Kyon had been avoiding Dinah, but he couldn’t escape today's incident. He had underestimated the girl. She was extremely good at acting and lying. He decided he’d better stop being judgmental of Dinah and the other girls. He’d rather be skeptical next time and weigh better the odds.
He found out that Juno had thoughtlessly said “okay” at Dinah’s request to cancel the order, but it was impossible. There was no way she could have said it. Kyon was wondering how she managed to outwit his powerful formation. What could possibly go wrong? The formation? It was out of the question. It was all about Juno.
It was getting dangerous for Kyon to stay in the mansion. All because of the stupid slave girl who contrived to act against him. He didn’t know that his adjusted formation was partially out of order because of a fundamental error. If only he knew what it was, he would correct it right away. The mistake had nothing to do with his level of formacy. It was something else. It wasn’t about her unique body, or her talent for self-deception, not at all.
No other subjugating formation, even created by the best formacist in the world, would ever work on Juno. Kyon’s formation was on a completely different level. It worked, but with some mistakes.
He would deal with her punishment for cancelling his order another time. At the moment, he intended to go to the library.
Kyon sent Synergy to heal his bruised back. He straightened his shoulders, took the first book and buried himself in it.
Kyon did not notice the time fly by. He put the book away only when he needed to go to the toilet. Sometimes he fell asleep over the book, and the servants kindly provided the freeloader with food.
When he had studied the Social Studies section, Kyon came to grips with the world around him and understood what he got himself into.
On the planet Life there were three opposing races: people, demons and supreme beasts.
People are powerful, dominant rulers of the land. They have extensive trading networks. Their administrative, scientific, economic and spiritual spheres are developed better than anyone else’s on the planet.
Of course, people have their drawbacks. They are greedy, ambitious, strive for power. Historically, there had been formed eight empires. They had an agreement of mutual assistance in the face of danger. However, the eighth, the furthest and weakest empire of Clyath had been wiped off the face of the earth. It happened less than ten years ago during the World War. The kingdom of the beasts gained a decisive victory over Clyath. They killed the warriors and took the civilians as slaves. The future of the survivors was grim. They were to be eaten, become pets, or turned into resources, the keys.
Gnomes belong to the human race and have incredible, unique abilities. There are no better engineers, blacksmiths and steel workers in the world than this small people.
Supreme beasts are intelligent animals. They are the lords of the forests and wildlife, invincible in their territories. Beasts have a bloodthirsty, merciless temperament and a wild, inhuman temper. They are predators who follow their instincts and adhere to a strict hierarchy based on blood purity and strength. This species is devoid of being ruse or deceitful. The beasts despise those who are. The foul play was one of the reasons for their enmity with people and demons.
The beasts also hate people and demons because they catch them and use as food, resources, and pets. The damned demons and people take that belongs to the beasts, their keys, eyes, fangs, skin, bones, and blood.
Any beast becomes supreme and acquires intelligence upon entering the fourth stage of development. However, some species are born with innate reason. They rightfully take high ranks in the hierarchy.
The feline species belong to the dominant imperial family. They are Manticore, Scorpio-Lions, with their unsurpassed venom and unique power that impresses the heaven itself.
The second place is rightfully taken by the royal family of white tigers. The innate ability of their unique bodies gives them power over entire armies of lower beasts. The beasts with the purest blood have the greatest potential.
The forests are divided into three zones: external, internal and central. The noblest, strongest and most influential beasts live closer to the center. To enter here without an invitation is equal to signing a death sentence.
People control the vast forest areas because only lower beasts live there (the third stage, inclusive). The beasts quickly multiply, so it is necessary to monitor their population.
Demons are peculiar, cruel lords of the underworld, which is not inferior in size to the territory of people, beasts, or desert lands. They are sly, cunning and low-minded. Their race worships power above all. It’s normal for them to rob and deceive. They honor their traditions and purity of blood. Demons take their beliefs to the extreme. Take for example, the sacrifice of virgins, preferably human, at the great feast in honor of the goddess Persephone.
The underground is divided into areas. Lower demons reside in the upper layer. The middle area is taken by the nobility of royal blood and their servants. Seven families live in the depths of the underground. One of them is imperial, dominating them all.
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There exists a fourth race, the aquatic people. They ignore all the rest because they live in the seas and the oceans, they are never going to leave them. Their power is undeniable. The sea vessels are doomed to death without paying duties to the mermaids and the water rulers.
A long history of hostility between the three main races has created incurable hatred between them. The reason they hate each other is not only in bloody wars but also in a huge difference in their mentality. Hostility, regular raids only add fuel to the fire and eliminate the chance of a truce.
People keep beasts for food, resources and entertainment. They take demons as slaves or servants.
Demons do the same, only they enslave people.
Beasts use the other two races as cattle and pets. They always unleash their wild instincts on them.
