He took care of her for about two years. When Amelia was about three years old, she had already started speaking and walking. Towards the end of two years, Castiel would teach her how to play with toys herself to keep herself distracted.
Now all he could think about was to go back to school and to start cultivating. Even though the basics of cultivation are public knowledge, he would need to plan his life path and cultivation precisely to get revenge as soon as possible. For better or for worse, Castiel didn’t have teenage tendencies of going head first into problems. So he was going to plan his life path and daily discipline for the next few decades.
To not be able to revenge after painstaking cultivation for decades? That thought never even came to his mind. He couldn’t entertain that possibility. He literally finished all of primary and middle school (ten years of schooling) in one year, he started school when he was ten. He knew he was smarter, much smarter than everyone else he ever met. Even if he couldn’t cultivate, he would find other methods of revenge.
There were two cultivation methods in his mother’s possesion.
Fire Dragon Art: (An art is a method which consists of both the cultivation technique and complimenting attack skills.) Fire element art. Fists are the primary methods of attack, although other weapons can be used. Training to the highest proficiency can bring forth ethereal forms of fire dragon with every move. Highest level - early nascent soul. Author - Mather Zechariah.
So the patriarch created this art and trains in it, huh.” thought Castiel.
The second book looked like a tattered remnant of a ruin. Written on the cover, with what looked like blood, were five words. Secrets of the Nine Hells. He could feel palpable danger emanating from the book. (Secrets are cultivation techniques that can let one breakthrough to pinnacle nascent soul.)
Secrets of the Nine Hells: Dark element cultivation technique. Highest level - pinnacle nascent soul. There was nothing else in the description. Every letter in the book seemed like it was written in blood. As he was putting away Secrets of the Nine Hells to decide on which book to train with, a page with his mother’s handwriting fell out.
“Cass, do not ever let Amelia train in this method. It’s better if you just destroy this book but I cannot force you to do anything. But if you ever find this note, that means this is most probably my last wish. Please baby, do not ever let Amelia train in this method.” He started crying silently as he was reading the note. He didn’t even notice two little hands approaching his face and started wiping his tears away.
“What happened brother? Want some candy?”
“Nothing, baby. Let’s go play hide-n-seek in the garden. Do you want to hide first or seek first?” He embraced her in a tight hug and carried her to the garden separating their house and the rest of the mansion.
…….
To plan his cultivation path he needed to know his talent and elemental affinity first. Since he and his sister were all but abandoned by the Zechariah family, he didn’t want to use the family’s resources.
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There is a cultivator office in every major city of the empire. Every cultivator office has the same building structure. A huge spire spanning hundreds of floors which opens up like a flower at the top. The size of the spire changes depending on the city but the last hundred floors always constitute a gigantic stadium. The lowest floor of the top hundred floors is divided into hundred small battle arenas and the remaining ninety nine floors are used to seat the audience. The spire and the area surrounding it is always the most luxurious section of a city.
The spire manager is always at least a pinnacle nascent soul cultivator appointed by the government. Anything you can imagine can be sought after in the spire. Only your imagination can limit your wants.
Some time in the morning, after he bathed and fed Amelia….
“Ame, I have to go do an important thing. I will return in the evening. There is food on the bedside table. Remember the most important rule? What is it?”
“Hmm.” She just barely nodded and looked distracted. His sister’s emotionless state has been bugging him for a very long time but he has never been able to find any fix.
“Ame, for myself, please repeat the rule once.” He repeated as he kissed her on the cheek.
“Listen to brother and never go out unless with brother.”
“Good girl! Want me to bring you anything?”
“Chocolate-candy sticks.” These sticks melt from chocolate into random fruit flavored candies if sucked but stay chocolaty if you chew them. Good method to teach patience to kids.
Castiel put on a bluish white robe and a black hat that almost fully covered his face from the gaze of adults. He had to put on the hat anytime he was outside because his eyes were too weird. His pupil and iris were both the exact same grey without any striations. Unlike his sister Amelia and late mother who has black iris and black pupils which is also rare but not too much. Looking into Amelia’s eyes almost feels like looking into a blackhole. Usually, iris takes on the color and intensity of the elemental affinity of the person. His sister Amelia will most surely have the same dark elemental affinity as his mother. But no books he read explained the reasoning behind his grey eyes. It didn’t help that even his mother didn’t know the reason and didn’t have other adults in his life to explain. Sometimes he wonders, is he even familially related to his sister and late mother.
As he made his way to the door of their large house, Ame shouted
“Come back fast and don’t forget my chocolate-candy sticks.”
“Absolutely, my princess.” He said as he exaggeratedly moved his hands and body.
The Zechariah mansion covers almost 10000 sq. meters. It’s structured like a palace with conical buildings. Castiel made his way through the guards of the mansion. Since the family has a law enforcement background, they at least outwardly lived like disciplined nobles. Children of the family didn’t have the habit of bullying the weak. While inside the mansion, they either studied or cultivated. So he didn’t have to suffer bullying like in other clichéd large families.
In one of the corridors on the way, he saw a group of ladies teasing approximately a year old baby while one of the ladies was holding it. The baby was Leon Zechariah, his stepbrother. His father remarried just two months after his mother’s death, almost like he was in a hurry to remarry. A few months after that Leon was born. When Leon was born, temperature of the whole Bluefire increased by a few degrees. It rained boiling water torrentially for a few hours. Water element cultivators had to temporarily use the city's protection formation to control the temperature of the environment and the rain from affecting mortals.
There is no doubt that Leon will be a peerless genius in the future with absolutely absurd levels of affinity towards water and fire laws. He is the pearl of the Zechariah family. He has already suffered assassination twice in just one year but they were fortunately thwarted by the family’s shadow guards.
As Castiel approached, the group of ladies hushed their voices and avoided looking at his direction. He also ignored them and went straight past them. It took him almost 20 minutes with his mortal body to reach the mansion’s gates.