《The Elements of Terra》


 Prologue- The Purge

    Author¡¯s note- Hey, Linklight2 here. But you probably dont know who I am, so here¡¯s a little backstory. I am a leecher, whose priority is to read translated novels online and play games. But eventually, I decided that I should write my own Xianxia, so here it is. This is my first novel, so read and review gently please!


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    The purge


    ???- ¡°It was foolish to think you could defeat us, no matter how big your number.¡±


    Over 1000 figures were gathered in the air at a standoff against 7, and the one that spoke was simply radiating power. Lightning was flickering and dancing where he moved, every step contained incomparable grace. With golden pupils and his hair standing up with a celestial aura, he looked like a god. However, the other six figures did not lose out to this one at all. They all looked extremely powerful. In fact, each one looked as if they were one of the elements personified. And yet with all that power, the seven were not taking action. They were waiting for something.


    The man in front of the group numbering 1000 just smiled, and then spoke with a voice that shook heaven and earth,


    The Commander- ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how powerful each of you are. We are in the pursuit of the ultimate power! Those who are born with it, lack ambition, and therefore they are weak! Brothers, let us fight and become greater than the gods! Attack!!!¡±


    Saddened by their decision, the seven shook their heads in dismay,


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The seven- ¡°You¡¯re too naive...¡±


    The beings let out a combined wave of power that completely exhausted the seven but wiped out all of the thousand. The only things left of them were tiny spherical objects numbering exactly 1000.


    Letting out an exhausted sigh, the seven celestial figures vanished from sight without a trace. To many, this event was known as the purge. When others mentioned it, top level experts trembled in fear. It served as a hateful reminder to those who aspired to become gods, they knew that no matter how strong you were, there was always a being greater than you.


    However, unknown to many, there was a young child being born at that exact same time. Before the baby let out his first cry, he was struck by the fluctuations causing his scream to be stuck in his throat. Everyone in the tent died except the child, and later on, the day of the purge would become known differently in the minds of many. It would be a day of tragedy no longer and instead be known as the start of the rise of a being with no equal. His name was, Daniel.


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    The Universe Catalog</a>    Next Chapter</a>

 World backround

    Author¡¯s Note- Hi. Linklight2 here. Sorry I couldn''t submit this yesterday, I don''t actually have internet. But can that stop me from writing a chapter? No! So here you guys have it.


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    World Background


    The earliest recorded event of our empire starts at about 3,000 years ago, the end of the dark ages. The first cultivator, Thomas Geotard, was a great man of opportunity.


    At first he was the son of the mayor, a drunk. But one day, while he was working in the field when a tragedy for his village occurred. A volcano erupted without warning in the territory of the Mulyer family. Unlike the others, Thomas ran to get his most valued belonging, beer, from his cave at the foot of the volcano. A foolhardy attempt in most cases but not for Thomas.


    When he reached his cave, he frantically gathered as much as he could carry, but it was all for naught because he ended up getting hit on the head with a cup of beer. But that was his fortune, for when he woke, he knew he had survived the volcano eruption with minimal injuries. However, before he got the chance to celebrate, Thomas realized that the only exit to the cave was holed over by an avalanche. With nowhere to go except deeper into the cave, Thomas had to try his luck at finding another cave exit.


    While walking, he happenstanced upon a mysterious stone that shined with a golden glow. Thomas went to pick it up only because it was a source of light, but when he did, he fell into a trance that lasted 10 years.


    Unknown to Thomas at the time, when he picked up that glowing stone, he picked up an electricity core that awakened all others who had an affinity to electricity.  Primal knowledge was sent to those who were awakened as well, creating the first true cultivators.


    When Thomas awakened again, he was no longer himself. He had gained primal knowledge surpassing his identity, changing his outlook over the whole world, and he was no longer known as the drunkard named Thomas Geotard. So he fashioned a new name for himself. It was, Theren, and after establishing himself as a new entity, he blasted away the cave with a wave of energy. Using his newfound powers, he put himself above the world of barbarians, and created the Lightning empire.


    One of the biggest things Theren was credited for was unlocking the cores other than lightning with limit break. For the first time, elements other than electricity awakened giving everyone above 12 years old an element specific to them.


    These elements were water, fire, earth, air, light, and darkness. Every human now had an unlocked core, but not everyone had the talent to become great.


    Only 1 out of every 10 people had the talent to guarantee going past the 0th rank and achieving the basic realm. For talent to guarantee going past the basic realm into the intermediate realm, the chances were 1 out of every 100 that had the talent to move into the basic realm. However the advanced realm was much more rare.


    1 out of every 1,000 that had the talent to move into the intermediate realm had the talent to move into the advanced realm. But the perfect realm talent was heaven gifted. About 1 in every 10,000 people that had the talent to move into the advanced realm had the talent to go above and beyond into the perfect realm or the 10th rank. That meant in total 1 out of one hundred billion had the talent to reach the tenth rank!


    Of course it was later found out that people with talent had higher chances of giving birth a child with talent equal to one of their parents. However, the element acquired was always completely random, with a 1 in 10,000 chance for someone only able to use natural energy. This was found to be constant throughout the whole population through Theren¡¯s repeated testing.


    During his 500 year reign, Theren also found out about the ranks and realms and classified them as such. But he himself was the one exception to the rule of the ranks, but in estimation he was half a step into something greater, something that transcends the classification of ranks.


    The great emperor went into seclusion researching this realm, and theorized on how to get to the realm. However, his findings were not recorded before his death, and he died at the staggering age of 1037. With the emperor dead and everyone claiming to the public that they were the recorded successor, a war of attrition came into being.


    Each element grouped into a sect with one head claiming to be the successor. In all there were 7 sects and they fought for over 100 years. But at this time, a new era was about to take place, and at it¡¯s head would be Mark Cyan.


    At the measly age of 11 years old, Mark was a slave with a specialized task. He was to polish the great statue of the emperor, Theren. One day, Mark had finished his job on the statue and was going to get a meal, when he heard a strange humming sound.


    To his surprise, the forehead of the statue looked unpolished, yet he had just polished the whole statue! As a slave, if he didn¡¯t do his job right he would be killed.


    Hurriedly, Mark went back to the top to finish up his job when something shot out of the forehead of the statue and into his chest. It was Theren¡¯s heritage, the divine ligning core. But due to the short passage of time between the inheritance and the death, Mark¡¯s awakening was much faster than Theren¡¯s, and he also got all the knowledge from Theren¡¯s life.


    After Mark awoke, he made a monumental choice that changed the history of the world forever. He awakened the beast cores.


    Any beast that was larger than the size of a fist turned into a magical beast, and it was a catastrophe. Although the beasts could not manifest their primal knowledge, as it needed a spoken language, they used their element in another way.


    Since the way they moved was already in tune with the natural world, each movement with the addition of energy influenced the world around them. Their energy was used to create an external manifestation other than spells! Although Mark may have caused an absolute catastrophe to the human race, he did partially make up for it.


    He publicized Theren¡¯s findings on the Saint realm of legends and encouraged the multitudes to reach the godly realm. Although not many cultivators were willing to gamble with their lives, the commoners who wanted revenge on the beasts for killing their families were numerous in number.


    The mass breakout of experts looking for revenge fought back for the human race and also tried to kill Mark. Of course he went into hiding, but when one person reached the saint realm, Mark¡¯s tirade was over.


    The Saint realm can expand or contract their magespace far enough to cover a whole continent, so Mark was found and assassinated by a darkness saint. Mark¡¯s lifespan was cut short at 576 years and his reign of terror was over.


    The new ruler, the killer, was a saint realm expert named Ardai. He ushered in a new era. The beasts were a lot more numerous than the humans and Ardai had his fair share of bloodshed.


    So Ardai made areas of giant spatial distortions which constantly consumed his own power and feeded from the environment. They also were eventually powered by the light cores of magical beasts that he personally wiped out.


    He made 8 areas in total, the giant center area was for the commoners and there were seven areas protecting the center for the sects. He personally decreed that whichever sects made a war with another shall have their distortions removed until they made peace.


    He then went into seclusion, with his magespace keeping watch on the events in the continent. Therefore a forced peace was obtained. However, this did not resolve all the issues.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Yes, no beasts could ever get in the barrier, but that also meant that the humans could never get out. But the humans could never beat the beasts based on just pure power alone, there were just too many of them. So we resorted to other methods.


    This was the period of advancement, where new things were created. Many people watched the movements of magical beasts, and created the things we now know as martial art skills. By imitating the movements of different creatures and circulating energy in a certain way, we created certain movements that when performed, a portion the energy prevalent in the world would move into an energy attack.


    A martial art skill was ranked by first, the perception and skill of the creator, and second, the beast the skill was based on.


    The three weaknesses of martial skills were one, they took an extended time period of failure and adaptation to get the skill to work, and even when used, the strength of the cultivator decided the skill strength.


    Two, the skill had to be performed in the same fundamental stance every time, which wasted time and energy. And third, unlike spells which return all the aura after the spell, martial skills always expended a certain percentage of aura which was only fully returned after a period of time.


    An expenditure of aura was one of the worst things that could happen to a cultivator, as it decreased the total amount of power a cultivator could use during a period of time.


    If a cultivator had no aura, they would fall into a meditative state until they fully recovered the aura used. So using a martial skill was usually only used as a last resort to acheive a special effect.


    Also, there were new weapons created. Instead of the standard weapons that were made up of tempered pieces of a certain metal, they now were operated with energy veins.


    Mimicking the meridians, a special metal was sent throughout the weapon in veins that the cultivator could run his energy through. This insured that the weapon was able to be protected, as well as allowed a monster core to add an element to the weapon of choice.


    As long as energy was sent through the core, an elemental sheet would cover the veins running throughout the weapon. However, like everything, it had its advantages and disadvantages.


    The veins were only as strong as the energy running through them, and the energy transformed by the monster core was not controllable by the cultivator. As such, the design of the veins was impeccable, because a wrong vein somewhere could lead to damaging the weapon or the cultivator.


    The last major development to fight the beasts was made in medicine. Many realized that after the beasts, other things could absorb the seemingly infinite energy flowing through the planet. Herbs, metals, and crystals could absorb a portion of the energy flowing through them into their materials, strengthening and improving their latent energies.


    Crystals had the purest form of energy, they could be absorbed with no problem, but it took a long time to extract the energy.


    With metals, it was impractical to absorb the energy within because it would take so much longer than cultivating normally. Combined with the impurites contained within them, it wasnt worth it to cultivate with metal. But they could be made into armors or weapons instead.


    So the multitudes turned to the herbs. Herbs had an almost immediate effect and they could be consumed directly, speeding up the process.


    But the only problem with the herbs was, consuming most of the herbs would be detrimental to a cultivator because of the harmful energy within. To harness the energy, you would have to change the harmful energies into ones that are beneficial to the human body, and only then could you absorb the energy.


    This could be done by mixing and refining different herbs together, so the energies would combine in a way that would advance cultivation progress. This created the alchemists.


    They would document and record effects of doing different things to herbs, and they eventually created a network of formulas that boosted the amount of cultivators.


    Suddenly, instead of blaming your natural talent, you could instead use herbs to breakthrough. And this was also beneficial to the people with higher talent too because they could use medicine to speed up the process of accumulating energy.


    Finally with all these new advances, it became apparent that a cultivators currency was needed to keep prices adequate. So the logical solution was using the spirit crystal.


    It comes in many different forms of quality, and it accumulates a small amount of energy over a period of time. The longer or more potent the energy accumulated, the greater quality the spirit crystal becomes.


    If you use the crystal to absorb energy for cultivation, the crystal reverts back to lower qualities.


    With this you could either directly use your wealth to advance in cultivation, or you could exchange it for other treasures. However, absorbing energy from the crystals is slow due to the nature of the material.


    Therefore, cultivation resources like pills or naturally beneficial herbs still had their value.


    These 3 technologies were perfected in the span of 500 years, and the humans finally started to truly reclaim the territory of the beasts. But the beasts had not lied in wait for the humans to finish perfecting their technologies. Their numbers were now even more overwhelming.


    Even though numbers don¡¯t count for much when it comes to cultivation, the pure exhausting amount of beasts was enough to slow down any efforts to reclaim territory, and you didn''t know whether you had encountered an extremely strong beast or a weak one before going into their territory.


    Although the saint ranked experts of the human race could have defeated these beasts for their descendants, they did not want to interfere. Eventually, the human race cleared out the areas surrounding the barriers, and made paths connecting the 8 safe areas.


    They employed a regular sweep of mercenaries to kill off the lower ranked beasts, and they pushed the stronger beasts far away from the safe areas. Although the places surrounding the 8 safe areas were not truly safe, they were not able to have a beast greater than the intermediate realm before the routine sweeps were initiated and the beasts were wiped out.


    This stabilized the empire for a while, and this state has lasted until present. However, the looming winds of things to come are forcing the empire of the 7 sects into a state of restlessness. Trouble is blooming in the empire¡­


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 Vol. 1 Chapter 1- The youth

    Author¡¯s note- Hi guys it¡¯s me again. As many of you might know, RoyalRoad was upgrading their server this morning, so I couldn¡¯t give you this chapter that morning. Sorry it took me so long to post because again, I don¡¯t have internet. I have to post the work that I do on google offline editing when I get to a public place, but I have currently done some of the next chapter. Therefore, I can post it whenever I have access to internet again. Sorry again for the erratic posting, and enjoy your (shorter than usual) chapter.


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    The youth


    Under pale light, I saw an uncountable number of figures standing in the sky. They had begun a conference, no an argument. I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying, but they sounded unreserved and arrogant.


    The scene blurred, and I had a bad headache. Suddenly an indescribable feeling of horror gripped me, and the scene switched to where one took out a blade and slaughtered the person next to him. People started teleporting around, and it turned into an all out brawl.


    My vision abruptly closed in on the next kill, someone being lacerated across his stomach. He started screaming, and I screamed as well, waking up to my dad.


    Dad- ¡°Son! Go to sleep! It¡¯s in the freaking middle of the night! You need to get your rest so you can perform well on your first day of training!¡±


    That was my father, he always had to yell when I¡¯ve done something wrong. My dad was a weird parent, he always had a bottle of alcohol on his side, but it was always filled with water. Even stranger was that he would always drink from it when other clan members were around.


    I think he just doesn¡¯t care about anything except what I happen to be doing or what I did wrong. He was extremely strict and never cut me any slack in anything I do. However, I always try my best to meet his expectations, even if they are hard.


    Following his advice, I went back to sleep.


    ********


    It was a dreamless night the rest of the way, and I woke to sunlight streaming down my face. After wiping my face, I walked through the hallway to the kitchen. Surprisingly, there was actual breakfast. Usually I need to make the gruel we call ¡®food¡¯, but then again, today was special. It was the first day of training!


    I smiled and sat where we normally eat. It was next to the candle that lit up most of the room.


    Me- ¡°So,¡± I inquired, ¡°What is the trainer like?¡±


    Dad looked at me and was about to reply, but he suddenly grimaced.


    Dad- ¡°You don¡¯t need to know. You¡¯ll find out when you get there.¡±


    I sighed, Dad was always like this. When it came to the clan, he was either dead serious or just wouldn¡¯t divulge any information. This may have been due to the fact that he was one of the 3 clan leaders at the peak of the basic realm, yet he didn¡¯t contribute anything to the clan resulting in people gossiping about him.


    With a shaggy beard that he never shaved, messy hair that he didn¡¯t even attempt to fix, it¡¯s not a wonder that people found a reason to ridicule him. However, nobody dared to do it in his face. Dad was a light attributed cultivator at the peak of the basic realm, one of the 3 in our clan.


    Looking for a new topic, I asked awkwardly about the food.


    Me- ¡°Where did you get this? Normally we only have enough for gruel.¡±


    Unfazed by the somewhat rude comment, Dad nonchalantly replied,


    Dad- ¡°You¡¯ll be eating like this from now on. The training is not as easy as you may think it will be, and you will be needing every bit of this.¡±


    That statement made me even more curious about the training. I finished my eggs quickly, and in anticipation I asked,


    Me- ¡°When does it start?¡±


    Dad- ¡°Oh, it starts right about now, in the valley.¡±


    My mood instantly turned sour, and I immediately dropped my plate and started running. Our plundering earth clan was a relatively big place. With a circumference of about 10 miles, out bandit clan was one of the biggest clans around. Thankfully, I lived close to the valley because my house was cut out near the middle of the mountains. I could just run downhill and get there in 2-3 minutes.


    When I rushed past some people, at first they were surprised, but then their faces contorted into ones of ridicule.


    Bandit 1- ¡°Hey Daniel, weren¡¯t you supposed to be at the training already? Always late, just like your father. The dishonor of our clan, right here, waha-ha-ha!¡±(laughing sound)


    Bandit 2- ¡°What was that again? Your Dad¡¯s not a waste? With all that alcohol he gives to you, I would be surprised if you weren¡¯t in a hangover right now. Actually, that¡¯s probably why you¡¯re late!¡±


    Anger and humiliation was on my face, I could retort, but that would only make me later than I already was. So I gritted my teeth and ran faster in hopes of drowning out their incessant voices with the whistling of the wind.


    When I arrived, the kids were all sitting in a circle, looking up at a big ruffian standing on what seemed to be an arena of sorts. I chose a spot near the back, and he started speaking to everyone.


    Ruffian- ¡°Now I know you¡¯re a group of 7 year olds, but you seem to think that you can sit around talking while I¡¯m f**king standing right here. Well,¡± he roared, ¡°why don¡¯t any of you brats come up here, so I can teach you some respect!¡±


    Upon hearing those words, the faces of some children turned pale. The man had a big and fat figure, but he wasn¡¯t fooling anyone. Everybody knew that the trainer was at least a first rank, granting him the physical strength of someone who had trained their bodies to their limits for their whole lifetime. A single punch would hurt like crap, and nobody was willing to experience that.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    He pointed at a couple of children, and they did not seem happy to oblige. But suddenly, he was pointing at me. With a malicious grin on his face he said,


    Ruffian- ¡°You as well.¡± He rebuked, ¡°You have the gall to come here late, and on the first day at that! I bet you think that you can just put on airs just because your father is one of the clan leaders. Truly shameless.¡±


    I looked around and saw smirks on the face of the others, some nodding their heads. Rage clouded my eyes with an almost reddish haze. I could only think of how wrong they were, how hypocritical. They could insult me like that, but my Dad? They have to pay!


    I rushed in at the ruffian like a crazed boar, and the other kids took this as a chance to rush in behind me. As I lifted my fist, I aimed wildly at the ruffian not caring where I hit. The others went to ram the fat man to the ground and deal with him there. But in response to all this, the man only laughed. He took my full out punch and the other kid¡¯s charge without stepping back an inch. He then smashed me in the stomach. I flew back past the whole arena and hit the dirt, hard. Under my hazy vision, I saw the others rolling around squealing like pigs. Then I set my sight on the fat ruffian. When I saw his grimy face in an expression of disdain, my anger flared up again. It caused me to force myself back onto my feet, adrenaline coursing wildly through my veins.


    Ruffian- ¡°So the runt is tougher than I thought. Should I commend you for exceeding my expectations?¡± he said provokingly.


    I didn¡¯t reply, knowing this would only make him more mad.


    Ruffian- ¡°You dare ignore me trash!? Do you want to become black and blue?¡±


    He seemed to cool down a bit and started again, except this time to the crowd,


    Ruffian- ¡°Daniel will be our next example in combat. After all, he is the only one left standing, so he must be the the strongest person here, no? But since I am a benevolent man, you won¡¯t fight me again. Instead, why don¡¯t you exchange some pointers with your senior, Ocran?¡±


    He motioned over to an uphill area covered by the woods and someone stepped out from behind a tree. The kid looked to be around 11 years old, and his eyes revealed a feral look that was only reinforced by his other features. He had black hair that looked as if it was never combed in years and a face that would of been handsome, if not for the dirt that cloaked his skin.


    He started running down the hill, and when he encountered the ledge overlooking the valley, he front flipped over it, landing steadily on his feet. A wave of applause erupted from everyone except me, and various praises came from the crowd.


    Rp1(Random person 1)- ¡°As expected from the best in the final combat class, he really knows how to make an entrance.¡±


    Rp2- ¡°You think this is an achievement? You must spend all your time living in a cave. I heard he has taken 2 heads from the moon fury clan!¡±


    Gasps of astonishment could be heard through the crowd as the claims constantly got more and more outrageous. Ocran smiled with a large grin on his face, but his eyes were still cold, as if it was only natural to praise him.


    When he looked at me, he started sneering and his arrogance and pride could clearly be seen. He strutted over to me, as if he was on the top of the world and said,


    Ocran- ¡°So, I heard this junior needs to learn the rules around here?¡±


    The crowd enthusiastically agreed. Next, he put his hand up for a handshake before the fight which earned some boos from the crowd. Seeing he looked sincere, I obliged. But Ocran did not really have good intentions. When our hands touched, he gripped my wrist and pulled me close to knee me in the stomach.


    ¡°Puahh¡±


    The wind was knocked out of me and I gasped. The only thing I could do was kneel and gasp for breath. All the hypocrites in the crowd started cheering and I started to hate all of them. You all call me and my dad trash just because my father went into seclusion to raise me. Then you applaud someone for underhandedly attacking me? While I was musing, Ocran pulled me up, and I could smell his manure like breath.


    Ocran- ¡°Stay in your rightful place, trash!¡±


    He slammed me headfirst on the ground, and I passed out.


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    Previous Chapter</a>    The Universe Catalog</a>    Next Chapter</a>


    Author¡¯s note 2: Rp1 means random person 1 and Rp2 means random person 2 and so on. Also the names I have for the characters in front of the dialogue are whatever the main character calls them in his head. The chapters will be of varying length, as they will each last from the moment the main character wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep (or unconscious). These chapters are written, proofread, and edited by me as well, so it might take some time for new chapters to come out. Although it will never be longer than a week unless something serious is going on. So if I don¡¯t post for a month of time, assume I¡¯m dead until further notice.


    ¡®Edit¡¯ Don¡¯t really assume I¡¯m dead. Wait for a year or two before leaving, pls. And it will most likely take over a week¡­ I overestimated my capabilities as a new writer when I said that.

 Vol. 1 Chapter 2- Waking up

    Author¡¯s note- Hey, what¡¯s up? I¡¯m doing fine, but I guess you¡¯re not worried about that. And for the long break, I have an excuse! Family! They suck up your time, your energy, your life! And the worst part of all is that they all want to read the story you¡¯re writing even though they have never touched a fiction in their life!


    All this combined makes me really reluctant to write near them, and as such this chapter comes from the school internet. Enjoy this extra long chapter as an apology for the break!


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    Waking up


    I woke to a familiar sight, the triple moon. Tonight was a bit unique as the two crescents were on opposite sides, while the full moon was in the middle. On an impulse, I imagined them pulling together, and it formed an eye of sorts. It was almost like the heavens were watching over me. But I immediately rejected that notion. When have I ever been favored by the heavens?


    With a painful grunt, I sat up and started to look around for my dad. I knew he was there; he was always there. He never stopped watching over me with his protective gaze. Others may have said that my dad had become trash, but I knew this was untrue because of the lengths he goes to make sure I¡¯m safe.


    When I saw a shadowy figure walking towards me through the trees, I instinctively knew it was my dad.


    Me- ¡°Daddd...uuuu¡­¡±


    Tears formed rapidly within my eyes and I ran to his warm embrace, not caring about the aching protests my body gave me. When I basked in his familiar scent, I finally felt safe. The numerous hurts that I had accumulated over that horrible day now fell like raindrops, and I wanted nothing more than to stay in this moment forever.


    Dad- ¡°It¡¯s going to be ok Daniel.¡± He whispered soothingly, ¡°Let''s go back to the house, and we can talk about it all there.¡±


    I started bawling even harder, but after a minute or two, I looked up at Dad. I could barely see his face in the moonlight, but his two golden eyes were as bright as the sun.


    Dad- ¡°You good Daniel?¡±


    I nodded back at him and took his hand. He smiled warmly at me, and we walked hand in hand fading in the forest.


    ***********


    When we had almost arrived at our familiar terrace in the hill, I was not feeling very well. My head felt dizzy and my eyes were drooping. With every step I took, the dull ache in my body grew increasingly stronger. Eventually I stumbled and Dad caught me. He sternly glanced at me and rebuked,


    Dad- ¡°You have to be strong Daniel.¡±


    I felt wronged, and angrily looked at him. On his face was an apologetic yet determined look.


    Dad- ¡°In your life, there will be times where others will hurt you, bad. But you can never give up, you can never show even a moment of weakness. They will only look down on you with hate and hypocritical resentment.¡±


    He paused for a moment, waiting for me to take these words to heart.


    Dad- ¡°Just look at our own clan! They are your family, your brothers yet what do they do? When you are hurt, will they help you like true family? Will they give you even the slightest bit of pity? No they will not! They currently treat you with airs of arrogance and even look down upon you as trash, as if they were not worse! All because I got hurt, and stayed hurt!¡±


    Dad was now quivering with anger, and a look of hardened determination flashed though his eyes. Dad vehemently muttered, this time more to himself,


    Dad- ¡°And for them to hurt my son!? They don¡¯t know what¡¯s coming to them.¡±


    Those words were immediately instilled in my heart, and I squinted my eyes, steadied my step, and started walking forward, ignoring the aching that was continually spreading through my body. I finally had made it to bed on my two feet, and a quiver ran through me. Immediately, I collapsed on it, and closed my eyes in extreme exhaustion.


    But just as I thought I could rest, the dull ache transformed into a sharp pain piercing me all over my body. It was unbearable, and I involuntarily let out a cry of pain. But suddenly, a warm, comfortable light had surrounded me and the extreme pain turned into a soft pleasure. Before I succumbed to sleep¡¯s warm embrace, I took one last look at where I last saw Dad. But he had already disappeared.


    ***********


    The next day, I awoke to the pleasant smell of cooking eggs and, something else? I focused upon that foreign smell and thought, ¡°Is that meat!?¡± I got up quickly and rushed down the hall only to find a big glob of food rapidly becoming bigger in my sight. I couldn¡¯t react in time to catch it, and it splattered all across my face. Momentarily stunned, I froze until I realized that the food was dripping on the floor. The hunger pangs arose quickly, and in a few seconds, the food on my face was completely gone.


    I looked around myself in dismay, some of the meat and eggs were on the floor, wasted. Dad started laughing heartily, but I was infuriated by this total waste of extravagant food. I shouted,


    Me- ¡°Dad! We rarely ever have meat and eggs! Why would you waste it like that!?¡±


    Dad smirked like a little kid and replied sheepishly,


    Dad- ¡°It was only, cough, magical beast meat, cough cough.¡±


    My eyes widened in surprise, and I went to the floor hurriedly. I started picking up the eggs and meat and stuffed them into my mouth, not caring that there was a bit of dirt. I looked at Dad with hurt eyes, and he apologized, though I could tell he was trying to hide his laughter.


    Eventually, the food was finally fully cooked and I ate in silence, my face flushed. Although the food was somewhat overcooked, it was rare enough that it was probably one of the best meals I¡¯ve had in my life.


    Me- ¡°Where¡¯d you get the magical beast meat?¡± I asked.


    Dad cryptically replied,


    Dad- ¡°Well, it was killed last night.¡±


    Changing the subject he added,


    Dad- ¡°Also, you should find a few things solved for your training. I woke you up early today, and as of now you have about 15 minutes before it starts.¡±


    Me- ¡°Thanks.¡±


    I finished my food and this time broke off into a leisurely walk down the path to the training area. While I was idly walking down the path, I saw a pebble. Out of my boredom, I decided to play a game of kicking the rock while keeping it on the dirt path. And my thoughts turned back to Ocran and the Ruffian. How could they be so dishonorable, so shameless? Just thinking about them made me furious. I angrily kicked the pebble, and it hit someone.


    ???- ¡°Hey! Who dares to throw rocks at me!¡±


    An irritated boy turned around and looked at me hatefully. It was Ocran. However, as soon as he saw me his attitude turned meek.


