"It is said that, in the beginning, the Six fought side by side with mankind. Even so, the deities themselves seldom appeared before mortals, and instead sent loyal servants to convey their divine will to the Oracle."
***
"To see if you are not Corrupted One, Humanoid Grimm, or Abomination. They cannot touch the Crystal of Light that is used for the identification of these creatures, as they could hide from even some of the most advanced Magical Methods of screening."
Obviously, Ardyn didn't really understand a lot of it, as everything that she was saying was pretty much unfamiliar, as he tilted his head to the side in utter confusion.
"Ts... I forgot the amnesia. In the short story, the Corrupted Ones are the humans or Faunus that are corrupted by the Grimm Liquid, and they are usually the Cultists of the Grimm, worshipping them as their Gods and hoping to resurrect the Primordial God of Darkness. Humanoid Grimms are, as the name states, the very powerful Type Grimms that could take the human form, and Abominations are humans or faunus that willingly fuse with creatures of Grimm into unholy abominations of flesh and darkness."
Her explanation was pretty straightforward and easy to understand, even if it contained, once again, some unfamiliar terms, but that could be discussed at a later date.
He understood that in a world like this, where there is only war for survival, and with the possibility of infiltration, there must be methods of discerning those who are threats to humanity.
"Then it's good that I am not one of those..."
He sighed in relief because of the Starscourge in his body, but seeing that it was converted into a controllable and other form, it wasn't picked by the Crystal. Yet, when he touched the Crystal, he felt something very familiar.
Sometimes he couldn't even distinguish what memories belonged to the 'Sirius' and what to the 'Ardyn Izunia', yet, the feeling that he felt was very much alive.
"That Crystal... what is it?"
Ardyn asked as he started preparing food for the Maschenny because she was still injured and couldn't move that well, or just didn't want to.
"That thing? According to the Scholars, it's Essence of Primordial God of Light... but who actually knows..."
He almost froze in his tracks as he opened one of the packs of instant food and prepared to heat it... From the memories he had, he recognized the feeling of the Divinity and the subtle Draconic influence within the Divinity that was in the object.
Ardyn could sense it on a very intense and familiar basis.
"Is that so..."
Well, at least now he has confirmation of some ideas that popped into his head about the peculiarities of this world. The fact that she possessed something like this must mean either one of the two things.
Either these things were actually not that super rare, but he didn't think that this was the case. Even if they were not ultra scarce, they would still be locked in the vaults or in the hands of the most powerful people in the world.
Or the second explanation was that her social status was actually much higher than he had anticipated, and she actually got it from her family or someone like that. For Ardyn, this seemed more plausible than the first one.
"How long till someone is sent ot piuck you up, Lady Very Important?"
He asked about the time to discuss the origin of the Crystal of Light, as he was rather focused on preparing something to eat and obtaining information about how long it would take someone to look for her.
Maschenny ignored the remark, but she made a mental note to return it, as she tried to summon her Pocket.
"What's that thing?"
He asked as he looked at the floating ball of metal or whatever it was, as it orbited around her and he looked at the thing rather curiously.
"This is a device called Pocket, created by The Workshop of Atlas. It is a common communication device in the Remnant, albeit only those who are rich enough can buy one, or one can obtain it by becoming a Certified Huntsman. They function as a dictionary, a communication device, a wallet, an account, an identification device, and depending on their Grade, there are even more functions."
She answered as she tapped on something in her Pocket, which came to life as she then started sending a message to someone with their location and situation.
"These Pockets are made from a combination of Suspendium, Dust, and some rare metals. My own Pocket is A-Ranked, basically one of the highest-ranked pockets in existence, which are ridiculously expensive and sometimes cannot be bought even with money. I have sent out a distress signal and confirmed location... within a few hours, we can await extraction."
Unfortunately, her Pocker was deactivated during the flight for some reason as she turned it off, which meant that it didn't register the crash and sent out distress signals directly to her family, and they could only depend on the Academy's search.
Which could be pretty slow and vague.
It was much faster to send the request for help directly to her family.
"Well, that's good... It's getting colder... here, take something to eat."
He passed her the food that he had heated up as she took it from him.
"Thanks... Did you loot the bullhead that crashed? I can see that you have Arathion's Dimensional Equipment in your hand."
She stated as he started eating the rations, which were not really the tastiest thing around, but they were edible.
"Certainly. It would be a waste to just leave it there."
He didn't bother to even attempt to hide the fact that he looted a few corpses, as there was no reason.
"Good... never liked that arrogant bastard when he was alive."
The reason why Maschenny didn't like her "fellow student" was mainly because the young man was hitting on her constantly, even after she gave him a few beatings. She couldn't understand whose genius idea it was to assign the two of them on a joint mission.
Certainly, now she was more satisfied as the man would become Grimm food soon enough, because he didn't survive the crash either. She had like zero patience for the people whom she found annoying, and violence was her preferred language with them.
"How cold... mademoiselle."
He said as her eyebrows twitched, hearing that annoying tone of voice once again.
"Pragmatic, not cold... and not stop talking already, you are being annoying."
Certainly, he could appreciate her bluntness because she was very straightforward, despite her cunning and deceptive tendencies that didn't escape Ardyn's eyes. Nevertheless, he stopped annoying her, because she seemed as if she would punch him if he continued.
Despite everything, he knew that she was vastly stronger than he was... be it in terms of Mana and especially the Aura, because he could feel its strength straight away. Well, that was to be expected, if she was from a prestigious backround, it was only given.
Now the only thing that remained for them to do was to wait until someone arrived to pick them up.
"On the other side, are you healing well? Don't you need some medicine or whatever?"
Ardyn asked, more out of curiosity than real concern, as he knew she looked alright and that her Aura was healing her pretty fast despite everything. Not to mention, it would be pretty weird if someone like her didn't have at least one or two life-saving measures.
"No. I already have everything that I need, and my Aura is regenerating at a steady pace."
She answered as they were eating because, over time, as her Aura began to recover, her healing rate shot up exponentially, and she was in much better condition than she had been.
