Authors Notes: This is going to be a new hobby of mine. I plan on releasing many more chapters however I have no set dates of release and have no idea when the series will end. I value all feedback good or bad as long as the feedback is appropriate. I have no concern for ratings or such and am purely writing this for enjoyment. If you have any suggestions then please send them in I am open to new ideas and have nothing set in stone. If you find any paradox's or other forms of mistakes please inform me I will try to fix any discrepancy's. please be reasonable with spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes as long as you can understand what I am trying to get across please just ignore the mistake if possible. I don't plan on having a prologue so the first chapter may bombard you with information. If I describe things badly please ask for a better description and if the character or place will ever show up again in the series I will make sure to describe further. without further ado I present chapter 1 of 'The Rise of Gods'.
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CHAPTER 1
I woke up to utter darkness and a soothing feminine voice saying "Look he's a boy! Brother he's a boy!"
I slowly open my eyes and see the most beautiful woman I have ever met holding me. She had scarlet red hair going past her shoulders. Although it didn't hide the beauty of the hair sweat plastered several strands of hair to her milky white face that didn't have a single blemish to be seen. I follow the hair down with my eyes to her petite nose that was almost as red as her hair from the obvious crying she had just been doing. The puffiness surrounding her eyes... 'Her eyes.' that is what I thought when I looked into them even though they were bloodshot I could still see the golden iris's that surround her pupils. Her eyes shone with pride as she looked down to her new born child. Although I could only see shoulder up that did nothing to hide the alluring figure that I assumed is must be under her shoulders.
"What will you name him Ashley?"
The woman now known to be named Ashley looked down and whispered barley loud enough for me to hear "Luke, Luke Flamebright" she looked up to someone smiling I couldn't see at this point and said the same thing she said to me only louder so the man in the room could hear "Luke, Luke Flamebright"
The woman adjusted her posture and in doing so I was able to see the other man in the room. He to had scarlet hair just like Ashley only his was shorter and was flowed back barley reaching his shoulders. He just like the woman holding me had golden iris's that were as bright as the sun and to had no blemishes to speak of on his face that seemed as if it was chiseled out of marble by the most skilled sculptor in the world. He smiled and looked at the woman holding me with nothing but affection however I could instantly tell that it was familiar love and nothing more.
"That is a wonderful name Ashley, Luke Flamebright" he said as if confirming his opinion through saying the name out loud.
"Thank you, Adam" She said with a bright smile and I could instantly tell that his opinion truly meant the world to her.
"However why isn't he crying?" he said with concern as if finally realizing there was an odd quietness in the room.
" I don't..." she started talking however was quickly cut off by my crying as I took Adam's words as a queue to start crying.
"See he is fine" Ashley said with confusion but still obviously relieved that I started crying. But still clearly wanting to dodge the topic of issues with her child.
Adam apparently got the queue and decided to change the topic "Ahhh I see you advanced in your cultivation" pointing at the bracelet that has been in front of my face this whole time however I never noticed. The bracelet had one bright gem located at the top of her wrist the gem was bright red with little gold fragments within. Followed by the gem in the center were 2 white gems about half the size of the red one and another 7 black ones the same size as the white ones around the bracelet ending back at the center gem.
"Ahh I didn't notice it appears I have broken through to novice rank 2 after all these years" She said clearly proud of her accomplishment.
I then looked at Adams bracelet and saw 1 bright blue crystal next to his center crystal that looked almost exactly like Ashley's only even brighter.
*knock* *knock* *knock*
The door to this well furnished room decorated with beautiful woods reverberated throughout the room.
Without anyone answering the door a woman barged in.
"Margret, my wife what possibly could be the matter?" Adam asked as if he knew there was nothing good about to happen.
