NOVEL WEB Chapter 12: Who Else Would It Be?
Chapter 12: Who Else Would It Be?
Both Evian and Lord Stygian watched Adrian walk away.
Lord Stygian watched with melancholy and Evian couldn't care less.
"I've gauged your capabilities and put them well past the First Step of the Third Order. Truly incredible"
Evian raised a brow.
"Steps? There are steps?"
Lord Stygian let out a peel of laughter.
"Hahaha, of course, there are steps.
Every Order of Knighthood, the Martial Path, contains Nine steps. Each step improves something about a practitioner within their Order and all builds up towards a breakthrough into the next Order"
"How many Orders are there?" Evan asked.
"It goes up to the Ninth Order. After that, one is expected to have broken free of all mortal shackles and become something more. Something greater- Maybe divine.
Anyway, there is much to do and you have much to learn. I will hand you the Stygian Family Technique to help you get a grasp on your abilities." Lord Stygian said.
Evian's brows furrowed.
'Ehn, I don't need that.'
[Indeed you don't. What you need is to start hunting for souls]
'I'm getting tired of your nagging. Is it impatience or do you just thrive on being a dick?'
[It's Impatience]
"Come on, Son. We have much to cover"
***
For the Rest of the Week, Evian spent a lot of time in Lord Stygian- Sorry, his Father's company. Both Lady Myrine and Lord Stygian had insisted he call them Mother and Father.
It wasn't natural for him yet and he still needed to take care to call them that. If he was absent-minded, his terms for them would just shift to default.
Anyway, Evian was given the Stygian Family Technique and although he didn't pay it a lot of attention, he did read through it. The Technique was like a manuscript explaining the art of 'Cultivation' also known crudely as 'Training'.
Apparently, the Martial path was all about taking in Spiritual energy called from the atmosphere and using it to strengthen one's body, slowly but surely building to new heights and breaking new ground.
Just on a whim, Evian tried to sense Spiritual energy and maybe dabble in the conventional way of strength increase of the World he was in but he failed. The Voice in his head was quick to comment.
[You're a Wraith. You can't use or possess any energy besides Eldritch Energy]
'Yeah, I think I've figured that out myself' Evian snapped at it.
Anyway, he let Lord Stygian believe he was diligently working with the technique and mostly focused on the other things he had been taught. One of them being how to actually be better at combat.
Lord Stygian took time to train him personally and from how the Maids, servants, and guards whispered about it, it seemed like a big deal. Apparently Lord Stygian was usually very busy with matters of the Estate. Too busy to be that invested.
They even whispered that they had never seen him pay that much attention to Adrian.
'Poor guy' Evian thought whenever Adrian's name hit his ears, 'If only I gave a damn about his jealousy'
Evian didn't ask for the attention he was getting. He didn't hate it but he also didn't ask for it so he wasn't going to waste the chance he got to have attentive parents and spend it worrying about a moron who didn't like him even while he was cursed and doomed to die.
Anyway, a few days wasn't enough to cover all the essentials but Evian got a very good gist of the basics. They were still mostly focused on hand-to-hand combat. Weapons training was to come later.
Lady Myrine occasionally complained that the training was too much.
"You should at least let him relax. You're rushing things" she said.
"Oh come on, my lady, you should know it's best to strike while the iron is hot. We have no idea what caused his boost in strength so the best thing to do now is to make his likely shaky foundation stable" Lord Stygian reasoned.
"Alright, Fine" Lady Myrine said with a sigh.
"Lady- I mean, Mother, have you ever been a practitioner?" Evian asked.
His Mother's brows furrowed as she heard his little slip-up but she answered him anyway.
"Of course I have"
"And you still are?"
Lady Myrine chuckled.
"You say that like it's something I could lose. Besides, you think a pretty face is all I needed to run the Estate by your Father's side?"
As she was speaking, Lord Stygian took her hand and kissed the back of it in what was an almost nightly routine of display of affection.
Although Lady Myrine complained about how much time Evian spent in training, she was appeased by Evian spending a good few hours of every day with her. Evian was okay with that arrangement as he quickly turned her into a current affairs guide. He spent his time with her asking about the World and trying to get a sense of how things were.
Starting right off,
The World didn't have a name partly because the denizens didn't think it deserved a name and partly because all the existing races living in the world couldn't agree on a universal name to call their world so everyone just stuck with naming their little part of it.
The part of the World the Stygian Estate was in was called Verdelen City. It was under the governing jurisdiction of the Verlice Royal Family.
The City was divided into territories occupied by different Local lords and their Estates. One of those Lords was Lord Stygian and his Estate.
As Land owning nobles who had the power to retain their rule, the Local Lords of Verdelen City were responsible for keeping the peace in the region. They made the rules and they received taxes.
They in turn paid percentages of the taxes they received to the religious body they fell under as well as the Royal Family.
Speaking of which, on the Verlice Kingdom Social Ladder, there were only three levels above Lord Stygian and his fellow Local Lords. Those levels were;
The Royal Family,
The Religious Body (The Martial Temple and the Arcane Church) and,
The Government/Royal officials (Individuals who were directly in employment to the Verlice King).
'Wow, just hearing about the intricacies of this world quite excites me. There's so much to know, so much to learn and see'
[Will you break into a song now?]
'... You're my assistant, right? Which means I'm your boss?'
[Technically]
'Then how about a bit of respect?'
[Alright. Will you break into a song now- Sir?]
Evian rolled his eyes at the ceiling. He was lying down on his bed with his hands behind his head when he heard the first sound that alerted him.
*Thud*
The sound came from the door and it was quickly followed by another.
*Thud*
The second sound was more urgent and Evian sat up on his bed just as the double doors to his room opened slowly and three figures walked in. They were all dressed in black and even had their faces covered by what Evian could only best describe as balaclavas. It only left their eyes and eyebrows visible.
Evian leaped off his bed in a second.
"Who the hell are you?"
The intruders ignored him.
"Boss, are yer sure this is him? His 'air looks weird" one of the men asked. His accent sounded distorted.
The eyes of the intruder leading the bunch narrowed.
"Well, who else would so comfortably lie down in Evian Stygian's bed beside him?"
"We can just ask him to be sure. Hey, are you Evian Stygian?" the third intruder asked.
Rather than answer, Evian took on an attacking stance and the moment he did, two of the intruders pulled out clubs from god-knows-where and dashed towards him.
As a club came swinging at him, Evian ducked to avoid it and when he stood back up, he did so with an uppercut that knocked his attacker into the wall.
*Bang!*
"Ack"
Evian started to choke. The second Club-wielding intruder was now behind him and using his club to try and choke him out.
As Evian grabbed the club and tried to pull it off his throat, the Intruder he had hit into the wall recovered and swept his legs with his Club to send him facefirst into the ground.
*Wham*
*Bam*