2-6 I am a pill container in the mage world

Chapter 2: Earl Cherry

Luther rested for a while, then started walking toward the Department of Missions.

This department organizes tasks, evaluates them, and assigns them to suitable mages. Missions that require official mages need approval from at least the deputy chair of the department, who is a rank 2 mage.

However, tasks that only need mage apprentices can be approved by a mage apprentice in the department.

...

Upon entering, Luther took the device that displayed tasks and began scrolling down, searching for a suitable assignment.

Rachel saw this and thought the device resembled a smartphone on Earth.

"Help Master Obrien clean his old laboratory; reward: 5 magic crystals, expected time: 7 days."

"Travel to Wade Forest and hunt fire rabbits; reward: 15 magic crystals, expected time: 30 days."

"Travel to Salas Empire and act as a protector; reward: 1000 magic crystals, expected time: 365 days."

Luther took a look and shook his head.

"These tasks are not suitable." he thought.

The department will check the qualifications of the person who takes the task, and Luther's qualifications are low, no matter which aspect you looked at.

Cleaning the Lab requires knowledge about lab equipment, hunting require hunting skill, and a protector needs higher strength.

Also, these tasks pay relatively well, so there will be other apprentice mages who apply.

The academy will usually choose the person with the highest qualification.

So, he ignored every task that paid well and seemed complicated, scrolling down until he found a task that made him smile.

"Operate artificial sunlight formation for Earl Evan Cherry; reward: 5 magic crystals/year, duration: +1000 days."

The tasks come from various sources, including the academy itself, mages from the academy, mages from outside, kingdoms, and various nobles.

Each task will be thoroughly vetted, and anything that might harm Blue Light Academy will be removed.

The academy established the minimum pay for tasks requiring a rank-one official mage; however, tasks below the official mage level didn't have any minimum pay requirement.

Tasks requiring higher-rank mages than rank 1 are only approved in exceptional circumstances.

"This is what I was looking for! A very long-term task with a low risk far away from the academy!" Luther didn't hesitate; he registered his name and requested to take the task.

The pay for this task is horribly low; it has been posted for weeks, but people have yet to accept it.

There is a very high chance that the academy will quickly approve it for Luther.

All of this was done remotely through the device. It is said that the academy is mass-producing this kind of device.

Still, they aren't selling it yet, so one must come to the department personally to accept tasks.

Even if they sell it, Luther probably cannot afford it, so he didn't bother thinking about it.

As this task only involves operating a formation, even third-grade apprentice mages like him can handle it.

After 20 minutes, as expected, they confirmed Luther, and he received the date and location.

The academy would cover all travel costs to the destination.

These low-grade tasks are welfare for low-rank apprentice mages; otherwise, only the cost of travel will be a good chunk of the final pay.

There are many weak apprentice mages; the academy has an interest in finding jobs for them, so they allow such low-pay tasks.

There are plenty of tasks for official mages, so they have a minimum pay requirement.

After all, official mages are much rarer than apprentice mages, and anything that apprentice mages do, official mages can also do, but much better and faster.

The academy doesn't want official mages to use low-grade tasks to take off days from the academy; they only allow official mages to accept jobs that pay well.

...

Luther returned to his room and prepared for the journey.

The departure day is in 3 days, so he must be ready by then.

He gathered all his spell books and items that could be helpful. After a day of hard work, he packed a large bag containing his most valuable possessions.

Then, he went to sleep.

...

The next day, he opened the pill container and found another pill inside. Producing pills seemed to require nothing like moonlight or other ingredients.

However, why it hadn't produced any pills before that night remains unknown.

With a smile, he closed the container and started writing farewell letters to his friends.

Luther didn't have many close friends; still, he decided to maintain his relationships as much as possible so that nobody would get suspicious.

...

Soon, three days passed.

Luther began making his way to the airship station on the academy's south side.

Although the academy offers faster transportation methods than walking, they all incurred subscription fees, and Luther lacked the funds for such amenities.

Consequently, he had to rely on his own two feet.

After a while, he reached the station and took a seat.

The occupants were all mages, predominantly apprentice mages.

Official mages typically own private airships or rent entire ships for themselves.

Luther scanned the area, observing many boys and girls, mostly young, none of whom seemed to be official mages.

Periodically, an announcement over the loudspeaker informed everyone about the readiness of an airship.

"Airship number L-662 is ready to move. All authorized persons, please move to the right boarding area."

Luther stood up and proceeded there, presenting his document without any issues.

He found his seat.

A girl with sharp ears caught his attention.

"Half-elf, huh? It's quite rare," he thought.

The Blue Light Academy only admits humans, but some half-humans compatible with 'human race values' can also be admitted.

For instance, half-human and half-demons are prohibited due to their demonic nature conflicting with the academy's principles.

While some academies accept individuals from every race, they are typically associated with evil forces, as being a righteous force and taking demons is incompatible.

Demons meditate using dark elements and are evil; half-demons are also evil if they use dark elements, which they almost always do.

The girl, with beautiful blue hair, noticed Luther looking at her.

He swiftly turned around, pretending to be engrossed in a book.

The girl sighed, following suit, and began reading as well.

She is used to this; half-humans around the Blue Light Academy are rare.

...

After approximately 10 hours, the airship landed, and the loudspeaker announced that those destined for Gilbert Island could disembark.

The girl who had been sitting near Luther stood up and left.

Heading to Earl Evan Cherry's territory in Cherry City, Luther continued reading his book.

The airship would take him directly to Cherry City.

He waited an additional six hours, and finally, the loudspeaker announced, "Individuals whose destination is Cherry City can now disembark."

Luther was pleasantly surprised by the comfort of the airship; there was no noticeable vibration during the landing or the travel.

Although the airship had a capacity of 100 people, he was the only one among the remaining 20 passengers going to Cherry City.

Obviously, Cherry City is not a popular destination.

Luther stood up and exited the airship.

The airship had landed right in the castle.

As he looked around, he saw a few people waiting to greet him—10 in total.

Six of them exuded a strong aura, likely knights.

The knight's path is an alternative to that of a mage, with four levels in total.

A Knight Attendant is barely stronger than the average adult.

A Formal Knight possesses inhuman strength and can easily defeat mage apprentices if they don't use spells.

Grand Knights are monstrously strong and can resist some spells from mage apprentices.

Lastly, Legendary Knights, while capable of swiftly dispatching mage apprentices, are akin to paper tigers when facing an official mage.

Official mages have quick minds and keen senses, enabling them to cast spells almost instantly.

When Legendary Knights confront a rank one spell, they have no chance of resistance.

It's crucial to note that official mages are only at the first rank, with mages having at least ten ranks, each incomparably stronger than the previous one.

Of the remaining four people, three were ordinary individuals.

At the head of the group was a man dressed in luxurious attire, observing Luther intently.

His aura was especially strong, likely a peak Grand Knight or even a legendary knight.

The man smiled and greeted him, saying, "Hello, Mage Robles! I am Earl Cherry, the one who requested your help."

He pointed to his right, introducing his eldest son, Dale, who, despite a deep interest in mages, unfortunately lacked mage talent.

Without a mage talent pill, he can never meditate and advance.

As for buying a mage talent pill, it's so expensive that even an earl can't buy it.

Earl Cherry then gestured towards two girls behind him, saying, "These two are my twin daughters, Gina and Myla." The girls smiled warmly at Luther.

The girls aren't even knight attendants.

It's not unheard of for women to become knights, but it's rare in kingdoms around the Blue Light Academy.

Noble families usually are the only ones to have knight training books, but most of the time, they only allow boys to train and marry off girls to other families.

Girls are as able to train in the knight training method as boys, so this culture cannot be justified by saying girls aren't suitable for knight training.

Knight training, like mage training, relies on internal energies and has nothing to do with muscles, as evidenced by the Eael here, who looks slim.

Not allowing girls to train is pure sexism, pure and simple.

Luther responded, "Happy to meet you, Earl! I'm looking forward to being your guest and assisting with the operation of the formation!"

The Earl and his family exchanged smiles with Luther and led him to the farming grounds.

Earl Cherry provided explanations and highlighted critical points about the formation.

The formation had been set up a century ago; typically, an apprentice mage operated it. However, the recent passing of the apprentice mage due to old age left them without anyone to manage the formation.

Consequently, they had no choice but to seek help from the academy.

Upon reaching the location of the formation, situated in the center of a vast farming area, Luther observed the cultivation of expensive trees and plants.

A large mansion stood at the heart of the farming area, with the formation core housed within it.

More accurately, it could be said that the mansion was constructed around the formation core.

After providing Luther with the necessary information, Earl Cherry and his children leave, leaving one of the knights behind to introduce Luther to the mansion's servants.

Luther nodded throughout the introductions, and once he became familiar with the surroundings, he dismissed the knight.

The mansion housed ten servants – six women and four men.

Their responsibilities were limited to the mansion's operation and did not extend to the farming area or the formation.

Luther made a mental note to be cautious and not allow the servants to approach him.

Consequently, he summoned the chief servant, a man in his forties, and instructed that his room was off-limits, with strict orders that nobody could enter.

Afterward, Luther entered the bedroom, placed his belongings down, and settled in.