"Well... seeing that you are recovering fills my heart with joy and happiness, My Lady. And perhaps you can unlock Aura for little ol me, yes?"
He asked if having Aura was a must in this world.
Aura was an ability that all those with a Soul can use, at least with enough practice. Because Aura was the manifestation of the Soul, it could appear very differently depending on who was using it.
In the Remant, everyone had Aura, be it Humans, Faunus, or even Animals and Magical Beasts. The Creatures of Grimm, being Soulless, are the only known form of life that does not have an Aura like the other living beings.
In the Remant, awakening Aura was the first step in being the Extraordinary. The Aura's basic ability was to passively strengthen the body of a person; basically, the more Aura one had, the stronger physical capabilities a person would obtain over time.
It won't happen overnight and it would take some time, but the results were there and they were real.
At the same time, according to the brochure he got from Murasaki, Aura could also be used for various Defensive, Office, and Auxiliary purposes. Overall, it was a building block of the superhuman, and without the Aura, Remnantians would have perished to the Grimm long ago.
"I would... but awakening another person's Aura can take a heavy toll on the person conducting the Awakening."
Hearing that made Ardyn a bit disappointed, but at the same time, he understood that she was injured and that awakening his Aura could worsen his own condition.
"But... there is another way."
She suddenly said with a weird gleam in her eyes that he noticed, and certainly, he didn't have the best feeling about it.
"What way?"
Ardyn wasn't really aware of the other ways of Awakening Aura, but logically... There must also be another way. The logic behind this reasoning was pretty simple.
There must have been First Generation Aura Users, the ones who awoke the Aura either by themselves or due to some other circumstances. Then, from these First Generation Aura Users, the other Aura Users must have been created through them Awakening Aura of the other people.
"In the modern age, it's almost given that there are two categories of Aura Users. Either someone is born into the Great Families, Magic Lineages or Aura Lineages, and they are born with their Aura Unlocked, or someone unlocks the Aura for them. That's called the Regular Method... then, there is also the Irregular Method, which is Awakening the Aura by yourself."
Maschenny was the first category, as she was already born with her Aura unlocked at birth, like the rest of the members of the Great Families across the Remnant. Yet, she was also very well educated and knew that people without Aura could also Awaken the Aura by themselves.
Such people were called Irregulars.
Those who opened the Souls by themselves.
Exceedingly rare cases of people, because according to ancient history, most of the First Generational Aura Users were produced through Aura Awakening through External Methods.
Either through Rituals, Sacrifices, Mana Awakening, or some kind of Artifact that did the job.
The number of the Irregulars could be almost counted on one hand.
She was rather curious...
The young man already had Mana even if he lacked the Mana Core, yet his Mana was on par with Level 2 Mages of the Great Families, or in simpler terms, D-Rank Huntsman.
Such power and potential...
She was almost 50% sure that he would be an Irregular.
Nobody had so much Mana without even a Mana Core created.
If such talent appeared within the Great Families... be it the Great Families of Atlas, Great Families of Mistral, Grand Ducal Houses of Vale, or Viziers of the Vacuo Sultanate... they would be treated as the next Family Head of the Great Family regardless of the Great Family.
"Do you have any method or just the words like look into your Soul and awaken it?"
Ardyn asked as he was still a bit skeptical about the entire thing, but he guessed that he could give it a try.
"Only some notes that you could use as the reference... but if you already have the Mana, the process should be easier... I guess?"
She almost ended the sentence with a question, because she herself wasn't really that sure.
He just looked at her with a sigh and listened to her explanation.
***
Floating Warship of the Atlesian Dominion, Ironblood
The Warships of the Atlesian Dominion were a state-of-the-art combination of Technology, Engineering, and Magic. Each Floating Warship was capable of obliterating any Grimm below the S-Rank, as their firepower was no joke, and they were also capable of solely cleaning out some smaller Grimm Hordes.
The technological superiority of the Atlasian Dominion allowed the Atlas to rise even above the Empire of Mistral, which had the longest Aura Cultivation Traditions, or Vale, which had the same but with Magic.
The ship was floating primarily due to the mineral called Suspendium. It was a mineral found and used in the Remnant. The higher the purity of Suspendium, the better it floated in areas of high Mana density.
Coupled with the best quality Dust, the Floating Ships could fly even in the areas that were almost devoid of Mana, albeit such regions were extremely rare in the world. The Warship Ironblood was one of the newly constructed and put into service, under the command of Captain James Ironwood.
Relatively fresh graduate of Alsius Thors Military Sentinel Academy and one who attended the Sentinel Program, he was the best in his year and was among the most powerful students that graduated from the Academy in the past few years.
James Ironwood was a tall and muscular man in his mid-twenties. He wore a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, a black sweater, a red necktie, and a white glove on his right hand. His suit pants shared the same color as his overcoat and were tucked into silver boots accented in gray.
His hair was black, with some gray areas not from old age but from being a trait of the Ironwood Family, while his eyebrows were solid black.
"Captain, we have received new orders from the High Command."
His adjutant, Clover Ebi, the second-in-command, stated as he passed him the message that was received on his Pocket.
He was a man with short brown hair and teal-green eyes. He wore a sleeveless Atlesian Specialist uniform consisting of a white, sleeveless, double-breasted coat with red and blue accents, ornate detailing shaped like wishbones, a broad tail with red lining, and a four-leaf clover pin on the lapel.
His belt had a rabbit's-foot keychain hanging from it, and he wore white pants and covered his hands with brown fingerless gloves. He also wears blue calf high boots with four dark blue straps and steel-toed plating.
"Wyverns this close to the borders?"
Captain Ironwood muttered because Wyverns were disturbing the news.
They were classified as Hazard-Grade Magical Beasts, and usually only S-Rank Huntsmen or Mages could deal with them. They were fairly powerful and could summon more of the Grimm and command them as they wished.
