《Teaching Heroes of Might and Magic》


 Prologue: Be careful what you say in the presence of Gods

    At the age of 23, on March 23, in the Year 2023, I stood in all of my glory, I stared towards the distant sun as it slowly disappeared from my view.


    The setting sun, cast a glorious light upon all as it descended.


    A beautiful, mesmerising sight.


    I sighed as I enjoyed the sight, but it also depressed me.


    I mean, my life wasn''t bad at all. I did not suffer growing up, I''m not a person who despises life. I wasn''t shunned and I don''t spend all my time inside my room, alone and aggressive.


    I lived life, I enjoyed it.


    But I was depressed because, I was average, and that was all. I didn''t strive for anything, I didn''t push myself to become great.


    I was content... I guess that was a nice way of putting it.


    I wasn''t special.


    That is what bothered me.


    I mean, I know, I know, billions have it far worse than me, and I should be grateful to have decent parents, a decent circle of friends and many other things.


    But I just didn''t.


    I''m selfish I guess.


    But I passed my time with books, games, movies, TV shows, all of that stuff.


    I''d go out with friends, family.


    But I''m empty inside.


    Maybe it''s because I had my life so easy at the start, now that I am capable of taking care of myself, I feel unhappy.


    I wanted a challenge, but I was too lazy to seek one out.


    So I ended up coming here, late at night, to watch the sunset.


    Truly a frivolous life style.


    Is this what is meant when they say that money will not give you happiness.


    But it is still better to cry in my own house rather than outside.


    I''d sigh once more and then turn around, only to stop.


    In front of me was a man.


    Well, more like a barbarian.


    He was tall, at least over 2 metres, with tan skin, beautiful, flowing red hair. He had deep crimson eyes, and a perfect body, like that of an god.


    He had this wild aura surrounding him, like the world was his to do with as he wished.


    But how come I didn''t hear him pop up behind me.


    How could this ''beast'' be silent?


    He was looking at the sunset before turning his head towards me, his eyes landing on me and sizing me up.


    Zev: I smiled at him politely as I spoke ¡°Can I help you, sir?¡± I asked him, which caused the large man to chuckle.


    Zoras: After his short bout of chuckling stopped, he''d look me over and mumble to himself ¡°184 centimetres, long hair, a soft, gentle look and aura¡± as the words left his mouth, I started to become scared.


    His voice was gruff and deep, but also somewhat uplifting and soothing. It was quite weird.


    That aside, why was this large man, looking over me like he found himself a prize, was I going to get kidnapped?


    Was I his type? Was he going to kidnap me and have his way with me.


    Oh god, I was shaking as these thoughts went through my head.


    Of course I''d encounter a crazy person.


    Zoras: He was smirking and nodding to himself in a happy manner. He then stopped and pointed his finger at himself ¡°My name is Zoras, I am known as the Primal God¡± he declared loudly, to which I thought so what?.


    Zoras: I looked at him and gestured with my hands so? To which he smiled ¡°I know you find this life unsatisfying, I know you are bored, that you wish for oh so much more¡± and then he slammed his hand into his chest ¡°I can grant that for you, I can let you feel life, grant you the opportunity to leave your name in history!¡± he yelled.


    Zev: I smiled at the thought and then nodded while chuckling ¡°That is nice and all¡± I said towards him ¡°But, why would I be chosen, I am as average as it gets¡± I thought I''d talk with this crazy homeless man, it''s not like I had anything important to do today.


    Zoras: He paused for a moment and then simply said ¡°You fit the criteria I have chosen¡± to which he gestured at me ¡°Not too fat, skinny or fit¡± as he said this I wasn''t sure whether he was complimenting or insulting me ¡°Not too tall, nor too short¡± once again I was unsure of his point but I let him continue ¡°You have the aura and look I require, which is that of being gentle and soft¡± With that he paused and considered and then nodded ¡°Plus, I like the style of your hair¡±.


    Zev: I tilted my head in confusion, what did any of this have to do with being chosen by a god but I decided to entertain the notion ¡°So, because of my genetics, my personal style and how I lived my life, that is enough to be chosen by a god?¡± I asked him to which nodded ¡°And why do you, a god, require such conditions¡± I asked him back.


    Zoras: Without skipping a beat he said ¡°Because it is a requirement for what I plan¡± to which I laughed.


    Zev: ¡°A requirement you say?¡± to which he nodded ¡°Well, then mighty god¡± I told him sarcastically ¡°I''m sure there are hundreds, thousands, if not millions of people that are similar to me, so why me?¡±.


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    Zoras: Pausing for a moment he then looked around and said ¡°This was the first place I came to¡± as he said this I sighed and face palmed, internally of course.


    Zev: ¡°You might want to look around, I''m sure some people are even more ''average'' then I am and would fit much better¡± and with that I attempted to walk past him.


    Zoras: Blocking me from leaving he pointed his finger at me and yelled ¡°I have chosen you, to become my champion in my home world!¡± he stated proudly as if it was the greatest honour in the world.


    Zev: I looked up at him and smiled ¡°The names Zev, oh great Zoras¡± I said sarcastically ¡°I thank you for the honor of bestowing this humble me with such a great opportunity¡± and with that I walked pass him and towards my car.


    I smirked as I left, at best, I actually become a gods champion and become something akin to a main character, at worst I have an interesting day thanks to him.


    Zoras: From behind me I heard Zoras talk ¡°So, you accept?¡± he asked all happily.


    Zev: Laughing I turned around ¡°Yeah, sure, I accept¡± and with that I turned back around, but all I saw was greenery all around me.


    Large trees, shrubbery and all sorts of other greenery surrounded me.


    I stopped in shock and then rubbed my eyes, before turning around to stare at every direction.


    I looked at Zoras after several dozen seconds of shock.


    Zev: I looked at him in a different light ¡°Are you serious?¡± I asked him inquisitively as my brain still tried to process the shock.


    Zoras: Laughing heartily he nodded to me ¡°Welcome to my world of ''Sovereign''¡± he said in a possessive manner while gesturing to everything around me.


    I forced the saliva gathering in my mouth back down my throat and immediately went through several dozen thought processes.


    Zev: ¡°You are god¡± I asked him to which he nodded ¡°This world is called ''Sovereign'' and is different from ''Earth''?¡± I asked him to which he once again nodded ¡°I am your champion?¡± he nodded once again in reply to my question.


    I then paused, stood still for a while, as I digested the information.


    Zoras looked amused with my reaction.


    Zev: ¡°So I''m a main character now¡± I murmured to myself happily, that meant I would face life changing events, earth shattering battles, incredible love affairs. As I began to become overjoyed, Zoras laughed and then shattered my joy.


    Zoras: Shaking his head ¡°You are not the main character, you are main characters pillar of support¡± he laughed out loud.


    I was stumped. ''Pillar of Support''? What did he mean?


    Like the wise old man, or the Family member?


    Seeing my confusion Zoras laughed even harder.


    Zoras: ¡°You did not come to my world to become the main character, you don''t have that potential, you are, in this world¡± he shook his hand as if saying ''so-so'' ¡°so-so¡± he grinned saying my thoughts out loud.


    I fell to my knees and looked down in shock.


    Oh dear lord.


    I had been conned.


    This son of bitch.


    Looking at my angry expression he simply smiled as he waited for me to calm down.


    So I made him wait.


    I swore at him for hours in my mind.


    For days.


    Weeks, Months.


    For Years.


    But no, in reality, I made him wait around 15 minutes before I lifted my head up and glared at him.


    Zev: ¡°What are you so happy about¡± I spat out the words ¡°You enjoy conning mortals!?¡± I yelled in grief ¡°What type of shitty situation is this?¡± I then paused and thought ''Didn''t he say, he only met me because I was at the place he first visited, so how did he know about main characters?''.


    Looking up at him I angrily began to speak.


    Zev: ¡°How do you know about Main Characters, didn''t you say you met me because I was where you first came?¡± at my words he merely chuckled.


    Zoras: ¡°I never finished my sentence¡± he said coyly ¡°That was the first place I came to, with someone fitting my criteria¡± he laughed smugly ¡°Also, you can no longer go back home, I am the strongest god on this planet, and none of the other gods are even near my level, so you are stuck here, to finish my quest¡± he said ecstatically.


    Zev: I took in his words and then I sighed sadly. This must be what they meant when they told us as children ''Don''t take Candy from a Stranger''. Looking up at him, I sighed in acceptance ¡°So what now, what do you want me to do in this world of yours¡± I asked him.


    Zoras: ¡°To become ''The Greatest Mentor''¡± he said with a look of ecstasy in his eyes.

 Chapter 1: The Required Info

    Chapter 1


    Zev: ¡°To become ''The Greatest Mentor''?¡± I asked him in confusion. Was he referring to the Old, Wise masters behind many main characters?


    How the hell would I, a 23 year old, become a wise master for a main character. I mean, fuck the main character, I need a wise master.


    I don''t know shit about this world.


    Seeing me lost in my thoughts, Zoras began to laugh.


    Zoras: Smiling ¡°Worry not¡± he chuckled, but how could I not worry. Seeing my confusion he began to speak ¡°I did not bring you into this world empty handed, I did say I brought you to complete a great quest for me¡± with that, he brought out a small booklet and threw it to me.


    The booklet dropped down in front of me and stated a few things.


    ''Welcome to the World of Sovereign'' was plastered on the front in large letters, opening it up, I stared in shock and then venomously stared at Zoras.


    ''I''ve been asleep for over a billion years and I don''t know anything about my current world'' was all that was written on it.


    Zev: ¡°What am I supposed to do with this useless booklet?¡± I asked him angrily to which he just shrugged his shoulders.


    Zoras: ¡°I know as much as you do about this world honestly¡± he said with indifference in his voice, but then he shook his head slightly ¡°Actually, I probably more know that you, seeing as how this world has had civilisation for close to 3 billion years¡± he stated in a matter of fact manner.


    3 Billion years... What the hell...


    Zoras: ¡°So, to sum up my knowledge of the previous few billion years, this world possesses something akin to Martial Arts, as well as Magic, both are equally powerful¡± he stated ¡°Those who practice Martial Arts, are called Immortal Practitioners and those who practice Magic, are called Magus¡± I absorbed this knowledge like a sponge.


    Zoras: Smiling at me ¡°Since your world has minimal mana or aura, I''ll activate yours for you¡± and with that, I felt my body elevate, as if I was beyond humanity, I felt incredible as this feeling rushed through my body, I felt like this was the start of my main characterdom but Zoras simply laughed ¡°Don''t overestimate yourself, you are simply the lowest rank in both Magic and Martial Arts, plus your talent is average at best, so you won''t get far in this world relying on yourself¡± as he said this, it felt like my heart was being pricked.


    Since he had suddenly spoken about my old world, I suddenly thought about my family and how I''d never go home. It saddened me, but my parents had been dead for years, and my siblings were all having a good life, so I had no reason to be sad but still.


    Zoras: Seeing my sudden gloomy change Zoras then chuckled and said ¡°Worry not, in your old world you are dead¡± he said which shocked me Dead? What? Smiling he stated ¡°You have been faced with an accident back home, so you are now dead¡± he spoke proudly as he stated how I died ¡°You were hit by those things you call ''Truck'', a large one at that¡± and than he closed the topic and continued to speak about this world.


    I mean I always thought being average was fine and coupled with the way Zoras said I died, my pride had been hurt quite a bit.


    Zoras: ¡°Well putting that aside, I know next to nothing about the current Empires, Religions, or Major Clans, so in regards to information, you are on your own¡± he stated.


    Looking at him, I branded him as Useless God in my heart.


    Zoras: ¡°Anyways, my quest being summed up is, to create the most powerful Entity in the World and have my name reverberate throughout my world¡± his words confused me though.


    Zev: ¡°Are you not the strongest being in this world, so why not just announce yourself and kill everyone who disregards you?¡± but he simply laughed.


    Zoras: ¡°It is no fun like that, I want to see how much my Sovereignians have advanced in this 1 billion year absence of mine¡± and with that he brought up a piece of paper from out of nowhere and threw it towards me.


    The paper landed in front of me and I picked it up, but both sides of the paper was simply blank. Looking between Zoras and the paper I was about to ask what this blank paper was supposed to do, but suddenly words appeared on it.


    ''Quest


    Part 1


    Create an Entity, with a minimum of 2 ''Students/Adopted Children/Priestling/Etc'' and one ''Teacher/Elder/Priest/Etc''


    Conditions: Must be the Best of the Best


    Time Limit: ???''


    Reading the words on the paper, I looked back up at Zoras who was smirking.


    Zev: ¡°Why is there a time limit¡± I asked him before he could speak, but all my question did was cause him to chuckle.


    Zoras: ¡°If you don''t complete it within the time limit, I''ll eat your soul¡± he stated this horrifying truth as if it was matter of fact.


    Zev: ¡°What the fuck is wrong with you?!¡± I yelled at him.


    Zoras: He simply chuckled and ignored me being flabbergasted and then spoke ¡°You should be grateful I split the quest up into many minor parts, you know¡± he grinned ¡°Want me to make it all one quest?¡± he asked to which I hurriedly shook my head.


    Zev: ¡°No, No, Not at all¡± I waved my hands frantically ¡°I''m grateful you asshole¡± I yelled in sadness.


    I should have never been ungrateful for my life. At least, even if I was unsatisfied, I wouldn''t have to be worried about dying in a few years.


    And my soul getting eaten, I didn''t even want to know what that would do to me.


    Zoras: Chuckling ¡°Now, Now, don''t worry, I won''t send you off into the world just like this, I''ll explain a few more things and then let you know about the rewards system¡± and with that he began explaining without letting me ask any questions.


    I listened whole heartedly and then began to sum it up in my heart.


    Magus and Immortal Practitioners were split into classes, which were then further split into ranks.


    Immortal Ranks were as followed;


    Spirit Practitioner, Soul Practitioner, Immortal Practitioner and Lesser Immortal, with each of them starting at Rank 1 and reaching a bottleneck at Rank 9.


    I was currently a Rank 1 Spirit Practitioner, which meant I was equivalent to an little child in the Cultivation World.


    It was a dispiriting fact, but one I had to accept.


    Magus Ranks were similar to Immortal Ranks and followed as;


    Mageling, Mage, Magi and Lesser Magician, with each of them starting at Rank 1 and reaching a bottleneck at Rank 9.


    I was also a Rank 1 Mageling, which again, was equivalent to a little child in the Magic World.


    Zoras stated that there were many ranks above these, but that at my level, I had no need to know of them.


    I sighed and accepted the fact that I was too weak to even be in the realm of reaching anything above a Lesser Magician or Immortal.


    Zoras: ¡°Well, it is time for some good news for you at least¡± he laughed heartily and with that he gestured to the piece of paper in my hand.


    Looking down at it, I saw nothing change but then Zoras gestures for me to flip it over, so I did.


    I saw words begin to appear, so I began to read them.


    ''Prologue


    Become the Champion of Zoras and start the Main Quest


    Time Limit: Indefinite


    Completed


    Rank: A-


    Rewards: 1000 Primal Points''


    With that I looked back up at Zoras who simply smiled.


    Zev: ¡°Rank?¡± I asked him.


    Zoras: ¡°Well I thought you did somewhat well with the prologue, so I ranked you A-¡± he chuckled ¡°Oh and it goes from F- to SSS+, so there are a lot of ranks¡± and with that he ended the topic of ranks, as if he did not wish to reveal more.


    Abiding by him, I nodded in acceptance. He then smiled and continued.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Zoras: ¡°Congratulations, you can finally afford to look like more than an impoverished noble, or at least, I assume poor nobles would dress like you. Nonetheless, now you can buy things from I, myself¡± and with that the words on the paper changed once again several things appeared at once.


    ''1: Weapons


    2: Clothing


    3: Resources


    4: Special


    5: Immortal Practitioner


    6: Magus


    7: Favors


    Primal Points: 1000''


    Looking up at Zoras, I saw that he was no longer far away from me and was now right next to me.


    He clicked on 2, and the writing all disappeared and then new writing popped up.


    Without even waiting for me, he clicked on something immediately and then suddenly, I began to feel something on my right hand, so I hastily pulled it away from underneath the paper so I could see what was happening to it.


    And then, poomf, suddenly, in my hands was a neatly folded white piece of clothing.


    Zoras smiled and gestured for me to equip it.


    Sighing, I began to remove my shirt, but then Zoras told me to remove my undershirt and pants as well.


    So I told him to turn around to which he chuckled but did.


    After he turned around, I undressed and put on the white piece of clothing, which had turned out to be a nice pristine looking robe.


    It somehow changed my aura from ''Random Passerby'' to ''Wise Looking Man''.


    Zoras: He had already turned around and was looking at the robe I wore with a look of appreciation ¡°It fits, oh, by the way, so long as you wear that robe, you will never get dirty, smell, or have to go to the toilet¡± he chuckled ¡°And the robe will never be damaged, but you underneath it, will of course be damaged, so do be careful¡± and with that he told me to look down at the paper on the ground, next to my old clothes but before I could reach them he said ''Oh'' and began to talk ¡°Almost forgot, your Robe is at a higher level than you, so it''ll hide your aura for now, which might make your life easier or harder, depending on you¡± and with that he went quiet.


    Taking his words to heart I picked the paper up and I turned to the other side, and what I saw at the bottom, was heart breaking.


    ''7: Favors


    Primal Points: 500''


    In anger I looked up at him.


    Zev: ¡°This god damned robe cost 500 Points?! What the fuck!¡± I yelled, even though I had no idea how much 500 Points was actually worth. I just felt I had been ripped off was all.


    Zoras laughed happily and then ignored me.


    I grumbled angrily as I looked the list on the paper over before I slowly tapped 1 and opened the Weapons tab.


    What came up was ridiculous, with millions upon millions of results.


    I was scared by the amount of things that appeared, and some of them cost so many 0''s.


    I then saw at the top of the page was an ''Advanced Search'' button, so I clicked it.


    What came up was a small box with a keyboard.


    I stared up at Zoras and wondered how much time he spent on Earth, before keying in the terms, ''Usable by Humans'', ''0-500 Primal Points'' and ''Actual Weapon''.


    The list was still in the millions, with things such as Branch and Stick popping up.


    So I made my advanced search even more advanced and added in the terms ''Sharp'', ''Can Stab'' and ''Average Mortal can use to kill''.


    The List was now in the thousands, but I then decided to alter one thing in my advanced search.


    I changed it from ''0-500 Primal Points'' to ''100-500 Primal Points''.


    Now the list contained a few hundred items, and after an hour or two of searching, I found the item I would buy.


    It was called ''Soul Sword'' and the description with it stated, that as it was right now, it was equivalent to a normal steel sword, but this sword had a soul in it, thus it could grow along sides its owner.


    So I bought the sword, since it was only 100 PP.


    Once I clicked it, the ''Buy'' and ''Cancel'' button appeared to which I clicked ''Buy'' but then an ''Are you Sure'' and a ''Cancel'' button appeared to which I clicked ''Are you Sure'' and finally, my right hand began to tingle and a single, appearing perfectly made sword appeared in my palm.


    It weighed around 2-3 kilos, so roughly 4.5-7 pounds.


    I think that was the perfect sword weight, but I''m not sure.


    Nonetheless, for now, it was nothing but an above average sword.


    Zoras: Seeing my purchase he laughed out loud and clapped me on my back lightly ¡°Good purchase¡± he said before he began to explain sword ranks to me.


    Again, I ate this knowledge like a sponge.


    Summing up his knowledge about Soul Swords, a normal sword, once it had enough experience would go from being a Soulless Sword to being a Rankless Sword, meaning it had gained a soul, which for ordinarily made weapons, was next to impossible.


    Once a sword reached the level of Rankless, it would then after continuous experience become an actual Soul Sword.


    At the level of Soul Sword, swords began to gain ranks, which like Immortal Practitioners and Magus, went from Rank 1 to 9.


    Anyways, the ranks are as follows;


    Soulless, Rankless, Soul Sword, Greater Soul Sword, Supreme Soul Sword and then he refused to tell me the ranks that came after that.


    I nodded sadly, but I accepted it, as once again, my sword was as weak as me.


    No, my sword was actually stronger than me, just like my clothes.


    I was so pitiful.


    Nonetheless, I begin to look through the remaining 5 tabs aside from Weapons and Clothing, so I spent several hours there.


    Without being able to find a bargain, I finally realised I was hungry and then decided to get something to eat.


    Once I saw that food was only sold in bulk, I realised I''d need somewhere to store them, so I remembered the things called Storage Rings from novels and the like from Earth.


    I ended up finding a few, but they were too expensive.


    The cheapest which was called ''Tiny Ring of Storage'', costed 25 PP, and had a storage space of 1 metre squared.


    The second cheapest ring called the ''Ring of Storage'', cost 250 PP, and had a storage space of 10 metre squared, while the third cheapest ring cost 1000 PP.


    Ignoring them, I bought 1 Tiny Ring, and equipped it.


    As I tried to use it, I finally, after a solid 15 minutes, realised I probably needed to use magic or martial arts so I spent 30 minutes, trying to learn how to do that.


    I finally figured it out. I had to pour my aura or mana into it. I felt out the inside of the ring.


    This was some incredibly technology is all that went through my mind.


    But since I didn''t understand how it worked, I quickly got a feel for it using the grass and trees around me.


    I finally returned my attention to the paper and began to buy my food. The first thing I bought was a Flask of Water, which looked like it could only hold 1 litre of liquid, but could actually hold 25.


    This cost me 25 PP, so now I was left with 350 PP. I drank from the flask and then placed it in my ring.


    I also placed my old clothes in my ring.


    Returning my attention to the paper, I was about to look for food when I saw something eye catching in the tab of ''Special''.


    It was called ''Random'' and cost 100 PP.


    Looking over it, I saw it had no description or anything at all.


    I suddenly heard a laugh from behind me.


    Zoras: ¡°You finally found it¡± he said with an excited look ¡°That is called Random and it has the chance to contain any of the hundreds of billions of items within my store¡± he then looked at me ¡°Are you going to try your luck?¡± he asked me happily ¡°I don''t intervene with it at all, it will literally depend on your luck¡± he then nudged me to choose it.

 Chapter 2: Chests can make your heart beat more faster than love ever could

    I thought for a good long while before I finally gave in and decided to try it.


    So I bought it and then in front of me, suddenly appeared a chest that shook with the intensity of a very severe parkinsons case.


    My hand didn''t feel a thing since it appeared a few metres in front of me


    After several seconds of non-stop shaking, the chest finally fell flat on the ground and the lock on it opened.


    I quietly stared at the chest, while Zoras had a leisurely look on his face as he waited for me to open the chest.


    Sighing internally, I slowly walked up to the chest.


    My heart was pounding like it never had before, as if it was going to rip out from my chest.


    Zoras: Who was behind me suddenly yelled out ¡°Hurry up, don''t keep me waiting all day¡± and with that, I quickened my pace up just a little bit.


    I walked up towards it and then stopped right in front of the chest, and I stood like that for several moments, before I steeled my heart and placed my hands on the chests lid.


    I prayed, not to God, since he was by my side playing the role of an annoying asshole. No, I prayed to luck and fate, maybe they''d listen to this pitiful little man.


    And like that, I threw the chest open and what was placed right in the middle of the chest, was a single blade of grass.


    Standing alone, as if it was the greatest treasure in the world.


    Picking it up, I turned around, only to see Zoras laughing out loud silently, tears pouring from his eyes.


    I tightly gripped the blade of grass, maybe it was just so good that he was laughing from anger. I had to stay positive.


    Bringing the blade of grass towards Zoras, his laughter doubled but by the time I reached him, he went silent and then shook his head with a grin plastered on his face.


    Zoras: ¡°For making me laugh so hard, you deserve this¡± and with that I suddenly felt as if I had gained infinite knowledge, but that was only for a brief moment. Aside from that, it appeared as if nothing changed. ¡°I gave you the ability ''Scour'', so use your Mana or Aura, and feel out that¡± he said while pointing towards the blade of grass.


    I did so and what I saw, broke my already shattered heart even more.


    [Midland Grass Blade]


    A single tear rolled down my cheek at the loss of my 100 PP.


    But at least I had gained the ability ''Scour'', so I guess it was a fair trade.


    Looking back down at the paper in my other hand, I decided that I would take another chance, so I bought another ''Random''.


    Zoras appeared shocked, but both me and him concentrated on the chest and then after the chest stopped having a seizure, I opened its lid and what braced me was another blade of grass.


    I turned back and saw Zoras having a seizure as well so I sighed internally and turned back to my loot.


    I scoured it and then another tear rolled down my other cheek.


    [Lowland Grass Blade]


    In my anger, I did what I should not have done, and bought it a third time leaving me with only 50 PP.


    If this chest gave me grass as well, I''m not sure what I''d do.


    I thought of the sword in my ring and then Zoras, along with sinister thoughts.


    But then I shook my hand and waited for the chest to calm down.


    Zoras was still laughing behind me, but his laughter was silent.


    Finally the chest stopped and so did Zoras, who was looking at in an excited manner.


    I neared the chest, and then I opened it, my eyes staring at the inside of the chest.


    And what I saw, made me breathe a sigh of relief.


    It was a pill.


    A simple looking, blue pill.


    Maybe it was a treasure, but it at least won''t be useless right?


    Zoras had a humble expression on his face as he saw the pill.


    That meant it can''t be bad, right?!


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    I scoured the pill and when I saw it, I laughed happily.


    [Immortal Creation Pill


    100% Purity]


    I laughed happily as I hugged the pill carefully.


    Zoras: Chuckling behind me began to talk ¡°Not a bad catch, that pill should be worth at least 1000 Points, so you were lucky¡± as he said those words I did a victory pose in my happiness, as I had just made a huge profit ¡°But it is useless for someone like you, since that pill will either create or repair and restore someones cultivation till the 1st Rank of Spirit Practitioner¡± his words didn''t make me sad at all as this pill should still be worth a lot. I could sell it to genius who had his cultivation crippled, so it is an incredible item. I quickly wrapped it up with one of my old clothes and put it back into the ring.


    Seeing this Zoras laughed but didn''t say anything more.


    With my remaining 50 PP I was about to buy food but Zoras began to talk.


    Zoras: ¡°As an Immortal Practitioner and a Magus, you have a much higher hunger tolerance, so you can go up to 15 days without food while barely feeling it, so I''d recommend not getting food¡± he finally gave me some decent advice since we had first met.


    Looking back down at the list, I then went through the cultivation resources I could afford, and bought a total of 10 pills, which totalled out at 50 PP.


    I bought 5 Spirit Rank 1-5 Pills and then 5 Mageling Rank 1-5 Pills.


    (These Pills are only useful for those between Rank 1-5 of above said classes)


    I put them away into my ring as well and then I checked my total remaining PP.


    ''Primal Points: 0''


    And like that, I had spent 1000 PP, leaving me satisfied with my purchases. Aside from the robe of course, I mean, it cost too much.


    But nonetheless, a god chose the robe so I''d have to use the bloody robe.


    It at least made me look fantastic.


    With my possessions and my goal in check, I finally decided to head out.


    But then I remembered that I didn''t know where I was, nor where the closest inhabited place was.


    I sighed and face palmed as I realised I lost.


    I turned to stare at Zoras who was grinning as if looking at an idiot.


    Zev: ¡°I don''t know where I am, could you point me to the closest inhabited place?¡± I asked nicely but all that did was make Zoras laugh.


    Zoras: ¡°Why didn''t you buy a map?¡± he asked me back.


    Zev: Scratching my head awkwardly I looked at him ¡°Well, I forgot¡± I mumbled quietly which simply made Zoras laugh even more.


    Zoras: ¡°Well, it is time for me to go I guess, but I guess I''ll give you one last free piece of advice¡± and with that he pointed towards his left and smiled.


    Zev: ¡°Where are you going?¡± I asked him curiously, hoping he''d answer before he left.


    Zoras: ¡°To bother the little gods that popped up in my absence¡± and with that he disappeared without any special effects. He was just simply gone. Like he was a figment of my imagination.


    Maybe he was.


    What If I went insane and I''m simply inside a coma.


    No, no. That is terrifying. Don''t think of terrifying thoughts.


    With that, I slapped my cheeks and then nodded in confirmation that it was time to start my quest.


    Off towards the direction Zoras pointed.


    Off on a journey at the behest of the God of Bullshit.


    -------


    Hey Guys, Old Man here.


    This chapter is a short one since the next two chapters are respectively both above 3000 words with the other one nearing 5000.


    So bear with this shorty for today and I''ll put up the next two tomorrow and the day afterwards once I''m finished editing.


    Thanks and peace.


    -Old Man

 Chapter 3: To do or not to do

    My journey through this forest was a calm, almost tranquil one. I felt at peace, and I managed to come to terms with my current situation thanks to the atmosphere.


    Thanks to my new constitution, I didn''t get tired even after trekking through several tens of kilometres of greenery.


    Although I didn''t get tired, I did begin to feel the strain upon my body. It was a light one, but it meant that even with my new constitution, I couldn''t walk forever.


    I decided to set up camp and go to sleep for the night.


    I hadn''t discovered any monsters or beasts that could kill or harm me throughout my journey so I decided that this was probably a safe forest, or something close to that.


    But I still took no risks.


    I only set up camp once I had found a cave that wasn''t too deep and could provide me shelter.


    And I did find one, which was a relief to me.


    I went to sleep without a fire, since even at night, the temperature was quite pleasant, and if it wasn''t for my robe and constitution I may even be sweating right now.


    The following day was quite similar to the previous one and once again after hours of walking, I once again set up camp in a cave.


    And just like that, weeks had gone past and I was still no closer to a city than I was when I first started my journey.


    Maybe that asshole gave me false directions on purpose.


    Nonetheless, shaking my head, I begrudgingly continued on my way.


    I had finally learnt how to make a fire using sticks and other materials.


    It was an arduous process, that took trial and error to the extreme.


    It was far harder than simply rubbing two sticks together.


    Maybe it was a bit easier for me since I wasn''t exactly human any more.


    But that aside, I sat in front of this fire I made and pondered how I would fulfil creating a powerful entity.


    Even just gathering the best of the best amongst the people that live in this world should be hard, since almost every incredible genius would have been roped in by those large and powerful entities.


    And the hardest part was finding an old person who was a genius.


    Where would I find such a person and even if I did, how would I convince them to join me.


    Such a hard task, and the more I thought about it, the more depressed I became.


    That piece of shit granted me far too hard of a task.


    Sighing I could do nothing but rest once more.


    And once again, another week or two passed.


    I had stopped counting a while ago.


    It was close to two months now.


    I had resorted to eating wild fruits and berries.


    Seeing how I was still alive meant that at least they were not poisonous.


    At least I didn''t have to eat everyday.


    At minimum, I had to eat once every 5 days and at maximum once every 20 days.


    My water canteen had been emptied and refilled multiple times so far.


    There were many small lakes and large ponds throughout this forest.


    More and more time passed and I was beginning to become more and more depressed.


    I was running out of philosophical conversations I could have with myself.


    I might go insane soon if this continued, but I had no choice but to carry on.


    One good thing I had been doing lately was refreshing my memory on all the old and gold sayings we had back on earth.


    If I had to play the role of an old wise man, I at least had the advantage thanks to all of these sayings of mine.


    I''m sure for the geniuses I was going to raise, those sayings would have an incredible impact. I hoped so at least.


    On my third month through this forest, I had finally done it.


    I had discovered human life.


    I was elated.


    I cried tears of joy. Hidden away from the human life I discovered of course.


    Inside the forest, I prowled around this large village or small town. I wasn''t sure which it was, since there were a lot of people and several stone buildings, but it had no walls or guard posts, so I wasn''t really sure.


    Its not like it mattered.


    I finally dusted myself off, and when I say dust off, I meant that sarcastically since I was crystal clean thanks to the robe. Nonetheless, I then hid my hands inside of my sleeves like those ancient wise man from my TV shows and novels.


    Once I was sure I had the appearance and feel of somebody that was not to trifled with, I made my way towards this village.


    Once I exited the forest and began my walk, a few teenagers who were lazing around in the out skirts of the town spotted me and then with alarmed expressions ran inside of the village.


    I paused for a second, but then decided that they probably went to notify the village leader that an unknown and mysterious looking man had walked out of the forest.


    And as per my expectations, the group of teens came running back with a group of men behind them.


    The ages of the men varied from young men all the way up to old grandparents.


    Spotting me, the expressions of the group of me changed from suspicion to shock, to a mixture of respect and fear.


    At least that is what I assumed the final expression they had was.


    I continued my walk towards them but then I finally had a shocking revelation.


    I came from another god damned world, how would we speak the same language?


    But it was too late to pause and run at this point.


    As I slowed my walk down, I saw the people in the village begin to become fidgety. Maybe I looked like a noble or a wondering high level practitioner.


    They probably thought along the lines that if I found anything unpleasant I would kill them all.


    That made me think even harder. What if this was a very cruel world where no one knew whether they would live or die the next day.


    The more I studied the expressions of these villagers the more fearful my heart grew.


    What type of god-damn world did I end up in?


    Staring at the villagers I finally neared them and stopped a mere metre or two away from them.


    Both myself and they waited. I wanted them to speak so I knew whether or not we spoke the same language.


    I think they didn''t want to offend me in case I was an asshole.


    So we waited, and the more we waited, the more awkward it became.


    I''m not even sure how I managed to stay and maintain my current calmness.


    The awkward atmosphere was beginning to hurt me since more and more people were now gathering around.


    Everyone had a look of unease plastered upon their faces and some people even looked at me in resentment and fear.


    I probably made the entire villages heart beat increase several fold just by showing up.


    I think we''ve stayed in this stalemate of silence for a good 15 minutes now.


    But then a little girl, who looked to be 6 or 7, timidly walked forward after breaking free of the grip of the adult women holding her and began to speak. She stuttered as she attempted to talk, adding a layer cutesy onto her.


    She had long platinum blonde hair which reached down to her knees and heterochromia. Now that I looked closely, I saw that she had two completely different eye colours. One sparkling deep blue, the other sparkling deep green. She took cute to another level and made one simply want to hug and pamper her. She would grow up into a fine lady someday.


    She wore a cute looking green dress and had a little blue ribbon in her hair. Quite adorable.


    The adult women who was holding her attempted to pull her back but failed and now had an expression of immense fear on her face.


    The adult women holding her, wasn''t as interesting as the girl. She had an above average look, and she could have been a model in my old world, but compared to the little girl, she looked ordinary.


    Sasha: ¡°Mister¡± her words reverberated in the silence ¡°Why are you making everyone scared¡± she asked after gathering her courage, and she spoke the words with anger in her tone towards me as if she was oblivious of the atmosphere.


    As her words came out the entire atmosphere instantly became heavy and the adult women began to weep silently. The men who had come with the teens all had expressions of fear and sadness in their eyes. The entire mass of villagers all had solemn looks on their faces.


    It seems like they had somehow accepted that at best the little girl would die and at worst I''d kill them all.


    I was utterly shocked. Just how terrible of a world was this. Did villages and towns get wiped out all because they offended a single noble or practitioner?


    An adult man pushed himself past the group and walked forward before dropping himself to his knees and then planting his forehead onto the ground.


    The man looked to be quite masculine. He had that ''Perfect'' man look. Trimmed beard, square look, deep, profound eyes. Short slick black hair. He didn''t look like he fit in this village. All in all, a very attractive man.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Johann: ¡°My¡± he paused uncertain of something ¡°liege¡± he spoke out after a moment of consideration to my title ¡°Please forgive my child for being rude towards you¡± his voice carried a hint of resentment but it was mainly filled with fear ¡°If you need to punish someone then please punish me for not raising my child to respect their superiors¡±.


    As he said this I both breathed in relief and panic.


    I was relieved that we somehow spoke the same language and that I could understand them, but I was now panicked because of this awkward atmosphere.


    The thing that surprised me the most was how I was still calm on the outside.


    Maybe it was the robe, or maybe it was new found constitution that allowed me to be like this.


    Putting that aside, I moved forward until I was next to the man and then knelt and using my hands covered in my long robe, I made him rise.


    My actions seemed to have at first made everyone tense up as they expected me to harm the man but then when I gently picked him up, it confused everyone.


    It seems like gentle people where not common in the realm of power.


    The man had a confused expression upon his face as I lifted him up.


    Zev: ¡°Worry not young one¡± once the words came out of my mouth I internally cursed. This man was clearly older than me but I had to continue with the facade now that I had lied accidentally ¡°I have not come here to harm or abuse any of you¡± and once the words left my lips the entire village breathed out a sigh of relief as if the greatest burden in the world had been lifted from their shoulders.


    The man seemed to be overjoyed that I was not here to harm the village but he still felt fear in regards to his daughters blunt words to me.


