"Sire, he is a Stage Four, Level Eight!" The royal cultivator turned to look him over for the first time.
"It appears you had just recently broken through a level and were already able to solidify your level foundation. What I find even more impressive is how you look so young and have such a high cultivation stage. May I ask just how old you are cultivator Ben King?
Ben smiled at the old man's praise and answered truthfully.
"I am currently nineteen years old sir royal cultivator"
The old man just shook his head with a sigh as the king looked on at the two of them while chuckling in amazement.
"I am a stage five, level 7 cultivator and I am 135 years old. I have been cultivating since when I was thirty years old. I thought that even though I started a little late that I was a genius amongst my peers to advance to my stage. Then here you stand only nineteen years old and you are only eight levels below me. Life is quite unfair." The royal cultivator said with a look of regret.
When Ben heard his age he thought earlier that the royal cultivator was possibly in his mid 80s, but surely not 135 years old.
'System, does cultivating Qi extend a person's lifespan?' He asked inside his head.
*Ding!* [Correct the higher a person's cultivation the longer they will live a natural life. It will be extended even further by advancing to a higher level at a younger age.]
'Damn this is incredible! I wonder how many years I have added to my life then.' Ben thought to himself.
*Ding!* [The current estimated lifespan of the host without increasing in cultivation would be approximately 205 years.]
Ben noticed that the king was looking at him with a shocked smile while he had his conversation with the system. The king recovered quickly and began to speak cutting off any other questions Ben wanted to ask the system and rousing the royal cultivator from his regrets.
"Firstly I would like to explain the noble titles of this kingdom to you. Your kingdom may be different so I will give you a quick explanation. The lowest title is Baronet, next is Baron then the title of Viscount. Above the Viscount title is Marquess and above Marquess is Duke and finally the highest noble title is Archduke.
When Ben heard these familiar noble titles being explained, he knew this was the system making it easy for him just like how the cultivation went by stages and levels.
Ben easily followed along and knew the order at which each of these titles outranked each other from the many games and books that had used them.
"There are no longer that many cultivators left on this continent and every kingdom takes care of any they come into contact with. I am not sure if you are aware that cultivators are all given noble titles depending on their cultivation level. So I would like to award you a title from my kingdom."
Ben was curious as to what he meant by there are no longer that many cultivators left on the continent. Did they kill each other off or go out to explore the world?
The king then stood up from the throne and stepped forward and at the same instant all the nobles behind Ben stood up from their seats as is the custom to not remain seated while the king stands.
"I Tobias Sletten the twenty-second king of the kingdom of Aregard bestow the noble title of Marquess to the cultivator Ben King! Taking into account Marquess King's young age I would also award him an estate in the capital equivalent to a Marquess title. Let it be known from this day forth that Marquess King is a noble of this kingdom and is granted all the privileges of his rank!"
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[How Aregard decides which nobility rank is awarded to a cultivator]
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Noble Title / Required Cultivation Stage
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Archduke/Archduchess: Stage Six and above Cultivator
Duke/Duchess: Stage Five Cultivator
Marquess/marchioness: Stage four Cultivator
Viscount/Countess Earl: Stage Three Cultivator
Baron/Baroness: Stage Two Cultivator
Baronet/Baronetess: Stage One Cultivator
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The king then looked off to the side of the throne room and nodded toward a man who had just recently arrived carrying a couple small engraved wood boxes.
The man walked forward with measured steps and bowed before the king while holding out only one of the boxes before him. King Tobias took the box from him and opened it toward Ben.
"This is the Ring and badge of nobility. They will identify you as a Marquess of the Aregard Kingdom. This will allow you to come and go through the city gates without needing to be searched or wait in line. With these, you also have access to the Royal Palace and any of the kingdoms facilities or areas that are exclusively for nobles.
The king then removed the ring and placed it on Ben's right index finger. When Ben glanced at it he could read the title Marquess engraved above a crest identical to the one he seen on the palace gates and walls.
'This must be why the assistant brought a few boxes with him they must all have different nobility titles engraved into the rings and badges and they were unsure how my nobility rank test would turn out.' Ben thought as he saw his title on his ring.
The king then took out the gold badge and because Ben was currently wearing his full body armor, the king pinned the badge to the black silk border on his cape that hung down just over the front of his right shoulder.
With a pleased smile, the king snapped the wooden box closed and handed it to Ben to keep so that he could securely store the ring and badge inside it when they were not being worn.
"I am pleased to have such a brilliant young noble in my kingdom and look forward to your future achievements Marquess King. I will no longer keep you, but please follow my Chancery so that he may finalize your new title."
"Thank you, your majesty, before I go may I make a request?"
As, the king sat down everyone else also took their seats. With a curious expression, the king spoke up.
"Please feel free to speak Marquess King."
