Chapter 5: Treasures and Luck

"Seems legitimate. Students Jing Zhou and Feng Tu are eligible to pick two magical treasures. Students Xin Zhu and Vincent Turner are eligible to pick four magical treasures. Impressive," a guard said as he had the four display the first stage of their combat techniques. "As it has been verified, you are now allowed to enter the ninth floor and keep the combat technique in your storage item. Remember, any attempt at theft will result in immediate capture and dismemberment on the first floor of the pagoda. You may now access the ninth floor."

"Finally here. Four magical treasures. Which to pick?," Xin laughed maniacally as he looked around for something of interest.

Vincent felt as light as a feather and his senses increased dramatically. If training down the four paths improved his technique and skills; then combat technique and cultivation improved his senses, soul, and power. If he had two things he needed, it was an off-hand weapon and a long range weapon. He would infuse his Silver Thorn with cold yin energy while he would infuse the off-hand with hot yang energy. A cold weapon to kill his enemy and compassion and an explosive weapon to stop and protect himself while fighting.

It was too soon for him to fuse both into one outside his orb of power as even the inside is divided between hot lava energy and freezing ocean energy. If he learned a normal combat technique using yin and yang,  his orb of power would still have light and darkness but it would contain fire and a small lake. Fire and water. Lava and ocean. Light and darkness. That was the essence of yang and yin. He had to keep them separate for now or damage the meridians in his body, veins the body used to circulate the energy from the orb of power.

"What is this white lamp?" Vincent asked a nearby guard as he felt drawn to an item on the shelf to his right.

"You got a good eye. Within is a demon spirit. Ever heard of a genie? Well, demon spirits are like that. They are extremely valuable as they grant you an innate ability, one outside the five paths. You know how dragons breathe rivers of fire, ice, lightning, poison, or other elements? Well, this demon spirit grants you an ability similar to it. The most a person can have is one. Other than that, you have to depend on your martial arts, telekinesis, magical treasures, or magic. That lamp can store demon spirits. Best to keep it and the demon spirit until you understand what the innate ability is. It might even improve itself when you feed it a demon spirit trapped within another item. You don't want to waste the one shot you got to gain an innate ability," the guard explained. "We are humans closest to being like Mazoku, evident by the crystal core or awakened orb of power. Wat they can do, we can too. We just have to train as power comes naturally to them just by feeding on others."

"Thank you for the advice," Vincent bowed, allowed to put the lamp in his black satchel after the guard verified it as one of the four magical treasures he was eligible to pick. "Do you know where the weapons are located?"

"Try the shelves to your left," the guard said as he pointed beyond the many rows of shelves around them. It was as if they were in a library of treasures instead of books.

After following the direction, Vincent found many shelves with weapons. Several students nodded at him as he walked past him. He was pretty tall for thirteen and even some seniors did not make trouble for him. After testing the strengths of some bows, he picked a recurve bow with a weight of two hundred pounds. As a recurve bow, the wieght of the bow was the same weight as pulling the string back to half of its length before it cut in half as it reached a full draw. He knew he could only have picked the bow as he had walked the beast path.

The bow was magical in that it could not be destroyed and could be shrunk to three inches in length. It also came with a quiver that had a single arrow in it. As he got stronger, he could increase the weight of the bow to make it even more deadly. The quiver also had the same ability and had an infinite supply so long as he injected the quiver with soul force. If he put an arrow of a different kind, he would be able to use two kinds of arrows of endless supply. Most people picked guns or crossbows as they required less training to master. The arrow he found had an oak shaft, black feathers and an arrowhead made of sharpened diamond. After verifying it with a guard, he bound it to his soul as well as the lamp before putting them in his black satchel.

He would not talk about the lamp and used his Exile ability to hide it from any possible sense in his black satchel. If someone searched him for it, they would not detect it as it would be as a regular lamp. He made a mental note to tell his teacher to add archery to his training regiment during combat class. He already knew barehanded martial arts and would use the Golden Monkey Force technique to fight.

The third treasure he picked was a sword with a blood red blade a little shorter than Silver Thorn by half a foot. The sword was incomparably sharper and thicker than Silver Thorn. It could actually damage magical weapons that were not indestructible. It perfectly replaced his lack of a shield or fighting power that suited guardians and knights. With his Savage Elephant Tusk technique, he was sure to block with the short sword. He decided to call it Blood Dragon Fang, as its blade was shaped like a scimitar and the blade was the color of blood.

After binding it, it became a blood colored tattoo on the palm of his left hand. The dagger was his completely and he could make it appear as he wished. It was convenient as his more powerful Silver Thorn had to be taken out of his black satchel. He could even use the dagger as a hidden weapon or for assassinations. Silver Thorn was a sword with very potent poison once the blade pierces the skin. With one for offense and another for defense, his fighting style would be solid.

