Kingdom’s Bloodline

The air is very quiet, and the sun covered by dark clouds casts a gray light, as if exaggerating the current mysterious atmosphere.

A pleasant male voice sounded: "When you think of gods, what is the first thought that comes to mind?"

After a few seconds.

The pensive Thales opened his eyes unconsciously, released empty gazes, and responded softly in a strange atmosphere: "The gods are completely different from us."

"It doesn't fit in with us."

"Far away from us."

The male voice was silent for a while, as if savoring the answer.

"So," the other party continued to ask after a while, "When you think of this world, what is the first thing that comes to mind?"

The prince frowned slightly.

"world?"

Thales raised his head slightly, looked at each other as if he was looking at a statue in a temple, with a secretive expression and a quiet tone: "We are in it."

"We're embedded in it."

"We exist in it."

The male voice paused for a while again, and let out a low groan.

"Very good, very much in the style of the 'School of Subjectivity'," the pleasant male voice smiled softly, "Now, exclude the previous answers, let yourself go, close your eyes and do it again. Listen, when you think of the gods when……"

Thales nodded unconsciously, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

"God..."

next second...

boom!

The prince opened his eyes suddenly,

Slap the chessboard in front of you with one palm!

Thales let out a deep breath, and an emotion called boredom appeared in his empty eyes.

"Oh, God, I'm done," the teenager leaned back in the seat, clutching his forehead in pain, interrupting the conversation, "How long have we been talking about this?"

In front of the prince, the handsome man at the other end of the chessboard slightly turned his eyes.

"Less than an hour." The latter said softly.

Thales sighed angrily, and spread his hands: "One hour? How many answers did I give you to the same two questions?"

"god?"

The prince raised his left hand and counted fingers one by one, his tone full of perfunctory and dissatisfaction: "From 'creator', 'holy existence', 'omniscient', 'puppet controller', 'observer in the dark' ’, to ‘Visitors from Another World’, ‘Answered Prayers’, ‘Relentless Breeders’, ‘Conspiracies Outside the Box’…”

The man on the opposite side of the chessboard listened to Thales' words quietly, without moving a muscle.

"world?"

Thales finished counting the fingers of his left hand and raised his right hand: "From 'All People', 'Vigorous', 'Animal Planet', 'Material World', 'Beautiful Future and Hope', 'Bad World', From 'unfair society' to 'the world is wrong', 'the world is unkind', 'on the verge of destruction'..."

Thales, who had a splitting headache, let out a breath and continued to complain: "Are there fifteen kinds? If you combine them in pairs, there can be hundreds of kinds..."

At this moment, the man opposite gently raised a finger.

For a moment, Thales only felt that the air he inhaled became refreshing and moist, and the coolness that penetrated into his lungs chilled his overwhelmed brain.

The prince stopped talking, blinked his eyes, and took a deep breath to calm his emotions.

"Your mind is not here."

In the open-air box of the chess and card room, Ahida Sakern, who was opposite Thales, gently lowered her finger, and said plainly: "At least it's not with me."

Thales came back to his senses, looked up at the Qi Magician on the opposite side of the chessboard, and then at the Palace of Heroes in the distance outside the terrace.

He let out a breath, stepped back from the chair, and rubbed his face in frustration.

"Sorry," the boy shook his head awkwardly, and pushed a chess piece forward: "There have been a lot of things recently, and I'm not in the mood."

Almost a month has passed since the hearing day and the visit of the Viscount Cambida.

From that day on, Thales has been troubled by the troubles involved in the arrival of the Black Sand leader: the relationship between the Freedom Alliance and Exeter, the struggle between King Charman and his opponents, the undercurrent of power in Dragon Clouds City, Wo The position and choice of the Leighton family, of course, and the marriage of the Grand Duchess, but surprisingly, even though Thales, who listened to Putilei's analysis, became more and more anxious, Dragon Clouds City has been unexpectedly calm in the past ten days.

The vassals did not continue to advise and force the marriage, but the Earl of Lisbane remained as steady as before no matter how many times Thales tried to communicate with him about Selma's marriage.

Canbida has never left Dragon Clouds City. The envoy of Heisha Ling lived in the aristocratic inn in the Axe District. He went in and out under the protection of Heisha Ling's own people. He neither interacted with nor met with any vassals. Grand Duke.

