Kyfe
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Chapter 172 - Interlude: The Bored Princess
🕑 Added 2022-12-07 17:07:35 +0000 UTCAeriella held the sword up in front of her. She frowned at the shining blade before tossing it to the side in disgust. She lifted her hand and blasted the group of people who had been sparring with her away. They cartwheeled through the air, blood spraying in their wake.
"Ugh, none of them are good enough," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
She turned and stomped out of the training grounds. She walked into the open air, not even paying attention to the breathtaking scenery around her. She was focused on her journey across the bridges spanning the floating islands. There were crystal clear streams forming waterfalls, falling from one sky island to another until they ultimately landed on the ground far below.
The palace she resided in wasn't a monolithic structure. It was hundreds of buildings built atop the floating islands found in the Tier 6 Region they had built their capital in. The Capital city was down below, but it wasn't a problem to travel between the palace and the surface. There weren't just bridges spanning the distance between the islands. There were short-distance teleports that allowed one to travel up and down quickly.
If the palace was built traditionally on the surface like so many of the Tier 4 empires, it could take several hours to traverse the entire grounds. As it was with the ease of movement afforded by the bridges and teleportation circles, one could get to their destination within minutes, no matter where one started or ended.
Rainbows formed in the air where the waterfalls fell to the earth. There was a runic system implemented to keep the streams going in perpetuity. The base design mimicked a simple water fountain, but it incorporated Space Runes to send the water from the ground to the top of the islands in the sky.
The stones were alabaster and shone in the sun, and the bridges had a clear strip of magically hardened glass in the center to allow for one to appreciate the view. It was also a test of will for those new to the palace. Aeriella had grown up in the palace, so she had never known anything different, but some new servants weren't able to handle standing miles above the ground with seemingly nothing below them. Those individuals were quickly sent back to the surface in shame.
All of the servants and staff members in the palace were natives of the Tier 6 Region with the "6" branded on their foreheads. Aeriella ignored those she passed that got down on all fours to bow to her as she walked by. It was easy to ignore them when she had spent her entire life living with such etiquette. Nobody with a brand would dare to look her in the face.
She stomped across several bridges and through several teleport circles until she reached the apex of the floating islands. Her imperial father didn't occupy the highest point of the palace. That honor was left to the elders, one of which was her master.
She mastered her frustration as she neared the doors to her master's abode. It wouldn't do to walk through with an improper attitude. She wasn't in the mood to add punishment to her already bad mood.
She took a deep breath as she paused in front of the heavy double doors, but a voice called out for her to enter before she could lift her hand to knock. She grabbed ahold of the door and pushed it open.
The interior of her master's quarters, while made out of grand materials, was bare and sparse. He didn't believe in surrounding himself with luxuries more than what the building was made out of. That didn't mean he led the life of an ascetic. He just didn't allow himself to get distracted from his own mission: constantly improving himself and the talented scions of the empire. All of the gold, silver, and gems dotting the room were nothing more than mere metals and decorations.
He was seated on some cushions in the middle of an open room. They weren't there for his comfort. They were magically imbued to increase his Mana Absorption and other Mana Skills while Meditating. Aeriella gave a steep bow as she entered the room before walking up and taking a seat in front of her master on a mat.
"I can sense your frustration," her master intoned. "Were the sword-slaves not up to your standard?"
"Of course not!" Aeriella said before she could regain her composure. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to snap, Master. It's just been so long, and all of the searching has been fruitless."
"You should just stick to training with the masters," her master said.
"I know that that is the way to improve my Skills the quickest, but improving my Skills as fast as possible isn't everything," Aeriella said. "There's something inauthentic about it. If I can get someone who's even within a decade of my age that has the same Skill Level as that boy, I feel like I'll be able to spur myself on better. Being able to compete against someone who's clearly more talented will ignite the drive that I'm lacking.
"I'm getting bored, but I don't want to stop. It's a conundrum."
"Why not just take a couple of regiments and bring their empire into the fold?"
"That's not what I want to do. It would feel cheap. If their empire is subdued naturally, then of course I would go and retrieve them, but I don't want to target their empire just for those two people. There are better things to spend our resources on."
