Stepping in, he found himself in a spacious dining hall, adorned with meticulous black and white marble tiles. Large swirling pillars held up the overly high ceiling of the hall.
A regal black dining table stood in the middle, its polished surface gleaming under the soft glow of the morning sun.
“Everyone has finished already, huh?”
A three meter long roasted Tigerstrip crab sat in the middle. Even the surrounding dishes like smoked mackerel, large Amsterdamain catfish, and fierce beast ham got overshadowed by it.
Long hao grabbed a croissant, and some slices of the fierce beast ham, low in Qi concentration. His unawakened body could not handle the rank 3 crab meat. If he ingested it, he would probably be hospitalized due to the Qi deviation.
As he was having his meal, he felt a gaze lock on him.
“Oh, the third young master has finally showed up.”
Ugh
A gorgeous lady in her thirties, clad in blue silk and exquisite jewelry, stood in his peripherals.
The marchioness, Mei Lin, was looking at him with a gentle smile on her angular face.
“Step-mother.”
“Mother, how many times do i have to correct you? Also, you should eat more, look at how sickly you have become.”
He stayed silent at the jeering remark. In the entire manor, the only person he could not read was the marchioness.
He finished the food on his hand quickly, leaving without a word.
“Tian’er, when are you going to go to the feng estate again? Your second sister’s 18th birthday is in a week. Take an invitation card along.”
Long tian halted. He had forgotten about his big sister’s upcoming “birthday ceremony.”
“I was going to the lab. But, sure, i will bring an invitation to his house.”
She gazed at him seriously.
“I heard you applied for a drug patent?"
It had been a while since he applied. So it was expected that he knew.
"Yes"
"Wow, suits you."
He could hear the clear derision in her voice.
However, He couldn’t tell if she would interject. She had been always like that. Unpredictable.
He went out of the manor.
A the vast green field that seemed to stretch endlessly was revealed in front of him as he left the large black manor.
He stared at the tall Long Manor that was taller than 400 meters. The stone architecture only had 10 floors. Each floor was not 40 meters in height, though. There was an overly large hall on the second floor, one that took up more than half of the height of this building.
He eyes turned towards the coiling grey dragon that seemed to exist here for an eternity. It was much longer than the manor, coiling almost entirety of it with it's long body. It's grey scales looked like they were made of carved stones.
A large triangular head rested above the long manor, two white canines extending from it's lower jaw. It's long whiskers almost touched the ground. Looking at it's grey, stone texture, one might mistake it as a part of the structure itself.
However, everyone knew it was alive.
It was his father's soul bound spirit beast, a Rank 6 Glacial dragon. It served as the primary protector of Naqueser, in the absence of his father.
After staring at it for a while, He turned around. He would certainly like to cut a piece of it and analyze how rank 6 beast's cells worked, however he feared he might just get eaten up and spit back in the process.
He walked towards the stable not too far away. Long green grasses were swaying in the wind rhythmically. The mild morning rays glistened on the wet tips of the grass, creating a mesmerizing scene. He inhaled a large amount of air, feeling refreshed by the scent of the newly sprouted grass.
He hated some of the seasons here, especially winter. The temperature got well under minus ten degree, preventing him from going out much due to his poor constitution.
To him, spring was the best season of all. Mainly because it ended the painful, unproductive, useless season of winter. He made way towards the stable in front. A brown stable that seemed to be almost a hundred meters tall stood in the distance. Coiling dragonic designs adorning on the walls
“Apollo”
There was no response for some time, but he kept staring at the yellow sky.
Soon, he noticed a white dot among the clear golden-yellow sky, turning bigger and bigger until it stopped in front of him.
*whish*
A huge gust of wind blowed at him, turning his neatly combed brown hair into a mess.
“Stop doing that, apollo.”
Long tian complained with an helpless face.
*Neighhh*
Its white mane danced in the bright sunlight, casting a brilliant glow on the ground.
Although reminiscent of the horses from his past life, this one was much larger, reaching up to 5 meters in height. However, it’s vertical pupils were like reptiles, giving it a rather imposing presence.
The horse gazed at long tian with anticipation. It’s large, vertical eyes almost seemed to be pleading.
“Alright, alright. Don’t be so eager.”
Long tian chuckled and brought out a small container from his pocket, tossing a capsule towards it.
