《Ula (read description.)》 Chapter 0 - Obsidian School ¡°Welcome to a new beginning in your measly little lives, I¡¯m going to keep this short as you are all unworthy, and as you all stand at the moment, you¡¯re all maggots, frail little bugs in which anyone could crush, yes, welcome to Obsidian, my school, my pride.¡± The man speaking in front a group of 150 new students was the Master of the school, everyone knew him only as the Master, he stood on a column of black obsidian reaching two meters high above the stage and radiated an air of dominance which made it hard to breathe, the column was as black as the darkest night and it seems he was also wearing a matching robe, he had long white hair and a matching beard and his cold, piercing red eyes made it impossible to make eye contact. His tone was low and quiet but everyone in the hall could hear it as clearly as their own voice, the new students were all sitting in a hall with around 30,000 seats, far more than they ever needed but it made the hall look grand on all scales, the back row of seats stood 40 meters high in this grand hall and the obsidian platform/column in which the Master stood was above the normal stage, 50 meters high, the highest place within the room, it gave the students the impression of being far inferior to the speaker and everyone within the room would probably of agreed with this thought. After the welcoming ceremony, or should I say the not so very welcoming ceremony, everyone funneled out of the hall in rows of their seating, in front of the crowd leaving the hall was three hooded men wearing the same robes as the Master, everyone instantly recognised them as teachers, the man in the middle of the three turned around and raised his hand, making the noise within the crowd die down until all you could hear was footsteps of some stragglers behind catching up, ¡°follow me, we¡¯re going to the secondary hall, from here, we¡¯ll tell you the arrangements, come along now¡± Everyone followed the three through the vast halls which seemed to span in all directions, after what seemed like forever we reached a massive room, or the secondary hall as they called it, we all walked in and stood in rows as the three men walked onto the platforms in front of us, this is when I realised that they didn¡¯t have any faces, their faces which should of been there were just blackness under the hood, I admit this scared me a bit, but as they were teachers I suppressed my fear and continued to wait for them to speak. The teacher in the middle walked forward 1 meter ahead of the other two, this confirmed my suspicions that he was the more senior teacher, again he raised his hand and the room came to silence, what a neat trick I thought. ¡°As all of you with a brain have deduced, we are teachers here in Obsidian, and before the less observant of you freak out because of our appearance, let me tell you a bit about us, we are called ¡®shadows¡¯, our Master, the Master created us to teach within his school, you better get used to this because every teacher here in Obsidian is a shadow except for the vice-master and a few others, now, moving on, let me tell you a bit about this school. We are the greatest and mightiest school in existence, the Master created the Obsidian School a hundred and thirty years ago in the 1095th calender year, we teach our students how to awaken their magic or magic abilities and the knowledge they need to control it, there are 7 years within the School, you new students are First years and then next year you become Second years, and so on, however, you can only become second years if you pass the end of year exams in the First year, if not then you will have to stay on the year until you pass,this process is followed until you graduate. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Your years will be split into 7 classes, class 1, class 2, class 3, class 4, class 5, class 6 and class 7, each class will have a teacher dedicated to teaching them, I¡¯ll will now send you the details on your mana boards, dismissed.¡± - I pulled out my Mana board from within the grey robes they gave to all new students and proceeded to turn it on, the Mana board is a piece of technology which runs off mana, it¡¯s more or less like a handheld computer (author note - think Ipad). [ Please Show authorisation ] This must be a security measure I thought, as it was showing a thumbprint sign I gathered it wanted me to place my thumb on it, after doing this a window popped up with the details the teacher said he sent us, [ Zepp Alkery - First year, -| Class 7 - Teacher - Runru |- ] First things first, finding where class 7 is, I guess I¡¯ll have to ask around as they didn¡¯t bother giving us a map or anything. I took a look at my fellow students, there was a mix of races within the students, ah first let me explain, On our planet, Ula, there is one giant continent which is called Ein, we have many different species of intelligent life, we have the humans, dragons, demons, elves and a few other subspecies who are interbreeds between races, everyone calls them hybrids, they are like everyone else it¡¯s just they aren¡¯t a pure species of a certain race, just intermixed. The four races live in different parts of the continent, the Humans live in the East, the Dragon live in the West, the Demons live in the South and the Elves live in the North, all the races look the same except for certain traits, the humans have no traits, the dragon have horns, the demons have tails and the elves have pointy ears, apart from this you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell the difference between them. All four of the races have the potential to be born with magic or magic abilities , for all races the probability a child being born with magic or magic abilities is 1 in 100, these children have to go to special schools to learn how to awaken and learn to control their magic, the Obsidian school is the greatest of all these schools, it stands in the middle of the continent and is ran by a man simply known as the Master, one of the most powerful beings in the continent. Chapter 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is my first ever attempt at writing something so please give me lots of advice and don''t be shy on suggestions and criticism ;) Thank you! Chapter 1 - Dragon girl
Quote:All four of the races have the potential to be born with magical abilities, for all races the probability a child being born with magical abilities is 1 in 100, these children have to go to special schools to learn how to awaken and learn to control their magic, the Obsidian school is the greatest of all these schools, it stands in the middle of the continent and is ran by a man simply known as the Master, one of the most powerful beings in the continent.
To my right I hear someone sighing rather loudly, I turn my head and see a girl with horns, she must be a dragon, she is tall and slender and her face is sharp but beautiful, her jet black hair reaches down to her waist and her stature gives her a majestic aura. I strike up a conversation with this beautiful dragon girl, ¡°Hey, what class are you in? I¡¯m in class 7, Kind of a joke they didn¡¯t give us a map or anything huh?¡± she turns and looks at me with her large purples eyes and opens her cute little lips, ¡°I¡¯m in class 7 too, they didn¡¯t give it to so i¡¯m assuming it¡¯s a test of sorts, i mean if we couldn¡¯t even find our way to the classroom then i¡¯m sure were fucked¡± I start chuckling after hearing what she said, ¡°Whats so funny?¡± she asks, ¡°well, i just didn''t expect that type of language from you, bravo¡± ¡°Well, want to try and find it with me?, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll do better as a team¡± ¡°That might be for the best, by the way, I¡¯m Yamu Nith, I¡¯m 16, what about you?¡± She seems to want to be friends, ¡°I¡¯m Zepp Alkery, you can just call me Zepp, I¡¯m also 16, we better get moving, let¡¯s go¡± We start walking towards to exit of the hall and go back into the vast corridors that seem to be never ending, everything was made of obsidian, living up to it¡¯s name, you could even see your reflection on the polished black bricks that seemed to eerily give out a glow that made the corridors even darker. ¡°Lets go straight ahead, my instincts tell me it''s this way¡± I decided to trust Yamu¡¯s instincts based on the fact that the dragons instincts are usually not wrong, especially on direction. We seemed to have walked for about 10 minutes when we finally saw a room titled ¡®First Year, Class 7¡¯, the corridor that the room resided in was lighter than the others, it even had a few other rooms along the hallway, as we got to the room we opened the room into a standard classroom of desks and a 100 inch monitor in which the teacher must use to teach. ¡°I think we¡¯re the first ones here Yamu¡± I decided to break the silence that seemed to linger between us since we set off, she nodded in reply and we both walked into the room and sat near the back left of the room, the window seats. We were sitting in the class for around 3 minutes the door opened and a black robed man walked in with the rest of what i¡¯m guessing are the students of this class, he was the same as the other three teachers, a shadow created by the master. After everyone had settled in the classroom he began his introduction, ¡°Hello everyone, welcome to class 7, i¡¯m your teacher, Runru, you however, will call me teacher, let¡¯s start with everyone giving an introduction, up first is the boy in the back row near the window¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I nodded and stood up as quietly as possible, everyone in the class was looking at me whilst I spoke, ¡°Zepp Alkery, human, 16 years old¡± After that was Yamu¡¯s turn, she did exactly like I did ¡°Yamu Nith, Dragon, 16 years old¡±, everyone in the class carried on the process, there are people from all types, I see dwarfs, demons, dragons and elves and a few hybrids too. Teacher Runru then began to tell us more about the school. It seems that tomorrow we will be tested on what our magical abilities are, they are split into different elements, there are the 6 basic elements that make up magic, earth, water, wind, fire, light and dark, people born with magic have a main affinity towards a certain element, the element in which you have the main affinity towards is the one that comes most natural to you, it is easier to learn, faster to grow and becomes the most powerful element of the mage. Teacher Runru then begins to explain about magic. Magic is split into ranks and classifications, the lowest rank magic power someone can have is rank F, then it goes, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and the highest rank is X rank, Teacher says that the Master is rank S, and he is the most powerful known person on the continent, apparently S rank can make armies and kingdoms kneel to their feet, the master is that much of a scary character, even his voice gives an aura of dominance and oppressiveness. Teacher Runru kept talking all day and told us the rules of the academy and so on, most of it was boring talk and pleasantries, he said this day was more of an introduction day and the real lessons will begin tomorrow, after he was finished it was 8pm, we had been in there for 10 hours straight and everyone was tired and bored, he dismissed us and told us to go back to the dorms. The dormitories are located in the courtyard, two big stone buildings were on each side of one of the tower walls, one was boys dorms and the other way girls, the students all had their own room because the buildings used some sort of magic where its bigger on the inside, the master apparently created this function. Afterwards, I arrived at my room which was room 499 it was right at the top of the building and was next to other first years, we got told our rooms and given the magic codes for them when we enrolled, I walked into my room and took a look around, all my luggage was on the floor, the room was simple but rather spacey, it had a single bed, a kitchen and a bathroom, the room was comfortable and homely, I put all my luggage away, my clothes I put in the magic wardrobe, and my personal items i put into the magic chest, after this I got onto my bed because of the long day ahead of me, I was also feeling sleepy due to teacher runru¡¯s excessive speeches, I relaxed my body and closed my eyes, sleep soon overcame me. Chapter 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks for reading, next chapter is when the fun really begins it will also be a lot longer, these two chapters were just for setting the story/setting etc. :D Chapter 2 - Levels
Quote:I was also feeling sleepy due to teacher runru¡¯s excessive speeches, I relaxed my body and closed my eyes, sleep soon overcame me.
¡°Ju-ust fivee more minutess¡± The alarm clock drags me from the clutches of sleep unwillingly , I open my eyes one at a time and slowly get up, ¡°better do my normal routine stretches¡± , after stretching I grab some breakfast from the kitchen and get ready, todays the day of the magic power exam, I feel a lump in my stomach, I¡¯m nervous, afraid of the unknown, what if I suck at magic? what if the teacher Runru decides i¡¯m not good enough for obsidian school and expels me?, all these wild thought were racing through my head, enrolling had always been my dream and to get expelled now would make Mother luu and the twins worry about me. When I was 3 the orphanage in the elven city of Ruo found me abandoned at their doorstep, the owner of the orphanage, mother luu alkery picked me up and took me in as her own, she raised me and named me Zepp Alkery, using her last name, she said she was quite surprised when she found a human baby abandoned at their door as Ruo was an elven city and humans rarely came to the city as it was quite far away, she always told me how quiet I was saying I didn¡¯t cry or ever ask her for anything. When I just turned 14 mother luu told me that everyone on their 15 birthday has to be sent to the nearest temple to see if they have the abilities of magic, ¡°Little Zepp, If you have magic then all kinds of impossible things become possible, even if you do not have magic, do not fret as most kids don¡¯t, it¡¯s extremely rare, but if you do then you¡¯ll have to go to a special school to learn how to control it¡± Mother luu smiled at me after she finished speaking, her smile is beautiful, like a flower blooming in the spring, Mother luu always treated me like her own son and I loved her as my own Mother, I didn¡¯t even think of the possibility of meeting my real parents as Mother luu was more than enough. The orphanage was a small orphanage only ran by Mother luu with only 2 other kids living there, both of them I treat like a sister, we were extremely close, closer than most siblings, especially me and the twins, the twins were identical twins whose family died from a magical beast when they were travelling, Mother luu took them in when they were 2, they are called Sina and Sena, Sina is the oldest by 30 seconds, she makes a point of this to Sena all the time, both of them are identical in all aspects except sina has a little bit of red in her hair and Sena has a little bit of purple, the twins are what i¡¯d class as perfect, they have long silver hair which reached to their waist and a mix between grey and silver eyes and their little elf ears made them look majestic, their faces were the definition of beautiful and cute mixed together, in the last couple of years, through puberty they both grew to around 170 cm and have large ample breasts, their bodies are curvy and feminine for their age and all the boys in the neighbourhood couldn¡¯t keep their eyes off of them, both of them have been my best friends since we were little, we share everything and they both follow me around everywhere, always clinging to my arms and pouting when I even so much as looked at other girls. On my 15th birthday Mother luu took me to the local temple to test if I was born with magic or not, We arrived at the temple early the morning, I was excited and holding Mother luu¡¯s hand all the way to the temple, Sina and Sena wanted to come with me but they were still only 14 so they couldn¡¯t get tested yet, they pouted when they were told to stay at home but they obediently listened anyway. The local temple was a temple 2 stories high, the roof was shaped like the top of a triangle and It had stone columns coming down supporting the large roof, you could tell it was a place of peace by the atmosphere once inside, to get in we to explain to the guards that we were taking the magic test that was being conducted today as it was my 15th birthday, once we were inside we spoke to a man that looked like a monk, he wore a green robe and had a shaved head, we told him I wanted to take the magic test which everyone was eligible for when they are 15, he nodded and we followed him into the main hall. In the hall we stopped in front of a computer like device, but it looked more ancient, it was made of a material i¡¯ve never seen before, it was stone coloured and gave a bluish glow to it, the monk told me to put my hands on the device, he said that if the device glows brighter then I have magic, if it loses it¡¯s glow then I don¡¯t. I stepped up to the platform in which the device was on, Mother luu smiled at me and nodded, I placed my hands on the device and nothing happened, I kept it on for a minute or so and the device started to glow brighter. ¡°Yay! Little zepp, you¡¯ve been blessed with magic just like how you wanted! i¡¯m so proud of you¡± she started clapping and had a bright smile on her face, I smiled too and was thrilled with the results, I looked to the monk and he nodded and said ¡°Zepp Alkery, you''ve been born with magic, congratulations, we wish you well and prosperity on growing further¡±. After this I had to follow the monk and he gave me a document, he said this shows that i¡¯m a child born with magic and to keep it safe because when i¡¯m 16 I can choose which special school to go to and I will need this document to enroll. When we got back to the orphanage we opened the door and got bombarded by Sina and Sena, ¡°¡±Ze, how did it go!¡±¡± I did my best acting face and put on a sad face, ¡°I-I¡­ well¡­ ¡° Seeing this they both looked shocked and tears started to form in their eyes, oh crap I thought, I¡¯ve gone too far this time. ¡°Ze, please don¡¯t look sad we still love you! w-who needs magic!¡± ¡°Yeah!! like sena said, who need magic! w-we l-l-love you anyways!!¡± Their reaction made me smile and feel bright inside, I couldn¡¯t ask for anything more, I better tell them the truth before they feel sorry for me, ¡°I¡¯m just kidding you two, I passed! I¡¯ve got magic!¡± I beamed my smile at them and Mother luu did the same ¡°¡±Ze!! you tricked us!¡±¡± they pouted and ran and dive hugged me, this was their special move, both teaming up on me ¡°I¡¯m so happy Ze, you got what you always wanted, but is it selfish to think that we don¡¯t want you to leave us to go away to the special schools?¡± they looked at me with their cute faces, Sena nodded to what Sina said, looks like she feels the same. ¡±We will follow you wherever! yes, we¡¯ll have to take the test when we¡¯re 15 too, when that happens we¡¯ll come to wherever you are¡±, Sina nodded enthusiastically to Sena¡¯s speech, so cute I thought to myself. Mother luu walked up to us all and hugged us, ¡°Where do you want to go to Zepp?, you can choose any school you want, although some are harder than others, I¡¯d take a good think about it, Okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already chosen Mother, I want to go the Obsidian school!¡± ¡°¡±¡±Obsidian school?!?! isn¡¯t that the one ran by the scary master!¡±¡±¡± They all shouted in unison and looked baffled, Obsidian school is the most famous because it is ran by the strongest person on the continent and sits in the middle of Ein, It¡¯s also the hardest to graduate from and there are even rumours of people dying due to the hellish training they put you through there, they were all thinking a thought like why would you want to go there? Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I want to be strong, Magical beasts killed Sena and Sinas parents, I want to be strong enough to protect you three, Sena, Sina and Mother luu from anything and everything! I¡¯ll repay Mother for the love she¡¯s given me and everything you¡¯ve done for me!¡± I realised what I just said and blushed really hard, My face was bright red and I turned to look at the three of them, they had tears streaming down their faces and all looked extremely cute, ¡°Little Zepp, My son, Thank you so much, we all love you unconditionally and you''re the greatest thing to ever happen to us, your dream is beautiful, don¡¯t you agree girls?¡± ¡°¡±Y-YES, WE LUWVE YOU ZE!¡±¡± The twins started mumbling their words because they were still crying, we all hugged and they accepted my decision, I¡¯d be leaving when I turn 16 to join the school, the twins even said they¡¯d come with me when they¡¯re 16, I said I¡¯ll wait for them. ---- I walked out of my room and went to the training grounds which were underground, we were told to meet for the magic power test here, when I arrived at the training grounds I was one of the first there, people must of gotten lost I thought, the training grounds were a dome shaped arena made of obsidian and other materials I¡¯ve never seen before, inside the dome I realise that it was like a roman coliseum but much bigger and underground, the seating area was also smaller, in the middle of the dome were all types of devices and areas, whilst observing I spotted Teacher runru sitting near an area with a orb placed on a platform, I walked over to him and he turned to look at me and waved, ¡°Ah Mr Alkery, your one of the first here, go line up in front of the platform behind Miss Nith over there¡± When he mentioned Yamu I walked over and waved at her, she smiled and waved back, ¡°Your the first here Yamu? You beat me to it, must be your instincts as a dragon¡± ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re the first ones here because everyone elses sense of direction is shit hahahaha¡± I still can¡¯t get used to her vulgar language, I sigh inwardly, what a strange girl. ¡°Yamu, hows your room? is the girls dormitories like the boys? we have our own room and bathroom, kitchen and so on¡± ¡°It is indeed Zeppy my friend, all the girls were really excited and chatty once they found out they have their own rooms, they get excited over fucking everything girls do, don¡¯t they?¡± what is this girl saying, she even has a new nickname for me, ¡°Uh hey Yamu, you are a girl too you know?¡± she looks at me with a slightly crooked smile on her face which makes her look like a gangster, it looks strange in contrast to her beautiful appearance, but shes still cute, ah, this must be what some call gap moe. ¡°Thou shouldn''t compare thee to other girls Zeppy, I¡¯m much more mature huhuhu¡± Ah, she''s delusional too. ¡°Yamu, you''re a strange one aren''t you?¡± She smiled when I insulted her ¡°Well Zeppy my friend, the strangest ones are the coolest ones are they not?¡± Still delusional I thought, I sigh at the conversation I just had with this delusional, gangster, beautiful dragon, what a strange girl. In the midst of the conversation me and Yamu hear people coming into the training grounds, It looks like the rest of the students have arrived, they all look pretty worn out, they have probably been trying to find this place forever. ¡°Okay! gather round everyone, Line up behind Mr Alkery and Miss Nith, we¡¯ll be using this orb to test your magic power and the affinity, all you have to do is touch the orb with your hands and a window will display, do we have any volunteers to go first?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll show these peasants how powerful I am!¡± The boy who volunteered to go first was a demon called kuff mol, he had red, spiky hair and looked like a typical demon noble, he was arrogant and pompous and eager to prove himself, a typical rich boy who thought he was above others. ¡°Come forward Mr Mol, step onto the platform and place your hands on the orb¡± Teacher Runru casually responded to his speech and gave him instructions on what to do. Kuff stepped up with an arrogant manner about him and placed his hands on the orb. ¡°HAHAHA! DO YOU SEE THAT!¡± Kuff excitedly looked at the display status window, he was strong considering most peoples power rank when starting school is rank F, Teacher Runru looked bored and said ¡°Next¡±, this continued until it was Yamu¡¯s turn to touch the orb. ¡°Yamu Nith, please step forward¡± Yamu stepped onto the platform and turned around to look at me with her gangster grin, then placed her hands on the orb, I was speechless, she beat the highest rank in the class and her health and mana was almost double Kuff¡¯s and I thought he was strong! I turned around and looked at the rest of the students, they were all shocked, even teacher Runru had his mouth open in surprise, ¡°Amazing! a true genius Miss Nith!¡± she stepped down from the platform and the eyes of everyone was still following her, she then approached me and did her trademark grin, ¡°I told you the strangest are always the coolest huhuhuhuhu¡± ¡°That was amazing you¡¯ve only just awoken and you''re already a D rank¡± ¡°I¡¯m awesome aren¡¯t I Zeppy, bask in my coolness¡± I sigh inwardly at her overly dramatic speech and laugh, ¡°hahaha you are, you are¡± Interrupting our conversation teacher Runru says, ¡°Last but not least, Mr Alkery, good luck, you¡¯ve got a tough act to follow¡± I nod exaggeratedly and step onto the platform, everyone''s eyes are on me making me nervous, I walk up to the orb and place my hand on the orb. I hear a gasp from the students and teacher Runru, i¡¯m shocked myself, what does this window before me even mean? No one elses was like this, I turn to look at teacher Runru for guidance, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen this happen before, why doesn¡¯t it know your race, affinity and mana, It could be a glitch in the orb but the accuracy of the orb since the school opened has been 100%, meet me after class Mr Alkery, we¡¯ll discuss it then¡± My heart is thumping in my chest, I nod to teacher Runru nervously and get off the platform, I walk back to my spot and the eyes of the students follow me, this is going to be a long day I thought to myself sighing inwardly. Chapter 3 ----------------------------- Thank you for reading. Chapter 3 - Surprises In this chapter I have introduced ¡°[[ ]]¡± this is when Zepp thinks something or is speaking in his thoughts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- After all the other students went back to the dorms Teacher Runru called me to stay behind, We were the only ones in the class and he finally spoke to the nervous me, ¡°Mr Alkery, I have notified the Master of what has happened with your test, we will be going to his office now, follow me and be sure to stick closely¡± I nodded my head slowly and followed closely behind Teacher Runru, we walked through the pitch black obsidian halls, It looked like teacher Runru almost floated through the halls, he knew the way that well. After 10 minutes we arrived at what I guessed was the Masters office, huge pitch black doors blocked the entrance to a room at the back of the castle, teacher Runru used some sort of shadow magic and the doors opened slowly, we walked slowly into the room which looked like an ordinary office, everything was normal, it actually looked a bit too plain for the Master office I thought, behind the large oak desk was a large black leather chair, as soon as I walked into the room I instantly knew who was behind the chair, Teacher Runru kneeled down and spoke to the figure behind the desk, ¡°My lord, this boy, Zepp Alkery, is one of my students, he is the one I told you about¡± It was weird seeing teacher acting this respectful but I suppose it was in order because the Master was the one who created him out of magic, the Master opened his mouth and spoke to me for the first time, ¡°Little boy, I¡¯ve heard about your predicament, those orbs shouldn¡¯t be incorrect as I created them myself, quick, come here, I¡¯ll see what you are for myself¡± The Masters voice made me feel greatly inferior to the speaker, he was the eptimone of magic and the ultimate mage on the continent of Ein, he was an existence that was far beyond me and now he¡¯s speak right to me, I calmed my nervousness and walked towards the Master. ¡°Give me your hand boy, this may hurt a little¡± I did as I was told and gave my hand to him, his hand was smooth but powerful and you could tell he was ancient at the first touch, my hairs on my arms stood up from his touch, almost in freight, it was like a built in instinct to cower before something more powerful than oneself, even If I didn¡¯t my brain knew there was no chance I could even struggle even if he were to snap my neck right here. He placed his fingernail in the middle of my palm and pressed downwards, this drawn blood, he then close his eyes, after 10 seconds of silence he opened them again, the look in his eyes was much different from before, he now looked at me as I was somehow a factor of the unknown, he even looked nervous. ¡°What the heck are you boy?! I can¡¯t so much as even tell what your race is! let alone your magic or mana, it¡¯s as if your body is rejecting me, but that¡¯s impossible, you''re still so weak, fragile, this can¡¯t possibly be happening, you look human but you¡¯re obviously something different, something I¡¯ve never seen before¡± His voice boomed all around the room, the aura of dominance he released in his shout made me fall to my knees, I looked at my hand, my heart was thumping in my chest, but this time it wasn¡¯t nervousness, It was adrenaline, it was like my body was excited by the prospect of meeting a powerful opponent, I couldn¡¯t understand the reactions of my body, why am I so excited? why is my body feel like it¡¯s preparing for battle?, In the middle of my thoughts the Master spoke once again, ¡°Runru, leave now, the boy will stay with me for a while longer, do not disturb us!¡± ¡°Yes my lord!¡± Teacher Runru obediently went out of the room and closed the giant doors behind him, when he left the Master released his suffocating aura and I stood up to face him. ¡°You¡¯re quite the mystery aren¡¯t you young one? I could feel your killing intent from here, It seems you want to fight me does it? do you know how many more thousands times more powerful I am than you? I could crush you like a little bug in millions of different ways and you wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything, yet you want to fight me? interesting.¡± I quickly stammered a reply so he wouldn¡¯t get the wrong idea, I didn¡¯t even understand why my body was acting this way myself, ¡°M-my lord, I-I don¡¯t want to fight at all! it¡¯s my body that¡¯s reacting this way, I can¡¯t control it, my heart is thumping, my blood is boiling and my body is readying itself for battle when I touched your hand, it¡¯s like it wants to test itself, please, help me!¡± He looked at me in the eyes for the first time and smiled, ¡°Interesting, you''re so interesting, so you say that your body is acting on it¡¯s own, like an instinct?, oh and cut the formal chatter, it¡¯s all for appearances, I have to act like that when the shadows are around or they might start thinking their master is weak, call me Sir, yes, that sounds good¡± he put his hand on his chin and rubbed his long white beard like he was a scientist inspecting a specimen of an experiment. ¡°Yes, exactly like that S-Sir, this has never happened before, only when you touched me, it was like my body knew how strong you were and wanted to compare itself in comparison, though i¡¯m so weak so I don¡¯t see why I would want that¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hmmm, boy, come to my office in exactly an hour I¡¯ll prepare a powerful spell which will unlock the mysteries that are surrounding you at the moment¡± I nodded quickly and left the room. - 1 hour later I went back to the Master¡¯s office and knocked on the huge doors, they opened almost instantly and I walked into the room and they close themselves automatically behind me, I looked to see what was different in the room and noticed a huge pentagon formation on the floor, the master was smiling on his chair and looked at me, ¡°Welcome, boy, we¡¯re going to unlock your mysteries with the help of this pentagon, the pentagon is loaded with powerful magic which will read you from atom to atom to find out what you are, it¡¯s the same as the orb but thousands of times more powerful, come let us start, take off your uniform and wear this¡± He threw me a pair of robes that was brown in colour, they had the same pentagon on them, he told me to sit in the middle of the pentagon, ¡°This will hurt boy, it¡¯s going to read you from every single atom and cell in your body, the pain will be extreme and unbearable, it will feel like your skin is being burned, you need to stay conscious no matter what, okay?¡± ¡°Y-yes sir¡± I was scared, sweat was dripping from my forehead and my hands were shaking, I put on the robe and sat in the middle of the pentagon, once in position, the Master shouted, ¡°ACTIVATE.¡± Instantly I felt every cell in my body burst into flames, my skin burnt like it was in the fires of hell, I could barely hold myself back from going unconscious, It felt like I was sitting on the surface of the sun and my body was burning into ashes whilst I was still alive, ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¡± I let out a scream, It could barely be called human, it was the scream of someone burning in the pits of hell and chained for eternity, I grabbed my head with one hand and punched the floor with the other, blood was dripping down my head and my hand was broken from punching the hard obsidian floor, but i didn¡¯t care, I wanted to stop this pain, anything to take my mind of it, I thought about banging my head on the floor, but all of a sudden the pain stopped and the glowing from the pentagon also faded, ¡°Hahhh, hahhhhh, hahhhh¡± I breathed heavily inwards and outwards, the pain had stopped and the Master walked up to me and healed my mangled hand and head, ¡°Well done boy, that was the worst pain anyone could feel, I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t wish it even on your worst enemy, it¡¯s about a thousand times more painful than being skinned alive and having salt poured all over your fleshy skin, the reason this soul magic is forbidden and banned is because of the pain it inflicts, you even managed to stay conscious, a very well done, now let us take a look at the results, STATUS ACTIVATE¡± A window appeared in the middle of the dark room: ¡°What the hell is that?¡± The Master interrupted the silence in the room with the question we were both thinking. He carried on, ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of this race, or magic, Nether prince, Abyss and blood, in all my life I never expected this, we have to keep this a secret from everyone, do you understand my boy?¡± I was still confused and freaked out screaming ¡°I¡¯m an abomination!!, why me?! why was i born this way?!¡± *SLAP* The Master slapped my face to get me out of that mindset and looked me in the eye and yelled, ¡°Young one, you mustn¡¯t think like that, we will figure out what this is in time, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll unravell what you are, I¡¯ll do research on the magic and your race, all we know is that right now you are unbalanced, look at your health, rank and mana, it is so mismatched, as I said before we need to keep this a secret, I¡¯ll give you an item that lets you change your status window to display what you want it to display, never show anyone your race or magic, do you understand? here take this¡± He handed me a silver ring that fit perfectly on my little finger, the knowledge on how to use the ring instantly came to mind and I thought the command, [[edit status window]] I changed my stats to how I wanted them and hid my weird magic and race and my abnormally high mana. [[This¡¯ll do nicely]] I show the Master what I have changed my status window to and he nods, ¡°Yes, keep it like that, you look like a normal first year human with that, very good, now, let me begin my research, you go back to your dorm, I¡¯ll speak to you telepathically if I need you or find something¡± ¡°Yes sir¡± I hurry back to my room and when I¡¯m finally there I crash on my bed, all the pain, surprises and confusion has left me utterly exhausted, I close my eyes and drift off to sleep too tired to think of what tomorrow will bring. Chapter 4 -------------- Thanks for reading! Chapter 4 - Training practice [[............]] I woke up to a faint sound in my head, It was like buzzing but not quite, It made me feel slightly uncomfortable and nauseous, I could feel little bits of pain as my head throbbed where I could feel the buzzing, It was easy to ignore due to the pain I experienced yesterday, this was a warm summer breeze in comparison. I lay on my bed looking at the ceiling relaying what happened the day before in my mind, everything that happened didn¡¯t seem real, maybe it was a dream? I look at my left hand and see a small silver ring on my little finger, definitely not a dream then.. I go and grab my mana board from my chest and call home, I decided and made up my mind that I¡¯d tell them everything that happened, I trust them but can¡¯t help but feel nervous, the possibilities of questions like ¡®what if they won¡¯t love me anymore?¡¯, ¡®what if they think i¡¯m an abomination?¡¯, floated through my mind, however my mind was made up, even if the Master said not to tell anyone, I will tell them, afterall they are the people I love the most. [Call Mother luu, correct?] My mana board asks me for confirmation, I don¡¯t hesitate, ¡°Yes, Call.¡± after 10 seconds a window popped up which shows the caller in real time, this is another function of mana boards, they can be used to talk to people like you would face to face from a long distance, they are also sold on the market, I, however, got mine from the academy, good thing I told Mother luu to buy one. ¡°Ah! Little Zepp!, I thought you¡¯d never call us! Me and the twins have been worried about you, quick, Sena, Sina, Zepp¡¯s called us!¡± I saw Mother luu¡¯s beautiful face pop up on the window and her smile was giving me warm from even so far away, after she called Sena & Sina, I heard little feet piterpatering across the floor in the background, ¡°¡°Ze!¡±¡± Two beautiful faces joined Mother luu¡¯s in the window, I smiled brightly at them and said ¡°I missed you guys¡± We then talked about all kinds of things and miscellaneous topics, after a while they realised my face grew serious, they asked me what was wrong and I explained everything that happened to me. After I told them there was silence for a minute or so, I looked down and was nervous, all of sudden Mother luu¡¯s voice broke the silence, ¡°I can¡¯t believe that the horrible Master hurt you so much! my baby!, HOW DARE HE!?¡± Sina and Sena nodded along with Mother luu¡¯s comment, ¡°¡±HOW DARE HE HURT OUR ZE!?¡±¡± all three of them looked like they would rip the head off the Master if they saw him, ¡°I¡¯m confused, why would that be the first thing you say after you find out I¡¯m some strange race with weird magic to boot?¡± They also now looked confused when I asked this question, Sena decided to speak for all three of them, ¡°Ze, it seems you don¡¯t trust us very much, we love you unconditionally and even if the whole continent was against you we¡¯d stick by your side¡± Sina nodded again energetically, ¡°Yeah that¡¯s right sis! we¡¯re going to follow Ze forever!¡± They both looked really energetic, trust those fellows to throw out lines like this in a serious conversation, I turned my eyes to look back at Mother luu, she just smiled, ¡°Zepp, You''re my son no matter what, I¡¯m agreeing with the girls on this!¡± I almost teared up a bit hearing them all saying this, with a big smile on my face I nodded, We then talked about other things such as how the school is, what it¡¯s like at home and so on, after talking to them for a good while I realised If i didn¡¯t go now I¡¯d be late for class, ¡°Mother, Sina, Sena, I have to go now, I won¡¯t be able to call you for a while, Bye, I love you guys!¡± ¡°¡±¡±Bye! we love you too!¡±¡±¡± I ended the call and renewed my resolution, I¡¯m going to get stronger for all of them, at any cost. - I put on my uniform and headed outside the dormitories and into the castle through the main entrance, there were a lot of students out and about, I guessed they were all walking to class like me, the hallways looked brighter due to the amount of people walking through them in the day and I was surprised it was this busy, the other years must of resumed classes I thought to myself. After walking around for a while I found my way to my classroom, everyone was already there and I seemed to be the last one to arrive, I sat down in my seat and Teacher Runru called me to the front of the class, ¡°Mr Alkery, I heard the Master fixed the fault in the orb, come and show me your status to me and the class.¡± I got up and went to the front, [[Show status]] ¡°There we go, very good, now I can teach you properly¡± Teacher Runru was looked disappointed, he must of thought for something unusual, but being a totally normal status window he now looked bored. When I showed my window to everyone I heard a few laughs and giggles, I even heard someone whisper to their friend ¡°So weak¡±. ¡°Go back to your seat.¡± I did as I was told and went back to my seat, on the way there I walked past the desk of Kuff Mol, he whispered to me whilst I walked past, ¡°Weakling, you don¡¯t even deserve to be in this school, fucking scrub¡± I ignored his taunts and just walked to my desk, Yamu, who sits behind me tried to console me, ¡°It¡¯s alright Zeppy, don¡¯t listen to them, they¡¯re jealous that we¡¯re friends, after all, I¡¯m quite the looker¡± ¡°Yamu, I¡¯m not sure if that was meant to make me feel better but i¡¯m thanks anyway, I¡¯ll just ignore them¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Bosses always take care of their underlings¡± When saying that I didn¡¯t miss her usual Gangster grin, this girl... ¡°Yamu¡­ I¡¯m not your underling..¡± ¡°Hmmmm okay Zeppy, you¡¯ll come around eventually!¡± - ¡°Okay class, today we¡¯re going to be doing practical training, we will be training your magic and you¡¯ll be learning how to control it, meet me in the training grounds with your training gear on in 20 minutes, Dismissed.¡± Teacher Runru explained to the class what we¡¯re to be doing today. I go back to my room and grab my training gear, the training gear is the standard gear that the school gave us for training in, they are tight black trousers and top, they are designed for flexible movement and made of a material that gives elasticity and semi-resistance to low grade magic, the shoes and gloves they gave us are also made out of this material, they offer us protection and freedom of movement. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I put my gear on and looked into the mirror, I saw that it fit perfectly, me being 180cm tall, shoulder length black hair and yellow eyes, it fit my appearance perfectly, I was happy with how it looked and headed to the training grounds, once outside my room I saw my neighbour for the first time, he walked out of his room the same time as me and also had his training gear on. ¡°H-Hi Zepp, are you going to the training grounds?¡± He was in the same class as me but I didn¡¯t know we were neighbours till now, ¡°Hey.. uh, sorry what''s your name, It must of slipped my mind?