Of course, he kept the pill container on his person, considering its immense value. After taking a brief rest, Luther realized it was already late at night.

Operating the formation at night wasn't challenging; it consumed one magic crystal per month and required no energy from him. He only needed to sense the energy and allow it to circulate naturally.

While more advanced formations could operate independently, this formation requires supervision.

The Earl provided the necessary magic crystals, relieving Luther of any concerns.

He proceeded to the formation area and operated it for a few hours. When activated, the farmland outside illuminated as if it were daytime.

...

As morning arrived, Luther enjoyed his breakfast and then collapsed onto his bed, exhausted from all the traveling.

After a few hours, he woke up and glanced at the pill container, discovering several pills inside. The sight brought a smile to his face.

Seating himself, he began to meditate and placed one pill in his mouth. The root mana started spreading throughout his body, converging below his stomach in his aperture, and after a while, it was completely absorbed.

"It will probably take a few months before I can reach the 2nd rank mage apprentice! Advancing with pills is so easy!" he exclaimed, visibly thrilled.

Rachel sighed inwardly, cursing at the apparent lack of talent he displayed.

Talent, she knew, was the endpoint. A rank two talent meant one couldn't surpass a 2nd rank mage in their lifetime. However, having a rank two talent didn't guarantee reaching rank 2; it merely indicated an inability to go higher.

In reality, most individuals with a rank two talent remain stuck at the grade 1 mage apprentice level.

Geniuses typically have rank 8 or 9 talents; some even possess rank ten talent. As far as Luther knew, no mage had ever reached rank 10, but certain individuals were born with the potential to achieve it.

The notion of rank 10 symbolized invincibility, though Luther could not verify whether it was true.

...

The sixth day of the fourth month of the year 989952

Luther is excited.

"Tonight, I will attempt to reach the rank two apprentice mage!" he thought eagerly.

chapter 3 family emergency

Advancing in mage apprentice grades is easy.

Just fill the root mana pool in the area under the stomach.

Once it's full, breaking through is a given.

There are two kinds of mana within the body of a mage apprentice.

One is root mana, which is not used when casting spells and will always remain in the body of mage apprentices, pooling just under the stomach in an area called Aperture.

The other is leaves mana.

Leaves mana is derived from root mana.

Mage apprentices cast spells by utilizing leaves mana.

As for where root mana is coming from?

Pure energy naturally exists everywhere in the world, and mages gather this energy with their meditation techniques.

When this pure energy enters the mana pool, it turns into root mana.

Pure energy around the world is neutral and without an owner.

Mages will become its owner When they gather it in their mana pool.

Every creature can use pure energy.

For example, demons can use pure energy to create the dark element, which they can use to advance.

Angels can turn pure energy into light element and use it to advance in their path.

The pure energy of the world can be turned into anything, but once it's transformed, it can no longer be converted back to pure energy.

Mages have a massive advantage in this regard.

The mana that mages use is still pure energy, which can be turned into dark and light elements.

It is not neutral energy, as mages control it, but it's still pure without any element.

This is why mages can turn into demons or angels, but demons and angels can't turn into mages.

...

Luther closed the books and signed with disappointment.

Before breaking through, he wanted to increase his knowledge of mana, but this book wasn't quite what he needed, so he stopped reading.

It's too complicated for a third-grade mage apprentice that barely can use leaves mana!

"Now, I have enough root mana in my mana pool to break through, and with all my preparations, there shouldn't be any problem."

He waited until night and then started the process.

Last night was a full moon, and if he is lucky, tonight would also be a full moon.

Nobody Luther knows can predict when the full moon will appear, but after so many years, some data have been collected.

The Academy offered some free lectures from official mages when he first entered the Academy.

In one of those lectures, a rank two mage once said that, on average, the full moon appears every 33 days and lasts five days.

For this reason, he was optimistic that tonight would also have a full moon.

Then he started thinking about second-grade mage apprentices.

The difference between low-grade and high-grade mage apprentices is only one thing, the size of their mana pool.

A third-grade mage apprentice can only hold a small amount of root mana, so their leaves mana recovers very slowly.

As the total amount of leaves mana depends on root mana in the mana pool, the leaves mana total is also meager for third-grade mage apprentices.

As a result, they can only cast very simple spells and can't even defeat one knight with their spells.

2nd-grade mage apprentices have a much larger root mana pool, so killing knights for them should be easy.

That is, if they know good offensive spells.

The process of breaking through is to fill the root mana pool in the Aperture and then try to expand the pool.

As long as there isn't any problem, everyone with at least rank one talent will succeed.

...

A few hours later, the full moon appeared!

Luther's mana pool was filled with root mana.

He took a deep breath and swallowed two ranks 0 root mana pills without hesitation!

A lot of root mana rushed to his meridians, which led to his root mana pool in his Aperture.

It was already full, so the root mana began to surround the mana pool.

After a few minutes, more and more root mana surrounded the mana pool and slowly began to solidify!

After a full hour passed, Luther felt his root mana was insufficient, so he took another rank 0 root mana pill.

This time, it was enough.

The root mana around his mana pool solidified completely and formed a new pool.

This new pool had a much higher capacity.

Only second-grade mage apprentices can have mana pools this big!

He smiled and thought," Now, I can finally start learning a few spells I bought."

The Academy gave him a few simple spell books, but he could only use some of the spells in them because he was only a third-grade mage apprentice.

Now he can learn defensive spells, like a light shield, and offensive, like air strike.

"it should take around 300 pills to fill the mana pool of a 2nd-grade apprentice. So less than a year later, I should be able to reach 1st-grade mage apprentice!" he felt very excited!

First-grade mage apprentices are highly respected; knights are nothing before them. Even legendary knights like count cherry must be careful when facing them.

As Luther was excited, Rachel was also very excited!

Because when Luther broke through, she also felt that she could now make the pills stronger.

"I thought I only get stronger when he breaks through rank 1, but it looks like I was wrong."

She got promoted from rank 0 initial stage magic treasure, to the middle stage.

The difference between the two was small.

It was most noticeable when she looked at one of the essential skills.

'improving pill quality slightly' skill.

This skill was useless before, as she was rank 0 initial stage magic treasure.

But now, she can be considered a rank 0 middle-stage treasure, so her quality is higher, and with her begin higher quality, she can improve pills slightly from rank 0 initial-stage pills to rank 0 middle-stage pills.

Pills, like mages, have ten ranks.

But even within each rank, the quality might differ.

A rank 0 peak pill stage is much purer than a rank 0 initial stage pill.

However, no matter how pure, a rank 0 pill can never be more potent than its rank 1 version.

That is a difference in the quality of ingredients.

Rachel decided to improve pills so Luther could break through faster.

After all, rank 1 was a massive attraction for her.

The skill of 'talking to the host' would unlock when she reaches rank 1!

…

Luther sat down, took out the pill container, and opened it.

There were quite a few pills inside.

He saved them in case he needed more when breaking through.

Fortunately, he only used three when breaking through, so now he had a lot of pills to use.

"Now, I'm a second-grade apprentice, so this pill should have a smaller effect on me, and I may be able to absorb it sooner."

One reason that it takes him so long to absorb the pills is his talent.

Those geniuses can absorb the pills much sooner.

Luther swallowed the pill and closed his eyes, beginning to absorb it.

Ten hours later, he opened his eyes with astonishment!

"Why did the pill get stronger the day after I advanced? Could it be it also advanced with me?"

The pill container was already a priceless treasure, but if it could even get stronger …

"This thing… where did it come from? Maybe a rank nine mage or someone like that made it? It's so powerful that it makes people suspicious."

The thought that it might be a trap crossed his mind

But then he thought," Why would a rank nine mage want to trick me? Even a rank one mage can kill me with a simple spell; I am overthinking it. With more potent pills, I can advance to rank one apprentice mage sooner!"

He was excited and was looking forward to the future.

…

The twenty-ninth day of the first month of year 989956

The blue light Academy had a complex system.

To remain a member of the Academy, people with or below rank four talent would have to pay, according to their talent's rank.

A rank four naturally pays less than a rank three.

If one can't pay, they will be expelled from the Academy.

Nobody would chase them, and nothing would happen to them; after all, blue light is a righteous academy, and many people do indeed leave the Academy when they see that they have no chance of further improvement.

Off course, once any member advances to rank one official mage, they will no longer have to pay anything and instead would receive a salary if they chose to remain in the Academy.

It's just that they have to sign an oath of loyalty, and for this reason, some official mages choose to leave.

Again, the blue light Academy is very permissive and has a good reputation, so nothing will happen to those who leave before signing an oath.

Once they sign oaths, they become part of the Academy.

They may be appointed to managerial roles in the Academy, get important positions at the Academy, learn secrets of the Academy, etc.

At that point, nobody can leave, and if they try, they will be hunted down.

There are other choices, such as becoming a 'guest mage.'

Guest mages wouldn't receive any salary and wouldn't get any position within the Academy, but they may use labs and such. It's like a contract that benefits both sides.

Those with talents of 5th rank and higher would not have to pay anything to the Academy, and the Academy would meet all their needs.

Off course, there is a price for that.

After they reach the official mage level, they can't just leave.

