Fourth Day of the Tenth Month in the Year 735 NCE.
Exactly one month had passed since the young emperor, Alexandros Centinni the Twelfth, had come under the tutorship of the Mountain King. This past month had been one of the most difficult periods of his life as each day had been most unforgiving and torturous in its contents. The training under the Mountain King was simply that brutal.
Alexandros was noticeably different. He had grown taller, his slender physique had become more robust and muscular, and his feminine-looking face had earned a trace of masculinity. He had finally lost all of his boyish charms and had set upon the path of a man.
His fair skin, which had been as pale as milk, was now firm and tan. His soft eyes had grown sharper and ferocious and gave off a vibe similar to that of a cornered beast. Many scars filled his battle-worn body and bandages were found aplenty. Alexandros had also cut his wavy, golden hair and now sported a trim, military-like look.
His outfit was in Hielander fashion; naked upper body and clothed lower body. However, he found their skirt-like clothing too foreign and settled for wearing trousers made from animal skin.
Most of the youth's time was spent within the Mountain King's camp where he spent his days practising his cultivation and sparring with other Hielanders. Today, however, was a special instance where he had been taken to a nearby forest situated at the mountain feet.
A month had passed, and today was the day when Alexandros would be tested to see whether the past month's training had made him worthy to join the Mountain King's assault on the Iron Rhino Tribe. It was also a special occasion for the youth as he believed that the life of his first teacher, Wuzhi, was at stake.
The test was to slay a Wild Beast and his success would earn him his admission.
---
"Arrgh!!" Alexandros let out an animalistic roar as he swung the iron spear in his hands with all the strength that he could muster. The heavy armament cut through the air with unmatched ferocity and heavily landed upon the head of the Bronze Fur Bear.
Ding! The sound of metal striking metal resounded. Alexandros' spear harmlessly drifted off the Wild Beast's head.
The Bronze Fur Bear was among the stronger Wild Beasts populating the lowest strata of the Hielands and it was wholly Alexandros' misfortune to run into such a beast during his first outing.
As the name suggested, the Bronze Fur Bear had an outer look that looked and felt as hard as bronze. Normally, it was nearly invulnerable to the attacks of sharp weapons. An individual would be hard-pressed to slay this creature by their lonesome and often resort to team tactics to hunt this beast. Unfortunately, Alexandros lacked such a team and moreover, his master had designated the Bronze Fur Bear as the objective of his examination.
ROAR! Thoroughly angered by Alexandros' attempt on its life, the Bronze Fur Bear bellowed a great roar and furiously swung his furry hands at the youth. The force behind its palms was so massive that the tanned youth acutely felt the air give out a shrill scream.
Knowing that he could not possibly contend with the Bronze Fur Bear in the aspect of strength, Alexandros drew upon his recently acquired instincts and dodged. Right on time too, for just an instant later he felt the Wild Beast's attack narrowly miss him.
Stamping on the ground with all his strength, Alexandros rolled and moved away from the creature. He then let out the turbid breath held within his throat and readjusted his grip on his spear. Crouching down, the boy emperor readied his stance and waited for an opportunity to close the distance with his foe once again. He also hastily thought about how he could pierce through the creature's hide and slay his foe.
The Bronze Fur Bear roared once again and the battle quickly resumed. Alexandros tried a variety of tricks in sequence but continued falling just through of piercing its hide. Unavoidably, frustration and impatience began accumulating within his heart.
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Watching this hair-raising battle unfold from a distance was the Mountain King. Her tall, lithe body stood upright atop a tree branch and her piercingly cold eyes apathetically evaluated her disciple's performance. And due to her wearing a mask on her face, it was unclear what her thoughts on the matter were.
Just as the distant battle was about to reach its climax, Mountain King suddenly turned her head and looked elsewhere. There, she spotted a messenger from her camp arrive hurriedly. Her body flashed and she arrived before the messenger in an instant.
Seeing his lord suddenly appear before him, the messenger was startled. He hurriedly stopped and lowered his head in greeting.
"What's the matter?" asked Mountain King.