*Crunch Crunch*
He called it a ‘food capsule’. Originally, he made these because he kept forgetting the track of time, causing him to miss his meals. It’s biggest flaw was it’s bland, pansy taste.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
However, apollo was addicted to it. He had to feed it one every time he used it, or it would not budge.
This grandpa is getting extorted by a horse in another world!
Long tian stared at the horse that was savoring the capsule with gutso, he was unsure whether to laugh or cry. After savoring it, it quickly went and attached itself to one of the white carriages.
*thud thud*
Entering the carriage, long tian struck twice.
Neighh
As apollo jumped off the ground, stretches of endless green plains passed by in a few instants.
****
A bunch of young teenagers in whitish body armor were running inside a training regiment. Beads of sweat fell from their heads as they dragged their feet in exhaustion.
Neigh
A loud noise reached their ears as the horse bolted from above, causing the curious young teens to stop running.
“Huff huff.”
A small eyed boy looked at the carriage as he panted loudly.
“Third young master is off again.”
“Must be nice, not having to do any of this.”
Another fat kid beside him replied in an envious tone as he sweated profusely.
“Huff, huff, Wei, don’t be jealous. At least we are still better than the mortals in the empire. Once we join the seventh brigade, we would never have to worry about being hungry again."
The small eyed boy in white exclaimed wistfully.
“Right! I heard you could do anything with contribution. I am going to ask Lady Yu’s hand in marriage once I have enough of them.”
Wei Lin was rejuvenated as he declared his goal in life, his eyes shining like stars.
“Stop dreaming, you fat bastard."
His dream was quickly broken, as he heard a cynical whisper behind his ear. A pale white hand rested on his shoulder as it pointed at the middle of the field.
“You can’t even beat her little brother.”
A white haired kid that was no older than seven stood far away, his left hand holding a intricate amber bow that was almost as large as him.
The three watched enviously as he brought out three steel arrows out of his spatial ring.
The small boy focused on the moving humanoid target standing 1500 meters away, closing his eyes as he gauged the air movement around him.
*Peng*
*Peng*
*Peng*
A row of bowstring noises reached their ears, as they stared at the three arrows with full concentration. However, confusion was etched on their face as they watched the arrows go in different direction.
"He missed?”
“Keep watching”
The third arrow whistled loudly as it twisted in the air, defying the airflow as it turned left, moving slowly towards the second arrow.
*Ting*
It deeply embedded itself into the second arrow in front, causing it to turn towards the arrow in front.
Both of the arrows lunged towards the moving humanoid dummy as the three watched the scene with bated breath.
*Whish*
The embedded arrow missed the arrow in front by mere millimetres, causing both to miss the target.
“He missed!”
Wei Lin’s exclaimed happily.
“He did it without Qi”
““WHAT””
Both of them gaped at his words.
“BIG BROTHERSSSSSSS”
Hearing the thin, melodious voice call from behind, they felt a chill in their spine. All of them started running in full speed.
“Huff, huff. Wei, run for your life. Or your small bro might get crucified. No amount of contribution would be enough after that.”
******
In the heart of Huaxia, an immeasurably long canyon stood proudly, like the sentinels of time.
Yellow sunlight descended on it's weathered grey peaks, reflecting a pale golden hue over the wide river that twisted like a snake. The golden rays reflected from the canyon dyed it's transparent water in a subtle hue of yellow.
Legends of Raoqen say that God of war, Ballathor was responsible for the creation of the grand canyon. ‘He' in his divine wrath sent down his sword ‘Quesel' upon Raoqen, creating this majestic canyon that spanned for tens of thousands of miles.
*Ripple*
A small boat drifted silently amidst the two giant peaks, creating silent ripples in the tranquil golden waters. A girl with short blonde hair sat on the bow, gazing at the golden pallor with awe and wonder. The faint golden hue reflected on her beautiful angular face, casting a barrage of shadow behind her.
She stared at the scene that looked like a natural painting, completely captivated by it's brilliance.
The ‘Northern capital' of Huaxia.
The Land Of Gold.
The Ancient Utopia.
It was a land of many different names, one that has stood proudly for ages, since long before the establishment of Huaxia.
“Fei Rin”
A beautiful woman glared at her, causing her to flinch and sit properly. As Fei Rin faced towards her mother, the woman adorning a wooden headband spoke solemnly.
“Only Academy will give access to the amount of resources you need. Remember, you will mainly meet two kinds of people here. First group of people are the nobles, those who largely enter through backdoors. Second group are-.”
