Ubel found himself in the training grounds of the sect after taking his leave from the daily lessons. Area was covered with dozens of different arenas, hundreds of training dummies and rows upon rows of wooden weapons in an orderly manner. There weren’t many disciples at this time of the day. There was only a handful of people left when you excluded people working or studying at Star Library, people who worked alchemy and physiology in seclusion, disciples who were fawnin or getting trained by Senior generation and several elderly men who worked in Disciple Hall.

Of course, this didn't mean it was quiet.

He heard from a physician’s disciple that people could erupt with a greater amount of power while shouting. Of course, Ubel was pretty embarrassed about trying it out in a crowded place, so he only inspected people in here. He also didn't know whether it was true or not. Every goddamn people in here was screaming! Maybe he shouldn’t be that angry.

Whatever…

After slipping through loud people and finding a relatively quiet place he started to act. He could use Depression three times already, since he was at the peak of Qi Creation. Yet, this was only considered real when he used it in normal ways.

Among the many matters he thought, which was also a question that bugged many immortals’ mind for a long time, what he could do in a life-death situation was somewhat an eye-opener for him, when he tried to imagine several scenarios. The wild beasts and devilish Immortals he remembered and uncountable threats he read from the books made him aware that it wouldn’t be safe enough to only study literature and stroll in the sect. So, since his progress was pretty slow, he tried to use the only magical technique he had in hand, Depression, in, which could be said relatively, different ways.

Result? Splendid.

The idea of gathering the Death River Qi in different parts of body and shaping them according the visual image in his head was not something he ever thought of. He always assumed that magical techniques had salt restrictions upon how they worked and acted, which could be considered slightly true. But he also learned from Senior-brother Alim that many of them could be flexible. Depression seemed to be one of those nonrigid abilities.

At first, he tried to widen the darkness from his index finger to the middle finger. The dark shroud that covered his whole index finger only reached to the middle joint of his both fingers when spread out. When released to the whole fingers only to the nails, and when spread to the whole hand, strangely, it turned into a less darker color which invaded all the way to his wrist.

So, after these, he wanted to try some different things.

Orthodox way of using Depression, gathering the force in a small point and launching a projectile with a straight or curved trajectory, was somewhat restricted. It seemed like he still had to use it as a ranged attack, so Ubel tried to think.

The first thing that came to his mind was to gather the Qi in the middle of his palm, rather than the finger. After directing the Qi flow with great difficulty and imagining the shape, a dark spike as long as his thumb appeared, revolving and creating a buzzing sound. Launching the spike towards a training dummy, he awaited the results. As expected… he thought, as no change was there that differentiated it from normal Depression.

Then he shaped it into a ball as big as his palm and launched again. The results seemed same but he also managed to grasp the fact that it seemed slower than normal. After thinking a little more, he created a cone and threw again. After the third Depression, albeit all failed, the experiment managed to pique his interest.

After sitting down and recovering his Qi for an hour, spent while thinking and speculating about whatever he could try, Ubel stood up. Even though he tried to look from a different viewpoint this time, the conclusions didn't differ greatly. Sitting up and down continuously, he spent nine hours. As the blue sky shied away from the starry night sky, Ubel released a sigh, filled with both weariness and a wild curiosity, and took his way to the home. The dummy he used for ten hours, after he was several minutes of walk away, started to recover and got back into it's perfect state.

*********

‘’It’s a unbeknown matter,’’ Said combat master Quan, ‘’It is actually one of the first things we discover while inspecting the ancient murals and texts. There is...or was, actually, nine gods rather than four sovereigns.’’ As he took a swing from the drink in his hand, which disciples called the ‘Special formula of Quan’ he continued to speak.

‘’But we do not have any knowledge about who these nine gods were, how did they came into being and left and how four sovereigns appeared. The tiny knowledge we have just comes from the songs sang by the son of Brynhildr, Raka, who tried save his mother from the Well Of Hatred And Selfishness. Although there are no formal names of these songs, they are known by the names that were given by language historians and Archaea Immortals. I’m also sure many of you listened to them as little children.’’

‘’Frustration Of The World and Masters Of The Eternal Skies.’’

*********

The air of the shop they were in was pleasant. It was peaceful. Tranquil.

Boris and Ubel were enjoying the silence inside the place, where they took a nice corner with blue-grey colored and thick enough to be seen incense smokes traveled through the air in a delicate manner. After taking a sigh at the same time, Boris took the scarlet red bottle, available on every tables of this shop, and poured down the contents into small glasses, two finger wide and at a thumb height. It seemed so natural that it was apparent he had came here before. He didn't create any sound while filling up.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The doors and the walls of the place, magically, blocked all kinds of noises from the outside, except the ones from inside. Sighing of random people, voices quieter than whispers speaking fervently, glasses getting filled up, and the scarce, healthy laugh of the owner. Boris felt slightly delighted at the sight of Ubel, whom seemed more happy than uncomfortable.

‘’Four months,’’ Boris uttered,’’I think you should be more acquainted with here, with people. By now, I suppose.’’ He took a little sip from the glass. He learned from a Senior-Sister who took him here to not drink all of the liquid in one big gulp, like Ubel.

