I Don't Want to Be a Sorcerer

At the castle gates, Hill's personal valet, Bourne, waited for him with the carriage.

When Bourne saw Hill appear, he said with a smile, "Baron! Everything's packed! Let's get going!"

Bourne's parents had both been servants who followed Hill's mother back then.

Hill could not possibly leave their family behind in the count's territory, where Count Perast was deeply dissatisfied with Melanie.

Besides, Hill guessed that his maternal grandfather had already become a Magus. That was enough to make the count, a Great Knight, bow his head.

Yet Falan would rather give him a large sum of money than show himself before the count. Hill understood Falan's contempt and hatred for the count very well.

Hill needed to stay as far away from the count's lands as possible and leave no one behind.

He climbed into the carriage and said softly, "Let's go."

The carriage set off briskly.

Bourne's parents, Locke and Lina, waited outside the estate with their two children and their own carriage. When they saw Hill's carriage, they followed behind, heading all the way toward the western border.

Count Perast's territory lay inland in the Salar Kingdom, not far from the royal capital. It was wealthy, but it had little military strength.

That was also why no one had sensed Hill's Sorcerer identity.

The royal capital, on the other hand, worried Hill somewhat.

But before Melanie passed away, she had told him that he must go to the royal capital and find his maternal grandfather once he came of age.

Hill had originally planned to go take a look first.

Yet Falan had suddenly appeared the day before Hill's coming-of-age ceremony.

Melanie sent her alchemical products to the royal capital every year for Falan to sell on her behalf. He certainly knew that Hill possessed enough wealth.

Yet this time, Falan had quietly come alone, bringing a vast amount of resources as well as enough spellbooks for Hill to cultivate all the way to Archmage.

Something must have been about to happen in the royal capital. Falan believed that if Hill went there as merely a Mage, he might run into trouble.

But if Hill insisted on going, Falan had no objections.

Hill had to make the choice himself: take the risk, or remain by Falan's side and accept his protection.

That was why Falan had left without saying anything, allowing Hill to consider what kind of future he wanted.

Hill understood that a Sorcerer's bloodline developed freely until reaching Legendary rank. At worst, he would simply refrain from learning spells of other branches. The spell scrolls Melanie had left him were enough.

No matter what happened in the royal capital, Falan, as a Magus, would be fine. But if Hill was in the royal capital, he would very likely be used to drag Falan into trouble. Hill had no interest in becoming a hostage. He should reach the border quickly and leave the country to pioneer the Wilds!

The Pioneer Writ in his possession was quite good.

A Pioneer Writ was an agreement document witnessed by the Justice God and recognized by every nation on the continent. All Gods acknowledged it, though it was issued by the Temple of Justice.

Once used in the Wilds, it would automatically be recorded in the Hall of Justice, and no kingdom could reclaim it.

This was territory recognized by the Gods, automatically appearing on the Alchemical Map.

However, if the land pioneered by a lord extended beyond the Alchemical Map's boundaries, it depended on whether the lord could protect those places.

Only after occupying it for a long time would the Alchemical Map recognize it as your territory.

Generally speaking, most such pioneering territories were destroyed beneath the claws of Magical Beasts.

Once the core was shattered, the portion recorded by the temple would automatically disappear as well.

The fortunate could return to their country as landless nobles. The unfortunate would leave their corpses exposed in the Wilds.

Many had succeeded. The Salar Kingdom itself had been founded this way.

But even more had died.

The Wilds were boundless. In ancient times, even Gods could fall after venturing too deeply within them, much less now, when Gods could not descend into the world.

What satisfied Hill most about this world was the complexity of its divine systems. The Gods of the major races were the mainstream. There was no unified pantheon, and the Wilds kept every race far apart. Only the strong could travel everywhere.

Every race faced the Magical Beasts that emerged from the Wilds and the Devils and Demons that came from the Abyss and Hell. Humanity already had enough enemies. Human nations all stood beneath the gaze of the Gods, so every conflict could only be carried out within certain limits.

The Gods could only attract believers; they could not force anyone. Among the strong, broad believers were everywhere. Hill respected the Gods. After all, in human history, it was the Gods who had protected humanity from being swallowed by the Wilds.

But as a transmigrator, he could not entrust himself to any God.

As a Sorcerer, not believing in Gods was perfectly normal, and no one would find it strange. Some Mages believed in the Knowledge God, but missionaries from every temple avoided Sorcerers.

Sorcerers' chaotic inheritances meant that many did not manifest their bloodlines until after becoming Legendary. Those who suffered disasters after believing in Gods were countless, and even the Gods had been tricked badly enough to vomit blood.

The Justice God once had a believer with a Devil Bloodline. Before reaching Legendary rank, his devotion had earned praise even from the Justice God. Yet once he entered the Legendary realm and his bloodline fully manifested, his life became dedicated to finding loopholes in the Justice God's contracts.

As a former devout believer, he truly understood the Justice God. The chaos he created during that period was something the Justice God's church still refused to discuss. Moreover, although this Legendary Sorcerer had disappeared from human lands, there were rumors that he had gone to the Abyss.

From then on, whether Sorcerers believed in Gods was left to their own conscience. You could believe, but the Gods generally gave no response.

