“Ahaha! Little devil, you really are our family’s lucky charm!” A tall muscular and tan man said. This was Xero’s last and eldest brother Zip Null. The large muscles and bushy facial hair came from working hard hours behind a forge pulling metal and lifting heavy hammers to slam down when forging.
Out of all the brothers, he has the highest strength development and is very skilled at hammering alongside the others when forging. His wife, on the other hand, was like a flower, while Zip stood 195 cm tall with a muscular build she looked frail and beautiful with white skin and long brown hair. She is someone similar to Nil, she has a familiar but due to extremely low talent of both her and the familiar during her early years of the magic academy she did not complete the full 8 years and instead went only to the end of the second year where she was expelled due to poor development.
Her familiar is a Gem spirit. It’s a very strange spirit, because they aren’t extensively magical beings. They aren’t native to the world making them hard to properly train. That said it also isn’t weak, because she trained in magic she was able to develop some spells, the gem spirit was a floating gem with one ‘eye’ on one side. This ‘eye’ is like a focal point and it uses the area in this space to absorb mana. Because of this the mana it has is limited. What is stranger about this creature is the fact that it doesn’t eat regular meat meaning it does not gain mana.
It was only after a long time that she had found out that this spirit eats gemstones or mana stones. It was then she gave up trying to raise this and decided to just live a peaceful life mainly because the cost to raise it was monumental.
The Gem Spirit, she was able to raise to level 10 only by feeding her own mana while her own mana ability were mediocre and she had a lot of trouble to unlock her potential as much as she did. Her own body was truly frail, in fact both her and her spirit were frail in this regard.
When she returned home that night though, Xero gifted her two uncommon mana stones that he had gained from the reward three months ago. He had already saved it specifically for this because besides his own father, he wanted to help his sister-in-law grow much stronger.
Although she had wanted to give it back he didn’t accept so she summoned her tiny fist sized gem spirit and presented the mana stone for it.
The thing flew at it and connected to the mana stone and from the opening one could see the mana going in. What was most curious was that after no more than a minute, the spirit began to tremble and after another ten seconds it flew up and shattered releasing all the mana it had pent up and returned to the seal.
The mana also returned and when it self summoned once more the form had been rebuilt but the smooth circle gem now had a few edges looking like an actual gem. Jasmine even covered her mouth as she watched and felt the mana move and hit the mana snags gathering more and more along them and then burst.
It did this unceasingly as it absorbed the mana from the mana stone, only after breaking 10 times the spirit summoned itself and landed in Jasmine’s lap while the blinking spirit light inside kept pulsing. She was crying because she said the mana was flowing very naturally in the mana channels of the gem spirit. The spirit had consumed 20% of the mana in just that small time and everyone estimated that it had raised at least 3 levels.
In the magical world only demons and Spirits self destructed to improve. Spirits are souls formed from mana and the body is simply a vessel so when they absorb enough mana they burst the body and rebuild a stronger one. It is the only creature comparable to demons in the regard where they don’t fear death as the soul is mostly intangible and it will simply rebuild its body should it be destroyed.
What is more, she also developed a skill and fixed it herself since she had the knowledge and created something called Gem Ray. It seemed to be a kind of mana beam type attack but when tested, it made a small gem stone highly compacted with high intensity mana and shot it a blinding speed. The gem did not explode but it possessed immense penetrating power.
Now in the morning, Nil, Zip and Xero were on board of Xero’s flying Great sword flying to Gravlin. The purpose was exactly what was said the previous night, with Nil’s familiar surpassing level 30 he had the right to possess a low ranking noble title.
The two were very surprised about the flying skill Ashley had but when Xero asked about the noble rankings, since he heard it once but didn’t understand, his father explained. A rank 1 noble title is a Lower Knight, they can command a small village and manage it, imposing taxes for the state and managing the crime rate while dealing with the daily problems of the village residents.
Rank 2 is gained when someone surpasses level 40 and is called a Great Knight, these can command a small platoon of 300 commoner knights, knights who have no rank, they are put in charge of villages, they do the same as Rank 1 but normally they are permitted to keep 10% of the tax money while rank 1 can keep only 5%.
