《Lord Azul》 Chapter: 1 - A tough start on life I redid the first chapter - this chapter. I wanted to give the MC a better background, even if it ment that it would take longer to achieve the milestones I''ve set for the story. Still it should be interesting to see the growth of the MC and his journey in life. I hope you like my story, even if it''s a little amateur''ish (it''s because i am an amateur. First story yay!) H.F. ------- A very beautiful woman is currently going through a very important part of her life. She is in the process of bringing new life into this world. It should be a happy occasion, but then why is the woman crying silent tears? These were tears of sadness and not from giving birth. This woman is a beastkin, or a direct descendant from a god beast. Even as power has waned over the millenniums since these god beasts tread upon the world of Darsus. Even if they are far descendant of these god beasts they still hold considerable fighting power. Even though they aren''t as scientifically advanced as the other races. They still excel at their senses and instincts. Their legacy from their ancestors makes them natural-born predators and war machines. Their looks stem from their ancestors when they were in human form, this makes them look like a mix between animals and humans. Looks vary from tribe to tribe, but many if not all of these tribes hold extremely pure blood lines. Therefore the different tribes have their own looks that represent a specific animal or god beast. The woman giving birth, has the looks of a human with slightly laid back and rounded ears on top of her head, a patch of fur growing from her sex, to her navel, and a long slick tail clad in soft fur. All of this fur has the same color pattern. Bright yellowish orange with pure white stripes. Her long hair reaches her waist and is blond though with a tint of her other color pattern. Even if this color pattern seems common it is in fact very rare, her tribe -The War Tigers of the South- might seem like it has a very domineering and militaristic name, though it was like that in the past, but at the present, they have nearly gone extinct. They were once a very powerful tribe, but because of human influence, their tribe dwindled over the years. Until now, Where they are a rarity. This started when the humans began expanding their influence from the central continent, unto the continent of the south, where the beastkin reside. Amongst the might savannahs and jungles. These tribes are not alone, but live together with Demonic beasts. Which are their only source of meat. These beastkin are extremely skilled hunters and warriors. There was a mighty collision when the humans and beastkin met. The humans wanted the beastkins as toy and slaves. The beastkins of course denied. But this made the humans aggressive. The humans attacked tribes of Beastkin, until a mighty ruler banded the beastkin tribes together and repelled the humans from the continent. The results of their collision could be considered a draw, the humans because of their low numbers retreated from the continent. but the beastkin lost many tribes, and many beastkin were kidnapped by the humans to be used as slaves. The females would be used as stocks for breeding more beastkin slaves, and were considered prized goods. The men were tortured and bound to do hard physical work. Especially the men had mighty strength and the humans used this to their advantage. This is where the fate lands for this particular female beastkin. She was actually the daughter of the warchief of the War tigers. But her family was betrayed by a crazed war tiger. This war tiger, poisoned her father - the warchief, and defeated him in a tribal battle for the seat of power. This gave him various powers, such as influence over the fate of the previous warchiefs family. He sold the previous war chief''s daughter to some humans. She ended up in a dirty cellar belonging to some filthy lower class noble. who raped her until she got pregnant. and this is how we ended up in the present situation. The woman of course was devastated. She was betrayed, and she felt that she had betrayed the pure blood lines of her tribe, as she was about to give birth to a half human, half beastkin. But even then she couldn¡¯t let out her anger on an even yet unborn child. This child had not done anything wrong in this world. And this child deserved a good life, even if she would not be in it. She knew! This lower class noble, would not provide for his child born by rape, no. The shame would be unbearable for such a man of such ¡®prestigious¡¯ position. The child would, without choice, either be killed or be sent away. Either sold to a slave trader or be left somewhere in the city. The choices - not so far from each other. The woman was going through the final painful pushes. In this time of need she was alone, usually she was not, but the other slaves kept away from her in this period. This was because of the upcoming storm, Her owner - the prestigious noble, would be furious when he found out she had given birth. Her survival was not assured. The shining head of the baby were now sticking out and she could just barely see it over her overgrown stomach. The woman grasped, when she saw that the baby lacked animal ears on top of his head, he also lacked fur in the usual places. He truly was of mixed blood, cursed the woman. She pushed once more, and the child fell out - unto a dirty pillow. even if it was dirty it was the best she could provide. She fell sideways down onto the floor in sheer exhaustion. Even if she is a beastkin female, who are able to give birth to children without the help of another person. The process was still extremely draining and it didn¡¯t help that her condition was malnourished and very weakly. She glanced at the innocent baby lying on the dirty pillow. To her shock it wasn¡¯t breathing. First she fell into shock, but after a quick realisation. she used the last of her powers to quickly move herself to perform life support on the unbreathing child. She had not even seen the child''s sex, before she had to provide life support. While fully focused on giving life support, she looked carefully at her child''s head. The baby didn¡¯t look healthy at all. In fact it had sickly pale skin color and frail and patchy hair on top of the it''s head. Her eyes moved, even as she was still providing life support, even if it was futile. She saw that the child was a boy. She cried tears of despair while performing life support, even with the last of her vitality she lasted a good 5 minutes. It felt like she was watering a withering rose. No matter how much she watered and nurtured the flower it was to no avail. A shadow fell on her face from the burning light of a candle. Now she was truly alone, she could feel the heat disappear from the small child''s body. She was very sad and confused. She had hoped, that this boy would somehow be able to life a free life, that she had not been able too. Meet a special someone, whom he could cherish and love. But this ruined the last sparks of hope in her life. Her motivation for life plummeted, as she held the newborn yet unbreathing boy close to her heart. She was terrified and cried ever streaming tears of sadness. She had truly given up. As she was about to lose her mind, she thought of a legend. This legend was special, it was said that her earliest ancestor was the God Beast Nazul who held the title Tiger of War. She hoped that if this God Beast still existed somewhere, it might be able to help her in the time of need. The legend was as follows. ¡°On a grassy field stood the predator. Around him was a sea of blood stemming from a solid foundation of corpses. These corpses were being bakes by the sun, releasing a pungent odor, but the God Beast strolled amongst them like in a garden of flowers. He was the victor and the god of this battlefield. A shining golden bolt of lightning fell from the skies. Crackling in the air before hitting the God Beast. The God Beast released an earth shattering roar, which could be heard 500 kilometers away. The God Beast combat the heavenly lightning for two day and two nights before he once again emerged victorious. From then on his figure changed. He now stood on two feet and had taken a human form. He became the earliest ancestor and founder of the War Tigers. Nezul the Tiger of War. But one day he disappeared, It was rumored that he ascended.¡± This was what the woman hoped for, she hoped that the Tiger of War could use his divine power to resurrect her unbreathing child, giving it a chance of life. She fell to her knees in prayer, while still holding her baby boy in her arms. Her knees hurt, but she didn¡¯t care. Her face was resolute and unbending. She tried to put an image on Nezul the Tiger of War and she used every fiber of her being to achieve this feat. She began to whisper in growling voices, the language of the native war tigers. The language indecipherable to other beings as they are just not able to replicate the growling noises. But the meaning is as follows: ¡°Oh, Great Tiger of War. Please grant my child your blessing. Please give him a chance of life. I WILL DO EVERYTHING. sob.. Please. I will accept any punishment for my deeds. Just... sob. save my son! Please!¡± --- meanwhile: In an unknown place A great white tiger suddenly opened his eyes. He roared with all his might, making the sky tremble. Clearly, he was furious! Over the last long period of time, he had languished in the pain of his descendants, but as a being of a higher power, he was powerless. He couldn¡¯t descent! Which might seem ironic, as a being striving for power, all his life. Finally, reaching the goal line, but being unable to even help his descendant. Even though he is blessed with eternal life, he can¡¯t change the fate of a lower being without authorization and the help from the Keepers of Fate. But, he was furious. He had tried conversing with the keepers before, but they were stubborn unyielding. If not for the fact, that the keepers held considerable power, he might have gone on a rampage or two from frustration. He had but not against the Keepers. But, He had finally had enough! His extremely limited patience had run out. It looked as if his anger and killing intent had manifested as a bloody red cloud gathered around the pure white body. A young direct descendant had just given birth to a child of mixed blood, born from the punishment and rape from a filthy human. But worse is that the child wasn''t breathing upon birth, upon which his descendant tried and tried again to save the newborn''s life or at least start it. But to no avail. In sheer hopelessness she had tried praying to an ancient monster. A terror of the battlefield and a directly taker of lives. This being was Nezul and the legends were true if not an understatement. Nezul had lived a life of rage and killing. As a tiger he feasted and hunted, this was his purpose and design. He didn¡¯t care as he could only alleviate his rage by killing. Only when he wore a human form could he feel peace. But that form disgusted him, he would rather kill than wear the form of a human. The beings of a high plane held no power over their descendants. Unless, their followers or in this case descendants has absolute faith in their god or being of higher power, this could allow these being into performing those things that the mortals call miracles. Miracles are often seen or heard by the church of the human religions, that is because the faith is so widespread and focused on a single being of higher power, that it makes it so that the being can perform miracles on a somewhat often scale. But Nezul the Tiger of War, didn¡¯t have that kind of power. This was the case until his descendant showed absolute faith. This faith would enable him in performing a single link of power, though only with the help of the keepers of fate. The Tiger of War rose from his cavern scouting the area for the nearest Temple of Fate. Nezul had his home in what seemed like a desert only that it was filled with big metal like structures, it seemed like solid blocks of steel. The area was extremely desolate, only the sound of rushing sand could be heard in the distance. There were no Demonic beasts or other kind of creatures in this desert. Nezul quickly found a temple only 200 kilometers away, this was an extremely short distance for the tiger. Nezul began moving his large body, so that he faced in the right direction. He then lowered his body, like a cat preparing to jump. The muscles in his legs began bursting with power, expanding greatly. Before unleashing the terrifying potential. His paws or rather claws sank deep into the stone of his cavern. Before he suddenly vanished from sight. Above the ground the tiger was shooting through the air, like a bullet straight out of the gun. loud booming noises followed, as he broke the sound barrier on multiple occasions. In what seemed like a split second, he had moved over the 200 kilometer distance. Just mentioning this feat to any mortal, would call them a liar or a lunatic. He landed on a stone platform of what seemed like a landing pad for a very large vehicle, but strangely this platform was about 100 meters in the air. The platform was connected to a very big and tall building with a temple like design with large white marble arches and beautiful greens growing all over it. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Over the temple was a large golden rainbow which seemed permanently locked in place. Strangely, the tiger didn¡¯t even glance at these features before walking to an golden entrance to the temple. This was precisely a Temple of Fate. This was a temple for beings of higher power so it had to be grand. But the Tiger of War though, it was too grand and pompous. He himself lived in a secluded cavern, in the middle of an iron desert. He was also a traveler moving from place to place. But there were also a difference in population, he, himself was alone. and the Keepers of Fate attracted all of those who practised the profound Art of Fate. But still the Tiger of War thought that it was a little wasteful of effort to build such a grand building. He also wouldn¡¯t be there for long, as the only thing he needed to do was to get an audience with the master of the temple. As the Tiger of War entered the entrance, his form began to suddenly shift, he went from a normal tiger to what seemed like a beastkin. Except that he had some other features, for example: His base color was different, he had a completely different color palette compared to his descendants. He had paws instead of hands, with rings of fur growing up his arms, connected in a tattoo like pattern. He also lacked a tail, though he walked like he had one. He had a large scar growing from under his right eye to his right ear on top of his head, with scar tissue still visible which was void of hair or fur. His overall colors very a bit different. His fur was white with black stripes, and his short cut hair was also completely snow white. Truly, it wouldn¡¯t seem like he was in the same family as his descendants. But he was, it was just that the heavenly tribulations when ascending had granted him the celestial powers that changed his colors, to a more elegant and mysterious color blend. He walked through the majestic temple, as if he was the master of the place. The priests of the place looked at him as if he was a lunatic. He had walked a while before someone came up to him asking him of his business. In a very arrogant manner, Nezul said ¡°Hello there, I want to talk with the master of this place¡± Clearly, he didn¡¯t care for the positions of these priests, and their hierarchy meant nothing to him. therefore as the prideful being that he is he wasn¡¯t going to show the slightest bit of respect unless, the one he was supposed to meet held considerable power, or had defeated him in battle. The priest was furious, he knew that the one the tiger-man was looking for, was one of the cardinals of the temple of fate. But having the nerve to actually say master of this temple, was blasphemy. And this savage man was stepping directly on the face of the temple. But the priest knew better, he could see that if one had the nerve to be so arrogant, they themselves must hold considerable power or have a powerful backing. He guessed the former, as the tiger-man gave off a dangerous and ferocious aura around him. The priest of course, replied after speculating a bit ¡°Sir, if you could just wait in the room down the hall, I will call the Cardinal.¡± As he bowed with his hand cupped together he gave a prayer before going off ¡°May Fate be with you...¡± Nezul didn¡¯t care for his prayer and had already gone off to the room to wait, he was clearly very impatient. He wanted to save the child and even if the time in the immortal plane, he was in moved at a pace of around 5:1, meaning that one hour in the mortal plane would be one hour and here in the higher plane would be five. Even then he couldn¡¯t afford to wait. He wanted to make the child his champion, and help him in life, and maybe someday freeing his people. After what seemed like an eternity to Nezul. Though only one hour had passed before a man dressed in a robe of white silk and gold walked into the room he was in. This man looked like a Cardinal to Nezul, and he stood up from his chair. He stretches his body, from sitting still for a while, before walking up to the Cardinal. On the chest of the Cardinal was a medallion of an open eye, encased in strange triangles. The medallion looked like it had been dipped in blood, and only a little of the original golden shine was left. Clearly, because that even if fate brings cruelty and death, it is a practice that must be upheld and honored. Even if it is a law of death and cruelty. Nezul began speaking, this time in a not so arrogant manner, it was because he could feel the power of the Cardinal and somewhat respected him ¡°Greetings. You must be the Cardinal and master of this grand temple, I am Honored to meet a man of your stature and that you will grant me this audience.¡± The Cardinal was somewhat surprised, he was briefed by the priest which had spoken to Nezul and had the impression that he would be arrogant, but clearly he was not. The Cardinal replied in a respectful voice, belonging to a priest speaking to the masses ¡°We too are honored for your presence - Tiger of War Nezul, we have heard of your presence in the desert of iron, and we thank you for getting rid of the pests belonging to that region. We¡¯ve heard of your previous visits, but i am sorry, we can¡¯t interfere without a proper cause or power. As you know we can¡¯t provide power for you.¡± it was like the Cardinal sang as he talked. Truly mysterious and profound. Nezul was somewhat surprised, he had not thought that they would actually notice that he had hunted near his cavern. Though it was his fault that the Desert of Iron was desolate of beasts because of his hunting. Still he was a little furious with the last bit of the Cardinals response, he was happy that he had been shown respect. But now, he had power which he could use! Nezul replied back in a happy voice, he had gained power and he could use it ¡°Thank you for noticing. Yes, this is the same as the last times, but I¡¯ve got power from my followers, now. So there should be no problems?¡± The Cardinal raised an eyebrow, he had heard from the last times the Tiger of War visited that it had ended bad, and that he was not a man to be trifled with. But he was somewhat happy that he could help the miserable Tiger of War. ¡°We will grant you an audience and a power link with the one you seek. Follow me.¡± Replied the Cardinal as he was walking away. Without saying another word Nezul followed the Cardinal. After going up many stairs, they finally reached the top of 150 meter temple, on top were a ball of golden rings, rotation in a very chaotic manner, yet the rings didn¡¯t collide. With Nezuls sharp cat like eyes he could see that every time these rings passed each other they produced a golden lens of light. As the Cardinal and Nezul neared the rings. The cardinal began chanting in a unknown language. After he was done he invited Nezul into the spinning rings. As Nezul was walking in he saw that where he went it seemed like the rings avoided him, and this allowed him free passage into the midst of the spinning rings. As he walked to the center, the Cardinal began speaking and chanting at the same time. Strangely, he could do both at the same time. ¡°Think of the one you want to contact and the one you want to link your power and influence to.¡± Nezul sat down in a meditative manner, he was slowly transforming back to his massive tiger form. He needed all the concentration he could manage, and being in his original form helped him in doing that. He felt a massive golden gate open in his mind, as he thought of the two persons he wanted to connect to; His descendant for a message, and the link of power and influence for the unbreathing newborn boy. A golden line of power had snapped to something behind the golden gate in his mind. A connection had been made. --- In the mortal plane, the woman was crying and shouting, she was occasionally praying. But not a long time had passed. The baby in her hands were now only fueled by the warmth of her body, and couldn¡¯t produce any heat on it¡¯s own, because it wasn¡¯t alive. Suddenly, she felt a burning headache in her head. She thought she had over exerted herself too much and that she was suffering from the backlash. But that was not the case. A mysterious and majestic voice sounded in her head ¡°Hello there young one. I am the one you prayed too, Tiger of War Nezul, I will make this short, because I can¡¯t speak for long to someone without my influence, and right now I can¡¯t grant you mine. I can grant you the life of your child. Though it will be under a few of conditions which I will decide. First of all, the child''s name will be Azul, a majestic and powerful name. Meaning Savior in the language of the tigers - our language. He will bear my blood and only my blood, removing most of your influence over his body, and all of that filthy humans. Last but not least, he will be forced to follow my way, even if he likes it or not. Danger will be drawn to him, and he to it. He will suffer, and hopefully as my direct champion he will prosper, and achieve my goal of freeing our people and rebuilding our tribe.¡± At the end, the voice belonging to Nezul sounded exhausted. Recovering from her burning headache and pondering over the things the Tiger of War had said. She prayed again without giving much thought, of course ¡°yes¡± was the answer and she screamed it out loud. She could live with these things, just as long as her child would be alive, she would be happy. She had regained hope and knew that her salvation had come. After a few seconds, a red cloud began to gather around the baby. To the woman it looked like killing intent was condensing. The cloud began to solidify around the body of the unbreathing baby, the woman hastily put the child down on the pillow. After a few minutes the cloud was now a solid shape of an egg. Though it seemed like smoke was moving about in the shell. Glowing patterns also began to appear on the shell, shining white and gold. The woman was afraid, of course she was. But she knew what was at stake, and anything was better than a dead baby, even if it was an abomination of an ancient war god. After an hour the shell began to crack. When the first piece of shell fell off, a piercing cry erupted from the child. This was huge, this meant that the child was alive. Though it was still not possible to see the appearance of the child, she didn¡¯t care. Though she waited patiently for the shell to break apart, she was crying so many tears as if she could drown the ocean. These tears were not of sorrow, but of happiness. She wouldn¡¯t care if the child was ugly, she just wanted it. The child in the shell, finally broke most of the shell, and the woman lifted him out and brought him to her chest. however, she did take a close look at him. The baby boy, was filled with tattoos, which was made up for pure white fur. Though the fur was very dense, but at the same time it was so short that it seemed like white paint. He had animal ears like his mother. However, they were white with black stripes like the Tiger of War, his hands were normal though, and he didn¡¯t have a tail for some reason. his hair was pure white, with a very faint tint of black and yellow, a strange combination, but his mother - the woman was glad that he had something from her. She sighed in admiration, this was a very beautiful baby boy. She grinned as she thought of how many skirts he would chase in the future. though it might still be a little early to think of that. The boy until then had his head against her bountiful breasts, but as he calmed down and opened his eyes. He gave a huge shock to his mother. His eyes, were a blood red color with a slit in the middle, just like a cats. Truly beautiful, but oh so frightening, the eyes of a predator and a warrior. The eyes themselves gave off a cold feeling, while giving off a faint killing intent. It even sent a shiver down his mother''s back. The woman was sad as she muttered, his given name. ¡°Your father (Nezul) has decided that you shall be called Azul, Meaning Savior in our native language, someday you will do great deeds. Though you may live a life of danger, I hope as a mother that you will survive and someday live a happy and safe life.