If they wanted to leave, they would have to pay back all the investment by the Academy on them, with interest!

The pay usually takes the form of working for the Academy.

Although if one is rich, they can just pay magic crystal.

An oath would not be forced on anyone.

But many would still swear the oath of loyalty as being a member of blue light Academy is hugely prestigious.

As this Academy is very peaceful, there is usually no danger.

Luther was a rank two talent, so he had to pay magic crystals annually.

Naturally, he didn't have any magic crystal, so he got a loan on credit and swore an oath that he would pay it back.

Rank 1 talents can't get this loan because the chances for them are too slim.

...

Luther was sitting in a meditation position!

A few years have passed since he arrived here, and he is already a first-grade mage apprentice!

During this time, nothing significant happened. Everything went smoothly, and he naturally wasn't going anywhere willingly, so he remained here.

He was smiling as he checked his root mana pool.

It was packed, with no space for any further progress!

"Now, I have a chance at the official mage."

Of course, conditions are harsh, and many resources are needed.

It isn't just getting enough root mana and breaking through!

Many people are stuck in first-grade mage apprentice their entire lives!

"I have to start my preparations, but how am I supposed to explain my advancement to first-grade apprentice mage?" he talked loudly to himself.

Sometimes, he got so lonely that he developed a habit of talking to himself.

Having a big secret was a huge burden.

He never dared to let anyone get close to him.

Luther was generally not social, but the last few years took its toll on him!

"I need a vacation; otherwise, I may go insane before reaching rank one mage!"

As he was thinking about that, unknown energy came from the pill container and suppressed his aura to that of a third-grade mage apprentice!

Naturally, it was Rachel who used another one of the 'essential skills' named 'host's rank perception downward manipulation.'

It allowed her to make the host look weaker.

"What?" he took out the pill container and looked in astonishment.

"Just what are you?" Luther asked.

"Did it sense that I needed concealment? Does it have wisdom?"

He was extremely curious about the pill container, but wasn't worried.

He would be dead if it were hostile, as he had eaten its pills more than 1000 times.

And just now, it protected him by concealing his aura, so it probably liked him.

Luther didn't know Rachel was protecting herself, as Luther getting exposed meant she getting exposed.

So she used the skill to conceal Luther's level.

Luther smiled, gripped the pill container tightly, and went to earl cherry.

The earl had already found another mage outside of the Academy.

Now, he no longer needed Luther to operate the formation; as a result, Luther had no choice but to leave.

Soon, Luther reached earl cherry's office and greeted him.

The earl showed his daughters to him so many times that only morons don't get his intentions.

But Luther wasn't interested, so he played dumb, and after bidding farewell, he prepared his stuff and waited for the airship.

A few days later, an airship landed in the cherry city.

Earl Cherry was looking as the airship left.

Dale said, "I don't get it! A marriage between us is good for both sides! Why he didn't even consider it?"

Earl Cherry said, "There is something wrong with him. I have already researched everything about him. With his current situation, he must be desperate to find backing. But he is so carefree. he must be relying on something."

Dale said, "What is it? Can it be that he knows some official mage?"

Earl said, "No. He would have never wasted his time working on our formation if he had that sort of support. Now that he is gone, we will never know."

Earl continued, " With you as my heir, I'm worried about our future!"

Dale dropped his head and gritted his teeth.

He had no mage talent and couldn't even practice knight training!

He said, "Father, don't be so unfair! I can't practice knight training because of the injury my mother suffered when I was in the womb. Also, I'm trying hard to excel in other areas!"

Earl said, "Like what? Literature? Everything depends on power! You can't win wars with poems! If you want me to be happy, use your skills to find mage husbands for your sisters that are getting old!"

The earl hired an old mage recently, but the mage was a woman who wasn't interested in other women, so marriage wasn't an option.

Dale said, "Sure, I will do that! You'll see poems aren't that useless!"

Then he turned around and left.

The earl sighed deeply and stared at the sky.

Then, a servant came and delivered a sealed letter to him.

It was from a spy he placed in Duke Robles's territory!

The earl read and was stunned!

"follow this matter closely; I want to know every detail!"

The servant bowed and left.

...

Luther paid one magic crystal as fare and left the airship.

After less than a day, he was back!

He greeted his few friends who still remembered him and started researching ways to reach the official mage.

An official mage used root mana when casting spells, so their spells were far, far more powerful than apprentice mages' spells.

To reach an official mage, you must condense all the root mana in the mana pool and form the mana core.

Mana is usually like air, invisible to naked air, but it can be condensed to a liquid and crystal.

To reach the official mage, one has to learn the rank one spell' mana crystal' and then use all of their root mana with a unique method to cast it.

Casting a rank one spell as a mage apprentice is difficult!

Just this step stopped many people from reaching the official mage stage.

The spell is extraordinary, and its only function is to create a mana crystal within the Aperture.

When the crystal formed, that apprentice mage became an official mage!

But it's more complex than it seems.

Though the Academy does sell the spell and the special method, they are expensive, and the person has to swear an oath not to leak the information in any way.

Luther cannot pay his admission fee right now, so don't think about the tens of thousands of magic crystals needed to buy those.

The Academy would give them for free as long as he swore loyalty to the Academy, but for now, he isn't willing to do that.

Also, it is a secret that he is even a first-grade apprentice mage, so he can't rely on the Academy!

After a few days of researching deeply in the library and reading many free books, he thought of everything, including selling pills he had saved.

However, on this day, shocking news reached him.

His father, Duke Cameron Robles, has died!

chapter 4 cruel reality

The Duke of Robels was one of the four dukes of the Robels kingdom.

The Duke owned five percent of the entire land area of the country!

His father, the Duke, was a brother of King Robels; that's why they had the same last name.

In the Robels kingdom, there were two factions.

The Royal faction and the noble faction.

The royal faction was the Duke of Robels and the king, and the rest were the noble faction.

As for how the king's brother, a royal, became a Duke, that's because he married the daughter of the previous Duke, whose last name was Carroll.

Duke Carroll was Luther's grandfather, and his daughter was naturally his Mother.

He had only one daughter and no other children.

According to the antiquated laws of the kingdom, women couldn't hold titles, so Luthers's father took the title after Duke Carroll's death.

Duke Carroll's death came shortly after the marriage, which was very suspicious.

Then, after Luther was born, his Mother also died!

These incidents at that time enraged the noble faction, but because the Blue Light Academy ultimately controlled the kingdom and didn't like civil wars, the noble's faction backed down, and the war was averted.

Then, a month after his Mother's death, his father married another woman from the royal faction!

After he grew older, his father sent him to the blue light academy with the persuasion of that woman.

It was to send him away, as nobody dreamed he could become a mage!

Mage talent is rare, and without mage talent, people sent to the Blue Light Academy would be a servant, not having the autonomy to move around.

But they never expected that he did have mage talent, so their plot became a blessing in disguise.

Now, his father is dead.

"Is it the noble faction or that woman? or both?"

As for his father dying naturally, he didn't even think of that possibility for one second!

His father was a great knight, extremely healthy, and a coward.

He would never go anywhere dangerous.

Certainly, it was a conspiracy, most likely by that woman, to remove the possibility that one day, his father might make him inherit the title.

After all, the situation has changed!

When he left, nobody thought he had mage talent, but now, he is an apprentice mage, which is a massive boost in the race to inherit the title.

He is the eldest son, but his Mother is dead, and he has been absent for a long time, so he has nobody there loyal to him.

His father was the only person that might have been receptive to him inheriting the title, and now, he is also gone.

"But with my father gone, doesn't that mean me, as the oldest male hair, have the right to inherit the title?" he thought.

As the eldest son, Luther has a right to the title, but what if he dies? What if that woman forges a fake will from his father and gets a signature from the king, giving her son the right to the title?

Although he can challenge the will in court, he is not guaranteed to win.

"I have to get there as soon as possible before That woman gives the title to my brother." he thought.

He is short of money now, and the Duke is rich! It can make him rich if he gets the title of Duke.

He went and informed the academy about a prolonged absence and bought a ticket for Hobbs City!

Then he went and prepared his stuff.

...

Three days later.

Luther was sitting in the airship near the Duke of Robels's territory.

He is powerful now!

At the peak of an apprentice, he can use spells quickly.

Luther is fearless even when facing a great knight.

For this reason, he wasn't too worried about the dangers in the city.

He paid one magic crystal and got out of the airship After they reached the territory of his deceased father.

Nobody knew he was coming here, so nobody came to greet him, although he suspected they wouldn't send anyone to greet him even if they knew.

He landed in Hobbs City, the largest city in the territory of Duke Robles.

This city has a profound history, as it was the birthplace of an official mage, and that official mage did a lot to promote this city.

There were statues of that mage all around the city, and the name of the city was also the last name of the mage.

Luther moved on, and after a while, he saw the castle.

"It's still just as I remember, very luxurious from the outside, but dark and disgusting when you see the inside." he felt disgusted by everything about this place.

This castle was where his Mother died, his father died, his grandfather died, and the place he suffered all of his childhood under that woman.

"Sigh, I hate it, but I need it." he started, moving toward the castle with determination.

After a while, the guards saw him and stopped him.

They were just regular guards, not knights

; they had no idea who he was.

