“The way of the martialist is the path to godhood! Only through the way of the martialist can a human become a god!”

The mantra of the martialist was something known to all the citizens of Hochland. From a young age, all children were taught their letters, numbers, and to respect martialists. In the town of Einburg, the strongest martialist was only in the Novice realm, but even the second realm of the martial way was enough to demand respect throughout the kingdom, much less the town!

In the world, martialists worked their entire lives to progress through the Human, Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Master, Legendary, Mythical, and Godly realms. Nine realms with nine stages marked the path to becoming a god, and Andric was ready to start his journey!

“Andric, step forward. I will open your heart-lung meridian,” the instructor called, singling out a youth who sat near the back of the classroom.

“Yes, Instructor Hubert!” the youth named Andric stood and said, and he marched to the front of the classroom.

Instructor Hubert looked at Andric’s chest, seemingly peeking beneath the fabric. The younger students in the classroom were unaware of what Instructor Hubert was doing, but the rest were all aware. Spirit Sight! He was really using Spirit Sight! In the kingdom of Hochland, only a handful of martialists were capable of using Spirit Sight, but one of them called the small town of Einburg his home.

The instructor viewed the inside of Andric’s body, searching through his flesh and bones for the pathways that channeled spirit energy. There were many ways to open meridians, but the most efficient was to receive a spiritual wound at the meridian location, thereby dislodging the debris that usually blocked the meridian since birth. Having Spirit Sight made the process much easier, because Instructor Hubert didn’t need to take precise measurements or try multiple times!

Andric stood directly in front of Instructor Hubert. He steeled himself, knowing what would come next. He had seen several youths have their heart-lung meridian opened, and all of them described it as a painful experience.

The next second, Instructor Hubert stabbed his finger into Andric’s chest. His finger pierced half an inch into Andric’s skin, then released a concentrated pulse of spirit energy. The released spirit energy impacted Andric’s heart-lung meridian, bombarding the filth that clogged the inside. Instructor Hubert pulled his finger away, and Andric stood still for a few moments.

If an experienced martialist was hit with a spirit energy attack, their meridians would feel it before their nervous system, and their ability to utilize their meridians would be lowered. But, if the person hit by the spirit energy attack wasn’t an experienced martialist, they wouldn’t feel anything from their meridians! In fact, many martialists went through hundreds of spirit energy attacks in order to dislodge the debris inside their meridians. In a real battle, spirit energy attacks were only used to kill opponents. In a controlled environment, they were used for unblocking meridians!

Andric tried to feel the meridian inside his chest, but he lacked the Spirit Sight and Spirit Sense abilities. Although Spirit Sight was something he would’ve needed to be born with, Spirit Sense was something all martialists could learn, although it would only allow him to see the spirit energy inside his own body. For the time being, Andric could only hope Instructor Hubert’s spirit energy attack had worked.

“You can sit down. Your heart-lung meridian won’t be fully opened for another few hours. If successful, you will be able to meditate with the first rank of our town’s Standing Tortoise Manual.”

Andric bowed to the instructor, then returned to his seat at the back of the classroom. Although Instructor Hubert was known to open meridians with incredible precision, he wasn’t someone who gave out meditation techniques. Most townspeople of Einburg bought the Standing Tortoise Manual from the town hall, but some had meditation techniques passed down through their family. However, Andric’s family had a special circumstance, and he was able to obtain the Standing Tortoise Manual for free.

Andric couldn’t pay attention for the rest of the lesson. While Instructor Hubert was teaching about medicinal plants, Andric was focused on his own body, trying his hardest to sense the energy that moved within him. For his entire life, he had tried to sense the spirit energy that supposedly existed within all living creatures, but he never could.

After the lesson was over, Andric ran to the town hall. He had lived in Einburg for fifteen years, and he knew the town and its surrounding areas like the back of his hand. The town hall was an area he knew particularly well, and it was almost like a second home to him.

“Hello, Miss Erminhilt!” Andric greeted the lady sitting beside the entrance to the town hall. She was a few years older than Andric, and her long blonde hair caught the gazes of many men. Regardless of that, it was known throughout Einburg that Miss Erminhilt had never had a male suitor, and many men thought their chances with her were somewhere between zero and impossible.

“Hi, Andric. Today isn’t a grain day, is it?” However, Miss Erminhilt was very friendly with Andric, and her friends commonly teased that she had a crush on him. Her mother helped Andric’s mother when she was younger, and that interaction started Miss Erminhilt’s fondness for Andric. From his birth until the present, she had watched him grow up.

“No, not today. I’m actually here for the Standing Tortoise Manual,” Andric replied.

“That? If you here for that, it means today’s your birthday!” Miss Erminhilt said. She stood up and hugged Andric. “Why do you try to keep these things secret? Happy birthday!”

Andric hugged her back and said, “I just don’t think it’s a big deal. I’m a year older, so what?”

Miss Erminhilt yet go of Andric and sat back down, turning her head to the side. “Hmpf. Go get your little manual or whatever. I’ll be out here, not celebrating anybody’s birthday or anything.”

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Andric laughed on the inside and strolled past Miss Erminhilt. He knew that most families in the town celebrated birthdays from one to fifteen, but Andric and his family never celebrated a single one. Miss Erminhilt knew the month of Andric’s birthday, but he never told her the exact date. The date had even been scrubbed the town hall’s records.

The town hall was - as implied by the name - a long hall. The hall had many tables and chairs for townspeople to sit at during meetings, but it was presently empty. Andric walked to the very end of the hall and opened a door, leading into the next room. The next room was the town hall’s storage, where the Standing Tortoise Manuals were kept along with a few other miscellaneous objects. Andric took one of the books, then turned around and left.