¡± I tried to ask his name without sounding rude, he probably knew my name because Teach Runru called me out in front of the class today. ¡°I apologise for being so rude, not introducing myself first, my names Omil Eqil, nice to meet you, although i¡¯ve seen you in class this is the first time we¡¯ve spoke in person¡± ¡°Nice to meet you Omil, glad to have you as my neighbour, we better get going to the training grounds or Teacher Runru will kill us¡± ¡°Yes, of course, I think he really would kill us if we¡¯re late¡± We both decided to walk with each other to the training grounds, Omil is an elf, he has pointy ears and is around 160cm tall, green eyes, short fluffy blonde hair and an appearance that would be best described as androgynous, his face would be called cute, the only reason I knew he wasn¡¯t a girl was because this is the male dorms. - Once we arrived teacher Runru called us all over, ¡°First, we¡¯ll look at the magic you can do with your affinity magic , up first, Kuff Mol¡± Kuff smiled with his arrogant attitude and walked forward next to Teacher, he then looked at me with disdain and activated his magic with his right hand, a small ball of wind appeared in his hand, it was a wind ball around 2 cm in diameter and width, it was small but it floated above his palm, Teacher Runru nodded and told him to try and throw it at one of the training dummies, he flicked his hand and it travelled towards the training dummy at around 20mph, it was slow but effective, the dummy which was shaped as a person was blown backwards from the impact. ¡°Excellent, that will be a good range attack if you develop it, there will also be more uses in the future, your magic uses will also expand if you develop in rank, okay next, Omil Eqil¡± Kuff went back in the crowd of students and Omil came out, he looked slightly nervous being in front of so many people, he was obviously a shy person and speaking to me when I came out my room was probably him trying to make friends. ¡°Okay Mr Eqil, gather your mana and show us the magic of your most comfortable magic.¡± Omil nodded and closed his eyes, after 5 seconds a white mist appeared around his body, it looked like a cloud appeared around him, ¡°very good, okay stop.¡± Omil deactivated his magic and walked back into the crowd and next to me, I whispered to him, ¡°What¡¯s your affinity and rank?¡± ¡°My affinity is light and my rank is E¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s cool, I think you''re the only person with the light affinity in our class¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s probably because I¡¯m an elf, it¡¯s not uncommon for elves to have an affinity to light¡± ¡°Ah that explains it, still, your magic was pretty cool¡± ¡°T-Thanks Zepp¡± Omil looked embarrassed by my praise and even blushed a little and smiled, looks like he isn¡¯t used to people praising him I thought to myself. Yamu, who was next to us was also impressed and said ¡°That magic looked pretty cool Omil, and it must be, If I, Yamu Nith, is complimenting you¡± ¡°Ignore her Omil, shes a strange one¡± ¡°HEY! Don¡¯t tell him strange things Zeppy, I¡¯m the coolest¡± ¡°Hahaha by the way you guys are acting it¡¯s like you guys are lovers¡± Omil threw out that bombshell, he isn¡¯t one for subtlety I see. ¡°No we¡¯re just friends Omil¡± I turn and look at Yamu to see what she¡¯s got to say about this but I notice a red flush on her face, w-was she blushing?! ¡°w-w-were not lovers, just friends, yes just friends, no wait, he¡¯s my underling! yes that¡¯s what he is!¡± ¡°Yamu I told you I¡¯m not your underling!¡± Omil starts chuckling at our overly erratic conversation, then I hear my name being called by Teacher Runru, ¡°Mr Alkery, Your turn¡± I walk out of the crowd and next to where teacher is standing. I feel rather nervous about this because I don¡¯t know any spells for my affinity magic, and I can¡¯t even use it because the Master told me not to show anyone, luckily I know the lowest ranked spell of water magic ¡®droplet ball¡¯. I close my eyes and gather the water element into my hand, after 20 seconds I can feel that I have gathered enough, I focus and try and bring physical presence to the water element mana, I focus really hard and after 10 seconds I get results, a little water droplet appears into my palm. ¡°Uh.. try throwing it to the training dummy¡± Teacher Runru looks totally underwhelmed and bored, I try and keep it in physical form long enough and throw it towards the training dummy, It hits and disappears on impact leaving a tiny wet patch on the dummy. I hear giggling coming from the crowd due to my weak performance and walk back into the crowd slightly embarrassed. ¡°Uhh, Next, Miss Nith¡± Yamu energetically leaves the crowd and smiles when she reaches next to Teacher Runru, her smile would of been cute if not for the crookedness of it making her look like a gangster. ¡°Miss Nith, whenever you¡¯re ready¡± Yamu without even closing her eyes stretches her hand out towards the training dummy, from her hand a flame which I could feel from here shot out, It took the shape of a ball and flew to the training dummy and set it on flames and burnt it to ashes. ¡°Amazing! Miss Nith that was the best performance all day, you''re a natural¡± Yamu smiled and walked back next to me and whispered in my ear, ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to be my underling Zeppy, because I must admit I was pretty darn cool out there.¡± Chapter 5 --------------------- Thanks for reading ;) Chapter 5 - Clues & Progession A week has passed since my pathetic performance of showing everyone my fake magic affinity spell, Right now I¡¯m on my way to the Master¡¯s office, earlier today he contacted me through telepathic communication magic and has said he¡¯d tell me his findings from the research he undertook. I see the familiar huge doors which indicate that I¡¯ve arrived at my destination, the doors open without me even knocking and I walk into the dimly lit room where the Master awaits me, as what happened last time the doors slam behind me, I can¡¯t get used to that I thought inwardly. ¡°I''ve been researching your race and magic and looking through all types of books trying to find answers and I''ve found a clue in an ancient scroll which is impossible to tell how old it is, all I know is that it is extremely ancient, I had to ask an old friend of mine for help on translating the scroll because It was written in an ancient language which seems to be forgotten, luckily this friend is one of the few that are fluent in this ancient tongue, the scroll talks about an island which is somewhere in the vast oceans that seem to stretch on for eternity on Ula, It says how on this island that is barren of life there is a rift in the middle of the island, this rift according to the scripture was named ¡®The abyss¡¯, they named it this because no one knew how deep it went and you couldn¡¯t see even 2 meters in due to how utterly dark the place was, they tried to explore down there with their best mages but none of them returned alive, some even called it the gateway to hell because of it¡¯s appearance¡± The Master took a deep breathe and carried on, ¡°One of the adventurers who traveled to the island tried to explore the abyss even after the mages went missing, he was the one who wrote this scroll it seems, he talked of walking not even 3 meters into the abyss when he saw the bodies of the mages who traveled in before him, he was shocked and terrified because the mages who went in were some of the best mages on the continent at that time, they all died not even 3 meters into this hell hole, he talks of the foul energy he felt and the strange noises he heard when he entered, what made him leave was when he walked in and saw a strange beast with red eyes looking at him whilst chewing on the mages carcasses, he ran as fast as he could and never looked back then wrote this scroll to warn people¡± I gulped and held my breath, how could such a hell exist? that''s surely just some legend I thought. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking Zepp, and let me tell you I believe this scroll due to how heavily guarded and safe-kept this scroll was, I had to pry this from the hands of the Elven royal family and you know how much they like to keep secrets, I also promised I¡¯d return it to them as soon as possible and we struck a deal¡± I couldn''t believe what the Master was saying to me, it was like a myth or a legend told to scare adventurers, but it''s actually real. "But Sir, what''s this got to do with my magic, are you sure it''s not just a coincidence they''re named the same?" "No Zepp, I''m sure of it, the scroll also mentions that he felt a strange mana in the air when he entered the abyss, he said it was like the air was charged with creepy, condensed and almost suffocating mana, this could be the key to what one of your magics is, abyss magic, something related to the abyss, however, don''t take my word on it until I''ve researched more on this place" could this place actually be related to my abyss magic? I asked this question over and over in my head trying to contemplate the answer. After calming down I reassess my priorities and ask the question I''ve been dying to ask this ultimate mage ever since I first met face to face with the Master, ¡°Sir, I know this might seem a bit too much but can you help me get stronger? I¡¯m fed up of being weak, I want to be strong, strong enough to protect those who I love from everything, can you please help me Sir, I know I''m pathetic, weak, a maggot, a frail bug but please I''ll do anything¡± The Master looked at me for 5 minutes without saying anything, he looked in deep thought and his eyes were surveying every inch of my body whilst his hand stroked his big white beard, he then nodded and looked like he¡¯d come to a decision. ¡°Young one, as we don¡¯t know much about your race or magic we¡¯ll have to start with basics, your body. You will need to become stronger physically to match up to mages whilst you still can¡¯t use your propper magic, Hmmm I don¡¯t know whether you¡¯ll make it, it¡¯s just theory so far and hasn¡¯t been done, hmmmm¡± The Master looked at me again and surveyed my with his eyes, ¡°Sir! I don¡¯t care what it is! I¡¯ll do it!¡± Before I could even think I burst out my passion, I want to be stronger! I want to be able to protect Mother luu, Sina & Sena from anything and everything and make it so they¡¯ll never be sad, frightened or scared! ¡°If you have that much passion boy, then I¡¯ll place my faith and expectations on you, what I have spent centuries developing is a new method of advancing and overcoming evolutionary limits of the body, this method will make you stronger, fitter and faster than you ever thought was possible If the process matches my calculations in theory, do you want to be my first and only guinea pig?¡± ¡°YES!¡± without evening thinking I blurt out my answer, this is a no brainer, who wouldn¡¯t want what The Master just offered them? I don¡¯t care what I have to do. ¡°Boy, I¡¯ve name this method the advancement cultivation #1 or AC1 for short, let me explain it for you; The idea of this is for your body and mind to be synced perfectly, both in harmony, this is a lot harder than you¡¯d think, meditation is the key to this, you will train in the day and meditate at night, I will personally train you in the day and I¡¯ll show you the meditation right now, first off you have to relax your whole body, try and feel every cell in your body and match your breathing to the rhythm of your heart beat, these two have to be perfectly synced and your body has to be as calm as water for it to work, when you reach this stage you will feel you are more tuned into the mana that surrounds us as does the very air, feel the mana and the elements and let it flow through your mind and body, when you get it perfectly flowing, it will start to ever so slowly fuse with your body over time, this will strengthen your mind, body and compliment the physical training you do in the day, It¡¯s never been tested before so i¡¯m still not sure on the finer details but the theory should be sound. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The reason this is dangerous is because for it to work your body needs to go through hellish training, training that you never thought a person could even do, you¡¯ll feel so tired and broken that your mind will scream at you with all it¡¯s power to try and make you stop, but you will have to keep going and breaking your body through sheer willpower, are you still ready for this, boy?¡± I gulped, my heart was thumping in my chest, amazing, Master is amazing, I nod my head to his question and try and calm my heartbeat that was either from excitement or sheer dread, I couldn¡¯t distinguish between the two. ¡°Good. Boy, from now on you are exempt from classes, we¡¯ll be starting our own regiment and you''ll follow my every word, you will be my personal student, my first ever disciple in my centuries of living, this will be hard, brutal and pure hell, earn my respect and maybe I¡¯ll even let you call me Teacher when you do¡± Personal student?!, of the Master? w-wow, am I worthy enough for this? Questions run through my mind like lightning and I sweat from the expectations that have suddenly been dropped on my shoulders, I¡¯ll have to keep the Masters reputation and become a worthy student! ¡°Master, when do we start?¡± Master smiled at my question, ¡°Calling me Master straight away I see, and you''re eager aren¡¯t you boy? we start at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning, meet me here at 4:30am, I¡¯ll make the doors react to your presence so you can enter my office when you please, you''re dismissed until tomorrow, see you then, do not be late!¡± ¡°Of course! , see you tomorrow Master!¡± I bowed to my new Master and walked out of his office. Once in my dorm room I went over what he told me, I think I¡¯ll practice the meditation in preparation for tomorrow, I still have five hours left until I midnight. I sit on my bed with my legs crossed and straighten my back in good posture, he said relax and try and feel every cell in my body... I take deep breaths until my mind has become calm and my heart rate has lowered to a state resembling the calmness of water. Breath.. In¡­. out¡­ In¡­.out¡­ I keep this up for 10 minutes, when I¡¯m finally calm I relax my mind and try not to think of anything, become one with thyself, I feel void, nothingness, my thoughts are gone and my mind is blank, I try and reach out towards the nothingness in my mind, little by little particles of all different colours enter the void in my mind, my mind is now full of particles, I¡¯m assuming I am sensing the mana around me in this calm, tuned in state of mind and body, the particles of mana look different colours, this must be elements, some are green, some are blue, some of clear white, some are a golden hue, some are dark and some are bright red and feel hotter than the rest, like Master said I try and fuse all the element particles into one, I try over and over until I succeed after countless failures, all elements of different colours fuse into one small particle, I guess i¡¯ll call this a mana particle as it¡¯s a mix of all the elements into one fusion. I then try the next step and attempt draw them into my body, nothing happens, I try and try over and over again, still nothing happens. After almost giving up and losing track of how many times of trying I finally notice a change, little mana particles disappear from the void and get drawn into my body, when the first small particle fuses into my skin I feel a warm sensation throughout my body, it¡¯s like the worlds greatest massage but a thousand times more heavenly, I try and draw more in but I am unable to. I try to replicate this process again but am unable to do so, I decide to call it a day and open my eyes and feel my body, my body and mind feel refreshed and full of energy just from one small mana particle, If this is the effect of one I wonder what will happen when I master this technique? the prospects make me extremely excited. I turn my head towards the clock in my room and look at the time, It¡¯s 4:20am, I was startled, had I really been doing that for 9 hours and 20 minutes? , maybe my mind and body were so relaxed and in harmony that I totally lost the concept of time there, amazing. I also realise that I feel like I¡¯ve slept for days, I feel refreshed and serene, It¡¯s like awakening from the best sleep you can imagine possible. It¡¯s 10 minutes until I need to be at Masters office, I get ready and put my standard training gear on and leave my room, once outside I realise it¡¯s still dark, the sun hasn¡¯t even risen in the sky and I¡¯m starting a new day. I arrive at Masters office at exactly 4:28am, once inside I see he is waiting for me in his typical black robe, ¡°Atleast you¡¯re not late Zepp, you would of gone through hell if you were though, and I must say, you look fully of energy this morning, are you ready for your nightmare to begin?¡± ¡°I¡¯m completely ready Master, I already tried the meditation part and ended up meditating for 9 hours and 20 minutes, I even lost concept of time¡± Master looked at me and raised an eyebrow, ¡°Zepp you surely couldn¡¯t of gotten results this fast could you?¡± I nodded and responded nonchalantly, ¡°It took me a long time but I did manage to fuse one mana particle with my skin, I tried to fuse more but was unable to¡± Master made a face of disbelief and grinned widely, ¡°Zepp, my boy, you shouldn¡¯t of even got results this fast, it should of taken you a month or so before you even begin to fuse mana particles with your body, maybe your a genius in this aspect?, who knows, anyway, this is excellent, now we can start the higher tier hellish training straight away, boy, I¡¯m going to break you down and rebuilt you, by the end of this day you¡¯ll wish you were never born, now, let¡¯s begin.¡± Chapter 6 ----------------------------------------- Thanks for reading, Next chapter they''ll begin the Master''s specially made training from hell. :D Chapter 6 - Broken Master took me to a separate room in his office, it was a hidden door on the right wall, quite unbelievable really, he pulled a lever and a door opened on the black obsidian wall, the room was a rounded room made out of stone, it had a high density of mana once inside, you could even feel the temperature warm up in the room due to the friction caused by the hitting of element particles forming mana, the room had formations of magic spells all around, on the ceiling, walls and floor, it looked strange but intriguing at the same time. ¡°Zepp, this is my teleportation room, It took me 140 years to build and the formation teleports me to my wanted destination, however the only drawback is that the place where I want to teleport to must also have this formation on it, the place we¡¯ll be going is in the barren wilderness of the east continent, It is full of magical beasts and ferocious monsters, we¡¯ll be training there from now on, we¡¯re going there because that place has the roughest terrain on the continent, boiling hot temperatures, impenetrable cliff faces, deep chasms and massive valleys, not many know of this place because it¡¯s far away from civilisation but it¡¯s nicknamed by warriors and mages as ¡®The devil¡¯s playground¡¯¡¯ due to it¡¯s horrible terrain, scorching temperatures and the ferocious beasts that inhabit this place. you my boy, will be training here, let¡¯s get going.¡± This sounds like an absolute nightmare of a place, If anything will get me stronger I suppose It¡¯ll be training in this wilderness. I stepped into the room and Master started to chant a string of words, instantly, the room glowed a blinding blue and the next thing I knew we were in a cave with the same markings as the room, Master walked along the the tunnel that must lead out of the cave and we reach a clearing within this place, the cave entrance seems to be locked by Master¡¯s magic, he waves his hand and the barrier of obsidian disappears, through this entrance we walk out and I witness for the first time a scenery that literally took my breath away. As soon as we walk out and the light from the sun first hits my skin I feel the temperature of the air spike dramatically, the heat is hotter than a desert and the heat itself knocks air out of my lungs and replaces it with hot, stale air. I instantly feel the mana in this place is a lot higher than that of the places I¡¯m used to, the air is rich with mana and you can even feel it add to the heat of the air. We are standing on a cliff where the cave entrance led to, the cliff overlooks the surrounding area, as far as the eye can see there are impossibly deep chasms, impenetrable cliffs, huge landscapes and mountains that seem to tickle the heavens with their peaks, I took a deep breath inwards, the air was fresher and almost purer in this desolate devil¡¯s playground, I look the my side and Master grins at me and begins to talk, ¡°Let us begin.¡± Master suddenly jumps down the cliff and floats down to the floor which is hundreds of meters below the cliff face, he must of used some kind of magic to do that, maybe wind magic? all of a sudden I hear a voice boom out from below, ¡°You¡¯ll be getting down there purely by using your physical body alone!¡± Master right off the bat asked me for the impossible, this was a cliff face with no routes down other than jumping and the drop is hundreds of meters, that would be an instant death If I were to do that, Masters voice telepathically cuts through my thoughts, ¡°IF YOU WANT TO GET STRONGER, DO IT! THIS IS THE ONLY WAY FOR A WEAKLING LIKE YOU!¡± I strengthen my resolve once more, Remember why you''re doing this Zepp, this is for Mother luu, Sena & Sina! If you carry on like this will you be able to protect them in the future?! The answer is no! we shall never complain, we shall never back down, we will do the impossible, we will break our self and be reborn! After strengthening my resolve for this seemingly long, and impossible path I nod my head and slap my cheeks with my hands, ¡°I LIKE THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYES BOY!¡±, Master shouts from below, I grin and start my descent of the cliff face. 10 minutes later I¡¯m still on the first few meters of the cliff, my only lifeline is the foothold I have in these seemingly frail, crumbling rocks, every so often when I move downwards my foothold slips a little and the rocks crumble down into the area below, I carry on my death seeking pursuit down the cliff. 30 minutes later every muscle in my body is burning, the toll from keeping up my own bodyweight and the precise movements of trying to tackle this cliff face is taking it¡¯s toll, I¡¯m not even a tenth of the way down and I¡¯m already breaking, I once again tell myself why I¡¯m doing this and press on, every fibre of my muscles feels like it¡¯s on fire, I scream to try and release this pain, ¡°ARHHHHHHHHH I WILL DO THIS!!!¡±, I concentrate my mind in full focus and lose myself in completing this. 8 hours later. ¡°I-I¡¯ve¡­.. Done¡­ It¡­..hahhh¡­ hahhh¡­. hahhh¡± I lie on the floor and breath in and out trying to grasp onto every bit of oxygen I can, my body is a mess, my hands and fingers are full of cuts and are seeping with blood, my legs feel like they¡¯ve been set on fire and crushed and my whole body is almost on the verge of collapse, but I did it¡­ I did a task I deemed impossible¡­ I take a look up at the cliff I just descended from using only my physical strength, it must be at least 500 meters tall, it¡¯s a straight drop down with only a narrow face of rocks to climb. ¡°Zepp get up this instant! THAT WAS A WARM UP! Now climb back up and down 5 times by 10pm, this is your first day, don¡¯t disappoint me, weakling.¡± F-F-Five t-times? I once again remember my most precious peoples faces, ¡°Hahhh¡­ Yes s-sir!¡± I answer him through a weak but willful voice, I prop myself to my feet just barely and stagger to the cliff. - This cliff climbing training carried on for 2 weeks, Master didn¡¯t let me have breaks or any days off and every day he increased the amount of times I have to climb up and down to 3 more, the most amazing thing about this hellish training was the meditation at night, I realised after a while that when I¡¯ve mediated I don¡¯t even need sleep, I feel better and more refreshed than any amount of sleep can give me. The meditation has improved my body by a lot, the mana particles seem to fuse more easily with my body when I¡¯m in a broken and sorry state, I¡¯ve also noticed that the mana particles fuse with every fibre of my being, the muscles, brain, cells, organs, skin and so on are all being strengthened through this miraculous cultivation technique, my body and mind are evolving ever so slow through this training, I can feel it. - On the 3rd week of training, Master brought with him strange clothing, before we started our usual routine he stopped me and said, ¡°Boy, I have a present for you, take this clothing, I have to use magic to carry it properly it¡¯s that heavy, this is clothing specially made by me and reinforced my magic, the material is condensed steel put into fabric made by my magic, the clothing is trousers, boots, a top and a helmet, all of this weighs 150kg, you¡¯ll now be doing your normal training wearing this¡± He passed me the clothing and as soon as he let go my hand almost got crushed under the weight of the clothing, it hit the floor and made a little crack in the stone, it was super heavy, weighted clothing. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.It took me half an hour to put it on with his help and when I finally had it on it felt like I was wearing a boulder, I could barely stand never mind climb, it was flexible clothing but even moving a finger was like moving a mountain . I ever so slowly moved towards the cliff and attempted to ascend it, it was impossible, but I had to do it, I¡¯d come this far there''s no way I¡¯m backing out now! By the end of the day I¡¯d climbed the cliff twice in this weighted clothing, my bones were creaking and every fibre of my being was burning from the physical workout, I couldn¡¯t even speak, my hands were almost shredded to the bone from the sharp rocks and my arms were numb to the core, my whole body was in agony and I couldn¡¯t even think straight due to the pain that was assaulting my body, this¡­.will¡­ be¡­.. increased¡­.tomorrow? I struggled to even think to myself. - A month since Master gave me weighted clothing to train in, the routine had changed slightly from just climbing the cliff face and now I was running insane distances in the scorching heat to boot, at 4:30am I¡¯d start climbing down the cliff, afterwards I would run distances marathon runners would pale at and then I¡¯d be tasked to climb again, the weights never felt any lighter throughout these weeks, my body was gradually changing and I was noticing It myself, the meditation in the night was getting easier and more in depth, I was discovering things I never knew was possible, It seemed the meditation also healed my body at an accelerated rate so it was healed for the morning and gave me the refreshment and nourishment I needed. - A full year had passed since I, Zepp Alkery had become Masters student, the training Master put me through was not short of calling it hellish and impossible, it was worse than I ever thought was possible, it broke my body over and over again and if I was weak in the physically or mentally for even a second my mind or body would of gave in. In this past year I have been keeping in touch with Yamu and Omil, we talk every night through our mana boards, however, they haven¡¯t seen me due to their different schedules and my full focus has been on training. I was on my way to his office as usual this morning and when I arrived he was different than his usual demon instructor mode, instead he was smiling and sitting in his chair, ¡°Zepp, you¡¯ve been doing this training for a year and a month and you¡¯ve developed in ways I thought was never possible, you¡¯ve exceeded my expectations and crushed my doubts, just looked at yourself, you¡¯re body could be classed as my masterpiece¡± Master provided a mirror and I took a detailed look at myself for the first time in a year, I¡¯d been so concentrated and busy that I didn¡¯t even notice my growth, every muscle in my body is defined and detailed, my abs are like a 9 pack and they look like deep valleys between each ab, my body is lean like a panther and with one look anyone could tell it was built to fight, I knew I was stronger than I looked through the meditation, my bones were now harder than steel, my skin was flexible and hard to even cut with a knife and my muscles were developed heavily by the fusing of mana, I also noticed I was much calmer and my mind was faster, sharper and more intellectual than before due to the evolving, I was now 190cm tall and looked healthier and better than ever before. ¡°Boy, You¡¯ve done training not even the toughest or hardest warrior would be able to complete, you¡¯ve strengthened not only your body but also your mind, You¡¯ve earned the right to call me your Teacher. I''m sure you¡¯re comfortable wearing that weighted clothing now seeming as you haven¡¯t took it off in a year, oh, and I forgot to mention that the clothing is special in another aspect, I can increase the weight without touching it through magic alone, every day i¡¯d increase the weight, right now you''re wearing 1000 kg of weights, quite unbelievable right? you move with it on like it¡¯s apart of your own body, let¡¯s teleport to the Devil¡¯s playground and there you can take it off, test out your new found strength which you earned through blood, sweat and tears¡± We arrived at the bottom of the cliff face and I did as instructed and took my weighted clothing off behind a rock and wore some garments Teacher gave me wear. As soon as I took it off I felt an immediate difference, my body was as light as a feather, I tried jumping as high as I could, my knees bent and I put as much force as I could into this jump, under the force of my jump the ground cracked and splintered, two small feet sized craters formed under where my feet were as I jumped 50 meters into the air, I was instantly amazed at how high I jumped, this wouldn¡¯t be possible if my body didn¡¯t evolve through the cultivation method Teacher created, in my heart I was eternally grateful for what he did for me and I vowed to pay him back some day. ¡°Boy! I know what you¡¯re thinking! This wasn¡¯t my hard work, it was yours! You even did better than my expectations, I expected results, but nothing this good! The pain and suffering you went through wasn¡¯t for nought, you earned it, be proud Zepp!¡± Teachers voice boomed across the surroundings, the instant I heard this speech I felt warm inside, he¡¯d took me in, trained me and given me more than I could ask for, Teacher really is kind I thought to myself for the third time today. - Back at Teacher office me and him were talking about the new school year, ¡°Zepp, In 6 days is when the new school term starts, your class will be second years, you¡¯ll be joining them again starting from then, I remind you that everything will stay the same, same class, teacher and so on, also, the first years will be starting in 6 days. You will keep our training a secret, I will also make you a school uniform with the same weight type magic as the clothes you''re wearing, instead of the helmet you will have a necklace weight instead, I¡¯m giving you weights to wear because your training still hasn¡¯t finished, you must carry on getting stronger and stronger, also, if you do take off your weight restrictions then you will appear abnormal and stand out, oh and by the way, I¡¯ve told everyone that you had to miss a school year due to ¡®difficulties¡¯, no one knows we¡¯re teacher and student, I expect it to stay that way, that is all I have to tell you, you''re dismissed.¡± I bowed respectfully to my Teacher and left his office. Returning to my room I found a new uniform lying on my bed, that was insanely quick, Teacher must of used magic to send it to me, I looked it over, the uniform for second years is the same as the first year but it has a crest of a eagle on it¡¯s front, garments can be worn underneath these robes so I put on the weighted garments Teacher also sent, there was also a necklace in the package he sent and it was also a weight, after putting it all on I could feel the huge weight that was pressed on my body, this must at least weight 1200 kg, 200 kg heavier than I was wearing, Teacher also gave me the ability to change the weight of the clothing, I felt like it was fine the way it was and left it be, wearing it all I felt how I would of done last year, slow and weak, perfect for disguise. Chapter 7 ------------ Thank you for reading :) Chapter 7 - Unsealed? [ ] Is now used for thoughts/telepathic communication. ------------ That night when I started meditating instead of sleep, I did everything like usual and went into the cultivation technique, instantly I felt something different, normally I can draw mana particles and fuse it with my mind, but this time I was unable to, It felt like something was blocking it, I tried harder and focused more, Instantly every part of brain felt like it was being crushed, my body was sweating and burning up due to the enormous pain, I clutched my head and screamed, I rocked back and forth on my bed, trying anything I could to ease the pain of what felt like my entire brain was throbbing and being torn, the noise I usually try and block out returned with the pain, a extremely profound and nauseating ¡°BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT¡± sound rattled through my mind, I had to run to the bathroom to puke into the toilet, I barely made it due to the crippling pain I was under. My hand still clutching my head and my other hand clawing the floor I vomited everything that was left in my stomach over and over until nothing came out, I also felt extremely dizzy and disorientated, the room was spinning, my vision was blurry and my body was sweating profusely almost as if I was being dangled in front of a fire, the sound carried on getting more and more extreme over seconds, minutes, hours, I lost count of time in this state, ¡°BZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTT¡± constantly, I couldn¡¯t think, even with my strengthened body, mind and all around physical state I couldn¡¯t do anything. The noise carried on and on, the pain wouldn¡¯t stop, it got worse and worse, after what felt like an eternity, the pain relented, I was lying on the bathroom floor in my own sweat and saliva and almost cried in relief that the pain had dissipated, I tried to stand but instantly the pain returned, but it was different, more excruciating, piercing and extreme than before, I fell to the floor face first in my attempt to stand up but being assaulted by the pain once again, I would of screamed if I had the energy but unfortunately I was hopeless, the pain seemed to have moved up a level, impossible to describe in words, instead of a buzzing noise this time it was a noise which was similar to when a balloon is squeezed together at the ends and air is released from it, a high pitched squeal of sorts, I felt the pain in the core of my being, in every fibre and cell, it hurt, it hurt so bad. After what seemed like an eternity, it stopped. However, I didn¡¯t celebrate, I was exhausted, incapable of thinking, Shortly after, I passed out. - When I woke up I was still on the cold bathroom floor, how long had I been out?, struggling to my feet I staggered into the main room where I looked at the clock, it was 3:23am and I had been in there for 5 days, my body still felt weak from all the events and I made myself some food, washed my body and finally lay on my bed with fresh clothes on, now in a rational state of mind the questions came rushing to my head and the first one blurted out my mouth, ¡°WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!¡± It came out more as a shout but the meaning was there, I was utterly baffled, no idea why that had happened, wait, might it have been the cultivation technique? no, it couldn¡¯t of been, I had been doing that for well over a year and nothing like that had happened, it came out of nowhere, it started that night that Teacher sent my uniform, wait, no it was past midnight so technically it was the next day, the 4th of september¡­ wait isn¡¯t that date my birthday?, oops I forgot completely, I haven¡¯t gave anything much thought since I started the training as I was so focused, but it can¡¯t be a coincidence that the pain started on my birthday, right? [No, you are correct Master. 17 is the age you are mature enough to handle my existence.] Suddenly, out of nowhere a voice popped into my head, am I hearing things? surely I must be going insane due to the traumatic experience I just went through¡­ [You are not going insane Master, It is I, your Familiar.] ¡°Familiar?¡± I was confused once again, but the voice in my head answered my question, [Yes Master, I am your Familiar, or your servant, I¡¯ve always been with you since you were born, however until you were mature enough and able to hold my presence I couldn¡¯t reach you, at 17 the barrier is broken and I am unsealed, I speak this language because I learn what you learn and are what you are, we are one.] ¡°Were you the cause of all that pain?¡± [Indeed Master, it seems the barrier of the seal took a long time to break, the pain you experienced was the seal breaking and your brain evolving to accommodate my presence fully, I am very sorry for what you experienced, but it had to happen and was only a matter of time.] I thought it over, it sounded believable , I accepted this explanation as I strangely felt secure, and fully trusted this voice, it felt unbelievably natural to. ¡°Do you have a name and body?¡± [I do not have a name because you haven¡¯t given me one, Master, also I can take the form of most things, here I¡¯ll show you.] Out of nowhere appeared a little boy with long raven coloured hair, he had black eyes and could''ve been mistaken as a girl, he wore garments of pitch black and they looked dark in comparison to his snowy white skin. [As you can see Master, I can take the form of most things, be it any gender or appearance, I¡¯ll keep this form, if you don¡¯t mind, Master?] ¡°You can take whatever form you like, and I¡¯ll name you ¡®Exo¡¯, I just came up with it, It sounds pretty cool, what do you think?¡± [I like it Master, my name is Exo.] Exo smiled when I named him, he must be happy that he finally has a name to call himself and refer to himself as. ¡°By the way Exo, where do you go when you''re not in your physical form?¡± I curiously asked a question that I was wondering since he materialised, [I go back into a part of your mind, when your brain was evolving to accommodate me it made a place or ¡®space¡¯ in which I live, it¡¯s my home if you will, I live inside you.] You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Exo dematerialised and I could ¡®feel¡¯ him return, it seemed I could sense him wherever he was, quite useful I thought to myself. ¡°Exo, you speak to me through telepathic communication, right?¡± [Correct, however, it¡¯s a bit different, we share a ¡®bond¡¯ and this bond allows us to speak to each other without speaking, with only thought, try it, Master.¡± I attempted to talk to Exo through our bond, [Can you hear me?] [Yes Master, I can hear you, it¡¯s simple isn¡¯t it?] [It¡¯s easier than speaking, really useful too] I was extremely happy with the results, Exo was my familiar and through the bond we shared I trusted him like I trusted myself. [Exo, can you change into a weapon?] [Yes Master, What weapon do you want me to morph into?] Hmmm, I thought to myself long and hard, then I decided, I¡¯d go with a sword, [Exo, morph into a small short-sword, like a dagger but longer and sharper] [Master, you can send your thoughts to me you know, this includes images you think of, try it.] I pictured what I wanted and tried to send it to Exo, [Did it work?] [Yes Master.] Suddenly a pitch black short sword appeared in my hand, it was exquisite in design, and was pure black, even the blade and hilt, it curved a bit like a katana but was smaller and easier to handle, I touched the tip of the blade with my finger to test the sharpness but nothing happened when i tried to cut myself with it. [Exo, Nothings happening when I¡¯m trying to feel the sharpness?] [Ah, Yes Master, It¡¯s because I can¡¯t hurt you in anyway due to our bond and me being your familiar.] Oh so that''s why¡­ I nodded and walked up to the small coffee table that was near the door, I¡¯ll test the sharpness on this¡­ I pull the blade up and swiped downwards towards the coffee table, the table is sliced through with barely any effort, it felt like slicing butter with a hot knife, effortless, the blade was extremely sharp. I¡¯d seen enough. [Exo that¡¯s enough dematerialise yourself] [Yes Master, of course.] Instantly the blade disappeared and I felt that familiar presence in my mind, this will be a lot of fun I thought to myself as I prepared for school which starts tomorrow. - It was a couple hours after I had tested Exo¡¯s sharpness as a blade when my mana board started bleeping, It seemed I was receiving a phone call, I hurried to it and answered, it was Mother luu, ¡°Honey! Why haven¡¯t you phoned us in so long! we¡¯ve missed you profusely, I haven¡¯t been able to sleep not knowing how you are!!¡± Mother luu looked angry, this is the first time I¡¯ve ever seen her this angry, scary! I explained what happened and every single detail that went on in the past year and a bit, she listened intently and when I finished she looked worried, ¡°Zepp, you need to take care of yourself better, no good will come from overworking yourself, but as you''re okay, I won¡¯t complain, by the way, Sena & Sina have been void of life for the past year, they¡¯ve missed you a little too much, If they hear I¡¯m on the phone to you right now they¡¯d probably faint, it¡¯s like they¡¯ve been missing a part of themselves, I think you have some explaining to do to them mister, let me go get them.¡± Mother luu went away and I heard her shout ¡°SINA! SENA! ZEPPS ON THE PHONE!¡± I hear some commotion in the background and then I hear some out of breath voices scream down the phone in unison, ¡°¡°ZE!!!!!!!!!!¡°¡° Their voices are as majestic and cute as I remember, It makes me want to cuddle with them. ¡°Sina! Sena! I¡¯ve missed you guys so much, I thought of you every day! I¡¯ll explain why I was gone so long without even calling you guys¡± I explained to them like I had to Mother luu and I saw they were both sniffling, were they crying? ¡°¡±Ze, thinking of us kept you through it? you wanted to get strong for us?¡±¡± They looked touched and they had tears running down their beautiful faces. Sena sniffled and spoke, ¡°Ze, we love you so much, your the most kind and thoughtful person in the world, we also have some news we¡¯d like to share with you¡± I smiled at their compliment, they make me feel warm in the core of my heart, such lovely beings. ¡°Whats this you want to share guys?¡± They looked at each other and smiled and nodded in unison, ¡°¡±We¡¯re coming to Obsidian School! and also, Mother luu has already spoken with the Master, he contacted her because shes your guardian and said she can have a accommodation within the school, we¡¯re so excited!!¡±¡± I started blankly, they¡¯re coming?! here?! I felt a massive smile break out onto my face, this is the best thing that could happen! we¡¯re all going to be together again! ¡°Why are you guys still at home if you start tomorrow?¡± they laughed and Sina said, ¡°The Master said he¡¯d teleport us there so there was no need to travel all that way, he said as we¡¯re his only students family that it¡¯s natural we get special treatment¡± Teacher once again surprised me, under his cold demeanor he really has a heart of gold, I also have to pay him back for this in the future I vowed. ¡°That is great news! I¡¯ll see you guys tomorrow! I can¡¯t wait, I¡¯m barely containing my excitement!!¡± I was actually supremely excited, I was going to see my girls again! who wouldn¡¯t excited if he were in my position? ¡°¡±We¡¯ll see you tomorrow Ze! Take care, we love you!