Six months later…

“Heh heh!  FINALLY!”

Albus threw his arms into the air and laughed mischievously.  During this time, he had travelled to find a school that he could enroll in.  As he already knew from previous knowledge, he had asked around where the nearest Primary School was.  Now he had finally entered the town of  

“Before I was still traveling just to find a single school.  Luckily I only turned ten a little awhile ago.”

While he was traveling he realized he had landed in one of the two smallest countries in the mortal realm.  Thus it was no surprise to him that it would be difficult to find a school.  As for him moving to a larger country was not quite his style.  He would rather build himself up from the very bottom.  Albus looked at the gate entrance that had an enormous line up and walked towards the back while he thought to himself,

‘As Gramps always said: Only at the bottom can you truly see how high you need to aim.’

The moment he quoted Grandpa Shepherd, he felt a sharp pain within his heart.  He smiled weakly.  It wasn’t the first time that he thought of his Grandpa Shepherd and how he missed him and his brothers.  Though Albus had Pillo to talk to it just wasn’t the same.  After all, if Albus said anything rude to Pillo he would take one look at the, “What are you saying,” expression and leave it at that.

While his thoughts were roaming around, he heard a deep voice:

“I said NEXT!”

When he heard this roar, Albus shook his head and looked around momentarily.  Upon realizing that no one was ahead of him he finally rushed forward bowing in an apologetic way.  The old man nodded lightly, as if he didn’t care at all for the boy, and continued:

“Place your hand one after another on the Totems.”

The old man rudely said without explaining the purpose but as Albus was not a normal ten year-old child he immediately listened and placed his hand on the first Totem as he thought to himself.

‘Hmm, do they not test the Spirit level in Primary Schools…  Oh wait I think I heard about this from Grandpa once.  Humans aren’t normally able to communicate with their spirits early on.  Only when they become stronger can they.  But the longer one waits the harder it becomes to cultivate.’

“Boy!”

“..Sorry, I’ll start immediately!”

As Albus knew exactly what the Old man was getting impatient about, he apologized and focused his Essence into the first Totem.  If this was a peer he was undoubtedly be arguing back with the man.  However, Albus was strictly taught one thing by his Grandpa and that was to respect to his elders.  Naturally there were always exceptions but this wasn’t one of those.  

“Phew..”

Albus took a deep breath and felt the warm sensation gather within his palm.  It didn’t take a lot of effort to control Essence at a basic level like this, but taking every little thing seriously was a secret that led to success!  Finally the bottom face of the Totem lit up.  The colour was dim and wasn’t overly fascinating.  Disappointed, the Old man announced the results.

“Essence Rank….1….Efficiency 5 percent.”

“Hahaha!  He’s a loser!  Rank 1 and only 5 percent Absorption rate?!”

“He’s a waste of time to train!”

The others behind Albus laughed in an obvious way and as Albus was about to turn around and teach them his way of fighting, when the old man interrupted:

“Prick your finger and place a drop of blood on the second Totem, boy!”

The elder had no hint of respect anymore in his voice which slightly rubbed Albus the wrong way, but once again it wasn’t bad enough that he had to voice his complaints.  Thus he placed his hand on the second Totem with a smug look.  

‘Let’s see how you all react now!’

Soon after the results were out and the facial expression of the old man changed immediately as he stood up!

“Innate Blood Rank 10!  Efficiency…. 100 percent?!”

The spectators at this moment shut up and didn’t dare say a single word.  Talent came in many ways and the Blood Rank could easily make up for it!  After all, Blood rank was directly related to the strength of the body!  Naturally before he chance left him, Albus took one look backward and smiled wryly.

“Heh heh!”

Albus didn’t need to say anything else as his laugh alone was more than enough for a finisher.  Thus as the group of children heard this laugh they felt ticked off slightly.  Despite their moods, they still stayed silent knowing he had an Innate Blood Rank.  As the old man’s expression changed greatly, so did his mannerism toward Albus. He spoke,

“Little one bless our school!”

