《Limitless》


 Chapter 1 - Village boy

    "Boo!"


    "Wess you shouldn''t have scared me like that!" Wess''s sister, Lisa, started and immediately scolded Wess.


    Lisa was a beautiful woman. She has many possible suitors, but refuses all of them on the basis that she would only marry someone she loved. She was tall and had long jet black hair. She was also a part of one of the strongest sects, and so whoever was lucky enough to marry her would also have a rise in status.


    "It was just a joke. You took it way too seriously, plus I''m not even going to be able to see you again for 6 months." Pouted Wess


    "You''re the one who decided to become someone who could fight. Hmph!" Snorted his sister with a cold look.


    "Hey that''s not fair. You know I''ve always wanted to live an adventurous life, where it''ll be a battle for survival. I dont wish to be protected, and my friends ridicule me!" Moaned Wess. His eyes had an intense bloodthirsty look, however it would only be visible to the strongest of experts.


    "Fine! But remember not to go too far. You have family that don''t wish for you to die." Said Lisa with a cold look, but a twinge of worry was evident in her eyes.


    "Yeah, yeah, don''t worry. When I get tested I''ll join a strong academy or sect like yours, that also prevents killing." Said Wess a little unhappily.


    Today is the test day and everyone from the village that was equal or under 10 years had to participate in it. You would be tested for your affinity in the elements and then be sent off to a sect or academy that wished to have you. Every kid from the village was ecstatic, including Wess, but he didn''t want to part from his sister. He rarely saw his sister and from now on he could only see her every 6 months. It was too much for Wess who was only 8 and had two family members, his mum and sister.


    "THE TESTERS HAVE ARRIVED!" screamed someone from the village at the top of their lungs. He was panting heavily, and his large scarred hands were on his knees as he was bending over. Excitement was evident on his face and his eyes had a strange twinkle in them.


    "Let''s go then sis." Said Wess excitedly. He jumped from the short wall they were currently sitting on in preparation for the test.


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


    Walking hand in hand Wess and Lisa walked to the centre of the village, where a skinny man wearing a green hat, that had orange feathers sticking out of it, was surrounded by multiple recruiters from academies and sects. There was a huge crowd as almost everyone in the village was participating in this event. In fact everyone had to participate and only few exceptions were allowed.


    "Ah hem!" The skinny man coughed "Let''s start the exam now." With that he started calling out names.


    Soon everyone in the village had been tested, only Wess and a few others hadn''t been tested yet. The audience at this point were roaring because one person had legendary affinity to two elements.


    Every kid would be tested based on what affinity they had to the elements. The natural elements were fire, wind, water, earth, lightning, darkness and light. There were other affinities such as neutral, but these affinities weren''t taught in sects or academies. The only way to learn these affinities was to get a personal master or a scroll/book.


    The only one that could be taught was neutral, but that was only because neutral was when you had no affinity to any specific element. These people would have more balance in their bodies and could learn all the natural elements, so they could be taught normally. However it was common knowledge that these people could not reach their full potential. This added with the fact that you couldn''t lose your virginity, as you would overflow with Yin or Yang energy, was enough to deter people from hoping to get it.


    All affinities were split into 5 tiers. These were godlike, legendary, good, decent and horrible. If you were a ''genius'' then you would have good talent. However these ''geniuses'' were very common, a true genius would have to have at least one legendary talent or have four good talents. From this you could determine that the guy who had two legendary talents was amazingly talented.


    "OH MY GOD!" While Wess was being slightly frantic, the villagers were screaming at each other. They were kissing each other on the cheeks and joy was drawn on their face. Wess looked over and saw......

 Chapter 2 - Another talent?!

    Wess looked over and saw a slightly scruffy scroll. It was short, only the size of someone''s elbow to fingertips. It was glowing and it made Wess slightly dazed. Next to the scroll was a frail eight year old girl. She had long aqua coloured hair and dark blue eyes, her skin was pale white and she looked like a beautiful doll. Her eyes contained great knowledge. This bothered Wess like an itch somewhere where he could not reach.


    When the girl saw Wess she slightly raised her petite eyebrows. Only a few people in this village could notice how intelligent she was, and they were all experts or elderly people who had a lifetime of experiences. A kid should have no idea how smart she was, but then again she herself was a kid. As she thought about it she noticed that Wess was still intensely gazing at her, and turned her crimson face around. Wess was at first confused, but then realised that the way he acted was extremely rude and inappropriate.


    "Well it doesn''t matter, she''ll be my bride anyway!" Wess continued gazing at her and the girl could see him doing it through the corner of her eye. Her face become more crimson until Wess finally looked away from him, though her face did not go back to its usual colour. Everyone from the village assumed her face was red because she was embarrassed from getting these amazing results. They immediately hushed everyone, the scroll slowly flipped open and four letters were burned onto it. Wess wasn''t close enough to see what the results were, but he could tell from the letters that it was something amazing.


    "She has legendary ranking affinities....."


    "How could this be?" The entire audience suddenly started to roar. The results seemed to trigger an earthquake, even the tester was extremely surprised. This was an extremely rare occurrence and would greatly bolster the army¡¯s strength.


    "How could this kid be so talented?" The tester silently pondered on how this occurrence came to be. "This must be because of a legacy or bloodline!" The only way for a child to be this talented was for it to come from an outside influence, or through special genes. Hard work would get you nowhere in this world, you needed some sort of talent.


    A legacy would normally be transmitted by a drop of blood or liquid and would be found in tombs or in training grounds. These were extremely rare and there would generally only be one per country. Legacies would normally come from divine beasts because divine beasts would often come to material realms to battle or train, but it was still possible for it to come from humans. Legacies were believed to have come from bloodlines, and so thought to be weaker than bloodlines.


    Bloodlines would come from higher planes, however how they came to the higher planes were unknown. Bloodlines were fickle things and not much were known about them, except for the fact that it had to be inherited through one''s parents. It was, however, not a 100% chance to get them even if both parents had it. There are about 100 families in this plane with a bloodline and considering how many people there were in this plane, you could tell how few bloodlines were possessed.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    As the tester''s mind processed this information, he suddenly remembered something. His eyes darted towards the crowd and scanned them, looking for anything unusual. However he could not find anything of the sort, not a grass out of place.


    He sorrowfully sighed to himself, if only one legacy was in a country then that meant someone possessed a bloodline. His face expressed sorrow, however he would not give up so easily. He was made to be a tester because his observation skills were amazing, on par with a peak level eight. However his strength hadn''t caught up to him and so he could only look at expressions of people much higher than him, this was useful but not enough to get people who could train their emotions or don''t have any noticeable habits.


    The Polios Army would pay him on all the talents he gathered, but would pay him more for any experts he gathered. This was why he was chosen to do this job. He could find experts.


    The Polios Army would pay him to secretly ship the extremely talented people to him, however they couldn''t let themselves caught and the enemy to have proof of this fact, so they only take one or two from each village. After all the other sects and academies wish for talents as well. This gave the Polios Army its boost in power, as the army lacked in resources, stability and appeal. Most people would not try joining the army as there were often confrontations with other armies or nations.


    The tester, unwilling to accept this fact, started individually scanning every person in the crowd. The audience took it as the tester was looking for a concubine or wife and so some girls would flaunt their beauty, while others would blush. Despite the audience¡¯s interpretation of this act, the village elders took it as he was looking for the parents of the two amazing individuals, and so wanted to explain the truth to the tester.


    "Umm. Sir we wish to tell you that those two outstanding individuals do not have parents. They were abandoned in the village and we''ve never seen any indication of whether or not they''ve seen their parents." The village elders broke the news to the tester.


    Although it did not fulfil its original purpose, it still left the tester heartbroken.


    "Fine, let''s do the other people now." The tester had a hint of anger in his voice, and it was noticed by the village elders. They rushed to complete the remaining tests. "WESS!" The tester called out the last name on the list.


    "Well I guess it''s time."

 Chapter 3 - Getting affinities tested

    Chapter 3 - Getting my affinities tested.


    Wess slowly walked to the stadium, unaware of the surroundings. He didn''t see Lisa''s worried face, nor did he say the scorn written on the tester''s face. The villagers held anticipation for the final test, even though they knew it wouldn''t end as well as the other two results.


    "Place your hand on the crystal ball. Then if you can feel anything around you, push it towards the crystal ball." Wess did what the tester told him to and immediately places his hands onto the ball.


    The moment his hand touched the ball, his eyes involuntarily closed. He didn''t try to open his eyes when this happened and just let himself go with the flow.


    Wess opened his eyes, just to feel dull. This was the feeling of when he woke up in the morning. He then noticed something. There was light, everywhere.


    "Hmm this is weird. This much light isn''t hurting my eyes. Doesn''t it normally do that?" Wess decided not to bother with it, who cared. Magic defied normal reasoning.


    Wess kicked off from his original position and swam through the light, looking for anything  He continuously searched for what seemed like hours and discovered zilch. This made Wess''s face go red from rage and he wildly tried punching the light. This changed nothing and just wasted precious time Wess could be using to continue searching. Wess didn''t care anymore though and sat down in a meditative position, waiting for the time to finish.


