《Curo [Hiatus]》


 Prologue: Pickpocketed the wrong man

    Prologue: Pickpocketed the wrong man


    In a certain back alley of a certain slum, there was a 7 year old boy, his hair was snow white, although dirtied from sleeping on the ground.  He was very skinny and wearing ragged clothes. Currently his breathing was very ragged.  His name is Curo.


    That was the name given to him by the old beggars that took care of him since he was a baby. He was an abandoned child. He was born with snow white hair and blood red pupils. His meridians were also weaker than average, so his parents abandoned him shortly after birth.


    The beggars took him in and raised him. When he was 5, the beggars died due to having been an eyesore to a noble, who was just passing by and in a foul mood. Curo was left alone in this world. He soon started relying on his small stature to pickpocket and steal from the stall. Today was the same kind of day as always for him but he picked the wrong man to pickpocket. He saw a man who was in the later stages of his life and decided to make him his target today but to his misfortune, he was caught in the act.


    Getting caught didn''t happen often but it did occasionally and usually those people didn''t chase him far after he ran. This old man was different, he had been on the run for atleast an hour but every time he thought he was in the clear, the old man would pop out of nowhere, forcing him to run again.  Curo was out of strength already and was sitting in the back alley with his back against the wall. "Oho, are you finally out of energy? The young thieves now a days sure can run fast and long." The man said with a smile, mockery however was evident in his tone.


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    Curo grit his teeth and stood up with his back straight, waiting for this to end. He knew that sooner or later when he gets caught, he would die. He made up his mind long ago to die while standing. "Hoo, are you still thinking of running or did you give up and decide to beg for your life?" The man said in a sarcastic voice. It had been a long time since someone tried to steal from him and such a young boy was a first for him. He wanted to see, how far could this little boy go. Curo looked the man straight in the eyes and said, "I''d rather die on my feet than live my life on my knees, so if you want to kill me, do it."  The man was startled, he had never expected to hear such an answer from a boy like him. Interest flashed in his eyes and he made his move. All Curo saw was a blur and as he felt his conciousness starting to slip away.


    "Now you have died, when you wake up you will be born a new." That was the last thing Curo heard before he completely lost consciousness.

 Chapter 1: Failed escape

    Chapter 1: Failed escape


    When Curo''s conciousness started coming back to him, he didn''t dare to move. He slowly opened his eyes and quietly took a good look at his surroundings. When he did he was shocked to find that he was currently lying on soft bed, in a room that seemed to be quite expensive.


    The room was quite big and had a big soft bed, at one side was a big bookshelf, filled with all varieties of books but since no one ever taught Curo how to read, those books didn''t matter to him. There was also a simple desk and chair. The side of the room that led to outside, just had a paper door. The side that led to inside the building was a finely crafted wooden door. Curo had never been to a room that looked this expensive. "Where am I and what am I doing here?" These were the only thoughts that ran across his mind. He soon collected himself and started to think how to escape, "Whatever I''m doing here, it can''t be good."


    In his mind, he was a street rat. No matter how you look at it, he shouldn''t be here and it would be wise to get out of here before anyone noticed that he had woken up. Since Curo had lived on the streets alone for the past two years, he didn''t trust anyone. He could smile and talk to someone in a happy face but he was always on guard, ready to run at a moments notice.


    Since he was alone in the room, he quietly got out of bed, it was then that he noticed his body had been cleaned, his wounds dressed and he was wearing brand new linen clothes, a white T-shirt and white knee length pants. Seeing this, Curo was perplexed, he didn''t know how to react to this.


    "Whatever their motives behind doing this is, it can''t be anything good." He started quietly moving to the paper door that led outside, he figured at worst case scenario he could climb and jump the wall. Although he had never learned any techniques, his nimbleness and swiftness were one of the few things he was proud of. The building complex was built in a Chinese style, that was more used in the southern climates than the city he was in.


    Just as he opened the wooden sliding door, the finely carved wooden door quietly creeped open. The person who walked in through the door was around 16-17 and looked like a normal servant girl. In her hands was a basin with water and some towels. She also had a bag, inside which were various bandages and ointments.When she entered the room, and saw Curo sliding open the wooden door like a thief, she was startled and was starting to open her mouth to ask if he felt well enough to move already. Just as she wanted to ask that, she was shocked at what happened next.


    All she could hear was , " Ohh, shit" before Curo slammed the door open  and bolted out. She just stood there, she couldn''t understand what was going on. It was no surprise as to no one knew that the day before Curo had been living on the streets. She stood there for a second, trying to process what had just happened, and quickly put down the basin and bag. She ran into the hallway and shouted towards the guards that were stationed at the end of the hall, "Quick, go tell Clan Master that the boy he brought back has waken up and also that he is currently running away."


    When they heard that, the guards exchanged a confused glance and quickly one of the two went to inform the Clan Master while the other started running toward the servant girl. The guards had also seen the injuries on Curos body and knew that, if you didn''t want to cripple your future, it would be for the best to stay put. If you started moving around, you would only make the injuries worse.


    The guard and the servant girl started chasing after Curo. At the same time Curo had reached a dead end. The wall was 5 meter''s high so there wasn''t any ways to directly jump on it for Curo, it was also a bit too high for high for him to run up. He started running alongside the wall in hopes of reaching a tree that he could use to jump from. When he finally reached the tree, he realized that the servant girl and now a guard were chasing after him. He immediately jumped on the top of the wall and he saw the the whole bulding complex was quite big. With an annoyed face he quickly started running on top of the wall to reach the end. The guard seeing him running on the wall immediately grit his teeth and told the servant girl, "You follow him on the wall and make sure he dosen''t hurt himself anymore than he already has, I will go and inform the other guards to catch him when he passes them."


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    All the guards here were practitioners. He was quite amazed that the young boy could run so fast and so steadily on top of such a wall. The servant girl immediately nodded and jumped on the wall to chase after him. Her cultivation level wasn''t high but in theory, she should be able to overpower him in both speed and endurance. Since it was in the middle of the night, most of the people, except the guards on duty, were sleeping.


    Curo kept running on the wall turning along side it to reach a place where he could finally exit this damn place. When he finally saw that the wall was going to end, he instantly felt happy. The servant girl chasing after him, was astonished. She could barely keep up with a boy half her age and she was also starting to run out of breath.


    Curo saw that there was a 10 meters to the ground at the end of the wall, he grit his teeth and jumped. He was trying to jump far enough to get a hold of a tree branch that was a few meters away. When he jumped, the servant girls face paled. She knew exactly where they had reached and how high the top of the wall, they were running on, was there. She was cursing inside, "Is this kid insane, as a person who hasn''t practised Qi techniques he intends to jumps that? With his already existing injuries, it would be lucky if he survived the jump." She started revolving her Qi, to get a small speed boost to catch him, when suddenly a voice echoed out.


    "Well, well, well. You truly are a lively little fellow, aren''t ya? You should have been asleep for a few more hours but still, the first thing you tried to do was to run away from here." As the voice faded, the servant girl felt a huge gale passing by that nearly knocked her off the wall. When she stabilized herself, she saw that the Clan Master was currently standing at the end of the wall and he had caught Curo mid jump. She finally relaxed and cupped her hand to the man, "This servant greets the Clan Master." The man only nodded and gestured her to rest before looking at Curo, who was being held as a sack beneath his shoulder. "You can''t stay put for even 10 minutes without scaring the daylights out of me, can you? Now then, you don''t have to run away anymore or anything of the sorts. The days of living on the streets and surviving on your own are over little fellow."


    When the old man had said that, the servant girl finally realized why Curoi had acted the way he did. He was from the streets and suddenly waking up in a mansion like this would make anyone want to run away, when they don''t know how they got here. Curo had a bitter face on, Not only did he fail to escape, he was caught by the same man, he tried to steal from before, again. Curo didn''t know what the mans objective was but he was certain that it wasn''t anything good for him. He stopped struggling when he realized he couldn''t escape his grip.


    "Why should I trust you? I doubt that a mighty Clan Master like you would take pity on a street rat like me and take me in just out of pity. I don''t need someones charity. I have survived on my own on the streets until now and I can survive from now." Curo said in a cold tone. His eyes didn''t belong to someone his age.


