《Lost Blood》 Prologue Prologue "Ding-dong" "Ding-dong" Upon hearing this sound, thousands of teenageres start running like crazy in order in order to arrive in classes in time. If one looks from the distance, the school ground seems to be a colony of ants. This place is called The Royal Training School and is the biggest school in the entire kingdom. The school is located in the kingdom¡¯s capital and is literally huge. There are 34 buildings surrounded by a 15 metres wall, the streets inside the school are made from stone and the medieval buildings are carved from different types of marble. On the walls of the buildings a experimented eye can see different formations of runes, which greatly increase the rezistance of the constructions. Only by looking at the school one can realise the amount of wealth that the kingdom invests every year in order to keep it running. Right now is the beginning of the new year and while the studens are running around trying to find their new classes, there are a few thousands of persons that are waiting outside for the starting of the examination process. Every school in the kingdom is almost free of charge and every person under twenty years and over fifteen can enter, but while the other schools accept every person within the age range, the Royal Training School does not. One person must have a bit of talent in order to join. Among the people that are waiting outside for joining the school, there is a young man that stands out. From the distance, he doesn''t seem that much different, but if one gets closer, one can see that the boy looks more like a demon than a human. His hair is silver, which is not unheard of within the kingdom... but his eyes are dyed red. That is the reason that people keep distance from him, believing that he is some kind of demon or that in him is sealed a demon. Even so, the boy has his charm. Maybe is not the most beautiful person in the world, but his interesting features and innocent face builds up to a very charismatic view. His name is Arkad and a few weeks ago just turned fifteen. He lives in the capital with his only relative, his grandfather, which is running a small armament shop. At his grandfather advice he came here today to take the exam and join the Royal Training school and become a mage for the royal army. Every student in the school have the possibility to join the royal army whether they are mages or normal fighters. The difference is that if one pledge to join the army after finishes school, the kingdom will pay the school fee, else the student must pay a tax every year that they stay in the school. This way, the kingdom has a lot of trained troops at his disposal.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Ahoy, Arkad, you came!¡± Hearing that sound, Arkad turn his head to see who is calling. Running towards him is a young man between sixteen and seventeen years old. He has black hair and eyes and a pretty frail body. He wears a blue uniform with a silver star on his chest. That is the Royal Training school''s uniform and the star on his chest signify the rank of the student. His name is Ryany Arryn and he is Arkad''s friend that joined the school two years ago. ¡°Yes, grandpa convinced me to join, and here I am.¡± Said Arkad while a smile appeared on his face ¡°Good. I really hoped that you will come. After all, joining the school is the best way of securing a good future.¡± ¡°If you say so then is a good thing that I decided to join. By the way, what¡¯s with the star on your chest? I never saw you with that until now.¡± Rayny looked at his star with proud and then responded. ¡°This is a ranking star.¡± ¡°A ranking star?¡± ¡°Yeah. In the Royal Training School, the students are grouped in five ranks and every single rank has a color. The lowest rank is white, then gray, silver, golden, and azure. Every three months you can take the exam for the next rank, but the exams are very hard. One can finish the school if is an azure rank and passes the final exam. ¡° ¡°Ahh. That means that you are pretty good if you have a silver rank.¡± Said Arkad while slightly laughing. ¡°It¡¯s a decent rank.¡± Continued Rayny while trying to appear humble. In realty he was very proud by his achievement. ¡°As for why you didn¡¯t saw it until now, Is because we aren¡¯t allowed to wear them outside the school ground. The only exception is at the beginning of the year when there are new students joining. This way, if we meet someone that need informations regarding the school, they will recognize the badge and know that we can provide them with informations.¡± ¡°Ok, I get it know.¡± ¡°By the way, I just broke into the sixth rank last night.¡± Said Rayny with excitement on his face. ¡°That¡¯s really good news. It took you only six months to go from fifth rank to sixth rank.¡± Said Arkad while trying to seem impressed. For a boy that hasn¡¯t even reach eighteen years to become a sixth rank mage is indeed something to be proud of. Even the people around that heard Rayny¡¯s words were impressed. ¡°Well I wish to keep talking to you but I need to go inside before the class starts. See you!¡± ¡°Ok, See you later!¡± Not long after Rayny left, a person came out of the school and stopped in front of the crowd of people. He was an old man around seventy years old. His hair was white and he was a little crooked, giving the impression that he could died anytime. His clothing was composed from a blue robe with the words ¡°Elder¡± on his back. He was one of seven elders of the school. ¡°Welcome everyone! My name in Waye Snyt and I¡¯m in charge with the registrations this year. If you came here means that you wish to join our prestigious school and I couldn¡¯t be more happy to see so many young persons that want to join.¡± ¡°Everyone please follow me to the examination room in order to take the exam.