The battlefield between the Atucan Empire and the Stuteron Kingdom had been divided into two parts; one was for the Initiators while the other was for the Non-Initiators. Of course, the same was true for the Douvell Kingdom side too. Moreover, although this division had not been made official by these kingdoms, they still had some unspoken and unwritten rules for it; to maintain the balance between the two sides.

One such major rule was the ‘Non-Interference’ rule; though, it was meant for the Initiators primarily, as the opposite of such was not much of a concern to anyone. Many times, in the beginning phase of the war; when the Initiators lost their battles, they would go to the other side of the battlefield and would let out their frustration on the Non-Initiators. This was highly unacceptable for both the kingdoms; thus, this unspoken rule of ‘Non-Interference’ had come about.

If an Initiator, for whatever reason, decided to break this rule and massacred a large number of Non-Initiators, then he or she would be marked and hunted down by the enemies. Furthermore, in this situation, the ally Initiators would also not provide any help.

This was how it was supposed to work; however, things were not so straightforward and were much more complicated than that. After all, the value of an Initiator was much higher than a Non-Initiator. And therefore, unless the Initiator truly went mad and started killing the Non-Initiators incessantly, this kind of rule would rarely apply.

As for why the kingdoms still employed the Non-Initiators given this situation, it was because they made up the numbers. Initiators were the elites, they made up the quality of the army; while the Non-Initiators had the numbers, they made up the quantity of the army.

………

The morning of the second day arrived, and the battle started again….

Soren stood on the balcony of his house with a hot cup of choco in his hand and gazed towards the Langmar Mountains where the two battlefields existed. Even though the battlefields were at some distance from the town, he could still hear some faint noises coming from that side. Sounds of gunshots; metals clashing against metals; screams filled with the aura of death; blasts occurring on occasions; all of these gave Soren an indistinct idea about the situation on the battlefield.

Thinking about how he also had to go in there soon, Soren became a bit nervous. He had indeed experienced many battles before but fighting in a war was still something new for him. And while he had no intention of backing off, he still didn’t want to deceive himself about being confident. Of course, he knew for certain that this anxiety and nervousness was mainly because this situation was something new for him. Once he got used to it; he was fairly positive that with his power, he could not only survive but also get lots of benefits out of it. So, with that in mind, he drank his hot choco in one gulp and started getting ready to head out; though, he burned his tongue in doing so.

The white ring that he had received yesterday was supposed to have all the data that he was going to need.

The list of the marked enemies with the number of contribution points they would give; list of the number of contribution points corresponding to each layer and rank; how many contribution points he currently had; any specific mission that he could take; details of the squad that he could join; list of rewards he could exchange with his contribution points; list of restricted rewards that he could not exchange with his current status; a ranking list based on the stored contribution points; a detailed map of the area including the Atucan Empire’s defensive posts; a small range communication feature; unlocking the protective spell formation on the residence; these were some of the features of the ring that Soren had been told about.

Of course, the ring itself could not give him any information. He first had to connect it to his communicator; only then could he get the data. And so, before moving out, he took out his communicator and went through the process of connecting the two. Then, after he was done skimming through all the data that had just appeared in it, he went back and opened the rewards list again; he wanted to confirm something in it.

There were two rewards lists that had appeared from the ring; as it was stated in the information that Soren had received yesterday. One was which he had access to and could exchange the items from with his contribution points; though, he had to go to the administrative building for that. Another one was of the restricted rewards which he could not get with his current status; no matter how many contribution points he had. As for why it was still displayed even though people like him could not get anything from it, Soren believed it was to encourage them to sign the contract with the royal family and upgrade their status.

This restricted rewards list was, in fact, one of the main reasons why he’d wanted to come into contact with the princess. With her status, she had access to everything in the rewards list; and Soren wanted to use her for that. However, for now, he was still not at that stage where he could simply ask her about it. Although there was a chance that she might agree to it if he asked now, it would certainly damage the relationship that he’d been building with her for all this while. To get what he wanted, he had to wait; wait until the princess herself would make that offer to him.

And thus, given that fact, Soren ignored that restricted list for now and focused his attention towards the one he could access. After just one look, he could tell that this list was huge. It had all kinds of items; ranging from the most common ones to the ones that Soren had never even heard of before. But as he had specific requirements right now, he ignored all those and quickly went through the filtering options; selecting what he needed.

While there were many things that he needed to work on, he had first decided to complete his defensive spell. He’d been working on this spell for a very long time now and had already finished it. At this point, if he wanted to create a defensive spell based on the spell formation that he had designed, it would work perfectly; in fact, he had even successfully simulated it with Isaac’s help. But after he had created this spell, he’d suddenly got an idea and had thought to change this spell accordingly. If he succeeded, this spell could become much more powerful and much more efficient than it was now. After thinking about it for a long time, he had ultimately decided not to finalize the spell and wait until he could get his hands on the information that he needed; to take the spell in the direction that he wanted.