In the past month, no crows have flown from the west, such as Qiyuan City, and there is no information about the Freedom Alliance or the war.

The situation in Longxiao City was like a slightly rippling lake, calm and calm, but because of this, Thales felt even more disturbed: the water surface before boiling was probably like this.

Until he received the next sky blue invitation.

"What happened recently?"

"You mean the little girl I found in your bed six years ago?" Ashida snorted softly, and said lightly, "The one you put on the throne of the Grand Duke just because she slept with you for one night?"

Thales' expression froze.

"Oh, my God," the prince said angrily a second later, "The Tower of Soul never taught you how to use the modern Westland lingua franca correctly so as not to cause misunderstandings?"

"Indeed, the modern lingua franca was gradually formed after the War of the End." Ashida still had a relaxed expression on his face, but Thales always felt that there was a faint sneer hidden under his calm face: "When I was your age, Well, what my tutor taught me was the imperial language, perhaps with some common language vocabulary mixed in, while the orthodox ancient imperial written language was used in the tower of souls."

What I want to complain about is not your level of lingua franca, okay...

But the mentally exhausted prince had given up arguing with him.

Thales sighed helplessly, and changed the subject: "I really didn't expect that the famous Qi magician would also care about the affairs of us little ordinary people?"

Ashida raised her eyes slightly.

"Just because I don't want to care about nonsense doesn't mean I'm deaf or blind."

"As I said, being too bound by mundane affairs will affect your progress," the magician of Qi said unhurriedly, as if he was not at all sullen at the student's distraction: "Maybe you still don't understand , but as a preliminary magician, if you don't have a solid foundation..."

"A solid foundation benefits from the teachers' unreserved and careful teaching, rather than hypnotherapy without reasons and explanations," Thales squinted at him, and retorted unequivocally: "It seems that I need this a teacher."

Maybe Ashida's temper is really good, or maybe he doesn't care about the sarcasm from the students at all, but the magician said indifferently: "Very good, it seems that you have regained your spirits, then we will come again..."

Thales, who had had enough, let out a breath and looked at the ceiling helplessly.

"Are you sure you don't want to continue the topic of the last class?"

The prince knocked on the chess pieces listlessly, causing Lord Justin and Wyah in the distance to look at them strangely: "Do you remember, Shuanghuang? And how did they betray you?"

There was a blue light in Ashida's eyes.

"They are the enemy, all you need to know is that."

The magician said coldly: "The double emperors have already surpassed your level. Unlike Giza and me, they have an incalculable influence on the world. The more you know, the more likely you are to be caught by their eyes or ears. Expose yourself."

Taylor's eyes moved.

Inestimable influence.

Intentional or unintentional eyes and ears.

"What do you mean," the prince who caught something tentatively asked: "After the end of the war, they, as magicians, still maintain contacts with all countries in the world?"

Ashida looked at him steadfastly, and said with sarcasm: "Think about it with your thumb, Your Highness, even existences like me, Giza, and... can take more than a hundred years , and secretly operated a gray gang that was entangled with the noble forces and took what they needed, as our eyes, ears and hunting dogs."

"Do you think that, as the victors of the War of the End, those two whores just found a comfortable nest, piled up their treasures in a pile, and crawled in to sleep for more than six hundred years?" ?”

Thales frowned: "So..."

Ashida shook her head: "One day you will know, and I don't even need to tell you."

The prince let out a painful breath: "You make me more curious."

"'Curiosity killed the magician'," Ashida replied mechanically, "Remember these are the original words of your teacher and guide."

Thales snorted disdainfully.

It sounds like magicians are going to die...

At this moment, Thales' heart moved.

"By the way, speaking of the teacher..."

"Mr. Sakern, did you tell me last time, what rules are best to follow in class?"

"You know," the prince pondered, "Think about every sentence, ask questions at any time, express clearly, question, question each other..."

Ashida nodded lightly, and moved her palm up slightly. Thales, who had gradually become familiar with him, knew that this was a sign that the Qi magician allowed him to finish speaking.

Thales took a deep breath and looked into the magician's almost emotionless eyes:

"Then, if there are people in the world who tell me almost exactly the same rules..."