The fact that one of them appeared pretty close to the border of Atlas was disturbing news, and it even attacked the bullhead carrying students of the Alsius Thors Military Sentinel Academy as it crashed.
The most problematic was that the bullhead was the daughter of Blue Thunderclap.
One of the Holy Saints of Atlas.
Yeah, Khuns were a huge family... but according to all the intelligence and tests, apparently Khun Maschenny inherited most of her talent from the entire Bloodline over several generations, meaning her survival was of paramount importance.
There was also another piece of information inscribed there.
Apparently, she wasn't alone: an unknown teen was with her, wielding a powerful Noble Arte and a target for retrieval...
What intrigued James was that the one who issued the order for the retrieval of the young man, retrieval at all costs, was Khun Eduan himself.
'There must be something... someone like him wouldn't move personally just because of a random Noble Arte and an issued Absolute Order.'
Ironwood knew that there must be something else in the play, because despite everything, their Limit Saints rarely issued Absolute Orders.
The number of the S-Ranks or Saint Boundary Professionals was everything for the nations, because they were people so powerful that they could reshape entire landscapes when they found and toppled entire mountain ranges with their might.
Especially the Duals, who were also Mages.
Limit Saint was a term used for someone who reached the pinnacle of what mortals could achieve in either the Magic Path or the Aura Path.
They were the cornerstones of the nation and its pillars.
Each one was a strategic weapon, and the more the nation had, the stronger they were and the more influence on the international scale they would possess.
Within the Dominion, only the Holy Saints could issue Absolute Orders.
They were orders to the Dominion Military and every branch of the Armed Forces to be carried out at any cost, regardless of sacrifices and price to pay.
'Well... I am too small fry to worry about the schemes of Great Families.'
He thought as he issued an order to the Warship to fly toward the coordinates received.
These things that were happening were not of his concern.
Ironwoods were one of the Lesser Houses of the Atlesian Dominion, holding the Aristocratic Rank of Lord within the Dominion since the times of the Imperium of Atlas. Their House wasn't really interested in politics.
Though they were very famous for enlisting in the Military, as every member of the Ironwood Family served in it, and due to their Family Semblance, they were always holding commanding posts.
***
Unknown Location of Solitan Wastelands
For the past half hour, Ardyn was doing exactly what Maschenny told him to do, or at least what he understood, because even she admitted that the information was incomplete, as it was more than ten millennia old.
Even with his memories... unknown to him, he already considered the Template's memories as his own, because from a certain point of view, they were his own.
There wasn't much knowledge about the Souls.
Yet, when he reached deep inside him, he suddenly noticed something strange as his consciousness was pulled into some kind of inner world in a split second.
He felt that weird power within his Soul as he reached for it in an attempt to tap into it.
Suddenly, as he reached that sphere of light, suddenly his inner environment transformed into the enormous empty black space... with the only thing in there being a set of huge stone doors.
The stone doors also had murals on them.
Depicting the memories of either Sirius Grey, Ardyn Izunia, or Ardyn Lucis Caelum.
He strode to the door, and he put both of his hands on it.
Suddenly, he pushed... with all the power that he had, he pushed toward the door.
He felt their heaviness and size.
Yet...
Suddenly, a beam of light hit him in the eyes as they were opened.
***
Meanwhile, "outside", Maschenny looked at the meditating Ardyn, who had been in a deep trance for the past hour or so. She could see that he was attempting to awaken his Aura on his own, though it was highly doubtful if he would be successful.
'Who would have thought that it worked... if he could open it, then he would be one of the very few in the world with the potential to reach that Level...'
As she pondered over her future schemes, she noticed that suddenly both his familiars ran to her and in a split second as something was happening and the cats felt it way before her.
And then it happened.
An enormous wave of Aura exploded from his body that was oppressive to the point where she thought that it was on par with B-Rank Huntsman.
"I-i-mpo-ssible..."
She was almost thrown across the wall of the cave, which shook like an earthquake was taking place.
"The first Irregular... in several centuries.."
The Irregulars were a big deal.
Since the Primeval Times, the number of them has always been extremely low because the conditions for becoming one were incredibly harsh and unrealistic for anyone.
Maschenny remembered that Irregulars had the highest chances of breaking the limits of Mortality, and those who reached the zenith were almost all Irregulars. Those who were born into the established Lineages and Great Families had zero chance of becoming one.
That was the price for their advantages. Everything required balance... and the balance in exchange for being born into the Lineage, with many advantages that almost none had, was the price of a much harder time breaking through Mortality.
Many were satisfied with that, as most won't even be able to reach the stages above A-Rank. Only after several moments, when his Aura levels started rising again, she woke up with his thoughts.
"Wake up, you dolt! You will destroy the cave! Ardyn!!!!!"
As she shouted, the young man's eyes shot open, and his Aura levels stopped rising to the usual level for the lowest standards for the B-Rank Huntsmen as set by the Hunter Association.
Which was a rather staggering result.
Every person was born with a different amount of Aura, and that amount one was born with was often the deciding factor in future accomplishments because it was a reflection of one's innate talent.
The higher the amount of Aura one awakened during the Awakening, the easier it was then to progress on the pathway to power. During the Awakening, the average person's Aura after the Awakening should be between 100 - 300 Aura Units.
For the genius, it could be double that. If the person was descended from someone who had their Aura awakened, then this number would most probably be around 800 - 1,000 Aura Units.
For descendants of the Great Families, the Awakenings numbers lingered somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 at minimum, while geniuses with very strong Bloodline Manifestations, like Maschenny herself, could reach staggering 5,000 Aura Units during the Awakening or even more.
As this wasn't accounting for the various methods the Great Families were using to boost the Aura Units of their descendants before Aura Awakening, the Great Families were conducting on their descendants to increase their latent talent.
5,000 Aura Units were already fulfilling one of the basic requirements of the Hunter Association to obtain the rank of D-Rank Hunter Certification.
'Straight after awakening, reaching the Aura reserves of more than 50,000... more than ten times that of my own... after he cultivates his Aura for some time, his Aura would be staggeringly powerful... it seems that my decision is indeed correct.'
