Heisch Nacoris

Chrysos covered his ears to protect them from the explosion. The sheer force of the explosion was enough to shatter the surrounding glass in the buildings and establishments.

The area where Vedian stood was replaced with a crater and a thick mass of black smoke, dust and falling debris.

When the smoke slowly cleared, Chrysos could barely see a figure of a half kneeling man.

After that, he heard laughter.

"Hahaha! Aurum Laniar... you really are an unorthodox alchemist. To think that the things I've heard about you are actually true." Vedian slowly stood up from the cloud of black smoke. However, he isn't unscathed from the explosion.

Chrysos could see blood dripping from the corner of Vedian's lips, but there were no observable wounds on his body. Especially since his armor was strong enough to withstand the explosion to the point that it was barely even scratched.

The explosion wasn't as effective as Chrysos first imagined..

"Let's cut the crap. You purposely attacked me not because of my formula but because of something else, correct? You're the Nacoris family heir, why do you need to make them place their importance in you since they already gave you top tier weapons and armor. It didn't make sense." Chrysos took out a healing potion and splashed red liquid on the two swordsmen nearby.

He didn't want to get arrested for murder after all. Chrysos still wanted to go home if he had the chance to.

"Tell me, what do you know about me? What do you know about my past?" Chrysos held his sword down to his side, his voice sharp and demanding.

Vedian clutched his chest to imbue himself in Divinious. The blue and white mists of energy surrounding his body appeared as his wounds started to heal. "I know that you didn't come from Ironmountain originally. And if I remember correctly, you came from Aroiis city and settled down here in Ironmountain."

Chrysos was shocked that he actually got answers from Vedian's mouth. He didn't even know what his past self did before his soul took over. Does Vedian really know something about his past?

"You didn't answer my question. Why do you want to fight me out of all people?" Chrysos asked once more. He looked firm and aggressive at the moment, but Chrysos was prepared to run any time Vedian made a move. He just wanted to probe more answers out of his mouth.

Vedian rolled his eyes. Seemingly uncaring at all. "One hundred and twenty years ago, when my grandfather, Heisch Nacoris was still sixteen years old.. he was part of the Nacoris family's line to be the family head, but as the youngest son, no one placed importance in him and no one cared about him at all. But there was one day that changed his life forever."

"Don't tell me you're going to tell me a story." Chrysos immediately extinguished the layer of mystery Vedian was trying to give.

"Do you want to know anything or not?" Vedian raised his arm to touch his head and then stretched it forward to gesture out his annoyance.

"Fine, continue." Chrysos shrugged lightly as he rolled his hand flat at him.

"..."

City of Ironmountain, 120 years ago…

The city of Ironmountain didn't have tall buildings as it was 120 years into the future. The architecture was somewhat simplistic, but the great wall of iron surrounding the city still stood tall and sharp.

In the eastern side of Ironmountain, there stood a magnificent five floor mansion made of purple marble, steel, and black stone.

A stone statue of Sienia Nacoris, the founder of the Nacoris family stood in the front of the mansion with a plaque that described all of her achievements and how her efforts led to the Nacoris family rising within the ranks of nobility.

As shown from the statue, she wore a long buttoned coat that reached her knees and a military uniform with a scarf that depicted a dragon. She wore sleek pants and boots higher than her ankles. She held a rapier in front of her pointing upright as her hair flew back graciously.

It was the Nacoris manor..

And inside that manor, in a serene marble room filled with bookshelves, paintings, and two swords hung on the wall, a young man sat on his desk as the light from the lamp gave him clearer vision to properly see what he was writing.

His hair was a brown color that alternated with shades of auburn. His eyes were black with a hint of gray. He wore black leggings and a white collared shirt.

Heisch was writing a diary in his room. His quill moved elegantly along his hand. The half open wooden window was letting in golden rays from the sun.

He was a still a young man with lots of ambition. He wanted to become stronger like his older brothers, but fate was too playful. Until now, he was still an Iretior ranked steel armorclad while his older siblings were already Provectis ranked.

Ever since he was a child in the Nacoris family, he felt like he wasn't good enough to be with his powerful siblings who had the potential to take on the role of being the Nacoris family's head.

While he was still writing, a butler knocked on the door and said, "Young master Heisch, your father is calling you and your siblings downstairs."

