Sir Godfrey looked at the strangest pupil he ever trained. Young prince Percival wasn’t an ordinary youth. Sometimes he seemed aloof and detached, sometimes he appeared old and wise. While the veteran knight didn’t show, he was surprised by the ruthlessness displayed when the [Prince] dispatched the knight. If it weren’t for his 376 points of [Appraiser] Proficiency painstakingly trained by using it on tens of thousands of people at once, he would swear the [Prince] was a high-level combatant. He even felt some magical emanations but later dismissed it because [Severance] had somehow grown by that incident. Maybe Queltphion had blessed the weapon but it was undeniable the sword’s enchantments were improved after that day.
> > [Imperial Prince] - Level 3 human male [Imperial Lancer]
His Proficiency didn’t lie. The [Prince] had finally accessed the System and got his Class just as the Emperor had decreed he should. As he wrote and sent the report to the Imperial Knight Registry, the clock started to tick on Percival’s debutante ball. Six months from now, in the dead of winter, they would hold a feast with all the Imperial nobility to present the young Prince to society.
He’d missed the level zero but it wasn’t uncommon. Sometimes young nobles smuggled small critters and monsters to kill right after Activation and Percival should’ve done the same.
“Now, Your Highness,” he told the man in front of him, “It is time for your real training to begin. Hold your spear in the footman’s stance. Here I come!”
Godfrey went with all his might against the young adult. He could tell that Percival was as talented as an Imperial scion could be, and he wished to see the limits of the boy’s abilities. He wasn’t disappointed.
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It was refreshing to know Godfrey was taking it easy with me during our earlier pre-Awakening training sessions. The senior knight was no pushover and our sparring session shook the Palace’s foundations. Almost literally.
The clock was ticking. I needed Godfrey's approval for a Labyrinth expedition, and the sooner I got it, the longer I could spend underground training the girls. They were forced to wait without any progression for almost a year already, and they were itching to put their new traits to the test. And gain some levels.
They weren’t idle, however. I took them to the secret garden almost daily, where I had them study magic and practice spellcasting using Marlowe’s methods. Every point of Proficiency they earned now before they gained any levels, was a point shaved off on the other end of their career when they were almost impossible to earn.
I crafted training wands for them, using dismantled Kel’Caldor staves. I had hundreds of them and each was made with top materials. That sped up our training greatly, but it wasn’t the only factor. Marlowe’s teaching material had improved greatly over the last six centuries since he took over the Windemere Academy. I used up my Fast-Growth allocation and the girls reached around a hundred and twenty points of Proficiency without gaining a single level. That would give them a lifetime cap of around four to five hundred, a respectable score.
I wish we could push for two hundred but they were growing bored and impatient. Maybe after they’ve seen real combat in the Labyrinth and learned how hard it “The Grind” was, they would be amenable to train in a safe environment.
I intended to put them on a trial by fire. They couldn’t die near me so I wanted them to see the gritty reality of an Adventurer’s life.
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Days after Godfrey filed the Awakening report, an [Imperial Status Examiner] visited the Palace. When I heard he was coming, I put Madge and Mona on house arrest in the underground Secret Garden, with Nenandil to oversee them. I couldn’t let someone whose specialty was to break Status obfuscation even glance at the girls. Not yet. My fake Status was impenetrable even for deities so I wasn’t particularly worried.
I put on a ceremonial [Imperial Lancer] armor and waited for the court official at the throne room. Not on the throne but standing at the foot of the stairs.
“The [Imperial Status Examiner]!” One of the palace guards announced and waited for me to reply.
“Let him in!” I said.
The doors opened and a man in Imperial robes entered. He looked in his eighties, Earth years, and was taking his measure of me. This guy had done the same for most of my older brothers, came and checked their Status. I set mine to look like the fruits of hard work but not over-the-top ridiculous or overpowered. My proficiencies in [Spear], [Blades] were in the late hundreds to show I’d trained a lot, and my Attributes were rather normal-looking. Not much to do on that front, as everyone was rather balanced.
This is what he’d see:
> [Imperial Prince] - Level 3 human male [Imperial Lancer]
>
> If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
>
> * Strength: 15+5 - Dexterity: 19+5 - Endurance: 15+3
> * Mind: 10+1 - Willpower: 10+1 - Charisma: 10+1
> * HP 2,573
>
> Proficiency Picks:
>
> * Sword [ 124 ]
> * Spear [ 154 ]
> * Combat Technique [ 87 ]
> * Physical Mastery [ 44 ]
> * Diplomacy [ 47 ]
>
> Perks:
>
> * Steady Spear (uncommon): Add +25 to any disarm tests against your spear. You gain +10% Accuracy and Damage with the spear.
Quite respectable and even enviable for a youth. This Status should be secret but like anything in the Empire, it was available for the right price. And I knew a lot of money would flow to the pockets of this guy as it did with each of my brothers. Some of this money would go to Godfrey’s pockets, along with a much-deserved commendation from the Emperor. All the years he invested in my training couldn’t go in vain.
The [Imperial Status Examiner] set an enchanted device on a table carried by his assistants. It was an enchanted Core, meant to forcibly circulate mana through a person and unlock their Magic Attribute and the MP pool. It was single-use, cost dozens of Platinum coins, and ridiculously painful to use. It was an item I had no idea how to make and I would fix that problem now.