Rank 3 is a Baron, normally this title is gained when a rank 2 reaches level 50 or his town reached a significant size or he did large merits for the state. They usually command small towns or forts, normally in command of 4 to 10 platoon of 300 knights each, all trained within the city itself, they also command rank 1 villages within a range of their town. Normally a town of a Baron will always have the roads developed into main roads and as long as there is benefits to it the city will grow. They get the right to keep 20% of the tax pulled in from the surrounding village and the town itself.
Rank 4 for is Viscount, these command territories and towns of moderate size, normally there are between 10 to 20 Baron serving under a Viscount due to being within their territory. The Viscount is in charge of protection of all the area it is commanding as well as keeping general order, removing bandits that appear and normally regional development including rural development. They can keep 10% of the revenue coming from all the territory they run.
Rank 5 is Earl, the noble is granted a position in the royal court as well as being in command of 5 Viscount rank officials. These normally manage greater affairs that begin to pertain to the state, and speak directly to the king or emperor about the problems.
Finally Rank 6 is Marquess who are normally generals or very powerful officials. They command a large amount of business and trade both in and out of the state and work to maintain the inner and outer affairs working. Rank 7 is duke but only royal family can become such a title.
All the titles are usually gained every 10 levels starting at the 1st besides rank 7 the duke. A Marquess needs to be a level 80 powerhouse to not have any political problems arise from internal affairs. This is the meaning of ‘might is right’, only with strength will the stability of the nation be guaranteed.
Lurian empire was a relatively strong nation with 6 Marquess, 40 Earls, 300 Viscount and many more of the final two. Under this kind of management, the strong will gain the resource to obtain what is needed and improve and there is a yearly report where nobles of will be rewarded generously for improving the overall development of a village or town.
As they near the gate, Xero lands and everyone gets off, there is a clear law were only ranked nobles could fly over the city, of course, if someone with power came and they had the ability they would obviously come as they please but most people tend to not push it.
The three jumped off the sword and Xero shrank the sword before pocketing it before they moved to the gate with Nil grinning. The guards were interested about the grin and the fact that they came flying, since flying abilities are far from common.
“Oi old Nil, what is with the big grin? Did you find a good herb or catch a good beast?” The guards asked.
Nil laughed and his Familiar seal shined, “No boys, my baby evolved!” He said and suddenly all the snow began to pick up and when it finally settled down behind Nil, the huge Ice covered silver wolf stood and the jaws of the guards had dropped.
All of them respected the old hunter because of the familiar but it was well know that he had bottlenecked, how he surpassed it, no one will be able to guess but right here the beast stood with a very striking and intimidating aura.
“I’ve come so that i can be examined by the identifier and get a nobles title!” He said
“Old man, what kind of bloody luck chance did you have to evolve your familiar this far into the game!” The guard said in awe.
Nil laughed, “Thats a secret I’m taken to the grave. Nah what am i kidding! My little boy, Xero, he is an Everlight Academy student and had some good herb and food on him that helped Silver push through the last step.” he said. A man this age would never say that his son’s familiar could sniff out magical herbs in the forest as if walking through a garden.
The guards started to laugh, “Old Null, you finally made something of yourself! Don’t go forgetting us commoners when you are living it up in command of us small people!” the guard laughed.
Nil, Zip and Xero all laughed as they walked into the city. By law, Familiars aren’t allowed into the open so Silver and Ashley were called back while the three began to move through the city.
Gravlin has an estimated population of around 10,000 of which 5% have familiars of any level while those beyond level 30 are only within the noble ranks.
For a commoner to identify themselves and earn the most basic title, they must proceed to a specific office in the outer city along the main road. Its called the nobles office because it deals with all things related to this particular subject. All people with familiars are familiar with this building because it is here that there are some rare Identifiers, people who can identify the proper level of all features of a person and familiar.
The building itself was quite large, even if it was the size of a 4 story building, it was only a two floors because the first floor takes up three fourths of the space due to having to summon the familiar and most at level 30 or 40 are quite large.
The layout looks like a large greek style building with large pillars and lavishly decorated walls while the floor was very strong stone of some unknown material. Xero was quite curious about the floors material because it seemed quite powerful rocks and making a sword of it would be interesting.
