《The Progenitor》


 prologue +chapter 0

    PROLOGUE


    Standing next to a yellow car is the one this story is all about: a young man on his way to enjoy the warm weather and the beaches of Cavalaire-sur-mer, in France.


    This man, called Eren Erebus ludocus, or Ren for friends, had brown hair, brown eyes, was fit, but not too muscular, and had quite the good looks, although not the best.


    (He had been lucky his mother was there when he was named, or his middle name would¡¯ve been his first name. His dad was always one who liked mythology and stories of gods, so he wanted to name his son after the god ¡®Erebus¡¯ god of darkness, as, in his words, ¡°the universe began in darkness and life ends in darkness as well¡± luckily, his mom had a better naming sense.)


    He had just finished his first year in college, and it was going well, although in his opinion, it would¡¯ve been better if he had a girlfriend to take with him on vacation.


    He was currently drinking a coffee and resting after driving for the past 4 hours, and was planning to sleep a bit as soon as he was done drinking it.


    It was a good day for a long drive, good weather and not too much traffic. This ensured that what should¡¯ve been a 12-hour drive would probably only take 10, so he was in a pretty good mood.


    Finishing his coffee, he crossed the street to go throw away the cup. He knew himself, if he didn¡¯t throw it away immediately, he¡¯d leave it in his car for god knows how long¡­


    Throwing away the cup, he turned around and¡­ his mind went blank as pain erupted on his head!


    Not knowing what happened, he tried to turn around and look behind him, but was greeted by a second wave of intense pain and then¡­


    Darkness... nothing but darkness...


    untill... one day, the door opened, and light came in.


    CHAPTER 0 --- THE TREASURE


    Darkness... nothing but darkness...


    untill... one day, the door opened, and light came in.


    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­


    Mory, an infamous man and the current head of outer disciples of the blackblood sect,


    stood in front of a huge door with his crew:


    Rorin, a strong muscular blond swordsman of average height with brown eyes and a longsword at


    his waist.


    Marina, the only girl left in the team, who was more muscular than even Roran. Any who saw her would doubt that she was a she. She had long brown hair tied in a braid, dark blue eyes, and fought using a claymore.


    Nin, a thin, slender man with black hair and yellow eyes, looked like a typical assassin. He carried with him two daggers on his belt, and a short sword on his back along with a few other knives hidden on his body.


    And Dar¡¯han, the biggest of the bunch, who was a stunning 2.3meters high, he looked more like a bear than a man. He walked around with a shield and a sword. He had a simple face with brown hair and black eyes that revealed a kindness that betrayed the fact that he did not really belong in a sect like the blackblood sect.


    Mory himself looked like a typical lowlife, little beady eyes filled with malevolence, a scar going from his left eye, over his mouth all the way down to his chin. He was fat, and had thick muscular arms filled with scars.


    It had taken him months to get this far, and now he finally made it.


    He had lost 3 brave men on the way, well, two of them he just used as meatshields.


    But he could replace them anytime so he didn¡¯t really care.


    ¡°HAHAHA WE MADE IT!!!¡±


    Mory cried out happily, seeing the huge door with a name plate next to it.


    *stab*


    ¡°that¡¯s for our brothers, you bastard. Thanks for giving us the treasures, hehe¡±


    Mory turned to look behind him, trying to speak while coughing up blood ¡°you¡­*cough* you¡­.¡±as Rorin pulled out his sword.


    *Shiiiiiiiiiing* *bathud*


    His body soon fell on the floor, but none of them gave him a second look, their leader had caused the death of too many of their brothers, and his end was well deserved.


    ¡°Good¡±, Rorin said, ¡±later, when we meet the elder, we¡¯ll just say he died in a trap, okay?¡±


    He turned to look at the others.


    ¡°¡±Sure¡±¡± Nin and Marina said, but Dar¡¯han looked hesitant, and asked¡± are you sure we should¡¯ve done this?¡±


    Roran looked at him menacingly, and said ¡°What, you don¡¯t think he deserved it? He pushed Micheal in front of him to take that arrow-trap instead of dodging it, and forced Ja¡¯hi to eat those poison pills to see what they were! That was clearly just because she rejected him! If we hadn¡¯t poisoned him and taken him by surprise, he probably would¡¯ve killed us so he could keep all the treasure here!¡±


    Seeing Rorin look at him like that, Dar¡¯han, who was as timid as he was big, could only say ¡°I know¡­ but, if the elders find out¡­¡±


    ¡°Hmph, if none of us speak, they will never know!¡± Rorin scoffed, ¡°the elders might be strong, but if we destroy the body, even they can¡¯t find out what happened. In the worst case, they¡¯ll punish us for not protecting our leader well.¡±


    At this, Nin, who was usually just silent, sarcastically said ¡°oh great fifth elder, our venerable leader bravely pushed Ja¡¯hi aside, to save her from a trap, unfortunately, both of them died in the process¡±


    Everyone stared at him blankly, stunned for a moment, until Roran started laughing ¡°Hahaha, that¡¯s a good idea, with his ¡®heroic¡¯ death, even the elder won¡¯t ask too much questions, everyone knew he was pursuing Ja¡¯hi!¡±


    Dar¡¯han said no more, as he watched his companions start to plunder Mory¡¯s body while they mocked him, kicking his corpse and spitting on it. After they stripped the corpse of anything of value, they set it on fire and finally decided to go into the last room of this tomb. ¡°Come, let¡¯s see what this La Tory¡¯s tomb looks like!¡± Roran said, as he read the faded words on the wall and entered the last door in this underground dungeon.


    Entering the dark room, lights instantly activated and lit up the whole room.


    what they saw in front of them left them completely stunned, as they expected treasures, or at least some rare metals, as the dungeon was known for its metal monsters, but instead, in front of them was nothing, but a boy¡­


    Yes, in the middle of the room, was a huge tube willed with water, and a boy that looked like he was about 12 years old. The boy looked malnourished, and what was most surprising was that his hair was pure white in color. It was not the white of old age, but a white that was so pure it was almost blinding to the eye. None of them really knew what to say, until Rorin walked up in pure rage and started attacking the tube with his sword while cursing loudly.


    *bang¡­*


    ¡°GODDAMMIT!!!¡±


    *...bang¡­*


    ¡°WHERE¡¯S MY FRIGGIN TREASURE!!!!!¡±


    *...bang¡­*


    ¡°F*CK¡±


    *...bang¡­*


    *ALL FOR A STUPID F*CKING KID!!!


    *¡­bang.. CRASH!*


    When the tube finally broke, water flowed everywhere, taking Roran by surprise. Before he could react, his feet were swept from under him, and he fell face first on the floor.


    Immediately trying to get up, the first thing Roran saw was the kid hitting him in the face. Roran fell to the floor again, making for a sorry sight. When he finally got up, he looked like a drowned cat.


    Cursing loudly upon hearing his friend¡¯s mocking snickers, he yelled ¡°Nin! Make sure the kid¡¯s alive, if he is, we can gift him to the third elder, you know his hobbies, he¡¯ll surely reward us!¡±


    ¡®And I¡¯ll get my revenge, you friggin brat¡¯ He thought inwardly, hateful of having lost so much face in front of the others.


    ¡°mmhm!¡± Nin mumbled, concealing his mocking smile rather poorly as he bent over to look at the kid. But before he could even touch him, the kid was already coughing up the water and taking in deep breaths.


    ¡° He¡¯s breathing,¡± Nin said, surprised¡± strange, shouldn¡¯t he have drowned?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s probably not normal water, too bad we don¡¯t have something to put it in¡­


    could¡¯ve sold or gotten us something from the elder¡­ anyway take the kid with us. We¡¯ll give him to the elders and they¡¯ll deal with it.¡± Rorin said, not really caring. As long as he could sell or give the kid away for benefits he was more than happy enough.


    Looking around, Rorin said ¡°Hey, search the place for hidden treasures, we never know what we¡¯ll find¡­ and I sure as hell am not getting out of here empty handed¡­ just the kid alone won¡¯t get us that much!¡±


    Everyone started searching the place from top to bottom, but other than the glass tube, nothing else was found.


    Exiting the dungeon, they arrived at a plain a bit away from their sect. Ahead of them was the small outpost where an outer sect guard elder stood waiting to check their loot. The outpost was basically a square tower with 4 floors, and a counter to deposit the loot in exchange for coins. Every outer sect disciple had to check in after getting out of the dungeon, and even if there were items they wanted to keep, they still had to show them to the elder, just in case it was too valuable to spend on an outer sect disciple. Of course, a lot of outer sect disciples tried to sneak some things past the elders. But none of those who got caught were ever heard of again, thus discouraging a lot of those who had ideas.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Upon arriving at the counter, the outer sect elder greeted them and checked their loot. Noticing the kid, he jokingly said ¡°So, Marina, who¡¯s the father? I hope it¡¯s not that useless Mory, hahahaha! Where is he? Too afraid to show his face? Haha!¡±


    Everyone¡¯s face turned ugly at the elder¡¯s stupid joke, as they all looked around awkwardly.


    Noticing the strange atmosphere, the elder had a bad premonition so he asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did something happen?¡±


    Everyone turned to look at Rorin, his expression turning grim as he explained ¡±We lost Mory, he died trying to pull Ja¡¯hi out of a trap. She didn¡¯t escape either¡­¡±


    As he heard this, the elder¡¯s expression turned a bit strange. He understood Mory¡¯s nature well, and knew it was unlikely, unless¡­ ¡°Did she finally give in to his advances?¡± he asked, and Nin was the one who answered this time.


    ¡° I don¡¯t know for sure, but she didn¡¯t avoid him anymore, and they spent a lot of time together¡­¡±


    The elder raised an eyebrow at this,knowing that it was unlikely, but decided to leave it at that.


    ¡°So what¡¯s with the kid?¡± He finally asked, motioning to the unconscious kid.


    ¡°We found him inside, in some sort of tube. I don¡¯t know why he was there. He¡¯s been like that since we found him. He¡¯s alive though, so we were thinking about giving him to the third elder, for his¡­ ¡®Games¡¯, hehehe¡­¡± Roran answered with a snicker.


    Hearing this, the elder couldn¡¯t help but frown, curiosity flashing through his eyes, but still sent them on their way after checking everything they found. He wouldn¡¯t dare take something that was meant for the third elder!


    Crossing the plain, they arrived at a huge cliff, part of a mountain range. In the cliff was a large but well hidden tunnel, with a white arc with ¡®Black Blood¡¯ written on it in, what looked like, actual blood. Going through the tunnel, what greeted them was the majestic sight of a mountain within the mountain. In the ceiling of the mountain was a sun-like stone illuminating everything, and in front of them was a mountain filled with majestic buildings. The whole outer mountain was kept up with 8 round pillars with a diameter of about 500m. The inner mountain was situated in the middle of them, built upon the remnants of what once used to be the 9th pillar.


    Next to the mountain were the less than majestic, small wooden houses of the outer sect disciples, which circled the mountain and made up for about 60% of the population. Then came the better, stone houses for the inner disciples, with a herb garden for each of them.


    Higher up were the housings for outer sect elders, mansions in their own right, with large gardens and servants attending their needs. Between these houses was the arena, where slaves would fight for amusement of the elders and disciples, and disciples with an irreconcilable grudge could settle their matters. Then, at the top of the mountain, was a large palace, in the style of a large roman building, but black instead of white, which housed the 6 inner sect elders, and the sect head.


    After passing through the outer sect with the kid, they went straight towards the inner sect gate, which was guarded by 2 of the weaker inner sect disciples. Roran, as the leader of the group, requested an audience with the 3rd elder. The inner sect disciples guarding the door snickered,


    ¡°Haha, you think you can meet the elder just because you ask to?¡± clearly intent on extorting something out of them.


    Noticing this, Roran snorted, ¡°hmph, if you want to be the ones to tell the elder that Mory died, please, be my guest!¡± Hearing this, the disciples guarding the entrance turned pale, they knew all too well that Mory was doted upon by the elder, so much so that there were a lot of rumors of him being the elder¡¯s illegitimate child. Thinking about this, the disciples guarding the entrance didn¡¯t dare delay. ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll go request the audience¡± one of them said.


    20 minutes later, he returned and took them to a hall adjacent to the arena.


    Entering the hall, they saw that the third elder was not alone, but was accompanied by the fifth and second elder. This put Roran and the rest at ease, with the other elders here, the third elder wouldn¡¯t be too harsh with punishments regarding Mory¡¯s death.


    After looking at the elders, Roran and the rest immediately bowed and said ¡°disciples greet second, third and fifth elders.¡±


    The three elders turned around, the second elder, called Mara, was an elderly lady, but looked more like an old witch than a nice old lady. With long crooked nose and dark-red hair, she wore a dilapidated gray robe that probably had a real color a few centuries ago, which would also be the last time it was washed.


    The third elder, Jonah, was a well groomed man, just past his middle ages, but clearly took great care of his appearance. He had dark black hair, was quite fat, and looked like someone who enjoyed the pleasures of life. He would look quite friendly if it wasn¡¯t for that strange smile he had on his face. Any who saw it would feel ill at ease, but wouldn¡¯t be able to say why. The feeling the smile gave you could only be called creepy, but the smile itself couldn¡¯t be called malicious or vile, leaving people guessing at ways to describe it.


    The fifth elder looked like a nice old man, just by looking at him, he would be anyone¡¯s favorite grandpa, who always smiled a sweet smile, and was always incredibly polite and gentlemanly in his speech and actions. But those who really knew him understood that the brighter his smile, and the more polite his speech, the lower the chance you would live to see the next day. He was an expert in poisons and medicine, and even the sect head treated him with utmost respect.


    The third elder looked at Roran¡¯s group impatiently, waving his hand and saying, ¡°Yes, yes, what is it, I¡¯m quite busy so hurry it up.¡±


    Hearing this, everyone once again looked at Roran, who couldn¡¯t help but swallow deeply when thinking about the elder¡¯s reaction to the news.


    *gulp*


    ¡±elder, it is with great regret that I have to inform you that Mory, while trying to save Ja¡¯hi, met his untimely demise together with him.¡± Roran said as eloquently as possible, clearly showing why he was the one to speak in this situation.


    The third elder¡¯s face immediately darkened, but he didn¡¯t allow himself to lose his composure in front of the other elders. Before he could say anything, Roran continued. ¡°But at the end of the entrance discovered by him, we found this child¡¯ he said motioning to the unconscious child.¡± And knowing him, I am sure he would¡¯ve wanted you to have it, venerable elder.¡± At this point the elder¡¯s face had straightened up a bit, looking at the white haired child, it had more use than Mory had. But the elder still snorted, ¡°hmph, you think you can just give me a child to replace him? Tsk, I can¡¯t believe I backed such a stupid child, to actually die saving someone, and to even fail at it! How useless can you be! Well, be glad I¡¯ll let you off with just this child, maybe if he¡¯s truly useful I¡¯ll give you a reward. Now leave the child and go back.¡±


    Roran and the other¡¯s faces immediately brightened, not daring to believe they were let off that easily. And they quickly bowed before the elders, saying ¡°elders¡± respectfully before leaving as quickly as possible.


    Seeing the disciples leave in a panic, the fifth elder chuckled.¡± hahaha, still playing favorites to weed out the weak disciples I see?¡± he said, glancing at the third elder.


    ¡°Hmph, that stupid pawn really was a waste! Now I¡¯ll have to find a new disciple to raise up into an arrogant idiot. Really, if we don¡¯t have an idiotic bully to weed out the weak, we¡¯d have too much outer sect disciples, they reproduce like rabbits¡­¡± the third elder responded coldly.


    If the outer sect disciples were to hear him, they¡¯d probably go crazy. Actually using them in such a way, even the livestock was treated better! Of course, all those who were in the know were either trusted and enjoyed the benefits, or were no longer alive to tell the tale.