¡± She had decided herself to name Nezul the father of the child. As that skum of a noble, had done nothing good, even if he ¡®helped¡¯ bringing this beautiful boy into this world. He was after all the cause of the suffering, and probably also the reason that the baby was born unbreathing. The woman had often been beaten and one should not be beaten, while bearing a child. Nezul might not be happy, but she thought it was the right choice. As he also technically gave the child life. Still, she was a little scared, those eyes were filled with killing intent. It would frighten anyone as if a death god stood before them. She hoped that the boy¡¯s fate would be good, even if he possessed such frightening eyes. --- A red sun rose that morning, announcing a new Era. The people of the world of Darsus, thought it weird as a red sunrise usually meant an upcoming disaster. The Human church was in panic, their top officials had decided to report the event to the pope. But for some reason the matter had been laid to rest by the pope saying ¡°A change is coming, but don¡¯t let your ignorance fool you, a red sunrise is not a sign of an upcoming disaster, just a sign of divine power descending from the higher realms.¡± The pope continued in a small voice that none could hear, ¡°Though these event often lead to disaster¡­ sigh...¡± Chapter: 2 - Removal This is the second chapter of my new series. The chapter will contain gore and cruelty so be aware. for those of you who have not read the previous chapter after i remade it please do, otherwise you will probably be lost. Btw, the reason for not giving a name to The ''noble'' man and the Woman is because i wanted to define their character at bit more before revealing their names. Even yet i decided to not allow the ''noble'' man a name, because of his cruel nature. I am sorry, but i felt i was a kind of punishment for his deeds. Anyway H.F. --- --- Azul was sleeping in his mother''s arms. He looked like a normal baby should, peaceful. He had been in that position for a long time now. However, He wasn¡¯t even old enough yet to register that he was in the arms of his mother. Of course, as a baby he was driven by the most basic of instincts, such as getting food. The woman smiled at her beautiful newborn, but even at this happy occasion, a tear of sadness fell from the corner of her tired eyes. She knew that they would be separated soon and not by choice. Even if the woman had spoken with a being of a higher power, it wouldn''t improve her situation. Not even if the being had given a blessing to her child. Even after everything she would still be a poor slave, enslaved by that disgusting man. Even if she was very young, her future had already been sealed. She could try and sneak the baby out. But the guards were on the noble¡¯s side and she wouldn¡¯t risk getting caught by the other slaves. The other slaves stood to gain nothing by saying it. By they might be relieved from the punishments for a while. Which in itself was a well worth prize to them. The woman hoped, that the noble would try and sell the child, it might be a grueling thing to wish for. But she wanted a future for her child and any future would do. She knew of the fate her child held. But, she still wished for a better future for her child. She clenched the baby boy tighter, while another sad tear fell from her eyes, rolling down her pale cheek. Until it reached her chin where it dripped down unto the newborn child. Azul looked up at his mother with eyes filled with sympathy. Even if a baby should not possess such an emotion. This was how the woman perceived it. She stroked the cheek of the baby boy and kissed his forehead. She then said with a shaky voice, and hoarse from screaming and praying ¡°it will be okay, honey. Mother is fine, I am just a little sad that we will soon be separated. You should sleep until this is over.¡± Two men stormed into the room, a second after the woman finished the sentence. They were Roaring in complaints about the noise. They might have guessed that it was because of a child birth and the aftermath, but they didn¡¯t care. They had been instructed by the master of the house - the noble, to bring the woman and baby to his quarters. They could only comply, they themselves were only pitiful commoners with poor families and them being the only providers. They couldn''t risk their jobs for this beastkin woman. The woman was very unwilling and struggled as she tried to escape the iron grasp of the guards. She knew it wouldn''t be long before she was alone again. The guards put rusty shackles on the woman''s wrists, even though it seemed that she could just pull her hands through them, this was because of her small hands, which were void of fat. But even when chained she refused to let go of her child. When danger looms over a mothers child, a mother can find unimaginable willpower and strength. But the guards were still much stronger than her and forced her to walk. She still held Azul in her arms, like a frail glass vase. Her room was made of big blocks of rough stone, which were located in the cellar of the noble¡¯s mansion. As they walked up the wooden stairs, her eyes met with the faces of the other slaves and servants. As her eyes met theirs, they turned their heads away. They were embarrassed with themselves. And of course the woman agreed that they should be. They had not helped her in the time of need. None of the slaves helped each other. This was a game of survival and only the most resilient would survive. This also meant yourself before others. But she wouldn''t be angry, she just wanted to enjoy her last moments with her child. She glanced at her baby boy, while smiling. She enjoyed the company with her child. Even if he couldn¡¯t show emotions, his presence still made her calm. Even if she may be walking towards her doom. Now they stood before the twin marble doors to the master bedroom. This was where the noble man spent most of his time. However, it was not for sleeping. It was here he ¡®enjoyed¡¯ his girls. The woman thought the noble man pathetic. If he was a real man, he would use his strength to conquer And women would be naturally drawn to him. This was the thoughts of a Beastkin female atleast. But, this man forced women against their will. Not only that, but sometimes he needed the help of the guards to ¡®calm¡¯ the really resistant women. That was also the case for the beastkin woman. Her first night had been gruesome. The guards had dragged her directly to his room. She of course showed resistance, but the guards were too strong for young beastkin. The guards had given her a calming sedative before allowing the noble man to do his deed. This had been the case for the woman every night until she got pregnant. She was like a vegetable while the nobleman had raped her. She felt every bit of it, but couldn¡¯t resist. Two guards outside the bedroom opened the heavy doors. Allowing her to enter. The two guards which brought her, entered with her. Inside the room, a little ugly man sat on a bed in which more than 10 people could sleep in side by side. The little ugly man, was the father of the newborn boy. Or rather the previous father. The little man''s big stomach wobbled as he stood up. He stretched his small and greasy hands, while walking closer to the woman who was utterly terrified. This time she wasn¡¯t sedated, but she wouldn¡¯t show reckless resistance. She was calm only because of her child. The little fat man began speaking with a hoarse voice ¡°What do we have here Nina, I see that you have just given birth. Who is the father Nina. I won¡¯t allow anyone to touch my goods.¡± That is right the woman''s name was Nina Nina flinched, she had expected the man to be that shameless, but this was truly pathetic, it was one thing that he wouldn''t take responsibility, another was that she shamed her for him raping her. Technically he was correct, the child was no longer his, but she did give birth to his child. Also calling her goods. There was no respect at all. She truly wasn¡¯t a human being in his mind. Just a tool for sex and a way to relieve his sadistic desires. Nina replied with a scared voice. She was resistant but her mind had been broken and she had learned to fear the fat man ¡°I¡­ have given birth to a baby boy, if you would please let me keep him, I will raise him on my own. Of course Nina had no desire to raise her child into slavery. What she wanted to do was to extend their time together so that she could at some point free Azul. But the filthy noble wouldn''t have any of it ¡°you pathetic woman, first you give birth to another man''s child. Rather than my noble self¡¯s. And now you ask me, if you can keep it. No! The child is a fine specimen, he has very exotic looks, even though he is a boy, he should fetch a good coin.¡± The ¡®noble¡¯ man was getting exhausted as he had finished speaking. He waved his hands at the guards signaling him to remove the child from his mother. Nina and the guards both had sour faces, the man was total filth. Even though the noble man was a lump of filth he was still their only source of income. But Nina of course rebelled and tried to escape with her child, but sadly it was futile. The guards tried to hold her in place. Nina tried with all her motherly might. Even if she was malnourished, she as a beastkin of the war tiger tribe, she still held considerable fighting power. As a reaction she crouched on the ground, like a runner preparing for a sprint. Even if she was troubled by carrying Azul, she still set off with frightening power. The wooden floor under her, cracked and splinters flew in the sky, just after her take off. What she didn¡¯t realise is that the ¡®noble¡¯ man held a portable crossbow. Which he fired with great difficulty and an unsteady aim. But with great luck or great misfortune, the bolt from the crossbow, hit the woman straight in the angle nailing her to the floor. A piercing scream erupted from Nina, and a short while after a cry followed from Azul whom could feel the danger to his mother and himself. He tried to struggle out of his mother''s grasp, a notable feat as something like that should not be possible for a child not even one day old yet. As he struggled, the white fur on his body began to move like the waves, it looked very mesmerizing. Fortunately, no one noticed the events, as the guards and the ¡®noble¡¯ man was focused on Nina, who was struggling for freedom and was screaming in pain. A large change happened to Azul, a small tail began to sprout from his tailbone, the color; pure white. This changed the atmosphere in the room. The guards and the ¡®noble¡¯ man were confused, it felt like they were drowning in killing intent, but they didn¡¯t know the source. After using the elimination process, they could only guess it was the child, but as they looked at him still in the iron grasp of his mother. They shivered as they saw his blood red eyes, the eyes had a very small slit. While the area around it was colored blood red, and it really seemed like blood. It may have been an illusion, but to the guards and the ¡®noble¡¯ man it seemed as if the blood color in his eyes were moving about like sloshing waves in an ocean. It brought sweat on the head of the these people and sent shivers down their spines. They felt like they stood before death itself. Strangely, Nina hadn¡¯t noticed as she was still struggling with the bolt. It might have been poor aiming from the ¡®noble¡¯ man, but her wounds worsened quickly. The only thing on her mind was to free herself so that she could save her child, and preferably by her own means. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The first to break the trance of confusion brought by the killing intent was one of the guards which brought Nina and Azul to this room. The guard went up, and used his shield to knock Nina unconscious, she was an easy target as she was pinned to the ground by the bolt. As she was falling to the ground, the guard quickly picked Azul up from his mother''s arms. However, he had slight problems because of the iron grip from Nina. Even when unconscious she wouldn¡¯t let go of her precious child. He brought the child to his chest, even though he was clad in black and silver basic leather armor, he still rocked the child, as if trying to calm it down. The upcoming event would be brutal, and he feared that the child would be marked by the event that were unfolding. He knew the ¡®noble¡¯ man was brutal. Especially towards women who couldn¡¯t resist. Most of the guards themselves were not bad people, they just held a lot of responsibility and they couldn¡¯t let their families down. If they failed to keep their jobs, they would starve. They would gladly take the mantle of maniac so that their families would survive, even if it meant forsaking their own beliefs. Azul went quiet as he was lulled to sleep by the guard. and the killing intent gradually faded. The last to recover was of course the ¡®noble¡¯ man, he was furious and made a big deal out of it. It was as if someone had threatened his life, and stepped on the face of his family. He went on and on about how to punish the mother and newborn baby. After a while he seemed to have made a decision. He asked the guard for a knife. with a smiling face. He looked like a small child just about to open his only present. He recieved a rusty and crooked knife from a guard, who was sweating like a waterfall. The ¡®noble¡¯ man went over to Nina, with a big grin on his lips he said ¡°You filthy woman, for you to have brought such scum into this world, this requires punishment. I¡¯ve already had my fun with you and now is the time to say goodbye.¡± He began pressing the knife into her cheek, yet she remained unmoving. The shield slam from the guard must have been a big one to knock her out completely, she probably wouldn¡¯t recover in a while. Which gave time for the ¡®noble¡¯ to do his deed. He began carving, like drawing on a bloody canvas. In this case he would be an artist with no skill at all. what he carved was a grand B stretching from cheek to cheek. Rippling across her skin, over her small nose, and into her eyes, though avoiding the eye balls, he hit, eyebrow and continued to connect it in the middle of her forehead. The act was very brutal and bloody, and the guards nearly vomited from the sight. They might be guards, but that didn¡¯t mean that they had seen war up close. Those kind of guards were much more expensive, and the ¡®noble¡¯ man didn¡¯t have coin like that. Nina¡¯s faced would be scarred forever. It would always be a reminder of her time here at the mansion. It was a time that would mark her forever. If she survived she would become truly broken. She might not have experienced the pain from the carving. But the aftermath would be brutal. The knife was not sterile at all, it would be a miracle if she would survive the infections and blood loss. Beside the pool of blood, stood the guard which carried Azul. he too was disgusted, but he felt it was his duty to protect the child while the ¡®noble¡¯ man wasn¡¯t paying attention. The guard actually held minor skills in the art of Runecrafting, while the others were doing their thing, he picked up a small copper coin from his purse. This would be the vessel of power for the rune he was about to craft. Tier - 1. Rune Smiths had only the most basic of skills in runecraft, the rank would be more like knowing the introductions to runecraft. But even then most just didn¡¯t have the skills to use this craft. It was also highly profound, and most commoners would never get into contact with Runecraft items. The guard had been lucky once, and obtained a scroll giving the basic introductions to runecrafting. And to his surprise he found out he had a small aptitude for Rune smithing. It was not that Rune smits were rare, but fewer and fewer would advance in tier. Tier - 1, was the worst, except for not knowing the profession at all. While those of Tier - 10, would have godlike engraving skills, being able to make enchantments like mana absorption or greater health regeneration. or at least those were the rumors the guard had heard. The guard held Azul in his left hand while he held the copper coin in his right. He began chanting, as a low tier Runesmith his chants would be long and arduous, but it was fine, as long as he was able to finish. A strange yellow rune began appearing on the small copper coin after a few seconds. After a while the engravings were done. He made another quick chant for making a small hole in the coin, He had gotten a piece of cloth from Nina¡¯s tattered clothes. He decided to use it as a string for the necklace. This way the child would always have a reminder of his mother, even if she wasn¡¯t near. The guard had gotten the tattered cloth when he had accidentally ripped her clothes. He carefully inserted the cloth string into the coin. He had made a small necklace. He put the necklace around the small child''s neck. The craftsmanship wasn¡¯t great, but it would serve it¡¯s purpose in a time of need. The ¡®noble¡¯ man was just about to finish his ¡®engravings¡¯, when his eyes moved to Azul and the guard. He saw the cloth necklace but couldn¡¯t remember if it had been there from the start. He called the guard which held Azul over. ¡°Did that boy always have that necklace?¡± asked the ¡®noble¡¯ man satisfied. The guard went out on a limb and answered ¡°The child had it before we brought the woman and the child here. It might have been a gift from the woman.¡± The guard secretly hoped that he would allow the child to keep the necklace. The ¡®noble¡¯ man stood up and threw the bloodied knife to the guard which lend it to him. He walked up to Azul and glanced at the necklace, with the small coin strapped to it. ¡°Hmm. the material seems incredibly poor, it might fall off anytime. The copper coin is of minor value, not something to bother about. I will let him keep it, but just this once, because of my good mercy and compassion.¡± answered the noble man, with a big grin on his lips. He was clearly very satisfied with himself. The guards nearly vomited by the shamelessness, but they were used to it. so they held it in. ¡°The child will be sold anyway, send it to the slave trader immediately, with his exotic look he should make a great coin. ¡± said the ¡®noble¡¯ man while glancing the guard holding Azul. With a deep sigh the guard began moving away after giving a faint bow. Another guard asked about what to do with the Nina. and the ¡®noble¡¯ man just answered with a cold voice ¡°Throw her out, I¡¯ve had my fun!¡± The guards went up to Nina, removing the bolt and dragging her away, she was still unconscious. He pitied the woman. He hoped that he could save the woman, otherwise the heaven¡¯s golden gates would never open for them. --- At the slave marked. The guard with the small Azul in his arms entered a majestic building belonging to the slave traders. Even if slave traders are hated and cursed at by the commoners, this place is one of the favorites of the noble. This is the place where trade is happening with slaves. The slaves themselves are not treated inhumanly here. especially not, if it is the really expensive goods, such as mermaids or Cat Women of the beastkins. They are actually treated like noble guests, even if they are in fact prisoners. The building itself, was a massive mansion sized tradeplace filled with beautiful marble engravings and arches. It looked like a palace instead of a slave traders marked. This also showed the extreme wealth of the slave traders. The guard walked along a hall, until he reached a semi circular room, with many stands for appraising goods (slaves). He walked up to one of them while giving of a deep sigh. He was very unhappy with the situation, but he couldn¡¯t disappoint his master. He wanted to give the child the best service possible in this place. When he finally got close to a stand, he saw that a beautiful young man standing on the other side of the desk, the guard knew that he was the appraiser. He laid down Azul onto a massive marble plate, that was used for appraising. The young man began speaking while moving Azul quietly as to not wake him up. ¡°You are bringing me another one, old friend? Is that filth still throwing slaves left and right?¡± The guard was not shocked, he knew this man on the other side. He had often in the past, had to deliver slaves to precisely this location and he had actually got acquainted with the young man on the other side of the desk. The young man was a surprisingly gentle man, so he always delivered the slaves directly to him. he knew that the young man would treat the slaves gently even if he had a higher status than them and wouldn¡¯t hurt them even if he could. ¡°Ahh. yes, this is a sad one, please treat him with care. He was just born, and his fate has already been a cruel one. I hope you find some good masters for him.¡± Said the guard while giving a gentle bow. The young man smiled brightly like the sun, while replying ¡°yes, this time you¡¯ve brought a really good product, for a baby he has surprisingly tough muscles, and he has great looks even if he is a male beastkin. Don¡¯t worry i will take care of it. - I can give you 3 gold coins for this boy, if he was older I could probably give you 10, but the care he will need will be expensive so I can¡¯t give you more. I am sorry!¡± The young man replied with shifting faces as he spoke. He was a true merchant, who wore a constant pokerface. ¡°Yes, thank you, you can send the money directly to Balyr manor as always.¡± While the guard walked out, the young man turned around with Azul in his arms mumbling in a low voice while grinning. ¡°I¡¯ve just made a killin¡¯, this boy is worth so much more. If raised properly his potential is limitless, forget 3 gold. maybe 50 gold wouldn¡¯t suffice!¡± The character of the young man, might not have been as good as the guard thought! Chapter: 3 - Sold This chapter is a defining chapter for Azul, he is still a baby, but his future will be decided for him. Remember the quote from Nezul. I won''t state it directly in the chapters so some of you will probably just say he has bad luck, he has. But that is not the case, fate doesn''t work that way, in my world. Btw. I got a useful and a good question on chapter: 2. People do not know the name of Azul, only his Mother and Nezul knows. And yes, it will be his name in the future and i have a clever way to announce it, atleast according to myself that is. H.F. --- Azul was now in the possession of the young beautiful appraiser, who looked like he had just won the national lottery. Azul wasn''t old enough to know what was happening around him. Yet, he recognised that he were in the arms of a total stranger. But as a small baby, he couldn''t resist. The young man carrying Azul walked down a few flight of stairs before he finally stood in front of a fairly robust cradle. This would be the home of Azul for the next while. The young man muttered in retrospect ¡°I should probably fix the paperwork as quickly as possible, so I don''t have to feed the child for long.¡± When an appraiser accepts a slave on behalf of the slave traders marked, they themselves would take care of their goods. But they would also earn a very decent percentage of the surplus of the total selling price. Azul was left alone in the cradle with bowl filled with demonic beast milk. How he would reach the milk was a mystery. Demonic beasts are the plaque of humanity. These beasts come in all shapes and sizes. They also have a ranking from F - A - S. The rankings of the beasts depends on a few factors. For example a Demonic beast with impressive intelligence could achieve a fairly decent ranking even if they don¡¯t have the strength to back it up. Other beasts might lack intelligence, but have very impressive strength. There is also those with unique abilities such as invisibility etc. These Demonic beasts are rather rare but are usually high ranked because of the danger when facing something unorthodox. The Beast milk that Azul had been given is from a F - rank Demonic beast used for dairy production. But that doesn''t mean that it¡¯s milk is healthy for such a small baby. No, such milk is usually processed multiple times before being usable for dairy production. Azul had been given the raw stuff. Normally a person of his size would get incredibly sick from the overflow of mana in the body. Though it seemed that Azul didn''t mind and just kept drinking. How he was able to grab the bowl was a mystery, small babies aren''t supposed to do that at that age. --- A few weeks had passed since Azul was brought to the slave traders marked. Not much had happened in this period and Azul had been left mostly alone in that time. The only time someone would interact with him was when the young man would refill the bowl with demonic beast milk. Strangely, Azul had become rather good at not spilling milk when drinking it from the bowl. --- It was now time for the upcoming slaver''s auction. This auction presented the best of goods that the slavers marked had to offer. Usually it would be here where the big money was spent on slaves. The nobles gathered in throthes and the mood was high and happy. Though the same couldn¡¯t be said about the slaves. This was a time where their fate would be decided. For the females this was especially important, as some of them would end up as sex slaves by some greedy nobles. The masses gathered in a dome like room, the room was very impressive, in the middle was a fairly tall scene, with plenty of space. Around the stand was a large area for the non-VIP customers. and further back where the room began to slope upwards was the chairs, and after that the isolated rooms for the special customers. Each of these locations belonged to a specific part of society. The area where the masses had to stand up, were for commoners or low tier nobles with next to no standing. The chairs were for nobles who were not special customers or just didn¡¯t have enough capital. The special rooms were for the prestigious customers with lots of money. It was usually the people in the isolated room who bought the most. The auction were about to start but the room was filled with noise, especially between the men who longed after slaves. These men would compare ideas and thoughts about raising slaves. A disgusting concept, but in the human kingdoms this was common. A majestic man began walking up to the stand in the middle of the room, he had gray hair and a monocle in his right eye. In his left he held a cane, with a big jewel on top. His cloth were a black and red robe, with a big symbol on his back symbolising a slave in chains held by a big hand above the slave''s head. The symbol was grotesque, but the at least they didn¡¯t hide their ideals. The man went up to a stand, on which stood a small wooden hammer. This tool was used to announce the winner of the specific good, and annouche silence in the room if too much noise were present. The man announced his presence by slamming the small wooden hammer on a marble block on the podium. Everyone in the room quieted down, the man standing on the podium was a frightening man, He was the leader of this specific slavers marked, and a man which held considerable power by himself and by the backing of the slaver''s union as a whole. The slaver¡¯s union was a connection between the various slaver¡¯s traders markets. The goal of the union was to limit the amount of resistance against slave trading, this union also made it so that each marked held an impressive amount of strong guards for protection. It meant that when nobles fought in rivalry in the slavers market, the guards had the permission to stomp on any disturbance regardless of standing. It also meant that the master of the slave traders marked, held an impressive private militaristic force directly in the city. Of course the nobles wouldn¡¯t allow the markets to hold too much power, so they had restricted the guards from moving out of the area where the market were located. Though this meant that any resistance inside the market was futile. The guards would disrupt any disturbance without batting an eyelid. These guards were greatly feared by everyone. The man at the podium began speaking in a very loud voice, his voice was spectacular it wasn¡¯t for no reason that this man was the announcer at this auction. ¡°Welcome. - Ladies and Gentlemen, today I¡¯ve got some great goods for you! First we will take a look at a fine lady belonging to the beastkin family, Yes. This is the so called harpy. Take a look everyone!