Chapter 4: Quest of Acknowledgement
Aldrin’s eyes opened slowly and light flooded into them causing him to close them rapidly with a light wince.
“The young master has awakened, relay this to the lord.” A female voice suddenly called out and a figure dashed out of the room closing the door behind as she left, Aldrin slowly sat up and surveyed the room he was in and quickly recognized it to be his room.
Not far from the bed was a table that was tidy and yet messy at the same time as a plethora of reading and writing materials were displayed across, aside from that table there wasn’t anything noteworthy of in the room, everything else was exquisite and yet simple.
“How is your health sir?” A small lady approached Aldrin and tried taking his hand to feel his pulse but suddenly Aldrin stretched his hand and gripped her throat tightly threatening to strangle her.
The lady trashed wildly while sobbing and begging for mercy but no matter what she did Aldrin didn’t release his grip on her neck and despite being an ordinary person he easily overwhelmed the serving girl in terms of raw strength, just as the lady was running out of breath and getting too weak to struggle the door to the room burst open and two figures marched in with wide strides both figures Aldrin recognized.
The first male stood at a height very close to six feet with a suave face, dark hair and pitch black eyes just like his, if not for the face being far more matured and composed one would mistake him for being Aldrin’s twin or perhaps elder brother but the reality was that the male figure was none other than his father. The other male was extremely lean and lanky, wearing a pair of glasses and a grey overall that was often donned by alchemist and doctors, he was Jai-Blynn the clan doctor.
“Let go of the maid Aldrin.” The clan head spoke in a tone that betrayed neither thoughts nor emotions and without thinking Aldrin released his grasp, Jai-Blynn dashed towards Aldrin and grabbed his wrist, the moment he did Aldrin heard a familiar voice and at the same time several strings of words appeared in his vision.
[External Zen is being forcefully injected in your body. Do you want to resist?]
[Y/N]
It took a moment for Aldrin to process what was going on, he didn’t understand where or how this entity came to be but he recalled hearing its voice when he was battling with the assassins that came after him, also he heard it sometime after then but this was the first time words were appearing before him, surveying the expression of his father and doctor he could tell that he was the only one seeing them.
“No.” Aldrin replied in a murmur but despite his low voice his words was heard clearly by both men.
“What do you mean young lord?” The doctor asked while his father raised a brow
“Nothing.” Aldrin replied coldly
[Accepting Zen input] the voice echoed in his head while the string of words in his vision changed.
“His body is fully healed but I can’t say same for his mind, being at the brink of death does quite the damage, it would take some time to heal.” Jai-Blynn spoke out after a few seconds of examination.
“Good, now leave us.” The clan head said and with a bow Jai-Blynn promptly left the room leaving father and son alone staring each other down.
“A gang of assassins infiltrated the clan and tried killing the clan leader’s eldest son who was a wastrel but luckily he was with his brother who didn’t hesitate to sacrifice his life to protect him using a forbidden technique to vanquish the assassins.” The clan head said in a low but straight voice, hearing the short speech Aldrin was shocked by the conclusion but his shock was instantly overwhelmed by rage, he was about to speak when his father raised his right palm signifying that he wasn’t done yet.
“You and I know that the truth is far from that but what we know isn’t always the truth and the truth isn’t always correct, our truths would be different from the truths of everyone else and sometimes it isn’t beneficial for the masses to know the truth.” He added and Aldrin took in a deep breath carefully digesting what his father had just told him, while he might have used complicated terms with a lot of truths what he basically meant was that they were to keep the truth on tight lids and what he had just spoken would be the information announced to the whole world.
“Do you know the truth?” Aldrin asked, abiding by his father’s words were easy, just a light thinking and he could understand why the event should be kept a secret but he wouldn’t accept it if his father didn’t even know what happened.
“I might not know the meticulous details but I can more or less guess what happened even though I’m confused about one thing. How did Fabien die exactly?” The clan head asked with narrowed eyes and Aldrin’s mind flashed to the event, after a few moments let out a sigh
“I don’t know.” He replied, despite it not being the full truth it wasn’t a lie either, even he still finds it hard that Fabien just died just because he said he should, perhaps it was a coincidence or someone else was behind his death, Aldrin really didn’t know.
