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As the dust storm got closer, Baya could vaguely make out the looks of the people riding the mounts. They were about eight people riding towards the direction of Marquis city, and by the looks of the insignia on the outfit of the one leading the pack, he could tell they were warriors from the Marquis household. He felt relative assured as he realized they were not bandits, but he still decided to wait for them ride past himself. After some minutes, Baya got back onto the road and continued his journey.

Willard stood firmly still as he stared out through the window of the inn. He watched as the everyday life of the citizens of Marquis city played out in its normal accord. The streets were lively with merchants selling to their various customers, people filled the streets and all seemed quite normal. Suddenly, Willard noticed a group of people riding their mounts and heading towards the city palace. It was forbidden for regular citizens to ride their mounts within the borders of Marquis city, and as such, one could immediately tell these were warriors of the governing Marquis household. Willard stared fixatedly on the leader of the squad almost as if he was staring at a familiar figure. Willard retracted his gaze as he got a sense of deep danger looking at that man. At all cost, he was going to avoid any unnecessary contact with that particular man.

Now that Baya had gone to retrieve the living fire plant, Willard was left accomplishing minor task all by himself. Willard exited the inn wearing an inconspicuous outfit, he was trying to avoid any and all attention if possible. He was going to grab a meal from a nearby restaurant and use this opportunity to find out the current affairs of the city. Whilst eating, Willard heard all sorts of stories from minor affairs like the attires the different dukes wore to the varying functions to more political ones, like the advances of neighboring kingdoms. Although all these were informative, it wasn’t what he was currently interested in. He wanted to know about the affairs of the founding households, and more specifically the Helden household.

‘Can it be they are no longer interested in me?’ Willard hesitantly thought to himself. Given how people of power held their image in the highest regards, he couldn’t believe that was the end of that event. Willard continued paying attention to the conversations of the various people in the restaurant. One conversation in particular caught his attention. There was a group of four that had taken up the table directly behind him.

“I am not sure why Lord Asyut wants us to this, but we have to be very careful in accomplishing this task,” a man with short black hair whispered to the people on his table. He was one of the four men that had taken the table behind Willard. Hearing Asyut’s name, Willard’s full focus was on those men. From that bit of information, he could infer that those men belong to the Helden household, and are on a secret mission assigned to them personally by Asyut. This was exactly the kind of information he had sought by coming out today. And as luck would have it, the information had come to him. Willard decided at that point to follow this lead to its end. He was going to continue spying on these people until he found out what Asyut was planning.

Willard had his own ideas as to what their mission might be, but he needed to confirm what it was. Willard assumed the task these men were about to carry involved him in some way, so he wanted to be a step ahead of them. Willard left the restaurant and found a place to lurk in the shadows. He was waiting for the men to finish their meal, so he could tail them. Not too long after Willard left the restaurant, the four men also got out and started heading east towards the city gates. Willard followed them the way to the perimeters of the gate. While following, Willard was completely puzzled at their intentions. He had originally assumed Asyut would have tasked them with something pertaining to himself, but to his surprise, these men were heading out of the city. Willard contemplated stopping his watch over them, but in the end decided to follow it through. As the four men left the city, Willard waited some time before exiting behind them.

After walking some time, Willard could see the silhouette of three of the four men that he was tailing. He couldn’t quite figure out where the fourth one had gone, so he decided to go through the woods just to be safe. Willard continued following the three from the woods for some time when all of a sudden sounds of what seemed like a carriage could be heard coming from the distance. Willard focused his full attention on the carriage to try and figure out who that might be.

“Who are you?” A man said while gently walking towards Willard. Willard was immediately jolted back to reality. He was completely shocked and dumbfounded to hear and see someone approach him like that. He had been the one tailing people and now he was caught completely by surprise. As the man got closer, Willard could make out the facial structure, and immediately recognized this person. He was the dark haired man among the four that sat behind him at the restaurant. He was also the one who was missing from the group.

“How did you find out?” Willard asked while he started gathering earth energy. Willard knew for this man to have found out he was tailing them, he wasn’t an ordinary person.

“I won’t ask again. Who are you?” The man said while pulling his sword from its sheath.

Willard seeing this knew this was the real deal. This man before him was most likely at the elemental energy level. He had a vastly more terrifying presence than even the chief of the Yellow Hem village. Willard also knew that no matter what explanation he gave to this man, he would still come for his life. Willard immediately started laughing. His laughter was so loud that it even startled the dark short haired man. Willard pointed as he raised his hands pointing to the direction behind the man. Concurrently, the man turned to look at the direction Willard was pointing in. To his surprise, there was nothing there. The next thing the man heard was loud steps Willard had taken, as he immediately started to run towards the direction of the other three men and the carriage. Willard knew if he had to fight one on one against this man he would be at a serious disadvantage.

‘How did I become the rat in a trap?’ Willard questioned himself as he ran. If one was paying close attention to the floor, they would have noticed some little protrusion on the ground with every step Willard took. Although Willard wasn’t at the level where he could freely utilize earth elemental energy, he had a well above average control of the earth elemental energy. He was creating the protrusion to help boost his speed as every time it was created it would propel him forward. The Dark haired man was chasing right behind, he was completely stunned at how fast Willard was running, but none the less he was quickly catching up to Willard.

Willard seeing the man quickly catching up to him became even more frantic. Willard got onto the road and continued running. ‘How the hell do I get out of this?’ Willard lamented as he continued running towards the group of three and the incoming carriage. Suddenly, a loud whistling noise was heard. The group of three turned around to discover a young man and their companion running towards them.

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1. N/a

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Hearing Baya’s remarks, Willard had an indifferent look to him. He could pretty much guess what Baya’s intentions were, but that had no impact on him. He already had a mission in mind for Baya, before the start of their conversation. He was going to send Baya to a nearby town to gain a certain item for his use, but now he had extra motivation for Baya.

“You are to go to Red lagoon of the Red forest and obtain a certain item for me,” Willard said with a little hint of a smile. The red forest is located to the far south of Marquis city, while the red lagoon was located at the center of this forest. It would require at least half a day’s journey to get to the outer perimeters of the forest. Willard had thoroughly studied the map he had gotten from the Yellow Hem village, and had gotten more information regarding various materials he was interested in. From the information he had gotten from a certain merchant in Blue Rose village, Within the areas surrounding the Red Lagoon, there was a plant that mysteriously grew there. This plant called Living Fire, was rare in that it could miraculously grow within such an adverse condition such as the Red Lagoon.

“Retrieve a plant called Living Fire, and bring back its roots for me.” Willard said with a serious tone.

“When you bring back this plant you can have whatever you want as a reward.”

Baya had a look of frustration, he knew the character in front of him was overbearing, but he couldn’t believe how heartless this person was. The red lagoon was famous for exactly how inhabitable it was for any living creature. Experts in the elemental essence stage went out of their way to avoid that region because of how dangerous it was. And he, who was at the 8th stage of natural energy, and he is being sent over there. He couldn’t refuse or argue with Willard’s orders now that he was in servitude under an eternal oath. He could only resign himself to his faith.

Seeing the dejected look on Baya, Willard could pretty guess what was going through his mind. “Before you leave for the red Forest, I will pass my movement martial technique to you. I will also pass half of the soul training technique to you.” Baya immediately felt a bit better. Although he was going on a very dangerous journey, with the movement martial technique, his battle proficiency would increase to the level of an elemental essence practitioner. This drastically increased his chances of survival whilst giving him hope of improving his current natural energy level. Without any hesitation, he immediately bowed in acceptance of the mission.

Over the next two weeks, Willard spent the majority of his time teaching Baya the movement martial skill. He also relayed what he described as half of the soul training technique to Baya. While he was teaching the technique to Baya, he had made sure to stay unnoticed by the outside world. After all, he had just killed the personal guards of one of the founding families of the city. He was certain trouble would be brewing somewhere waiting for him.

After learning the movement martial skill, Baya was more confident in his chances for this mission. Baya used his free time to get the provisions he needed for his trip. Both Baya and Willard had spent a month at Marquis City and within this month, they had become wanted men of the Helden household.

The days went on peacefully, as usual, the dawn of a new day had just broken and the refreshing spectre of sunlight was illuminating the whole city. At the top most room of an inn in the eastern section of Marquis city, two individuals were sitting in a meditative position on their respective beds. The sounds of the birds combined with the warmth of the sun brought about a serene environment. If one had keen eyes, they could see the fluctuation of natural energy around those individuals as they cultivated.

Since getting to Marquis city, Willard had cultivated from the mid level 6 natural energy to the peak of level 6 natural energy, almost stepping to the beginning level 7 natural energy. This was well within his plans for advancement. The higher one went down the part of cultivation, the longer it took to advance. Willard still had some time before the start of the blood challenge, so he was naturally at peace with his rate of growth.

“I will be leaving for the Red forest today.” Baya said to break up the silence. From his observation, Baya knew Willard had stopped cultivating a while back. Willard hearing that nodded in acknowledgement. They both continued to sit in quietness almost as if they were waiting on something.

‘It is up to your efforts now. If you are unable to survive, you would have been of no use to me. Only by overcoming this will you be of any use.’ Willard thought to himself. In truth, Willard secretly hoped Baya would return safely for two reason. The first being that he would get the root of the living fire plant, and the second was that Baya would return with a tempered soul. This was what he wanted the for Baya, after all, the strength of one’s allies can be counted as one’s strength.

These two things were alluring, especially the living fire root. Ever since Willard regained his memories, the most shocking thing he had noticed about himself was his complete inability to sense the fire element. Although he could still sense the earth element, it was still at an inferior level to his original self. Willard had completely mastered the mysteries of the fire element as the chief god of destruction and was especially adept in wielding its power. The living fire plant was something that possessed an abundance of the fire element, which was why Willard wanted to acquire the roots. He believed that if he consumes that plant, he might be able to start sensing and absorbing the fire element.

Although the living fire plant was something he placed great importance on, he still wanted to use this opportunity to temper Baya’s soul. After all, if Baya fails he only has to go himself and acquire the plant. And if Baya succeeds, he would have killed two birds with one stone.

Later that morning Baya  left for the red forest. He stealthily left so as to not draw much attention to himself seeing as he had become a wanted man by association. It would be tragic if his mission was cut short by the people of the Helden household before leaving marquis city. Baya succeeded in leaving the city gates without being noticed, and at this point in time, he had started his first true life and death adventure.

This kind of adventure was different from the type of missions he got when he was still at the Yellow Hew village. Those missions could not be considered life threatening, they were all relatively safe and almost always in close proximity to the Yellow Hew village.