    Zev: Seeing his fear I smiled lightly ¡°Worry not, you and your daughter have nothing to fear¡± and with that the man''s knees became weak and began to wobble and he had a sheepish expression on his face but since I was supporting him up he stayed upright.


    Looking around at the villagers around me I saw that all of them had removed their looks of resentment, fear and any other negative looks and looked at me with either respect or veneration.


    I was quite surprised by their immediate change of outlook thanks to the short few words I said. Were the people in this world very trusting, or did high practitioners very rarely lie?


    The old man who had originally come with the teens walked close to me and bowed down, but it seemed to be very hard for him to do so, so I moved to stop him.


    Zev: ¡°It is fine, you have no need to bow before me¡± and with that I forced him to stop.


    The old man seemed unpleased with the fact that I did not let him bow down before me, but upon seeing my gentle smile he lightened up.


    He had white hair, and he sported a long beard. He gave off the feeling of a gentle elder, and he the look to go with it.


    Doven: ¡°My apologies for being unable to bow before you great elder¡± as he said those words my heart tightened.


    Dear god, an old man was calling me elder, that probably meant that practitioners and magus probably lived for very long periods of time. That meant that I shouldn''t determine someone''s age from their appearance.


    I had already met Zoras who had talked about being asleep for a billion years but he was a god so I couldn''t compare him to mortals.


    Nonetheless, just this short period of time I spent with these villagers already increased my understanding in regards to how this world functioned immensely.


    I think this was one of those ''The Strong dominated the Weak'' worlds.


    Which was very bad for me seeing as how I was very weak.


    I might be able to bully villagers and the like but even a child practitioner would probably be stronger than me.


    This was a terrible world.


    Thinking about all the novels I''ve read, the main characters always had terrible lives and fought hundreds if not thousands of assholes.


    I''m fucked.


    If any of the kids I take in are anything like those main characters, they would probably win in the end, but they always had their family face brutal and cruel things.


    I didn''t want to become a memory that helped those kids become stronger.


    But I had no choice but to take them in.


    Dear lord, I''m fucked.


    Even though internally I was about to cry, externally I appeared calm and collected.


    Many of the villagers had already dispersed and the only people still remaining, was the man, his daughter and what I assume was his wife, and the village elder and what I assume is the village council.


    Zev: ¡°It is fine, there is no need for you all to be so fearful of me, I have not come here to exploit you¡± as I said this they all beamed.


    Their already good view of me had become even better.


    Doven: ¡°We didn''t wish to offend anyone while we have to deal with Young Master Jubelei¡± as he spoke, my heart was beating frantically ¡°Would you allow us to house you in our humble village for the time being?¡± he asked me.


    Oh no, this was one of those main character encounters low level villain arcs.


    I would beat the low level villain only to discover the bigger, badder and stronger villain behind him.


    And then while fighting them, I''d offend someone even stronger, bigger, and badder then them and the cycle would continue.


    I sighed and face palmed internally but outwards I looked calm and collected.


    I decided that I couldn''t save this village as I wasn''t even certain of my saving myself.


    I looked at the Old man and sadly smiled.


    The old man seemed to have understood what I meant with that smile and then his beaming smile would disappear.


    He understood I wouldn''t fight for the village and that I was merely passing through.


    Even if I myself wasn''t going to harm the village, it didn''t mean I''d save it.


    Even nicety had its limits.


    He smiled back at me, his sad smile made my heart shake, but I wasn''t powerful enough to save them. He then moved to the side opening a path for me.


    The man I was holding onto had already regained his strength so I let him go and then walked past the old man.


    When I passed the little girl however, the ring started shaking and when I felt inside of it, I saw the paper was shaking.


    I removed it and then the words I saw on it made my heart beat and my anger rise.


    ''Potential Found:


    Name: Sasha Von Tai Long


    Status:<ul>


    <li>Soul: 7</li>


    <li>Physical: 5</li>


    <li>Mana: 10</li>


    <li>Spirit: 9


    </li></ul>


    Potential: Very High Potential of becoming a Legendary Magus. Has a very high connection towards the Elements of Water and Wind''


    As I read this I didn''t know what to do.


    I stopped my trek and then looked towards the little girl standing by my side and then back at the paper in my hands.


    My actions confused everyone who thought I was going to leave.


    They were all looking towards the paper in my hands curiously.


    I turned towards the girl and then I looked at her father.


    But the words that came up for him were all very average. Everything was much lower compared to his daughter, even his physical. Even his name was different.


    Putting such knowledge aside, I didn''t know what to do.


    I put the paper away for the time being and then began to think deeply.


    But before I began to think too deeply, I attempted to use ''scour'' on the people around me, to see if it also showed names and statistics similar to the paper but it did nothing at all. It seems like it can only be used on inanimate objects and maybe dead things, but I''m not sure of that yet.


    When I used it on the buildings around me I learned that it showed the owners name above it. This was an interesting piece of information.


    Putting ''scour'' aside, I now began to think deeply about my current situation.


    Should I stay and risk my life for this little girl, or should I continue on my journey and hope I find more potential?


    I didn''t know what to do.


    Do I take this little girl in or do I not?

 Chapter 4: The First

    I looked the girl over once again before sighing sadly.


    I would take the risk.


    I would defeat the low level villain, and then I would take the girl and run away.


    Even if the village was harmed afterwards it would only serve to further the little girls power and make her strong enough to take revenge by herself later on.


    The death of her ''family'' would make her stronger.


    My god, I''m such an asshole.


    I was plotting about the death of this little girls family in my attempt to make her stronger.


    Nonetheless, I did what I had to.


    I was only the lowest rank as both a Magus and a Practitioner.


    I didn''t have the power to leisurely save everyone.


    I turned back to the village elder and smiled.


    Zev: ¡°I''d like to stay in this village for a few days if you do not mind¡± I stated which immediately made the old man ridiculously happy. ¡°My name is Zev, by the way¡± I stated as I had forgotten to give them my name earlier on.


    Doven: ¡°Of course Elder Zev, my name is Doven¡± the old man bowed ¡°Johann¡± he stated as he then turned towards Sasha''s father ¡°Guide him to my humble abode and lead him to the guest room¡± and with that Johann immediately began to move.


    Johann: ¡°Of course father¡± and with that he turned to me ¡°Allow this little one to guide you Elder Zev¡± he stated as he was bowing ¡°This way if you please Elder Zev¡± and like that I learned that Sasha was the ''granddaughter'' of the old man.


    As Johann guided me to my room, I saw that Doven had called Sasha over and was talking to her. I''m sure that the old man Doven had realised I had decided to stay after sensing something was off with the little girl.


    I''m not sure what Doven thought I sensed but he was clearly asking the little girl in a hushed manner trying to figure it out.


    Nonetheless I followed Johann who guided me to my room who then bowed deeply before leaving.


    Leaving me alone if my room to ponder upon my thoughts.


    I was scared.


    I was about to face someone who was most likely a practitioner.


    What would I do if he was powerful.


    I''d be fucked.


    But this girl was talented.


    I couldn''t leave her.


    But I couldn''t just kidnap her and leave as she would not be willing to follow me then.


    So I had to save her village once and then I had to leave quickly.


    So I planned how I was going to save this village.


    What if a few dozen practitioners came all at once?


    Oh my god.


    I was getting more and more scared.


    With each day that passed, my psyche was getting worse and worse.


    I had questioned Johann who brought me food everyday about this Young Master Jubelei and why he was coming to ''take care'' of this village.


    It seemed that Sasha had aggravated Young Master Jubelei when she had turned down his offer to become his concubine.


    It seemed that this Jubelei himself wasn''t a practitioner or a magus, but he was a noble so he should have the money required to afford to hire a practitioner or two.


    If he came with the assumption that this backwoods village didn''t have a practitioner, it would allow me thrash all the mortals and than take Sasha and leave.


    But on the off chance he was cautious and actually hired a practitioner than I''d be fucked.


    Lets hope he was like those annoying first time villains that always appeared and was very arrogant.


    That would allow me to end this quickly.


    But nonetheless, I was still very stressed.


    And with that, 8 days had passed.


    In these 8 days I had interacted with only Doven, Johann and Sasha.


    Doven would come and simply bring me food and drinks, same as Johann.


    Only Sasha would come and ask me questions regarding the outside world.


    I could only vaguely reply to the little girl.


    Because I myself knew nothing.


    But my vague answers only further excited the little girls imagination.


    I vaguely talked about Empires, Great Sects, Religions and Gods.


    Zev: ¡°The Great Empires stretched so far that the suns never set upon their domain¡± I had put on my wise man voice and persona. Sasha''s eyes glittered slightly at the thought ¡°Their might rocked the world, the words of the Emperor or Empress would decide the fate of untold amounts of people¡± and with those words Sasha had taken on a thoughtful look.


    Sasha: ¡°What about the Great Sects then?¡± she asked me to which I smiled and continued to vaguely answer her.


    Zev: ¡°The Great Sects possess enough power that when they move their hands the mountains crumble, when they breathe the seas turns and tumble and when they speak the Earth itself moves to do as they command¡± and with that Sasha breathed in shock but she had a look of doubt in her eyes as if she knew I was bullshitting. Well what does she, a little child know anyway.


    My vague words made the girl excited beyond relief.


    Sasha: ¡°What about me?¡± she asked to which I tilted my head ¡°Can I become a practitioner?¡± she asked in a sad manner to which I smiled gently.


    No shit you could. Well not a practitioner, but a Magus. But I didn''t tell her that. It seems like she only heard about Practitioners and didn''t know much about Magus.


    Zev: ¡°Everyone has the chance to become practitioner, but how far you go, depends on you, yourself¡± and with that I acted vague and mysterious.


    Sasha looked taken aback at my words, a tinge bit angry but she smiled sheepishly.


    She was great at hiding her thoughts, even at such a young age.


    Sasha: ¡°But I''ve never been able to train¡± and with that she looked downcast ¡°Everyone else has already begun but I can''t train at all¡± and with that she looked as if she was about to cry, but her eyes held this profound look. As if she was thinking about dark thoughts.


    I silently patted her as I mused internally.


    I now knew why she still hadn''t unlocked any of her latent talent.


    She was probably looked upon as ''cripple'' or ''trash'' because she couldn''t cultivate.


    But that was good for me.


    This part of the world knew little or nothing about Magus, so this little treasure went unnoticed.


    Now I would be able to unleash her.


    I would cultivate this genius of magic and make her name shake the world, and then I would bask in her glory.


    Zev: ¡°Like I said, everyone can become a practitioner, but their paths are different¡± and with that I ended the conversation.


    I couldn''t throw all my eggs out at once. I had to take this slow and make her revere me.


    With that, we talked idly for a bit longer before she left.


    I then pondered the ranks of the villagers.


    Since she said they cultivated, they probably were not that strong. Probably.


    After that, she would visit me for longer and longer periods of time each day and this was beneficial to me.


    Johann and Doven also came less and less, letting Sasha bring me food and drinks.


    I already understood their plan. It was to let me take a liking to Sasha and hopefully take her in as a disciple.


    That aside, I became closer to her and learned more about her.


    I came to learn that I loved acting like a wise old man.


    But I also came to learn that the girls excitement and happiness about the outside world seemed a little fake. Maybe she had already learned about it from someone else.


    From Sasha I also learned that all ranks below Nobles and Practitioners were not allowed surnames.


    So this meant she was definately hiding something.


    Which then made me wonder why she was hiding her own name.


    But then I realised her mum and dad both had different surnames when compared to Sasha. Which meant they were not her real parents. I of course already knew that from yesterday.


    Maybe they were her retainers. Or her uncle and aunt. Well there were many things they could be.


    The last of her followers after her clan or sect fell? Whatever it was, to me, it was nothing but a minor set back.


    That aside, on the 8th day I was here, I finally heard a foreign persons voice reverberate throughout the village.


    I knew who it was. He had finally come.


    Jubelei: ¡°Sasha, you had the gall to reject I, the heir to the City of Jubelan¡± his teenage voice which had yet to crack was quite irritating ¡°This is the greatest loss of face that I, Jubelei Ju Lei Lan have ever faced and for this reason, I have come to wipe this village of Startza from the face of the earth and then I will have you become my slave¡± he yelled before he began to laugh in a creepy manner and with that I sighed internally.


    He was exactly how I thought he would be.


    An arrogant little shit.


    But I also learned another thing. It seemed that this current area I was in regarded ''face'' as being something important. It was the eastern counterpart of honor I think. Nonetheless, it was good that I learned of this as it would allow me to intimidate others with the option of ''Give this humble practitioner some face''.


    I prepared to head outside to hopefully talk this out and make him leave out of fear of the unknown.


    As I made my way out of the Village Chiefs house I walked towards the group of villagers and the large group of armed men in front of them.


    At the front of this large group of armed men was a lanky, pasty teen who looked to be about 15 or 16.


    He had long black hair, and a prepubescents beard. Which means he had 4-5 hairs on his chin which he proudly showed off.


    His looks netted him a 5.5/10 and aside from being a noble, he had no other redeeming features.


    He was clearly a paedophile for wanting to make a 6 year old his concubine.


    But this was a cruel and dark world.


    I saw Johann, Doven and Sasha at the front of the villagers.


    I also saw the look in the eyes of the armed men as they eyed the women of the village.


    Not one of them had a decent look upon their faces.


    This world was far darker than I thought.


    Sasha: ¡°Why should I have to accept you, the heir of a mere city as my husband¡± she glared at him. It made me wonder why she was timid at first when she spoke to me. But then when she said ''mere'' city, I understood that she was probably from at least mediocre clan or sect ¡°I''ll only marry the person I love and that person is not you¡± she yelled her words at him which only made Jubelei''s face darken further. ¡°I am not scared of you and your ilk¡± and with that she pointed to her father ¡°My father is a Rank 2 Immortal Practitioner, and my Mother is a Rank 1 Immortal Practitioner¡± and with that she had a look of triumph.


    Jubelei: ¡°Foolish is what you are¡± he spoke as he grated his teeth in anger ¡°You think I am scared of the people of this village?¡± he yelled ¡°So what if they are powerful¡± his voice contained arrogance ¡°Money is capable of everything, and I have bought myself the service of an Rank 3 Immortal Practitioner¡± and as his voice echoed, the villagers faces became ashen.


    Even Sasha looked taken back.


    Forget Sasha and the villagers, I was taken aback.


    Her dad was a Rank 2 Immortal Practitioner, and her mum was a Rank 1!


    Jesus Christ, what the fuck.


    And they were terrified of me.


    I''m not even a Rank 2 Spirit Practitioner!


    Oh my god.


    This robe is the best.


    I can''t believe I fooled someone nearly 20 ranks over me.


    They thought I was monstrously powerful.


    Oh god.


    No wonder Sasha wasn''t so surprised when she heard me speak about the outside world.


    Her ''mum'' and ''dad'' were also shocked, but they quickly calmed down and prepared for battle.


    They released their aura and all the villagers backed away.


    Even I wanted to back away but I did not. Image was very important at this juncture.


    This was the first time I had focused on Sasha''s ''mum.


    I brought out the piece of paper and stared at her.


    ''Feilen Feng, Servant of Clan Tai Long''


    But what I read made me shocked.


    How come the mother was a servant of Clan Tai Long, but dad wasn''t?


    Maybe dad was just a very loyal soldier while mother was an actual retainer.


    This was becoming more and more complex.


    Maybe taking this girl in was more complex than I thought.


    But I had made my decision. If this decision of mine was going to bring danger, I would hide in the woods till Sasha was strong enough to protect me.


    Wait, I couldn''t do that.


    There was a time limit.


    What if it suddenly changed to 1 day and I had my soul eaten.


    Shit, forget it.


    For now, that isn''t a major concern.


    Johann: Suddenly Johann spoke up ¡°Sasha, head towards Great Elder Zev, even if we die, I am sure he will protect you¡± and with that he turned towards his wife and gave her a nod before staring at Jubelei ¡°We will fight to the death¡±.


    Just like that, Feilen and Johann prepared to fight this Rank 3 Immortal who was hired by Jubelei.


    Jubelei: Chuckled towards Johanns words ¡°Great Elder?¡± he began to laugh ¡°You honestly think someone so powerful would come to this village¡± and with that he started laughing hysterically ¡°If you are going to bluff, at least make it believable¡± and with that he gestured for hooded man next to him to do something ¡°Ugan, break them slowly¡±.


    The hooded man reminded me of the character from the game ''Thief'', a game I had on my old PS4.


    The hooded man named Ugan nodded and suddenly disappeared from Jubelei''s side before appearing right in front of the couple.


    Dear god.


    A single rank difference made it so that the couple could only barely block and not fight back.


    Sasha didn''t even get to run to my side before Ugan appeared in front of her parents and was watching her ''parents'' get beaten brutally.


    I couldn''t even see his movements, they were so fast. Let alone fast, they powerful as they created gusts of wind.


    So powerful and so fast, I''m fucked if I get into a battle.


    Jubelei: ¡°Well now Sasha, what will you do¡± he laughed ¡°If you get on your knees and beg to become my slave, I''ll consider letting your parents and this little village go¡± and with that he began to laugh out loud again.


    Sasha gritted her teeth and began to silently fume with little drops of water gathering at her eyes but before she could reply to his words, I walked up.


    Just as he was about to say something in regards to Sasha''s appearance, he saw me walk up silently.


    Upon seeing me walk towards them, Jubelei and the guards facial expressions changed. It was no longer one filled with arrogance but now filled with one of unease and fear.


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.The Rank 3 Immortal immediately paused the one sided battle and stared at me, shock in his eyes.


    He turned around and glared at Jubelei.


    Ugan: ¡°Fool!¡± he yelled towards Jubelei ¡°You told me this village had no one above the Immortal Rank¡± he then pointed towards me ¡°That man could kill us all with the wave of a finger¡± and with that, he immediately warped in front of me and knelt down. At least I think he warped ¡°Great Practitioner, forgive this lowly one for attacking a village under you¡± and with that he slammed his forehead into the ground.


    I think it was called a kowtow. I think. I''m not sure.


    He stayed like that, without moving an inch.


    Everyone was flabbergasted, mainly Jubelei and his guards.


    The villagers had already seen me before so they knew I was ''powerful''.


    But the one who was most shocked was me. I was very shocked.


    I was so thankful to Zoras at this moment. Beyond thankful.


    This was perhaps the greatest thing I owned.


    Such a legendary robe.


    I can''t believe I was angry I bought this.


    Nonetheless, on the inside, even though I was shaking, on the outside, I was stoic.


    Looking down at Ugan, I put on my acting skills and acted like an old man looking down at a child.


    Zev: ¡°Rise¡± I said to which Ugan immediately got up. I then turned to look at Jubelei and his men who were practically shaking.


    But before I could speak all of his guards began shouting ''It wasn''t us'', ''we didn''t do anything'', ''Young Master commanded us'', ''Spare us'', ''I have a family that relies on me to survive'' and things like this. They also threw their weapons away and knelt onto the ground.


    Jubelei''s face was ashen. He probably regretted coming here for a single girl.


    Jubelei: ¡°Great Practitioner¡± he said shaking ¡°Please forgive this foolish one for treading into your domain¡± and with that he knelt down before me ¡°Please spare me¡± and with that he kowtowed as well.


    I was happy on the inside, happy that a single robe made me out to be a great and powerful practitioner.


    Looking down at them all I sighed and waved them up in an arrogant manner.


    I had to show my power here because I could not tell if any of these guys were suicidal but if they were, they''d be capable of damaging me severely or even killing me and I couldn''t take the risk of my facade being blown so I had to act very arrogant.


    Zev: I merely nodded at them in acknowledgement after I waved them up before I walked to the side of Sasha and placed my hand upon her head ¡°This little one is my disciple¡± and as my words left my mouth, everyone had a shocked look appear on their face.


    Especially Jubelei and Sasha.


    The villagers and guards had drastically different reactions. The villagers were all overjoyed while the guards faces all darkened and they began to shake immensely, most likely in utter fear.


    Jubelei looked flabbergasted as he stared at me and Sasha.


    He kept opening and closing his mouth as if trying to say something but he didn''t have the chance to speak.


    Ugan flew from my side and landed next to Jubelei and immediately slapped him fiercely.


    Ugan: ¡°You tried to take the disciple of a Great Practitioner as your concubine¡± he yelled out loudly ¡°You should be ecstatic if this girl decided to take you as a concubine¡± and with that he began to slap Jubelei multiple times. He then took out several dozen pouches of gold out of nowhere and threw them at Jubelei. ¡°I cancel this job, no gold is worth more than my life¡± and with that he returned to my side and knelt down.


    Ugan most likely received the gold from his Storage ring, and his was probably bigger than mine.


    Ugan: ¡°Great Practitioner, this one did not dare kill him, I have left him for you to judge¡± and with that he kowtowed once more ¡°Please forgive this one¡±.


    I simply sighed and told him to rise.


    Everyone looked at me, but no one spoke at all. I think everyone was terrified of me at this point.


    Zev: ¡°Someone take care of those two¡± and with those words, multiple guards that had come with Jubelei immediately began to pamper the two injured practitioners. I then turned towards Jubelei and smiled ¡°How about giving this old man some face and leaving now¡± but before he could reply I continued to speak ¡°I dislike wanton killing¡± and with that a silence enveloped the surrounding.


    Jubelei and all of the guards looked ecstatic at my words and immediately began to leave.


    Jubelei: Before leaving he looked back and bowed once more ¡°Thank you for sparing this insignificant ones life¡± and with that he galloped away on the horse he came with, his men following shortly behind him.


    Zev: As Jubelei was leaving I called out ¡°Tell your father I may visit him in the future¡±. As those words came out, Jubelei paled and nodded frantically but continued to run off with his men.


    Those words were like insurance.


    The meaning they carried was ''I''d be back in the future, don''t think of doing anything''. I think he understood the meaning of my words. Even if he didn''t, it should still deter them in the future.


    The ones who were taking care of Sasha''s ''parents'' looked at me and I waved them off as well.


    Only Ugan remained, but the silence still continued.


    I looked at him and smiled, before waving him off as well.


    As he left, he also turned around and thanked me for sparing his life.


    After everyone was gone, I breathed a sigh of relief internally.


    I had done it.


    I had bullshitted my way through my first encounter.


    This was great.


    I didn''t leave any enmity between us. Well maybe I left a little bit but at least I got several dozen pouches of gold. A fair trade.


    But still, I did not have to fight.


    This was a brilliant success.


    I then turned to look at the little girl who was currently being petted by me.


    She still had a confused look upon her face.


    She slowly turned to look at me.


    Sasha: Pointing to herself and then to me ¡°I''m your disciple?¡± she asked to which I nodded and gave her a gentle smile.


    I could win an Oscar with my acting. Sorry Caprio.


    We stood apart from the crowd who all gave us space either out of respect or fear.


    But when I thought that my plan was going to go very smoothly an obstacle appeared. And that was this brats intelligence.


    Sasha: ¡°Why would such an powerful being as yourself¡± she stated towards me ¡°Want me as your disciple?¡± she asked with an adult like look in her eyes.


    I paused as I stared at this girl who was questioning me and had even begun to look at me as if I suspicious and even I had to scratch my head internally to come up with a proper lie.


    She continued to stare at me with her large eyes and I began to panic.


    Shit, what do I tell her now.


    Now that you think about it, this was really suspicious.


    Why the hell did I want her as my disciple? There was no way I could tell her my real goal so I had to make up some bullshit.


    Looking down at her I smiled when I had finally found the lie I was going to give her.


    Zev: ¡°Do you remember when I paused after looking at you shortly after entering this village?¡± and she nodded in reply ¡°It was because I felt your talent¡± I told her bluntly ¡°Not many people are capable of taking my teaching, but you can¡± and with that I went silent.


    I gave off the aura that signified that ''If you don''t want to become my apprentice, so be it, no biggie''.


    Seeing that I had given her such a reason she glared at me as she had small tears glisten on her eyes.


    Shit, why was she about to cry. What did I do?


    Sasha: ¡°That''s a lie¡± she quietly spat the words out ¡°Just cause you have so much power doesn''t mean you are allowed to lie to my face¡± I could see the growing anger in her ¡°I can''t have talent, I''m a cripple, I''m trash¡± she yelled out her final words gathering the attention of all the villagers.


    Fuck. She knew that she was terrible in regards to being a practitioner and thought I was lying to her face. I needed to calm her down before explaining things but for now I had to get rid of the villagers so I put on my best angry face and looked around.


    Immediately people began to disappear and even her ''parents'' who had concerned looks left after few moments. They seem to have decided that I could handle her now that I was her master. I think I took on more responsibility than I could handle.


    But I would easily handle it. At least I believed I could. Hopefully.


    In the empty entrance of the village all that was left was me and Sasha.


    I looked back towards her only to see tears run down her face as she quietly sobbed. Her bottom had already hit the ground and she was quietly crying.


    I sighed and knelt down next to her.


    Zev: ¡°You have talent, more so than the vast majority of the world¡± I told her ¡°You are no cripple, you are not trash¡± I continued to tell her but she only disregarded my words.


    Sasha: ¡°What do you know, just cause you are super powerful doesn''t mean you can fix me¡± she yelled out at me through her tears in her anger ¡°Grandpa said I was trash¡± she said with hate in her words ¡°That I was the biggest humiliation to the clan¡± she continued through her tears. ¡°He called daddy a fool for marrying mummy and giving birth to me, called him stupid and punished him¡± her tears continuously poured out ¡°He punished daddy for being my dad¡± she quietly whispered the final words.


    I felt shocked once I listened to her. How could any grandpa act like that towards his grandchild, and she probably went through even more than she stated. Who knows what she went through in her clan. Who knows what humiliations this little girl went through in her clan.


    Without letting her speak any more I quietly pulled her into my embrace and hugged her gently and tightly.


    The poor little thing.


    For simply having no talent at being a cultivator she went through such pain and suffering.


    And looking at the darkness of this world, many people probably suffered daily facing humiliation and death at the mere whim of those in power.


    Once I had taken her into my embrace she at first resisted and pushed at me trying to get out but I held her tightly not letting her leave. After awhile her sobbing began to lessen slowly but she still continued to cry.


    Sasha: ¡°Daddy resisted the punishment¡± she continued while being held by me ¡°but then grandpa unsatisfied with daddy punished mummy¡± at this point her crying intensified ¡°he made me and daddy watch as mummy was punished¡± she then held onto me tightly with her little hands.


    I didn''t let her continue and simply held her while quietly singing her a lullaby to slowly calm her down.


    I was both sad beyond measure as well as impressed by this girl. She had been crying but her words were crystal clear. She had so much potential but was abandoned by her own family.


    After sitting like that for who knows how long she began to speak again after her tears had finished.


    Sasha: ¡°Its all because I was trash¡± she spoke quietly while looking at me with her reddened eyes ¡°Daddy changed after mummy was-¡± she began to shake as she tried to speak but I silenced her by patting her head gently.


    My heart was beating rapidly. Both in anger and sadness.


    How could someone be so cruel to his own granddaughter.


    How could this world be so cruel to allow things like this happen.


    I silently cursed Zoras in my heart. He had ridiculous amounts of power yet he did nothing but entertain himself.


    But this wasn''t his fault. It was the fault of these ridiculous rules of power ruling the weak.


    It was the same in my old world as well. People suffered daily for it but I never cared back then.


    But now that I was face to face with such a situation I decided I wanted change?


    How hypocritical was I. Only after I saw and heard such things and only then did I want change. No wonder Earth never changed even after decades of talk and debate. Talking without doing anything and then blaming someone else didn''t change anything.


    I was an ''internet warrior''.


    I now felt like shit.


    Sasha was like those girls born in some third world countries, for simply being a girl they were treated terribly and either killed or sold off.


    In this world it was having no talent at cultivating.


    They were treated abysmally. And now I felt like helping.


    But at least now I would do something. I could help this little girl. I wouldn''t be just talking, I would be doing something.


    Sasha: While looking up at me she gave me the most heartbreaking sad smile ¡°Its all because I was trash¡± she spoke.


    Zev: I looked at her while gently smiling ¡°I told you that you are not trash, its just that this part of the world knows nothing about Magic¡± I told her which confused her. She tilted her head curiously at the word ¡°There are two types of Cultivators in the world¡± I began to explain to her ¡°And you have zero talent in one¡± she looked downcast at the words ¡°While you are genius at the second¡± I told her which then made her freeze in shock.


    Sasha: ¡°I''m a genius at the second one?¡± she asked timidly while holding onto my robe in a cute manner.


    Zev: ¡°Yes you are¡± I told her while gently patting her head ¡°I can make you stronger, I can make it so you''ll never be sad again, so you can protect those you care about¡± I told her ¡°So do you accept this old man as your master?¡± I asked her to which she looked up at me with her reddened eyes.


    Sasha: ¡°I do¡± she said resolutely ¡°I want to become your disciple¡± she stated as she buried her head into my chest.


    I quietly patted her and we stayed like that for awhile.


    I began to wonder why I felt so attached to this little child.


    I''d known her for a little over a week but I had already felt a connection. She was like my own child.


    I don''t even know why.


    Maybe this little episode of hers made my open my heart and accept her.


    Maybe it was because I was forced to find a disciple and now that I had found this girl that fit the criteria, who had such a harsh life I gained some paternal instincts.


    I think I had become like an adoptee.


    That aside, I don''t know, and I didn''t really care either.


    I was happy now.


    I had gained more than a disciple that I was forced to find.


    ---


    Hey guys, I just wanted to say something. During the episode of Sasha, I didn''t put in *Sob* and *Hic* and other effects, because I for one, don''t like it and secondly I''m not good at using them.


    Enough of my rambling. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


    Also please do be harsh with criticism if you have any. Everything helps in the growth of a writer.


    Peace, Old Man.

 Chapter 5: Where does the Journey to Magusdom begin

    As Sasha held onto me and shyly buried her head into my chest I smiled.


    Zev: Looking towards her in a gentle manner, I pulled her head away from my chest and tilted her face upwards ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked her once again ¡°I will not coddle you¡± I lied to her ¡°I will force you to grow throughout harsh circumstances¡± I once again lied ¡°But if you stay here, you will live a happy life inside of this tiny village¡± I told her ¡°Are you sure?¡± I asked one final time and she nodded with resolution in her eyes.


    I did a victory pose on the inside. Well I already knew she would accept so I didn''t have to be really excited but I was anyway.


    Those eight days of subtle persuasion had succeeded.


    She could no longer stay in this tiny village once she had heard all of my stories about the large open world out there.


    And after she witnessed my awesome powers of bullshit, as well as the little episode of hers which we shared of course she''d trust me.


    As I held onto her, I told her to bring her mother, father as well as Doven to me but only after she said her good byes to everyone she cared about.


    I told her that we would be leaving soon but I needed a few things from Doven.


    With that she nodded cutely and happily ran off.


    I watched her leave and smiled gently. I would let this little girl live like a princess. Well, I hope I had the power to do so.


    Turning around I walked towards the pouches of gold and immediately stored them in my storage ring.


    After I had all the gold put away, I removed the paper I had decided to call ''Gods Cheat Sheet'' from the ring.


    Once I saw the words written upon it, I did a second victory pose. I was ecstatic.


    ''Quest


    Part 1


    Create an Entity, with a minimum of 2 ''Students/Adopted Children/Priestling/Etc'' and one ''Teacher/Elder/Priest/Etc''


    Updated: 1 Disciple taken.


    Conditions: Must be the Best of the Best


    Time Limit: ???''


    And then when I turned the page over at the very bottom, those 2 beautiful words appeared.


    ''Primal Points: 500''


    Sasha was probably crying in her mothers and fathers embrace at this moment, while I was definitely crying in my own embrace.


    In several months I had found my first disciple. I was beyond happy. In those several months, I had only spent 8 days in the presence of other humans.


    As I waited for Sasha to say good bye to her parents and whoever else, I decided to go through the shop page of ''Magus''. I hoped to find something to boost Sasha''s strength immensely.


    But all I could find for increasing her strength was medicinal pills and herbs. I decided to do an advanced search and typed ''Spell''.


    Thanks to my advanced search I got good news, but I also got bad news.


    The good news was that I now saw Spell Books, Tomes and the like, but the bad news was that there was several million and that they were scarily expensive or too high of a level.


    So I then advanced my advanced search by adding ''Can grow along'' and ''Mageling''.


    I then prayed to luck and fate and searched.


    Surprisingly I found only a few thousand results.


    It looks like this would be easy for me.


    But then I had my hope shattered.


    They were too expensive.


    The cheapest was 500 PP and was called ''Tome of Sun Magus''. It was created by the Legendary Sun Mage, which contained his training method as well as his story. The tome was also regarded as a world class treasure. The little description it had started off with ''The Sun Mage went onto rule the world for a thousand years''. Reading this type of description made me fidgety.


    Such a powerful technique was only worth 500 PP but the reason it was worth so little was because it required ''Supreme Affinity to Fire'', ''Blessing of a Fire God'' as well as ''World Class Genius'' status.


    So to almost everyone in the world, such an item would useless.


    And even on the off chance of someone having the requirements it wouldn''t mean he''d be able to get his hands on the tome.


    Any other item on this scale would be worth who knows how many thousands of PP.


    Very scary but all the other items that are only worth 500 PP were not something good enough for my first disciple, Sasha.


    But I had to buy her something to allow her to train.


    I couldn''t just buy worthless or pointless things. This was truly a mind numbing conundrum for me.


    In the end, after a good 5 minutes of searching, I found an item called ''Stability of Magus'' which was a tome that allowed one to establish a foundation. It apparently didn''t interfere with any other learning method.


    So even after using this book to create your foundation you could use any other tome to continue your training.


    It was created by the ''First Magus'' and was worth 500 PP.


    It only allowed someone to reach Soul Practitioner Rank 1, but it was the most solid training manual to ever be created. So this would help Sasha grow into a super being.


    Even though spending 500 PP would be very painful, I planned to do so.


    I mean Sasha would surpass me soon anyway, the more reliant she becomes on me before then, the better I''ll be treated in the future.


    But I''ll treat her nice regardless of how well she does. She deserves it after what she has been through.


    But now that makes another philosophical discussion I must have with myself. Do I start helping every abused and weak person I find?


    No, I can''t do that. I don''t have enough power. But then am I not being hypocritical. The more I think the more annoying it becomes.


    Fuck it, I''ll decide when that moment comes. I''m only a slightly more powerful human, no need to brood on such distant things.


    As I pondered whether or not to buy the tome now or later, I lamented the fact there was no ''bookmark'' button. I mean if you have advanced search and menus to select from, a bookmark bar would also be quite helpful.


    As I thought about the ''Gods Cheat Sheet'' and its lack of features, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind me.


    I turned around and saw Sasha come in the company of her parents and Doven. I smiled gently since it appeared that Sasha has already finished saying her good byes to the people around her.


    She had a sad look upon her as she held both her ''Mother'' and ''Father''s hand, but her eyes were filled with resolution.


    I watched them all walk towards me slowly and aside from Sasha they all held hesitation when approaching me.


    Upon reaching me, Sasha moved to my side and I gently patted her before turning towards her parents.


    Zev: ¡°I''m sorry for not warning you beforehand about myself taking Sasha as my disciple¡± I told them in an apologetic manner ¡°I''ve called you to ask you, this time officially, will you allow me to take Sasha as my disciple¡± I asked them politely but they immediately became frantic.


    Johann: ¡°Please Great Elder do not apologise, in fact allow us to thank you for giving our little one this chance¡± and with that he knelt down in front of me along with his wife.


    Even though they both appeared scared, they were genuinely grateful.


    Zev: I quickly made them rise and smiled my best gentle smile ¡°Please do not kneel¡± I told them after I made them get up ¡°I may not be able to offer much to you in regards to myself taking her away but I can guarantee that before the end of the decade, the deeds committed by Sasha shall reverberate throughout your homeland¡± I said as I smiled.


    Sasha''s ''parents'' and Sasha herself all beamed at my words.


    I smiled in both happiness and gratitude that her parents didn''t get all defensive and suspicious of me. If they had, they might have even tried to fight me to the death to protect her.


    If they did I''d die terribly.


    But it seems that fate is on my side.


    Zev: ¡°Thank you for allowing me to train Sasha¡± I said happily to which they once again bowed.


    After short bout of thanks between me and Sasha''s ''parents'' I turned towards Doven.


    Zev: ¡°Sasha, go and prepare, we will be leaving soon¡± I told her as I walked towards Doven ¡°I have to speak to Doven about a few things, so please excuse me¡± I told the two ''parents'' of Sasha who immediately nodded and left with Sasha.


    Doven: The old man slightly bowed before me ¡°How may this one be of aid to you Great Elder?¡± he asked me.


    I was beginning to despise being treated so well.


    It didn''t feel nice to have an old man bow before you, thinking you were his elder.


    I stopped him from bowing and smiled at him.


