Re:Library

Truth & Myth - The Awakening

Chapter 14 – Worries

David ran towards Helaine’s home as quickly as he could. He was desperately hoping that he would be on time to save Helaine from whatever could happen.

“David. There are exorcists up ahead,” Lucifer warned him as his mind was going wild.

“WHAT? What are they doing there?” David asked bewildered. It seemed like there was something unexpectedly troublesome up ahead.

“Well, I’m not sure, you can asked them yourself.”

David stopped in his tracks. He saw the three exorcists in front of him. The European one was holding an estoc out and pointing it towards Helaine’s house. She turned towards him, and their gaze crossed each other.

Neither of them made a sound. They only silently glared at each other.

The silent glare lasted around 30 seconds. During that time, no one uttered a sound. It was so quiet that the sound of a piece of leaf falling from a tree onto the ground could be heard clearly.

“Ehhh! Aren’t you that guy that Lux-sama was starting at?” It was the Japanese girl who finally broke the silence.

A fist came crashing down on her head. “Shut up idiot,” the Japanese guy reprimanded her.

Hearing something so out of place and could easily be served as comic relief, David annoying glared at them. Then he looked by at the woman holding the estoc. “Exorcists. What are you trying to do?”

Seeing a potential serious threat in front of him, David calmed down a bit. He realized that he had to remain logical. If he didn’t, he might lose the time he would need to save Helaine from whatever is going on within her home.

“You. Who are you?” the European girl pointed her estoc at him. David could tell that she was wary about him.

He pondered for a moment, then replied, “Excuse me, my friend’s inside the house. Could you let me pass please?” He took a step forward, “That’s a cool cosplay.”

“Answer my question.”

David took another step forward, “I’m the friend of the person living in the house, I came here to see her. Could you please point your blade slightly to the side so I can go past?”

She didn’t bulge and just repeated what she said, “Answer my question.”

The young man and the Japanese girl walked closer to them. The young man placed his hands on the European girl’s shoulder and said, “Lux-sama, please lower your sword. Don’t the issue within the house take priority?”

She looked back at him, then thought for a moment, “Yea you’re right.”

Turning back to David, she lowered her estoc and asked, “I’m sorry, you said your friend was in there?”

Seeing her change in demeanour, instead of being relieved about it, it had the opposite effect. Something fishy was going on, “Yes, so if you were to excuse me.”

He tried to move past her from the side. But she blocked his way, and raised her left hand, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal…” Her hand began to glow

Sensing something bad about the situation, David crouched down and knocked her hand away as she finished her sentence, “proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Not expecting this, she seemed to lose her balance. Taking this chance, David didn’t look back and rushed forwards, getting to Helaine’s door. A sinister aura stirred behind the closed doors. He could feel it creeping up at him. There was little time. Knowing that, he opted to kick the door open instead of bothering to ring the bell.

The moment the door swung open, pressure overwhelmed him.

“Lucifer, are my intuitions correct?” David asked, he had felt a similar feeling before. The very same feeling had made him feel powerless. But no longer.

“Yeah, its the demon from before,” Lucifer replied as David stepped into the house. He looked around .Nothing seemed out of place, but the aura seemed to surround the entire house, as if it had been trapped here for a long time.

“HELLY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?” David shouted.

The only reply were the echoes of his voice through the large dark house. It wasn’t even night, but the interior of the house was already pitch dark. The light from the open front door did not seem to penetrate through the darkness within.

Having no other ways to gather information, he turned his head towards the exorcists that were coming into the house. “How long have you been here? Do you know what happened?”

Before any of them could answer, a loud crash was heard. All four of them looked up. David’s worries began to show on his face. Did something happen to Helaine? Her room is upstairs… David sincerely wished that nothing happened.

With that thought, David ran up the stairs, with the exorcists a few steps behind him. David couldn’t care less about their purpose right now, it didn’t matter to him at all. What mattered was finding out what the hell was going on.

With each step, the pressure on his body seemed to increase. With each step, the nausea he had grew stronger. He couldn’t push it all away. He was starting to remember the horror of helplessness. Emmet Wayne Gacy… He could still remember that tall demon’s jester-like face. The ways that he was made insignificant, played like an idiot. His mind was beginning to waver.

“Don’t lose focus here. Remember your purpose,” Lucifer’s voice pierced through the mist in his mind. It was a voice of reason, unlike his continuous stream of thoughts.

David once again focused his thoughts as he reached the top of the stairs. Turning right, he saw that the door to Helaine’s room was closed, but it was rather obvious that the sinister aura was leaking from within.

He slowly approached her room. Time seemed to slow down. In a way, David didn’t want to open the door, to see what was inside. He was afraid to see Helaine hurt or harmed. He was afraid to see the truth. But he fought back those fears. Things like that was always a possibility, but if Helaine ended up like that because of him hesitating here, he could not forgive himself.

He turned the door knob and opened the door.

The first thing he noticed was a demon dressed in a suit. The demon had the face of a clown with a large red ball for a nose. Although the angle it was bending at, made the top hat it was wearing cover the upper half of its face, there was no doubt. David was sure of who it was.

He conjured up his blades and leaped towards the demon.

The demon didn’t flinch, but reached out to grab someone beside David. He turned his head, and seeing it was Helaine, he tried to use his blades to slice off the demon’s hand.

But he just wasn’t fast enough. The demon, Emmet Wayne Gacy had already disappeared into a ripple in space that was concealed behind it the entire time.

What David had come to do… He had failed. He let Helaine get dragged into this mess. There was no other choice. If that’s the case, then he had to save Helaine from the clutches of the demon.

He ran towards the portal and leaped through.

The last thing he heard before passing through was from within his head. Lucifer had screamed, “WAIT!”

[Vol 4] Chapter 57: Songs of my sword

Bryant paused for a couple of seconds while moving closer towards Svecko. At their current level of power, the distance between Svecko and Bryant was of no importance. Given both of their speeds, they would be able to close the distance within less than a second. “It is not that I want to stand in your way, it is you who have chosen a path I cannot ignore,” Bryant said with a soft laughter.

Without a moment’s warning, Svecko moved with his highest speed to attack Bryant. “Let me see what ability you possibly have to stop me.” As Svecko got closer to Bryant, a spear made of ice had formed in Svecko’s palms. He thrust the spear with incredible strength as he attacked Bryant. Although Svecko’s attack could be considered a sneak attack, Bryant wasn’t surprised as he had expected Svecko to attack him and given both of their speed, he could react fast enough. A golden glow illuminated around Bryant’s entire body. Bryant moved his bare palm in anticipation of Svecko’s ice spear. As the spear made contact with Bryant’s palm, a crunching sound could be heard. The spear Svecko held crumbled as the force from Bryan’s palm completely shattered the ice spear. Bryant continued the motion of his palm to counter Svecko’s attack. As the palm attack touched Svecko, another crunching sound was heard. Bryant realized something was wrong, he immediately noticed he did not make contact with Svecko, but instead, his palm attacked had broken what seemed like an ice mirror. “Perrish!” Svecko yelled as he appeared behind Bryant and attacked with a punch.

