“You don’t have to come, my lord,” said Vance. “I want to,” I replied.

It is one of the things I am excited about. Even Margaux and Zela are coming, despite having a busy schedule.

We sat in the carriage, and it moved.

Soon, it had moved to the lightway, and its speed increased.

I watched the city through the magic road. Taking in its marvels, admiring it. It’s the fourth day, and I am still in awe of it.

There aren’t just sky-breaking towers and lightways, but gardens, museums, and other things.

Yesterday, I attended the party thrown by the king of Ilazad in the historical district. The place was beautiful; I will try to visit it more before I leave the city.

A few minutes passed when the carriage stopped in front of the large building.

It is a large blue building about twelve stories tall and wide. Taking a large block in itself.

I could see the excitement in the eyes of everyone. However, the one that is most excited is definitely me.

Jill pushed my wheelchair forward, and soon we reached the door.

“Welcome to Daryan’s Emporium, Lord Silver,' welcomed the elf in his early thirties waiting for us.

“Thank you,” I replied.

A surprise flashed in his eyes, but he recovered quickly and let us inside.

The moment we did, I heard the gasp. Even I was barely able to stop myself from reacting.

Everywhere I look, there are monsters. Small baby monsters of species and traits. From pure to mixed blood to dilute, they are here.

The most amazing thing is. They are not in cages; they are on the platforms. They remain there because of training and the skills applied to them.

It is another type of cage, but better than normal cages.

“The emporium has one of the largest collections of monsters and beasts.”

“We had nearly everything on your list and a few of those we didn’t have. We have something or better,” informed the elf.

They really seemed to have everything, and I wanted to have a few for myself before pushing that thought away.

It was painful to give Nero away. I don’t want to do that with another monster.

We have a lot of monsters and beasts to buy. One group is for the army, while another is for the girls. Many want the pet, seeing Gloria, and could afford to have them.

“I will take you the first items on the list. Halmks,” he said, and we moved toward the section where the birds were.

Soon, we appeared in front of the cloud-surfing sparrows.

“As you can see, we have all three types of them,” he said as he stopped in front of three stands. Each one holds a type of Halmk.

“They are so cute,” said Margaux, looking at the birds flying in their stands.

Three types of cloud surfing sparrows exist in the world. It is quite rare in species.

As they are the same species but faintly different.

Their genetic code is nearly identical. It is why all three are referred to as Halmk or cloud surfing sparrows.

All three Halmks are three different sizes.

The two Halmks Eli have are the skyseeker category. Skyseekers are the birds that are less than a meter long.

They can be used for medium-range reconnaissance.

A group of them flying in the middle platform. Currently, they are babies, but a projection of an adult is floating in front of the platform.

These birds will not grow more than fifty inches long. Eli has two of them. So, we are not going to be buying them.

I turned to the stand on the left. The one holding skywhisperer cloud surfing sparrows.

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Skywhisperers are birds that do not grow over ten inches long.

They are the smallest birds I have ever seen.

They looked like Halmks in the middle, but they were only half a finger long and looked much leaner.

They do not grow longer than seven inches.

They are useful in small-range reconnaissance and meld so well in the clouds. Even sensory skills have a hard time sensing them.

I looked at a cute little bird before turning to the right. The platform, which has the skyborne.

They barely fit into that category. The birds need to grow at least three meters long, but these grow between two and a half to three meters long.

The ones that could be ridden.

These are bigger in their baby form than the other two reach in their adulthood. The little white birds are around two feet long and would grow up to nearly three meters long.

Unlike the two types of cloud surfing sparrows, which aren’t much used by people because of having other better options. These sky-borns are popular.

“What is their pedigree?” I asked.

“The ancestors of sky seeker and sky whisperer cloud surfing sparrows were from the menagerie, while skyborne descended from cloud surfing sparrow of A Class sky rider Kijos Dalk,”

“That bird itself was descended from a bird used by Birdkeeper Marva,” he replied.

Menagerie is one of the spirits, and every monster from it is best. These monsters are descended from the monsters there, but I will ask the generation.

These stores like to quote big names and inflate their value.

‘Do you know Kijos Dalk?’ I asked Jill.

I felt like the name was familiar, and I might have remembered. If I could use the Instant Recollection, but unfortunately, I could not.

‘He was a monster rider from Geim. He died sixty years ago,’ replied Jill through the telepathic connection she had kept open between us since I couldn’t.

