Author’s note- Hey, here is the complete chapter. Though I have to say, I’d be lying if I told you that this chapter didn’t come out within months due to my lack of internet. In reality, I got into games. Monster Hunter Ultimate 3, Assassin's Creed 3, Dust, Don’t Starve, Team Fortress 2, and Symphony were all games that I used to procrastinate. After that period, I was ready to write but my Identity as a Hardcore leecher on novels prevented me from doing so before checking my email for more chapters. So I checked, and was shocked. 1000+ chapters were translated and ready for me to read! I binge read for another month, but I had added so many novels to my reading list that the number of chapters I could read per day barely surpassed the amount that was translated! So after looking at my email and still seeing 80 something chapters after I binge read for the past month, I decided to cut down to only reading the highest quality books, and write my story. So here I finally am with a complete chapter, Nula village!

PS. If you read part 1, scroll down till you see the big part two.

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Nula Village

I walked through the forest silently, not making a single sound. This was because as a child, leaving the clan’s boundaries was risky at the least, if not almost suicidal. But I had to do it. Or else I would probably never have another perfect opportunity like now, when most of the clan’s seniors are currently off of duty, looking for the very treasure I currently have on my back.

And this very situation would not last for long. I reckon it will only take them a few hours to return to the village. This is because the graveyard is the last place they’ll look; given they think that they inspected all the treasures there. But once they check the graveyard, find the tombstone that is damaged to the point of oblivion, and notice the gigantic crater on the area where the dead body should be, only a fool would not know at that time as to who had the treasure. But of course, they could not immediately recognize what exactly was taken unless I come into a relative’s face with his sword. So some modifications are in order.

Inline of this, I took up a rock by the road, and attempted to carve scratches into the wood. But surprisingly, I couldn’t get the blade to scratch no matter how much I grinded at the blade. So next, I turned to masking the hilt in dirt. After all, anybody could have a wooden sword, It would just make it harder to recognize.

In that fashion, I masked the hilt with mud, and drew lines on the sword itself. But I knew this was only a temporary fix. Upon encountering rain or a dry season, the dirt would come off. So I needed to find a more permanent solution when I arrived at the village.

Luckily, I didn’t come across anybody from my clan on the way as I was trekking through the forest. And my temporary destination was the pathway. Obviously, there is no direct path from our clan to the village, but I knew where I would encounter it. Once I heard the sound of the river, the pathway would not be far. Although I couldn’t directly go on the pathway, which is too suspicious, I could walk by the river. This would allow me to get plenty of mud on my sword, on my shoes, and also travel undetected. I would also take the river way back once I inspected the general situation of the orphanage.

It would do me no good to stay too long though, so I only planned to scout the area for about an hour. I needed time to return, and the sooner the better. But I wouldn’t come across another chance like this without a fundamental change, one that would come with my age. From age 1-6, we had really no freedom other than the occasion when the adults go down into the village for drink. That’s how my Dad met my mom, or at least that’s what he told me.

He almost never talks about her; it always seems like he’s trying to forget. Trying to forget every part of the event.

Involuntarily, tears started streaming down my cheeks. I was the devil child in it; the one who killed everyone. I killed the midwives, I killed the clan members standing outside the tent, I killed my grandparents, I killed my mother! They all just stopped moving, like their very souls were crushed. Not one living thing was spared inside that range, even the very grass died out and turned black!

That day, my dad was lucky to be alive. He was urged by our family before my birth to prepare a meal for my exhausted mother, the best quality. So he went out, and according to custom he killed a magical beast in the wild. When he came back, he met with all that death and destruction. The only thing left was the cursed child, me.  He kept me, raised me, and never once blamed me for what had happened.

Likewise, our clan members saw the event as inevitable. But at the same time, they didn’t have any sympathy for us. Yet, even that is better than the treatment of my family. They hate me to the bone, and they never refer to me by my name. They only call me the devil child, and I know if one of them thought they could kill me without any repercussions from my dad, they would do it in a heartbeat.

On this trip to the village, I would not go out of my way to encounter any of them. Their house was in the center, near the lord’s manor. However, the orphanage couldn’t be in the center. I doubt those close to the lord would want ‘dirty street children’ anywhere near their residence. So I planned to first enter through our normal shortcut through the fields, and ask some of the fields men where the orphanage was located. Now to find that river...

I started jogging through the woods, not bothering to mask my footsteps. There was just no point in trying to hide any longer, especially since I had already passed the clan’s borders for a while now. Being cautious and paranoid in the outskirts was just folly; obviously no one would be this far out in patrol.