Most of the B-Ranked Huntsmen had their Aura Reserves measured between 50,000 and 200,000 Units. When she was born, her Aura measurements were something over ten thousand Aura Units, which was one of the higher ends in modern history.
Yet, Ardyn, just after awakening, managed to reach the number of 50,000.
Which was something pretty shocking, even if one considered the history of the Remnant, as there were only a few cases where someone reached a higher amount of Aura after the awakening.
Of course, having such a huge amount of Aura wasn't the proof that one was equally powerful... it was just a numerical representation of how much Aura one possessed, as they could still be killed even by people who didn't have any Aura awakened at all.
Still, the amount of Aura was of paramount importance because it also determined how long one could fight and how strong Aura Techniques the Aura Warrior could execute or in what number.
"Meow, meooow!!!"
Suddenly, as the process ended, both Bastet and Maahes started meowing like crazy because they sensed something.
And it wasn't obviously anything good.
"Grimm..."
Maschenny muttered with a certain level of distress because she wasn't really combat-ready right now. The main reason why she survived the encounter with Wyvern when the Magical Beast attacked their ariship was primarily that she exerted all of her Mana and Aura into one huge Lightning-type attack that blasted the Wyvern almost apart.
The downside was that she broke her Aura, Magic Exhaustion, and her internal organs were severely injured. Her Mana Core was a bit fractured and would need a long time to recover, or some serious medicine or Healing Magic.
So she wasn't really in the state to fight a large number of Grimm... especially now...
Apparently... it seemed that this commotion had attracted Grimm and most probably in rather large numbers. Both Gyrinxes were rather nervous because they were using their Magic to monitor the area, and they were pretty sensitive to the Magic signatures.
When Ardyn woke up from his meditation trance, he noticed that a strange energy was now enveloping his entire body and that he felt stronger than ever. The Aura was the building block of the superhumans in the Remnant, and it was what made the people truly extraordinary here.
When a person unlocked their Aura, their physical dimensions would undergo tremendous change, as their physique would be instantly elevated to a much higher level. Depending on the amount of their Aura, they would receive even greater benefits.
At the same time, those with Awakened Aura would get their senses enhanced to the point of obtaining Extrasensory Perception and also a passive healing rate, which would heal them from injuries.
Ardyn noticed that there were a lot of Grimm around them and realized that his Aura Awakening must have attracted them here. It was common knowledge that Aura attracted the Grimm; the more Aura one had, the more they became visible to the Grimm, and it was much easier for the Grimm to find such a person even from a long distance.
Basically, having the Aura gave one countless benefits, and he would need some time to completely familiarize himself with them and his gains.
"Now that you have Aura, can you go and reduce their numbers by a bit?"
Machenny knew very well that the Ward that Ardyn created was something that he looted, and it wasn't of the highest quality around. She knew that Ardyn's Aura Awakening created a rather strong commotion and attracted a lot of Grimm.
The Wards that they were using were never designed to withstand the pressure of hundreds of Grimm attacking it nonstop. It would crumble sooner or later, so it would be best if he went to clean them out a beast...
She knew that his Noble Arte, which he showcased, wouldn't be a problem to stay safe while controlling those conjured weapons of pure Mana to kill the Grimm. She noted that the Noble Arte was weird, but it was pretty powerful as it killed a pack of Beowolves in a split second without any resistance.
Which, on itself, wasn't really weird, because many could do it.
But someone in his circumstances doing it was...
Shocking.
"You sure that's a good idea...? Just on their meowing, I can see that there are many of them..."
Ardyn, for obvious purposes, wasn't that pleased to go into such a dangerous situation straight after, for several reasons. One of them was his personal safety, as out there should be several hundred of Grimm... another one was more pragmatic because he knew that she wanted to gather more information about his abilities.
Even though he admitted that she was pretty cunning, it was nothing in front of the centuries of experience that he had in his head. Still, he admitted that if the Grimm broke through the Wards, it would be pretty problematic, and with his Armirger, he did have a problem facing the creatures head-on.
Especially now that he had awakened his Aura and had a lot of it.
What was peculiar was the fact that now that he awakened his Aura, his connection to the Device: Rakshasa Blade grew even more powerful. The Rakshasa Blade was a Device; technically speaking, it was the materialization of a Blazer's soul; in essence, it is a crystallization of Mana and Soul.
The moment he awoke his Aura, the Rakshasa Blade stirred up, and it got...
More active?
"If I cannot handle them, I am escaping... and you are to help me, are we understood, blue hair?"
Ardyn asked as she frowned, but nodded nevertheless because she really wanted to see what he was capable of. Especially now that he had his Aura unlocked, and it was such a staggering amount of it.
She also swore that she would give him a really good beating for the constant teasing and niceness that he was giving her, just to rile her up and get some motion from her. She knew that he was also fishing for the information like she was, albeit in a different way.
Ardyn, meanwhile, wasn't really planning to go and die to the Grimm that were now gathering themselves in front of the cavern where they were staying.
"Take this... it would record your kills and the type of Grimm you killed."
She presented him her Pocket as he grabbed the floating device with curiosity.
"What for? To make the information gathering process faster?"
He asked with a teasing tone of voice as he eyed her Pocket that started floating around him.
"Don't be paranoid... even if I wanted, it would be useless, as the entire Solitas Continent is monitored by the Satelites and surveillance Magic. The Pocket will help you record the number of Grimm that you killed. If you decide to remain within the Solitas, it would be pretty helpful."
She explained as Ardyn nodded because he understood that he was certainly powerful enough or in a position to evade surveillance even if he wanted. Obviously, she knew that if he even wanted to remain within the Solitas, though she didn't really consider it possible that he would not become a Citizen.
Empire of Mistral was essentially a failed nation that was falling apart; the Imperial Qin Clan had little to no authority beyond the Imperial Capital, and the rest of the power was congregated in the hands of Grand Clans and Sects that ruled over the vast lands of the Anima Continent.
