442 years ago, the Rockwell Family arrived at a large open plain which was bordered by rolling hills to its North-East, out of which flowed a mighty river that traveled to the South.
Upon this land, Fredrick Belton Rockwell, and the others who had chosen to follow him when he fled from the war-torn Black Tiger Kingdom, decided to settle.
80 years later, after much growth and expansion, the Rockwell Kingdom was officially established with Rockwell City as its capital and Fredrick as its first king.
Today, Rockwell City stood on what was once that open plain, a huge metropolis home to some 300,000 people.
In the centre of this grand city stood the Royal Palace, a massive complex with multiple spires, buildings, training grounds, and gardens, built from the finest stone, wood, and metal, surrounded by high walls that were patrolled day and night by the best warriors in the Kingdom.
This was the home of the Rockwell Royal Family, the rulers of this land.
Inside the palace, Nathanial Rockwell, Eighth King of the Rockwell Kingdom, sat on a simple mat in a rather plain looking room, his eyes closed as he cultivated in silence.
Given that one of the requirements to become ruler of the Rockwell Kingdom was to reach the Spirit Adept Realm, possessing an average lifespan of about 500 years, it might be surprising that there had already been 7 rulers before Nathanial, but this had nothing to do with political infighting or the previous rulers dying due to disease.
When the founding king, Fredrick Rockwell, assumed his throne, he declared that he would only rule for 50 years before his chosen successor, his eldest daughter Ariana, took over his position.
Many praised the king as wise and magnanimous when he made this announcement, saying he was giving the next generation a chance to rise up and re-invigorate the kingdom instead of clinging to power and stifling progress.
However, Fredrick's true motivations in deciding such a time limit on his rule remained a mystery to the general population.
Nathanial Rockwell had fought hard and made multiple achievements throughout his life, including reaching the vaunted Low-Rank Spirit Adept Realm at the young age of 118.
When Nathanial was officially named Crown Prince by Hayden Rockwell, his royal father, at the former's 125 birthday celebration, Nathanial rejoiced. He then spent the next 19 years preparing for his father's abdication, slowly assuming more and more responsibilities until finally, at the age of 144, he was coronated and became king.
12 years into the young king's rule, Nathanial now wished for nothing more than a chance to go back in time and throttle his younger self for being so stupid.
He now deeply understood the wide grin his father had given him the day he placed the crown on his head, and why his illustrious ancestors had declared he would only rule for 50 years before passing the throne to the next generation.
It was the same reason every ruling king or queen of the Rockwell Kingdom only remained on the throne for at most 50 years when it was completely possible for them to continue on for much, much longer.
While it was impossible for Fredrick Rockwell to still be king as he had perished already, Second Queen Ancestor Ariana Rockwell, Nathanial's great grandaunt, was still alive and well, living in the Kore Sovereignty to the far east, so there was nothing stopping her from having ruled until today!
No, Nathanial now knew it was all a plot, a scheme his predecessors had happily participated in and carried on over the generations.
Being the ruling monarch meant more than just being in charge and standing above the millions of citizens of the Rockwell Kingdom, it also meant inane meetings, petty political squabbles, endless paperwork, and daunting responsibilities that never seemed to end!
Before he became king, Nathanial trained and cultivated every day, oftentimes for hours at a time, allowing him to reach the Spirit Adept Realm at a relatively young age by the kingdom's standards, but today was actually his first cultivation session in half-a-month!
The dramatic decrease in time he had to cultivate, or do anything to improve his personal strength, had even allowed some of his less talented siblings to catch up to him as he was still stuck at the Low-Rank Spirit Adept Realm.
One might ask why a king like Nathanial didn't simply abuse his position to horde resources and only focus on himself and his own wellbeing, but the answer to such a straightforward question was also quite straightforward, he couldn't.
Cultivation was an extremely time consuming, long-term process, a journey measured in years at first, then decades, then centuries once one reached the Realm all previous kings and queens of the Rockwell Kingdom had been in when they ascended to the throne.
While it was true that in the short term, a selfish ruler could reap great benefits, the dysfunction such actions would inevitably create in the kingdom would ultimately result in less wealth and resources being available to them within a decade or two at most.
This was especially true in a relatively young, Mid-Sized Nation like the Rockwell Kingdom that didn't have a massive reserve of resources in its treasury.