Magical ranked treasures were great. It made him wonder how terrifying it was if humans fought against each other instead of the Mazoku, a scene he saw many times as an Exile but not with access to their orbs of power. It frightened him a little and he wondered what his two cousins picked. The fourth item was one that scraed the guards and kept them on edge. Some magical treasures were either too powerful or dangerous. Thus, guards would be posted to keep watch.

One of those items were demon bones. No one ever saw a live demon, only their spirits or bones. These bones, when bound by blood would enter the body and replace the other. However, they carried a risk with tremendous power. Some went insane. Some died during the process. It all depended on the demon bone and the person in question.

The guards followed Vincent with their eyes as he inspected and inquired the demon bones. At last, he stood before an amethyst crystal bone. It leaked a black energy and Vincent felt a shudder within his body. Just by looking at it, his orb of power shook and all one hundred and eight spikes seemed to react. Even though it was small, it was a complete set of bones. However, it looked more like a dragon made of bones than a human shaped skeleton.

"Kid, it would be best not to take this demon bone," a guard said as he pointed to the small, complete set of dragon baby bones. "Only eight people survived out of eleven and none of them were able to unlock its power. It's a waste. People only wanted it because it was found in an egg besides the body of a dead rain dragon. Scientists at the Testing Center believed the dragon inside the egg must have been its child that demonized somehow. They studied those who succeeded, but discarded the demon bone because none of them could use its power."

"I still want it," Vincent said, his body bursting with yin and yang energy as he stepped closer.

"Very well," the guard sighed as he verified the last magical treasure he could choose. No one but the head guard of the pagoda's ninth floor would know what Vincent or any student chose. This was to protect the student from making any enemies who might desire the magical treasures by killing them.

Vincent bit his thumb, the wound healing as a drop of blood fell onto the crystal bone. The amethyst demon bone shined and the black energy went into his body through his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. The guards seemed unaffected as blasts of cold and hot energy exploded from his body. The tips of the one hundred and eight spikes turned into amethyst crystal. His sky blue eyes turned a crystalline amethyst with the silver tinge more prominent than before. His soul force rose a little, but the power of the demon bone was a mystery, only changing him and his orb of power.

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'If you're lucky, you might unlock its power," the guard sighed as he saw the familiar amethyst irises of his eyes. Those were signs the bone was successfully fused into the body. Only three people died out of eleven. It was not a question of survival but to unlock the demon bones power. For most other demon bones, it was the reverse that was the problem.

"Vincent Turner?" the second guard realized as he looked at Vincent and saw the phoenix medallion and checkered leather jacket over his uniform. "You're the cousin of the prodigy Exile twins. I heard rumors of you being spotted among them. I should warn you, Edward and Catherine both fused with two demon bones."

"Always one-upping me," Vincent thought. "Does he want to defeat me that badly? Why does he insist on stopping my path to revenge? Doesn't he realize that the stronger someone becomes to stop me, the stronger I am to prevent it?"

"Your four magical treasures have been picked. We will escort you out now," the two guards said as the demon bone they guarded was gone and Vincent picked all that he could.

"Good luck in defeating Edward," the second guard beamed as Vincent cupped his hands in thanks and arrived on the first floor.

"You chose a demon bone," a female voice said, Vincent looking back to see Bing Fan smiling on the first floor as he arrived. "You spoke the truth. You really do have qilin blood. Otherwise, you would not be able to practice the cultivation technique further. You would have to pick a different combat technique to cultivate your orb of power. Are you going to take your chances on a magical beast egg?"

"Yeah," Vincent nodded as they waited in line on the first floor.

"Vincent!" a blonde girl cried as she ran and hugged him. "I finally see you! You're always busy training and never visit during summer vacation."

"Catherine. It's nice to see you," Vincent said as he pat her head as she turned to see the others. "Hello Xin. Hello Fang. Vincent, who's the girl and other boy?"

"This is Bing Fan. We met on the seventh floor. As for the boy, he is Jing Zhou. He's the best friend of Fang and the fourth roommate at the pagoda," Vincent said and they greeted her. "This is my cousin, Catherine Turner. You all probably heard of her elder twin, Edward."

Some of the students in line stared at Vincent and Catherine, knowing they were two of the Exile trio that came three years ago and shocked the academy with their vastly superior talent and skills. Vincent was a legend among fighters of the beast path. No one was faster or stronger than Vincent. Even during sparring practice, any accidental wounds would automatically heal. Xin was also known as he was the only one who could spar with Vincent, besides Edward among all the students last year.

Catherine was also one of the ten beauties and even the senior students were not her match in light magic, actually able to heal the wounds of others. Of the three Turner Exiles, only Catherine received offers from the top nine organizations as healing magic through mastery of the light element was extremely rare. Fighters were aplenty with all kinds of talent, but healing magic was like finding a diamond in a quartz mine.

