Dark King

The air was more humid after the heavy rain. The breeze that blowed was cold. The climate change indicated that the terrible black snow season was coming. The square for worship was built and there were large number of people gathered in the place. The platform was surrounded by the status. Although the prayer day hasn’t officially started yet but the pious believers had come for the prayers.

At dawn. The same day.

The main castle of the Scott consortium. A figure entered the secret underground passage from the side of the castle. The man was led to the secret room by another shadow which was waiting for him. The man took out a sign which was familiar to everyone from nobles to civilians in the giant wall. The symbol of the Temple of Elements.

The old man in the secret chamber knew the identity of the person who had black mask covering his face. Old man quickly took the secret report and opened it. There was a short poem of a famous poet at the top. His eyes swept through it and suddenly his pupils shrank. His fingers trembled but he restrained himself. He spoke in a hoarse sound: “Go.”

The shadow didn’t speak but nodded his head. He quickly turned away and left.

Old man watched him leave the secret chamber through the passage. He used another exit and went around few corridors. Old man reached a basement and twisted the wall. He walked through the stairs of the basement and came to the castle hall.

He looked at the wall in clock which was more than sixty years old. It was early. He gently sucked his breath in and out. He felt calm as he found a maid: “Get to work, its not early anymore.”

“Yes butler.” The maid respectfully replied to the old man.

The warm sun rays shined through the windows in the castle. Miss Rostov, young master, second generation and third generation members had woken up. Some of the third generation members were still huddled in bed as they were reluctant to get out of the bed.

It was seven o’clock. All the ladies and gentlemen were present in the hall. Even the third generation descendants who were eager to sleep were present. The reason was that their grandfather Chai Rostov would be present. The members of the family would always get up on time and crowd in lobby to enjoy the breakfast. It was the iron rule of the family and their way of life. No one dared to violate this unwritten rule.

However, everyone was anxious and surprised today as after a long time their grandfather had yet to come down. Their grandfather had never been late in his lifetime. It only meant that there was more important things which were related to the consortium that made him to come down late.

Everyone in the hall had different thoughts and speculations about the issue.

In Chai Rostov’s room.

Chai Rostov rubbed his eyes as he looked at the secret report the old butler handed out to him. The butler picked up the glasses and gave it to Chai.

Chai put on glasses and slowly opened the secret report. He read through the content and handed it back to the old butler. There was not much of a change in his face. His thick eyebrows gave a majestic feel to Chai’s face. It seemed that Chai was in deep thoughts and thought about countless ideas. He looked like a man who could through endless people.

“Master … ” butler called out to old Chai.

Chai was silent for a time: “This time we have to get this thing at all costs!”

“Yes.” The butler nodded.

Chai put on his shoes and got out of the bed. He put on the clothes and came to the hall as butler followed after him. The young ladies and gentlemen of the family all stood up as they descended into the hall.

The others sat in the table according to their seniority after old Chai sit in the top chair.

Old butler handed the newest newspaper to Chai. He knew that Chai like to read the newspaper at breakfast. Old Chai found this attitude more efficient and time saving.

The newspaper handed out to him wasn’t the one which belonged to their own consortium or to the newspapers that belonged to other consortia. It was the newspaper published by the military. He already knew about the information that would be published by the newspaper of their own consortium. Actually for old Chai there were two powers which could shake the status and foundation of Scott consortium. The first was military while the second was Holy Church. The border was in a state which made it difficult to predict. He could only rely on his own judgement to understand the process. This war would sacrifice tens or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the war. He didn’t care about their life or death but the amount of money which could be made in the process.

He had a famous saying: “There is money to be made in the place where there is a struggle.”

This simple sentence had affected thoughts of a lot of wealth businessmen. Moreover it was the reasoning behind his business criterias.

“Military fell into disadvantage even though they have geographical advantages and military equipement?” Old Chai thought: “These barbarians seem to have learned using tricks and plans in addition to brute force…Interesting…”

…

…

The other five consortia including Huashen consortium, Mellon consortiu, Krylov consortium had received the secret reports from the internal staff of the Temple which had ties to them. Everyone was silent at dawn as the information was confirmed.

The daily newspaper published by the Temple of the Elements have been distributed out. The silence was suddenly replaced by the uproar. All the nobles were shocked.

The front page of the newspaper had very big four words imprinted on it: “Architect Dean’s new invention!”

Especially the phrase ‘lightning rod’ was imprinted in color!

The same newspaper was sent to Dudian’s castle. There was a trace of smile on his face as he read the newspaper. Because of yesterday’s heavy rain he expected that the results would come out today.

“Mr Dean is 16 years old. He is the youngest ‘epoch’ medal winner in the history. His third invention is born. Following the legendary item – the new textile machine, four star item – military crossbow is his third work of art which is – lightning rod!”

“A lot of people would be puzzled by the name of the product which is called lightning god. Everyone knows that Mr Dean is a member of wood element faction! I also thought so but Mr Dean had shown me with facts the different between the ‘genius’ and ‘extraordinary’! Your guess is not wrong. As the name literally says this product belongs to lightning faction! Yes, we are now able to mine the most destructive lightning!”