Vacuan Sultanate wasn't really much better, because of the successive generation of the weak Sultans, which resulted in the Imperial Viziers and Emirs gaining too much power, and now, with the Asturias Family stirring up the trouble...
Vale was the only stable kingdom in the Remnant, but it also had its own problems... especially the high degree of corruption between their so-called Aristocracy and rather brutal impending struggle within the Royal House that seemed to be all but inevitable.
From her point of view, Dominion was the best choice, even though the culture was extremely militaristic and strict here.
"How kind of helpful?"
Now... he was intrigued because any benefits were welcomed.
Especially if they came from the strongest and most advanced nation on the Remanant till this day.
"Within the Atlesian Dominion, you can obtain Citizenship either through service in the military or through killing Grimm. Also, through exceptional performance in the battle against Grimm, one can obtain the lowest Rank of the Junker Nobility, the Knighthood."
The Junkers were members of the landed nobility in Prussia as much as Ardyn could remember the history lessons of the Earth. They owned great estates that were maintained and worked by peasants with few rights.
These estates were often located in the countryside outside of major cities or towns. They were an important factor in Prussian and, after 1871, German military, political, and diplomatic leadership... especially in the Military.
Based on his own knowledge of Atlesian Dominion and what Maschenny told him, Atlas was militaristic to the core, and everything revolved either around being strong enough or serving in the armed forces of the Dominion.
Even their nobility was entirely based around the Military Service in the Armed Forces and their significant contribution to the Dominion.
"Hmm... that works well for me... then au revioire, my fair lady... for the time being."
Ardyn gave her flamboyant bow as he then strode to the entrance of the cave and noticed that the Wardstone that he had laid down some time ago, already had several cracks on it.
All across the entire surface of the stone, which meant that Maschennny wasn't wrong.
It would be breached by the Grimm.
And pretty soon enough.
If he doesn't do anything about it.
Only Bastet came with him, as he left Maahes with Maschenny in case something happened because the two Gyrinxes could easily communicate with each other. If there was a problem or something happened, they could notify him, or he could use Maahes to communicate a message back to Maschenny through Bastet.
It didn't take him long to reach the opposite area of the cavern, which was protected by the crystalline magic barrier. Much to his dismay and worry, the entire area was being swarmed by the Grimm...
And there were hundreds of them.
"Meow..."
The female Gyrinx meowed in something that Ardyn translated as worried meow, and he found himself agreeing with the sentiment. There were indeed a lot of Creatures of Grimm around their position and the situation wasn't really looking that good.
"I know it's a lot... can you help me a bit in this one?"
He asked as he looked at Bastet and waved off the Grimm.
[Detecting Grimm.]
[Species Detection Initiation.]
[Ice Beowolves detected. Ice Ursas detected. Ice Sabyrs detected.]
[Overall number of Grimm reaches more than five hundred.]
Hearing the number of the Grimm and everything made Ardyn look at the Grimm that were congregating around the barrier and attacking it with everything that they had. They were also pretty ferocious when attacking, because it seemed that the huge Aura signature that they felt spooked them too much.
Ursas resembled the Beowoves, with black fur and bony spikes on their backs and arms, as well as white, bone-like masks with red detailing, but are much larger and stockier. They were slower, but they were far more durable and physically superior.
Sabyrs were large predatory cats resembling saber-toothed cats, Smilodon. Their namesake were the large canines with which they can deliver a powerful bite. They had small bone plates on their shoulders and hips, ribs along their sides, and spines along their backs. Their black skin appeared to be somewhat frozen and had white patches, most likely due to the fact that they inhabit the cold tundras of Solitas, and they also possessed bony tails.
Ardyn just listened to the Pocket that was conducting some kind of analysis, as he didn't make much of it and instead focused on the Armiger. Now that he had awakened his Aura, he noticed that the flow of Mana within his body was much smoother and faster.
This was one of the effects of having the Aura awakened, as it seemed that it was also benefiting him as a Mage. Ardyn focused on the Armiger as he materialized several weapons conjured from the crystalline Mana, and with a wave of his hand, they shot towards their targets.
In a mere moment, the initial wave of the Grimm Beowovles that was attacking the barrier was slaughtered almost instantly as the Royal Arms went through the Grimm as if they were never there.
The swords, axes, glaves, and spears all flew at lightning speed from one Grimm creature to another, and one hit was all that they needed to kill them. Ardyn looked at the power displayed by the Armiger Arsenal with a certain fascination as he brandished the Rakshasa Blade, which radiated a rather ominous crimson aura.
He looked at the Device with interest, because it seemed that the Rakshasa Blade sensed the slaughter happening here and wanted to taste the blood. Even if the said blood belonged to the Creatures of Grimm.
For the blade, it was enough.
He could feel the bloodthirst in the Rakshasa Blade as the sword wanted to taste more Grimm blood, or just to commit more and more slaughter.
"I am going among them..."
Ardyn said to his familiar Bastet, who licked her right paw in approval, as she nodded while he Warped away. Instantly appeared before one of the larger Ursas, and with one swing of the Rakshasa Blade, he slit the creature's throat, killing it instantly.
Even though he had tons of memories using the Warp, it was still some kind of new old, old new sensation that was running through his body. In that moment, Ardyn actually savoured the feeling of killing that Grimm, because this was the first time he had killed something with his own hands.
In this life...
At least.
At the same time, almost all of the Grimm turned their sight to him the moment he slayed the Ursa, as they froze in their tracks for several seconds before they moved to attack once more...
This time, it was directly targeted at him.
Ardyn Warped almost instinctively because it was like a second nature to him, while he appeared next to another Ursa, with his blade stabbed into the creature's skull. At the same time as he was personally slaughtering the Grimm, the Royal Arms were floating around him like his protective shield and killing any Grimm that dared to approach.
The more he fought, the better he actually became, especially when it came to using the Armiger Arsenal and Warp. Unbeknownst to him, the more he used these abilities of the Lucis Royals, the faster his remaining memories from the Template assimilated and merged.
