In the Redster city, a historic decision was taken deciding the new crown prince of humans. Most of the people felt overwhelmed seeing history being made in front of their eyes. As the discussions on the matter came to close, Duke Collins sent Michael below the stage and began speaking again.
> Collins : This was the first issue that I wanted to discuss with you all. Now, I would like to talk about the second one.
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> Desborn : Collins, your first announcement already has us overwhelmed. Are you trying to make two historic announcements in a single day? I am already having a head-ache imagining the formal procedures I would have to go through to appoint your son as the crown prince.
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> Collins : Your Majesty, while I do not wish to burden you a lot, I have no choice but to make two announcements today. After all, I would not be able to bear the resposibility if something went wrong!
Duke Rageberg's words sent the entire crowd into silence. His words were a clear indication that the second announcement would not be any less important than the first.
> Collins : All of you know that the kingdom shares its borders with the forbidden forest and that my territory also has a border along it. A few days ago, we heard that a villager living in the borders went a bit too far in and lost his way in the forest. But, he managed to mireculously return. It would be difficult for even me to replicate this feat. The important thing is that he found a special crystal in the forest. I have checked the crystal myself and I have found that it contains crystallized heaven and earth energy!
The announcement was another shock to the crowd. Environmental energy was too low in Aterna. An energy crystal was one of the highest level resources in the plane. It could allow people to use formations, re-enforcements and even speed up soul cultivation. If the kingdom had sufficient crystals, they would be able to re-enforce their forts and use defence formations against other races. They could trade the resources they needed and even train soul cultivation powerhouses.
> Desborn (with seriousness) : I assume you have investigated the matter properly before bringing it up?
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> Collins : Of course, Your Majesty! I have already had the area ivestigated. We cut down all the trees leading up till the area to disperse the illusion energy of the forest that makes people loose sense of direction. As a result, we were attacked by monster waves. But we managed to confirm a high-quality crystal vein there. If we send an expedition to the forest, we can definitely make huge profits!
The Duke's words started another round of discourse. The nobles discussed the entire situation before deciding to send an expedition in the forest. It was very unlikely for anyone to tell the neighbouring kingdoms. After all, in Aterna, betraying the race was the most heinous act. Nobody would dare to do so openly. And as the racial tensions were very high, the races never sent spies in another's territory unless absolutely necessary. Thus, the chances of elves and dwarves finding of the expedition were already low. Even if they asked, the official explanation of expansion would always work. Human's population was huge and they usually kept having expeditions in the forest to claim land.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
While the discussions were going on, Michael who was in the arms of his sister had a profound expression on his face. Of course, those who looked at him just thought of it as cute! While others did not know much about the forbidden forest, he knew what entity resided there. And thus, he started crafting a plan. A plan that would span for years and would help him reap the greatest benefits.
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The birthday celebrations came to an end and the nobles returned to their territories incomparably excited. Not only did a crown prince appeared in this generation, but they also found a crystal vein. This caused all of them to be in high spirits. The other kingdoms naturally took notice of this unusual gathering. They too were speculating what was discussed at the Ragebergs'. After half a month, the Emperor of Humans, Desborn Atrexia sent a decree to the entire Light Empire declaring Michael Rageberg to be the third ever crown prince of humans. This caused the other races to pick up their eyebrows. Even the immortal experts took notice of the situation. They would definitely not let humans develop an immortal expert easily. The news even travelled to the dark empire where the third son of Ragebergs was already placed on the execution list! While no one would dare to go to the heart of the light empire to kill the boy, they would not let the opportunity go if given a chance. The entire plane knew that every crown prince was once-in-several-generations talent having the potential to reach the immortal realm. As the news created waves around the world, the plane also heard the name Michael Rageberg for the first time. This was the start of Michael's legend.
Michael went back to cultivation with full diligence. He had formed many plans and needed to do many things but they were all in the future. Right now, what he needed to do the most was to grow his personal power. Only after he gained a certain amount of power would his plans be feasible.
Karslon Dumbledore was also quite interested in this little prodigy named Michael. He had been asked by the human empire formally to admit Michael in the tower. It was decided that while Michael's admission was guaranteed, whether he made it to the elite batch or not would depend on his performance in exams. As such, almost all races were waiting for the results of the exams to get a better idea of Michael's capability.
Without any event, 2 more years passed and Michael became 5 years old. His body cultivation rose to mid-stage knight realm and his soul cultivation was at the second chapter of viscous soul realm. It had been decided in the Aterxia court that before Michael turned 5, he would not undergo martial training and would be left to cultivate on his own. The adults did not want to put too much pressure on the child. It was also known by all that humans had the most productive cultivation in their teenage years. Before that, parents didn't put much pressure on the children to cultivate. It was reasonable to not train a child even if he was the crown prince!
Michael, on the other hand eagerly awaited his martial training. While he had not learned martial arts before, he was confident that with perfect persona blessing, he would be able to do just fine. Increasing his combat power was something that made him very excited. While he waited, an unexpected scene was occurring in the forbidden forest.