    Zev: ¡°I have only awoken recently in this world¡± I stated ¡°So, much of the current state of affairs of things are foreign to me¡± I told him. He had a surprised look on his face as he began to ponder things for a moment before nodding towards me.


    Doven: ¡°Of course Great Elder, please do come with me¡± he told me, to which I nodded and followed him.


    We entered his house and walked towards the room I had learnt to be his study.


    Inside the room, I watched Doven walk towards a large bookshelf.


    He then pulled a book forward which made the bookshelf slowly shake only to split in two and move in two different directions.


    Oh my god. This was a secret fucking room.


    Doven turned towards me once the entrance to this secret room had opened.


    Even though I was shocked on the inside, externally, I was as cool as a cucumber.


    Actually, who the hell thinks that. ''Cool as a Cucumber''... Well I guess that shows how shocked I am.


    Nonetheless, putting my thoughts away I walked inside the room with a slight nod towards Doven who was waiting for me to enter first.


    Upon entering the room I saw a single desk in the middle of the room, with all the walls surrounded by bookshelves.


    It was a nice wooden desk that appeared to have been made by a master crafter. It was an incredible piece of work. Me calling it nice was a very severe understatement.


    Why on earth did this backwater village have Sasha and these other suspicious people.


    I was seriously beginning to wonder exactly what secrets this Von Berg family was hiding.


    But I didn''t press my curiosity, because I didn''t know if they''d get angry and try to silence me even at the cost of their own lives to protect their secrets.


    So even though my curiosity was killing me, I''d rather die metaphorically rather than in reality.


    Standing in front of the desk, I watched Doven walk in and close the room behind him.


    My heart beat was increasing, was this some trap room? Was I to die here?


    I forced myself to calm down. There was no way Doven would kill me. He seemed to like me a lot.


    After making sure I believed in my own opinion, I had fully calmed down.


    I stared at Doven as he walked towards the bookshelf on the western side of the wall and pulled out a scroll.


    It was a rather large scroll.


    He then sprayed it upon the table, letting it reveal its content.


    I almost fainted at what I saw.


    This was ridiculous.


    I mean, I already knew this world was big, but this was ludicrous.


    At the top of the map was written ''PROVINCE OF HAN HUN TYANG''.


    And the size of a map of a single province was almost 5 times larger than Earth.


    A single fucking province.


    How fucking large was this god damned empire?!


    And that aside, how did I even know the language of this world. I could read and speak it.


    When did Zoras give me this ability?


    Or did he even give me an ability? I mean, this all looked and sounded like English.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    But those thoughts aside, I studied the map.


    We were on the border of the province.


    To the East of us was the Forest I had come out of, which was named the ''Forest of Silence''...


    Reading that name gave me a miniature heart attack. Forest of Silence? That sounded like a bad place to be and I lived there for so long!


    Was I just ridiculously lucky? Or did Zoras''s smell linger on me making whatever lived there steer clear of me?


    I didn''t know. I did not want to know.


    Focusing back on the map, I saw that there were thousands of villages in this province. I couldn''t be bothered counting as all the villages were a very, very small * icon.


    I only knew this because Doven had pointed the village of Startza out and had marked it out with a large * icon. He had also told me that there were a total of 2,341,732 villages in the province.


    And that Startza was one of the smallest.


    The towns were very, very small O icons and the cities were very, very small Squares.


    It seemed like there were 507,691 towns and a total of 14,143 cities.


    Of course, not all of these was marked on the map, otherwise the map would be fully covered in *, O and Squares.


    But knowing these numbers wasn''t really helpful.


    I mean, who cares if I knew how many towns and cities there were. That was like memorising how many cities and the like were back on Earth.


    It was fucking pointless.


    What made my heart beat the most was that the population of this Province was 27 billion.


    I was having a legitimate heart attack.


    It wasn''t because the province had 27 billion, it was because this province was the smallest province.


    The largest province, the Capital Province, had a population of 1.2 trillion.


    1.2 trillion, oh my god. That was horrific.


    What was the total god damned population of this empire if one province had 1.2 trillion?


    I forced the thought out of my head. There was no need for me to get panicked over such a thing. I mean, what did it have to do with me. Oh right, I had to create the strongest entity in the world, so it had a fucking lot to do with me.


    Now I was pondering the total population of this world. How large was this world exactly?


    I couldn''t ask Doven because that would remove my mysterious feel, but he himself probably didn''t even know anyway.


    Zev: ¡°This is quite a detailed map¡± I told him as I stopped my voice from quivering, he nodded in agreement ¡°Do you happen to have a map of a larger area?¡± I asked him getting my hopes up.


    Doven: ¡°My apologies Great Elder¡± he shook his head sadly ¡°This is all I have, maybe back when I was in my clan, I could have provided more, but at this point¡± he only shook his head.


    I was surprised to hear him mention his clan, but the way he said it made me suspicious. I know what he was trying to do.


    He wanted me to ask about his clan so he could tell me the life story of Sasha and his son and then hope that he can shift the responsibility onto me.


    Well, not so fast you crafty old man. I myself am also crafty. But nonetheless, I still had to learn eventually since Sasha was my disciple and I had to take care of this problem sooner or later.


    Sighing internally, I prepared myself for what was to come. I hoped that her Clan or sect wasn''t too large and would be easy to take revenge on.


    Zev: ¡°Oh, your clan¡± I replied in an all knowing manner ¡°Yes, I already know of Sasha being in quite a predicament¡± I lied through my ass ¡°You are her retainers, no?¡± I asked him.


    He looked quite shocked, he literally began to shake before he planted himself on the ground and kowtowed once more.


    Doven: ¡°Great Elder, I''m sorry for assuming you knew nothing about her situation, but since you already know, don''t let this little one waste your time any further¡± he stated. I wanted to choke myself internally. I had to be cocky and arrogant, and now he wasn''t going to explain shit to me. Why didn''t I just act fucking humble?! ¡°Please Great Elder, protect and help her, she has gone through far too much, I beg of you¡± and with that I sighed internally and made the old man rise.


    I had fucked up my chance of learning where Sasha came from by not using my words properly.


    It seems like this respect I was receiving made me far too cocky. I had to humble myself very soon.


    Zev: ¡°Please rise Doven¡± I told him as he got up ¡°You have no need to bow before me, she is my disciple and I myself will definitely take care of her problem, so just leave it to me¡± I replied to him gently.


    He looked at me with what I assumed was infinite respect.


    He had collected himself after a few moments and we were now once again, staring at the map.


    It was quite an incredible map now that I was focusing on it.


    So large and unique, the mountains and lakes, the forests and valleys, all of them had a uniqueness to it.


    There were also several large skulls on the map, which when I asked Doven what they were, replied with, ''Those are the danger zones, ruled by the monster lords, which even the Empire has to negotiate peace with'' he replied.


    I was even further shocked by this point. I mean, forget Magic and Martial Artists, now there were fucking monsters? Monster Lords? Humanoid, Intelligent, Monsters.


    Who the fuck Negotiates with Monsters?


    Why did I still get shocked anyway? I came here with an omni-potent god, and I had a piece of paper with which I could shop online.


    Now that I thought about it, Zoras was probably like Zeus, and went around fucking weird things, creating the Monsters.


    Putting my theory aside, I calmed myself down, before I began to focus once more.


    I marked these positions in my mind and tried my best to memorise it. These were locations I never wanted to visit if I could help it.


    Wait, maybe these monsters also had intelligent youths I could kidnap into my plan. Maybe, but I''ll leave it for later.


    The closest one to me was a good 10,000 kilometres away so it wasn''t that important for now.


    Looking at the map, I pointed to the closest city to this village, which was South of us and Doven only smiled wryly and said ''City of Jubelan'', I of course felt pissed on the inside. The closest city to me, which was a little over 1000 kilometres away was of course that little shits home city.


    The second closest city, ''The City of Hue Tan'', was a bit over double the distance of Jubelan, a good 2000 to 2200 kilometres away.


    Doven said the exact distance was 2146 kilometres, so I wasn''t that far off in my estimate.


    I made up my mind and decided to head there to gather more information. I could have headed towards Jubelan and I was sure that we wouldn''t face any resistance but I was almost certain that I would fuck up somehow and then end up dying.


    I mean, why push your luck when you can just take the safe option.


    Nodding to myself, I turned towards Doven and stated I would head to the City of Hue Tan.


    Doven looked a bit Ashen and shook his head at my decision.


    Doven: ¡°The City head of Hue Tan knows who Sasha is, so even though he himself will not do anything to you, he will still inform other people, so it may be dangerous for Sasha to head there¡± he told me.


    I was sad on the inside when he said ''Dangerous for Sasha'', instead of ''Dangerous for us''. He had so much confidence in me that he only thought they would be able to harm Sasha or use her against me.


    That little girl will most definitely become several times stronger than me before we even reach any city and you were worried about her?


    I was disheartened but I still kept up my facade.


    Looking back at the map, in the opposite direction, in the north, was another city. Pointing at that, I looked at Doven, who seemed to be pondering upon the question.


    He in the end sighed and shook his head.


    Doven: ¡°Again, it is better to be safe, then sorry¡± he replied and I nodded.


    Turning back to the map, Doven pointed to a city severely close to the Large Skull. Seeing me make no reaction when he pointed towards it, he must have thought that I wasn''t worried at all and decided to speak.


    Doven: ¡°I think you should head towards the City of Gilleghan¡± he said ¡°It is outside the influence of any power since it is managed by the Monster Lord Gill¡± he said as he pointed towards the skull ¡°So this may be a safe place for you to head and retrieve more information Great Elder¡± he spoke his opinion.


    I looked calm on the outside, but I was about to faint from fear on the inside.


    Head towards a city controlled by an unknown monster? Are you fucking with me. I''d rather head towards a city.


    But what if the people behind Sasha were really powerful? Then what would I do.


    I was beginning to regret my decision. I put my hand on my chin and appeared as if I was pondering to his reply, but in reality I was thinking of a way I could find a nice, safe place to find more disciples.


    In the end, I sighed and cried internally. I had chosen to head towards the City of Gilleghan.


    Doven nodded and then went to prepare our supplies, which was a lot of water and food.


    As he had gone to prepare our supplies, I began to think about a lot of stupid things, like the names of places in this world.


    These Asian names were confusing but I was getting used to them.


    The thing that bothered me the most was the mixture of Asian and Western sounding names.


    Maybe this was the result of billions of years of mixing.


    Sighing I put all those thoughts away.


    Once I had stored the supplies in my ring which was packed to the brim, I gave my farewell to Doven and Sashas ''parents'' who waved us off with happy expressions. Aside from Johann, who seemed like he wanted to say something, which was most likely the situation Sasha was in, but Sasha glanced at him and simply smiled like she had it under her control which made Johann sigh.


    With that, I had bid farewell to the villagers and left the village with Sasha in tow.


    A good long while had passed since we left the village, and I finally decided that it was time for us to make camp.


    I made camp after 10 or so kilometres since Sasha''s body could barely handle such a long journey.


    Now that I think about it, making a 6 year old walk 10 kilometres was child abuse, no?


    Nonetheless, I gave her water, bread, cheese and a single Magus pill.


    She looked questioningly at the Magus Pill but I simply smiled and told her that it would allow for her to begin cultivating.


    After she heard those words, she frantically ate dinner as fast as possible before she decided to finally take the pill.


    Holding the pill in her hands, she turned to look towards me.


    Zev: ¡°This pill will allow you to begin your journey towards power¡± I told her in the deepest voice I could muster.


    She shivered quietly by nodded and with resolution, downed the pill.


    But that was a terrible idea.


    As the moment she took the pill, she began to scream loudly in pain.


    I was panicking now.


    Why was she screaming in pain.


    Was she too young to start her journey on Magusdom?!


    Shit, fuck, what now?


    Looking at the little girl squirming on the ground I quickly picked her up and hugged her tightly.


    She squirmed in my grasp but after a few minutes she finally calmed down.


    She was unconscious and her body was covered in sweat.


    She looked like she had a very severe fever.


    Not knowing what to do, I simply placed her at a distance from the fire and sat by her side, waiting for her to wake up.


    ----


    Hey guys, Old Man here.


    Sorry for taking so long to release another chapter. I''ve just been busy packing up and handling things on my end since I''ll be moving countries soon.


    Also, the chapters are usually really long, 4000 or so words.


    I can promise at least a minimum of 1 chapter a week, but I''ll try to release more. Once things stabilize on my end, I''ll try to release alot more.


    Thanks for the support, love,


    Old Man.

 Chapter 6: Pills and Tomes

    I sat beside Sasha as she gradually began to relax and fall into a deep sleep.


    I sighed in relief that nothing bad happened to her, like an explosion because she couldn''t handle the energy from the pill. If such a thing happened, I''d have no idea what to do. I''d probably break down.


    Pushing those deep, dark thoughts away. I gently patted her head as she began to dream about, hopefully, good things.


    Thinking about this, I began to wonder if all pills would do this? Maybe if I took the pill as well, I''d go ballistic as well.


    It''s only a possibility but maybe I''d actually blow up, because I remember Zoras''s words.


    I was average at best.


    I was no supreme genius like Sasha.


    So I hesitated to take any of the other pills for myself. Not until I could verify that I wouldn''t explode.


    When I turned my attention back to Sasha, I realised she had changed. Drastically.


    In those short few minutes I was discussing with myself whether or not a pill would blow me up, Sasha had changed immensely.


    First of all, she no longer looked about 6 or 7, she now looked 9 or 10. Her hair which was hip length before, was now knee length. Her features, for a little girl, looked more refined.


    How could a single pill do that?


    I immediately brought out a pill and placed it within my free palm and used scour on it.


    That was when I realised I should probably use scour on all my items from now on.


    [God Class Perfect Rank ¨C Mageling Rank 1-5 Pill]


    I was shocked when I saw those words hovering over the pill.


    I''m such a fucking idiot.


    I am buying things from a shop created by a guy capable of creating a planet and life.


    Of course he would sell me things that are the best of the best.


    Continuing to read it, I was even further shocked.


    [Incredibly effective, with a 100% guarantee of raising your rank so long as you are below Rank 5, up to Rank 5.


    WARNING: If you used on someone before they have started Refining Mana, or someone who does not possess above average talent, may cause severe side effects, including reaching the Peak of Mageling or even Death. Do use cautiously.]


    I had a little seizure as I read those words.


    Death?


    I could have killed my little Sasha because I didn''t investigate the pill properly.


    I looked at Sasha in a fearful manner and then I deposited the pill into the ring once again before staring at the girl with confusion.


    If she hadn''t died, then could she have possibly... I mused on that thought.


    It would be incredible if she did. That meant on her first day travelling with me, she would have already reached the Peak of the First Cultivation level, Mageling.


    But there was no way to confirm it.


    Or maybe there was.


    I brought out Gods Cheat sheet and then focused on Sasha with the paper in my hand.


    The words that popped up were far more different than what I had imagined.


    ''Potential Found:


    Name: Sasha Von Tai Long


    Status:<ul>


    <li>Soul: 7</li>


    <li>Physical: 5</li>


    <li>Mana: 10</li>


    <li>Spirit: 9


    </li></ul>


    Level: Perfect Peak Rank 9 Mageling


    Class: God Mage


    Master: Zev, Champion of the Primal God


    Potential: Very High Potential of becoming a Legendary Magus. Has a very high connection towards the Elements of Water and Wind''


    Oh my god.


    This brat had already surpassed me and I was also on the sheet.


    She had already gone from Rankless to the Peak of Rank 9. While I was simply the champion of the piece of shit.


    Oh my fucking god. She was a main god damn character through and through. She was a main character amongst main characters.


    Of course she would get a god like boost from a single pill.


    Also, what the fuck was a God Mage?!


    It sounded ridiculously overpowered, but I had no way of confirming what this class was.


    Did she gain it because the first step she took into the realm of practitioners came from a Godly Item?


    Maybe that was the reason... Or maybe Zoras was being a creep and watched us, and then decided to bestow upon her the class.


    I can''t think of many other reasons at the moment of how she would gain the class.


    But leaving those alone, Perfect Peak Rank 9.


    Which meant that she had the most perfect foundation possible. That was incredible.


    Truly incredible.


    Which meant that I didn''t have to spend 500 PP on that tome.


    Oh my god, I''m crying tears of joy internally. I''m so glad I didn''t buy the tome back in the village. I am so fucking glad.


    Now I had an extra 500 PP to spend on who knows what else.


    I looked at the little bundle of joy who was sleeping peacefully. ''My little apprentice, you just saved your master 500 PP. You should be proud of yourself'', I thought to myself happily.


    But now I was stuck on another conundrum... I had 4 pills which were useless to me. Since I was, well, putting it nicely, Average as shit.


    These pills would either kill or cripple me.


    So they were worthless at this point. Thinking about it, I should probably see if there is a return button on this cheat sheet of mine.


    After spending a decent 20 minutes analysing the sheet deeply, I came to the conclusion that the sheet possesses nothing else intriguing or important at this point in time.


    Maybe... I began to have an interesting idea. I could sell them at an Auction House or something similar to it once we get to the City of Gilleghan.


    I''m sure people would spend money like crazy trying to buy a pill that would raise your genius disciples rank so fast and effectively.


    But would they accept some random guys pills? Of course they would. This robe made me look like some supreme practitioner.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Such incredible deduction skills. Where is my Watson to compliment me?


    All those random thoughts aside, I needed to also find a spell or something for Sasha.


    Now that she was on the brink of braking through and forming one solid ass formation, she would probably need to have a decent spell to help her.


    But all the half decent spells were out of my league, and all the cheap ones were useless.


    I mean what the hell was ''Slippery Skin''... Actually, looking at that spell, it is quite effective, it means no one capable of catching you once you started fighting. I''m sure against people of the same rank, this would pretty much make her invincible.


    But I don''t know if such a spell was worth the 250 PP.


    I just didn''t to know what to do.


    As I pondered upon such thoughts, Sasha who was resting close to me, suddenly grabbed my hand that was patting her head and held it tightly.


    Holding my hand, she quietly whispered the words ''Daddy, I''m sorry''.


    My heart is aching, oh my god that was so sad and adorable at the same time.


    I let her hold my hand thinking that if it let her sleep peacefully, it wasn''t much of a bother.


    Turning back towards Gods Cheat sheet, I began to browse meticulously before I thought of something.


    Should I not cultivate myself as well? I mean, I am her Master and this robe can only be useful for so long.


    But Zoras had stated that I was average at best, so I didn''t know what to do.


    I decided that I''d force myself to level up through pills, but I''d look for them after I found Sasha a spell to master.


    I don''t really know how long I looked through the sheet, but I passed so many useless spells, ranging from ''Banana Arts'' to ''The Art of Potato''. I mean, for a farmer, these skills were like a heavenly treasure, for a practitioner? They were absolutely trash.


    But they were worth 5 and 10 PP respectively.


    In the end, I found a incredible bargain for the price of 300 PP.


    It was called ''Art of Majesty'' and it required the practitioner to have reached the Peak of the Mageling rank without having practised any other technique at all.


    The spell wasn''t technically a spell, it was more of a technique.


    What it did was refine your mana to the maximum level, thus increasing the power of your spells multiple times.


    So it made her stronger than anyone at the same level as her, since her spells would be multiple times stronger.


    In the techniques details, it stated it would give anywhere from twice up to 9 times as much difference in power.


    So if Sasha was lucky, then she would forever be 9 times as strong as someone her current level.


    That was one incredible boon.


    Maybe I could learn this spell as well... But that would require me reaching Rank 9 without learning anything at all.


    Would that be possible for me? Would it?


    I don''t think so, but we''ll have to wait and see.


    In the end, I caved in and bought it. Even if I myself couldn''t use it, I would at least have my first disciple be incredibly powerful.


    I put the sheet back into my ring and looked as the tome materialised in my hand. It was quite large, maybe 30cm long and 10cm or so wide. It was around 5cm thick though.


    I was surprised by how light it felt when I remembered I wasn''t mortal any more. Of course it would be light.


    Looking at the majestic tome, I realised I had unintentionally made a pun. Nonetheless, it was quite brilliant.


    The beautiful sleek black colour made the tome mysterious and its thick, gold plated edges gave it a refined air.


    I had no idea an inanimate object could make me feel like bowing towards it.


    I put the book in my ring as I brought out Gods Cheat sheet and began to browse it again.


    But I had another thought, Sasha''s ''parents'' had been pushed around so badly by someone with such little rank difference between them, so how much of a difference was their between each rank?


    2 times? 3? Maybe even 4 or 5 times the strength difference between a Rank 1 and 2. A Rank 3 and 4.


    So if Sasha had actually somehow gotten a 9x power boost, that could make her as strong as someone 4 or 5 ranks higher than her.


    Now if that wasn''t a genius, I don''t know what was.


    Thinking about Sasha becoming a world class genius made me very excited.


    Wait, I had forgotten that Sasha had suddenly grown larger after she had taken the pill.


    Does that mean that when someone refines their body, they change their look and appearance as well? I mean she did suddenly gain a few years worth of growth.


    But shouldn''t their be sudden pain accompanied with such change? Oh right, she already went through such pain.


    Putting that thought away, I was looking through the pills for someone like me.


    I made sure that I got average quality pills and not the Perfect Quality ones I got last time.


    Average quality Mageling Pills were only worth 2 PP a piece, so I bought 1 of them first off and immediately used scour on it.


    It was a God Class, Average Rank Pill.


    It seemed like using 5 of these would rank you up one class according to the description.


    It doesn''t say if ranking up using pills only will harm my future cultivation but its a risk I will have to take, since I, the Champion of the God of Bullshit, know nothing about Cultivation at all.


    So I did it, I bought 25 pills, since it was from Rank 1-5. It only cost me 10 PP per 5 pills, so it wasn''t much of a loss.


    I moved away from Sasha as I stared at the pills in my hand.


    I mean, these were Average Rank, so they shouldn''t kill me. Right?


    But what if they were still very powerful and then crippled me. Then what would I do?


    But I needed to get powerful and this was my way of becoming powerful since I didn''t know anything about cultivating.


    So I made up my mind after standing still for several hours debating life and its worth.


    I decided that I would take the pill and live with the consequences.


    Looking down at the pills once more, I sighed before I swallowed them all at once.


    In hindsight, that was a stupid move since it was at that moment, when the pills hit the back of my throat and I swallowed them without the aid of water, that I knew I fucked up.


    I knew I fucked up very badly.


    I''m just glad that my screams didn''t wake Sasha up.


    ----


    Hey guys, Old Man here.


    I hope you enjoy the chapter.


    Sorry if I also don''t communicate with you readers when you have questions. I''ll probably try to answer them from now on.


    Anyways,


    Enjoy and Peace,


    Old Man.

 Chapter 7: Questions

    I opened my eyes and stared upwards, towards the night sky. It was dotted with many stars which glittered in the dark night.


    I tried to move, but all my body managed to do was inflict a severe ache throughout my entire being. I wasn''t too upset that my body was unresponsive and pained, because that meant that at least I was not crippled.


    I moved my entire body, from my toes to my neck, and even though I wanted to scream out loud in pain, I was truly happy. My entire body was fully responsive.


    The pills hadn''t crippled me.


    But who needed pills to cripple you, when you were already mentally retarded.


    I mean, taking 25 pills at once? Was I fucking dropped as a child?!


    But that was in the past, and I could only look towards the future now, and in the future, I would never chug pills again.


    Even the idea sounds retarded. Nonetheless, I pushed away the tragic piece of history into the depths of my mind, never to be brought up again.


    I stared towards the night sky for who knows how many hours, since I couldn''t really count properly with the pangs of pain.


    I think it was around 10 to 14 hours since the sun had finished coming up. Maybe less, maybe more. I didn''t really know.


    The time I spent lying down in agony was in a sense, hell. The hell known as boredom. Time moved so slowly that I thought Zoras was toying with me by slowing time down for me.


    Knowing him, he may very well have done so.


    But in the end, time finally began to move again and soon, I had regained minimal control of my limbs.


    So I then spent several hours toying with that.


    Finally I began to be able to move my limbs around the time the sun reached its peak.


    I was standing up straight as I moved around and tried to find any difference in my body when compared to before.


    Alas, I found out that I had become faster, stronger, lighter. I had become more powerful. It was incredible, but when I compared myself to Sasha, whose mana was so thick and powerful, all I could do was sigh.


    I could tell I was very inferior to her. So very inferior. But I didn''t really feel bad.


    I guess I¡¯m proud in a sense as well. It was a sort of familial pride. At least, that was the best way I managed to describe that I didn''t feel sad that I was inferior of Sasha to myself.


    As I began to stretch my limbs to relax them, I let the pain takes it course before I slowly began to relieve my muscles.


    This felt like the first time I went to the gym and decided to go hard. This felt like my first leg day.


    I laughed fondly at the memory before I sat down and took out gods cheat sheet.


    I turned to look towards Sasha one last time before I focused on the sheet.


    Today I would discover how to check my own information out.


    I could see Sasha''s information, I could also see the information of other people, but for myself I could see nothing.


    But today that would change.


    So began the arduous journey of reverse-engineering a piece of paper.


    Just the thought sounded ludicrous, but it had to be done.


    Alas, like many scientific ventures, the first try does not usually turn out successful. I had just wasted four or so hours of my life without gaining anything worthwhile.


    I then had a sudden cringe worthy thought. I only raised Mageling to Rank 5, hopefully, but what about my Immortal form. I was still rank 1 there.


    Oh god. No, I can''t do it.


    Maybe I''ll take 1 pill at a time until I reach rank 5 for the first Immortal Class.


    I looked at the sheet in front of me and found an average rank god class Spirit Practitioner Pill.


    I bought a single Pill and stared at it.


    As I stared at the pill I had another horrendous thought.


    What if it didn''t matter whether I took 1 or 25 pills and I still got the same amount of pain?


    My god, that would be terrifying. If every time I had to rank up I went through such heart wrenching pain, would I even be willing to cultivate?


    I stared down at the pill in suspicion before I then bought 24 more pills. I now had a mere 100 PP left, but that wasn''t important. I put the sheet away and stared at my two cupped hands.


    My left hand had 1 pill and my right hand had 24.


    I brought my left hand up to my head and then brought my right hand as well.


    My god, I must look like a pill addict.


    Nonetheless, I was ready. If the 1 pill gave the same amount of pain as 25, I''d shove the other 24 down my throat as well.


    I waited for several minutes quietly, both to calm my heart down and to relieve my fear.


    And after several more minutes I had finally gotten myself together.


    I brought my left hand towards my mouth and sighed one last time and swallowed the pill.


    I immediately prepared to swallow the other 24 pills in case I began to feel the pain from the previous day.


    But I was lucky. I was immensely lucky. I felt nothing.


    The pill hit the back of my throat and slowly fell down, and I felt nothing aside from a little warm fire growing inside of me.


    This was incredible! I was overjoyed. I could eat pills and slowly, over a period of time, become stronger.


    I could eat! I could fight!


    But just in case, I decided to limit how many I took a day.


    Maybe the pain isn''t immediate and after an hour or two, I''ll begin to feel pain. So for that reason I decided that I would take another pill in 24 hours. So around tomorrow at the same time as this I would take another pill so long as nothing else happens to me within these 24 hours.


    I turned around and stared at Sasha who still had a peaceful look upon her face as she slowly slumbered.


    I don''t know if this girl was a heavy sleeper or if the effects of the pill upon her were that just powerful.


    It didn''t matter anyway.


    I was now excited for her awakening since I would begin to ''teach'' her the the ''Art of Majesty'', and when I say ''teach'', I mean give her the tome and let her learn for herself while I acted wise and mysterious with the occasional quote and the like to aid her on her path.


    But now that I think about it, I didn''t even open the tome and check its contents when I bought it.


    I brought the tome out from my ring and placed it gently upon the ground and sat before it.


    I prayed to luck and fate before I slowly opened the tome and I then breathed I sigh of relief.


    I could read its contents. Well no harm in me learning a bit about the book before I reached Rank 9 as a Mageling.


    Looking through its contents I was quite shocked. No, quite was an understatement. I was flabbergasted.


    I really like that word, but back on topic. This was ridiculous.


    I read the history of the book which was coined within the first 50 pages.


    50 pages of gory, dark and saddening history. The book had another 50 pages for the next few years.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    And when I say few, I mean few million.


    The first 50 pages was about over 500 million years of History.


    500 fucking million years of history. Oh my god, this world was ridiculous.


    From its founding date towards the day the final holder of the book penned his notes, it was dark and saddening.


    Each generation that held this book suffered a sad fate.


    Each generation who held this book fought the world and shocked it to its core, even the gods descended to fight with the holders and in the end, the final holder killed the ''King of Gods'' and shattered the worlds greatest empire before succumbing to his wounds and dying.


    He wrote out what happened in a red ink, without much detail.


    Now that I look at it, I think this red ink was blood. Probably either the last holders or the God Kings blood.


    Seems like he didn''t have much time before he himself died.


    But when he talks about God King, he was probably talking about one of the guys who took over after Zoras left.


    Because I doubt anyone could even touch a hair on Zoras, let alone harm him.


    But still, this was pretty god damn impressive.


    According to the notes on this tome that were left behind by the previous users, each and everyone led a sad life filled with betrayal, solitude, death, war and destruction.


    Out of the 50 pages worth of users, a total of 3 of them led a peaceful life.


    The way this was denoted was that they had died, and I was almost certain that they were still alive. Just because they didn''t want to be hunted down by the world, they faked their deaths.


    Truly impressive people. They have the respect of yours truly.


    Leaving aside the 3, every time the holder of this book came out in the world, the entire world united to put them down and even occasionally when the user was too powerful, the gods themselves came down.


    I doubt Zoras would ever be scared of something created by beings that are descendants of his creations.


    But still, an art capable of harming gods.


    This was to good to be true.


    I got such an art for so cheap.


    I now for certain know that Zoras was trying to help me secretly.


    There was no way such an art would ever only cost 300 PP.


    He is such a tsundere. Now that I think about it, what is the English version of Tsundere? Is there even one?


    Oh well, who cares.


    But why the hell did Zoras have a book that should have either been burnt down or lost who knows how long ago?


    Did this store of his have a copy of everything to ever exist in this world? If it did, that meant that even asleep, he still held everything in this world in his palms.


    What a terrifying being. Maybe being his champion wasn''t too bad? He''s still a dick, but at least he was a powerful one that backed me up.


    Back on topic, the average strength of the holder of this book was enough to make the world unite while the occasional monster made the heavens descend.


    I wonder if there was an art capable of maybe making Zoras itch or capable of annoying him. Probably.


    If there was, I wanted to learn it.


    Because anything capable of bothering him was probably enough to sink a continent in this world easily.


    But lets leave my power hungry thoughts alone for now and attempt to learn the contents of this book so I could slowly come to an understanding regarding its contents.


    It was more simple than I thought.


    Far more simple than I thought.


    To learn this tome, you had to clear your head, open your heart, and then pour your mana into the tome.


    Which pretty meant nothing to me.


    How does one ''clear your head''? Meditation? Alright, I guess that one makes sense and was something that could be learnt eventually, but what the fuck was ''open your heart''? How the fuck does one open their heart? Do I literally stab my heart and open it?


    Was this meant to be a quick and controlled learning period?


    Did I have to make Sasha first meditate, clearing her mind, then make her mana enter the book and surround it, and then cut her heart?


    Oh my god.


    Now I realised how average I was.


    All those geniuses from those novels are complete bullshit.


    Learning complex things so easily just ''because''.


    Fucking hell. Well, how do I aid Sasha then? I got it.


    I would bullshit.


    I seem to be good at that.


    I seem to be ''very'' good at that.


    I guess like god, like champion. I was trying to make a pun on ''like Father, Like Son'' but it didn''t really flow over really well.


    Sighing, I returned back to how I was to bullshit towards Sasha.


    I got it.


    I was simply going to tell her ''If I aid you, it''ll make your power far less than what you could gain if you learnt yourself. This Master of yours will only give your tips on how to go forward, but not the path forward itself''.


    Add in a few quotes from famous people from back in my old world and I was set.


    Because geniuses managed to understand far too much from simply words, so those quotes of mine would be of immense help to them.


    I am a genius. I bet all those old men in history bullshitted whenever they were guiding geniuses.


    I was now happy with myself, since I had figured out a way to bullshit towards a 6 year old girl.


    Thinking about it, I was quite pathetic.


    But what did Zoras expect from me? Some random ass person from a world with no magic to guide geniuses in a world full of it?


    How slow was he? Well, he was probably just really bored and wanted to watch something interesting.


    I guess if you live billions of years, entertainment becomes hard to come by.


    Wait, now that I think about it.


    If this world has so many gods, does that mean our world had gods as well? Then why didn''t they fucking stop Zoras?


    Or was he simply so powerful that they''d rather let him simply kidnap as many humans as he liked and left rather than engage him.


    I guess if I was in their situation, I''d probably do the same.


    I mean, who wants to fight against Zoras. Who in their right mind would.


    I sighed again. I don''t even know how many times I sighed since coming to this world.


    What was once a rare thing now became quite common.


    Nonetheless, I turned my gaze away from the book and then looked at Sasha.


    She suddenly opened her eyes and pushed herself up slowly before she looked down at herself.


    Sasha: After a few moments of silence as she studied herself her eyes opened wide before she turned towards me and she yelled in shock ¡°What happened to me?!¡± she asked me as her shrill voice, which contained happiness and excitement echoed across the landscape.

 Chapter 8: How Genius is Genius?

    I looked towards Sasha who was currently very shocked with what had happened to her. She was always far too smart for her age from what I could see, but now that she had grown, does that mean she had developed mentally as well?


    If she had, well, it''s not like it''s a bad thing. Maybe slightly annoying since I had to up my bullshit level.


    Zev: I smiled my best sagely smile at her ¡°Feel inside of yourself¡± I told her and I watched her close her eyes after a moment. It took less than a moment for her to open her eyes in shock as her mana came out in shocking amounts ¡°This is just the beginning of your journey little one¡± I told her as I watched her come to terms with her new found power.


    She stopped in shock as she felt her power, before she suddenly dropped down onto her tush and began crying.


    I knew it wasn''t from sadness, but from joy. I''ve cried liked that before as well, so I knew what she was going through at the moment.


    The pure joy she felt was probably incredible.


    I slowly got up and moved towards her and sat down before pulling her into a hug. I let her cling to me and bawl her eyes out.


    It was better for her to get it out of her system now rather than later.


    It took only a few minutes of crying for her to calm down.


    She looked up at me and I saw the pure devotion and respect in her eyes. It was like the eyes I had when I discussed my idols as a child so many years ago.


    I felt both bashful and proud to have become this geniuses idol.


    But with my powers of bullshit nothing was impossible.


    She slowly got up and moved a short distance away from me before she unleashed the full might of her mana.


    It was truly incredible. This little girl had mana for less than a day and she could already release it better than I could.


    She was truly a genius. I sighed in jealousy as I watched her master her usage of mana in a matter of minutes.


    I''ve had mana for months and I still had trouble projecting it outside like she did.


    Hers was like a whip, fast, lithe, beautiful. It was like she was born to use mana. It was incredible watching her bring it out.


    The beautiful light blue colour was mesmerising.


    It looked like she was using some spell or item and not just pure mana.


    This girl was far more talented than I thought.


    She turned around after a few minutes of using her mana so wildly, all sweaty and tired.


    She looked at me and beamed.


    Sasha: ¡°Master, master¡± she yelled as he ran towards me. How quickly she had taken to calling me master was a bit startling but it wasn''t too weird, considering I was her teacher ¡°It''s so incredible¡± she yelled as she tackled me, hugging me ¡°It''s so beautiful¡± she smiled ¡°I feel alive, I feel like this was how I should have always been¡± she beamed in joy as she continued to rub her face all over my chest like a cute little animal.


    I patted her and let her babble about how incredible she felt and how excited she was.


    It was amusing to watch.


    I finally paused her by bringing a finger to my lips and saying ''Shush'' slowly and she stopped.


    She looked up at me and waited quietly.


    Zev: ¡°What you are currently feeling is called ''Mana''¡± I suddenly began explaining what was happening to her and she nodded her head in understanding ¡°It is both similar and different to Ki that Immortals use¡± I told her and she nodded ¡°You are a Mageling, the lowest rank Magus, but you have already reached its peak¡± I told her and she cocked her head in shock ¡°You are a Rank 9 Mageling little one¡± I told her and she had her jaws opened in shock.


    Sasha: She seemingly had a hard time accepting that she had sky rocketed from being rankless to Rank 9 ¡°But¡± she stammered ¡°How is that possible?!¡± she yelled her question at me ¡°I only took a single pill!¡± she was quite shaken from the news.


    I smiled at her and patted her head until she looked calm again before continuing with my wise man act.


