Chapter 1

"Master, Master, it's time to get up and have breakfast."

A hoarse but stern voice rang in Zhao Hai's ear. Zhao Hai didn't pay much attention, just feeling an excruciating headache. He thought his computer was still on, playing lines from a TV drama.

But the voice continued, "Master, it's time to get up. As a noble, punctuality is a good habit."

Zhao Hai was taken aback because this voice didn't seem to come from the computer. It was right next to his ear, and it was very real, definitely not from his broken speaker.

Despite the headache, Zhao Hai forced his eyes open. What he saw was not the white ceiling of his home, but a silk canopy.

Zhao Hai was stunned. He turned his head and found himself lying on a large wooden bed. Beside the bed stood a man in his fifties, with neatly combed gray hair, a stern face, and a calm gaze.

Zhao Hai stared blankly at the stern-faced old man, then looked around. This was a stone house, very simple. Apart from the large bed he was lying on, there was only a desk and a chair as furniture. The floor and walls seemed to have just been cleaned. The windows had wooden frames with a layer of white paper pasted on them. A glowing stone hung from the ceiling for lighting. There was nothing else in the room.

At this moment, the old man said again, "Master, you are fine now. Please get up quickly. As a noble, you should have a regular life. It's breakfast time, please get up quickly."

Zhao Hai's eyes turned to the old man, and a thought suddenly flashed in his mind: "I've been transported!" Then he felt a sharp pain in his head and fainted.

When Greenbuda saw Zhao Hai faint, he was slightly taken aback and hurriedly walked out. Outside the house, four people were standing: two men and two women. The two men were not very old, looking only in their teens, but they were both over two meters tall, with muscles like iron, dark skin, and short hair. They looked identical, a pair of twins, but their expressions were a bit dazed.

The two women, one older, around forty, was very fat, with blue hair and a kind face, but now she looked anxious.

The younger girl, only sixteen or seventeen, had long green hair, an oval face, a petite figure, and fair skin, a rare beauty. She was now looking down, with a blank expression.

As soon as Green came out, the older woman immediately asked, "Green, how is it? Is the Master awake?"

Green nodded and then shook his head, "He woke up, but fainted again. Merlin, was your magic ineffective? Or is there a problem with the medicine? Did someone tamper with it?"

Merlin's face turned cold, "If that's the case, I'll fight those bastards. Although the Master is a bit of a scoundrel, he is the last bloodline of the Buda family. Have the empire's bastards forgotten all the things the old Master did for the empire? A bunch of ungrateful bastards."

Green said sternly, "You should still go in and check. If it doesn't work, use water magic to treat the Master. No matter what, we must protect the last bloodline of the Buda family."

Merlin nodded but then glared at Green, "If the Master gets better, you're not allowed to impose noble requirements on him. We're already in this hellhole, and still talking about noble etiquette? Let them all go to hell. Just look at those noble faces, it makes me sick."

Green looked at Merlin helplessly but still said sternly, "No, the Master is now a viscount. He must act like a noble. I must teach him to be a true noble to repay the Buda family's great kindness."

Merlin glared at Green, "If you dare to treat the Master that way again, I won't cook for you. I'll starve you to death. We don't know how long we can last in this place, and with the people from the capital, do you think the Master will have a chance to return to the empire? Dream on."

Green smiled bitterly and said no more. He knew Merlin was right. The reason they were sent to this desolate place was because of the empire's king and the leading nobles. If it weren't for the Buda family's glorious past, they might have been directly exterminated.

Now, although the Buda family still exists, it is impossible for them to re-enter the empire's noble circle. People will deliberately forget that such a family ever existed.

What made Green feel most disheartened was that the empire's king, fearing the Buda family's resurgence, had the Master, the last heir and the last hope of the Buda family, Adam Buda, drink the Void Water.

The Void Water is an unparalleled treasure, each drop of which is priceless. This Void Water has only one effect: to nullify your power.

Just one drop of Void Water can turn a mage with the power of a Divine Mage, a warrior with the power of a Divine Warrior, or a Divine Knight into an ordinary person, making it impossible for them to use any magic or martial arts ever again, and there is no cure.

Although this potion makes it impossible to use martial arts and magic, it does not affect the body in any other way; it just turns you into an ordinary person.

If the person is already an ordinary person, this potion is no different from ordinary water. But if the person is a noble or a powerful individual, it will instantly turn them into a useless person, a waste, making them fall from the heights to the depths.

Adam Buda was ordered by the king to drink this potion. He will never be able to learn any magic or martial arts again and can only be an ordinary person.

If this happened to another noble family, it wouldn't be a big deal. They could just live as ordinary people, without any thoughts of power.

But for Adam, it was a matter of life and death. He is the last heir of the Buda family, and he needs power to revitalize the family's glory and bring the Buda family back to the stage of the Aksum Empire. But he drank the Void Water, and now he can never learn any magic or martial arts again, making it impossible for him to revitalize the family. The last hope of the Buda family is extinguished.

If it were just a lack of power, Green wouldn't be afraid. After all, he is an eighth-level warrior, his wife Merlin is an eighth-level water mage, and his granddaughter Meg is a sixth-level wind mage. With them, the Buda family's strength is sufficient. If they were still in their original fief, the Buda family could easily flourish again. The original fief of the Buda family was in the south of the empire, with a main city and four medium-sized cities, a large population, and fertile land. As long as they developed quietly for a few years, the Buda family would flourish again.

But unexpectedly, the king changed their fief from the south to the Black Earth Wasteland in the north of the empire.

The Black Earth Wasteland is a notorious dead land on the continent. Although it is vast, covering about one-third of the total area of the Aksum Empire, no plants grow there. Even desert plants would wither here.

Legend has it that the Black Earth Wasteland was once fertile land. Later, several Divine Mages used a super-large forbidden spell, turning this land into a dead zone where nothing grows.

If it were just a dead land, Green wouldn't be afraid. As long as the transportation was convenient, they could do some business and at least support themselves. However, the Black Earth Wasteland is surrounded by an abandoned dwarf iron mountain. Beyond the mountain is one of the five forbidden zones on the continent, the Corpse Swamp, which also belongs to the Buda family's fief. In fact, the Buda family's fief is the largest in the entire Aksum Empire.

The only exit is next to the territory of the Vansel family. Although the Vansel family has a marriage alliance with the Buda family, given the Buda family's current situation, how can they talk about marriage with the most powerful Vansel family in the empire? This place has become a true dead land.

Fortunately, this area was once under the empire's control, so there is a small castle on the abandoned dwarf iron mountain. Since the mountain was not affected by the forbidden spell, there is still some land that can be cultivated, so they won't starve to death.

When Green learned that their fief had been changed to this place, he immediately exchanged all the Buda family's money for slaves, living supplies, seeds, and tools. Then he led Adam, who had been unconscious after drinking the Void Water, to this place and settled in the small, abandoned but usable castle.

Along with Green, his wife Merlin, and his granddaughter Meg, there were also a pair of twins, Wood and Stone, who were orphans adopted by Adam's father, and one hundred slaves. No one else came.

During the journey from the empire to the Black Earth Wasteland, Adam remained unconscious. Fortunately, Merlin is a mage and could use magic to treat Adam, allowing him to arrive safely. Yesterday, she checked Adam's condition and believed he would wake up today, which is why Green was calling him to get up. However, they didn't expect that the Adam lying in bed was no longer Adam, but a Chinese otaku named Zhao Hai.