Moonfall Family

Drake spent four hours a day training his body. He had adopted this routine since he was 6 years old, and never changed his habits since then. Of course, he adapted the intensity of his training by following his biochip's recommendations, which determined the optimal intensity to avoid overexertion or wasting potential.

As a result, he always pushed his body to its extreme limits.

Somehow, he discovered that stressing his body repeatidly also increased the effectiveness of meditation, so he would always follow his physical training with meditation in a medicinal bath.

Hence, training took him six hours a day.

Then, it would be time to have lunch with the other members of his family. As part of the secondary family branches, he was not allowed to eat on the main table. Only Elders and heirs from the main family branch were allowed to. There, you could eat delicacies beneficial to your cultivation.

Elder was a title that was reserved to those who had reached the 'Advanced' acolyte realm. Out of the 28 acolytes in the Moonfall Household who had inherited the Demonic Raven Bloodline, only 3 bore this title besides the Lord, who had reached the Peak Rank Acolyte Realm.

Drake's parents were only intermediate rank acolytes, or else they would not have been imprisoned in the dungeon.

As Drake arrived at the table, he was greeted by hateful gazes and envy.

People hated him because his parents had betrayed the family to save his life. They had stolen a potion that could awaken one's bloodline. Such potion not only required an Advanced Alchemist to brew it, it also required dozens of rare magical ingredients, some of them costing more than ten magic crystals, a fortune that was huge, even based on a Magus Family's standards.

Usually, only the first heir would be allowed to awaken his bloodline with such a potion, and they would only do so if they met the necessary requirements, them being having at least grade 3 talent, and at least 15% of bloodline purity.

It was the only way his parents found to save his life. Awakening the first stage of the Demonic Raven Bloodline did increase his vitality, allowing his body to survive the terrible fever he had been struck with. However, doing so also killed the previous owner of this body, allowing Drake to reincarnate in this world of magic.

Hence, the main family branch heirs hated him for his parents' actions, and the rest of the family followed suit. Any normal child would have become depressed by now. However, Drake paid them no heed. He had grown as a lone wolf.

Fortunately, the lord treated him fairly. He never hated him for it. Actually, Drake often saw affection in the lord's eyes even if he could not really tell whether it was just out of pity or because he was his nephew. Still, even if he received a lot of hatred, everyone respected him. He didn't bother hiding how much he trained. Even during snow tempest, he would go out in the training grounds and practiced his swordsmanship.

The fact that he beat the most promising preparatory knights with ease also helped earning the respect of his peers, considering his age.

"I heard you trained your swordsmanship, again", a distant uncle asked

"Indeed, uncle John", Drake answered while sitting at the table.

Uncle John was a beginner acolyte. Unlike him, he had not been blessed with high bloodline purity, and as a result, he never managed to break through to the intermediate acolyte realm. Still, he was one of the few individuals who had supported him. He had been the one to gift him the knight training manual which he scanned and learned by heart, which had been a huge help to perfecting his swordsmanship.

In the Ivory Tower, the ancestral keep of the Moonfall Family, only knights could rival with him in terms of pure swordsmanship attainments.

*Sigh*

"Drake, you are one of the most promising youth I know. At your age, you already reached the standards of knights, and your magical growth matches that of heirs from the main family branch", Uncle John continued, "The Lord gave a mission. I must select one trustworthy acolyte from the family to complete it. How about you join me?"

Drake's eyes shined brightly. He knew very well that it was a golden opportunity. Missions, as dangerous as they were, were very rewarding. The lord used this system in order to assert the loyalty and cohesion of all family members, while using the forces he had at his disposition to better manage the territory.

It also happened to be the only way to earn magic crystals in the Ivory Tower.

"Do you even need to ask?", Drake asked while grinning. Finishing his meals, Drake followed his uncle to learn more about this mission.