“… then I guess you personally coming here is the way to emphasize the intel is solid …” Headmaster Harris pondered out loud.
He and the heads of divisions were gathered in his quarters along with a young man, in a simple linen shirt, short trousers and sandals. His clothing was clean, but it was more suited for a bum, not the elite group he was currently meeting. He didn’t care though and neither did the elders of the War Academy most of which were sitting around the room and sipping wine. Despite the fact that the visit was formal, elders used it as excuse to celebrate a bit and the headmaster was actually the initiator.
“Not really, although everything I reported is verified.” The young man said, “Me personally being here has nothing to do with it. I came to discuss an alchemy recipe with master, a rather interesting one that I’ve been working on for few years already. I won’t bore you with the details, but it has something to do with alleviation of the pressure from the Heavenly tribulation while stepping into the Nascent soul stage.”
“Theodore, would you mind sharing it with the Alchemy division?” Elder Mist asked, trying to hide the annoyance in her voice.
The old man wasn’t even a real alchemist and there was no reason to bring these things to him, but for some reason every other decade Theodore Shaw showed up to discuss revolutionary advancements with him before coming to the Alchemy division. Of course, he never held back his knowledge, it simply irritated elder Mist to no end she was the second in the line.
“Not at all!” Theodore Shaw shrugged, “You’ll be the first one to know the moment I’ll fine tune some peculiarities.”
“Alright, you’re a busy guy, so we won’t hold you any longer.” Headmaster said, “We, on the other hand, have some serious planning to do.”
Master Shaw nodded and immediately left. He did hang out on the academy grounds for a while though. After wandering around for a bit and savoring the nostalgic feeling, he found Kevin who was currently practicing his swordplay, observed his son for a while and then left with a content smile across his youthful face. Apart from a of couple elders, no one actually noticed the most famous genius of the Immortal Alliance and he preferred it this way.
It didn’t take long for Theodore Shaw to arrive at the Thirteenth peak, but Elder Li was already waiting for him.
“Master!” Theodore greeted, but the old man caught him by the shoulder, preventing the great genius from dropping to his knees.
“You don’t have to do that.” He said, but his student apologetically shrugged.
“Sorry, old habits die hard.”
“Don’t you think we have this conversation every time?” Elder Li asked with a dry laugh.
“Mhm. It’s a tradition.” Theodore Shaw happily nodded.
Even though he himself was over fifty thousand years old, next to his teacher he felt like a young boy once every time. He always wondered if that was the true reason for him to periodically seek out his old master.
“I didn’t expect you back so soon … what was it? A couple years ago you came to discuss the strange phenomena during the Kevin’s advancement?” Elder pondered. Seeing Theodore nod, he asked, “What brings you here, boy, this time?”
“I think I finally perfected the elixir by actually letting an undamaged single petal soak in the finished product for several months. Rather unconventional, don’t you think? As the result the remaining side effects were eliminated allowing the cultivator to fully focus on the actual tribulation. Obviously we’ll need to test the product during actual tribulations, but it’s suprising what effect a sole petal can have.” Theodore Shaw passionately explained.
Elder Li’s eyes lit up similar to his student’s. Heavenly tribulations and everything around them have been his life-long research project, but while he did most of the work through meditation, Theodore Shaw had always had more practical approach.
“Interesting.” Elder Li said, “Which plant?”
“That’s the thing!” His student victoriously laughed, “The plant is the same! The main ingredient is still the fruit, but the petal work as a stabilizer of sorts. Truth to be said I’m not fully certain why though … anyway … I came across the petals few years ago by chance – got them from a weird kid. But those were dry and turned out to be useless. When used fresh though …”
“A weird kid, huh?” Elder Li tilted his head in amusement, “That reminds me – I have a weird project of my own. Come, follow me.”
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They flew above the treetops for a while. Elder Li didn’t explain what his project was and Theodore Shaw didn’t pry. They casually chatted about the news Theodore brought to the Academy and the implications of the latest activities of the Army of Freedom.
It was late in the afternoon when they arrived at the lake, but strangely enough elder Li didn’t go directly to the island, but landed in the treetops. From there he stepped on a crude hanging bridge that stretched in the distance.
Before his student asked if this was ‘the project’, elder Li said, “Come, let’s have a walk. I’ll tell you a story.”
The hanging bridge was not wide enough for the two of them to walk comfortably side by side, but, truth to be said, Theodore enjoyed following his old master. Once again it brought him back thousands of years, giving the pleasant nostalgic feeling.
“Around six months ago, during the entrance exams there was an irregularity. Someone teleported directly into the pocket dimension created by elder Roon.” Elder Li began, “Yes, I know it’s impossible, well … almost impossible, because the fact was actually confirmed. We even have the coordinates that were used for the teleportation along with other peculiar details. Our Runemaster division still is trying to process all of it, but that’s not important, not to us anyway. What’s important is – a kid who teleported … is a weird one.”