¡± After he spoke those words, he turned around and started walking followed by the masses of people. Seeing that people are already moving, Arkad started to move as well. Chapter 1 Chapter one ¨C School begins While the crowd was passing through, the school ground appeared to be deserted of people. All the students were already in classes and only a few lost persons were running around trying to find their place. The buildings that seemed to be big from afar were actually huge and majestic once you got close. The Royal training school has five different departments and every one of them deals with a different matter. The armanet departament is dealing with forging and creating weapons, armors and many different items for the students. The medicine department creates medicine and suppliments. The discipline department that deals with students that break the rules. The magic department that holds skills, spells and techniques. The human resources department is dealing with the recruiting of new students and management of all the students within the school. The elder entered in a white building followed by the crowd. That was the main building of the human resourses department. Inside the building there was a huge hall made from white marble with a few pillars beautifully crafted that supported the rest of the construction. The elder stopped at the end of the hall and waited for all the people to enter. Beside him was a man in his late thirties. He had a very solid body and was wearing a full body armor made form a special kind of metal that Arkad never saw before. On the armor there were inscripioned a few runes, meaning that this armor wasn''t usual and had some magical properties. On his back was a great sword made from the same material as the armor which had, as well, a few runes on it. The elder clapped his hands and the hall that was earlier noisy went silent. ¡°This is the place where we will test your capability of becoming a mage. I would like to tell you that even if you don''t have the capability to become a mage that''s ok, our school isn''t only for mages. Actually the biggest part of our students are fighters and not mages.¡± Hearing the elder words some people felt relieved. They hoped that they will have the talent to become a mage, but in case that they don''t, is good to know that there is another way to stay in the school. ¡°The test is very simple and shouldn''t take more the an hour.¡± Immediately a girl enter the hall holding a wooden box. The girl was very beautiful. She had red hair and black eyes. Her outfit was made from a blue uniform with a golden start on her chest. She was clearly a golden rank student. Spotting her, a few student blushed while others started to visibly drool. ¡°She''s so cute.¡± ¡°God, what a beauty. If I could marry her, I could happily die after.¡± ¡°Are all the girls in the school beautiful like her?¡± A few of the students couldn''t hold their admiration and started to talk between themself while some girls were looking at her with envy. She didn''t mind the people that were looking at her and started to share some white pearls from the box to everyone. After finishing she left the hall and the elder started to talk again. ¡°The white pearls in your hands are special items that can determine if one has the capability to become a mage. Everyone try to channel energy into the pearl. If the pearls turns red then you have past the test and have enouth talent to become a mage. If not then you will take a second test to see if you are capable of becoming a fighter. You have one hour to turn the pearls red.¡± Arkad looked at the pearl in his hand and a smile appeared on his face. He was convinced that he can turn the pearl. The reason for that was that two years ago, his grandfather already tested his magical capabilities. Normally around age of fifteen the human body develops enough for him to use magic and that''s why nobody can practise magic before age of fifteen. But Arkad was different. Not only that he could unlock his magic capabilities at the age of thirteen, his body was special as well. Since then he trained he reached the seventh rank of the earth realm. Not long after they received the pearls, one boy managed to turn it red. His name was Clim Ernem, the second son of the Ernem family, one of the seven most noble families within the kingdom. ¡°As expected from Clim. He truly is a genius. Who in the entire year could compete with him.¡± Someone said. ¡°No wonder the Ernem famlily is one of the noblest.¡± A few people started to prize the talent of the boy. That made him feel proud and even more arrogant than before. At that time, another person turned the pearl. He was a boy that nobody heard before. He had black hair and blue eyes. His structure was not big but not small either. Seeing that someone turned the pearl as quickly as him, Clim felt annoyed. That was because all the attention was stole from him, so he asked the young boy beside him ¡°Do you know who that is?¡± ¡°I never saw him or heard anything about him. But young master¡¯s talent is huge compared with some unknown plebeian. You shouldn¡¯t worry about someone so insignificant.¡± Said the boy. He was the kid of a servant at the Ernem house and usually followed Clim everywere like a little dog. ¡°How could I be worried about someone like him? ¡± Continued Clim with on a arrogant tone. ¡°Young master is right, he is not even worth of your time¡± Finished the boy while laughing. While the two boys were mocking the unknown person, in the back of the room elder Waye turned around and spoke to the big armored man. ¡° It¡¯s been a few years since we had a genius like this in our school.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right elder. Usually it takes at least half an hour to turn the pearl red, but those youngsters did it in less then five minutes. Their talent is indeed outstanding.¡± Added the man. ¡°Yeah. If they are nurtured carefully they will have big achivements in the future. I will personally bring this matter to the principal. ¡° ¡°That¡¯s the best course of action.