I've been traveling for 2 months now and I just can't seem to find the way their. Lith pulls out his map and gives it good look. "I have been on this god damn path for a whole month but this map makes it look so small" Lith says with obvious annoyance.
Lith is even more annoyed as at the end of this path should be Gler City a place we're he can test the strength he's been training for years and finally earn a spot in the imperial army. Lith as annoyed as he his keeps trudging down the endless path.
About a week later down the same path Lith has been heading down for months he finally sees it Gler City. It's gray brick walls extruding 50 feet off the ground with archer towers on the only corner of the city he can see. Holes on the in walls to obviously shoot something from.
All of this is like a dream land to Lith who grew up in a small town less then a tenth the size of this city. He tears his sights from the walls to look at the gate ands see a line, about an hour wait, Lith breathes out a deep sigh. More waiting. When Lith finally enters the city he gets a room at an inn and immediately go to the place he's been dreaming about for months. The Imperial Castle.
As Lith Makes his way over to the Imperial Castle he sees training going about in the front yard, he's been itching for some training and is tempted to go up and ask for a spar. Though he rejects the idea he has to become an Imperial Knight first.
He enters the castle and goes to the front desk, "hello, I was wondering if I could sign up to become an Imperial Knight" says Lith to the front desk person. To Liths surprise he lets out a soft chuckle, "I don't think you understand how ranking works here, you can't just sign up to become an Imperial Knight, you have to be a trainee first, then after you finish that you become a Knight, then a you can become a full fledged Knight, there are many ranks after that but all these ranks refer to your skill with a weapon of your choosing and other things, but we don't need to get into that".
To put it simply Lith didn't know of these ranks, he just knew of Knights as they were most common. But Lith wasn't the least bit discouraged by this this news, in fact he was happy. This meant there was much room to grow and that he could each unimaginable heights.
"Ok then we're can I sign up to become a trainee, also can you tell me all of these ranks I want to know how far I can climb" Lith said enthusiastically. "Well you've come to the right place as you sign up right here, as for these ranks I'll list them for you so pay attention closely". He took a deep breath as if preparing for a long speech, "trainee, Novice, Knight, Lord, Grandmaster, Sage, and finally the most powerful Overlord, each rank is split into 4 sub rank lower, intermediate, Upper, and pinnacle. But I've been very generous with you because it's obvious you know nothing, so give me your name and I'll tell you when our next evaluation is."
This guys has been very generous, but I have nothing to repay his kindness with so I'll just say thank you. "My names Lith no last name and thank you for that information it'll help me a lot" he said as whole heartily as he could, " No problem next evaluation is in 3 days, take that time to get familiar with the town. " Lith left the Castle very content with all the information he as learned.
3 days later and Lith is back at the castle, he's spent his time looking at shops and other things but 3 days isn't enough to explore the whole city. He's walks up to the front desk, it's a different person here this time, "Im here for the evaluation to become a trainee" Lith states with excitement in his voice, "Name" says the front desk guy, saying it for what sound like the thousandth time, "Lith no last name". He navigates his way down the hallways following the guys instructions until he finally finds himself in a large room with people all around the same age as him 20-30.
It seems he arrived just in time as a person goes to a podium and starts speaking, "hello everyone and welcome to the trainee exam where we evaluate your skill with the sword." People start talking as they didn't expect they would only be evaluated on sword skill, "We're only testing sword skill because even if it's not your best weapon you should all be proficient at it. Now let's not delay this, you will all pick a partner and spar and we have many judges to judge all of you."
"Spar with me, names Domar" Domar is blonde and about 6,4 feet tall and pretty muscular. "Gladly, My names Lith" as soon as he uttered the last syllable of his name Domar was already in pursuit, his blade after my neck. I reacted as fast as I could I managed to barley block, but Domar is already going for my ribs, his sword like a blur, however I'm prepared now I counterattack and get a clean blow to his torso. Domar split second of pain is enough for me to barrage him with 3 more attacks, one to his arm, a slash to the chest, and another hit to the torso. Domar falls, panting.
"Your a lot more skilled then you look" says Domar. Domar's right, while I'm not skinny, my muscles are only half the size of Domars while I'm a short 5,10 compared to other people. I turn to my right a see a judge walking up to me,"how long have you been practice the sword" asked the judge,"ever since I could hold a sword" says Lith excited that he may have been noticed for his hard work. "Well Lith, my names Alfred, that's intermediate Knight Alfred to you, follow me I'll explain on the way" Alfred starts walking away, and he quickly follows.
"Do you know the point of the trainee rank" says Alfred,"ummm to get stronger?" Says Lith, a little confused at the sudden question, "I guess that's a simple way of putting it but it's to hone your skills with sword, most people there know how to use a sword, but no one's there is precise and controlled unlike you. You're rank stands about pinnacle trainee, you're almost a novice, which means we can start to tell you our secrets."
After what Alfred said, he couldn't help but contemplate what secrets he's talking about, but he couldn't contemplate any longer as it seems they reached there destination, they walk into a large room filled with people. "This is the oath room, we can tell you our secrets after you talk the oath to never share information with anyone without the oath, come sit down here" Lith sat down and waited for Alfred to come back, and he finally did with what looks like a marble.
"We usually do this service for Novices only but your pretty much their and seem very hard working so we can make an exception, take this orb hold it firm in your hand and say, I won't betray the imperium secrets to those without the oath" Lith didn't see much harm in it so he took the orb and said it,"I won't betray the imperiums secrets to those without the oath" Lith felt a cool felling throughout his body, as if he jumped in a cold pool.
Alfred smiled," I can finally tell you, its always exciting telling novices these secrets, come walk with me I'll tell you on the way" they got up and left the room, "so where do I begin, basically sword skill isn't the only type of strength, something that can be much more powerful then sword skill is magic" Lith was dumbfounded,"magic is real?" Alfred looked back at him, "of course it is, how else can we start to rival the Gods, those wretched bastards" Lith was confused, "what did the Gods do" Alfred looked distressed when asked this, "the gods have no respect for us humans they kill us whenever the want and see us as nothing but entertainment. They watch from above and see all our problems and do nothing to help when the easily could with the swipe of their hands."
"Anyways",Alfred continued, "yes we have magic and you'll learn how to use it soon, it's a requirement to know how to weave essence together to form spells to advance to a Knight. Since you're a Novice you know have a room here, and will be attending our academy tomorrow, so be well rested."
Lith was more shocked they anything else, he has learned so much about the truth of this world in the past couple days, and he just couldn't comprehend it. That was no matter though because tomorrow he was learning magic.