Book 1, Prologue - To Each Their Own (Pt. 0.2/0.3)

"Mother! It should be fine to go to the other Lands if one has strong protection, right? After all, didn't mother come from the Western Lands?

Hearing this, the boy's mother's eyes seemed to cloud over a bit, and she turned her head towards the horizon, her gaze reminiscent of one who had lost what they had truly, and dearly loved...

"Mother! I want to become the strongest Invoker! So that I can protect us when we travel back to the Western Lands to visit!"

The boy's interjection brought the woman back from her thoughts. Gently stroking the boy's hair, the mother smiled, and said rather jovially, "Oh, is that so? But Channeling Energy is very hard, and requires both mental fortitude and patience. Even though your Innate Talent allows you to become an Invoker, the road ahead will still be tough..."

"I don't care! I will definitely become the strongest Invoker, like those Spiritualist Invokers that Father talked about in the legends!"

The boy's mother just smiled, and said nothing. She already knew what the results were of her son's innate talent testing. The road ahead was definitely going to be tough for him, as his innate talent was at the Spark Stage, the second lowest.

If he really wanted to become an Invoker, he would have to put in almost ten times as much effort as other children. In her opinion, it was better for Synth to embark on the path of a Chevalier.

Chevaliers and Invokers, although their abilities sounded similar, were fundamentally different.

For Invokers, their main goal towards becoming strong was to accumulate their Channeling Energy inside their body, and learn about magic arrays to cast spells, attacking the enemy mainly from a distance. Although strong, close-combat was their fatal weakness.

For Chevaliers, their usage of Channeling Energy was different. They would focus it to refine the outside of their bodies, greatly strengthening their physical capabilities. They would mainly learn combat skills and weapon styles. Although strong, their greatest weakness would be distance. Their body's physical prowess may be godly compared to an ordinary human's. However, when faced with the terrifying magics that Invokers could cast, it was guaranteed that they would be slaughtered almost instantly, like sheep.

Although there were some people who trained both as an Invoker and a Chevalier, those people were few within few, and rare within rare. The physical and mental exhaustion caused by embarking on this path were not few, and the overuse of Channeling Energy when training might be enough to kill the practitioner.

This was why many Invokers did not train also as Chevaliers. Chevaliers, with their terrible latent talent, would naturally not be able to train in the ways of the Invokers.

That mental and physical exhaustion would be enough to overwhelm the vast majority of practitioners.

Even though one was qualified to become an Invoker as long as one's latent talent was at the Spark Stage, it was still similar to a barrier that the practitioner could never break through.

This was why sometimes, even when a person was qualified to become an Invoker, they chose to become a Chevalier instead. After all, if one's talent wasn't high enough, to become a powerful Invoker, would only be an unreachable dream.

"Mother, what did you actually want to find me for?"

Hearing this, Synth's mother flicked the top of his forehead once, and sported an unhappy expression. Clutching his forehead in pain, he began to wail, "Mother, what was that for?"

"Silly boy. Mother had been looking all over for you. Don't you know that it's lunch time now? Being part of aristocracy, you must always keep track of the time. After all, an aristocrat is never late."

The boy's expression changed from that of a pouting one to one of amusement. "Oh, so that was the reason mother was looking for me! I'll head there first; on a side note, I sure am hungry! It truly is lunch time, haha!"

With a few childish laughs, the boy began to run back in the direction of the gigantic estate. "Mother, I'll go back first!"

After a wave of his hand, the child kept on running straight ahead, the gentle sunlight making the golden strands in his black hair all the more luminescent.

Retracting her gaze from the rapidly fading visage of her son, the woman turned back around towards the garden. Bending down and picking up a flower, the woman unhappily muttered, "Synth, you spoiled brat. You should really give up those hopes of becoming an Invoker, and pursing the righteous path of becoming a Chevalier instead. Your mother, Cynthia Lyos, after all, was once a very strong Chevalier from the North, and she can guide you down this path..."

Lightly tapping the seemingly simple ring on her index finger, a mysterious rapier suddenly flew out and landed in her hands. Gently caressing the blade, the woman let out a soft sigh.

Unbeknownst to her own son, the woman was once a legendary figure in the Western Lands...

The Three-star General, Cynthia Lyos, who was known for her speed, grace, and agility while fighting, along with her almost unparalleled strength. One of the Five Core Guardians of the city of Desais.

Also, the only disciple of the Soundless Sword Master, having inherited an ancient, secret sword style from him, the Lightspeed Talon.

