ã€ŠTales of Realmsã€‹


 Chapter 1: Farewell My Child Please Forgive Me

    ¡®In Memories of My Luv Who Had No Name¡¯

    The man traced the words on the cold tombstone with his fingers, reminiscing about the days of his past. No tears dropped from his tender eyes as he took a swig from the bottle in his hand. If you asked him, he might not even remember how many bottles it has been today.

    The man sat down leaning against the tombstone.

    Silence. Nothing but the sound of the light breeze rustling the leaves as seconds turned into minutes with the man drinking from the bottle every now and then.

    ¡°Luv, times have been hard without you here.

    You¡¯re calling me a wuss, aren¡¯t you?

    Well whatever, bully me then. I¡¯ll be leaving on a mission today anyways¡­

    It will be a quite some time before I can visit again, luv¡­

    *Sigh*

    As for the empire, it is as flourishing as ever but undercurrents have been rampant recently. Some people have become tense and secretive to a fault. People at high places.¡±

    The man spoke taking another big gulp from the already half empty bottle

    ¡°Remember I told you about the activities of other royalties? Well I hope they don¡¯t take the wrong steps cause based on his liege¡¯s character, nothing good will come out of it if they anger him.

    Furthermore, Fourth Young Master is now half a year old. Considering his liege does not expect for everything to go smoothly, I was not surprised when these couple of missions were assigned to me.¡±

    The man looked up at the sky in silence and slowly got up on his feet. His eyes reddened as he retraced the words on the tombstone while trying to keep his emotions at bay

    ¡°It¡¯s good that I had a chance to come home, luv. Hope that I can finally see you when I return.¡±

    The man spoke before he turned around and slowly walked out of the beautiful yard where the tomb was located.

    He walked inside a house just in front of the yard and after a couple of minutes came out wearing a plain black robe. The black robe covered his whole figure including his black hairs, only letting his piercing light brown eyes be seen.

    As soon as he came out, he started walking towards his destination, his Liege¡¯s Palace. As he slowly walked, the man recalled the words that his liege had spoken to him yesterday

    ¡®First of all, the moment you reach your destination, you are to leave your Young Lord in the hands of the person that this talisman selects, whoever it might be, as it was specially made for this purpose.

    To use the Talisman, you just need to crush it and follow the Talisman light with your God Sense. The Talisman light will lead you to the person that is destined to be his parent. You are not to stay with your Young Lord nor are you to come in contact with the person that the talisman selects.

    Just leave a wisp of your God Sense in your Young Lord¡¯s Soul Sea, so that you know about his situation and can act quickly if he was in some kind of mortal danger. Remember that you are not to help him until he is at his last breath.

    Secondly, don¡¯t even think about coming back unless your Young Lord is powerful enough to challenge the current you or I specifically ask for you to come back.

    Don¡¯t interfere in your Young Lord¡¯s life and let him live any way he wants. If he finds a way to cultivate let him do so while if he can¡¯t find a way or does not want to cultivate, let him be.

    Little Zed, I know your character well, so I know that If someone is bullying him, you will be the first to blow your head and jump to his aid, but you are not to do so unless he¡¯s going to be killed.

    I know these decisions seem cruel, but they are also my way of protecting him. The less we come in contact with him the safer he will be while he is growing up, cause if someone somehow makes the connection between him and us, it would just put him in harm¡¯s way.

    Finally, I¡¯ve a different mission for you after you have placed your Young Lord in his new household. Take this book but open it only after all the other tasks have been completed. It has the details of everything you need to know about the mission.¡¯

    These were the words that his liege had spoken to the man yesterday.

    The man, apparently named Zed, kept on slowly walking to his destination which was not really far from his house and entered it without a hitch.

    He walked the corridors of the palace without any awe or wonder in his eyes as he moved towards the room he had been instructed to go to by his liege.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Soon, he arrived in front of the room and knocked on its door.

    A huge middle-aged man with an immaculate beard opened the door. Surprisingly, all the hairs on his head and beard were completely white. The white hairs though, did not reduce the man¡¯s charms even a little. Some might even say that they made him look extremely handsome.

    ¡°It¡¯s time already?¡±

    The white-haired man spoke while he gave a wry smile

    ¡°Can¡¯t do anything about it, boss. It¡¯s his liege¡¯s order.¡± Zed spoke

    ¡°Sadly, it is. Well just wait a couple of minutes and let Delilah have her final moments with him. I¡¯ll be back with him soon¡±

    The white-haired man spoke as he quickly closed the doors

    ¡®Can¡¯t you just say that let me have my final moments with my nephew. Do you need to use mistress¡¯ name to pressure me?¡¯

    Zed thought in his head while he stood outside the room.

    ------------------------------------

    ||Inside the Room||

    A bloody spittle rolled down her mouth as her body ached from the wounds she had suffered in a recent battle. Even with all the pain she was experiencing, her head was filled with a myriad of thoughts.

    *Wahhhh Wahhhh Wahhhh*

    The sound of a baby crying filled her ears. She looked to her right to see her caretaker collecting all the bloody bandages. Not far away from the caretaker stood her brother Wolf, who had just come back and took her baby boy in his arms.

    She looked as her baby boy caught a tight hold of Wolf¡¯s white beard with his hand. From her perspective it looked as if the little boy was trying to extort Wolf of everything that he had.

    Wolf looked towards her as he cuddled and talked to his little nephew. Their eyes met but all that Wolf could do was to give her a wry smile.

    She broke the eye contact and looked at the ceiling. She felt at peace but in a dark corner of her mind she knew it won¡¯t last long. Her little boy would soon be gone from her side and onto his own adventure where he might be much safer than if he was around them.

    She knew that it will be a couple of decades before she would be able to meet him again and that might not even happen. By that time even if he meets her, he might not even consider her a relative let alone a loving mother that she had always wanted to be to him.

    ¡°Delilah, it¡¯s time for him to leave. Say any last words you want to say. You know we won¡¯t know about his whereabouts and it will be a long time before you get a chance to see him again.¡±

    Wolf spoke softly as he put the little boy in Delilah¡¯s arms

    Delilah closed her eyes but said nothing. Just caressed the little boy¡¯s head for a few seconds but those seconds felt like hours to her.

    ¡®Farewell my child¡­ please forgive me for not being able to stay by your side¡­¡¯

    Delilah thought as her heart pained. Her eyes teared as she lifted her son above her head and gave him a final kiss on his head before passing him to Wolf who was sitting beside her.

    ¡°Tell little Zed that if anything happens to my baby because he failed to protect him well, then I¡¯ll skin him alive even if he turns into a ghost.¡±

    Delilah spoke as she wiped her tears extremely reluctant to see her baby boy go

    ¡°Ok I¡¯ll tell him. Have a good rest Delilah, I¡¯ll be back after passing him to Zed.¡±

    Wolf spoke

    ¡®I don¡¯t even know what sort of household my nephew will be a part of¡­¡¯

    Wolf thought as he carried his nephew out of the room

    As he stepped out of the room, his eyes fell on Zed, who was waiting outside just like he asked him to.

    Sighing, Wolf passed his nephew to Zed.

    ¡°I have some words from your mistress to you.¡± Wolf spoke

    ¡°Do tell boss.¡± Zed replied

    ¡°She asked me to tell you that if something happens to her boy because you were not able to protect him well, then she will skin you alive even if you turned into a ghost.

    All I can say is that you should run away if something happens to your Young Lord because neither brother in law nor I would be able to save you if something actually did happen. Even brother in law himself might not fare well in that situation.¡±

    Wolf spoke seriously

    When Zed heard this, he thought about his liege¡¯s orders for his mission and felt like he wanted to cry

    ¡®His liege strictly ordered that I can¡¯t help the Young Lord unless he is in mortal danger while the mistress warns that if anything happens to her child, she¡¯ll skin me alive¡­ Who the fuck do I listen to?!¡¯

    But he soon came to the solid decision when he remembered how violent his mistress could get. Just thinking about it, broke cold sweat all over Zed¡¯s body.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best not to fail the mistress, boss.¡±

    Zed spoke with fear in his eyes as he nodded his understanding

    ¡°I knew you were smart. Well go on then and take care of yourself as from what I see, it will not be a smooth journey. Brother in law and the others will be starting soon. I hope that these idiots from brother in law¡¯s family don¡¯t give him a reason to slaughter, otherwise I don¡¯t know what the consequences will be. Oh, and don¡¯t forget to take your Young Lord to Francis before leaving.¡±

    Wolf spoke

    ¡°That¡¯s where I¡¯m going next and I too hope that nothing happens but even if it does, nothing will happen to the Fourth Young Lord with me by his side. I¡¯ll be off then boss. Farewell. I¡¯ll meet you when I return with the Young Lord all grown up.¡±

    Zed spoke as he turned and walked away with the little boy.

    Watching Zed leave with his nephew, Wolf sighed and turned around, entering the room again. Walking towards the bed that his sister was laying on, he sat beside her.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t even name him Delilah¡­ Are you sure about this?¡±

    Wolf asked worried about his sister

    ¡°Brother, I can¡¯t give my son anything¡­ The least I can do is let him name himself. Furthermore, it isn¡¯t as if he will remember the name that I will give him. I¡¯ll be happy enough, if he still considers me his mother after he knows the truth about his identity.¡±

    Delilah spoke as she shook her head

    Wolf felt as if all the energy in his body had been sapped when he heard this. He felt helpless as after all, every single decision that his brother in law had been taking, had been because he wanted to protect those important to him, even at the cost of weakening his own political and military strength.

    Even today¡¯s actions will cost who knows how much to him, just for the sake of making sure that nothing goes wrong for his child. Considering the enemies that his brother in law has, these actions show the insurmountable amount of devotion that he has towards those who he considers important.

    Knowing all this, Wolf wanted to help in any way possible, but other than standing beside his brother in law and supporting him, there was nothing else that he could do. Nothing was in his hands.

    He stood up feeling extremely tired and walked towards the balcony, grabbing the railing as if wanting to crush it to powder. Seconds turned into minutes as he gazed at nothing in particular.

    ¡®I hope that everything goes well brother in law¡­¡¯ Wolf thought feeling worried inside.

 Chapter 2: Oh God! Why Me!

    After parting with Wolf, Zed slowly walked towards the apothecary hall where Francis could be found.

    Grandmaster Francis was a staunch supporter of his liege and could be said to be a part of his faction. A brilliant man who was an apothecary fanatic down to his bones. He understood complex concepts at the back of his hand which people could not begin to comprehend even with the knowledge in front of them.

    Zed admired Francis greatly both for his exceptional skill and the type of person he was. Though quite eccentric, he was a loyal man to the boot.

