Chapter Six
Little Flame Shard
Under the dark night, Sero stayed silent as he was listening to the guards' words who ignored him, with slight side eyes here and there.
"Haha, calm down, brother. This kid lived in an orphanage according to our information. Just give him the bag of the new members of the family and let him be," the second guard spoke mockingly.
"Tch, fine," the first guard grumbled, then threw a bag made from bear skin containing a small stick of dry wood and five square-shaped gold coins. The stick was a first-path magic shard known as the Little Flame Shard, similar to the one used by Senbo in the temple.
"When you manage to use that shard, we will allow you to enter the mansion. Until then, get lost. Usually, we let students stay temporarily in the family’s hostel, but someone like you doesn't deserve that. As for this girl, she is more deserving than you," the guard spoke rudely, but his reaction changed when he found that Sero had already left in the middle of his speech with the bag.
"What a brat," the first guard muttered.
"Don't let him bother you, with his talent he won't be able to use the shard anyway," the second guard sighed with boredom, watching Sero fade into the darkness.
............
"A single shard and some gold. Most in my situation would choose an inn to sleep in using the gold while they refined the shard using their mana, but that won't work since my resources are limited," Sero muttered as he walked down the stairs leading off the mountain.
Shards were part of the broken world, and thus carried the world's mana within them. To use them, mages had to replace that mana with their own to harness the world's stored power inside the shards, that action was named the refining.
Mana was the power of beings, absorbed by mages from the external environment and refined within the magic realm in their hearts, transforming it into a controllable form of energy.
Mana was like electricity, while shards were like light bulbs, and each mage possessed a unique type of mana.
However, refining shards wasn't easy. It depended on the amount of mana stored in the magic realm, the shard's path, and the mage's talent.
Talent wasn't just about the speed of growth; it was also the speed of mana absorption and the size of their magic realm, higher talents were able to shorten the time needed to refine shards.
In a secluded spot in the Blood Trees Forest at the base of the Anira family's mountain, Sero sat on a sturdy tree branch, leaning against the trunk while holding the Little Flame Shard in his hand.
"Now, the refining process. Given my talent, it will take a week if I refine for six hours daily," Sero sighed and closed his eyes, focusing deeply on his magic realm.
When humans close their eyes, they cannot see—this is a general truth everyone understands. But in this world, only the pathless see darkness.
When mages who have undergone their awakening ceremonies or something similar close their eyes, they see a small realm representing a minuscule fraction of the real world.
Some see a beach, some a dark forest, some an eclipse over a scorched land, some a black hole, and others a small garden.
This was their magic realm where mana gathered and created a place to reside. Magic realms were once considered random for mages, but that changed with the appearance of the first Rin, altering that concept.
It was discovered that the mana realm followed the person's emotions at the moment they broke their pathless state and ascended to be mages.
In his previous life, Dark Waters Immortal possessed a realm formed of black waters as dark as night, creating a vast ocean meeting a sky that was filled with layers upon layers of dark orange clouds swirling around a celestial body. This celestial body shone like the sun but was black, dripping a tar-like liquid that gave the waters their dark color.
"From the darkness of the ocean to the darkness of the sky to the darkness of the black sun, everything revolves in a futile cycle pulling humans backward while long-lived entities continue to advance. These were my thoughts when I became a mage," Sero muttered anxiously.
But when he beheld his magic realm, he smiled, for it was just as he had found it in his previous life.
"As unfortunate as it is that my thoughts haven't changed after my death, it is fortunate that my realm remains the same. Unfortunately, this vast magic realm is just scenery, and I can only use a grain of sand from it," Sero muttered with a sense of comfort.
However, he raised an eyebrow when he gazed at the black sun, under which a giant tree had sprouted from the ocean, shaped like a hand grasping the sun, while the rest of the branches soared into the sky with luminous fruits.
"Hmm, could it be that this tree represents my new beginning? And does its extension towards the black sun indicate that this life will change the darkness in my heart? It seems I've become sentimental," Sero silently grumbled.
Everything within the magic realm held philosophical significance for the mages the moment they broke their weakness.
The magic realm only changed when the mage advanced to a new path, so any minor addition indicated a slight change in the mage's personality. But Sero didn't concern himself much with this information.
Inside his realm, he held the shard in his hand. Since that realm was composed of his mana, he could control it. He sat cross-legged on the water's surface, which bore his weight, and held the shard above the water. He then commanded the black waters to rise and completely engulf the shard, forming a small column of black water.