"As you know sire, I am a merchant who sells spirit food and I will also be selling many other new and exciting items in the future that your subjects will also enjoy or find useful. So I would like to ask instead of being awarded an estate would it be possible for me to acquire a store or commercial property in the business section of the city?" Ben asked with his fist over his heart in a salute while standing at a slight bow toward the king as he spoke.
He wanted to show respect to the king when he was asking for this important favor.
The king began to nod his head along while listening and did not see anything wrong with Ben's request. He had only offered the estate as a way to make Ben feel as if this was his home and that he had an investment in the kingdom. This way in troubled times he would want to protect that investment and fight to defend the Aregard kingdom.
If he had a business that provided him an income this would be the same objective that the king was looking for. Of course, Ben would want to protect his livelihood and would not stand for an attacking kingdom taking the City along with his store and goods.
The king turned toward the Chancery and told him that this was perfectly acceptable and that, he would work with Ben to help him find an available store or property location for him to build on to his liking.
Ben thanked the king and left to follow the Chancery to another part of the palace with offices.
When they walked through one of the hallway doors they were standing in a good size room with two men sitting at desks shuffling through stacks of parchments. They appeared to be looking for a certain document or were just organizing the large stacks of loose parchment sheets.
Ben and the Chancery stopped in front of one these men and the Chancery asked him to bring the commissioned artist to his office. The man set the sheets of parchment off to the side and immediately left the office.
"Right this way Marquess King." The Chancery said with a fawning smile and led him into a small office sectioned off from the secretarial lobby. Ben noticed the reason this office appeared to be on the small size was that every wall had wooden shelves from the floor to the ceiling filled with documents written on what appeared to also be sheets of parchment.
'This is one more thing that I can bring to this world "Paper. It seems they are still using animal skins to make parchment. If they are using parchment in the palace than this must be the furthest they have developed so far toward paper on this continent.'
The Chancery had walked over to one of the surrounding shelves and began looking through stacks of documents. Once he found what he was looking for he sat down at his desk.
"This is for the kingdoms records everyone who gains a noble title has a record made of it and if they ever advance their title it will be necessary to repeat the process." The Chancery quickly explained.
This noble document had everything already written out on it. The Chancery just signed his name to it like a notary would and passed it over to Ben. Basically, after reading through most of the document it mainly stated a title of Marquess had been bestowed to whoever signed on the blank line.
"If you do not know how to read and write I can explain the documents content to you and then show you were to make your mark" The chancery spoke up thinking that maybe Ben was illiterate because he was just staring at the document and didn't realize he was actually reading every line of it.
It was common for people to be illiterate in this world. Only noble children are privately tutored. If a person came from a common family and somehow was then awarded a noble title they more than likely would not know how to read or write.
Ben did not know this but he still didn't take offense to the comment and smiled.
"I am fine thank you, I was only curiously reading the contents of the document" Ben said as he dipped the quill in the jar of ink and then signed his name.
Ben passed over his nobility document and quickly opened the notification icon that suddenly began to flash while the Chancery filed away his noble record.
[Notice] [You have learned a new skill! Penmanship Level 1!]
'Come to think of it this is the first time I have written anything since arriving in this world. I am glad that I got this skill because that was the first time I ever used a quill to write and my penmanship was horrendous.'
The chancery returned to sit at his desk as the office door opened.
"Ah, perfect timing! This here is our commissioned artist, he can help you to create your noble crest. Every noble has a crest and they can display it in their homes, businesses, property, and clothing. This helps identify whose property it is. Many common people of the city are also illiterate and they learn which house crests belong to whom by memorizing them. This is how they know which noble owns what estate, store or businesses around the kingdom. You may also allow family, troops, or servants to wear your crest so that they will be identified as belonging to a noble household." The Chancery explained as the artist came into the office.
'This must be why there are hardly any signs on the businesses around the city! Now that I think of it I do remember seeing the crests on painted boards displayed outside of a few of them. That was how I got the idea to make my own before I was even a noble. That means the sign I made for my vendor stall was a waste of time if none of the commoners could even read the damn thing!' Ben hid his surprise at learning how many people were illiterate and looked toward the artist who had just entered the office.
Ben stood up and extended his hand and touched the gold ring which was his dummy spatial ring. He closed his eyes and acted like he was searching the ring for an item. A few seconds later he brought his shield out of his inventory. The two men watched in fascination now thinking that the young cultivator had a spatial ring.
Without acknowledging anything Ben displayed the face of his shield to the artist.
"This is what I want my crest to look like," Ben said pointing to the gold inlaid dragon clutching a shield in its talons that looked exactly like the shield he was holding.
The artist visibly shook when he looked into the gleaming red ruby eyes of the ferocious dragon that appeared to be staring him down. Being an artist he was impressed by the craftsmanship of this shield to make an engraving appear to look so life-like was not an easy task.
They had no idea that the system could engrave items with laser precision. It did not have shaky hands or neither did it ever have an off day. The system could replicate anything with perfect accuracy 100% of the time!