Hatred for other beings is instilled in the minds from an early age. Any book of stories, tales, historical facts, and legends is full of facts about cruel, disgusting, aggressive creatures, willing to do any vile deed.
Kyon was impressed by this perfect, absolute enmity. He had long noticed that books described strangers too biased, demonizing them. He didn’t care about the species and race. He was the only unbiased person in hundreds of millions people.
Each dominant race would gladly tear the rest into small pieces. However, there are several “buts.” First, it’s extremely unfavourable to fight on foreign territory. The unusual terrain, traps, fortifications, barriers, attacking formations don’t contribute to victory. It’s essential to exceed the enemy at least twice in strength to defeat them. Secondly, there is always a third party who will gladly take advantage of the temporary weakening of one of the two sides and get a nice bit of goods for themselves. Thirdly, it’s well known that the human race is the strongest of all. Even if the two other races united, they would find nothing but death.
Therefore, the three parties restrain each other, limit themselves to small-scale raids to enslave people / demons / beasts and get their resources.
As for the purity of blood... In this wonderworld, it isn’t about close relations with relatives. It’s all about connections with high-ranking persons of the same race. For example, if Juno of the 1st rank marries a man of the 1st or 2nd rank, then the purity of her blood will be preserved. If the man is of the 3rd rank, the blood gets impure. It’s likewise with supreme beasts and demons.
After Kyon finished studying Social Studies, he started an in-depth study of the human race. New knowledge came as a big surprise.
Previously, Kyon considered the family Stone, where he was going to build his future, incredibly strong, powerful, authoritative. In fact, he was partially right. The family really had a high position in the Kingdom of the Iron Throne. It’s only the Kingdom of the Iron Throne held a low rank in the Empire.
In Rosarrio there are seven kingdoms and the kingdom of the Iron Throne takes the fifth place. So, the Stones of the first rank will bow down to other families of the first rank if their kingdom takes a higher position in the Empire. It’s the law. Even if you are the best among the average, you are still no match to the worst among the best.
Any family of the first rank in the kingdom of the 1st rank will be much more powerful than the Stones that hold the 1st rank in the Kingdom of the 5th rank.
And it’s not all! Each kingdom has a royal family, on the top of the hierarchy of families in this realm. It’s sometimes assigned the zeroth rank. It’s impossible to take them down.
In the kingdom of the Iron Throne the Grands (0) are the royal family. Everyone acknowledges their power. The Stones compared with the Grands are like a drop in the tablespoon.
Kyon was hurt. No, he didn’t complain... To own the patriarch’s daughter of the 1st rank family wasn’t too bad. Only it was too far to the top of the world.
The empire of Rosarrio unites seven kingdoms, with the imperial capital Dantes at the head. All forces and power are concentrated in the capital. It’s the kingdom of the 0th rank.
The first seven families in Dantes are superior in power and influence to any other family in the seven kingdoms. They are the pillars of the empire. The Grands (0) and the like can’t hold a candle to them, such is the difference in power between them.
The sovereign family of Dantes (0) is the imperial family that dominates the whole empire. Empress Lanatel, the gory celestial genius is number one in the empire.
One look at this woman can freeze the blood in the veins. Even high-ranking generals are afraid to say too much in her presence. Her cruel temper is not a rumor. She used to kill people for one wrong look. She destroyed whole families for treachery with one word. Everyone in the empire knows that she is not the kind of person to joke about.
Kyon read her biography in disbelief.
Soon he was shaken to the core by the fact that Rosarrio took only the 6th place out of seven human empires!
{I have a feeling I am in a cesspool!} - He wanted to roar with indignation. The more he learned, the less he enjoyed his current situation.
The power of empire number 1 compared to Rosarrio (6) is so great that it can be compared with the size of a mighty hundred-meter dragon against a bull.
«I was in the cesspool when I was a slave in the mine. I’ve found my way out of there. It's all over.» - Kyon calmed himself.
Then he summed up the information from the books he had read:
There exist seven human empires, one of which is Rosarrio (6), the empire where he currently lives.
The imperial capital is Dantes (0). There are seven more kingdoms, one of which is the Iron Throne (5), the kingdom where he currently lives.
There is a royal family the Grands (0) and many more families, one of which is the Stones (1), the family where he wants to get.
(the author's note: I’ve just described the entire hierarchy of the world. Don’t be surprised if nothing is clear. For the sake of simplicity, I will sometimes write a number in parentheses indicating the rank of anything. For example, a member of Juno’s family (1); a member of Patriarch Bai's family (0); the Stones (1); the sovereign family Grand (0); the kingdom of the Iron Throne (5); Dantes, the capital of the empire (0); the Rosarrian empire (6); Superior stage (3); Noble stage (4 ) and so on
World map: https://ibb.co/FwHszDW )