After replying to the Ubel who said ‘’Tasty,’’ with a ‘’Yeah, it is.’’ they fell silent. Then Ubel continued.

‘’I feel normal...probably.’’ He put his chin on his hand and scratched it a little. ‘’I thought I was starting to understand the difference between a mortal and immortal, how people acted, and what do I needed to do.’’

‘’You thought?’’ Boris asked, ‘’Did something change?’’

‘’It can be said.’’ He spoke a bit vague this time.’’ In the end, we are not that different. Mortals and Immortals. We are not weak enough to not be called immortals, yet also so different to not be called mortals. We have no other attribute other than our humanity.’’ Tittering, Boris refilled Ubel’s glass.

‘’Then, what do you think now? Can you tell it?’’

Ubel halted to a stop. It was not the stop of baffling that came with a hard question, nor it was the confusion of a unexpected word. It was more like...a breather to sort his thoughts.

‘’No.’’ Ubel sighed. ‘’I lack experience. My knowledge is limited. My thoughts are without any foundation. My point on Immortality is still like a crawling baby. So, no. I can’t talk for now.’’

‘’Haah,’' Now it was Boris’ turn to sigh. ‘’I can’t really stand to these types of discussions. I can’t really catch up with these matters.’’

Slightly grinning, Ubel tried to took a small sip like Boris. At least he is not excited like me Boris thought. He didn't know whether this was a good or bad characteristic. Ubel looked too calm. Like the change in his environment didn't affect him that much. The interest and enthusiasm he had for the first time he came slowly, as he lived among the immortals, turned into a different kind of passion, some kind of reason he didn't know.

‘’Then do you know what do you want to do? Or did someone catch your eye? You know, hehehe, I have some experience in the matter.’’

‘’Senior brother, I’ve listened to the story of how you met with Senior sister Yen from herself, You know. ‘’

‘’So you long for another slap?’’ Although Boris tried to look angry while knitting his brows, looking at the snickering Ubel it all disappeared. It also wasn’t like that he didn't fear the shop owner. He got one of the worst beatings of his life in here, when he was just a simple disciple on Qi Destruction level.

‘’Whatever,’’ after snorting lightly, he raised his voice a little. ‘’I ask for real. Do you have anything in your mind? Do you have a goal?’’

Ubel didn't seem to need to think much.

‘’Being an archaea immortal...sounds nice. I don’t know. I don’t understand. Should I take my choice now? Do I need to have a goal? It seems like a hard decision.’’

‘’It's hard, of course. It was the same for me too.’’ Boris refilled the glasses again after checking whether the scarlet bottle was filled or not while shaking. Taking a deep breath of the exotic smell of incense, he started to speak again.

‘’Should I tell you some about my past?’’ Boris didn't await an answer. He continued.

‘’My situation was a little different from you. One of the immortals of the sect had a life debt to my parents. At a time, my mother found the wife of this immortal, on the brink of death while pregnant, just outside our village. It took years for woman to recover but with my mom and dad’s help, she didn't face any difficulty and even gave birth. When her husband came back, they helped my parents to pay off their debts and even gave away a treasure flag to protect the village.’’

‘’When I was born, my parents took me under the flag that immortal gave us. Then one of the subordinates of the immortal came to check up on me. ‘’We can take this boy when he is age of seven. If he wants to go back, our doors are always open. If you want, my master can give a good house on the sect grounds to you.’’ That immortal said.’’

‘’Of course my parents refused the second offer. They stayed with the rest of the folks on the village, saying that they couldn’t bear to die on the lands other than the one their ancestors spilled blood for. Then they sent me to the sect when I was seven. Years later, when I came back to the village I saw their graves. Right beside the lion embroidered flag, flowered.’’

‘’Do you know how I felt?’’

Although Boris felt like he was taking too long and drifting away from the topic, seeing Ubel’s pure attention he was relieved. ‘’Like a little idiot. I didn't have any regrets, they would die earlier than me and eventually would become one with the dark earth. But I also understood what a family meant when I loved Yennefer. I felt pained, but chose to burden it on Yen. After all, we are together to carry both our burdens. ‘’

‘’So, I chose to get more powerful. Not a power like the peak of martial arts nor a power like controlling subjects. Just a strength enough to make me relax and protect myself. So my best shot was being a Combat Master.’’

‘’That was pretty long.’’ Grinning, Ubel took the bottle away from his hand. Becoming aware that nothing poured down, he turned the bottle around and looked in amazement towards the bottle and the glass. The astonishment of Ubel while looking was quite amusing or him.

‘’Haah,’’ Boris stood up and whispered. ‘’I talked a bit too much.’’

‘’Did I really manage to tell you something?’’

‘’Yes, you did senior brother.’’ Said Ubel. They both got a happy laugh. After paying the bill, they bid farewell and left towards their homes.

A goal...searching my mother would be...then my grandma...No. Ubel entered his house and sat down on one of the wooden chairs that met the open window. Maybe I should take a quest...yeah. It seems sensible. It would be easier to take my decision then.

Watching the newborn babylights of the sun, Ubel fell asleep under the tight and soft embrace of the breeze.