“Hello sirs, what may I help you with?” an old butler asked with his hands behind his back, his chest puffed out and his nose held high. On his face was a pair of glasses and he wore a silk butler suit.
“I would like to consult the lord identifier, last night my Familiar evolved and i believe we are above level 30 now.” Nil said.
The brow of the old butler rose but there was a hint of mocking since Nil was getting excited over a simple breakthrough to level 31. It is said that level 30, level 50 level 70 and level 90 breakthroughs are the hardests. After that the level 90 level ups are a whole other realm.
The old butler looked mockingly at the man but turned his eyes to the younger male and the boy and his eyes opened wide as he saw the boy. Obviously this old butler has long since learned how to feel the strength of each person, not only that but he himself has a familiar but he is a servant figure of a big figure so he did not go for any noble rank.
Still he had some level of ability to identify the strength of a person because of a distinguished trait he got from his familiar where he sees the aura of a person and Xero had a large aura for his age.
Looking at the three, he figured that the boy was the son of the man and with that in mind, the butler’s manner completely changed as he felt the potential the boy had.
“Please wait while I find my lord.” He said and did a small bow and turned on his heel and quickly walked out into another room.
The three waited for a very short while before an old man walked out, “You are the ones who wish to be identified?” He asked and looked at all of them. He nodded and waved, “Come, I shall give the service to identify all three.” He said.
The three were surprised but followed the old man into a room where there was a large demon standing behind the seat. The body was four legged and it sat like a dog while it had two muscular front arms. The head was strange and lacked features besides a mouth full of sharp teeth that were in a permanent grin while its head had several eyes. On the back there was a tail with a tail as well and it kept moving around keeping watch on everything.
“Sit in front of him and don’t make a sound.” The old man said.
Walking forward Nil sat down and the many eyes fixed on him. They all shined different colors and around Nil, lights began to spin like wisps which lit his body up seemingly passing his skin and reaching the depths.
Slowly it spun around before the demon opened its jaw and the light were sucked in and it closed its eyes.
“It is done, the next may sit.” the old identifier said.
Zip walked up as Nil walked to the corner where Xero was.
Once more the demon had that lights flash and soon it was Xero’s turn. The demon looked at him deeply as the lights flashed. It was very different from the other identifier who had the strange goblin with the eyes on its body. Even so any creature with this ability is greatly coveted. One can find their weaknesses and strengths with this.
“It is done, come and I shall show you your results.” the old man said turning and leaving with the three and entering a new room that possessed a large crystal glass orb. Every identifier has his own means, while the identification professional in Niska could display directly with his familiar, this one required tools to display.
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The three sat in front of the old man as he placed his hands on the orb. Mana slowly flowed and soon the figure of Nil appeared, words soon followed.
“Nil Null, your strength is your cunning, speed and strength, your weakness is your age, inflexibility and straightforwardness.” The identifier said, “Learn to fight more cautiously from now on…” He said and turned back as many aspects appeared and a level followed. “Your overall power indeed surpasses level 30, hm?” He muttered, “Your magic power has awakened greatly, take the chance to hire a magic teacher and learn the knowledge you did not in your youth and further improve if you wish to surpass the level 50 threshold.” He said. “You have indeed passed the level 30 threshold.” the old said.
Nil grinned as his image vanished and Silver appeared, “You're Familiar, it has evolved from an Elder Silver Wolf into an Alpha Silver Ice Wolf, the aspects of the wolf are all superior to common Ice Wolf. There is no doubt that the empire will grant you the Rank 1 title. The level of the beast is 34, it has grown a bit old before it’s evolution but it has potential to grow still, look for bone restoration herbs and potions to restore the bone strength which would greatly revitalize his strength. Have it train in commanding its pack, teach it better tactics beyond common wolf pack tactics to improve efficiency. The weakness of this familiar is fire magic, resistance can be gained only through experiencing the pain of fire making him alert against it.” He finished.
“Hahaha! Thank you Xero, you really helped this old man!” He hugged Xero.
The old man did not mind the outburst and the image vanished showing Zip.
