Settlements across the empire are divided in categories. The first is the one and only imperial capital, next come the ten royal capitals and twenty princely palace cities. A step below them are regional capitals, grand cities, and imperial cities, all of which follow the imperial law and only imperial law, with extradition agreements with all imperial kingdoms.
Below imperial cities, there are towns, villages, hamlets and all other forms of settlements, none of which relevant to our study, since they are subject to royal laws with some minor exceptions.
— Excerpt from Imperial Administration Explained
Day 83, 5:00 PM
Firmly deciding not to give the librarian a hint about my knowledge of seal scribing, I stuffed the many pockets of my black outfit with manarium and gold. Then I bought the ink, writing implements and paper before telling Ruby I had some errands to run in Thunderbluff and setting off.
It was the middle of the night when I reached the city, its gates closed until sunrise. I headed over to the entrance for the awakened, sat on the waiting bench, and started drawing, enjoying the constant background rumble to which the city owed its name. By dawn, I was once more a fifth level seal scribe, stuck with the requirement of drawing a master tier seal. While I knew they existed, as well as the grandmaster and exalt tiers beyond it, I had never seen one.
But that was about to change — I was about to enter a treasure trove of knowledge. Imperial cities had all the major guilds, and larger libraries than Hailstown’s humble shrine to knowledge. The problem was, with my resources, the most advanced books I could access were the ones you paid for with third realm manarium.
The reality of it was absurd. I could do anything, given enough time, but I couldn’t earn money quickly enough to learn things when I wanted to. There were options, gambling for one, winning absurd sums, which might grant me access to fifth realm literature, but it also might get me stabbed in the dark alley, by someone who actually needed such high grade resources. And that might spell the end of my life.
No, the best approach was to advance slowly, compound my wealth bit by bit, until I earned enough for my needs, then loop through books once things were safe. The lack of knowledge might lead to suboptimal choices, but I could live with that for the added safety.
As dawn approached, I moved to stand before the gate, noticing two shifty characters whispering and throwing looks my way, thinking I didn’t see them. They approached, something about their gait off. I didn’t think they intended to attack me, but better safe than sorry.
“If you take one more step towards me,” I said when they were a yard behind me, “I will take it as an attack and defend myself. Keep your distance or suffer the consequences.”
The men froze and backed away while I shifted a bit to keep them in the corner of my eye.
Fortunately they did nothing suspicious, and the gate opened soon enough.
“Entrance fee is one piece of first realm manarium,” the guard said, and I paid my fee.
Larger imperial cities would beggar me, while I wasn’t even eligible to enter the royal capitals or the imperial capital itself. The world I was in truly revolved around money and power. I had a long way to go.
I smiled instead of feeling downcast and engaged the guard in conversation.
“Pardon me, good sir, but could you tell me where I can get some training. Anything works, friendly spars, pit fighting, arena battles, anything where I can test myself.”
The hour was early, but third realm knights needed little sleep - a nights’ rest every three days; and I was guessing my abnormal physique pushed that even further, resulting in me needing to sleep only one night out of six.
The guard was polite, respectful, but not subservient. I didn’t know whether the man was a knight or not, but I was fairly certain I could wrap him up in a ball, even in the mail and plate armor he wore, which was of a good design and kept in pristine condition.
The man told me of several places which fit what I was looking for. The arena was the grandest, best paying, but had scheduled battles and only operated on holidays, and I was fresh out of those.
“There are several fighting pits around the city. Longshank’s being the biggest, and you can almost certainly find someone fighting there at all times. And even if you find no opponents, you can just leave your name and a place where they can find you, and they’ll send a runner to fetch you or inform you of an upcoming match.”
I pressed three gold coins into the man’s hand as I shook it and entered Thunderbluff. The city did not stink. That was the first and very important impression. The most recent information I read on Thunderbluff was a century old, but it estimated the population at around two hundred thousand. If one believed the Introduction to Realm Cores, they would have guessed the number of awakened at around two hundred, but that didn’t account for those who arrived to use the amenities imperial cities provided.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The guide I read stated that the number fluctuated between two and ten thousand, which was a huge margin. Whatever the case, first realm awakened rarely traveled, focusing on advancing as quickly as possible, meaning there should be a bunch of knights at my realm, all of whom eager to spar and fight.
I navigated the streets, asking for directions two more times, just to make sure I was heading in the right direction, and reached Longshank’s after ten minutes of brisk walk, which non-awakened would have considered a sprint.
