When the planet awakened, every single creature felt the world stop for a second, then everything went back to normal, or so they thought.
Soon enough, people started to feel something different in the air, something... more.
In the Eastern Tribe of the great forest, rumors were running rampant. People claimed to have seen spirits, some claimed to have seen rivers in the air, while most claimed to have become healthier and stronger.
After more than a month of confusion, the tribe's elders had an urgent meeting at the request of Elder James of the Ledger Village, who claimed to have confirmed the truth of the matter.
One of the young hunters discovered Energy during a hunting trip, it was one week after the planet's awakening. He had a grievous wound after a hunt that went wrong, and as he was resting in a hidden spot in a near-death state, he felt the energy filling up his body and healing his wound. He focused on that sensation for a while, but it soon disappeared. By that time he was already semi-healed, so he dragged his body to the village.
After he returned to the village, he told his fellow hunters and his family about his discovery, but no one believed him, it only served to create even more rumors. After a week of recuperation, he was completely healed. The next day, he was out on another trip. He had one and only one purpose, and that was to sense Energy again.
He expected it to take a lot of time, and he was ready to stay in the woods for more than a month, but in the end, it only took him ten days to not only sense Energy again but to gain initial control over it. He didn't even need to use his triumph card. (AKA: Wounding himself.)
After he returned to the village, he immediately went to Elder James' house to inform him.
“So… Liam, you know the truth about that day?” asked Elder James with amusement. He already had many people come to him for the same reason. And their talk ended up as an afternoon chat material between him and the other elders in the village, who were facing the same situation.
“Yes, Elder. I was out on a hunting trip when-.” As Liam started to tell his story with a serious expression, the smile on Elder James' face slowly vanished, replaced with a slight frown as he appeared to be deep in thought.
“Okay, show me.” Said Elder James as he fished out a sharp dagger and handed it to Liam.
“You want me to cut myself?!” Liam had an incredulous expression on his face.
“Hurry up and stop wasting my time. Do you know how many people I receive daily who have figured out the truth about that day?”
“… Sigh, fine.” Liam gave up, took the knife, and made a little cut on his arm.
After that Elder James watched in wonder as the wound disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.
“How the fuck did you do that!” the elder jumped out of his chair as he caught Liam’s arm and began to scan it from top to bottom. “Do you mind, If I cut you myself?” He asked, his eyes shining with a dangerous light.
Liam was flabbergasted, but after a while of convincing from the elder, he agreed reluctantly under his conditions…
“You’re only allowed to inflict a small cut, and I will be holding your hand throughout!” “Deal!”
‘Why do I feel like I have been taken advantage of?’ Liam thought begrudgingly.
He held onto the elder’s hand as he delivered a swift cut to his hand.
“Why is it not healing?!” asked the elder as he saw Liam convulsing while clutching his hand.
“Because it is fucking painful! I need to focus my energy on it to heal, and this needs a lot of concentration.” Liam practically screamed at him as he tried to heal in vain.
“Okay calm down and take your breath, then try again.”
As Liam got slightly accustomed to the pain, he started concentrating on recovery. The more he healed the easier it was to endure the pain and focus.
Elder James watched in fascination once more as the deep wound that would have required at least two weeks to heal, disappear in a matter of minutes. “This is a miracle! You will come with me to the Midfield to meet the other elders.” Said Elder James in a decisive tone.
“Fine, but I am not cutting myself again until all the elders are present. And don’t try anything funny or I will just leave you there.” After some internal struggle, Liam agreed.
After Elder James sent out messengers to the other four villages, he went with Liam to bring the other two elders from the Ledger village, namely doctor Olivia, and chief hunter Alexander.
They first went to deliver the words to elder Olivia, then they went to knock on the old man’s window.
“Old man, wake up! It is important business.” (AN: Yes, it is Theo’s gramps.)
The layout of the Eastern Tribe was in the form of a pentagon-looking farmland on the western side of the forest, with five settlements at the corners. In the middle of the farmland was a garden that was used to hold meetings for the tribe.