"I'm going to find my magical treasures. I didn't pick my remaining four after experimenting with the two demon bones. Bye!" Catherine said.

"Now that is a beauty," Xin said as he followed her with his eyes before they went further up the stairs.

"He's always liked her but never made a move," Fang whispered to Jing.

"Ah. Yeah. With Second Brother and Edward, he can't compare. It's tough for any guy unless they dare court death," Jing whispered back.

"Finally!" Jing said as the five of them were at the bottom of the stairs before the tenth floor. "Four hours! Seriously? Four hours!"

"Better than most. Once school starts, people would notice some have magical beasts and come in droves," Xin said. "Let's go before Jing decides to just barge in."

"Welcome, kids, to the tenth floor. I trust you all wish to obtain your first magical beast. Please choose wisely. Once chosen, you will never come to the tenth floor to choose again," a guard said as he gestured to the shelves of several eggs of all kinds of colors and sizes.

Vincent let out his soul force and tried to detect powerful signs of life from the eggs. As he learned an ancient cultivation technique, he was extremely sensitive to yin and yang energy. He could sense a lot of yang energy everywhere, but barely any eggs with yin energy. Finally, he made his way to the norther wall where he saw a shocking amount of yin energy and some yang energy flow inside the egg.

"I pick this egg," Vincent said, causing one guard to sigh as he clearly did not want the egg to be taken.

"You got some luck. Go ahead and inject the egg with your soul force," the guard said as two more walked over.

The oval, white egg cracked and a small head appeared as Vincent put some soul force into the egg as he touched it. A white dragon looked around, curiously and began to cry. The three guards looked at each other and could not believe Vincent's luck. Dragons of the wilderness were at the peak of the world. Africa was also the home of the oldest and largest dragon, a black dragon over a thousand years old. Having one as a tamed magical beast, he would have a priceless companion in battle.

"Congratulations. That little dragon, the size of an baby's fist, is a White Steel Dragon. Dragons already have scales and bones that cannot be scratched or damaged by bullets or most magical ranked weapons. White Steel Dragons are of the defensive type. As it reaches its juvenile state, its scales would be harder than any diamond," the guard said as the azure eyes of the dragon gazed upon Vincent.

"This dragon is one that has immense strength, sharp teeth, and claws. It is a dragon with the innate ability to create giant dragon balls of ice fire that freeze all targets within range of the explosion," another said and escorted Vincent out of the tenth floor. He secretly fed it some qilin blood, the dragon licking its teeth with joy as Vincent waited for the others.

"A dragon," one student whispered.

"So lucky. As expected of an Exile of those three Turners," another agreed.

"The Silver Exile, huh?" one noted.

"Silver Exile?" a freshman asked.

"You a first year? We call him that as he is an Exile who wields Silver Thorn, a sword with a white blade of snow that emanates a silver aura. No other Exile suites the name more," the prior student answered.

"Is that....a dragon?" Bing Fan asked as she held an egg in her hands.

"I'm guessing that's powerful too? A dragon egg?" Vincent said as Bing remained silent as she nodded.

"You already have enough reputation to earn the title: Silver Exile. I also had a title back in Black Sword Academy: the Ice Witch. With my martial arts skills and control over ice, no one could defeat me in my year. I gave up the knight path and specialize in the mage path. I will prove myself as the strongest among the fourth year students," Bing said.

"You're welcome to try. Fighting a beauty is better than fighting a weakling," Vincent teased with a grin on his face.

"Let's go. Wait, did you hatch it already?" Xin gasped as he saw Vincent holding a white scaled dragon. "No one ever hatches it here, save for the freshman first years. Ah, right. You don't really know the rules. Anyway, let's go home and prepare for class tomorrow."

"Even if he doesn't want to, he always stands out and gets compared to Edward," Fang told Jing.

"Are they enemies?" Jing asked.

"No, they're family. However, they are the strongest among fourth years from all of the third students from last year. This year's ranking tournament will be interesting for all five grades," Fang grinned. "We better practice hard if we don't want to get left behind even further from Xin and Vincent."

Vincent was the last to leave as he saw the many fake magical weapons on the first floor. He wanted to practice with dual swords, but did not want to reveal Blood Dragon Fang. Thus, he took a fake magical treasure in the form of a short sword with similar length and shape. He saw Bing leave and Bing nodded her head at him.

"I'll see you later," Bing said as she left the pagoda first.

"She must have a strong background. She knew about the scrolls. She should reach the fourth layer soon as she was almost there when we touched hands over the jade scroll. Xin and Fang also said many people transferred, even students of our year. I'll have plenty of new sparring partners," Vincent grinned as he walked back to his pagoda with the small dragon baby sleeping in his arms.