"What will happen?"

At that moment, Thales clearly saw Ashida's right eyebrow raised.

"Who?" Ashida asked seemingly calmly.

"A rather old tutor, from the Dragon Kiss Academy in the Principality of Anrenzo," Thales imagined the interesting image of the skinny old man, and couldn't help squinting his eyes: "Merichixer."

Ashida paused for a second.

"Dragon Kiss Academy?" He seemed to be chewing the word, then raised his head slightly:

"Hmph, that makes sense."

Taylor's eyes widened: "What do you mean?"

Ashida grabbed a chess piece:

"As early as in the era of Kings and Ancient Empires, Dragon Kiss Province was a famous place of refuge. If war came, many scholars, literati, businessmen, fallen nobles and other refugees would choose to go there, and mages were no exception."

"You mean, Dragon Kiss Academy has a deep relationship with the Magic Tower?"

"It's not just the origin," the magician shook his head, and put the pawn in the next position: "The founder of Dragon Kiss Academy thousands of years ago was originally a mage of the soul tower. Doubts have affected Dragon Kiss Academy."

Thales couldn't help being shocked when he remembered what Ramon had told him about the fact that magic was extinct.

"So, Dragon Kiss Academy also teaches magic?" The prince scratched the table in surprise: "But..."

Ashida cut him off without emotion.

"I know what you're thinking: Dragon Kiss Academy also failed to avoid the disaster of magic extinction after the War of the End. Most of the books that were considered magic or were related to magic were destroyed."

Thales' face darkened.

But he immediately raised his head and said with a little hope: "Then, there is still a small part?"

"Yes, but not the one you imagined that you should go."

Only to hear Ashida replied indifferently:

"The mage who established the Dragon Kiss Academy is a hard-core figure in the Epic Seat. His specialty in the Soul Tower is history and literature, and he specializes in the origin of civilization in poetry. The Dragon Kiss Academy naturally deviates towards his research direction. .”

Thales frowned, grabbed the king, and moved it out of Ashida's hunting range. Their chess game was unknowingly "general" again.

But he immediately reacted to Ashida's words.

"History? Literature?" The prince asked in surprise, "The Magic Tower still studies these?"

Ashida chuckled lightly.

"It's more than that."

"Among the three major magic towers, in the largest tower of souls alone, the various branches of magic are like stars in the galaxy."

The magician raised his gaze slightly, and the blue light flowed in it.

Under Thales' curious and longing eyes, Ashida skillfully and quickly spit out a series of dizzying nouns:

"The seat of gold specializes in studying the impact of economic currency on human beings; the seat of epics is good at cooperating with ascetics to discover new things from archaeological remains; the seat of speculation tortures human language and logic; the seat of power believes that only Only by going deep into the secular society can we better understand the world and ourselves. It is the largest resident mage in the Soul Tower. Almost every lord has the habit of hiring a mage as a consultant. The Seat of Law provides a precedent; the Seat of Nature has a good relationship with the Tower of Alchemy, advocating the discovery and flexible use of the laws of objective nature, and there are countless sub-seats under it..."

Thales was fascinated by the other party's words, and then he was slightly shocked: "Wait, gold, epic, speculative...are these considered magic?"

The prince turned his head and cast a puzzled look at the other party, seeking an answer.

Ashida returned to her original indifference, and asked indifferently, "What do you think magic is?"

Thales took a deep breath and began to think.

"Although I've heard from Ramon that magic seems to have a wide range," the prince scratched his head and said in disbelief, "but the currency economy? The impact on humans? This is too..."

"Currency? Economy?" Ashida interrupted, repeating.

The eyes of the magician of qi showed sharpness and seriousness.

"Think about currency, mages can profoundly change the lives and destiny of thousands of people with just a few small metal discs and useless waste paper, and affect the history and future of a country and a place."

"Success and fame, family ruin and death are all among them, the king and the people, the nobles and the common people, there is no exception. And these all stem from the nights of hard thinking and writing in the magic tower."

Thales raised his eyebrows.

Ashida's body leaned forward slightly, and Thales couldn't help turning his eyes away from the look in his eyes: "Tell me, what kind of spell, what kind of magic can do such a thing?"

"If that's not magic..."

"Then what is magic?"