

There were tales of Azerath, the Heavenly Thief, who would snatch naughty children away in the night, or turn children old by stealing all their time in the world…

There were tales of princes and princesses who in the pursuit of their personal desires brought ruin to their people and in turn to themselves…

There were dozens of stories about those star-crossed lovers, all of which ended in disaster…

There were however many boring ones that I utterly disliked, all those one's that ended in happily ever after, it just felt like lazy writing to me, now I'm all for laziness, but that one just erk's me the wrong way for some reason…

Though from time to time they did tell me stories with a more brutal nature, now those were stories that I could appreciate very much, they were much more intriguing…

But sadly, it didn't take long before my talents were discovered, my fault of course… and those chatter box caretakers of mine should share the blame, but once my talents were known the annoyances most certainly began…