A burst of flavour instantly assaulted his senses as his mouth salivated at the taste. It felt like he was eating ridiculously spicy food as the meat burned the inside of his mouth.

With a large gulp, he quickly swallowed, and he felt the heat descend to his stomach area. Nothing happened for a few moments, and then his forehead began to drip with sweat, with his body feeling like it was burning up.

Reaching up, he wiped away sweat droplets from running into his eyes as he tried to battle the uncomfortable feeling building inside.

Without the power to do anything else, he used his mind's eye to look inward to grasp the situation better. When the meat was getting digested, he noticed a strange energy spread into his body, infusing into his cells.

He wasn't sure what this energy was, but it didn't quite feel like essence, or at least any he had managed to catalogue. If anything, it felt like it was a mix of all of them and none simultaneously. It was strange.

What he could work out was that it seemed to make him stronger and reinforce his body as cells were destroyed and reborn as if instantaneously.

He recalled what he had read in the cultivation books he had bought. None of them went into detail about the process, but they were pretty clear when mentioning the flesh of powerful beasts could be eaten for benefits. They just never mentioned in detail what those benefits were.

It took about twenty minutes for his body to process the food entirely, and in that time, he felt like he was burning from the inside out. It was like someone combined the worst case of indigestion and pins and needles and spread it across his whole body.

Finally, It's over.

Looking around, he saw that other group members were consuming their portions and undergoing the same experience. The only difference was that the adults ate more significant pieces than the children.

"You're done? That was fast." Marcus said as his eyes looked him up and down before shrugging.

"Think you can eat more?"

"Yeah."

Their group just sat around for the rest of the day, sweating and eating tiny portions of meat like crazy people with a spicy food fetish. In the end, when there wasn't much left, Marcus stored a small section inside a storage device, presumably for himself.

It was later in the evening now, and they had decided to make camp at the same location as last night instead of trying to travel through the night. The strong cultivator had not said or done anything but sit nearby with his eyes closed in meditation, and he was still given a wide berth.

Thanos had been joining in when the group set up camp on the way back in an attempt to learn the ropes. Now that he had some of that meat, he had noticed that his body felt much more robust, and objects he had struggled to carry before seemed far lighter.

As he was taking off a wooden panel from the side of the wagon with the help of one of the older kids, he heard a clammer amongst the villagers, with them all staring off into the distance.

Following their gaze, he spotted a massive object flying through the sky, and he couldn't help but stare in awe. It was a giant ship that looked like more of a flying castle than anything.

It had all the shapes of a typical ship and was about three hundred metres long but was constructed from large stone slabs rather than wood or metal. They built upwards into ramparts and similar castle-like fortifications as gold and brown flags waved the wind above them. Men manned what looked like cast iron cannons scattered around, and thankfully, none were pointed in their direction.

He didn't spot any obvious signs of propulsion, and it was eerily quiet for such a large object moving at those speeds. It came in fast and swooped in beside the mountain they had set up on. So the top of it, where a group of people stood, was now level with them.

The meditating expert opened his eyes and stood up as a small armoured contingent of men led by a robed woman walked down a ramp to stand before him.

"Took you long enough." That expert said as he looked at the small group before him.

"Sorry, master, we lost track of you. You're too fast." An attractive woman wearing a hooded pastel yellow robe said as she half bowed.

"It's fine. That skyship would never keep up with an iron-winged sparrow or myself anyway. Let's go." The man said, and he floated up off the ground and towards the vessel.

"Elder, these are?" The woman said as she looked over at the villagers.

"Just a clan member and a caravan of mundanes. Leave them be." The expert said as he rose and flew aboard the ship without saying anything else.

His parents and the rest of the group bowed at the waist to the man as he left and kept their heads down, so he followed along with them but looked up a little.

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The woman scanned their group before turning on her heel and walking back up the ramp before it got pulled back in. The flying fortification silently sped off into the distance, leaving a strong gust of air behind.

"Father, who was that?" He asked as soon as their group rose again when the giant ship vanished behind a mountain.

"Clan members." He said as he resumed working around the camp.

"Your clan?" He curiously asked, following along with his father and helping, hoping to get some answers.

"No. They were from the Ebonridge clan."

"So why did you call him a clan member?" He asked, a little confused.

"My family, the Darklight clan and other families like the Ebonridge clan are in a loose alliance, so anyone from that coalition is considered a clan member. We're not related, though. It's just a way of saying someone isn't an enemy." Marcus said, glancing down at him as he worked on untying a wood plank.

He must have looked confused as his father continued to explain.

"There's a large collection of influential families in this world that band together to preserve their power in the face of another group, the sects."

