Cultivation in this world is divided into orders. Staring from zero-order to ninth order. Not everyone in this world is blessed with the power to cultivate. Aditya was also the same. But now with his bloodline awakening, Aditya can cultivate. Even among the people who can cultivate, not everyone has the talent to reach second order. Hence almost 60% to 70% of the cultivators are forever stuck at the first order.
Around 65% of the population doesn’t have the ability to cultivate. However, after thousands of years of research and development, the people of this world have found a way where even the people without cultivation ability can get stronger.
The cultivation path is divided into two paths, external cultivation, and internal cultivation. The people who can’t cultivate use external cultivation which involves making the body stronger with mana. While internal cultivation is regular cultivation where one can use mana to use elemental powers.
After reaching a certain stage, one can use elements. Or another way of using elements is by having an elemental type bloodline, just like Aditya who now has Inferno Blaze Dragon Bloodline. There are 5 primary elements fire, earth, water, wind, and lightning. Other than 5 primary elements there are also certain individuals who have rare elements mainly due to their bloodline or because they are born with them.
In the world of cultivation, only the people who are fortunate enough to awaken their bloodlines have the most advantage. Awakening a bloodline comes with hundreds of benefits. It can increase strength, increase cultivation speed, increase recovery speed, can give the user certain rare elemental powers, and many more.
Even though Aditya has never cultivated and was still considered a zero-order, when he awakened his bloodline with the system’s help, he got a huge boost in his stats.
“Young master, we only have 100 soldiers and one second-order guard. Other than 100 soldiers everyone left the army because we couldn’t pay their salaries on time.” Hearing Watson’s words, Aditya felt like an invisible arrow has been shot at his heart. Since both new and old Aditya’s memories have merged, both of them basically have become one person. The current Aditya has memories of his previous self. Knowing that he is the reason why everyone in the city was suffering, he felt very guilty about it.
“If the nobles had paid their taxes on time, I think our current situation would have been much better.” The previous Aditya had left all the financial work on Watson’s shoulder. It’s miracle that this Castle was still standing given the large number of debt that was taken to run the castle.
In this world, 100 silver was worth 1 gold while 100 gold coins were worth 1 royal gold. Counting all the debt that the current Aditya had in his name, he needed to pay 50 royal gold coins. Generally, one gold is more than enough for a middle-class family to cover their expenses for 1 month. Even if Aditya decided to sell some of his lands, he still wouldn’t have enough money to pay off the debt. Also given how small his territory was, selling his land was an option for him.
“Master, not just the nobles even the people who are running their business in this city has stopped paying any taxes.”
Slap!
Aditya couldn’t help but slap his own forehead in frustration. Just how bad the situation was. As the King of this land, Aditya wasn’t feared by anyone. Even the owners of small shops dared to not pay their taxes. ‘At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else started to govern this land.’
Aditya put all the papers down and seriously looked at Watson. Judging from the Aura around Watson it was clear that his butler was a second-order body cultivator.
“Watson, who is the biggest business owner in this city?”
“It’s the Norlor family. A few years ago, their family had two shops. But now they have 19 shops all around the city. The Norlor family controls 80% of the total business of Azure city.”
“For how long their taxes were left unpaid?”
“24 months, no actually its 25 months.”
“Watson, what do you say, shall we pay a visit to this Norlor Family?” Aditya coldly asked. Being a dragon himself, Aditya had pride engraved to his very bone. If someone dares to disrespect him, he won’t just sit around and tolerate it.
“I will follow my young master.” Aditya could see that even Watson couldn’t wait to wash his hands.
“Good, then we will leave tomorrow.”
–
–
–
Scene change___
After leaving Aditya’s room, Watson went to report everything to his real master Julia who was one of Aditya’s wives. Meanwhile, Aditya didn’t go to sleep. Aditya took some time to check his stats and skills.
.
[_Name: – Aditya Bainnith
_Race: – Dragon
_Bloodline: – Inferno Blaze Dragon Bloodline
_Current Class: – War Dancer
_Current class Level: – 01
_Innate Skill: – Instant learning and adaptation, Fiery Blaze, Weapon Mastery
_Passive skill: – Eruption Wave, Molten Bolt, Silence Mind
_Strength: – 70
_Speed: – 70
_Stamina: -70
_Health: – 70
_Mana: – 70
_Free stats: – 0]
.