The woman who stomped in angrily stopped close enough I could clearly make up her features. She had hair so black it put the darkest nights to shame that cascaded down her shoulders half way down her back. Her face which assumedly is normally beautiful had a dirty scowl on her face scrunching up her otherwise perfect features. Her eyes were a cold blue that held no warmth at all and stated without words how arrogant she was. I looked at her bracelet expecting to see a red and gold crystal just like Ashley and Adam's however instead I saw a bight pale blue that was almost completely translucent. Instead of the blue or white gems on the bracelet there was 7 green gems and only 2 black ones.
"In case you have forgotten you have a clan to run husband it is not going to run itself" Margret did the impossible and scowled even more at Ashley as if blaming her for his absence from running the clan.
"Yes, absolutely my dear" Adam left the room oddly fast in fact I didn't even see him move one moment he was there and the next he wasn't.
Margret looked towards me "Will you stop that babies excessive crying" clearly annoyed
However I instantly disliked this woman 'Lets turn it up a notch' I started crying even louder. Margret didn't even respond and just left the room. 'Well that worked out well'
"There, there" My mother started to rock me trying to calm me down so I slowly calmed down as to not give her any trouble. 'She has been nice to me so far, this might not be so bad".
"It's getting chilly now isn't it , Luke?" My mother looked towards an unlit fireplace across the room and pointed. A small crackle rang out and a small ball of flame no bigger then a thumb fired out and hit the unlit logs laying in the fireplace.
I stared wide eyed at what I just saw. 'Magic, this world has magic!'
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Almost 4 years later and my birthday is tomorrow. I have found out many things over the years I learned that my family situation is very good in terms of rank. The Flamebright clan has thousands of years of ancestry and serves as the emperor of Instra's royal guards. However this is just on the surface in reality the Flamebright clan works the insides of the kingdom as well including taxes, military, foreign affairs, they do everything besides hold the throne. Adam who is also my uncle is the clan head and is 29 years old the youngest clan head the Flamebright clan has ever had. There was a war with the kingdom of Brong that occurred 11 years ago and the previous clan head passed away along with Adam and Ashley's four other siblings. As a result Adam dotes on his sister and me as my mother and I are one of the few surviving direct lineage of the Flamebright family. This angers my aunt Margret who is Adams wife. Adam and Margret have two children both boys aged 15 and 11 Luther and Rem however Adam dotes on me just as much if not more then his own sons which has lead them to hate me and play petty pranks on me thinking I don't know it's them.
Then I learned about the magic that has completely taken my focus from anything else. I surprised my whole family when I learned to talk at 8 months old, walk at 13 months old, and read before my second birthday. I was praised as a genius my both Adam, my mother, and all the other nobles who insisted on me taking their daughter as a concubine in the future. My mother instantly refused to my joy as I have no desire to be known as some playboy. I have no desire for the pleasure of the flesh currently especially after hearing amore about cultivation. I learned that my mother was as she said a novice rank 2 this is near the bottom of cultivation and her cultivation is so low because both the previous clan head and Adam refused to let her risk the dangers involved with cultivation. Rank 2 came after initially unlocking her mana core which brings one to novice rank 1 she only upgraded one rank and that was when she went through the process of giving birth to me. Evidence of being a novice is the white gems around the bracelet which apparently all cultivators wore. When all 9 of the black gems become white and if the cultivator has an opportunity to break through then 8 of the gems turn back to black and the first one turns into the next colour of cultivation. Margret is at the apprentice stage when the gems are green and Adam is at the adept stage which has blue gems. The center crystal is what proves weather you are destined to be a fighter, worker, or elite. The red with gold is the inheritance of the Flamebright clan and has been for as long as anyone can remember. Although the gem was always red and gold the ability was not necessarily the same for every family member. However the ability naturally revolved around fire, heat, or magma. Aunt Margret comes from a family of nobles who although much weaker then the Flamebright clan still was not a family that any commoner would dare trifle with and their reputation at arrogant made commoners fear them. Her translucent pale blue gem was the Coldmist's pride and joy and she claimed the ability only seen roughly once a century of the ability of ice. As well as having an amazing talent of 108 units of mana right after the awakening. As talent in cultivation was based off the size of your mana pool as well as control the higher the mana pool during the awakening the easier it is to cultivate in the future. However her family was disappointed that she was female as normally females left the house to marry. So her parents married her off to the strongest clan in the kingdom of Instra, the Flamebright family. Every cultivator would have a piece of their mana break off during their awakening that would become what was know as their mana weapon and depending on this alone one could turn from a fish into a dragon in a single night as even if someone had a stronger cultivation mana weapons were much stronger then any man-made weapon. If someone had a weapon ranked 3 or above they would be worth teaching. Methods of increasing the rank of your mana weapon exist however are expensive and so rare money cannot buy them anyway
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QUICK NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR!!!!