    The Clan Master just sighed, "As I said, you don''t have to live on the streets anymore. Come, I''ll explain everything to you now and you will see, this isn''t charity and is quite beneficial to you too." As he had said that, he started walking towards the main hall, while still holding Curo like a sack, so he couldn''t run away.

 Chapter 2: Reasons

    A heads up to anyone who thinks they are writing this story: If you start saying I am writing this wrong, then by all means, write a better story and don''t read mine. If you point out typos, that is something I would be happy about.


    Enjoy


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    Chapter 2: Reasons


    As Curo was "escorted" to the main hall, he had resigned himself. The whole way there, he was cursing his own luck for choosing the wrong man to pickpocket. While he was being carried like a ragdoll to the main hall, all the guards looked at him with an amused gaze. The sight was bizarre to say the least. A man, who is old enough to be his grandfather, is dragging Curo along like he had just gotten into big trouble. When they reached the main hall, Curo was slightly surprised.


    The hall was extremely spacious and had a long table in the middle of the room. There were twelve seats on either side of the table and only one at the end. "Seems like this is the place where the clan meetings take place. Just what have I gotten myself into...." Curo was deep in thought. He had no idea, just who exactly was this old man. Curo became more and more puzzled by it. The more he thought about it, the more he realized, that this place was out of his league. As a person, who has lived on the streets barely scraping by each day, his self esteem was pretty low but his willpower and determination was extremely high. He didn''t have a particular goal in life but if he were to name one, it would be to meet his parents and ask, why they abandoned him like that. The man took out a bit of rope and tied one end to Curos hand and the other to his.


    Seeing Curo''s puzzlement, the man smiled and said, " This is an insurance that you don''t bolt before I tell you who I am and why I picked you up." Curo calmed down and understood from his previous experience dealing with the man, that running from him is something he could not succeed in, no matter how many times he tried.  "I''ll at least listen to your reason but you can''t expect me to be docile and obediently follow your orders. I''ve said it before and I''ll say it again. I''d rather die on my feet than live my life on my knees." When the man saw the determination in Curo?s eyes, he was satisfied. "His eyes hold determination, pride and coldness that exceeds any "young master" of a clan I have seen in my life. Too bad that he doesn''t trust anyone in this world anymore." While thinking to himself the old man sighed in his heart. He knew that to get Curo inherit his Clan would be an extremely difficult task.


    "Anyways, now that you can''t run away anymore, lets start with introductions, shall we? My name is Jack Shadow, I''m the current Clan Master for the Shadow clan. We are one of the 4 General branches that answer directly to his Majesty. Our clan deals with assassinations, delivering vital documents, intelligence and well everything you could do from the shadows." Jack started talking in a relaxed tone, he was in no rush and actually wanted to make a good relationship with Curo.


    He knew that Curo would not trust him right off the bat, so he gave a general introduction to who he was and where Curo currently was. However, when Curo heard who the man really was, his face immediately paled. Even he had heard of the 4 Generals and the Special Operations department was the most powerful and also most mysterious one of them all. He immediately realized, just how big of a mistake he had made by trying to steal from him. Actually, currently being there was nothing short of a miracle. Seeing Curo suddenly become so timid, Jack could only barely hold back his laughter, before he continued, "Who might you be, my little friend, and why are you living on the streets?"


    "My name is Curo and as for the reason I''m living on the streets is because I was abandoned as an infant for being born with snow white hair and red pupils. I was brought up by a pair of certain beggars, who picked me up." Curo started talking, in a small voice. He might not trust anyone but he wasn''t stupid, the situation he was currently in left him no lee way to act arrogant or prideful. Seeing Curo in his current situation, Jack was perplexed. The sudden change in attitude was something even he didn''t expect.


    "Now that we know each others names, we can get down to the reason I picked you up in the first place." He decided that it was better to stop beating around the bush and get straight to the main point. Curo was also intrested in why he picked him up. Usually in those kinds of scenarios, the pickpocketer would have either his hands cut off or he would get killed. Seeing Curo intrested, he started narrating, "Don''t get me wrong, it''s not that I took pity on you and decided to pick you up out of the kindness of my heart. The reason I picked you was that I want you to succeed me as the Clan Master." When Curo heard that, his world was turned upside down, in his head only one thought could be heard, "Is this a joke? Is he bored or sadistic enough to find entertainment in getting a child''s hopes up and then crushing them ?"


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Since he had lived on the streets all his life, his thought process was the same as people twice his age. Before he could open his mouth to question Jack, the latter continued, "I actually came to that town, to find you. You see, my son died 15 years ago, protecting the current Emperor. He died before he could carry on my bloodline. My son had the same body constitution as you, it is called the Phantom Body. A person born with this body constitution is very rare and they always have red pupils and snow white hair. The people born with Phantom body, have heightened senses and their body is extremely nimble, they also have a clearer mind, they pick up techniques twice as fast as anyone else. They also don''t feel pain the same way as others. An injury, that would make someone scream in pain, would only make them turn their face ugly. As to how I discovered you, an elder was on a mission in that town and saw you running around, when he returned he reported it to me. When I heard of your bodily constitution, I immediately came to find you. I never expected you to try and pickpocket me during the first hour I arrived in town though."


    By the end, he was almost laughing, as he felt it was meant to be, that he found and took him in. Curo however was dumbstruck, he didn''t know what to make out of this situation. He felt that all of this was too good to be real, there had to be some catch here.


    "What''s the catch in all of this. I refuse to believe that you would pick up and make a total stranger, a street rat at that, your successor that easily." Curo said with a serious face, this was like a joke to him. Where in the world would you find something like this happening. It was like a dream but in the end, it stays as a dream.


    "You have lived on the streets relying on yourself for far to long. You don''t trust anyone anymore. When good fortune falls into your lap, you decide to throw it back." Jack said in somewhat of a angry voice. This kind of a opportunity was something a lot of people would dream of but couldn''t achieve but Curo just spat on this opportunity.


    "Where in the world would you find a person that was willing to belive this in a heartbeat? Fortune as good as this always comes with a price and I don''t remember doing anything good enough to earn karmic luck as good as this." As Curo rebutted him, Jack suddenly realized why Curo didn''t believe him. Curo had lived on the streets all his life and stole from people just to get by, when suddenly a person, who he had tried to steal from, declares that he wants to make him his successor to one of the strongest powers in the Empire. It was like a fairy tale but fairy tales were just fictional stories. Even if, something like this would happen, the chances of it happening in the real world were ridiculously low. "Well, honestly speaking, this scenario played out a lot better in my head." Jack said in resigned tone, he felt ashamed of believing that Curo would accept in a heartbeat.


    "How about this, you stay here for about 3 months and I''ll teach you how to cultivate and fight. If you still believe that all I said was pure bullshit to have you entertain me, then you can leave. However, if you believe that what I said was true, I hope you will accept this old man''s request of becoming the young master of the clan and succeeding me in the future."  Jack said in a determined tone, towards the end he even lowered his head. Curo was perplexed about what to do. He could see that what Jack had said was most likely true and even that he realized just how ridiculous his plan, of having Curo succeed him by being told so out of the blue, was. He also realized, that no one in their sane mind would just up and accept it with open arms, so he decided to show his good intentions by having the three month period.


    Seeing Jacks sincerity, Curo said, "Alright I accept but if the three month period is up and I want to leave, please let me do so." Jack completely understood what Curo thought and promised, "I promise on my dignity as the Clan Master of the Shadow clan that you will be able to leave if you want after the three month period is up."

 Chapter 3: A restless night and a busy morning

    Third chapter of the day. If you spot any spelling mistakes or when a sentence ends halfway, let me know so i can fix it.


    Enjoy


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    Chapter 3: A restless night and a busy morning


    Jack escorted Curo out. When they exited the door, Jack gestured for the servant girl to come closer before saying, "This is Kana, she will be your personal servant. If you have any questions or need something, ask her, if she can''t provide it, then at least she would let me know, so I can see if I can help you out with it." Curo took a closer look at Kana because even though he had seen her before, he didn''t quite take the time to take a good look.