“Zip Null, your strength is considerable, your muscles are tempered due to smithing, your weapon of choice, the hammer. You lack in agility and combat experience that has not been engraved into your bones. That said, your overall level is 20 though you lack greatly in magical talent. As long as you learn breathing technique and gather a bit of mana, summon a familiar before you reach 25 years old, you can still easily reach level 40 within your lifetime and possibly higher if you are lucky enough.” the old man said and nodded approvingly to the young man. This was already a high appraisal. After all normal people would at best get to level 30 by themselves unless they are monster genius at something. The familiar is a massive boost of talent as it evolves.
“Finally, Xero Null, your strength is impressive for your age group, overall level ranging between level 15 and 16. Your jumping power is even higher at level 18 due to your familiar’s boost. You lack in combat experience and magic exercise as your mana pool is too small compared to how perfect your mana channels are. Find a better meditation technique and breathing technique so that it will help your mana pool grow more or you will suffer during drawn out combat. Your talent, as of now, can already give you Rank 1 status as a genius of the nation being only 12 years of age. Not to mention the kind of Familiar you possess. This is something i shall report to the Earl as well.” He said and Xero’s image vanished.
The three were in shock because they did not think that Xero’s strength would grant such a result, it is true that at 12 years old, level 15 is an impressive figure, it should be known that his own father was only just surpassed level 30 meaning he was halfway to catching up to his father.
Finally Ashley’s image appeared, “Finally, Ashley Null, Lesser Sword Devil Infant, muscle strength at level 22, jumping strength at level 24, swordsmanship can be regarded as level 20, overall power at level 22. Magical capability is truly top class and mana pool is immense with enough power to advance in stage already. Her weakness though…” The man frowned, “Overconfidence, laziness, disobedience. These are grave problems child that must be fixed even if she has the capability to fight creatures a few levels above her own.”
“I understand sir.” Xero nodded.
“Good, one thing to note child, this devil holds hidden skills, her race revolves around the sword, both summoning of swords spirits to form swords and merging them to form more powerful swords but that is the end of it as they will not merge more than once. She requires the forge to grow stronger. Also a tip from an old man, skills have a capacity of merging, learn from that.” he said.
Xero was confused by that but still nodded as he kept thinking about what it was supposed to mean.
“I have obtained your information and shall report, Nil Null, you will receive Rank 1 nobility status, you will also be appointed a village within the empire for you to lead, there are many mining and hunting villages that need development so it is up to you. You will be allowed to train your own guardsmen. Your family will also get a discount price for summoning a Familiar for family members that could not go to any academy and obtain one originally. The price is 2 uncommon mana stones which equals 10 gold coin each mana stone. Should you wish to have family that have surpassed the age to study at an academy summon a familiar go to the inner city gate and present your nobility medallion along with your family and the payment and you will be guided in how to do the spell and how to perform the familiar binding.” the elder explained.
“Thank you for your help sir, we shall take our leave.” Nil said with a grin bowing to the elder.
The old man nodded and the three left for home to pass on the good news.
***
News of Nil’s advancement into lower nobility swept the town. The hunter with the Silver Wolf familiar was quite famous because of the fighting power of the wolf and his own sword, especially among the common guards of the city since he had once been a guard himself.
Although many people did not think much of a Rank 1 title, it was still a title, every year they would get resources from the state, though not much, and they are put in charge of small villages with potential resource nodes for them to develop so they will have money coming into his family at much greater pace than commoners.
The nobility ceremony was small because it was only Rank 1, it would be far different if it was a Rank 3 because Barons are considered high nobles much higher than low noble knights.
At the ceremony even Xero was given an honorary title of Rank 1 Lower Knight because of his talent.
The family itself was giving a title of nobility and after that they went and decided on the village the family would run as lords. Eventually it was decided on a nameless village, for now, at the northwestern area where there was lots of forest and less mountains but there was still plenty of mineral nodes that have been discovered but not tapped into.
To help the family set up and secure their dominance, the city of Gravlin allowed the control of 30 guards, common guards are level 20 but to a small village that is top class, and they funded lumbering, farming and mining operation. The village was in the far corner of the Earls field of influence but it was still his influence, Nil and Xero became knights under his flag by being made knights within his territory so he is their lord until they out rank him so it was obvious he would use them to develop his own land.