¡± The big man was Slayne Orom, the best instructor in enhancement magic. There are three types of magic in the world. The most common is arcane in which the mage uses natural energy to propel different types of magical attacks. There is enhancement magic that can enhance the body of the user and the last and rarest type of magic is runic magic. The runic magic is used to create formations, create magical items, and enhance proprieties of different objects. Every mage can use only one type of magic, but there are exceptions where one can use two type. Of course those who can use two types, in the entire kingdom can be counted on a single hand. Those who can use all three types of magic exist only in legends and there isn¡¯t anyone in the known world to posses three types of magic.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. While time passed more and more people started to turn their pearls in red. Arkad was one of those people. While he could do it in a few second after he got the pearl, he chose not. He didn¡¯t want to attract unwanted attention on him. It¡¯s best from now to keep a low profile. If someone would know that a fifteen years old is already a seventh rank earth mage, it would be very hard to explain. Normally it takes a lot of time to reach that rank. For example from sixth rank to seventh rank, a normal person would need al teast seven or eight months. So the decision to not stand out was the best course of action for now. After the hour passed the elder clapped his hands and spoke. ¡°Good. I¡¯m happy to see that this year our school will have almost one thousand mages. Those who managed to turn the pearls please follow me in the next room. The rest of you will stay here to take the next exam in becoming fighters. ¡° The fighters where different from mages. They didn¡¯t train in magical techniques but in martial arts. While are not as well viewed as the mages, they are a force to be recognized. If they train well and wear magical item, they are no weak them common mages. The elder went in the next room followed by the future mages. When Arkad entered the room the first thing that cought his eye was a huge wall with fifty cristals on it. The cristals were arrange In five rows with ten cristals each. The first row contained brown cristals, the second blue cristals, the third yellow cristals, the forth crimson cristals and the last row containd black cristals. ¡°Probably most of you are asking yourself what those cristals are. To explain to you what they are, first I need to explain what the ranks of a mage are.¡± After he said that, he took a mouth of air and started to explain. ¡°There are five realms that a mage can achive. The first realm and the one that you are about to enter soon is called the earth realm. It¡¯s the realm where most of the mages are. The second realm is the spirit realm and the ones that manage to enter it are considered experts. The third one is the heaven realm and very few people in the entire continent are in this realm. The forth realm is the abyss realm. This realm is very hard to enter it. In my entire lifetime I never heard of someone that is in this realm. But of couse there are a lot of people in this world and it¡¯s impossible to know. Problably there are a few that are in that realm.¡± The elder stopped a little and let his audience to process the information before continuing again. ¡°Now, about the last realm. It is called the void realm and it¡¯s says that it¡¯s impossible to reach it. ¡° At this time, a student raised his hand and asked a question that made the elder smile a little. ¡°Senior, if it¡¯s impossible to reach it, why is considered a realm?¡± ¡°haha¡± The elder laughed a little. He knew that someone was going to ask that question. ¡°There is a legend about a ancient mage that managed to enter the void realm. Since then, the void realm is accepted as the fifth realm¡± ¡°Now that I cleared that problem let me tell you that each realm is splitted in ten ranks each. For example, if someone is tenth rank earth mage, and he achives a breaktrough, he will become a first rank spirit mage. What you must understand is that the more you advance through ranks, the more difficult is to advance further. But each rank is more powerful than the last one. ¡° ¡°The realms are the same. Each realm is many times stronger than the previous one. For example a first rank spirit mage is much more powerful than a tenth rank earth mage.¡± Said the elder. The elder keept explaining some small stuff and answered a few questions and then proceeded to the next matter. ¡°Now, you are still not in the first rank of earth realm so the wall is useless for you. In the future you can came here whenever you want to show us that you achieved a new rank." ¡°You should know that a mage becomes more powerful through cultivation. The first step that you will take in becoming a mage is to create a energy pool in your body. It takes around one month of cultivation to create a pool. After you create it, you are considered a first rank earth mage.¡± ¡°After the pool is formed, one must keep refining natural energy through cultivation in order to extend the pool. The ranks of a mage only show how big of a pool you have. The bigger the pool, the more energy you store, the more powerful spells you can use. It''s pretty simple.¡± Said the elder while smiling ¡°Until you form your pool you can''t enter the classes to learn more about magic. Forming the pool should be your only goal for now.¡± The elder knew very well that forming the pool takes a lot of concentration and effort, so any distraction will only delay the students. ¡°I imagine that some of you already started to cultivate, so you go and take your uniforms. After that you are free to go anywere in the school ground to cultivate. For the ones that doesn¡¯t know how to cultivate please remain here so I can teach you the basics.