"The sects are another alliance comprising groups of cultivators that band together to share resources. The guilds make up a third alternate faction but are more neutral to both, focusing on crafting and trading. It's more complicated than that, but we would be here all day. Does that make sense?"

"I think I understand. What's a mundane?" He said as he nodded his head.

"How to put this?" Marcus said, scratching his chin in deep thought after connecting a wooden panel to the underside of a wagon.

"It's how cultivators from the clans, sects or guilds refer to everyone else. To those three powerful organisations, everyone else is beneath them. They only think of themselves as actual cultivators. In a way, they're not wrong."

"Why's that?" He asked, as it sounded a little elitist to him.

"Those groups control most of the valuable resources and cultivation techniques and skills. Compared to them, how could others hope to compete? That elder was only a lesser elder and not very powerful compared to others I have seen at his level."

"That should give you an idea of how strong those groups are. People like them grow up eating essence beast meat every meal and consume expensive pills and potions often."

"Is that why he shared it with us because he didn't value it?"

"He wanted the core, not the meat. Having us around as labour let him do both. Had we not been, he would have just stored it away for others to do it for him."

"The only reason he let us take some was because he felt it was below his position to cheat us. Cultivators are very prideful about their image, especially the clans."

"Remember this. Do not insult the pride or family of a clan member without thinking it through, as they will come after you for it. Sect members care less about such face-saving but still value respect."

"So, was the meat from the bird not useful to him?" He asked after giving his father's words some thought.

"Not in the same way it is to us. It would have let him restore his depleted core a little faster, so he ate some, but the benefit to his body would be nonexistent. He grew up eating beasts like that as soon as he was of age."

"I'm surprised you understand all of this. You're still so young." Marcus said, giving him a scrutinising look.

"I like to listen a lot, and I find things make sense a lot easier than the other children seem to." He said, trying to blame his understanding on some advanced intelligence.

It seemed to work as Marcus just beckoned him away from their little camp as the father and son pair sat on a large rock overlooking the landscape. His mother was back at camp helping everyone else in getting set up.

"I guess you're wondering why I'm not with my clan?" Marcus asked as he glanced sideways at him, noticing him nodding back.

"It's a complicated story, but I can explain a few things," Marcus said, taking a deep breath as he continued.

"I was born into the main line of the Darklight clan. My great-grandfather is the head of the family, my grandfather is a powerful elder, and my father is getting groomed to lead one day."

"My father met my mother, and they had me against the wishes of my clan. They wanted him to marry a woman from a powerful branch of our clan with the hopes of them producing talented children."

"This caused anger inside my clan, but my father was stubborn and did what he wanted. One day, when I was a little older than you, something happened, and my mother was found guilty of crimes against the clan and executed." He narrated, stopping for a few moments before carrying on.

"Before long, my father married that woman from the branch family, and they had other children. I was ostracised and often mistreated. One day, I went to complain to my father, but instead of taking my side, he angrily expelled me from the family. I was still just a boy at the time."

"All I had were some basic techniques from the clan, my name and the first layer of the Darklight cultivation technique. A close family servant of my mothers took pity on me and helped me arrange transport to Lycia, where I joined the military and met your mother." He said, finishing the short story of his past with a depressed sigh.

"Do you want revenge?" He asked after a long time had passed without either saying anything.

He had never seen his father looking so depressed before.

"You really do understand, don't you?" Marcus said as their eyes met as if he was searching for something before standing up.

"It's not that I want revenge. I'd just like some answers, that is all. Come on, let's get back." His father said with a wave of his hand, and the pair slowly walked to camp.

"I overheard you and Mother discussing getting me a cultivation technique in the city. Did you manage to find one?" He queried, hoping to get a question answered that had been bothering him and change the subject.

"Unfortunately, we didn't. Your situation is very unique, but we'll keep trying. We have time." Marcus said as if trying to reassure him not to worry about it.

He appreciated the effort but felt every day he was without one was another day lost that he couldn't get back. His condition started to feel a little frustrating when an idea occurred.

"The Darklight cultivation technique you have, does that let you cultivate light and darkness simultaneously?"

"Yes, our clan was founded by a strong expert with a powerful essence body that learnt to combine those two essences. He passed down his talent in that area and the cultivation technique he had created to his descendants."

"Can I have a look at it?" He asked curiously.

It was bound to be quite a complex manual and might give him ideas on how to solve his current predicament.

"What is it with you and books?" Marcus asked as he looked down at him, amusement twinkling in his eyes as they neared camp.

It seemed the change of subject had worked.

"I just like looking at them. Can I, please?" He begged, putting on his best puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, no need to look at me like that. You can have a look once we're home." Marcus said with a shake of his head and a rueful smile as he reached over and tousled his hair.