    "This test doesn''t matter, even if I get a crap result I''ll just work harder to become awesome!" Wess eyes shone brightly as he imagined his hero from a manga. This hero had been bullied his entire life and was treated horribly, but the hero still pushed through to become the greatest. This was how his sister explained the story to him, however he was told that this hero had no talent, while the hero had the greatest talent of them all. Wess''s sister didn''t want Wess to learn that talent was everything and so changed the story slightly.


    Wess noticed something move inside this strange realm, and sweat started falling down his backside. A sickening scream was heard.


    "Wh-who''s there?" Wess called out to whoever it was but got no reply, instead it got ominously quiet.


    Wess took out a pocket knife he kept within his pocket all times for self-defence. He pointed it, with his trembling arm, to where he thought he heard the sound from. Then behind him he heard the same sound, but it sounded like it came from two separate entities.


    Wess collapsed to his feet and cried loudly, leaving pools of water behind. He was completely defenceless and just wanted the exam to finish already, even his pocket knife had splashed into the water.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    As Wess continuously cried, a creature came towards him. Wess looked through his eyes but could not see a clear figure. It was much too blurry thanks to the crying, but it seemed human-like. This creature was frowning slightly and that frown seemed to contain a great range of emotions, however you could feel that it was short on time so it said only one word and then disappeared. The word was ''Ugize'' and Wess recognized this word, but had no idea where he heard it from or what it meant.


    The world distorted suddenly, causing Wess to piss his pants. The light slowly faded until it seemed like he was looking at space and the stars. Then the world started to crumble, however Wess just stood there looking like an idiot. The world started to reform itself now and it seemed like a bit of clay being moulded.


    "Ewww, he has horrible talent. To think I was thinking of wedding my daughter to him. Disgusting."


    "Yeah I know right, thank god I didn''t try to talk to his family about it."


    Wess woke up to these harsh and cruel words, and had a dull look in his eyes. He was traumatised and these people were adding insult to injury, blood-lust appeared in his eyes and he swore to never forget those words.


    Wess looked to his left to see what he got and found that his piece of paper was extremely crumpled and burnt. He didn''t care about it, talent was talent but a talent could get nowhere without hard work. It didn''t work the same the other way around though.


    "Those eyes, I wonder how that child got them. They are beautiful." The tester looked over at Wess''s dull eyes that had slight disdain and blood-lust in them, and was curious as to how the child got them. He couldn''t have gotten it during the exam as you basically did nothing during the exam except meditating. "Too bad he has horrible talent." As the tester said that, the piece of paper suddenly started glowing and shaking violently. It seemed torn on what the results were, and eventually split itself into two pieces. One half stayed intact and landed in the tester''s hands, while the other was burnt and reduced to ash.


    "Im-impossible! Le-lege-legendary talent to dark!?" When the tester said these results the crowd became wild. Not one, not two but three legendary talents? In their village alone? This was crazy, and the tester became to salivate. Some of the members of the village took of their trousers and started dancing, this was truly a joyous occasion


    "I knew I should have gotten him to become my son-in-law!"


    "Damn! Wess''s mother is too much, we won''t be able to strengthen our bonds with her."


    "Good thing I''m friends with her."


    As Wess looked at this crowd his eyes revealed great arrogance and annoyance. The entire audience could see this and realised that they had contradicted what they previously said. The might of an expert was unfathomable, so to avoid possible conflicts they bowed low and apologised.


    "I''ll spare you 10 years for your life, then all people above 24 years of age will die!" Wess said that stubbornly in his mind and seemed like he wouldn''t change his mind. All of the events today had traumatised him, and distorted his common sense.

 Chapter 4 - Introductions

    Wess was currently sitting inside his cabin. The wind blew across his face, as he looked out of the window to see the pale blue sea. He sighed to himself, and looked around to see if anything could entertain him. He was not a very patient child and was almost always playing back in the village. This sudden change of environment brought on a very negative attitude, shrouding Wess. This was done unconsciously, and looked like pitch black smoke surrounding him.


    This wasn''t noticed by any of the experts on this ship, because it was a very pure emotion. Wess was just sad and angry that he had to leave all his friends, which was natural for someone of his age.


    "Let¡¯s see if I can find anything fun on this ship." Wess walked out of the cabin and started walking around the ship, while the smoke slowly dispersed.


    The ship was adorned with extravagant jewels, and Wess was wearing a plain blue robe. However it was made with the finest silk, and so looked beautiful. It was a gift that even nobles would salivate over, not to mention the ordinary guards protecting the talent children. Thoughts such as robbing the children often came to their minds, only to be crushed by reality.


    "Mmmmm so boring." Wess was walking to the room where everyone would meet and found, to his surprise, someone who felt exactly like him. He listened through the door, curious as to who that was.


    Normally kids would be eager for an adventure, and that was why Wess assumed everyone else was fine with this boredom. Even he was excited, but the trip seemed dull and so he was angry.


    "You''re just a battle freak!""


    "And you''re just an analytical f*ck!"


    When Wess walked into the room, there was utter chaos. The curtains were shredded and on the floor, the chairs were upside-down, and nearly everything was damaged in some way. The only things that were still left unscathed were the seats of the other talents.


    "You guys are disgraceful, as a talent you should show more grace than this. Both strength and strategy are important in a fight. If you fight with just your strength then you won''t be able to make tactics, and so get overwhelmed by someone who has brains. However if you focus on just strategy, then you won''t be able to exploit any weaknesses shown to you throughout the battle." The man who had just spoken up had short purple hair, wore a suit, and had purple pupils. His body looked like a gentleman''s, but he was the most powerful person on this ship.


    Even though this man separated the fight, the two of them looked at each other and it was obvious that they would continue this at a late time, when there was no one to interrupt them.


    The man sighed to himself, but then proceeded to introduce himself. "Hello young talents! I am your official guardian, you can call me Erez. I am at level 8. This is all you need to know about me. If you are confused on why there are so many talented folks here, just know that we had to search over a thousand small villages!" The level 8 part confused the young kids, but they didn''t interrupt the teacher.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "The next person is the girl who had two legendary affinities" Erez pointed at her. "She has legendary affinities to lightning and wind. Her name is Julie, and I recommend you do not piss her off. Luckily she is not arrogant, nevertheless she is still the most talented out of all of you. If you push her too far, even though the army will have to do this sorrowfully, you may get severe punishments." All the boys looked at her strangely, they didn''t know their limits, therefore they didn''t know if they should befriend this girl or just stay away from her.


    Ren got up and then started introducing himself. "I am Ren. My background is too powerful for you to know. I have a legendary affinity to fire." Ren then sat back down and started meditating.


    Ren had short green hair with green pupils. He wore a plain robe, like Wess, but it was in the colour green. He was extremely handsome and if he wished could have a lot of concubines or wives.


    "Knowing how to refine at this young age, this generation is simply too monstrous." Erez chided himself on how he was so lazy when he was a kid. His master was the one to force him to do everything.


    "I am Terra. I have no blood parents or family, but I like to think of the village head as my father. I have a legendary affinity to earth." The person who had just spoken had black hair with amber eyes.


    The kid who felt that strength was the only thing that mattered stood up and started introducing himself. "My name is Julius. I have a legendary affinity to wind. I feel like strength is what matters. If you have strength, you can overpower anyone. It''s simple, no matter how much brains you have it doesn''t amount to anything if it you don''t have the strength to back it up." A twinge of pain went through Julius''s eyes, only to be replaced by his pride of having a legendary affinity to wind.


    Julius had clear blue eyes and white hair, and even though he felt that power was everything, he was not ripped or covered in muscles. He was very a pure white robe and a necklace dangled from his neck.


    "My name is Artemis Qua Efficerent. Call me Artemis. My affinity is for alchemy itself. I can use fire, wood and metal, as they are the necessary components for alchemy. I believe brains over brawns, anyone with brains will be able to defeat someone with brawns. Well as long as they have enough brains." With that he sat down.


    "My name is Violet. I am a neutral type mage. However, unlike most people, I was born with good affinities to almost all the elements. Even a legendary to water." Violet curtsied and walked to a nearby chair. Her eyes slightly dulled when that happened, but it would be barely visible to anyone with just the naked eye.


    "Well that is all of you. Let¡¯s go and show you around the ship." Erez had not noticed Wess at the back. Neither had the kids The only one who had was Julie.

 Chapter 5 - The Kaiser Arena

    "This is the observatory" Erez looked to see if everyone was paying attention" This is where we look at all the species in the world. This can be with magical beasts, or normal bests. They are both important, and no one should discredit either of them. Normal beast''s bodies are used to make everyday stuff, like the chairs you are sitting on. Of course we still need a magical beast''s materials to keep it sturdy. This goes the other way around for cultivators. For example, we can use magical beast cores to increase our cultivator, or increase our affinity to a specific element. However most magical beasts have a natural violent nature, making anyone who consumes their core a madman. This is where normal beasts come in, normally they are passive creatures, and so it balances out the violent nature of a magical beast. The reason for why almost no normal beasts have a violent nature, is that any that do transform into magical beasts." Erez saw the puzzled looks on the all the kids and decided to explain it in a much simpler way.


