《Avalon's Shards》


 Chapter 1: Overrated Masters 1

    A short man was thrown out of two golden gates which had magnificent decorations of scaled dragons interlacing with each other, they were so lifelike that no one in Rongvale city dared to look at them for a long time, fear gripping their hearts in apprehension that the four-legged dragons would suddenly come at life to kill them.


    As the man tried to stand up,four men and women garmented in similar golden clothes came and began to stomp him with fervor. For them, making the young man feel the humiliation of being thrown out wasn¡¯t enough, they also mixed minor curses and abusive language while stomping him.


    The black-haired young man couldn¡¯t care less about what they were saying and how scum-looking he was right now in the middle of the city with everyone looking at him with scorn. Though at first, defiance and feelings about the unfairness of this world dominated his glare and heart until he quickly extinguished all those feelings beneath a false mask of fear and submission to the golden people.


    He was used to being looked down and had to look at the big picture, acting accordingly to the way it was certain his father wouldn¡¯t be affected by his actions here today.


    He thought. ¡°I already sold my pride and shame a long time ago to have a chance to cure Father. If you people think just this amount of humiliation is enough to me lose my temper, you are completely wrong.¡±


    Soon enough the stomping stopped, the ¡®superior¡¯ people got bored of the scrawny man as he didn¡¯t show the reaction they were hoping for and went back to their Society.


    The young man in shabby clothes stood up and spat blood from his mouth, leaving the location while everyone sneered at him.


    He didn''t care for other people¡¯s opinions and walked uprightly, proudly to his house, making people not understand how he was capable of doing that after receiving that beating.


    Outside of people''s hearing range, he said. ¡°Do you think I would really go provoke the Golden Society and not collect what I went there for?¡± Slowly opening his left hand, he eyed the small, sturdy bottle filled with a brown liquid.


    Inside of the bottle, there was a medicine of Rank3 that had a good chance of curing his father¡¯s disease by what he was told by eavesdropping some Golden Society''s disciples chitchats.


    If someone knew he hadgone to the only society in Rongvale city to steal one of their low-grade medicines and risked their wrath just for a cheap thing like this, they would go crazy for his stupidity and desperation.


    But that is a normal and daily thing to Roland, he had until now survived only by stealing from others.However, every time he remembered that his heart would be full of guilt.


    It wasn¡¯t like he was taught to steal by his father.


    ¡°Remember, this isn¡¯t ¡®stealing¡¯. It''s just an early investment, I will come later to give back everything I stole with twice the amount and quality.¡± Only after saying this to himself and grabbing a notebook together with a pen he keeps with himself all the times, he did calm down and forget about his guilt.


    ¡°Let me see¡­ Golden Society, Golden Duke, a bottle of Rank 3 Invigorating Blood.¡± He wrote the specifics on page nine and swore to not forget.


    Reaching close to his house in Rongvale''s slums, scenes of violence and murder happened around him without stopping, nobody about them enough to stop them and the aftermath of their attacks never reached close to the area where the said ''superior'' people lived.


    People shouted the names of their attacks as all kinds of wondrous magical effects surged, but the most seen was of Elemental attacks that called the forces of nature to their bidding thanks to the techniques they trained here in Rongvale.


    All of this was only possible because of the supreme invisible energy known as Essence that exists in the world, although maybe this isn¡¯t the correct explanation since nobody in their current level can harness its power. What people do normally is to dilute and mutate it usingsecondary energies like Spiritual, Demonic, Qi, Vital, Karma, Divine and many others together with Techniques or Arts to train and gather Essence inside of one¡¯s own body.


    Rolandranto his house, trying to ignore the gore and death around him. It wasn¡¯t the first time he saw someone dying and it will of course not be the last, but he didn¡¯t likeabout all the fighting and killing that he has to bear every day. Nowadays he can somewhat bear this, however, he remembers puking in the first time he saw gray matter coming from someone¡¯s head andan intestine being spilled when he was only six-years-old.


    ¡°After today, no matter if this medicine works or not, we''re leaving this place.¡± He swore in his heart and after twenty minutes he finally found the ramshackle house he lived with his father.


    He went inside of it and found his father reading a worn out book found in the trash while lying down on the only bed in the house. ¡°Roland, did you already come back from the job? Why are you bloodied?¡± Steven, Roland''s father, was a middle-aged man that always had a worried look on his face adorned by a flowing, long red hair when looking at his son; the years of poverty didn¡¯t do any good to his complexion and weight, nevertheless, he still had a bright look in his blue eyes which were the only semblance he had with his son.


    The rest of Roland''s features seemed to be a copy of his mother.


    ¡°I was fired, Father, and they gave me a beating for daring to go against them just because I didn''t want to swindle an honest client,¡± Roland said with a puppy look and tears gathering in his eyes. ¡°But, do you remember the young and fair lady I told you about that was really kind? She gave me the medicine we were searching for after seeing my plight.¡± Roland lied while showing the bottle that he stole.


    Steven thought, ridiculing his son¡¯s bad lie. ¡°As if there would be someone kind enough to give you a Rank 3 medicine. Brat, how come you are acting so alike your mother despite never meeting her? This must be in her cursed genes.¡± Steven accepted the bottle and drank it. ¡°When I get better I must get his notebook and compensate everyone he is stealing from.¡±


    Gradually, small red spots where his blood was always spilling out from him when sleeping began to disappear.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The medicine cured himof Blood Extinguisher, a disease seen in the ones contaminated with bad Essence and was good enough to make him jump through the house in liveliness and feeling more alive than ever.


    Roland gave a sigh of relief seeing his father not lethargic anymore, however, this meant the reason to continue in this rotten city didn''t exist anymore. ¡°Father, sorry for dampening your mood," Roland said in a stern voice. "Did you hear about the competition which will begin today at noon?¡±


    Steven looked seriously at his son, dreading what he is going to say next. ¡°I heard about it when they announced it through all the city, even at the slums. But it isn¡¯t really a competition, the Magus from themiddlestratum, Existence, will come and select someone to go with him to Existence to become his disciple based on something called Augury.¡±


    Magus are the ones that went beyond the normal natural mortal limit of Essence gathering and began to have their longevity and inner power changed into the Essence itself at the smallest organ human, the Polus.


    ¡°My plan is for us to escape-¡±


    A booming voice sounded from outside, it was so loud that anyone in the vast city could hear. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, sorry for disturbing your life here in this city of the lower stratum Lower Existence, but this is the most important moment of my life. Now my relic will found its true owner and will take whoever it is with me.¡±


    Before the pair of son and father could discuss the situation, a chill went through Roland¡¯s spine and thenthe ceilingof his house suddenly exploded.


    As soon as the dust settled down, he was able to see a small black cube hovering at his father¡¯s front saying, ¡°I found you, my user.¡± It shone and promptly merged into Steven¡¯s body, completely disappearing inside of his body and causing himto screamin such immense pain that he got knocked out in only two seconds.


    ¡°Oh, there is another person here. What to do in this case?¡± A man with white and pure clothes surged floating in the broken house. Everything seemed holy just for existing around him, it was as if his very own existence demanded everything to look like so. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s your relationship with this man but unfortunately I won¡¯t be capable of bringing you too with me. Just take this small reward for surviving in the Lower Existence and forget about him.¡± He unceremoniously threw a brown bag to Roland and disappeared with Steven, not caring about Roland¡¯s feelings about this whole situation.


    ¡°Father!¡± Roland uselessly shouted to the sky as he lost the most important person in his life without being able to do nothing tostop it.


    It all happened so quickly, after all.


    And there is no wayfor him to go search for Steven unless he goes to Existence. But how could he be able to do it if itwas impossible to travel between strata?


    ***


    Four days after the incident which shocked the entire Lower Existence, one of the four layers of the world, with the Guardian of the Second Wall choosing his disciple, Roland was sighing while walking through an immense deep green jungle to the next city where he will live, Lakepoint.


    And nobody knew he was the said disciple¡¯s son since Roland didn¡¯t have the same surname, Naraka, of his father because his mother''s family was matriarchal, and the Guardian of the Second Wall didn¡¯t let Steven announce to the outside world that for being too lazy and because his disciple was constantly disobeying him.


    Meanwhile this, Roland more or less accepted the situation after crying a lot despite swearing to try to find a way to visit his father in the Existence. Though, after spending two days in Rongvale he couldn¡¯t find any hint for that, forcing him to become a nomad until encountering his father.


    In this way, giving him more chance of finding the correct way to travel between strata by meeting new people.


    ¡°At least food won¡¯t be a problem for me because of this.¡± He patted the small brown bag he received from the holy Magus and begrudgingly decided to hang it on his waist after discovering its uses.


    It was a magical item that could infinitely bring forth any kind of mortal food Roland could think and also havean extrafunction of storingalmost anythingas if it hadan interdimensionalspace there.


    Rolandwas using it right now to store all the items necessary to travel and also sentimental objects like the first book his father read to him that was in his broken house.


    ¡°I wonder how many years it will take for me reunite with Father? Ten? Twenty? Fifty?¡± Roland mused. ¡°If I take that long I will be an old man and my father will still be the very same middle-aged man from when he initially became a Magus'' disciple, advancing in the Essence Training to have his longevity altered.¡±


    The reason hewas so absorbed in thought and thinking about anything that came to his mind was that in the ¡®road¡¯ - which was just a bunch of papers put as talismans in the jungle - to the next city, he was in an unbelievable situation, trying to escape from reality to calm down.


    He wasweak and only had just as much Essence as any other normal mortal, so he knew it was dangerous for him to walk in any place in this jungle other than in the ¡®road¡¯ made of square papers that safely protect the travelers from wild animals. For the last two days it was a normal journey, so why must it now become wondrous and strange? He wondered in his heart while sighing, he just wanted to have a normal and tranquil life until finding his father.


    ¡°Mother, Mother. Don¡¯t go away! Hang in there, Mother!¡±


    ¡°My son, I think it is time for me to go. Don¡¯t ever forget of me and eat my body if necessary, I am sure it is full of proteins just as much I am beautiful.¡±


    ¡°But aren¡¯t you ugly?! I will die by food poisoning!¡±


    ¡°Shut up, you piece of shit.¡±


    There at his fronton the road where it was impossible to encounter with any kind of animal, there was a greenish turtle hugging a fallen skinny white fox. And to make it, even more, weirder, they were talking while calling each other of mother and son.


    Roland thought after coming to reality. ¡°Am I somehow hallucinating? This scene begs for too many questions. How come a turtle and a fox are son and mother? How they came to a habitat not suitable to them? And how they are talking? I am getting a headache just thinking about this. Should I just ignore this and leave?¡±


    ¡°Mother, if only there was something for you to eat you wouldn¡¯t die! Only if there was someone kind enough to donate food for you.¡± The turtle wailed in the most dramatic way possible.


    ¡°Yes, my son. Only if there was someone kind enough to do that I would teach him all about the Great Arts and even give him superb techniques to train Essence.¡± The fox sighed while crying. ¡°I would even make him my disciple and make him the second most important thing in the world, with of course you, my son, being the most important thing in the world.¡±


    ¡°Ah, Mother! So pure and majestic evenat the death''s door.¡± The turtle opening his tiny arms, shouted to the skies. ¡°Please, O Mighty Hero appear to save my Mother! I will teach all the secrets about Flesh Essence training to you!¡±


    Roland blankly watched all of this and didn¡¯t take long forhim tounderstand the theatre they were making to receive food. ¡°But did you really need to make everything so exaggerated? If you didn¡¯t talk maybe this would be more convincing.¡± He thought while ignoring the animals and continuing in his way without caring for the face of despair the turtle made and the resignation in the fox¡¯s eyes as if the whole world fell apart when he ignored them.


    ¡°I have more food than I need with my strange bag and would give it to you, but after this theatre-¡±


    An enormous and genuine rumbling of stomach sounded coming from the fox that was so skinny that was possible to see its bones, it interrupted his thoughts and made him stop indecisive in the middle of the road. Sweating, he needed to decide if this isn¡¯t another big trap, maybe even to kill him despite their small sizes.


    ¡°Why my instincts are telling me that no matter my decision I will regret coming to this place?¡±

 Chapter 2: Overrated Masters 2

    ¡°Mother, didn¡¯t I tell you that my plan would work?¡± The turtle said after eating until he couldn¡¯t stand up anymore and was lying down on the grass.


    ¡°O stupid Son, it wasn¡¯t your plan. It was, of course, my stomach''s well-timed rumble that saved us from starving.¡± Even the white fur of the fox seemed to shine now after she became slightly chubby with the food.


    Roland groaned, feeling stupid for giving food to the talking animals.


    After they seemed to forget about him, he stood up and began to walk once again to Lakepoint. ¡°I should begin to gather money selling this endless food in the next city to finally pay everyone in my notebook. A shame I can¡¯t do that in Rongvale, those merciless guys from the Golden Society would kill me for calling too much attention to myself.¡± He thought.


    ¡°What? Young man of the Starving Bag, wait a moment. Where are you going?¡± The fox called for Roland and transmitted her thoughts to her son. ¡°Although he had that bag and food wasn¡¯t a problem for him, he was the only one in the last month that stopped for us instead of running away like cowards. I¡¯m thinking of using him for our resurrection and even make him my apprentice meanwhile it since I am bored. And you?¡±


    ¡°More or less feeling the same as you, he is worthy of being my disciple since he saw through my perfect world-class acting and scheme.¡± The turtle sent back, still hurt one of his best plans made since he had born was easily seen through by someone that is only twenty-two-years old.


    Roland stopped in curiosity and looked back at the strange pair of mother and son. ¡°Why do you know this bag''s name? It was a ¡®present¡¯ from a True Magus.¡±


    ¡°It is just a Celestial Low- Rank Spirit Equipment without runes, there is no way such a low thing could escape from my vision without being recognized. I can¡¯t look right now like a practitioner of the Great Art of Essence Reinforcement or Equipment Formation, but I was a master in those Arts.¡± The fox smugly said, puffing its chubby chest and destroying any feeling of amazement Roland could feel because of the ridiculous situation of a fox claiming to be master of two of the Great Arts.


    Besides the way of training Essence with techniques and mystic bloodline styles taught in recluse families, there were several of what came to be called Arts that used Essence and other energies to produce something from nothing or accomplish what earlier was thought to be impossible.


    And above all Arts were the four Great Arts known as Medicine Alchemy, Essence Reinforcement, Equipment Formation and Soul Tampering.


    The medicine Roland gave to his father, for example, was made with the Great Art Medicine Alchemy.


    Roland decided to just call the bag of Endless Bag to not call disaster on him if someone discovers he has something so outrageous like a Celestial Equipment. Of course, if what the fox is sayingwas true.


    He remembered his father reading to him a book which told foxes likes to lie and brag. ¡°Thank you for informing about this item and to answer your earlier question, I am going to the next city beyond this jungle. Goodbye and try next time to not forget of hunting your own food.¡±


    ¡°Like I said, where are you going when your masters are right here? Did you think we were joking about taking you as our disciple?¡± The fox inquisitively looked at Roland with her icy eyes.


    ¡°A talking fox and a turtle are going to be my masters? No, thank you.¡± Roland decisively began to left the area, chiding himself for continuing in the company of those aberrations of nature which were in a disturbing way similar to that monster woman he met in Rongvale with how strange they are.


    ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t you want to become rich?¡± The fox ran after him.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Powerful?¡±


    ¡°Not in the slightest. Being a mortal is good enough.¡±


    ¡°Master all the Great Arts and dominate the world with your Essence?¡±


    ¡°Not Interested.¡±


    The fox''s eyes narrowed and her bushy tail angrily swang to the sides while chasing him. ¡°Then what the hell do you want for your life? Where are your fucking dreams?¡±


    Roland didn¡¯t know if it was the brash language of the fox or something tugging inside of him to stop himself of walking away from here, but with a solemn face, he out of character told his deepest desires that all the children always laughed at him. ¡°I want my life to be tranquil. My dream is to buy a big land for the family I will make and then live there with everyone I love without being disturbed by the violence of the big cities and Societies, I want to be something like a farmer there if I don¡¯t discover a good hobby until then.¡±


    He sighed, waiting for the mocking to come. ¡°Laugh at me if you want, I know how strange and paltry my dream is in comparison to someone that studies in the Great Arts if what you are saying is true, but this is my only wish after being terrorized by the violence around me when younger. I just want to be left alone with my family and live in tranquility, no need for superpowers and becoming Immortal like the one who rules this world.¡±


    The laugh Roland was expecting didn¡¯t come, what came was understanding. ¡°While it¡¯s true your dream is simple, I don¡¯t think it is something I would laugh at. It''s actually a sad dream because it shows how bad your childhood was. You must have come from some horrible place and had to something you didn¡¯t like for survival, right?¡± The fox¡¯s eyes were compassionate and the turtle was looking melancholy to the sky, remembering a faraway past.


    Roland began to like more the serious parts of the talking animals than their joking and exaggerate parts. ¡°My grandpa once said, ''although it is true some people are badly shaped by the environment they live, some grow in the exact opposite direction of the environment around them because of how clear the environment is bad to them.¡¯ But I don¡¯t think I have this dream just because of the place where I grew up. I think that maybe I would have it even if I lived in the ''superior'' part of the town.¡±


    ¡°Then why not long for power? I swear to you, if you train with us it will be easier to buy the land you want.¡± The fox tried to negotiate. ¡°You must have something you regret and needs power for, don¡¯t you? Let me see your past.¡± The fox lunged at Roland¡¯s feet.


    He tried to back off, but the fox was too quick and as soon as her paws touched his legs, he felt an intrusive energy entering and violating his Essence and brain.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Interesting. Your father was kidnapped and you want to travel between strata to meet him.¡± The fox laughed.


    ¡°You saw my memories?¡± Roland jumped backward in fear of the being at his front.


    ¡°Yeah, and stop minding about minor things, little Roland.¡± The fox¡¯s voice contained malice and temptation bordering a Devil¡¯s offer. ¡°What if I told you that I know at least four ways for you to do that, albeit you need to become powerful while being our disciple?¡±


    Roland¡¯s whole body trembled and he looked suspiciously to the fox with a small amount of fear mixed with curiosity. Would the information he was prepared to search for fifty years suddenly appear to him just after two days searching? What¡¯s the deal with this incredible coincidence?


    Something must be planning his demise in secret.


    ¡°Stop looking at your teacher in this way.¡± She rebuked. ¡°The first way for you to travel between strata is to become one of the Wall Guardians which is only possible if you have power enough to reach the realm of what you call of True Magus in your training; the second way is to become the leader of a society which also needs to you become really powerful, the third way is for you to show considerable talent and power to one of those behemoth entities in the Existence to them recruit you, and the last way is for to you train to the fourth tier of my and my son¡¯s techniques to go there without being noticed using our special magical ability.¡±


    The turtle and fox went to close each other and mimicked each other. ¡°What¡¯s your decision? Will you become our disciple or not?¡±


    Roland thought in indecision. ¡°What am I doing here, considering to become the apprentice of two talking animals? What¡¯s wrong with me? Am I that desperate? But all the ways she said with the exception of the last one seems ''possible'' and plausible, however, I need to be powerful to do each one of them. Can I really do it? I don¡¯t think I am that talented or that I will find someone in the city to teach me any technique to dilute and mutate Essence.


    "And what if this is all a complicated scam? How can animals really teach me anything? But will I really get another chance to find the path to the middle stratum?¡± Roland felt as if the slimmer trace of hope was escaping from his grasp with each second of indecision, the straws of hope were disappearing and he hated that feeling of impotence.


    He decided to throw caution and common sense to the wind. ¡°I don¡¯t care if this is all a lie, if I don¡¯t take risks, how will I find Father?¡±


    The determined look of Roland was all that the fox and turtle needed as answer. ¡°From now on you are our disciple, little Roland. My name is Lucy and my son is August II.¡±


    This was the beginning of a relationship Roland come to regret to begin.


    ***


    ¡°I hate you two!¡± Five days later a scream of rage and regret tore through the dense evergreen jungle next to the Lakepoint.


    At distance, it was possible to see Roland holding in his hands a miraculous suspended small ball of water, defying all laws of physics while being chased by an enormous, hungry animal in form of a yellow tiger with its fangs and stripped lines as more recognizable marks. ¡°Since when this jungle had tigers?¡± He shouted to the skies, crying in fear of dying.


    ¡°Come on Roland, just five more meters.¡±


    ¡°Little Roland, put more force in your hips and stabilize the Soul Spirit, it is deforming.¡±


    The turtle and fox shouted encouragements and tips meanwhilst being completely in safety and out of danger of becoming tiger¡¯s food in the road.


    Roland¡¯s masters didn¡¯t not only send him into the jungle for seemingly no reason but they also never put their lives in danger when their disciple could die at any moment.


    Before Roland could curse them more, the tiger roared and plunged at him when he wasa moment away from safety in the road. ¡°Will I die here?¡± He thought and his body shook in defiance to the mere mention of that. The first lesson from the damned fox went to his head and his body reacted in pure instinct.


    The almost deformed ball-shaped Soul Spirit shone as Roland¡¯s left hand encrusted in Vital Energy tapped on it, drawing from it two drops of water which began to spin and coil around his fingers before shooting by themselves to protect their master.


    Both Roland and the tiger looked in disbelief when the small spinning drops of water hit under the tiger¡¯s body, not powerful enough to penetrate its fur but powerful enough to make the tiger recoil high enough to completely miss Roland, striking head first in the piece of paper protecting the road, provoking a forlorn scream from the tiger as it activated the talisman, a series of lightning bolts rained on it until it got stunned and went to the land of dreams full of regret of chasing the man with interesting smell.


    Heaving, Roland entered the safe road with adrenaline still pumping on him.


    The fox and turtle couldn¡¯t lose this opportunity to make Roland advance in his training and they immediately ordered him before he began to complain. ¡°Begin to circle the Essence through your body in the way we taught you before the adrenaline disappears.¡±


    Roland perceived the opportunity after being remembered and let the Lucy take care of the Soul Spirit in form of a ball of water meanwhile he used the techniques he was taught to gather and harness Essence inside of himself.


    Lucy opened her mouth and engulfed the Soul Spirit, Roland couldn¡¯t still understand how she was capable of doing that and returning it to him without a single problem.


    All these little escapades and the hatred going inside of him for his masters was because of how strange was to train Lucy¡¯s Vital Energy Technique, Eternal Water Spirit Incantation - a name too long by the way - and August¡¯s Body Qi technique, Timeless Emperor Refinement, at the same time.


    Roland remembered once again what Lucy said on the first day of the training to steel his determination. ¡°You are currently at the third layer on the stage of training Essence known as Essence Reformation or as others call Magus Rank 0. Only after passing the tenth layer and gathering enough Essence to make your foundation, your first Magic Circle, you will be able of calling yourself of Magus, an Essence¡¯s user. So give me your blood alreadyfor you to start my technique.¡±


    The process of gathering Essence without diluting or mutating it with any kind of energy is actually an automatic and slow natural process which makes someone with at least seventy years reach the seventh layer of Essence Reformation without training but with a lot of diseases inside of one¡¯s own body, thus being the principal cause of death of the elderly together with the decreased longevity.


    His masters'' techniques more or less complemented themselves by having him make Vital Energy by using all his mind to control the focal point of theWater Incantation, the ball of water, while making him pass for extreme emotions like pain or fear to create Qi Energy and reform his body using the Emperor Refinement. So he is forced to go to situations beyond the limit to make him better at controlling the Water Spirit without it deforming while using the adrenaline or fear made in the process to advance in making his body stronger.


    He was at the same time training in two different techniques that create energies capable of diluting and mutating Essence, causing him after only five days to be already near to the next layer in the Essence Reformation realm.


    Right now Roland was using the Vital Energy and the leftover Qi Energy made by the adrenaline torefine the Essence inside of his body in the smallest organ of the human body, Polus, to breakthrough to the fourth layer in Essence Reformation.


    In accord to Roland¡¯s instructions, the two energies are melding and calling forth pure refined Essence to spread it through his body in a cycle before gradually accumulating in the Polus, and filling it past the barrier of the fourth layer inside of it.


    ¡°So this is how someone properly training feels going to the next layer?¡± Roland felt so refreshed and for lack of better words, ''alive'', that made all his suffering worth it.


    ¡°Now that you are the fourth layer, let''s increase the danger since we will reach the city in the next days. How about you go angering a beast capable of using Essence and at the Magus Rank 1?¡± August the turtle sinisterly said, yearning to see his disciple cry tears of blood while watching everything with a smirk splattered in his face.


    Roland laid down, exhausted. ¡°Okay, maybe it wasn¡¯t worth it.¡±

 Chapter 3: Overrated Masters 3

    ¡°All techniques have tiers you need to pass through, mine only has six tiers and Mother¡¯s technique is more complicated and has ten tiers,¡± August said, resting on Roland¡¯s head while they ran throughout the jungle. ¡°The first tier of my technique is the Renegade Mortality in which you train using Qi Energy to cast off your mortal body by improving its whole quality and power. The main focus isn¡¯t to improve the gathering of Essence but it can still be used as a supplementary technique to speed up the training of Mother¡¯s technique.¡±


    Roland completely ignored the ramblings of the turtle as he focused on not losing his precious life to the giant, brown wolf with a black spiral horn growing from its head chasing him. Its height reached at least three meters and its muddy fur concealed a lot of the scars it gained until reaching maturity.