With assimilating the last remaining memories from the Template, his skills and experiences with using the Armiger and Warp. The memories of the Lucian Eternal Arms Mastership that was combining fighting with all weapons that were used by the Lucian Kings were being assimilated by him at a staggering pace.
Within the ten minutes, Ardyn didn't even know how many creatures of Grimm he had killed, as his entire form was covered in the black blood from the creatures of the Darkness, as he just cut forward or controlled Armiger to slaughter the Grimm en masse.
With his current Mana output, he was able to conjure more than fifteen Royal Arms when he wished, and the Grimm didn't really have the means of defending against the flying weapons that were targeting them and killing in one hit.
Interestingly enough, he felt that killing the Grimm benefited him in some way, even though he wasn't really sure.
With the constant Warping around the battlefield, his Aura was still full because none of the Grimm managed to land a hit on him. Instead, the little bits of Aura expenditure belonged to his own experiment when he tried to coat his Device with Aura.
And it succeeded.
With his Aura now coating the Rakshasa Blade, his killing speed of the Grimm increased as he was on the constant Warp. The Mana needed for the Warping was minuscule because it was Bloodline Power of his own, meaning the consumption was minimal.
And the same thing could be said about the Mana needed for the Armiger.
Yet, Ardyn also noted that every time he killed one of the creatures, a certain part of his Magic Reserves was refilled. He didn't really ponder over it for the time being, as he focused on the task in front of him.
Killing more.
Ardyn grinned as he Warped towards the group of the Grimm, with his intention being more than clear.
The speed at which he was slaughtering through the Grimm horde was only increasing because Ardyn learned their attacking patterns pretty fast. With his experience in the art of combat gained through the assimilation of the Template, it wasn't challenging.
Most of the Grimm that were here were just something that was collectively called Minion-Grade Grimm. Apparently, the Creatures of Grimm were divided into several Grades based on their strength, attributes, and special abilities.
Beowolves were one of the weakest of the bunch, officially at the bottom of the hierarchy, and were comparable to the F-Rank Huntsman. Ursas and Sabyrs were comparable to the E-Rank Huntsman, something stronger, but nothing really serious or worrying for the current him.
Apparently, according to Maschenny, only the Grimms that were ranked at Commander-Grade and above possessed special abilities. Among the Grimms that were below that Grade, there were not many that were dangerous in terms of special abilities.
The others, below the Commander-Grade, were not that dangerous solo, aside from the Mutants or some exceptions. Mutants were another rare Class of Grimm, as they were the Grimm that mutated due to something and were much stronger than they should have been originally, according to their racial specialization.
Then again, it wasn't true that these weaker Grimms were not dangerous.
No...
The real danger of these ones comes from their numbers.
Even powerful Huntsmen, Mages included, could be swarmed to death by the endless hordes of the low-ranking Grimm if one didn't have some AOE ability to deal with large numbers of Grimm en masse.
Ardyn really didn't have, but the Armiger was working on a pretty similar principle, because through the conjured weapons, he could kill large numbers of Grimm at a staggering rate.
With the Armiger, he cut through the horde of the grimm with extreme ease, while at the same time, using the Device Rakshasa Blade to cut down any Grimm that was lucky to come close to him.
As he was killing the Grimm, Bastet was near him as she was sharing her own Magic with his own and helping him to control his Mana. At the same time, the female Gyrinx was also casting some rudimentary spells because she was a Pure-Blooded Elder Gyrinx, a species that preyed on all the Gyrinxes.
They could easily cast spells.
For the Pure-Blooded Elder Gyrinx, it was relatively easy to cast some Magic, as they inherently passed down bloodline memories with the Magic that was innate to their species.
Ardyn was using the Warp Magic like it was second nature to him, bolting across the battlefield, always targeting the Grimm that seemed to be strongest as he was killing those ones personally.
If there was some lucky creature that managed to land a hit on him, it was being blocked by his Aura, which was regenerating rather fast. He didn't really know what the standart regeneration rate for the Hutnsmen was, but he predicted that it must be pretty individual.
As the entire thing with the Aura was.
Furthermore, as much as Ardyn could see, there were no Alphas in the horde, only the average Grimm that posed no problem for him; thus, he decimated them all within the next twenty minutes as he killed more than 500 creatures of the darkness.
Maschenny's A-Ranked Pocket floated around Ardyn as it counted the Grimm he killed and recorded everything... he suppressed the urge to smash the thing apart, though he really doubted he could even achieve that.
The A-Rank Pockets were designed to withstand a lot... it wasn't something that he could destroy with his meager power... at least for the time being.
After he slayed the last of the Grimm, he immediately went to pick up those crystals that occasionally dropped after killing the Grimm. There were actually not a lot of them, as the overall number was no more than sixty; most of them came from the Beowolves, while the rest came from the Ursas and Sabyrs.
Ardyn looked at the crystals in his hands as he showed them to the Pocket, which, to his surprise, actually started scanning the items in his hands.
[42 Beowolf Nuclei Detected. Price per Unit according to the approximate market price: 50,000 Lien.]
[8 Ursa Nuclei Detected. Price per Unit according to the approximate market price: 200,000 Lien.]
[10 Sabyr Nuclei Detected. Price per Unit according to the approximate market price: 240,000 to 280,000 Lien.]
Ardyn didn't really know if that was a lot or not, nor did he know how much Lien was actually worth. He would need to learn that later, but overall, he was pretty satisfied with the number of zeroes at the end of those numbers.
He then dispersed the Device and stored the Grimm Nuclei in his Dimensional Storage before returning to the cavern.
"You returned faster than I thought... and your Aura is almost intact, and by the way, it was a good fight."
Maschenny commented as if she already anticipated this outcome, though he couldn't really tell if she knew that he would win or if she was just betting on it. Either way, slaughtering one's way through the horde of more than five hundred Grimm wasn't something that D-Rank Huntsmen could usually do.