    Ocran- ¡°Oh, young master Daniel. Please be more careful when you daydream. Afterall, if I was another person you might have been beaten up. I¡¯m sure your father wouldn¡¯t want that.¡±


    He looked around nervously, as if someone might be watching him. Sweat rolled down his face as he added,


    Ocran- ¡°Well of course no one would escape the consequences from your esteemed father, just saying.¡±


    He awkwardly walked away, and after he was some distance further, he started running like his life depended on it. I was dumbfounded until I recalled the comment he made seemingly to himself last night1. Ah! My face filled with gratitude and I made a mental note to thank him later. Then, I started walking again albeit this time with a spring in my step.


    (1: If you don¡¯t actually remember the comment that¡¯s actually sad. Go read a bit earlier in this chapter and you will find it.)


    When I made it to the practice, I sat on a tree stump and waited for the ruffian to come. However, some other kids came first.


    Leader kid- ¡°Hey, that¡¯s our spot trash. Why don¡¯t you find somewhere else.¡±


    I sighed and got up; they had been sitting there yesterday.


    Leader kid- ¡°Hold up! You didn¡¯t say thank you. Didn¡¯t your mom teach you to, oh thats right,¡° he snickered, ¡°you don¡¯t have one!¡±


    The whole group laughed maliciously and I was no longer willing to let them have the spot. My temper was always slow to anger when they talked trash about me but my parents? That was crossing the line.


    I smashed the leader with a lightning quick fist, and he immediately rolled off the stump. Then, I pushed the other kids on the ground to fully claim the stump. I jumped on it and declared,


    Me- ¡°It¡¯s mine now, anything to say trash?¡±


    Immediately, the two lackeys backed off, but the speaker remained. His face was so red, it looked as if his head had just been dumped in a boiling pot of water! He screamed angrily,


    Leader kid- ¡°You¡¯ll pay for that!¡±


    He took up a fighting stance, but it was obvious that it needed a knife as he kept feeling in his pockets for something.


    Me- ¡°Where¡¯s your knife idiot?¡± I provoked, ¡°Did you get it taken away by mommy for being bad?¡±


    Right after I finished, he charged at me. However, in his blind rage, he tripped over a root and his fist fell short. I jumped on the chance and crushed him underfoot, quite literally. Not letting him have a chance to grab my legs, I got off of him quickly. He groaned and rolled over. Next, he tried to get up. It took a few seconds because the wind was knocked out of him, but he eventually managed. I waited patiently for him to catch his breath, and he managed to wheeze out,


    Leader kid- ¡°You shouldn¡¯t of done this. I¡¯ll get Ocran to handle you trash!¡±


    He waited, expecting for me to be fearful of his threat. However, the reaction I gave him was not to his expectations. I remembered Ocran¡¯s subservient attitude and started outright laughing. Get Ocran? Would he dare?


    I made an aggressive step forward, and he started limping in retreat to a tree on the other side of the stage, with his buddies. Serves him right.


    More people started arriving in the next few minutes, and after a little while, the ruffian showed up. He was dressed in a black gi with white stripes. Except where his right hand used to be, now there was only an empty sleeve. He then announced in a loud voice.


    Ruffian- ¡°So you brats. Yesterday, the actions that you all have committed were an insult and an injustice to our clan as a whole!¡±


    He started walking over to me, and when he arrived, he spoke to the others.


    Ruffian- ¡°To jeer at a child being sneak attacked by someone almost twice his age is despicable and such an action is beneath out Plundering Earth Clan! It is even worse, considering that the shameless deed was directed at one of the honorable young masters of the clan, Daniel Swiftblade!¡±


    Following this statement, murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd.


    Rp1- ¡°Swiftblade? Wasn¡¯t his father the strongest man in the clan? Only, he fell when the mom died. Has he picked himself up?¡±


    Rp2- ¡°Can¡¯t you see Creon¡¯s missing hand? He must of received some sort of night visit from Daniel¡¯s Dad.¡±


    Rp3- ¡°That explains the total change in attitude. Even if he is a drunk, it doesn¡¯t mean that he cannot trash someone like Creon anyday. After all, a 2 rank difference is impossible to overcome, not to mention that Jack¡¯s methods are very overpowering. It is likely that his methods are unmatched within the clan.¡±


    Creon- ¡°Therefore, you despicable brats must apologize sincerely to young master Daniel. If anything, you have to give face to his honorable father. So, apologize!¡±


    He put the kids all up in a line, and the first to apologize was one of the cronies of the leader kid.


    Cronnie 1- ¡°Young master, hah, I didn¡¯t mean anything by my actions. Please forgive this ignorant youth for his trespassings.¡±


    He bowed and muttered something under his breath. Not even a second later, he received a slap to his face that sent him flying.


    Creon- ¡°You trash, I¡¯d like to hear what you said in front of everyone! Go ahead!¡±


    He paused while glaring at the terrified boy.


    Creon- ¡°Or are you so stupid that you cannot even speak?¡±


    He turned into a giant human blur and kicked the boy into the side of a hill. Then a huge grin spread on his face, and he started laughing hoarsely.


    Afterwards, no one else spoke a single word of dissent. They were too terrified of this man, who seemed to sadistically enjoy inflicting pain on children.


    Time flew by and as the last person gave me their fake apology, I was still not satisfied. I still remember the burning pain from last night, the tedious struggle against my whole being. All because of him. He was the one who started all this crap in the first place, yet he still does not acknowledge his own crimes.


    Righteous fury bridled up in me and I exclaimed,


    Me- ¡°Hold on. One person has not apologized to me yet.¡±


    Creon- ¡°Who? Who has offended you, young master? Tell me so I may make him apologize!¡±


    I pointed to him and made a gesture onto the ground. But Creon did not take this well, and he simply forgot all about the whole apology facade.


    Creon- ¡°Are you suggesting that I, an elder must kneel to you? Impudence, you do not have the qualifications! If you want to make me kneel, you have to be strong enough! For that insolent remark, you get to run 5 laps around the hill1!¡±


    (1: I know I said the bandit living area had a circumfrece of 10 miles, but this is not the bandit living area. It is only a big part of it.)


    His punishment was no joke, the hill had a huge circumference. Five laps was enough to send a normal 7 year old gasping for breath. But I was no ordinary 7 year old. Without my mother to feed me any sort of breast milk, I was fed using the spell, restore. Being fed that way instead of using food had led to strengthening my whole bodily foundations, instead of the subpar usage of getting strengthened partially with food. Thus, I always was well above average, and even though I had never received any bodily training, neither had most of the others. 7 years old is the best age to start preparation training for the 1st rank. After all, it is the age where your body is still very adaptable to changes as well as your mind has reached a level of maturity acceptable to understand martial arts.


    Keeping this knowledge in mind, I felt no pressure whatsoever from his threat. I then smirked and pointed to the ground yet again. His face grew very red at this remark, he had been thoroughly embarrassed in front of the kids he was supposed to be in dominion over. If he didn¡¯t establish a strong control at the start, he would cause endless troubles for himself.


    Creon- ¡°You dare!? 15 laps with weights!¡±


    He then grew somewhat hysterical and screamed, spittle flying out of his mouth.


    Creon- ¡°And all of you brats with him! Thirteen laps!¡±


    Upon hearing this declaration, many glances of hatred were shot my way. I didn¡¯t say a single apology, and I picked up a basket at the side of the arena in silence. They were most likely there for the older kids; they usually did weighted running at the start of the day. But today, they were being used to advance my own training. I casually filled the basket with rocks, and decisively started running without a moment''s hesitation. Considering the punishment as personal training, I continued to run seriously instead of jogging like the others.


    I somewhat liked running. Not of course for the exhaustion or mental fatigue that came afterwards, but for the natural and unrestrained feeling I got from doing it. It also gave me time to ponder before the running became a chore.


    In the blink of an eye, I had passed my 5th lap, the threshold for those of an ordinary constitution. Creon was visibly getting more and more irritated after every one of my laps. On the 9th lap, Creon had enough. The fact that I had lapped one of the fatter participants right in front of his face had finally pushed him over the edge. He started to jeer at me, hoping to wear down my mental fortitude,


    Creon- ¡°Oh my gosh, you look like a hot mess. I would help you cool down, but who knows, you might attract the ladies.¡±


    He shook his head sarcastically and almost cracked up. But his mood was ruined when I started laughing too. The laughter came out in short, breathless, bursts, but it was very obvious that it was genuine. The reason was that coming from him, that statement was extremely ironic.


    Sure, my appearance was a bit less than average, but he would be classified as an absolute ugly. First of all, he was a fat man with a double chin. Second of all, his hair was falling out, and the few pieces he had left were sticking up at odd places. And to top everything off, he had a huge wart that was a huge deterrence to anybody around. Women avoided him like the plague, and men did too.


    The little episode with Creon had rejuvenated my mental fatigue, but my physical abilities were at an all time low. My legs felt heavy, and I was gasping for breath. It seemed as if I had reached the condition which ordinary people would feel on their 5th lap.


    I cursed under my breath and continued on without an outward pause. Yesterday I had learned a valuable lesson in regards to my body, and that was no matter the protests from it, you were the true master. Until the point where your limbs literally collapse from exhaustion, you could go on. It only took an abundance of willpower and determination, and that was something I possessed in abundance after last night. So I kept going.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The rhythmic pace of my footsteps and breathing were becoming my only solace. It was the 12th lap, and the very limits of my endurance and willpower were being tested. But every time I was going to give up, I remembered my convictions from yesterday. When I said them, I meant them, I was not going back. And for the first time, I encountered the so called ¡®second wind.¡¯


    It was as if a heavy pressure had suddenly lifted from my body, and my speed picked up back to my normal pace. No longer feeling a thing, I passed through the last three laps like a breeze.


    After I finally sat down in my familiar place, the tree stump, I surveyed the surrounding area. Shock and surprise filled my face, I was not the last one to arrive! Although about 2/3rds of the kids were here, the other 3rd I had lapped twice! However, the fatigue hit me like a wave, and I was suddenly too tired to care about my own achievements.


    Once the rest of the kids arrived, Creon went to the center of the arena again. This was his usual spot when he was going to announce something, so everyone went quiet immediately. Not many wanted a repeat of yesterday, especially the ones who came up.


    Creon- ¡°Now, I would like you all to get into sparring groups. Showcase your best combat abilities from the martial art we learned yesterday!¡±


    I sat down and smiled, I didn¡¯t know anyone. Due to the mass opinion about me and my father, I had been shunned. Looking for anyone who didn¡¯t have a partner, I spotted one of the leader kid¡¯s lackeys who seemed to be looking around aimlessly. He didn¡¯t really take part when the leader kid was trying to cause trouble, so my impression of him was indifferent. I walked over with long strides, the friendly smile still plastered on my face. Could he be my partner?


    When the kid noticed me, his expression was indifferent. Taking that as a good sign, I took the initiative to speak.


    Me- ¡°Do you need a partner?¡±


    He quickly looked around for someone, anyone other than me, but he was quickly disappointed. With an expression of a slight distaste, he reluctantly spoke,


    ???- ¡°As long as Luke doesn¡¯t see me with you, I¡¯m ok with it. My name is Logan.¡±


    Me- ¡°Daniel¡±


    But just a moment later, Logan started shaking his head and pointed at the tree stump. He started to talk through clenched teeth.


    Logan- ¡°Go! Luke is coming!¡±


    I started walking back to look for another person when suddenly, a hand clasped on my shoulder. I turned around to find Luke with Logan in tow.


    Luke (Leader kid) - ¡°I was looking for you Daniel,¡± he said in a somewhat friendly tone, ¡°It seems there is an odd number of people, so why don¡¯t we go at it, 2 on one.¡±


    He smiled amiably, but his eyes were like vipers,


    Luke- ¡°The prestigious son of Jack Swiftblade must be strong, like two men instead of one! Don¡¯t you think so too Logan?¡±


    He stared at Logan with an intimidating glare, and Logan replied,


    Logan- ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure he will do well. But it is hardly fair to take on two people at once..¡±


    He looked to me and said,


    Logan- ¡°Would you like to spar with me first?¡±


    It seemed like Logan had friendly intentions, so I accepted. After a moment''s preparation, we both drew into fighting stances. Mine was completely made up; I never been trained in any sort of martial art. However I did know the basics. These were, to keep my hands up near my face, to adopt an almost sideways stance towards the opponent, and to aim for vital areas such as the throat, head, liver, and the nether regions. But in a spar, I could only aim for areas like the stomach, chest, legs and arms. After all, we were not aiming to kill or maim; it was a spar.


    We both started about a meter away from each other, and both took the initiative to attack. I used my leg to kick towards Logan¡¯s calf, and he threw a punch to my chest. My attack hit first, and I caught him mid step. This caused him to stumble, and I took the chance to follow up with a punch to his chest.


    Abruptly, he fell on his back, and I grinned. Logan wheezed,


    Logan- ¡°Wow. You really didn¡¯t go easy on me.¡±


    Me- ¡°He-he,¡±


    I cleared my throat embarrassingly and picked Logan back up. Upon seeing this, Luke¡¯s face turned dark. He let out a snort and started seething at Logan.


    Luke- ¡°Logan¡­ what are you doing¡­?¡±


    Logan shot an apologetic look at him and backed off. Luke went dangerously quiet.


    Luke- ¡°We were going to exchange pointers, right? Well, why don¡¯t we st-¡±


    Before he finished his sentence, he was already rushing at me to try and catch me off gaurd. Again, I relied upon the only thing that allowed me to win, my instinct. This time it was to push him down while sidestepping. Afterall, he was charging at me like a raging bull. However this time, lady luck was not on my side.


    I stumbled a bit and he rammed my stomach, right where I got slammed yesterday. But this time, it didn¡¯t affect me much. With a disdainful snort, I hammered on his back with my fist, making him fall to the ground.


    By this time, Logan had recovered from our previous spar, and cautiously inched forward. It looked like he had learned from watching Luke¡¯s mistake, and this time, he started off with a roundhouse kick. However, he was obviously not experienced with this method of fighting; he lost his balance when the kick hit me.


    Again, I absorbed the blow with my sturdy constitution and retaliated by grabbing his leg with my almost monstrous strength. With a shout, I flipped him over on the grass. I had won.


    I started to grow prideful, could it be that I was talented in the way of martial arts? But then I remembered Ocran and Creon. I didn¡¯t want to be disgusting like those people, they acted like they were the only ones in the world, and everyone else was like an insect, ready to be stepped on. If this was where pride led, I wanted no part of it.


    But it seemed like I had not learned from my previous lesson about self musing. Luke tried to pull my leg and get me on the ground, where he could have a fighting chance. It took me by surprise, but the attempt was to no avail. I kicked him in the face, which silenced any further attempt to pull me down. Then, I walked over to Logan, and helped him up again. But before he could say anything, Creon spoke up.


    Creon- ¡°It seems like most of you have finished your spars by now, But it also seems like none of you have internalized what I did yesterday. So let me show you for the second time, our earth shattering fist!¡±


    He went into a certain pose before letting out a punch. It seemed as if the air moved along with his fist, and a shockwave pushed out, parting the dust on the arena. Gasps of astonishment were heard throughout the crowd, and he pulled back, satisfied.


    Creon- ¡°This is a rank zero martial skill, based on a bear. But don¡¯t be fooled by the rank, the effects are stronger than you can imagine!¡±


    He jumped down off the stage and onto the ground. Positioning himself in front of a brick sized rock, he viciously grinned, and sent out the earth shattering fist again. The shockwave passed directly through the rock, and shattered the earth beneath the rock.


    Creon- ¡°This fist technique passes through most defenses and explodes after a certain distance. It can be used to attack through armor, shoot through the air as a mid range attack or-¡±


    He tossed the unharmed rock into the air and met it with a fist strike that sent it flying into a big rock. The bigger rock exploded into pieces and the smaller one was still unharmed. Creon finished,


    Creon- ¡°to carry on through projectiles making it a long distance attack.¡±


    Everyone clapped wildly, yet I was silent. Unlike the others who saw this as an amazing show to be talked about with their buddies, I was trying to figure out what made this possible. Reviewing my memories, it seemed like first he did a certain pose before every attack. Second, his punch was always in the same direction his body was facing, at the same exact area. Lastly, there was an almost intangible force moving with his attacks. Given enough time, I could definitely replicate the movements, but the force was something unknown to me, unduplicatable. Could this force be aura? Creon interrupted my thoughts saying,


    Creon- ¡°As a 0th rank martial art, your current strength is only enough to use it once. That is, if you could use it. Martial arts require the usage of aura, and it usually requires one to acquire the 0th rank to see aura.¡±


    He looked from side to side in the crowd, making sure to make eye contact with every single person. After a long pause, he started again,


    Creon- ¡°However, people who experience combat consistently, and encounter a life or death situation will be able to unlock their aura prematurely. By familiarizing this body movement, you can survive that critical moment as well as unlocking your aura. And also, even without aura, it is incomparably powerful compared to a normal punch. Now in light of recent events, we won¡¯t leave here today until all are able to use this movement to my standards!¡±


    *************


    After finishing the training, we were finally allowed to go home. Although Creon only called it off due to the loud growling of the others stomachs, I think I got the hang of the basic technique. But I was still feeling unsatisfied. So I stayed back a little later than the others, and continued training the technique.


    Finally, I quit training due to the exhaustion in my legs and started heading back home. However, I was not alone.


    When I was about to leave, I felt my back prickling, like tiny needles were stabbing me all over. I recognized that feeling, it was the feeling of being watched by someone with bad intentions. I was not one to doubt my instincts, and I immediately surveyed the area, looking for something, anything that was suspicious. When I looked to the cliff overlooking the training area, my search bore fruit. There was a human like figure behind a tree!


    It was twilight so I couldn¡¯t exactly make out who the person was, but it looked to be someone around my age. Instantly, my worries were dispelled. It was probably Luke, looking for revenge or one of his cronies. I walked on with confidence, what could Luke or his buddies do to me? I had already beaten them once, attacking again is simply asking for it.


    As I expected, I ran into an ambush on my way home. This time, it was Luke and both of his buddies. But contrary to my expectations, Luke did not have an air of defeat around him. It seemed that having both of his friends there boosted his confidence.


    Luke- ¡°Hey brother Daniel, we were having some difficulties on practicing the earth shattering fist. I wonder if you could give us some pointers to consolidate the technique.¡±


    Me- ¡°Not interested.¡±


    I pushed past them not caring in the slightest about their games. But Luke was not willing to let me go. Not bothering for any more pretense, he shot out an earth shattering fist at my back. But he did not catch me off guard. With a low growl, I ducked past the attack and spun around to face the group.


    Right after I faced them, Luke¡¯s cronies dashed past him on opposite sides and let out 2 fist attacks. I took a single step back, causing their attacks to fall short. Then I immediately retaliated against the cronie I didn¡¯t know with an earth shattering fist.


    This fist attack was no joke, first of all, my bodiliy strength far surpassed theirs, and second of all, my comprehension of the fist technique was much stronger than the others in the class. After all, I was the only one to stay behind, not to mention that my technique was the only one to achieve the basics of the technique.


    With a high pitched scream, the one I hit fell to the ground twitching. But then is when I found out the first weakness of a martial technique. I could not execute it with both hands, and I had to return to the previous stance to let out another one.


    In that momentary weakness, I was hit in the side by Logan¡¯s fist. I fell on the ground and I immediately came to face with a foot stamping towards my head. I rolled over and grabbed towards his foot with an iron grip. He tried to kick me off but it was all for naught, I would not let go.


    Despite Logan¡¯s efforts, I got to my feet quickly and let out the strongest earth shattering fist I had let out since training.


    ¡°Wham!¡±


    It smashed into his stomach and he flew to the side. But I was not done yet. Like an elephant, I stampeded towards Luke who was standing on the side watching. But this time he did not meet me head on. I could see the fear in his eyes, he wanted to flee. He started running frantically from me, but it was like a cat running from a tiger. The two could not be compared, and in a moment, I had already arrived next to Luke.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    He hit the floor, hard. In the period of momentary silence, the dust from him falling rose up in a swirling cloud, signifying his defeat. Finally, my anger had subsided. Promptly, I continued to walk through the route to my house ignoring the stifled screams and groans coming from behind me. But unlike the normal resentment that normally resulted in a hard won battle, on my face there was a satisfied smile. I had involuntarily made a breakthrough in my understanding of the earth shattering fist with that battle, and it consolidated my understanding of the basic movements to the martial art.


    ************


    Immediately upon arriving home, I felt as if I was starving. Previously the beast known as my stomach had slowly grown angrier as I trained, and now that I had reached home, it simply couldn¡¯t be suppressed any longer.


    ¡°Grrrrrrrr¡±


    I was now panicked; the growling signified that if I didn¡¯t get food soon I would die. I ran quickly to the cabinet to get something, anything, but I feared I would not be quick enough. Going against the wishes of the beast was a losing battle, he would weaken you until you passed out or died. The only way to win was to sate him with food, to prolong the fight to another day. But I was already feeling the weakness in my limbs, it was taking all my strength to open the cabinet.


    Eventually, I opened the cabinet, and with rapidly weakening hands, I managed to reach the forbidden bag of dried meat. It was forbidden for a reason; eating from it would result in a punishment all too hard to bear. But surely, Dad would forgive me, after all this was a matter of life and death!


    With a hurried movement, I picked up the bag, and with hope filled eyes, I tried to open it. I exerted all the strength I could muster, pulling power from who knows where to open the knot. But it was all for naught. The tie was, stuck. It was Stuck!


    I crumpled to the floor in dismay, my legs could no longer give me any support. I tried to untie the rope again in a final, misguided hope. I couldn¡¯t. My eyes filled with despair, was I going to die like this? I again futilely struggled to move my arms or my legs, but I was now fighting a losing battle. There was no winning against the beast. It growled again in triumph, and I gave up.


    I lied there for a while, not able to move a muscle. It was only a matter of time now, I was waiting for the inevitable. In my last moments, I glanced at the door to see a figure just standing there. His face portrayed subtle frown, and one of his eyebrows was raised in confusion. Ah! It was dad!


    I crazily started motioning over with my eyes to the meat bag, and Dad seemed like he understood. He ambled over to me at a leisure pace and slowly picked up the bag with seemingly careful movements. That made me almost cry out in agony, he was doing this on purpose! After an eternity, he had finally placed a piece of the jerky onto my mouth, and not even a moment after, it was gone. Like a beggar who finally had food after a week on scraps, I jumped to my feet and stole the bag with quick and practiced movements. I then stuffed as much meat as I could to sate the beast.


    But I had let my guard down after stealing the bag, and it was stolen back with movements that could only be described as masterful. I didn¡¯t even notice the bag was gone until I reached for another handful of meat. Immediately after, my limbs were filled with weakness, and I sat down again trying to deal with the unbearable hot feeling in my stomach. It growled again but this time it seemed to say,


    The beast- ¡°I will get something to eat either way, but you get to choose. Which would you rather, food or some scrumptious Daniel?¡±


    My face turned pale, and Dad directly used a restore on me. Instantly, my face turned towards a healthier shade, and I was not hungry anymore.


    Me- ¡°Thanks Dad...¡±


    He glared at me and replied,


    Dad- ¡°I won¡¯t punish you again because of the torture you had to endure under. But don¡¯t you dare take from my bag of jerky without being prepared for the consequences.¡±


    I looked at him sheepishly, choosing not to say a word. Yes, I could express my dissent on how hungry I was, but I could of also expressed foresight in the matter of training and prepared a snack when I got home.


    After about a minute of awkward silence, I promptly decided to return to my room. I had to further consolidate my understanding of the basic earth shattering fist. I exhaled out a long sigh and examined my bodily condition.


    My muscles were still aching softly, but I was fatigued no longer thanks to the restore. I could begin training without any problems. However, I was not going to do any training physically. That could wait until tomorrow. Instead, I decided to meditate on the insights I gained during that fight to maximize the effects of the breakthrough. After all, I was not about to forget how I pulled off that fist, and waste all my hard work.


    __________________________________________________________________


    Previous Chapter</a>    The Universe Catalog</a>    Next Chapter</a>


    Another authors note- As you can probably tell if you read the Universe Catalog, this story is going to be like a wuxia until Daniel reaches 12 years old, upon which the story will grow its wings and turn into an xianxia. Look forward to it! Or maybe it will happen sooner. You don¡¯t know yet ¡®tehee!¡¯

 Vol. 1 Chapter 3- Thundersword

    Author¡¯s note- Hi guys, it¡¯s me again. I forgot to tell you this, but when you imagine Daniel¡¯s home, think of a hobbit home. Only, midgets don¡¯t live there.


    Also, if you want to read some other good xianxia novels while you¡¯re waiting but can¡¯t find them, I have my reading list for you right here</a>. I have a lot of stories on this list because I was once a leecher who never donated just like all of you! (No offence intended). But I was inspired by all the translations, and they led me to give back instead of staying a leecher my whole life. So, yay! Here I am giving you Vol. 1 Chapter 3- Thundersword. Enjoy!


    PS- Oh yeah, here is a question for all the readers. When ever I have my parenthesis in the middle of the story, does that bother you all? Because I could just link it to 1 2 3 etc, at the bottom of the page without distracting from the flow of the story. Or I could have it at the bottom of the paragraphs as well instead of right in the middle of the story. So vote on this poll here after reading.


    Edit: Ok, I¡¯m putting them at the end and numbering the terms I wasnt to talk about with superscript. At the end of the paragraph will be a number, and writing in parenthesis. Editing previous chapters to conform with this.


    __________________________________________________________________


    Thundersword


    I woke up to shivering from a sitting position on the ground; it seemed I had fallen asleep during my meditation. I uncrossed my frozen legs, and I went back to my bed for the warm cover present there. I thoroughly wrapped myself up in my blanket, and then tried to go back to sleep. But I couldn¡¯t. Sighing softly, I decided to entertain myself by watching the solemn events of the world beyond my window.


    In the night sky, the stars were nowhere to be seen. Instead the only thing in sight for miles was just rolling clouds, with the occasional glimpse of the moon. But suddenly, the clouds produced rain and thunder. The rain was harmless, but when it thundered, even the strongest men grew wary.


    The lightning was produced and refined by an unimaginable accumulation by the natural energy floating in the sky, and the lightning struck out to the highest density source of energy bare under the heavens. That meant that if a cultivator was not under shelter of any sort, the lightning would strike.


    Lightning is undodgeable by anyone or anything under the heavens, and it will never miss its target. It will annihilate anything under the advanced realm without a trace, and the fact that it rang out so near signified a certain death sentence for a wandering cultivator. Immediately my eyes widened, and I hurriedly pressed my face against the quartz to get a better look out into the night sky. I saw a flash that briefly illuminated the surrounding hillside, and not even a second later an earsplitting sound rang out.


    ¡°Crackkk!¡±


    My face turned pale; who was it this time? A wandering traveler? A bandit of our clan?


    I shook my head in denial. I had to stop thinking like that. Most likely cultivators had enough sense to not be outside during a thunderstorm. The lightning probably struck an accumulation of natural energy, not a person.


    Surveying the surrounding area in the rolling hills, I didn¡¯t see anyone in the immediate vicinity that could have been struck by the lightning, but then again, you rarely ever would. But suddenly, the dark clouds turned white yet again, and I saw a brief flash of electricity flickering in the clouds. In that instant, the lighting struck out like a divine hammer, and smashed into the back of the hill side.


    Did that lighting just hit the same place twice? There must be something special there!


    An insane thought suddenly sprung out within my mind: should I go check it out? I probably wouldn¡¯t be struck by lightning; I hadn¡¯t cultivated yet. But Dad would probably punish me for it¡­


    The curiosity eventually won out, and I quietly put on my shoes to go outside. I looked toward the doorway, but it seemed Dad hadn¡¯t heard me yet. But of course he didn¡¯t, because the pattering of the rain was enough to drown out any sound I couldn¡¯t conceal. I opened the door and was about to walk out when I heard a creaking sound. Was that dad¡¯s door?


    I peered into the dark hallway, but I couldn¡¯t make out any movement. My heart started thumping wildly, and I took one last glance before turning around to the open door. Finally, I walked out silently and closed the door behind me without a hitch.