 

After walking for less than a mile along the path to the Red forest, the ground trembled slightly. Baya could feel this tremors continually grow in its intensity. From a distance, he could see a trail of what seemed like a dust storm drawing closer to him. Baya instinctively hid behind a tree to the left side of the pathway. He knew the storm and tremors signified people riding mounts were coming along that direction. Although the possibility of those riding the mounts to be bandits was low, Baya still took precaution to hide away. He would rather have himself waste some time hiding than actually encountering bandits.

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1. N/a

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Staring at the four dead bodies before him, Willard had a look of disapproval. He originally intended to live a low profile life while he was staying at Marquis city, but now that seemed not to be the case. Willard immediately gathered the corpse of the dead guards and proceeded to drag them one by one to the nearby forest. After carrying each body one by one, he set all the bodies ablaze. He sneakily rushed to the inn he had booked a room while making sure he wasn’t followed. This entire endeavour had taken Willard over 3 hours to conclude. Willards biggest fear was that someone might have witnessed his actions and tailed him to his current residence.

Upon getting to his room, Willard saw Baya sitting crossed legged and meditating at the corner of the room. Ripples of natural energy were emanating from Baya’s direction, with Baya being the center of it all. “Interesting,” Willard said out loud, which caused Baya to wake up from his previous meditative state. “What do we do now?” Baya immediately asked Willard. Ever since he left the restaurant, Baya had been bothered with the preceding set of actions both him and Willard would have to take. By association, they had both offended some major powers at Marquis city. “Don’t think about it too much. We just have to lay low for a while.” Willard responded with a confident smile. “More importantly, do you know why you haven’t been able to improve much with your training?” Willard asked Baya somewhat condescendingly.

Baya was a little startled with Willard’s question, but went on to respond; “No, I have no idea. Do you know?” Baya had been stuck at the peak of the 8th level of natural energy for over 5 years, and has been searching for varieties of ways to improve and break through the levels of natural energy. That was the primary reason Baya chose to swear an oath of fealty to Willard. Willard staring at Baya’s longing faced, could not help but giggle a bit. “Let me explain a little bit.” Willard said while making his way to his bed. “For any being born to this world to grow, they need to be nourished by the natural energies of the world.” Willard said while gazing at the roof. He returned his gaze back to Baya and continued.

“The food, water, sun and everything we use to survive in this world can be described as a form of natural energy.”

“We also use this energy in pursuit of immortality, and here on this mortal world it is referred to as cultivation.”

“Your body draws the natural energy of the world, and your soul converts this energy to help nourish your own body.”

“The problem you face, as you might already be guessing, is that of your soul.”

“To put things bluntly, your soul is not strong enough. You convert such a miniscule amount each time you cultivate, and if things continue this way, it would be impossible for you to breakthrough the 10th level of natural energy.”

Baya hearing Willards explanation was shocked. This was the first time he had heard about the souls part in one’s cultivation. Although this information cannot be said to new to this mortal world, but it wasn’t wide spread either. Major tribes and kingdoms knew about the soul’s role in cultivation, and some had even developed ways to improve the strength of the soul. However, this news was a major setback for Baya who had been hoping to get a relatively easy fix for his cultivation woes.

“Is there a way for me to increase the strength of my soul?” Baya asked in a hopeful manner. Willard seeing the look on Baya’s face was unmoved, or rather wasn’t sympathetic to his plight.

“I know of several ways to improve one’s soul, but I can guarantee you it won’t be easy for you.” Willard responded with a mischievous smile on his face. Although Baya was subservient to Willard, Willard still wasn’t going to do things for Baya for free. From the moment of his birth to this particular time, Willard had never built what could be considered a good relationship with anyone.

“The first and simplest way to improve the strength of your soul is to find an element fruit and consume it.” Baya listened as Willard was speaking. Elemental fruits were one of the top treasures of the mortal world. They were too few in numbers and highly sort after by various powerful experts. Consuming an elemental fruit meant that one could pretty much skip the natural energy level and go straight to the elemental level. Such miraculous treasures were not easily seen, not to talk of even being sold. Willard mentioning this option was paramount to not saying anything because it was virtually impossible for Baya to go find this treasure on his own.

“The second method to improve the strength of your soul is to temper it through life and death situations.” This was the most realistic and dangerous way to improve the strength of one’s soul. One would have to go through life altering experiences where the chances of survival is not guaranteed. How many experts choose the path of a lone adventurer, and how many live to tell their tales. It was one of the most dangerous paths for warriors, as they would have to face the world on their own. If they were lucky, they would find good companions to travel with, if not they would have to face their challenges alone. While adventuring, people grow and gain enlightenment much faster. Their soul, body and mind grow at a much faster pace than cultivating at the comfort of their homes.

“The last method I can think of, is to practice a set of soul training techniques.” Hearing those words, Baya blossomed into a smile. The first two options were either impossible or just too dangerous. He was hoping for a less dangerous option, and as he heard ‘soul training techniques’ he became joyful. If he could acquire such techniques, then all his work would have been worth it.

“How can I acquire a soul training technique?” Baya immediately asked. He was anxious and hopeful that Willard would have such a technique. After all, who else except a former God would be qualified to have such an amazing technique at his or her disposal.

“Well that’s simple,” Willard responded with a smile on his face. “I am in possession of such a technique.” Baya couldn’t hold back his delight, he had finally found the answers to what he had been searching for. Then all of a sudden, Baya came back to his senses. He was after all dealing with Willard, the former god of destruction. How was it going to be a simple affair?

“What do you require of me, master?” Baya intelligently replied. He wanted to flatter Willard, but at the same time, he knew that wasn’t all it took to convince the person in front of him.

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1. N/a

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The streets were busy as usual, people going about their day like they had always done. Willard and Baya made their way to a nearby restaurant, they sat and ordered a round of food and drinks. Willard was in a particularly good mood today, he was happily chatting away with Baya who in turn responded in brief sentences. That did not bother Willard much because he had a good understanding of Baya’s behavior. While chatting, three individuals entered the restaurant in a grandeur fashion. The one in the middle had a rather small face with delicate looking features, his hair was bloodshot red and had an air to him that demanded respect. He was dressed in an exquisite jaded green outfit. The individual to the right of the red-haired youth also dressed in fine attire, he had short black hair and seemed to be angry at the moment. The other youth to the left complemented the rest with his fine golden attire. He was taller than the bunch, and was of a bigger build than them.

“Lyon, are you saying that you saw that Sebastian with my Ade?” The black haired youth said to red-haired youth with an angry expression. “Why would I Lyon Marquis have a need to lie to you?” the red-haired youth retorted with an indifferent look. The youths casually walked to the center of the restaurant, there was a prominently placed table occupied by other customers who were already eating their meal. The youths shot a single glance to the people occupying that particular table, who after noticing those piercing glances all stood up and made their way to a far corner of the restaurant.

“Waiter some wine and pleasantries” the black haired youth yelled after they took their seats. “Brother Asyut, calm down. We will take care of that Sebastian.” the well-built youth said to the black haired youth in an effort to calm him down. “I will see to it that this Sebastian is thoroughly dealt with, or my name is not Asyut Helden.”

Asyut was the first son and heir to the Helden household. The Helden house has existed since the founding of Marquis city. They were one of the families that had joined the ancestors of Marquis household and captured the city. While these conversations were going on, the surrounding groups of customers in their various tables, all slowly left the vicinity of the youths. Currently enjoying his meal, Willard noticed the surrounding people leave one after the other. He knew why they were leaving, but still decided to finish his meal on his table. To the table in the center, Asyut was currently chugging huge glasses of wine one after the other. His companions were drinking and enjoying the following assortments that beautifully decorated their table.

“That ***** Ade, dears to turn down my love for Sebastian.” Asyut cursed as he continued his ferocious assault on the wine. Ade was also from one of the founding families, the Minya family, who controlled a large portion of commerce within the city. Although Asyut was angry, he couldn’t plan anything bad for Ade because her family had enough power to rival that of his family’s and there was the fact that he also greatly wanted her for himself. “Mubi, you cannot truly know how I feel unless you..” Asyut was saying to the built youth in his company before he drunkenly dropped his glass.
“Asyut you already this drunk” Lyon said with a devilish smile. Asyut did not pay much attention to Lyon’s comment. Asyut turned to look at his surrounding, only to notice that everyone had vacated the nearby seats except for one group. Seeing that a group dared to still stay close to their table, Asyut got angry. He stood up from his seat and slowly staggered to that table where two other individuals were finishing up their meals. “Do you not see that I Asyut is having a meal here.” Asyut said to Willard and Baya, with an evident tone of anger mixed with a drunken stupor.

Willard seeing the developments, gestured with hands to Baya. Baya having spent some time with Willard knew what he meant with that gesture. Baya immediately got up and started making his way out of the restaurant. Asyut seeing this wasn’t satisfied he was about to go confront the leaving Baya before he felt a surging intense pain coming from his foot. He involuntarily screamed which caused the onlookers to stare in his direction, some people including his friends Lyon and Mubi had faces riddled with an unconscious laughter. Asyut turned to look at the direction of Willard. Now Asyut was truly livid, he was angry at the fact that this lowly existence before him had firstly caused him pain, and secondly made him scream in front of these people.

“Guards come in here.” Asyut yelled. Four well-armored men quickly rushed into the restaurant. “Young master Asyut.” The responded as they bowed. “I want to arrest this fellow over here and give him the beating of his life.” Asyut said while pointing to Willard. “Come now let’s go. It’s about time we return to our duties.” Lyon said after approaching Asyut. “Let’s leave the guards to take care of this fellow.” Mubi said in support of Lyon’s original statement. Asyut filled with immeasurable anger turned to look at Willard one more time. “After beating this fellow, hang his body up on a pole. Maybe next time, you’ll learn the difference between a snake and a dragon.” Asyut said while following his friends to exit the restaurant.

Willard had a smile on his face, he had successfully gotten Baya away from his vicinity, which meant he only had to fend for himself. Two of the guards took Willard by the hand as they walked him out of the restaurant. Although Willard stepped on Asyut to get his attention, he had done so surreptitiously, everyone including the guards felt a little pity for Willard as they assumed he was victimized. The four guards escorted him to closed of corner of the city, as they chose not to publicly beat him. Even though they felt pity for him, they were still ordered to beat him up. “Blame your bad luck and not us.” One of the guards said as he pulled out a whip from the side of his waist.