After all, he had been away for a long time, so even people who knew him then might not recognize him, let alone these guards.

"Stop there; who are you?" the guard asked.

The castle of the Duke was closed entirely to the public, and only authorized people could enter.

"I'm Luther Robels, eldest son of late Duke Robels; now, open the gates; I want to talk to my stepmother."

The guard was stunned but immediately refused and said," I can't let you in! Please return!"

Luther thought to himself," That woman! She told them not to let me in! She is really… .hateful."

These guards are nothing to him.

He could easily enter by force, but he chose not to do it.

He turned around and left and started looking for information in the city.

He specifically asked when his father died and didn't waste time asking about other things, as these ordinary people wouldn't know the inside story.

After asking around, he managed to find out some details.

It turns out that his father had died precisely 14 days ago!

He was delighted to hear this news!

Luther didn't love his father at all!

After his Mother died, his father immediately married this woman, and she made him suffer a lot, and his father never stopped her, and the best he did was to keep him alive.

Then, he agreed to send Luther away to the academy.

Sending him to the academy was equivalent to taking away his right to inheritance.

Because 99 percent of people don't have any mage talent.

Not even rank one talent!

Sending him to mage academy was just an excuse for exile, a mutual agreement only not to kill him directly.

Mage Academy had many regular servants from all countries and every group, nobles and peasants.

These servants are treated much worse than mages, and they dedicate their lives to the academy.

They get compensated for their work, but their freedom will be severely limited once they sign their contract.

Luther was expected to sign a 50-year contract!

Nobody expected him ever to come back when they sent him away.

It was a turn of fate that it turned out that not only did he have mage talent, but he also had rank two talent!

After that, his father sent him some resources, but that too stopped after a while, presumably by the intervention of that woman.

"It's only 14 days since his death, which means there is no way they can transfer the title to my younger brother in this short time."

According to the laws of the kingdom, the title is transferred to the oldest heir, that would be him; however, the laws also say that the current holder of the title can change the successor if he writes it in his will.

After his death, the will would be delivered to the king, who would then have to approve it.

However, the king can only approve it after three months pass, and in these three months, the title remains ownerless.

Anyone who wishes to challenge the validity of the will have this time to present his case to the king.

If the king does not approve of the will, the title would be transferred to the oldest male hair regardless of what the will says.

However, if these three months pass, the only way is to sue in court.

It would be countless times more difficult to convince the judge to transfer the title if it has an owner.

The laws around transferring the title are stringent

It only happens if the new title holder is not from the bloodline of the previous holder.

It happens if there is proof that the wife cheated on her husband!

As for why the system works like this, it's a compromise between the royal and noble factions.

Nobody holds the title now, which means that According to the laws, his 'stepmother' doesn't even have the right to stay in the castle, as the castle is the property of the title holder and must remain empty accordingly.

"She is breaking the law by staying in there; it's good; the more she breaks the law, the better it is for me!"

The Robles kingdom is an absolute monarchy in name.

However, Because of the balance between the nobles and royals, both sides must respect the laws to avoid conflict.

"I can sue her in court, but that's a waste of time, as even if she is thrown out of the castle, if my younger brother wins the title after three months, then everything is in vain, so its better if I just go to the capital and meet the king and convince him to reject the will that she faked, if I can do that, then I will get the title automatically." he planned.

Luther has already determined that this woman killed his father and faked a will.

He hated this woman, which may have clouded his judgment a bit.

As for how he can convince the king, he can tell the king that he is a rank one mage apprentice!

Although this is a secret, if he wants to have a chance to inherit the Duke's territory, this is his only chance to convince the king.

As he is also considered one of the royal faction, the king should be easy to convince that he is the better hair for the Duke of Robles.

That woman was married to his father not by the king's arrangement but at his father's insistence, so it's not certain that the king prefers that woman's son to get the title.

"I will tell him that I am rank one mage apprentice as a last resort if nothing else can convince him! Now, let's move quickly." he thought.

He moved out of Hobbs City and started moving toward the capital.

However, after a while, he sensed a few people chasing him!

"Are you serious? Is that woman so low that he sends people to kill me?" Luther thought.

He stopped his horse and looked at the group of people.

In total, there were nine people!

Three were great knights, and the rest were knights!

"To hire this many people, she must have paid them a lot!"

"She definitely didn't use Duke Robel's army, as all of them are registered with the capital and are easy to recognize."

"These people must be mercenaries! I'm lucky she didn't hire legendary knights!" Luther thought.

If there were any legendary knight, then his life would be in danger!

Luckily, legendary knights are hard to find and are often nobles themselves.

Still on the horse, Luther cast his spell!

"Airstrike!"

High-pressured air was like an arrow, hitting one of the great knights in the heart before he could react.

His armor was like paper before this spell!

The remaining killers were shocked but soon sprang to action.

The two great knights moved quickly, trying to kill him before he could cast another spell.

The knights spread, trying to close his escape route!

Luther smiled and cast a 'light shield!'

A bubble that shone with light appeared around him and his horse!

One of the great knights with a huge beard hit the shield with all his strength!

The shield cracked but resisted the strike!

'Airstrike!'

Another arrow made of pressurized air flew and hit the bearded man in the face!

The man died immediately when the arrow made a big hole below his left eye.

You could see the other side of that hole.

The power of airstrike can even penetrate a big tree!

A human head is nothing.

When the other great knight saw this, he gave up and ran with all his strength!

Every knight also started to flee!

"I can't kill all of them, but I can kill that great knight." Luther thought.

He wanted to kill all of them to remove any chance that his first-grade apprentice would be leaked.

But he can't do that.

'Airstrike!'

Another compressed air arrow flew and hit the great knight on his feet!

He screamed and fell to the ground.

'Bind!'

Immediately, the great knight was bound by a magical rope.

Luther got closer and said, "You can live if you tell the truth!"

In great pain, the man screamed, "I'll tell you everything!"

Luther smiled and started listening!

...

The capital of the Robels kingdom, the city of Mata, is just two days away from Hobbs City.

Luther only took time to rest and eat and didn't meditate.

Soon, he reached Mata City and entered with the great knight, his prisoner, and witness.

When entering, he paid a few gold coins to enter.

That was, of course, a bribe to the gatekeeper for bringing the grand knight prisoner in!

The entry fee is just a copper coin!

Every city had a wall surrounding it, and they let people in only after they paid the entry fee unless exempted.

Exemptions include selling products, working in the city, being too young to pay, and many other exemptions, all spelled out clearly in the laws.

People who sell or work in the city pay taxes in other ways, so it wasn't a loss for the city.

Soon, he reached the king's palace and looked at it.

It was the second time he had seen it, the last time he was five years old and came here with his father and that woman.

He has many bad memories from that travel.

"As expected, nothing has changed here either." he thought.

There was no war in the last 100 years anywhere around this city.

The reason was not that people here are very peaceful.

Nobles are all very greedy and would tear each other apart anytime they have the chance.

It was the blue light academy that completely dominated all surrounding kingdoms and prohibited wars among kingdoms.

The dean of the Blue Light Academy is a rank five mage, and her words are like God's verdict, so nobody dares to disobey.

Of course, behind the scenes, they will poison and stab each other in the back, but nothing on the surface.

It can be said that Blue Light Academy is a blessing to all ordinary people.

Luther liked the academy because it was very righteous and fair.

He wished he had other choices other than hiding his mage level from the academy, but unfortunately, he hadn't any other choice.

The dean might be a good person, but the official mages below are not like the dean.

If any of them doubted him and thought he had a treasure, then decided to deal with him in the dark, he had no power to defend himself and could only die resentfully.

The guards saw him and, like the castle in Hobbs city, they stopped him and asked his origins.

The guards here were knights, showing the king's strength.

According to his latest knowledge, the Duke of Robles has 100 knights, eight grand knights, and one legendary knight.

As for the king, it is rumored that he has thousands of knights and ten legendary knights!

This is why only the king and Duke of Robels can rival all other nobels.

There was no reason the king might try to kill him, so Luther wasn't afraid.

He told the guards who he was and his reasons, and they informed their superior.

Soon, he was allowed in, and they even let him meet the king!

He was pleasantly surprised and was soon escorted to a room extremely luxurious.

The great knight was not allowed in, but the guards reassured Luther that he would be safe in their custody.

Luther was uneasy, but his options were limited.

Right now, leaving the great knight with the king's guards is the best option.

Even if something happened to the great knight prisoner, Luther could blame the king for it!

He entered the room and looked at the man before him.

He had black hair and black skin, long curly hair, extremely muscular, and sharp facial features.

His eyes were like an eagle's, and he had a slightly larger than his average nose and lips.

Strangely, he had very luxurious and beautiful glasses on his eyes.

It was out of tone with his huge, muscular body.

The glasses were colorful, with mixed red, green, and yellow colors.

The red light was exceptionally bright!

"It may be a magic treasure," Luther thought to himself

Regardless, the king was very handsome.

The king looked so different from Luther's father because the king's Mother was different from Luther's father's Mother.

The king's Mother was a princess from the Kobi kingdom.

The people of the Kobi kingdom were all black-skinned, so the king was naturally black-skinned.

