A dim stone ceiling was the first thing Ryan saw when his eyes opened; waking up in non-specific locations was a normal occurrence to him at this point.

Seating himself up he looked around to see that there was a small fire crinkling, distributing warmth in the cold winter he looked behind and saw the entrance of the cave, outside were countless stars on a sheet of darkness.

“I see that you’ve finally woken up, it’s been almost 8 hours, the sun has set and the stars have appeared,” a voice said.

Ryan turned to look at Richard and saw a small smile on his face while speaking to him.

“Where did he go?”

“You mean that boy called Arthur?” In response to Richards’s answer, he was slightly confused: “Arthur?”

“His real name was Arthur and he went off on his own after I helped him out a bit, you don’t have to worry too much about him, you will meet him again in the future.”

“Hmm.” Ryan nodded quietly in compliance.

In the next few minutes there was only stillness and tranquillity, near the fire were two fishes being slowly roasted by the flames.

Crinkle… Crinkle…

The sound of the flames were especially loud in this hushed quietude, Ryan was in deep thought, his gaze staring off at the opening of the cave and looking at the bright dazzling stars.

“Ryan, what are you thinking about?”

Ryan pulled his gaze away from the stars and looked straight at his palm, clenching and unclenching seemingly intrigued by it.

“I’m weak Richard, extremely weak, in that situation when I was attacked by that guard, I couldn’t do anything but stand there,” there was a slight quiver in his tone.

“When I saw him rushing at me, even though I had a plan I was trembling uncontrollably. In that situation without you I would have died, I resent this feeling of powerlessness to protect my own life.” As he was saying this, his gaze moved towards to the fire, his silver eyes were murky, as deep as an ocean of mist, its depth unable to be seen.

Richard also stared at the fire lost in his own thoughts: “I thought you would never ask,” he said, gaze moving from the fire to Ryan, who was staring back at him, a small smile crept on to his face.

“I can train you but the training will be extremely gruelling and will be a lot more tiring than when you swallow the pill, furthermore you’ll still be taking the pills, so do you still want to train?”

Ryan was extremely quiet; a cold breeze from outside the cave forced its way in and blew at the fire causing it to flicker.

“If it means I can protect my life, what’s a little pain?” Even though he hadn’t shown his thoughts when he had been saved by Richard, he still contemplated on that situation over and over again. No matter what action or solution he was thinking about for that scenario he couldn’t find a way to save his life at that moment without having Richard protect him.

“Even though I will be training you, you must remember that Strength has more than one definition besides just power. It is a combination of other entities, if power is what you want I can help you gain it, but there will be a day when you’ll find out that there is more to strength than just power. When that day comes you’ll reach a level of strength that will enhance your physical power by multitudes.” Richards tone was solemn, his eyes staring at Ryan yet lost in his memories, reminiscing alone.

Ryan could see the loneliness in Richards’s words, he couldn’t help but ask: “Then what is that strength? Have you acquired it?”

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Richard was hauled back, he couldn’t help but laugh, “Me? I’ll tell you that one day, but I can tell you what that strength is. It can come from anything, a desire to protect, a desire for revenge, willpower, it all depends on what you deem as most important.”

Ryan contemplated deeply on those words not noticing that Richard had stood up and walked over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder: “Go rest, for now, eat something, we’ll be beginning your training in the morning.”

Ryan nodded, doing as told and decided to take the two fish out of the flames.

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

Back in North Creed City, in the centre of the city, there were two large towers; one was possessed by the Reiner Family while the other belonged to the Freed Family.

These two families were relatively tyrannical in their rule, their family members were arrogant and abusive, however, on this day the atmosphere was solemn.

Within the highest floor of the Freed Families tower, an old man with short grey hair, covered in wrinkles was seated on a decorated chair; in front of him was Edward with a calm expression on his face.

“Are you sure it was a Sage that came to our territory?” The old man asked his tone serious.

“Yes grandfather, I’m sure of it, I felt the same kind of pressure on him which is similar to yours.”

The old man was the Leader of the Freed clan, James freed. With his head leaning on his hand he was in contemplation: “If he was a part of the Sage Association I would have felt a resonance between my Identity plate and his, if he is not part of the Association we don’t need to worry too much about him even if he has any untoward intentions.” James said with a smug expression having complete confidence in their backing, the Sage Association.

Edward nodded, he’d heard of the Titanic like-existence of the Sage Association, a top monstrous power on the continent who few dared to go against, he had nothing but awe towards that power in his heart.

Suddenly James looked at the glass door to the balcony that stared of into the distance and stood up, “Edward leave from here.”

Edward respectfully clasped his hand and left the room with quick steps, closing the large door behind him.

“Why have you come here, Hans?” An old man appeared on the balcony of the tower, opening the glass door he walked into the large hall.

“It’s for the reason of the rogue Sage that appeared in my city, with his appearance there’s a possibility that he could harm our Families,” Hans said his voice cold and his intentions clear.

James snorted aware of this old fellows thought: “You want to eliminate him before he has any thoughts, don’t you?”

“Haha, you old fogey you know me too well. With our backings, we have little to fear: You’re part of the Sage Association while I have the backing of the Royal Reinhart Clan, let’s search for him.”

Out of the blue, the two felt a sense of foreboding as a drift of piercing cold wind blew through the glass door.

The two both went soundless, besides the winds howling there was only deathly silence.

“Hmph,” a snort that wasn’t too loud broke the silence causing both aged men to shiver subconsciously.

“You don’t have to search for me…” the cold domineering voice came from the balcony. Standing on the balcony ledge was a tall slim figure, his face covered by the hood of his cloak, yet his frosty eyes were emanating killing intent, it was as if these old men were staring at an abyss.

Bothe old men were shocked, Even though they felt a sensation of foreboding they weren’t able to locate him till the cloaked figure snorted.

“There is no point calling your men in here, if they take so much as a step into the room, I’ll kill them,” his tone was full of arrogance, fully confident that he was in control of the situation.

The two old men frowned; they had never met someone so arrogant when facing them, two Sages. The first to speak was Hans, clearly brimming with anger: “How arrogant, even without our backings do you think you can fight against two Sages?”

The man standing on the balcony ledge stepped off it and walked towards the door, when he heard Hans’s words he started laughing uproariously: “Sages? Sages?!! Haha! You call yourselves Sages? Are you trying to be funny? You’ve barely stepped into the level of a Sage and the both of you are so close to dying, is it not humiliating to call yourselves Sages while being so weak at your age?”

Neither Hans nor James could take these humiliating, their face’s even more wrinkled with veins popping onto their foreheads.

“I’ll kill you!” Hans bellowed in fury as he jumped into action pulling out a dagger that was a foot long, he kept by his side. He was always an arrogant and hot-headed man since a young age; he would never sit idly when someone insulted him without any regards to his existence.

At the same time, James who was standing near his chair was contemplating whether he should attack the cloaked figure, he did not know where his confidence came from as a cautious and calculating person he would first think things through, which is a character his grandson had gained from him but at this moment his fury surpassed his reasoning to be patient.

Grabbing his sword that was laying against the side of his chair he sped towards the cloaked figure.

“Old fools!” the cloaked figure snorted, there was no fear in his eyes, just contempt as if two street dogs were trying to attack him.