    Taking a bell out of his robes, the third elder used it to lazily call upon a servant. As soon as the servant arrived, he commanded ¡°get this kid in a cell downstairs, I¡¯ll take care of him later.¡±


    As the servant left, the third elder continued his discussion.¡± So, where were we? Ah! Yes, about those pills and weapons¡­¡±

 chapter 1 --- Awakening

    CHAPTER 1 --- AWAKENING


    Waking up, the first thing Ren saw was a blur. As his eyes adjusted after blinking a few times, what he saw was just like what you would see under water, all kinds of particles moving about. His first thought was that it was quite dusty, but it didn¡¯t impact his breathing so he gave it no second thought.


    Sitting up and looking around, he saw that he was in a cell. Swinging his leg under his bed to get up, he was too late to notice that his legs weren¡¯t as long as he was used to. His legs shot under the bed, the momentum pulling him off of it as he fell flat on the ground.


    *Bam*


    Getting up again, his first action was to feel his head. ¡°ow¡± he murmured, feeling the huge bump on his forehead. He shakily stood up, struggling to find his balance. He quickly looked himself over to see if his head was the only thing that was hurt, but as he did so, his whole body stiffened as he was completely shocked. ¡°My¡­ my legs..¡± he said.


    As he looked himself over completely, he finally had to sit down on his bed in an effort to calm himself down. Although having to jump up to sit on it didn¡¯t really help.


    As he finally started to calm down and accept the fact that he had the body of a child, he couldn¡¯t help but ask himself what happened. Looking around, he started calling out.


    ¡°Hey, anyone there?... hey?... HEY!¡±


    *BANG*


    ¡°Shut up brat! Or you¡¯ll regret it!¡±


    A man yelled after throwing a stone against the cell¡¯s door.


    ¡°f*ck you can¡¯t do this! Let me out!¡± Ren yelled.


    ¡°What did you say you little brat!¡± the man yelled, quickly arriving in front of the cell. Opening the door, he immediately kicked Ren off the bed.


    *bang*


    ¡°Take that you little slave, how dare you mouth off like that, just wait until I¡¯m done with you!¡± As he was giving Ren a few extra kicks, his partner quickly came after him and said.


    ¡°Hey, are you crazy? That¡¯s the new addition, the elder¡¯ll kill you if you break it!¡± hearing this, the other man went a bit pale, as he spit on the ground, saying ¡°Tsk, you¡¯re lucky kid, but you won¡¯t be lucky for long!¡± and quickly left, leaving Ren on the ground, panting for breath.


    ¡®Sh*t, where¡¯d I end up? Why am I here? What happened?¡¯ He thought, as he crawled back to the bed in pain. On his bed, he felt comletely useless and powerless. There was nothing he could do in a child¡¯s body, and he was at the full mercy of his captors.


    As soon as he thought of this, he started panicking and a deep sense of fear invaded him. ¡®Why is this happening to me? Where am I? what¡¯s going to happen to me? Who are these people? Why me?¡¯ Questions like those flooded his mind. But in the end, he had no way of finding the answers, lest he got beat up again. So, he finally decided to try and calm down.


    But all of this, waking up in a cell, getting ruthlessly kicked against the wall, and most of all being in the body of a child, was just too much for Ren. Looking around, he saw the hole that was supposed to be his toilet. Running up to it he let the dizziness overwhelm him and puked.


    Of course nothing came out, making it all the more painful. Having done that, he did the only thing he could do in his situation: lay down, sleep, and hope it¡¯s all a dream.


    He lied down and felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion overcoming him.


    *Klank¡­ kreeeeeee*


    ¡°haaaaaaahh, good moho..oorrgh¡± Ren said, as he stretched his body, but quickly cringed in pain. He still had a few bruises from being kicked yesterday. That was also when he noticed what happened before was NOT a dream. But before he could give it any thought, his visitor started talking.


    ¡±Well, that¡¯s a first, usually you slaves are all afraid of ¡­¡± the elder was stopped speaking in stunned silence, his eyes flashing with pleasant surprise. By now Ren had gotten up and had an equally shocked but also a kind of depressed expression on his face upon looking at the elder, but Ren¡¯s shocked expression was of course for other reasons. The reason for the elder¡¯s surprise was because he saw Ren¡¯s eyes!


    Seeing them, the first thought that went throught the elder¡¯s head was that he had struck gold.


    ¡®Hehe, this child will sell for a fortune if I can get him strong enough!¡¯ he thought as he looked at him.


    ¡°who are you?¡± Ren cautiously asked, afraid he¡¯d get kicked again.


    Of course, the elder, who still looked at him as if he were a huge pile of gold, had no such intentions.


    He chuckled and said ¡°You can call me third elder. But you should introduce yourself when you ask for someone¡¯s name. Although I have to say this is a pleasant surprise, most slaves your age would be crying and asking for their mom, hehe.¡±


    Looking at the elder, Ren said ¡°I¡¯m Ren, why am I here? Can you get me out? What did you do to me?¡±


    ¡°We did nothing to you¡­ yet. Some of our disciples found you a few days ago, and gifted you to me. You¡¯re quite lucky I¡¯ve taken a liking to you! At least you won¡¯t end up in the arena immediately.¡±


    The elder said with his trademark smile on his face.


    Looking at the elder in confusion, Ren asked ¡°Arena?¡±.


    The elder chuckled, ¡°hehe, you¡¯ll learn of it later, for now, follow me.


    More than happy to follow the elder out of this prison, they left the cells and went a floor lower. Where they entered a hall filled with doors. The elder stopped at a door marked 0022 and said ¡°Now, you¡¯ll be staying here a few days until you have a basic cultivation, and once that¡¯s done, you¡¯ll be able to move about a bit more freely.¡±


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Looking at the elder in confusion, Ren couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°cultivation? Like a plant?¡±


    Hearing this, the elder was momentarily at a loss for words, but in the end he still explained.


    ¡°No, not like a plant, I mean like a cultivator, a martial artist!¡± The elder said.


    ¡°Uh, no thanks?¡± Ren tentatively answered.


    Hearing this, the elder¡¯s face immediately changed, ¡°Look, kid, it¡¯s either that, or you fight in the arena and probably die! Now get in and listen!¡± he yelled, his patience finally running out.


    Seeing that the middle-aged man was getting impatient, Ren decided to just do as he was told until he understood what situation he was in.


    Walking in, Ren noticed he was in an actual room with four walls, a decent bed, and even a bathroom.


    ¡°Now,¡± the elder started, ¡°I¡¯ll explain how to start basic cultivation. Don¡¯t worry, most children start at the age of 6-7 years old so you should be able to do it.¡±


    ¡°First, you have to know that the world is filled with essence, a form of energy. It¡¯s everywhere and in everything. To martial artists, we absorb it in our body, where it creates a space. This space is called your ¡®inner space¡¯. Once this space is created, the essence you absorb will be stored in it as Qi.¡±


    Looking at Ren, he said ¡°I know you probably knew this already, but I¡¯m just making sure. Do you understand?¡±


    Ren¡¯s mind was reeling, as he finally concluded that he had ended up in some kind of mental institute!


    ¡®Just go along with him, Ren, crazy people can be dealt with if you stay in their little world.¡¯ He said to himself. And quickly responded with a ¡°yes, of course!¡± whilst he looked at the elder with pitying eyes.


    Hearing this, the elder was glad that the kid was quick to catch on, and never noticed the pitying look the kid gave him. Had he known Ren¡¯s thoughts, he would¡¯ve slapped him until his face was black and blue!


    Luckily, he didn¡¯t know, so he unassumingly continued his explanation.


    ¡°Good, now, this will take you a while, but I¡¯ll explain how to start building your space.


    First, you¡¯ll have to sit cross-legged and close your eyes¡­ come on, hurry up!¡±


    Ren quickly did as told under the elder¡¯s urging.


    ¡°Good¡±, the elder continued, ¡°Although our sect has some special methods, all you¡¯ll get to learn is the basics.¡±


    Hearing this, Ren couldn¡¯t help but think ¡®sect?! How¡¯d I get mixed up with those religious crazies?!¡¯


    But he didn¡¯t dare say anything as he continued to listen to the elder.


    ¡°Now, feel around yourself until you can feel the world¡¯s essence¡± he explained, ¡°after that, focus on your body¡¯s center, which is a bit below the bellybutton. Then imagine a whirlpool forming, once you do, you¡¯ll start feeling a tingling feeling across the skin there. That is the energy entering and purifying your skin. Once this happens you¡¯ll have to slowly spread out the feeling over your whole body. Once you achieve that, you will automatically create your space, and hopefully an elemental seed, if you¡¯re lucky that is.¡±


    Hearing this, the word ¡®crazy¡¯ flickered in Ren¡¯s mind, but he still did as told, because, well, he did wake up in a child¡¯s body, so who knows? Concentrating on his surroundings, he tried to get a feeling for the particles. As he tried focusing on the air, he actually noticed he could ¡®see¡¯ the same dust-like particles he saw floating around when he woke up.


    ¡®Is this the essence he was talking about?¡¯ He thought, as he started imagining a whirlpool forming.


    As he did so, he started thinking he was actually going nuts, because he really did feel the tingling sensation. As he tried to spread the feeling further, it instantly disappeared. The elder, seeing his look of confusion, started explaining.


    ¡°You won¡¯t get it on the first time. You¡¯ll have to be patient and spread it slowly. But for now wait until I¡¯m done explaining the rest.¡±


    Ren nodded and the elder continued.


    ¡°So, after you¡¯ll have formed a space, and maybe an elemental seed, you¡¯ll be able to start accumulating essence in the same way to form your core. Only by forming your core will you take your first step as a martial artist! At that time, you¡¯ll be able to see your inner space! Once you can do that, you¡¯ll be able to utilize your Qi outside of your body. Until then you¡¯ll only be able to use it to strengthen your body. Of course you don¡¯t have to worry about that yet, you can just be happy if you manage to form your space before you join the others! Hahaha!¡±


    Hearing this, Ren finally perked up. ¡°The others? So there are more like me?¡±


    Looking the kid over, the elder mumbled ¡°I don¡¯t think there are any others like you, I really should find out where those useless disciples found you¡­*cough cough* but anyways, yes! Of course there are other slaves like you! Did you really think you were alone? How na?ve!¡±


    Of course, Ren didn¡¯t miss what the elder said.


    ¡¯So they don¡¯t know where I came from either¡­ who are the disciples that found me?¡¯


    As Ren was thinking this, the elder finished his endless explanation with a grim expression. ¡°But don¡¯t worry about the rest, I¡¯ll explain the details later. For now just make sure you finish making your space if you want to survive!¡±


    Seeing the elder¡¯s serious expression, Ren nodded his head, after which the elder finally left.

 chapter 2 --- Cultivation

    CHAPTER 2 --- CULTIVATION?


    Sighing now that he was alone, he once more started asking the questions he was asking himself from the beginning.


    ¡¯Why am I here? How did I get here? What happened to me? Why am I a kid?¡¯  Of course, he had no way of finding out, so he just lied down in contemplation for a while.


    After spending a few hours thinking and not coming up with anything (except for a dozen theories about aliens, someone stealing his body, his brain having been transferred¡­) he had made a few decisions for himself.


    First, he would tell no one he woke up in a younger body. Why? Obviously, if they already treated him like a slave, who knew what they would do to him if they found out he became younger¡­


    Secondly, he would listen to all instructions until he could find a way to escape. Why? Well, he had no idea where he was taken, so even if he escaped, he wouldn¡¯t know where to go! Not to mention he didn¡¯t know how big this ¡®sect¡¯ was.


    Third, he would never tell them his full name, so that when he escaped and went home, they wouldn¡¯t be able to track him!


    Of course, making those decisions was more to calm his mind by giving himself the illusion that he still held some form of control in this situation. As long as he had that, he could somehow keep himself sane, or so he hoped.


    Having done all this and calmed down, he started looking around his room. He actually had a bathtub in his bathroom, and a small mirror.


    Ignoring the mirror for now, he looked at the tub. It was just a wooden tub filled with cold water. Above it was a cord that could be pulled to fill it up again, and there was a latch you could open to let the water flow into a pit, which also served as toilet. When he thought about it, he noticed that his body had a terrible smell to it, so he jumped in and quickly washed up.


    What should¡¯ve been a normal quick bath, became a painful experience as he was confronted with the changes in his body. Knowing you have a child¡¯s body and actually being in one is a whole other thing!


    ¡®What am I going to do with this?¡¯ He asked himself as a feeling of powerlessness once again overcame him. But he couldn¡¯t change the situation so he quickly dried his body with a towel, trying not to pay too much attention to it.


    When he was done, he had to gather up all his courage to walk over to the mirror to take a look at himself.


    Looking into it, he was stunned speechless. What he saw there was a younger version of his own face, with pristine white hair, and those eyes¡­ they were a whirlpool of colors! But strangely it was not in a dizzying way, but actually had a soothing beauty to it.


    Staring at himself in awe, he couldn¡¯t believe how he looked right now. The feeling it gave him was quite conflicting. On one hand, he was happy that he didn¡¯t look utterly disfigured, and incredibly happy that he still had his own face. On the other hand, his hair and eyes still gave him a strange foreign feeling, as if they were not from this world.


    Walking up to his bed while drying off, he noticed a pile of clean clothes next to it. Looking them over, it was a simple white shirt, and brown pants. He quickly got dressed, and decided to explore his room. The first thing he noticed was that he had no windows, and the light in his room could not be turned off! This meant that he would not know how much time passed, much less how much days had gone by!


    This might not seem important, but he was basically stuck in a room for an unknown amount of time, without a way to get out or to know when he would be let out! After yelling and knocking on the door until his voice was hoarse and his fists bloody, he decided to give up. He finally had to accept that he had no control whatsoever about this situation, leaving him frustrated and exasperated. Not knowing what would happen to him left him wanting to just sit in the corner and cry!


    The past few events had been one blow after another to his psyche, and he was starting to become incomparably depressed. He went from a good life living in freedom and having fun all day to a life where he didn¡¯t have any freedom or control! No basic rights either apparently! And who knows how long he would be stuck there!!


    Like this, he spent his time thinking of ways out, but even if he managed to escape his room, he was still stuck in this building¡­ After realizing this, he finally decided to try out this ¡®cultivation¡¯ thing. He had nothing better to do anyway, now that he was stuck here. And getting killed for not listening didn¡¯t seem to be the best way to go about things¡­


    Going over the steps the elder explained again, he almost managed to spread the essence over his whole torso this time, until it reached his bruises. The tingling sensation changed into a prickling one, which startled him and the process popped like a bubble again. Frowning, he started anew, but more carefully this time.  Millimeter by millimeter, he slowly spread the feeling until it reached his bruises. This time he was ready, and managed to get used to it.


    After failing another two times he finally managed to cover his whole body. As he was about to rejoice, he yelled out as pain relentlessly assaulted his whole body.


    ¡°Aaaargh!¡±


    The energy inside had started accumulating and was beginning to form his space. He felt like he was a balloon about to pop, and lost control over the essence. As the energy flooded his body, the pain only grew more intense! His body accumulated more and more energy, and his whole consciousness suddenly imploded! A muffled *BANG* could be heard, as Ren finally blacked out.


    When he woke up, he felt completely refreshed! But his whole body was incredibly dirty, filled with a black sludge. Sighing once more upon seeing his small body, he quickly washed up again. As he calmed his mind and sat back down on his bed, he was suddenly flooded by a torrent of foreign feelings. It was like two people were about to walk against him, so he quickly dodged, jumping off the bed. He was still not steady on his feet, so he stumbled and knocked against the wall.