Nobles, however, greatly hoped for Sorcerer bloodlines to appear in their families.

Noble titles could only be inherited by those at Knight rank or above. If the direct line lost its title, collateral branches who became official professionals could also gain inheritance rights. As for Mages, they needed talent, extraordinary willpower, and intelligence. Those who could not even become Knights would probably remain Mage Apprentices for life.

Thus, Sorcerers who awakened directly at the Official Mage level were truly attractive to nobles.

As a result, many young Sorcerers were treated as breeding stock before they could even mature, while female Sorcerers suffered even more miserably.

Such chaos lasted for nearly a century, until the High-Tier Sorcerers had to step forward for their own futures.

Yet Sorcerer bloodlines came in every conceivable variety. The Legendary Sorcerers capable of organizing an association could not guarantee they would not fight upon meeting each other, and individual Legendary Sorcerers could only protect those around them.

In the end, Dillant, the sole female Legendary Sorcerer at the time, built a Mage Tower in the Wilds to receive every female Sorcerer who came seeking refuge.

This small territory received the protection of all Legendary Sorcerers, and the nobles understood that this was the bottom line.

The tower survived in the Wilds and, after a thousand years, became the present-day Dillant Sorceress Kingdom.

But no one cared about male Sorcerers. They either barely survived in the Sorceress Kingdom until they became Archmages and were driven out, or found some corner to live quietly on their own.

In truth, there were very few Sorcerers who still could not survive independently after becoming Archmages. However, some male Sorcerers did not mind becoming breeding stock, marrying, and having children. Such people could never enter the Legendary realm, so no one cared about them.

Hill did not know why he had been reborn in this world, but Melanie's storm-like actions after his birth had left him dumbfounded throughout his adjustment period. The furious female Mage ended her quarrel with the count using a Fire Storm, then took Hill and the maid's family and moved directly out of the castle.

The female Mage's enthusiasm for life seemed to vanish along with her exhausting love affair. She buried herself in the alchemy laboratory and would not leave for months or even years.

Fortunately, Lina was there to care for Hill.

His personal valet, Bourne, had already been three years old at the time. Lina devoted all her attention to caring for Hill and never had a second child.

Only after Hill returned to the castle did Lina, who had remained at the estate, give birth to twins, Dean and Sunny.

After Hill turned three, Melanie began teaching him Mage knowledge and writing.

That period was truly difficult. Melanie did not care how much he learned and simply taught relentlessly.

Fortunately, his past life studying civil engineering, combined with two lifetimes of experience, had given him a photographic memory. Knowing that his fate was uncertain, Hill persevered no matter how tedious it became.

Melanie taught him for only two years. Once she saw that he had learned magical Runes and mathematics, she returned to alchemy, leaving Hill to teach himself.

If he had not retained memories of his past life, he definitely could not have endured it. Whenever he grew too irritated and helpless, Hill would drag Bourne over to study with him.

Bourne was destined to accompany Hill as his steward. He needed to learn many skills from his parents, and his young master also dragged him into learning Mage knowledge. It was truly difficult.

But for Bourne, a servant, even awakening the slightest bit of magic meant his descendants might become Mages. He could only grit his teeth and persevere.

Bourne's persistence spurred Hill onward. No one wanted to remain at the bottom. His own life was already very fortunate.

After meditating to his limit each day, he read and memorized books, then organized the material by teaching Bourne. Hill sorted his spell knowledge from simple to complex with perfect clarity.

When Melanie was injured and bedridden and began personally guiding Hill, she discovered that her son seemed exceptionally gifted. Only then did she begin pouring her enthusiasm into him.

That relief at having someone to carry on her legacy was actually quite hurtful. Fortunately, he had retained memories from the moment of his birth and had never expected anything from those two. If he had been an ordinary child, parents like them would have ruined him long ago.

Hill's parents in his previous life had given him a great deal of love. Melanie had also been very young, only sixteen when she gave birth to him. Hill did not regard her as a mother and did not need to seek maternal love from her, so he was far more tolerant of her. Compared with that count father, Melanie was much better.

Moreover, Melanie was truly wealthy as an alchemist. The only way she could show love for her son was by showering him with wealth. Hill had four storage rings.

Bourne awakened magical power a year ago and became a Mage Apprentice. Though he could only produce a tiny spark, Hill had him spend that year slowly purchasing supplies.

Although Hill had expected that they would probably depend on Falan in the royal capital for some time, the civil engineer's habit of preparing for every contingency had helped greatly. Now, they only needed to buy local specialties along the way; everything else had already been prepared.

Salar routinely issued Pioneer Writs in advance to landless barons from branch families, and no one would refuse one. After all, you might not wish to take risks, but your descendants might need it.

Still, Pioneer Writs differed in quality. As a father, the count had given Hill the best kind: Hill could possess territory the size of a count's domain.

The four years Hill spent at Peraster Castle had brought some benefits. He had read every book in the entire castle. In the count's private study, there were also many ancestral journals that only direct bloodlines were permitted to read.

When Hill read those ancestral journals, he had always expected the count to stop him. Yet not even Manton came. If knowledge was wealth, these people had probably forgotten it long ago. As the beneficiary, Hill could only quietly make a fortune.