[Instant learning and adaptation: – The skills boost the user’s brain, making the user a genius when it comes to learning and adaptation. The skills will allow enhances the brain by 25 times.]
[Fiery Blaze: – This skill allows the user to control fire. Every time the user activates this skill, it will consume [2+] mana per second. The limit of this skill depends on the user’s imagination.]
[Eruption Wave: – When this skill is used, the user can control lava. Whenever this skill is activated it will consume [5+] mana per second. The limit of this skill depends on the user’s imagination.]
[Molten Bolt: – Using this skill one can fire a lave bolt. Each time this skill is used it will consume [05+] mana per second. The limit of this skill depends on the user’s imagination.]
[Weapon Mastery: – This skill gives the user knowledge and instant mastery over any weapon that is held by the user. Weapon Mastery increases the power of any weapon by [10%]
[Silence Mind: – A special type of skill that helps the user keep his mind calm on the battlefield. During a battle, the host will stay alert all the time.]
—–
“Did you use that spell?” Julia asked while looking at the moon.
Standing behind her, Watson replied in a serious tone. “I have used this orb to check if the young master was really under some mind-controlling spell. The result is the opposite of what we had expected. No one is controlling the young master.”
Sigh!
“Watson, after today’s interaction with Aditya, do you think he has changed?” Julia has cursed her fate so many times. Being married to a man who is not even a cultivator and worse he was an alcoholic addict. If Aditya can really change, then this will be for the best.
Watson didn’t reply immediately. He remained silent, showing that he was thinking deeply. After about 5 minutes of silence, Watson finally replied.
“After our today’s interaction, it was clear that the young master was very worried about the situation of this Kingdom. He looked really angry when I told him about nobles’ corruption. I do believe that the young master has changed. As for whether this change will bring fortune or not, even I am not sure.”
“I see.”
“Watson, for we will continue to observe him. Use your power to assist him whenever he needs your help.”
“I understand milady. But milady, for how long, do you plan on hiding your identity?” Watson felt now that the young master was showing signs of changing into a better person, it would be better to reveal the young lady’s identity.
“For now I will observe him. Just because my parents decided to marry me to Aditya doesn’t mean that I have feelings for him.”
Next day
–
Aditya, Julia, and Watson had breakfast together. After eating, Aditya took a bath. The whole castle was empty. It was only Julia, Watson and Aditya. While walking around the castle, Aditya noticed that there were some parts of the Castle which were broken or about to fall apart. The Castle was very old and was in desperate need of renovation. 𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒓𝙚𝙖𝙙.𝓬𝙤𝙢
“Are you ready young master?” Watson asked. Currently, Watson was wearing simple clothes that made him look like a commoner. It was Aditya who told Watson to hide his true identity and use a disguise. For now, Aditya didn’t wish to let anyone know about his recently awakened bloodline. So today, Aditya and Watson were using different identities.
“Uncle Jack, call me Isaac. We’re the guards sent by the King to collect the tax.” Watson nodded his head with an awkward look. Watson was not comfortable calling someone whom he has been calling young master for years now.
“Young master, is there any specific reason why you disguised your identity?” While walking Watson curiously asked.
“Watson, If I want to catch the nobles off guard, I can’t just reveal my identity to anyone. To them, I am still an alcohol addict. If I let them know about my move, they will become alert and might do the worse which is fleeing to another kingdom with all the wealth of this kingdom.”
“I understand, young master.”
While walking on the streets, Aditya once again realized just how bad the condition of this city was. This city was supposed to be the capital of this Kingdom yet the condition of this city was worse than a village.
The roads were not properly constructed. There was garbage thrown in the open. Wild dogs and cats were roaming everywhere. Beggars were lying on the sides of the roads. The houses were poorly constructed. Some mud houses looked like they are about to fall down at any given moment. There were slaves carrying goods for rich merchants. Drunken men were struggling to walk.
After walking and observing the city for 10 minutes, even a normal can tell that his city was not planned. The previous king should have given some attention to the hygiene and cleanness of this city.
“Master, we are here”
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