Albus bowed in respect towards the old man and followed one of the students who beckoned him to follow him.  Though Albus looked satisfied he was in fact not.  His talent like his eldest brother lied in his Spirit!  Neither his Blood Rank nor his Essence Rank meant nothing!  Why was that?  Because Albus knew of someone who had a Blood Rank 1 but under no circumstance would he ever say his body was weak!  

‘Brother Cannibal sure is a monster…’

Albus reminded himself that having an Innate Rank was garbage in comparison to true talents.  Naturally Albus wasn’t going to say anything and destroy the respect he had just earned.

--------------

After walking some time the senior student saluted Albus and spoke:

“Junior, this is your room during your stay.”

“I, Albus, thank Senior!”

“There is no need for that Junior Albus.  I am Baldric.  Now then, I have other duties to attend to please forgive me for leaving.  If you need something be sure to come find me Junior Albus.”

Albus nodded and bowed in respect to his Senior.  In a way, seniors were also elders and thus deserved the same amount of respect.  Seeing that his talent didn’t go to his head, Baldric smiled and left.  Naturally he was happy to receive respect from Albus.

“Now what should I do?”

At this moment, there was a squirming within his outer robe.  He looked towards and leaked a “Oops,” and hastily pulled out a white fluffy ball.  The ball wiggled itself out of Albus’s grip and fell to the ground.  Soon after, it expanded in size.

“Ba.”

Pillo looked at Albus with a hint of displeasure.  Albus rolled his eyes at his pet’s human-like expressions and jumped on Pillo.  As Pillo was an intelligent animal it knew what Albus was about to do.  Pillo expanded to a size easily enough to catch the incoming Albus and continually Ba’d in displeasure, but Albus ignored it.

“Hah...It’s no fun arguing with Pillow,”  Albus sighed to himself as he muttered.  Suddenly, he thought of a great idea!  As he did he jumped up and started to push the cloud into a small ball, forcing Pillo to condense into his smaller form.  Luckily, Pillo had been with Albus for such a long time, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to handle this sort of abuse!  Though Pillow complained it felt more like being massaged and because of this Pillo continued to complain so that it would continue.

Albus didn’t care for the small things inside his room.  He didn’t care about the facilities or the scenery.  The endless trees and weeds didn’t excite him much and neither did the school name, that he had forgotten to even look at when he entered.  Thus he overlooked the small things that normal people would stare at.  But now that he was looking for something in particular, he noticed these things.  Soft wood was the material base for the school.  From the colour darkening, it was easy to tell how old the school was.  

“Hm, this place isn’t so bad after all.”

As Albus walked through the school grounds he could see many types of weeds growing.  Most people would think of this as a laziness but after looking at it more closely, that would probably changed.

“Someone planted the weeds like this on purpose??”

Albus wasn’t a professional gardener by any means, but he could still tell from how the weeds grew that it was carefully planted.  Unconsciously he ended following this pattern of weeds outside the school and after thinking about it for some time he finally gave up.  Only when he finally gave up did he realize that he was now lost!

“...I don’t believe this is a problem I can’t handle.”

This was what he said to himself every time he got lost in the previous six months of looking for the school.  Naturally it was better to say he was always lost.

Just as he turned around to start backtracking he heard a soft muffling sound.  At first he had no idea what it was so he ignored it, but when he heard it again he was able to discern what it was.

“Sniff, Sniff, why did I get such a low result!”

A little girl said softly behind her tears.  Albus overheard this mumble and couldn’t help but sneak closer.  Maybe it was because he was trying to listen to the sound to get a closer idea where she was; or maybe it’s because he was lost, but when he moved a bit closer, he walked into a clearing.  The little girl despite her sullen mood, heard the rustling and looked towards the source of the sound.  At this moment their eyes locked.  Albus awkwardly scratched his chin not knowing what to say.  He had seen women before so it wasn’t because he was shy.  Instead he definitely intruded on something he shouldn’t have and wanted to apologize. Yet when he looked at those dark endless eyes streamed with tears he was forcefully shut his mouth.

“...Who are you?”

