At the beginning of the chaos, hundreds of races fought for hegemony.
Death and survival, war and destruction, nearly ten thousand years of war, the human race has experienced several ups and downs on this continent. It was not until more than seven hundred years ago that the founder of the Dynasty of Light, the Emperor of Light, Ballot, led his human warriors to drive the orcs westward and the elves southward, that the human race occupied the richest central region of the Blander continent and became one of the most powerful intelligent races on this continent.
The more than one hundred years of the reign of the Emperor of Light was the most glorious period in the history of the Empire of Light. The emperors who succeeded Ballot were rarely outstanding monarchs.
When it was passed to the eighth emperor, Leopold, because Leopold was weak in character and indulged in women, the famous "Thirteen Dukes Rebellion" in history occurred. Thirteen grand dukes who held large armies rebelled one after another. First, they sent troops to Ar antis to overthrow Leopold. After Leopold was forced to abdicate, these grand dukes attacked each other for land and interests.
The "Thirteen Dukes' Rebellion" lasted for nearly thirty years, and nearly ten million human civilians and warriors died in this human civil strife. Only seven of the thirteen grand dukes who initially started the rebellion survived, which are the current seven human kingdoms, namely Isaac in the west of the empire, hold in the north, Kilian in the south, Norman in the east, and the three central kingdoms of Locke, Bards, and Rouge.
In the end, the seven kingdoms reached a ceasefire agreement. Each kingdom was autonomous, but still respected the ninth emperor of the Empire of Light as the common lord. When facing foreign invasions, each kingdom had the obligation to help each other.
After the "Thirteen Dukes' Rebellion", the human race has maintained peace for nearly two hundred years, and the thirteenth emperor Constantine is currently in power. Although there have been occasional frictions between the seven kingdoms in recent years, there have been few military conflicts involving more than 10,000 people.
This history of the Empire of Light, which is known to almost all nobles, is a blank for Arthur. It turns out that there is such a vast world in the human territory outside the Kingdom of Isaac.
Listening to old Harry's story was as exciting as listening to a story, but I didn't understand what the "Imperial Elite Academy Competition" had to do with the history of the empire?
The reason why countries have been able to maintain relative peace over the years is that, on the one hand, the strength of each country is relatively balanced, and no country can dominate. On the other hand, the countries agreed to meet once every five years and meet the emperor together. The division of interests between countries is generally resolved through negotiation under the auspices of the emperor. Some disputes that cannot be resolved through negotiations are resolved by fighting between the two sides, and the defeated party must make concessions in terms of interests. Therefore, the battles between the top warriors of each country replaced the fighting on the battlefield of ordinary soldiers, reducing casualties and saving the king a lot of material and financial resources.
There are not always disputes between countries that need to be resolved through fighting, but the kings are all competitive and hope that their own high-end combat power can surpass other countries. So, when the tenth emperor was in power, he proposed that each country select outstanding young warriors and magicians to perform exhibition matches during the alliance. The battles between young warriors are less destructive to the competition venue and more suitable for watching. At the same time, the level of young warriors and magicians also reflects the overall talent training level of a country, and can better reflect the strength of each kingdom.
At the beginning, each country still selected outstanding young people under the age of 20 from the children of nobles and the military, and later gradually evolved into participating in colleges.
Old Harry talked so much before he finished talking about the origin of the "Empire Elite College Competition".
"I roughly understand. The kingdom sent our Guano Academy to participate in the Imperial Elite Academy Competition, and you planned to let me and Gold participate so that we could take the opportunity to leave the Kingdom of Isaac."
"Not only our Guano Academy, each kingdom has two places to participate, plus the two academies directly under the empire, there are exactly 16 academies. Through the elimination of two-on-two duels, the strongest academy will be finally determined. The two academies sent by the Kingdom of Isaac are selected from the 'Seven Flowers and One Flower' each time, among which Guano Academy is a recommended place, and the other place is decided by the seven strongest academies in the kingdom through competition."
"There is another question. Will I be paid for participating in that competition?" Arthur's old habit of mercenary came back again.
Old Harry was so angry that he picked up the staff at hand and hit Arthur's head twice. "This is an honor! Under the watchful eyes of the Emperor and the seven kings, fighting against the best young generation of the entire human race, this is an opportunity that many people would not want, and you even asked for a reward!" Arthur spread his hands, "Huey likes to fight with others, and that fool Joan likes to be in the limelight, but I don't want to do such a thing with no benefits and high risks. What if I get killed or injured in the battle? For mercenaries, such things that are not proportional to the effort and benefits must not be done!" Old Harry raised his staff to hit again, but Arthur dodged it in advance, "You are usually so smart, why are you stupid now? How can there be no rewards for a competition of this level? And the generous rewards are definitely beyond your imagination. "Elephant!"
Arthur moved closer to old Harry and said with a grin, "Then tell me, if the temptation is strong enough, I am willing to take some risks."
Old Harry glanced at Arthur and said slowly, "If you can pass two rounds in a row, that is, get the top four results, according to past practice, the Kingdom of Isaac will reward you with 30,000 gold coins and add a first-level noble. Each king will take out an eighth-level excellent equipment, and the emperor will take out a ninth-level equipment, a total of eight excellent equipment as prizes for the championship team. In addition, the Empire will open the Royal Library to the two teams that enter the finals for three days, and each team member can choose a ground-level fighting spirit or martial arts from the collection of fighting spirit and martial arts. "
Arthur's eyes were a little straight, and this time he was really tempted.
Excellent equipment and earth-level martial arts are good things, but what really tempted Arthur was the opportunity to open the Royal Library. The hidden danger of his "Dan yang Refining God" fighting technique practice has not been solved, and Alia's mind is still lost in the darkness. Arthur is powerless to do anything about these. Maybe he can find the answer from the Royal Library.
"I did it. I'll be waiting for your notice at the academy at any time." Arthur said with a firm look.
Old Harry smiled and said, "You have no choice in this matter, because not only do you have to participate in the Imperial Elite Academy Championship, but you also have to complete another task!"
"Another thing?"
"Something related to 'God's Punishment'?"
"Didn't you tell me not to provoke them?"
"Just because I told you not to provoke them doesn't mean you should stop investigating Keynes."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"No. You have been trapped in a misconception, always thinking that it was 'God's Punishment' who assassinated Keynes, so you want to completely overthrow them. But you ignore that 'God's Punishment' is an assassin organization, after all. They are just a knife. The assassination of Keynes and your mercenary group was commissioned by others. The assassin who assassinated Keynes has been killed by you, so you should not hold on to 'God's Punishment' anymore, but find a way to find the commissioner of the task, who is the real murderer behind the scenes."
At this moment, Arthur suddenly understood. What Old Harry said was absolutely right. He was confused before.
"Then how can I find the person who entrusted me with the task through the 'Divine Punishment'? This may not be much easier than completely overthrowing the Divine Punishment." Old Harry suddenly lowered his voice, "Go find someone in Atlantis. He may have a way to try."