    While I walked, the rain and wind whipped around me, and I almost slipped in the hillside that was rapidly turning into mud. But I kept going; I had to find out what caused the lightning to fall. If it was an accumulation of natural energy, it could be a treasure of sorts. If it was a cultivator, we still had an obligation to pillage whatever was left. After all, lightning always struck out to the strongest point of energy nearest to it. That means it would almost never strike out towards an animal or a normal person, but it would attack natural treasures and strong cultivators.


    Eventually, I had made it past the grassy hill side, and there I saw a familiar sight. The farmfields! They were a food source for our clan, and some pathways from the city passed right by. If there were weak looking merchants traveling along the path, our favorite location was to ambush them at our farm fields! The normal plan was to first attack them from their back with the 2nd rank warriors from our clan. Next we would shoot arrows on the sides from 1st and 0th warriors. Then we would send in a powerhouse at the 3rd rank from the front while their backs are turned. And finally, we would send in our other two leaders of the 3rd rank on the sides supported by arrow fighters to kill the enemy while they were disorganized and confused. The best thing about this tactic was that if their force was unexpectedly too strong, we could retreat into the endless farmlands where we could regroup and finish the merchants off. Our method has never left any merchant survivors, and it has offered the least amount of casualties on our side since the creation of our clan.


    I couldn¡¯t wait until I was 11 to finally be able to support the caravan raids! After all, it was a great honor to support your clan by killing the rich, pompous merchants from the city. And the best thing of all was that you got to keep one item from whatever you acquired during the raid! That is, if you were at least a second rank warrior. But if you were attacking from the brush, you got less of a reward. After all, that position doesn¡¯t actually fight in close range, so you only got one item of the valuables that are distributed afterwards.


    Now that I think about it, it is strange that the lightning struck in this field. Although this place does hold the pathway between Lucia city and a couple of villages, nobody here of a certain level of cultivation would ever go traveling when a thunderstorm comes. That would just be plain suicide. So most likely the lightning struck a natural treasure.


    My eyes brightened up as if I had just seen a spirit crystal, and I hastened down the hill. My chance would not last for long; surely after the thunderstorm cultivators would come to investigate, and after that I would not stand a chance.


    At first I searched the sides of the pathways, but it was to no avail. Combined with the fact that I was constantly getting more nervous, and the growing danger that a cultivator could show up and wipe me out without a care, I almost gave up. But another lightning strike renewed the hope that had almost declined to the point of nonexistence.


    I dashed through the crops like a gust of excited wind; I finally had a chance! The lightning had struck yet again, notifying me of the location where the treasure was at. Coming from that location, there was only one place that the treasure could possibly be located.


    The graveyard!


    The graveyard was a place where the mercenaries and bandits that died in battle were respected, and placed with an item they had in their possession. Of course, all of these items had no real use, but the dead had to take something with them. But this time, the leaders may have missed a heaven-angering treasure!


    I vigorously charged through the various foliage, and the graveyard immediately broke into sight. Under my immediate observation, I could see about 100 tombstones, each marked with the special symbol called the eight paths of soul. It looked like a swirling circle of mist, with six differently colored lotuses swimming within. The six lotuses were symbols of the six purifications one would undertake when they died. The swirling mist represented the aimless yet inevitable path of the spirit into the center, where their respective memories would manifest into a petal for one of the six lotuses. But the image as a whole represented the way, the path of dispersion. Only through being condensed and churned through the path of dispersion will one finally be reincarnated into another, whether it be human, plant, or animal.


    Putting this symbol on the grave was a sign of respect, and a wish of luck. It was put on every grave, no matter who they were because all were the same when they walked the way. But however, one grave had a broken down tombstone with a crater surrounding it. At the center of the crater contained a single wooden sword, that flickered with electricity.


    The blade of the sword contained numerous white veins running through it, and they slowly pulsated as if they were breathing. On closer inspection, the edge of the blade seemed so sharp that you could be cut just by looking at it, and it emitted a formless pressure that made me feel inferior just by being in its presence. On the hilt was a single cavity that was spherical in shape, and it looked as if the veins stemmed and flowered out from this empty hole. My eyes involuntarily followed the veins to the sides of the cross guard, and it looked like every part of it was made out of metal feathers, which then combined to spread its wings towards the sky. The pulsating veins wrapped and twisted around the handle, and finally rested on the bottom of the handle where they capped off and went inside the handle.


    I stood there, marveling at this wonder. Why had the wooden sword not been noticed by the bandits? Surely a priceless treasure such as this wouldn¡¯t of been thrown away, right?


    Suddenly, a sense of urgency overtook me as I realized my time had almost run out. The rain was getting lighter, and I doubted the thunderstorm was going to last much longer. Finally overpowering the pressure that obstructed my very soul, I grabbed the blade by the hilt, and ran towards my house as fast as possible.


    Adrenaline fueled my run as I sprinted through the fields. I did not know if the storm had any lightning left, and I was not willing to sit around and find out. But when I looked back, I discovered that the lightning was the least of my worries. There was a woman on a cliff shaded by trees staring at me with a blood red glow coming out of her eyes. Crap1.


    (1: I was very tempted to end the chapter here when I wrote this. Should I end at places like this? Tell me when you comment about the size of the chapters :3)


    I looked back ahead and pushed my limits, knowing that the faster I made it home, the better. But I was of course slowed down by the wooden sword. However, it felt like it was slowly getting lighter every second I ran. Not to mention it wasn¡¯t exactly lightweight at the start either. I think at first it weighed around 40 pounds, which is impossibly heavy for a sword of this size. But now it felt like 20, and combined with its height that seemed to shrink every second it passed in my hand; it was getting easier and easier to run with it.


    Finally, I could see the familiar hill of my house and I charged to the door. But before opening it, I hesitated. What would my dad say when if he noticed I was gone? I was out for way too long. Suddenly, a pair of bloodshot eyes flashed out from undercover behind the hill and I no longer hesitated. I opened the door and closed it in an instant.


    Heaving out a heavy sigh, I stealthily ran to my room and closed that door as well. My god, this blade was a lot of trouble to get. I glanced back over at the blade but to my surprise the veins had dimmed to a soft glow and the size of the blade had grown to fit my height. Now that was a strange sight! I suddenly thought about something, and then looked towards the edge only to find it had gotten dull to the point of being just like a normal wooden sword. Hardly deadly.


    I almost cried out in dismay. Where had my beautiful sword gone? Had I taken all that risk for nothing? Saddened and with no energy left, I put the sword away in my closet for temporary safekeeping. Next, all I had the spirit to do is to glance outside through the window, and watch the last rain drops depressingly splash and die out against the ground.


    ***************


    I watched the weather for a little while longer before getting up and drying myself off with some rags. After all, I was soaking wet and shivering cold from all that rainwater. A couple wet rags and a change of clothes later, I was completely dried off and ready to make breakfast. In fact I was getting pretty ravenous, especially considering my frantic running earlier this morning as well as the intense training and fighting yesterday. Also, I did not need a repeat of the episode from yesterday.


    I opened the door to my room, but this time not caring about the amount of noise I made. I was only making breakfast, so what did I have to hide? Unfortunately, I did not think of the need to hide myself due to the trouble I caused this morning. Right after I had walked a small distance down the hallway,  a dark hand had clasped on my arm and jerked me violently onto the floor. My heart jumped to my throat, and I found it incredibly difficult to breath. I stared upwards, and Dad looked at me with furious eyes.


    Dad- ¡°Daniel! What the h*ll have you done! Did you freaking lose your mind? Did I not teach you a single thing about lighting? Had lighting struck while you had that worthless wooden sword, there would be no more f**king Daniel! Do you understand me!?¡±


    I cringed, Dad never got this mad, but thinking back it was true. Carrying that sword under a lighting storm, was just like walking in a den of bandits while flaunting high grade spirit crystals constantly. It was just courting death1. I squeaked out weakly,


    (1: I¡¯m sure many of you know what this phrase means, but for those who don¡¯t know it means that you are doing something that is akin to suicide)


    Me- ¡°I-- I understand¡±


    He eased up slightly, but I could tell he was steadily getting angrier, like a closed, boiling caldron. One misstep, and it could explode violently.


    Dad- ¡°Where is the sword? Bring it to me, Now!¡±


    I groaned, and while not caring about my bodily state, he spoke again, now resembling a tyrant.


    Dad- ¡°Was that a question? Get the f**k up and bring it to me NOW!¡±


    He grabbed my arm tightly, making me cringe with pain and pulled me up to my feet. Then I was forced to make a march down the hallway into my room. When we reached the door, he pushed me through making me stumble.


    Dad- ¡°Get it from your closet.¡±


    He scowled further and added,


    Dad- ¡°And that¡¯s a bad hiding place anyway. If someone came looking for that, the closet is the first place they would look. Next time, find a better place to hide your crap.¡±


    Unperturbed by the somewhat disdainful comment, I brought the ¡®mostly¡¯ dried off sword from the closet, and handed it over. Dad looked over it, and then immediately turned over the blade to examine it in an excited rush. A small grin appeared when he finished visually looking over the sword. Then he rubbed his thumb over the edge, and the rarely present grin faded away. He snorted in disgust and gave me his analysis,


    Dad- ¡°The wooden sword is a rarely seen quality in craftsmanship, there is no grain1 to the wood that I can discover, and it is put together in a way that makes it almost indestructible to attacks in the mortal realm.


    (1: No grain to the wood means no cutting through the wood. The only way to break it is to shatter the whole blade.)


    However, the edge of the blade is non-existent, you can¡¯t even cut through skin with that kind of edge. Also, although the size of the blade is very suited to you now, when you grow up, you will quickly find that the sword is becoming harder and harder to handle. And, after you become a cultivator, this sword will have no practical use. Because it is made out of wood, it will break in no more than five hits from a basic realm practitioner.¡±


    He threw the sword back at me, and I caught it by the edge without a scratch on my hand.


    Dad- ¡°The only use that this may have is in training. It is not worth spending even 5 low grade spirit crystals, much less your life. So since you seem to attach so much value to this trash, you will not receive a weapon from our clan for any reason whatsoever. This blade shall be the weapon that you will have for the rest of your time while you still reside in my house. So get used to it!¡±


    He then left the room in a rage, and I was stuck alone with this trash of a sword. But I was also left with one last strand of hope. He did not mention why it was able to withstand lightning, and the craftsmanship was amazing, no matter how bad the material. I smiled faintly remembering the impossibly profound events at that crater. If I could unlock the secret as to why it was able to withstand the wrath of the heavens; I would have made off with an incalculably valuable treasure. I looked back at the faintly gleaming sheen of the wooden sword and thought, ¡®Let me see if I truly cannot find what secrets you hold!¡¯


    *************


    After about an hour passed in this fruitless endeavor, I decided to put off finding out the power the sword holds for later. I did not have any cultivation yet, and finding anything else about the sword would be just wishful thinking. The only solid conclusion I knew currently was that something had to be inserted in the center of the hilt for the blade to work. After all, all the veins stemmed from that place and that was what previously gave the sword power.


    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I slowly got up and wiped the a stream of sweat that accumulated over the past hour. Then with a flick of my hand, the sweat was sent to the floor and I walked to the kitchen. On the table I saw the familiar disgusting gruel, and a strap for the wooden sword. First I grabbed the sword and put it in the strap, like I saw some bandits do before battle. Then I placed the strap and sword on my back. Finally I got back the dreaded matter of the gruel. Smiling grimly, I sat down, and ate the nasty food. It seemed I had really messed up big this morning.


    After scoffing down the last of the cruel meal, I took a squishy step outside to find the sun glaring me in the face. Immediately my arm went to my eyes, why was it so bright? I squinted in retaliation, yet it did not do much to save me from the blinding reflection of light from my surroundings. I turned away from the sun, and my eyes started to adjust. Looking ahead on the now more visible path, I saw that the whole road had turned to mud! Well, there won¡¯t be anymore running training for today. And I¡¯m also not walking anymore on that. I jumped off the pathway to the grass, and continued walking to the training area.


    When I arrived at the training area, it was somewhat different than before. Instead of baskets lining the edge of the arena, there was an extended sheet of white cloth surrounding it. The cloth looked like it had been folded up from squares, yet the space within each was not a big enough for a sparring match. There was only one person in each square, but there was no Ruffian. It seemed like he was late for some reason.


    Breaking my chain of thought, a bruised face caught my eye. The boy staggered when he walked, and he was just absolutely smoldering. It was Luke. Of course not to far behind were his two cronies, Logan and¡­ Huh, I don¡¯t think I caught his name. Well either way, it doesn¡¯t matter. He isn¡¯t very important anyways.


    I snickered, and that brought Luke¡®s attention. However, instead of glaring at me like he normally would, he turned his head down to look at the ground. Hah! I bet he¡¯s scared of me now! Serves him right!


    But seeing Luke reminded me of a more important matter, the one regarding the earth shattering fist. Currently, I could initiate the fist attack based on the basis of Creon¡¯s movements. But, I had no idea on how to reach the intermediate realm. I knew that like all 0th rank martial skills, they could be executed without the use of aura for an effective attack, although the attack would not completely follow the hidden principles within the martial art. The basic realm of every art was getting the movement down, and being able to execute it at any time using your own body. But in the end, it was just a copy. It was not sufficient to use the only the basic realm in battle.


    I shuddered thinking back to the fight previously. It may not have seemed like it, but that was a desperate win. Being attacked by 3 opponents simultaneously was of no small difficulty, even if I was superior to everyone in a 1 on 1 confrontation. I even ended up on the floor, and that should of been my doom. But instead, Luke had been behind Logan allowing me to get back up, and to finish the fight. Being unable to let out more than one earth shattering fist at a time had almost caused my downfall. But with the intermediate realm, they wouldn¡¯t of been my opponents.


    The intermediate realm was a bit different. It was a small step that was much harder than just copying the movements. The question to taking this step was how to adapt the attack fully to your body. After adapting it, you could release variations of the move that could attack in different conditions instead of the same footing, same move, every time.


    Of course, unlike the basic realm it could not be reached in a mere day. You needed to grasp the concept before even attempting to make variations, otherwise all attempts will end in failure. This depended on your perceptivity. Whether you could comprehend it was all up to you, nothing said or done by others could fix that. But they could at least point you in the right direction, and that¡¯s why I was still patiently awaiting Creon. Just a few nonchalant words could inspire me to achieve the intermediate realm faster than I ever could on my own. That was what I needed. I looked forward to the stage expectantly, waiting for the training to begin.


    After waiting for a few minutes, the instructor appeared to be coming up onto the arena. But this time, it was a different person than our normal Creon. Instead 1 middle aged man, was walking up. As he ambled up, he was grumbling angrily.


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°Always keeping me outa the loop huh!? They keep saying excuses like, ¡®Oh, you¡¯re the weakest, so it''s only natural...¡¯ or, ¡®Oh, well you¡¯d be in danger if we took you in as well!¡¯ Well, I¡¯m goddamn sick of it! They are just trying to keep the treasure for themselves while keeping me outta it! And worst of all, they leave me with a group of crappy toddlers, who don¡¯t know left from right!¡±


    We were all just staring blankly at him while he continued cursing his comrades. But eventually, he abruptly stopped.


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°What the heck are you all standing around like idiots for!? Get with your comrades in arms; your idiotic sparring partners!¡±


    Some kids were put off by the man¡¯s actions, after all they were bandit children. But they held their peace, nobody here was stupid enough to make a scene with a basic realm instructor. Or so I thought¡­


    A girl with black hair and angry piercing blue eyes was stomping towards the man. On her face was a large scowl that was spread out to its maximum capacity and an extremely displeased glare. She crossed her arms haughtily, and stood with one leg facing outwards to the man.


    It was Diana Barthen, daughter of the plundering earth clan¡¯s master, Mauris Barthen. She was extremely doted upon by her father, and this was a well known fact. But the instructor didn¡¯t seem to care one bit, he was still in his own world. The fact that he was daydreaming, made her even angrier, and she spoke out intending to deface him.


    Diana (Stupid girl)- ¡°Ha! It seems like a loner has come to vent all his little sorrows on a group of kids. ¡®Boo-hoo,¡¯ she continued mockingly, ¡®I drew the short end of the stick, and none of my non-existent friends stood up for me! And now I¡¯m just going to sit here and complain like a little whiny b**ch!¡¯ Well I¡¯m sick and tired of idiotic instructors who only know how to sit and cry! Why don¡¯t you actually teach you good for nothing!?¡±


    The man looked up at her with a dark face, successfully provoked. He then put his hands on his hips, and stuck out his leg exaggeratedly, just like Diana¡¯s.


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°Ha! It seems like a spoiled brat has come to vent all her little complaints on a poor old man. ¡®Wahhh,¡¯ he continued mockingly, throwing her own words back in her face, ¡®I was thoroughly offended by an insignificant remark, and none of my non-existent friends stood up for me! And now I¡¯m just going to stand here and complain like a whiny little b**ch!¡¯ Well I¡¯m sick and tired of spoiled little brats who can only voice complaints about an insignificant choice of words! Why don¡¯t you complain to your daddy for reimbursing a different instructor and see what he says! Maybe he¡¯ll have the same opinion as me, what a spoiled brat!¡±


    This gave Diana no room for immediate rebuttal, and she could tell the opinions of the vast majority of the people here. It was clear that there was no real reason to voice complaint at this point in time. Otherwise, why would no one else stand up and voice their complaints as well? She had made a stupid move, one that would cause her to lose no small deal of reputation.


    Diana- ¡°Y-you! You won¡¯t get away with this!¡±


    She then looked to the crowd to see if she could get any sympathizers, to her friends. But none could be found.


    Diana was now desperate, and her face was dark with anger. Her eyes intimidatingly swept over each square meeting every kid in the eye. But suddenly, her gaze stopped; it rested on me. Suddenly her expression grew complacent, and her eyes filled with contempt. It seemed like she was planning to push the trash down further, to elevate herself in comparison to me, who was another child of the three. However, it will not be as easy as she thinks it is to humiliate me now.


    But before she could start something, the instructor had already started again,


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°Well it seems by the attitude of our ¡®model¡¯ student here, it is questionable on how much of the fist you have comprehended. So, get up there with your sparring partners, and show me what you have learned!¡±


    The others started lining up to the arena, and I did too. But instead of pairing up with one of her friends, Diana started walking over to me haughtily, as if she was once again the queen of the world. She then raised her hand to me and spoke fawningly,


    Diana- ¡°Look! Our clan¡¯s genius, young master Daniel has consistently stood above the rest. He managed to fight against our top student, Ocran, and last further than anybody else in his grade has with an age gap of over 4 years! He managed to run fifteen laps, weighted, before some finished ten! He persevered through the night, training the earth shattering fist longer than anyone else in the whole clan! Is it not fitting that he will be the first in demonstrating the earth shattering fist, with another daughter of the three?¡±


    All those who didn¡¯t stand up for her against the instructor now roared in agreement to her words now. And the question was, who wouldn¡¯t? This was the young master, the trash within everybody''s hearts. The exhilaration gotten from putting this ¡®exalted¡¯ young master below their feet was like a drug; the more they could do it the better.


    Right now, Diana was just doing the same thing. She was planning to humiliate me and my skills in a match, and as such, push her loss of face on to me as well. But this time, they were in over their heads.


    I smiled brightly, and immediately jumped up on the stage. Then I extended my hand down politely. But she angrily shoved off my hand, and climbed up.


    Standing in positions opposite to each other on the stone, we readied in our respective fighting stances. But this time, I wasn¡¯t exactly a complete noob to fighting. I had adapted the stance for the earth shattering fist, poised and ready to strike.


    My opposite, Diana, did not seem to be taking this seriously. She had her hands up in a sort of relaxed version of the earth shattering fist, and she didn¡¯t seem to even put up the appearance of trying her best. And her facial expression expressed it all. Her sneer was not hidden, and the fact that she was also raising her head like she was looking down on an insect was very comical. Especially because of the fact that I was taller than her, she had to look up extra high like a chicken craning its neck.


    Smiling, I tensed up my stance for the fight. And in a moment, the middle aged instructor had started the countdown for the match.


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°3, 2, 1, Fight!¡±


    I cautiously inched forward, making sure to keep within the stance for the earth shattering fist. And suddenly, she pulled off a mediocre fist. It was aimed at my face, and it was not part of the earth shattering fist technique. I ducked the attack, and before she could pull it back, I grabbed her arm. I braced myself against the ground, and pulled her forward. It worked like a charm, and with my other fist I let out a full power earth shattering fist towards her stomach.


    My attack was no joke, and I knew this with a certainty. I could send guys like Luke flying with one attack. I was not inclined to have mercy on a girl over a boy, especially one this arrogant. But before my fist hit, a rock hit me with a huge force on my shoulder. This rock somehow hit at the crucial point for the fist technique, and my fist only hit with about 40% of its norm.


    Diana staggered back, and the sneer was replaced with a grimace of pain. Then the middle aged instructor announced,


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°Match end, Daniel wins!¡±


    The crowd was silent for a moment, then went into an uproar.


    RP1- ¡°What? What a cheap, crappy win! He didn¡¯t even take the attack head on like a man would! And then he throws out a super weak punch that only can cause one to lose breath for a moment. Combined with that horrible form for the earth shattering fist, how is that fair at all? Diana hadn¡¯t even tried, yet her fist was better than his! He must of gotten backwater support from the elders.¡±


    RP2- ¡°True dat, true dat. Even I could throw out a punch stronger than that!¡±


    He proudly flexed his muscles, but then was overshadowed by Diana¡¯s elder brother. He walked casually through the crowd, his unflexed arms making the other kid¡¯s muscles look like toothpicks. Then he stood still at the head of the crowd, his eyes coldly glaring at Diana¡¯s. It was Jedav.


    Jedav Barthen was one of the clan¡¯s talented cultivators at the 1st level of the basic realm. Like his sister, Jedav had fair skin with cold, sapphire blue eyes. However, he had a head full of brown hair, and broad wide shoulders, a sharp contrast to his sister. And he as well, did not look happy.


    Jedav- ¡°Diana, you have already lost enough face today. Just stop. We are all fellow members of the clan, and if you keep sowing internal strife, how will we ever cooperate in the future? You need to take a step down, and come with me. Now!¡±


    Diana¡¯s face paled and her cheeks turned red. But she could do nothing; her brother¡¯s words were law. She gave me a infuriated look that seemed to tell me, ¡®this wasn¡¯t over,¡¯ and slinked out with her brother. Then before anybody could say anything else, the instructor announced,


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°Training¡¯s over!¡±


    Everyone filed out discontentedly, but he told me to stay. After the last person had left, he looked around shrewdly. He muttered to himself,


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°Good, no one here.¡±


    Then he turned to me and started,


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°Good, very good! Reaching the basic realm of the stance in only a day is simply prodigious! Like she said, truly fitting of one of the sons of the 3! And I would have informed the clan leaders of this great achievement, had it not been for the amazing amount of trouble you have stirred up for yourself. Offending your whole generation, causing your trainer to lose his hand, and even attacking the leader¡¯s daughter, to only mention a few. Worst of all, you have even stolen my deceased ancestor¡¯s natural treasure, his wooden sword from his very grave! Informing them of this ¡®achievement¡¯ will cause them to pay attention to you, and by no doubt bring all these matters crashing down on your head. In fact, I¡¯m sure the first thing they will do is take away that lightning treasure of yours.¡±


    He paused shortly, collecting his thoughts.


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°But I don¡¯t have any enmity with you, yet, so I won¡¯t reveal any of these pressing matters. Of course that is, on the condition that you do some things for me. After all, it¡¯s only natural that you repay goodwill with goodwill.¡±


    Then he drew in closer, and his eyes flickered with a dangerous glint,


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking. ¡®Why ask a favor from a junior; what can one who isn¡¯t a cultivator do?¡¯ Well, it¡¯s simple actually. Befriend a certain orphan from Nula village, a child by the name of Keith. Being an orphan, he has no surname, so there should be no problems in locating him. Once you do, I will have further instruction for you then.¡±


    He drew back, not caring for a response and slowly walked towards forest path. Then he suddenly turned around and added,


    Middle aged instructor- ¡°And try not to showcase your abilities any further. You have already drawn more attention than I would like. Also, avoid those with the surname of Argaroc. It is my family name, and any one of them could recognize that sword you¡¯re holding on your back at a single glance. Don¡¯t get caught dead holding that in front of an Argaroc.¡±


    With that, he turned into a blur, and disappeared into the forest. Watching this, I shook my head in bewilderment. Then I unsheathed the sword looking at it for a moment. What made this drab looking wooden sword so special? Why could it withstand lighting, what does it have to do with those by the surname of Argaroc? And why me?


    I shook my head discontentedly; I would eventually figure this out soon enough. But first things first, I needed to somehow alter the appearance of this sword. It wouldn¡¯t do me any good to get into another situation like this or worse. I sheathed the sword with a minute amount of trouble, and walked into the forest.


    But unknown to me at the time, a pair of golden eyes flashed out from the cliff where Ocran had flipped off of. He smirked, and started darting through the shadows without a single sound. He disappeared after me in the forest.


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    Author¡¯s note 2- Hey, I¡¯m really sorry for all the delays. I think I procrastinated for over a month, but it¡¯s finally out. Also, I have newfound appreciation for all the top writers in royalroadl. The bust out a chapter at least once every 2-3 days, and that pace is just impossible for me. They must be writing all day and night to finish it all. And as for me, this means a change of schedule. In fact, I¡¯m getting rid of it all together. I know it didn¡¯t last for long, but I don¡¯t want to disappoint the few readers of my story everytime I break a promise. So it¡¯s gone. But comments motivate me to write, so please leave a comment whenever you can!

 The Universe Catalog

    Author¡¯s note- Just another name for Story mechanics and other notable things, this will be updated frequently, so check it out after every new chapter if you can. And as a bonus, I added a beautiful picture! (edit) Now you can see the arrows too!


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    The Universe Catalog


    This will be a work in progress, anything you see here may be changed at any time throughout the story to adapt for more things I may or may not change.


    The elements


    Elements- Refers to the energy attached to their respective material/immaterial counterparts.


    Water- Energy attached to liquid of any kind. Mostly congregates around water so the element is named after it.


    Fire- Energy attached to any material that has extreme temperatures. Named after fire for its high concentration of fire energy.


    Earth- Energy attached to solids of any kind. Congregates around mixtures of ground up rock/dirt.


    Air- Energy attached to gasses of any kind. Congregates around mixtures of different gasses but mostly the air around us.


    Light- Hidden energy that emits energy slowly until external stimulus such as light activates the element into a fully active state. Named after the stimulus it receives, and it emits energy infinitely.


    Darkness- Hidden energy that is active at all times, either absorbing the energy emitted by light or absorbing excess elements. It never really sleeps, it is always devouring.


    Electricity- Energy that congregates around changes in movement. Assists by redirecting the flow of energy into the desired position and makes a crack. Congregates mainly around lightning as that has the most powerful naturally seen energy.


    Suppression of the elements


    Water subdues Earth, and is subdued by Fire. Earth subdues Air, and is subdued by Water. Air subdues Fire, and is subdued by Earth. Fire subdues Water, and is subdued by Air. Light subdues Darkness, and is subdued by Electricity. Darkness subdues Electricity, and is subdued by Light. Electricity subdues Light, and is subdued by Darkness. Electricity subdues Water, Fire, and Earth but is subdued by Air. Light subdues Water, Earth, and Air, but is subdued by Fire. Darkness subdues Earth, AIr, and Fire but is subdued by Water. Earth has a minor superiority over all material elements and is sort of mutual with Water.


    (If that¡¯s too complicated for you, then it looks like this all together)


    (I bet that¡¯s still too hard. Oh well. Hope it helps...)


    Advance elements


    Advance elements- The form of the energy after applied to its purest form


    Time(water)- It is an energy that is associated with everything. It slowly ages whatever is near it.


    Blast(fire)- As the true form of the energy is related to the temperatures hot and cold, when they collide it forms an explosion.


    Transmutation(earth)- Unlike most energies, earth energy resonates noticeably different with each different material. The purer the form the more strongly it resonates with it. The denser the element the purer the form.


    Compression(air)- The purest form of air is ever changing wind. This is accomplished with the differences of density of the air. Therefore the greater the difference in density the purer the wind.


    Clairvoyance(light)- Since light energy is everywhere and just requires stimulus to fully activate, it can see into every element other than its own and darkness. Even time.