A couple of years of lavish feasting followed by decades or centuries of starvation would leave one far worse off than just maintaining a slow, steady pace.
Then, of course, there was the fact that there were thousands, if not tens of thousands of others with vested interests in the stability and prosperity of the kingdom, as their own personal fortunes were tied to it.
Among these interested parties, there were even a couple dozen individuals who had superior cultivation, strength, and seniority to any newly crowned ruler.
What this meant, is that if a ruling monarch were to show signs of descending into tyranny, there were plenty of people willing to step in to intervene. Whether these people had the best interests of the kingdom at heart, or were simply protecting their own fortunes, it was difficult to say, but what mattered was that they had the strength to 'correct' an errant ruler.
Beyond these hard, practical reasons, there were other, less obvious ones as well, such as successors being chosen not just based on their strength, but also characteristics like a strong sense personal responsibility and deep patriotism towards the Rockwell Kingdom.
Additionally, there was never a lack of internal and external threats which simply couldn't be ignored, as doing so would put a ruler's life in jeopardy.
Reaping benefits was only possible if you were alive to do so.
Of course, being king did have some advantages, like the Royal Cultivation Chamber Nathanial was currently sitting in.
This room was built by his ancestors specifically for the ruling family and had several expensive Spirit Arrays which constantly gathered the surrounding World Qi, significantly increasing its density within this confined space.
A richer World Qi environment meant better results from cultivating. While this didn't completely compensate for the decrease in time a ruler would have to cultivate, it did mitigate the effects somewhat.
What annoyed Nathanial to no end, though, was that all these thoughts kept flitting across his mind as he was trying to cultivate, on top of other matters of state he knew were waiting for him once he was finished here.
However, since he had already accepted the crown, Nathanial knew that this was the life he would have to lead as he was a man who took his duties seriously.
Nathanial's only hope now was that someone from the next generation, one of his children, one of his younger siblings, or perhaps a niece or nephew, suddenly began displaying extraordinary qualities as a ruler, that way, he could dump this hateful job onto their shoulders even before his 50-year term was up.
For the first hour of his cultivation session, the king had trouble emptying his thoughts and concentrating; but eventually, he settled into a routine as he smoothly circulated the Royal Family's Grand Mountain Record, only to suddenly hear a loud knock on the door which broke him out of his meditative state.
At first, Nathanial Rockwell was outraged at being disturbed, not only because this was a rare opportunity for him to cultivate, but also because having one's meditative cultivation interrupted was extremely rude and dangerous. However, the king soon frowned deeply as he knew that there was no way anyone would bother him right now unless it was an extremely urgent matter.
Hurriedly finishing the circulation he was on, Nathanial Rockwell got up, swiftly moved to the door, and opened it to see a look of panic he had never seen before on the face of his First Minister.
Before the king could even ask what was going on, the Perry Emerson blurted out, "Your Majesty! We've just received word of a great disaster in the south-west!"
Furrowing his brow, the King couldn't help asking, "A disaster in the south-west? What kind of disaster, and who sent the message?"
"General Balfour used a Wind Messenger to inform us she detected a catastrophe in the west and was sealing the border before personally moving to investigate!" The First Minister rambled off in a great fluster, and his words certainly got the attention of the king.
The Wind Messenger was an extremely expensive, single use Low-Rank Grade 2 Spirit Tool that allowed one to instantly send a short message between two matching receivers.
A Low-Rank Grade 2 Spirit Tool was not too rare, but the demand for Wind Messengers was so high it drove the price up to mind-boggling levels, so in the Rockwell Kingdom, they were always reserved strictly for emergencies on the highest level, like the sudden outbreak of war.
The fact that Celestina Balfour, former teacher and commanding officer of not only the current, but also former king, had deemed to use it now was more than enough to alarm Nathanial.
Unfortunately, given the nature of the Wind Messenger, the king knew that what First Minister Emerson had told him was the entire content of the message they had received from General Balfour, and he would have to figure the rest out for himself.
To that end, the king swiftly thought aloud, "Marquess Balfour will surely move to secure the situation, but she won't be able to deploy much of her forces away from the Darr Kingdom border in short order."
He then turned to his trusty First Minister and ordered, "Use whatever means necessary to gather information about the situation, and have General Gunthar report to me immediately!"
"At once, Your Majesty!" The Perry bowed deeply before running off to carry out the king's will.