Willard was happy because the guards had chose a closed off section of the city to inflict his punishment. Although had the intentions to fight back, he did not want to do that in the public view. If the guards were more observant, they would have noticed Willards skin get a little tan. Willard at this point was strengthening his body with earth elemental energy. “Your four lives are connected. If one of you attacks, all four of you will die. If none attacks all four of you will live.” Willard said abruptly. His sentence had stunned the guards, because through the entire process Willard had remained silent almost as if he had accepted the inevitable.

The guard who had the whip paid no heed to Willard’s words as he slashed the whip towards Willard’s body. The four guards assumed Willard had made an idle threat to try and get out of his death sentence. As the coiling cord of the whip made its menacing way to Willard’s supposedly delicate body, Willard stretched out his hand in anticipation. He caught the whip, which surprised the guards who in turn reached out for their swords. It was too late at this point, Willard utilized his martial movement technique and suddenly appeared right at the center of the group of guards. He straightened his finger like a knife and proceeded to stab the guard that had originally tried to whip him. The guards body fell to the floor lifeless. The other guards only caught their self from their original dazed state when they saw the lifeless body of their comrade. Another guard unrelentingly dashed forward slashing his sword for Willard’s head. He was trying to get Willard off guard and finish him in one go, but to his complete surprise, Willard only stretched his hand to defend against the sword attack. A vicious smile appeared on the face of the guard who thought it was all over.

“Clank!” the sound of Willard’s hand and the guards sword made as they collided. All the guards present were dead surprised, now they started feeling true dread. Willard suddenly applied his movement technique again and stabbed the guard that was attacking him in the same manner as the first. “Please forgive us, master. We will leave here and not speak of this.” The remaining guards said while dropping their swords. The guards had unconsciously just assumed that Willard was a master cultivator. Willard nodded as if he had acknowledged their actions. The guards cursed inwardly at their terrible luck for meeting such a person. The fact that Willard had a martial technique and could cultivate elemental energy made him far superior to anyone in the foundation stage of natural energy cultivation. Willard suddenly had a mischievous smile on his face, he applied his movement technique one last time and appeared directly in front of the guards. He stabbed them both with his hands in the same manner as the earlier ones.

 

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Although it can be said all participants aim to pass under ten minutes, but none would ever have such a goal as their primary target. After studying all he could about Marquis city, Willard was naturally attuned to the affairs of the city. He knew the city limits for visitors such as himself, and also knew places within the city to avoid. Willard wasn’t willing to offend anyone just yet, he needed to be much stronger to do that.

After making themselves comfortable, they both fell asleep and rested the entire night. Baya had always been an upright person, he was fully committed to whatever he did. When he trained, he did that wholeheartedly and when he worked he that to the best of his ability. Naturally, Baya would always wake up earlier than everyone else. This time around, when he woke up, he noticed that Willard was already awake. He saw Willard sitting on top of the bed in a meditative position, which shocked him. Baya secretly praised Willard in his mind, after which he decided to do the same and cultivate.

While meditating, Baya sensed a strange energy around him. He turned to look at Willard who was still cultivating at the moment. Baya quickly noticed that Willard was actually cultivating elemental energy. “Impossible” Baya said while staring at Willard. “How is this possible? How can he cultivate elemental energy when he hasn’t stabilized his base?” Baya thought to himself. What he was currently witnessing was something that truly amazed him. One had to first stabilize their core by strengthening the body with natural energy. Only after reaching the 10th level, will the body be strong enough to hold elemental energy. But yet this youth in front of him was clearly cultivating elemental energy. “Could he have already reached the 10th level?” He thought, but then dismissed that theory. “I sensed his natural energy yesterday, it was definitely weaker than mine.” Now Baya understood how it was possible for Willard to kill Azeya. If he had not just witnessed this, he wouldn’t have believed it if anyone else told him.

Willard opened his eyes, to get a glimpse of Baya staring at him in awe. “You’re up already,” Willard said to break the awkward atmosphere. “What are you?” Baya asked directly. Baya was a straightforward person, and would always say what comes to his mind. Willard hearing the question couldn’t help but laugh. He knew that Baya had to have been thoroughly baffled with the scene of him cultivating natural energy. Willard thought for a couple of seconds before finally coming to a conclusion. He was going to tell Baya everything about him. Now that Baya was a retainer of his, he knew Baya couldn’t intentionally use the information to do any harm to him. And why not tell him, Willard thoroughly enjoyed recalling memories from his past life.

“Where to start?” Willard said while massaging his chin. He was currently contemplating how far back to go. “Ok, I got it.” He said while staring at Baya. “Before I was this mortal you see before you, I was the exalted chief god of destruction, Thanus.” Willard said gauging Baya’s response. Baya in turn, continued staring at Willard with an even more inquisitive look. Willard was surprised at the fact that Baya did not say a word. He originally thought that Baya would dismiss his words as lies, but instead, the opposite seemed to be happening. Baya did not doubt Willard in the slightest bit. He had witnessed Willard accomplish something that should be virtually impossible for mortals.

“I was born in the 3rd heaven, by fire and earth. I ceaselessly trained for millions of years before I was acknowledged as a chief god in the 9th heaven.” As Willard said those words, the scenes of the first time he came to be started flashing through his mind. He remembered how fire and earth surrounded him, which were the first things he ever laid his eyes on. Willard involuntarily had a smile on his face as he started narrating things from his former life.

“So that is why you are called the god of destruction.” Baya said in response to the story of Thanus killing Poseidon. “Yes. Back then, my attack could be ranked among the top 3 strongest.” Willard said in response to Baya’s comment. “After I defeated Poseidon and made my grand entrance to the level of a chief god. The victors of the war had been decided.” He said self gloatingly. “All the chief gods present could pretty much guess what was to come.”

Willard started explaining what happened after he became a chief god. After becoming a chief god, Thanus left the 9th heaven and went to the the lower heavens. He was fine-tuning his technique and recruiting other gods to serve under him. After a hundred thousand years, Thanus once more ascended to the 9th heaven. This time, he brought a large entourage with him. Thanus immediately declared war on Zinus the chief god of Darkness. Now that Thanus was a chief god, he was going to need his own territory, and since he made his breakthrough on the valley of Thandine, Thanus naturally wanted that particular place. He had once helped Zinus protect that land, but now he was going to seize it for himself. This lead to a war lasting a thousand years, which fostered Zinus’s eternal hatred for Thanus. During that war, Thanus completely established his reputation. He had massacred thousands of lesser gods with the desolation rain. He also fought Zinus to a tie, where he held significant advantage over Zinus. Thanus eventually won the war and got the territories he wanted.

Listening to all this, Baya was completely dumbstruck. He had heard a lot from Willard, but what shocked him the most was Thanus’s love for battle. Throughout the story so far, Thanus was usually the aggressor. He was unyielding and overbearing on his path to becoming a chief god. Willard talked about other instances where he fought various chief gods. The more he fought other gods, the more he grew in strength. Finally, Willard narrated the story of how he was deceived by Athena and some other chief gods. He explained how he regained his memories through the meteorite.

After absorbing all the information, Baya finally understood how Willard suddenly grew to prominence in the Yellow Hew village. Baya, stared at Willard with immeasurable reverence. After all, he was staring at a former god. Now more than ever, Baya was overjoyed he had made the right decision. If anyone could help him grow, it would be this former god in front of him. “Let’s go get some food. I am quite hungry after talking so much.” Willard said with a smile. He was currently in a good mood, he had finally told someone about his former life. Baya nodded in agreement, and quickly followed after Willard.

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As they got closer to the gates of the city, Willard quickly noticed the long queue of people trying to get into to the city. “From the looks of things, it might take close to an hour to get in.” Willard thought to himself. He turned at stared at the two warriors behind and him. There was a big smile on his face. “Thank you for escorting me to Marquis city. You have fulfilled your orders, you are no longer obliged to follow me.” Willard bowed and said courteously. He currently had no use for the warriors, and would much rather they left and went back to the village.

“That is true, but I followed you for a different reason” Baya said.

“Oh. And what reason might that be?” Willard asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Baya walked closer towards Willard, he smiled and immediately bowed to one knee. “I would like to pledge my fealty to you. I only ask you provide me with the means to grow.” Willard hearing this was completely taken by surprise. He was thoroughly shocked at Baya’s action. Of the group that followed him to Marquis city, Baya had been the most reserved and level headed. Doluwa was also shocked at Baya’s action, but he quickly caught himself and lightly laughed.

“Baya, you never cease to amaze me.” Doluwa said while staring at Baya. He moved his gazed back to Willard and sad, “as for me, my mission is done. I will be heading for the village now.” Willard breath a sigh of relief after hearing that.

Doluwa immediately left as he said those words. Both Willard and Baya stared at Doluwa as he was leaving. Neither of them had a strong relationship with Doluwa to begin with, so they did not really care about him leaving. Now Willard was faced with a decision to make, he had gotten his revenge, but unintentionally, he had picked up someone as a follower. This wasn’t the first time someone had pledged their fealty to him. Sungo, the lesser god of thunder, pledge his fealty to Thanus. Zerafat, the lesser god of battle at that time, also pledged his fealty to Thanus. Even after Zerafat became a chief god, he was still serving Thanus. Although he was no stranger to this act, but this particular circumstance was truly strange.

“Why are you pledging your fealty to me?” Willard asked with an indifferent tone.

“I have travelled the world and I have seen various things throughout my life. I know someone destined for great things when I see one.” Baya responded.

“You are not afraid I might kill you someday, like I did Azeya?” Willard asked.

“If that is how it ends, so be it.” Baya responded wholeheartedly.

Willard clapped and laughed hearing Baya’s response. Willard stared at Baya with an intrigued look. Baya was fairly tall and athletic looking, he had long black hair, with a devilishly handsome face. “Alright, swear before me an eternal oath.” Willard said after clapping. “I swear to the gods of the nine heavens, and to you Willard my master, I shall serve and obey for as long as I am needed.” Baya swore.

Willard nodded in acceptance of the oath. They both joined the queue and waited their turn to pay the city tow fee. Baya a vague smile on his face, one that was hard to notice. His thoughts flew back to the first time he met Willard. He was randomly making his way to the town square when he saw a kid being bullied. Before making his way to them, the rest of the kids had left him laying on the floor. A month later, Baya had witnessed the graduation ceremony of that bullied kid. To his surprise, that kid had shown power and technique beyond his years. Baya was no fool, he knew something drastic had to have happened to Willard. There was no way for him to have learned a martial technique within a month or grow to such frightening level of power. Now on the way to Marquis city, this same Willard had increased in power to rival even his own. Whatever was the case, this was his best shot at growing in power. He had been stuck at the peak of the 8th level of natural energy for almost five years. Baya knew if things continued that way it was virtually impossible for him to breakthrough to the 10th level. He placed his hopes in the fact that Willard could provide him with the means to grow.