    Walking slowly, Zed held his Young Lord as the boy was flailing his arms around, curiously watching his surroundings. Zed soon reached a huge door that was the entrance of the apothecary hall and knocked on it lightly, waiting for Francis to open the door.

    A bald lanky man opened the door enough to put his head out and looked towards Zed.

    ¡°Grandmaster Francis, I¡¯ll be leaving soon, please get the Young Master marked with his liege¡¯s crest. I¡¯ll be waiting by the balcony. Your hall makes my head hurt.¡±

    Zed spoke as if he was already used to Francis being eccentric

    ¡°I¡¯ll get it done in no time, Lord Zed.¡± Francis replied taking the boy in his arms as he closed the door of the hall behind him.

    It was late at night and none of the other apothecary were around. The apothecary hall was huge, filled with enormous cauldrons puffing out all sorts of smells.

    Francis carried the little boy by his sides and was walking with the boy in front of him while he made faces at him, trying to make the little boy giggle. Sadly for him, the little boy¡¯s attention was on something much more engaging and that was the light brightly shining on his bald head.

    ¡®Ai¡­ This little lord does not laugh at all¡­ whatever, whatever, let¡¯s just get him marked.¡¯

    Francis sighed inwardly as he walked to one of the cauldrons filled to the brim with a dark liquid and placed the boy on the shelf, which was more like a table right above the cauldron and started searching for his tools and the marking solution.

    ¡®I guess I placed them back in the cabinet.¡¯

    Francis thought and walked towards the closet to search for them.

    While Francis was busy finding the tools, the kid was having his own adventures as he looked down at the viscous liquid in the cauldron not far from his reach. His eyes shining as if he had found the purpose of his little life. The only thing that was left for him to do was reach out and take what was his.

    The sound of whistling echoed in the hall as Francis whistled while he searched for his tools and the marking solution in his cabinet. Soon, he found them and came back.

    Getting ready, while not paying much attention to the little boy, Francis placed a bottleful of liquid and his tools on the shelf.

    After he was ready, Francis pulled the little boy in front of him.

    He grabbed the boy¡¯s arm to turn him around, but was bewildered to find that the arm seemed to be a bit sticky. He looked towards the little boy who had his unblinking, misting eyes staring right at him with a pout on his face and then looked at the boy¡¯s arm confused

    ¡®Why is it so bla-¡¯ he thought

    *Drip Drip*

    He looked down, saw the drippings on the shelf, then towards the cauldron. The realization struck him as he his eyes finally landed on the boy¡¯s face, that pouty teary face, and Francis finally lost it and so did the kid.

    ¡°Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!¡±

    ¡°Wahhhhhh!!!!!!!!¡±

    ¡°Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!¡±

    ¡°Wahhhhhh!!!!!!!!¡±

    Francis stumbled backwards, falling down, his head hitting another cauldron knocking him out of his shock. He quickly came back to his senses, jumped back on his feet and picked up a piece of cloth from the shelf at lightning speed. He started wiping at the Young Lord¡¯s arm vigorously trying to get the dark liquid off, but subconsciously he already knew that the deed has already been done.

    *Thump Thump Thump*

    His heart was beating fast as he gave up on removing the dark liquid. Like a thief afraid of being caught, his head moved right to left trying to check if anyone saw him. He ran to the hall¡¯s door with the boy in his hand and pried it open slightly to check if Zed had heard all the ruckus. Finally, realizing that he was alone and Zed had not heard the noises, Francis quickly closed the door and looked at the boy as if he was going to start crying.

    ¡®Done! I¡¯m so done if the mistress finds out about this! I would still be pardoned if his liege saw this and he understood the circumstances, but if mistress sees this, no reasoning would work and I¡¯ll definitely die without a grave. Fuck! I can¡¯t let anyone see this.

    My little ancestor, I had just looked away for a second and you had to do this! Did you fucking think that my cauldron was a lake to swim in! Oh God! Why Me! The task was to mark the Young Lord with his liege¡¯s crest not to turn his whole arm black!¡¯ Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    Francis thought as he quickly opened a closet and took out a white roll of bandage and wrapped it around the Young Lord¡¯s left arm which had been turned black.

    ¡®Ai¡­ Such a waste of my precious concoction¡­

    This little ancestor might be the first person to ever use this concoction like this. It¡¯s not even made to be used on people; it is used as a material to permanently stain weapons and equipment when refining them¡­

    Is there even a need to mark him anymore? The Young Lord has his own special signature¡­¡¯

    Francis thought ruefully as he proceeded to quickly mark his liege¡¯s crest on the little boy¡¯s back, using the marking solution that he had brought from the closet. Soon, while fighting to keep the little boy still, Francis traced an intricate crest on the Young Lord¡¯s back.

    After the crest had been made, Francis put his hand on top of it. He closed his eyes and started chanting some words upon which the intricate crest dimmed and disappeared from the little boy¡¯s back in about a minute¡¯s time.

    This was a special sealing technique that his liege had taught Francis, which could only be used with the marking solution he had given Francis as a medium and could only be unsealed by his liege himself as even Francis did not know the unsealing technique.

    After the seal had been placed, Francis opened his eyes and they fell on the little boy¡¯s bandaged arm again, making his bald head start sweating profusely at the thought of his mistress finding out. Still not feeling confident enough, he quickly wrapped the Young Lord in a blanket with only his little head visible.

    He took a solution out of his collection box, opened it and made the boy smell it, knocking him out and went to find Zed at the balcony.

    ¡°Lord Zed, the Young Lord has been marked. Young Lord had fallen asleep by the time I finished working. I wrapped him in a blanket so that he wouldn¡¯t catch a cold while he travels with you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for the work Grandmaster and please do take care of your health, you seem to be sweating heavily.

    I¡¯ll take my leave for now, maybe after a couple of decades, we¡¯ll meet again.¡±

    Zed said as he started walking out of the castle.

    ¡°I¡¯ll wait for your safe arrival, Lord Zed.¡± Francis said awkwardly

    Wiping the sweat from his bald head, Francis watched Zed disappear from in front of him and out of the castle.

    Walking out of the castle, Zed stopped and closed his eyes as he moved his hand in front of him.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to leave partner.¡± Zed spoke

    Just as he spoke, a gate slowly started materializing in front of his extended hand. The gate was bright reddish-golden in colour with intricate designs of a majestic golden bird on it.

    Slowly the gate opened and with a whooshing sound a huge bird flew out of it and took to the sky as it shrieked. The huge bird looked identical to the intricate design that was on the gate. It looked like a huge blazing meteor because of it¡¯s golden-red feathers and had an aura of majesty surrounding it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get going then.¡± The majestic golden bird spoke to Zed telepathically

    Zed jumped and landed on the majestic golden bird¡¯s back with the Young Lord in his hand as the majestic bird flew out of the sight.

    ----------------------------

    ||Couple of Days Later in Kingdom of Sunaret||

    Sandy. This is the word anyone would use to describe their first impressions of Sunaret. The Kingdom was located in the largest desert of the continent, famous for its gruesome environment, life threatening spiritual beasts, sand bandits and all in all its difficulty of life since the ancient times.

    Contrary to the belief that this would make it a wasteland, from these conditions came out a thirst for a good life which resulted in a kingdom that reached the pinnacle in the field of research and development of any and all things known to the sentient living creatures.

    In a remote location far away from civilization, Zed was travelling sitting on a majestic golden bird with the Young Lord in one of his hands while a bottle of sake in another.

    *Burp Burp*

    Zed lifted the bottle over his head trying to drink every last drop of sake in the bottle as he cried, his face full of tears

    ¡°G-Gella! Gella! Why did you leave?! You said you would always be there to beat me up if I cry! See I¡¯m crying! who will beat me up now?!¡±

    ¡°Not Again Master Zed¡­¡± A sigh could be heard as the majestic golden bird looked up at the sky in defeat.

    It had been just a couple of days but with having to keep constant watch for enemies and Zed constantly wallowing, really took a tool on the majestic golden bird.

    Zed tossed the empty bottle of sake in the unending desert and rubbed his face on Young lord¡¯s face vigorously as he wallowed in depression.

    ¡°Young Lord why did she leave me? You know, don¡¯t you? Yes! Yes! she definitely told you. Tell me! Tell me why did she leave me Young Lord!¡± Zed stared at the Young Lord right in his eyes.

    ¡°Wahhhh!!!¡± The Young Lord cried out as he struggled in his cocoon like blanket as if trying to get out of it and smash Zed into the sand below.

    ¡°Yes, Yes, you¡¯re right¡­ It¡¯s me it¡¯s definitely me¡­ I might have done something to upset her so in her rage she destroyed everything around her, including herself.¡± Zed lamented sinking deeper and deeper into depression.

    A couple of minutes later, a foggy area appeared in front of them. Seeing the fog, the majestic bird kept on flying as fog was quite a regular occurrence around Sunaret and sometimes dense enough that you could cut it with a knife. Zed was feeling extremely intoxicated as they entered the fog so much so that he started feeling extremely detached from the world.

    Intoxicated and extremely confused, Zed looked around as he heard a vague voice coming from some distance. Even though it was vague, he felt that it was extremely familiar.

    As they flew forward the voice soon became clearer.

    ¡°Zed you bastard, where are you?! Even as a ghost I¡¯m not going to let you go! Come out you bastard! I¡¯m going to beat you till all your bones turn to mush! I am going to haunt you till you die!¡±

    It was a feminine voice with a valiant undertone.

    A figure soon became clearer. It was a woman with a huge Greatsword on her shoulders walking towards Zed. The woman was wearing a violet-green armor with intricate design all over it. When Zed saw this woman, his eyes popped out in shock. He rubbed his eyes vigorously as he stuttered

    ¡°G-G-Gella?!¡±

    ¡°So, bastard you are finally here. Come down here for this lady you runt-¡±

    Gella shouted as she moved her hands motioning for Zed to come down but before she could finish, Zed had already disappeared from the majestic golden bird leaving the Young Lord with the majestic bird.

    ¡°ZED YOU DRUNKARD! WAIT! IT CAN¡¯T BE GELLA!¡±

    The majestic bird roared in Zed¡¯s Head but it was as if Zed could not hear him.

    Before Gella could understand what is happening, she found that her face had been caught hold of. An extremely alcoholic smell wafted by her nose but before she could say anything or resist, her mouth had been sealed off

    *SMOOOOOOOOOOCH!!!*

    The scene seemed to have stopped. The dense and heavy fog that had filled the area dispersed in an instant. Not far away from Zed, there were a dozen or so men, standing speechless. Their faces full of air, their teeth biting down on their lips as if they were trying their best to not open their mouths in fear of something.