    He realized that she was actually quite good looking. She was medium height, had long dark hair, emerald green eyes and her body was developed where it mattered. "Hello, I am Kana and will be in your service from now on."  She cupped her hands respectfully but was a little confused about the situation. She didn''t know what they talked about inside so she had no clue about what was going on. Curo on the other hand, lowered his head and apologized, "My name is Curo and I am sorry about giving you such a hard time before." Although Curo hadn''t accepted this whole "successor" thing, he understood that he had practically no freedom of choice in the matter. From the style of the buildings, he could see that this place was far away from his home town and if he started running around randomly, he would most likely end up dead in the surrounding areas.


    Even more so, this was the home base of the Shadow clan, the chances of him making out of here alive on his own were practically non existent unless a God took pity on him and decided to teleport him to a safe location.  He decided to stay here for the three months and then he would probably leave. In his opinion, even if the Clan Master wanted to make him his successor, it doesn''t mean that the rest of the clan would agree to it. Even more so that he was an outsider and abandoned child at that. They had agreed that tomorrow Curo would meet the clan elders and Curo was about 99% certain that the elders would object to this facade. Even in his eyes, this seemed like a joke.


    "Would you escort Curo back to his room?" Jack asked in a polite tone and Kana nodded before cupping her hands respectfully. "Alright, I''ll see you in the morning little fellow." Jack said while yawning, he started heading back to his own room. Kana had realized, that Curo is an important guest and respectfully started leading the way to the room he would stay at. When they reached inside the room, Kana said in a respectful voice, "We have arrived, if you need something do not hesitate to ask me and I will do my best to accomplish what you ask for, no matter what time it is." Curo looked at her with an intrested gaze, "When will you be sleeping that I could ask at anytime?"


    Hearing that Kana was surprised, when she thought back to what she had just said, she realized, that she had basically claimed that she would not be sleeping at all and she would do anything he asked. Her face started turning red from embarrassment but before she could say anything to defend herself, Curo laughed, "Don''t worry I won''t be running away anymore and neither would I be asking you to do something for me in the middle of the night." Hearing that Kana was grateful about him not misunderstanding her and hurriedly said, "I thank the little master."


    "Stop with the master, I am nothing more but a street rat, if you want to call me something, call me Curo." Curo said in a joking tone, during his days in the city he had learned to act very well. Even now, even though he didn''t trust any of them and was always on guard, he didn''t show it. They chatted for a few minutes and then Curo decided to go to sleep. When Kana heard that, she immediately started changing his bandages. When that was done, Kana decided to take her leave.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.    "I will come to wake you up in the morning. Good Night." She said that as she closed the door. When Curo saw that the door was closed, he waited for a couple of minutes before taking the blanket and going outside to the garden. As a person who had never slept on a bed, he felt weird sleeping on a bed, so much that he couldn''t even fall asleep. He climbed onto a tree branch that was 2 meters thick and decided to sleep there. He wrapped the blanket around himself to keep warm and fell into deep sleep.


    He woke up to a huge fuzz going on, he heard a lot of people running around and searching for something. When Curo opened his eyes, he was still half asleep. The sun had already risen and it was around 10AM. He jumped down from the tree and went inside the room to return the blanket he borrowed from inside. Since he wasn''t accustomed to such things, he felt really out of place there.


    When he slid the door open, he saw that Kana was on her knees apologizing to Jack who looked really pissed off. Curo walked in and asked, "What''s all the fuzz about?" When Jack and Kana heard the voice, they immediately looked at him with relief written on their faces. Jack immediately asked, "Where did you go, I honestly thought you bolted again." Curo pointed at the tree he was sleeping on and said with a slightly shocked face.


    "I was sleeping on the branch there, I have never slept on a bed, so it felt really weird for me. I couldn''t fall asleep so I decided to go and sleep there." When Kana and Jack heard him, they were both kind of embaressed, Jack had initiated a clan wide search for him but none of them had looked into the courtyard, where you could have seen him just by glancing around.


    "Well, now that you are here, you should change your clothes and let''s go eat breakfast." "Yea, okey." Kana brought him the clothes  that were prepeared for him and Curo changed into them, when everyone had left the room. The size fit perfectly, this left him puzzled.


    When he went outside the door, to where Kana and Jack were waiting, he asked "May I ask, whose clothes are these? They fit me too perfectly." "Jack just gave a wry smile and said in a sadder tone, "Those are my sons old clothes, he was about your height in your age and the room is also his old room."


    Curo didn''t know what to say to that. He didn''t know how old his son was before he had died but he guessed he couldn''t be older than 15 or so.  He didn''t have time to dwell on it any longer as Jack and Kana ushered him into the dining room to eat a late breakfast.


    Curo had never seen so many different types of food in his life, let alone eat them. He just sat there for a while and just stared at it. Jack was perplexed, he just said in a smiling face, "Eat while you can, we''ve got a long day ahead of us and you will need the strength." Since Curo had never eaten properly he grabbed the food with his hands and started eating it like that, Kana wanted to scold him but Jack gestured her not to. He understood from their talk yesterday, that he didn''t know how to read, write, eat properly and so on.


    He wasn''t going to ask him to become a noble man in a night. Things like these were best done slowly over time. When they had finished eating, Kana cleaned Curo up and they headed to the main hall. When they arrived at the door, Kana backed away, it wasn''t her place to join them in there even though she was Curo''s personal servant.


    When Curo entered the room, he instantly felt extremely oppressive pressure. He saw that all of the 24 chairs were filled with men who had greing hair. They all sported various visible scars and had an extremely fierce aura. They all eyed the little Curo, who just came in, with cold eyes. Curo had shrunk half his usual size from the intimidation.

 Chapter 4: Meeting the elders

    Chapter 4 of the day. Thanks to everyone who reads.


    Enjoy


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    Chapter 4: Meeting the elders


    When Curo felt the oppressive aura, he instantly shrunk. Jack had a smile on his face and said in a joking tone, "Well, well, now, don''t scare the little guy witless just yet."He started moving towards his seat at the end of the table, when he saw that Curo was frozen stiff, where he stood. He was still 7 and having 24 men, who had an extremely fierce aura, all staring at him, had scared him practically witless.


    No matter how much courage he possessed, he didn''t dare to make a move without anyone giving him permission to do so. Seeing that, all the Elders understood and withdrew their oppressive auras. Jack gestured Curo to come and stand besides him. Curo timidly scampered to stand besides Jack, he lacked the courage to even make a sound. As he quietly stood next to Jack, every ones gazes had a hint of nostalgia mixed in as the observed Curo. In him, they saw the Clan Master''s son.


    After a few minutes of observing and silence, Jack finally broke the silence, "I believe everyone knows, why we are currently sitting here like this, so I won''t speak much nonsense and will introduce to you, who I want to succeed me." He drew a breath as he saw everyone nod to him, he continued, "This is Curo, he''s 7 years old. He is an orphan who has been living on the streets of Nailu, basically since he was born. He has the Phantom body and has agreed to be here for three months before making a decision, whether he wants to succeed me or not."


    When the last sentence echoed out, everyone got into a uproar. An option to become the successor of one of the four biggest powers in the Empire is a chance most men dream of and he is currently deciding whether to take it or not. It sounded like joke to them and all of them were pissed at it. One of the older men, that was sitting closer to Jack opened his mouth and said in a clear loud voice, "Do you mind giving us an explanation about his three month trial period? To be honest, if you can''t give me a clear explanation on this, I can''t say I will support him even if he decides to succeed you."


    Everyone else had the same thought and were looking at Jack with eyes that demanded and explanation. Just as Jack was about to open his mouth to answer him, the man interrupted him, "I don''t want an answer from you Clan Master, I want an answer from the little lad standing besides you." Every ones eyes changed their directions from Jack to Curo. Jack could only sigh and gestured to Curo to give the explanation.


    Curo grit his teeth and said with a determined tone, "If you were to put yourselves in my shoes, would you blindly accept it? I have been living on the streets for as long as I could remember, I only survived thanks to picpocketing and stealing. I have been looked at like I was a monster and been shunned by the general community for all my life. Suddenly a man, who I tried to pickpocket from, drags me to a mansion to say that he wants me to succeed him as a person, who would become one of the four most powerful people in the Empire. This just seems too unreal for me, as luck like this dosen''t just fall into a person lap. As for the three month trial period, it was suggested by Jack, when he also realized how absurd it was for me to believe him in a heartbeat."