Svecko palm was glowing white, almost translucent and invisible. Bryant reacted as fast as he could, moving both his arms to defend Svecko’s attack. As they both made contact, a seemingly white energy pervaded Bryant’s body and went straight to attack his soul. In that brief moment, the soul freezing energy of Svecko had slowly started freezing Bryant’s soul. A dull light appeared on Bryant’s eyes as the life seemed to slowly leave his body.

A smile appeared on Svecko’s face as he stretched out his hand to grab the lifeless looking body of Bryant. Before he could grab onto Bryant, a golden and metallic-black light appeared all around Bryant. The formerly lifeless body now seemed to have gained some life. Svecko unconsciously took some steps back as he watched Bryant come back to life. After the golden and metallic black light died down, Svecko couldn’t help but gasp in surprise as he saw a different Bryant. Bryant’s body had changed from that of a normal human to a half golden and half metallic-black form.

The right half of Bryant’s body had changed to a golden form, while the left part of his body had changed to a metallic black form. Bryant’s body had turned part gold and part iron. This two forms equally covered his body from the tip of his hair to the sole of his feet, giving off a strange otherworldly appearance Bryant had at the moment. “You!” Svecko said in shock as he realized something.

“You are the metal element saint of the West,” Svecko said staring at Bryant incredulously. Of all the elements known to this mortal world, the metal elements were regarded as the most difficult ones to cultivate. Throughout the recorded history of the world, they were only three people to have successfully cultivated the metal element to a saint level and until this moment, there was none that had cultivated to a level three saint.

“You have broken through to the third level and fused gold and iron laws.” Svecko continued. “Incredible. Yet another genius has appeared. Why are the heavens favoring the South?” Svecko quietly thought to himself. Looking at the current situation, Svecko knew there was no way he could defeat Bryant. He had already used up most of his energy and evidently, Bryant had infused the law of gold with the law iron within the metal element. This meant that there was no way he could win at the moment without paying a heavy price, and even if he had his energy completely restored, there were no guarantees he would win.

Svecko turned around and flew off into the skies, without waiting for any response. Svecko was like a shooting star as he flew off into the distance. Bryant stood in place in a somewhat confused manner as he watched Svecko head towards where the battle was currently going on. After a couple of seconds, his expression turned to that of a smirk as he watched what had just happened. Bryant did not bother chasing after Svecko, because his goal wasn’t to kill Svecko or his allies, and he also did not want to corner such a monster, he wasn’t quite confident in killing Svecko. “Very glad that this is over. That attack from the snow saint nearly froze my soul. If I was a second slower, that would have been the end for me.” Bryant said as he sighed in praise. “How then was it possible that this child survived? That should not be possible, but yet I witnessed it with my own eyes.”

Bryant waved his hand, and the golden cocoon that had Willard within it flew towards him. Bryant turned and stared in the distance, his stare pierced through the forest all the way to the battle that was still ongoing. “It’s about time I end all this,” Bryant said before disappearing from where he was.

*****************

Over at the battlefield, Aswan was currently fighting with Allan. He had a couple of scratches across his body, but he was still alive. “The Primero knight sure lives up to his reputation. It has only been a couple of minutes, and yet he has pushed me to such a state even with my recent improvements.” Aswan thought to himself as desperately gasped for air. “Damn it! Why must my luck be this bad? If I am to survive this, I must use that treasure Lord Ducart gave me.”

Aswan gritted his teeth as he pulled out a blue looking pill the size of a golf ball. As Aswan bit down on the pill, a wave of terrifying energy burst out of his body. The previously disheveled looking Aswan seemed to have gained immense vitality. The surround elemental energy was stimulated and even traces of the water element became visible to the naked eye for a couple seconds before it died down. “Damn you! Damn you Primero knight. Because of you, I have wasted this treasure. I will take your head, and the head of the other knights with me today.” Aswan said with a deranged look in his eyes.

Allan stood quietly as his gray long beard fluttered along the direction of the air, he watched as Aswan bellowed in anger and remained calm without uttering a single word. Aswan charged towards Allan, his speed almost instantly doubled. He hacked his sword in an obviously crazed manner towards Allan. After taking the blue pill, Aswan’s strength had immediately peaked to the limit of element energy warriors. This kind of strength could actually be classified as actually exceeding the limits of elemental energy, but because of Aswan low attainments in the elemental laws of nature, he couldn’t properly control the immense energy and thus was capped at the elemental energy level.

“Die for me!” Aswan yelled as he continued to attack Allan, who was slowly being suppressed by the speed and strength of Aswan’s crazed swords. After a couple of exchanges, the force of Aswan’s sword blow had blasted Allan a couple of meters away. A smile grew on Aswan’s face as he watched Allan get back up, to his surprise Allan still had the same unbordered look he had from the start, not even a slight show of panic could be seen on his old face. “Throughout this entire fight, the primero knight has remained calm. Even after I took that pill, he still hasn’t called for backup.” Aswan thought to himself as he watched Allan walk towards him. A sense of panic quickly filled his mind for a second. “He must be pretending. He must be afraid. That’s right, it must be his pride as the primero knight that’s making show such bravery.” Aswan said dispelling the sense of fear the swelled up in his mind.

From a distance, Bryant appeared and watched the battle that was currently unfolding. He quickly got a sense of what was happening and everybody’s position. He moved his gaze to the far east, then moved it back to the battle between Allan and Bryant. “This should be interesting. It has been over a decade I saw that kid Allan. This should be a good test for him.”

As Allan walked closer to Aswan, a strange and uncomfortable smile appeared on his face. This was the first reaction he had given Aswan all throughout their battle. “I was wondering what gave you such bravery to fight against me. I guess my questions have been answered. You got an essence pill from Ducart,” Allan said. “A true treasure! It’s a pity your accomplishment in the water element is just too low. You have been forced to the limits of the elementary level of power. Come, let me show you the songs of my sword.”

Allan changed his previously casual stance to a more composed one. Holding the hilt of his sword with both hands, his every movement became more pronounced. “First verse: song of speed,” Allan said as he swung his sword. A loud piercing noise was heard in conjunction with his swords movement. Aswan quickly tried moving his own sword to block the incoming attack from Allan, but was suddenly caught off guard as Allan’s sword disappeared from his view, only for him to feel a striking pain on his chest.

In reality, Allans sword did not disappear, it just moved so fast Aswan could not keep up with its movement. Luckily enough for Aswan, the water essence pill had given him the body strength of someone at the absolute peak of the elementary level. Aswan backed up a couple of steps and rethought about what had just happened. Beads of sweat appeared across his previously calm face. “My goodness. I would have died just now if it wasn’t for the effects of that pill,” Aswan said to himself in freight.