    ¡°Huh? Gella when did your face become so hard and hairy?¡­ Hairy?¡±

 Chapter 3: Ashes To Ashes

    ¡°Huh? Gella when did your face become so hard and hairy?¡­ Hairy?¡±

    Zed started asking but when he looked towards the face in his hands his face turned purple as he let go of the face in sheer horror and started retreating towards the majestic bird.

    ¡®NO! NO! NO! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!!!¡¯

    Zed screamed in his head.

    Multiple sounds of wheezing filled the area as the twelve man who were not far away, finally could not hold it in any longer and started laughing hysterically, tears falling down their eyes.

    *Blarrgh!!!*

    ¡°AAAHH! YOU SON OF A BITCH! Don¡¯t even think about getting out of here alive! What are you bastards laughing for! Activate the Sky Sealing Formation quickly!¡±

    A malevolent and enraged voice of a man roared as he rushed like lightening towards Zed.

    The fog, the valiant voice and Gella, everything was just an illusion that was casted by the man who just roared. The man¡¯s head had gone blank because of the unexpected intimate contact which lead to his illusion being destroyed.

    When the dozen man heard the enraged roar of their apparent leader, they turned serious and took action instantly.

    Half of the men kneeled down and slammed their hands on the sand below. The next moment, the entire ground started shaking as one after another huge boulders of stone broke out through the sand reaching the sky, creating an extremely thick and high circular stone wall that encompassed everyone inside.

    The other half of the dozen man formed a huge circle around Zed and their leader, their backs facing towards Zed. They unsheathed the swords on their waist and slashed them towards their own wrists. Blood splattered like fountains as the sand below the six men turned red.

    Even though these six men had just cut their wrists off, not a single sign of pain could be seen on their faces. Their expressions were so calm and stone faced that you would think that the wrists had never been part of their bodies.

    The men put away their swords and grabbed the forearm of the wrist they just cut off with their other hand. The next moment, you could see the bone in their forearms coming out or rather it seemed that the bone was growing. The most eerie part was that the bone was not white but rather looked like stone.

    The men pressed their stone like bones that had grown out of their forearms on the huge circular wall and instantly it seemed as if the bones had merged with the circular boulder wall.

    When the bones eerily merged with the boulder wall, patterns after patterns of inscriptions started appearing on the circular stone wall and the wall engulfed the six men forming a stone cocoon around them, protecting them from harm.

    All of this happened so fast that Zed didn¡¯t even have a chance to react as he was still in an intoxicated state.

    *Blargh!!! Ptui! Ptui!*

    Zed spat a couple of times and wiped his mouth with his forearm. Quickly, he took out a pouch from his robe and searched for something in it. He took out a pill and placed it in his mouth. He looked around assessing the situation of the battlefield, while his mind become clearer as a couple of insignificant moments passed by.

    He could see the six men who had kneeled down were now rushing towards him with the man he had just kissed leading them. Just thinking about how he had just kissed a man sent a shiver down his spine. Already knowing who the malevolent man was, he could guess the reason of him being attacked.

    Zed retreated rushing towards the majestic golden bird while signalling him telepathically to get off the ground fast.

    He could feel the alcohol being driven out and his body being hydrated. His drunken eyes had slowly recovered its tyrannical aura and splendour. They were like orbs of fire, bright and dominating.

    Zed blew a mouthful of turbid air out of his mouth and spoke with a clear husky voice

    ¡°Bastard! Valor, you little bitch of Gordwok! You dare imitate my Gella! It seems like the lesson last time was not enough for you!¡±

    ¡°You want to teach me a lesson?

    Stop dreaming you bastard. You are just a pathetic shit who can¡¯t even get over the fact of his wife¡¯s death. You can do shit to me.

    Even if I take my balls out and give it to you, you won¡¯t be able to crush them. Fuck you, you Bastard! I¡¯m going to fucking slaughter you today.¡±

    Valor, who had been running towards him suddenly threw the Greatsword that was in his hand, up in the air and pulled his torso backwards. Stones started to bloom on his right arm and fist, like scales.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    His right arm and fist grew larger and larger until it was almost 10 times its original size. A pulsating sound could be heard as the stones on his arm and fist condensed.

    ¡°GRAB THE KID!!! ATTACK!!!¡±

    Valor ordered as he rushed towards Zed at blinding speed and punched towards him

    ¡°[Stone Emperor¡¯s Fist]!!!¡±

    The mountain like fist blasted out of Valor¡¯s arm and towards Zed, accompanied by deafening sound of air being tore apart.

    Zed saw the humongous fist rushing towards him and knew that it was a fool¡¯s errand to take it head on so he poured all his power into his legs, jumping in the air to get out of its way.

    He was able to dodge the fist and quickly took out a sword from his spatial pouch. Fire blasted out of his arms as the entire sword got enveloped by the fire. The temperature around him increased exponentially as the fire raged aggressively.

    Zed slashed at the six men who were rushing towards the majestic bird with the sword in his hands. The fire ragging on his sword flared at the moment he slashed his sword and a mirage like phoenix appeared as it rushed towards the six men.

    Fire rolled on it wings as the mirage like fire phoenix spread out it¡¯s huge wings, dashing towards the six men.

    The six men towards whom the fire phoenix was approaching at rapid speed, were rushing forward towards the majestic bird with javelin like poles which seemed to be made out of stone, grew out of their palms.

    Aware of the incoming attack, without any need of communication, four of them went on a defensive, letting their remaining two partners attack the majestic bird and grab the little boy.

    Stone like armor appeared on the four men as they formed a huge circular arc like formation, rushing towards the incoming fire phoenix. The javelins in the hands the two men who were in the middle of the formation were thrown towards the fire phoenix in the effort of destroying the fire power of the phoenix.

    The fire phoenix slammed into the stone javelins disintegrating them in an instant and hit the two men who threw the javelin head on, pushing them a couple of meters away with minor injuries while the men on the sides of the formation dashed past the fire phoenix towards Zed.

    The two men who were still attacking the majestic bird in the air, were coordinating with each other, with one creating stone platforms in the air while the other jumped on the stone platforms as he threw the javelins and tried to close in on the majestic bird.

    While all of these was happening, temperature around Zed was increasing at a tremendous rate. His whole body had turned white, his features indiscernible because of the bright light emitting out of him.

    As Zed watched the two men bypass the fire phoenix and rush towards him his lips curled up. The next moment with a huge bang fire shot out of his body and he dashed forward, his sword thrusting at the man on the right while a pillar of fire shot out of his palm at the man on the left.

    Right before his thrust reached the man on the right, who had thrown the stone javelin in his hands toward him, the fire pillar had already enveloped the man on the left.

    The moment the Fire Pillar had reached the man on the left, Zed clenched his hand into a fist. The Fire Pillar¡¯s form changed instantaneously looking like a fist and grabbed the man on the left.

    ¡°ARHHHH!!!!!¡±

    A pain filled scream echoed through the area as the stone armor on the man who was grabbed by the fire fist melted into liquid, charring the man black. The smell of burnt blood and flesh filled the air as Zed pulled the burnt mangled, yet still alive body of the man in the path between him and the stone javelin at blinding speed.

    Using the still screaming charred man like a body shield, Zed rushed towards the man who threw the stone javelin.

    The javelin tore apart the charred man¡¯s chest as he was nailed to the ground, his scream muffled as he choked on a mouthful of his own blood. Fury could be seen in the eyes of the man, who had just unknowingly taken his comrade¡¯s life and in his rage, the man rushed forward roaring with a stone spear appearing in his hands.

    ¡°DIE!!!¡±

    The man thrusted his spear at Zed¡¯s head, looking at which amusement filled Zed¡¯s eye and he let the spear pierce through his head.

    Watching as his spear pierced through Zed¡¯s head, happiness filled the man¡¯s eyes but the next moment he noticed something weird. There was no blood nor were there any screams.

    His pupils constricted as he noticed the smile on Zed¡¯s face. He watched as Zed slowly moved his hand upwards and wanted to avoid it but found himself unable to move. He could just watch as Zed¡¯s hand grabbed a hold of his neck, lifting him off the ground.

    ¡°Such a weak elemental cultivator¡­ You¡¯re not worthy.¡±

    The man found it hard to breath as his hand grabbed a hold Zed¡¯s hands tightly, trying to get loose. While struggling to get loose, his eyes moved towards the circular stone wall behind Zed.

    He saw that the inscriptions that had been slowly emerging on the circular had finally solidified. Upon seeing this, craziness and ridicule filled his eyes as he stopped struggling and quickly wrapped his legs around Zed¡¯s waist while shouting

    ¡°DO IT NOW!!! KILL HIM!!!¡±

    The next moment two ginormous palms emerged out from opposite sides of the circular stone wall, slamming together with Zed and the man at its centre, crushing them both within.

    Silence filled the scene as everyone came to a standstill. Slowly the hands receded and two mangled corpses could be seen on the sand. A roaring laughter filled the area as the ginormous hands were sucked back into the circular walls.

    ¡°HAHAHAHA!!! He¡¯s Dead!!! The bastard who killed my brothers is finally dead!!!¡±

    The malevolent man, Valor, was laughing with his face filled with tears.

    ¡°Old teammates I have finally done it¡­ Finally killed the bastard who killed you all¡­ Please accept my tribute in heavens.¡±

    Valor spoke as he kneeled on the ground

    The inscriptions on the circular stone wall disappeared and the six men who had been cocooned by the circular wall emerged out. Valor¡¯s new comrades were looking at him silently as he kowtowed to his dead comrades in heaven.

    Out of nowhere a sigh was heard

    ¡°And you were saying I could not get over the fact that my wife is no longer by my side¡­¡±

    The next moment Zed¡¯s corpse exploded and seven other Zed appeared in the sky. One standing above the others with black fire all around his body and his eyes closed while the other six forming a circle, each drawing a bow made of fire.

    Six arrows shot out of the fire bow at blinding speed hitting the six men, who had just emerged out of the circular wall, right in the head.

    All the six men with no time to react, fell to the ground their face charred black with no life in their eyes.

    Zed stood on the top with his black robe fluttering. He opened his eyes and gazed overbearingly at the enemies who had attacked them and spoke

    ¡°My Wife has left me¡­ I want to be reunited with her too¡­¡±

    ¡°But now is not the time¡­¡±

    ¡°My Young Lord still needs me. So, let there be Death.¡±

    ¡°[ASHES TO ASHES]!!!¡±

 Chapter 4: Damn You My Liege

    ¡°[ASHES TO ASHES]!!!¡±

    Out of nowhere an enormous white tree appeared above Zed with Its branches filled with pitch-black leaves that swayed in the wind ever so slightly, falling slowly, creating a mesmerizing scene.