    Many would question why would Roland continue with this crazy training after two weeks, and the only reason to him continue despite being a normal person without big ambitions was because of the speed they were showing results, and that he made his masters promise him that at least one of them would accompany him to the danger. In this way, making them sharing his woes.


    It was just an act of petty revenge in the end though.


    ¡°Did you know that the Polus, the organ so small that is almost in-"


    The turtle''s useless history lesson continued for a whole hour and even the wolf chasing Roland seemed bored as it couldn¡¯t ever bite the arrogant human that dared to play with a ball of water in the middle of the chase.


    Roland felt the adrenaline and pain from exhaustion from running over an hour without stopping being converted to the transparent energy known as Qi as he followed in his mind August¡¯s instructions.


    The Qi flowed through his whole body reforming it and giving it a new quality, and even nature.


    ¡°Good, your progress is slow but steady. One of the main disadvantages of the Timeless Emperor Refinement is the lack of attacks or true power before completing the first tier of it, causing the user to be put in dangerous situations and prematurely dying because of it. To counter that we began reforming specifically your lower body and you are now thirty percent done with the first tier.¡± August said in praise of Roland¡¯s tenacity.


    For starting the refinement on his legs was the only reason Roland was capable of outrunning a beast capable of using Essence and comparable to a Magus Rank 1 for more than one hour.


    It would be a different story if this wolf could use any kind of ranged attack, if it could do that even if Roland had the Soul Spirit to protect him and counterattack, he would still easily die to the wolf as despite having greater speed, Roland couldn¡¯t control himself well enough to avoid anything throw at him for more than one hour.


    Of course, August knew this and took his time to find the perfect beast without any ranged attacks to provoke with his acting, and help his disciple in his training.


    Albeit the turtle was still bitter his disciple whined about taking his masters to the frontline, and purposely chose one stronger than normal that at first almost bit Roland and caused him to give a beautiful scream of fear, which August made sure to engrave in his mind to always cheer his day by only remembering about it.


    ¡°Roland, I think we found a perfect opportunity to score.¡± August suddenly said louder than normal, attracting Roland¡¯s attention. ¡°Ahead of us there are a boy and girl being chased like you by a beast of Magus Rank 1 but aren¡¯t quick enough to survive like you, let¡¯s-¡±


    ¡°Where? Let¡¯s save them by making this wolf fight with the other beast instead of us.¡± Roland enthusiastically said to save himself from his torture and even do a good action at the same time.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ let¡¯s save them.¡± The turtle hesitantly said, embarrassed to tell his real motives of stealing and profiting from the boy and girl. ¡°Go to the right until you see...¡±


    Roland received a burst of speed in knowing his suffering is nearing the end and followed the turtle¡¯s instructions.


    ***


    ¡°Jimmy, I told you that searching for a lost Magic Circle was an error!¡± Carmen, the woman dressed in light blue robes and with an ever-present frown, screamed in terror as she used everything her grandpa gave her to protect herself in hopes of fleeing from the giant snake behind her.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t my fault that a weak snake we ignored eat up the blessed Magic Circle and became comparable to a Magus Rank 1.¡± Jimmy, a blond man with his hair partially blocking the left side of his face and dressed similar to Carmen, shouted back in anger.


    Carmen always found a way to blame him for whatever bad thing that happens, it wasn¡¯t like it was his fault that he accidentally dropped the Magic Circle right into the snake and then angered it by stomping on its tail, right?


    The giant, venomous snake with piercing red eyes knocked over trees while chasing its aggravators, hissing at the two teenagers that were ignoring it and arguing between themselves instead of falling in despair.


    The snake didn¡¯t eat them until now with its superior speed, and it wasn¡¯t because the objects thrown by woman were slowing it, it actually wanted to them cower in fear and fall in despair before dying so it was only toying with them until it gets bored or they reach close to the paper talismans at the road.


    Carmen and Jimmy had only come to this jungle because they heard from their elders about an intact Magic Circle of an expert from beyond the walls that had fallen down near here , and how it was possible to extract its Essence to advance directly to the Magus Rank 1, ignoring all the rough training between the eighth-layer of Essence Reformation they were and the barrier to the next realm.


    The people from their Society, Kirin Renascence, tried to search for it days ago and couldn¡¯t find it. However, Jimmy knowing how lucky Carmen was convinced her to search for it with him and soon enough they found it near a cave nobody went to search for.


    But unfortunately, when they were in the middle of the extracting process Jimmy dropped the blessed Magic Circle in the snake and they ended up in this situation.


    ¡°I swear to you, Jimmy. If I die here, I will haunt you for all of your poor life and ruin any chances of you getting a girlfriend by exposing all your ''accidents'' as a child.¡± Carmen said with a thick grudge in her voice and finally using the last item her grandpa gave her, a burst of azure lightning hitting the snake while the statue became dust.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    ¡°Come on, don''t be so ruthless. Aren''t we friends?¡± Jimmy cried as he slashed vines at their front with his blueish enchanted sword.


    ¡°Let''s see if you would still be able to say that when I tell everyone you pissed yourself-¡± Carmen''s voice cracked when she began to feel an intense fluctuation of Essence coming straight to them in a speed completely inhuman.


    Despair finally began to appear in her ugly face and the prospects of her really becoming a ghost seemed higher than ever as the powerful Essence coming to her for sure didn¡¯t come from a human capable of saving her and Jimmy, though the World''s Fate only she could sense was getting restless.


    ¡°Finally, salvation!¡± An energetic shout cut through the dense jungle and from the nearby trees came two figures who made Jimmy, Carmen, and the giant snake widen their eyes in disbelief.


    An adult man in the worst possible clothes, full of holes and dirt, with bright blue eyes, and surprisingly only in the fourth layer of Essence Reformation was together with the scariest looking wolf they saw in their life. And the wolf¡¯s realm was moreover the same as of the snake, but it was more advanced in the realm, being already at the middle stages.


    How was it possible to the weak man endure the pressure of such a mighty beast? Despite having many questions in their minds, the man and wolf didn''t give them time to think as the man in a speed impossible to his current stage quickly held Jimmy and Carmen¡¯s hands and began to drag them off through the jungle with him. ¡°Don¡¯t struggle, I am saving you two.¡± He warned.


    Even in pain of having her knees and legs scraping at the ground, Carmen was still capable of seeing Jimmy completely stunned at this situation and the outcome of the wolf and snake meeting.


    The wolf felt his complete superiority over the recently advanced snake, but he also felt a tremendous power inside of the snake that was still being absorbed. It had two options, or it risked killing the snake now to the reptile not become a threat later on, or it combined efforts with the snake to chase the humans and make friendship with the probably next jungle¡¯s overlord.


    The two beasts glared at each other for only a moment before the malicious and arrogant snake couldn¡¯t endure more being sized up as if it was inferior to its fellow beast. It was tired of the feeling of being in any way inferior to the other beasts like it was before absorbing the Magic Circle, it made the first move and put the impertinent humans out of its mind, it couldn¡¯t care less about Essence Reformation humans now.


    The wolf roared in defiance when it was bitten by the treacherous snake and decided to do whatever it is needed to kill this youngling overlord, no mattering the sacrifices it needs to make as they rolled through the trees, toppling them down and acid raining on their arena of battle.


    Carmen wanted to see the rest of the fight, but the man dragging her was just too quick and they were already far away from the beasts.


    Jimmy and Carmen tried to warn their supposed savior about their predicament but the man was so concentrated in fleeing that he didn¡¯t hear them.


    The worst of this situation wasn¡¯t their grazed knees, it was the strange turtle on the man¡¯s head holding a wondrous ball of water that was looking condescendingly at them, the scorn and mockery were so thick in its eyes that they could perceive them even though they were of different species.


    Infuriating, was a word too light to what Jimmy and Carmen were feeling right now.


    Thankfully to their knees and mental health, the shabby man found the road before they tried to kill his pet in anger.


    ¡°Mister, thank you for saving us.¡± Jimmy and Carmen said when they were dropped at the road, albeit the man was probably really poor and only at the fourth layer, he was older than them and also the reason they were alive until now with his superb and unbelievable speed.


    He deserved their respect.


    ¡°No problems, I was needing to outwit that wolf anyway. My name is Roland, what are your names?¡± Roland couldn¡¯t lose the chance of using the leftover Qi after he left the previous situation of fear and excitement, so he immediately took the Soul Spirit from August and began to train Water Incantation while talking with the teenagers.


    Although he wasreaching close to the next layer of Essence Reformation because of the amount of Essence gathered by Lucy¡¯s technique, hewasn''t really advancing in the technique¡¯s first tier, Formed Spirit, itself.


    Lucy¡¯s technique was much more complicated and confusing than the simple August¡¯s technique where he just needed to put himself in danger and hope to survive to advance on its first tier.


    ¡°Mine is Carmen and this clumsy boy who almost killed me is Jimmy.¡± Carmen smiled, still not letting go of her grudge. She will probably take it to her grave, but won¡¯t act on it to make the life of her friend hard.


    Jimmy bowed in embarrassment and didn¡¯t say anything in answer, when Carmen is angered it is best to not talk.


    Roland eyed in curiosity both of the teenagers.


    Jimmy seemed introverted and timid with how his blond hair covered the left sideof his head, and Roland could see bulging muscles on him which made a contrast with the initial impression of the teenager, making someone wonder why didn¡¯t he with his strength leave Roland¡¯s hand when being dragged off.


    Carmen had an average face in Roland¡¯s opinion. In the slums, he had already seen many other people uglier than her with her ever-present frown. What was unusual of her was the hair that made even August doubt it was genetically possible to exist, she for suredyedher hair since she had greenish eyes.


    It was a light pink hair arranged in a twintails, a strange combination.


    ¡°Roland, I must ask you one thing. Were you using some kind of Magic Item to be so quick?¡± Carmen said, being formal with Roland despite his weak Essence¡¯s fluctuations.


    ¡°No, it was just my normal speed.¡± Roland titled his head as he began to feel the differences of energies used by his masters¡¯ techniques.


    The transparent Qi made of extreme emotions was unyielding and forceful, he couldn¡¯t try to perfectly guide it. He must instead just nudge it in the correct places and in the correct order for it to obey him and go to the places he wanted.


    On the other hand, the azure Vital Energy made of the connection with his Soul Spirit was so gentle and warm that was too easy to guide it, but difficult to make it go through all the way and the form Roland wants because it is sometimes so fragile it ¡®breaks¡¯ before doing its job.


    Roland now understood why August said his technique could be used as supplementary to Lucy¡¯s technique. Only combining the two, the hard and soft, the rough and gentle, energies would he have the best results.


    His gathering of Essence increased with this new knowledge but still wasn¡¯t enough to go the next layer, only to put him next to it.


    Carmen watching his answer and training was stunned by how strange it was, principally because of the ball of water and the feeling of two different energies struggling against each other. She wanted to talk about how incredible his speed was and about the World''s Fate she feels from him, but Roland suddenly perked up in surprise.


    ¡°I forgot about her afternoon lunch.¡± He dusted off his clothes and began to walk away from Jimmy and Carmen. ¡°Sorry, guys. But I remembered I have to do something. Goodbye, until we meet again.¡±


    Just as quick Roland entered into Carmen and Jimmy¡¯s lives, he left them.


    Jimmy wanted to say thanks when Carmen finished talking but the sudden Roland¡¯s departure took him by surprise and he wasn¡¯t able to say anything before Roland¡¯s figure disappeared in the horizon.


    ¡°He is really quick, isn¡¯t he?¡± It was the only thing Jimmy could say in his bewildered state.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ almost as if he isn¡¯t human or from the Essence Reformation realm.¡± Carmen slowly said with a mysterious glint in eyes, considering innumerable possibilities in her head about something related to Roland.

 Chapter 4: Searching For a Place to Call Home 1

    ¡°By putting a drop of your blood in a water vessel and with my help connecting your soul to it, a Soul Spirit will be born. It will from that moment be forever bound to you and no even a True Magus can sever such a strong connection.¡± Lucy played with the Soul Spirit. ¡°The main focus of the Eternal Water Spirit Incantation besides gathering Essence by calling forth Vital Energy from the life being developed in the ball of water, is to control and nurture the Soul Spirit.¡± She gave the ball of water back to Roland and let him have his own conclusions once again about the Soul Spirit after understanding the nature of Vital Energy.


    At the end of the technique¡¯s first tier, Formed Spirit, Roland can finally summon water from thin air to manipulate in ways only limited to his imagination. Currently, he only could manipulate water by touching the Soul Spirit and moreover, just use some drops from it.


    This was an immense disadvantage in comparison to all the other techniques that also mutate the Essence to use nature¡¯s power like fire, water, and lightning. Normally, all elemental techniques permit their users to use the element almost immediately after beginning the training.


    The Water Incantation really deviates from the normality in this aspect and Lucy said that Rolandwas still only at early stages of the first tier, more or less 25%.


    But Roland won¡¯t complain since hewas feeling by himself the power of Essence¡¯s gathering the technique had.


    After two more grueling weeks of training and almost dying several times to random beasts, Roland advanced to the fifth layer of Essence Reformation. For Roland, it was an amazing speed of trainingalthough his masters were saying he was too slow.


    Nowthey are finally going to Lakepoint, he became too quick to the weak beasts of the jungle help him and the ones that could rivalize his speed had deadly ranging attacks which can instantly kill him.


    August at his disciple¡¯s headwas sad Roland¡¯s training speed will slow down, but hewas already thinking of methods to make Roland¡¯s life worse and cause Qi Energy to appear in the ¡®relatively safe¡¯ city. He only had the best intentions to his disciple, after all.


    Although he wouldn¡¯t do anything boring or stupid like provoking the rulers of Lakepoint, he wants to train his disciple, not outrightly slaughter him.


    But he was really envious of his mother''s current position, he as a turtle couldn¡¯t be caressed as easy as her with her being a fox full of fur, or at least he thinks so. He misses the days he had myriads of servants to massage him.


    ¡°Rub lower.¡± Lucy sighed in contentment, feeling Roland caressing her under her jaw. It was a long time since she had an itchy there and wasn¡¯t capable of taking care of it. Even taking a disciple just for it seemed worth it.


    Roland acted on the automatic as he was constantly studying in his mind the instructions of his two techniques and didn¡¯t care about his masters were thinking, be it August¡¯s jealousy or Lucy¡¯s smugness.


    However, even his automatic actions stopped when he saw Lakepoint, the majestic blueish city near various rivers coming from the jungle and close mountains.


    There were visible at least four rivers coming from the four cardinal directions entering the city and surrounding it. The walls were gigantic and an even bigger castle with seven spiky towers was seemingly in the city¡¯s middle.


    The rest of the city¡¯s architecture didn¡¯t seem that different from Rongvale though.


    ¡°So what are we going to do about you two being talking animals?¡± Roland said, walking to the nearest black bridge to enter the city.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to us call attention already more than we do, we can talk telepathically to you. But Roland, didn¡¯t you know that experts in the Great Art Soul Tampering usually have animals near them and they normally talk the human language too? Me and Mother talking won¡¯t be that much of problem.¡± August said.


    ¡°So talking animals are actually normal?¡± Roland said in surprise, his knowledge about Soul Tampering isn¡¯t vast and Rongvale city focused more into Medicine Alchemy.


    ¡°They aren¡¯t normal, but are far from being rare.¡±


    ¡°So I would prefer to you guys talking telepathically with me only when necessary, having talking animals will actually be good to advertising whatever we decide to commercialize to gather money in Lakepoint.¡±


    Roland could have thought already in his free time about it, but he needs to see Lakepoint¡¯s current economy to plan what¡¯s best to commercialize there.


    ¡°That¡¯s the mentality my disciple should have.¡± August enthusiastically said.


    Roland wondered why August always seems like another person when money is involved. He acted the same when Roland told him he was planning to sell the food of the Endless Bag.


    Roland passed two hours in the queue to enter the city with everyone looking at him for a moment before ignoring him until it was close to noon and the wall¡¯s guard called him.


    ¡°The fee to enter is 1 Essence Shard or ten gold coins.¡± The guard in a full iron armor reinforced to what seems the sixth layer by the number of runes, shining letters, in his armor, said without any emotions whatsoever and in the most professional way possible.


    Essence Shards were the currency used in this world together with gold coins, though the latter one was seriously devalued and not used too much.


    The Essence Shards were born from mystic objects in mines or completely random places, and it was considered a crime to humanity to destroy one of those places. The Essence Shards can also be used for other things besides money, they can be used for training but cause too many impurities as the Essence on them was too raw and uncontrollable.


    ¡°And animals entering the city must be by the laws either tamed or Soul Tampered. Please make them do these actions written here to prove you tamed or Soul Tampered your fox and turtle.¡± The guard passed to Roland the paper with the actions after he paid the tax to enter the city.


    Lucy and August weren¡¯t in the mood to cause problems just yet, so they begrudgingly did everything Roland said aloud to do. Even feign to be dead and walk uprightly.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    It was quite funny how August struggled to do any of them.


    ¡°Mister, you can enter the city now. But my superior said to me warn anyone that enters the city about the two Societies living here. They are Kirin Renascence and Master Blacksmith,please be careful when meeting people in blue and red robes respectively.¡±


    Societieswere places that are beyond the influence of normal people and mayors, they had their own rules and taboos, teaching people the way of training Essence. Roland even heard about one Society that was matriarchal and permitted reverse harem to their female disciples.


    Their immunity to the laws can only exist because of their worth as deterrent to others enemy cities, their overwhelming power and some of them are branches of places called Sects from the middle stratum, causing fear in the mayors'' hearts.


    ¡°Thank you for the warning.¡± Roland nodded to the guard and entered the city in tow with August at his head and Lucy at his shoulder.


    The city was bustling with movement and even had small brown boats in the middle of it to anyone rich enough to rent one.


    Walking on the right side of the street after passing a bridge, Roland noted how people dressed in the blue robes didn¡¯t interact well with the ones using red robes. ¡°Now that I think about it, Jimmy and Carmen must be from the Kirin Renascence Society. What were they doing so deep in the jungle?¡± Roland mused.


    Hewanted to find a place to sleep before searching about the current economy in Lakepoint, but when he looked to the waters of the river in the middle of the street he perceived his predicament. ¡°Nobody will take me seriously or even attend me if I appear in this way.¡±


    At the water appeared a man poorer than beggars with his body full of mud and leaves, and clothes full of holes and smelling worse than a spoiled egg, that guard was really a good professional by letting him enter the city in this state. ¡°Now I know why everyone is averting me.¡± Roland looked to the people grimacing when walking near him. ¡°I bet you two knew about this and maintained silent about it.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It was fun.¡± The turtle and fox said at the same time with pride in their voices. ¡°We were betting how much time it would take for you to notice it and if someone would fight you in annoyance because of it.¡±


    ¡°I have the best masters in the world.¡± Roland sighed.


    ¡°Of course you have.¡±


    Roland thought. ¡°How can they say the same thing at the same time so many times?¡±


    Lucy said. ¡°How about that store? They have good clothes for you to use.¡±


    Roland turned to the store Lucy pointed while they were walking and felt as if he had received a critical attack on his poor heart when he saw the prices of the clothes in the showcase. ¡°Sixty thousand Essence Shards for a hat? That is more than ten times of all my savings.¡± He didn¡¯t dare to look at the prices of a formal suit.


    Roland before his father was kidnapped, saved money to start a new life with him and then pay back everyone he stole from, but even all his savings couldn¡¯t buy a sock in that store.


    August and Lucy proceeded to point at stores that bleed Roland¡¯s heart until after two hours searching they found a reasonable store.


    A shame they couldn¡¯t find a thrift store.


    ¡°Sorry, but-¡± before the middle-aged store¡¯s clerk could kick Roland out, he showed her all his money in his hand. It was Essence Shards, they were so small that you could have a thousand of them in your hand without a problem.


    ¡°I recommend this outfit for someone so magnificent like you, dear customer.¡± The clerk¡¯s mood and smile shift were so quick and perfect that the masters and disciple couldn¡¯t stop themselves from praising her despite her horrible personality that only cares about money.


    Roland wasn¡¯t picky about his clothes, but Lucy and the clerk annoyed him so much with their suggestions that he bought them albeit it caused him to lose almost all his money. He only has about one hundred Essence Shards now.


    He had in his hands now a full-length blue-black robe with side slits beginning below the waist, its sleeves were slightly long and loose.


    Oh, he also had combining pants and shirt under it.


    The problem now was that he is too smelly to immediately change to his new clothes, he could just enter the rivers but he didn¡¯t know if there was some kind of law against it.


    As if reading his mind, the clerk showed him a black scarf with two salients ends. ¡°If you buy this scarf now I will make a promotion for you, it will be only ninety Essence Shards and you will have the scarf together with the ability to use our employers'' showers for free today.¡±


    Roland blankly looked at the clerk while Lucy lively shouted ¡®buy, buy¡¯ and August was laughing with praise present on his eyes.


    In the cold weather of Lakepoint Roland would need to buy a scarf anyways and having one would make people look at him more seriously since he had money to spend on such luxury instead of merely gloves. But why does he feel he was being conned?


    ¡°I will add a Rank 2 conditioner and a free new towel to the bath if you buy it now.¡± The clerk whispered with her eyes narrowing.


    ¡°Where is the bathroom?¡± Roland immediately picked the scarf and paid the insidious clerk.


    ¡°Dear customer, please follow me.¡± She said with a beautiful smile stamped on her face after receiving almost of all Roland''s money.


    After thirty minutes of taking a well-deserved shower, Roland left the shop as if he was a new man in his new clothes. The clerk almost didn¡¯t believe the smelly and full of mud man could look like a normal person after only a shower and using old second-hand clothes.


    Roland gave his farewells to the clerk and began to ask around everything about Lakepoint, he focused more on the market that was close to the middle of the city.


    When it was near the sunset he learned important bits of information, principally about the two dominant Societies.


    The two Societies dominates the business of all four Great Arts.


    The Kirin Renascence dominates the Medicine Alchemy and Soul Tampering business, and thirty percent of their disciples have Soul Tampered animals because of some special place in their home ground which spews high-quality beasts.


    The Master Blacksmith dominates the Essence Reinforcement and Equipment Formation business, being the main provider of weapons and armors to the city¡¯s army. They also have a special place where they go to collect rare minerals for their equipment.


    The two Societies were more or less equal in power albeit lately, the Kirin Renascence was winning because of a genius with a strange name appeared at their side and also because the Master Blacksmith''s leaderwas ¡®withering¡¯.


    ¡°Roland, I have been thinking about it since I heard about the lack of primary ingredients like onions, carrots, and eggs. Wouldn¡¯t be more profitable to sell those primary ingredients instead of finished food like you were thinking?¡± August suddenly interrupted Roland¡¯s thoughts.


    ¡°Master¡­ you¡¯re a genius!¡± Never did that thought pass through Roland¡¯s head, he had until now only used the Endless Bag to eat his fill with restaurant''s food, but it didn''t mean he couldn¡¯t use it to produce simple ¡®food¡¯ like vegetables or fruits.


    And moreover, the citywas in serious need of those primary ingredients because of some festival or ritual that will happen for the Societies so the money he would be able to gather will be immense.


    It was a shame that what they are preparing for the festival isn¡¯t mortal food since the Endless Bag can only give mortal food, if not, he could just give them what they are preparing and profit from it.


    ¡°The question now is to who and what I will sell.¡± It only passed five minutes before an idea formed in Roland¡¯s head and he confidently walked to his destination in tow with Lucy yawning and August¡¯s eyes shining in anticipation.

 Chapter 5: Searching For a Place to Call Home 2

    Relarid was struggling with the constant demands of his boss, howwas he supposed to get more than ten thousand eggs in only ten days anyways? Be it the spiritual or normal chickens, all of them had already given their eggs and were already used by themselves, the restaurant Silver Breeze, and their competitors. ¡°There are no more eggs in the market! Why can¡¯t you understand it?¡± He screamed, grabbing his short hair in frustration and slumping on his desk at the manager''s room.


    ¡°...Manager-¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Relarid yelled at his stupid worker that entered his room without knocking.


    ¡°There is a man with strange animals behind the restaurant claiming to be able to satisfy our needs of ingredients. I thought it would be good to notify you about it.¡± The servant said trembling.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say sooner?¡± Relarid took his obese body from the chair and went running to the mysterious man despite hating to run and with sweat appearing because of the light exercise.


    Passing through the white door of their three-story restaurant, he saw a man wearing all black and even a scarf to show his eccentricity, talking calmly with what appear to be his pets. The first impression Relarid had of this man was of excellence and that he could take care of anything thrown at him.