The little girl tried to hide the emotions in her voice, despite her efforts some sobbing leaked out at the same time.  Realizing that she hadn’t recovered her emotions to speak clearly, she looked down in embarrassment, while wiping her tears.

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“...Uh.. My name is Albus.  I’m sorry.”

Albus said while apologizing.  Somehow he felt like he did something wrong.  But, at the moment, he wasn’t sure what he did.  As he did this, he thought of the words Raris would always tell him: “He’s not so mature after all.”

The girl suddenly giggled while covering her mouth not trying to show her pearly white teeth.  She couldn’t refrain herself from speaking out shyly.

“Why would you be sorry?  Fellow Disciple Albus...is a bit weird?”

“Ha… haha.  I just didn’t know how to react when I saw you crying and felt like apologizing.”

Albus’s words contained none of his usual temperament.  Being sad was natural, and even for Albus, he wasn’t going to kick someone while they were down.  The girl nodded lightly and giggled once more.  This time, she didn’t hide her smile and as if she forgot, she rose her hand to try to hide it.  Knowing full well Albus saw her, her cheeks reddened.  

Albus had no idea how to react when it came to this girl.  He simply stood there dumbfounded. 

‘For once in my life, I think I have found someone I can’t find anything to say to.’

He sighed to himself, but upon realizing that the girl saw this and looked disheartened, he felt bad... again.  As he immediately tried to apologize, he waved his hands around to explain himself.  The girl was too quick however, and before he could say anything, she was already looking towards him with her head still down.

“Hur hur.”

She laughed as she innocently lifted her head.  Before letting his reaction sink in she continued.

“Fellow Disciple Albus is fun to tease.  Forgive me as it made me feel slightly better!”

Albus felt like vomiting blood.  Usually it was the other way around and he had never once felt the feeling of being unable to speak against someone.  He now truly knew how the man felt when his Master spoke out against him.  Though the situation was different it didn’t change how he felt! 

‘Fellow Disciple Albus is fun to tease!’

This words echoed within his mind.  It was an incredible blow to his confidence, but he refused to show on his expression.  He would rather die than acknowledged that he lost with words, even if it was a strange meeting.

“Ah!  Sorry, Fellow Disciple Albus.  I haven’t introduced myself.”

The girl’s mood changed for the better and she stood up with a slight spring in her legs.  As she did Albus had no choice but to take a better look at her.  She smirked more with the right side than the left, a cute charm fitting of her young age.  As she walked forward her black hair tied behind her head swung back and forth.  Finally as she arrived in front of Albus he was able to notice that her skin was free of any blemishes.  Albus hadn’t seen a lot of women, but he could tell that she was still quite beautiful.

The girl smiled and spoke,

“My name is Laila!”

As she announced her name, she lightly bowed in front of Albus.  Albus wasn’t slow in reacting and bowed in return.  He had settled down during the moment it took for her to walk towards him.  He then asked a question that bothered him. 

“Fellow Disciple-”

“Please call me Laila.”

She firmly interrupted Albus as he spoke.  He wanted to retort but repeating his words as a bit of revenge but he couldn’t help but remember her crying face and opted not too.

“Laila, will you tell me what you meant by, ‘low result’?”

The girl looked at Albus with a smile much different from her earlier smile.  One could tell that the smile switched sides, but it was anything but a smile.  Albus’s words touched a sore spot for Laila, and even though he was quite mature for his age there were some things that Albus just didn’t understand.  Laila took a deep breath and spoke even though she wanted nothing more than to forget about it.

“I’m sure you took the test as well right Al?”

“My name-”

“The one with the Totems right?”

Once again Laila took the upper hand by interrupting Albus not giving him the opportunity to retort.  Though she knew exactly what he was going to say, as her smile switched once to her happy mood.  Albus could immediately tell despite not knowing her, that his nickname was already used by her.  Albus lamented to himself as he thought of how his brothers felt all these years.

‘No wonder they felt so satisfied after beating me.’

He then spoke up to confirm her words.

“Yes, there are two Totems, one for Blood and the other for Essence.”