"Now that we are safe... for some time, care to explain some things to me that I am too lazy to search through on that fancy shmancy device?"
He asked her much to her irritation, because he would ask mundane things, and she would answer, but that was his way of probing for information and analyzing her personality to learn more about her.
Ardyn Izunia was a notorious schemer who plunged the entire world into war and managed to rise to the position of Chancellor of the Niflheim Empire. After Maschenny explained to him the value of the Nuclei that he obtained and the value of the currency, he was pretty satisfied.
It seemed that his initial guess was right, and the buying strength of the Lien was high. Well, it was a global currency, because apparently all nations in the world used this currency for several centuries already for much easier commerce.
Only some really distant settlements that were not located on the four major continents did not use Lien; instead, they used raw materials as currency and operated on the principles of exchange and barter.
"Also, with the number of the Grimm you killed, you are guaranteed to obtain the citizenship of the Dominion and also apply for the 3rd degree of Knighthood, the Grand Knight Title... if you were stronger, then you could apply for the Castellan Title, if we consider the fact that you technically speaking saved my life."
Ardyn and Maschenny were talking about various things, though it was mostly her trying to recruit him for the Atlesian Dominion. The Dominion's lowest noble title was Knighthood, divided into the three degrees.
1st-degree Knighthood = Esquire
2nd-degree Knighthood = Knight
3rd-degree Knighthood =Grand Knight
Obtaining even one of them was apparently extremely arduous, as Maschenny admitted that, when it came to the nobiltiy titles, the Atlas was strictest among the existing kingdoms. Even when compared to the nations that were destroyed, they would still rank in the top in this aspect.
At the same time, though, the privileges that they got were also pretty enticing.
Above the Knighthood, there were the Lesser Houses, which were two Ranks.
Castellan = Basically a person who could construct a Castle on the Solitas and lord over it, and then above the Castellan were the Lords. It was basically an upgraded Castellan, as the Lords could open an entire territory around their Castle and lord over villages and towns as long as they had the capability to protect said territory.
Ardyn didn't really think about the place where he would settle, as it was already a rather complicated topic. At first, he wanted to gather enough information about the various kingdoms to help him decide which one was best suited for a quick rise in power and social hierarchy.
"How would the other nations compare? And please give me a version without the recruitment ads and try to be objective."
He was rather curious, because he learned a great deal about the Atlesian Dominion over the course of an hour or so that they spent together. Obviously, he preferred a version of the story that wouldn't include her nationalism or her efforts to stay in the Dominion.
It was rather entertaining to see the kind of face she was making right now, because she wasn't really most pleased about it.
"Every kingdom has or sometimes in its past had its own speciality. The Dominion is stronger in the aspects of Military, Magic, and Aura research and advancements, and we are also the source of the world's technological prowess. Empire of Mistral, on the other hand, has a very extensive culture of the Martial Arts and Aura Cultivation that is the highest in the world, yet the Empire is notoriously unstable. Right now, the Imperial Qin Clan, while in name, rules the continent of Anima; in reality, it rules only its capital. Rest is under the control of Grand Clans, Sects, and occasionally independent factions that declared semi-idependence from the wider Empire."
Ardyn listened with eagerness because the more he learned about the current state of the world, the better it was for him. Hearing about the state of the Empire of Mistral, he knew that this country could be a good place to rise to a real position of power.
Albeit one needed to consider the potential dangers of such a thing.
This was something where the risks were very high, and he wasn't really willing to take them, considering his strength, which he found inadequate.
"Well, I think that I will pass on this one... it seems to be pretty problematic either way, though it speaks a lot about the incompetence of the Imperial Clan to allow something like this to happen."
Ardyn stated as she just nodded in agreement. For him, the Mistral was actually a pretty good area where he could rise in status and operate, but in the unstable regime, the probability of war was huge.
And he knew that wars on Remnant were far more brutal and unpredictable than the ones on Earth or Eos. Why wouldn't they be, when there were people capable of making even nukes seem like fireflies in comparison, fighting on the frontlines?
"Then there is the Sultanate of Vacuo... more problematic country because the consecutive generations of weak Sultans have resulted in a state similar to that in the Mistral, with the only exception... in Mistral, the Grand Clans and Sects are rather contemptuous in maintaining the status quo. In the Sultanate, they are openly fighting for the throne of the Sultan, with the Asturias Family leading the biggest faction. On the side note, the entire country is disgustingly hot and covered in dunes and deserts..."
He also heard from her that the Vacuo was a notoriously reclusive nation, and that it was pretty hard to get in and out, given all the other factors. The people of the Vacuo were not fond of foreigners or anyone who wasn't originally from Vacuo, and this sentiment was rahter prevalent even among the Great Families of Vacuo.
He noticed the particular situation between the kingdoms, as neither of the four really liked each other, while some were already on the verge of falling apart. Yet, despite that, they worked together and tolerated each other in the face of the greatest threat.
"And the Vale?"
Even according to the booklet that he received as a free gift from Murasaki, he knew that Vale was the second strongest of the Kingdoms. Vale and Vacuo were both located on the same continent, Sanus.
Yet the Kingdom of Vale occupied much larger territory than the Vacuo, as well as the best territory in the entire continent. Contrary to the dunes and sands of Vacuo, most of the Vale was covered by green, lush forests, landscapes, and high mountains full of ores...
One could say that it was the best continent for building civilization here. The Kingdom of Vale occupied the most prosperous and fertile lands of the northern Sanus and also the southern area of the Dragon Continent, which was a continent bordering the Sanus but primarily inhabited by Dragons.
Especially in the Dragon Mountains in the north. Regardless, one could agree that Vale occupied the best lands in the entire Remnant for human life.
"Inbred, stuck-up cowards. Officially, the second strongest kingdom with very long traditions of Aristocracy, for what they are the most famous, but at the same time, it has become their greatest weakness, because it led them to enormous corruption and internal problems. Most of their Nobility in the past centuries gained too much power, and the Royal House of Arnor cannot really suppress them like they could have done more than three centuries ago. Atlas and Vale don't really get along, especially in the past hundred years, the relationship between the two nations has reached rock bottom, and if not for the threat of Grimm, we would already be waging war on each other."
