Chapter 13: 2 Years Later
"Uniform fit alright?" Jax asked as Rex wore his uniform and sat beneath a tree over two miles in height.
"Yes. It feels strangely comfortable," Rex answered. The uniform was a black robe harder than diamond when struck that covered his body from the bottom of the neck down. A grizzly bear in gold armor was emblazoned on the chest and back. The robe was a standard battle mage uniform that increased all stats by two when worn. The uniform could also be altered in color as well as the emblem on the chest and back.
Besides the robe that covered his chest, his silk pants and shoes were also black. The three pieces combined into the uniform and Rex could take off the robe and reveal his upper body but only have an increase of 1 stat if he still wore the pants and shoes.
"In the two years you are here, two days to the outside world, you will be trained as a Grey Assassin would. I will teach you how to fight, how to hunt, how to assassinate, and how to use your body effectively. Lady Madelaine will teach you witchcraft, how to use your skills, and provide weak golems for you to kill as practice," Jax said. "Your dragon will kill golems while you train."
"Right," Rex said and ordered Titus to head to the forest on his left.
"A Grey Assassin is one that specializes in single sword or dual swords. Swords are the ultimate weapons. They can be fast or slow, unyielding or flexible, and fierce or gentle. Grey Assassins are masters of the sword. As you wield a sword, you too are suitable to train as they do. While you cannot learn their skills, you will learn their ways," Jax said. "Every week you will switch between my lessons and Lady Madelaine's lessons. Be prepared."
"I...will try," Rex said as he shuddered. He went to a martial arts gym and knew their rigorous training as some fought against other gyms or minor tournaments while others trained to earn their pro license. His training under Jax was sure to be more difficult and painful.
"The miniature replication of the World Tree is five miles wide. You will run around it, dodging through the roots. You will climb, run, maneuver, and jump through to complete a full circle. A true swordsman knows the limits of what he can do and improves upon them. This dimension had five times the gravity on Earth. When your running begins, you will no longer be immune to the gravity as I remove you from the pocket dimension's gravity neutralization option. Get moving!" Jax roared and Rex ran, crashing onto the ground as the gravity increased instantaneously.
His training was harsh. For weeks, he struggled to run every step. By the time he could run normally, Jax added obstacles for Rex to pass as he ran around the tree. When Jax realized he had instant regeneration because of his Timeless Eyes skill, the obstacles became even more lethal. So long as Jax approximated Rex's defenses and health, he did not hold back on the danger.
Training under Madelaine was even more dangerous. Every week he learned under her was difficult. He had to learn to catalyze plants, metals, and other items. He had to practice cultivation and the spells in the tome he had. Sometimes, failed summoning spells nearly took Rex's life. He lost count how many times he lost an arm or leg.
Witch magic contained primarily consisted of four elements. Those elements were earth, wood, lightning, and fire. Dark magic of the witches primarily consisted of wood, death, darkness, and blood. All the other elements, save for the void element, were accepted by both factions of witches. The world had many witch covens but only two factions existed: that of the Witch Queen and the Witch King.
Witch magic was different than skills as the witch did not turn his or her mana into the elements. Witches manipulated the very elements with mana and often had many rituals or potions to use with their craft. Witches were most deadly in forests, jungles, or swamps. Places with many trees had many roots for witches to manipulate and use as weapons. Rex had to begin manipulating tiny saplings before he could learn to manipulate the roots of adult trees.
Witches were like the human personification of the wood element. Rex would often connect himself to the trees, grass, and plants. He could feel what they felt, see the world through vibrations of spirit energy. There was nothing he could not see or find where the plants and trees existed. It was like every plant and tree were connected into one symbiotic being.
The wisps of spirit energy that floated around him because of Prey Domain also changed. Before there were only indigo, cerulean, and purple wisps. Now, jade, green, and gold wisps also flew around him. As he practiced his swordplay under Jax, more wisps appeared. They were red, orange, and brown wisps. He inquired to Madelaine as to what it meant after a year passed.
"This means your training has improved by leaps and bounds. The first three wisps suggest you had high affinity to the water element since birth. Everyone has such affinity and is difficult to improve upon them through training. The next three colors appeared due to your increased understanding and use of the wood element. Finally, the last three are from your understanding of fire and earth. The gold wisp also suggests affinity to lightning. This would suggest a total of five, also the max one would have. No matter what elemental magic, those five are ones where you would understand and improve faster," Madelaine answered.
"Is that true?" Rex asked.