Allan pointed his sword at Aswan and continued, “Second verse: song of blades.”

The essence of the wind slightly congealed around Allan’s blades, before formless wind blade shot towards Aswan. That attack took Aswan by surprise as he felt yet another mysterious surge of pain on his body. Before he had the time to react, Allan had closed the distance between them. Allan began a surge of attacks on Aswan, switching from the first verse to the second verse, in an unpredictable manner. In less than five minutes of their fight, a loud screaming noise was heard from Aswan, as Allan’s blade finally pierced through his chest. Aswan couldn’t help but curse at his stupidity. There were always rumors of the martial prowess of the primero knight, but he never thought that it would be at such a state. If he had known how terrifying the primero knight was, he would have taken the pill earlier and tried escaping with the assistance of the pill, but it was all dream at this moment, Aswan knew he was already knocking at death’s doors.
Allan slowly pulled out his sword from Aswan’s chest before fiercely hacking off Aswan’s head. “Such a pity. That essence pill could have truly been a life saving treasure for someone with better accomplishments.”

Truth & Myth - The Awakening

Chapter 13 – Danger?

Hikari was getting impatient. For the past week, Guang, Lux, and herself have been searching around the city for clues about the mysterious people who finished their mission for them. The Vatican didn’t know anything about it, nor does the local church. The only unusual thing that had happened were several areas that had an abnormally high trace of demonic magic. Those were the places they investigated first, and out of the ones that stood out were a mountain beside a school, the art museum, and a back alleyway. These places only stood out because it was unknown who had dealt with these high levels of demonic magic, which usually indicated the existence of a demon in that area. These three places were the only places that did not have their case resolved by someone known. All the other ones were either resolved by local exorcists or were the results of the experiments conducted by local magicians.

However, despite knowing this, it didn’t put them any closer to identifying the mysterious person. They could not connect any dots between these three places, and the traces of demonic magic was also different in each place, so the mysterious person being a demonic being or a person that had access to demonic magic was unlikely.

“Have you found anything yet?” Hikari asked Guang who was on several laptops at once.

He was once again running through the current information they had on multiple databases across several different servers at once. Using Lux’s authority, they also acquired full cooperation from the local church in this man hunt.

“Still nothing,” Guang replied. He was visibly stressed, he seemed thinner than before and his hair was a mess. This was the result of his heavy sense of duty, and wish to uphold his believe of exorcists being the shield of mankind against all kinds of evil.

Although the mysterious people had completed their mission for them, eliminating the threatening feijiang, there was no information on them. If they were to turn the power against the people… Guang dreaded the consequences.

“Lord Guang! Lady Hikari! There’s an incident,” shouted a voice from outside the hotel room door.

Hikari went and opened the door. It was a young priest that they had met several days prior when they went to the local church for more information. They had left instructions for the three of them to be informed of any abnormal incidents going on.

“What is it?” Hikari asked.

“There’s an abnormal level of demonic magic, the precise address is written down here. I have already informed Lady Lux just now and she asked me to inform the two of you,” the young priest frantically replied. “She also asked that you start to prepare.”

“Prepare for wha..?”

“Yes I understand. Thank you for informing us,” Guang covered Hikari’s mouth and took the piece of paper that the priest held out. He nodded with a slight smile on his face and closed the door.

Hikari shook free of his hand and turned annoyingly to him,” What was that for?”

“Start using your brain okay? It’s obvious that Lux-sama had been deliberately vague with the priest. She couldn’t have revealed any information about [Divine Revenant]. Anyways, let’s hurry up and get to the address.”

Lux was standing in front of a civilian house. That was the location which the address the priest had given to her pointed towards. It didn’t seem like the priest was lying. She could clearly feel the tingling of mana in the air. It was something she was familiar with.

There was a demon within the house. Whoever was inside had probably summoned a demon in order to form a contract with it. For what she wasn’t sure. But this had to be stopped.

Demons were not trustworthy beings. They were cruel and vicious. They would often twist the truth in such a way that makes people want to form a contract with them. But the truth was the the contract isn’t going to help the person at all. In fact, it would cause the person to fall into despair without any real gain.

Demons were filthy beings. She firmly believed that. She was only in this situation because of a demon. If that didn’t happen twelve years ago… No she couldn’t let her mind wander. The resolution she has will not waver.

Her [Divine Revenant] was being prepared. It’ll probably be ready when Guang and Hikari arrive. So around ten minutes later. She just continue waiting here.

Although she would love to run into the house and cut down the demon, it was better to play it safe. The contract would probably not be signed too soon. Most demons would take at least several hours to convince their victims to sign the contract. She had enough time to remain patient…

David was taking a break after practice when his phone ran.

He checked the caller. It seems like it was his mom calling.

“Hey mom. What is it?”

“Ahh good. You finally picked up. Anyways, its Easter next week right? I called the school earlier so you don’t need to go this week.”

“Wait what? Why?”

“Well Mike and your dad were talking over the phone the other day, and they decided for both you and Helaine to skip a week of school. We registered you two for a two week long camp thing. Originally Mike was only going to send Helaine there, but its always nice to have company right?” David could hear his mom laughing from the other side of the phone. Mike Papadopoulos was Helaine’s dad, and he was good friends with David’s own dad, both having similar mindsets and interest. It seems like his dad did something unnecessary again.

“Can’t you cancel it?”

“Well we could, but we don’t want to leave you alone for so long. Your dad and I have decided to stay here for another month for a holiday this time. And so yeah, I’ll send you the details later through email. Don’t starve okay?” with that his mother hung up on him.

David sighed. His parents were always like this. They were good parents, but acted on the whim a lot of the times. Just like this time.

“David, something’s amiss, we should hurry,” Lucifer interrupted his thoughts.

“What is it? And where?” David asked. He jolted up from the sofa and walked towards the door, grabbing his jacket on the way.

“A demonic reaction. I may be mistaken, but it seems like its coming from that girl’s place.”

“Girl’s?”

“The one you spend a lot of time with.”

“****!” David ran out the door and didn’t even lock it. Right now, his mind was only worrying about Helaine’s safety. She, who’s been by his side through thick and thin. She, who cared for him and encouraged him when he felt like all was lost. She, who he has shared many important memories with. He sincerely hoped that Lucifer was mistaken. But deep in his heart, he had a sneaky feeling that Lucifer wasn’t, and that Helaine has been dragged into something beyond her imagination. Something that David didn’t want her to become involved in.

Seeing Lux in front of them, Hikari and Guang stopped running. It seems like they arrived at the destination.

“Lux-sama, is this the place?” Guang asked. Although the two of them had ran thirty minutes without stopping at a speed of approximately sixty miles per hour, neither of them were even breathing heavily. This was the effects of <Celestial Blessing> that was applied on their entire squad of exorcists.