    "Kids. Your parents have explained Yin and Yang to you, right?" The kids nodded their heads. "Well basically let''s say just for this example, magical beasts are Yang and normal beasts are Yin. They are both necessary to life and work in harmony for humanity.  When you eat a magical core, you require the core, which contains the Yang energy. You also require a normal beast''s Yin energy to stabilise it, and prevent you from going insane." The kids understood this concept, but Artemis''s head was formulating many theories and hypothesizes regarding this topic. Yin and Yang energy was normally something that was regarded as utter bullshit, and so no one before thought of using it in situations like this. However in everyday life, Yin and Yang was used quite frequently, and balance was needed for everyone to survive.


    "Wouldn''t it to be possible for Yin and Yang to exist?" Erez froze once he heard this question. This question had caused hardships for him many times in the past, and his theory was decimated in the end. He hated that question for this reason.


    "No it is not possible!" Erez said this steely and decisively. This caused a chill to spread throughout Artemis''s right leg, and it eventually numbed.


    Erez, wanting to chain the subject, moved onto several of the luxury facilities. Time seemed to move very slowly for the kids, they really didn''t care about these features.


    When Erez heard a yawn coming from one of the kids, he knew he was boring the kids and decided to move onto the main attraction, The Kaiser Arena.


    "This is where battlers come to fight and hone their skills. You can also place stipulations, as long as you pay a certain price of course. Deaths do occasionally happen, but that is because of the victim overestimating himself. As long as you know your own limits, you will not get seriously injured or die." This was not fully true, but Erez didn''t wish to go into details regarding battle strategies or tactics.


    "Can we go see some fights? Terra''s entire body was shaking with excitement.


    Erez, seeing this excitement, could not say no and so agreed. They walked to the arena and all the kids had smiles stuck on their faces. They had never seen a fight before, and this arena seemed to have some decent fighters.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The kids had smiles covering their faces as this was the first fight they had seen. This arena also didn''t seem to be a place where any random fighters could challenge each other.


    "This fight will be between two level 4 fighters. One is fire, while the other is earth." Hearing this, Terra and Artemis started gazing at each other. They were staring each other down, and because of the elements it seemed that this was a representation of which element was stronger. When they stared at each other, they blinked several times and this made the situation awkward and tensionless.


    Two figures emerged from the two gates opposite each other. One was a girl that looked the same age as Wess and the others, while the other was a middle aged man. When the girl came out, Wess''s eyes enlarged. Becoming that strong at the tender age of 10 was no small feat. She also was extremely beautiful, making her an extremely rare existence.


    Erez jumped down from his seat towards the arena. The kids were startled when they saw this, and until Erez gave a thumbs up, were frantic.


    "Make this a fair fight. State your stipulations."


    "If I win, then this baldy must kill himself." The girl''s nose shrivelled when talking about the man, indicating that she viewed this man as an annoyance.


    "If I win, then this beauty must become my wife." When the kids heard this, they were shocked. This girl was evidently no older then they and this old man wished to take her as his bride? This was basically paedophilia, not to mention the girl''s extremely good talent.


    "Ok. The conditions are acceptable. The cost will be free of charge for Miss, but will cost a violet coin for the old man." A coin landed in Erez''s hand and he indicated for the fight to start.


    The middle aged man licked his lips and rushed towards the girl. The girl didn''t react till the middle aged man was only a metre from the girl, and she only walked away. This caused the middle aged man to begin to fume.


    "Looks like I''ll have to teach this bitch a lesson once she becomes my wife."


    Swish


    "Dumbass!" This was the girl''s final words before walking out of the arena. The middle aged man had fallen to the ground, three large gaping holes were sent through him. His tongue stuck out of his mouth, while his eyes became colder and colder.

 Chapter 6 - First master!

    Erez sighed to himself, as he saw the blank expression on the kid''s faces. He understood that this was their first time seeing something like this, but they needed to get used to this or they would never become truly strong. Erez''s belief was strength mattered, however when compassion was needed, you should give it. When cruelty was needed, you should become cruel. When mercy was needed, you should become merciful.


    "Life is something that can end with the swift of a hand. You should cherish it, and protect it the hardest you can. That doesn''t mean you should be merciful to enemies though." The kids¡¯ brains soaked up the information, however the kids themselves weren''t paying attention. Only Wess was paying attention, and that was only because of his intense and focused blood-lust, even with this he still felt nauseated.


    "I''m going back to my cabin." Julie suddenly said that, and started walking away. This was the sign that everyone could leave, and slowly everyone else left, leaving only Erez and Wess.


    "Those little brats. Well seems I''ll be off."


    "Harummph!" Wess coughed to show that he was still here, and startled Erez. Erez composed himself almost immediately and looked at Wess with a look of confusion.


    "Kid you''re interesting. If you want I can tell you why I haven''t noticed you yet." Erez''s eyes shone with interest.


    "Hmmm. Ok, tell me why." Wess was curious as to why no one noticed him.


    "You''re aura is quite interesting. It looks like it''s only at a quarter of its original power. This is why it is much harder to notice you, especially when combined with everyone else''s aura. Normally experts don''t use their eyes normally, because we don''t need to look at people normally, we can just sense their aura.  Of course if you approach me, or stick out I will notice you. It''s like in a painting of many people. If you look at it, you see the people sticking out and not the ones faded in the background. However if someone points a specific thing out to you, then you will, of course, notice it." Erez closed his eyes after he finished his explanation, and sighed faintly. He liked thinking of explanations, but could not come up with a explanation. You can''t seal aura, it comes from your power levels. The only way is because of mutations. Some people are born abnormally large auras, which people abuse to scare off magical beasts. While others are born with small auras, making them capable of hiding themselves better and hiding their true ability.


    "I-I guess?"


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


    "Oh yeah, I guess I should explain what you have to do now. Seeing how you were the only that hasn''t left, it seems suitable to give you this advantage." Erez paused. "Basically everyone is going to get a master to teach them some spells. The masters will help direct their respective students in the right direction, however they can''t tell the students too much. This will test the student''s talent in regards to learning spells concerning their elements." Wess lifted his hand, and Erez became silent.


    "Didn''t we have an exam, why should we do this again?"


    "The exam was to vaguely put you into groups. That was to test how well your body reacts to that elements, but these other tests will be to fully test your ability in understanding spells. It will test stuff like your comprehension, so how quickly you can learn the base or outline of the spell. It will also test your affinity to the element in more detail, like which part of the elements you are better with, or how much affinity you have with the element specifically. An example of this is some people may be more suited to the ice aspects of water than the flow aspects of water.


    It will also test your willpower, without the will to get stronger then you cannot get stronger yourself. Also the last thing it sometimes tells us is whether or not you have any other affinities to the ''other'' elements.


    If you have more than one element then your skills will be spread out to fit the other elements. This will allow us a much better outline of the power of your elements, in exchange for detail of one.


    My bet on the best is that kid called Artemis. He was born with the talent towards alchemy, making him inherently smart towards spells, pills and potions. His comprehension is also pretty good from what I''ve seen, and he even is pretty hard working." When Wess heard this he snorted in dissatisfaction, and his face turned slightly red.


    "Hahahaha! It''s ok to be second best in this exam, after all it doesn''t tell us your battle prowess or anything else. It just tells how quickly you can learn spells. Plus you have the best teacher on this boat. Me!" Wess didn''t respond to what he thought was Erez''s joke, and just silently stood there.


    "Bwah! Fine, you have a chance as well. It''s not always about your knowledge, talent is a big factor as well." Erez''s words comforted Wess unconsciously. "Ok now follow me, I''ll teach you your first spell." Erez quickly walked out of the arena and continued walking, with Wess tailing but having a hard time keeping up.


    This went on for about 5 hours, and they had exited the ship 4 hours ago. There was a waterfall up ahead and Wess''s eyes shone. He hadn''t had any food or drink for around 15 hours now.


    "Master, there''s a waterfall up ahead. Can we rest there?"


    "Rest there? We''re going to train there kiddo!"

 Chapter 7 - Training

    "Sit in the water in a meditative position." Wess and Erez were currently in a cave that was built in the bottom of the rainfall.


    "W-why?" Wess was a few meters from where the water was crashing down, and was already stuttering from the cold.


    "Well, because you want to learn a spell right?"


    "Yes, but what does that have to do with sitting in the waterfall, and letting it crash onto my body."


    "Well this will teach you your first spell, smokescreen. You will refine the mage essence from nature, and turn it into a mist. Because of mage essence, once you have used this spell the water won''t be able to stay the same form as it goes through the smokescreen. Also the end result for the water will show me what type of aura you possess. Vicious, kind, cunning, etc."


    "Ok. I''ll do it, but you have to tell me something. Are the other kids doing this?"


    "Well no, every teacher has their own different methods to teach. The Artemis kid, he''ll be taught the outline of his spell. He''ll have to work out the contents of the spell, or create his own variation. Others will have something that will work on their strengths. However training your body to the limit is the best way to train, I don''t care what anyone says, this is the truth kiddo. Treasures can only take you so far. Your body will be your strength, and anyone who relies on items will meet their downfall, eventually." Erez''s eyes contained thoughtfulness, but then it dissipated and he scolded Wess for not practising already.


    "Let¡¯s go!" Wess walked to where the water was crashing down. His breathing was slightly erratic, and his hands trembled slightly.