It wasn’t Liam’s first time in this garden, but every time he came, he was struck dumb by its sheer beauty, it was as if a piece of heaven descended upon earth. (AN: I wanted to name it Garden of Eden, but midfield is good enough XD.)
No one, in particular, maintained the garden, it was everyone’s responsibility, so from time to time, the different elders would send people to take care of it.
They were the first to arrive as per tradition, they sat down in the middle of a clearing. Some people were in the garden already, while others followed the elders as they came over. After all the elders gathered, Elder James stood up and started his tale.
When it was time for Liam to start his performance, he was shivering as he stood up, with everyone focused on him with hawk-like eyes.
…
Nothing was the same after that day.
They sent homing pigeons to the other tribes to tell them about their discovery, and to ask for their cooperation on the subject by a trade of information.
The tribe’s undivided focus turned to controlling energy. They quickly discovered that every one of them had the ability to control energy, with the younger ones figuring it out faster.
An important awakening moment for the eastern tribe was when they discovered a dozen children who were already able to use energy, but no one believed them before word of Liam came out. That was when they finally realized that the future was for the next generation.
In the following days, they had some basic conclusions about energy usage and control. In usual times, messengers would be going to the midfield once per day, but they increased that to once per hour during the morning hours, with some elders practically camping in the midfield.
When they discovered that they could store even more energy in their bodies, it was like a switch had clicked in their minds. This was it; this was the way forward. They started brainstorming for ideas in the form of everyone trying to create their own method.
Although they had lots of arguments about which one was the right way to go forward, but it was soon solved when Elder Alexander’s daughter came up with a technique that convinced everyone in the tribe quite literally, but that didn’t discourage people from trying to create their own technique. And after she was named an elder candidate because of her contribution to the tribe, they got even crazier about it.
They soon, however, discovered how foolish their thinking was. After a month of trying to figure out other practice methods, they only made slight progress, with the most successful tries being an imitation of the first one or with it as a foundation, which they decided to name “The Primary Art.”
Elizabeth, the method’s creator was the only one allowed to add to the method, and if anyone had suggestions, they had to go throw her first.
And after a month of trying with no one able to recreate the technique’s soul cultivation aspect, everyone was convinced that they won’t be able to surpass her method any time soon, especially when she is practically refining it by the day. They didn’t stop trying though, they just used it as their Primary art, while developing their own.
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When they started trading information with the other tribes, they quickly realized how far ahead they were.
Firstly, only their tribe had everyone able to sense energy, although it was still a high percentage, nothing can compare to a 100%. Secondly, none of the tribes managed to create a functional cultivation technique, they primarily focused on energy control.
The Eastern tribesmen had more energy to work on their control, thanks to their cultivation techniques, but they still needed time for that to turn into an absolute advantage in energy control. For now, their level of control and discovery of energy applications didn’t appear to be much more advanced than the other tribes.
So, they agreed to share their least valued cultivation technique with the other tribes in exchange for all their research! This would not only save them time, but it would also ensure that the other tribes remained in this research race till they are sucked dry of all their value.
And as long as those tribes didn’t create a better cultivation technique than “The Primary Art”, or near it in quality, they would always be led by the nose to get a more refined cultivation technique. (AN: Is this Arms Race?)
If there was a list of the happiest people in the Eastern Tribe, doctors would be on top of that list. Not only did they get to use their energy to see the secrets of the body, but they also had a whole lot of people wanting to train to be doctors, due to the sheer fascination of what they saw.
Although they had to abandon some of their mistaken beliefs, it ultimately didn’t matter for, they had gained much more.
People cultivated by the day and their bodies strengthened by the day, which needed a lot of power to function. Some of that power came from the energy they’re absorbing, but their food intake did increase to cover the remaining part.
So, in month five after the awakening, and under the Elders’ suggestions, more people started to go on hunting trips to secure more food.
In the hunters’ community, experience reigned supreme.
However not everyone in a hunting group needs to be experienced, it suffices that the group leader is, and the rest of the members aren’t a hindrance.
And with how able-bodied people were, none of them was a hindrance, in fact, they were a massive boon to the hunters. They had more games than they ever had.