"Anything that makes you improve quicker is a good use of resources," her master replied. "Speaking of, I still need you to bring that girl to me. You said you detected both Space and Time Mana in her Spells. She's a talent that's worthy of elevation, and I'm the only one that could teach her."
"I know, Master. If nothing else, I'll simply go by myself to invite them here for an extended stay. It's not unheard of, and maybe they'll even agree to stay on their own accord."
"That's an option, and it wouldn't hurt to try. Just be careful that they don't have some sort of resentment toward you from the actions of your subordinates in that dreadful desert. People from the lower Regions are strangely attached to their perceived freedom."
"I don't think they have any lasting anger toward me," Aeriella said after some thought. "I did what I said I would do in freeing the workforce, and I didn't go out of my way to hurt anyone. I'm sure they'll see things my way as long as I can explain it properly."
"That being said, how does your training go?"
Aeriella sighed.
"My Magic training is still progressing apace, but my Swords Skill is slowing down. Even with the greatest blade masters of the empire at my disposal for training, I don't have the motivation. I've stalled out at Level 71."
"Have you considered the other scions?" Her master asked.
"Don't even mention them," Aeriella scoffed. "I'll be lucky to find any around my age that's barely above the Expert Level."
"I didn't mean sparring against them," her master shook his head. "I meant teaching them. It's well known that when one stalls out, teaching others is a way to spur growth."
"I would have to find someone worthy, first," Aeriella said. "I'm not going to waste my precious time instructing a lout just for my own Skill growth. They will have to deserve it, first."
Aeriella was the most talented young scion in the empire. She had grown up constantly being extolled about her greatness and her destiny. Even with her arrogant attitude that had been bred from such a lifestyle, she was still mostly amicable. She just didn't suffer fools, which she considered most of her contemporaries. She got along much better with her older siblings and cousins.
Her oldest brother was over a hundred years her senior, and he had long since reached Transcendence in his Swords Skills and multiple Affinities. He had been lauded as the most talented son in generations until Aeriella had been born. He had never shown any resentment towards her talent, and he even took time out to help her train on occasion.
The mission of their people didn't allow them to squabble over something so petty.
There was only so much time, though, and he had his own life to live. Her other siblings weren't as powerful as he was, but she still got along with the older ones. Getting down to the siblings that were only twenty or so years older than her, though, and she couldn't be bothered. It wasn't entirely Aeriella's personality, either. She had thirty siblings, and the ones closest to her in age were all lazy, relatively speaking.
At least in Aeriella's eyes.
They could be focused on improving the way she was, and if they hit a bottleneck, they could also do what she had done. She had scoured the Realm for any kind of boost she could acquire, and after years and countless man-hours spent on the ordeal, she had discovered an interesting monster in the depths of a lowly Tier 3 Region.
Subduing the creature wasn't just to gain a powerful pet. After building up a certain amount of rapport, she would be able to communicate and delve into the monster's mind and memories. Tier 7 monsters were almost universally sapient, especially ones that had reached that stage through effort instead of birthright. Being able to communicate with their minds would open up a whole new avenue of advancement for Aeriella.
Her siblings had never even considered the possibility. To them traveling to a lesser Region was beneath them. Even after Aeriella had displayed her Tier 7 monster that she had acquired from such a lowly place, it hadn't spurred any ideas in her immediately older siblings.
"I'm sure you can find a few if you look hard enough," her master said. "Isn't that your thing? If you can't find someone worthy of your time in the nobility, maybe you could expand your search to the established, non-noble families. Wouldn't that Reivyn and Kefira fall into that category, anyway. In fact, they would be in a category below that."
"I suppose," Aeriella said, twirling her pink hair with her finger. "I'll have to get my attendants to do the searching. I don't have the time for it. Maybe they can set up some sort of competition."
"That's not a bad idea," her master said. "Even if you don't find anyone worthy through the effort, just witnessing such a spectacle might give you the motivation you're looking for. Witnessing the struggle of others might be what you need. You're quite sheltered up here in the palace."
"Alright, it's decided then," Aeriella said, standing up. She gave another deep bow. "I'll have my attendants form a competition for the mortals below while I check out some of the lesser nobility myself, and if all of that still proves fruitless, I'll go on a journey to meet with Reivyn and Kefira directly."
