Hearing his mother tell him that he had indeed reached E-Rank Asherit was jumping with joy, “On the other hand, your actual abilities should be on par with any Peak C-Rank Mage, even the greatest prodigy ever recorded on the history of this continent only achieved that at the age of 25 ”knowing this Asherit was surprised for a moment, until now he had never known the world outside more than in books he had read and did not think he was achieving things that would leave the others died of shock upon meeting them.
“However, unless your life is at risk, you cannot show your skills to anyone else, do you understand?” Noticing the seriousness on his mother's face, Asherit nodded and asked.
"Mother, why can't I do that?" Hearing her son's question, Queen Elizabeth's heart clenched, but she knew she had no choice since this son of hers would soon be raptured and would have to be prepared.
Clearing the lump in his throat, she sat in front of the artificial lake, motioning for Asherit to do the same, and began.
"I know that you are very curious and always wanted to go out and explore the world but you are also too kind to never ask me why you have not left this mansion since your birth, because I cannot ply a bit of magic when I have mana accumulated in my Dantian, or why you do not know the history of the last decades of this world, even because you are something different from a normal human than those seen in the illustrations of the books, I will reveal all this to you now but I want you to promise me that you will continue my instructions, you will not do anything stupid and you will keep all the emotions you feel for now ” Listening to his mother Asherit felt a certain tension in the environment, however as an obedient son he made the promise to his mother without hesitation.
"As you know from the stories that I have told you, I always liked explore the ancient civilizations, since I was young I ventured into different ancient and dangerous ruins and although the danger was great, the profits were gigantic as well, thanks to that my cultivation grew quickly reaching the pinnacle of what was possible on this continent”.
“Back then I was the eldest princess of this kingdom which had the name of 'Orchid Kingdom' and it was only a small Kingdom that my father had begun to form a little before I was born” At this time Asherit recalled that the garden this patio was full of beautiful and fragrant orchids that his mother loved and guessing the thoughts of her son, the Queen replied.
"My mother was always the right hand of my father and who instilled in me his love for orchids, when I was approximately your age she died of an illness and my father named this kingdom with the name of 'Orchid' in his memory" The Queen fell into a nostalgic feeling, but after a few seconds she came to her senses and continued with the story.
“Going back to the main thread, this kingdom began as a medium ranked one, thanks to the efforts of your grandparents and their loyal followers, and with all the cultivation techniques and resources that I found in the ruins, we expanded and became one of the strongest kingdoms” Hearing this, Asherit was surprised and proud of his mother from the books and knew how difficult it was to raise a kingdom's rank.
“One day, I found an ancient ruin that contained a method to open a dimensional portal, a portal that served as a bridge between two worlds, by making this information known to all the elders of the royal court and to your grandfather, for my part with the desire to gain more knowledge, and for his part, with the intention of expanding to new heights, we made our best efforts to open this portal ” Sighing at the memory of that decision, the Queen was filled with emotions of regret, but then upon seeing the face of her son all these feelings were erased by a colossal love.
She did not know if she was the one who was wrong, but if she had to make that decision again even if she knew the chaos it would cause, she would not hesitate to make it again in order to bring into the world this son of her who she loved with all his being.
"When we opened the portal, before we even entered it, beings from the other side of it entered our world, they were strong and agile humanoid in nature, with physical characteristics that differentiated them from humans such as horns, wings and tails, many with different skin tones too, when we began to engage in conversations with them, we learned that their race was known as abysmal and that their world had fallen into some kind of catastrophe, which made it almost uninhabitable ”.
"Then we offered an abode to their race in order to know their nature to see if it was convenient for them to stay and to obtain new knowledge from them" Sighing deeply, the Queen continued.
"I had my trusted followers investigate them and in their reports, I realized that they were cruel and ruthless in nature, although they hid it very well because they needed us to have the portal open so they could survive in our world, bringing the real court together and my father, I report this but because every day we got more advances in magic thanks to them and the warlike power of the kingdom grew and they also helped us with their troops to easily conquer other kingdoms, all were blinded by ambition of the expansion, even my father, so nobody listened to me” The Queen stood up and Asherit followed her, and then continued with a voice full of nostalgia and heaviness.
