A wolf in sheep's clothing, that's the only way to describe this man standing opposite Lucius. Seemingly young and calm like the spring breeze, he hid his ferocious side well with his apathetic eyes barely hinting at something deeper.
This exact man had Lucius in the palm of his hand literally, with a tight grip on his shoulder. Lucius would find it difficult to escape this precarious situation. Still it wasn't as if he was completely out of options, if the man wanted him alive Lucius could accidentally lose consciousness, where he would need to rapidly need to build strength in the other world. That plan would only work under the assumption that Lucius wasn't going to be killed in the next few seconds.
"You intrigue me, you fall out the sky after which you kill some random villager and then run away with no destination in mind. You look barely older than 5 yet can still scheme, you are lost and seem unsure of the world. In front of me you do not show fear but instead intelligence that you no doubt are using to plan an escape, I look at you and see weakness and yet a hidden strength. Am I wrong and I am simply looking to much into it?" The man relaxed his grip but still kept eye contact, making his glare even more hostile.
"I'm sorry sir I don't know what you are talking about, I really have to go." This was Lucius' chance to leave he didn't want to wait around any longer. For all he knew a village elder was on their way to kill him to avenge the girl.
Lucius could only laugh at that thought and guessed he must have been a psychic in one of his previous lives because in the distance an Old man with a small boy following behind approached.
Lucius was suddenly pushed behind the odd man and felt martial power sweep over him, removing the burnt substance across his body. Although brief and not long enough for Lucius to calculate the strength of the martial power he knew one thing, that it was strong.
The old man stopped in front of the strange guy, the old man had a bald head with a long grey beard stretching down to his chest, the boy beside him was the same one as before however he had the eyes of terror and rage combined.
"Are you the ones who killed Emily, if so you better prepare to die a more gruesome death than what you did to that sweet little girl." The old man condensed martial power around his fists creating rings of thorns around each fist. "Thorn Cutter" the old man shouted out the skill to give it more power and with a large slash he aimed to wrap the thorns around the strange guys neck.
But before they reached him the thorns dissipated as white sparks flashed across the air, without a word or movement the strange guy eradicated the old mans attack. The old man stumbled backwards and was shocked to see his skill dealt with so easily.
Lucius observed the skill closely and believed he understood the power of the old man as well as the skill he just used. In the old era of Pavarion skills would be ranked alongside cultivation realms. A skill would then be a Low, High or Flawless grade, Lucius believed this had not changed as that attack skill was clearly a Low grade one and if the low attack power was anything to go off then that skill was definitely a Soul Origin one making this Elder less than remarkable, especially for his old age.
"Is this how you welcome Imperial Guests in the Cloud Striking Village, I must say it is rather rude to include fights in your introductions. Or perhaps your unaware that you are facing Imperial Lord Samael Grimvale in which case I may spare your life." The strange guy was called Samael and was an Imperial Lord, Lucius had no clue what that meant and was still wondering why he was protecting him.
"I'm so sorry milord, I was so angry that I didn't recognise you and even attacked you, please punish me and spare the rest of the village." The old man's attitude made a complete 180 and started to kneel and grovel at Samael’s feet.
"You may stand. Just escort me to the Village so I may talk to the head, understand that I have spared your life today." Samael sent forth his oppressing aura that made the old man and child cower, this time it was enough for Lucius to discover what realm this Samael was in. It turned out he was in the Radiant Sky Realm, a powerful expert to say the least. He was only a realm or two short of being in the same realm Lucius was in before he was reborn.
"Milord may I ask who this is accompanying you, we believed to only be receiving you today." The old man asked humbly and respectfully to ensure he didn't offend this powerful expert again.
"I decided to adopt this young boy, I have not had children of my own and when I was wondering the lands I found him living in the wilderness, he knows little of the world but has strong foundations to become a martial artist." Samael’s words surprised everyone present especially Lucius, he thought he could live independently but now he had an adoptive father, then again it was most likely just a facade, a trick that Samael was playing.
"It is an honour to greet an elder of the Cloud Striking Village, I am known as Lucius." Lucius was conveying his name to Samael so the lie would run smoothly and he wasn't found out.
Samael looked at Lucius with cold eyes, he was constantly evaluating him and became more certain that this was no ordinary kid. A child that had descended from the heavens with unnatural intelligence and a vicious nature would intrigue anybody, Samael thought he would take a gamble perhaps if this child was of the heavens he had something to gain out of it as well.
The group of four people began heading towards the Village, the Elder and Samael began talking about the villages situation whilst Lucius and the boy trailed behind.
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"Did you see a wild beast head in your direction, um or perhaps a person. Anything at all?" The small child looked at Lucius with wet eyes, grief was evident and made this small boy look broken. Lucius didn't respond after he looked at him and then dismissed him, he thought remaining silent was the best solution. For all he knew after Samael finished his business Lucius would be thrown to the wolves, better if he came across as a shy little boy that couldn't harm a fly.
Soon after the bustling sounds of people entered Lucius' ears, In front of his eyes now stood a tall wooden fence, with an imposing gate in the middle. Guards stood in watch towers with bows in hand, at the sight of the elder the doors were swung open and the guests were welcomed.
