RE: LORD OF TIME

(A/N: Ranking of Nobles: Baron → Viscount → Count → Marquess → Duke → Crown Prince → King → Emperor)

=====

Lucas Benlot... He was the sole heir of Count Gavin Benlot.

After joining an academy, most commoner geniuses would choose to join the camp of a noble family in order to obtain better resources and cultivation techniques.

Normally, even if someone was found to possess a good Aether Affinity, they would only receive a basic cultivation technique.

To obtain a better cultivation technique, there were only three ways.

The first was to buy one using money or other equally valuable treasures.

For most commoners, this method was practically nonexistent because there was no way they could gather the enormous amount of wealth required to purchase a high-quality cultivation technique.

And even if by some miracle, they managed to save enough money, the technique they could buy would only be slightly better than the basic cultivation technique, since most powerful techniques were firmly controlled by the nobles, who rarely allowed them to spread.

The second method of obtaining a good cultivation technique was to join the camp of a noble family and work for them.

In exchange for your loyalty and freedom, they would not only provide you with a cultivation technique but also supply you with a generous amount of cultivation resources.

Most commoner geniuses chose this path because it was by far the easiest one.

Although it essentially turned them into tool of the nobles, they believed it was still better than cultivating with a mediocre technique and eventually dying inside an Astral Rift or in the jaws of a monster simply because they lacked the strength to protect themselves.

The third method of obtaining resources, Battle Arts, and cultivation techniques was by completing tasks issued by the academy.

Many of these tasks were extremely dangerous.

Some involved exploring newly appeared Astral Rifts to determine their danger level and identify the monsters lurking inside.

Others required hunting down wanted criminals of the kingdom or killing powerful monsters and bringing back specific parts of their bodies.

There were countless dangerous tasks available at the academy.

By completing them, students earned Academic Credits that could be exchanged for cultivation resources, Battle Arts, cultivation techniques, and many other necessities.

Other than completing tasks, there were a few other ways to earn Academic Credits as well. However, for commoners, they were even more difficult, as most of them required a certain level of strength—something that was very hard for commoners to attain in the early stages, especially without working under the nobles.

Of course, even Academic Credits couldn’t be used to redeem earth-shattering cultivation techniques or battle arts.

However, the techniques and resources available through the academy were more than enough for someone to stand on their own without relying on any noble family.

In the original timeline, William had received invitations from many noble families after entering the academy.

However, after learning that joining them meant giving up his freedom, he rejected every single offer.

What had left him speechless back then were some of the conditions attached to those invitations.

If he accepted, he would have to obey every order without question.

Even if those orders required him to sacrifice his own life. Or, at worst...Kill his own family with his own hands.

After reading those conditions, William completely understood that, in the eyes of those nobles, talented commoners were nothing more than tools to squeeze every last bit of value from.

And once those tools outlived their usefulness, they would be discarded like stray dogs.

William wasn’t the only one who refused to serve the nobles.

Including him, there were Leon and a few others as well.

Because they refused to join any noble faction, William, Leon, and the others had very few ways to improve their strength.

The only option available to them was to slowly accumulate Academic Credits through their own efforts.

However, earning Academic Credits was far from easy.

The best method was completing academy tasks, but those tasks were extremely dangerous for newcomers.

To safely complete tasks and earn Academic Credits, William, Leon, and several other commoner geniuses who had refused to join noble factions eventually formed their own group.

Working together greatly increased their chances of surviving dangerous missions.

Among their teammates was a girl named Sofia.

Like William and Leon, she also possessed an excellent-grade Aether Affinity.

Lucas Benlot was one of the nobles who had invited Sofia to join his faction.

However, after she rejected him, he began making things difficult for her.

In fact, not just her. Lucas had an extremely twisted personality and took pleasure in tormenting girls.

Especially talented girls from commoner backgrounds.

His own Aether Affinity was high-grade, one level below Sofia’s.

It was almost as though bullying commoners with greater talent than himself gave him a sense of superiority.

A few months after they entered the academy, Sofia returned from completing a task.

It had been a simple task—collecting a batch of herbs for an alchemy professor from a shop in the city.

Tasks like these were fairly common.

Although they rewarded very few Academic Credits, they could be completed during one’s spare time, so William and the others occasionally accepted such tasks whenever they were free.

Sofia had been perfectly fine when she left.

However, when she returned, she looked like nothing more than a walking corpse.

Her eyes were completely lifeless and her body was covered in bruises.

Just one glance at her hollow eyes was enough for anyone to understand that something terrible had happened.

After repeatedly questioning her, she finally told them what had happened.

The mission she had accepted was actually a trap arranged by Lucas.

When she arrived at the shop to collect the herbs, Lucas and several of his noble friends were already waiting for her there.

She didn’t even need to explain what happened afterward.

Knowing Lucas’s twisted personality, William and the others already understood everything.

The very next day, Sofia committed suicide.

Although it had been years since it happened, William still remembered the hunched backs of Sofia’s parents as they came to collect her body.

They were just like his own parents.

Simple farmers who had sent their daughter to the academy in the hope of giving her a brighter future.

Yet, the lifeless expressions in their eyes, as they silently carried away their daughter’s corpse with trembling hands made William truly realize just how cruel people could be.

He hated himself for being too weak to do anything despite watching his friend meet such a miserable end.

That was also the day he swore to himself that if he ever got the chance in the future, he would personally kill that twisted bastard.

Unfortunately, in the original timeline, he had never managed to fulfill that promise before his death.

But things were different now.

"There is no way I am letting this opportunity slip away..."

A cold light flashed across William’s eyes as he slowly sat up.

’But killing a noble isn’t an easy task. If I get caught, not only I, but my entire family will be executed.’

William wasn’t worried about failing to kill Lucas.

What truly concerned him were the consequences after Lucas’s death.

Lucas was the sole heir of a Count’s family. Once he died, Count Gavin would undoubtedly investigate the matter thoroughly.

What worried William the most was the existence of artifacts capable of tracking people through karma and destiny.

Once he killed Lucas, there was a very high chance that Count Gavin would use such an artifact to track him down.

Suddenly, William thought of something and immediately closed his eyes, shifting his consciousness to his Sea of Consciousness

As his vision shifted to his Sea Of Consciousness, his gaze fell upon the white pearl silently floating beside his two Traits and he slowly walked towards it.