    When everyone heard the reason, they understood why the situation was like it was. When they started imagining how they would act in that kind of a situation, they all arrived at the same conclusion. They would call it bullshit and try to leave, Just as they started wondering why Curo hadn''t run already someone said, "So that''s what all the commotion was about during the night. The little fellow tried to run away when he found himself in this situation."


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.    As the words fell, everyone started to feel pity for the little fellow, he had his world thrown upside down in a day. The elder who had asked for the explanation had an apologetic face on when he said, "Hearing your reasoning, makes me feel admiration towards you, you had your world turned upside down in a day and you have managed to stay so calm."


    "Well, I realized that running away would be pointless and would most likely get me killed before i reached civilization."  Curo said with a straight face, when everyone heard him though, they were astonished. One of the elders managed to asked in weird voice through a hollow smile, "May I ask, what do you mean by that?"  Curo looked at him for a second and answered nonchalantly, "Well, first of all, I have no damn idea where this place is. All I know is that it''s very far south from my home town. Second of all, I doubt that the clan that deals with assassination would let a small child waltz on out of here unharmed and let everyone know where this place is located at and third, I have tried to run away from this guy twice already and I''ve had zero success as all of you can see. Now you guys tell me, what are my chances of running away from him, when I have failed so miserably twice already?"


    As curo said the third point, he pointed at Jack. Everyone had mixed feelings about that answer and finally one of the elders muttered in a low voice, "Are you really just 7 years old, from your thought process I would say it is on par with people twice your age." When everyone heard that, they nodded. A 7 year old child could reach the three points after weighing all his options and obstacles. Heck, even some of the people that were three times his age could not think things through as well as him, at least not in such a short time frame.


    "Well, I''ve been living on the streets whole my life, if I couldn''t at least do this much, I would have died long ago." When Curo said that with a bitter smile, everyone understood, just how much he had been through in his short life. A single thought ran through  the Elders heads simultaneously, "He has been through a lot and has been forced to grow up faster than his peers." They all understood that at the time his peers were still playing around, he was already fighting for his survival on the streets. They now also understood, that this little kid, didn''t trust anyone and had made it clear with his second point that, these may be his final three months in his life and he had accepted it.


    All of the Elders now looked at Curo with the same respect in their eyes as Jack did. One of the Elders, that was sitting closest to Jack, opened his mouth and said in a determined tone, "If you decide to succeed Jack after the three month period, I will support you with everything that I''ve got." As the sentence fell all the Elders started saying the same thing. Curo kind of felt that this hadn''t gone according to the scenario he had in his head at all. All of these guys decided to support him instead of slandering him and pushing him away.


    He felt a weird feeling he had never felt before. When he saw the determined looks in their eyes, he saw that they were not lying. He immediately felt a warm feeling of happiness spreading through him and his face broke into an innocent smile. When the Elders saw the smile, they felt as though all their worries had faded and understood one thing: If Curo decided to succeed the Shadow clan, then the clan would be in safe hands.


    They immediately started going over the details on who is free to teach him what. They nearly broke out into a fight, seeing that Curo could only laugh. He felt that after the three month period was up, he would most likely stay and succeed Jack.

 Chapter 5: Decision after three months

    Chapter 1 of the day.


    Enjoy


    <hr />


    Chapter 5: Decision after three months


    In the blink of an eye, three months had passed, and Curo had learned a lot about the Shadow clan and the world. He lived in the Lanun Empire and the Empire is located on a massive island. In this world if people want to get strong, they cultivate their body in a Qi Technique. Since a person can only cultivate in one technique in their whole lives, it had to be chosen carefully because there would be no way back.


    It was also because of this that the Elders, who were teaching Curo how to eat properly, write, read, did not shove a mediocre Qi Technique in Curo''s hands as a "token of goodwill". They instead focused more on training his body and teaching him how to fight. The progress Curo made in these three months, left even the Elders, who had seen geniuses of all shapes and sizes, speechless. He progressed and picked everything up in an astonishing pace. He could eat like a noble in half an hour, it took him a week to start reading fluently and two weeks to start writing legibly.


    His progress in fighting however, was even more astonishing, he could hold his own against the Elder who was teaching him how to fight. Even though the Elder wasn''t using any of his techniques and was fighting him without using any of his Qi, the gap between experience and body strength was still huge. Curo however made up for it with nimbleness and attacking from tricky and unexpected angles. There were a few times when he almost won a sparring match but the Elder used Qi to dodge him and ensured his victory.


    During these three months, he had also traveled outside the Clan Masters mansion. When he did, he was always greeted as if he had been living here for his entire life. In the beginning, it made Curo feel awkward but he soon got used to it. He had learned that even though this town wasn''t big, it only had about 10 000 people living here in total, the town had a unique sense of unity.


    There were no children on the streets here because if someones parents died, others took the child in and raised the child as if he/she was their own. This made Curo feel respect towards the people here. He had also learned that the Shadow clan lived by a simple saying, "Blood is thicker than water. Family will never turn their back to you."


    Usually, clans would not hesitate to sell off their clan masters most beautiful daughter if it meant, they could live a few days longer. But the Shadow clan was different, they would fight to the bitter end if someone were to force, even the lowest ranking woman of their clan, into a forced marriage or just as concubine or something along the lines. This unity made Curo see this world in a better light, he realized that not all the clans only care about themselves but some clans care more about their clan members than their face.


    Curo had already made up his mind about succeeding Jack, when he saw that this clan would accept it without raising a huge fuzz about it.  His mindset had changed a lot from the time he was brought here. He felt a sense of belonging here, he couldn''t explain it himself but it was more like a gut feeling.


    Currently you could see a small child with snow white hair fighting against an elder who had a smile on his face. No matter what style of attack the boy used, the elder dodged with ease. "Your movements have improved by leaps and bounds from the time we started. I can''t even spar against you in a relaxed manner anymore." The elder sighed, since before he could practically cultivate as he sparred against Curo but now he had to pay attention because even the slightest mistake won''t escape Curo''s eyes. It would be an idiotic thought to think that he wouldn''t capitalize on that mistake. The servants all around were ready to treat Curo at a moments notice should he get injured.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.    Injuries walk hand in hand with training because if he didn''t experience pain, how would he face against someone, who wounds him in a life and death match.


    During the time Curo and the Elder were sparring in the courtyard, Jack could be seen in the shadow of a building, leaning against it''s wall. A silver haired woman, who looked around the same age as him, walked next to him. She clearly had an irritated face on as she started questioning Jack, "Ivar, why did you lie to him? You told him our son died 15 years ago but he only died 7 years ago. You saw the necklace as well and there is no doubt that it is "his". He is his son, why have you not told him that yet? Why keep him in the dark?"


    Jack only  took in a deep breath before saying with resolute eyes, "Even if I had told him that he was our grandchild before, he wouldn''t have believed me. Would you believe someone, when they suddenly pop out and say they are your grandparents? And besides, today is the day he makes his decision and I promised him, that whatever he chooses, he would always have my support. If he decides to leave, I will give him some weapons and money and have some of our clansmen guard him from the shadows." When the woman heard him, she stared at Jack and asked, "If he stays, will you then tell him that he truly is our grandchild?"


    "If he truly decides to stay, then I will naturally tell him everything about him, his parents, us and the flame all of our bloodline hold." As Jack said that with a hollow smile, he opened his clenched fist and a black flame manifested on his palm. It danced around as if it were alive.


    Hearing what Jack had just said, the lady could only grit her teeth and accept it. With that, she turned around and left the same way she came from, seeing that, Jack could only let out a wry smile. The day passed like any other and it was time for Curo to decide.


    In the evening, he went to the hall again, where he could see the 24 Elders sitting at the table and Jack sitting at the head of the table. When Curo arrived, uncertainty was evident in every ones eyes, they eagerly waited to hear, what his decision was. Curo nonchalantly walked to the end of the table, exactly the opposite of where Jack was sitting. As Curo stood there, at the end of the table, Jack opened his mouth, "Now then, three months have passed and it is time to let us all know of your decision." As Jack finished his sentence, everyone leaned closer and had their gazes fixed on Curo. On Curo''s faces a light smile formed and he said, "My decision is to stay here. During the three months that I have been here, everyone treated me like I was family. As a person, who has never trusted anyone, this place has made me feel safe for the first time in my life."