As for whether other people liked that their king was black, they didn't dare to say anything as he was a legitimate king, approved by the Blue Light Academy, and very powerful and majestic.

Luther was very impressed!

The king had the breath of a legendary knight and even had an aura of a rank one apprentice mage!

The king, Owen Robels, smiled and said," Luther, I'm pleased to meet you; how are you?"

He stood up from his majestic seat patted Luther on the shoulder, and then pointed to the servants to bring a drink.

"I'm great, Your Majesty! My father's demise saddened me, so I took time off from the academy to meet you!" he said respectfully.

"I heard that, and I'm also sad about what happened. It's regrettable," Owen said

"Your Majesty, I'm here to discuss the matter of succession," Luther said.

The servants brought two cups of wine.

The king took them both, gave one to Luther, and started talking while drinking, "Yes, I heard that your stepmother has a will from your late father."

Luther started drinking and said," Your majesty, I'm begging you not to believe her; she is…cough."

Luther started coughing up blood and looked at the king with disbelief!

"Your majesty, you…cough cough!"

Luther immediately started casting healing spells, but the poison was so strong that it was like pouring a cup of water on a burning house!

He thought," It's rank one poison? How can he have rank one poison? No, I can't die here! I absolutely can't die here! How is it possible?"

As his eyes started to blur, he desperately took out the pill container and begged with his last strength," Please, if you hear me…save me, please!" he was crying while coughing.

Rachel was also stunned at seeing how her first host was dying.

"It's unbelievable! I thought he was the protagonist, but now it seems he is a side character. Maybe he somehow is saved by someone or something?" Rachel thought.

One thing is clear: the thing that saves him wouldn't be her!

It's not that she doesn't want to save him; it's just that she doesn't have any skill in healing hosts.

She can give Luther a poison pill, but not a healing pill!

"But why?" Luther screamed with difficulty while looking at Owen.

Owen was looking coldly and only said two words: "Nothing personal."

As time passed, Luther lost his energy, and his world darkened, and he died with his eyes open, resentful and full of regrets!

Owen looked at all this and asked himself, "Why is he talking to a pill container?"

He went forward personally, picked up the pill container, and opened it.

Inside, there were a lot of pills with a strong aura, all precious pills.

Besides the pills inside, the container itself was very luxurious and beautiful, with mysterious patterns on it.

He was astonished, having no idea how Luther got it.

He put the pill container in his pocket, intending to test the pills for poison, and if they were okay, he decided to give them to some of his mage apprentice subordinates to use.

"This pill container looks very beautiful; I might use it to store my pills," he thought.

The pill container looked beautiful, more beautiful than any pill container he had ever seen.

Then he looked at Luther's dead body with regret!

The reason Luther ended up dead was simple, very simple!

Three light fate magic treasures!

It was an extremely precious treasure of the royal family, transferred from king to king, and a very well-kept secret.

Its shape was like glasses with red, green, and yellow colors.

This rank three magic treasure had only one function: deducing fate!

Anyone who is not a danger to the user would be green.

Anyone who might be a danger would be yellow, and anyone who is a fatal danger would be red.

Luther was red, so Owen didn't hesitate and used his most potent poison to kill him!

This treasure was always right.

If fate is uncertain, it will show gray, so when Owen sees red, he won't hesitate even for a second!

Don't look at the royal family like this!

Every kingdom around Blue Light Academy has some relation to mages, and the Robles kingdom is no exception.

The ancestor of the kingdom is a rank four mage in the Blue Light Academy!

Otherwise, any rank one mage would have been able to destroy the entire kingdom alone!

It isn't just Robel's kingdom; every other kingdom comparable to Robel's kingdom has rank four ancestors in the Blue Light Academy.

The kingdom's position is solid as long as the ancestor is alive.

To be a fatal danger to Owen, the king of such a kingdom, Luther must have great luck.

Owen dared not even capture him, fearing that he would run away!

After killing Luther, he signed and had a bitter taste in his mouth, so he drank more wine and ordered the servants to take the corpse away.

chapter 5 the king

Owen took all the pills from the container and gave them to the woman before him.

"Put them in the treasury and reward them to apprentice mages." He said.

He had already tested them for poison and found nothing.

The woman in front of him, a first-grade apprentice mage, nodded and left with the pills.

Then he took the empty pill container and put his three 'limit breaker' pills in it.

These limit-breaker pills are incredibly precious, worth over ten thousand magic crystals.

They can expand the apprentice mage's root mana pool in the aperture.

They were sent to him by his ancestor.

'limit breaker' pills are immensely beneficial for people wishing to break through official mage.

It's not easy to reach the official mage.

Even if everything is done correctly, there is a chance of failure!

Expanding the root mana poll is one of the ways to lower the chance of failure.

It's a pity that the materials needed to concoct them are ancient and precious.

Although these pills are rank 0, they are very expensive.

Only the wealthiest people can dream of using them.

Anything that can increase the chances of reaching an official mage has a very high value, incomparable to the likes of root mana pill.

Owen put the beautiful pill container in his pocket and went to the throne room.

Today, they would discuss the matter of the Duke of Robles.

Initially, he wanted to deny Scarlet's fake will and let Luther inherit the title.

After all, she had probably killed his brother.

But he didn't expect that Luther was red according to Three Light Fate magic treasures, so he killed Luther!

Now, there is no choice but to let one of Scarlet's sons become the Duke of Robles.

As for personally punishing Scarlet, he won't do it anymore, as one of her sons will become the duke, and if Owen kills his mother, the new duke will be resentful.

That may cause instability that Owen wants to avoid more than anything.

He must close his eyes on this point.

However, he was informed that Scarlet sent people to kill Luther on his way to Mata.

Luther even brought a witness.

This matter went beyond Owen's range of tolerance.

Therefore, he is planning to order an investigation into the issue.

If the evidence is strong enough, Scarlet should be punished, regardless of what the new Duke of Robels thinks!

Owen cares deeply about the rule of law.

He will not punish Scarlet for killing his brother, partly because there is no unquestionable evidence that she did it.

Everyone knows she most likely did it, but it can't be proven.

However, regarding the attempted murder of Luther, there is evidence.

He won't get involved directly, just ordering his subordinate to investigate and charge her with appropriate crimes, letting the process play itself out.

With these thoughts, He reached the throne room, opened the door, and entered.

He saw the usual four people there, all men.

Mages are very inclusive regarding gender, but mortal kingdoms are male-centered.

One was a tall man named Phillip Fowler, Owen's assistant regarding matters of nobles.

The other, Julius Jacobs, was his assistant in matters of surrounding kingdoms.

He was ordinary; the only distinguishing factor regarding him was his blind right eye.

Jeffrey Ellis was his assistant regarding the Kingdom's management.

He was, in essence, the prime minister.

Jeffrey was also the oldest.

The Last One, a rank one official mage named Nell Kidd, was sent to him by his ancestor!

Nell Kidd was the protector of the royal family!

With Nell, even Owen has to be a bit respectful!

They all bowed to Owen and started reporting.

First, Phillip started to report on the matter of the Duke of Robles and explained the attitudes of other nobles regarding this.

"The noble faction doesn't like a son of Lady Scarlet to get the title and prefers Luther. They already sent letters to us indicating they will sue in court if Alec gets the title," Phillip said.

Owen looked at him and said:" Luther has died in an accident. I order that nobody investigate his death. The title will be transferred to Alec, son of Scarlet. Make this known to all. This is an article One order," he said with a commanding tone.

Philip was shocked, but when Owen said it was an article one order, he didn't talk anymore and moved on to other matters.

Nobody in the Kingdom, or even other kingdoms, would dare to question an order if Article One is involved.

Article one means that Blue Light Academy is on board, so any dissent is, in reality, disagreeing with the Blue Light Academy.

Philip continued:" Duke Adams is marrying his daughter with the eldest son of the Kingdom of Solis, and the marriage is set to take place in 1 month."

"huh? Why is it the Kingdom of Solis? Send him my order that marriage is not allowed. This order is also Article One," Owen said calmly.

The ancestor of the Kingdom of Solis had a lousy relationship with his ancestor, so no marriage between the two countries could occur according to his ancestor's orders.

"Count Sykes is gaining a lot of money by mining a gold mine in his territory."

Owen said:" The matters regarding Nobel's territories have nothing to do with us. Report me if he found magic crystals, but he can mine as much gold as he wants."

If it were magic crystals, it would be taken over by the Academy, but resources such as gold are useless to mages, so they don't care.

"Count Cherry has found an unaffiliated first-grade mage apprentice to operate his formation, "Philip continued.

Owen frowned and said, "No sane rank one mage apprentice would work for the kind of wage. Send an order that the mage must register with the Blue Light Academy in one month. They will take care of this matter."

Philip took note of all of the orders and then stopped talking.

After a while, Julius started talking.

The Blue Light Academy was vast, and its size was equal to an entire kingdom.

Seven different kingdoms and one empire surrounded it.

Robles kingdom, Kobi kingdom, Bass kingdom, Terrell kingdom, Morton kingdom, Holt kingdom, Solis kingdom, and Salas empire.

Salas Empire was the biggest one supported by the dean of Blue Light Academy.

The other seven kingdoms were each supported by one of the deputy deans.

