By the end of his vacations, Michael had already completed the upgrade of the formation in the forest. The Rageberg family began to secretly gather soul experts from their army and the surrounding regions. All this was for forming an information network. The Zenids and Millers were also contacted as they sent many experts as well.

The military base that Michael envisioned was one meant to be a lasting fort against the devils. Thus, he not only needed powerful experts and trained soldiers but also a solid information network. The ultimate authority of the formation was divided between Mubal, Michael and Demitrus but they could designate lesser authority to other individuals as well.

Michael gave his family members sufficient authority to control the formation. It was so that in the forbidden forest, they would be able to even confuse and trap perfect realm experts. Mubal did not have any remaining family members. Thus, he did not assign part of his authority to anyone. As for Demitrus, after listening to Michael's advice and seeing the efficacy of improved formation, he decided to contact his race for further steps.

The moonflower race was a small race with only about 10000 members. More than 6000 were elderly or children. Thus, there were only 4000 capable fighters in the race. Among them, 3000 were in the king realm while 1000 were in the emperor realm. After Demitrus went back to his race, he discussed the matter of migration with all the adults. They came to the conclusion that being under the Rageberg family was better compared to being under some other race. This was because the forbidden forest was deep inside the border of the light empire. It would be impossible for the place to be endangered in the hundred-year war. Adding the power of illusion formation, the beasts in the wild would also be controlled. Thus, they decided to secretly migrate to the forest in the next 3 years before the war could begin.

Naturally, not everyone could go. If the warriors vanished, the elves would grow suspicious and if they attracted too much attention, not only the moonflower race but the Rageberg family too would face a calamity.

Thus, they decided to send the children first to the forest along with some of the capable warriors to build a base in the forest. They would replace those warriors with the elderly in the coming war. The elder people agreed wholeheartedly with the plan.

In Aterna, respect of one's ancestor was considered paramount. It was so much imbibed in their culture that even other races would show some modicum of respect for the ancestors and elderly. This was all due to the sacrifices made by them. Consider the Moonflower race as an example.

The race was weak and did not have any powerful abilities. Thus, the experts of the race were weaker than others on the same level. Adding to it the low fertility of the race, it was impossible for the race to thrive. In such harsh circumstances, the elderly whose vitality was already on the decline were much weaker than their cultivation base. For them to participate in the hundred-year war was simply courting death. But, they still went forward with the plan and not one voice of resentment or dissatisfaction was heard. All the elder warriors were smiling instead with tears of joy going down their faces.

It was all because their children had a better future and a safe-heaven waiting for them. This type of conviction was not seen in the more influential races. But even the influential races like elves were weak at a point in history. At that time, their ancestors had similarly sacrificed their lives. Thus, ancestral worship had become a part of Aterna culture.

After long discussions, a thousand warriors were chosen to take the children to the forest and were given the responsibility of seeing that the race continues to survive. This was the moment of truth for the race. An event like the hundred-year war was a festival and platform for the stronger races like the elves and werebeasts but was a death sentence for the weaker races.

As these plans progressed, Michael used soul seals to bind the new members of the new spy force that they were creating. These soul seals had been developed by Karslon Dumbledore himself and each seal contained the law comprehension of Michael. As long as one did not have great soul power or comprehension of laws of life and death, it was impossible to open the seal. As the people on whom the seal was cast were not of very high cultivation, if the seal was broken through brute force, these people would end up dead.

The seal bound these spies from revealing any information about the disguise technique or the military base.

After finishing all these things, Michael left back for the tower. He had finished most of what he had hoped for in this trip. Now, it was time to improve his cultivation and power. After all, building prestige was quite important for a hero. And the upcoming war was his place to shine.

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Ambrose was a common man - human. Like others around him, he had cultivated with the help of the noble family in charge of the area. The nobles in charge of the territory were not very powerful - only barons in term of status. Being a baron in the Atrexia rule was pretty much being better than the commoners by a tiny bit. The family did not have a single saint and had 2 emperors. Many years ago, the ancestor of the family had made contributions to the military and was granted the title of baron by the human king.

Ambrose came from a very poor family. He never knew his father and his mother worked day and night in the fields of others to get food on the table. Ambrose had had his blessing ceremony in the local temple. He had an intermediate blessing - energy sense. The blessing allowed him to sense natural energy and helped him start soul cultivation.

Now, at the age of 22, he had stepped in the viscous-soul realm and was at mid-stage king-realm in body cultivation. He was not an expert by any means. Now that he had grown up, he could see that his mother was getting older and her power was decreasing. She used to be an adventurer in her early years and had decent cultivation at the peak king-realm. She had settled down after giving birth to Ambrose. Now, as the years gained on her, her vitality was beginning to decrease. In her adventuring years, she had been injured by a monster which made her old age full of suffering.