    When everyone heard that, they felt relief. They had grown attached to the little guy in the past three months and everyone had decided that even if he decided to not succeed Jack, they would make sure that he wouldn''t end up as a street rat again. Everyone looked at Curo with kind eyes and congratulated him on becoming the young master of the clan. They also started working out a more detailed schedule of training for Curo, it took around half an hour to have the old plan improved. When everything was decided upon, everyone started quietly leaving their seats and exiting the door.


    When Curo was about to leave Jack opened his mouth, "Curo, mind staying for a while? I have someone I want you to meet and also some things to tell you."


    When the Elders heard that, they immediately understood, what they were going to talk about and one of the Elders went to call the Jacks wife. When Jacks wife arrived the Elders all exited the room and closed the door, only the three of them were left in the room.

 Chapter 6: The truth

    Chapter 2 of the day. Maybe I''ll get chapter 3 out aswell. If you like the story, drop a comment down below.


    Enjoy.


    <hr />


    Chapter 6: The truth


    When there was only three of them left in the room, Curo looked a little fidgety. He didn''t know who the lady was, so he didn''t know how to act around her. After a few minutes of silence, Jack pulled one of the chairs out and gestured Curo to sit down. The arrangements made it so, that Jack was sitting in the middle, with his wife on his right hand and Curo at his left. After Curo sat down, Jack took a deep breath and started, "Curo, how much do you know about the necklace you are wearing?"


    He pointed at a necklace Curo had had all his life, It was the only thing his parents had given him and his only clue to them. The chain was made of steel and was extremely sturdy. Hanging from it was a little pitch black metal plate. Curo took the necklace out from under his clothes and looked at it before saying, "I only know that this is the one thing my parents left for me. You could also say that this is the only thing they ever gave me."


    When Jack and his wife heard that, their hearts tightened. They knew exactly what that necklace was and who it came from. Jack slowly opened his mouth and said, "Since you have decided to stay here, it is time for you to hear the truth." Jack did a small pause to see that he had Curo''s full attention before continuing, "You are our grandchild and that necklace was given to you by my son aka your father, right after you were born. Due to various circumstances they had to leave you at Nailu, in the hands of a group of beggars so that you wouldn''t suffer the same fate as them."


    When Curo heard that, his whole world collapsed in an instant. He knew that Jack wasn''t the kind of a person to just joke around with things like these. "You are my grandparents? What happened to my parents then, where are they, how are they doing?" He instantly started bombarding them with questions, he was still a 7-year old, who had never seen his parents.


    When he heard from Jack that he was his grandfather, he tried to where his parents were. Before Jack could open his mouth, his wife stood up and said in a gentle voice, "Come child, I''ll take you to where your parents are sleeping." Curo looked at the woman and asked in a small voice, "What is your name?" The woman smiled and said, "My name is Kertu." She walked to Curo and took his hand. Jack could only stay silent for now, as he knew that Kertu was a lot better at things like these, than he ever was. He silently followed them as Kertu led Curo by his hand and soon they reached the back side of the mansion.


    They left via the gate and after walking for 5 minutes, they reached a small hill. On the hill was cherry blossom tree that was currently in full bloom. Under the tree were two gravestones. Kertu let go of Curo''s hand and lightly shoved him towards the gravestones, from where he read the names of the people buried there. "Enn Tuul and Lauren Tuul." He mumbled to himself in a soft voice as his fingers ran across the name engravings.


    "These are your parents gravestones. We only reached them when your father was already dead and your mother was drawing her last breath. When we asked, where you were, your mother could only say that they left you in Nailu. As our clansmen transported their bodies here, most of our clan was searching for you in Nailu. We searched every place we could think of but we never found you. After giving up hope for it, we left some of our clansmen in the city to keep looking around and inform us immediately, should any clue to your whereabouts surface. After seven years, we finally found a solid lead and Ivar went to look for you himself and it seemed that heavens had not abandoned us yet, for him to find you." Kertu told him the reason he was abandoned on the streets and why they hadn''t picked him up sooner.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Curos head however was blank, the more he heard, the more he started to regret his decision of staying here. He would have lived better if he had never known, what really happened to his parents. With vacant eyes he asked, "Who killed them and why?" Hearing this Jack finally opened his mouth again and said, "They were killed because of a flame that they held. This flame is also inside you." Curo looked at Jack with eyes that didn''t seem to understand anything he had just said. Jack saw the look of confusion in his eyes and opened his palm, where a black flame manifested itself.


    "This is a Yang Flame, it is also known as an Asura Flame. Only people with special bodies can harbor it, the flame has to be in the body since birth. The Yang flame can burn everything and is extremely tyrannical." As Jack said that Kertu walked closer to Curo and knelt down. She opened her palm and a white flame came to life on top of it. "This is a Yin Flame also known as the Nuwa Flame. It has the same criteria as the Asura Flame. This flame however, has the ability to heal and can bring a person back to his peak condition even from his last breath."


    As Curo registered what they just said and showed, he asked, "And I also have this Flame in my body?" Jack slowly nodded and said, "Yes, you do. A person born from the union between a Yin Flame holder and a Yang Flame holder is always born with the Yang flame. When you start cultivating in a technique and reach the first star of Student level, you will be able to awaken the Flame, at that time you will know, where that flame comes from and what it''s purpose is." Jack walked closer to Curo and also sat down about a meter from him.


    "Why did my parents have to die because of this flame, weren''t others supposed to not handle the flame?" Curo asked in a sad voice, now that he knew why his parents had died, he regretted ever finding anything out. He finally realized, why people said curiosity killed that cat and that ignorance is a blizz. Jacks face turned ugly and he said, "Everyone knows, that these flames will kill everyone who isn''t their "original owner" so to speak but there are always exceptions. Some people think that they have what it takes to tame the flame because they are a bit better talented than others, others just do it out of greed. They even developed special formations to extract the flame from ones body and transfer it to another person."


    When Curo heard that, he immediately felt rage welling up inside him. He thought to himself, "Just because of greed or arrogance, they killed people who had something they didn''t and ruined my life as well due to it."Seeing Curo''s eyes filled with rage, Jack said in a cold tone, "The people who killed your parents are all dead, I personally made sure of that and in this world, no one dares to start a fight with our clan. Every now and then, some jackasses from other planes come to wreak havoc but they soon meet their end, before managing to do anything to an Asura or Nuwa Flame holder." He tried to quell Curos anger and assure him, that no one would dare to pull off that stunt again.


    Since the sun had already set, Kertu decided that it was for the best that they all turned in for the night. Curo could only blankly nod, his mind was currently occupied trying to process what Jack and Kertu had told him today. When they reached the mansion, Jack separated from them, heading out to the capital. He would return in a week, so until then, Kertu was in charge of telling him what he wanted to know.


    When Curo reached his room, Kertu didn''t leave immediately. She sat next to Curo, until he fell asleep before going off to her own bed.

 Chapter 7: Finding a way

    This is the guaranteed chapter of the day, should I have more time, I will write a sponsored one aswell. This is osomewhat of a short and "soul seeking" chapter.


    Enjoy


    <hr />


    Chapter 7: Finding a way


    When Kana came to wake Curo up, she didn''t realize what was going on. Curo had a dull and lifeless look, he was still processing what he had learned yesterday. His one goal in life, thanks to which he found the determination to survive, had been to find his parents and find out the reason why they abandoned him.


    Now he knew the situation behind it, so now he felt that he had lost an important goal in life as he was trying to accept the death of his parents. Kana hadn''t seen such a dispirited Curo before, so she didn''t know what to do or what to say. She sat down next to him and decided to ask him anyways, "Did something happen, did you see a bad dream that you are out of spirits?¡± Curo didn''t answer her, he just looked outside. Kana was at her wits end, seeing Curo like this but before she could say anything more, the door that led to the mansion opened and Kertu walked in.


    When she did, Kana hurried to her feet and respectfully cupped her hands and said, ¡°Good morning, Madame.¡± Kertu just smiled to her and looked at Curo, she could see that he was still deep in thought She knew very well, why he was dispirited and asked Curo in a gentle tone, ¡°Good morning little guy, How did your night go?¡± Hearing Kertu''s voice, Curo turned his head to look at her and said with a fake smile, ¡°Great, I slept like a log.¡±


    Seeing this Kertu could only sigh, she knew very well that Curo was lost at the moment. She had learned that Curo''s goal in life until now had been to seek out his parents and ask them, why they abandoned him. She understood very well that Curo had lost his goal and didn''t exactly know what to do from now on.


