In the grand hall of the Underground Palace.
Richard removed the "Destructive Gloves" he wore on his hand, glanced over the many Knowledge Scrolls in the hall, and decided not to casually choose another scroll to read. Estimating that he had been there for quite some time, he headed straight for the deepest part of the hall.
At the deepest point of the hall, Richard saw a rather unique Stone Table.
Compared to the other stone tables, it was more than twice as big, with an enormous scroll placed upon it and, apart from the scroll, there was also a Black Iron Mask.
Due to caution, Richard didn’t rashly touch the Black Iron Mask on the table, but instead carefully opened the scroll on the table and quickly scanned it.
He was slightly taken aback as soon as he glanced at the first line, which read unmistakably: "My name... Augustus Caesar, the great Black Spirit King, the founder of the Black Spirit Empire, the ruler and guardian of the people on the East Coast! I..."
He continued to read below, where a large mass of dense text appeared.
"My great achievements..."
This was indeed the autobiography of the once ruler of the Black Spirit Empire—the Black Spirit King. The beginning was filled with boasting accounts of various deeds; there wasn’t much substance, and Richard skimmed through it quickly.
However, in the latter half of the scroll, he stopped and softly read the words aloud: "My past..." The content shockingly was about the birth, childhood, establishment, development, and destruction of the Black Spirit King and his empire—the real meat of the story, including the reasons for the demise of the Black Spirit Empire.
Richard took a deep breath and read on attentively. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
Gradually, from the scroll, Richard came to understand a lot of things; a story slowly unfolded before his eyes:
Everything started hundreds of years ago when there was no Empire on the East Coast, nor was there a Wizard Alliance, only chaos.
Small Nobles constantly fought among themselves, various Wizard Organizations frantically competed for resources, defeated nobles lost their lands and became Thief Groups, and defeated wizards’ organizations crumbled due to the loss of resources. Wizards who weren’t ruthless enough were expelled from their organizations to wander and drift about.
Countless commoners struggled to live amidst the cracks of nobles, Thief Groups, Wizard Organizations, and Wandering Wizards, never knowing when they might anger someone they shouldn’t and suffer fatalities or complete ruin.
Such was the situation, a veritable Dark Age, with no one knowing how long it would last or what would end it—until the birth of a boy.
The boy was named Augustus Caesar, a mighty name albeit with not so great a background. He was born in a small village called Yadisi, and from as early as he could remember, he was without parents, taken care of in turns by the villagers. It wouldn’t be considered pitiful, but certainly not happy either.
If nothing unexpected happened, this boy might at the age of twelve or thirteen be referred by the villagers to be sent to a workshop in a town or small city to be an Apprentice. Depending on how kind or cruel the master was, he might spend five, seven, ten years, or even longer as an apprentice until he successfully learnt a craft to sustain himself. Then he would marry a common wife, have several children who may not all survive, and live out an ordinary and dull life.
However, in the boy’s eleventh year, the visit of a stranger disrupted this destined path.
The visitor was an old man with white hair and beard, who came to the village alone, shattered the mossy green rock at the village entrance that had been there for who knows how long, and then restored it to its original state, very directly proving his identity—a powerful Wizard.
The old man then declared his intention: he hoped to find a few suitable children from the village to become his students.
The villagers naturally didn’t dare refuse.
On one hand, they were fearful of provoking a wizard with Extraordinary Power. In those days, most wizards were wicked and not bound by morals and Order; a single displeasure might lead them to a killing spree.
On the other hand, they saw handing over the children to a wizard as a decent opportunity, certainly more promising than sending them to the city as apprentices. If the children were truly impressive and returned after completing their studies, they could even protect the village.
And so, the villagers presented their children before the old man, letting him examine their talents and make his selection.
The old man was then disappointed after reviewing them all, claiming according to his words back then: the majority had no suitable Talent; even if they did, it was poor and the number was very few, only three in total.
But for some unknown reason, the old man eventually chose the three children with potential as his students—two boys and one girl, among whom was Augustus Caesar.
From that point on, Augustus left Yadisi Village, and along with two peers of the same age, followed the old man to study.
Reading up to here, Richard raised an eyebrow and muttered to himself, "Poor Talent? And he still became the Black Spirit King? That old man..."
He pursed his lips and continued reading.
Richard saw that, according to the scroll’s records, the old man in the young Black Spirit King Augustus’s narrative was extremely powerful—almost omniscient and omnipotent, like a God. Thus, including Augustus, all three children, despite their poor talents, became powerful Wizards after studying with the old man for fifteen years.
Afterward, the old man told the three that they had learned enough to graduate, but there was one task each of them needed to complete as a trial of their apprenticeship.
Augusti was unaware of the tasks given to the other two, but his was to end the current chaos on the East Coast and establish a stable and strong Empire. Once he accomplished that, he was to report back to the old man at a designated location.
Receiving such a strange task, Augusti was entirely dumbfounded. After leaving the old man, he felt incredibly unsettled inside—he had no confidence at all in completing the task. But out of respect for the old man, he decided to grit his teeth and try, even if he failed, at least he would have something to report back.
But what he didn’t realize was that Augusti found the task much simpler than he had imagined.
One most direct reason was that there was no one who could oppose him.
That’s right, no one was his match. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
For fifteen years, he had been studying with the old man and had little contact with outsiders, hardly able to accurately gauge his own strength.
It wasn’t until his first engagement with the enemy and seeing their shocked expressions that he realized one thing—he was strong.
In fact, much stronger than he had ever imagined!
Basically, with every move he made, he could easily take down some extraordinary talent or some organization’s Wizard Leader. When he encountered some older fellows and used a few Spells he learned from the old man, he could swiftly dispose of them, and people would exclaim that these were Ancient Magic long thought lost.
Thus, everything became very easy.