Lewis Steelguard

[The Albion Plane]

Once a majestic plane where magi forces conquered and united the world into one, mighty empire, it was now a land of chaos split in hundreds of kingdoms and tribes, some humans, some led by fearsome creatures. Beastmen, demons, vampires...Humans no longer possessed the initiative against some of those native creatures, especially since the Magi forces from outside the plane all disappeared at once.

Only their descendants, isolated in this minor plane, were still trying to perpetuate this legacy, gathering and supporting human kingdoms with great difficulty, each generation bearing witness to their gradual decline. From times to times, however, the magi would come forth together and repel invaders, putting their differents aside. But in the past ten thousand years, the magi never managed to restore their past glory.

In the snowy mountains of the Dalian Empire, a majestic academy called Magical Court had been built a thousand year ago. It represented the wealth and glory of magi, and while it was considerably lacking compared to the true architectural wonders of magi from the magus world, it was still a huge magus tower in where thousands of [Acolytes], apprentices of magi, lived and studied the lost arcane arts.

On the surface, they looked like they were studying lost magic and working on recording history and knowledge, pursuing truth. However, the politics within the tower were chaotic and a fuel for the acolytes' growth. Solving the empire's mysteries and investigating strange phenomenon, they were also experimenting without regard to morality, as if viewing life as resources instead.

If the [Magical Court] was called an academy, its students were actually bearing the title of [Imperial Mage], which carried enormous weights. Not only it was considered to be of similar value of a baron noble title, this title enabled them to practice magic freely and sell their arcane services to the most offering. In a way, the [Magical Court] was an elite network of imperial mages that were commissioned by many nobles and influential merchants on various matters, including territorial wars.

The [Magical Court] was also built on top of the island of bones, a dangerous region where countless magical beasts lived in. Silver wolves, jade eyed apes, winter boars, giant-sized winter aligators...To the acolytes, these beasts were extraordinary sources of materials. Some acolytes would seek the flesh itself to strengthen their physique, others the bones to create powerful skeleton servants. Some would even use the blood for curses and rituals.

Day and night, countless acolytes would work in their laboratory, or dwell into the stove of knowledge contained within the library. However, these activities were incredibly expensive, to the point that the commoners who attended the Magical Court would often find themselves deprived of opportunities due to financial barriers. The most talented ones would find themselves bound to contracts restricting their freedom. The less fortunate ones would have to go through arduous missions with high risks of dying.

"Success!", the voice of a young acolyte reverberated in the eerie silence that had conquered the Magical Court, deep in the night.

Lewis sighed heavily, a excitement and pride washing over him.

[Beep! Arcane Time Reversal Circle used up...]

After studying for a eighty years in the Magical Court, Lewis had achieved a lot. He spent the first ten years solidifying his foundations and learning two spells. He also made connections in the tower and joined the small-sized faction called the [Crimson Clan], a gathering of blood mages who were clean on the surface, but rotten in the inside, dwelling on criminal activities, including slavery, drug alchemy and blood rituals. 

For someone like Lewis who needed a supply of blood essence samples and a network to accumulate a fortune to fund his research, it was the perfect organization. After two decades of grinding missions and slowly losing humanity, he finally completed his research on vampire blood integration. At this point, the crimson clan took down the [Exploration Unit] in a faction war and solidified its seat as one of the seven major factions within the Magical Court.

At this point, he was already an intermediate rank acolyte, and he ended up using his research result on himself, allowing him to become the eighth advanced rank acolyte in the academy. The balance between the seven major factions was broken, and several long-lasting factions viewed the crimson clan as a threat. Four major factions out of the seven decided to watch on the sidelines, as observers. However, both the [Arcane Faction] and the [Silver Union] united and fought the crimson clan in a 30-years-long faction war. Hundreds of acolytes died in the process, noble houses supporting each faction fell and rose amidst the the war.

In the end, the crimson clan survived, and both the arcane faction and the silver union were disbanded, the seven major factions shrinking the five major factions. In the process, other faction also grew in silence. However, the crimson clan lost its leader Janna, leaving Lewis as her successor. 

The balance was now established again.

Years passed, and other faction fought, rose and perished. However, the magical court was always balanced with five advanced rank acolytes. With deep regret, Lewis also realized that the vampire blood integration was a half-success, as it limited his growth to the the potential of his blood essence. As the blood essence was only limited to peak advanced-rank acolyte realm, this meant that he would never be able to reach the magus realm in his lifetime.

The 20 years following the faction war were thus spent in managing the crimson clan and centralizing its efforts into a time-reversal circle found in a ruin. The sacrifice was great, as it involved selling one's soul to the devil upon death, as well as an enormous amount of magical crystals.

However, if it meant being given a second chance at life, Lewis was ready to take it.

The time-reversal circle was a success, and Lewis was back to his 15-years-old self, a beginner acolyte who had just graduated from his probationary acolyte realm, an acolyte filled with potential, albeit only having a grade 2 talent. Compared to the grade 5 talent geniuses, he was pretty untalented, but most of acolytes only possessed grade 1 talent, so he could be considered fairly average in that aspect. However, his knowledge, the experience he accumulated as well as his cunning mind were all unmatched. He already rose once in the tower, making the crimson clan into the strongest out of the five major factions in the magical court. 

Now that he was no longer bound by the vampire blood essence limited, he could finally set his eyes on his dream: becoming a magus.