There was also a signed order and an official that would go with them to announce the order by the earls decree making the citizens submit through political power.
The family had a few days to prepare their things, One thing to note is that the entire family was going, this included Zip and Jasmine. That meant that they would have to give up their jobs here and the dwarf smith was quite regretful about it but gifted Zip some tools of the trade so that he can make his own smithy in the village, setting up his own smithy in the future.
The last order of business to complete was actually a big surprise to some of the officials. With Xero funding his three older siblings and his mother, two uncommon mana stones each, he made them all summon a familiar. This was to allow the family to train and hold strength above the common people that was required to show their power both to suppress nay sayers and monsters within this undeveloped land.
Although none of the four had any talent in magic arts, with the help of Xero helping to fill their undeveloped mana channels, making a few of them open to allow them to absorb some mana, which was a painful business that made him quite sad to do but was forced to, they all had a small amount of mana required to summon their familiars and do the binding.
Even the airheaded mother and sister were told with a very strict expression that they should not take it lightly and had them listen intently as they learned the familiar summon and binding spells.
Both spells used magic formations instead of magic formulas to activate and only required their mana to fuel both of these were made into the very same circle that the summoning happened.
And two days before they left for the village the family gathered within the Inner city. Unexpectedly there were some nobles watching from a ways away. They did not expect much but they somehow admired the families idea to get familiars, any of them would do the same for their talentless to at least try and get a talent or useful family member.
The first to go was the oldest member, Opal.
She stood on the circle and was mesmerized before her mouth moved as if automatically, “The fields of Trees, the fields of flowers, the field of crops, the life of the land that breaths through the earth, come and riseth with majesty and beauty.”
The small bit of mana she had began to feed the formation and the light shined, slowly small ball of light rose before from it, limbs extended. With a pop, the light vanished and within the light was a small fairy with flower hat and a tiny watering can made from a nut.
The chains of light grabbed it and with instruction from the caretaker of the formation she bound the little fairy to her.
“Wow mother, you have a fairy, doesn’t that mean you're a real magic talent!?” Zip asked.
“Don’t over think it son, it could have a large growth or small growth we can only wait and see.” Nil said not to discourage his son but to make his head cool down so that he won’t overestimate his own family.
Next was Zip himself. He waited a moment as he felt the words of his own incantation appear, “The burning flame of the soul, the power of the earth in the bones and the hammer of my will, bring forth the Ashes of my burned will and forge my power!” He said.
Xero’s brow twitched at the mention of ashes but shook his head. Besides a few rare families who were all nobles such as Univa’s family who almost always had dragon type creatures genetics did not follow in the bloodline.
That is, at least, until he saw it. Slowly rising from the formation, with a diameter of 10 cm, glowing a bloody red, a demon core rose from the ground. Soon ash began to gather and soon the small body of an imp was formed.
Unlike the strange deformed Ashley when she had first appeared, what appeared was an 10 year old sized imp. It had a hunched back, small nose and pointed ears, huge empty black eyes and small red wings. This was the classic appearance of an imp that everyone had seen. Not to mention, it was actually a large and strong at that because true 1 cm sized demon core imps would be half the size of this one. It was clear as day that this thing was once a very strong demon.
The chains that retrain the creature latched on and Zip put the familiar binding and watched the creature get sucked in.
He returned and on his face was a complex expression as he looked at Xero. An awkward feeling spread among the two as well as Nil who did not know how to react. Of course it was a coincidence, after all Nil himself has no demon familiar but two of his children do.
“Void, your turn.” Nil said after a moment.
“Great!” He said excited.
To get a familiar, even if it is late in the game it was a dream come true because one's potential could be better dug out with this and they will not be stranded on the common man’s level 20 bottleneck.
Void’s expression turned serious as he stepped on the circle. With the effect of the circle, that could almost be called an illusion, the chant formed.
“Bones forged of ore, breath of fire, black as shadows, flesh of ash, the hunter who stalks in the night, the predator of the day, Rise to power.”
The face of the men in the family turned a bit shocked as the small bit of mana caused a large reaction.