    "What are you doing? Take off your clothes you imbecile!" Erez called out to Wess when he saw Wess still having clothes on. The whole point of this exercise was to forcefully train Wess''s body, and rush Wess''s training. If he had clothes on then the effect would lessen, making it almost useless when you compared it to the pain he would be feeling. It was like if a lion was chasing you, then you would run faster. However if you were just normally running, then you wouldn''t run as fast.


    Wess, hearing this, immediately stripped down to his underpants. Erez sighed in relief, realizing that he hadn''t specified whether Wess should keep his boxers on or not.


    "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Wess sat down at the point where the waterfall met the rocks, and his entire body was scalded by blazing water. On his back several cuts were forming, and blood slowly trickled down from those cuts. The hot water seemingly had intelligence of its own, as it gushed into Wess''s body. It only took a few minutes before Wess''s entire body was swollen, and looked three times as big as it normally did. Blood feel down his nose and ears, and his eyes were a puffy pink.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Wess''s veins and arteries had enlarged by several times, and were on the point of bursting, like a dam. All of this combined made Wess feel excruciating pain, and his conciousness had almost faded away.


    "If I faint then master will have to save me from death, making this exercise meaningless. I do not wish for that, I wish to become stronger." Wess showed determination as he gripped the rocks to make cuts on his hands. The water could not reach there, and whenever he felt as if he was fading away from life, he would make injuries. This would give him a sudden jolt and keep him awake.


    "People say that kids are easily manipulated and convinced. This seems to be correct and I think my teacher''s method of training should only be used on kids. If I hadn''t already gone through brutal training myself when I was younger and seen it''s fruitful rewards, then I wouldn''t be able to do it at this age." Erez was only 24 years of age, but still regarded himself as someone old. He felt the best years were your childhood and so now that his childhood as long gone, he feels as if he is an old man.


    Wess did this same thing repeatedly for 12 hours and had gotten used to the pain. He was no longer bleeding, and the swelling had reduced by a little bit.


    "Master, this doesn''t feel as hard any more. Are you sure this was a suitable exercise for me?" Wess''s tone possessed slight arrogance in it.


    "Haha! Kiddo you are too arrogant! You think I''d choose such a weak method? I wouldn''t even choose this method for my grandma." As Erez said this, the water suddenly turned into a chill.


    "AHHHHH! Bastard!" Wess screamed out all the swear words he knew, the pain was now 4 times the previous pain. The pressure had also increased by a big amount. His entire body had been covered in a few layers of frost, and his cuts were covered by a thick layer of ice. His blood contained small snowflakes within it, and it made Wess''s body devoid of colour. His lips had turned purple and his hair had turned pure white.


    "Hohoho Kiddo! This taught you two big lessons. 1. Don''t piss me off 2. Never let your guard down. Every 12 hours, the water will change from hot to cold or vice versa. Also every time it does that, there will be an increase in pressure. This will teach you two things, focus and endurance. It will also train your body, increase your refining speed, increase your mage essence pool, and of course teach you the spell. Don''t you think this is worth?" As Erez said this, he hopped onto a large boulder and brought out a book from his backpack.

 Chapter 8 - Outside?

    Wess was sitting in his cave allowing the cool water to splash onto his back. His back was now a charred black, with several strokes of white. His dark blue hair was so long that it was touching the floor and his face had matured.


    "AHHHHHHHHHH!" The cycle had once again begun and so the pressure increased. The hot and cold water didn''t hurt any more, but the pressure would continue increasing and caused more pain. Every time the pain increased Wess''s threshold towards pain would also increase, however this didn''t reduce the agony caused by the water.


    "Wow. You''re a little slow, aren''t you? Every other kid has finished their spell, and the last one to finish, finished 5 months ago. Even when I was a kid, I would have done this around 4 months ago."


    "Mmmm." Wess mumbled in reply to that. He knew that his master was trying to make him lose focus.


    "Good! You remembered to keep your focus. I''m leaving for a few days. I will leave a protective seal around this area so that no one will come to bother or harm you. If you complete the spell in this time then make sure not to leave this place. You have exhausted your body and if you leave then you¡¯re practically dead." With this Erez left.


    "Damn, I can''t even talk. I haven''t even eaten any food for months, and I''ve been under this water since the beginning of training. My mage essence can''t regenerate quick enough to practise the spell fully. Fuck! I wonder how different it would be if I didn''t have to feed myself with mage essence, or I didn''t have to protect myself from the water using mage essence." Wess was complaining on the inside while gritting his teeth, but he knew that he had benefited a great deal from this training.


    "Let me try a different approach to this." Wess started pushing against the floor. His body was halfway towards standing up, when the water''s pressure increased by 10 times. This sudden pressure pushed Wess to floor and he landed with his back touching the slick floor.


    Wess then tried many things, but to no avail. All his plans were disrupted by the violent water. The water''s pressure would increase whenever he moved.


    "How do I get out of this?" Wess had tried all the plans he could come up with. He also didn''t have much time until Erez came back, then he''d have to stop because Erez wouldn''t allow him to change positions. This caused despair to creep up into his mind. It didn''t matter if he came out as the strongest of all the genius''s in this skill, after all they would be learning about other skills in that time. This would set back Wess, and Erez would surely give him another task like this.


    "Must get out. Must finish this task before Erez comes back!" Wess''s eyes shone with stubbornness. This stubbornness triggered something. It triggered his core.


    "Waaaaaaah!" Before he knew it, Wess had appeared in something unknown. His eyes slowly opened, and what he saw caused his entire body to tremble.


    This was the place he went to when he tested for his affinities. His mind went back to the human-like creatures he discovered and their unknown language. Their diabolic screeches.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Skreeeeeeee!" A sound rang out, the same sound from when Wess previously visited. Wess''s hand instinctively went towards his hair, where there was a transmission device. This would allow him to talk to his teacher from any distance.


    "MASTER! MASTER!" Wess screamed into the device, but nothing happened. There was only a slight buzzing sound. Wess''s eyes had tears flowing from them.


    While Wess panicked the creatures came towards him, encircling him. They slowly moved towards in him an orderly fashion, and left no openings for Wess to escape. As they came closer Wess noticed that these creatures were actually human. They had a human''s body figure, and their visible body parts seemed human. However Wess couldn''t be too sure as there were cloaks covering their body.


    These ''humans'' were now only around a meter away from Wess, and the one facing Wess had her hand open as if to cover Wess''s face. Wess had already believed that this was his death, and closed his eyes.


    "Maybe death won''t be so bad. There might actually be a heaven." However when the human that was facing Wess touched him, nothing happened. There was no pain. No feeling.


    Wess opened his eyes and found, to his pleasure, that he was still alive and under the waterfall. The water was crashing onto his body and he was not using mage essence to protect himself, but he didn''t notice. He was alive!


    "Why am I still alive? Also why is my body so revitalised?" Wess wondered what happened and why he was alive. There had to be a reason for this.


    Wess tried standing up, only to be pushed back down by the water. His butt crashed onto the ground, breaking several rocks. He had completely forgotten about the water and so put up no resistance to it, making his crash a lot more painful than normal.


    "Oh yeah, there''s this god damn water." Wess scowled and then almost immediately tried out his mage essence. It formed into something like a smoke, and protected Wess''s body from the water like an umbrella. The water completely dissipated within this smoke, no trace was left behind. "This is weird. Didn''t master say that the water will change into something else and come down? But then why did my smoke leave no trace?"


    Wess wanted answers to his question and thought that his talent was horrible, which caused his mind to become frantic. Wess''s body trembled violently, and there was a rumble coming from within him. Looking down on his body, Wess saw smoke. Just smoke.


    "What the fuck!? Where is my body?" Wess''s face had a puzzled expression until his body started to have its own thoughts, then his face turned to immense fear. The smokescreen expanded rapidly and Wess started warping at random positions. This teleportation led him outside of the cave and into the forest that surrounded the waterfall. He was unconscious and didn''t notice that something was coming towards him.

 Chapter 9 - A completely ordinary girl?

    Two soft arms reached out towards Wess in a gentle manner and wrapped around Wess''s neck. They lightly tugged at him slightly to no reaction, noticing he was not going to wake up they started dragged him towards the forest.


    "Wuh! Where am I?" Wess looked around the room he was and it seemed like a standard commoner''s home. There was a light brown-coloured girl with fiery red hair. She looked completely ordinary except for the hair, which caused more alarm for Wess.


    "You are in my hut in the forest. I was the one who dragged you here, seeing you in the forest caused me to do this as I did not want to see you dead."


    "How do I get out of here?" Wess didn''t want to stay any longer with this mysterious girl than he needed to. She sent chills down his spine.


    "You can get out of here easily, just walk through the door." The girl pointed at the girl. "However to stay alive once you walk out will be hard."


    "Why did you bring me here?"


    "I brought you here because you seem like someone who can help me."


    "Help you with what?" Said Wess with slightly sarcasm in his voice. She is much stronger than him, what could he help her with? Her talent was also obviously much better as she was only a few years older than Wess.