The hunting supported the tribe for a while till on the next month farmers finally started catching up.
Farmers were now doing their job a whole lot faster, and by infusing the crops with some of their energy, they increased the yield and decreased the time. They had double the yield with half the time, which came right on time because people’s food intake had just gotten up another notch.
The energy changed a lot in a short amount of time, people got healthier in general and a whole lot stronger. Not all the people in the tribe cultivated their souls though, for they couldn’t endure the terrible pain, but more of them started practicing it by the day.
On the other hand, all of them with no exception cultivated normal energy. It was only a year later when someone finally reached the 2% control over their soul and was rewarded with an increase in their perception of time to a 1:2 ratio did all the tribesmen start training their souls without exception.
In month eight, the tribe finally realized that the changes weren’t all in their favor. A four-man hunting team came back with one member’s dead body carried over his friend’s shoulder and the other severely injured, when questioned about it they said they were ambushed by a herd of deer!
Normally that wouldn’t be a problem it would be a feast, but what they encountered were deer as fast as lightning, with deadly antlers that could uproot trees. They were augmented by energy to a lesser degree compared to the hunters. They managed to kill and injure several deer before they retreated at the cost of two hunters.
They finally realized that everything as they know it has changed, and they had to rediscover everything from the beginning.
The good news was that they managed to bring back some of the deer they managed to hunt, and the benefits reaped were great. This incident ignited a hunting spree that will never stop.
Theodore was born on month ten, and starting from that month, things started growing a bit hectic. People started growing at a faster rate, and they didn’t miss the fact that animals did too. Despite the tribes hunting animals at a crazy rate, they only managed to secure their borders.
But humans can adapt surprisingly fast. In a matter of two years, they transformed from a community focused mainly on farming with hunting as a side thing to the complete opposite.
Hunting teams were dispatched one after the other, large teams, medium teems, scout teams, sweeping teems, all these dead concepts were revived once again.
In the tribe’s farmland, they planted more medicinal plants and less food, and the doctors started experimenting with all kinds of new or mutated plants that they found on hunting trips. The village schools started teaching kids fighting and energy control, in the meanwhile they made sure to leave them with enough window to innovate on their own.
Theodore and Olivia grew up in this kind of environment, with a caring mother and a rough on the outside but a softie on the inside grandfather. They had the adoration of the whole village, from little kids to adults.
They enjoyed a happy childhood full of fun, and… studying. Theodore was one to enjoy studying since he quite literally spent hundreds of years studying. Olivia too enjoyed it, because she was studying and cultivating with Theodore’s help ever since she was half a year old! (AN: Theodore, you heartless, abusive brother!)
‘Is this considered brainwashing? I feel conflicted about it, but I never forced her to sit and memorize things or bushed her to study, I didn’t even transmit knowledge to her soul directly.’
Theodore was sitting beneath a tree in the middle of the midfield, he wore a wide beige shirt coupled with a pair of loose brown bants tied with a thick thread at the waist and the ankles, and what looked like a pair of slippers.
‘At the start, she would always study on her own, after she is bored of playing with me or with the other kids, well the village doesn’t have much to do in the way of entertainment other than going to the midfield and going out to hunt, but the latter is forbidden to little children below the age of ten.
By now, she sort of does the opposite, I think. She studies all the time, and she only goes out and plays with me occasionally or when she has something to ask me about.
Sometimes she says to her mother that she is out to play with other kids, then she sneaks into the school, “borrows” some light study materials to pass time then returns it the next day. When rumors of a ghost that likes to steal people’s study materials and then return them spread in the school, she started sneaking into class instead.
And after finding out that school wasn’t good enough as her mid-study snack, today she is trying to sneak into Doctor Olivia’s house to steal- cough, borrow some books and animal skins. Sigh, I need to go.’
Theodore was just lazing around in the midfield when he noticed his sister’s suspicious movement toward the doctor’s house, he was so lazy he didn’t bother to stand up, he just cast a spill to teleport over near to her location.
SWISH!
He disappeared and then reappeared standing in an alley near the doctor’s house. In front of him was Oli sticking her head out of the alley to spy on her target as she waited patiently for her chance to strike.
