CHAPTER 58: ROYAL WINGED EMPIRE

A few days had passed since the last holiday, and things were back on track for Athar. He was once again focused on the path to increasing his strength.

Though everything was progressing smoothly, he had hit a bottleneck with the Phase of Illusion technique. Let alone mastering it, he had not even been able to perform it at a novice level. While he was making some progress, it was painfully slow. Compared to the other techniques he had learned, this one felt like crawling through mud and he had no clue why it was proving so difficult.

At the moment, Athar was sitting in the library, flipping through a thick book. During their last lecture, his master Angelica had tasked him with understanding the administrative and political structure of the Royal Winged Empire.

The Royal Winged Empire, as he had learned, was located in the northwestern part of their world. It shared large borders with two of the three other empires and had a smaller boundary with the third.

The empire was further divided into three provinces.

The Western Province. The Central Province and the Eastern Province.

Each province comprised nearly a hundred cities. Nawarin City, where Athar currently resided, was one such city in the Western Province. The provincial capitals were named simply after their provinces. Western City for the Western Province. Eastern City for the Eastern Province. Central City for the Central Province

[Image in comments and Auxiliary Chapter]

Each province was overseen by a provincial governor appointed by the emperor.

Further down the hierarchy, every city was managed by a city mayor, except the provincial capitals which was governed directly by the governor.

The mayors were nominally appointed by the emperor, though in reality, the appointment and authority lay with the respective provincial governor. Unless some personal interest or something important, the emperor rarely intervened in the appointments of the mayor.

Similarly, each city had its own academy, and while the principal was formally appointed by imperial decree, the practical control and responsibility again lay with the provincial governor.

The empire’s military forces were divided into three tiers.

City Guards. They were under the jurisdiction of the city mayor, responsible for maintaining law and order within the city.

Provincial Military Force. They were commanded by the provincial governor. Stationed primarily in the provincial capitals and a few strategic locations across the province. They were deployed only when the city guards could not handle a situation.

Imperial Army. The elite forces of the empire. They were stationed along the borders, both the boundary with the forbidden forest and with the neighbouring empires. This army answered directly to the emperor and was not concerned with internal affairs of the empire.

Their sole purpose was to protect the borders and secure the forbidden forest.

Between the Eastern and Central Provinces, nestled along the border of the forbidden forest, lay a unique city—The Royal Winged City. It served as the capital of the empire and the seat of the emperor.

Though called a city, the Royal Winged City was such only in name. Its size was humongous.

It was not under the administration of any province and was ruled directly by the emperor himself.

There were a few other details Athar learned during his study. For instance, city mayors and academy principals were generally B Rank cultivators. Most instructors operated at C Rank, though Athar suspected that his master, Angelica, was far beyond that level. Though he could not say for certain.

Provincial governors, on the other hand, were usually at the A Rank.

As for S Rank and beyond, such individuals were rarely seen outside the imperial capital. They were legends in their own right, figures who stood at the pinnacle of power.

While the shift between one rank and the next might not seem significant on paper, in reality, each leap represented an enormous increase in strength.

The lower ranks- F, E, and D were considered basic, and the difference between them was relatively manageable. But once a cultivator broke past D Rank, the gap between each successive level widened drastically.

The leap from C to B Rank was a monumental hurdle. From B to A, the challenge became even more severe. And S Rank. That was a realm most people could only dream of. It was a height utterly unreachable for ordinary cultivators.

Apart from the hierarchical power system governed by official ranks, there also existed a parallel structure of influence—that of the noble families. These were influential lineages that operated somewhat outside the conventional chain of command.

Over the years, individuals who had rendered exceptional service to the empire were granted titles of nobility, ranging from Baron, Viscount, Earl, and Marquess, up to the rank of Duke.

While these titles did not confer any formal political authority, they were granted certain privileges and the titles significantly enhanced a family’s social influence and prestige.

The privileges included certain exemption from taxes, land allotments and most importantly, noble families were allowed to maintain their own private force. The number and the strength were limited by the title of their nobility.

With such status, these families often began to function as semi-autonomous entities, distancing themselves from the authority of city mayors or even provincial governors. This created a complex dynamic within the empire, often leading to internal friction and power struggles.

Though the book Athar was reading did not go into explicit detail, it was not difficult for him to imagine that such tensions had, at times, escalated into serious and ugly conflicts.

As an aside, he noted that Nawarin City—his current place of residence—had no titled noble families residing within it.

As Athar read though this, he wondered if this too involved some deep politics as his master had shown him in the last lecture.

Athar was returning to his dormitory from the library. It was quite late at night, and most of the students had already retired to their rooms when he suddenly heard a muffled groan. The sound had come from an isolated corridor on the fourth floor.

Athar instinctively thought it best not to get involved in such matters.

But before he could take another step, a young man came tumbling toward him from round the corridor.

It was someone he recognized. Terius. They had exchanged a few words once in the dining hall, and while they had not interacted much since then, they usually acknowledged each other with a casual hi or hello in passing.

Following behind him emerged three men. Athar again recognized one of these men. Trux.

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