Chereads / Count Duke The Fat (J.P. Japhet) / Chapter 79 - (IN) Chapter 01 - Blood of Fire

Chapter 79 - (IN) Chapter 01 - Blood of Fire

Earth's Gregorian Calendar, inspired by ancient Rome's Julian Calendar, implemented by the famous Gaius Julius Ceasar himself, has 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, and 12 months a year.

But not the same could be said for the Calendar used by Brune...

Brune's Pese (Pe-Sei) or 5-day Calendar, commonly known outside of Brune as the Imperial Calendar had, as its name suggests 5 days a week, 6 weeks a month, and just like our Gregorian Calendar, it has 12 months per year.

The five days compromising a week are:

Suvis day, Brons day, Satris day, Frodis day, and Gwins day.

These five days were named after the 5 heroes of Brune, Duke's grandfather, Gwaine Pendragon included.

While the 12 months of Brune on the other hand, are based on the 4 Seasons of Harvest, namely: Planting Season (Spring), Growing Season (Summer), Harvesting Season (Fall), and finally Idle Season (Winter)...

The names of these 12 Months corresponds to a certain skill during their respective seasons:

(1) 1st Month of Planting Season: The Month of Life (First blooming of spring)

(2) 2nd Month of Planting Season: The Month of Mulch (Mulching/Fertilizing the soil)

(3) 3rd Month of Planting Season: The Month of Trow (Throwing the seeds)

(4) 1st Month of Growing Season: The Month of Drizzle (Watering the plants)

(5) 2nd Month of Growing Season: The Month of Loiter (Waiting for plants to grow)

(6) 3rd Month of Growing Season: The Month of Foresee (Expecting a good harvest)

(7) 1st Month of Harvesting Season: The Month of Reap (Harvesting your hard earn crops and taking them from the soil)

(8) 2nd Month of Harvesting Season: The Month of Yield (Show off your bountiful yield to your very, very jealous neighbors)

(9) 3rd Month of Harvesting Season: The Month of Toll (Giving back... your crops "willingly" to your local Lord. Of course not because of the hundreds of Knights behind them that's threatening you! Of course not! N-No no spare me, milord! ARGHHH~!)

(10) 1st Month of Idle Season: Hunger - The Month of Craving (Hunger, due to the lack of harvested food. All thanks to the "generous" tolls of the local Lord, damn him!)

(11) 2nd Month of Idle Season: The Month of Death (The month where most of the young, sick, and old die of starvation in Winter...)

And finally:

(12) The 3rd Month of Idle Season: The Month of Hope (Hopeful that this year the Lord dies! And is replaced by his giving and charitable son!)

And so, those are the 12 Months in a year. Not too different from our calendar, just a few changes here and there.

Now the real difference between the Gregorian and the Pese calendar, is how the Pese Calendar tracks the years.

There are 10 years every cycle, these are named as: The years of the Boar (1), Wolf (2), Eagle (3), Ox (4), Bear (5), Tigre (6), Lion (7), Elephant (8), Whale (9), and finally Dragon (10). Each year corresponding to one animal contesting the top spots as strongest when transformed into a strengthened Beast.

In this world, when animals reach a certain point in their lifespans or experience a life-changing event, animals begin to naturally absorb mana.

This starts the process of Beastification, overtime morphing and strengthening the beast's body, or even it's DNA into their more archaic and ancient primal bloodlines.

Hence the 10 years in a cycle were named after the 10 beasts considered strongest within the Animal and Beast Kingdoms.

The cycles, on the other hand, composes of 10 years, from year 1 (The Boar-Year) to year 10 (The Dragon-Year). (1 cycle = 1 decade)

In this epoch, there have been approximately 435 cycles. Meaning 4350 years have passed since the founding of Brune (AE - After Empire)

Today is the 6th Day of the Month of Craving, in the Whale-Year of the 435th Cycle, Suvis.

Or 10/06/09-435 (Month/Day/Year-Cycle)

Not a very remarkable date to be honest... that is if you ignore the fact that it was on this day that Duke's silly little ideas suddenly made Maine a military powerhouse, and quite possibly the reason Brune was saved from the Barbarian's invasion...

