The Lone Wanderer

Acton picked a branch off the ground, sniffing the broken end a couple of times before tossing it aside. The scent was there, but it was faint. More so than usual.

“Gone again…” he muttered, a grimace marring his face.

There was no doubt his target had spent some time here. But Acton was a few days late. The trail was already rather obscure, vaguely pointing south. A direction most inconvenient…

“Pack your stuff. We’re leaving for Goldenfield town in an hour.” he said, turning to his guards.

Their expressions soured at the sound of that, as they gave him – and each other – uncertain looks. They had no idea what he was even doing, but they clearly weren’t happy with his command. Eventually, the most senior of them summoned the courage to step forward. He bowed politely, before speaking.

“Your Radiance, we cannot do that. Our orders were to escort you to the Thirsty Valley. We’ve already wasted too much time. Goldenfield town is located exactly opposite to our destination.”

Acton clicked his tongue.

“You’ll go exactly where I tell you to go! This is as important to me as my core’s advancement!” he spat, unleashing his domain on the man.

The guard – Acton couldn’t recall his name – instantly fell to his knees. Pathetic. Acton knew his domain wasn’t nearly strong enough to subjugate a Green. The fool was faking it to placate him. He thought he wouldn’t notice.

Lifting the pressure, Acton turned away. Such trash the Root had sent to accompany him. All of them showering him with praise, treating him like the holiest existence to his face. As they should, of course. But behind his back, they constantly plotted to manipulate him, treating him like a child.

Then again, he didn’t really care about the opinions of these ants. His gaze was locked elsewhere – on the people residing in that place. Compared to the rest of Remior, the Order’s numbers were just a drop in the bucket. A few thousand people, standing above everyone else. Each of them a priceless treasure to this world.

But gathered in one place, that was still a lot of them. And Acton was at the bottom of the barrel there. Compared to his peers, at least. The only people who truly mattered. After all, so many of them had powerful bloodlines or rare affinities. A few of the older ones had even inherited blessings from the gods themselves.

Meanwhile, what did he have? Just a shitty mud affinity and a weak bloodline. At least, he’d been able to upgrade the useless earth affinity he’d been born with, thanks to the petal. Though he couldn’t use it properly just yet – the best he could do was to split it up to use his old earth spells.

Regardless, it wasn’t enough. He’d never be important in that place. Not unless he grew stronger. This was why he’d even asked to be escorted to the Thirsty Valley. The sooner he reached Violet, the better.

Sighing, he opened his Status again.

___

Acton Parnassus

Mana core:

Bloodline:

Spells:

___

On paper, the ability to control beasts was among the most powerful a mage could ask for. After all, they grew faster than any human could. With sufficient preparation and proper guidance, one should be able to cultivate an entire army of creatures stronger than themselves. In theory, at least.

This was precisely why House Parnassus had received so much attention back when they first manifested the bloodline, tens of thousands of years ago. Even the gods had taken notice, pouring resources into their family, placing them under their protection.

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Consequently, Acton’s House was one of the oldest ones still standing. At one point, they’d even been a Great House, propped to that level artificially rather than by their own merits.

‘Such a pity the bloodline failed to evolve.’

It was the ability’s potential that had brought on all this interest – not its true power. Every registered permutation had been riddled with drawbacks, making it completely impractical. The most serious problem was that it could only be used on beasts weaker than oneself. What good was a Green beast to a Blue? It would barely help in a fight.

Perhaps things would have been different if multiple beasts could be subjugated at once. Sadly, only one could be controlled at a time. Adding the sheer cost and effort required to feed and train the beasts, and the bloodline just wasn’t worth the trouble in its current state.

Still, the gods had kept their support up – for a while. Century after century, they had waited, hoping for a mutation to occur. For a version of the bloodline devoid of such restrictions to emerge. All of it in vain.

Once, a promising scion had been born with the ability to tame multiple beasts. Not that many, but still worth exploring further. Unfortunately, that had come at the cost of lowering the subjugated beasts’ grade by another step, making this version of the bloodline even weaker than the rest. Efforts had been made to breed that individual with others, to mutate the strain again. Dead-ends.

By now, the House was deemed as a lost cause, left alone to wither. Other families still avoided touching them, afraid of the Order’s retaliation. But the members of House Parnassus understood the truth. Their bloodline would never evolve, and it just wasn’t good enough for them to thrive with it. Not in their barren lands. Not without the gods’ support. Nowadays, they weren’t even considered a Great House anymore, lacking a White to lead.

Of course, Acton didn’t care about any of that. Not his family’s status, nor their history. He was a Green-born! He belonged elsewhere. But he did care that he was stuck with such a useless bloodline.

‘I need to find this creature, wherever it is.’

Such a stroke of luck, to pass through the Whistling Woods on the way to the Thirsty Valley!

The sensory side of his bloodline wasn’t particularly powerful either. It relied on lingering scents and other subtle hints to grant him a subconscious understanding of his target, pointing him towards it. It wasn’t very informative, nor very accurate, though the few things he did learn had been more than enough to pique his interest.

The beast he’d caught wind of was unique in all the best ways. It was only at Yellow, but it left behind an atypical presence. Acton couldn’t tell how or why, but it was far stronger than it had any right to be.

At first, this had confused him. It had left him in doubt, uncertain of whether this was even a beast at all. Maybe it was just a person with a weird bloodline? But the broken branches didn’t lie. It was a beast. A bird, specifically. A little inconvenient, as it spent a lot of time airborne, leaving fewer traces for him to track.

In any case, he had to capture it! It might not be enough to elevate his status in the Order, but it was the best lead he had. Sure, its low grade was annoying. He’d have to raise it to Green, and later to Blue once he advanced himself. Then again, it was a small price to pay – it would only take some time. Hell, Acton would raze a province to the ground to feed it, if that’s what it took.

‘How the hell is it avoiding me though?’

It made no sense. The darn thing had already done it twice. Acton had stayed in Gentlebreeze town for days, spending every morning and every afternoon scouring the surroundings in search of the creature. By the time he homed into that lake, the beast had been gone for a while. The first time could have been a coincidence, but it happened again. It must’ve left this place half a week ago.

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Was it working with humans? Impossible. He’d never heard of another bloodline like his. There shouldn’t be anyone on Remior capable of taming a Yellow beast.

‘Well, other than my family… Did one of my relatives get to it first?’ he wondered, creasing his brow.

It was quite a stretch. His family’s province was located very far from here. But this was the only explanation he could think of. It would explain everything. His relatives would have recognized him in the town. Then, they’d leave, afraid he would snatch their treasured minion from them.

He shrugged. It was annoying, but they couldn’t outrun him forever. His bloodline’s tracking ability grew stronger the more information he gathered about his target. It was only a matter of time until he caught up.

‘If they think I’ll show mercy because of our shared blood, they’re sorely mistaken.’

How dare they defy him?! Those ungrateful relics should be grovelling at his feet, offering him the beast of their own volition. After all, Acton was the best thing to have happened to their rotting family in centuries!

It was thanks to him that the Order had rewarded them so handsomely, despite their countless failures. That trinket they got could level a whole town once detonated!

‘No sense thinking about them, I suppose. If they’re truly involved, I’ll find out soon enough.’

Shaking his head, he headed off, his guards hurrying behind him. Some of them still voiced their protests but he ignored them. If they kept yapping, he might have to kill one of them to remind them of their place. He’d get reprimanded for it later, but it wouldn’t be more than a slap on the wrist. A small price to pay, to make sure these fools stopped arguing with him.

This was what it meant to be one of the chosen few.

A Holy Child.