Cycle of Destiny

Chapter 9 The Beginning of the Voyage

The Alexander Langton is a large cargo ship named after the late Duke Alexander Langton, whose current wife is the first duchess since the founding of the empire.

The Landon's regular route was from the Landon province to a port in the Volkov province to the south, making brief stops at some major ports along the way, before returning via the same route. Its main mission was to transport weapons and equipment produced in the Landon province for sale, and to purchase and transport back grains such as potatoes, corn, and wheat.

It also receives guests. The upper deck has more than a dozen cabins, as well as a separate restaurant and kitchen, plus a lounge and a huge outdoor observation deck, serving as first class to entertain the nobles on their journeys; the lower deck has dozens of rooms, which are not very nice, but the food is good. Although simple, the portions are generous and the price is cheap, serving as second class to accommodate commoners.

Harry was about to embark on the voyage of the Alexander Langdon back to the province of Langdon. He would disembark at the port of Genoa en route and return to the capital from there.

As a nobleman, Harry was fully entitled to travel in first class.

Harry's father was born in a small northern city. At the age of twenty, he participated in a martial arts tournament held by the Akanos Empire, where he won fifth place as a seventh-level warrior and earned the official title of knight. He then used the prize money to secure the position of envoy of the Akanos Empire to a small northern country, and also received the noble title of baron.

In the Arcanos Empire, there were generally three ways to acquire a noble title: by bloodline inheritance, by making great contributions to the empire, or by obtaining recognition from divine authority—a nomination by the Church.

Generally, for an earl's eldest son to inherit his father's title, he must first enter a knightly academy, a place specifically for training knights, for systematic and long-term knightly education, including martial arts, etiquette, and cultural knowledge. After completing the prescribed studies, if he passes the examinations on etiquette and cultural knowledge, and reaches the level of a third-rank knight, capable of displaying his fighting spirit, then he can participate in the "Sword Ceremony," obtain the title of knight, and become a formal knight.

After becoming a knight (due to the elevation of the mage class by holy mages, if you become a formal mage at the Orion Magic Academy, this formal mage status is equivalent to knighthood, and you can also participate in subsequent duels of succession), according to the "Law on the Granting and Inheritance of Noble Titles," you need to challenge standard warriors of corresponding strength depending on the inherited title. Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, and Barons correspond to warrior levels of nine, eight, seven, six, and five respectively.

In other words, if the eldest son of this count wanted to inherit his father's noble title, he would need to defeat a level seven standard knight after obtaining the status of a knight.

The standard warriors in the Duel Inheritance are all provided by the Church, and those of the same level have similar strength, ensuring fairness.

On the continent of Arcanos, where the spirit of martial prowess permeates every inch of the land, the Arcanos Empire, sharing the same name, has undoubtedly taken the great tradition of pursuing power to its extreme.

The royal family knew that knights without power would inevitably tarnish the glory of the nobility. The noble medals of Arcanos were certainly something to be proud of, but if they fell into the hands of weak people, it would be a disaster.

To this end, the empire established strict laws that directly linked titles to individual strength.

Therefore, after becoming a knight, the heir has three chances to challenge the royal title before the age of twenty-five. If successful on the first attempt, the heir automatically inherits the title upon the death of their noble father. If all three attempts fail, the title passes to the next child, until a successor is found through a duel. If none of the children succeed, the royal family will reclaim the noble title.

Harry is his father's only son, and he is nineteen years old this year. He has now become a full-fledged wizard and is qualified to participate in the succession duel. Before his twenty-fifth birthday, he has three opportunities to defeat the level five standard warrior.

If he fails, his baronial title will be stripped. Since his father is already dead, he has automatically inherited the noble title, and until he turns twenty-five, young Harry is still the recognized baron of the Empire, regardless of whether he succeeds through a duel.

Therefore, in order to inherit a title, in addition to obtaining the qualifications of an heir and the status of a knight or mage, one also needs to inherit through a duel.

But compared to the other two methods, this is already the simplest.

If a commoner or knight wants to obtain a noble title through the second condition, "making a great contribution to the empire," he can achieve this by participating in a tournament and winning a prize, by gaining military merit in the army, or by making a huge political donation to the empire.