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“Mother… you, three years ago, after that day, suddenly disappeared. You only left behind a mysterious ring, and nothing else. You didn’t even leave me a note stating the reason for your disappearance…”

Remembering the last encounter that he had with his mother before she mysteriously disappeared, Synth let out a soft, mourning cry in the depths of his heart.

She didn’t even leave a note, nor any trace of her whereabouts. The only thing she left was the mysterious ring that she always wore on her right hand’s index finger.

“…”

Slowly getting up, amidst the pouring rain, Synth began making his way towards the Inner Ward. No matter what, he had to consider his options now. He was kicked out of the Lyos Family, and his father had disowned him.

The only thing that he could do currently was to find a temporary place to live, and wait until the entrance examination for the Magecroft Academy.

Even if his talent was horrible, he was still able to become an Invoker. Naturally, he shouldn’t be rejected from the application process for applying to the academy. However, it meant that the odds of being accepted were significantly lessened for someone of his caliber.

Recalling these facts, Synth let out a long, slow sigh. “My odds of being accepted into that institute should be around 12%...”

Not a great ratio, but it was still better than nothing. Also, he still had the bag of Xena that his father had thrown at him before telling him to leave the family grounds. Remembering this, Synth quickly opened the bag. The faint glint of the green metal coins could be faintly seen under the glow of the moonlight.

“Roughly around ten Bryu. This should be enough to pay for two years, at the very least.”

The currency in the Eastern Lands was based on the base currency, Ryyl. It was a bluish-purple metal that could be easily pounded into a coin.

100 Ryyl was equal to one Vuun, a light silver metal coin that was slightly heavier than a coin of Ryyl, but sported a smaller size.

100 Vuun was equal to one Gulo, a yellow coin with a brilliant luster made from pure gold.

100 Gulo was equal to one Xena, a light green metal coin that was surprisingly light for its size.

100 Xena was equal to one Bryu, a dark black coin that seemed to be made from platinum ore.

100 Bryu was equal to one Occ’na, a rare red-green metal, that seemed to be a combination of red diamond and green jade.

Those were the currencies in the Eastern Lands. Although, besides looking pretty, they didn’t really serve much purpose otherwise. Coins were also a hassle to carry around, so most people used carried around Bank Cards, which were almost a hundred times more convenient.

In other words, what was in the bag that his father had thrown at him was roughly 1000 Xena.

“Damn, such a large amount of money. Father, why couldn’t you just give me a Bank Card instead of all these coins? Do you want your ‘former’ son to get robbed or something?”

Making his way towards the Inner Ward, he was glad that it was now nighttime, and many people were already in their beds and not roaming the streets.

Otherwise, with his sorry appearance, it was an undoubted fact that many people would question what he was doing here and would call the guards.

Although Synth had lived a mostly sheltered life, he had still wandered inside the Inner Ward a countless number of times, to go on a walk. Also, when he was younger, he would cross from the Aristocracy grounds into the Inner Ward, and go all the way past the Outer Ward to the borders of the giant Alkkras domes in order to glimpse a view of the outside world.

Naturally, he knew his way around, and where the Magecroft Academy was located. Travelling past the many neat and tidy houses in the area, Synth began to gradually walk further and further westwards until he had reached the homes of the richest people in the Inner Ward.

Naturally, the aristocracy had a social hierarchy within their grounds as well, not to mention the Inner Ward and the Outer Ward, where the commoners and low nobles lived.

In the Inner Ward, the medium-ranked nobles usually lived on the outskirts, the high ranked nobles living in the middle of the Inner Ward, and the grand nobles living in the innermost areas.

As a prestigious institute, naturally the Magecroft Academy would be located in the richest and most influential area of the Inner Ward. The reason why it was not located in the Aristocrat Grounds was because the aristocratic families refused to have their grounds become an aggregation for people lower ranked than them. Honor, pride and rank were three traits that almost anyone of nobility shared, and there were lines that must not be crossed.

Synth was currently wandering around the Inner Ward, keeping low and mainly staying to the shadows. With his current appearance, he resembled a commoner, and not someone who was a noble, much less an aristocrat. It would be really bad if someone noticed him and called the guards over, since his father had disowned him, and he was technically not part of the aristocracy anymore.

Naturally, a commoner would not be allowed in the Inner Ward, much less the inner grounds of the Inner Ward. If he were to be caught, the consequences would, at the very lightest, be being beaten in public and fined heavily. The tougher punishments would be serving jail time, and if one committed an extremely notorious act, death would be the punishment.