The dean and seven deputy deans have been working as the managing team of the Academy for many years.

Bellow them, there are other commissions and superintendents, but those are all subordinate to these eight people, known as the board of directors. Any tie vote will go to the way the dean votes.

Some independent cities and Nobles existed near the territory of the academy.

But those are all small and weak.

That is, of course, because Blue Light Academy won't allow any big kingdom that they don't control near them.

If another rank four deputy dean appears, they may establish another kingdom exclusively for that rank four mage.

Julius spoke about the situation of these surrounding countries, but nothing exciting was happening.

War was forbidden among countries, and assassination on the level of kings was also banned, so they were forced to live in relative peace.

Then Julius stopped, and Jeffrey Ellis started talking.

"Your Majesty, we have had an established court system for fifteen years, but some Nobles still don't respect its orders. For example, Count Sykes confiscated free people's land by force, and when the court ordered him to return the land, he ignored the court's order."

Owen thought and ordered," Send a representative from me to him and other nobles and remind them that they must respect court orders. Pressure the other nobles to convince Count Sykes to comply. If he still doesn't comply, send a royal decree. Only write five words in that decree: comply with the court order. If he disobeys the royal decree, prepare for war. next?"

Ellis said," Your majesty, the latest plan regarding taxing knights appears to have scared some knights away from the royal territory to the Nobles' territory. I strongly recommend we lower the tax."

"We need money to improve the knight's academy, so we can't lower the rates. Don't worry; we will have a net gain after the knights graduate. Next," Owen said.

Ellis talked for 20 minutes, and Owen decided on all the issues.

They ranged from farming, hunting, banking, and everything else.

Owen was very involved in the Kingdom's management, leaving little discretion to 'prime minister' Ellis.

Then, Nell Kidd, the rank one mage, started speaking.

"Your Majesty, the Academy requests us to conduct a talent exam and send them 100 people with at least 3rd-level talent. We should start very quickly, as they gave us a deadline of 3 months."

"100 ranks three talent? It's tough to find that many! Everyone, cooperate and gather the requested number before the deadline." Owen said with a serious look.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

'Requests' from the Blue Light Academy have priority over everything else.

They are called requests, but in fact, they are the highest form of an order.

Not complying with the 'requests' would have severe consequences for the Kingdom.

Nell again started talking," Recently, an official mage has appeared near the Kingdom's northern border. According to reports, she had taken over an independent city."

"Send the news to the academy; they deal with these things," Owen said.

After 10 minutes, Owen ended the conference, set the next date in one month, and dismissed everyone.

Then, he went to rest and meditate.

After meditation, he went to the training ground for knight training.

Even though he is a legendary knight, the peak of what a knight can reach, he still trained very hard.

…

Two weeks later, At night

It's said that the best time to consume any pill is at full moon.

Tonight was such a night, and Owen sat in his meditation room.

"I'm going to use a limit breaker pill tonight." he thought.

He was already at the peak of rank one apprentice mage for a long time, so other pills were useless.

He took out the pill container and opened it, taking a look.

His eyes widened, and he took out all 17 pills!

"What's going on here?" he looked in confusion, looking at each pill with vigilance.

After a While, with a cold sweat on his forehead, he confirmed that All the pills were real!

"This pill container! It's this pill container! My three pills become 17 because this container makes pills! It has been 14 days since I got it, so maybe one pill a day?" Owen was breathless as he thought about this priceless treasure!

If this thing is as strong as he thinks, then not counting anything else, he can reach unimaginable heights!

"With an unlimited supply of limit-breaking pills‌, I can reach the state of the true limit!

The true limit was the maximum amount of root mana an apprentice mage could hold.

Reaching the true limit isn't possible by normal means.

Only things such as limit-breaking pills can achieve it.

Anyone who reaches the true limit will have a 100 percent chance of breaking through to the official mage!

In addition, they will have an advantage after reaching the official mage; their path to rank 2 is easier than other mages.

Resources are critical in advancing the mage path, so this pill bottle is priceless!

If it is found out, it might cause a war between the academies!

Any king who reaches the official mage usually abdicates the throne and goes to the Blue Light Academy.

They pass all royal magic treasures to the next king when they leave.

Initially, he planned to leave here for the Academy as soon as he became an official mage, but now, his mind has changed!

He will never pass this pill container to anyone!

He can't even risk anyone finding out details of this magic treasure!

He put the pills away and decided to test them for poison and other things before using them.

Also, he planned to test the container for a lot of things.

Whether it can make a rank one pill, what happens if there are several different types of pills inside, or whether or not it can make liquid capsules.

Some medicinal plants can't be formed into pills, so they can only be used in liquid form.

Owen has so many questions!

"But one question remains. Why did Luther talk to this pill container at the last moment? Could it be that it's a conscious magic treasure?" Owen went deep into thought.

He has never heard of a couscous magic treasure, so if this pill container can understand the surroundings and do things independently, Owen will not dare to use it.

"Still, maybe Luther was desperate and thought it could make a detoxifying pill. I can't give up on such a treasure just because of a bit of doubt.

With this thought, Owen started moving to the treasury to put a few pill types in the pill container.

Rachel sighed with relief when she saw this.

It was a risky move to expose her abilities to Owen.

But not exposing herself also had a lot of risks.

Owen is already a first-grade mage apprentice.

If he breaks through the official mage stage without consuming 100 of her pills, then she would not be promoted to rank along with him.

In that case, she can either wait for Owen to die of old age so she can find a new host, or she can give the poison pill to him.

Official mages live up to 500 years.

Rachel doesn't even want to think about getting stuck without even being able to talk to her host for that long!

That is not considering the possibility that Owen might advance to a higher rank!

As for killing Owen, that is even worse!

The system has given her a rough understanding of the world around her.

She knows that Owen, the king of the Robels kingdom, has a rank-four ancestor.

What happens when Owen suddenly dies?

The rank four mage would likely investigate.

Then, she might be mistaken for some evil magic treasure.

And lastly, she can't imagine Owen would willingly give her to another person.

She looks charming, so it wouldn't be strange if Owen kept her in some collection somewhere.

For these reasons, she decided to expose her abilities to him.

It was a risk.

Owen might have gotten scared and buried her somewhere.

He might have given her to his ancestor.

But fortunately, at least for now, everything went according to the plan.

...

the fifth day of the third month of year 989956

After testing the pills for every possible poison and conspiracy, he determined no danger and decided to Use them!

A lot of limit-breaking pills are needed to reach the true peak.

Fortunately, in the past few days, he collected many of them!

He tested the pill container for a lot of things!

The results were mixed.

Firstly, it can't produce rank one pills.

He put some rank one pills he got from his ancestor in, but after waiting for days, nothing happened.

He was very disappointed with this.

Not being able to produce rank one pills sharply reduces the value of the magic treasure.

Next, it can produce other types of pills!

He put another rank 0 pill in, and the pill container copied it without a problem.

And to his surprise, the 'copied' pills were much more pure than the original ones!

Owen was happy to see this.

The pill container can't produce rank one pills, but at least the rank 0 pills it produces are pure.

The Best in rank 0!

Next, he put in a few types of pills at the same time.

The container copied the most valuable pill every time!

He tried it with many types of pills.

Results were always the same; it accurately chose the most valuable one and produced it, ignoring other rank 0 pills inside.

This proves that this magic treasure has some intelligence but may be passive.

The kind of intelligence to detect what is the most valuable.

Not the type that can conspire and think.

This made him sigh with relief a little.

Owen would be terrified if there were any evidence it could make plans.

After all this, he decided only to copy 'limit breaker' pills to prepare for the official mage stage.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom had many affairs that needed to be taken care of, and he, as king, was responsible for managing the Kingdom.

He went to the thrown room and saw familiar four waiting.

But this time, Jeffrey Ellis, responsible for the Kingdom's management, looked worried and started talking before everyone else!

"Your Majesty, even after your order, Count Sykes refuses to comply with the court's order and is not giving back the land!"

chapter 6 official mage

Owen was surprised and asked:" Why is he so insistent on keeping that mine? Even defying my orders for it; either there is something very precious there, or he is an idiot."

Jeffry said:" Your majesty, there is a third possibility! Every other Nobel supports count sykes, so this might be a coordinated effort by all nobles to dismantle the court system we set up."

The court system was just recently created, and it was forcefully imposed on the nobles.

They always disliked it because it limited their power.

They were always complaining about it.

There were instances when it took Owen's order to make them comply.

But Owen was very keen on preserving the court system.

He wanted to strengthen the rule of law because it limits nobels power to abuse ordinary people; without it, they can do whatever they want, and even if they violate the laws of the kingdom, people have nowhere to complain, essentially making all of the laws only in the paper without any effect.

Owen cared about the kingdom's people.

Most of his attention was on his mage path, but that didn't mean he didn't care about the kingdom.

He asked, "What is your recommendation, Jeffry?"

"I think we need to answer this very carefully. Maybe we should send an envoy and negotiate with them on some compromise and maybe exempt them from complying with some laws," Jeffry said.

Owen laughed and ordered, "This is my order: gather five legendary knights, fifty great knights, five hundred knights, and fifty thousand soldiers as soon as possible! We will arrest anyone who ignored the court orders and, more importantly, my orders!"

