'The world has changed, don't be a fool, don't expect it to remain the same, all common sense you have has be thrown out the window, so don't get attached to anyone, you can never know what is true or false. Or at least that was what my brother told me. You never know when disaster will strike or from where it will strike, so it's best to keep many trump-cards from or enemy and expose information that will benefit you in the long run.
It would have been better if you listened to your own advise and not trusted that bastard Meron, if only you didn't choose to get yourself killed, maybe the rest of us would still be alive and the worst part is that you still didn't get the breakthrough to the officer realm.'
Richard Lonstron the pride of the royal family, the crown prince and with genius level talent would have become a Officer level cultivator at age 17 but he fell into the midst of foxes and was later betrayed by the people he thought were his allies, They sold him out to the alliance and he was tortured for every piece of volatile information they could get which led to the invasion and the search of an artifact of some kind.
The universe has many different classes and not in the sense of the traditional archer, or vanguard, of barbarian, a class is a special initiation that will push people into the many factions of the universe.
The major factions are the Cultivators, the Magic users, the body transformers(Evolutionists), the automatons(mechs) and the demonic faction.
There are also hermit factions like the Primodials and Law Cultivators. Due to the many factions with their own power scales, a general scale was made, with 9 mortal realms, 10 immortal realms and 8 celestial realms.
To prevent confusion when different factions meet each other, the general scale matches everyone so that there is no difference in the growth factor, they just want to be difficult and/or want to match their unique factor's change as an increase in their realm.
The first realms of the mortal group are, Seeker- for they are fresh and are yet to obtain a class.
The next is Disciple- they obtain a class at random or are taught the skills and has a job in that class.
Officer realm- they are official members of a faction.
Superhuman- they break through the limits of human body and their life factor reaches 200 years.
Factors are like stats, they show how strong a person is, but they also show the aptitude of that individual, lets say a person's aptitude factor is at the 'A' rank, the highest they will be able to reach is Third -level immortal.
What was Richard's aptitude factor you might be asking,
Well, Richard had an aptitude factor of immortal lord(9th Immortal realm). Even if it was not the highest it was to the immortal lord realm (3rd stage realm nine) was already at the stage where the Empire and the Alliance would not be able to touch, or even look at him funny. So they decided to cut the bud before he would become a problem.
The expedition tomorrow is to explore the ruins of the ancient Lonstron, their scientists discovered something fascinating in these ruins that they had to get their greedy claws on. I have almost no information about the place other than the general layout but I still volunteered as a guide for this expedition which is my means to get by.
Early morning the next day Lucy (lucidia) was back in the mercenary guild fully geared, she wore a denim jacket and cargo pants under all of which was a magic enhanced cybernetic suit (MECS). She was waiting in front of the building while up in his office Manik was talking to two people one of which is a young man, he was blond with hair reaching his chin and navy blue eyes he seemed very arrogant and was like a brat and the other was middle-aged man, his hair had turned completely white probably from having to deal with the younger man his entire life.
The younger one was the first prince of the empire Lucas Leo Demira and the other was the general commanding officer of the imperial guard and the prince's butler Aetius.
Lucas spoke first, "Manik, it's like you forget that we own you and just because you say so doesn't mean the I'm going to back, the empire need me and I need the power to rule them effectively, that brother of mine thinks I'm not fit to rule because he joined the magic users, he dares to question my right to rule and has begun to turn father against me."
Manik looked at the spoiled brat of a prince and without any facial change said "your Highness the decision you want to make will affect many lives, not something a prince worthy to rule would do."
Lucas' face turned red from anger and smacked his hand on the table, he grit his teeth at Manik and said " dear Manik it's like you forget we own you and I ...." Manik interrupted him "and it's like you forget, I'm owned by the empire and I am a mercenary so I am protected by law, the same law by which your empire is subject to so I would like to see you try and break these laws and see how much your empire in this universal countryside will be able to handle it."
Lucas turned to Aetius expecting him to intervene.Aetius just sighed and said "we will only stay for 72 hours and if we find anything we will send a report."
Manik stared at them for a long time and after a few minutes the three of them walked out the door where Lucy was standing. The two guests turned to her, Lucas eyed her like he was doing food but Aetius looked solemn like he saw someone he once knew. Lucy on the other hand was not really affected by the prince but was confused by the butler.
'Did he know me or was he someone who knew my parents.'either way they both left and Manik turned to her and said "Get ready they leave in 45 minutes."