    Relarid¡¯s hopes rose about attending his boss'' demands. ¡°Nice to meet you, mister. My name is Relarid, I am the manager of this restaurant.¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you too, Mister Relarid. I¡¯m Roland. Sorry for making someone so grand like you have to come here at the restaurant¡¯s back, but you and I know how important my commodity is, so I can¡¯t take risks of someone vile knowing I came here.¡± Roland put the airs of someone rich and well-connected, or at least tried to do so if the stories his father read to him were right about how rich people act stupidly and flashy.


    ¡°No problem at all.¡± Relarid began to make small talks to warm the man until the main subject was touched upon, his hopes rising as Roland talked in the way he expected him to do so.


    Roland couldn¡¯t by himself answer properly all those small questions without making Relarid suspect him, so hewas saying what Augustwas telling him telepathicallyto say.


    Those small and probing questions were a piece of cake to someone so used to deal with noble people like August.


    ¡°So mister Roland, did you care if I take a look at your merchandise or could be you forgot of bringing them since I can¡¯t see anything around you?¡± Relarid said what was in his head since first meeting Roland.


    ¡°Of course, I had brought it. You need eggs, don¡¯t you?¡± Roland discovered it between the conversation he had with the manager.


    ¡°Yes, and I need at least ten thousand of them. Would your company suffer to deliver that despite the demands? I can assure you I will pay the triple of whatever other offers you have.¡±


    August sneered at his heart for the fat man already showing his cards and necessity of eggs, in a negotiation the first one to do that always loses.


    Roland swiftly brought from the Endless Bag an egg, he decided to not hide the bag and make it another of his selling points to his future buyers, a decision he will come to regret but his masters won¡¯t tell him this because it will be funnier to them in this way. ¡°Please confirm its quality before we continue.¡±


    Relarid at first didn¡¯t think much about Roland bringing an egg from the bag until a hypothesis based on his boss'' items came to him and he respectfully picked the egg from Roland despite not seeing any runes on the bag to confirm his hypothesis. ¡°You two, make a simple boiled egg now.¡± He gave the egg to two of his workers with chef clothes.


    They immediately summoned a ball of water floating in the air and put the egg there while their hands got red with the heat they were emitting. Both of them trained in elemental techniques and were in the fifth layer of Essence Reformation like Roland was.


    The moment their hands touched the ball of water, it sizzled and vapor began to appear with the intense heat they were capable of producing. It only took two minutes to the egg be ready to be eaten after they carefully took off the eggshell and presented it to Relarid. Unfortunately, because Relarid was too impatient, they didn¡¯t dare to use their abilities as chefs while making the egg since they take too long and Relarid doesn¡¯t like the needles they use sometimes.


    ¡°So orange!¡± Relarid exclaimed in his head. ¡°And it smells better than the spirit eggs we normally have. What about the taste?¡± Eating the egg, Relarid let out a moan of satisfaction with how good the egg was.


    He then coughed to hide his embarrassment when everyone was looking at him. ¡°Mister Roland, we have a business here. How much can you provide and the delivery¡¯s time?¡±


    August and Roland were having only one thought when smiling at Relarid actions. ¡°Man, you are so easy.¡±


    Roland went into the specifics with Relarid of how much will be delivered and surprised the fat man when he pulled out from his bag all the necessary eggs at the restaurant''s storage, confirming Relarid¡¯s suspicion about the brown bag.


    Receiving his money from Relarid, Roland made the night his new best friend and went to all restaurants to sell his products using August to discover the needs of the restaurants, and using that against them.


    That resumed the simple plan he made in which instead of selling only one ingredient to all the restaurants, he sold everything thanks to August being used to deal with avaricious people like restaurants'' managers.


    Soon enough the bag and Roland¡¯s name spread out through the city, and even the Societies caught wind of the ingredients'' provider capable of satisfying the entire city¡¯s needs to the Autumn festival, although they only cared for some moments before ignoring the mortals'' rumors.


    Roland''s Essence Shards already reached the staggering amount of two hundred thousand and it continued to grow.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Seeing all this, Lucy and August madly laughed in secret. ¡°Now there is no way our disciple won¡¯t have the first battle of his life to the death. A disciple of ours thatdoesn''t have his hands stained of blood isn¡¯t a true disciple.¡± Their shadows danced on the moonlight and grew bigger as powers related to Fate and Death flowed through them, rejuvenating them. ¡°Come, starving hyenas from the restaurant, Blue Light, do you really think we don¡¯t know how you looked to Roland? And don¡¯t come alone, call your other friends too, if not, it won¡¯t be good enough to be stepping stones of our precious disciple!¡±


    ***


    ¡°Sir, are you sure about this delivery?¡± The postman asked with all the packets guarded behind him. He found weird with how all the products with the exception of Essence Shards were always in double.


    ¡°Yes, please deliver them to these addresses,¡± Roland said with his notebook which has all the information about who he stole in hands.


    It''s finally time to pay back everyone he stole from with exception of the Golden Society.


    No matter what Roland did he couldn¡¯t find a place that sold Rank 6 medicines. August thatwas a master of Medicine Alchemy and Soul Tampering said he had money enough to buy more than two Rank 6 Invigorating Qi medicines though.


    Now he just needs to find the right opportunity to buy them in some way, maybe going to one of the Societies would be the way to find the medicine.


    Walking away from the people, he entered an alley and began to burn all the first eight pages from his notebook. ¡°With this, I¡¯m closer to my dream, ¡®ashes to ashes, debts sought, debts paid. Only after absolution, happiness will come,¡¯ right? Grandpa.¡± Now only the ninth page of his notebook was remaining to be burnt and Ronald will finally be able to begin to search for his own family and buy a patch of land after or before reuniting with his father.


    Roland waited for the fire to die out and continued to deliver the final ingredients to the restaurants and other marketplaces, after today his buyers can still call him for ingredients and probably will because of his ingredients'' quality but their need because of the festival will end today.


    ¡°They never asked before to be left alone, what''s happening?¡± Roland asked himself, remembering how his masters wanted to be left alone in the inn hewas sleeping after giving him his Soul Spirit which he normally kept at his bag or inside Lucy.


    It turned out Roland could easily put his Soul Spirit in any place, the only disadvantage in doing that instead of letting it on Lucy¡¯s bodywas that it won¡¯t be constantly be nurtured and will even lose a bit of Vital Energy if left for too long outside Lucy''s body.


    ¡°Could they be plotting against me? Maybe another grueling training? But they can just talk telepathically without me knowing, why to take all the work to be left alone?¡±


    ¡°Unless¡­¡± Roland shook, memories about his training coming to him. ¡°The only times they didn¡¯t follow me was when I went to the dangerous jungle to train and they only followed me after I annoyed them to dea-¡±


    Roland immediately turned around to flee to the inn when an uncanny situation presented itself to him.


    At night near the festival¡¯s day, there wasn¡¯t a single person near him on the whole street. He didn¡¯t perceive this until now because he was thinking about why his masters weren¡¯t with him.


    ¡°I¡¯m fucked up, aren¡¯t I?¡±


    Roland came to this obvious conclusion a little too late and almost paid a price too high for that.


    His life.


    At the moment he turned his body to leave, an arrow flew past him and embed itself on the ground, creating a big hole there.


    Roland ghastly looked at the arrow and perceived it was actually a silver arrow reinforced to the third layer with runes meaning poison and speed inscribed on it.


    Considering his upper bodywasn''t reformed yet by Qi, that arrow would undoubtedly kill him in only one hit.


    One second after the first arrow failed to kill him, more than ten arrows flew towards him in a speed he thought he wouldn¡¯t be able to react when he noted they were actually slower than the Magus Rank 1 beasts he escaped from in his training.


    Using hisrefined legs, he with high deftness jumped and rolled around without any shame of his desperate display. He evaded almost all of them and only one grazed his legs, but because they were reformed the arrow didn¡¯t do much damage.


    Perceiving this, Roland looked at the fallen arrows and saw they were actually just normal iron arrows in wooden shafts. ¡°So this is why it was so easy to evade them, they are normal arrows. The enemy probably only had one of those special arrows or didn¡¯t want to waste more of them on me after the ambush failed. Anyways, I need to leave from here before they began to take more seriously.¡± He thought.


    However, before Roland could flee he found himself surrounded by men and women in discrete clothes and demonic masks. They were everywhere, at the two ends of the street, at the houses'' roofs, they were even at the river.


    The ones at the roof had bows but didn¡¯t nock the arrows, they were just looking silently to all this and Roland observed they seemed a level higher than the others enemies, their masks, for example, had horns and were black.


    If Roland was sensitive to Essence like Carmen was or higher level than them, he would notice the ones in the roof that shot him were actually Magus Rank 1, and moreover, they were extremely used to bloodshed and assassinations. It was a shame Roland perceived the street''s strangeness too early for them, they were thinking of shooting him only when he became distracted with a noise they were preparing to make, but he suddenly turning around gave a fright to the enemy''s leader and he had to risk using the arrow gave to them by their boss.


    They don¡¯t know now what to do, their orders are only to give the initial shot and if Roland survived that, they are supposed to let the ones on the ground clean the mess and kill Roland or determine if the famous ingredients'' provider is worthy of joining their organization, as someoneat only the fifth layer escaping from a precious Earth tier arrow reinforced to the third layerwasn''tsomething to be trifled be it because of luck or instinct, being able to dodge almost all arrows shot by Magus experts with only one grazing his strong skinwas just as impressive as the former.


    The enemy''s leader sighed thinking this and made the signal to the people from Blue Light, Kirin Feast and their contracted thugs at the sixth or seventh-layer of Essence Reformation attack Roland to kill him. ¡°Young man, curse your luck and your stupidity of finding and showing a Bag of Holding, an interspatial object, to greedy men and also having too much wealth on yourself to be discovered after they search your soul for answers about where you pick your ingredients.¡±


    The leader made up his mind and let the chaos began, if Roland survives this he will be scouted despite his high age, if not¡­ ¡°I will pick for myself the bag, in thehomeland such items are rare. I¡¯m sure the boss will understand my decision and it''s better to limit the number of people from outside our lands to join anyways.¡± He shrugged and sat down to watch the mayhem, not caring too much for any result.


    If Roland had actually been the target by any of the abilities of the enemy¡¯s leader, he wouldn¡¯t be capable to escape no matter what, but because their boss was interested in him they just used arrows instead of their real powers to test him.


    But even if Roland knew about this, he wouldn¡¯t be happy about their ''kindness''. Test or not, it didn¡¯t change the fact they tried to kill him and are considered enemies in his heart.


    The only problem now was if he will have one day a chance to enact vengeance in them with how bloodthirsty the people at the ground and river were. He will probably die here without accomplishing anything.


    ¡°Why send so many people to only one person at the fifth layer of Essence Reformation?!¡± Roland cried in his heart as he struggled to avoid the shower of attacks on him.

 Chapter 6: Searching For a Place to Call Home 3

    Roland took out his Soul Spirit and when he found breathing room after dodging a lightning bolt and a mighty torrent of fire coming at him. ¡°Wait, can¡¯t we talk about this? Why are you trying to kill me? I can double whatever they are paying you to kill me.¡± Roland tried the diplomatic route since fightingwasn''t his forte in his opinion. It can be a useless endeavor, but the chances of him escaping him with life by fighting were too slim for him to risk his life for it.


    This offer made everyone pause their attacks and think about it.


    They knew Roland was rich enough to pay them, but suddenly one of the assassins said aloud. ¡°We can just kill and take from him the money, and if those guys from the Blue Light or Kirin Feast know we let him go we will be killed.¡±


    The ¡®assassins¡¯ nodded, seeing the light.


    ¡°How sad is to be killed by stupid people. They just told me who orchestrated all of this.¡± Roland thought and said. ¡°If those two restaurants want to kill me, it makes no sense. Why kill me, someone that can provide any high-quality ingredient they would need in their life? It¡¯s the same as ¡®killing the golden goose¡¯ at their door and being too narrow-minded to see beyond their small world. You¡¯re actually just shooting yourselves at the foot, there¡¯s no merit in killing me.¡±


    A thug coldly laughed, feeling superior at the cornered Roland. ¡°Shut up with the bullshit. It¡¯s true you can have maybe a good background to have all those ingredients and money, but if we search through your soul we will be able to raid the place where all your employers work to harvest the ingredients and use those facilities to expand our business. So killing you is beneficial since we will also be able to cut the resources of the others rival restaurants.¡±


    Roland¡¯s heart went cold perceiving the diplomatic route failed. ¡°Will I have to kill again? No, I don¡¯t want to kill. I swore to myself after ridding of that aberration of nature that dares to call itself of woman I wouldn¡¯t kill again.¡± He thought while the assassins slowly reached close to him to completely corner him.


    Roland knew he could try to escape from them since he outspeed them, but the people at the roof with their bows won¡¯t let him use his high speed to flee. He instinctively knew that with the pressure coming from the roof increasing always when he was near to getting out of the circle of people, in this way, sealing Roland¡¯s movements.


    Roland¡¯s Qi Energy surrounded him as it reformed his upper body, principally his organs. With each second passing in this situation the Qi increased and became quicker in reforming him.


    It seems beside the fear of being killed and the adrenaline while avoiding the attacks, the anger and hatred rising within himself at this situation of him being unjustly ambushed also served as food to his Qi. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Mother and Grandmother I never met, Grandpa and¡­ Father. But I can¡¯t take this anymore without retaliating.¡± He thought eyeing all his enemies.


    ¡°I¡¯ve tried, I did my best to this not devolve in bloodshed and you still won¡¯t let me go,¡± Roland shouted, his anger flooding outside of him.


    ¡°I just wanted to live a life without violence, what did I do of wrong to all of you? Nothing!¡± His Qi exploded, although it was transparent everyone on the street could feel threatened by its mere presence.


    It was a hot and savage energy, ready to kill all of them and eat their flesh for its own amusement. ¡°If you think my Father created me to be a man that doesn¡¯t return good with good, evil with evil and killing intent with killing intent. You¡¯re all wrong. I will kill every single of you even if I die in the process!¡± Roland¡¯s Qi reached his brain and corrupted it, making him go mad.


    His Soul Spirit being connected to him, felt Roland¡¯s mad emotions and the drop of blood inside of it throbbed.


    At the dumbfounded eyes of Roland¡¯s enemies, the Soul Spirit flew above his head and began to shine on a red light like a mini-sun with countless drops of water separated from it.


    In the moment Roland roared like a crazy beast, all the drops of water shot against all his enemies, even the ones on the roof with incredible speed and power.


    This broke the deadlock Roland was with the thugs surrounding him having to use their techniques to defend themselves and he didn¡¯t lose this opportunity, advancing at the thug that talked back to him.


    ¡°You are the first one.¡± Roland used his strong legs to kick the thug¡¯s stomach.


    The thug was already having a hard time protecting himself against the powerful drops of water that penetrated his skin and with Roland suddenly advancing against him, his situation couldn¡¯t be more hopeless than that.


    Roland¡¯s legs were already strong enough to knock the thug out, but because his Qi was in a rampage, it was reinforcing him beyond the limit with explosive force. Causing his leg to pierce the thug¡¯s body and explode his intestine.


    The street was deathly quiet after the thug died screaming in immense pain, Roland retired his leg stained with blood and intestine parts from the dead body. To the rest of the masked people, Roland seemed a grim reaper ready to harvest their souls with how he didn¡¯t even frown when his leg became full of blood.


    ¡°A-Attack him all at once! It¡¯s the only way to we survive.¡± One of the masked women from Blue Light said trembling.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    At the end of the woman¡¯s voice, azure lightning and fire went towards Roland in different forms and from all directions possible. There was even a lightning that coalesced into an enormous sword and a fireball bigger than Roland coming from the people at the seventh layer of Essence Reformation.


    Roland growled, ¡°protect me,¡± and the Soul Spirit began to grow, madly absorbing all the Essence around it until it got big enough to envelop Roland¡¯s whole body.


    Descending on Roland, the Soul Spirit covered itself on blue Vital Energy tinged by red and endured all attacks against Roland, only slightly deforming when the lightning sword hit it. But it protected Roland well enough to it despite being made of water didn¡¯t let the lightning¡¯s electric current flow affect its master.


    Roland madness and hatred only grew as the Qi Energy flowed through him, gradually reforming his arms and reaching close to his heart.


    Right now Timeless Emperor Refinement was 68% done on his body.


    When the masked people saw their attacks failed because of just a ball of water, their astoundment was palpable with their mouths behind the masks hanging open.


    ¡°Pierce.¡± The Soul Spirit¡¯s front end expanded until it was looking like a sharp spear and before anyone could react, it extended itself rapidly and penetrated the woman¡¯s skull that made everyone attack Roland, killing her right on the spot.


    Roland rushed out from the Soul Spirit using his new reformed hands to destroy all the masked people on his way, punching their heads off and using the rest of their bodies as shields as he continued to slaughter everyone while his Soul Spirit also helped in the carnage.


    Now thoughts of trying to kill Roland disappeared from the masked people¡¯s minds, they just wanted to leave this place and never meet Roland once again on their lives.


    But would Roland in his berserker state really let them go?


    What followed was a one-sided slaughter with Roland¡¯s body reformation never ending.


    72%...


    80%...


    Near the 85% when the Qi entered the area around his heart and Polus, a change occurred.


    Roland staggered and from his mouth came pitch black blood that when it reached the street, it corroded the street, making a hole impossible to see its end.


    Roland¡¯s face was pale when he received a new heart, it was as if he could see his grandpa waving at him from the underworld, and it got even worse when the Qi wrapped around his Polus.


    Because of the automatic and natural process of gathering Essence, his body and the Polus at and below the third layer was full of impurities and diseases. To reform his Polus means to get rid of all the impurities and it isn¡¯t a process kind to him.


    He felt being ripped off from the inside of his body and poisonous black blood couldn¡¯t stop of coming from his mouth.


    The masked people felt as if God had pitied them and was giving the deserved punishment to Roland, with their hopes rising some were going to leave and others were going to attack Roland in his weakened state when Roland screamed. ¡°Don¡¯t dare to move a single muscle,¡± the crazed look in his face and his eyes shaking bordering insanity made the masked people¡¯s fear resurface and stay motionless almost pissing themselves at Roland¡¯s mere shout.


    The final glob of black blood finally got out from Roland¡¯s body and his Qi completely reformed his Polus, making the Qi reformation reach 85% with all his upper body with exception of the head reformed.


    Roland began to walk to finish his work, however, shouts and marching of soldiers came. ¡°Don¡¯t let Mister Roland die, advance! Our boss from Silver Breeze made an official decree to protect him and put him under her wing.¡± Relarid, the fat manager from the first restaurant Roland went, ordered the soldiers.


    There were at least two squads of one hundred soldiers each and all of them were wearing equipment reinforced to the fifth layer, and were at least Magus Rank 1.


    The masked leader immediately began to flee in fear. ¡°Why must be Silver Breeze? Boss said explicitly to not mess with them, even at the cost of our own lives.¡±


    Roland roared, completely insane with the pain of having his Polus reformed and ready to take on the newcomers, not caring for the consequences.


    But a white streak of light tore through the sky and entered his mouth with him incapable of reacting to it.


    He involuntary eat it and instantly got knocked out, sleeping on the street with the Soul Spirit calming down and resting above his body.


    What he ate was a high quality Calming medicine in form of a pill and the ones that sent it into him were a good distance away from the fight, appreciating the night and gloating at the destiny of the masked people.


    ¡°It was so funny when that guy had his stomach exploded, a shame we couldn¡¯t see his face.¡±


    ¡°For me, I liked more when he began to slaughter everyone he shouted to them not to move. Who would move in that situation?¡±


    They were Roland¡¯s masters, a fox and a turtle.


    Lucy sighed. ¡°I am so happy Roland survived the first tribulation from your stupid technique, Son. Luckily the ¡®cannon fodder¡¯ angered him and activated the tribulation earlier than normal. I was worried at this rate he would suddenly go mad while walking on the street and kill innocents.¡±


    ¡°Come on, my technique isn¡¯t that bad. If Roland one day master Qi he won¡¯t have any other tribulation or go mad with power.¡± August replied. ¡°What worries me is that the people from Forsaken Lands meddled into our disciple¡¯s baptism, only them can make poison runes.¡±


    ¡°True, that was an undesirable variable in our plans.¡± Lucy nodded and went together with her son to the place where Roland is being taken by the soldiers. ¡°I¡¯m surprised the people from the Silver Breeze restaurant are so strong though. What¡¯s the background of their boss to be capable of summoning such army to only save someone from the fifth layer in the Essence Reformation realm?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it wasn¡¯t in our plans to them appear also. We wanted to Roland finish the first tier of Timeless Emperor Refinement today, but like they say ¡®a plan never survives the first contact with the enemy¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be disheartened, we will have another opportunities to do that. Although we need to focus more on my technique now, it is extremely lacking in power. And also we need to think about how will we explain to Roland what happened.¡±


    August groaned. ¡°Don¡¯t even make me remember that, it will be a pain in the ass to explain why we didn¡¯t come with him or why he went berserker.¡±

 Chapter 7: Searching For a Place to Call Home 4

    Roland opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.


    Everything was tinged by red and black, with the sunrise possible to see through the windows.


    His body could be been feeling refreshed and full of energy, but his heart and mind were cold.


    He thought he would be hit by a feeling of guilty just like when he steals from someone, however, he felt absolutely nothing at having killed more than ten people when he went berserk.


    He felt empty, with a void in his heart.


    ¡°What have I become? Will I still feel anything when put in a similar situation left with no option but to kill?¡± Roland used his arms to cover his eyes, as if fleeing from a truth he can¡¯t ignore.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t regret my actions, if I need to kill to protect my life and dream of living in tranquility, so be it. No matter how hypocrite and paradoxical that is. I¡¯m sure if my grandpa could see me now he would insult me to death.¡±


    ¡°However¡­¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t really like what I am becoming. Using violence to resolve problems.¡± Roland stayed with his arms covering his arms until his stomach rumbled, indicating his hunger.


    Roland stood up from the lavish bed he was to find his masters looking at him.


    ¡°You have finally woken up, sleepyhead,¡± Lucy said.


    ¡°How are you feeling?¡± August strode over.


    ¡°I¡¯m feeling nothing of special.¡± Roland got his breakfast from the Endless Bag and eat it while glaring at his masters.


    They know why he was doing that, and couldn¡¯t help of feeling embarrassed. It¡¯s the first time in Lucy and August¡¯s lives that they have a disciple that doesn¡¯t fear them so they don¡¯t know well how to answer when they are in the wrong.


    In the old days, they would scare their disciples off with Essence and just say ¡®it was for your own good¡¯, but this won¡¯t work with Roland that only see them as weird talking animals.


    Lucy sighed. ¡°Tell me how much you want to know and I will tell.¡± Honesty is the first step to improve a relationship.


    Roland didn¡¯t say anything until he finished off having his breakfast. ¡°After yesterday¡¯s incident, I know the techniques you gave to me aren¡¯t normal and you two must come from someplace above my imagination. But¡­ I don¡¯t care about who you two really are. If one day you two trust me enough to tell your identities, I will listen. However, I won¡¯t force you. Just tell me the information based on how much you believe me. Although, I must ask you this.


    Are you two my masters or not?¡± Roland¡¯s question went deep into Lucy and August¡¯s hearts, his immaculate bright eyes just searched for one thing. A confirmation that their relationship is true no matter how much it is based on schemes or coincidences.


    Roland since meeting that aberration of nature in Rongvale when younger, decided to not care more about identities, if someone that is going to betray you is a pauper or a prince doesn¡¯t matter, what matter is how much before betrayal that relationship was true and how it hurt to be betrayed.


    Lucy and August were speechless, they talked between themselves telepathically for a long time before coming to a decision. ¡°Little Roland, we will tell you everything about us when you become a Magus Rank 4, only then you will be strong enough to protect yourself from searches on your soul. We trust you, but you are currently too weak to know our secrets.¡±


    Roland nodded at Lucy¡¯s words, understanding the danger after a random thug telling him he could search his soul without a problem.


    ¡°But we can tell you why you went mad yesterday and that we didn¡¯t leave you alone, we saw your whole fight since the beginning.¡±


    Roland silently listened to everything, making his own conclusions.


    Qi Energy came from all kinds of high emotions and its mutated by what emotion it came from, so when Roland began to feel hatred and anger the Qi Energy was mutated to a nocive energy that corrupted his brain and made him go berserker.


    It was actually a good thing, because when training Timeless Emperor Technique you will have to face tribulations based on all Lord Sins in each tier if the user doesn¡¯t know how to perfectly use Qi to negate the tribulation.


    So Roland passed through the first tribulation based on Wrath in a space where there were only enemies to him kill.


    There was a minimal chance that when it is only lacking one percent to complete the first tier, Renegade Mortality, he would go berserker whenever he is, even at the street full of innocents or when holding hands with his loved one.


    But since the tribulation was activated earlier, the danger in the first tier doesn¡¯t exist more.