Ambrose desperately wanted to help relieve his mother's pain but there was nothing he could do. The internal wound had been left untreated for years and there was no way for anyone else to treat it either. As his mother grew older, the injury became more and more active so that all her nights were spent in agony and pain. Looking at his once-proud mother who never lowered her dignity in front of anyone in such a state made him desperate.

He was searching for any way that could help his mother's pain. It was then that he was called by the head of the noble family in the area:

Noble : Ambrose, its good that you came. Come and stand here. This is the guard captain of the Rageberg family. The Rageberg family is one of the 8 Dukedoms of the kingdom. You should offer your formal greetings.

Ambrose(kneels) : I Ambrose greet My Lord! To what do I have the blessing to be called by you?

Guard-Captain : No need to kneel. I am also a commoner like you. While I may serve the Dukedom, I myself am not a member of the noble family.

Ambrose could see that the guard captain was speaking frankly about his status. It was indeed true that he was just a captain of guards under the Ragebergs but how could his status be the same as a commoner? The Ragebergs were at the centre of the political stage of the kingdom right now. Their prestige was so high that even the human emperor would have to treat them seriously. What could a baron even say to someone of that status? The guard-captain was a representative of the Rageberg family right now! Even in personal capacity, he was already a saint. The noble would still have to treat him respectfully. But, when the Rageberg banner was added on top of it, the noble was already sweating buckets!

Ambrose also knew about these things. After all, the politics in the kingdom was quite transparent. He had also heard the legends of the human crown prince who had an immortal expert behind him! To Ambrose, immortals were simply a concept of stories. He had never seen one nor had he known who had seen such a person. But, right now he was standing in front of the representative of a family that had contact with immortal experts! How could he not kneel?

Ambrose : This lowly one does not dare! Please do not make me stand in front of lord.

Guard-Captain : Humm. Do as you wish. Ambrose, I have come here on the orders of my lord the Duke of Rageberg territory - Collins Rageberg. The family needs some people who have decent soul cultivation. Are you willing to join the Rageberg family?

For Ambrose, this was like a pie dropping from the sky. How could he have imagined that someone as weak as him would be asked to join such a prestigious family? Even if he had decent soul cultivation, due to never having learnt any soul arts, he could not use that power. It was only useful in performing ceremonies that he had learned from the temple priest.

Ambrose wanted to agree instantly. But, he hesitated as he thought of his mother. Thus, he said:

Ambrose : Sir, I mean no offence. But, I have an aging mother at my home. I can not leave her behind. Please forgive me.

Guard-Captain : What nonsense is this?! Do you think that the Rageberg family is a joke?? All our employees get their own quarters and decent pay. It is a very highly paid job. Why would you have to leave your mother behind?

Ambrose nearly had a heart attack when the guard-captain bellowed initially! But, he was also not at fault. The noble family that he was part of never offered accommodation as part of the job. How could he have known that he gets a job and a home? He said:

Ambrose : Forgive my ignorance, My Lord. I will report to the Rageberg family with my mother.

After Ambrose told his mother about the incident, his mother was also happy for her son's prosperity. Thus, after a harrowing journey of 15 days, Ambrose reached Redster with his mother. After looking at the huge city for the first time, he was truly stunned. Especially the castle in the centre. It was simply majestic quite unlike the small decrypt castle of his former employer.

Even before signing the contract, he was given accommodation in the city. After he settled down and reported to the Rageberg castle's training grounds, he found more than 300 hundred people standing in the training grounds. They were all waiting for the Guard-Captain.

The moment the guard-captain appeared, the entire crowd went quiet. The aura of the captain was completely different from the day Ambrose had first met him. It was oppressive and powerful. It was the aura of an early saint-realm expert on full display. Ambrose had never felt an aura like that. But, he did not lose composure. The guard-captain took the stage and spoke:

Guard Captain : I have gathered you all from the surrounding thousand kilometers. All of you have the same common feature - your soul cultivation. The reason for calling you is simple - the hundred-year war. The war is upon us and our army is lacking in soul experts. Right now, we shall give you two contracts. The first one is a regular army contract. You join the army and fight the war. In return, we pay you handsomely and give you a house to live in the city. In the event that you die on the battlefield, your families would be cared for by the Rageberg family. But that is it. If you manage to survive, you can continue working for the family. If you decide to leave after the war, we will pay you a fixed amount but you will have to leave your quarter.

The second contract gives you a permanent house and care for your family. We will take up on ourselves to take care for your family in any circumstances. The pay will be beyond what you can be offered anywhere in the plane including the devil slayer devision. Also, we shall keep on paying your family members the same amount in case of your death. In addition, your families shall all be considered knighted families in the future. But, the job will be much more risky and secret. The chances of dying will be much higher. Decide for yourself.