As they paid the toll and made their way to the city, Willard instantly noticed how lively the city was. This was his first time visiting a big city, and he was quite pleased with the noticeable difference. He saw considerably larger buildings filled to the brim with a lot of people. He easily noticed a fight break out to his left, involving two drunk people, and while watching this spectacle he noticed everyone’s indifference to it.  Moments later, the Marquis guard came out to break up the fight and arrest both parties. “Marquis city sure lives up to its reputation,” Willard said while walking.

Willard leading Baya, went directly to find an inn to stay. They scoured through the city looking for the appropriate inn that matches their budget. After an hour of tedious searches, they found a moderately priced one at the west of the city. “It will be best for us to rest a while before we go back,” Willard said to Baya, who nodded in agreement. They both made themselves comfortable in their living areas and rested for some time. While laying on the bed, Willard was making preparations for his next set of actions. “I should rest today and start making proper preparations for the blood trials from tomorrow.” Willard softly said to himself.

The Blood trials, was a premier competition within Marquis city. It was a competition that drew all sorts of people from all corners of the kingdom. The trial required that one had to be at most 18 years of age and have at most attained the 10th level of natural energy. The trails started as a ritual where prospective soldiers who wanted to join the Royal guard of Marquis city, would partake in to prove their strength and competency. It later evolved to include various schools, who sort after talented participants who would be interested in joining a school. This was the very best outlet for one to display their quality. If one succeeded in passing the trial, they would be considered above average in strength, they will be virtually guaranteed to be invited to join at least one school. If they succeeded in passing the trail in less than twenty minutes, they will be considered geniuses. Almost all schools would send out an invitation to geniuses, and if one is lucky, they might be called up to join the Royal guard of Marquis city. If the participant passed in less than ten minutes, they would be considered a genius of geniuses. At that point all entities within the kingdom would fight to get such a genius to join them. But passing under ten minutes is no small ordeal. In the history of the trials, only three people have ever succeeded in passing under ten minutes. And all three of them ended up ascending to the nine heavens.

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Just before Willard had stabbed Azeya, memories of his life had flashed before Azeya’s eyes. He remembered when he was young and how he used to play with the other kids. He remembered graduating from the warrior class and how proud his parents were. He remembered his first time hunting in the wild, how scared he was for his life. Now all of this was about to end, and for what? His stupid pride. Azeya was filled with anger and regret. Anger for dying so young, and regret for having courted his own demise.

Azeya’s body fell to the ground like a lump of wood. Willard stared at the dead body before him, like a piece of trash. He was unaffected in slightest bit after he killed his instructor; if anything he was joyous. At least, he now had the power to punish someone like Azeya. “If you anger me, I will act. If you act against me, I will punish.” Willard said while walking back to the inn. Right now, Willard felt more at peace with himself. He was once the exalted god of destruction Thanus, not even chief gods in the heavens will act rashly towards him. Why would they? His iron rule was well established, those who anger him, he will act against them and those who acted against him, he will punish without exempt. Now he was mortal, and made to endure great humiliation in the hands of other mortals. He could not forgive, all he could think about was punishing them.

Willard arrived at the inn, he proceeded to go clean himself up and then went to sleep. Willard woke up the next morning feeling quite refreshed. It was the first time since arriving at this mortal world that he had been in a life and death battle. As a god, Thanus grew specifically through his battles. He developed his ultimate attack, the desolation rain, and established his prominence through his battles. He went down to meet up with the rest of the warriors from his village. Willard approaching the warriors could see they were discussing something somewhat serious. As he got closer, he heard one of the warriors, Doluwa, say “He was stabbed in the chest.” Willard could pretty much guess what they were talking about.

“Why do you guys look so serious this morning?” Willard asked as he arrived in their midst.

Doluwa, who was the oldest of the group, looked to Willard with a distressed face. Doluwa was a middle-aged man with a bald head, and was the most experienced warrior of this party.“I was woken up this morning by the owner of the inn, who said that they found Azeya’s dead body on the streets.” Doluwa said with a sad expression. Willard maintained his calm demeanor, almost as if Doluwa hadn’t uttered a word. “We only just got here yesterday, who would have enough animosity to kill him?” Zuolin, the warrior to Doluwa’s right asked. Zuolin was of the same age group as Azeya, infact they had attended the same warrior class. The rest of the warriors were pondering what could have happened to cause Azeya’s death.

“Oh that” Willard said drawing the four remaining warriors attention. “I killed him yesterday,” Willard said with a stern look. The warriors hearing this could not believe what they had just heard. To begin with, Willard should be only 17 years of age and should only be at the 4th level of natural energy. It would be practically impossible for someone of that strength to kill someone of the 8th level of natural energy. “Dont joke around with serious matters.” Doluwa angrily rebuked.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” Willard responded. At this point, all the warriors put on serious airs around them. They stared at Willard with menacing looks, almost as if at any moment now they might attack. Willard himself wasn’t the least bit intimidated, instead he stared back at them like a beast ready to battle. “Explain yourself.” Baya, the cool-headed one amongst them said.

“On my way back from the restaurant, Azeya tried to force me to write down my martial movement technique and kill me. So I fought him and killed him.” Willard responded directly. Willard did not put the warriors in front of him in any regard. They were all bait to draw out the one person he wanted, Azeya. Now that he had achieved what he wanted from the start he could care less what the rest did. The warriors could not believe what they had just heard. They stared blankly at Willard, trying to assess the situation. What baffled them the most was the fact that Willard claimed to be the killer. If Willard had hired someone to kill Azeya, then they could believe it, but instead he claimed to have killed Azeya all by himself.

“The way I see it, you all only have two safe choices. First, abandon the mission the chief gave you and go back to report what had happened. Second, continue the mission and escort me to my destination. Anything else might result in more deaths.” Willard said with the extreme confidence. The rest of the warriors all stared blankly at the youth in front of them. They couldn’t believe their ears. The funny part was that they could feel his tenacity, and thus started to believe he might be capable of killing them.

After a couple of seconds, Zuolin got angry. He charged straight at Willard with a punch aimed directly at his head. Willard stood still, and with a quick movement of his right hand, he caught Zuolin’s fist. Willard held on to the fist with quite some ease, he stared at the rest of the warriors who had looks of astonishment. Now they all started to believe what Willard had said earlier. “The next time you attack me, you will be killed,” Willard said as he released Zuolin’s fist from his grip. Zuolin with the rest of the warriors had faces filled with dread. How is it this 17-year old could posses this kind of strength? And how can he have such a hardened heart? They stared at him as if they were staring at some monster.

“ What have you decided?” Willard asked indifferently. Zuolin turned around and started walking away, Rudley, the last warrior who had kept quiet the entire time followed suit. Doluwa stared at Baya, and immediately turned to Willard. “We will see our mission to the end.” Doluwa said. Willard was surprised hearing Doluwa’s words. He had thought, all the warriors would leave him once they knew he had killed Azeya. “There must be a reason they still choose to follow me.” Willard thought to himself. “Guess I should be really careful from now on.”

“Alright, do follow. We will be leaving now.” Willard said while leading the way.

The rest of the journey was a quiet one, no one spoke to each other, except when they took breaks in between the journey. They spent another night in a transit village, and made their way to Marquis city the next day. At the gates of Marquis city, a solid dark horse emblem could be clearly seen. The emblem was the official seal of the Marquis family, the governing family of the city. Willard had a face full of smiles, ever since he got his memories, he had only wanted one thing and that was to gain strength and ascend to the heavens. This was the first step in his mission for revenge.

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Before leaving the Yellow Hew village, Willard had spent a lot of time studying the map of the various regions in route to Marquis city. At this time, he had full knowledge of the layout and what to expect at some highlighted points. He further studied the  map of Marquis city itself, he had gotten enough information to make sure he could navigate his way around perfectly.

While the group of six made their way to Marquis city, Willard stood in front leading the way. Azeya behind him was inexplicably livid. He was staring at the back of someone he had come to truly hate, like he was a retainer. To make matters worse he was ordered to escort him to the city, without the option of choice. This was someone that had publicly ridiculed him and had strangely gotten away without a scratch. “How dare this brat look down on me.” Azeya thought to himself.

“Why am I escorting him like a retainer? The chief must be crazy asking me to do this” Azeya continued with his thoughts.

Willard noticed Azeya’s piercing stare, and could not help but chuckle. His voice while giggling could be faintly heard by Azeya, which in turn only fueled Azeya’s anger. “When I get the opportunity, I will kill this brat,” Azeya said to himself.

The group of six had made their way through various villages and forest, Willard seeing the various places for the first time was more taken by the different scenery than the other warriors. As they made their way further along the journey, the day was slowly fading. Willard decided to spend the night at the nearby Blue Rose village. They easily found rooms at an inn and paid for their accommodations. The group temporarily broke off as some separated to their rooms, while others went out for food or entertainment.

Willard went to a nearby restaurant to get some food and drinks. He casually ate and drank, and used the opportunity to listen to the various ongoing conversations. The Blue Rose village and the Yellow Hew village were similar in that they were both small and rarely had much going on. The Blue Rose village was a little better because they occasionally had outsiders spend some time in the village. Willard continued his casual drinking till later at night when the temperature was a little colder. On his way back to the inn, Willard stared at the sky with a look of lust. “It’s a full moon today” He whispered to himself.

Willard couldn’t help but remember his time as a god. There was a particular event where he created an artificial moon over his territory in the ninth heaven. “Enough with the sad thoughts.” Willard scolded himself. “I better head back before I get a cold.” While walking back, Willard noticed a strange silhouette following him. At first he thought it was just paranoia, but after a while, he was certain someone was tailing him. Willard turned around and kept quiet for a bit. In a place like the Blue Rose Village, Willard was confident in himself, there were few who could truly pose a danger to him now that he had reached the early 6th level of natural energy, and also was at the  2nd level of elemental energy.

“Stop hiding like a rat, and come face me directly.” Willard abruptly said while staring at the distance. In mere seconds, a hazy figure emerged from the darkness. The figure was slowly walking towards Willard. “I certainly applaud your courage, but today I shall be punishing you on behalf of the heavens” The figure said as it was walking. Willard immediately recognized that voice, it was one he heard for past two years and one he had come to loathe.

“Oh, it’s senior Azeya.” Willard remarked with a smile. “Why have you been following me? Don’t tell me you have been missing me.” Willard sarcastically said.

