Althea

The voyage was boring.

This was what she had concluded days ago, and had continued to conclude every day since. The voyage had also just begun. The journey from the Northern to Southern continent would take six months. Althea had been on the ship for less than a week. And she was already bored out of her mind.

For once, she missed the paperwork. Missed paperwork. There was something she didn't think she would ever do. But here she was. Missing paperwork because she literally didn't have anything to do.

The Steward stood on the deck, looking like a statue as he gazed at the water. Althea wondered how he was so calm. Wasn't he the one that was supposed to have a block? How come he was calmer than her? That must be something that came with age. Perhaps she would be the same when she was-how old was he again? More than fifty, that was for sure.

"Steward Ven, how is the voyage treating you?" she said, approaching him with a smile.

"The voyage is going well. The fleet should arrive well in time for the Human Cup." The Steward's answer was monotone. Not one for conversation, was he? Hmm.

Well, she was a master now. Didn't he say that she should be a master before she attempted to help him with his block?

"Would you please follow me to my suite? I have something to speak to you about."

The Steward raised an eyebrow, his body not moving an inch otherwise. Althea just began moving inside. The Steward would follow...probably.

And he did. The two of them stepped into her room, where the Steward once again took up a standing position. The man simply could not relax.

"I was wondering if I could help you with your problem? I remember you saying that I should be at least a Master before I try to solve it." she said.

The Steward sighed. "I am not sure if you are ready, Countess. Perhaps after the Human Cup. Is that all?"

Althea groaned. "Come on, at least tell me what is troubling you, so I can try to find a solution. I can see that it troubles you."

"On the contrary, Countess, I am fine. There is no need to worry about me." the Steward replied. Althea held his gaze, staring at him as she willed him to relent. Perhaps she even added a little bit of mana in to it.

The Steward sighed as her heart rose. Yes!

"If you must know, I have not been able to progress because I lost my Mastery." the Steward said.

"Mastery, that's the main part of the Master stage, yes?" Althea mused.

"Yes, to pass through the Master stage, you must Master yourself. But that is something of a misnomer. To be exact, you must find something that defines you. A thing that drives you, or is so important that your existence revolves around it. For many people, those can be multiple things. For some, they are just one. I lost mine long ago, and have been unable to find it again."

Hmm, did the Steward love that woman so much that his entire existence revolved around her. And then she fell in love with Keron, breaking his heart and destroying his Mastery?

"Ok. How can I help?" Althea asked.

The Steward sighed. "There is no way for you to help. I was hoping that by the time you were in the Master stage, one of the special spaces the Diery family that helped one find themselves would activate."

Althea raised an eyebrow. "The Diery family had special spaces that can help one find themself?"

"Yes. The mana level in the county has been increasing as your cultivation increases, and the palace's functions are activating."

"I see." Althea's smile thinned. This was hard. To be honest, she really wanted to help. But this did not seem like something she could help with.

"I promise to check for those the second we return to Diery." she said.

The Steward nodded and made to leave. Althea stopped him.

"Could you stay? Perhaps tell me about the Southern Continent. I only know as much as I have read. Didn't you spend several years there?"

The Steward sighed. "I spent several years in one of the Islands in the Human sea. That is not the same as spending that time on the Southern continent, Countess. As for the continent itself, there is precious little I can tell you."

"Come on, you must know something. What's the Southern continent like? I know they only have one Empire, but what factions are there inside it? What is their culture like? How is their fighting strength compared to ours? Don't they only have like fifty Adepts in total?"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"The Southern Continent is...chaotic. There are no factions there as such, though some Clans and Sects are certainly more powerful than others."

"How are they not factions, then?"

"Well, for one, they do not own large amounts of land, like the Empires in the Northern Continent do."

"Oh? Why not? Does the Emperor restrict them?" Althea mused.

"Not quite. The Southern Continent is one where strength rules. The most powerful person is chosen through pure battle-strength." the Steward said. Althea had to say, he was doing a poor job explaining.

"That sounds like the Northern Continent." she said.

"There are similarities. Hmm, let me put it like this. In the Northern continent, the Countess took power over the county by right of blood, and were able to rule. That would not have worked in the Southern Continent. There would have been someone that would have taken what you had. There is little loyalty there."

Now she was surprised. "So they don't have any law?"

The Steward scratched his beard. "There is law, but it is not like the Northern Continent's. Perhaps I should simply this. The Southern Continent is one of the few places where the First Empire did not extend. The rules and traditions they follow are very different."