    Space(darkness)- The darkness energy is everywhere and it absorbs energy infinitely. Although that absorption has to be put out somewhere. A special type of this essence is an output area to the center of the world.


    Charges(electricity)- Much like air¡¯s compression except the thing moving is energy and it is instant. Special opposite energies are present in these positive and negative areas. Each positive has to resonate exactly with its negative counterpart.


    Effects of training with element on body


    Each elemental core has to have the energies circulated through it and absorbed from the outside to gain power. However when this is done the essence has a profound effect on the body. Every element gives a standard increase to ability but each element has its specialties.


    Water- Adds innate flexibility along with impact damage reduction. Gives above average regeneration, and a small resistance to emotional changes in general.


    Fire- Adds innate burst power along with increasing muscle capability. Gives an above average resistance to temperature changes and makes you a bit more susceptible to emotional changes in general.


    Earth- Adds innate body hardness, along with impact damage reduction to an extent. Gives above average muscle strength and stamina and a medium resistance to emotional changes in general.


    Air- Adds innate body lightness that can be turned off or on as well as a medium increase in reaction speed. Person¡¯s body is toughened and makes you more susceptible to emotional changes in general.


    Light- Adds innate overall increase in body capabilities vs other practitioners as well as a huge regenerative capability. Person¡¯s willpower is stronger than normal in the presence of light. These practitioners also get more handsome in their own image as training progresses.


    Darkness- Adds innate overall increase in body capabilities vs other practitioners as well as a increasing transparency that can be turned off or on. Practitioners of this element enjoy an increase in willpower in the presence of darkness as well as a negation to all damage in general.


    Electricity- Adds an innate body hardness and toughness along with greatly increased muscle acceleration and maximum output. Increases reaction speed greatly with an increase in willpower when accelerating. Increased recovery abilities at the cost of requiring huge amounts of energy.


    Mage ranks and abilities


    Rank 0- Able to manipulate element freely as long as you know how to do what you want to accomplish with the element. However, only has enough energy for one basic spell¡¯s worth.


    Rank 1 Adds 10 years to lifespan- Transforms body to the maximum limit of physical performance for a normal person. Able to use basic spells that incorporate the basic form of each element. Has a limit of casting 4 basic spells. However loses the ability to freely manipulate element upon reaching this stage. Also unlocks one of the most essential abilities of the cultivator, the magespace.


    Rank 2- Greatly increases internal force capacity. Now able to handle 10 basic spells. Only has to say the name of the spell to cast.


    Rank 3- Hugely increases internal force. Can handle 100 basic spells. Can voiceless cast.


    Rank 4 Adds 25 years to lifespan- Basic spells are now irrelevant to this stage as the mage space evolves upon reaching this stage to unravel the energy of a basic spell instantly. Can cast 10 spells of the intermediate rank. Able to break the sound barrier purely by sprinting and snap a 2 meter thick tree using only the fist. Also gives the ability to use natural energy outside the body freely and causes the phenomenon known as aura.


    Rank 5- Can cast 50 spells of the intermediate rank. Only has to say the name of the spell to cast.


    Rank 6- Can cast 200 spells of the intermediate rank, as well as 1 spell of the advanced rank. Voiceless casting for intermediate spells is now possible.


    Rank 7 Adds 50 years to lifespan- Intermediate spells are now useless to this step as the mage space completely cancels out any spells at the intermediate rank. Natural energy is now able to ¡®anchor¡¯ itself in reality allowing for flight. Can change strengths or effects to a limited extent of spells by changing the chant a bit. Can defeat 100 attackers of the 6th rank. Able to generate enough force to shatter a cubic foot of steel and move at 20 times the speed of the sound barrier. However the speed doesn¡¯t improve much because it takes a lot more energy to improve speed past the sound barrier.


    Rank 8- Only has to say name of spell and use their willpower to change the effects of the spell. Can defeat 15 attackers of the 7th rank.


    Rank 9 Adds 50 years to lifespan- Can voiceless cast any spell but is limited to the spell itself. Cannot change basic attributes of the spell and the effects. Can defeat 50 attackers of the 8th rank.


    Rank 10 Adds 500 years to lifespan- Able to freely control the element of choice. A full out strike from a 10th rank can flatten an adamantium block and compress diamonds just by flexing. Speed increases dramatically and can sprint 100 times the speed of sound. After breaking through to 10th rank, they have the choice to either consolidate their power and gain a 50% boost against other 10th ranks or leave it unstable. Unstable practitioners can defeat 1000 practitioners of the 9th rank and stable can defeat 1500.


    But in fact, unstable practitioners may gamble with their life to achieve saint rank. By the cost of their cultivation, they can propel their souls fast enough to get inside the soulgate. Then one must absorb the natural laws not into their core, but their soul. Upon reaching foundational stages in the soul the person reincarnates back into the world, with their memories intact.


    However if they happen to absorb enough of any natural law that wasn¡¯t pertaining to the element you cultivated, it will destroy the soul. There have been 58 people who have reached the unconsolidated 10th rank state and only 23 who have become saints and been reborn.


    Saint rank Adds 1,000 years to lifespan- This level only has 17 cultivators as most don¡¯t gamble with their life when there are no guarantees. All who reached saint level, can fly without the use of natural energy, train in the natural laws, and kill an almost infinite amount of 10th ranks. Their speed is close to the speed of light, and a lazy punch from one of them is able to flatten a mountain into a thin compressed metal sheet.


    Their only limit is the stamina of their body which is already extended ridiculously. They can fight for 10 days and nights at their absolute limit without tiring in the slightest. Tenth ranks cannot even hope to harm the body of the saint even while they are sleeping even if they exhaust all of their power. The physical defense of their body is just too strong.


    There is also only one other known saint ranked beast other than the dragons. This happened when a 10th rank evolved to saint rank while he had a soul fusing with a beast. The beast evolved slowly to saint rank after he reincarnated. However a person who is already saint rank cannot perform a fusing with non saint ranked beasts because the beast¡¯s soul explodes. Beasts cannot usually reach saint rank as they don¡¯t have sufficient intelligence to blow up their cultivation effectively or to realize exactly what the soul gate is.


    Saint rank practitioners have access to infinite energy and their limit is the amount of power they can put out at once which is related to their achievement in the laws they study. The achievement in the natural laws is limited to the size and strength of the soul but be careful. Saints who study too much of the natural laws will be killed by a descent of natural laws or vanish after defeating the law.


    The last recorded case is reported to repeatedly saying, ¡°Understand the law! Understand the law, that''s it!¡± Before disappearing as well. Saint ranks are able to terraform the planet with casual blasts of power, and all spells are nullified by their magespace instantly.


    The Magespace


    This is one of the most essential parts of a cultivator, and it has many uses. It unlocks for everyone at the first rank, and its size is represented by the strength of the cultivator. For example, 1st has a meter size. 2nd has 2, and 3rd has 3.


    But when one advances to the 4th rank, it increases to 20 meters of size. 5th is 25 and 6th is 30. But again, advancing to another realm increases the size dramatically. 7th is 150 meters, 8th is 200 meters and 9th is 250 meters. Upon achieving the 10th rank the magespace extends to 1000 meters. However, there are some exceptions.


    For example, people with higher talent experience a slight increase in the normal limit until they reach the limit of their talent. Intermediate talent provides a 20% increase in the normal size until the intermediate realm. Advanced talent provides a 50% increase until the advanced realm. Perfect talent provides a 100% percent increase until the perfect realm/10th rank.


    Magespaces are extremely useful, and with them you can even perceive yourself and your environment. Commonly called the mind¡¯s eye, inner sight can be used with merely a thought and can examine the inside body to unlimited detail. However, your mind¡¯s eye cannot see past the surface of your skin, and only if something is regarded as part of your body will you be able to examine it with this sight.


    For viewing the environment, the mage space is much more limited. However, it can easily detect general movement and with a period of careful, still observation you can observe the surface of other objects. One can also see around certain objects with their magespace, but the effectiveness of the second sight is limited to only detecting movement behind objects. But to penetrate within something requires bodily contact, and even then it is sorely limited. However, spells/martial skills can be viewed fully as long as one¡¯s rank surpasses the other. At the same time, if they are at the same rank than it takes a moderate amount of time.


    Yet another function of the magespace is, to dissolve anything created by another cultivator at the same rank or below your rank into pure energy that cannot be absorbed until a certain period of time. Any cultivator who is at a realm below you will have their spells dissolved by your magespace instantly.


    Magespaces also have another function and that is to restrict and pressure anything closest to them that is below or equal to their rank. If the person is your rank, then the restrictive force will be 10%. If the person is one rank beneath you, then the restrictive force will be 20%, reducing everything they do to 80% of their full strength. If the person is two ranks beneath you, then the restrictive force will be 30%. However, if the person is a realm below you, their strength will be reduced by a full 50%. If the person is 2 realms below you, they will be like a normal human again. The restrictive force can be reduced on will, but the amount you reduce it by will affect your ability to resist other¡¯s pressure.


    Incompatible magespaces will continue to attempt to suppress or dissolve others spells. That is the main reason why there are not armies of cultivators, only small groups because under the combined dissolving effect, all spells or martial arts will be rendered useless by your own comrades.


    However, some magespaces are compatible. It is said that every million people you meet, one person will have a magespace that is compatible to yours. People with compatible magespaces are able to combine their strengths and are bonded through the soul once they make skin to skin contact. This soul bonding shares raw emotions and thoughts, but they can block each other out at any time.


    However, soul bonding can be a bad thing to some. People who are bonded to something not of their element will experience a constant pressure, negating the positive effects of the magespace fusion when they are together, and when they are apart, they will be weaker than normal.


    Lastly, magespaces allow the existence of natural energy outside the body, and are tied explicitly to many spells.


    Natural energy


    Able to be controlled upon entering the 4th rank. The preciseness of your control depends on your cultivation and perception, and it is always used at full strength within the body. It moves as fast as you can whip out a punch, but outside the body natural energy weakens considerably. However, 1/100,000,000,000 people will awaken to only having natural energy. In that case, it can be used equally inside the body and outside, and it will not be restricted in use whatsoever. However, although people who awaken to only natural energy as their element can use it freely like those in the perfect realm from the start, they will never be able to use spells in their lifetime.


    Its strongest density outside the body is three ranks below your current elemental energy, and when it is attacked outside the body, energy is taken away in a 3 to 1 ratio. That is saying if your energy is hit by a water ball, it would take the energy of 3 basic spells to block it.


    Natural energy is not dissolvable by another¡¯s magespace, and it stems from points in your aura. Upon reaching the advanced realm, it can anchor itself in reality allowing flight.


    Aura


    Aura is present in all beings, cultivators or not. However it is only usable by cultivators, and its appearance is decided by three things.


    First is the strength of whatever emotion you are experiencing. This decides the power of your aura, and the distinctness of the aura you are putting out. Aura may be usually transparent, but when extreme emotions come out, it becomes more apparent. Although when looking at the eyes, aura will be visible as long as the person is feeling an emotion.


    Second is the emotion you are feeling. The mix of these emotions decide the color of your aura. Red is passion, blue is calmness or indifference, green is happy, white is sympathetic or kind, black is hatred/anger, and gold is pride.


    Third is your element affinity. Aura usually barely covers the skin and the way it looks reflects your element. But cultivators at the fourth rank or those who have not taken an awakening pill can move their aura at will within their magespace. Lightning randomly streaking around means you have an affinity to electricity, a rolling mist with golden flecks signifies light, a rolling mist with black flecks signifies darkness, a faint flame surrounding you means fire, floating rocks of various sizes is earth, random streaks of lines is air, and if you have a fluid constant aura, it means you have water.


    Aura also has a very essential role for cultivators, and that is to define how much power they can put out at once. Your aura is also used when you fire out spells, it is just returned perfectly when your spell is finished. If you try to use another spell when you don¡¯t have enough aura to support it, it will just be dissolved by their magespace instantly.


    This is because aura also is the thing that causes the resistance to spells being dissolved to pure energy by magespaces. The higher your realm is, the better quality your aura, and the amount of aura is decided by your rank.


    Lastly, aura serves as an emitting point for natural energy, and also the point where your natural energy can be absorbed back into the body.


    Talent


    Talent is decided by 2 factors, luck and the talent of the lowest parent. Talent guarantees a breakthrough into its respective realm if the person spends 80% their natural lifespan cultivating. Of course, their natural lifespan is decided by their fate when they are just normal humans. The average lifespan is about 100 years. So for one to reach the perfect realm with its talent, one must spend about 80 years.


    But when the pills created by alchemists come into play, one could reach another realm that they could not originally reach, changing their innate talent to that realm.


    For a parent with no talent


    No realm- 1/1


    Basic realm- 1/10


    Intermediate realm- 1/1,000


    Advanced realm- 1/1,000,000


    Perfect realm- 1/100,000,000,000


    For a parent with basic realm talent


    No realm- 1/2


    Basic realm- 1/2


    Intermediate realm- 1/500


    Advanced realm- 1/500,000


    Perfect realm- 1/50,000,000,000


    For a parent with intermediate realm talent


    No realm- 0/1


    Basic realm- 1/2


    Intermediate realm- 1/2


    Advanced realm- 1/250,000


    Perfect realm- 1/25,000,000,000


    For a parent with advanced realm talent


    No realm- 0/1


    Basic realm- 0/1


    Intermediate realm- 1/2


    Advanced realm- 1/2


    Perfect realm- 1/12,500,000,000


    For parents with perfect talent


    No realm- 0/1


    Basic realm- 0/1


    Intermediate realm- 0/1


    Advanced realm- 0/1


    Perfect realm- 1/1


    The body and natural energy


    The body may release natural energy outside through aura, but when the energy moves within the body it needs an efficient method of moving the body physically. After all, natural energy is both physical and immaterial. Since it is necessary to move the energy within the body to negate damage, to accelerate movement, and to cultivate, it is inefficient to constantly convert the energy from material to immaterial just to perform these tasks. But there is a solution.


    On the human body, there is a system of meridians and veins surrounding the arteries and blood veins. The meridians protect your arteries, and the veins protect your blood veins. Of course, all of this stems and connects with your core, or your ¡®second heart¡¯. And there is a special system of meridians protecting the core, brain, and heart. These meridians accumulate 10 times more energy than the others can, and they use this energy to absorb shock, and harden itself in case of physical or immaterial attacks. But the defence is only about as effective as the amount of energy you currently have.


    There is also a system of meridians surrounding the bones, but their main function is not to protect the bone. It is to move it. Like muscles in your body that are not restricted by the way they move, meridians can be manipulated by the energy flow inside them causing the related bones to move in the same direction. This can allow for movements that were normally impossible at the cost of some natural energy.


    Another important system is the meridians on the skin. Using these, you can interface your own energy with the environment resulting in very powerful results. Of course, without achieving the 4th rank it is impossible to send your energy through these meridians, but you can still cause energy fluctuations in the atmosphere. The main ones are the ones on the hands, feet, stomach, forehead, elbows, nape of the neck, and the tailbone. These areas are the main factor in martial skills, and they can even be used to accelerate absorption of energy from the atmosphere. However, it is not recommended as the energy will not completely refine all areas in the body quickly causing an imbalance.


    The last and the arguably most important system of meridians is the connective system, or the one that is necessary for circulation. It allows for relatively quick and effective movement from system to system without having to recirculate through the core. This is also the area where circulation techniques and cultivation techniques affect the most, as this is the system that most techniques always have energy running through.


    Basic spells


    Chants for basic spells


    Ball: Follow the path of my will, according to the essence, name of spell!


    Gathering: Come to me liquids/heat/solids/gasses of any kind, gather in the space of my will, name of spell here!


    Cloaking: Aid my movement, assist my will, bring power to my wish, name of spell!


    Manipulation: Liquids/Heat/Solids/Gasses of the environment, essence of natural making, await my command, name of spell!


    Creation: Energy that resides in my core, create the essence of your choosing, name of spell!


    Activation: Energy that resides in my core, arise and energize your brethren, name of spell!


    Unique chants for basic spells


    Light


    Restore: Energize the depressed, give help to those who want it, restore those whose reserves are empty, Restore!


    Darkness


    Devour: Absorb everything, eat endlessly, destroy all, Devour!


    Electricity


    Limit break: Electricity that lies dormant in _________, break your shackles, Limit break!


    Description of the spells


    Water


    Water Ball- Creates a ball of water that is shot out in a single direction.


    Water gathering- Manipulates essence into the air, gathering liquid from the environment.


    Liquid cloaking- Cloak an item with water energy and make it more flexible for 1 second.


    Water manipulation- Manipulate the essence into a spell from an area. Costs double the internal force of a basic spell.


    Water Creation- Creates a liter of water in exchange for 1 basic spell.


    Fire


    Fireball- Creates a ball of energy that is shot out in a single direction.


    Fire gathering- Gathers heat from environment into a single point.


    Fire cloaking- Infuses energy into an item, lighting it aflame but does not harm the object. Lasts 1 second.


    Fire creation- Use the elemental essence to create heat in one cubic meter, heats up 1 liter of water by 25 degrees fahrenheit.


    Earth


    Earthball- Creates a ball of energy that is shot out in a single direction.


    Earth gathering- Gathers solids from environment onto a single point.


    Earth cloaking- Infuses earth element into an item hardening it. Lasts 1 second.


    Earth manipulation- Transfer the essence of the element onto a spell. Cost double the cost of a normal basic spell.


    Earth creation- Creates a kg of normal soil


    Air


    Airball- Creates a ball of energy that is shot out in a single direction


    Air gathering- Gathers gasses from environment onto a single point


    Air cloaking- Infuses energy into an item making it lighter for 1 second


    Air manipulation- Manipulates air essence from a point into a spell. Costs double the cost of a normal basic spell


    Air creation- Creates one cubic meter of air at normal pressure


    Light


    Lightball- Creates a ball of energy to be shot out in a single direction.


    Light gathering- Gathers light from environment onto a single point


    Light cloaking- Infuses light into an item, makes it blow blindingly for a second.


    Light manipulation- Manipulates light essence from a point into a spell. Costs double the cost of a basic spell.


    Light activation- Activates the light essence for 1 minute inside the magespace.


    Restore- Bathes an item in light energy. It relieves stress, accelerates regeneration rate, and restores vitality. If there are any sort of disfigurations on the body, it moves it towards an optimal state at the cost of the energy used in the spell. Excess energy is used to improve bodily constitution to an extent. Can replace a meal.


    Darkness


    Darkball- Creates a ball of energy to be shot out in a single direction.


    Darkness gathering- Gathers darkness from environment onto a single point.


    Darkness cloaking- Shrouds an item in darkness, and obscures it from sight for 2 seconds.


    Darkness manipulation- Manipulates darkness essence from a point into a spell. Cost double the cost of a basic spell.


    Darkness activation-  Activates the darkness essence for 1 minute inside the magespace.


    Devour- Multiplies the inherent absorption speed of darkness inside your magespace. Consumes anything not aligned to darkness.


    Electricity


    Electric ball- Creates a ball of energy to be shot out in a single direction.


    Electric gathering- Gathers electricity from the environment onto a single point.


    Electric cloaking- Infuses electricity into an item that numbs/paralyzes on impact. Also somewhat hardens the item the electricity was cloaked on.


    Electric manipulation- Condenses electricity from a point into a spell. Costs double the cost of a normal spell.


    Electric activation- Activates the electricity essence inside the magespace, multiplying any movement within the space by 1.5 times. Lasts 5 seconds until recast, and does not affect nonmaterial things.


    Limit break- Completely removes the limiter on any part of the body for 1 second.


    Intermediate spells


    Chants for intermediate spells


    Shield: Protect against those who attack me, harden thyself for the task at hand, Name of spell!


    Field: Bring power to my wish element that resides in my area, enhance my will, Name of spell!


    Unique chants for intermediate spells


    Water


    Waves: Flow my brethren, break the will of my enemy, wash away his movement, Waves!


    Water pool: Entrap my enemy, disturb his footing, obstruct his will, Water pool!


    Restore: Revive the hurt, get rid of his discomfort, rejuvenate his soul, Restore!


    Fire


    Flame point: Gather my brethren, transfer your will to others, and use it to flow through anything in your path, Flame point!


    Drain: Stand firm for my cause, and convert the others to my will, Drain!


    Limit break: Fire that lies dormant in the  _________, remove the worst of my shackles, Limit break!


    Earth


    Shockwave: Transmit the energy that has failed to destroy my enemies will, Shockwave!


    Earthspike: Spike towards my cause, penetrate the damper of my will, Earthspike!


    Gravity: Earth that resides in the space before us, impose your tyrannical might on my foes, Gravity!


    Battle armor: Energy that lies dormant in the body, become an indomitable mountain to those who hurt me, Battle armor!


    Air


    Windblade: Be the edge of my will, harden yourself before my enemy, Windblade!


    Windscout: Show the things hidden to me, so that it may submit to me, Windscout!


    Lighten: Liken my will unto the wind and the object within, Lighten!


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Wind barrier: Divert and slow anything that comes in the way of my will, Wind barrier!


    Wind wings: My will yearns to take flight, embody it like a creature of the air, Wind wings!


    Light


    Lightbeam: Add to those who are for me, detract from those against me, Lightbeam!


    Lightcradle: Give the energy in store to me, so I can continue in the path of my making, Lightcradle!


    Heal: Restore the body to the state before the ailment, Heal!


    Purify: Remove the impurities of the body, the poison of the veins, Purify!


    Darkness


    Voidspace: Rob the senses of my enemy, beat him while he¡¯s down, send his will into a void, Voidspace!


    Area drain: Steal what makes my enemy powerful and make it my own, Area drain!


    Transparency: Darkness residing in ______, activate and hide from the enemy''s sight, Transparency!


    Existence eraser: Devour anything and everything in my path, Existence eraser!


    Shadow clone: I was once one but now I am two, my will is multiplied, Shadow clone!


    Electricity


    Electricity reader: Allow me the sight of my brethren, Electricity reader!


    True movement: Redirect the movement of my will, amplify it and draw it closer to you, True movement!


    Movement barrier: Redirect the will of my enemy, prevent his attacks from hitting so that I might survive, Movement barrier!


    Full power strike: Strike with power, well above my own, and draw them to me, so they may not escape, Full power strike!


    Limit expansion: Improve the bases, supplement the _________ of my will, Limit expansion!


    Description of the spells


    Water


    Waves- Creates a massive wave of water that hits a wide area. Upon contact, the water sticks to the object if a mage space is present.


    Water Shield- Creates a shield made out of water. If physical contact is made with the shield, the water absorbs the impact and sends a whiplash of water containing and concentrating the force of the strike.


    Water field- Gathers water essence from the environment and manipulates it into 3 intermediate spells.


    Water pool- A pool of water spreads from the area under the cultivator, sending tentacles of water to slow and restrict movement. Also has an effect of slowly dissolving whatever it touches, be it immaterial or physical.


    Restore- Sends energy into the bloodstream to slowly rejuvenate the body and soul. 5 times more effective on a water user. If it used on a non-water user, it diffuses their energy making recovering twice as hard. If it is used with water essence, it can only be used once per day or else it will kill the person the spell is applied on. However, this essence method will be just as effective on water users and non water users and using it only once will have no detrimental effects.


    Fire


    Flame point- Condense enough essence into a point the size of a fingertip to make a white flame shoot out at the speed of sound in a single direction. Can be detonated when the person wishes.


    Drain- Converts created essence and energy into heat and takes heat from natural objects. Brings it into your fire energy, and makes it hotter.


    Flame shield- Creates a shield of heat that reacts to anything trying to pass through by condensing into a flame point and expanding immediately, destroying whatever was within.


    Flame field- Gathers heat from the environment and manipulates it into 3 intermediate spells.


    Limit break- Excite flame energy in a part of the body to remove half of the limit.


    Earth


    Shockwave- Sends earth energy through any defense. The wave explodes when the caster wants it to and although it can pass through air, it is weakened.


    Earthspike- Sends a ball of energy into the air that is infused into the ground. When the caster wills it, the ground materializes into the form of a spike that juts out at the nearest living being.


    Earth field- Gathers earth from the environment and manipulates it into 3 intermediate spells.


    Gravitational space- Infuses the surrounding space with essence, causing everything in it to be heavier by 10 times, not including the caster. Lasts 30 seconds, and can be turned on or off. Can apply to the caster if he/she so wishes.


    Earth shield- Creates a wall of earth energy, that is extremely hard, and has a vacuum layer between that stops shockwaves.


    Battle armor- Creates an earth armor of sorts, that automatically repairs itself, and is flexible around the joints. Covers the whole body except for the eyes which are covered by a stretchy, tough, and transparent membrane. Lasts until the energy used for the spell is gone. Then the armor stops auto repairing.


    Air


    Windblade- Shoots out wind in a whiplash fashion. Hardens upon the preset distance that was set upon by the caster. Goes in one direction.


    Windscout- Shoots energy under your command in all directions. Passes around any essence other than wind. light, darkness, and lightning. Gives you a picture of the surrounding radius of your magespace, and a view that encompasses everything within it.


    Lighten- Infuses air energy into something reducing its weight to 1/10th of its original value. Can be freely activated or deactivated within 30 seconds, when it will then lose its effect.


    Wind barrier- Negates 1200 mph of wind pressure. Also diverts any attacks against the caster way from the core. Lasts 30 seconds.


    Wind wings- Connects wind currents to the nervous system and muscles of your back. Speed at which the cultivator can fly is related to the strength of the muscles at the back of the cultivator if it is used with essence. If it is only used with energy, wings are invisible but the speed is always the same. Lasts 30 seconds before a recast is needed.


    Light


    Light beam- Shoots a beam of pure energy from the finger. If it hits a cultivator, it adds to their energy or dissipates it under your control. Dissipated energy is violent and chaotic, and if enough energy is dissipated in the cultivator, it will blow them up. However if it is in small amounts, the energy may be assimilated as the cultivators own for overcharging the amount of energy you have temporarily.


    Light cradle- Changes the emitting points of natural energy to you for one minute. Increases recovery speed by 10 times normal. Unabsorbed energy emits in all directions, and clads your body in light.


    Heal- As long as the person isn¡¯t currently dead, uses light force to heal the wounds and expel foreign energy from the wound. Amount of healing is determined by the strength of the person being healed, as well as the amount of foreign energy in the wounds.


    Purify- Expels the impurities of the body including poison or parasites. If the poison has an immaterial component, purifies at a 1:3 ratio for the energy used in the spell. Also expels foreign energy at a 1:2 ratio so wounds can be healed. If used often on the body, the natural lifespan can be extended up to 120 years.


    Light field- Activates light essence in the area and melds it into 3 intermediate spells.


    Light barrier- Creates a barrier of pure energy that will block the equivalent of 2 intermediate spells. However, it will not affect the material components of an attack.


    Darkness


    Void space- Clads your next strike in darkness, if it hits the person¡¯s unattributed energy or body, robs the all the senses of the person for 5 seconds.


    Area Drain- The spell activates within your magespace. Lasts 30 seconds and lets you absorb the surrounding essence for your use. Spells fired into your magespace disappear twice as fast and are absorbed. Energy that you take is dependent on how rich in energy your surroundings are.


    Transparency- Makes something invisible to all senses except touch. The time an object is invisible is 10 seconds for a 1 meters radius. Anything further and the time is reduced at a ratio of 1 second per meter radius.


    Dark field- Activates the darkness element in the area and manipulates it into 3 intermediate spells.


    Existence eraser- Creates a small ball of darkness that pierces through anything and everything. Absorbs any essence until the power of a intermediate spell cannot contain the energy that the ball contains and it disperses, creating a huge void.


    Shadow clone- Covers you and another position of your choosing with a human shaped dark element. This clone follows your thoughts and its attacks can affect the material. Also acts as a shield that can be material or absorb. It cannot be determined from the real you and its fitness is the same as yours. The clone is invincible to immaterial attacks, but is able to be dispersed by material attacks.


    Electricity


    Electricity reader- Can sense electricity and movement of energy, and it lasts 60 seconds.


    True movement- Transfers the movement energy of anything as long as it is in contact with your own body and moves it in the user''s desired direction. Activated 3 times per cast, and creates a loud ¡°Crackk!¡± when movement is transferred. Enhances each transfer by 150% and can work with anything including immaterial spells.


