~Year 976
Lord Torsten Arden, third Arch prince of Vallarta and Lord of Ardenurve and wife, Lady Tora Arden welcomes first child on a night of a lunar eclipse . The joyous news reached the royal palace and although the circumstances of birth were puzzling the king rejoiced at the birth and personally graced the naming ocassion. The child was given the name Myrina Arden, future ruler of fort Ardenurve.
-The Royal Archives- History of Vallarta.
~Previously~
"Alright, alright, enough of this. You have all heard from my daughter already. If this is her wish, then it shall be as she says it,"
"With this, I believe the matter of my heir you have all been pressuring me about is resolved. Myrina shall succeed my legacy once she is of age, we shall inform the royal palace and the people accordingly." Lord Torsten Arden declared with finality,
Myrina Arden smirked, flashing General Gregor a victorious grin.....
___________
"Your highness, this general is putting his life on the line to express his disagreement. The royal court will never approve and Fort Ardenurve will be thrown into crisis! The backlash will be terrible, please reconsider!" General Gregor exclaim in a righteous tone.
Myrina Arden heaved an annoyed sigh as she struggled unsuccessfully to calm herself.
Myrina could not understand, the investiture of a heir was ultimately up to the Lord of Ardenurve and her father had already made his decision,
Now Myrina knew not everyone approved of her father's decision, however they equally trusted in the judgement of the Lord of Ardenurve.
Clearly all except General Gregor who fervently expressed his disagreement.
Myrina Arden felt this General Gregor really thought too highly of himself.
Myrina Arden found it hard to understand why her father still kept this General Gregor within his court,
Despite her young age, Myrina was not unaware of the political situation of her father's domain,
Within the recent months, this same General Gregor had been making treasonous movements for a good while now, assembling private soldiers and what not,
Although there was no concrete prove of his intentions, assembling private soldiers was a tell tale sign of General Gregor's wavering loyalty.
Myrina Arden found her father's easy going attitude to be annoying at times.
Lord Torsten Arden of Ardenurve was certainly not the most peaceful man, infact, Myrina knew her father to be extremely fierce and brutal when he wanted to be.
Myrina had witnessed her father's brutality countless times, Myrina's own fierce nature had been inherited from none other than Lord Torsten,
However at the very same time, Lord Torsten was extremely prudent, perhaps excessively so.
Myrina knew her father would not move against General Gregor till there was definite proof of his intentions.
Myrina Arden could not relate with this attribute of her father's, left to Myrina alone, she would have already gotten rid of General Gregor to avoid future complications,
Infact, Myrina admitted she would have had General Gregor's head in a noise a long, long time ago, right from the moment he began speaking too much in her presence,
And if it happened General Gregor was still alive when Myrina became lord of Ardenurve, Myrina Arden decided would kill him immediately, and Myrina Arden did not hesitate to state as much.
"General Gregor should really put your life on the line to prevent me from becoming lord of Ardenurve,"
"That is the only way you will be able to keep your life and I am certain you know it too. I will not be as merciful to you as my honored father has been, so by all means do all you can to stop me from ruling Ardenurve." Myrina advised magnanimously.
"Although I am not certain anything can actually stop me but for your sake General, please try.... Because the very day I become the Lord of Ardenurve shall be the day you die...brace yourself." Myrina informed General Gregor in an icy tone, the young Miss Arden had always been one to outrightly express her intentions.
Lord Torsten Arden chuckled again but did not refute his daughter's words or reprimand her, quietly conveying to General Gregor that he was well aware of his treasonous intent and was just being quiet for now.
The audience hall was extremely silent after Myrina's deadly declaration and all the Generals looked at little Myrina Arden in a new light,
Myrina's words from before had proved her heritage clearly... the Ardens had always been known for their straightforward nature and ruthless disposition.
Lord Torsten Arden patted his daughter's shoulders with pride.
Now that she had made her point clear, Myrina Arden rose to her feet and moved down the stairs before turning to face her father and bowing low.
"Honored father, firstly I offer my deepest apologies for my rude entrance. My reason for coming here was to inform father that I have recently broken into the low stage of the tenth level of the sage novice realm." Myrina reported, her words sending all occupants of the audience hall.
On the path to attain immortality, the cultivation ranks of the East continent were divided into ten sage realms, the sage novice realm being the first and lowest realm.
The ten sage realms were:
The Sage Novice Realm
The Sage Elementary Realm
The Sage Master Realm
The Sage Warrior Realm
The Sage Lord Realm
The Sage Saint Realm
The Sage Immortal Realm
The Sage Deity Realm
The Sage Demigod Realm
The Sage God Realm
Each of these realms were further divided into ten levels and each level was divided into low, mid, high and peak stages.
The path of cultivation was extremely difficult and so advancement from level to level was a tasking endeavor, most warriors barely ever advanced to the second realm at all.
This was why most cultivators chose to join cultivation sects since the methods of the sects provided more opportunities for advancement in the cultivation path.
For a cultivator to have achieved the fifth level of the sage novice realm at the age of thirteen summers was already considered a shining talent, however at the tender age of seven summers, Myrina had already advanced into the tenth and final level.
In all of fort Ardenurve, Lord Torsten had achieved the highest cultivation rank, having broken into the Sage Saint Realm, just a step away from achieving Sage Immortality.
Upon achieving Sage Immortality, one would transcend beyond the limitations of nature on humanity and one's lifetime would be stretched to at least a thousand years... this was the ultimate dream of every cultivator.
Across the East Continent, the number of cultivators who had achieved Sage Immortality barely numbered to a handful, it was for this reason that Lord Torsten was one of the most talented cultivators in the Kingdom of Vallarta.
As for the Sage Deity, Demigod and God Realms, they were considered impossible to achieve and history recorded of tales of great cultivators of the past who had achieved godhood, transcending to the Heavenly Realm, however no one could tell if this was truly possible.
" I have surpassed my master of spiritual energy and my master of martial arts today, however during the test I lost control of my destructive spiritual energy and so master is severely injured."
"I plead with father to go see the master of spiritual energy at the infirmary and tender my apologies. My spiritual energy has always been extremely destructive in nature and the higher levels I achieve the more difficult control becomes for me, master has refused to see me, it seems I have hurt his feelings as well." Myrina Arden informed her father innocently,
Lord Torsten broke into loud laughter, his amusement heightening at the shocked look on the faces of his Generals.
Their shock was well deserved, the two masters little miss Arden spoke off were not the masters who taught her age grade,
Myrina had long surpassed that level, these were the very masters who trained the low ranked soldiers who had not surpassed the sage novice realm,
Although these two masters could not be counted amongst the finest warriors of Fort Ardenurver, surpassing these masters at the tender age of seven summers was an unbelievable feat,
Such level of talent could only be described as heaven defying.
"Does anyone still doubt my daughter's ability to rule Ardenurve?" Lord Torsten asked, his voice filled with pride.
"This is truly shocking Your Highness, even Your Highness had not achieved such a feat at the age of seven, if I were in the master of spiritual energy's shoes, I also would not want to see the young miss." General Rago, one of Lord Torsten's most trusted men commented,
Lord Torsten burst into laughter at his right hand's words.
"That old man should be a little more understanding of my little girl, it was not intentional anyways." Lord Torsten said amusedly, before turning to his daughter...
~to be continued~