    Valor and his men who were still alive had their eyes peering towards the white tree unable to take them away slowly getting detached from reality.

    ¡°Father! I finally made you proud!¡±

    ¡°W-Wife what did you say? Our daughter was actually not k-killed by that bastard in the academy? She actually ran away safely? Where is she? take me to her!¡±

    ¡°Hehe Brothers I¡¯ll be part of the Lower Guards soon! Come find me if you run into any problems!¡±

    ¡°Mother, stop working and come eat first. You have become so weary¡­¡±

    ¡°Old Teammates! I killed that bastard in your stead and even killed the kid he was protecting!¡±

    Voices filled with laughter and sorrow filled the area as Valor and his comrades seem to have entered a trance like state. It seemed like they had fallen into some sort of illusion with each experiencing their own story.

    Above them, the air sizzled as it seemed that the whole sky was filled with black butterflies fluttering away.

    The black leaves fell down caressing the circular stone wall. The stone wall instantly lit on fire as the black fire blazed on it, melting it to liquid.

    Some of the black leaves hit the five men below and lit them on fire, but not a shred of pain could be seen on their faces as they continued to bask in their own world.

    Black fire corroded their bodies inch by inch and burned them all to dust. In a matter of seconds, Valor and his remaining comrades turned to ashes and disappeared from the world forever, not even having a chance to fight against Zed because of his decisive onslaught.

    ¡®Ashes to ashes yet not at peace. Such a paradox are the lives of living beings. Maybe this world of illusion I created for them, will give them some closure on their inner demons in their death.¡¯

    Zed thought as he looked at the scene apathetically, landing on the ground below. The majestic bird who was no longer being attacked, landed beside Zed with the Young Lord on its back.

    ¡°YOU IDIOT! HOW DID YOU FALL FOR SUCH A PATHETIC TRICK?!¡±

    The majestic bird roared aggressively looking at Zed

    ¡°Umm¡­ Ah¡­ You see¡­¡±

    Zed stuttered as he looked sheepishly at the majestic bird

    ¡°Whatever. Don¡¯t try to think of an excuse, just don¡¯t fall for such a trick again. They were too weak to take advantage of such a great chance, but if it was someone with even a bit of intellect, you would have died for certain.¡±

    The majestic bird spoke seriously

    Zed nodded seriously in affirmation when he heard the majestic bird

    ¡°It¡¯s such a pity that it didn¡¯t take long for them to arrive and set up an ambush that was specifically targeting you, Zed.¡± The majestic bird spoke

    ¡°Partner, there¡¯s no need to pity those traitorous crooks, who can go any lows just to fulfil their goals. His liege had already suspected that something like this might happen if I openly left with a child in my hands. This was actually his liege¡¯s last try to maintain the long-lasting status quo within the empire, but these bastards just had to go and spit on his face. This time they have crossed his bottom-line. From what I see, this could be the start of a long and arduous war where his liege will stop showing any mercy.¡±

    Zed spoke seriously to the majestic bird as he took out a talisman from his spatial pouch. With the talisman in his hand, he activated it and spoke a detailed report on everything that had happened since he left with the Young Lord. He finished his report and crushed the talisman sending the report to his liege.

    Zed looked around the battlefield He burnt all the remaining enemy bodies to ashes making sure none of the enemies were alive and did an inspecting, to check if he had missed anything.

    ¡®It¡¯s good that his liege and the top figures of the faction had already went for a walk to several key locations of various enemies inside and outside the empire to tie up the powerful forces. This rendered the enemies like Gordwok being unable to spare their key leadership figures, leaving them only capable of sending lower rank officials like Valor. If someone from the enemy¡¯s leadership figures had come, it would have been a much harder and maybe even a deadly fight like partner said.¡¯

    Zed thought as he took out a box from his spatial pouch and opened it. In the soft padding inside the box was another talisman but the inscriptions on it looked completely different from the talismans he had seen before and had a more archaic feel to it. Zed took out the talisman and placed the box back inside his spatial pouch. He examined the talisman carefully thinking insideThis book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡®Don¡¯t know what¡¯s so special about this talisman¡­ Well whatever we will know after we reach the destination. My liege did say that it was a spatial route rarely used and only a few knew about it. He also said that the enemy will never be able to find us after we used this talisman to travel to our destination, rendering our trail going cold. If this talisman really works, I would really like to have a couple more of them.¡¯

    Zed thought as he jumped on the majestic bird and picked the Young Lord in one of his hands. Zed created a crimson barrier around the Young Lord to protect him so that he would not be affected by turbulent space when they travel.

    Zed crushed the archaic talisman in his hands.

    A huge archaic door materialized in front of them out of nowhere with its doors slowly opening. The archaic door had inscriptions all over it just like the archaic talisman that was used to activate it.

    In a second, the door was wide open. Nothing could be seen on the inside as the area inside the door was completely black.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ So, this is what a long-distance spatial route looks like. Young Lord, partner, it¡¯s time to go.¡±

    Zed spoke as he asked the majestic bird to enter the doorway.

    The majestic bird hummed his consent and passed through the door. After they passed, the archaic door closed behind them and faded away as if it had never existed as soon as the three of them passed through it.

    ---------------------------------

    ||Couple of Days Later Somewhere Zed Never Expected He Would Ever Be||

    ¡°Oye!!! Oye!!! Oye!!! Oye!!! Oye!!!¡±

    Zed was looking around constantly moving his head from left to right while jumping on stone boulders and huge trees as he kept on shouting

    ¡®Where the fuck is this place! There is such a sparse amount of celestial energy here!¡¯

    ¡®FUCK!!! Even the heavenly laws in this space are broken and imperfect! Where the hell did my liege send me and the Young Lord?!¡¯

    Zed was shouting in his head as he tried to figure out where the fuck he was at this moment.

    ¡®Sparse Celestial Energy¡­ Broken and Imperfect Heavenly Laws¡­¡¯

    Zed started repeating the same thing over and over again in his head trying to figure out where they had reached. He went all over the maps of the different realms he had in his head and knew for certain that there was not a single realm that he had been to where such a place existed.

    After a couple of minutes cold sweat started rolling down his face like waterfall and his eyes slowly started popping out of their sockets. He had an unnatural gobsmacked look on his face as he roared

    ¡°DAMN YOU MY LEIGE!!!¡±

    ¡°YOU FUCKING SENT US TO THE MORTAL REALM!!!¡±

    His face aggrieved as he huffed and started berating his liege by making faces and imitating him sarcastically

    ¡°It¡¯s a special spatial talisman, little Zed! Even if the strongest of the enemy came to tail you, they won¡¯t be able to find you after you use it!¡±

    ¡°Damn You! You Swindler! Of course, no one would be able to find us! We are not even in the Same Fucking Realm anymore!¡±

    ¡°Stay by your Fourth Young Lord¡¯s side from now on little Zed, you¡¯ll have endless glory following him!¡±

    ¡°Fuck You! You Swindler! I never thought I would ever be on the receiving end of your swindles one day¡­¡±

    Just as he finished speaking, Zed suddenly remembered the condition his liege had said that he needed to complete before he could go back and fell down on his knees and started bawling like crazy

    ¡°NO!!! NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!¡±

    ¡°WHY?! WHY?! Why my Liege?! What did I ever do to you?!¡±

    ¡°When you were not married to the mistress, I have saved you countless times by taking the blame for your perverted actions. I have been beaten to death by the women around you, who knows how many times, to make sure your reputation remains untarnished!¡±

    ¡°During our travels through the Nether Realm, I battled the Royal Guards of Netherworld singlehandedly when the Queen of Netherworld assaulted us in rage because of you. I even gave up on, a once in a lifetime chance to enter the Moon Palace and let you go in disguised as me because you perverted swindler wanted to secretly do something at the moon palace.¡±

    ¡°After all these! Tell me! Tell me why are you doing this to me, you swindler!¡±

    Zed roared out lout letting out all the grievances he felt for countless years.

    ¡°Young Lord you have really killed me this time¡­ How long will it take you to become as powerful as me in the Mortal Realm?¡±

    Zed spoke looking at his Young Lord in his hands and smiled wryly

    After letting out his grief Zed started thinking about the words his liege had said to him before he left

    ¡®First of all, the moment you reach your destination, you are to leave your Young Lord in the hands of the person that this talisman selects, whoever it might be, as it was specially made for this purpose.

    To use the Talisman, you just need to crush it and follow the Talisman light with your God Sense. The Talisman light will lead you to the person that is destined to be his parent. You are not to stay with your Young Lord nor are you to come in contact with the person that the talisman selects.

    Just leave a wisp of your God Sense in your Young Lord¡¯s Soul Sea, so that you know about his situation and can act quickly if he was in some kind of mortal danger. Remember that you are not to help him until he is at his last breath.

    Secondly, don¡¯t even think about coming back unless your Young Lord is powerful enough to challenge the current you or I specifically ask for you to come back.

    Don¡¯t interfere in your Young Lord¡¯s life and let him live any way he wants. If he finds a way to cultivate let him do so while if he can¡¯t find a way or does not want to cultivate let him be.

    Little Zed, I know your character well, so I know that If someone is bullying him you will be the first to blow your head and jump to his aid, but you are not to do so unless he¡¯s going to be killed.

    I know these decisions seem cruel, but they are also my way of protecting him. The less we come in contact with him the safer he will be while he is growing up, cause if someone somehow makes the connection between him and us, it would just put him in harm¡¯s way.

    Finally, I¡¯ve a different mission for you after you have placed your Young Lord in his new household. Take this book and open it only after all the other tasks have been completed. It has the details of everything you need to know about the mission.¡¯

    Taking out the last talisman his liege, that fucking swindler had given him, Zed even though aggrieved at the moment continued to complete his mission.

    Even though he was in a bad mood, he could not help but be amazed at just how deep the art of talisman creation is and how vast its uses are.

    Zed jumped on the back of the majestic bird and crushed the talisman. A Black Light emerged out of the talisman only visible to those who have opened their God Sense.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go partner, follow the Talisman¡¯s Light.¡±

    Zed spoke to the majestic bird as he jumped on its back.

 Chapter 5: His Name Will Be Scrifo

    The black talisman light moved slowly as if just wandering around aimlessly. Zed knew that it might take some time for it to find the person that meets the requirements set by his liege so he crossed his legs and sat on his partners back silently.