Were Void gained a 10 cm big demon core, Xero’s original size was 12 cm, amazingly another demon core of 10 cm appeared. Fire began to rise from the circle as ash surrounded. This was far different compared to the Imps, the body dropped down into the flames and formed a tail, then paws instead of arms and legs. On all fours, with black ash flesh that looked like skin and bones, was a small demon feline with its eyes as black as an Imps and its open jaws showing the inner heat inside.
With everyone in shock, the chains trapped it and everyone remembered that it was finally time to bind it and so it was done.
At this time, no one believed this was a coincidence. If it was two people then okay but three in a row from the same family, how could this be a coincidence, the strangest part is that none of it is planned. Each chant is unique to each person formed from the effect of an illusion in the circle meant to bring out the chant from within.
They were rather worried, the three men looked worried at the only sister of the family, if she did get a demon as well then they would be hard pressed to deny some prince who wished to marry her. Of course, with her current age, it wouldn’t be hard to have her be accepted under special tutelage in a magic academy but it would be hard to resist the higher rank nobles.
“It’s my turn!” Nadir exclaimed and ran over stopping inside the circle while humming. “Pot of magic, pot of clay, pot of joy, shy spirit of pots, happy cooking spirit, with the body of a pot, spread cheer.” She said in an outrageous manner as if playing.
What happened next amazed everyone even more as the formation shined and from the summoning circle, a small clay pot, 30 cm wide, 20 big appeared. It looked badly made, badly burned and seemed ready to crack. Strangely it seemed to float up before it was ‘restrained’ and Nadir bound it. It was different to the Pot fairy, this was just a clay pot.
When she bound it, the pot truly did shatter and was absorbed into the seal showing it was truly a familiar causing them all to seem strange at the apparent useless familiar.
With an awkward moment, the caretaker coughed and called their attention, “My, your noble sirs, follow me, we shall see the identifier to consult about your familiars.” he said with a bow and everyone remembered that the elder was there as well.
Everyone that got a familiar was identified and the old identifier look quite shocked.
“I was curious as to why so many males of the same family had the demons, it seems i was right, your family, from the generation of the children on, males of your bloodline possess a unique trait to summon only demon familiars.” He said.
It was in utmost secrecy of course in an isolated room. The elder explained that there was no knowing when such a unique trait would appear or when, it was by luck that such thing is found. The elder said an oath that he would not speak of it until it was found through a different source.
As for the familiars themselves, Opal contracted with a harvest Fairy, a very unique fairy that is quite good at managing the land and has great skill in cultivating the land for orchids, fields or herb patches, both cultivated land and wild herbs. Zip got an Imp as expected, the potential was only a small bit less than Ashley but considering the Imp’s own experience, it was possibly even better then the little devil. Void’s was a true mystery, the fact was that the feline was a mutated Imp. It is referred to as a Cat Imp or cat demon. It is a very difficult to appear Imp only born from evil feline monster souls that retain willpower and memories as a feline beast. Such things are rare because souls are tortured and cleansed before becoming demons. For them to hold memories is a very difficult thing.
The last on was Nadir’s pot. It was a Pot spirit, a spiritual item that would slowly grow a soul as it grew bigger and stronger. The method to use and grow is similar to the pot fairy but the use is direct from the owner of the pot. Holding the pot, the formed spell, “Dimensional pot” creates a space inside the pot that can store many things and the weight transferred to the pot was one thousandth of the true weight.
To grow the pot, one must use the several existing skills, Mix, Cook, Boil, Synthesis, Extract, Combine. Be it cooking or alchemy the pot aided in making it through the use of magic but like all familiars, it has mana channels and just as badly as Nadir, they are massively clogged which is why its appearance was so horrid.
The identifier gave suggestions to the demon users to crush the demon core only when the demon reached level 10, the jump in strength would be massive enough to cause some corruption so searching for the church of light to perform the stunt was required.
With the instructions given and bowing their thanks, the family leaves the inner city to their home to finish the last preparations to move as they store all their things, amazingly, inside Nadir’s pot.
Two days later, with a massive Great sword suddenly spawning near Gravlin, the guards, official and many workers that were paid by the earl who sponsored the expansion of the village, they cautiously climbed on and sat down wary of the edges and with Xero commanding and the official showing the way, they flew to the nameless village that was now controlled by the new noble family of Null.