    ¡°You know, when people are missing their deceased ones and are uncertain on how to proceed in life, they go to the grave of the person they lost and talk to their gravestones, it helps to find closure and a new goal in life.¡± Kertu said with a concerned face, she knew exactly how much that helps relieve the pain of loss.


    A spark lit in Curo''s dull eyes and he looked at Kertu with expectant eyes. ¡°Does that really help?¡± Curo asked in a slightly more cheerful tone, when Kertu saw this, she immediately nodded, ¡°It worked for me and it worked for your grandfather as well.¡± When Kertu had said that Kana was even more confused about what was going on.


    She had never seen Curo and the Madame talk, she didn''t understand that since when did these two have such a good relationship. Curo got out of bed and immediately went to get his outdoor clothes. When Kana and Kertu saw this, they let out a small smile and exited the room. When Curo was done changing clothes, he exited the room. When Kertu saw that Curo had come out, she started leading the way to the dining hall. ¡°Sulking isn''t a good reason to skip breakfast you know.¡± She lightly smiled as she sat down. Curo ate a hearty breakfast and steeled his heart to go to the gravestones.


    As he arrived in front of the gravestones, he sat down looking at them. Kana and Kertu had followed him from the dining hall to here, just as Kana opened her mouth to ask Curo, what he was doing, Kertu put her hand on Kanas shoulder, shook her head and said quietly, ¡°This is something he has to do himself, none of us can help him here. Let''s go back to the mansion.¡± With that Kana and Kertu left Curo there alone.


    As Curo sat there in front of the gravestones, he took a deep breath before starting, ¡°All my life, my goal was to find you two, to ask you why you abandoned me. Yesterday, I learned of the reason I had to live my life on the streets and what happened to you two.¡± He cast his gaze downwards and let out a deep breath. ¡°I always thought that you abandoned me because of my red eyes and white hair but when Jack and Kertu told me, that you left me on the streets so I wouldn''t suffer the same fate or worse as you, I didn''t honestly know, what to think anymore.¡±


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.He directed his gaze upwards to look at the sky as he tried to hold back his tears. Say what you want, he was still a child, who had grown up without his parents and when he finally found out what happened, his world was brutally shattered by the fact that he couldn''t ask anything of them anymore.


    He wept there for a few hours as he kept letting out all the feelings that he had kept under a tight lock and key. Since he was small, his heart had turned colder and colder, leaving only something similar to a doll behind. He never expressed his true emotions, he had always acted in front of others. After he had expended all his tears and unlocked all his emotions, he wanted to make a vow to their graves. He returned to the gate, where there were two guards, he wanted to borrow their knife to take a Blood Vow.


    The Blood Vow was something he had read about in a book. The Blood Vow was a morally very strong vow, it wasn''t like when he broke the vow, he would betray the heavens and something bad would happen to him but it meant that he had betrayed himself. When the guards heard that he wanted to borrow a knife from them, they were at a complete loss.


    They told Curo to wait there as one of them went to call Kertu. When Kertu arrived, she immediately wanted to know why he needed a knife for. She was very frantic, the first thought that popped into her head was, that he wanted to kill himself with it.


    Curo calmly explained to Kertu, exactly why he needed the knife for. When they heard the explanation, everyone present had respect written in their eyes. Kertu however sighed in relief when she heard the explanation and asked for the knife from the guards. Even though she believed Curo, she didn''t dare to let him go out of every ones sights alone with a knife. She accompanied him to the hill and gave him the knife there, a bit farther away you could see Kana running with a bag in which, were bandages and ointments.


    When Kana had arrived, Curo had just cut into his palm, he let the blood drip on his parents graves as he said in a determined tone and resolute eyes, ¡°I vow to never throw away this life, that you protected with your own lives. I also vow to stand strong and protect the family that is still here for me, Aschente.¡±


    He had made up his mind, his goal in life would be from now on to protect the family he still has left and the family he would have some day. When Kertu and Kana heard the pledge, they both had a surprised face on at first but that soon changed into a warm expression.


    ¡°Seems like, he finally found his goal in life.¡± This one thought ran through both Kana''s and Kertu''s mind. They bandaged Curo''s palm and they glanced at Curos eyes, which were now filled with resoluteness. He had finally found a goal in life. Since it was dinner time, they brought Curo back to the mansion, where they ate dinner.


    After the dinner was eaten Curo looked at Kertu with determined eyes and said, ¡°I want to know more about my parents.¡± When Kertu heard that, he was surprised at first but when she saw Curo''s eyes, she understood just how much it meant to him, she took a breath before answering, ¡°Alright, lets go into your courtyard and I will tell you there.¡± After saying so, she stood up and started walking towards Curo''s courtyard.

 Chapter 8: Parents

    This is a guaranteed chapter, as always if you find any mistakes, let me knwo in the comments. (For all of those that read Phabtom Song, this is where the relation between these two stories comes into full understanding if you hadn''t realized already.)


    Enjoy


    <hr />


    Chapter 8: Parents


    When Curo and Kertu reached Curo''s courtyard, they sat down near the big tree on the porch. Kertu didn''t actually know where to start talking, so she asked Curo, ¡°What do you want to know more exactly, what kind of people they were, what their background was or maybe something else?¡±


    Curo thought for a second. To be honest, he wanted to know as much as he could about them. After a brief thought, he said, ¡°I want to know everything you can tell me, how they grew up, what kind of people were they and so on.¡± Kertu sighed when she heard that, ¡°This is going to be a really long story.¡± ¡°Well, I currently have all the time in the world.¡± Curo said with a light smile. However, when Kertu heard that, she let out a small chuckle, ¡°Well then, I can only mostly talk about your father though, since I don''t know much about Lauren''s upbringing.¡±


    She took a breath and started, ¡°You see, when your father was born, he had the same body as you, Phantom Body. This kind of a special body is extremely rare and coupled with the Yang Flame, for some people, he was like a ticking time bomb. If they had allowed him to grow up here, then sooner or later, he could have even earned a more ferocious nickname.¡± She let out a nostalgic smile when she remembered about her son Enn. However, Curo''s interest was piqued and he asked, ¡°He didn''t grow up here and he had a nickname, given by who?¡±


    Kertu just smiled and continued, ¡°He had many nicknames given by a variety of people, the names he was most famous for were however ¡°Phantom¡± and ¡°Heavenly Dragon¡±, as to him growing up...¡± She made a slight pause to collect her thoughts, she was thinking on how to explain it better. After a brief pause she started talking again, ¡°He grew up here until he was 7 years old. However, when he was 7, a group of people who saw him as a future threat, came to this world with a mission to kill him. Since Ivar knew that he couldn''t protect his life by himself, we were forced to alter his appearance and memories before sending him off to another world, where his grandfather could protect him. Not all things go as planned though. A year after he was sent to that world, the clan member who we sent alongside him, died. She was the person who we made Enn''s mother when we altered his memories. When she died, Enn was forcibly enlisted in the army. In that world a war had raged on for dozens of years already, without anyone even knowing who was responsible for the event that triggered the war. In that world was no magic, Qi or Heavenly Beasts. In that world, technology thrived and mankind had done things, that we couldn''t even imagine here.¡±


    Kertu made a brief pause to let it all sink in to Curo. She was actually very surprised that Curo was intently listening and didn''t want to distract her thoughts by talking or asking questions. She let out a gentle smile before continuing, ¡°In that world, Enn was a soldier and after two years of serving in the army, he was admitted to a organization that was very similar to the Shadow clan. There he worked on special operations for five years, the one who relayed the missions between him and the organization was his grandfather Ants. He silently watched over him and protected him but on his 15th birthday something unexpected happened. Care to guess what it was?¡± She asked Curo in a joking tone. Curo could only shake his head, he could not even imagine what heappened next.