    Looking around in confusion, he, of course, saw no one. And the feeling was gone without a trace. Cursing the fact that he was still unsteady on his feet, he moved back on the bed.


    Once there, he calmed his mind and the previous feeling assaulted him again. This time he kept his cool, and noticed that it was like he could ¡®see¡¯ everything around him, or more like feel, because he could not see the perfect details, but he could ¡®see¡¯ the guards outside moving about, and he somehow knew if they were male or female, and if they were carrying something or not. It left him completely dizzy and disoriented.


    He started moving around to get rid of the feeling like when he jumped off the bed. This time, however, it didn¡¯t disappear completely but started to recede until it felt more like noise in the background. He could still feel the guards if they passed by his cell, but if they went past a 100-200m radius, he would have to concentrate to notice them.


    With the feeling no longer going away, he was left disoriented. Stumbling around in his room, he was finally left with no choice but to close his eyes. Once he did so, the feeling of dizziness disappeared. After walking into various objects like a brain-dead moron for a few hours, he actually managed to move about. Once he got used to moving with his eyes closed, he opened them again, taking a good hour to get used to the feeling. But once he got used to it, it became just like walking, something you can do without paying it any mind.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    After this, he walked about in his room, bored, touching and moving everything. He was hesitant to cultivate again, after the pain he went through last time.


    ¡®The elder said I wouldn¡¯t survive if I didn¡¯t manage to create my space, but how do I know when it¡¯s done? Do I have to go through that pain each time? Why do I need this space anyway?¡¯


    As more and more questions started to appear in his mind, he decided to just give up and go sleep.


    Waking up the next day, (or so he assumed, as he had no windows) he found a meal on a latch in his door. Looking it over, it was simple bread and some kind of meat. After not eating for the past few days, the smell alone made him salivate.


    He quickly took his meal, and started eating as if he hadn¡¯t eaten in years. Only after having eaten everything did it occur to him that they might have put something in it. But it was too late now anyway, and if they truly wanted to kill him they could¡¯ve just done so. Nothing he could do about it in the body of a twelve year old! So he decided not to worry about it.


    After spending another half a day doing literally nothing, he decided that if he didn¡¯t want to go crazy out of boredom and anxiety, he¡¯d have to do something! So, he started doing the only thing he could do: cultivating.


    Carefully sensing the essence again, this time, the feeling was completely different. He could feel a lot more of the essence, and if he concentrated, his whole body started absorbing it.


    ¡®why is it different? Did I do something wrong? Or do I already have that spacething? Should I make that core he talked about? But he said I would be lucky if I finished my space¡­¡¯


    After worrying it over for a while, he finally decided to just continue. The next few days passed a lot faster. As he cultivated, time seemed to fly! Of course, he had no way of noticing this. To him, it felt like he cultivated for an extremely long hour, while between 2-6h actually passed each time! The only times he stopped was when he washed up or ate his meals.  Of course, the main reason he cultivated was not the elder¡¯s orders, but the fact that cultivating calmed his mind and left his body feeling completely refreshed afterwards.


    As time passed, his cultivation speed started to slow down bit by bit, until it felt like he could no longer absorb any of the essence. It was when he finally reached that stage that a tremor went through his whole body. At that moment, he was overcome by the feeling of his whole body slowly being pressed in a ball! It was a strange feeling, as it didn¡¯t exactly hurt, but just felt incredibly uncomfortable and left him feeling claustrophobic, like he was stuck and could not get away.


    The feeling persisted until he felt that something was about to break! This time it did start to hurt. The pain lasted until he suddenly felt like he lost control over his body. It felt like his connection with it was completely severed!


    He opened his eyes, breathed in deeply, and¡­ it was as if nothing ever happened!


    The only thing that hinted at it all being real was a layer of black sludge that covered his body. It held a foul stench that was a mix of exhaust gas, cigarettes, and burnt plastic. He quickly went to the tub to wash up, and went to sleep in his bed immediately after. He was completely exhausted, both mentally and physically!


    At this time, up in the elder¡¯s residence, the 5th elder had come to visit once again.


    ¡°Hohohoho¡± The fifth elder¡¯s laughter resounded throughout the hall,¡± I never would¡¯ve thought you would hold that much sway over the 2nd elder! You¡¯ve really exceeded my expectations this time!¡±


    ¡°Hmph¡± the third elder snorted,¡± with what she owed the arena, I just hope it was worth it!¡±


    Hearing this, the fifth elder¡¯s eyes flashed with understanding, as he said. ¡°Of course, my pills are not things I can just give away for nothing! But don¡¯t worry, I can almost guarantee that this Earthfire pill will help you break through!¡± While thinking ¡®hehehe, so that old witch likes to gamble, huh, I¡¯ll be sure to remember that¡­¡¯


    The third elder couldn¡¯t help but glance at a small black box that lied on the table, while he said. ¡±yes, of course, I wouldn¡¯t dare doubt your skills. Your mastery over alchemy has long since been something I have strongly admired you for!¡±


    The fifth elder laughed, seemingly pleased with the compliment. The, he suddenly seemed to recall something and asked, ¡°say, I haven¡¯t seen that new slave from last time yet, is he not going to play in the games?¡±


    The third elder nodded, ¡±You¡¯ll be able to see his debut in 2 weeks, but he won¡¯t play in the games, just in the executions.¡±


    ¡°Oooh? Caught your interest did he?¡± the fifth elder asked.


    At this, the third elder just snorted and changed the subject.


    Back in his room, Ren woke up after having slept like a baby.


    ¡°Hmmmmmhhh¡± He groaned as he stretched his body. His whole body felt completely revitalized, as if his whole being had just had a massage!


    After basking in the afterglow of that incomparable feeling for a while, Ren sat up and started inspecting his body.


    The first thing he noticed was that his skin was really smooth and soft, and he could feel a strange power coursing through his body.


    ¡®Is this Qi?¡¯


    He thought, but he had no way of knowing for sure.


    Remembering the change of feeling last time he had a change in cultivation, he quickly sat down and tried cultivating again.


    As he closed his eyes and started concentrating on the place just below his navel, he could suddenly see the space that was situated there. Curious, he concentrated on it and his consciousness was pulled inside.


    Once inside, he saw a strange black sphere, or well, he assumed it was black, because it had a strange black smoke swirling around it. As he tried to get a closer look, he noticed he couldn¡¯t. it was like the black smoke was an actual barrier his consciousness couldn¡¯t pass through.


    Pulling back out of his space, he tried cultivating normally, and it actually went a lot faster this time. He could accurately feel where he had to send the essence now. A lot of the essence was lost before because it missed the entrance to his space and dissipated.


    It might seem like he had an enormous space inside his body, but the actual entrance of the space was minuscule, and now that he knew the exact place to send the essence he absorbed, it was like the difference between heaven and earth compared to before!


    As he continued to cultivate, unknown to him, the last few days of his stay in that room came to an end.

 chapter 3 --- Learning

    To those few who have read my story thus far, thanks! i hope you liked it.


    I know i still have a lot to work on, so feel free to tell me if i make mistakes or if there are holes in the plot!


    CHAPTER 3 --- LEARNING?


    Ren was disturbed in the middle of cultivating by the sound of his door unlocking. Not sure if this was good or bad he opened his eyes and saw the third elder opening the door.


    ¡°Hello there, how have you been these past few days?¡± the elder asked, with his usual ambiguous smile.


    Ren didn¡¯t answer, but just looked at the elder with eyes filled with suspicion.


    Seeing this, the elder chuckled. ¡°oh, don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be let out of this room now! I just want to know how your cultivation is going!¡±


    Before Ren could even react, the elder suddenly appeared in front of him and grasped his hands. After doing so, the elder suddenly started frowning deeply.


    ¡°Hmph, did you even cultivate at all?! Do really WANT to die?¡± the elder said angrily.


    Seeing the elder¡¯s murderous expression, Ren was shocked! It was only now that he noticed that the elder being nice was just an act!


    As the elder pulled him in the air by his arm out of anger, Ren started panicking and quickly yelled out.


    ¡°Nono, I swear, I did as you said, and then it started hurting and all this black stuff was all over my skin and¡­¡±


    *BAM*


    The elder threw Ren against the wall, looking at him with a bit of incredulity on his face. ¡°Are you lying? Why can I not feel your space then?! ¡°


    ¡°I-i-I don¡¯t know!! It¡¯s you who told me to do this shit!¡±


    Ren yelled angrily, actually forgetting he was in a weak body for a moment.


    ¡°WHAT?!¡±


    The elder yelled, and kicked Ren so hard he could feel his ribs creaking!


    *BANG*


    Ren started coughing up blood, as he almost fainted from the pain.


    ¡°Watch your mouth you brat!¡±


    The elder yelled, but by now he was quite sure that Ren was speaking the truth. He never told his slaves about the fact that cultivating could hurt or that it would push out impurities. Some of the slaves would refuse to do it upon knowing that it would hurt, and some of the more spoiled brats wouldn¡¯t do it because they didn¡¯t want to become ¡®dirty¡¯.


    ¡®But why can¡¯t i sense his cultivation¡­¡¯


    The elder thought, but then his eyes started shining like stars lighting up the sky!


    ¡°Unique body! Hahaha a unique body! Wonderful! Stay here, I¡¯ll be back!¡± the elder said as he laughed manically. Leaving Ren lying on the floor coughing his lungs out.


    By the time the elder was back Ren had managed to crawl on his bed and regain his breath. He was lucky none of his ribs were broken, but 2-3 of them were most likely bruised or even cracked.


    ¡°Wear this bracelet!¡±


    The elder immediately said, handing a wide iron bracelet with a round red gem in it to Ren. But the elder might as well have called it a shackle, as it looked more like that than a bracelet.


    Ren hesitated, but didn¡¯t dare object. But the elder clearly wasn¡¯t going to wait and just grabbed his right hand and clamped the ¡®bracelet¡¯ on it.


    *clack*


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, all it will do is tell me your cultivation level and let me restrain you!¡± the elder said.


    Hearing this, Ren was stunned, but before he could say anything the elder continued.


    ¡°Hmmm, yes, you were saying the truth, you have managed to create your space. It¡¯ll take some time for your core though¡­¡± The elder said while nodding his head.


    Hearing this, Ren looked at the elder in shock! Seeing this, the elder was satisfied with himself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look like that, kid, you¡¯ve only seen a mere smidge of my abilities!¡±


    But Ren wasn¡¯t shocked because the elder could see his cultivation, he knew the elder couldn¡¯t! He was clearly already at the core stage. No, the reason he was shocked was because the elder lied without any sign of doing so, and even seemed to boast about his non-existent abilities!


    At this moment a sense of dread overcame Ren. He wasn¡¯t sure why, but it surely wasn¡¯t just because of the lying with a


    straight face. Maybe it was because his life appeared to be in this manipulative man¡¯s hands, but something told him that it was more than that. He had the feeling that this was a man who would do anything to get what he wanted, someone who had never experienced the feeling called ¡®guilt¡¯!


    ¡°Now that that¡¯s done, we can go. Come on, follow me.¡± The elder motioned.


    Ren quickly stumbled after the elder, wincing as his ribs hurt with every movement. This time, they did not go through the hall with cells, but kept going up. After passing another floor, they still kept going up.


    Then they arrived on what Ren could now see was the first floor of the building. And although he could not see much through the windows, he could make out that he was in a city of some kind.


    ¡®I was locked underground!¡¯


    He realized, imagining how disastrous it would¡¯ve been had he managed to escape his room.


    As he was thinking about the possible failures of an escape, they passed through a few hallways and arrived at a huge field with many buildings and walls surrounding it.


    It had only one entrance, and on the field was one large main building, with about 20 luxurious houses left of it and about 10 small stone houses with barred windows on the other side.


    ¡°This is our sect¡¯s little academy¡± the elder explained, ¡°Some privileged slaves, like you, get to attend this together with the children of some of the elders.¡±


    But at this moment Ren wasn¡¯t paying any attention to the elder and just stood there looking up.


    It was the first thing he had done since getting out of the building. And also the one thing he looked forward to the most! He wanted to look at the sky again, now that he was finally out of there. Just looking at the sky would give him a small, but much-needed, feeling of freedom.


    But what he saw was a huge ceiling, with a shining, sun-like stone in it. In the distance he could make out huge pillars that surrounded this place from all sides. It was majestic and scary at the same time.


    ¡°We¡­we.. we¡¯re underground?¡±


    He asked, while he started despairing.


    ¡¯How will I ever escape from here? How do I even begin to look for an exit?!¡¯


    ¡°Aah, yes, of course, you wouldn¡¯t know about that¡­ you were unconscious when they brought you in¡­ well just get used to it!¡±


    The elder said dismissively, and continued walking.


    Walking further into the field, they arrived at the stone houses.


    Once there, the elder walked towards a house with the letter 5 marked on it.


    ¡°This is where you will stay from now on. Inside is a basic book on cultivation, so you¡¯ll have something to do when you¡¯re in there. Tomorrow a servant will come get you and the other slaves and bring you to your classes. Make sure you don¡¯t aggravate any of the elder¡¯s children!¡±


    The elder said.


    ¡°Now get in there!¡±


    Hearing this, Ren hesitated, but the pain in his cracked ribs was still there to remind him what would happen if he didn¡¯t listen. So, he quickly entered the room, which looked about the same as the room he had stayed in the past few days: simple bed, bathroom, mirror. The only difference was that he had windows this time, albeit barred ones.


    Ren quickly lied down on his bed, sighing at the fact that he was once more locked up. Looking at his ribs, he winced upon seeing the beginnings of a purple-black bruise.


    ¡°That¡¯s gonna hurt tomorrow!¡± he mumbled with a pained face.


    After sitting in his bed for a while, he started to look around. He was starting getting used to forcefully calming himself down by now.


    Looking around he found a wardrobe with a few pairs of clothes, all white shirts with brown pants. Next to his bed he found a book titled ¡®basic cultivation¡¯. It was clearly an old, dilapidated book that wasn¡¯t treated all too well, but everything in it was still readable.


    Opening the book, he came upon a short summary of what it held, which also summarized the cultivation stages it held quite nicely, with a list of what he assumed to be all the elements at the end.


    cultivation


    First rank warrior/mage


    1. Aura-cleansing stage p2-4


    1.1. Black aura


    1.2. Gray aura


    1.3. White aura/elemental aura


    2nd- rank warrior/mage


    2. Qi-control stage p5-7


    2.1. Qi-integration


    2.2. Qi-manipulation


    2.3. Qi-manifestation


    3rd rank warrior/mage


    3. Elemental stage p8-9


    3.1. Elemental integration


    3.2. Elemental manipulation


    3.3. Elemental manifestation


    4-9th rank warrior/mage


    4. Innate realm P10


    Primary elements: fire, water, wind, earth


    Secondary elements: electricity, ice, sound, metal


    Special elements: space, light, dark,spirit.


    Turning to the next page, he read the explanation on it:


    ¡°Once you form your core, it will have either a white, grey, or black aura. If it is white, this means your core has absorbed all of your impurities, and your cultivation will slow down in the long term.¡±


    ¡°If it is either gray or black, you should be fine. The darker your core is, however, the better it is for your foundation! Most people will end up with either a dark gray or a grey core.¡±


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°To cleanse your aura, you have to send the essence you absorb into it, naturally dissolving all impurities from within it.¡±


    After this short explanation was a picture of how a black core would look, and on the next 2 pages were the gray and white core respectively.  No further explanation was given, so Ren just went with it.


    But first he checked out the next levels. The explanations were just as short, except for the last one. This one talked about the innate realm, something about abilities of the soul, but he didn¡¯t really understand what it meant and didn¡¯t care to read it thoroughly. What he did understand though, was that it explained that when you reach this realm, your strength would increase exponentially!