Sir Godfrey came behind him, along with my mother and a few knights. They were witnesses to the process.
----------------------------------------
“Your Highness, grant me full access to your Status,” he said after a long and boring introduction session.
I received a prompt that I completely ignored. Then I pushed it through {Project Fake Status}, my [Unique] Perk.
“Oh! Oh! How impressive!” He cheered, probably already hearing the sound of the gold coins falling on his lap. “Strength, twenty. Dexterity, twenty-four!”
Ecstatic, he kept announcing every single number in my fake Status. Mom and Sir Godfrey were also jubilant. I met Rhiannon’s gaze and she blew me a kiss. Seeing her smile and shed a crust of worry she encased herself with was worth all the effort.
“And now, we’re unlocking His Highness, [Prince] Percival’s Magic Attribute. Place your hands on each side of the orb.”
I put my hands on the orb and ate it with my pseudopods, growing them from my palms. The orb tried to push mana through me but instead, it was I who pushed mana into it. Until it crumbled. I retracted the pseudopods and all was well.
> > You learned how to craft Magic Awakening Device.
Thank you, System. I added two new entries to my fake Status.
“Did it work?” The [Imperial Status Examiner] asked.
I shook my hands as if I had pressed them to a wet nine-volt battery, “Yes, it did. I felt a slight tingle in my hands. But my Magic Attribute was unlocked.”
* Magic 28
* MP 2,627
The old man took a step away from me, staring with wide eyes and a slack jaw. “That… that… This is amazing! It’s the highest Magic score I’ve ever seen before the first rank! Your Highness Percival is a prodigy! Did you receive any Perks? With an Awakening score this high, you should have at least one Affinity! Which Element is it?”
I lied, “Oh. I hadn’t browsed all my notifications. Here it is.” I added another entry to my forged Status.
* Blood Magic Affinity (very rare): Increase Blood spells’ effect by 50% and reduce MP cost by 50%.
The [Imperial Status Examiner] almost popped his eyes out of their sockets. Instead of saying anything, he turned around. “Leave us. Everyone! Knights, my aides, everyone!”
“I’m staying by my son,” worried, Rhiannon stated and approached us.
“I can’t leave His Highness alone with you!”
Godfrey said as he frowned and marched forward, gaining on Rhiannon and moving ahead of her. He kept his hand on [Severance]’s pommel and his aquiline eyes on the Examiner.
The reason for their concern was that it would be ridiculously easy for this old geezer to murder the level 3 me if we were left alone. He wouldn’t live to see another day but he didn’t have that many left. For some organizations inside the Empire, it was a good trade, his decrepit and decadent life for nipping a Prince’s on the bud.
“I would never harm the Imperial Family!” The old man protested, outraged.
“Your words carry no weight nor inspire trust. He’s my ward and my disciple,” Godfrey rebutted. The knight came and stood by my side.
“I won’t let you have your way with my son,” Rhiannon added, putting hard emphasis on “son”.
“What is it that you saw on his Status?”
The Examiner sucked in a huge breath, then wheezed as he decompressed his stress. “His Highness Percival gained {Blood Magic Affinity}. And his Magic Score is twenty-eight. I fear he would be better served with a magical Class.”
Taking offense to what the old man said, Sir Godfrey took a step forward, putting himself in front of me. He showed the first inches of [Severance]’s blade.
“You dare question the [Emperor]’s wisdom? Percival is an [Imperial Lancer], the bravest recruit I’ve ever trained, not some flimsy spell-thrower!”
“My son is a man among men!” Rhiannon added.
I grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She was trying too hard.
“The Empire hadn’t seen a [Blood Mage] in centuries! It was considered a lost art!” The Examiner protested.
I knew all that. Blood magic wasn’t illegal or frowned upon, but greatly feared. Having that as a natural talent would greatly increase my reputation in the Empire and force my political enemies to be cautious around me. Never cross a guy that can make your blood boil.
Sir Godfrey let the sword rest in its scabbard and put his hand on the old man’s shoulder. “You will speak of this to nobody. You and I are going to the Imperial Palace now, and we are having an audience with the Emperor himself. I’ll send a runner with notice ahead of me. Try to leave my sight, and [Severance] will have your head.”
Godfrey had such influence with the [Emperor]. The two were companions during my father’s early campaigns of conquest. He dragged the Examiner out of the throne room with him, ordering the guards to close the doors behind him.
I hugged my mother. “There, mom. Did I pass this test?”
“You make me proud, Percival my son. And you look so distinct in this armor. You are truly a [Prince] of the Empire.”
She hugged me back, and we spent a long while feeling each other’s presence. Rhiannon wasn’t petrified, ritually killed by cultists, murdered by religious zealots, murdered by a vengeful husband, drugged by savage gnomes, or kidnaped by an enemy tribe. She didn’t live a quiet, happy, and prosperous life like Eirana Honorcoin back in pre-Demon-Lord Lonid but Rhiannon was on the second spot for the happiest mother I’ve had.
She was precious to me. To make her happy, I would play the Empire’s game, be a [Prince], navigate the perilous maze of high society, keep my twin sister and everyone in this palace safe. It didn’t matter if I was the [Princess] of the prophecy or not.
I would play the role of Percival, the [Blood Prince]. A man among men. A manly, manly man.