“~sigh, I can’t believe that none of my sons can do anything properly, what a waste.” Aldrin’s father said with a disappointed tone as he turned around to leave, just as he reach the door a scroll materialized in his hands which he tossed towards Aldrin and the latter caught it effortlessly.
“You’ll still go through with the test, not like I expect you to win anyways but it’s too late to back out now.” He said before leaving the room with Aldrin alone within it.
He opened the scroll and read what was within it a wry smile forming on his face and he understood why Fabien had said he had quite a high chance of completing the test, he indeed did have a chance of passing the test but by his knowledge the chances of completing it was around thirty percent at best. As soon as he finished reading the scroll the mechanical voice spoke in his ears again as a string of words appeared in his vision.
[B rank chain mission “quest of acknowledgement” had been detected, do you wish to accept this mission?] [Y/N]
Aldrin read the sentence over and over with an incredulous expression but in the end he replied “Yes”
[B ranked chain-mission accepted.
Preamble: The elders of the ancient dragon clan do not acknowledge you and would not accept you to become the future ruler of the clan but they’ve come to a compromise and as long as you prove your leadership skills and your bloodline strength you would become accepted but you’re not without competition as there are others who would fight you for this position.
1st Part
You are to lead a crusade to the Orc Empire and claim some territory for the human race.]
Chapter 5: The SystemAldrin read through as he listened to the voice read into his head, basically it was just a summary of what he had read in the scroll his father gave him.“What are you exactly?” Aldrin asked feeling quite stupid as he didn’t know if there was someone controlling what he saw and heard or if they would even reply him.[I am the spirit system bound to you.] The voice replied him as the string of words before his eyes changed“Are you an ally?” he pressed further trying to glean as much information as he could and the most important of which he needed to know was to confirm if it was a symbiote or a parasite.[It is the job of the system to ensure its host grows stronger and more powerful so the system could be considered an ally to its host.] The mechanical voice replied in its monotone.Aldrin thought for a few moments, he didn’t know much yet but for some reason he felt that the so called system was akin to an artefact or a tool whose sole purpose was to empower
Chapter 6: Visit to the ancient gryphon clanThe carriage soon arrived in front of a pair of majestic gates of the Gryphon Clan. Two imposing stone pillars, adorned with intricate carvings of gryphons in various poses - soaring, battling, and guarding treasure - support a grand arch topped with a proud gryphon with its wings spread wide. The warm, golden stone, weathered by centuries, exudes the aura of great strength and deep heritage. Gryphon-shaped door knockers gaze out from either side, several glyphs adorn the pillars, and torch holders shaped like gryphon talons hold unlit torches. Flanking the gates, two imposing stone gryphon statues stand guard, complemented by armed, armored clan guards bearing the Gryphon Clan's insignia, standing before them Aldrin couldn’t help but feel as though the Gryphons would come alive the very moment there was a slight sign of danger which made the guards seem more like a decoration instead.As soon as the carriage reached the gates the formerly
Chapter 7: Competition beginsAldrin returned to his clan compound and began preparations, the entire clan was in a state of activeness as discussion about the upcoming contest was on everyone’s lips.In a few minutes they were all gathered in a large colosseum, where each of the contestants and their forces were displayed as a show of might and intimidation.There were five including Aldrin, they were Akibrus Draca, Damian Draca, Orion Draca who was a step brother to Akibrus and lastly Azura Draca who was the only female in the mix.Amongst all five Aldrin had the smallest amount of forces with only three hundred and one warriors with the extra one being part of the resources he got from his bargain with the ancient gryphon clan,Following him was Azura who had a warrior count of a little over seven hundred following her was Akibrus who had a warrior count of a thousand men, Orion had one thousand two hundred men and Damian possessed one thousand five hundred men.This display also s