¡± The room was quiet as a big cage was rolled on the stage. in the cage were a fine looking harpy, she was bound to a pole in the middle of the fairly large cage. She were human sized with large wings instead of arms, and talons for feet. Instead of hair she had feathers. These feathers grew like scales all over her arms and legs, though none were present on her torso. She was completely naked, so there were a full view of her sex of her sex to the customers. Her butt and small chest were also visible. after a good few seconds the man began announcing the price; ¡°The price will start at 30 gold coins, each bid will have to be 5% higher than the last amount bid.¡± The bids started rolling in, it was slow in the start as people wanted a feel for the interest of the product. ¡°34 gold!¡± ¡°40 GOLD!¡± ¡­ The price ended at 65 gold and the winner was a big strong hunter. He seemed to be a noble, but his body structure didn¡¯t seem to fit at all. He was probably going to use this harpy for hunting airborne game, still it was a little expensive as 10 gold would be enough to feed a small middle class family for an entire year. The auctions continued until it at Azul''s turn. The man began speaking as he announced the good ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, today we have a special product, this baby beastkin is a very rare and exotic type. Though the baby is a male, he looks like he is a variant of a snow tiger species, as he lacks a tail and has blood red eyes. we have appraised this young boy to have limitless potential, he has incredibly dense muscle. Though magic affinity cannot be specified because of his aged. We¡¯ve decided that the price will start at 50 gold with an 10% increase pr. bid.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The price quickly climbed. Everyone wanted a chance to have a ¡®custom¡¯ slave with unlimited potential, even if it would take about 10 years for the effort to bear fruit. When the price was about to reach 100 gold, a strange hooded man from the commoners area began to bid, which was very unusual, as commoners usually wouldn''t have that kind of money. He also overcut the last bid by a large chunk, clearly he was determined. Another noble man sitting in the isolated room was also interested in the young boy. So the two of them started a bidding war. The price quickly climbed too 160 gold. After which the noble man shouted from up high. ¡°You little trash should stop bidding now. Do you really know who you are bidding against? If you want to live a good long life after this you should stop now.¡± he grunted as he finished, his eyes were filled with disdain and arrogance. But even then his lips were curled up in a grin. The hooded man looked up at the noble man sitting in the isolated room. He spoke with a voice which sounded like rough metal grinding. ¡°You should quiet down, fat man!¡± and the hooded man turned against the podium once again and placed another bid. The noble man was furious, to him it was like the hooded man spit directly on his face (honor/reputation). He would have to regain face, otherwise he would be a laughingstock. The noble man rebutted before placing his final bid ¡°If you are a real man, you will meet outside for a showdown after this auction.¡± He expected the hooded man to be scared, but what he got was not even an answer, the hooded man simply didn¡¯t care for him. The final bid on Azul went to the hooded man at an astonishing 250 gold. An astronomical number for a slave. Strangely, the man didn¡¯t even bat an eyelid for using such a large amount of money. Rather he might have been disappointed from wasting so much time with the bidding war. The auction continued without further problems. After the auction ended, the hooded man went to pick up his new slaves. He had bought a few both from the auction and a few from the other places that sold low prices slaves. When he went to pick up the slaves, he was followed by a whole stream of people who were there to help him transport all of these slaves that he had bought. The man walked out of the auction building as if he had no worries in the world, behind him was all the new slaves including Azul, and all the people the hooded man had brought to the auction. Outside the building waited the noble from the isolated room from before. He stood tall, even if he didn¡¯t have the body structure to back up his arrogance. But he wasn''t alone, behind him stood about 30 if his personal guards. The guards were clad in silver and orange with a symbol of a eagle picking on a corpse. The noble man wore the same colors except his fabric was silk instead of plate and chainmail. The noble man announced himself as Vilddyr of the prestigious Metyl clan. The hooded man was forced to speak as the guards of the Metyl clan was barring the way, leaving no empty spaces for the hooded man to escape. The hooded man grunted ¡°you pathetic fat man. You honestly think you can prevent ME!?¡± While Vilddyr was trying to speak to the hooded man. The hooded man was already on the move. The hooded man weaved left and right while delivering faint punches in the direction of the various guards. The guards didn''t know what to expect, so they raised their Shields and readied their stances. Strangely nothing happened from the faint punches from the hooded man. One would need incredible strength to move the air for ranged punches. But this didn''t seem to be the tactic of the man, as no air was shot in the direction of the guards. Truly they were incredibly confused. They just watched the lunatic sprint around, as there had been no casualties yet. Suddenly Vilddyr roared and gripped the massive broadsword strapped to his back. It looked almost too heavy for him. But he held on, while taking a basic stance. Which looked pathetic, you could see that the man had absolutely no skills with the sword. He was a man who relied on sheer brute strength and not else but the cold steel of his blade. He began charging at the hooded man, who now stood still on the middle of the encirclement. The hooded man now began laughing. The hooded man raised his right hand in the air, before closing his hand. He had not even taken defensive measures against Vilddyr. He didn''t need too, because around him sprang a fountain of blood and flesh. If one had a sharp enough eye they would notice the every time the hooded man made a faint punch he would shoot out incredibly small needles with a thin and elegant steel wire connected to it. This hooded man was a steel wire user, meaning that his weapon of use was a sharp steel wire from which he would weave a Web of deadly wire traps. A sad fate had met the guards of Metyl, now they were nothing more than pieces of flesh on the ground. Vilddyr was spared though. The hooded man probably didn''t want the city guards on his neck from slaughtering a noble. Unless it took too much effort the city guards would punish murderers. But they knew that they were not a match for the hooded man unless they wanted to face heavy casualties. It was also the reason why they didn''t interfere in the start of the fight. A noble killing a few commoners weren''t something new. And he wouldn''t get punished. But the hooded man still walked up to Vilddyr whispering something in his ears. After that a stank began spreading into the bloodied odor already there. The source - Vilddyr¡¯s pants which now had a bright yellow puddle under it. Some of the onlookers were curious about what was being said, since not even losing all his guards in a single moments got him that terrified, but now he was nothing more than a trembling wreck. The hooded man walked away quietly, like nothing had happened. Strangely not even a single drop of blood had hit his robe. One could only imagine the skill it took to avoid all of the blood flying in the air. The hooded man walked up to his group, and after they began walking away a slight whistling rhythm filled the silence. the source was the hooded man, who now wore a bright smile on his lips. Clearly he was very satisfied with letting out some steam. The group began walking towards the slums of the city. they had even brought a basic carriage, which was parked just a little ways away from the auction house. This carriage had space for all the newly bought slaves and their new masters. Strangely all the people that the hooded man had brought and the hooded man himself wore basic tattered cloth robes. Wierd considering that they could spend 400+ gold on slaves. This sum would allow normal people to feel like kings, at least for a while. The hooded man requested that Azul would be brought to him. Of course he didn¡¯t know his given name, but his people knew what he meant when he called for the ¡®expensive¡¯ kid. The hooded man began rocking Azul in his arms, while humming something from an unknown song. He stroked the cheek of Azul while whispering in a small voice to him. ¡°you¡¯ve been expensive kid, I hope you live up to your potential, you¡¯re gonna need it! Haha!¡±. The people the man brought all had goosebumps after the man said that, they knew what he meant all too well. Some of them even had sour faces, with eyes full of despair. That period was something that they would never forget, ever! Chapter: 4 - Arrival and a new home This is pretty much an introduction chapter to his new home, and therefor it is not very long, sorry about that. We also get introduced to a very important character! H.F. --- Azul and the others arrived in front of a strange gate, thought it was open it was still pretty massive. Currently they were in the slums of the human capital, the slums of this city was truly massive, as it was fueled by the poverty of the poor. Azul was still held by the hooded man, which had a twinkle in his eyes as he read the title on a huge board above the entrance. The sign read -Orphanage: the 9 lives- The title was truly strange, why would anyone spend that much gold to buy children for an orphanage. There should be more than enough poor children just outside the walls of the orphanage. There was a clear reason, first of all. These children might have families so if they went missing someone would probably look for them. second, the younger children of the slums were 90% of the time malnourished because of their poverty. Third, whenever a slave was sold by the slavers marked, they would be removed from records, making them virtually impossible to locate after. This was also one of the reasons the hooded man and his people were hidden so that no one would recognize them. There was a second reason to why as to why they were hidden, but that is for later. The wall was build from rough oak planks. It seemed like it would collapse at anytime, as the construction work was horrible. It was strange that it could support the massive gate and sign. From the viewpoint of the hooded man and Azul a massive stone courtyard could be seen. Strangely this many brown sliding marks which looked like dirt or mud. on the far side of the courtyard was the a building which looked very old. This building was also made from Oak planks, thought it seemed a little more robust, as it had the support of large stones at the corner point of the building. The building itself was a massive two stories tall. If not for the poor materials used and the construction work. This building could easily go for a mansion, it had the size and probably the room count too. The hooded man with Azul in his arms walked through the gate, on the other side were a lot of children varying from the age of 5 til the age of 18. These people were mostly male, but there were a few groups in between who were female. All of these males were robust and had clearly defined muscles. they were all tanned, and wore nothing but shorts. though they all had bracelets on their ankles and wrists. While also having a small collar on their neck. On the collar was a symbol of a bloodied dagger, with a gold letter 9 on it. This collar could symbolise the ownership from the orphanage, which would mean that they were slaves as well or at least that the orphanage had the ownership of these people. All the males had pride in their eyes, yet their gaze at Azul was eyes filled with fear and despair. some of them made ugly faces, as they knew the fate of Azul. When they looked at the hooded man, they were full of respect and even bowed in his presence, some saluted, other knelt. it looked a bit weird, with all of these people doing random gestures of honor. Some even gave a warrior''s salute with a fist to their heart. The females acted a little different though, they all made a slight bow towards the hooded man. Strangely, all the features of the women said that they were human. Even if they could hide their tail and fur. It would be nearly impossible to hide the animals ears that the beastkin is known to have, The females all had that cold beauty look, and they were all incredible beauties even if they wore a veil, which covered most of their cheeks and nose. The top view of their eyes, forehead and hair were all visible. Even if they all wore fairly loose robes, which hid most of their ¡®features¡¯ some were still visible through the dark robe, like the butt and the breasts, even if it couldn¡¯t be seen the waist had to be thin with that otherwise well proportionate body. The hooded man continued to walk, not even glancing at all the people saluting left and right. When all the people had walked through the gate, and the carriage were parked. The crowd began dispersing, some took the new slaves with them others others began unloading the carriage and parking it. The hooded man finally took of his hood revealing a middle aged man, with a tan skin color, black eyes and and long greasy black hair. The greasy hair actually looked like the edges went into a needle like shape. His gaze was sharp and filled with strength and wisdom. He had a very big scar on the side of his lips. It looked like an oversized arrowhead had passed through his lips, and it formed a cross like shape. He had no beard, and his cheeks were shaved so no stubble was visible. Except for his hair he looked like a captain or a general in the army, tested in battle. His gaze was locked on the doorway to the main building of the orphanage, it was like he was expecting something. But it was not a gaze of wanting, more like a gaze of being prepared and ready. Even though he stood at the far side of the courtyard facing the orphanage main building. He took a strange stand with his left hand which didn¡¯t hold the little Azul. He was ready but confident. After a few seconds, he jumped to the side for no apparent reason. While jumping he clenched his left hand, while protecting Azul, and then ending the jump with a rolling fall. Directly on the ground into another jump this time into a spinning somersault. The actions were so elegant even a skilled gymnast would be proud. After the somersault, he stood steady as a pillar. It was like he was waiting for something, thought he had large beads of sweat on his forehead. He also had a slight tremble in his legs. A voice erupted from the doorway to the orphanage ¡°Failed again! Ivan, improve your agility! You don¡¯t want to continue this treatment do you?¡± Apparently the previously hooded man was called Ivan, a strange name for this part of the continent. But whose was this voice who seemed to belong to a teenager. The voice paused for a few seconds before continuing to speak again ¡°Oh, I nearly forgot, the needles is under the third rib, just above the little boy¡¯s head.¡± This comment sent a shiver down Ivan¡¯s back, he could face 30 guards, no problem. Facing a ¡®hidden¡¯ attack by that man, he wouldn¡¯t last a second if he was serious. And he could have take the life of the small boy, easily. In front of that man the life of the boy was like a small candle flicker trying to persevere a storm. Of course the child would hold no chance of survival against anyone at that age, but still. He could be dead before anyone knew it. Ivan lifted the hand which held Azul, and loosed his left hand revealing a small silver needles with strange engravings on it. He moved his right hand to remove it, after it was done. He bit his lips until a small river of blood formed. The pain most have been frightening. He now had a free hand to remove the needle under his third rib. and when he did, it was like he was in shock, after a few seconds he let out a faint sound from the pain. He glances behind him to prove his suspicion, behind his previous position before his first jump, were 5 needles. he could calculate the angle of the throw and the position it would have hit if he stood still. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Their area of impact would have been one needles in each eye, a needle for his mouth, another one for his throat, and the last one for his heart. Clearly they targeted weak spots compared to the needle which hid under his thirds rib. And he had only managed to catch one of them. He thought to himself that that man was too frightening. He let out a large mouthful of air, while he walked towards the building. This time he was carefree, his gaze loosened and his muscles relaxed. When they entered the orphanage it was like Azul woke up, he might be a baby about one month old, but he just kept looking around. And when Ivan thought about it, it was strange that the baby in his arms was not crying after having been shaken around by all that jumping before. He had of course been gentle, but still he had made a spinning somersault with the baby in his arm. Inside the building it was a completely different story than outside, not that the construction was any better. No, it was like the walls were filled with scratches. On nearly all the wall, there were various weapons and equipments, strange for them to be out in the open like that. These people clearly didn¡¯t fear thieves at all, not that thieves would want equipment like that. Most of the equipment was full of scratches and repairs, it was still functional but it was definitely battleworn. Ivan walked as if he had an objective, he moved straight for some stairs just in front of the door. When he was on the 2nd story of the building he went in front of a door which was closed, but was in perfect condition, just like it had just been produced by the carpenter. He knocked gently on the door, before entering straight away. The room was totally different story that the entire building, the walls were made with well made planks, from high quality lumber. and just behind a large dark colored desk sat a young man with a gentle look on his face, he sat in a large chair like a king. even if he wasn¡¯t that tall it felt like he looked down on everyone before him. His hair was blonde and it seemed that he was still in his teens. The teen was currently writing something, and didn¡¯t look up before finishing. In contrast to his young appearance his eyes were bright blue but were filled with ageless wisdom. Even if his face was gentle, it seemed like his eyes were tired. When the teen¡¯s gaze landed on Ivan, Ivan immediately knelt and bowed, he even lowered Azul onto the ground, on a piece of silk which appearing out of nowhere. The teen move to next to Azul after waving his hand at Ivan, signaling him to stand up. He spoke briefly before inspecting Azul ¡°I see that you¡¯ve brought me something interesting, you can leave.¡± Ivan stood up, bowed again before leaving, leaving behind a few words ¡°Thank you milord!¡± The teen picked up Azul, with his frail looking arms, before beginning to talk to himself. ¡°Hmm, I see, no wonder I felt something strange about your aura, your little body is weird. It seems as if your soul had been separated from your body recently and had been reconnected, that is truly not something you see everyday. You seem like a beastkin, but for some reason when I use my Inspection spell It gives out a question mark for your race. Your body truly is weird, it¡¯s like you are some kind of albino tiger beastkin, but you lack a tail and your eyes are blood red, it¡¯s like they are filled with waves of blood. It¡¯s says here under Special that you possess hereditary memories. That will be truly eye opening, as only the strongest of the beastkin have hereditary memories from their ancestors. it also says here that your name has been specified - but it doesn¡¯t show it. Hmm.. Maybe i will just call you Snow for now, until we found out what your real name is. I will have to measure your potential closely. Kid!¡± Finished the teen with a wide grin, it seemed as if his eyes lit up a bit. The teen quieted down, when Azul fell asleep. The teen rubbed a ring on his right hand a few times before a well crafted cradle appeared out of nowhere, this was the so called storage rings the price of these things were astronomical, and even the exorbitantly wealthy would own one. they were still rare though, as one had to be a Tier - 10 user of Spatial magic to use one. Even if Spatial magic was basic to understand in the low tiers, one still had to grasp a different and complex view of space. The teen moved Azul to the cradle while muttering in a low voice as if to not wake Azul up ¡°First we will have to let you grow up a bit before we can get any results out of you. But first we have to remove, the influence of the demonic beast milk that you¡¯ve been given. Even if demonic beast milk can strengthen your body over a long period of time, that technique is for adults and not babies, the filth that have given fed you with it is truly a scumbag, who should not be allowed near babies at all, though we might be able to squeeze a bit more potential out of you because of it. hehe!¡± The teen was just about to drop Azul in the cradle before another someone knocked on the door, which was closed when Ivan walked out. The teen said ¡°come in!¡± in a slight angry but low voice. ¡°ma--master¡± a trembling voice came from behind the slightly opened door. ¡°I am very, very sorry to interrupt, but I¡¯ve found a cloth necklace in the carriage, with the little boys aura on it and i figured that it must have fallen off in the carriage, as the cloth piece holding a small coin is ripped.¡± Even though the voice was slightly nervous in the start of the sentence, the person still gave a very detailed and structured report. ¡°Yes, yes bring it!¡± said the teen, with a frown. Patience had never been his strong side, and only those he found interesting could he tolerate. And this person was not one of them. A small arms opened the door, revealing a very stunning beauty. But the teen didn¡¯t bat an eyelid at all, he just stretched his hand signifying that she should drop the necklace in his hands. And she did, she quickly placed the necklace, in which after she made a very low bow, and then walking out. She knew that her presence was just a bother to the teen. Also a thing to notice was that most had these strange collars around their necks, but Ivan lacked one and so did the teen. But the young lady that had just been in the room wore a collar as well. The teen picked up the necklace with his hand and glanced at it. He was identifying it, he noticed immediately that the coin strapped to the cloth was engraved with a weak rune, which had the effect of nullifying one weak attack, while also giving the wearer a weak presence. The teen talked to himself ¡°so the little boy had some help after all, even if he still got into this mess, someone tried to protect him. And this cloth, ohh. This is interesting, there is a very big match with the child''s aura, even if they are fundamentally different for some reason, there are still slight elements which are the same. It also seems to be from a woman, probably his mother. hmm.