The nightmare realm had a great potential, this was undeniable and he wasn't dumb enough to ignore that, of course.
The ways in which he could make use of the nightmare realm to facilitate his goals were endless in a very real sense. It was already midnight when he finished his contemplations, so he decided to sleep, tomorrow he was going to visit an old friend.
Back in the real world Aldrich spent his day normally, he had only one class in the morning and so he had some free time on his hands and he decided to meet up with Frank and they chatted over breakfast.
In this conversation he learned from Frank that he was actually about to become a Crestmaster but he was intentionally suppressing the ignition of his symbol.
He bragged that not many people had the opportunity to do so since most of the time people would get overwhelmed by the feeling of ignition.
This was not some groundbreaking thing as it was a well known strategy, the reason behind that was because when you get tested to join a guild the exam for Crestmasters and non-Crestmasters was very different. This was obvious since the difference in ability was that wide.
In other words it was better to take the exam before ignition as that means you would take the easier exams of course this logic has its own flaws but it was valid.
After all, since people like Frank could control the awakening he would do it after he was accepted into the guild. There by, getting the benefit of being a Crestmaster and not going through a harder exam.
Aldrich was impressed by that, in fact he considered joining up with Frank since they were both aiming for the Knights of Last Sustar. And they both got along well enough.
It was at the end of their conversation that Frank said something extraordinarily interesting.
"My sweetheart is going to take the oath after two days so that she could be back in Vorian in time for the exam."
Aldrich froze for a moment when he heard that word, he looked at Frank and asked slowly,
"what is the oath?"
"Eh? You don't know??!" He raised his voice.
"Well, is it common knowledge? I didn't hear anyone talk about it except in hushes and whispers?"
"Duh, obviously they would, its the Oath of Doom after all. They despise it, fear and resent it but can't help but seek it."
To be honest Aldrich knew about Oathbreakers, everyone knew, it was common knowledge that Oathbreakers were mad, out of control Crestmasters and everyone feared them.
He had seen two so far, one of them even turned under his watch. It was a terrifying thing to behold, it regenerated half a torso in a matter of minutes.
But although he saw that, truth be told he didn't really understand what happened.
"If you saw an Oathbreaker you have to immediately run away and report it to the closest temple in the area.
They are known for killing randomly and under the effects of breaking the oath, they got cursed into malformed monsters that would eventually no longer resemble humans."
As he heard these words Aldrich was reminded of Cazmer the Otherbreaker that saved his life on that fateful day.
Cazmer had entrusted him with his last wish and a black non-assuming ring that was a wondrous item that had the ability to make other people fall asleep.
Aldrich didn't know how to use it yet but he felt it faintly react since he had upgraded his spirit to 4.
Soon he will learn to use it, who knows it might come in handy someday.
He had to fulfill Cazmer's last wish but that was not as easy as it sounded, Irene was from Ebrict so when he got a good chance he had to get as much information as possible.
"The oath of doom? That sounds very ominous, if it was so bad then why do people take it?"
Frank had a hesitant expression on his face as if he wanted to talk about it and didn't want to, all at once.
"Listen, I have a class soon, so I'd better get going." He stood up and made to leave before he turned around and whispered, "if you want to know about the oath just look it up in the library. But I recommend not talking about too much it in a public setting."
Aldrich didn't expect that, so he just nodded and said his goodbyes as he made his way to the library.
The library available for initiates was huge, the books covered everything from history to dungeon research. He first checked the monsters section and found that despite the many books information about grade one monsters were sparse.
Not to mention grade two or higher, even the information on grade one monsters just mentioned the most basic. It was vague and mostly consisted of warnings not confront these monsters as a normal person.
Aldrich shook his head and thought about the monster caudexes that Ayemon gave him, compared to this pile of junk here it was a divine tome of knowledge.
Alright, he wasn't here to see this, he took some of the books that looked to be the most relevant about the oath and took a seat at one on of the reading tables.
Due to his high intelligence attribute his reading and learning abilities far surpassed ordinary people.
In fact even for Crestmasters Aldrich could be considered outstanding except for Glyphmancers who are said to all be geniuses, other classes were not know for their intelligence.
The more he read the more his expression changed from awe and wonder to fear and then shock. After more than two hours he was done and so he reorganized the information in his head.
First, what is the oath? To take the oath one must perform a ritual in the holy capital of Ashphim itself, it was not rare at all, it was held yearly at this time under the foot of the Sunbreak mountain.
The oath was a simple thing, as a concept at least. It had the effect of raising the talents of anyone who took it, basically those whom had the talents of Crestmasters will have their talents amplified and the ignition process would become smoother in return.
So, why is the oath so bad then? Easy, those who took the oath will not be able to ignite more than one symbol in their life time. Not only that they also had to not overuse their powers as much as possible for fear of breaking the oath.
At the age of thirty five all who took the oath must retire from any job that is considered by the imperial citadel to be straining on the oath.
As for what happens when you break the oath? The crest on the forehead of all Crestmasters breaks.
Then you begin to lose your mind, it could be slow or fast, and when that happens all Oathbreakers awaken to great powers and become bloodthirsty unleashing great tragedies.
So despite the dangers why do people take the oath? Why does the Empire permit it and even encourage it? All the while knowing of the tragic ends of Oathbreakers?
It was because, thanks to blessings of great Altunan and the oath, the Empire boasts the greatest number of Crestmasters in the whole world by far.
So is this a secret from those who take the oath? No. Are people being forced to take that risk? No.
Not all initiates end up becoming Crestmasters, some people can't do it for their entire life, they seek to become Crestmasters even if they take that kind of risk, it was worth it.
Aldrich felt complicated as he remembered Cazmer's words to him that night. For power he took the oath and for even greater power he broke it. Finally these words made sense.
According to Cazmer a former member of the True Saint's Folk, the order employed at least fifty Oathbreakers in their ranks. This was the personification of insanity.
A force like that could take down an entire city all on their own.
But how did they dare to keep that many Oathbreakers? It had to be known that Oathbreakers attacked and slaughtered at random, they didn't care if you were on the same side.
Yes. He was able to converse with Cazmer semi-normally but that was only because Cazmer had only barely transformed. And even then it felt like he could snap at the drop of a hat.
What's going on? Every time he thought about True Saint's Folk he found them to be hidden in a veil of mystery and they even seemed to defy common sense.
There were many dark organizations and secret societies there was even cults dedicated to the false gods, but this organization in particular gave him a terrifying impression.
The thing that frustrated him the most was that Wakefield had nothing to do with anything, they were just minding their own business, living simple lives everyday.
So, why?! WHY? WHY? WHY?!
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