"The Village head has a grave matter to deal with at the moment so he will have to trouble you to wait around for awhile, is that okay milord?" The old man was almost begging Samael to accept having to wait, if not things were going to get ugly fast.
"Tell the Village head that we will discuss our business tomorrow. Give me and my son a place to stay for the night." Samael just accepted waiting, he could make a big deal out of being disrespected but that wouldn't solve either his or the villages problems.
Lucius cringed at the word 'son' perhaps his new life didn't have parents but this Samael although strong could never match up to his father in his old life, his father's strength was stuck at the Infernal Star Realm since his youth but that wasn't anything to scoff at in the old era in actual fact it's what made his old family so powerful, yet there still existed stronger beings and because of a simple mistake he made in his youth Lucius' family, his clan, his only anchor to this world perished. Death followed him ever since that day and would've been claimed by it to if it wasn't for his father's sacrifice. That is why Lucius felt he didn't deserve a family, one who has lost everything would not want to lose it gain. But despite losing his cultivation he was prepared to cultivate again, perhaps he could get a fresh start with a new family.
Lucius felt hopeful for a few moments but dismissed the idea. Cultivation wasn't the same as family, it wouldn't leave you or betray you it was completely loyal to the one who cultivated it, a loving family felt more out of reach than becoming a god and so Lucius was prepared to forsake it forever.
Inside a small wooden house that severally lacked in decoration, with a thatch roof and unsteady windows stood Samael and Lucius. A single bed with a small hide sleeping bag next to it were the only things that adorned this shack, well in Lucius' eyes this truly was a shack though compared to the other houses in the Village it was pretty good.
"So what do you say do you want to be my son? To be precise you will accompany me back to the capital and learn martial cultivation from me. Think of it like a Business Deal, if you even know what that means." Samael looked at Lucius with his piercing silver eyes once again, looking past the seriousness he actually seemed sincere which did seem odd to Lucius but when he thought about it carefully it did have some logic to it. Imagine coming across an intelligent six year old that fell out the sky, assuming it's out of pure selfishness then taking in a child of heaven, a descendant from the skies and maturing them well then your status would easily grow.
"Listen brat I don't plan on loving you or really even caring for you, I need you to represent my interests amongst the younger generation and everything I've seen so far shows me your more than capable. Naturally I'll help you get stronger and when I reach the apex of the kingdom you will have absolute access to everything you could ever dream of." Samael had already decided in his mind that if this child from the heavens didn't have good enough talent then he could easily discard him.
'I'm not stupid enough to think I can survive completely alone, with this I gain background and a foundation to improve upon, the offer to help me get stronger is essentially useless, if anything I would be helping him. Well if it doesn't work out, independence is always an option. I'm glad that in the end this is a simple business deal, we aren't family just partners in his bid to take over this country.' Lucius thought that this deal could constrict him but at the same time it would protect him, and honestly he didn't want to essentially die again.
"Okay I will follow you but honestly I don't remember any of my past, I am aware of how to speak, fight all the basics really, what I really don't know is where I am and why I'm here." Lucius played the amnesia card, it really was the best thing he could think of, it was the only option with the bare minimum amount of questions asked.
"Well Lucius you have found yourself in the country of Morrigan, right now we are inside Cloud Striking Village a vassal to the current Queen of Morrigan. I am an Imperial Lord someone who serves the Queen directly and governs several legions of warriors. Under the Queen are 72 Imperial Lords and I find myself being part of the minority of those without offspring so you will become my lost son that I searched the lands for. Under my care you will become the strongest of the younger generation. I am simply repeating this so you come to understand how important your job is." Samael gave Lucius some idea as to his whereabouts unfortunately the country of Morrigan meant nothing to him, he was still clueless as to where in the world he was. Samael also wanted to make sure his future plans were well known ensuring Lucius followed along well.
Usually if you were a persons senior with stronger strength you would find it hard to bow your head in front of someone weaker than you but in this situation Lucius could only comply, he needed the security and in this body he was Samael’s junior many times over as well.
"Well now you understand where you are and what I wish for you so we can start cultivating. Most children are around your age or a little older when they start cultivating so now is the perfect time to start your cultivation journey. Now what you must know is you are in the Spirit Realm from here......" Samael’s voice was slowly tuned out by Lucius, he kept his eyes on Samael to feint attention but stopped giving him his mental attention.
'The world has changed a lot with the rebirth of cultivation and honestly it doesn't seem to different, it looks like cultivation got easier but really it's gotten more simplistic. In the old era seven realms with three stages each seemed simple and yet in the new age there exists only twelve realms, in terms of numbers the New Age seems quicker yet I can clearly tell that with this faster Cultivation a decline in quality in the later stages is present. Samael is at the Radiant Sky Realm which would be equivalent to the old ages Imperial Spirit realm, a realm not so distant from the Heavenly Star Realm. But in this time you would need to progress through the Breaking Dawn realm to reach the same power, when comparing three stages to an entire Realm it is evident how much more time is actually spent as well as how little ones martial power is actually refined into better quality. So with this in mind I will combine the cultivation paths of the Old Age and the New Era into one with the products being increased cultivation speed and higher quality martial power.' Lucius was deep in thought but still was aware to the fact that Samael had now placed his hand on Lucius back to help him move his Martial Power for the 'first' time.