Banished!?

— After a Four-Month-Long Seclusion Session —

*Knock, knock!*

Hearing knocks from outside my door, I opened my eyes. My piercing gold gaze focused on the door, and in the same second, I sent out my Divine Sense. The family servant outside was surprised to feel a Divine Sense—and even more astonished to realize that it was mine.

"Eldest Young Master, you broke through to the Qi Condensation Realm!?" the servant asked, using his Late Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation to shield his body from the invading Divine Sense. "The Master must know of this!"

However, just as the servant was in the process of turning around and rushing toward the Count's chambers, he recalled why he had bothered the Eldest Young Master to begin with. He stopped in his tracks before retracing his steps and pausing by the door.

"May I come in, Eldest Young Master?" the servant asked respectfully. "Master has given out an order that involves you."

"Involves me?" I parroted, wondering what my distant father could possibly want with the child he had ignored for most of the child's life.

"Come in," I ordered, no longer contemplating. "Close the door on your way in."

"Yes, Young Master," replied the servant as he opened the door and closed it behind him.

"Young Master…?" he murmured with a puzzled gleam. "Is that really you??"

I nodded, unsurprised that the improvements to my appearance caused him to be so bewildered.

"What is it that my father wants from me?" I asked, semi-intrigued. "If it's about my marriage with that bitc…Miss Yennefer, then inform him of my insistence on continuing my cultivation seclusion."

The servant shook his head. "It's not that, Young Master," he said. "Master has already designated the marriage date to be more than four years from now. No, that isn't what I've come to inform you of."

"Then what is it?" I asked, growing slightly impatient. "I'm very busy these days, so if you've come to waste my time…"

Feeling an inexplicable sense of danger emanating from me, the servant shivered. He instinctively lowered his head, his pupils erratically flickering.

However, after realizing what he had done, shame filled his heart.

To think that he had become afraid of a kid who started cultivating less than half a year ago…

Sighing, the servant motioned with his hands, clearly hinting for me to follow him. And although I really didn't want to leave my cultivation seclusion, it became abundantly apparent that this matter was fairly important.

"Haiz," I said as I creakily rose from my cultivation mat. "Lead the way."

"Y-Yes, Young Master," said the servant as he began walking through the hallways of the mansion. "What I'm supposed to inform you of is something that your father deemed to be of the utmost importance. But seeing as it's something that's better understood in person, I figured I should just show you."

"Show me what?" I asked as I followed the servant outside the mansion.

That was when I saw it—in the far-off distance, there was a massive floating list outlined in gold. Sprinkling off of it and falling onto the land for tens of thousands of miles was a whitish-blue flaky substance—the residual energies of a true powerhouse.

"The Ordinance List of the Azura Empire," the servant said dramatically while looking at the colossal floating list. "The Envoy of the Azura Empire passed by a few days ago, leaving that list behind."

"The Ordinance List of the Azura Empire?" I asked. "I… believe I've heard of it before…"

The servant's gaze surged with reverence as he stared at the fantastical list hovering in the skies hundreds of thousands of miles away. "Young Master, considering how you don't pay attention in many of your lessons, I'm surprised you know what an Ordinance List is."

"Just because I wasn't displaying my attentiveness doesn't mean I wasn't listening," I said. "I simply didn't feel the need to put up an act and pretend like I cared what other people thought of me."

The servant smiled. "That's very admirable of you, Young Master," he said. "But regardless, I'm meant to tell you that the Azura's Ordinance List has, on its timeless pages, the names of every person powerful and young enough to enter the rankings of the Azura Empire. And considering that our Elemental Nations Region is a small part of the Azura Empire, a single Azura Ordinance List was naturally dropped off."

"Get to the point," I commanded. "What does all of this have to do with me??"

The servant blankly stared at me for a couple of moments, finding it tough to get out what he wanted to say.

However, in the end, he loosened his tongue and pointed at the Azura Ordinance List.

"Eldest Young Master, as you are under 100 years old and the oldest male heir of the Falazar Count Family, you are required to participate in the rankings," he robotically declared. "On order of Count Falazar, you are to actively seek out those on the Azura Ordinance Rankings. You are then to challenge them, defeat them, and take their places. Only once you reach the Top 1,000 in the Elemental Nations Region are you permitted to return to the Main Family. Until that point—or your possible death—you are prohibited from using the family's resources or your inheritance."

"!?!!"

Wait a damn minute! Is this skinny bastard going to—!?

"Knox Falazar—Eldest heir of the Falazars—you are hereby banished from the Falazar Count Family!"

What the absolute Fuuuuuccckkk—!!?