Anton and Anders were on their way to the venue where the council of mages would meet for their quarterly meeting. They were followed by Lucas, Zenoxus, and five other guards and their newly hired butler. With the help of the newly hired butler called Ignomus which Anton was having a problem saying since he kept saying Ignoramus, the clothes they were wearing were supposed to be fit for the occasion.
The butler was supposed to be left at home from what Anton knew but he and his father were severely lacking in knowledge when it came to dealing with other nobles. He would have preferred to have his new tutor with him but unfortunately, Mr. Tenor wasn’t available that day.
Anton’s carriage arrived in front of a massive government building. It was early, around ten in the morning and there wasn’t any huge fanfare or anything like that. It looked like just any other normal day.
“It’s the way it is Sir Anton. Since the quarterly meetings are held four times a year, it was common enough that regular citizens didn’t bother with it anymore and treated it as a normal day.” Ignomus the butler said.
“Ignoram..I’m sorry, Ignoramu…, Uum Sir Butler, are we expected to attend that meeting all the time?” Anton asked their new butler.
“Please call me Ignomus, Sir Anton. Once the council confirms your status as an archmage, you will be conferred as a baron, which is the lowest noble title in the city. You will only climb up the hierarchy when the duke promotes you due to a large contribution to the city. Having a noble title doesn’t automatically grant one an office in the government. The office needed to be assigned by the ruling power of Zalnothel,” The butler said.
Anton then thought of the fact that he and everyone else he knew for that matter were calling the places they had been to as cities even though they actually functioned as countries and wondered why everyone was calling them cities.
Anton felt relieved when he heard that since he didn’t want to enter the politics of the city.
“Being a baron doesn’t automatically grant one any power but by the virtue of your power as an archmage, you have power anyway. What a noble title does is, that the city will grant you a monthly allowance which is not a lot if we are talking about the wealth of an ordinary archmage but would seem astronomical to regular people. It’s two hundred gold coins every month. The title would also allow the holder to enjoy benefits in the city that regular people wouldn’t receive like the ability to purchase lands in the city tax-free. It’s very important since the tax amount for land purchased is tremendous. There were other benefits and you can read it all once they gave you the manual. The manual was only supposed to be read by the holder of the title,” Ignomus the butler continued.
When their group entered the building, they were greeted by a female who looked like a secretary.
“Sir Anton? I’m Melissa. Please follow me. Four of the council members are waiting for you in the Chamber of Truth,” The lady said and they all followed her.
Melissa the secretary then led everyone to a room where the guards were supposed to stay and only Anton would follow the secretary in the Chamber of Truth but due to Anton’s age, they allowed Anders to accompany Anton.
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When they entered the Chamber of Truth which was beside the room where Zenoxus, Lucas, Ignomus, and the other guards were staying, there were three old men and one old woman seated behind a huge table looking like judges in a courtroom that Anton saw in the television. Four guards who were dressed in what looked like ceremonial armor were standing in the four corners of the room. The room wasn’t that big but was large enough that even with all of the people inside, it didn’t feel crowded.
“Mr. Anton, my name is Archmage Drenor. The one beside me is Archmage Tristan and the one beside him is Archmage Monet. I believe you know Archmage Voduria. This is the Chamber of Truth wherein in the center, some runes have the same function as the Orb of Truth but are much more powerful. The runes also can determine the level of a mage up to the Supreme Level,” The archmage seated on the left said.
The four mages saw Anton’s confusion when they mentioned the term Supreme and the Archmage Voduria responded to his questioning look.
“A Supreme is the level above Archmage. Above Supreme is a Legend, above Legend is Invincible, and above that is so powerful that it is termed God.”
Two of the three other archmages threw a questioning look on Archmage Voduria and she immediately said to the other archmages that Anton was just a seventeen-year-old boy and grew up in a remote area in Mendi.
“If you have taken a few minutes to read the report that your secretaries gave you about Anton, you will know all of this,” Archmage said to the other two.
“Every stage has ten levels and the runes will be able to detect that accurately as well, at least up until Supreme Level five.” Archmage Drenor said.
“Normally, we don’t allow any viewer but since you’re considered underage here in the city which is amazing if you really reached the archmage level, we allowed your father to observe this interview. Are you ready?” The one called Archmage Monet asked and Anton just nodded.
They then asked Anton to walk to the center of the room, in the middle of what appeared like a floor decoration.
“We will now conduct the level testing,” Archmage Drenor said.
The floor decoration lit up and it looked like one of those Christmas light decorations. From the expression of the archmages, the lights in the decoration had specific meanings but since Anton didn’t know them, he just ignored them.
“You are an archmage! Archmage level two,” Archmage Tristan said then everyone focused on him because when the archmage Voduria tested him when they entered the city, the Orb of Truth showed that he was a level one archmage.
Anton had an inkling that the runes showed that he increased in level because his druid’s level increased from the last time he was tested by the orb of truth.
“The orb of truth made an error. That’s why we used this chamber to get an accurate reading,” Archmage Drenor said and the other two archmages nodded accepting that statement but Anton saw that Voduria was still looking at him which made him a bit nervous.
He then wondered the level of the most powerful wizard in this city. Did they have anyone who could call themselves “God”?
The terms that the mages assigned to the most powerful wizards excited Anton and he speculated on what level would he reach once he maxed out his druid character. Would he be termed as a Supreme then? And then once he maxed out his third or fourth character would he be conned as Legend? He didn’t know but he wouldn’t assume anything concrete since he would only know for sure once he reached those levels.
Anders was looking both proud and worried but Anton saw that his father looked a bit relieved when the archmages smiled at Anders when they looked at Anton’s father. So far, Zalnothel had been very kind to his family and he hoped that it continued to do so since they really wanted to rise in this city. Anton knew that the fact that he became very powerful as a young man was a blessing to their family but it could also be a curse and that’s the reason why Anton’s father was working hard to gather coins since wealth was also a form of power.