My Devourer System: Rise of the Bastard Son

Lucen left the crowd behind after the fight, he needed to channel. Building a good store of mana quickly was something he had been training towards.

Channelling was part of [Dominance] too it seemed. It felt like belief in the simple process of channelling made it work better. But commanding mana efficiently was part of it.

He found an empty alley and sat on top of an empty barrel. He leaned back against the stone wall and closed his eyes. The harsh wind rolled over him, the flattened land making it blow harder. Mana swirled around him.

Maybe that was why [Madness] made it easier to wield powerful weapons. If he sunk into the mana around him and imagined it as his own mana, his ability to channel increased.

Tempering your soul also affects channelling. Lucen got permission from Warren to read some of the more High-ranked texts on Knights. Not that he needed his permission.

He learnt that once tempered, souls changed the nature of mana within themselves to reflect a certain color and narrowed the range of spells you could master.

The soul was most likely refining the runes you could use, and this related to what they called [Inner worlds]. Opening your [Inner world] was the final step to becoming a Grand Knight.

At least that's what someone who didn't have the Devourer system would read.

The empire had a hierarchy of information—if a piece of knowledge was decided to be above you, then you couldn't even read it. Your mind wouldn't register the words.

But with the Devourer system, he could bypass most restrictions. The system had warned him not to push it though; some breaches in hierarchy could be sensed.

Opening your inner world wasn't the final step to become a Grand Knight.

You had to center your inner world around a single rune, but not one you could read. You needed a physical representation of the rune.

Similar to the Crown of Star, which was the physical representation of authority within a Keep.

How one could gain this physical rune? He didn't know.

But he guessed Alger was capable of making one since Heimar needed his permission to become a Grand Knight.

Lucen opened his eyes, breaking his channelling. Someone was coming. Kibara peeked into the alley and saw Lucen looking right at her.

She promptly let herself in, walking down like she hadn't been planning to surprise him. Lucen shook his head, chuckling; he had had an efficient channelling session so he didn't mind stopping here.

Kibara stopped a few steps away. "I'm still angry at you, but I wanted to check if your arm was okay."

"You were worried about me?" Lucen said, smirking.

Kibara came closer and hit him in the gut softly. But then frowned at her hand and then checked his fully healed forearm. Lucen had taken far worse injuries, but she didn't know that.

"Your skin is really hard. I thought Duran would cut off your entire hand there. You kids are so petty, you almost caved his skull in."

"I tried to hold back, the spell… is tricky. Also, you're younger than Duran, what are you talking about?"

Kibara ignored him, examining the cut. "There are too many strange things about you."

Lucen flinched. "That was kind of rude, no?"

"Do you think you're normal? I've heard stories about Squires defeating Knights, but none about even surviving an encounter with a Fiend. Are you some reincarnated demigod?"

"Aren't demigods immortal?" Even Shanakal, who tried to exterminate nearly two hundred people, was just sealed like other traitors.

Kibara narrowed her eyes. "Are you forgetting Hermanes? The last true king? The one that was assassinated."

Lucen blinked, then facepalmed. "Oh, that's true. But he was the first recorded death of a demigod. Most books still say they're immortal."

"After him, King Rion was killed too," Kibara added. "That's two people you could be."

Rion was killed by the same people that killed Hermanes, the Black Blessed.

What a way to go out. If Lucen was the Veiled King he'd abdicate to someone else.

Hermanes' death was often cited as the first sign of the fall.

Not long after his death, the Heart of the Halo was shattered, and all the vassal kingdoms and demigods began to rebel.

"So, you aren't a demigod."

"Unfortunately, no. We can't all be divine like you and the other demigods." Lucen sighed dramatically.

"Nice try but compliments can't save you." Kibara pinched his cheeks. "But I will follow you on your quest, at least halfway, then I'll come back to Castaway."

Lucen held back his excitement, coughing. "Oh, thanks. It's nice to have someone experienced with the road."

Kibara laughed softly. "Is that the only thing you're happy about? I want to see my dad then I'll come back here, I still have something to find."

"What are you looking for?"

"It's a secret, but it's related to how my sister and I became Knights."

Lucen nodded. Respecting boundaries and staying out of problems was a priority for him. "Have you gone on any quests yet? Kedral might not let you follow us."

Kibara shrugged. "I didn't become a Knight the normal way, so I had no masters to give me quests."

"What about spells?" Lucen asked. "Will you fight with us? You can stay back if you like."

Kibara flicked his forehead. "I can take care of myself, kid."

She raised her hand, and water began to pour from her fingers, dripping noisly. She swung her hand at the wall and a long gash ripped into the wall silently.

Lucen gaped. "Okay, that is pretty nice. And you can cast it fast."

"What does that mean?" Kibara asked. "Actually, never mind. I'm hungry, let's go eat somewhere."

Lucen jumped off the barrel and walked beside her. In the back of his mind, he was worried about this secret she had. What if it was related to the Void? She could be a spy of sorts.

He looked at her sideways. It was too easy to trust her, he needed to be more careful. His enemies knew far more than him.