After a minute or two, I finally heard the sound of rushing water. It was accompanied by the tweeting of birds, and the occasional rabbit dashing from the bushes. Looking up, I could see golden rays of sunlight streaming down through vibrant green leaves. I had finally entered the heart of the forest.

Here is where the world is raw. Where not the law of the clan rules, but where nature is the true sovereign. Where I was free!

I wiped away the tear streaks on my face, and a wild, childish grin took its place. My long suppressed playful nature flourished, and I mischievously started to run around, setting off every hunter’s trap I could find. It was like all my emotions just exploded, and I ran rampant without worry of being judged, of being repressed, of being trash. The heavy burden was lifted, and I felt like I could fly!

After a few minutes, I managed to refocus myself to the task at hand. And during that period, I had also unwittingly arrived at the Forlan river, the lifeblood of the forest. The fish bred like maggots inside the rushing white water, and it was even possible to fish without bait. Or at least that’s what they told me; I never fished in my life.

They swam upstream, to the city, while downstream was the village. So I would be following the current of the river to keep my bearings. Then, ignoring the mud, I walked by the river. It was time to go to Nula Village!

***********

After a seemingly long walk of about 12 minutes, I had finally started to see the rolling hills of farmland. Next came the fence, which I promptly hopped over. And finally, I had started to see some people. At first it was just a couple here and there, but after walking a bit, they turned into rolling masses of people just strolling around. There were loud clanging sounds, the loud yells of children, and most of all the monotonous sound of people chattering.

As I walked further the wind blew by, and the fragrant smell of bread mixed with the pungent smell of dung assaulted my nose. The cause? The people sitting in the streets, beggars. Nula village was not a rich place; even the bandits were better off. It was the home to the lower middle class and the poor. Therefore, I’m sure they were not bothered by the people before them; it was just another common sight.

Although I had seen and smelled it a few times before, it was not common to me yet. So, wrinkling my nose in disgust, I continued to walk towards the noise, albeit a little faster than before. Once I reached the edge, I turned from an alleyway into the marketplace.

Unlike the rural area of the city, this one was bustling with people. And with any area with many people, there would always be a town crier. And a town crier always had the latest news for, well anybody who would listen to him.

Town crier- “... the biggest news in The Starfallen Continent! The Skysplitting Sword clan, the Draconic Fist clan, and the Bloodrop Spearpoint clan, have opened their doors to talents in the mortal realm! These are the top of the top, the elite of the elite, the best of the best! These clans are top powers in the elemental sects, and they have decided on a consensus to take any people under the age of 20, with at least intermediate realm talent.”

He surveyed the now quiet marketplace; resting his eyes on the vailant, hot-blooded men standing at the front. Sensing he finally had their attention, he continued eagerly.

Town crier- “Yes, I tell you the truth! They will recruit the elites of the generation, the swans among ducks! And where is this happening? The Battle Blooded Arena, located in our very own Lucia city! And...

I slinked away into the market, not interested. I was nowhere near the first step of being a cultivator: the maturing of the mind. Around 12, a cultivator’s mind and body harmonize, and this allows the sensing of natural energy. Using this newfound sense, there are two options. The first and most common method is to consume a pill of awakening.

A pill of awakening will direct a small stream of energy directly to your core. That energy will then move within the core directly. It is not strong enough to cause any real harm, but it will give feeling to the core. This allows people to gain awareness, and thereby control over their core like a newfound limb.

But it’s detriments are as follows. One, if the pill was not refined to a 100% purity rate, the poison within would limit future achievements within the martial path. Two, that uncontrolled energy will act as the base of all the future energy of cultivation inside the basic realm. This causes foundational problems, and can even cause cultivators to lose control of their energy in times of stress.

These problems will disappear upon the intermediate realm, as the ability to manifest natural energy allows you to spend time to get rid of that impure energy completely and replace it. Although it takes about ten times longer to remove energy with impurities, the amount of energy contained within the pill is almost negligible. Therefore, most will choose it over the second method if given the choice.

The second method is unlocking aura before cultivation. Once it is unlocked, one can use their aura to draw energy from the atmosphere, resulting in a 100% purity. Those who choose this method have a slight advantage over other practitioners in any aspect whether it be control, comprehension, temperament, or even raw power. It also allows one to maximize their talent, and even improve it.

Based on the benefits, it would seem that everyone would choose this method. But sadly, the requirements for unlocking aura are just too harsh. It demands that one must constantly put their life on the line, and due to the imminent feeling of danger that comes from the very soul, one can seize control over their aura.

