“Who I am?” the man chuckled, looking into the distance.

“A beggar, a monk, a wanderer… and more.” He smiled and gestured for them to sit.

‘A beggar? A monk? He can’t be so simple. I get the same feeling from him as from Elena… even stronger maybe.’ Faust gulped, but he walked forward to sit with the man.

Aquila cocked his head, hesitating a bit before sitting down.

He looked at Faust.

“You are a cultivator.” The monk stated matter-of-factly and put his hands into his lap.

Faust would have normally felt the need to run.

‘Again? Is the world full of people that know of it suddenly? Or did recent events wake something?’ he pondered. He didn’t feel fear, the man’s presence was calming and Faust could not feel ill intentions for a moment.

“I am.” Faust nodded.

“How so?” the man asked curiously. He was looking at Faust as if he shouldn’t exist.

Aquila glanced at Faust nervously, but when he saw Faust’s expression, he too remained calm.

‘I won’t tell him the truth no matter how nice he appears…’ he chose to reveal a partial truth.

“I have encountered a source of mana in the wild. It allowed me to tread this path.”

The monk, about 30 years old hummed affirmingly.

“That is surprising, but not impossible. How have you crossed paths with the Order?” he asked with a gentle smile.

“Order? What order?” Faust asked, tilting his head.

Now was the first time the monk seemed at a loss for words.

“The Golden Order. The great temple in the Western Mountains. Where you learned how to access your mana.” He explained and it left Faust at a loss.

‘What the hell? What order? Why does he think I learned it there? Is there an organization of cultivators on the continent that remained hidden?’ he was overcome with shock.

“I… I have never heard of the Order… I am sorry.” Faust scratched his head.

The monk’s face did not show a visible change. He remained silent for a few seconds.

“My name is Chiron. I am an Arahant of the Golden Order and I am a traveling cultivator.” He introduced himself.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Faust did not forget his manners and bowed his head slightly.

“Faust, knight of Alexander Argorus.”

“You are a soldier?” the monk raised an eyebrow.

Faust nodded.

“Calamity hit my village and I lost my family. A Baron was kind enough to take me in.” he nodded and was surprised to feel a sense of empathy wash over the monk’s face.

“You must have suffered a lot child.” He smiled softly. He did not need to say more. The monk gave Faust the feeling of a man who meant only well and genuinely believed in what he said without even a hint of bad intentions.

“I have, but here I am,” Faust smiled slightly, though a hint of sadness in them. “But Chiron, what is an Arahant?”

The monk smiled.

“Our Grandmaster, Arkar, has found the path to enlightenment 60 years ago. He meditated alone for 3 days under a tree in the Western Mountains. He realized truths about life, enabling anyone to overcome all suffering in their lives. People that reach this state we call enlightenment or Nirvana, are called Arahants.” Chiron smiled as he explained.

While this did answer some of Faust’s questions it made a dozen more appear in his mind. He asked the one that burnt in his mind the most.

“How come you are a cultivator? Is the Golden Order a group of Cultivators?”

Chiron stood up elegantly with movements more gracile than what Faust had ever seen, wielding the Quarterstaff in his hands as if it was part of himself. Instead of telling Faust what he was capable of he grabbed his staff and took a deep breath, his eyes closed.

Then he suddenly exploded forward with speed by far surpassing anything a human should be capable of, crossing the entire plaza in a second. Then he whirled his staff around in profound movements, performing slashes, thrusts, and more, before using it to propel himself over Aquila and Faust’s heads, back to his seat, where he softly landed on his legs. On his face, there was a smile.

No words had to be said. Aquila and Faust exchanged a disbelieving glance.

‘He is stronger than Elena! And by a lot!’ Faust gulped and stared at the man before him with reverence.

‘Is he as strong as the Venerable?’ a complicated thought appeared in his mind.

The monk sat down again, placing his staff on his lap.

“The Golden Order is indeed a group of cultivators. But above all, it is a temple. We mean to spread the Arkan, the teachings of our Grandmaster, to help all living beings. Our temple is built on a mana well, that allows us to become Cultivators and hide ourselves from the mortal world.”

He massaged his temples briefly before eyeing Faust curiously.

“Now I wonder where you learned about cultivation if you did not know of us. We do not leak secrets and there is not a single cultivator on this continent except those of our Order.”

Aquila elbowed Faust nervously.

“He… he doesn’t know.” The black-haired youth gulped.

“Doesn’t know what?” Chiron asked them with his eyebrows raised.

“You really haven’t heard of it?” Faust couldn’t believe it either at first, but after a few seconds, it made sense.

‘They live all the way to the west… even Alexander knew nothing a few weeks ago. It's impossible to even travel to the mountains in that time…’

“Chiron, in Antioch, an extremely powerful Cultivator calling himself the Venerable has arrived from another continent. He has taken over a criminal organization and started taking over the city. He is an evil man, he forces people under him to serve him, threatening to kill them… one of them has chosen to betray him.”

He paused, only to notice no change in Chiron’s expression.

“Continue.” The monk said, his face indiscernible.

“Well, we kind of ran into her and she told us that he made her and several others into Cultivators and she showed me how to meditate and access my Mana Core. Also, the big nobles all learned about Cultivation in one way or another and have begun a race against each other to get this new power to win the coming war.” Faust explained.

This was the first time the monk frowned.

“This will cause a lot of suffering to the people… Cultivation should have remained hidden.” He sighed.

“Yet it is too late to change this. I fear our Order will be unable to remain hidden much longer.”