Scarlet Cove port city

In an alley on the lower end tiers of Scarlet Cove, the two youth sat; Walter recovered from his injuries, as Seshwan glared at the mark on his palm. ‘This bastard left this ugly mark on my hand. Why? Ugh what a pain.’

“Come on now, that mark on your hand doesn’t look that bad! Stop looking like I killed your dog. That insignia will ward off any normal enemies you encounter within this city.” Walters words didn’t comfort Seshwan in the least. “If you hate it, when you make journeyman stage you can purify it off your hand.” Walter rolled his eyes as he jumped to his feet.

“Now get up and let’s go! That essence of yours isn’t going to fix itself.” Walter turned as he spoke and left the alley.

"Your serious? you can fix what's wrong with me and help me not be trash anymore?" Seshwan remained guarded toward this kid, as he knew he was far more powerful than himself; if they continued their encounter in a hostile manner, Walter would just freeze him solid and that would be the end of it.

"Of course I can fix you but not here and definitely not for free" Walter turned to look at Seshwan his deep blue eyes reflecting a trace of scheming.

Walter turned back briefly. "Are you going to follow me or what? I said we can't fix you here so come on." With a wave of his hand Walter motioned to Seshwan. No matter what he did now Seshwan had no escape. 'It'll be for the best to just follow along and not upset this Walter fellow, but maybe he can fix me then I won't be trash.’ Seshwan couldn't help thinking he'll be betrayed and still die; then again if Walter meant to kill him he'd already have done it.

Seshwan stood and caught up to Walter following closely to his right dawning his hood again they moved along the road toward the docks. 

"Why are we going to the docks? I assumed you had a home or shelter you would take me too." Seshwan said very confused.

"Hey Seshwan!" Walter said in a very sarcastic tone.

"What?" Seshwan was confused by this response.

"Shut up! You ask such a stupid question! God nobles are annoying!" Walter snapped at Seshwan like he was an annoying little brother.

"Sorry, geez no need to be upset; I was just curious." Seshwan had been reminded that he was at the mercy of others. Without strength, all he could do was nod along with what’s said and try to give as much face as he could to the one who were stronger.

"Your right though, I'm just being a jerk to test the jelly you call a spine; I want to see what it takes to make it collapse. We're headed for the wharf on the docks and then to the sewers. I live down there and before you act surprised, think about it; look at my clothes I'm clearly a beggar." Walter had answered the question about why they were headed further into the poor districts and managed to make Seshwan feel like an idiot. This boy was rather shameless for a young beggar speaking to a noble.

Before heading into the sewers, they stopped at a few rundown shacks on back streets where the inhabitants were either too drunk to get up or weren't home. Walter just walked though shack after shack stealing things like needles, alcohol, and other odd items.

'I guess no honor among thieves' Seshwan distanced himself from Walter as he continued his spree of small thefts.

Finally, they made it to the sewer gates. A large stone masonry mass protruding from the lowest walls of the city. All the waste from the residents above and the industrial sector were dumped into the sewers. The filth and other items would settle in large underground cisterns and culverts; allowing some grey waters to drain out into the bay.

The door to the main outlet had been melted and bent out of the way; on this end of the city the guards weren't coming to fix this anytime soon.

Scarlet Cove sewers

Within the sewers it was as expected; filthy and wet and the smell of rancid foods and human waste mixed into an odor that just might kill a lesser man.

"Seshwan I want you to use what essence you can and block you sense of smell so that sweet aroma doesn't make you puke or pass out. If you do I'm leaving you for the rats." Walter had said this with a smile but to Seshwan it had been a very serious statement. If he couldn't make it here, then he'd be so worthless that he'd be better off as meal for the pests.

The pair walked a distance; Seshwan could sense essence in this place, it was thick and almost suffocating to him. An ancient aura that seemed infinite flowed toward his realms. This was an earth essence stronger than a Grandmaster Guardian Knight.

 As they walked further on, they passed several men around camp fires trading in clothes and food they had picked out of the trash. People like these could be found in cities all over the empire; only in the Republic of the Common did people like this get treated fairly. There they even received a small amount of capital to give them a chance to rise out of the gutter.

Walter lead the way into a small town within the largest of the cisterns. Many cisterns and ducts of the sewer had been converted into a homeless hamlet that existed only meters below the city. A few hundred people lived here; fires could be seen throughout the hamlet. Some small stalls were set up selling food.