¡± When the elder stopped talking, a few people started to walk towards the exit. The entire hall was watching them, including the elder and the man beside him. They wanted to remember the students that already started to train, because, who knows, there may be a few geniuses. Between them there was Clim, the unknown boy and Arkad of course. Even through he wanted to keep a low profile, wasting time wasn''t on his plan. After they left the hall, everyone was silent. The elder looked at Arkad before he left not because of his unusual appearance, but because earlier, when everyone was trying to turn the pearls, the elder noticed him not even trying. To an expert like Waye, he could already sense when someone uses natural energy close to him. At that time, Arkad wasn''t using it, and after he started to use it, in a few seconds, the pearls changed color. ¡°What a interesant fellow¡± The elder murmured to himself. After Arkad left the building alongside with another twenty people, he was preparing to go in a quiet place to start cultivating, when two persons among the group shouted. ¡°Stop!¡± Everyone stopped and their eyes started to watch the two persons that keept walking until they reach the front of the crowd. Then they stopped and turned around. One person was a youth with blode hair and blue eyes. His face was quite well and he gave a air of nobility. The other was a plain looking boy that followed the good looking boy. They were Clim Ernem and his little dog. ¡°So you are the ones that started to cultivate already.¡± Said Clim with disdain. ¡°Yeah, so what if we are?¡± Responded a boy quite well build. His face was pretty good as well. ¡°Nothing, I just wanted to let you know that you should not make hope to become first student of this year.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Asked Arkad with in a mocking manner. ¡°Because that place is reserved for me.¡± Responded Clim like he was born for that place. ¡°That if you can take it¡± ¡°What? Are you implying that you are more talented than young master?¡± Asked the little dog, clearly being pissed off. Arkad was a pretty peaceful person, but if it was one thing that he hated, that was arrogant people that looked down on others. If someone was arrogant and had his own power to back it up, he wouldn¡¯t mind. But a person like Clim who didn¡¯t even become a mage yet, to declare that he was more talented than him¡­ that was annoying. So he started to walk and then spoke. ¡°That is exactly what I¡¯m implying.¡± ¡°Hey! Get back here, I¡¯m not done.¡± Said Clim angered. Not only that he was looked down opon, he was ignored either. He took a few steps and caught Arkad arm who was walking away ¡°I told you to stop you piece of trash!¡± Exclamed Clim truly angered. Seeing that his arm was grabbed, , Arkad channel energy through his arm in Clim''s arm. Being a seventh¡¯s rank mage, he already had a pretty good control over his natural energy. ¡°Ahhhhh¡± The shock made Clim to scream and fell on his butt. Arkad¡¯s attack wasn¡¯t very powerful but for a normal person, even the raw energy from a seventh rank earth mage could make a little damage and inflict a lot of pain. After he released his arm, he keept walking. ¡°Ahhh, You piece of trash. Do you know who I am? I¡¯m gonna make you regret that day you were born.¡± Clim Keept shouting angry while Arkad keept walking further away. The people from the crowd were astonished. They knew very well who Clim was and what kind of background he possess. To attack him, one must be either very courageous or very stupid. While the crowd was still looking at Arkad, Clim took the opportunity and left with his little dog trying to avoid further embarrassment. After they went far enough Clim spoke. ¡°Who is that ugly piece of shit?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know young master¡± responded the little dog. ¡°The why the fuck are you still here? Go and find out.¡± ¡°Yes, young master.¡± ¡°I will find out who the hell are you. If you don¡¯t have a powerful background than you are screwed. If you have a powerful background, I will find other way to deal with you.¡± Said Clim to himself. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Arkad found a quiet place near a man made little forest to cultivate. He sat cross-legged beside a big three and concentrated on the pool of energy inside of him and on the energy outside of his body. Suddently, invisible energy started to flow inside of him. It entered in his body through skin and was carried and rafined withing blood. While the blood was pomped through the heart, the energy entered in a small cloud like entity inside of his heart. That was his pool of energy. The natural energy from outside was absorbed at an abnormal speed, maybe a hundred times faster than a normal person. The reason to that is that Arkad¡¯s body is special. His capablility of absorbing and rafining energy was frightening, but the downside is that he needed a lot more energy to breakthrough ranks. Actually, according to his grandfather, his pool of energy is much more purer than normal. One should know that the more purer is the energy that you can use, the more powerful spells you can cast and the less energy is needed to cast them. Another thing is that the higher the rank of a mage, the purer is his pool of energy. Right now, Arkad¡¯s pool of energy was as pure as of a tenth rank earth mage even if he was a seventh rank earth mage. ¡®If I keep up like this, in a few weeks I will be able to achive a breakthrough¡¯. He continued to refine energy at a impressive speed for the rest of the day. When the sun almost disappeared, Arkad stopped his meditation and left the school ground. He was walking down the main streed of the city in order to reach his home district. The capital city was divided in 5 distrcts, and Arkad¡¯s house was located in one of the upper ones. His house was a two story building. While the first floor was his actually house, the ground floor was a armament shop owned by his grandfather. The building wasn¡¯t very appealing and compared to the neighboring shops and houses and was a bit lacking. He opened the shop and started to look for his grandfather to tell him that he managed to enter the school. ¡®Grampa, I passed the exam. ¡® Shouted Arkad with a little pride. ¡®Grampa, where are you?