After that, he cast a sharp look at Jeffry and left.

He had already fired this man in his mind, and he would officially fire him after the war.

The nobles defied his order, and Jeffry wanted to negotiate!

They can delay, misinterpret, half-heartily comply, etc., but flat-out defying his orders is way past the red line!

Owen decided to send Tristan Farrell, his best warrior, as commander.

He doesn't expect any of the other nobles to send any reinforcement when they see the size of his army, but he would be happy to see that happen, as he can know who troublemakers are and can remove them later.

As for orders of the Blue Light Academy, this war is internal.

Owen only needs to explain it to his ancestor, and he is confident that his ancestor would agree.

With his ancestor approving this, there is nothing to worry about.

With this, a war campaign started!

…

The army marched with more than 50,000 soldiers!

Each legendary knight was a general who was commander of 10,000 soldiers.

As for great knights, they were directly under the legendary knights. They may be assigned to be commanders or may form special units.

Tristan Farrell liked to organize the army this way.

In addition, they brought a lot of siege equipment, including Battering rams, Catapults, Siege towers, and all kinds of equipment.

Robels kingdom kept an arsenal of various war weapons, even though they rarely needed it.

This way, they can quickly send an army instead of wasting time making them when the war started.

This shows the amazing mobilizing ability of the Robel kingdom.

After 10 days of marching, they finally reached the Burch castle.

This castle was located in the southernmost part of the rebel's kingdom.

The only road to Sykes City is through this castle.

Tristan has no other way but to conquer this castle to reach Count Sykes.

...

In the camp

Tristan and five other legendary knights were sitting around a round table.

Oscar, a legendary knight with a big mustache and deep blue eyes, was talking.

"As I said, our troops are much more trained and have all the necessary siege ckeequipments. We must attack and destroy them!"

Glenn, another legendary knight with long hair, said, "Why should we try to attack when we can surround them and wait for their supplies to end? Then, they attack us, and we take much fewer losses."

Oscar said," his majesty is waiting for the news of victory; do you want to make him wait? So what if some people die? It's war!"

Glenn remained silent.

Allan, another of the legendary knights, nodded his head and said, "Oscar is right. We can't stall here! Sykes City has a population of 300000 people. The more we wait here, the more time we give him to train troops. We should take this castle as soon as possible!"

Ivan, also a legendary knight, said, "I agree with Glenn. Count Sykes doesn't have enough weapons to form an army. Also, we have blocked all other trading routes to Sykes City. I think the later we reach there, the weaker they will be. If we rush there, our losses would be thousands, but if we wait, they may surrender themselves!"

The last legendary knight, Frank, said, "I also agree with Ivan. They don't have the weapons and armor to make an army. We should surround them and wait. I'm sure his majesty would be pleased if we take the castle without any casualties!"

Oscar snorted angrily.

All eyes turned to Tristan.

Tristan was deep in thought.

After a while, he said, "We'll wait."

...

Robels kingdom's army surrounded the castle and blocked it from receiving anything.

Even a stream that was flowing to the castle was blocked.

With a steady stream of supplies from Mata City, the army had no problems regarding food and other necessities.

On the other hand, people in Burch Castle were killing horses to feed themselves.

With no reinforcement in sight, the commander of Burch Castle placed white flags up and opened the gates!

They surrendered!

Tristan was pleased to see this!

He ordered them arrested and sent to Mata City.

Because they were surrounded, their punishment would be light!

Tristan took the castle and put Glenn in charge of it.

After that, he and other legendary knights, along with 45 great knights, hundreds of knights, and tens of thousands of soldiers, started marching toward Sykes City!

...

Count Sean Sykes punched the man in the face!

"How dare they? Surrendering to Tristan? That lowly, dirty peasant? damn it!"

A great knight named Wade, who was Sean's assistant, said, "Malord, the situation is dire! We should use that!"

Sean said, "Even with that, we will still lose! Is there any news from the mage?"

Wade said," Malord, that mage has taken all the magic crystals and left. There is no chance he would come back."

Count Cykes screamed and punched the wall!

A few months ago, a mage came and proposed a deal.

Count Sykes would help the mage mine a rank 3 magic crystal mine, and in return, the mage would give him a rank 3 'mage talent' pill!

Count Sykes is old!

Becoming a mage is the only chance for him to increase his lifespan.

But he doesn't have any mage talent.

Pills like 'Mage Talent' are so precious that even if he sells everything, he still can't buy half of a 'Mage Talent' pill!

Even if he has the money, finding one who has it and is willing to sell it is challenging.

That mage's proposal was his only chance, so he agreed.

The only problem was that the mine was in the private land of a free person.

If it was before, he would just take it, but recently, courts have been established.

Laws around land ownership have been strengthened.

It's no longer possible to just take people's land away.

That man wouldn't sell his land, no matter what he offered.

Count Sykes was desperate, so he took that man's land anyway.

He wanted to kill the man to silence him, but the man was smart; he ran away and sued him in court.

Sean ignored the court's order.

Then King Robels sent him a royal decree to give the land back.

But at that point, it was too late!

That mysterious mage have already given him the rank 3 mage talent pill, and he used it.

If he were to go back on his word and say 'You can't mine here', that mage would kill him right there!

So he disobeyed the king's order.

What he didn't expect was the extremely aggressive action by the king!

Unbelievably, they sent an army.

Sean had bribed Jeffry with a lot of gold.

He hoped Jeffry would convince the king to back down.

In the last month, Count Sykes sent many letters of apology, but all were ignored!

Even worse, every country around rejected their Asylam request.

Count Sykes's territory borders the Salas Empire, the Kobi Kingdom, and the Blue Light Academy.

The Kobi Kingdom has a great relationship with the Robels kingdom.

They would never allow him to take refuge there.

Salas empire is neutral but definitely wouldn't allow him to take Asylum.

As for the Blue Light Academy, don't even think about it!

At best, they would be arrested and sent back if they ran to the neighboring countries.

Unless he grows wings and flies, Sean can't run away!

He sighed and said, "Do it!"

That thing was their only chance.

If they defeat Robels's army, the road to the north will be accessible again. Then, they can get out of the Blue Light Academy's spread of influence and run to one of those independent cities.

Wade bowed and left the room.

...

The Robels army reached Sykes City after only 3 days.

But what they witnessed was different from what they expected.

People were everywhere!

Tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands!

Tristan was astonished and said, "Are they peasants? What is going on here? Send a group and arrest a few of them to interrogate them!"

After a while, a few of them were arrested.

Oscar began questioning them harshly.

"Who are you?"

No response was given.

Oscar punched the man.

"Why are you walking outside the city walls?"

The man didn't even react to the punch.

Oscar lost his patience and started torturing the man.

But the man was like a corpse, not reacting to anything.

Everyone who witnessed this was astonished!

Tristan had a bad feeling!

"This might be magic; no, this is definitely magic!" he thought.

Just as he thought of that, a red light shined from within the syles city, and then the man who looked dead jumped at Oscar!

He was like a beast, using his teeth and nails to try to scratch Oscar to death!

Unfortunately for him, Oscar, a legendary knight, punched and turned the man into meat sauce!

Oscar laughed, but then he looked at the hundred thousand people outside the city.

Every single one of them was rushing straight at them!

Tristen screamed, "Get ready, sound the trumpets! Take defensive position!"

Before long, the zombie army attacked!

Each one of them was weak, but that is in comparison to knights!

In comparison to ordinary people, they were much stronger.

Most of the army of the Robels kingdom was composed of ordinary people!

As time passed, the ground was filled with dead people!

The majority were 'zombies,' but many were also soldiers of the Robels kingdom!

What's worse, when soldiers died, after a while, they would come back to life to attack the Robels army!

Fortunately for the Robels kingdom, the 'zombies' were weaker than the knights.

Not a single knight was killed.

It was because of Tristan's orders.

He gathered all knights and great knights, altogether abandoning regular soldiers.

For this reason, the knights fought alongside each other, and even if one was exhausted, other knights were there to support them.

Combine that with 45 great knights and 5 legendary knights, they managed to avoid casualties.

After one day, every single one of the 'zombies' was killed.

But also, of 45000 soldiers, less than half made it out alive!

Tristan looked at the literal river of blood that was flowing and cried!

"That devil count sykes!" he was furious!

He ordered everyone to go and look for the count.

But after days of searching, they couldn't find anyone!

...

In Sykes City, only women and small children remained.

Whatever that magic was, it only worked on men.

The army collected and burned all the corpses, fearing some zombies might still be alive.

After leaving 10,000 soldiers to protect this city temporarily, Tristen gathered the remaining army and returned to the Mata city.

He was very depressed about how he would explain the incident and the massacre to his majesty!

...

The twenty-seventh day of the fourth month of year 989956

Owen was sitting in the meditation room.

He slowly took one more limit-breaking pill from the container and swallowed it.

Immediately, a chilly energy flow entered his meridians and reached his aperture.

Soon, it surrounded his mana pool and, after a while, slightly largened it.

But the effect was minimal and barely noticeable.

He opened his eyes, and after a while, he sighed.

This pill is now officially useless for him.