    Movement barrier- Redirects movement of anything that comes in contact with the barrier in the opposite direction. The barrier has two layers, physical and immaterial, and each layer has two redirects. So in total you have 2 physical redirects and 2 immaterial redirects.


    Lightning field- Multiplies movement to 200%. Applies to physical and immaterial. Also reduces the enemy movement 75%. Costs an intermediate spell every 20 seconds. However, does not manipulate lightning essence into spells.


    Full power strike- Applies to one attack. Condenses the power of lightning onto this attack, multiplying movement speed to 600%. Before contact, the person is drawn in by the blow, almost making it undodgeable, and upon contact, the blow explodes the person back. However, the sonic boom smashes back at the person hit. Extra movement energy is added to this wind so the person is smashed right back at the same speed as the fist resulting in a blow that is 1200% more powerful than normal. The electricity then explodes outward from that second fist knocking the person back at high speeds. Costs 4 intermediate spells.


    Limit expansIon- Expands the limit of something, directly increasing its material base at the cost of energy. increases the base to double that of normal, and lasts 2 minutes. However, if there is excessive immaterial strain placed on the thing, the time will be shortened. After the minutes, the thing breaks into pieces according to the strain it received relative to its normal base.


    Advanced spells


    Chants for Advanced spells


    Domain: Become the element of my space element, clarify your domain, element Domain!


    Pure element spell: Only the purest form of element, respond to my call, Name of spell.


    Water


    Water Domain- Water exerts its dominance over all other elements in the magespace. All elements in the space will be infused with the water element. Any spells without a physical form will be reduced in strength by 50%.


    Time ripple- Uses water to ripple the time of everything around you, slows everything down by ten times. Has an effect on everything within your magespace, after that, the effect fades. Can only be countered by a ripple from another water user. If the move is used on someone at a higher rank, the effects are reduced by 50% at each successive rank.


    Fire


    Fire Domain- Fire exerts its dominance over all other elements in the magespace. All elements in the space will be infused with the fire element. Any spells without a physical form will be reduced in strength by 50%.


    Explosion- Rapidly alternates between hot and cold by absorbing all heat from a space and then adding all the heat back, creating an explosion. The hotter the space is to begin with, the greater of an effect the spell will have. Costs ? of the cost of a normal advanced spell, but can alternate the temperature with each cast. Explodes on will.


    Earth


    Earth Domain- exerts its dominance over all other elements in the magespace. All elements in the space will be infused with the earth element. Any spells without a physical form will be reduced in strength by 50%.


    Transmutation- Changes the material of the object to a different material as long as one has the required density of energy. Also needs to have a sample of the material that you are changing one material to. The time taken depends on the two materials and the amount of energy spent.


    Air


    Air Domain- Air exerts its dominance over all other elements in the magespace. All elements in the space will be infused with the air element. Any spells without a physical form will be reduced in strength by 50%.


    Compression- Compresses air or decompresses it into an area of 200 meters. Can go to the density of the air density of space, or the density of cake.


    Light


    Light Domain- Light exerts its dominance over all other elements in the magespace. All elements in the space will be infused with the Light element. Any spells with a physical form will be reduced in strength by 50%.


    Truesight- Instead of going through your eyes, light sends its energy directly to your brain. It lets you see what light sees, and with it you can tell truth from lies based on aura, you can see a second into the future of anybody with the same rank as your rank, and you can see into the immaterial world. Lasts 5 seconds per cast.


    Darkness


    Darkness Domain- Darkness exerts its dominance over all other elements in the magespace. All elements in the space will be infused with the darkness element. Any spells with a physical form will be reduced in strength by 50%.


    Space- As darkness is space, you can use darkness to control space. With space, you can open up a hole in space that lasts half a second, twist space to change distances between places for a second, or uses darkness to stabilize a space.


    Electricity


    Electricity Domain- Electricity exerts its dominance over all other elements in the magespace. All elements in the space will be infused with the electricity element. Any spells with a physical form will be reduced in strength by 50%.


    Lightning- Manifests lightning as powerful as those from the heavens. Lightning cannot be dodged after it is fired, and it cannot miss. Lightning in its weakest form can instantly vaporize a intermediate realm practitioner and also can paralyse an advanced realm practitioner. The scariest thing about this spell, is that it can be overlaid for a greater effect, unlike any other spell. One lightning costs 2 advanced spells.


    Items


    Spatial rings- Spatial rings are gateways to carved out ¡®sockets¡¯ in darkness. The holder¡¯s energy is like a key to open the gateway, and anything with their energy can be put inside the ring. If the ring was just made and does not have a ¡®mold¡¯ for the user¡¯s energy yet, the user must envelop the ring with their natural energy for about a day to imprint their energy on the ring, thus making a ¡®keyhole¡¯.


    The wooden sword- A mysterious sword found at the grave of an Argaroc, a powerful clan that was wiped out by an unknown entity. The craftsmanship on the blade is impeccable, and it has a hole in the center of the hilt. The mechanism to activate the sword into a battle-state is unknown to the main character, but currently it has only been activated twice in the story. Once through being struck by lightning, and another through being present in the MC¡¯s awakening. But normally it is a dull wooden sword, that is under a homemade disguise consisting of mainly mud.


    The pendant- A pendant, passed on through the swiftblade family for generations on end. It contains numerous functions, but the only one the MC is aware of is its function to locate the heritage of their family.


    The tablet- A tablet, one of the heritage relics in Daniel¡¯s family. Was given to him for the cultivation technique on it, and it contains 7 stages. They are below. (Quoted from story, I don¡¯t feel like tailoring it to this page right now. Maybe later.) ¡°The cultivation technique was called, ¡°Revolutions of the Universal Foundation,¡± and to put it simply, it involved 7 stages.


    (Because these explanations are really lengthy and go deeply into mechanics of my story, I don¡¯t feel that many would like to read it. But hey, for you go getters go ahead and read both! However for the others, I¡¯ll notify you where the summary starts in bold.)


    The first stage needed you to compress the aura sphere within your core, and rotate it as fast as you can. The faster the rotational speed, the faster the energy is drawn closer to you. When the natural energy drawn in fully takes your shape as it tries to get closer to your body, you have to rotate the core of the sphere in the opposite way, and send the outside aura flying outwards, leaving behind a rotational ¡®seed¡¯ that is spinning a bit faster than the previous. This ¡®seed¡¯ will draw the aura released back in, bringing in the natural energy with it. This is the natural energy gathering stage.


    The second stage was to then incorporate the natural energy into the outer layer of the aura sphere, and spin the aura around using the momentum of the ¡®seed¡¯. The rotational speed will then slowly separate the natural energy into its counterparts, material energy and immaterial energy. The immaterial energy will move into your seed, and the material energy will spin around the edges of the aura sphere. This is the divide stage.


    The third stage was to take the possession of the energy you gained, or conquer it. You use your aura as mini chains that attach to segments of natural energy. Then using your aura chains, you squeeze the natural energy to imprint it with your ¡®signature¡¯. Once the individual imprinting is done, you create openings from your seed to the edge of the aura sphere. Using these ¡®tunnels¡¯ you can send immaterial energy outwards to the edge of the sphere without disrupting the rotations of your aura. Next you recombine the energy and send it back through the tunnels to your seed. This combined energy will be re printed with your ¡®signature¡¯, making the energy thoroughly follow your command. This is the conquer stage.


    The fourth stage was to reinforce your ¡®tunnels¡¯ with the imprinted natural energy by layering the natural energy between the aura of the tunnels. Let the rotations of your aura to further compress and consolidate these tunnels, until material and immaterial energy can be sent throughout the tunnels without the slightest ripple. Once this was completed, you needed to merge your 2 types of natural energy into one again at the edge, and wait until the unimprinted natural energy fully takes your shape. Then reverse the rotations of your seed to send your aura outside your body and the imprinted natural energy throughout your body. The imprinted energy will refine your body from the inside, and the unimprinted natural energy will refine most in the areas that your imprinted energy hit the least from the outside. This is the reinforcement stage.


    After completing these stages, one would repeat the steps while omitting the constructing parts of aura that weren¡¯t needed to be done again for the technique. The more times you could repeat the technique without messing up, the faster your power progressed. But there were 3 special stages that were used when the situation calls for it. Those were the fifth, sixth, and seventh stage respectively.


    The fifth stage was a impurity removement technique. It was used when you adsorbed natural energy from somewhere other than the environment, namely dans and herbs. In those, there would always be traces of impurities. So to get rid of the impurities, you would first draw your natural energy into your aura sphere. Then you would rotate the energy as fast as you could to separate the energies, and therefore the impurities. Since impurities cannot be printed, you can then fuse the energy together without the impurities using the tunnels. Then take a trace of natural energy and bond it to the impurities. After that, one must draw the clean energy back into the seed, and then leave the impurities at the edge of the sphere. Lastly, you reverse the aura seed, blowing the energy to the extremities of your body. But this time you do not keep spinning the aura seed, but instead control your aura to make the energy exit through one of the seven orifices. Severe the connection to your aura, and leave the energy to dissipate in the world. Aura regenerates at a slow pace, so it will not be permanent. This is the refinement stage.


    The sixth stage was a stage used to assist in breakthroughs. It works by spinning threads of aura and energy throughout the body, and circulating it and cultivating at the same time. The threads move from the head, to the arms and legs, in the center, and back to the core. This will slowly awaken the body''s potential without hurting it. Then bind the aura to the energy in your body, and rush it back to your core while now using your aura according to steps 1-4. If done when the user has accumulated enough foundation, they will break through to the next level. This is the activation stage.


    The seventh and last technique was one for raising battle potential. Unlike the other techniques, this one did not work using a complete sphere. Instead, it used the tunnels as anchors in the edge and sent the outer layer of the aura sphere outwards onto the edges of the core, while having material energy on one side, and immaterial on the other. Then one would form a natural energy line separating the core into two halfs. These edges would rotate in opposite directions, while the seed focuses on separating the two. When the user needed a power boost, one would temporarily retract the natural energy line causing the two to send out a pulse wave of energy throughout the user, boosting him/her by up to a full 50% for a moment. The boost percentage depends on the time the aura and energy takes to rotate at full speed again. This is the burst stage.


    (Summary starts here!)


    I laid down from my sitting position, and tried to summarize what I just learned


    After establishing the foundations for the technique, the first stage gathers energy in your body. The second stage and third stage divides and conquers the energy you just gathered, and the fourth stage reinforces your body and special tunnels for energy within your aura. Then you would move directly from the fourth stage to the second stage, and continue the process faster and faster until you can¡¯t maintain the technique.


    Once one failed to perform one of the stages appropriately as the energy gathered faster and faster, the energy will stop rotation, and one must restart the process from the first stage to continue cultivation.


    There were also 3 special techniques that were tailored to suit special needs. These were the refinement stage, the activation stage, and the burst stage.


    The refinement stage was to be used directly after impure energy entered the body, and it forced that energy out at the cost of a bit of cultivation and aura. Both are recoverable by time.


    The activation stage sent energy throughout your body to awaken and gather latent energy / foundation. This energy would then be sent to your core riding on the wave of extra energy entering your body. If the energy requirements are met, one would directly be able to raise their cultivation, but if they weren¡¯t, ones foundation will be scattered. This scattered foundation will have to be reaccumulated, although the recovery speed would be much faster than accumulating it from scratch.


    The burst stage sent out instantaneous waves of energy throughout your body, boosting your base power by a full 50% for a moment. Although this energy needed time to recover after a single burst, it did not harm foundations unlike most battle power raising techniques. Therefore it was probably one of the most practical techniques of the 3 special stages.


    According to the tablet, any of the 3 special stages could be used in conjunction with each other, or they could be used with the foundational stages.


    This was my father¡¯s cultivation technique, Revolutions of the Universal Foundation.¡±


    Characters


    Daniel Swiftblade (The MC)- Our main character. Currently, he is a determined hard working youth who has slight emotional wounds due to his family situation. He was grown and raised in a bandit clan, and as such he acquired skills and mindsets unique to a thief from a young age. Has an abundant conviction, and a large amount of will power in certain areas. However, curiosity often gets the better of him, and when it comes to training, this can be a double edged sword.


    Jack Swiftblade (Dad)- The main character¡¯s dad. Currently, he is one of the 3 leaders of a bandit clan, masquerading as a drunk. But when it comes to Daniel, he will break all these convictions and punish anyone or anything who truly harms his child. Uses his advanced skill in stealth combined with his peak cultivation to act as Daniel¡¯s hidden backer.


    Luke ???- The classical childhood bully that cannot accept Daniel due to prejudices regarding Jack Swiftblade.


    Logan ???- A simple follower of Luke¡¯s that isn¡¯t fully corrupted, but teeters on the line of being friends or enemies with Daniel. Normally, he will follow the orders of Luke due to their parents relation, but he will usually throw away all preconceived opinion when they aren¡¯t there.


    Creon ???- The bandit trainer that exhausted all his potential to reach the first rank. His only real desire is to have a good and rich life, and for that he is willing to do anything to suck up to those with power. He normally won¡¯t do anything to offend anyone powerful, but he has an extremely hard time controlling his temper. As a result of this, he had his hand cut off and his status reduced. Due to the loss of a hand, he hates Daniel to the bone, but won¡¯t do anything extreme until he knows he can avoid the consequences.


    Jedav Barthen- Son to the leader of the Plundering earth clan, Jedav Barthen is a powerful and talented cultivator of the first rank. He is a man of 21 years, and he also has many years of combat experience, making his eyes forever cold as ice. His impression of Daniel is unknown, but it may be bad due to his sister.


    Diana Barthen- Daughter to the leader of the Plundering earth clan, Diana Barthen is a spoiled little princess of the leader¡¯s old age. As the youngest in the Barthen family, Diana is within the range of seven years old, and therefore a member of Daniel¡¯s training group. She hates Daniel currently, and blames him for her humiliation.


    ??? Argaroc (Middle aged instructor)- The weakest cultivator of the Plundering earth clan. He likes to mutter things under his breath, and has a high mastery over the earthshattering fist. Even to the Clan, this man is shrouded in a cloak of mystery. As to Daniel, he seems to have special unknown interests. That is, to befriend an orphan named Keith in Nula village. More will be revealed after this task is completed.


    Keith- An orphan of the Lion-blood Orphanage. Not much is known about him, yet, other than he is protected by some very strong people.


    Old man Steve- A perpetually drunken old man, whose specialty lies in ¡®overhearing¡¯ information. His motives are unknown, and he has a connection to Keith. But being a ¡®friend¡¯ of Daniel, he will point out information quickly to get the MC to move along. But more often than not, he will leave out crucial information that may or may not cause serious problems.


    Caldera Moonblossom (Old Woman)- A spiteful old lady, who works at the orphanage. She is a cultivator at the first level of the basic realm, and is related to Daniel, on the mom¡¯s side. She hates the MC like the rest of the Moonblossom family, but her hatred is even more excessive than most due to her sister being one of the people inside the tent.


    Important organizations and places


    The Starfallen Continent


    Being a gigantic place of many wonders, The Starfallen Continent is home to the only known human settlement in the whole world. Although beasts are the most numerous in this area, they do not have any intelligence. As such, Nature is the true ruler of this continent, and its law is the law of the jungle. Kill or be killed, this is the basic standard that all live by.


    The 8 paths of soul- The mainstream religion of the area. Not much of this religion is yet known to the main character because of the recluse nature of a bandit clan. However, some major points such as where you go after death are currently known by Daniel.


    Plundering earth clan- A bandit clan that likes to rob unsuspecting merchants from the city. It is a relatively strong clan in the area, and they trade with mercenary groups for weapons and resources. It contains 3 different experts at the peak of the basic realm, and they also function as a clan where people live their lives.


    Lucia city- The city where most of the merchants come from unexpecting to be robbed. Home to the mercenary organization, a church of the 8, and the merchant¡¯s guild.


    Nula village- One of the major villages in the vicinity of the plundering earth clan. They are not very rich, and home to very few of the middle class. Most are in the poverty level, and thus, they are not bothered by the plundering earth clan, although they do have disputes from time to time.


    Skysplitting Sword Clan- One of the top ¡®universal¡¯ clans in the Starfallen continent. Their main weapon is the sword, and it is said that upon cultivating their sword techniques to the peak, one can split the heavens. It is controlled and led by the sword saint, Roran Swiftblade.


    Bloodrop Spearpoint Clan- One of the top ¡®universal¡¯ clans in the Starfallen continent. Their main weapon is the spear, and it is said that upon cultivating their spear techniques to the peak, one can massacre thousands with only a drop of blood on their spear. It is controlled and led by the spear saint, Jason Manel.


    Draconic Fist Clan- One of the top ¡®universal¡¯ clans in the Starfallen continent. Their main weapon is their fist, and it is said that upon cultivating their fist techniques to the peak, one can destroy mountains with a single fist, reigning supreme like a dragon. It is controlled and led by the martial saint, Drake Farther.


    The Argaroc Family- Not much is known about their family currently, other than the middle aged man was sired from them. They have an inseparable connection to the sword on Daniel¡¯s back. The reason why the middle aged instructor does not seem to completely share this connection is also unknown.


    __________________________________________________________________


    Changelog- <ul>


    <li>Elaborated on the Lightning and Restore spells, added different effects</li>


    <li>Added a log for characters introduced in the story</li>


    <li>Added a log for important organizations and places in the story</li>


    <li>Added a log for the body and natural energy, and how they interact</li>


    <li>Elaborated on the log for important organizations and places in the story(2)</li>


    <li>Changed formatting, shortened text blocks (2)</li>


    <li>Elaborated on the log for characters introduced in the story (2)</li>


    <li>Elaborated on the log for Mage ranks and abilities (2)</li>


    <li>Added a log for suppression of the elements with a picture in the story</li>


    <li>Added a log for items in the story


    </li></ul>

 Vol. 1 Chapter 4- Nula village (Complete chapter)

    Author¡¯s note- Hey, here is the complete chapter. Though I have to say, I¡¯d be lying if I told you that this chapter didn¡¯t come out within months due to my lack of internet. In reality, I got into games. Monster Hunter Ultimate 3, Assassin''s Creed 3, Dust, Don¡¯t Starve, Team Fortress 2, and Symphony were all games that I used to procrastinate. After that period, I was ready to write but my Identity as a Hardcore leecher on novels prevented me from doing so before checking my email for more chapters. So I checked, and was shocked. 1000+ chapters were translated and ready for me to read! I binge read for another month, but I had added so many novels to my reading list that the number of chapters I could read per day barely surpassed the amount that was translated! So after looking at my email and still seeing 80 something chapters after I binge read for the past month, I decided to cut down to only reading the highest quality books, and write my story. So here I finally am with a complete chapter, Nula village!


    PS. If you read part 1, scroll down till you see the big part two.


    __________________________________________________________________


    Nula Village


    I walked through the forest silently, not making a single sound. This was because as a child, leaving the clan¡¯s boundaries was risky at the least, if not almost suicidal. But I had to do it. Or else I would probably never have another perfect opportunity like now, when most of the clan¡¯s seniors are currently off of duty, looking for the very treasure I currently have on my back.


    And this very situation would not last for long. I reckon it will only take them a few hours to return to the village. This is because the graveyard is the last place they¡¯ll look; given they think that they inspected all the treasures there. But once they check the graveyard, find the tombstone that is damaged to the point of oblivion, and notice the gigantic crater on the area where the dead body should be, only a fool would not know at that time as to who had the treasure. But of course, they could not immediately recognize what exactly was taken unless I come into a relative¡¯s face with his sword. So some modifications are in order.


    Inline of this, I took up a rock by the road, and attempted to carve scratches into the wood. But surprisingly, I couldn¡¯t get the blade to scratch no matter how much I grinded at the blade. So next, I turned to masking the hilt in dirt. After all, anybody could have a wooden sword, It would just make it harder to recognize.


    In that fashion, I masked the hilt with mud, and drew lines on the sword itself. But I knew this was only a temporary fix. Upon encountering rain or a dry season, the dirt would come off. So I needed to find a more permanent solution when I arrived at the village.


    Luckily, I didn¡¯t come across anybody from my clan on the way as I was trekking through the forest. And my temporary destination was the pathway. Obviously, there is no direct path from our clan to the village, but I knew where I would encounter it. Once I heard the sound of the river, the pathway would not be far. Although I couldn¡¯t directly go on the pathway, which is too suspicious, I could walk by the river. This would allow me to get plenty of mud on my sword, on my shoes, and also travel undetected. I would also take the river way back once I inspected the general situation of the orphanage.


    It would do me no good to stay too long though, so I only planned to scout the area for about an hour. I needed time to return, and the sooner the better. But I wouldn¡¯t come across another chance like this without a fundamental change, one that would come with my age. From age 1-6, we had really no freedom other than the occasion when the adults go down into the village for drink. That¡¯s how my Dad met my mom, or at least that¡¯s what he told me.


    He almost never talks about her; it always seems like he¡¯s trying to forget. Trying to forget every part of the event.


    Involuntarily, tears started streaming down my cheeks. I was the devil child in it; the one who killed everyone. I killed the midwives, I killed the clan members standing outside the tent, I killed my grandparents, I killed my mother! They all just stopped moving, like their very souls were crushed. Not one living thing was spared inside that range, even the very grass died out and turned black!


    That day, my dad was lucky to be alive. He was urged by our family before my birth to prepare a meal for my exhausted mother, the best quality. So he went out, and according to custom he killed a magical beast in the wild. When he came back, he met with all that death and destruction. The only thing left was the cursed child, me.  He kept me, raised me, and never once blamed me for what had happened.


    Likewise, our clan members saw the event as inevitable. But at the same time, they didn¡¯t have any sympathy for us. Yet, even that is better than the treatment of my family. They hate me to the bone, and they never refer to me by my name. They only call me the devil child, and I know if one of them thought they could kill me without any repercussions from my dad, they would do it in a heartbeat.


    On this trip to the village, I would not go out of my way to encounter any of them. Their house was in the center, near the lord¡¯s manor. However, the orphanage couldn¡¯t be in the center. I doubt those close to the lord would want ¡®dirty street children¡¯ anywhere near their residence. So I planned to first enter through our normal shortcut through the fields, and ask some of the fields men where the orphanage was located. Now to find that river...


    I started jogging through the woods, not bothering to mask my footsteps. There was just no point in trying to hide any longer, especially since I had already passed the clan¡¯s borders for a while now. Being cautious and paranoid in the outskirts was just folly; obviously no one would be this far out in patrol.


    After a minute or two, I finally heard the sound of rushing water. It was accompanied by the tweeting of birds, and the occasional rabbit dashing from the bushes. Looking up, I could see golden rays of sunlight streaming down through vibrant green leaves. I had finally entered the heart of the forest.


    Here is where the world is raw. Where not the law of the clan rules, but where nature is the true sovereign. Where I was free!


    I wiped away the tear streaks on my face, and a wild, childish grin took its place. My long suppressed playful nature flourished, and I mischievously started to run around, setting off every hunter¡¯s trap I could find. It was like all my emotions just exploded, and I ran rampant without worry of being judged, of being repressed, of being trash. The heavy burden was lifted, and I felt like I could fly!


    After a few minutes, I managed to refocus myself to the task at hand. And during that period, I had also unwittingly arrived at the Forlan river, the lifeblood of the forest. The fish bred like maggots inside the rushing white water, and it was even possible to fish without bait. Or at least that¡¯s what they told me; I never fished in my life.


    They swam upstream, to the city, while downstream was the village. So I would be following the current of the river to keep my bearings. Then, ignoring the mud, I walked by the river. It was time to go to Nula Village!


    ***********


    After a seemingly long walk of about 12 minutes, I had finally started to see the rolling hills of farmland. Next came the fence, which I promptly hopped over. And finally, I had started to see some people. At first it was just a couple here and there, but after walking a bit, they turned into rolling masses of people just strolling around. There were loud clanging sounds, the loud yells of children, and most of all the monotonous sound of people chattering.


    As I walked further the wind blew by, and the fragrant smell of bread mixed with the pungent smell of dung assaulted my nose. The cause? The people sitting in the streets, beggars. Nula village was not a rich place; even the bandits were better off. It was the home to the lower middle class and the poor. Therefore, I¡¯m sure they were not bothered by the people before them; it was just another common sight.


    Although I had seen and smelled it a few times before, it was not common to me yet. So, wrinkling my nose in disgust, I continued to walk towards the noise, albeit a little faster than before. Once I reached the edge, I turned from an alleyway into the marketplace.


    Unlike the rural area of the city, this one was bustling with people. And with any area with many people, there would always be a town crier. And a town crier always had the latest news for, well anybody who would listen to him.


    Town crier- ¡°... the biggest news in The Starfallen Continent! The Skysplitting Sword clan, the Draconic Fist clan, and the Bloodrop Spearpoint clan, have opened their doors to talents in the mortal realm! These are the top of the top, the elite of the elite, the best of the best! These clans are top powers in the elemental sects, and they have decided on a consensus to take any people under the age of 20, with at least intermediate realm talent.¡±


    He surveyed the now quiet marketplace; resting his eyes on the vailant, hot-blooded men standing at the front. Sensing he finally had their attention, he continued eagerly.


    Town crier- ¡°Yes, I tell you the truth! They will recruit the elites of the generation, the swans among ducks! And where is this happening? The Battle Blooded Arena, located in our very own Lucia city! And...


    I slinked away into the market, not interested. I was nowhere near the first step of being a cultivator: the maturing of the mind. Around 12, a cultivator¡¯s mind and body harmonize, and this allows the sensing of natural energy. Using this newfound sense, there are two options. The first and most common method is to consume a pill of awakening.


    A pill of awakening will direct a small stream of energy directly to your core. That energy will then move within the core directly. It is not strong enough to cause any real harm, but it will give feeling to the core. This allows people to gain awareness, and thereby control over their core like a newfound limb.


    But it¡¯s detriments are as follows. One, if the pill was not refined to a 100% purity rate, the poison within would limit future achievements within the martial path. Two, that uncontrolled energy will act as the base of all the future energy of cultivation inside the basic realm. This causes foundational problems, and can even cause cultivators to lose control of their energy in times of stress.


    These problems will disappear upon the intermediate realm, as the ability to manifest natural energy allows you to spend time to get rid of that impure energy completely and replace it. Although it takes about ten times longer to remove energy with impurities, the amount of energy contained within the pill is almost negligible. Therefore, most will choose it over the second method if given the choice.


    The second method is unlocking aura before cultivation. Once it is unlocked, one can use their aura to draw energy from the atmosphere, resulting in a 100% purity. Those who choose this method have a slight advantage over other practitioners in any aspect whether it be control, comprehension, temperament, or even raw power. It also allows one to maximize their talent, and even improve it.


    Based on the benefits, it would seem that everyone would choose this method. But sadly, the requirements for unlocking aura are just too harsh. It demands that one must constantly put their life on the line, and due to the imminent feeling of danger that comes from the very soul, one can seize control over their aura.


    The only ones that can choose this method are heirs to chaotic dukedoms, bandits, and even beggars. The reason why is the one thing they all have in common. A life or death struggle that was survived by the skin of their teeth. Aura will unlock when one faces their life crisis and gives birth to a will so strong to survive that it surges up from their very soul.


    This method is definitely the worst out of the two, because inevitably about only 50% will survive long enough to unlock aura when put into a life or death situation for the first time, and only 25% will live to tell the tale after surviving that crisis.


    Of course our bandit tribe would always choose the first method if given the choice. But the thing is that we are not usually given the choice. And that was due to one inevitable truth. The mercenary guild and the city lord had full control over the alchemists, and therefore the awakening pills. It was not a stretch to say the only way we could get those pills was to either trade for them at an exorbitant price or steal them. But they have their own counter measures against stealing, ones much more formidable than the occasional traveling merchant.


    If we were to attack a merchant caravan, first we would have to get through their forces. They were always armed to the teeth, and not one of them was a normal person. Without exception, all of them were battle hardened cultivators of at least the second rank. And they would always have a captain or two at the peak of the basic realm.


    Now if by chance we were daring and strong enough to kill their captains and mercenaries, we would encounter a second barrier. The carriage itself.