¡¯ He keept shouting but no one responded. He went upstairs but his grandfather was nowhere to be found. ¡®Maybe he is in the city. But why would he leave at this hour?¡¯ While he tried to guess where the old man went, his eye descended on a wooden box on the table in the livingroom. He got close, opened the box and inside he found a letter, a bottle of pills, a gray bag filled with coins and a blue crystal. This kind of crystal was used to store a big amount of information and it wasn¡¯t cheap at all. Why would his grandfather had this kind of stuff. Thought Arkad. He took the letter and started to read it. Apparently his grandfather had to leave the city because a very important matter and it didn¡¯t know when he will be back. The old man left some money and the shop to him. The bottle contained blood essence pills which was a very big aid in one¡¯s cultivation. They weren¡¯t cheap at all and only nobles and very wealthy families could afford them. ¡®How did he get his hands on this things?¡¯ asked Arkad to himself. He felt a little depressed because the old man left, but he knew that his grandfather had a very good reason for leaving. He picked up the crystal and looked at him. In the letter there was no metion of the crystal. With a little gesture he inserted some natural energy in the crystal and the information contained within started to enter in his mind.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. The next moment Arkad was speechless. This was actually a cultivation art. A cultivation art was a method to cultivate that improved a lot one¡¯s growing. In the world there were countless cultivation methods of different quality. The ones with low quality will improve only a little one¡¯s growth, but those of high quality will speed up one¡¯s cultivation by 200 or even 300 percent. The bad part about cultivation arts was that one must be in the spirit realm in order to begin cultivating. That was because only once one reached the spirit realm his energy pool will be big enough and pure enough to practice. If one started to cultivate with and art earlier, his growth will be slowed and his foundation will be unstable and most probably he will not be able to enter the spirit realm. The cultivation art in Arkad¡¯s hands was named ¡® Saint body¡¯ . It had 12 stages and according to the information it was a Divine quality cultivation art. Arkad didn¡¯t know if that was the highest quality but he knew that it can¡¯t be low quality. ¡°Usually I need to be first rank of the spirit realm in order to start cultivating, but with my current pool of energy and purity of the energy, once I will enter the eight rank of the earth realm, it should be safe for me to start cultivating this art.¡± Having an anormal body allowed him to use the art before he will reach the spirit realm. He closed the shop and went to sleep. The next day he will go to the school and started to cultivate. The next morning Arkad entered the school ground. His aim was to reach the eight rank of the earth realm as soon as possible. Arkad entered his class and sat at the table. The class was full of first year stundents among which he recognized a few. The first was Clim Ernem, the noble and arrogant boy from yesterday, and his little dog. The second was the unknown boy which was the second to change the pearl in red in the admission exam. His name was Sun Hamel and he was the second son of a wealthy merchant. When Clim saw Arkad, he stood up and started to walk towards Arkad. ¡°You dare to show you face before me¡± Shouted Clim arrogantly. The whole class turned their heads towards the two boys. They were currios to know what is going on. ¡°Are you here for another beating?¡± responed arkad in a mocking manner. ¡°Beating? When did Clim got beaten by this strange looking boy?¡± A few people in the crowd stated to ask. ¡°Beating? Haa¡± ¡°All you did was to attack me while I wasn¡¯t paying attention.¡± Responed Clim while he tried to covert the fact that he really got beaten. ¡°HaHaHa. Is that what you tell yourself to feel better.¡± ¡°You think that you are better then me, the second son of the Ernem family?¡± ¡°Yes I think that I am.¡± ¡°Then what about a fight?¡± ¡°A fight? Sure, just tell me when.¡± Replyed Arkad. He wasn¡¯t scared by Clim status. He hated people that used their status for intimidation. And If it came to the battle, he could kill the little arrogant boy with a single hit. Hearing that response, Clim smiled. If they fight know, he is no match for Arkad, but in the future, with his family resources he will be able to cultivate much faster and crush Arkad without much effort. Or that was what he thought. He didn¡¯t know that the boy he was provoking was already a thousand miles in front of him. ¡°Then we will fight in three mounts. If I win you will have to fall on your kness, apologise to me and admit that you are inferior to me.¡± ¡°And if you lose.¡± ¡°Then I will admit that I am inferior to you.¡± ¡°Good, then is settled¡± Said Arkad. Right at that moment, the teacher entered the room and Clim went to his place. The teacher was an old man in his sixties. ¡°Good morning everybody¡± The class responded properly and the teacher continued. ¡° I¡¯m not a person that likes to lose time, so we will get to the point.¡± ¡°Over the next week, the majority of you will enter the first realm of the earth realm. When that happens everyone of you will be tested to determinate what kind of magic you have.¡± The teacher made a small pause and then continued. ¡°There are three types of magic. Arcane, Martial and Runic.