    "I need to shed my skin to attain the level 4. I cannot do that safely so you''ll need to protect me during that time." Her sentence caused Wess''s mouth to instantly flap open. She was almost the same as the previous girl, however that girl seemed to have a noble aura around her. This meant she may of just had help from pills, but this girl was completely ordinary. This must''ve meant this girl has monstrous talent.


    "Why do you need my protection? Do you not have any friends?"


    "No I do not.... Well I do, but I can''t trust them to not stab me in the back. We animals don''t care about face, it''s survival of the fittest."


    "So why trust me?"


    "Cos I can? Just joking, I could kill you even when shedding. All you need is to hide me and I''m fine, well you''ll need to hide me in a remote location with no magical beasts or human experts."


    "What if I don''t want to?"


    "Well you can try surviving alone against all these animals. Also I won''t help you in any way, so don''t think of taking advantage of me. Even if you die it doesn''t matter much because I can just get a new host. I will still pay you with a pill used for breakthroughs and a skill, I''m not someone who takes advantage of others." With this the girl disappeared, leaving only a slight mist. A snake tattoo formed on Wess''s shoulder.


    "Is this your form? And will anyone be able to notice it?" Wess had calmed down quickly thanks to his training on the waterfall. He asked questions to see if he could get any information out of this girl.


    "1. Duh. 2. No, unless they have obtained Hero Realm. 3. Call me Sereda. 4. Don''t think of betraying me, well unless you wanna die."


    "Hero Realm? What is that?" A question mark covered Wess''s face, what''s the Hero Realm?


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon."No need to know." With this the sounds of snoring was heard inside Wess''s mind, and Wess had no choice but to take back Sereda. Though surprisingly no magical beasts bothered them.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "Wess!" Erez came back to see Wess back in his cave meditating. His face was all smiles as he called for Wess.


    "Yes master?" Wess''s ears perked up when he heard his master''s voice.


    "I am glad you have broken through and finished my task. Now that you have, I feel I should explain power levels to you and some other things." When Wess heard this he could only groan internally. He really wanted to learn skills and felt explanations could come later.


    "Is this necessary master?" Moaned Wess.


    "Yes it is. Now listen up. There are 8 levels and the last few are split up by bottlenecks. Everyone will reach level 1, you need to if you want to do the most basic things like walking. Level 2 is reached by everyone except the lazy who don''t do any work, this is normally reached by 22 years of age for non-mages. Level 3 is reached by people who have to do manual labour or are trying to become mages. Level 4 is reached by people with decent talent, normally 25. Level 5 is reached by normal genius''s and they get it around 35 years of age. Level 6 are for the talented, and normally is reached by 50 years of age. Level 7 is extremely rare, and the only one still alive got it when he was 80 years of age. Level 8 is unknown. When someone says these levels in a way similar to how I''m saying it then that is just in regards to their mage essence, not actually their battle prowess. I guarantee someone who is at level 1 and is a mage, could beat someone who''s level 3 but not a mage. " Hearing this made Wess think about Sereda. Was she truly a monster? He didn''t think so and no longer thought of Sereda as a monster in talent, just someone who''s extremely capable.


    "Our country contains three main factions. They are the Da sect, Polios army and the Government. We are the second and we currently rivals with both of the other factions. The Government normally uses strategy and tactics to win fights, we use our experts and the Da sect uses its sheer numbers. We are equally matched in power and none of us wish to team with another, for fear of being stabbed in the back. However our plan now will allow us to become stronger than both and forcefully envelop them." Wess listened on half-heartedly for the rest as he began to day dream about when he would get his attack skill and how powerful it would be.


    When he eventually fell asleep he entered a world where he knew it was a dream and could move freely.


    "Woah! Where am I?"


    "You are with me!" Sereda''s voice rang out.


    "Is this where I am going to learn my skills?" Wess''s eyes gleamed with a golden light.


    "No, this is where the spell will be transferred to you. It would change depending on your preference and you seem to want an attack spell, your body will automatically choose a spell most suited to you." Right on cue Wess''s mind started feeling pressured and felt like the fluids would burst out. Wess''s body writhed in pain until the pain slowly started to fade away and his body felt numb.


    The spell that transmitted to his mind was ''Light burst''.


    "WHAT THE FUCK! THAT''S A LIGHT TYPE SPELL! I''M DARKNESS!" Wess howled in rage. He had looked forward to this spell and it became useless. ¡°No fuck this! If my body thinks this is what''s suited toward me then that must mean something. Maybe it''s trying to tell me that I can change this spell to fit towards my elemental affinity." With that Wess''s mind began to think of ways to use it......

 Chapter 10 - Choosing what path to go on!

    Sorry for no chapters, pc fudged up.... Again. Also I think I''ll slow down the release pace to what fits me atm, so I can increase the singular quality of the chapters instead of quantity.


    Wess was currently sitting on his bed examining the spell. He had finally finished learning his spell and was allowed to rest for a month, during this time he had been asking and trying to figure out about how ''Light Burst'' could be translated into a darkness type spell. He was nearing the end of his break and desperately wanted to figure out whether this spell was even able to change.


    All spells could be split into two groups. These were translatable spells and non-translatable spells. Translatable spells were able to change into other elements. An example is ''Rain of Heat'', with this spell you can make the sky spit down fire, or it could spit down burning hot water. Non-translatable spells could not because the spell required the element to function. An example of this was ''Rock Shift'' where you could make a small rock lift up. You could make similar spells to this however they could not be considered the same, and so ''Rock Shift'' was a non-translatable spell.


    The move ''Light Burst'' was a move where you would channel light into both your hands, and you would put your hand on top of the other with both having their palms facing where you would shoot. Then it would shoot a giant beam to where you are aiming, the distance was usually 3 meters on the first try.


    The problem with converting this spell to darkness was that darkness and light are two completely different things. Darkness is the absence of light, while light is something that is just there. A lot of darkness type spells take darkness away from a specific area, and then use that darkness to form a specific object. This wouldn''t work if there was no darkness and just light, however shadows were always following and this process didn''t make the darkness go away. It was not like it disappeared, it was still there. This process was so quick that it couldn''t even be measured, but it couldn''t be extended. This is why darkness type mages used objects like swords and couldn''t use things like charging beam attacks, they couldn''t continuously take darkness from the world and so couldn''t charge up.


    Wess sighed frustratingly to himself as he thought of his current situation. He was required by an annoying girl to help ''shed her skin'', and he didn''t even know what that was! He also had a teacher who would stop at no lengths to make his student stronger, and there was also this completely useless spell!


    "I wish I could have spells and pills given to me. If I did then there would be no need to train and I could just fight!" Thinking of multiple ways to come to use the spell was hard and nothing had worked, this discouraged Wess but he couldn''t just give up after giving a month''s worth of effort on something.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    A serving girl came in and set food up, leaving most of the food on a giant platter. Wess salivated as he looked at the buffet and drool fell down the side of his lip. The serving girl laughed softly as she left the room and she bowed before exiting. Wess''s face was a crimson red but this didn''t stop him from devouring the food. In just 4 minutes, Wess had eaten everything. His stomach was bloated and his mind felt dizzy. He couldn''t think straight and he thought ridiculous thoughts. He fantasized about that girl and himself, about him becoming the strongest and about him fucking figuring out how to use the spell!


    Finally he slept from the tiredness and dizziness. While he slept he thought up plans. Wess''s stubbornness and constant thinking had caused him to get a disease. This disease made it so that whenever Wess fell asleep he would still think about the things he was thinking of while he was conscious.


    "When you think about it the problem is that it needs to be able to store energy or something of the sort to shoot. If I could sort that out then it wouldn''t be that hard to figure out how to use the rest of the spell.


    I could maybe try to form balls compressed with darkness, but then the problem is that it will go in all directions and would backfire. I also wouldn''t be able to throw it as that would make it explode. Actually never mind, I would just have to form a cloth-like thing and cover it. The collision would naturally make it blow up.


    I could try making a hard wall out of darkness to contain the energy and focus it into a straight line, however it''d be too easy to dodge as before the shot is fired the circular wall will have to be made. Then they can easily dodge.


    There''s also making the spell able to consume the surrounding mage essence. This would enable it to charge up energy as it wouldn''t be taking from the darkness for an extended period of time. The problems with this was way too much. You would have to make something capable of consuming mage essence and using it, this included it having to be able to refine mage essence into the darkness type. It would also be harder to focus it into a straight line, because even though it''s not alive and doesn''t have thoughts, it still does have the urge to consume mage essence." Thinking long and hard on something was not Wess''s style, the only exception was the god damn spell and so he started preparing to use this method. He estimated that it would take around a year of nonstop training, but he knew that it wouldn''t be too hard to convince his master. The consequences would be the real problem.

 Chapter 11 - The start of a beginning!

    Sorry for no chapters, exams. I will try to release frequently throughout the Christmas holidays!


    In a cramped, dim lighted room, Wess was currently sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed. His arms crossed each other in a squeezed X shape, his index and thumb touched each other to form a circle while his other three fingers were flat like his palm. There was no sound in the room and the only movements in this room was Wess''s mouth breathing in the mage essence.


    The mage essence would go down to Wess''s core, which was in his stomach. Cores would normally be a golden core and mage essence would leisurely rotate around it. The core would involuntarily absorb the mage essence rotating around it slowly and store it within a small chamber within the body. When a fight broke out or when someone was training, the mage essence would rapidly swirl around the core. This would it in turn make refining even quicker.