to summarize the information about cultivation here is probably the best I can describe it for those of you who are confused right now.
CENTER GEM SUMMARY:
This gem is the attribute/ability the cultivator has there are useless ones which are grey or have other such abilities and a combination of colours allow for other abilities and even multiple abilities. Here is an example say someone has both red and green in their center crystal they can likely use abilities along the lines of fire and wind or a mixture which may result in a bad ability such as maybe fire and wind are good but if the person has smoke as their only ability then the usefulness of that ability is limited. Often the attribute may be acceptable but the other categories are lacking thus the person is not worth the effort of teaching to cultivate.
OUTER GEMS SUMMARY:
These gems are the rank that someone is within their stage of cultivation and also can let someone tell the stage they are at with these. At the beginning of every stage you start with 1 gem coloured as your mana pool gets bigger through cultivating the amount of gems of the colour your at increases so you start at 1/9 and make your way up. Once you hit 9/9 you need to get an opportunity to break through this can come along through a mixture of control, drastic increase in mana, and a stressful situation in which you are using your mana such as battles, or under a large increase in pressure (water pressure, mana pressure, etc.) The colour of the outer gems go like this
White- Novice
Green- Apprentice
Blue- Adept
Purple- Master
???- ???
???- ???
???- ???
???- ???
???- ???
I plan on releasing other stages of cultivation as I see fit.
MANA POOL:
The mana pool is exactly as it sounds it is the amount of mana someone can have at any given time until the pool gets bigger through cultivating. If you run out of mana then you can't use any magic until your pool refills naturally or quickened through cultivating.
Initial mana pool is the amount someone can fit in their mana pool from the moment their route to cultivation is opened (termed awakening) the bigger the initial mana pool is the easier it is to enlarge the mana pool is. (think kind of like compound interest only a bit more drastic difference for every unit).
Units of mana are the way I chose to explain how much mana is used in the pool with every technique so if someone has 652 units of mana and uses a technique they created which uses 314 units of mana they could only use it twice before having to use a weaker technique or unable to continue battling until their mana recovers.
Initial mana pool rankings:
(max is 499 initial mana pool as anymore and you would be a rank 2 novice which cannot happen until one awakens their cultivation.)
0-0 cannot cultivate body is unable to hold mana
1-25 Rank 1 talent
26-75 rank 2 talent
76-100 rank 3 talent
101-150 rank 4 talent
151-200 rank 5 talent
201-250 rank 6 talent
251-300 rank 7 talent
301-400 rank 8 talent
401-499 rank 9 talent
Cultivation Mana pool size (please remember to break through stages is harder then just simply cultivating and breaking through ranks and requires more than a larger mana pool it requires a catalyst of some kind)
1-499 novice rank 1
500-999 novice rank 2
1000-1499 novice rank 3
1500-1999 novice rank 4
2000-2499 novice rank 5
2500-2999 novice rank 6
3000-3499 novice rank 7
3500-3999 novice rank 8
4000-4999 novice rank 9 ( to reach 5000 often requires a catalyst and all of rank 9 is harder then the previous ranks)
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Other rankings will be added once Luke gets closer to that level of cultivation.