Heisch put his quill down. "Yes, I'll be there."

He stood up from his chair and wore his coat as he went down the stairs. When he arrived at the table, he saw that his brothers were already in the table waiting for him.

Heisch walked over to the empty seat and sat down. His brothers weren't speaking at all. It was because of his father's oppressive aura.

His father Welkanor Nacoris, looked at each and every single one of them seriously. "Since all of you are here, I'm going to tell you why I called all of you."

He was a man with lots of experience and wisdom. No one would want to go against someone like him. Especially since he was at the first stage of the Elitius rank.

Right now, he currently wore a minimalist attire that still reflected his authority and noble status. And despite his age, his beard isn't growing as fast as anyone would expect from seeing him in their first meeting.

All of them listened closely to what he has to say.

Seeing that everyone was listening, Welkanor said, "Our Nacoris family discovered a powerful beast called the Scorpion Goldhorn Bull and it has been spotted in the Iron mountain ranges. It will take a week for the news to reach other nobles, so all of you still have some time to capture it."

Welkanor saw that his children revealed looks of interest when he talked about the Scorpion Goldhorn Bull. "Whoever captures it first will be given the Mystical Tier Divinious Reinforcement Stone and will become the next heir of the Nacoris family."

"After all, I'm already 67 years old. I have to decide on an heir soon or else the Nacoris family wouldn't have anyone leading them when I'm finally gone."

The moment Welkanor said this, the room became deathly quiet.

The eldest son Vesiro, broke the silence.

He always had a noble and an attitude that always pushed him to be the best. Vesiro has long curly hair with the same color as Heisch's that reached his waist. But despite this usually feminine trait, he looked quite manly because of his well built body.

"Father don't worry, I'll be the one who will capture it and become the heir of the Nacoris family and lead it to a better future." Vesiro held his chest as he solemnly swore.

The third brother named Levis, gave out a cold sneer. "Isn't it too early to say that Vesiro? Remember that you're not the only one who has the power to do that."

Levis had a round face and short hair with thin sideburns. He was known to have a fiery temperament and a short amount of patience.

Vesiro didn't mind it and said, "The Nacoris family needs a suitable heir that can lead it to a prosperous future. Your way of leading the family will be disastrous if you were the one who became the head."

"You!" Levis clenched his fists.

The second brother Scrieno said, "Enough, we are in the presence of our father, learn to respect him as the current head."

Scrieno is the kind one amongst all of their siblings. He was easy to get along and he was quite extroverted. His long hair wasn't as free as Vesiro's, so he decided to just stick with a messy flowing hair that he never tied. But he did cut it once it reached lower than his neck.

"Hmph." Levis sat back down after giving one last contemptuous stare at Vesiro.

Vesiro ignored it and turned his head to Welkanor.

"All of you will begin tomorrow. Remember that you can still die when faced against that monster. Carelessness will cost you your life. Understand?" Welkanor's tone was deep and stern.

"Yes father." The four brothers said in unison.

"All of you are dismissed." Welkanor waved his hand and the four of them left.

As the four brothers stood up, Vesiro and Levis went on their own ways.

Heisch went back to his room. Not paying the competition between them any mind at all.

Once entering, he sat down on his chair to continue writing. "I'm not going to compete. I'll just stay there tomorrow and I won't fight against my siblings. After all, I'm not strong enough to face them." Heisch decided to be passive this time around.

Knock, knock, knock ...

Heisch heard knocking from his door and opened it. When he opened the door, it was Scrieno who was waiting with a soft smile resting on his face. Making him look amicable.

"Brother Scrieno, why are you here?" Heisch tilted his head slightly.

"How are you feeling? Are you nervous for tomorrow?" Scrieno entered the room and sat down on Hesich's bed.

"Why would I be? I'm not even planning to compete against those two." Hesich shook his head. Scrieno was the only other person in the family who didn't care about being the head of the family or anything related to that matter. That's why Hesich found him easier to talk to than his other brothers.

"Why? Are you afraid that brother Vsiro and Levis will get mad at you?" Scrieno smiled warmly at Hesich.

Hesich nodded. "Of course I am. I just want to live my life. I have no plans on meddling in their matters unless I really just want to get beaten up." Hesich laughed with a casual shake of his head.

"That is true, they get a little too serious about becoming the head of the family." Scrieno gently rubbed his necklace as he spoke. "But in my opinion, it's not worth throwing away your relationship with your own family just for a title."