¡±¡± They ended the call, they must of wanted to save the excitement for tomorrow, I look at the clock and it¡¯s now 5pm, I decided to spend the rest of the day cultivating in peace. Tomorrow. I can¡¯t wait. --------------- Thank you for reading friends! :) Chapter 8 - Reunion & Warnings [Master, wake up, I can feel a presence of people outside your door.] I snapped out of cultivation immediately, Exo woke me up by telling me that someone was creeping outside my door, suspicious.. Still wearing my sleeping garments,which were of course.. weighted.. can¡¯t skip training right? I walked to the door and opened it without any caution, why would I be afraid of something inside the school, Teacher wouldn¡¯t let anything happen to us. Stood in front of my door was.. Omil.. and Yamu? what are they doing here¡­Omil looked a bit guilty but Yamu was grinning mischievously like usual. ¡°Come in.. quickly¡± They both came straight in and I closed the door behind them I then turned around and asked them the question which was the most logical: ¡°Why are you here at 3:30am in the morning? and Yamu¡­ this is the boys dorms¡­¡± ¡°Hehehehe Zepp, Don¡¯t fear, we didn¡¯t get caught did we? and we¡¯re here to discuss something¡± Omil also confirmed that was what they were here for and nodded his head. ¡°Okay, come sit down, I have 2 chairs near the table over there¡± I pointed towards the table and just remembered was still cut in half.. ¡°Zepp.. why is your table in half.. have you been practicing your crafting skills or something? because you suck hahahaha¡± They grabbed the chairs which were next to the broken coffee table and pulled them near my bed where I sat. ¡°So, tell me what''s so important that you broke into the male dorms, found Omil and then came to my room at 3 in the morning?¡± All of a sudden Yamu put on a serious face and began: ¡°Well Zepp, you know that demon guy in our class.. Kuff Mol his name is I think.. he¡¯s got an older brother in the year above and they¡¯re plotting something against you.. he¡¯s got it out for you ever since you left class, and when we heard you¡¯ll be joining us this year again.. well hes determined to get rid of ¡®trash like you¡¯¡± Hmm¡­. If I remember correctly that kuff guy was a demon nobles son.. I can¡¯t burden Teacher with my pathetic quabbles so I¡¯ll keep it to myself and deal with it when it happens.. ¡°Thanks alot, coming in here, risking getting caught to tell me this, you guys are really my friends¡± ¡°Hahahaha of course we are Zepp, since day 1, right Omil?¡± ¡°Y-yes!¡± ¡°But I¡¯m guessing thats not the only reason you came, right Yamu?¡± As soon as I said this she grinned like a gangster and looked like she had been caught red handed. ¡°Huhuhuhu Zepp, you got me, we want to know where you really were this past year¡± should I tell them? I think it¡¯s best to not keep secrets and besides they''re my only friends here in the school. So I told them everything about how I became Teachers personal student and the training I went through, I left out details like my magic affinity, race and the fusing of mana with my body though. ¡°¡°PERSONAL STUDENT?!¡±¡± They both shouted in unison, looking shocked and dumbfounded. ¡°Shh! keep your voices down¡± They seemed to snap out of it but I could see they were still shocked. ¡°Well.. we didn¡¯t expect that..We got told you were away for certain reasons but becoming the personal student of The Master, amazing¡± Omil said to me, he looked shocked and awed. ¡°Thats pretty darn awesome Zepp, no wonder you¡¯ve been so busy and even dropped classes, you look taller and more refined too¡± We ended up talking for a while and catching up in person, Yamu was now a C rank mage and Omil was rank D, they were both prodigies, geniuses I thought to myself. After they left, it was 6am, we¡¯d decided to meet in class later and they both went off to catch some sleep before class started up once again, as me for.. I went to train, I¡¯d missed some of my training time due to talking to Yamu and Omil and I went and did my usual routine. - 8:00am. It was around this time that the first years would be getting their welcoming ceremony from Teacher, this must mean that Mother luu, Sena & Sina are also here within the school grounds. I was in my room putting my uniform on, probably the heaviest uniform to exist, I chuckled to myself at this thought, after getting ready I met Omil outside my room, his was next door so it was an easy arrangement, we went out the dorm and went to meet Yamu who said she¡¯d meet us at the castle entrance, we were walking on the familiar path when I spotted a beautiful women with long dark purple hair and a beautiful body, wearing a white robe she looked like a goddess, as we got closer I realised who this beautiful woman was, ¡°MOTHER LUU!¡± I ran up to her and hugged her, she hugged me back and we both had huge smiles on our faces, she looked at me with her loving face and placed a kiss on my forehead, she had to stand on her tiptoes to do it, it was her personal way to show her love to me, Sina and Sena, whenever we were sad or anything she kissed us on our foreheads, it was a symbol of love for me and the twins. ¡°Zepp, my word, you¡¯ve grown!, you also look more mature and you almost crushed me with your hug!¡± ¡°Hahaha I¡¯m sorry I was just so happy, I haven¡¯t seen you in over a year, where are the twins?¡± she giggled in a mature but girlish way, ¡°The twins are at the welcoming ceremony, they are so impatient to see you, I told them to behave themselves hehehe¡± ¡°Ah they are first years, I forgot about that, I missed them too, and of course I missed you as much, where are you staying?¡± ¡°Before I tell you Zepp.. the twins said they would call me Luu instead of Mother Luu now that we¡¯re not at the orphanage, it sounds more intimate, could you do that?¡± I gulped, calling Mother Luu by her first name, I¡¯ve never done that before, it¡¯d be weird but if she wanted it then of course. ¡°Of course, L-Luu, I¡¯m sorry i¡¯ll get used to it, it¡¯s just it¡¯s strange when I¡¯ve been calling you Mother Luu for so long¡± Luu giggled again and this time she looked more girlish, ¡°Aww Zeppy, you¡¯re so cute, it¡¯s okay, just take your time, oh and I¡¯m staying with the twins in the girls dorms, we have a room on the top floor which had 5 bedrooms, it¡¯s pretty impressive, the Master set us up with it, saying it¡¯s only natural, that guys a total tsundere¡± F-five bedrooms? Teacher is very generous I must thank him for this when I have the chance. ¡°It¡¯s good that you''re staying with the twins, they¡¯d hate to be away from you so it¡¯s for the best hahaha¡± ¡°Hehehe I¡¯d hate to be away from them too, staying on my own is lonely, it¡¯s much better in the company of my lovely girls!¡± I chuckled and hugged Luu again and said I had to go to class, I¡¯d meet with them after class outside the girls dorms, Luu was reluctant to let go of me but she did in the end after I said i¡¯d be late, she let go and smiled and said she and the girls would of course, be there. After Luu had left I turned back to my side where Omil was still stood there waiting for me, he had a slightly red face. ¡°Z-Zepp, who was that angel? she¡¯s about the most beautiful woman i¡¯ve ever seen¡± I laughed at Omil¡¯s reaction, after all, even I thought she was beautiful. ¡°She¡¯s took me in when I was a child, she¡¯s ran a small orphanage for me and 2 other kids¡± ¡°O-Oh, she¡¯s a wonderful person then¡­ I¡¯m jealous¡± ¡°hahahaha Omil, lets get going¡± It was almost time for class, we got to the castle entrance and Yamu was stood there, looking annoyed. ¡°What time do you call this? I¡¯ve been waiting for 15 minutes, hurry lets go¡± Yamu sounded really pissed, note to self for the future: don¡¯t keep Yamu waiting, ever. she¡¯s scary. - ¡°Ah! Mr. Alkery, welcome back to our class, take the seat you sat at last year.¡± As soon as I entered the class with Yamu and Omil, Runru caught sight of me and eyed me suspiciously, he told me to take a seat and I did, Yamu was behind me and we were in the back corner near the window, it seemed for conveniences that Omil sat in front of me now, how lucky. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Everyone was looking at me differently and I heard a few people whisper ¡®He¡¯s changed.. somethings different.. did he get taller..¡¯ they were curious gazes and chatter, I sighed inwardly, was this really a good idea, leaving for a year¡­ it¡¯s like I¡¯m not even a part of their class. The lesson was something about the history of magic¡­ it was boring and useless, It dragged on until 5pm, this is when the lesson ended and we left the class, I left with Yamu and Omil, we were chatting all the way and I told them I had to meet with my family who were staying in the academy, I explained the circumstances to them and they nodded but were still curious, I left Omil behind at the male dorms and walked with Yamu to the girl dorms. ¡°Ahahaha you''re such a bad kid Zeppy, sneaking into the girls dormitory.. hahahah! pervert!¡± Yamu was laughing hysterically to herself, apparently she found it hilarious that I was going to sneak into the girls dorms. Once there, we made sure no one was around and then I saw Mother Luu waiting there on her own near the entrance, she saw us coming and waved with an enthusiastic smile. ¡°Zepp, introduce me to your lovely friend¡± Mother luu was curious and happy that I met a friend and wanted me to quickly introduce Yamu, Yamu was smiling but this time it wasn¡¯t her crooked smile it was a proper, polite smile. ¡°This is Yamu Nith, she¡¯s in my class, she was my first friend I met here, Yamu, this is my guardian, Mother Luu, she took me in when I was young¡± Yamu shook Mother luu¡¯s slender hand and didn¡¯t let go of it for quite a while. ¡°It¡¯s lovely to meet you Miss Yamu, I hope Zepp has took care of you correctly¡± ¡°Nice to meet you Mother Luu please, just call me Yamu, I¡¯m happy to finally meet you, I¡¯ve heard so much about you, Zepp really seems to love you, no wonder!¡± I blushed when Yamu said that out of nowhere, damnit she''s blunt. ¡°Hehehehe such a lovely friend you have Zepp¡± Yamu and Mother Luu seemed to have gotten on a little too well, they were chatting all the way to the room about this and that, when it was Yamu¡¯s turn to go to her room she left and was reluctant to leave Mother Luu, her new friend. We carried on through dorms till we got to the top floor, there it was one giant room with a rather large door, which said ¡°Room 0¡±, this room seemed to be a suite of sorts. ¡°Here we are, this is our room¡± Mother Luu opened the door and we went into the room, it was spacious, a luxurious suite which was almost 20x bigger than my own room, it had 5 rooms each with a bathroom, a kitchen, and a main room which had a sitting area. We went to the sitting area and sitting there were two beautiful goddesses with silver hair and silver eyes, they were slender, around 175 cm and had large breasts, one had a little purple in her hair and the other had a little red, both we¡¯re impossible beauties and I recognised them straight away. As they heard us come in they both turned their heads and their deep eyes which one could get lost in stared into my own, they both lit up with excitement and came running over. ¡°¡±ZE!¡±¡± they dive hugged me from each side, as my body was a lot stronger than it used to be I naturally resisted the impact and lifted them up in each arm and hugged them tight they were surprised at me lifting them up and even squealed a little, their large ample breasts pressed into my arm and even made me blush from their soft texture. They were really excited as I could hear their heartbeats thumping and their eyes twinkled with delight, my own heartbeat was thumping but that was for different reasons.. ¡°Ze, we really missed you, You¡¯ve got even more handsome since you¡¯ve been gone, you¡¯ve grown too, a-and your body is well..¡± Sena Blushed as she said the last line, so cute! Sena was the girl on my left arm, the one with purple in her hair, she was shyer than Sina and less talkative. ¡°Yeah Ze, you''re as handsome as ever, did you miss us? we missed you.. we both even cried some nights because we wanted to see you¡± ¡°HEY! Sina don¡¯t tell him that, it¡¯s embarrassing!¡± ¡°Why? we don¡¯t keep secrets!¡± Ah.. secrets¡­. I need to tell them about Exo after.. but first, ¡°I missed you little cuties a lot actually, and It¡¯s not embarrassing that you cried, everyone cries, don¡¯t be ashamed, now come here..¡± I pressed them closer and gave them both a kiss on their cheeks, they both didn¡¯t expect that and went peach red, hahahahaha serves them right for the dive hug attack! After we¡¯d calmed down and got reunited with each other we all sat down on the comfy seats, there were 2 sofas and a table, the sofas were 4 seaters, we put them both together and I sat in the middle of the left one and the twins sat snuggled up to my arms, Sina on the right, Sena on the left, Mother luu was on the other couch, she snuggle her legs next to us, we were all very close and warm, comfy and cozy, heaven I thought. ¡°Well guys what I wanted to show you is this..¡± ¡°Exo, materialise¡± All of a sudden a little boy with raven eyes and hair appeared out of nowhere and floated to the side of us. The three of them looked shocked and stupefied, Mother luu spoke first, ¡°Zepp who is that? how did he just appear out of nowhere¡± ¡°He¡¯s my familiar.. here let me explain..¡± I told them what happened and how he appeared, I didn¡¯t miss a single detail. ¡°Wow¡­¡± ¡°Thats awesome!¡± They all looked excited and awed, Mother luu didn¡¯t say much but looked at me with love and admiration, like a proud mother and the twins expressed their excitement and enthusiasm. ¡°He can change into almost anything too, watch this..¡± [Exo, Morph into Sena] In the blink of an eye a replica of Sena was floating in front of us, I turned to look at her and she looked amazed and excited. ¡°IT¡¯S ME! HAHAHA HE TURNED INTO ME!¡± We carried on playing around with Exo until they were satisfied. ¡°Master, I¡¯m getting tired from all this morphing, can I go to rest?¡± Exo got tired after about 10 morphs, maybe this is his limit for the time being? ¡°Of course, sorry for pushing you¡± ¡°¡±We¡¯re sorry Exo! we didn¡¯t mean to, we were just excited¡±¡± The twins looked apologetic and felt bad for playing around. ¡°Do not worry, as my Masters loved ones you can do whatever you want and I wouldn¡¯t dare complain.¡± Exo vanished and I felt the familiar presence in my mind telling me he was back. ¡°Everyone, it¡¯s getting late, I know we¡¯re all excited and haven¡¯t seen each other in a long time but it¡¯s not good to sacrifice beauty sleep¡± Mother luu told us all, it was now around 11:30pm, I¡¯d have to sneak out of the dorms to go back to mine. ¡°Ah, Zepp, you can stay in one of these rooms, we¡¯ve already prepared it for you¡­¡± Mother luu looked at me with hopeful eyes saying she¡¯d wish i¡¯d stay, I looked at the twins and they also looked at me with those eyes, Ah, I can¡¯t resist.. ¡°Thank you Luu, I¡¯ll stay here tonight then, now let¡¯s go to bed, goodnight everyone I love you.¡± ¡°¡±¡±Love you, Goodnight¡±¡±¡± Everyone said in unison, it was bliss, we were all reunited and I was the happiest I¡¯d been in over a year, I went to the 3rd room where Mother luu said they had prepared for me and went to the bed, lying down on the double bed I got into a sleeping position and started cultivation. ------------------------- Thanks for reading ^_^ PS. if you enjoyed it don''t forget to rate or vote ^_^ it helps alot :3 Chapter 9 - Rage Part 1 I awoke from cultivation, it was my usual time of 4am, I was still lying in the same position in the bed, exactly how I had fallen asleep, not moving an inch when in cultivation, I must of looked dead like this, slowed heartbeat and super relaxed body. I tried to sit up and then noticed the two hands which were on my chest, I also felt warmer on the sides of my body, I then looked to my sides and there lay Sena on my right and Sina on my left, both modestly dressed in cute fluffy pyjamas which hugged the curves of their bodies perfectly. They looked like they had snuck in last night and came and slept with me, both were lying snuggled up to me with their hands on my chest, faces snuggled into the sides of my body like I was some kind of hug pillow and they looked content with everything as they slept, I kissed each one of them on the head and then left to do some training on this cold, dark morning. It was around 8am when I returned to my own room and got a shower, put on my uniform and went to meet Omil in preparation for class, we then met up with Yamu on the way and continued went to class like usual. As I was talking to the twins yesterday I learnt they were in class 6 on their First year, they had a teacher called Tunra, he was apparently quite strict and up tight and they seemed to dislike him, they also told me about how the boys in their class kept harassing them with confessions, wouldn¡¯t that be normal for a boy to fall in love with two beautiful goddesses? who could blame them. Their class was only down the hall from mine thus making it convenient to see each other, it was the start of lunch time, 12:30pm, I was sitting at my desk and was about the stand up from my desk to go grab something to eat with Yamu and Omil when I heard a commotion in the hall, I went to see what it was and outside my class stood two identical angels, everyone was awed at their beauty and all the boys seemed to have red faces just from looking at them, I sighed to myself, I should really of thought better than telling them where my classroom was knowing what they were like. As soon as I walked out the two twins ran up to me with excitement on their faces, like a puppy whose master had come home after a long journey, I patted them on the heads, stroking my fingers through their luscious hair and gazing at them with love, as we were lost in our own world, uncaring about the crowd we were gathering I felt someone nudge my side, it was Yamu, ¡°Hey, you''re drawing a crowd... get a room, let¡¯s go find a place to get away from this..¡± Yamu led me Omil and the twins who were now linking my arms to a secluded room, which must of been one of the many empty rooms in this huge castle. We went into the room and Yamu close it behind us, she then turned to me and the girls and said with a smirk: ¡°Hmmm Zeppy, who are these¡­. girls?¡± She looked curious and her gaze was reevaluating me, ¡°These are my childhood friends, remember when I told you I grew up in an orphanage with two other kids, these are them, Sina is the one on the left with red in her hair and Sena is the right one with purple in her hair¡± Yamu and Omil nodded at this, they understood that they were identical twins and I had shown them how to differentiate between the two, otherwise they¡¯d never be able to know who was who. Sina then let go of my arm and stepped forward gracefully, ¡°Yes, I am Sina, this is my twin sister Sena, we are Ze¡¯s lovers, well it¡¯s not official yet but it¡¯s pretty close! who are you? y-you can¡¯t be h-his girlfriend!?¡± hahh¡­ she¡¯s gone and done this again, we had a lot of bad experiences when we were kids because of their spontaneous personalities¡­ ¡°n-no i¡¯m just his friend my names Yamu Nith, this is also his friend, Omil Eqil, we¡¯re classmates and friends,.... lovers...with him, both of you.... Zeppy you¡¯ve done well..hahahaha!¡± As Yamu said she wasn¡¯t my girlfriend the twins both lit up and became a lot more friendly. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Sena stepped forward and proclaim with a confident voice: ¡°Hehehehe he just needs to make the last step!¡± I tap Sena on the head who has gotten carried away... they¡¯re always like this. The twins and Yamu chat with each other to the side and seem to have become friends with each other, Omil is stood further back and hasn¡¯t said a word since we came here, I wonder what''s up? I walk over to him and strike up conversation. ¡°Omil, is everything alright? you seem unusually quiet¡± Omil turned to me with a red face and said in a low stuttering voice, ¡°I¡¯m sorry Zepp, I was just very nervous, I¡¯ve never seen anyone as beautiful as Sena and Sina, I¡¯ve gotten a hold of myself now, forgive my rudeness.¡± Omil stepped forward towards the girls and with his renewed resolve he spoke, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being so quiet, forgive my rudeness, My name is Omil Eqil I am Zepp and Yamu¡¯s Classmate as well as Zepp¡¯s neighbour, It¡¯s an honor to meet you¡± Omil seemed to speak a bit too formally but that was fine, at least he was trying. The twins smiled and introduced themselves to him, they chatted for a bit and everyone seemed to be more comfortable with each other after a while, I checked the time and it was already 1:00pm, time to go back to class. ¡°Guys, it¡¯s time to go to class now, it¡¯s already 1pm¡± I said to everyone who looked sad because they were starting to get to know each other, they were happy about meeting new friends as everyone was quite unique. we headed out the room and went to class, as we got to the class 7 room we waved the twins off who reluctantly went their own ways. - It was now after class and I was on my own walking back to the dorms when I overheard screaming, I was in a place where it was more or less void of activity, in the courtyard it was a secluded spot next to the dorms, I ran over to where I heard the screaming and I saw two familiar figures, both sprawled out on the floor, looking like they had been knocked unconscious, standing above them was Kuff Mol and a person who looked a couple years older but one could tell at first glance they were brothers, they were holding a cloth which I assumed was soaked in some kind of sleeping gas. I took a closer look at the figures on the floor, it was Sina and Sena, both unconscious on the hard stone floor, Instantly my heart thumped and I could feel the blood pumping through my veins faster and faster, I felt an indescribable rage fill up inside the depths of my core, I immediately took off the weights restricting my battle potential and charged towards the figure on the right who had harmed the one of the three people who should never be harmed, with speed which couldn¡¯t be seen by the eye I appeared in front of Kuff Mol and took his frail little head in my hands and with a clapping action I crushed his skull and his pathetic little life ended instantly, a look of shock forever frozen on his mangled face. [Exo kill him.] Without even a hint of remorse I ordered Exo to execute the other figure who I assumed was his brother, he was in shock and his face portrayed pure terror, I grinned mercilessly as I ordered the execution, Exo appeared in his little boy form behind the enemy and without hesitation used his arm which was transformed into a blade to cut off his head, no blood even sprayed, the cut was clean and fast and left him without even knowing how he died. [He¡¯s dead Master.] Exo went back into my mind as he completed his task and I went to the floor and checked out the Twin¡¯s conditions, luckily they didn¡¯t seem to be injured in the slightest, just asleep, I picked them up and headed to my room, without even thinking I left the two corpses behind, my mind was fully focused on the twins. -------------------- Short chapter, next part is coming later today. Thank you for reading ;p Chapter 10 - Rage Part 2 - Consequences As soon as we were in my room I put them both on my bed and checked their conditions once again, they were definitely just unconscious and should come around soon. Knowing this calmed me down and I began to think about what I had just done, I¡¯d just killed two people.. but didn¡¯t they deserve it? I didn¡¯t feel the remorse that I should of¡­ Is this because they tried to hurt the twins? Or was it an aftereffect of fusing mana with my brain? Hahh¡­ I breathed deeply and told myself to calm down and used the magic Teacher gave me to put back on the weight magic. Something definitely happened back there, It felt like when I met Teacher for the first time but a lot stronger, my body went into some kind of battle mode, I was deadly calm but my mind was clouded with anger.. Suddenly a realisation hit me, crap! I¡¯d left the corpses back there! I was too focused on the twins, they had proof it was me, it was like leaving my name on the bodies, Teacher would surely know it was me, who else could crush someone''s skull? I decided to check my luck and see if the bodies were still there, I made sure the twins were comfortable and ran out of my room, rushing to the spot where I had just fought. I got there and there they were¡­ two bodies, one with a mangled head and the other with a missing head which was a couple inches away from the corpse, it looked like no one had been here, but surely they would of know that they were missing within a couple days, I strengthened my resolve and accepted what I had just done, I didn¡¯t feel guilty nor did I feel bad in any way, I did feel bad for betraying Teacher though, I had to tell him what I had done I couldn¡¯t betray his trust anymore that I had done already. I hid the bodies in a place which would give me time to go and see Teacher and then left for his office, it didn¡¯t take long until I was at the familiar door and I knocked and went inside, Teacher was sitting at his desk reading a book, as soon as I entered he looked surprised and turned his head towards me, ¡°Zeppy my boy, why are you here?¡± I struggled with the idea of telling him but after a while I told myself this was the right thing to do and I must, with a voice full of confidence I spoke, ¡°Teacher, this student of yours has betrayed your trust, I found a classmate called Kuff Mol and his older brother trying to kidnap Sena and Sina, the only reason I made it in time was because I happened to overhear a scream and there stood Kuff mol and his older brother with the twins unconscious on the floor, many emotions hit me at this point but the one that suppressed the others was rage, pure rage, I can¡¯t describe it but I instantly knew they had to die, I killed them both, I am ready for any punishment you may enforce on me but know this, I do not regret what I have done.¡± The room suddenly went cold and a pressure started radiating from Teacher, he looked at me with sad eyes and sighed, ¡°Zepp, you must know that I cannot condone that behaviour in my school, If I remember correctly the Mol family are Nobles in the Demon kingdom, If they find out who killed their offspring you will be hunted by them and their branch families, I do not berate you for your actions as your love for your family shows how clear your heart is, however killing was not the answer and you know this.¡± Suddenly the pressure spiked again and Teacher stood up from his chair and used his hand to point at me and with a voice that seemed to come from his entire being he boomed: ¡°ZEPP ALKERY, YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER WITHIN MY SCHOOL, YOU ARE BANISHED AND EXPELLED FROM HERE ON, YOU MAY NEVER RETURN!¡± His voice echoed within the room and his body seemed to glow radiantly, he then sat down and with a quiet voice, ¡°Zepp, come here, I cannot protect you anymore, you must go find your own power but know this, I will always be your Teacher and you always my disciple, here take this, you can contact me through this if you find yourself lost or in need of advice, be good out there my boy.¡± He handed me a small silver stone and with sad eyes he then stroked my head like a grandfather would, I had by midnight to leave the school. I turned to walk out of the office and as I neared the door I turned back and spoke: ¡°Teacher, you have done numerous favours for me already, I understand your position and I¡¯ll take my leave, but you will always be my Teacher, my friend, I¡¯ll see you again, Master.¡± I turned and bowed gracefully to my Teacher, this was me taking my leave, it was going to be my last encounter with Teacher for who knows how long, I then left the room to prepare myself for the departure. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. - As I entered my room there were Sina & Sena who looked like they had just woken up, I walked up to then and hugged them close, Sina told me what happened and said two demons ambushed them and then they can¡¯t remember much after that, I assumed this was when they were unconscious. I put my hands on their shoulders and with a serious look I spoke, ¡°I¡¯ve been banished from the school for killing the two that attacked you, this may come as a shock that I killed them but they attacked you two, no one does that and gets away with it¡± They both looked shocked and they hugged me tighter with tears in their eyes, Sena lifted her head up and with a quiet voice, ¡°Ze, you got yourself banished on our behalf? what are you going to do now?¡± Sina nodded to Sena¡¯s point. ¡°Well.. I¡¯m going to figure something out, but you can¡¯t come with me, you¡¯ll be staying here with Mother luu, it¡¯s good to know that you guys are safe here, get stronger and become better mages, okay?¡± I said as I ruffled their hair with my hands and spoke to them with a smile. ¡°¡±No! We want to come with you!¡±¡± They shouted with resolute faces, ahh this will be hard to persuade them¡­ ¡°You can¡¯t, you will stay here¡­ I¡¯ll contact you regularly, I promise¡± I said with a stern voice, I won¡¯t let them come, it will be too dangerous. They seemed to accept that I didn¡¯t want them to come as it was better for them to stay here in this school along with Mother luu, they needed to learn magic and progress as mages. ¡°¡±Fine, but we¡¯ll become strong mages to support you, okay?¡±¡± We seemed to have come to an agreement and I smiled hugging them both closer, ¡°Okay!¡± I shouted. - After i¡¯d packed everything i¡¯d needed into a travel bag which could hold most of my stuff, I left some stuff with Mother Luu and the girls, we went to their room and I explained to Mother Luu what happened, she had the same reaction as the girls, tears and didn¡¯t want me to leave, I told her she couldn¡¯t come with me and that she had to look after the girls whilst I was gone, I¡¯d contact them when I could and eventually with lots of tears and hugs I left their room to go meet Yamu and Omil, I¡¯d told them to meet me outside the dorms. As I neared the boys dorms I saw Yamu and Omil sitting on a stone wall, they looked confused when they saw me carrying a big travel bag on my back, Yamu was the first to speak to me as I neared: ¡°Zeppy, why does it look like you''re leaving somewhere? ¡°Yeah, Zepp, you look like you have a lot of stuff on your back¡± Omil chimed in. With an ¡®oh you¡¯ve caught me¡¯ expression I told them the details and that I¡¯d been banished. ¡°WHAT REALLY?! IT¡¯S THERE OWN FUCKING FAULT THOUGH!¡± Yamu shouted, she looked enraged and didn¡¯t understand the reasoning behind it. ¡°Oh no Zepp! This is awful!¡± Omil looked completely worried. I had to calm them down, they looked frantic and Yamu looked like she wanted to kill Teacher. ¡°Guys calm down, I turned myself in, I did what had to be done but I went too far, Master couldn¡¯t protect me and has to follow regulations of his school, after all I killed two students, I¡¯m lucky he didn¡¯t go further¡± They seemed to calm down listening to this but they still looked slightly frantic, ¡°Zeppy, we¡¯ll come with you If you want us to, we can¡¯t leave you on your own¡± Omil agreed with Yamu¡¯s proposal but I shot them down the same as I had with the twins and Mother Luu, they couldn¡¯t sacrifice their education because of my mistake, I said I¡¯d contact them every so often. ¡°Always remember guys, we¡¯ll be friends forever though, right?¡± I put my fist out and Yamu and Omil fist bumped me in unison, their expressions showed determinations. ¡°right!¡± Now it was time for me to leave, I bid my last farewells and hugged them both and left towards the main gates which were made of obsidian, I told the guard I wanted to leave and showed them a seal from Teacher, he nodded and told the other guards to open the gates, the huge black gates opened and I walked out onto the path leading outside, as I turned back I took one last look at my old school and the memories I had and turned back to face the path outside, I heard the gates slam together behind me as I continued on this lonely trail into my unknown future. --------------- Thank you for reading. Chapter 11 - Knowledge Following the path from the school I headed east, it¡¯s been a week since I left and I¡¯m living rough at the moment, catching and cooking my own food, building shelter and all the basics I learnt the hard way on the first day, almost getting lost in a small forest where I decided to set up camp I improvised and setup self-rules when travelling, always mark your path and always set camp before sundown that way you can see what your doing... The path I¡¯m currently travelling on is a path for traders, it¡¯s cuts through the hills and in the distance is a small town which I hope to reach by nightfall, the town is surrounded by small walls, walls that just go above the average height of a man, from where I am I can¡¯t see any big houses neither, it¡¯s probably a small trading town in the middle of nowhere. I decide to jog instead of walk due to the low, lazy pace I¡¯ve been travelling at has gotten boring. After jogging for 3 hours I reach the small town, as I walk up to the entrance path, there is a gate which is guarded by rough looking men, they¡¯re 2 of them, they look untrained and hold old sword and ragged armour, as I walk closer they look at me suspiciously and the rougher looking one on the left walks towards me, ¡°Oi you, what¡¯s ya¡¯ business roun¡¯ ere¡¯?¡± As he opened his mouth I could see he didn¡¯t have very many teeth left.. maybe I should gift him a toothbrush first? I put on my friendliest smile and reply to the rough looking fella, ¡°Hello Sir, I¡¯m seeking entry to the town, looking for some shelter, I have a few pelts to sell as well, any chance I can come in?¡± The rough looking man put a hand on his scraggly beard and ushered the other man to come over, ¡°Whadya¡¯ thin¡¯ Barry? should we let im¡¯ in?¡± Who let this pair of idiots guard the gate I think inwardly. ¡®Barry¡¯ looks me up and down and then turns back to the one who could use a toothbrush, ¡°Ye¡¯ Paul let im¡¯ in, the lasses will lov¡¯ im¡¯ hahahahaha¡± Barry said whilst laughing obnoxiously, these guys are obviously the rough type, born and raised country folks. ¡°Thank you, can you tell me where the Inn is?¡± I ask, questioningly. ¡° jus¡¯ go through de¡¯ gate, you¡¯ll find yer¡¯ way roun¡¯ soon enough, small town ye¡¯ see¡± As per the mans instructions I go through the old rusty gate, once inside I see that the town is as small as described, there are around 30 small looking wooden houses, there seems to also be a small temple at the furthest part of the town, I walk along the muddy path through the town and see people who look like farmers, small time merchants and workers going back and forth, they are all wearing rags, this town seems to be quite poor. Continuing to walk towards a rough looking building labeled ¡®Tavern & Inn¡¯ I notice the curious glances from the people of this town towards me, I suppose they don¡¯t get many visitors, and my appearance wasn¡¯t what one would consider normal, I was lean and well build and being rather tall at a height of 192 cm, having rather long jet black hair and yellow eyes I was rather conspicuous, my choice of wardrobe didn¡¯t help in this neither, wearing magically weighted clothing, black in colour I looked like a suspicious character. I had arrived at my chosen destination and opened the door to the rough looking tavern & Inn, as soon as I opened the door I could hear the drunk laughs of middle aged men and the stench of people who don¡¯t bother to shower entered my nose, I stepped in and went straight towards to counter, it was actually more like a bar but still.. As I approached closer a middle aged woman who looked as rough as the others popped her head up from behind the bar, ¡°What can I do ye¡¯ for?¡± she said in the same accent as the rough men at the gates. ¡°I¡¯d like a room for 2 nights please¡± I replied in a polite manner. ¡°Fer¡¯ a polite young man lik¡¯ you, dat¡¯ll be 10 coppers¡±, the lady said in a now seductive tone, yuck¡­ ¡°Here you are mam¡± I say as I reach into my bag and take out 10 coppers, I had 10 gold overall from my savings. She grabbed the money off me and stuck her head back under the bar, a second later she came out with a key in hand labelled with a number. ¡°ere¡¯s ye¡¯ key, room 6 yer¡¯ in¡± I took the key and followed after her as she showed me the way, once we got to the room to the room labelled ¡®6¡¯ she handed me the key and left me to it, I opened the door and found the most basic room I¡¯ve ever seen, it had a bed and a wardrobe, that was it, it would do for 2 days though, I wasn¡¯t going to complain, I headed in and placed my luggage on the floor. I then locked my door and headed outside to explore the town, especially that temple, that intrigued me. - The town was noticeably poor and the scenery wasn¡¯t pretty, everyone looked 10 years older than they were due to the poor health of the citizens, it seemed they were under stress from their harsh living conditions, I walked towards the only building that seemed decent in this rundown town, the temple was clean and even had a garden growing all kinds of beautiful flowers, from the temple gates onwards it was like another world entirely, the filth and gloominess of the town seemed to be unable to penetrate past the holy walls of the temple, it was like it didn¡¯t belong there¡­the contrasting differences were truly strange. I walked up to the small gates of the temple and opened them, this led me to the garden of flowers and through that was the doors to the inside of the temple. Opening the doors I stepped inside and instantly felt a serene aura emitting from the atmosphere within the room, there were rows of benches and stained glass windows letting peaks of sunlight fall on a statue which was in the front of the room on a platform. As I entered further a divine looking young man walked out from somewhere, he wore a pure white robe which flowed down his slender body, his hair was golden and his eyes were also gold in colour, he looked like an angel, incredibly handsome and pure. He walked towards me in a manner in which made it look like he glided under that long white robe. ¡°Hello~ welcome, how may I be of service~?¡± an angelic voice echoed across the room, he stopped a couple meters in front me and he smiled, his smile and voice were both warm and welcoming. ¡°Ah Hello, what is this place? are you one of the priests?¡± I asked with a curious intent. The young man smiled even more at my question and came closer, ushering me to sit with him on the bench to the side of the room. ¡°A curious one, hmm~? This ¡®place¡¯ is known as ¡®Yuem¡¯, Yuem is not a church or religious order, it is in fact, neither. I am Malus, the eldest of Yuem, telling you how old though would be embarrassing~.¡± He certainly doesn¡¯t look that old though, the rest of the ¡®Yuem¡¯ must be young? I then see that Malus is studying me, looking up and down, I feel like a specimen being looked at by a scientist, one can tell his eyes hold an undeniable depth of knowledge. ¡°Hmmm .. Hmmmm.. Interesting~~ You are wearing some kind of weighted clothing right? Furthermore, judging by your stature and muscle definition it seems you have undergone excruciating training..... The Mana in the air surrounding your body also seems more concentrated.. Hmmm..¡± Malus was now fully absorbed in prodding and touching the skin on my hand, I for some reason let him do this, it was like the thought of this angelic and pure person attacking me never even crossed my mind. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I sat there shocked and confused by what I had just been told, how had he known, I had to ask. ¡°Uhm.. How did you know those things about me?¡± He smiled even brighter, ¡°Fufufu, I¡¯m far more knowledgeable than you can imagine, kiddo¡± He¡¯s calling me Kiddo when he looks not that older than me.. ¡°Anyway, My name is Zepp, Zepp Alkery, nice to meet you Malus¡­ I better get going now..¡± I stood and turned to leave the room in a hurry. ¡°Fufufu, see you again, Zepp, I know this isn¡¯t the last time we¡¯ll meet~¡± Malus¡¯s voice was barely audible as I left the room. - As I walked out of the temple gates and back into the filthy town I went to ask a local about their thoughts on this strange temple. I spotted a rough looking merchant who was selling basic herbs, he had a small stall and looked to be barely getting by. ¡°Excuse me Sir, what¡¯s your thoughts about the temple over there? why is it so different from the town?¡± I said as I pointed towards the temple I had just left. The rough merchant looked at me with confused eyes, ¡°I dunt¡¯ kno¡¯ wha¡¯ temple yer¡¯ on about but if ye¡¯ wanna buy somethin¡¯ go ahead¡± he said with a confused and rural business like tone. He doesn¡¯t know the temple is there? huh? I went to ask many more locals and asked them the same question, just like with the merchant they said they had no idea what I was talking about, they looked at me like a mad man. At the end of whitts I got one of the locals to follow me to the temple, as we neared it I pointed and said ¡°He-¡± as I was about to speak I was cut short, the temple wasn¡¯t there anymore, nothing was there, it was just a grassy bit of filthy land just like most of this town. I surely wasn¡¯t crazy, I went into that temple, I spoke to Malus, I went back to my room in the Inn to calm myself down as the unusualness of the situation hit me. Sitting on my bed in the room I was thinking of my next course of action, from gathering information from the locals I found that the nearest Human city was 100 miles east from the town, It was called Gruthen, a big merchant city with a lot of history, I decided to travel there first thing tomorrow morning to find more information on the Yuem, I had an instinctive feeling that I had to find out. - 3 days later I arrived in Gruthen, I had already found an Inn and got my room for a couple nights the Inn was a lot more luxurious than the one in that town. The city was full of merchants and lively looking people, the houses stretched for as far as the eye could see and they were far better quality than the townhouses, there were lots of guards and a wall surrounded the city, the gates had lots of sturdy looking guards blocking the paths and checking anymore who went in and out of the city, it was tight security but the locals were cheerful and welcoming. Before I had checked in at the Inn I had asked the Innkeeper who the most knowledgeable in Gruthen was, someone that will be willing to answer questions I had to ask. He told me it was the scholar called Jean who lived in the observatory, the observatory was a huge building that looked like a long lighthouse but without the light, the Innkeeper warned me that he may be unwilling to answer questions but he was definitely the most knowledgeable on various subjects. I headed the strange looking observatory in pursuit of this man called Jean, I had questions, lots of them. As I arrived I noticed the building was a structure with sublime architecture, it curved and was rounded like a lighthouse from far away but as you got closer the architecture really showed it¡¯s prowess. I walked towards the doors to the observatory and knocked on the large wooden doors, the knock was strong and I used a bit of force, it seemed to shake the structure ever so slightly. Footsteps came to the doors and an old man wearing a hooded brown robe and glasses opened the door ever so slightly, ¡°I¡¯m not buying anything!¡± he said with a slightly annoyed voice and tried to close the door. ¡°Wait! I¡¯m here to ask you something thats been bothering me, I¡¯ve come tens of miles just to find answers!¡± I replied with a desperate voice. As soon as I said I wanted to ask him something his eyes lit up and he ushered me in silently. We walked up the winding stairs into a room that looked to be his study, there was a big desk and book shelves filled with all kinds of books, it was like a library. ¡°Now, First, introduce yourself, boy¡± Scholar Jean said as he sat in his chair behind the desk. ¡°The names Zepp Alkery¡± ¡°Good Zepp, sit, now, tell me what it is you want to know and I may just answer your question.¡± I sat in the chair like I was told. ¡°Scholar Jean, I came across a small town on my travels and In the town was a temple that should not have belonged there, it¡¯s contrast to the down was staggering, it was too beautiful to be able to exist in the filthy town, I went inside this temple to explore and was told by a strange young man that the place was called ¡®Yuem¡¯, after I left and asked the locals if they had ever wondered why the temple was so different to the town they looked at me like I was crazy.. the temple didn¡¯t exist in the town..