¡± ¡°The arcane magic lets you project the natural energy outside of you body as natural elements.¡± ¡°There are six types of elements. Fire, water, wind, earth, tunder and darkness. You can learn to use any of these elements, but it¡¯s best to choose one and concentrate all your efforts on it.¡± ¡°The martial magic enhances your body using natural energy. You can enhance your strength, speed, endurance, vitality, and many others. This type of magic is very good at healing, so if you are a martial type mage you can choose to become a healer. ¡° ¡°Last there is runic magic. This is a very rare type of magic and only one in a hundred thousand have this type of magic.¡± ¡°Before we continue further, there are any questions?¡± ¡°The arcane magic only has six elements. Once I heard that a traveler came to my village and he could use some kind of gravity magic.¡± Said one plain looking boy. ¡°Those six elements are the basic one, there are others but they are very hard to cultivate for you.¡± ¡°Could we have more types of magic?¡± Asked another boy. ¡°Of course. There are people that can use two types of magic. As for those who can use three, I never heard of one.¡± Arkad sat quietly and listen to the teacher. Suddently a thought entered his head. He knew that he is an martial type mage, but his body was special, maybe he could use arcane magic too. ¡®I need to try soon. I¡¯m very curious.¡¯ Said in his mind. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Cadun, the biggest city fortress in the kingdom and at the same time the capital of the Caleogon kingdom. The city was surrounded by three layers of walls. This three layers of walls broke the city into three different regions. The region behind the first wall was the poorest and the citizens that lived there were as well the poorest. They were mostly country people that came to the capital hoping that they will find a better life here. The second region was the place where wealthy people lived and where most of the shops and workshops existed. This region was home of the biggest mage academy, The Royal Training school, that was as old as the kingdom itself. The third region was the place where the Royal palace was placed and where the nobles that lived in the capital could be found. In this region the only people allowed were those with status, as for normal citizens, they could only dream to even visit this place. Right now, outside the city, a young boy was heading towards the nearby forest. His appearance was a little frightening for the common folk. He had silver long hair and eyes dyed red which gave the impression of a demon with human shape. This boy was Arkad. In the past two months, since he entered the Royal training school, he keep cultivating and recently broke into the eighth rank of the earth realm. One must know that being a rank eight of the earth realm at the age of fifteen was unheard of. Usually someone reaches this level of power around twenty or twenty one years old. Even geniuses with huge talent for magic would reach eight rank at seventeen or eighteen years old. Yet Arkad was special. His body started to absorb natural energy at the age of fourteen, one year earlier than normal people. In only one month he reached rank three then rank four in another one month, rank five in two months, rank six in 3 months and by the time he was fifteen, he reached seventh rank and made a lot of progress towards rank eight. Now, after two months, he managed to reach rank eight. If he would tell someone about this, they think that he is crazy. Right now, he left the city for a while in order to train and get some battle experience. In a fight the power isn¡¯t everything, if one doesn¡¯t have fighting experience, they will be at a disadvantage even in front of a weaker opponent. In front of him was the Cadun Southern Forest which span on five hundred square miles. This forest is full with savage beasts and only powerful characters dared to enter it. Arkad choose this forest in order to test his strength and because it was the closest isolated place from the capital. As he entered the forest he noticed that the light is blocked by the tall trees and the visibility dropped a lot. This forest was the perfect place for savage beasts to lunch a sneak attack. He continued to walk inside the forest and search for a good place to establish a small camp. ¡® This place is pretty good. I should be able to cultivate here without being disturbed.¡¯ Thought Arkad The place in front of him was a quite, small glade. It was maybe fifteen feet radius and if one listened closely, in the distance he could hear the roars of savage beasts, but as it was in the distance, Arkad didn¡¯t paid attention to them. He sat down and took out from his backpack one crystal. This was the ¡®Saint Body¡¯ cultivation method. He closed his eyes and slipped some natural energy in the crystal. The information started to pour in his head. Apparently there were 7 initial stages within the first layer and twenty one within the second layer. As for the third layer and beyond, he didn¡¯t have the necessary strength to access the information. The first stage was cultivating the bones. The second was cultivating the muscles. The third, cultivating the internal organs. The forth was cultivating the skin. The sixth was cultivating the marrow and the seventh one was cultivating the blood. Every stage would increase the strength and quality of each tissue of the body. As for the second layer; there was the twenty one gates of hell. Each opened gate would increase the overall strength of the body very much. This cultivation method was specific for martial mages, which would use martial skills and needed a much stronger body then arcane mages. Actually the stronger the martial mage¡¯s body was, the stronger his skills were. Arkad, put back the crystal and took another two crystals out. One was a martial skill named ¡®Iron fist¡¯ and the other one was an arcane spell named ¡®Thunder