Stretching my sore muscles, I walked down the main hall. Life at Xinshan Mountain had taken on a routine pattern. After breakfast, I would head to Moss Cavern where I would be eventually pummelled by rateh. Training with Elder Luidong was brutal. Each time I thought I had the edge during our training session in the past weeks, he would just increase the speed of his projectiles. Still, even I could see the fruits of the training. My stats had all been increasing, though mainly dexterity and my xetral points.

In the afternoon, my mother tutored me. It wasn’t too bad as I loved to learn new things. However, since I was so battered and bruised after my training, it was harder to sit through it. The last part of my day was a nice relaxing sit in one of the hot springs. Except for the random old monks in the hot spring, it was arguably one of the best parts of the day.

Of course, not all days were the same. Sometimes I had free time to explore, or hang out with Crinitus. Other days, I spent the entire day training. One day was different than the others, however. Nathaniel’s parents were visited by of the Elders attending to Nathaniel with some news.

Nathaniel’s condition had improved. The Elders had successfully rewired all of Nathaniel’s xetral currents, which had been one of the biggest issues. With his xetral currents connected, it was certain that Nathaniel would survive. The only probably now was reconnecting his mind to his brain. It didn’t make much sense to me and how that was supposed to work, but all I could do was accept the Elder’s word for it.

Taking a left, I headed toward the Zhishi Library. A massive library, its high arched ceiling with its many floors of shelves were an impressive sight. The stone columns arched to form an impressive domed ceiling, which peaked with skylights. Sun jade lined the walls, which were lined with niches filled with bookshelves. Opening the main door to the Zhishi Library, I walked into the grand floor covered in sunlight. This space was covered with desks which were littered with reading monks and studying guests. On the back shelves were books. To the left and right were staircases that lead for higher floors. Heading left, I climbed to the second floor. Floors were divided into sections, which were subdivided into genre, and then organized into smaller topics. Combing the shelves, I searched for a book on rateh. To do better in my training, my first step should be to learn more about rateh and how to counter it. In all the books I had read, rateh had always only been a conductor for xetral used in casting gamic. Yet, Elder Luidong used it to attack.

Rabbits: a guide on how to properly raise them . . . . . . Random facts of the wildlife of Camaire . . . . . . . . . Rashes: common cures . . . . . . . . not on this shelf.

“Ouch.”

Stumbling, I looked away from the shelf to realize I had just bumped into someone.

“My bad, I wasn’t looking. Are you okay?”

Picking up the books on the floor, the person- the boy looked at me in puzzlement.

“Its okay. Wait, how old are you? If I am not mistaken, you are around my age. I didn’t realize there was anyone as young as I am here at Xinshan Mountain.”

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Neither did I, except for Nathaniel, but he doesn’t count.

“I am seven, going to be eight in a couple months.” I replied.

The boy smiled.

“Nice to meet you. I am eight, so slightly older than you. Wow, I really didn’t expect to see anyone younger than me or around my age for that matter.”

“My name is Edward. And what is yours?”

“Lufis. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

I was happy to go on first name basis. Normally, whenever I say I am a Lantideniz, I receive special treatment. Nothing completely wrong with that, it just leads to very formal conversations. Yet this still feels very formal for some reason.

“I apologize for my speech and grammar earlier. I have been mostly talking to myself the past couple of weeks, so I was not expecting to suddenly talk to someone so young. Not being ageist, but most of the monks here are so absorbed in their reading they don’t really talk to me.”

“So what are you looking for, Lufis?”

“Just seeing if they had anything on how to counter rateh.”

Edward laughed.

“Then why are you looking in the nonfiction section?”

“Well . . . you know . . .”

Edward shook his head.

“If you wanted to find something about retah or xetral, it would be in the gamic portion of the library. However, the gamic section of the Zhishi Library is on Yushan mountain. Knowledge on stuff like gamic is only available to the monks. While the Secondary Branch of the Zhishi Library here on Xushan Mountain is open to the public, the Elders do not want people with ill intentions to gain knowledge and use it for evil. Which means everybody else can’t get access to it either. It sucks, but there is nothing you can do about it.”

Nathaniel’s POV

The darkness was really starting to bore me after all this time. All I could see was darkness. And that is it. I had no sense of position of where I was, nor could I even feel or sense my own body.

In the darkness, I was left to my own devices. Since all I could do was think, that's what I did. Time seemed endless, infinite. After thinking for what seemed to be a long period of time, I came to several semi-rational conclusions.

One, I was still alive. I try to think positive.

Two, my brain/mind was separated from my body. I don’t know how, but most likely my body is shut down due to that xetral poisoning I saw briefly and I am in some sort of a coma.

Three, I had messed up big time.

Time passed, and nothing seemed to change for a while.

However slowly, ever so slowly, something started to happen. I started to see something besides darkness. White appeared at the very bottom corners of my vision. Soon, a very slow sunrise of white occured. It was the purest white I had ever seen, which contrasted with the unadulterated black.

I even began to regain my sense of feeling. I could feel my body, lying on the hard ground. Cool water lapped at my sides, as I lay in a thin pool of water staring at the white sky. Struggling to move, I rolled over onto my side. The clearest blue water I had ever seen reflected the image of my face. My muscles groaned as I struggled to my feet. Slipping, I landed flat on my face as my legs gave out underneath me. Taking deep breaths, I slowly raised myself onto my knees. Staring into my reflection, I stared at my weak and pathetic state.

“Stop acting like some wounded hero, you egotistical kid.”

Looking up in surprise, I had no time to react as I was kicked swiftly in the face. Knocked backwards, I found myself again lying in the water staring up at the white sky.

“We need to talk Nathaniel Armis, or should I say, Dominic Miller?”