¡± Scholar Jean¡¯s face was full of shock, his jaw was hanging open and his eyes looked like they were bulging out of their sockets, he shot up from his chair and with a frantic expression looked at me again, ¡°YUEM?! how do you know that name.. You can¡¯t be lying, that name has been lost over the ages. ¡­.. how is this possible¡± Scholar Jean said with a frantic tone. ¡°Who are you? to be able to enter Yuem?!¡± Scholar Jean ran over to me and began shaking my shoulders like a mad man, I shrugged him off and grabbed him by his shirt. ¡°Oi! calm down!¡± I said, lifting him up and shaking his body with my grip. ¡°Ah! Ah! Excuse me! I¡¯m sorry, this old man got too excited!¡± Scholar Jean said with a slightly embarrassed expression. Calming down the old scholar began to tell Zepp what he knew of Yuem, ¡°Yuem.. they are a group of people who share the same attitude to life, they do whatever they want but all of them decide to keep to themselves, you could call them carefree, but their group is extremely ancient, spanning back to the times of the continents beginning. No one knows the exact origins of Yuem but the members are few and never seem to age, no new members have joined since the beginning and rumours say they are all the original members, they are never aging. They are also¡­powerful. That''s the only word I can use to describe them from the ancient texts I¡¯ve read upon them, the weakest among them is a rank x mage¡­ likened to gods roaming the continent. But why would they appear for you..?¡± I listened attentively to the scholars knowledge, rank x magic? the weakest! I was startled and my heart trembled upon hearing this, Malus was the oldest among them, I was in the presence of an ancient being who could crush Teacher like a bug! ----------------------------- thanks for reading, If you spot any mistakes or typos just say and I''ll fix it! :) Chapter 12 - Magical Beasts part 1 After I had spoke to the scholar I headed back to the room at the Inn to process this new development of events, the Yuem were X rank+ practitioners in either the form of a mage or a warrior, Malus certainly didn¡¯t give off the feeling of a warrior, his body didn¡¯t look sturdy enough, the aura he gave off was plenty magical. Moreover, having had that type of conversation with the scholar I was clear that the Yuem hadn¡¯t appeared before me for no reason, it was likely a sign that I was useful to them in some way, maybe they found me interesting and wanted to toy with me, after all, isn¡¯t that what people with power do to appease their boredom? As I was thinking inside my room in the Inn I was interrupted by a voice in my mind, it was Exo. [Ah Master, Speaking of that Malus guy, he was seriously weird, he has this strange aura about him too.] [Yeah, I noticed that, it was too suspicious I should of been more cautious, Exo, why didn¡¯t you speak up beforehand if you noticed it?] [I¡­ was probably offset by us meeting Malus, I¡¯m sorry Master!] [Ah, don¡¯t worry about it, just remember to warn me next time if you think somethings fishy] With that in mind Exo silenced in my mind and stopped speaking, he was usually rather quiet and never spoke unless spoken to, I wonder if he¡¯s shy? Still thinking It hits me that I need to find somewhere to train, My battle experience is still extremely low, afterall, I¡¯ve only fought 2 weak mages and that wasn¡¯t even considered a fight, they were still low ranked and I had the element of surprise on my side. After a bit of consideration and not getting far with thinking of good places to train I head back to that scholars place to ask him about my dilemma. <><><><><><><> ¡°Hmmm so you want a place to train, what rank are you, and are you mage or warrior?¡± Scholar Jean says whilst rubbing his chin in thought. ¡°Uhm actually I don¡¯t know, I haven¡¯t looked at my status in a while, also, I could be considered both but mostly warrior at the moment, I¡¯m bad with magic at the moment you see¡­¡± I replied. I recite ¡®status¡¯ in my mind and try and pull up my status bar for me to look but something unexpected happens.. nothing happened, I try and try again but still nothing. I look at the scholar and with a shrug I say ¡°It seems my status bar won¡¯t show.¡± Jean looks at me with a hint of disapproval ¡°I don¡¯t know why it¡¯s not showing but put your hand on this, it will give me a rough idea of what rank you are¡± He said whilst grabbing a small crystal ball from behind his desk, I put a hand on the crystal and it lit up a little and then Scholar Jean nodded, satisfied, ¡°Yes, Yes, it seems you''re around rank B, for this it would be best to train in the upper class wilderness that accommodates monsters of the B+ rank, it is the Milan wilderness, further south near the demons territory, Here take this.¡± Scholar Jean says whilst handing me what looked to be a map that would take me there. I frown at the mention of the demon territory, aren¡¯t I basically wanted there? afterall I did kill an important nobles families only sons, it¡¯d surely be dangerous going south, but this wilderness, judging from the map is quite far away and secluded, I¡¯d be able to make it there without going through any demon cities or towns. <><><><><><><> With the map safely tucked in my clothes I went to buy provisions I¡¯d need for the long trip to the Milan wilderness, it was at least a 2 weeks travel to get there and I needed to stock up on necessities. The city was a merchant city so I found what I needed for only a few silver and then I set off outside the gates with a small bag on my back and a map in hand. The journey wasn¡¯t as rough as expected, it was quite straight forward, I had to defend myself from a few wild animals here and there but I used their meat for food so it was rather helpful, I looked at the map and the surrounding areas and It showed that the entrance to the wilderness was a couple hundred meters in front, I could of guessed this without the help of the map though because the scenery over there was breathtaking, the mountains stood tall and the peaks looked like they threatened to pierce the heavens and the trees stretched into the outline of the sky, there were flat plains of grass and rocky areas too, it was diverse and stretched for as far as the eye could see, but I knew not to be tricked by the landscape of the wilderness, it was a place full of magical beasts rank B+, it probably housed beasts above my imagination and anyone under the level of a B rank would die in this place. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I continued walking on the nonexistent path through a tall grassy area, in the distance was the Milan Wilderness, I would enter there soon. I slowed down my speed of jogging to get some food out my bag when I heard the slightest russell in the tall grass to my left, if it weren¡¯t for my finely tuned senses I wouldn¡¯t of heard a thing, I turned my head towards where I heard this little noise and nothing was there but the swaying of the grass in the wind, I shrugged and carried on, this was a big mistake! As soon as I turned my head away something flew out the grass! I saw it in my peripheral vision just slightly, the figure flew at me with speed I¡¯d never witnessed before and a sharp gleaming object went straight for my neck! Just dodging by a hairs breath I ducked and rolled across the floor and turned to meet my attacker, it was a small monkey type creature with long, sharp claws and fierce looking eyes, it growled at me when my eyes met it, it viewed me as nothing more than food, a glint of ruthlessness in it¡¯s eyes made me consider this monster a serious enemy, after all it¡¯s stealth, speed and ruthlessness were nothing to laugh at! it was at least a C or above rank magic beast! I hadn¡¯t even entered the wilderness yet, it was just the outskirts! The beast growled with more vigour and shot forward once again with it¡¯s claws sharper than steel, it was fast! I rolled to the side again and the claws caught my arm, ripping up the sleeves on my clothes and little drips of blood came running down my arm, shit! ¡°Exo!¡± I called, instantly in my hand was a black short-katana like blade, I undid the weight magic which was restricting my movement and attacked the beast with a thrust, it dodged easily and slipped behind me, it¡¯s mouth wide open as it begun it¡¯s counter-attack, luckily I seen it coming and jumped, laughing inwardly as I went high up in the air, thinking ¡®how could this beast possibly jump as high?¡¯, almost instantly the beast jumped at me from the ground and came to the same height as I jumped and slashed with it¡¯s sharp claws again! for underestimating my enemy it cost me a nasty slash wound all the way down my leg, the clothing also ripped slightly and blood dripped towards my ankles. I landed and crouched on the floor, fully alert, and attacked whilst the creature was coming down from it¡¯s jump, it was vulnerable whilst landing! I bided the exact time where it would be most vulnerable and attacked with a slash of my sword, the monkey looking creature tried to dodge but was too late, my sword had already reached it¡¯s neck, with a swing I cleaved at it¡¯s head and blue liquid blood dripped out from the cut whilst it¡¯s head rolled across the floor, eyes still fierce and glaring at me even in death, having the time to look at the creature properly for the first time, I recognised it as a Monog, a magical beast which is the offspring of a magical canine type beast and a magical monkey type beast, the Monog¡¯s were at most a C rank magical beast! how fierce! If this was a rank C beast I can imagine how strong a B rank or above will be, this is the Milan wilderness! no wonder you have to be B rank or above to come here, we¡¯re not even inside and already Rank C beasts are appearing! ------------------ Thanks for reading ;p Short chap Next chap won''t be long! Chapter 13 - Magical Beasts part 2 Chapter 13 The fight was over and I tended to my wounds that the Monog gave me, I had a wound on my leg and arm and my clothes were ripped up where it had took damage, ripping the rest of the clothes on my arms I tightly bound the wounds to stop the bleeding, I healed faster than normal people due to my constant cultivation and the wounds weren¡¯t as bad as they looked, luckily the Monog¡¯s attacks didn¡¯t hit vital areas, I could still function well. Moreover, the fight with the rank C Monog made me aware of how serious this wilderness was, a lot of mages or warriors probably lost their lives in this place and I was about to enter it willingly. Stepping into the wilderness I entered past two big boulders that signified that I was now at the entrance, it was marked on the map by these boulders too, after this the map was virtually useless, all it had the outline of the start of the wilderness, the person that made it didn¡¯t dare to go in further. Now a couple meters into the wilderness I feel a pressure that seems to come from the environment, it¡¯s like a pressure of knowing you are going into a potentially deadly place. Walking for around 20 minutes I¡¯m already deeply committed, where I¡¯m walking is through the dense trees that surround the wilderness, up ahead I spot a clearing through the trees, it¡¯s a rocky area with a small lake next to it, the rocky area seems to be a cliff of sorts, it has many different caves on the cliff overlooking the lake, I bet they¡¯re being used as houses by many powerful beasts, I can¡¯t explore them, I¡¯m not strong enough. After I walk into the clearing I look over to the lake and see a big creature that looks like a mutated bull drinking water, this magical beast is called a giant horn bull, it is a magical beast of the B rank, they have strong, muscular bodies and sharp horns which could impale anything that stands in it¡¯s way. It must of heard me coming out of the trees because it turned it¡¯s head, it¡¯s beast like eyes glaring at me, with a loud ¡°MOOO¡± it charges, head first towards me, horns ready to impale my body, it¡¯s fast! I didn¡¯t dare to not take this beast seriously, why? because it was a giant horn bull! a rank B magical beast! Exo must of known what I wanted and instantly changed into my sword, without hesitation I run towards the rocky area, it will be easier to fight it on a surface where it can¡¯t just rush me instantly, the rocks and boulders with some being bigger than my height are a couple hundred meters away, I run as fast as I can towards them, the bull doesn¡¯t fall behind at all, it actually get¡¯s closer! I reached a rock which is bigger than the bull and I jump onto it to give me some time to come up with a plan to deal with this beast. The bull looks at me from below with rage in it¡¯s eyes I can make out that within it¡¯s rage filled eyes it¡¯s accusing me of being a coward! by jumping up here I¡¯ve angered the beast, it wants me to fight it to the death, vicious! with a loud moo the bull rushes towards the giant boulder which I¡¯m currently standing on and headbutts it with it¡¯s giant, horn filled head, the boulder shakes and breaks in half! It actually managed to break a giant boulder with just it¡¯s head, one can imagine how much strength this bull possesses, it¡¯s a powerhouse! If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. With the rock breaking in half underneath me I quick jump to another rock which is a bit smaller, the bull also charges this rock, I betted on this! as the bull headbutts the rock I jump off and land behind the bull, slashing it¡¯s back in the process, the bull had a deep wound down it¡¯s back now and this seemed to agitate it even more, with a furious cry it turns around and faces me one and one for the first time, the bull towers over me, it must be at least 3 meters tall on it¡¯s legs! The pressure of facing it head on was real, it stood tall and loomed over me like a mountain, a massive shadow cast over me as it stood above me, looking monstrous. It decided the stalemate was over and rushed me again with it¡¯s horned, this time I rolled to the right and tried to slash the bull whilst I dodged to the side, the bull anticipated this! with a flick of it¡¯s head the horns knocked me from my rolling position, I slammed into one of the rocks, the rock cracked slightly as I impacted it, that fucking hurt! I slid off the rock, my rib was probably cracked, ouch! If it wasn¡¯t for my sturdy body I¡¯d of died on impact, the bull held that much strength! I couldn¡¯t afford to tend to my injuries, I carried on and charged straight at the bull, this time I tried something a bit different. [Exo, transform into a spear!] I said in my mind, instantly was a spear which I pictured in my mind, it was a pure black spear of 3.5 meters in length and had one prong at the top. The bull charged again, retaliating to my attack, it probably didn¡¯t understand how I changed weapon and got even more agitated, it thought I was playing with it. As it rushed towards me I slid on the floor beneath the bull head as it tried to headbutt me with it¡¯s horns, luckily I timed this right and then used all my strength to ram the spear through it¡¯s neck from beneath it, this was risky! The bull made a ferocious cry when it realised I slid underneath it, it stamped on the ground trying to throw me off, but It was too late! My spear burrowed through it¡¯s muscled throat and with lots of force came out the other side, blood dripped profusely down the spear and all over my body, I was covered in blue blood, but I didn¡¯t care! I¡¯d won! As expected of a B rank magical beast it didn¡¯t die easily, for around 5 minutes it¡¯s lifeforce stayed strong, stamped on the ground, kicking and headbutting in a rampage, finally as I put more force into the spear the bull froze and stagged, I pulled the spear out and still bathed in it¡¯s blood I rammed my spear once again through it¡¯s neck, this time with a cry it collapsed, and fell to the floor sideways, I dislodged my spear and sat on the floor, exhausted from the battle to the death I¡¯d just had with this beast. The spear turned into a little boy and with a look at the bull he turned to me said, ¡°Master, magical beasts are strong, we need to find shelter so you can rest and heal.¡± with exhaustion apparent in my voice I turned my head to meet him and nodded, ¡°You¡¯re right, shit, this place is something else.¡± ------------------------ Next part probably due tomorrow! Thanks for reading, this arc''s chapters are going to be shorter but faster release :) Chapter 14 - Magical Beasts Part 3 Exo followed behind me, he skinned the hide off of the bull and brought it with him like I asked, the hide was good for armour and would fetch an expensive price when sold, this and the materials you could collect from the magical beasts were a main income source for some high ranked mages or warriors. I found shelter in a small uninhabited cave, it was damp and you could tell not even the magical beasts wanted to stay in this shabby cave, it was also away from the caves that powerful beasts lived in, it was surrounded by trees and well camouflaged. Within this cave I spent a couple hours meditating, the fusing of mana to my body was used to heal my wounds at an accelerated pace, this time I had to heal quickly, I couldn¡¯t afford to attract any beasts, after all some predators were sensitive to the smell of blood in this wilderness. When my wounds were finally healed and patched up enough to start training I headed back out, it didn¡¯t take long until I found another magical beast of the B rank, this time it was a yellow tiger, yellow tigers are from the family of tiger magical beasts, they are the weakest among the tiger family, the lowest is rank B, supposedly the blood red tiger was the strongest of the tiger family tree, they ranged anywhere from rank A to rank S, incredibly powerful! This yellow tiger was strolling cautiously in a dense wooded area, it must of been hunting for food when it spotted me through the trees. Seeing me this yellow tiger instantly ran at me, it must of been thinking ¡°Haha! easy prey!¡±, the tiger was the fastest of the magical beasts I¡¯d seen so far, in a few strides it was in front of me, growling with it¡¯s head lowered and then it pounced towards me with it¡¯s razor sharp teeth, the tiger was a so fast all I could see was a blur, it was much faster than me! However, this time I was totally prepared, I¡¯d built up my fighting experience and now I was adapting myself to fighting these magical beasts who were superior in all aspects! Instead of dodging to the side like I did when fighting the other magical beasts this time I went backwards, quickly getting out of the range of the attack, luckily this was effective, the tiger landed where I was standing previously and then met my eyes once again, this time with a louder growl. Using its superior speed it recovered from it¡¯s miss and flew at me once more, this time even faster! like an arrow fired from a bow it was instantly in front of me, I had no time to dodge or put up defence so I attacked with all my strength and betted on one blow, just as the tiger was about to bite, a 1 meter pronged spear appears in my hand, the tiger has no time to dodge, it¡¯s already invested into this attack! using the tiger¡¯s speed against it the spear lodges straight into it¡¯s mouth and out of it¡¯s head, an instant kill! Haha! I¡¯d actually killed a B rank yellow tiger with just one attack, that goes to show experience and planning is key! This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I skinned the tiger and took it¡¯s claws and teeth, they were used in some weapons and potions so they were valuable and I could make money from them. The rest of the day carried on like this, fighting with B rank beasts, as I went along the pace got faster and faster. After a couple weeks of being in the wilderness B rank magical beasts were easy pickings for me! They no longer posed a threat, from the constant life and death battles my body got stronger and stronger, the cultivation seemed to speed up my progress by ten-fold. with my new found confidence I ventured further into the wilderness when I reached the mountain that I saw always looming in the background, it was one mountain in particular on the ridge that was the most profound, it¡¯s peak almost piercing the heavens. I hadn¡¯t seen a single magical beast since entering the clearing near the mountain, it was devoid of any activity, I thought this was extremely strange and the atmosphere was eery, there was something strange going on, but stupidly I tried to brush it off. near the bottom of the biggest mountain i saw that there was a little entrance, a small rift in the rock, seeing this, curiosity got the better of me, I knew I shouldn¡¯t of gone in there, the signs were all there, no magical beast dared to come close to this mountain like it had an invisible barrier around it and the place eerily quiet and dense in mana, but I didn¡¯t have the innate ability to sense danger as well as these magical beasts who grew up here, how could I of known this was a bad idea? I walked into the small, dark rift in the rock and followed it in for a couple hundred meters, the passageway was incredibly small and I had to shuffle and walk sideways sometimes just to get through, I could hardly see in front of me, it was extremely dark, as I walked further and further in I reached a dead end. Hmmm, a dead end? As I thought this I reached out my hand and touched the wall in front of me which was blocking the path, well, I tried to touch the wall, to my complete astonishment my hand went straight through the wall! I cautiously pulled my hand out and looked it to see if anything was wrong, nothing happened, my hand was completely fine. I cautiously went further into the wall until my whole body was in, as I came out the other side of the wall the path continued further into the mountain but the path got larger and I was able to walk normally now, the little rift in the rock had actually housed a long path like this, I wonder why it showed no signs of magical beasts trying to enter? Other than that weird illusion magic that showed a dead end I would of thought that magical beasts would of at least been curious of this place, it was well hidden but surely it has been discovered by the local beasts. ------------- Thank you for reading ^_^ Chapter 15 - The ancient room Deeper and deeper into the mountain I walked, this passage seemed to span for eternity, It also seemed to slope downwards. Finally, from walking for god knows how long in this dark, cramped passage I came to a room where the passage led into, the room was full of strange markings, pictograms and ancient writing lined the walls, ceiling and the floor, it was like walking into a piece of art, you could tell it was ancient but it was in pristine condition, it looked untouched and extremely ancient. ¡°Woah¡± I muttered unconsciously, It was breathtaking, I¡¯d never seen anything so beautiful, it was like I walked into something so ancient it was inconceivable to my young mind. On one of the pictograms was two hand prints imbedded into the stone, they were pure amber and encrusted with some kind of beautiful gem, curiously I placed my hands onto the handprints, it was a perfect fit. As I admired the fit of my hands into the handprints a strange noise echoed throughout the room. ¡°Zmmmmmmmmm¡± It was like a humming, the humming was felt in the depths of my soul, I could hear it, feel it. As the humming stopped, the ancient writing above the handprints glowed in an ominous amber colour, this started a chain reaction, the ancient writing and pictograms lit up one by one in order, across the walls, floor and ceiling. As the last part lit up the whole room now looked like it was on fire, everything glowed an amber colour which was the result in a blinding light. Shocked and startled I tried to run out of the room as fast as I could, I definitely wasn¡¯t sticking around! I reached the passage and tried to run out of the room, but I couldn¡¯t! Something stopped my path, an invisible barrier or something, It flinged me across the room and I tried to exit again and again but the barrier wouldn¡¯t budge at all. Scared and confused I stood as close to the barrier as I could, trying to escape from the glowing, I watched as the pictograms, writing and ancient markings stopped glowing, this left the room eerily quiet and I still couldn¡¯t leave, the barrier continued to block my path. Out of nowhere a quiet thumping noise vibrated through the room. ¡°Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp... Thmp... Thmp.. Thmp...¡± It grew louder and louder, the pulsing was like a heart beating, it shook the whole room. The louder the sound grew the more It could be felt in the depths of my core, it seemed to penetrate my very soul. The sound was powerful and ancient, I lay on the floor clutching my head, waiting for it to stop, it didn¡¯t stop, it went on and on, louder and louder¡­ As it went on the noise felt like it was beating directly into my brain, the beating seemed to sync with my own heartbeat and they thumped together, THUMP...! THUMP¡­! After what felt like an eternity the sound grew quieter until it couldn¡¯t be heard anymore, I knew the sound had gone but I felt like I could still hear it in my head, like a small heartbeat pulsing constantly inside my head. Suddenly the room went pitch black, Void of any light whatsoever, even with eyes trained to see in the darkness I couldn¡¯t see my own hand in front of me, It was like I was locked in the void of night itself. The room was dark for a couple minutes until the walls, ceiling and floor started to glow again, it glowed a ominous black and yellow this time, but the strange thing was that the markings, writing and pictograms flew out of where they were and condensed into one mass ball of black matter which glowed yellow, the glowing black ball floated in the middle of the room and glowed a brighter yellow as time went on. The black matter seemed to squirm and twist as the yellow glow condensed itself inside the black matter, it was squirming into different shapes and spinning in every direction, by watching I forgot about the potential danger I was faced with, I was mesmerised, the matter continued to squirm and then it came to a halt. It floated ominously in the middle of the room, the glowing now gone it looked like dark matter condensed into one lump, the matter was darker than the void of night, darker than the deepest of voids and darker than space itself, it was forebodingly dark! The room was now bare of any writing, markings and pictograms, this ball seemed to suck everything into it. Then the ball squirmed and twisted again, after squirming and twisting for a while it formed into something, the room once again grew incredibly dark and then it stopped, the black ball of matter was gone but in it¡¯s place, on the floor was a little figure, I walked up to the little figure and scooped it up into my hands, looking at it closer it was a small wolf pup, the wolf¡¯s coat was the same black as the ball of matter, why had it turned into this? The little pup was unconscious in my arms, it was incredibly beautiful, it was pure black and void of any imperfections. All of a sudden I was startled out of my stupor, the room shook violently, bits of rock crumbled down the sides of the walls, it was collapsing! This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. With the pup wrapped up in my top I ran for the exit to escape, luckily the barrier had gone, I ran as fast as I could down the passages and eventually I reached the end, the illusion wall was still there but this time I knew what it was so I ran straight through it and out of the small rift in the mountain, looking back at the small rift, I was surprised because the exit I had just come from was no longer there, it was just the mountain, it had no entrances at all, the mountain was perfectly whole and the rift that I had entered through didn¡¯t exist anymore! With no time to think I ran through the forest and all the way back to the cave I had named home in this Milan wilderness, what surprised me was that no magical beast attacked us on our way there. ¡°Exo, you there?¡± I said outloud, Exo hadn¡¯t spoke since we entered the rift in the mountain. [I am now Master, when you entered through that rift I was blocked off from you, I couldn¡¯t see or hear anything, it was like you were unreachable!] The rift blocked me off from Exo? What the hell was that place! ¡°Heres what happened¡­¡± I explained the situation to Exo and he was stumped too, he told me he could feel nothing from that little wolf pup and to be careful of it, it was incredibly suspicious. ¡°I will, don¡¯t worry, It¡¯s still unconscious at the moment anyway, lets get back to the cave first.¡± <><><><><><><><><> We arrived at the cave where all my loot was and the place i¡¯d been living in the Milan Wilderness, it was a well camouflaged cave so we didn¡¯t have to worry about any magical beasts coming in. I laid the wolf puppy on a round rock which I had carved into a table and went to rest, everything that had happened took a toll on my mind, I seemed to be unlucky with things so far, I always ended up in the worst of situations. To rest I took to meditating, it gave more results than sleeping or napping. I meditated for an hour or so and felt refreshed, I stood up and went to check on the unconscious wolf pup, as the table came into sight I could see that the pup wasn¡¯t where it was supposed to be, shit, I should''ve kept an eye on it! I started to panic and got frantic due to the disappearance of the wolf pup, it was still a mystery why the mountain housed something like that. As I grew more and more annoyed at myself for not being more aware I heard something entering the cave, this put me on edge, I hid behind a rock and waited for the intruder to come further in so I could ambush them. A big shadow appeared on the wall and from around the corner it appeared, a massive monster was coming in! I readied myself for a fight to the death when the figure came around the corner.. it turned out to be a small pure black wolf pup with glowing golden yellow eyes, it was wagging it¡¯s tail whilst it dragged in the carcass of a massive magical beast at least a couple hundred times the size of it, the little pup actually went out to hunt! the magical beast it killed was a giant fire bear, they were magical beasts of the A rank! Stunned and almost falling over from sheer shock I came out from behind the rock, seeing me the pup shaked it¡¯s tail even more and dragged the dead giant fire bear towards me, when the wolf got to my feet it looked up at me and sat down, still wagging it¡¯s tail, it started making whining noises¡­. was it asking for praise¡­? I bent down and stroked the majestic pup with my hand, it started licking my hand and nuzzled it¡¯s head against me like a cat would, maybe it thought of me as it¡¯s Master? I continued to stroke the pup and it playfully rolled around, ¡°wooof woooof!¡± it cried happily and then it looked over and at the carcass and then back at me and whimpered slightly, it must of been asking if it could feast, I nodded and instantly the wolf bit into the carcass of the dead giant fire bear, it¡¯s teeth sunk into the bear like it was eating melted butter! The surprising thing was, was that this bear was an A rank magical beast! I probably couldn¡¯t even kill one of these and the skin of the giant fire bear was three times harder than steel, it had incredible defence and yet this little wolf pup barely up to the height of my shins killed it and was eating this beast like it didn¡¯t have any defence at all! It didn¡¯t take even a couple minutes before the little pup had devoured every single bit of this magical beast, even the bones! it¡¯s appetite was astounding, this magical beast could of lasted me at least a month for food yet it was devoured by a tiny pup! As it finished it¡¯s meal it stretched and came back over to where I was standing, it looked up at me with it¡¯s majestic, divine eyes and jumped into my arms, I caught it and then it curled up in my arms and fell asleep straight away. I went to sit down on a rock so the wolf pup could sleep on my lap and I stroked it whilst it slept, it obviously thought of me as it¡¯s family or it¡¯s master, ah! It needs a name¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll name you Fen, okay?¡± I said to the sleeping pup, as in reply to my question it whimpered slightly in it¡¯s sleep, it must like the name! ------------------------ Thanks for reading ;p Chapter 16 - Bonding Chapter 16 Fen didn¡¯t sleep for long, it was a couple hours in which he slept, I spent that time cultivating, when I came out of cultivation Fen stretched and woofed happily at me, I still didn¡¯t know if it was a boy or a girl so I checked by lifting it up and looking underneath, well.. Fen seemed to have no gentials¡­ maybe it¡¯s a girl? I¡¯ll refer to Fen as a ¡®her¡¯ until I can be sure. Fen wagged her tail again and seemed to want to go out to hunt again, this pup was a glutton! We went out to hunt magical beasts, she sat in my bag with her head poking out, woofing happily with her tongue flapping around when we started running at speed, she acted just like a dog! As we entered an area of cliffs I spotted a magical beast, It was a B rank giant horn bull which I had so much trouble with when I arrived, I picked up my speed and went for an attack straight away, it spotted me coming and instantly went into fighting mode, with a loud moo it charged head on. The Bull wasn¡¯t as fast as I remembered, I knew i¡¯d gotten much stronger since i¡¯d fought one last time and this time I had plentiful fighting experience. With a well timed maneuver I shot to the side of it¡¯s head into it¡¯s blindspot, it tried to flick it¡¯s horns at me but It was too late, with a mighty slash of my sword that seemed to appear in my hand I cleaved it¡¯s head off, the sword went straight through it¡¯s tendons, muscle and thick hide, with my increased strength it didn¡¯t stand a chance. Fen didn¡¯t seem to move out of my bag as I fought with the bull, she yawned like it was boring and then hopped out of my bag and then looked up at me for approval to see if she could eat it, I nodded. I let her eat the kill because we¡¯d be hunting a lot more today, in a few moments all that was left was a little bit of blue blood that was left over from me wounding the beast initially. She didn¡¯t seem to be even slightly satisfied.. When Fen finished eating she jumped back into my bag, this glutton pup might cost me a fortune if we lived in the city, food isn¡¯t cheap there. We carried on hunting all day, Fen didn¡¯t even bother to attack anything, we hunted B rank beasts all day, she devoured every single one of them, this time I didn¡¯t even make a single coin in profits, this pup was costing me money! <><><><><><><><><> The next day we were hunting again and Fen was devouring everything we killed¡­. I wasn¡¯t that angry though because I always said she could, after all she was now my responsibility. We went further into the Milan Wilderness this time, it was the furthest I¡¯d gone so far, past the mountain and past the lakes we ended up at a baron and steep rocky area, it was like a sloped hill with lots of boulders and streams flowing through the rocks down the hills. I climbed the hill and once I stood on the top of it there were dense trees a few meters in front, it was like we entered another level of the wilderness, I cautiously entered the tree line. When I entered the tree line the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and then a blur shot at my feet, I instantly dodged and jumped up a tree, luckily I had trusted my instincts, it was a magical beast attack! I looked down and saw a magical beast I recognised, it was brought up in one of my classes as a formidable reptile type magic beast of the A rank, a shadow lizard! They were experts in stealth and had very sharp claws and a poisonous stinger on it¡¯s tail used to paralyse it¡¯s opponents instantly. The lizard looked up at me in the tree and hissed, I jumped out of the tree and landed right in front of it, out of range from it¡¯s tail just in case. I was just about to attack the formidable beast who I wasn¡¯t sure I could match when Fen suddenly jumped out of my bag and landed in front of me. Fen stared at the shadow lizard with her deep yellow eyes and then she looked at me and wagged her tail, straight after she faced back towards the lizard. The lizard was confused at the appearance of a new enemy and hissed with it¡¯s snake like tongue. The two looked at each other in the eyes and then Fen strolled forward casually.. did I see her lick her lips¡­.? Confused by it¡¯s enemies actions the shadow lizard attacked, it¡¯s tail stabbed towards Fen faster than lightning, Fen didn¡¯t bother to dodge and simply, or should I say casually, side stepped and then just as the stinger was about to hit she bit into the lizards tail. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Fen!¡± I shouted, worried. she had bitten into the tail of the shadow lizard, this was incredibly risky! My worries were for naught though as Fen literally bit the lizards whole tail off and devoured it! This damn pup! Fen then looked at the lizard with eyes of hunger and whined happily after she had eaten the tail, I swear I could almost hear her saying ¡°Mmm tasty!¡± The shadow Lizard stood frozen, it didn¡¯t even have chance to register what happened when Fen appeared in front of the lizard and with the next minute the lizards head was in Fen¡¯s mouth, as casually as eating something already prepared Fen bit down, a disgusting sounds of skin and bone being crushed rang out throughout the area, it was brutal! Fen shook her head and dislodged the head from the lizards body, she proceeded to devour the lizard whilst wagging her tail happily! What the hell! this little pup just obliterated an A rank magical beast of the same size! Scary! After she had finished her.. fresh meal she licked her lips and jumped back into the bag where she rode. As I was in shock from witnessing the cute little Fen be so merciless and cruel a voice rang out in my mind, [Master, Fen is incredibly strong! she¡¯s only a little wolf pup and already this powerful!] Exo said, I could hint excitement in his voice, he must of liked Fen, ah that reminds me I need to introduce the two of them! With this in mind I headed back to our hideout. <><><><><><><><><> We arrived shortly after, I sat Fen down on the rock table and then spoke to her, ¡°Fen, I¡¯m going to introduce you to my familiar, his name is Exo, be nice, he¡¯s your family from now on.¡± When I said this she started wagging her tail and whined with excitement, she must understand me slightly. Not a second later a figure materialised beside me, it was a little boy with raven coloured shoulder length hair wearing black garments. Exo walked up to Fen and started stroking her head, Fen seemed to like this and wagged her tail even more. ¡°Hello Fen, I¡¯m Exo, Master¡¯s familiar and your senior! hehehe so cute¡± Exo said as he stroked Fen with a surprising grin on his face, This was new! I¡¯d never seen him act like this, maybe he liked cute things! I coughed, reminding Exo I was still watching him, startled and embarrassed he stopped stroking, ¡°A-Ah, sorry Master I got carried away.. Forgive me!¡± he said in an embarrassed tone. Fen seemed to like it anyhow, she must of knew he was a friend because she acted friendly towards Exo, they continued to play for a while, they were both like children, I suppose they were actually¡­ I was smiling at this scene in front of me, I watched as Exo and Fen played with each other, Exo even transformed into a wolf pup as well and they wrestled around on the floor, they took a natural liking towards each other, it was like watching two best friends play. After a couple hours of playing they both seemed to stop and then Exo transformed his human form again, he turned to me in a respectful manner. ¡°Me and Fen have made friends, do you mind If I stay materialised.. for a while?¡± Exo said, slightly embarrassed by the new friendship he¡¯d formed, he wanted to stay materialised, why would I stop him? It didn¡¯t harm me or do anything in the slightest, ¡°Of course, you don¡¯t need to ask to materialise, only if we¡¯re in front of other people is when you have to ask my permission, when in private you can stay materialised for as long as you want¡± I replied with a smile, it was great that they made friends. Exo smiled and said ¡°Yes!¡± Excitedly, he seems to of developed more of a personality as time went on, this was a good thing. The two of them were bonding, Fen seemed to like Exo too, it was great to watch friendship bloom like this. ---------------- Thanks for reading :) Chapter 17 - S rank Chapter 17 Over the next month whenever we were in the cave Exo and Fen played together, they were like siblings, Exo always appeared as a wolf to play with Fen. Never the less, the rate we were hunting magical beasts at was insane, when we met A rank beasts Fen would always become interested, anything below A rank and she didn¡¯t even bother jumping out the bag. Over the course of our stay I continued to get stronger and stronger, I could now match the A rank beasts with Exo as my weapon and using only my physical body. We had collected quite a bit of loot, I took to skinning the beats before Fen ate them, this meant I at least made a little bit of money, Fen didn¡¯t seem to mind neither. Speaking of Fen, she hadn¡¯t grown one bit, from all the eating I thought she¡¯d at least grow fat but she¡¯s still the exact same as when I found her, where does all that food go anyway?! Today was like every other day in the wilderness, a fight for survival! And Magical beasts were attacking whenever they saw me, this was good news for Fen because she wanted to eat them all! Everyday we seemed to venture deeper and deeper, we got more confident with our abilities, today was the deepest we¡¯d gone so far and we ended up in a dark, densely grown forest, the forest was incredibly dark, the sunlight couldn¡¯t penetrate past the leaves of the overgrown foliage, luckily I could see just fine though, I adapted pretty easily to new environments. The dark forest was dead of life, I didn¡¯t even see a single magical beast, it was eerily quiet and It was rather unsettling, as we carried on walking through the dark forest we arrived upon a small lake, the lake was glistening slightly, it looked majestic and it felt like we¡¯d stumbled upon a natural treasure, the contrasting with the dark forest and the bright lake made it feel almost divine. Fen seemed to sense something and went on full alert, she hopped out the bag and stood in front of me, ¡°Grrrrr¡± she growled towards the lake, something was in there, my senses were alarming me of the imminent danger, Fen seemed to also sense something strange about the lake. As we walked closer the ground shook, the trees were swaying aswell, it was like a mini earthquake under the lake, the water splashed about and then everything went still again. We stepped backwards and went on guard, preparing ourselves for anything that was going to happen. ¡°KEEEEEEEEEEE¡± a air rattling screech came from the lake, instantly a giant red worm came out of the lake, the weird thing was that this worm had a humanoid shaped head, it¡¯s body had red scales that covered it¡¯s worm like body, it looked like something out of a nightmare. ¡°A human and a little wolf? How dare you enter my territory!¡± the worm¡¯s inhuman voice echoed throughout the forest, it could speak! I think this worm is a armoured plate worm! they are magical beasts of the S rank! Magical beasts of the S rank were much different from the ones lower ranked ones, they had human like intelligence and could even talk! They were existences of terror and extremely rare to find! ¡°HOOOWWWWLLLLLL¡± Fen howled like a wolf, she¡¯s challenging it! The armoured plate worm shot out of the water and landed a couple meters in front, it¡¯s body was used like a spring underneath it to support it¡¯s balance. ¡°Hahahaha! a little puny wolf and a human dare to challenge me!?