“I didn’t have time to get a change of spare clothes…”

Synth, knowing this due to the many classes in social manners and etiquette that he had to sit through being part of the aristocracy, wryly chuckled. After all, he was kicked out of the household after being beaten viciously. How would be have the spare time to go to his room and grab a change of clothes?

“At least the annual rain shower is washing away the filth on my body.”

Clutching the bag of Xena even tighter under his clothes, Synth began to quicken his pace. The Magecroft Academy was located on top of a mountain near the very end of the inner grounds of the Inner Ward. No matter what, he had to get there before anyone saw his ragged appearance and a misunderstanding would occur.

Although the Magecroft Academy accepted all students as long as their innate talent was at the Spark Stage, for a commoner or low noble to cross into the Inner Ward would require them having a special permit that the Academy would send them. Middle ranking and high ranking nobles could enter the inner grounds, but would just be looked at with disdain. Anyone with a rank equal to or above a grand noble was normally greeted with many smiling faces as they went past the inner grounds on their way to the Academy.

The social hierarchy was not something to be taken lightly. If one was a commoner, they would stay out of the nobles’ way. If one’s ranking as a noble was lower than someone else’s, then one would stay out of their way. And if one was part of aristocracy, many people would try to build up a good relationship with them and flatter them.

Such was the way of the world. Moving briskly and quietly and avoiding the main streets, Synth moved closer and closer to where he last remembered the location of the Magecroft Academy was. After all, he had always wanted to become an Invoker, and had paid a few visits there. Of course, that was when he was still part of the aristocracy.

However, one could not enroll until they were fourteen years old. This was the ironclad rule set by the founders of the Magecroft Academy, as when one was an adolescent was the time where their training speed would advance the quickest.

Being a prestigious academy, they also had a reputation to maintain, and could not produce too many inferior students. Naturally, the requirements to graduate were also extremely harsh.

By the age of twenty, if a student had not advanced to the rank of a Movement Invoker, they would be kicked out of the academy. In addition, the tuition for one year was an astonishing amount of money, equal to almost two thirds of a year’s wages of a low noble, one Bryu.

As Synth was getting closer and closer to the location where he remembered the Magecroft Academy to be, the houses that he saw also became larger, grander, and more ornate.

“After entering the inner grounds, turn right and keep on going straight. This path should lead to a mountain peak, and on top of the mountain is the academy.”

Quietly muttering the directions leading to the academy, Synth temporarily forgot about the hurt that had been inflicted upon him by his father, and his chest became fluttery. What was life going to be like in this prestigious institute?

Only time could tell. Just when he was caught up in his thoughts of becoming a strong, respected Invoker that even the teachers of the academy respected and looked up to, the voice of what seemed to be a young woman suddenly rang in his ears.

“Ah, patrol duty is so boring. That stupid academy, forcing me to do this for ‘community service’, ‘gaining a good image for the school’ and whatnot…”

Quickly turning the opposite direction of where he had heard the voice coming from and hiding behind a corner, Synth breathed out a sigh of relief for managing to escape detection. However, what he didn’t know was that because of the sudden panic attack that he had suffered, he actually ran in the direction of where he had heard the voice.

“What is a COMMONER doing here, in the inner grounds of the Inner Ward?”

The indignant shout behind him caused Synth to shiver and involuntarily turn around.

What he saw was something that made him shiver even more due to his fear. Due to his excitement, Synth had forgotten about something, something very important…

The guards usually roamed the areas around the Inner Wards at midnight all the way until two o’clock! He had arrived in the inner grounds just in time for the patrols to start!

“Uh, big sis, I’m afraid that you are misunderstanding something…”

With a forehead full of sweat, Synth awkwardly smiled, trying to think of ways to get him out of the situation that he had dug himself into.

“What misunderstanding? It seems like you don’t know your place, you commoner!”

The woman behind him suddenly pulled out a broadsword, its silver-red glint reflected by the light of the moon.

Seeing this, Synth wasted no more words and began running as fast as he could away from the terrifying presence behind him.

Snickering, the woman gave chase, an indignant expression still written all over her face.

“It seems like you need some disciplining. After I’m done with you, don’t even think about going ‘back’ to the Outer Wards and resuming your calm life. I promise that I, Lilia Synclaw, will definitely make your act of ignoring the social hierarchy one that your entire family will regret!”