    When Roland finished of listening to all this he was shaking, just imagining him going berserk in the streets or when alone with a girl he likes. ¡°Will I be able to master Qi one day?¡±


    August said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if nothing strange happens you should be able to avoid the next tribulation.¡±


    Roland wasn¡¯t really reassured by this answer and looked to Lucy this time. ¡°What¡¯s the trick of your technique? Just tell me now and I won¡¯t be mad at you later.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no trick¡­ I guess. Maybe it will have a problem when reaching the third tier, Emotional Spirit, but there¡¯s nothing I can do to warn or help you.¡± She uncertainly said.


    Roland wanted to take out the Soul Spirit to analyze it since Lucy¡¯s answer was as just as reassuring as August¡¯s one, but perceived it wasn¡¯t in his bag or around him. ¡°Where exactly am I? And where is my Soul Spirit? I only remember os seeing people coming at me with silver armor.¡±


    A wooden embellished door at the north of the room opened before Lucy or August could answer him. ¡°Sir Roland, I can answer your questions.¡±


    From beyond the door came Relarid, the fat manager of Silver Breeze, and a woman Roland never met in his life.


    She had long scarlet hair, tied and in a ponytail by a black clip on her hair. She wore a red and black dress highlighting her body along with a red fan.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Everything about her was red or black, and Roland¡¯s first impression of her was of a prideful and thorny flower with how she carried herself. He didn¡¯t want to deal with women like her, too much hassle and she will always look down on you no matter what you do.


    ¡°My name is Elizabeth Eden, Sir Roland.¡± She said with a formal bow, revealing a pair on black studs on her ears because of the falling hair. ¡°And to answer your questions, you are right now on my residence, I hope my bed wasn¡¯t too uncomfortable for you. You were taken by one of my armies when you went unconscious after fighting your ambushers.¡±


    Roland looked around the room and noticed it was full of papers describing cooking recipes, he couldn¡¯t understand how it was a room of a rich-looking woman like her, it only had a mirror at best and nothing of exaggerated with exception of the bed.


    ¡°About your ¡®Soul Spirit¡¯... I can guess what it is.¡± From a black ring on her hand full of runes, Roland¡¯s Soul Spirit came but with golden talismans bound around it. ¡°Pardon for my rudeness, but I had to seal it to it not cause more problems.¡± She gave the Soul Spirit to Roland and unsealed it.


    The Soul Spirit when set free, immediately saw its master and went to his side, resting on his hand.


    Elizabeth saw the confused look on Roland¡¯s face and interpreted it in her own way. ¡°Sir Roland, I know you must be wondering why did I send an army to save you when my Father noticed the commotion in the place where you were. Although that was meaningless as you were strong enough to ward off all your enemies and probably would kill them without my help anyway. You are more powerful than any other person on the seventh layer of Essence Reformation that I ever met, even myself would struggle to deal with so many people when I was at your stage of power.¡±


    ¡°Seventh layer?¡± Roland¡¯s confusion only grew, since when he was the seventh layer? Was it the tribulation that in someway gathered Essence enough to him do that? But just some days ago he was at the fifth layer, this training speed is absurd.


    Elizabeth looked quizzically at the black-haired man, how could he not notice his own layer on Essence Reformation?


    Each action of him just makes her curiosity increase, principally after her father said that the man only two years older than her had something, the Soul Spirit, he couldn¡¯t understand or grasp its complete identity. But that was of course only curiosity, she wouldn¡¯t have any malicious thoughts at the man that saved her from her plight despite him being considerably weaker than her. ¡°Ah, I forgot about thanking him.¡± She thought.


    ¡°Sir Roland, I forgot about saying this but I send people to save you because you saved my birthday¡¯s present to my father. For that, I deeply thank you. You don¡¯t know how much you delivering those eggs meant to me.¡± Elizabeth bowed until her head almost hit the floor.


    Relarid watching this felt goosebumps and light-headed, he knew how much his boss was prideful, she didn¡¯t even bow when the people from the middle stratum or high stratum came to Lakepoint.


    And yet she was here bowing and lowering herself to someone at Essence Reformation, she didn¡¯t even ask for him leave before bowing, her gratitude was so large that she didn¡¯t care that her subordinate was seeing her doing that.


    Roland sighed, feeling bad now about how he categorized Elizabeth. ¡°Please stand up, what I did can¡¯t be that amazing, it is just simple eggs, Madam Eli-¡±


    ¡°Call me of only Elizabeth, I¡¯m not old enough to be referred as ¡®Madam¡¯ for anyone that isn¡¯t my subordinate.¡± The glint in Elizabeth¡¯s blood red eyes after she stood up was scary enough to Roland meekly nod his head, maybe his impression of Elizabeth was actually true and dealing with her is a mistake, after all.


    ¡°Perhaps a little of information on my background would make you understand better why I cared so much about you making business with a branch of my restaurant,¡± Elizabeth said. ¡°Sir Roland, you are a tourist or someone from far away, am I right?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°I thought so, if not, it wouldn¡¯t be possible to you not recognize me right way. I¡¯m pretty famous for various reasons.¡± She said without any shame of boasting while fanning herself with the fan in her right hand.


    Roland thought. ¡°This woman really has a unique pride.¡±


    ¡°I, Elizabeth Eden, am the daughter of the Master Blacksmith Society¡¯s patriarch. I had reached Magus Rank 2 in my fourteen years and stayed in this Rank since then because I¡¯m too occupied living my dream of being the biggest restaurant in all strata of the world. If I relentlessly trained since my teenage years I would be already Magus Rank 4 like my father is and I can step into Magus Rank 3 almost at any time I want.¡± She puffed her chest in pride.


    Roland was completely stunned, everything she said was just as amazing as the previous. Even August and Lucy were impressed with her training speed at Lower Existence, from where they came a fourteen years old Magus Rank 2 would amazing too, a shame that at her twenty years she already abandoned the training despite her being a genius.


    But this made Roland think, why with a genius like her in the Master Blacksmith Society they are losing to the other Society and he didn¡¯t hear anything about her when searching around days ago? The genius with the strange name of Kirin Renascence Society was only at Magic Foundation stage, Magus Rank 1.


    ¡°So my Father is so strong that I could never find a birthday present to him at the Autumn Festival, nothing can catch his eye. Since I told I would abandon training to focus on my Great Arts and taking care of my restaurants, he was the only that supported me. I couldn¡¯t ask for a better father and I want nothing more than thanking him for that, he cared more about my personal happiness than of the Society¡¯s prosperity.


    It was then that I found recipes for the most delicious cake and pastry in the world, in my opinion. Knowing how much Father likes of them and with his birthday being near, it was fated to me give them to him and express my thanks for allowing me to live my dream. But unfortunately, I lacked enormous quantities of eggs and being near the festival I thought it would be impossible to gather them. I was nearing giving up in despair when you came along and saved me.¡±


    Elizabeth seemed free, as if lifting a weight from her back and sighing in relief after thanking and telling her story to Roland. ¡°Now, I¡¯m sorry Sir Roland, but I¡¯m a busy woman and have many other things to do to Father¡¯s birthday. I won¡¯t ask you where you got such high-quality eggs or how your pets appeared here in my house, however, can I ask you one thing?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Elizabeth,¡± Roland replied, looking into her eyes. The amount of trust Elizabeth is putting on him, a man he never met before, is frightening.


    ¡°Do you already have an invite to the festival at Major Castle? I have one here that will give you the highest authority and priority possible, you will be able to go anywhere you want. You can even visit me at Father¡¯s birthday with the others elders from Master Blacksmith Society.¡± Elizabeth gave Roland a golden card with his name on it and a smelting furnace symbol on the sides. ¡°Just go at the festival¡¯s day to the big castle on Lakepoint¡¯s center and show it to be guided to the festivities of nobles and people from the two Societies.¡±


    Roland picked the card and put it on his bag whilst Elizabeth looked with deep interest to his Endless Bag. ¡°Thank you, Elizabeth. I see if I will go to the festival.¡±


    ¡°What are your plans now?¡±


    ¡°For now, nothing in particular. Just living my life, I guess.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She tilted her head and suddenly remembered something. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Sir Roland, but I remembered that people outside of the Society can¡¯t stay here if they aren¡¯t Society¡¯s members. Although this is my residence, it is still inside of the Society.¡±


    ¡°No problem, I will take my leave now. Where¡¯s the exit?¡±


    ¡°About that¡­ I¡¯m sorry once again but I will ask you to use this teleportationportal to leave from here. If you are a member of the Society it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to show you the rest of it, however, rules are rules. If you to join the Society now, it will be another story though. I can immediately give you a high standing here.¡± Elizabeth guided him to a room on her house with only a gigantic purple door with a swirling red portal in form of a whirlpool.


    ¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t want to join a Society for now. Maybe later.¡± Roland hawked at the portal, amazed by its appearance, even lighting a wish inside himself to build something beautiful as this when he buys a land for himself. ¡°Where this will led me to?¡± Its beauty was so splendid that he had a hard time to not show his emotions on his face.


    ¡°To the guards¡¯ garrison and from there I believe you can easily navigate to wherever you want in Lakepoint.¡± Elizabeth smiled and shook hands with Roland. ¡°It was nice to meet you, Sir Roland. I hope to meet you again.¡±


    ¡°Same to you, Elizabeth. And thank you for rescuing me from the street. It wouldn¡¯t be funny if I was robbed while sleeping.¡± Roland stepped on the portal. ¡°Goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye, Sir Roland.¡± Elizabeth watched Roland disappear, grinning to herself as to how it was good to have a ¡®relatively¡¯ normal conversation with someone that isn¡¯t her father. Everyone else just seems too worthless to talk with respect or are her enemies and competitors for the God Blacksmith¡¯s legacy.

 Chapter 8: Searching For a Place to Call Home 5

    ¡°The festival is in three days and I still don¡¯t know what I will do until then. I need more money to buy a land but I don¡¯t feel safe enough to do business here with the Kirin Feast and Blue Light ready to kill me. I wished I had power to not worry about them, that first arrow they used still instill fear in my brain.¡± Roland complained, rolling on the bed of the inn he is staying.


    The inn he is staying at is relatively good, being made of special wood and it is extremely comfortable. The room was simple but efficient with his big bed, table, chairs and a closet. They even permitted animals and had small bowls at the sides to serve as places to put animals¡¯ food.


    After Roland got out from the guards¡¯ garrison he walked straight to the inn, almost running. And since then he was studying to no avail the Soul Spirit he decided to call rest. He wasn¡¯t even halfway done with the first tier of Eternal Water Spirit Incantation.


    ¡°What the hell do you mean by vibrations variations, water condensation and solidification points, correct timing of putting pressure and that ice and blood are actually just water? This makes absolutely no sense, and don¡¯t even make me remember of ¡®water particles can be made from the air you breath using Vital Energy¡¯.¡± Roland groaned like an animal in frustration, eating his nails without perceiving because of his annoyance.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine to you be frustrated, but we can¡¯t have a disciple of ours without doing anything. How about you began to train in ones of the Great Arts?¡± Lucy suggested and August added. ¡°How about you also join one of the Societies? Three of four ways to you reunite with your father depends on you becoming powerful and participating on a Society.¡±


    Roland knew they were right, so he sighed and let of his childish behavior. ¡°Okay, after the festival I will ask around to see which Society is better to me and whilst I will train in one of the Great Arts, which one do you guys recommend? My knowledge about them is shallow.¡±


    ¡°How about Medicine Alchemy?¡± August quickly said to have an advantage over his mother about his favorite Great Art. ¡°In Medicine Alchemy we use fire-¡±


    ¡°Not interested. Next.¡± Roland cut August off.


    ¡°You didn¡¯t even let me finish!¡± August stomped his paws on the floor.


    ¡°I don¡¯t like of fire. I really hate it, it makes me remember of things I don¡¯t want to remember, I prefer to die than dedicate my life to something directly related to fire.¡± Roland said with melancholy in his eyes, the day that aberration of nature left his life still fresh on his very being.


    August grumbled, but let the matter die.


    ¡°Roland, in the Essence Reinforcement you need to inscribe runes that can draw Essence from around them and also from the object they are inscribed to give them various effects. With each rune you add to the object it gains one ¡®layer¡¯ of power. The majority of talismans are made in this way.¡± Lucy said. ¡°Interested?¡±


    ¡°More or less, I will for sure try later but not now.¡±


    August took the chance to advertise his other good Great Art that he is actually better than Medicine Alchemy. ¡°Roland, in the Soul Tampering you can directly control souls from others and receive powers based on the souls you eat or tamper to make them obey you. You can, for example, mess with the soul from a normal animal to make it your slave and even talk the human tongues despite never learning the alphabet. Impressive, right?¡±


    ¡°No, it sounds nasty and evil. Next.¡± Roland indifferently said, not caring about August¡¯s hurt feelings or how the turtle was sulking in the corner after hearing his answer.


    ¡°The last one is Equipment Formation, you use Essence and other materials to create anything you can imagine of in different tiers of power beginning in the Lower Mortal tier. Since you don¡¯t like of fire you won¡¯t be capable of creating metal weapons or anything related to that but Equipment Formation is much more than just swords and armors. You can literally create anything, no need to feel constricted by iron weapons. Finally interested?¡±


    Roland¡¯s bright eyes glittered with the innocence of a youth, just thinking about all the possibilities, principally of a possibility he saw earlier that captivated him. ¡°Can I make one of those beautiful portals to me just stay looking at them?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ you can make them when you become better at it.¡± Lucy said, incredulous that her disciple wants to make a teleportation portal to just¡­ look at them.


    ¡°Then what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s begin immediately, what I need to do?¡± Roland stood up from the bed and for the first time looking at Lucy with deference and eagerness to be taught.


    ¡°First you need to buy these items on the market¡­¡± Lucy listed everything and Roland went outside to buy them, the matter of Blue Light and Kirin Feast was completely out of his mind.


    ¡°Why can¡¯t he be passionate about training just as he is being right now?¡± August grumbled on his corner and Lucy just awkwardly smiled.


    After two hours Roland came back with everything on his Endless Bag and sat uprightly on the inn¡¯s floor, waiting for Lucy¡¯s instructions.


    ¡°First of all, you need to learn how to draw Essence to wherever you want beyond your own body. To do it you need to know how to use one of the energies that can dilute and mutate Essence. Learning how to do it with Qi will be useless since it will be highly ineffective to train how to make equipment while suffering high emotions. So you need to use the Vital Energy.¡± Lucy said.


    Roland nodded with the Soul Spirit in hands, he began to draw the azure Vital Energy from it and it was hard to not let the Essence enter his body.


    Essence came to inside of him in the presence of the Vital Energy no matter what he did. ¡°If only there was a way to block the Essence from entering me, it would be easier to control it outside of my body, unless...¡± Roland reminded of how the Soul Spirit enveloped him and used Vital Energy to prevent all attacks to affect him. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡±


    With inspiration flooding him, Roland took the maximum of Vital Energy from the Soul Spirit and surrounded himself with it.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    There was so much azure Vital Energy around him that it looked like was inside of a layer of water.


    When the Essence got aroused because of so much Vital Energy and tried to enter his body, he willed the Vital Energy to mimic what the Soul Spirit did when he got ambushed and closed all the routes to Essence inside of him.


    It was true Vital Energy was soft but it was also impermeable if necessary.


    All the Essence in the room created a vortex circling Roland, incapable of entering his body or dissipating to its natural state. ¡°Success.¡± He shouted using his hands and body¡¯s movements to guide and ¡®hold¡¯ the Essence to wherever he wants.


    August and Lucy were for the first time as masters of Roland impressed by his quick thinking and creative solution, he took no even ten minutes to succeed and moreover, he without instructions from them did something only God Blacksmiths or Theological Artificers naturally learn.


    They were thinking of teaching him this trick after he failed for more than one week to show to him how Equipment Formation is hard, but how could they know he would mimic his Soul Spirit so well?


    Even if a Master Blacksmiths or Artificers saw how the Soul Spirit protected him they couldn¡¯t copy it without intensive study. To Roland do it instantly means his connection to the Soul Spirit is deeper and stronger than any other Soul Spirit Lucy or August saw in their lives.


    Roland couldn¡¯t yet perfectly understand Vital Energy or his own Soul Spirit, but his affinity to them is astonishing.


    ¡°Now what I do, Lucy?¡± Roland said.


    ¡°Now you need to focus on one kind of constructions and a ¡®Profession¡¯, since you don¡¯t like fire becoming a Novice Blacksmith is impossible. You will, therefore, become a Novice Artificer. Let¡¯s begin with something simple until you can create Mortal tier Equipaments without failing. Pick the rubber and needle you bought.¡±


    In the Great Art of Equipment Formation, their practitioners are divided between Blacksmiths and Artificers in different grades beginning at Novice grade. And their creations are divided on Mortal, Earth, Sky, Celestial, Demigod, Divine tiers with each tier having three different subdivisions, lower, mid and high.


    And to discover what tier the Equipment is, you need to sense how much of Essence exists within it. Even someone ignorant to this Great Art can deduce what tier the Equipment is if it is at the Mortal or Earth tier. Beyond that only the creator of the Equipment or another master in the Great Art can know what tier the Equipment is.


    Roland held the white natural rubber and steel needle, looking anxious to the next instruction.


    Lucy sighed in her heart, ¡°why can¡¯t he be this cute and eager while training?¡± And said. ¡°Your first lesson is to learn how to make the rubber form a big ball and then condense it to become small, thin and sharp as the needle at your side. The needle will only serve to you have a reference while guiding the Essence to the rubber.¡±


    Imagining things from nothing was easy for Roland, the amount of time he spent alone inventing plays to himself because nobody on the streets would be his friend was tremendous.


    He slowly got the hang of manipulating Essence, it was similar to how he mixed Vital Energy and Qi Energy to train.


    You just need to mix when to be soft and when to be hard at the correct times.


    Seeing the rubber instantly become a ball full of essence and then condensed to a small needle radiating Essence, made August and Lucy¡¯s suspicion become reality.


    The man that has a training speed too slow to them has actually a talent to Equipment Formation, and probably an even bigger talent to Essence Reinforcement since it depends even heavily in control of Essence and correct timing of using Essence.


    ¡°Your first product is actually Mid Mortal tier Equipment. You are indeed a genius in this Great Art.¡± Lucy pointed to the steel needle in his other hand. ¡°Try to use the rubber needle on the steel needle.¡±


    Roland obeyed and unsurprisingly, nothing happened of special.


    ¡°Nothing happened because of two reasons. When you envisioned the needle you just thought of it as another needle, making it not have any special qualities. Right now the rubber needle is just rubber with Essence inside of it.


    The other reason is that in Equipment Formation you can¡¯t change the very nature of the material you are using, the rubber will be rubber no matter what you do unless you use Essence Reinforcement, if you do that you can change rubber¡¯s nature to become sharp enough to pierce steel.¡±


    ¡°Remember, the important in Equipment Formation is ¡®imagination¡¯ and ¡®intention¡¯. If you have the two, nothing is impossible.¡± Lucy said.


    Roland nodded with his eyes shining.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go to other exercises, it will take a while but our objective is to you make High Mortal tier Equipment, the sooner the better.¡±


    ***


    Three days later Lakepoint was decorated and illuminated to the Autumn Festival, you could see different types of brightly lit lanterns on all houses. It was impossible to count how many red and orange lanterns existed.


    People walked on the streets appreciating even the lanterns floating on the waters and going to stands to buy special pastry only served on the Festival.


    With the full moon on the skies, the mood on the city couldn¡¯t be any better. No incidents occurred with the intense vigilance of the army and helpers from the two Societies.


    But no matter how well the city was decorated, it couldn¡¯t compare to how beautiful Major Castle in the middle of the city was.


    Its seven black towers shone with the moonlight and illusions of mighty white beasts flew around the castle, blessing everything they touch.


    The castle being held by four gigantic chains was floating, and under the castle was a lake named Samsara Waters Gate. For unknown reasons, nobody from the city knows what Samsara means but they think it is the name of someone, and the lake is connected to all rivers around Lakepoint.


    The water on the lake after being connected to the other rivers took another quality and appearance, it was so crystalline and pure that made ones wonder why it was forbidden to drink or fall on the water, having full formations and talismans to prevent that.


    On the illusory white bridge to enter the castle full of guards, stood people from the Societies, nobles, and Roland with an upgraded version of his previous clothes. He thought his previous clothes were formal enough to enter this part of the festival with Elizabeth¡¯s invite, so following Lucy¡¯s instructions he made High Mortal clothes using various precious cloths.


    It only gave him a slight increase in his defense and comfort, so it was more to show his luxury of having clothes on the High Mortal tier. If he knew Essence Reinforcement he wouldn¡¯t need to have all this job to make another set of clothes and would even make more useful clothes.


    The only reason for him to make the same clothes again was because Lucy liked his actual outfit and would only teach him if he continued using the same garment¡¯s appearance.


    Roland looked at the water feeling a stir within himself and the Soul Spirit in Lucy, training a water technique made him more sensitive to such high-quality water.


    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m sorry but no animals are permitted in Major Castle unless they are from Kirin Renascence''s elders.¡± Guards stopped on Roland¡¯s way and everyone else entering the castle laughed at his stupidity.


    Roland thought in confusion about the actions of the people famous or rich enough to be here. ¡°Why the necessity of being so aggressive? What¡¯s the deal of these people? To make a mistake is human, why have a scorn so thick? I will never understand the thought process of such prideful and petty beings.¡±

 Chapter 9: Searching For a Place to Call Home 6

    Because Roland¡¯s clothes were on High Mortal tier nobody thought he was out of place despite his clothes having a simplistic design, and yet people were still laughing at him. August seeing this smirked and wanted to give a good ¡®slap¡¯ to their faces, he since a child always hated someone more prideful and petty than him.


    He sent telepathically to Roland. ¡°Pick Elizabeth¡¯s invite and nonchalantly say this while showing off your invite.¡±


    Roland looked annoyed at the turtle on his head, but sighed and decided to let his master have his fun by saying what he sent to him despite him perhaps causing everyone around him to become his enemy. The turtle''s pride has been too hurt lately, some mending to it will be good for the master-disciple relationship.


    Roland indifferently picked the golden invite from his bag and said while pointing the invite to people that laughed at him. ¡°No animals? Then why those people are being permitted to enter?¡± Roland turned around and said with the coldest voice he could muster. ¡°Laughable, I¡¯m leaving.¡± August sent to him even worse words after that, but he knew there was a limit on how much you could hurt the hearts of strangers.


    The people being insulted were at first incensed until they saw the golden invite on Roland¡¯s hand, their knees shook and blood drained from their faces as they perceived the big mistake they made in provoking the black haired man.


    On his hands was actually an invite made especially by the Lakepoint¡¯s mayor and only the high echelon from both Societies could have one of those.


    No even the new genius from Kirin Renascence received the esteemed golden invite.


    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Sir! I didn¡¯t know you had the golden invite and dared to say you couldn¡¯t bring your precious pets with you. Please come back, I won¡¯t commit the same mistake once again. If you so wishes those ¡®animals¡¯ you pointed won¡¯t enter the castle.¡± All the guards bowed and made a way for Roland enter the castle first than anyone on the bridge.


    Roland was feeling a little guilty about how appalled the people that laughed at him were looking, so he went against August¡¯s desire of suggesting to really bar them from entering. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I will come back to the castle and you don¡¯t need to prevent those people to enter. To make a mistake is human, and you need to always have a forgiving heart to achieve happiness.¡± Roland smiled like he was doing them a favor and went back to the row of people to enter the castle, not seeing the necessity of jumping the queue.


    The night is long, after all.


    The guards respected his wishes and made the row look normal again.


    August wasn¡¯t totally satisfied since Roland didn¡¯t do everything he wanted, but it was good enough for him to see the despair on the faces of the ones that laughed at his disciple.


    His mother scolded him later for picking on babies though.


    Roland with a turtle on his head and a fox resting on his shoulders because of how comfortable the scarf is, entered through the big gates after thirty minutes and encountered what appeared to be an old butler with kept short white hair and even wearing white gloves.


    ¡°Invite.¡± He said shortly but still with courtesy. It seems he didn¡¯t see or care about the earlier commotion on the bridge.


    Roland showed him the invite and the old butler looked to it without any change of expression, saying. ¡°Mister Roland, your invite permits you to go almost anywhere on the castle with exception of the place where the elders from Kirin Renascence are. But if you wish you can even go to the place where Master Blacksmith¡¯s patriarch is having his birthday.¡±


    Roland didn¡¯t think Elizabeth really gave him the invite to make him, a stranger she only met one time, go to her father¡¯s birthday. That moment is special to her and he didn¡¯t want to mess with it. ¡°I¡¯m new here and don¡¯t know a good place to visit in the castle. What do you recommend?¡±


    The old butler paused to think and decided to explain from the beginning. ¡°In today¡¯s festival, you can go to four different areas. The Minor Area where normal integrants from the Societies, minor nobles, and soldiers on vacation go. That place is almost cramped and doesn¡¯t have anything of interesting going on, it is just a normal party with food made by all restaurants of Lakepoint.


    The other two areas are the Elders Area where the Master Blacksmith¡¯s patriarch is having his birthday and the High Area where all the higher nobles, special disciples from both Societies and people famous as you normally go. There the space is perfect, there are activities planned and the best food is served.