¡± The teen walked over to the cradle will moving the necklace near the Azul. As if noticing the presence of the necklace, even if he was still asleep, he moved his small hand and grabbed the necklace, and with an amazing strength for a baby he pulled the necklace close to him. After which his nose moved sniffing the lingering odor of his mother, and a slight tear fell from his small eyes. Chapter: 5 - Growing? Another short chapter sorry, i can''t really have the perspective of a small child with a basic thinking process, but i don''t want too large timeskips. I also plan to introduce the ''masters'' in some of the following chapters. Please note that the previous chapters and the coming will not be proof read for a while. I just don''t have the time, and i would rather expand my story and make more chapters. Cheers! =D H.F. --- Azul woke up. He''s still small eyes opened as the sunlight from the dawn light fell into his eyes. He made a slight murmur, as the sun blinded his ever frightening blood red eyes. He stretched his small limbs while trying to get out of bed. 2 years had passed since Azul had arrived at the 9 lives orphanage. In this time not much had happened. Azul had been mostly in seclusion in the teens chamber. He had rarely been allowed outside. Azul had developed an unsatisfiable curiosity. For his sake, had locked him in his chamber. It would be strange to see a just over two year old boy with shining white hair, something that looked like tattoos on his arms. While having the most terrifying eyes ever seen in this world. It would be very strange to see him wobble around picking up everything. And inspecting it like he had found the most profound object in the universe. The other people of the orphanage had learned of his existence even if he was locked in the room of the teen most of the time. He was known as Snow to these people. They didn''t know his real name. But the teen had given him a temporary name until they found out his real name. A/N: Azul will be called Snow when he is with the people of the 9 lives orphanage. I will therefore use that name to describe him. He will regain his name in the future! They felt that Snow was a pretty good name, as it was full of elegance and grace. The name fit Azul as he was already showing signs of becoming a handsome boy. And of course from his fairly short pure white hair. The reason why the teen had chosen the name Snow, Might refer to the fact that snow could lie atop blood without noticing it. Hiding a murder in plain sight. Snow was pretty gentle and cunning for a child of his age. Even if he was just over two. The teen had already started educating him in basic skills. Such as writing and reading. Even if, there had not been any success until now. But he was young after all. Snow had begun recognising people. And the first word he had said were surprisingly grandpa and that title fell to the most unlikely of people - the teen. This made him deeply shocked the first time he heard that. Not many people knew his real age, as his appearance was a timeless illusion. And he showed ageless youth. He wondered how the small boy might have figured out that he was older than he appeared. --- Snow had been let out of the room, as the massive gates were closed. Though they were closed 99% of the time. There was still a small chance that someone might visit the orphanage. This made it so that Snow was only let out whenever they were 100% sure no one would visit. This was all because the teen had said that they couldn¡¯t reveal Snow¡¯s existence. Why he went to such great lengths none of them knew. --- Snow was wobbling down a stoney path while the sun was shining on his pure white hair. It looked like a silver ocean as it sway in the wind. He had learnt to walk by himself a while ago. And it meant that he disappeared when no one was looking. Currently he was moving towards a small pond behind the large orphanage building. This pond was his favorite spot when ever he could get out of the room. He would just sit on the shadows of a large oak tree by the side of the pond. He would just sit and watch the carps in the pond swim about. He looked as if he was comprehending a profound mystery as he followed the graceful movements from the carps. When he was tired he would lie on his back and watch the sun flash through the dense leaves of the oak tree. He truly was carefree as he brought his right wrist to his nose. And inhaled deeply. On his right wrist was a small cloth piece rolled up with a copper piece strapped to it. He murmured as he said softly ¡°mother...¡±before going to sleep. --- While Snow was sleeping, a mission was going on somewhere in the noble quarters of the capital city. 8 hooded men clad in jet black cloaks, with a small scabbard on their backs. This scabbard was for a small tachi. Which in this case is a small sword with a single edge used for assassination. They all had a giant black symbol on their backs. Which showed a bloodied dagger with a black gold letter 9 on it. These people were clad in the same symbol as the people of the orphanage 9 Lives. These people were all hiding in the shadows as if waiting for something. After a few seconds a shadow seemed to wobble near these people. But with their sharp senses. They faced the shadow and immediately knelt and bowed their heads. From the shadow came a person clad in mostly the same cloths as the other 8, but he lacked a tachi and wore a mask covering everything but his eyes. His cloths had a deep red edge. Giving of a menacing look. The mysterious man had a deep red 4 on his chest. The 8 people muttered in unison. ¡°shadow greets, master 4.¡± 4 made a few hand signs and the ¡®shadows¡¯ dispersed as if nothing had been there. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. 4 looked towards a fairly large mansion a few hundred meters away. He then moved back into the shadows again before disappearing. Not even a lingering odor was left. It felt like their previous existences had disappeared from the world. --- 8 shadows moved across a 4 meter tall wall. The wall belonged to the mansion 4 was looking at before. The mansion had a vast amount of guards patrolling. One could only wonder why there were so many guards. The guards even moved I group of 4, each with 2 shield bearers, 1 swordsman and a magic user of various kinds. This however, was no obstacle for the shadows. They spread out in two groups of 4. Zooming after these groups of guards. Even when they moved together no sound was made. They moved from shadow to shadow hidden. A group of shadows moved towards a group of guards. As if teleporting the 4 shadows moved directly behind a guard each. An with a quick stroke they were no already sheathing their blood red tachi. Before the guards could make a single sound they were now already falling towards the ground. Lifeless. The 4 shadows each took hold of a guard each. To prevent the bodies from making a noise. They quickly moved the bodies into shadows trying to hide them. When the bodies were moved it revealed a dry cut on their throats. It was definitely weird. The shadows had cut the main vain connecting the head to the heart. Yet not even a single drop of blood were spilled. These event were extraordinary and showed the extreme efficiency of these assassins. The two groups of assassins continued to ¡®clean¡¯ the mansion of guards. They were finished after a short amount of time. When they were sure no guards were left. They moved directly into the mansion. They had a plan on where to go and they moved directly towards the master bedroom. While killing every ¡®obstacle¡¯ along the way. When they had killed the two guards standing outside of twin wooden doors leading to their location. They all gathered in a square formation before entering. When they opened the doors a scream erupted as a fairly big man in the middle of the room took up the role of target practice for 4. Who stood against the wall, yawning. The man screamed ¡°don¡¯t you know who I am?!! I am Vilddyr of the prestigious Metyl clan.¡± 4 didn''t say anything but he kept throwing little knives at Vilddyr without batting and eyelid. After he had, taken his time. He picked up a larger and golden knife before throwing it directly into the forehead of Vilddyr. Vilddyr didn''t even seem to notice before falling forward unto the ground with open eyes. Clearly the hit was fatal. Vilddyr had died in a single hit. 4 knelt beside Vilddyr before whispering something in his ear. The shadows didn''t hear it but they didn''t need to hear it as the message was just so that the soul would be enlightened as it moved to the underworld. The message whispered was ¡°you saw something that you shouldn¡¯t have seen. The little white haired boy from back then must not! Be known!¡± --- Snow woke up when a blood red petal from a flower tickled his nose. His blood red eyes quivered a bit before settling. --- The teen was in his chambers when a knock was heard on the door. The teen didn¡¯t say anything, but someone entered anyway. In came a middle aged man looking to be around 50, his hair looked like steel wire which was cut in a tight army cut. His eyes seemed sharp and his eyebrow were sharp like daggers. He had a slight beard, but it was well kept. The color was a mix between black and gray, signifying his age. He had a rough face, but robust body. It wasn¡¯t too big, but very athletic. He stood before the wooden desk, waiting for the teen to finish his work. He glanced at the corner of the room, where a small boy was inspecting a very large book, with leather wrapping. he didn¡¯t seem like he understood the book, but he showed interest in the different letters. He looked at the neck of the boy, but noticed that he didn¡¯t have the usual slave collar on his neck. Actually he didn¡¯t wear any jewelry, except his cloth bracelet. The teen put down his pen and said ¡°I expect it was successful leon?¡± The man¡¯s name was Leon and he didn¡¯t have a collar on his neck either. He replied in a rough rusty voice ¡°4 reporting, mission successful. Target eliminated and dagger ¡®planted¡¯. Evidence has been provided.¡± The man also took the persona of 4, the mysterious knife using assassin. ¡°Good work, you can go!¡± Said the teen as he waved at the door. ¡°Permission to speak freely¡± asked Leon ¡°Granted¡± said the teen with a raised eyebrow. ¡°I observed the shadows, and couldn¡¯t help but notice, that we need more ranged assassins, even if we the masters are able to used ranged hidden weapons, the shadows need more efficiency. Permission to initiate hidden weapon training requested.¡± said Leon as he bowed. ¡°Hmm. Good idea, permission granted, you can take the resources from the vault yourself.¡± ¡°Thank you, training will be initiated, when a training plan has been made.¡± said Leon in a cold voice as he walked away. Before he exited the door, he went to a shelf and picked up an oversized golden dagger. The same design and size as the one he ¡®planted¡¯ in the head of Vilddyr. Chapter: 6 - The world and Snow This chapter is full of information, and describtions of some upcomming people who will have a great influence on Azul/Snow''s future. The chapter might be a little too informative sorry bout'' that. I felt, that we hadn''t gotten enough information about the world until now, but i wanted to wait until Azul was a little older, otherwise it would be pointless to explain it to him. As he isn''t a reincarnated person, with inhuman memory skills. Next chapter, Azul will begin his training. Haha! I think it''s going to be fun writing all the suffering and pain for Azul while sitting in my comfy chair. Hahaha *cough*... H.F. --- Snow had just turned 4 years old, or at least 4 years had gone by after he arrived at the orphanage. He had been taken good care of in these years, but not it was finally able to start learning. Snow had gained a basic personality, he was childish as a child is. But surprisingly mature for his age. He was still curious, but now it was like a curiosity of nature. It was like he was born to be a hermit or a lone hunter in the wilds. He would still sit at the pond, watching the fish under the sun. Though he had gained a curious hobby. He draw strange art on pieces of paper while watching the carps swim about. To the people of 9 lives orphanage, the art made absolutely no sense at all. He would draw faint silhouettes of shapes. and weird scratches on the shapes he made. Though it looked very artistic, it made no sense at all. Sometimes he would go see the sword practice that was performed at the large courtyard. When he did, he would sit quietly on the side, blending in with his surroundings. The only movements he made, was his face, which sometimes displayed a sour or happy face. Generally he only saw people older than him, even if he sometimes saw, Ivan come back with a whole group of younger slaves. They just didn¡¯t seem to be at the orphanage. It was funny, because he had truly become the mascot of the practitioners. He wouldn¡¯t mimic the moves, but he would nod as if comprehending them. Snow glanced at the sun, and saw that it was about to go down, and his grandfather (the teen) had said, that he had to come back before twilight, always. Snow had been a little rebellious at one point, his personality was a free one, and he wanted to be not be locked in his grandfather¡¯s chamber. He knew that it was for his own good, but he had still been rebellious and did not come back to the chamber before twilight. ? When it got dark, and he hadn¡¯t come back, his grandfather, as if teleporting had arrived just before him. Even if he wasn¡¯t that tall, his stature was still pretty epic. He had grabbed Snow by the neck and dragged him to the cellar. The teen was usually very good to Snow, but then not matter how much Snow cried and screamed, The teen just wouldn¡¯t yield. The teen had forced a classical torture method on Snow, he had taken a fairly thick piece of cloth. Soaked it in water. He had then strapped Snow to a Table, so that his face would face upwards. The teen had then taken the wet piece of cloth and strapped it to Snow¡¯s face. Even if it was wet, Snow was still able to breathe, even if he was hyperventilating because of the deficit of air, and the water he inhaled. Through this entire process, Snow was crying and begging for mercy. The teen had then take a bucket full of ice water, and poured it in his mouth through the cloth. Snow hissed and sprouted, he simply couldn¡¯t breathe. And it felt like his mouth was burning, and he had a biting tooth pain. But that was the least of his problems. His lungs filled with water, but the teen just continued to pour the water down his throat. When the bucket was empty, he pulled off the piece of cloth. And just like a fountain, water and vomit filled the air. Streaming from Snow Mouth and Nose. Snow had been so scared and terrified that a bright yellow pool had appeared where his sex was. A gruesome odor filled the air, as the stench of vomit and piss wavered in his nose. The teen that had not said a word, until now opened his mouth ¡°I am disappointed in you, Snow! You are never late again understand.¡± Snow who was still terrified could only nod, as he could barely comprehend the message. --- This showed Snow that his grandfather was not a man to be trifled with, and after that he was never late again. Even if he was rebellious, his grandfather was like a ghost, it was as if his presence were everywhere. No matter where Snow was, his grandfather could still whisper to him through the wind. But Snow was still curious, what was it really that made it so that he couldn¡¯t come out at night? He had tried to ask his grandfather, but he had just told him that he would know, once he was older. This comment however made Snow very impatient. He wanted to grow up fast, so that he could see what was happening. --- Snow thought it strange, sometimes his grandfather would meet people in his chamber, they would always be very respectful. Some bowed deeply, other saluted, others gave a warriors salute, with a fist to the heart. But these people only had some common features in common. One that Snow had seen many times, were a man called Ivan. Snow kind of like this man, even if his hair was greasy and had a rather strange look. He had never really spoken with him, but Ivan would always look strange at him for some reason. He always held a look in his eyes as if he was proud of something? Snow had come to know another man, his name was Leon, for some reason his grandfather would always be cold towards precisely this man. Even if he was cold towards every other person except those which entered his room without needing permission, and Snow including Snow who lived there. His grandfather would always be hurried when he talked to Leon. Snow himself, didn¡¯t like the man very much himself. There was just something wrong with the man. Snow saw a few others, he counted that there were 3 other people who didn¡¯t need permission to enter. There were two women. One had a very large build, with big breasts. She was probably 2 meters tall. On her back seemed to be a massive shield, and on the left side of her Waist hang a scabbard with a rough looking sword. The shield was filled with scratches and holes. The shield was filled with various ornaments. All sharing the same color scheme of black and silver. with some small parts being royal blue. The woman herself, was extremely tanned, looking nearly completely brown. When she had noticed Snow sitting in the corner of the room, she was at first a little startled, but quickly recovered. She moved her big hands to pat Snow''s head, leaving a little black dust on his pure white head. She seemed to be a nice person, though she seemed a little eccentric, his first impression of her was good. Snow heard his grandfather call her Helena. There was two more, a small woman, with snake like features, her eyes were bright green, and they were the only thing you could see. as all the other parts were covered in a pure black robe. Her name was Katarina. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The last one Snow would never forget, his first encounter with the being? Was a strange one: --- Snow was at his usual spot, beside the small pond. He was currently trying to draw the carps in the pond, but it proved to be difficult. He was fully concentrated on his drawing and the fish. Suddenly a cold voice came from behind his neck ¡°good drawing, though you should use a smaller brush for the scales.¡±, the voice was extremely clear, and the breath from the one who spoke was ice cold. It sendt shivers down Snows back. He was so scared that, he didn¡¯t even try to turn around. Snow could feel the being move away, so he turned around, while holding his drawing up as if protecting himself. What he saw was a skull. Not like a face looking like a skull, but an actual skull. The eye sockets were burning with a cold white flame. Giving of a faint presence. The rest of his body, was covered in something like leather. it also hid his jaw, and nose. The only thing visible were the bleached bone of the skull around the eye sockets. ¡°W-ho. are you?¡± Said Snow in a terrified voice. His gaze was lost in the abyss, behind the burning flame of the being''s eye sockets. ¡°You can call me Grim, what is yours little one?¡± asked the being, with a delighted voice, yet it still remained cold and terrifying. ¡°I don¡¯t know my real name, but you can call me Snow¡± Snow put up a brave front, while still trembling. ¡°Snow that is an interesting name. hmm, I can see why though. I¡¯ve got to go now ¡®Snow¡¯ I will see you later. hehe.¡± Grim let out a happy laughter at the end, but it seemed endlessly creepy. Grim was moving backwards towards a shadow, when he entered the shadow it seemed as if he became a part of the shadow and disappeared. Snow had seen Grim a few times after that. Surprisingly he had a pretty gentle personality when you just got over his terrifying appearance and voice. --- Snow was by the pond, when his grandfather whispered to him. ¡°Snow it¡¯s time to begin your lessons about this world, come to my chamber, you have 10 seconds.¡± Snow dropped everything he had in his hands on the ground, and ran towards the orphanage building. When he had entered his grandfather''s chambers, he saw a huge map in the middle of the room. His grandfather stood in front of it clearly he was impatient. ¡°Good, come sit down¡± said the teen as he pulled out a chair from his storage ring. ¡°First of all, before we begin I want to show you something that has been long overdue.¡± Continued the teen. Snow nodded, he understood the seriousness that his grandfather wanted from him. ¡°I want to show you what I look like, and what my real name is.¡± The teen moved in front of Snow, while trying to pull something off from a necklace around his neck. The teen continued ¡°You see, I have a very special appearance and I need a special crystal to hide what my race really is. Not like your¡¯s which is hidden or undecided.¡± Snow knew about what his grandfather knew about him, He only nodded slowly as he imagined at what his grandfather''s name really was, he had never heard anyone say it before. Usually he was just called Master, or milord. Or something along those lines. The teen finally got the crystal off from the necklace. Like a blinding light, it seemed like a layer of light had been scrapped of from the teens figure. What it revealed was surprisingly nearly the same silhouette, except a few details. First of all, the teen was no longer a teen. Instead he looked like a man of 25, except for some extremely long ears, the tapered as they reached the end of his head. Snow had seen pictures of elves before, so he knew that his grandfather was probably an elf. The man, had long sleek blonde hair with strange black lines in it. All things considered it looked absolutely weird. ¡°My name is Xivar the Third, you might think I am an Elf, but actually that is not entirely true. I won¡¯t go into my history, but know that i am an High Elf and High Human mix. It might sound like a good thing, but that is not true, when i tell you about the various races you will know why.¡± While speaking Xivar had a strange sad glint in the eyes. He quickly inserted the crystal in the necklace once again, this game it was the reverse, he seemed to regress in age and regained his very youthful human appearance. He went up and patted Snow on the head before continuing his lessons. Snow learnt a lot from that lesson. He found out that the world they lived on was called Darsus, a strange name for a world. But no one knew why it was named such. He learned that there was various continents. He already knew on the Human and Beast continent as he was on the Human continents, while his race? probably came from the beast continent. He didn¡¯t know the others though. He learned that the humans shared continent with the demons. These demons were not like big scary thing full of fire and death, but a rather peaceful folk, though they had the appearance of humans except for some really noticeable features. The demons all belonged to different clans, this meant that they had various different appearances ranging from having bat wings, on their backs to having a snake''s tail instead of legs. The demons were a confusing folk, as they varied so greatly. The demons lived in the north of the Human continent, they were not really great in numbers and therefore the continent was called the Human continent. The dwarves and gnomes lived to the West, were the mountains were plenty, the dwarves was a race which lived for mining and smithing. They lived with the gnomes were had very steady hands so to say, they could produce anything. The gnomes and dwarves lived on the continent with the ogres and trolls which they were busy keeping down. On the east continent lived the elves, though the High elves were nearly extinct they had many subspecies. The elves of arcane, a race fueled by unorthodox magic. These beings were very deadly. the night elves, were fantastic hunters and druids. They were an ancient people which was tasked with protecting the world from the Inferno. The night elves had elite troops called the Wardens of the Groove, these beings were warriors who were blessed by a higher being of nature. Deadly was an understatement. Thankfully these Wardens were only tasked with eliminating Inferno troops, otherwise they would truly be feared. There were also blood elves who were a deviant of the high elves, though they have been in hiding for millenniums now, and nobody know what they look like. The high humans were a also a strange deviation from humans. It was said that the first high human was a human whom was reborn in holy fire brought by the human god of light. Snow had learned the basics of the worlds, he had also learned of a few of the capitals names, even if he wasn¡¯t going to need it at the moment. At the end of the lesson, his grandfather had said a single sentence with a very large grin on his lips ¡°Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s excellent whether for some exercise?¡± Chapter: 7 - Training or Torture? Finally time for some training. There will probably be some action scenes with Azul/Snow in the upcoming chapters. Also a little mystery at the end of the chapter. H.F. --- When Snow and Xivar was walking towards the back of the orphanage building, Xivar decided it was time to tell Snow what was really going on with the 9 lives orphanage. He had already decided that he wanted to teach Snow some basic stances, as he was still too young for cultivating and he had yet to reach the age where it was possible, to lay his foundations. Snow might have amazing potential with a great muscle density from a young age, but that could be ruined by limiting his growth with weight training, and other hard physical exercises. Sword stance might be draining on the muscles, but it was more like training specific muscles. But most of all it was the mindset. Stances followed different ideas. Some stances were had an emphasis on aggression or defences. Others were more defensive but which focused on a hidden aggressiveness like countering. If a swordsman held enough power he could even be ranged by combining his sword qi with a magical element. This would allow the practitioner to shoot out ¡®beams¡¯ of condenses qi and magic. The drawback of this stance was sadly range. The magical elements of the beams would over a certain distance disperse. Limiting the overall damage dealt considerably. Practitioners can then cultivate their sword qi, to be sharper. This is because sharper qi will also condense the magical element into a denser concentration, Making it fly further before dispersing. This stance was usually practiced with large weapons as they can contain a lot more sword qi. Another very interesting stance is the art of the draw. This was the stance Xivar had chosen to teach to Snow. This was because Snow already had an impressive muscle density and therefore strength. But he also had the potential for an amazing agility and flexibility. He looked like a tiger type beastkin, and had the muscles of a tiger. He might also have the potential for quick attacks with lightning fast reaction speeds. Xivar considered the sword qi projection stance. But Snow had not yet reached enlightenment about him prefered magical element. Early practice was therefore useless, as he had to start all over if he choose to practice in the wrong element. Snow and Xivar now stood before the pond at the back of the orphanage building. ¡°I am going to teach you the basic about the ¡®art of the draw¡¯¡± said Xivar in a quiet voice. Snow asked curiously ¡°What is the art of the draw?