spear¡¯. One week after he entered the academy, he passed the test for martial mage affinity so he could practice martial skills. As for the spell that he took form the academy¡¯s library. He had a vague feeling that he could use arcane magic too, and not only martial magic. Normally, he would take the test for arcane affinity either and if he passed him, that meant that he had dual affinity. A person with dual affinity was very rar and he being one would attract too much attention which will slow down his practice, so he choose to test it in private by trying to learn a spell. He took the first crystal, Iron fist, and put his natural energy within. The information entered his head and he started to process it. This skill was a rank five skill and only a rank five martial mage would have enough energy to use is once. Usually a person would learn a skill with two or three ranks bellow him in order to preserve it¡¯s natural energy. If someone learned a skill on the same rank, then with one use he would be left defenseless with no natural energy. If his enemy wouldn¡¯t be taken out with that skill then that would be bad. Arkad was a rank eight earth realm and his natural energy was more abundant and pure then a normal eight rank. Actually his natural energy was equal with that of a tenth rank earth ream, so he could use a rank five skill and still have around ninety five percent natural energy left. Iron fist was a very basic fifth rank skill. Channeling one¡¯s natural energy in his fist and spin it faster around his fist would make one¡¯s fist stronger then iron. But that was only in the perfect stage. Martial skills and arcane spells had three different type of stages. For example, the first stage of the iron fist was to channel one¡¯s energy in his fist and keep it there. If one¡¯s energy stayed there then the first stage would be achieved. The second was moving the energy in the fist and the third stage would be achieved by spinning very fast the natural energy within the fist. ¡®This skill truly is a basic one, is I meditate on it, in a few hours I will be able to comprehend it.¡¯ He concentrated on his fist and started to channel his natural energy in it. The energy started to move from his heart to the fist at a slow rate. Actually this was really a very basic skill and every one that was over fifth rank and wasn¡¯t an idiot, was already used with channeling his natural energy and could achieve the first stage of the iron fist in a few minutes. Almost instantly, Arkad¡¯s fist started to glow with a faint of brown light. He achieved the first stage.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. He got up and went in front of a tree. He took a deep breath and lunched the fist into the tree¡¯s trunk. PUUHH! The trunk shacked and few leaves started to fall. In the place where his fist stroke there was a big fist print about five inches deep. ¡®WOW!¡¯ Exclaimed Arkad. ¡®This is pretty powerful, and it¡¯s only the first stage. When I reach the last stage, how powerful would it be?¡¯ Of course to a rank fifth mage, the strike wouldn¡¯t be this powerful, but Arkad, who was a rank eight had a much more pure natural energy. The more pure the natural energy of a mage was the more powerful the skills and spells would be. He sat down and started to move the energy in his fist. This it was much harder than simply gathering energy in his fist and it required much more concentration. The good part was that learning this skill will help him get a better control over his natural energy. After half an hour, the energy in his fist was moving pretty easy. He finally achieved the second stage. He went to another tree and stroke his fist at the trunk. PUUUH! The hole in the trunk was now eight inches deep. ¡®Good!¡¯ Admitted Arkad. He began to meditate on the third stage and after three hours, the energy in his fist was spinning at a very high speed. He got up and again stroke at a tree. BOOOM! The noise echoed into the forest. The tree¡¯s trunk was seventy percent obliterated and he was brought down to the ground. ¡®This skill, even if it¡¯s a basic one, if very powerful. If a defenseless mage wouldn¡¯t have protection on his body or a skill that increases his defence, he would be killed on the spot. As for the normal peoples, only a very powerful fighter would survive, but even he would suffer some injuries. Satisfied by the result, he sat down and took away the second crystal, ¡®Thunder spear¡¯. This was an arcane spell, and he wasn¡¯t fully confident that he would be able to learn it. This spell was a rank six. The first stage was to gather his natural energy in his palm. The second was to project the energy out of his body and the third stage was to project the energy at a very high speed while collapsing the energy within herself. This was the way that the energy would transform into thunder. Every attribute had a different way of being created from natural energy. It took Arkad¡¯s only a few seconds to condense the energy in his palm. But when he tried to project out of his body, he learned that it was much more difficult than just spinning in his fist. After half a day of trying to project the energy, the energy finally started to rush out of his body, and as a breeze of wind, his energy shoot forward hitting a tree nearby. The rush of natural energy left a few scratches on the tree but nothing more. Without an attribute attached, the attack contained only natural energy and the damage wasn¡¯t much. Actually, at the ranks of earth realm and the lower ranks of spirit realm, the martial skills would have more destruction power then arcane spells, and normally martial mages would have a little advantage over arcane mages. But from the sixth rank of the spirit realm, the wheel would turn and spells would become a lot more potent and destructive the skills. ¡®This should be enough for today. I should eat and go to sleep so that tomorrow I will be at my peak.