Great Journey: Whims of Fate

Paying for Lilia's education wasn't a proposal Bastion opposed. The real issue was the inevitable flood of other students who would come knocking once he opened the gates. To prevent the medieval equivalent of spam, he simply needed the right deterrent.

After all, this was how his own parents met. His mother reached Rank 1 while still in the academy, impressing his father so much that he not only funded her education but eventually married her once they fell in love.

Bastion held a similar idea. Once he inherited the title of duke, he would need wives, and this could be the perfect chance to find one. Seraphina was already the top candidate, but he wanted to keep his options open. He also needed a party to explore the dungeon, which meant sponsoring a capable female student served a dual purpose.

The test he devised was simple: how far would they be willing to go to earn his support?

Bastion had already determined that he would follow in his father's footsteps. Whatever world-shattering truths were being hidden from him would likely lead him to make the same choice, to eventually leave the dukedom to a child of his own.

He had plenty of theories about what those truths could be, and he was convinced that at least one of them had to be true for the kingdom to remain so isolated. Just like his father, he would need a band of adventurers at his side and a sea of heirs in hopes that one would willingly accept the responsibility of becoming the next duke.

Lilia, meanwhile, struggled to justify why she deserved Bastion's support. She was a commoner with an affinity for Water Magic. Her parents' savings as retired adventurers would cover her first year at the academy, but after that, she'd have to work like most other students.

She considered herself lucky to have sat next to Bastion, an incredibly attractive noble, and even luckier that her passionate words had somehow sparked his genuine interest. Now, she wasn't sure if her luck would last.

"I… I could be your attendant or maid," she began, only to freeze as Elyra shot her a sharp, feral glare.

Bastion calmly stroked Elyra's tail, soothing her, before turning back to Lilia.

"As you can see, I need neither," he said. "What I need immediately is a party member to dive into dungeons. In the long term, I need a wife. Ultimately, I'm looking for a life partner."

"You want me to marry you?!" she blurted out, louder than intended, drawing attention from nearby students.

"Not necessarily," Bastion replied, his brow twitching. "A wife just needs to bear my children and raise them until I leave, then she's free. A life partner would leave the comforts of my estate and join me on long-term adventures. Think 'forever,' for convenience."

"That… sounds exactly the same."

"Either way, those are my needs, unless you have something better to offer. Think it over," Bastion said, rising to his feet.

"Oh, and if anyone asks, just tell them I offered because I thought you looked cute," he said with a wink before walking away.

"Wha... no... I..." she stammered, her face turning scarlet, completely unaware that Bastion and Elyra had already walked away, leaving her squirming and muttering to herself in flustered confusion.

Meanwhile, Bastion made his way to the Grand Library.

His father had once told him that the academy harbored world-shattering secrets. These secrets were either taught in obscure elective courses, revealed during the final days of homeroom, or hidden somewhere within the library's vast collection.

The moment he stepped inside the library, Bastion agreed with the naming. The Grand Library was truly grand, an endless expanse of bookshelves on multiple floors that stretched both above and below, as if defying the limits of space.

"Space shenanigans," Bastion muttered with amusement, before approaching an idle librarian.

"Hello. I'm looking for information about the world," he said.

"You'll need to be more specific," replied the young man, eyes still glued to the book in his hands.

"I think you know exactly what kind of information I'm after," Bastion said, flipping a platinum coin into the air with a distinct metallic ping.

The sound caught the librarian's attention. He looked up, studied Bastion briefly, then reached under the desk and handed over a large and heavy worn book.

Bastion took it and read the title: The Great Journey by Waywalker.

He flipped through the pages, finding tales of distant lands written in the voice of a seasoned traveler. 

The Great Journey was essentially a way of life, an adventurer's path of wandering from kingdom to kingdom, visiting every place they could while chronicling their experiences. Once a kingdom had been visited, it could never be revisited, except when merely passing through without drawing notice.

The journey would end only in death or ascension to godhood, leaving behind an epic tale for others to read and draw inspiration from.

It was an exciting way of life from Bastion's perspective. So long as he had at least Elyra by his side, he knew he would never grow bored.

The book itself was a compelling read and a decent primer, but it lacked the strategic depth he needed.

"Nothing more?" Bastion asked, this time flipping two platinum coins.

Without a word, the librarian produced another book: The Empires.