The only ones that can choose this method are heirs to chaotic dukedoms, bandits, and even beggars. The reason why is the one thing they all have in common. A life or death struggle that was survived by the skin of their teeth. Aura will unlock when one faces their life crisis and gives birth to a will so strong to survive that it surges up from their very soul.

This method is definitely the worst out of the two, because inevitably about only 50% will survive long enough to unlock aura when put into a life or death situation for the first time, and only 25% will live to tell the tale after surviving that crisis.

Of course our bandit tribe would always choose the first method if given the choice. But the thing is that we are not usually given the choice. And that was due to one inevitable truth. The mercenary guild and the city lord had full control over the alchemists, and therefore the awakening pills. It was not a stretch to say the only way we could get those pills was to either trade for them at an exorbitant price or steal them. But they have their own counter measures against stealing, ones much more formidable than the occasional traveling merchant.

If we were to attack a merchant caravan, first we would have to get through their forces. They were always armed to the teeth, and not one of them was a normal person. Without exception, all of them were battle hardened cultivators of at least the second rank. And they would always have a captain or two at the peak of the basic realm.

Now if by chance we were daring and strong enough to kill their captains and mercenaries, we would encounter a second barrier. The carriage itself.

The carriage had a series of seals that could only be ripped off in a certain order, which changes every time. If they were torn off in the wrong order, it would cause the carriage to explode the contents inside as well as send a signal that would mark our location to the mercenary guild for 3 days. And it doesn’t even make much of a difference if we tear them off in the right order because it still sends out a ripple that alerts the guild of our location, even if it’s only for an hour.

The third and final failsafe is the fact that the awakening pills are mixed in with poison pills. The only method of identifying them rests with the leader of the mercenary union and the city lord, both at the 4th rank. They use their natural energy to pick out poison from medicine in bulk, and they distribute the medicine among their own elites.

These series of methods, along with their indomitable strength, allows them to have an absolute monopoly over the awakening pills. Therefore, the only way to obtain them for most is to join either the city lord or the mercenary union. And due to this, the city lord and the mercenary union is the strongest force in the region. Being the strongest force in the region allows them to monopolize all the alchemists awakening pills. It was a vicious cycle, with the only real winners being the strongest forces in the region. Truly it is as they say, might is right.

I turned a corner in the marketplace, and I found myself staring down a black, wooden door. On it was a engraved iron plate with a message written in fanciful handwriting, “~Ye who enter, number your days, for they are limited~”

I opened the door ignoring the morbid humor written on the door. This was after all, a bar. A special place that was a center of alcohol, commerce, and most of all information. You could find out almost anything in the village here for a certain price, or at least that’s what I heard from the clan. They frequented the place every month, and if some loose tongued merchants spilled out their plans, they always ‘happened’ to be there to listen in.

Nobody in the bar really noticed me, and I surveyed it quietly. The bar was about a quarter-full, with only layabouts that drank in broad daylight inside currently. I only knew one of the men here, and it was old man Steve.

Being a man that wouldn’t stand out in the crowd, old man Steve had hazel brown eyes with blackish, brown hair that cascaded to the bottom of his neck. His beard looked to be 2 years unshaven, and an alcohol bottle was pressed to his lips. But unlike his looks suggested, he possessed a very solid knowledge of the town. All you had to do was ask.

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I walked up to Old man Steve, and sat down next to him, waiting. He shot me a sharp glance from the corner of his eye, yet he continued to drink. But I was patient for a reason. With Steve, you couldn’t just ask him a question straight out of the blue and expect him to answer you. In fact, if you did that, he would be unlikely to answer you at all. You had to wait for him to open up at his own pace. So I waited for about 5 more minutes of my precious time before he finally spoke,

Old man Steve- “You need something?”

I smiled amusedly, knowing he was probably already tired of me sitting here. So I replied honestly, getting straight to the point,

Me- “I need to know where I can find an orphan by the name of Keith.”

Old man Steve narrowed his eyes, his voice taking on a tone of suspicion.

Old man Steve- “Why do you need to know about him?”

I took a glance at him bewilderedly, what was so special about Keith?

Me- “I was sent by a man of the surname Argaroc.”

He looked at me strangely before bursting into boisterous laughter.

Old man Steve- “Wha-ha-ha-ha! The Argarocs? That clan was annihilated years ago! You must be playing a joke on me boy!”

I smiled to play along, but on the inside I was even more confused. What exactly was going on? But before I could squeeze more information about the Argarocs, he continued.