"Good, I'm glad you were able to set your mind at ease with a direction. Go with my blessing."
"Thank you, master."
Aeriella left her master's domain, her spirits lifted. Her master had always been like that. He didn't force her to do things his way. He listened to what she had to say and led her in a certain direction with conversation and simple suggestions. He was the most honorable elder in the empire, and thus the greatest master one could find, but he wasn't the right fit to teach people directly.
Like he had said about Kefira, his specialty lay in Space/Time. It wasn't nearly as rare in the higher Regions as those in the lesser Regions assumed, though it was still very rare. Her master had lived for several thousand years at this point, and he had only met one other person with the Space/Time Affinity in all those years, and that person had been his master.
He had a lot of apprentices to whom he taught Space and Time individually to, but they weren't the scions of the empire. They were the teachers of the scions. He only accepted a few direct disciples, Aeriella being one. He used his connections and status to help her grow more than his own abilities.
That wasn't to say that he didn't give her teachings directly from time to time. Those lessons were more on how to live as a person, though, and not focused on the intricacies of Magic. His Level was so far above Aeriella's that it didn't make sense for him to teach her, yet. He would let his apprentices do so until she reached a point where they couldn't, anymore.
Aeriella had a pep in her step that had been missing after her Swords training session. She was done with her physical training for the day, so she simply went for a walk within the palace grounds. Eventually, she stumbled across a gathering of other young nobles in a garden.
She walked up with a smile on her face, and all of the other nobles gave her a quick bow at her approach. Each of the young nobles had a "6" tattooed on their hands. The style and placement of the marks were indicative of one's status in the empire.
The Imperial Family had a bold tattoo on their necks. Relatives of the imperial family had the marks on the backs of both of their hands. Dukes and Marquises had the mark on their right hands, and Counts and Barons had the marks on their left hands. Commoners had the brand mark on their foreheads like everyone from the Tier 5 Regions and below. Even the monarchs of a Tier 5 Region had a brand mark on the forehead, though they were in the habit of outlining it in ink to set them apart from their subjects.
"What's everybody doing?" Aeriella asked in a pleasant tone.
She could see the nervousness on the faces of several of the nobles, and she immediately dismissed them from her mind. If they were too caught up in such things, they weren't worthy of her. She had approached them, after all, and that should have been enough to put them at ease. She wasn't bloodthirsty in the sense that she would wantonly destroy the lives of the young nobles for some perceived slight.
"Replying to the Princess, we were simply relaxing while watching the flowers," one of the young men said. He met her gaze, and his own didn't waver.
Her estimation of the young man went up a slight notch, though she still didn't have any idea who he was.
"What's so special about the flowers you were watching?" Aeriella asked.
"Oh, these ones only bloom once a year," a young lady piped up. "We don't have the status to stroll through the more restricted gardens, so this is the rarest spectacle we can see, and it just so happens to be the time for them to bloom.
"I see," Aeriella replied. She wasn't that interested in the subject.
"Does the Princess care to join us?" The first young man asked. He stepped back to make way for Aeriella to enter their circle if she so chose. "There are things one can learn from observing nature. Even though these gardens aren't the most valuable, there is still beauty to behold. Everything has its time and place."
"'Everything has its time and place,'" Ariella parroted.
A thought struck her at the young man's words.
I've been so caught up in forcing the issue with my Swords training that I've lost the drive to work on it, she thought. There's a time and place for it, though, and I should let nature take its course. This young man has given me some unexpected wisdom.
"What's your name?" Aeriella focused her entire attention on the young man.
He wasn't particularly handsome, in Aeriella's opinion, but her opinion was colored by her impression of Reivyn. The young man was around the same age as her love, but he was much shorter. He had short-cropped black hair, and his face had no stubble to speak of. She liked a more rugged look on her man, but she wasn't romantically interested in the scion standing before her.
"Replying to the Princess, this one's name is Sukai," the teenager responded.
"What's your Swords Skill?"
"Replying to the Princess, this one's Swords Skill is 61."
"How old are you?"
"Replying..."
"Hey, stop it," Aeriella interrupted him. "Just speak naturally. I'm the one that came to you."
"Is that... is that alright?" Sukai hesitated for the first time.