The martial arts tournament demonstrated a person's strength, the life-and-death battles in the army proved a person's courage, and that huge political donation proved a citizen's boundless loyalty to the empire!

Strength, courage, and loyalty are the core of chivalry, so these people are essentially true knights. Even without systematic knightly education, they can still receive their own "sword-bearing ceremony" and become part of the glorious aristocratic society of the empire.

Like the famous Duke Alexander Langdon, he initially had no noble title, not even a knight, but was just a commoner. However, he earned the title of knight and baron through his performance in the tournament, and made indelible contributions in the subsequent "Crimson Invasion" to defend the capital, thus gaining the supreme honor of duke.

As for the last one, clergy members who have made outstanding contributions to the church can be directly nominated by the church and thus enter the ranks of the nobility. However, regardless of the method, they must defeat the corresponding standard warriors to complete the final bestowal.

After Harry's father obtained his title through a tournament, he was stationed abroad as an imperial envoy to perform his duties. He had long forgotten about that small northern city—he had a mansion in the capital, and he only returned to the capital for his annual vacations. In addition, with his noble title, he had every reason to believe that he was already a true resident of the capital.

Harry spent his entire life with his parents until he was ten years old. After that, he began his knightly education at the Knight Academy in the capital. Every July, when the banquet atmosphere in the capital was at its peak, his parents would return to the capital to spend a month with Harry as a family.

Sadly, two years ago, when Harry was seventeen, his parents were murdered by bandits on their way back to the capital, and the killers have never been found. After his parents' death, he was finally able to make his own decision. He realized that he could never become a knight, so he sold his mansion in the capital and took all his money to Orion to study magic.

……

Harry left his room mainly to go to the dining room. Without the pressure of drawing magic, he ate simply because he had a good appetite and enjoyed the delicious food, which added to his pleasure while he was enjoying the food.

But this joy was soon interrupted. During a meal, the Duke of Langton slowly approached his table, saying, "I hope you don't mind if I sit next to you."

"Of course I don't mind, but I'm almost finished eating."

"The food on the ship is almost always this bad, making it completely unappetizing."

These words stunned Harry instantly. Although there was only half a plate of mutton in front of him, he had already ordered more than twenty empty plates to be cleared away! The Duke hadn't seen Harry's initial ravenous eating, but he had certainly witnessed his composed finish. The Duke of Langton's words were clearly not just politeness; he genuinely meant it.

But Harry's response still fully reflected aristocratic etiquette: "Indeed."

"It's terrible, isn't it?"

"That's terrible."

After this conversation, Harry had no choice but to have the ship's servants bring his meals to his room instead of going to the dining room. If the Duke saw him enjoying his meal, he would surely think that he lacked discernment, finding food delicious while others found it unpalatable.

Harry didn't leave his room afterwards. Miss Catherine came by a few times to ask if he wasn't feeling well, as she hadn't seen him for several days. Harry explained that his magical training had reached a crucial stage and he couldn't go out. Miss Catherine was also a first-class passenger; she was very warm and considerate, and during the days Harry wasn't in the restaurant, she was the only one who had checked on him.

On days when he didn't leave the cabin, Harry was busy meditating. Although he couldn't store magic, Harry persisted in meditating. Although the upper deck of the ship offered a better view, the rocking was more noticeable, and the wind and waves at sea were always unavoidable, making it difficult to fall asleep.

The more unstable the environment, the more one can hone meditation skills. It seems to be of little use to Harry, since he can't retain magic no matter what. But even so, Harry can still benefit from meditation.

If we consider the space of consciousness as a bucket, this bucket can not only hold water, but it will also fill up eventually.

Meditation not only adds water to the bucket, but each meditation session also makes the bucket a little bigger.

If Harry's bucket is full now, it represents the magic power level of a level three mage. Once his bucket grows large enough to hold the magic power of a level four mage, he will be able to cast level four spells as long as he has sufficient magic power.

Although Harry never went to the meditation room again after his time at the college, he never stopped meditating. And every time he finished meditating, his body felt like it had run a long distance, he felt completely exhausted, and he could collapse and enter a dreamless night.