The flames of war had been unleashed in the Phuinem Kingdom.
Scavenging wandering acolytes, with no qualifications, background and reputation, were watching the conflict from afar. Should an opportunity present itself, they would make sure to take advantage of anyone, if it allowed them to harvest resources.
However, the Thornfield family had proved to be much stronger than expected. The Huntingwood family relied on its supreme elder for cohesion, strength, tactics…basically everything from management to battles themselves. Now that he had been beaten by the famous Water Dragon, they were akin to sheep without a shepherd, similar to a collapsing house without a pillar to support the building.
Drodosis' overwhelming victory was certainly unique in this war, but this wasn't the only region where the Huntingwood was in a tough spot.
In the following month, victories were numerous, most of them in favour for the Thornfield family! Lark Viscount's territory, Drodosis' aunt, the Ice Elder, had defeated and captured the advanced acolyte called Derrick, an infamous shadow acolyte known for his cruelty and stealth.
The fact that he had been captured was a tremendous blow to the Huntingwood family, and the Lark Viscount himself, an Elite Knight, managed to take advantage of his opponents' momentary confusion and weakness to conquer a huge castle. While it didn't seem like a lot, castles were worth a fortune.
Castles were much more than mere buildings. If not, they would be called mansions. A castle was a symbol of power, proof of one's nobility rank. The Viscount Tony Lark had several knights he wanted to reward, especially his son, who was now a veteran knight with tremendous potential. By acquiring this castle, the territory around it would probably turn into his son's personal property over time, and the Thornfield Family would acquire another fief.
While an additional fief didn't mean an increase in strength, it still meant that the Thornfield family would receive more talented and gifted youths. In the following decades, this additional flow of new blood would probably lead to dozens of beginner acolytes, and few intermediate acolytes if they were lucky! Acolytes were expansive to groom, and difficult to restrain. However, if educated from a young age, they would become very loyal to the family. Drodosis' four bodyguards were one of the many examples one could find in the Thornfield Household!
There were about 150 beginner acolytes in the Thornfield family, yet there were only slightly more than 20 intermediate acolytes (mostly old men though). Anyone breaking through the intermediate realm would experience a rise in status, and with enough contribution, they would become elders. This is why so many people strived to reach this goal.
However, Drodosis knew for one that breaking through the intermediate realm was easier said than done, especially if one wasn't a genius!
[Beep! Host is expected to breakthrough into the intermediate acolyte realm in 3 years, 4 months and 22 days provided with daily meditation!]
Slightly more than three years to become an intermediate acolyte would have made anyone overjoyed, but Drodosis was bitter. His growth rate in spirit had come to a halt, and after experiencing the addictive taste of his mummy eye implant, his progress now seemed to be a turtle's race in comparison. However, one shouldn't forget that he had broken through the beginner acolyte realm just a few months ago! The fact that he had already reached the peak of this realm was outstanding, and the fact that he would break through in just three years was enough to rival Hannah, although he started a bit later than her!
(…)
Drodosis' grandfather, the Water Dragon, personally moved three times, in three different battlefields. Knights who had the misfortune to encounter him were crushed in front of pseudo-adept might. While numerous knights and acolytes lost their lives, the Thornfield family was seen as the winner already.
The Water Dragon personally captured 2 advanced acolytes and 6 intermediate acolytes in his excursions, in addition to his victory over the Grand Knight Tyler. It was a huge achievement, and now, it was quite clear to everyone: the Huntingwood family was akin to a spider without a head, nor legs. Its supreme leader was wounded, its elders captured…Who could possibly stop the Thornfield family?
Everyone was extremely joyous, and they were about to deal the fatal blow, which would forever cripple the Huntingwood family, by launching an attack at their base, plundering it, and destroying its remains.
The Thornfield family adept who died, 20 years ago, had actually foreshadowed this situation, thus deciding to retire far before his actual death, so that his family wouldn't get rely on him as soon as there was a problem. Instead, this adept, who was Water Dragon's great grandfather, decided to help his family in the shadows, providing an environment and trump cards allowing the family to survive through the momentary weakness of not having an adept powerhouse.
Thanks to this adept's good intentions, the Thornfield family's 'decay' was only a façade. The Thornfield family had lost an adept powerhouse, it was true. However, its wealth, its number of acolytes, its knights, its cultivation techniques and its library expanded over the past two decades. It didn't become weaker over the years, but instead stronger! With the harvest of two resource sites, they had nothing to envy from other adept families. For 20 years, they strengthened themselves, as well as raised strong young generations.
Drodosis was a result of this program, but the best example would be Hannah.
Hannah had participated in a battle opposing twenty beginner acolytes in each faction. She managed to pull off the amazing display of killing three intermediate acolytes by herself! It was important to note that she was only 15 years old. Who knows what kind of freak she would become, if she managed to break through the advanced acolyte realm?
Anyway, the Huntingwood supreme elder felt cheated, but it was too late to regret, and cursing his fate wouldn't do him any good.
After some meaningless resistance, the Huntingwood forces surrendered, one after the other. Four months after it started, the Huntingwood supreme elder still wouldn't come out. Their base couldn't absorb any more attacks, so most of Huntingwood's new generations fell in the hands of the Thornfield family. Their trump card, an overpowered array which prevented hundreds of acolytes from storming in the Huntingwood's headquarters for weeks, was no more.
Elder Water Dragon, not seeing any traces of the Huntingwood Supreme elder, decided to use a scheme. He openly threatened to execute and enslave all of Huntingwood's younger generation. Not bearing the thought of his grandchildren dying because of his meaningless resistance, the supreme elder from the Huntingwood family gave in.
