Chapter 10

I couldn’t help but feel a bit stunned at that number. If I could stay near this man I’d gain over a thousand energy an hour. Nearly four times what I had gained from the guard that gave me over three hundred energy when they died.

Unfortunately I didn’t hide my surprise very well. Elder Yui was giving me a suspicious look. “How about you come inside and have some tea.” He said.

I couldn’t help but feel nervous. This man was giving off so much energy it made me wonder about just how powerful he was. Surely he was one of the level eight powerhouses of clan Ashton. In my current state he could crush me as easily as a bug.

“I insist.” The elder said with a bit of a glare.

I felt my forehead break out in sweat. “In that case I’d love to have a cup of tea.” I said realizing it was pointless to try to refuse.

The guards made to follow me but the elder held up a hand. “The invitation was for Adam alone. He will be quite safe in my presence. I’ll make sure to deliver him back to you as soon as we are done.” He said and then entered his hut.

Gathering up my courage I followed him inside. What I found inside surprised me. Every bit of furniture was made of wood. In fact everything in the hut looked like it was made of wood. Even more surprising was that it looked like everything had been grown into the shape it was in. Everything was covered in bark except for the tops of the table and chairs which had the bark removed and were sanded smooth.

The elder gestured towards a chair and I took a seat. He then went to a shelf along the wall and grabbed a couple of wooden cups. He then filled each with liquid from a different cask that he had on the next shelf down from the cups. Coming back to the table he passed me one of them.

For half a second I wondered if he was going to poison me. Then I realized I was being foolish. The man could kill me with the wave of his hand if he wanted. Raising the cup to my lips I took a drink.

The flavor surprised me. It was light and refreshing with a slightly woody smell. It reminded me of being in a forest right after a spring shower. Even in my memories from being Zhao I had never tasted anything like it.

“What do you think of the tea?” Elder Yui asked me.

“It’s exquisite. I’ve never tasted anything that came close.” I said honestly.

“I’m glad you like it. It’s a combination of herbs that took me years to perfect. It’s not my best. But then again my best tea is imbued with energy and would kill someone of your strength.” The elder said.

“My strength?” I asked.

“I know all about you Zhao. Yet I can feel that you are a second level cultivator. Which is quite surprising since your core is shattered. Are you some type of spy? I've spent centuries hiding that I’m a ninth level cultivator. And yet you detected it in an instant.” The elder said.

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I nearly choked on my tea. “Ninth level.” I said, staring at him with wide eyes.

Elder Yui sighed. “I must be getting stupid in my old age. I felt you absorb a tiny bit of my energy when we shook hands. If that wasn’t a way to detect my strength, what was it?”

My mind scrambled for an explanation. Amazingly it found a lifeline. A small piece of information that I could use to explain this situation. Although it would be far closer to the truth than I was willing to admit. It was better than explaining the dimensional originator though.

“When my core was shattered I gained an ability. That's why I visited the garden. I wanted to fully explore what my ability could do.” I said.

Elder Yui looked thoughtful. In addition to cultivators and magic this world had people that had special abilities. Although on Earth they probably would have been called super powers. Unlike in Earth comic books when compared to the powers of a mage or cultivator most abilities were useless. Although a few were very beneficial when combined with being a cultivator or mage. For example being ten times stronger or tougher was very beneficial for a cultivator.

There wasn’t a lot of emphasis put on abilities in this culture. This was due to three reasons. First it usually took a life or death situation for an ability to become active. Second, it was unlikely that an ability would be inherited by the children of an ability holder. Third and perhaps most importantly was that even if a child did inherit an ability from a parent it was almost always a different ability.

For example your father may have an ability that makes him ten times stronger. If you were very lucky you will have an ability also. But first you must encounter a life and death situation for it to become active. And even then it probably won’t make you ten times stronger. Even if it is sort of useful, it probably won’t be as useful as magic talent. And magic talent is passed down far more often and doesn’t require a life and death situation to be activated.

Still there were a few very famous cultivators with abilities. The most famous would be Leo the one man army. He had the ability to make clones of his body. He had gained the name as a level six cultivator. By himself he had kept an entire army from crossing a pass for an entire week. Which had given his clan time to organize reinforcements and defeat the enemy army when he finally let it pass. Currently he was a rank nine cultivator. Despite not being a mage cultivator he could defeat most mage cultivators simply by overwhelming them. In addition there were numerous stories of him fighting armies and beast surges by himself.

The most famous group was the steel guards. A team of elite cultivators that one of the central clans had created. Everyone in the steel guards had abilities that raised their defense significantly. In order to become an official member of the group they had to be at the eighth level. It was rumored that although their offensive power was lacking defensively they were invincible against any opponent below the ninth level. It was also rumored that a couple of their captains had reached the ninth level. The same rumor said that even ninth level cultivators were unable to injure the ninth level captains of the steel guard.

Of course it was widely believed that any of those famous cultivators with abilities would fall before a mage cultivator that was talented enough. Each tier of magic increased the power of a mage cultivator significantly. For instance Zhao could have become a third tier lightning cultivator. If I had mastered that talent as a level six cultivator I would have been able to defeat a level eight cultivator. Although even as a level eight cultivator I would have had trouble fighting a level nine cultivator. There was a massive qualitative difference between level eight and nine.

The point was that even Leo or the steel guards would hesitate to face a ninth level mage cultivator that had mastered third tier magic. Against fourth tier magic all they could do was flee. So the focus had always been increasing the magical talent of a clan. Abilities were respected and considered useful but no clan would rely upon them for multi-generational stability.