    This was his chance to escape!


    If he really could become stronger, and could hide it from that elder, he might have some chance to escape from here. He just had to find out where the exit to this cave was, if there was one, and plan how to get there¡­ Of course, if this place was just a city, it might not be so difficult to get out¡­


    But he wasn¡¯t sure what this place was, so he needed to find a place where he could gather information about it. And what better place than this academy? Thinking of this, Ren actually started to get a bit excited!


    ¡°Ok, I better start cultivating, the faster I get there the faster I get out of here!¡±


    He said to himself, trying to get motivated.


    Like this, he started purifying his aura, which went really fast with the 2 days of essence he had already gathered. Now that he knew how to use it, he sent it all towards the smoke-like substance around his core, and it actually worked!


    The smoke slowly absorbed the essence, and by the time he went to sleep, his core¡¯s aura was already grey, and he could feel that it wasn¡¯t far off from becoming light-gray!


    The next day, he was woken up by rough banging on his door. He quickly got dressed and went outside. There a man was waiting for him, but before Ren could even greet him, he turned around and started knocking on another door.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about Grumpy, he never says a word¡± someone next to him said.


    Startled, Ren tuned around to see 2 boys next to him. One was about 13-14 years old and the other about 10-11.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m An¡¯gra btw, you¡¯re the newbie right?¡± the older kid said.


    ¡°H-hi¡±


    Ren hesitantly said, quickly looking the two over. The older boy had black hair, one blue and one brown eye, while the younger boy had two brown eyes, and grey hair with what seemed like wolf-ears growing on his head.


    ¡°I¡¯m Ren¡± He continued.  ¡°And yeah, I¡¯m new. Anything I should be careful about?¡±


    ¡°Yup, watch out for the elder¡¯s kids, they¡¯re real little brats! Better stay with the group or they¡¯ll target you, so watch out. And try to listen to their orders if you can, you¡¯re new so they¡¯ll focus on you, and you stand out quite a bit!¡± An¡¯gra warned, motioning to Ren¡¯s white hair.


    ¡°Anyway, welcome to our little group of freaks!¡± he then said with a smile.


    Hearing this, Ren couldn¡¯t help but smile too. They really were a little group of freaks, they all had unique traits, which was probably why they were here in the first place.


    ¡°Haha, thanks, and who¡¯s your friend?¡± Ren asked laughingly.


    Hearing this, the younger boy hid behind An¡¯gra, as An¡¯gra answered for him.


    ¡°He¡¯s Mazri, but he¡¯s a bit shy, sorry.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s ok¡± Ren said, but then he was shocked! By now he had finally noticed the ears on the boy¡¯s head.


    ¡®Are those real?!¡¯ he thought. ¡®Are they actually doing human experiments? Is that why I look like this?¡¯


    By now ¡®Grumpy¡¯ had returned with 2 more children, one boy and a girl, both around 12 years old.


    The boy had red hair and red eyes, and the girl blue hair and blue eyes.


    ¡°They¡¯re blue and red, the twins, blue¡¯s the boy¡± An¡¯gra said with a grin. Ren had to laugh a bit at this. Unexpectedly the red one was called blue and vice-versa!


    They quickly greeted each other, but the twins mostly ignored him, and followed Grumpy to the academy.


    On their way there, Ren kept a bit behind the rest with An¡¯gra and asked.


    ¡°Are those ears real? What did they do to him?¡±


    An¡¯gra looked at him weirdly, ¡°You never saw a half before? There should be plenty among the other slaves¡­ he¡¯s a half wolf king so he¡¯s rare though.¡±


    ¡°A half what?!¡± Ren asked, giving the boy a disbelieving look.


    ¡°Yeah, I know, if the wolf tribe ever knew, they¡¯d probably destroy this place! But the elder won¡¯t make that kind of mistakes¡­¡± An¡¯gra explained, but not what Ren wanted to know.


    ¡°Nono, I mean, what¡¯s a half?¡± Ren asked.


    ¡°Huh? I don¡¯t know, a half¡¯s a half, that¡¯s what we call them¡±


    At this ren wanted to slap himself in the face.


    ¡®Why do I even ask a child this!¡¯


    As they arrived in the classroom, it was filled with about 10 other children, all wearing expensive-looking robes.  In front was a small podium with a lady with black hair and brown eyes wearing a white robe.  And in the back were stairs leading up to the seats.


    As soon as they entered all the kids¡¯ eyes focused on Ren, and a lot of whispering started to sound everywhere.


    Entering the classroom, Ren followed the others, but they didn¡¯t go up the stairs. Rather, they went in front of the desks and sat on the ground. Clearly, slaves were not allowed a desk.


    The lady quickly called for silence, and, ignoring the slaves, started her lesson. She mainly talked about the sect, how great it was, how it had existed for 3428 years, (which Ren didn¡¯t believe) and how their ancestor had taken over this cave from a great foe.


    How they had a great battle in the air above the mountain, after which the ancestor flew in, slaughtering his way to the very pillar that is now the mountain they lived on. After a long battle their ancestor had buried the enemy alive under the pillar, building his palace on top of it as a reminder for all future generations.


    Of course, Ren didn¡¯t believe anything about the history lesson so he didn¡¯t really spend his time paying decent attention. During the lesson, however, the kids behind this constantly threw over pieces of paper and other stuff while snickering and mocking them. Ren wanted to throw stuff back, but An¡¯gra quickly stopped him while looking at him as if he was crazy.


    At the end of the class, the teacher told the slaves to clean up the mess, and then left, leaving them alone with the other kids. The kids quickly made use of the opportunity to approach Ren.


    ¡°Hey slave! Kneel!¡± One of them yelled.


    Hearing this Ren just gave the kid a look that said ¡®seriously¡¯, then ignored him and started helping the others.


    The other kids immediately started making noise.


    ¡°Haha, he ignored you!¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t even command a slave can you?¡±


    ¡°How useless can you be?¡±


    The kid immediately got mad and started yelling at Ren.


    ¡°Hey slave, didn¡¯t you hear me?¡±


    The kid lifted his leg and tried to step on Ren¡¯s hand as Ren was picking up a piece of paper.


    Of course, Ren had sensed the kid¡¯s movements, so he quickly grabbed the kid¡¯s leg and stood up. Trying to keep his balance on one foot, the kid immediately grabbed a necklace that Ren now noticed all the kids wearing. The moment the kid held it, a shock went through Ren¡¯s whole body as he was assaulted by pain.


    ¡°Hah, take that slave!¡± the kid yelled, as he started to kick Ren as hard as he could. Other kids quickly joined him and Ren spent the next few minutes being kicked and pummeled, until Grumpy arrived and pulled him out of there.


    He had to be supported by An¡¯gra the whole way back, and immediately went to sleep after he arrived. The next day he woke up with his whole body hurting, especially his ribs, which were still cracked! He tried to remove the bracelet, but noticed that it was somehow locked. There was no keyhole though so he assumed it was an electronic lock.


    Thinking again, he noticed he hadn¡¯t seen any electrical devices except for the lights, and even they had no switches, so he decided to try using his qi. As soon as he infused his qi in the bracelet, he once more got a shock and fainted.


    ¡°seriously?!¡±


    He cried out as he woke up, and really just wanted to crawl up in a ball and start crying.


    Calming down, he started putting everything he had learned into place.


    ¡®These people clearly know nothing about the outside world, they believe in flying humans and QI-beasts, and think they can learn to control the elements¡­ ok maybe the qi-thing works but I bet that¡¯s some kind of experiment! These people are probably some apocalyptic cult, they probably never left this cave of theirs before.¡¯


    Of course, he had thought about it all being true, and him being wrong, but he didn¡¯t really want to consider that! Right now he might be grasping at straws, but it was the only thing keeping him from going completely loony!


    I mean, the alternative was him having lost all his family, all his friends, and being in some other world or something! Sure, he had seen movies with other dimensions, but those couldn¡¯t happen in reality, right?!


    Sitting down cross-legged he decided to just cultivate and not think about things. Because the more he thought about things, the more worried he got.

 chapter 4 --- First time?

    Do tell me if i make any mistakes!


    Thanks a lot ^^


    CHAPTER 4 --- FIRST TIME?


    It took two days for Ren to be let out again. By now he had reached the white aura stage. But before he could go any further, he was called out of his room to go to another ¡®class¡¯.


    This time the lesson was on basic cultivation, and they were sent out midway because the rest would be the sect¡¯s techniques. It was then that Ren realized that the only reason they were sent to the classes was to make the elder¡¯s children learn that they could treat slaves with impunity!


    This made Ren incomparably gloomy. It meant that he¡¯d probably never learn anything useful at all!


    The next few days, Ren started the Qi-integration stage. Reading the explanation it said to:


    ¡°Pull out the Qi from your core and let it permeate throughout your body. This will improve your body and make it ready to accept a natural Qi-flow. Do so until your body adapts and the essence you absorb from the air naturally refines your body before going to your core.¡±


    Under this text was an image of a glowing human body. You could see why this was given to children! It was basically a children¡¯s book/ manual! Ren felt like they took him for an idiot by giving him this. But of course, he didn¡¯t consider that most children started cultivating at 6 and had formed their core by the time they were 7-8 years old.


    It was necessary to make it a children¡¯s book to keep the children¡¯s attention. Of course, there were more advanced books and books with nicer illustrations, but they wouldn¡¯t give those to slaves. Ren got the most basic and oldest of books,


    and if there had been simpler books they would¡¯ve given him those. They wouldn¡¯t actually expect Ren to use the book in at least a few months. His cultivation speed was unprecedented! If the elder knew how quickly Ren cultivated, he would probably dissect him to find out how he did it! He was really lucky that his cultivation was invisible for some reason.


    As he was cultivating, 2 weeks quickly passed, and by now some of the essence Ren absorbed already refined his body before going through his core. Not all of it yet though, there were some places where his body had more trouble adapting, mainly his head and limbs. But he was getting closer every day!


    In these two weeks, the only things he had to look forwards to were the few short moments on his walk to and from classes. There he could talk with An¡¯gra and relax a bit. The twins still ignored him, but Mazri was slowly getting comfortable around him.


    He had not dared to ask the boy if he was born with those ears, no matter how curious he was, as he was just too afraid of what it might mean if that were the case! But despite his heart itching for the answer, this was still the only good part about his current days.


    Classes had become his personal hell. Even with the other children¡¯s specialness, his white hair still stuck out like a sore thumb! He was constantly targeted, most of it instigated by that first kid, who was called Jovy. They did everything to make his life difficult, and would use any excuse to activate his bracelet and make him suffer.


    Suffering this torment had caused Ren to become quiet and retreat within himself. Even when talking to An¡¯gra, he didn¡¯t show the interest or the drive he had before.


    Today, his door was once more knocked against and unlocked. Ren got dressed as usual and went outside, but this time, it wasn¡¯t Grumpy waiting for him, but the elder!


    ¡°Hi there kid, follow me, your calm stay here is over¡±


    The elder said, walking off before Ren could say anything.


    As ren followed him, they once more entered the building where he was held before. Ren started panicking, afraid he¡¯d be locked up underground again, and prepared to run away. But before he could run, the elder had already arrived at the stairs.


    But this time he went up instead of down, Ren noticed, and started to calm down a bit. He had nowhere to run anyway, with the bracelet he wore. Apparently, distance didn¡¯t really make a difference when activating them. He had plenty of experience with this from his classes.


    Arriving at the top of the stairs, they went down a hallway linked with the large arena next to it. Ren could see the inside of the arena, a large field surrounded by walls, above which were the seats for the audience. It reminded him of a roman arena, but the walls were made of metal instead of stone.


    Seeing the arena, Ren had a bad feeling. He couldn¡¯t help but glance at the elder. Noticing this, the elder immediately started talking.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ll be in there, and you¡¯ll be fighting another slave. Now, that slave has no cultivation, so don¡¯t die and embarrass me!¡±


    Ren looked at him, face filled with disbelief and despair.


    ¡°n¡ªno, you can¡¯t be serious! I¡¯ve never fought before! And why in an arena?¡±


    The elder snorted.


    ¡°Hmph, you¡¯ll fight when I tell you to fight, either you survive and kill your opponent, or you die. You¡¯ll learn how to fight quickly enough!¡±


    Ren immediately wanted to run away, but before he could the elder had already gripped his arm.


    ¡°Now, now, follow along nicely.¡±


    He grinned, and pulled Ren along to some stairs. Going down them, they arrived at a long turning hallway with a lot of doors lining it. They could hear voices and groans coming from the doors. Clearly there were people in there, from hurt people to slaves yelling to get out.


    After walking through the hallway for a while, they arrived at a cell linked to the arena. The elder pushed Ren in and then went to a weapons rack next to it. He took a short sword and threw it in the cage.


    ¡°Here you go, don¡¯t worry, your opponent has the same weapon.¡±


    He said, and then just left.


    Of course, Ren wasn¡¯t worried about the weapon, but about this whole situation! Why would he have to kill someone? This went against everything he was taught as a child! Killing is wrong! Everyone deserves to live! And even if he wanted to fight, how could he fight in this body!


    When the door opened, Ren quickly picked up his weapon and went outside. And that¡¯s when he knew that he had worried over the wrong thing, and neglected the most important thing of all!


    His opponent was a child!


    A child around the same age as him, but a child nonetheless! How could he fight a child? How could they let children fight with weapons? Looking around, he saw a lot of people were watching this! How could they?! This was just inhuman!


    As Ren was standing there in shock, the other child had already quickly approached him and slashed out at him with his own sword! Ren quickly parried the blow, shocked at being attacked so suddenly. If it hadn¡¯t been for his ¡®Sense¡¯, he would¡¯ve been dead!


    The kid jumped back, and then quickly slashed at Ren again. This time, the kid aimed at his legs, and Ren was too slow to dodge it.


    ¡°Aargh!¡±


    Ren yelled out, and quickly swung out his sword at the kid retreating kid. The kid avoided his slash and backed off, giving Ren the time to look at his leg. The cut wasn¡¯t deep, but was quite long. It started at his knee and went up about halfway his thigh.


    By the time he looked up again the kid was in front of him again. This time he was prepared though, and used all his might to block with his sword. The kid clearly hadn¡¯t expected this, and his sword went flying.


    Ren quickly put his sword on the kid¡¯s neck, and the whole crowd began yelling and cheering!


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°kill¡±


    ¡°Kill¡±


    ¡°Take his head!¡±


    ¡°Chop his arms off first!¡±


    ¡°Kill him!!¡±


    As the crowd was yelling, Ren shook his head. He couldn¡¯t do it! He couldn¡¯t just kill a kid in cold blood! He pulled back his sword and slowly backed off. The kid just stood there, kneeling on the ground. Once he was a few meters away, he turned around and went back to his cell.


    But before he got far, however, the kid had already grabbed his sword and ran after him! As soon as he sensed the kid behind him, he turned around to defend, but the kid was just too fast. The kid stabbed with the sword, hitting him in his left shoulder just as he turned around.


    Pain flooded through Ren as he slashed blindly while falling down. Black dots covered his vision and he almost fainted from the pain. If he hadn¡¯t been tormented with shocks the past weeks he probably would¡¯ve immediately blacked out. Luckily he didn¡¯t. by the time the black dots disappeared, he saw his opponent bending over him while looking at him.


    But before Ren could even beg for his life, he noticed that his opponent¡¯s neck was completely red. Looking at it again, the fact that it was blood finally registered with him as his opponent fell over. Ren was completely shocked!


    His mind went blank as he vomited on the ground and started mumbling to himself.