    The carriage had a series of seals that could only be ripped off in a certain order, which changes every time. If they were torn off in the wrong order, it would cause the carriage to explode the contents inside as well as send a signal that would mark our location to the mercenary guild for 3 days. And it doesn¡¯t even make much of a difference if we tear them off in the right order because it still sends out a ripple that alerts the guild of our location, even if it¡¯s only for an hour.


    The third and final failsafe is the fact that the awakening pills are mixed in with poison pills. The only method of identifying them rests with the leader of the mercenary union and the city lord, both at the 4th rank. They use their natural energy to pick out poison from medicine in bulk, and they distribute the medicine among their own elites.


    These series of methods, along with their indomitable strength, allows them to have an absolute monopoly over the awakening pills. Therefore, the only way to obtain them for most is to join either the city lord or the mercenary union. And due to this, the city lord and the mercenary union is the strongest force in the region. Being the strongest force in the region allows them to monopolize all the alchemists awakening pills. It was a vicious cycle, with the only real winners being the strongest forces in the region. Truly it is as they say, might is right.


    I turned a corner in the marketplace, and I found myself staring down a black, wooden door. On it was a engraved iron plate with a message written in fanciful handwriting, ¡°~Ye who enter, number your days, for they are limited~¡±


    I opened the door ignoring the morbid humor written on the door. This was after all, a bar. A special place that was a center of alcohol, commerce, and most of all information. You could find out almost anything in the village here for a certain price, or at least that¡¯s what I heard from the clan. They frequented the place every month, and if some loose tongued merchants spilled out their plans, they always ¡®happened¡¯ to be there to listen in.


    Nobody in the bar really noticed me, and I surveyed it quietly. The bar was about a quarter-full, with only layabouts that drank in broad daylight inside currently. I only knew one of the men here, and it was old man Steve.


    Being a man that wouldn¡¯t stand out in the crowd, old man Steve had hazel brown eyes with blackish, brown hair that cascaded to the bottom of his neck. His beard looked to be 2 years unshaven, and an alcohol bottle was pressed to his lips. But unlike his looks suggested, he possessed a very solid knowledge of the town. All you had to do was ask.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    I walked up to Old man Steve, and sat down next to him, waiting. He shot me a sharp glance from the corner of his eye, yet he continued to drink. But I was patient for a reason. With Steve, you couldn¡¯t just ask him a question straight out of the blue and expect him to answer you. In fact, if you did that, he would be unlikely to answer you at all. You had to wait for him to open up at his own pace. So I waited for about 5 more minutes of my precious time before he finally spoke,


    Old man Steve- ¡°You need something?¡±


    I smiled amusedly, knowing he was probably already tired of me sitting here. So I replied honestly, getting straight to the point,


    Me- ¡°I need to know where I can find an orphan by the name of Keith.¡±


    Old man Steve narrowed his eyes, his voice taking on a tone of suspicion.


    Old man Steve- ¡°Why do you need to know about him?¡±


    I took a glance at him bewilderedly, what was so special about Keith?


    Me- ¡°I was sent by a man of the surname Argaroc.¡±


    He looked at me strangely before bursting into boisterous laughter.


    Old man Steve- ¡°Wha-ha-ha-ha! The Argarocs? That clan was annihilated years ago! You must be playing a joke on me boy!¡±


    I smiled to play along, but on the inside I was even more confused. What exactly was going on? But before I could squeeze more information about the Argarocs, he continued.


    Old man Steve- ¡°Anyways, you¡¯ll find him at the Lion-blood orphanage. To get there, first you¡¯ll have to go through this door here, ¡®points to door opposite to the one I came in¡¯ and then turn right. After that, you will continue to go straight until you see a giant, green flag, with a golden lion dancing in the wind.¡±


    I nodded my head slightly to indicate that I understood, and motioned for him to continue. But he had sunk into a deep silence, seeming to reminisce about something. Obviously he was not willing to talk any longer.


    With an exasperated sigh, I got up and started walking to the orphanage. It had been a long day¡­


    ****************


    PART TWO STARTS HERE!!!


    When I entered the orphanage, I was surprised at how poor the place looked. With a flag like that right over the doorway, and the way that it looked on the outside, you could really never tell that they were in dire straits.


    But with floor boards that looked like they haven¡¯t been cleaned in decades, walls that were missing bricks in parts, and a ceiling that looked as if it could fall down at any moment, the Lion-blood Orphanage certainly did not live up to it¡¯s name. At least they hadn¡¯t declined to the point of having no other person who works at the building.


    That person was a woman way past her years, who was staring at a weathered banner on the wall opposite to the door. She had long grey hair that cascaded over her back, and she sat on a desolate rocking chair that slowly creaked as she rocked back and forth. Then she suddenly stopped, and spoke without even looking back.


    Old woman- ¡°Ah, how the years have gone by. Even when someone comes to visit, they don¡¯t speak a word¡­¡±


    I suddenly felt flustered and embarrassed, and I hoped that my cheeks did not redden, even though I knew the woman could not see me. Then I awoke from my stupor, and spoke quickly,


    Me- ¡°Hello, my name is Daniel, and I¡¯ve come looking for Keith.¡±


    Upon hearing this, the woman stiffened and slowly turned the chair around. She gave me a piercing glare, and examined me closely, like I was some sort of threat. What was up with Keith for souls sake? What could be so significant about an orphan? I sent the woman a questioning look, and she started to speak slowly, choosing her words carefully.


    Old woman- ¡°You¡­ Do you know the significance of the name, Lion-blood?¡±


    I shook my head, and unconsciously felt at the wooden sword at my back.


    Old woman- ¡°Keith is¡­ special. And it is necessary for his existence to be kept within the minds of a select few.¡±


    Her expression betrayed her, as anger was clearly shown on her face. She started gripping her chair tightly, like it was the only thing keeping her from strangling me right then and there. She spoke again through clenched teeth, asking me her final question.


    Old woman- ¡°Who sent, you?¡±


    I knew instinctively that if and when I answered the question, the woman would try and end me right then and there. And the scary thing was, is that I wasn¡¯t aware of her capabilities. So I would have to try my luck.


    Me- ¡°And what does that have to do with you?¡±


    I questioned back rudely, not answering her question.


    Old woman- ¡°Answer me, devil spawn!¡±


    She abruptly stood up from the chair, and the world around her suddenly blackened by a few tones. It came across to me like a rolling mist, the trademark symbol of Darkness. I started running. If I was hit by any spell whatsoever, it would be the end.


    Old woman- ¡°You dare!?¡±


    While I was running I heard her rapidly chanting. In what felt like hours, but was really a matter of seconds, I reached the door. But just as I put my hand on the handle, she raised her hand with exaggerated flair and yelled out.


    Old woman- ¡°Darkball!¡±


    A swirling ball of liquid darkness suddenly materialized at her palm, and shot out like a streak of lightning. All I saw from the corner of my eye was a streak of nothing; an abstract circle that rapidly enlarged faster than I could react. Closing my eyes, I knew at this point I was dead without a doubt. But a sudden, humongous pressure that I was incapable of resisting even if I was ten times stronger enveloped my body and pressed me down to the floor.


    ¡°BOOM!¡±


    As soon as I opened my eyes, the remains of a worn out door stood before me. Replacing it was a magical beast hide boot, which had a metallic sheet on the bottom. I looked up, and saw a pair of golden eyes looking straight back at me. They were dad¡¯s!


    Old woman- ¡°The waste and the demonchild, it seems they come in pairs! What are you doing here, Jack?¡±


    She spoke in a venomous tone, and practically spat out his name. But Dad did not seem in the mood for wasting words with the woman. He turned into a blur and rushed at the woman. But instead of engaging him she fled rapidly while chanting.


    Old woman- Aid my movement, assist my will, bring power to my wish, Darkness cloaking!¡±


    The woman turned into a living shadow with black eyes. But she did not pause as she made her way to an area where the chandelier light did not reach. A corner under shadow.


    However, that didn¡¯t last long for suddenly her movement turned sluggish, as if giant hand was pressing down against her.


    In a last ditch effort, she pointed her hand at me and chanted as fast as she could. But before she could finish, Dad had already arrived next to her. He immediately grabbed her hand despite her furious struggle, and pushed it against her head.


    Jack- ¡°Go ahead Caldera, fire your spell. It would be funny to watch the first idiot of the Moonblossom family to kill themselves with their own spell! In fact, the only reason you aren¡¯t already dead is because you¡¯re related to Maria!¡±


    She screamed out indignantly,


    Caldera Moonblossom- ¡°Yeah, so? He killed my sister, as well as your wif-¡±


    A rolling mist seemed to manifest around dad, and it was a reddish black. An ugly, evil color that made me instinctively full of fear. And in that moment, Dad slapped her in the face making a loud, satisfying crack.


    ¡°Pa!¡±


    Jack- ¡°Don¡¯t ever say that again, or I¡¯ll have your head!¡±


    The woman paled visibly, except for a giant mark on her face. It was in the shape of a hand, and it was becoming a deeper shade of scarlet every second. She stammered and stuttered, but no understandable words came out of her mouth.


    Jack- ¡°Oh?¡±


    A trace of a sadistic smile made its way onto his lips, in a way that I had never seen him do before.


    Jack- ¡°I¡¯m sorry, did I break something?¡±


    He slowly traced a finger around the area he hit, while Caldera watched, entranced.


    Jack- ¡°I should fix this, but maybe I should teach you a lesson. It would serve as a constant reminder that you would do well in the future to never touch a single hair on my son¡¯s head!¡±


    The woman vigorously shook her head no and her babbling increased in intensity, but it only seemed to encourage him further, as his aura grew increasingly savage.


    Jack- ¡°Yes, it would be a fitting punishment.¡±


    Suddenly, dad¡¯s hand grabbed the woman¡¯s face, and pushed her bones into the wrong place. Then his sadistic smile grew wide, and right at that moment a healing aura came out of his hand. I was confused for a moment, but suddenly understood. He was healing the bones in the wrong way, to make her permanently unable to speak through disfiguration! She would be in an unbearable pain for the rest of her life!


    Unconsciously, I found the same sadistic grin on dad¡¯s face making its way onto my own. More, more! Now that you¡¯ve destroyed one side, you might as well mangle the other! In fact, she deserves worse! She can¡¯t try to kill me without ample consequences!


    I unsheathed the wooden sword, and walked towards the woman slowly. At that moment, I somehow knew that the blade was not so dull anymore. In fact, it almost seemed that there was a flickering flame where I held the blade. The heat would of burned me, if not for the flames of hatred that also came from within. As I covered half the distance between myself and the woman, the energy had reached its climax. It was time to strike!


    I accelerated suddenly and swung down at her back. The next moment my sword was stuck on the ground while a deep, red gash was left on the woman¡¯s back. She screamed out like an animal, and it rang out like music to my ears. But although the blow was immensely satisfying, it also left an emptiness behind that could not be filled in with pure adrenaline.


    I staggered, trying to keep myself standing, but my sturdy constitution failed me once again. Waves of emptiness crashed into my legs, causing me to fall down. Next, my senses started growing dark. I could hear dad urgently asking if I was alright, and he cast multiple healing spells on me. But the warmth only drove me further into that world of blackness. The last thing I saw was the sword¡¯s hilt. The only thing different about the sword was that the hole in the hilt contained a red ball of flame floating in the center. Then the darkness overtook me.


    *****************


    And then there was a room. It was without walls, but the boundaries clearly defined the concept of, a room. Outside of the boundaries was a boundless space that extended beyond what the eye could see. It was void of color, and it seemed to have been that way for an eternity.


    And then there was a man, standing in the center of that queer room. He waved his hand, and grabbed a single coin out of thin air. He examined the coin, and there, was the first color to ever exist in the space. Within the coin, the scenery constantly changed, with indistinct images fluttering around randomly.


    Appearing to have discovered something delightful, the man smiled, and flipped the coin up with a toss of his hand. It spun at a startling speed, and with the spinning, the space turned into a world of color. White, Black, Golden, Red, Blue, Brown, and Purple all appeared simultaneously. They started off as simple colorful lines within the boundary, but then spread out. Each color snaked along the floor, and claimed one area as it¡¯s own. Soon the once unified area was now divided into seven different colored areas.


    And then there were seven: four women and three men. They all stood within their respective area¡¯s, but the man within the red space was different. He had a single coin, like the man before who set the world into motion.


    With golden, fiery hair and flaming red eyes, the man radiated a faint aura of power. But instead of being unconstrained and domineering like one would expect from such a figure, the man contented himself with flipping the coin over and over. Thus the space continued in it¡¯s repetitive way, and it slowly grew out of focus...


    __________________________________________________________________


    Previous Chapter</a>    The Universe Catalog</a>    Next Chapter</a>


    Author¡¯s note 2- Hey, please let me know if you found any errors in the chapter. Also, I want some guesses on what the space is. Discussion anyone? :D

 Vol. 1 Chapter 5- Fire (Part 1)

    Author¡¯s note- Remember how I told you that everything in the Universe Catalog will be introduced in the story? Well, there is a huge info dump about all things related to cultivation and aura, and it is very important. Please read. Also I seem to write very fluidly when there is an info dump, so there may be more of these in the future. ¡®Winks with a huge smile¡¯


    Also, I don¡¯t know how I did it, but I postponed reading translated chapters until I was done this chapter. And I¡¯m a hardcore leecher, so don¡¯t expect anymore times like this for a while.


    __________________________________________________________________


    Fire (part 1)


    ???- ¡°Fire¡­ is like a battle. It may be intense, but in the end there is only ashes¡­¡±


    A man looked at me with at dark and looming gaze, his expression unreadable.


    ???- ¡°Will you also become one with the flame, Daniel?¡±


    An image of ashes suddenly superimposed on the man, and suddenly his expression took on an expression of greed. A sense of horror rose within me, and I backed away a step. But suddenly the man rushed within me, and I felt paralyzed, as if I could no longer move. And in the next moment, I opened my mouth and started to speak, in a voice that was clearly not my own.


    Me???- ¡°Well, there really was no need to ask that question. After all, we are already one.¡±


    I bridled up with maniacal laughter, and flamed up into ashes.


    ******************


    I woke up in a cold sweat, and I closely examined myself and my surroundings as a reflex to my dream. The bed was just how I remembered it, with brown sheets that covered my body and the top of my bedpost was halfway broken off. The room was my room, except for traces of muddy foot prints too large to be my own. But wait¡­ I was supposed to be at the orphanage, that woman! She tried to kill me, so I slashed her and¡­ Nothing.


    Feeling around my body for any traces of bruises, I found no area that hurt. In fact, my skin felt much more responsive to every touch, and every part of my body felt like it was brimming with an energy previously unknown to me.


    I spoke to myself in partial amazement,


    Me- ¡°Wow! I feel great!¡±


    I stretched my muscles, and they responded with a flexibility previously unknown to me. And surprisingly, it felt really good. Soon, I started testing out all kinds of movements that I could of never done before. Touching my toes without bending my knees, bending backwards so far my head reached the level of my waist, and doing a straight up split1 without even flinching!


    (1: A split is where both your legs go sideways and you lay them flat on the ground. The legs have to be completely opposite to each other)


    And with my improved flexibility, it was time to test out the Earth Shattering Fist. Taking the posture for the fist, I slowly performed each movement that I had fully copied down. Then I snapped my arm back to the position, and struck out quickly.


    I performed the same actions as I did before, yet there was something different to me about those movements than before. It felt like something, something foreign moved with me as I performed the martial art. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn¡¯t seem to isolate that feeling.


    So I decided to try something new. I sat down, and just tried to observe my bodily functions. I moved one muscle at a time, searching for that feeling. But it was not within my muscle. So next, I resigned myself to observing the next easiest thing. Breathing.


    However, even though I felt like I understood more about myself than ever before, I couldn¡¯t find what I was looking for. But I decided on trying to listen at one more thing, My heartbeat.


    Sitting still in an area void of noise, I was suddenly able to feel individual heartbeats starting in my chest. Then I moved my perception upwards, and felt the blood pulsing up at my head. Unsatisfied, I spread my perception to even the outer extremities of my arms. But I did not achieve results. So lastly, I focused on my legs to see if I could feel a heartbeat from there.


    However, unlike all the other areas of my body, My legs were surprisingly hard to feel. The most I could feel my pulse to was my stomach. Finally getting a challenge, I focused all my efforts on my legs. And I was not disappointed. It was faint, but it was still there.


    So then I redrew my still hyper-focused attention back to my chest when all of a sudden my pulse seemed disoriented. It was almost as if I had, two pulses?


    I shook my head in disbelief. That didn¡¯t seem right¡­


    Feeling for anything abnormal, I focused on my chest again. But the feeling was on and off. It felt like whenever I breathed, I could no longer have access to that feeling. It was just like the irritation that comes to a man when he new to fishing. Just when he thinks the fish are about to be his, they swim away from his fishing hook.


    Me- ¡°Well if breathing is the problem, I¡¯ll just stop breathing!¡±


    The Idea may have been silly, but it ended up working. I could finally understand that foreign feeling. So I quietly observed it as long as I could hold my breath.


    It was a bizarre to know that there was something you never knew about now moving around inside you. And the way it moved was different than anything else in my body too. It felt like a raindrop slowly inching down a window, but suddenly another raindrop would collide into it. Then both of them would speed up together, leaving a trail of water behind. Eventually, that raindrop would start inching yet again, and another raindrop would gather from the trail of water left behind. It then would hit the raindrop in front of it, causing the whole process to happen over again.


    It truly felt incredibly strange. But yet, the whole process seemed so familiar, like it had happened my whole life. It was just that I was never able to sense it.


    I was drawn into a mysterious state by feeling those two raindrops circulate throughout my body. Eventually, it got to the point where I could literally see it. But oblivious to the changes within me, the raindrops still continued in their slow, mysterious way, circulating within me. But after a little bit, the raindrops within me started to slowly speed up, as if they were being drawn like a magnet to something.


    They grew faster and faster, and suddenly the raindrops dropped into a large, spherical area with a small globe of water in the center. Flying forward, they became one with a chaotic section of the globe, and soon after, another 2 droplets were sent out. They went into a chamber opposite to the one they came in and continued the cycle eternally.


    A sudden insight flashed in my mind while in that mysterious state, and I waited until the aura was within my arm. Then I jumped to my feet and drew myself into the stance for the Earth Shattering Fist.


    At this point, the droplets suddenly stopped and coiled like a spring, waiting for something to happen. I did not disappoint them. I struck forward with the Earth Shattering Fist, which now contained an indomitable might. The drops sprung forward and spiraled out of my channels into the air. They formed a rippling flame that seemed to spiral around my arm till they reached the end of my fist.


    It created a burning shockwave, which compressed the air by suppressing a purplish sort of energy. The two spiraled together until reaching an object; one that seemed fragile compared to the fist I let out. The two energies penetrated the object, and then they suddenly collided together within the object and exploded.


    ¡°BOOM!!!¡±


    The object shattered, and splintered remains flew out. Most of them bounced across my clothing, but one of them cut past my cheek, leaving a small cut. But I was not thinking about that. Instead, I was still focused on the now smaller raindrops that rode on the purplish energy and tried to re enter my body.


    With a single thought, the raindrops turned into thin streams that entered where they left. With another, they continued circulation. And with this another thought came to mind: If I can make them exit and re enter my body, why can¡¯t I speed up their circulation? So using this train of thought, I continued to exercise my newfound ¡®limb¡¯. That is, until dad came bursting through the room.


    Dad- ¡°Daniel!? Are you ok? What was that noise?¡±


    Dad came in with no trace of the sadistic smile from yesterday. Instead, it was one of worry. But when he saw the shattered bedpost, he grew silent.


    I turned to look at the shattered remains of the already damaged bedpost. Sheepishly grinning at dad, I weakly said,


    Me- ¡°We¡¯re fine. I was just practicing the Earth Shattering Fist, but this happened¡­¡±


    Dad¡¯s tone instantly took on a tone of scolding, although he wasn¡¯t truly angry,


    Dad- ¡°Daniel, you shouldn¡¯t practice the Earth Shattering Fist with aura in the house. First of all, you should only aim your fist at a large space of empty air when you¡¯re a beginner. Secondly, you have to control your aura to detonate it before it hits anythi-. Wait! You can control your aura!?¡±


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Me- ¡°So that¡¯s what it was¡­ I should have known.¡±


    Dad smiled proudly, and murmured something about proving those fools wrong. Then he asked excitedly, like it was his own awakening,


    Dad- ¡°What element did you awaken to!?¡±


    Instead of answering, I smiled and brought the liquid aura outside my arm, letting the faint flame flicker around on the surface of my skin. I could not, however, make it invade the area like that, woman, did. I wonder why?


    Me- ¡°Dad, why can¡¯t it leave the surface of my skin? I clearly remember sending it out like a shot for the Earth Shattering Fist, and that woman could invade a whole area with hers.¡±


    Dad- ¡°Oh, you mean like this?¡±


    Dad¡¯s eyes flickered with a greenish golden light, and suddenly a rolling mist came out of his body and flooded the area. However, it was not black like that woman. Instead, it was the same color as the light from dad¡¯s eyes, a greenish golden color, which gave me a feeling of joy and insurmountable self-confidence.


    Dad- ¡°This, is aura. But the reason you can¡¯t do this with your aura is because Caldera and I are both true cultivators, and we both can extend our aura to the extremities of our magespaces.¡±


    I cringed at the unfamiliar terms.


    Me- ¡°Dad, when you say true cultivator, you make it sound like there are false ones. And I¡¯ve heard the term magespace before, but no one was willing to explain it to me.¡±


    Dad was always eager to explain something, as long as it wasn¡¯t about the clan. So he answered without hesitating,


    Dad- ¡°Well, they aren¡¯t really false, but one who awakens with pills will never have an edge over a true cultivator. As long as they have the same abilities of course. But a true cultivator is one who awakens on his own, without the assistance of pills. And a magespace, well, it¡¯s hard to explain. You¡¯ll understand when you advance to the basic realm.¡±


    Dad grinned and continued on,


    Dad- ¡°And who knows? You may get a headstart from how young you are, by advancing to the basic realm before 12. That would be an unbeatable record, especially due to the fact that only the emperor can awaken before the age of 12.¡±


    I smiled proudly as I let my emotions get the better of me. But so what? I had nothing to hide. In fact, I feel like going straight to Luke just to bragg in his face. But then I looked at dad¡¯s now stern gaze, and threw my sky high thoughts back down to earth. That¡¯s right. If the bandits discovered I had that kind of talent, it didn''t matter what I did. I would be at the mercy of murderers and drunks, who might try and ruin me without thought for the consequences.


    The best example of this was that old woman, Caldera. She already had pre-existing hatred with me, and that made her try and kill me even while she was on her last straw. Luckily, the power difference between her and my father was too great for her to do anything. But if someone at the 2nd or 3rd level of the basic realm who wasn¡¯t so old tried to kill me, I might not even know how I died.


    I took a deep breath and nodded at Dad, showing I understood. Sometimes we just had those moments where not even a word was needed to express what the other was feeling. That was just a part of who we were.


    Me- ¡°Dad, how do I cultivate? Am I even allowed to currently?¡±


    Dad hesitated as conflicting emotions appeared on his face, but he decided to answer my question.


    Dad- ¡°Well, to cultivate you need an art that is suited towards you. And I don¡¯t currently know of any fire attributed methods, only a universal one that is passed down through our family. Do you want to learn it? It will not boost the prowess of your natural energy, being a non-attributed method, but the foundational abilities of this method are second to none. Of course, the method comes with conversion abilities so you can use attributed energy in spells as long as you are willing to wait using your aura.¡±


    Whenever Dad talked about it¡¯s foundational abilities, he sounded extremely confident. But the problem was, I didn¡¯t even know the importance of a foundation.


    Me- ¡°What¡¯s a foundation, and why is it important? I thought you could just absorb energy and eventually advance ranks¡­¡±


    Dad¡¯s suave smile froze for a moment, then he started cursing under his breath about stupid clan members and their pointless rules. Then he continued,


    Dad- ¡°Well, of course you wouldn¡¯t know this at your age. Have you ever heard the saying, haste makes waste?¡±


    I nodded my head yes.


    Dad- ¡°This saying is the crux of the foundation. A foundation is the amount of latent energy accumulated in your body and core. This latent energy is the energy used to break through from level to level. Your foundation also affects things like recovery speed, battle prowess, and the rate at which you cultivate. Basically the better your foundation, the better your life. The amount of ease at which you accumulate a foundation is talent, and an accumulated foundation can only be disturbed by certain things. These are receiving a life threatening wound without immediate healing, using a secret technique to draw out latent energy for battle prowess, and advancing to the next realm too early.¡±


    Me- ¡°Ok¡­ But you still haven¡¯t told me the most important thing; how to gain a foundation. I don¡¯t really need to know how to lose one yet if I don¡¯t even have one, right.¡±


    Dad- ¡°Cough, cough. I was just getting to that. You accumulate a foundation through many methods. The first and most common method is to eat magical beasts that you have hunted. They will improve your flesh and blood from the inside out, and you will immediately see some results. Of course, you cannot eat the same kind of meat every time or else the effects will start to wane, but this is still the cheapest and easiest method. The second most common is to get a higher quality cultivation technique. The better the technique, the more the energy will penetrate and refine your body in a greater amount of area. Also, a good cultivation technique will more often than not be suited to a certain kind of element. Everytime you cultivate it will draw in small amounts of essence aura into your natural energy, making it easier to control through your own aura. This kind of method will also strengthen your natural energy, making an even better foundation. It will also of course, add a boosting effect to spells and martial arts that follow that element.¡±


    I frowned slightly. He mentioned that the universal method was non-attributed. Does that mean that it won¡¯t have any boosting effect whatsoever?


    Me- ¡°Dad, you mentioned a universal method. How much of an effect on my combat capabilities will it have for me to use a non-attributed method.¡±


    Dad looked like he was answering a difficult question. But after a moment, he spoke carefully,


    Dad- ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you. It won¡¯t affect you during the first rank of the basic realm, but it will affect your capabilities by 10% at the second rank and 30% at the third rank. This is mainly because your elemental attacks will take more time to mobilize than normal. However, your perfect foundation will increase your combat capabilities by 5% at the first rank, 10% at the second rank, and 15% at the third rank. So in total, you will be stronger than others at the first rank, same as others in the second rank, and weaker than others in the 3rd rank. However, this method will give you the highest possible chance to advance into the intermediate realm.¡±


    Dad stared at me expectantly, but also with a trace of fear. If I chose not to learn the universal method, I would be able to keep up with the rest and become as strong as dad. However, I would also be giving up a greater chance to become infinitely stronger. But isn¡¯t the third rank enough for me? I have no need for all that strength.


    So I made the choice to not use the universal method. But just as I opened my mouth to make my refusal, I just couldn¡¯t say no. I knew he would be incredibly disappointed in me if I chose to give up my heritage for another method. I said somewhat disappointedly,


    Me- ¡°I¡¯ll cultivate our Universal Method¡­¡±


    But when I saw the expression of joy and pride on my father¡¯s face, I knew I had made the right choice.


    Me- ¡°How do I start?¡±


    __________________________________________________________________


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    Author¡¯s note 2- Hey, this is part 1 for you guys today. And yes, it takes me about 5 hours to write a chapter on a very good day, and 12+ if I have a writers block. Yesterday, I wrote myself to sleep making this chapter, and wrote non-stop during my free time today. Now I¡¯m off to read all the translated chapters I neglected, so see you guys later.

 Vol. 1 Chapter 5- Fire (part 2)

    Author¡¯s note- Riddles, riddles. I used to like them, but now I am exhausted mentally. I don¡¯t want to come up with another riddle again, and I certainly don¡¯t want to solve yet another one. I¡¯ll leave all that to the main character, while I flutter around scot free! Hope you still like riddles.


    __________________________________________________________________


    Fire (part 2)


    Dad smiled, and began to recount a story from ages back.


    Dad- ¡°The Swiftblade family¡¯s roots extend back, back into the beginnings of the lightning empire. And the technique was developed and perfected right after Theren awakened not just the Electricity attributed cores, but the others as well. This technique is said to have been developed by the sword saint Aviran Swiftblade, who later on broke through the void.


