Chapter 25 – Until we meet again!
During the following days, Marcus and Kane spent most of their time enjoying themselves, whilst they ventured to various cities. For Kane, this experience not only aided him to acquire further knowledge about never seen before objects and materials; this was also the greatest holiday of his life!
Marcus and Kane had so much fun together that they seemed to have forgotten about the passage of time. However, the days still passed by without waiting for anyone, and it was now the 20th of August.
Marcus was presently flying, whilst Kane followed in his trails inside a spherical wind sphere. Kane was fully healed, whilst he was wearing a new set of mostly white coloured cloths, giving him the appearance of a scholar.
“There it is… it is finally visible, the great portal of Planet Giji!” Marcus informed whilst turning around to look at Kane. “This portal is different than the others, and it only teleports you to one destination: Moon Gazayo II, the Imperial Administrative Centre of the Eastern Galactic Sector!”
Kane glanced at the portal whilst inwardly uttered, “This portal is indeed different than the others, it`s at least five times the size of the other portals!”
When Marcus arrived near the portal, he slowly descended, until finally landing on the ground, bringing Kane down with him.
Marcus then turned facing Kane, “I can’t believe the time for us to separate has come my disciple!” He then paused for a breath, “To be honest… I was hoping for a longer training session. Unfortunately we were interrupted!”
“It`s ok Master. I have learned a lot already, and I am sure that at the academy I will be learning much more,” Kane assured.
Marcus smiled in agreement, then invited Kane to sit down next to him on the ground. “Before we depart, there are some items that I wish to give you and some final advices too.”
“Let`s start with the items…” Marcus uttered whilst he took out a large one handed silver sword that had a bronze grip, and had a small red crystal engraved on its pommel. The moment Kane saw the sword, his surprised eyes glowed with excitement.
“Here take this sword. It is a very precious sword, made by an expert bladesmith of our Verde Clan. If you had to estimate a value, the sword would fetch a market price of around 10 million Piras! And you don’t have to worry about the crystal running out of power, since it was charged up by an immortal! In fact, this sword has a charged life time of around 200 years.”
Marcus then placed the sword on top of Kane`s shivering hands. Kane remained staring at it, seemingly not believing he had acquired such an extraordinary weapon. “Wow. This is an amazing sword!” Kane shouted with excitement. “But… are you really sure you want to give me such a valuable sword?” Kane asked, but at the same time unconsciously hoping that Marcus’ reply would be in the positive.
“Take it, it is yours,” Marcus confirmed but instantly warned, “I don’t recommend that you go and show that sword around. Instead, you should keep it safely stored in your storage device, and only use it in precarious circumstances. Considering the value of the sword and your current strength, people would unquestionably try to steal it from you!”
Kane nodded in agreement, but was interrupted half way when Marcus threw a bag of money.
“In that bag there are 100k Piras. That should be enough pocket money for you!”
Marcus then took out another item. It was an orange crystal, shaped as an octahedron, the size of a finger. “This is called a crystal of connection. I have bonded it with my blood, and it is directly connected to another crystal of connection that I have. If you ever find yourself in any troubles, immediately crush the crystal. I will instantly notice you are in danger and will come for your aid, provided I am in the vicinity!”
Kane felt relieved as he grabbed the crystal and hid it well under his cloths.
Marcus then brought one last item, a green amulet. On it were engraved the following words: ‘Royal Academy Recommendation – Owner: Marcus Verde.’
“Here take this and immediately bind it with your blood Kane,” Marcus instructed. Kane promptly obeyed, as drops of his blood fell on the amulet, producing a sparking effect that lasted for a few a seconds.
“What is this object Master?” Kane curiously asked.
“It is an amulet of recommendation. With this amulet, you will be able to completely bypass the selection process. You can already consider yourself a student of the Royal Academy! Remember, without this amulet you have zero chance of being accepted into that academy! Don’t lose it!”
Marcus then laughed out like a child, “Haha! I can already imagine the faces of the recruiters upon seeing that I have recommended a weakling such as you! I am sure you will infamously be known as the academy`s weakest student of its entire history!”