Azeya had a somewhat irritated look on his face as he heard Willard’s statement. How could he possibly miss Willard? This was the person he hated the most right now.

“I am certainly going to kill you tonight, but if you record down that martial…..” Azeya was saying before he was interrupted by Willard. “Do you know why this village’s name is called Blue Rose?” Willard rhetorically asked. “You see, there is a native rose plant that has an interesting property to it. It absorbs light from the moon, and gives off a shimmering distinct light blue color.” Willard continued. “I am thinking we should dye these roses red tonight. What are your thoughts?” Willard said with a smile on his face.

Azeya hearing that had a lost expression. He never had any intentions of forgiving Willard, but he was originally planning to acquire the martial technique with the provision of false hope. Now that seemed pointless as Willard had pretty much declared he was going to fight him. Azeya took the initiative to attack, he launched forward punching with the full strength of a peak level 7 warrior. Willard could see his movement clearly, which made it easier for him to evade the attack. Azeya was shocked at what he saw, how was it possible that this brat in front of him was fast enough to evade his attack. While Azeya was momentarily shocked, Willard had started gathering and channeling earth elemental energy through his body. If the sun was out, Azeya would have noticed the apparent darkening of Willard’s skin as he was circulating earth elemental energy through his body. The earth elemental energy had greatly strengthened Willard’s body to a very high degree.

“Again” Azeya thought to himself as he charged at Willard. This time he noticed Willard had not moved to evade the attack, but rather it seem like he was planning on taking the attack on. “You fool,” Azeya said smiling as his punch connected with Willard’s fist. Moments later, large torrents of extraneous pain started surging through Azeya’s fist. He quickly stared at his fist to notice that he was bleeding and that two of his fingers were broken. Azeya stared back at Willard with a look of dread. “Monster. A true monster.” Azeya said while moving backwards. Willard used his movement skill and appeared right in front of Azeya. With his right hand shaped like a blade, Willard stabbed Azeya in the chest. Willard’s hand easily tore through his chest bone piercing Azeya’s heart and making its way out the back of his body.

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Willard arrived at the residence of the village’s chief, he stared at the scenery that he was now used to. The gardens, the maids, the adornment at the villa, everything seemed tranquil to him. The maids and family members of the chief had gotten used to his presence, upon seeing Willard arrive, they had gone to contact the chief.

The chief promptly came and began practicing according to Willard’s instructions. Willard took some steps back and continued watching the chief practice the movement martial skill. Willard originally decided to make the lessons crude which intentionally made them more difficult to grasp. He had done so to buy enough time to practice if in case the village chief or anyone else  had ill intentions towards him. As time went, Willard had started making it easier for him to grasp the various aspects of the skill.

While the chief was practicing the skill, Willard sat down in a meditative posture. He was currently cultivating the natural energy of the world. During the past month, Willard had increased from a peak level 4 warrior to a mid level 5 warrior. If anyone knew he had increased by that much within a month, they would have labeled him a demon. It was uncommon for anyone to increase in strength that fast, and by regular logic, the higher you go in cultivation, the longer it takes to grow. Of  course, Willard was an exemption, he had a godly soul which was many times stronger than any mortals, and he also had devised a way to get spiritual energy to further nourish his soul.

After the fight with Quin, during the graduation ceremony, Willard had forcefully opened a path to cultivate elemental energy. After that day, Willard had noticed he could now more freely gather elemental energy. Usually, one would have stabilized their natural energy level, by reaching the 10th level, and then focus on cultivating elemental energy that they had an affinity to. Willard was a massive exception to this rule. Because of his soul, he was able to sidestep this required process. He had continued cultivating earth elemental energy and now had reached the late level 2 stage of earth elemental energy.

Willard continued meditating at his own little corner. Occasionally, the chief would get stuck and come ask Willard for some help, who in turn will offer some advice in the guise of assisting. By the end of the session, Willard said his goodbyes and made his way straight for home. While walking home, Willard started making plans for his final move out of the village. Willard could sense that he only required a month’s time for him to breakthrough to the 6th level of natural energy, and after attaining that level, and adding his elemental energy cultivation, he would be qualified enough to get into some schools. “It’s almost time for me to use my third demand.” Willard thought while smiling.

The Yellow Hew village could be said to be lifeless. Nothing rarely ever happens that could be considered worthwhile. The days went on as usually, weeks came and gone. In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Willard was sitting some distance away and watching the chief perform the martial movement skill. The chief’s training had gone well according to plan, it could be said that he had almost mastered the technique.

“Chief” Willard called, “I will be leaving the village in two days to try and enter a martial school in Marquis city,” he said in a somewhat respectful manner. “Please remember my third demand.” He concluded.

The chief had a strange look to him, he had his right hand on his chin and stared to the ground in a contemplative manner. After a couple of seconds, he stared Willard directly and said “As agreed, I will assign five warriors who will escort you to Marquis city.” The chief said and paused. He later then continued, “They will be waiting for your departure by the village gate, in two days time.”

Although the chief was originally angered by Willard’s demands, but after spending some time with Willard, the chief had come to realize how crafty he truly was. At the back of the chief’s mind, he was secretly happy having Willard leave the village. Now that he had practically acquired the martial skill from Willard, he could care less where Willard went. The chief was happy to send him away, while having people monitor his prospective endeavor.

“Thank you, chief.” Willard said while bowing to the chief. The chief nodded in approval of Willard’s action and began walking back to his villa. Willard made his way back home, he had previously told his parents of his plan to leave the village and had made adequate preparations to do so. Tonight was going to be the last night he would spend with his parents for a while.

When Willard arrived home, he immediately noticed the banquet-like dinner his mother had prepared. There were lush delicacies scattered all over the table. Although the Wuldag family could be considered poor, tonight’s dinner was a vast contradiction to that statement. Willard sat and enjoyed dinner with his family, they chatted about several things and recalled distance memories of things that had past. It was concurrently a joyous and somber event for the family. At the end of the dinner, Ryga had prepared a gift for his son. “I got you this gift for travels,” Ryga said while stretching his hand towards Willard. In Ryga’s hand, he had a ring with a peculiar green gemstone that he purchased at what seemed to be a good deal. Willard graciously accepted his father’s gift with a smile.

Something struck Willard as off with his ring, and he immediately decided to briefly inspect the ring. To his surprise, the ring was void of any energy. Usually speaking, any crystal created in the mortal world would have a trace of a source elemental energy, but this his ring had no elemental energy. That struck him as odd, but he this wasn’t the place and time to think about it. Willard spent the rest of the night chatting with his parents before they all went to bed.

Early the next morning Willard was set to leave the village. He said his goodbyes to his parents, and immediately made his way to the village gate. On reaching the gate, Willard could see five figures standing in front of the gates. As Willard got closer a sinister smile appeared on his face. His plan had worked smoothly. Of the five warriors that the chief had sent to escort him, Azeya was one of them. Willard still had the same resolve as Thanus the god of destruction. One of Thanus’s policies was that he will punish all that offended him.

When Willard had asked for escorts, he had a rough estimate of how many warriors would be free to join him. Azeya who had finished tutoring his class was free. He had asked the chief for a large enough number of warriors, so it would definitely include Azeya. Willard stared at the bunch like a beast staring at its prey. “Let us head out,” Willard said while leading the way.

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The chief and the surrounding warriors had a look of disgust on their face. They couldn’t believe what they had just heard. Does this youth not know what the true value of that book was. How could he do something so irresponsible? Those who somewhat respected Willard for his fighting skills switched to complete anger.

“Why would you do such a thing?” The chief said while walking towards Willard. The chief’s eye brows were clearly creased. It wouldn’t require a genius to tell that the chief was completely mad. And why wouldn’t he be mad? He was so close to getting his hands on some martial techniques, and now this brat who beat his son half to death destroyed it.

“For assurance purposes, I destroyed the book” Willard responded with a somewhat confident domineer.

The chief hearing this immediately understood something. He stared at Willard, and couldn’t help but inwardly curse at the youth before him. “This boy is just as despicable as Azeya says.” He cursed. “Judging from what Azeya said earlier I better not use force before he decides to do something foolish.” The chief said to himself.

The chief immediately lightened the look on his face and laughed. He told the warriors present that they could all retire for now and that he was going to have a private chat with Willard. He also told them to forget about today’s incident and act like nothing had happened. Azeya looked somewhat puzzled but decided not to say a word. He knew bringing up the matter again might anger the chief, and in turn, he could receive the full force of the chief’s anger. Azeya and the rest of the warriors made their way out of the villa. The chief waited a couple of seconds after the warriors left, and then turned and stared at Willard.

“Go straight to the point. What do you want?” The chief asked directly.

Willard hearing the question was somewhat shocked. His impression of the chief slightly improved. “At least he is straightforward and direct. This should help things move faster.” Willard thought to himself.

“I have three demands. Only after you accomplish them would I teach this movement technique to you.” Willard said. Hearing those words, the chief was slightly angered. Although he was angry that a brat was trying to take advantage of him, he couldn’t do much but hold his anger. At this point, the chief had decided that he would kill Willard after he had acquired the technique.

“Go on, make your demands.” The chief said with a look of irritation.

“My first demand is that you take an eternal oath, before my eyes, that you would not kill me or my family,” Willard said with a smirk on his face. Willard understood people like the chief, they were powerful and venerated. If someone undermines their authority in the least bit, they would always make an example out of them. And in Willard’s case, he had just done that, so he naturally would find a way to protect both himself and his family. Although Willard did not hold the chief in any regards, but with his current level of power, the chief could easily end his life. So naturally he had to use an underhanded method to protect himself.

“My second demand is that you erect an altar for Thanus the god of destruction.” The chief stared at Willard with a look of confusion. He was surprised and confused with this second demand. He thought about for a while and couldn’t still understand why Willard will make such a demand. He still remained silent and shot Willard a fierce gaze. He was waiting to hear what the third and final demand will be.

“My final demand is actually quite easy. You are to assign me five bodyguards from the highest ranking warriors in the village and they are to follow and protect me when I leave the village for Marquis city.”  This final demand was actually easy, the chief was a bit confused with the demands Willard had made. With exception to the first demand, they all seemed quite useless and unnecessary.

“Why would he want an altar erected? Or want five guards?” The chief thought about the demands for a while and finally agreed to them. The allure for a single martial skill was too strong, and the demands Willard had made were not excessive in the least bit. The chief swore an eternal oath in front of Willard and assured he would not think of harming him or his family. From that moment on, Willard spent his time either at the chiefs villa teaching him his martial movement technique or at home quietly cultivating.