Class A means he was a Lv. 40+ powerhouse, but the question was the cloud-surfing sparrow he was using.

As for them being descended from Birdkeeper Marve’s collection, that was over a thousand years ago, and Birdkeeper Marve preferred eagles.

She might have had them in her collection, but eagles were favorites.

“We will take the best grade, skyborne and three sky whisperers,” stated Vance, and moved with the old man toward them.

The old man we hired to check on the monsters and beasts we will buy.

They will not fleece it. They will fleece the nobles but not the host of legacy. We can affect their reputation, but it doesn’t have to be careful.

They selected the four birds, and we moved to another floor.

There are a lot of monsters. The more I looked at them, the more I wanted them. It’s hard to control the urges. It's why I brought the monster for my sister.

She wanted it since some of her friends had it, but I didn’t give it to her because of her not doing well in school.

She is improving, but not enough to give her the monster.

The reason is simple. It’s an apology for not being able to get our mother.

Soon, two hours passed, and it was time for me to leave. Others will stay and choose the monsters while I will attend a meeting.

It is of the legacy masters of the empire.

…

Alex Rutto

I flashed the medallion and entered the archmage tower.

“Lord Ruto,” greeted a half-elf mage as I stepped inside. “I am Visiting Yatgar Hall,”

“Of course, my lord. Please follow me,” he replied and led me toward the elevator.

He didn’t talk on the way, but I could see the judgment in his eyes, also jealousy and sparks of anger.

I am used to it.

Seeing us like this angers people. They believe that if they had been to our places and had ancestry, they would have done much better.

Soon, the elevator stopped, and we got out.

We walked until we stopped in front of a huge bronze door.

“The Yatgar Hall,” he said and pushed open the massive doors. “I will be waiting outside,” he stated. I nodded and walked into a huge hall.

It is big, and at the end of it is a huge statue of a burly bearded man wearing a mage robe and holding a massive sword.

Yatgar Rutto, Archmage of Cleaving Earth.

I am the descendent of Archmage. One of the founding members of the Harsoth Empire and one of three true archmages produced by the Zenid in this era.

The entire region of the empire was named after him.

“Your supremacy,” I said, kneeling in front of the statue with a heart filled with shame.

The man has risen from nothing. His parents were porters.

He joined the army at fourteen and got Soldier Class when he was fifteen. He wasn’t a mage, as one would expect.

No, that talent was discovered when he was twenty-three.

Despite the difficulty, he rose to become an archmage while having the advantage of his bloodline; we couldn’t even become High Mages.

Like all the people in the house, I had the dream to follow in his footsteps when I was a child, but the reality dawned on me despite all the advantages we possess.

Even after over a thousand years. Every descendent of House Rutto is born with a magic talent, but couldn’t go above the mage.

It’s not a restriction. Members of the house have become High Mages and even Great Mages centuries become, but not in recent times.

He stayed in here for a decade before disappearing. Leaving a legacy big enough that they had named the entire floor of the Archmage Tower after him.

I stayed kneeling for a few minutes before getting up and walking to the statue.

I stopped close to it and placed the medallion between the feet of the statue.

The archmage had left things for his descendants. Sometimes, they came out. These are the things that kept our house from dying out.

A month ago, I was desperate to come to this place.

Hoping to get something, but now I am here just to pay my respect to my ancestor.

I am rich.

Have more wealth than I know what to do with it. Silver had kept his promise. He had paid in emotion essence for each book I had given him.

He didn’t jail me or torture me. If he had, I wouldn’t have been able to resist.

Till now, I didn’t use even a single bottle of essence. Though, I am planning to use it.

I have contacts, and they are willing to pay a high price for it.

I am being smart about it and cautious. I plan to sell only a small amount every month and invest that money in other things.

Hun!

I was in my thoughts when I saw the medallion shining, and a moment later, the whole statue began to shine in an earthy golden shine.

It is not a light, but an aura.

It is as vast as the continent and sharp as the blade, but as it enveloped me, all I felt was the warmness.

“Archmage,” I said, with tears streaming down my face.

There was no reply, but I felt the aura entering me, scanning every part of me before the golden light came out of me.

It didn’t go back to the statue. Instead, it gathered and formed into a golden scroll.

The scroll floated in front of me before turning into a golden beam and entering my head.