“According to master Eivissa and two other masters the lightning rod has been confirmed as a superior grade four star item!”

Dudian knew that there were some exaggerated words in the newspaper which have been modified but generally everything was alright. The thing is that lightning rod has been graded even higher than military crossbow!

It was a superior grade four star item which was very close to five star items!

Dudian knew why lightning rod was assessed more valuable than military crossbow. Military crossbow was a military equipment. Although its role was quite large in the war but its use was limited. Moreover it was a tool for war but lightning rod is for cilians. It is able to keep safety and protection of civilians. This point alone would offset it from military crossbow. Moreover there were many weapons used in the war. The main role of the military crossbow was to be used in middle-range. There could be more excellent weapons which could replace military crossbow in this position. It was valuable as long as it was usable. If there was some other concept that could outdo it then military crossbow would be deemed useless for production.

“But the lightning rod is different. It is also the first item in so many years that could be used to defend from thunder and lightning. However they have underestimated its usage as they have rate it as a superior grade four-star item. IF they understood the core principles of the lightning rod then it would not be excessive to rate it as a five-star item… Magnetic field…” Dudian whispered.

Moreover it seemed that the Temple did assess the items not only about its own value but they evaluated the current situation, environment and other factors in their judgement.

Dudian saw that the second page of the newspaper was dedicated to him!

“The statistics in the Temple have been renewed. Mr Dean has accumulated enough points to reach senior architect status. From today he has been promoted to senior architect…” Dudian woke up as he read the content. He had forgotten about the point system of the Temple. It was enough to be promoted to senior architect level if he produced two four star items. Most of the architects who had been promoted to senior level had only produced one four star item and relied mainly on producing large number of two star items. Or they would rely on three star items. Moreover the Temple was rigid in terms of requirements. It didn’t matter how many points you had accumulated. Unless you have made one four-star item then there was no chance to be promoted to senior architect level.

Similarly, the intermediate architects should have at least a three star invention.

In addition to be a master in the Temple the architect must produce two items which must be assessed as five-star items. Therefore the difference between masters and normal architects was like difference between heaven and earth.

Nicholas who was standing behind Dudian looked at the newspaper. His eyes narrowed as he was shocked. Although he had little information about the Temple but he had business relations with a primary architect. Dudian seemed to be promoted to a senior architect. Moreover his status was higher than an ordinary senior architect’s…

…

…

Church Mountain.

Eivissa’s face had turned ugly as he held the newspaper in his hands. He hadn’t inquired about the inventor of the item before the newspaper was out. Actually he was too lazy to use the relationship to get information about the inventor. The item wasn’t his so he didn’t care much. Moreover the item belonged to lightning faction which was under his command so he thought he would get attention too. But he never thought that it would be ‘this’ person who would be the inventor!

How can it be?

How can a sixteen year old boy invent a lightning faction product which was superior grade four star item?!

He was from tailor family so it was alright for him to produce the new type of textile machine. It was alright for him to produce a military crossbow if his background (hunter) was taken into account. But an item which belonged to lightning faction!?? What kind of person he is? A geek? A Devil?

Suddenly, master Eivissa thought about the boy who had first joined the temple. The kid had come to visit him and expressed his wish to be his assistant and participate in his project. But he had refused and didn’t expect that today the latter would achieve such a success. Looking at his resume it was clear that there was no other architect who had attained senior architect level the way Dudian had done.

He bit his lips as he threw the newspaper onto the table.

…

Another castle in the Temple.

Master Arsen was eating breakfast. The butler handed him the daily newspaper to read. He was seventy years old this year and was aware that he didn’t have much left to live. So he would often remind himself to live everyday as a happy day. In fact, there were few things that caused his resenment in the last few years. He didn’t care much even his inventions failed. In his long life he had so many failures that he had learned to laugh at it and pass on. He also taught this mentality to his students as well.

However the smile on his face stiffened the moment his eyes fell onto the first page of the newspaper.

There was no smile on his face as he had read the content of the news half way down. His mouth twitched for a moment. He took his coat, got up and left the castle.

…

…

Ryan family castle.

Old Fulin looked at the daily newspaper published by the Temple. His eyes shined as he looked at Sander who was next to him: “Do you see now? I knew that he wouldn’t do anything unless he grasped the situation in his hands. The remarks released by the Mellon consortium will have to be swallowed back. I assume by tomorrow the newspapers under Scott consortium will ridicule Mellon consortium. Can a man who spends all his time with a showgirl invent something such as this? All those remarks by them would be discredited.”

Sander laughed out as he heard his father’s joke: “So the most powerful counterattack is to fight back with own strength!”

“It’s good that you understand it.” Old Fulin spoke in a polite tone.

Sander said with emotion: “It is hard to imagine that a 16 year old civilian teenager would be in line of sight of aristocrats every day! Moreover he has been features on the first page of the Temple’s newspaper! We shall rename this date as ‘Dean’s day!’”

Old Fulin’s eyes lit up: “Yes, this is a good opportunity. Contact Huasheng and other consortia. As long as the iron is hot we could use it to affect their newspapers. Let them publish in tomorrow’s newspapers today as ‘Dudian’s day!’”