    In the story, Aviran was born from a normal family with advanced realm talent. But while he ascended to become prevalent in the perfect realm, his family was still tottering around the basic realm. As you know Daniel, those separated by realms are quite literally in a different world. Your reaction speed, movement, even the speed of talking makes you so much different than them that there is just no way to converse with them. Therefore, upon an inspiration that allowed him to reach perfection, he made the technique for the family. He inscribed the technique onto an incomparably hard tablet1 that contains the methods to perfection!


    (1: A nokia!!!)


    However, although this method should have made our family strong, it was actually the cause of our downfall. Jealous of our heritage, the sk-¡±


    Dad paused, as if he was thinking about something.


    Dad- ¡°Well, when you are strong enough you will naturally know who destroyed our family. But that doesn¡¯t have much to do with you, after all that was hundreds of years ago. Anyways, should our heritage ever be lost, the beginning stages were passed on both in memory and in writing. After those, they were all passed down in riddles. They were all said in order, and I will recount them exactly how they were written.


    1- I lie deep within an ocean. But a peculiar ocean it is, for the water is green, yet there are no fishes within. And when the cold should freeze it over, it instead disappears.


    2- I lie between my mother¡¯s embrace, but yet I am also within a flame. And when you evoke her anger, I shall come from within.


    3- I rest within an essential component for life, yet you cannot find me where there is light. But I also rest within a popular area, where thousands always disturb me.


    4- I rest where only my friends can find me, yes, the ones who surf the blue and white ocean tide. Only through my intelligent friends shall you meet me once again, though you may see me without them.


    These are the the four riddles that note the location of the remaining scripture. Of course, the first one corresponds to the basic realm, the second one corresponds to the intermediate realm, the third one corresponds to the advanced realm, and the 4th corresponds to the perfect realm.¡±


    Now I was confused. We were going to talk about the cultivation technique, but why did he start speaking in riddles? Could it be I would have to look for each one just to cultivate to the basic realm?


    Dad seemed to laugh at my confusion, but he didn¡¯t move to admit he was joking. So I could only consider that he was telling the truth.


    Me- ¡°Dad¡­ Did you cultivate with this method?¡±


    He nodded his head, still grinning.


    Me- ¡°Then how did you reach the peak of the basic realm? Wait...¡±


    Dad- ¡°Do you know the answer to the first riddle?¡±


    My eyes literally brightened up, a phenomenon I was not used to.


    Me- ¡°A forest! Dad, you found one in the forest? But the forest is huge! How did you find out?¡±


    Without unnecessary suspense, dad grabbed a crystal blue, spherical pendant from his breast. It seemed to somewhat reflect the surroundings, and it had 4 small, clear and delicate wings that were almost like a butterfly¡¯s. He handled it carefully, and with a gentle breath he let the pendant take flight.


    As if it had life, the pendant magically fluttered in a circle around my dad, and then flew into the hallway. I followed after it, and so did dad. Eventually it rested on a part of the wall, and flew back to dad. It landed on his hand and he put it back in his breast.


    Dad- ¡°The tablet rests within the walls of this house now.¡±


    Dad removed one of the stones making up the wall, but instead of collapsing, there was a secret hole containing an ancient tablet. It was made up of the same material as the pendant, but it was the same color as the secret compartment. If it was not emitting light, I would have not noticed it.


    Dad- ¡°The tablet will only respond to those with the pendant, otherwise it will only be hidden within the environment. Only those with our bloodline can use it, and that is limited to us two.¡±


    He handed both the tablet over to me, and said quietly,


    Dad- ¡°Memorize it alone in your room; find me when you finish.¡±


    *******************


    About 20 minutes later, I could recite the content of the tablet without leaving out a single word. The cultivation technique was called, ¡°Revolutions of the Universal Foundation,¡± and to put it simply, it involved 7 stages.


    (Because these explanations are really lengthy and go deeply into mechanics of my story, I don¡¯t feel that many would like to read it. But hey, for you go getters go ahead and read both! However for the others, I¡¯ll notify you where the summary starts in bold.)


    The first stage needed you to compress the aura sphere within your core, and rotate it as fast as you can. The faster the rotational speed, the faster the energy is drawn closer to you. When the natural energy drawn in fully takes your shape as it tries to get closer to your body, you have to rotate the core of the sphere in the opposite way, and send the outside aura flying outwards, leaving behind a rotational ¡®seed¡¯ that is spinning a bit faster than the previous. This ¡®seed¡¯ will draw the aura released back in, bringing in the natural energy with it. This is the natural energy gathering stage.


    The second stage was to then incorporate the natural energy into the outer layer of the aura sphere, and spin the aura around using the momentum of the ¡®seed¡¯. The rotational speed will then slowly separate the natural energy into its counterparts, material energy and immaterial energy. The immaterial energy will move into your seed, and the material energy will spin around the edges of the aura sphere. This is the divide stage.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The third stage was to take the possession of the energy you gained, or conquer it. You use your aura as mini chains that attach to segments of natural energy. Then using your aura chains, you squeeze the natural energy to imprint it with your ¡®signature¡¯. Once the individual imprinting is done, you create openings from your seed to the edge of the aura sphere. Using these ¡®tunnels¡¯ you can send immaterial energy outwards to the edge of the sphere without disrupting the rotations of your aura. Next you recombine the energy and send it back through the tunnels to your seed. This combined energy will be reimprinted with your ¡®signature¡¯, making the energy thoroughly follow your command. This is the conquer stage.


    The fourth stage was to reinforce your ¡®tunnels¡¯ with the imprinted natural energy by layering the natural energy between the aura of the tunnels. Let the rotations of your aura to further compress and consolidate these tunnels, until material and immaterial energy can be sent throughout the tunnels without the slightest ripple. Once this was completed, you needed to merge your 2 types of natural energy into one again at the edge, and wait until the unimprinted natural energy fully takes your shape. Then reverse the rotations of your seed to send your aura outside your body and the imprinted natural energy throughout your body. The imprinted energy will refine your body from the inside, and the unimprinted natural energy will refine most in the areas that your imprinted energy hit the least from the outside. This is the reinforcement stage.


    After completing these stages, one would repeat the steps while omitting the constructing parts of aura that weren¡¯t needed to be done again for the technique. The more times you could repeat the technique without messing up, the faster your power progressed. But there were 3 special stages that were used when the situation calls for it. Those were the fifth, sixth, and seventh stage respectively.


    The fifth stage was a impurity removement technique. It was used when you adsorbed natural energy from somewhere other than the environment, namely dans and herbs. In those, there would always be traces of impurities. So to get rid of the impurities, you would first draw your natural energy into your aura sphere. Then you would rotate the energy as fast as you could to separate the energies, and therefore the impurities. Since impurities cannot be imprinted, you can then fuse the energy together without the impurities using the tunnels. Then take a trace of natural energy and bond it to the impurities. After that, one must draw the clean energy back into the seed, and then leave the impurities at the edge of the sphere. Lastly, you reverse the aura seed, blowing the energy to the extremities of your body. But this time you do not keep spinning the aura seed, but instead control your aura to make the energy exit through one of the seven orifices. Severe the connection to your aura, and leave the energy to dissipate in the world. Aura regenerates at a slow pace, so the loss of it will not be permanent. This is the refinement stage.


    The sixth stage was a stage used to assist in breakthroughs. It works by spinning threads of aura and energy throughout the body, and circulating it and cultivating at the same time. The threads move from the head, to the arms and legs, in the center, and back to the core. This will slowly awaken the body''s potential without hurting it. Then bind the aura to the energy in your body, and rush it back to your core while now using your aura according to steps 1-4. If done when the user has accumulated enough foundation, they will break through to the next level. This is the activation stage.


    The seventh and last technique was one for raising battle potential. Unlike the other techniques, this one did not work using a complete sphere. Instead, it used the tunnels as anchors in the edge and sent the outer layer of the aura sphere outwards onto the edges of the core, while having material energy on one side, and immaterial on the other. Then one would form a natural energy line separating the core into two halfs. These edges would rotate in opposite directions, while the seed focuses on separating the two. When the user needed a power boost, one would temporarily retract the natural energy line causing the two to send out a pulse wave of energy throughout the user, boosting him/her by up to a full 50% for a moment. The boost percentage depends on the time the aura and energy takes to rotate at full speed again. This is the burst stage.


    (Summary starts here!)


    I laid down from my sitting position, and tried to summarize what I just learned


    After establishing the foundations for the technique, the first stage gathers energy in your body. The second stage and third stage divides and conquers the energy you just gathered, and the fourth stage reinforces your body and special tunnels for energy within your aura. Then you would move directly from the fourth stage to the second stage, and continue the process faster and faster until you can¡¯t maintain the technique.


    Once one failed to perform one of the stages appropriately as the energy gathered faster and faster, the energy will stop rotation, and one must restart the process from the first stage to continue cultivation.


    There were also 3 special techniques that were tailored to suit special needs. These were the refinement stage, the activation stage, and the burst stage.


    The refinement stage was to be used directly after impure energy entered the body, and it forced that energy out at the cost of a bit of cultivation and aura. Both are recoverable by time.


    The activation stage sent energy throughout your body to awaken and gather latent energy / foundation. This energy would then be sent to your core riding on the wave of extra energy entering your body. If the energy requirements are met, one would directly be able to raise their cultivation, but if they weren¡¯t, ones foundation will be scattered. This scattered foundation will have to be reaccumulated, although the recovery speed would be much faster than accumulating it from scratch.


    The burst stage sent out instantaneous waves of energy throughout your body, boosting your base power by a full 50% for a moment. Although this energy needed time to recover after a single burst, it did not harm foundations unlike most battle power raising techniques. Therefore it was probably one of the most practical techniques of the 3 special stages.


    According to the tablet, any of the 3 special stages could be used in conjunction with each other, or they could be used with the foundational stages.


    This was my father¡¯s cultivation technique, Revolutions of the Universal Foundation.


    __________________________________________________________________


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    Author¡¯s note 2- Huh. I intended for this chapter to be a bit longer, and to showcase its name. But the info dumps took more space than expected (LOL). Expect a part 3.

 Vol. 1 Chapter 5- Fire (part 3)

    Author¡¯s note- As you can see with the pendant, I am trying to incorporate elements of legend of zelda into my story. And before anyone asks, No, the pendant is not a repeat of Navi. It just may look like her at times. As you all may know from my name, I am a hardcore zelda fan. From when I was a baby who wanted to play the game (my earliest memory lol), to a seasoned veteran who has played and beaten every zelda franchise 100%, I am a lifetime zelda addict. So it needs to be somewhere in my life, even when the new zelda game hasn¡¯t come out. Whether it be in my story, my profile pic, or my computer background, Zelda has to be somewhere. (Or everywhere! He he he¡­)


    __________________________________________________________________


    Fire (part 3)


    According to my dad¡¯s instructions, I went over and recited the technique exactly how it appeared on the tablet and explained what it meant until he was satisfied. Then he grasped the pendant, and took it off his neck. Handing it to me, he said quietly,


    Dad- ¡°It is yours now. May our ancestors protect you as they have me with this pendant.¡±


    Again I marveled at the exquisite detail of the pendant, where no flaws could be seen. The four clear, crystal wings had a lifelike detail, and could be simply described as perfect. The orb seemed to have endless crystal clear seas within, where one could look for 100 years, and still never be tired of the beautiful sight! And the orb was not limited to just this! If you looked at the orb at a different angle, you could also see another mini-world within. Everything on the outside of the orb was reflected within, and I would not be surprised if the mini-me came alive, if not for the bluish tint that separated its reality from ours.


    Reluctantly taking my eyes off the pendant that seemed to contain endless mysteries within, I looked to dad for further instruction.


    Dad- ¡°You¡¯ll get used to the orb eventually. Believe me, when I first got it all I would do was stare at it. But eventually I became somewhat immune to its wonders, especially after being exposed to the world of cultivation. After all, there is a whole world out there, full of peculiarities like this pendant.¡±


    I was extremely sceptical to his words; hadn¡¯t I been in the world as well? But then I thought again. Wasn¡¯t I also surrounded by pelicularities? The wooden sword, the ancient tablet, the recent surge of weird dreams, even the pendant were all things that seemed to surround me, especially since I did one fundamental thing. I moved out alone, without my clan being there to shoulder the danger for me. But that ¡®woman¡¯ almost killed me. Wait, what happened after I slashed her?


    Me- ¡°Yeah I guess. But now that it comes to mind, what happened to that, woman? After I slashed her...¡±


    An incomparably cold expression appeared on his face.


    Dad- ¡°That demoness got what she deserved. She will serve as a living example for those who think of crossing our paths in the future.¡±


    His face drew into a savage grin,


    Dad- ¡°And your cut? Don¡¯t worry about it. I made sure it stays there as well. Permanently.¡±


    I smiled savagely as well, unconsciously imitating his grin.


    Me- ¡°How deep was it?¡±


    Dad- ¡°Bone deep!¡±


    We both laughed at the same time, not knowing why. It was just one of those moments with true family, where an inseparable connection is formed. But ruining the moment, Dad took on a worried expression.


    Dad- ¡°Daniel. I originally didn¡¯t plan to let you to cultivate until you were 12, like the rest of the kids. But after a situation like this, everyone will know you have awakened to your aura. It would be best if you could reach the basic realm as fast as possible, even if it is dangerous as you have not matured in body nor mind yet. I am doing this because I believe in you, and I believe in our heritage. Others may call me foolish, but when have I not been treated this way? It will just add another item to the list of things I get disapproved of for, even if they don¡¯t dare to say it to my face.¡±


    Dad took a swig of water from the gourd of alcohol that hung eternally at his waist, and handed it to me.


    Dad- ¡°But you. You¡¯re different. By choosing to cultivate at this age, not only will you be hated by your peers for their jealousy, they will not stay hidden in their groups. You will have confrontations, direct ones, where they will not only try and take the righteous ground while masking their envy! They will also get at you in secret, disturbing you even at your most private times. However, at the end of this path is the mantle of a genius, who can compete with peers over 5 years older than him! Will you take this path with me; a path riddled with thorns for a greater future?¡±


    I stared dad straight in the eye, trying to convey that this was never even a question for me. I decisively took a swig of the gourd1, sealing our covenant.


    (1: This gourd is the same Jack uses to pretend he is drunk all the time to others. He uses it as an excuse to stay within seclusion, and protect Daniel.)


    ******************


    A lone figure sat cross legged in a dark room, the only illumination in the room coming from a small trace of flame that occasionally flickered across the skin. But this fire was akin to the calm before the storm. For suddenly, the flame exploded out from the skin burning red with a passion. In the next moment, the flame resembled a giant whirlpool as it receded back into the figure in a spherical fashion. If spectating cultivators could observe the figure¡¯s cultivation, they would be incomparably shocked! The flame had drawn in a trace of natural energy as it receded, and this was coming into a seven year old boy!


    Me- ¡°Hmm. So I have finally managed to draw in some natural energy. Unexpectedly, the technique to draw in the natural energy is harder than the tablet made it seem. I suppose he failed to put it on the tablet, as it seemed self-explanatory.¡±


    At first, I had followed the method to circulate my aura sphere and compress it. The process was relatively simple, as it only took a simple intention from my mind. But when I reversed the ¡®seed¡¯ and sent the outer layer aura exploding out, it pushed away all the energy I gathered on my skin! Only traces of it remained, and all of that got refined within my skin before it even reached within my body.


    Disappointedly, I tried again, following the instructions on the tablet to every single detail. But the same thing happened again, even though this time I made no mistakes. So instead, I thought to do something a little different. Why don¡¯t I split the aura off into needles after it exits my body, and then form a sphere again? After all, the technique doesn¡¯t specify how to draw the natural energy into your body after making the energy into a human shaped mold, right?


    Without a moment of hesitation I put my plan in action. Accelerating the circulation of my aura sphere as fast as I could, I drew the energy in closer and closer. After an unknown period of time, the natural energy had coated my skin like the grass is covered in morning dew. It was time!


    I suddenly reversed the aura seed, and the outer sphere exploded out in all directions. When it reached my skin, the flame separated into a sea of needles that penetrated through the natural energy quicker than a knife cuts through butter. Then I allowed my aura to be affected by the seed¡¯s influence, and it suddenly pooled out into a bubble of flame. It receded inwards quickly, and for the first time in my life, natural energy entered within my body.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Me- ¡°Ah!!!¡±


    Spreading quickly within my body, the natural energy seemed to want to destroy everything it came across. My body was also diametrically opposed to it, as it wanted to refine all my hard earned energy that I had just gotten. But the thing is that neither my body nor the energy won out. The energy was destroying parts of my body, making it incredibly painful if I may add, but my body was using the energy to build the parts it had destroyed anew, stronger than ever. In contrast to the other feeling, it felt soothing. But altogether it felt like a dull ache that prevaded throughout my body.


    They were at a stalemate for the period of time that the energy went to my core, but thankfully there was at least half of the energy left that I could use for my cultivation. The energy drawn into my core accelerated more and more as it got closer to my seed, and I suddenly realized that my work just now was currently in peril. But the only thing I could do was to continue to circulate my seed as fast as I could, as I didn¡¯t want to lose the momentum so essential to the technique.


    The natural energy smashed into my seed, and this almost caused it to go out of control. The only thing that kept it from doing so was the fact that it was spinning so fast that some of the force got deflected by the pure rotational prowess of my seed. This dissipated force was added onto the momentum of my seed, driving the spinning speed outside the limits of what I could do on my own. It was still within my control though, so I continued with the technique.


    In a matter of time, the natural energy separated into two respective components: one, the immaterial energy, and two, the material energy. They gradually moved into their respective places while I was maintaining the aura sphere¡¯s speed. Now it was time to divide and conquer.


    I started to slowly compress my seed onto the immaterial energy that had ended up in the center of my seed. At the same time, I split the outer layer into needles which penetrated through the material energy and compressed the material energy onto the rotational ¡®shell¡¯ of the seed. Then I manipulated all or my aura into chains, and had them borrow from the rotational force to compress the energy even further, which would result in a more thorough imprinting.


    Once I could feel my own unique flame chain pattern mark on the energies, I created makeshift pathways by manipulating the flow of the aura while it was rotating. However, this method took up too much of my control, and the rotational speed regressed to normal. After this was completed, I sent the


    immaterial energy out through the tunnels so they could recombine with their counterparts to make natural energy. I chain compressed this natural energy to the limit finally making it completely my own. The conquering was successful!


    Next, I lined up my tunnels with the imprinted natural energy, according to the Revolutions of the Perfect Foundation, and waited for a while letting my aura sphere spin without complications. After the tunnels seemed solid, and the imprinted natural energy had stabilized, I sent wisps of immaterial energy through the tunnels.


    They went through without complications, so I tested them with material energy. Interestingly enough, the material energy seemed to cause the tunnel to ripple as it passed through. Obviously, that meant the tunnels weren¡¯t stable enough, so I continued to condense the natural energy of the tunnels and then tried again. They passed through without a hitch.


    Now was the hardest part, and the beginning of true cultivation with this method. I had to condense the energy like a shell outside my aura sphere, and explode it out just like the first time. But unlike before, the energy is not only coming from the outside; it is coming from the inside as well. The significance of this is that the pain will be double, no triple that of the previous refinement.


    The energy that I explode out from my core will wreak havoc within my body like the last time, but that is only the start. Once it bounces off my skin, my aura will start being drawn in, bringing in the unimprinted natural energy with it. The unimprinted energy will then collide with the imprinted, and the energies will both flood back to my core. But not before going agonizingly slowly in parts. It was like holding your finger to a flame. If your finger went in and out quickly, it would not be burned.


    But imagine if you let that finger roast in the fire before pulling it out. The pain would be unimaginable! And when you finally got your finger out, you would have a well done human finger, ready for consumption.


    Thinking of this made me hesitate, and feel a powerful unwillingness to continue with the technique. I held off at a stalemate with my body, one side wanting to hold off until the other dull ache faded, and then indefinitely until it was ready. The other side was my mind, and it wanted to go now because it knew that the longer I waited, the greater the hesitation would be. I spoke to myself out loud, encouragingly,


    Me- ¡°Daniel, are you kidding me? We need to do this for our dad, for our promise!¡±


    A resolve welled up within me, founded upon my promises, and the love I had for my father. I would not disappoint myself, nor my father!


    Immediately, I reversed the seed within me, and it exploded outwards! The energy within me reignited the dull ache that was slowly fading, and it flared up to an intensity that made my cry out.


    With teardrops of pain running down my cheeks, I split the aura into needles that penetrated through the natural energy. And now it was time!


    Me- ¡°Come! I do not fear Fire!¡±


    I attracted all the aura to come back to me, and the flame pooled out and rushed inside me.


    And the pain was unimaginable! It felt like I was being roasted from the outside, and from within! The sharp stabs of pain kept sending tremors throughout my body, and the tears now came down like a flood.


    A low animalistic growl came from deep within, in defiance of all the pain I was going through. And right as I thought I couldn¡¯t hold on any longer, the energy finally finished going inside my core. The deed was done, leaving my body in tatters.


    With the last trace of consciousness I had, I refined the energy that I gained and reinforced the tunnels. After that, I could hold on no longer, and fell into the familiar world of blackness


    __________________________________________________________________


    Previous Chapter</a>    The Universe Catalog</a>    Next Chapter


    Author¡¯s note 2- Wow. I did not expect the time to finish this chapter to be so short! I had another one of those pesky writer''s blocks while writing this chapter, so I was thinking it would be another few days before it was done. However, the translated chapters were coming in at a very slow pace, so with nothing better to do, I could surprisingly just start writing and finish the chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, cause I¡¯m joining all three of these parts together now.

 Vol. 1 Chapter 5- Fire

    Author¡¯s note- Hey, I¡¯m just gonna mash all the chapter parts together in here, so you can read them together in this complete chapter if you wish. Scroll down for the updated parts that are shown in giant bold. So here is Vol. 1 Chapter 5- Fire


    __________________________________________________________________


    Fire (part 1)


    ???- ¡°Fire¡­ is like a battle. It may be intense, but in the end there is only ashes¡­¡±


    A man looked at me with at dark and looming gaze, his expression unreadable.


    ???- ¡°Will you also become one with the flame, Daniel?¡±


    An image of ashes suddenly superimposed on the man, and suddenly his expression took on an expression of greed. A sense of horror rose within me, and I backed away a step. But suddenly the man rushed within me, and I felt paralyzed, as if I could no longer move. And in the next moment, I opened my mouth and started to speak, in a voice that was clearly not my own.


    Me???- ¡°Well, there really was no need to ask that question. After all, we are already one.¡±


    I bridled up with maniacal laughter, and flamed up into ashes.


    ******************


    I woke up in a cold sweat, and I closely examined myself and my surroundings as a reflex to my dream. The bed was just how I remembered it, with brown sheets that covered my body and the top of my bedpost was halfway broken off. The room was my room, except for traces of muddy foot prints too large to be my own. But wait¡­ I was supposed to be at the orphanage, that woman! She tried to kill me, so I slashed her and¡­ Nothing.


    Feeling around my body for any traces of bruises, I found no area that hurt. In fact, my skin felt much more responsive to every touch, and every part of my body felt like it was brimming with an energy previously unknown to me.


    I spoke to myself in partial amazement,


    Me- ¡°Wow! I feel great!¡±


    I stretched my muscles, and they responded with a flexibility previously unknown to me. And surprisingly, it felt really good. Soon, I started testing out all kinds of movements that I could of never done before. Touching my toes without bending my knees, bending backwards so far my head reached the level of my waist, and doing a straight up split1 without even flinching!


    (1: A split is where both your legs go sideways and you lay them flat on the ground. The legs have to be completely opposite to each other)


    And with my improved flexibility, it was time to test out the Earth Shattering Fist. Taking the posture for the fist, I slowly performed each movement that I had fully copied down. Then I snapped my arm back to the position, and struck out quickly.


    I performed the same actions as I did before, yet there was something different to me about those movements than before. It felt like something, something foreign moved with me as I performed the martial art. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn¡¯t seem to isolate that feeling.


    So I decided to try something new. I sat down, and just tried to observe my bodily functions. I moved one muscle at a time, searching for that feeling. But it was not within my muscle. So next, I resigned myself to observing the next easiest thing. Breathing.


    However, even though I felt like I understood more about myself than ever before, I couldn¡¯t find what I was looking for. But I decided on trying to listen at one more thing, My heartbeat.


    Sitting still in an area void of noise, I was suddenly able to feel individual heartbeats starting in my chest. Then I moved my perception upwards, and felt the blood pulsing up at my head. Unsatisfied, I spread my perception to even the outer extremities of my arms. But I did not achieve results. So lastly, I focused on my legs to see if I could feel a heartbeat from there.


    However, unlike all the other areas of my body, My legs were surprisingly hard to feel. The most I could feel my pulse to was my stomach. Finally getting a challenge, I focused all my efforts on my legs. And I was not disappointed. It was faint, but it was still there.


    So then I redrew my still hyper-focused attention back to my chest when all of a sudden my pulse seemed disoriented. It was almost as if I had, two pulses?


    I shook my head in disbelief. That didn¡¯t seem right¡­


    Feeling for anything abnormal, I focused on my chest again. But the feeling was on and off. It felt like whenever I breathed, I could no longer have access to that feeling. It was just like the irritation that comes to a man when he new to fishing. Just when he thinks the fish are about to be his, they swim away from his fishing hook.


    Me- ¡°Well if breathing is the problem, I¡¯ll just stop breathing!¡±


    The Idea may have been silly, but it ended up working. I could finally understand that foreign feeling. So I quietly observed it as long as I could hold my breath.


    It was a bizarre to know that there was something you never knew about now moving around inside you. And the way it moved was different than anything else in my body too. It felt like a raindrop slowly inching down a window, but suddenly another raindrop would collide into it. Then both of them would speed up together, leaving a trail of water behind. Eventually, that raindrop would start inching yet again, and another raindrop would gather from the trail of water left behind. It then would hit the raindrop in front of it, causing the whole process to happen over again.


    It truly felt incredibly strange. But yet, the whole process seemed so familiar, like it had happened my whole life. It was just that I was never able to sense it.


    I was drawn into a mysterious state by feeling those two raindrops circulate throughout my body. Eventually, it got to the point where I could literally see it. But oblivious to the changes within me, the raindrops still continued in their slow, mysterious way, circulating within me. But after a little bit, the raindrops within me started to slowly speed up, as if they were being drawn like a magnet to something.


    They grew faster and faster, and suddenly the raindrops dropped into a large, spherical area with a small globe of water in the center. Flying forward, they became one with a chaotic section of the globe, and soon after, another 2 droplets were sent out. They went into a chamber opposite to the one they came in and continued the cycle eternally.


    A sudden insight flashed in my mind while in that mysterious state, and I waited until the aura was within my arm. Then I jumped to my feet and drew myself into the stance for the Earth Shattering Fist.


    At this point, the droplets suddenly stopped and coiled like a spring, waiting for something to happen. I did not disappoint them. I struck forward with the Earth Shattering Fist, which now contained an indomitable might. The drops sprung forward and spiraled out of my channels into the air. They formed a rippling flame that seemed to spiral around my arm till they reached the end of my fist.


    It created a burning shockwave, which compressed the air by suppressing a purplish sort of energy. The two spiraled together until reaching an object; one that seemed fragile compared to the fist I let out. The two energies penetrated the object, and then they suddenly collided together within the object and exploded.


    ¡°BOOM!!!¡±


    The object shattered, and splintered remains flew out. Most of them bounced across my clothing, but one of them cut past my cheek, leaving a small cut. But I was not thinking about that. Instead, I was still focused on the now smaller raindrops that rode on the purplish energy and tried to re enter my body.


    With a single thought, the raindrops turned into thin streams that entered where they left. With another, they continued circulation. And with this another thought came to mind: If I can make them exit and re enter my body, why can¡¯t I speed up their circulation? So using this train of thought, I continued to exercise my newfound ¡®limb¡¯. That is, until dad came bursting through the room.


    Dad- ¡°Daniel!? Are you ok? What was that noise?¡±


    Dad came in with no trace of the sadistic smile from yesterday. Instead, it was one of worry. But when he saw the shattered bedpost, he grew silent.