¡± with speed I couldn¡¯t register the would lashed out towards Fen, it¡¯s giant, razor sharp mouth headed straight for Fen, shit! I got Exo to change into a shield and jumped in front of Fen at the last second, I took the full force of an S rank beasts attack. As the worm¡¯s head hit my shield every single bone in my body rattled and tensed up, ¡°AHHHHHHHHHH!¡± with a roar I unleashed every ounce of my strength into blocking this attack, I wasn¡¯t going to be pushed back by a fucking worm! A look of surprise flashed over the worms humanoid face then it smiled, using it¡¯s body to to fling itself backwards and then straight at me again, it wasn¡¯t going to give up! fucking worm! It¡¯s whole body shot towards me this time, it wasn¡¯t fazed in the slightest by me blocking it¡¯s first attack, I held steady with my shield, but Exo¡¯s voice rang in my mind, [Master, dodge!] He shouted, seemingly worried. However before I could even dodge the armour plated worms whole body glowed a dark brown and spears of earth shot out from it¡¯s body, it was using earth magic! I tried to dodge the spears but they were everywhere, one grazed my arm and another grazed my leg, luckily they didn¡¯t hit! Just as I was thankful for it¡¯s miss the ground beneath me split open, this made me lose my footing and the worm, which was flying like a missile towards me smiled and then opened it¡¯s mouth, the worm hit me straight on, I didn¡¯t have a chance to block because I had been busy with the earth spears and I¡¯d also lost my footing, I had no defence. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Instantly My whole body went numb, the force that hit me was astounding, it was like being hit by a flying mountain, I could also feel my left arm burning slightly, it was a tingly feeling. The pain which assaulted me wasn¡¯t that bad, I¡¯d been through the worst pain imaginable, how could this hurt at all? Saying this, I couldn¡¯t move my body at all, it was over, I then moved my eyes to look at the worm, it was now in front of me, staring down, it had something in it¡¯s mouth, huh? was that my arm? I glanced towards my left arm, or my lack of left arm, my arm had been bitten off, but what could I do but lay there, in my own pool of blood, all my bones were broken and I knew I didn¡¯t stand a chance, this beast was far too strong. As I accepted my fate a little boy appeared beside me, he had tears streaming down his face, ¡°MASTER! MASTER! IT¡¯S MY FAULT, I COULDN¡¯T WITHSTAND THE ATTACK!¡± he said with an emotional voice, Exo blamed himself? no, it was me, I wasn¡¯t strong enough.. I looked up at him with my eyes and with much effort I managed to squeeze out, ¡°It¡¯s okay Exo, don¡¯t blame yourself, it was me, haha¡± I put my best smile on and looked at him in the eyes, he seemed to cry even more. ¡°HAHAHAHA weak! weak! human are so frai- EH?¡± the worm was taunting us from above when suddenly he stopped, instantly the worms whole body ripped in two, it¡¯s innards sprayed all over the cracked earth and it¡¯s guts lined the floor. What just happened? A little wolf then appeared to the side of the worm who now flailed around on the floor, a black aura surrounded the little wolf, it was dense and I got chills from just seeing this, the little wolf continued to attack the worm, it was brutal, the worms skin was peeled off, it¡¯s teeth ripped out one by one, it¡¯s eyes gouged and eaten, even it¡¯s tongue was ripped out , I could barely watch the chilling assault, It was.. terrifying and merciless. ¡°SKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE¡± the worm screamed at the assault, it made me even feel slightly sorry for it, but this didn¡¯t help as the little wolf continued to eat the worm alive, the worm probably cursed it¡¯s strong life force, any normal magical beast would of been dead by now but it was still alive, clutching to it¡¯s draining life. After a while it stopped flailing and froze, it must of died, well.. I don¡¯t blame it, ? of it¡¯s body was eaten and the rest was in a sorry state. The little black wolf continued to eat the worm until nothing was left, it then ran over towards me, Fen was whimpering as she licked my wounds, she must of gotten extremely angry, I¡¯d never seen her be so cruel. The strange thing about Fen licking my wounds was that the bleeding stopped, however, I still couldn¡¯t move due to having almost every bone in my body broken. I glanced at Fen who was whimpering at me, she looked extremely worried, but I was thinking about something else. How strong was Fen? she must at least be somewhere in the S rank, after all, that armoured plate worm was an S rank magical beast, to be able to kill one she¡¯d have to be on the same level or higher, right? and that black aura that surrounded her when she attacked.. was that magic? I cleared my thoughts, it was far too confusing to think about now anyway, the first priority is finding shelter and healing, I spoke to Exo in my mind and told him to find shelter for us. <><><><><><><> Exo came back about 5 minutes later from when he had set out, being extremely careful he picked me up and went towards the lake, he then jumped in and once at the bottom there was a small magic formation, he stretched out his free hand and the formation glowed a bright blue colour, instantly we were teleported to an underground cavern, this must of been the home of the armoured plate worm! Putting me down extremely carefully he opened his mouth, ¡°Master, this place is the home of that magical beast, it seemed to be living a good life, this cavern is huge and full of weird gems.¡± Gems? I¡¯d have to take a look around once i¡¯d healed up, I couldn¡¯t grow new limbs though so I was stuck with one arm¡­ this was going to suck, surely this would restrict my battle potential by at least a quarter. With a sigh and a numb body which was being embraced by an exhausted Fen I attempted to heal myself through cultivation. --------------- Thank you :) Chapter 18 - Artifact Chapter 18 ((This First part is written in the perspective of Exo)) -------------------------------- Master hasn¡¯t moved for 3 days now, he has been in the same position since he started cultivation, I think he healed most of his injuries on the first day, but he¡¯s still cultivating.. I¡¯m still worried but I know he¡¯s fine, we have an interlinked bond that helps me to know that. Fen hasn¡¯t left his side since¡­ not even to eat. I had been exploring the cavern whilst waiting for Master to wake up, I had found some interesting things. The cavern was massive, I¡¯m still not sure how large but it even goes underground further, at the furthest point undergound I found a room that was closed off from the other rooms, it was the deepest point of the cavern and most likely held something important. As I went into that room I found treasure upon treasure, it was the worms treasury! how long had he been collecting this? Gems and gold lined the walls, it sparkled, the mountain of treasures were probably something feeble minded humans would kill each other over, it was probably more treasure than a king would have.. The gems were diamonds, sapphire, ruby and all the rare ones you could think of, even one of these gems could literally drive a person mad with greed. Some of the gems were¡­ strange too.. they were gems i¡¯d never seen before, some were black crystals and others were dark yellow crystals, they looked amazingly pure and vibrant. I dug around in the pile of treasure for a while, looking at the different treasures, some looked old and some were ancient, but one particular treasure caught my eye, I could sense a strange aura from it. In the corner of the room a dusty ordinary necklace lay, from first glance it looked unassuming and junk but it had something peculiar about it, being a familiar I was more in tune with the environment, I could sense things that others couldn¡¯t sense and I felt something strange from this necklace, it definitely wasn¡¯t a normal necklace! It was grey in colour and didn¡¯t have anything fancy about it like most of the treasures in here, it looked bland but on closer inspection you could see little engraving and patterns on it, these engraving and patterns held exquisite detail and brilliance, one could see that the creator of this necklace put a lot of effort into these engravings. I picked the necklace up from the floor and inspected it closer, it was light and was just one long piece of metal made into a necklace, but this metal was also a material I had never seen before and the stupid worm left this to collect dust, it was probably something extremely valuable. <><><><><><><><> ¡°Ahhh¡± with a stretch I awoke from cultivation, how long had I been out? I had no sense of time whilst cultivating this time, it was unusual. My body felt stronger and lighter also, I could feel the latent power that my body held, did I grow strong from cultivating this time? This time my usual fusing of mana with my body was slightly different the mana fused a lot faster and it seemed my body couldn¡¯t get enough, It was like the mana was attracted to my body now, it fused continuously with my body and nothing was wasted. My wounds and broken bones were healed, but my left arm was still missing from the shoulder downwards, it felt weird feeling nothing there, it was like a part of me was missing.. wait there was.. ¡°Woof! Woof!¡± out of nowhere a little black furball assaulted me with licks and woofs, it¡¯s tail was wagging suspiciously fast and there was no mercy with the licks, Fen was overjoyed by me waking up, she was woofing happily and excitedly, she must of been extremely worried. ¡°Aww Fen your such a good girl¡± I praise her and embrace her, she whines with approval, I can¡¯t believe how close we¡¯ve gotten over this past month, I can¡¯t imagine life without my new companion, now I know why everyone loves dogs! As i¡¯m embracing fen joyfully with my only remaining arm Exo materialises in front of me, he has a joyful look on his face, ¡°Ah, Master! Welcome back, Fen hasn¡¯t left your side once, not even to eat! and look what I¡¯ve found! you¡¯ll want to see this!¡± Exo said merrily as he wandered deeper into the cavern, I stood up, stretched and followed behind him, Fen also followed along. As we walked further into the cavern there was a room at the furthest and deepest point, I wondered why Exo brought me here? As soon as we stepped in I knew why, it was a treasury even a king would be jealous of! I stared at the treasure in front of us, there were all types of rare gems and gold everywhere, the worm was filthy rich. Exo signaled for me to keep walking and we reached a deserted corner of the room, there was a dusty grey necklace lying there, Exo picked it up and handed it to me. ¡°Master, take a look at this necklace, I can feel something strange about it, It¡¯s definitely not normal.¡± Hmm, I took a look at the necklace that Exo gave me, at first glance it looked like an ordinary, common necklace but a closer look and you can see the detail put into this particular piece is amazing, especially those engravings, the creator put a lot of work into them. I had it in my hand for about 10 second when the engravings began to glow, they glowed a slightly silver colour and then the necklace disappeared¡­ without a trace¡­ When suddenly a monotone genderless voice spoke within my mind: You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. [Compatible host .. Confirmed. Language: Adapted. Blood type : Match. Race type : Match. Magic type : Adapted. Implementing new abilities to host....] ¡°Aghh!¡± After the voice stopped a surge of pain could be felt all over my body, it was mainly centered in the middle of my chest, however it faded away very quickly. [Implementation completed. Would you like to view summary on abilities? ] The necklace was definitely something extremely strange! ah! it¡¯s probably an artifact of some kind, I must be it¡¯s host now.. ¡°Yes.¡± I said, unhesitating, curious to what it had gifted me with. [ Unique Magic : Dimension Store: opens a small pocket in space in which you can store items. Capacity : unlimited. Unique Magic: Flight magic: Converts mana surrounding the Host into unique flight magic. These abilities use internal Mana supply - ] Holy crap.. this is¡­ ¡°Exo this was an amazing find! well done!!¡± I said with obvious excitement in my voice. Exo looked confused and answered back, ¡°But Master, the necklace disappeared..?¡± ¡°Yes, it seems to have made me it¡¯s new ¡®host¡¯, and look¡± I said whilst pulling down my shirt, there implemented down my neck and onto my chest was the necklace, it seemed to have fused itself with my skin. ¡°...¡± Exo kept silent. <><><><><><><><> When Fen was asleep I went to the treasure room at the furthest part of the cavern and tried out this new magic, after all If something went wrong I wouldn¡¯t get her involved. I spoke the command in my mind, ¡®Activate Dimension Store¡¯ and a small window sized dimensional rift opened, It was a small window into a pure rift of blackness, it was void of anything, I grabbed a gold coin and threw it in, it disappeared but I felt an innate sense of where the item was, I thought of that Item and it appeared in my hand! With this in mind I put all the treasure in the dimension store, this meant I could use it whenever I wanted or needed it. This will also come in handy when switching weapons or something in the future, it might even save my life one day. I closed the dimension store and then tried the next unique magic that was given to me, the ¡®host¡¯ of this strange artifact. I thought of wanting to fly and then it happened, it was a fairly cliche activation but it worked. I directed where I wanted to go with my mind and instantly I started to fly in that direction, it was amazing, I felt like a world of possibilities had just opened, I was free, flying around like a bird in this small room. ¡°Haha!¡± I shouted out, excited and having fun, this is what we¡¯re missing out on! Flying! This was amazing! Exo had discovered an absolute treasure! Flying was usually reserved for middle class S rank combatants, after all, to get into the S rank was a lot harder than breaking through the rank of B to A, it was a massive milestone that most will never reach, and the S rank combatants were split into 3 different levels of power, Low, medium and high, the low rank S rank practitioners were like C ranks to A ranks, very easy to beat, and the high rank S ranks were even more powerful! This artifact was extremely valuable, one couldn''t imagine how valuable it was, if any higher rank practitioners knew I had this they¡¯d probably kill me for it instantly. This cavern didn¡¯t have a purpose anymore so I went to wake Fen up and we left, I¡¯d decided to go west to the Dragon Empire, it was quite a far journey but I didn¡¯t have to worry about the demons spotting me neither because I¡¯d be flying there. <><><><><><><><> The Dragon Empire in the west was an Empire led by the Dragon Emperor, he was the sole leader and head of the decisions that happened within his Empire, his word was law within his territory, the different royal families within the Dragon Empire swore complete obedience to the Dragon Emperor. The Dragon¡¯s was one of the richest and most powerful of Races, the race was proud and arrogant, they looked down on the other races and hailed themselves as superior. The Dragon Empire had 9 main cities and the Capital City which was where the emperor resided, they displayed the arrogance of the Dragons in all of it¡¯s glory, the buildings were massive and the palaces of the kings of the cities were filled with pride and arrogance, massive pillars and throne rooms which were made out of pure gold, after all the Dragon race had a love for wealth. I had decided to visit the Dragon City of Kuregg, this was overseen by the King of Kuregg and his esteemed family, it was the Dragon city known for it¡¯s weapons, the weapons forged by Kuregg¡¯s blacksmiths were hailed as some of the finest in the continent. Leaving the Milan Wilderness wasn¡¯t as tricky as getting there, With my new flight ability I could easily leave, I flew at a speed which would probably match a wind bat, a bat that uses wind magic to fly fast, I went above the clouds to stop the beasts on the ground from seeing me, I¡¯d estimated I¡¯d reach the City of Kuregg in around 8 days of constant flying. --------------------- Thank you for reading once again ;p Chapter 19 - Dragon Empire Nothing eventful happened on that 8 days of travelling, we stopped to eat and rest but that was it, we made sure to avoid any places that looked dangerous and managed to make it to our destination without incident. In the distance I spotted two giant mountains, next to the mountains were massive walls hundreds of meters tall stretching across the horizon, they were catastrophically enormous, stretching as far as the eye could see. The walls were wide as well as tall, they could be mistaken for giant cliffs but the perfect symmetry told it was not the work of nature, it was built for a purpose and that purpose was to protect and show the might of the Dragon race, naturally this was the border to the Dragon Empire. In Between the Two mountains was a large valley, it was joined by a massive wall and a colossal gate in the middle, to the side of the gate were two giant statues one was a statue of an ancient dragon, the ancient dragons were the origins of the Dragon race and were the ancestors of the current Dragon race, legend says they were one of the most mighty creatures in existence. The Dragon had it¡¯s wings fully spread and it covered the surrounding hundreds of meters in the sky, it¡¯s colossal body structure gave the viewer a sense of arrogance and pride as it roared at the heavens in defiance. The statue on the other side of the gate was one of a man who calmly looked across the landscape like a god, his eyes could see all, this gave the viewer a sense of profound wisdom and confidence in his ability to destroy all. This was still a couple miles in the distance but I could clearly see the colossal structures, giant walls, mammoth mountains and the gargantuan statues that stood on watch at the border into the Dragon Empire. Seeing this sight I was once again reminded of the might of the Dragon race, they were arrogant, proud and defiant, but they couldn¡¯t help it, it was in their blood and forged into their very existence. I descended from the sky slowly, If I went any further i¡¯d be spotted by the border guards as a threat and that would be bad in all possible aspects. I landed in a naturally dipped area so as to not be spotted and once on the ground I made my way to the giant valley in which the border sat, it was a couple miles ahead but I could still clearly see it as if I were right next to it, big as it was. ¡°There''s so many people¡­¡± I unconsciously said as I entered the valley, the valley was hundreds of meters across and each side was abruptly stopped by enormous cliffs on each side that inverted slightly at the top. It could more or less be described as a giant road into the Dragon Empire, every bit of earth on the ground was smooth and well looked after as to let merchants ride comfortably in their carts or carriages and keep their goods safe. People were everywhere, there were big time merchants being escorted by mercenaries and lots of people of the different races, but mostly the people were made up of merchants bringing their goods to sell in the Dragon Empires cities. I was actually rather surprised when no one even paid a glance at me, hearing the rumours about the Dragons hate for other races I thought there wouldn¡¯t be a majority of different races but that seemed to be untrue, there were a lot of different varieties, I even saw some hybrids, the offspring of contrasting races. Fen seemed to be curious to the different types of people and the environment in general, after all this was the first time she had left the Milan Wilderness, Fen was very quiet and unlike her usual confident self, she was too busy taking in all the environments smells and sights, it was a lot to take in, it kept her preoccupied as we walked into the valley behind some merchants. ¡°Hahahaha hey the kid with scruffy clothes, thats a nice lookin¡¯ wolf pup you got there!¡± a merchant who was behind us shouted, he was manning a car that pulled 4 other carts, all of them were full of goods, he was a burly looking man who looked well travelled, he was of the Dragon race. ¡°Thank you, she¡¯s not for sale, by the way.¡± I answered, trying to put a stop to the conversation straight away. ¡°Ahahaha! That¡¯s a shame kid, hey why don¡¯t you jump in next to me! I¡¯ll give you a ride!¡± the enthusiastic burly man said whilst slapping the seat next to him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I prefer to walk, thank you for the offer though¡± I replied again with the fleeting hope to end this conversation quickly. But the man didn¡¯t seem to give up and with a big smile and banging the seat harder he laughed and said, ¡°Come, Come, sit! you kids are so shy nowadays!¡± ¡°Then If you¡¯ll excuse me..¡± I said whilst hopping aboard in the seat next to him, he wasn¡¯t giving up and it wouldn¡¯t harm me to ride on it so I eventually gave in to his constant urging. ¡°So, what brings you to the Dragon Empire?¡± the merchant said with a grin, he was naturally very charming and I could tell he was used to getting his way with people. ¡°I¡¯m travelling to the City of Kuregg, I hear the blacksmiths there are incredible.¡± ¡°Kuregg! hahaha! what a coincidence! That¡¯s my home, our blacksmiths are legendary! Hmph! Hmph! there aren¡¯t better blacksmiths in all of Ein!!¡± the merchant says whilst puffing out his chest with pride. ¡­ Just my luck.. but I suppose I can catch a ride till we arrive, it¡¯ll give me time to cultivate more, I have been neglecting it recently. ¡°The Dwarfs might say otherwise on that one, anyway, My names Zepp, good to meet you.¡± I said whilst extending my hand for a handshake, it was proper edicate. ¡°Hahaha you''re right lad, good to meet you Zepp, me names Dac, I¡¯ll give you a ride to Kuregg, make yourself at home and tell me about yourself, I¡¯m a good listener!¡± I made up a lie, I said I was an adventurer who was going to the adventuring guild in the city of Kuregg, luckily my excuse was believable because Kuregg did infact have an adventuring guild. Also, my current appearance was one a poor person, I wore clothes that were accentually rags, in the eyes of others I looked extremely scruffy, I hadn¡¯t washed in a while and my hair was had grew long, my shoes were makeshift sandals which I had picked up on the journey here, most people were mistaking Fen for a dog too, they musn¡¯t of seen a wolf before... My conversation with Dac went on for a while, he was the type of person who you couldn¡¯t shut up, he¡¯d bring up new topics and ask my opinion on them, he was a carefree man.. We neared the gigantic gates that could be seen for miles, the gates were made out of the strongest Iron, pure black iron, they looked durable beyond belief, on the black iron gates was an emblem of the Dragon Empire, it was an ancient dragon with red eyes, around it¡¯s body was a circle and then flames came out from the circle, it was an emblem that displayed power and might. As we neared the gates a guard clad in flaming red armour approached us, it was fancy armour that looked extremely heavy and the helmet only left gaps for the mouth, eyes and horns, the person wearing this armour must be a powerful warrior to wear it like it¡¯s so light. The guard wielded a giant halberd which was also flaming red, both the armour and the weapon had the official Dragon Empire emblem branded onto them, one would know at a glance the person was a warrior or guard of the Dragon Empire. ¡°Halt. Show authorisation.¡± the guard said with a stern, deep voice as he stood ramrod straight, his pride as a warrior guarding the Dragon Empire border was displayed fully. Eh? Authorisation? I don¡¯t have anything like that¡­ Ah, did they mean for us to show them our status window? This was a problem, I couldn¡¯t open my original status window anymore due to problems with my compatibility with it, ah? couldn¡¯t I use that ring that the master gave me, I still had it after all, I could create a completely fake status window or edit my original one, last time I used it I edited my original window but this I¡¯ll have to make a fake one, I took put my hand in my pocket and activated dimension store, it looked like I was reaching for something in my pocket but I was actually getting the ring out. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Got it! I got the ring and deactivated my magic, I then put it on, the ring had no fancy functions like being able to talk but you could communicate telepathically to give it instructions. ¡®Create Fake status window¡¯ I said to the ring, a blank status window appeared in my mind,I made some things up like I had on my original window and then when I was satisfied I nodded happily. Dac was currently showing the guard his window and they nodded in approval, the guard then came over to me and I showed him my window. ¡°Hmm.. okay..approved.¡± the guard said, he must of thought I was a normal citizen with stats like these, even a low grade adventurer would have higher stats. We travelled through the giant gate and headed into the lands of the Dragon Empire, on either side of the gate those gargantuan statues were peering over the heavens like deities, I couldn¡¯t keep my eyes off of them, they were breathtaking. <><><><><><> The deeper we went into the Dragon Empires territory the more beautiful it became, plants I had never seen before were common here, the natural surroundings were lush and well looked after by locals. Looking behind I could still see the giant statues and mountains that towered above the lower clouds, it was truly magnificent scenery. We were riding on the carts with Dac still, Fen was sleeping on my lap and Exo was currently dematerialised. ¡°Dac, would you tell me a bit about the Dragon Empire?¡± I asked Dac who was sitting to my side, he was whistling a tune happily whilst driving the cart, as soon as I asked this his eyes lit up with happiness, ¡°Fufufu, of course! I¡¯ll tell you a bit about our glorious Dragon Empire! haha!¡± He said with pride. ¡°There are 9 cities and the Capital City, altogether this makes 10 cities, it sounds small right? don¡¯t be fooled, the size of the cities is something you¡¯ve probably never seen before, each is grand in their own right, my city of Kuregg is ruled by King Kuregg, all the cities are named after their rulers, the Emperor made it this way as to gift power to his 10 generals, every king or Queen that rules a city is one of the Emperor¡¯s generals, this is common knowledge known by the Dragon race but this is probably the first time you are hearing of this right? The rulers are all top level S rank combatants, they are war veterans and extremely gifted on the battlefield, they are titled as the 10 heavenly generals! That Human you all call ¡®The Master¡¯ wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against our heavenly generals! hmph! foolish peasants call him the strongest? hahaha! bullshit!¡± As Dac spoke about the heavenly generals who were also rulers of the cities his chest swelled with pride and confidence, I can tell that these Heavenly generals hold enormous power in the Dragon Empire, they were looked up to as idols! Dac carried on after calming down somewhat. ¡°The Strongest of the 10 generals is the ruler of the capital city, Supreme General Dracul! he is the leader of the generals, you can imagine how strong Lord Dracul is! Others outside of the Dragon Empire think that the Emperor rules the capital city but this is in fact untrue! The Emperor does live in the capital city in the Dragon palace but he does not rule the city, he gave this privilege to his most trusted friend and general, Lord Dracul! The Emperor is mysterious as most of us have never seen him! he lives in the Dragon palace but never comes out, however, if he orders something then that order is the highest priority, his 10 heavenly generals will stop at nothing to complete their masters will! There are many rumours about The Emperor, some say he¡¯s the Dragon god himself! others believe he is a powerful ancient dragon! These rumours are mostly just bored citizens making things up but I believe that The Emperor is a supremely powerful person!¡± The internal structure of the Dragon Empire is much more complicated than I thought, it is also much more powerful than expected, especially the 10 heavenly generals and The Emperor himself, they are probably the base for the extreme confidence that the race has in itself. Dac talked forever about the might of the heavenly generals and how amazingly the military might of the Dragon Empire was, he also explained about the Cities and the Rulers, The 10 Cities as told by Dac are: Kuregg, ruled by the General King Kuregg, this city is known for it¡¯s blacksmithing and has forged some of the best pieces of equipment in the land. Denune, ruled by the General Queen Denune, the city of Denune boasts extreme wealth and is the city for merchants. Lalias, ruled by the General King Lalias is a city known for it¡¯s Warriors, it holds some of the finest Warrior training facilities in all of Ein. Wux, ruled by the General King Wux is the city prided with it¡¯s Magical talents, King Wux, being an extremely powerful Mage has made this city into a great producer of Mages who serve the Dragon Empire. Olagg is ruled by the General King Olagg, the city is the city of crafting within the Dragon Empire, It produces many 1st grade goods and is considered a haven for Crafters. Unea, ruled by the General Queen Unea specialises in light types of magic, the city is tranquil and home to many who study the ways of Light magic. Dracoun Is ruled by General King Dracoun, he is a Master strategist and warrior, the cities defences are believed to be impenetrable. Temilia, the City Ruled by Queen Temilia, Queen Temilia is a Master Archer and mage, together she can destroy an army with her magic arrows, the city is known for it¡¯s Archery. Yeam is ruled by General King Yeam, King Yeam is a Master of Dark Magic, he is mysterious and known to be ruthless, the city is known for it¡¯s dark arts. Dracul, the capital city of the Dragon Empire and the most famous of all, Ruled by Supreme General King Dracul, the Capital is a place where no one dares cause a ruckus, Dracul is an extremely powerful warrior and mage, Some believe he has reached the absolute peak of the S rank. Then Finally the Emperor who has authority over everything within his Empire, with the snap of his fingers he could dethrone the rulers, he has that much authority, some believe the Emperor has even transcended the S rank! <><><><><><> We had been on the cart for days when finally Dac turned to me with a giant smile on his face and said, ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± It was dark but I could clearly see, lifting my head up from the cart I peered at the city that the road led into, it was a giant dome of stone, the stone looked to be extremely sturdy, the city was a giant dome! it looked enormous, at the end of the road were two giant torches with flames burning out of them, they lit the gates to the city which were guarded by Dragon warriors, there were hundreds of guards stationed just at the gate, this was absolute security at it¡¯s max! The structure of the city itself was something that defied the imagination, who expected the city to be a giant dome? The only entrance looked to be the massive gate guarded by hundreds of guards on the outside, The dome walls and gate looked grand as they were lit up by the giant torches, the flickers of the flame seemed to dance on the ancient stone creating a unique feeling when viewing the spectacle. -------------------------- Thank you for reading, this chapter is a bit longer than usual. Hope you enjoy :) Chapter 20 - Scorned Chapter 20 The cart rattled ever so slightly as we made our way to the gate of the city, it was the only noise that could be heard, it was a quiet night, the Dragon Guards stood like statues, they stood in a formation ready for battle at any time, they seemed to be highly trained and their teamwork was probably impeccable. We were now a couple tens of meters from the entrance, the guards suddenly changed their formation, four of the front dragon guards walked up to the cart, they never broke the formation of four when they stepped out of the formation of hundreds. In the armour they wore, every guard looked the same, this was to give the enemy fear on the battlefield, it gave the physiological ¡®no matter how many you kill there will always be more¡¯ feel, It was to mess with the opponents heads. The leading guard halted in front of the carts, the others naturally stopped too, not breaking their synchronized movements for even a second. ¡°This is the City of Kuregg, you will be able to enter once you give us identification and allow us to search you.¡± the leading guard said, he had a deep voice and it was a voice confident in his own abilities. The security in the Dragon Empire is no joke, me and Dac showed our status windows to the guard and then the three other guards proceeded to check out the carts in which Dac brought along, Fen was quietly watching the dragon guards from my lap, this was the first time she¡¯d had a chance to see them, she was asleep the last time. The search seemed to take a while as they routinely checked every nook and cranny of the carts and goods, when they were satisfied they went back to their formation front of the cart. ¡°All clear. You are free to enter, welcome to Kuregg.¡± the leading guard said, the four guards escorted us to the gate and signaled to the other guards we were free to enter, we then entered through the gate into the giant dome city. <><><><><><> The large entrance led into a tunnel than sloped downwards, the tunnel was made out of the same dome was made out of and it was lit up by giant torches. Due to it being night the torches were the only source of light in the tunnel, but that in itself was more than enough to see clearly. The tunnel continued to slope underground, until we arrived at the end of the tunnel, what the tunnel opened up into was a giant courtyard, the courtyard had lots of guards in it and at the end of the path which led into the courtyard was another giant gate, beyond the giant gate was the city, the city was gigantic but everything was very well structured, the paths and routes between the buildings were symmetrical and well designed, the city was also very clean, in the distance, one could see a huge structure. ¡°Dac, what¡¯s that massive building over there?¡± I point, asking Dac because this was his hometown. ¡°That¡¯s the Palace of the King, it goes to the top of the dome and overlooks the city, amazing huh?¡± Dac replied, I nodded, the structure was a very luxurious palace. Our cart stopped at the gates into the city and they were opened for us, when the last cart had come through the gates closed with a slamming sound. It was night at the moment so it was very quiet and there weren¡¯t many citizens around, the only people really around were the guards who patrolled the streets. Dac had casually said one day when we were on our way to the city that I could lodge in his house, he said his house was large because he was a successful merchant and that there was plenty of room for me, his wife would also cook us meals too. we made our way through the cities uniformly lined buildings and structures and followed a path to the western side of the city, as we went past lots of smaller houses we reached a long house with 4 sections, it had a lots of plants and outdoor ornaments around the house, Dac stopped the cart when we reached the house, puffing his chest up and with a big smile on his face turning to me he said, ¡°This is my beloved home! welcome!¡± <><><><><><> We were aloud to stay in one of the independent sections of the house, it was a very clean house and it was comfortable and modest. Early the next morning I decided to explore the town, Fen casually strolled behind me, the domed city was bright just as if it were outside, the city must of used some kind of magic to make artificial daylight, it was extremely convincing and I swear I could even feel a slight breeze like one would on an autumn day. The city was bustling with people, I noticed the abundance of blacksmith shops. *DING* *CLIING* *DING* Sounds of the hammers banging away as metal struck metal sounded throughout the city, the temperature of the city was also increased by all the forges burning extreme levels of heat, but this didn¡¯t affect the citizens, after all, the Dragon race had the best affinity to the element of fire. As I looked around the city streets I went to the mainroad in which we came in by, this was one long road and was like a strip of shops, it was extremely busy. ¡°We do the best daggers in the area! Buy one dagger well made daggers for 20 silvers and get a sheathe free!¡± ¡°Got a horse? Buy our quality horseshoes!¡± ¡°Swords, spears, scimitars, daggers! we sell them all! Offers on swords are now on! Buy a sword worth 1 gold at 90 silvers! cheap, cheap!¡± The street was booming with activity, all the merchants and shops were trying to sell the passersby their equipment, most of it was actually quite expensive! The money system is very simple in the continent, it¡¯s universally accepted that everyone has the same money system: 1 gold is the equivalent to 100 silvers and 1 silver is equivalent to 100 coppers. Silvers are the coin which are most dealt with, except for the cities a gold coin is quite rare, this is because 100 silvers is very expensive and most commoners earn a wage of at least 2 gold coin a year meaning they get paid in silvers. The reason for the high price was the quality, the quality of the products was very high. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I could use some more clothes so I went around asking if their were any tailors or blacksmiths that made flexible clothing, one of the locals told me that their was an extremely high quality shop in a back alley called ¡®Dragon hammer¡¯, this was an extremely cliche name, it seemed all the shops around here named themselves ¡®Dragon ----¡¯, how could a shop called this possibly be any good. After asking around and searching the back alleys for a little over an hour I finally found the shop I was looking for, it was a massive shop that oozed quality, there were even guards standing at the door to the shop, it must be a shop that nobles and rich people use, I guess I¡¯ll go have a look around. Walking up to the door to the shop I tried to enter but was stopped by a hired guard, he snorted at me, looking me up and down with eyes of contempt he said, ¡°We don¡¯t allow the common folk in here, you look homeless anyway, get lost!¡± his voice was one filled with obvious disgust. The other guard joined in also, ¡°Pahaha! a poor bastard like you can¡¯t afford this shop, aiming a bit too high aren¡¯t we? you look like a beggar!¡± they both laughed me like I was a piece of filth. ¡°I just want to look around.¡± I said, I wasn¡¯t particularly annoyed, after all my mind was calm and unshakeable due to my training, things like this couldn¡¯t easily shake me. ¡°I said fuck off! you can¡¯t afford it, what part of that didn¡¯t you get through that thick skull of yours?¡± one of the guards said, whilst showing no emotion on my face I was calmly thinking, wouldn¡¯t this be bad for business if they turn down every customer who didn¡¯t ¡®look wealthy¡¯, I¡¯m sure the owner of this place set up his business for this very reason, to make money, this quite obviously defeats the purpose.. ¡°Hey aren¡¯t you listening? I said fuck off!¡± the guard lifted his leg and his foot came flying at my torso, ah, he shouldn¡¯t of done that¡­ idiot. Before the foot even managed to touch my body his leg was torn clean off by a black blur, then, standing before the guard was a unassuming wolf pup chewing on the leg, swallowing it whole. ¡°a-ahh-AHHHHHHHHHH!¡± the guard screamed, the other guard unsheathed his sword and attacked me in panic whilst the guard who attacked first was lying on the floor, clutching at what remained of his leg as blood pumped out of the wound. Annoyed at their antics I stopped the sword with my bare hand, the guard¡¯s face was a picture of shock and fear, after all, how could they know my skin wasn¡¯t something a warrior of this caliber could cut. gripping his sword tighter he tried to pull from my grip but he simply wasn¡¯t strong enough, with a flick of the wrist I threw him by his sword into the wall, the impact instantly killing him. The guard who initially started this was cowering in fear as he bled to death, forgetting his pain as he cowered. ¡°a-ahh! please don¡¯t kill me, ha- haha! I was joking! JOKING! I was wron-¡± Before he could finish Fen bit his head off with her mouth, it was a cruel way to go but I felt no remorse and wouldn¡¯t scold Fen for something this trivial. ¡°Ah Fen you went a bit overboard again¡± I said whilst stroking Fen, she whimpered in apology and I told her to clean the bodies up, which she was more than glad to do. With all that had happened I got a bad opinion of the store and lost my appetite to shop there, those that don¡¯t value their customers don¡¯t have my respect. I decided to call it a day and head back to Dac¡¯s house, I simply wasn¡¯t in the mood to shop anymore. <><><><><><> The next day I was disturbed by banging on the door. *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* I went and answered to see who wanted me this early in the morning, it was 5am after all. ¡°Yes?¡± I answered whilst pulling the door open. ¡°You. You¡¯re coming with us, according to a witness account you committed a crime within our city.¡± a burly looking dragon guard said, he was with a squad of around 6 elite looking guards, they were all very powerful. Ahh, now we¡¯ve done it. I wasn¡¯t going to act against them due to this being Dac¡¯s home, I was simply to indebt to him to do something like this, I¡¯ll obediently follow along. They let me take Fen with me, she jumped into my arms and I carried her, the guards surrounded me and escorted me, albeit forcefully, to the palace. <><><><><><> The road to the palace was rather long, it consisted of a road that went straight to the palace, we got many look from curious citizens as the guards escorted me. we arrived at the huge gates of the palace and the guards opened them up once they seen it was their colleagues. Speaking of the palace, it was spectacular, golden pillars held the huge roof up and there was artwork everywhere, the floors were made of pure marble and it was very grand, thousands of Dragon guards patrolled the palace, inside and out, it was impenetrable. The 6 guards took me to a cell like room which had a bed, it was obviously a temporary cell and was lined with all sorts of magic barriers to stop powerful combatants from breaking out. They put me in the cell and the leading guard spoke, ¡°You¡¯ll be trialed tomorrow, don¡¯t cause a ruckus, you¡¯ll be tried by his majesty the king.¡± he said whilst closing the door and locking it. By his majesty, the king of Kuregg? this situation keeps getting worse. Fen whimpered slightly whilst she looked at me, she was being apologetic and felt sad that her master was in this situation because of her, looking at her I stroked her coat, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not your fault Fen¡± I told her. ------------------- Thank you for reading! :D PS. My fiction is falling out of the top 50, if any of you will be so kind as to rate/vote for it I''ll be eternally grateful, thanks once again! Chapter 21 - Trial of blood You may notice that I have switched up the perspectives this time, I will be doing this more often, First person sometimes holds me back from conveying what I want to, anyhow, Enjoy! ------------------------ Chapter 21 Kuregg was sitting on his throne in the judgement room where they tried criminals, his 2.3 meter tall body was extremely large and intimidating, to the untrained eye Kuregg¡¯s physique made him look like an extremely large fat man but one must know that all the weight on Kuregg¡¯s body was all extremely solid muscle, he was a top S rank combatant, this meant he was an extremely powerful warrior. Kuregg wore a long black mantle and black chainmail armour made of black iron, usually black iron wasn¡¯t used for armour as it was extremely heavy but he wore it like it was part of his body. On Kuregg¡¯s head was his golden crown, the crown had an emblem of the Dragon Empire encrusted on it in red gems, it was luxurious and intimidating, his eyes were a dark brown colour and he had short hair with a long burly beard. To the side of his throne was a large hammer, it was his most beloved weapon, ¡®Fire Hammer¡¯, it was enchanted with extremely high level fire magic and it¡¯s weight was 5,000kg, a normal warrior wouldn¡¯t even be able to lift it much less swing it around like a feather, as which Kuregg did. In front of Kuregg¡¯s throne were a few raised seating areas which were looking down at one spot on the room, the spot they all looked at was the lowest platform, the place where the criminal was judged by the people in the room, usually criminals were judged by court officials but sometimes King Kuregg himself would come to judge, this was one of those days. ¡°Bring out the accused!