Like that, a month’s time had passed. The events of the graduation had turn into talks of legend. The supposedly weakest student had mercilessly beaten his way to the top. He had hospitalized two fellow classmates and had done so without using a weapon.

Willard was a taking a casual stroll to the chiefs villa. He was on his way to go instruct the chief on the movement technique. Along the way, Willard passed by the newly constructed altar for Thanus the god of destruction. The altar was a large rectangular stone slab, with five steps on all four sides leading up to it. On the altar itself, there was a statue of Thanus in a majestic pose. Willard had a big smile on his face as he stared at the altar. The reason Willard had asked for an altar to be created was because he wanted to test out a theory he had in mind.

While he was a god, he was worshiped in multiple mortal worlds, and as he was worshiped, his soul was being nourished by spiritual energy. Which in turn made his soul grow stronger, leading to an increase in his proficiency and ability to gather and wield heavenly energy. Willard assumed since he was no longer a god in the heavens, he no longer had access to the spiritual energy from his worshipers. He hypothesized that if he was worshiped in this world, he might be able to gain from it. His theories were correct, although he got a negligible amount of spiritual energy, he still got something from it. From his original godly soul and the spiritual energy he got from worshipers, his training was progressing at an astronomical rate.

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Complete and utter silence filled the air. No one could believe what they had just witnessed. Although Willard had surprised everyone with his previous victory, everyone assumed it was because of his superior strength. No one could believe he had achieved another victory, and against someone a whole level above him. Willard seeing the dazed glances everyone was shooting at him, couldn’t help but smile. He quickly wiped off the rest of the blood stains on his lips and proceeded to walk off the stage.

Azeya dashed up the stage to check up on Quin’s state. While assessing the damages Quin had incurred, Azeya had an ugly frown.

“That little devil almost killed him.” Azeya thought to himself.

“This is really bad. He will need months if not years to completely heal from this.” Azeya continued.

At this point, Azeya was furious. First, Willard had made a fool out of him with his remarks, and now he had almost killed his most outstanding student. Azeya turned over and saw Willard happily chatting with his mother. This caused Azeya to further boil with rage, he couldn’t just attack a junior right in front of everyone, but he at the least had to get some consolation from today’s affairs.

“Arrest that brat over there.” Azeya furiously yelled while pointing at Willard.

“Someone take this child to see a healer.” Azeya continued while making his way to Willard.

“This was supposed to be a practice demonstration, but instead, you almost killed two of your fellow classmates. You will be punished for this.” Azeya said to Willard while he was surrounded by other warriors.

Angelica seeing what was unfolding, held Willard tight. She was scared and worried of the punishment Willard might be given.  Willard seeing his worried mother’s face maintained his smile.

“Don’t worry mother, nothing bad will happen.” Willard said consoling his mother.

“Go home before me, I’ll be back for dinner.” He continued while voluntarily giving himself up to the warriors.

Azeya hearing Willard’s words was even more livid. How could this brat be this bold? What was giving him this confidence? Azeya had to think more carefully now, seeing what Willard had displayed earlier, he could not take anything for granted.

“We’ll take him to see the Chief right away,” Azeya said while leading the way.

Moments later, they arrived at the chief’s villa. From the gateway, one could tell the villa was the most exquisite living place in the whole village. There was a large courtyard in front of the house with a beautifully maintained garden.

“It must be nice being the chief of the village.” Willard inwardly thought. Seeing the appraising looks on the warriors that held him, he could tell they also had similar thoughts. Azeya went directly to go brief the chief before and instructed the others to wait outside with Willard. The maids at the villa saw Azeya’s familiar face and a group of warriors, they automatically knew it was something serious.

“I would like to see the look on your face when this is over.” Azeya thought to himself while heading to meet with the chief. After a couple of seconds, Azeya arrived in front of a large black door. He gently knocked on the door and knelt down waiting for a response.

“Who wishes to speak to me?” A deep voice rang in response.

“It is I Azeya. There is a serious matter that needs your attention.” Azeya responded.

The door creaked open, and a tall burly man could be seen walking out. He had a serious expression on his face almost as if he was about to get into a fight.

“Azeya, weren’t you supposed to be hosting the graduation ceremony? Why are you here?” The chief asked.

“Something terrible happened during the demonstration portion of the ceremony, and I am here to report this my chief,” Azeya replied

“Oh. Stand up and brief me while we walk to the courtyard.” The chief said.

While the chief of the village and Azeya made their way to the courtyard, Azeya narrated the events that transpired. He even exaggerated a bit to put Willard in a bad light. The chief listening to Azeya’s words first had an expression of anger, which then subtly changed to one of surprise before finally that of intrigue.

“You mean to tell me that child might possess some martial arts technique?” The chief asked Azeya with a puzzled look on his face.

“I cannot say for certain, but I can say he possess martial movement technique.” Azeya responded with a stern look to him.

The chief couldn’t help but think about what Azeya had described to him earlier. How can a random child possibly posses martial arts skill? Where did that child get this from? The chief thought hard and deeply. No matter what, he would find out soon.

Willard saw the  burly chief and Azeya walking side by side. He wasn’t the least bit intimidated. If at all he felt anything, that would be excitement. Willard had gambled that the chief will be more interested in getting the martial technique from him. And if that was the case, he would not be at the losing end today.

“Boy, let me see your movement skill.” The chief said in a demanding tone. The chief had a domineering atmosphere to him. Willard could tell he was clearly different from the rest of the warriors he had been interacting with. He was clearly much stronger than the rest them. Although in Willards former life this chief wouldn’t be worth a second of his time, right now this man could easily kill him without any effort.

Willard immediately displayed his movement skill. A bright smile could be seen on the chiefs face.

“That is indeed martial arts.” The chief said as he stared at Willard in amazement.

“Where did you learn this from?” The chief asked.

Willard clearly wasn’t going to reveal the truth. He had been thinking long and hard of how to explain his skill and had decided on a particular tale.

“This movement skill was inscribed onto a particular book my father had bought me on one of his business travels to the capital.” Willard responded. Hearing this, the chief had an uncontainable smile. At long last he would be in possession of a martial skill. Who knows what other skills that book might contain.

“That is certainly possible. By a stroke of good luck, a merchant could buy an unimportant looking item and then later find out it was treasure.” The chief rationalized.

“Where is the book now?” The chief asked Willard. Clearly all he cared about from today’s affairs was that book. If he was in possession of some martial skills, he would be much stronger.

“I destroyed it” Willard resolutely responded.

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The brutality of that scene scared everyone. Philip was laying on the floor with a bloody face. In Philip’s entire life, no one had ever beaten him this miserably. How would anyone dare, his father was the leader of the village and had absolute authority. Everyone stared in disbelief, how was it that Willard could be this much stronger? Did he not realize who he almost just killed?

Angelica staring at the scene was completely frozen in terror. She was scared for her son’s well-being. He had just publicly beaten the third son of the chief half to death. After a couple of seconds of silence, the crowd grew rowdy. Everyone was chatting about what they had just seen. Azeya immediately took to the stage, he stared at Willard, like he was staring at a beast, and went on to carry Philip out of the stage. Azeya ordered a test of to be conducted on Willard, he wanted to verify what stage of natural energy Willard had.

After a couple of minutes, another senior warrior came to the stage and administered the natural energy test on Willard. When the test was concluded, the senior warrior stared in disbelief. This year had produced some of the best warrior students in the village’s history. There was first the beginning level 5 warrior, Quin, and now there was one who wasn’t too far off, a peak level 4 warrior, Willard. The senior warrior announced the result of the test to everyone. The test results shocked the crowd, and more so than others, the senior warriors that were present.

“No wonder he had such confidence earlier,” Azeya thought to himself as he walked back on stage.

“Why did you not go easy on him, since you were much stronger,” Azeya asked Willard while walking towards him.

Willard stared at Azeya for a short time, then responded with a smirk on his face “There was nothing I could do there, his face kept attacking my fist.”

Azeya hearing this immediately grew angry, Willard had the audacity to come up such a stupid excuse after almost killing the chief’s son. What on earth could have caused him to gain such confidence? After all, he was just the son of a lowly merchant.

“Dont forget, that was a fair match between equals. No one can blame anyone for any injuries caused due to this fight” Willard immediately said paraphrasing what Philip had earlier mentioned.

“How was this a fair match between equals? You were clearly stronger, and shouldn’t have fought a much weaker opponent to this extent.” Azeya said.

“Oh, so why did you not stop the match earlier. You clearly knew Philip was a level 3 warrior and thought I was a level 2 warrior. Or could it be that you were hoping I was the one in Philip’s condition?” Willard responded.

Everyone hearing this stared at Azeya, what Willard had said made sense. Soon after, the crowd got rowdy again, everyone started gossiping. Azeya being the subject of the gossip grew even more angry at Willard. He was dumbfounded at Willard’s composure.

“How can it be this brat would turn out this way? He was clearly useless months ago. How did this situation come about?” Azeya asked himself while trying to figure something out. Seeing things progress the way it had, Azeya turned to the crowd.

“Silence, the demonstrations are not yet over,” Azeya said in other to get the crowd under control.

“I would like to challenge the victor,” Quin said while approaching the center of the stage.

Earlier when Quin was watching the fight, he had doubts about Willard’s strength. After the test results were announced, he got his original confidence back. He was determined to make Willard pay for what he had done.

“Only a level 4 warrior. I should be able to defeat him miserably.” Quin thought to himself.

Azeya gave a nod in acknowledgement of the fight. He then turned to stare at Willard. This time, he wasn’t going to make the same mistake as earlier.

“Your opponent this time around is a level 5 warrior, would you like to accept his challenge?” Azeya asked Willard.

“I accept any and all challenges today.” Willard responded with an air of confidence.

Although Willard did not have an ounce of his godly powers, he had the memories of his lifetime as the god of destruction, Thanus. During that time, Thanus had spent millions of years training and developing every aspect of his being. He had developed his own unique martial arts, one that was unique to himself.

“Haha. Here I thought you’d take that opportunity to run away, but instead you choose to fight.” Quin said to Willard.

“I shall teach you the difference between us today. Pray you don’t end up crippled.” Quin continued.

Willard only had a smile on his face. He had absolute confidence in his ability to evade his opponent. Even though he wasn’t entirely certain he could defeat Quin, he was completely certain he would not be heavily wounded.

“Pick your weapon and let this fight begin.” Willard responded.