"This refining process will take a long time. It seems I won't enjoy the sleep tonight," Sero muttered with a pale face, then began the refining process.
The refining process consisted of three steps: absorbing mana from the environment, channeling it into the shard, and then extracting the world mana from the shard. All these steps required immense concentration.
If the first step was incorrect or incomplete, the shard wouldn't be supplied with enough mana, and the original mana of the world would dominate, wasting his efforts.
If the second step was incorrect, the shard wouldn't withstand the pressure and would break, causing Sero to lose one of his most valuable resources.
If the third step was incorrect, the extracted mana from the shard would contaminate his magic realm, causing severe injury or even death due to the mana conflict.
"My first attempt at refining a shard failed in my previous life, but now I possess hundreds of years of experience to the point where refining has become second nature to me. It's not the tools that make the blacksmith exceptional but his technique and craftsmanship,"
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Yet, tools still play an important role," Sero thought silently as a ball of black water formed and enveloped the Little Flame Shard, severing its connection with the ground as it floated in the air.
Sero began gathering mana from the external environment, focusing all his attention on sensing it moves like threads of water around his body.
He could feel the cold mountain air brushing against his hair and body while his robe moved gently.
He was wearing only the robe with no clothes underneath, which made him feel a bit chilly.
His concentration was so intense that he forgot to swallow his saliva, which began to drip from his mouth.
He started infusing the shard with his own mana, feeling as if his heart had stopped pumping blood to his body and instead was channeling mana into his magic realm, which he had absorbed from the surroundings.
Slowly, the shard began to glow with a faint light. This effort made Sero sweat coldly and gasp heavily.
The moment he felt his heart stop, he quickly opened his eyes.
He was panting heavily as if he had climbed a mountain and descended it. A sarcastic smile appeared on his face as he clutched the left side of his chest and laughed.
"All this effort for a first-path shard, who would have thought that refining with this body would be like playing with death! And on top of that, I barely refined a small, almost insignificant part of it. Is this the curse of being a one-candle talent?" Sero spoke quietly, then looked up at the sky while feeling the sweat trickle down his neck.
"The moon's position hasn't changed much even though I spent a long time in my magic realm. Am I imagining things, or does time pass faster in the magic realm than outside? No, it seems I've wasted so much effort to the point of feeling time slow down in there," Sero muttered as he lay uncomfortably on the branch, thinking of another way to refine the shard.
It was impossible to refine it himself with his current strength, so he had to consider other methods.
The first method was to have someone else refine it for him, but that was forbidden in the clan as it was considered cheating.
Even if he did it secretly or stole someone else's shard, any keen mage could sense the mana difference when using that shard.
The second method was to use another shard to strengthen his own magic, but that was like asking for a new shard. As a novice magic student, his only way was either to prove himself to the clan or find it from an external source.
Unfortunately, both were difficult decisions. Proving himself to the clan meant receiving support from the Anira family, but given his current sleeping situation, that option itself required him to refine the Little Flame Shard first.
As for the external source, that meant leaving the village to search for a wild shard source, or what was commonly known as a magic dungeon.
When a mage dies, their magic realm manifests in reality as a dungeon, taking the form of their world while protecting the shards they had.
But just as a magic dungeon attracts sorcerers eager for power, the mana within it attracts various wild creatures seeking shelter, thereby turning it into a death trap.
Even if Sero found a magic dungeon near the village, the clan would have known about its existence and would have already explored it. Nevertheless, he decided that he had no choice but to find one in the hope of getting the leftovers of it.
"Thinking about it, in my previous life when I probably died due to the effect of, my magic realm must have engulfed everyone since it was a black sea. Probably all the magic shards I had were seized. I wish I could get just one," Sero spoke in a pessimistic tone. At that moment, a small memory flashed in his mind; he remembered one of the stories of the Nine Rins.
The Nine Rins were considered the best and purest entities in the world as they were the only mages who reached the tenth path.
They lived through ancient times and watched the world grow little by little, so it was not surprising that the mages created stories about them.
Many of the stories were entertaining but unconfirmed, and they were so much to the extent that a great sect was formed called the "Message of Heaven" and was ruled by immortal mages just to debunk the weak stories about the Rins.
Over several generations, nine books were created, each detailing the life of a specific Rin, and they were published to the world so the ignorant could learn about the most important entities in the world.
The first Rin was Terra, the Rin of Life and Death. She was the first mage to reach the limit of the mortal world and establish the truth of the existence of a tenth path at a time when the world considered it only a myth. Among all the Rins, she was the only one whose teachings were followed by the eleven races.