¡± said Kuregg in a loud, powerful voice, the servants instantly went to get the prosecuted out of his cell, they didn¡¯t dare waste time. The servants returned with tall young man, his hair was black and he had deep yellow eyes, he swore shaggy clothes and looked poor, his sleeve was loose and tattered and one could tell he had no left arm, In his one arm was a little wolf pup whose colour was blacker than the night, it also had deep yellow golden eyes and it¡¯s eyes were incredibly deep like it¡¯s masters. Sitting on the throne above the floor Kuregg observed the young man closely, ¡®His physique is lean like a leopard but you can see from his veins that those muscles contain incredible power¡¯ Kuregg thought to himself as he observed the young man in front of him, then he took a look at the wolf pup. ¡°!¡± Kuregg instantly shot up from his chair, grabbing his hammer unconsciously. As Kuregg tried to look at the wolf pup the wolf¡¯s eyes met his and he instantly felt a shiver run through his body, how long had it been since he felt fear? this little wolf that wasn¡¯t even an adult made him actually break out in a cold sweat! him, a top rank S combatant and Heavenly General of the Dragon Empire! ¡°Guards! Get that wolf pup out of here and throw it in the cage!¡± Kuregg shouted, he wanted it gone, the wolf gave him an uneasy feeling and a pet of this caliber shouldn¡¯t be left to a young man. ¡°Hey! get off of her!¡± the young man yelled out as the guards tried to pull Fen from his arms, they tried to forcefully take her from him. ¡°GRRRRR!¡± Fen growled as the guards tried to take her from her master, she didn¡¯t attack them because Zepp was inconvenienced by her actions last time, she didn¡¯t want to burden her master. ¡°I TOLD YOU TO GET OFF OF HER!¡± Zepp shouted in anger, his voice boomed across the hall, the guards who were trying to take Fen away were knocked flying by Zepp as he angrily shoulder barged them out the way. ¡°ENOUGH!¡± Kuregg stood up from his throne and released pressure into his voice, it shook the air in the room, everything went silent, including Zepp and Fen who were shocked at the power of his voice alone. ¡°Guards, restrain him with force, or I¡¯ll come down there and do it myself.¡± Kuregg said with an arrogant attitude, he believed he was in complete control of the situation, who would dare go against a top S rank combatant? Hundreds of guards rushed into the room and took formation around Zepp, they were elite guards of the palace and were all B to A rank. ¡®This is bad¡¯ Zepp thought, there was hundreds of elite dragon guards surrounding them, even he couldn¡¯t act carelessly in this situation, he even said to Fen ¡®Don¡¯t struggle¡¯, after all, if she did then Kuregg would restrain her himself and she may get hurt. The guards cuffed Zepp¡¯s hands and feet, they were cuffs made of enchanted black iron, even he couldn¡¯t break them, they also bound Fen with them, she didn¡¯t struggle as Zepp instructed her not to. They were in a hopeless position, powerless and at the whims of this biased General King. ¡°Good. Now let¡¯s begin your trial.¡± Kuregg said, his voice carrying authority. ¡°Officer Dar, list the crimes of this young man.¡± ¡°Yes your majesty, right away. He is being tried for committing the act of two counts of murder within a city under the jurisdiction of the Dragon Empire, murdering is a sin punishable by execution.¡± ¡°Okay, thank you Officer, next I¡¯d like the witness to come and recount the events.¡± Kuregg states. A greedy looking man with a giant pot belly is brought into the chamber, he looks at Zepp and Fen with fear well displayed in his eyes, he coughs and begins to tell his story. ¡°Your majesty, I am the owner of the Dragon Hammer shop, it is a high quality goods seller and we have guards at the doors as to protect ourselves, yesterday, it was business like usual when this monster and his abomination of a ¡®pet¡¯ turned up at our store, they attacked the guards first and tried to rob our store, luckily someone came and they ended up running off, but the corpses of the two guards were eaten by the wolf!¡± the greedy shop owner said with his arms elaborating his story. ¡°He lies! we were trying to enter the store to shop when you''re guards stopped us from entering and looked down on us because of the way I am dressed and eventually they attacked us! How vile, to not tell the truth!¡± Zepp yelled at the fat shop owner. The greedy owner visibly flinched and one could tell he was afraid of Zepp, however, he continued to act out his lie that he had formulated to humiliate Zepp and his wolf, after all they had interrupted his business and taken the life of two guards who he had paid handsomely, this was revenge! ¡°Your majesty, do you believe I, the owner of a disguised store would let my guards act like that? of course not.¡± the greedy shop owner was now even more committed to seeking revenge against Zepp and Fen. ¡®They killed my most trusted guards and disrupted my business, this serves them right! filthy commoners.¡¯ the greedy merchant thought to himself. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Hmmm, this information adds up, this does it then! the young man and his wolf pup are to be executed immediately, I will personally carry this out!¡± Kuregg said, his voice stern and echoing across the room, everyone in the room was shocked, after all, the king would be personally executing the convicted young man and to do it straight away? this was unprecedented. ¡®I have to immediately kill this young man and the abominable wolf pup, they have the potential to threaten me if I let them live¡¯ Kuregg thought to himself, in his mind he had decided once he saw Zepp and Fen that they were to be executed, his experience told him they were simply too dangerous to be aloud to let go, the witness statement and formalities were just there to make a legit reason to execute them, even Kuregg didn¡¯t believe the greedy merchant, but decided to execute them anyway. ¡°YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF TWO COUNTS OF MURDER WITHIN MY CITY, THE PUNISHMENT FOR THIS IS DEATH!¡± Kuregg boomed, he grabbed his large hammer and jumped from the platform onto the lower platform where Zepp and Fen were being held for judgement. ¡®Fuck! this is bad!¡¯ Zepp inwardly cursed, he had been set up, this greedy merchant definitely didn¡¯t see anything, he was lying! yet the king decided to believe him. [Master! what do we do!] Exo¡¯s voice yelled in Zepp¡¯s head, Zepp was in confusion, he didn¡¯t know how to get out of this one, both him and Fen were bound and with Kuregg as their enemy they didn¡¯t stand a chance, he was a peak rank S combatant! [Exo! try and break Fen¡¯s chains!] Zepp said to Exo, Exo immediately appeared next to Fen and he morphed his arm into a short sword, using all his power he slashed at the chains, the chains couldn¡¯t withstand the impact dealt externally and shattered. Success! The surrounding Dragon guards and Kuregg who now landed in front of Zepp was stunned for a moment, a boy had appeared out of nowhere and smashed the chains! ¡®No matter, I¡¯ll end this in one strike!¡¯ Kuregg lifted his hammer above his head and infused himself in a coat of Fire magic, this raised his abilities by an extra 15%, Fire cloak! a high ranking Fire magic spell! Kuregg shot like a bullet towards Zepp, instantly he was directly above him, his hammer striking down from the heavens to end the young mans life in front of him. ¡°HOWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLL!¡¯ Suddenly a ferocious howl sounded through the room, the wolf pup which was sitting next to the young man beforehand was right in front of Kuregg, it¡¯s mouth wide open in attack, Kuregg was caught off caught and couldn¡¯t block, Fen¡¯s fangs sank into his arm, a large wound rendered his right arm useless, however, this couldn¡¯t stop Kuregg, with swift movement he recovered and switched the hammer to his other hand and smashed it into Fen¡¯s small body. *BOOM* An almighty crack appeared in the giant wall where Fen had been knocked into, a spec of blood stained the hammer, it now looked even more ominous as flames surrounded the hammer. ¡°FEN!!!¡± Zepp yelled, Fen had just taken a full power attack from a top S rank warrior, Zepp was terribly afraid for her life, Exo cut his chains beforehand but he still couldn¡¯t move he was surrounded and Kuregg was coming in for another attack, this time nothing was to stop him. ¡°ENOUGH OF YOUR MEANINGLESS STRUGGLES! MEET YOUR DEATH!¡± Kuregg screamed, his hammer which pointed towards the heavens descended onto Zepp¡¯s figure below, this was the end, there was no saving him. ¡®Luu, Sena, Sina, Yamu, Omil, Exo, Fen! I¡¯m sorry I wasn¡¯t strong enough!¡¯ Zepp clenched his eyes and prepared for the end, he had called out his most beloved family and companions before he met his maker. ¡­ Zepp continued to clench his eyes tightly in anticipation but the hammer that would end his life never arrived, he continued to wait and wait. ¡®What¡¯s happening? Why hasn¡¯t he ended it?¡¯ Zepp thought, was Kuregg humiliating him? was that it? he had readied himself and was Kuregg going to ridicule him for this? ¡°Ah~ Zepp, what have you got yourself into hmmmm~¡± a carefree, familiar voice rang out, cautiously Zepp opened his eyes, the scene in front of him shocked him to the very core, there stood a young man wearing a robe coloured whiter than the clouds, his hair was golden and his eyes were matching his hair, the young man gave out a divine feeling, yes, this appearance was very familiar, it was Malus! However, this wasn¡¯t the most shocking scene which Zepp looked upon, the most shocking was that Kuregg lay collapsed on the floor, and everyone in the surrounding was also collapsed, but the strangest thing was, was that there was a pool of blood everywhere, blood dripped from the walls, the ceiling, it seeped out of the cracks in the floor, it was like the room was a swimming pool of blood, it was well and truly a horrifying sight, but in the middle of this pool of blood stood malus, not a speck of blood was on his attire, he was smiling and stood there carefree and nonchalantly, what a monster! ¡°Malus?¡± Zepp spoke up, a hint of caution still in his voice. ¡°Yepp~ it¡¯s me, let¡¯s not waste time in this filthy place, come. I saved you for a reason, you are going to become the newest member of the Yuem, as well as my disciple, be happy!~ you are the first ever disciple that I have taken on, Hmm~ being a disciple of the strongest and oldest of the Yuem, I¡¯m jealous! Fufufu~ ah, officially you are not a part of the Yuem yet, this will come when you are much stronger, I¡¯ve been watching you since you were young, Zepp, I¡¯ve been waiting for this moment. Now come, let us go.¡± Malus said with a carefree voice, a hint of excitement was also evident. ¡°m-me a member? disciple of you? yes! I accept! Master! ah! um, before we go, can we retrieve Fen, she is injured and was knocked into the wall over there!¡± Zepp pointed towards the wall, he was incredibly worried about Fen, she had sacrificed herself for him. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about your strange little doggy, she¡¯s fine.¡± Malus said as he pulled open his white robe, from beneath the fabric and in his arms was Fen, she looked to be sleeping and had no sign of any wound on her. ¡°Fen! she¡¯s alright! Thank the heavens.¡± Zepp sighed with relief, Fen was okay! With the only thing holding him back resolved he grabbed ahold of Malus¡¯s slender hand, as soon as he did they appeared in a room of pure white, it was full of exotic flowers and had a beautiful smell lingering about. ¡°Starting from now you live here with me, Mr nether prince. Fufufu this is going to be fun, I¡¯m going to turn you into a monster~¡± Malus said with a devilish smile unsuited to his angelic face. ---------------- Thank you for reading, don''t be shy leaving feedback or comments, I read them all! ^_^ (Not a chapter)*Ideas and suggestions/disccusion* Hello everyone, I''m starting this thread for ideas and suggestions that anyone has or would like to see in my fiction, If I really like the idea/suggestion I might add it to my fiction. I have created this to open my eyes to the ideas and suggestions you guys want or would love to see in the story, also feel free to use this as a discussion thread as well. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I''m looking forward to what people suggest, many thanks [th_113_.gif] Chapter 22 - Initiation Chapter 22 Zepp was in an isolated room of pure white, Malus had said to him this morning that they would be going to an isolated training room, the thing different about the isolated training rooms that the Yuem had created was that a series of conditions could be placed upon the room before you entered, one could increase the gravity, the temperature, the air, the time and so on, the thing that had shocked Zepp the most when he had been told this was the condition, ¡®time¡¯, according to Malus¡¯s explanations they could change how fast time flowed within the isolated training rooms, for example, they could make a week feel like a year and a month feel like 10 years, this was extremely beneficial for training, this was one of the reasons that the Yuem members were at the pinnacle of power. The isolated training rooms were only in the main headquarters of Yuem, the main headquarters was where Malus had teleported Zepp, Fenn and Exo to when he had saved them from Kuregg, he wasn¡¯t told where it was located but one thing was for sure, he¡¯d never seen the outside, if there was an outside that is. Malus stood outside the isolated room, he was about to enter to go instruct Zepp but he was deep in thought at the moment. ¡®This...should I really be making ¡®his¡¯ son my disciple? If Zepp even has a fraction of ¡®his¡¯ power then...¡¯ Malus thought to himself, shivering slightly at the thought he just had. A couple minutes later Malus had finally made up his mind, he had nodded his head and decided to go ahead with it, he grabbed the door to the isolation room and walked into the room of pure white, in the middle of the room, sat in a mediating position was Zepp. Zepp turned his head to look at Malus who had just entered, Malus smiled like his usual carefree self and closed the door behind him, activating the ¡®time¡¯ condition upon the room. ¡°Zepp, tell me, have you ever felt different from anyone else?¡± Malus said, his voice was serious for the first time, he wasn¡¯t going to take Zepp¡¯s training lightly, after all, it was ¡®his¡¯ only offspring. After a little thinking Zepp nodded his head slightly. ¡°I didn¡¯t when I was younger, however, ever since I was told that I was different I had picked up slight quirks that made me feel ¡®different¡¯ as you say, for example, I have a need which I find is impossible to satisfy, deep inside my mind It¡¯s always there, that need to get more powerful and be the most powerful, It¡¯s like an innate need I noticed when I met the first truly powerful person I had come across face to face, my old teacher and principal of ¡®obsidian school¡¯. I find myself trying and justify this by saying ¡®I need to get stronger for my family¡¯ and so on but really, deep inside in conjunction to the existing needs I know there are ulterior motives, the motive to try and quench that selfish thirst for power, seeing people more powerful than myself I feel a deep void in the pit of my stomach, like it hurts to see people better than me.¡± Zepp said in a low voice, his voice was slightly trembling, Malus could tell he didn¡¯t want to tell anyone this, it was one of his darkest secrets, a part of himself he didn¡¯t want to accept. ¡°Hmm, I see.¡± Malus nodded, it was indeed a trait he inherited from ¡®him¡¯. ¡°Okay next, have you ever got close to using your own magic?¡± Malus asked Zepp who was sitting in front of him. ¡°Umm, no, I don¡¯t have a clue how to even tap into it nevermind use it, do I lack talent?¡± ¡°No, what you do lack though, is the initiation phase, the reason you can¡¯t feel or use your magic is because you haven¡¯t gone through the initiation phase, I can help you go through this phase, are you sure you want to?¡± Malus looked at Zepp with serious eyes, he was like a different person when he was talking seriously. ¡°Yes, I want to, I want to use my power.¡± Zepp said strongly, his tone was resolute. ¡°Mmm okay then~¡± Malus nodded. ¡°Die.¡± Malus waved his finger at Zepp. ¡°Wh-¡± Before Zepp could even fathom what was happening his body went limp and he fell backwards, dead. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s not a very nice feeling, killing my own disciple..¡± Malus joked, he sat in the same position, staring at Zepp¡¯s limp corpse. <><><><><><> A couple hours passed outside the isolated training room which Malus had taken Zepp into, on the inside days had passed, Malus continued to stare at Zepp¡¯s corpse which hadn¡¯t decayed in the slightest. Turning his wrist he looked at his magically made watch, nodding to himself he muttered, ¡°Mmm it¡¯s about time.¡± Seconds later Zepp¡¯s corpse twitched slightly, first his feet twitched, then his legs, then his waist, then his torso, then his chest, then his neck and finally his head, they all twitched in order. After the head twitched the corpse began to spasm uncontrollably, the corpse looked like a fish frolacing around. This continued for a couple minutes, Malus watched this process with an indifferent face, he was studying every detail that happened. The mana in the room was focused all around the corpse, Malus watched with great interest as the corpse sucked up the surrounding mana at an extreme rate, the mana density in the room was tens of times more concentrated that the normal density mana on the Ein continent, for the corpse to suck in this much mana would make a normal mage or warrior implode, it was simply too much to handle for most people but the corpse continued to suck it up like a vacuum. Suddenly, like it had enough the corpse stopped absorbing, Malus looked at Zepp with even more interest and mystery, he had to erect a barrier around himself because the corpse was forcefully trying to drain his mana too, the mana that the corpse absorbed was nowhere to be seen, it was like it disappeared. Stillness. This was what the room had been like for a couple hours now, Malus still sat in that same position and Zepp¡¯s corpse was still limp, everything was still within the room, if someone were to witness this scene they would think that a statue was watching another statue. All of sudden sounds of bones creaking, clicking and other noises which shouldn¡¯t come from a corpse came from Zepp¡¯s body, a dark, blood red coat of extremely dense mana came from within the body, it covered the whole of the corpse and bathed it in the mana, Malus felt like he was watching the body go into a cocoon of incredibly dense mana, it wrapped around the body like thick mist and all that could be seen was the thick blood red mana. The blood red cocoon stayed for days, there was no sign of it opening at all. Malus didn¡¯t move neither, he sat in the same position, staring at the corpse which was now wrapped in a cocoon of dense thick blood red mana. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. <><><><><><> Malus watched the cocoon of blood red mana which was coated around Zepp¡¯s corpse, the body had been in this state for a week now, it neither moved or showed any signs of opening. On the 8th day it happened. An extreme pressure came upon the isolated room, the pressure was felt by even Malus, he was safe though, he sat in the barrier he had created when the body tried to extract mana from him, nothing could break this barrier. However, the air outside the barrier was shaking and quivering, another unique part of the isolated training room was that the room had mana fed into it so it was replenished from when Zepp¡¯s corpse sucked up all the mana in the room. Every atom in the area shook, like an earthquake but with particles, the epicenter was the blood red cocoon in the middle of the room. *CREAK* The room seemed to creak under the enormous pressure that it was under, Malus, who was watching this with an intense gaze was extremely surprised that it had managed to affect the room which was build by the joint effort of all the Yuem members. The particles within the room battered against the invisible barrier that Malus had put around himself, they smashed with great force. *BANG* The particles continued to batter into the barrier with suicidal tendency, smashing and shaking the other particles around them, the particles were super charged with dense mana, the very space with the cocoon as it¡¯s epicenter continued to vibrate and shake. Every day it got worse and worse, the air in the room got more violent and the vibrating space was turbulent. On the 4th day since it started all action within the room stopped, it went still again, it was calm like the ocean, you couldn¡¯t compare it to before, it went from like a violent storm to a calm ocean. Then, the cocoon opened, the blood red coat of mana receded back into the human shape that appeared from within. The figure that appeared from the cocoon was 2 meters tall and had extremely defined muscle, he had dark yellow eyes and the veins on it¡¯s body were a deep red colour, it looked like a strange tattoo, but if you looked more you could see it was a common appearance through the whole of his body, it appeared that Zepp had undergone a transformation. <><><><><><> Zepp opened his eyes, the last thing he remembered was Malus saying ¡®Die¡¯ and then he blacked out, looking in front of him he saw Malus was sat in the same position, smiling at him. ¡°So that was the initiation phase, hmm, your body has undergone some serious changes Zepp, have a feel.¡± Malus said, smiling. ¡°Wait! before that, DID YOU KILL ME!?¡± Zepp shouted, confused. ¡°Yes, I killed you, you have to die to start the initiation phase, peculiar right?¡± Malus replied to Zepp¡¯s questioning. Zepp¡¯s eyes darkened as he spoke in a serious voice, ¡°You actually killed me? The ¡®initiation phase¡¯ was is that?¡± ¡°The initiation phase is something you have to go through to use magic, it¡¯s unique to your race, ¡®Nether¡¯, it allows your body to use the unique magic you were born with, it also transforms your body, I¡¯ll say it again, feel your body.¡± Zepp nodded, Malus was extremely ancient and knowledgeable, it wasn¡¯t surprising he knew more than Zepp did about himself. Zepp tensed his muscles in his body and looked at himself, his left arm had regrew! and it was stronger than before, well.. everything was stronger, his veins were a deep blood red colour and his muscle definition was much higher, he also felt taller. His body was overflowing with power, and he could feel the mana in the air much more clearly, it was like he could sense it. ¡°You will also be able to use Abyss and Blood magic, we¡¯ll start your lessons on learning to control it soon, first of all we need to get you comfortable in your new and improved body.¡± Malus spoke whilst Zepp was checking himself out, Zepp had a big grin on his face at his new found power. Whilst this was happening Exo materialised himself next to Zepp, Malus¡¯s eyes widened at this, the only other familiar he had seen was ¡®his¡¯. ¡°Master, I also feel much stronger, I feel the mana in the air much better than I did before, it feels natural to me¡± Exo said. ¡°Yes you''re familiar should also have his own unique magic, he should have benefited from the initiation phase also.¡± Malus said in a low voice, staring at Exo. ¡°Exo, from now on I want you to be my clothing, morph into it, instead of a weapon I think this will be much more useful, after all, I don¡¯t have any good armour.¡± Exo nodded and smiled with glee, he was always happy to be of help to his beloved Master, Zepp imagined what he wanted Exo to morph into and Exo took the form of what he imagined. A beautifully blood red full body cloak appeared on Zepp¡¯s body, it was exquisitely formed and was light and moved to match the state of Zepp¡¯s surroundings, Exo was told that he was to react to the surrounding atmosphere and morph himself into a clothing suitable for that atmosphere, it was essentially, the ultimate armour. ¡°Amazing, Exo, you¡¯ve actually outmatched my expectations, well done, is it hard to stay in this form for long periods?¡± Zepp said as he admired his new clothing. ¡°No Master, I can stay in this form for as long as you wish, It¡¯s actually more conservative than my human form and only slightly less conservative than my dematerialised state.¡± Exo said aloud. ¡°oooh~ it¡¯s extremely strange seeing talking clothing, I¡¯m jealous!¡± Malus burst out, he couldn¡¯t help but be a little jealous of Zepp¡¯s clothing, using his familiar he has created something even the most powerful of combatants would be jealous over, morphing clothing. ¡°Well now you¡¯ve admired yourself and your familiar, let us begin the actual training, it will be different from the training you¡¯ve received so far, once we have you comfortable in your new body we will begin magic training, I¡¯ll warn you now, I¡¯m a tough person to please~¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll do my best to live up to your expectations, Master.¡± Zepp replied. ¡°Ah, right, Don¡¯t call me Master, that¡¯s too generic, call me Senior , you are going to become a part of the Yuem, you better act like it~¡± Malus said playfully. ¡°Yes, Senior.¡± ------------------------- Thank you for reading :) remember if you enjoy my fiction, don''t forget to rate/review it on the main fiction page [th_113_.gif] Chapter 23 - Capital city Chapter 23 In a special classroom within the Obsidian school were 5 people, two of these people twins with beauty that could make a goddess jealous. The other people in the room were a girl with long black hair and horns and a male elf who looked cute like a girl and had fluffy blonde hair, naturally these four were Sina, Sena, Yamu and Omil. The last person in the room was a mature woman whose beauty was enrapturing and seductive even when she dressed modestly, this was due to her curvy body, she had long purple hair and a pair of bewitching green eyes. They sat around a large round table, looking at each other. ¡°Are you sure you want to do this everyone?¡± ¡°¡°Yes!¡±¡± ¡°of course!¡± ¡°Yep!¡± ¡®Pahh...¡¯ Luu sighed inwardly, everyone in the room was gathered for one reason, they would be leaving the school to go find Zepp. The decision might seem like a spontaneous one but every single one of them had been talking about it straight after Zepp had left, they couldn¡¯t bare to leave him on his own, Yamu and Omil were the first friends he had made and Sena, Sina and Luu were all like his family, they had a deep love for him and it was painful to watch him leave. Luu nodded her head at everyones decision, in the time Zepp had left every one of them trained day and night, the other students felt they were a group that they couldn¡¯t approach and they ended up being isolated and admired from afar as the most gifted geniuses in the school. Luu also trained, Luu discovered she had a very high affinity to the element of water just after she had came to the school, the Master had took her under his wing and unexpectedly treated her like he would a daughter, he treated the twins, Yamu and Omil as if they were his grandchildren. The Master personally trained the five of them in magic, this was different from how he had trained Zepp, Zepp was different, he went through a training that wasn¡¯t meant for normal humans, it was extremely harsh on the body and the weak minded would be crushed under the mental pressure of this training. The Master was through and through a mage, an extremely powerful one at that. He guided them through training routines for different elements and helped them nurture their talents, under his guidance they grew extraordinarily quick, all of them were at least B rank, this could be considered being in the realm of ¡®strong¡¯, Yamu was even an A rank. <><><><><> ¡°You want to leave?¡± The Master said, his voice didn¡¯t contain a hint of surprise. ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve come to tell you.¡± Luu said, with a calm voice. ¡°¡®Tell¡¯ not ¡®Ask¡¯ eh?¡± he said in a joking tone and then continued with a sigh, ¡°Actually, I knew this moment was coming, ever since Zepp left you¡¯ve all been different, you think I couldn¡¯t see the fire in your eyes?¡± ¡°Well then, this should make it easier, we¡¯ll be making our way to the Human kingdom royal capital city in the East, ¡®Rosen¡¯.¡± Luu said, she was confident in her ability to communicate with The Master, he had a soft spot for her and the others, like they were youngsters he brought up. ¡°If you¡¯re going there the least I can do is teleport you there, I have a base set up there back when I was looking through the libraries.¡± The Master said, he wanted to help them out. ¡°If that¡¯s okay with you, it¡¯ll be a tremendous help, thank you.¡± Luu said thankfully, she was thankful for the offer, otherwise they would have to travel a long way to get there. <><><><><> It was the day after and everyone was crowded into the Master¡¯s office, they were packed and ready to leave. ¡°I¡¯m so excited, I¡¯ve never been to a capital city!¡± Sina spoke with great excitement, she could barely sit still. ¡°Let¡¯s visit the bakery when we¡¯re there!¡± Sena also said with excitement, all the girls nodded their heads, after all, it¡¯s a known fact that ladies have a sweet tooth. ¡°Hahahaha! Cake! I can eat Cake!¡± Yamu shouted, jumping up and down. ¡°Chocolate.. pudding..¡± Omil said in a low muttered tone, who knew that he also had a sweet tooth. ¡°Calm down everyone, okay, follow me in here.¡± The Master raised his voice for everyone to hear and then he opened the passage to the secret room within his office, the teleportation room. Everyone crowded into the room and then the Master smiled, ¡°Hmm this is probably going to be the last we meet for a while, I actually have some business to attend to so I¡¯m leaving the school in charge of one of my Shadows, remember everyone, be safe!¡± He said as he closed the door to the teleportation room, not before activating the circle so they teleported, naturally, he didn¡¯t come with them. The Five of them suddenly appeared in a bright hue at their location, it was a connected teleportation room, it was made of stone, the five of them looked around this ¡®base¡¯ in which they would be calling home whilst they stayed in Rosen. Looking around and exploring the five found that the ¡®base¡¯ was in fact an underground stone house, it had a secret passage to the surface, if one wasn¡¯t looking for it, they¡¯d never be able to find it, it was hidden geniously. <><><><><> Sina, Sena, Luu, Yamu and Omil were sat in the main lounge of the underground house, it had plenty of furniture and rooms for everyone. Sina suddenly stands up from her chair, ¡°I¡¯m going to go look around the city, anyone want to come?¡± she asked the others. ¡°I¡¯ll come, I¡¯m curious as to the layout of the city.¡± Luu said, she then turned around to the others. Everyone else replied that they wanted to either train or get their stuff unpacked. Sina and Luu headed to the surface, both were wearing casual clothing which consisted of trousers and a top, black in colour. They made their way up through the ladders in the passage to the surface, the passage came to a small area with surrounding trees and bushes, they quickly came out and then covered up the entrance with the houses unique magic. ¡°Where do you want to go Sina?¡± Luu said, smiling at her. ¡°I¡¯d like to go to the market, can we go there first?¡± Sina said, smiling also. It was a long time since they spent time with each other, they were happy and held hands, it was a display of affection, after all, they were like mother and daughter. Walking in the direction of the inside of the city they naturally found their way, how could they not? buildings lined the skyline and smoke puffed out of the chimneys, it was also very loud, lots of things going on, it was a very busy place. The two arrived at the market, it was a very busy place with shops all around, it was a giant circle of all different types of shops, they sold everything from fruit to sword, it was truly a dazzling sight to see this many people together in one place. Sina was giddy and laughing whilst she looked at all the exotic fruits and weapons she had never seen before, it was much different from their small elven city they had lived in before. ¡°Look, Look, Mother Luu! this fruit is delicious! haha!¡± Sina excitedly exclaimed whilst eating a fruit she had bought from a market stall, she was eating with excitement. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Luu hurriedly rushed over and also took a bite of the fruit, her face also showing a pleased look, ¡°Haha! this is delicious Sina!¡± She said happily. As they fussed over the new sights, they didn¡¯t notice the people around them, everyone was staring. ¡°G-Godesses..¡± one market merchant muttered under his breath, but he wasn¡¯t the only one, everyone who laid eyes on the two women were immediately enthralled with their beauty. Sina¡¯s long silver hair radiated in the sunlight and her grey eyes made her look almost divine, along with her beautiful features she had a face and body that looked almost a work of fiction like a painting from a godlike painter, her large breasts and curvy body was enrapturing to every male or female that laid eyes on her. Luu wasn¡¯t any less beautiful, her long purple hair along with her beautiful green eyes and mature, busty body were enough to send any man weak at the knees. The two were so happy that they were oblivious to the staring, or maybe they were simply too used to even notice? ¡°Sina, let¡¯s go eat some more nice foods!¡± Luu said to Sina after they had finished eating the delicious exotic fruit, Luu wanted to go visit a restaurant, trying new foods is a pleasure everyone loves, they were going to indulge themselves. ¡°Yes! let¡¯s go, I actually saw one right next to the entrance to the market, the aroma I smelt when we walked past was almost irresistible!¡± Sina said, visibly looking forward to the idea of eating many delicious foods. <><><><><> Inside a restaurant called ¡®Slowly cooked¡¯ at the entrance of the market were lots of customers, it was one of the most famed restaurants in the capital, Bele, the owner was serving customers with a usual smile on his face, business was good as usual, he had enjoyed owning this restaurant for tens of years, it naturally had a good reputation, even nobles ate at it. Bele was being extra polite and was extra happy today due to one special reason, his majesty the second prince to the royal family within the capital was dining here with a few of his friends and guards. Bele walked to the second platform looking over the lower parts of the restaurant where people ate, the second platform was reserved for VIPS or nobles, sitting in the prime spot of the restaurant where they could see everything happening down below was the second royal prince and two of his friends, they were heirs to high ranked noble houses within the capital, naturally they were childhood friends with the second prince. Jonathan sat with his two friends, Barry and Reh, Barry was a large built teenager, he was obese and very arrogant, he wore only the most expensive of clothes, his other friend Reh, was a tall skinny teenager who had a different noble look about him, he had an air of nobility and looked down on commoners from an early age. ¡°Your highness, Second Prince, would you like another glass of wine? this humble servant will get you it!¡± one of the serving guards said. Jonathan nodded his head dismissively, he was used to being pampered to, I mean, why shouldn¡¯t he? he¡¯s the second royal prince, Jonathan understood this and was very arrogant, always getting what he wanted, no one ever dared to say no to him. ¡°Barry, Reh, this food is filthy, hmph, commoners actually eat this?¡± Jonathan said with a disgusted look on his face as he bit into a roasted chicken leg. ¡°Mhh, it¡¯s what you get for coming to a fucking peasant restaurant, hahahaha!¡± Barry shouted as he gobbled his food with his fingers, he didn¡¯t care as he ate messily, a servant would wipe his mouth for him. ¡°Jonathan, did you get that girl you wanted? you know, that famed crafters pretty daughter?¡± Reh said as he sipped his wine. ¡°Of course! how could she refuse me, the second prince? that bitch tried to resist at first but I had a guard knock her out, I¡¯m going to rape her tonight, you guys want to join in?¡± Jonathan said with a disgusting smile on his face, he was known to take pretty girls and then force them to be his servants, most people knew about this but no one ever said anything, they couldn¡¯t he was the prince, even the guards didn¡¯t dare disobey his orders. ¡°mMH, yeah, lesh do thaht, is she a virgin?¡± Barry mumbled as he spoke with food in his mouth, he also engaged in the disgusting abuse of power, but he had one preference, that they had to be virgins. ¡°I¡¯m in, that whore better be honored that us three of exalted status will touch a filthy peasant like her, if she doesn¡¯t thank me 100 times I¡¯ll order the execution of her whole family!¡± Reh shouted, he was also a disgusting noble, the three of them would often participate in unspeakable acts against the citizens. The three of them were only 17 years old but were already this corrupt, this was a show of how heredity power created people like this. The three of them continued to talk about women, drinks and all kinds of disgusting acts, that is until the restaurant, which was noisy until now, suddenly quieted down, looking below two women had taken up a table. This in itself wasn¡¯t out of the ordinary, it was the two womens beauty that made the restaurant quiet down, they were simply too breathtaking, unmatchable beauties. Looking from above, Jonathan and his friends also spotted the two unspeakably beautiful women, their eyes gleaming and they all started to drool. Jonathan was the first to snap out of the trance like state he had gotten into,. ¡°Those..women...I¡¯ve never seen women of such beauty, not even the concubines my father has!¡± he said in a low but clear voice. ¡°Mmm¡± Barry nodded, still drooling. Reh¡¯s heart was also beating extremely fast, the three of them had been enraptured. 10 minutes later the three of them turned to each other, a rotten smile on their faces. Jonathan, with a disgusting grin on his face spoke first. ¡°As the prince I should naturally have those women, how could anyone else deserve such beauties, if anyone but me?¡± Barry and Reh nodded, they wouldn¡¯t go against the princes decision, even if they were childhood friends, the three of them knew each other extremely well and they knew this prince was the most ruthless of the lot. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to bend them over my bed in my chambers..ha..hahaha!¡± Jonathan said with a filthy look his eye, he stroked his crotch area under the table, this disgusting perverted prince already had an erection just thinking about it. ¡°Oi, guards, go get those two women, bring them up here, if they resist, tell them it¡¯s the second crown prince, if they still resist then use force!¡± he said with a stern voice, he was going to greatly enjoy this, he would make both of them his wifes! ¡°Yes your majesty!¡± the guards bowed and went down to the bottom floor of the restaurant, straight towards the table where Sina and Luu sat. ¡°Hehehe¡± the prince slobbered in anticipation, he didn¡¯t think of the chance of failure, his personal guards were all rank A, and there were 8 of them, these two women had no chance of resistance! ------------------- Thank you for reading :) Chapter 24 - By force Chapter 24 Luu and Sina were sitting at a table in the restaurant that Sina wanted to go to, she had seen it and she entered the market and the aroma from the food was enough to make a person drool, it smelled really good. They sat a two person table and readily picked up the menus which were placed on the table, Sina was looking at all the food with a smile on her face, fantasizing about what it would be like to order everything off the menu. Luu picked up her own menu and watched Sina who was grinning, her expression was one with stars in her eyes, ¡®this girl loves tasty things eh¡¯ Luu thought as she giggled whilst observing, Sina¡¯s behaviour was extremely cute and Luu couldn¡¯t help but giggle slightly. The two, as usual, didn¡¯t pay attention to anything or anyone surrounding them, they were in the city, it was bound to be full of people they didn¡¯t know, they had no reason to pay attention to anyone else. As they were chatting and contemplating what to order they heard the clinging of armour, Luu, raising her head from the menu suddenly noticed they were surrounded by 8 warriors, they had the Royal family of Rosen¡¯s crest on their armour, Luu instantly recognised them as guards. ¡°Hmm?¡± Sina looked around too, she was a bit shocked that guards were surrounding her and Luu¡¯s table but they hadn¡¯t done anything wrong, naturally she wasn¡¯t very worried. ¡°Yes?¡± Luu spoke, wondering what they wanted. A man who looked to be the leading guard, who was a tall, well built man in his twenties spoke with a commanding voice. ¡°The both of you ladies are to come with us, our lord, his highness the second prince has taken interest you.¡± he said. ¡°Interest in us? tell him we¡¯re not interested, now if you¡¯ll excuse me, we came here to eat and that¡¯s naturally what we¡¯ll do¡± Luu said, she wasn¡¯t dumb and she knew what it meant for someone to take ¡®interest¡¯, she had fought off many suitors in her elven city when she was taking care of the twins and Zepp. Suddenly the guards pressed closer and put their hands on their weapons as a show of force. ¡°I¡¯ll ask you once more to come with us or we will have to ¡®persuade¡¯ you¡± the leading guard said, a feral grin on his face when he emphasised the word ¡®persuade¡¯, it was clear that these guards weren¡¯t going to let Luu and Sina eat peacefully. ¡°We refuse.¡± this voice wasn¡¯t Luu¡¯s but was Sina¡¯s she was listening the whole time and she wasn¡¯t young anymore, she was now friends with Yamu, and Yamu had told her about all kinds of things, naturally she knew what this ¡®interest¡¯ entailed. ¡°Men, take them by force, as per the prince¡¯s request.¡± the guard said as he drawn his sword, all the surrounding warriors unsheathed their weapons and pointed them at Luu and Sina. ¡°Don¡¯t harm them, remember the prince wants them in pristine conditions hahaha¡± the guard loved laughing at the despair of others. The guard closest to Luu and Sina went to restrain them with their hands, ¡®there was no way weak women could stand up to us¡¯ , the guards thought. ¡°Sina! Duo formation!