Chapter 448

Ajax took full advantage of the trip to find out what the others nobles were thinking of doing as a reaction to him being named duke. Between everybody that was there they had plenty of informants and a good idea of the situation.

“There’s no need to be too worried.” Lexi said as she saw him tense up when he heard about the more violent intentions some nobles were panning for in an effort to gain a few favours. “My father has already sent some letters to enquire about the health of those Houses.” 

While Duke Manashaper was the head of the House he was also a researcher who didn’t have the time to micromanage the running of the House, it was his model that Ajax was planning on not just copying but taking to an even further extreme, after all the Duke was a lot older and more experienced with less room to develop than Ajax is when he got the title. 

“Won’t that make my House seem weak?” Ajax asked he knew that was a reason the royal family and the archdukes didn’t sent and threats to assure his position.

“It would if he was doing it as a friend.” Lexi nodded. “But our relationship is in the open, my family is expected to have a stance on this development. Despite being the most gifted in my generation of Manashapers I wasn’t likely to become head of my House. Dad is ecstatic at my opportunity to become a duchess.”

Despite their intentions for his House Ajax’s first reaction for anyone who crossed Darrius Manashaper was pity, it was a fleeting feeling but one he hid anyway. Darrius Manashaper wasn’t and couldn’t be the next head of House Manashaper for the simple fact he didn’t have the ability to use mana. 

While that in and of itself would not prevent someone from becoming the head of a House the circumstances were different in a House as new as the Manashapers and the reason for their title being directly related to magic research. 

Despite not having access to mana Darrius Manashaper was the youngest of his siblings and had gotten a full noble education that he then leveraged into political aptitude. Even now he was handling the brunt of the day to day management of his family, not in any specific field but as the coordinator of his siblings who handled their interests. If Duke Manashaper was the captain of the ship then Darrius was the helmsman. 

Right as Ajax was about to pass the border he was surprised by a notification. 

   Achievement : Researcher

Be the first to make a discovery and prove it.

Requires one Discovery(Has to be a first discovery) to earn:

Recipe for cement.

Reward : Skill [Alchemical Researcher], next two achievements earned have no discovery requirement, insight added to [Alchemy] skill regarding cement.

Ajax didn’t know that he was the first to discover cement, more than that he had no idea why the system was rewarding it or why it was a discovery and finally why was he getting this notification now when he had stopped his experiments weeks ago.

The second question was the one he deduced the answer to. The achievement also had the requirement to prove it, he guessed that a small proof of concept experiment wouldn’t suffice and that he only got the achievement weeks later now because his family had started putting it into practice.

“Planning something?” Lexi asked Ajax. 

“No, why do you ask?” Ajax was still a little distracted by the notification and its implications. 

“You have that look on your face.” Lexi said. “You’re proud of something but still not sure about it.” 

That got Ajax’s attention and he felt very glad to have found Lexi, someone who could read him so well. “I’m officially a Researcher.” Ajax said with a smile as he gave her a hug and a kiss. 

The entire convoy stopped dead. Since the only people joining them on the trip were three of the squads and the eldest prince they hadn’t bothered with privacy enchantments, if anyone spying on them could remain undetected by their escorts they could bypass the enchantments. 

“You’ve made a first Discovery?” the eldest prince asked as he opened the door to their carriage. “The system gave you the Achievement for it?” 

“Yes….” Ajax dragged the word out unsure of why that was important.

“It’s incredibly hard to be the first to discover something.” the prince explained, understanding the confused look on Ajax’s face. “We believe that this is because of the ascended races also being smart enough to look into anything system related and having more power and time to learn about it. The only way we realistically have of gaining that Achievement is through discovery of designs or recipes.” 

“So anything new can grant it?” Ajax asked, a little down that it wasn’t as unique as he had thought.

“Not just anything.” the prince shook his head. “It has to be something new that is different enough from anything previously made, a new more potent nightshade poison won’t be good enough. It also has to be practical.” 

“Why all the interest then?” Ajax asked, confused. “The reward is good, but I doubt I can help anyone gain it.” 

“Was it a new weapon?” The prince pressed. “I thought you were an alchemist but I know your dad is a blacksmith, tell me it wasn’t armor.” 

“What?” Ajax got more confused by the minute.

“Trailblazer titles.” Xavier said, filling him in. “We have records of two weapons being invented and one new armor type, neither are all that effective but have their place. But the skills for new inventions will also come with Trailblazer Achievements. Armor skills are a pain to gain.” 

“No, it was a new alchemy mixture.” Ajax said and he watched the prince’s face drop a little but he didn’t care, he was now thinking of how he could get a message to his family as quickly as possible to ensure it was one of them or their retainers that experimented with cement to get any trailblazer skills associated with it. 

“That thing you were working on before we left.” Anna tilted her head a little confused. “But why did you get the Achievement now? You weren’t doing any alchemy, did you leave an experiment running?” 

Ajax was about to answer but she just kept on going thinking aloud. 

“No, you would have waited to see the result for yourself. What happened right around now that could trigger it?” she kept going, her words coming out so fast Ajax was concerned she wasn’t breathing anymore. “Your family should have finally made it to Lessis! You gave your rough success to them, they put it in practice, whatever it is it works.” 

“Are they in danger?” Lexi asked, scared that whatever Ajax had come up with was something dangerous and they used it as a last resort.

“It isn’t anything combat related.” Ajax reassured her, his reassurance also seemed to make the prince and every other squad member a bit more depressed since they wouldn’t have a chance at getting a Trailblazer Achievement.

“Okay we can get back on the road.” the prince called out as he slowly closed the carriage door. 

“Is whatever you made hard to transport? Does it take someone with very specific skills to use?” As uninterested as the prince was in a non-combat discovery Anna was curious enough to cost a cat all nine lives. Despite that she didn’t push anything about the discovery itself and was more curious if he wanted help selling it.

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At around the same time near Lessis where the new Hearthbound estate was being built all of House Hearthbound’s retainers that had the [Builder] skill were hard at work. While the more experienced and higher level retainers were working on the foundation and the supports for the estate, the young ones were all working with Ajax’s cement.

“They’re just like all the other nobles.” Joe grumbled as he sloppily worked to ensure the cement road was flat. “Sure they might now look at us the same way those other nobles did but we’re still doing the grunt work.” 

“You should pay more attention.” Bob said as he carefully went over Joe’s work to ensure the road was as flat. “Besides, while we might not be working on the mansion this is still better we’re working with mages on this.” 

“They’re also apprentice mages, just practicing their water spells to keep it all wet, if we had a river close by they might make us carry the water.” Joe continued to complain. “You’re just happy because Lady Kate talked to us and said we were working on something important.”

Bob was only seventeen years old and his whole face flushed red at the mention of Kate. He had developed a bit of a crush on the beastkin. He tried to stumble out a few words to deny it while also trying to put more effort into his work when he froze. 

In front of his face was a system notification letting him know he not only gained an Achievement but he had also gained his first Epic skill, he didn’t even have a Rare skill before that moment, [Cement Builder Trailblazer].