Aeriella rolled her eyes.
"I'm saying it is," she said. "If it makes you feel better, you can use formal speech when any of my siblings or higher-ranked nobles are around, but when it's just us, you can speak informally."
"Ugh..." Sukai glanced around at the throng of other youngsters standing around. They were very clearly not "just us" at the moment.
"Don't worry about them," Aeriella dismissed all the other young nobles. "None of them had the balls to speak up when I came to you... Well, except for that young lady," Aeriella nodded her head to the girl that had mentioned the flowers blooming. "She's alright, I guess. None of the others are worth your time, though."
Aeriella nearly laughed at the look of conflict on the young man's face. He was obviously friends with the lot of them, and Aeriella had just said none of them were of any importance. That might be true in her world, but he was their peer. Aeriella wasn't aiming to alienate him from his friends, she was just trying to tweak his mindset for what she had planned.
"Anyway, your age?" Aeriella prompted him.
"Oh, right. I'm seventeen," Sukai answered.
"Excellent!" Aeriella clapped her hands. "We're the same age. It's decided then. You'll follow me after we watch the flowers bloom, and I'll teach you Swordsmanship. That other girl, what's your name?" Aeriella turned to the other young lady.
"Macy, Your Highness," she answered.
"That other girl, Macy, can come with us."
"Umm, I don't use the Sword, Your Highness," Macy hesitantly said.
"What did I say?" Aeriella leveled a glare at the young lady.
"That I could go with you?" She asked more than answered.
"Then that's that. The two of you will follow me from now on."
"Yes, Your Highness," Sukai and Macy both responded with a bow.
He has the backbone necessary, and his Skill Level is higher than his contemporaries, though still quite weak, Aeriella thought. I shouldn't cancel my plans of having my servants host a competition in the capital down below just because I happened to immediately stumble across someone who might be worthy of my time. Maybe teaching more than one could give some added benefit?
She hadn't necessarily approached the group of youngsters to fulfill her goal right away. She had approached them on a whim because she had just been happy. That being said, when she was focused on a goal, she could and would go after it with all her might.
Aeriella stood around without entering the center of the circle of friends. She hung back a bit, closer to Sukai than any of the others, but she didn't engage in conversation. After a few minutes, the others seemed to forget about her presence and began to talk amongst themselves again.
They didn't have to wait long for the flowers in question to bloom. It was preceded by an accumulation of Mana in the already dense atmosphere. A light surrounded the bulbs, and they slowly unfurled to reveal a rainbow of colors. They were all the same species of flower, but none of them were alike. Some were deep shades of a single color. Some had a smattering of different colors at random. Some had the entire range of the rainbow.
Thick, fat bees seemed to materialize out of nowhere, having sensed the new flowering buds. They flitted from flower to flower, pollinating the plants and feeding on the Mana-dense nectar. Aeriella watched the spectacle with an air of indifference, but even she was pleased with the beautiful sight. She just wouldn't show it on her face.
She let her new followers spend some more time with their friends, extolling the virtues of the flowers. When the conversation deviated from the topic, Aeriella finally interrupted the group.
"Is that all, then?" She asked.
Sukai, Macy, and the others paused their conversation and looked back to the forgotten Princess.
"Yes, Your Highness," Sukai answered.
"Good, then let's be off. We have much more fun things to do than watch some plants and insects."
She strode off toward her own quarters. She didn't glance back to make sure they followed her instructions. She had already been more than accommodating in waiting for them, and they wouldn't dare to not listen to her.
We'll see how this goes, Aeriella thought. I doubt he'll make a decent stand-in for Reivyn, but it should be better than the sword-slaves. I might have to make that trip to their empire regardless of whether or not I find what I'm looking for.
Comments
EsZeus
I kinda dislike these interludes with this character. I started skipping them fully... It just isn't my thing and not important for the story for me ^^
Joe
Why would she have cared? The actions of her subordinates were extremely tame by her empires standards, and that is the only moral/ethical system she has ever known.
Eifer
I don't mind her too much. What I do mind is her not taking responsibility for her subordinates actions. It's clear that she's still young and inexperienced if since she didn't lay down the law when she found out the kidnapped people. Yes, it happened so now she's going to make use of them. But any leader with an ounce of experience would have bitch-slapped their subordinates for pulling a stunt like that.