    ¡°I¡ªI¡ªI¡¯ve killed someone? No¡­ no.. NO! This can¡¯t be, why? Why didn¡¯t he just leave?! How¡­ How could i¡­ NO! It wasn¡¯t on purpose! It..it wasn¡¯t my fault¡­ Right? I¡ªI had no choice¡­¡±


    As he sat there, a servant came to pull him out of the arena. Back in his cage, the elder came to get him with a smile on his face.


    ¡°Hahaha good! You¡¯ve done well! I was right to have expectations of you. Though it was stupid of you to turn your back on your opponent! But it made it all the more exciting to watch. The crowd loved you!¡±


    Turning to look at the elder, Ren was still in shock.


    ¡°You!... It¡¯s you! Why? Why would you do this? I didn¡¯t want this! What did he do to you? He was just a kid! Don¡¯t you have any shame?!¡±


    He yelled, not caring if he would get beat up.


    The elder just started laughing in his face.


    ¡°Hahaha what did you think? You¡¯re just slaves! Your life is worth as what we paid for you! And you were free! Hahaha stupid kid! In the end, it¡¯s you who killed him, no? Just be glad you¡¯re still alive!¡±


    The elder opened the cage, and grabbed Ren by his throat with one hand, using his other to press his wounded shoulder.


    ¡°A¡ªAAARGH!!!¡±


    ¡°And never talk like that to me again!¡±


    He said with a menacing look on his face.


    Ren barely managed to force an answer through his throat.


    ¡°O¡ªo..k¡±


    The elder grabbed him by the back of the neck, dragging him out of the cage. He pulled him over to one of the doors and threw him inside the room. The room was once again the same as the previous ones: bed, bath, mirror. The elder then left, leaving Ren on the ground, barely conscious.


    10 minutes later, a female servant came in with bandages. She had brown hair and black eyes, and was quite beautiful, but by now Ren was too far out of it to notice. He barely reacted as she lifted him up and put him on the bed. And by the time she started bandaging up he had long lost consciousness.


    As Ren woke up he had the feeling he had had a beautiful dream. It had been long since he had slept so well. But before he could enjoy it the events of the previous day came back to him! Tears flowed out of his eyes, as he sat in a corner of his bed. His arm and thigh still hurt, and as he checked the wounds he noticed they were bandaged. Just touching them was incredibly painful, but he felt like he deserved the punishment. He had taken a life, and one so young. A child who still had so much to live for, so much potential.


    The cruelness of it all hit him hard, he felt like something inside him would break if this went on! He couldn¡¯t calm down and started cultivating. By now cultivating to escape reality had become a habit. He did it almost subconsciously, completely concentrating on it so he wouldn¡¯t have to think of reality.


    Cultivating wasn¡¯t just sitting there doing nothing, he had to put his whole mind on fusing the Qi with his body, spreading it through every inch, inside and out, while maintaining a link with his core for a steady supply of Qi. This allowed him to calm down and temporarily forget about his plight. Of course, he still had to deal with what happened, and running form it didn¡¯t solve the problem for him. But it gave him the time to process it more slowly.


    By the end of the day he was taken back to his room in the academy. The next week was hell, his arm constantly hurt, his mind was in disarray, and the elder¡¯s children used every opportunity to hit his shoulder. He had already hated the children, but now it turned into a murderous rage. Never before had he wanted to hurt them like this! Nor had he really wanted to take his revenge on them. He had always still considered them children. But now, now he began to see them as real enemies, people who wanted to destroy him.


    He started cultivating more and more, running away from reality. By now, he had already finished the Qi-integration stage, and was starting the Qi-manipulation stage. The book said to:


    ¡°manipulate the Qi to flow through every corner of your body freely, until it will do so at a simple intention of yours. This is different from the Qi-integration in the fact that you have to move the Qi randomly, so your body can adapt to sudden bursts of Qi. Begin by pulsing the Qi slowly, and up the speed until you reach your limit. As soon as you reach your limit, stop the pulses, and start randomly moving Qi through your body, this way your body will surpass those limits and adapt.¡±


    So, he started following the list. What he liked about this was that it required an even higher concentration to accomplish, giving him the chance to forget his troubles more easily. But he only had that chance when he was alone, classes were still hell.


    2 weeks quickly passed, and Ren¡¯s hatred for everything only grew. Even when talking with An¡¯gra, he barely showed any facial expressions, as if he was numb to everything. He had been forced to suppress all his emotions, to control himself and keep his rage and anger in check. Once he had exploded, his face turning red, tears streaming down his face, and jumped on Jovy, the one who attacked him the most.


    At that moment, Ren¡¯s mind was strangely the calmest it had ever been. His only thought was to attack the kid, and he did. He ignored everything else, and kept on hitting him. Even when 4 children tried to pull him off, all stronger than him by far, they didn¡¯t manage to stop him, and even when they shocked him with his bracelet, he barely reacted.


    He kept on hitting Jovy until the shocks rendered him unconscious. When he woke back up he was in his room and 3 days had passed. Jovy had apparently survived, but hadn¡¯t been seen again in class since. From then on the kids still did everything to bully him, but they made sure to keep their distance and avoid all physical contact with Ren.


    This event had changed Ren even more. He somehow became more quiet, more reserved, but at the same time this didn¡¯t seem to make him an easier target. The kids could somehow feel that this calmness was like the ocean, and hid countless decimating storms in it¡¯s stillness.

 chapter 5 --- To kill, or not to kill

    this chapter is a bit more graphic than the previous ones, hope you don''t mind. i will probably edit this chapter later on and expand on it later, but for now this will be the final version ^^


    (unless i made some humongous ungodly mistake or smth)


    tell me if i did!


    CHAPTER 5 --- TO KILL, OR NOT TO KILL?


    At the end of the 2 weeks the elder stood in front of Ren¡¯s house again. By now Ren¡¯s wounds had healed. What he didn¡¯t know was that his wounds healed incredibly fast because the Qi in his body worked to heal him. To him, healing that fast seemed normal. He had never been hurt that bad in his life, never even broken anything, so he cluelessly thought it was just natural!


    The elder once more dragged an unwilling Ren to the arena. When Ren arrived in the field, his opponent was once more a child. He immediately got ready, not wanting to be caught by surprise like last time. But this time the kid seemed a lot weaker somehow.


    He easily parried a few blows with his sword, and although he wielded the sword a bit awkwardly, he could now use it for more than just randomly slashing at the kid. He learned quickly, afraid to accidentally kill again.


    As the fight continued, Ren quickly disarmed his opponent. This time he was a lot more careful though, and immediately went to pick up the kid¡¯s weapon. Ignoring the crowd¡¯s encouragement to kill, he moved for his entrance, and just waited.


    After about 10 minutes, the elder angrily arrived and dragged him in. He did not waste any words and just threw Ren in a room. This roo had nothing but a bed in it, not even a toilet. Ren just shrugged, happy he hadn¡¯t had to kill his opponent this time. After cultivating for a while, he was happy to notice that he was about to reach the next stage. Qi could freely flow through his body, and although there was still a little delay, he could feel he would soon be able to control it with a thought! Ren happily went to sleep after knowing this.


    But the next morning, any happy thought was gone. When he woke up, there was a box next to him. Opening it, he found 2 hands! He immediately turned around, the contents of his stomach quickly leaving him as he vomited all over the floor.


    ¡°W¡­wh¡­WHAT THE FUCK!!!!¡±


    He yelled, and started knocking on his door as hard as he could.


    ¡°Let me out!! HEY!! LET ME OUT!!!! PLEASE!!!¡±


    After hours of yelling, his throat finally gave out. He pushed the box in a corner, and sat on his bed while crying. This was just too much, why would they do this? Whose hands were that?


    A sense of dread spread over him as the image of yesterday¡¯s opponent involuntarily flashed across his mind.


    ¡°N..no way¡­ right?!¡±


    He thought, unwilling to believe it.


    For the rest of the day, he didn¡¯t even manage to cultivate. He was thrown into complete chaos and tears flooded his face in his panic. He cried until he fell asleep, starting to lose all hope.


    The next day, he woke up with a new box next two him, this time two feet. As his stomach tried to pour out its contents again, it failed and all that came out was air. But this was even more painful, although he did not care at the moment. He once more pushed the box in the corner, and started crying to be let out, begging for them to stop.


    But no one answered him, leaving him broken and alone, crying on the floor. This day he crumbled completely, guilt and anger overwhelming him. He felt like this was all his fault, but didn¡¯t understand why someone would do this, how they COULD do this.


    This lack of understanding left him in complete and utter despair. He had tried hard to stay himself despite everything, to not let anything change him, even thinking it was all a dream or something, but this finally cracked something in him.


    Something inside him had slowly started to break.


    That day, he didn¡¯t even manage to get back to his bed, and slept against the door, which was covered in blood from him knocking, scratching, and running into it.


    The next day he woke up in his bed, with another box next to him. He could guess what was in it, but his guilt still forced him to open it. Inside were 2 arms, with no hands on them. Seeing this, he started gagging, but didn¡¯t vomit, his tears once more flowed in his eyes, but he didn¡¯t yell or cry out. He simply pushed the box in the same corner as the others, walked up the door, and started knocking on it.


    But this time he didn¡¯t desperately knock and cry, no, he just calmly knocked in the same rhythm.


    *BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­BANG¡­..*


    His mind was completely blank, and tears just flowed out of his eyes as he continuously hit the door.


    *BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­BANG¡­..*


    Blood started flowing out of his hands, but he just continued hitting.


    *BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­BANG¡­..*


    His awareness started to grow faint, but he just continued.


    *BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­BANG¡­..*


    He didn¡¯t know why he did this, nor could he explain it, but the rhythm calmed him down. The pain he felt, the despair he suffered, all of it was drowned out by the rhythm.


    *BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­.BANG¡­¡­BANG¡­..*


    He continued hitting, until finally, he fainted. His fists so damaged that the bones could be seen. He had continued for hours on end, scaring the guards in that place. They knew it was him knocking on the door, but for someone to knock so hard, so calm, so long, was somehow incredibly scary! When it finally stopped, the guards let out sighs of relief, without them knowing it, they had been incredibly tense, their backs filled with cold sweat.


    When he woke up the next day he was somehow calm. His mind had been completely blank while he knocked on the door, but strangely, it had helped him put all his thoughts in order. It had helped him leave behind the despair, the guilt, the dread! The only thing that remained inside of him was apathy, and another feeling he had never had before: killing intent!


    Looking next to him was another box, containing to legs. After opening it, no tears came to him, nor did he have the urge to vomit, he didn¡¯t eve feel disgusted! He just simply closed the box without minding his hurt hands, and then pushed it into the corner with the rest. A barely audible ¡®sorry¡¯ could be heard in the room.


    Then he sat down cross-legged on the bed, and ignoring the pain of his bloody hands, he did something he hadn¡¯t done for days: cultivating! He noticed that he had unknowingly completed the Qi-manipulation stage, so he quickly thought about what was written in the Qi-manifestation stage.


    ¡°Slowly start moving all the Qi from your core into your body. By now your body should be able to handle the strain. Once all the Qi is out of your core, the aura should become translucent and you will be able to see your core. Once you see your core it will have the color of your element/elements if you are lucky enough to have one.¡±


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    As he cultivated, his mind was not completely focused, but he kept at it. He needed to become stronger if he wanted to get out of here. Then he could start thinking of revenge! By now he had noticed his body toughening up after the Qi-manipulation stage. The essence he absorbed constantly refined his body. His body had by now already adapted to constantly absorb it, only speeding up when he focused on it.


    As he cultivated, his whole body started to hurt. Especially his hands, which were slowly being restored by the Qi without him knowing it. This was because this time, his whole body was being filled at once. The previous pulses he sent through it were just to ¡®stretch¡¯ his body, so to speak. Like blowing a bit of air into a balloon, then deflating it.


    The next time you blow air in it, it will be a lot easier. What he was doing now, was like blowing a balloon until it almost popped. He needed to fill his whole body with Qi, and empty his core completely. This was bound to hurt, but would also improve his body a lot!


    As he kept pouring Qi from his core into his body, the pain intensified, but he just continued, ignoring the pain. By now he was so used to it that he could just shrug it off. After suffering for almost a whole day, he finally succumbed to the pain, fainting in his bed.


    This time he did not wake up next to a box, but was pulled out of his bed violently! Falling to the ground, he quickly tried to get up. Once he was standing, he saw the elder, and a servant. But more importantly was what the servant was carrying. It was his previous opponent from the arena! He was actually still alive!


    ¡°Now,¡± the elder said with a smile, throwing a short sword to the ground ¡°you see what happens when you don¡¯t listen to me? Now you¡¯re going to kill this kid, and if you don¡¯t kill your opponent next time, the same will happen!¡±


    Ren just stared at him with dead, emotionless eyes. He picked up the sword, still starting at the elder. Seeing this caused shivers to run down the elder¡¯s back! He had always ejoyed making others suffer this way, seeing them crying and begging, or even going completely crazy! He derived a perverse satisfaction from doing so, but this time, he couldn¡¯t help but feel regret.


    The kid was just plain scary! He actually couldn¡¯t feel any presence or emotional fluctuations from him! It was like the kid wasn¡¯t really standing in front of him. But what scared him most of all was his eyes, his rainbow eyes that had been so soothing before now almost seemed like they would pull him in and swallow him, leaving nothing behind.


    Ren silently walked up to the kid, looking in his eyes. He could see the kid¡¯s hopelessness, his pain and suffering, and his will to die carved in them. Without hesitating he slashed with his sword, cutting the kid¡¯s throat.


    Then, before anyone could react, he turned around and stabbed at the elder! But before he could even reach the elder, the elder had disappeared. He reappeared next to Ren and knocked him out with a knife-hand to the back of the neck.


    Ren could faintly hear the elder¡¯s mocking laughter as he started to black out.


    When he woke back up, he was back in his house in the academy. He got up and looked around, but there was no one with him, and the only thing there was foo and water. After not having anything to eat or drink for 4 days, Ren quickly ate his fill. Without realizing it, he had lived for 5 days without food or drink.


    This was because he was a cultivator. By unconsciously using a part of the essence he naturally absorbed, he could sustain his body for a short period of time. Of course, there was still a limit to this and he still needed to eat and drink, but he could go without drink for about a week, and without food for about 2.


    After he ate, he immediately washed himself. His whole body was covered in blood and puke, and his shoulders, arms and hands were covered in wounds from hitting the door. He smelled horribly!  As he finished washing up, he sat down on his bed, thinking about what had happened. As he sat there, one lone tear slowly dripped down his face.


    From then on, he no longer spared his opponents in his fights. He had to fight once every 2 weeks, and went to classes once every 3-4 days. The rest of the time he spent in his room, silently cultivating. The elder hadn¡¯t visited him again after last time, and didn¡¯t even come to his matches anymore.


    After 2 months passed his cultivation went up a stage again, advancing to the elemental integration stage. As he arrived here, he was incomparably shocked! His core was made up of lots of diferent colors, reminding him of his eyes! This firt made him happy, but then incomparably gloomyas soon as he completely read through the next stage of cultivation!


    ¡°If you do not have an element, skip this stage! If you do have one, then slowly attune all the Qi in your body with the element. This can be done by sending the Qi through your elemental seed. The elemental seed cannot be seen, it can only be felt. Each element has its own color:


    Fire is red		             Water is blue		       Wind is green		Earth is brown


    Lightning is yellow	     Ice is purple 		        Sound is cyan		Metal is grey


    Light is white		      Darkness is black 	Space is silver		Spirit is gold


    You will be able to see this color in your core. Once you see it, try to feel for its origin. This is the seed! After this you simply have to pour your Qi into it. If you have more than one element, you will have to pour your Qi into each element one at a time. Each new element added will take twice the amount of Qi, but will make your Qi 2 times as pure. If, by some miracle, you have more than 2 elements, pour your Qi into the elements in the order marked above. Once you have poured all the Qi in your body into your element(s), you will have passed to the next stage.¡±


    Under each element¡¯s explanation was a small image of a corresponding core.