Quin walked to the weapon rack and selected the long spear. Since Quin was acknowledged as one of the greatest geniuses to ever be born in the Yellow Hew village, the village’s chief had spent a lot of resources training him. He had even begun teaching him some of the spear techniques he knew. Before the current chief was assigned the position as the chief of the village, he was luckily accepted as a student at second rated martial arts school. There he learnt some basic spear techniques the school taught every student. Because of his experience, his position as the next chief of the village was bolstered to greater heights. Ever since he came back to run the village, he had only taught three people the spear techniques he had learnt, and off the three, Quin was one of them.

Azeya looked at both of them and gave the go-ahead for the battle to start. Quin upon hearing this started attacking with his spear. He aimed at Willard’s head with the clear intention of ending the match fast. Willard had been prepared for a sudden attack, and as he saw the spear coming, he easily evaded the attack.

“So he is truly trying to kill me,” Willard thought inwardly.

Now Willard was more than ever determined to teach Quin a lesson. He original planned on fighting Quin to draw, but now that idea was out the window. Since Quin was coming for his life, he would do the same. While Thanus was alive as a god, he had on multiple occasion fought Zinus, the chief god of darkness, who wielded an eternal darkness spear. He was well versed in the movements of the spear.
Willard was continuously attacked by Quin’s spear, but every time it came close to him he evaded the attack. Willard was waiting for an opportunity to attack Quin, but soon he discovered that there were no opportunities he could exploit with his current level of power. As the fight went on, scratches could be seen on Willard’s outfit. Quin was relentlessly attacking him, and with the fact he was in a prior fight to this, Willard was starting to get fatigued.

“Not good. Never would I have expected this Quin usage of the spear to be this good. I need to do something fast.”

Everyone watching the match were surprised at what they were witnessing. Quin’s usage of the spear was quite extraordinary for people of their caliber. He was like a shooting star blazing up the stage. While his opponent, who defied common sense and was able to keep up with Quin. In the hearts of everyone, including the senior warriors, they had started respecting Willard. It was painfully clear who had the upper hand, so everyone paid extra attention because the match was about to reach its conclusion.

Ever since Willard gained his memories as the god Thanus, there was one thing that bothered him. He was originally gifted in two elements, fire and earth. His affinity for the both of them were of the highest level, and fire being the most prominent of the the two, but after his reincarnation, his affinity to the fire element had completely gone. He was slightly able to still sense the elements of earth but to a much lower degree.

Willard decided to do something crazy. He was going to gather elemental earth energy. Normally, it would be impossible for one to gather elemental energy without stabilizing ones own natural energy base, which meant you had to have successfully cultivated and passed the 10th level of natural energy. Then the body will be strong enough to accommodate the power of any given element. Willard executed his movement skill, and created a great distance between him and his opponent.

He immediately closed his eye and started trying to gather earth elemental energy. With the distance between him and Quin, Willard had estimated it will take Quin exactly ten seconds to get before him, which meant he had only ten seconds to gather elemental energy. Willard was gathering this energy with great difficulty, he had immediately zoned out and thought of how he had been wronged in his former life. Was he going to be left in this life as a useless weak mortal? At that point, Willard coughed out blood. Something seemed to have changed within his body. Willard had successfully drawn a little bit of earth elemental energy. He knew that forcefully drawing elemental energy will damage his current body and shortens his lifespan, but he wasn’t in the position to care about those things. After all, there were other means to lengthen ones life span and heal the body.

Willard opened his eyes and noticed Quin had gotten right in front of him. Quin attacked again with his spear, this time, he was confident he had won. After all, Willard was clearly tired and injured. Quin wasn’t holding back the least bit, his intentions were clear, he wanted to inflict the maximum damage possible. As the spear was about to strike Willard’s head, Willard quickly moved his left hand to try and catch the spear. Quin seeing this was surprised. Even though the spear was somewhat blunt, no one with a brain would try something so stupid.
To Quin’s surprise, Willard had succeeded in catching the spear. Although he was bleeding from catching the spear, everything seemed to have gone according to his plans. The earth elemental energy strengthened his palm, helping curb the impact of the blow.

While holding the spear, Willard utilized the movement skill one more time and directly appeared in front of Quin. He immediately struck Quin’s chest with his right palm possessing the might of earth elemental energy. That attack was incredibly loud, one could hear it from miles away. Quin immediately got to one knee, blood could be seen dropping from his nose and ears. Suddenly, Quin completely collapsed on the floor.

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Upon hearing Philip’s remarks, Willard had decided to make this bunch a scapegoat. Willard continued walking in a magnanimous manner, he could tell that this further enraged the group. As he caught on to them, turned and smiled at the group.

“Today at the ceremony, pray to the Gods we don’t meet during demonstrations,” Willard said as he picked up his pace.

The words Willard uttered had stuck with the group for a while. They had never seen Willard act that way. Usually, he would always cower at any confrontation, but today he had publicly declared an intention to fight. The group was silent for a while until Philip decided to break this silence.

“That arrogant brat thinks he can talk big to us today,” Philip said in annoyance.

“Hmph. He is doing this because there would be people watching the demonstrations, and we can’t go too far” Philip continued.

After hearing that, Quin couldn’t help but agree. After all, Willard was the weakest person in their class. He lacked any talent for cultivating. The last time they measured the level of natural energy, which was about three months ago, Willard was dead last at the beginning stages of level 2.

“Even if we go too far, we can always blame his injuries on the fact that he was too weak,” Quin said with a mischievous look on his face.

The group continued walking as the merrily chatted along the way. Willard encountered several more of his classmates, but they were not as overbearing as the earlier group. All they could do was idly gossip while staring at him. Willard having noticed all this was not the least bit surprised. After all, all of this was going to change today. He was planning to put on a spectacle that the village had never ever seen before. Having his memories of his life as the God of destruction, Thanus, Willard had transformed from a shy and cowardly state of mind to an extremely cold and violent one. Only no one in the entire mortal world knew of this. Even when he was a god, he was still cold and violent, and now that he was surrounded by mere mortals, all he had was a condescending view of the world before him.

The graduation ceremony went on as usual, all the participants of the different vocations were present at the village square. All the rights and processions took place as usual, and the final stage of the ceremony had come, the demonstration part. The various pupils displayed what they had learned so as to fetch an interest from the various masters present. The smithing students displayed their finest works and everyone inspected it. The Magic practitioners showed all of their marvelous spells and incantation. Some had even dwelled others and showed their proficiency in battle.

It was finally the turn of the warriors. The teacher of this year’s graduating class was a peak stage level 7 warrior, by the name of Azeya. He had instructed the class for the past two years and had gotten to know the students. He was on stage greeting the spectators and introducing his students to them. Azeya was particularly proud because his class had produced a prodigy by the village’s standards, and that was Quin. Quin at the tender age of 17 had already cultivated to the beginning stages of level 5.

“I will like to demonstrate first.” Willard said loudly.

This statement surprised Azeya heavily. He had never seen Willard this bold, and forthcoming. Not only is he participating, but he is trying to be the opener.

“I will also like to challenge any and all who have the ability to challenge me,” Willard said boldly.

Everyone immediately started gossiping. What Willard had said caused everyone to bicker back and forth. “Isn’t that supposed to biggest failure among the warrior class?” Some people asked.

“He must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed today” Others concluded.

Azeya immediately started calming the crowd down. He was irritated that the one who caused all this fuss, was his biggest failure, Willard. Although he had produced an outstanding genius, Quin, he had also produced an outstanding failure, Willard. A hint of anger could be seen all over Azeya’s face as he stared at Willard.

“This must be my lucky day. This brat will get the beating of his life today” Philip thought to himself.

“I would like to volunteer as his first opponent” Philip immediately said.

“Also, this is a fair match between equals. So no one should blame anyone for any injuries caused due to this fight.” Philip took the opportunity to absolve all blame from himself.

Azeya hearing this could pretty much guess what Philip had in mind. He was also angry at Willard’s audacity, and as such gave a blind eye to Philip’s action.

“That idiot needs to be put in his place.” Azeya thought to himself.

Soon after, the stage was set for the two to battle each other. In the crowd, Angelica was staring with a look of desperation. She wasn’t sure what her son was thinking, and from the sounds of things he was the underdog. Willard noticed his mother was worried about him and was touched at her kindness. Before his reincarnation, he had always been alone and had no relative to care for, but now he had actual people that were special to him.

“You may choose your weapons now,” Azeya said while pointing to the weapon rack. There were a lot of weapons at display, from conventional weapons like the sword to the spear and the less conventional ones like the spiked club. For practice purposes, the weapons were mostly blunt and made to be as harmless as possible.

Philip chose a short sword and waited for Willard to pick his weapon. Willard stared at everyone’s expectant gaze.

“I don’t need a weapon. ” Willard said in response to Philip and Azeya’s stare.

To the bewilderment of everyone, Willard had declared he intended to fight without the use of any weapons, and this further enraged Philip. From his chubby face, one could tell he intended to thoroughly tear Willard apart. Soon after the fight began, Philip dashed towards Willard with the fastest speed he could muster. Within a couple of seconds, he had arrived right in front of Willard. Philip slashed his sword across Willard’s right shoulder, but to his surprise, Willard escaped by an inch. Philip furiously continued to slash at Willard, but to his continuous surprise, he barely missed every time.

“Stop moving around like a mouse and fight me,” Philip said while panting.

Willard stood still, and without a second notice dashed towards Philip. That sudden movement caught everyone by surprise, more so than others was Philip. It only took Willard about a second to appear right in front of Philip. Azeya seeing Willards movement was completely sure Willard had utilized a martial arts movement skill.

“Where did that kid learn this from?” Azeya questioned.

The Yellow Hem village was a small village, and with villages of that size, they usually do not have any martial arts it trained its descendants in. Seeing Willard perform an exquisite movement skill made Azeya look at him in a different light.

Philip seeing Willard suddenly appear before him was shocked, but after a short while, he caught himself and directly tried to strike him. Willard caught Phillip’s sword wielding hand in its motion to strike him. While holding Philip’s hand Willard stared deep into his eyes, like lovers, but instead of love Willard hard the polar opposite emotion towards him. Anyone seeing this could tell who the victor of this dwell would be.

While holding Philip’s hand, Willard started barraging his face with punches. He had done that with the uttermost intent to completely knock him out. After a couple of seconds, Philip was out cold. The crowd was silent, they were stunned at what they had just witnessed.

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Willard gracefully got up and made his way to his house. Now that he had the memories of his past life as a god,  all he could feel was overwhelming rage. He was once the powerful and exalted god of destruction, and now he was reduced to a mere mortal and a very weak one at that.

“One step at a time.” Willard said comforting himself.

“First thing now is to increase the level of my natural energy.”