Cora
Ngl, I really hate this character. It's a purely personal and visceral reaction. The only solution is to delete her. Lol
Kyfe
That wasn't my point. My point was his argument was that some Tier 8 would most likely find them distasteful so they would destroy them in passing for some reason. I've only shown the surface level of what's going on so far. There are complicated political reasons (among other considerations) nations IRL haven't banded together to destroy other nations they deem evil. All I'm doing is pointing out that there is most likely something similar going on here. People are people, after all. The nuke argument isn't the only factor. There have been evil nations that didn't have nukes after nukes were invented, but politics, alliances, and other considerations like loss of life were taken into account. Consider this, if a T-8 annihilated the empire, which I've only shown the deathsworn so far (regular people exist), he would be committing suicide by Misery.
Tristan R Mitchell
Kyfe, modern nations CANNOT be compared to these. Modern nations have to deal with the threat of nukes, so large scale war was abandoned for small teams, a few hundred or thousand small teams becoming a force. In the world you are building, the nuke-equivalent is a high-tier person, and you are creating an empire that all our knowledge of human nature says WOULD NOT exist for long with that power.
Hartmann
You describe almost any Empire that has existed or still exists. LoL
Kyfe
Yes, you're description of them is apt, and yet there exists a nation almost exactly like that in the real world that hasn't been destroyed... I don't want to reveal more than what's been written in the story, but you've got tunnel vision on more than one aspect. I'm pretty sure you'll understand by the time it's revealed, but I don't want to get ahead of myself in the comment section, lol.
deus vult
let's see: they're warmongering, violent, militant, and they treat their own people like slaves. on top of that, they don't give individuals a chance to rise the ranks, and they openly discriminate against someone of lower birth. it's easy to posture over their citizens as their lords and masters, because their entire society is aspected towards fearing and respecting those with higher numbers. it's ingrained to them from birth. which makes the people much easier to control. now, I would personally only do such a thing knowingly if I wanted complete obediece and control, because doing that alongside not letting talented people rise the ranks immediately causes corruption and rot to spread across the entire civilization... which makes them weaker, which makes the civilization even EASIER to control. which is part of the point. you're eventually crippling it, and making sure that the people from these civilization, the ones you conquored, will always be lower on the totem pole than the ones you actually serve... because the land is filled with corruption and rot you introduced, and by them, when the conquoring people come to posture, they'll all be on average much higher than those living in the corrupted civilization.... so you've set a mentality of a chosen and conquored people. when a 'chosen' comes to visit from the outside, he'll be much stronger than the average citizen. it reminds me a bit of colonializm. the only way this would work is if you've got plenty of troops from the outside to fill the ranks, and your purpose is not to settle, but complete domination. really, such a caste system is downright insidious. malicious, even. anyways, there's no way for positive relations with other nations since this one is warmongering and militant. people tend to fear those. not to mention how strong they are, which should make them even more afraid. I don't know since my only experience is from playing civ, but the moment you declare war on somebody for no reason, all of the other nations would completely become hostile. there's no war, but there's no chance for positive relations. so, you would never do that unless you wanted a domination victory for your civilization.
Kyfe
You're making too many assumptions. You've only seen a corner of the surface of their society, and I haven't shown any of their diplomatic relations with peers or superiors, if there are any.
Member of the Unseelie Accords
Lol, totally didn’t see that. I agree she plays a role in the story and could theoretically serve as a good foil to Reivyn. The reason I asked the question is because there seems to be a lot of apologists for her because she was raised in a different culture. I was trying to see what they found redeeming about her enough to like her.