    As Ren was done cursing, he wasn¡¯t sure whether to laugh or cry! His Qi was potentially incredibly powerful, but the time he would spend attuning it¡­ this would be the longest time he spent on on any stage until now! He quickly started looking for the origin of his fire element, following the heat he could feel from the red color with his mind. In doing so he found 1 miniscule point in that color that was a bright glowing red. He sent his Qi into it and then started attuning his QI.

 chapter 6 --- The market

    let me know if there''s a mistake in there ^^


    also, i left in a little sentence for all the dirtyminded people,


    you''ll know i''m talking about you when you get there ;)


    CHAPTER 6 --- THE MARKET


    Time went by quickly, and as it went by, Ren¡¯s life became incredibly repetitive. He kept fighting stronger and stronger opponents in the arena, after children came adult slaves, most just farmers who didn¡¯t know how to fight, then slowly more skilled opponents, but never once did he fight with a fellow cultivator. The elder wouldn¡¯t risk the kid¡¯s life like that, as he still wanted to sell him.


    By now Ren had started preparing himself for the eventuality that his was no longer the world he once knew. He didn¡¯t want it to be, and still hoped this was all some cult experimenting on humans, but he saw more and more strange people, with animal ears, animal legs, tails¡­ and thought it less and less likely that was the case.


    Eight months had quickly gone by since he was given to the elder. Now, he was 13, or so they said, no one knew if he was a big 10 year-old or a small 15 year-old, so he just went with 13. He had changed a lot in this time, no longer did he feel bad when killing, and by now he had a slight aura of a killer. Not the hockey-mask-chainsaw kind of aura, but more the suit-silencer kind. Quiet and deadly.


    He himself had changed a lot, the constant killing, despair, hopelessness and questions no longer bothered him. By now he had done the only thing he could to stay sane: he had suppressed all his emotions, and learned to control his rage, happiness, and even his grief.


    Doing so made him seem like a different person from before, but instead of causing him to be an emotionless husk of a person, it actually made his emotions more pure. He no longer doubted his decisions, he no longer doubted himself as much, his determination having been forged through the countless hardships.


    The moment he saw someone as a true friend, he would never give up that person, the moment he got angry, none could stop his wrath! But getting him to see you as a friend, or even getting him angry for that matter, also became incomparably difficult! Not even An¡¯gra had managed to get that far!


    By now, he had already attuned his Qi to 5 elements, but this did not mean he could use them! This only meant that his Qi would be able to use them once he passed the elemental manifestation realm! He had to send the attuned Qi back to his body, so it could adapt, and then back to his core. This was not in the book, but after attuning to Fire, he had unconsciously done so, and it had hurt just like when he adapted his body to the Qi-flow, so he decided to do this each time, to make his body stronger!


    And it was his luck he did so! If he hadn¡¯t his body wouldn¡¯t have survived the infusion of all the elements at once! He would¡¯ve been in a coma for years so his body could adapt, if he was lucky! Otherwise, his body would explode, expelling all the Qi in the process.


    Of course, each element had its own benefits, but he didn¡¯t know about those yet.


    Today, there was a large commotion amongst the kids in class. They would soon be able to join the elder and go to what they called ¡®the market¡¯. Ren could only make out that much by overhearing them, and the teacher quickly shushed them afterwards. He had often seen the kids get excited over things, like fights they had had or slaves they had seen killed in the arena, but this was the first time he had heard them mentioning ¡®the market¡¯.


    He was curious, but went about his day like his usual, uncaring self. But that evening, he was once again pulled out of his room. The man waiting outside was one he hadn¡¯t seen since his second fight, the third elder! When he looked outside, the other kids were there too.


    ¡°All of you take your clothes and follow me, we¡¯re going to make a trip!¡±


    The elder said, and Ren quickly went in his room and took all his stuff. Looking around, he saw his book, the one thing that had accompanied him since he came to live here, and decided to grab it as well, rolling it up in his clothes.


    They went through the exit to the academy, the halls of the arena and then, finally, they exited the arena! This was the first time Ren saw the exit to the arena, and he made sure to commit the way to memory, just in case.


    As they exited the building, they arrived at a crowded street. A lot of people were hurriedly filling up carriages and running about as if in a panic. The whole scene was incredibly chaotic. Ren could see that most carriages were pulled by a strange animal, it looked like a warthog, but larger and wider. Its fur was green, and its tusks looked like they were made out of wood, but still had sharp gleaming edges.


    One carriage, however, was pulled by a strange device. It made Ren think of a futuristic motorcycle, one that actually floated! What Ren didn¡¯t know was that this was one of many relics in the world, and although it was one that was about as fast as the planthog, (which is what the green warthog is called) it did not have its offensive capabilities, and was not worth much!


    Still, the sect having an artifact was a sign of status in and of itself. Of course, ren did not know this, but still found it strange as he hadn¡¯t seen any technology so far. Looking around again, he could see panic on some people¡¯s faces as they hurried along, some even dropping stuff on the way. No one seemed to care though, as they quickly prepared.


    The elder put Ren, An¡¯gra, Mazri and the twins in one carriage, and left them there. The carriage was basically a cage, it had high wooden walls, and small barred windows high up, too high for them to really see through. After waiting for a bit, listening to the noisy people, they finally left.


    ¡°Do you know where we¡¯re going?¡±


    He asked the others, but they all shook their heads. Ren sat down cross-legged and started listening to the surrounding people.


    ¡°If this works out, we¡¯ll be rich!¡±


    One of them said.


    ¡°shhh, don¡¯t talk of it, we can¡¯t take any risks, if anyone finds out¡­¡±


    Another quickly shushed him.


    After listening for a while, Ren deduced that they had found ¡®something¡¯ that was potentially dangerous, but would bring forth a great price at the market. He could also guess that he and the others were probably going to be sold as well.


    As they went on their way, the windows in the carriage suddenly lit up. Ren was curious, and quickly jumped and pulled himself up using the window¡¯s bars. He could not see much, but what he saw was enough to shock him! From the sides he could see what appeared to be a long cliffwall behind them, and in the sky¡­ in the sky¡­


    ¡°Two suns!¡±


    He cried out, his last hope of this being earth immediately crushed. The other kids in the carriage looked at him strangely. There being two suns was completely normal to them, it was nothing to be so shocked about.


    ¡°Is this the first time you¡¯ve ever been outside?¡±


    An¡¯gra asked in disbelief.


    ¡°Euh¡±


    Ren was stumped not really knowing what to say. He had gone outside before, just not here. But he couldn¡¯t really say that! They would probably think he was crazy!


    ¡°Well, that sucks for you, guess you lived your whole life in there huh¡­¡±


    An¡¯gra continued, looking at him with pity in his eyes.


    Ren couldn¡¯t help but sigh at this, but decided to just leave it alone. As evening neared, they stopped to make camp. But Ren and the others were left in their cages. A big muscular bear of a guy with a sword at his waist and shield on his back then came to give them food. Ren looked at the man with his usual clear and cold eyes, and the man actually seemed to avoid meeting his gaze.


    Ren didn¡¯t pay it any mind though, and just took the food and ate. After that he just went and slept, not caring to talk with anyone. As the days went on, the carriage seemed more and more craped, living so close to each other in such a small place was really uncomfortable, and the only one who didn¡¯t seem to care was Ren. From the beginning he just sat in a corner and cultivated, paying no one any mind.


    As they travelled for a few more days, tensions rose and the people became more and more nervous. Until their 5th day of travel when the sounds of fighting suddenly broke out, that was when everything took a drastic turn. The fighting intensified with every passing moment, and sounds of explosions and metal clanging on metal could be heard everywhere.


    Ren and the others were still in their cage, and looking out of the window, he could not see much of the ground, only that a lot of people were fighting each other. These people used all kinds of abilities he had never even heard of before! Some threw fireballs, others dissipated into shadows only to reappear behind their opponents,¡­ it was complete chaos as people died everywhere.


    That was when the door to their cage opened. The big bearlike guy was there and quickly yelled


    ¡°Quick, get away, run!¡±


    Of course, none of them hesitated, and they immediately ran off. Leaving Ren sitting there as he calmly opened his eyes and looked at the man.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    He simply asked, aware that he might be used as bait. But the man¡¯s answer was one he didn¡¯t expect!


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    ¡°it¡¯s my fault you¡¯re here in the first place, this is the only thing I can do to make it up to you¡­ I should¡¯ve never let them give you to that elder after we found you in that tube!¡±


    Yes, this was unexpectedly Dar¡¯han! The man had come a long way since, moving into the inner sect, all thanks to the third elder¡¯s backing. Of course, he was also quite talented, but that alone wouldn¡¯t have been enough to get to where he was now.


    He had always felt bad for bringing Ren to the elder, and had seen his two first matches. He knew very well what would happen when Ren wouldn¡¯t kill his opponent, but could only wince at the thought and nothing more. There was nothing he could do on his own. The Blackblood sect was no stranger to killing its own, and nothing he did would¡¯ve changed anything.


    The only thing he could do was use this confusion to let him go. They were fighting a losing battle anyway, and even if they got away, no one would bother to take the slaves.


    Ren¡¯s eyes immediately focused on him, becoming incomparably sharp.


    ¡°what tube? What do you mean? Where did you find me?¡±


    Dar¡¯han was shocked at the look in the kids eyes, and quickly pulled him out of the carriage while saying,


    ¡°Some glass tube with water in the mines, but you have no time you¡¯ve gotta go now!¡±


    Ren looked at him, not moving, waiting to hear more, but the man just threw him to the side and rejoined the battle. Falling to the side of the road, Ren quickly got up and finally saw the current situation. It was bad, really bad.


    Most guards were either dead, or fighting a desperate battle. The rest was running away in all directions, followed by black-clothed men. Everyone was fighting black-clothed men. These men looked more like a group of assassins than some bandits! They put fire to the carriages in front, except one, where they pulled someone out.


    Ren couldn¡¯t see it clearly from where he stood, but it seemed that they were bowing to whoever they got out. Seeing this Ren quickly understood that that person was probably the dangerous ¡®something¡¯ they had ¡®found¡¯.


    He took his first decent look around him, noticing that they were on a road in a forest. The trees were large, reaching up into the sky, with trunks as wide as a person was tall! He quickly tied his clothes and the book around him, chose a direction and started running.


    As he ran, he could see some people running in the distance, and could hear fighting between the trees. This only made him run harder. There were no friends here for him, the runners were enemies, and the attackers probably wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill him. He ran and ran desperately, changing directions as soon as he saw someone in front of him.


    As the sounds of battle started fading, he started slowing down to catch his breath. He didn¡¯t dare stop though, and just ran at a slower pace. Thanks to his cultivation he had quite the endurance, which might just have saved his life this time around.


    After running, walking, then running again, and this for hours on end, he finally arrived at a bloody scene. In front of him was the last person he wanted to see. One he had hoped he had left behind forever. The third elder!


    The man was badly hurt, had lost his left arm, and had deep wounds all over his body. In front of him lied a dead man, one of those assassins in black. Upon seeing Ren, the elder started smiling.


    ¡°Good, you escaped! Come, quickly help me up!¡±


    But Ren didn¡¯t immediately go to the elder, rather, he looked around for the other man¡¯s weapon. He quickly found a sword lying about 50m from the elder, and slowly started walking towards him, pretending to go help.


    The elder smiled seeing this, in such a bad state that he didn¡¯t even see Ren glancing at the weapon. Of course, Ren had barely looked at it, his expression unchanging. As he neared the blade he didn¡¯t even twitch, and in the elder¡¯s eyes, it was as if he was walking towards him one moment, and holding the sword in the next.


    This was the first time Ren had used his true strength in front of the elder. He had always used the bare minimum in his matches, not because he didn¡¯t want to show it, they were matches to the death so he wouldn¡¯t hesitate if necessary, it was just that he had never needed it. He never fought cultivators, so he could fight quite casually.


    His speed at that moment shocked the elder. But there wasn¡¯t much he could do, as he really was badly hurt. He could barely stand on his legs, let alone defend himself. His previous fight had destroyed his cultivation, and he was now basically a normal person with a strong body. It was the bitter price he had to pay to defeat his opponent.


    Of course, Ren had a strong body as well, having attuned his Qi to 5 elements. Ren quickly ran up to the elder, slashing with the blade. The elder snorted mockingly, blocking Ren¡¯s sword.


    ¡°Hmph! You think you can kill me because I¡¯m wounded! Don¡¯t delude yourself!¡±


    But Ren could feel the elder¡¯s weakness, he knew that if the elder really was as strong as he said, he would¡¯ve just killed him. But he didn¡¯t bother answering the elder either, and just attacked again.


    As Ren slashed at the elder again and again, the elder was starting to stumble backwards, his defense crumbling and his face holding a touch of panic. Ren kept going until he suddenly saw the elder reaching for something on his neck.


    ¡®The necklace!¡¯


    He quickly jumped on the elder before he could reach for the necklace, stabbing straight at his heart without bothering to defend. It was now or never, and if he hesitated now, he would die! The elder had never expected the kid to be so resolute. He actually risked his life to pull off a mutual blow!


    Even with all his experience, the elder hadn¡¯t seen it coming. He panicked, quickly swinging his sword to block, but in his panic he aimed a bit too low. Ren¡¯s sword stabbed through his heart, and his sword slashed at Ren¡¯s stomach!


    The elder looked down in disbelief.


    ¡°N..no¡­ you¡­ you¡¯re just a slave¡­¡±


    He died with his eyes wide open, that look of disbelief firmly engraved on his face.


    Ren stood up, and started searching the elder. He took everything that was on the elder except for his robes. The necklace, his rings, sword, a small pouch of money and another small pouch he couldn¡¯t open. It was sealed in some way, but he didn¡¯t really pay it any mind.


    He left the sword in the elder¡¯s heart, stabbing it in had felt so satisfying, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to take it back out, partly for fear it was all a dream, and partly because he felt that it would be like taking back what he had done, and he was very happy with what he had done! So the sword was left behind.


    It was at this moment that the adrenaline in his system started fading, and a sharp pain emanated from his stomach. He looked down, only to see his stomach and legs were covered in blood. He quickly put his hands on his stomach, and felt a long, shallow cut on it.


    He was lucky it wasn¡¯t too deep, but still was losing a lot of blood. He had been saved by the book and the clothes he carried on him! He had tied them to his belly, so he would be able to catch them should they fall while he ran.


    The sword had missed the book though, and still managed to leave a long gash on him. He quickly ran to a few bushes, lying down to look at his wounds. By now he was already feeling dizzy, and knew he had to hurry up! He quickly undressed, dropping everything to the ground.


    He then ripped his shirt to bandage the wound. He was not used to this though, and actually had to start ripping up his pants too before he could put together something that stayed in place. He had used the pants to loop vertically over his shoulder, and his shirt to go horizontally over his cut, making a sort of L.


    Managing to do this had been incomparably difficult for him though, as he was dizzy and his hands were trembling from the blood-loss. When he finally finished he was already seeing black dots everywhere. He just barely managed to cover himself with his spare clothes before finally fainting.


    As Ren was out cold, another assassin arrived, looking for other escapees. As soon as he arrived though, he seemed to lose composure and immediately ran towards his dead companion. He quickly looked him over, but nothing was missing. Turning to look at the dead elder, he spit on the corpse, then proceeded to cut off the head.


    Had he paid attention to his surroundings, he would¡¯ve immediately noticed Ren. This didn¡¯t mean he was careless though, if there had been any cultivator, he would immediately know. But Ren¡¯s cultivation couldn¡¯t be seen. And he wasn¡¯t paying attention to regular humans, as they were not threat to him!