Old man Steve- “Anyways, you’ll find him at the Lion-blood orphanage. To get there, first you’ll have to go through this door here, ‘points to door opposite to the one I came in’ and then turn right. After that, you will continue to go straight until you see a giant, green flag, with a golden lion dancing in the wind.”

I nodded my head slightly to indicate that I understood, and motioned for him to continue. But he had sunk into a deep silence, seeming to reminisce about something. Obviously he was not willing to talk any longer.

With an exasperated sigh, I got up and started walking to the orphanage. It had been a long day…

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PART TWO STARTS HERE!!!

When I entered the orphanage, I was surprised at how poor the place looked. With a flag like that right over the doorway, and the way that it looked on the outside, you could really never tell that they were in dire straits.

But with floor boards that looked like they haven’t been cleaned in decades, walls that were missing bricks in parts, and a ceiling that looked as if it could fall down at any moment, the Lion-blood Orphanage certainly did not live up to it’s name. At least they hadn’t declined to the point of having no other person who works at the building.

That person was a woman way past her years, who was staring at a weathered banner on the wall opposite to the door. She had long grey hair that cascaded over her back, and she sat on a desolate rocking chair that slowly creaked as she rocked back and forth. Then she suddenly stopped, and spoke without even looking back.

Old woman- “Ah, how the years have gone by. Even when someone comes to visit, they don’t speak a word…”

I suddenly felt flustered and embarrassed, and I hoped that my cheeks did not redden, even though I knew the woman could not see me. Then I awoke from my stupor, and spoke quickly,

Me- “Hello, my name is Daniel, and I’ve come looking for Keith.”

Upon hearing this, the woman stiffened and slowly turned the chair around. She gave me a piercing glare, and examined me closely, like I was some sort of threat. What was up with Keith for souls sake? What could be so significant about an orphan? I sent the woman a questioning look, and she started to speak slowly, choosing her words carefully.

Old woman- “You… Do you know the significance of the name, Lion-blood?”

I shook my head, and unconsciously felt at the wooden sword at my back.

Old woman- “Keith is… special. And it is necessary for his existence to be kept within the minds of a select few.”

Her expression betrayed her, as anger was clearly shown on her face. She started gripping her chair tightly, like it was the only thing keeping her from strangling me right then and there. She spoke again through clenched teeth, asking me her final question.

Old woman- “Who sent, you?”

I knew instinctively that if and when I answered the question, the woman would try and end me right then and there. And the scary thing was, is that I wasn’t aware of her capabilities. So I would have to try my luck.

Me- “And what does that have to do with you?”

I questioned back rudely, not answering her question.

Old woman- “Answer me, devil spawn!”

She abruptly stood up from the chair, and the world around her suddenly blackened by a few tones. It came across to me like a rolling mist, the trademark symbol of Darkness. I started running. If I was hit by any spell whatsoever, it would be the end.

Old woman- “You dare!?”

While I was running I heard her rapidly chanting. In what felt like hours, but was really a matter of seconds, I reached the door. But just as I put my hand on the handle, she raised her hand with exaggerated flair and yelled out.

Old woman- “Darkball!”

A swirling ball of liquid darkness suddenly materialized at her palm, and shot out like a streak of lightning. All I saw from the corner of my eye was a streak of nothing; an abstract circle that rapidly enlarged faster than I could react. Closing my eyes, I knew at this point I was dead without a doubt. But a sudden, humongous pressure that I was incapable of resisting even if I was ten times stronger enveloped my body and pressed me down to the floor.

“BOOM!”

As soon as I opened my eyes, the remains of a worn out door stood before me. Replacing it was a magical beast hide boot, which had a metallic sheet on the bottom. I looked up, and saw a pair of golden eyes looking straight back at me. They were dad’s!

Old woman- “The waste and the demonchild, it seems they come in pairs! What are you doing here, Jack?”

She spoke in a venomous tone, and practically spat out his name. But Dad did not seem in the mood for wasting words with the woman. He turned into a blur and rushed at the woman. But instead of engaging him she fled rapidly while chanting.

Old woman- Aid my movement, assist my will, bring power to my wish, Darkness cloaking!”

The woman turned into a living shadow with black eyes. But she did not pause as she made her way to an area where the chandelier light did not reach. A corner under shadow.

However, that didn’t last long for suddenly her movement turned sluggish, as if giant hand was pressing down against her.