As he passed, Miss Erminhilt, he stopped to say, “There won’t be a party, but if you’d make me a cake, I’d definitely receive it.”

Miss Erminhilt smiled and said nothing, and Andric walked away. He walked to the end of the street, then starting running home. The day still had plenty of time, but Andric wanted to spend as much time as possible perusing the Standing Tortoise Manual. He returned home after a few minutes of running, and he went straight to his room on the second floor of the house.

Andric sat on his bed and opened the Standing Tortoise Manual. The language of the book was Empyrean Standard, which was what most of the kingdoms in the Western Continent used. It was a relic of an old empire, and it remained in use long after the empire was dissolved. When Andric first encountered the language, he found it slightly familiar, and he learned it quickly.

Meditation techniques were how martialists gathered spirit energy from the heaven and earth and used it to empower their own body. For every meridian a martialist had open, their rate of gathering spirit energy increased. If a martialist had all twenty-four major meridians and thirty-six minor meridians opened, they would have what was referred to as a Heavenly Channel Body. Many martialists dreamed to one day achieve the Heavenly Channel Body, and they all started with a single meridian open.

Andric read the Standing Tortoise Manual, then circulated the spirit energy inside his body. Just as the manual said, he could feel energy entering his body from the atmosphere. The energy entered his body, flowed through his heart-lung meridian, and exited his body. Along the way, it tempered the flesh around his heart-lung meridian, giving him a stronger heart and lung.

“So, this is spirit energy?” he asked the empty room. In his entire life, it was his first time feeling the mysterious energy. He could only feel a sliver of the energy inside him, but he definitely felt something.

For several hours, Andric did nothing but meditate with the Standing Tortoise Manual. A stream of energy gradually formed around him, circulating through his body. Each time the energy passed through him, it made him stronger, and it opened his heart-lung meridian a tiny bit more.

As the evening drew nearer, Andric was interrupted by someone knocking on his bedroom door.

“Andric, it’s time for dinner,” a young woman softly spoke, and Andric immediately recognized her.

“Yes, mother!” he quickly said, and he put away the Standing Tortoise Manual. He stood up and inspected his clothes, then followed his mother to the kitchen.

The dinner table was already set, and Andric’s maternal grandparents were helping themselves to the food Andric’s mother had cooked.

“Alda, sit down, let Andric serve you,” Andric’s grandfather said and waved for his daughter to sit. Although they lived together, Andric’s grandfather didn’t have a good opinion of him, and Andric didn’t expect him to change.

“Right, let me get the food for you,” Andric said, and he held out Alda’s chair for her.

“Okay, thank you,” Alda meekly said and said, and Andric pushed her chair in. He took a bowl from the kitchen cabinets and filled it with some grain porridge, then added a few boiled vegetables on top, and he placed the bowl in front of Alda. He made himself a similar bowl, then sat next to Alda.

Andric’s relationship with his grandparents was less than nominal. They had once tried to sell him to a group of slavers, but Alda had caught them before Andric could be shipped away. Before that, Alda had always been distant with him, but the event had shown him that she truly was his mother. From then on, he disregarded his relationship with his grandparents, and he did his best to help his mother with whatever she needed.

Andric only learned about what his mother’s past a few years ago. At that time, a few kids from around the town had attempted to bully him into submission, but none of their taunts worked. In the end, they brought up the matter of Andric’s father. Andric had never seen his father, and he always assumed his father had died before he was born. After learning about his father, Andric understood why Gasto and Roza hated his existence, and why Alda was so sheltered.

After the meal, Andric cleaned the table and the dishes. Once he was finished, he returned to his bedroom, and he resumed practicing the Standing Tortoise Manual. He practiced for a couple more hours, then was interrupted, again.

Alda stood at his door and said, “Erminhilt is downstairs. She says she has something for you.”

“Thank you. I’ll go meet her,” Andric said, and he put down the Standing Tortoise Manual and exited his room. He walked ahead of his mother and descended to the first floor, where he immediately saw Erminhilt in the sitting room, in a chair and talking to Roza.

Erminhilt had a package wrapped in cloth in her lap, and she turned away from Roza to greet Andric, “I hope I didn’t interrupt you.”

“It’s fine,” Andric said. He walked to the chair next to Erminhilt, and she stood to give him the cloth-wrapped package. Andric took it and sat, where he untied the cloth wrapping. Under the wrapping was a small wooden box, and the wooden box contained a tiny round cake. It was enough for about ten bites. “Thank you.”

Andric retrieved a spoon from the kitchen, then returned to eat the cake. The four family members and Erminhilt sat in the sitting room, and all of them but Andric lightly chatted. Andric listened to their conversations, but they weren’t anything he wanted to interject his opinion in. Andric’s grandparents asked Erminhilt about her job at the town hall, and Erminhilt asked them about their work in the fields.

Eventually, the Erminhilt steered the conversation toward Andric’s childhood. The young man himself knew it was a tough subject for his grandparents, but Erminhilt didn’t know the extent to which Andric’s grandparents loathed him.

He quickly scooped up the last piece of cake onto his spoon and held it out for Erminhilt. She saw the cake and allowed Andric to feed it to her, bringing a smile to her face. While she chewed, Andric stood and said, “It’s getting late. I’ll walk you home.”

“Alright,” Erminhilt said after swallowing the cake. She stood and took the box and cloth from Andric, and the two of them walked out of the house.

They walked a short distance down the road, neither looking at the other for very long.

“Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

Andric walked Erminhilt to her door, then returned home. He went to his bedroom, closed the door, and laid on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling and thought, ‘Fifteen years after my reincarnation, and I still haven’t met a single magician. I guess the age of magicians truly is over.’