Adrien blinked, looking at the notification, not quite sure what to do with it. The System had just generated a…quest? That was a thing? No, wait. Not the System. The Questing Book. The Questing Book was the one generating these things.

A book was generating a notification. Adrien wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with that. In a way, this was proof that the book came from a Manevorus. Or at least someone with similar abilities.

On the other hand, it was a fucking book that did the same thing as one of the most ancient and powerful artifacts known to humanity. An artifact that their ancestors had supposedly paid for in blood.

And here was a blob of mana doing something similar. And it was telling him that if he reached the ‘next city’ he would be able to read the first page of the book. What was the ‘next city’ exactly?

The ‘next city’ is the next city encountered on the way to your destination. That may be your destination or simply a stop on the way.

Adrien blinked again as another notification appeared to answer his thoughts. So that was three System abilities the Questing Book could replicate now. Reading minds, answering questions and showing notifications.

This really was the real deal.

A mix of emotions, with more than a bit of excitement welled up in him as he looked at the book.

Are there any other quests? Perhaps some information on magic you would be willing to share?

Please complete the first quest before asking other queries.

What about questions regarding the book itself?

Please complete the first quest before asking other queries.

And it would appear that the book really wanted him to complete the first quest before it gave him anything more than that. Cause of course it did. Why wouldn’t it?

… That didn’t leave him with much recourse, did it? A Bloodline Ability was supposed to be something that a person used on their terms, but it would appear it was the other way around for him.

Huffing, he turned his head towards the carriage window as it opened. The blond guard’s face blocked his view of the outside, looking at him with a far too happy expression on his face.

The window itself was sadly just a sheet of wood that could be pulled back from both the inside and the outside. There was, however, a lock on the inside that would allow him to fasten it closed if he needed.

Like if goblins were shooting at them. Adrien expected he would face at least one goblin attack before he reached the capital.

“What happened?” he asked the head peeking into the carriage.

“A roaming party of goblins, my lord.” was the reply. Adrien wondered if the blond guard had been elected the spokesperson of the group.

“I see.” he replied, unsure of what he should say. A part of him wanted to offer to help, but a little thinking reminded him that he had next to no combat abilities to speak of. The guards were better off without him.

“I was wondering if you would like to finish those introductions now?” the guard said, smiling like a madman.

Adrien’s eyes narrowed. “Now? Isn’t there a party of goblins nearby? Why would you-”

The guard disappeared from his vision, a grin stretching across his face as he did so. A grin that told Adrien the guard was planning something he thought was going to be very interesting.

Now staring at the open window, he gulped, wondering if he should close it. But surely that was needed? The guard wouldn’t risk his life, would he? Perhaps the goblins were already dead and he wanted to show off the loot? Adrien hadn’t heard any battle occurring, but there were abilities that could kill a party of goblins silently.

Perhaps he should peek outside just in case. Adrien carefully moved his head outside the window, afraid that something would shoot out towards him from somewhere while he wasn’t paying attention. Thankfully, there were no trees nearby. Just a field of grass, a dozen goblins and a…dancing guard?

Adrien did not know how else to describe it. The blond guard had gotten off the horse and was trying to dance the waltz with another one of the guards. Even as goblins surrounded them. And ‘trying’ was quite accurate in this case since even Adrien could tell that they were doing it wrong.

As he stared at the scene, unable to comprehend what was happening, he saw a bolt of lightning shoot out from the clear sky, striking at a goblin and then curving to strike another.

The goblins attempted to reach the dancing guard, but the lightning targeted whoever got too close. A single goblin managed to escape the lightning long enough to stab a spear into the guard’s arm.

Then even that one died. Adrien looked at the grassy field now full of dead goblins, staring at the guard who, in turn, was staring at the spear embedded in his arm. Grimacing at the pain, he pulled it out, looking at his arm like it had betrayed him. The guard he was dancing with waved his hand, causing a golden light to appear on the wound, closing it.

“I told you this was foolish.” the other guard said, his voice unexpectedly sounding old. Adrien hadn’t expected a guard to be old, but it did make sense. There were bound to be some old people who were powerful to just be dismissed, but too old to really participate in the war effort. A cushy guard position in the capital was just the job for them.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Well it would have been fine if you hadn’t made me dance the waltz! If I had just danced by myself -”

“Then you would have died when some goblin shoved a spear in your face.” the old man said, and Adrien was sure there was a smirk on his face. The blond haired guard growled but did not reply, turning back towards Adrien with a smile on his face.

At this point, Adrien was sure that the blond guards' smiles were fake. Had to be. The guard looked too happy.

Still, those were some realistic fake smiles.

“I apologize for that disgraceful display, my lord. I simply wished for you to have a chance to -”

“The brat’s power gets stronger when more people are looking at him.” The old man interrupted, much to the blond’s annoyance.

“Why in the world would you -” the blond man exclaimed, his voice rising into a high-pitched yell.