“Hey Oli, what’re you doing?”
“WAAAAH! BIG BROTHER! H-how did you find me? I am sure you were lazing in the midfield.”
“I wasn’t lazing, I was meditating, understand?”
“Who are you trying to deceive humph!”
“Okay, don’t try to change the subject, why do you even need to steal these books, you can just read them using your domain.” Advised Theo with a face full of virtue.
“Ah? But, but… mother said SPYING IS BAD!” Oli screamed her last words as she started bawling her eyes out.
“Okay don’t cry, don’t cry.” Theo hugged her as he patted her head. “Big Brother, you -sniff- bullied -sniff- me. I hate you.” She continued to cry for a while more as he started apologizing to her.
‘Seriously, what am I doing cornering her like that, she is just a two-year-old kid, sigh~’
After a while when she calmed down a little, he started tickling her, “Ohohoho, are you ticklish, oh you are ticklish, is it here, or here.” Oli was giggling and trying to suppress it and cry instead in a comical fashion, but she finally fell for Theo’s trained hands.
As he stopped tickling her, he posed dramatically on one knee, “My Princes, would you like to accompany me, the brave hunter, on an adventure to retrieve the lost knowledge stolen by the great dragon king!” “Yes, please!” (AN: We don’t have knights here; we have hunters in shining gear. Hmm- this actually rhymes.)
Doctor Olivia’s library suffered continuous strikes from the book-loving ghost from that day on. Every day, a book would disappear with the one from the previous day reappearing. The problem is that no one ever got to see the culprit.
On their way back home after their adventure, Oli was skipping in happiness as Theo followed behind
“Brother, you have to go on an adventure with me, every day!” Oli said with excitement as she started circling him.
“You know I can just teleport the books over to you directly.” “Not a chance! You will just laze around even more if I let you.” Came the immediate counter from little Oli as she pouted.
“Okay okay, I was just saying.” ‘Sigh, this girl won’t ever let me rest.’
“Oh brother, how were you able to find me in the first-place big brother? Can your domain reach here already? Can it cover all of the tribe?” Bombarded with questions and with Oli’s shining eyes, he decided to show off.
“Well you were off by a litter there; my domain can cover all of the tribes.” He said as he raised his nose high.
“Gah, so you were spying on me the whole time!” Theo tripped on air then he kissed the ground, her surprised and disgusted expression had dealt him a critical hit.
“It is not spying; I am just watching over you.” He said sagely.
“You can stop watching over me now, I am already old enough to take care of myself!” She said as she buffed her chest.
“No, you’re not. If you want to stop my supervision you need to be strong enough to do it yourself.” He said with a gentle but firm tone, that didn’t carry any single bit of leeway
“How long would that take?!”
“If you dedicate more of your soul to cultivation, maybe you can catch up to me after a thousand years or something?”
“Humph, you are being mean again. Mommy, Big Brother is being mean to me again!” she shouted as she ran away to their house that could be seen in the distance.
“I’ll catch you!” Theodore had a slight smile on his face as he followed her suit and ran towards their house ignoring the strange gazes the neighbors were shooting him. After all, seeing the “Lazy Theo” running was a rare sight!
They had dinner after they returned home, then they went to their room. While Oli went back to her study materials, Theo started scribbling on another animal's skin, creating even more study materials for her. He was so engrossed in it he didn’t notice his sister looking over his shoulder till he was finished.
“Oli, you need to stop doing this or you will distract me, and the skin might get destroyed.”
“But… you were just writing so fast that I couldn’t help but come over to observe you closely!”
“You know that complementing me won’t change my opinion, tell me beforehand.”
“It is funny how mom and aunt can’t read this.” Chuckled Oli as she brought her face even closer as Theo started Writing on the second one.
“Well, they don’t have enough control over their energy to read it. Oli is the special one.”
"Hehe~" She appeared quite happy after he stroked her ego.
"When will you start teaching me how to write Runes like you, big brother."
"Well, you still don't meet the requirements, but I can give you an introduction for now."
"Please do!" Her enthusiasm meter was about to burst through the roof.