"Answering Mountain King; our forward scouts have discovered odd happenings in the Iron Rhino Tribe's camp. Earlier today, they discovered multiple chimneys of smoke rising from within their camp."
Mountain King frowned at this news. She asked, "Where is Biao?"
"Biao took command over the Mountain King's troops and has begun riding towards the Iron Rhino Tribe," replied the messenger.
The Mountain King asked no more. Thoughts raced within her mind for a moment and an answer quickly formed. She flashed once again and appeared in the battle between Alexandros and the Bronze Fu Bear. With one hand, she grasped the boy emperor's spear and prevented him from landing the fatal blow whilst with the other; she gently tapped the Wild Beast on its head. The creature felt the weight of a mountain crushing its head and instantly died with its brain crushed into mush.
"Master!" Alexandros roared furiously; the Mountain King had stolen his kill and stopped him from landing the killing blow.
The Mountain King did not explain her reason and instead said, "The situation at the Iron Rhino Tribe has changed. Your teacher might be in trouble."
That was all it took for Alexandros to forget his anger. He instantly calmed down and boldly put forward his request. "Please take me with you."
The Mountain King grabbed Alexandros by his waist and carried him over her shoulder. She then kicked off the ground and disappeared from the forest with her disciple in tow.
---
He did not know when they had stopped; however, Alexandros was more than glad that they did. The instant he was released; the boy emperor crouched over the ground and cleared his stomach of all its contents.
Travelling at extreme speeds puts an unfathomable amount of burden on one's body. For experts of higher ranks, such a burden was easily mitigated by their numerous, esoteric techniques. However, it was different for Alexandros.
The past month of torturous cultivation was not without gains. The boy emperor had firmly stepped onto the Sixth Transformation of the First Rank; solidified his foundation of the Fourth Realm in the Second Rank; and had even grown his Human Intent embryo of the Third Rank by a noticeable margin. In other words, Alexandros was mere steps away from officially becoming a Rank 3 cultivator; all that remained was for him to perfect his Human Intent and summon the Earth Intent to solidify his foundation.
From being a powerless mortal to being mere inches away from Rank 3; this was the result of Alexandros' hard work and fortuitous encounters over the past year. Of course, his foundation was far from being perfect. It would take him years, perhaps decades to reach the subsequent levels in the First and Second Rank and his lifetime potential was capped at Rank 5; Rank 6, if he was lucky. His fortuitous encounters were unimaginably poor compared to those experienced by World Sovereign Mu Wudi during his youth but were still incomparable to those of a majority of the world's practitioners.
Alexandros' power-up was quick, however, his foundation was poor and his future potential was grim. Still, the boy emperor cared for none of these things. To him who was currently lacking in power, becoming a glass cannon instantly was better than becoming an iron fortress in a dozen years' time. The youth lacked agency to meddle in the empire's situation the most and his newly gotten power would serve to correct this flaw.
Finally, it was due to his reaching the Sixth Transformation that he was barely able to survive the Mountain King's extreme speed travel.
After clearing his stomach, Alexandros weakly clambered to his feet and roughly wiped his mouth. He then turned to look at his master, only to find her standing stiffly and gazing at the distance without action. Finding this peculiar, Alexandros turned to look in her direction.
And there, he saw a blazing bonfire burning with unmatched ferocity. The flames from the fire were spread as vast as a lake and reached as tall as the skies. Surrounding this enormous bonfire were dozens of 'torches' that also burned furiously, albeit weaker than the main event.
Had it been a normal fire, Alexandros would not have felt shocked. However, what was peculiar about these 'fires' was that they burned with a blood-red colour instead of the usual yellowish-orange. The flames did not appear to belong to the mortal world; they seemed to be of a far more sinister origin.
While he stood dazed, Alexandros puckered his nose as he finally noticed the strange smell in the air. The scent smelled familiar yet utterly revolting, filling the boy emperor with instinctive disgust. Just as he was lost on the nature of that scent, he heard his master speak the answer.
"Human flesh," said the Mountain King, her voice strange. "Someone is burning human flesh."
It appeared that someone else had dealt the strike on the Iron Rhino Tribe.