¡¯ The sun started to go down and Arkad took out some dry meat from his backpack. With how much food he brought, he should be fine for a week or so. After that he would need to start hunting in order to fill his belly. After finishing the meal, he went to sleep in a well hidden place. The next day after the sun started to rise, Arkad waked up and started to practice the Thunder spear. With every try the energy started to rush out of his body quicker and quicker. Then when the energy gained a decent speed, he started to crash strings of energy with themselves and when the energy strings collided, they made a few sparks. Of course this was only the beginning. He needed to collide all the strings of energy that were rushing out of his body in order to release the full capabilities of the spell. ¡®So I was right, I actually can use arcane magic¡¯ Said Arkad to himself with a smirk on his face. Arkad was happy that his effort wasn¡¯t worthless. He was convinced that he could use the arcane magic since he managed to release natural energy out of his body. But he still needed the confirmation that he can transform the energy into an attribute. One should know that releasing energy out of the body was something that martial mages were incapable of achieving. They could only use it inside of their body in order to enhance it. Later that day he finally managed to finish the third layer of the Thunder spear spell. A rush of natural energy rushed out of his body, and after it travelled a few inches, the energy fused into a thunder and struck at a tree. A quarter of the trunk was blown away in the place where the thunder stroke the tree started to burn. ¡®This is not as powerful as the iron fist¡¯ Thought Arkad a little disappointed. This spell took a lot more time to learn then the martial skill, but it wasn¡¯t even half as powerful. ¡° Well, with a lot more practice it should become more powerful.¡± He comforted with the idea that in time the spell power will increase. He took out the Saint Body Cultivation technique and started to cultivate the first layer. Cultivating the bones. ¡®To practice this first layer I need a better control over my natural energy. I can easily hurt my bones if I don¡¯t have enough control. Then I need to slowly insert the energy into the bones and temper them.¡¯ For the next six days, Arkad kept practicing the Saint body cultivation method and achieve the early stage of bones strengthening. Not only that but, he practiced the Thunder spear and Iron fist as well and became a lot more experimented in them. If at the beginning it would take him one minute to use the Iron fist¡¯s third layer, now it would take him only ten second or so. As for the Thunder spear he would need only thirty seconds to finish the move. His bones were also a lot more resistant after finishing the first stage. If before, falling from six feet would break his legs, now he could jump from fifteen feet and still be ok. This was the power of a body strengthening technique. ¡®Right now, I¡¯m pretty pleased with the training, if I continue like this I will be able to finish the bone stage in only a month. I wander, how much stronger will my bones be then?¡¯ Thought Arkad. ¡®I want to continue but right now I¡¯m out of dry meat. I need to go hunt for food, and maybe put to use the things that I learned. ¡® For a mage, the spells and skills were very important, but if one doesn¡¯t know how to use them in a fight, they will be pretty much useless. Arkad got up and started to go deeper into the forest. In the forest the light was very faint, and the wind was almost none existent. The only sound that one could hear was the roars of savage beasts in the distance. Arkad followed the sounds of a howl, and now, in front of him was a blue wolf about two feet high and five wide. He was eating a bloodied rabbit. Before coming to the forest Arkad studied all about what kind of beasts were living in this forest. He didn¡¯t want to go to a place with very powerful beasts and die before he even had time to step onto the mage path. In the Cadun Southern Forest there were living different types of beast. From the first rank of the earth realm to the first rank of the spirit realm. If Arkad would encounter a beast of the tenth rank of the spirit realm, he had the confidence that he could escape alive or even win the battle. But in front of a beast in the spirit realm, he wouldn¡¯t have a chance to survive. There is a big gap between tenth rank of the earth realm and the first rank of the spirit realm. But these kind of beasts were territorial and would not leave their territory. So as long as he kept away of those beast territories, he would be fine. In front of him was a Blue Southern Wolf. A sixth rank earth realm beast. When Arkad arrived closer, the wolf turned around and howled. He was angry that someone was interrupting his meal. He took a step closer and analyzed Arkad. When he thought that boy was not a treat, he started to run towards Arkad in hopes that he would have a bigger meal then the rabbit. Arkad was condensing the natural energy in his fist since the moment he saw the wolf. When the beast arrived before him, with the intention of biting his neck, Arkad struck his iron fist into the wolf¡¯s chin. The next moment, the wolf¡¯s head exploded spreading blood on Arkad and all over the place. His lifeless body fell on the ground while blood was flowing out of his neck, dying the ground read. ¡°Haa, This skill is very powerful against opponents. I didn¡¯t expected to be this useful.¡± ¡°You wanted to break my neck, but instead, I broke yours.¡± Said Arkad while he got on his knees and took out a knife to butcher the beast form meat and different materials . The meat would be kept by him while the pelt and bones would be sold to make some money. Even if his grandfather left him some money, it was not very much and in only two months, he spent over half of them. He needed to make his own money from now on.