Continuing onward Walter lead Seshwan to a shack on the edge of a hamlet in a main cistern.

"Home sweet home." Walter walked to the makeshift wooden door; as he placed his hand on it, a nearly invisible barrier of ice melted off the door as he pulled it open. The interior was cold and dark.

Upon entering the hut of trash, Seshwan realized that though the outside looked like a dump, the interior betrayed his first impressions. The walls were coated with sanded wood and cloth and there were many nice pieces of furniture and even a somewhat used bed.

"Wow!" Seshwan couldn't help letting the word escape his mouth as he walked in.

"I know right, place looks like a dump but I've done a lot of work to make it look like this; got to keep those guys and gals out there the hell out of here, if they knew I had nice stuff they'd bust the door down and pawn it all to the guild." Walter lit candles and sat on a big pillow on the floor next to a box and a pipe.

Seshwan knew it was common place to smoke but for adults this guy looked like he was twelve, maybe a passable fourteen. "Walter if you don't mind, how old are you?"

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"Ha-ha! you know a lot of people ask me that and my answer is fourteen to most but I want you to start trusting me so I'll be honest and tell you a little about myself. First have a seat" Walter motioned to a pillow on the floor to his left.

The pillow was far more comfortable than it looked before; a large square about two meters wide.  Before sitting Seshwan removed his cloak to not be burdened by the extra material.

"As you well know my name is Walter, I am an ice essence assassin from the far north. A little kingdom known as Frostfall. I left my homeland a few years ago after a falling out." Walter stared with intent at Seshwan watching his reaction, ready to strike him if he had lost his composure.

Seshwan swallowed a mouth full of saliva hard then nodded. He couldn't muster the courage to ask anything about Walter. The northern countries produced a number of top grade water and wind element assassins.  Since ice is a mutation of the two, they are extremely dangerous and would be nurtured in their cultivation of essence. No wonder this guy was so strong already.

After a brief pause Walter continued.

"Because of an accident in my training at a young age, I've had my body stunted, I'm going to remain young looking for a few more centuries until the effects are fully healed." Walter said this straight faced still full of killing intent expecting Seshwan to laugh or ask about this accident.

"How old are you then if you said a few more centuries? Implying you are much older." Seshwan now stumbling with his words.

Walter lightened up, smiled and said, "Boy I'm one hundred thirty-two years old and yes I'm a Grandmaster of combat essence. I have killed Grand Knights in the Holy order and dozens of Legion members. I'm far more powerful than your average old rogue."

Cold sweat beaded on Seshwan forehead. His mouth gaping open. Though it's not really a shock for anyone over Master rank to live more than a century, at a cost of a portion of your essence strength every year you can prolong death. But only after Master rank.

Seshwan ran it through his head, he was a Trainee. Trainee had Five levels; every stage after went up in sets of ten levels before advancement. Every stage was far stronger than the one before; and with every level the essence cultivator would gain some insight into the element they were cultivating.

A Trainee could barely use essence to block a punch. A Master could suffocate a normal man with his aura alone. The gap in power was almost unimaginable.

After a while Walter spoke to break the silence, and because he feared if Seshwan thought any harder he'd have steam rolling out his ears.

"I said I'd fix you, didn't I? So, let's get started." Walter leaned to the box and pinch out a white dry grass packing it into his pipe he lit it and handed it to Seshwan. 

"Inhale this it'll make the pain more bearable." Walter shook his hand as if he'd just throw it at Seshwan.

"Why should I? What is it? Old man you’re not trying to poison me? right?" Seshwan had never smoked in his life and was worried about side effects.

"Seshwan you’re a wuss! you know that? Trust me. If you don't take some of this, you’re probably going to die." Walter was smiling as he handed the pipe to Seshwan.

*cough* *cough*

Seshwan inhaled deep and held it for a moment. His vision went blurry as he began to pass out 'the hell did this bastard give me?' Seshwan’s thoughts raced as he was now paralyzed and felt numb. He fell forward to the ground with a thud.

Walter drew the needles he'd stolen earlier from his pocket and a small bottle of clear spirits. Using the alcohol to sterilize the needles he began placing them along Seshwan spine slowly passing them into his skin. Seshwan was numb until the needles hit his first essence realm.

Within the body essence manifests at five points, and spreads from these points to the rest of the body as a power source for techniques and abilities.