¡± ¡°The art of the draw, is a very special stance. The stance is called art of the draw, and that is how you open when encountering an opponent. But a common misconception is that the draw is the killing stroke, that is not true unless the opponent is not able to defend. The art of the draw is to amass Sword qi in the scabbard of the sword, and then use the scabbard as a fulcrum to gain increased speed and power when swinging at the opponent.¡± Said Xivar as he moved at little away from Snow, Suddenly a weird scabbard appeared in his hand. He pulled out the sword stuck in the scabbard, the blade of the sword was a very dark gray nearly black and the blade itself was fairly long. While the handle had space for two hands. He said to Snow, ¡°I am going to show you just this once the first stroke of the Art of the draw.¡± Xivar used a piece of cloth to connect the scabbard to his belt, and placed his right hand on the handle and his left to hold the scabbard in place. Xivar bent his body slightly. His eyes went sharp and extruded killing intent. Snow stood at the side, looking like he always did when the practitioners were training. Xivar used his left thumb to knock the sword about a centimeter out of the scabbard. He made the first stroke, and with amazing strength and speed, the blade simply flew out of the scabbard, it made an elegant slash in the air. Snow couldn¡¯t see the blade at all, but it seemed to cut the air as it traveled on it¡¯s path. But, Xivar didn¡¯t stop there, after his first stroke he pulled his left hand away from the scabbard and moved it to the back of the handle. With a continuous movement he made a downward slash. At the end of the downward slash be bent his knees. He then bent his body and used the explosive strength of his legs to make a slash from the bottom left to the top right. He wiped the blade after he was done, with the piece of cloth connecting the scabbard and his belt. He then sheathed in before storing it away again. Snow wore a slight frown as he thought about what he had just seen. Some might think what he had just seen, as something basic, but that wasn¡¯t true in the slightest. Xivar had beads of sweat on his forehead when he told Snow to comment on his stance. Snow was thoughtful for a while before speaking, he had a slightly raised voice, and smile on his lips. ¡°You told me that the first stroke of the draw is not the killing stroke, so i figured that it had some other purpose, otherwise you wouldn¡¯t need to prepare for it. I can¡¯t really comment on the 2nd and the 3rd stroke, but they each seemed to build on body weight and leg strength.¡± Xivar had gotten a wooden sword out of nowhere and decided to whack it on Snow¡¯s head, though with much less strength than previously displayed. ¡°Your description was not entirely wrong, but there is so much more to it. It¡¯s true that the first stroke has some other use, other than being a killing stroke. But the purpose of this slash is fundamental in the art of the draw. You are correct, but the purpose is simply to break the stance of the opponent. That is why you gather so much power for your first slash, you have to overpower your opponent otherwise you¡¯re dead.¡± Snow frowned again, he had understood that his description wasn¡¯t wrong it just didn¡¯t do the honors of the stance. He understood from his grandfather''s speech that he even simple could be unimaginably profound. Xivar continued ¡°The art of the draw, can consist of any number of slashes, how you perform them is something that you yourself have to comprehend, as you¡¯ve figured out yourself they all have something to do with utilizing the body. I will give you one final hint to the stance, the rest you have to figure out yourself. The power output of this stance is everything, if you can defeat an enemy in two moves, you should. Even if it means spending much of your power, the stance loses its advantage over the other stances the longer the fight lasts, This is also something you will figure out as you cultivate it. Good luck.¡± Xivar finished before throwing the basic wooden sword and scabbard at Snow. Snow caught the equipment as if it was the most fragile of glasses. He had not been allowed to perform martial movements before, and not it was finally his turn! Snow did the same thing as his grandfather had done before, he fastened the scabbard to his pants as he wore no belt. he sheathed the sword in it, before trying to mimic his grandfather''s stance. He thought carefully about what he had seen and heard from his grandfather before trying to swing his blade. After a while he took his final stance before executing his move. His scabbard was steady and he had an iron grip. The sword moved out of the scabbard and flew through the air, though not as steady or as powerful as his grandfather''s. He failed as he tried to perform the downward slash the sword somehow flew from his small hands, and flew into the pond. Snow could see with his sharp cat like eyes, that the sword was flying towards a carp. He flew towards the swords with all his might, but he had put too much strength into the sword, and the aerodynamics of the sword was simply superior. Even if it was a wooden sword, it was still decently sharp and could seriously harm the weak fish. Even if Snow wasn¡¯t that old yet, he was still powerful for his age, and could probably match an 8 or 10 year old in natural brute strength. A shadow quivered in shade of the large oak tree, before a hand reached out and grabbed the wooden sword in mid air. The one who caught the sword was Grim, and he had somehow teleported from the shade of the tree, to the pond in a flash. Grim just stood there silently, looking menacingly at Snow. Who both felt ashamed and scared. Grim began moving towards Snow with steady steps, before raising a hand over Snow¡¯s head. Snow was deadly afraid, he had faced the punishment of his grandfather and didn¡¯t know what to expect from such a cruel looking being. Grim began petting Snow. He patted Snow¡¯s head with his thin and leather covered fingers, before handing the wooden sword back to Snow. Snow just stood there silently, he was shocked. He never knew that the menacing being called Grim, who looked like a skeleton could be so ¡®gentle¡¯. Grim turned and moved back into the shade of the Oak tree, after which he disappeared again. Snow definitely wanted to know more about Grim after this encounter. It was only then he noticed that he had peed in his pants. It must¡¯ve happened when he recalled his punishment with his grandfather. Before running off to change his clothes he made a deep bow towards the shade of the oak tree. A voice erupted from the shade ¡°be careful in the future...¡± Snow hadn¡¯t expected an answer to his bow, and nearly stumbled. --- A month had passed since Xivar had shown Snow the art of the draw. In this period Snow had meticulously trained with all his heart. He had achieved some slight progress in the following slashes after the first stroke. But he still couldn¡¯t connect them together. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. He could make an okay slash between the first stroke and the following downwards slash. But this was only because he had seen his grandfather perform it before. Snow stood beside the pond, he wasn¡¯t facing the pond after the incident, as he didn¡¯t want to accidentally hurt the carps. Even if he had gained experience in the stance, he wasn¡¯t confident in it yet. He had just finished an hour worth of practice, and the sweat seemed to drop of his small body. He sat down on the grass, gazing at the carps in the pond. A wind tickled his ear as it brought a whisper from his grandfather ¡°I¡¯ll come check on your progress in 5 minutes, you¡¯ve better have made some serious progress.¡± Snow was a little afraid, if he had enough progress to satisfy his grandfather. As if as his exhaustion had disappeared he stood up and he took the same stance as he had done for the past month. He needed to impress his grandfather with his work. Xivar had seen Snow¡¯s progress over the past month, though he was surprised by the remarkable progress, it still didn¡¯t live up to the potential Snow had. He knew that Snow needed a motivational factor in his life, otherwise he would never reach the top. Xivar had an idea, but that was for later. Now he wanted an excuse for training Snow hard. Even if he wasn¡¯t 5 years old yet. Xivar knew that beastkin could train from a really young age. But something had stopped Xivar from making Snow train, first of all he needed to figure out what type of beastkin Snow was, and secondly he wanted to make some kind of bonds that connected Snow to the 9 lives orphanage. Though he hadn''t achieved both of them, he had still made a child-parent connection with Snow over the years. He also wanted Snow to settle down his rebellious nature, so he wouldn¡¯t be so ¡®free¡¯. He had done this by not allowing Snow to move out of his chambers most of the time. This made Snow accustomed to being in the same place for a large amount of time. The same could be said about the whole area of the orphanage. This isolation method had not only helping him shape Snow, but also let Snow respect him as a result of his punishment. It was especially clear, when you looked into Snow¡¯s bloody red eyes. Before the punishment, they would waver and sometimes show hostility when looking at certain people. But now they seemed strangely calm. It was not that Snow was aggressive or the likes he was actually extremely peaceful. it was just like his appearance didn¡¯t match his behavior, he might not have noticed it himself. But it made other pretty fearful of him. There is also the fact that he let¡¯s out faint killing intent whenever his eyes show hostility. Xivar that now was the time to begin Snow training, and what better way to start than introducing it as a motivational factor hidden as a punishment. He knew, he could make requirements, Snow couldn¡¯t live up to but still increase his effort in training the sword. Xivar wanted Snow to want to avoid the punishments by improve his cultivation in the sword. Of course Xivar wouldn¡¯t let that happen, as he wanted to lay the foundation for Snow through punishments. Xivar thought of the most grueling training he could think of and grinned. Clearly he was satisfied with himself. --- Snow was still practicing his stance. He tried to comprehend the moves, and which muscles to use at the right times. He still couldn¡¯t use sword qi at all. It was not that he didn¡¯t know what it was used for, he simply didn¡¯t know what it was and how it worked. Snow was just about to draw is sheathed sword when his grandfather came around the corner of the building. He calmed his stance as he waited for his grandfather to arrive. When his grandfather came, he just stood at his side and said ¡°Show me your progress.¡± Snow thought that his grandfather sounded rather cold, but couldn¡¯t figure out why. Snow took his stance that he had done hundreds if not thousands of times before. He grasped his wooden sword hard. He moved his right foot forward and made the first upwards slash. He connected it seamlessly into the downwards slash, but he stumbled a bit when he bent his knees and therefore failed his upwards slash. Xivar raised an eyebrow as he looked at Snow. Snow had been able to connect the first two slashes flawlessly in such a small amount of time. He felt a little bad about the punishment he was about to give to Snow. Snow was very glad he had finally been able to accomplish a huge obstacle and felt proud. Xivar then opened his mouth, while showing a fake frown ¡°What, was that it?¡± Snow stood still in a moment of shock, he hadn¡¯t expected his effort to be in vain. His face went red in embarrassment and anger. He was embarrassed that he thought his stance was anything worthy of praise and angry at himself for not trying harder and being proud over a small feat. Xivar felt a little bad but continued ¡°The first and second slash are the hardest to comprehend, but I didn¡¯t expect you to not have accomplished the third slash. This deserves a severe punishment, I really didn¡¯t expect you to fail me on the first assignment I gave you.¡± Even if he hadn¡¯t given Snow an assignment, he expected Snow to know what he was talking about. He had given Snow the basics of a stance and told him to comprehend them. Of course Snow had shown great effort, but it was far from enough. Xivar looked at Snow was down, he saw that Snow was making strange faces. He didn¡¯t really care too much, as he knew that the effort he would put in, in the future would be vastly superior to the one had put in until now. Xivar took 4 black bracelets out of nowhere and a belt like object. He began speaking ¡°Equip these bracelets like this, and put the belt on.¡± Xivar showed Snow how to equip the bracelets. There were one on each wrist, and one on each angle. Xivar then picked up Snow and threw him in the pond. Even if the pond wasn¡¯t that large it was still around 6 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep. This depth was more than enough to drown Snow. Snow had learned to swim a bit, when he had taken a dip in the pond in the past. But this time something was different. A strange pulling force came from his wrist, angles and waist. He looked at his hands in panic, the bracelets had blue runes spinning on them. He tried to pull them off while struggling in the water. But it was like they were welded together. The pulling force of the rune covered equipment increased. Snow struggled in the water, he could barely lift his small hands as his body weight seemed to have increased dramatically. Normally he would have been able to just stay at the top of the water and breathe. But the rune covered equipment kept pushing him under the water. The more effort he put in the more his body weight increased, it kept him on an edge of drowning and surviving. Snow looked over to his grandfather, who seemed very pleased with himself. As their eyes met, he could see the astonished look on his grandfather''s face. Snow could feel himself becoming angrier and angrier, he felt, he could burst at any moment. He didn¡¯t know what was going on, but he felt like an urge to attack his grandfather, even if he didn¡¯t want to. Though he could feel it became easier and easier to combat the increasing weight. He still became angrier and angrier. Suddenly, he felt a sharp increase in his body weight, and he looked towards his grandfather who had his right hand raised in a strange hand symbol. He had a slightly worried look on his face. Even if Snow was mature for a 4 year old, he still felt the despair of facing a battle that just couldn¡¯t be won. He began drawing in huge amounts of water. It was not as if he blamed his grandfather, he knew that he required punishments for his failed efforts, and he knew what to expect if he failed. Snow gradually felt his head became lighter, while the rest of his body became like a solid block of lead. He couldn¡¯t win this war against the water, and he felt himself sinking. Before his limbs stopped functioning he made a slight sound above the water ¡°I am sorry¡­- Blob...¡± Even if it wasn¡¯t Snow¡¯s fault, he still felt embarrassed by failing. Xivar heard this and was just about to move out, when the shade under the Oak tree quivered and grim appeared, he quickly grabbed Snow out of the water as if he was a sack of potatoes. The flames in his eye sockets turned golden before speaking in an incredibly eerie and cold voice ¡°you¡¯ve better tone down your ambition Xivar!¡± Grim then threw Snow unto the grass in the shade of the Oak tree. Snow vomited out water like a fountain before going completely unconscious. Xivar made a slight sigh, before moving to the side of Grim and patting it on the shoulder, saying ¡°I am sorry, I will be more gentle in the future.¡± Xivar might have been a little reckless (RECKLEZZ!) when he saw that Snow¡¯s eyes were extruding a terrible killing intent, and that his hair was flickering with a strange blood color at the edges of his hair. The white ¡®tattoos¡¯ on his body also had a flickering blood color at the edges. Even a being such as Xivar was slightly disturbed by the sight, it might have been a natural reaction to just kill off a dangerous being when he had the opportunity. Even if he regretted at the last moment, Grim was still faster than him, and had saved Snow in the nick of time. Chapter: 8 - Confrontation We are faced with the first real confrontation with Snow''s inner demons. Also a teaser at the end Chapter is fairly short. H.F. --- Snow was waking up. He was currently lying on a patch of tall grass by the pond. He blinked his eyes from the rays of sunlight shining in on his head. He was gradually becoming conscious. Snow didn¡¯t know what had happened at all. He had so many questions; Why did his grandfather try and murder him, How did he get up from the water? Why was he currently by the pond? Snow looked around searching for answers. His eyes fell on a silhouette of a man leaning on the big oak tree. He was very familiar with the one leaning on the tree. Though it was a body figure and a face nobody would ever forget. The one leaning on the big tree was of course Grim. Grim had decided to protect Snow, as it was slightly worried about Xavir, and why Xavir wanted to kill Snow. He saw that Snow was changing slightly while in the water, but didn¡¯t think of it as enough reason to kill him. Grim called out to Snow ¡°Awake now? you should probably try and talk to Xavir, I could feel something was wrong in his decision making!¡± Snow was a little scared, not because of Grim, but because of the fact that he had to confront his grandfather. Not something a 4 year old should have to do. Snow looked at the pond in confusion, his nerves in shambles. His grandfather had been his greatest support, even if he was a little hard and direct in his approaches. Snow always felt that his grandfather was a good guy, even if nobody truly knew what he was thinking. Snow knew that he would have to do something. He turned his face and looked pleading at Grim. Grim of course notice the looks in Snow¡¯s eyes ¡°Snow¡­ You have to salvage your relationship with Xavir, after which I can try and talk with him about the future.¡± Snow had a delighted look on his face, but he was still troubled. He still felt anger and restlessness. With his sword practice he had finally found a way to relieve his boredom. --- Snow was walking towards his grandfather''s room he had made up his mind about talking things out. He felt scared and angry. He also thought it was weird that he had to approach his grandfather instead of the other way around. Grim followed just behind Snow as if he was a kind of bodyguard. And what better bodyguard that a skeleton wearing menacing black leather cloths and with a cold blue flame burning in the skeletal eye sockets. Snow stood just outside his grandfather¡¯s room, he trembled slightly. He looked back at grim, before making a resolute face and walking in. Inside was Xavir he was sitting by his large wooden desk as usual. He barely noticed that Snow and Grim had entered. Of course he knew, but he didn¡¯t show it. Snow in front of the desk with a big question mark on his face, he expected his grandfather to try and explain his case. But that didn¡¯t happen. Snow was angry and nervous. Should he talk or wait for his grandfather. He made a choice as he looked back at Grim. ¡°Grandfather why did you try and kill me? And was it you that rescued me?¡± said Snow with streaming tears rolling from his eyes. ¡°Oh, that. It was nothing...¡± Xavir spoke back with a cold voice, not showing any emotions. Xavir couldn¡¯t explain his situation and he didn¡¯t even answer the last question. What was he gonna say ¡®I was about to, but Grim was faster?¡¯ he could say that, but he knew Grim would intervene, and what picture would that show Snow - that his grandfather was slower to save him than an a mere acquaintance. Xavir had always been cold. Being confronted by Snow was a very hard thing on him. Would he say that when he saw the frenzied eyes of Snow in the water, he just wanted to rid this world of his presence? Xavir had chosen to eliminate the bond with Snow. He could see that Grim liked the small boy. He had chosen to let Grim carry on where he had left of. Grim was after all very capable. Just the mere thought of Grim¡¯s abilities made Xavir sweat and sent a shiver down his spine. Snow just stood there in silence, he was shocked. He may have expected his grandfather to be cold, but acting like nothing had happened, no way. Snow could feel the anger bursting! Much worse than he had when he was in the pool the night before. Snow felt himself fall down towards the floor. He hit the floors with his knees and went into a kind of kneeling position. His face was sour and tears dropped down from his face onto the well made wooden floor. Snow felt his heart burning, and his eyes went black. It was as if he could see a large golden gate. The gate sprang open and out came a tiny golden line. He felt the line fuse with his mind. His vision came back but now he could see that he had his face against the floor. He looked towards his arms and could see the bracelets and belt glowing with blue runes. He looked at Xavir who stood staring at him with his right hand raised. Something had happened that he couldn¡¯t comprehend, his mind went back to the night before where the exact same events had happened. The only thing different this time was that he was on a solid surface. Snow felt that his mind and eyes going red. He tried to keep his anger down, but it was futile. He suddenly felt a sudden urge to feast. Feast on meat that is. He could feel himself drooling, which revealed enlarged and sharpened teeth - teeth of a carnivore. He felt like he gained a bit of experience from the newly connected link in his brain, and his body just moved on it¡¯s own. He had nearly become completely lost in his thirst for blood. --- The view was a little different for Grim and Xavir. They saw that Snow had knelt in a strange position on the floor while clenching his fists against his heart. Grim and Xavir were overwhelmed when they felt the glance of an otherworldly looking straight at them from the direction of Snow. They then saw the changes to Snow¡¯s body. the strange tattoos on Snow¡¯s body had turned red at the borders, and the same happened to all the fur on his body. Even his hair. They could see that his eyes now had a mixture of black and gold being thrown about by the waves of blood. The strangest thing were that the body structure of Snow seemed to change. His hands were becoming like a hybrid between a cat¡¯s and a human¡¯s - gaining claws while retaining the fingers. A bushy tail of pure white and red fur sprouted from his tailbone, burning it¡¯s way through his cloths. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. They could see the bottom of his pants ripping as the leg structure changed slightly to a more cat like structure. the feet changed like a cats though unlike the hands which were like hybrids. Grim and Xavir looked at each other before Xavir raised his right hand while performing hand seals. Snow still wore the bracelets and belt, and Xavir had just activated the Gravity rune. Snow''s body was now locked against the floor. Snow had seemed to calm down from his mindless state. However, it was only until he looked up at Xavir who still had his hand raised. Xavir could see fur bursting out of Snow¡¯s body around the changed parts. Also the slits in his eyes became tiny. The view was truly frightening. --- Snow had been consumed by the anger and bloodlust. he hadn¡¯t even noticed that he had transformed. He gathered all the strength he could muster from his tiny body. However, he could only slightly lift his body. He pushed his hands trying to lift himself up. Suddenly he felt an overwhelming strength bursting from his muscles it was like he flew up from the ground with his body. Snow suddenly gained awareness about his body, it was like he could feel all the changes. He had gotten up from the ground, but standing on his newly transformed legs while having a massive weight strapped to certain parts of his body did not make it easier. Snow felt a strange power moving in his veins and tried to move it. Snow didn¡¯t know what it was but he felt it was usefull. He still couldn¡¯t move, so he brought his small but heavy arms up before making slashing motions in mid air trying to hit his grandfather. --- Everyone were surprised when crimson lightning burst from Snow¡¯s body in a rip like pattern. 10 crimson lightning slashes moved at great speeds towards his grandfather. None of the three could stop these slashes as they were pretty shocked about it. Snow of course didn¡¯t want to stop his frenzied attack, but tried to move his transformed body to continue his attempt at reaching his grandfather. 