"After a while, the abysmals found a way to have the portal permanently open and secretly leaked hundreds of thousands of troops into our world and one day they staged a massive coup d’état, erased from the face of the planet all families faithful of the kingdom as well as the high command, the royal court and even my father in front of me, being outnumbered, I could not even stop them from leaving my father or running away” Drying the few tears that fell down his cheeks the Queen continued.
"The Abysmal King conquered the entire kingdom and renamed it Abysmal Realm, then it began to expand conquering the nearby kingdoms and acting with cruelty and absolute domination, many races were enslaved by him and the world we know fell into immense darkness, the beings of this world live in fear from that day on".
At this point Asherit was surrounded by complex emotions, seeing his reflection in the artificial lake and thinking about how the Abysmal King killed his grandfather, but not his mother, turned white when a thought came to his mind and his heart felt as if he were squeezed by an invisible hand with too much force, he turned his face in search of answers to the Queen, but he could not gesture a word.
Noticing her son's expression, Queen Elizabeth smiled and stroked his face.
"The Abysmal King always had an obsession with me, however, due to the consequences he never acted against me, but when he take control of the kingdom, he also take control of my life" So far the Queen did not change her smile, although Asherit detected a strong hatred deep inside his mother and knew that she was only acting strong in front of him so as not to worry him.
"Even though in front of all the kingdom I became the Queen, everyone knows that I just became in his slave, the remains of the old royal family, day after day I suffered his torture until I became pregnant with you" Upon hearing this Asherit imagined all kinds of things and his eyes turned scarlet, not knowing the world, he also did not know the feeling of hating someone because he only lived with his mother.
However, listening up to here, a deep hatred was born and grew within him in an alarming way, he hated the race of the abysmal and hated the Abysmal King more for making his mother suffer so much, but thinking so far his emotions turned in chaos because he felt a certain guilt for her birth, and upon feeling this the Queen gave him a hug saying in a voice full of love.
"Do not blame yourself for anything, even if I could go back I would not change anything to bring to the world such a wonderful son, the day I saw your eyes for the first time was the happiest in my life, you are the one whom which I love most and I will love you forever” Feeling his shoulder wet with her mother's tears, Asherit's eyes also moistened and he hugged her mother.
After a while, both of them separated gently and the Queen began to speak again.
"After a few months the Abysmal King only came once more when you were only a couple months old and after a certain incident, he did not allow anyone else to enter this mansion, even he never appeared here again" Upon seeing the little lost look at her son, the Queen sighed in her heart knowing all the thoughts that ran through his mind, but she decided to continue.
“You are the first and the only hybrid between the human race and the abysmal race, that's why your features are different from a normal human, but thanks to this you are also stronger and more agile than any human and more intelligent and skillful in magic than any abysmal I wanted you to know this much later, but… ”
“I discovered from the guards surrounding the mansion that being a Prince, son of the Abysmal King, you are tied to a tradition of entering the abysmal militia at 6 years of age unlike the abysmals without this status who normally enter from 8 to 10 years old, this is why the Abysmal King will most likely come to separate you from my side in a few weeks ”Hearing this news Asherit turned paler and ran to hug his mother saying.
"No mother, I don't want to part with you, let's run away from here, I'm sure we can escape" Seeing her son's anxiety, a warm feeling ran through her chest when the Queen said.
"It is impossible, when the Abysmal King sealed my mana, he also put a trace seal and one of death inside my Dantian, he will always know where I am and if he wanted he could kill me with a thought" Listening to his mother's words, the hatred inside from Asherit to that supposed father of him grew to another level and seeing this the Queen continued saying.
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"I certainly know that you are the hope of this world, who will restore peace to its inhabitants, but, in the grand scheme of things, any elite soldier of the Abysmal King could kill you right now, I know that it is hard to digest, but you cannot change nothing yet, I told you all this so that the day they come for you, you act with prudence and a cold mind, follow all his instructions and show no signs of rebellion until the time is right, please hold on”.
"I promised that I would follow your instructions and act appropriately without showing my emotions so I will do it mother, however, the day will come when all of them pay what they have made you suffer" Tears ran down Asherit's face full of determination and his fists were pressed hard.
“I trust you, my beloved son, you have been blessed by heaven and your path will be full of greatness, however, if you cannot obtain enough power, also promise me that you will flee as far as you can and you will live in peace looking for a good wife and raising to my grandchildren with love” When listening to her mother, Asherit felt an enormous weight on his shoulders but the determination in his gaze only grew and he promised this to her mother although he had no hesitation in seeking the necessary power to avenge the suffering of his mother.