MANA WEAPONS:
Mana weapons are not something that can be chosen by the cultivator and their rank is a form of talent alone. Just because someone has a strong center gem or initial mana pool does not give an advantage in the rank of the mana weapon formed. However family lines can pass down type of weapon and often rank about the same if the family has a long line of the same weapon as the longer a ancestry of the weapon the more likely it would be passed down. The rank of a mana weapon goes from none to rank 9. However even a rank 6 weapon in this continent would be the highest gotten in century's. A rank 3 or 4 weapon is reason alone to train someone as a cultivator even if their other aspects are terrible.
RANKS:
All ranks have a low, medium, high, and peak. A low tier rank 3 sword was no match for a peak tier rank 3 sword.
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However tomorrow was my big day, Every 4 year old in the kingdom of Instra would come. As every year the date chosen for the awakening was the highest ranked noble son's birthday meaning I would be the guest of honor at this years awakening. 'Don't worry Luke you have nothing to fear it's not like your future, reputation, and pride are on the line...' I told myself.
I decide to take a walk around the city naturally the uncle who dotes on me would never allow me to go alone. So I walked into the guards break area in the castle. "Hey, Pollie and Rufus I would like to go for a walk wanna come?"
Although I phrased this as a question I knew they wouldn't decline. For some reason they consider it some great honor to be responsible for my life.
Pollie who was more of the silent type just nodded his head and stood up. He was bald and had a dirty brown beard that was always just a little too long and had one eye that he lost. I don't know when but he doesn't exactly talk about it. He was a peak novice rank 9 even though he was at the peak he was in his forty's and likely would never break through as he lost his prime cultivation time. His mana weapon could barley be classified as a rank 1 mana weapon and was a spear that was a little too short to be used from the top of a horse. So he decided to join the Flamebright guards instead of the military as he would likely not become more then a foot soldier.
Rufus however was more of a talker and the only reason I bring him is because it make my mother more relaxed knowing that I have a rank 1 apprentice along with me. Rufus only joined the guards a few months ago and likely wouldn't stay as a simple house guard for long as his mana weapon was a peak rank 2 broad sword. He even had a rank 3 initial mana pool having 82 units in his initial pool. He was an average looking guy probably in his mid twenty's with a permanent five o'clock shadow and orange crop-top hair and was always full of smiles. He talks about how the only reason he became a guard instead of joining the military was because his wife convinced him that being a guard would be much safer. " absolutely young one" he said with a genuine smile at he seemed to look forward to walking around the city instead of standing at his post for hours on end.
Outside of the Flamebright house was a city so large it put the largest city's of my old world to shame, it rivaled even the smaller country's of my old world. The city was named Blackrose and is the capital of the Instra kingdom, named after the emperor's lineage. However there was an obvious difference in status it was made apparent all throughout the city. The city was designed in a circular like shape. On the outskirts of the city were the peasants. Their houses were barley held together and could often only eat diner bi-daily and eat meat once a month if they were lucky. They were responsible for farming the plots of land that they had to rent from nobles and pay taxes to the kingdom and the nobles they rent the land from. The peasants sold their livestock and vegetables to merchants for meagre prices. Homeless people sleep in the street and it was not uncommon for someone to be dead and lay there for days as the place already smelled of sewage. The guards were corrupt beating the peasants half to death on a whim.