    Zev: ¡°That knowledge is not something you are worthy of knowing yet little one¡± I told her as I couldn''t think of a proper lie on the spot ¡°Once you have grown and are worthy of knowing, I shall impart my knowledge onto you¡± I said as I stoked my short beard


    She nodded in acceptance towards my words but she still looked very curious as to how she had suddenly gained so much power.


    Zev: I decided to stoke her curiosity ¡°The pill I had you take would kill anyone but the greatest genius¡± I stated calmly which made her eyes widen in shock. ¡°You need not worry, I was already certain that you would not have been harmed in the slightest¡± I lied smoothly.


    She seemed to have believed me as well as have her curiosity filled with those meagre words. She got up and walked a short distance away from me and began to unleash her raw mana once again.


    I was shocked.


    She had been resting for barely a few minutes and her mana was already full again?! What the fuck!


    It wasn''t enough that she had such raw power and perceptibility, she also had ungodly regeneration!


    I sighed as I compared myself to her, and the difference was so god damned much I felt terrible.


    But at least she was ''my'' disciple. I consoled myself solely due to that fact.


    I watched as she began to expend her mana in a brilliant, and beautiful fashion once more. This time though, she lasted an extra 3 minutes when compared to last time.


    Oh my god. She was increasing her mana reserves without actually learning anything. Just by practising.


    She was far too powerful.


    I watched her waste her mana before she returned and sat before me once more.


    Even though she was panting and obviously tired, she looked ridiculously happy. This was probably one of the happiest days in her life.


    She had most likely already surpassed the entirety of the other children from her generation and if she was as smart as I thought she was, she knew that as well.


    I wonder how her grandfather will react once he realises just how talented she was. Would he try to take her away from me? Would he try to beg for forgiveness, or continue to stubbornly back his point and state that since she was no longer trash she was now welcome back.


    Who knew, but it is not like it mattered, I would never give Sasha to anyone. She was my genius disciple.


    Looking at her as she smiled genuinely as she sat in front of me, I myself also smiled.


    I then looked at her, nodded to myself and brought out the tome ''Art of Majesty'' and placed it in between me and her.


    She looked towards the tome with eyes full of curiosity but she waited patiently.


    Zev: ¡°You shall practice this tome, and this tome only until you have mastered it¡± I told her with as much strictness as I could muster. It seemed I was stricter than I thought because she flinched suddenly at my cold words but she nodded seriously. I then thought about the history within the book and decided that she shouldn''t read it just yet ¡°Aside from this page¡± I told her as I opened the page with the words on how to learn this tome ¡°You may not read nor look at any other page within this tome, is that understood¡± I told her as she stared down at the words on the page.


    She turned to look at me and then nodded stating that she understood me.


    Happy that she took what I said seriously, I pushed the book towards her slowly and then told her to spend sometime trying to learn the technique.


    She nodded and then picked the tome up, which she did easily thanks to her new found strength and moved a short distance away from me.


    I watched her as she sat down and opened the page again. She did so with extreme caution which made me pleased as she did follow my words.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    I watched as she sat down before the book and closed her eyes, her light blue aura gently swivelling around her and the book.


    I became shocked after she closed her eyes. In just a few moments, she had already begun meditating.


    What was she? A monster?! How the hell was she considered human?


    My already shattered confidence, was shattered once more.


    I watched as she meditated with her entire being.


    I felt like a bum. Like a homeless guy who watched the rich business man walk past him.


    I sighed and turned away from her. Let her meditate and do whatever. Even if she managed to master the tome, I wouldn''t be surprised. She could no longer surprise me.


    She took genius to a whole other level.


    No point in trying to compare myself to her.


    After walking a short distance from her I began to draw on the ground.


    I forgot to take a map from Doven so I was making do with my memory, a stick and the soft earth.


    I drew my current location, the village of Startza which was just a little over 10km south east of me and my destination which was the City of Gilleghan.


    I had a good few thousand kilometres between it and me, but it wasn''t like I was in any rush to head to the city ruled by a monster lord.


    Well, maybe a bit of a rush, but that aside, it was going to be a long leisurely journey.


    I dotted the several towns and villages that we would pass on the way there and sighed as I thought of the reaction we would receive.


    It would most likely be one of fear and reverence. Well, maybe it wouldn''t be too bad for Sasha to get used to living above the masses, but it would probably draw the people who wanted her if I made too much of a commotion and I was 100% not ready to face them any time soon.


    I decided that I would only stop at the villages and ignore the towns till I reached the City of Gilleghan.


    So I drew my very curvy route towards the city and nodded to myself in satisfaction.


    I''m not sure how long I had wasted by attempting to draw this map and route, but it had to be at least a few hours.


    Wait, was Sasha still meditating?


    Curious, I turned around to see the her standing right behind me a slightly annoyed look on her face. Seeing that I had turned around, she was startled momentarily before she collected herself and handed the tome back to me.


    I looked at her curiously as I took the tome and stored it in my ring, trying to determine if she had broken through but she answered me without making me have to ask.


    Sasha: ¡°It''s too hard master¡± she said with a pout ¡°It doesn''t make any sense¡± she stated as she glared at the book. Without even me giving me the chance to ask why ¡°I closed my eyes and entered a meditative stance and then I poured my mana into the book but all it did was bring my mind into this little world where I was faced with this humongous tree¡± she said as she stretched out her arms to their maximum ¡°but there was nothing about a heart anywhere at all in that world¡± she said in annoyance.


    I looked at her calmly on the outside, but I was shocked on the inside. Utterly shocked.


    No wonder ''open your heart'' didn''t make any sense before entering that miniature world inside the tome.


    I''m not sure if it is a real world or a mentally created one, but that tree was the key to unlocking the power of the tome.


    Sasha: ¡°Master¡± she said as she tugged onto my robe ¡°You know what to do, don''t you?¡± she asked in a cute manner.


    She had pretty much lost all her shyness in my presence, and had become utterly close to me. I was probably the grandfather she never had.


    She was completely unreserved in my presence, and it is not like I minded anyway.


    Zev: I gently patted her head and told her the bullshit I had prepared in advance ¡°If I aid you, if I show you the path, it will only make you weaker as your grow¡± I told her ¡°It will make your power far less than what you could gain if you found the path and journeyed it yourself¡± I smiled at her ¡°I can show you the path and guide you through it, but for your sake, I will not¡± I told her as I acted sagely and profound ¡°But I will aid you and guide you towards the correct path, but I will not show you the way to the path¡± and with that I finished my contradictory bullshit statement.


    Her eyes opened wide in both reverence and intellectual curiosity.


    She nodded to my words and then nuzzled against my palm before she walked away from me and sat down. She immediately began to meditate as if she had understood something.


    Oh my fucking god. This girl. Even my bullshit aided her.


    If I''m the Champion of the God of Bullshit, that makes me the Champion of Bullshit, and her cultivation is Bullshit, so I guess she fit right in.


    I caressed my forehead before I turned around and stared at the map I made and consoled myself with idle thoughts as I waited for her to finish her meditation.


    This time it took over 6 hours. She had literally spent 6 hours meditating, and her mana was growing thicker, more colourful, more vibrant, more powerful with each hour she spent meditating.


    It was now almost twice as beautiful when compared to when she first unleashed her mana.


    Now that I was thinking about it, was there actually any difference between Mana and Ki? Or was it just the same thing, but utilised in different manners?


    Because she looked and felt exactly like her ''parents'' did when they fought Ugan. She had her aura, or in this case, her mana flowing about.


    So what difference was there? Just cultivation differences? That they relied on different things to cultivate? Different techniques?


    So just what exactly was the difference that made them incompatible with the others cultivation methods.


    I guess it is not something that I, a mere mortal, could comprehend.


    Maybe once I met Zoras again, I could ask. But that is a maybe. He is quite fickle, seeing how he abandoned me, his champion so quickly after he brought me to another world.


    Nonetheless, I watched as Sasha slowly got up and stretched her limbs. It seems she got sore after sitting for so long, meditating.


    After she finished her stretches she turned to me and smiled.


    Sasha: ¡°Master¡± she squealed cutely as she jumped into my embrace. It was ridiculous if you saw it from a different point of view, a little girl suddenly jumping 7 or 8 metres in a split second was quite weird. She tackled me but she removed all the strength behind her when she did so, so I didn''t end up revealing my bullshit. ¡°Master, master, master¡± she began to speak quite fast in an excited manner ¡°I didn''t manage to open my heart¡± she stated in a somewhat sad manner ¡°But I realised how I''m supposed to do so¡± she yelled as she buried her head into my chest ¡°It is a very slow process, if I''m fast, it''ll take a few weeks, but if I''m slow, it''ll take several months, but at least I know how to do it¡± she said happily.


    I was shocked though.


    Slow? That was fucking slow for you? If it was a slow process for you, how long would it take me? Years? Decades? Centuries? Millennia?!


    What the fuck.


    Why did you have to shatter your masters heart, little one.


    I cried on the inside as I patted her head gently.


    How ridiculous this must seem. One master, as average as water, one disciple, as legendary as a huge fucking pearl.


    That was not a good comparison, but it was accurate to how we actually were.


    If it wasn''t for Zoras and his powerful shop, there would be no way in hell for me to be able to mentor her.


    So very depressing.

 Chapter 9: Village to Village

    I gently patted her as I went through my little cycle of depression.


    After a few moments of her nuzzling against my hand she looked up at me and smiled.


    Sasha: ¡°Master, where are we going to go?¡± she asked me curiously.


    I simply shrugged my shoulder and acted vague. No need to tell her where we are going just yet. Let her think this is a mysterious journey.


    Zev: ¡°Only time will tell where I set foot little one¡± I told her vaguely as I looked into the distance with a solemn look on my face. I turned back to see her nodding towards my words as if they were incredibly interesting. I gently pushed her back and smiled ¡°Get ready, we will be leaving in awhile little one¡± and she immediately nodded.


    She stood with her body straight and her all of her possessions, which at this moment was nothing, and waited for me.


    I didn''t make her wait long and we immediately began our journey.


    But I no longer rested once a day, and I pushed back our rest day further and further with each passing week.


    Sasha wasn''t a weak little girl any more. She was stronger than even me. So I didn''t let her slack off.


    Everyday she trained for a minimum of 12 hours, with 6 of that being using her mana and the other 6 being meditation.


    The remaining 12 hours was spent travelling and in a period of two months, in our zigzagging route, we passed through a total of 3 villages.


    The village, Sratz, was the first village we went through and whose strongest cultivator was only a rank 6 Spirit Practitioner.


    They were absolutely terrified of me and Sasha. The reason they were terrified of Sasha was because she was a Peak Rank 9 Mageling, which was the same as a Spirit Practitioner.


    That alone would not have been too scary, but she looked to be around 10.


    That would considered genius anywhere in the world.


    I also think that because he couldn''t read my power level, he thought I was some monstrously powerful being.


    My favourite moment was when the man kindly asked ¡°Dear Great Elder, if I may be so bold to ask, how old is your disciple?¡± he said as he looked at Sasha with an envious look. When I said she was ''6'', not only him, but his entire village also had open mouths in shock.


    From that point on, they took respect to a whole other level.


    It was interesting to watch them treat me like a god, and it was very hard to convince them to act otherwise.


    In the end, we didn''t spend that long in that village. The overly respectful attitude was too much for me. It was multiple times worse when compared to Startza.


    Sasha seemed to be a little less affected than me, but she was also shaken up with the amount of respect she was shown.


    She finally got the respect she would have gotten from her clan in the first place.


    Nonetheless, I stocked up on supplies. But it wasn''t because I had finished what I already had.


    I had spent 100 PP on pills for myself, and then a further 300 PP on the ''Art of Majesty'' leaving me with a grand total of 100 PP.


    Of course in this 2 week journey of mine from Startza to Sratz, I bought 4 more tiny Storage rings.


    I filled these four storage rings of mine up with food from this village, since they plenty of it.


    Well, I think they had plenty of food, since they were all fighting over the right to give me food.


    They ended up having a little village wide tournament where only the strongest families could give me food.


    I found it pointless and stupid, but whatever made them happy.


    Continuing on pass Sratz, I stopped by Tras and Tsazt.


    The village names looked like they were Russian and somebody mashing keys on a keyboard together, but I had gotten used to the weird naming conventions in this world already.


    Tras was similar to Sratz, but we were not really worshipped, just feared to the extreme.


    The people at Tras looked haggard and worn out, like they had faced some terrible situation recently.


    Maybe I could have helped them deal with it, but I decided against it.


    Maybe in the future I could return to aid this village, but that was simply a maybe.


    I left the villagers alone to deal with their problems and moved on soon after to Tsazt.


    That was where I was currently at.


    It had taken me two months to travel over 4000 kilometres from Startza to Tsazt.


    It was quite ridiculous when you thought about it.


    Travelling so far, yet barely even going from one part of this world to another.


    In this world 4000km was so little that it was terrifying.


    Anyway, the village of Tsazt was a mixture of Sratz and Tras.


    We were both respected and feared equally.


    Tsazt was bigger than all 3 of the previous villages I had been to combined.


    They also had a far larger population than all 3 combined.


    I think its because they always obeyed the strong people who came by to bother them down to the smallest detail.


    Upon my entry, almost no males were visible, and aside from 2 or 3 elders, we were instead welcomed by many girls who would classify as super models on Earth.


    Dozens of these girls welcomed us respectfully, but since I had to put on the act of being a wise and sagely elder, I could not partake in the immense lust I was feeling.


    I was hoping that after I put Sasha to sleep at night, maybe, I could leave behind a descendant or two.


    I don''t think anyone had the right to judge me.


    I have been in this world for more than several months, and I have gone through many emotionally and mentally straining events.


    I deserved to let loose every now and then.


    Of course I didn''t tell anyone my thoughts. I kept them all inside, bottled up. From that one psychology book I had read, I knew this was not a good thing to do, but aside from Zoras, I had no one else I could open up to.


    Anyway, all these girls guided me and Sasha, while being neither overly flirtatious, nor fully solemn. These girls seemed like they were adapting to my current form.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Since I looked like a stoic and calm natured elder who barely glanced at them and gave them very little consideration, they decided that being overly flirtatious would be disrespectful, while not flirting at all would also be disrespectful.


    This was quite an interesting thought.


    The largest village I visited, the village of Tzast seemed to manage to thrive in this harsh world not by fighting against it, but instead adapting to the strong people who ruled it.


    It wasn''t a bad approach for someone who was weak.


    The person who controls this village is someone worthy of my respect.


    I let myself be guided to the largest building in this village, no, this place was too large to be called a village. I was going to call this place a town from now on. Anyway, I let myself be guided to the largest building in the village, which was a large, stone house which was at least 4 stories tall.


    Being brought to the entrance of the building, the doors were quickly opened and I was welcomed inside by many adult men.


    They all had looks of humility and genuine respect on their face.


    I swear, this town must have the ''Art of Bullshit, Advanced Edition'' for them all to have such incredible acting skills.


    From the girls welcoming us to the men who now received me, they were all far to happy and kind.


    Still, to each their own. I let them act like they were delighted to receive me. It was not like they were harming anyone by trying to survive in this harsh world.


    Our time here was interesting, mainly because the more I showed my distaste for the sucking up going around me, the more confused these townsfolk became on how to act.


    In the end, I didn''t stay too long, because I didn''t like putting to much strain on these poor folk.


    So I left after a single day.


    It was nonetheless, an interesting, eye opening journey. I couldn''t help but compare it to Earth.


    Was this how certain towns and villages were like in third world and war torn countries? Tired, beaten, living a fake life just to survive?


    In all honestly, I think it was, but that was no longer my world, so I couldn''t really do much for it.


    It was not like I could do all that much for this world either.


    I mean, no matter how powerful I, or my disciples got, we could never fully monitor the world, and even the organisation I make will eventually allow corruption to seep into its ranks.


    Humanity was just innately dark. Well, not dark per say but selfish I guess. Again, it was to subjective to just call a race selfish.


    We were more inclined to care about ourselves and our loved ones, and things in our close proximity, rather than care about improving the world as a whole.


    Plus many of us would rather follow the lead of others, rather than do our own thing. Why? Because it was just easier I guess.


    Even I was like that and in a sense, I still am, sense I am doing Zoras''s bidding.


    It was truly a depressing thought process. Maybe I''m becoming depressed because with each passing day, Sasha keeps getting stronger and stronger while I am still only a Rank 3 Spirit Practitioner and a Rank 5 Mageling.


    On the other hand, Sasha would have already ranked up from being a Rank 9 Mageling to a Rank 1 Mage, and the only reason she didn''t was because she still hadn''t mastered the ''Art of Majesty''.


    So I suppressed her and didn''t allow her to rank up until she had managed to master the tome.


    The girl had in a period of just a few months, went from being Rankless to a Peak Rank 9 to being able to breakthrough at any moment of her choice.


    It would probably take a genius cultivator at least a year to go from Rank 9 Mageling to Rank 1 Mage, and an average cultivator at least a few years.


    It took this girl literally 2 months.


    And that was with absolutely no help. No more pills, no herbs, no special medicines, no spiritual aid.


    Just her own monstrous genius.


    And me, well I had the cultivation skills of a cabbage, which means they were pretty much non-existent and I replied on pills.


    I was a pill head.


    A pill head was the master of a genius.


    My god, I''ve been so cynical lately.


    No wonder old people are generally cranky with young people, or maybe that is just me trying to justify my jealousy.


    Nonetheless, Sasha didn''t mind at all that I suppressed her from her breakthrough and instead doubled her efforts to master the tome.


    As if she wasn''t fast enough already, she ''doubled'' her efforts.


    Her mana pool was already 5 times as large, 5 times as strong, 5 times as beautiful when compared to when she had first started.


    She was already 5 times as strong as any other Rank 9 Mageling.


    And if she then mastered the ''Art of Majesty'', she would be 40 times as strong as any other Mageling if she luckily unlocked the 9 times boost.


    45 times as strong as anyone her own level.


    45 fucking times.


    I had no longer become shocked with each new development she made and instead simply encouraged her to become even more of a monster.


    I was going to turn this little monster into the Genghis Khan of the cultivation world.


    You would either bow down at her feet or be wiped out.


    Even if she will be several dozen thousand times stronger than me, doesn''t mean I can''t use her power and glory to further my goals.


    As these thoughts went through my mind, I sobbed internally.


    ------


    Hey guys Old Man here,


    I''ve got two more already finished chapters that I will release tomorrow and the day after that. I will also try to stockpile some more chapters so I can release daily.


    I pray anyway,


    Peace,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 10: A resting place?

    I put away my petty thoughts and then left Tzast along with Sasha who was still cultivating as hard as possible.


    Several months of this had not dampened her enthusiasm in the slightest, but it had dampened mine.


    God damn it, both literally and figuratively. I slapped my cheeks a few times and then thought ''Positive thoughts''.


    Like that was so easily achievable.


    I felt like that annoying ass hat who always came and told you that the cure to your problems was to think ''positively''.


    If that bullshit didn''t work when others were telling me, why would it work when I was telling myself.


    But I had to pull myself out of this depressive stupor otherwise I knew I''d fuck up soon and I doubt Zoras would let me go even if I died.


    If he could eat my soul, I''m sure he could bring me back from hell or heaven, or wherever I went when I died.


    So I couldn''t die.


    My salvation lied with fulfilling Zoras''s goals and being a cynical, depressed bastard wasn''t going to help me.


    In the end, as me and Sasha travelled, I also attempted to enlighten myself and grow without the usage of pills.


    Of course in the next month and a half it took for me and Sasha to go from Tzast to Szatsz, I went from being a Rank 3 to a Rank 4 Spirit Practitioner, but I did that thanks to pills and not my power.


    I had grown overly cautious and I also begun to believe in myself, so I had begun to use pills less and less while I attempted to cultivate.


    It wasn''t going well, but being negative wouldn''t get me anywhere at all.


    Sasha had of course in that single month a half gone from being 5 times as strong, to 6 and a half.


    But I had somehow, miraculously, overcome my depression.


    I don''t know how or why, but I did it.


    Maybe it was after I began to see Sasha as my own fully fledged child, or grand child since I had fake my age, that I began to turn my depression into a positive energy.


    Sasha had now started to cultivate near me instead of a distance away from me since she said that she felt it was easier to cultivate near me nowadays.


    I realised that it was probably from the overly positive attitude of mine.


    But there was also another positive effect of this new found change of mine.


    Now that Sasha cultivated near me, I had begun to be able to leech off of her.


    She wasted mana like I used to waste thought process on being depressed, so I simply took her mana inside of me.


    It wasn''t the fastest way to cultivate nor was it the most effective, but it was the best I knew.


    I had accomplished something I thought impossible.


    I had managed to learn how to cultivate. Without the aid of that ass hat of a god.


    Proud with myself, I didn''t stay in the village of Szatsz for very long.


    I stayed there for 3 days and moved on because the place had a very creepy atmosphere and it was cramping up my ''style''.


    The villagers at Szatsz looked less human and more, mannequinnish. That wasn''t even a real world, but it sort of described how I saw these villagers.


    It looked like they had no will of their own. They were platonic and flat, but extremely polite.


    I knew there were darker forces at play here and that was the reason I wanted to leave.


    The only reason I spent 3 days here was because it took me 3 days to realise how unrealistic the atmosphere was.


    Sasha didn''t seem to really notice and she was quite sad we had to leave the, as she called it, ''Nice Village''.


    I didn''t explain it to her as I didn''t want to scare her but I high tailed out of her there soon enough and continued my journey.


    I took us another 2 months to go from Szatsz to Zetdx, which was one step closer to our destination, the City of Gilleghan.


    With each new village we discovered, the more pissed I became towards this worlds residents.


    What was up with these ridiculous names.


    It was like they gave a child a keyboard and said ''press any button you like''.


    The names were the most random sounding things I had ever heard.


    There was no rhythm to them.


    Well maybe they looked alright towards Eastern Europeans, but since I don''t speak any Eastern European tongue, I could not verify that information.


    Not like it mattered when I looked at the bigger picture of all these completely different villages.


    Each and every single one was completely different form one another.


    They went from struggling to survive, to fake and flattery, to controlled by evil beings, to completely fine and normal.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    It was like the fate of a village was completely random and if you were lucky your village would not be bothered at all, but if you were unlucky, then you''d be fucked.


    Anyway, Zetdx was a completely normal village.


    It was medium sized, had a lively atmosphere, it was like those little happy villages out of movies.


    The day was nice and sunny, they had their small shops outside in the open, and the happiness of the villagers pretty much oozed out.


    I felt like this would be a nice place for me and Sasha to relax for awhile seeing as how we had been travelling for well over 6 months now.


    Sasha was thrilled to no longer have to sleep in the open.


    When me and Sasha entered the village, the villagers were only a bit shaken up by our sudden arrival.


    They looked at us curiously, but not in fear.


    It seems like these people had no practitioners whatsoever. I knew this because every single practitioner I met till date almost shat themselves at the sight of me.


    The man who I assume to be the village chief walked up towards me in a somewhat cocky manner.


    I see now. No wonder this village was so jovial. They had the protection of someone powerful.


    The village chief wore a nice wool clothes over his thickset body. He looked like a stereotypical lumberjack, without the axe of course, and with black hair. He took out a little gold brooch and showed it to us as he walked over to us.


    Roman: ¡°Welcome to our humble abode Practitioner¡± the man said with no fear in his voice ¡°My name be Roman, how can we, Zetdx village, owned by Lord Geghl, help you today¡± he said with a smirk.


    Upon seeing me have absolutely no reaction to the name he declared, he looked taken aback.


    Roman: ¡°You don''t know Lord Geghl?¡± he asked in fear now, seeing that he had been disrespectful before and since I didn''t this Lord Geghl, he was afraid I''d retaliate now.


    I just silently smirked at his justified fear.


    I simply shrugged, since I had never heard of Lord Geghl before, he could be some City Lord, or something similar to that, offering these villagers protection for resources.


    Roman: ¡°Well you see great practitioner¡± he said adding a ''great'' to my name this time ¡°He is the heir to Clan Ulbram¡± he said hoping to elicit a reaction out of me, but I sadly disappointed the man once more, and now he seemed to be very fearful for his life ¡°Clan Ulbram, one of the 3 major clans of Mount Gellen¡± he now began to give more information, but I still had no idea who these people he was naming were.


    The man and the other villagers appeared to be very fearful of me and they had all lost their cocky expressions by this point.


    Roman: ¡°Mount Gellen, one of the great powers of the Region?¡± he continued to name me things I didn''t know. I wonder why Doven didn''t explain any of this, or did he think they were not a power worth mentioning. ¡°Mount Gellen, home of the City of Gilleghan, ruled by Lord Gill?!¡± the man said in fear as he spoke rapidly.


    I kept my passive look on my face as he now mentioned somebody that I knew.


    I didn''t reveal that I knew anything and the man looked like he would shit himself at any moment, but I didn''t come here to torment villagers, no matter how cocky they were.


    Zev: ¡°I have heard of Gill¡± I stated calmly to which they breathed a minor breath of relief ¡°He is one of the Monster Lords in this province¡± I stated which made the villagers stiffen ¡°I''m heading there anyway, so I simply came to ask if I may rest here for a few days¡± I acted as if it was no big deal.


    I couldn''t show them that I was scared now that I heard this place was protected by Gill.


    What if he was a honourable monster who would fight me, no matter how strong I acted, simply because I bothered the villagers, but I couldn''t act weak now either because I had an act to keep up.


    God damn it.


    I should have known that these villagers had themselves a powerful backer to have been acting so cockily.


    ---


    Hey Guys, Old Man Here.


    I hope you enjoyed this shortish chapter.


    The plot will probably start thickening after another 20 to 30 chapters, but till then I hope you enjoy the novel!


    Anyway, thanks for the support and advice given to me, it means a lot.


    Also please do review my novel if you can. Also jot down all criticism you may have. It all helps me grow.


    Peace, Love and Thanks,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 11: What have you done?!

    Seeing me be so calm and collected even after hearing Gills name made these villagers very fearful.


    It seems they think I am some monstrously powerful being to be able to be so calm after hearing a Monster Lords name.


    If they new the reality of things, they would have much different reactions.


    Nonetheless, I couldn''t let them continue to gain negative views towards me.


    So I smiled my best calming and peaceful smile.


    Zev: ¡°I haven''t come here to hurt any of you, I simply want to let my disciple rest for a few days before we continue our journey¡± I said in a sweet voice ¡°I know how hard the village life is for mortals, so I try my best to not bother folk like you¡± and when those words left my lips, the villagers all relaxed and Roman calmed down very quickly.


    He also smiled an apologetic smile and bowed towards me deeply.


    Roman: ¡°My apologies for being so disrespectful great elder¡± he said in a sincere voice ¡°It seems we have become complacent since we have been living such a peaceful and calming life for so long that we forgot the feeling of fear¡± he said in a somewhat sad tone ¡°It would be an honour for our village, Zetdx, to house you for as long as you need¡± he smiled in gratitude at me.


    I sighed as I thought about how easy it was to win over people in this world.


    A few sweet words and everybody believed in you.


    This world was a liars paradise.


    At least an Immortal liars paradise.


    I wonder why Immortals never lie? Do we get hurt or damaged because of it.


    I''ll have to find out soon, but I have no rush to find out at the moment anyway.


    I didn''t want to impose myself on these peaceful villagers so I asked for the lodging the furthest away from the village.


    It''s not that I don''t want to impose myself, I just thought I''d slip up if I spent too much time in the company of other people.


    Roman seemed aghast at the idea but I stubbornly insisted and he caved into me.


    We were taken to a little shack which was situated furthest away from the village.


    It was around 25 kilometres away from the village and it was quite a nice, little small house. To a village like this, a 25km distance was nothing since the scope of their entire village was 1000 kilometres.


    They had over 100,000 people living in this 1000km area.


    This village which was actually called East Zetdx was at the border of the region known as Zetdx.


    It seems that most of these villages I visited were simply named after the region they were in.


    Anyway, it seems East Zetdx was around 300km away from Central Zetdx which was another 300km away from West Zetdx.


    East Zetdx was roughly 100km away from the border of Zetdx.


    All in all, this was probably one of the most prosperous and ideal places for a normal mortal to live in.


    They had protection, ideal land, and an all round excellent lifestyle.


    Lucky bastards is what I would call this lot of villagers.


    From the small talk I had with Roman as he guided me to my shack I learnt that the Monster Lord Gill treated everyone equally no matter your race.


    He treated you based on what you could do and not whether you were male, female, human, monster or beast.


    So long as you talent and could do something, he would back you up.


    The more I heard about him the more I took a liking to him.


    Such an advanced character in such a powerful and backwards world.


    Nonetheless, back on track with my new little abode. To say the least, I liked it quite a lot.


    It was small, cosy and secure. I adored it.


    The reason there was a shack so far away from the village was because an old villager who lived a few decades ago, had built this place because he liked his solitude.


    After the old villager passed away, the villagers of East Zetdx decided to maintain and repair the shack once every 6 months.


    It had one large queen sized bed in it, but since Sasha hasn''t slept in around 6 months, it didn''t matter much.


    I of course acted like I meditated along with her, but I still couldn''t meditate properly so I pretty much slept in a sitting position, while she actually meditated.


    I slept in a sitting position, and coupled with sleeping like that for so long, I seemed to have generated some back problems.


    I did not know even immortals could get back pain.


    I guess I had another old man line I could use.


    Fast forwarding time, Sasha and I had spent a total of 3 months in Zetdx village.


    We simply became more and more comfortable.


    Sasha would go out and connect with the villagers, creating a friendly air between us and them.


    Also the little shack of mine had become known as the ''Immortals Lands'', so several kilometres around my abode was pretty much my territory.


    Sasha became known as the ''Little Immortal Fairy'' and she took a liking to the name.


    I began to call her Little Fairy as well and once the villagers heard me call her that they thought that was her title, so it actually became her title.


    My title was simply ''Great Elder'' or ''Great Immortal''. It was more like a moniker rather than a title.


    I couldn''t think of a title that sounded bad ass without acting too powerful.


    So I simply decided that I did not need a title for now.


    Sasha enjoyed travelling around the entire region of Zetdx.


    She had been to West Zetdx, North Zetdx, South Zetdx and Central Zetdx.


    She had become quite famous according to the words of Roman who came to visit me quite often from the point that we settled here.


    He was also given a title by the surrounding region, ''The Great Immortals Attendant''.


    He seemed quite proud of it, but he asked me if it was okay for him to carry such a glorious name or if I wanted him to clear it up for everyone.


    Since he was so respectful and he seemed to be quite happy to have such a title, I told him to enjoy it to his hearts content.


    The title may one day backfire and he may be mocked as the ''The Fake Immortals Attendant'', so I prayed for his future.


    Let him and I both hope my secret is never revealed.


    Anyway, according to his words, Sasha had met the village heads of all villages, including the East Zetdx chief who was away on the day I had come here.


    According to Roman, it was disrespectful for a mortal to seek an immortal without the immortals permission and it was for that reason that he never came to visit me.


    Sasha had met them all one by one and she was now considered an idol of sorts for Zetdx village.


    Leaving Zetdx which was within the Monster Lord Gills range, even people in other powerhouses had heard of Sasha and her incredible talent.


    Her fame had become enormous in this small period of time we had been here.


    A mere 3 months and already she was famous.


    But the thing that was most incredible was the rumours surrounding me.


    Since I rarely ever left as I kept on practising cultivation and browsing the Zoras store.


    3 months of semi-isolation would seem quite terrifying but in all honesty, it wasn''t too bad.


    I feel like I had grown as a person.


    I felt like I was enlightened.


    Or maybe I was actually slowly going insane having to keep up this act, but I prefer to think I was being enlightened slowly.


    Anyway, the rumours surrounding me were ridiculous.


    Apparently I was a monstrous cultivator who could split the heavens and earth with a mere whim.


    A being who could make a 7 year old reach Peak Rank 9 of being a ''Spirit Practitioner''.


    A being who was beyond the affairs of little immortals, as they called the other powerful beings around me.


    So all in all, the rumours about me increased the risk of my cover being blown by around 5000%.


    If I ever find the asshole who spread these rumours I will personally behead them.


    This asshole was trying to get me killed!


    Nonetheless, Sasha and I spent an increasingly long time in Zetdx village.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    We originally only planned to stay around a week at longest, but it had already been over 3 months.


    Sasha spent the morning and evening outside and then spent her night and early morning in our abode cultivating.


    Sasha had begun to explain in detail to me every day about her adventures inside the mental realm of the ''Art of Majesty''.


    She was going higher and higher on the tree everyday.


    She told me about the vivid dreams of hers.


    How realistic the beasts and monsters were, how their attacks hurt. She also told me how the higher she goes, the more the realm changes.


    It went from being a grassy plane, to a snowy mountain, to a volcanic sea, to a enormous ocean, to a large forest.


    It seemed like the book was far more complex then I made it out to be.


    I wonder what was going to happen once she managed to reach the very top.


    Would she be able to finally open the ''heart'' required to master the tome.


    Would her power then be dozens of times higher than that of all her peers?


    Dreaming was nice and all, but I still had to increase my cultivation.


    It was hard, but I mas making slow progress.


    I had finally managed to reach Rank 5 as a Spirit Practitioner and when I did, I felt like I was dying.


    Literally being ripped apart by myself.


    It seemed like now that my two different types of power had reached the same level, my body had decided that it was time to stabilise.


    Thank god Sasha was meditating outside and didn''t see me writhe around like a dying man with aspergers. Not being disrespectful to anyone with aspergers, but it felt terrible to be in such a situation.


    The pain was unbearable.


    My skin felt like it was being shredded, my orifices felt like they were bleeding, my organs felt like they were being ripped apart.


    All in all, I was being tortured by myself.


    I''m not sure how many hours it took for my body to stabilise, but when I did, I felt like my body was on a whole other level.


    It wasn''t anywhere near being close to Sasha, but I was more powerful by far when compared to before.


    I guess my talent doesn''t lie in a single cultivation branch, but in both of them being utilised together...


    Just maybe...


    Just maybe, I''m also talented, but I have no way of confirming such a thing any time soon so there is no need for me to make such a fuss about it.


    I''d keep the information within my mind until I could once again gain more PP.


    The fastest way would be to continue forth with the quest, but I had no idea where I would find another disciple or an elder.


    Now that I think about it.


    Would I mentally be able to handle the pressure of training another genius?


    I don''t think I could. Well maybe I had matured and I would be able to.


    Leaving the second disciple alone, since I would be mentoring him, I guess I could somehow handle the shock of being surpassed and dwarfed brutally, would I be able to handle the shock and pressure of watching a man, who will most likely be far older than me, surpass me as well?


    Would I be able to complete this quest while being sane? I have no god damned idea. This sucks.


    Now I''m stuck with multiple new dilemmas I have to mentally solve.


    The Quest itself, PP, my second disciple, my first disciple and the Elder. All of those, plus somehow keeping up such a tiring and hard act.


    My god, I''m more fucked than I thought, but I think I can maybe somehow make it through. Sane or insane, I had to complete this quest if I wanted my soul intact.


    Putting aside my resurfacing depressing thoughts, I went outside and saw Sasha meditating on the shacks front porch.


    She seemed to be completely stuck in her own world.


    This little monster would soon unlock the secrets of the ''Art of Majesty'' and then we could continue our journey.


    With this little rest of ours, Sasha had somehow once again increased her training speed.


    In a period of 3 months she went from nearly 7 times normal strength, to a little over 8.


    This little monster was going to shit all over the planet and ruin the pride of billions of cultivators with her ridiculous powers and once she finally masters the tome, the world is pretty much fucked by the might she will unleash.


    I wonder how powerful my second disciple would be.


    I hope he''ll be quite strong, but I had no idea what I''d get as my second disciple.


    Sighing I gently patted the little beast before returning into the shack.


    Just like that, time passed and we continued to spend more and more time in Zetdx.


    One particular day, I was simply laying about on the bed browsing my Zoras Amazon.com, when Sasha burst into the little shack of ours.


    Her clothes were in tatters, she had multiple wounds, she was bleeding in many different areas.


    She had this angry but happy look on her face.


    It was like that enjoyable sort of anger. I don''t even know what I am saying, but it made sense.


    Sasha: ¡°Master¡± she yelled as she dove into my lap ¡°Master, master, master¡± she began to open that machine gun mouth of hers ¡°I''m sorry but I need your help¡± she began to speak and each word she added made me feel even more dread.


    Need my help? Girl, you are multiple times stronger than me.


    A dozen of me couldn''t hurt you, and you need my help? I need your help!


    Sasha: ¡°These guys from a place called ''Tzun Rei Sect'' came to Zetdx East and began to be mean to the villagers so I helped them, but it turns out they were stronger then I thought and even though I injured them, they also injured me¡± she grinned as she spoke.


