Chapter 20 - Human Emperor

Emperor Acadian sat atop the Wyvern with a sharp gaze.

He has finally done it. He has breached the formerly impenetrable defences of the elves that have held back his people for thousands of years.

Acadian Orgrasans ancestry dated back to the one of the first human kingdoms in these lands. The Kingdom was known as Orgrasan and had become weak, pitiful, a mere shadow of its former self before he had taken up the reigns from his father.

He remembered the day clearly when his Father stared deeply into his eyes, there was a seriousness about them that his young mind had never experienced before.

His normally kind and compassionate Father voice took a cold tone as he said, "Boy if you ever have the strength to take back our ancestral lands from those damn elves and restore the lost honour we have lost yet choose to forsake this grudge then you are no son of mine, you have failed our ancestors and don't deserve to be an Orgrasan."

He had taken that to heart ever since. When he continuously gained strength, quickly becoming a well known genius of warrior cultivation and the sabre, he found himself rapidly ascending the tiers of cultivation, his reputation ever growing within the human lands.

It was then his ambition grew. He knew he did not have the resources to oppose the elves in his Kingdoms current state.

The lands they had was barren, barely fertile and considered one of the worst among the human kingdoms within the Greenlands continent.

His people had once ruled over the most fertile and resource-rich land in the Greenland continent, they were prosperous and were in the middle of a golden age until the greedy elves decided they wanted what was theirs arriving at this continent with a detachment of their warriors and mages, the humans found themselves being driven back and forced out of their own lands.

The other human kingdoms attempts to aid them failed spectacularly, the elves strength proved too great, soon it was forgotten about, the formerly powerful Orgrasan Kingdom was a husk of its previous self, it became a simple, mediocre Kingdom, many forgetting about their previous glory.

However the Orgrasan line never forget. Even as thousands of years went by, that generation after generation went by holding a deep ending hatred and resentment towards the elves that stole their birth right from them.

To have a chance of fulfilling his Fathers and ancestors dreams, he had to gain sufficient strength.

Acadian was no genius politician, or strategist, but he was a strong warrior, knew where his strengths laid, when he required the expertise of others and was able to manage others efficiently.

He built a strong army, recruited powerful generals, changed the Kingdoms infrastructures, he promoted the education of commoners, recruiting a great deal of talented individuals from poorer backgrounds, who had the suitable talent but not the opportunity to ascend in society.

His options was limited due to the Kingdom being in a backwater location having hardly any nobles or people from affluent, rich backgrounds with the low resources and territory, usually other Kingdoms would fill their ranks with talented cultivators from noble families, but instead Acadian did not discriminate and allowed all into his ranks.

He was laughed at. Only a lowly place like Orgrasan would dare to fill its ranks with people holding lesser bloodlines.

Talent was passed down too some degree, powerful nobles usually possess greater talent on average than commoners, it was seen as lubricious to do so, but with such a large disparity between the two groups in terms of population there were some exceptions, people with extraordinary potential were born from ordinary parents, they only needed the opportunity, one which he granted them.

And with them not being born from a silver spoon like the nobles, they shown gratitude and loyalty to the King himself, not to the noble clan they belong to.

It was then he needed to use his strengths to gain the influence his Kingdom needs. They had reached its limit with the sparse resources available to them.

He began to conquer like he was born to do. It took him years to build up his Kingdoms foundations, to break through into the second realm, breaking the shackles constraining his life span.

His Father grew old, for a human, even powerful cultivators if you reach the peak of the first realm it grants you with four hundred years of life at most.

No Orgrasan was able to break through into the second realm for thousands of years, reaching the ninth tier of the first realm at most, the difference between the second and first realm was insurmountable.

Yet he had done it at the ripe age of seventy. He broken through to the second realm, a Monarch as a Warrior. The proudness on his Fathers old withered face was something he held as his dearest memory.

However he was not done, with his new found cultivation base, there was no human powerful enough left to challenge him.

The other Human Monarchs in the Greenland continent was content to watch him and his small Kingdom pick off the weaker ones not seeing the young upstart as a threat.

They had taken much longer to break into the Monarch realm, they were weak and old, content to live out their remaining lifespan in comfort, they had lost the edge and drive they had in their youth.

With his newfound cultivation realm bringing him confidence and the ability to deal with the strongest cultivators on the continent, his true ambitions began to show.

He became more aggressive towards the stronger, more influential Kingdoms, who had started to grow more cautious of him.

They still underestimated him. A barbaric, warfaring nation lead by some savage was not enough to make them concerned.

It would be their biggest regret. He took them down one by one. Even when they futilely formed an alliance to try to take him down, it only made him stronger.

Conquer, conquer, his dao grew stronger, his sabre intent grew sharper. He was becoming more one with the world, eventually he ran out of things to conquer.

Eventually his cultivation became one step away from the third realm, however this bottleneck was one that had not been past by a human in this continent for a long time.

It could be counted on one hand the amount of experts who had broken through to the third realm, and they had long left this continent it being unable to sustain an individual who desires to continue his path to immortality.

He had subjugated all he can in the Greenlands, he had preserved much of the human fighting strength.

The other Monarchs not desiring to perish after achieving their level of cultivation submitted to him if he spared their lives, they were not ones he can fully depend on, but they greatly feared his ire so would follow his orders for now and that was enough.

It grew into centuries since he began his pursuit unifying the humans in the Greenlands in his pursuit of vengeance.

His Father had eventually passed away with a heavy heart, unable to see his son take back the lands the Orgrasan had stole from them many years ago.

He felt saddened his Father was unable to witness it, but he had a family of his own, one that will set foot into their lands once again.

The Elves fortified the entrance into his ancestral lands, it being inaccessible by any other means, no Orgrasan has been able to enter the eutopia they have built at his ancestors expense in thousands of years.

However his ancestors left a secret. A way into the lands even the elves were unaware of. None has tried to use it since it would be exposed after one use, it would be acted upon by the Elves and a way past their strong defences would be wasted.

No Orgrasan had a strong enough army at their disposal to have the confidence to do so, not until him at least.

Bringing a suitable distraction, he was able to keep the elves distracted for a year by bombarding the fort protecting the lands with just enough strength that they believed the humans were attacking with all their might.

He battled with a few of the elven monarchs himself simultaneously whenever a battle arises between the powerhouses of their respective forces.

The elven monarchs were stronger than their human counterparts, but his sabre intent has reached a great level, his techniques perfect, he was beyond any mere sabre master among humans, it took three of them to fight him, and that was with him holding back, he did not want his plan to be exposed as of yet, even he did not want to rush against the nasty inscriptions the elves have built into their defences.

It was then he received good news.

Another Wyvern swooshed down beside his. A man was hoisted into the saddle. He was heavily armoured with heavy black metallic plates.

He wore a spiked helm that slightly exposed his eyes which had a feral glint in them.

"It has gone like planned. Fort Gasden has fallen, a good timing too as those old fogies grew impatient at the amount of resources we were using to sustain our attacks, however results speak for themselves, fort taken, with acceptable loses, only problem is a small detachment seemed to have been able to escape into the forest depth…" The man said in his gravelly, deep voice.

"Send the Hunters to trail them. Do not engage, merely follow, they may lead us to something interesting…" Emperor Acadian ordered.

The man nodded to his emperors sharp gaze, as the Wyvern lifted itself into the air in the direction of the escaping elves.