“Can you not feel it?” Lux asked absentmindedly.

“Feel what?” Hikari replied, she, not surprisingly did not know what Lux was talking about.

Lux sighed, “It seems like the two of you can’t feel it. The swirling mass of demonic magic inside. The disgusting feeling of a demonic portal.”

She turned towards Guang and Hikari, then summoned out her holy sword. It was an estoc that was radiating holy magic. Although thin, the blade gave of a feeling of being able to cut through anything. The hilt of the estoc was gold and embroidered with a large blue sapphire.

She faced the house once more and pointed her estoc towards the house, “In the name of our Father, our Lord and his Holiness. Let us save the lost lamb and exorcise the snake of temptation.”

But at that moment. She noticed a person at the corner of her eye. A young man with black hair, slightly taller than average. A civilian?

No that was too much of a coincidence. Especially since she remembered that she had seen him once before, when they were going to investigate the mountain beside a school.

The same young man, whose stare she had felt disturbed by, was now standing right in front of them.

[Arc 3] Chapter 84

Chapter 84
Black Rose Strikes Again

Chu Shen was astonished at all of this. Martial arts creating images was basic knowledge. That was why there was fist, sword, and claw techniques. And often phantom images would appear in the Qi, for example a claw technique resembling a bird’s claw instead of a human’s fingers.

This truly explained many mysteries that eluded Chu Shen. Before now he simply accepted martial arts intricacies as the way things were. ‘Hmm. It seems as though there is still a science that can be found in such mysterious things. Truly there is no such thing as magic, only misunderstood principles.’

Chu Shen stood up and bowed to grandmaster Qin. “Thank you grandmaster. With your help, I feel I will be able to advance far in mastering my skills.”

Agata Qin quickly waved his hand. “Nonsense. Eventually you would have learned such things. It wasn’t always common knowledge you know. Until the <Doctors Godly Eyes> was created, it remained a mystery. But my ancestor figured out such things and shared it, making these facts public knowledge.”

“It could be said to have advanced the skills of everyone within a thousand miles. Many people were thankful for such a blessing. If it wasn’t for that calamity, we wouldn’t be confined to such a small town.”

Grandmaster Qin shook his head. “Well, anyway. What I have here is a basic martial art technique. A fist technique. Learn it well. I believe with what I have taught you, you should advance far. Now, you can leave. My lessons are over. Tell your friend to come over for lessons tomorrow.”

Chu Shen looked at him for a second. “Huh? I still have one more day left don’t I? So why am I being sent back?”

Grandmaster Qin sighed. “It is just as I said. I have no more to teach you. In order to advance farther you would require at least another month. So instead of ending things half baked, I would rather end it here. As for the day left, just stop by to ask some questions if you encounter a bottleneck.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Okay. Having an expert to question is worth losing a day of training.”

A pain stabbed in his brain making Chu Shen wince. ‘Hey brat! You still have this expert. So why aren’t you questioning me!’

Chu Shen had a strange face on when he heard Master Wu’s voice. He couldn’t say the truth could he? That he didn’t feel like Ti Wu could help him. Otherwise what awaited him could be said to be hell.

He immediately adopted a placating tone mentally. ‘It’s not that master. I just feel like with how strong you are, to ask such basic questions would be considered an insult so it would be better to ask someone like this Grandmaster Qin.’

‘Hmph. What ‘Grandmaster’. In my eyes he is still just a brat. Hey brat. That Qin fellow is looking at you weird, pay attention!’

Indeed, when Chu Shen looked up Grandmaster Qin was staring at him with a look of concern. “Are you alright Chu Shen? It seemed like you blanked out there for a second.”

Chu Shen immediately shook his head. “No, no of course not! I just… I just had an inspiration that was all. Anyways I should head back to the shop to inform Lucas.”

Grandmaster Qin nodded in agreement. “Alright then. Have a safe journey. Don’t forget to give him the Token as well.”

“I won’t!” Chu Shen called over his shoulder as he walked back to the shop.

………………………………………………………………

While Chu Shen received the lecture on martial arts, Lucas went out hunting for primordial beasts. Every week they would close the shop for a day in order to gather beast cores for their experiments. Or more specifically, his. Today was no different even without Chu Shen.

But after an hour of hunting his tracking program discovered four people behind him. Ignoring it, Lucas merely went in a different direction. It wasn’t uncommon to come across people in the forest so it was probably coincidence. However they immediately turned to follow him as well!

Lucas frowned at this. Why would they do that? Were they following him? At this thought he immediately became cautious. Turning, he immediately started running in a zigzag path that would take him back to town. If he got there, they wouldn’t dare fight since it would mean offending the city lord.

However, even though these people were over 800 feet away, once they realized Lucas had discovered them, they immediately took off like a flash of lightning. In less than ten seconds they had already surrounded Lucas.

Lucas seeing who it was that stepped in front of him immediately recognized him. Pointing at him he called out. “You! It was actually you Slaughter!”

Indeed. The man that was hunting him was Slaughter! He laughed at the face Lucas made. “Haha! Indeed it is me. Now that you aren’t in town I don’t even have to bring up the Black Rose Guild. Come on brothers. We can finally collect that rich reward from that artificer.”

The man on the left shook his head. “It’s embarrassing Slaughter that you called us in. This child has no cultivation base so why exactly did you invite us to share in the spoils. It’s not like you.”

Slaughter shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if it was a trap that old guy put out for us. After all, why would someone with no cultivation base come out into the beast forest. Luckily we can’t detect anyone so maybe I’m just paranoid.”

He turned to Lucas. “So brat. You were just a mortal. And a trashy mortal at that. No matter. We just want information. How can you create those fake limbs. Tell us and we just might spare your life.”

Lucas reacted with lightning fast actions. Pulling out the Primordial Pistols, he also dropped two basketball size metal objects from the pouches. The four men were astonished at how fast Lucas moved, but other than that they didn’t really put him in their eyes.

That is, until the primordial pistols fired.

One of them was hit with the earth Primordial pistol, sealing him inside it. The other was struck with the shadow flame, enveloping him in a black corrosive flame along with a swath of forest around him.

“AHHH! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!” Due to the arrogance of facing a mortal, the unlucky cultivator didn’t even have his body shield up. His body started to wither as the black flame caught his skin on fire.

A surge of Qi briefly overwhelmed the flames making them flicker but they were not put out. Instead, they still burned on the cultivators body. Still screaming in pain, the cultivator immediately swallowed a medicinal pill before sitting down to try and suppress the shadow flames.

Slaughter, who was not hit by either shot was immediately stunned at how this ‘trashy mortal’ suddenly became so dangerous. Immediately he put up his body shield, alerted to this pig who became a tiger.