    When Wess was in the waterfall he needed mage essence at a rapid pace to feed himself and protect himself, it took the shape of a tornado. Too much pressure was put on Wess''s core, therefore his core was extremely weak and he needed to take it slow for one more month.


    ~2 years went by like water evaporating from a cup~


    A boy with long azure hair walked through the warship. He looked at the walls and realised that he had no true memories of this ship, all his time was spent on training or information gathering. He quickly walked to the central command area to see his master, walking past several of the other teachers. Their faces had slight pity for him as his excuse for taking two years off of training was that he had a severe injury from training. The truth was only known by Sereda and himself, his master only knew a little bit.


    He soon reached the central command area and saw his master in an imposing manner. He was directing everyone in an orderly fashion, it was all done in an orderly and natural fashion.


    "Ahh, Wess! Have you finally finished with what was needed to be done?"


    "Yes." Wess was extremely respectful to Erez. He now understood how lenient Erez was to him. 2 years of freedom? No teacher would do that, on top of that he gave Wess several potions to strengthen his core.


    "Ok, that is good however I have some bad news." As Erez said this his face fell." As you know everyone has been training to learn spells, well the purpose of this was to prepare you to have a tournament between talents. This tournament will contain talents from the Government, Polios army, Da sect as well as several others from other powerful groups scattered around the continent. Supremacy will be determined through this tournament, however we really don''t care about that. If we have no strong talents then the other powers will just take it as us hiding our cards. This is mainly used to give combat experience to our talents.


    Every one of you lot will have to compete. That means you will have to compete with your minuscule strength, this isn''t necessarily bad as you could forfeit but the army has a rule that everyone needs to learn how to defend themselves. You are not allowed to forfeit unless seriously injured or given permission from an elder. Luckily, or maybe unluckily for you is that I''m an elder, despite being an elder I will not help you. If I allow you to forfeit then you will face the ridicule of your fellow students. I will also face ridicule but that isn''t as important as your life. I hope you understand I do value your life and don''t think of it as some toy, it''s just that if you do forfeit there''s a chance that it will limit your future potential"


    "Limit? Is there truly a limit to anything? Break the bounds, break the chains, break the boundaries and become the lord of the world!" An archaic voice echoed throughout Wess''s brain like a prophecy. It caused his core to tremble and his breathing to become irregular. Wess''s heart felt like a spike pierced through it, it was pumping outside of his chest. This was only the voice of someone, imagine that person''s power.


    "Fine, I''m tired so let me sleep." With this Wess left the room, leaving Erez with no time to react.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Wess was currently lying on his bed, his mind reeling. The situation was just...... bad. He had to face off against other, much more powerful, talents. They would have a much bigger range of spells and individually trained their specialities. Wess had five spells in total to combat them and a more well-rounded kit, therefore he would win more matches but had a higher chance of dying. For example if he had to face someone that had both speed and attack but not defence then if he hits a strike luckily he would win, if he doesn''t he might die.


    "Fuck!" Wess ruffled his hair until he decided to stop thinking. He sat up and three pitch black balls formed in his hands, they flew up and down. At first it was just throwing, but it quickly escalated to juggling. Wess seemed to be a natural at it, the movement was just fluent.


    Thump Thump Thump


    Panic flashed in Wess''s eyes as he heard this. Someone was knocking on his door? It was highly improbable for it to be Wess''s master, meaning that it was another student or a teacher. Three loud bangs could be heard from within Wess''s room. After the three loud sounds finally faded away Wess told the unknown guest to come in.


    Six kids rushed through the door and fell over like a lump of clothes.


    "Oww, it''s all your fault Julius!"


    "Nah it ain''t, not my fault you leaned on me." Wess''s eyes were filled with a startled expression. The other talents rushed in here and started talking as if it was natural.


    Artemis saw this from the corner of his eye and hurriedly started explaining the situation. "We thought that as we ignored you at the start of this journey we should do something to make up for it and hang out. What better opportunity to do this then now, just two days before the tournament?" Wess smiled warmly in response to these kind actions.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Guess what I brought?" Julius unwrapped a piece of cloth that was swirled around an object similar to a bottle.


    "Alcohol!?" The eyes of all the kids went round. Alcohol was forbidden for kids. It harmed kids in the initial stages of mages, and so was forbidden.


    "I honestly can''t say I''m surprised. You always do stupid stuff like this." Artemis snorted when he saw the alcohol. He wasn''t going to risk his potential on something as stupid as food or drink. The taste would last for a few minutes and then be forgotten.


    "No, you''re mistaken. This alcohol isn''t going to harm our potential. It doesn''t contain the acid Gayamata, making it harmless." The kids'' eyes perked when they heard this. They were always curious on the taste of alcohol. Even Artemis''s eyes couldn''t fully divert its path from the alcohol.


    "Let''s just have a sip."


    ~2 hours later~


    "We should become blood brothers!" Julius held up his glass and waved it around.


    "Why not?" Wess had never had so much fun in his life, maybe having close friends would be possible.


    "Yeah why not?"


    With this everyone bit their thumbs, letting blood roll down their thumb.


    "A-are you sure we should be doing this?" Artemis''s voice quivered as it rang out. Even though he was drunk, he still had some sense of reason. They knew each other a decent amount, but that wasn''t enough to become a blood brother. They also didn''t know Wess that well.


    "Yeah, maybe this isn''t as smart." Terra''s amber eyes had a hint of worry in it.


    "....." Ren said nothing. He went along with what everyone said, never protesting or saying his opinions.


    "It''s fine. Trust me." Although Artemis still had some discontent he kept it to himself and did the ceremony.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    "Awaaah." Stifling a yawn, Wess opened his eyes. What he saw when he opened them was a gigantic mess! His bedsheets were on the floor, soaked in alcohol. There was blood absorbed within the carpet and it was a brownish-blue now.


    "Hmm? My legs are stuck and so are my arms." Wess looked down to his body and his eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. Julie was lying on his body with her left leg in the space between his two legs, his arms were surrounding her. The only clothes that were still on were her bra and underpants.


    "Wow.... Did it have to be like this? I wanted my first time to be with the person I truly loved." Although Wess said it like that, he didn''t mean it at all and said it with a dull, emotionless tone.


    "Hmmm." Julie''s eyes was starting to become more visible and less blurry. "Uwaahhh!" Before she could even see who it was, she realised that she was in the embrace of a man. She pushed away with all her might.


    "Is that you Wess?" Julie''s startled eyes became a lot more calm when she realised it was Wess. This was noted by Wess, causing a puzzled expression to cover his face.


    "I will forgive you this one time as the deed was not done!" This was said solemnly, but with a childlike face and her voice being squeaky, it gave the opposite effect making Wess laugh.


    "Wh-what is so funny?!" She could no longer hold her embarrassment in and left quickly. Wess sadly sighed to himself before seeing her leave.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    "Hello everybody! We know you have had to complete a long and tedious formality, but this was to ensure the safety of our talents. Though we all know that it was worth the wait, after all this is a rare opportunity that happens only once every 10 years!


    This tournament will contain 128 students, split into 4 groups. It will be an elimination style round until the last 8 people. These people will be split into two groups and fight each other. They will fight for control of a hilltop. One person will be refining mage essence, while the other three will defend that person. Once their bottles is full then they win. There are two bottles for each team and the teams will be picked at random." The answer caused commotion within the crowd, normally the group that held the tournament would withhold this information to make the competition more interesting. However this time the host just blatantly said it, it must mean that they were holding something up their sleeves.


    "The first match is Julius vs Artemis!"

 Chapter 12 - The First Fight!

    When they heard the news that Julius and Artemis had to face each other, the other kids were all stunned. Out of 128 people they could choose from they had to choose members from the army, especially the two that had a big rivalry against each other. There was only a 1/16256 chance of getting that!


    "Wow, what luck! Now I can finally prove brains beat brawns!" It seemed that Artemis had determination thriving through his veins. It bolstered his complexion and his eyes didn''t have even a twinge of uncertainty.


    "No way bro! I''ll show you what I''ve got!" Julius didn''t back down either, and was rearing to go. This rivalry had sparked something, not a spark of hatred, not a spark of envy, it was a spark of true friendship!


    The crowd watched as the two kids slowly walked towards the stadium. Their eyes didn''t back down as they looked at each other, leaving the other kids with shivers down their spine.


    They eventually entered the arena and saw, to the entire audience''s dismay, that there was nothing in the middle of the arena to fight with. There were walls that were brimmed with magical incantations, however there was nothing actually in the arena. No trees, no ramp, no weapons.


    "I am sorry to all those who enjoy battles with items, however that does not reflect the talent''s true skill. If we put items then it''s advantageous to one, if not then it''s irrelevant because it doesn''t improve either one''s combat prowess. Rarely does it help both and even then it will provide someone with more help. The reason it''s used in other tournaments is to increase the host''s talents'' strength" Hearing this put the audience deep into conversation of whether or not this was true. Some people had already realised this, yet couldn''t tell anyone seeing as they were nobodies and couldn''t match the power of the big forces. As a result of being so heavily oppressed the common folk used this time to badmouth the big forces as much as they could, not having even a shred of mercy.