¡± Luu shouted, the individual strength of Yamu, Omil, Sena, Sina and Luu wasn¡¯t that high, however, the Master hadn¡¯t trained them to fight on their own, they were a team, the teamwork of the five together was exceptional, they had different formations for different situations, this was the planning of Omil, the Master had discovered his talent in planning and strategies, he came up with the formations and the Master had also approved of them, he said they were brilliant, by utilising their strengths and working together they could defeat higher leveled opponents, this duo formation was one of these formations. Instantly Sina and Luu shot up from the table with fast movement, they jumped back to back to cover each other and started their magic. ¡°Wind barrier!¡± ¡°Water barrier!¡± They shouted, Sina¡¯s affinity was wind and Luu¡¯s was water, they were making a joint barrier around themselves. ¡°¡°Barrier fusion!¡±¡± they shouted in unison, suddenly a swirling mass of wind and water mixed together gushed out of the two, it circled around them, encasing both their bodies entirely, it was rotating due to the wind and the water was spinning around the wind encasement. ¡°They¡¯re mages, watch out!¡± the lead guard yelled. One of the guards grabbed a table and snapped off the leg, throwing it at the barrier, it simply bounced off. ¡°Men, break the barrier!¡± he yelled and they all went for a joint attack against the barrier, seeing this Luu and Sina smiled. ¡°Wind Pulse!¡± ¡°Water rotation!¡± ¡°¡°Barrier escape!¡±¡± Suddenly the orb of wind and water and the people in it flew out of the shop at a high speed, the guards were left dumbfounded. ¡°Damnit! chase after them! we mustn''t disappoint our prince!¡± the lead guard yelled, he was left in the dust by Sina and Luu, what they did was utilise and form a complex spell working together, Sina, being a wind mage, fired off a pulse of air to the outside of the barrier, this made them shoot in the direction they wanted, then, Luu rotated the water barrier at a faster pace, this made them go even faster and they could change direction and control it more easily. This was an escape strategy that they came up with in the Duo formation if Luu and Sina had to fight together, everyone had different strategies for whoever they paired up with, this was Omil¡¯s planning, they always moved in twos, it was much safer and they could guarantee escape. Sina and Luu were in an alleyway about 100 meters from the restaurant they were just in, they had escape using their combination of magic. ¡°Phew.. that was lucky, they were all at least A rank!¡± Sina said, wiping her forehead, that was a close call. ¡°Hahh.. yeah, the art of surprise.. we need to get back to the base before they find us, I suspect they have a large area of surveillance, considering it¡¯s the second prince.¡± Luu responded, also out of breath, that magic and the duo formation takes considerable mana to maintain and then the dual spell they called ¡®barrier escape¡¯ takes even more mana to use. Running through the twists and turns of the city whilst keeping undercover they managed to make it back to the base. <><><><><> ¡°Those royal bastards did what?!¡± Yamu yelled out in anger, Luu and Sina were both her friends, she couldn¡¯t control her anger over some spoilt brat of a prince. ¡°Shh calm down Yamu, we need to be rational about this¡± Omil, who was currently practicing his light magic said. Yamu was the strongest in the group, the rest were equal in their own strengths, Yamu¡¯s fire magic considering she was a dragon was higher than others, however even in dragon standards hers was particularly strong. Sena who had just came into the room and heard the conversation ran up to Luu and Sina and hugged them. ¡°Thank god you¡¯re okay though¡± she said as she hugged them, they only managed to get away because of their barrier escape, without it they would be captured by the royal prince right about now, this was a terrifying thought. ¡°Hey, Sena, don¡¯t be so worried, we made it out thanks to our training¡± Sina said with a smile, everyone else nodded, their training was finally starting to show some uses, it actually saved Luu and Sina from a situation like this. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Yes, at least we know the strategies we came up with work, the formations also played it¡¯s part¡± Omil said, finally standing up, he had grown a lot in the past months and he seemed much more mature. ¡°Hmm yes, they worked very well, the guards, who were probably some of the most elite that the royal family of Rosen possess were left surprised by our actions, they infact worked brilliantly, however, we still have room for improvement, the formation time and magic combination spells need to be advanced more for practical fighting¡± Luu said, rubbing her temple, she was recalling the whole fight, the reason for her fast growth was because she had an excellent memory, anything she had seen she could recall in her head like a recording. ¡°You¡¯re right, I think we should go practice them in the training room that this base has, It looks like the Master has never used it¡± Yamu said, she was grinning whilst looking at Omil, she especially enjoyed beating up Omil when they spared. ¡°Ah, let¡¯s do a group spar, practicing formations we can do 2 v 2, one person can judge from the side, then we rotate, sound good?¡± Omil replied frantically, he didn¡¯t like sparing again Yamu alone, she seemed to be especially vicious when in a fight, her gangsta like personality would come out full force, it was no mercy. ¡°I agree, let¡¯s do that.¡± Luu said from the side, giggling at Omil¡¯s reaction, it seemed to be a team secret that Omil was used as Yamu¡¯s training target. <><><><><> The second prince Jonathan and his two friends were still sat at the table where they could see everything that happened, Jonathan was not happy he smashed the table with his fist. ¡°Fuck! How was I supposed to know they were mages, that makes me want them even more though!¡± he said, clenching his fist, he couldn¡¯t get the image of the two women out of his mind, after all, they were the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes upon. ¡°Hmph, just tell the guards to search the city, say you¡¯re trying to find a criminal¡± Reh replied, he was hoping the prince would at least let him have his way with the girls once. ¡°Mmm, with our combined forces and manpower we should find them, even if they could transform into ants¡± Barry spoke, wiping his mouth with a servant''s clothing. ¡°I know but what if my father finds out, last time I wiped out a small noble clan that wouldn¡¯t give me their daughter, Father stripped me of my authority for a month!¡± Jonathan¡¯s father, the King, actually didn¡¯t care about anything he did, but to look good and put on a good face in front of his citizens and officials he had to punish him if he acted out of line, the nobles and royal family in Rosen were completely selfish and corrupt. The 8 warriors from before came up the stairs, they had given up looking, all of them came and knelt down to the side of jonathan, the lead guard spoke with an apologetic tone, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Prince, they took us by surprise, that was a strange technique, forgive us.¡± he said, his head touching the floor. Jonathan snorted in disgust and stamped on his head, the warrior actually couldn¡¯t be hurt by the Princes weak stamp but it was still destroying his pride. ¡°You useless piece of shit!¡± Jonathan said, angrily stamping his foot on the lead guards head, if his father wasn¡¯t the king then he wouldn¡¯t dare do this to an A rank warrior who could kill him with a snap of the fingers. ¡°I want all the guards to search for the two women, get someone to draw a sketch of them and show it to every available man under my command, Reh, Barry, get your men to join in too, and everyone, keep it quiet, the reason we¡¯re looking for them, if anyone asks, is because they tried to kill me, GO!¡± Jonathan said to the Pual , the leader of the elite guards, the prince had control of 2000 soldiers and guards as per his status, Reh and Barry¡¯s families were important nobles within Rosen so they naturally had guards and soldiers under them too. The search began, Jonathan sat back in his chair, clenching his fist, he lightly whispered to himself, ¡°I¡¯ll find you no matter where you hide, and once I do you¡¯ll become mine!¡±. Of course Jonathan didn¡¯t know that they had a underground base protect by a magic formation barrier which the Master created with his own magic. <><><><><><> The day after the incident in the Human capital of Rosen, a young man with blood red veins and a cloak that matched his veins with a blood red colour was floating in the air of a pure white room, in front of him was a slightly older man who had golden hair and eyes, he wore a tight fitting white outfit instead of his usual white robe. ¡°That¡¯s enough meditation, now, activate your blood magic.¡± Malus said to Zepp who now opened his eyes and drifted to the floor. Zepp closed his eyes and felt all the mana in his veins, in his mind he imagined the mana in his arms being pushed out like someone pouring water out a bottle, suddenly his arms went warm and it carried on until the heat got stronger on his palms, the feeling flowed throughout and suddenly a small sphere that was a deep and dark red appeared, it rotated slightly like water in a glass ball being moved. Zepp¡¯s eyes also went a deep red, the same colour as the spheres in his palms, a feeling of being connected to the magic flowed through his brain, it was part of him, like an extra limb. ¡°Try throwing it¡± Malus¡¯s voice rang out, Zepp closed his eyes and imagined the spheres being thrown towards Malus. ¡°They won¡¯t move¡± Zepp said, his voice carrying a tinge of impatience. ¡°Picture them coming towards me, concentrate harder¡± Malus replied. All of a sudden the blood red spheres 2x2cm in diameter flew towards Malus, they weren¡¯t moving that fast to Zepp and Malus but ordinary people wouldn¡¯t be able to react in time. They whizzed through the air, Zepp still had his eyes closed. ¡°Control them with your mind, direct them!¡± Malus shouted, he twirled his finger and two eagles made of blue mana came hurtling towards Zepp, he could sense them, he tried directing the blood spheres towards the eagles, however, moving them in mid flight proved to be a difficult task, he started moving his hands to the movement he wanted them to go and this seemed to help, the blood spheres shot towards the blue eagles and hit them head on, as soon as the spheres touched the blue eagles made of pure mana the spheres didn¡¯t stop at all and went through them like a hot knife in butter, but the strange thing was it seemed to absorb them on the way through, nothing was left once they came out from the other side, all of this happened in the matter of a split second. ¡°Good~!¡± Malus said, laughing slightly, he had made some of his mana go into the shape of eagles, this was an easy task for Malus but shaping pure mana was thought to be impossible, Malus limited the mana levels so the eagles were at least A rank. They repeated this process for hours and hours until Zepp was out of mana, afterwards Malus told him to go back to meditating. ¡°We¡¯ll carry on this process until you are using those blood spheres as comfortable as you breath, Heheh~¡± Malus giggled. ------------------------ Thank you for reading :) Chapter 25 - Nether rumours Chapter 25 Sina, Sena, Omil, Yamu and Luu had been in the city for 2 months now, they were using it as a base of operations, the Master had visited and set up the teleportation room to teleport to a small underground cave in the Milan wilderness, the five of them were training within the wilderness and coming and going through the teleport as they pleased, Omil went out in the city of Rosen with Yamu whenever they needed something, this was because it wasn¡¯t safe for Sena, Sina or Luu, most of the guards had seen a sketch of Luu and Sina and Sena being Sina¡¯s identical twin they would mistake her for Sina. The first time fighting a magical beast the five of them fared better than Zepp did, this was because they were a team, fighting a B rank or A rank beast with the five of them was simple, it did allow them to utilise their teamwork though, they naturally grew stronger from the constant battles. They eventually got to the point where their teamwork was second nature, at this point some of them watched from the sides as the others fought the magical beasts, this was to practice the different formations and to help grow stronger individually. ¡°Water arrow!¡± ¡°Wind flow assist!¡± ¡°light enchantment!¡± Luu, Sina and Omil shouted, water arrow was a B ranked water magic spell, it was an offensive attack that was like crystalised water, it was extremely sharp and deadly. Wind assist, which Sina used, is a type of support magic that wind mages use, it increases the speed of attacks and allies movement speed, this particular wind assist called ¡®wind flow assist¡¯ was a B ranked magic, it increased the movement speed and attack speed by 25%, Luu¡¯s water arrow was even more deadly with this assist. Finally, Omil¡¯s light enchantment was an enchantment that light mages use, it blessed attacks with holy power derived from light magic and increased the offensive output. The teamwork and support of each other made them a deadly force, Yamu and Sena watched from the sides, Sena was an earth mage and Yamu was a fire mage, fire was good for attacking and earth was good for defending or attacking multiple groups, they nodded as they watched the teamwork of the three, they had pride, no one could beat them if they were together, nobody below B rank! <><><><><><> ¡°Does anyone have any issues to bring up in this weeks meeting?¡± Omil¡¯s voice rang out in the small room, the five of them sat around a rounded table within the Rosen base, they were currently having one of their weekly meetings, they had been doing this for a while now and every week they would bring up issues, concerns or topics that they would like to discuss with the group. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking we need weapons to enhance our magic, using the highest grade staff I hear you can save mana, if we use them we can fight for longer¡± Luu said, she was thinking about how to further their combat ability. ¡°Using staffs as weapons is a good idea, the good ones are too expensive though¡± Yamu said with a sigh, the cheapest of high grade staffs were around 10,000 gold, this was an enormous sum of money, only very rich nobles or powerful people would be able to afford this. ¡°Hmm unless we go steal from a nobles treasury i¡¯m sure we won¡¯t see a high grade staff for a while..¡± Sena spoke with a low tone. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we did something about those nobles¡­ our fighting force isn¡¯t small and it¡¯s inconvenient not being able to leave the base¡± Sina said in an irritated tone, she was thinking back to those vile nobles, just thinking of it made her skin crawl. ¡°Dealing with people in a position of such power will be difficult, let¡¯s do a vote, who votes for us striking back against the crown prince and his two friends?¡± Luu replied with a serious tone, she initiated a group vote, this was to make it fair, after all they were a team, agreeing with each other was the most important aspect. ¡°me¡± ¡°I¡± ¡°Yes¡± ¡°Of course¡± Everyone spoke almost instantly, it was a unanimous decision, they all agreed that they had to do something, something for revenge. ¡°Revenge it is then.¡± Luu said with a foreshadowing smile. <><><><><><> Malus sat on the floor of the training room watching Zepp playing with his magic in front of him, his blood magic was like nothing Malus had seen before, it was a terrifying power. Blood magic was a unique magic Malus had only heard about in legends, the only other user was ¡®him¡¯ who Malus guessed was Zepp¡¯s father, Zepp¡¯s father was the one and only uncontested ruler of the Nether. The Nether was another realm separate from Ula, it was a chaotic, bloody and hellish place. X rank wasn¡¯t something to be proud of there, it was actually very common, being an X rank combatant on Ula meant being uncontested but in the Nether you¡¯d be another drop of water in the vast ocean of water, unremarkable and common. Death and torture was a daily thing to the inhabitants of the Nether, if you weren¡¯t strong then you weren¡¯t worthy of living, the weak was ravished by the strong and the strong was ravished by the stronger, it was this type of place. However, in this chaotic and hellish place one man showed up and built an empire founded upon a mountain of corpses and blood, this man was Nidus, he controlled spheres of blood which were so numerous they blotted out the sky, these spheres fed upon the blood of their Masters enemies, Imagine million of blood red spheres attacking, Nidus was invincible and those who had witnessed his power shuddered at the mention of his name or the thought of his power. He was a man whom known no equal but the blood magic was only part of the powers he controlled, he could absorb the Nether¡¯s unique energies which were omnipresent and create beings who followed any order, they were named the ¡®Nether watchers¡¯, he could seemingly create endless amounts, all of his guards which were stationed in his Empire were made of Nether magic. Malus knew of Nidus because he had visited the Nether before, Nidus¡¯s name was known throughout the entirety of the Nether, he was the one and only ruler, no one would contest him or his strength, some despised him and others worshiped him as a god, never the less, everyone recognised him as their ruler. Malus had once listened to the story of an onlooker who saw the battle in which Nidus obliterated those who were believed to be the strongest at the time, there were 5 of them and one man destroyed them and their legions of armies with his foul creations and spheres of blood, the man that told Malus this was shivering as he spoke, the memories he held of the horrific and utter obliteration must of been a terrifying thing indeed. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Zepp¡¯s Nether magic was different from Nidus¡¯s though, it seemed the inheritor of the magic got their own unique style, Zepps could manipulate some kind of foul, potent energy which was Malus guessed was from the Nether, this energy could make things instantly erode and disintegrate like something from a nightmare. After thinking and remembering all this Malus stood up from his sitting position and spoke towards Zepp. ¡°Zepp, this brings your first isolated training session to a close.¡± he said. Zepp turned to look at Malus, He was wearing Exo as a dark red fully body cloak, the cloak made him look hero-like and strong, his muscles emphasised this point as well. ¡°Mmm done already?¡± Zepp said, his voice calm and noticeably more mature, Malus had noted ever since his initiation Zepp¡¯s personality had become more calculating and calmer. ¡°Yes, you are now just qualified to become apart of our little group, albeit, the youngest, we will formally welcome you through a ceremony, I¡¯ve already made arrangements, follow along now~¡± Malus said with a faint smile. ¡®He hadn¡¯t left the Chamber once¡­ how the hell has he made arrangements?¡¯ Zepp thought to himself, he knew he shouldn¡¯t judge Malus with normal standards though, the impossible is always possible. Malus walked to the isolated chamber door and with a loud voice he shouted, ¡°Chamber, Release¡± Once the command had been issued the formations inside the chamber stopped and the door opened, Zepp felt strange due to being in a place with different gravity, however he felt like he was almost gliding across the floor, he felt almost weightless, this was because he had been in extreme gravity for a long time, in his mind he had been in the chamber for around 10 years even though a few months had passed by, naturally he felt mentally more mature too. They left the hallway where the chamber was and continued along a white corridor, they then took a left and ended up at another isolated chamber, Zepp turned to Malus with a curious glance, ¡°How many isolated chambers do you have here?¡± he said. Malus chuckled slightly at Zepp curious glance, ¡°We have enough for all the members¡± he replied. Malus waited outside the chamber with Zepp, suddenly, the doors opened and out stepped a young women with dark brown hair and brown eyes, she was rather plain and hard to notice even though she was standing right in front of them, she wore a fitted black outfit which made her look diciplined. Malus radiated a smile and waved towards the woman, she looked at him and just nodded, she must be the silent type he thought. ¡°Zepp, this is Nadalias, she is an assassin and a member of Yuem, Nadalias, this is Zepp, my disciple and a new member to our group¡± Malus said with a smile, introducing the two. Nadalias turned her head and stared at Zepp with her cold, ice like eyes, she then took a step forward, however with just one step she was in front of Zepp, she moved like the wind, swift and far, with one step she covered 5 meters like a ghost. ¡°Ni..ce¡­ to meet you.. Zepp¡­.wel...come..¡± she finally spoke, her voice was slow and barely noticable, it was like a whisper and was faint, Malus raised his eyes slightly hearing this, Nadalias usually never spoke to anyone until she thought they were worthy, however she now spoke to Zepp, this showed how much Zepp had grown in his training. ¡°Likewise, Nadalias, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, I¡¯ll be in your care.¡± Zepp said with a bow, he was polite and respectful to Nadalias, after all, she was his senior. Nadalias smiled and nodded, Malus giggled from the sidelines, it was rarer for Nadalias to smile, it meant she truly liked the kid. As they finished speaking another little figure came out of the chamber, this time it was a little girl, she had dark black eyes which made it look like she just had one big pupil and her was hair blacker than the darkest of voids, she was covered in dark black fur and she looked to be around 9 years old and was small at around 4ft tall. However, the strangest thing about her was she had claws for nails and as she smiled giant canines protruded from her mouth, the little black bushy tail was noticeable too. Instantly Zepp recognised her, the connection they had formed told him that it was true, with a giant smile he shouted. ¡°Fen!¡± The little girl smiled and ran so fast she turned into a blur, instantly she was in Zepp¡¯s arms and was licking his face, this felt bizarre to Zepp though, having a little girl licking his face. ¡°Mastarrr!¡± she said in a growling like voice, however the voice was high pitched and extremely cute. The little bushy tail was wagging furiously as she licked his face and cried out in joy. ¡°Haha Fen, you¡¯ve changed into a humanoid form?¡± he asked calmly, this wasn¡¯t a surprise to him, he always knew Fen was special. ¡°Yas Mastar, am nat da same as thowse otha walves!¡± (Yes Master, I¡¯m not the same as those other wolves!) she said, her speech was clumsy, this was naturally so, she was a wolf pup normally after all. ¡°Hahahaha, Fen, of course, you are special, what kind of training did you do?¡± Zepp asked with a joyful expression. ¡°Tweacher halped me with ma magic!¡± (Teach helped me with my magic) she replied, her tail still battering against Zepp¡¯s arm, she was giggling constantly and looking into his eyes with affection, she was a totally loyal pup. ¡°And this is how you changed your form?¡± he asked inquisitively ¡°ahyehehehe! Yap!¡± (Yep!) she barked, drooling on his arm. ¡°Great, thank you Nadalias¡± Zepp said, turning around and showing gratitude to her, she trained her and guided her, as Fen¡¯s Master it was his responsibility to give gratitude. ¡°Don¡¯t...mention...it¡± she replied faintly, smiling at witnessing the happy reunion between a drooling wolf girl and her Master, it was a bizarre but heart warming scene. Nadalias had been training Fen for what felt like 10 years so she was quite attached to the mischievous little pup who she had to make a special formation within the chamber for, naturally this special magic formation was to allow Nadalias to acquire food for Fen, and Fen ate A LOT, even shocking Nadalias at the ungodly amount she ate on a daily basis. Malus, Nadalias and Zepp who was carrying Fen who rode on his shoulder whilst swinging her legs headed to the ¡®Grand hall¡¯ to start the ceremony of Zepp joining the Yuem, he would meet all the members and be officially accepted within the group, truth be told, he was quite nervous. ---------------- Thank you for reading, sorry for the long wait. *Second Fic update* Hi, just to let you all know my other fiction, ''Nyx'' which I started a while back is off Hiatus, please check it out, It''s something different from what I usually write, I enjoy writing it a lot! Link: Nyx - Click here to read synopsis: "Super heroes and Super Villains are a reality in this not so far distanced future. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. In this world of extraordinary happenings an organisation with the name ¡®The Circle¡¯ is the judge jury and executioner of those who abuse their power. Eden Lily, a poor orphan living in New York gains powers and gets an invitation that rattles his world, literally." Thank you! :D I''m hoping to have a new chapter of Ula out soon too! :) Chapter 26 - Ceremony & Freedom Chapter 26 Malus, Nadalias, Zepp and Fen stopped in front of two doors, they were made of an ancient wood and had a symbol on them, Zepp looked towards Malus with a questioning face, ¡°What does this symbol mean?¡± he asked. ¡°This is the symbol of Yuem, our emblem.¡± Malus said with a smile, the symbol was a serpent coiled around a globe, the serpent looked like it was guarding the globe, the serpent''s eyes seemed to watch you from any angle you looked at it from. ¡°Ah, so this is the great hall?¡± Zepp asked again. ¡°Yup~ let¡¯s go¡± he replied with a grin. Malus walked towards the doors and the emblem began to glow and the doors opened, as they stepped into the room the doors opened up into Zepp inwardly marveled at the grandeur of the hall. The room was wide and long and the ceiling seemed to never come to an end. In the middle of the room a strange magical formation, it was incredibly complex, thousands of times more complex than the teleport formation that the Master had, sitting around the formation was 5 men and 2 women, 7 people in total. As Zepp followed Malus and Nadalias in the 6 people stood up and bowed towards Malus, Malus carried on past the formation and placed himself so all the people in the room could see him. ¡°Hey guys~ this is Zepp, our new member, Zepp greet your seniors.¡± He said with a bright smile. ¡°Greeting everyone, It¡¯s an honour.¡± Zepp said as he stood next to Malus, Malus then looked at Fen. ¡°Ah, this is Fen, she is my companion¡± Zepp spoke again, all the members looked at Fen curiously, this prompted Malus to make Zepp introduce her. ¡°Harro!¡± (Hello!) Fen shouted, wagging her tail, undaunted by the amount of people looking at her, still swinging her legs whilst sitting on Zepp¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Zepp, let me introduce you to the members of Yuem, from left to right we have Nico, Tera, Hal, kulu, Naya, June and Jinni, June and Jinni are two of the three women we have in our group, as you already know the group includes me and Nadalias¡± Malus said as he introduced the 4 men and 2 women standing in front of him. Nico was a extremely large fellow, his body was at least 3 and a half meters tall, an absolute giant. He was bald and had markings all over his head, they looked to be tattoos of some sort, he wore a giant sword in his back and a red mantle over the top, his armour which was giant chainmail looked extremely sturdy and Zepp knew from a glance that this man could crush a normal man with a flick of his finger. Next was Tera, Tera was a pretty boy who wore luxurious robes of the finest material, his long red hair reached the length of his waist and his piercing eyes made the viewer feel uncomfortable, he always looked like he was up to something. The beautiful bow on his back indicated that he was an archer, but Zepp knew he wasn¡¯t an ordinary archer,otherwise, how could he join this legendary, godly group? Standing to the right of Tera was Hal, Hal was a normal statured man with braided hair and beard, his eyes were fierce and cold, he radiated an aura that screamed killing intent, he seemed to be the most sinister of them all. Zepp didn¡¯t see a weapon on him, he must of used a strange type of weapon or couldn¡¯t be bothered carrying it around. To the right of Hal was Kulu, Kulu was also an extremely large man, he was 3 meters tall, just below Nico, Kulu wore a giant hammer on his back, this hammer looked extremely sinister, it had spikes all over it and was pure blunt force. Naya was the next person Zepp looked at, Naya wore shredded clothing and a had a skull mask that covered his face, Naya¡¯s skin was green like a corpse and under the skull mask two black lights shone out of the eye sockets, Zepp guessed Naya was one of the legendary undead, he shivered just looked at that corpse like body. Now Zepp turned his head to look at the two women, the first was June, June wore black blindfold which had intricate writings all over it, the same writings were on her arms, neck, legs, more or less all over her body, they were runes and ancient markings, her hair was a misty white and was held up by hairpins, she had a slender frame and her clothing was a misty golden colour. Last but not least was Jinni, Jinni wore a cute one piece dress and a umbrella, she looked to be very young, around the age of 12 to 13, her clouded eyes were the colour of the sun and her beautiful golden hair was also the image of the sun, she looked extremely cute but at this moment she held a creepy smile as she looked at Fenn, her eyes glowed, was that drool coming from her mouth? ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you all.¡± Zepp bowed as he spoke. First stepping up to greet Zepp was Nico, his body towering over the people in the room, ¡°Haha, good to meet you little guy, we¡¯ve never had a new member since the founding of our group, you must be special eh?¡± he said with a extremely deep voice, his voice seemed to rattle the air, he was very cheerful and good natured though. Tera walked up and greeted Zepp next, ¡°Welcome my friend, we¡¯re all brothers and sisters in our group, call me Brother Tera¡± He said with feminine voice, his eyes were piercing and cold, however his voice was warm and his speech elegant, it seemed he was friendly to those he liked but those he didn¡¯t like he would be like the devil. Hal was the next to walk forward, ¡°Hmmm, you look interesting, it¡¯s good that you¡¯re joining, It was starting to get boring around here¡± he said with a sinister grin, Zepp could tell he was ruthless but a good guy if you didn¡¯t provoke him. Kulu, who stood next to Hal, bowed in greeting, he wore spiked armour and that hammer on his back.. ¡°Hello there young one, welcome! haha¡± he said with a laugh, even his voice had a force that rattled the air. Naya creeped forwards, he was the one Zepp didn¡¯t know how to communicate with, after all, he¡¯d never met an undead before. ¡°Don¡¯t be uncomfortable, I know I look like this but I¡¯m not that bad hehe, anyway, good to have you¡­ you¡¯re flesh smells.. delicious¡± he greeted Zepp, he seemed to realise that Zepp was apprehensive about meeting an undead for the first time, he seemed okay but telling Zepp that his flesh was delicious wasn¡¯t the best greeting. ¡°Welcome.¡± a voice sounded out, it was June, she didn¡¯t step forward and seemed to be quite unsocialable, June¡¯s voice was neutral and sounded like the whisper of the wind. Jinni twirled her umbrella and stepped forward with a smile, ¡°Hehe~ Finally, a cute member~¡± she said with a immature and girly voice, however, she didn¡¯t say this to Zepp, she said it to Fen, who was sitting on his shoulder.. ¡®I guess she¡¯s taken a liking to Fen¡¯ Zepp thought to himself. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve finally met everyone we will begin the ceremony, Nadalias, go take your position~¡± Malus said with a smile, he seemed to always be smiling this guy.. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. All the members took positions around the formation and and Zepp went into the middle of the formation, Malus motioned to make Fen sit to the side whilst this went on because the formation was for him only. ¡°Close your eyes and answer accept our energy¡± Malus said to Zepp, Zepp stood in the middle of the ancient and incomparably complicated formation and closed his eyes, every member of Yuem placed their hands together and started chanting, the chanting was unintelligable to Zepp but he felt a strange energy trying to enter his body, it wasn¡¯t malicious or harmful, it was gentle and boundless. He accepted this energy and allowed it to enter his body, at this moment he felt extremely light and connected to the world, images flashed in his mind and he felt extremely calm, as the chanting and the energy stopped he opened his eyes, he could feel an invisible link to each of the members. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± a voice sounded in his mind, it was Malus, Zepp realised that the link they had formed was a kind of communication link, he could now speak to the other members no matter the distance. ¡°Yes¡± Zepp responded to Malus inwardly, Malus nodded in satisfaction and now stepped forward into the formation. ¡°You are officially the 10th member of Yuem, there are no rules except one, no internal conflicts, if you argue with another member you duel them, everyone is like a brother and sister to each other, Zepp, we are now family.¡± he said with his arms wide and he released a gentle pressure that covered the whole room. Zepp could now do anything, Yuem held no restrictions, it was a group of individuals, however, if one of their fellow members got into trouble then they would help and being able to communicate with any of them instantly was a huge advantage, this wasn¡¯t the only thing he gained, he gained the ability to teleport to the Yuem headquarters, and from the Yuem headquarters he could teleport his desired location, this had limits however, he couldn¡¯t use the ring in combat and to teleport to a place he had to have been there before. <><><><><> ¡®It¡¯s time to go see my girls¡¯ Zepp thought to himself, grabbing Fen and making sure she reverted back to her normal form they teleported to the Human city of Rosen, he determined their location after speaking to Malus, Malus had said Zepp had to speak to June for this matter, June had a special magic that could find a person no matter where they were, the location they found when locating Luu was the Human Kingdom Capital, Rosen. In the city of Rosen, in a small abandoned alleyway a young man wearing a blood coloured full body cloak appeared, the strangest thing was on this young man¡¯s shoulder was a small little wolf pup who contently sat, wagging it¡¯s tail. This of course, was Zepp, he realised he might attract too much attention looking like this, [Exo, change into something more common, and don¡¯t forget to cover all my body where my veins can be seen] Zepp mentally spoke to Exo, who in an instant changed into ordinary clothing which was black in colour, the clothing covered his arms and legs where his blood red veins would show and now he looked like a normal citizen, apart from his exquisitely crafted figure, one might think he was an adventurer. Zepp walked out into the streets of the city, it was quite busy as it was midday and the markets were booming. ¡®There are a lot of guards.. I wonder if something happened¡¯ Zepp thought to himself, guards were patrolling everywhere, it was like they were searching for something or someone. He was currently looking for somewhere to sit down, looking further up the busy path to the market he spotted a restaurant and the food smelled delicious, he wanted to treat himself and Fen so they went into the restaurant and sat at a table. ¡°Hello sir, welcome to Slowly cooked, are you ready to order?¡± a man came over with a warm smile, he was the restaurant owner, Belle. ¡°Yes, I¡¯d like two of everything on the menu and for drinks we¡¯d like three large jugs of the freshest fruit juice¡± Zepp replied back, Fen was sat next to him, drooling whilst looking at the menu. ¡°Eh? excuse me can you repeat that?¡± Bele said, stunned, if he heard right and the customer in front of him wanted two of everything on the menu and three large jugs of juice then that would be enough for around 50 grown men, and this food wasn¡¯t cheap, even nobles ate here. ¡°Sure, Two of everything on the menu and three large jugs of the freshest fruit juice¡± he replied nonchalantly, Bele knew he heard right this time and looked at Zepp like he was an alien, however, as a professional Bele nodded his head and maintained his smile. ¡°Of course¡± he spoke back but inwardly he thought, ¡®will this kid be able to pay for it? and to eat that much..¡¯. Zepp put his hand in his pocket and reached into the dimension store, he pulled out his mana board he used to use back in school. turning it on he rang Luu, it was audio only and instantly she picked up, ¡°H-Hello?¡± a mature feminine voice sounded on the other end, it sounded apprehensive and slightly nervous. ¡°Mother Luu. it¡¯s me Zepp, I¡¯m in Rosen, where abouts are you?¡± he said with a huge grin on his face, he couldn¡¯t use his mana board whilst he was away because they had to be in a certain range to work. ¡°Ah! Zepp it¡¯s actually you, I feel like I haven¡¯t heard your voice in a long time, how do you know we¡¯re in Rosen?¡± she asked, the nervousness in her voice gone. ¡°I have my ways, anyway I¡¯m in a restaurant called ¡®Slowly cooked¡¯, I¡¯m ordering food at the moment.¡± he said back. ¡°Slowly cooked eh? I have bad memories of that place, although the food is good!¡± she replied. ¡°Bad memories, mm?¡± he asked questioningly. ¡°Ah yeah, we got into some trouble with the second crown prince, he tried to abduct me and Sina whilst we were eating there¡± she said truthfully. ¡°The second crown prince hmm, tell me more when we meet¡± he replied, normally he would of been extremely angry at this point but along with his power growth his mental growth wasn¡¯t neglected as well, he naturally kept his calm. ¡°I¡¯ll send Omil to come get you, me and the twins can¡¯t leave the base due to there being a warrant out for our arrest, the second crown prince seems resolute to keep us as his toys¡± Luu said. ¡°So that¡¯s why there''s more guards around that their usually would be..¡± Zepp said back, ¡®keeping them as his toys¡¯? just the thought of another man touching them made his stomach turn. ¡®I¡¯ll deal with it.¡¯ He inwardly said to himself. ---------------- Thank you for reading, I had no time to PR today due to it being my birthday and being busy, If you find any mistakes do drop me a comment and I''ll fix :) Chapter 27 - Reunited Chapter 27 Luu ran out of the room she was in with a smile plastered on her face, ¡°Everyone!¡± she shouted with vigour, Omil, Yamu, Sena and Sina all popped their heads out of their hiding places and came to see the commotion that was happening in the main room, Luu shouted with an out of breath voice and it sounded urgent so they all ran to the room. ¡°M-Mother Luu! what¡¯s the matter!¡± the twins came running, ready for anything, Luu sounded urgent and the twins thought something had happened, but Luu stood there with wide grin on her beautiful face. ¡°Haha! it¡¯s Zepp! he¡¯s in Rosen!!¡± she said with excitement, all the other faces in the room froze with shock, Sina and Sena looked at each other and hugged, they couldn¡¯t contain their happiness. ¡°R-Really??¡± Sena said in a voice which tried but failed miserably to hide it¡¯s excitement. ¡°Yes! I just spoke to him then, he¡¯s in the restaurant Slowly Cooked, how ironic¡± Luu replied and then looked at Omil before continuing, ¡°Omil, I said you will go meet him, it¡¯s safer that way¡± she said to him. Omil nodded his head and looked at the twins, they were pouting towards Luu, they obviously wanted to be the first to see Zepp. However, they understood they couldn¡¯t leave due to the Crown prince''s guards and soldiers still looking for them. Straight away Omil headed to his room and put on some outing garments and then left the base to go to the restaurant. The restaurant wasn¡¯t far and it took him about 10 minutes to reach it from the base due to the streets being rather crowded within the city. ¡®There it is¡¯ he said to himself as the restaurant came into sight, it had a big banner on the front saying ¡®Slowly Cooked¡¯, Omil hadn¡¯t eaten here but he heard good things about it in chatter by the locals. As he entered the restaurant his heart was slightly nervous, especially meeting Zepp after all this time, ¡®I wonder if he¡¯s changed?¡¯ ¡®Does he still look the same?¡¯ he voiced questioned in his head, however he ignored his meaningless questions and finally entered the dining area, looking around it was quite busy and turning his head to the corner of the restaurant he saw something that made him doubt his eyes, bowls and bowls of food stacked up to almost touch the ceiling, all of them were empty and the one eating all that food was a little dog, ¡®wait is that a wolf pup?¡¯ he still doubted his eyes. ¡®Who in the world eats that much!!!¡± he finally sighed, absolute madness! As he neared closer he saw a figure that was being blocked by the bowls, a young man, seeming around Omil¡¯s age, 19, sat there drinking his drink and watching the little wolf pup continue to devour the little amount of food that was left. Instantly Omil recognised this person, ¡°Zepp!¡± he yelled out, running over to greet him, ¡°Zepp! it¡¯s really you!¡± he said as he drew closer. <><><><><><> Zepp was watching as the cute little Fen devoured the mountain of food that they ordered, everything from meat to vegetable, it was all gone, even soup, how did she lick the soup up so quick? Fen is a genius when it comes to devouring food, Zepp ended up thinking that it¡¯s a good thing he got all that treasure and money, if not how would he afford Fen¡¯s eating habits?! As he watched Fen he felt a presence approaching him, instantly he turned his head around to meet the eyes of the person nearing him, Zepp all of a sudden let out a loud laugh and smiled, ¡°Haha! Omil!¡± he said, standing up to greet his old friend Omil. ¡°Zepp! it¡¯s really you!¡± Omil shouted as he ran over, they both stood in front of each other, however, Zepp towered over the smaller Omil. ¡°Woah, you¡¯ve grown!¡± Omil laughed, the Zepp in front of him was more muscular and had a mature air about him, he also had a formidable and mysterious aura about him. ¡°So have you, you¡¯ve gotten more masculine and taller eh?¡± Zepp said with a laugh, Omil was around 185cm now and had a more masculine look about him that he used to. ¡°well..¡± Omil said, embarrassed, he didn¡¯t like people talking about his appearance much. ¡°How are the girls?¡± Zepp now asked with interest, Omil nodded, he knew Zepp would ask this, he probably missed them as much as they missed him. ¡°They are good, we had a problem with the second crown prince though..¡± Omil replied, frowning when he mentioned the crown prince. ¡°I heard about that, he sounds like quite the character..¡± Zepp sighed. Zepp and Omil continued to chat for a while until Omil remembered the little wolf pup sitting on the chair who had devoured a mountain of food, looking at the pup and then looking at Zepp he asked ¡°Zepp, is this your pet?¡±, a hint of curiosity could be seen within Omil¡¯s eyes. ¡°Yes, she¡¯s called Fen, Fen this is Omil, my friend¡± Zepp said towards Fen, Omil looked at Zepp like he was stupid, this little pup is only young for it to understand.. However, much to Omil¡¯s surprise the little pup yapped in his direction, obviously greeting him, he couldn¡¯t help but laugh out loud at this ridiculous scene. <><><><><> Omil took Zepp and the little pup who sat on his shoulder to their secret base within Rosen, they chatted all the way and Omil updated him on what they did whilst he was gone, Zepp nodded in pride when he heard how strong the girls had become. ¡°This is it¡± Omil said, stopping in front of the hidden entrance, he showed Zepp how to open in and they descended into the base. Entering the Base Zepp immediately noted how deep it was, he could also feel the presence of a magical formation around the perimeter, naturally with his heightened senses he could feel the concentration of magic around him. He continued to follow Omil as they entered a large doorway, this was the main hall, everyone was waiting in there, nervous and excited, as they saw Omil enter every head in the room shot towards him, visible excitement and nervousness in their eyes. <><><><><> Sena sat next to Luu and her sister, Sina, she was inwardly nervous about meeting Zepp, they hadn¡¯t met or talked in a while, questions shot through her mind like, ¡®what if he changed?