Lucas, on the other hand, immediately took off in a direct beeline for the town. The fourth member, who was not struck by either attack, took off after Lucas. As for the one sealed in rock, cracks already appeared in the shell. After all, all of them were Martial Practitioners Level 3.

However, the one that took off after Lucas was suddenly hit by two red beams of light. His body shield immediately started to dim as his Qi was drained. Stunned he turned to find out where these lights were coming from.

Unexpectedly, those two metal objects had become two spider like drones with lasers mounted on their heads. Running sideways like a crab, these spiders kept up a beam of heat at this man. At the speed of light, there was no way the man could dodge a laser.

But in a flash, the man appeared beside the spiders and struck out with his palm. While it was true he couldn’t dodge a laser, he could move out of its path. He was simply too fast for the turrets to track his movements.

The spiders were able to dodge the palm itself though, but not the faint energy palm that struck both of them, crushing them instantly. In a flash of light, both spiders blew up.

With a sinister glare at the retreating Lucas, a bow appeared in the man’s hands. Aiming, he suddenly unleashed an arrow at Lucas. In an instant, the arrow pierced completely through his leg!

Slaughter, who had already started chasing Lucas after shaking off his shock, immediately caught up to Lucas who had fallen down from the shot. Unexpectedly though, he was not rolling on the ground in pain. Instead he turned towards Slaughter with a strange glove on and fired it.

Before he could blink, Slaughter was pierce completely through the chest, his body shield breaking in an instant. He was hurled up into the air, a large hole appearing where his chest should be. A loud BOOOM and shock wave of air caused the leaves of the trees nearby to be blow off.

The man with the bow was stunned. Without a doubt, Slaughter was dead. Lucas turned towards the man with the bow and raised his hand. In response an arrow flew towards him, piercing through his skull instantly causing sparks to fly out the quarter sized hole.

Lucas, looking stunned, suddenly looked back at the man. Another BOOOM was heard as the man also had a large hole blown through his body. Lucas got up and started running. “Whew. If I wasn’t a cyborg, I would be dead!” Lucas wiped off some nonexistent sweat as he ran.

But suddenly, a sword pierced through his back. The sword sliced upwards, slicing Lucas in half from the waist up! A shower of sparks and wires followed the cut. Another slice came. And another. And another. A torrent of blows came and sliced Lucas up until no piece bigger than a fist remained.

The person responsible, the one sealed in the rock, stood behind Lucas’ torn corpse. He slumped to the ground. “What monster is this! He didn’t even have flesh, only metal for a body.”

The man turned and looked back at the huge swathe of devastation that came from Lucas’ weapon. He shook his head. “I’m lucky I wasn’t hit with that black flame. Even Murder wasn’t able to shake it off and died.”

A sinister smile came over him. “At least I am the only one to receive the treasure this time.” However, an inconspicuous ball in the corpse of Lucas started flashing. Glancing over, the man picked it up. “What is this, his heart?”

Unexpectedly a voice answered back. The voice came from a black box just a little bit away from him. “No, actually that is my reactor. Don’t worry though. You can keep it. It’s the last you will ever see.”

Later a half mile radius of the forest was reported gone, wiped out by some massive explosion. Many people became nervous, fearing that the primordial beasts may be acting up again.

Soft Spoken Brutality

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[Vol 5] Chapter 1: Glimpse of the Past

Expecting to greet a new day, I opened my heavy eyelid with reluctance. What entered my vision are the big canopy bed and the luxurious room which I have yet to get accustomed to… or what should have been…

“Eh…?” I couldn’t help but let out bewildered voice in confusion. I mean… who wouldn’t be, when they wake up, just to find themselves in an unfamiliar forest. At first, I thought it was another one of Angie’s irrational training course, but I was proven wrong in just moments later.

I couldn’t move my body as I wished, so I thought that my hands and feet were bound, but that wasn’t the case either, as I could clearly feel my hands and feet moving on their own accord. I was currently atop a tree, hiding behind the twigs and leaves, observing a small group consisting of three or four person. My hands seemed to be beckoning to give some sort of signal. Following that signal, I could hear the rustling of the leaves as a few shadows moved from their original hiding places to another.

That being the case, the only one that came to mind was Sylvidia. She was the only one capable of controlling my body when we fused by means of the Blank Slate’s ability. However, I don’t recall ever activating the Blank Slate before I fell asleep. Sheena did beg me to transform into the cat-form, but I made up an excuse by saying that I have already used up all my transformation attempts in Angie’s unreasonable training.

With that being said, the possibility of this being one of Sylvidia’s mischief was low, but I couldn’t deny the possibility that Sylvidia had some hidden tricks that allowed her to activate the ability on her own. She is quite the mysterious one after all. Anyways, the four people currently in my line of sight looked oddly familiar, I wonder where had I seen them before.

Person A: Are you sure this is the way? It seems like we’ve been walking around in circles for quite a while now.

Person B: Eh? Uh… D-Don’t worry, just trust me… I know where I’m going…

Person C: T… That doesn’t sound very convincing…

Person A is a young man with blue eyes and black hair. Appearance-wise, he couldn’t be considered handsome, but he’s not that ugly either, I guess you could say he looks average. He seemed to be around twenty five years old and is about 1.8 meters tall. The young man was carrying a sword with him, so I guess he’s a warrior.

Person B is a beautiful elf with light blonde hair and bangs. She has a fair complexion and bright, sky blue eyes. Just judging from her appearance, she looks about eighteen years old, but since she’s an elf, appearance can be deceiving.

And Person C somehow reminded me of Sheena, especially her hair. She has a pink blond hair just like Sheena and her beauty is out-of-the-world. She is more or less around 1.6 meters tall and her bust-size seems to be D cup.

There is one more person, but she is covering her face with a hood. It was easy to tell her gender due to her enormous breasts. It is impossible to hide those monster breasts no matter how many layers of robes she put on.

Why was I observing them? I totally have no idea, but I might find out soon if I continue to watch. Or more like… why am I even here to begin with? I tried to contact Sylvidia via telepathy but there was no response, so I gave up and continued to watch the event unfold quietly.

Person B: D-Don’t worry, I’m sure we’re getting closer. I can feel the space around here getting wrapped, that is a clear sign that we’re close to the Elves’ Sanctuary.

Just at this time, my body began to move on its own, as if I was on auto-pilot. I jumped down from the treetop and landed right in front of the group of four, then my mouth opened by itself, “That’s far enough! Turn back at once or prepare to meet your maker!”

With that as a signal, all the “shadows” that were hiding in the dark suddenly revealed themselves and pointed their bows or wands at the small group.

“Awawawawawa…” The big breasted one who had her face covered let out a flustered voice as she tripped on her own feet. Due to the fall, her hood slipped down and revealed the face that was hidden under the cover of the hood. All the elves in the surroundings gave off a gasp the moment the laid eyes on her, followed by words of ridicule.

“This is… preposterous!”