Steven
Hahaha I never said I like her as a character I just understand the role she plays in helping further the story
Derek Walker
It’s not clear a tier 8 can take on an empire with potentially hundreds of tier 7s, millions of tier 6s, and potential tier 8 in the empire itself. In fact they probably couldn’t do it unless they were like almost about to ascend, but the number of people who are that high is exceedingly rare. To give an idea, one needs 1.2 billion exp to make it through tier 8. Also remember you get a experience reduction for killing weaker monsters than you. So a tier 8 can only get normal experience gains from just camping out in tier 8 regions. Even then they have to kill hundreds of thousands of tier 8 monsters over the course of their time in tier 8 to gain that much experience.
deus vult
if they're treatment of both soldiers and civilians is so shitty, there needs to be a reason for these people's success... and I see nothing that could help them rise any further than tier three.
deus vult
ascension takes a long time, and it'll only take them a few months to get rid of the 'empire'. it'll even grant them life experience. liberating the "oppressed" people. honestly, I see only benefits coming from it. not to mention that if you live nearby and someone is making huge waves and being an asshole, you would check it out. it's like a particularily loud neighbor making noise and being an idiot. of course you call the cops. you're trying to get some sleep. the only reason I see to not kill them is to let them grow bigger so they could "harvest" them for more life experience. if someone is being THAT huge of a dick, there's no way they'll survive. the amount of force they'd have to expend against their oppressed people combined with the force expended towards the nearby countries harrassing them would drive them towards poverty very easily. which means poverty. which means weak military might. which means death for a militant people. not to mention that all of their actions were those of conquorers. creating a caste system so it'll be easier to identify whose who and who to control. using force in every single aspect of the government, the only symbol of luxury being how much you're NOT being oppressed. you'd only do that if you REALLY don't care about the population. it's like cutting off a limb then letting it regrow unnaturally... ruining someone's entire culture just so you could posture over it... you make them organize themselves to determine who's best using an unprecedentant level of violence, then you naturally put yourself at the top. India still has problems with the caste system installed by the british. I can see how that shit would last even for millenia AFTER the fact. successful conquorers would employ sons and daugthers of former slaves and give them the only chance to rise through the military, like the romans for example. that way, you gain loyalists, and for each city you conquor you gather even more soldiers fueling your progression. their every actions seems garnered to gather more resentment. which makes sense since they're from the abyss. but that doesn't explain WHY they're so successful.
Kyfe
I can't answer your first paragraph because it touches on a huge plot point. As to the other aspect of a powerful Tier 8 finding them distasteful and destroying them, there simply aren't any around their neighborhood. Even if there were, most people at that Level would be focused on Ascension and not necessarily care for what's going on in the world around them unless it directly affected them. There are other things to it as well, and it will eventually come out in the writing.
Member of the Unseelie Accords
Thank you Scyfe, for explaining your thought process. I thoroughly disagree with it, but I appreciate you explaining your rationale.
Member of the Unseelie Accords
Thank you Steven for explaining your rationale for liking her. I thoroughly disagree with what you said, but I appreciate you laying out it.
Scyfe
I like her, main reason is that even though she hasn't had much screen time she is fairly well developed, has a personality and set of internal morals she views the world by that is different, personal goals that are distinct from the MC, and an interesting backstory. I can overlook the 'evil'ness because this is a fantasy story and morality would obviously be different. By comparison I find Kefira less developed even though she has had a lot more screen time, a lot of her character and personal goals seem to be about being an accessory/tagalong to the MC and I find that she has a much lesser sense of her own purpose. I enjoy driven characters and from my opinion on reading so far on how I imagine their characters it feels like Kefira is someone the MC will shortly outgrow, whilst Aeriella could keep up with him. While her actions are undeniably wrong in a civilized society, the one painted in this novel is far from that, and where strength is so important it is reasonable that those who can't reach for it/value it would be looked down on by those who do.
deus vult
how did this 'empire' survive? all it would take is for a tier eight to fart on them and they'll all just die. like, imagine having the soul of some divine god or goddess, then being marred by birth with a '1' on your forhead to be turned into a brainwashed slave... imagine how much carnage there would be. the leaders would be cursed and turned into some decrepited twisted former versions of themselves forever trapped in neverending agony. then the calm demeanor of her "master" would be worth less than the fart they gave when they destroyed the empire. I think the only reason they're even still alive is that no one has seen them yet. that's what I don't understand. in a world in which powerful people can do whatever the hell they want, whenever someone would start acting like they were god, they would be quickly taken down a notch by someone who would find them distasteful. so why are these people still ok?
Carl Mason
You make some excellent points, the only thing I would like to bring up in addition is that she actually does know that her actions ARE moral. They simply do not conform to our standard of morality. It is one of the same reasons why here on earth the West and the East are regularly at odds with each other, we have such incredibly different cultures and societies and histories. Our moral standards diverge greatly. Same issue here.