    And the final ¡®area¡¯ isn¡¯t an area made for the festival, it is just a sparring arena to everyone that wants to compete with someone in a fight or competition in one of the Arts. Anyone can go there to appreciate the arenas.¡±


    ¡°Can you tell me how to reach the High Area then?¡± Roland wasn¡¯t interested in watching people fighting or pass his night cramped on a place.


    ¡°Please follow me.¡± The old butler let his comrades take care of the gates and guided Roland to the golden door of the High Area.


    The castle inside was just as beautiful on the outside, the decorations were similar to ones on the city but were of higher quality.


    If Roland didn¡¯t have the old butler to guide him he would easily get lost in such a big castle.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    ¡°Enjoy your night, Mister Roland.¡± The old butler said as Roland entered the High Area.


    The High Area had multiple tables decorated in white with flowers and there was a big empty space on the middle, supposedly to one of the activities that will happen.


    With everyone using formal clothes and the place exuding an aura of luxury and elegance that Roland wasn¡¯t used to, he felt out of place and solitary since he probably doesn¡¯t know anyone here.


    Everyone looked surprised at him, no only he was wearing High Mortal tier clothes and for some reason a scarf inside of the castle, he was permitted to come with animals to the castle.


    Now Roland was feeling even more awkward with everyone looking at him and decided to sit on an empty table until they forgot about him and could explore more the High Area.


    Roland ate the cakes and juices distributed by the waiters, he never liked alcoholic drinks, they cloud your judgment and makes you do things you regret later.


    After a while seeing boring and useless activities, like a show of training techniques, in the center of the area, two people went to his table to talk with him.


    They were Jimmy and Carmen from Kirin Renascence Society.


    ¡°Roland¡­? Is that really you? I¡¯m Jimmy, we¡¯ve met on the jungle. Do you remember?¡± Jimmy said, uncertain that the well kept and in the seventh layer of Essence Formation man was the same muddy man that saved him and Carmen.


    How was also possible to someone in such a short period of time go of the fourth to the seventh layer? Unless Roland used some kind of special expensive medicine of course.


    And that wasn¡¯t the end of his questions, he being from Kirin Renaissance knew better than anyone that animals weren¡¯t permitted on the castle, yet Roland brought the infuriating turtle and a beautiful white fox he never saw before.


    What was exactly Roland¡¯s identity?


    It took a long time for Jimmy and Carmen to gather the courage to talk with Roland, maybe they are mistaking him for someone else, and if that happened they would be embarrassed on the High Area.


    ¡°Yes, I remember you and also Carmen that is at your side. How¡¯s it going? Sit if you want also.¡± Roland was happy about finally seeing familiar faces despite only exchanging some words with them.


    Jimmy and Carmen accepted Roland¡¯s offer. Carmen¡¯s suspicions were slowly confirmed since the day she met Roland, and while Carmen was in her own world Jimmy had small talks with Roland, cracking a laugh sporadically.


    Jimmy whispered to Carmen after nudging her. ¡°Come on, Carmen. You are the one that said to us come, it has been a while and you still didn¡¯t say a thing to Roland. At this rate, he will think you hate him.¡±


    Carmen wasn¡¯t completely sure of her suspicions yet, she needed one more event to be sure, perhaps the event will occur at the festival, so she doesn¡¯t want to Roland hate her. It would be too dangerous for life.


    If she had seen Roland fight against the masked people, she would perceive her suspicions were true or at least partially true.


    She said. ¡°Roland, that fox on your shoulders is really beautiful. What¡¯s its name?¡±


    ¡°Her name is Lucy and before you ask, the turtle on my head is August. They are my pets.¡±


    ¡°Pets? Then you didn¡¯t use Soul Tampering on them?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sorry if I offend you two from Kirin Renascence Society, but I don¡¯t like the Great Art Soul Tampering or the other Great Art you make a business of, Medicine Alchemy.¡±


    ¡°No offense taken. Do you practice what Art then?¡±


    ¡°I know a little about Equipment Formation. Not much, only enough to make High Mortal tier equipment.¡± Roland continued to answer Carmen¡¯s questions and tried sometimes to question why she and Jimmy were doing deep into the jungle and being chased by a Magic Foundation beast.


    However, they evaded the subject and didn¡¯t tell him anything.


    Jimmy suddenly said after it was past the eight boring activity in the middle of the High Area and discovering Roland had a golden invite. ¡°Roland, what¡¯s the name of the organization you come from? I don¡¯t want to be rude, I¡¯m just curious. You must have learned a training technique from an organization, right?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t come from any organization and I¡¯m actually thinking of joining one of the two Societies. How¡¯s life on Kirin Renascence? I don¡¯t like any of the two Great Arts that you guys have business so I don¡¯t know if I would fit there.¡±


    Jimmy was ready to put good light about his Society when a distinct laugh came from behind him, his heart sank already knowing who is behind him. He knew that person wasn¡¯t bad, but wherever he goes, disasters come following him like a magnet.


    ¡°How interesting, this is the first time I saw someone saying that don¡¯t like the Great Arts of my Society at my front. You have some guts, don¡¯t you? It¡¯s not everyday I find someone worthy of talking. What¡¯s your name? Of course, you already know that my name is Shin Tan. I¡¯m super famous in this city.¡± Behind Jimmy, there was more than ten people in blue formal garments and one person within them stood out with his hands on his pockets.


    He despite being a teenager at the same age of Jimmy and Carmen was taller than Roland and more handsome than him, Shin¡¯s short black hair and black eyes together with his triangular face were different from anything that Roland ever saw. It was as if Shin Tan belonged to another region far away from here with how different he was to everyone else on the High Area.


    But his smugness and pride ¡®aura¡¯ in Roland¡¯s opinion for sure belonged to the High Area and Lakepoint based on Roland¡¯s experiences.


    ¡°Seriously, what¡¯s the deal with these people?¡± Roland thought and said. ¡°My name is Roland, Mister Shin Tan. And of course, I heard about you. Who never heard about the genius of the Kirin Renascence Society that in his teenage years became a Magus Rank 1 and is said to be the reincarnation of a supreme expert?¡± Roland as always tried the diplomatic route to diffuse the situation, being formal and stroking the ego of the child.


    Shin looked happy at being so well recognized and left after saying some useless words Roland didn¡¯t care to listen.


    As soon as Shin Tan left, Lucy and August¡¯s voices bombarded Roland¡¯s head. ¡°Don¡¯t ever enter in contact with that man once again. We had our suspicions since we discovered his name is Shin Tan, and now we confirmed it with how his Essence works and the power of Fate surrounds him. If you have to enter in contact with him again, don¡¯t become an enemy or ally. Just become a bystander in his life.


    "That man Shin Tan is dangerous, not on power but on destiny. He probably is reincarnated from someone. We can¡¯t explain right now why we are saying this, but believe us. Anyone that has a relation good or bad with him is doomed or at least will live a life close to dying almost every day.¡±

 Chapter 10: Searching For a Place to Call Home 7

    Roland¡¯s mind was in complete confusion, not only the words of his masters made no sense for him, they talked so loudly and quickly that it damaged him.


    ¡°So they were that desperate to me not talk with Shin Tan? I wanted to make a good lasting relationship to the current genius of the city for my safety but this is also fine, less work for me and less time to deal with people I don¡¯t like.¡± Roland mused watching Shin Tan leaving with his followers.


    Jimmy forgot what he was going to say because of Shin¡¯s interruption and an awkward silence reigned over the table.


    Roland ¡®to break the ice¡¯ motioned to the middle of the High Area where the tenth activity is beginning. ¡°Jimmy, Carmen, what¡¯s that guy is doing staying still there?¡±


    The disciples from Kirin Renascence looked relieved of being free from the previous mood and immediately explained after seeing the middle-aged man in red imperial robes with smelting furnaces symbols all over his clothes staying on the middle. ¡°Ah, Roland, his name is Vaen and is an elder from Master Blacksmith Society. He probably asked for someone in the High Area to volunteer to learn Essence Reinforcement from him, but nobody is stupid enough to go, even the ones from his Society won¡¯t go because Vaen is famous for embarrassing anyone that tries to learn something from him.¡±


    Lucy telepathically said. ¡°Roland, that man is interesting. Go try to learn something from him. It¡¯s not that he always embrasses the people that try to learn from him, it¡¯s only that his standards are too high.¡±


    Roland touched Lucy to show his confusion.


    She answered back. ¡°I know this because he is holding an already blessed beginner talisman instead of inactive talisman, if he wanted to embarrass the others he would use the latter that is impossible for a beginner to reinforce. Of course, I can teach anything that man can say or do, but seeing another person in action or another point of view is important for all Great Arts even if you aren¡¯t currently studying Essence Reinforcement. If you do it good enough, maybe he can even reward you.¡±


    Roland was convinced and since his feeling of shame of failing is too small, even if he embarrasses himself he won¡¯t care and he would also finally do something interesting in this until now boring festival.


    Roland standing up, took Jimmy and Carmen of surprise. They thought he was going to the bathroom but instead, he confidently walked to Vaen in the middle of the High Area.


    Jimmy couldn¡¯t understand Roland why was doing that after he just got warned and Carmen was looking to this with fervent eyes, she feels this will be the event which will make her suspicions become true.


    ¡°Oh, finally someone with some guts. Are you that confident in your Essence Reinforcement?¡± Vaen put pressure on Roland by using his Essence and natural killing intent polished by years of war against enemy cities and Hybrids.


    Lucy¡¯s icy blue eyes narrowed and she growled in annoyance at Vaen, disrupting Vaen¡¯s pressure and killing intent with her Essence. She didn''t care if the muscular man tried to intimidade Roland, but Vaen was too brute and instead of focusing his powers he spread it, affecting Lucy that was enjoying Roland¡¯s scarf.


    Vaen looked in surprise to the white fox and grinned. ¡°You have a good pet. Are you from Kirin Renascence?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t belong to them. And to answer your earlier question, I¡¯m not confident in my Essence Reinforcement since I never studied this Great Art in my life. So I¡¯m here to see if you can show me how good this Great Art can be.¡± Roland said.


    ¡°A complete beginner then?¡± Vaen laughed, and in his mind, he already discovered why Roland was permitted to bring animals to Major Castle. ¡°To think a beginner would have more guts than everyone here, it is a sad reality to our city but a good opportunity for you, young man.¡±


    Vaen brought out another rectangular piece of paper in form of talisman. ¡°Watch me closely, you will have to mimic me perfectly after I do this.¡± Vaen proceeded to not call Essence around him but within himself to inscribe one rune of ¡®light¡¯ on the talisman.


    His fingers glowing danced on the talisman and when he finished of inscribing the rune, the light emanating from it was blinding. Vaen had to immediately destroy the talisman after finishing to not blind everyone on the High Area. ¡°Now it is your time.¡± He gave the blessed beginner talisman to Roland.


    People cursed in their minds how sudden the light was and how impossible the request Vaen was making to Roland. The category of ¡®light¡¯ runes is hard to even to experienced practitioners of Essence Reinforcement, asking a beginner to do that without even explaining to him the right ratio of force and Essence to use in the talisman not break is too shameless.


    ¡°So I just have to write ¡®light¡¯ in runes? Essence Reinforcement is easier than I thought and quite similar to Equipment Formation.¡± Roland patted Lucy¡¯s head to release the Soul Spirit from her.


    If people were surprised by seeing the white fox spat a floating ball of water, they got stupefied when Roland got enveloped by what seemed a coat of water after touching the Soul Spirit and how Essence created a strong vortex never seen before around Roland.


    ¡°This¡­ impossible!¡± Not only was Vaen was surprised to see such way for gathering Essence, people at another secret room seeing Roland were bewildred and were preparing themselves to make an appearance on the High Area if one person within them didn¡¯t win against them in reaction speed.


    Roland not cared for the commotion and focused on his job, he concentrated his Vital Energy on his hands and the Essence following his actions also concentrated there.


    Holding the talisman in his left hand, he made the Essence wrap around to give it consistency to endure the process in a way similar he does for his equipment, only that he copied how Vaen secretly used his other hand to stabilize the talisman with a strange red energy.


    He continued to mimic Vaen by writing ¡®light¡¯ without touching the talisman but guiding the Essence to inscribe it, the talisman seemed to almost break when so much Essence went to it, however, Roland easily fixed that with careful calibration of his Vital Energy.


    Soon enough the talisman began to shine like a sun on the HIgh Area, it didn''t reach the level of Vaen¡¯s talisman but was strong enough to illuminate all High Area.


    Roland sent the Vital Energy back to the Soul Spirit and cut off the Essence going to the talisman to shut it off.


    ¡°What it enough, Mister Vaen?¡± Roland said.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°It was splendid. How about you coming-¡± Vaen was going to recruit Roland and then give him a reward for helping in the activity of the Major Castle, but a presence coming from beyond the doors of the High Area that he knows too well made him pause and curse. ¡°Wasn¡¯t her a little too quick to snatch him from me? Did the patriarch help?¡± He thought.


    Knocking over the doors, Elizabeth appeared and shouted. ¡°Vaen, some strange people surged and Father said to you come back already to the Elders'' room to also participate on the talk.¡±


    Vaen run over and left the High Area, thinking. ¡°That little queen should be able to convince Roland alone. But is the patriarch really accepting to negotiate with those people? How people change near the death.¡±


    Elizabeth walked to the middle of the High Area, with her fan in hands and a new amulet that looked broken in half with the symbol remaining being black with a white spot at it hanging on her chest.


    Her appearance caused different reactions on the people of the High Area, Shin Tan, for example, looked for a moment lecherously to her bountiful chest before remembering how notorious she is and extinguishing all lust within him and substituting it for vigilance against her.


    Others avoided like a plague and didn¡¯t dare to look at her. A path was opened to her, and her alone to walk. Everyone else shunned away in fear.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if is to me be impressed or sad about her situation.¡± Roland thought, turning to Elizabeth.


    ¡°Good to see you again, Sir Roland. Why didn¡¯t you go to my Father¡¯s birthday? You took too long to come and the party is already done, they are now having a ¡®business¡¯ with strange people.¡± Elizabeth smiled, closing her fan.


    ¡°Elizabeth, I thank you for the invite but I don¡¯t it is right to me, a stranger, intrude into a moment so important to you and your father.¡± Roland said without backing off of her.


    ¡°Bullshit, Father would love to meet you. He is deeply interested on you for various reasons.¡± She said and thought. ¡°Although one of those reasons I hope to you never discover, should I tell him we discovered he went from the fifth layer to the seventh layer of Essence Reformation in one night and that his method earlier of making talismans was something coming from legends?¡±


    ¡°Another time I will meet him then.¡± Roland said courteously, not thinking that would really happen.


    ¡°If you become a member of Master Blacksmith Society it will be easier to you meet him. How about you becoming my one and only follower? It¡¯s a offer you can¡¯t lose, and before you say anything, I know you don¡¯t pertence to Kirin Renascence and won¡¯t go there.¡± Elizabeth with her eyes red as blood shining and a terrible sly smile that shook the people¡¯s mind, said in a enticing manner combined with the natural aggressiveness she emanates.


    ¡°Calm down a little, lady. You¡¯re scaring me a little with how eager you are.¡± Roland thought before saying. ¡°It¡¯s true I¡¯m not from Kirin Renascence, but how do you know I don¡¯t pretend to enter it? I know some people from there.¡±


    ¡°It is simple.¡± Elizabeth touched the ends of his scarf, looking intently to it with a kind smile not befitting her normal self. ¡°These clothes, you by yourself made them and was able to make it at High Mortal tier without being too used to Equipment Formation. I can sense small mistakes that beginners do and your Essence is flowing from it, making easy to identify it as your creation despite you having other clothes equal in appearance.¡±


    Now it was time to Roland really be frightened by Elizabeth and to Lucy finally look at Elizabeth with praise contained in her eyes while thinking. ¡°I like of this girl, only someone that profoundly love Equipment Formation can perceive such small details. I even want to exchange my stupid son for her.¡±


    ¡°So what you say, Sir Roland? Will you become my follower?¡± Elizabeth looked to Roland¡¯s reaction and made her own conclusions. ¡°Oh, could be you don¡¯t know how followers work in Societies? It must be so. If not, you would already accepted my proposal.¡±


    ¡°Please enlighten me.¡± Roland said after calming down. ¡°I was thinking of joining one of the two Societies after the festival, and only intended to search for how to join them in that moment.¡±


    ¡°To enter a Society you need to pass through a small trial of fire made by the founder to you swear fealty to your Society. Inside of the Society, the member and disciples are divided in several castes to instigate competition and evolution. And there is a special caste besides of course, Elder and mine that is of Queen. It is of being a Follower.


    "You receive similar privileges to the one you ¡®follow¡¯ but at a small quantity, so everyone wants to be my Follower since my Caste is only lower than my Father, the Patriarch¡¯s King. And since you want to join a Society, you must join mine because we are the only ones that can help you in your study of Equipment Formation and you won¡¯t feel oppressed there like you would because of that new genius named Shin Tan in the Kirin Renascence. You will live near me and nobody will dare to kill you, even the ones that ambushed you.¡± Elizabeth send the final offer, if Blue Light or Kirin Feast tries to kill again Roland she will exterminate them.


    Roland couldn¡¯t receive a better offer, he had Lucy to teach him so the argument about helping him study doesn¡¯t matter to him but the offer of protection? It¡¯s all he needs and moreover, since she said he will live near her it can only mean one thing, right? ¡°If you let me see your teleportation portal whenever I want, I will immediately join your Society and become your follower.¡± Roland¡¯s eyes shone with the same intensity of when he discovered he could one day build one of the teleportation portals


    ¡°Deal!¡± Elizabeth surprisingly could understand why Roland¡¯s eyes were shining and her own breath came faster, remembering when she also first saw the beauty of teleportation portals. ¡°I see you are a person of culture as well. Let me guess, you also began to study Equipment Formation after seeing the beauty of teleportation portals, right?¡± Elizabeth felt as if she had found a dear lost friend, one that could finally understand her eccentricities and walk the same path of her not mattering how behind he is in comparison to her.


    What her father said earlier today for some reason doesn¡¯t seem so bad to her after she looked to her new amulet.


    Roland clasped her hands without fear, saying to her a title she kind of liked. ¡°My comrade! Since you said ¡®also¡¯ could it mean-¡±


    ¡°Of course it is.¡± Elizabeth tightly held his hand back with fervor, innocence and happiness in her eyes matched with Roland¡¯s own eyes when looking at her. ¡°The love for that eldritch beauty is eternal, transdimensional and beyond the mere concepts of gender.¡± She felt as if she had for the first time a friend in her life.


    ¡°I am sure our relationship will be good and well lasting, my comrade Elizabeth.¡±


    ¡°I too think so, my comrade Roland.¡±


    They shook hands and now they looked to each with a respect they never gave to other person.


    They were no more strangers, disciples of the same Society, Follower and Queen, restaurant¡¯s boss and provider of ingredients, or even friends.


    From this moment, they were undoubtedly best friends!


    ¡°Let¡¯s talk more in another location, those envious eyes of our friendship is starting to annoy me and we can¡¯t continue to standing here in the middle, there are others activities to happen in the High Area.¡± Elizabeth guided Roland to outside of the HIgh Area.


    Roland followed her without questioning her.


    When they left the place was when everyone on the High Area could process and comprehend what happened in their bewildered states.


    Not only Roland at first did what they thought to be impossible, showing his talent at Essence Reinforcement, he became the follower of the notorious Elizabeth that doesn¡¯t even fear the people from Real Existence and suddenly began to talk as if in another language with her in a fervent state.


    Jimmy and Carmen were the most surprised since they knew Roland since he was only at the fourth layer of Essence Formation days ago, and Carmen was lively and at the same time sad her suspicion became true. ¡°What will I do? He went to the other Society, I am in danger now.


    "I don¡¯t want to bet my life on Shin Ta that is similar to Roland in relation to what swindler God said, but that man not only is lecherous, I feel like his future will be bleak if he continues to do ¡®that¡¯ thing to the weak disciples.


    "This is probably my last chance, I need to make Roland come to my side no matter what before the time limit.


    "But how?¡±

 Chapter 11: Searching For a Place to Call Home 8

    ¡°Beautiful, no matter how many times I see it my opinion won¡¯t change. I can¡¯t use any other word to describe it besides beautiful.¡± Elizabeth said looking at the gigantic azure swirling portal at her front that permits to travel to even another region. ¡°This is a portal beyond what I can currently make, this is a masterpiece made by the founder of my, no, our Society.¡±


    ¡°Yes, it is beautiful,¡± Roland said dazed, appreciating the moment with Elizabeth and the illusory flying white beasts around them.


    They were at the top of one of the seven towers of Major Castle which Elizabeth received permission of the mayor to bring Roland here.


    ¡°When you think in all the possibilities that the teleportation portals can bring to us, which one is the first to come to your mind? Mine is to travel beyond the skies and see with my own eyes where the ones that created the Hybrids come from.¡± Elizabeth looked to the clear starry sky.


    ¡°I¡­¡± Roland was about to reveal a private and important part of him to Elizabeth, and only hesitated a little before remembering she was his comrade and friend. ¡°I want to see my father once again, he is another stratum and I can¡¯t travel to there. So when you say which possibilities come to my mind, this is the first one, I want to make a teleportation portal that permits anyone to travel between strata.¡±


    Elizabeth looked over Roland and saw a deep melancholy on his eyes, would she look that when her father goes to the underworld? Just thinking about that, her mood sunk and she shared a sad moment with Roland.


    They passed the time silent, only looking at the portal and enjoying each others¡¯ company.


    ¡°Mother, do you what is happening? This is really strange.¡± August sent to Lucy.


    ¡°I also don¡¯t know, if they loved each other I would say this is something similar to a date but that is clearly not the case. I can¡¯t feel any love between them, there is only respect and fellowship. It surprises me how innocent they can be despite being clearly adults. And Roland¡¯s innocence is even worse, I don¡¯t see all his memories but I know he isn¡¯t virgin, yet he acts so innocently. It¡¯s a mystery I won¡¯t ever understand.¡± Lucy sent back with a sigh.


    ¡°What?! This asshole that is fixated on teleportation portals like an idiot isn¡¯t a virgin? Now, this is something I never thought I would hear.¡±


    Lucy and August continued to discuss, Lucy could try to see Roland¡¯s memories again to discover with who he lost his virginity but he would perceive and that¡¯s private story of him, Lucy didn¡¯t feel so good about doing that without a good reason.


    Someone loudly coughed behind Roland and Elizabeth, interrupting their moment alone.


    ¡°Father.¡± Elizabeth ran over to the small man behind them and hugged him. After doing that she began to giggle while spinning him around like a little girl spinning her teddy bear.


    He was extremely short like a dwarf, elderly man. HIs black eyes darted around while being spun and he shouted. ¡°Put me down girl, you are going to make me puke.¡±


    Elizabeth obeyed him and adjusted the formal attire of him that was a white tunic with a smelting furnace symbol stamped on the right collar, simple black pants, and all in which was covered by a formal red coat with black fur around the edges and also the Lakepoint¡¯s symbol, four river connecting in only one point, on the back.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have met yet, but I know who you are, Roland. And as you have seen my silly girl calling me, I am indeed her father, George Orwell, and patriarch of the Master Blacksmith Society.¡± George after being put down looked like a stern and majestic man because of his powerful presence and Essence belonging to someone that is a Magus Rank 4, his eyes were serious and his back was straight while looking at Roland.


    ¡°Why they don¡¯t have the same surname? Is she like me that has a family coming from matriarchal roots?¡± Roland thought and looked more closely at George to perceive a sad truth without help from his masters.


    George was almost completely bald with only the outer rims of his head containing white hair and had a thick white mustache and white beard that covers his entire chin. But Roland noted a clear aura, energy, around him that the first word to come to his mind was¡­


    Death.


    Roland now understood what the city was talking about the Master Blacksmith Society¡¯s patriarch ¡®whitering¡¯, George was reaching close to the limit he can live as a Magus Rank 4 and effects of this were easily perceptible on his Essence.


    Talking more seriously than normal, Roland showed the due respect to the man that survived for so long and was able to protect the Society he lived, bowing. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet you, Patriarch George.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    George smiled like a kind old man when the neighbor''s small child greets him in the cutest way possible, breaking the stern persona he made to show off his dignification as Patriarch. ¡°Don¡¯t need to be so stiff near me, Roland. You are a member of our family, the Master Blacksmith Society, now, I like to treat every one of our Society like a big family despite having castes which is a tradition I don¡¯t dare or bear to break in my generation.¡±


    ¡°Why did you come here, Father? The reunion with those strange people is already over?¡± Elizabeth asked.


    ¡°Yes, it is over and unfortunately the mayor couldn¡¯t come here with me, she is a busy woman.¡± George turned back to Roland. ¡°Roland, before officially becoming a member I think that Elizabeth already told you but you need to pass a trial of fire to swear fealty to the Society.