    Oh god no. I can already see where this is going.


    Please, if you love me Sasha, please let this story end on a good note.


    Sasha: ¡°They all left and said they were going to get their master and return to teach me a lesson¡± when those words left her lips, I wanted to cry as I knew what was about to follow ¡°So I said my master can beat your master and called him an eggplant, because his head looks like one¡± and with that, she ran out of bullets to speak with.


    My mind was reeling as I thought about what she just said.


    ''My master can beat your master''.


    ''My master can beat''.


    ''Master can beat''.


    ''Can beat''.


    ''Beat''.


    Oh my fucking god.


    I am royally screwed.


    Leave royally, I am imperially screwed.


    What the fuck was I going to do?


    Fight against a master of another sect? No, that was impossible. He could manhandle me.


    But then what? Bullshit my way through the entire interaction?! But what happens if I screw up? I''m fucked then.


    No, no. Wait, give it a moment. Think carefully.


    There has to be a way to get out of this with my reputation and life intact.


    God damn it girl.


    How could you put your master in such a precarious situation, and all of this over some god damned villagers?!


    Fuck them! I wasn''t strong enough to protect them.


    I was panicking as I thought about Sasha watching me get my ass beat.


    I couldn''t let that happen.


    But I couldn''t win in a fight either.


    I doubt Zoras would help me, so I had to come up with something.


    So I decided to do what I was the best at.


    The thing that kept me alive till now and got me my first disciple.


    I would bullshit my way through this encounter.


    I pray to luck and fate that everything goes smoothly.


    I sincerely pray to these two entities which I don''t know if they exist or not, but they were a better hope of aiding me when compared to Zoras.


    ---


    Hey Guys, Old man here.


    Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


    I would have posted it earlier, but my Internet cable got cut and I had to wait for repairmen to reinstall it.


    Anyway, I''ll try to get another chapter out before this weeks over.


    Peace and love,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 12: Dont overestimate, Dont underestimate

    Sasha was looking up at me expectantly, her gaze full of confidence and worship.


    This girl was going to get me killed. I swear on it.


    With the views she had of me. She most likely had absolute confidence in me being invincible.


    Calming myself down, I slowly patted her as I had a deep discussion with myself.


    I brought out Zev A, who was in charge of Anxiety, Zev B, who was in charge of Bullshit, Zev C who was in charge of Cowardice, Zev D, who was in charge of Depression and Zev E, who was in charge of Everything else.


    The council of Zevs gathered in the little hall in my mind and began to discuss how I would be able to bullshit my way through this encounter.


    Zev B was leading the discussion but he was quickly out planned by Zev A, C and D, who together wanted to not bullshit, but simply flee.


    Thank god we had Zev E who held everything together.


    As Sasha was slowly being pet by me, I kept my stoic face on as I waged an internal civil war.


    And in the end, I won it.


    I had come up with a plan.


    I had succeeded in finding a way to both survive this encounter and keep my reputation intact.


    If the sect leader was unable to recognise how weak I was and immediately became weak willed in front of me like Sasha''s parents and Ugan, I would easily solve the problem and send them on their way.


    If the sect leader was stronger than me and saw through the robes bullshit I was going to appeal to honour and pride and force the opposing sect master to decide who was in the right and wrong by making only our disciples fight.


    If he wanted to keep both his own and his sects pride and honour, he would have no choice but to send someone at the Spirit Practitioner Rank 9 to fight against Sasha, and she would 100% win because of her already ridiculous boosts.


    Go me.


    It would take the Tzun Rei sect at least a few hours to get here so I was going to make Sasha go through a Spartan like training for putting me in such a dangerous spot.


    This girl was a thousand years too early to try and push her problems onto me.


    All she could was accept both her own and my problems and attempt to solve them herself while I acted wise in the background.


    I suddenly got up which startled Sasha who was still being pet by me.


    I immediately made her get up before I took out the tome the ''Art of Majesty'' and dropped it in front of her.


    She was once more startled by the loud smacking sound the tome made as it connected with the floor.


    Pointing at it I smiled.


    Zev: ¡°Pour your total force into the tome and repeat it until you either unlock the secrets of the tome or till we meet this sect called Tzun Rei¡± I told her in a cold and harsh tone.


    I was in no mood to be sweet with her.


    Sasha: She cringed as she heard my instructions and then pouted ¡°But master, look at me, I''m filthy, at least let me clean myse-¡± but I cut her off before she could finish.


    Give her time to clean herself when I may or may not die in a few hours? Tough luck kid.


    She will have no choice but to cultivate till she drops.


    Zev: ¡°Not another word¡± I told her and then I pointed at the tome ¡°Begin now¡± and with that I turned around and left the shack. Not forgetting, I put the God Cheat Sheet back into my ring.


    Once I was outside, I slowly sat down in the front porch and solemnly awaited my fate.


    I started to cultivate and pray at the same time.


    I was expending double the effort on this day.


    I also added chanting the name Zoras hoping to somehow make Zoras head my way and somehow aid me.


    I was in dire need of aid at the moment, but life is a bitch, and I was alone.


    So all I could do was wait and cultivate, and that is exactly what I decided to do.


    After 30 minutes of failed meditation, I finally got up, stretched and then went back inside this shack of mine.


    I found Sasha sitting there with all of her superficial wounds gone and only covered in blood stains.


    Shockingly enough, in the time I spent on meditating outside, she had healed herself by expending her mana over and over again.


    So not only did her meditating improve her, it also healed her.


    Such a broken cheat.


    Nonetheless, I sat a bit further away from Sasha and watched her mana dance beautifully inside of the shack


    It made it a nice area to cultivate in, so that is what I did.


    I cultivated. By absorbing the wasted mana of Sasha¡¯s.


    Suddenly I felt a fluctuation in the atmosphere coming from our east.


    I began to sweat when I realised what the fluctuation signified.


    The Tzun Rei Sect had come.


    They knew where we were and they were going to reach us soon.


    Shit. Shit. Shit.


    Sasha is still cultivating. What do I do...


    I shouldn''t have forced her to cultivate. They got here faster than I thought they would.


    What the fuck do I do!?


    Do I wake her up? Does that damage her? What if I accidentally harm her? Shit.


    I panicked and fidgeted in the shack, walking back and forth, as I felt their auras searching left and right wildly.


    They were not even trying to conceal they were coming.


    Forget concealing, they were obviously provoking us. Attempting to make us feel fear.


    Well guess what, they succeeded.


    I was scared.


    But this a manly scaredness. That is not even a real word. No matter.


    I was shitting myself internally.


    Suddenly I felt a shock wave.


    The son of a bitch had landed in a such a cocky manner he had sent out shock waves.


    What a bastard.


    Nonetheless, I had to keep calm.


    Only the bullshit could save me.


    I resolved my heart and slowly began to walk outside, but before I even got to the door, I heard a loud, arrogant sound.


    Feng Rei: ¡°Come out you little bitch¡± the teenage voice filled with arrogance resonated ¡°You thought you could just do whatever you want to me, a disciple of the Tzun Rei Sect? Well guess what, you can''t and I''ve come to show you what we do to little rogue shits like you¡± he then laughed out loud.


    So god damn arrogant.


    He lost to a little girl and he still has the balls to act so cocky.


    Feng Rei: ¡°You said your master would beat my master, didn''t you?¡± his voice echoed once more ¡°So then, tell him to come out and greet ''our'' master¡± he laughed once more and this time his laughter was accompanied by many others ¡°Come out and greet Master Ling Rei¡± he shouted after the laughter had subsided.


    I felt an immense aura coming from outside, pressuring into the house.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Such an authoritative aura. I felt like I would have kneeled immediately if it wasn''t for the robe and my meagre cultivation, but mainly the robe.


    I steeled myself, put on my most stoic and nonchalant facial expression and opened the door to the shack and walked out.


    Upon seeing me walk out, the cockiness and arrogance in the kids eyes vanished.


    Not just him.


    Everyone who had surrounded my little shacks expression changed.


    I sighed in relief internally.


    These guys were not powerful enough to avert the powers of the robe.


    I no longer had to fear anything, but I couldn''t act too cockily either. If one of them went insane... well the consequences would be quite harsh.


    I looked straight forward and saw a young man, whose face would be quite handsome if it wasn''t all bruised and swollen.


    Shoulder length blonde hair, square face, good posture. Through and through, a true young master.


    Next to the young man was a middle aged man, who had this authoritative aura coming from him. Well, he wasn''t exuding an aura any more, but he was moments ago.


    The middle aged man also had blonde hair, but his was darker, a more dirty blonde. His face was also that of a hardened bad ass.


    This was one of those middle aged men that teens girls and young adult women sought after.


    When I looked at them both, their was no longer any arrogance coming from them.


    When my eyes met theirs, they immediately turned away, no longer meeting my eyes.


    I slowly looked around one by one, and everyone my eyes landed on turned their faces to another direction.


    From the elders of their sect, down to the their lowest disciples. No one would meet my gaze.


    ---


    (POV of Ling Rei)


    I felt ashamed.


    My idiotic son had to go and get beaten up by this filthy rogue cultivator, and it wasn''t even an adult.


    It was a stupid little girl.


    I had already punished all the others who had gotten beaten along with my son. Only my sons punishment would wait until I taught this girl and her master a lesson.


    Letting my son lead me and our sect members, we made our way to Zetdx village using our flying treasure swords, and even though I acted arrogantly, I did not harm the villagers.


    Lord Gill would destroy me like I could destroy any village.


    With absolute ease.


    So for that reason alone, I quickly made one of the villagers answer me with the location of this rogue cultivator and headed their.


    Once we got there, I immediately jumped down and landed using power, so that I could send a shock wave and unnerve this little rogue cultivator.


    I saw the little shack shake from the pressure of the shock wave and I smirked to myself.


    I then quickly released my aura and drowned the shack in it.


    Such a pathetic cultivator. Living in such a run down little place.


    He was unworthy of me using my aura but I had to send a message here, so I did so.


    My son and the rest of my sect slowly landed down near me and soon we surrounded the shack completely.


    I mean it wasn''t possible for the cultivator to escape in the first place, but better safe than sorry.


    My son immediately began to speak after he landed and walked towards me.


    Feng Rei: ¡°Come out you little bitch¡± my sons voice sounded out loud, tinged with anger ¡°You thought you could just do whatever you want to me, a disciple of the Tzun Rei Sect? Well guess what, you can''t and I''ve come to show you what we do to little rogue shits like you¡± he then laughed out loud.


    I was proud of him at least.


    Even after being beaten down, he hadn''t lost his spirit and still tried to uphold the sects honour.


    After a moment with no response coming from the shack, my son spoke once more.


    Feng Rei: ¡°You said your master would beat my master, didn''t you?¡± his voice echoed once more ¡°So then, tell him to come out and greet ''our'' master¡± he laughed once more and this time his laughter was accompanied by the rest of the sect disciples attempting to curry favour with my son ¡°Come out and greet Master Ling Rei¡± he shouted after the laughter had subsided.


    I also started to get all proud and flaunted even more of my aura into the shack.


    I couldn''t put my son to shame now could I.


    But what none of us ever expected happened.


    I, a Rank 5 Immortal Practitioner, somebody who was considered a major power outside of Lord Gills domain, could not sense this seemingly average looking man''s power.


    I could even sense the power of normal mortals, but I couldn''t sense anything at all from this man.


    I could sense Lord Gills power level the few times I had met him, and even though in Lord Gills presence I was humble and afraid, compared to this man, Lord Gill was a little child, and I, was a mere babe.


    I glared at my idiotic son very quickly before I immediately revoked my aura.


    Thinking about it now, I was also a fool.


    My son and several of his lackeys had been beaten by a girl no more than 10 years old, and I thought her master would be a weakling?!


    I''m a fucking fool.


    But this situation could still be salvaged.


    Fuck, no it couldn''t.


    My son said ''come out and greet ''our'' master'' to him just a mere moment ago.


    Me? A pathetic little toad like me, be the master of a monstrous being like that?


    Not even in a million years would it be possible.


    The beings face was stoic, calm. Like it didn''t even recognise us as humans.


    Of course it wouldn''t.


    Did I recognise mortals as Immortals? Of course not. To him, we are the same as mortals.


    Nothing.


    I steeled my heart and accepted my fate.


    Today was the day my sect was annihilated.


    All because we chose to get revenge on somebody we should have stayed far away from.


    -----


    Hey guys, Old Man here,


    I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!


    I''ll maybe increase my writing pace soon to average at least 2 chapters a week, maybe even 3. No promises though.


    Also, could you all please rate, review and criticise when necessary or possible. Thanks to those who did so last time.


    Also, a question to you guys. Do you think I should change the stories name? To something like ''Path of Bullshit'', or ''Power of Bullshit'', or ''The Bullshit Mentor'', etc.


    Please do give your opinions, and thanks alot.


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 13: The words of the strong must be spoken carefully

    After attempting to meet the eyes of the surrounding cultivators, trying to discover if any of them had immense balls or a certain craziness to them, I breathed a sigh of relief after I discovered no one who fit that criteria.


    I was thrilled. So very immensely thrilled.


    I wouldn''t even have to make Sasha fight, I could just send these guys off and they''d immediately leave and thank me while doing so.


    I could even act cocky and make them beg for forgiveness, but that would probably create a true sense of enmity between us.


    Because currently, we had very little enmity between me, a random cultivator, and them, an actual sect.


    It was just a minor grievance regarding a little kid and an overly prideful teen.


    I looked up into the sky and smiled broadly, in happiness. I then realised that I had smiled openly and now the members of the Tzun Rei sect all looked even more scared when compared to before.


    I think they misinterpreted my smile.


    Nonetheless, I carried on with a passive look as I thought of what to say to them.


    I had to act cocky, but also humble at the same time. I had to make them respect me, both via fear and pure reverence.


    Otherwise, they would harbour anger and hatch some plan to harm either me or Sasha.


    But how was I supposed to think of such words on short notice? I was never a good debater, I couldn''t even win online arguments back on Earth.


    I couldn''t ignore them for too long either. At most, another minute or two.


    But no words truly came to mind.


    No matter how much I wracked my mind.


    It was at that moment I felt a wave of pure mana unleash itself from within my shack behind me.


    The mana burst forth like a little dam, swamping the entire area.


    The mana felt so pure and beautiful, and it was beneficial to me.


    I was devouring the mana, but I wasn''t really good nor fast enough to absorb much of it.


    After merely a few seconds, the mana was gone.


    Sasha had either broken through to the Mage rank, mastered the ''Art of Majesty'' or broken some other ridiculous record.


    Right now I wasn''t sure what she had managed to do.


    Whatever it was, it had given me the idea I needed to calmly defuse the situation I was in.


    I was going to continue with my plan from beforehand.


    Make Sasha duel the other disciples with the condition that ''If my disciple loses, I shall apologise, and if your disciple loses, you shall apologise''.


    With terms like that, who wouldn''t agree.


    Ah, my genius talent at bullshitting was staggering, but that wasn''t really something I should be proud of.


    Taking a look at the Tzun Rei Sect members, I saw all of them were pale beyond relief.


    It seems mana felt very different to aura and they didn''t know what had happened exactly.


    Turning around, I saw Sasha slowly walk outside, completely clean, but her clothes were fully gone and she had the bed sheet wrapped around her.


    Her cheeks were red from both anger and shyness.


    I smiled at her and she slowly walked up to me, a look of anger in her eyes.


    I of course dismissed her anger to me.


    It was her own fault that I made her cultivate hard enough that she destroyed her clothes.


    Now that I was looking at it, the bed sheet wrapped around her was much smaller than I remember.


    Did she explode inside the shack?


    Oh god... This girl destroyed the interior of my little shack...


    How much trouble did she want to cause her master in one single day?!


    As I was about to ask her what exactly happened, suddenly my little shacks walls fell off.


    First the east wall came falling down, then the southern wall came shortly after. Right after that was the eastern wall and then finally the northern wall.


    The roof fell towards the north with the northern wall, revealing to both me, Sasha and the Tzun Rei Sect members the completely annihilated interior of my now non-existent shack.


    There was a little crater inside my house.


    This little shit destroyed my house.


    Seeing my expression change after I had turned to look towards the shack, she began to fidget quietly as she stood in front of me.


    Sasha: She suddenly spoke while speaking as softly as possible ¡°Before you get angry at me¡± her little whisper came out ¡°Can I please get some new clothes from your ring?¡± she whispered to me very quietly.


    This shameless little brat.


    Not only did she destroy my only house in this world, she had the gall to ask for clothing instead of apologising?!


    No. Fuck that. She would pay for this.


    By learning humility.


    Well she was humble enough as it was, but I needed to vent my anger over losing this little shack I had grown attached to.


    How could I not be angry over losing my god damned house.


    I was beyond furious.


    Coupled with the trouble she had caused in regards to the Tzun Rei Sect, I was boiling on the inside.


    Sasha began to tremble as she saw my expression change multiple times in the span of a few seconds.


    Sasha: ¡°Master¡± she spoke softly ¡°I know what I did was wrong¡± she began but after I glared at her, she suddenly bit her lip and stopped talking but suddenly her eyes lit up as she glared at someone behind me and pointed at that someone yelling ¡°But it''s his fault that I had to cultivate because he said he was going to bring his master, so my training and destroying the house is his and his sects fault¡± she hatefully yelled at the young master of the Tzun Rei Sect.


    I turned around and stared at the brat from from the Tzun Rei Sect only to see him tremble immensely, a look of pure fear in his eyes as he saw my angry glare.


    Rei Feng: ¡°Me?!¡± he yelled back as he stuttered ¡°It''s all Guo Goans fault that we got entangled with her in the first place!¡± he yelled while pointing to a different sect member ¡°He was the one who wanted to hit on her in the first place, saying ''I, the son of a Clan Elder, can have any girl I want!''¡± the brat shamelessly pushed the blame onto someone else.


    I turned towards the teen he was pointing at, a blonde haired, slightly better looking kid compared to the young master.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Goan Gou: ¡°My fault?!¡± he yelled in shock at the revelation ¡°Impossible, simply impossible¡± the boy yelled with pure fear ¡°I was simply following young master Rei Fengs orders to probe out the girls cultivation level to see if she was someone we were capable of enjoying¡± he pointed back and hatefully accused the young master called Rei Feng.


    Rei Feng looked completely flabbergasted as he was blamed before he hatefully glared back at Goan Gou.


    Rei Feng: ¡°My fault?¡± he seethed through his teeth ¡°You traitor to the sect, you brought this calamity upon our Tzun Rei Sect, and instead of apologising to this supreme elder¡± Rei Feng pointed at me ¡°You instead try to shift the blame to me?!¡± Rei Fengs acting skills were simply marvellous ¡°In order to both apologise to this supreme elder and clean our sect of your disgrace, I shall personally end you myself!¡± Rei Fengs said as he released his aura and prepared to attack.


    Wow... Simply one word. Wow.


    That is all I could use to describe the situation.


    In all of its hilarity, the situation had simply solved itself by Sasha merely blaming her overload in cultivation upon Rei Feng.


    What a spineless kid. He not only pushed the blame onto someone else, he even openly declared one of his own followers as a traitor to his clan and attempted to end him himself.


    As I was wondering what was going to happen I suddenly heard one of the elders of the sect shout.


    Goan Tou: ¡°Young Master¡± the old men yelled angrily ¡°How dare you try to push your own mishaps upon your fellow sect members and even try to kill my own son!¡± the old man hatefully said ¡°How about you own up to your mistakes and beg the supreme elder and the young lady for forgiveness instead of attempting to damn our sect!¡± just as the man who I thought was the Sect Leader began to speak, this old man silenced him and continued to speak ¡°In fact, just cripple your cultivation and kill yourself right now so we may erase the sins you have brought upon our sect, in fact, give me the honour of allowing you to die¡± and with that this elder moved to end the life of the young master just like that.


    Oh my god.


    What had I done.


    What had Sasha done.


    She had literally just caused a civil war within a sect.


    Oh my fucking god.


    This was insane.


    Is this what power meant in this world?! People would kill and betray people very close to them simply because they may or may not have offended a more powerful individual?


    The Elder simply disappeared before reappearing right in front of the young master, with his fist about to connect with Rei Fengs face but suddenly Rei Lings fist deflected the elders.


    Rei Ling: ¡°Goan Tou!¡± the Sect leader yelled ¡°You dare betray our sect with such selfish motivations?¡± his voice roared across the landscape, stretching who knows how far ¡°If I don''t end you myself today, I am not the Sect leader of our great sect¡± and with that he suddenly reappeared right behind Goan Tou with his fist headed right for his chest.


    Goan Tou immediately disappeared and appeared a short distance away.


    Suddenly the Rei Ling also disappeared and instead of reappearing, Goan Tou disappeared again.


    Goan Tou and Rei Ling were fighting so fast I couldn''t even see it with my own eye.


    Oh my god, what the fuck was happening.


    I kept seeing and feeling this miniature shock waves happening left, right, top, bottom and centre within my field of vision.


    They were fighting at super sonic, or light speeds. I don''t know god damn it.


    This little girls mere words had started all of this.


    A little girls words had led to combat between two people who would have been legendary monsters back on Earth.


    I''d been watching and feeling these two monster cause miniature shock waves for at least four or five minutes now.


    I didn''t even know what level they were both at.


    Where they above or below Sasha''s parents? I had no clue. Sasha''s parents didn''t fight with Ugan long enough for me to determine that.


    But these two did fight long enough to fuck with my knowledge of power levels.


    I turned towards Sasha and looked as her eyes, which seemed to be following the shock waves.


    I''m not sure how much she could see, but she definitely could see somewhat.


    She could at least somewhat follow two monsters moving at ridiculous speeds.


    Turning back around, I looked at the Tzun Rei Sect''s members.


    The Tzun Rei Sect had also split into sides, and whichever side won, was definitely going to purge the other side.


    Now I knew the words ''A beauty was capable of causing wars'' was quite true.


    Suddenly both Goan Tou and Rei Ling both reppeared in my vision, but how they had reappeared was horrifying.


    Rei Ling''s bloody fist was coming right out of Goan Tou''s chest cavity causing an disgustingly horrific scene.


    Rei Ling''s hand was holding Goan Tou''s heart.


    Oh my fucking god!


    What the fuck!


    As if that wasn''t bad enough, Goan Tou''s right hand was all but fully destroyed, leaving a bloody little pulp near his elbow.


    I felt like vomiting then and there, but the thought that if I broke my cover, I could end up like Goan Tou made me forcefully recollect myself.


    Rei Ling had literally just killed an elder of his sect, who about to kill his son, the young master because his son, the young master was going to kill his own underling, who was the son the sect elder.


    What was this game of thrones bullshit?!


    What have you done Sasha?!


    I turned to look towards Sasha who was equally as horrified as I was at what was happening.


    I heard her mumble quietly ''I didn''t want this to happen'' in a sad manner.


    She had no idea her mere accusation would cause such a scene.


    -----


    Hey guys, Old Man here,


    I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.


    Also tomorrow, around the same time as today, you''ll get another chapter.


    This next one is an interlude, so I hope you''ll enjoy that too.


    Till then, Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Interlude I: Rei Ling

    (POV of Rei Ling)


    The pure hatred and anger I was feeling at this moment was momentously huge. All because of my son, my Tzun Rei Sect was both forced into huge danger at the hands of monstrous rogue cultivator and then into a civil war.


    All because my of stupendous son. The little fool has weakened my sect to a ridiculous degree.


    Even if the rogue cultivator forgave us out of pity at this point, our enemies would never let such an opportunity go.


    Today we would die at the hands of a monster, or in the coming few days, towards a gradual slaughter at the hands of our enemies.


    My son had ruined my sect.


    The bitter feeling of hatred was heart braking.


    If only my son had shut up after the girl had blamed him, I could have maybe diffused the situation and found a peaceful resolution.


    Instead, the civil war that should have happened in a few more decades, once my Rei Faction had gained more strength, happened at an unsavoury time.


    If things had happened as they should have, we could have still continued to exist as a local power even after dealing with the Goan Faction.


    It was all too late now though.


    I turned towards my sect members. Our factions had already split apart. Goan''s side was disheartened as the loss of their head, while my side was grinning stupidly.


    As if now was the time to be happy.


    I quickly glanced at the little girl who was the cause of my sects downfall.


    The little girl who had made my sons lust lose control of himself.


    I should have harshly rebuked my son sooner. Instead I spoiled him for being my only child.


    The girl was half naked, a mere bed sheet covering her, but her expression was one of pure shock.


    She was staring right at me, a huge disgust visible in her eyes and expression.


    She was barely holding back from puking.


    Her master on the hand, was expressionless. He had most likely seen worst than this. No one reached his level of power by never fighting.


    I immediately deposited Goan Tou''s body into my High Ring along with his heart, before cleaning my bloody body with low water and fire techniques.


    Once I had made myself presentable, I slowly walked towards the little girls monster of a master.


    Even though I held immense hatred inside of my heart for both this little girl and her master, I had no thoughts of revenge at all.


    Who had the gall to think of revenge on this monster.


    Maybe the Monster King or the Emperor of our country could probably rival his might, but the rest of us? No chance at all.


    Not even one of the four great elders of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Lord Elder Heanev would be the match of this monster.


    I know this because I could feel Lord Elder Heanev, even though it was only a very minuscule amount, I could feel him.


    I reached this monster and stood in front of him for a mere moment.


    It was terrifying. He gave out no aura at all. Nothing at all.


    He gave out nothing, but the feeling I got off of him, was terrifying.


    (Author Note: He isn''t feeling any Aura or anything, it''s just his mind is fucking him over via fear)


    It was more terrifying then anything I had ever felt. Nothing ever came close to what I was currently feeling.


    How could there be such a being in this world.


    Each step that brought me closer to him made me feel more and more insignificant.


    Even though from afar you could tell he was strong, the closer you got to him, the more you realised he was far above what you thought.


    He probably wasn''t even a being from this continent.


    Did he stop here after discovering this mere child and thought she had potential?


    I can''t believe I even for one moment thought of revenge.


    Let me leave the revenge till he pisses off those people at the very top.


    Only they have a chance of crushing him.


    A mere moment in front of him and I immediately dropped to my knees and kowtowed before him.


    Not once in my life had I ever kowtowed. Not once.


    Not to the Province Lord Han Hhun, not to the Monster Lord Gill Ghan, not even to the Heavenly Sword Sect Fourth Lord Elder Heanev.


    I didn''t kowtow in front of a single of these figures, but to this being, I would throw away my face, my pride, my honour.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    At least then I had a chance of fighting off my other enemies.


    Those bastards who would wipe out my sect now that it was weak. Even in this dark time, I still had a chance to survive against them.


    I kowtowed seven times in total.


    Once in Apology.


    Once in Grief.


    Once in Pain.


    Once in Acceptance.


    Once in Respect.


    Once in Reverence.


    Once in Fear.


    Seven kowtows.


    I don''t know what order he knew them in, but this is what seven kowtows meant.


    I got up and sat on my knees and awaited the judgement this monster would bestow upon us.


    Whatever his choice may be, I had made my peace.


    At least he wouldn''t use any soul harming techniques now.


    Even if I die, I''ll be back one day.


    Like that, a minute passed, and then another.


    Slowly, just like that, I counted the seconds, which turned into minutes.


    It was all I could do.


    After what was 13 minutes and 22 seconds he suddenly spoke.


    He took 13 minutes and 22 seconds to determine my fate.


    I only hope it was a good one.


    Zev: ¡°You are forgiven for your actions¡± he said and like that, a huge burden was removed from my shoulder. He had forgiven us. We would live ¡°But¡± suddenly my feelings of elation were gone, shattered. ''But''. That word meant we would still be punished. If the gods do take pity on my poor soul, please be light on this one.


    The word hung in the air and I waited for 34 seconds before the being suddenly spoke once more.


    Zev: ¡°You really did not need to kill or fight one another, I never planned on punishing any of you in the first place¡± and like that, absolute silence reigned in the air.


    No one breathed at all. Even the hearts of all were silent.


    We... had killed each other... over nothing?


    Oh dear god. What have we done.


    If only we had been patient.


    If only my foolish son had shut his fucking mouth.


    Oh dear lord.


    I felt the tears slide down my cheek.


    The pain, the humiliation, the anger. All of it combined to make me shed tears for the first time in almost half a century.


    Yet I did not blame this being or his little disciple.


    I blamed myself.


    Pride, Ignorance and Selfishness. These 3 lead to the events of today.


    I should have humbled myself and my family. I should have made both myself and my child knowledgeable and I should not have become greedy and selfish. I should have opened my heart and united my sect instead of creating this rift inside of it.


    I looked up at the being and he simply smiled sadly at me.


    He knew what I had just gone through.


    I kowtowed once more. This time in no emotion or thought aside from my pure gratitude.


    Even from such a painful event, this being had allowed me to grow, to finally pass the bottleneck that held back my cultivation.


    Two decades at this bottleneck was shattered by the enlightenment bestowed upon me.


    And just like that, I finally broke through to become the peak of my Rank.


    Two decades of frustration, was finally undone. Now no one at the Immortal Practitioner Rank would be able to harm.


    I was at the Peak of my Rank. I was finally Rank 9. I was now a power to be reckoned with.


    ----


    Old Man here,


    Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, because I enjoyed writing it. I may make an interlude every 5, 10 or 15 chapters from now on. They are quite enjoyable to write.


    That aside, I''ve decided on a time table for Chapter releases from now on.


    No matter what, I will release 1 chapter every Friday. 1 chapter is guaranteed every week. So that is 52 guaranteed chapters a year.


    But being honest with myself, I''ll probably write more than that. I estimate at roughly 100 to 150 chapters a year minimum.


    So give or take, 2 to 3 chapters a week. Anyway, I hope I can live up to my estimate because I''ve already planned up to 800 chapters deep, and some of the story arcs are really epic, so I hope I can write faster so you guys can someday soon read those epic arcs.


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man.


    P.S I also changed the name! Maybe I''ll change it again in the future, but for now, I think this will do.

 Chapter 14: Image is a very powerful tool

    I watched as a man who possessed enough power to kill me instantly, knelt before me to beg for forgiveness.


    A man who could move at speeds my eyes could not follow.


    The power of ones image was truly powerful. A mere bluff could reduce a man to such a state.


    And as if that wasn''t enough, he had even broken through to a higher level. How the fuck does something like that even happen?


    What did I say that made him break through? All I told him was that he didn''t have to do anything as I wasn''t angry in the first place.


    And he broke through with that!


    Leaving that aside, he had kowtowed so many times. Did that have a meaning? I mean, he did 7 in total, and that seemed planned. He had kowtowed once more at the end and was still kowtowing. What was the meaning of this final one?


    I was panicking on the inside. I mean, what the fuck was I supposed to do right now? What do I say?


    What do I say to a guy, when my disciple had caused a civil war in his sect?


    Was I supposed to bless him? Talk to him? Offer him guidance? The fuck did he expect from me?!


    How did I tell him to get up off the ground? He was still kneeling.


    I turned towards the girl that caused all of my problems.


    The stupid girl had destroyed my little house and then caused a fucking civil war for the Tzun Rei Sect.


    Such a problem child. Not only that, but seeing me glare at her, she just looked at the ground and mumbled some words very softly as she cried.


    When she was this adorable and in such a sorry state, I lost my anger towards her, but I still needed some way to resolve the current problem.


    Looking around, I saw the other sect members all tensed up. This was terrible fucking news for me.


    When an animal is cornered far enough, it would snap and attack even if it was much weaker than its predator.


    In this instance I was the predator, but I was far weaker than the prey.


    Fucking hell. Oh my god. If they snapped, I''d be fucked.


    I had to calm them all down, but my question was how?!


    How did I calm this group of people down. Do I just say calm down? No, I can''t say that. Saying ''Calm down'' never calmed anyone down. That would only make them angrier.


    The atmosphere was getting more and more tense as these two factions within the Tzun Rei sect stared at each other, at me and at Rei Ling.


    They were trying to figure out what to do, just like me.


    If I just let them go, wouldn''t they be suspicious? I mean, imagine if you pissed off a powerful person, and then all of a sudden they just let you go. You''d be paranoid for weeks, if not months.


    Suddenly, I got a brilliant idea.


    I could just say that even though I had forgiven them and wasn''t going to punish them, the young needed to learn how to be humble, so for that reason, the younger generation as payment for causing such an incident today, can rebuild my house and then I would forget everything that happened today.


    That way, no one is suspicious and everyone gets to go home happily.


    Hopefully it would work.


    So I breathed in calmly, relaxed my nerves and prepared my little speech.


    Seeing as I was about to speak, everyone turned to look at me, including Sasha and Rei Ling, who was tilting his head to the side to be able to see.


    Zev: ¡°Rise¡± I spoke out loud in my most majestic tone towards Rei Ling, who got up slowly ¡°Like I said, I never planned on giving out punishment in the first place, but the events of today was caused by the young ones¡± and as those words left my lips, all the brats who had caused this incident, including Sasha began to visibly shake.


    Rei Ling looked a tad bit disheartened, but he simply nodded to my words and everyone awaited to see exactly what I was going to do.


    Zev: ¡°They must learn how to be humble, for that reason, as a light punishment, the young ones will rebuild my little abode without the aid of their cultivation¡± with that I turned towards Sasha ¡°You as well¡± and then I nodded to myself happily.


    I had managed to make everyone happy. Probably.


    At least this way I lessened the hatred between us, since I was punishing Sasha as well.


    It wasn''t really a harsh punishment, but for these young masters to do heavy labour, should be quite humbling.


    Hearing my words, almost every single person in the surrounding area, including Sasha and Rei Ling, breathed out a humongous sigh of relief, which then caused me to breathe out in relief.


    The atmosphere completely changed and the tense atmosphere was gone. Well almost. The other half of the Tzun Rei Sect, those who were allied with Goan Tou, had sadness plastered upon their face.


    All of them looked towards Rei Ling, who was also looking back at them.


    I just realised that Rei Ling was probably going to get rid of them all. He was going to kill one half of the cultivators of his sect.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Everyone else also realised this as I stared towards Goan''s people.


    Rei Ling bowed towards me slightly before walking towards the members of Goan''s sect, specifically the son of Goan Tou, Goan Gou.


    Goan Gou looked quite manly as he stood proudly. He had two tear stains running down his cheeks, and his eyes were red.


    Hatred, sadness, anger, and a mixture of other emotions was visible from his eyes as he stared at Rei Ling.


    It was at this moment, that I realised I may have made a shitty decision. Did I want a kid whose father had just died in front of him because of me, to rebuild my house? That took being an asshole to a whole other level.


    In a few seconds Rei Ling had finished his little walk and now stood in front of Goan Gou.


    Much to every single persons surprise, including mine, he did the opposite of what he expected.


    Rei Ling: ¡°I''m sorry¡± as the words left his mouth, everyone was shocked. He was sorry for killing Goan Tou? The man who rebelled against the sect ¡°I know you may not forgive me, and I know you may hate me, so for that reason, I won''t force you or any of the others who loved your father into staying within the sect¡± I was shocked when I heard those words.


    He was not only sparing them, he was letting them go. That was very magnanimous. Did he suddenly have a change of heart and personality after going through a life and death moment?


    Goan Gou: ¡°You- What? I- You- What?¡± the kid looked shocked as well, that his fathers killer was not attempting to kill him and was instead apologising ¡°Sorry?¡± the kids voice was quite hoarse ¡°You kill my father, then tell us we can go, and all you say is Sorry?!¡± Goan Gou yelled this time, his tears flowing freshly ¡°Why don''t you just kill us and get it over with? You think we need your pity!¡± Goan Gou ended up kneeling into the ground as he couldn''t control his emotions.


    Rei Ling had a pained look upon his face as he stared at Goan Gou.


    I didn''t know what to say. This was quite incredible. Such an incredible drama.


    Rei Ling: ¡°I don''t expect you to forgive me, but I expect you to live on for your father¡± Rei Lings voice was tinged in sadness ¡°I realised after the events of today, that the reason such a rift appeared within out sect was because of myself¡± as he said this everyone was focusing on Rei Ling to hear his confession ¡°It was because I was selfish, greedy and narrow minded that things degenerated to such a degree within our sect, and I''ve decided to change my ways, starting with you¡±.


    With that, Rei Ling slowly moved his hand towards Goan Gou''s head, his hand looked like he was about to pat the brat, but then Rei Ling pulled his hand back and sighed deeply.


    He then took one of the rings on his finger off and dropped it into Goan Gou''s hands before turning around to walk towards his own people.


    I wonder what was in the ring. Maybe it was... Goan Tou?


    That aside, the sudden change in events made the atmosphere quite sombre, and no one managed to say anything.


    A sad silence enveloped everyone here.


    I turned towards Sasha who was kneeling on the ground and crying. It seemed like today''s events were far too powerful for a mere child.