........
According to her story, she was an infant of an unknown race who came from a mysterious forest.
Without parents, she was devoid of knowledge, ignorant to the point of not even knowing how to speak.
She would stare at things for days, sometimes months, at the age of two.
She would even stare at her own hands and feel a strange sensation.
"How do I move my hands? Why do I have hands? How do I feel my hands?" Many questions puzzled little Terra, for a long time she did nothing but question.
Then, she felt hungry, so she climbed a tree and ate its fruit while sitting on a branch, just like Sero.
However, unlike him, she felt a strong sensation drawing her towards the tree. When she touched it, she lost consciousness, only to wake up on a rainy day with an adult body, holding the Life Shard.
She had lost ten years of her life just in hibernation.
The shards were part of the world, and Terra stared at the forms of life around her, wondering what life itself was and why it was important.
She knew no one but herself and spoke to no one, but that instinct inside her drove her to search.
There was no answer to why they didn’t ask, and away from the fleeting distractions and trivial emotions, nothing stood in her way of finding answers to her questions.
The price she paid was a part of her life that turned into a shard.
Terra held the Life Shard, realizing she had found a crack in the world that opened to her, and threw the Life Shard to her, taking a few years of her life as compensation.
With perseverance, she tried to use it, but to no avail, as she was still a mere mortal without magic or mana.
But that didn’t stop her; she questioned more and more.
The shard looked like a fruit from space, resembling a small honeycomb the size of a fig with holes on both sides. It emitted a faint light and gave off a scent similar to vinegar.
No matter how hard Terra tried, she couldn’t understand it and ended up consuming the Life Shard in a moment of anger.
Again, the shards were part of the world and therefore contained the world’s mana. Was Terra right in her decision? Even the immortal writers of her story didn’t know.
All it was said that after consuming the Life Shard, the world’s mana permeated her, and Terra became a simple mage with the Life Shard as part of her.
She felt the air smell sweeter, and the taste of fruit became more delicious. In moments of discovering her strange abilities, she found that when she walked over the forest floor, some grasses and flowers grew where her steps had been.
Little Terra became an entity that encouraged life forms to adapt quickly without her knowing it.
.........
“But what’s the point of that story? The Life Shard was one of the legendary shards from the tenth path, and it’s impossible to get a shard by staring at a trivial tree nor by sacrificing some years of one's life,” Sero grumbled, but he tried to ponder the meaning of the story.
It was simply a story of a Rin, thus mortals wouldn't grasp the meaning of it.
If there was no meaning, it wouldn’t have been published by the Message of Heaven Sect as it would harm their reputation and could even bring the wrath of the Rin of Life and Death personally upon them.
“I guess I have no solution. The only way is to refine in moments. In any case, I must refine this shard,” Sero sighed weakly, feeling as if something was tightening around his heart.
But that’s how life works. Terra took years of observation and reflection to answer a single question and paid decades of her life for something as simple as becoming a mage.
The point was really simple: life is unpredictable. Neither Terra knew her fate, nor did the Dark Waters Immortal know his.
Sero closed his eyes and found the small shard of light glowing brightly. A shock hit his body as if struck by lightning when he stared at the tree that held the black sun.
That was something impossible since a mage's magic realms were not supposed to change.
“Unless...” Sero stared at the water beneath him, and a big smile spread across his face. Dark, pitch-black water.
He held the shard infused with his mana, examining it, then returned it to the dark sea.
He opened his eyes again and looked at the sky, then inhaled deeply.
“That ocean I fell into, the Temporal Spirit Explosion Shard, the slow passage of time in my mana realm, the weakness of mana in this body, the strange presence of the tree. How could I be so ignorant of all this?! Did I lose my wisdom just because I died?!” Sero laughed heartily, as if a door had opened for him, then his laughter turned to a serious expression.
“This incident seems like something from one of the Rin’s stories, but I paid a heavy price. By falling into the ocean of time and losing my mana, it seems I inadvertently absorbed some of that ocean’s mana.
However, it’s a small amount that was all used to create that tree. The good thing is it slows down time in my magic realm while easily refining any shard. The bad thing is it’s very little and weaker than my previous life’s mana, so I can’t use it in combat. But this sudden development is a welcome one,” Sero thought with simple happiness.
The refining problem had been troubling him the most, and he had now solved it.
After enduring physical, spiritual, and mental exertion, he closed his eyes and fell asleep on the tree in the open air.