The first essence realm by the left shoulder caused almost unbelievable pain to Seshwan; He never knew he could feel such pain from a needle. the pain intensified as the second realm, then the third and fourth realms were pricked by the makeshift acupuncture needles.

"Wow its worse than I thought Seshwan, if I was not doing this you would die in a few years. The reason your essence causes you pain when you use it or train is because the flows have been reversed. Add to that the fact all the vessels that move your energy are extremely damaged; there is a lot of scarring from something. I have never seen anything like this before." Walter continued to work.

Using the ice in his body, Walter froze the fifth point and injected his own essence into the realm causing a surge of energy to pulse into Seshwan's body. He wished he could cry out, but he'd been paralyzed and could only feel pain and tears streaming down his face.

"Wait are you crying? Ha! It a good thing you smoked some Fortune Root before we started or you'd be dead for sure." Walter had finished resetting the realms in Seshwan so he was relaxing and withdrawing the needles. Seshwan felt no more pain just a warm circulation of energy in his body the numb feeling was slowly dispersing and would be gone soon. His essence was earth element and had a high recovery rate so effects won't last long.

About twenty minutes later Seshwan sat up amazed as he manifested his energy into an aura like wave around his body. He felt strong and couldn't help smiling as he looked over to Walter. In the last twenty minutes Walter, had smoked most of the Fortune Root and was in a daze.

"Now boy, if you'd like, I could train you to be good enough to get into that guild you wanted to join." Walter spoke as smoke rolled out of his mouth.

"I'm just looking for work; doesn't matter which guild I join. I got kicked out of my home after moving here, my uncle got mad that I was so useless; then told me to at least find a job." Seshwan looked depressed thinking about the events of the previous days.

"Then it's settled I'll train you, give you a cultivation technique and get you work through my guild!" Walter got excited which worried Seshwan. “and you can call me master!”

"Sure I guess. But I'd rather not call you master. When can we go to your guild?" Seshwan lightened up as he thought about finally being useful.

"The guild is having a recruiting day in three days so you'll need to use those days to start training, sit here." Walter held his pipe one handed and patted the pillow next to him.

Seshwan sat, thinking of what good luck he'd found. His essence functioned, he'd found a master, and there was work for him in the near future. Not to mention good training techniques are rare, because only a master can pass them onto students, most of the ancient or legendary techniques died off a long time ago.

"Before we start training, Walter, may I ask why I found you injured and bleeding in an alley?" Seshwan was curious to how this all started and felt the need to ask even though it might be met with hostility from his new benefactor and master

"Oh, I broke into a noble of the cities' home and stole a pile of jewelry and a couple bottles of wine. I tried to make off with the goods but that’s when the city guard showed up! I froze the floor below them to slow them down and thought I’d get past; but one of the leaders had a cursed sword! The prick got a good swing at me, I'm normally not one to kill the guards as the guild frowns on stuff like that so I shattered his right elbow instead then ran." Walter was grinning like a clown.

"Wow but you’re a Grandmaster stage assassin, even if it was poisoned, you looked awfully dazed when I found you." Seshwan was confused by the tale his master told.

"That’s right you’re a young boy, you’ve never encountered the nether smiths or their cursed weapons. A nether curse affects the blood; it will solidify or thin out depending on the curse and the level of essence master who writes the curse." Walter rubbed his chin as he spoke. Then continued "Don’t worry about it, we will talk all about essences and the application of abilities after we get you to a decent strength."

After a few hours of discussing which earth essence cultivation technique Seshwan should use they settled on the [Tectonic Shell] technique as it would greatly enhance his defensive abilities and eventually grow to master level. Next Walter brought forth a scroll holding his own training technique passed down by his clan.

Walter presented the scroll: “This, Seshwan, is [Shadow Foot Transition] a movement boosting technique for thieves and assassins to use when things get tight and you have to make a speedy escape. it will heighten reflexes and includes manuals on urban climbing.”

Seshwan smiled as he thought about the two powerful techniques before him. He could have the possibility to ascend into a demigod state if he trained hard enough! His heart was full of joy, his family had disowned him as trash, but he would train hard and prove them wrong for sure. Walter sat back down as they began to discuss training.

Walter had three days to whip this trash noble’s son into some degree of presentable apprentice. If he couldn’t, the other members of the guild would look down on him as incapable of such a simple task.

Walter thought, ‘This kid had a messed-up essence realm and I know nothing about his backstory; he only recently arrived in the city. I wonder which bloodline he belongs too?’