“How savage!!”

“That child will bring misfortune upon us!”

……

Their hatred and disgust were understandable, even someone from the modern world like me was able to tell at first glance. The object of their hate and disgust is a half-elf. It is common knowledge that the elves despises half-elves, for they believe that the humans are savages. Since I’m a fan of elves, I had done some research of my own before on how to differentiate the elves and half-elves ⌈¹⌋. The half-elves have ears about the size of the human ones, but are pointed on the ends. Meanwhile, genuine elf ears are long and pointed. The difference was as clear as day when I compared the size of her ears with those of my own.

“Silence!!” My mouth opened by itself and let out a voice so loud, that it reverberated in the air. However, thanks to that, the elves in the surroundings clamped their mouths shut.

After that, I continued to talk with a self-important tone, “I know not your purpose of coming here with an elf and a half-elf, but beyond this maze is the hidden village of the elves, no outsiders are allowed to enter.”

Then, just at this time, the pink-haired girl stepped forward to pull the half-elf up from the ground. After that, she bowed towards me respectfully as she introduced herself, “Pardon our rudeness, my name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, the Crown Princess of Tristain and the Priestess of the Holy Kingdom. This here is Tiffania Westwood Tudor of Albion, the Crown Princess of Albion and also the Priestess of the Holy Kingdom. We came here to negotiate with the Queen of the Elves.”

“Hoh… the two of you are the Crown Princesses of your respective countries and both a Priestess of the Holy Kingdom? Interesting… What of the other two?” I was utterly surprised when I heard their names, if I had to take a guess, that guy must be none other than… Hiraga Saito!!! However, contrary to my surprised self, the one in control of my body was very calm and collected.

And as expected, the young man with blue eyes and black hair introduced himself as “Saito” and the lord of Des Ornières, “My name is Saito de Hiraga des Ornières. I am the lord of Des Ornières and Louise’s fiance. At the same time, her familiar. This here is Luctiana, she served as our guide to bring us this far.”

Upon hearing these, I squinted my eyes and asked suspiciously, “What business do you guys have in the sanctuary of the elves?”

Louise straightened her body as she answered my question, “Do you know of the demon’s invasion?”

“The demon’s invasion?” I frowned while parroting those three words, then I answered, “Yes, I’ve heard that some fools are trying to take over the world, but that is none of our concern, the demons will never be able to make it to our sacred sanctuary. Even if they did, we can fend them off easily. If that is all you want to talk about, you may leave!”

“W-Wai—” Louise wanted to say something, but she was interrupted by an unexpected voice, “Kehehehehehe! So this is where the elves are hiding! Thanks for leading us here suckers!” After those provocative words, the presence of the unidentified creature abruptly disappeared.

I could feel my whole body burning with rage as I shouted, “You guys are the demon’s spies! Capture them alive and lock them up in the dungeon!”

Immediately after that, I could feel my consciousness waning. The surroundings are getting darker and my consciousness slowly drifted away. The last thing I saw, was Saito and company getting surrounded by groups of elves.

By the time I regained my consciousness, I jumped up immediately and noticed that I was back in a familiar room.

“Eh? What just happened?” Once again, I let out another bewildered voice in the midst of confusion. I totally have no idea what just happened, but one thing I know for sure, is that I want to know what happen afterwards.

“Fufufu… you’re finally awake, did you have a nice dream?” Just at this time, Sylvidia suddenly smiled meaningfully.

Author’s Note:

I hope I was able to convey this chapter properly, I fear that it might be a little confusing. If there’s anything you find confusing in this chapter, do point it out.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Half-elf ↩

Martial Void King

[Arc 3] Chapter 83

Chapter 83

New Discoveries

“Ugh. I’m so exhausted!” Chu Shen flopped down on the bed with a groan. Lucas gave him an inquisitive glance.

“That ‘Grandmaster’ Qin” He said making quotation marks in the air. “Has been training me nonstop for five days now. And to make it worse it’s actually felt like fifteen since he has that illusion array. It’s awful!”

Lucas shrugged. “Can’t be that bad.”

Chu Shen looked at him with a blank stare. “Yeah. I just have to look at examples of two hundred basic moves from different weapons and techniques. Then learn it so that I can predict where the moves are going to land by reading the opponent’s muscles. And to top it off, if I don’t learn it, I have to do it all over again.”

“Yeah. That seems difficult for an organic to do. Maybe I should skip the training then.”

“Nuh-uh. If I have to learn it, so do you.”

“Well it would be redundant since I have a map of the human muscular system so I can just run a program to tell me anyways.”

Chu Shen stared at him for a second before promptly throwing a pillow, which Lucas dodged. “I hate you Lucas. I really do hate you.”

Lucas shrugged. “Well. I wanted to show you something I discovered while you were gone. I was investigating the attribute Qi from the beast cores and discovered it’s actually a 7th state of matter.”

Chu Shen looked at him. “What do you mean?”

Lucas sighed. “You know the other six states of matter right? Liquid, solid, gas, plasma, Bose-Einstein condensate, and hyper-matter.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Yeah. Well except the last two. Only briefly heard it on a physics simulation.”

“Bose-Einstein condensates are bosons, a quantum particle, cooled to absolute zero. Or at least close to it. Hyper-matter is the state of all matter in hyperspace. It is when all matter has lost all distance between the electron cloud and the nucleus.”

Lucas had an excited look on his face as he explained all this. “However, I found out that attribute Qi actually is a seventh state! This state is a fluctuation of matter and energy. This ‘Earth Qi’ is actually a form of energy that can fluctuate between being actual earth and energy! I even found it can temporarily turn real earth into this energy and be used to manipulate it!”

It was Chu Shen’s turn to shrug. “And? I knew all this anyways. I grew up seeing this.”

Lucas sighed. “Yeah, but if I can discover how to induce this seventh state it can be limitless! We use fusion and fission to power our systems now but if we can use this seventh state we will no longer be forced to use exotic matter or Hydrogen as fuel but everything! The limits on space travel could be undone! We can even turn mining into a complete waste of time!”

“Whoopee. Now let me get some sleep. I’m tired.” Chu Shen rolled over on the bed.

“Ugh! I hate it when people don’t listen!”

……………………………………………………………………………

Chu Shen showed up at the Agata Family mansion as usual. Just like before Grandmaster Qin was there to meet him. However, this time he was not led to the illusion formation. Instead he was led to a small table and served some tea.

“Hmm. Thank you Grandmaster Qin. However, why am I not training?” Chu Shen asked.

“Simple. You are done. While I can’t say your grasp of the basics are perfect, they are adequate. To be honest you learned quite fast. It took me several months to learn. Of course, I had to learn the entire body and how it worked instead of just the front like you did.”

“Why did I not learn the entire body then?”

“Because of time and practicality. I am teaching you how to fight an opponent and judge their moves head on. Because of that you only need to see how they move from the front. Also it would take much longer.”

