The Gamer's POV

Chapter 341: The Peerage Expansion Act

It was an accepted fact that all nobles possessed bonds. The purer the noble bloodline, the more likely an individual was to manifest a strong, high-progression bond.

However, that did not mean that there weren’t commoners with bonds. It was just that their lines manifested much weaker variants with far less potent capabilities.

Over time, the total number of nobles began to dwindle due to the constant casualties suffered within the rings. Combined with the fact that commoners who possessed Bonds frequently married other commoners, which often resulted in their descendants losing the ability to manifest them entirely, the overall presence of Bonds began to face a sharp decline.

It was around this time that the different empires decided to do something about the situation. As for the Lumierian Empire, their council enacted what was known as The Peerage Expansion Act.

This law decreed that all commoners with Bonds could be raised to the noble status of a Baron, provided they only married a fellow bonded commoner in the hopes of only giving birth to children with bonds.

Who didn’t want nobility? Aside from the immediate wealth and prestige, becoming even just a baron opened up an entirely new world of opportunities. It meant that a window was opened where your child might one day be able to marry the child of a viscount, allowing your bloodline to climb even higher into the true upper echelons of the empire.

Thus, countless commoners who were lucky — or as some would say, "blessed by the Gods" — to manifest bonds, strictly adhered to this decree, desperately trying to secure their family’s future.

However, now that the First Ring was no more, it was no wonder that the empire had chosen to revisit that act.

’I remember that after my transmigration, I looked into the history of the Martini Barony,’ Cedric recalled.

There was once a time when Baron Anele was a mere commoner. He wasn’t born into nobility and had to marry his fellow bonded commoner, Isadora, in order to receive the title of baron.

Now, a sudden thought crossed Cedric’s mind.

’I have a feeling that he never loved Isadora and married her solely to secure the title. Who knows... that commoner might have been his true love, hence the cheating.’

He tilted his head. The more he thought about it, the more the pieces seemed to fit. That was probably the exact reason why the man had stepped outside his marriage, ultimately resulting in the birth of Cedric, a bondless child.

’Hm...’ Cedric shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Tuu, Tuu, Tuu."

He read through the remaining columns, then flipped over the page.

As he did, he recalled that in the game he played, Baron Anele had eventually managed to get himself elevated to the rank of marquess. The memory had barely crossed his mind when his eyes caught a bold announcement on the fresh paper.

"By imperial decree of the Grand Council, Baron Anele Vesper Martini and his wife, Isadora Faye Martini, shall be promoted to the prestigious rank of Marquess and Marchioness. A grand ceremony will be held at the capital, and their elevation shall mark the official conclusion of the month-long celebration honoring the historic conquest of the First Ring."

’Oh?’ Cedric smiled. ’At least this part stays true to the game.’

He was not surprised.

You see, aside from marrying into a higher lineage, the Peerage Expansion Act provided a way to skip the intermediate ranks and jump straight to the status of a marquess, and that was for a person to reach Grade Seven.

Not everyone could reach this grade. To be perfectly frank, there weren’t even up to ten Grade Sevens in the entire Lumierian Empire.

It was general knowledge that unless one possessed an essence core, their cultivation ended at Grade Six. One of the requirements to evolve past that ceiling was to develop an essence core.

From what Cedric recalled from the game, and what he verified after his transmigration, the Marchioness had developed an essence core four months before his arrival, evolving to Grade Seven in the following month. As for Anele, he had actually possessed an essence core since his time at Grade Five, but he only managed to evolve to Grade Seven a month after his wife did.

Cedric had no idea about their subjects of influence and how exactly they had obtained their essence cores. He only knew that they had both accomplished this feat while operating within the Third Ring.

So of course, a promotion to the ranks of Marquess and Marchioness was only a matter of time.

Cedric sighed.

’I really hope I don’t run into those guys. I only need to focus on my growth whilst avoiding them.’

He picked up his cup of coffee, drank it all, and set the cup back down. He suddenly began to feel hot, so he tugged at the collar of his white shirt with slightly trembling hands.

That was when he noticed the tremor in his hands and the goosebumps breaking out along his skin. He chuckled to shake it off, closed his eyes, leaned back on his chair, then took a few steadying breaths.

After opening his eyes, he clicked his tongue, annoyed at the fact that thinking about them gave him anxiety.

He remained in that position as a different train of thought began to take shape.

Speaking of the empires, there were currently three massive powers ruling over the Cradle. There was the Lumierian Empire, the Evrarel Empire, and the Florentian Empire. All of these empires had their own royal families ruling them.

But according to what Cedric had learned so far, the Cradle had once been ruled by a single, unified royal family.

The very family that he had been the first prince of.

Since this was the case, why were there now three separate royal families? How did these three powers even come to be?

Were any of these current ruling families direct lineages that split from the original bloodline, or did they have no relation to his true family at all?

So many questions began to run through Cedric’s mind.

’I know that I died and my brother, Leon, died alongside me. But... what about the rest of my true family? Where are the rest of the Gods?’

He knew that they still existed, but where were they? They were not in their realms, neither were they dead. So...

Cedric couldn’t help but be curious about what exactly had happened after the fallout with the God of Unearned Misfortune.