    "But the period we search for disciples isn¡¯t still near, however, I can¡¯t have the Follower of my daughter without swearing fealty for too long. So I will use my authority to open the trial of fire earlier for you and any other person that wants to be part of our Society in three days.


    "Please go back to the place where you sleep now to prepare yourself for it. The trial of fire will even be harder for you that is of high age and still in the Essence Reformation. I will send Elizabeth to fetch you when the trial began.¡±


    Roland wanted to talk more with Elizabeth about teleportation portals but knowing he will have others chances to do so, he gave his farewell to her and George and left the tower they were.


    The only problem is that they and Roland forgot he doesn¡¯t know how to navigate himself on Major Castle, he got lost for a long time before the old buttle he met on the entrance found him and saved him.


    Meanwhile Roland was suffering, Elizabeth and George were still on the black tower.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell the truth to him? It¡¯s impossible to him make a teleportation portal to travel between strata, not because he lacks talent or is only at the Essence Reformation, but because the one that rules over Immortal Existence, the final stratum, won¡¯t ever permit it. Giving false hope is the worst thing you can to someone you consider a friend.¡± George said with a frown.


    Elizabeth wasn¡¯t scared of him and answered, puffing up her chest. ¡°Father, let me ask you instead. What did you do when I said I wanted to stop training to focus on my two dreams or when I said I wanted to go beyond the skies? Did you tell it was impossible, rash, imprudent and immature? Or did you support me despite all the elders going against me?¡±


    ¡°I really can¡¯t win against you, I hope that Roland won¡¯t flee from the Society when you show your true colors as an Oppressive Queen.¡± George shrugged and decided to let the young ones deal with their own dreams without intruding them.


    ¡°I¡¯m not that bad.¡± Elizabeth sulked.


    ¡°Says the woman that punched in the face the heir and heiress to the Dynasty in Real Existence.¡± George laughed like he heard the best joke in a long time. ¡°Their pride are completely shattered now.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s change the subject, okay?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s change to Roland then. You that touched his creations, what do you think about his talent to Equipment Formation and Essence Reinforcement?¡±


    ¡°His talent to Equipment Formation is superb and to Essence Reinforcement is even higher, he even knows how to use the God Touch, after all. Never in my life I would thought I would see something similar to what our founder used to create his equipment. Whenever we create equipment Essence spills out from it because it is contaminated with our Energy, but using God Touch it won¡¯t happen. Would Roland teach me how to do that if I asked?¡±


    ¡°Who knows? And it can be the God Touch is only possible to him because of the strange technique he trains. If what your manager told us is right, that night he was attacked he was at the fifth layer of Essence Reformation and at the end of the night he suddenly went to the seventh layer.


    "This training speed rivalize yours, he probably only began to train when really old. So despite his high age his is talent is even higher than of Shin Ta from Kirin Renascence, if we nurture him he will shine brighter than anyone since different from Shin Ta, Roland has talent in two Great Arts.¡±


    ¡°So Roland is your next bet to become the Patriarch in the future after you die? And that¡¯s you gave me this amulet?¡± Elizabeth happiness and light in her eyes faded, she looked indifferently to the amulet without any emotions like a doll, it was as if she wasn''t alive.


    ¡°Ah¡­ my silly girl. Come here, hug your father.¡± George opened his arms and wondered how his daughter will live after he is gone. ¡°She needs another emotional support soon, she is too fragile. When will she ever grow up to learn how to bear the woes the World¡¯s Fate throw at us, humans, as tribulations to improve our ways of living?¡± He thought.


    Elizabeth rushed over, kneeled and hugged stronger than ever her father. ¡°Father! I don¡¯t you to die, please don¡¯t leave me alone. Why must you die? I don¡¯t understand, why would someone give us life just to suffer so much? Is there really nothing I can do to prevent this? Even becoming a Magus Rank 5?¡± Elizabeth¡¯s tears and snot coated George coat, her wails were heartbreaking and the simple make up she put for his birthday got messed up.


    She didn¡¯t care how she looked or if someone sees her in this state laughs at her for being too melodramatic.


    Those are her pure emotions, with the thoughts ¡®why must you die?¡¯ and ¡®where is the way to increase his longevity?¡¯ constantly revolving around in her head, tormenting her.


    ¡°No, my child. There¡¯s nothing you can do, this is just how life is. You must learn how to let go of things, the underworld is calling me and I will accept its call. I lived a good life, became the patriarch of my dear Society and had such a beautiful and talented daughter. What else could I ask for from the World¡¯s Fate?¡± George let Elizabeth cry how much she wants, some things are better to let out than to let it rot and isolate in your heart. ¡°Although if I have something I regret is that I won¡¯t be there to take you to your wedding altar and groom, how I wanted to see you more beautiful than ever in a wedding dress. This is for sure my only regret.¡±


    Elizabeth and George stayed together kneeled until the mayor appeared to see the mess on Elizabeth¡¯s face.

 Chapter 12: Rivals Are Overrated 1

    In a hidden place after Master Blacksmith¡¯s patriarch announcing the date to the next trial of fire to enter his Society, a boy screamed at a big lump made of shadows. ¡°Why must I compete with that man? What he has of special to be worthy of your attention? Sister, did you become blin-¡± His tongue got tied when he remembered she was already literally blind and his words won¡¯t have the effect he wanted. And she got from trash to where she is now after meeting that man, and the boy himself only had his talent appreciated after she came back.


    ¡°Young master from the skies, the man-¡± A burly man with a red mask full of horns tried to talk.


    ¡°Shut up, lower being. Who gave you the right to talk-¡±


    ¡°Little brother.¡± Glazed eyes appeared from the shadow that was acting as a communicator and a soft voice sounded from it, silencing everyone. ¡°If I give you this, is it enough to you become his rival and swear fealty to the Master Blacksmith Society even if I for some reason become their enemies?¡±


    From the shadow appeared two animals, a blackish dog and a parrot with a five-colored plumage.


    The boy grinned, feeling happier than ever for descending to the Lower Existence, now he doesn¡¯t even care if he has to live all his life here and protect Master Blacksmith Society. ¡°More than enough, Sister. If you want to me compete so much with him, I will. But do I have the permission to kill him if necessary?¡±


    ¡°If you want, it¡¯s not me that I will impede you. If he dies there¡¯s no problem. After more than one thousand years when I rule over those stupid assholes, I can go to Samsara and take him from there to live eternally with us. His death now, therefore, won¡¯t change anything in my plans even if he ends up reincarnating in another person, I will just kill him again and pick his soul for me. It¡¯s just a whim of mine to see you competing with him, after all.¡±


    ***


    In an alternate space made by the power of a Superior God, a girl was trembling in fear and crying while she was forced to go to her knees by the power of the ball of light above her.


    ¡°This is will be your last warning, you won¡¯t meet any other true ¡®Protagonists¡¯ of the World¡¯s Fate until you finish your mission. I¡¯m a Superior God of Fertility and Love. You only exist to satisfy my wishes and bring more power to me by doing what I told you to do. If in three months you don¡¯t do those things, you will die.¡±


    The pressure on the girl increased, even more, her head seemed like it was going to burst. ¡°Don¡¯t disappoint me anymore like you disappointed your father and mother with your appearance and intelligence. After all, its all your fault that your father exchanged your mother for ¡®street girls¡¯ and your mother had to sell her body and mind to sustain both of you.


    "And yet, I pitied you and offered you another chance despite you having a record of being suicidal. Just do the ¡®right¡¯ things this time.


    "Descendant of that accursed land full of sins and Godless.¡±


    ***


    People thought Lakepoint would calm down after the festival, but after it the Master Blacksmith Society¡¯s patriarch announced that they are going to recruit earlier than normal, making children, teenagers and adults be filled with determination and hope to enter the Society, changing their lives by receiving their exclusive training techniques.


    George wanted to Elizabeth go fetch Roland on the day of the trial of fire, but what happened was that she discovered where Roland stayed beforehand and went there the day after the festival to talk with him about the God Touch and also, of course, about teleportation portals.


    Roland tried to explain to her how he did the God Touch, enveloping in Vital Energy, but it was hard to put in words the feeling of him pushing away Essence and perfectly controlling it. So Elizabeth said to them try to mix Roland¡¯s training with her training to understand the God Touch.


    He used Equipment Formation to make what Lucy said to him, and Elizabeth observed it and gave some hints to improve his work. They did that until Roland got tired or it was time for Elizabeth go back to her restaurant for all the days before the trial of fire.


    Roland still can only make High Mortal tier equipment but Elizabeth helped him see the light to the Low Earth tier.


    It will still take a while for Elizabeth use God Touch though.


    And after discussing with Elizabeth they decided that she won¡¯t fetch him to the trial of fire and he by himself will go there to not call too much attention.


    Roland differently from people like Shin Tan or Vaen, he doesn¡¯t like of attention or being in the spotlight, after all.


    A shame his efforts were in vain.


    When he reached outside of the red gates from the Society with smelting furnaces inscribed on it, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him with a mix of fear, respect, and envy.


    Roland doesn¡¯t know but his actions of almost barring people from entering the festival, accepting and completing Vaen¡¯s challenge, and being scouted by the notorious Elizabeth herself spread through all Lakepoint.


    He stood out like a sore thumb on the crowd.


    ¡°Why what I want to happen never happens? Is someone besides my masters conspiring against me?¡± Roland thought and patiently waited to the trial of fire begin while a red-haired youngster stared intently at him. And Roland was surprised to see the youngster also having animals with him, a dog and a weird parrot. ¡°So it isn¡¯t that rare to have animals here, after all.¡±


    Lucy and August saw the others animals and couldn¡¯t understand why they seemed so familiar, and yet so distant. They knew the animals were also specials with the power of World¡¯s Fate around them and with Essence of others elements within them, but they couldn¡¯t still understand no matter what the reason to the nostalgia filling them.


    It was as if there were multiple holes in their memory.


    After thirty minutes the gates opened, everyone slowed entered the Society and felt as if being dislocated from their own bodies.


    Roland knew this sensation, it was similar to what he felt when using Elizabeth¡¯s teleportation portal.


    It means the actual Society isn¡¯t in Lakepoint but in another location hidden from their enemies.


    ¡°Welcome, ones that want to enter our family. I will be the one to supervise this trial of fire.¡± Vaen, the middle-aged man with imperial clothes, appeared from thin air at the crowd¡¯s front. ¡°Since you aren¡¯t part yet of the Society, we teleported you directly to the trial of fire. Do you know what this means? It means the trial already started.¡±


    People looked startled and began to search around the place they are to understand better about the trial.


    They were currently surrounded by massive grey stones and walls with vines growing around them, it looked as if they were at an open area of an antique castle.


    ¡°The the main principal rule is that you can¡¯t kill your fellow competitors, we are watching every step of you, so no think you can fool us.¡± Vaen let out a little of his Essence and pressure to intimidate them. ¡°The first stage is simple.


    "We will only test your talents, even if you don¡¯t have the talent for training, if you show a little of talent to any of the four Great Arts, you will be acknowledged to go to the next stage. And before I forget, even if you fail in this stage, there is still a chance of you entering so don¡¯t be too disheartened if your talents are too low.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    This gave more hope to the ones that live in slums or lower parts of Lakepoint, and also was the reason they decided to come to Master Blacksmith Society, although the Society has a system of castes, the discrimination is rare and everyone is treated like family.


    Some say it¡¯s because they focus more on the Great Arts than on personal power, but nobody really knows the reason for the feeling of ¡®family¡¯ exists on the Society.


    ¡°Let¡¯s begin with the talent for training speed and comprehension about the energies we use to dilute and mutate Essence.¡± Vaen clapped and several strange devices with faded out names appeared at the ends of the large open area of the supposed antique castle. ¡°Make rows to the devices and put your hands there, and you will naturally understand the test.¡±


    Time passed as everyone went to the correct places and began their tests.


    After two hours it was finally Roland¡¯s turn and he observed the weird black device, it was black and tall as himself with several demarcations in each faded names, at his front while remembering what happened to the people that touched the device before him.


    Anyone that touched it made the light shine on one of the faded names that were respectively Low Grade, Common, Soldier, Baron, Marquess, Duke, King, Emperor, and Demigod. The better the talent of someone, more it shines and advances on ranking until Demigod. And the talent in the Great Arts also helps to increase the ranking by what the others competitors were saying.


    Until now only appeared the first three rankings and some special people at the fourth rank. Vaen said that anyone at and beyond the third ranking will go to the second stage. Meaning that more than half of the competitors were already eliminated, though Vaen said they still have a chance of entering the Society.


    Roland took a deep breath and touched the weird device.


    And there it came the familiar sensation of being teleported, Elizabeth said to him people normally don¡¯t like about it, but he enjoyed it. It was a sensation wonderful and this just proved more how teleportation portals are amazing.


    ¡°Comprehend and Control Fate.¡± A booming voice sounded and Roland found himself floating in a black space without anything besides of faded white stars.


    Roland as if being manipulated by the strange voice, looked deeply into the stars and saw sinister images, poses, and texts about simple things like how the Energies interact with Essence.


    He felt at ease when seeing them and he automatically moved in accord to the images and said aloud answers to questions he never saw in his life or even in the stars.


    Surprisingly his head felt clearer and he was capable of thinking more deeply about the questions on the Eternal Water Spirit Incantation. ¡°Why is the technique so sure about things like ¡®there is water on the air¡¯ or that blood and ice are just water? For a technique so profound, it wouldn¡¯t commit such mistakes that are against common sense.¡±


    One star light up and hovered at his front.


    ¡°And another strange thing. Vibrations together with solidification and condensation points. Why do I feel they are related? When I think about vibrations, I can only think of tremors and how they go from stillness to full movement¡­ wait, doesn¡¯t water also vibrates from stillness to full movement when I mess with it and make waves? That count as ¡®vibrations¡¯ too?¡±


    Another star light up but this time the color was beige.


    ¡°Could be it isn¡¯t wrong and that my common sense is entering the way I train in the technique? I must make experiments to discover the truth, one of them, for example, would be what happens if I put more blood from me in the Soul Spirit and vibrate it? Would it spread the blood through the Soul Spirit or would it disappear since there¡¯s already blood on there? I am curious since I saw the Soul Spirit shine red on my tribulation.¡±


    Now there were three stars hovering at his front, with the new one being bright green.


    ¡°And would the effects of experiments on water be different from the ones at the Soul Spirit? And¡­ and what? I don¡¯t know more what to think. My head seems it will explode.¡± Roland grabbed his head in pain.


    A fourth star tried to shine but failed, only having a faint blue glow.


    ¡°These stars, does it mean my talent is Soldier Rank?¡± Roland wondered before the previous voice interrupted him.


    ¡°The Tools to Control, The Life to Bend, The Fire to Manipulate and The Death to Dominate. All of them are necessary for the Journey to Destroy The One living on the Immortal Existence.¡±


    Now the Soul Spirit suddenly appeared and Roland screamed in pain as his mind got flooded with thoughts not belonging to him.


    He saw people using Equipment Formation to create what appeared to be a sharp onyx weapon, he saw how they used all kinds of techniques to create only one weapon to rule all over the other weapons and learned from them.


    Roland¡¯s body against his wishes got enveloped by Azure Energy and he instinctively followed the movements and techniques from the people in his mind.


    The fourth star shone in an azure light brighter than any other star.


    ¡°Now is Essence Reinforcement? Is this the test to see the latent for the four Great Arts?¡±


    The sharp onyx weapon was then submerged on an ocean of lights that looking closely, Roland perceived they were actually runes of meanings he never saw in his life but felt like he could easily mimic them if necessary without understanding them.


    The fifth star glew even brighter than its sister star, making the other stars lack in comparison to its powerful purple light.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m not wrong. Why show the competitors how to make such powerful weapon that probably will in some way be used by all Great Arts?¡±


    Roland felt fear seeing a golden fire being used to refine some kind of liquid that was dumped on the onyx weapon, making its edge flare in a mystical fire capable of severing any connection it cuts thanks to the venomous medicine used on it.


    The sixth red star faintly glittered on a red light, its luster was even fainter than the first star but it was shining nonetheless.


    ¡°How¡¯s that possible? Why this weapon exist?¡±


    Roland saw innumerable people suiciding and someone near the weapon made a grasping motion to make several balls of lights that Roland for some reason knew it were souls come from the dead bodies. The souls were put on the weapon and it began to float by itself as if alive, Roland could faintly see an avatar behind the weapon.


    The weapon was complete and it was alive!


    A seventh star shone in a color Roland thought it was impossible to exist, it was a black glow.


    And it wasn¡¯t the end of it, a eighth star tried to shine but failed, only being possible to see faint glows of a brown light.


    ¡°Age: 22. Name: Roland. Surname: Not worthy of having one. Best Talent: Soul Tampering¡¯s Darkness and Essence Reinforcement¡¯s Space. Rank: Quasi Emperor.¡± The voice shouted and Roland felt being take away to the place he was before.


    ¡°Verdict: You aren¡¯t worthy! Begone, Copy! You aren¡¯t our Savior, The All-Powerful Destroyer!¡±


    Those were the last words Roland heard from the voice, his mind was full of questions about the weapon and the words about what the voice called of its savior.


    But it won¡¯t be now that his questions will be answered because the last words of the voice disappeared from his mind on the moment his feet touched the place he was before.


    ¡°Am I forgetting something? Probably not¡­¡± He thought and looked around to see that people weren''t surprised with his result with the name ¡®Emperor¡¯ shining and fading of his device.


    Everyone was instead staring with their mouths hanging open and wide eyed to the young boy with a dog and a five-colored parrot Roland saw earlier, his ranking was actually, ¡°Quasi-Demigod!¡±


    They knew that until know only the notorious Elizabeth Eden had a perfect Demigod ranking and now appeared someone with a ranking tailing right behind her, how could not the people be astounded by that? It was the rise of another peerless genius to the Master Blacksmith Society.


    In contrast to that, what was Roland¡¯s ranking of Quasi-Emperor?


    It was nothing in their opinions, although some higher ups of the Society would disagree with that because George, Vaen and others old elders were looking more passionately to Roland because they knew now what were his talents, how the fourth star shone brightly, and they knew Roland¡¯s true high age.


    Making him reach Quasi-Emperor being already adult more impressive than anything.


    A genius like the young boy will, of course, be appreciated but they already have Elizabeth as a comparison so their enthusiasm to him is not that big. His talent for Equipment Formation is low and Elizabeth¡¯s training speed was more than ten times his.


    Meanwhile, they were certain because the mayor, a renowned seer, used her powers without anyone noticing to perfectly discern that Roland really only began to train some weeks ago and was moreover, able to use God Touch with great talents for their prefered Great Arts, Equipment Formation and Essence Reinforcement. And Roland had another function of being the first Follower of Elizabeth, making him the only chance they have of forcing Elizabeth to train again.


    So to them, Roland was more valuable and important than the young boy despite that the public opinion will focus in him more than Roland.


    And that made Roland happy. ¡°Thank you World¡¯s Fate. I was worrying people would never let me in peace if my result was the highest. And also thank you, young boy. You are my savior, you are really a nice guy for taking all the attention to you. Your sacrifice won¡¯t be in vain, I will be certain to live in peace in your stead.¡± Roland felt like bowing to the selfless sacrifice of the soon to be his new friend, the red-haired young boy.

 Chapter 13: Rivals Are Overrated 2

    People on the test whispered to each other as the test was ending and disqualified people were being kicked out.


    ¡°Did the match for that Elizabeth finally appear?¡±


    ¡°What was his name?¡±


    ¡°Oliver Vaikuntha, and only being twelve years old he is already at the peak of the tenth layer of Essence Reinforcement. He can become a Magus Rank 1 at any moment.¡±


    Roland was happy everyone was ignoring him until he heard the name of the young boy and his eyes narrowed with profound anger, and he did his best to extinguish it before his master perceive it. ¡°He can¡¯t be related to her, right? But what are the chances of someone with a surname so strange be not related to her?¡± He thought and after convincing himself that was impossible to that aberration of nature be related to his saviour, he sat down to wait for the second stage.


    Roland thought he had hidden well his anger but someone at his side found it different. ¡°It¡¯s frustrating, isn¡¯t it? Your results were so impressive, yet nobody is paying attention to you. You mustn''t be lucky, buddy. But don¡¯t fret, I paid attention to you and I know how amazing you are.¡±


    At Roland¡¯s side, there was a teenager girl a little older than Shin Ta, she had long light green hair reaching her waist and similar coloured alluring eyes. Her face made Roland feel familiarity, it wasn¡¯t beautiful and also wasn''t ugly, although it was for sure uglier than the average face that Carmen had in his opinion.


    So probably this girl suffers more about her appearance than Carmen, since her face is worse and she was also a little chubby in her white clothes that made easier to one perceive her weight and ugliness.


    This made one question her sanity and fashion sense, and also the reason to have an out of place golden bracelet above her clothes at the middle of her arm.


    ¡°Sorry, but have I meet you before? Your eyes and face look familiar to me.¡± Roland accidentally ignored what the girl said earlier because of how similar she was to Carmen, she even had the same eyes.


    ¡°O-Of course not. I-I¡¯m Carmen Cockaigne and I¡¯ve never met you before.¡± Carmen stammered in panic, visibly shaking and making Lucy and August discover her identity.


    ¡°Carmen? How strange, I have a friend that is also called Carmen and she is really similar to you.¡± Roland looked quizzically at her.


    ¡°I-It is just a coincidence, Carmen isn¡¯t a name that uncommon, after all. And this Carmen you know, I doubt she has a strange surname like mine. How old is she? I¡¯m already sixteen, this girl you know couldn¡¯t be also sixteen, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s true. And the Carmen I know is fifteen years old. Also, there is no way she from the Kirin Renascence Society could be here. Sorry for the misunderstanding.¡±


    ¡°No problem, it¡¯s fine.¡± Carmen nervously laughed and thought. ¡°Damn, I got too nervous because he was too close to me that I revealed to him my true name that no even my grandpa know and almost screw up everything.¡±


    ¡°This look fun, so let¡¯s stay quiet. This girl seems for some reason also capable of reading now the flow from the World¡¯s Fate.¡± Lucy sent to August.


    ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t introduce myself yet. My name is Roland, Carmen.¡± Roland touched his chin in thought. ¡°It¡¯s really strange to call her Carmen, do other people that also know people with the same name feel in this way?¡±


    ¡°So like I was saying earlier, you are really amazing, Roland. And yet nobody is paying attention to you. Your rank was Quasi Emperor while mine was only Baron.¡± Carmen tried to bootlick him, she knows that the best way to get in a good light in someone is to praise them while making yourself lower.


    ¡°So what¡¯s your ulterior motive to talk with me? Tell me now if not I will ignore you.¡± Roland mercilessly said, perceiving how she was able to spot him in the confusion of Oliver¡¯s talent being revealed and her bad bootlicking that is comparable to August¡¯s acting.


    Roland wasn¡¯t smart enough to discover her identity but when her acting made him remember of August, it was easy to him pick clues about her strange actions of talking with him just after he sat down and always commenting how she paid attention to him despite the number of people in the trial of fire.


    ¡°Fuck you, God. It was supposed to me be lucky, why everything that I do get messed up?¡± She thought and said. ¡°I think its better to me be honest with you.¡± She exhaustively sighed. ¡°I¡¯m actually in love with you. It was love at first sight and-¡±


    ¡°Okay, you are going to be ignored now.¡± Roland closed his eyes, even a baby can see how Carmen is lying.


    ¡°Wait, wait, wait. Let me finish.¡± Carmen quickly said while cursing in her mind her stupid idea, she thought he would at least let his guard down after being confessed but he didn¡¯t even bat an eye at her confession. ¡°Like I was saying, it was love at first sight but I know how ugly and fat I am, so I didn¡¯t have hopes of you liking me, however, this couldn¡¯t stop me of paying attention to you. It was then that after my test quickly ended at rank Baron, I saw your ranking.


    "I thought of it as my only chance to live a proper life in the Society without being bullied by my looks, if I become friends with you, someone talented despite being old, nobody will talk bad about me and I will have a chance of finally living my life without being judged or tormented. Do you know how bad is to be ignored through all your life by your loved ones just because of your low talent and ugly look? It is insufferable and after some time you just wish you were dead.¡±


    Roland was finally able to feel sincerity and pain from Carmen¡¯s eyes and actions, if she was capable of feigning such pure and raw emotions then she deserved an award and Roland will have to help her anyways in respect.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Although considering her appearance, what she is saying is probably true, this isn¡¯t a world that looked kindly on the untalented and different from the norm. Roland knew well about that since the days he lived on the slums and the looks of scorn of the people he begged for money when younger.


    But there was still a question lingering in his mind. ¡°Why me though? If you want to someone protect and serve as a foil to you, why didn¡¯t you try talking with Oliver? His talent is bigger than mine.¡±


    A false blush appeared on Carmen¡¯s face. ¡°I-It¡¯s because you are my first love and I had faint hopes that maybe you would begin to love me after you pass enough time with me.¡±


    ¡°And the true motive? You have three seconds.¡± Roland was getting a headache while dealing with this girl that thinks she is too good at hiding her feelings.