“What I will teach you now is the fundamentals of martial arts. Or rather, some secrets that most do not learn for a long time. So pay very close attention.”

“Do you know what a martial art does?”

Chu Shen replied back hesitantly. “It enhances your power?”

Grandmaster Qin nodded. “Correct, but how?”

Chu Shen shrugged. “I don’t really know. Isn’t it just by circulating Qi and then releasing it?”

Grandmaster Qin nodded again. “True to some extent. Now let me talk about the limits of Qi. We channel Qi through our meridians. However, by channeling too much our meridians can burst. Qi also leaks through the meridians into our body. If the body absorbs too much energy it can be destroyed. That is the reason behind backlash of powerful martial arts.”

“Our soul also controls Qi. That is why when we absorb Qi we need to concentrate by meditating. When absorbing Qi we make it our own by imprinting our soul on it, meaning we can use it without meditating. Otherwise we would have to meditate every time we wanted to channel Qi.”

“However, this imprint has it’s limits. If we use too much Qi, we have to concentrate which distracts us. Distractions in a fight are fatal. It can’t happen lightly.”

Chu Shen nodded. Everything made sense so far. For example, when he made the shield for the soldiers during the bug war. He had to stop fighting and focus on making it. Also the body absorbing Qi was described in the <Void King> technique and was the reason having a strong body was necessary.

“Now let me talk about breaking these limits. Reflex actions require no thought. They happen automatically and they do not occur solely in the body but the soul as well. An example of a reflex of the soul would be a martial artist’s body shield, an automatic reaction brought on by the bodies survival instinct.”

“Reflexes are made by endlessly repeating an action. Martial arts are the same. By training a martial art to the point of being a reflex for your soul, you can activate martial arts requiring large amounts of Qi without being distracted. But you must first learn how to channel Qi in those particular meridians, which can be a great roadblock to cultivators.”

“As for the meridians, martial arts use certain amounts of meridians to channel their energy. The more meridians used, the more energy can be channeled. Of course, these meridians, even for the basic martial art, is over a hundred since the outer meridians are in the millions.”

“Lastly is the body. By spreading out the Qi between meridians you can avoid such backlash. However, sometimes it is a necessary price. Now there is one more feature of martial arts. Creating a structure.”

“Qi evaporates when it leaves your body. But by making a structure, you can allow it to hold it’s form longer. It can also have effects like making blades that slice, shields, increasing your speed, or your bodies strength.”

“However, do not think that just by being able to circulate Qi in random ways one will create a martial art. By thinking this way you can destroy yourself from backfire if the Qi does not create a structure but instead destabilizes.”

“The reason martial arts is often based off of nature or animals is because by studying the circulation of Qi in animals or plants and how it affects such objects, one can copy the Qi flow and recreate the objects.”

“These are the secrets of martial arts.”

[Arc 3] Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Doctors Godly Eyes

Grandmaster Qin, however, did not start right away. “Now before we begin training let me mention a few things. What you are training in is considered to be very basic techniques. However, it is derived from the basic requirements to learn <Doctors Godly Eyes>. This is a skill my ancestor came up with to participate in the martial path.”

“My ancestor was a doctor who was very talented. However, the only thing he truly had in his heart was the martial way. How unfortunate it was that he did not have a talent for such things. But he did not lose his passion for martial arts.”

“Eventually he decided to make a martial skill that combined both his medical teachings and martial arts. While a martial artist’s body shield makes them almost invincible to striking vulnerable parts such as acupuncture points until it is broken, it cannot mask the body itself.”

“So he researched how the body reacts to channeling Qi through meridians, to making certain motions, what people are thinking, and other various tests. After forty years, when he was nearing the end of his life, he created <Doctors Godly Eyes>. A unique skill that allows one to read an opponent’s move and know what they are going to do almost before they know themselves.”

“Even martial arts cannot escape the all seeing eyes of the doctor. Any flaw or weakness will be picked up and exploited with surgical precision. It also allows the person to channel their Qi into their fingers and use it to pierce through the body shield to attack acupuncture points.”

“However, the requirements to learn such a high level skill is difficult. The first is to learn the human body’s muscle movements. The second is to be familiar with meridians and acupuncture. This was how my grandson survived the bladed apes, by stopping all bleeding with his medical knowledge.”

“As for you, the first thing you must learn is the human body’s muscle movements. We will use the illusionary array here to perform a demonstration. After that, we shall see.”

Suddenly Chu Shen was no longer in the plain field with rock pillars. Instead he was in a wide dirt arena and a huge person over three times the normal size stood in front of him. Strangely the person had eyes and a nose but no mouth.

“Now pay attention. Since the man is so big, you can study his movements clearly.” Grandmaster Qin said beside him. As he spoke, the giant person suddenly punched forward in slow motion. No fancy movements, only a punch directly forward.

Chu Shen didn’t know what to do though. After the punch was completed he looked at Grandmaster Qin. “So what am I supposed to do?”

Grandmaster Qin sighed. “Just study the movements of the person there. Remember everything about the way he moved. How his body tensed up, where his eyes were looking at, his stance, everything. Only after you can do that can you truly have mastered this phase.”

“Alright.” Chu Shen then started studying his movements. After 200 punches the movements changed. Giant targets would appear in midair and the punch would land on the target, shattering it, before another would take it’s place. After another 200 punches, the fist still struck outwards but at the air.

Another 200 punches struck various invisible targets before switching back to punching in a straight line. This cycle of simple, target, and invisible target punching continued for over three hours.

After the three hours was up, Grandmaster Qin stopped the giant person in the middle of the cycle. “Okay, so what did you learn?”

Chu Shen shook his head. To him it seemed pointless even though he tried his best. “I don’t think I learned anything.”

“How about this. Can you tell where my punch is going to land?” Grandmaster Qin asked. He took a stance and went through all of the steps of preparing to throw a punch but never took the final step that would send his fist flying.

Chu Shen though seemed to have a revelation. He unconsciously pointed at a place in front a little to the left of Grandmaster Qin. When he did Grandmaster Qin smiled. “Great perception. You have passed the first phase. Now the second is sparring. Only if you can apply it in real life can it be considered a skill.”

With that a normal sized faceless person that looked identical to the giant one appeared in front of him. “Alright now try to fight this drone. Sometimes it will punch, other times it won’t. Try and block them all even if it is a ghost punch.”

Chu Shen nodded. Immediately a punch hurtled towards his face. Surprised he dodged left, narrowly avoiding the blow though it still nicked his ear. Grandmaster Qin cackled. “Heh heh. First lesson. In order to read your opponents moves you must pay attention. Don’t be caught off guard.”

Shaking off the fright such a close call gave him, Chu Shen focused on the drone in front of him. The drones arms stiffened and his muscles bulged slightly. It’s stance shifted minutely in preparation of the blow. It’s eyes darted left, right, then left again before focusing on a specific point.