    Seeing this Kertu let out a small laugh and said, ¡°He was summoned to another world, filled with magic. There they wanted him to become a ¡°Hero¡± that fought and vanquished the demons that had been dormant for nearly a thousand years. Enn however, didn''t have any motivation to do so, so he left. He became an adventurer and traveled across the continent. When he awakened his Yang Flame, he started searching for your mother, the Yin Flame. When he found her, something that none of could ever imagine happened.¡± Kertu''s face turned quite ugly when she said that. Curo seeing this, wanted to know what happened.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Kertu continued after taking a deep breath, ¡°A God tried to kill him. A few days before Lauren and Enn would set out on their journey a Fallen God tried to kill him. Even though he fought hard against him, he nearly died. He lost his right leg in that incident, he only survived thanks to Ivar and Ants both making there in time but Enn''s injuries were too severe. They had to put him in a artificial coma to even save his life. After making sure that he would survive, Ants decided to take him back to the world of technology since they had three times the chance of successfully saving his life. They also came to an agreement to alter his memories again, they erased everything that had to do with the fight and after that played it like everything about the summoning had been a dream, while he was in a coma.¡±


    She looked at Curo with kind eyes and asked, ¡°Do you have any questions this far?¡± Curo immediately asked her, ¡°Why didn''t mother try to heal him with the Yin Flame? You said it yourself, that the Yin Flame could even bring someone back from the last breath.¡± As he listened to the story, this kept bugging him if Lauren could heal practically every wounds no matter how serious it was, why couldn''t she heal his? Kertu thought that this question was logical and answered honestly, ¡°You see the Yin and Yang Flames are opposites, the only person a Yin Flame holder can''t heal is a Yang Flame holder, since the body will reject the Flame and try to devour it.¡± When Curo heard that, everything fell into place.


    Seeing the understanding look on Curos face, she continued on with the story, ¡°Well, after that, when Enn had made a full recovery, he was brought to this world, where he started training again and took over the Clan. After reigning as the Clan Master for a few years, the group of immortals, who were lusting after the Flames came and you know what happened next.¡± Curo nodded, after that, Curo was born and then he was left on the streets so he wouldn''t suffer the same fate as them. ¡°What about my mother?¡± He asked with expectant eyes, seeing those eyes, Kertu felt like she truly had missed out on a lot from raising a child.


    She thought for a second and said, ¡°I don''t know much about your mother''s origins but I do know her personality and habits, those are the only things I do know.¡± When she had said that, she looked at Curo with a helpless face. Curo however just said, ¡°I don''t mind, tell me what you know.¡± Hearing this Kertu was once again proud of her grandchild and started talking, ¡°She had a gentle personality, she liked traveling and she was a very good artist. She could get along with practically everyone she met, there were a few exceptions though. She would always scold Enn about fighting so much. You see since Enn had a childhood similar to yours, he also didn''t trust anyone and if someone disrespected him, he would ignore once and strike twice. However, those people that treated him with respect, he did the same to them. I remember one time when an arrogant nobles son came to take Lauren as his concubine and couldn''t understand what no meant. Enn told everyone of the Shadow clan to stand down and single handedly killed the 30 plus guards the noble boy had, leaving only him and his escorting elder alive. He then walked up to him, put his blade''s tip on the nobles equipment and said, ¡°You try and touch my wife again and I will cut your balls off and shove them up your ass, are we clear?¡± When everyone heard that they were stunned and their faces were hilarious.¡± As Kertu told Curo this, she broke out laughing and Curo had a weird smile on his face.


    ¡°Well, seems like father was a straightforward person.¡± As Curo thought that, Kertu had collected herself and started talking again, ¡°After that no man tried to ever get your mother as a concubine or a wife again.¡± As Kertu said that, she glanced over the mansion wall, when she realized that they had talked until dawn, she said in a relaxed manner, ¡°Well, seems like the Sun is about to come up, so I''ll take my leave and you should go to sleep. I''ll inform the guards to not let anyone disturb you.¡± She kissed Curo on the forehead and tucked him in, she also told him that if he had any questions, all he needed to do was ask. She left Curo when she was sure that he was asleep.

 Chapter 9: Fathers Legacy

    Well, since i''m feeling better at the moment, I decided to get a chapter done.


    Enjoy.


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    Chapter 9: Father''s Legacy


    When Curo woke up, he didn''t immediately start training or sulking, instead he started clearing his mind. He now had a specific goal he wanted to reach and to reach that, he needed a clear mind or else he would be too muddled to progress towards it. Days flew by and now a week had gone by. Jack had returned the day before and was ¡°brought up-to-date¡± on what had happened in the meantime by Kertu. When Jack heard what Curo had done while he was gone, he could only sigh in praise, ¡°For the love of¡­ Such a young lad, yet he has the determination and heart of person who has practiced for decades.¡±


    He had never seen someone who was so young but had such a clear mind, coupled with a determined heart. ¡°He truly is your son, that''s for sure. Maybe it is time to give him, what you left for him.¡± Jack mumbled to himself, he had made up his mind to give Curo what his father left for him. The things his father left for him were just a few things to aid him in becoming strong, so he could live his own life as he wanted.


    1. The technique he trained in.


    2. A high grade Spacial Ring with some.


    3. A book that explained the Yang Flame.


    Although the Yang Flame was something that only certain people could have, the information on Yang Flame and it''s uses/possibilities was practically zero. Even the people who had the Yang Flame, only knew through trial and error, what they could do with the Yang Flame. Jack went to fetch the Spacial Ring holding the two items and prepared to give it to Curo.


    When he reached the courtyard where Curo was currently sitting at, he saw that the young boy in front of him was currently staring at the sky. He approached Curo and started talking, ¡°Hey little one, it has been a while.¡± Curo only shifted his gaze from the sky to look at Jack, ¡°Ohh, you are back already. How was your trip to the capital?¡± Curo asked in a friendly voice. Jack was at a loss, the attitude of the boy in front of him, had changed quite a lot in the last week. Jack could see that he now had a goal in life, in his eyes was determination. Seeing that, Jack only nodded before continuing, ¡°The trip went fine, listen I''m currently here on another occasion. Here bind this, it is yours now.¡± Jack threw him the Spacial Ring. During the three month ¡°decision time¡±, Curo had learned a lot about the magic treasures of this world. He could understand that this was a high quality Spacial Ring that had 500 cubic meters of space inside. When he bound it, he discovered two things inside, two jade slips, which he extracted out.


    When he took out the two jade slips, Jack said, ¡°One of those jade slips is the cultivation technique used by your Father. It works together extremely well with Phantom Body. The other one, holds the records from your father on how to use the Yang Flame. Even I have to admit that even though the Yang Flame is strong, we know practically nothing about how to use it efficiently.¡± While Jack was giving a description of these two items to Curo, Curo was carefully inspecting them. Jack decided that it would be for the best if he just learned about them on his own. ¡°Well, I won''t disturb you any longer and will leave you to explore the possibilities of the two. Should you need something, don''t be afraid to let us know.¡± Jack reminded Curo before taking his leave.


    Curo sat there just looking at the two jade slips, ¡°So these are the things father left for me. Well, guess it is time to see why the called him the Phantom.¡± As he mused to himself, he pressed the jade slip on his forehead and started pouring the little Qi he could, into it. Before cultivating in a technique, a person could use minimal amounts of Qi but he couldn''t manifest it like someone, who did it in accordance to the technique he trained in. The first jade slip he looked through was the Phantom Song Sutra his father trained in. After looking through the jade slip, a smile formed on Curos face, as he murmured to himself, ¡°No wonder they called him Phantom, this technique, when trained to a high degree, is seriously broken. I wonder, how many cycles father had completed.¡±


    Phantom Song Sutra was broken into three subcategories, when you combined them, you would get an extremely overpowered technique. The only drawback of the technique was that there were no set attack methods, you had to figure them out on your own. However, that left a lot of playing ground on how to develop his strength. He could develop it in a way more suitable for himself.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The body cultivation part was named: Illusion Demon. It was divided into 4 levels:


    1. Refining QI.


    2. Refining the bones.


    3. Refining the flesh.


    4. Refining the skin.


    The main point of this technique was that, every time you complete a cycle, you return to the starting point and start over again. With every completed cycle, you gain a stronger body and increased familiarity and control over your Qi. There were also movement techniques and attacking methods. The movement techniques were also divided into three different techniques.