After that the Queen spent the whole night telling Asherit more things in much more detail and after that day Asherit would only cultivate a little and spend the whole day accompanying his mother, they had normal conversations, or cultivation, or even some special skills that the Queen passed on to her son as the last stage of his training with her and they spent a week with this routine.
...
It was a sunny day and exquisite dishes were spread out on the dining room table filling the room with a great fragrance, back then in the Orchid Kingdom it was customary to eat a cake or tart on someone's date of birth, and the Queen had always celebrated in this way to Asherit, without being different today Asherit was eating a piece of this gigantic cake that the Queen herself had prepared, the atmosphere was festive and neither of them stopped smiling.
'Tuuruuum' 'Tuuruuum'
However, this environment was stopped in its tracks when two trumpets sounded at the entrance to the mansion and under one loud voice one of the guards shouted.
"The Abysmal King has arrived!" Hearing this announcement, the Queen tensed, but stopped in the direction of the entrance and following half a step behind her was Asherit, who was breathing rapidly to calm his emotions.
Although Asherit had sometimes seen his mother leave through the doors of this mansion, it was only to collect provisions and he never saw anyone enter, this time when the doors opened he noticed the figure of several men who had characteristics similar to him, in especially the man who walked in the middle and one step ahead of everyone else.
This man was approximately 2 and a half meters tall, he moved in a dignified and dominant way without making an unnecessary movement, he wore a scarlet red suit that made his muscular body notice but without exaggeration and a scimitar tied to his waist, two wings like those of a dragon and a magnificent tail were seen on his back, his face had fine features and two horned protrusions like a demon from ancient tales gave him a touch of cruelty, his skin color was a reddish tone as well that his shoulder-length hair, and while perhaps these descriptions would be a little odd for humans in this world, he still seemed quite handsome.
Upon seeing this man, Asherit knew that he was his father, but also, the man whom hated the most in this world the Abysmal King, a hatred began to grow like a tsunami in his heart, but then he circulated a special technique that his mother recently taught him that it helped to control his mental state so for only an instant this hatred passed through his eyes, only Queen Elizabeth and the Abysmal King noticed it, however, the Abysmal King knew that it was to be expected and he passed over it.
Normally the Queen should receive the King and guide him from the entrance to a room to treat him, however, the Queen only left the dining room and stood waiting far away from the entrance seeing the King with a cold gaze and the latter being the one was approaching them.
All those who accompanied the Abysmal King were his greatest generals and upon seeing this attitude they were full of anger.
A general who is a little over three meters tall and the features of his face looked as if they had been carved by a chisel, with two large and thick buffalo-like horns protruding from his forehead, presenting the features of the typical muscular brute brainless was so enraged that he was about to take a step to rebuke the Queen and Asherit when the Abysmal King only glanced at him with a look colder than ice and darker than night, making him feel a chill all over her body.
Stopping his steps, he only managed to swallow some spittle before lowering his head without daring to speak, seeing this the other generals could only swallow their anger and follow the King.
"Time without seeing you Elizabeth, apparently your attitude and beauty have not deteriorated one bit" without waiting for the Queen's response, the Abysmal King directed his gaze to Asherit.
"I see that you have raised our brood well" the King's gaze shone for an instant with an interesting light that carried various emotions such as surprise, ambition, hatred, because, although Asherit was hiding his mana and retracting his entire aura with another type of special technique that he had learned so that no one could see his strength, the Abysmal King at this time, was the most powerful being known in this world and he could notice some clues of how amazing this son of his was.
"Congratulations Your Majesty, you certainly has an excellent son, although the purity of his blood is not of the caliber of the other princes, he can certainly be well trained to serve his Majesty, Prince Asherit quickly bow down to his Imperial Majesty to receive this great praise from him” A shrewd old man who was the shortest among all present, only beating Asherit by a few inches with a tail and pointed wings commented with a face full of complacency.
"Humph" Asherit on the other hand gave a cold snort and didn't even look at this old man fixing his observation on the King with a cold touch.