Immediately it’s arm drew back and hurtled towards the left side of his chest. However, right as the fist started out, it was already doomed to fail since Chu Shen’s arm was blocking it’s target. The fist collided with Chu Shen’s arm but it was only a mild impact, not even succeeding in rocking him back.

“Very good. Now practice for six hundred punches and achieve a 90% block rate or you will have to start everything over again.” Chu Shen continued his training.

After another three hours he completed the training course. He had to redo it twice. Apparently redoing it meant watching another cycle of the giant drone and then sparring with the regular size drone.

Out of breath, Chu Shen finally finished. Sitting down, he sighed. “Finally done. So what’s the next step?”

Grandmaster Qin smiled. “Why now you get to go through it again. But this time with kicks. Don’t worry about time though. It’s three times as fast in here as outside. We have a day in here before we have to leave so get ready. After this we will combine both before moving on to more advanced unarmed combat techniques like grappling.”

Grandmaster Qin smirked at Chu Shen. “So let’s continue shall we?”

[Arc 3] Chapter 81

Chapter 81
Mansion

Chu Shen didn’t want to agree right away. It was too much of a coincidence that the young man had shown up right as Slaughter did. But he also couldn’t reject geed will. So he invited them inside for tea and to discuss the specifics of the training.

Sitting down after he prepared tea, Chu Shen awkwardly sipped his tea in silence. After a minute had passed by, he finally couldn’t stand it. “All right, what kind of training are you offering?” He asked Grandmaster Qin. But surprisingly, it was the young man that answered.

“It’s very basic training. I was taught the first stages of it before I was attacked by the bladed apes and it helped me kill over ten of them before being overwhelmed with numbers. Gramps will teach it to you using our family’s illusion array so the training should be over quickly.”

Grandmaster Qin spoke up now. “The training is about reading the opponent’s moves. By observing the opponent’s body you will become able to tell exactly where their next blow is and what kind of movie it is. Then you can avoid or counter strike. The higher levels would be observing the opponents Qi flow but since you are an outsider I cannot teach you this.”

Chu Shen nodded. Of course high techniques like reading an opponent’s Qi flow could not be taught to people outside their Agata family. Right before Chu Shen could start considering all the implications of the offer, Ti Wu’s voice sounded in his head.

‘Take this opportunity brat. What he is offering is invaluable. You would have picked it up eventually but it would have been instinctive. This is much better.’

‘If it is as helpful as you say, why didn’t you teach me it then?’

‘Well, I can’t. In order to do so properly, I must be able to reproduce an exact human body and unfortunately I can’t do it with 100% accuracy. So it would be better for you to go without learning then to learn a flawed theory.’

Sighing, Chu Shen looked at the Grandfather-grandson duo. “Alright, I accept the training. When should I expect to be there and when?”

Grandmaster Qin replied back immediately. “I’ll teach you for a week straight and then your friend. How much you learn will be up to your abilities. Come to the Agata Family Estate and show the guards this.” He gave him a token with a wave pattern on it. “Be there by ten in the morning.”

He got up and cracked his back. “Now since we are done here, I will see myself out.” With that, the two left. Not even a minute later, Lucas appeared in the shattered doorway.

Lucas slowly surveyed the wreckage of the door before looking back up at Chu Shen. “Soooo.” He said exaggeratedly. “Did something happen while i was gone?”

Chu Shen, recalling everything that happened was overjoyed. “LUCAS!!” He immediately jumped up and ran towards Lucas with open arms. For a second Lucas was stunned before opening his arms ready to accept Chu Shen’s hug.

What he didn’t expect was the fist that promptly hit him on the side of the head. “Where were you!! Every time I need you you’re gone!! Thankfully I am in need of a punching bag and you qualify! Hold still!!”

“Ah! No! Stop! Is this about all those times I flew off when you weren’t ready?! AH! Why was it harder this time?! No! Please! I might be a cyborg but I still feel pain! STOP IIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!”

Many people who walked by the shop that night shook their heads in pity. It seems as though the employee was paying dearly for the broken door.

……………………………………………

The next morning Chu Shen set out for the Agata family mansion. It was very easy to locate since they were apparently a well known noble family in the city.

It was located on the outskirts of the inner city. The city was set up in three rings with swathes of farming land separating them. There was the outer city which was meant for commoners or markets. Then the inner city that was meant for nobles and high end stores and restaurants. Last of all was the core city which was meant for the city governor and other top powerhouses.

Upon arriving, Chu Shen marveled at the sight of the enormous mansion. While it was lacking compared to the awe inspiring skyscrapers on Sparta, it seemed much prettier to him because of the way it blended with nature. It was a quant feeling just like seeing a cottage in the mountains or a meadow.

As he was admiring the beautiful gardens outside of the manor, one of the guards beside the gate called out to him. “Hey, hey kid! This is the Agata Family Manor. If you have business come in otherwise please stand off to the side to admire the view so you don’t block the road.”

The guard was quite satisfied with Chu Shen’s amazement and spoke in a polite tone to him in return. He took great pride in the beautiful manor that he guarded. Of course, he also knew that he had nothing to do with it’s looks but he was still proud of it.

Chu Shen shook himself free of his stupor. “I am here on official business. That grandpa told me to come here and give the guards this.” He took out the wave patterned token.

The guard, upon seeing it, immediately stiffened. Who would have known that foolish looking kid would actually be an honored guest! Luckily he wasn’t of the type to be arrogant otherwise he may not have such a good job by the end of the day.

“Please honored guest, right this way. We were instructed to lead you to the training hall if you stopped by this morning.” The guard swiftly lead him to a large field off to the side of the manor. Various stone pillars were erected across the field surrounding it in a circle.

“Wait here honored guest while I alert the grandmaster of your arrival.” The guard left without delay towards the manor that could be seen in the distance, leaving Chu Shen behind.

He waited patiently and after less than five minutes he spotted the guard and the old man making their way towards him. “Ah, you made it young man. You know I never asked for your name.”

“No I don’t think you did. My name is Chu Shen.” He said as he bowed slightly.

The old man nodded his head in acknowledgment. “Good. You may call me grandmaster Qin. Has the guards treated you well Chu Shen?” The guard immediately broke out into sweat at this question.

Chu Shen hurriedly shook his head. “Oh no. Even when he didn’t know my identity he was polite. You truly do have a beautiful manor by the way.”

Grandmaster Qin nodded appreciatively. “Thank you for the compliments.” He turned to the guard. As for you, good job. I never liked arrogant types, they seem to court death a lot. Go back to the gates and resume your duties.”

“Sir yes sir!” The guard saluted with a fist to his heart and the other on his spine. He marched off towards the gate, sweat still dripping from his forehead.

Grandmaster Qin turned to Chu Shen. “Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let us get started with your training.”