    ¡°Because I am at the eighth layer of the Essence Reformation and Oliver is at the tenth layer. Those kinds of arrogant pricks won¡¯t care about people weaker than them, so it¡¯s useless to talk with them. In the other hand, you that is at the seventh layer will at least talk with me and since you are older than me there is a chance you will feel pity of my teenager¡¯s problems and help me.¡± Carmen indifferently said, if she was the ¡®Carmen¡¯ from this world those would be her true motives but since she isn¡¯t, she has another ulterior motive she can¡¯t talk to Roland.


    ¡°Good enough for me.¡± Roland gave up on understanding the weird girl. ¡°Fine, I will be your friend. It¡¯s already set to me live near Elizabeth, the patriarch¡¯s daughter, so if you met some problem just come to ask me for help.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious? You are accepting becoming my friend after I told you all of this?¡± Carmen sounded genuinely happy and even stupidly smiled while sitting near Roland. ¡°This guy is so nice, so much better than Shin Ta. Now doing that to my survival doesn¡¯t sound that bad¡­ why for a second I just thought I was thinking like a bitch and happy about this situation? This must be only my imagination. I¡¯m different from those street girls that stole Father from my family.¡± She thought, tilting her head to the sides while getting close to Roland.


    ¡°The second test will begin now, the ones that passed please go to the black door with designs of dragons at the north and the ones that failed go to the door with designs of birds at the south,¡± Vaen shouted.


    Only thirty percent of the people that came passed and the majority was only rank Soldier. The only special ones were a group of seven people that got rank Marquess, Roland with his rank Quasi Emperor, and of course, the new genius, Oliver, that got rank Quasi Demigod.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, it will be good for you if you since now already began to act like my friend.¡± Roland stood up and motioned for Carmen to follow him by helping her stand up.


    Carmen nodded and obeyed him, walking together with him to the black door and being surprised by what appeared at her front after passing through the door.


    The people that passed were now at a location out of place in what they supposed was an antique castle, around them they saw mountains, boulders and faint vegetation.


    ¡°The second stage will decide your position in the caste in our Society. You can receive any caste, even of Crown Prince or Crown Princess if you do this stage well enough. The only caste you can¡¯t get is that of Followers which only depends on the elders of the Society.¡±


    Vaen said and from underneath him, a big black slab appeared full of symbols of smelting furnaces and a myriad of other tools and equipment. ¡°This is the final stage where you swear fealty to our Society but the spirit of our founder is sometimes whimsical and can ask you to do things like fighting before the ceremony, so this is the reason we have the rule of not killing.¡±


    Vaen proceeded to call one by one the people that passed the first stage to touch the slab.


    They would touch the slab and if they had luck, the slab would nothing besides shooting a red light on their bodies to mark their loyalty and saying their caste to Vaen give the person the robe from the Society.


    Sometimes the slab would ask for them gather materials on the middle of the mountains around them and other times it would ask them to demonstrate the techniques they learnt before entering the Society.


    Nothing of really special happened until now, with only three fights happening and no casualty on them.


    ¡°Green haired girl, it¡¯s your turn.¡± Vaen pointed to Carmen.


    Carmen nervously went to the slab, constantly looking at her golden bracelet at her arm.


    Vaen noted this and looked to the bracelet, he tried his best and didn¡¯t see anything of special on it, it was just a normal bracelet you can buy at the market.


    She tapped her finger on the air in a way nobody could understand what the weird girl was doing before touching the slab, and the founder¡¯s booming voice sounded. ¡°You¡¯re a Peasant, only with luck would you ever get out of this caste.¡± The red light entered Carmen, signifying her pledge to never betray the Master Blacksmith Society.


    Carmen gave a sigh of relief when the founder didn¡¯t make her do anything just as she planned and accepted the official vestment from Vaen that could, thanks to two runes on it, adapt to the wearer.


    Vaen then called Roland since he was close to the Carmen.


    Roland hoped the founder wouldn¡¯t make him do anything hard but as always his hopes got thrashed. ¡°You caste is undefined, fight to prove your worth.¡± A silver streak of light connected him to the slab and another went to the crowd to chose his opponent.


    This already happened when another person fought and Vaen explained that the founder chose people of similar strength, and when one of the fighters receives enough damage the silver streak of light will be broken to prove the person lost.


    And with Roland¡¯s luck, it wasn¡¯t a surprise to him that the silver streak of light connected to Oliver Vaikuntha, the young genius with rank Quasi Demigod.


    Oliver confidently walked out of the crowd with a happy smile stamped on his young face, he was just twelve years old and his presence was frightening. His long red hair seemed to fly behind him and his piercing amber eyes bore a hole in Roland¡¯s confidence of defeating someone at the tenth layer of Essence Reformation.


    HIs oval face seemed innocent but it was just a mask to his overbearing arrogance and contempt to all life forms under the skies from where he came from. He couldn¡¯t be happier than he was now, he would fight the one that permitted him to have the dog and parrot, and show to him his superiority.


    Roland was just going to forfeit and feign to fight after letting down his masters just as Oliver did before walking out of the crowd when Oliver summoned from thin air a sword made of a golden fire that made Roland''s heart go cold in anger.


    The feeling of oppression, the constant flickering of the flames, the fear reaching him and Oliver having that surname made him confront a truth he didn¡¯t want face.


    Those flames and fire sword were exactly equal to that monster which killed his grandfather.


    Roland coldly said with Qi appearing around him being fueled by his hatred but not corrupting his brain since the tribulation was already over. ¡°What¡¯s your relationship with that aberration of nature, Victoria Vaikuntha? Is she here on Lakepoint?¡±

 Chapter 14: Rivals are Overrated 3

    Oliver laughed in derision. ¡°If you win maybe I will feel more compelled to answer you.¡± He slashed with his sword at his front and from it came a sea of fire chasing Roland.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± Information about Victoria made Roland lose any kind of scruple to fight a child of twelve years without trying the diplomatic route first.


    The Soul Spirit was ejected from Lucy¡¯s mouth and went to him, Roland got good enough in controlling Vital Energy because of his study in Equipment Formation that he didn¡¯t even need to make the Soul Spirit absorb Essence around him to protect him in a cocoon.


    Roland touched the Soul Spirit and enveloped himself with azure Vital Energy like when he makes equipment, being able to protect himself from the flames and its after-effects.


    Roland dashed towards Oliver while the young boy thought. ¡°A water Soul Spirit? So this is why she gave me them but it seems he is still only in the first tier, I have the advantage here in element and control.¡±


    Oliver took out a purple cube made of electricity from a ring similar to what Elizabeth had and was able to store items. The cube crackled with intense power and intensity, making Roland widen his eyes when Oliver ate the cube.


    Oliver¡¯s body grew up making him look like a proper teenager with his clothes shining with runes of adaptability and his body was filled with purple electricity that gushed out of him. ¡°True Way of the Sword: Nandaka Avatar.¡± The electricity flowed through him and entered his sword, making it surge with the mixed power of the golden fire and purple electricity in a perfect balance.


    Roland reached Oliver and punched at him with his body encrusted with Qi and Vital Energy.


    To set up his power took a long time so all that Oliver could do was use the sword to protect himself.


    The fist and sword connected, occurring an explosion between them with Roland and Oliver being thrown back by the power of their techniques.


    Oliver had the upper hand and wasn¡¯t too much damaged so he advanced at Roland.


    Roland saw Oliver coming and without any fear he began to fight bare-handed against Oliver.


    The Vital Energy and Qi gradually were being worn out and destroyed by the sword attacks. With Roland attacking like a madman not caring about his injuries of the sword, he even got a gash on his left hand when he held the lightning-fire sword in his hands to deliver a powerful kick at Oliver that used his Essence to protect himself to only vomit some black blood from his intern injuries.


    Roland''s ferocity and tenacity were the reason he was until now being able to fight in an equal stand to a genius at the tenth layer while he is only at the seventh layer.


    The Soul Spirit didn¡¯t stop of throwing small balls of water at Oliver to distract him and also making large water spears that tried to pierce its master¡¯s enemy to no avail.


    Oliver seemed to know the attack patterns of a first tier Soul Spirit and was able to evade all of them, showing his mastery over his own body and fighting instincts.


    Roland got more daring and powerful as time passed with the percentage of his Timeless Emperor Refinement increasing at each moment with the adrenaline of the fight and anger against Victoria.


    95%...


    Oliver shouted as lightning and fire went after Roland, burning and electrocuting the adult man that eventually lost the protection of the Vital Energy and leftover Qi.


    98%...


    Roland roared as he ignored the pain in his body and continued towards Oliver to deliver the blow to end the stalemate they were.


    99%...


    Oliver was wide-eyed seeing such crazy person able to ignore the lightning of Vajra and fire of Agni despite them being the much weaker versions of the real ones, and received a headbutt of Roland.


    Oliver staggered and was open to any attack.


    100%.


    Roland¡¯s body was completely reformed and achieved a new quality, he reneged on his mortality and became something else. His eyes went blank and his body began to fall over without any life within him.


    But suddenly life back to him with all his members and organs adapted to his new existence, even his brain adapted.


    He stomped the ground, creating a crater as power came to his right arm that punched Oliver on his face and made the younger man fly several meters on the hair.


    Now both Oliver and Roland¡¯s silver streak of light were trembling in the verge of snapping, the next attack will probably decide the match and both of them knew it.


    The people watching the battle finally had time to properly breathe when Oliver was trying to stand up and Roland was resting. This battle had gone beyond their wild fantasies and were excited about it, however, no one was more excited about it than Carmen that had her green eyes shining while staying exactly behind Roland to see him better.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Am I going to lose here? To a lower being from the Lower Existence? No¡­ I refuse this! It¡¯s time to prove I am the real genius and to show the results of having been in contact with sister¡¯s animals. I am going to win!¡± Oliver thought and after standing up, he lifted up his lightning-fire sword to the skies, saying. ¡°It¡¯s true you are strong, Roland. But there will be always someone above you and that one is me!¡±


    Oliver¡¯s Essence and Energy from his technique surged and concentrated behind him, making a mini-whirlpool be created with the Polus inside of his body throbbing while providing all the Essence kept on all its layers.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ is he trying to reach Magic Foundation, Magus Rank 1, in the middle of the fight?¡± People exclaimed and almost everyone got away from Roland knowing that if Oliver succeeds he will send his ultimate attack at Roland.


    But Carmen seeing Oliver¡¯s display of power, got paralyzed on fear and fell on the ground shaking, no even the snake that Roland saved her from gave her this much of fear. It was because her sensibility to Essence was higher than anyone and she was also capable of seeing the flow of the World¡¯s Fate, and how it gathered around Oliver, making another layer of fear be felt by her.


    Those extra features and abilities she has will be this time her downfall.


    ¡°Magic Circle, form for me. I¡¯m your master and creator.¡± Oliver shouted as the mini-whirlpool began to take form without Roland being to do anything, the Essence around Oliver was too strong and any attack from the Soul Spirit made was useless.


    The first Magic Circle is how people right away recognize a Magus, the only people in the world that are capable of using Essence to attack someone in form of abilities, Spells, and directly absorb Essence without diluting with Energies on their bodies.


    There were various types of Magic Circles that determined how well will someone train in the Magic Foundation realm and also the power of their Spells, normally is based on the element the person trained or their talents on one Art.


    Oliver¡¯s mini-whirlpool transformed into a floating golden circle in form of a ring behind him, but it wasn¡¯t over. The golden ring began to mutate and now two colors, purple and red, appeared on it to divide the space occupied by the golden color while innumerable runes and pills were inscribed on the floating ring, giving it a majestic presence.


    His Magic Circle was the rarest Heaven Golden Ring, it was the best Magic Circle someone could get and moreover, it was mutated by his elements.


    ¡°Roland, behold. This is the difference between me and you.¡± Oliver smugly said with power concentrating once again in his lightning-fire sword. ¡°Take my ultimate Spell, Vishnu¡¯s Nandaka Incarnation!¡±


    The floating ring behind Oliver shone as it morphed into a terrifying representation of an avatar of a being with four arms, blue skin, and golden clothes. It raised its upper right arm in the same way Oliver is raising its lightning fire sword and dropped it down at the same time Oliver did the same.


    The result from Oliver¡¯s Spell was an enormously powerful beam of light made of purple lightning and golden fire going after Roland while it destroyed everything on its way, even the ground.


    Roland wasn¡¯t sure he would survive even with his body reformed at such powerful Spell from a Magus Rank 1 while being only at the seventh layer of Essence Reformation. Vaen also thought the same but was too far away to stop Oliver and wouldn¡¯t be quick enough to save Roland.


    Roland almost began to move to evade the attack when in a split of second his head turned, he was able to see a fallen crying green-haired girl, Carmen, directly behind him, she looked so scared and frail that would be impossible to her escape the attack or even put any defense to protect herself if Roland got away from the Spell.


    What would Roland do? He can only do one thing, or he escapes the Spell and tries to still win to receive information about Victoria, or he uses his own body to protect Carmen. There wasn¡¯t time to the perfect third option where he picks Carmen and escapes the attack.


    What was more important to him? Information about the monster that betrayed him and killed his grandfather or the life of a weird girl that he self-claimed his friend and said he would protect her?


    He had less than a second to decide and any hesitation will make him lost everything.


    ¡°Victoria! I hate you!¡± Roland shouted using his hatred to make the maximum quantity of Qi to appear around him.


    The answer was clear and easy.


    Of course, he will protect Carmen!


    What kind of being will he become if he betrays like Victoria the ones he claimed to be his friend?


    Unfortunately, the Soul Spirit won¡¯t have time enough to gather Essence to protect him like it did with the ambushers days ago, so he sent it to this bag and braced himself for the impact. Completely covering Carmen with his body and pushing his Qi to the limits to reinforce his body.


    Roland felt his body getting torn out and burnt when an explosion sounded and his silver streak of light disappearing to show his loss.


    Smoke filled the entire location and Roland went unconscious in pain after feeling his body getting electrocuted, cut and burnt more than one thousand times.


    Vaen cleared the space from the smoke and anxiously went after Roland to see he was still alive.


    There he saw a mangled and burnt body covering a girl that had her eyes completely widened while crying and desperately shaking Roland¡¯s body, she was mostly unharmed with only some minor wounds thanks to Roland¡¯s decision to protect his friend.


    ¡°Roland! Roland, please don¡¯t die. Wake up, please. Don¡¯t do this, you can¡¯t die because of someone like me. Please!¡± No matter what she did, Roland didn¡¯t wake up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for lying at you, please wake up and I will tell you the truth.¡±


    Everyone besides Carmen was dead silent, still now no believing how this spar developed into this amazing battle and how the adult man knowing the risks of using his own body to protect the stupid weak girl that didn¡¯t escape when Oliver began to advance to the next realm.


    And the young boy was the most bitter about this situation, it was supposed to him win fair and square, showing his superiority to Roland and to his sister that is probably watching all this. But what happened? Roland forwent the chance of maybe winning against him to only save a talentless girl. ¡°Damn, why don¡¯t I feel satisfied? This isn¡¯t the ending I envisioned.¡± He said, cursing at Roland and the girl that destroyed his plans while touching the slab to have all this finished already.


    Vaen was going to see if Roland was still alive when a red streak of light went to Roland and entered his body marking his loyalty to the Society, and also demonstrating he was still alive to the relief of everyone.


    The founder¡¯s voice sounded. ¡°Caste defined. You¡¯re the Tenth Prince. This is your peak and you shouldn¡¯t yearn for more.¡±


    Another streak of light came and entered Oliver¡¯s body. ¡°Your caste is Crown Prince. Congratulations on becoming the second most talented person in the Society. Becoming the King isn¡¯t impossible for you if you give up on your useless pride.¡±

 Chapter 15: Rivals Are Overrated 4

    Roland opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.


    ¡°Is this becoming an annoying pattern? Why always that I go unconscious this happens?¡± He thought.


    ¡°You have finally woken up, sleepyhead,¡± Lucy said.


    ¡°Now it is certain this a recurrent pattern with this d¨¦j¨¤ vu I¡¯m feeling.¡± Roland thought and said with his body still tired from the fight against Oliver. ¡°How much time have I been sleeping?¡±


    ¡°Just eighteen hours, now its already time to the sunrise.¡± August resting on a comfortable cushion said. ¡°That girl is needlessly making breakfast to you since we said you would wake up by this hour.¡±


    ¡°That girl? And where I am? Can you guys explain to me what happened after I went unconscious?¡±


    After Roland went unconscious everyone was worried about his safety, principally Vaen that felt guilty of being incapable of saving him and George that still had plans for him after his splendid performance of having the winning hand against a genius three layers above him.


    It was then that Carmen began to frantically tap her fingers on the air with a crazy expression before chanting in a language nobody on the trial of fire ever heard.


    From her body came a relaxing and pleasant green energy that when touched Roland¡¯s body it began to heal him. It looked as if it made Roland¡¯s body come back in time with his burnt hair growing back and almost all of his injuries being made non-existent.


    Unfortunately, Carmen also went unconscious after using this strange power and fell on Roland¡¯s body.


    Oliver that was the cause of it wasn¡¯t punished since everything worked fine and it wasn¡¯t his fault that Carmen stayed immobile, and he was officially made the Crown Prince of the Society. He had to him one of the biggest houses and could take two Followers, and had access to the best techniques and resources the Society could offer to him.


    Meanwhile, Roland was made one of the ten minor Princes and Princess that have the rights to houses big enough to accommodate people they like and access to many things, not as many as a Crown Prince though. But if he wanted he didn¡¯t even need to use the official garment of the Society. And since it was already discussed to him be a Follower of Elizabeth, a Queen, they gave him the best mansion near to the enormous castle that is Elizabeth¡¯s home.


    As Roland wasn¡¯t at risk of losing his life, they dumped him on his new mansion together with Carmen that was also unconscious and the reason for his injuries and healing.


    ¡°I need to get stronger to have an opportunity of fighting Oliver again and receiving information about Victoria,¡± Roland said. ¡°But I am happy that Carmen is fine.¡±


    Roland observed his new home, because it was from the Master Blacksmith Society everything was black or red like Elizabeth¡¯s room.


    He had a nice comfortable bed he is laying down and his room was full of things, it had big mirrors, windows to the outside to see the sunrise,  wooden wardrobes, embellished tables and a beautiful door with symbols of smelting furnaces.


    Lucy told Roland that his mansion was just as impressive on the outside being big enough to be comparable to three houses, and had many guest rooms, bathrooms, open spaces and special places to train and study the Arts.


    ¡°But you recovered so quick not only because of Carmen, your body is now not more mortal. Look at your hands that you used several times to hold a lightning-fire sword, no even Carmen¡¯s strange powers healed them.¡± August said. ¡°Your next objective now is the second tier, Inner Body Recasted, which you use life force or attacks from someone to completely adapt your body to any situation possible. In the peak, the normal fire won¡¯t hurt you more.


    "Before you become a Magus Rank 1 I will teach you a Spell to demonstrate to you the power of your new body that can be considered a new physique, the Asura Body.¡±


    Roland looked at his hands and saw the gashes on it being slowly stitched because of the natural regeneration of his new body.


    The door to his room opened and from it came a crying Carmen that jumped on Roland. ¡°Roland, you are awake! I was so worried.¡± She hugged him and sprayed her snoot on his naked chest.


    ¡°Carmen, I thank you for healing me but right now I want some privacy and also to you to stop crying on me, your snoot isn¡¯t what I call of ¡®clean and enjoyable¡¯.¡± Roland pushed her out of his bed.


    Carmen looked at Roland and perceived he was completely naked because his clothes burned in Oliver¡¯s attack, he will later make another set but right now it wasn¡¯t possible.


    She felt no shame in seeing Roland¡¯s body after noticing his state and tried to see his ¡®equipment¡¯.


    ¡°Carmen, are all the girls at your age so shameless now? When I was younger things weren¡¯t in this way.¡± Roland sighed, standing up from the bed naked and throwing Carmen out of his room. ¡°I need to take a shower because of you and change to new clothes, don¡¯t disturb me until I left the room.¡±


    Roland closed the door and heard Carmen¡¯s serious voice beyond it. ¡°Hey, Roland. Why did you save me? You hadn¡¯t any reason to do so and if you evaded the attack there was still a chance of you winning and receiving information about this ¡®Victoria¡¯ you are searching.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Are you timid for only asking this after not seeing my face anymore?¡± Roland teased before honestly saying. ¡°I saved you for two simple reasons, the first one is that I don¡¯t want to become like Victoria that betrays the others and information for my vengeance doesn¡¯t compare to the value of one life. The second one is because I said you were my friend and that I would protect you.¡±


    ¡°Even though I am lying to you about at least two things?¡± Carmen meekly asked with tears falling down of her cheeks once again. She never met someone that would something like that for her, Jimmy was a scaredy cat and too clumsy to help her in her plights. To her it felt it was the first time that someone wanted her to be alive despite knowing her faults, her past mother and father only screamed to her how it would be good if she never was born or to her commit suicide.


    They really liked to exaggerate in her honest opinion.


    ¡°I thought it was only one but yes even if you are lying to me I will consider you my friend until you betray me.¡± Roland awkwardly laughed. ¡°I think I have a magnet on me that makes the majority of people I know to initially lie to me about their identities and motives, so don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m used to it.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to know the truth? I don¡¯t think right now I have the right to be your friend if I continue hiding from you. Not after you what you did for me.¡± Carmen unhesitantly tapped her fingers on the air to ¡®buy¡¯ the right for telling Roland the truth.


    ¡°Only if you want, I won¡¯t force you.¡±


    ¡°I will tell you, go to the kitchen after you finish of bathing.¡± Carmen began to walk with her head held up, she never really trusted on someone, be it her grandpa in this world or the clumsy Jimmy, and now it was time to change it.


    For how long will she continue living in a web of lies? If she doesn¡¯t tell Roland today, who will she tell? Roland used his own body to protect her and that image when she was in despair was still engraved in her mind.


    Roland nodded and was turning around when he suddenly shouted in fear, reminding of the horrible experience in the Major Castle when he got lost until the old butler appeared to save him. ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t go, I don¡¯t know how to go to the kitchen. I will be lost.¡±


    ¡°But your masters know the way, they went there with me when we were exploring the mansion. I¡¯m going now.¡±


    Roland looked to Lucy and August, full of questions in his face. He didn¡¯t care for them revealing their relationship or that they could talk but he thought they were against revealing information to someone that isn¡¯t him.


    ¡°What can I say? I liked her because of how she healed you, can read the flow of World¡¯s Fate and because-¡± Lucy tried to talk.


    ¡°She is ugly as you when you were younger before meeting Father.¡± August interrupted with a smirk on his face.


    ¡°It seems someone lost the fear after I diminished my interactions for you, little shit, just because of it is harder to someone like you have chances of bonding with Roland.¡± Lucy¡¯s fur stood up and she menacingly walked up to August. ¡°I have to teach you once again why you shouldn¡¯t ever disrespect your Mother.¡±


    ¡°Wait, Mother. We can talk about this, it was just a joke. Come on, don¡¯t need to be so self-conscious about your appearance when you were in the streets.¡± August slowly backed up from the cushion he was, in complete fear, dread and horror.


    ¡°He is fucked up, isn¡¯t he?¡± Roland ignored his masters and went to the bathroom to take a shower with the background sounds of August¡¯s forlorn cries.


    ***


    Roland and Carmen finished eating the breakfast she did with food Roland wondered where it came from, the food wasn¡¯t good but wasn''t bad either, it was just like her, average.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ from where should I begin? We have some time before it¡¯s time to leave the mansion to present ourselves to the high elder responsible to show us the Society.¡± Carmen tilted her head. ¡°I think it''s better to clear my identity first. Roland, I¡¯m the Carmen you knew in the jungle and the one you met at the Autumn Festival.¡±


    ¡°But your age and appearance are different?¡± Roland was surprised but not by much, they had the same name, after all.


    ¡°My birthday was yesterday so I''m now sixteen years old and this is actually my true appearance. Not the one you met.¡± She pointed to her long green hair and face. ¡°I painted my hair to try to make me look cute and also used a lot of makeup to me not look as ugly I am right now. So nobody even thinks I¡¯m that Carmen.¡±


    ¡°You aren¡¯t ugly.¡± Roland honestly said.


    ¡°So am I beautiful?¡± She sarcastically said.


    ¡°No, of course you aren¡¯t beautiful. Your face is just average and you should stop eating too much since it is bad for your health.¡±


    ¡°...Roland, you will be a terrible husband to the person you marry. Girls don¡¯t like of men that tell the truth about their looks, they want to their husbands always praise them and say they are the most beautiful women in the world.¡± Carmen sighed, yet feeling refreshed by receiving a pure honest opinion without any malicious thoughts behind it.