    Couple of hours passed by in silence as Zed enjoyed the scenery of the mortal world, completely invisible to all living beings in the world. Someone as powerful as Zed could do basically anything in the mortal world and he wouldn¡¯t even break a sweat.

    ¡°Partner, don¡¯t you think that this move of his liege seems to be too weird? Why would he send the Young Lord to a desolate land like this? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to send him to at least someplace where there is an appropriate amount of celestial energy?¡±

    Thinking about the words of his liege he asked to the majestic bird.

    ¡°Well it is weird but has his liege ever done something that was within expectation. Everything he does, he does with a reason. But sending the Fourth Young Lord to the Mortal Realm is indeed something that¡¯s weird and out of anyone¡¯s expectation. Don¡¯t forget that you do have another mission that you still know nothing about. Maybe that mission is in the Mortal Realm and Fourth Young Lord just had extremely bad luck and had to tag along with you.¡±

    The majestic bird said after giving it a bit of thought.

    Zed took out the book that his liege gave him, gave its outside a look over and sighed.

    ¡°Maybe the Young Lord really did get unlucky this time¡­¡±

    Zed placed the book back inside the spatial pouch and fell silent again.

    Time passed as it was finally high noon and the sun was shining hard right on Zed¡¯s head. They were flying slowly, passing above a forest, when Zed noticed that there was a change in the Black Light¡¯s movement.

    Out of nowhere the black light picked up its speed and zoomed at blinding speed, so fast, that even the majestic bird found it hard to follow it.

    The black light suddenly took a nosedive and entered the forest below, its speed still as fast as before. The majestic bird still right on its tail as branches got destroyed left and right. Zed had now stood up and was gazing forward seriously when suddenly sound of someone singing a bunch of crappy lyrics entered his ears.

    ¡°

    It¡¯s Noon and a Rowdy Man Says Oh Oh

    It¡¯s Noon and a Rowdy Man Shouts Oh Yeah

    It¡¯s Time to Eat Some Food Oh Oh

    And Take a Nap in The Shade Oh Yeah

    ¡±

    Zed looked down and saw a burly man with a mohawk on his head shouting the lyrics and moving his hips, dancing around, while unpacking his ration.

    Zed felt that he would never be able to forget what he saw; A burly, muscular, middle-aged man with a mohawk on his head, prancing around in the forest, toe to toe, like a young female elf yet to reach her adulthood.

    ¡®Please don¡¯t let it be him¡­ Don¡¯t let it be him¡­ I don¡¯t want my Young Lord to become like this!¡¯

    Zed prayed inside but he knew all was for naught when he saw the black light hit the man in his abdomen and flung him into the air like a cannon ball.

    Zed knew that the time had come to hand over his Young Lord. He used his powers to create a domain and slowed the time down, making everything around him move in slow motion. Only those who had a certain level of power could remove the influence of the domain that he had just created.

    He jumped down from the majestic bird¡¯s back with the Young Lord in his hand. While infusing a wisp of his God Sense in the Young Lord¡¯s body, he moved towards a tree besides him. He removed the blanket covering his young lord and saw the bandage on the Young Lord¡¯s left arm.

    Finding it weird because he remembered when Wolf delivered the Young Lord to him there were no bandages on the Young Lord¡¯s arm, he took off the bandage. What he found was an arm stained black. Completely pitch black.

    His mouth opened but no words came out his mouth. He didn¡¯t even know whether he should be crying for his Young Lord or laughing his ass off at his liege¡¯s expense saying that his swindling days had finally caught up to him and had even affected his son.

    ¡®I guess what will happen to Francis will depend on the Young Lord when he returns.¡¯

    Zed wrapped the bandage back on his Young Lord¡¯s left arm while chuckling and hanged him on a branch by his underwear.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    He then retreated inside the forest with the majestic bird, created an illusion and removed his domain returning the flow of time back to normal.

    Zed and the majestic bird watched as the burly man got up from the ground panting in pain as he fell into Zed¡¯s illusion. They saw him moving towards the illusion of the majestic bird falling to the ground mortally hurt just a couple of minutes away from death.

    They saw the man looking straight into the majestic bird¡¯s eyes, matching it¡¯s gaze. His eyes clear with no agenda behind them. As if being able to talk with the majestic bird, the man was able to understand the majestic bird¡¯s thoughts from just it¡¯s gaze and actions.

    ¡°He¡¯s much better than I expected.¡± the real majestic bird standing beside Zed spoke with appreciation.

    ¡°I can agree with that.¡± Zed replied as his thoughts went back to man singing and dancing.

    The majestic bird¡¯s illusion looked towards the Young Lord then back at the burly man. Its gaze full of pleading as it cried at the man. The burly man who had been in a stupor, snapped out of it, rushed towards the Young Lord and got him off the branch. The illusion cried out for the last time hearing which the man took off, running away with the Young Lord in his arms.

    As Zed watched the man take the Young Lord away Zed sighed.

    ¡°This is all I can do for you Young Lord¡­ At least for now.¡±

    ¡°I hope that next time we meet in person, you have become a man of your own. Someone with his own convictions and ideals. Someone who is unbridled and does what he wants. Someone whom I would be proud to follow. Someone who Gella would be proud to follow.¡±

    Turning his gaze away, Zed looked towards the majestic golden bird.

    ¡°Well partner, you want to stay or go back inside?¡± Zed asked

    ¡°It¡¯s the first time we¡¯ve come to the Mortal Realm, I¡¯ll be staying outside for now.¡±

    The majestic bird spoke seemingly interested in the Mortal World.

    ¡°Alright then, Let¡¯s get going partner. It¡¯s time to go have an adventure of our own in the Mortal Realm.¡±

    Zed spoke jumping on the majestic bird¡¯s back, hearing which the majestic bird flapped its wings and took off to the sky disappearing within seconds.

    --------------------------------

    ||Couple of Days Later||

    It was a beaten down path with farms on both the sides of it. Cold breeze was blowing, rustling the leaves on colourful crops. People could be seen working hard in the fields. Two man were walking down this path talking.

    ¡°Hank, tell me who¡¯s the kid. Did you kidnap someone¡¯s kid? You know that it could lead to a lot of trouble if you really did that.¡± One of the men, an old man asked the middle-aged man with a mohawk.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing like that Elder Dwight, but still I don¡¯t know how to even begin explaining all the things I saw that day.¡± The middle-aged man named Hank replied.

    ¡°Lad you¡¯re not making any sense to me right now. Cut the riddles and tell me what¡¯s important.¡± Elder Dwight spoke.

    ¡°Fine, When I was coming back from the trip to sell those weapons, I took a break by Lake of Greenery to eat some ration. Just when I was about to start eating, I felt as if I was hit by a hammer and was flung in the air. There was no one there not even a soul but I knew I was not dreaming. I had not even had a drink for days so I knew I was sober.¡± Hank spoke.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a story you¡¯re telling boy.¡± Elder Dwight said sharply measuring Hank up.

    ¡°I already knew you wouldn¡¯t believe me without a proof old man. I guess I can only show it to you before you would start believing me.¡± Hank said as he took off his tunic to reveal a bandaged abdomen.

    He then Untied the bandage. The whole centre of his abdomen, the front and the back were purple-black. Swollen.

    ¡°Heavens¡­¡± Elder Dwight looked at it as if his eyes would pop out.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t seen anything like this have you? Believe me now?¡± Hank said feeling proud at the look on the elder¡¯s face.

    ¡°Well moving forward, Suddenly I heard a cry. It sounded like a a bird and seemed like the bird was in a lot of pain. I looked up at the sky, all I could see was a divine shadow and then I heard the branches breaking. I waited for an impact but there was none.

    I ran towards the direction of sound cautiously. The bird was up on the trees, many branches going right through it. The ground was pooling with blood. The bird was huge. It was still alive and it knew that I was there. It was looking right at me. I haven¡¯t ever seen such crystal-clear eyes.

    It looked at me like trying to peer right through my soul. Then it looked towards its right and cried out as if trying to guide me somewhere. I looked towards where it was pointing and I saw a baby hanging on a branch by its butt.

    Shockingly, the baby was not bruised at all as if something was protecting it. It¡¯s eyes wide open, looking around confused as wind blew the hairs on its face.

    I looked at the bird again, it was at its last breaths but was still looking tenderly at the baby. The bird looked at me and cried again as if it thought that I didn¡¯t understand what it wanted me to do.

    I woke up from my stupor and ran towards the baby and got it off the branch. The bird cried softly again and I knew it was my final commands and the last one the bird will ever give. The command was to run and take the baby with me and that¡¯s what I did.

    You might be question that how did I know what the bird was thinking. You might even say why the hell was I taking orders from a bird. All I can say is I could feel it, I could somehow understand its cries and no I have not gone insane. Well, That¡¯s the story of how I got the boy.¡±

    Hank spoke relaying the scenario of how he got the little boy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to say. You have always been a kind lad. I have seen people be kind to each other but this is the first time I heard of someone being kind to an animal.¡±

    Elder Dwight sighed.

    ¡°So, what now, you¡¯re going to take care of the boy till he grows up?¡± Elder Dwight asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the plan well unless someone comes searching for the kid and seems legit.¡± Hank replied.

    ¡°You know that the villagers will not be kind towards him, right?¡± Elder Dwight spoke with caution.

    ¡°I know that but I think it would all work out and least the kid would be able to survive while also having someone like me backing him up.¡± Hank said with confidence patting on his arms.

    ¡°Moreover, I already named the kid when I was coming back. His name will be Scrifo from now on.¡± Hank said as he burst out in a boisterous laughter.

    All Elder Dwight could do was sigh and move his lanky head left and right when he heard this hoping all went well for this new pair of father and son as the both of them walked down the beaten path.

 Chapter 6: Poopoo Fighter

    || 5 ? Years After Zed Left Scrifo with Hank ||

    It was autumn time and trees were losing leaves everywhere. The leaves fell from the trees as the light breeze took them for the first and final ride they would take of the sky. A final moment of elation before their death.

    Hank was standing in the cottage looking at the autumn leaves falling as his thoughts wandered. He looked towards the huge rock outside his cottage where a little boy with dark red hairs was sitting with his arms around his knees and a twig in his mouth.

    Hank looked at Scrifo, his eyes sad as he felt his heart ache. He felt that Scrifo was like autumn too. Slowly his smiles were getting short while his heart was getting colder. Hank knew that in due time there might come a day when Scrifo might not smile anymore other than when he was with him.

    He remembered when Scrifo was a year younger, he would go around running toward the village everyday no matter the season, to find the kids his age and play with them. But as time passed, he seemed to have stopped running around like a kid should do. He seemed to have realised that the other kids don¡¯t like him or maybe he had started to feel the coldness with which the people of the village treat him.