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to give the lord an accurate description of our capabilities? Well this seems like something he should know then.” the old man smiled, turning to face Adrien. Now that was obviously a fake smile. The smile didn’t reach the eyes, and it looked like the old man had to try very hard to keep it on his face.

Adrien, for his part, simply looked at them, unsure of how he was supposed to act now. Perhaps he should ask them to calm down? The blond was glaring at the old man rather fiercely. Or was that too much? Did he even have the authority to tell them anything? The three of them were guarding him on his aunt’s orders, they didn’t need to listen to him.

Speaking of three, where was the third guard? Adrien turned his head to look for the third guard that had disappeared somewhere. No, not disappeared. The man was sitting on his horse right behind the window.

Adrien looked at him, and only one thought appeared in his mind. Black. The man was wearing black suit of armor, had a black helmet and even had a black horse. That, coupled with the fact that he hadn’t spoken a single word until now made him look rather…intimidating.

The blond man seemed to think so too, because he was looking at the man like he was a monster even as he had his horse move towards the front of the carriage.

“Is there something I can…” the blond guard’s voice trailed off as the black guard drove his horse forward. Adrien looked at him, wondering what he wanted to do. The black guard pulled a staff out of thin air, pointing it at the tree line.

The other two guards stared at him and then turned to face the tree line.

“What is it?” the old man asked. “More goblins? There shouldn’t be any other -”

A spear shot out of the treeline, interrupting the old man’s words. A horde of goblins followed it. Adrien’s eyes widened, trying to count the number of goblins that had come through. One, two, three…too many. Dozens of goblins broke out of the treeline in mere seconds as the two dancing guards panicked.

The blond haired man broke into a strange dance form, jumping on the tip of his toes and swaying side to side as multiple bolts of lightning shot down from the sky towards the goblins. The old guard just ran towards Adrien.

“Turn around!” he screamed and Adrien saw the carriage begin to turn. But it was too slow. The goblins would reach him long before the carriage managed to run away.

“How the fuck did they get so -” the blond man began to shout, only to close his mouth as the ground opened up below the largest group of goblins. The carriage stopped turning around and Adrien popped his head further out of the window to get a good look at what was happening.

A pool of darkness spread out below the goblins, silently spreading forward as hands emerged out of it. The hands reached out, plucking the goblins, screaming and squealing, into the pool.

A dozen, no, even more goblins died within seconds, the rest retreating behind the tree line out of fear. The black guard pointed at them. The other two guards looked to where he was pointing, and when nothing happened, turned to look at the black guard.

The black helmet’s face stared at them.

“What?” the blond man asked, his voice sounding like he couldn’t decide between awe and annoyance. The black guard raised his staff and slashing it across the air right in front of his neck.

“What do you -”

“Go kill them.” the old man interrupted, pushing the blond guard towards the treeline. The blond man looked like he wanted to protest, but decided the better of it. Breaking into yet another dance, he sent more lightning to follow the escaping goblins. Adrien wasn’t sure if it would be enough to finish them off. A goblin could run surprisingly fast when it wanted to.

Then again, it didn’t matter. The goblins were already retreating.

“What was that?” he asked no one in particular.

“The Void.” the old man replied anyway, his voice shaking. “That would be the captain of your guard, my lord. Lord Wilding of the Conjuring Shadows, better known as the Void.”

Adrien looked at the black guard, at the garb he wore and the power he wielded. The name was appropriate.

“What stage is he?” he asked. “That was not a weak power.”

“Stage four, and with an above average amount of Bloodline Power.” the old man said. “That blond idiot you see there is Lord Roy of the Golden Shield, Stage three.”

Stage four? Stage three? Adrien blinked, surprised at the strength of his guards. Stage three was, admittedly, very common among those that had already served in the army. Four not so much. That was a barrier many were unable to cross, and he would not have expected someone at that stage to be assigned to him. There was a great demand for anyone above Stage three on the frontline.

“The Void can only use his power a limited number of times. Each use takes an astronomical amount of bloodline mana, and the pool’s radius is limited.” the old man answered the unasked question.

“And there is no lack of goblins on the frontline.” Adrien said, thinking out loud. The goblin armies marched in the hundreds of thousands. If the Void’s power could only target a limited number of them, he could see how he was spared. Still, that was quite the powerhouse they had pulled from the frontline.

Made one wonder why.

“What about you?” he asked. “What stage have you reached?”

The old man smiled. “Four, though my power has long waned past what it should be. I would only consider myself a slightly more powerful Stage three.”

Adrien raised his eyebrows. That was more along the lines of what he had expected from his guards. A waning of power was normal among those that had spent their lives on the frontline. After years of fighting, even their Bloodline Power was tired. Still, their stages were far more than he would have expected.

Like his aunt was expecting a threat. A thing she had not warned him about, but her actions implied.

The question was, was the threat on their path to the capital, or in the capital itself?