Scanning through the memories that had rushed through his mind, Austin finally realized why the system detected a poison in his body.
It turned out that he was currently living in the royal palace of the emperor, and he happened to be the fourth son of the emperor as well, meaning that he had three older brothers who were actively vying for the throne.
In other words, all three brothers would do anything to ensure their rise to the throne, and that includes eliminating each other as well.
Concerning the poison found in his body, the fourth prince seemed to have been invited by one of his brothers to discuss a future alliance against the other two brothers.
Unbeknownst to the fourth prince, the true intention of his brother was to make him drink a slow-acting poison that only took effect after the fourth prince had gone to bed last night.
In the end, the fourth prince died, and Austin's soul found its way into his body.
Knowing this, Austin plopped back down to his bed and groaned in exhaustion. "Ugh, what have I gotten myself into?"
Austin placed his palm on his face as he couldn't believe the mess he had found himself in.
Not only was he not interested in the throne, but he was also disappointed with how weak his current body was.
The fourth prince had never once taken a liking to combat or training.
Even though he lived in a world where magic and demons existed, especially with the internal battle for the succession of the throne, the fourth prince simply didn't want to get himself tangled up in all that. So he spent most of his time eating and sleeping in his private chamber.
Even though his aunt had shown interest in teaching him swordsmanship in the past, the fourth prince remained adamant that he wasn't going to learn anything related to combat.
In a nutshell, the fourth prince was now the weakest exorcist in the royal palace.
Even most of the servants in the royal palace were First Order Exorcists while the fourth prince was still at Zero Order.
Realizing this, Austin released another groan while staring at the ceiling. "Urgh, what am I going to do now?" Austin asked himself as he pondered how he was going to survive in this dangerous world he had been brought to.
Not only had he found himself entangled in a dangerous political situation, but Austin had also discovered that he had very few allies in the royal palace and betrayal was very common in the inner court.
So, if he chose to start making friends with any of the ministers in the inner court, there was a really high chance he would get backstabbed in the end.
*Sighs*
"What can I possibly do now?"
"Training to become a First Order Exorcist is out of the question."
Not only was it hard to rank up from a Zero Order to a First Order Exorcist, but the training that needed to be carried out during the process was also extremely difficult and painful.
If Austin were to inform his aunt about his desire to train, it would take him at least two years to advance to the First Order, and Austin didn't have that much time on his hands.
His brothers had shown him how merciless they can be, and that means they would never allow him to advance to the First Order if they knew he had suddenly taken an interest in swordsmanship.
But Austin knew that if he wanted to move freely within the palace and possibly explore this new world he was in, he had to improve his strength.
He didn't like the idea of feeling like a bug in front of all the other officials within the palace, so he wondered if he should begin his training even if it would take years for him to rank up.
'Or should I just adopt the previous fourth Prince's lifestyle and spend the rest of my life buried in my room?'
'No, I can't do that.'
Austin knew that staying in his room all day long and doing nothing but sleeping and eating wouldn't help him resolve his problem.
The Emperor had recently announced his desire to name his successor, and this had made his older brothers even more eager in their battle for the throne.
In other words, his three older brothers would not hesitate to eliminate those that they perceived as a threat to their objective, including their own family.
Each of the princes was borne by four different women, meaning that they were only related to each other through their father; thus, they were half-brothers.
If one were to remove the Emperor from the picture, the four brothers would basically be strangers to each other.
This meant that there was no bond between them, and there was definitely no love either.
'I guess I have no other choice now.'
'I have to start my training if I do not want to be killed by my brothers or anyone else working for them.'
Austin released another deep sigh as he mentally prepared himself for the harsh training he would be engaged in for the next couple of months.
Most likely with his aunt being the one who would train him.
However, because his mind was deeply lost in his thoughts, Austin didn't notice the system panel hovering before him until a few moments later.
[Binding .....99%]
[..... 100%]
[Successful!! System binding is now complete.]
[Congratulations!! You have obtained The Affection Leveling System!]
"Huh? Affection Leveling system?"
Before Austin could ask what that meant, a new string of words was displayed in front of him.
[Through this system, the host has now acquired a quick and easier way to level up faster than anyone else around him.]
[All you have to do is raise your wives' affection towards you, build strong bonds with them, and you'll unlock new skills that will benefit both you and your wives.]
"Woah, woah, woah. Hold up, wait a minute,"
"Exorcists uses between two to three years to rank up from Zero Order to First Order,"
"And now, you're telling me that I can get stronger a lot faster than that and all I have to do is simply make my wives happy?"
"That is insane."
"I love it!!"