    Hank saw all these happening right in front of his eyes but how people would act was not something that he could control nor something he wished to be able to control.

    ¡®Maybe it would just make him stronger on the road of cultivation¡­¡¯

    Hank sighed doubting his own thoughts.

    ¡°Worried about Scrifo again?¡± Elder Dwight asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what would become of him. All these experiences of isolation might make him stronger or weaker as a person, based on how he looks at them.¡± Hank replied

    ¡°Maybe, talk to him about the days when you were younger and ran away from the village. Maybe by listening to the stories of your travels and brotherhood, he will at least believe at some level believe that there are people in the world who would do the same for him.¡±

    Elder Dwight suggested.

    ¡°I might just do that. Maybe, listening about the world we live in will spark his interest and take his mind off of everything.¡±

    Hank nodded as he spoke.

    ¡°Then, we might as well leave. I done with eating anyways.¡±

    Elder Dwight spoke as he stood up from the table taking his empty dishes to the kitchen.

    Outside the cottage, Scrifo was sitting on the huge rock as the light breeze ruffled his dark red hairs and a couple of leaves found their way between them. He mindlessly used his bandaged left arm to slowly pick the leaves out of his hairs.

    Scrifo¡¯s head was blank, without any thoughts as he continued gazing at the little birds and animals, flying and running around on the ground as they chirped and chattered at each other besides the huge rock.

    He let go of his legs and laid down on his back. Closing his eyes while chewing the twig in his mouth, he felt the chill from the cold boulder slowly entering his body, making him want to sleep.

    Hank and Elder Dwight came out of the house after some time. Elder Dwight walked towards their carriage while Hank walked towards the huge rock on which Scrifo was laying down.

    As Hank reached Scrifo, he moved his hand and pointed it towards the heavens and curled it up.

    *BAM!!!*

    The fist hit Scrifo right on the top of his head, waking him up from his sleep.

    ¡°Owwwww! Oww! Yo-! You nasty old man! Why did you hit me?!¡±

    Scrifo shouted as he spat the broken piece of twig from his mouth. He quickly sat on the huge rock with his arms covering his head as he kept clicking his tongue in pain.

    ¡°Oh! You¡¯re awake! Good! Good! Get up, it¡¯s time to go.¡±

    Hank said with a smile on his face.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you be normal for a day, old man?! You could have just called me and I would have woken up! Can''t you show some compassion?¡±

    Scrifo complained as he jumped off the huge rock and looked at Hank.

    ¡°Now! Now! Don¡¯t be a baby. Let¡¯s get going.¡±

    Hank said as he started walked towards the carriage and sat beside Elder Dwight, taking the reins of the carriage in his hands. Still pouting, Scrifo jumped on the carriage too and sat beside the many equipment that they were going to sell at the nearby city.

    The carriage started moving slowly and the group started on their journey.

    Time passed slowly with Hank and Elder Dwight talking to each other about some things that needed to be discussed before they reached the city. Scrifo was sitting quietly looking at the passing scenery when Hank called his name.

    ¡°What is it, old man?¡± Scrifo asked

    ¡°I¡¯m thinking about starting your training as a cultivator.¡± Hank replied as he looked at Scrifo.

    ¡°Become a cultivator? I don¡¯t like to fight, so why would I want to be a poopoo fighter like you, old man?¡± Scrifo retorted.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Hank for a second was at a loss of words as he looked at Scrifo, when he heard him call the most revered group of people in the world, ¡®Poopoo Fighters¡¯. Even Elder Dwight, who was used to this weird duo of father and son, choked when he listened Scrifo¡¯s unique vocabulary.

    ¡°I know you don¡¯t like fighting shithead, but the world we live in is not a peaceful one and definitely not one where you can live without fighting.

    You are already old enough to understand that so listen to me carefully as I tell you about cultivators and our world.¡±

    Hank broke out of his stupor and patted Scrifo on his head saying.

    Scrifo didn¡¯t reply but sat straight as he listened.

    ¡°Cultivators are the most revered group of people in the world. They train in mystical arts and fighting techniques with the aim of gaining world shaking power, influence and long life. Their goal is to understand the way of the heavens, break through the shackles of the world and one day gain immortality.

    The world we live in has an enormous influence of cultivators in everything, whether it be from normal living supplies to mythical items, from a normal soldier to an emperor, everything and everyone is influenced by them. Their power and influence, in any and all organizations is so great that most, if not all the top leaders of the world are cultivators. Even normal worker and soldiers cultivate if only to a certain level.

    All these cultivators follow a main system of cultivation that uses the spiritual energy that exists in the world. Spiritual energy is the reason for life itself and this system of cultivation has existed in the world for who knows how long. Furthermore, because this unified system exists and is known and followed by everyone, cultivators can be categorized based on their cultivation levels.

    Cultivation levels have been decided based on the power and insights of the cultivators and are used as a rough measure to categorise them. This though can sometimes be faulty as some people might have more power but can be slightly weak on insights or vice versa making people confused on what the person¡¯s cultivation level actually is. But in a generalized scenario this cultivation levels can be a great way of knowing the power and insights of a cultivator.

    The Cultivation Levels are as follows and all the levels are further divided into 9 sub levels: -

    1) Body Tempering

    2) Core Formation

    3) Spiritual Seed Creation

    4) Origin Core

    5) Origin Tree

    There are cultivation levels that exist above these, as the saying goes in the cultivation world; If you think you are good, there¡¯s always somebody else who¡¯s better, but there is no point in telling you about them now.

    All these cultivation levels have their own reason of existence in the system. Know that there is ginormous qualitative change between each level and the power and insights of cultivators don¡¯t increase linearly between each level, but I won¡¯t go into the details of them for now.¡±

    Hank slowly explained roughly about cultivators.

    ¡°I know that you don¡¯t like to fight, but the way our world has evolved, fighting and personal fighting power of an individual is extremely important factor in whether the person would be able to survive and prosper in the world or not.

    So, cultivation is something you have to practice. How to use the power that you gain from it is something that is up to you and the situation that you are in.¡±

    Hank said looking towards Scrifo.

    Scrifo just nodded toward him, showing that he had been listening. For Scrifo, if it was Hank that was giving him advice than he would follow that advice without a second thought.

    ¡°The world we live in is too vast to measure so moving forward let me tell you about the empire we live in.

    The Empire we live in is known as Ethadaan Empire and it consists of multiple Kingdoms, Clans, Sects and Organizations. There are even territories of extremely powerful and reclusive cultivators that exist within the Empire though they are not under the Empire¡¯s control.

    Ethadaan Empire is extremely vast and is one the Hegemon of the little region we live lin.

    The Kingdom we currently reside in is known as Kingdom of Plazex.

    During my travels, I¡¯ve been to almost all the places in the Empire and also places outside the Empire. Met countless humans and also those that are not humans. The world we live in is a mysterious place and you will find something unexpected on every other turn that you take but that is also why so many people set out to travel the world at an extremely young age.

    But travelling alone can sometimes get exhausting so having your friends, someone whom you would call your brothers and sisters by your side, will make these journeys much more exciting. I was in luck to have many such brothers and sisters. We went through many bloody battles, life and death situations and times filled with pure bliss and laughter together.

    Just knowing that if you take one step forward, there would be ten other that will follow without any hesitation or fear is something to give your life for.¡±

    Hank said as he seemed to have travelled to the days of his past.

    Scrifo could not understand the friendship and brotherhood that Hank was talking about as he had never experienced something like this.

    ¡°But what is a friend, old man?¡± Scrifo asked in confusion.

    When Elder Dwight who had been sitting quietly listening to their conversation heard Scrifo¡¯s question could not help but feel sad for Scrifo who for no reason but some idiotic beliefs, had been subjected to being abandoned and isolated by everyone around him but Hank and Him.

    When he thought about it, even he had not done a lot for Scrifo so in reality only Hank was the support of this little child.

    When Hank heard Scrifo¡¯s question he could not help but show a wry smile on his face.

    ¡°Friendship¡­ It is something I can tell you all about but you still won¡¯t understand. You will know the real meaning of friendship when these people that you will call friends and brothers will come in your life. You will definitely encounter these people and when you do, your world will take a turn for the better.¡±

    Hank spoke as he looked at Scrifo.

    Scrifo just nodded and fell into his own world and so did Hank. No one knew what this father son duo was thinking, but time slowly passed as the carriage moved forward towards the destination in complete silence.

    After some time, Hank came out of his thoughts and looked at Scrifo again.

    ¡°You seem to be feeling fine today. Do you want to start your training right now?¡±

    Hank asked Scrifo.

    ¡°Sure.¡± Scrifo replied mindlessly as he broke out of his confused thoughts.

    Hearing him say yes, a mischievous smile tugged on Hank¡¯s lips as he stopped the carriage and asked Scrifo to come down. He then started rummaging through the many equipment they had in the back for something. Soon, Hank picked out an armor that would fit Scrifo and put it on him.

    When Hank let go of the armor, Scrifo¡¯s Knee buckled under its weight. Hank before Scrifo could say anything, jumped on the carriage besides Elder Dwight and took hold of the reins, making the carriage start to move again.

    ¡°Okay your training starts now! You will be walking to the city before dusk with that armor on you. If you don¡¯t reach the city by dusk, there will be no food for you!¡±

    Hank said as he laughed happily and made the carriage move a bit faster so that Scrifo can¡¯t catch up.

    ¡°Oi! Oi! Old man! Stop! I don¡¯t want to train yet!¡±

    ¡°Oi! Old man! This armor is too heavy!¡±

    ¡°Old man! You idiot! you want to kill me or what?!¡±

    ¡°Show some compassion your bastard! There is no way that I¡¯ll reach the city with this armor on me, much less before dusk!¡±

    ¡°Old man! You cruel bastard! if I don¡¯t get my food today, I¡¯m going to bite you to death!¡±

    Scrifo yelled curses after curses from behind as he saw Hank speeding up the carriage.

 Chapter 7: Iéˆ¥æª’l Be Talking To Air Now

    || A Day Later ||

    Hank, Scrifo and Elder Dwight were returning to the village after having sold the equipment at the city. Scrifo was laying down in the now empty carriage while Hank and Elder Dwight were in the front.

    ¡®Ow! My legs! My shoulders! Ow! My whole body is hurting so bad¡­¡¯

    Scrifo exclaimed in his head as he rubbed his sore body.

    ¡°You okay there, shithead?¡± Hank asked as he looked towards Scrifo.

    ¡°Humph! I¡¯m not talking to you, you crooked old man!¡±

    Scrifo said as he looked away from Hank with attitude.