“The best of the best”
Fei Rin nodded at her mother’s word, knowing what she was going to say next. She had heard these words at least half a dozen times during her way.
“Rin”
The beautiful woman with a wooden headband touched Fei Rin's cheeks gently, caressing it lightly. Her eyes filled with love and concern.
“You are the last hope of the clan. Make sure to take care of yourself. Okay?”
“Un”
Lifting her head up, Fei Rin stared at the small hole in front of her that was only big enough for one person.
She stared towards her mother one last time.
“Mom, I will miss you”
Her mother broke the wooden headband, causing a huge surprise on Rin's face.
“Mom!”
The band slowly turned into a staff with 3 glowing gems on it.
It glowed purple, yellow and blue.
!Artefact 402!
The staff of Aryan.
As It slowly floated towards her, she stared at it with a complex expression on her face. Her expression turned resolute as she looked at her mother who was severely injured.
“Our clan will rise again, mother. I promise you”
Her mother smiled as a line of blood trailed her chin.
“I love you”
“I love you more, mother.”
She jumped into the small hole. As she went down the dark hole, she felt her entire being shift up and down for minutes before seeing signs of light.
A sense of vertigo hit her another hole spitted her out.
A writhing metal plate caught her from falling on into the water. However, it was soft like a cotton, absorbing the impact easily without hurting her. She stared at the scene in front. Thousands of floating metal bars kept catching the people that fell out of Air continuously, preventing them from falling into the water below.
Nobody would be able to guess that this place was within the deep Canyon. She gazed at the yellow sky in awe. The sun looked even more mesmerising from here.
The city of gold extended from five feet below the rippling water. However that only seemed to increase it's mysticism.
Four huge steel skyscrapers were scraping the clouds, reflecting their grey silhouette on the golden river below. They each stood far from each other, at the four corner of the huge city.
The small metal plate floated above one of the grey pathways. Thousands of grey pathways lay in between the grey metal skyscrapers, standing right above the water.
As she landed on one of the pathways, the metal plates below her legs dismantled and went away to catch another person.
Bustling shops and hawkers could be seen as the grey pathway automatically moved her forward. Majority of the them were adorning grey cloaks and garments. She stared at the rough wool fabrics, wondering why they were wearing such heavy clothes during daytime.
“Fei Rin?”
A woman in charcoal grey uniform stood behind her. A small insignia of Academy was itched onto her left chest.
Fei Rin looked confused. What was an instructor doing out here? And how did she know her name? However, she bowed down without further ado.
“Yes, Ma'am”
She had been taught of the decorum here. Every student had to proper etiquettes or they will suffer thoroughly.
The woman with red lipstick smiled craftily at the nervous Fei Rin.
“Level 6 Class B rank 1, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. I just got lucky.”
“Nobody becomes lucky enough to be number 1. Well done”
“Thank you, ma'am”
The woman adorning the red lipstick smiled at the curt replies.
“Good. Good. Good. You seem prepared for the Academy. ”
Fei Rin smiled a bit awkwardly at her question.
“Yes, ma'am. My mother was a student of batch 9106”
“Oh? No wonder. Well then, Fei Rin. I have a mission for a you.”
A mission? She had been just enrolled into the Academy and she was already being assigned a mission? This is ridiculous.
However, she did not voice out her thoughts.
But the seductive woman in front of her seemed to have gauged her reaction already, reassuring her with a smile.
“No worries, It's just a rank D Stera mission. You will have two seniors looking over you.”
As the chit chatted, they soon reached the middle of the city.
Two gold pillars stood proudly in front, adorning an ancient bloody sign of ‘Academy'.
She quickly quickly looked down, taking her eyes away from the bloody sign that seemed to emanate bloodthirstiness. Her mother had specifically told her to not look at it.
“Welcome to Academy”
Staring at the passing structures and Institutes that were different from each other, she felt her head spin. Soon, the vehicle reached a huge golden building that was well over thousand meters in length and width.
“The training hall”
She whispered as she looked at the golden hall.
“Go on in, room no 973. Do not be scared, that girl just looks a bit intimidating.”
She had no idea what Madame was talking about, however, seemed like she was going to have some trouble on her first day.
She stepped on the huge golden stairs in front.
*Clang Clang*
The stairs started moving by itself.
“Room number?”
A booming voice reached her ears from the stairs, asking impatiently.
“973”
It started moving automatically. Soon she reached in front of a large room.
*ting*