As you move in you see the commoners houses which by comparison to the peasants houses they could be considered an upgrade. They were made of cobblestone held together by mortar. This was where most inns were located and the people who lived in these parts were often shop owners or guards for either the city or a noble family. Their lives were not great but earned a respectable living non the less. Getting closer to the center of the city was the market place, stalls as far as the eye could see; furs, food, wines, cheap cultivation resources, anything could be found if one spent the time looking for it. The market was well kept and guards were as common as flies to ensure that no one stole from the stalls. These guards were hired by the kingdom because stolen things could not be taxed. The currency in this world was odd as it wasn't really currency in the sense that my old world had. Everyone could obtain an orb from the kingdom that in a sense a hollowed out core of a magical beast that was obtained after a cultivator used all the magic from within the core. Depending on the strength of the magical beast when it was alive the core could hold a different amount of 'kai'. Kai was the currency apparently used within all of the continents of this world. However this was just the basic currency their was also 'tai' and 'rai' and 1 million kai only equaled 1 tai while 1 million tai only equaled 1 'rai'. All of the Flamebright's assets combined could only equal about 100 tai which leads me to wonder what exactly is bought or sold using rai.
Moving on past the market are the nobles, all their houses were mansions, had servants and their own guards. Members of these family's were often arrogant believing the whole world revolved around them. Some of the worst ones would beat up commoners knowing that if they hit back 100 lashes of a whip would be a mild sentence. Woman got the worst of it and were often beat and raped by the nobles and even sometimes impregnating the woman leading the woman to be without a steady source of income as even commoners often would not want a woman who already had a child leaving the woman alone. There actually was not many guards hired by the kingdom on patrol as all the family' had their own guards. The prestige of the nobles was still apparent throughout this portion of the city and higher nobles would still pick on lower noble family's.
Right outside of the emperor's castle was the high nobles this included the Flamebright house and Aunt Margrets Coldmist family along with 5 other family's often referred to as the 7 dragon family's because all their children were dragons among the others and had great talent in magic. These family's were not equal in power to the Flamebright family but were often compared with each other. Daughters of the family's were used to create relationships within the family's. There were hostile relations between some of the family's. The Flamebright family always has had a neutral stance as long as anyone could remember. Currently the Coldmist , Thundergriffin, and the Earthenpangolin family's have a positive relationship. While the Lightstouch, Swordwing, and Waternebula family are in an alliance. Since Margret from the Coldmist family has married the current head of the Flamebright family the Coldmist family has been able to have a more arrogant attitude in front of the other familys.
At the center of the city located the largest structure I have ever seen. The castle of the Blackrose family and current empoerer of the Instra kingdom King Edgard Blackrose.
The walls were reinforced by a cultivator who had a rare metal attribute magic that made the walls impregnable to anyone under a adept. The castle was so large you could not see one side from the other, the castle rose up almost to the clouds.
I start walking down the long road that goes on for miles that holds the houses of all the 7 dragons. 'This world is so different from my last one. I wonder if my talent will be bad? ' I think as I brush my dark brown hair out of my eyes. Yes, I said dark brown apparently if your attribute is strong enough it can change your body which is why the members of the Flamebright family have red hair and gold eyes. As I am walking I see a grand carriage being drug by 2 magical beasts that looked like a lion the same height as a horse. The lion looking creatures were snow white besides their mane which was a golden yellow. The carriage itself was made of spirit wood I read a book about it around a year ago. It was characterized by how grey the wood was. The wood was extremely rare and didn't grow anywhere within the Instra kingdom. 'Odd, it must be from a different kingdom here to see the emperor'. I decide to continue walking and just as the carriage was about to pass me a little girl jumped out. She clearly didn't know someone would be outside of the carriage. I fall to the ground with her on top of me. Right away I hear a deep charismatic voice shout "STOP THE CARRIGE!". Instantly the carriage stops dead in its track and the lion like creatures didn't dare make another step as if they were afraid they would be killed if the made one more step.
I look at the girl who landed on me she was getting up off me, looked me in the eyes "YOU!, father I've chosen, THIS boy will be my husband".
"WHAT?!?!" both I and the man getting out of the carriage shouted simultaneously.