    ¡°Fine. Fine. We are not talking. What I¡¯m going to do now is to put on a one man show. I am going to talk to air now and going to pick it up from where I stopped talking yesterday.¡±

    Hank said as he internally laughed at Scrifo¡¯s childlike behaviour.

    As he heard Hank saying that, Scrifo¡¯s ears perked up.

    ¡°Okay so let¡¯s keep talking about the cultivation world. Let¡¯s start with the base on who can become a Cultivator.

    Anyone can cultivate and there are no criteria that needs to be fulfilled for just starting out, but the key is that the cultivator needs to have enough resources and cultivation scriptures. This is one of the biggest problems that any non-cultivator will face when trying to start on the path of becoming a cultivator.

    If you have reached a certain age let¡¯s say 40 and have not cultivated till now and don¡¯t have any unique abilities, innate or otherwise, it is not highly probable that the various organizations, sects, clans or even the empire itself will be willing to use their precious cultivation resources and scripture on you.

    So, what do you do now?

    Well, you would now need to gather your own resources and find cultivation scriptures from somewhere to even get started as there is no one to support you on the quest that you¡¯re now on. This cultivation resources are not something that can be gathered cheaply.

    That¡¯s why starting the training at the early age is extremely important. By doing so, you are increasing your chances of entering one of these various powerhouses and would no longer need to think about the resources and scriptures you would need as they would be supplied to you directly. Other point is that, it would be much easier to gather extra resources for yourself, if you are part of one of these powerhouses.

    That does it for that question, so let¡¯s talk about Cultivation.

    Cultivation can be taught to you when you''re starting out but is not something that can be taught once you reach higher levels, as cultivation at its core is all about that cultivator¡¯s own understanding. Something that he had understood and accepted.

    If the cultivator just accepts what someone, maybe his teacher or elder, says without thinking and comprehending the reasons and consequences behind it, it will lead to a point where understanding the higher realms will just be a daydream for that cultivator. Cultivators who do not think for themselves, will never break the barriers to higher realms.

    This is the reason why, what most cultivation sects, clans, organization and empires search for are hardworking young men and women with enough intelligence, who have common sense and basic knowledge of the world, cause if they don¡¯t even have these things, it will be a miracle to be able to reach higher cultivation levels in the future even after they nurture them.

    The young men and women might have unique abilities that can be called heaven defying but If they don''t have common sense and basic level of intelligence, they might by a miracle become powerful because of some lucky encounters, but they will definitely die quickly once they enter the cultivation world.

    This is also the reason why Sects, Clans, or whatever other organization we are talking about take a long time before they accept someone in their ranks. Aptitude is an abstract concept that needs a lot of input from the accessor''s side before they come to a decision of whether a person has good aptitude or not.

    The Scripture is an inanimate object that is a way to cultivate and become powerful, but all in all it is still an object without life. It all depends on the cultivator, his mindset and what he understands.

    As the saying goes ''Beauty is in the eyes of the Beholder'', this also works for cultivators. If the cultivator doesn''t understand the beauty of the cultivation scripture or understand and perceive them incorrectly because of his mindset, then no one can help him.

    Another concept that comes in the play is, whether the cultivator is even someone suitable to become part of the accessor¡¯s Organization, Empire, Sect or Clan as they all have different reasons of accepting and discarding people.

    It all depends on the times and situations. Some might not be in a need for goody two shoes cultivator but someone who is sinister and filled with shady tricks. Some might have a completely opposite outlook where they might not tolerate a shady person at all. Everything depends on the organization and situation they are in.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Do you understand till now?¡±

    Hank said as he looked towards Scrifo.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Scrifo mindlessly hummed and then as if shocked his mouth fell down and he moved back pointing his finger at Hank as he shouted.

    ¡°Yo-You! You dirty old man you tricked me!¡±

    ¡°Why are shouting shithead?! Who was talking to you?! Huh! I am talking to air.¡±

    Hank said as he smirked.

    ¡°Whatever. Whatever. This old man is already used to being tortured for no reason at all.¡±

    Hank continued as he waved his hand.

    Looking at the interaction between these duo Elder Dwight could not help but laugh.

    ¡°Well air, you continue listening.

    Now let me give a bit more detailed overview about the first 5 levels of cultivation that I told you about yesterday. Each of the level as you already know are divided into 9 sublevels. Let¡¯s start with the

    <u>1)  1<sup>st</sup> Level: The Body Tempering</u>

    In the Body Tempering Level, the cultivator¡¯s main aim is to create a tempered body, strong enough to contain enormous amounts of energy. If flaws are left at this level then the capacity of storing energy will be drastically reduced, leading to the cultivator facing bottlenecks when trying to break through to the Core Formation Level, because of not having enough energy reserves to break through the barrier between the levels.

    In the 1<sup>st</sup> to 3<sup>rd</sup> Sublevels, the cultivator learns to absorb spiritual energy of the world inside their body and incorporate it into their flesh and muscles.

    In the 4<sup>th</sup> to 6<sup>th</sup> Sublevels, the cultivator refines the energy channels and bones unclogging the energy channels as much as possible and strengthening the bones with spiritual energy.

    In the 7<sup>th</sup> to 9<sup>th</sup> Sublevels, the cultivator refines the inner organs with the spiritual energy and strengthens them.

    <u>2) 2<sup>nd</sup> Level: Core Formation</u>

    In the Core Formation level the cultivator absorbs enormous amounts of energy from the world inside his body and consolidates it at the core of his body just below the navel.

    This energy can be thought of as the storehouse of energy that the cultivator can use. The amount of energy that they can store will be different for every cultivator and will depend on how strong their foundation at the Body Tempering Level was. The stronger the cultivator¡¯s body the more energy it will be able to hold and the more advantage the cultivator has in a fight of attrition.

    This is also why in the lifetime of a cultivator, the most important level is actually the 1<sup>St</sup> Level Body Tempering. If the foundation is weak, the whole tower that stands on it will be weak no matter how heaven defying the materials used to build the tower are.

    <u>3) 3<sup>rd</sup> Level: Spiritual Seed Creation</u>

    The Spiritual Seed Level is extremely important and will determine the direction of cultivation that the cultivator will follow throughout his lifetime.

    At this Level the cultivator consolidates a Spiritual Seed besides the Core that he formed at the Core Formation Level. This Spiritual Seed will decide what the primary focus of the cultivator¡¯s cultivation will be.

    There are innumerable paths of cultivations and this decision will make a huge impact on whether he will reach the peak of the world or not.

    There are people who have innate constitutions and after their innate constitutions have emerged, they control elemental powers like Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Water, Ice, Darkness, Light, Wood, Metal. These people, well for most part, will definitely select to follow the path that prioritizes their innate element. This type of people with innate elemental constitutions are usually just called Elemental Cultivators.

    Then there are Orthodox Cultivators that follow the path of gaining mastery over weapons like swords, spears, lance, axes, Halberds, Bow and Arrows etc. and follow the path of warlords. You might think that how can they even fight against elemental cultivators, who can control nature itself but you are definitely wrong if you believe so. The mastery they have over Intents can be used to fight and destroy anything, even elementals.

    Then there is the weird bunch, The Unorthodox Cultivators that follow the path of things like Music, Dance, Beast Taming, Poison, Love, Death, Blood, Dream Reality. This bunch may sometimes seem non-lethal compared to the others but wait till they start using their extraordinary prowess in their field. Some of Them can calm a raging army of millions while the others might not even need to move from where they stood to destroy an army of millions.

    Then there are Body Cultivators. They use pills and concoctions to undergo extreme tempering of their bodies. Their strong bodies can withstand things a lot more than the other cultivators. When they become powerful enough, they can transform their bodies, for a certain period of time into different things like, transforming into another person completely, into an animal, a bird, a spiritual beast, a plant, etc. Though these transformations can put their bodies under an extreme amount of stress and they can¡¯t withstand them for a long time, these transformations can be extremely powerful and helpful in a lot of scenarios like espionage and infiltration. This ability makes Body Cultivators extremely lethal. But not a lot of people have the guts to follow this path as the death ratio for a Body Cultivator is exponentially higher than any other type of cultivator.

    <u>4) 4<sup>th</sup> Level: Origin Core</u>

    The Breakthrough to the Origin Core Level is extremely difficult and most of the cultivators are not able to pass through it. To get to the Origin Core Level, the cultivator needs to self-mutilate and destroy the Core they formed during Core Formation Level.

    The destroyed core will then be used as the ground to plant the Spiritual Seed. This process will integrate the path of cultivation you have chosen into your Core¡¯s Energy, making it so that the spiritual energy inside you will now have your path of cultivation completely integrated with it.

    <u>5) 5<sup>th</sup> Level: Origin Tree</u>

    The 5<sup>th</sup> Level is the Origin Tree Level, where the Spiritual Seed that had been planted finally starts sprouting and slowly as the cultivator grows through the sublevels, it grows into a unique Origin Tree that is the representation of who the cultivator actually is at his core. This Origin Tree will be at the centre of the world that the cultivator will possibly create in the future.

    Finally, its over!

    This was a lot of information to take in but it is necessary to understand how these Cultivation Levels work.¡±

    Hank spoke as he explained the information regarding how the Cultivation Levels work.

    ¡°Scrifo, you need to know all these information as they are the basic knowledge you will need to survive in the world of cultivators. After you have thought things through, if you have any questions, ask me later.¡±

    Hank said to Scrifo seriously.

    ¡°Hmm¡± Scrifo nodded and hummed in affirmation.

    ¡°We¡¯ll be reaching the village soon. Your real training as a cultivator will start from tomorrow. Get ready cause it is not going to be easy and I¡¯ll show no mercy.¡±

    Hank spoke and then went silent.

    Soon the carriage slowly reached the village in silence as everyone¡¯s heads were filled with their own thoughts.

 Chapter 8: Disintegrating Reintegrating

    Slowly and gradually, days turned into weeks and soon time passed as Scrifo trained under Hank.

    Training under Hank could be said to be brutal at the least. Just as he had said, Hank did not show a shred of mercy at Scrifo just because he was a child.

    Hank trained him in everything that he had knowledge about and the training schedule took most of Scrifo¡¯s time from the day he started training. This tight schedule though might seem ill-conceived on Hank¡¯s part, actually had a reason behind it. The intense and nonstop schedule did not give any free time for Scrifo to think about or experience the coldness that the villagers showed towards him. In a way, it was Hank just trying to shield Scrifo as much as possible, without being too overt about it.

    From making Scrifo train his physic to the point where he would not even have energy to move his limbs, to giving him education about how to read and write, the schedule was extremely tight and holistic.