Kane instantly expressed a comically annoyed face. “You aren’t being that inspiring Master…”
“Haha! Kane, if everything goes according to plan, your dimensional lock will be removed, and you will become one of the strongest scholars of the academy! Imagine their surprised faces then!” Marcus laughed.
Kane didn’t felt much relief though; he was already imagining the ridicule he would be suffering! He now deeply hoped that the Eastern Sectorial Patriarch would actually help him, otherwise he would end up in big trouble!
Marcus then stood up. “Kane, now listen to these instructions very well.”
Kane looked at Marcus weirdly. “Hmm?!”
Marcus promptly said, “This is my first Instruction. As your Master, I am forbidding you from engaging in a fight with a Kanklar, or anyone of the higher ranks! For whichever reason it might be! Am I being clear enough?!”
Kane slowly rose on his feet and funnily uttered, “Do I look that stupid?”
However, shortly after Kane seemed to have thought of something, and queried thoughtfully, “Is there a way to tell if a fighter is a Kanklar?”
Marcus pondered for a while before replying. “If they decide to hide their powers, it will be impossible for you to know their real strength. However, some of them like to wear military coats and can be easily identified, whilst others will openly boast of their powers.”
“Remember this Kane. There are two ranking systems in this galaxy, the lower ranks and the higher ranks,” Marcus explained. “The lower ranks are based on the powers of the elemental soul, and they range from rank 1, the apprentice soul fighter, to rank 12, the complete soul elemental.”
“However, any fighter that reaches the 6th rank of the soul, have the potential to unlock a formidable ability, and advance to the higher ranks! A Kanklar is a fighter who succeeded in unlocking that very ability!”
“There is quite a big gap in strength from the fighters of the higher ranks compared to those of the lower ranks! For an example, a Kanklar who is still at the 6th rank of the soul can easily crush a fighter who is at the 12th rank of the elemental soul but not a Kanklar!”
Kane wasn’t surprised when he heard this. He had already assumed that Kanklars were very strong fighters, because of their high administrative positions they hold, and the respect shown to Kanklars by other people.
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“And now… this is my second and final instruction.” Marcus suddenly moved towards Kane and hugged him tightly, “Until we meet again, make sure you are still in one piece, my one and only disciple!”
Kane felt a little emotional whilst he jokingly uttered, “I’ll try to, but no promises!”
Marcus let out a soft laugh. “Let`s go to the portal now. I will be paying you the fee, then I shall depart for the Imperial palace.”
Kane instantly felt a little nervous, “Already?! I thought you were coming with me to the Royal Academy!”
“I can’t come with you kid…”
“Why?!!” Kane instantly probed.
“Err… I am just… allergic to the air of Moon Gazayo II!” Marcus confirmed.
Kane was left dumbfounded by this bizarre declaration, “How can anyone be allergic to air?!!”
Marcus frowned funnily. “It is a very rare condition… it only happens to me on that moon! Anyways! Consider this as part of your training! If you want to become a strong fighter, you need to learn to be independent! Besides, all you need to do is pay someone to transport you to the Royal Academy. Even a six year old kid can do that!”
Marcus then enchanted the teleportation sphere techniques, and shortly after they appeared before the portal keeper.
When the portal keeper saw Marcus, his eyes opened wide in disbelief, and his body started to shiver, “Marcus?!! Why have you come here?!!! Don’t tell me you`re…”
Marcus moved coolly towards the portal keeper, interrupting, “I am just seeing off this kid. Here take the moneys.”
Upon hearing this, the portal keeper let out a long breath of relief, and his terrified expression quickly disappeared.
Marcus then turned to look one final time towards Kane, “This is where we depart kid. When I am done with this stupid mission, I will come and find you again.”
“I’ll be waiting for you Master! Be safe!” The now emotional Kane said one last time, before walking slowly towards the portal, then disappeared shortly after.
Marcus felt sad seeing him go, “Heh… I’ll miss him...” He kept contemplating for a while, then he teleported himself away to a remote region of Planet Giji. He then took out a large staff from his storage device, which was powered by a very small violet crystal.