The man gets out of the carriage he has dark purple hair flowed back almost exactly the same style as Adam. The man had broad shoulders and a clean-shaven face. His face was red with rage as he quickly steps out of the carriage. Pollie and Rufus who were several meters behind as to give me some space were running towards me. However as soon as Pollie saw the man he grabbed Rufus and signaled him to stop moving. Pollie instantly kneels "This slave kneels before you, Lord Iswrath". After Iswrath was said Rufus turned as white as paper and kneeled not daring to say a word.
I quickly got the notion that this was not someone even the Flamebright family could offend.
Lord Iswrath looks towards me about to say something but stops himself. "Hahahaha, alright Camellia you want this boy to be your husband?" said with a mischievous smile on his face. He eyed the Flamebright crest on my shirt.
The little girl Camellia looked confused as it seems she expected her father to get angry from her statement. "Yes, this man!" she had a smirk on her face clearly thinking she called his bluff. I know took a better look at her face and right away I could tell this girl around the same age as I am would grow up to be an astounding beauty. She like her father had dark purple hair. her hair was wavy as it cascaded down her back in an elegant manner. Her face was like a perfectly polished jade with no flaws to be seen. She had a petite nose that matched her face perfectly. Looking at her I knew in the future her looks could topple nations and steal a kingdom right under an emperor's nose who would be none the wiser. Her eyes were the most startling as they didn't stay one colour and would flash purple, grey, white, and yellow.
"Well, if you wanted to marry this man in the first place why did you disagree to the marriage in the first place?"
That was when I realized that the carriage was likely not headed towards the Blackrose castle and must have been headed toward the Flamebright house.
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At the dinner table of the Flamebright house. I sat to the right of my uncle Adam with him at the head of the long table. To the right of me was my mother Ashley. To Adams left was Margret and beside her sat Luther followed by Rem. There were also several elders of the Flamebright clan present but they were not permitted to sit at the table today and stood off to the side.
On the other side of the table sat 3 people Lord Iswrath sat at the end of the table facing Adam. Camellia was sitting to her fathers right and a woman who although didn't have the same hair or eyes as the father and daughter did have some resemblance to Camellia letting me assume with fair certainty that she was likely Camellia's mother.
"Long time no see, Adam" - Lord Iswrath
"Ahh yes it has been awhile hasn't it?" - Adam
"hmm, yes but I would like to cut the pleasantries and get to the point if you don't mind Adam" - Lord Iswrath
"..." - Adam
"I'll take your silence as consent then, my Brong kingdom is looking to seek some reconciliation with the Instra kingdom as it has been over a decade since the war.". - Lord Instra
"continue..." - Adam
"It is a little to soon to propose a marriage between the Blackrose family and my Iswrath family but a marriage with the Blackrose family's right hand should not be an issue and would be a start to fixing the relationship between our 2 kingdoms. So I propose a marriage between my daughter Camellia and ..." Lord Iswrath looked at me and pointed "You, what is your name?"
"Luke Flamebright , lord Iswrath" trying to be as polite as possible.
"Great I propose a marriage between Luke Flamebright and my daughter Camellia Iswrath."
Adam looked stunned as he clearly didn't suspect that lord Iswrath would marry off his only daughter to a noble of another kingdom, sure the Flamebright family was not just any noble family in the Instra kingdom but it was still odd.
He looked towards me then my mother "Ashley, what do you think?".
"Ummmmm.... I don't want to force my sons marriage if he wants to I suppose it would be fine"- Ashley
Everyone in the room looked towards me. Adam looked at me and I knew that he would be ok with my opinion regardless of what I said. Mother looked at me ashamed that she pushed the pressure of a choice of this magnitude onto me at this young age.
Margret stood up quickly and obviously angry. "Why would you marry your daughter to him and not one of my precious sons? They are both extremely talented and carry the Flamebright inherent attribute.".
"Stop talking Margret"- Adam
Adams face was oddly stern when he told his wife to stop talking.
Camellia wouldn't look at me in the eyes and looked away when I turned my head towards her.
I took a deep breath and made the choice that would affect the rest of my life.
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END OF FIRST CHAPTER