    Hank trained Scrifo in everything about how to survive in the wild and about various medicinal herbs that could save his life there. He made him read about the various Spiritual Beasts that exist across the world, what they look like, how to identify them, their behaviour patterns, what to be cautious about when fighting them and their value in the cultivation world.

    He taught him how to harvest the Spiritual Beasts correctly so as to not waste any valuable materials whether it be Spiritual Beast Cores, their organs or even their bones.

    All these materials from the Spiritual Beast can be refined and used in innumerable occupations that exist in the Cultivation World. Spiritual Beast Core can be used to cultivate faster as they contain highly condensed spiritual energy, while their organs and body parts can be used to make various things like extremely durable Armors, Bow Strings and more.

    Some of the Spiritual Beast¡¯s meat can also be used as a nutritious supplement while some others can be used to make extremely lethal poison. Their bones can be refined into Weapons of all kinds and could even be used to make formations.

    By the time Hank was done with him, he had hammered it in Scrifo¡¯s head that a Spiritual Beast¡¯s body is a treasure trove that should not be wasted, whether you use the material, sell them or auction them off at a high price.

    All in all, Hank did his best to squeeze all the knowledge he had accumulated from his countless years of experience in the cultivation world and taught it to Scrifo in a small span of time. He taught Scrifo everything that he would need to survive in the cultivation world without him by his side.

    At first, he was not going to teach so many things to Scrifo and was instead going to take it slow but when he started teaching Scrifo, he quickly knew that he had found an unpolished jade, as the speed at which Scrifo could remember stuff was monstrous.

    When he discovered this, Hank thought that even if Scrifo could not learn to use everything that he teaches him, with the monstrous memory Scrifo has, he could at the least remember everything that Hank says.

    This was the reason why he started making Scrifo read about all the theoretical knowledge regarding the Spiritual and Medicinal Herbs as well as Spiritual Beasts. He knew from experience that if this knowledge was used correctly, Scrifo would not have much problems at surviving in the cultivation world.

    With the theoretical training ongoing, he made Scrifo train his body, making use of whatever trick he could, evil or otherwise. He made Scrifo do this training every day even before he started teaching him how to absorb and circulate spiritual energy.

    After Scrifo¡¯s body and stamina reached a level that Hank was satisfied with, he started teaching Scrifo about how to absorb and circulate spiritual energy inside his body.

    The Body Tempering Level is a level that teaches a cultivator how to survive pain because the process of incorporating spiritual energy inside the flesh, muscle, energy channels, bones and the various internal organs is like, taking all these body parts and shredding them slowly and continuously while they are being pricked by countless needles of lightning and being burnt black.

    After surviving through this level, no matter how many times the cultivator is sliced with a sword or pierced by a spear, he would still be able to keep on moving forward with just a wince on his face.

    Soon, 2 years went by under Hank¡¯s brutal training and Scrifo blazed through the Body Tempering Level and was now at the 4<sup>th</sup> Sublevel of Body Tempering Level. Scrifo had started his journey as a cultivator at a speed of progress that could be considered quite fast as Hank had not used any supplements like spiritual pills to help Scrifo in his training.

    This rate of progress had made Hank extremely happy and satisfied. Sadly, this happiness would not last much longer.

    -------------------

    It was a rainy day today.

    Hank was standing inside the cottage as he looked at the rain falling from the darkened sky. For him, these rainy days, were the gloomiest days of the year.

    Drop by drop the raindrops fell from the sky but from his perspective all the drops of water turned into drops of blood. For him, the pools and puddles of water turned into blood pools of his people.

    The smell of iron filled his nose as he remembered the faces and smile on their faces before they were suddenly attacked.

    Drop by drop, blood seeped out from their wounded bodies. They ran for days as some had their arms cut off while the legs of some were missing. He recalled his comrade whose one leg had been cut off, shouting at him and the other comrades as he leaned on a tree with his back.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°Brothers! I¡¯ll block them! Run! Get boss out of here quickly! Forgive me¡­ you¡¯ll have to continue without me!¡±

    ¡®Ray¡­¡¯

    Hank remembered the man¡¯s name who, between the shouts of his and his comrades did not even look back as he rushed in their opposite direction back from where the enemies were pursuing.

    The number of enemies kept increasing. They could no longer keep themselves safe. All of their bodies were filled with scars and blood. Their eyes red from watching their comrades being hunted down and killed like this.

    They kept rushing forward but because of the increasing number of enemies and trying to defend against them, they soon lost their sense of direction. Their luck was bad and they reached the steep cliff surrounding the Valley of Johanna.

    There was no way that they would be able to rush back as there were just too many enemies. They had to jump off the cliff.

    ¡°JUMP!!!¡± Hank roared

    Without a doubt or hesitation, his comrades jumped. His eyes filled with worry as he watched his comrades free falling by his side. He could not see a shred of unwillingness in his brothers¡¯ eyes as their reddened eyes seriously gazed below, ready to take action as needed. He could see the enemies who had reached the cliff above, looking for them.

    Realizing that their targets might have had jumped down into the deadly Valley of Johanna, they were enraged and started cursing, but did not have the guts and courage needed to jump down into the deadly valley that few could come out of alive.

    Hank watched as the thick fog in the valley covered him and his comrades, rendering his vision white, taking them out of his sight.

    Only one thing going on in his mind.

    ¡®I hope everyone stays alive¡­ everyone¡­ please stay alive¡­¡¯

    ¡°OLD MAN!!! OLD MAN!!!¡±

    Scrifo¡¯s panicked shouts sounded from outside the cottage.

    ¡°Old man! Old man! Something¡¯s wrong with my body!¡±

    As soon as Scrifo¡¯s panic filled voice entered his ears, Hank snapped out from his painful memories and rushed outside towards the voice.

    ¡°ARGHHHH!!!!¡±

    Scrifo¡¯s scream full of agony filled his ears. Just listening to his screams, Hank became panicked as he could ascertain that Scrifo was going through something extremely torturous.

    Hank increased his speed and just a couple of steps later he could see Scrifo who had fallen on the muddy road.

    ¡°Scrifo! I¡¯m here! Don¡¯t worry everything will be all right! Everything will be fine!¡±

    Hank spoke in panic as he quickly picked Scrifo up and embraced him in his arms. Scrifo let out another scream as his breathing accelerated, his body turned left and right in agony.

    Before Hank could pick Scrifo up and take him inside the cottage to check what was actually going on with him, he noticed that Scrifo¡¯s body had turned sand like and had slowly started disintegrating.

    Limb by limb, organ by organ, Scrifo¡¯s body kept on disintegrating. Even his bones were not left intact as they too turned into sand like particles.

    The sand like particles were so small that they started falling out from between Hank¡¯s fingers. Hank was horrified but all he could do was watch and had neither understanding nor power to stop what was happening.

    Hank¡¯s eyes had turned red as tears streamed down his face, camouflaged by the heavy rain. His face was filled with a wretched expression as he tried to think of something that he can do. Anything that he can do.

    ¡®What is going on?! What is happening to his body?!¡¯

    Gears turning in his head but all was worthless as he watched the sand like remains of Scrifo¡¯s body slowly moving upwards as they defied gravity and start to swirl around each other. Illusionary Flowers started blooming around them at rapid speed as the world seemed to have a purplish black hue.

    The Illusionary Flowers seemed to be emitting wisps of a peculiar type of energy at rapid speed which was slowly being sucked up by the sand particles turning them black. The sand like particles now looking like a black tornado, started emitting an otherworldly aura that seem to look down on everything and everyone.

    The particles started converging. One by one, the black particles seemed to be consolidating. Within seconds, the particles had regained a structure that anyone could recognize. It had consolidated into a completely Black Heart.

    *THUMP! THUMP!*

    The low and deep sound of the heart beating, filled the area. Purple rune patterns started slowly creeping and covering the whole heart, exuding brilliance and majesty as the patterns moved and spread around the heart.

    The heart started absorbing the peculiar energy from the illusionary flowers like a thirsty man who had found an oasis in a barren desert, making it look like there was a shield of that peculiar energy on the heart.

    The sand like particles which had not consolidated into the heart, were still twirling around like a black tornado, but by the time the heart had consolidated and started thumping, they had separated into smaller black tornados that started taking their forms and consolidating too.

    One of the tornadoes consolidated itself into a pitch-black skeletal structure that seemed unbreakable, while the others started transforming into the fleshy body and energy channels with similar purple runes lines all over them, just like the heart.

    Eyeballs started emerging in the Skull. The eye¡¯s iris that had been a piercing greenish grey before, now had a purple rune pattern on it. His teeth also had these same purple runes covering all over them.

    Soon all the remaining organs systems like the circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, nervous, endocrine, immune, and reproductive systems were created and consolidated with purple rune patterns all over them, absorbing the peculiar energy crazily.

    Then the Fleshy Body consisting of the integumentary and muscular system covered the entire internal structure of the body.

    The whole body was shrouded in thick black fog of sand like particles and the peculiar energy emitted out by the illusionary flower.

    This continued on for some time before all the black particles had been consolidated and the energy from the illusionary flower had been completely absorbed. Soon, a human like Head, Upper Limbs, Lower Limbs, Genitalia, Ears, Eyes covered by the fleshy body could be distinguished as the black foggy barrier that had been around Scrifo¡¯s body disappeared.

    The purple rune patterns that were visible all over Scrifo¡¯s body slowly dimmed and soon could no longer be seen as his body went back to the way it was before; A normal body with pitch-black left hand.

    The purplish black hue that had tinted the area around Scrifo dissipated and everything went back to normal. The phenomenon that had been keeping Scrifo¡¯s body up in the sky broke as Scrifo¡¯s body came crashing down in a freefall.

    Seeing Scrifo¡¯s tiny body freefalling from the sky, Hank¡¯s heart that had already been in a state of shock by everything that was happening, jumped. He quickly rushed below Scrifo to catch him before he fell to the ground.

    When Scrifo fell into his arms Hank felt as if he had caught a huge boulder weighing a tonne in mass and almost fell down along with Scrifo because he was not quite ready for Scrifo¡¯s little body weighing so much.

    He quickly laid Scrifo down on the wet, muddy ground below and he started checking him for injuries. After giving a quick glance, he determined that there were no external injuries so he quickly passed his spiritual energy into Scrifo¡¯s body to check for internal injuries but found no internal injuries.

    ¡®There seems to be nothing wrong with his body¡­ But why has his mass increased so much¡­ What is going on with him?¡¯

    Hank thought as he picked Scrifo up again and rushed towards the cottage, nervous about Scrifo¡¯s eerie situation.