As Prince Damian descended the grand staircase, he announced to King Aerin and Queen Estel that their guests had departed. Queen Estel stood up and embraced her new son, who gratefully accepted her hug before taking a seat.
"Dad, if it's not too much trouble, can I start learning again?" Prince Damian asked, gazing at King Aerin with hopeful eyes.
King Aerin was taken aback and stared at his him in stunned silence, lost in thought, since he never called him dad before.
"Of course, sweetheart," Queen Estel interjected, sending a message to summon a tutor. "I just massaged the tutor right now."
"Thank you, Mom," Prince Damian said, turning to his parents. "And thank you both for everything you've done for me. It means so much to me."
King Aerin snapped out of his daze at being called "Dad" by Damian, only to have his mind blown again by his son's heartfelt gratitude.
Queen Estel smiled at her son warmly. "No, son. It is our pleasure and we are truly blessed to have you with us," she said.
Prince Damian smiled back at her, as Prince Logon patted his shoulder. They sat down to enjoy breakfast together until a guard interrupted to inform them that the tutor had arrived.
Excited for his first lesson, Prince Damian and his new family made their way to the classroom.
The tutor began, "Right, Damian. I've already explained the different places and some of the kinds of races in our world, but there's one thing I haven't yet told you: the ranking system. Today, we're going to learn about the Emmortals."
With a wave of his hand, the tutor projected a massive breakdown onto the wall and began to explain the intricacies of the Emmortal ranking system.
Emmortal Ranking system:
{Rank} Level of Spiritual Comprehension:
{Genesis} -0-99%
{Peasant} -100-199%
{Innate} -200-299%
{Knight} -300-399%
{Ruler} -400-499%
{Lord} -500-599%
{Sovereign} -600-699%
{Monarch} -700-799%
{Overlord} -800-899%
{Ascension} -900-1000%
As you open your eyes to a new world, you can't help but feel a sense of awe and wonder. Just like the prince in the Genesis ranking, your powers have finally awakened. And just like him, all new awakenings will start at that level. Most rulers in this world are considered lords, sovereigns or monarchs, with the water elf king being a prime example of a monarch. His soul comprehension is between 700-799%.
But how do you increase this? Some may take the quick and easy way, the evil path. They use the souls, blood, and bones of other things to gain strength. These dark-powered ways are frowned upon and their methods are considered disgusting.
But don't worry, there are other ways to increase your powers without resorting to such methods. For example, by using and increasing your natural powers, you can gain more comprehension. Fighting stronger opponents will also help your soul grow, just like orcs do. Very rare soul crystals can be found in dungeons and spacial rifts. Completing some rifts is something that will be explained in school. Sharing your abilities with someone else who has the same ability and meditating together can also help increase your comprehension. Manipulating spiritual force and using your skills, such as forging, can also greatly increase your comprehension. Basic meditation is a must, but meditating in powerful areas will help even more.
But be careful, there are ways to decrease your spiritual force as well. Draining all your soul's spiritual force is a big no-no, as it damages your soul over time. Leaving soul attacks unfixed can also reduce your soul force over time. Fighting a higher rank that is ridiculously more powerful than you can cripple you with their pressure alone. Going to a higher realm than you are supposed to be in can damage or even kill you over time, like poison. Starving your body of energy can also have severe consequences, so make sure to fill up right away. And breaking the time frame law of being in a lower realm can make you a permanent resident.
As Prince Damian sat in his tutoring session, he couldn't help but wonder about the limitations of higher entities in weaker realms. He turned to his tutor and asked, "How long are higher entities allowed to stay in weaker realms?"
His tutor replied, "It depends on that existence, Prince Damian. For example, Queen Safira, being a God, can roam here for a month with an access power of 20%. But other ones are different. A high Immortal can be here for four months or maybe more if they are weaker.
There's a default power restriction that they receive. You will learn this in school... but let's just say the original ancient gods don't have restrictions. They applied the rules to protect their assets."
"Asset sir, what do you mean?" Damian asked, intrigued.
"Another fantastic question, Prince Damian. We are fuel for them. They use us to increase their power. Again, this will be explained better at school," the tutor explained.
Deciding that it was enough for the day, the tutor shifted the lesson to the elf language. After all, Prince Damian couldn't be expected to not know how to speak his home language.
As the lesson came to an end, the other gym teacher arrived, calling them for fitness training. Today, Damian would get to try combat training. King Aerin and Queen Estel believed that he deserved to learn how to protect himself.
