CHAPTER 61: THE SOVEREIGNTY.

Ren stretched his long legs across the incredibly soft velvet couch that seemed to swallow him whole like a giant purple marshmallow.

In fact, after spending what felt like seventeen hours straight absorbing memories from glowing orbs, he was pretty sure this couch was the only thing keeping him from melting into a puddle of exhausted mental confusion.

It was that comfy. After coming to the library everyday for three weeks, he and the spirit in charge had developed a strange friendship.

Among the few privileges that entailed was the unlimited access to this comfy couch.

And it was super worth it!

The library around him was absolutely massive.

There were towering bookshelves that reached so high they disappeared into shadows above, and floating magical lights that danced between the shelves like tiny disco balls, casting rainbow sparkles across thousands of spherical memory orbs that probably contained more secrets than a group chat full of gossiping teenagers.

Dozens of memory orbs surrounded him in perfect circles, each one glowing with a dim color.

He picked up another orb, this one glowing with a soft white light that reminded him of white pebbles, and held it carefully in his palms while closing his silver eyes that always seemed to catch and reflect light in the most unusual ways.

The moment his consciousness dove into the memory orb, it was like being sucked through a magical tornado made of pure information.

Images, voices, emotions, and facts all swirled around his mind in a chaotic dance that would have made anyone else’s brain explode like an overstuffed balloon, but Ren’s brilliant analytical mind somehow managed to catch every single detail and organize it all into neat mental filing cabinets.

For several minutes, he sat completely still like a statue, his breathing slow and steady while his mind raced through political treaties, family histories, ancient agreements, and backstabbing schemes that were more complicated than trying to solve a Rubik’s cube while riding a roller coaster blindfolded.

When the orb finally dimmed down to nothing more than a dull glass sphere, Ren’s silver eyes snapped open with clear intensity.

He let out a long, dramatic sigh that seemed to carry the weight of all the political nonsense he had just absorbed.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully while his brain worked like the world’s most powerful computer, processing and connecting all the information he had gathered over the past few days since becoming an official member of Mirabella’s guild.

The thing was, now that he had officially joined Mirabella’s guild and could not push away the responsibility and consequences of his actions, he actually had to understand how everything worked up here on the surface, especially politically.

Because, apparently, surface politics were more twisted and complicated than a plate of spaghetti that had been stirred by a tornado.

And he couldn’t underestimate the influence and changes his mere existence being the only male weaver in existence could bring to any organization or force that he was even mildly affiliated with.

He needed to dig deep into all the information he could find about the political structure, the power players, the secret deals, and all the behind-the-scenes drama that would make reality TV shows look boring in comparison.

At this point, if he still didn’t start to make effort to understand how the game was played, he would end up like a chess piece that didn’t know it was on a chessboard; completely defenseless and probably about to get knocked over by someone much smarter and more ruthless.

What he had learned so far was both fascinating and absolutely terrifying.

The entire surface world was split up into different sovereignties, which were basically like super-sized continents that had their own rules, armies, and leaders, including a rich and deep history.

There were five major sovereignties that were so powerful they could probably reshape the entire world if they ever decided to work together instead of constantly trying to outsmart each other like kids fighting over the last slice of birthday cake.

The sovereignty they were currently living in was called the Amethyst Sovereignty, which sounded pretty and elegant like a fancy jewelry store, but was actually named after the massive amethyst crystal formations that covered most of the landscape and provided magical energy for the entire region.

Yes, as crazy as it sounded. A humongous, natural formation actually spanned the whole region of this continent!

It was that big!

On paper, the Amethyst Sovereignty was supposed to be governed by something called the Amethyst Corps, which was basically like a government council made up of representatives from different areas, and they were supposed to make all the important decisions about laws, taxes, trade agreements, and all that boring political stuff that made Ren’s eyes glaze over just thinking about it.

But here was where things got really interesting and complicated.

The Amethyst Corps wasn’t actually the real power behind everything, because the true control of the sovereignty was held by three major factions that were constantly playing political games with each other like they were in some kind of never-ending championship tournament where the prize was control over millions of people’s lives.

These three factions were made up of seven incredibly powerful families that had been accumulating wealth, influence, and magical power for hundreds of years and were as terrifying as they got.

They were so rich and connected that they could probably buy entire cities just for fun, or make people disappear with nothing more than a casual conversation over afternoon tea.

Even if said person was inside the Number One academy of the surface.

No place was too secure to breach for them. It would merely take more effort.

The first faction was called the Neutral Faction, and despite their boring name that made them sound like they just wanted everyone to get along and share their toys nicely, they were actually incredibly smart and strategic.

Not only were they highly favored by the masses, they were playing both sides of every conflict between the other two factions while secretly building their own power base like master chess players who were thinking fifteen moves ahead while everyone else was still trying to figure out which piece was the horsey.

The Neutral Faction was composed of only two families, but these two families were so influential and wealthy that they could probably influence major decisions just by raising their eyebrows in disapproval at fancy dinner parties.

Then there was the Traditionalist Faction, which was made up of families who believed that the old ways of doing things were the best ways, and they wanted to keep everything exactly the same as it had been for centuries.

This was probably because change scared them. The old ways were well known, trusted and had no surprises. And also very, very brutal when the case arises.

Which was exactly how they wanted it.

The Traditionalists controlled a lot of the agricultural areas and had deep connections with religious organizations, which meant they had both the food supply and spiritual influence needed to keep large portions of the population on their side, and they weren’t afraid to use both of those advantages whenever they needed to pressure the other factions into agreeing with their plans.

The third and final faction was the Progressive Faction, and these were the families who wanted to change everything, modernize the sovereignty, adopt new technologies, and basically turn their entire world upside down and build it back up from the scratch under a new order.

They were as crazy as crazy fanatics could get and operated more like terrorists than the noble families they were.

The Progressives controlled most of the major cities, the trade routes, and the magical research institutions, which gave them access to cutting-edge innovations and the kind of wealth that came from being the first to market with revolutionary new ideas.

Still, their constant push for change also made them a lot of enemies among people who preferred their lives to be predictable and stable.

And right in the middle of all this political chaos and family drama that was more intense than any soap opera ever created, Mirabella’s Frostweave family was one of the two powerful families that made up the Neutral Faction.

This meant that Ren was now technically connected to one of the most influential political groups in the entire sovereignty, and he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do with that information except maybe panic quietly while trying to figure out how not to accidentally start a war by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person.

Ren looked around at all the memory orbs surrounding him like glowing evidence of just how complicated his life had become, and couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Just a few weeks ago his biggest worry had been whether he would have enough money to buy the items he needed to grow stronger, and now he was sitting in a magical library trying to understand political schemes that could affect the lives of millions of people.

All he knew was this: the plot was already beginning to thicken. He had to remain alert to avoid falling into any scheme or conspiracy against his interests.