"This is exactly why I like talking to you. You're more open minded than the both of them." Hesich then said, "So, how about you? Do you plan to compete against them?"

"Of course." Scrieno admitted it.

"I thought you were here to warn me that they might get furious at me if I meddle and here you are, actually planning to compete against them just as you told me that." Heisch didn't get what the reason was for Scrieno's warning.

"No offense but, you are weak." Scrieno gestured with his hand. "That's the reason why I'm warning you not to compete against us. It's going to be a battle that you cannot take part in. Although I wouldn't do anything to you as my brother, I'm not completely sure if it's the same for both of them."

Heisch understood. "So you just want me to remember not to involve myself in a fight that I can't take part in? That's the most useless warning ever."

"You're still young. You might let your hot bloodedness take over your judgement just because the reward might be too appealing for you. It's better to be sure than get you injured out there." Scrieno stood up and walked over to the door. "But in all seriousness, promise me that you wouldn't involve yourself in any way tomorrow."

Heisch sat on his chair and took his quill. He wrote something on a piece of paper before giving it to Scrieno.

The writing on the paper read, "I, Heisch Nacoris promise that I will not participate in the competition for the spot to become the Nacoris family head."

"Pft.. Alright, I trust you." Scrieno laughed and patted him in the shoulder. "Okay, I'm off now.. see you later." Scrieno then walked away.

Heisch entered his room and continued writing on his book. He had already eliminated all thoughts of doing anything and decided to let his brothers have a go at it.

"..."

Meanwhile in the training halls of the Nacoris manor…

Levis was training all alone to prepare himself for tomorrow. He was putting as much effort as he could to become the family head when Welkanor finally passed away. And not only that, he'll receive a Mystical Tier Divinious Reinforcement Stone.

The Provectis rank is divided into five stages. Provectis initial stage, Provectis reformation stage, Provectis formation stage, Provectis advancement stage, and finally, Provectis creation stage. Any higher than that, it would be the Elitius rank.

Scrieno, Levis and Vesiro are currently at the initial stage. But with the help of the Divinious Reinforcement Stone, he'll jump from initial stage to advancement stage!

It'll make his path to the Elitius rank easier and once he achieves the Elitius rank, he'll be able to cement his position as the family head. Not even Vesiro would be strong enough to defeat him with such a huge lead in power.

Bam!

He struck a metallic pole using his axe making it vibrate wildly before stopping. He decided to rest for now. Beads of sweat formed on his face after an intense training session with his axe. But as a berserker, he was able to take this heavy training without too much trouble.

He drank some water and thought about his plan for tomorrow. He took out a map of the Iron mountain ranges and formulated a plan that he could use against Vesiro.

Scrieno and Heisch weren't even threats for him. In his eyes, they didn't have the intention to compete anyway. Especially Heisch who was still at Iretior rank.

Levis laughed as he took out a scroll from his pocket. It was an Epic ranked spell that he stole from the Nacoris family vault.

"Vesiro, let's see if you can win against this... you'll never even know what happened." Levis wasn't planning to play fair. He had ill intentions in mind.

He opened the old brown scroll revealing that it was a beast aggression magic circle. His plan was to enrage as many beasts in Vesiro's location. And even if he dies, who could point the murder back to him? The magic circle dissipates after usage, so how could they even track him down even if they were suspicious?

He then looked at the map and predicted where Vesiro might go and planned how he could get there if he ever needs to.

Since Levis was willing to go as far as this, he knew that there was no going back.

"I'm going to become the Nacoris family's only heir. And i'll make sure that it happens." Levis grabbed a glass of wine and drank it in one go.

He already celebrated his soon to be victory.

Going back to Chrysos and Vedian, Chrysos could help but let a chuckle slip out after listening to the story.

"Seriously? Your granduncle wanted to kill your grandfather? And did you have to make him sound so evil, or was that for the sake of the mood?" Chrysos asked with some hint of judgement to the story's professionalism.

Vedian scratched his head. "I'm the one speaking here. Do you want me to explain or do you want me to just leave? I'm not the one losing something in this."

"Fine, tell me the story." Chrysos replied with a slightly flat tone.

Vedian resisted the urge to behead Chrysos and instead, cleared his throat to speak once more.