Naturally, that information was not something that he could buy with just some crystals; only someone with a higher status and cultivation level could access such information. Fortunately for him, though, this information was part of the rewards given out for this war; or so he’d heard.

And so, after filtering the options, he finally found what he was looking for; confirming the news he had received before.

With details, it was displayed on the screen: ‘Information on Bloodline Talents’.

……..

Giving out simple instructions to Hamish and leaving the automatons inside the protection of the house to accompany Argus, Soren went out of his residence and started walking towards the meeting place of his squad; this information had also been added to the ring recently.

He was currently wearing the usual survival outfit that he found comfortable to fight in; black high-neck t-shirt; a thin but rough black jacket on top; camouflage military pants; black boots which were, in fact, the Artifact ‘Agility-Boots’; and his other Artifacts like his earring, bracelet, rings, and gloves. During the time he’d spent on the road from Bycrest to Dalhurst, the season had already changed once again from summer to autumn; the temperature had gone down significantly, and its effects could be seen everywhere. But, of course, regardless of the season or the temperature; with the control he had over his Mana now, it didn’t matter to Soren. In regard to his choice of clothes, he just wore what he felt like; external matters had little influence on him.

Walking on the side street, Soren took out his communicator once again and opened the details of his squad. Just as he was getting ready to head out before, a soldier had arrived at his house and had informed him that he’d been accepted into a squad and was chosen by the squad leader himself. Certainly, this came as a surprise to him as he didn’t know anyone here and had yet to make his name. Let alone being specifically chosen by some squad leader, he could not even get into a squad right now. However, once he opened the details of this squad and saw the picture of the squad leader, everything made sense to him.

The squad leader’s name was Seth. He was a Rank 1: Layer 5 Initiator who specialized in Illusion Spells. Although this was quite a rare specialization, the thing that stood out the most about this man was, in fact, the scar that was on his face; going from his left forehead down to his left cheek. But, of course, Soren didn’t need those specifics to recognize this person; he remembered this face very vividly. It was just that the name that was associated with this face was different in his memory. The name that he had always thought of when he’d remembered this face was….

Smiley...

Spoiler: Spoiler

Status: Healthy

Rank 1: Layer 1 [CP - 0%]

Name: Soren Farrow

Species: Human

Attribute: Darkness & Ice

Health: 100%

Stamina: 100%

Mana: 100%

Strength: 7.93

Agility: 9.70 (+1.90)

Vitality: 17.69

Intelligence: 21.22 (+7.20)

Spirit: 20.24 (+8.45)

Resistance: 9.10 (+2.35)

Spells:

Spell Vessels: 3/10

Innate Spells: 18

Innate Skills/Bloodline Talents: 7

Water Bubbles [7/7] – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

------------

Snow Blades [5/5] – Level 9/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

------------

Ice Chakra [6/6] – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

------------

Create Undead: Low Tier Ⅱ – Level 7/15. Mana Cost – Average. [Rank 1]

------------

Dark Raven – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

------------

Ice Barrage – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

------------

Dead Rising – Level 7/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

------------

Acid Needles – Level 5/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

------------

Shadow Prison – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

------------

Frost Domain – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

------------

Elemental Sense – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

------------

Dark Gravity – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

------------

Withering Wood – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

------------

Ice Spikes – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

------------

Soul Search – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 1]

------------

Ice Wall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

------------

Waterball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

------------

Rainfall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

------------

Spark – Level 10/10. Mana cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

------------

Fireball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

------------

Space Snatcher – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 0]

------------

Mana Manipulation – Level 7/15

------------

Potioneering [Rank 1] – Level 1/15.

------------

Powered Vision – Level --/--

------------

Vornea: Basic Form – Level --/--

------------

Devour: First Evolution – Level --/--

------------

Second Intelligence – Level --/--

------------

Shadow Steps – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

------------

Equipment: Common Clothes; Magic Staff – Moonshard; Spirit-Pendant; Snake-Earring; Spirit-Ring; Resistance-Ring; Caster’s Bracelet; Agility-Boots; Dagger; Mana Touch – Gloves; White Ring [War Accessory].

Storage Pearl: Common Clothes; Hunter I.D; Mask; Multiple Unfocused Cultivation Techniques – Low Grade; Focused Cultivation Technique – Middle Grade; Egg – Crystal Albarose; Various Ingredients; Automatons x3; Beast Cores[Rank 0] x184; Beast Cores[Rank 1] x114; Rank 1 Potion Recipe – Sun’s Afterglow; Rank 1 Potion Recipe – Soul Recovery; Cultivation Technique – Turtle’s Life; Cultivation Technique – Flaming Hair; Various Skills – Memory Spheres; Empty Memory Spheres; Books and Compendiums; Rank 0 Common Potions[Middle-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[High-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[Top-Grade] x0; Rank 1 Potion – Soul Recovery[Lowest-Grade] x2.

Mana Crystals: 678 [Middle-Grade]; 202 [Low-Grade]; Myriad Items—Card [Value-000]; Six Mana Cards.