In a last ditch effort, she pointed her hand at me and chanted as fast as she could. But before she could finish, Dad had already arrived next to her. He immediately grabbed her hand despite her furious struggle, and pushed it against her head.

Jack- “Go ahead Caldera, fire your spell. It would be funny to watch the first idiot of the Moonblossom family to kill themselves with their own spell! In fact, the only reason you aren’t already dead is because you’re related to Maria!”

She screamed out indignantly,

Caldera Moonblossom- “Yeah, so? He killed my sister, as well as your wif-”

A rolling mist seemed to manifest around dad, and it was a reddish black. An ugly, evil color that made me instinctively full of fear. And in that moment, Dad slapped her in the face making a loud, satisfying crack.

“Pa!”

Jack- “Don’t ever say that again, or I’ll have your head!”

The woman paled visibly, except for a giant mark on her face. It was in the shape of a hand, and it was becoming a deeper shade of scarlet every second. She stammered and stuttered, but no understandable words came out of her mouth.

Jack- “Oh?”

A trace of a sadistic smile made its way onto his lips, in a way that I had never seen him do before.

Jack- “I’m sorry, did I break something?”

He slowly traced a finger around the area he hit, while Caldera watched, entranced.

Jack- “I should fix this, but maybe I should teach you a lesson. It would serve as a constant reminder that you would do well in the future to never touch a single hair on my son’s head!”

The woman vigorously shook her head no and her babbling increased in intensity, but it only seemed to encourage him further, as his aura grew increasingly savage.

Jack- “Yes, it would be a fitting punishment.”

Suddenly, dad’s hand grabbed the woman’s face, and pushed her bones into the wrong place. Then his sadistic smile grew wide, and right at that moment a healing aura came out of his hand. I was confused for a moment, but suddenly understood. He was healing the bones in the wrong way, to make her permanently unable to speak through disfiguration! She would be in an unbearable pain for the rest of her life!

Unconsciously, I found the same sadistic grin on dad’s face making its way onto my own. More, more! Now that you’ve destroyed one side, you might as well mangle the other! In fact, she deserves worse! She can’t try to kill me without ample consequences!

I unsheathed the wooden sword, and walked towards the woman slowly. At that moment, I somehow knew that the blade was not so dull anymore. In fact, it almost seemed that there was a flickering flame where I held the blade. The heat would of burned me, if not for the flames of hatred that also came from within. As I covered half the distance between myself and the woman, the energy had reached its climax. It was time to strike!

I accelerated suddenly and swung down at her back. The next moment my sword was stuck on the ground while a deep, red gash was left on the woman’s back. She screamed out like an animal, and it rang out like music to my ears. But although the blow was immensely satisfying, it also left an emptiness behind that could not be filled in with pure adrenaline.

I staggered, trying to keep myself standing, but my sturdy constitution failed me once again. Waves of emptiness crashed into my legs, causing me to fall down. Next, my senses started growing dark. I could hear dad urgently asking if I was alright, and he cast multiple healing spells on me. But the warmth only drove me further into that world of blackness. The last thing I saw was the sword’s hilt. The only thing different about the sword was that the hole in the hilt contained a red ball of flame floating in the center. Then the darkness overtook me.

*****************

And then there was a room. It was without walls, but the boundaries clearly defined the concept of, a room. Outside of the boundaries was a boundless space that extended beyond what the eye could see. It was void of color, and it seemed to have been that way for an eternity.

And then there was a man, standing in the center of that queer room. He waved his hand, and grabbed a single coin out of thin air. He examined the coin, and there, was the first color to ever exist in the space. Within the coin, the scenery constantly changed, with indistinct images fluttering around randomly.

Appearing to have discovered something delightful, the man smiled, and flipped the coin up with a toss of his hand. It spun at a startling speed, and with the spinning, the space turned into a world of color. White, Black, Golden, Red, Blue, Brown, and Purple all appeared simultaneously. They started off as simple colorful lines within the boundary, but then spread out. Each color snaked along the floor, and claimed one area as it’s own. Soon the once unified area was now divided into seven different colored areas.

And then there were seven: four women and three men. They all stood within their respective area’s, but the man within the red space was different. He had a single coin, like the man before who set the world into motion.

With golden, fiery hair and flaming red eyes, the man radiated a faint aura of power. But instead of being unconstrained and domineering like one would expect from such a figure, the man contented himself with flipping the coin over and over. Thus the space continued in it’s repetitive way, and it slowly grew out of focus...

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Author’s note 2- Hey, please let me know if you found any errors in the chapter. Also, I want some guesses on what the space is. Discussion anyone? :D