“Good morning, I’m looking for a fight,” I grinned at the pair of bouncers standing in front of the door.
I don’t know how they would’ve reacted to a regular person saying that, but my charisma plus skills elicited a chuckle. One of them even opened the door for me.
“Speak with the barkeep.” He nodded to someone inside, and I stepped in.
The joint was dark, and behind the bar stood a woman with fiery red hair and icy blue eyes. Her eyes flickered in the unnaturally quick manner of mages before she spoke.
“Third realm, fifth layer?”
I nodded, she probably knew my realm better than I did, since I still hadn’t explored it one bit, preparing for the moment I entered the realm knight class once more.
“I have a third realm sixth layer knight waiting for an opponent. Two second realm manarium if you lose, ten if you win, and I’ll slot you in for the next match.”
“Can I bet on myself, and what are my odds?”
“You’re an unknown wanderer, your realm slightly below the opponeents.” Her eyes rolled and danced as she made calculations. “Five for two should be fair. That’s at a premium, customers will get two for one.”
“Great.” I gave her the four pieces of third realm manarium, betting more or less everything I had on myself. “Can I see your weapons and do a bit of warmup?”
She pointed me towards the large double door. “You have two hours, and why do you need our weapons? I mean we have a room full of them, some of them even decent, but people prefer using their own gear.”
I grinned at her. “I need to give that guy a chance.”
She rolled her eyes, but an amused smile tugged at the corners of her lips.
Two hours later, the guy arrived. He was a bit more woman than I expected, I guess it an honest mistake, one I would need to correct. While males were more common, women accounted for at least a third of the awakened population.
“Hello,” I greeted the woman with a friendly smile. The two hours which had passed translated to eight weapon skills I was proficient with once again. The only one missing was Initial Slingmanship, since pit fighters were Goliath types, staying clear of slings.
The woman snorted at me, as if I had insulted her, but that was fine. I had my eyes on her sword. A well made piece of steel, sharp and deadly, with a runic seal on the flat side and veins spreading along it like blood vessels.
I returned my mace to the well stocked armory, and took a long sword as similar to the woman’s as possible, barring the never-dull seal which kept her blade from chipping and deteriorating with use. She almost certainly had another seal on the weapon’s other side, since safeguarding a common weapon wasn’t worth the investment.
“Are both combatants ready?” the bartender asked the moment I returned with the sword, the crowd surrounding the pit murmuring and checking us out.
My opponent nodded, while I wondered whether we were going to get any introductions.
I guess we’ll introduce ourselves with our weapons.
I nodded.
“Fight.”
The nameless knight was fast, frighteningly so. She launched herself at me as if shot from a cannon, her agility at least twenty-five if not even thirty. My reflexes were good, my speed even better and I blocked her blade. Then it cleaved into the metal of my borrowed sword, nearly making my jaw drop.
[Name - Dandelion Blackfist
Class - weapon master level 0
Health 25/25, Strength - 25, Agility - 25, Physique - 25, Wisdom - 25, Intellect - 25, Willpower - 25, Presence - 21, Charisma - 25, Composure - 25
Abilities - See Abilities for more information.
Attribute points remaining - 0
To level up, defeat a combatant with their favored weapon.
Statuses - none]
[Abilities - Initial Appraisal, Initial Forest Ambush, Advanced Looting, Literate, Inferior Heartcore, Initial Mana Gathering, Initial Mana Circulation, Initial Black Fist Arts, Advanced Body Reinforcement, Master Rider, Initial Fast Reader, Initial Reference Checker, Expert Calligraphy, Initial Arithmetics, Initial Persuasion, Initial Photographic Memory, Initial Time Optimization, Initial Logical Deduction, Initial Steady Hand, Initial Eye For Detail, Initial Seal Deconstruction, Initial Seal Prototyping, Advanced Staffmanship, Initial Swordsmanship, Initial Spearmanship, Initial Clubmanship, Initial Flailmanship, Initial Knifemanship, Initial Axmanship, Initial Macemanship]
[Anarchist Level 7
Abilities - Rage, Redo, Blunt, Heavy Handed, Direct, Insightful, Precise, Amicable, Visionary, Godly ??, Gate Sealer ??, Vengeful ?, Grandmaster Rider ?
To level up, force the authorities to impose justice upon a party they had previously ignored.]