Ambrose initially wanted to sign the regular contract but looking at the amount being paid by the second contract, he changed his mind. His mother's injury was indeed incurable but there were medicinal herbs that could alleviate the pain. It was just that those herbs were too expensive. But, looking at the amount being offered, he could easily afford them through the second contract.

Also, the clause that in case of his death, his mother would still get the money made him feel even more satisfied. Thus, he chose the second contract. As it turned out, less than forty people chose the second contract.

All of them were brought to their quarters. Then they were blindfolded and put under illusions and taken to a carriage which completely blocked vision. It was with such secrecy that they did not know where they were or how much time had passed.

Once they reached the destination, they were brought back to their senses.

Ambrose was truly speechless at the family's methods. After that, they were briefed about the spy organization - shadow eyes.

It was then Ambrose and the rest understood what they had to do - spying.

Spying was the most dangerous job in Aterna. Naturally, because it was very easy to get caught. Racial features could not be changed easily. But, as the group learned the methods of the family, they even more shocked. The disguise technique pretty much made it impossible to catch them!

Ambrose spent an entire month training. At the base, there were about a hundred trainees like him in the shadow-eyes. Some were from the Miller and Zenid territory as well. The more Ambrose understood the scale of this operation, the more awed he became at the influence of the noble families.

Apart from the shadow eyes trainees, there were veteran military experts present as well. This was pretty much a huge base that was being built in the middle of some forest in secrecy. All in all, the entire base had less than 300 people. But they were all very powerful. Many influential figures could also be seen in the base from time to time - saints and even perfect realm experts. Ambrose got a chance to meet the Duke Rageberg and other huge figures of the kingdom as well.

Thus, he trained continuously. As he got better at the technique of disguise, he made an impression of himself on the upper echelon of the base. As all things were proceeding smoothly, one day all the shadow eye members were assembled in a hall. They were all curious as to what had happened as there was no prior notice of this meeting. As they were discussing, a teenage kid appeared on the stage.

No one among the crowd saw how he got there! It was as if he appeared out of thin air. The kid started speaking:

Hello everyone, my name is Michael Rageberg. You might know me as the crown prince of Atrexia kingdom!

This line sent murmurs through the crowd. Michael Rageberg was an extremely famous name! Ambrose too focussed on the figure in front of him. But it was as if a fog had covered Michael. He could not see anything.

Michael : I am sure that all of you have been briefed about the organization that you are going to be a part of. Thus, you know of many things and many secrets of our allied families. Of course, we can not let you go without putting countermeasures in place. So I am going to put a soul seal on all of you. This will also be an oath that you will not be able to break. The oath is simple. No matter what, you can not divulge anything you learned at this base nor any information about this base to anyone who you have not seen here. There is no use in resisting. If you do, your soul will shatter. That is a pretty bad way of dying. Your contracts would be anullled as you would be branded as traitors and your families would also be killed. You should also know that we are binding you to us. After all, we have spent quite a lot of resources on your training. We can not allow you to leave without repaying us. If you give us 5 years of service, you shall be free to leave. The soul oath would, of course, remain there. If you perform well in your services, I will reward you with anything that I am capable of. The list of rewards will be given to you once you are deployed. Your training will only last for a full year. If you are not prepared by then, you shall die in foreign territory. Now, I will begin.

Michael's words caused many experts with hidden motives to sneer. While Michael Rageberg was quite famous, it was because he was too young for his accomplishments. His power was not very high. Even if he placed a soul seal, there were many in Aterna that would be able to break the seal.

Micahel did not bother with any of the trainee's response and directly cast a huge soul art. His soul energy, life energy and death energy mixed to form around a hundred seals and each seal rushed to the souls of the trainees. The plane laws descended simultaneously prompting the candidates to take the oath.

This happened so fast that people had no chance to prepare themselves.

More than 10 people tried to deceive the oath or resisted till the end - only to have their souls shattered!

It was due to a simple reason - they could feel that Michael had not used soul energy but something else as well. They did not know what it was and knew that solving such a seal would be impossible in the future. Thus, they tried to act, only to die miserably.

Those who were ignorant of the truth about Michael's seal due to lack of experience mentally felt smug that they could easily have the seals broken later. It would only be a year later that they would understand what they had gotten themselves into.

Ambrose had no intention of rebelling. He could feel that Michael was not simple. He could feel through his blessing that Michael was very, very strong. As the Rageberg family had helped him in time of need, he would keep his part of the deal as well.

Michael left after the sealing ceremony just as he had appeared. He simply vanished. The trainees were left shaken at the events. Today, they found how their crown prince was in real life - a young dragon.

This was the first time Ambrose had seen Michael and vice versa. It would only be later that he would become the second person in the entourage of Micahel Rageberg.