After acing his fitness training with ease, as usual, they headed to the combat arena to train.
The martial arts coach greeted them, "I see I have a new student finally. So have you observed enough? Are you ready to learn the SilentKnife art? Don't let this art fool you, it can be used even on ranged weapons."
He went on to explain, "The reason for this art is to be swift in dealing a fatal blow. The simple question is, why name the art SilentKnife if swinging most weapons are quiet? Simple, do you think a sword on fire is quiet? A knife with water on it? A bow tip with lightning on it? No, they aren't. Not only can you hear, see, and react to it, you can also see them applying it before they attack, so you can counter it."
"Prince Logon and Princess Aeryn, maybe you both go practice alone for now. Prince Damian, I will give you the stance and hidden blade drawing locations. Prince Logon, you have air powers. Your father tells me to try to add that to your blade. Feel the blade as an extension of your arm," the coach carried on.
"Please don't discharge your air if you aren't one with the blade," the coach warned. "The air will see the knife as a target and you will go flying and hurt yourself. Don't push it, rather just learn to apply your air to your blade."
Princess Aeryn nodded, focusing on her climbing techniques while Prince Logon practised his swings with precision.
Well, Princess Aeryn and Prince Logon trained under the watchful eye of their martial arts coach, Prince Damian stood before the dummy, ready to put his lessons into practice.
The coach then turned to Prince Damian, showing him the proper stances for effectively stabbing a blade. He then show him places on the dummy by pointing out weak spots, including armour openings, and instructed him to slash at the dummy from different angles to strengthen his wrist.
As Prince Damian practised, the coach walked over to check on Prince Logon's progress with magic. Prince Damian gritted his teeth, as he continued to slash at the dummy for 40 minutes.
The coach returned, impressed that Prince Damian had lasted longer than most, who usually put the blade down after 25 minutes.
"Young prince, show me what you've got," the coach said, bringing out a fully-armoured opponent for Prince Damian to face.
Prince Damian took a stance and began his attack. He slashed at the small opening in the wrist guards, breaking the bones, before lunging at the underarms and creating a fatal wound.
He then targeted the rib cage armour, chipping away at the rivets and seams until an opening appeared. With precision, he thrust the blade into the opening, slid under the legs and cut the knee guard's weakest point, causing the figurine to fall. In one swift movement, he thrust the blade into the back of its neck, ending the fight with a deadly strike.
The coach nodded in approval, proud of the young prince's progress.
"Phenomenal, young prince," the martial arts teachers clapped as Prince Damian completed his demonstration. "I am truly delighted by your performance, but don't forget that it's a soulless doll, not a moving target."
Prince Damian nodded in understanding, as the teacher reset the figurine. "Carry on then, young man. Or you can rest," the teacher said, before walking off. Prince Damian returned to his training, and the teacher couldn't help but smile, shaking his head in amazement. "Guess it's back at it," he thought to himself.
As time passed, the teacher returned to check on Prince Damian's progress. "Sir, when do I learn the skill of silent movement, family art?" Prince Damian asked.
"Later, when you've mastered the basics," the teacher replied. "We will train it next time. You will have to move through noisy objects without making a sound."
Prince Damian nodded in understanding. "Thank you, sir." And with that, he proceeded to copy the moves that the teacher had demonstrated.
At first, it took him 40 minutes to complete the moves, but he slowly got faster and faster. By the time the teacher returned, he had it down to a 25-minute movement.
The teacher was shocked. "Young prince, are you normal? You don't even have a speed ability, your normal speed is slow... but you can do that in 25 minutes already with that heavy blade. How are you not exhausted? Are your arms not shaking and weak?"
"I don't know, sir," Prince Damian replied. "I can't tell."
The teacher scratched his head, confused by Prince Damian's answer. "Well, do they feel weak?" he asked.
But Prince Damian simply shook his head and didn't answer. The truth was, he didn't feel anything. Nothing at all.
The teacher shrugged his shoulders. "Well, carry on. You're doing a good job," he said.
"Thank you, sir," Prince Damian replied.
"Prince Damian. We'll be finishing soon anyway," the teacher said, as the class finally came to an end.
As they made their way to the dining room for dinner, Prince Logon was as pale as a ghost from using far too much power, Princess Aeryn was stiff and hurting from getting hit by a mechanism during the course, but Prince Damian walked out as calmly as he walked in. They sat down to eat before heading to bed, ready for another day of training.