Steven
She reminds me of Toun from the wheel of time. She grew up in a culture that the way she is acting is normal. I could see her growing a littl but not much in the area. It also sounds like a big arc in the future could be her taking them back to the empire and it being incredible education. It doesn’t sound like they were the reason for the other tier 4 empires getting invaded.
SwiftFate
It's a desire for a harem and nothing more for those people. They see it as an opportunity and have it in their heads that a character like this is the perfect fit. Even though in every sense of the word, she's just a creepy psychopath.
Alex
Considering the world she was raised in her actions make sense. I wouldn't want to know her in real life, but in the story her actions are reasonable. Their entire culture is about power. It's a little worse here since T6 people are still reasonably close to T3s, but in other cultivation novels there's people who can blow up whole planets with a thought. The lives of mortals go by in practically a few seconds. Their perception can perceive billions/trillions of people at once. The lower level people are practically like bacteria. Nobody cares if they get destroyed. I bet you've killed mosquitoes before cause they annoyed you. Or fruit flies. Not to mention eating meat. We are no better. We just justify our actions, just like they do in their culture. There is no perfect world. And she is right, she could've done a lot worse. She never had any positive role models. How is she supposed to know that her actions arent moral? I don't think I am managing to properly express my feelings. I find her annoying and on earth she would suck. Even on their World she sucks. But she is still far from the worst that World has to offer.
Kyfe
Lol, nah, I don't hate her. I didn't even hate Ren, but it's probably because I understand their place in the story.
Hyperion
Sheesh, you sound like you made a character you hate as well.
Member of the Unseelie Accords
Thanks for clarifying, I didn’t want to make too many assumptions. I thought it was some sort of familial superiority complex.
Kyfe
Not just her family, just the older members she believes put in the work for personal improvement. She looks down on most of her siblings, too.
Member of the Unseelie Accords
In reading the comments, I am curious about the people who like Aeriella. Can someone who does like her, please tell me why you like her? I mean this honestly, I’m not looking for an argument/discussion. Because when I look at her actions, even if you account for the fact she grew up in another culture, I find her actions lazy and irresponsible. She threw a whole region with hundreds of thousands(maybe millions) into chaos with lots of people dying all for a personal project. In this chapter she causally kills/mortally wounds a number of slaves for not being up to her standards. She looks down on basically anyone who is not her family, except the MC. She stalks the MC while the war she started is going on, when she could have responsibly stopped the fighting.
Derek Walker
I actually believe there aren’t any. Kyfe mentioned a tier 6 empire has about 10 or so people at Legendary tier 5, and even if they have say 1000 people at legendary tier 6, only those 1000 people can advance to tier 7. Only a small fraction of those will have mythic classes at tier 7 allowing them to advance to tier 8. This basically means except for a small elite force, everyone will be two whole tiers down from even the nuisance monsters in the region. I don’t think you can have an empire surrounded by death on all sides. If most people in a tier 6 empire scrape up to tier 6, then it’s possible to be pretty secure from monsters, but unlikely in a tier 8 empire.
Dolduck
She's an insufferable, arrogant cunt, and she deserves only death. If she gets some sort of moronic redemption-arc I'll probably just stop reading. Life's too short to waste it hate-reading about people you hate
Luciaron
Well now I won’t believer there’s not a tier 8 empire out there somewhere
Bryce
I hope Aeriella eventually finds out that Reivyn lost 3 years of his life so he really is outclassing her in skill gains as an 11 year old (maybe 12). Wonder how she would react to that information
Derek Walker
Great, thanks a bunch!
Kyfe
If you'll remember, when she was undercover she claimed to have a support-style Dancing Class. She wasn't completely lying. She's a tri-Class: Support/Martial/Caster. She's a bit spread thin, but she's still above what would be considered very talented for each aspect when compared to someone focused solely on that aspect. Kefira is actually flat out more talented than she is, and she's focused on Casting.