    The reason he didn¡¯t pay attention was because his fellow assassin was quite the high-ranking one, and losing him was not good. His mind was in disarray and he just naturally assumed that the two killed each other, not even checking for other traces. The sword Ren had left behind had now saved him from being discovered!


    The man once more kicked the elder¡¯s body, pulled out the sword, then carefully picked up his fallen comrade and left. On his back was the blood-soaked bag with the elder¡¯s head, leaving behind a bloody trail.

 chapter 7 --- Run!

    didn''t proofread this one, so let me know if there''s any mistakes or plotholes!


    CHAPTER 7 --- RUN!


    When Ren woke up, he could still feel the burning feeling of the wound on his stomach. As he gathered his thoughts, he remembered the events of the previous day, him escaping, him regaining his freedom, him killing the elder!


    ¡°Ha¡­haha¡­hahaha¡­.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!¡±


    He started laughing crazily while standing up, letting out all the pent up feelings until now, tears flooding his face. As he looked through his2 remaining pairs of clothes for the less bloody ones, he quickly collected himself, regaining control over his emotions. Now that he had done it for so long, it had become a habit to push them down. He couldn¡¯t allow himself to feel anything in there, or he would¡¯ve broken down, and now, he didn¡¯t know how to stop doing so.


    As he got dressed and walked out of the bushes, he couldn¡¯t help himself, and went to look at the elder¡¯s corpse one more time. As soon as he arrived though, his face paled! The elder¡¯s head was gone, the sword also no longer stabbed through him! Looking around, the dead assassin had disappeared as well.


    This made him wary of his surroundings, and he decided he had to get away from there, just in case whoever came by got the idea to come back. He started running away, warily looking around him, feeling like someone could jump at him at any moment!


    After running for a while, he came across a small lake. Looking into it, it was the first time in his life he had seen such clear water. He had seen lakes before, but most of them were just dark swaths of water, but this was completely different. He could see the fish swimming in the water, and only the deeper part was filled with darkness. The lake was beautiful, and he decided to quickly wash himself, as he was still covered with blood.


    At this time, in the place where Ren had killed the elder, the loud sounds af a serious scolding were resounding.


    ¡°You idiot! What were you even trained for? Not even checking your surroundings? Not even examining the traces of the fight? What do you have to say for yourself Reeno?¡±


    A white-haired man in black robes was yelling at one of the assassins. The man had removed his mask, and under it was the face of a young adolescent. He had black hair and purple eyes, and looked to be about 16-17 years old.


    The kid¡¯s face turned ugly. Usually he would be treated with respect and could act as haughty as wanted, but now he was on a mission with his uncle, he was treated like the rest, and was having a difficult time. The death of the commander who had taught him everything he knew didn¡¯t help either!


    ¡°I¡ªI, I¡¯m sorry uncl¡ª¡°


    He started saying.


    ¡°COMMANDER!¡±


    The man roared, and Reeno quickly corrected himself.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, commander, I saw my mentor had died and lost composure, I should have checked the surroundings.¡±


    He finished, gritting his teeth and pushing back his anger. Of course, it could clearly be seen on his face. Seeing this, the commander couldn¡¯t help but sigh. He understood the boy¡¯s reaction, but the boy was of the clan¡¯s main line, and was expected to handle himself, but he was too used to being treated as if he was always right and it was starting to show.


    It had started with simple thinks like lazing about while others set up camp, then just doing nothing, and after a while he even started gambling with the men. Gambling was not a problem in itself, but not paying up by using your noble status when you lost was. A lot of men were dissatisfied with him.


    And now he had actually missed the fact that his mentor was not the one who killed the Blackblood elder. Worse even, from the tracks they found, the person had been sleeping here when he passed by! Not only that, they had found clothes suggesting it was just a kid, along with a bracelet gor battle-slaves!


    ¡°How could you miss a mere battle-slave? How could you not even see that the man¡¯s corpse was looted? You can¡¯t lose your wits like this on a mission Reeno, it could cost you your life! Now go and catch that kid, we can¡¯t leave him here.¡±


    The commander yelled for the Nth time, while inwardly he had another thought.


    ¡®hehe, the kid is bound to be interesting, if he dared attack that elder, and succeeded at that!¡¯


    Meanwhile, Ren had just noticed that he missed his bracelet. He had been so used to wearing it that it felt really strange now that it was gone. Although it was like he could still feel it on his arm from time to time. It gave him the strange sensation of actually still being there, while also giving the feeling that something was missing.


    He knew the feeling, it was like the feeling when you had worn a watch for years, and then you forgot it somewhere. You would have the feeling it was still on you, until you noticed it was gone, then the feeling of it missing would constantly nag at you.


    Of course he was rather glad it was gone, but had to wonder why it would suddenly fall off. What he didn¡¯t know was that the bracelet was bound to the elder, and with the elder¡¯s death, it had become unbound and naturally opened, falling on the ground not long after, while he was still dizzy from blood-loss.


    When he was finally clean enough, he put on his wet clothes (he had washed them too) and quickly left the area. He kept on running, until he came across a small shallow river. He decided to do something he had often seen in movies: walk in the river to leave no tracks.


    After walking upstream for a while, he crossed the river and ran into the forest again. Of course he had no idea where he was going, but he was hurt, afraid of getting caught and in a world unknown to him, so he just kept running, not knowing what else to do.


    Unlike most people in his situation, Ren was actually quite calm, thanks to the events in the sect. As such, running so long became quite boring, so he started moving irregularly, turning here, turning there, even running for a while, then running back and going in another direction.


    In the worst case it was for nothing, in the best it would mislead people if they were following him. He continued running for quite a while, and evening was about to come, when suddenly, he heard a zooming noise.


    He turned around, or tried anyway, but before he could an arrow pierced his leg, making him fall to the ground. He didn¡¯t cry out in pain though, it would show pain, and he wouldn¡¯t give that satisfaction to whoever shot him.


    ¡°Hah! I finally got you, you annoying brat!!¡±


    Someone yelled out.


    ¡°Never thought tracking a little kid would ever take so long! Do you know how angry the commander will be with me? This is all your fault!¡±


    It was one of the assassins, and before Ren could even say anything or take his sword, the man already lifted him in the air by the throat, clearly intent on hurting him.


    ¡°Enough, Reeno, I told you to bring him back, not to beat him up! You can¡¯t exactly blame him for your failures!¡±


    Another voice sounded out. Reeno immediately dropped Ren to the ground, saluting the newly arrived person.


    ¡°commander! I have found the boy, as ordered.¡±


    The man just glaced at him, then looked at Ren with a smile on his face.


    ¡°I can see that, good job tracking him. though he certainly didn¡¯t make it easy for you! Haha kid, what¡¯s your name? you¡¯re quite something, being able to hide your tracks that well at your age, even making Reeno make a few mistakes! Hahaha¡±


    Reeno¡¯s face turned sour as he heard the elder¡¯s remark, shooting quite the vicious look at Ren. He would make sure to remember the difficulty the kid put him through!


    ¡°Who are you? Why did you hunt me down? ¡°


    Ren asked warily, not answering the man¡¯s question.


    ¡°YOU! You better answer! That¡¯s the commander you¡¯re talking to!¡±


    Reeno yelled before the commander could answer.


    ¡°Not my commander¡±


    Ren simply said, but he kept looking at the elder, leaning back and acting as if he was putting his hand next to him, while actually grasping hold of his sword, just in case. There wasn¡¯t much he could do, but that was not going to stop him from trying if needed, he wouldn¡¯t just die doing nothing.


    ¡°HAHAHA! I like you kid! Not many would speak like that in his situation.¡±


    The commander started roaring with laughter, surprising both Ren and Reeno.


    ¡°I am Lothar, commander of the 5th unit of the Daefeli clan. We hunted you down for various reasons, like the fact that you¡¯re on the border between normal foest and Qi-beast territory, also to thank you for killing that Blackblood elder. That and because we¡¯ll be taking you to the city.¡±


    Hearing this Ren frowned, he didn¡¯t want to end up as someone¡¯s prisoner again! He quickly got up and pulled out his sword. He would attack that Reeno, and then run. He was pretty sure he was no match for the commander, but if he managed to wound the subordinate, maybe he could stall him long enough.


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    But before Ren could even lift his blade, Reeno had already appeared next to him, kicked his sword out of his hand, and knocked him out. All in the blink of an eye!


    This was the difference between fighting a cultivator and fighting a normal person. Ren had no chance whatsoever! Reeno had long since reached the Origin realm, being of the main line of his clan, he had enjoyed quite the upbringing!


    When Ren woke back up, he was lying on the ground in a tent. When he looked around, he saw a few black clothes next to him, probably for him to wear, although they were a bit big. He looked himself over and had to admit that his clothes were more like bloodied rags. They had been less than decent to begin with, and with running and fighting, they were filled with cuts, dirt and blood.


    Ren quickly changed in the clothes, black pants and shirt. The only good thing about getting knocked out so often was that he could now quickly react to unknown situations. As soon as he got up he looked for a weapon, at the same time he assessed his options. It wasn¡¯t sure the people here wanted to hurt him, but they did take away his stuff. Everything he had taken from the elder was gone! Even his book was gone¡­


    ¡°Hey boy, you going to come out or what?¡±


    Someone suddenly yelled from outside. Ren immediately froze, not sure if it was about him.


    ¡°yes, you, you brat, what are you waiting for?¡±


    The man continued. Ren could now recognize the voice as the commander from before, Lothar. He quickly left the tent, and saw that he was in a large camp. A lot of tents were all around him, and in front of him was a campfire. He could see 2 other campfires in the distance on either side of him, and could hear a lot of people talking and laughing.


    It was currently early evening, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed. The first thing Ren did was looking for the commander, and he quickly found him. he also took the iopportunity to look for a way to escape, but he could see that he was in the middle of the encampment, and they probably put guards around, so he was stuck. For now.


    As Ren approached the campfire, Lothar motioned for him to sit down. Looking the boy over, he was amazed to see his eyes, he had already noticed the white hair, but it wasn¡¯t that strange, but he had been too far away to see his eyes.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s your name?¡± Lothar asked after staring for a while.


    ¡°Ren¡±


    Then his expression became serious as he pulled out the different things they found on Ren, along with the bracelet.


    ¡°So tell me, how did you get all this? Did you really manage to kill that Blackblood elder without a cultivation?¡±


    Seeing the bracelet, Ren immediately became wary, but still answered the questions. If they wanted to help him, it was best he cooperated, and if he wanted to get away, he needed to gain their trust anyway.


    ¡°I have a cultivation but the elder said something about a unique body. I took most of the stuff from the elder. The book is what they gave me to cultivate. I don¡¯t really know much more. They never let me out before.¡±


    Ren explained, hoping he would learn a bit about this world. Lothar gave the kid a pitying look, sighing at his misfortune. Living life in a sect like that really was misfortunate.


    ¡°Haaaaahh, well that explains a lot. But a unique body huh, that¡¯s great! You can keep the book, the rest we¡¯ll be keeping. We lost a commander to that elder, so they¡¯re our spoils of war. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be taking you to the city of daewa, one of the cities ruled by our Daefeli clan. Once there I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯ll get in a good martial academy, it won¡¯t be a problem if you really have a unique body¡­¡±


    Lothar decided to believe the child for now, as it was the only way he could believe the child killing that elder. They had found proof that the elder¡¯s cultivation had been wasted in a forbidden technique, and a young cultivator could have the miraculous luck of managing to kill him, but a normal human? Even miracles had their limits!


    As Ren sat next to the fire with the commander and his troops, they passed him some food before sending him back to his tent. It was late and they would have to leave early in the morning.


    After entering back in his tent and eating, he lied down. As he started thinking about everything, Ren decided to stay with the commander and his troop. If they really had bad intentions, he wouldn¡¯t get far. That and he was in a world he didn¡¯t know¡­ where could he run to? It also helped that the man was the first one to be nice to him since he got here. Except for An¡¯gra of course.


    The next day they left the forest, and Ren was put in a carriage with some other soldiers. He was happy he wasn¡¯t put in some cell, and the men were happy with the distraction.


    ¡°Hey kid, why¡¯d you get to come with us?¡±


    ¡°I heard he actually killed an elder!¡±


    ¡°What? Really? How? He still stinks of milk!¡±


    ¡°Haha, if that kid killed an elder, I killed the patriarch!¡±


    As they were talking about him while interrupting each other like the rowdy bunch they were, one of them kicked against Ren¡¯s feet.


    ¡°Hey kid, welcome to our company! Hope you don¡¯t mind these other idiots!¡±


    ¡°Hey! You¡¯re the biggest idiot of us all Kody!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t give the kid a bad impression of us!¡±


    The man had dark-grey hair and orange eyes, which was a real shock to Ren! His eyes seemed to glow strangely. But looking around, there were a few other strange eyes in the bunch. No other strange colors mind you, but strange eyes. One of them had a square iris, and another had slit eyes like a lizard would.


    ¡°Hehe, as I was saying, don¡¯t mind US idiots! So, I¡¯m Kody as you¡¯ve heard, who are you? And more importantly, did you really kill that elder?


    He asked, while asking his last question while sneakily looking around in an exaggerated manner. Ren had to laugh seeing him act so freely, and the atmosphere in the carriage was quite fun. He had spent so long in such a depressing environment, that the rowdy bunch was as entertaining as a circus!


    ¡°Haha, I¡¯m Ren, nice to meet you, and yeah, but he was half-dead anyway¡± Ren said, he wasn¡¯t going to deny he had killed the elder, he was elated to have done so.


    As they travelled on, Ren got to know the men in the carriage a bit better. Their names were Kody, Elsa, Rag¡¯rod, Na¡¯zo, Matos, Serena and Ranic. They were not actual part of the forces this time, but adventurers Lothar had personally trained. They had joined for this raid to do Lothar a favor. The man had specially come back from retirement once they found traces of the Blackblood sect, as he had some history with them. And not the good kind.


    They did not say what exactly happened, but from the way they said it, Ren could deduce it was personal, probably someone close to him who got killed.


    He also used the opportunity to ask questions about the world he was in and learned a lot, though not as much as he had wanted. He was in the kingdom of Be¡¯as, in the province of the Daefeli clan, Whitefur province. They were the province with most access to the see, and this gave them a great economy. Next to them were 2 other provinces, the Redbird province in the east and the Iceheart province west.


    The biggest enemy to the Daefeli clan was the Aves clan, rulers of the redburd province. The Aves clan had long since wanted the territory with easy access to the sea, and regularly attacked the Daefeli clan. The situation had devolved into a true cold war. Any member of either clan would kill the other on sight. This bloodfued had gone on for countless years.


    The biggest ally to the Daefeli clan was the Ursidae clan, though they mainly remained neutral in their fued. They were however their ally in all trade-related manners, and helped each other¡¯s economy bloom.


    The other province bordering them was to the south. This was the main province, known as the Braveheart province. Its capital was Throne, because the ruler was the ruler of all provinces. Every 3 years, the younger generations of all clans would fight with each other to win the throne, the clan that won would then hold Throne and the Braveheart province.


    The current holders of the throne are the Alethin and Ophidia clans, two clans that hold one province. There were 9 provinces in the kingdom, but he didn¡¯t know the names of the others yet. Nor did he know of any other kingdoms.


    He did know that the city they were headed was the capital, Blado city.

 chapter 8 --- A whole new world

    been a while! sorry for the wait. i''ll try and get the next one out a bit sooner, but i can''t promise anything.


    anyway, let me know if you like it, and maybe give me a review so i know what i''m doing wrong/right?


    thanks in advance!


    CHAPTER 8 --- A WHOLE NEW WORLD!