    1. Shadow step, training in it will leave an after image. Mostly used in dodging the attack of an opponent.


    2. Illusion step, mostly used for escaping, can create afterimages to run in a different direction, the afterimage will have a built in instinct at creation. the number of afterimages depends on the users proficiency.


    3. Phantom step, the user can move at extremely high speed, it can be considered a small distance transportation, range depends on the users proficiency.


    The attacking techniques were the most vague. They mainly described, how to control the weapon with Qi and how to increase it''s speed or sharpness by applying Qi to it. When Curo had finished reading Phantom Song Sutras description, he looked at the other jade slip that contained knowledge on how to use the Yang Flame. ¡°Well, there is currently no point in reading it, since I can''t use the Yang Flame at the moment.¡± He stored the jade slip back into the Spacial Ring and started pondering over the possibilities of Phantom Song Sutra.


    The more he thought about it, the more he started wondering, how in the seven hells did his father die, when he was using this technique. He also started to feel more respect towards the person who had developed this Sutra. The origins of cultivating techniques were usually a mystery. They always seemed to pop out of nowhere, no one knew who made it and how. Usually, the ones who developed techniques, were eccentric old fellows, who wanted to reach the ultimate pinnacle of strength.


    Since Phantom Song Sutra was a blade technique Curo started pondering, ¡°Seems like I need to find a good blade if I want to use this technique.¡± According to the technique''s description, the longer someone used the same blade for this technique, the better he could use the techniques. It was no surprise as the more you use a weapon, the more it starts feeling as a part of ones own body. Curo decided that first thing in the morning he would search for a good blade. He wanted to seriously train in this technique as it was something left to him by his father. He wanted to reach at least the bone refining level before he had to leave to the academy. The academy was a place where people from the ages of 8-16 could go. Jack had told him before that he wanted to send him there so he could learn more about the world, the people and all other things. He would leave for the academy in 3 months and that left him too little time to just run and joke around.


    Since the sun was about to set, Kana came to bring Curo eat dinner. Curo ate ate dinner and told Jack and Kertu about his plans. They both looked with caring eyes as they heard that. Jack promised to find him the best blade there is to go with the Phantom Song Sutra.

 Chapter 10: Finding a blade

    Guaranteed chapter and the font size is messing with me...


    Enjoy


    <hr />


    Chapter 10: Finding a blade


    When morning came, Curo and Jack went to the armoury to pick out a blade for Curo to use with the Phantom Song Sutra. They looked through the armoury but couldn''t find a blade that Curo could use. It was not that there weren''t any good blades but they didn''t feel right for Curo. When selecting a weapon, you had to pick the right one from the start because you started switching between weapons like socks, you couldn''t completely master any of them. When they didn''t find a suitable weapon for him, they exited the armoury, they were quite dispirited though. They decided to go to an auction house in a nearby big town and see if they could find a good weapon there. Jack didn''t rush or curse Curo at all for picking none of the blades in the armoury, he knew better than anyone that a good weapon is what makes the man and Curo needed to find a good weapon for himself.


    They mounted flying Heaven Beasts and flew towards the nearby city of Raule. The flight lasted for 2 hours. When they reached the city they had to dismount outside as flying mounts were not permitted inside. When they reached Raule''s auction house, they sat through the auction but couldn''t find a good blade for him. Jack gave Curo a few thousand gold coins and told him to meet up with him at the front gates of Raule in 6-7 hours. Since it was currently noon, it was the busiest time of the day for the merchants in Rauel.


    Curo kept strolling around town, visiting every weapons shops there is. When he reached a certain shop in the middle regions of Rauel, he had also given up practically all hope for finding the blade, ¡°Finding a good blade requires luck and fate, you can''t find something like that just because you want to.¡± With that in mind he stepped into the next weapons shop.


    The inside of the shop was nice, beautiful wooden floors, the walls were adorned with weapons, next to them their price tags and origin stories. Behind the counter was a teenaged young lady, who was currently completing a transaction for a halberd. Curo just glanced through the blade section. Because there weren''t a lot of people there, everyone were surprised that a little boy of the age of 7 was looking for a weapon like this but everyone guessed that this little boy must be from a powerful clan, to walk around with a Spacial Ring alone at such a young age.


    When Curo was glancing at weapons, his interest was picked by a bit of a peculiar blade. The blade was pitch black, it didn''t have guard separating the blade from the hilt. He looked at the clerk and asked, ¡°Mind if I try this blade out?¡± It was bad manners to just up and grab a weapon on display without acquiring permission first. The people, who were present, praised in their minds, ¡°This young lad has good manners.¡± The clerk was confused for a second before giving permission.


    Curo, having gotten permission now, took the blade from the wall and tested it out. As he slashed the blade, a weak humming sound emerged whenever he did. Everyone''s eyes were now on the young boy with the blade, at an unknown time, a middle aged man had appeared on the doorway that led to the back room. As he looked at Curo, a smile formed on his lips. From the emblem on his clothes, the man knew exactly which clan he was from, he also was an experienced warrior, he could feel the presence of 7 extremely strong people in the shadows. ¡°Seems like this little guy is the new Young Master of the Shadows clan that I have heard so much about.¡± The middle aged man though to himself while sizing up Curo.


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Curo had a smile on his face as he stopped swinging the blade, it was exactly what he had been looking for. He eagerly turned to the clerk and asked, ¡°How much for this blade?¡±, everyone were still dumbstruck about the perfectly executed movements but this sentence brought everyone back to reality. Before the clerk could answer, laughter broke out behind her and the voice said, ¡°For you it is free my little friend. I owe quite a lot to your father and grandfather, it would be blasphemy on my part to ask for money for a single blade after everything those two have done for me.¡± As everyone heard that, they looked at the man and were shocked. The man who was talking, was the owner of this shop.


    Everyone exchanged a glance and looked at the now annoyed youth. ¡°Give me a proper price please, I don''t have a habit of accepting charity or living off the favours done by others.¡±When everyone heard that, the respect towards the little boy grew, if someone asked what the problem with the young generation was these days, they would only get this answer: ¡°They live as though they had done all the deeds of their ancestors.¡± For a young boy to say something like that was extremely rare.


    ¡°Well then, how about you give me 500 Gold coins, the rest is a friendly discount on my part.¡± The man said with a smile, Curo agreed and paid for the blade. Just as he was about to walk to the door to take his leave, the door flew open with a big bang. A snob looking young man with 4 men dressed in expensive armour walked in.


    The youth took a quick glance around and his gaze stopped at Curo, a wicked smile formed on his face as he walked closer to him and said, ¡°Little twerp, I took a fancy to that blade of yours, give it to me now and you can leave with your limbs still working.¡± When Curo and everyone else heard him, they were just speechless, they didn''t know what to say to that. Curo''s eyes turned colder as he asked in a low voice, ¡°And if if I refuse to give my blade to you, are the soldiers or you going to take this blade from me?¡± Everyone could hear the mockery hidden beneath those words, while inside they were thumbs upping Curo on the outside they were a bit panicking, the middle aged man however had a smile on his face as he looked at this turn of events.


    The youth''s face looked ugly as he almost spat venom at Curo, ¡°Of course it is going to be done by the soldiers, who do you think you are to get the son of the City Lord to deal with you personally?¡± When Curo heard that he just shook his head and started walking past the young man. When the soldiers saw that they started to move to block his path, something that none of the people in the shop, except for the owner, thought would happen happened. The moment they started moving to block Curo, a blade appeared on everyone of the soldiers throats. Out of nowhere, 4 people, dressed in ninja clothing and wearing masks had appeared, everyone present recognized them with a glance, they were the Empire''s special ops operatives. Dread was evident in everyone''s eyes as the looked towards Curo who had just reached the door.


    Curo turned back and looked at the youth with a smile and said, ¡°I honestly don''t care who you are if you think that your City Lord''s clan can fight against my Shadow Clan, then I''ll let Gramps know that you guys wanted to fight.¡±


    ¡°No, I didn''t know you were from the prestigious Shadow clan, I am terribly sorry for not recognizing you.¡± The youth said hurriedly with a pale face, he practically fell to his knees when he said that. Curo quickly lost interest and left, he despised presumptuous brats like him the most and he left before he seriously decided to kill the twerp. Everyone in the shop were still shocked at what had just happened.