Chapter 327: What is “Ambition”?
Two people can have the exact same desire on paper, but their intentions and actions is what determines the morality of their desire.
________________________________________________
Frederick Anterio.
In regards to the public records of this man, they were impressive to say the least. But as the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover.
As the firstborn son of the noble Anterio Family, as the son of a famous war hero no less, Frederick was wanting for nothing growing up.
A large house, servants at his beck and call, all the food he could eat and cultivation resources up the wazoo, Frederick may not have been king of the world, but he was pretty damn close to it.
Born with a silver spoon in their mouth? Nah, he was born atop a golden tray.
But of course, such privileges don’t come without a price, which in this case, came in the form of “expectations”.
There were the expectations of the people, who had their biases and presumptions made for the son of the famed war hero on how he should act.
“He should be as bold, chivalrous, wise and as charismatic as his father, right?”
“Of course! How could he be anything less? He’s not a bastard!”
There were the expectations of the family, who had to care about their image, their reputation and their conduct.
“Frederick, you must remember your position in life. As members of the nobelese it is our duty to look after our lessers…and also remind them their place at the same time. Physically or otherwise.”
“You’re the son of the patriarch, so you must remember to act like it.”
There were the expectations of his future, a tad more nebulous, but haunting just the same.
“As the first and foremost heir to the Anterio name, you’ll have to be groomed to taking over the day your father steps down…or dies. That last one is unlikely, but it never hurts to be prepared to take over just in case.”
Expectations of one’s talents, and the need to constantly improve them, not matter the cost.
“Good lords! Look at how pure his aether expression is! It’s of the highest quality, surely he’ll be able to reach the elite status in no time.”
“98% compatibility?! With that formula? That’s even higher than his father! His future surely has no limits.”
And lastly…there were the expectations of oneself…. arguably the hardest to live up to.
“Number 2? Number 2?! How can I have scored so low on the rankings! There has to be a mistake!”
“Some young upstart thinks he can beat me? Very well, bring him in. I will crush him myself.”
“You’re going to be a leader, act like one. You’re going to be a leader, act like one…”
Now (un)surprisingly, Frederick managed to live up to these expectations and then some, cementing his reputation not as some good-for-nothing who happened to be born in the right family, but as a proper heir to an illustrious familial dynasty.
For all intents and purposes, Frederick was set for life. Even if he didn’t become everything others wanted him to be, he’d be able to live long and comfortable life with power, privilege and prestige that many others could only dream about.
But that’s the thing…he wanted more.
More money?
More power?
More prestige?
Perhaps he just wanted more meaning to his life.
He didn’t know what he wanted more of, all he knew, was that he wanted…more.
But it was during this time of wanting when he was given an expectant piece of news: his father was stepping down from his role as leader.
Frederick was jubilant to say the least.
Now, after all this time, all of these years of training, learning, maintaining a reputation, and piles and piles of expectations being dumped upon him from on high and down below, he will finally be given the one thing that was practically promised to him at birth.
Maybe, just maybe now, he can finally fulfill that need of wanting “more”.
But then…that didn’t happen.
Instead, it was going to be an…election? Between him and his clearly less deserving brothers?!
After years and years of being promised that he would be the next leader, that he would be the one to lead the Anterio family’s future, that his brothers would support him once he became leader, now he was being denied his promised future?!
Unacceptable!
Inconceivable!
This was his destiny to fulfill, and nobody, not his father nor his brothers would deny him his birthright. They would pay, they would all pay!
But to do that he needed…more.
…
[More you azk? I can help with that…]
…
Frederick’s encounter with the messenger was eye-opening.
Who needed the power those old codgers wielded? He had access to a whole new type of it!
Who needed money? If he wanted something, he could just take it, it was his right by might!
Who needed prestige?! Fear is just respect’s more easily acquirable cousin, why have the love of the people when you could have them kneel at your feet and beg for their lives!
Let his brothers squabble for the petty little position of “patriarch”, let his father waste away like the old fool he was!
“Kingdoms come and go, all empires will eventually crumble to dust, but I…I shall ascend and take my place among the pantheons and become a god! It’s…all I wanted and more after all….”
…
No.
No!
Nononononononononoooooooo!
I was so close! So close!
Power! Fear! It was all at my fingertips!
But that damned adventurer, that blasted “father”, that accursed Rocko!
He took it away, he took it away, he took it all away from me!
And now I am stuck here!
Hunger gnawing, solitude maddening!
What’s the point of power if I can’t flaunt it?!
What use is reputation if no one knows it?!
I want my freedom!
I want my food!
I want more than this!
Give! Me! Moooooreeee!
…
Even a grub would do…even a grub would do…
…
I…just…want to eat something…nothing more…
________________________________________________
The desire for wanting something “more” is a rather universal one, but the “more” that can fulfill such a desire varies greatly from person to person.
Sometimes it’s tangible, sometimes it’s not.
Sometimes it achievable, sometimes it’s impossible.
But the question will always remain, that if one can acquire that “something more”, will it ever become…”enough”?
A philosophical rambling from the Scholar Morgia, Year 1327-Admantine Empire.
________________________________________________
=Milord? Milord? Milord!=
“Buh! What?!”
=Why did that work?!=
Zhen Liu shot up into consciousness, confusion in his eyes as they darted about the room in an attempt to understand what had just happened.
“What happened?! Why was I asleep and…why does my mouth taste like vomit?”
=Because you did. Twice.=
‘I…why?,’ Zhen Liu asked as he switched to mental talk. After saying the word “vomit” earlier, he realized Rianna was still in the room. She might have been still reading her daddy’s good-bye note, and he didn’t want to ruin the mood of that.
‘Oh cool…wait, how come I don’t feel like I learned an entire lifetime of stuff then? Actually, why didn’t that happen when I touched Rocko’s saber?”
=We helped to filter out some of the unnecessary knowledge and stored them as books on our end.=
‘Oh…cool.’
With that out of the way, Zhen Liu proceeded to re-examine the newly cleaned pools of Scared Beast Essence. Now that it had significantly less…”Frederick” in them, the pools looked more impressive to him.
He could now understand why people were killing to each other for this stuff…and now he was gonna reap the benefits of it.
‘Real quick: am I able to drink this stuff and get the power of the aether beasts like everyone else, or…’
=No milord, you don’t have any proper aether channels, remember?=
‘Figured.’
‘Huh…keeping that information in mind for later…,’ Zhen Liu mentally filed as he imagine Nepherage and the gang looking more insect-like than before, ‘well then…might as well prepare the jade medicinal…do we have anything bigger than a bottle?’
‘Cool…wait…what the fuck is that at the bottom of the pools?’
Now that Zhen Liu could see through the pools more clearly, he could see sitting on the bottom were pair of circular objects. It took him a moment to put together that these were the beast cores of the Infernal Spider Queen and Cataclysmic Wind Storm Lacewing.
‘Oh…shit.’
Evidently, if Zhen Liu decided to cash out on all of these goodies, he had enough money to buy out Stoneclaw City…and Emerald Eye.
‘More money, more problems…but what about a fuckton of money…’