"It is. You have used your Celestial Avatar skill, no? When you use the skill, your body emits a spirit around your body that is akin to a three hundred foot grizzly bear spirit in gold armor. When you punched the giant roots or golems on your path, you simultaneously hit them with the five attributes you had affinities with," Madelaine answered. "Your spirit energy and sword contain the fire attribute, you are a witch and primarily use the wood attribute, you were born with the water attribute, and your bloodline is that of the lightning and earth attribute. The Gorgon Clan's attribute is earth and you do not have high affinity for that."
"I do not have affinity for darkness?" Rex asked as he thought of the ink black spirit energy of the qilin in his body.
"No, Rex, the qilin's attribute is not darkness. It is earth. It is ink black because of the extremely high affinity. Do you know what lies in the heart of every planet?" Madelaine asked.
"The inner and outer core?" he answered, confused.
"That is the layers of the earth, the outer most called the crust and mantle. In the very depths of the planet is a black metal ball that spins eternally without stopping. It is that very sphere that creates gravity and affects the magnetic poles and atmosphere of the planet. Metal is earth. Soil is earth. Rock is earth. The metal sphere is black as it has to sustain heat of the magma at its extreme but does not turn into ash. Like that metal sphere, the qilin has body with scales to endure the heat. It is of draconic lineage but some consider them as dragons of the earth as they are related," Madelaine explained. "The intense pressure of your ink qilin spirit energy is as mighty as the metal sphere within the inner core."
"Water, earth, fire, wood, and lightning," Rex repeated.
"Your training will have to be adjusted. We must increase your understanding of those elements as you continue your training," Madelaine said, Rex paling as he heard those words.
When the second year of training passed, Rex had changed completely. He was still fifteen, but his light brown hair had lengthened near the center of his back. He did not grow more muscular but more stream-lined. His muscles had improved greatly but had a mysterious three striped scar on his left cheek near the ear. That scar was a result of a summoning gone wrong. All his wounds had healed as a strange creature attacked him, but the scar from the claws did not. They were thinned and smoothed over time, but still visible on close inspection.
The passive skill he learned from Jax was called: Heart Seeker. Rex would be immune to mind control and create a wisp that would enter a target's heart to constantly track his movement and location. Such a tracking skill, it was no wonder Grey Assassins sacrificed one of their four non-class, passive skills to learn it.
As Rex had cultivated, his body began to attune to spirit energy more and increased his health, mana, and Ki recovery rate. He also awakened his rune bone's innate ability. It was called Four Sword Force. Four red-bladed katanas would float around him, covered in gold auras. They could surge forward like the almighty bear at a charge and strike as hard as a bear's paw.
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His bloodline's innate ability was actually defensive and was called Indestructible Golden Bones. Like Four Sword Force, it was not a skill, but it was similar to a passive skill. Like the name of the skill suggested, his bones became gold in color and were indestructible. His skin also enhanced and was as hard as steel when pressured or struck.
As he went over his progress, Rex could only fathom how powerful other Night Hunters were. Titus also enlarged to three feet in height and had even tougher defense than Rex. Rex thanked Jax and Madelaine, adding them to his friend's list before rushing home as he left the pocket dimension. The sun had just set and Rex appeared back in the mall a few blocks from home. He was wearing the clothes he had worn what felt like two years ago and had his uniform in the storage ring. There was no need to keep a uniform a secret.
He took out his laptop from the storage ring and entered a store area under construction. There, he sold the items he looted from the participants to the black market. Then, he spent $10,000 of what he just got to obtain information on the thirteen ultimate weapons of power. As he suspected, there were still only seven that were found but someone found the Spear of Light! He did not own the Staff of Flame anymore. Thus, he did not feel the tremor or system announcement saying a Lord of the Elements was born.
According to the information, only the owners of the Fan of Wind and the Staff of Fire had not been verified. People assumed it was a staff as the Spear of Light had been found. His mother, Gretel Gorgon Valentine, owned the Staff of Fire. The Lord of Black Water City owned the Trident of Water. The Patriarch of the Qin Clan owned the Hammer of Earth. The Dagger of Poison was owned by the most ancient clan in Japan. The dagger was last seen there but was last recorded thirty years ago. The Claw of Blood was owned by the CEO of the Thousand Shark Company that owned and managed the Night Hunter black market. The Sword of Wood was owned by a Night Hunter organization in South Korea.
As for the new owner of the Spear of Light, it was found by a teenager who took the promotion test in the gorge. The information claimed that the boy came from an ordinary clan and was taken in by the Celestial Templar, a religious Night Hunter organization that sought to destroy the creatures of the Night, even if it meant breaking the treaty. The organization believes him to be the chosen one for the spear as a system announcement said the Spear of Light could only be bound to him. There was never such an announcement before and shocked many Night Hunters. There was even information disclosed about the quest related to the Lords of the Elements.