    Add to the fact that she was the cause of today''s events.


    No matter how powerful a child she was, she was in the end, a little girl.


    Sighing, I knelt down before her and hugged her, gently patting her head as she let her emotions out.


    After entering my embrace, she began to cry harder as she held onto me.


    When she tried to talk, I just shushed her and told her to let it all out.


    Like that, a good 15 minutes passed as everyone was adapting to their new found mental state.


    The young men and women of the clan had changed immensely. It was visible with a single glance at any of them.


    The atmosphere had returned to normal awhile ago, and the two groups had come together. A peaceful feeling was in the air.


    I sat down with Sasha who was quietly sleeping with her head on my lap, as I stared towards Rei Ling who was sitting alone with Goan Gou roughly 100 or so metres away.


    I couldn''t really hear them properly since my senses were not that powerful, but I could see their movements and emotions.


    It looked like Goan Gou had not forgiven Rei Ling for what he had done, while Rei Ling simply had a pained look upon his face.


    ---


    Hey all, Old Man here,


    I hope you all forgive me for the late chapter, but I plan on releasing another 2 (and hopefully 3) chapters next week.


    Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter, I''ll be starting the next part of the story soon. So yay!


    Peace my friends,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 15: Philosophy is a bitch

    I gently patted Sasha as I stared towards Goan Gou and Rei Ling.


    Goan Gou was clearly... how should I put it? Confused. Yes, that is a good way to put it. Goan Gou was very confused.


    His emotions still hadn''t settled enough for him to determine who to hate and be angry towards.


    Was he supposed to hate me, hate Rei Ling, hate Rei Feng, hate Sasha, hate his father or to hate himself. No matter how you looked at it, all of us played a part in his fathers death.


    Sasha, because she pushed the blame onto Rei Feng, Rei Feng because he pushed the blame onto Goan Gou, Goan Tou for trying to kill Rei Feng, Rei Ling for killing Goan Tou, all in order to appease me.


    Now that I think about, this was almost entirely my fault, but I didn''t even get to put a few words in before everything derailed into the shit storm that it was.


    Sasha, just like Goan Gou, was also quite confused. Even though she lived a terrible life, filled with humiliation and pain, she had never caused anyone else to filled with pain.


    She most likely kept comparing herself to her biological grand father. I just hope this trauma didn''t effect her too badly.


    I sighed as I caressed my forehead with my free hand.


    I didn''t really know what to do, other than wait for Rei Ling and Goan Gou to finish their discussion, but who knew how long that could take.


    Nonetheless, I solemnly looked up into the sky, which was quite beautiful on this particular day, at least in this region.


    I thought about Zoras and his near infinite power, and I wondered if this was how he was treated up in whatever realm he was right now?


    Did he also have to watch people kill each other out of fear of offending him? Maybe he did. Maybe he didn''t. I wouldn''t know how powerful the people he hanged around was, so there was no point in contemplating if Zoras felt like I did right now.


    If he felt like utter shit.


    If only I wasn''t so shocked and flabbergasted, I could have made them stop fighting. I would have been able to stop everyone from having to feel so much pain and suffering.


    But of course I couldn''t, since I just stood there like a retarded seal, watching them fight to the death.


    All because of my inability to act, I may or may not have given Sasha a trauma, caused a civil war between a sect, and made a young teenager lose his father.


    I may have also fucked up my mental state. This is similar to the time I was depressed over Sasha beings leagues ahead of me in everything.


    Now I was going to be mentally screwed because I realise exactly what I am capable of.


    What if, even this Monster Lord Gill also causes some civil war level actions because of trying to appease me. If that happened, it would me more than just one father who died.


    I was scared at my inability to manage what I was. I had such a grand quest ahead of me, and I was already faltering once again.


    Was I really the right person to do a quest for an at least multi-billion year old god? I, a normal human?


    I mean, I still don''t understand why exactly I was chosen. It was such a retarded reason.


    I didn''t even die and reincarnate, I was just, ''picked''. Like when you go to a pet store, and pick a cute little puppy or cat.


    Maybe that is what I was to Zoras, a cute little pet, that he unleashed in his little play ground to watch me.


    I... the more I thought, the more sad and depressed I was becoming. So I decided to think positive thoughts... which I couldn''t do because of Goan Gou and Rei Ling.


    I had literally caused a man to die. I''ve never even been in a proper fight before, and I caused a man to die! This pain I was feeling, this nausea. I felt disgusting. This isn''t what I wanted.


    I don''t even know what I want any more.


    Would I cause even more deaths in the future? Who knows how many more would die because of me? Would I care about every person who died?


    Or would I slowly grow numb... Would I grow so numb that a single death no longer mattered to me. Would I become like a politician or a monarch, where death didn''t mean much any more.


    I didn''t know. I didn''t want to know. Not at this point in time at least.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    I sighed again, before I slowly got up, gently placing Sasha on the ground. Looking towards Goan Gou, I walked towards him, which caused Rei Ling and Goan Gou to both get up, and bow towards me.


    Goan Gou did it begrudgingly, but Rei Ling seemed sincere.


    I sighed as I motioned for them to rise.


    Zev: ¡°I''ve been watching you two try to come to a compromise, but from what I can see¡± I gestured to the both of them ¡°You two will not be able to do so¡± and with that, they both looked downcast. I sighed once more ¡°The grievances caused between you can be traced back to me, and with what has happened so far, I can only offer both of you my protection no matter what you do¡± and like that, I finally relaxed.


    I had offered them both my protection, which meant nothing since I had no power to protect them with, not to actually protect them but to relieve my consciousness of the guilt.


    I had offered protection even though I did not have the means to deliver it. Well, I guess I could bullshit with any of the low level sects around here, but honestly, I had traded away my guilt for fear.


    Fear of running into new situations that would end up like this, but at least I got rid of the guilt I built up because of Sasha and I''s actions.


    No matter what Zoras claims I am, in the end, I''m still human and humans feel emotions. Guilt being a terrible mixture of one.


    Goan Gou and Rei Ling''s eyes lit up as they stared at me, first in confusion and then in shock.


    It seems like they were not expecting me to aid them in their dark hour. Well, if it was any other situation which didn''t involve me, I most likely would not have.


    Maybe in time I''ll slowly grow numb to such events. No matter how many times I thought of such a thing, it was still terrifying.


    I guess the term ''power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'' is actually true. Even though right now I''m powerless, the feeling of power I have when people feel fear from my presence, it quite honestly, addicting in a sense.


    Right now I''m still human and my morals still hold, but the future was an open book and my actions will fill it up whether they were good or bad.


    Philosophy is a bitch.


    Nonetheless, I nodded towards the two before turning around to head back towards Sasha, who had just gotten up.


    Goan Gou: From behind I heard a cough followed by a teenage voice ¡°I want to hate you, but I can''t bring myself to do it, since you never did anything from start to finish, but I can''t thank you for this favour either¡± hearing his determination was quite uplifting ¡°All I can say is, in the future, I will repay you for all that have you given me¡± and with that he went quiet.


    I smiled slightly as I thought about the boys words. Even though they sounded like a threat, they were far from it.


    Rei Ling: Shortly after Goan Gou finished speaking, Rei Ling began ¡°Thank you for your benevolence¡± was all he said before he began to once more talk with Goan Gou.


    As I walked away, I couldn''t help but wonder how different today might have turned out if I had simply spoken out instead of being dumbstruck.


    Well, at least Sasha and I grew as people, and I''m sure I changed the destiny of this little Tzun Rei Sect as well.


    ----


    Hello comrades, how are you all? I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


    I was planning on releasing this earlier, but I wanted to fix the chapters up and smoothly link them to one another. So I ended up writing 6 chapters, which are now sitting in a folder.


    So Merry Christmas in March, enjoy 6 days on non-stop release.


    Also, the next arc will probably begin around chapter 20ish. So do watch out for the new PLOT! Also, I''ll add a Sasha Interlude after Chapter 20.


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man


    P.S. Also, please do rate the novel if you have the time, whether it is positive or negative, all the ratings and reviews matter to me.


    P.P.S I''m leaving now.


    P.P.P.S I''m gone.


    P.P.P.P.S I love you guys.

 Chapter 16: What time is capable of

    Fast forward in time, and we have been here for several months.


    It had been well over a year and a half since I first appeared in this world. It had been over a year since we left the tiny village of Startza.


    A year since I had picked up a little girl called Sasha who was barely over 6 years old.


    She was already nearing her 8th birthday and before she reached her 8th birthday, she would reach Rank 1 as a Mage.


    Well, that was my initial assumption, but that time frame may have changed recently.


    Nonetheless, she had gone through an incredible transformation, and it was not only her that had changed. I did as well.


    Ever since the events that had happened with the Tzun Rei Sect, we had both changed.


    I had begun to lose my innocence, the innocence one possessed when they grew up in the midst of peace. In this world, the innocence I possessed was something I planned to hold onto for as long as possible, because some changes were not worth it.


    Sasha on the other hand had lost her innocence years ago, as a little child. The events of the Tzun Rei Sect had changed her views on life even more.


    I didn''t wish for her to mature so fast. I wanted to let her enjoy her childhood, but she had caused a death, she had caused a teenager to grieve over his father, and that had caused her to bring up her past.


    In these months since that event, Sasha had cried multiple times. Some days she would suddenly begin crying for no reason, but her eyes were filled with stories full of pain. Some nights she would begin to cry in her sleep, her dreams turning into emotional nightmares.


    I did my best to console her as much as I could, but every passing day made her lose a little more of her childhood as she matured at a ridiculous pace.


    Her changes effected me as well. The pain I went through watching a little girl I had come to consider as my own daughter lose her childhood was heart breaking.


    The quote ''Time healed all wounds'' I had come to consider a sweet lie since time didn''t heal wounds, it slowly made them fade away to hide in the recesses of your mind.


    No matter how long passed, Sasha would forever have the memory of the events regarding the Tzun Rei Sect lodged deeply inside of her.


    The Tzun Rei Sect had also changed immensely, considering it no longer existed. In its stead there now existed two entirely different sects.


    The Rei Sect and the Goan Sect. These two sects while not having a relationship of hate, didn''t have a close relationship either. It was complex relationship.


    Since their split they had one battle with another sect in total, or would have if I wasn''t there.


    The opposing sect which was called the Dou Dou Sect, came to wipe out both the Goan Sect and the Rei Sect but instead taunted them for a full 15 minutes which had given me ample time to get there.


    It seemed in the time it took me to get there, a total of seven large sects came in total. A multitude of smaller sects and groups came as well. Only two of the large sects wanted to wipe out the Goan and Rei Sects, while the other five and the smaller groups only came to watch.


    But my appearance scared the crap out of all of them.


    Most of them immediately tried to curry favour with me, but I couldn''t be bothered dealing with those people. So I immediately told them my reason for coming there, and that nearly led to another civil war within the alliance that came to wipe out the Goan and Rei Sect.


    I stopped it this time and let no one die. I also ordered that no one was to cause any trouble in Zedtx region, since this was what how the problem between me and the Tzun Rei Sect came into fruition in the first place.


    Surprisingly, because of my order and recent actions, I had somehow turned into something akin to a guardian for the region of Zedtx.


    All the clans in the area, whether they be small or large, all the noble families, again whether small or large would come to pay their respects to me.


    It had become a pain in the ass, so I stopped allowing people to come visit me, but since I couldn''t completely shut myself off, I had chosen Roman, the man who had become a confidante to me, to handle all people who came to visit me for whatever reason.


    He was overjoyed with the news and immediately began to do his job. Excellently as well if I may add.


    The bandit groups in the region as well as the rogue cultivators, also no longer caused problems. The bandit groups completely left for different regions while the rogue cultivators seemed to like my presence since unlike the other clans or what not, I didn''t care whether they made homes in the area so long as they didn''t make trouble.


    My aura, or my lack of aura kept all the wild beasts which would normally attack this village away.


    It seemed Zoras''s scent, aura, of whatever the fuck it was really did protect me from the ''things'' in the ''Forest of Silence''.


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


    I''m so glad I never encountered anything in the forest, since who knew what the fuck lived in it.


    That aside, the villagers had even upgraded the shack instead of just repairing it.


    It went from being a shack into a tiny temple.


    They completely remade everything from scratch.


    It was ridiculous. I had become somebody incredibly important, while in reality any of the nearby cultivators could kill me with utter ease. Even my own disciple was far stronger than I was.


    Nonetheless, my humble abode was no longer a humble seeing as how it was now a little temple.


    It had three floors... well two floors and a basement.


    The basement floor was where I set up a mini treasury as well as a bed for me to sleep. I also forbid Sasha from going down there. So I could sleep on my back for once.


    All of this upright sleeping was killing my back.


    The ground floor, which had a hall, a kitchen and a bath. This was where I spent most of my time, simply sitting in the little hall which could house at least 25 people easily and 50 or more people if we squished together.


    Then there was the top floor, which had four bedrooms and a large central pavilion which oversaw the surrounding the region.


    I who was almost never seen was called the ''Ancient Guardian'' and it greatly hurt my mentality.


    I was 23 and I was called ''Ancient''. No young adult wanted to be called that.


    Sasha on the other hand almost always sat on the pavilion on the top floor meditating so she was usually visible. People had taken to calling her the ''Little Goddess''.


    I agreed with that at least.


    This girl was monstrous. She deserved the title goddess.


    It wasn''t just the village of Zetdx that had begun to slowly worship me, even other villagers had begun to as well.


    They dropped off offerings to me and prayed towards me, but no one had the gall to ever enter the temple.


    Even though I constantly told them not to bring me offerings since I was really running out of space in the basement and my rings, they continued to do so all while saying ''Apologies ancient guardian''.


    I mean, I tried to get angry at them, but that didn''t do anything except increase their reverence in me because in their eyes I was being ''magnanimous'' for rejecting the goods that the villagers had secured with hard work.


    The other thing that bothered me was that the people would come and pray outside my new abode. It was incredibly annoying for one, and my ego wasn''t inflated enough to feel good about people praying to me.


    I couldn''t accept such a thing when I thought about what I really was. A slightly stronger human... well... a greatly stronger human.


    In the end I had to forbid them from praying within my sight and that had managed to stop them until I learned why they had actually stopped.


    The surrounding rogue cultivators and other small groups and people had come to form a group called the ''Guardian Faith''. It''s other name was the ''Guardian Church''.


    They begun to build small temples in the surrounding area in which they would pray to me.


    In the 3 months since the Guardian Faith had been created, they had created a total of 13 temples.


    I was now worshipped in a total of 4 village regions similar to Zedtx and 1 whole city. It was a small city compared to other cities in the area, but it was a city nonetheless.


    I didn''t know how to react to this.


    How did I stop people from worshipping me? I hadn''t even done anything worship worthy in the first place.


    Sasha simply laughed off my anger saying that it was ''Only natural for the weak to follow the strong''.


    I agreed with that, but couldn''t they have done it in a more normal manner. Like create a sect or something. Why the fuck did they have to create a whole religion.


    The one thing that kept me at least somewhat happy was that at least it would only be a small religion that would never grow too large.


    ---


    Hey guys, Old Man here,


    First of all, I''d like to say sorry for not keeping my promise of 1 chap a day, but I have a very good excuse for that.


    A large tree in my front yard fell and dislocated the power cable and the internet cable. So while it took a mere day to fix the power, it too my Internet Provider 4 days to fix the internet. So it took me 5 days.


    But the good news is, in that time frame, I wrote another 4 chapters.


    So I have up till Chapter 24 written down. Yay!


    So till I reach Chap 24, you''ll get a chapter a day.


    And like the doctor says, A chapter a day, will keep boredom away.


    Nonetheless, Ciao!


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 17: My gut feeling

    Nonetheless, what has happened, has happened.


    I was planning to leave soon anyway, so if these people truly wanted to continue to worship me, then by all means, I wish them the best.


    I eased my consciousness by thinking that by worshipping me, they technically worshipped Zoras, who was an actual god, and a powerful one at that.


    So... I wasn''t technically toying with their emotions.


    Well, it is not like I told them to worship me in the first place.


    I didn''t go around forcing everyone to prostrate themselves before me.


    It isn''t my fault the strong are revered in this world. Maybe it is my fault for being so nice... I guess many people would like a nice, super powerful master... So I guess it is technically my fault.


    Wait, no. I won''t accept other peoples prayers just because they want me to.


    I simply sighed as I thought about it. Wasn''t this what everyone wanted? To be worshipped? To be revered? Wasn''t that simple human nature? To stand at the very top.


    Oh well, as soon as Sasha finally mastered the ''Art of Majesty'' I would leave this village anyway so there was no point in worrying.


    I would have to soon head for the City of Gilleghan, home of the monster lord Gill. I hoped things would proceed much smoother than how things have proceeded recently.


    It would take a few more months at best for Sasha to finally master the tome and become a true monster.


    Right now, after six months of me idling away in this village, Sasha has increased her mana purity and density even further. She is now 11 times stronger than someone at her own level.


    Such a ridiculous little girl.


    Well, forgetting about the little monster for now, I began to plan my final route to the city of Gilleghan.


    I could either go through the Region of Zidxt or Gell.


    Zidxt and Gell, unlike Zedtx and the other surrounding villages were actually occupied by Gill''s forces.


    So either way I would encounter practitioners from Gill''s faction. I hope that my aura didn''t scare them into doing anything that would result in me having a bad relationship with Gill from the get go.


    I''d pray for the best to happen... but I don''t think that would make much of a difference.


    So now I also began to meditate as the wait began.


    One week passed and Sasha was getting closer to her breakthrough but she was still a good distance away from that bottleneck.


    Two weeks passed and similar to the first week, not much had changed.


    The third and fourth week also rolled by with little change aside from the fact the Guardian Faith now had 18 temples.


    The thought of them expanding in a militaristic fashion terrified me. I just prayed they were peaceful in their expansion.


    Week five, six, seven and eight came by and went. Nothing changed. Aside from the Guardian Faith''s slow expansion.


    Sasha had gotten closer to her breakthrough while I had finally reached Rank 6 as a Spirit Practitioner. Which was quite pathetic compared to others.


    Month three and four also passed by quietly, for me at least. For the Guardian Faith though, things were far from quiet.


    One of the other regional religions, called the Sun Temple, began to feel threatened by the slow, gradual expansion of the Guardian Faith, so they did what I call the epitome of stupidity.


    They declared Holy War upon the Guardian Faith.


    Why did religious people have to be so hostile against other religions? What did I expect. Not many religions stayed in power by being pacifistic against other expanding religions.


    According to Imperial Law which was decreed by the Emperor, so long as two religions within the Empire declare a war, a major power which was not religious by nature may not join the battle no matter the case, but for any Sect or Clan that had surrendered to the religions rule may participate in the battle.


    I learned this from Roman of course, who was my primary agent in the outside world.


    He also told me how many people, especially from stronger factions were now starting to pay attention to the Guardian Faith and by extension, me.


    This thought terrified me because I didn''t have the manpower or capability to fight against these stronger factions should they harbour dark thoughts against me.


    What if they actually had people capable of seeing through my bullshittery? I''d be fucked then.


    Nonetheless, I followed the Holy Sun War as closely as possible. A local scholar had coined the war that name.


    Month five and six also rolled by, but unexpectedly, the Sun Temple was losing the war.


    The Sun Temple had 3 major Temples under its jurisdiction, the Fire Temple, the Ember Temple and the Radiant Temple and of those, the Ember Temple had fallen under Guardian rule.


    It was quiet shocking to know a religion made under your name, was winning a war that was started out of fear of yourself.


    I wonder how many people were dying because of this? How was I supposed to feel about this? What the fuck was I supposed to do?


    Did I barge into a battlefield and go ¡°Your God is here, surrender!¡±? That would be stupid. The opposing faction declared war in the first place.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    But people were dying because of this war.


    For fucks sake. Why did I keep ending up in situations that affected both my pride and moral integrity.


    I wanted to end this war because of my morals, but I didn''t want to surrender because of my pride.


    And because I had a lingering fear that Zoras might hurt me if I let myself lose a battle. I mean I was his champion and no god wanted their champion to lose.


    This was mentally and emotionally draining.


    So I told Roman to send a message to the closest temple to me and tell the Guardian Faith to ''Kill as little as possible while defending yourself and winning the war''.


    Roman of course obliged and went off to deliver my message.


    Sasha on the other hand was now 12 and half times stronger than her own level should be but alas, she still wasn''t able to comprehend the ''Art of Majesty''.


    Month seven, eight and nine rolled by and Sasha was closing in on her breakthrough.


    She described the realm within herself.


    The humongous sky blocking tree which dotted the heavens with its branches.


    The multitude of realms she passed.


    The events she faced inside of herself.


    What she went through to discover the heart she had to open.


    Sasha told me about the final realm she reached within herself.


    She described the fluffy clouds that extended endlessly in every direction. The beautiful and serene atmosphere within the realm which seemed to calm her down. Which seemed to allow her to relax.


    She described the tranquillity it gave her to simply sit there and meditate.


    It was then that I realised that she hadn''t broken through yet not because of her inability, but because the current realm she was at within the ''Art of Majesty'' allowed her to finally cleanse her heart and mind of the trauma she had received throughout her life.


    She had finally discovered a place where she could shed her past and look toward the future.


    A silently sat down upon my comfy bed and let Sasha sit between my legs as she leaned back against me.


    I let her meditate like that since I knew she would soon breakthrough and it made her feel comfortable.


    Sasha''s breakthrough aside, surprisingly the Holy Sun War had come to an end.


    The conflict had lasted 6 months and in the end all three major temples of the Sun Temple were captured.


    Apparently my word was taken a bit to literally since the Guardian Faith now had 2500 or so prisoners, including the High Sun Priest.


    There was less than 50 casualties, and they were mainly from the Guardian Faiths side.


    That made me feel conflicted. I didn''t want people to kill over me, but I didn''t want people who believed in me to die either.


    Nonetheless, there was nothing I could do about it now. There was already more than a thousand followers of the Guardian Faith, and by that, I mean Cultivators. 1000 plus cultivators had already devoted themselves to me.


    It was a very conflicting feeling. I didn''t even want to know how many non cultivators ''followed'' me.


    The ending of the war is what surprised me. It greatly surprised me.


    The Sun Temple, which had over 3000 cultivators and who knew how many millions of followers, had joined as a subsidiary of the Guardian Faith, becoming the Sun Faith, otherwise known as the Sun Church.


    I felt terrible at the thought of more and more religious wars happening between the Guardian Faith and other religions, but I put my mind to ease with the thought that the Guardian Faith is a very rural religion with minuscule might. Even if they did manage to expand a little bit, it would never be large enough to cause massive wars.


    At least I hoped so, but I had this terrible gut feeling boiling inside of me.


    I had a terrible feeling of what the future would entail for the Han Hun Tyang Province.


    I hope my feeling was wrong.


    ---


    Hey guys, Old Man here!


    I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


    Also, I want to tell you two things, 1, is that the first arc is coming to an end in another 3 to 5 chaps. Although I have already written the chapters, I still don''t know which chapter to declare as the end of Arc 1. So meh.


    And 2 is that, Zev won''t suddenly be leading a religious organisation, it will still mainly be him and Sasha! In case you were wondering if the story was going to take that turn.


    Those points aside,


    I hope you all enjoy the series, and if possible, do rate the story whether it be positive or negative, with as much constructive criticism as possible.


    Also do you guys like the [Zev: "BlahBlahBlah" Actions Actions Actions "BlahBlah"]? I like writing like that, but if enough people dislike it, I can forgo it.


    Also, please do like and favourite if you enjoy the story. If you don''t, well, I still love you all!


    Rant Over.


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 18: A Father

    I sat there for seven days straight.


    My back ached, my mind was reeling from exhaustion and my body was numb.


    For seven days I had not moved in the slightest.


    Sasha sat comfortably between my legs as I sat on the edge of the bed. This position was no longer as comfortable as it was seven days ago.


    If it was only standing still for seven days I wouldn''t have been so uncomfortable, but the little monster was devouring my essence as well.


    Not just my mana, she was devouring my aura as well. I was barely hanging onto my consciousness.


    If it was not for the fact that the breakthrough would let her cleanse her trauma so she could finally look forward in life, I would have long since moved.


    As important as cultivating was, it wasn''t important enough for me to go through seven days of hell.


    But if it allowed her to finally cleanse herself of her painful memories, I would go through more than just this for her.


    I forced myself to stay awake so that I could witness her born anew, and I managed to do just that.


    As Sasha leaned against me, suddenly a humongous white light burst out of her shrouding the temple fully in light.


    I felt an uplifting feeling suddenly enter me, cleansing my body completely and removing the bottleneck I had for both my Magus and Immortal self.


    I immediately broke through to both Rank 7 as a Spirit Practitioner and Rank 6 as a Mageling.


    Sasha on the other hand was now hovering in mid air as her body slowly changed in front of me.


    No longer was there an adorable little 10 year old, instead in front of me was now a cute little 13 year old.


    She was now taller by at least a foot, compared to before. I think she was now roughly 145cm.


    I think that was a decent height for someone her age. Wait. She''s barely nine, but she looks 13. Shit, I forgot that cultivation changes you as you advance.


    She may be nearing her 9th birthday, but spiritually she was at least 13 and probably closer to 15.


    Shit. I wasn''t ready for this. Fuck. I''m not even 26.


    How was I supposed to deal with an adolescent daughter. Wait. Calm down. She is still nine. Even if she is mentally 15, I won''t have to deal with her problems for at least another few years, or at least until she broke through to the next rank, which was Magi.


    I sighed in relief over a hypothetical situation.


    Calming my nerves, I watched as her body finally settled down and the light began to disappear.


    Before me was an extremely cute girl, I guess for her age, she is what one would consider perfect.


    Her body had begun to mature slightly, and her hair which was originally very long, was now even longer. It was longer than her height. Looking at her dangling from the air, it was at least 2 or 3 metres long.


    She looked as if god of craftsmanship decided to hand craft the most adorable girl in existence. I''m sure she was now a middle school boys, and to some extent a high school boys dream girl.


    To me, she simply looked adorable. She slowly descended from the air into my embrace.


    She was drenched in sweat and her body was releasing an overwhelming amount of power.


    Holy fucking shit! Now that I was feeling her power I was flabber-fucking-gasted.


    She originally had 13 times the power somebody her level should. Even if you timed that by 9 she should only have 117 times the power of someone her own level.


    If she had that, she would be a terrifying force of nature.


    But no, not only did she not have 117 times the power, she had 130 times the power.


    She not only mastered the ''Art of Majesty'' to its apex, she had gone above and beyond and instead of getting the epitome of 9x the power, she got 10x the power.


    I can''t even... I don''t know what to say.


    Did this girl think her master wasn''t inadequate enough, she decided to take it a step further to make herself even greater than me?


    Holy fucking shit.


    I don''t know what to think.


    130 times her own power! That was... I don''t even know how to calculate that. How the hell did one calculate that?!


    Fuck it. Forget it.


    No point in worrying how monstrous she was.


    I had to clean her seeing how dirty she was at the moment. Her clothes were all dishevelled, her hair was unordered, she was covered in sweat and an icky gooey substance, which I think was the impurities in her body.


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


    Nonetheless, I carried her towards the bathroom in a deadpan manner as I was still reeling from the shock the girl had delivered upon me.


    I went into the bathroom and laid her at the edge of the tub as I quickly filled it with hot water. I then brought out a few towels which I drenched in hot water.


    I quickly removed her clothing and placed them in a corner where I could burn them later.


    Placing her gently on a wet, hot towel, I quickly began to wipe her body down, removing all the dirt, sweat and impurities she had ejected from her body.


    I don''t think a teen girl wants a man to see her naked body, but I had become a father to her over these few years we had been together, and she had become a daughter to me.


    Wait... I don''t think a teen girl wanted her father to see her naked either. That would be very embarrassing experience to her.


    Nonetheless, although it might not be the best thing to do, we didn''t really have another female in the household and I don''t think she wanted to wake up covering in filth.


    If she got angry at me afterwards, I''d accept her anger.


    After a few minutes of cleaning, she was now sparkly. I quickly went upstairs and got a pair of clothes from her wardrobe.


    I wasn''t sure which one she liked the most since she had a few dozen, so I casually picked out a one piece dress that went up to her knees.


    Going back downstairs, I quickly dressed her and picked her up and then walked back upstairs towards her room and slowly laid her in her own bed.


    I covered her in her blanket before I slowly sat at the edge of her bed and gently caressed her head.


    She looked so peaceful and happy.


    It may not be within my power, but I hope I one day possessed enough power to ensure that she can always have such a serene look upon her.


    She tightened herself inside her blanket as she nuzzled against my hand caressing her head.


    I sighed as I thought how peaceful this situation looked.


    It made me forget all of bad memories since I had come to this world.


    This peaceful, little moment made me truly, very happy.


    It made me wonder if I hadn''t come to this world, would I have someday back on Earth one day get married and have my own children, and if I had a daughter, would I truly be as happy as I was right now in this moment?


    I don''t know. I didn''t know how to answer such a question.


    All I knew was that in this world, I truly did view Sasha as my own blood and life child. I truly loved her as my daughter.


    After we all we had been through together in this world, she had become the only person I had truly come to trust. The only person I had truly come to love.


    She was what made staying in this alternate reality full of darkness so bearable.


    I suddenly remembered my own fathers words to me when my older brother had asked my father whether he loved us boys more, or my sisters more? His words were ''I love all of you children equally, but one day, when you have your own children you will become men, but you wont become a true father until you have a daughter''.


    We had taken his words in jest and laughed it off, thinking how could there be a difference between a daughter and a son, but I guess I had finally found out.


    I guess I really had become a father.


    ---


    Hey guys, Old man here!


    Sorry about the late chapter, I was supposed to upload it 6 hours ago, but I slept in for far longer than I thought I would (I slept in for 5 hours, and just got up).


    Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the chapter! I''ll be wrapping up the emotional period of Sasha and Zev, and I''ll be beginning the next arc very soon!


    The next arc may have a bit more comedy in it than usual, but it''ll fit the arc. So till then, Adios!


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man


    P.S. I may try to become like those Xianxia writers back in China, who manage to unleash dozens of chapters a months. I will try my best, to boost my weekly chapters from 3 all the way upto 14! HueHueHue. That probably won''t happen, but do expect 5+ chapters a week from now.

 Chapter 19: A True Family

    As I caressed Sasha''s head, I thought about what it actually meant to be a father.


    I mean, most of my childhood memories are from my mother being there for me, with my dad vaguely being in the background, going along with whatever my mother said or did.


    He did have his big moments and I have many great memories regarding my father, but... I don''t recall him ever making a major decision regarding my lifestyle.


    Aside from that one time I wanted to choose ''Drama'' as a class in School, but he was ferociously against it.


    Thinking about it carefully, now that I had accepted that I viewed Sasha as my own child after several months of deep discussion with myself, what was I supposed to do now.


    That aside, what do I tell her? Do I tell her when she wakes up? ''Hey, girl, I''m your dad!''... I mean, that would just be weird and creepy.


    So now I have two problems. 1, what exactly does being a father entail and 2, how do I tell her I view her as my own child.


    Or do I just keep it bottled up and never tell her. No, that is even creepier then just telling her outright.


    Oh! I just had a brilliant idea. Whenever Sasha or me have another emotional moment, I''ll tell her then.


    That way it''ll come out both smoothly and have more of an impact.


    Wait... I just realised I had another problem. Sasha still has a father, and her father was very nice to her from what she had mentioned about him.


    So... I don''t think Sasha wants another father. Fuck. If I told her I viewed her as my own daughter, it would just fuck with her psyche even more. I don''t want her to have to choose between her biological father and me.


    That would just be cruel and petty.


    Hmm... Is there a difference between being a grandfather and being a father? I don''t really know. Since I''m neither.


    So, I could tell her I view her as my granddaughter? Would that work? I think that would be fine...


    Fuck it. I''ll think about this problem properly later on, since Sasha was about to wake up.


    I looked down at her and watched as she slowly opened her eyes and stared around in confusion.


    She looked up at my hand that was caressing her head and she smiled warmly as she turned towards me.


    She had this immensely peaceful look upon her, as if she had no worries at all in the world.


    Knowing that her breakthrough had allowed her to finally be at peace with herself, was a huge relief for myself.


    She slowly began to get up, so I stop patting her. After a few moments, she was now sitting on top of the covers of her bed, right next to me.


    Sitting by my side, she leaned her against me, and simply closed her eyes. She wasn''t sleeping, I could tell. She was simply, relaxing.


    As she leaned against me, I studied her. She was currently playing with her mana, meaning she knew she had broken through, but she wasn''t shocked at all. Unlike the first time she broke through, which had left her stunned.


    She played with her mana, extending its reach and then bringing it back, coiling it around both herself and me.


    We sat like that for a few hours, simply enjoying the peace and quiet.


    After a while, Sasha suddenly got up. She walked in front of me and then stood there, staring at me.


    As I looked up at her face, she was blushing, so I realised why she had suddenly gotten up.


    She was wondering how come she was in another dress and sleeping in her bed.


    Now, I was wondering how to explain this to her but she suddenly began to speak.


    Sasha: ¡°Thank you¡± was the first thing she said to me, which caused me to smile towards her ¡°For being with me, watching over me, caring for me, for everything¡± she said as she jumped into my embrace and buried her face in my chest. I wasn''t sure if she was crying or not, so I simply patted her head, but I didn''t miss her whisper which said ''and for loving me''.


    I felt very sad when I heard that silent little whisper, so I hugged her tightly.


    We sat like that for a while as I realised I had dodged the little bullet known as ''explaining how I had cleaned her and dressed her''.


    After awhile, she slowly got up and smiled towards me, but she had a weird look on her face, as she began to fidget.


    I think she wanted to ask me a question, but she wasn''t sure if she should.


    Zev: I saw no reason she shouldn''t ask me a question if she had one ¡°Tell me little one¡± I said as I studied her ¡°What is the question that is bothering you and I''ll answer it if I can¡± but contrary to what I thought, instead of my words relaxing her, she began to blush once more.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Sasha: ¡°Master¡± she suddenly chimed as she looked down, hiding her face from me ¡°Am I just a disciple to you?¡± she asked quietly ¡°Or am I...¡± she looked up at me, tears gathering in her eyes as she bit her lips.


    She looked so adorable like this. You just wanted to hug her. That aside, I breathed a sigh of relief on the inside.


    From her facial expression, I could tell this wasn''t a love confession. Well, not in the sense I thought it was anyway.


    I don''t know how I''d react to that. So thank god it wasn''t.


    What she wanted to know was if she was more than just a disciple to me. If she was important to me. If she was similar to family to me. She already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from me, so I decided to oblige with her wish.


    Sasha: ¡°I know you care for me, I know you lo..¡± she stopped herself from completing her words as she looked at me, small bubbles of tears gathering at the corner of her eyes ¡°Everything you''ve done for me, you did for no reason at all, you simply cared for me because you could¡± she said as she grabbed my hand and held it to her chest ¡°You never asked for anything, and you tried your best to do everything you could for me¡± her tears began to fall as she spoke to me.


    Even my own eyes began to itch. God damn it. Why is this place so dusty.


    Sasha: ¡°All these years we spent together, no matter what I went through, no matter what hardships I put you through, you silently endured by my side, through all my tantrums, my nightmares, my tears, you consoled and cared for me as best as you could¡± she stuttered as she talked in between her tears ¡°I''ve seen how you look at me, that gentle look in your eyes, it never held any ulterior motives, you never looked at me with anything but kindness and lo..¡± she started crying and couldn''t finish her words.


    My god, this room was so fucking dusty. All of these dust particles were gathering around my eyes and it was really itchy.


    Sasha: ¡°Thank you so much for loving me for what I am¡± she said with a beautiful smile on her face ¡°Thank you for loving me for being a little girl just like a father¡± and with that she began to laugh as she cried, pure happiness visible on her face as she emptied all of her remaining emotions.


    I began to cry as well. My tears dropped. For fucks sake, this room was way too fucking dusty, but I wasn''t really angry. On the contrary, I was quite happy.


    This was also a good time to say she was a like a daughter to me. No matter what happens, it was best to get it out of my chest.


    I don''t know how she would react, but no matter what, I had to tell her how I viewed her. If I just kept my own emotions bottled up, it would affect us both in the future.


    Zev: ¡°Little one¡± I pulled her close to me and sat her on my knee ¡°To me, you have become what I have never had before¡± and with that I hugged her tightly ¡°You have become a daughter to me¡± and with that, I heard her cling to my robe and cry quietly.


    But her tone was one filled with joy and I could hear her mix a laugh or two into her tears.


    It seems she was more than just happy to hear me call her my daughter.


    I consoled her as she let her emotions out.


    I wonder how many times Sasha has cried since we got to know one another. How many times out of pain or sadness and how many times out of joy.