Right now Duke was thinking: [Hmmm... I wonder why Byran's level of Aura is beneath me even though he's this good???] Duke thought, listening as Byran kept lecturing him about the basics and foundation of Aura training.

"And so, my boy! You put that tingly feelin' up your ass! Oof, yes yes up there OHGhh~ Up there! Yeah, like that, that's the stuff! Then you slowly guide that tingly Aura to the chest cavity where you- Bla Bla Bla..." Byran began explaining.

In truth, since Duke was a self-taught once in an epoch genius when it came to Aura, he didn't really need the stuff Byran was teaching.

Nevertheless, it still helped him reinforce what he had already known, and so Duke felt it was still pretty beneficial to listen to Byran's experienced teachings... But that's also the reason Duke was so confused right now, asking Byran:

"Hey, Byran? Even though you're so knowledgeable at this Aura thingy. Why are our Aura levels almost the same? I can't believe it's as simple as talent, ya know!" Duke asked Byran respectfully.

"Ahh, well you see Duke, Aura Quantity, Aura Quality, and Aura Control are three very different things!

The more quantity, the more you can control. The more quality, the easier it is to control!...

Sadly, since I've only been able to train the incomplete version of the Pendragon's Aura Manual, the Quality of the Aura I've been training up is subpar and pretty hard to control...

If only I was more talented at Aura Refinement, maybe I could level up my Aura's Quality.

But sadly, since my Quality's pretty bad, so too is it's cohesiveness (stickiness), hence I am constantly losing Aura... Meaning lesser quantity, lesser Aura Levels... Hehe, wasn't my lecture like a Philosopher's?! Gahaha" Byran laughed of the regret in his heart as he patted Galeo on the shoulder.

"Hohoho, Byran my friend, I couldn't have explained it better myself!... I'd say it's Philosopher enough! Bahaha" Galleo laughed along with Byran's jokes.

"Eh?! Was that all??? Then what if I give you the missing part of the Pendragon's Manual, wait here..." Duke stopped his horse for a while, taking out a piece of paper and pen as he began writing whilst riding on the horse.

"Let me see... scribble this part, this part goes there... Yep, I think that's pretty correct. All those times I've been trying to decipher the writing behind that piece of Armor, I've accidentally memorized it! Hahaha" Duke handed the piece of paper to an astonished Byran.

"M-Milord! Duke my boy! As much as it touches me to receive this, you can't simply give away your family's complete Aura Manual like that! And besides... even if I get the final part of the Manual, I still won't be able to withstand it! The Aura trained by the Pendragon's Manual is simply too strong and too violent, my mortal body won't withstand it! Why do you think no one has stolen your Armor over these years... Any noble family would kill and go to war for a complete Aura Manual... The only exception to this rule is our Pendragon Manual" Byran explained to a dumbfounded Duke why their Pendragon Aura hasn't been stolen by other families yet...

"So you're saying?..." Duke nudged as Byran...

Byran continued: "I'm saying that your body, or more specifically your bloodline is special, Duke! Sometimes I even question myself if you're even human! Hahaha, I mean if you weren't a Pendragon, I would've never consented to our continuous beating- I mean training sessions!"

"Special? How so?" Duke asked deeper whilst thinking to himself: [Hoo, so because it's too strong, huh... What if I do this, and maybe that...] Duke began to change parts of the Training Manual whilst Byran answered Duke with a:

"Well, I don't really know too well myself! The Pendragons have always been mysterious. Maybe you've got Dragon's Fire Breath or somethin'... Be it super strength or maybe even faster regeneration... But whatever the power your bloodline has, one thing I can ascertain is: You're tough as balls, Duke!" Byran happily patted Duke on the shoulder.

Duke: "Done!"

"Hmm? What's done?" Byran questioned, looking at the revised piece of paper Duke was holding.

"T-This is... is This is.... My god!" Byran almost fainted when he read the contents of the paper.

On the 6th of Craving, Year 09-435... Another entry on Duke's Epic was written that day.