Chapter 6 – Element-Less

Seeing the anger and wrath on the boy’s face, the girls felt a deep surge of fear run through their hearts as their knees started to quiver uncontrollably.

All of a sudden, the three girls turned around and burst into motion as they tried to flee from the boy. They were not thinking rationally about the situation and were just acting purely on instincts. If they had taken some time to consider, then they would have realized that the boy was just as young as them, and could not possibly be significantly stronger than them.

If they also knew that he was a lightning elementalist, the girls would have died in shame at that moment.

After a few seconds, the blue-eyed girl’s knees suddenly gave out, and she fell down with an abrupt yelp. She frantically glanced back to see if Calron was still following her.

Seeing the boy continue to stand there while exuding such a great killing intent, she painfully struggled back onto her feet and immediately sprinted to catch up to the other girls.

Although her heart was still trembling with fear, a small ember of anger started to slowly burn within her chest when she realized that this boy had dared to publicly humiliate her like this.

Vowing retribution, she swallowed her pride for the moment and continued fleeing.

Meanwhile, Calron desperately tried to restrain the pain shooting through him as pulsing veins started to pop up all across his body and neck

You need to control yourself, kid. You are not yet ready to control the Azure Lightning, and if you try to force it out like this again, your life could be in danger. Your current body is simply too weak to endure its strain. Now, try to steady your breathing and force the lightning back into your core.

Under his Teacher’s guidance, Calron painfully forced the Azure Lightning back into his body bit by bit, until the agony truly stopped.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Calron wiped the sweat off his forehead while looking down at his sweat-soaked robe. He promised himself that he would not call out the Azure Lightning until he was ready in future. The gut-wrenching pain it brought was too unbearable for the eight-year-old Calron.

In truth, Calron was not really angry with the girls, as they were just spoilt and rude. It was just that his emotions were extremely unstable at the moment, as it had just been a day since he had to bury his family. He was completely alone in the world. He was an orphan.

Furthermore, the Azure Lightning that awakened inside of him was utterly unfathomable and seemed to bring more destruction to him rather than his enemies.

Kid, no need to fret this much over that Azure Lightning. It does not truly wish to harm you, but its very nature is violent, and until you reach at least the peak of the Spiritual stage, using the Azure Lightning would just cause you further torment.

The Voice stated in a consoling tone, as it tried to alleviate its student’s worries.

*Grumble*

Enough of this. Go eat, NOW!

The Voice’s yell immediately jolted Calron out of his stupor, and he quickly rushed towards the gathering hall while ruffling his robe into a presentable form.

…………………….

Arriving at the entrance of the hall, Calron saw that quite a few disciples were already seated in groups on the tables, as they chatted with their friends.

Calron walked towards the lady who was handing out the meals. Although all disciples could order various luxurious foods; however, they had to pay extra money out of their own pockets to request them. The prices of those luxurious foods were simply too exorbitant for commoners like Calron, so it was only the wealthy who could afford them.

“Excuse me, Madam, may I please have a meal?”

Calron politely asked the lady behind the counter. He recalled that this was the same woman who had previously handed out a cultivation pill to the Elder.

“Of course, young man. Today’s meal is a cut of pheasant, a loaf of bread and some sweet cider.”

The lady said while handing out Calron a tray full of the specified food.

“And here’s a little extra meat for a cute polite boy like you.”

The lady said while pinching Calron’s cheek.

Calron thanked the lady for her generosity as he gingerly rubbed his reddened cheek. Giving a slight bow to the woman, Calron set out to find an empty table to eat his meal. Calron might act indifferently to others or even lash out in anger, but to the ones who treat him kindly, he would always pay back that kindness ten times over.

The boy soon located an empty table and started slowly walking towards it. After sitting down, he immediately began wolfing down the food on the tray, while lightly listening to the gossip from the other disciples’ conversations.

Most of the chatter was about their training and boasting their progress, but some were about who the strongest Martial Masters were, and who was the most beautiful girl in the school.

Calron tuned out of their conversations and thought about his own current predicament. He needed a Martial Arts teacher and as a lightning elementalist, the majority of the Masters would not even bother with him.

Which Martial Master would want to pass down their fighting Arts to a weakling?

He could ask the Voice, but getting mental information about Martial Arts and physically learning it was vastly different.

Martial Arts required a cultivator to practice the same movements repeatedly in conjunction with the essence, as they adapted their body to remember those movements instinctively.

Although the Voice could teach him those movements, it would still be impossible for Calron to properly train without having a physical partner to spar, and to correct any small errors he might make in the stances.

While contemplating this predicament, Calron had nearly finished all the food on the tray when he heard a sudden *click clack* sound of a wooden stick tapping against the floor.

Glancing up from his tray, Calron saw an old man who was reaching out his hand to grab a chair on Calron’s table.

After the old man grasped the top of one of the chairs, he slowly sat down and groaned in relief. He had seated himself on the chair directly across Calron.

It was at that moment when Calron finally looked into the old man’s eyes, and noticed that the elderly man was utterly blind.

The old man’s pupils were a dull grey and looked faded as if there was an opaque layer of film covering his eyes.

The blind man also wore a grey robe, but it was much lighter than the ones the disciples wore. Calron curiously wondered who this old man was, as he clearly was not one of the Elders, who were easily recognized through their black robes.

The blind man’s robe also looked faded out with several torn patches, and it was clear that this elderly man had been wearing this same cloth for many years.

“Young man, will you please fetch a meal for this blind old fool? Gretha knows me, so don’t worry about her thinking you’re stealing an extra. I’m afraid these old bones just don’t have any spring in them anymore.”

The blind man gently requested Calron.

Being asked by a handicapped person, how could Calron deny to fulfill the request of this blind man?

However, what Calron had failed to notice was that this blind man who was supposed to be unable to see, clearly called him a young man. How did he even know how old Calron was when the boy had never even spoken a single word?

“Please wait here, sir, and I’ll go get you your meal.”

Calron politely responded, as he stood up and walked back towards the lady.

Gretha had already noticed the old man enter and chat with Calron, so she knew that the boy was coming for old man’s meal. She immediately started to prepare the tray as soon as Calron arrived in front of her.

Handing the tray to the boy, Gretha sincerely thanked him.

“Thank you, little one, as not many disciples bother to help old Elias. I usually have to give him his tray at the end of my work hours as I cannot leave my station here, so the poor man has to wait for hours until he can finally eat.”

Gretha was clearly sympathetic to Elias, and Calron could sense that it hurt the woman to watch the old man wait for hours in hunger. Although it would only take her two minutes to walk ahead and give the tray to the blind man, in a society that followed the strict hierarchy of power, she had to first feed the disciples and the Elders, before giving out the food to the weak and crippled.

“Why won’t the other disciples help him?”

Calron inquired angrily.

Not helping someone weak and disabled was absolutely despicable according to Calron’s ideals.

“Well, Elias is an Element-Less.”