4 of the slashes connected to Xavir, these slashes caused nothing but small cuts, but it still made Xavir extremely surprised. A being of his rank to be hurt by a 4 year old¡¯s attack was truly something. A maddening laughter came from Xavir which contested against the hisses and growls from Snow. Clearly Snow wasn¡¯t truly conscious and more like a maddening beast. Grim stood at the side doing nothing, it was as if he was observing. But he was fascinated by the effort of Snow, to be able to move against a Tier 7 Gravity rune was an effort worth praising, not to mention the ¡®victim¡¯ was only 4 years old. Strangely Snow only moved towards Xavir as if he was the only target he cared about. Grim could see that Xavir wasn¡¯t in trouble at all so he didn¡¯t mind standing on the sidelines. --- Snow felt a prickling sensation in his limbs, but he didn¡¯t care he was finally reaching his grandfather. He just wanted to shred him. The bloodlust was overwhelming, he could feel the drool falling from his lips. Suddenly he fell towards the grounds, which was strange, as he had just been moving forward. Snow suddenly felt tired. Snow tried to combat the drowsiness. But it was futile even if he was berserking. Snow made a last roar before falling asleep. --- Xavir made a surprised face, he had used some needles which were enchanted with rune causing drowsiness to the victim, to pacify Snow. But even when he had done that, Snow didn¡¯t change back. He glanced at Grim before deciding to cage Snow. Apparently Grim knew what he had on his mind, and tried to convince him to place the cage by the pond. Xavir happily agreed, he wanted someone to monitor Snow when he woke up and what better place than the residence of Grim. Grim was a master of the occult magic for some reason but Xavir guessed that it might be because it could further his powers. Even Xavir didn¡¯t know Grim¡¯s rank. Ranks in this world went from F - A and then the leap to the S class. When jumping to the S class someone achieved a whole new set of challenges and benefits. But as Xavir was only A class and hadn¡¯t achieved S class yet he didn¡¯t know what kind of challenges awaited. Xavir suspected that Grim was B class but he couldn¡¯t be sure, as Grim always killed with unorthodox methods or simply killed in a single strike. Xavir wanted Grim and Snow to form a connection, as he had not lost his with Snow. He of course wanted Snow to stay at the orphanage, but also didn¡¯t want to limit his growth. The reason Xavir hadn¡¯t wanted to kill Snow this time was because he wasn¡¯t as shocked as last time and that he had time to prepare. Last time it was as if he gained an urge to kill Snow when he looked at him in the eyes. He shivered at his own inhumane actions, but done was done. There was nothing to do about it. --- Xavir asked Grim to handle Snow. And he did, Grim brought the unconscious Snow to the pond. He made a few chants and hand signs in the air. Four pieces of stone extruded from the sides of the pond reaching into the middle. When they reached the middle they formed a circle with a hole in the middle. It looked like the four ¡®bridges¡¯ split the pond in four except that they reached about 1 meter over the pond. Grim made a few hand signs again and a glass bottom was added to the Stone circle. It now had a solid bottom and Snow was placed on that solid block of glass. Grim moved to the side of the pond after which he made a few other hand signs and chants. A ring of glass was added to the platform where Snow lay. At last Grim added a Solid layer on the top of the cage. He even included adding a few holes so that fresh air could enter the cage. Grim had not added a way to get food in because he thought that the bloodlust had to be sated before Snow would regain his original form. He didn¡¯t think Snow¡¯s form was permanent. It felt as if something otherworldly was providing that power. Grim made a grin, or just slightly opening his jaw before speaking as he walked away ¡°hah, I guess you will be know as Red Snow now!¡± Grim looked absolutely terrifying as he grinned by his words. --- The world would come to fear the monster called Red Snow! Legends told that he drank the blood of his victims! --- Chapter: 9 - Snows path Snow''s path. Emotional and informational chapter. Started explaining the cultivation and rise in power of the world of Darsus. Btw. Feel free to join me on http://inviction.chatango.com/ H.F. --- Snow was in the glass prison atop the pond. A week had passed since the events had unfolded. Snow was still a mindless creature, filled with bloodlust and hunger. Strangely, the glass prison had no scratches at all. Even when Snow tried to escape. The cause might have been because snow was clad in a tight suit which locked his arms to his body. His whole body was also in a tight steel brace, making it impossible to move. Yellow runes were spinning all over his cloths and brace. Snow had not gotten food for a whole week, but that didn¡¯t calm him down. Snow was changing, he was changing back to his previous form. An ear piercing howl erupted from the glass prison. Grim emerged from the shade of the Oak tree. He had expected the bloodlust to fade, but didn¡¯t expect it to last a whole week. Grim raised his hand while chanting. Snow¡¯s cloths disappeared and so did the brace. He did this so that Snow wouldn¡¯t hurt himself as he struggled against the pain. Snow was rolling about and ripping of his skin with his claws. Even if he was changing back this was a lengthy process. Snow felt like his bones were shrinking and that his muscles were feeling the backlash of the power used. A stank of roasted pig came from Snow¡¯s skin, his skin was losing it¡¯s color and becoming white, while his red hair and fur was set ablaze or rather it seemed that lightning was consuming all the red spots. Strangely, his tail split into nine parts before going back inside his body. This was not the same as last time, when he felt that his mother was in grave danger, no. This time his transformation had been complete, and last time he wasn¡¯t mature enough to manifest his powers. Snow was feeling every part of his body changing, though some parts did not go back to what they once were. Though many of these changes were no noticeable they had mainly changed his sense. For better or worse. Snow screamed in pain as the process was finalizing, he felt as if a burning piece of coal was pressed against the back of his head. The transformation was finalized! however, the gate in his mind was still open, and killing intent was rushing through it. Snow was calming down, but when the gate was closing, he felt an increasing weariness and hunger. A natural hunger, though he had lusted for blood the last week. This time it was as if he had a hollow pit instead of a stomach. He wanted food, any food. Grim saw that Snow had finalized his changes and he had a ¡®curious¡¯ flame burning in his eye sockets. He could feel the changes which had happened to Snow, therefore he felt that some of the changes had manifested permanently. He could see that Snow maintained sharpened fingernail, toenail and that his teeth were unchanged, like a carnivore. Especially the last change, he wondered if this went that Snow could only eat meat now. He also saw that the fur parts of Snow¡¯s body had expanded, especially on the tattoos. The tattoos had expanded and moved to the arms and feet. It looked like Snow had become an alpino as he had lost his previous tan color. Though now sights of the red color except for the eyes were present. But even then Snow looked extremely ferocious as he couldn¡¯t control his teeth properly and it looked like he sneered. Grim could see the confused look on Snow¡¯s face and he decided to release him from the glass prison. Snow was absolutely confused. After the gate closed in his mind, he had felt embarrassed by his actions, the weird thing was that it felt like he did them willingly. It was like the anger was a part of him. He was frightened by the actions he had done. It was like losing all of the control he had. What if he just erupted some day and murdered people who could subdue him. He would go on a rampage. He knew that he had to do something, if he let the anger overtake he would be forever in a prison of fear. Fear not because of dangerous threats to himself, but him being a threat to everyone around him. Suddenly his gaze was filled with gratitude when he looked at Grim, he didn¡¯t know why that frightening creature treated him so kindly. But it was like they had a strange kinship. Not a kinship of love or friendship, but a kinship of understanding. Snow could see the sadness on Grim¡¯s face even if he didn¡¯t have visible expressions. It was like they bore the same feelings of a monster. The fear that they themselves are monsters, living in a castle of glass. Which could break at any moment. Even if Snow didn¡¯t know Grim very well, he could feel that Grim was extremely powerful. He also had a feeling that Grim researched something occult and dangerous. Snow himself might be dangerous, but when looking into Grims cold burning flame, the only word he could think of was tragedy. Even if he himself was a monster, when looking into Grims flame, he felt nothing but sympathy. Snow had never looked this closely at another being before, not even his grandfather. Snow picked up his tired and hungry body, before running towards Grim. He just wanted to be embraced and loved. He knew that the only beings that he could ever feel kinship now with was other monsters. Monsters could take different forms, be it evil humans, good or evil demonic beasts or those that simply was a threat. Monsters would be shunned by the masses, and hunted by superstition and fear. Monsters are regularly misunderstood, and killed for no reason other than fear. Snow ran with his small body, and embraced Grim while crying tears of sadness and longing. Snow had never known a mother or a father. The closest thing would be his grandfather, who had betrayed his trust. His grandfather had tried to kill him and acted as if he had done nothing wrong. He now had a different opinion towards his grandfather, and it was no longer a feeling of love, but of fear. Snow felt powerless in front of his grandfather. Anger and powerlessness followed every time, he thought about his grandfather. Snow was locked in a one-sided embrace with Grim. He himself cried and hugged Grim, but not the other way around. Grim only softly laid an arm around Snow while saying ¡°A wise man once said; ¡®Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.¡¯ Anger will never disappear from your heart as I feel that it is your legacy. But you must embrace the anger and redirect it. Let the coal become your fuel. Fuel yourself with the power, become powerful so that you can control yourself.¡± Snow grasped the meaning of the profound message. He could alleviate his anger by using it for slaughter. though he would only let himself disappear in the process. But he should rather embrace the anger and try to use it in the right situations. He would become powerful so that he could protect himself from his anger! He would probably never become a truly righteous being, but not being a threat to everyone would be a start. Snow had a smile on his face while tears of sadness still rolled from his eyes. He had a purpose, he would not let his legacy win over him. Snow brought his right hand to his nose, he took a sniff at his bracelet made from his mother''s clothes. It was still intact, but only held a faint scent. But Snow could feel the scent better than he had ever had, it was like a vivid amount of colors painting a picture in his nose. He could smell the form of his mother and the terrible condition she had been in. He could also feel the poor quality of the cloths. Strangely he could feel a faint smell of grease from a man on the cloths, it was not as if there were grease on the bracelet, but he could smell a faint smell of sweat and grease being caught in the cloth. Snow felt a sudden longing to see his mother. But he knew it would be impossible, he wouldn¡¯t have other means to find her other than her smell. However, a new world had opened to Snow, it was like seeing an entirely new world. He could smell the carps and flowers as if they were a beautiful picture on a canvas. He felt that he might have a chance with his heightened senses to find his mother someday. Something disrupted his mind, as a different and disgusting scent filled his nose. It was like dried meat left in the sun combined with bleach. Snow could feel a strange sense of death coming from the source. Snow quickly realised that Grim was the source. Even if Snow didn¡¯t have such a sharp nose, he would still be able to feel the aura of Death being emitted from Grim, and he had before, but it was faint. But now it was like there was a sign, with the big letters Death over Grim. Snow shivered slightly, before he thought of himself, and that he was practically in the same boat. --- Snow moved away from Grim after a while. he asked Grim ¡°What will happen next?¡± Grim replied with the same eerie voice ¡°Xivar has given me permission to train you.¡± Snow just nodded. He was okay with the situation, he would begin finally be able to resume his training. Though under a different teacher. ¡°When will we begin?¡± asked Snow with an impatient expression. ¡°Soon, but we will have to test out your new abilities first.¡± Replied Grim. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. --- Snow and Grim began experimenting some of Grim¡¯s ideas and thoughts about the extend of Snow¡¯s changes and abilities. They quickly found out that Snow no longer was a omnivore. They had found this out when they tried giving Snow a Potato and some other vegetables and fruits. Snow immediately either threw up or got really sick. Only meat would do. Snow was for some reason able to picture the animal or Demonic beast that the meat came from just by tasting and smelling it. Even if he hadn¡¯t eaten that Animal before. This however worked best when the meat was soaked in the beast''s blood and was uncooked. With a large amount of experimentation they found out that Snow could release lightning swipes from his sharpened fingernails. These lightning swipes were blue and white like normal lightning, but also much, much weaker than the crimson ones. Though they only found this out when Snow began to cultivate his qi. Snow had learned various things about qi from Grim. Grim had thought Snow about the origin of qi in one''s body and how to move and use it. The qi of this world is something that the practitioner will have to cultivate to rise in rank. A normal practitioner with only great muscles will only be able to rise to maximum rank D on the adventurers scale. Qi is gained from unraveling the user''s preferred magical element. This however is a lengthy process and takes a huge amount of mental and physical concentration. The requirements for rising in tiers for cultivation is linked directly to the user''s ability to unravel and store the qi from the user''s Magical element. The amount of magical element in the user''s body is also the amount of mana they can store. Mana can be stored in the body, but the amount of storage is dependant on a lot of things. Such as natural affinity to a specific element. The amount of training the individual has done or simply the natural capacity to store mana. Snow has a very high natural affinity for Lightning and a slight but greater than average affinity for Fire. Though he had these affinities he was about average in all the other elements, except for Life. As a natural killing machine he of course has a very low affinity towards Life. He might appreciate life, but he will at some point in life be a taker of lives. Therefor he is hopeless as a cultivator of Life. Snow had just barely reached a Tier - 10 cultivation with Grim¡¯s help. Cultivation has to be mostly done on it¡¯s own as each individual has to show individuality and pursue power on their own. However, the concepts of cultivation can still be taught and hints can be given along the way. Cultivation is a process where individuals has to build up experience with mana and what their element really consist of. Then they will be able to unravel the next layer of their mana which will release more energy with a higher purity. After the Qi has been released the user can use it in two ways. The Qi can be stored temporarily in the veins, and be used as a special attack. This process consumes the Qi and the Qi has to be gathered again. This process allows incredible attacks. The other option is to fuse the Qi with muscles or other parts of the body to strengthen them. This process is permanent, even if a limb has been regrown, the body will still send a surplus of Qi into the newly grown limb to balance its condition with the rest of the body. This process however makes a slight overall loss in cultivation, but can be quickly regained, if a sufficient layer of unraveling mana has been reached. When Qi is fused with the body it has to be done under extreme conditions such as training or straining the body. The user can then move some temporary Qi onto the strained locations of the body and the muscles will absorb the Qi as a form of nutrients and become stronger as a result. it¡¯s a dirty and primitive method but it works, and no other methods has become known. This however means that there tend to be two kinds of fighters. which can be split into more subsections. First of all there is the fighters, these are the people who unravel Qi and use it to either store temporary Qi or fuse it with their muscles making them outstanding fighters. But it¡¯s rare for them to use mana directly in a fight. The second type is called the mage. A mage doesn¡¯t really care about unraveling mana, they tend to train their mana storage capacity to unimaginable lengths. Mages use their mana directly to fight, they do this by sending different ¡®spells¡¯ of mana at their target. Spells are an interesting term it¡¯s actually just a way to compress and shape mana and giving it instructions. It¡¯s not necessary to cast spells if the user ability to use their mana has reached such heights that they can simply shape it with their minds. This makes voiceless incantations possible. However, much mana is lost when not given clear instructions this means that chanted spells have more firepower for a lower cost in mana. Mages mostly prefer using chants, but some excellent mages will use voiceless incantations when fighting fighters. Both classes of mana usage has drawbacks and advantages. It¡¯s possible to be both, but that would require an extremely sharp mind and more time on their hands than normal people. when cultivating it¡¯s an important rule to only focus on one area, otherwise you will fall behind other people as they progress faster. Grim had asked Snow what area he wanted to chose, but he still recommended the fighters area for Snow as his body was perfect for it. His advantage in body would only increase as he grew older. His body right now was not even ideal for practising weighted training. The only kind of training he could do right now was practicing stances and try and unraveling mana without sufficient experience in his magical element or the storage of mana. Storage of mana was important for mages and fighters, fighters gained a sufficient amount of storage when they turned around 8-10. This was because the natural storage of mana would increase with age. A newborn wouldn¡¯t be able to use mana at all, but a 4 year old might be able to make sparks if he had the knowledge. But a 8 year old might be able to have enough mana to train his storage capacity and the use the increased capacity for unraveling the mana. Unraveling mana had to be a continuous process that means that any stop would make one have to start over, until their mana was full again. This process would also stop if the mana storage went dry. But at 10-15 years old the ability to store mana would be sufficient in any kind of unraveling the only part that would be missing would be the comprehension of mana. This also made a great divide in fighters some had the required storage for mana and could unravel a lot of mana they would hope that they could somehow reach the next layer. This was a lengthy process, but was used by most, as comprehension of mana was an extremely difficult task. The method was just not a method which relied on mana storage, but had the requirement of a decent sized mana storage. This process relied on comprehending mana. This was only for the extremely rich with great teachers. Or the extremely experienced in mana. This cultivation method of mana usually fell to those who were mages before and decided to try the fighters method. Grim had told Snow to use the 2nd method as he would he his teacher and he had pretty profound knowledge about mana. though he himself had to find out about the crimson lightning affinity. Grim had also sensed that Snow had gained a special kind of attribute, an attribute of bloodlust and anger. This was also something that Snow could comprehend with increased amount of bloodshed and massacre. Grim suspected that this attribute would help Snow in becoming more in control. Though it was also risky as Snow had to not fall completely to Bloodlust. Grim speculated that this was something he had to work on as fast as possible. And be his greatest ability against going berserk. --- Grim had decided a location for Snow training for the next few years. Grim wanted Snow to learn survival and increase his resistance against bloodlust and anger. While at the same time making him stronger and more mature. Even if Snow was amazingly mature at the age of 4 he still had a bit of the innocence of a child. or At least this side of him had. Grim wanted Snow to feel the bloodshed that he would cause, from an early age. Grim also wanted to show Snow the frightening powers of a true monster. He had decided to take Snow as his first disciple and show tell him his story. Snow would be the first to know his story, but it was not for this time. Grim asked Snow if he wanted to be his disciple. Snow quickly got onto the ground in a kneeling position, Snow then said with a steady voice ¡°Disciple Snow greets Master Grim!¡± He was no longer crying but had a slight smile on his face ¡°Disciple Snow greets Master Grim!¡± Grim replied while standing tall ¡°Master Grim greets First disciple Snow.¡± He also gave Snow a name that would fit with his new path ¡°From now on you shall be know as Snow to your friends and comrades. But for enemies and the public, you will be know as Red Snow. This will signify the bloodshed that you will cause, and staining the pure white snow that you¡¯ve been until now.¡± Snow raised an eyebrow as he replied ¡°I will take the name Red Snow as a proof of my legacy. Let the blood drain from those who are unworthy!¡± Truly cryptic words from a four year old. But he is the champion of the Tiger of War. Even if he didn¡¯t know it yet. And not not just any tiger of war, but an ender of life and a god of destruction for those unworthy. Chapter: 10 - Hunting Getting started for real on the cultivation and a real battle. YUS! I have reversed the Tiers Now Tier - 1 is the lowest while Tier - 10 is higher (I will change it in the previous chapers) Do you guys want me to mention his cultivation in the end of every chapter? Feel free to write your opinion in the comments. H.F. Snow had lived in a small but sturdy shed by the Oak tree. The shed was something that Grim had built using his magic. Snow had lived there for the entire time he had been thought by Grim. Snow had learned a bit about Grim while he stayed with it. Grim was a surprisingly gentle figure, though it was sometimes overly direct. Grim didn¡¯t care for useless talk and when it said that Snow should practice with his sword, it went back to the shade cast by the giant Oak tree. Every time it entered the shade, it disappeared. Snow still didn¡¯t know where Grim went. Snow had learned a great deal from Grim in the past few weeks. Such as an introduction to magic and Qi manipulation. He had even been able to achieve Tier - 1 Qi cultivation, which was surprising as he was still about 4 years old. Grim had told Snow that a normal human with an average mana storage capacity would need to be around 8-15 years old to comprehend the first Tier of the profound law of nature. Grim told Snow that he had an amazing closeness with his magical element and that this caused the near miracle to happen. Snow thought back at the time he attacked his grandfather, and remembered using something that felt like Qi. He just tried to imitate that and then he achieved the first Tier after a short while. Grim had told Snow to continue practicing the Art of the Draw, even if the sword style wouldn¡¯t really fit him in the future, it was practically the only style he could use now. It would also make him more powerful than a being of the same level for the first few slashes and strikes. Grim still haven¡¯t told Snow what his training plan was yet. He had tried asking Grim, but he just got a straight answer ¡°You should focus on your current training...¡± Snow had whole heartedly tried to absorb Grim knowledge about the world. It proved to be quite difficult as Grim only gave extremely basic instructions about the different animals and races. Snow had once asked a question with absolute interest ¡°What is the strongest creature of this world?