    I turned to look at the shattered remains of the already damaged bedpost. Sheepishly grinning at dad, I weakly said,


    Me- ¡°We¡¯re fine. I was just practicing the Earth Shattering Fist, but this happened¡­¡±


    Dad¡¯s tone instantly took on a tone of scolding, although he wasn¡¯t truly angry,


    Dad- ¡°Daniel, you shouldn¡¯t practice the Earth Shattering Fist with aura in the house. First of all, you should only aim your fist at a large space of empty air when you¡¯re a beginner. Secondly, you have to control your aura to detonate it before it hits anythi-. Wait! You can control your aura!?¡±


    Me- ¡°So that¡¯s what it was¡­ I should have known.¡±


    Dad smiled proudly, and murmured something about proving those fools wrong. Then he asked excitedly, like it was his own awakening,


    Dad- ¡°What element did you awaken to!?¡±


    Instead of answering, I smiled and brought the liquid aura outside my arm, letting the faint flame flicker around on the surface of my skin. I could not, however, make it invade the area like that, woman, did. I wonder why?


    Me- ¡°Dad, why can¡¯t it leave the surface of my skin? I clearly remember sending it out like a shot for the Earth Shattering Fist, and that woman could invade a whole area with hers.¡±


    Dad- ¡°Oh, you mean like this?¡±


    Dad¡¯s eyes flickered with a greenish golden light, and suddenly a rolling mist came out of his body and flooded the area. However, it was not black like that woman. Instead, it was the same color as the light from dad¡¯s eyes, a greenish golden color, which gave me a feeling of joy and insurmountable self-confidence.


    Dad- ¡°This, is aura. But the reason you can¡¯t do this with your aura is because Caldera and I are both true cultivators, and we both can extend our aura to the extremities of our magespaces.¡±


    I cringed at the unfamiliar terms.


    Me- ¡°Dad, when you say true cultivator, you make it sound like there are false ones. And I¡¯ve heard the term magespace before, but no one was willing to explain it to me.¡±


    Dad was always eager to explain something, as long as it wasn¡¯t about the clan. So he answered without hesitating,


    Dad- ¡°Well, they aren¡¯t really false, but one who awakens with pills will never have an edge over a true cultivator. As long as they have the same abilities of course. But a true cultivator is one who awakens on his own, without the assistance of pills. And a magespace, well, it¡¯s hard to explain. You¡¯ll understand when you advance to the basic realm.¡±


    Dad grinned and continued on,


    Dad- ¡°And who knows? You may get a headstart from how young you are, by advancing to the basic realm before 12. That would be an unbeatable record, especially due to the fact that only the emperor can awaken before the age of 12.¡±


    I smiled proudly as I let my emotions get the better of me. But so what? I had nothing to hide. In fact, I feel like going straight to Luke just to bragg in his face. But then I looked at dad¡¯s now stern gaze, and threw my sky high thoughts back down to earth. That¡¯s right. If the bandits discovered I had that kind of talent, it didn''t matter what I did. I would be at the mercy of murderers and drunks, who might try and ruin me without thought for the consequences.


    The best example of this was that old woman, Caldera. She already had pre-existing hatred with me, and that made her try and kill me even while she was on her last straw. Luckily, the power difference between her and my father was too great for her to do anything. But if someone at the 2nd or 3rd level of the basic realm who wasn¡¯t so old tried to kill me, I might not even know how I died.


    I took a deep breath and nodded at Dad, showing I understood. Sometimes we just had those moments where not even a word was needed to express what the other was feeling. That was just a part of who we were.


    Me- ¡°Dad, how do I cultivate? Am I even allowed to currently?¡±


    Dad hesitated as conflicting emotions appeared on his face, but he decided to answer my question.


    Dad- ¡°Well, to cultivate you need an art that is suited towards you. And I don¡¯t currently know of any fire attributed methods, only a universal one that is passed down through our family. Do you want to learn it? It will not boost the prowess of your natural energy, being a non-attributed method, but the foundational abilities of this method are second to none. Of course, the method comes with conversion abilities so you can use attributed energy in spells as long as you are willing to wait using your aura.¡±


    Whenever Dad talked about it¡¯s foundational abilities, he sounded extremely confident. But the problem was, I didn¡¯t even know the importance of a foundation.


    Me- ¡°What¡¯s a foundation, and why is it important? I thought you could just absorb energy and eventually advance ranks¡­¡±


    Dad¡¯s suave smile froze for a moment, then he started cursing under his breath about stupid clan members and their pointless rules. Then he continued,


    Dad- ¡°Well, of course you wouldn¡¯t know this at your age. Have you ever heard the saying, haste makes waste?¡±


    I nodded my head yes.


    Dad- ¡°This saying is the crux of the foundation. A foundation is the amount of latent energy accumulated in your body and core. This latent energy is the energy used to break through from level to level. Your foundation also affects things like recovery speed, battle prowess, and the rate at which you cultivate. Basically the better your foundation, the better your life. The amount of ease at which you accumulate a foundation is talent, and an accumulated foundation can only be disturbed by certain things. These are receiving a life threatening wound without immediate healing, using a secret technique to draw out latent energy for battle prowess, and advancing to the next realm too early.¡±


    Me- ¡°Ok¡­ But you still haven¡¯t told me the most important thing; how to gain a foundation. I don¡¯t really need to know how to lose one yet if I don¡¯t even have one, right.¡±


    Dad- ¡°Cough, cough. I was just getting to that. You accumulate a foundation through many methods. The first and most common method is to eat magical beasts that you have hunted. They will improve your flesh and blood from the inside out, and you will immediately see some results. Of course, you cannot eat the same kind of meat every time or else the effects will start to wane, but this is still the cheapest and easiest method. The second most common is to get a higher quality cultivation technique. The better the technique, the more the energy will penetrate and refine your body in a greater amount of area. Also, a good cultivation technique will more often than not be suited to a certain kind of element. Everytime you cultivate it will draw in small amounts of essence aura into your natural energy, making it easier to control through your own aura. This kind of method will also strengthen your natural energy, making an even better foundation. It will also of course, add a boosting effect to spells and martial arts that follow that element.¡±


    I frowned slightly. He mentioned that the universal method was non-attributed. Does that mean that it won¡¯t have any boosting effect whatsoever?


    Me- ¡°Dad, you mentioned a universal method. How much of an effect on my combat capabilities will it have for me to use a non-attributed method.¡±


    Dad looked like he was answering a difficult question. But after a moment, he spoke carefully,


    Dad- ¡°I¡¯ll be honest with you. It won¡¯t affect you during the first rank of the basic realm, but it will affect your capabilities by 10% at the second rank and 30% at the third rank. This is mainly because your elemental attacks will take more time to mobilize than normal. However, your perfect foundation will increase your combat capabilities by 5% at the first rank, 10% at the second rank, and 15% at the third rank. So in total, you will be stronger than others at the first rank, same as others in the second rank, and weaker than others in the 3rd rank. However, this method will give you the highest possible chance to advance into the intermediate realm.¡±


    Dad stared at me expectantly, but also with a trace of fear. If I chose not to learn the universal method, I would be able to keep up with the rest and become as strong as dad. However, I would also be giving up a greater chance to become infinitely stronger. But isn¡¯t the third rank enough for me? I have no need for all that strength.


    So I made the choice to not use the universal method. But just as I opened my mouth to make my refusal, I just couldn¡¯t say no. I knew he would be incredibly disappointed in me if I chose to give up my heritage for another method. I said somewhat disappointedly,


    Me- ¡°I¡¯ll cultivate our Universal Method¡­¡±


    But when I saw the expression of joy and pride on my father¡¯s face, I knew I had made the right choice.


    Me- ¡°How do I start?¡±


    Fire (part 2)


    Dad smiled, and began to recount a story from ages back.


    Dad- ¡°The Swiftblade family¡¯s roots extend back, back into the beginnings of the lightning empire. And the technique was developed and perfected right after Theren awakened not just the Electricity attributed cores, but the others as well. This technique is said to have been developed by the sword saint Aviran Swiftblade, who later on broke through the void.


    In the story, Aviran was born from a normal family with advanced realm talent. But while he ascended to become prevalent in the perfect realm, his family was still tottering around the basic realm. As you know Daniel, those separated by realms are quite literally in a different world. Your reaction speed, movement, even the speed of talking makes you so much different than them that there is just no way to converse with them. Therefore, upon an inspiration that allowed him to reach perfection, he made the technique for the family. He inscribed the technique onto an incomparably hard tablet1 that contains the methods to perfection!


    (1: A nokia!!!)


    However, although this method should have made our family strong, it was actually the cause of our downfall. Jealous of our heritage, the sk-¡±


    Dad paused, as if he was thinking about something.


    Dad- ¡°Well, when you are strong enough you will naturally know who destroyed our family. But that doesn¡¯t have much to do with you, after all that was hundreds of years ago. Anyways, should our heritage ever be lost, the beginning stages were passed on both in memory and in writing. After those, they were all passed down in riddles. They were all said in order, and I will recount them exactly how they were written.


    1- I lie deep within an ocean. But a peculiar ocean it is, for the water is green, yet there are no fishes within. And when the cold should freeze it over, it instead disappears.


    2- I lie between my mother¡¯s embrace, but yet I am also within a flame. And when you evoke her anger, I shall come from within.


    3- I rest within an essential component for life, yet you cannot find me where there is light. But I also rest within a popular area, where thousands always disturb me.


    4- I rest where only my friends can find me, yes, the ones who surf the blue and white ocean tide. Only through my intelligent friends shall you meet me once again, though you may see me without them.


    These are the the four riddles that note the location of the remaining scripture. Of course, the first one corresponds to the basic realm, the second one corresponds to the intermediate realm, the third one corresponds to the advanced realm, and the 4th corresponds to the perfect realm.¡±


    Now I was confused. We were going to talk about the cultivation technique, but why did he start speaking in riddles? Could it be I would have to look for each one just to cultivate to the basic realm?


    Dad seemed to laugh at my confusion, but he didn¡¯t move to admit he was joking. So I could only consider that he was telling the truth.


    Me- ¡°Dad¡­ Did you cultivate with this method?¡±


    He nodded his head, still grinning.


    Me- ¡°Then how did you reach the peak of the basic realm? Wait...¡±


    Dad- ¡°Do you know the answer to the first riddle?¡±


    My eyes literally brightened up, a phenomenon I was not used to.


    Me- ¡°A forest! Dad, you found one in the forest? But the forest is huge! How did you find out?¡±


    Without unnecessary suspense, dad grabbed a crystal blue, spherical pendant from his breast. It seemed to somewhat reflect the surroundings, and it had 4 small, clear and delicate wings that were almost like a butterfly¡¯s. He handled it carefully, and with a gentle breath he let the pendant take flight.


    As if it had life, the pendant magically fluttered in a circle around my dad, and then flew into the hallway. I followed after it, and so did dad. Eventually it rested on a part of the wall, and flew back to dad. It landed on his hand and he put it back in his breast.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Dad- ¡°The tablet rests within the walls of this house now.¡±


    Dad removed one of the stones making up the wall, but instead of collapsing, there was a secret hole containing an ancient tablet. It was made up of the same material as the pendant, but it was the same color as the secret compartment. If it was not emitting light, I would have not noticed it.


    Dad- ¡°The tablet will only respond to those with the pendant, otherwise it will only be hidden within the environment. Only those with our bloodline can use it, and that is limited to us two.¡±


    He handed both the tablet over to me, and said quietly,


    Dad- ¡°Memorize it alone in your room; find me when you finish.¡±


    *******************


    About 20 minutes later, I could recite the content of the tablet without leaving out a single word. The cultivation technique was called, ¡°Revolutions of the Universal Foundation,¡± and to put it simply, it involved 7 stages.


    (Because these explanations are really lengthy and go deeply into mechanics of my story, I don¡¯t feel that many would like to read it. But hey, for you go getters go ahead and read both! However for the others, I¡¯ll notify you where the summary starts in bold.)


    The first stage needed you to compress the aura sphere within your core, and rotate it as fast as you can. The faster the rotational speed, the faster the energy is drawn closer to you. When the natural energy drawn in fully takes your shape as it tries to get closer to your body, you have to rotate the core of the sphere in the opposite way, and send the outside aura flying outwards, leaving behind a rotational ¡®seed¡¯ that is spinning a bit faster than the previous. This ¡®seed¡¯ will draw the aura released back in, bringing in the natural energy with it. This is the natural energy gathering stage.


    The second stage was to then incorporate the natural energy into the outer layer of the aura sphere, and spin the aura around using the momentum of the ¡®seed¡¯. The rotational speed will then slowly separate the natural energy into its counterparts, material energy and immaterial energy. The immaterial energy will move into your seed, and the material energy will spin around the edges of the aura sphere. This is the divide stage.


    The third stage was to take the possession of the energy you gained, or conquer it. You use your aura as mini chains that attach to segments of natural energy. Then using your aura chains, you squeeze the natural energy to imprint it with your ¡®signature¡¯. Once the individual imprinting is done, you create openings from your seed to the edge of the aura sphere. Using these ¡®tunnels¡¯ you can send immaterial energy outwards to the edge of the sphere without disrupting the rotations of your aura. Next you recombine the energy and send it back through the tunnels to your seed. This combined energy will be re printed with your ¡®signature¡¯, making the energy thoroughly follow your command. This is the conquer stage.


    The fourth stage was to reinforce your ¡®tunnels¡¯ with the imprinted natural energy by layering the natural energy between the aura of the tunnels. Let the rotations of your aura to further compress and consolidate these tunnels, until material and immaterial energy can be sent throughout the tunnels without the slightest ripple. Once this was completed, you needed to merge your 2 types of natural energy into one again at the edge, and wait until the unimprinted natural energy fully takes your shape. Then reverse the rotations of your seed to send your aura outside your body and the imprinted natural energy throughout your body. The imprinted energy will refine your body from the inside, and the unimprinted natural energy will refine most in the areas that your imprinted energy hit the least from the outside. This is the reinforcement stage.


    After completing these stages, one would repeat the steps while omitting the constructing parts of aura that weren¡¯t needed to be done again for the technique. The more times you could repeat the technique without messing up, the faster your power progressed. But there were 3 special stages that were used when the situation calls for it. Those were the fifth, sixth, and seventh stage respectively.


    The fifth stage was a impurity removement technique. It was used when you adsorbed natural energy from somewhere other than the environment, namely dans and herbs. In those, there would always be traces of impurities. So to get rid of the impurities, you would first draw your natural energy into your aura sphere. Then you would rotate the energy as fast as you could to separate the energies, and therefore the impurities. Since impurities cannot be printed, you can then fuse the energy together without the impurities using the tunnels. Then take a trace of natural energy and bond it to the impurities. After that, one must draw the clean energy back into the seed, and then leave the impurities at the edge of the sphere. Lastly, you reverse the aura seed, blowing the energy to the extremities of your body. But this time you do not keep spinning the aura seed, but instead control your aura to make the energy exit through one of the seven orifices. Severe the connection to your aura, and leave the energy to dissipate in the world. Aura regenerates at a slow pace, so the loss of it will not be permanent. This is the refinement stage.


    The sixth stage was a stage used to assist in breakthroughs. It works by spinning threads of aura and energy throughout the body, and circulating it and cultivating at the same time. The threads move from the head, to the arms and legs, in the center, and back to the core. This will slowly awaken the body''s potential without hurting it. Then bind the aura to the energy in your body, and rush it back to your core while now using your aura according to steps 1-4. If done when the user has accumulated enough foundation, they will break through to the next level. This is the activation stage.


    The seventh and last technique was one for raising battle potential. Unlike the other techniques, this one did not work using a complete sphere. Instead, it used the tunnels as anchors in the edge and sent the outer layer of the aura sphere outwards onto the edges of the core, while having material energy on one side, and immaterial on the other. Then one would form a natural energy line separating the core into two halfs. These edges would rotate in opposite directions, while the seed focuses on separating the two. When the user needed a power boost, one would temporarily retract the natural energy line causing the two to send out a pulse wave of energy throughout the user, boosting him/her by up to a full 50% for a moment. The boost percentage depends on the time the aura and energy takes to rotate at full speed again. This is the burst stage.


    (Summary starts here!)


    I laid down from my sitting position, and tried to summarize what I just learned


    After establishing the foundations for the technique, the first stage gathers energy in your body. The second stage and third stage divides and conquers the energy you just gathered, and the fourth stage reinforces your body and special tunnels for energy within your aura. Then you would move directly from the fourth stage to the second stage, and continue the process faster and faster until you can¡¯t maintain the technique.


    Once one failed to perform one of the stages appropriately as the energy gathered faster and faster, the energy will stop rotation, and one must restart the process from the first stage to continue cultivation.


    There were also 3 special techniques that were tailored to suit special needs. These were the refinement stage, the activation stage, and the burst stage.


    The refinement stage was to be used directly after impure energy entered the body, and it forced that energy out at the cost of a bit of cultivation and aura. Both are recoverable by time.


    The activation stage sent energy throughout your body to awaken and gather latent energy / foundation. This energy would then be sent to your core riding on the wave of extra energy entering your body. If the energy requirements are met, one would directly be able to raise their cultivation, but if they weren¡¯t, ones foundation will be scattered. This scattered foundation will have to be reaccumulated, although the recovery speed would be much faster than accumulating it from scratch.


    The burst stage sent out instantaneous waves of energy throughout your body, boosting your base power by a full 50% for a moment. Although this energy needed time to recover after a single burst, it did not harm foundations unlike most battle power raising techniques. Therefore it was probably one of the most practical techniques of the 3 special stages.


    According to the tablet, any of the 3 special stages could be used in conjunction with each other, or they could be used with the foundational stages.


    This was my father¡¯s cultivation technique, Revolutions of the Universal Foundation.


    Fire (part 3)


    According to my dad¡¯s instructions, I went over and recited the technique exactly how it appeared on the tablet and explained what it meant until he was satisfied. Then he grasped the pendant, and took it off his neck. Handing it to me, he said quietly,


    Dad- ¡°It is yours now. May our ancestors protect you as they have me with this pendant.¡±


    Again I marveled at the exquisite detail of the pendant, where no flaws could be seen. The four clear, crystal wings had a lifelike detail, and could be simply described as perfect. The orb seemed to have endless crystal clear seas within, where one could look for 100 years, and still never be tired of the beautiful sight! And the orb was not limited to just this! If you looked at the orb at a different angle, you could also see another mini-world within. Everything on the outside of the orb was reflected within, and I would not be surprised if the mini-me came alive, if not for the bluish tint that separated its reality from ours.


    Reluctantly taking my eyes off the pendant that seemed to contain endless mysteries within, I looked to dad for further instruction.


    Dad- ¡°You¡¯ll get used to the orb eventually. Believe me, when I first got it all I would do was stare at it. But eventually I became somewhat immune to its wonders, especially after being exposed to the world of cultivation. After all, there is a whole world out there, full of peculiarities like this pendant.¡±


    I was extremely sceptical to his words; hadn¡¯t I been in the world as well? But then I thought again. Wasn¡¯t I also surrounded by pelicularities? The wooden sword, the ancient tablet, the recent surge of weird dreams, even the pendant were all things that seemed to surround me, especially since I did one fundamental thing. I moved out alone, without my clan being there to shoulder the danger for me. But that ¡®woman¡¯ almost killed me. Wait, what happened after I slashed her?


    Me- ¡°Yeah I guess. But now that it comes to mind, what happened to that, woman? After I slashed her...¡±


    An incomparably cold expression appeared on his face.


    Dad- ¡°That demoness got what she deserved. She will serve as a living example for those who think of crossing our paths in the future.¡±


    His face drew into a savage grin,


    Dad- ¡°And your cut? Don¡¯t worry about it. I made sure it stays there as well. Permanently.¡±


    I smiled savagely as well, unconsciously imitating his grin.


    Me- ¡°How deep was it?¡±


    Dad- ¡°Bone deep!¡±


    We both laughed at the same time, not knowing why. It was just one of those moments with true family, where an inseparable connection is formed. But ruining the moment, Dad took on a worried expression.


    Dad- ¡°Daniel. I originally didn¡¯t plan to let you to cultivate until you were 12, like the rest of the kids. But after a situation like this, everyone will know you have awakened to your aura. It would be best if you could reach the basic realm as fast as possible, even if it is dangerous as you have not matured in body nor mind yet. I am doing this because I believe in you, and I believe in our heritage. Others may call me foolish, but when have I not been treated this way? It will just add another item to the list of things I get disapproved of for, even if they don¡¯t dare to say it to my face.¡±


    Dad took a swig of water from the gourd of alcohol that hung eternally at his waist, and handed it to me.


    Dad- ¡°But you. You¡¯re different. By choosing to cultivate at this age, not only will you be hated by your peers for their jealousy, they will not stay hidden in their groups. You will have confrontations, direct ones, where they will not only try and take the righteous ground while masking their envy! They will also get at you in secret, disturbing you even at your most private times. However, at the end of this path is the mantle of a genius, who can compete with peers over 5 years older than him! Will you take this path with me; a path riddled with thorns for a greater future?¡±


    I stared dad straight in the eye, trying to convey that this was never even a question for me. I decisively took a swig of the gourd1, sealing our covenant.


    (1: This gourd is the same Jack uses to pretend he is drunk all the time to others. He uses it as an excuse to stay within seclusion, and protect Daniel.)


    ******************


    A lone figure sat cross legged in a dark room, the only illumination in the room coming from a small trace of flame that occasionally flickered across the skin. But this fire was akin to the calm before the storm. For suddenly, the flame exploded out from the skin burning red with a passion. In the next moment, the flame resembled a giant whirlpool as it receded back into the figure in a spherical fashion. If spectating cultivators could observe the figure¡¯s cultivation, they would be incomparably shocked! The flame had drawn in a trace of natural energy as it receded, and this was coming into a seven year old boy!


    Me- ¡°Hmm. So I have finally managed to draw in some natural energy. Unexpectedly, the technique to draw in the natural energy is harder than the tablet made it seem. I suppose he failed to put it on the tablet, as it seemed self-explanatory.¡±


    At first, I had followed the method to circulate my aura sphere and compress it. The process was relatively simple, as it only took a simple intention from my mind. But when I reversed the ¡®seed¡¯ and sent the outer layer aura exploding out, it pushed away all the energy I gathered on my skin! Only traces of it remained, and all of that got refined within my skin before it even reached within my body.


    Disappointedly, I tried again, following the instructions on the tablet to every single detail. But the same thing happened again, even though this time I made no mistakes. So instead, I thought to do something a little different. Why don¡¯t I split the aura off into needles after it exits my body, and then form a sphere again? After all, the technique doesn¡¯t specify how to draw the natural energy into your body after making the energy into a human shaped mold, right?


    Without a moment of hesitation I put my plan in action. Accelerating the circulation of my aura sphere as fast as I could, I drew the energy in closer and closer. After an unknown period of time, the natural energy had coated my skin like the grass is covered in morning dew. It was time!


    I suddenly reversed the aura seed, and the outer sphere exploded out in all directions. When it reached my skin, the flame separated into a sea of needles that penetrated through the natural energy quicker than a knife cuts through butter. Then I allowed my aura to be affected by the seed¡¯s influence, and it suddenly pooled out into a bubble of flame. It receded inwards quickly, and for the first time in my life, natural energy entered within my body.


    Me- ¡°Ah!!!¡±


    Spreading quickly within my body, the natural energy seemed to want to destroy everything it came across. My body was also diametrically opposed to it, as it wanted to refine all my hard earned energy that I had just gotten. But the thing is that neither my body nor the energy won out. The energy was destroying parts of my body, making it incredibly painful if I may add, but my body was using the energy to build the parts it had destroyed anew, stronger than ever. In contrast to the other feeling, it felt soothing. But altogether it felt like a dull ache that prevaded throughout my body.


    They were at a stalemate for the period of time that the energy went to my core, but thankfully there was at least half of the energy left that I could use for my cultivation. The energy drawn into my core accelerated more and more as it got closer to my seed, and I suddenly realized that my work just now was currently in peril. But the only thing I could do was to continue to circulate my seed as fast as I could, as I didn¡¯t want to lose the momentum so essential to the technique.


    The natural energy smashed into my seed, and this almost caused it to go out of control. The only thing that kept it from doing so was the fact that it was spinning so fast that some of the force got deflected by the pure rotational prowess of my seed. This dissipated force was added onto the momentum of my seed, driving the spinning speed outside the limits of what I could do on my own. It was still within my control though, so I continued with the technique.


    In a matter of time, the natural energy separated into two respective components: one, the immaterial energy, and two, the material energy. They gradually moved into their respective places while I was maintaining the aura sphere¡¯s speed. Now it was time to divide and conquer.


    I started to slowly compress my seed onto the immaterial energy that had ended up in the center of my seed. At the same time, I split the outer layer into needles which penetrated through the material energy and compressed the material energy onto the rotational ¡®shell¡¯ of the seed. Then I manipulated all or my aura into chains, and had them borrow from the rotational force to compress the energy even further, which would result in a more thorough imprinting.


    Once I could feel my own unique flame chain pattern mark on the energies, I created makeshift pathways by manipulating the flow of the aura while it was rotating. However, this method took up too much of my control, and the rotational speed regressed to normal. After this was completed, I sent the


    immaterial energy out through the tunnels so they could recombine with their counterparts to make natural energy. I chain compressed this natural energy to the limit finally making it completely my own. The conquering was successful!


    Next, I lined up my tunnels with the imprinted natural energy, according to the Revolutions of the Perfect Foundation, and waited for a while letting my aura sphere spin without complications. After the tunnels seemed solid, and the imprinted natural energy had stabilized, I sent wisps of immaterial energy through the tunnels.


    They went through without complications, so I tested them with material energy. Interestingly enough, the material energy seemed to cause the tunnel to ripple as it passed through. Obviously, that meant the tunnels weren¡¯t stable enough, so I continued to condense the natural energy of the tunnels and then tried again. They passed through without a hitch.


    Now was the hardest part, and the beginning of true cultivation with this method. I had to condense the energy like a shell outside my aura sphere, and explode it out just like the first time. But unlike before, the energy is not only coming from the outside; it is coming from the inside as well. The significance of this is that the pain will be double, no triple that of the previous refinement.


    The energy that I explode out from my core will wreak havoc within my body like the last time, but that is only the start. Once it bounces off my skin, my aura will start being drawn in, bringing in the unimprinted natural energy with it. The unimprinted energy will then collide with the imprinted, and the energies will both flood back to my core. But not before going agonizingly slowly in parts. It was like holding your finger to a flame. If your finger went in and out quickly, it would not be burned.


    But imagine if you let that finger roast in the fire before pulling it out. The pain would be unimaginable! And when you finally got your finger out, you would have a well done human finger, ready for consumption.


    Thinking of this made me hesitate, and feel a powerful unwillingness to continue with the technique. I held off at a stalemate with my body, one side wanting to hold off until the other dull ache faded, and then indefinitely until it was ready. The other side was my mind, and it wanted to go now because it knew that the longer I waited, the greater the hesitation would be. I spoke to myself out loud, encouragingly,


    Me- ¡°Daniel, are you kidding me? We need to do this for our dad, for our promise!¡±


    A resolve welled up within me, founded upon my promises, and the love I had for my father. I would not disappoint myself, nor my father!


    Immediately, I reversed the seed within me, and it exploded outwards! The energy within me reignited the dull ache that was slowly fading, and it flared up to an intensity that made my cry out.


    With teardrops of pain running down my cheeks, I split the aura into needles that penetrated through the natural energy. And now it was time!


    Me- ¡°Come! I do not fear Fire!¡±


    I attracted all the aura to come back to me, and the flame pooled out and rushed inside me.


    And the pain was unimaginable! It felt like I was being roasted from the outside, and from within! The sharp stabs of pain kept sending tremors throughout my body, and the tears now came down like a flood.


    A low animalistic growl came from deep within, in defiance of all the pain I was going through. And right as I thought I couldn¡¯t hold on any longer, the energy finally finished going inside my core. The deed was done, leaving my body in tatters.


    With the last trace of consciousness I had, I refined the energy that I gained and reinforced the tunnels. After that, I could hold on no longer, and fell into the familiar world of blackness.


    __________________________________________________________________


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    Author¡¯s note 2- So this chapter was 7723 words in total. That is like 25 pages on standard lined paper. That¡¯s a lot! So I hope you enjoy the big chapter...