"Insolence!" Seeing this, the old man became angry, the words he had mentioned were to accomplish a couple of things, one was to humiliate this child with impure blood of his race, and the other was to make Asherit submit to the King so that he would notice his contributions, all this always from the point of a faithful servant to his King while continuing to praise him, so when noticing the insolent attitude and how this child had ignored him, he became angry and was about to expel his aura to give him a justified lesson.
This of course did not go unnoticed by anyone here, they were all wise experts, Asherit on the other hand also realized this, his spiritual sea was much larger than all the people here, although he did not have as much experience as them, his pure intelligence was it was undoubtedly abnormally larger, so he ignore the old man and cast his cold gaze at the Abysmal King as if challenging him and seeing how he acted under such a scene.
If the King allowed someone else to teach one of his sons in front of him it would undoubtedly be an indirect humiliation and coming from one of his subordinates it would be deduced that he was not a good leader.
Queen Elizabeth was off to the side just watching these mind games that were unfolding in a matter of seconds, she was certainly also one of the 3 smartest and cunning people gathered here and knew what was going on from the beginning.
On the other hand, the Abysmal King who had capabilities on par with the Queen instantly realized all this and was again amazed with the intelligence and cunning of this child 'Without a doubt the son of a tiger will not be a dog', Stealing a glance at the Queen, he thought.
All this takes longer to be described than the time actually pass, because after a moment.
"Humph!" the Abysmal King also let out a cold snort, releasing his aura faster than this general only to surround him, filled with killing intent.
"You dare to try to educate the son of this King" The general upon feeling this aura pressing him fell to his knees and turned white, although he was one of the great generals of the Abysmal King, he knew him quite well and knew that he would not hesitate to cut him his head in the next instant so, lashing his forehead on the floor, scream full of fear.
"I would not dare, Your Majesty! I would not dare!"
"Humph" With another cold snort didn't look like it, but the Abysmal King launched an attack on this general who vomited blood and turned paler than he was.
"Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty" As if he had seen the sickle of death stand before his neck, this general was grateful and continued to kneel with his head down, but a deep hatred for Asherit was growing in him, blaming him for this humiliation.
"I will talk about the reason I am here, Asherit, being my son, an imperial prince, you are forced to enlist in the militia, so you will leave with us today at dusk, and you will only visit the Queen once every six months if possible" The Abysmal King addressed Asherit completely in a commanding voice.
On the other hand, Asherit knowing that this would certainly pass still questioned.
"What if I refused?" All the generals were once again enraged, but this time no one spoke waiting for the response of the King who formed a rare seal with his hands and in an instant Queen Elizabeth turned pale but her cold and hateful gaze did not change, and she did not even altered, however, Asherit became enraged and worried about her mother reaching out to support her.
"Surely your mother told you that I have put a stamp on her, which is why it is not difficult for me to torture or even kill her in seconds, if you want you can challenge me and not follow my instructions and realize the consequences that this decision entails , I will be waiting outside the mansion until nightfall, remember that you will not come back here in six months or more ”, after saying this, the Abysmal King turned and left the mansion followed by his generals.
Deciphering the King's message and understanding that he was sure he would listen to him, Asherit wanted to tear it apart with his own hands, but now he understood everything his mother had said and knew that he could only persevere and endure until he became powerful enough.
The Queen who had not said a single word since the Abysmal King appeared calm to Asherit and taking him by the hand led him to his room to give him some final instructions.
...
It was the last moments of the sun in sight, insects of various types began to sing and the atmosphere felt sinister, the coldness in the air and the scattering of light signaled how the sunset presented announcing the arrival of twilight.
"Don't forget everything I mentioned, remember to act wisely, keep cultivating and become stronger and above all take care of yourself, okay?" Hearing her mother who had come to see him off at the entrance to the mansion, Asherit nodded as tears rolled down his face.
For her part, Queen Elizabeth approached wiping the tears with the sleeve of her dress, although a river of tears also ran down her soft cheeks.
"Be strong my son, do not show any weakness before them, the day will come when you will grow to ascend to the heavens like a divine dragon and that day you will be free and nobody under the firmament will be able to stop you, remember that you are blessed by the heavens, and there is no doubt that this is true” Asherit nodded and curbed these emotions, on the other hand, Queen Elizabeth kissed her son on the forehead.
Turning, Asherit walked with a great determination out of the mansion.
And seeing the back of this little one who was probably destined to suffer too much for a long time, Queen Elizabeth was also filled with determination and a sharp light crossed her gaze.