¡± Grim had just replied ¡°Dragons¡± Snow had to ask a whole series of questions to get some useful information. Though he was excited when he thought about giant flying scaly creatures. He thought of the devastation and destruction they were rumored to have caused. He unconsciously held a bright smile while thinking of the subject. His subconsciousness was quite sadistic it seems. The information he got from Grim was that dragons were the strongest creatures, but this was only because they had a massive mana storage capacity, they could fire spells much greater than their cultivation in mana. This was sheer brute force in mana. Most of them was also lige an impregnable fortress of scales. Snow shivered at the thought of going against a dragon with a basic iron sword. he would never be able to slice against the thick scales. Snow had asked a final question about if Grim had ever defeated a dragon, apparently silence was the answer as Grim just looked towards the Oak tree. Snow decided not to touch more on the subject, as he could imagine large teams going up against dragons while only a few survived. He imagined Grim in that situation. --- A few weeks of training had passed, Snow was able to accomplish a few different kinds of slashes and strikes with his stance. He was also able to connect them together. Though he still required much training Grim had told him that he was currently on Tier - 3 of the Art of the Sword. And that the next step was being able to flawlessly connect the slashes and strikes. And that the Tier after that Tier - 5 would be the tier when he would practice Sword Qi together with his strikes. Snow was very excited. He had made some solid progress, he could feel himself that having motivation and pressure gave rise to incredible advancements. Grim had dragged Snow over to the Oak tree, Snow felt that it was time for his real training, and he was curious about what it would be about. Grim spoke in it¡¯s usual and eerie voice ¡°We will soon begin your training. First of all your training won¡¯t be here. It will be in a forest filled with low tier Demonic beasts. Why? that is because I want you to learn to hunt and experience a natural bloodlust, so that you can resist the anger and bloodlust in the future. You must not fall to your instincts.¡± Snow nodded excitedly, he even grinned at the thought of bloodlust. Grim continued ¡°This is precisely what i mean you must learn to control yourself! Whenever i talk about torture or murder you smile like a creepy kid hearing a magical story.¡± Snow looked down in embarrassment, this wasn¡¯t something that he could do when talking to other people. It would be hugely creepy if a bloody eyed albino kid laughed if someone mentioned slaughter or torture. He knew that he had to work on himself in that aspect. But Snow was still very excited, he wanted to experience the world. He had read and heard about fantastic creatures and wanted to experience the wonders of the world. Grim took out a huge map from out of nowhere. He laid it on the grass and began talking ¡°The forest have 4 layers, The outer, middle, inner and center. Each section holds a different tier of creatures: outer and middle hold a lower Tier - 1 and a higher Tier -1. The inner hold the Tier - 2 creatures. The center hold a rumored Tier - 3 creature. You will spend 2 years in the outer section. After that you will move to the middle section for a year. When you¡¯ve conquered all the Tier - 1 Creatures you will move to the Inner section. You will stay until you¡¯ve killed at least one of every creature in the forest...¡± Snow was excited but he thought of the Tier - 3 Demonic beast and asked Grim if he should enter the central part. Grim replied ¡°You will stay out of the central part...¡± Grim didn¡¯t teach Snow anything about the weaknesses and strengths of the different creatures, this was something that Snow had to figure out on his own. Grim believed that Snow could be extraordinary if he got through difficulties alone. Grim padded Snow on the shoulder and they both disappeared. Snow felt himself getting dragged through a grayscale world. He could see buildings and people, it was like they were stuck in motion. Snow had never been outside the orphanage, and seeing new things was fantastic too him. Even if colors and smells didn¡¯t exist in the grayscale world. Grim suddenly stopped and Snow realised that they were in a lush forest. Snow breathed in through the nose. He wanted to experience the feeling of being outside. Snow could sense a multitude of different kinds of flowers. He could smell the wet bark from the trees and the different leaves. He could smell the sweet scent of sap. But something weird was also being expelled into the air. It was a sweet smell, but it didn¡¯t smell like it belonged to a plant. Snow looked around looking for Grim, but he couldn¡¯t find him anywhere. He realised that he had to train on his own, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t get any real gains. Snow followed the sweet scent in the air. He wondered what it could be. After Snow had moved through countless bushes he suddenly felt the smell getting stronger. He stopped and gained cover behind a tree. He hadn¡¯t smelled something like it before, so he wanted to be on the safe side. Snow looked towards the clearing where the smell came from, what he found shocked him a bit. He pulled out the wooden sword he had gotten from his grandfather and he took a stance. What he saw was a monster or rather a demonic beast. Snow guessed that this would be his first pray. The monster was a fairly large bird which had two talons. It had stuffy cheeks and a large body build. The feathers on it¡¯s small wings and body were colored white with brown points. Snow looked deeply into it¡¯s eyes and could only sense a faint intelligence. How we was able to figure that out was a mystery, but he just had a feeling that it was true. He sneaked closer and closer to the bird. Grim had told him of a bird who looked like the one he was praying on, the only thing Grim had described was the bird''s name and features. The name of the bird was Fasan. Snow approached the Fasan while sneaking along the ground, he held a fierce look in his eyes. He was ready for battle. Snow had long ago, decided that the best approach to attacking the bird was to use the element of surprise. For some reason Snow had acted as if hunting was a natural part of his being. He had masterfully hidden behind several objects and used them as cover. Snow was making solid progress in moving towards the Fasan, he was now only a bush away from the creature. He licked his lips in hunger and bloodlust filled his eyes. Snow had gotten careless, the huge golden gate in his mind was slowly opening, and even without him realising it. The fur on his hands transformed into the hybrid claws. A tail sprouted from his tailbone. Killing intent had filled him. Snow got up from his crouching position and leap silently from the ground towards the Fasan. The bird might not be very smart, but it¡¯s intellect comprised of survival instincts. The bird could feel a dangerous presence nearing it, and it slowly began walking in the opposite direction. Snow was already in the air, when the Demonic beast decided to sprint at full power. The Fasan was amazingly quick on it¡¯s feet, and it looked like it flew through the air. With its bipedal talons it could maneuver amazingly in the forest. This was it¡¯s homebase! Snow had failed to rip the Fasan to shreds with his surprise attack. He sighed at the natural ability of even a weak Tier - 1 Demonic beast. But he wasted no time, he darted through the forest, chasing after the Fasan. Snow had tried to use Art of the Draw on the Fasan, but his surprise attack had failed. He decided to try and use a quicker strike with less power. If he hit the Fasan with his wooden sword he wasn¡¯t sure if he could defeat it with the strike, but he could probably hit it. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Snow chased after the Fasan with all his power. He knew he wouldn¡¯t win a battle of attrition with the bird, so he decided to infuse some of his temporary Qi into his legs. This would boost his abilities temporarily but the drawback would be the waste of Qi. Suddenly, Snow speed increased by an incredible 30% This was nearly too much power for the small body to handle. His speed increased by a large margin so he quickly gained ground on the bird. Snow was looking fierce as the blood color in his eyes moved like waves. The door in his mind had opened halfway and transformation of his body had sped up. Snow realised the gate was open and tried to calm his mind. This proved more difficult than he had though. Snow¡¯s speed was increasing as his transformation progressed. Snow took a brief stance while on the move, he brought down his right hand to his wooden sword. Which had been sheathed again. He muttered while preparing the first strike ¡°Art of the Draw: First strike¡± This had become a habit of Snow. He knew it was unnecessary but it helped collecting his thoughts. The air moved as the wooden sword flew sliced the it. The sword was aimed directly at the bird''s neck. Snow felt the strike connect to his target but only a feeling of hitting bone which rebounded the sword. The strike held a considerable amount of power, but the material limited the damage. The bird shrieked as it was hit. It was moved back 1 meter before collapsing on the ground. The sword held considerable power but the strike was more of a blunt blow than a slice. The bird hissed and sprouted before rising up again. It was angry and knew that the small beastkin didn¡¯t have the ability to seriously wound it. The presence before might have been a mistake thought the stupid bird. Snow was also angry, he threw away the useless wooden sword. The golden gate in his mind had opened so much that his hands were fully transformed into hybrid claws. Snow grinned as he looked at his hands. Strangely this time he felt no pain as the golden gate opened. Snow gathered more temporary Qi in his hands before shooting of once again at the stationary bird. The bird had chosen to take the fight up with the small beastkin, And it also rushed at the Beastkin. Snow didn¡¯t want to waste power on a ranged attack, so he gathered Qi in his claws instead. Like a cat the claws were pushed out from the fingers and they looked incredibly frightening as they had a barbed and crooked look. Snow and the bird had nearly made contact when Snow lowered his body and made a roll. He was right beside the bird when the roll finished, he used his cat like flexibility to jump towards the side of the bird. He extended his right arm and punched a hole in the bird as if it was made of butter. His claws ripped right through the flesh and shredded the bones. His small arm was about up to his elbow into the bird. The bird looked at the boy curiously before falling to the ground. Snow took out his hands from the bird and licked the blood of his hands. He had a frenzied and crazed look in his eyes. It didn¡¯t take long for the boy to jump the bird. He ripped through it¡¯s flesh with his claws and ripped out it¡¯s bone for the marrow. He didn¡¯t care for roasting the meat and he wanted the fresh blood of his first prey. Snow ate until he was full. He sat down on the ground with a burb. The gate in his mind seemed satisfied and closed rapidly. Snow quickly felt the power drain from him, and he was suffering the backlash from using temporary Qi for an extended amount of time. Snow was full so he crawled to a nearby tree before hiding under one of it¡¯s roots. He was exhausted and wanted to sleep. He held no thoughts of bloodlust or hunger. He was incredibly full and just wanted to rest. If a normal human had done this feat, it would be worth praising. Normal Tier - 1 creatures was not something a basic human could defeat. Today was the first appearance of Red Snow. Though many more were to come. --- A week had passed and a dirty and tired small body was moving around the trees avoiding the bushes. This body belonged to Snow. His impressive fighting before was nowhere to be seen. Snow quickly realised after a few days that he couldn¡¯t continue consuming the Temporary Qi that he had gathered. This made him fight with only his claws. The claws was not the problem. The problem was first of all his size. Snow had not even turned 5 yet, and this meant that his body was incredibly small. His limbs were simply shorter than his optimal size. The 2nd reason was his strength and speed. Snow might be strong and quick for his size, but again he was simply too small. This meant that he either had to boost his abilities with Qi or use his intellect to fight. Snow had learned that he couldn¡¯t let his instincts take over, this would cause him to use the most efficient method possible for killing his prey. This meant using Qi for enhancing his abilities. Snow had to be in control and fight the creatures with surprise attacks and traps. Snow had devised a few basic traps. But many of even just the weakest of the herbivores would simply overpower his traps and escape with sheer brute strength. He had to escape every time he sensed or smelled a omnivore or carnivore. The omnivores and carnivores were typical either more in numbers or more powerful than herbivores, which made sense. Snow had quickly learned to differentiate the different beasts by smell, this proved incredibly useful when searching for prey. This was probably what had allowed him to survive. Snow was currently looking over a chart he had gotten from Grim before they left, this was a chart on which stood all the creatures he had defeated. Snow had to drop some of the beasts blood on the chart before a checkmark showed beside the creature''s name. This map was divided into sections with correlated with the sections on a map he had also been given. On the map the whole forest was marked, with 4 sections marked with a different color. one for the outer, one for the middle, one for the inner, and the last one for center. The colors were also presented on the monster chart he had been given making it possible to see which monsters he had to defeat in the different areas. Until now he had only checked of a few, which included the Fasan. Grim had been generous he had left off, Snow right beside one of the weakest creatures of the forest. Snow had, had trouble, but he had learned to cope pretty quickly with the environment. However it still left marks on his condition. If he fought without Qi enhancements he would sustain a few injuries, but wouldn¡¯t be able to recover for his next ¡®meal¡¯. He would however increase his cultivation and get stronger and more prepared for stronger enemies. If he fought using Qi enhancements he would sustain next to no injuries however he wouldn¡¯t recover all his Qi for the next battle. He would also never increase his cultivation and he would only get stronger with time. He wouldn¡¯t be able to fight increasingly stronger enemies. Snow had chosen to focus on his training while using no Qi enhancements. This meant that he had to use traps or sneak attacks for fighting. He held a natural ability to hide, but it proved difficult to assassinate his enemies with a single attack. He would at most gravely wound his enemies making them go berserk trying to take him with them as they fell. This was how he came into his current condition. For a small body he held an incredible number of small wounds. But, he had gathered enough food for a good while. Demonic beast were usually pretty large and had a good amount of meat on them. Snow wanted to achieve the next layer of Qi unraveling soon, he wanted to increase his training and thereby his strength. Snow had found a large lake and he currently resided in a fairly large corpse of an Oak tree. This tree was pretty wide and held enough room for his spoils. Snow also couldn¡¯t take the easy way of eating berries, grass or bark. He would simply throw up immediately upon it entering his stomach. But the large amount of meat he had stored gave him time for training and cultivating. He would only have to gather a new meal once in awhile. Snow also realised that he would soon face the predators of this forest and he actually wondered why no predators had wanted to hunt him down until now. Snow didn¡¯t know but Grim had actually stayed by his side most of the time, however the only reason it was there for was to deter the predators and protect Snow against the powerful monsters of the forest, at least until he was ready. Grim didn¡¯t make it¡¯s presence known though, as it would limit Snow¡¯s will for survival and training. Snow had nearly attained the next Rank up in the Art of the Draw. He was currently struggling against using the sword strikes interchangeably and freely. He could use all kinds of slashes and strikes, but connecting one into another was another deal. His stance either looked like a dance of sword strikes which connected beautifully, but was useless in a normal fight or his stance looked weird and flawed but functioned okay, in battle. Snow knew he was on the verge of discovery but it was more tricky than he had imagined. making flawless and interchangeable manoeuvres on the fly was very difficult. Snow had also built up his Qi for a good amount of time now, and it was nearly time for him to try and unravel the next layer of cultivation. His Art of the Draw stance was Tier - 3+ nearly tier - 4. But his Qi unraveling was Tier - 1 still. He knew that his Qi unraveling halted behind, but he couldn¡¯t do anything about it as his body was not yet fit for cultivation. Snow was just about to use his Qi for unraveling when a strange smell came into his nose, he could smell that this creature was hostile and was near him. Chapter: 11 - Savage Last chapter of the Day / Night.... Very tired, please excuse me for grammatical mistakes. It''s 4:30 in the morning where i live. Visit: http://inviction.chatango.com/ I usually hang out there. Alone most of the time though /Cry. Btw. Short but action packed chapter. Anyways: H.F. --- Snow was ready, he had stopped his attempt at unraveling Qi. This meant that he had a large storage of temporary Qi. Snow wore a slight smile while thinking of the upcoming battle with pure death. When Snow wasn¡¯t battling or feeling bloodlust - he was in his normal beastkin form. For some strange reason his transformations time got shorter and shorter every time he transformed. The first time he transformed completely it took 1 minute for him to transform and a hell of a lot of pain. The 2nd time when battling the Fasan it took him only him a while longer as he wasn¡¯t angry and wasn¡¯t in a hurry. But it didn¡¯t cost him the pain he experienced no pain at all. Actually it was comfortable. A strange feeling had begun to appear in his mind. The more bloodshed he caused and the more bloodlust he felt, the more this feeling would prosper. The feeling only came when he was in his original form. It was like staying at a friends house, at some point you wanted your own bed to sleep in. The feeling wasn¡¯t that strong yet, but he still longed for the release. Snow of course knew this was part of his training, he had to resist the constant urge for battle. The only way he could enter that form was when he had to hunt. When he entered the form, he couldn¡¯t leave until he had killed something and had drank their blood. This was a disgusting feeling for Snow. Having to rely on killing creatures just for pleasure. And when he finally transformed into ¡°Red Snow¡± as he called it. It wasn¡¯t the pleasure of being home he felt, no. This was a strange pain of not killing. He had a constant urge for battle, like a tingling feeling under the skin. Snow was pleased that he felt no pain as he transformed. This meant that when he hunted he could use his natural weapons instead of having to use his fists. It made it a whole lot easier. Snow slowly walked out from his temporary home. As he walked out his body began to change. His structure changed to one of a natural predator. Not a human. Red replaced the tinge of yellow in his hair and the borders gained a bloody hue. His rounded ears began filled with red fur that looked like it was on fire. His feet and hands became claws which was also covered in fur. Though his hands still were that of a hybrids. The sharp teeth in his mouth elongated though it was just a tad. A bushy but long tail sprouted from his tailbone, and waved in the air. As if it was pleased or excited. The slits in his eyes became small and looked very ferocious. The bloody waves in his eyes became alive and sloshed around, It was eyes you could drown in, it was just that you would feel that there was a risk that your neck would be cut. Even with a small body Snow looked like a monster. He didn¡¯t look at all light a beastkin, more like a Demonic beast that had learned to walk. Snow looked in the direction of his target. He was the prey, it would be overestimating his abilities if he had the nerve to call ¡®it¡¯ his prey. Snow strolled elegantly from his ¡®tree¡¯ while observing and smelling his surroundings, he wanted to be alone and not get ambushed while he fought. Snow now realised that he had made a crucial mistake; he had not covered spoils, he had forgotten that other predators also had an amazing sense of smell. The bloody odor of gushing red blood filled the air around the area. Snow nearly face palmed. To others this would be disgusting and most would puke. Snow however whiffed in the odor like it was fine wine. And to him fresh blood told a story like any good wine would. Snow¡¯s eyes moved over the area where he though his opponent would be. He took a stance, though this stance was very different from the one he usually took when he was equipped with a sword. His legs were placed in different directions giving him an ability to rapidly dodge or roll. His hands were in front of his body with the fingers spread out. He showed his claws in which crimson lightning was rolling. Snow would spare no Qi on this fight. This was a fight were he couldn¡¯t hold back. He knew this would be a fight to the death. He would have to fight with everything he had. Amazingly, he didn¡¯t fall to his instincts. He wanted to tear his opponent to shreds, but he kept a calm head, the most optimal conditions for a fight. A berserker might be great for a prolonged battle, but a knight with the right defense could outlast even the most crazed of berserkers. Snow¡¯s eyes were locked on a location where his nose had picked up the strongest odor. Snow could see a wolf lying in a lush bush, he couldn¡¯t see the beast but he could determine it¡¯s origin because of smell. The only thing he could see was some grayish white eyes shining coldly. This would be a great predator in the forest. usually these beasts were king in the outer section, but that was only because they moved in large packs and hunted together. However, this beast was alone. Snow moved slowly towards the bush, he didn¡¯t want the beast to have the opening. Snow had learned from his training with the Art of the Draw, that sometimes the battle was decided right from the start. That was also why assassination methods were so strong, one strike to kill an opponent would be all it took, and no harm would fall to yourself. This was the so called ¡®Glass Sword¡¯ [A/N: Glass cannon if you know what i mean] The sword would splinter with a single hit, but would also be devastating for the enemy. The wolf sensed that it had lost the element of surprise and moved out of the bush slowly. Snow could see the looks of the beast when it appeared, a majestic black colored ¡°Ulv¡±. Grim had told him Ulv was the name of these kinds of beasts, this was an upper Tier - 1 demonic beast. Snow saw no reason to name it differently. Snow and the Ulv now stood before each other, both ready for battle. Snow had learned to infuse a bit of his magical element into his Qi. Though it only allowed his attacks to have the bonus of the elements and not directly provide more damage or give status effects such as paralysation from lightning or other similar effects. As Snow had the Lightning affinity it gave him speed, But what it also gave him was the very profound and mysterious blood drain effect. This was because it was Crimson lightning. This effect would be great as a source of nutrient in prolonged battles. But totally useless in a short fight. But one didn¡¯t work without the other, sadly. Snow poured all the temporary Qi he could muster into his claws, the Crimson lightning went into a frenzy. His claws now shined completely red with cross patterns of crackling lightning. The Ulv also prepared it¡¯s attack, but the attribute was unknown to Snow as he just didn¡¯t have the information. Snow decided to move first. He sprang into battle with his claws first. usually it would be best to wait things out and test your opponent, but this was like a jungle. One hit could decide all, And Snow didn¡¯t really have a measure of defence. The Ulv reacted immediately and went in for a bite aiming directly at his throat. Snow saw this immediately and changed his approach, It was so much easier to change his attacks when using the Claws or as he liked to call it The Art of the Ferocious. The Art of the Draw held precise movements with the sword, while his claws relied on quickly changing approaches to counter his opponents. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Both of them had advantages and drawbacks but the Art of the Ferocious was clearly the best for the situation. Snow dodged the bite from the Ulv by a very narrow margin, the beast was incredibly quick and it sent shivers down his spine. However, it only fueled his lust for battle and his thirst and bloodlust skyrocketed. The colors in Snow¡¯s eyes swirled like a whirlpool, it looked as if he had lost his mind. However, he was still in control, just very frenzied. Snow had dodged the bite with a roll, this left him no opening for a counter attack. Though he did gain some distance for a quick charge. The Ulv trying to reorient itself towards Snow. However, Snow had already charged in again. Snow brought up both of his arms and swiped the right side of the Ulv. The Ulv howled in pain as it failed it dodge the blow completely. It wasn¡¯t a fatal wound, but it would be limited in movements. But the victor hadn¡¯t been decided just yet. The Ulv slashed in the air aiming at Snow. Snow didn¡¯t see anything but he sensed that he had to move quickly. Snow went into a flying roll and just barely dodged a slash which left deep patterns in a tree behind him. Snow confirmed his suspicion. The Ulv didn¡¯t have a magical element but it could imbue it¡¯s claws with a variety of Sword Qi. It could shoot slashes of Qi out, but without the devastating effects of the magical elements. Snow wasn¡¯t able to replicate that feat yet, but he still held a smile on his face. This would greatly held with his cultivation. He had to experience Sword Qi as much as possible, and what better way than to observe a creature who could use it instinctively. These were the primal basics of Sword Qi. Snow recovered from his roll, but the Ulv had already moved extremely close to him. He felt a searing pain as the Ulv left deep bite marks in his right shoulder. It wasn¡¯t fatal, but his wounds were definitely not better than the Ulv itself. Snow managed to rip into the Ulv with his sharp claws, before it retreated and gained some ground. Snow looked at his right shoulder, this was the most serious wound he had ever gotten. The pain was near unbearable. But he persevered, he would have to face much worse in the future. Snow took his stance again, thought this time he was hunched over slightly. He sprinted towards the Ulv, The Ulv tried to dodge. But Snow had provided his legs with temporary Qi and this gave him an edge. Snow swiped at the Ulv with his claws, and he was successful in hitting the Beast''s face. A stream of blood gushed out of the Ulv¡¯s head. It shrieked in pain as it¡¯s right eyeball was ripped in half. The Ulv moved in for a reckless and crazed attack, but was met with a slight dodge from Snow. He could easily dodge a creature who was enraged. The attacks would be basic and just aimed at his throat. This left him various options for either dodging or counter attacking. Snow gathered a large amount of temporary Qi in his legs before hitting the Ulv in the stomach, the stomach wasn¡¯t well protected from blunt attacks and it hunched over. That left a large opening for Snow, he gathered the remaining of his temporary Qi and used it for a precise and deadly killing blow. The blow was fatal for the Ulv. His attack had aimed directly at the main artery at the neck. Blood gushed out like a river. Snow fell to his knees was being covered in blood. He truly deserved the name Red Snow. With his body and transformation intact he began to feast on his prey. His animalistic instincts went wild and he just flayed and ripped the red meat directly from the hot body with his sharp teeth. He drank the blood to his heart''s content. Though Snow regretted having to spend an entire week''s worth of Qi on a single fight. He still enjoyed being challenged. He was also slightly fearful when he thought about what would have happened if the Beast had come just an hour later. He would have been dead. A 30% increase in speed is amazing. Without it he wouldn¡¯t have had a chance. Still Snow was grateful that he had sharp enough weapons to actually be able to cut the tough creature. Even if it didn¡¯t have the strongest defense in the forest, it¡¯s fur and skin still provided fairly decent protection. With the wooden sword he wouldn¡¯t have a chance. He also thought back on the amazing effects the lightning attribute had, had on his attacks. He wouldn¡¯t have been able to counterattack if he didn¡¯t have that amazing affinity. While he was consuming the blood of his spoils he felt something change in him. It was like he gained something from drinking this blood, he didn¡¯t gain it when he drank the blood of creatures that were on the same level as him, but this Ulv had higher basic stats than him. He felt like he gained a fragmented knowledge of Primal Qi Manipulation, This was the ability to imbue and project Qi in a manner similar to Sword Qi projection. Though he felt that Primal Qi Manipulation focused more on the Qi itself instead of the magical element, whereas the Sword Qi projection focused on the overlay of magic elements. Snow didn¡¯t really know the details right now as his knowledge was incomplete and fragmented, maybe he would gain more knowledge as he drank more blood from stronger creatures? He also didn¡¯t posses real Sword Qi yet, so something was better than nothing. After he had done feasting he decided to fix his problem with his spoils. He thought of something, could he just hide it with dirt? If he could dig it down, he could at least limit the odor which seeped through. Snow went to work even if he was still covered in blood. For some reason his bloodlust hadn¡¯t faded completely, though he felt that he could transform back. This was not a good sign, he had to shut the golden gate in his mind. The gate would always open when he transformed and always close when he transformed back. But this time it was different. The gate didn¡¯t close completely. In the time he had worked on his ¡®storage¡¯ of spoils he had regained a small amount of Qi. He was quite desperate so he thought that he might be able to close the gate with Qi. Snow moved some Qi to his gate in the mind. He tried to imbue the gate with his temporary Qi. But when the two made contact something unexpected happened. The gate closed shut, but Snow also felt that it limited his Mana storage capacity but a very small amount. With a deep sigh Snow speculated that he had to train his mana storage capacity to combat his ever increasing bloodlust. But this was fine as well, it would at least prepare him if he wanted to try mage training in the future. Snow was still covered in blood and he decided to wash it off. He couldn¡¯t go around being ¡®bait¡¯ for predators, otherwise what was the point of covering the spoils with dirt? Snow badly needed rest now [A/N: Like me!] as he had been up for a whole day hunting. And then having a dramatic and dangerous battle just before his relaxing time, where he would cultivate. Fortunately, he lived just beside a fairly large lake. Which didn¡¯t seem to hold dangerous beasts in the shallow waters. Snow was thankful for that. Snow got in the water, he had already transformed back when the gate closed in his mind. He got himself cleaned up before climbing back into his dead tree. He closed his eyes as he thought of the events and how he would move forward. Chapter: 12 - Recovery and progress A slight timeskip, i''ve got to get Snow older soon =D More action next chapter! H.F. --- A very important part of surviving in the a jungle environment is simply efficiency and being careful. This however wasn¡¯t easy when Snow was tasked with killing increasingly more powerful foes. Snow had survived the battle with the Ulv, he had gained the Primal Qi manipulation, but the price was a horrifying wound to his shoulder. This wound wouldn¡¯t just disappear in the blink of an eye. This wound would restrict his movements for a while. He had to recover his strength and try to heal his wounds. Snow had gotten more wounds though none of them were as serious as the wound to his shoulder. He sighed and grimaced in pain as he rubbed some plant paste on it. The smell was extremely bad, but Snow had quickly learned that the sweet scent of the plants were usually the poisonous. Those that smelled like trash or poison were usually the medicinal plants which were healthy for the body. Snow had gathered a few of these plants and just rubbed some of them on his open wound. The pain was near unbearable as the plants began to diffuse into the blood veins and burn the wound. Snow tried to lay as still as possible while the healing process was undergoing. It was extremely difficult as the pain never ceased. Snow frowned as he thought of the Qi he had spent. It was an entire week¡¯s worth of Qi to just be wasted for minimal benefits. He would have rather used it to unravel mana, and then reach the next Tier. or simply going the normal and more efficient path and using the Qi to increase his natural strength. Snow was still Tier - 1 in Mana unraveling, but he was close to reaching the next layer. He just needed enough mana. Qi gained from unraveling mana could be used instead of mana to unravel Mana. Though this process was highly inefficient, which was why he needed about an entire week¡¯s worth of Qi. But his natural mana capacity was simply too low to be able to store the required mana. This might be confusing, but it was basically to use an inferior quality material in greater sizes to achieve the same results as a finer material in lesser sizes. Qi wasn¡¯t inferior it just wasn''t the best to unravel mana. Qi proved much better at enhancing muscles and improve nearly all physical elements. Mana itself could also infuse limbs with power, and some mages used this process. This however was also very inefficient and required an extremely high level of comprehension and concentration. As mana was way more difficult to move and control than Qi. Snow was waiting patiently for his wounds to close, when a shadow began to wobble inside his dead tree. Even if he felt pain, he still got up and took a weak stance. He just didn¡¯t have the energy for fighting right now. But a familiar face exited the shadows; Grim appeared and went over to Snow. Snow was delighted and lowered his stance, he was quite happy to see Grim. Though he was mostly alone at the orphanage, he still enjoyed to have people around him. He also slightly missed someone to have a conversation with. Honestly, he was quite bored. He liked hunting, but he couldn¡¯t hunt all the time as preparation was necessary at his level, and he had to recover from every battle. He also had to train his stance and increase his cultivation. But he spent most of his time recovering from battle. Grim began speaking as he analysed Snow¡¯s wounds ¡°I¡¯ve brought a few things for you...¡± Grim dropped some items on the ground. He had dropped a leather covered Tome, a Small iron short sword, and kit for maintaining his sword. Snow had never held a real iron sword before, but he was excited. But what interested him the most was probably the tome. Snow had learned to read a long time ago, his grandfather''s room were filled with books. Though most of these books contained basic knowledge, it still helped him in starting to learn different languages. Strangely, most of the books were about stratagems and basic knowledge about warfare in general. Snow had read most of the books, so he had gained a very tactical mindset. It might also be a factor to why he was so disciplined and mature. Snow made a deep bow to Grim as he picked up the items. He wore a bright smile on his face, though he grimaced slightly as his shoulder wound opened. He didn¡¯t want to appear weak in front of his master so he tried to suppress the pain. Grim went over to Snow and told him a few words ¡°I won¡¯t help you with these wounds, you will have to survive on your own. These items are basic gear for a beginner adventurer and the tome will help you with increasing your pathetically small mana storage.¡± Snow smiled again, he knew that these wounds had been his fault and carelessness. He would have to improve his reflexes in the future. Snow picked up the Short sword, which actually was just a little longer than a normal dagger, the overall size had been reduced so he could wield it. Normal weapons were simply too big for the not even 5 year old. He made a few swings to get a feel of the swords balance and power. The swords shape was a straight edge which went into a point in the middle. The sword had double edges which connected at the middle point. This weapon would be excellent for slashing at short distances and stabbing with the incredibly sharp point. The sword was well balanced and the quality seemed pretty excellent. He could feel that this sword shared many similarities with his old wooden sword, but that this sword was more focused on stabbing and slashing that striking with blunt force. This meant that he had to focus on Agility instead of Strength. he could use the Art of the Draw but he had to make the strikes different. Luckily a scabbard followed with the Iron sword. Snow picked up and inspected the repairing kit. inside were two stones, and a piece of simple linen cloth. An instruction manual followed which Snow read carefully. Repairing stone = Red stone: The stone is used for repairing small damages. Grind the chipped edges against for repairs. Sharpening stone = Yellow stone: Used for sharpening the sword, overuse can limit the sword durability. Grind the sword edges against the flat surface of the stone. Cleaning cloth: Clean your sword from bloodstain. Cloth can contain a huge amount of liquid. Snow was really happy with the unexpected gift. He hadn¡¯t thought about the fact that he had to maintain his sword. Of course you could apply a rune on the sword to gain the same effects but this was a low price sword. It probably couldn¡¯t contain too complex runes, and the draw of mana would always be a negative side effect. When a user of an enchanted or rune engraved sword is wearing it. The user will have to spend a low amount of mana to maintain the efficiency of the runes. An item can exist without the user supplying mana, but the rune simply couldn¡¯t display 100% of it¡¯s power then. Snow¡¯s necklace was a good example, the rune he had on his necklace had a Tier - 1 protection spell. Or at least that is what he was told by Grim, this rune would required an extremely small amount of mana. But it could ¡®survive¡¯ without him wearing it for a while. The last item and the one he looked forward to the most was the tome. On the front stood big bright letters ¡°Introduction to basic magic¡± Snow began to sweat when thought of the price of this book. Books were not cheap, even if his grandfather had many precious books. His grandfather had still taught him the value of these precious sources of knowledge. Some books of course were cheaper than others. Many required a huge sum because of the information contained. Others just had a high production cost. Books were handwritten and copied. This was a long process and required skilled workers. Pictures and diagrams were nasty to replicate. Snow himself who enjoyed drawing and he knew the difficulty in replicating a painting or a drawing. Snow brought the tome to his nose and took a deep breath. He could smell that the leather seemed to come from a low tier demonic beast and that the pages were made from basic paper. Paper was a valued product, it required mana to manufacture. Thus making it somewhat expensive. Snow opened the book, he had entirely forgotten Grim who just stood with a smile on it¡¯s face. Grim walked away without distracting Snow. Snow seemed to be totally immersed in his new book and Grim didn¡¯t want to distract him. Grim disappeared the way he entered, it slightly shaked it¡¯s head before leaving. Snow was reading the first line of the tome. Prologue: Magic is a profound nature of law. Whatever you do never stop cultivating and you will reach the top. Remember the simplest of solutions is likely to be the best. Don¡¯t over think magic. Snow raised an eyebrow as he read the Prologue of the tome. He liked the message, but couldn¡¯t quite comprehend the message of the ¡®simplest of solutions is likely to be the best.¡¯ He thought it was something closely related to magic, and just kept the message in his mind. Snow flipped the page. The first thing he saw was the fairly normal looking title, it was simple but it worked ¡°Introduction to Mana¡± He continued reading Mana is the energy of this world, as a being you will absorb mana all the time. Mana is crucial for using magic, in fact Magic cannot exist without mana. Mana is highly profound and is hard to comprehend, but a person nearly always has a magical element, this element is just one section or different part of mana, this however is easier to comprehend as a Magical element is simpler than Mana. Fighters use mana for unraveling and revealing the amounts of energy stored in it. This is called unraveling mana. This is not a process that we mages use, we want Mana instead of the energy called Qi. Our mana is stored in something called Mana Storage, this storage is located in the brain of a being. In humans it is located in our brains, but for the higher tiers of Demonic beasts it tend to be stored in a Crystal in their brains. This is called a Beast Crystal. As we grow older our storage capacity for mana grows bigger, the amount of expansion is different from being to being though. We can force the Storage Capacity to expand though. This is called forced expansion and a very special technique is required for this process. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. We are mages and we hurl spells. Spells are words or maneuvers (Hand Signs etc.) that are correctly put together to program mana or the beings magical element into forming a specific object. This is how a fireball is formed for example. Each cast of a spell will drain a user mana and it will need a long time to recover. There exist ways to increase the regeneration of a user''s mana. Meditation can increase a user''s ability to regenerate mana, but the price is mobility and concentration. A higher tier of meditation follows with a higher comprehension of the user magical element. Other ways exist as potions, foods, or simply the legendary enchanted items which also regenerate mana. Magic is a profound concept and the following pages explains how to achieve feats such as casting spells and cultivate storage capacity for mana. A bead of sweat dropped from Snow¡¯s forehead as he comprehended the information. He was glad he could finally begin to increase his mana storage capacity. Though he wondered why he wasn¡¯t taught about that before. Snow continued reading for a while more. He had read about all the parts which were necessary for Tier - 1 Mage. Though he wasn¡¯t that rank yet, as he didn¡¯t have the experience to cast the spells. Snow had looked for information about special attributes but wasn¡¯t able to find anything, it wasn¡¯t even mentioned in the book. Snow had learned a few lightning spells, these were the ones he focused on. He had learned some of these spells but they seemed incredibly weak. He had learned spells such as lightning bolt and chain lightning. These spells might seem to be identical but they were very different. Lightning bolt was more of compressing Lightning and shooting it of as a mass of lightning, while Chain lightning was giving the lightning a path of mana to travel on. This made it possible to hit different targets and, or use mana for a longer time. Snow began to chant a few lines from the book. When he progressed through the mantra, he could see lightning appear before him. It wasn¡¯t a very big ball of lightning, but it still seemed incredibly bright. He shoot the ball of as he finished the chant, the ball of lightning crackled as it flew through the air. Though it did seem to get smaller as it moved away from him. It would seem as if worked on the same principal as Sword Qi projection, when infusing it with a magical element. Snow quickly found out that spells would really work for his fighting style, it would simply take too long to cast in battle, and as an opener he could deal more damage with a sneak attack. He was slightly down as he quite like spells and magic. But then he thought of the method for expanding his magical storage capacity. He quickly skipped to the page on which stood ¡®forced mana storage expansion¡¯. On the page stood a description of what it was and how it was achieved. Forced expansion as I would like to call it, is a way to increase the Capacity of the mana a body is able to store. This is one of the most important cultivation methods for a mage. The method doesn¡¯t change upon rising in Tiers. Though the speed of expansion can be upgraded. Forced expansion works like this, you simply expel all the mana of your body, The body will feel pain and exhaustion, but every time you expel all the mana in your body, the storage will increase by a bit. The way this method is upgraded is simply to have spells that can clean your mana storage the best. I¡¯ve included a spell on this page that is of fairly high rank. But you will have to be cautious. The first time you use these kinds of spells, your natural expansion of your mana storage will be halved. This means that you will have to use this method simply to keep up. But that is not a problem as long as you cultivate regularly, in fact you will leave them behind in the dust. Snow read the rest with glee. He was quite happy even if it would put a temporary stop to his unraveling of Qi. He could rapidly increase his capacity for mana. Snow tested the spell out, if was just a few lines. But, quickly after that he felt an amazing exhaustion overwhelm his body. It was like all the energy had been kicked out of his body. Snow sat down and took a meditative position. He had read the section about meditation before the expansion part. Meditation was incredibly simple, he just had to sit down and focus on his environment, though the more details he could sense the more mana he could gather. This was also how the meditation would increase in rank. Snow felt his emptied mana storage beginning to fill up slowly, he sighed when he looked at the progress. The mana took forever to increase. He had been sitting still for about an hour before his mana had filled up completely, but he only felt a faint increase in storage. This would take a long time for it to be worth it. --- Snow was turning 5 years old. He had been in the forest for quite a few months already. His looks were very different from when he just came here, his white hair had grown a bit, and his height had increased somewhat, but the most recognizable trait was probably his eyes and the cloths he wore. Snow had learned to skin in the time that had passed, this was because his old clothes was made of wool and was weaved. This meant that it wasn¡¯t very durable and provided next to nothing as protection. Snow had been a fearsome hunter, and he had hunted many dangerous demonic beasts, one of these beasts held particularly tough but light leather. Snow seen the opportunity and skinned it with his Iron short sword. He had learned to sharpen stone and had made different tools from them. This included a small needle. He had used his old clothes which were made up of wool as strings for binding the leather together. He had crafted a basic leather armor. Though the material was from a upper Tier - 1 Predator it was still a fine armor. Snow¡¯s eyes hadn¡¯t changed in colors or anything rather it seemed to show that he had gained wisdom. Snow had become very experienced with the various monsters of the forest. However, a very important change was that he didn¡¯t use his ¡®Red Snow¡¯ form to kill monsters, no he simply used the Iron short sword. He had learned, that not everything was about speed. Yes, speed was important but dodging and countering was crucial for his fighting style. He could easily take down low Tier - 1 Demonic beasts with just his iron short sword. This was possible because of his remarkable increase in cultivation. For the first few months he had focused primarily on increasing his Mana Storage Capacity with the forced expansion method. This left him not much mana to spare for Mana unraveling. But he had, had the time to train his stances and he had achieved a Rank up in the Art of the Draw. He still wasn¡¯t able to use Sword Qi, but he could connect his strikes flawlessly. He was now a Tier - 4 Art of the Draw user. He could probably have increased his cultivation more if he had a weapon that was appropriate for the Art of the Draw. However, he had learned to integrate the Short Sword into his stance. Snow¡¯s Mana Storage had increased by a very large margin, after the first few months. after which he had decided to try and increase his Mana unraveling and Qi manipulation. He had been able to increase his Mana unraveling to Tier - 3 and Qi manipulation to Tier - 2. Though the Qi manipulation only helped him gain more efficiency when using Qi. Mana unraveling on the other hand had increased by Two Tiers. This gave him a lot more Qi, but also purer Qi. With tough training he had been able to infuse his muscles and increase his natural strength by a great deal. This meant that he no longer needed to use temporary Qi for fighting against the Strongest predators of the outer and middle section of the forest. He was advancing quicker than Grim had planned. Though Snow still needed to kill a lot of beasts. He had only filled about half of the beasts of outer and middle layer with checkmarks in his chart. Snow sighed, he didn¡¯t get challenged as often as he had been in the start. Now, it was only once in awhile when he hunted that he would have a serious fight. He didn¡¯t sustain as many injuries as he had in the past. But he was still filled with scars. His shoulder had healed a long time ago, but a brutal scar was still visible. This was also a factor for how careful and experienced he had gotten. Snow thought briefly about it: He had wanted to enter the inner section of the forest for a while now. He really wasn¡¯t challenged anymore, It was not that he didn¡¯t enjoy the mindless slaughter. But he was bored with just cultivation and wanted to bet his life again. The tingling feeling of him being in his normal form had also gotten stronger, he needed to fight something stronger and soon, otherwise he would simply go mad. He longed to be in his ¡®Red Snow¡¯ form. Snow had gotten control over his Transformation, the problem was that he had to starve himself for a week to exit the form without killing something strong. Snow had tried multiple times to enter the form without killing anything. The problem was the longer he didn¡¯t fight anything, the stronger his bloodlust would become. At some point he would basicly just be an enraged monster longing for blood. Snow had decided to move to the inner section of the forest. He would come back in the future and kill the rest of the demonic beasts. He wondered what challenges he would face in there? --- Grim sighed, it hadn¡¯t expected Snow to be able to comprehend and cultivate so diligently. It might need to make a backup plan for challenging Snow. One of it¡¯s purposes for sending Snow to this forest was for him to get older. But if he completed it too fast he wouldn¡¯t necessarily get that much older. Grim grinned as it thought about letting Snow enter the Central part of the forest.