Chapter 8: Preparing to RaidHe spread out his spirituality seeking a creature or spirit he could contract.[Searching for contracts]The system notification resounded in his ears as his spirituality depleted rapidly, he could only maintain this form for so long.Just as he was about to give up when his spirituality was reaching critical levels he heard a notification and for the first time he couldn’t help but feel that the system had a very lovable voice.[A Fire Spirit is seeking to make a contract.][Do you agree to contract Fire Spirit? Y/N]Without hesitation Aldrin clicked on yes before he could see whatever notification was coming next he felt his astral body being dragged downwards at the speed of light and in no time he opened his eyes back in his tent, beads of sweat coating his forehead as a pounding headache attacked him violently, in exhaustion he collapsed on his back.He looked as though he had just survived a deadly battle but the light in his eyes was totally in cont
Chapter 9: Unexpected DevelopmentThe weapons and sealed scrolls were quickly distributed with enough to go round the three hundred-man team.“Jon, you can begin the raid, the rest of you get in position, you uh- what you’re name?” Aldrin began giving instruction but when he turned to the lady beside him he realized that he had no idea what her name was.“My name is Amara.” She replied and Aldrin nodded in acknowledgement“You’ll stay with me here.” He added.Just as the soldiers were about to disperse Aldrin quickly stopped them and passed a small device to each of the three team leaders, it was a small two piece device with one of them shaped like a comma while the other looked rounded but with a short handle.“These are communication devices, I might need to relay messages to each of you.” He said as he explained the device to them and immediately after they dispersed each taking position.Jon then led a team of fifty towards the gates of the fortress, each of them was armed with r
Chapter 10: Levelling UpAldrin considered getting the grandmaster with him to make a move but he knew that would put him in a negotiation disadvantage later on, moreover there was also the mission from his system, he wasn’t sure if it would count as a success or failure if he got someone else to do it for him.He pulled up his system interface and began to go through it again trying to see if he could find something useful, glancing through it for the second time he noticed something he hadn’t noticed before now, next to his title was a small inverted triangle.He clicked on the arrow only for a pop-up to appear.[Basic Title;Trash: Allows user to diminish his aura to the point where he is actively being ignored by everyone, placing him in a state of psychological invisibility. This state becomes invalid when use makes any drastic action.Duration: 1hrCool-down: 45mins]Reading through this Aldrin was stunned and didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.“So being trash actually has s
Chapter 11: Soul Armaments[Summoned Creature; Salamander Fire SpiritAbilities:Fire Breath: Exhales a stream of fire 5yards in a single directionFlame Absorption: Absorbs fire to heal selfShrinking: Reduces sizeSpecial Abilities:Shared Vision: Shares vision with masterFire Immunity: Grants fire immunity to master during period of summoning]Aldrin went through the new information and a smile appeared on his face, the screen before him had partitioned with one part displaying the visual range of the Salamander exactly the way it was seeing it, it was a little weird seeing things from its perspective but it was superb and akin to having a pair of remote thermal sensors but the most interesting part was the fire immunity he had received, this means he can go on rampage without any care.“Attack.” Aldrin gave order and the salamander instantly opened its maws releasing a stream of fire while Aldrin fetched several explosives which he tossed wildly“Commander the orcs are suddenly r
Chapter 11: Soul Armaments[Summoned Creature; Salamander Fire SpiritAbilities:Fire Breath: Exhales a stream of fire 5yards in a single directionFlame Absorption: Absorbs fire to heal selfShrinking: Reduces sizeSpecial Abilities:Shared Vision: Shares vision with masterFire Immunity: Grants fire immunity to master during period of summoning]Aldrin went through the new information and a smile appeared on his face, the screen before him had partitioned with one part displaying the visual range of the Salamander exactly the way it was seeing it, it was a little weird seeing things from its perspective but it was superb and akin to having a pair of remote thermal sensors but the most interesting part was the fire immunity he had received, this means he can go on rampage without any care.“Attack.” Aldrin gave order and the salamander instantly opened its maws releasing a stream of fire while Aldrin fetched several explosives which he tossed wildly“Commander the orcs are suddenly r