“Time to go to the Imperial Palace,” he thought inwardly, “But first…”
He took out one of his devices and shouted inside it, “Valentina! Come out for a moment!”
The portal of the device gradually widened, and from it emerged a young teenage girl, with very long green hair and adorable green eyes. She had a half-eaten chocolate muffin in her hand. She quickly glanced at her surroundings, then spoke whilst she bit another piece of her muffin, “Hmm, did you see off that kid already? Which junior academy have you enlisted him?”
Marcus looked at her stupidly, “Do you ever pay attention to me?! I already told you that I was going to enlist him to an academy, I never mentioned a junior academy!”
“What!!? Hey! Wait a moment! How old is your disciple exactly?!!” Valentina asked completely dumbfounded.
“His 17 years old…” Marcus coolly replied.
“What?!!! I thought he was only 13-14 years old! Who in his right mind would call a 17 year old a kid?!!” Valentina screamed in surprise.
Marcus made a weird face. “What? For me anyone under 200 years old is a kid…”
Valentine opened her eyes wide open in disbelief and heatedly shouted, “What kind of flawed reasoning is that!”
“Hey now Valentina… are you by any chance feeling sorry for not seeing his body?” Marcus started pulling her leg.
Valentina didn’t respond, instead crossing her hands together and then turned her face away stubbornly. “Hmmmpphh!!!”
Shortly after she ate the remaining part of her muffin, as she elevated herself upwards in the air and flew towards Marcus. She then glanced down towards Marcus’ face, hands on her waist, her body posture radiating with superiority. “Then you must have enlisted him to the Yellow Ribbon Academy of this planet?”
Marcus, now a little annoyed, said, “I have sent him to an academy of another planet… aren’t you asking me too many questions now?!”
Valentina couldn’t believe what she just heard and furiously shouted, “Which master would send off his only disciple alone?!! How can you be so insensitive?!!!!!”
“I had no other option…” Marcus comically frowned. “I have enlisted him to the Royal Academy. If I had gone with him, I am sure that Pietro Verde would have been able to sense my aura. He would have chased after me to try and kill me!!”
Valentina`s eyes expanded, her body trembled, and her facial expression was now full of desperation. She furiously roared, “Are you nuts!!!!!! What`s the big idea!!!!!!!! Are you trying to get your only disciple killed already?!!!!”
“I had no other choice Valentina! Pietro Verde is the only person who can help him from his current condition! Besides, I know Pietro very well, he would never lower himself to kill a defenceless kid, though I fear he might use him to lure me out…” Marcus complained. “Geez… I can’t believe Pietro still holds a grudge against me over those petty matters!”
“You must be joking uncle!” Valentina yelled whilst she funnily pressed her finger on Marcus’ chin. “You know, I had heard about your incidents with Pietro in the past… how he had ended up being captured and tortured for three months because you had forgotten about your mission; you had been busy dating two young lasses instead!... I also heard how he had borrowed you 80 million Piras and you never paid him back! …and how about your little adventures you apparently had with his little darling sister…”
Marcus pressed his lips together stupidly. “You brat! How you know all of these things?!”
“Hmmppph!! Everyone in our clan knows these things! And I know a lot more… hey! What are you doing?! Let me go!!”
Marcus smiled whilst holding Valentina from her cloths. “Geez what a troublesome niece I have. Ok, time to depart for the Imperial Palace!”
“No! Wait! I don’t want to go there! Take me home already!” Valentina cried as she randomly kicked and punched Marcus.
“Hey stop it, you`re tickling me now…” Marcus laughed out, then he raised his staff. Power emerged from it, and a large dimensional portal formed.
“You weakling! You can’t even form a portal without the aid of a teleportation staff!” Valentina mocked.
Marcus kept smiling, coolly saying, “Dimensional power was never my forte you know! Are you ready now my lovely niece? Because you are coming with me to the Imperial Palace!!”
He then flew into the dimensional portal. Valentina instantly screamed, “I don’t want to go to the Imperial palace!!! Take me home now!!! Noooooooooooo…!!!”
Her frantic voice resounded through the area for a while, as the dimensional portal slowly closed, until fading away.