In the meantime, Drodosis conquered the Chase and Gloom baronies. The Arson barony was no more either. Instead, he decided to merge the three territories into one bigger plot of land: a county.
As for who would become the new count affiliated with the Thornfield family? It didn't concern Drodosis. It would be his elders' troubles.
Drodosis was happy with what he had gained: 6000 gold coins, which was roughly 60 magic crystals if converted, and more importantly, he obtained two libraries' worth of books. Some contained spear techniques, others knight breathing technique and even some insight to create a grand knight breathing technique, albeit far from being close in quality to the Grand knight Breathing technique his grandfather's great grandfather, the last adept of the Thornfield family, had worked on.
There were weapons, armours, and more importantly, vast lands which had yet to be cultivated. However, these were resources that would only interest mortals. Drodosis couldn't care less about it, but still stored them in the castle which once belonged to Baron Rio Arson.
He spent the next several weeks in the region, mainly training and researching, but also acting as a powerhouse whenever there was a problem, until his family sent him a new count.
In the past weeks, his daily meditation allowed him to increase his spirit to 8 points, as well gain one point in strength, agility and physique. This wasn't a huge increase, especially considering that three months passed already since he broke through the elite knight realm. His progress had considerably slowed, but it was only natural. The stronger one got, the more difficult it became to progress further.
Drodosis didn't stay put. He personally supported allies, and handled several conquests in joint coordination with Selene Dawins. It earned him glory, wealth and merit. When he would come back to the family, he was sure to be handsomely rewarded! With him taking care of knight powerhouses, the conquest of the enemy's noble territories was much easier to handle.
[Beep! Name: Drodosis Thornfield (13-years-old, 10 months).
Beginner Acolyte – Elite Knight
Evolution points – 88
HP – 33/33
Strength – 7 (+6) | Agility – 6 (+4) | Physique – 8 (+6) | Spirit – 8 | Magic Power – 8 (+0) | Mana – 24 (+0) | Internal Energy – 13 (+0)
Status: Healthy.
Perks: → Elite Knight Physique (+6 Strength and Physique, +4 Agility).
→ Scimitar Mastery (Advanced), Scimitar Essence (+8 Internal Scimitar Energy Damage when using a scimitar.)
Skills: Acid Spear, Mummy whirlwind strike, Water Orb.
Items: 24 magical crystals, 6035 gold coins, Enchanted Scimitar (+5 Shadow element damage per strike), Grand Knight Breathing Technique, Shadow Cloak, Strange Rock, spell books...]
In fact, according to his biochip, his progress was nothing short of an extraordinary feat, considering his genetics and talent. At this point, he didn't know how to feel.
Drodosis' biggest reward in the past three months weren't glory, wealth or these attribute gains, although all of them were very satisfying. Drodosis had finally earned enough evolution points to complete something he had researched very carefully.
[Beep! Do you wish to spend 80 evolution points to complete the Grand Knight Breathing Technique?]
"Yes!"
He was now in possession of a grand knight breathing technique, one which would allow him to improve the quality of his internal energy, and condense it into a core.
He now knew the difference between a knight and grand knight. It was only a matter of time before he became a grand knight, and at this moment, he would be able to rival with adepts!
Everyone possessed internal energy, even mortals and acolytes. Once one becomes aware of it, internal energy 'awakens', strengthening organs, blood, vitality and every cell in one's body. If one uses it well, then internal energy can even be used to increase one's attacks, by momentarily providing an outburst of strength in a particular group of muscles. One example would be Drodosis Knight Killing technique: his Mummy Whirldwind Strike. However, a grand knight was different.
A grand knight had condensed a life core, which was basically a new organ, unique to grand knights. Made of internal energy and high-grade biological tissue, this core would invigorate every cell constantly, permanently. However, the core could also be used to empower these cells for a momentary period.
This is why grand knights could contend with adepts. They could double their strength for a moment! Combined with training and elixirs, their strength could rival that of adept-grade magical beasts! However, unlike magical beasts, they also knew how to wield weapons! Combining brute force with technique...their attacks could reach terrifying destructiveness!
Understanding this particular truth was precisely what allowed Drodosis to earn his point of spirit. Knowledge and spirit were two sides of the same coin after all. Of course, he also discovered that becoming a grand knight was much more difficult than what he thought. The requirement was enough to terrify any knight: 20 points of strength, 20 points of physique, 20 points of internal energy.
'To become a grand knight, one need a grand knight cultivation technique, resources, and freak-like foundations!'
A pity Drodosis only had one out of the three requirements! However, even if he weren't a grand knight, he could still use the Grand Knight Breathing technique.
[Beep! Breathing Cycle completed! Technique deviation: 22%. Expected effects: Lifeforce +0.2, physique +0.1, strength +0.1, agility +0.1! Time to complete the cycle: 3 hours, 23 minutes.]
Although time-consuming, this breathing technique was almighty, allowing him to increase his knight-related stats by a large margin.
Last but not least, he also made a huge discovery:
In the battle of the Great Plains, or so people liked to call it, he discovered that killing beings earned him many evolution points. Killing a single elite knight had given him 10 evolution points, a considerable sum. In five years of harsh training, he had only gained slightly more than 300 points. It was only worth 30 elite knight murders! It was also the reason why he engaged in other battles!
In the eyes of others, magical beasts were terrifying monsters, destroying the lands they had earned! Wars were terrifying because of the threat of death.
However, from Drodosis' point of view, his enemies were endless masses of evolution points, which were waiting to be harvested by him!
If he came back to the Ivory Tower, he would make sure to complete more missions! It was so much more efficient than just waiting here! The following biochip's notification only made him more hell bent on acquiring evolution points:
'How much evolution points do I need to spend in order to break through the intermediate realm?'
[Beep! Cost: 1600 evolution points!]