    The big forces were furious to hear this, but couldn''t open up their discontent in fear of the host. The host this time was the Valhallan Combat Dojo, the strongest force in the continent!


    "Wow, all the strong forces are being forced down. I wonder how that feels. Actually when you think about it, don''t all beings get oppressed? Like I mean the non-mages are being subjected to being slaves for mages. Then mages are basically slaves to anyone stronger. Even the strongest person is a slave to his own power and has to thoroughly practice in fear of being overthrown." Wess silently reflected upon this fact


    "Well then if none of you have objections let us begin." Both Artemis and Julius went into a fighting stance after hearing this, and the kids had a slightly excited expression.


    The one to move first was Artemis, he put his hands together like in a prayer and mage essence flooded the ground. This made all the experts excited as this was a clear sign that the kid''s first move would be a wood type move.


    A long piece of wood that looked like a log started growing from the ground and rapidly rushed forwards towards Julius. Caught by surprise, Julius ducked to avoid the impending attack. The log narrowly missed Julius, leaving Julius with a frightful expression.


    Suddenly, the log distorted and twisted around towards Julius again. Julius saw this with a scared expression, but couldn''t do anything to dodge it. It hit him square on, crushing several bones in the process. He flew and crashed into the side of the arena. This caused the several watchers to jump back.


    Julius slid down the wall and had blood flowing down from his chest. His shirt was damp from all the liquid flowing out, forcing Julius to take it off unless he wanted to limit his movement. When he took it off, the audience started giving off a noxious smell.


    Looking down at his own body, Julius felt disgraced. His entire top half was covered in blood and there was a rib penetrating out of it. It was a white colour that was faded red. It didn''t hurt when he moved, however his breathing was rough and coarse.


    "Haha! You see now? Although this doesn''t prove brains over brawns, it does prove that I''m stronger than you!" Julius, hearing this, became enraged. He couldn''t be defeated in one move. That was just too much face being lost! He started slowly walking towards Artemis, however he just didn''t have the strength anymore and faltered several times. His face was full of mucky dirty, and his chest was now a brownish-red.


    AN: Face is your pride or the prevention of embarrassment. As I¡¯m writing xianxia, it¡¯s set in a world like ancient China, where face was extremely important.


    "Stop! Stop! You''re gonna kill yourself! " Artemis couldn''t stand what Julius was doing. It was the equivalent of hurting himself, maybe even killing himself.


    "Hehe, guess I''m more like my dad then I originally thought." This is all that Julius said before squeezing his mouth shut and focusing his eyes. He closed all his fingers except his index and middle finger. He then swiped at the air, sending a large slash towards Artemis.


    Artemis easily blocked this with the use of his tree stump, however it didn''t block the attack fully and cut Artemis on the cheek. Julius smiled at this and released five of them simultaneously. despite releasing a big attack Julius wasn''t fully satisfied at this attack as it caused him to feel great anguish within his chest.


    Three thick, stocky tree stumps were called forth by Artemis and they veiled him. Julius couldn''t help but laugh at this, he clicked his fingers and the five large slashes split into ten. Six of them went forth and smashed into the first tree stump, yet the other four were nowhere to be seen. Artemis looked to his right, left, upwards and downwards but could not see where the other four slashes were. Suddenly a sharp pain went through Artemis''s back, making him fall forwards.


    "Who''s gonna lose now? Hehehe." Julius''s body was in a grotesque state, his rib was now protruding outwards even further. If you looked closely you could see the half refined mage essence floating around the wound on his chest.


    "Julius! Your core is injured, you can see the half refined mage essence surrounding your body. Please just give up." Artemis''s eyes contained great worry for Julius, if he pushed himself too hard Julius could make himself disabled.


    "Never." Growled Julius. "This is the end of this fight!" A bright, lustrous light shown from within Julius.


    "N-no this can''t be true. This is aura magic! Magic that''s only possible in legends! How is he capable of doing it!?" The host looked towards Julius as if he was looking at a monster. Even the Valhallan Combat Dojo, with all their experts, didn''t have someone capable of doing that.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The light slowly became darker and darker, redder and redder until it became a very dark red. It surrounded Artemis and his eyes, almost immediately, started becoming wider. Artemis''s hands clawed at his neck, hoping to let in some air. However the air was clogged with Julius''s aura and it was impossible to breathe. Looking down at his arms and legs, Artemis realised that he couldn''t move at all except from gently swaying his head.


    "This pain is unbearable." Thought Artemis to himself. Time faded by with Artemis silently hoping for Julius''s weird magic to stop.


    "Hehehehe! Now what is better? Your stupid brains or my brawns?" Artemis didn''t reply and closed his eyes to concentrate. This greatly startled Julius, but he couldn''t make a move.


    CRSSSSSSSSSSHHHH


    A loud thud reverberated throughout the stadium. A giant tree branch landed just a teeth''s skin away from Julius''s face, causing Julius to involuntarily jump back in fright. Consequently this caused the giant rib to protrude out of Julius even more. Gritting his teeth was the only thing Julius could do to stop himself from screaming out from the pain caused by the rib.


    Julius looked back and what he saw caused him to go pale in fright. It was a giant tree with a hole as his mouth. It swung its branches around wildly and small cracks could be seen within the stadium. This added to Julius''s fright and caused the audience a small shock. It was not impossible to break the ground and walls within this stadium, however only top notch talents and skills were able to do that.


    The sudden shock and lack of concentration was enough to allow Artemis to break through from the constrictions and move his arms, therefore he was able to reach within his pocket.


    A small pure white pill was produced; the entire audience gasped seeing the white pill. This was clearly cheating


    Artemis popped the pill in his mouth and the sound of grinding could be heard from the audience that was closest to the arena. Artemis''s feet started hovering on top of the floor. He slowly started floating higher until he eventually floated outside of the aura. As soon as he left the aura he started flying in the sky. However this was cut short, and Artemis landed on the ground within the span of a few seconds.


    "Host that''s cheating! He cannot have pills prior to the match!" The host sneered at the people trying to make him lose face.


    "He is allowed you imbeciles. He created it during the match and so it''s valid. Look at the match and pay attention before you start sprouting bullshit." The audience was didn''t notice the insult as they were to busy looking at the kid. This kid was able to make a pill while also fighting. You required extremely good concentration and multitasking skills to be able to do this. Considering his amazing concentration, fighting skills and mindset, he would be at least a peak level 2.


    "Well this time the army produced some fine talents. One has the concentration, mindset and multitasking skills of at least a level 4 at level 1. The other has the ability to control aura, which is only possible for someone beyond level 8. Of course the latter is much, much stronger, but I wouldn''t have minded on having either one. I just wish I had them skills." The host sighed to himself sadly. His talent was great but nowhere near as great as these kids.


    "I''m... not finished!" The entire right side of Julius''s body was drooping and there was nowhere on his body that didn''t have blood or mud on it.


    "Why are you so adamant on winning? From what I know you''re not like this. You wouldn''t go to the extent of killing yourself over a fight. You do care about face, but not to the extent of death. Why?"


    "..."


    "Fine then, but don''t blame me for what happens." The left arm of the giant tree monster smashed down towards Julius. Julius could only shove himself to his right, but that didn''t save him from harm fully. He landed on his four limbs and the brunt of the violent shove made his body even more painful and weaker.


    Suddenly, violent tremors resounded with the ground, making the rubble fly up and down like a trampoline in fast motion. Several small fissures were made and you could see something green lurking and slithering. The green lurker abruptly lashed out and wrapped around Julius. Soon his entire body was mummified and nothing was visible.


    "Host, this match is obviously over. Please give me the victory."


    "Mmmmmmm!Mmmmmmm!" Humming sounds came from the mummified Julius, however the host acted indifferent towards this attitude.


    "Okay, you are the winner."


    Julius and Artemis were both quickly brought to the hospital and treated immediately. All of the officials that were currently supervising the talents for the Polios army were waiting in a distressed manner, hoping for nothing to happen to their talents.


    "They are fine now, but do not put too much of a burden on them for the next few weeks. No fighting or cultivating in that period of time." When they heard this they all wanted to rush in and see the current condition of their talents but were restricted by the healer. Only seven people could go in at a time. At first it was the two masters of those kids and then the second batch of people to be brought in were the fellow kids.


    The kids paid an equal amount of attention to both Artemis and Julius, however Julius shut them out completely and just stared into space. Luckily, the madness and overwhelming determination in his eyes were now lost and replaced with a calm, gentle look as if he was reminiscing he past. He even smiled once or twice.


    "Well hello kiddos! We need to talk!" A young man who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties barged into the children''s conversation. This didn''t give them a good impression of the man, as well as making them wary about him. They knew people would try to recruit or harm them for Julius''s power. They had never even seen this man!

 Chapter 13 - Blood contract!

    Happy new years!