    Out of pain and sadness, she has cried at least a few dozen times. She did have quite a few nightmares, from both her past as well as the events of the Tzun Rei Sect.


    Out of joy, nowhere near as many times as its counterpart, but still quite a few times.


    She was such an emotional girl. Not that I held it against her. Seeing as how I''d probably cry far more than her if I was the one in her situation.


    Seeing as how I was crying right now.


    ----


    Old Man here,


    Hope you all enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. My room was really dusty when I wrote it, so you know, I should probably clean it.


    Nonetheless, I guess this chapter could be called an defacto end to Arc 1. I decided to end the arc like this, because this seemed like a good point.


    The next few chapters will build up the next segment before starting Arc 2. So these next few chapters, probably around 20 to 23 or 24, will be called ''Inbetween Chaps''.


    Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, and if you like it, please do favourite, follow and rate. You don''t have to do any of that, but it would make me happy if you do ^^.


    Anyway, Love and Peace,


    -Old Man.

 Chapter 20: Predetermined, or Random?

    After Sasha had let her emotions out, she sat by my side, but she was looking down while continuously fidgeting.


    I patted her as she turned to look up at me, an incredibly pure smile on her face.


    Today was chock full of emotions and feelings, but I must admit, it was a damn fine day.


    I feel like Sasha and I managed to convey our feelings and help each other move on. I feel like we managed to further understand ourselves.


    All in all, I am sure that both of us benefited immensely from releasing our pent up feelings.


    I watched her beam with happiness as she nuzzled against my palm but I sighed internally.


    These peaceful days were about to end since Sasha and I had to move on to the City of Gilleghan.


    Although I had reputation and standing in the surrounding villagers and small cities, that type of standing won''t be any sort of deterrent to the people who should be after Sasha.


    Doven didn''t explain much about them since I blew my chance to learn more by acting all knowing, but they shouldn''t be weak people. I don''t think the little power I''ve accumulated out here would serve me any purpose, so for that reason, it is time for us to leave.


    Now that I was thinking about it, Roman did tell me about some strange people who were seeking information regarding Sasha and I.


    If these people actually belonged to Sasha''s Clan, then that meant trouble would soon be coming.


    The only reason I actually spent so long out here in the outskirts of Gilleghan was because I wanted Sasha to breakthrough to the Mage rank before we moved on.


    When we first came here, I originally didn''t plan on staying too long, but I got complacent because of how comfortable things became.


    Nonetheless, our days here are now numbered.


    Within the next few days, we will have to finish packing up and leave.


    It saddened me to leave behind my abode, but it isn''t like my ring could carry a house now, was it.


    I slowly got up and stopped patting Sasha.


    Zev: ¡°Little one, you should head outside and test out your new abilities so you can get used to your new power¡± as I said this, I turned Sasha around and gently patted her back ¡°Now out you go little one¡± and with a small pout, Sasha stuck her tongue out at me before skipping away.


    As I watched her leave the temple from the pavilion, I forgot to tell her not to head to far away from the temple on the off chance Sasha''s clans people actually came.


    Zev: Mustering up my vocals, I yelled out after Sasha who was just about to slip outside of the view of my vision ¡°Don''t head too far out little one¡± my voice spread out further then I thought it would, as if being so loud wasn''t enough, an echo followed suit.


    ''Don''t head to far out little one''


    ''..On''t head to far out little on..''


    ''..n''t head to far out little o..''


    And like that, I listened to my voice for a good few seconds.


    Sasha: After a few moments, suddenly I heard Sasha yell back at me ¡°You don''t need to scream so loudly, jeez¡± but her voice didn''t echo and it wasn''t as loud as mine either.


    I scratched my head awkwardly as I realised my control over my own measly power was terrible.


    Sighing, I watched her disappear out of my view before I turned back around and walked down to the basement, where I kept all of my not so important stuff.


    There was quite a bit of gold and gems, which were gifted to me by the surrounding powers. An immense amount of food, as well as other miscellaneous stuff.


    I looked at my nearly empty rings, which only contained my Gods Cheat Sheet, my Soul Sword, my collection of pills which included God Tier Rank 1-5 pills for both Magus and Immortals, my 100% Purity Immortal Creation Pill and the tome ''Art of Majesty''.


    Aside from that, everything else I owned was currently in this basement of mine.


    I suddenly remembered the Gods Cheat Sheet now that I was looking through my rings, and thought that I should check it out. Maybe I got a reward for Sasha breaking through to another rank.


    Taking the sheet out, I looked down at it and a single tear rolled down my cheek.


    ''Quest


    Part 1


    Create an Entity, with a minimum of 2 ''Students/Adopted Children/Priestling/Etc'' and one ''Teacher/Elder/Priest/Etc''


    Updated: 1 Disciple taken.


    Updated 1.2: Disciple has risen in Rank to Mage.


    Conditions: Must be the Best of the Best


    Time Limit: ???''


    I quickly turned the sheet around and I smiled in pure joy.


    ''1: Weapons


    2: Clothing


    3: Resources


    4: Special


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    5: Immortal Practitioner


    6: Magus


    7: Favors


    Primal Points: 100


    Token: x1 [May be redeemed for Predetermined Gift Chest] [May be redeemed for ''Random'']


    As I read those two final lines, I felt both immense joy and shock.


    100 PP wasn''t really a lot, but I didn''t have much hope of getting PP for a breakthrough in the first place.


    What was really shocking was the x1 Token which could be redeemed for a ''Predetermined Gift Chest'' or for a ''Random''.


    Just the thought of Random made me shiver in fear.


    I had wasted 300 PP on Random and got 1 very rare item which I may not ever use.


    But I could still get something very incredible from Random.


    On the other hand, I don''t know what was in the Predetermined Gift Chest.


    Who knew what was in it?! It was pretty much equal to Random to me since I didn''t know what was in either of them.


    I sighed as I stroked my mild beard which had grown over the past few years.


    My beard wasn''t really that long, but it was nice and thick, and I thought it looked good on me.


    Nonetheless, I had to choose whether or not to take the Predetermined Gift Chest or risk the Random.


    This was a serious headache inducing question.


    I have come to absolutely hate gambling ever since I lost 300 PP, but I still had to make a choice.


    Do I shake hands with the devil and choose Random, or do I believe in the Gift Chest and choose what was predetermined.


    I... Couldn''t really make a choice.


    I honestly didn''t know what to do.


    So I did what anyone else would do in this situation. I pushed it back on the list of things I had to do.


    It went from 1st to 2nd.


    The thing that was second on the list of things I had to do, had now become first, and that thing was to find Sasha another Art to study since she had now mastered the ''Art of Majesty''.


    I looked through the lists of tomes and spells for Magus to find something that suited Sasha, but for 100 PP, I was unable to find anything half decent.


    I was tempted to buy a skill called ''Bananaformation'', which allowed one to turn things into banana''s.


    But I honestly didn''t want Sasha to hate me over a joke. The spell only cost 10 PP, so it is worth it in terms of price versus use.


    I mean, imagine the shock an enemy would have when their weapon or talisman or whatever they were using, turned into a banana.


    That short moment of distraction is all you would need to win the battle.


    Nonetheless, I got rid of that thought and tried to find another art for Sasha to practice.


    Surprisingly, I managed to find an art which wasn''t all that bad.


    It was called ''Purity of a Child'' and it had the capability of boosting ones willpower and soul immensely.


    This was a good art for Sasha as it would allow her to shirk off the powerful aura of those stronger than her.


    And on the off chance someone had the ability to take control of her body, she would be able to hopefully defend against that.


    I chose that tome and bought it.


    It cost me 75 PP, leaving me with a meagre 25 PP.


    Shortly after I bought it, my palm glowed for a moment before a beautifully designed book appeared.


    It oozed innocence and made me feel happy and calm just by looking at it.


    Its appearance was also cute, with its light blue colour and small size.


    I put the tome into my ring and then looked back at the sheet and decided to choose the predetermined gift.


    I prayed that it was a good gift, and if it wasn''t, I''d simply curse at Zoras till I calmed down.


    I breathed in and out a few times till I was certain of what I going to do and then I chose the Predetermined gift.


    Suddenly, in front of me appeared a large chest which calmly sat there.


    It didn''t spasm wildly like ''Random'' did. It simply sat still.


    I edged closer to the chest very slowly till I was right in front of it before I breathed in and forced the chest open.


    ---


    Hey guys, I hope you enjoy the chapter.


    I only proofread it once, so it may or may not possess a few errors. If it does, my bad, but I am really sleepy now, so I''ll proofread it again when I make up.


    That aside, I finally reached Chapter 20 (Chapter 22, if I count the Interlude and the Prologue), which is a milestone! That is 1/5 out of a Hundred Chapters!


    I hope you all enjoyed the the ride till this point, and I hope you continue to accompany the deeper we go!


    On that side note, if anyone is capable of drawing a decent cover art for free, I''d be really thankful. I mean, you don''t have to, but it would be nice HueHueHue.


    Also, I am terrible at writing a synopsis, so if anyone has a better synopsis for me to use, please do tell. My current one doesn''t really explain what the story is about, or atleast I feel that way.


    Anyway, the long rant aside, Thank you for reading my story.


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Interlude II: Sasha I

    I skipped lightly as I moved a short distance away from Master.


    I mean, in the first place I didn''t exactly plan on going that far away, but he yelled so loud, and it didn''t even feel like he was trying to yell very loudly.


    Who knows how many kilometres that ''little'' shout of his reverberated. I giggled at the thought of so many people hearing Master tell me not to go to far.


    It''s quite embarrassing, but oh well, not much I can do about Master being over-protective.


    I finally neared my resting spot, or the spot I had claimed to be my resting spot.


    It was this beautiful tree, which extended quite far up into the sky. It was at least 50 or so metres tall, but what made it beautiful wasn''t its size, it was its petals, because they were rainbow coloured.


    These petals ranged in colour from blue to pink to yellow. It was beautiful.


    It was as if the sky was flushed with a thousand rainbows, which stunned me quite so, the first time I saw this place.


    As I sat down underneath the tree, it felt like I was being embraced, as if I could rest here without worries, and that is what I planned on doing.


    I had already learned that this place was inaccessible to anyone else, and I had tried to bring someone here.


    I dragged Roman, who my Master had taken a liking to, and made him come with me. He couldn''t enter, and when I asked him what happened when I entered, he simply said, that I disappeared.


    So I came to the conclusion, that this tree only let select people enter its realm, and I happened to be one of those people.


    I''m sure Master knew this tree and its special domain existed, and because Master said nothing about it, I had taken it to be a safe zone. I mean, Master wouldn''t let me be hurt by anything.


    As I closed my eyes, I leaned back against the tree and let my mana go free. Unhindered, my mana raged everywhere, flailing about wildly.


    I never did this next to Master, because he''d get angry if I destroyed the temple. I mean, he is quite strict when it comes to taking care of ones own property.


    Nonetheless, no matter how I let my mana rage here, it couldn''t hurt even a single petal on this tree, and putting this into perspective, I could destroy Masters temple within a second if I went wild with my mana.


    So it was quite confusing how such a mysterious tree could simply exist out here, without anyone ever noticing.


    It made me happy anyway, since this was now my exclusive spot.


    What made me sad though, was now that I had broken through to the next Rank, Master planned on leaving, and there was no way I could move this tree.


    I mean, Master most definitely could, but he wouldn''t do it. I mean, he made me do everything myself, and simply guided me along the way. Without his guidance, I probably wouldn''t have broken through for who knows how many years.


    If I begged in a cute manner though, he would most likely cave and bring this tree with us on our travels, but I didn''t want to inconvenience Master, no matter how little of an inconvenience it would be.


    Nonetheless, I have seen Master gazing at this tree''s direction quite a few times, and each time he did, the tree would shake gently.


    Even, I, with all my power couldn''t faze this tree in the slightest, and Master, with a mere gaze, made the tree shake.


    I sighed. It was quite pitiful of me to compare myself to Master. I mean, he is a man... No, master isn''t a mere man, he is something so much more. He is a being so mysterious and powerful that I couldn''t even properly fathom his true depth.


    Thinking back to my childhood, and all the powerful figures I had come across, Master just seemed so much more.


    Even back then, with my minuscule power, which solely stemmed from my bloodline, when I was labelled as trash because I couldn''t even cultivate, when I saw those powerful beings from my Clan and its allies, not one of those old assholes came close to Master.


    Thinking back to it, my life was quite terrible in this world.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    From my birth till my eventual self exile so I could get away from the pain, those days were terrible.


    My father and mother... Two human beings of which I only loosely care for. My father never loved me, the only reason he even defended me from my ''grandfather'' was because he wanted to protect his reputation.


    He didn''t want to have a abused and bloody daughter as that would have lessened his fucking ''face''.


    I hated those days.


    Mother... I want to love her. I truly do, but I just can''t bring myself to do it properly.


    Even after all I put my mother and father through, they barely extended any love to me. Which was understandable, but it still pained me immensely.


    My father never once consoled me, never once did he look at me positively. He only ever looked at me with pity and disgust.


    It was terrible, being looked at like that by your own father.


    Mother was heart broken. She always cried whenever she saw me, and quite a few times, she did attempt to console me, but began crying and ran away before she even began.


    My childhood was a complete nightmare.


    It got even worse when my little brother was born.


    It was at that moment that my life became a living hell.


    My father complied by my ''grandfathers'' wishes and had me exiled from the main house since I, the trash heir was no longer needed now that a heir who could cultivate was born.


    I was meant to be executed by my ''grandfather'' but my father begged my grandfather to spare me. After multiple days of torturing my father... My ''grandfather'' finally complied, but I was then sent to live with the servants and even they treated my like trash.


    If it wasn''t for the Head Maid Latessha, I think I would have gone through some severe days. She was one of the only people in that entire Clan that ever treated me nicely.


    In that entire Clan, aside from my parents whom I have a love and hate relationship with, I had Head Maid Latessha, Elder Yellan. my elder female cousin, Beatrix and my Mothers two followers, Feilen and Johann whom I cared for.


    A total of 7 people in a clan that numbered who knew how many millions of people. As a clan, their higher ups probably had several thousand people, of whom 4 people, Elder Yellan, my Cousin Beatrix and my parents consisted. They then had several million direct servants, of whom only Latessha, Feilen and Johann cared for me.


    The direct population under their control? I don''t even know how many billion, or trillion that number reached.


    But it didn''t matter.


    I had cut myself from that clan.


    On my 5th birthday, I had begged Johann to take me away from the clan. I''d rather live as I commoner than stay within that fucking clan for a minute longer.


    And Johann complied.


    Him and Feilen together, went to my mother, got some resources and then we left. In the night, using my mothers seal, I was carried outside of the Clan in a bag, as if I was some resources.


    But I was happy to finally be out of that clan.


    I was happy to be free of that darkness, because that wasn''t something that I, as a child should have to go through.


    This world was a terrible world to be in. I wished at those times that I could have been born in a better world, but now? Not any more. I didn''t have wishes like that any more.


    Not since Master had taken me under his wings. Not since Master had allowed me to finally soar. To finally feel free.


    ----


    Hey guys, Old Man here.


    Hope you enjoy the Interlude! I''ll be bringing you some more chapters soon, but I''ve been busy so I didn''t exactly have much time to proofread. My bad Peeps!


    Nonetheless, this is the First Sasha Interlude, hence the [Sasha I]. I think I''ll make a Sasha Interlude every 10, 20, or 25 chapters. Not sure right now.


    Nonetheless, the next Chapter will be Chapter 21, and you can finally find out "WHAT''S IN THE F*&KING BOX".


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 21: Not all good things are good immediately

    Looking down at the chest, my eyes lit up in joy. I stared down at it, sucking my breath in as I attempted to calm myself down. Sighing in and out, I managed calmed myself down relatively quickly.


    Looking down at the chest, I slowly moved my arms into the interior of the chest to pick up the two items that were inside of it; a note and a ring. Quickly scouring the ring, I began to jump up and down in joy.


    Oh, predetermined chest, I shall never doubt your authenticity ever again.


    The ring, this beautiful ring is a majestic item of utmost quality, that someone of my level would almost guaranteed, never possess in their lifetime unless like me, they possessed a patron of incredulous power.


    [Mini Dimension Ring] is what this majestic item was called, and that is what it was. It had a small dimension inside of it.


    It was in-fucking-credible. A whole god damned dimension. Well, the dimension itself wasn''t that large, it was merely 1km2, but it was still a whole god damned dimension for myself.


    I mean, how fucking lucky was I!? Immensely fucking lucky is what I was.


    I quickly placed the ring onto my right hands middle finger and began to twirl my wrist left and right as I stared at my ring in joy.


    I was bursting with happiness. This was far better than all my other rings combined. I mean I had spent a total of 125PP on my five storage rings, but they had in total a storage area of 5m2, which when compared to the Dimension Ring, was nothing. I mean, 1km2 vs 5m2? The answer of which was more useful was obvious.


    I calmed myself down once more so that I could get on with my day.


    I turned my attention towards the note which I dropped back into the chest in my excitement. It was the other item which came out of this predetermined chest, so I was already curious to what was written on this simple looking note.


    Was it a high quality art, that would immensely aid Sasha or I''s cultivation? Was it a treasure map, that would guide me to some incredible treasure? What could it possibly contain?


    Calming my already wild thought process, I slowly picked up the note, before breathing in deeply and opening it.


    ''My dearest champion, I, your master, am deeply satisfied with your recent exploits. You make me proud with how you managed to get through so many events. It is deeply ''entertaining'' and for that reason, and that reason alone, I have gifted you with this ring. Though, I''d have been happier if you chose ''Random'', but sadly you didn''t. If you had chosen random, I''d have gifted you the ring and 1000 Primal Points, but oh well. Do enjoy the gift and keep up the good work.


    Yours sincerely,


    -Zoras''


    As I read this, I froze up. 1000PP? He would have gifted me with 1000PP if I had fucking chosen ''Random''?


    That god damned piece of shit! How dare he torment me?


    Did he have to fucking tell me that? Why the hell would he tell me?! I didn''t want to fucking know!


    I threw the note away in my anger.


    Sighing, I calmed myself down as I wept bitterly on the inside. Who does that to their own champion? I mean, I''m pretty sure all gods treated their Champions excellently, but my own god instead treated me like entertainment.


    Wait... On that note, didn''t he say he was entertained by my actions. Quickly picking up the note again, I read it and began to fume once more.


    This son of bitch, did he partner up with the NSA or something? Spying on me like some creepy son of a bitch. What a huge fucking creep... but thinking about it, it wasn''t really a proper reason for me to get angry at Zoras. I mean, I''m almost sure that every god watches what their champion does.


    The only reason I''m angry is because Zoras is an asshole. I pointed both of my middle fingers up into the air, and began moving them up and down as I yelled at my roof.


    Zev: ¡°Fuck you Zoras¡± I yelled out as I stared at the ceiling ¡°Eat this¡± I said as my middle fingers moved up and down, and like that, I spent five minutes yelling at my ceiling.


    I must seem insane now that I think about it.


    Yelling at my ceiling... Honestly, who does that?


    God damn it. In this one day, I''ve sworn more than I have in the last few months.


    I forced myself to breathe in and out, till I was sure I had gotten my anger out of my system. Once I was sure I had done so, I slowly made my way outside of my humble abode.


    Stolen story; please report.


    I thought about my actions from a few minutes ago, and thinking about it, did I really have a proper reason to get angry at Zoras? I mean, he did just give me a Dimension Ring.


    Nonetheless, it was human nature, or at least I like to tell myself so, that I was angry over being given less because I chose the wrong option.


    I slowly walked outside as I contemplated what I could do with my new ring, when I suddenly thought about something incredible.


    I thought about my idea, wondering whether or not it was a good idea.


    I mean, I was planning on storing the temple inside of the ring, because it had more than enough space, but what if it screwed up and the temple got wrecked.


    I decided that I would take the risk, because if I was going to leave anyway, it wasn''t like it mattered if the temple was broken or not.


    Standing outside, I looked at the temple, and prepared myself. I extended my hand and wrapped my aura around the house and the ring, and then I attempted to insert it inside.


    My aura began to quake from the magnitude of my action, but I held on. My breathing was getting rough, and I was feeling the ache in my body, but it looked like everything was working so far.


    Another minute passed and suddenly, I felt a large shock wave hit me. I had to close my eyes from the force because the pain was so unbearable. My muscles felt like they were about to burst, and my bones felt like they were about to shatter. I was in so much pain that I couldn''t even muster up a scream.


    Once the shock wave finally diminished, I barely managed to open up my eyes, to discover that the temple was missing, and a hole where previously the basement of the temple was positioned was visible to the eye.


    Looking at the hole in the ground, I sighed. A perfect, flat square was visible in the ground.


    If someone filled the edges with concrete and poured water into it, it would make a good looking pool.


    Nonetheless, I attempted to feel the ring to see if my temple managed to transition properly, but when I attempted to scan the ring, I felt a mind numbing headache.


    It looked like I was still to weak to use such a high class item. I mean, what was I expecting? That I, a slightly stronger than average human, would be capable of using a God Class Item, even if it was a low class one.


    Shaking my head, I slowly began to move in the direction Sasha had skipped off to.


    Now that I was carrying everything I owned on my own body, I had no reason to linger around here any more.


    It was finally time to take Sasha and move on to Gilleghan City.


    I had to walk very slowly, because I was immense pain currently. That shock wave fucked me over pretty badly.


    Why was there a shock wave in the first place? Was it because I was to weak to move an item into the Dimension Ring, or was it because I moved something to large for my current level into an item above my current level?


    Who knows at this point, but whatever it was, I had only one thing to say. ''Fuck you, Zoras''.


    It was that asshole that sent me an item so far above my current level, that it was pointless for me to use it, and that using it at my level would injure me severely.


    My slow trek towards Sasha continued on, leaving me to think about life and its mysteries.


    ------


    Hey everyone, Old Man here!


    Now, I have a few things to say.


    1. I am sorry that I took almost 20 days between posting Chapter 20 and 21. The reason for that was my files got corrupted, I got depressed, I tried to get them back, I did get quite a few of them back, but I lost Chapter 18 and forward. Meaning I had to rewrite Chapter 21 and forward.


    So for that reason, I am sorry. Excuses aside, I am sorry for taking so long to get my bearing together. I am ashamed!


    2. Sorry for making you all wait so long, but do not worry! I will release 1 chapter every 3 days, since I''m almost already done with Chapter 22! Just a few edits, and it might come out earlier. I''ll start working on 23 soon as well.


    3. I changed the name of the novel, sort of. It''s full name is now as follows; [Teaching Heroes of Might and Magic: Mentor of Main Characters]. I think the name is quite cool and nice! That is all.


    Love and Peace Guys,


    -Old Man.


    P.S. Learn from my mistakes, make backups both online and locally.

 Chapter 22: Sentience is a weird thing, and so are emotions in critical moments.

    My journey towards Sasha was a relatively quick one, seeing as how it was merely a long walk up a small hill, through a relatively foggy area, which was eerily empty, containing nothing whatsoever.


    Thinking about it, this place was quite creepy when you connected a few dots with some of the horror movies I watched back on Earth. Perhaps this was some silent hill like area, but considering that fact that Sasha enjoyed staying in this creepy environment, it can''t be that bad, right?


    So I mustered up my minuscule courage, and walked through the immensely thick fog, and after several dozen minutes, of what I''m sure is me walking around in a circle, both my injuries and my slow walk came to an end. My injuries were more internal than external, so I managed to get over them quickly. I mean dealing with a powerful headache isn''t that hard, since if I had some panadol, that pain would be gone almost instantly. Nonetheless, this world didn''t have any headache medicine, so I just had to stop thinking for awhile, which isn''t that hard either.


    Nonetheless, I walked out of the fog, into a beautiful clearing, full of pretty flowers, ranging from roses, to tulips, to weird cherry blossoms that were on the ground, to lotuses, to lilies and poppies.


    In the middle of this clearing full of flowers was a beautiful tree, which was ridiculously tall, but what made it beautiful wasn''t its immense height, but its rainbow coloured leaves. It was shockingly beautiful.


    A mesmerising sight, which made me inhale deeply in shock. I can''t believe I didn''t realise such a beautiful place was this close to my humble abode.


    I looked at the base of the rainbow tree, and there she was, my little disciple. She lay against the tree with a her eyes closed and a look of pure peace upon her as she rested lightly.


    All of this coupled together was incredible. It was surreal in its beauty. As if a godly artist poured his soul into a painting. I simply stood on the edge of the clearing as I stared in a dumb and creepy manner, but which father didn''t at such times.


    I quickly collected myself and slowly walked towards Sasha, doing my best to walk as quietly as possible. I didn''t want to disturb her, but I still walked towards her. Such a contradictory act.


    Nonetheless, I made my way towards her as I gently moved through the field of flowers as they brushed against me ever so slightly. The rainbow tree itself looked as if it twisted itself to stare at me, but that was impossible. I mean, a sentient tree? Actually, thinking about it properly, a sentient tree was easily possible in this fucked up world.


    I mean, I was brought to this alternate reality, but a barbarian of a god, whose power I couldn''t even fathom.


    So, I did what any weakling putting up a fake act of strength did, I put my guard up against this rainbow tree, just in case it was a man eating tree that lulled its prey towards itself with its surreal beauty and hallucinations.


    I quickly scoured my surrounding to see if I was stuck in a hallucination, but my ability turned up with nothing, which meant I was being paranoid for no reason.


    I sighed as I stared at this majestic tree. I stopped a couple of metres away from this rainbow tree and attempted to use scour on it. If scour came up with information, it meant the rainbow tree wasn''t sentient and I was becoming paranoid. This was both a good and bad outcome. It was good because it meant I could let my guard down, but it was bad because I was starting to become suspicious of everything in this world, including a fucking a tree.


    If scour came up with nothing, it meant the rainbow tree was in fact sentient, and that my paranoia was justified, but just like the previous outcome, this was both good and bad. It was good, because if it is sentient, it meant I was still a paranoid bastard, but I was right to be paranoid, but it was bad because the tree was actually fucking sentient.


    I sighed deeply and I scoured the tree, and then I almost shat myself. No info came up. The tree was fucking sentient. Oh my fucking god! What do I do now?!


    Fuck! Sasha was sleeping against it. Oh my god... What do I do?!


    Standing several metres away from the tree, I slowly began to walk around it. It wasn''t a fast walk, it wasn''t even a normal walk. It was a super slow, old school western cowboy movie level slow walk.


    I walked around the rainbow tree ever so slowly, as it turned ever so slowly to follow me. At this point in time, I was almost certain that this tree was as scared of me as I was scared of it.


    In the time it took for me to walk around the rainbow tree, which was a very long time because of my slow walk, I saw the tree visibly shake... I saw a tree shake in fear. How many people can claim to have been able to see such a thing? I doubt that number would exceed more than a hundred.


    I''m not even sure what the tree was afraid of either. Was it afraid of the robe, or something else that Zoras had given to me without my knowledge? Was this robe so badass that it could make something as incredible as this rainbow tree shake in fear? Was this robe so badass that it would let me walk through a location known as the ''Forest of Silence'' without so much as a single interruption?


    I had no fucking clue, and I doubt I would find out anytime soon.


    I stopped my rotation of the tree once I was back in my original position. I stood there and stared at the tree for a couple more minutes before I slowly walked towards it. I was immensely cautious as I neared the tree, and I''m not even sure how cautious the tree itself was.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    I prepared my courage by dipping my balls in steel and made my way towards the rainbow tree till I was just barely a metre away from it.


    Sasha was half a metre to my right, but she was deeply asleep. As if what was happening right now had nothing to do with her whatsoever.


    This girl... I swear, all she had done in the couple of years we''ve been together is bring endless trouble my way. From making me doubt my morality, to forcing me into positions in which I could easily have died if the opposition figured out my bullshit, and now she brought me to this ''tree''.


    Standing in front of the tree, I breathed in deeply before I began to speak to the rainbow tree.


    ¡°It is a pleasure to meet you¡± I started off the conversation with positive small talk, just to show I was polite ¡°Also, do allow me to thank you for taking care of the little one¡± I continued on a positive note with the tree, so that it would have a better opinion of me ¡°I know you didn''t have to look after the brat, but because you did, you have my thanks¡± I said as I gave the tree a smile, which even I didn''t know if it was genuine or not. If the smile was genuine, it meant I was adapting to this world, where you can even have a conversation with a tree. If my smile was fake, it meant I was still adapting to this world, but I didn''t like or comprehend the things that were happening to me, like conversing with a tree.


    Nonetheless, whether I was going insane or not didn''t matter any more, so I simply waited for the tree to reply somehow.


    The rainbow tree went completely still. I think it was similar to when a human went stiff in shock. I watched the rainbow tree stop moving completely, even its leaves didn''t sway in the light wind. If my words were this effective, there was no reason to stop now, was there? So I quickly attempted to rectify the situation.


    ¡°You''ve helped soothe the turmoil within the little ones heart, and for that reason, I would like to thank you, personally if you do not mind¡± I asked. My question shocked me as well. I can''t believe I managed to man up so much and ask such a thing? Rectify my ass, I made the situation worse. I was having a panic attack now that I was thinking things through.


    What if its personal form was horrifying? No one said a beautiful trees other form was going to be pretty. What if I lost my cool when it showed its real form? What if I screamed out loud in fear?


    Oh my god. No, fuck god, he won''t help. Oh myself. Shit. What do I do?


    The tree itself began to shake, and I''m not sure if it was out of anger or another emotion. What if asking to see it personally was something really offensive to sentient trees? What if I step on a major taboo for this rainbow trees race?


    My god damned heart had to act up now didn''t it? And my brain as well? Why did the two most important organs in regards to personal interactions have to go full retard during such a critical moment?


    I attempted to force myself to calm down, but it wasn''t working. The more I tried to calm myself down, the more my heart and brain began to act up.


    So this is how I die, huh? Well, I guess dying in such a beautiful place isn''t exactly the worse way to go.


    What...? I calmed down. So finally accepting I was going to die calmed me down? Shouldn''t that make me panic even more?


    Nonetheless, that didn''t really matter. Now that I had managed to calm down, it was time to focus on this tree and see what it did.


    I still don''t understand how if I''m panicking on the inside, I manage to stay absolutely calm on the outside. It made no sense, and I had no way of making sense of it, but I guess I should thank Zoras for this ability, because I doubt anyone else would give me such a thing.


    Staring at the tree, I hoped that it didn''t react violently, but what happens, happens.


    I looked at the tree, and I was positive it was staring back at me. It was most definitely studying me, and after several minutes of awkward silence, a voice suddenly penetrated the awkward atmosphere.


    A beautiful, ethereal voice entered my ears. As if an angel began to whisper in my ear, this voice entered my very being as it spoke. It was so beautiful I almost began to cry just from hearing this voice.


    I was shocked to my very core, but thanks to my bullshit ability of somehow keeping calm on the outside, I didn''t react visibly at all.


    I felt like crying on the inside, because the voice brought up my purest emotions, it was the gentlest thing I ever heard. Like I could just open up and spill all of my troubles and they would somehow be handled thanks to this voice.


    ¡°Please do not thank me great one¡± this ethereal feminine voice replied to me, as it was the greatest honour it had ever had. I, a ''great one''? Me being great was as big a lie as Zoras being a proper god. ¡°I have done nothing worth one such as yourself to thank for¡± and I swear the tree began to bend slightly, as it was bowing towards me ¡°Please allow this one to grace you with its true form¡± and like that, a light so bright, I''m certain I just became blind, flashed.


    ------


    Hey guys, Old Man here!


    My bad for the late chapter, I had many a bullshit reasons so I couldn''t post any sooner, but I promise to try and pick up the pace soon. Please believe and pray for my success, and enjoy everyone!


    Peace and Love,


    -Old Man with excuses

 Chapter 23: Never assume... Ever.

    The bright light burned my eyes to its core, and I''m 100% certain that if I was still a normal human, my eyeballs would have either melted, or I would have gone blind. It took me a little over 30 seconds to regain my eyesight, and during that entire timespan of 30 seconds, my eyes were wide open.


    So I was blind with my eyes open. So I was technically staring at the rainbow trees true form for 30 seconds without reacting whatsoever, and then once I regain my eyesight, I''d stare creepily for a while longer.


    As my eyesight slowly returned to me, a form became further visible with each passing second. At the 15 second mark, I could see a short, petite looking blur, which upon reaching the 20 second mark, was clearly very feminine, and upon the 25 second mark, gave me some clues regarding its appearance.


    At the 25 second mark, it was like seeing the silhouette of an incredibly beautiful women through some very thin blinds. I was panting wildly on the inside, as my imagination was going wild thanks to my theories regarding this trees true forms beauty.


    Finally, at the 30 second mark, when I finally regained my eyesight fully, I was stunned at the sight of this ethereal beauty. She couldn''t have been older than 15, and even at that age, she surpassed the beauty of anything I had ever seen.


    She wasn''t hot. She was beautiful. Her face was perfect, her nose was just right, her lips looked as if they were the most luscious things I had ever laid my eyes upon. Her everything was just perfect. Her blue eyes were similar to that of a lake that been hidden from the world for millenniums, with such a crystal clarity to them that I felt like I was losing myself in them. It was like staring at artwork, as if even the smallest movement of mine would shatter her. I was stunned, and I couldn''t even comprehend how she existed. Her long, platinum blonde hair was longer than she was tall, and she was at least 150cm, being slightly taller than Sasha.


    Her hair extended for several metres around her, covering her body like a beautiful golden dress. Her body was petite, and appeared just perfect. My god, I was having these terrible thoughts. How could I, a man above the age of 20, harbour such horrifying thoughts.


    Well... I mean I was a man, and 15 isn''t exactly that young... NO! If I allowed myself to become attracted to this young girl, doesn''t that mean I would be allowing my morals to be corrupted.


    So I did what any man in my position did, I would allow myself to fantasise, but I would seriously force myself to never act upon my fantasies or instincts ever. Emphasising on the word ''ever''. I could not allow my morals to be tainted.


    Maybe one day... if she grew older, than I could probably allow myself to indulge in such an act... NO! Don''t even think about such a thing now. I can think about it once more in a couple of years, if I ever to see this tree again following the conclusion of this day.


    Having finally come to peace with myself in regards to girls below the age of 18, I slowly attempted to collect myself and glanced at the girl once more, before nodding slightly and closing my eyes so I wasn''t looking at her any longer.


    With my eyes closed for at least a minute, I had finally accepted the girls beauty, and could now concentrate on conversing with her. At this point in time, I was immensely thankful for this skill of mine which allowed me to keep my cool at any moment, which I have dubbed ''The Bearing of Bullshit''.


    Opening my eyes, I looked at her and spoke lightly, attempting to stop my voice from quivering ¡°Thank you for allowing me to see your true form, and allow me to once more thank you for taking care of Sasha¡± and now that I was thinking of Sasha, I turned my eyes to look towards her, only to see her lying gently within the trees platinum blonde hair.


    The young tree, girl, whatever she was, bowed towards me before she once again spoke in that ethereally beautiful voice of hers ¡°Please do not thank me great one¡± her lips lightly parted as she spoke. My eyes stayed glued to her mouth as I watched her lips move, as if I was watching the most interesting thing in existence ¡°But please let this one to thank you for allowing I to gaze upon your excellence itself¡± as her voice entered my ears, I sincerely felt like just going to sleep. I don''t even know how I would feel if I heard this girl sing with her god like voice.


    I slowly waved my hand in a dismissive manner as I whispered weakly ¡°I, an ''excellence''?¡± I laughed lightly as I thought about how I myself was a ''lie'', before I shook my head sadly. Even though I had to lie this girl, I had no choice, for who knows how she would react if she knew I was just some weak cultivator. Just as I was about to tell her she had no need to bow or thank me, she suddenly shocked me with her next move.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.She knelt before me and laid her head against the ground in such a gentle and elegant manner, that I didn''t know one could kneel in such a manner. As her head touched the ground I suddenly heard her speak once more, rendering me incapable of speaking and telling her to get up ¡°My apologies for not kneeling before you immediately your excellence. I know it is unforgivable for one as lowly as myself to stand tall next to you, and if my mother was here, she herself would surely admonish I as well¡± each of her following words were more and more shocking than the last.


    Firstly, I, an ''excellence''? I still can''t accept such a title, because it made me feel like shit on the inside, because I earned such a title solely thanks to the fact that Zoras did something to me, and without even the slightest amount my own effort.


    Secondly, it was unforgivable to stand tall next to one such as my self? Exactly what the fuck was I? What type of aura, power, or whatever the fuck it was, did Zoras give me? How do I look like to other people, if commoners don''t feel scared about me at all, but all beasts, monsters and cultivators shat themselves at the sight of me? What exactly did I appear like to other people?