Laila nodded slowly and sighed.  Hearing this slightly brought her mood down but because she teased Al earlier, she felt he deserved at least something in return.

“I ended up getting the lowest result in the history of the school!”

Laila clenched her eyes shut because she knew that their encounter would just that, an encounter.  She was afraid she would be casted aside with no friends and be the trash of the school.  Despite her thoughts, Albus only stood there inwardly shocked.

‘It can’t be right?  Gramps said that no matter the person everyone could cultivate… there was no such thing as trash in this world full of Essence.  Of course there were weaker spirits and people from their method of training, but born trash?  That was impossible… so if that’s true then she can only be similar to me.  Can she be like us?!’

Albus immediately grabbed Laila’s hand and pressure her palm with his thumb.  He focused and directed his Essence into her palm before he could continue she took her hand back and shyly responded.

“...Shameless!  How can you grab a girl’s hand so casually?!”

Laila started to blush a bit as she spoke.

‘Oh?  A weakness?!’

Albus was inwardly pleased with himself at finding such a rare weakness.  But he didn’t dwell on his short happiness and tilted his head to the side responding to her raised voice.

“Easy...Look?”

As he paused he then grabbed her hand again.  This time it was a bit forceful but only enough so she couldn’t escape his grip.  As focused, he ignored her complaints and continued.

‘Hmm… A Firestorm spirit?  This doesn’t suit her at all…  hmm wait a minute… if she had a Firestorm spirit it wouldn’t be possible for her to have such a low rank.’

As Albus was lost in his thoughts he focused his Essence to dive deeper into her body.  At the beginning he knew, more than anyone, that a lower rank did not mean you were weaker.  It usually meant that the spirit had absorbed all the Essence instead of the soul!  When he thought of this and could not find any other reasoning behind this he came to one conclusion!

“You aren’t talented…”

Laila who heard these words flinched slightly.  These were the words she didn’t want to hear most and as she was about to run away; Albus continued to speak,

“If someone was to say these words… they are the biggest fools in the world!”

Hearing this loud proclamation, Laila could no longer move.  Confusion filled her face, while Albus smiled.

“You might not know this, but there is another Rank that we are cultivators have.  And that is the Spirit Rank!  Normally humans absorb the Essence over time and it naturally raises our Ranks.  However there is an exception to this rule.  When the cultivator owns an extremely strong Spirit, the Spirits will forcefully absorb it instead!”

Laila had initially smiled with her right side but as the words went on she could only turn to her left as she didn’t believe them anymore.  She had never knew of Spirits before it was only naturally that she wasn’t confident even after Albus explained this.  Luckily Albus knew what she was thinking and before she could slip out of his grip he explained slowly:

“I can prove it to you!”

As he said that without Laila hearing he mumbled, 

“Scatter.” 

Suddenly, a thick fog condensed in the area.  It was so thick that Laila couldn’t see her own hand.  And when he let go of her hand, she momentarily panicked as she felt insecure within this endless world.  A few moments later, a pair of hands tapped her on the shoulders.

“AH!”

She jumped forward as she screamed.  As she lifted her head to reprimand Albus, the Fog had already  disappeared and he was standing there with a slight smirk on his face.

“Heh heh.”

‘Ah revenge is so wonderful.  No… it’s justice!’

Albus tried to shamelessly give reason to him scaring Laila.  Although surprised, with the real thing shown to her she couldn’t help but nod in agreement.  She didn’t mind that Albus scared her because she didn’t believe him.  It was a just result in her opinion, but now that she knew this she couldn’t help but bring up the a question.

“If you know how to use your Spirit, can you teach me?”

She asked curiously.  Albus looked at her in surprise.  He had thought she would complain about him touching her, but instead she, quite seriously, asked him to teach her.  At this moment, Albus knew she had a playful side, but she was incredibly diligent when it came to training.  So when he saw her expression he nodded agreed.  Of course only he knew the true reason for him helping her!

‘If I can get her on my side, I’ll never have to suffer a defeat like that again!’