    ¡°Why should I lie to my wife about her appearance? It makes no sense.¡± He shook his head. ¡°Marriage should be about acceptance of the flaws of the two parts and love for the other part despite and because of the flaws they have. If I lie about her appearance to make her feel better about herself, so I¡¯m not accepting she is ugly, I¡¯m just trying to ignore it and forget about her flaws.¡±


    ¡°Wow, I got an answer more serious than I was thinking I would get.¡±


    ¡°And appearance is a matter too subjective and useless to make someone initiate a serious relationship with anyone, after all. At least in my opinion. I don¡¯t know how other people think though, maybe they only select their partners based on appearances and wealth. The only other person I discussed this was my Father and he shared my opinion.¡±


    Carmen didn¡¯t know what to do, suddenly the conversation¡¯s subject became too serious and different from how she learned in her homeland to intervene. She liked of everything Roland said, she couldn¡¯t say it aloud though. It would be too much obvious what she is implying when she begin to agree with him since she is ugly.


    ¡°Oh, sorry. The matter got sidetracked, didn¡¯t it? Continue with the explanation about what you were saying to me.¡± Roland said when he perceived Carmen silent.


    She coughed to hide her embarrassment and said. ¡°Like I was saying, I¡¯m the Carmen from Kirin Renascence. I left my previous Society and said to Jimmy and my grandfather cover my disappearance.¡±


    ¡°That is something I been wondering, how did you swear fealty to the Master Blacksmith Society without the founder punishing you?¡± Roland knew that even if you left a Society the pledge of loyalty is eternal and won¡¯t let you join other Society, and if the one that makes the brands of loyalty discover you are from other Society they will kill you.


    ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m from another world and have a ¡®system¡¯ with me that let me bypass many limitations in this world.¡± She deadpanned said.


    ¡°Excuse me?¡± Roland, Lucy, and August said at the same time as if it was scripted.

 Chapter 16: Girls Unfortunate Circumstances 1

    ¡°Could you elaborate more what you just said? It¡¯s still a little unbelievable what you just said.¡± Roland said.


    ¡°I came from a different world far away from here. There no magical or strange powers exist, and life there is even more horrible than here when you don¡¯t have money. But I was able of escaping from my horrible life there thanks to a Superior Fertility God that for some reason randomly choose me to be sent here and gave me a special power, a ¡®system¡¯, which appears to only me as black windows at my front.¡± Carmen patiently said.


    Roland was still unconvinced. If she told him she was a hidden princess of a giant dynasty or the forgotten daughter of the person more powerful of the world, he would be more compelled to believe her than in this story completely outside of his common sense.


    ¡°I can prove you to you. My ¡®system¡¯ makes me do missions for it that I have to complete if not I will die, I already tested when it gave an optional mission and I purposely failed to know that its threats were true.¡± Carmen tapped her fingers on the air. ¡°But the missions give me ¡®Points¡¯ that I can spend to buy anything or improve myself. Think of a mortal thing I would never have in hands and I will buy it from my system to prove its power.¡±


    She pointed to her fingers and waist. ¡°As you can see, I don¡¯t have any Bag of Holding or rings capable of storing things.¡±


    ¡°¡®Buy a lot of shit, also known as feces,¡± Roland said to the surprise of everyone. If Carmen is able to summon shit at will, he will from now on believe in anything that she says.


    ¡°...Are you serious?¡± She faltered.


    ¡°...Actually, no. Let¡¯s go to a guest¡¯s bathroom first, if you really can do it, it will be a big mess.¡±


    After some time they found the bathroom of a guest and Roland was ready to press the button the toilet to take the shit away while Carmen was with a hand covering her nose and the other tapping on the air.


    She nodded to Roland and when she made the last tap on the air, amorphous globs of shit in a deep brown color appeared and dropped on the toilet.


    Roland pressed the button and backed away together with Carmen that was retching in disgust.


    ¡°Okay, I believe now in anything that you say. I doubt that there¡¯s a technique that can summon shit. Let¡¯s go back to the kitchen.¡± Roland said, holding Carmen¡¯s hand to take her away.


    Carmen was silent while they went back. ¡°It¡¯s better if I don¡¯t say to him that in the system there is indeed a technique that can summon shit. I pray that fucking God doesn¡¯t make someone that can use it appear on my way.¡± She thought.


    ¡°So now that I believe you, what else your power can do?¡± Roland asked.


    ¡°It permits improve my talent and it was how I even reached the eight layer of Essence Reformation. It can also let me perfectly sense Essence fluctuations and the flow of the World¡¯s Fate. This was why I got paralyzed yesterday, the flow of the World¡¯s Fate in Oliver was so strong I couldn¡¯t even think straight.¡±


    World¡¯s Fate was how Roland and everyone else called what they recognized as the Supreme God that control their lives. It made the initial path, Fate, they will live on, in other words, their parents, environment, and talent. But it set them free after making the first path to them live however they want, making their own next path and destiny.


    ¡°What interesting and powerful power you have, doesn¡¯t it mean you can infinitely get more talented and buy whatever you want?¡± Roland said.


    ¡°Yes, it is powerful. But it came with a cost that if I don¡¯t complete my missions I will immediately die.¡± Carmen said crestfallen.


    ¡°Could be you came to this Society because of a mission?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it was because of it.¡± Carmen looked deep into the bright blue eyes of Roland. ¡°And I came here for you Roland. The mission was the reason I talked to you earlier but now it isn''t it more about the mission. I really consider you important and my friend. Are you still my friend after discovering I only made a relationship with you to not die?¡±


    ¡°How could I not? I already said it before and I won¡¯t repeat myself, stop having so many doubts on me. And how could I judge you if you only wanted to survive?¡± Roland sighed. ¡°What was the mission then? Did you finish it?¡±


    ¡°My mission is to find what the ¡®system¡¯ consider ¡®Protagonists¡¯ of the World¡¯s Fate that have a lot of ¡®Fate¡¯ around them and do two things with them that I can¡¯t talk to you. Until now I only found Shin Ta before meeting you, and I was in despair, thinking that this time I will die since I refused to do it with Shin Ta. So when I compared Shin Ta and you, I decided to bet my life on you because I didn¡¯t think I would meet another ¡®Protagonist¡¯ before the time ends.¡±


    ¡°Since you can¡¯t talk about it, just do what you need to do. I will stay still while you do it.¡± Roland didn¡¯t want to Carmen to die.


    ¡°Sorry but this doesn¡¯t work in this way, one of them I can do right now, however, it will make the other harder to do.¡± Carmen with a real blush shook her head. ¡°This mission is to me be established on this world as a real existence, I will become what is called a ¡®Heroine¡¯ to not die so easily anymore. It is forcing me to do so because I refused the first optional mission when interacting with Shin Ta.¡±


    August perked up hearing the name ¡®Heroine¡¯ and went close to Carmen. ¡°Girl, can you explain more to me about your mission? Can¡¯t you talk to Roland about it because your power forbids the information to reach your targets or because nobody in the world can discover it?¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°If the targets don¡¯t know I can talk to anyone about it but if the targets discover about it, I immediately die,¡± Carmen said.


    ¡°Can you tell me what is? I promise good fortune for you if you do so. I¡¯m Roland¡¯s master, I have good things for you and I wouldn¡¯t hurt a friend of my disciple.¡±


    Carmen pondered for a second and decided to talk in whispers that her mission was to ¡®fall in love with a ¡®Protagonist¡¯ and ¡®use any action to prove the love, like for example, a kiss on the cheeks¡¯.


    August¡¯s reaction to hearing that was only one. ¡°Fuck you, girl! And here I was thinking it would be something really depraved and it became something so small like this. Go feign right now your feelings and ki-¡±


    ¡°It isn¡¯t that simple! I will be graded in how well I do these actions.¡± She shouted before coming back to whispers. ¡°Did you really think I hadn¡¯t thought in such easy solution? It needs to be real and something I do in the spurt of the moment to work. I need to delude myself that I love Roland, do you know how hard is to do it when knowing I will die in three months if I don¡¯t do it?¡±


    ¡°In other words, you need to become the most perfect actress, the ones that deceive herself and even the World¡¯s Fate?!¡± August eyes shone and he said aloud. ¡°It¡¯s decided, you will become my second disciple! And I will help you think in ways to make you do those actions.¡±


    Carmen looked not much impressed or with the willingness to become a turtle''s disciple, principally of the one that looked at her with scorn in the first time they met. ¡°Sorry, but-¡±


    ¡°No fucking buts! With your power you can maybe even ¡®buy¡¯ techniques with those ¡®points¡¯ you talked about, right?¡±


    She nodded.


    ¡°But can you with your current ¡®points¡¯ ¡®buy¡¯ a technique so advanced and powerful as the one I will present to you? Don¡¯t forget that I¡¯m the master of the man that almost defeated someone three layers above him and survived an ultimate Spell from a Magus Rank 1. And don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t train in the dangerous technique Roland trains, you will train in a more adequate to you.¡±


    Carmen mind reeled, understanding August¡¯s point, if she becomes his disciple it is certain she will at least have some degree of power despite her low talent. ¡°Roland, do you care if I become your junior?¡±


    ¡°Go on, to become his disciple is only something you and him can decide,¡± Roland said.


    ¡°August, I will be counting on you to teach me.¡± Carmen bowed to August.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have the perfect technique to you but we have a problem here. It will be a pain in the ass to me go to your place to train you whenever I need. How about you stay here? The mansion is big and I¡¯m sure that with Roland being a Prince he can let someone live with him like a Follower.¡± August said and whispered to Carmen. ¡°In this way will be easier to you finish your mission.¡±


    Carmen lively looked at Roland asking for permission and the black-haired man nodded. ¡°August, how about you train us two until its time for the high elder introduce us to the Society?¡± Roland said with hopes to make someone share his woes, they are junior and senior, the junior must understand the pain the senior had to suffer to reach where he is now despite the junior having the advantage of not having to train Timeless Emperor Refinement.


    Carmen didn¡¯t know why but she felt a chill on her spine looking at the amiable smile of Roland and at the fox just sighing at the sides with her eyes full of pity.


    ***


    ¡°I hate you both of you,¡± Carmen said with her famous tone of voice full of grudge, this is another hatred she will take to her grave.


    August and Roland only laughed at this while Lucy saw that her presence won¡¯t be needed for a long time and went rest on Roland¡¯s first scarf that isn¡¯t still made using Equipment Formation.


    As time passes Lucy talk less and less as if tired of doing something exhausting.


    Roland was refreshed with the ¡®light¡¯ training they did, if Carmen knew his training was to walk between life and death with Magic Foundation beasts while being only at the fourth layer of Essence Reformation maybe she would complain less. But he and August had a good amount of fun seeing her grumbling and screaming in fear.


    August taught Carmen two elemental techniques that weren¡¯t compatible with Roland, they were one for her to run, Wind, and the other for when she has to fight until death or practice Medicine Alchemy, an elemental plant technique that is also capable of manipulating Life.


    Until now she wasn¡¯t able to understand absolutely anything since they trained for only some hours.


    Carmen and Roland were now outside of the mansion waiting for the high elder come to fetch them to show the Society.


    At a distance, Roland saw what was supposed to be Elizabeth¡¯s castle by what his masters said to him.


    It was as always red and black, the people from the Master Blacksmith Society seemed fixed on those two colors, and it was smaller than Major Castle with only two towers.


    Roland wanted to go there right now to see Elizabeth¡¯s teleportation portal and study it this time but he knew that being introduced to the Society was right now more important.


    Carmen and Roland got awkward without anything to talk with, therefore, Roland began to talk about his mansion and some small talks to pass the time.


    Thankfully, the high elder arrived to save them. ¡°It¡¯s an honor meeting you Tenth Prince, I¡¯m Triam. I will be the one to guide all the new disciples through the Society and I have come to fetch you and the Peasant that is with you.¡±


    Triam was an old man totally different from George, he was tall, full of white hair and scars in his face. His Essence didn¡¯t seem that powerful but the power in each of his steps made someone wonder that he is only feigning to be weak.


    He really deserved the place of ¡®Elder¡¯, a position only below the patriarch and responsible for the security and safety of the Society.


    ¡°Nice to meet you, Elder Triam. Before we go, can I ask you something? Is it possible to me take this girl, Carmen, as my Follower just like Elizabeth did to me and make her live on my mansion? The mansion is too big for me alone, it will be solitary living there and considering how she is my friend, I don¡¯t her to live alone since her caste is too low and someone can bully her.¡± Roland said.


    ¡°This can be certainly be arranged, as a Prince you the right to have two followers but I must let you know that she will only receive the partial bonus of being a Follower of a Prince, she won¡¯t be like you that is a Follower of a Queen, is that fine to you? It¡¯s a problem we faced on the past that people made a pyramid of benefits by using Followers.¡± Triam pondered before saying.


    ¡°No problem, thank you, Elder Triam.¡±


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± Triam suddenly began to float using Essence, a mark he is Magus Rank 3, and used his powers to also float Carmen and Roland with him. ¡°Try to not vomit, it will be faster in this way.¡±


    Carmen¡¯s screams tore through the sky as she, Roland and Triam flew in the air to the meet the others disciples.

 Chapter 17: Adapting To The New Life 1

    ¡°Let¡¯s begin now that I picked everyone that couldn¡¯t know where we would be,¡± Triam said after he put Carmen, that was kissing the ground in happiness, and Roland down in the crowd of new disciples at the Society¡¯s entrance.


    This time people paid attention to Roland, he was able to almost defeat Oliver, the new star of the Society, and survived the ultimate Spell of a Magus Rank 1. They also know now that he was one of the ten Princes and the Follower of the notorious Queen, Elizabeth, that defeated the heirs of the Dynasty in Real Existence and was able to escape from their fury without affecting the Society.


    And they also paid some attention to the crazy and coward girl that was kissing the ground.


    ¡°The difference from a day to another is disturbing. Do these people only care about the reputation and the results?¡± Roland thought as he observed his surroundings.


    He saw the red gates with smelting furnaces but the environment beyond it was completely different from where he was.


    Roland could see Lakepoint outside but inside of the Society the environment was dry and hot, with mountains at distance and trees too tall to be inside of the Society without no one of Lakepoint perceiving.


    There was some kind of illusion in play or they were being show the landscape after the hidden teleportation portal on the red gates.


    ¡°I will begin by explaining the main rules and your castes'' benefit,¡± Triam said. ¡°Killing your fellow comrades is prohibited, you must always wear the robes you received if you aren¡¯t at least a Prince or Princess, you can¡¯t bring people from outside of the Society to here if they aren¡¯t slaves, and you must complete a mission in a place I will show you in three months, this is necessary to the Society¡¯s survival and to expand our influence.¡±


    Triam proceeded to do a lengthy explanation about castes but they could be resumed like this.


    At the lowest lived the Peasants, they had to live in joint rooms and had access to the most basic techniques of manipulating fire to combat and Equipment Formation.


    In the middle lived the Viscounts and Earls, they had similar rights of having small houses and could access high-level resources and techniques, and from these two castes that the caste Follower was created.


    At the highest lived the Princes, Princess and the only Queen, they had access to everything if they were deemed worthy and were normally chosen to ambassador missions or friendly tournament with other cities and Societies. They were also the only ones that had a chance in every ten years to be recruited by a Sect of the middle stratum, Existence.


    And if they wanted they could ignore events like this, just like Oliver did with the excuse of ¡®focusing on his training¡¯.


    ¡°The first place we will visit is the place you can go to learn with any teacher and receive answers to the common questions about the Great Arts or the training.¡± Triam led the way after finishing the explanation.


    Roland and Carmen for at least eight hours with pauses to eat were introduced to the whole Society. They now where they can¡¯t go and also the most important places.


    Like for example, the place where the founder¡¯s coffin was and where the high elders lived.


    As the crowd dispersed and Triam went to his house, Roland and Carmen stayed still.


    Roland sweating, said. ¡°Junior, do you remember the way to home? Flying was too quick to me remember the way from here.¡± He cursed in his mind the bad luck he has of always getting lost.


    Carmen fidgeted without knowing what to say, she was too worried about her own life and vomiting to remember the way.


    Lucy that was tired, sighed with a frown. ¡°What would you guys do without me? For now, just go to the left and I will guide you two children to home.¡±


    ***


    At Roland¡¯s room, there was a bucket of water he picked from the kitchen and a bucket full of blood that he asked Carmen to buy using her powers in exchange of always letting her see his training.


    ¡°What are you planning to do with these?¡± Carmen asked while she tried to use Spiritual Energy from her technique to make a small gust of air and failing.


    ¡°Experimenting, Lucy¡¯s technique has many things beyond my common sense and it is interrupting my progress on the technique. She could say to me the answer but decided against it, only telling me I was in the correct path.¡± Roland answered with the Soul Spirit in hands.


    ¡°Should I say something to receive his favor? Considering the technology level here and that he trains with water, his questions can be easily answered by me.¡± Carmen thought. ¡°But if I say now maybe he won¡¯t be that thankful, to ascertain my position in his heart I need to wait until he fails sometimes to make him like me¡­


    ¡°But why am I trying to make him like me? What¡¯s wrong with me? My mission is to only I feign to fall in love in him, not the other way around.¡± Carmen struggled with her own heart and unknown feelings inside of her. ¡°I can¡¯t be that easy, right?


    ¡°Just because he saved me I shouldn¡¯t be like all those girls that suffer from ¡®suspension bridge effect¡¯, or that he seems nice and honest about my appearance that¡­ I should stop thinking, everything I think just ends up as positive points to him and negative points of me.¡±


    Roland didn¡¯t know of Carmen¡¯s unfortunate circumstances and continued to experiment without perceiving her plight.


    ¡°First, let¡¯s test those ¡®vibrations variations¡¯.¡± Roland put his hand on the bucket of water and began to play with it, causing many waves within it in certain patterns easily perceptible if someone pays attention to them. He analyzed them and come to a conclusion.


    ¡°When putting more strength the waves even bounce on the bucket, but they only move in ¡®accord¡¯ to the initial strength I used to make them and move quickly without getting out of the pattern. This gave me an idea, what would happen I make waves beyond the limit?¡±


    Roland took out Vital Energy from the Soul Spirit and spread it through the bucket of water.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    He put strength on the Vital Energy he is controlling and began to shake it together with the water with only the power of his thoughts.


    ¡°Oh, I see now. That¡¯s what the technique was talking about ¡®vibration variations.¡¯¡± The bucket shook, even more, the water constantly bouncing until Roland gave a shout and suddenly used more Vital Energy and strength.


    The water vibrated so much that the bucket exploded and his hand got a slight cut on it by how strongly and ¡®sharply¡¯ the water was bouncing. ¡°Interesting.¡± Roland ignored the blood on his hand that wasn¡¯t still cured of Oliver¡¯s attack and Carmen¡¯s squeak at having the room wet by water and the explosion sound.


    Roland this time touched his Soul Spirit and mimicked what he did with the bucket of water. ¡°Will it also exploded or will bear the vibrations?¡±


    The Soul Spirit vibrated so much that a slight noise of air being cutting was possible to be heard, but it didn¡¯t explode or the vibrations were strong enough to cut Roland¡¯s hands like the water on the bucket did. ¡°What am I missing?¡±


    Roland tested various ideas, he made it absorb Essence to increase the size of it, he increased and lessened the amount of Vital Energy in certain patterns, however, nothing worked until he began to accidentally rotate it because of how he was searching for good points on the Soul Spirit to experiment next.


    He grinned as blood appeared on his hand when the accident occurred. ¡°That¡¯s it! Its power must increase in similar to how an arrow has its power increased after spinning in the air.¡±


    Roland happy his experiment worked and that he progressed on his technique since the next parts will be easier to understand now that he completely knows his common sense is wrong, decided to test the power of the Soul Spirit when using vibrations.


    ¡°First, a ball of water.¡±


    Roland separated a small ball of water from the Soul Spirit, vibrated and spun it at the maximum he could before releasing it on a wall.


    The result was beyond Roland¡¯s expectations, the ball of water flew in a speed unbelievable and penetrated the wall with such force that even a big hole was made and several walls beyond that were penetrated, also accidentally making a hole to the wall of his bathroom.


    This was a power completely different from when he started using the Soul Spirit when he couldn¡¯t even penetrate the fur of beasts.


    ¡°If I use something bigger like a water spear and-¡±


    ¡°Roland, there¡¯s no need to you test that. I assure you that you are right and the power of such spear will be even bigger, but if you do that in your house, it will do too much damage to it. Do you want to destroy the house you just got?¡± Lucy chided Roland and also pointed to the wide-eyed weak Carmen that could get hurt in his tests despite her being a layer above him in Essence Reformation.


    ¡°Sorry.¡± Roland said crestfallen and slowly went to the bucket of blood to make another ¡®non-dangerous¡¯ experimentation.


    ¡°No, it can¡¯t be. He won¡¯t do everything right without my help, right?¡± Carmen thought, letting off training to pay attention to Roland.


    ¡°¡®Blood is just water in another form¡¯, why do the technique say this so confidently? It must be right if looking at my previous success but I must understand the reason.¡± Roland touched the blood with Vital Energy and tried to analyze their interactions.


    The Vital Energy felt¡­ as if in home when put in the blood, it was as if blood was the origin of the Vital Energy.


    Roland tried to control the blood with the Vital Energy like when he did with the bucket of water but nothing happened.


    Not feeling disheartened, he tried again and again, putting more and more Vital Energy on the thick red blood until he was able to make a small drop of blood float before it immediately dropping down to the bucket. ¡°Did it really work or did I used so much Vital Energy that I covered the blood and floated it together with the Vital Energy? It¡¯s something wrong with this kind of manipulation, if blood was really just water in another form it shouldn¡¯t be that hard considering what kind of my technique mine is. What am I thinking wrong?¡±


    Roland pondered looking to the blood, like water it was a liquid but being a liquid was enough to be considered ¡®water¡¯? ¡°Blood exist in our body and makes it work, if it was only water then normal water could substitute blood but our body was created with blood nonetheless. It must have a reason for this.¡±


    Carmen debated within herself if now should be the time to tell him the truth with how quick he is absorbing and creating knowledge not pertaining to this age since Roland shouldn¡¯t be that smart but before she could, Roland had an inspiration coming from the time he was in the trial of fire after tasting some of the blood that got in his hands after using Vital Energy. ¡°Blood has a metallic taste so this means some metal is indeed on the blood, so when I tried to float the blood I was also trying to float the metal inside of the blood making it not work.


    ¡°What can I control is only water, after all. In some way unknown to me, water must exist in the blood  alongside the metal, so instead of trying to control all blood, I must only control the water within the blood and the rest will follow because they probably can¡¯t exist outside of the blood.¡±


    With new determination, he did the exact same thing he did earlier with a bunch of Vital Energy but this time he focused on the water in the blood, he ignored the red color, stench, and density of the blood.


    Soon the rewards to his efforts appeared and he was able to for ten seconds float all the blood in the bucket with the same amount of Vital Energy he used earlier to only levitate a drop of blood for a second.


    ¡°It¡¯s still hard and I miss sometimes, accidentally using Vital Energy in what¡¯s not water within the blood but this proves that blood is another form of water like the technique said. I feel like I¡¯m already more than halfway done with it after these simple experiments.¡± Roland smiled, feeling good about himself and his progress.


    Lucy and August were also happy for him to find the answers without their help.


    Meanwhile Carmen was in a pit of despair, she wasn''t even in the mood to correct his misunderstandings about the plasma that is only about fifty percent of the blood and all the others things in the blood that couldn¡¯t be resumed in ¡®it¡¯s another form of water with some metal in it¡¯ and how ridicule is to him control blood like it is water or how his explanation made any sense.


    At this rate, Roland will do everything without her and in his heart, she will only be a junior that is weird and weak.


    ¡°Now the conden-¡±


    Roland was interrupted by Carmen that quickly got close to him and said. ¡°Roland, I¡¯m from another world, maybe what is outside of your common sense is normal to me and I can help you understand your technique.¡±


    Roland took a step back, surprised by her eagerness. ¡°Could she be wanting to repay me for saving her? It must the only reason to her look so desperate.¡± He thought and said. ¡°True, your knowledge can help me. I¡¯ll ask you some questions and I want to try to explain to me how people of your world think, okay?¡±


    ¡°Ask whatever you want, the technology of my world was really advanced in comparison to here. I¡¯m a well of knowledge.¡± She puffed her almost non-existent chest.


    Roland asked about water condensation and solidification points, ice and the one that most baffled him, ¡®water particles can be made from the air you breath using Vital Energy¡¯.


    To his surprise and delight, Carmen was capable of answer everything and helped him in various experiments to confirm her answer.


    Roland now held respect for the other world¡¯s knowledge and for Carmen that was able to understand so complicated subjects when she was only a child considering by what she said that she came to this world before becoming a teenager.


    Carmen¡¯s plan partially worked but she ended up angering another being she didn¡¯t want to mess with.


    The fox murderously looking at her for stealing her disciple¡¯s spotlight and own conclusions about her own technique, made Carmen cold sweat and yet feel defiant against the fox.


    ¡°Who cares if you are his master? I need to survive here. Let¡¯s see if you dare to kill me after I place myself so deep in Roland¡¯s heart that he won¡¯t be capable of living without me¡­ why the hell am I still doing this the other way around? It is to me fall in love with him not him with me!¡±