Willard sat on top of his bed with his leg crossed. He was in a meditative position, which allowed him to connect with the energy of the world and absorb it. Now that a portion of his godly soul was connected with his mortal body, he was better able to sense the energy which greatly improved his proficiency in gathering the world’s natural energy.

While meditating, he was in a trance-like state. He started recollecting some of his memories as a god. There was one, in particular, he was very fond of and that was the battle of Carthage. This was the battle where his prominence and might was risen to the level of a chief god. This was during the 4th war of the gods. The Chief god of light, Theophilus, and the lesser gods light declared war on Zinus, the chief god of darkness, and the gods of the darkness region. Theophilus was trying to expand the domain of light while Zinus was defending his territory.

The war had gotten to a standstill, both sides had been recruiting gods from all corners of the heavens. Zinus approached Thanus, who at that time was still a lesser god, and invited him to join his ranks. Zinus promised to give a little area within his domain to the lesser gods that aided him during this war. Thanus agreed right away, he was in a stalemate in his training and was rather eager to test out his abilities and learn through battles. During the war, Thanus was faced with a dreadful situation where he and a bunch of lesser gods fought against Poseidon, a chief god of water at that time.

During this battle, half of the lesser gods had died from Poseidon’s attack. Poseidon threw his trident and unleashed his strongest attack, the dance of the water dragon. Hundreds of giant dragons made from water quickly solidified, they swiveled about attacking and killing his enemies. After experiencing that attack first hand, Thanus had gained great insight into the mysteries of fire and earth. In his moment of peril, Thanus completely comprehended the mysteries of the fire element. In doing so, Thanus unleashed his greatest attack, the desolation rain. Thousands of meteorite covered with flames appeared all over the heavens and started descending. In its path, it destroyed all that it encountered, including some of lesser gods under Poseidon’s command.

With this sudden attack, Poseidon was caught off guard and couldn’t withdraw his trident fast enough to defend. When faced with a barrage of this magnitude, Poseidon’s fate was all but sealed. Moments later, Thanus had killed Poseidon. All the onlookers were astonished and filled with dread. They had witnessed the death of a chief god, and the birth of a new one. From that day, Thanus became renowned as the chief god of destruction. When faced with Thanus’s attack, all that was left was destruction.

Willard opened his eye, and it was daybreak. In this one stretch, Willard had raised his natural energy level from beginning stages of level 2 to that of a peak level 4. In his small village and the kingdom in general, this was no ordinary fit, no one had ever accomplished such a thing. A peak level 4 natural energy signified that Willard was among the top brass of his class. He could essentially be considered a genius. Willard had a smile on his face, he was able to grow so much because of his heavenly soul. He could sense the natural energy of the world much better, and condense them to the purest form while saving it.

“Today’s graduation ceremony should be fun,” Willard said to himself with a cocky smile.

He got out of his bed and went to get ready for breakfast. Angelica had made a lot for breakfast. Her son was about to graduate and become a man. It was a day of joy and sorrow because her son would no longer be a child she must protect, he had to experience the world on his own. Although Willard disdained the mortal world and its inhabitants, he had developed true emotional connections with the parents of his current life.

“Mother thanks for making such a lavish breakfast for me.” Willard said respectfully to Angelica

“Come sit and eat” Angelica responded with a smile.

They both began eating. The table was full of all sorts of assorted dishes, and in mere minutes, Willard had eaten half the table to his delight.

“Mother, when would Father be back?” Willard asked Angelica.

“In a week’s time, he should be back from the capital” Angelica responded.

“It’s a pity, he would miss a special event today.” Willard said while smiling at his mom.

Angelica had a look of surprise as she heard Willard. Usually, Willard always dreaded his classes, but today he seemed particularly excited. She shrugged it to the fact that he was about to graduate and as such was excited.

“Mother please make it to the demonstrations portion of the ceremony. I want to show you what your son is capable of.” Willard said as he was setting out to his graduation.

Angelica was surprised again at what her son had said. She had once heard a rumor from one of gossiping moms. They talked about how her son was the weakest of his class, and how he was unsuited to be a warrior. To hear Willard talk so boldly truly surprised her.

“Don’t worry son, I won’t miss it for the world” Angelica responded while sending him off.

Today, Willard had chosen to use the short route to classes. He usually used a longer route in other to avoid meeting his fellow mates on the way. Not too long along the way, he ran into three of his classmates, two males and one female. The female among the group was called Ayola. She had long black hair and a small face, she was the shortest and had a cute small frame. She had cultivated to the late stages of level 3, and was walking in the middle of two males. The male to her right was called Quin, he had a lean physique with short black hair. He was the tallest of the three and was considered the number one genius of their class. He had cultivated to the beginning stages of level 5 and had an air of superiority around him. The other male to the left of Ayola was called Philip. He had long brown hair and was a little chubby. He was the third son of the current leader of the village and had cultivated to the late stages of level 3.

Philip took a glance behind and noticed Willard walking behind them. He had a mischievous smile and then decided to taunt Willard.

“Hey isn’t that supposed to be the number one genius of our class.” Philip remarked as drew Quin and Ayola’s attention to Willard.

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Yellow Hem village was located within a vast mountain range. The village was mostly made up of farmers, warriors and magic practitioners and other smaller crafts. Life was leisurely free and tranquil. The village was somewhat isolated from the rest of the kingdom, and because of that was rarely ever threatened.

Kids aged 7 were given the choice to choose a vocation in the path of the warrior, magician or any craft they wanted. They were to compulsory train in their vocation for 10 years. This was to ensure they grew up to be useful parts of society.

This particular day was a joyous one in a merchant family, the Wuldag household. The lady of the house had successfully given birth to her first child, a healthy baby boy.

“Honey, how do you feel?” a man says to his wife with a gleaming smile on his face.

“Ryga I’m okay. Look our first son” She responds while holding her son.

“He is just as beautiful as you are Angelica” Ryga said.

Ryga was all smiles. They had been trying to have another child for about five years, but as luck will have Angelica got sick shortly after she conceived her son, and that sickness weakened her unborn child. But right now Angelica successfully gave birth to a perfectly healthy child.

“What should we call this child?” Angelica asked Ryga.

“He was born right at the end of the year of Thanus the maleficent. He also had the will to overcome his great ordeal. It is only fitting he is called Willard. ” Ryga responded.

“Willard. That is indeed a fitting name.” Angelica remarked.

In the flash of an eye, days had turned into weeks, weeks to years. 14 years had passed since that joyous event. A troubled youth could be seen walking home, he had dark hairs, brown eyes and a moderate build for someone his age. His outfit was dirty and tattered, and from up close, one could tell he was just in a fight. He sneakily tried to enter his house without making a sound, but was spotted by his mother.

“Were you in another fight again Willard?” Angelica asked her son.

“mother” Willard involuntarily said. He could tell his mom was angry.

“I tripped on a rock while on my back from town,” Willard said in an effort convince his mother otherwise.

“Oh. So the rock also grew hands and tore your sleeves like that.” Angelica responded.

“If you keep insisting on not telling me who bullies you, I will have to stop you entirely from going to the warrior classes and make you join your father as a merchant.” Angelica scolded. She went on to pat his head with expressions of pity.

“Go take a bath and get ready for dinner.”

Time went by as season changed, it was finally the eve of Willard’s graduation. Today, Willard got back from classes early. He was gleeful because tomorrow was his graduation. At age 17, one was considered an adult, and could partake in more integral parts of society.

He was particularly happy because he could escape the torture of his fellow classmates. Since he started taking classes, he had been teased and bullied by his fellow classmates of the warrior’s path. This all started on the first day of classes. The teacher asked everyone why they wanted to become warriors, and when it came to Willard’s turn, he had responded, “because I want the whole village to love and worship me.” His fellow classmates all laughed at his response. With a little anger, Willard immediately proclaimed that upon graduating, he will be the strongest of this class and show everyone in the village his greatness. Willard had the fortitude to be a world-class warrior but lacked the patience to cultivate natural energy. This made him fall behind everyone in strength and left him the bottom of the everyone’s jokes.

As night came, Willard was laying on the bed and staring out his window. He noticed a strange bright crimson light hover in the distance. He was strangely drawn to that light and decided to go investigate it. He stealthily left his house so as to not draw any attention. As he got to the location of the light, he felt a heavy and constricting presence. Without any warning, a tiny meteorite descended on him. The meteorite hit him directly on his chest and caused him to pass out.

While in that state, a sudden torrent of memories flowed through his mind like a dream. He saw the God of destruction, Thanus, leisurely taking a stroll in the heavens. He was approached by Athena, the goddess of water, where she baited him to having a competition with her. Thanus, was a particularly proud and powerful chief god and loved to compete. Since the end of the 6th war of the gods, he was eternally bored. He quite naively took the opportunity to show his omnipotence and agreed to the terms Athena had given him.

The competition was an obstacle race that Athena had personally prepared. They were to compete and see who would finish first, the loser would serve the winner for a million years. The destination was the lightning grounds of the chief god of lightning Zeus. As the race was progressing, Thanus was still not moving at his fastest speed, but still kept up with the pace of Athena. He had a smug smile on his face as he watched Athena. Suddenly, he noticed a strange fog ahead of which he thought nothing of.

How could he? All he needed was a single finger to destroy whatever Athena had planned. He also noticed he could not find Athena, but he still continued to progress through the fog and this time, a little faster. As he continued, the fog got thicker and thicker causing his vision to dramatically drop. At the end of the fog, Thanus discovered he had entered a forbidden region of the nine heavens. Thus, Thanus had broken a cardinal rule of the heavens, he had entered Gaya’s garden of creation. Upon entering Thanus had figured out what had happened. Athena had colluded with Zeus, Zinus and the rest of the gods that had some differences with him to create the most powerful illusion the nine heavens had seen. That was the only way for an illusion of this magnitude to be created, or at least that was what Thanus had thought.

The illusion was capable of deceiving a chief god like himself. Suddenly, the illusion dissipated, he could sense his enemies thousands of miles away. In his anger, or what might seem to be, he shot a meteor in the form of a fireball, towards the direction of Athena. Zinus, the chief god of darkness, used his eternal spear to deflect the meteorite away.

What none of the gods at that point had realized was that Thanus had embedded within that meteorite a portion of his soul. Thanus knew if he had shot that meteorite any other place the other gods will think something of it and thus had decided to use rage as a camouflage. He then waited for the descent of Gaya, the primal god of creation.

At this point, Willard opened his eyes. With his soul and memory intact, he knew exactly what had happened.

“I vow to the heavens I will get my revenge” Willard softly said.

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