    Today was the big day, they would finally arrive at the city. Ren had enjoyed the trip so far, although he had mostly remained quiet, only answering if people talked to him, he himself didn¡¯t really ask much. He asked what he needed to know, but didn¡¯t really hold any conversations and stayed with the people from his carriage. He didn¡¯t really know what to talk about anyway, it had been so long he had a normal conversation after all. And he could hardly start discussing tv shows or parties with them.


    He didn¡¯t know anything about this world, so his conversation topics were almost non-existent! So he just listened, and looked outside. Looking outside was a pleasure in itself, this world seemed like his own world, exactly like it actually, but the people were different, and the world seemed¡­ more colorful.


    Everything seemed more¡­ ¡®clean¡¯ somehow, plants and trees were full of life, and there was color everywhere. There were trees with green leaves, red leaves, purple leaves, and he even saw some with black leaves! The flowers were in all kind of colors, and the other plats as well, even the bushes!


    And then there were the animals, when he was running he hadn¡¯t come across any of them, apparently they could feel the huge amount of killing intent from fighting the cultivators, but if he had, he wouldn¡¯t have come out of the encounter with just a scratch!


    There were huge bears, deers, and other weirder animals, like a horned snake, or a red bearlike dog with 2 heads. They didn¡¯t encounter that much of those animals though, and most of them ran when they arrived.


    But along the way Ren had mostly seen beautiful things, the long road with the breathtaking forest on both sides gave him a magnificent view of everything. The whole forest was filled with majestic trees that gave off a feeling of ancientness. And the depth of the forest gave off the feeling of endless mystery and danger.


    One of the few times he did ask a question, was when he came upon a pretty important piece of information. They were telling him a story about their commander, Lothar¡­ 300 years ago?! This shocked Ren, but he did think he was in another world or dimension, so, why not? Of course, he had not been shocked enough to miss the most important part.


    He had lived that long because his cultivation was high!


    Cultivating could give you a longer lifespan!


    According to legend, you could even become immortal!


    This was incredible! If this was true, then Ren might really get a chance to get back home! If he could extend his life by cultivating, he could extend the time he had to look for a way home.


    Who knows? Maybe time flowed different here or something?


    Anyway, he refused to believe it was impossible! There had to be a way!


    And he would find it, and the start of his search would be in that academy. He had no high hopes for it, but even then, he could become stonger and then travel somewhere else to look. He needed strength right now, that was the most important for now. He couldn¡¯t let others decide his fate. Never again!


    As the city came into view, all he saw was a wall stretching out on a part of the horizon. They came closer and closer, and the wall towered above them. He wanted to ask why they would need it, but was too busy staring wide-eyed. As they continued, the wall only became more imposing, it had a large tower every 500m, and there were 5 towers! This meant the wall was about 2.5km long!


    When they neared, he could see that the wall was actually round. There were 3 gates they could see from afar, and they were headed for the southern one.


    As they arrived in front of the city, Ren could see that the walls were actually a whole 100m tall! The gate itself was made up of a large 50m door, with a smaller 5m door to the side. The 50m door was currently closed, and was secured with large chains.


    As they arrived, they got priority passage, as they were the forces of the ruling clan. The soldiers had begun clearing the way as soon as they saw the banner. As they passed the soldiers were saluting, and the crowd waiting for entry was staring at the trail of people and carriages entering the city.


    Once they got inside, Ren¡¯s carriage was stopped, and he was called out by Lothar. This was the first time since that night that he had seen the commander. The man hadn¡¯t bothered with Ren after assigning him a carriage, he had troops to lead and better things to do.


    ¡°well, boy, I¡¯m going to take you to see one of my friends to see about getting you in an academy. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯d rather not go back to a sect?¡±


    Ren shuddered at the question, his time in the Blackblood sect had been more than enough, thank you very much!


    Seeing Ren¡¯s reaction, the elder didn¡¯t ask any further, and just motioned him to follow.


    Once they walked past the gates, they entered inside a huge city. The city was beautiful! The treets were really wide, and the houses were large, but homely. The houses were orange-beige in color, and had tiled roofs, the windows were covered with wooden window-covers that could be opened or closed, and had all kinds of different, bright colors! Some were yellow, some light-blue, some pure white, in short, it gave a colorful, almost festive atmosphere.


    As they walked through these streets, Ren had the feeling he was vacationing in a tropical resort. People walked about, there were food stalls, clothes stalls, people yelling to advertise stores¡­ it was incredibly lively, unlike anything Ren had ever seen. He had to wonder if this was how people sold things before radio, tv, and internet was used¡­


    As they walked on in silence, they arrived at a large gate. After Lothar talked with the guards, they were immediately let in. Once inside, they arrived at a large field, with trees and plants in nice arrangements. There were paths crisscrossing and going to several buildings in the distance. They headed for one of the bigger buildings, which had a large gate at the entrance, and two wings, the eastern and western wings, the eastern one holding the teacher¡¯s dorms, and the western one the offices.


    This was nicely marked on the wall, with indications where to go and where not to go. Ren was a bit amazed at this, and even Lothar started laughing upon seeing it. They quickly went west, up some stairs, and arrived at the largest door in the hall.


    Lothar immediately barged in, and a loud *swoosh* could be heard, as black smoke spread everywhere! And someone¡¯s curses started spreading just as much.


    *cough cough* ¡°F@u%c=k# who is it? Can¡¯t you knock? heavens be damned! wait till i get my hands on you!!¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha still making strange stuff I see, Ruk¡¯kar?¡± Lothar greeted


    ¡°YOU?! You¡¯re back already? Oh heavens, why do you forsake me? There goes my peace and quiet! What are you doing here this time you old invalid?¡± Ruk¡¯kar groaned, but he was clearly joking.


    ¡°Hahaha I come bearing gifts! Gifted gifts!¡±


    Lothar motioned towards Ren, who was looking at both men somewhat strangely.


    ¡°Ooh? Gifted you say? He¡¯s too good-looking to be one of yours though! Hahaha¡±


    Ruk¡¯kar laughed as he looked Ren over. He stopped a while at his eyes, but was otherwise unimpressed.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t even cultivate! What, you want him to start now? Although it¡¯s never too late, my academy has a reputation to uphold.¡±


    ¡°Hahaha you¡¯re getting old you bald duck! The kid¡¯s got a unique body! That and as an elder of your academy, you should allow me this much! The kid¡¯s name is Ren, just register him and give him a room would you?¡± Lothar said, annoyed.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah¡± Ruk¡¯kar said. ¡°Now kid, what¡¯s your name and cultivation? Try being honest with me, that way you¡¯ll be taught what you need to know.¡±


    Ren looked at the man, and said. ¡°Ren, beginning stages of elemental integration.¡±


    He knew he wouldn¡¯t get out of this, and if they really were going to teach him according to his cultivation, he¡¯d better at least be a bit honest. He didn¡¯t tell them the whole truth though, just in case he needed an edge to escape this place.


    Hearing the short response, Ruk¡¯kar looked at him a bit strangely.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to be calling me headmaster from now on, or just head for short. Go wait outside, I¡¯ll send someone to show you around campus and get you to your dorm.¡± He said.


    ¡°Yes, head¡± Ren answered, and left the room.


    Once Ren was outside, Ruk¡¯kar turned to Lothar.


    ¡°So what¡¯s really up with the kid? He¡¯s clearly not your regular happy-go-lucky twelve-year-old! ¡° He said, giving Lothar a sharp look.


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


    ¡°Hehe, so you noticed!¡± Lothar laughed.


    ¡°Hmph, I might be old, but I¡¯m not demented! The kid hides it well, but don¡¯t tell me you didn¡¯t notice his killing intent! Don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s a battle-slave you picked up?¡± Ruk¡¯kar asked.


    ¡°Tsk, no hiding things from you huh? Well, yeah, he is, though his training was clearly not completed, he killed his owner himself!¡° Lothar said, with a smirk.


    ¡°Oh? He managed to kill his owner? Do you think I¡¯m stupid? There¡¯s no way for a battle-slave to kill his owner just like that! What happened? He came across him when he was half-dead?¡± Ru¡¯kar while glaring at Lothar, not believing a word.


    ¡°Pfh, really, can¡¯t you let me hide a few things from you? Okok, don¡¯t give me that look! He killed an elder from the Blackblood sect who had crippled his cultivation to give a fatal blow to one of the commanders¡­ still, even without cultivation, him killing that elder was quite the achievement! So? What do you think? I know the kid¡¯s not bad, I had him watched by a few trusted subordinates, and although the kid¡¯s quiet, he¡¯s smart and learns quickly.¡±Lothar quickly explained upon seeing Ruk¡¯kar¡¯s glare.


    ¡°Hmph, you should know better by now! Really, how senile do you think I am! Now about the kid¡­ I¡¯ll keep him, for now, doesn¡¯t really matter anyway, we¡¯ve got quite a few empty dorms.¡± Ruk¡¯kar sighed.


    ¡°What?! It doesn¡¯t matter? Why¡¯d you ask all those questions then?¡± Lothar asked, with an incredulous look on his face.


    ¡°Hehe, just to mess with you, and it¡¯s handy if I know where my students come from.¡± Ruk¡¯kar said with an amazingly smug grin on his face.


    Lothar just stared at him, mouth wide open, not knowing what to say. He wanted to scold, insult, just yell! But in the end, he just let out an exasperated sigh, knowing that whatever he did would just further amuse Ruk¡¯kar. He left the room in a bad mood, telling Ren that he had to wait and wishing him good luck before he left.


    Ren sat there waiting for 2 hours before the door suddenly opened and the headmaster left his room.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re still here? Oops, I kind of forgot about you¡­ urhuum, I mean, I was just about to go get someone to show you around! Follow me!¡± Ruk¡¯kar said, a bit embarrassed. He had been in such a great mood after screwing with Lothar, and had immediately restarted his experiment! Ren just kinda¡­ slipped his mind?


    Ren frowned, but didn¡¯t say anything. If anything, this was good! If they didn¡¯t put much importace in him, it was less likely he would have trouble getting away if need be.


    As they arrived downstairs, the headmaster quickly yelled at a person at the reception. ¡°Hey, Marinda! Could you go get the student council president of the first years for me?¡±


    Not long after a girl walked in the door, a bit stunned upon seeing the headmaster there.


    ¡°Ah,.. uh¡­ i.. uh.. I was called here? Uhmm, sorry, I mean, what can I help you with Headmaster?¡± she asked, while stuttering, her face completely red.


    ¡°Hahaha, no need to be so flustered, euh, well, just show this new student around and bring him to the first year dorms. Just like you he¡¯s a special case and can move in early!¡± The headmaster said, hesitating a bit before giving up on remembering her name, subtly glossing over it.


    Only now did she notice Ren, and looking him over, she was quite astonished when she saw his eyes.


    ¡®So pretty!¡¯ She tought.


    As Ren looked at her he was just as astonished! She had green eyes, which was already quite special, but they were cat¡¯s eyes! He had seen a few people with strange eyes before, but most were a lot too big to get a clear view.


    Not only that, now that he could look up close he could almost be sure it weren¡¯t just lenses. Quite a few people had them before all this happened to him, though most just used them for parties to make an impression, who knows how different things are here? It could¡¯ve been some fad or something.


    But now that the girl was staring at his eyes a bit absentmindedly, he could stare into hers as well. She was about as big as him, around 1m60, though Ren himself didn¡¯t really know, he had never measured his height.


    As the girl noticed him staring back at her, she became a bit red, after which she turned around with a *hmph*. ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll show you around.¡± She said, and walked off without turning around.


    Ren quickly followed after the girl as she showed him around the campus. He had already seen the wall surrounding it, but hadn¡¯t payed much attention to the surrounding scenery. Mainly because he was looking for ways to escape.


    But the campus was incredibly beautiful. Large paths made with round white rocks, grass growing everywhere with blue flowers blooming and some trees standing alone between them. The trees were white, with red flowers blooming all over them. The scenery was incredible, and Ren couldn¡¯t believe he had missed that in his anxiousness to look for an escape.


    As they walked on, the girl showed him around, introducing each building they encountered. The first building they encountered was a large wooden building with several large rooms for indoor training. Inside were wooden floors and racks filled with wooden weapons for training. the building only had 1 floor.


    The building behind that one was where the theoretical classes took place, it was about as big as the teacher¡¯s building, and had 2 floors, the building had actual stone walls, but still a wooden roof. All the buildings reminded Ren of buildings you¡¯d see in japan or china, but without the decorations you¡¯d expect. The pillars were more like what you¡¯d see in Rome, and there were tapestries on the wall depicting battles between men, between men and giant beasts, and a large one of a white tiger kept coming back.


    Ren didn¡¯t actually get to see much, the girl, seemingly annoyed, kept walking after introducing the buildings, causing Ren to always have to catch up to her.


    As they finally arrived at the dorms, a place where 4 buildings were standing in a circle, with a large fountain in the middle, she finally stopped.


    ¡°These are the dorms for the first to the fourth years. You¡¯ll stay in the northern building that¡¯s the one for the first years this year. There may be a few fourth years that still have to move out, so don¡¯t cause trouble. Don¡¯t forget that you cannot enter the left side, those are the girl¡¯s dorms! If you need me, just ask at the desk in front.¡±


    After that she moved to the desk to get his key, which she then handed to him while they both thanked the attendant.


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky, you got a room in the back away from most noise, and with a good view! Make sure not to lose your key, it¡¯s expensive to replace.¡±


    After saying so she quickly left to her room, leaving Ren to find his way on his own. She hadn¡¯t once looked straight at him since they left the teacher¡¯s building.


    Ren quickly asked the attendant at the desk where his room was, after which he quickly found it. It was on the second floor, the room in the corner of the building. This made the room slightly larger than the others, and gave him a view on two sides. And what a view! He could see a whole field filled with flowers and the occasional tree. There was always a lot of space between the trees, making it so that he could see the walls that were about 20m away, but even so, the view was quite amazing.


    As he entered his room, he was amazed to see a real bed! Not one of those small beds with a hard, disgusting mattress, but a bed that could fit 2, with an incomparably soft mattress! He couldn¡¯t help but sigh deeply when he saw that. What luxury!


    He looked around, enjoying the view from the windows, and then looked at the rest of his room. He had a bathroom, but it was a lot better than before, with a large tub, and hot and cold water. They actually had warm water! Ren immediately washed himself, dried off, and jumped straight into bed.


    Lying there, he couldn¡¯t help but hope things would stay this good. But still, he was prepared for the worst! He couldn¡¯t help it, when he was in the Blackblood sect, he had his hopes crushed so many times, hoping for something was something he couldn¡¯t afford. He wouldn¡¯t have survived if he had kept getting his hopes crushed. So he stopped hoping altogether, it was just another of those feelings he had learned to suppress.


    After enjoying the feeling for a while, he slowly fell asleep, only to jump up again soon afterwards. Sweat rained down his back, and he almost screamed out, only stopping himself at the last moment. He had dreamt about his time in the sect, a dream he had been having since he escaped. At first he would jump up and run out of his tent, only calming down when he saw the trees alongside the road. By now he was used to it, used to that dream that always ended with that wounded elder attacking or surprising him in some way or another.

 changes! need opinions!

    so, i''m planning on rewriting a few of the chapters, not completely, mind you, but making them more detailed in places where i think i have glossed over major details.


    This will change part of the plot, altough most changes will probably be regarding the time spent in certain places.


    this means that the story will be the same, but i''ll be writig out more details about places, actions, and maybe even cultivation.


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


    so now, i would like to ask for your opinions on things you think don''t fit/could be different/ould be impoved.


    speak now, or forever hold your peace ;)


    p.s. thanks for reading until now, and i hope you''ll keep liking the story!