"Display information," Rex said, the quest box opening shortly.
*Ding*
System AnnouncementSSS quest unlocked: Night on Earth
Eight weapons of ultimate power have been found. The Chosen of the Spear of Light, Claw of Blood, Sword of Wood, Fan of Wind, and Staff of Flame is decided. Light will lead the path of salvation for Earth. Wind and Void will join hands to rule both worlds. Life is destined to destroy Planet Earth and Death is destined to destroy the Night. If the Chosen of Earth falls, Planet Earth will fall with him.
Light must protect Earth and Earth needs Flame to fulfill his destiny. The Staff of Flame's master waits for her daughter to awaken and the Hammer of Earth's master is the ancestor of the Chosen of Earth. 5 Chosen will rise and 4 will fall. 8 will die and 5 will survive.
Quest Details Currently Unlocked
Weapons of Ultimate Power found: 8
Chosen Identities Hinted by Prophecy: Lady of Flame, Chosen of Earth.
Chosen who became Lords of the Elements: 4
Chosen Bound to Weapon: Lord of Light, Lord of Wind, Chosen of Blood, Lord of Wood.
Weapons to be found: 5
Prophecy content updated upon more weapons found or bound to Chosen.
"Sarah? She is the Lady of Flame?" Rex cried as he scrutinized every word. "Why is my sister important? The Chosen of Wind bound with the Fan of Wind. The destinies of the Chosen of Wind, Flame, Light, Darkness, Life, Void, Death, and Earth are mentioned. The only ones not mentioned yet are the Chosen of Water, Poison, Blood, and Lightning. 4 of the current owners of the ultimate weapons of power are the Chosen. With Sarah and that Qin Clan descendant, that leaves the identities of the current Lords of Water and Poison are not the Chosen!"
"Grandpa, I'm back. I saw the SSS rank quest details," Rex said as he opened the Friend List.
"I know. Your mother and the witches are very worried. Sarah is bound to be a witch due to the Staff of Flame and the Witch King is sure to kidnap her," Sean replied. "Your mother is currently hiding her new staff away, allowing Sarah to awaken naturally. This might postpone the prophecy for a time. I heard news that the Qin Clan is currently the focus of Night Hunters along with the Celestial Templar. All known members of the Qin Clan could not bind the hammer. It seemed to change and developed a defensive barrier around itself. It seems the offspring of the prophecy is one born outside the clan, like a bastard."
"I'm on my way home. What do we do?" Rex asked. "Isn't grandpa's ascendance in twelve years?"
"Sarah will awaken before then. Right now, we will allow her to enjoy a Mundane girl's childhood. She deserves a happy life until then," Sean said while Rex started running home. "The Chosen of Light is enrolling into the Rain Dragon Sect, like you. The Celestial Templar is sure to have people protect him. Do not make friends with him. We don't want him near your sister or mother. He will see your title, but you don't have the Staff of Flame. Just act natural."
"Sarah is seven years old and born a Mundane. Unless a Night Hunter or magical treasure awakens her powers, she will always be a Mundane. However, she has to be trained if we don't want her to die," Rex muttered as he got on a bus going home. "If Light must protect Earth, then that means Life targets Earth as Life is destined to destroy Planet Earth. What makes the Chosen of Earth and the Hammer of Earth so special?"
"Wait, the quest details were uploaded by the Chosen of Life, but the Chosen of Wood and Blood had their weapons for years. They knew about this prophecy to begin with, save for the part about Sarah and mom for sure as the quest updates. I have to get stronger. Once grandpa ascends, there is no stopping those powerful clans or forces who would harm my little sister," Rex grit his teeth and arrived in front of his home ten minutes later.
"I'm home!" Rex said as he entered the house.
"Rex!" his mom cried and hugged her son. "It's been so long!"
"To you, I was gone for two days." Rex rolled his eyes. "How is Sarah?"
"She is sleeping right now. I suppose you know the prophecy now. I don't understand what makes her so special and what her connection to the staff is," Mary sighed.
"Maybe through Sarah, all possible effects of the staff are unlocked from the start. We unlock more effects as we level up, but we are not the Chosen of Flame," Rex pondered aloud.
"You let your mom and I handle your sister's matter. You worry about your own future. You have the application test to the Rain Dragon Sect tomorrow. You and your mother must be strong enough to protect your sister in the future," Sean said and Rex nodded and went upstairs. He pulled his sister's blanket up higher and went to sleep.