He paused for a bit and continued, “Thousand years ago the headmaster tricked me into a bet and as a result I was forced to accept another student … the damned academy with the damn ‘honoring your bets’ rule …”“You could’ve just refused to bet, you know?” Theodore Shaw said the obvious. He knew about his master’s struggles regarding this and it slightly amused him.
“Ye, but the offer was so good … and at the time a thousand year disciple-free period seemed a great deal even if I lost.” The elder said with a sigh, “You have no idea how short period of time a thousand years is, you’re just fifty yourself.”
Of course, saying someone was ‘just fifty’ when they were fifty thousand years old would’ve been odd for a regular mortal, but Theodore Shaw actually agreed with his master.
“Be as it may, I was forced to accept a student that turned out to be the kid that managed to teleport in the pocket dimension. But the weird part doesn’t end there. He has an amulet on him with the Li family crest on it … not a similar one, bet the actual Li family crest! Of course, he’s not Li, but the coincidence ... right?” The student could feel the slight despair in his master’s voice and the next part immediately explained it, “… but the kid turned out to be completely useless! It’s no secret everyone after you seems like a retard to me, but not only this one is dumb, he has no talent for cultivation, nor combat arts! … but that was what I thought until he ran over to this place.”
“So you got yourself a carpenter?” Theodore joked, looking at the hanging walkaway.
“Mhm.” Elder Li nodded, “That was my idea exactly!”
At this point they had walked one third of the way around the lake. In fact, the term ‘walk’ could be only used formally since their feet barely touched the hanging walkway, but the elder enjoyed the process and his student was not really against it.
“It was weird though. At first I though he caught a wind of this place and came to steal the fruits from the Divine tribulation trees. A moronic, but logical idea, right? But as it turns out I was wrong – since he had no single spirit stone left, he built this bridge as a payment for me allowing him to cultivate on the island!” Elder Li said and pointed towards the lake.
Only now Theodore Shaw noticed there was someone on the island, sitting beneath the Divine tribulation trees, cultivating. The first thought he had was that his master had built a cultivation platform there that served high ranked beasts to accelerate their advancement, but it was impossible for such to work on an island with two dozen trees!
“I have no clue how he keeps passing through the protective formation and even much less how in the world is he capable of cultivating there. Most of our elders would be weary to even get close to that place, but he … and here comes the fun part … you’re ready?” Elder actually stopped in his tracks and turned around, “Your master is a complete idiot! Despite the many signs Heavens sent him, he checked the Qi pathways of that kid only when he recognized the only explanation that made all of this even remotely possible!”
“Lightning mutation ...” Theodore nodded with a sigh.
“Mhm … the lightning mutation.” Elder Li looked at the lake with a complicated expression, “The only cultivator I have known in my life personally who has reached the Core formation stage alive with the lightning mutation… but why in the world he had to be stupid and talentless?!”
The last part he asked while looking up at the sky, but Theodore Shaw patted his master’s shoulder and said, “The Heavens are just, remember?”
“Ye, ye.” Elder unwillingly agreed, “You know, in order for him to not embarrass me further I even forbade him to listen to the lectures … don’t look at me like that! I just couldn’t take it anymore! You know how we always say ‘there are no stupid questions’? Turns out – there are! He was asking stuff like ‘which is the strongest element?’, ‘how do the Qi pathways form?’ and even ‘how to turn a core of a different color into a golden one?’! And it’s while he’s being the Core formation stage cultivator himself with the golden core neatly formed! It was so embarrassing … those are the questions a five year old asks his mom ...”
Elder Li helplessly stared at the island and the youth on it for a moment and then continued, “And the fighting talents … he has none! He lost all the spirit stones he had and at the end stopped dueling. The worst thing is – he never even tried to practice any techniques! Not even the simplest ones! Yes, you might say it’s my fault as his master, but I have no clue what to teach him! He’s just dumb … oh? We’re in luck! Today is one of those days …”
Theodore Shaw noticed the young man on the island standing up and lazily stretching.
“Once every other day he comes to the shore and challenges either Rudi or Rusty. Flappers refuses to fight him since even though hes a Nascent soul stage bird, he feels like the kid wants to roast him …”
“A Core formation kid is going against the Nascent soul stage beasts? Is he insane?” Theodore Shaw mumbled.
“That was what I thought at the beginning, but I’m starting to incline he thinks of them as free sparring partners of sorts.” Elder Li shrugged, “Obviously he gets beaten up badly every single time, but … if you ignore the level of his stupidity, at some point one has to start to admire his tenacity.”
The youth on the island finally turned around and dashed over the waters to the shore, but after finally seeing his face Theodore’s eyebrows rose in surprise.