This one contained detailed information on political systems, power structures, and laws. Exactly what he was looking for. With a nod, Bastion placed the coins on the desk and wandered off to a secluded corner to study his findings in peace.

He speed-read both books and was thoroughly shocked by their contents.

The name of the continent was The God's Continent, a landmass so vast it housed over a million kingdoms, each comparable in size to the Kingdom of Brilliance. The Kingdom of Brilliance was roughly 10 million square miles or 25 million square kilometers. Basically, it was the size of a continent from Earth.

The Kingdom of Brilliance was situated southeast of the continent's center, near the Central Empire. That massive tree canopy Bastion could see from his castle walls? It was not just a landmark; it marked the exact center of the continent and stood within the Central Empire itself.

The continent's shape resembled a four-leaf clover, with each cardinal direction housing one empire, and a fifth empire at the center. The Central Empire was surrounded by an enormous mountain range, isolating it from the other four. Each outer empire had access to the center through a single narrow pass.

Every kingdom was governed by a Rank 4 individual or higher, all of whom followed the laws set by the empires. As for who ruled over all of it? The gods. It was they who had united to establish and maintain the entire continent.

The Central Empire was renowned for its agriculture, responsible for feeding the other four empires, while they, in turn, defended it against external threats. The Northern Empire was a frozen snowscape inhabited by demihumans. The Western Empire was a vast desert. The Southern Empire had a feudal structure and was constantly embroiled in internal conflict, resulting in the smallest population. Lastly, the Eastern Empire was famed as the Magic Empire.

There was no mention of other continents, but given the name of this one, Bastion suspected there had to be more. If the gods truly claimed this world, wouldn't it have a proper name rather than simply being "The God's Continent"?

Beyond the five empires, there were also the five guilds: the Adventurers Guild, Merchants Guild, Mages Guild, Crafters Guild, and Tamers Guild, each backed by its own pantheon of gods. These guilds were powerful enough to maintain autonomy in every kingdom, existing as equals to the empires themselves.

Bastion's mind reeled from the scope of what he'd learned just from The Great Journey. The sheer scale of the planet, Gaia, required to support such a massive structure was beyond comprehension. He didn't even attempt the math or the physics.

The book, The Empires, added more detail. Each kingdom had a classification, designated by its ruling power. For example, the Kingdom of Brilliance, ruled by the Goddess of Brilliance, was classified as Rank 2, a designation that forbade individuals above Rank 2 from occupying it and knowledge above Rank 2 from being disseminated within.

Other classifications included Industrial, which focused purely on production efficiency with guaranteed protections against visitors; Open, which allowed unrestricted visitation; Closed, which prohibited entry but allowed departure; and several others with unique conditions.

The more protections a kingdom claimed, the greater its contribution to its ruling empire. The fewer contributions a kingdom made, the more chaotic it would inevitably become. All of this was determined by the kingdom's owner.

'I can't believe I really am in a starter village,' Bastion thought.

The book also discussed restrictions on Rank 5 beings and above. They were not allowed to descend upon the continent in their full form, as doing so would negatively affect the natural mana of the continent.

Those who broke the rules were heavily fined. This meant that the reason the Demon Lord was able to rampage was that no one wanted to incur the fine, even at the cost of the destruction of their kingdom. 

'It must be incredibly expensive for it to be a greater loss than an entire kingdom's population,' Bastion thought. 'Then again, from a god's perspective, the ants would either grow in power or die trying.'

Bastion flipped back to The Great Journey and read about heroes, as they weren't included in The Empires.

The book held stories about heroes the author encountered. It described heroes as beings from another world with great fates. They were destined to achieve something significant in their lives compared to the native inhabitants of Gaia.

Sometimes their feats were monumental, like sealing the Demon Lord millennia ago. Other times, their achievements seemed insignificant, such as raising a pet or nurturing a child. More often than not, however, their actions went unnoticed, as heroes were typically identified only by parents with an Identification Crystal like his own, prophets who glimpsed fate, or seers attuned to destiny.

There had been heroes who ascended to godhood, and others who betrayed Gaia. The majority of them simply disappear over time.

Bastion was excited by the prospects of his future. Heroes had free reign so long as they completed their great fate. Most likely, he would succeed in fulfilling it with Seraphina, then fade from stories as he traveled the continent, or perhaps even the whole of Gaia.

With so many possibilities ahead, the future seemed limitless, and Bastion couldn't help but feel the thrill of what was to come.

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