¡¯ or ¡®I wonder if he found another girl..¡¯, she fidgeted around with her hands until she felt a warm sensation on her hand like it was being grasped, Luu and Sina placed their hands on Sena¡¯s they were nervous too, they had the same questions running through their minds so they calmed each other. Suddenly the door opened and in came Omil, they couldn¡¯t see from where they were what was behind Omil but they moved their heads and they saw him, Zepp, he looked even manlier and more mature, a slightly more rugged look than he used to have. At once the three excited girls minds went blank and they ran up to the person who they had been thinking about for so long. Three pairs of arms wrapped around his body, his neck, waist and chest were all used as outlets for the girls excitement. ¡°Ze! it¡¯s you!¡± Sena shouted, hugging Zepp¡¯s waist with her arms, squeezing as hard as she could, wanting to never let him go. ¡°Z-Ze!, you look like a big brute!¡± Sina did the same as Sena, joking with him as just clung onto him for dear life, it was true, Zepp was a fully grown man now, he was mature and mysteriously handsome. ¡°Zepp..¡± Luu clung onto his neck with her arms, embracing him, she had tears streaming down her face, she had worried about him far too much and didn¡¯t realise how much she missed him. ¡°Haha!¡± Zepp laughed, lifting up his arms and using his monstrous strength he picked all three women up and lifted them off the floor, embracing them in a strange but effective hug, everyone else looked on from the side, not wanting to ruin the moment but they all were thinking the same thing, ¡®Monstrous strength!¡¯ They spent a while talking excitedly and Zepp went to greet the others, Yamu and Omil watched from the side and as Zepp came towards them Omil nodded to Zepp, he had already greeted Zepp before the others so naturally he let Yamu greet Zepp. ¡°Haha, Little Zeppy isn¡¯t so little anymore!¡± she teased, Yamu was Zepp¡¯s first friend outside of his family so he held Yamu in high regard, he had a big smile on his face, a big contrast to the calm and calculating Zepp that was a member of the Yuem. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yamu, good to see you again, I see you are doing well!¡± he jeered, he could counter Yamu¡¯s cheeky speech now, he wasn¡¯t like his old self. ¡°Of course! everyones missed you Zeppy, especially those three over there, you better give them something special! Don¡¯t slack off, it¡¯s a mans duty! hahaha!¡± Yamu taunted,Zepp had to laugh at her trademark gangsta grin. The two ended up laughing with each other for a while, suddenly Zepp turned around and declared to everyone in the room. ¡°Everyone, I have some nice clothes for you all to wear, we¡¯re going to go to the nicest place in this city and celebrate!¡± he addressed, Zepp quickly activated dimension store in front of everyone, he naturally wasn¡¯t afraid of showing everyone his powers, he trusted them hugely. The others watched on, stunned, all they saw was Zepp¡¯s hand disappear in thin air and then reappear with 5 sets of clothing, one for each, they were made of the finest materials and encrusted with rare gems, not even a prince would wear this type of clothing, it was super high quality silk. Giving it to them, everyone immediately changed and then came back in the room, Sina and Sena wore white silk dresses which had ruby gems on the cuffs, they looked like two angels which had descended from the skies. Luu wore a dress also, it was purple in colour just like her hair and it had white crystal diamonds embroidered on the dress, Zepp sighed as he looked at all three of them, had he ever seen women so beautiful? they could cause wars because of their beauty. Following on, Yamu and Omil came in next, Yamu wore a long red dress which sparkled, it was covered in small sapphire crystals, it made her looked mature and womanly, Zepp couldn¡¯t help but notice her beauty. Lastly, Omil wore a blue gown fitted with gilded edges made with real gold, he looked like a kingly scholar, it suited him far too well. Zepp had Exo morph into something appropriate, he had cut his hair so it was now more tidy and neat, he wore a luxurious long tunic which was a deep red colour, standing 2 meters tall and being extremely well built he looked devilishly handsome. ¡°FWOOOD¡± suddenly a voice rang out, interrupting the mood in the room, everyone turned to look behind Zepp and a small girl who looked to be 9 years old, they didn¡¯t see Fen¡¯s fur because she wore a small tunic matching the colour of Zepp¡¯s, from the view of everyone else she looked like a normal little girl. ¡°Zeppy what have you done! you knocked a girl up?!¡± the first one to yell out was Yamu, she didn¡¯t have a filter and yelled the first thing that came to her mind. ¡°w-w-w¡± Sena, Sina and Luu all tried to speak but were unable to, their mouths seemed to turn to goo, an unspeakable shock on their beautiful faces. ¡°No, wait! everyone you have it wrong, this is Fen, you can call her my second familiar after Exo¡± Zepp squeezed out as fast as he could, he wouldn¡¯t let a misunderstanding happen. ¡°Fen, show them your true form¡± he quipped, Fen smiled and then changed into her little wolf form, everyone was stunned, a transforming wolf pup! so strange! Zepp eventually worked out the misunderstandings and now the girls fussed over Fen, they were all combing her hair and making her look prettier. ¡®What is she, a doll?¡¯ thought Zepp, not daring to utter it out loud. Omil suddenly remembered something that made the others suddenly remember. ¡°But, how can we go anywhere when Sena, Sina and Luu have arrest warrants out, if the second crown prince catches them.. who knows what unspeakable things he¡¯d do¡± he sighed, the girls faces also showed signs of worry, after all, a crown prince has enormous power, especially the crown prince of the capital! he would have Rank A combatants falling over themselves trying to work for him. However, Zepp replied with a confident and firm tone. ¡°No worries, come, this isn¡¯t time to be worrying, let us go¡± he assured. --- ¡°Woah.. who are they!¡± ¡°So beautiful¡± ¡°l-look at their clothes!¡± Many residents of the capital were whispering to each other as Zepp, Fen, Omil, Sena, Sina, Luu and Yamu walked into the high class part of Rosen, even the rich shop owners and the nobles were looking at them with fascination, they weren¡¯t ordinary people! that¡¯s the feel they gave! Sena, Sina and Luu fidgeted nervously as they stood at Zepp¡¯s side, the second crown prince will surely hear of this, they were standing out too much! The whispers and murmurs were endured as they finally reached the destination, it was a beautifully built structure, this was the highest class establishment in the capital, a place only the elites and nobles could come, even the king was a frequent guest. The name of this place was called ¡®Club Diamond¡¯, it sounded like a high class brothel but in actuality it was an establishment that had a restaurant, bar and so on, it did provide those types of services though. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but this establishment is for reservations onl-¡± a handsome young man said from behind the reception desk, he repeated this phrase a lot, low nobles and rich merchants though they could just waltz in but he had to reject them, this was an extremely exclusive club, however, when the young man saw the people who were entering he didn¡¯t dare continue, they were dressed in the nicest clothing he had ever seen and the women transcended the word ¡®beauty¡¯, even the highest class women they offered here would look like insects in front of them. Zepp walked up to the counter with Fen, Luu and the twins at his side, the young man behind the counter couldn¡¯t help but be envious, he had three angels clinging onto him and a little girl sitting on his shoulders, he seemed to be the same age as him also, even though Zepp was tall and well built he still looked young. ¡°Take me to your restaurant, I want the finest of everything on the menu.¡± Zepp casually said, the young man couldn¡¯t help but be shocked. ¡°Sir, but the cheapest thing here is 10 gold..¡± he squarked, this was an extremely large sum of money, this was why it was so exclusive, only the super rich could afford it! ¡°Hmm?¡± Zepp countered back, narrowing his brows, the young man behind the counter took this as a sign he was annoying his guests and he hurriedly apologised and took Zepp and co to the restaurant. ---- In a enormous villa three figures were sat in a luxurious lounging area, in the room were dancing women who sung and danced erotically, giving the young men lap dances with their erotic bodies, the three young men drank alcohol and ate greedily whilst they caressed the women in front of them, they were having a good time enjoying the luxuries of the rich when suddenly a servant burst through the door. ¡°Y-Your Majesty! the women you were looking have been spotted entering club diamond with some other people!¡± he shouted, out of breath, the three young men in the room were the second crown prince and his two friends, Barry and Reh. The prince smirked and jumped up from his seat, noticeably excited, he hadn¡¯t heard anything on the women he had so desperately continued to search for in months! this was a chance he¡¯d finally be able to enslave them and feast on their bodies! Reh and Barry also sat up, regrettably letting go of the dancing prostitutes, but they were also looking forward to tasting the fruits of those beautiful women that had evaded them, they were going to punish them thoroughly. ¡°Quick! call my elite guards, we¡¯re going to club diamond!¡± the prince shouted, a look of a hungry wolf on his face, he had dreamed about fucking those two women! finally, he didn¡¯t care who they were with, he¡¯d take them from him, if the person resisted he¡¯d exterminate their family or clan! --------------- Sorry for the unexpected hiatus, first of all I was rather busy and then I simply wasn''t feeling up to it, anyway, chapter is slightly longer than usual, hopefully I''ll have the next chapter for you in a few days/week. Thanks for reading! Chapter 28 - Display of power Chapter 28 ¡°Your Majesty, the elite guards are here!¡± the servant ran back into the room where the second crown prince stood, following behind him were 5 strong looking guards, they were dressed in the finest armour and were all well built, two of the guards were at least 2.5 meters tall, they were incomparable brutes. ¡°Ma lord I heard you were having trouble with some sluts!¡± one of the big brutes stepped forward, his giant, heavy armour rattling as he walked, this man was called Ajax, one of the 10 elite guards that were in service of the royal family, the second crown prince had the power to command any 5 of the elite guards, they were unlike the ones that usually escorted the prince, they were the cream of the crop, even members of the royal family couldn¡¯t speak down to them, they were like tigers amongst sheep, each of the 10 elite guard were top A rank combatants, not even lower S ranks could come unscathed from a battle with them. ¡°Haha! Ajax, you are correct, they even have the audacity to go and play around at Club Diamond!¡± Jonathan spat out, annoyed at even the thought of them having fun without him. ¡°Don¡¯t ya worry, If ya let me have a turn after you¡¯ve had your fun with them I¡¯ll be grateful ma Lord¡± Ajax grunted revealing his perverted nature to the prince, however, Jonathan laughed, he knew Ajax would ask this question. ¡°You haven¡¯t seen their beauty Ajax, I¡¯ll let you have a foursome with us but I won¡¯t ever get tired of them¡± He replied, that same wolf like look in his eyes. ¡°Our lord is such a womaniser¡± another elite guard sounded, he was the other big brute, he looked more reserved than Ajax though, this was Ajax¡¯s brother Ajux, they were twins, both giant brutes, with their size Jonathan guessed they must have some strong blood in their genes. ¡°My lord you can¡¯t just favour Ajax¡± the third elite guard said, he was a well build warrior but not as big as Ajax and his brother, he looked sly and had an evil glint in his eye, he looked to be a man who would backstab anyone. ¡°Shut up Astuta, Prince! I expect all of us to be able to fuck these women!!¡± a hot blooded man said, he wore the same elite guard armour as the rest, his name was Kettle, it was more of a nickname that stuck, this was because he had an enormous temper on him and would explode at any moment. ¡°These idiots never learn¡± the last elite guard moaned, he was slimmer than the rest but looked extremely dangerous, he was Bowa, an extremely talented archer, he was uncontested in archery in the whole kingdom. ¡°Okay, everyone, I¡¯ll give you what you want, just make sure to capture them, kill anyone who resists except for the women! Reh, Barry, you stay here, I¡¯ll bring back the spoils you just wait here!.¡± Jonathan yelled in a commanding voice, the 5 elite guards saluted and grinned, the prince gave them whatever they wanted so they were all loyal, any serving girl in the palace that one of the elite guards took a liking to would be given to them, this was how the royal family assured the elite guards loyalty, they were treated extremely well. As Jonathan stood in front of the elite guards he smirked thinking to himself ¡®Even if it¡¯s the top adventurer in the kingdom he¡¯ll get killed, the 5 people in front of me are the most ruthless and merciless of the elite guards, they wouldn¡¯t even hesitate to rape or pillage a village under a royal family members command!¡¯. ¡°Come!¡± Jonathan said, walking towards the door and out of the royal estate, behind him the 5 vicious and strong elite guards followed behind, they all smiled like a pack of hungry wolves descending on their prey. - The handsome young man behind the counter was sighing, where had he seen women that beautiful before? he hadn¡¯t ever. what a lucky guy.. ¡®I bet he bought them, that bastard..¡¯ he fumed inwardly. Suddenly he heard the door to the establishment open and he put on his business like demeanor that he had trained for years to achieve. ¡°Welcome to Club Diamond do you have a reser- Your Majesty!¡± the handsome young man bowed in respect, this was the second crown prince, he recognised him because he was a regular customer of Club Diamond. ¡°Harold!¡± Jonathan bellowed, the young handsome man, whose name was Harold hurriedly came to meet whatever needs the second crown prince had. ¡°Yes your Majesty!¡± Harold came to the second crown princes side, awaiting any order he gave, he was the Kings son, an extremely high up figure, he had to make sure he was respectful and meet any need the prince had! ¡°Did some incredibly beautiful women come here?¡± Jonathan questioned, Harold knew something was wrong because the prince was with the legendary elite guards. He thought back and remembered the man and the girls that just came in, ¡®That must be them¡¯ he thought. ¡°Yes your Majesty, they entered around half an hour ago, they are in our restaurant!¡± Harold quickly forgot about the establishments rules on privacy and instantly gave away the identity of some of their patrons. ¡°Haha! Finally! Good!¡± Jonathan pushed harold aside and waltzed into the establishment, behind him the elite guards released an aura of being untouchable, Harold thought ¡®Whoever has offended the Prince, I wish him luck in the next life¡¯. --- Zepp, the girls and Omil got seated at an extremely luxurious table, well, saying that, as they looked around they noticed that there was a good number of extremely greedy looking people, they had haughty looks on their faces as they sat and drank or ate food. Everyone was visibly nervous at being here, they felt out of place, However, after they had sat there for a while they loosened up a bit and they all started to enjoy themselves. ¡°Sirs and Madam¡¯s your food has arrived.¡± A well dressed waiter came to the table and bowed with respect, they did this to everyone who came because they were all high class elites. Behind the waiter was 10 serving girls who were carrying food, each one was in the class of being a beautiful girl. The serving girls carefully placed every item of food on the long table and then left to not disturb the guests. Everyone on the table was laughing as they saw all the food. ¡°Zeppy, who the heck can eat this much food!¡± she said in surprise, everyone else agreed except Omil, Fen and Zepp. ¡°Well, we have a someone here who can eat it all by themselves, right Fen?¡± Zepp replied, smiling towards Fen who sat next to him. Fen looked entranced by all the beautiful food, the chicken looked golden. ¡°Hwaha, Mastar is the best!¡± she declared, her eyes shining in delight. Everyone couldn¡¯t help but laugh once seeing this, Fen was an adorable little girl in her humanoid form but who knew she was really a mentally fat wolf pup who would eat anything and everything and never get fat, where did all that energy go! ¡°Hehe Fen is so cute~¡± beamed Sina and Sena from the left of the table, Luu nodded her head in agreement, this familiar of Zepp¡¯s was really the cutest and as girls they were naturally in love with Fen¡¯s adorable appearance the moment they saw her. As everyone was enjoying themselves and eating the door to the restaurant slammed open. ¡°Everybody stay where you are!¡± a rather skinny and tall young man wearing a beautiful robe strode into the restaurant, behind him 5 armoured warriors followed, each of which gave an aura that made everyone in the restaurant and freeze, they were too powerful, no one wanted to disobey, and they recognised the young man in front, he was the second crown prince! The servers and waiters in the restaurant all listened to his command, they naturally knew who this important young man was, they didn¡¯t dare disobey his orders. The second crown prince looked around the restaurant until his gaze stopped on one table and in particular, 3 women, he instantly strode over there with a perverted grin on his face. As he got to the table in his eyes all he saw was the three women in front of him, his smile got even bigger as he got closer, they were even more beautiful than he remembered. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡®Angels, truly the most beautiful creatures i¡¯ve ever laid eyes upon, I must have them!!¡¯ he yelled in his mind, his lewd grin growing wider and wider. The 5 elite guards behind him also had the same grin, each one of them stunned by the beauty in front of them, had they ever witnessed such fine women? they couldn¡¯t wait to bed them! ¡°It¡¯s you, I¡¯ve found you both! ahh, it¡¯s the heavens giving a gift to me, you even have an identical twin! ohhh how the heavens bless this one!¡± The second crown prince dramatically spoke, his gaze never leaving the three women, completely ignoring the rest of the people on the table, they were irrelevant. Sina, Sena and Luu sat there and grimaced, this was the bastard second crown prince! they nervously drew closer to each other by instinct, afraid of what might happen if this prince does decide to take them. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid! You are my wives now! Resisting will be.. bad .. for everyone at this table... I am the prince, you have nothing to be afraid of ever again, all you need to do is give me your complete loyalty and serve me with your bodies and I will never let anyone harm you, let us go back to the royal estate quickly, I can¡¯t wait much longer, hehe¡± Jonathan coaxed with a devilish grin, his words were sweet but threatening, his words meant that any resistance and he would kill everyone at the table apart from them, clearly he was experienced in threatening people. The girls looked at the elite guards behind the prince, two of the guards were extremely large giant brutes, they looked incomparably strong.. and the others.. from their auras alone they could tell they were strong. Sina couldn¡¯t take it any longer and answered. ¡°You bastard, we¡¯ll never let you get away with this! you can¡¯t just call us your wives, even if you do take us we¡¯ll never accept it, we¡¯d rather kill ourselves!¡± she yelled in a cold and disgusting voice. Jonathan had never heard anyone speak to him like this in his whole life, not even his father, the coldness of her voice and the disgusted tone, his temper instantly boiled up but he breathed deeply, calming himself, ¡®Even if they don¡¯t accept it I¡¯ll get a mage to break their wills through mind magic and live as my puppets for the rest of their lives¡¯ he said to himself, there were mages out there who could use mind magic to break peoples minds, it was the most disgusting practice of magic but some nobles used their services, Jonathan had used this method a lot before. ¡°hehe ma lord, let me persuade them a bit¡± Ajax stepped forward, his huge frame towering over the table, a wicked glint in his eye. Ajax walked looked across the table, observing the other people on it for the first time, he noticed another extraordinarily beautiful girl, a little girl and two males, one of young males was probably a low rank warrior of a noble house, Ajax observed, looking at Zepp, he could feel no aura or sense of strength from him except from his well built body, a strong warrior usually gave off an indication of strength or an aura, this young warrior looked to be doing nothing to stop the prince so of course he was some trash warrior of no note, Ajax then looked at the other male, he was an average but handsome young man, he saw traces of light magic on him so he guessed him to be a light mage, however, Ajax didn¡¯t continue probing his magic because it didn¡¯t matter, he could easily slaughter a trash mage. Finally Ajax¡¯s beastly gaze fell upon a little girl sitting next to the trash warrior, she looked to be a ordinary little girl, her expression was blank as she watched what was happening, Ajax thought he could clearly see a little girl who was confused and scared, smiling with his beastly grin he strode over and with no resistance from anyone on the table he grabbed the little girl and then went to the princes side. Smiling he drew a blade from his belt and placed it at Fen¡¯s neck, ¡°If you don¡¯t want this little girl to die, you better go with the prince, ladies!¡± he bellowed with a threatening voice. ¡®Mmm this smooth skin and little body, I¡¯ll keep this one to myself afterwards, hehe I always did like them young¡¯ Ajax said to himself, his blade stroking Fen¡¯s throat like a venomous snake teasing it¡¯s prey. ¡°Hehe, good one Ajax, yes you heard him, if you don¡¯t want this little girl to die right now you come with me and submit.¡± Jonathan advised once again, peering at his soon to be wives, ¡®This is going to be the best night of my life, three goddesses are mine, mmm¡¯ he whisped to himself. Sina, Sena and Luu looked over to Zepp, he didn¡¯t do anything and just sat and watched, they all came to the same conclusion, that Zepp knew he couldn¡¯t do anything, they had to go.. it was for everyones safety.. and Fen! The girls were about to stand up from the table when a hand stopped them, shocked, they all looked over to the owner of the hand, Zepp. He still sat there with a blank face but issued the girls to sit down, confused and in the moment they listened to his orders and all sat. The prince, seeing this noticed the other young man at the table, he had the same thought as Ajax, ¡®a weak trash warrior is overriding my orders?!¡¯. Jonathan hissed with fury, ¡°Oi, you little fuck, what do you think you are doing? you trash warrior, you think you can disobey me?! At this moment Jonathan was truly enraged, how dare this shitty warrior not listen to his commands, ¡°Do it Ajax!¡± he yelled with a devilish smile on his lips, still furious inside. Ajax was disappointed about having to kill this little girl but he wasn¡¯t going to disobey, ¡®I¡¯ll just have to fuck her corpse¡¯ he sighed inwardly, his knife effortlessly moving across the little girls smooth throat. ¡°Huh?¡± a confused voice then popped up, Ajax stood dumbfounded, he clearly just slashed this little girls throat, why wasn¡¯t he feeling the warm blood on his hands, he didn¡¯t even feel his knife pierce her flesh.. lifting her up he looked at her neck, there was no trace of any knife slash. ¡°Hahahaha! Ajax! you can¡¯t even kill a little girl properly!¡± Ajux bellowed, he drew his knife from his belt and attempted to end the little girls life with a slash of his knife. ¡°..What?¡± the same confused manner of speech was spoken as he looked at his knife and then the little girls, who stood there blankly, he clearly just tried to slash this little girls throat but nothing happened.. ¡°What is going on, is she dead?¡± yelled the prince, looking over towards the little girl and his two elite guards. Ajax and Ajux just looked back at the prince and shook there head, Ajax spoke up with a confused voice, ¡°Ma Lord, we tried to slash this little girls throat but nothing is happening, not even a trace of the knife being there is remaining¡± he answered, still looking at this mystery of a little girl that stood in front of him, as a peak rank A combatant, how couldn¡¯t he slash the throat of a little girl? ¡°Shit! she¡¯s probably using some protection charm or something!!¡± Jonathan replied, Protection charms were something that only peak A rank and above mages could make, depending on the strength they gave the user protection. ¡°Ah! that must be it! Ajax nodded, so did Ajux, laughing to themselves, how stupid could they be? The prince looked back to the table to see the shocked expressions of the girls but as he looked at the young man next to them he could make out that he was smiling slightly. ¡°What the fuck are you smiling at, trash? the fact that these girls are going to be my women soon or the fact that this little girl is about to die?¡± Jonathan questioned, a predator like smile rising from his lips. ¡°Oh, neither.¡± the young man replied back, his smile growing in size. ------------------ Thanks for reading and 1000 followers! wooo :D Please, if you like my story I encourage and appreciate it if you rate on the fiction page :3 Chapter 29 - Sickened wonder Chapter 29 ¡°Neither? you bastard then what are you smiling at?!¡± Jonathan flew into a rage, how dare this trash act like this in front of him, the prince. Zepp grasped the personality type of this prince in front of him, he was a spoilt brat who was used to getting anything he wanted. ¡°I¡¯m actually laughing at how stupid you are¡± Zepp quipped, his smile plastered across his face. Hearing this Jonathan got even angrier, ¡°Stupid?! how fucking dare you, I¡¯ll rape this girl in front of you and show you the meaning of stupid!¡± he yelled, pointing towards Fen, , a disgusting look in his eye. At this point, Zepp¡¯s mocking smile disappeared and he just sat, blankly staring. Seeing the smile vanish from Zepp¡¯s face the prince laughed mockingly, ¡°Hahaha! I knew it, this little girl is important to you! Watch me break her mind and body in front of you!¡± he continued issuing an order with his hand, Ajax nodded and brought the little girl to the side of the prince. ¡°Kettle, clear the restaurant and threaten everyone who witnessed this, say you¡¯ll exterminate their clan if they don¡¯t comply¡± Jonathan turned around and spoke to Kettle, who watched all this excitedly, he loved watching the prince ruin peoples lives, it was fun. ¡°Yes!¡± Kettle agreed, instantly setting off to clear people in the restaurant, even the waiters and serving staff, this didn¡¯t even take 5 minutes, every single one of the people in the room who witnessed this would never dare utter a word, kettle made sure of it. ¡°Hehe, good now we¡¯re alone¡± Jonathan giggled disgustingly, grabbing Fen by her dress and pulling her in front of him, a lewd look in his eye. Seeing Fen get treated like that, even the calm Zepp finally got annoyed, his face contorting into a look of disgust, he finally made his mind up, he would make sure all these people were but lifeless corpses before they left. Zepp stood up from the table, startling everyone apart from Fen, the girls looked at Zepp worryingly, they didn¡¯t want to cause him trouble. The prince, seeing this was furious, ¡°Who the fuck do you think you are, you are just a piece of trash, a disgusting piece of dog shit, a fucking bug, you dare stand in the presence of me, the second crown prince of the capital of the human kingdom Rosen!?¡± he hissed. ¡°Ya, sit back down or I¡¯ll rip that head off your fucking body and rape your corpse¡± Ajax bellowed, pissed off, this kid was pissing on his pride. Zepp clearly didn¡¯t flinch or pay that threat any mind and clearly spoke up, not a hint of nervousness or discourage in his voice, ¡°Have any of you ever heard of Yuem?¡± he asked curiously, he reach into his robe and pulled out a unassuming stone tablet with the emblem of a snake coiled around a globe. The prince and the elite guards were curious at first but as they saw him pull how the trashy stone tablet with the emblem on they were howling with laughter. ¡°Phahahaha! were you trying to make us scared by pulling out an emblem of a shitty group that no one has heard of!!¡± The prince snorted, he knew this was of a group because adventurers would use tablets to put their emblems on, it looked more official, however, you could easily tell the class of an adventurers group because the emblem¡¯s tablet would be a certain material depending on the class, very strong and high class groups or teams used materials like gems or a precious metal, the tablet in front of him was only made of stone, the lowest class, this was the reason everyone was laughing. Zepp sighed inwardly as he heard them laughing, ¡®Malus was so proud of this tablet, If he heard them laughing at it.. god knows what he¡¯d do¡¯. However, there was one member of the elite guards who wasn¡¯t laughing, actually, he was the opposite, a surge of fear overwhelmed his whole body, his trained hands shook in fear and in his eyes he looked like he had seen a ghost, this man was Bowa, the archer. Astuta, who was stood next to Bowa saw his reaction, and voiced his concern, ¡°Hey, Hey! Bowa? what¡¯s the matter?¡± he asked, Bowa¡¯s reaction was highly unusual, Astuta, who had been with Bowa since childhood had never seen Bowa show much emotion but now he was looking like he had seen a ghost. Bowa didn¡¯t answer Astuta, Astuta was concerned and hurriedly consulted the others, ¡°Prince, Guys, Bowa is acting weird!¡± he declared, voicing his speech loud enough for only the elite guards and the prince to hear, naturally Fen heard it too because she stood near the prince. ¡°Bowa¡¯s actin¡¯ weird?¡± Ajax and Ajux went over first to see what was up, they did the same and tried to talk to him but he was in a frozen state of extreme fear, Ajax and Ajux both looked at each other in confusion, they had no clue what was happening to make Bowa act this way. Finally as the prince came over to see what was wrong Bowa stepped forwards without guidance, his legs were wobbly and his eyes were so wide you would think they were going to pop out of his skull. Bowa staggered his way in front of the prince and then dropped to his knees in front of Zepp, Bowa¡¯s whole body was still shivering in fear and his legs were like jelly, as he dropped to the floor a extremely terrified Bowa spoke up as he kneeled. ¡°L-L-Lord! Kind, Benevolent Lord! Forgive us! They-No, we failed to recognise that we were in the presence of your superior self! We deserve a hundred deaths! B-But please spare us, we were foolish, we¡¯ll do anything, please!¡± he mumbled, his mouth not working properly due to the state he was in, however, everyone could understand what he was saying, the faces of the elite guards and the prince contorted into confusion, what the hell was Bowa saying? Ajax was the first to approach Bowa who was obviously kneeling at the feet of the young man. ¡°Bowa! since when were you so fucking weak! kneeling to trash!!¡± Ajax roared, lifting Bowa from his kneeling position. The fact that Bowa was acting this way hit the pride of all the members of the elite guard, after all they had all recognised eachothers power and were all equal peak A rank combatants. ¡°Yeah Bowa what the fuck are you doing!¡± ¡°Did someone mix drugs into his tea earlier?!¡± The rest of the elite guard shouted, however, as Bowa was being lifted to his feet by Ajax, Bowa slapped the hands of Ajax away and his face was full of fury. ¡°Don¡¯t you know what I am doing?! I¡¯m saving all of our fucking lives! Prince, you don¡¯t know who you are dealing with! You are fucking around with Gods!¡± he blurted, everyones faces in the room apart from Zepp and Fen¡¯s were in the same confused manner, however the elite guards and the princes were contorted into much more than confusion. Jonathan strode forward, ¡°A God? I don¡¯t remember upsetting any Gods, and if you are talking about him, if he¡¯s a God i¡¯m the fucking creator!¡± he chimed, completely and utterly dismissing Bowa¡¯s obvious hallucinations and warnings. ¡°Tell us, what do you mean, Bowa?!?¡± Kettle yelled from behind, the rest nodded their heads, they wanted to know what Bowa was talking about. ¡°I-I do not know much about the subject but I have read some old scholar scrolls in my spare time, a couple years ago I came across a strange looking but extremely ancient scroll, it was clearly the oldest scroll I had ever seen and in it, it mentioned a group called ¡®Yuem¡¯, it told of how each member of this group were X rank combatants or above and there were only a few members, each were unaging and incomparably powerful on the whole of the Ein continent! They were worshipped and hailed as Gods! In this scroll it had the emblem of this group, the only proof left that they exist, a snake coiled around a globe!¡± Bowa explained. The prince and the elite guards had expressions of disbelief, the prince spoke first. ¡°You actually believed an old decrepit scroll! X rank! bullshit! No one has ever broken through the S rank! X rank is just a myth, a legend!¡± he quipped back disbelievingly, the other members of the elite guard nodded their heads, he had said exactly what they were going to say, X rank was a complete myth, no one had, according to records, ever broken through to this mythical rank, and if they did, would they look like this trash in front of them? clearly nothing special about him apart from his well built body, but wasn¡¯t Ajax and the others built like that too? This was bullshit. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°And even if he does have this emblem, couldn¡¯t he have just made it because he saw the same type of scroll you did?¡± Astutus continued on, the others nodded, this was a valid point. ¡°Impossible!¡± Bowa argued, his voice still prevalent with traces of fear, ¡°This emblem has been magically imbued by Yuem, If someone without the authority or permission of a member of Yuem tries to draw the emblem then it will be impossible, it doesn¡¯t show up or it becomes disfigured!¡± Disbelieving this the prince stormed to a nearby counter and found a pen and some paper, the paper and pen was usually used to write down orders so the chefs wouldn¡¯t forget, he remembered the emblem and tried to draw it, as he finished the drawing of the snake coiled around a globe he noticed that the drawing didn¡¯t match what he knew he had drawn, it was disfigured and looked odd, he tried again and again, the same result happened every single time, each time the drawing became disfigured or simply didn¡¯t appear at all, seeing this the Prince¡¯s heart dropped and he walked back over to his elite guards who stood in front of the table. Listen to him and leave!¡± Sina spoke up from where she sat with the nervous Luu and Sena. The Prince¡¯s temper was in full flare at this moment so with a flick of his head he turned and stared with beast like eyes towards Sina, ¡°Shut the fuck up slut, a woman should speak when spoken to!¡±. Zepp finally spoke after asking the first question since a while ago, he turned his head to look at the Prince, ¡°Little pathetic Prince and his puppet guards, I¡¯ll give you a final chance to beg for mercy and grovel on the floor like the little bug that you are¡± he said in the a voice colder than ice, his mentality had changed since his initiation and Malus had noted how merciless and cold he could be towards his enemies, if one even looked closer they could see how red Zepp¡¯s eyes had become. The Prince flew off the handle at this and his temper finally clouded his judgement, he cursed out loud and swept his arm up in the air, ¡°Ajax, I¡¯ve had enough of this fucking worm, kill him in the worst way possible in front of everyone on the table, make sure you spill his blood on them, hahahahaaha!!¡± he demanded, instantly Ajax nodded and stepped forward with a look in his eyes like a sadistic predator. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to kill you in the slowest and most painful way possible!¡± Ajax smiled, instantly appearing in front of Zepp who just stood there, not reacting in the slightest, Ajax took this as him being afraid, after all, he had killed numerous people and some of them wouldn¡¯t react even if he chopped off their heads, they were cowards who wanted a quick death. Ajax drew his giant sword which was strapped across his back, this sword would have crushed a normal man, not even 10 trained warriors could lift it, it was made especially for him and his brute strength, anything that got in his way he would turn them into mince meat with his great sword. Ajax¡¯s steps were light even as his body was large, his moves were as swift as the wind and swung his sword with his right arm, everyone on the table, including the Prince only saw a blur as the sword came swinging down to smash into this young man. The end result was certain and the Prince stood with a giant grin on his face, the other elite guards, apart from Bowa also stood with a grin, watching the arrogant trash in front of them being killed was pleasant, they had met some cocky adventurers and they had always met the same end, death or they begged and pleaded for their lives. However, as the sword hit Zepp where his neck should of been cut from his body, no such end ever came, there wasn¡¯t any noise, looking closer everyone could see that the sword had never touched his neck because he had stopped the blade with his hand. Ajax was stunned when he didn¡¯t feel his sword sinking into the flesh, he swung his sword as such that no one below A rank could defend themselves against, however, looking closely Ajax saw that this young man had the blade grasped in his hand. Ajax snorted and tried to break free from the young man¡¯s grip but no matter how much strength he put into trying to free his great sword his could never seem to even move it an inch, it was like his sword was stuck in an unbreakable rock. Zepp was surprised at how feeble the sword strike was, he probably didn¡¯t even need to dodge it or catch it with his hand, he knew this would not break his skin in the least, however, he wanted to show off a bit here. ¡°You were really that cocky with such a feeble and weak attack?¡± Zepp exclaimed, his voice carrying no hint of danger or alarm, Zepp simply let go of the blade and walked forward towards his attacker. Instantly every alarm in Ajax¡¯s body went off, like a primal instinct to run when there was no hope of fighting, however, before he could even react the young man was in front of him and with a blank expression his right arm moved upwards towards Ajax¡¯s throat, Ajax couldn¡¯t move, his body was frozen and he could not resist in the slightest. Everyone looked on with horror as Zepp¡¯s hand neared Ajax¡¯s throat, no one knew why Ajax didn¡¯t move but Zepp¡¯s hands didn¡¯t seem to register the skin and his fingers burrowed into Ajax¡¯s throat, there was no hint of resistance at all, everyone was sickened and looked on in a trance like state, his hand wasn¡¯t even moving that fast, it just went into the skin on Ajax¡¯s throat when everyone saw that the hand stopped they breathed a sigh of relief, but the hand then moved outwards and with it carried the insides of Ajax¡¯s throat, blood poured from Zepp¡¯s hand. Zepp ripped out Ajax¡¯s throat with ease and then unclasped his hands so the part he ripped out fell to the floor, everyone watched with sickened wonder as Ajax fell to the floor as a lifeless corpse, no resistance or struggle was seen, the Prince and the elite guards shivered as they saw this scene, ¡®What the fuck had just happened¡¯ they all thought, the Prince even broke out into a cold sweat. ¡°Y-You!¡± he stuttered, staring at Zepp with eyes of horror and disgust, albeit the disgust was a different type of disgust than before. ¡°Ajax!¡± Ajux snapped, his mind clouded by anger he didn¡¯t feel anything, he just wanted to kill this young man in front of him who had killed his twin brother, his only brother!, with swift movements he lunged forward to attack Zepp, he wielded two giant axes and they came swiftly towards Zepp¡¯s neck, with strength even greater than his brothers he swung down, his power fueled by anger. ¡°Die you piece of shit!¡± he roared as the axes swung, just as the two unstoppable axes were about to meet flesh Zepp drew his hand back and then with a sweeping motion he swung his palm, it was like a back handed slap. No one saw Zepp¡¯s hand move due to the speed in which he did it at and with a graceful arc he struck the side of Ajux¡¯s chest, slapping him away like a fly. Not one person believed their eyes as they saw this scene, Ajux¡¯s body went flying like a ragdoll, Zepp didn¡¯t use much of his strength so Ajux didn¡¯t fly far but as he came to a stop and landed on the floor everyone observed the outcome, Ajux¡¯s chest was caved in and blood poured out of the collapsed chest and broken skin, Ajux¡¯s eyes were as lifeless as his brothers, an audible gasp was heard from those watching, the Prince¡¯s legs were shaking in fear and the other elite guards watched on in a stupor. A few of the gasps were from the girls, ¡®When had Zepp become so.. strong and fierce..¡¯ they thought to themselves. ------------ Thanks for reading ;p since everyone didn''t like the cliffhanger here is a very early release! ~ Hiatus~ Well, here it is, probably the one thing you don''t wish to see if you actually do enjoy my fiction (I thank everyone that does). However, as of recently as you can see by my lack of posts I have completely lost motivation and the drive to continue to write, I hope this is a temporary phase and this is why I am going to go on Hiatus, I believe it may (or may not) capture my interest in writing once more, I do think this is a better option than Discontinuing my fictions all together. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Thank you. PS. if you haven''t noticed I also think my quality of writing as been going on a downwards slope for a while. Officially Dropped. Title says it all basically. I''m sorry to everyone that liked the story and such, I may or may not post again, who knows. Ps. I "May" come back to this and finish it if I ever have time or motivation. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Thank you again and good day chaps. OH and I''m currently trying to write something different and new, It probably won''t go anywhere though.. ;p New fic update I finally got around to writing a new fiction, I''m rather hopeful for this one, I was really careful with it so I can expand and take it in any direction, however, I do have a good idea of where I want it to go. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It''s going to be a good ride I hope. :) link : http://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/2756