    Thirdly, having a girl like this, a girl that one could call an artwork, kneel before me felt uncomfortable to the core. I''m sure some other people would be delighted to have a girl like this bow down before them, but I just felt... creepy and disgusting.


    Fourth, she had a mother who would admonish her? Towards such a mother I have only two things I''d like to do. The first thing I''d do is get angry at such a mother, for making her daughter kneel before another. The second thing I''d do is hit on such a woman capable of producing an off spring as beautiful as this one. I mean imagine just how beautiful this woman could be? She would be mature and possess a beauty of a comparable or higher level of pure artistry.


    So now that I''ve vented my feeling in regards to these 4 serious points, I would still like to see how beautiful the mother of this girl is.


    With her head still on the ground, the girl suddenly shook as if she forgot to do something and quickly began to speak ¡°My apologies great one for forgetting to introduce myself¡± she sounded ashamed as she spoke ¡°I am Salazar Sazarin, son of Titanius Sazarin and Maria Sazarin, the youngest of the World Trees at the age of 15, and a total pleasure to have been able to meet a being beyond what those my realm should be capable of meeting¡± and like that I was flabbergasted.


    Son?!


    What the absolute fuck? Oh my god. I can''t believe I had such thoughts regarding a boy... Oh my god. Am I gay? No, wait. It''s not my fault I had such thoughts, I mean she, no wait, he looks just like a girl.


    No one would be able to tell she, I mean he, was a girl. NO ONE. Oh my god. I can''t believe... Even knowing that she is a... I mean he is a boy doesn''t change that attraction I felt.


    Fighting myself on the inside, I came to a conclusion after several dozen seconds of civil war. Who cares what gender, race, etc the opposing person was, so long as they fit within my strike and moral zone, I''d go for it.


    And this boy only fit one of them, so for now, I felt attraction, desire, but zero initiative to pursue. So just like that I calmed myself down.


    Or had I... I mean... It was an incredible shock to learn that this 15 year old youth was more beautiful than every single girl I had ever met. I just couldn''t foresee how many women would possibly be able to surpass the artistry that this boy was. Maybe Sasha could once she reached the prime of her life, but till then, I don''t think many could.


    Now that I was thinking about it, was this boys mother the beautiful one, or was his father the beautiful one..... The more I thought about it, the weirder the theories I possessed regarding this boys race, the World Tree race became.


    Nonetheless, no matter if this boy was a girl or not, he was still shockingly beautiful. The fact that he was a boy, only further added to my trepidation on how to proceed with things. So I simply shelved everything regarding beauty into the depths of my mind so that I could concentrate on how I should deal with this boy now.


    And that led me to my new dilemma... What do I do in this situation anyway?


    -----


    Hey guys, Old Man here!


    So reading some of the comments from yesterday, I must say, you guys were quite accurate on what was going to happen. So let me ask a question. Was it an obvious cliche? Or was it because of my style of comedy?


    Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!


    Love and Peace


    -Old Man


    P.S. Also, I might be able to release another chap or two this week. So be hopeful! Adios.

 Chapter 24: Emotions in a dark world

    Standing there with a passive look on my face, I stared down at the youth who was currently kneeling before me. Salazar''s forehead was touching the ground, revealing his back and his behind, which forced me to turn my gaze towards the heavens, so that I can keep myself from being corrupted.


    And like that the silence continued. I didn''t know what to say or do in this situation. I mean, honestly, the more I drag this out, the further the atmosphere becomes awkward. I had to think of a way to progress the conversation, but what topic could I go with?


    ''You are very pretty, are you sure you are a man?''... Well, that is a question I''d like to ask, but what if he said something from one of those erotic novel types, such as ''Would you like to check yourself?''.


    I''m no monk, so I''m not sure I''d be able to control myself in such a situation, even if it is breaking my morals. I mean, I''m only human, and a man at that. I''m not even 30 years old yet, and I''ve been celibate for the past 4 years, so... I''ll have to divert the conversation to a more safe topic.


    Thinking about a plethora of topics that I could ask, I finally found one that was both a safe topic and one that could sate my curiosity, at least in a different aspect ¡°You may rise, and do not bow before me without my permission again¡± I told that in a somewhat more stricter tone, because I truly disliked people bowing before me. Maybe I was the weird one for not liking it, but I didn''t have an ego capable of allowing me to gloss over such a thing.


    Like that, Salazar quickly got up and then started to bow before me, most likely to apologise for bowing, before stopping. He had a confused look on his beautiful face as he froze. Seeing him in such a manner hit so many of zones, that I had to forcefully turn my mind back towards the topic I wanted to talk to him about.


    ¡°I do wish to ask you something¡± I began in my sweeter voice, which is the one that Sasha told me was calming and soothing ¡°Why are you alone out here, with nothing to do, with no one to guide you?¡± I was genuinely curious as to why a young man from a race as incredible as something called the ''World Tree''s was hiding alone out in the middle of nowhere.


    Hearing my question Salazar had a look of pain flash across his beautiful face before he began to murmur very quietly, so quiet that even I couldn''t hear with my enhanced senses. His lips closed, then opened, before closing once again. He looked like he was trying to explain his current circumstances, but didn''t know how to tell me properly. His pondered for a while, but aside from his expression darkening further, he kept quiet. The pained look on his face didn''t go away during the entire time he attempted to talk and I could see a tear rise in the corner of his eyes. My god, how could crying make someone look even more beautiful?


    But his beauty aside, I sighed. Why did so many children in this world have such terrible childhoods. Looking at Salazars expression, it was quite obvious something happened to his family which caused him to hide out in this backwater area. Shaking my head sadly ¡°It''s okay child¡± I said in a soft voice as I slowly moved towards him before gently placing my hand on his head.


    Seeing my sigh and hand move towards him, Salazar flinched, but when he then felt my hand gently pat his head, he froze in shock before he turned his head upwards slowly. He eyes were full of confusion, but upon seeing my gaze filled with pity, Salazars tears came out like a flood, flowing down his cheeks before dropping onto the ground.


    My heart clenched tightly as I thought about when Sasha was opening up to me, and I seriously felt that if I had another encounter like that, I might change as a person. I''m only human, and having one heartbreaking encounter was already taxing on my soul, and if I had another...


    I forced those negative thoughts away as I let Salazar cry. I''m not sure why my voice was soothing, but maybe it was the fact that I appeared powerful and wise. Maybe having a powerful person to rely on made it much easier to cry. I mean, it''s only a theory I came up with, but it sounded quite plausible.


    I came up with this theory because of Sasha but I couldn''t really confirm it before, because I didn''t exactly have children left and right who had suffered terrible childhoods, but now that Salazar was also crying in my presence, I felt like this theory wasn''t exactly a falsehood.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Putting that aside, I wonder exactly what Salazar had gone through that he would cry the moment he had found a ''reliable'' shoulder to cry on. Of course in Salazars eyes I was reliable, but considering my own power, I really wasn''t. He wasn''t crying on my shoulder either, but that was just a metaphor anyway. Still, I wonder what Salazar went through?


    Was it like Sasha, where his grandfather or something similar drove him out of his own family? Or was his life in his clan nice and harmonious but then some other clan or group came and wiped his clan out, leaving him alone in this world?


    Or was it his own beauty who caused the downfall of his own clan? Or was it on a higher scale than that? Was it his own beauty that caused the downfall of his own race? There were quite a few stories of girls of immense beauty causing wars back on Earth, I think the story of Troy was one such tale.


    So if such events were possible on Earth, why couldn''t it happen in this world?


    In fact, I was certain that such things happened more often in a world like this, considering how easily people liked to flaunt their own powers and obtain whatever they want just because they were the ''Son of A'', or ''Descendant of B''.


    Who cares how Salazar ended up in his current situation, it wasn''t like me knowing would make much of a difference. I''d simply let Salazar rely on me for now. Looking down at Salazar who was currently crying quietly, his beauty was incredibly amplified, but I didn''t feel attraction, or arousal, or anything like that. I just felt pity, sadness and anger.


    I didn''t have enough power to save the world. To eliminate poverty, hunger, slavery or any such thing. I didn''t have any power at all actually, but If I saw something in front of me, I''d do my best to help, even though I possessed no power of my own and had to bullshit my way through everything, I''d do my best to help whoever I could. In fact, as soon as I could, I would send a message to the Guardian Faith and tell them to adopt as many orphans as possible and to eliminate slavery, as well as aid all they could possibly aid with their own power.


    Even if I could only make a single place in this dark, corrupt world better, I would do so. If I was in the position of these kids, I''m sure I would also desire a saviour who could come to save me.


    And like that, the surrounding was filled with silence aside from the very quiet sobbing of Salazars. I wonder how long Salazar had been alone? Had it been a couple of years? Maybe a decade? Maybe since his birth? Who knew how long he had kept in his sadness... his loneliness... God damn it... Now I feel like crying. My own hypothesis made me teary eyed.


    This world was a sink hole of tears. But I forced myself to maintain my composure. Even though it was alright for men to cry, because we were also sentient beings with emotions, if I started crying now, It would probably make the atmosphere awkward.


    ---


    Hey guys, Old Man here!


    First of all, I hope you all enjoy the chapter, even if it was a tad bit short (Barely 1400 words). In the end, I didn''t manage to get out 2 more chapters this week, but I''ll have 2 chaps guaranteed next week, with maybe a third as well.


    I hope you all enjoy my series, and thank you all for baring with my slow writing speed. I promise things will begin to pick up pace. I write a bit slowly, since I try to create emotions more realistically, but I still think I do them ... either too strongly, or too weakly. Writing realistic emotions are hard, especially since I have never experienced what Zev, Sasha or any other character like them have. I do try my best though. Do trust me though, when I say that the emotional parts will soon conclude, and it will move onto interactions with other people, with less emotions, but more interactions. Emotions won''t be gone for good, as this world isn''t exactly a very nice one. I think it might even be a tad bit too dark.


    Nonetheless, less discussion, more news. You''ll all get to see Zev fight soon! And do trust me when I say it will be good. Hilarious, but good.


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man.

 Chapter 25: To Enlighten Slowly

    As Salazar cried, I had time to slowly think about my situation. This world was dark, oh so very dark, but that was only because the people here were far too powerful and had no reason to hide their terrible transgressions. Nobody could stop them, and those more powerful than them were either indifferent or just as cruel.


    In this world that I found myself in, the amount of people who were nice were far to low in numbers. Even I, myself, only being in this world for around 4 years found myself doubting my morality with each passing year.


    Nobody had the power to help those around them, and I couldn''t judge them, because I didn''t have the power either. No one wanted to risk their lives for others. I mean, looking back at Earth, did people who lived in first world countries abandon their pleasantries like their phones, appliances and other things, even when they knew it was made in a sweatshop? Of course some did, but could that measly number make a difference? Sadly, no... it couldn''t.


    In a world full of people capable of monstrous acts, such as fighting at speeds beyond that of sound at the so called low levels, what could those measly few people who wanted to change the world for the greater good do?


    I sighed, I always became depressed when I thought to deeply. The phrase that ''Ignorance is bliss'' isn''t exactly a lie. Would I be depressed if I didn''t know about the corruption and darkness that ruled the world? I wouldn''t, but I''m glad I know.


    Nonetheless, was it not hypocritical of me to judge the world in such a black and white manner? I mean, I''m very ignorant regarding knowledge of this world. I''ve barely seen anything in this world as I''ve been stuck in the back waters, so what right did I have to judge a whole world? How could I compare this world to Earth? The size difference was monstrous.


    I simply shook my head, clearing my mind. There was no reason to drop myself back into a cycle of depression and self loathing for something I had no control over. I wasn''t Zoras, and if I ever reached his level, I couldn''t guarantee that I would still be the same as I was now at that point.


    Finally coming out of my ignorant discussion regarding good and evil, I was quite shocked. I suddenly saw something that was beyond astonishing. My surroundings were changing, slowly at first, but then faster. Looking down at Salazar, I suddenly realised that our surroundings were reacting towards Salazars emotions. The flowers began to expand and envelop us in a gentle embrace, their soft petals growing at an alarming rate.


    The grass itself began to release an immensely thick and pure aura, as if it was pulling the energy trapped within the ground out, and throwing it into the air. These little saplings which were in the area suddenly began to grow several centimetres every second, and then several metres every second.


    I slowly extended my free hand and touched a rose petal only for it to send all the energy of it into my hands before it withered and disappeared, and like a chain reaction, the other flowers connected to that one all withered and disappeared, their energy seeping into me. The energy felt invigorating, from my head and toes, all the way down to my core. It wasn''t helping me breakthrough, but it felt like my body was changing. Maybe it was helping me adjust to this world, changing my Earthly body into that of a Sovereign body. Just as quickly at these flowers had disappeared, a new batch took its place.


    It was beautiful. As if I was stuck in time and I was watching life develop around me. It was like watching time pass from the position of a passer-by. It was so serene it felt as if my mortal struggles and worries were nothing but a speck in time that wouldn''t be remembered.


    I felt like I was growing, changing. It felt like I finally understood what it was like to be powerful, to be at the top. What it was like to be ''god''. Of course being and understanding are two different things. Watching as things pass by and change, while requiring zero effort on your part. You just stood by to the side and watched things develop, while the occasional touch from you could change things forever.


    The energy that was surrounding us was thick and pure, it was neither aura or mana. It was something else entirely. It was simply calming to the core. It let me process my complex emotions which I had bottled up for so long.


    From Sasha and my love for her, to my moral troubles over death, to my current circumstance as a weakling in disguise, all my turbulent emotions regarding these things came out. My pain, my anger, my sadness, my joy. All of my emotions rocketed out.


    I felt at peace. Something I had not felt quite often ever since I came to this world. It allowed me to view past my short sighted opinions regarding existence. It allowed me to understand Zoras and his lack of care regarding what happened in this world of his. I didn''t approve of it, but I understood. He couldn''t change everything.


    Just like I had destroyed a whole batch of flowers, with a new batch immediately replacing it, any action Zoras did would most likely disappear over the passage of time. It stirred my emotions. The helplessness over my power and my inability to affect or change anything in the long run. I mean, even a god was helpless against the powers of time.


    But it also allowed me to finally come to terms with what I could do. My path, my road. I had figured it out. To live as I should, aiding all I could without allowing myself to feel regret. A simple path. A simple journey, but coming to terms with myself lifted a huge burden from my shoulders.


    I wasn''t some messiah brought to change the world for the greater good, I wasn''t brought forth for some grand mystical purpose. I was simply the champion of a very powerful being.


    My position as Zoras''s champion was merely a title that after my passing from life would be passed to another, so there was no reason for me fret. I would complete the task he gave me over the passage of time while sticking to my path.


    I finally turned my attention back towards Salazar only to see he had finally stopped sobbing. He was looking down at the ground, most likely in a combination of embarrassment, fear and sadness. I mean he had just cried as someone who was a complete stranger patted his head. I let him calm down as I watched the changes around us continue for a short while longer.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    And just like it had started, the changes around us ended. Just like they came, they disappeared. Slowly they withered and returning to there original state, becoming mere little flowers and saplings instead of the enormous things they were just before.


    Just like that, I watched the beginning and the end of a tiny world. For all I knew, in this short span of time, maybe this tiny world had gone through billions or even trillions of years, with life developing and dying. It allowed me to comprehend just what I was in this world. Just what my purpose was.


    I sighed as I slowly shook my head. Was this what they call enlightenment? Maybe, maybe not. Whatever it was, I was glad it had come.


    Salazars race was quite incredible, when even one as young Salazar could cause such an incredible act because of his out of control emotions. It made me wonder how much of a difference it would have been had it been an older, more powerful World Tree who had an emotional release.


    Turning to look at Salazar, I found him looking up at me, a faint blush visible on his cheeks. I smiled at him gently as I removed my hand from his head. Bringing his hands to his chest he began to speak with his ethereal voice ¡°Thank you great one¡± he smiled brightly at me ¡°For letting this one know warmth, for allowing this one to express his emotions, for allowing this one to cry¡± he seemed much more cheerful compared to when he had first talked to me.


    I simply smiled towards Salazar ¡°Do not thank me child, I have done to you what you did for the little one¡± I said as I glanced towards Sasha for the first time in awhile. She was still sleeping peacefully. I sighed on the inside as I thought about how Sasha completely slept through everything, from Salazars transformation, to his emotional release, to the surroundings immense changes. I wonder how the energy from Salazars emotional release effected this little monster? Nonetheless, I turned my attention back to Salazar. I spoke apologetically for making him recall whatever it was that made him cry ¡°My apologies for bringing up your past, I did not wish for you to recall what has happened to you and to make you cry¡± I genuinely apologised.


    Even if I had to fake what I was, it didn''t mean I couldn''t apologise when I had to, and considering I pretty much forced up Salazars past due to my curiosity, an apology was due. That also made me recall what happened with Goan Gou. Did I apologise to him? I don''t think I did... Oh well, the past is the past, and I must now focus on the future.


    Salazar seemed shocked by my apology ¡°Please great one, do not apologise to me, it isn''t your fault, you had nothing to do with my past, so please do not apologise¡± he said hurriedly ¡°In fact, it was thanks to you that I managed to express my emotions for the first time in a long time¡± Salazar seemed immensely sincere as he kept telling me to not apologise.


    If I couldn''t even apologise, how was I supposed to feel about myself then?


    Without waiting for me to speak, Salazar continued ¡°When you asked me your question, about why I was out here alone, with no one to guide me, you made me think about my situation¡± Salazar sighed sadly before continuing ¡°I didn''t want to burden you with the tale of my life, but the more I thought about a way of trying to sum it up, the further I dug myself into a cycle of self hate and pity¡± he said as his shoulders drooped.


    I was still curious about Salazars past, but I didn''t ask him continue. I simply let him move at his own pace for now.


    Salazar looked down for a moment before turning his gaze up at me ¡°As I berated myself further and further, I suddenly saw your gaze, and then your following action and it made me feel safe, secure, something I haven''t felt in years, so I couldn''t help myself and my emotions came out. I couldn''t control them, I kept thinking of the past, and thanks to the comfort your actions gave me, I managed to get it out of my system¡± Salazar spoke as he gave me a sad smile.


    I moved a short distance till I was in between Salazar and Sasha, before I slowly sat down. Looking at the young man, I gave him a gentle smile ¡°I''m here to listen if you need someone to hear your story¡± upon hearing my words, Salazar had a little smile appear out of his sad smile. It seems I had made the right choice in letting him choose whether he wanted to tell me his story or not.


    Salazar was quiet for awhile, and I didn''t bother him as I let him think. He was most likely thinking about where to start, and what to tell me. Looking at him, I was sure his past was complex, at least far more than Sasha''s, considering one was Human, and the other something called a ''World Tree'', even if they both had equally tragic pasts, or at least I assume they both had equally tragic pasts.


    ---


    Hey guys, Old Man here! This is Chap 1/2 for this week. The next chapter will be out by Saturday or Sunday.


    Nonetheless, next chapter you''ll learn a bit about Salazar, and then the story will progress. I''ve already planned Zevs fight. It''s going to be incredible! I''m so hyped for it. So I''ll try to wright faster so I can get to it sooner.


    Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!


    Also, towards ''GalaxieBlue90''s question, the answer is as follows. Zoras can''t alter the outcome of Random. What he was going to do was gift Zev the Ring alongside 1000PP, with whatever item he got from Random.


    So by choosing Predetermined, Zev only got the Ring. If he had chosen Random, he would have gotten 3 things.


    I hope that answers your question.


    And now I have another question for you guys, I''m writing another interlude, so whose perspective would you want it from? A character you have already seen, or other characters that you haven¡¯t seen yet, but who have seen Zev?


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Chapter 26: Questions

    We sat quietly for several minutes, a peaceful bliss covering us both. I wonder exactly what tragedy Salazar faced, but I quenched the thirst my curiosity felt since it would be watered in a while.


    Salazar slowly turned his face upwards towards me, before he parted his feminine lips ¡°Great one, first allow this one to thank you for listening to this ones past¡± Like that, Salazar gave a sad sigh ¡°15 years ago, this one, Salazar, was born. I was the first child of my race in the last ten thousand years¡± he began ¡°But I was born with a unique constitution, one I''m sure you''ve already noticed¡± Salazar stated.


    One I¡¯ve noticed? I haven¡¯t noticed anything. Fucks sake. Why does everyone assume I know everything. Because of everyone assuming I know everything, I know nothing. It is so god damned counter productive. Sighing internally, I continued to listen to Salazar.


    ¡°Because of this ones constitution, this ones race faced tremendous pressure. Not one clan left this ones alone, but none of them dared to attack this ones kind¡± the sadness in Salazars voice was visible ¡°Even though none attacked this ones kind, the pressure alone was overwhelming, and none of this ones races allies came through in our time of need, each and everything single one of this ones allies betrayed this ones kind¡± like that Salazar paused.


    I shook my head sadly, but my curiosity was piqued. Was exactly was this constitution Salazar spoke about? What could cause so many different clans to wish to attack Salazar? Well, lets hope Salazar cleared up the confusion I felt.


    ¡°None dared attack for fear of being ganged up upon by the others, so the horrifying pressure continued for one year non-stop. For one year non-stop this ones kind could do nothing but fear what was to come¡± Salazar bit his bottom lip as he tensed up, creating an incredibly arousing scene, which coupled with a sad story was not exactly good for my emotional state ¡°Suddenly, the N''qaari, one of the strongest of the Cimex races, drove off everyone who was giving this ones race pressure, before they themselves invaded this ones race, rendering this ones kind incapable of fighting back¡± and like that I was shocked.


    A race called N''qaari managed to drive off everyone else and invade the World Trees all by themselves. They must be one incredibly powerful race.


    ¡°The N''qaari had not come for themselves, for this ones kind could not provide many benefits to them, they invaded us to repay a favor to the Clan of Solom, whose Crown Heir wished to obtain the benefits of this ones constitution¡± Salazar looked like he was going to cry again. It must be one painful memory.


    But that got me thinking, what was Salazars constitution? I was immensely curious. Was it his attractive body? Was it something like those Female bodies from fantasy novels, where if one slept with them, they''d gain a large power boost? That aside, the more Salazar spoke, the further confused I became. He gave me more questions than he answered. His constitution, the N''qaari, the Cimex races, the Clan of Solom. Shaking my head, I forced those questions away while I listened to Salazar.


    ¡°This ones kind could not even fight back in the slightest, and was forced to bear with being humiliated by the Clan of Solom¡± Salazar forced back his tears before he continued ¡°This ones Great-Father sacrificed himself to save this one, driving this one away and shrouding this ones existence, making this one invisible to the eyes of all, even the N''qaari High Lords¡± like that Salazar went quiet.


    As the silence continued, I had two thoughts. Firstly, why did Salazar speak with the words ''this one''. I mean it was unique. It was also annoying as it was unique. Very. Secondly, was that it? That was his explanation? Well, I mean, it was a good sum up, and Salazar most likely assumed I knew what these names or groups were... How wrong he was. As I thought about how to ask questions without making Salazar uncomfortable, Salazar suddenly continued talking.


    ¡°This ones great-father blew up the World Trees court, crippling the Clan of Solom, but annihilating this ones home, driving this ones kind across the world¡± his voice was quiet as he said the final part, causing me to sigh once more ¡°The N''qaari High Lords killed the entire higher ups of this ones clan, causing this ones kind to plummet and lose its standing¡± a single tear rolled down Salazars cheek, which he quickly wiped up ¡°Like that, this one is hidden in the lower world, hidden away from the eyes of those up there¡± he said as he slowly looked up into the endless sky ¡°And like that, this one has spent the past 14 years in isolation, by this ones self¡± and the surrounding when quiet.


    I caressed my forehead on the inside as I listened to Salazar. This kids past was quite tragic when you think about it. Merely 1 year after his birth, he caused his clans downfall, lost everything he cared about, witnessed the destruction of his elders before spending the next 14 years of his life in isolation.


    Damn, that is a sad story.


    I slowly extended my hand and pat Salazars head gently ¡°A tragic past¡± I spoke slowly as I thought about how to comfort Salazar with words ¡°You need not talk any further, it is fine now¡± I stated with pain in my heart. I was immensely curious, regarding the N''qaari, the Clan of Solom, the World Trees, as well as the location Salazar came from seeing as how he called this place the ''lower world''.


    So many questions, so little answers. But I saw that Salazar was in immense pain as he talked. Although he didn''t cry, it was still to early for him to spill out the entirety of his past to me, a complete stranger. Well, I wasn''t exactly a complete stranger any more, but we were not close on the level of Sasha and I.


    Salazar and I sat down quietly as I slowly pet his head, and like that time passed. Even though I was full of questions, I could always discover more about it later on, I mean my liege was a very powerful being, so I''m sure that when I got more PP, I could buy a book regarding history and races.


    As he sat down, I thought about a few things, such as whether I could take Salazar with me, and whether I should. I mean, even if I could, should I? What if I encountered these N''qaari? Would I be able to scare them off? Was that possible? I mean, these things were clearly not human, and they were clearly very powerful.


    So should I take Salazar? I contemplated that question for awhile, and in the end, I decided to leave the answer to that question up to Salazar. My path didn''t let me abandon this poor kid, but my logic told me to leave him. So I''d let fate decide.


    Nonetheless, even though Salazar didn''t have the capability of becoming my apprentice since the sheet didn''t react, I''m sure he should be able to become an Elder of the sect I''d establish for Zoras.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Thinking about it, what was Salazars stats on the sheet? Taking out Gods Cheat Sheet, I turned it towards Salazar and then the answers on the sheet shocked me.


    ''Potential Found:


    Name: Salazar Sazarin


    Status:<ul>


    <li>Soul: Not Valid</li>


    <li>Physical: Not Valid</li>


    <li>Mana: Not Valid</li>


    <li>Spirit: Not Valid


    </li></ul>


    Unique Status: <ul>


    <li>Nature Connection: 8</li>


    <li>Elemental Connection: 8</li>


    <li>Cosmic Connection: 10</li>


    <li>Life Connection: 9</li>


    <li>Death Connection: 7


    </li></ul>


    Potential: Very High Potential of becoming a Cosmic Tree.


    Comments: Not Disciple material.


    What? What the fuck? What is all of this? None of this was explained to me... Actually, almost nothing was explained to me.


    Still, what exactly was with this unique status? Potential to become a ''Cosmic Tree''? That''s good, right? Also, ''Not Disciple Material''? Why the hell not? If Salazar had such an epic path open in the future, at least I assume it''s epic because the word ''cosmic'' usually has an epic tone to it, why wasn''t he Disciple material?


    How could I let such a good egg escape my clutch?! This new knowledge of mine also made me angry. Doesn''t this mean that the sheet didn''t show me every single incredible person? It only reacted to people it thought were disciple material... So who knows how many fucking great disciples I missed!


    Oh my god, why didn''t I test this thing myself more thoroughly?


    Wait... Why wasn''t Salazar disciple material in the first place? There had to be a reason right? It wouldn''t just dismiss Salazar for no reason... but what is the reason Salazar isn''t fit to be my disciple?


    I was seriously dumb founded. Nothing made sense, and the more time I spent, the more confused I became. Looking up into the sky, I simply thought about one thing. How much of an ass Zoras was. He may have made me a psuedo-immortal, but he sure as hell didn''t make my life easier. In fact, I''ve been more stressed in these past few years than I have been in my entire life combined. Although I haven''t even lived a total of 30 years yet.


    Shaking my head, I turned my attention back towards Salazar, who was also staring in my direction. Salazar was staring at the sheet in my hand with a confused look upon his face. It was similar to my face when I read something in broken-English.


    Salazar upon discovering my gaze which was looking at him, timidly averted his gaze. After a few moments he shyly looked up once more before quietly speaking ¡°Um..¡± his voice paused for a moment ¡°What language is that?¡± Salazar asked me, but I didn''t really know myself. I thought it was English, or maybe this worlds common, or something like that, but before I could answer Salazars question, his next statement shocked me to my core ¡°I can read, write, speak and understand 140,552 languages, and that includes Low God, but I can barely make out a few words on that piece of paper¡± his voice was quiet, without a tinge of arrogance or self praise. It was simply Salazar stating a fact.


    But it was shocking nonetheless... This kid was definitely disciple material. I mean, 140,552 languages? That is far more than all the languages on Earth combined. I think so at least. But I was now faced with another question, one which is quiet annoying as well. What language do the words on this sheet belong to, and why did Zoras give me the ability to read said language.


    Looking towards Salazar, so I simply told him the truth ¡°It is an ancient language, one which even I only know due to what some would call a blessing¡± I stated as I put the gods cheat sheet away ¡°That aside, Salazar, I''d like to ask you something¡± I straightened myself up and looked at Salazar seriously ¡°Would you like to become my disciple and travel with me?¡± I asked with a mix of emotions. I already had one hotcake on my hands, so adding another wouldn''t really be that much worse now, would it?


    Salazar simply froze. It was as if he suddenly became a statue. Even the flowers and grass around us frozen. Was it really such a shocking thing? Well, I guess it probably was. Still, nothing to do but wait. Fate and luck shall determine whether or not Salazar joins my entourage of disciples.


    Thinking about it, since I believed in Fate and Luck, could they be actual god/goddesses? It was a possibility. Were they stronger than Zoras? Or were they subordinate to him? Well, these are questions for another time, since I have enough questions as it is.


    Turning my attention back towards Salazar who was still frozen, I suddenly heard a gasp from behind me, which was followed by a shocked voice ¡°I''m going to have a senior?!¡±


    ---


    Hey Guys, Old Man here!


    First of all, my bad for not posting for a while! I sharru committu Sudoku! Jokes aside, to make up for it, I''ll post this chap, plus 27 and 2 Interludes! Hue Hue Hue Hue!


    27 will be up tomorrow, and the second Interlude will be written tomorrow to come up the day after. Also it will be someone you have seen, so it should be good hopefully.


    Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man

 Interlude III: 1st of the 3 Old Ones I

    ¡°Hmmm?¡± I paused my concoction because somebody entered my territory. Although it wasn''t an uncommon thing, most people steered clear of this area because my aura made them feel fear. For somebody to stay here and feel indifferent about it, it must be someone of power, I''ll just go give them a little scare and have them leave my lands. I mean, in this continent, who dares not give me face?


    Putting my concoction tools down, I turn around to stare in the direction I felt this intruder come from. I wonder which sect or clan this person is from? Is it one of my subordinate sects or clans? No, not possible. None of those children would dare risk my wrath unless it was for something immensely important.


    Maybe it was the Four Otherworldly Sects? Nah, neither those Angelic nor demonic bastards would dare to come into contact with me unless it was some incredibly important reason. So that left two options.


    It could possibly be some one from those other two old bastards, who like me had lived far beyond their life spans. I doubted it, if they wanted to contact me, they wouldn''t send some cultivator to make contact with me. They''d most likely make some grand approach, scaring the soul of these villagers which I had soul branded.


    I mean, these villagers should be happy that I, a great and powerful being, would even take the time to soul brand them. I mean, this tiny village of Tras is something that nobody even knew existed, but after I was done with this concoction, they''d be quite well known ¡°Hehehehe¡± I chuckled outloud as I couldn''t help myself.


    Or it was some powerful rogue cultivator who came here by accident. Nonetheless, I turned my attention towards this new person to discover who it was. I froze the concoction as I was turning around, so the pill I was creating didn''t go off, if it did, it would be quite a loss now, wouldn''t it? The life of some random person is far from equal to the worth of this pill.


    Looking in their direction, I first noticed the little girl, and I was quite shocked to see her. I can''t believe that little girl is still alive, I was sure she was killed. Sasha, quite a pitiable girl, that I was almost tempted to help her on multiple occasions. Nonetheless, I didn''t bother and left her alone. But just seeing her wasn''t all that shocking, what was shocking was the being she was walking alongside.


    I almost shat myself at the sight of him, and I haven''t had bodily excretions in so many millennia. Oh my dearest lord... I''m so fucked. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why the fuck is something like that in this rural area? Oh my god. Why the fuck?!


    I can sense the presence of those ''Low'' Class Gods, and even then, they were monstrously powerful. But this... I can''t feel anything. ANYTHING! I was having a panic attack. Oh my god. I can''t believe I was so arrogant to think that I could make such a being give me ''face''.


    What face? How dare I even think of asking such a being to care about my face. What is face?! Fuck my face! Oh god... I''m so glad I turned around before I starting making some stupid demand towards him. Oh, how glad I am. So immensely happy.


    Mistress Fate, for allowing this fool to keep his mouth shut when it was important, this fool shall forever pray to you.


    Putting that aside, such a powerful being should have made some hubbub as it came down to this realm. I mean, a being as powerful as this wouldn''t come here for no reason... Looking towards Sasha, I suddenly realised that she wasn''t a cripple any longer.


    Oh my god... She wasn''t ever a cripple. Looking at the pure energy, she was a Maglin. No wonder she couldn''t cultivate, she had a completely different path available to her. Those fools who drove her out were certainly going to pay in a couple of years. Looking at this monstrous being and Sasha travelling together, this being most definitely has taken Sasha as a disciple.


    Which means he came down to this realm of mine to discover disciples. No wonder. No wonder. It all made sense now. Immense sense.


    Fuck. He is looking at me. What does he want. I haven''t sweated in over a 100,000 years, but right now I feel like a waterfall. The sweat won''t stop dropping. Why is he staring in my direction? What does he fucking want?!


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    Fuck it, who cares what he wants? What right do I have to know what he wants, am I stupid? So like that, I, who wouldn''t even kneel before the Emperor, or even those ''Low'' Gods, dropped down to my knees and kowtowed for the first time in so many hundred millennia.


    With my forehead plastered to the ground, I shouted ¡°This junior greets the great one¡± and stayed seated like that. My forehead stuck to the ground, sweating like a waterfall. My energy was watching this monstrous being. Please, just hurry up and do something. I''m dying on the inside. This level of fear... Oh my god, I can''t take it.


    Suddenly, this monstrous being nodded in my direction before turning his gaze towards where the litle girl, Sasha, was pointing.


    ¡°Master, Master¡± Sasha began to speak as she pointed ¡°How come everyone here looks so¡± she paused as she put a finger to her lips, seemingly lost in thought ¡°Lost?¡± she asked a question as she questioned her own question.


    The question made me furious and fearful. I was angry because this girl put my life in danger with her innocence, and because she might ask her new teacher to make them not ''lost''. I was also fearful that if the girl asked this, the teacher would comply and my little life would be extinguished.


    The monstrous being silently stared at the man Sasha was pointing at before he simply sighed and gently pat her head ¡°Lost? Do you really wish to know?¡± He asked her, but Sasha simply shook her head, causing both her teacher and me to sigh. He most likely sighed in annoyance, but I sighed in relief.


    ¡°Master, I don''t really like this place, it feels so cold and empty¡± This little girl. I felt my heart tighten at her words. What if this monstrous being decided to simply wipe out the entire area just to make Sasha feel more comfortable, but her next words alleviated my worries ¡°Can we just leave?¡± she asked her monstrous teacher.


    The being simply nodded and they began to leave. Although the route they took was a round about one, which took them around the whole village, they still left in the end.


    I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I haven''t felt as happy as I feel right now in many millennia. Sasha, little one, I shall pay you back for relieving these old bones from this immense amount of stress. I shall not forget your aid.


    Like that, I watched as this awesomely powerful being slowly followed Sasha for a quick look around Tras, before leaving in disappointment. Those foolish villagers, not one of them bowed down to Sasha and her master, but the being didn''t even place them in his eyes. Its not like I expected ants on the side of the road to bow down to me, so for him, humans must be the same.


    Nonetheless, the joy I felt as I watched the two of them leave was huge. I stayed kowtowed until they had been gone for 7 weeks.


    That is right. I kowtowed for 7 weeks straight. In front of such a being, I was only doing what was to be expected.


    Still, I felt immense pity for Sasha''s clan. The Tai Longs were in for it big time. I don''t think that little girl will ever forgive what was done to her. I guess I should cut all ties with the Tai Longs while I''m at it.


    No point in offending such a great being for them. I''ll suffer criticism for awhile, but all of those idiots will realise just how smart I was to cut ties with the Tai Longs eventually. By then though, I''ll be the only one to reap the benefits.


    Oh, and I should probably state that I''m backing Sasha as well... or would that be too forceful and obvious? Maybe I should just declare war on the Tai Longs, and keep it at a Cold War till this monstrous being this decides to handle the Tai Longs.


    Well, no rush as of now, because that being will slowly guide Sasha so she can grow, and by the time she reaches the Capital, I''ll have long thought of a good plan to curry favour with Sasha and her master.


    ---


    Hey guys, Old Man here!


    This is the first interlude, by a mysterious figure. He''ll come out in the story in more detail a little while down the line.


    I hope you all enjoyed this interlude!


    Love and Peace,


    -Old Man