His resistance to it is so high that its effect is less than one percent of when he first started.

Fortunately, after a few months of using this pill, his mana pool is so large that it's very close to the true limit.

Then he took out two other pills.

These pills were treasures that his ancestors sent him!

One is a rank-one pill that significantly increases the chances of reaching the official mage!

It is named the 'rank one' pill and has a deep history.

Initially invented by the ancient seven-color academy around a million years ago, the pill's recipe is widely spread among all mage academies.

But its materials are so rare that it is more valuable than most rank two pills!

Its mechanism is mysterious, but the effect is known to all.

This pill will significantly decrease the chance of failure when breaking through rank 1 mage.

Having this pill when breaking through the official mage stage is hugely luxurious.

Only those with wealthy supporters can get it.

Everyday apprentice mages who don't have a strong supporter can only dream about it.

In general, Refining pills is a complex task.

Even rank 1 mages can hardly get rank 1 pills!

Let alone apprentice mages getting a pill that is as valuable as a rank 2!

989956 years ago, around the time high-ranking mages invaded heaven, the time was locked, and since then, resources for concocting pills have become much more challenging to cultivate.

Many of these valuable pills require plants thousands of years old to concoct.

Before, mages used time magic to accelerate time.

But after the time was locked, they couldn't do it anymore.

The 'rank one' pill looked like a square and was pink.

The other was a rank-one limit-breaking pill!

It was extremely useful for Owen, as he believed he would likely reach the true limit with this pill!

Owen took a deep breath, took out the rank one limit-breaking pill, put it in his mouth, and swallowed!

He felt massive amounts of freezing energy entering his meridians!

With difficulty, he consciously directed all of it to his aperture.

The freezing energy of the pill gathered around his root mana pool.

After a while, the root mana pool began to expand significantly, to the point that it didn't have more space to grow!

The mana poll is inside the aperture.

It usually is much smaller than the aperture.

But now, Owen's mana pool is the same size as his aperture.

Unlike the mana pool, the aperture's size is fixed and can never expand!

When the size of the mana pool is the same as that of the aperture, mages call it the true limit!

If the mana poll gets any bigger, Owen would explode and die!

"Finally, I reached my true limit!" he cheered.

"Now, everything is ready, and the next full moon, I will try to reach the official mage!" he was excited.

In the meantime, he plans to use a few 'root mana' pills to fill his mana pool again.

After all, it is now bigger, so he has to fill it again.

Even though with the true limit, his chance of failure is zero, to be on the safe side, he decided to wait for the full moon.

Better safe than sorry!

Official mage is a big deal in the world, and with his talent, it would not be his last promotion!

An official mage can live up to 500 years!

With his rank eight talent and the protection of his ancestor, he would likely reach higher levels than the official mage.

Owen believes that his talent is the main reason that his ancestor is helping him.

People with mage talent are rare; barely 1 in 100 would have mage talent, and most are rank one.

His rank-eight talent is so rare that no person in a thousand years in Robel's kingdom might be born with it!

Usually, mages wouldn't care about worldly affairs.

Official mages might care a little, and rank two mages might still have some care about the mortal world, but after rank 2, mages really don't care about anything but advancing in their mage path.

One example is that the dean of the blue light sect is a woman, but all kingdoms surrounding it discriminate against women openly.

The dean is a rank-five mage.

She can change everything with a few words!

Yet, she won't do it because she doesn't care about mortals.

One reason might be because of age.

Rank one mages have a lifespan of 500 years.

Rank 2 mages have a lifespan of 2500 years.

Rank 3 mages can live up to 12500 years.

Rank 4 can live 62500 years.

As for rank 5, they can live up to 312500 years!

After tens of thousands of years, who knows what their mindset is?

They witnessed the rise and fall of many kingdoms.

For them, mortals are like flies.

But even then, his ancestor, a rank-four mage, cared about him and sent him many gifts and resources!

That shows how rare his rank-eight mage talent is!

His ancestor might think that helping him is beneficial to his own mage path.

Still, whatever his ancestor's reasons are, Owen is very grateful.

He sighed deeply, got up, and went to rest.

...

Soon, it was time for the throne room again.

Owen went in.

There were five people inside.

By this time, he had fired Jeffry.

In his place, he appointed a man named Josef Santana.

He was from a commoner family and was very talented.

The 5th person was Tristan Farrell, who was not tall and muscular, contrary to what one might expect from a legendary knight.

When they saw him enter, everyone bowed.

Tristan Farrell spoke with his permission.

"Your Majesty, we defeated Count Sykes!" he said.

Owen replied slowly," Casualties?"

Tristan lowered his voice and reported, "27,208 soldiers died and more than 10,000 injured."

This large number made Owen shocked!

"How did this happen? Did any of the other nobles help him? Quickly talk!" Owen said angrily.

Tristan started talking," Your majesty, the count used unknown magic. We were caught off guard."

Tristan continued," he somehow turned all of the men in his territory into some kind of walking dead who attacked us without regard for their lives."

Owen thought, saying, "How many ordinary people died?"

Tristan hesitated to say, but when he saw the king's impatient look, he said," More than 100,000 people!"

Owen crushed the glass of wine in his hand in rage!

"One idiot Nobel caused the death of this many innocent people! Such a shame, it is such a shame!" Owen started cursing Count Sykes loudly.

He would never have sent an army if he hadn't been prohibited from using mages in mortal battles by the Blue Light Academy.

As for sending a smaller army, that would risk losing; in addition, the larger army was for intimidation and possible surrounding of Count Sykes.

As for assassination, this war was about making an example that everyone must comply with laws, so killing a noble illegally was out of the table.

Owen sighed and said with disgust," Look for the count everywhere and send arrest warrants to all surrounding countries! I want him alive."

Then he turned to Nell and said, "The count appears to have used magic, so use all of our magic resources to aid in finding him! Also, go and inform the Blue Light Academy immediately!"

If magic is involved, then the rules allow the use of mages.

Nell bowed and left.

"Is there anyone left alive?" Owen asked.

Tristen said with a low but clear voice, "Women and some young boys survived. I placed 10,000 of our soldiers who weren't injured to guard them. They are begin taken care of."

Owen said, "Give families of all the deceased adequate compensation; the compensation's monetary burden is split 50-50 between the royal faction and the nobles. In addition, prepare a report about the exact gender breakdown of people who survived."

"I don't want a barren territory in my kingdom. As such, incentivize young men to move there from other places. Also, the territory hereby is annexed by the crown and will be controlled and ruled directly by it. Josef, Go and implement all of my orders as soon as possible," he commanded with majesty.

Josef bowed and left.

Then, he asked others to report any other important news.

Nothing noteworthy had happened, so he ended the meeting and left.

…

After a few weeks, it was full moon again!

Owen was sitting in the meditation room and was concentrating.

He wanted to be in his best state before the breakthrough.

But after a while, he opened his eyes and frowned!

"Death of one hundred thousand of my citizens has affected my mood. I'm angry! It's not the best time to break through. Delaying it for another month is best!"

Now, he understood why kings would abandon the throne after becoming mages!

Concentration and mental peace are essential for mages, as casting spells, medication, and pretty much everything about mages is a mental activity and requires a peaceful and clear mind.

Now, his mind has waves, and he can't completely concentrate.

"Let's take a vacation for a month to clear my mind!" he thought.

It's hard for kings to take a vacation as they must always be careful about people who want to harm them, but that is for regular kings!

His source of power is his rank four mage ancestor, and nobody can dream of illegitimately taking over the crown.

He made preparations, appointed Josef as guardian of the crown, and then left for a peaceful lake in the royal territory.

…

weeks later

These days, he was completely relaxed and played chess, learned some musical instruments, watched dances, and listened to many beautiful music by the best musicians of the kingdom.

The full moon is in the sky.

His eyes are closed, and he is in deep meditation.

"Let's start!" Owen felt that his state was the best it could get, so he took out the 'rank one' pill his ancestor gave him and swallowed it directly!

Then he used the secret method and drew all root mana in his mana pool and used them to cast the particular spell to crystalize his root mana!

Casting a rank one spell by someone in rank 0 is very difficult, but he trained it many times, and his state of mind was excellent; plus the boost provided by the 'rank one' pill, the spell was cast flawlessly!

All of the root mana in his mana pool vanished, and after a while, a small, blurry, circular crystal appeared in his aperture!

"Success," he was overjoyed!

This was mana core, and only official mages have it!

It signified that he had succeeded; from now on, he is an official mage!

The official mage stage is the actual beginning of the mage path!

Apprentice mages can only use leaves mana, a degraded version of root mana that can only be used for simple spells.

But official mages can use root mana directly, so their spells are much stronger than apprentice mages!

Even if rank one mage cast the same rank 0 spells, it would be much stronger than when apprentice mages cast the same spell.

Owen released his aura, and most people surrounding his medication room trembled and fell!

Mortals can hardly tolerate even the aura of official mages!

Only great nights and legendary knights can stay conscious in the face of an official mage's aura!

When he felt that his subordinates fainted, he contained his aura and wanted to move to a quiet area to test some of his abilities freely.

But at this time, a cheerful woman's voice appeared in his mind!

"Hello, Owen; it's nice to finally talk to you!"