Maschenny summarized the situation in the four kingdoms as Ardyn pondered that remaining within the Atlesian Dominion was probably the best course of action for the time being.
Considering everything that she said, it was still the most stable nation, and most importantly, even though it was socially the strictest and was extremely militaristic, there were a lot of opportunities to climb through the social ladder thanks to this.
"Well then..."
They spoke for another one and a half hours about various things in the Remnant, as he was rather surprised that she was pretty patient and actually explained everything that he was asking about.
He also learned that the situation of the faunus was worse than he thought, because most of their species had only two fates. Either try their luck and escape to the Menagerie, or live as a slave or pseudo-slave within one of the four kingdoms.
Empire of Mistral, Atlesian Dominion, and Sultanate of Vacuo openly practised slavery on faunus, with the Dominion allowing them to leave the Dominion if they killed a ridiculous amount of Grimm and paid thousands of Grimm Nuclei to redeem themselves.
Of course, such a thing was nigh impossible, but it still gave some sort of hope to the faunus that were conscripted to the Dominion's Death Battalion. Only Vale was treating them as 3rd-rate citizens, but even that wasn't really any better than the other ones.
Going to Mengaries wasn't any win either, because that place was even more inhospitable than Vacuo, had a lot of Grimm and pretty powerful and dangerous local Beasts.
The majority of the faunus population still lived in the territory of the four kingdoms, as their ranks and numbers were culled after their attempt at the revolution.
Ardyn personally didn't really care about it... Someone who had two thousand years worth of memories and who almost destroyed the entire civilization certainly didn't care about some slaves.
And his memories as Sirius Grey weren't that much better, actually. In his life as Sirius Grey, he was personally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Blackstar Industries instigated conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and its weapons killed millions.
In the end, like most of the humans, faunus could be just a useful tool, if he found any that had potential. But overall, he was certainly pretty much indifferent to their race as a whole.
"And what about faunus? How do they fare against the Kingdoms?"
Maschenny mentioned them only a little bit, and Ardyn suspected that it was because they were practically of no interest to them.
"The animals? I don't really pay attention to them, becuase they are weak... It's somewhat of a loss because before the Culling, they had a pretty solid power base and even had one Holy Saint, though the Culling destroyed their entire society and culture. What remains now is on Menagerie... but going there as a human is nothing short of suicide."
Maschenny wore a genuinely confused expression when she spoke about the faunus, but contrary to his expectation, Ardyn didn't detect any disgust or outright hatred...
There were only two or three certain emotions when she spoke about them, ones that he was pretty familiar with.
Amusement and indifference.
Though it was surprising that Fanus had Holy Saint among their ranks. According to Maschenny, the Holy Saints were Limit Saints, but in both Aura and Magic, and they were extremely powerful beings.
"You don't seem to hate them..."
It wasn't really a question but more like a statement, to which she actually nodded.
"They are not important enough to warrant any emotions in my opinion... well, what the general public isn't really aware of, is that during the Culling, the Great Families saw it to personally crippling their future. All Faunus Magic Lineages were killed till the last newborn, and their Legacies were taken by us. Even if some super genius appeared among their ranks... it would be nigh impossible to even reach the level where they once were, not to mention the level where they could threaten humanity."
He wasn't really surprised hearing that, though he was surprised by another thing entirely.
"Won't you get into trouble for spreading information like this? Should it be... like suppose secret?"
She actually chuckled in amusement, hearing the question.
"No... this is also something that everyone among the Great Families is aware of, and in some circles it's very well-known information. And even if it got out, what could happen? You think those animals would be able to do something or their sympathizers?"
The Great Families were the ones that led the events of the Culling. Maschenny knew that, at least partially, it was because of the mess that faunus created with their attempted revolution, and partially because they wanted to obtain their heritage.
The knowledge, artifacts, resources, and everything that belonged to the strongest and oldest faunus Tribes. Everything that belonged to them was then divided between the ones who orchestrated the Culling.
The Great Families.
A term that Ardyn grew increasingly familiar with.
Mostly thanks to Maschenny here, who told him a lot of things.
Things that he really thought she shouldn't be talking about, but if there was one thing that he noticed, it was that she was extremely heavy and liked to create chaos.
"Sympathizers?"
He parroted the world, as it seemed that not everyone was united on the "Faunus Final Solution" as he called it. But that was almost given that not everyone would be on board with the greatest genocide of sentient species in the history of Remnant.
"Not a lot... but among humanity, many were and still are sympathizing with the Faunus and think that they were right in their struggle. Most don't even know the full truth behind the Culling... not like I know it too..."
Hearing that made Ardyn frown heavily at the sheer stupidity.
"Ideals don't determine who's right... Power determines who's right."
Maschenny's eyes narrowed, hearing that, because she actually very much approved of the sentence and its meaning.
"Khun Family, Aire Family, Po Bidau Family, Schnee Family from Atlas. Nikos Family, Imperial Qin Clan, Ha Family and Ari Family from Mistral. Roselia Family, Eurasia Family, Royal House of Arnor, and Tu Perie Family from Vale. Hendo Lok Family, Yeon Family, and Asturias Family of Vacuo. They were the main perpetrators of the Culling, as it was a tacit understanding that the powerful faunus species could never be allowed to grow once again."
He could sense the tone of finality from her voice, which was rather interesting... in fact, Ardyn found the entire concept of Culling rather intriguing. However, he could clearly see that even if nothing like the Faunus Revolution happened, the Great Families would have found another reason for the Culling.
Greed was a great motivator.
Power even greater.
Yet even Maschenny didn't know the reason behind the Culling aside from the official ones written in history books, but even he knows that those are just nonsense.
"Strong live, weak perish... the eternal cycle of the civilizations. How poetic..."
Ardyn understood the principle...
He understood it really well.
Because it was the same regardless of the world.