Althea raised an eyebrow, sweeping her surroundings with mana. The Steward knowing about the First Empire didn't surprise her, him talking about it so casually did. Discovering the reason wasn't that hard, however. The three spies that were unlucky enough to be caught in this were unconscious. The Steward's work. Althea hadn't even sensed it happen.

"What about fighting strength? How powerful are they? Are they weaker because they did not benefit from Vader the First's help?"

"Not at all." the Steward said. "The contrary, in fact. The martial artists of the Southern continent are superior to our mages in almost every stage below Grandmaster. The gap only closes down in the Grandmaster stage, before that…it is very difficult for a mage to defeat a martial artist."

Ok, that was unexpected. "Martial artists? How are the people of the Southern Continent so powerful?"

The Steward scratched his beard again. "The first difference I would say is in the way both sides approach fighting. To the people of the Southern continent, fighting is all that matters. That is their entire purpose. A martial artist trains for battle from the time they are born, and that is their main focus as they grow. That is the only thing that differentiates them after they reach the Grandmaster stage.

What makes such a huge difference in the stages below Grandmaster, is the fact that they have battle manuals. The North does not have battle manuals, while the South has them in abundance. That cripples us while facing them in any battle. I am not sure what they are exactly, but from what I understand, where a manual gives one the ability to cultivate, a battle manual increases one’s battle power."

"Battle manuals?" Althea hadn't heard of those. Why were there so many things she didn't hear of? "Have we forgotten how to make those too?"

"Yes. There have been attempts, but we simply do not know how. What we are lacking is basic theory of crafting manuals, and we don't know how to relearn it." the Steward answered.

"What basic theory?"

"The mana channels. Or meridians, as they call it in the Southern continent. As you know, each manual channels mana through it in a specific way, making us able to cultivate. That is the problem. To make a new manual, whether a battle manual or a normal one, we need to be able to sense those. And we can't do that. There has been no progress in writing new manuals, simply because we have been unable even start."

Althea smiled. This wasn't the kind of thing one smiled about, but she smiled about it anyway. This was an issue of sensing. And if there was one thing she was good at, it was sensing things.

"Do we have any idea how it works? A place to start?"she asked.

"No." the Steward sighed. "I appreciate you trying, Countess, but many have tried and failed in this. For whatever reason, mana meridians are simply something that we cannot sense."

Althea began pacing, her mind whirling. Writing more manuals had been on her mind since she had seen Mira's problem. But there just didn't seem to be anything that she could do. For the life of her, she could not figure out where to start. Even Pulsie couldn’t figure it out.

And apparently, that was the problem. There was no one that knew how to start.

"How did we lose this information? I mean, manuals are important. How is it that we simply forgot how to make them? Are there really no written records at all? Not a single Empire or Grandmaster clan has something left?"

The Steward shrugged. "If there are any records, the other Empires are not sharing it with us. As for forgetting, we do not know what happened. There is a sequence of events-"

"What do you know?" she asked. "There seem to be an awful lot of things we don't know. Is there anything you do know about this?"

The Steward took a steely breath, annoyance clear on his face. Althea realized that she might have been a bit rude. Ok, maybe more than a bit rude.

"I am sorry-"

"As I was saying, there are a sequence of events in our record, through which we have been able to piece together a version of what happened in our past."

Althea took a deep breath. "Ok, what is the sequence of events?"

"The problem began after the War of Continents. The Grandmaster Council, which had been made to face the Elven threat, began to crack once the threat was gone. There are many who will claim that the Humans or the Elves won the war, but really, the only ones that benefited were the Fae.

The Diery family had led the Council through the war, but they were fractured, injured after the loss of their patriarch. The three families of Soleria withdrew, and stopped attending the Council. That was the trigger. After that, there was only suspicion. "

Althea remembered reading about this era somewhere. This was known as the two-thousand year civil war. And really, the war didn't end. Even now, the Grandmaster Clans were squabbling with each other.

"The Clans dispatched spies into each other, making the leaders withdraw information. There were few that knew how to make manuals to begin with, and which each generation, the number got smaller. There are no official records saying this, but we believe the civil war officially ended because the clans realized that there was no one left that knew how to make manuals. Not because of all the other reasons they spout.

The war had gotten so bloody that every patriarch of every clan, and yes there were multiple patriarchs for some clans, had been killed. The heirs had been killed. I do not know how they managed it, but the clans took away our most important heritage through their greed and friction." the Steward growled.

Althea gulped, taking in the Steward's anger as she digested his words. For some reason, she found it suspicious. A lot of patriarchs and heirs dying? That she could get. But every single one? The conversation she had with the Grand Duke of Sel came back to her.

Where had the mana gone?

Just like that. Althea had a feeling there had been someone else interfering, weakening humanity.

The only question was who.