Derek Walker
Is Aeriella's class actually a combat class? or one of the Quasi-combat/lifestyle classes mentioned before. She seems much more capable at martial skills than mana skills (seeing as how she said Kefira totally outclassed her there too, but she had the stats to keep apace with Reivyn), but if she had't really kept up with swords, it seems maybe she doesn't have a pure combat class.
Kyfe
Yes. Also, one of the things higher Mana density affects is the plateau. So people in T4 empires reach a plateaua and slow-down in the mid-40's, regardless of the threshold at 50. T6 Region allows for a bit faster Leveling speed, but the real difference is that slowdown comes in the 60's. Aeriella wasn't super focused on Swords until she met Reivyn, though she did keep up with her practice. She's now experiencing that slowdown in the 70's and trying to brute force through/sidestep it. This is also one of the reasons she's discontent with a lot of the other nobles her age. She feels like they're coasting too much.
Derek Walker
Thanks. All this means Aeriella should feel even worse she's behind Reivyn and Kefira on skills given her leveling rate and access to resources should be much higher lol. I assume a higher mana density even affects leveling on non-mana skills like Swords.
Kyfe
Kefira was talking about Refix specifically when she said that. It's a tightrope. It's both easier and harder to get a higher rarity Class at a higher Tier. It's easier for higher Tier Regions to Level Up quickly. The System takes one's entire being into account when offering Classes. Someone who advances quickly will be able to get a better Class as long as their Skills keep up. If someone only focuses on Leveling up, that's the trap, but if someone is able to Level Up fast while also building a strong foundation, that is rewarded. The System only takes the individual into account, so whether they're in a Tier 6 Region or a Tier 1 Region is irrelevant. Thus, people in T6 Regions have a much better chance at higher rarity classes in general. And, just FYI in case it hasn't been obvious enough, higher Mana density has an impact on Skill acquisition and Leveling rate.
Derek Walker
Thanks! Maybe this is plot spoilers lol, but are legendary classes affected solely by skill levels and achievements or does time matter too. So like it seems a little odd to me someone gets a T6 legendary class if they happen to reach transcendence in several skills/affinities (maybe you need more than that, I don’t know lol) when they’ve had 100s of years to level those skills. It’s actually legendary for someone like Refix and even more so Reivyn to get those skills levels much quicker. Maybe this answers the question, but all else equal is it easier to get higher rarities at higher tiers, or it easier to get a tier 3 epic class then a tier 5 epic class. I think I know the answer lol, but it’s best to hear the official answer, if one can be given right now I also thought Kefiras comment was about the specific mythic hero class, but other mythic/legendary classes
Derze
i like her a lot. And it is sad that you are right.
Kyfe
The difference really starts to show itself around Tier 4/5. There is a higher percentage of the population with Rare Tier 2 and Rare/Epic Tier 3. Rate of Leveling and Skill gains is fairly similar at the lower Tiers, but it doesn't slow down nearly as quickly. There are far more Tier 6+ people. For more comparison, Refix and Ameliyn would be considered very talented even in the Tier 6 Region, but you'll find people just as talented. Kefira said out of a thousand Tier 4 empires you might not find 1 Legendary Class at T5. There's about 10 or so in the Tier 6 Region. There are even more T6 Legendary Classers. Another difference is the natural stopping Tier of the regular populace. In T1 Regions, most people barely make it to T4. In Tier 4 empires, most people make it to the beginning of T5. In the Tier 6 Region, most people naturally make it to T6 before the end of their lives.
Derek Walker
Is the population of class rarity in a tier 6 empire roughly the same as a tier 4 empire? (at least on the higher end, and noting in absolute terms a tier 6 empire may have more legendary classes simply from being bigger). It seems like Aeriella is leagues above everyone else even in her tier 6 empire and has the second strongest bloodline we have seen, and she capped out at Epic tier 4, same as Ameliyn, same as Kefira. Now she might get a legendary class at tier 5, but Ameliyn and Kefira have good shots at those, and Refix has one, and these are considered the most talented people around. (Reivyn the outlier) This sort of suggests a similar profile for class rarities.
TheeGreenBean
I think whatever you do with this character half the comment section will get mad…
Derek Walker
One interesting confirmation is that Ameliyn’s bloodline is as strong as the bloodline of imperial family of a tier 6 empire. Which is about 30-35 thresholds, from some guesses that I’ve done.