    "Well kiddos, I''m sure you know why I am here, but before we go into specifics I would like to state a few things honestly. First and foremost, I would like to tell you my name. My name is Aster. I-"


    "Hmmph! You know the reason why you told us your name is to show a sign of respect, as not telling one''s name is a sign of disrespect. It''s the equivalent of thinking that the person you''re talking to is trash, therefore he isn''t worthy of your name. In this situation it can''t be said that it''s much different. You told us your name, but you aren''t willing to tell us anything about yourself. You would only do that under one of the two circumstances: you want to keep us unaware of your background, if so then we ain''t talking; you don''t think we''re worthy, if so then we ain''t talking." Julie said this all with an almost completely straight face. If she had controlled her eyes to not radiate coldness then she would have a solid poker face, however something told everyone that the cold face was kept on purpose.


    "Little miss, I was just about to go into that. If you had not interrupted me then you would have been acquainted with me."


    "Not really. You had envy within your eyes, showing me that you wished to probably explain how you were jealous of Julius and Artemis''s power. You would also have said I am Aster of the blah blah blah if you wished to explain yourself. You wouldn''t have really left a pause." Julius''s unwavering reply left the other kids stunned. To reply to someone, who was probably a high ranking member of the continent, without so much of a second glance was something a lot of adults wouldn''t dare do. On the other side, the left eye of Aster was twitching uncontrollably. An insult sent by someone of higher status was okay, even someone who was of equal status was ignorable, but this little girl just insulted him in front of his possible recruits.


    "Girl, you''re the first one to make me angry in twelve years. I hope you''re happy."


    "I don''t really care. I don''t see the point in idling around. Just introduce yourself so we can get this finished with quickly."


    At this point, Aster had a large vein sticking out of his neck. However he could do nothing to this girl and rather quickly introduced himself, "I am Aster from the Valhallan Combat Dojo. You know who the host or the judge is right? Well that is me-"


    "-But we saw the host. He''s at least 35. Also why are you called host instead of referee or judge?"


    "Well it''s because I use a labori. You all do know what a labori is, right?" Aster looked around and puzzled expressions were plastered onto all of the children''s faces. "Urghh, how do you guys not know what a fucking labori is? Well I''m not your teacher and so I won''t go into a super detailed or lengthy description. Just imagine a person, now imagine that person being controlled. That''s a labori. It''s very simple."


    "That''s not really a proper description. But it''s k." It was Terra''s turn this time to insult Aster.


    "Just shut up. I shouldn''t even have to lower my status for you brats."


    "Weren''t you the one that wanted to recruit me and Julius?" Artemis had slowly lifted himself up to a position where he was no longer lying down. Using the pillow as support, he sat up properly. "Although we are pissing you off, you should know your place in this kind of situation. We didn''t come to you, you came to us. With that in mind, you should stop thinking that your status even means anything. In fact, me and Julius would probably have more status and power than you in the future. This isn''t even counting the others."


    This was the last straw for Aster, as he stamped out of the room angrily. This brought great alarm to the officials outside of the room. They wished to run to the kids and ask the situation, but they couldn''t in fear of fighting with a force unnecessarily.


    "Those fucking brats! To be fair, they were right, but that''s beside the point. They had no right to do that shit to me." Aster had walked down several corridors since his conversation with the brats, but still remembered the conversation he had a few minutes back and it caused his walking to slowly become more aggressive as he thought about it more. As he turned the corner he found, to his surprise, a fairly handsome boy with medium-sized blue hair. His right foot leaned against the wall, making his knee stick out. He was standing in a position as if he was waiting for someone.


    "Aren''t you one of the brats?" Growled Aster.


    "Yes I am."


    "What do you want?"


    "Do you have any powerful spells for darkness mages?"


    "Of course I do, but why?" It was pretty obvious what the brat was implying, but to stop any unnecessary confusions, Aster led the conversation on.


    "Well, it''s pretty obvious that I want spells."


    "Why don''t you ask your teacher?"


    "I''m not planning on staying there for too long. Once I get the opportunity, I will leave."


    "So you''re saying you''d join my sect in exchange for some skills? You don''t seem like a very loyal fellow."


    "Well it''s not that I''m not loyal, I just don''t feel a connection towards the adults. The kids are... interesting and I like my master, but that''s it. That''s not enough to convince me to stay. Also I''m not saying I''d join your sect, in fact I hate sects. They limit freedom. So yeah, what I''m saying is that I''ll grant you 5 favours. Of course when you cash in these favours you can''t just tell me to act like bait for you or suicide."


    "Well, why should I accept? I mean you may be the friends of those two talented brats, but that doesn''t mean you''d be talented yourself."


    "Heh, what you see is confidential so before you see this, we need to make a blood contract. I''ve already made it, so you can just sign right there." Wess produced a short scroll and pointed his finger right next to place that needed to be signed.


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


    In response to this, Aster bit his thumb and let the blood flow down. He pressed with his thumb against the scroll, allowing the scroll to absorb an adequate amount of his blood.


    "Aren''t you going to do it as well?"


    "Wow pops, how do you not know this stuff? No wonder you got bullied by the rest." Hearing this caused Aster to grind his teeth in silence.


    "I''m only nineteen. That''s six to eight more years of life than you, but I was also born into a large sect and so don''t have much experience in the outside world. Wait come to think of it, how are you so... smart? No not smart, is it cunning? So yeah, how are so you cunning? You shouldn''t have much experience in the outside world."


    "Would you believe me if I said that I was born with a horrible childhood?"


    "No, I wouldn''t."


    "Why not?"


    "Doesn''t seem logical. Normal civilians, unless extremely talented in something like the art of war, are useless. This makes it so that all rich or city lords are people with a lot of elites or are elites themselves. Now considering that the army are probably recruiting from villages, there is a very low chance that an expert would be in village, and so people wouldn''t be degraded or treated as slaves. If an expert was in a village then the army would also stay clear of that village, in fear of angering that expert for no reason. Now put this together and you find that you''re probably from a village of mortals." Hearing this made Wess raise an eyebrow, but nothing more.


    "That doesn''t explain my talent."


    "That''s simple. You were abandoned at birth, inherited a legacy or one of your parents is an expert. Those are the most logical explanations, but there could be other possibilities."


    "Wow, your guesses are pretty good. You got it spot on."


    "Now, show me you power!" Irritation was evident on Aster''s face.


    "Okay. Remember not to tell, well, unless you wanna die." Before allowing Aster to retaliate, Wess put both of his hands in a position that resembled the spell ''Light Burst''. Aster immediately felt a chill in the air, and put on a fighting stance. The mage essence in the air was slowly being absorbed into Wess''s hands. Wess''s body was surrounded by chilled air.


    "What the fuck. This is extremely freaky, and what the fuck is this feeling I''m getting from him. I''ve never gotten this feeling before and I''ve duelled like almost 100 times."


    Suddenly, Wess''s bloodshot eyes opened and blood trickled down from it. His eyes had a cold look to it, and from his hands something very dark was appearing. All of Wess''s clothes swayed violently, even though there was no wind in the corridors. Faint particles surrounded Wess''s hands and started to form a dark, ominous light.


    HHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMM


    A beam shot out of Wess''s hands and crashed into the wall, causing several tiny pieces to fall to the floor. The beam of light had broken several layers and Wess could see that he had broken into the men''s bathroom. Luckily, almost everyone was spectating the current matches in the arena, therefore no one was here to see what Wess did.


    "You... You should understand the fundamental laws behind each magic type, and that there is no way to do this with darkness type magic. No one in history has done this." To make breakthroughs like Wess has done you need a combination of talent in the specific magic, talent in the aspect of that magic, brains and enlightenment. You could get this enlightenment through constant pondering and meditation, or just getting it luckily with the spur of the moment. Wess''s was a combination of both, because it couldn''t happen with one month of pondering, however that one month of constant pondering allowed his brain to soak up new ideas and he was more acute to his own surroundings, increasing his chances of getting a random or lucky enlightenment.


    Wess''s current body was not horrible, but definitely not in great condition. His sleeves were in pieces on the floor, and there were several cuts on Wess''s shirt. His eyes had blood drooling down it, and his eyes were covered in red, but that was just it. There wasn''t any internal damage, nor was there any visible external damage.


    "Well, when will you give me some spells?"


    "Oh, well here." Aster casually threw a small scroll towards Wess. However his arm suddenly felt as cold as death when he threw it to Wess.


    "Tut tut tut. Looks like you know nothing of blood contracts. Blood contracts are basically sealed with our thoughts and wills. It was obvious when I said I wanted spells that I meant good or strong spells. You knew this of course, and so that was your thought at the time. You knew what I meant and signed the blood contract while knowing it. This meant you will have to acknowledge our agreement."


    "I said I''d give you a spell, but never said when."


    "Do I have to repeat what I just said? I literally just said that it''s our thoughts, and I of course thought that I''d get it soon. Maximum around two months." Actually Aster already knew this, however he wanted to see if he could get any reaction out of Wess to see if he was bullshitting. Unfortunately, there was no reaction so Aster knew that Wess was talking the truth. Wess had surprised him a lot, but keeping emotions in check was an impossibility for someone this young. Knowledge was rare, but possible. Unless someone is emotionless, which the kid probably isn''t judging from his greed, there is no way for the kid to be able to control emotions this efficiently.


    "Well, better over and done with. Come with me." Aster walked off slowly, with Wess following right behind. Wess silently hid the scroll within his tattered clothes.